A brown haired wizard was sitting on the roof of Firestorm Laboratories, speaking into a device of sorts.
"Friday. The war has been going on for a week at this point, and Ariana is dead. Ansat is pissed that he didn't get to kill her, and Hunter Landcrafter has died."
A tear rolled down the wizard's cheek.
"Ariana has made a mess of things, and all over fairies. I have never met someone as hateful as her, and that's saying something, considering the fact that I have gone on many trauma inducing adventures involving many awful people. I thought things were going to get better, but it has gotten worse."
By now, many tears were rolling down the wizard's cheeks.
"I don't condone disrespecting the dead, but I sincerely hope that Ariana will burn in Hell, and never be revived."
The wizard cocked a laser gun, and said one final thing before flying off of the roof..
"This is Benjamin Firestorm, signing off."
At the mention of her brother, a Warden tensed just barely.
Her husband touched her arm lightly, “Are you alright?”
Jade nodded wordlessly.
Suddenly, a black haired wizard zoomed past the two, carrying a tube.
He jumped across buildings and trees until he got to where the Academy used to be. He turned to a small boy huddling in a corner.
"Hey, little guy. This note is from your dad." He said as he gave the child the tube. He then ran back.
In the clearing the wizard had dashed into were multiple makeshift tents providing housing for those affected by the war. Both faen and wizards alike were housed there, hostile glances being shot between older members of each species, but a bit of peace among the younger.
In the corner were a set of larger tents, one which all the Wardens, Trainees, and their families crammed into, the other in which the keystones were kept, casting a soft calming glow on the clearing.
It had taken time to retrieve the keystones from Lamplight Town, failed negotiation occurring until the Faen side conquered the town, retrieving the keystones as of a makeshift agreement the Wardens managed to make with them - regardless of being neutral.
The Wardens themselves were carrying crates of supplies and distributing them to the gathered refugees, a few others assisting.
Meanwhile, the children were plopped on the ground outside the tent they shared, helping their parents occasionally.
Two Storm Fey were flying about, dropping off resources around the clearing despite the strange looks some wizards were giving them.
A blind wizard and his sister were huddled together, the girl scribbling something on a piece of paper and reciting it to him.
Next to them sat a woman wearing nearly all purple, turning a book over and over in her hands, eyes glued to its cover. She was being comforted by a girl who looked almost exactly like her, but the woman didn’t look like she was listening.
Outside, a boy was on the verge of tears as he kept practicing a spell, his mother yelling at him to get it right while his father demonstrated it again, clearly angry with his son.
Meanwhile, Ben was in his lab, making weapons with some of his employees.
One red-haired girl with an orange streak running through it was cracking open crates with her Luma Sun Ray Rod, assisted by a white and orange dragon sporting gold-yellow feathers along the wings and tail, two yellow circles on the forehead, orange scales from her chest to stomach, as well as small patches of unshed orange scales along the back legs. It wasn't long before the group figured out Scarlet was part Luma five days ago, but the discovery was short-lived, as the war was still ravaging on around. Off to the left, an albino wizard sat on an empty crate, hugging his knees close to his chest, while his brother hacked away at other empty crates with his Dual Blade.
Elsewhere, Ansat arrived at Ben's lab.
"Ah, Ansat. Good timing. We've finished up a new batch of weapons. Could you drop these off?" said Ben.
Ansat nodded. He was handed a brown backpack full of supplies.
"Now, make sure the bag doesn't endure too much damage." said Ben.
Ansat nodded again, and ran off.
Back at the camp, Mira scoffed, watching Hei struggle with the advanced spell. The more stressed he was, the worse the spell got.
”Are you stupid?” She finally yelled, glaring at him, “You can’t even get a Crystal Shock right?”
Hei’s voice was small and shaky, like he was holding back tears, “I- I’m trying.”
”You have to get it right! Like this.”
Mira snapped her fingers, a ball of shadowy crystals blasting the nearest tree.
”Now you try.”
The wizard tried, yet the spell flickered and faded, him flinching as he knew what was coming.
That didn’t stop the stinging pain on his arm from a Shadow spell, Mira frowning with distaste when he cringed, about to sob.
”How old was I when I created this spell?”
”T-twe-twelve…?” Hei murmured, squinting at the ground to stop himself from crying, unable to look his mother in the eyes.
”And you’re fifteen, can’t even get it right?”
”I-I’m trying…”
”That’s not good enough!” She snapped, “Do it again!”
Hei flinched, arms shaking too hard for him to even cast the spell. A few tears fell, splattering the ground below.
”Why are you crying?” Mira said, voice scornful, “You think crying will make the spell work? Do it again!”
Juniper stepped up, assessing the scene with an expression of forced calm.
”Mira, why don’t you go get some food? I’ll watch him for a while…”
The wizard nodded, muttering under her breath as she walked away, “Stupid failure…”
Hei sniffled, letting Juniper wrap an arm around him.
”Your mom is just trying to get you to do better,” she said, voice comforting.
”I know…”
Ansat ran across a field, giving the Storm fairies a wave when he ran past them. He ran across a dirt path, and to a military base.
In the military base, a hybrid and her husband were leaning against the wall, the latter trying to talk to her only for her to push away.
”You know I don’t like talking, alright?”
Korathius looked pained, “Fine, Jade.”
He hesitates before venturing out, “I love you.”
The words didn’t seem to hit her.
"Yo, yo, yo! Got some more weapons for ya!" announced Ansat.
“Finally,” the Earth Warden muttered, grabbing a sword from the stack, “We need more forces.”
"I was planning to go home and go see my wife and son, but I haven't gotten a chance to in the past week." groaned Ansat.
Back at the refugee camp, Jax stared out at what once was the bright and happy area of Lamplight Town, now covered in smoke, and the shouts of war that stretched for miles. Everything was fine a week ago. Why did things have to change?
Sitting at the base of a tree was an Astral Fairy, his wings thankfully hidden by a white and gold cape. There was an Ice Fairy next to him who, however, was unconcerned with such matters, going as far as unsheathing claws whenever someone had a rude remark in store.
Helping haul out supplies from the crates was another Ice Fairy with cyan-streaked hair. Her left hand was gloved again, but the few who were aware of the Warden's outburst eyed the hand warily, even going as far as double-checking to see if she was wearing it before interacting.
Next to the Ice Warden was an Ivory Fairy, a few foreign swears being spat out of angry pain while he handled the materials.
He wore somewhat fingerless gloves, burn marks being visible along his wrists. His braided platinum hair swayed slightly, being affected inertia as he helped carry the supplies - stubborn to assist regardless of his injury.
A cyborg was babysitting multiple children - their parents searching for friends and family amongst the gathered refugees. The Storm Trainee looked worn, a younger borg helping him keep track of way too many children.
On the other territory, there was a black haired woman, looking at a picture of Ariana. "Oh, Ariana. You didn't have to die to that savage! Your vision was true! Wizards should be the only ones on the island!" she said.
Meanwhile, at the faen's military camp, an Ice Fairy supervised.
His white tail flicked back and forth, something being on his mind.
"Cyro?" He turned to face a Fire Fairy wearing similar robes to him, but gold and red instead of silver and blue.
"Yes?" The blue-eyed fairy asked.
The Drake Tribe general sighed, "The condolence letters."
"Oh," Cyro fell quiet, but added, "I'll do that now."
He soon left for his tent, the Fire Fairy taking his post. Their dragon-like tail hung low, showing deep regret for all that happened.
None of them wanted this, but some things must be done - which included wars.
Kobe was chilling with Andrew. "Man, this entire war is a bunch of feces." Said Kobe.
Over with Storm, a sniffling Hei was clutching Juniper’s hand as they trudged over to the children’s center. They passed a war fort, one that made the wizard flinch.
A dark-skinned wizard was pacing the war front, speaking to the soldiers, most of whom were Faen.
”I know I’m not your usual leader- and I admit, I’m no Cyro- but now-“ he spread his arms, “-you’re looking at General Winston.”
The two walked on, Juniper shooting a glance of sympathy at her older sister before she ushered Hei into the tents
Inside, there were absolute chaos. A frazzled Opal was chasing a toddler around while she shouted orders at her brother, who was hastily getting the kids into bed.
Juniper immediately rushed to help him shouting, “All of you, get in bed or you won’t have a bedtime story.”
Ansat ran back home, but accidentally crossed territory, leading to a bunch of guards chasing him. Ansat, of course, treated this like a game, and ran back to Ben's lab.
Aly stopped in front of Winston, shaking her head, "Winston, you're automatically embarrassing yourself if you're not in a perennial parade resting or power stance while you do ... that. You're only getting to do this because of your wife, otherwise, someone from the Whispers of the Dark would've done the job - showing actual experience, not something you picked up while illegally smuggling excess crystals just to pay off your rent."
The wizard grinned, “MIRA!”
The fairy’s eyes widened. “Oh God-“
”Anyway…” Winston said casually, “I’m here because I kick a** and for no other reason!”
A time traveler sat on a branch of a tree nearby, her wings stabbed into the hardwood, keeping her balanced as she manipulated holographic UIs. Aria, Raid, and Cloud had been tracking every single movement the opposition made, simply by tracking where and what their future selves were going to go and say. Ever since Hunter died, the normally-jokey ex-superhero had taken her job a lot more seriously.
Meanwhile, Kobe was walking in an uncharted, and unterritorized, area.
Cloud Neek was floating behind him like always. "Who needs civilization? I'm fine all by myself!" he said.
Kayley looked around, unsure what to do.
Fatima was under a tree.
Ansat was delivering supplies and packages and weapons for most of the day. He finally got to meet up with Kayley. "Hey, babe!" he said, out of breath.
Gale walked up to Aly, holding more supplies. He evidently must have heard their conversation because, "Winston, you're supposed to call the troop to an attention stance before addressing them - even I know that. Oh and about that hell woman you married? Just because I can't punch one of you doesn't mean I can't hurt one of you."
He walked off, Aly looking at Winston smugly before running after her husband.
The wizard rolled his eyes before calling out, “Uh, attention or something.”
Meanwhile, Kobe was adventuring when he figured out that he had accidentally crossed over into enemy territory a minute ago. He hadn't realized that he crossed over into enemy territory until he saw a guard. Andrew landed next to him, “What? Get out of here! You can’t turn invisi-“ When he saw the soldier, he promptly disappeared. Kobe and Cloud Neek jumped before running away, with every guard in the area on their tails.
A male fairy with light yellow ray-patterned wings and a thin ribbon-like tail cleared their throat. "No offense sir, but you say 'Ten-hut' to command us to enter attention stance."
"And 'At Ease' to command us to resume a... normal stance." A feminine fairy with crystal-like wings added, clearly worried Winston would forget to tell them to stop.
Meanwhile, Storm had managed to get things under control with Opal, Juniper, and Raiden's help - allowing him to notice who was missing.
"Wait, where's Kobe?"
Kobe and Cloud Neek were cornered, so Cloud Neek electrocuted the guards.
Aria detracted from the tree, showing Storm a rift signal a bit too far away from base. "Increasingly closer to us from enemy territory, judging by the rift i'm about to make.
On cue, the time traveler remotely opened a rift under Kobe, visibly straining. The exit hole appeared just next to her.
Kobe and Cloud Neek fell through the rift, and ended up back on their territory.
Andrew reappeared, “A BUNCH OF GUARDS ARE TRYNA KILL US!”
"I didn't do it!" said Kobe.
The borg let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks Aria." He turned to Kobe, growing stern, "As for you, if you do that again..." a single tendril of void said all.
Meanwhile, enough toddlers to make their own army were being tucked in by an exhausted Opal and Juniper.
Hilda watched with an expression of sadness and longing, her eyes finding another pair of amber coloration.
Suddenly, it wasn’t the toddler’s eyes she saw… it was Hunter’s.
His cry as he was born, his angry glare as he accused her, his gaze of love as he finally recognized her as his mother… his final expression of pain as he died.
She backed away, tears filling her eyes.
Luce looked up from what he was doing, "God damn it-" It was only a matter of seconds before the whole camp was hidden by an illusion.
When Winston shot him a look, he answered, "No fighting on neutral territory."
After the threat had ceased, Storm was looming over Kobe threateningly, the unspoken punishment being well known to both of them.
Ansat saw what was going on, and walked over to Storm. "Whoa, man, calm down. I'm sure it was an accident! Besides, that's still my son, so you really shouldn't do whatever you were gonna do," he said. Kobe sighed before Ansat turned to him. "As for you, you shouldn't have crossed over, even if you didn't know. Next time, if you're going adventuring, bring a map," said the speedster.
Storm's expression didn't change, "I wasn't going to hurt him, and simple scolding won't keep him from leading the enemy army to us again."
“Can you help us out here, Storm?” Opal’s voice called - the wizard had matured significantly after her uncle’s death, now single-handedly juggling most of the dozens of kids.
"Fine, fine. Kobe, you don't get any dessert tonight. Now if you'll excuse me, I got some more packages to deliver!" said Ansat. He dashed into the distance.
Meanwhile, the guards who Cloud Neek electrocuted were telling their boss. "Boss, some kid from the Faen Advocates just crossed over and sicced his pets on us." said one of the guards.
The black haired lady just chuckled. "Send over the guards." she said.
At the refuge, Storm shot Kobe a look, "You got out of it this time." The borg dashed over to Opal, ducking inside the tent, peace soon ensuing.
At the faen's battle camp, Cyro finally finished writing the letters... only for another list to be placed on his desk.
He sighed, "Can't you do this one?"
"You agreed-"
"I know I did, but I need to check on the recruits at the refuge - I don't exactly trust Winston's handiwork."
The Fire Fairy sighed, "I'm sure he'll be fine."
The Glacier Tribe general arched an eyebrow, "Really?"
"Well... no."
"Just this once, please?"
"Fine... but don't yell at me when people can't read my handwriting."
Cyro immediately thanked him before dashing out of the tent, taking flight moments later.
Back in the war fort, Winston was showing all the forces spells… not a single militaristic word spoken.
”So, just cast spells like crazy and you win. Those racist wizards stand no chance against our magic,” he finished.
Ansat was sitting on a rooftop, watching the sun set, when he saw the guards. "God***n it, Kobe..." he muttered.
Hope sighed, walking over to her brother. "Nathan, it's almost time to go to sleep, and the toddlers already are sleeping. So it would be much appreciated if you would stop making so much noise, hacking the crates to bits."
"You don't know when we're going to need to fight," Nathan hissed, whispering.
"We're neutral."
"You think someone's not going to come after us after that fiasco a week ago?"
"Attacking inanimate objects won't help. And as I said earlier, some of the refugees are sleeping," Hope shot back, still whispering.
Just then Scarlet sneezed releasing a fireball, which Nathan whacked with his Dual Blade. The blazing streak sailed over the trees, before arcing downwards. "Home run," he said, smirking.
"...You do realize that was enemy territory, right?"
"Uh..." Nathan shoved his Dual Blade into Hope's hands, dashing off.
"Now wait a minute-get back here!"
Storm stepped out of the children's tent only to see Nathan running from an angry-looking Hope, being followed by Scarlet.
"Nathan, what did you-" instantly, the forest lit ablaze, just from within the enemy territory.
The borg's eyes widened, "Oh fu-crap."
Inconveniently, at that moment a familiar Ice Fairy set foot not far away, the general's eyes widening exponentially, "What happened‽"
A wizard and hybrid glanced at each other, green eyes meeting purple. They exclaimed simultaneously, “Fight?”
Aly walked past the two, saying, "No, and Cyro is here so don't try anything."
Winston groaned, “Godda-“
Behind him, his wife stalked up to the wizard. “Get over here, I need to teach Hei another spell.”
Storm, meanwhile, had opened a rift in the floor, Gale using the water range of Elemental Balance and casting Downpourtal into it. A distance away, over the fire, another rift opened and put it out, but not before the enemy forces caught sight of the short-lived flames.
The borg thanked the fairy before phasing in front of Nathan, arms crossed, "Strike two."
Jade sighed, “Can’t we fight them? Get this over with… no one else is dying.”
"That would be a war crime," Aly bluntly informed her, "Now... Mira, would you mind letting Cyro speak to Winston? I'm sure he'll love to hear about Winston's 'ingenious' strategy." The fairy's words dripped with sarcasm.
“You know what’s a crime? Starting this whole war in the first place. Those people were evil. But if we’d just killed them all earlier, maybe-“
Jade took a deep breath, “You know what I mean.”
The Ice Fairy didn't respond to Jade at first, before saying, "You know, Storm once told me the phrase "resistance is futile". I think that applies to this whole war. Now, come on Winston, before Cyro drags you out himself."
“Resistance? You mean sitting back and doing nothing, and when we do, all that happens is death?” She glared at the ground. “War crimes. Stupid, weak system that you all are still following.”
Suddenly, Ansat appeared. "Did anyone see that fire?!" he asked.
Aly simply shoot her a look followed by a sigh. Then she turned to Ansat. "No, we haven't."
Jade’s head snapped up, “Fire? Towards us or them?”
Across the island, wizards gathered together, trying to figure out where the fireball had originated.
Meanwhile, in the Wardens' tent, Nathan was being dangled upside-down by a void tentacle as a ticked-off borg explained what happened earlier to a Water and Fire Warden. Nearby was Hope, Jax, and Scarlet, all of which were grimacing at the sight. Samantha pinched the bridge of her nose, lightly shaking her head, whereas Chase clearly had no idea how to respond to Storm.
Opal watched Storm dangle Nathan for a second, then turned away, bracing herself before saying, “Who wants a bedtime story?”
”ME!” called dozens of toddlers.
”Which one would you like?”
They began calling out hundreds of names, from “The Land of Humans” to “The Big Bad Yeti.”
Juniper stepped up, whispering to Opal, “Y’know, you can take a break. You haven’t slept in a day!”
”I’ll be fine,” she whispered back, but she was clearly exhausted.
Kobe was wandering around again, this time with a map.
"I need to catch some new pets so I can take on the guards again!" he said.
Juniper promptly grabbed the boy and shoved him into a cot, “Get to bed, it’s nearly nighttime.”
"Alright, I'm going..." said Kobe.
While the girl and her aunt worked, two fairies were passing out food, yet it wasn't nearly enough.
Juniper sighed, clearly stressed, “Kaminari, is this really it?”
She held up a moldy roll of bread. “This isn’t even edible.”
The fairy bit his lip. “Yeah… we’re running out.”
When nobody else was looking, Kobe left two pets, a Dragling and a Cloaker in his cot to make it look like he was under the covers, and snuck away.
Meanwhile, back on the war ground, a wizard was showing the forces… not-so-militaristic fighting styles.
”So you just send a lot of spells, and then those Astral users will run away!”
A couple fairies coughed at that, which Winston completely ignored.
Cyro stepped up from where he was watching, scowl growing deeper, “That’s guaranteed to fail. They’ve got defense, and Astral spells overpower Shadow ones.”
Winston shrugged, “I don’t know, I just like kicking a**.”
He groaned, “You’re disregarding the art of war, spitting in the face of our family lineage, and you say ‘because I like kicking a**’?”
“I’m not even a General and I’m annoyed,” Aly sighed, keeping her distance from her father.
”Heck yeah!” Winston said, remotely undisturbed.
Cyro responded to that by walking up to Winston and ripping off the badge that marked him as a General, "Then you'll be replaced."
"You can't do that!"
"Oh yes, I can. You're a Brigadier General, and if you didn't have a lower military ranking than me, that doesn't change the fact I'm one of the tribe leaders of half the fairies in your troop. A more responsible person will be taking your place, and if you dare call that wife of yours I'll make sure someone puts that over egoistic woman in her place."
Kobe had managed to sneak far enough away to go about his journey like he had intended to. He crossed over into uncharted territory again, but decided to stay there and look at the ocean.
Nathan was finally released from the void tentacle, walking away, rubbing his fingers on his temples. "So how'd that work out for you?" Hope asked.
"Shut up."
Ansat was still delivering items due to slacking off and not getting all his deliveries done.
Ansat ran across rooftops, and made it to the military base for his last delivery. "Got some more swords for you guys."
The wizard was ignored.
Jade sighed, glancing at Cyro, “Why do you bother with formalities? In the end, we all kill each other - how does all this help us?”
"To keep anyone else from dying," Cyro answered Jade, not even looking at her. "I know people are going to die in a war, but even if the other side doesn't care, I do care if someone dies. There are many situations where one simple action, one simple strategy, can affect the casualty count by hundreds." He then glanced back at the hybrid, gaze solemn, "Does that not matter to you?"
“Depends on who’s dying,” she answered immediately, expression even more hostile than his.
Ansat tapped his foot impatiently.
"Then you're no better than the other side." With that, he left, taking flight moments later.
Jade watched him fly away, muttering under her breath, “How many times do I have to say it? I don’t care if I’m worse than them.”
Aly, who had been listening in, sighed before leaving as well with Gale, heading to the neutral territory.
Ansat flopped down on the ground.
In the clearing, Storm was holding a sleeping ginger cat, frowning. "Juniper, wasn't Glace with you earlier...?"
Meanwhile, Juniper was getting more and more stressed, “I saw Glace earlier, she was giving some batteries to Rai, I had to go check on the babies, and then I left her to Opal.”
Behind her, Opal was apologizing over and over, wringing her hands, “I was really busy watching the other kids, and I didn’t focus on Glace, and I’m sorry-“
”Don’t worry, Opal.”
”But I-“
”Calm down.”
Kobe was sitting down, watching the waves in the ocean, when he got up, and decided to catch some more pets that he saw near the trees.
The wizard kept fretting, repeating over and over, “I was busy, and I didn’t see her, and-“
Juniper sighed, “Opal, please… just calm down.”
Her green eyes found the ground, one hand fiddling obsessively with a pencil, “Sorry.”
Meanwhile, the younger children were sleeping in tiny cots and futons, other adults watching over the older ones.
Kobe caught an Aquaster and a Triptrop.
Hope walked over to the two girls. "Opal, why don't I take your place for the night? You look incredibly stressed, and you're practically a zombie at this point."
"But-"
"You need sleep, Opal."
"But I-"
"Rest, please."
"I can't."
"But, Opal-"
Suddenly, Opal's eyes rolled upwards as she collapsed forward, Nathan standing behind her, Dual Blade raised, flat side pointing outwards.
Robin blinked, having heard the whoosh of a weapon swinging, “Uh… did you just decapitate my sister?”
