Colin's posts

The brothers looked towards Hazel, and Ash sighed.

"I suppose we can try the last approach." he said. "THAT seemed to work." he stated.

"And that was?" Lindsay asked.

"Miss Syraene showed up and cleared her." Ash responded.

"...yes. Yes, that WOULD work nicely." Lindsay agreed, before looking over towards Azari.

"And what of... HIM?" he inquired.

Ash almost swatted her away when she nipped his ear, but restrained himself, and merely put distance between them, slowly backing up, and more towards Lindsay and Hazel. He then stopped and looked at the former.

"...Lindsay?" he asked.

"Brother." Lindsay replied with a smile.

"What...?" Ash started to ask, before Lindsay raised a hand.

"Let's concern ourselves with more immediate matters first." he suggested. "There will be plenty of time for questions and answers later." he finished, looking at Rowena and the phoenix.

All this was a little overwhelming for Ash... so much so, he still hadn't fully realised Hazel was back... and that she had his brother in tow. All he could do was try and take it all in, and worry about his mother.

Meanwhile, Lindsay had, indeed, died, and sure enough, mere seconds later, he was reborn from his own remains, looking like nothing had happened. Though he did look to be in discomfort.

However, he shook his head a little, looked at the woman, and nodded.

He knew what she wanted.

"...I'm sorry." he apologised, gently taking her by the head, and doing the same to her, that she had done to him.

Azari looked at her and started to snarl at her.

"You cursed little..." he started to say, before his head was stomped on by Ash... violently... slamming his face into the dirt.

"Shut it." he hissed, grinding his foot on him.

He then looked over to Rowena concernedly, and panickily.

"...that looks serious..." he said.

"MADAM!" Azari called out, but it was too late.

She was gone. And she'd left him.

"Madam, why...?" he asked quietly.

He then tried to get to his feet again, but failed. Cursing, he started to crawl over towards Rowena.

"I can... at least... finish the job..."

'Woah, what the...?' he thought, as he looked downwards at the speeding ground beneath him.

He looked around slightly, wondering what was going on, and why he felt so... weird... but he had little time to ponder that, as he saw the manor quickly coming into view.

He then looked and saw several figures there... one being Rowena.

And she was in definite distress.

'MOM!' he yelled mentally.

Azari fell to the ground, coughing a little, but struggled to look at Vanessa.

"...that damn bird!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Ash came to a screeching half when he saw the woman double over in pain... and became VERY concerned when he saw her blood staining her clothing.

"What the!?" he said.

"What happened!?" he asked her.

"Are you all right!?"

Lindsay managed to take a step forward, but he felt her control clawing at him. He felt his grasp on his free well slipping, as his mind became foggier and foggier. They were so close. They couldn't let her win.

Not now.

That was when they heard Azari's voice yelling out, getting louder and louder.

"Madam!" he exclaimed, emerging from the forest, his back severely burned, which was causing him to falter and hobble a bit now.

"We have a problem!" he told her.

"They have backup, now!"

The same was happening with Lindsay. Even though his soul becoming whole again, laced with the accumulated bits of mana that Ash had unconsciously imparted upon it throughout the years, had helped him wrench himself from her control... he still wasn't home free.

He was feeling the same way as Hazel, and was trying his best to stand his ground.

"Darn it..." he cursed lightly, his hands balling into fists.

'I must fight this...' he thought, as he looked upon Vanessa.

'I can't let her win!'

He blinked a couple of times, before he acquired a shocked expression.

"I..." he stammered.

"Yeah. Yeah, I AM, actually." he said.

"I feel... like nothing happened." he told her, but then shook his head to erase the amazement he felt.

"Anyway, Mom!" he exclaimed.

"I need to go rescue Mom!"

Ash groaned a little, and raised his hand against the side of his head.

"Ungh..." he mumbled.

"I... I feel... dazed... woozy..." he told her. "Vision's blurry and shaky, too." he went on, trying to get a clear look at the woman, but his eyes not letting him.

"Th-thank you for saving me, though." he then said.

"Who ARE you?" he asked, before his eyes popped open.

"Mom's in danger!" he exclaimed.

Azari continued to take a few steps back, before he faltered and fell to his ass. Once THAT happened, he scrambled to his feet, and turned and bolted.

"MADAM!" he called out.

"MADAM, WE HAVE PROBLEMS!" he yelled out.

Ash watched him go, and then looked to the roots that were restraining him.

He struggled a bit to break free, starting to use his fire to burn them, though these particular ones were QUITE resistant to being burned.

Azari shrieked in pain as he felt the fire on his back, and looked over sharply towards the one that had interrupted.

"...damn it." he cursed.

"You just HAD to interrupt, didn't you?" he said further, taking a few steps back.

Ash looked over towards the newcomer, but... well, one of the reasons Azari had been able to get the better of him, was because he innately knew about the plants in the forest... and had been able to concoct a weird powder that had disoriented and dazed him.

But he knew he didn't recognise this new person.

"Who...?" he started to ask groggily.

Lindsay just nodded in response, and the two of them started to run. As quickly as they could. As they ran, Lindsay started to grow more and more concerned, thinking about what they were running towards.

"...I have a bad feeling about this..." he admitted.

"But I don't know what else to do." he said.

"I just hope I can be of use here." he told her further.