Salem, Akira, and Gail - Hidden Power
With the rush of action that the team underwent as they fell out of the portal, they all landed on top of each other in a giant heap. Gail was the first one out, whipping out with a twirl of air, dragging Salem with her so that Faylin and Akira could comfort each other. "Okay," Salem started, holding his stomach in obvious pain. "You guys have the worst exes ever." Gail helped him down on the ground and he groaned in pain as she laid him flat on his side. There was a leaking gash there, and if not healed quickly, he'd surely perish. She lowered her lips to his wound and blew gently on it, the words of a healing ritual escaping her lips. Salem sighed as the pain let up, and he shakily laughed. "I'm not sure I want to find someone after that experience." He let his head fall with a sickening thud against the dark ground. "Gods," Gail said, brushing his hair out of his eyes, "How do you feel?" "I feel like I just got killed over and over again and that some sick jerk is bringing me back to life to torment me." He shut his eyes in obvious pain, and reached out for Gail's hand. "Don't leave me.." He whimpered. He wasn't trying to be flirtatious, or even to be sweet. Salem was genuinely scared. His team had just been broken down to pieces in a matter of minutes, and there hadn't been a thing one of them could have done about it. Well, maybe Akira. She seemed to be the only level headed one at the current time. She was so brave, throwing herself in front of, oh who was it, Jessamine? Whoever it was, the crazy bitch lady she'd now be dubbed..It was insane that she'd done that! Totally and completely insane! Salem, even though he'd never admit this, would never have been able to do that as she had done in that very moment, and that's what made him weak. That was why he needed to grow stronger. That was why he needed Gail by his side to be his friend and to help him along his path. That's why he needed his friends. "Ughh," he moaned as Gail worked more magic on him. "Stop," he pointed at Faylin who was holding Akira, caressing her face as it bled a steady stream of dark gooping blood. "Help her." He paused, "Hell, help everyone. I've learned some basic cure magic I can work on myself." "But Salem—" she said, weaving her hands through the air, "Just go!" he yelled in pain, sitting up and gasping for air. She'd never heard such fear in his voice, nor the unease of anger that touched it now. She stumbled backwards and slid over to Akira and Faylin, shooting Salem a look of love, care and worry. Akira was holding her palms against a deep gash that lined her forehead, and Faylin was holding her, staring down intently at her as she tried to stop the blood flow. His voice was quieted, barely a whisper, and he was speaking incomprehensibly fast. It seemed as if he were saying Akira's name over and over again, but as his lips moved with the exhaling of words, his eyes were distant and in a faraway place. "Ow, Faylin," Akira sobbed, her eyes watering. "You're hurting me!" she kicked at him with her legs "Let go!" she screamed as Gail reached them. She broke free of his grip and fell backwards, Faylin mimicking her as he fell to the side, his face riddled with shock. The movement of his mouth continued, and Akira shoved away from him, sliding in the dirt and messing her clothes. "God, what the fuck is your problem," Akira rubbed her arms, momentarily forgetting her gash, looking down to see bruises of his hands forming on her pale ivory skin. Gail looked worriedly at her brother, but upon seeing no physical damage, she crawled over to Akira. Akira pushed backwards more, but then stopped, realizing that Gail was going to try and help. "Here," the mage said quietly taking Akira's hands in hers. Gail drew and outline with her pale fingertips in the palm of Akira's hand, kissed it, and pushed Akira's hand to her the gushing wound. Akira's eyes squeezed shut as the wound stung, but she opened them with fresh tears as the pain drifted. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, ignoring Salem's and Gail's growing wounds. "Why is he acting like that?" the tears started to spill over. "I—I don't know," Gail stammered, worrying about her brother. Gail cast a potent curaga spell on Salem, and ventured forward to be next to her brother. "Faylin?" she breathed his name. "Faylin, are you okay?" her long fingers reached out towards him, a gentle motion. But her hand never connected. Faylin lurched up and grabbed her by the wrist and slung her to the side, throwing her into the ground where she collapsed limp. His eyes were savage and his face was full of unknown anger, anger that he'd never displayed to his partners before, especially not his sister. "Hey! Asshole! What the fuck was that!?" Salem yelled at him as Faylin moved in for Akira. "Faylin.." She started, backing up slowly not wanting to fight the man. He lunged for her and knocked her off of her feet, pinning her to the ground with his hands. His lips brushed the side of her neck, fierce, angry. "Faylin," she whimpered. "You're hurting me." He didn't stop. "God! You're hurting me! Get off you stupid asshole!" Akira's darkness expelled from her body and shot up in petrifying waves, slamming into Faylin and causing him to roll off of her. With a startled look of recognition, his eyes widened, and his features went limp. "Akira.." he said, his hand reaching for her, not angry, but longingly. "No! Get away!" she screamed at him, curling up into a ball. "Akira.." he stood up, opened a portal, and vanished into it, the echo of the words, "I'm so sorry," cutting through the air.