Andrew laughed, “No, of course not! He’s just getting her to sleep.”
”Aren’t you supposed to be slee-“
”Shut up!”
Meanwhile, an exhausted Hei was still practicing a spell, being berated by his mother, the boy trying with all his might not to cry. The two were sitting outside, despite the brutal winds and freezing air.
”M-mom, I’m tired…”
”Finish this and you can sleep, is it so hard? Stop complaining.”
“But…”
”No buts!” Mira yelled, “No more complaining, finish this spell or you don’t sleep.”
Hei trembled, trying to stop his eyelids from drooping.
Outside the children's tent, Storm looked at the unconscious form of Opal, then up at Nathan, "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that."
There was a lot of growling and ghostly noises coming from Kobe's cot.
Juniper gasped, “Wh-what was that?”
The borg didn't even turn to look at the cot, "Kobe's pets are there instead of him, aren't they?"
Out of nowhere, a suspicious blue cat streaked into the clearing, being chased by a legion of buddies. The cat had a ripped ear, immensely puffed dark-blue fur, and blood-matted paws.
Whatever it had been doing, it was clearly best not to ask.
A two of hearts card slipped out from under the covers of Kobe's cot. Then, a Cloaker stuck his head out from under the covers to go see where it went.
Meanwhile, Kobe was playing with his new pets.
Robin and Andrew were whispering under the covers.
”We’re so sneaky!”
”I can’t even see what’s happening, but yeah!”
”Shhh!”
“Opal?” Robin called, “Hey, uh, what did you do?”
"Nathan knocked her out since she wasn't going to sleep anyways," Raiden answered, a book in her lap.
“Then I’m not sleeping either,” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms, “What about you, Andr-“
A snore interrupted him.
Robin sighed, ruffling his brown hair, ”Oh, whatever.”
Aquaster ran away, into the other territory, despite Kobe telling him not to do that. Kobe chased after Aquaster, and caught up to him when they were about to cross the territory line.
At the children's tent, the older teen simply lifted a hand, Robin immediately being electrocuted into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Storm placed an oddly patterned tabby cat on a nearby cot, shooting her to look, "You have to sleep too, you know."
She let out a dramatic sigh before putting down the book and yanking a blanket over her face, the older borg rolling his eyes in response.
Storm then stepped outside, reading a note on his visor and opening a rift at the messaged coordinates. Kobe fell into it as soon as he was about to cross the boundary line, promptly falling out of a secondary rift behind the tech wizard, a void tentacle restraining and dragging the younger wizard into the children's tent.
"You can't say I didn't warn you."
The Storm Trainee, having not turned to face him, was gazing at the chaos occurring in front of him before sighing. A shock wave and a series of rifts sent all the buddies to their respective owners, leaving only the cat - which he phased behind and grabbed by the scruff.
"Glace, what did you even do?"
A sniffling Hei shuffled into the tent, trying hard to stop crying. A red mark was plastered across his cheek, clearly noticeable in the darkness. Ignoring the looks sent his way, he collapsed on the bed, pillow muffling his sobs.
The tabby's ear twitched, it lifting its head and staring at Hei, blue eyes shining with sympathy. The cat got up, padded over to the Shadow Trainee, and snuggled next to him comfortingly, placing a paw against his face - a nonverbal way of saying someone cared about him.
The boy smiled a little, hugging the cat lightly before falling asleep.
Back outside, Jade was pacing the grounds, dark circles visible under her eyes. She occasionally shot a glare at the enemy territory, as if daring, no, not just daring, hoping for them to attack her.
One hand was crushing a picture, the hybrid scowling at it as if it had done something horrible to her.
Soon enough, the tiny slip of paper was ripped to pieces, becoming nothing but dozens of incomprehensible colors.
Brown… green… amber…
Jade snapped her fingers, the picture disappearing in earth. Her face stayed completely expressionless, yet there were small hints of emotion - her curled fists, her clenched jaw, her narrowed eyes, her lip being bit so hard drops of red were visible.
Ansat was napping on the military base's roof, when he woke up. "I DIDN'T BURN THE MONEY-" he yelled, having a catapult nightmare.
A boy slipped out from the darkness - literally.
Kaminari flickered into existence, watching Jade with a mixed expression.
When she glared at him, he grabbed her hand, ignoring her attempt to pull away.
”Jade, this isn’t the right way to do things. I did the exact same thing as you not so long ago… and it was your brother who brought me back. I have to thank him for that, because this?”
He shook his head.
”This isn’t good for you, or me, or anyone.”
The Warden snarled and yanked her hand out of his grasp, backing away. Her voice was slightly crazed as she snapped, “Don’t you dare mention him.”
Kaminari opened his mouth, then closed it… Jade had already run down the road, and there was no pulling her back.
The road of cruelty. Hatred. Insanity. Psychopathy. Villainy.
There was no turning back now.
Ansat heard the whole conversation- or lack thereof.
"Hey, Kaminari! Everything okay?" he asked.
“I’m fine. Jade isn’t,” he muttered, walking back to the tents.
The hybrid was still standing there, gaze even crueler as she glared at the enemy.
Aria resumed her work outside, tired eyes invisible behind her holograms and mask. The cold air of the night whisked and spun around her, begging her to take to the skies and keep watch through the dark.
She, instead, felt even more grounded.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the enemy territory, a figure with stitches across their face was gathered with a few other wizards, all reporting events that happened recently.
A spy, a fire, and an assault. With the last listed item, the figure touched their face self-consciously, the stinging pain from claws raking down still there. Stupid faen.
Standing nearby was their leader.
Her back was turned to them, listening to the war generals argue over what to do. She fingered something, obscured to them, but it didn't matter. Their leader gazed directly at the injured wizard and smiled wickedly - she had a plan.
Jade sighed, steeling her nerves before running down the hill, towards their enemies.
Her sword was sharpened, her emotion gone, her compassion nonexistent.
It was like Jade always said - she didn’t care if she was worse than them.
She wanted to kill.
Ansat tried to go back to sleep, but the feeling of dread kept creeping up on him.
The feeling of dread to Ansat, was like you have a bad dream, but you can't wake up, and you're basically trapped.
Ansat got up, and hopped off of the roof of the military base. "I have a feeling that the other side will attack us!" he said.
The winged time traveler suddenly felt like something was about to go wrong.
Very, very wrong.
Consulting the trackers of the future rifts, she eventually came to realize that if she didn't do something now, she'd be teleporting the entire base's worth of people somewhere else soon.
The night's wind rejoiced, pulling Aria into the clouds, Red Armor equipping from a rift as the lift took her higher.
Skyrend dove towards the enemy territory, her ever-seeing eyes scanning the landscape for any movement.
A rustle, a gasp, a cry for help, the glisten of a sword… one enemy down.
A scream of horror, the rumble of earth.
Another enemy down.
Over and over, at least a few dozen innocents dying… Jade smiled in the darkness.
She heard a branch crack behind her, and, fast as thought, green blade was shoved under someone’s chin.
They raised their hands in surrender, which made Jade laugh, a sound that resounded through the area - she clearly didn’t care how many people she attracted. She wanted more targets.
”Please…” a voice whispered.
But there was no mercy.
The sword stabbed through their neck.
Ansat was waiting, until he heard a scream. "To hell with territory! I gotta help that person!" he said. Ansat took off so fast that he caused a sonic boom.
At the refugee camp, Storm was holding the bloodsoaked cat arm's distance away just as two fairies set foot, eyes widening instantly.
"STORM WHAT DID YOU-" Aly immediately exclaimed, being interrupted.
"SHHHH. And it's not her blood, I checked."
Gale looked at the borg, then at cat-form of Glace, bearing a mixed expression, "That's not exactly comforting."
"Just take her." The tech wizard said while shoving the cat into the Ivory Fairy's grasp.
As the two flustered fairies dealt with their spawn, Storm turned to where Aria was, only to find she wasn't there. He frowned, recalling the noise he heard earlier, and opening the chat on his visor.
_Chat Log_
SD (9:30 pm)> Aria? You alright?
Ansat crashed into Jade and fell down. "Jade, what are you doing?!" he said.
He gasped as her sword pressed against his throat.
”Scream and I’ll kill you. Get out of here now and don’t you dare tell anybody.”
When Ansat protested, she pressed harder, “I won’t hesitate to do it, you know.”
Ansat simply scrambled away, and got back up. "Gee, I guess trauma doesn't recover that fast for everybody!" he said.
Aria finally caught sight of Jade and Ansat, her eyes widening as she dragged to a halt.
_Chat Log_
SD (9:30 pm)> Aria? You alright?
AS/AA (9:31 pm)> Jade and Ansat are in the middle of neutral to enemy territory. Jade's commiting murder.
AS/AA (9:31 pm)> I need backup.
Her eyes narrowed, “I’ll let you go, but tell them and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
Jade slipped away, expression unchanging - yet the minuscule, hidden, forced-down part of her mind that still held humanity screamed at her.
But remorse wouldn’t win that easily.
She kept going.
Aria/Skyrend's Red Armor shifted, the platinum and cyan changing to nearly invisible dark beige and brown. The wings expanded as miniature speaker systems sprang to life in nodes around the suit. The mask was the last to change, lights in the eye sections turning to a color similar to bronzed coal.
BARRED CONFIGURATION: ACTIVE
Soon enough, a rift was torn open beneath Ansat, the speedster recalled to camp.
The time traveler silently dove to the ground, inaudible behind the sound of blood and steel.
The Bladewings folded around Jade's sword, blocking any further swing.
_Chat Log_
SD (9:32 pm)> WHAT
SD (9:32 pm)> I'll be right there
At the refugee camp, Storm roused the sleeping Wardens and a few others, moments later a rift tearing space and time not far from Aria, just out of harm's way. The Wardens - plus Storm, Gale, Abner, and Dylan - tumbled out, a certain borg being buried at the bottom of the living pile as usual.
Ansat was lying on the ground, feeling even more dread. "Why couldn't she have calmed down?!" he yelled.
The hybrid promptly clenched her fist, metal gear around Aria tightening and tightening until she suffocated.
Jade smirked, “Didn’t account for that, did you?”
Without bothering to free her, she continued running, ignoring the group of people around her, the people who had once been her friends.
Nearly to the base now.
Ansat felt even more dread. He got up. "MY SPEEDSTER SENSES ARE TINGLING!!" he yelled. He dashed away from the camp, and dashed over the territory line again.
Instantly, a void tentacle restrained Jade and pried off the hand, allowing the young time traveler to breathe. The caster's mismatched blue eyes were wary, "Jade, you need to calm down."
Ansat arrived at the scene, yet again.
"Nobody's dead, right?" he asked in a serious tone.
Lucas crumpled to the ground beside Abner, who answered the question for him, "Ansat, you might want to look behind you."
Ansat looked over his shoulder, and nearly fell back in surprise.
Jade snarled at the cyborg, “Maybe if you didn’t try to stop me I wouldn’t have to hurt your friends. I wasn’t trying to hurt any of you, only these people.”
She gestured at a bloody body, making everybody else wince.
"Not even Ben's outbursts have made me this upset." said Ansat.
She didn’t seem to care - all Jade did was glare at Storm, unable to override his Void tentacle.
When he didn’t relent, she sighed, clearly aggravated.
”I’m not going to hurt or even come near any of you or your allies, just let me kill these people and I’ll be on my dandy way. I don’t see why you’re so upset - the only people I hurt were Ansat and Aria, and even then that was only because they were trying to stop me.”
"Ya really need to stop killing everyone like they killed your- never mind what I was about to say, but just stop killing people!"
Jade turned to face him, the wizard taking a step back.
”I’m killing these people because they and their allies tried to kill me. This whole scenario is life or death, everybody for themselves. And thinking otherwise is nothing more than a delusion.”
"Oh, now I'm the delusional one just because I actually value lives. Goddamn, this behavior shouldn't be tolerated! Not even I was this bad when I was 14, and I was a delinquent!" Ansat snapped.
The hybrid looked slightly on hinge as she responded to Ansat, “Maybe the reason I’m behaving like this is because I don’t want any more of my friends- my allies- to die. And maybe I’ve had enough of the people I… I loved dying!”
Her voice caught on the word loved just slightly.
Aly was gripping the hilt of her sheathed blade tightly, a slight trickle of red as the handguard dug into the skin of her hand, "Listen, Jade, we have rules to follow whether you like them or not. That's the only thing keeping this island from fully falling apart, and if you keep this up, we will have to hurt you - which none of us want."
“Fine, then hurt me. Torture me. Kill me. Will that being all those lives I took back? No. What I did was irreversible, and you know it.”.
"You're escalating the situation, Jade. War isn't a shopping mall," Aria added. Her mask shifted, giving full view of her cold azure eyes and her stern, disappointed face. "I don't care if you think you can do this and get away with it. You aren't the only variable here. People will suffer from this advance, and our own will inevitably die in the coming battles. Faen and wizard alike, death will not discriminate."
“If it’s inevitable, than why bother stopping it?”
The words left a ring in the air… was Jade really saying they should just die?
Yes. Yes, she was.
The teenager turned away, the sound of the reforming metal in her mask clear in the gloom.
"Storm, I need you to find that voidwalker you told me about."
Aria crouched, wings poised for takeoff.
"I've got a plan."
"Jade, if you continue, you'll legally have to be executed," Gale informed her solemnly, "At best if you don't continue, you'll only have to go through a few years of imprisonment."
Abner sighed, "As for the lives you already took? No, nothing we do can bring them back, only prevent you from taking more."
“Then kill me, imprison me, I don’t care. I’m only doing this because I want… I want to avenge the people who’ve died.”
The hidden implication of a certain person was clearly there, yet nobody wanted to say his name.
"If you want to avenge the peeps who died, why are you killing the ones that beg forgiveness?" asked Ansat.
Aria flapped once, twice, gearing her wings to soar wherever she was going.
"Vengeance isn't so simple."
The young time traveler disappeared into the night sky, sillhouette fading out of sight.
“Because those people killed hi- because they tried to kill us.”
Jade’s slip in word was tiny, yet it spoke volumes.
"Listen, don't stoop to Ariana's level." said Ansat.
“Ariana’s level? Ariana was doing all this out of racial hate. I’m doing it to prevent any more death.”
"Yeah, Ariana did all of this out of racial hate, but you both have no qualms trying to murder to get what you want. That is not good guy behavior!" Said Ansat.
Jade ignored him- she was done being the "good guy."
Storm conjured a hologram without taking his eye off the blood-thirsty hybrid, a rift opening and sending hybrid, the warden group, and company to a place where they could restrain the hybrid without causing a scene. Having that out of the way, a second rift opened, Storm dashing into it, the borg sending out two messages on his visor.
The first was sent to Aria - being a password-locked file containing two .read files and a .exe file, being programmed to run a string of complex impossible-looking coordinates to open a rift to the void - and one to get back. The first .read file was titled IGNORE-You_won't_be_able_to_read_it, hence its name it was written in an unknown foreign language, various math equations being scattered throughout the file. The second .read file had detailed instructions as well as a vivid description of why she shouldn't tamper with the code or general coordinates in the attached program.
The second was sent to a certain voidwalker via a private chat room, notably without its usual timestamp as the borg had already entered the void.
_Chat Log (Private)_
SD> RW? I need a favor.
Somewhere in the void, the last present version of Luke Darkshade types on a gray brick with approximately 8 monitors.
_Chat Log (Private)_
SD> RW? I need a favor.
LD(RW)> man i usually don't use this computer
LD(RW)> whatchu need
Trying not to be noticed by other voidwalkers, a borg ran through the cursedly infinite void.
_Chat Log (Private)_
SD> To be honest with you? I don't know yet. I'm generally the butler saying, "Yournotpresence is needed."
In a pocket dimension, the wardens and company tumbled out of a rift. Jade plunged her sword into Chase - him being nearest - only for it to do nothing.
Back at the refugee camp, morning sunlight began to trickle into the clearing, the children awakening and realizing who was missing... again.
Opal groaned, “Not again…”
"Oh...great," Hope said, yawning. She slowly raised herself to her feet, swaying slightly. "Opal...how do you do this...all the time?" Two steps in, she fell flat on her face, dozing away.
Kobe jolted awake, and without saying a word, walked out of the tent with Cloaker and Dragic following behind him.
Kobe walked back inside when he realized that he forgot to change out of his pajamas.
Raiden was messing with a small holo-UI, legs crossed as she sat on her cot.
_Chat Log_
RD (6:49 am)> Dad? Where are you?
SD (INVALID_TIMESTAMP)> Running an errand, I should be back soon.
RD (6:50 am)> ...where the **** are you-
SD (INVALID_TIMESTAMP)> wdym?
RD (6:50 am)> The timestamp- nevermind... where are the wardens?
LI/AF (6:50 am)> Sorry to barge in but we're fine, but uh... you're going to have to break the news to Robin and Opal.
RD (6:51)> What news?
The borg paled as she read the next set of messages, looking up at the others grimly and exhaling deeply before saying, "I have good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?" asked Kobe.
"Our parents are fine, they'll be back soon - and yes, that includes your dad, Kobe. As for the bad news..." She gestured towards the supposedly sleeping toddlers, "I think we should talk about this outside."
"Uh, okay."
_Chat Log (Private)_
LD(RW)> k i'll b there soon lol
RW typed in another command, creating a rift behind him. He soon jumped in, being led to Storm's current location.
Soon after, Aria appeared, descending from a rift in the air.
The cyborg let out a sigh of relief at seeing that the younger traveler manage to get the void safely, before getting the introductions over with, "Aria, this is RW. RW, this is Aria - the person who'll be asking you the actual favor."
Aria turned to the voidwalker. "You know how imprints work, right?"
RW responded quickly, "What, kill one and somebody gets revived?"
"You ever find the imprint of a certain Hunter... Landcrafter?"
"Someone that important to the Entities would be under higher surveilance."
"What?"
"Look, just know that I can't get that done easily. He'd be surrounded by his entire history in hostile form."
The pieces clicked together, Storm frowning, "Aria, would reviving Hunter be wise?"
Aria sighed. "Given Jade's situation... he'd be the only one that could snap her out of this, or at least get close to it. He'd be angry, confused, and whatnot, given the fact that he vividly got stabbed to death, but it's worth the risk." A confident aura wrapped around the younger time traveler, her wings somehow glistening in the void. "I won't let another life be put at risk because of her misguidance."
Suddenly the borg looked incredibly uncomfortable, shuffling his feet, "Aria, you might wanna... you might wanna check the chat log."
Aria tentatively pulled up the chat log, reading the details of what was going to happen.
3 hours.
Jade on trial.
A nearly-guaranteed death penalty.
Albeit her now-shattered sense of self-restraint, Aria only had the comprehensive energy to utter one sentence...
"Oh, you've got to be f**king kidding."
"Nope," Storm responded grimly, "Wish I could render that void but knowing Jade... If you insist on doing this, we better do it fast."
Aria immediately whipped around to face RW.
"Do you know where he is?"
"I can find out..."
The voidwalker's crown's eye went bright magenta for about 5 seconds before it stopped. RW now turned to the cyborg.
"...Storm, right? Can you get us back to the CONSOLE? Hasn't moved, and its signal's been boosted lately. Gonna need it if we're there within 3 hours."
"Yeah, just give me a minute-" A small hologram appeared before him, commands being typed out right-handedly. Within a matter of seconds, numbers displayed on his visor, a rift promptly opened below them, dropping them just in front of the CONSOLE, Storm falling flat on his face as usual.
"Oh come on-"
Back at the refugee camp, Raiden bit her lip, displaying conversation on a holoscreen to the others.
_Chat Log_
LI/AF (6:54 am)> In short, Jade tried to kill us all, so Gale told Cyro the blunt truth instead of buttering things up as we had originally planned - in 3 hours a trial will be held. Best case? life imprisonment. Worst case? Death.
CF (6:55 am)> You really threw him under the bus there, didn't you-
GS (6:55 am)> May I remind you Jade tried to kill you first?
CF (6:55 am)> ...eheh
Across the island, wizards had finally located where the fireball had originated, the rift that had appeared the night before and put out the fire being either ignored or unnoticed.
RW sprinted towards the brick, slamming his fists with willpower into the keyboard. Miraculously, the correct commands spewed out, and the 3 were transported to an incredibly long structure- it appeared as a single hallway, connected to a circular dome-shaped room.
"Interesting question - where are we?" Storm had gotten to his feet, a bit of face plating peeking out from under his bangs due to his visor being askew.
"Anti-physical manifestation of an Entity's indecision on the demise of this wizard. Quite literally, memory lane." RW hurried inside, tailed by Aria, who had by now just accepted whatever was going on.
The walls around moved and shifted, creating vague pictures and movements throughout Hunter's entire life. At the end of the hallway, in the middle of the dome, stood a singular imprint, looking far more physical than normal.
Meanwhile, in the pocket dimension, the wardens stared at each other, seeing no point in doing anything, since they'd remain unaffected, much to Lucas' relief.
Nathan yawned and walked outside, immediately tripping on his sleeping sister. He muttered something to himself, getting up. he nudged Hope with his foot. "Hey, Hope, wake up. It's morning."
"Mom, lemme sleep," she mumbled, still half asleep. Nathan stifled a laugh. She received another nudge. "Mmrf." She reluctantly sat up, blinking as her eyes focused.
Nathan rolled his eyes before turning to Raiden, Opal, and Robin. "What's up?"
Nearby, a cat wormed its way out of a sleeping Shadow Trainee's grasp, careful to tug the blanket back over Hei.
It stretched before turning into a tired-looking Astral Fairy, who stifled a yawn, "Ugh, I hate this. I feel like I've been hit by a truck."
Raiden was pale as she answered Nathan, gesturing to the holoscreen displaying the chat, "You might want to read this."
Robin was fretting, tugging on Opal’s arm over and over.
”What happened to mom? What happened to mom? What-“
”Calm down, Robin, please.”
Kobe tied his shoes, and walked outside.
Nathan's eyes skimmed the screen, going pale. "And the wardens are where?"
Raiden exhaled deeply, "They say they're fine, but won't say where. Guessing they don't want us getting hurt or that sort of sh-"
"RAIDEN. LANGUAGE."
She turned to the owner of the voice. "Seriously Rai?"
He responded with pointing at the now-awake toddlers who were staring at them wide-eyed.
Kobe started laughing.
