Never truly alone. (2.1 War)

[Enizo]

'There isn't a single person here today that is alone in this. With our nations joined together, our perseverance will be our greatest strength in the dark days that follow--if you never lose hope, we will see the light return, peace to be had.' ~ Alexander Frexton

The surrounding center of Relinquo was void of all life and movement, except for the ashes flowing around the ruins like snow flakes dancing in the wind there was absolutely no movement.

How many were dead? Hundreds... thousands if they were lucky. The Undian Marines who were at the outskirts when the explosion happened were doing their best to pull out the wounded, moving carefully over the rubble to search for everyone they could.

"Hey, we've got someone alive over here!" The Marine called, "Help me out, he's stuck!"

Two more Marines quickly joined their ally and pulled out the boy, his blood covered face was being dotted by the grey ashes, if he was alive, it was barely.

That boy was Enizo.

"Good gods, I can't believe he's even breathing. Get our Healer of over right away, he needs help!"

"H-Help the others..." Enizo managed to get out, barely managing to point over to where he thought his allies were before the explosion, "Bang, Vash, Kazan... they were all by me when everything exploded. They've got to be-"

"Don't speak," The Marine said while wiping the blood away, "It's been four hours sense the explosion happened. You're lucky to be alive."

"Gods..." Enizo managed to get out, fearing the thought of his allies being killed, "This can't be the sacrifice Mentor was talking about. They have to be alive!"

If anyone was still out there, it'd be a miracle. But a miracle Enizo was holding onto.

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

Darkness.

It was a familiar feeling. Darkness begins my memories and the sense of floating, weightless, in a void inabited only by myself is a sensation that has never bothered me. That space between sleep and waking wich frightens humans so was to be my natural state of existance. Idon't need a body to feel comfortable.

But the feeling of weight was something new. The darkness of being trapped, unable to move, bothered me more than any of that weightless darkness, so I willed bmyself back to unconsciousness as I lay, buried in rubble. Would I visit the other side again so soon?

I struggled to make mybody breathe, though air was sparse down here and my lungs seized with instinctive fear that belonged to the small remnants of the human mind that I shared this body with.

I couldn't speak with Kerrian, so I knew things were dire. I hovered in that space between life and death, and wondered wich side of the balance I would fall on. I had spent a few months away, in that other world.... a year, two, even three might be my price this time.

Then I felt weight starting to be lifted away, felt a shaft of light reach into my living cairn.

"Hey! Hey, we found another survivor over here!"

[Volkmar Gamlxltoe]

Sayara stood among the rebels looking around at the destruction all around her. Since she was a Lunar spirit with no physical body, she wasn't harmed in the explosion. She was looking around for her lunar knight, Volkmar, who was harmed in the explosions. Seeing Vash being pulled out of the wreckage, she quickly floated over to him.
"Vashy!" She said panickly, "Yohoo!" She waved her hand at his face.

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I blinked open my eyes.

"Sayara...?"

[annabelle]

"Beat it, young'un! I've got this one!"

Anyone would know that screechy, harping voice anywhere. Annabelle Fraus's wrinkly-assed body managed to survive that horrific explosion, though her way of doing so was something along the lines of "you fight fire with fire so HERE YOU GO" and igniting her own forcefield of some explosive spell which, from the knock-back she acquired quite the collection of bruises and cuts but here she was, alive and only too well.

...And now kicking the marines away from Enizo as she began pulling out colourful, sparkling potions from her robe.

"My daughter was a famed alchemist in Crepusculum. She had to learn it from someone, remember," she told the tale sweetly to the men as she pulled out a particular blue potion in a small flask, shooing away the marines as she moved to get close to Enizo to give him the bottle to drink, "now move! We gotta get these boys back in shape!"

[Bang Shishigami]

I collapsed to one knee, struggling to hoist the two bodies slumped over my shoulders and rise to my feet once more. Panting heavily as my eyes met with the ground, I gave a hearty grunt as I rose to my feet, doing my best to work through the broken ribs that lined my chest, and the cuts and bruises that littered my body. My hearing, thought slightly dulled by the massive explosion, still allowed me to pick up on voices over the nearby mound of rubble wherein houses once stood; my legs doing their best to press onwards to the hope inspiring sound of others.

Surmounting the shifting and crumbling mound, I called out to those below, "I have two wounded here in need of immediate attention, and many more behind me!" in hopes that they might flock to not only the peoples aid, but my own.

As I fought the pain that bore down upon my nerves and flesh, the stings and marks of battle were but afterthoughts to the deep wounds suffered by my heart. For with each life I could not save, and each building I saw razed, I couldn't help think back to my own village, and once again feel as if I was too weak to really save anyone.

My footsteps faltering as I neared the bottom of the rubble heap underfoot, I came crashing to the ground, the bodies on my shoulder falling to either side of me as tears welled up in my eyes. I tried my best to choke back the feeling that burned deep in my soul that gave way to my tears of sorrow, but choke was all I could do; choke upon the feeling of failure, my failure, as the hero I claimed to be.

Grasping the bodies to my side once more, I pulled myself to my feet yet again after a slight coughing fit; the burning in my lungs only serving to remind me that I was still alive, and as such, still had a job to do. Though the sting of my failure gripped my very heart like a vice and clawed at my very soul, I had learned one thing from the failures of my past; travesties such as this are but proof that heroes must rise up against evil, and I, Bang Shishigami, had long ago pledged to fight those evils till my dying breath, and would continue to do so, now more then ever.

[Kazan]

"Hngh hmmnmghy hngh he hmm her hair...."

