The Wrath of Seven

We're tense. Everything's tense around us- the virtual armada landing off to the right, the swamp and the giant tree that held Five's chest behind us, a giant patch of ice and dead plants that encases Five, cradling himself in any way he can with one foot impaled, and-

No. I don't want to think about it. We're all invisible, but I still feel the tear drop down my cheek. As soon as it leaves my face, it turns visible and drops to the ground, freezing instantly into a little ice droplet.

I don't want to think about it because- no. No reason. There's nothing not to think about. It's just me, Six, and Nine, who, I presume, is still slung over Six's shoulder, passed out or something. I remember that he couldn't stand back before-

Before we engaged Five. That's what happened. We engaged Five and we fought and now I have a new legacy. Nothing else happened. No one else's dead. Too many are already dead, Adelina and Hector and Crayton and now-

Damn it, I need to get back in the game. I can hear Six rasping from beside me, obviously having to concentrate hard from her split skull. I grope out into open space with the hand I'm not gripping Six's with obvious white knuckles with, and when I feel her hair I run my hand up, and It feels wet. Blood. New blood.

I focus, dizzying but not falling as I press my Legacy into her, trying so hard to get her well. The icy, cold feeling's back, but different than my new Legacy, this one comforting in my palm. She sighs and I can tell it's working. A warm feeling comes up from my core- she's saved me a bunch of times, after all. The least I can do.

"Thanks," I hear in the quietest whisper from beside me. "Now follow my lead," I feel her hand move sharply backwards, and I follow suit, not seeing me or her, just seeing the Mogs swarming all around us. I look back once to see them trying to unceremoniously tug Five free of my trap, but it's only making it worse. I can hear his agony from here, and I can't help but give off a sly smile. Eat it, bitch.

We're on the other side of the tree now, out of sight for now while they search for us. It's a giant tree, really, standing in the air up a hundred feet and a root system covering the entire little island we stand on. What did Nine say? A great place to camp? Sure, sure.

And with that, we're visible again. Cowering behind a giant tree, an army on the other side. "Here, take him," Six flops Nine down on the ground, who moans slightly in response. He's beat up all over, legs swelling up and head bleeding and arms broken branches off the trunk. I don't know what to focus on first.

C'mon, Marina. Do it right now. I take one hand on each leg and feel the bones move under me, working my way up to his torso. There's bruises and bumps everywhere from being hurled across the air and dropped out of the sky from Five's vicious tentacle of an arm, and it scares me. Another Garde dead so soon after…

I feel the bones shift back where they were a second ago, his ribs virtually just cracking again under me. No, no, no! Get back there, stay there!

The ribs move again, and I can't tell if it's a friendly direction or not. But they're moving. I get up to his neck just as Six comes back from who knows where, materializing in front of me. "Get it done, Marina," she soothes. "We gotta get outa here quick. They're massing around Five."

I remain silent in response, eyes closed, sweat beading down my forehead. Bones, move. Bruises, go away. Skin, mend. Blood, evaporate. Bones, move. Please, bones, move faster!

All I can hear is my breathing. It's fast and rapid and heavy and all scary. This is all just scary and sick and- No! I gotta focus on Nine. He doesn't look so bad now, not so beaten up. His arms are better, and now I grab both sides of his skull and send a giant jolt of iciness down my arms into him, and suddenly his eyes open.

His eyes open.

I lean back in relief, just a temporary feeling, however fleeting, as he looks up at me, confused. "huuhha?" he asks.

"Quiet, N-Nine. We're still in- in troub-b-ble," Shaky. My voice is way too shaky.

He sits up and looks around. I finally do, too. The tree still sits there between me and the army, and I don't even dare think about poking my head out of the side. Other than that, it's the same as it was when we arrived- a swamp. Water there, mud here, barely any grass on our little islet. Just mud and dirt and Nine's blood in a trail right too… us….

I grab Nine by the shoulders, throwing him to his feet. "Nine, move, now," I shove him forward toward the water, and he doesn't seem to understand me but runs anyway. It gets dark quickly, and I jump at the sharp and violent cracks of thunder that clap all around. Quick, Marina. Where's the Fanboat.

Doesn't matter. Just run. Nine hazards a look behind, then moves both his arms up in a sweeping motion, probably telekinesis. I don't look back, but he keeps doing it, like he's swimming through the air or something. We get to the beach, and he turns around, teeth barred like an animal. "I'm not going anywhere…"

I hold my hand out in front of me, freezing a little path across the water out into the center of the bayou. "Nine!" I shout. "Get out here now!" He turns around and sees what I've done, them concedes and runs after me. As he runs, I can see through his torn pantleg the glowing orange circle shape on his calf, and… I… I mean, it's Eight. That's Eight's symbol there.

No! There's a better time for mourning! I look through my blury vision to the Mogs staring us down from the edge of the beach, raising their guns and blasters and cannons and whatever else at us. I throw a mind-punch at them, at all of them, and they topple over, some of them big holes appearing out of nowhere in the center of their chests.