Jax walked out next. "What's up? You guys look almost as pale as me."
"If I was as pale as you, I would be gray," Rai informed him bluntly, "Not funny, Jax."
Raiden simply responded by pointing at the holoscreen again, "Read."
"Greetings to you too, Rai," Jax muttered, walking off to read the screen, where he more or less shut down.
Kobe stopped laughing, and stood up. "So what do we do now?" he asked.
Andrew was trying to cheer Robin up, but the wizard was far too nervous.
Kobe put on his bandana, and reached into his pocket for his disk. He threw the disk onto the ground. The disk grew bigger, and a Cloud Neek teleported on top of it.
While this was happening, the background behind Kobe had turned a shade of green, with lines speeding up the background. when Cloud Neek was summoned, the green background went away.
Opal was doing what she always did when she was stressed - fidget.
One hand obsessively twirled the rainbow streak in her hand, the other twirled a pencil, and her feet tapped a sort of rhythm on the ground. Two-fourths time, in fact.
She was mumbling what sounded like poetry under her breath, but the words were indecipherable.
"Cloud Neek, we're going to that place by the sea. You know, the unterritorized place?" said Kobe. Cloud Neek was confused but Kobe just walked away, leaving Cloud Neek to follow him.
Scarlet flew out of the childrens' tent, flying in a circle above the kids' heads, before landing next to Hope, supporting the tired wizard. "How about we go search for food, since we're short on it?" she suggested.
Andrew nodded, immediately flying a few feet in the air.
”Let’s go!”
Kobe and Cloud Neek made it to the unterritorized area again, and decided to go fishing.
Opal and Robin weren’t content with the distraction, though.
Particularly the latter.
Robin scowled at the ground, taking deep breaths to stop himself from panicking.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale…
The wizard grabbed Raiden by the arm, snapping, “What did Storm tell you? Where’s my mom? What is she doing? Tell me everything, and tell it to me now.”
Opal’s eyes widened, “Robin…”
”Tell me!”
Raiden yanked her arm away, stepping back, "I already told you everything I know, geez."
Robin was panting heavily now, trying to control his swelling anger and worry, “You have to know more, or at least learn more. I need to know if my mom-“
He was immediately silenced by Opal, who shot him one of her signature if-you-don’t-shut-up-you’ll-be-grounded-for-eternity looks.
The borg sighed, "Look, if I find out anything else, I'll tell you, but for now, I don't know anything more."
Rai placed a tentative hand on Robin's shoulder, "It'll be okay, things'll work out in the end - yet right now, Hilda and Juniper need help taking care of things and I need you to calm down and focus on that, okay?"
“It’s not okay! Mom’s going to die, and then-“
”Robin. Robin. Robin…”
Opal had to repeat his name ten times before he calmed down a little.
”I’m really nervous, too. But we can’t do anything about it, the least we can do is hope she’s okay and get back to work.”
Footsteps sounded behind them, belonging to a dirty blond-haired wizard, "She is okay. My dad won't let anyone hurt her."
"Now you decide to say something?" An Ice Fairy retorted.
Rai glared, "Shut up Glace, you were eavesdropping in the corner too."
Kobe came back with a bag full of fish. "Got some fish. It didn't take that long. Cloud Neek just zapped the water and they all popped up out of the water!"
Robin sighed, “You better be right.”
“I hope I am.”
Raiden stared at Kobe blankly, "So lemme get this straight - you zapped the water, electrocuted every fish to death, and didn't once consider that electrifying sources of water and potentially destroying entire ecosystems is illegal-"
On enemy territory, a letter was being furiously written, regarding the fire and repeated crossing of their territory.
Back in the refuge tents, a mother and her daughter were breaking down.
Hilda’s face was buried in her hands, the wizard scarcely able to manage words.
”Both of them, gone… and it’s my fault. If I’d done my job, if I’d given Ariana the book, maybe she would have had to-“
”Mom, it’s fine. It wasn’t your fault.”
”And now Hunter is…”
The emptiness made up for the word that none of them wanted to speak.
”Jade will be too, I don’t know what’s happened to her but she nearly killed us all…”
The words made Juniper cringe.
“That she did.”
In the children's tent, Kobe replied, "I didn't know it was illegal! Cloud Neek just zapped the water!"
"Ugh, doesn't matter now, the damage was already done. Let's just go help Hilda already..." Raiden responded grouchily.
The siblings shared a glance, clearly nervous, before following the cyborg.
Jax and Nathan followed close behind.
Kobe told his Dragling to cook the fish, and followed the group.
Aurora watched the others file out, "Is no one going to watch- y'know what, I'll just do it..."
Inside, Hilda was on the verge of tears, being comforted by her daughter.
”I know, mom, it’s terrible, but we can’t-“
”She’s gone insane… because he’s- he’s… and now she’ll die… and I’m a terrible mother… why did I let them-“
”We can’t do anything about it!” Juniper snapped, “So either sit there and cry or help me. How do you think I feel- my entire family is falling to pieces while I’m trying to preserve it!”
Hilda sighed, “I’m sorry, Juniper… you’re growing up so fast.”
Meanwhile, RW watched as Void versions of the memories on the walls burst forth from them, the same aura and apparent mentality as the average bloodthirsty imprint. Hundreds upon hundreds of its like began to accompany it, the army staring down the 3 in the room that weren't them.
RW made this all trivial by using a tentacle to snap Hunter's imprint's neck.
"Okay we're done here go have fun," said the Voidwalker comfortably.
Storm blinked, "Well that was anticlimatic-"
Kobe went back to check on the fish. Being oblivious to everything going on, he hands out the fish despite the fact that people are about to go to a serious trial.
Back in the courthouse, a certain hybrid was… bored.
Not nervous, not scared, not angry. Just bored.
“Come on, it’s time,” a wizard snapped, looking down at her between the bars.
Jade looked up, “Finally. Y’know, you could stand to spruce up these cells every once in a while.”
The guard scowls deeper, “Get up.”
“Geez, I’m coming.”
Jade casually walked out the tiny prison cell, looking not even a little worried. One hand fiddled with a tiny iron band around her right wrist… almost like she wanted to burn herself.
When the iron handcuffs clamped around her wrists, she tensed slightly, unnoticed by everyone but herself.
Yet there were no memories, no fear, not a single whisper in her head.
In the wake of the war, trauma and emotion were pushed away.
Jade inspects the handcuffs, muttering, “Last time I was held prisoner, you all made a point of torturing me with the iron. What’s the matter, running low?”
“Maybe we’re just being kind and not wanting to torture you,” the guard responds, shifting uncomfortably.
“Hm… kind. That’s a first.”
Jade turns to the door, walking casually, as opposed to the guard behind her.
She turns around, tossing them an unnerving smirk, “Lighten up!”
“Lighten up?” They gaped, “This is court, and you’re a convicted murderer.” A bit of fear protruded in their voice, which makes Jade smile.
“Yes, I am. And believe me, if I had a knife and a reason, you’d already be dead.”
Jade shoots the guard a chilling smile and walks into the courthouse.
The hybrid strides across the room, face neutral, emotion nonexistent. She looks incredibly calm for a person that had killed a dozen people, been overpowered and imprisoned by her former friends, and now was heading to a death sentence.
Immediately, all eyes were trained on her… everybody seeing different things. Some people still saw the girl who saved the island from the Puppet Master.
Most saw a murderer.
Every time somebody shot her a look, she responded with a glare, making them look away or step back.
Even in chains, Jade was intimidating.
The second the former Earth Warden sat down in her chair, she got to business.
Looking the judge straight in the eye, she asked, “What’s the point of this? You saw what I pleaded, you saw my terms.”
“We need to make sure you know what you’ve done,” he responded, tugging kn his black robes.
“Oh, I know what I’ve done,” Jade said loftily, smiling slightly as she said her next words, “And I’d do it again.”
The words left a chill in the air - just the intended effect.
“I don’t see what’s the problem here,” she continued, shrugging, “Really, you all are freaking out over the deaths of a bunch of ambiguous figures, but when a fairies and half-fairies die, you don’t bat an eye.”
Her voice caught slightly on the term half-fairies, which only some noticed.
The judge looked appalled, and… slightly afraid. “The problem is that you killed more than a dozen people, including people who’d already surrendered.”
“So? Those same people tried to kill me, tried to kill nearly all the fairies. I repeat, this whole thing is pointless, we’re all on the same page.”
“And that page is…?”
“My death.”
Jade’s words were still calm, collected, even bored.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You saw my request, everybody here wants me to die- including myself.”
A whisper broke out in the audience, yet she still stayed completely nonchalant.
“And why would you possibly want to commit suicide, when you could still plead innocent?”
She shrugged, smirking slightly, “I want it to end, and it’s ending on my terms. Speaking of that- you’re reading the thing out loud, aren’t you?”
He scowled, “Of course.”
“Okay, go on ahead. Frankly, I’m not very patient.”
An awkward shuffle of papers, and then he began to speak.
“I’m pleading guilty, and I’m doing it proudly. I’m dying, but on one condition- I do it myself.”
Only silence followed his announcement.
Ben was in tears. "How the [dolphin noise] could this have happened?" he whispered.
From the gallery, an Ice Warden buried her face in her hands and exhaled aggressively, causing a few wizards to cast a glance at her. Next to her an Astral Warden twiddled his fingers nervously, face pale as the moon, generally dreading the foreseen verdict. Meanwhile, a Shadow Warden was muttering something foreign and angry under his breath, trying to ignore the hostile looks being shot at him. Not far was both a Fire Wizard and a half-merling, both having come at hearing the news, but already seeming to be regretting it. Sitting on the opposing side of the wardens than Ignis and Sea were Gale and Cyro, both of which were the only ones without a reaction to Jade's suicide request.
Ben was staring at Ansat, who was just chilling. "Why aren't you upset?" whispered Ben.
"Because I've got the master plan." replied Ansat.
Jade scowled, “I’ve made my decision. Either I kill myself or half the people in this room die.”
Her voice was still steady, her face still calm and slightly bored. She didn’t seem to care at all how many people she killed.
"OBJECT-" was all Ansat managed to say before Ben covered his mouth.
The judge shot Ansat a look, before turning back to Jade.
Meanwhile, Cyro muttered under his breath just loud enough for the wardens to hear, "He's not going to let her do that - he'll be convicting himself. Someone else will kill her if she keeps that up."
She turned to him, “You want to do it so bad, do it.”
Cyro looked somewhat mortified at Jade's response, quieting.
Ansat was whispering to Ben, loud enough that he could hear it, but quiet enough that nobody else could hear it.
"You don't know this, but 17 years ago, Jade tried to kill herself again, so I blasted her sword with a Star Smash. It split the blade and the hilt apart. If they let us in when Jade is doing the Hara Kiri, I can blast her sword again." he whispered.
Jade noted his whispering and looked up at him, making the wizard flinch.
”So much try to stop me and I’ll kill you as well.”
"She can't kill what she can't see..." whispered Ansat. Ben started chuckling.
A woman flinched, gripping her daughter’s hand for support.
”Oh, Jade…”
Juniper bit her lip, “I’m sorry, mom, but we really should try to help her.”
Hilda opened her eyes, only sorrow and regret visible in her purple gaze, tears being forced back, “We can’t. She’s gone…”
”She can’t be. We have to try.”
A sad smile appeared on Hilda’s face, “You inherited your father’s stubbornness as well. But don’t try anything- Jade’ll only hurt you.”
Jade inclined her head, “So? We have a deal? I kill myself, causing no harm to anybody except myself- and you all want me dead anyway.”
She shot a look at her former friends when she said that, “Including you all, even if you hide it. I’d prefer it if you didn’t lie to yourself - don’t act like you care.”
"Could ya stop saying that? Like it or not, some people still want you alive." said Ben.
“My life is my choice, and I want myself dead. Simple as that,” Jade responded, rolling her eyes at him.
"Won't be so simple when I blast your sword apart again..." muttered Ansat.
She shot him a grin, yet no happiness was visible in her gaze, “Try to interrupt me and I’ll blast you apart.”
"I'd like to see you try!" said Ansat.
Ben was trying to dissuade him from egging Jade on, but to no avail.
The hybrid sighed, “Well? Any objections?”
She said it with a sort of resignation, like she knew that people wouldn’t object… and she liked it.
"OBJECTION!" yelled Ansat.
Ben facepalmed. "Don't you dare make an Ace Attorney reference right now!" he said.
“Not you,” she said, not even glancing at him.
Lucas was the first to speak up. "Jade, like it or not, you're still a part of this group, and no matter how many times you try to convince yourself otherwise, we still care about you."
“Part of a group? You’re sitting up there, with the audience… and I’m down here, convicted of war crimes. We aren’t alike, and all of us know that,” she snarled, clearly not caring how Lucas felt, “Even if you all did care, I’d still be killed for war crimes- it’s why we’re here in the first place. So take your lies somewhere else.”
"That wouldn't have happened, if you hadn't home insane and committed mass murder!" said Ben.
“Maybe if you didn’t try to stop me this war would be over.”
Back at the refugee camp, an Earth Trainee paced worriedly in front of the children's tent, green streaked hair falling into his eyes.
Aurora sat at the entrance with Raiden, while Korathius was trying to get the toddlers under control inside the tent.
Glace sat on the overhanging branch of a tree, watching her little brother fret, "Can't take your own advice, huh?"
Rai stopped, sighed, then looked at the Ice Fairy, "Glace, I... I just don't know what to do. We keep telling Robin that Jade'll be okay but... what if she's not?"
"You of all people should know the answer to that."
"Don't remind me, I don't even know why Jade chose me as her Trainee, it's not like I'm good at anything - like you said, I can't even take my own advice and calm down."
Raiden stared at him, "You idiot. She chose you because you don't give up. You're such a tryhard you went as far as learning Earth Magic - and did you give up?"
"Well, I'm sure as Nor giving up now." He replied glumly.
"No, you're not, you're welling in self-pity."
"I am not."
"Really? Then who will be Earth Warden when Jade dies?"
"DON'T SAY THAT."
"Say what? Jade dying?"
Sobs answered the borg's question.
Aurora gave the cyborg a look, "Sheesh Raiden, I get you're bad with feelings but this is a bit much."
"Well, I don't get why he has a problem with it."
"Well has anyone you cared about died?"
Silence, then, "Uncle Greenheart."
The crying only got worse.
The Astral Fairy hugged himself, tears streaming, "Why does everyone have to be die and we can do nothing about it? Why does anyone have to die at all?"
Opal spoke up, “We can’t do anything about this- I hate that too. But we either bury our own graves out of sorrow or we use it to grow.”
She hesitated before continuing, “But if you’re really right and my mom will d-d-die…”
The girl hugged her own legs, one arm wrapped around her brother, “She’s scary sometimes. At night. I want to help her, but I can’t. She screams and I don’t know what to do. I want to help her, I want to comfort her… but mom just screams and screams and they never stop…”
Robin nodded, squeezing his ears shut at the mention. It took him a count of five before continuing, “She’s nice, and she loves us… but she also yells at things we can’t see in the dark. I can’t see at all… and I wish I could, so I could grab those things hurting her and hurt them back.
Or she’ll hurt herself, and that scares me most of all. I don’t know what she hurts herself with, but I have heard a lot of things I don’t want to hear. Like glass shattering. Or sobs. Then Dad takes us out while he tries to help her.
I- it makes me want to run away sometimes… run away from those screams. They scare me so much.
And if she dies… then maybe it’s my fault, because no matter what I do… I’m blind and I can’t see the things that are making Mom scream and cry and break glass. Then Dad might fall apart and Opal and I? We’ll be orphans.”
Silence followed their words, the words of a family riddled with trauma, with hate, with sorrow. A family that would never heal.
Andrew spoke up from where he was perched in the sky.
”The least we can do is hope they’ll be okay. My dad’s worried, and he’s beating himself up over Uncle Hunter’s de- you know.”
A shaky breath before he kept going, “You know, it’s a bit of a tradition in the Wingfeather family for the older ones to die. It looks like Dad's following through on that…”
Kobe was looking at the conversation from a distance while sitting with his pets.
"Gee, I never thought that people could get so sad." said Kobe.
All his pets nodded in agreement.
"Kinda makes me feel sad."
Cloaker put his hand on Kobe's shoulder, as if he was saying, Don't worry, you've got us.
Kobe nodded. "Yeah, I guess I really do have you guys."
His pets hugged him, making him feel happy.
"Yeah! We'll stick together! We'll never be apart! I don't need anybody else!" He got up, and walked away with his pets.
"You don't get it, do you?" Rai's voice had fallen to a whisper, his normally cheery blue eyes welling with tears, "If Jade does die.... the worst part is that I'll be the first of us to know. I don't want to be the one to tell you, I don't want to." The tears kept flowing, "I don't want to hurt anyone more than they already are."
Opal sighed, hugging Robin close as he sobbed.
”If she dies, we’ll know. That’s for sure. Dad and I can manage ourselves, maybe. But if he dies as well…”
A Keeper padded over to the upset Astral Fairy, rubbing against his leg in an attempt to comfort him. In response, Rai scooped up the pet, crying into its fur.
Aurora shot Raiden a look, who sighed in response, "Alright, I'm sorry."
"And?"
"I was being insensitive and a total jerk."
A blonde/purple/sky blue-haired wizard bit his lip.
”Wow… I’m really sorry. I-if it helps, my mom actually, uh… never mind.”
Hei subconsciously rubbed his cheek, clearly reluctant to share his own experiences.
Back in the courthouse, there was complete pandemonium.
Three guards were warily holding Jade down, the hybrid herself snarling, “We had a deal. Why can’t I do it?”
”It’s not lawful.”
”I don’t care if it’s not lawful, either I do it or you die!” She snapped, pulling her arm out of a wizard’s grasp.
The judge held up a hand, sighing before saying his next words.
”Self-isolation. Three days. If she tries to hurt anybody, extend the time.”
Jade got to her feet, screaming now, “You little- you can’t-“
”I can. I repeat, struggle or attempt to hurt anybody and this time can easily be extended.”
It took a total of ten wizards to stop the hybrid from attacking him, and even then several were hurt.
In the void, Storm looked at the confused looking Hunter, then at his visor.
There was a flood a messages, but one thing dominated it all - the timer he set had run its course, it's been 3 hours.
He alarmedly glanced at the younger time traveler, "Aria, take Hunter directly to the courtroom - they're in the middle of the trial." The borg then turned to Darkshade, "Thanks RW, I owe you one."
He promptly opened a rift and dashed into it, tumbling out near the children's tent at the refugee camp.
The hybrid frowned at his own appearance, shocked at his lack of wounds, yet said nothing - something was clearly off.
Death wouldn’t be reversed so easily.
Just then, at the refugee camp, a wizard riding a Mystember arrived, wordlessly handing a note to the tech wizard, before riding off once more.
Storm exhaled deeply, "The minute I get back I have to deal with shi-crud." However, he still opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, skimming through it before looking up at the crying, sniffling children. He sighed before looking back down at it.
"To the Neutral Territory,
The repeated crossing of our borders as well as the attacking of our land will not be tolerated any longer. You will bring these rule-breakers to us within the next 24 hours, or your territory will be considered as part of the opposition and this discord will be concluded swiftly. Any further attacks or crossing of our territory will result in bloodshed.
- The Wizard Army of Prodigia"
Andrew promptly appeared behind Storm, snatching the letter from his grasp.
It took him five seconds to read it before he tossed the paper on the ground, grabbing his sword and slashing it in a wide arc across the air.
”We’re not letting them take us! We’re beating them up!”
Jax picked up the pieces of the note, reading it quickly.
"To the Neutral Territory. The repeated crossing of our borders as well as the attacking of our land will not be tolerated any longer. You will bring these rule-breakers to us within the next 24 hours, or your territory will be considered as part of the opposition and this discord will be concluded swiftly. Any further attacks or crossing of our territory will result in bloodshed. From, the Wizard Army of Prodigia."
“Blah blah blah let’s go kick butt,” Robin summarized, clearly eager to get out of the conversation, “Those people are stupid.”
Next to him, Opal crossed her arms, staring at the ground, “We still don’t know what happened to Mom. She could be d-dying right now! Rai, is she-“
”No.”
The girl exhaled, “Good. But please, tell us if you feel anything.”
Hei pursued his lips, “Robin, Andrew, don’t be so impulsive. We’re facing an army here.”
"Let's do this!" said Kobe, who happened to wander back and heard the conversation.
Storm sighed, "Kids, please. For Upsilon's sake calm down."
Aurora stared at him blankly, "Oopsulan?"
"Upsilon- argh, it doesn't matter," his voice dropped to a whisper, "Listen, right now they don't know who caused anything, but if they find out - you're toast. So do me a favor and keep your goddamn mouths shut."
"It won't be much of a fight, anyways. I can always sic my pets on them!" said Kobe, acting cocky.
"It would be two or three pets against a whole army. I don't know about you, but I would never do that to Wattage," the cyborg informed him with a glare.
At the mention of her name, the Zipzap swooped down from her perch and settled on his shoulder, long fluffy tail lashing occasionally, mimicking the glare Storm was sending Kobe's way.
Both boys sighed, “Fiiine.”
Opal watched Robin nervously… he clearly wasn’t planning on talking more.
The Storm Trainee inspected the boys for a minute - his lighter, purple-tainted eye briefly visible - before finally saying, "No pressure or anything, but I need you guys to keep out of trouble. I know you're all upset, but please try not to do anything potentially hazardous and fulling capable of escalating this whole fu-tempestuous war." He turned to leave, lab coat swishing about, before stopping and glancing back at them, "Oh, and Wattage will be watching you - specifically, a certain four persons who are prone to chaos." The Zipzap let out an annoyed squeak but flew off and landed atop of Scarlet's head, her owner darting into the Warden's tent.
The wizard scowled - he clearly wasn’t following through on Storm’s order at all.
“You’re staying in here, Robin,” Opal said sternly, voice firm, “You too, Andrew.”
Both of them pouted, but while the fairy hung around, Robin hightailed it out of there.
"Don't worry, guys! I know a good way to get out of a situation! My dad taught me! All we need to do is break a window!" said Kobe.
Wattage swerved to face the fleeing form of Robin, jumping off Scarlet's head and swooping in front him, flying about in front of his face in an attempt to throw off the blind wizard's senses.
The wizard scowled, “I’m not running away, just going to the tents. Go away!”
Kobe looked upset. "Fine..."
