Arc 5 | Chapter 200: Meetings

⸂Down, down, down~ We go down, down, down! Down to the depths and then further still! Down we go, into the hell below. Hot and red and burning bright, we go down into the—⸃

“I swear on the bodies of my ancestors!” Zyrex shrieked. “If you do not cease singing those insipid songs I am going to kill you, then, I’m going to track down your real body and kill it too!”

⸂Someone’s a little testy~⸃ Emilia cooed, although she did cease the singing—it had been a little difficult to keep the beat anyways, as the three of them ran down flight after flight of stairs, only pausing at each new level to check for the missing mystery group.

So far, no luck. It was possible they’d already reached the bottom level, and exited the building altogether. If that were the case, Emilia hoped they had moved a bit away from the building, given it was liable to collapse at any moment.

Phlostra had sent a few of their group’s members to check on the fire. It was spreading. Fast. Unfortunately, as the building’s designs were an unknown, there was no saying how much of it would need to burn before it entirely collapsed. Boundary had offered to have someone come get them, but the chances of the other group still being inside the building…

No. There was no way Emilia could leave them here to die, either when the building collapsed or the flames reached them.

So far, Hyr had managed to keep their stairwell free of flames, but the further they moved from the source of the flames, the weaker their core became. Not only were they stretching its range far beyond the norm, but they were also draining themselves. Currently, Zyrex was carrying their friend on their back, and the syn was insisting they could continue on. At the very least, they could let the flames fill part of the stairwell above them, but doing so would all but guarantee that once their defences finally cracked, the flames wouldn’t just start chasing them but flash cook them near instantaneously—or worse, lock them inside the {Blood Ball} until the end of the raid.

As it was, if Hyr’s control snapped, the flames would seize the opportunity to chase them, but at a slower rate.

At least, that’s what would happen according to the northerners. They had been training their joint ability for a long time, so Emilia was inclined to trust them. One of the good things about having a Censor: it did all that sort of math and physics for her. The bad part thing about it: when it went offline, her brain wasn’t used to trying to remember facts about how fire spread, which she had definitely learned at some point.

The hy and syn might not be able to pull up facts about phenomena they didn’t use on the regular—Emilia had already asked, and both had confirmed that they only used temporary Censors occasionally—but they knew their shit when it came to the things they were familiar with.

Still, Emilia couldn’t help but think that Hyr letting go of their control entirely, and just letting the flames start chasing them now, might be for the best. Actually, that was a lie; the northerners getting out of there entirely was actually the best idea, in her opinion. Hence, she’d been trying to annoy them via singing the same few bars of war tunes over and over again, in an attempt to force them into accepting Boundary’s offer for someone to come get them.

Let her be the one to burn to death while they continued searching for Ajarni. Maybe with the power of the {Blood Glass} and Hyr’s ability to read the universe, they’d be able to find him.

Unfortunately, the little brats hadn’t wanted to leave her. Even more unfortunately, Hyr had pulled out the stupid {Blood Glass} and proceeded to look through it. According to them, the thing said the only path was to stay by her side. The {Blood Glass} was therefore also a brat, in Emilia’s estimation—or was it the universe as a whole? The platform?

Unknown. There were a lot of brats going on in this situation, however—especially considering that she herself was a brat. Unfortunately, the one brat that she actually wanted to see was nowhere to be found. Actually, maybe it was more than one brat. Gale and Astra and Caro had given off just as much brat energy as V at times, although his brat energy had definitely been the most palpable, permanent and intentional.

Emilia missed it—missed the taste of him and the sound of his laugh, and when she’d caught sight of those mystery dots, she’d let herself hope it was him and the kids. A little glimmer of hope that was slowly eating her alive as they neared the bottom of the building, with still no sign of the mystery group.

Maybe it hadn’t been them—after all, what reason could Sk’lar have had for chasing them, when he’d barely met V?—but Emilia had hoped it was, and—

“Oh!” Zyrex said, stopping in his tracks several steps ahead of Emilia, who had been pulling up the rear just in case someone—maybe Sk’lar, maybe a Clarity member, maybe someone else entirely—decided to attack them.