There was a slight rumbling sound as Kazan squeezed some more rubble away from his face, coughing slightly, and then repeating his earlier messages between racking heaves of his body.

"Can somebody... Can somebody get me out of here?!"

A few marines rushed over to help, moving rubble away from his body and head, hoping to free the guardian only to be encountered with a slightly more frightful sight. A black, rocky substance was clinging to Kazan's body, soft trails of lava flowed down certain parts of the covering and it pulsed with some kind of increased temperature. The marines were shocked... If that armour hadn't have been there, no doubt Kazan would have either been dead or would have had plenty of crushed ribs and maybe even a punctured lung.

"Wh-what should we do..?" One of the marines asked cautiously. As if on cue, the armour started to slowly break away as Kazan dropped down his guards. Holding so much molten rock in place for so long had significantly drained his strength, and as soon as all the armour had fallen from his body, he went limp with a small groan. The marines reached into the crater and pulled him out. The man was still clutching onto his sword, and none could release his grip on it.

He was battered and bruised, his face and body covered in a multitude of cuts and scratches from where he'd been thrown around in his shell, he was pretty certain that there would be some internal bruising as well, and a couple of fractures if he was lucky.

"Dadadadada..." He muttered as the marines placed him gingerly on the ground. "Worst. Ride. Ever."

[Enizo]

The Marines quickly moved to let Annabelle tend to the badly wounded Guardian. Enizo took the potion and sipped it, at first, he coughed it straight back up (accompanied by blood). With his throat being dead dry the sudden sensation of the liquid made his throat reject it completely.

After another try he managed to swallow the potion. One of the Marines looked between the old lady and the young man before asking, "What exactly did you give him?"

Meanwhile, a small group of Marines quickly ran to Bang to help take the wounded off him. They quickly patched up any bleeding wounds and gave a small healing potion (not nearly on the level of Annabelle's) which would hopefully help stop any internal bleeding that was occuring. They turned their attention to the wounded hero and offered up one of the potions, "Take this, it might help."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I Sat up, looked around. Saw everyone starting to gather, stood. Shok of the Marines attempting to help me. My wounds would patch themselves soon - I'd simply have a few more scars to my name, which was fine.

"Enizo," I said, "what happened?"

I'd sensed the boy's power keeping the rest of us safe as the explosion had gone off. Maybe he knew more.

[annabelle]

Annabelle watched as Enizo took the potion she gave him, a smile forming on her face as the marines questioned her.

"It's a concoction of highly potent herbs and plant extracts, mostly from the hardest to reach places of Alberisato. The final touch is a drop of blood from the Emuzil dragon, a rare breed that commonly makes its home in Ariadelvento--the healing properties of that dragon is phenomenal, and with a pinch of the natural salts from the sea, makes for a remarkable fully cleansing, quick-healing potion," Annabelle blathered on her knowledge proudly, clutching her staff but then giving Enizo a semi-worried look, "which reminds me, those salts mixed in there are going to cause a burning effect soon if they already haven't. It should be minor and shouldn't last longer than a minute or two. I should have told you that before."

Ah well. He was either going to be grateful or he wasn't.

[Enizo]

Enizo's hands slid up to his neck to where the burning started before quickly scratching at his chest as the burning briefly overwhelmed him. "GAH!" He managed to let out before going completely limp...

...On the bright side, Enizo could feel his energy returning to the point where he could fully open his eyes and in a couple moments he could even lift himself up. He looked at the Annabelle before grinning a bit, "It tastes like bear piss - don't ask how I know- but I feel better, so thanks Annabelle." He nodded before sitting up a bit, looking over at Vash.

"Vash, are you okay? And where is everyone else?" Enizo asked as he quickly pulled the clothe back over his nose to prevent the ashes from entering his lungs.

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

"I'll be fine," I told him, nodding. "I think the others are alive as well, but I don't know for certain... I thought I was a goner back there! Your barrier probably saved the lot of us." I sat down next to him, careful not to disturb the ash too much. "Do you have any idea what happened? Everything exploded suddenly."

[Enizo]

Enizo thought of the best way to explain it, yet no matter how long he thought there was no real logical way Duo did it. All he could remember was suddenly feeling a spike in energy before putting up that barrier.

So Enizo put it the only way he knew how, "Duo happened. We angered him and he made everyone pay. By the gods - how are we supposed to fight something that can cause all those explosions in a blink of an eye?"

Suddenly like everything was coming back to him he sat up, "Damn it! Everyone who was right next to Duo when it happened!" He looked over to where he thought the building might have been, "Come on, Vash we have to find them!"

Ignoring every wish for his body to remain still he jumped up and began moving over to where they had been fighting.

"ROXA!" Enizo yelled as he began removing rubble, "GOD-SLAYER! Answer me!"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I sprang to miy feet, grabbed Enizo by the arm.

"Enizo!" I cried. "Listen to me! You're hurt. Yes, we need to find them, but we need to do things rationally. And you running off after them in your condition isn't going to help them any if you hurt ourself more."

I took a deep breath. "We'll look for them. But we have to be cautious."

[Enizo]

"I did this to them, Vash. I brought them to Vuoto even though I knew it'd be a trap. All of these deaths and the countless people buried... they're on me," Enzio said, shifting his eyes to the ground, "I can't just sit around and let the people I care about die."

Enizo turned away from Vash and bent down to the ground, doing his best to move aside a large amount of rubble. He didn't say another word, the guilt was eating the young man up and all he could do to keep his mind off of it was try and find his friends