He started running. He kept running until he almost crossed the border. "That was close. I wouldn't want anybody to get upset at me for crossing the border!" he said.
Hei looked nervous, glancing at the tent where Robin had ran.
”Opal, is he…”
”No. No, he’s not.”
While the wizards conversed, Wattage looked irritated, flying back and forth in front of the tent before finally setting foot on the ground.
Andrew glanced at the two wizards before running off to check on Robin - clearly, he wasn’t feeling alright after admitting to a few of his familial problems.
Kobe was contemplating stepping over the border. "If I step over the border, they'll all get mad at me... But on the other hand, I can show everyone that I don't live in my dad's shadow! No matter what anyone says, my pets can handle themselves against an entire army! I didn't win my giant arena trophy for nothing! I'm gonna be the VERY BEST, like NO ONE EVER WAS!!" he said.
Kobe tightened his bandana, and was about to step foot over the border.
"Guys I don't mean to interrupt, but where's Kobe?" Jax asked.
Opal and Hei groaned simultaneously and ran off to find him, the former checking about the camp while the latter eyed the border.
Kobe step foot over the border. "Let's see how they cope with that!" he said.
Immediately, Hei dragged him back.
”Don’t even think about it.”
"I will do it!"
Hei promptly wrapped the boy up in Astral ropes, chucked him into a tent, and blocked off the entrance with a pile of crystals.
”There.”
He sighed, running a hand across the extra-thick purple streak in his hair.
"I need to get the [Dolphin Noise] outta here. But how?" said Kobe.
Back in the war zone, a fairy was slashing his glaive across the ground, gashes appearing in the soil.
”Stupid-“
Shhhk.
”Wizards-“
Crack.
”Was that a rock?”
Kaminari exhaled, brushing his gray hair out of his eyes, “Ugh…”
Back at the camp, there was a rustle from a tree above Kobe.
"What's that?" wondered Kobe.
Hei had already walked away, practicing a Shadow spell. His brow was furrowed in concentration, his fists clenched tight.
Yet it was nothing compared to what his mother could do.
Nothing he did ever was.
An 11 year old girl jumped down with a katana in her hand.
Opal whirled around, hand grabbing the first thing she could - a pack of gum. Not exactly helpful when it came to fending off soldiers… unless their breath really stank.
Kobe looked at the katana, and was frightened. "Aah! Please don't slice me to bits!" he said.
"Why are you trapped in robes?" the girl asked, ignoring the plead.
"I was trying to run away, when a brigade of bandits shoved me in here!" lied Kobe.
"Ok?"
Hei scowled, prepping another spell, “Who are you and why should we tell you anything?”
"Oh right, i didn't introduce myself. I'm Celestina Stormblade, I'm guessing you don't know my parents as well."
"Stormblade... That name seems familiar... Whatever! My name's Kobe!"
“And knowing your name should make us trust you? You’re clearly a wizard, an unfamiliar one, and one happening to wield a blade.”
Shadows had begun to form in Hei’s hand, making the girl step back.
"Back it up, buddy. I'm busy talking here!" said Kobe
“I’m busy making sure this isn’t a trap from the opposing side, your brainless bi-“
”LANGUAGE!” Opal yelped, still brandishing her fearsome pack of bubblegum.
"My parents are Felix Frostblade and Olivia Stormchaser, and i have no objective to attack you", Celestina said
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
”Hei, it’s fine, if they ever act out of line you can hit them all you wish,” Opal said, blowing and popping a bubble.
"How do I know that you're not just trying to get information out of me and use it against me?"
Kobe simply sighed.
Opal pulled Hei aside, hissing, “Calm down, nobody can beat us in a fight. If she is a spy, I’ll know.”
”How?”
The girl smiled, “I’m pretty good at detecting this sort of thing.”
Glace jumped down from the tree branch she was seated on and stared down Celestina, the fairy easily towering over the others, "Okay, what in the name of Astral is wrong with you? We're kids on neutral ground and you're the one who came here armed acting hostile. If anyone is trying to get information out of anyone, I'll say it's the stranger who STILL hasn't put away their weapon on NEUTRAL GROUND."
She sheathed her katana.
Raiden walked over, gawking at Celestina, "Is this idiot serious? You just told us who your parents were then acted all hostile saying we're trying to get info out of you? If you're going to accuse us try not to be a hypocrite, sheesh."
Hei scowled, “Opal, I know for a fact you’re great at lie detecting, but this is serious. I think I’ll just…”
Celestina was immediately encased in crystals, her katana dropping to the ground.
"Hey! Let me go!"
Hei raised an eyebrow, “You think saying ‘let me go’ is going to do anything? I’m not hurting you, so calm down.”
Kobe looked in his bag, and found one of his daggers. He cut a hole in the tent big enough for him to fit through, jumped out, and ran away.
The boy was immediately tackled by Opal and dragged back into the tent, where she confiscated all his weapons despite his protests.
”Don’t even try.”
Kobe simply sat down and crossed his arms.
Rai flew over, landing next to the Shadow Trainee, "Hei, let her go."
"But-"
"I know she's acting weird, but we're neutral - it's best to get Storm or Korathius."
Celestina didn't say anything.
Kobe was contemplating trying to escape again, when he thought of an idea. He could get one of his pets.
He didn't have his Summoning Disk on him, but maybe if he yelled loud enough...
"DRAGLING! I CHOOSE YOU!!" he yelled.
Hei retracted the crystals, “Fine. But if you’re getting an adult, don’t get my mom or dad.”
Rai muttered a thanks before running off, presumably to get an adult.
Dragling was walking by the tent when he heard a familiar voice. Unfortunately, Dragling was too excited to hear Kobe's voice that he didn't follow any orders.
Celestina rubbed her wrists and picked up her katana.
“Woah- try to use your weapon and you’ll see what it’s like being blasted by two elements at once,” Hei snapped, clearly still suspicious.
"I wasn't going to."
"Dragling, stop roaring in excitement and use Volcannon!" ordered Kobe. But Dragling didn't listen.
Meanwhile, Nathan charged into Kobe’s tent, a hollow thunk followed by a dull thump being heard before his brief exit. The other refugees turned their head towards Nathan, who had his sword trailing on the ground behind him.
Kobe muttered something about being alone, then fell unconscious.
Opal glanced at the other tent, clearly concerned for her brother, before rushing inside.
As the children began to disperse, Rai walked back over to Hei and Celestina, dragging Korathius behind him.
Celestina looked around, unsure what to say and what to do.
The wizard sighed, “Geez, I’m an adult, I can walk.”
He looked Celestina up and down, “Who are you? What are you doing? And make sure you don’t lie. Opal will- OPAL!”
His daughter rushed over.
Korathius sighed, “As I was saying, Opal can tell.”
"Am I supposed to talk now?" Asked Celestina blankly.
Kobe woke up a few minutes later. "Oww, my head hurts like hell..." He said.
He was lying on a cot, Kaminari glaring down at him with glaive in hand.
”Don’t try to escape.”
"I won't. Cheez."
Outside, Glace and Raiden facepalmed in unison muttering, "Idiots..."
Korathius sighed, “Who are you, where are your guardians, where’s my wi- never mind about that one, and what’s your purpose here?”
He fidgeted slightly, clearly still nervous about his wife.
"Uh-I'm Celestina Stormblade, i was grabbing some apples when i stumbled here."
“Apples? And you seriously expect us to believe that?”
”Yes,” Opal said, “She’s not very bright, but she’s not lying. You can tell from the way she’s not overly nervous, and-“
Glace blinked, "After that hostile act? Sheesh, someone has issues."
"Uh, Glace? You have anger iss-"
"RAISHUTUP."
Korathius crossed his arms, ”Fine. Answer my other questions.”
"And my parents are Felix Frostblade and Olivia Stormchaser"
“Who are they? How are their names supposed to help us?”
Opal sighed, “See what I mean… she’s not very bright.”
”I got that. And where are they?”
Dragling was walking around, and decided it was a good idea to see what would happen if he burnt one of the tents down.
He used Volcannon, setting one of the refugee tents on fire. Luckily, nobody was in there.
"They're sort of friends with the wardens i guess. Lucas Herolight, Chase Flamemaster, Samantha Waterwhisper, Alyss Flameheart, and i think Jade Landcrafter?"
Kobe smelled some smoke from a nearby tent. "Hey, do you smell that?" he asked.
Both Korathius and Opal tensed, the former yelling, “Do you know where she is? Tell us, and now!”
"Seriously, I smell smoke!" said Kobe.
"I don't know! I just know their names!"
Suddenly, Kobe got out of his cot and stood up. "STOP IGNORING ME! I SMELL SMOKE, AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT THERE'S A FIRE HAPPENING!" he yelled.
Opal sighed, holding her father back from panicking.
”It’s fine, Celestina. Just… if you know anything, tell us.”
Kobe sighed and lied back down. "I [Dolphin Noise] hate this place..." He said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"I-do you think you can lead me back to my parents? They live in a small cottage"
"I can lead her back!" said Kobe.
Celestina looked at Kobe, "Do you know where the cottage is?"
"I think so! My dad used to graffiti the cottage!"
Celestina was half shocked half confused, "Who's your dad?"
"Ansat Lightningheart."
Suddenly, a large fireball arced through the air, headed towards the group of children.
Kobe's step over the boundary had been noticed.
"Well that explains i-watch out!", Celestina shoved Kobe to the ground and dove for shelter
Opal yelped, blocking the huge fireball with a dome of Astral magic.
Celestina looked at the direction where the fireball came from, "Where the *BEEP* did that fireball come from?!"
“Does it matter?” she called, “They’re coming after us!”
Suddenly, another fireball came blasting at them… hitting the tent that Robin was still sitting in.
"Who is!?", Celestina questioned, unsheathing her katana
“God, you’re stupid…” Korathius muttered under his breath, “The wizards.”
Meanwhile, Opal kept running towards the tent that was on fire, Robin screaming in confusion and fear.
"Where's my pet disk?!" asked Kobe.
"We have to find my parents, they can help."
“Does it matter? My brother’s in trouble!” Opal shrieked.
The tent was collapsing in on itself now, and Robin was coughing and hacking from all the smoke.
Korathius rushed after her, whistling to call one of his pets.
A Funkeel immediately cast a Downportal, the fire stopping.
Opal rushed to help her brother up, passing him a bottle of water.
”Are you alright?”
He kept coughing, the smoke clearly had gotten to his lungs.
Celestina looked at the direction where the fireballs were shot, "*BEEP*"
Kobe decided to forget about his pet disk for now, and launch an attack. He started running to the border. Surprisingly, Dragling was running away, too, and saw Kobe.
"No, stop!", Celestina grabbed Kobe's arm.
"Let go of me! I can battle those guys by myself!" said Kobe.
Suddenly, large amounts of fireballs crashed to the ground, followed by more diving straight for other tents. "MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Nathan exclaimed. Jax blasted several fireballs with torrents of water, extinguishing a few, but the sheer number of fireballs was too much.
"Not when you cross the border! You're about the same age as me, and you're going to be outnumbered!", Celestina pulled Kobe out of the range of the fireballs.
Kobe shook Celestina off of him, and ran towards the unterritorized area. Luckily, his pets were there, too.
Celestina threw her katana at the ground in front of Kobe, causing him to trip.
Jax extinguished fires in front of tents while Nathan directed their residents out.
Kobe got up. "What's your problem?!" he yelled.
Andrew yelped, attempting to extinguish the flame only for the wind to make the flames stronger.
“Goddammit, Andrew…” Kaminari muttered.
”Sorry!”
One good splash of water, and a huge portion of the fires disappeared. Mira flicked her hand again to take control of the flames, a laid-back smile on her face - this was effortless.
Next to her, a huge wave of shadows swallowed up some of the fire, Winston clearly being aggravated at the new predicament.
Opal and Korathius were helping the weak Robin, who was gulping down water and coughing over and over.
Kobe ran back with Aquaster. "Use Torrent!" he said.
Aquaster did so, firing off a wave of water that somehow managed to pierce through a fireball.
Celestina retrieved her katana, "Cross over that border and you'll be knocked out! Not by me, but by fireballs!"
“Then you could maybe, you know, help?” Kaminari called, instead running off to help the other refugees.
Children were wailing, adults were putting out the fire or helping the children, and the elderly were being helped out by the other adults.
Aquaster used Downportral, which essentially put out 3 fireballs.
Faen refugees coughed as the evacuated the area. The flames spread quickly, smoke enveloping the area.
"Hey! I don't mean to be rude or anything, but there's still refugees in there!" Jax yelled.
Kobe realized that he could just sneak away in all the confusion, so he did. He crossed the border with his pets, and nobody noticed him leaving.
Celestina was helping get refugees out of the burning tents
A series of cyan rifts opened, taking the remaining refugees to safety. Before any of the children could speak a cyan rift opened under them, another opening below Kobe on the opposing territory.
All the children fell out in a heap, just before a furious borg outside the Skywatch Factory, a Keeper sitting nearby and a Zipzap perched on Storm's shoulder.
"What have you done?"
"Hey, man, I was just trying to end this thing! Maybe if you guys stopped acting like I was a baby, then maybe I would've stayed put!" yelled Kobe.
“If you went over the border and attacked the others, you might be where Jade is,” Kaminari responded.
Korathius flinched, eyes shut tight as to stop the tears.
"Can you guys argue about this later?! We've got bigger problems on our hand and..." Jax trailed off as a white and orange dragon flew up to him worriedly. "Where's Hope?"
"Yeah, well I could've handled myself!" replied Kobe.
Jax's question was answered as another rift opened, the half-asleep form of Hope falling out next to Scarlet.
Kobe scowled. "I'm done with this stupid group! I'm running away and never coming back! Have fun explaining that to my parents!" he yelled.
"Oh," Jax said, staring at Hope, before resuming the extinguishing of the ever-so hungry flames.
Meanwhile, Winston and Mira were taking care of the fires themselves.
Kobe left Skywatch in a huff, taking his pets with him.
"I'll show them all!" he said.
"Did he seriously-"
"Yes. Yes he did, Jax."
Storm sighed, another rift opening and dumping Kobe in front of them, "Fiery, huh?" Instantly void tendrils restrained him, the borg looking a bit more crossed, "I tell you all to do one thing and I get this?"
Kobe didn't say anything. He just looked really angry.
Cele looked at Kobe, "You inherit your father's behavior."
"I'm trying to avoid being like my dad! I wanna be something else!" said Kobe.
A particularly ticked general stared at the flames from afar as they began to die down. "Unleash the fireballs once more."
Cele hesitated, "Has your father ever told you how he was before he met your mother, Kayley Waterbreath?"
"No. All he said was that he was a rebel."
"Well, i'm telling you here and now", Cele said. "When your father and mother were around our age, your father would behave like you. Arrogant and ambitous. This behavior carried on, until after like 10 years after meeting your mother, he would change.So the man you see as your father today was not always like that. And you're basically the mini 14 year old version of him, but not as worse as he was."
Opal winced, “Storm, maybe stop it with the Void tentacles.”
Next to her, Hei scowled, “I mean, Kobe was being a jerk.”
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Nathan muttered through gritted teeth, staring at the new flaming streaks in the sky.
Kobe was staring in shock. Half a second later, he looked up to the heavens, and started screaming. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Cele watched, the expression on her face didn't change at all.
Elsewhere, Aria emerged from the void, her wings piercing deep into the sky, her cargo a rather despondent hybrid. She only stayed for moments before she locked onto her target location and dove towards the courtroom.
Hunter fell to the ground, still completely emotionless.
Meanwhile, the entire court stopped, all attention diverted to him.
Jade could’ve sworn her breath stopped right then and there.
It was him.
It was her brother.
It was Hunter.
But… it wasn’t.
There was no emotion as he gazed around the room, only confusion and hostility. His body was… strangely unearthly, like a mummy being painted over.
He wasn’t her brother.
Just his imprint.
His words, the words of the real Hunter, flashed through her mind, the words that had haunted her since… the day.
“How long can you last without me?”
“I can’t.”
“I think you should learn to.”
”I can’t.”
”Try.”
Try.
Yet she hadn’t tried.
But now she would.
Yet how do you survive when grief is consuming you?
Her answer? The unthinkable.
Jade stopped struggling, stopped moving, stopped everything as she took one desperate last look at her brother.
Then, her mind already shattering…
She grabbed a spear from a guard and stabbed it through the imprint’s chest.
Love was gone.
Hatred took over.
Survival was all she needed.
Ansat jumped out of his seat..
Chase also jumped out of his seat in surprise. Samantha and Lane stared at the events unfolding below unsure what to make of them, while Lucas had frozen, staring blankly ahead.
Jade turned around, tears being ferociously wiped out of her eyes… emotion was officially out of the question.
She raised her weapon, but was immediately tackled by a horde of guards. Yet she didn’t seem to care… all she did was stare into space, into a world that only existed in her mind.
Felix jumped, "*BEEP*"
Olivia's eyes widened
Kayley was shocked, "What. The. *BEEP*. Just. Happened", she whispered to Ansat
"I have no [Dolphin Noise] clue." said Ansat.
"I've got a simple explanation." said Ben. He pulled out a chart.
"Jade has been through many trauma inducing adventures, lessening her mental state. Now that all this bull [seal noise] has happened, her mental state has deteriorated even further, causing her to commit genocide on a large scale. The rate she's going, she'll have to be in a mental institution." He said.
"Well that's reassuring," Lane commented sarcastically.
"Yeah, no [seal noise], Sherlock. How do we get her to stop?" said Ansat.
"I dunno. I'm a scientist, and a roboticist. Not a psychologist." replied Ben.
Fatima looked at the mob of guards over Jade, shaken.
The judge nodded gravely, “For her mental health, just keep her locked up for a few days. When she comes to? We’ll see what to do with her.”
That was the last thing Jade heard before the world went black.
When the hybrid's eyes opened again, a figure was leaning against the far wall, white hair falling in the way of amber eyes - Gale.
"Don't even try anything."
It was unnerving looking in those green eyes, ones he’d seen ranging from full of love, hate, anger, sorrow, and everything in between.
Yet they were newer now.
Devoid of expression, of emotion, of anything at all.
Jade wasn’t pushing her own emotion down, Gale knew. After all, he knew what it was like seeing eyes that held hidden emotion - he saw a pair of them every time he looked in a mirror.
No, her emotion hadn’t been pushed down. It had been destroyed.
A smile without any happiness appeared on her face.
“Nice to see you, Gale.”
“What do you want?”
“You know that thing inside your head? Shadow?”
Tell her not to say my name like that.
Shut up for a second, will you?
“Yes…” he said, frowning, “What about her?”
“Sit down, this’ll be a long talk.”
When he didn’t oblige, she sat back, still not breaking her gaze with him.
Jade took a deep breath before speaking… this was going to take even more out of her.
“I’m still one of her puppets… Well, no, I’m not hers anymore. I’m the puppet, the prisoner-“ she gestures at the bars around her, “-and the enemy of many. Don’t think that fact escapes me.”
Gale nodded wordlessly, intrigued.
“Yet from the moment years and years ago… the moment that gave me these scars… she’s got a plan for me, and I must say, I respect that.”
Finally.
I said, shut up.
“From her torturing me, to her using Void to transform me, to her sending me off to insanity, and now… when she’s killed him… it’s been part of her plan.”
Where is she going with this?
She isn’t part of your plan?
I never said she wasn’t. But I didn’t kill her brother.
We can agree on that.
“She wants me to become cruel. Ruthless. Heartless.”
Jade said each word with a sort of relish, like they were nothing more than prizes or badges to wear proudly.
“And she’s succeeded… a little too much.”
Staring Gale straight in the eye, yet speaking to Shadow, she murmured, “Didn’t think I’d take it farther, did you?”
What is she saying?
“Tell her a few things. One: to improve her plans.”
How dare-
“Two: to not feel regret for what she’s done.”
What the hell is she saying?
“I mean it. Back when I was weaker, stupider, back when I knew how to love… I hated her for what she’s done. But now? I respect her. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate her - but I do respect her.”
She does…
“Three: that I’m a Voidwalker.”
What-
“And the last thing?”
Jade smiled wider, making Gale flinch ever so slightly… he had to admit, the hybrid was intimidating like this. Somehow, when she was behind bars, the fear was amplified. Maybe it was how casual she looked - like she could break out any second.
“Tell her she’s got what she’s wanted. She’s won. I’m not a weak little hero anymore. I’m not a helper anymore - I’m a survivor.”
She didn’t have to tell the fairy to leave - the second she stopped talking, he ran.
After the situation had been handled and the refugees resettled in Skywatch, the kids, Storm, Korathius, and Kaminari were on a certain Storm Trainee's flat, the children lined up as the adults glared.
Opal spoke up first, “We were talking about our p-parents, and then we got a message to not cross over the border, but someone did, and then fireballs came launching, and we had to get everyone out.”
"We know," Storm said coldly, "We just want to know what f**king God-damned reason you had for not listening to simple instructions."
"Storm, LANGUAGE-"
"Kaminari shut the hell up."
Kobe was sweating, since he was the reason the fireballs got launched in the first place.
"Ask him," Nathan said, thumb pointing at Kobe.
The borg turned to face him, void and storm magic festering - he was not in a good mode.
Kobe gulped. I'm so screwed. he thought.
Hei shot him a pointed glare, while Opal went back to helping her brother.
Korathius sighed, “I would try to get Kobe out of this one, but honestly this is a hundred percent his fault. Oh… and if you want to know, that girl is Celestina, daughter of Felix Frostblade and Olivia Stormchaser, and while she’s a tad dim-witted, she isn’t here to attack us.”
As a void tentacle dangled Kobe upside down just mere inches from an electrified floor, Storm informed Korathius drily, "I'm well aware, Raiden told me."
“Big question: where the fuUUUUU… where the fluff is my wife? Have Gale and Aly sent you any reports?”
Storm responded by taking off his visor and shoving it in his pocket, "Imprisoned in a sense, you don't want to know anything else, trust me."
"Oh great. Now I'm gonna get shocked to death!" said Kobe.
Raiden, meanwhile, was inspecting Kobe's restrainment, "Nah, it'll shock the crap out of you but it won't kill you."
Great... Just when I was gonna help for once...
Immediately, Robin grabbed the visor from Storm's pocket, remembered he couldn’t see, and passed it back to Opal.
”Nonononono…”
Korathius inhaled sharply, fists curling.
