Aimee was silent for a moment.

"Wait, what?" She asked after he'd said what he did.

"She's only eleven. Are you sure that's what's going on?"

"From what I was told, yes. I'm sure. I'm going to go pick her up. Aimee, get home. You know I won't be able to do this alone." Alex stated.

"I'll be there soon as I can be. Give me ten minutes." With that, they ended the call and she sighed as she stepped back into the classroom.

"All right, just... work on what you need to, even if not from my class. Someone will be in to check on you throughout the period. I hgave something I need to tend to." She otld them before quickly retreating from the room and heading to the main office to give her immediate boss a heads up.

---

Madison didn't respond, and it wasn't hard for him to guess as to why that was, either. If anything, Alex would have been surprised had she been able to respond, or even properly acknowledge his presense at the moment. He'd gone through the same thing when he was a teen, after all.

He got her to her feet and led her out of the room, then out fo the school, not missing the almost ethereal footprints that she was leaving everywhere she stepped. He did know that they would fade, but it was a bit surprising as to how strong they were.

When he used his mana to get them home, he couldn't deny how it felt as if Madison's mana was attempting overtake his own. He actually had to put effort into controlling his own mana, keeping the target location the same as it was before.

Her mana was strong, and he knew it would just get stronger.

---

Sure enough, by the time that Aimee returned home, Madison's mana had essentially broken. The natural cage that mana was kept in had shattered and her mana was just pouring out of her in waves. The fact that it had happened wasn't anything too surprising.

The strength of it, on the other hand, was.

Aimee raced upstairs to Madison's room and froze as she opened the door.

"Oh holy hell..." She said quietly before closing the door and apporoaching her brother.

"All right, let's do this." was all she said, determination to her voice. They didn't have the time to just linger without working.

---

"We'll do it in shifts. And I'll go first." Aimee said. "I think my pure mana will help, and you need to get to setting up the barriers." She added as she approached Madison.

"Oh... this isn't going to be easy..." she muttered before startng to do what she knew she needed to. And she knew it wouldn't be easy.

She laid her hands above the one on the bed and could feel Madison's mana actively attacking her. This would be long, and arduous, but they needed to do it. She also knew that neither her or her brother would be in good shape afterward.

She'd likely be in worse, considering the alignments though, but she didn't care.

This needed to be done.

---

Aimee was laying against her brother, barely conscious.

"I know..." She said quietly.

"I hope she pulls through... I really do. We aren't perfect though." She added.

"All we can do is hope..." She then said before just letting out a breath.

". . . . probably should call Yuri.." She admitted. "Don't have the energy for it though."

---

Madison was silent before shaking her head.

"I... I'm not sure, admitedly." She said.

"What.... what happened?" She asked. "Am I dead...?"

---

". . . . wait... what?" Madison asked, her voice curious before pausing.

"The... I didn't think that was going to happen for a few years, admittedly." She then said. The twins had done all they coudl to make sure that she was very much aware of what it was taht would be coming eventually. They didn't know how it would happen, how it would hit, or when, but the best guess was that it would be a couple of years, most likely.

"I... I felt perfectly fine this morning." She added before sighing.

"At least I'll be all right I suppose."

---

Madison just sighed lightly.

"We both know it will happen at some point. I'm not going to live forever." She commented.

"But, I suppose the main point is that it isn't now. It'll be at some point in the future. I should have a good long while before that happens." She added with a light laugh.

"How long am I going to be here?" She then asked. "And don't give me that time is fickle and bull. I know you can tell me how long in the real world."

---

"Oh damn." Madison commented before shaking her head.

"I'll admit, I hadn't expected that, to be honest." She paused a moment before sighing lightly.

"Well, at least I'll survive. And Hungry? Eh, I can deal. I'm sure they can too." She then paused, again, before meeting Gregorys gaze.

". . . are the twins all right?"

---

Aimee didn't react to him nudging her.

"Hey, Aimee, come on. Don't play around like this." He said, concern at the edges of his voice. As he continued to try and get some sort of reaction out of his sister, he continued to get nothing. As he leaned in to make sure she was alive, he found her pulse barely there, and her breath light enough that it was extremely easy to miss it entirely.

"Aimee! Wake up! Please!?" He exclaimed as she outright shook his sister, hoping that it might help.

---