Colin's posts

"..." Nate was silent again for a moment, not even seeming to realise that the television had been turned off. Or maybe he was aware, but didn't even care? He just stared at the blank screen for a moment, before looking at her.

"Just can't." he said.

"...does it matter?" he then asked her, before shaking his head.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"I just... had a weird and depressing dream, and now I'm just... down." he told her.

"That's all."

There was no answer from within the house. Not at first. However, after a brief pause, she heard him from within the den.

"Yo." he said, barely loud enough for her to hear. When she stepped into the room, she saw him sitting on the couch, staring at the television. It seemed to be on some 24/7 news channel, and the anchor was droning on about something happening in Europe.

He then looked over towards her, and she saw his eyes looked... horrid. They were tired, they were sunken, there were bags under them, and he had an overall expression of just... extreme 'blah', she would say.

It also seemed there was a distinct downturn in his overall mood, too.

"...couldn't sleep." he mumbled.

"Hi, though." he said further, looking back to the TV and sinking back into the couch cushions.

He fell on his front, the side of his head bashing against the concrete sidewalk, causing him to let out a spat of blood from his mouth. His entire body bounded for a moment, before he was still for a moment, twitching slightly. His light grey hoodie was stained with his own blood, though the hood was still up, covering his face and head, and his black jeans were torn and ripped from the scuffle. His shoes were dirty white, and for all intents and purposes, he seemed like just the average person.

So why was he downed in such a state, with his 2 attackers having a cruel laugh at him? Did he own them money? Had he slighted one of them, or one connected to them? Or was it the ornate box that one had in their hands? It had previously been in the backpack of the injured person, but they had torn it off of him when he was trying to fight back, gutted it of its contents, and thrown the bag off to the side.

"Some guardian you are." one taunted him, as he struggled to get up, but found himself barely able to raise his torso slightly.

"No..." he stammered. "No... please, don't..." he begged. "You know not what you are doing..." he said quietly.

"Oh. We know." the second one responded, the two of them little more than menacing shadows right now, with how blurry his vision was, and how the lone streetlamp above was shining right on them from behind, almost accentuating their gleeful and cruel smiles. "This is exactly what we wanted." they told him further.

With that, the two faced each other, one holding the box in their hands, as if presenting it to the other one.

"No...! No!" the injured man begged.

"You failed, 'Guardian'." the other grinned, as the lock on the box shattered when they placed a key into it, causing the key itself to shatter as well, and they reached to open the box.

"NO!" the downed man yelled, trying to raise a hand up to stop them.

Ash just laughed lightly.

"I'll be good." he said.

"Worst thing is that I've been knocked down a peg or two in terms of mana I have. Or three. Or four. Or five." he went on.

"Well, Kaia, I think I'm going to pass out now." he then told her.

"I trust you to take care of me and do whatever you feel is best." he finished, before smiling again, and closing his eyes, falling unconscious.

"...cool." Ash responded.

"Looks like the dweller kept their word." he said, looking around.

He then looked at the bottle of water before accepting it, opening it, and chugging it faster than she'd ever seen anyone drink something before. It was gone in a matter of a few seconds.

"...sitting's good." he then said, before promptly collapsing to his ass, and falling onto his back.

"I don't think I've felt THIS bad since back in the days of Vanessa's lab." he commented, not even having the energy to put venom into her name.

She saw him. Standing on the stage. He seemed to not notice she was there, or hear her, and just continued to stand there absently and almost ominously, as she slowly approached. She then saw the pendant in his hand, which slipped through his fingers and fell to the stage, shattering and dissipating when it smacked against it.

She was silent as she approached, anxious about how much fainter his mana signature was.

"...Ash...?" she said when she got even closer.

That's when he slowly turned his head and looked at her, and she could see that her was a GHASTLY pale, with almost black bags under his sunken eyes. His mana felt to be weaker than her grandmother's, but not by a considerable amount.

But still, this was a jarring sight, to see her brother look and feel THIS weak. For his standards, anyway.

"...heya." he greeted her with a smile, his voice hoarse and strained.

"Everyone back?" he asked.

Jun merely nodded in response.

"Probably not." he said.

They were waiting for another 15 minutes or so, before Kaia could suddenly sense a presence in the theatre. A familiar one. A Fyrane one. And before she could say anything, James poked his head in.

"I can smell someone new here." he said.

"Scent just kind of appeared out of nowhere." he went on.

"Seems like it's on the main stage."

Hal just smirked.

"Granted." he said, snapping his fingers.

The next thing Kaia knew, she was standing in the room she'd just been in, where Yuki and Jun still were.

"Welcome back." Jun greeted her.

"No, there's been no updates." he said.

"But we're being watchful while we recuperate." he then assured her.

Hal nodded.

"Of course." he replied.

The two made their way to the dorm that she had been using, where they found a change of clothing, 2 notebooks, some pens, and that was about it.

"She wasn't here long." Hal mumbled.

"And with the flickering, guess she felt she didn't need much." he said further.

"But that looks to be everything."

Hal nodded in response.

"Let's go." he said.

With that, the two of them were gone, back to the dorm that she and Yuki had shared. With Hal helping, it took them about 35 minutes, before everything was packed up and ready to go. Hal turned to her, and looked around some.

"All right, I'll send you back to the theatre now." he told her.

"Let me know when your cousin returns." he said.

"And if he needs medical attention."

Hal shook his head.

"That will be entirely unknown." he said.

"It all depends on how much mana the void dweller needs, how long it will take to extract, and... well..." he went on, before sighing quietly. "...if he can even make it back at all." he finished.

"I know it's morbid, but..." he continued, trailing off a little, before unfolding his arms.

"Regardless, I need to head back to the Unit." he said.

"Kaia, are you going to accompany me back to gather all yours and Miss Yuki's property, or shall I do so myself?" he asked Kaia.

The man just smiled as Vaeri made her way over, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I needed to see my daughter before I relaxed." he insisted.

"But now that I know she's all right, I can go and rest." he said further.

Hal just nodded in response.

"I can understand that." he said.

"So... I guess, we should all just... try and rest this off?" James asked.

"At this point, it's all you can do." Hal told them.

James sniffed again, and nodded.

"Yep." he replied.

"He's there as well." he told her, before listing off the other scents he picked up, which were the remaining members of the company.

"So everyone's back." he smiled.

"...not everyone." Hal mumbled. "Not yet, anyway..." he said further, crossing his arms over his chest and looking uneasy.

"Eh?" James responded.

"Who's missing?" he asked.

"...I guess she had to try and remain strong." Jun said.

"You and Kaia were the only ones left, yes?" he asked Yuki.

"Yeah..." Yuki said quietly.

"Then surely she was remaining strong for you." Jun told her. "She was acting like a pillar, so you would remain strong and calm as well." he went on.

"That sounds right." James interjected.