Then, rage simmering inside him, he tackled the cyborg.
”And you didn’t think to tell us?” he yelled, tears appearing in his icy blue eyes, “Didn’t even try to help? We have to get her out, or we die trying!”
I'm trapped, and I'm the only one who cares... thought Kobe. I wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was, but now, I'll be in a coma.
Storm exhaled deeply, "Korathius, calm down, this is why I didn't want to tell you. Breaking her out will only lead to you being imprisoned too, and the others are checking on her - she'll be out soon enough... hopefully."
“I don’t care! You never told us, you never tried, you don’t care! None of you care, do you?”
His eyes found Rai’s, who was on the verge of tears.
”You don’t care either, do you? She dies, then you’ll be Earth Warden… you’re happy, aren’t you?”
Glace, surprisingly, stepped defensively in front of her brother, "OI! BACK OFF, Rai never wanted to be Earth Trainee to begin with. He was rushed into it and scarcely feels like he's good enough; for Pete's sake, he was crying a lake over it earlier. If you're going to pick on a kid then you stooped to a level lower than mine - which is saying something."
Korathius opened his mouth to snap at her, but he was immediately dragged back by both Kaminari and Opal.
”Sorry, Glace - Dad’s just panicked.”
Glace sighed, while Rai shuffled uncomfortably, tears rolling down his face.
Opal patted Rai on the back, the fairy now unable to control the tears.
”I-it’s okay… it’s okay…”
But she knew it wasn’t.
Meanwhile, the refugees treated burn injuries and coughs, shooting an assortment of sympathetic and accusatory looks at the group of children quite frequently.
Back in the courthouse, a hybrid was pacing her cell, glaring straight into a certain pair of devastated purple eyes.
”Why are you here?” Jade snarled, fists clenched tight.
”I… I wanted to talk to you, Ja-“
”Don’t. You wanted to talk about how much you ‘loved’ me or ‘felt bad for me’? You and I both know you hate me now.”
No tears… no tears… no tears.
Hilda bit her lip, stopping the sob from escaping, ”I don’t, Jade. No matter what, I’ll never hate you.”
”Well, no matter what, I’ll never love you back,” she snapped, “Now go back to your daughter, the one who you decided to keep.”
Hilda stared into her daughter’s green eyes…
And ran.
Jade smiled.
That was two people she’d scared away now.
Ansat and Ben dash over to Jade's cell.
"Yo! We're here to cheer you up!" said Ben.
She glared at both of them, making them take a step back.
“Cheer me up? God, you two really are idiots… get out or I make you.”
"Don't be like that!" said Ben.
"Sure, Ariana might've thrown the island into a war, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun!" said Ansat.
"There's always blasting rocks!" said Ben
"And running through the forest!" said Ansat
"You could go fly a plane!"
"Or watch a movie!"
"Or work on an invention!"
"Or eating large quantities of ice cream!"
Jade only glared at them.
”That sounds like what a bunch of stupid children would do. Now get out or I kill you through these bars.”
"Ansat, maybe we should stop!" said Ben.
Ansat didn't listen.
"You could meet Mary-Sue and point out some flaws, play on the See-Saw, eat some popcorn as you go for a high score, maybe read a book about some dinosaurs, or swim in a piranha infested lake, if you're that hardcore!" he said.
Fatima and Kayley didn't say anything, just watched.
Immediately, Ansat was slammed against the bars, then knocked back to the ground, just enough not to kill him.
”I’m feeling nice. Now get away from me.”
"Oww, my face..." said Ansat.
"I told you not to keep singing!" said Ben.
He grabbed Ansat by the foot. and dragged him away to get medical attention.
The next to walk in was Dylan. "A little harsh, was that not?"
“What are you doing here? You saw what I did to him, and I’ll do it to you in a heartbeat.”
”The guards?”
Jade snorted, “Idiots.”
"Okay, never mind. Anyway, you can't keep pushing everyone away. You'll only feel worse as this goes along, and others will feel worse. How do you think Korathius will take this, assuming he doesn't already know?"
All she did was glare.
”I don’t care how he feels. I don’t care how you feel, heck, I don’t even care how I feel. So yes, I’ll keep pushing everyone away if it’s what keeps me surviving.”
"I know that's not true."
"Oh really?"
"You just tried to kill yourself not too long ago."
“Yes, I did… but if I can’t kill myself, I’ll settle for killing you,” Jade responded, “And you know I won’t hesitate.”
Dylan simply raised an eyebrow.
“Why are you so suspicious? I’ll kill you, or I’ll hurt you… it’s not so complicated.”
"Because you would have done so by now."
“Fine.”
A blur, and the boy crashed to the ground, head throbbing.
Jade stayed relatively calm as the guards charged in, one of whom helped Dylan to his feet, while the rest focused on restraining the hybrid - despite her not bothering to struggle.
Eventually, Jade was sitting in the back of her cell, still remotely undisturbed, fidgeting with iron handcuffs.
”Not necessary,” she called.
One guard snorted, “It absolutely was. You’re dangerous.”
”No… you shouldn’t be bothering trying to restrain me. I’ll kill you all either way.”
Jade smiled before the door slammed shut.
"Alright, that kinda stung," Dylan groaned, rubbing his head.
Back in Skywatch, a blind wizard was huddled up in the back of the house, looking away from his sister.
”Robin…”
”What?” he asked harshly.
”Are you-“
”Don’t ask me that.”
Meanwhile, a young Fire Trainee laid on the ground, her attempts at sleep being thwarted by a newly acquired 1st-degree burn.
The girl was being tended to by a very stressed Juniper. Occasionally, she’d snap for someone to get something, then run off to treat the next patient.
Wet compress…
Medicine…
Bandage…
”You alright?” she asked when Hope sat up.
”Yeah, I think so.”
”Good.”
Then Juniper dashed off to treat another person - there was no time to waste.
Kobe was still upside down. He was asleep, and was dreaming about winning another arena trophy.
Meanwhile, Nathan stared at the sleeping Kobe, he and Storm both wondering how one can be so self-centered.
Kobe suddenly woke up, and looked at Nathan and Storm. "Oh, hey guys. It probably won't mean anything, but I'm sorry for getting our half of the island fireballed and all... I just wanted to go and speak to the general of this little war, since I wanted it to end." he said.
Hei scowled, “You think apologizing is-“
”Oh, quiet,” Opal sighed, “Let him have his moment.”
Meanwhile, Jax was fetching supplies for Juniper, running back and forth.
Storm sighed, forcing himself to calm, "It's alright Kobe... I'm guessing I'm being a bit too hard on you all. As for you-" He turned to Korathius, "We need to have a talk."
“Talk? I can’t-“
Noticing everybody’s looks, he sighed.
”Fine.”
As the two left, the children were alone with Kaminari - minus the refugees.
Most of the refugees resettled in rushed tents, those with injuries being herded to the Skywatch Factory in order to be tended to by Juniper.
Notably, Storm's titan didn't seem to be anywhere - presumably sent somewhere so it wouldn't startle the refugees any more than they already were.
The Storm Fairy immediately turned around.
”Can you manage for a few hours?”
Andrew frowned, “Why?”
”I’m going to… run some errands.”
Kaminari shifted uncomfortably as he spoke - he’d never been good at lying.
Nearby Raiden, Opal, and Glace arched eyebrows, all looking skeptic.
Juniper rolled her eyes, “What are you really going to do?”
”None of you are stopping me, alright? I won’t hesitate to electrocute any of you,” he snapped, wings already flapping as to take off.
Raiden crossed her arms, "I wouldn't try that if I were you."
Kaminari glared back, “Fine - but by the time you tell your dad I’ll be long gone.”
"You wish, but go do whatever you want, I'm not the boss of you - but when you get in trouble for it... eh, that's on you."
Kaminari smirked, “Good.”
With that, the fairy vanished and flew away… unaware of the boy flying invisibly next to him.
Instantly, a holoscreen appeared before the borg, "Should I?"
Glace shrugged, "Nah, wait until after he's arrested."
Rai breathed deeply, noticing what was amiss, "Um... where's... Andrew-"
Opal sighed, “Oh, great. And, honestly? I’ve seen Kaminari in action, he might be able to sneak out. Might.”
Aurora fingered an arrow, simply needing something to fiddle with, "I think we should tell someone. What if they make things worse?"
Robin shrugged, “There’ll be no finding them. Even I can’t hear them, feel them… nothing. Especially Kaminari, he’s great at hiding.”
Kobe spoke up. "Can I be untied now? The blood's rushing to my head."
Raiden crossed her arms, "Do any of us look like Voidwalkers?"
When she received no response she pulled out a lightsaber, redirecting the electricity before messily cutting him loose, the void restraints fading instantly.
Kobe fell down, and hit his head. "Welp, I don't even care that my head hurts. I wanna go make this right for once." he said.
Wind whistled in a Storm Fairy’s ears, wind that he was part of.
Wings flapped through the air, the familiar chopping making him smile.
Then…
”Kaminari!”
The fairy yelped and tumbled out of the air, flickering into existence for just a second before vanishing again, wings pummeling against the air frantically until he was back to a steady glide.
Andrew appeared next to him, grinning. He was flying with noticeably less fluidity, which would’ve made any other Wingfeather pull out a PowerPoint presentation on how to fly properly.
However, Kaminari wasn’t like that.
“En de faen nor, Andrew, what are you doing?”
”Rescuing Auntie Jade!”
”Oh my… I can’t stop you, can I?”
”Nope!”
”I raised you too well. Now c’mon, go invisible or you’ll be shot out of the sky.”
Both fairies vanished, Andrew flickering just a little while Kaminari was… literally gone.
Like his father always said - great fairy, disappointing Wingfeather.
Soon enough, the two were casually electrocuting guards, taking care not to kill them. However, Kaminari was doing his job a lot more carefully… Andrew was just blasting wizards across the hall.
Finally, the two reached a crossroads with four signs - physical injuries, magical injuries, prisoners, and mentally disoriented.
“Andrew, which do you think is hers?”
The fairy bit his lip, “I hate to say it, but mentally disoriented.”
”Figures.”
The more they walked down the hall, the worse the people in the cells got - from a person who simply looked dazed, to a snarling fairy wrapped in a straitjacket.
Yet Jade was at the very end.
The second Kaminari reached her cell, his heart was thumping like mad, his palms were sweaty, his nerves were on edge…
And all he saw was a perfectly normal hybrid.
Jade looked up from where she sat, fiddling with the iron clamps around her wrists - they must’ve been hurting her, but she showed no indication of pain.
A smile crossed her face, “Letting me go?”
”I…”
”Get on with it.”
Andrew emerged, fiddling nervously with the key in his hands, “Kaminari, are you sure-“
”Yes, he’s sure. Or would you rather leave me to die, like you left Hunter?”
Kaminari flinched so hard he staggered, taking a deep breath.
”Jade-“
”Let me out or leave. I don’t care.”
He’d regret the decision later, but at the moment Kaminari was letting emotion control him.
The lock clicked open.
Jade smirked.
The shadows flinched.
No, not flickered as they do with the light, but flinched.
It was only a matter of seconds before Luce appeared nearby and tackled Jade, the two slamming into the ground.
"Kaminari, WHAT THE HELL."
The fairy immediately spilled.
”I don’t care if she’s ‘mentally disoriented’, she’s my friend and I need to help her, these wizards are evil, I can relate because I killed my family, and I need to help her! You’re not stopping me, Luce - she’s already out,” he added after a moment of thinking.
Jade sighed, blowing brown hair out of her face. “Boo hoo, sob story - I’ll be going now.”
Luce stared at Kaminari intensely, still pinning Jade, "Look, I'm not proud of it but Jade's not the only half-wizard here. Not all wizards are evil Kaminari, and helping Jade commit genocide will only make them act "evil" as you call it. Misguidance cannot be defeated with misguidance, and hate cannot be defeated with hate."
“I don’t want her hurting anyone, including wizards. I just can’t live with the fact that I let yet another person I love die without doing anything!” he snapped back, “I can restrain her, alright?”
Jade snarled, “Stop talking about me like I’m an object. And you don’t love me. You can’t.”
The Dark Fairy sighed, "Kaminari if you don't listen to reason you're going in the cell with Jade."
He sighed, lost in thought…
Then vanished, a faint rustle being heard. Andrew followed suit, shooting a look of pity at Jade before he left.
Finally, under the cover of invisibility, the tears flowed down Kaminari’s face - tears for Hunter and Jade and the dozens of people he’d hurt. Tears that’d never stop.
Luce looked back at Jade, regret shining in his gaze. Tendrils of shadow restrained her as he got up, the Shadow Warden locking the door before releasing her from the shadow spell.
"I'm sorry."
Yet she barely reacted - all she did was stare at where Kaminari once was, mouthing the words, “Another person I love.”
Luce’s words reached her, “I’m sorry.”
Pointless. All they did was solidify one thing in Jade’s twisted, corrupted, trauma-riddled, mind - that all people did was hate and lie.
The hybrid snapped to attention, “Should I care? An enemy’s apology is worthless to me.”
"Jade, you calling me an enemy is meaningless, you hated me since you met me. As for an apology? Yes, it can be meaningless, but is it meaningless when someone means it?" He reapproached the cell, holding little concern as for what Jade might attempt - he can always become a shadow again, "Even if it's worthless towards you, I'll say it again; I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Hunter died, I'm sorry that you're in here, and I'm sorry... I'm sorry that Shadow used me to hurt you, and I have a feeling that's why you're here right now." His hands were on the bars now, black hair falling in front of purple eyes, "I know you don't care, I know you won't forgive me - even when you know I wasn't the one who did it, I know you won't stop hating me or anyone, but I just wanted to let you know." Luce turned to leave, having nothing else to say.
Maybe he meant well… but to Jade, that didn’t matter.
Regret and repentance were for the weak.
Yet she wanted, she needed to say something, something that would let her know that she was right - that he did hate her. Because he shouldn’t be sorry. He couldn’t.
And say something she did.
”Why did you do it?”
Luce turned.
"I already told you. The Puppet Master? Did the name never seem off to you? That's because I was the puppet. I was just a host for Shadow, nothing more than an empty shell. Even when I wanted to stop myself from doing something... I couldn't, she wouldn't let me. Half the time I wasn't even aware of what was happening, it's a bit hard to explain but... it was like I wasn't even alive, like I was an object. I... honestly don't even remember what Shadow did to you, but I would never willingly hurt someone."
“You don’t?” she asked, slightly shocked, yet that didn’t show. “Would you like a reminder?”
Jade’s voice was harsh, taunting even. She clearly wanted him to know…wanted him to regret.
"No, I don't remember at all. I've tried, to be honest with you, but... I always draw a blank." He sighed, "I'm not sure if I really want to know... but I guess I should know what you hate me for."
Jade looked at the ground - honestly, she didn’t want to remember either.
”If you want gruesome detail, ask Shadow. But all I remember is…” she swallowed, pushing down emotion once more before she kept going, “Pain. A… a lot of it. Thanks to you. And… and you laughed. I think the laugh was worst.”
Jade swallowed again - this was hard, even if she didn’t admit it.
“But if you want to know what you did…”
She held up a wrist, one of her many scars, “Let’s just say you had a very interesting way of restraining me.”
"Do they... still hurt?"
It took Jade a second to reply, her voice now tight and careful, “At night. Around Shadow. Around you. But maybe it’s just my imagination.”
"I think... I think I know what I did." Luce sighed before pulling up a sleeve, revealing a glowing, purple brand, "Shadow used to burn me with it. Gale wouldn't like me admitting it but... she does it to him too, whenever he ignores her."
Jade winced for a second, feeling sympathetic for the first time in quite a while.
Then she remembered herself.
”Great. Should I start crying out of sympathy now? That we share a scar? Well, you deserve it… and so do I.”
She ran a hand across another wound - one that’d never heal. A thick, deep, writhing, gash in her arm, filled with black. This one, one of her many Void wounds, she was proud of.
He sighed yet again, "The sarcasm isn't appreciated, and no... I'm not looking for your sympathy."
“Good. You can leave now… Puppet Master,” she snapped, not meeting his eyes.
"Well if you want to play this game Prodigy, I can arrange that. Yet at least I won't be doing it out of hate." Luce began to leave again, tail hanging low regardless of his confident tone.
Jade watched him go, determined to keep herself together - she wouldn’t break. Not again.
Yet part of her wished she was back to being the Prodigy. Back to having love.
Beyond the cold metal maw of the prison, a time traveler perched, her shock still fresh in her mind after what had happened in the courtroom days ago. She had since occupied herself with espionage, the Barred Configuration having a major share of use for her Red Armor.
Luce made it halfway down the hall before turning back into a shadow and going back.
He won't give up that easily.
Meanwhile, Storm crossed his arms, inside a private room with Korathius. "Look, I get you're worried for Jade, but she'll be back safe and sound if we don't do anything stupid. We're already down to one neutral ground - if we do anything else we might have to fight, and then you'll have right to worry for Jade."
”Safe and sound?” he said, rolling his eyes, “Have you met Jade before? She’ll go insane… or die… or go back to hurting herself. That can’t happen. If we don’t do anything, she’ll die. Don’t you care?”
"Why are you so... difficult?"
When Korathius opened his mouth to retort, the borg waved him off.
"Don't answer that - I don't even get why anyone gets so obsessed with a person. As for your concerns, they're all invalid. She's unarmed, out of harm's way, and there's always someone with her. If you want to be concerned about someone, it should be your z*bing children who have been practically raising themselves for how long? Thirteen, fourteen years?"
He fell silent.
”I… I guess I’m not the best dad… but they’re not in immediate danger of… y’know… she’s on a death sentence and all.”
Korathius didn’t look Storm in the eye - he had been a pretty terrible father.
Suddenly, Kaminari flickered into existence right next to them, panting.
”Luce - Jade - prison - escaped - WOAH THERE STORM-“
The cyborg took a step away from the wizard, raising his hands in defense, "Kaminari, whatever you're thinking stop thinking it."
The fairy sighed, “Thought you were gonna do your Void shenanigans. And she’s in trouble. I don’t know what happened between her and Luce, but…”
"Luce? He's practically harmless. Unless you're Shadow, that is," Storm responded, "I don't see why you're worried."
“No, I’m worried about Jade. And Prodigia definitely won’t take this well. And, if you don’t remember, Luce is the FLUFFING PUPPET MASTER.”
"Kaminari, you're being biased, and I'm aware of what people would think."
“So what?” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms, “Jade’s in trouble, Hunter-“
The room went silent. Completely, absolutely, totally, silent.
It took Kaminari ten seconds before he spoke again, voice significantly smaller, “Jade’s in trouble and I need to help her.”
The borg sighed aggressively, "She. Is. Fine. What the Upsilon is wrong with you people?"
“She’s on a death penalty, insane, scaring me, and everything besides fine,” Kaminari snapped back, still disturbed by the mention of Hunter.
Andrew watched, noting the fact that Opal and Robin were peeking through the doorway.
"She's off the hook for the death penalty, ηλιθία νεράιδα," he exhaled deeply, more exasperated than before, "This," he gestured to the fairy and wizard, "isn't helping anyone. Now go do something HELPFUL before one of us does something stupid."
“We need help,” Opal said from the doorway.
”The refugees aren’t exactly happy with us.”
Storm stared at her before saying, "Annnnd someone did something stupid. What are they fussing about?"
“I mean, we did burn a lot of people, force them out of the camp that we also forced them into… it’s a wonder they haven’t rioted.”
He sighed, casually in the process of turning off his ability to feel anger, "Look, I know all the bullsh-crud we've done, but what are they complaining about, Opal?"
She shrugged, “Everything, I guess. They want us to give them a good reason we’re the ‘good guys’, I guess… and the wizards need to prove themselves too.”
In response, the cyborg muttered something under his breath somewhere along the lines of "...eímai...den...mágos" - whatever that meant - before saying aloud, "Alright then."
Behind them, Juniper sighed, clearly annoyed. Next to her stood her mother, who looked perfectly normal - except for her bloodshot eyes with dark circles under them.
Storm shot Hilda a look of sympathy before darting out the door, presumably to start getting things under control.
Immediately, he was met with a chorus of screams.
”Revolt!”
”We demand justice!”
And a lot of… worse words.
The cyborg breathed deeply, "Can everyone quiet down for a bit?"
When no one listened, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "SHUT THE F**K UP, NOW."
Silence ensued, to the point you could hear the drop of a gold coin if it wasn't for the awkward chuckle of the Storm Trainee.
"I've been informed there has been... questions on if we're the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys'. We are neither - being neutral, that is. All we want to do is help as many people that have been affected by the war, and provide them a place to refuge until a ceasefire is called. By doing so we try as hard as possible not to get directly involved unless it is necessary to keep the peace or obtain food and supplies. I apologize for the recent involvement in the crossfire and the sudden movement to Skywatch - we were not given enough time to respond to affairs, and it ended negatively. If you still question our motives, however, realize you're in my elemental area and if I, or any of the others, were the 'bad guys' we would've taken the opportunity ages ago."
“Then how come you’re keeping us here? How come you caused an attack on us? Maybe some of you are good, but somebody caused the attack,” a man called, clutching his wounded arm. It was bad… the skin was fiery red, and slightly black in some areas.
Kobe backed away.
A single unnoticeable void tendril wrapped itself around Kobe's ankle, stopping him in his tracks.
The caster winced at seeing the man's burns, a painful memory at the edge of his thoughts, "You've been brought here as the Academy's former grounds are no longer considered neutral grounds. I would not willfully cause an attack such as this towards anyone - especially since I've personally been through being burned... worse than you can imagine," he breathed shakily, the trauma he managed to shut out earlier striking, "I am informed of who crossed a line - I can assure you they will be punished."
Kobe was shaking. Aw man... But I'm actually sorry, and I was gonna help for once!
Clearly, the people were still angry - yet let it go.
That was, until somebody resisted, calling out again.
”What about your friend? The insane murderer? Aren’t you going to do something about it, or will you leave it to kill us all?”
There was an immediate minutes of assent. Clearly, Jade wasn’t getting any pardons.
Suddenly, two wizards appeared out of the blue. "Hey, stop being a douchebag and calling her an it!" said Ansat.
"Jade was held in trial not long ago, and I've been messaged regarding her verdict. She has been be confined and will remain in confinement until she regains mental stability," it took Storm every fiber of his being not to cringe at his own words, "I do not believe there is reason for concern."
