Sodoma screamed as the glowing appendaged pierced her father's skin, and exited through the other side of his body. DK and Cranky almost immediately started running back the way they had come, Wrinkly stopping behind them to pull Sodoma along. In her distress, the girl stumbled and struggled to keep up with the pace set by the others. As such, it wasn't until they were near where they had been knocked out upon stepping foot on land that Cranky and DK even realized the girls weren't with them anymore.

"SHIT!" Cranky shouted.

"Should we go back?!" DK asked.

"I don't know." Cranky frowned, frantically writting out characters in the air in the direction they had came. "Hopefully the Lombado are too distracted to go after them. I'm casting a cloaking spell on them that should wear off once they get near. If they're not with us soon, we'll go back."

XxX

Wrinkly knew things were getting bad when she saw a silhouette of the Tear appear on Sodoma's forehead.

The emotions surrounding what had just been happened must have been getting the better of her. The older of the two could hardly pull the younger along anymore. The best option was just to wait until it passed, and hope the Lombado didn't wise up to their plan and come looking for them. An eternity seemed to pass before the magics showed any sign of stopping, and Sodoma lifted her head to look at Wrinkly.

"Sodoma, come on," the latter quietly urged. "We have to keep going before the Lombado come."

"Inari...?" Sodoma raised her head weakly, the surge of power having taken a lot out of her.

"I'm here. I'm here, Sodoma, I promise. I'm so sorry for what I said about you... You're not annoying, I was just pissed off and-"

Sodoma raised a hand, the tips of her fingers grazing Wrinkly's face in a half-assed attempt to quiet her.

"Someone... or something... showed me a vision when the Lombado had me..." The Tear began to fade, and the girl's strenght was slowly returning. "All those years ago... It wasn't... meant to happen how it did..."

"Sodoma, Sodoma, shhh. Don't speak. You're already weak enough as it is. Whatever it is, you can say later! use your energy to run!"

"It's got to be said." Tears began to well up in Sodoma's eyes as the memory of the vision came back to her. "The Lombado tried to kickstart these events years ago... by causing a similar situation to now..."

"What? What do you..." Wrinkly began, but stopped herself.

No. Whatever it was could wait. They needed to go.

"They tried... to elicit a Tear holder's response... They needed a response from all three... in order to unlock the gate enough... for Harlequinn and a few more Lombado... to escape... and do what was needed..."

"What does Catasandre have to do with any of that?! Why would they have needed to trigger-"

Wrinkly stopped dead in her tracks as the implications hit her.

"Catasandre... foiled their plan... That's why these events are happening only now..." Sodoma coughed.

"No... please don't say what I think you're going to say, Sodoma!" the former Controller pleaded.

"I... I have to... You were meant to die that night... Not her..."