A few steps and Emilia saw it too: dots. The mystery dots.

“Should we—” the hy started to ask.

Emilia didn’t even know if he ever finished his question, her body already moving, rushing through the halls, trying to reach the other group. Was it a little stupid, to be running towards another group that might be very well be just inclined to kill her, as Sk’lar had been—was? Technically, the man was still alive, and probably even more murderous now that he’d been surrounded by a raging inferno for a good thirty minutes. Whatever, fuck him.

And fuck the other group, if they weren’t who she hoped they would be, her heart pounding as she rounded several corners and finally just yelled, her real and aethervoice colliding into an echo that had the northerners trailing her cursing.

The dots, which had been moving away from her, stopped. She screamed again, ignoring the way Zyrex complained about

loud women

and Hyr laughed, her mind passingly registering that the syn’s laugh was lovely, tinkling and soft and filled with a happiness that, in their brief acquaintance, Emilia hadn’t seen within them.

Another moment passed, and the dots began to move again, instead rushing back the way they had just come—back towards her.

V reached her first, his long legs taking him ahead of the others, and then she was engulfed in a glorious, warm, sticky hug. ⸂Fuck~⸃ he breathed out, squeezing her harder and lifting her off the ground, one hand coming to cup her her ass and hoist her up until she was hanging off him.

Emilia was okay with that, her nose buried into the musky scent of his neck. Having been held prisoner by Clarity for days, the man didn’t exactly smell good. She didn’t care. He was here and okay; still himself, as far as she could tell.

Pulling back, her hands dug into his hair. They blinked into each other’s eyes, each assessing—each wondering if the other was okay, if their mind was still intact.

⸂You okay?⸃ she asked, brushing her thumb over a smudge across the man’s cheek. It didn’t budge, and she contented herself to doing it again, again, waiting for him to answer.

⸂Yeah. I’m okay, thanks to you.⸃ V tilted into touch, the hand under her butt brushing over her thighs, which she belatedly realized she had clasped around his waist, even with the shy northerners watching.

Indeed, when she looked back at the pair, they were both politely looking away, although Emilia did catch Hyr’s eyes flick towards them, open curiosity written through them. Interesting.

⸂What about you? Are you okay, Emilia?⸃

Abruptly, Emilia realized that V—or the man he had been to her before—generally hadn’t referred to her as

Emilia.

Most people used

Em,

her childhood friends

Emmie.

Olivier called her Emilia—much to her ex’s everlasting annoyance. Her parents called her Emilia when she was in a shit ton of trouble, or they were being sappy.

That was it. Somehow… hearing V—the person he was now—calling her

Emilia

felt right. Strange, how something as simple as a name could and couldn’t belong on someone’s tongue—certainly, the boy V had once been would never have been able to get away with calling her

Emilia.

So strange indeed, how time and people can change so profoundly.

⸂I’m okay,⸃ she assured her friend, a little part of her brain sighing that now that they had run into each other again, she’d have no excuse for tracking him down early. As though seeking out the man because he

might

have been brainwashed by the heartcores would have been an overall good thing—not!

“The rest are coming,” Hyr helpfully pointed out, Emilia’s brain entirely distracted from her map.

⸂How did you—⸃ V began to ask, seemingly only noticing her companions now that one had spoken. He peeked over her head, glaring at each in suspicion before saying, ⸂Northerners?⸃ just as the kids rounded the corner, Key holding up the rear.

Well,

that

would explain why Sk’lar had been chasing them. Bonus: she hadn’t

technically

been wrong about Key being part of the group! It was just a little unfortunate that she hadn’t been paying enough attention to their count and colours to realize that Sk’lar had popped up behind them at some point. Oops. Oh well. Better the man fight her than chase the kids.

⸂Kids!⸃ Emilia squealed, wiggling out of V’s grasp—although not before earning a disgusted look from Gale—and bolting towards them, the bits of her {Blood Armour} that covered her knees squelching against the floor as she slid into an embrace with Astra and Caro, Gale reluctantly kneeling to join them.

Such a silly, surly teenager, even if she hugged Emilia tighter than either of the kids, her lashes wet against Emilia’s neck as she tucked into it.