”It killed my father, my sister, my friends… you expect us to treat it like a good person?” Another person called, voice bitter.
There were more comments, each more scalding than the last.
Cele wanted to move to help Kobe, but she didn't. She didn't know Jade had gone insane, or even why. She was a little curious also a little shocked
"Storm's right! Stop acting like she shot up a bank or something!" said Ben.
"Ben, you're not helping," the borg breathed deeply, "I have not said that, nor have I said not to treat her like a person. I know how you feel, and you may disagree with the court's choices, but note I am unable to do anything about it - even if I wanted to."
There was even more unrest - war crimes and murder were things they wouldn’t let go.
”At the very least kill her.”
”Imprisonment is far too little.”
”She killed too many, she deserves to join them!”
”If you won’t kill her, we will!”
“How do we know you’re not the same way?”
”Her trainee should perish as well!”
”Her family!”
“For killing ours!”
It was a complete uproar now - and the problem was, the people were absolutely right.
Ansat got increasingly angry. He started roaring and shouting a bunch of swear words. He then turned to walk away. Before he started walking, he turned his head around to face the crowd, smirked, and wagged his finger.
Storm looked aghast, unsure what else to say - and he didn't. He sighed before turning to face Korathius, who had come out as well, wide-eyed, but the cyborg found no words and simply pushed past him.
A dirty-blonde haired wizard watched silently, flinching with each word.
From mentions of their own children dying to mentions of herself, Hilda was breaking every second.
Ben was confused and upset. "Wow, I never thought that going insane would get you so much hate. I really had it lucky when I was 13."
Unfortunately for him, while he thought that he was thinking it, he had said it out loud, in front of everybody.
The crowd kept pushing, screaming now, getting angrier and angrier - they wanted justice.
Ben was thinking of how to calm the crowd down, without using violence.
Above, Aria's form cast a dark figure against the sun. She watched as the uproar continued, her face contorted into some mixture of sorrow and apathy.
This was going to happen, and she knew it.
Long, long ago, she had foreseen.
Ben was still thinking, when Kobe whistled for his Dragling.
The crowd turned to the Dragling skittering towards Kobe, pieces clicking in their heads. Did it make the right picture? No.
They gasped, thinking he was going to attack them. Pushing harder, screaming for justice, bewildering everybody… there was no way to stop them.
Dragling stood in front of Kobe, seeing the crowd, and being ready to defend its trainer.
Yet the crowd kept pushing, screaming, clearly angry to the point of insanity.
Cele watched, her hand was gripped on the katana instinctively.
Dragling ran up to his trainer, who was restrained. His scales were blue, and his wings had gotten bigger. He also seemed taller than usual.
Unfortunately, the crowd misread the situation, and started causing more of a panic. Some wizards had stormed towards Kobe, holding wands.
One of the wizards fired a spell at Kobe, only for it to be fired at by Dragling.
Or, was it a Dragling?
It seems that, somehow, for some unrealistic reason, Dragling grew a neck. Only, it wasn't a Dragling anymore.
This was a Tarragon.
Tarragon roared, and scared some of the wizards off.
Cele ran towards Kobe, trying to free him from the tentacle
The crowd stopped attacking Kobe - instead they turned to Storm, shouting one thing.
Justice.
A staff was stuck into the ground next to Storm, creating a forcefield.
The borg shot Ben an annoyed glance, before... vanishing?
Storm phased into existence a good distance away, deciding to watch instead of interact - he just couldn't get involved again. Not now, especially not now.
Ben looked confused. "What was his problem? I was only trying to help." he muttered.
It then dawned on him. Not why Storm shot him an annoyed glance, but the fact that there was a whole mob that he had to try and deal with without hurting them.
Kaminari sighed, taking care to keep control before he sent a blast of wind at the mob, trapping everybody in a weak whirlwind - just powerful enough to trap them.
”Look, I know you want revenge. And I know Jade did a lot of horrible things. But if any of you are from the Storm Tribe, you’ll remember me. And this is proof that people can change, and you have to hope Jade’s change for the better.”
Tarragon roared in agreement. Kobe didn't say anything. He was too busy being awestruck by his newly evolved Tarragon.
There were murmurs of disagreement.
”You killed a few people. She killed dozens.”
Kaminari flinched at the reminder, but kept going, “Quality over quantity. A murder is a murder, but if I can change and grow, so can Jade.”
Ben spoke up. "Yeah, like the time that I burnt down a forest in a fit of rage when I was 13, but now, I'm a functional person. If I can move on from being a psychopath, Jade can too!"
Everybody turned to glare at him.
”We have a psychopath building weapons? No wonder the fireballs came!”
Chaos, screams, calls for justice.
When all looked lost…
It got even worse.
The wizard army of Prodigia had arrived.
Kobe facepalmed, before getting an idea. If he were to tell everybody that he was the one crossing the border, nobody else would be getting any trouble.
So he spoke up. "Uncle Ben isn't the one that set off the fireballs! I was the one crossing the border, so you should all be pissed at me!" he said.
The wizards and fairies immediately turned to him, aghast.
Immediately, the boy was tackled, the wizards soon overpowering him and his pets.
How bad will this get? thought Kobe.
Despite the protests and attempts to free Kobe and reason with them, the crowd was angry.
And the wizards wore only smug smirks.
Kobe was being walked over to a certain person - one of the generals.
His brown eyes were cold, his raven hair tied neatly back, and the most striking part of his appearance was the long, hastily stitched scar across his face.
”A child?”
Kobe chuckled sheepishly.
He looked empathetic - after all, punishing a child was quite a low bar.
”What’s your name, kid… and where are your guardians? I’ll have to have a talk with them.”
"I- I'm Kobe Lightningheart, and I don't know where my parents are." said Kobe.
“Lightningheart… like that half-brained - uh, I mean, Ansat Lightningheart?”
When Kobe nodded nervously, he continued, “I’m General Clearprism. Do you know where your father is? He’ll need to be sentence accordingly, and we’ll have to take care of you.”
"Uhh, I don't know where he is. Last time I saw him, he was trying to deal with the angry mob peacefully."
“Your mother?”
Kobe shrugged, “I dunno.”
”Then answer this for me: why did you sneak over the border? We’ve seen others slip over, but we didn’t know they were so young. But next time, don’t do it… you have to be careful.”
"I snuck over the border because I wanted the war to stop. Everything is really bad now, and I just missed everything going back to normal."
“And you think that would’ve helped? Does nobody teach you basic logic?”
"Well, I did think it would help. It's not my fault that I didn't know!"
He looked incredulous.
”What do you mean, ‘it’s not your fault?’ This was negligence, arson, and assault and battery - your guardians will be punished and you properly brought up.”
Meanwhile, at the very edge of the crowd, a specific Ice Fairy looked... annoyed.
"Great, the idiot is back."
Rai blinked, "Wait, what do you mean-" Before he could even finish, a dark blue cat, notably a mountain lion cub, was sneaking up behind the wizard general as if he was mere prey.
Nathan quietly slipped away at the mention of arson.
"Hey, you can't take me away from my parents! Leave them out of this! It was my fault, and they had nothing to do with it!" said Kobe.
“They were being far too lenient, and you are being both negligent and brash.”
"I don't care if I'm being negligent, YOU AREN'T TAKING ME AWAY FROM MY PARENTS!"
“Yes we can - at least temporarily. I’m sorry, young man, but this is war - and you caused many to lose their family, permanently.”
Kobe was helped to his feet, and promptly they began to drag him away.
Jax noticed the mountain lion cub creep up on the general, preparing to leap. "Glace, NO-"
The warning cry came too late.
Claws were outstretched, with the intent to grate.
A yowl sounded across the clearing as a blur of blue was directed right at the general's face.
Claws dug into hastily sewn stitches as the mountain lion rabbit kicked him, back claws digging into flesh out of sheer and utter fury.
He yelped, tossing the cat away… and then he noticed it.
A silent realization, a curl of his fists, a deep breath to stay calm.
”That cat. Inspect it.”
Kobe was seething with rage. He had owned up to his mistake, and now his parents are being blamed for it.
The cat hissed before darting out of the way of incoming hands, swiping at the general's ankles.
Before dashing between his legs and launching itself at his back, claws raking down and tearing clothing as the mountain lion refused to let go.
Kobe yelled for his Tarragon.
The cat was immediately blasted by an Astral spell so powerful it fell down, crashing into the dirt.
Two rough hands picked it up, General Clearprism frowning down at it.
Tarragon started roaring really loudly.
White arms were thrust into the general, causing him to drop Glace as he toppled over forwards from the force that was driven into him by an outraged albino wizard.
"Your totalitarian shtick is no match for my magical beasties!" said Kobe.
Immediately, Jax was blasted to the ground, with much more force - a crack could be heard when he hit the ground.
Hope sat up, yawning and stretching, before turning her head to the angry mob. "What the-JAX?!"
Tarragon breathed fire in front of itself, scorching the place.
Andrew promptly flew in and picked Jax and Glace up, tossing them to the side to be tended to by the now alone Juniper. Then he got to work, lightning taking care of a half-dozen wizards.
Robin was sending arrows everywhere, taking care not to hit any fatal spots. He was at an advantage - there was complete chaos, but he could distinguish the whoosh of a spear’s swing and the shhhk of a sword being drawn.
Arrow after arrow after arrow… he could‘ve killed all the wizards, and yet they didn’t even notice him.
Opal ducked under a person’s legs, knocked them over, did an aerial over everybody else, and landed gracefully on the ground before sending a blast of light in every direction.
When a weapon got a bit too close for comfort, she whipped out her pocketknife, parrying the strike of a spear and stabbing a wizard in the arm.
Chlorophyll was flying about, tiny teeth biting at people’s limbs and translucent green wings beating hard enough to block their vision. He allowed Opal to finish the job with her pocketknife and a “borrowed” dagger.
And the whole time, she managed to keep her gum in her mouth.
Kobe yelled for Cloud Neek, and it knocked out people with electrically charged punches.
Cele ducked, rolled under a person and flipped. Grabbing his head in process, causing him to just slam his own head into the ground. As well as blasting bolts of lightning everywhere
Surrounded? No problem, she spun in place as they got closer and all got sliced in a moment's notice. Her Shiver & Scorch were bursting flames and rows of dangerously sharp ice spikes
Meanwhile, pets were wrecking complete and utter havoc.
A Funkeel, a Luminite, an Arboreal, a Battaram, a ClipClop… Korathius had too many to count.
A translucent wall formed in front of Glace, Juniper, and Jax - separating them from the mob, hard as stone to anyone hostile.
The next few minutes were utter chaos, what could only be described as an elemental meteor shower pelting the remaining wizards of the hostile army. Spikes of hardened earth shot upward out of the ground with the movement of a hand, impaling those who dared get near to the caster.
The caster was no other than Rai, his vision glowing a bright orange as a final burst of magic dealt one last round of damage - heaven and earth tore open above and below the army, stone impaling, geo crashing, and life being twisted in a sick way, all in the elegant, gentle patterning of flower and star.
Cele disappeared and the next second she appeared, there was trail of blood behind her, and some cuts on her arms
Eventually, the fighting calmed… but the people did not.
“We were attacked!”
”This is against law!”
”Assault!”
”Injustice!”
”Tyrants!”
Kobe decided to take the opportunity to flee with his pets while nobody is looking. This time, it wasn't for his own gain, but for his own safety.
A wizard phased into reality again, a bat-like creature perching on his shoulder as the borg walked to where everyone could see him, "QUIET. WE DID NOT START THIS FIGHT, THE WIZARD ARMY DID. IF YOU WANT TO ACCUSE SOMEONE OF ASSAULT, GO AHEAD AND LEAVE. IF YOU WANT TO ACCUSE ME OF TYRANNY, GO AHEAD AND LEAVE. IF YOU WANT TO ACCUSE WITH MORE OF YOUR SO-CALLED "INJUSTICES", GO AHEAD AND LEAVE." He breathed, having everyone's attention at this point, "Yet I'm sure as hell none of you want to go running into a war, but if you want to leave, I won't stop you, yet you're going to have the respect the fact none of you are in authority as long as you remain in Skywatch, even if you have authority elsewhere. It's been this way for forty years and none of you can change that."
Cele looked at her arms, blood was basically streaming from them
Glares from the wizards met them, and then inexplicably, sobs.
That’s when they remembered… there were more than enemies here. There were refugees, who had lost even more people now.
A little girl stepped up - she couldn’t have been more than five. One hand was clutching an even younger boy, two years old at the most.
”Are… you going to kick us out? Mommy said she’d be back here.”
Kobe walked over to the edge of the clouds, and sat there, his eyes filled with tears.
Cele collapsed on the floor, her Shiver & Scorch squealed for help.
Kobe heard a thud, and ran over to go check it out.
He saw Cele lying on the ground.
Immediately, she was helped to her feet by Opal, who grabbed simple white bandages from her backpack and taken care of.
”What happened?” she muttered, adjusting the bandages carefully.
"Judging by the amount of blood on her arms, I'd say that it's blood loss." said Kobe.
“Obviously, I’m the healer here. I’m just wondering how she was hurt so badly.”
Cele didn't say anything, just stared at the blood surrounding her.
Without saying anything, she picked up and sheathed her katana. "Thanks", she said.
"Are you okay?" asked Kobe.
Cele nodded, looking at Opal and Kobe and then the sky.
"What're you looking up for? Are there flying pets that I can catch?"
“Quiet, Kobe,” Opal lectured quietly. Her tone wasn’t rude or harsh, but it was stern and gentle, “Celestina’s… thinking.”
"Oh, okay." said Kobe.
Meanwhile, Robin sat down, twirling an arrow in his fingers boredly.
“Opal, you’re hurt,” Juniper said, kneeling next to her. She pointed to the two-inch deep gash in her arm, “Spear wound. Come on.”
The girl didn’t respond, only went back to bandaging Celestina.
“Opal,” Juniper sighed, hands on her hips.
She adjusted the bandages again before muttering, “What?”
”Let me tend to that.”
The wizard tugged away, “I’ll be fine. Healers gotta heal.”
”Well, one healer to another, sit down and let me treat that wound.”
Opal groaned, “Fine.”
Storm shot a concerned glance at Celestina before turning to the two children, softening his tone, "No, I won't kick you out."
The girl hugged her brother closer, “Then can you get Mommy? Please? Connor’s hurt, and-“ she sniffed, gulping back a sob, “Daddy’s gone somewhere, but we can’t join him. I hope I can finally see him.”
Cele finally looked down.
Wattage watched the children in interest, while Storm simply sighed, gaze unreadable, "I don't know where your mother is, but I know someone who can help your brother - and someone who can find your mother for you."
“Thank you.”
The little boy tugged on his sister’s arm, babbling something incomprehensible.
The girl looked down, “Connor wants to know why you have machines on your body.”
The borg tensed up, before realizing they were addressing his brace, "Oh uh... I don't really like to talk about that, but um... I can't really move my arm without it."
Connor’s eyes lit up, the boy giggling and drooling.
The girl smiled, “He says you’re like a superhero. What’s your name?”
"Storm, Storm Dreamchaser. And what's yours?"
“Faith. I… I don’t know my last name. Daddy left, and Mommy never told me. She said she’s a… a… ar-fen.”
Both pet and owner stared at them with equal shock, Wattage recover first. The Zipzap leaped to the ground and padded up to the two, rubbing against their legs comfortingly.
Storm forced a weak smile as he held out his hand, "Well then, Faith, I should probably get you two to Juniper so she can help Connor feel better, okay?"
Kobe was lying down, pondering his life choices.
Connor, however, tugged away. He shook his head, babbling, “Find ma.”
Before he could move, Opal sat down next to him, hugging the boy close.
His green eyes were wide, yet he began to sink into the embrace. Juniper had Faith in a similarly tight hold, kissing the little girl’s forehead and brushing back her brown hair.
The little girl looked up, whispering, “What was that?”
Juniper blinked back tears, “A hug.”
"Hey, guys. What's going on?" asked Kobe.
Faith glanced at him, fear shining in her eyes, and immediately picked Connor up, mustering up what little strength she had.
”Let’s go, okay?”
The toddler nodded, “Hug?”
”Later.”
Cele just watched, and her biggest wish that she wanted to happen was a little sibling.
"Who's the kid?" asked Kobe.
Faith flinched, wordlessly holding Connor tighter.
The boy was still watching Kobe with fear, edging away with a slight limp.
"Don't worry, I don't bite."
All they did was limp away, however Connor slipped and fell, a tiny whimper escaping him.
Juniper immediately rushed over to help, saying quietly, “Don’t worry, he isn’t bad.”
“But he - he made the fireballs come.”
Kobe took a step forward, "I'm not bad, just impulsive."
Opal shot him a warning look. Clearly, he wasn’t helping.
Meanwhile, Kaminari and Andrew were preparing somewhere for all the refugees to stay… yet there wasn’t nearly enough.
Ben crash landed besides the two of them. "Hey, guys. What's up?"
Cele jumped.
With a slight smile, Faith walked towards Juniper, still a bit wary. The wizard soon got to work tending Connor’s injuries, sucking in a sharp breath upon noticing the extent of the burn. His ankle was twisted to the side, a huge black-red burn overtaking his foot. It was a wonder he wasn’t on the ground sobbing and screaming.
"Hey, kids! When you're done getting your injuries treated, do ya wanna see my pets?" asked Kobe, genuinely trying to be nice.
Above, Aria's utter irrelevance had locked her in shocked stigma since the conflict. Now feed of the shackles of an entity's unwillingness to do anything, she took watch from the sky over the masses.
Opal placed a hand on his shoulder, hissing, “Don’t. Let us take care of it, okay?”
"Okay, okay!" said Kobe, backing away.
Storm looked on silently, something clearly being on his mind.
One too many things.
The borg was fighting the urge to subconsciously touch the left side of his face, being constantly reminded of the burn beginning there, reaching down his neck and going until it reached the sole of his foot.
He sighed, his Zipzap inspecting Connor's burn before glancing at the borg knowingly.
Kobe sighed and went back to playing with his pets.
Opal watched the cyborg and wizard, wanting to help them - but nobody could stop Storm’s memories.
Instead, she and Juniper turned to the little boy, one of them fixing the wound while the other comforted him.
Faith never left Connor’s side, their tiny hands intertwined so tightly it’d take a bomb to blast them apart.
After an hour of work, Juniper looked up and…
Too many.
Dozens upon dozens of injured, of nearly dead, of already dead. It was too much.
After a few minutes, Cloud Neek was squeaking and pointing the Connor and Faith.
"Nah, we can't go over there. Apparently, I can't help." said Kobe.
Cloud Neek ignored Kobe, and walked over to Connor.
The little boy giggled, grabbing the Neek and tossing it up in the air.
His laugh soon turned into a sob, however - the wound still burned. A lot.
Cloud Neek patted the little boy on the head, and reached its hand inside of its robe.
It pulled out a lollipop. Best not to ask what a lollipop was doing in there.
His eyes widened, the toddler turning to his sister in confusion.
Faith looked up at Opal, murmuring, “Is it okay?”
She nodded. “It’s candy.”
”Candy?”
Connor had already but the lollipop, gasping as the taste filled his mouth. He’d never felt something so sweet - and he hadn’t eaten in quite a while.
Cloud Neek squeaked happily.
Juniper smiled… then turned to the straggling line of people.
Burns, wounds, blood… and limp bodies far beyond saving.
They needed all the help they could get.
As the adults, Kobe, and Opal helped tend to the injured, Rai was gazing at the fallen soldiers, slumping to the ground in a state of total and utter shock.
He had hurt those people - wizards that had tried to hurt them, but people nevertheless.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as his tail curled around him, no words capable of describing how he felt.
He felt guilty beyond belief... but what really scared him? The fact he felt nothing when he had done it, nothing except a sudden crave to kill.
Kobe also saw the line, and commanded Tarragon to go find some herbal leaves in a garden.
Kobe then pulled out a flute from his bag. He started playing it. It certainly didn't heal anybody, but it put their minds at ease.
Opal and Juniper got to work immediately, both of them so exhausted that solid black circles were imprinted under their eyes and they sometimes fell asleep right on top of their patients.
The two kept going, but the operations were getting messier and messier.
Eventually, Juniper started treating burn wounds with bandages and Opal began blocking out blood with compresses.
Clearly, the two couldn’t function for long.
Ben walked up to them. "Ladies. Why don't you take a break. I can handle this." he said.
He threw two discs onto the ground, and they transformed into tubes.
"So we put the patients inside of the chamber, then we give them goggles and air tanks. The chamber starts filling up with some healing water I found at a spring, and the patient stays inside for 15 minutes. The chamber drains into a tank, so we can reuse the water. The chamber door is glass, so the patients don't get claustrophobic." said Ben.
Storm breathed, dismissed his thoughts, then informed Ben, "I'm pretty sure that'll make some people feel worse than before - half can barely stand. And reusing the water, even if it's so-called healing water, is the easiest way to spread illness or cause an infection. How about I help instead? I know a thing or two from Abner."
Opal frowned, “I heard like ten words, but I don’t think we should be gassing them. We need proper care.”
She gestures to where she was trying to splint an ankle using two cans of disinfectant.
”Okay, maybe we need help. But not that.”
"Don't worry, this is natural spring water. I've even tested it, the patients felt great afterwards!"
Juniper winced, “I seriously doubt that.”
Storm stared at Ben blankly, "Exactly who did you test it on?"
"I tested it on some animals, and some pets, and some kids, and... Okay, maybe it's not properly optimized for adults."
"Kids?" The borg's tone went from concerned to hostile, static present in the air.
"Wait, wait, wait! I asked their parents first! Don't get the wrong idea!"
Juniper sighed, “Well, sort this out, I’ll be taking Opal to…”
”You’re going to bed too.”
”Fine.”
The young wizard shot Ben a tired yet stern look. “Just don’t gas kids, okay?”
Juniper chucked, “It’s kind of sad that you’re being lectured by a fifteen year old…”
Faith and Connor, meanwhile, were tugging on Kaminari’s arm, whispering a question.
”Where’s Mommy?”
Storm shot Ben a glare, a small rift opening and dropping the visor he left behind into his palm. He quickly sent out a message to Aria regarding searching for the two children's mother, then stored the device in a pocket and began to help the injured to the best of his ability.
Yet there were too many, far too many.