They killed Eight. They slaughtered him like Adelina and Hector and everyone else I've ever cared for. They freaking deserve what they get! They're monsters! I let my own anger emerge out of the fear, taking hold and grasping me tight, and I'm like a remote, invisible ninja over there, telekinetically attacking everything that moves.

Nine's sudden movement startles me cuz I almost forgot he was here. He seem sto like my idea, because he's punching and kicking and slashing at the air, and over on the land Mogs drop to ash in all directions.

And with no warning at all, Six is suddenly standing on the beach, shouting "Marina, let me on!" I stop maiming for just a second to freeze a bridge over to her, and she runs up to us just as the ice disappears behind her in the Florida sun. I guess it's cuz I'm still standing here on the ice raft that it's still solid as is.

"Guys, we need to go. Like, now," Six says over her own thunder. "There's just more coming."

Nine talks for the first time. "No. Here and now. We're gonna stop running and show Good ol' Ra how it's done!" As if to make a point, he twirls his first in the air and then punches nothing, and on the shore three Mogs fall at once.

Six stands her ground. "No. No, we can't. Five's out of the picture, and we lost a Garde. We can't sustain anything more. We've gotta move!"

"Nine, She's right," I plead. "C'mon, we need to go…."

He says nothing for a while, just kicking and slashing as if he's out there in the battle, and he kinda is. Kinda. And Six is still letting it rain lightning on my other side, still fighting even though she wants to run. "Fine."

A single word, but Six takes it. "Marina, bridge us over to the mainland as fast as you can," and I do. Sprinting at full speed, I freeze the water under me in a weaving line and feel Nine and Six hot on my heels. Within the minute we're almost a mile away and gaining fast toward the end of the bayou and the place where we first saw Five's… creation.

We break onto the land, me blazing through the trees and them each cutting their own path through, jumping and tucking and rolling over fallen logs and tiny ponds and the like. In ten minutes we stop to take a breather and regroup.

"God, that felt good," Nine says, sweat on his brow and his voice a little raspy, but otherwise not winded at all. I'm pretty much the same, and whenever I wasn't back there, like when I got a cramp or something I'd just stick my hand to my sweaty side and heal it right up, untwisting the muscle. So I'm fine.

Six fwuumps onto the ground, staring ahead. Her blonde hair's frizzy and her face is a little pink, but nothing much. I sit down next to her and Nine across from me, forming a little circle. We're all silent, and I think I know what we're all thinking about.

Six grabs my hand and looks at me apologetically. "He was a good guy," she says quietly. "I think we'll all miss him forever," I look down a little. A little? He was like, my only happiness or something sappy like that…

Nine's picking at his new scar, his skin settling down but still bloody from it. I already ran my hands over it when I was healing his legs, so I guess there's nothing I can do. "Yeah," Is all he says. He's cooled off from the excitement of the moment, and now gazes drearily in the distance. "Five…. I just can't believe it."

My adrenaline rush is fading fast, and I don't want it to. I don't want to be brought back to reality, where people die all the time and I just stand by, useless. Useless Nurse Marina, healing the wounds she could've prevented from happening in the first place. Useless Nurse Marina, trying so hard and still not being vital. It probably would've been better for the cause if I'd been the one to jump in front of Nine back there, Eight was important. If he was Pittacus, then we've already lost! That's vital!

Six's hand rubs me up and down the back, and I realize I've curled up and I'm heaving quiet sobs. "I- I think I'm just gonna sleep now," I say, even though it's the brightest time of the day out here.

Six keeps rubbing my back, but her voice turns serious. "We've gotta keep running. If we stop, they'll catch up. Let's make it to Miami by nightfall, and then we'll rest," she's soft when she talks, dunno if for her or me. Am I really this fragile? I mean, it's like she said. Did we really expect to fight a war without any deaths?

No. No we didn't. All of Lorien's already dead, as well as everyone who's ever defended us, the lone survivors. Five said, just before he murdered Eight, that he'd called the Mogs to go take care of Chicago. John's not dead, cuz we don't have yet another scar, but who knows about the rest? About our sick palace? About Ella- she's a sister to me, as much as Six is. What if she's dead? We'd never know- she's not an Elder. She's not under the Charm. No new scar would weep with us is she goes.

I sit up, and Six stops rubbing me. "We've gotta get back to Chicago. Meet up with John and the rest who stayed behind, and regroup. Fight again."

Six nods solemnly. "Yeah," then she winks at me. "Let's focus on Miami first."

So. How'd you guys like it? Is it good... bad... if it's good, by all means, keep reading! I'd love you if you did :D

If it's bad, please tell me why it is. I know a lot of people will come here, read the first chapter and be done. If you're one of those people, what pushed you away? What can I do to make it better.

That's all for now.