⸂I thought I told you to leave,⸃ Emilia gently scolded Key as he came to stand near their cuddle puddle, his eyes flicking between their group and where V was introducing himself to Hyr and Zyrex, his Brylish even better than her own, although Emilia hadn’t actually been aware the boy she’d known had ever learned the language. ⸂What happened?⸃

⸂Ah…⸃ Key breathed out, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as V and the northerners appeared behind her.

“We need to go,” Hyr said, their voice tight in a way that set Emilia’s teeth on edge. “Can your friend come and evacuate us now?”

Emilia shot off a message to Boundary. He messaged back almost immediately, telling her they would be several minutes, assuming they could wait that long. A quick conversation with Hyr revealed their control had broken during her bolt towards the now not-so-mysterious group. The flames would come for them eventually, but in the meantime, they had extended their protection to the level as a whole.

“I cannot guarantee what will happen if the fire begins to break through the ceiling,” they added as Emilia sent another message, telling Boundary they weren’t currently in such dire straights that he needed to rescue them immediately.

⸂Where did the fire come from?⸃ Key asked, gathering Astra into his arms as Emilia relegated people into groups based on Boundary’s instructions, so he—or someone else, it was currently a bit unclear who would be coming for them—could pop in and grab them without much fanfare.

⸂We were trying to take out your crazy ass bodyguard,⸃ she commented mildly as she handed Caro over to V, placing a wet kiss on their forehead that sent them into giggles. They had obviously heavily bonded with V in the past few days, and easily snuggled into his arms, although their tired eyes kept shifting towards Hyr. Never Zyrex. Only Hyr. ⸂Did you know he can survive being bombarded with flames?⸃

⸂Uh… no? He can?⸃ Key looked baffled, and when she suggested her theory that he had gotten his hands on a blood item, as they were one of the few things capable of protecting against otherworldly core abilities, he became contemplative, eyes glazing over like he was messaging someone—maybe someone in his family, asking if any blood items had gone missing from their stores recently.

Leaving him to that—and not forgetting that he hadn’t explained what in the world had happened—Emilia turned back to her organizing of bodies. ⸂You okay with one of my friends?⸃ she asked Gale. ⸂Otherwise, we go together, and they have to go separately,⸃ she explained, leaning in to stage whisper to the girl that they were just too freaking big to go together.

⸂Why did you not ask Caro and I?⸃ Astra asked—the first thing she’d said, other than a wetly muttered,

⸂Emilia…⸃

during their hug. ⸂We are smaller than you or Gale. You can go with Key and V, while we go with the northerners.⸃

Caro didn’t seem to have any issue with this either, reaching automatically towards Hyr, as though they had just been waiting for an opportunity to get closer to them. Astra more respectfully took Zyrex’s hand, politely greeting him in Brylish as well, although her words had the lilt of someone who had learned the traditional introductions by rout, rather than through knowledge of the language.

In an adorable turn, Zyrex greeted Astra, and then Caro, after the northerners, through Astra’s translations, had successfully taught them the basics of Nur’tha introductions, as though they were the most important people in the entire world. Astra’s eyes widened, clearly understanding that even within the raid, the respect the hy was showing her was not something to scoff at.

Vaguely, as she pressed herself back into V—Gale had valiantly offered to go with Key because she didn’t

⸂want to have to see those two making eyes at each other if they were separated⸃

—she wondered if Astra would tell anyone that the hy Lwyn had greeted her with more respect than they would show most other hy.

She was about to ask Astra about it—more to see if she could get a reaction from the child and the northerners than anything, especially since Astra had allowed herself to be hoisted into Zyrex’s arms—when a Risen Guard she didn’t recognize popped up beside them, grabbing each of their little groups one by one. There was a moment, before she and V were grabbed, where she saw the horror dawning on Hyr’s face, as they read the aethernet and saw that something was wrong.

It was too late. Half of them were already gone, and then, the next thing she knew, they had been moved, and were instead standing somewhere they definitely hadn’t expected to end up.

Well. Fuck.

Also, neither Hyr nor Caro were with them, the mystery Risen Guard never returning with them.

Double fuck.