And some of them didn’t want his help.
”I can handle it, cyborg.”
”You act so kind, yet you caused this.”
“My father’s gone thanks to you, I don’t want you helping me,” a boy hissed, jaw clenched as not to cry or scream. “Feytal.”
Tarragon came back without any leaves, and Kobe was tired from playing the flute for so long. All of this will be over. he thought.
At first, Storm attempted to defend his case, eventually giving up and tending only to those who accepted it. Yet he didn't hesitate to shock someone unconsciousness if their injures were concerning enough - careful not to let anyone notice, of course.
He had Wattage fetch supplies so things would take less time, trying to help before injures began to worsen. Yet there were still enough things left he had to send out Ice as well, Rai soon shapeshifting and helping too - trying to distract himself from the earlier events.
Eventually, all there was left to do was bury the dead.
Kobe whistled for Cloaker, and told him to go find some food, and told Triptrop to go and search for available space for sleep.
Aria's watch drifted towards the opposing territory, even though she could barely see anythng from the distance.
She could only grimace.
Cloaker came back with some food, and Kobe handed it out to some of the refugees.
Unsurprisingly, his attempt at doing something right for once was met with scowls from the adult refugees, and looks of fear from the child refugees.
Families and the alone alike huddled on the ground, sobbing. And while the army wanted justice, all the refugees wanted was peace.
Since almost nobody took the food that Kobe gave them, he decided to feed his pets with it.
"Eat up, guys." he said.
While the adults argued and bickered amongst themselves, each wanting to have the most supply… all the children did was play.
Faith giggled as she played a game with another little girl, a year or so younger, that seemed to be nothing besides hand waving, clapping, and joy.
Connor clutched his lollipop, yet when he saw an infant, to young to even realize that his mother and father were long gone, he gave it to the baby - something that the adults looked down upon.
Food was shared amongst tiny, grubby, hands, laughs rang through the room, and the children were happy.
But how?
Meanwhile, Storm sighed, glancing at Rai, "You'll be okay... right?"
The Astral Fairy didn't answer, but Earth Magic was manipulated to make the first set of graves.
They had decided to bury the dead at the lower Bean-o- vator, just off the edge of the Storm Tribe Territory, the occasionally fey eyeing them but not interrupting.
A rift opened for them to easily move the dead, continuing the grave work until they buried all those who had been killed during the assaults on neutral grounds.
The rift closed and another opened, Rai giving the borg an odd look.
"The people Jade killed."
Wordlessly, the two shuffled through the rift, Storm soon discovering why Aria hasn't responded to his message yet.
As that rift closed another opened, allowing them to begin to transport the bodies for burial, the adults onlooking silently.
Cloud Neek had finished eating first, and ran off to go play with the children.
Bodies, too many bodies… bodies that neither Juniper nor Opal could glance at.
Jade was their family. How could she kill so many?
Yet all thoughts were blasted out of their minds when they remembered the children, still beaming until they saw the bodies.
Opal’s eyes met Faith’s, who had just recognized a mane of brown curls - one identical to hers.
The little girl gasped, grin breaking across her face when she saw the person.
Bandages covered her body entirely, her chest was unmoving, and nobody turned to help her - but that didn’t matter to Faith.
“Mommy!” she cried, rushing to her, Connor scrambling to catch up.
“Mommy, you’re back - it’s been so long - can you…”
Her voice faded when she saw how still she was, curious eyes turning to the solemn Storm.
“Why is Mommy sleeping?”
Connor tugged on his sister’s arm, muttering, “Ma. Hug.”
Faith tried to walk towards her, but she was held back by a sorrowful Opal.
“Let her sleep, okay?”
The little girl hung her head. “Okay… why is she sleeping? Can I see her? Please? Can I give her a hug?”
No response.
Kobe took once glance at the situation, and broke down crying.
Storm exhaled deeply, turning to Rai, who was already on the verge of tears.
Neither of them could keep this up for long.
Somewhere on the island, Luce was drumming his fingers on the wall, watching Jade.
The hybrid had attempted to threaten and intimidate him into leaving, only for the Dark Fairy to stay, determined to talk to her.
She only glared at him.
”If you want something out of me, say it. What do you want? A confession? I’m a murderer. I’m a monster. I’m a villain. Why would you want to talk?”
The Shadow Warden didn't meet her gaze, "Why did you do it?"
“You know why I did it, alright?” Jade snapped, “This is war. Why are you really here? What do you want?”
He simply repeated his question, "That's not an answer Jade, why did you do it?"
“And I’m not answering that, alright? Leave me alone. You’re not getting anything out of this.”
"Then I won't leave," Luce responded, sitting on the floor, "and nothing you say can convince me otherwise... besides an actual answer, of course."
Jade glared at him for a count of five before looking away and snapping, “Guess you’ll be staying here forever then.”
"I highly doubt that."
Meanwhile, Nathan began to approach the kids, opening his mouth, before a hand clasped over it, Hope dragging him away. "Don't. You. Dare."
The hybrid found herself staring at the now-bloody handcuffs around her purple wrists, so similar to those bonds.
Luce’s eyes pierced her through the bars, but all she did was look away - there was no way he was getting her to talk.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, belonging to an Ivory Fairy. He stopped not far from Jade's cell, looking from Luce to the hybrid.
Gale didn't approach farther, simply watched.
She immediately fixated her eyes on him, glare unnervingly harsh.
A smirk crossed her face. ”Shadow got my message?”
His eyes narrowed, clearly not as easily frightened as before, "She heard the minute you said it, and I prefer not being an elemental plaything."
Jade shrugged, remotely undisturbed.
“You can’t hurt me, so I don’t really care how you feel. What did she say?”
He open his mouth to say something only to be cut off by Luce.
"No, you're not getting an answer until you answer my question."
“Why do you care anyway?” the hybrid said, twisting her wrists and smiling as blood trickled down her arm. “You never care.”
He cocked his head slightly, tail curled in a question mark shape, "Are you sure about that?"
“You didn’t care when you were torturing me, or when I was killing the enemy, or when they imprisoned me - though for all I know, you were happy,” she spat, wrists bloody.
"That... was different. Shadow didn't care. As for when you went on a killing rampage, frankly, yes, I did care. Otherwise, I would've stayed behind, now would I? As for that last bit, why don't you answer my question and find out for yourself?"
Jade kept glaring, “Does it matter? If you did care, you’d let me out - and you haven’t. But I don’t care much either way.”
The majority of her arms were red now, and the cuffs were glistening with blood… which only made her smile.
Luce eyed the wound she was inflicting on herself, struggling to keep his tone steady, "I would let you out, but I can't, not until you answer my question. Yet you do care, otherwise you wouldn't be mad at me... or yourself."
She shrugged, “You can think you care, that I care, but I don’t. So leave - you’re not getting your answer, no matter what you do.”
Her gaze fell on Gale.
”He’d love to force me to talk. Why don’t you do it? Use your weapons, or Shadow, or anything you have.”
Surprisingly, the Ivory Fairy smiled ever so slightly, "You don't know, do you?"
"Gale, don't-"
"You really don't know what they're going to do? Jade, if you keep this up, I won't be forcing you to talk, no, I'll have the pleasure of another matter entirely."
“Fine, do it. Kill me now,” she responded calmly, barely blinking.
He boredly inspected a hand, "Oh, I would love to, but it's not that simple, Jade. Technically, lawfully, you have to be proven that you passed the point of no return."
Luce stood up, glaring at him, "Gale-"
"Luce, stop it, I knew you wouldn't be able to get any proof out of her."
"You knew? Or did Shadow know?"
"What if I told you both?"
“Fine,” she retaliated, just as gleeful as him. “Do it. Let Shadow out. Let her traumatize me. I’ve grown. I want to be tortured, so please, by all means, do it.”
Deep within the circulatory system of the hybrid, the pain of the void scratched and clawed against her flesh, the abyssal bite intensifying at the mention of Shadow.
The pain was power.
Out at the maw of the prison, purple liquid creeps along the walls, drawn to 2 hosts in the same place.
"You wish," as quickly as he started his threats he left, smug at knowing he hurt her in a worse way - depriving her of abuse. However, his quickness to leave wasn't to avoid speaking to her, but more of to properly yell at a certain pseudo-elemental regarding the solidified void.
The hybrid rolled her eyes, “See, Luce? Nobody cares. And that’s just how I like it.”
Black blood was overtaking her now, seeming… alive almost.
The Shadow Wardened grimaced, "Look, I'm still staying, because your family cares if you die, as well as I."
“Gale doesn’t care. Follow his example. Now get out and leave me alone.”
The liquid void did not deter, rushing in the corners of the hall towards Jade's cell.
The more Void moved, the more Jade smiled - after all, she was a Voidwalker, and the Void was hers.
Meanwhile, Connor was tugging on his sister’s arm, repeating over and over, “Ma. Hug.”
Juniper gulped back a sob, “Later, Connor. Your mother will wake up… later.”
Kobe was sobbing, because he was pretty much responsible for this.
Raiden stared at Kobe, mostly out of annoyance, "Get up you idiot, moping around won't fix anything."
Nearby, a blue cat was grooming itself intensely, focused on tending to its injuries - fully unaware of the looks Connor and Faith were giving it.
“Kitty!” the girl squealed, grabbing the cat. Clutching it by the tail, she smashed her own face into its fur and laughed, getting spit all over it.
Kobe got, up, and wiped his tears.
The cat hissed and squirmed, all which was ignored.
Aurora walked over, having been helping hand out food and supplies, "Um... that's not actually a ca- y'know what? Nevermind..."
Both children were wrangling the poor Glace, attracting more and more people until eventually two dozen toddlers were sitting around, playing with a highly annoyed cat, who they’d aliased “Silly kitty.”
While the children were distracted, Storm and Rai solemnly buried the rest of the dead, finishing just as Glace was about to swipe at a toddler - only to be tackled by the tabby form of Rai, soon both being cuddled by one too many children.
Back in a certain prison cell, a hybrid and fairy were glaring at each other, one with fake amusement dancing in their gaze, the other dead serious.
“Alyss.”
She sneered at the name, “Jade.”
The two kept the gaze for roughly ten seconds before the hybrid sighed, leaning back and raising her eyebrows at the Ice Fairy.
“Well, laugh it all up in my face. Tell me you knew it was coming. Tell me I deserve this.”
When Aly hesitated, frowning, Jade rolled her eyes, “Get on with it. Even in prison, I don’t have all day.”
“Well, you do deserve this. You killed countless people without reason, even when they pleaded surrender. We told you not to do this but yet you did.”
A furry blue tail lashed back and forth, the fairy trying to remain formal but her burning anger visible.
The hybrid sighed, shifting her handcuffs to reveal the dark bloody mess. Aly didn’t flinch, of course - she’d seen much worse before.
“Hm… thought maybe you’d be jealous. After all-“
Jade flashed her a taunting smile, “I’m more of an Icetalon than you are now.”
The Ice Warden hissed, "How dare you-"
"Oh? So you care now? Interesting..."
"Interesting? Interesting? You dare to insult me, half-sapan, and think I wouldn't care? Disgusting."
“No, I think you care a little too much about what I think of you, Alyss.”
The fairy's hiss turned to a low growl, Gale having to step in, "Aly, calm down."
"Heh. Need Gale to help you, don’t you? Can’t handle a ‘half-sapan’ behind bars?” Jade smirked, watching her.
Aly looked as if she was about to retort, before being led away by the Ivory Fairy.
The hybrid couldn’t help getting the last strike, “Only a matter of time before you join me anyway.”
The winged time traveler could not simply hover and stare at the two territories forever.
With twin streaks of platinum and snowy white trailing from the wingtips at the edges of her Bladewings, Aria soared across the border, eyes scanning the landscape for any answer to who had taken up the mantle of what she referred to as "the High Chief Ras'eest".
At Skwatch, the children continued to play with the felines, oblivious to the wizard sitting against a tent.
Tears.
More tears.
Hilda was flipping through the pages of a book - no, the book.
Each rustle the paper made brought on another tear, another regret.
Pain, love, confusion, joy… children.
She knew she’d lose them someday, but she’d expected more time.
First Hunter…
The amber eyes like Florian, the brown hair, the way he cried so loud Gale heard him outside the Archives.
A tear traced its way across Hilda’s cheek.
Then Jade…
The green eyes unlike them both, the hair just a tad lighter, the way she winced at the light like she was expecting immediate pain.
More were ferociously scrubbed away.
Now Juniper…
The purple eyes from her, the pale brown hair, the utter curiosity she had.
Hunter dead, forever and irreversible.
Jade gone, succumbed to a fate worse than death.
Juniper might as well have been, her constant business and the way she slipped out of Hilda’s grasp.
Did being a mother, an immortal one, have to be this hard?
Back at the prison, a red-haired warden approached the cell, childish demeanor obvious from the way his hair flopped over his face to the fact his Pyro Peck was perched on his shoulder. "Jade, lighten up a bit, won't you? We want you out of the cell, not to join in ourselves. Besides... if we did join in things might get a bit... fiery."
“Oh my god, just get out, Chase,” the hybrid grumbled - she was too annoyed to get angry.
"Well, we're off to a rocky start, now aren't we?"
“Look, I’m sick and tired of attacking people, and I’m a bit busy,” Jade snapped. With every word she spoke, she twisted the handcuffs more, black writhing blood covering her body.
Behind the wardens, a gray fairy leaned against a wall, tail flicking back and forth. Next to the fairy, visible by only him, was the ghost of an aged man watching the Earth Warden. He was pale as a ghost could get, gaze fixed on the scene playing out before him.
The fairy showed little concern, simply saying just audible enough for the spirit to hear, "Now do you see why she was a bad choice?"
Not far, sitting cross-armed on the ground was Aly, shooting Gale a curious glance before resuming in sulking, the occasional glare being shot in Jade's direction.
Jade glared in Gale’s direction, ignoring Chase entirely.
”Why are you still here?”
The Academy Keeper shrugged, looking quite smug, "Reasons. You don't really have a say on me staying or not."
“Well, if you’re staying here, do me a favor.”
If you could ignore the chains, the bars, and the blood, you could mistake this for a casual conversation - yet it was anything but.
”Ask them when they plan to kill me. Hopefully, you’ll get a few licks in before it happens.”
The present ghost was aghast, but the fairy ignored him, "Why should I do you that favor? It's way more fun when you least expect it."
Jade shrugged, “Not giving you a reason.”
A pause…
“Interesting how quickly you changed.”
Gale frowned, “Elaborate.”
”Aly said you cared a little, but just a week and now you don’t care at all. Can’t blame you, but it’s interesting to say the least. What if Aly changed like this? Would you stop caring about her? What about the Wardens? Hilda? Your own children? If Glace was the one behind bars, would you care?”
The hybrid didn’t look at all nervous - after all, she had absolutely nothing to lose. On the contrary, she had no emotion at all while she spoke, just a bit of curiousity.
"If I answered that question, I'll be predictable, now won't I? I prefer you not knowing my next move based on my judgment."
“Well, I can’t say you’re predictable… but I think you wouldn’t care. Prove me wrong, but I’ve never seen someone more emotionless… unless, of course, I look in a mirror - which I don’t.”
"Well, he is kinda gray," Chase chirped childishly.
Both fairy and hybrid swiveled around to glare at the Fire Warden so intensely he backed away.
”Okay, geez, sorry…”
Aly got up, tail lashing for balance, "Well, none of us are managing to persuade Jade of anything so I think we should go- Luce?"
The Dark Fairy had crossed his arms, eyes narrowed, "I'm staying."
“You’re nearly as stubborn as me,” the hybrid remarked, “Nearly. So stay here, get out - I’m not answering any of your questions.”
Meanwhile, at the abandoned refugee camp, the fire raged on.
Three wizards stood at the edge of the clearing watching it burn, the flickering flames causing shadows to dance before them.
The blond-haired wizard spoke first, "Storm wasn't kidding, this is a bad fire."
The brown-haired wizard cracked his knuckles, "Perfect."
"You better not do anything crazy," informed a half-merling, green-blue eyes filled with concern.
"Oh, I won't."
The instant he said it, the fire wizard dashed into the flames, a hand being raked through the burning plasma as it was redirected to the center of the clearing. Red magical essence was present among the sparks in the air, causing the fire to shine brighter as it concentrated into a blazing sphere.
Soon, the fire was retreating from the forest, joining the mass of what only could be described as a pseudo-sun. Ash blackened the fire wizard's clothing, who didn't seem to care, a slight smile on his face as he manipulated the plasma.
This is what he was good at.
The two other wizards watched tensely, the Astral Wizard gripping a bow, arrow drawn.
Eventually, the fire wizard stumbled back, taking a minute to admire his handiwork before turning to the half-merling.
A glowing orb of water magic concentrated above the ball of fire, the clearing being bathed in blue and red light. The water magic greatly expanded in size until it splashed down, drenching the clearing and putting out the fire.
Steam rose from the ground, bathing the area with a warm white mist, visible for miles as it rose above the treeline.
A sky blue/blonde-haired wizard rolled her eyes, “Why must you steal my thunder?”
Her husband elbowed her, “Shut up, Mira.”
The three turned to face them, gazes hostile.
The fire wizard crossed his arms, "What are you two doing here?"
Winston spoke first, “One, we’re here because we’re bored, and two, don’t say ‘you two’ like that.”
As he spoke, Shadow magic flickered around him - clearly, he was more annoyed than he let on.
Abner glared, notably drawing farther back on his bowstring, yet keeping it aimed at the ground, "So you thought it was a good idea to follow us to a raging fire? The two of you could've been burnt to a crisp - why do you think we had Ignis come?"
Mira and Winston shared a sidelong glance…
And both, particularly the former, busted out laughing.
”You’re serious?” she said, wiping her vivid purple eyes, “You’re talking to me. And saying I couldn’t put out a teensy-weensy fire. And pulling on a bowstring. Honestly, this is too much.”
Ignis scowled, "Teensy-weensy? I think your head is in the clouds - oh wait, it is, especially since you spend your days cowering on the hundredth floor of your tower, dreading the day that some wizard to realizes you're not as powerful as you claim."
She just rolled her eyes - clearly, whatever Ignis thought of her wasn’t her biggest concern
Sea glared at Mira coldly, "Abner can kill you both here and now, doesn't matter how powerful you claim to be. None of you studied archery and I'm sure as hell none of you can catch an arrow midflight. You can laugh all you want, but neither of you are fireproof or immortal."
“Calm down, geez. We’re not gonna hurt you, we’re not gonna kill you, we’re not gonna kill off your entire species. I’m just here to find my failure of a son.”
Ignis looked at Abner, "Can I?"
"Go ahead."
Mira was instantly punched in the face, Winston being pinned down by arrow after arrow.
The fire wizard glared, burning red gaze ironically cold, "Look, you're 'failure of a son' is a trainee. You're utterly unconcerned for him, regardless of a fire raging where he was. What the hell is wrong with you?"
Both of them stared at him in surprise, Winston recovering first.
”Look, if you’re going to get mad at us for being bad parents, I doubt any of us - except maybe her-“ he jabbed a finger at Sea. “-have great experiences with parents. Be glad we even kept him after…”
His voice faded, “Let’s just say being parents is a new sensation.”
Mira kept her cool, despite desperately wanting to slap some sense into Ignis, “And to answer your question, if he wasn’t able to take care of himself in a fire, he’d be even more of a failure than I made him out to be, now wouldn’t he?”
Abner wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Why does Hei even live with you to begin with? You're abusive, have these impossible to meet standards, and you wanted to abandon him?"
They didn’t meet his eyes, Mira muttering, “We don’t abuse him, alright? He was a mista-“
At that, she shut up, being met by harsh glares.
”Well he was.”
The Astral Wizard scoffed, "Yeah, you're not getting him back. Sea, message Storm, won't you?"
Winston frowned, “What the hell are you-“
His eyes widened.
”You know you’re not allowed to do that, right?”
"Ignis is a General, Guardian, and I think it's safe to say he's currently king of Bonfire as long as he has Goo-lia under his finger. Sea is a Guardian, and I'm both a Guardian and a Trainee. Yeah, if we don't qualify as authorities then I don't know what does."
Sea looked up from the small device she was typing away at, "He means yes, we're allowed to do this."
Ignis looked at Mira smugly, "It seems the only mistake here was your attitude."
The “most powerful wizard” was immediately held back by her husband.
”Look, isn’t this Hei’s decision? I need to ask him first before you try to snatch him away,” Mira snapped.
Two purple gazes glared at Ignis, yet the endling only rolled his eyes.
Sea gazed at them coldly, "Oh, we can arrange that; in fact, they should be here right now."
A cyan rift opened the instant she finished, a familiar gray-haired cyborg stepping halfway out and even more so familiar wizard standing awkwardly just in viewing distance.
The boy paled, “U-um, hi Mom, Dad. Wh-what happened?”
Before they could even open their mouths, Storm answered, "Oh, they wanted to know if you had a choice on whether or not you could stay with them, would you choose to live with them or someone else?"
Not far from Hei a few others walked into the view the rift provided - just to name a few, Juniper, Rai, and Opal.
He was speechless.
”I… um…”
His nervous purple eyes met two angry ones, leaving him to shift his feet awkwardly and stay very interested in the ground.
”I… I guess… Mi-Mira…”
Juniper’s hand slipped into the boy’s. “Just choose what you want, okay?”
”Mi-Mira…”
Opal sighed, “Hei, what you really want.”
Winston shot them a glare, “Let him choose.”
His wife’s eyes were still glued to Hei’s, unspoken message being transmitted between the two.
Robin broke the silence, “FOR GOD’S SAKE HEI JUST CHOOSE THE OTHERS WE KNOW IT’S WHAT YOU WANT.”
Rai sighed, "Robin, please don't yell."
Meanwhile, Storm stared at the Shadow Trainee, "Hei, on the case you do choose someone besides your parents, they won't be allowed you hurt you anymore."
Juniper nodded vigorously in agreement, the two of them clearly wanting him to make a choice on his accord, not his parent's.
Mira sighed, “Hei, choose who you want.”
Her look didn’t match her voice, however.
”I-I…”
Opal stepped up next to him, whispering, “Choose, please. Just blurt it out and run, okay?”
The wizard swallowed nervously, staring at his tattoo before blinking back tears and saying three words.
”M-Mom and Dad.”
Abner exhaled deeply, "Hei, are you telling the truth?"
The boy squeezed his eyes shut, tears gone now.
”Y-y-yes… yes?”
"That sounds like a question, not an answer. Hei, are you telling the truth?"
He didn’t answer this time, only squeezed Juniper’s hand tighter.
It was hard.
Too hard.
Too much.
Far too much.
Storm bit his lip, gazing at the boy in sympathy, "Hei, it's okay if you're being honest, we understand if you want to be with your parents."
He had to muster up all the courage he had to mutter the next words.
”I’m telling… the-the truth.”
Hei’s hand slipped out of Juniper’s, the boy shuffling over to his parents, staying silent.
Ignis from the trainee to the two violet-eyed wizards, "Hei, stop."
“Wh-what?” he asked, eyes glued to the ground and tears being forced back.
"Those two have the audacity to claim to be 'good parents' when they called you a mistake, a failure. They admitted to wanting to get rid of you. Do you really want to stay with them?"
Hei didn’t look surprised, only scared and nervous.
”Yes, okay?”
Ignis sighed frustratedly, "Do you even know what a parent is?"
“A guardian,” he said, voice hollow, “They… they give birth to you, and raise you, and feed you, and help you, and…”
Hei shrugged, “I guess that’s what a parent is.”
"Sounds like some Stockholm Syndrome!" said a voice.
Ignis groaned, recognizing the voice. "Ansat shut up and let me talk."
Ansat reappeared while running, and skidded to a stop. "I'm just saying, that is Stockholm Syndrome if he wants to stay with his parents even though they treat him like crap."
“We don’t.”
“They… they don’t.”
Mira and Winston both glared at Ansat, not even touching Hei - yet their own arms were wrapped around each other.
Hei himself was focused on his feet, blinking furiously and standing a foot or so away from his parents.
Ansat crossed his arms and let out a sigh.
"Whenever I see you with him, you're always pushing him too hard. I even saw him crying once while I was delivering weapons!"
Mira shot a fierce yet subtle look at Hei, who flinched. Winston’s arm squeezed a bit tighter around her before she spoke.
”Hei doesn’t cry. Nobody in this family cries. I don’t know what you saw, but you’re very wrong.”
Ignis sighed aggressively, glaring at Hei, "Okay, so beating you over not being able to cast a silly spell isn't abuse? So calling you a mistake and failure isn't 'treated you like crap' as Ansat puts it? A parent loves you, a parent supports you, a parents tells you you're going to be alright."
Hei frowned in confusion, while Mira faced Ignis, mouth set in a hard line.
”Look, I’m harsh, but that’s because I need to discipline him. If he’s going to be my son, he’ll have expectations.”
"There's a line between discipline, and abuse." said Ansat. "What you do is abuse."
Winston spoke up this time, pulling Mira a bit closer at the mention of abuse.
”You’d rather we raise our children with negligence and neglect and let them become stupid, refugee-attacking, fireball-bringing, boundary-crossing idiots like you did?”
"Shut your goddamn mouth! YOU DON'T TALK [Seal Noise] ABOUT MY SON!" said Ansat. He raised his fist at Winston, ready to charge at him.
All the wizard did was flick a hand, causing Ansat to be encased in a loose circle of crystals.
”This is a discussion, not a mindless bloodbath.”
"Whatever, you Boris. You ground and abuse your son, and you think that he shouldn't be taken away from you?"
Storm stepped fully out of the rift, bangs swishing with his movement as he struggled to regain his balance, face plating fully visible in all its disturbing metallic glory.
The moment he regained his bearings he marched right up to the two parents, easily towering over both of them by a full foot or too.
He inhaled, exhaled, and looked at them in a manner that suggested casualness.
That was not what happened next.
"SHUT UP YOU HELL-BORN WISHTI SON OF A B*TCH."
When Winston opened his mouth to retort, he was snapped at in an angry sounded foreign language.
"ΣΚΑΣΕ ΤΩΡΑ! I MEAN IT."
The two shared a shocked glance, before Mira snapped, “I have no idea what you mean by that, but I take it you’re offended.”
"No [Seal Noise], Sherlock." snarked Ansat.
Surprisingly, it was Hei who spoke up next.
”Shut up Ansat and let them talk.”
"Fine, fine..."
Storm exhaled deeply, his currently visible void-tainted eye letting of a purple shine, "And why, pray tell, should they be let to talk, Hei?"
Hei blushed, stammering, “I-I want you all to s-sort it out.”
"Yeah, like we can sort out two grown adults acting like entitled children over their son being taken away, when they abuse him." said Ansat, sarcastically.
Both of them immediately turned to the speedy wizard.
”You’re the one who can’t raise a child properly and never even managed to grow up. I heard you work as a messenger boy for your friend now?” Mira snapped.
"Yeah, well at least I have a real job. What do you even do anyways?"
A certain borg glared at him, before turning to Hei, "Fine, we'll try to sort things out, but I doubt this will improve their case. Especially now."
Winston crossed his arms. “You’re acting like we’re so evil, yet Hei chose us. Get off your high horse and out of our faces.”
Ansat stuck his tongue out at Winston, before a wizard in an orange lab coat went crashing into him, from the sky, knocking him over.
Storm put his hands on his hips, lab coat swishing slightly, "For all we know he was scared that you'll hurt him - and besides, if any other person were to handle this, they wouldn't of let Hei make a choice as it's not needed, yet we did."
“I don’t hurt him, I discipline him,” Mira said, voice cold. “I take it you expect me to raise him flawlessly and have life work out perfectly?”
He ignored that last comment, "Disciplining does not require abuse, there are more humane ways to discipline a child. Yet what makes things worse is your reasoning for discipline."
“We’re not the best parents, but now Hei has turned out fine… he’s a Shadow Trainee, he’s doing well in the war, and he’s obedient.”
"There is a thin line between obedience and threatened," the Storm Trainee informed her coldly, "The same way there is a thin line between loyalty and controlled."
“It doesn’t matter, he’s with us, and we’ve taken care of him. Case closed,” Winston said stiffly, placing a tentative hand on Hei’s shoulder.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," the borg glared at him, "As the case already been opened. Taking care of a person does not simply mean allowing them to live in the same household, it means they feel safe around you. Hei does not look like he feels safe around you, and I'm not sure he'll ever if you continue with your current parenting tatics."
“Hei is fine around us and we are as well. We may not be a picturesque family like you may have, but what matters is we’re fine and dandy,” Mira retorted, purple eyes narrowed and body stiff.
Ben pointed his finger at Winston. "OBJECTION!" he yelled. Ansat facepalmed.
"There were several witnesses while your wife was teaching your son a spell, and the poor kid was crying, while your wife was really harsh on him!"
“That happens to all kids, and does not mean we abuse him,” Winston said, “And again - Hei doesn’t cry.”
"No, what matters is how you're fine and dandy," the borg retorted.
“I’m fine, and we’re all fine, okay? I want to go… home,” Hei whispered, retreating towards his parents.
"SEE YOU IN COURT!" yelled Ben. Ansat, actually being smart for once, immediately tackles Ben to the ground.
A meow sounded from behind the Shadow Trainee.
Behind him was a tabby cat, padding-right up to him and rubbing against his legs affectionately, rearing up on its hind legs to put a paw on his hand.
Hei pushed the cat away, watching his parents hopefully.
Mira closed her eyes for a split second, managing a few words, “I care for him. But if it’s really necessary…”
”No,” her husband interrupts, “We’re not leaving Hei alone. And we’re not letting anybody else hurt him.”
"Interesting that you should say that," Storm muttered under his breath.
Ansat and Ben chuckled.
“Why?” Winston asked, eyes narrowed, “If you try to take him away you’ll either abandon him or hurt him, and I don’t want that happening.”
"Okay, now you're being stupid. I have never abandoned a child before, whether I was babysitting them or if they were my actual child. I can say the same for Juniper overthere. As for hurting him... I do discipline, but I don't abuse - I'm careful not to cross that line." Then the borg added with a glare, "Σε αντίθεση με κάποιον που ξέρω."
“I just… I can’t have anybody take him away, and I know Hei and Mira feel the same way,” Winston snapped back, pulling both of them just a bit closer.
Storm crossed his arms, "How you feel about this doesn't matter if Hei is unsafe with you."
Mira’s eyes flashed angrily. “So I should be giving him to you? A shady robot person with a curiously hidden face? Who knows what you’ll do to him? Take out his body parts and replace them with machines?”
"Wow, that was low!" said Ansat.
Static recurred in the borg's circumference, gaze lacking humanity, "I'M. NOT. A. ROBOT. AND I WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANYONE."
Winston bit his lip, “Um, Mira…”
“What are you going to do, use your robot parts on me? You’re not taking my son away and you’re not hurting him. I don’t care how much I have to fight you, I don’t care if I lose, but he’s staying with me and not being kidnapped by a freak like you,” the wizard said, shadows and light swirling around her.
"Cyborgs aren't freaks!" said Ben. "They're literally just humans with robot enhancements!"
“Said the person who raised a delinquent,” Mira snarled, “I don’t care what happens, but nobody is taking Hei away from me.”
The boy watched in awe, and… a little bit of joy. So she did care. So she did love him, at least in her own way.
"STOP PINNING THAT ON ME! I WAS IN COURT WHEN IT HAPPENED!" yelled Ansat.
“I don’t care what you were doing, all I care about is not leaving my son to this freak!” Mira yelled, “And if you think I’m a bad mother, that’s fine, because I know I’m trying. So get out of my face.”
"I'm trying too, and yet you won't stop bringing up the fact that my son did something out of my control at the moment!"
Storm glared at her, "Hah, no, I'm going to do this."
He instantly phased behind her and landed a blow to the back of her head, unspeakable amounts of electricity worsening the hit.
"Wow! That was so cool!" Ansat piped childishly.
The wizard curled her fists.
”Winston, get Hei out of here, I’ll be fine.”
Her eyes met her son’s for just a second before she turned back to Storm, ice magic freezing the cyborg in place for a split second.
Void neutralized the Ice, a void tendril keeping Winston from doing anything. The Storm Trainee's gaze was cold as he addressed Mira, "Listen, we can do this civilly, or you can enjoy being electrocuted. Either's fine."
“Fine. But don’t you dare take my son away. He’s made his choice, and that’s that. Now leave us alone,” she said, shooting a nervous glance at her husband.
"Yeah, Stockholm Syndrome" whispered Ansat to Ben, being a jokester.
"Hei's choice is invalid. It didn't matter to begin with. We let him make that choice because we do care what he thinks, but it doesn't seem like he made that choice on his own accord, now did he?"
“Ask him again. He’s under pressure, but I know he wants me and my husband.”
A nervous glance is shared between Mira and Winston, the latter’s hold growing just a bit tighter.
"What's with the looks? Are you scared that your son will say no?" asked Ansat, smugly.
The borg stared at them, before turning to the boy. "Okay, Hei, have your parents hurt you in the past? Emotionally or physically?"
Silence.
Not a single movement, except for the slight squeeze of Mira’s hand from Winston.
And then…
”Only when I deserved it.”
"And by deserved it, what did you do? Did you disobey your parents? Or did you simply fail to meet their expectations?"
The boy was crying now, wide and nervous purple eyes looking up into their match.
The parents didn’t speak at all, but both turned away.
”I… both of them,” he whispered, “But I don’t want to leave Mom and Dad, even if…”
Storm sighed, simply moving on to the next question, "Do your parents force or pressure you into something you don't want in the present moment? Like learning a new type of magic you didn't feel ready for quite yet?"
“I… I don’t want to leave them, alright?”
”Yes or no?”
”Um… kind of. A little. I think I should be ready, I’m just not.”
"Listen, kid. This kind of behavior from your parents is not okay. If they hurt you because of expectations, you need to find new ones." said Ansat.
Hei looked up, eyes flashing almost as angrily as his mother’s.
”That’s none of your business, and I’m not finding new parents.”
Storm sighed yet again, "Hei, just answer the questions honestly and you won't have to worry about that." He inhaled deeply before asking the next question, "Do your parents make you question whether or not you deserve to be with them? Or do they make you question whether or not you're good enough? Do they do this with their actions or their words? And is it intentional or do they not notice they are doing so?"
“They make me feel bad sometimes, but that happens to everyone. I made my choice, and I don’t want you asking me all these questions.”
"Oh, but you want to stay with them, don't you? So answer the questions," the borg responded, gaze unreadable, "And Hei, I mean it, do they do it intentionally or unintentionally?"
All he did was retreat to his parents before speaking, burying his face in Mira’s arms to stop crying.
”I don’t know.”
Storm exhaled deeply before gazing at the still open rift, "Juniper?"
The woman frowned, “What?”
He tilted his head slightly in Hei's direction, indicating what he wanted.
The boy shook his head. “No, please… I don’t want to leave my parents.”
Juniper shrugged helplessly. “Nothing we can do.”
"Sorry, kid. This is for the better."
Hei snapped.
”Shut up right now and if you try to take me away from them I’ll show you what shadows can do. At least my parents are better than you and Kobe.”
Ansat was clearly taken aback, and snarled. "STOP BRINGING IT UP!" he yelled, eyes glowing red.
All Hei did was keep glaring. “I won’t stop bringing it up if you don’t stop bringing up my own parents, you-“
“Language, Hei,” Juniper interrupted, “And Ansat, quiet.”
Ansat growled, before Ben smacked him in the face.
The trainee crossed his arms, holding back a grin when he noticed his parents smiling.
”Storm, I’ve made my decision, I want to stay with them.”
The cyborg breathed deeply, "No."
"What-"
Flash of cyan, that horrible screech of space and time tearing open, and Mira and Winston were left alone in the clearing, every other person (and cat) gone.
In Skywatch, they all tumbled out of the rift, Rai being the only one landing on his feet.
Both wizards’ eyes widened, Winston recovering first.
”I’m going to-“
”No,” Mira said, “Find the cyborg, and find Hei - I don’t know what he’s doing to him but he’s definitely hurting him.”
The two stared at where Hei was for a second before Winston asked quietly, “Do you know why they wanted to take him away?”
”We were being ‘too harsh’. But if we didn’t discipline him-“ Mira angrily blasted a tentacle of shadows at the ground. “-then he’d turn out to be a failure. And we can’t have a failure for a son.”
”But maybe we-“
”We what, Winston? We should’ve let a bunch of people take him away from us? We should’ve been better parents? I knew, and you knew we’d be bad parents, but that’s why I didn’t want a child, why I wanted to-“
”And the reason I wouldn’t let you do that is he deserves to live. And I’ve been proven right.”
Mira paced the grounds, forcing back memories. “But now the cyborg is going to hurt Hei, or steal him away, or try to hurt us, or hide him, or-“
Winston grabbed his wife’s hand, staring at her with a sort of loving anger.
”Nobody is dying. Nobody is being hurt. And nobody is running.”
She pulled away. “That’s what he said to me. And look what happened. To me. To you. To my mother. We shouldn’t have let Hei be born, we shouldn’t have married, we shouldn’t have-“
Winston sighed, “We should have done all of those things. No regrets, no looking back, no running away. Wasn’t that our promise?”
Mira stared at the ground. “I’ve made promises before. They’ve been broken too many times. Father said he’d care for me. Mother said she wouldn’t leave me. I said I wouldn’t look back, yet here we are.”
”Hei will not be hurt. We will not lose him. We will find him back,” he said firmly.
”You really believe that?”
”What other choice do I have?”
Elsewhere, faen and wizards tore through their opponents on a smoke-filled battlefield, yielding to the yelks of their respective generals. Like the battlefield, the warriors were covered in blood, whether it be their own or the other side's. Small fires crept along the field, nibbling away at fallen bodies or the blackened grass.
Meanwhile, condolence letters were being written nonstop, each second gifting another 10 letters needed to be written.
Back at the refugee grounds, the wardens had arrived, dejected after their visit with Jade. Immediately, they only felt worse.
"W-what happened?!" Samantha's voice rose higher as the wardens stared at what was once the refugee grounds, reduced to nothing but smoking ashes.
The wardens dashed towards the burnt patch of ground, panicking as they examined the devastation for any proof that their friends, family, and other refugees survived. Abruptly, a single fireball was launched at the wardens, of which grazed the cheek of a startled Samantha. The wardens heads snapped up, facing the direction of which the fireball originated. Five wizards wearing similar outfits approached the group, staring at them, no emotion in their eyes.
"What. Did. You. Do."
The enraged voice didn't come from Lane. Rather, it came from the normally cheerful Chase, hair ablaze and eyes ignited with fury.
No response.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Five fireballs were launched.
Chase glared at the wizards, flames appearing on his hands, the fireballs halting. The balls of flames grew in size, feeding off of the flames from Chase's hands. Once reaching over twice their original size, they returned to their creators with astonishing ferocity, leaving a trail of distortion. The wizards unleashed nonstop Falling Star Smashes on the fireballs until they were nothing but smoke. During their shift of focus, they didn't take notice of the Fire Warden charging at them. In seconds, the wizard in the center received a hand clamped around his throat, of which was increasing in heat. The remaining four turned on the Fire Warden, pelting him with Falling Star Smashes until he released his target, who grasped at his scorched throat, made an unintelligible noise and sank to the ground, quickly toppling over, limp. The rest crumpled to the ground as a ring of flames was emitted from Chase's body. The fire warden glared at the figures, turning his attention to one trying to edge away, a long smoldering line stretched across their chest and upper arms. The wizard was immediately pinned down by the enraged warden. "I will ask one more time. What. Did. You. Do."
The wizard simply smirked. "All threats to the Wizard Army of Prodigia must be eliminated. All hail Aria-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence. Chase raised a single fist, alight with flames and drove it into the wizard's chest, a loud crack, consisting of several ribs shattering simultaneously. Chase backed away from the body, staring at the smoldering, open wound he left, before staring at his own, bloodied hand.
What did I do?
Chase stood up, pulling out his map. He couldn't look Samantha in the eye. He couldn't look any of them in the eyes. Not after this.
"Chase! Wait!
He ignored Samantha's plea, teleporting away.
The war grounds, once the great Lamplight Town, were chaos.
Screams, blasts of magic, the clang of sword on sword.
Fairies flew through the air, wizards blasting them from the ground. Other species were involved as well - from the Slimes battling to the various mechanics of Skywatch.
Tanks, lasers, mechanized battlements, and more littered the field, striking the Faen down.
Light against dark, Astral against Shadow. It was amazing yet slightly terrifying to watch the darkness swallow people whole.
Every once in a while, people would drown under the sheer power of a tidal wave, forcing the wizards back.
Plants were entangling the area, from intoxicating flowers to complex and deadly vines.
An explosion of fire, the grass withering and water evaporating under the sheer amount of Slimes, fire Faen, and fire monsters there were.
At first, nobody was winning the fight - while the Faen had elemental variation on their side, the wizards had strength in numbers, and in their powerful element.
Then ice took hold.
Consuming the entire battleground, freezing people in place, actual steam rising from it as it was so cold.
Cyro lowered his hands, gaze even colder than the ice around him.
”Charge.”
His words weren’t uplifting, angry, or emotional at all - just grim and serious.
Arrows whizzing through the air, elements covering the grounds, some areas so bright they blinded you and some so dark they threatened to pull you in.
Yet blast after blast of light, along with the amount of weapons and machinery… all seemed lost.
Then lightning crackled in the air, leaving a stench around the field.
Kaminari appeared, landing on the ground with the gracefulness only a Wingfeather could manage. A tiny smile was frozen on his face, surfacing through the grief and anger and loss.
“Finally, something fun to do.”
Another blast of lightning, a scream, the fist blasting apart an entire battlement.
The Storm Tribe landed behind him, a rare sight - the tribe was known for being rather reclusive.
Kaminari flew down towards the army, entirely invisible. A gust of wind knocked over a good number of forces, soon knocked unconscious - or worse - by lightning.
He’d forgotten what it was like to be fighting, and winning.
Frying enemies, wind soon blasting apart all machinery, all while entirely invisible.
His glaive had a mind of its own, the uniquely electric blade able to knock out an opponent in an instant.
Winning.
He was winning.
Letting loose the anger, sorrow, and frustration on the wizards, like his father always said - lightning in a bottle.
And this lightning had been concealed far too long. Now it could really strike.
Every once in a while Kaminari let loose a laugh, a maniacal cry of glee as he killed for the first time in twenty years.
Soon enough, it was over - and the entire grounds had been obliterated.
At the now-destroyed refugee grounds, the wardens stared at the spot Chase stood, Lucas slowly crumpling to the ground.
"Great, now he's broken." Lane said sarcastically.
Samantha looked at him, gaze despondent, "Lane-"
The Water Warden didn't get to finish before arrows rained down.
Ice formed in the air, deflecting the arrows as the caster stared at the others, blue eyes wide with shock.
Just in viewing distance was the front line of the wizards' army, legions of soldiers behind them.
The wardens didn't think - they ran.
Kaminari turned to strike the remaining wizards, until a hand tugged at his arm.
He looked down, nearly electrocuting the person before-
“Kaminari? You’re… you’re scaring me…”
All anger instantly deflated, the fairy crouching down and brushing the hair out of Andrew’s eyes.
”It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m okay. I promise I won’t do that again, alright?”
The young fairy nodded, but Kaminari turned, Andrew’s words ringing in his ears.
”You’re scaring me…”
Each body was his father. His mother. His sister. Hunter.
All of whom he’d let die.
The wizards took that moment to shoot the fairy in the neck.
Ansat was on his knees, his eyes filled up with tears. His son had somehow shown up next to him. "Dad, are you alright?" he asked.
The speedster only turned his head towards him, and growled, his eyes flashing red.
Kobe backed away, while Ansat charged towards the battle.
As the wardens ran, they burst out of the forest, stumbling into the faen army just as things got nasty.
Multiple spheres of blue and gold zipped across the ranks of faen, stopping in a line in front of the opposing army. A shout in a foreign language marked the spheres dipping down to the ground in a "V" formation, before spiraling upwards around the wizard's legion. Traces of elemental energy rose in the air along with wizard soldiers, them stumbling about in the air as gravity shifted drastically.
One more command was said in a wavering voice, belonging to a Cyro, bearing a look of what seemed like regret, "Do it."
The spheres zipped outward, dispersing and fading as they left an elemental trail. Gravity immediately returned to normal, bodies falling to the ground with sickening thumps.
There would never be enough condolence letters to pardon this war.
CONTINUANDUM