Faylin fell out of the portal with a weakened thud; he lay there limp and shaking. What was wrong with him? His mind screamed at him, pleading with him to snap out of it. His body shook with tremors and a cold sweat broke out across his brow, chilling him to his core. He collapsed and lay there, writhing with the ghost of a pain in his chest, gasping for air as he tried to breath. Akira's face blurred behind his eyes, becoming more vivid with the moment. He'd held on to her, he'd hurt her, and he'd frightened her. Fuck, he'd attacked her! He clawed at his hair, wishing that he were able to weep at this very moment. "God, you stupid idiot!" he scolded himself as he shook violently. She'd hate him now for sure, and she'd never be able to trust him. For some reason, that broke something within him. Perhaps the essence of his heart had broken, maybe his soul had split. It was nothing more than he deserved. "What's wrong with me," he groaned, rolling on his side so that he could see the sky, or whatever it was, that was above him. I've attacked everyone I've ever loved; it's all I know how to do! I killed her, and I've harmed Akira. Oh God, and Gail. She'd been unconscious after he'd slung her. What if..What if I've killed my sister! A tear fell from his eye as he mourned the thought. Punching the ground as the fought to stand, he screamed as a man would scream out of frustration, and directed his anger towards the nearest object, which just so happened to be a giant boulder surrounded by dead decaying grass. As Faylin's fists connected with the rock, darkness shot up and out of his arms, and propelled into everything around him, creating dark destructive waves of power; the rock splintered under his hands and shattered as he struck it with ferocious intent. "You," he yelled as he pummeled into the firmly solid stone "Stupid" rocks spewed all around him, tiny pieces finding rest in his pale skin "Fuck up!" he roared, tears streaming from his face. Hating himself was so easy. All that was ever brought about by his presence was terrible, terrible things. Why hadn't Jessamine killed him? Hell, why hadn't they let her? It was what he deserved, and the only way to repay his debt to her, and in such actions against Gail and his newfound love, Akira, how did he ever deserve to live? How could a monster such as he be graced with the opportunity to survive when all he knew how to do was harm? Jessamine had been right about him..She'd always been right.
Gail's body lay limp on the ground, Salem and Akira gathered round her, terrified looks on their faces. "Is—" Salem started, "No! Don't say that!" Akira snarled at him, rolling her gently onto her back so that her tiny lifeless form lay face up to the stars. "No, she's still got a pulse. I can't feel it." Salem cringed at the comment, and stared at Gail shaking her gently. "Wake up, please." "Stop," Akira said, grabbing Salem's hand and pulling it back with her own. "She's not gonna wake up if we don't perform a cure spell, and if we don't do one soon, her life is gonna fade. See here," she pointed towards Gail's temple where a big black bruise was forming at a steady pace "She struck her head and has bleeding on the inside of her skull…" "Oh my God!" The boy moaned, mortified by the idea that his friend was going to die if they didn't do anything. "We don't know any magic that advanced!" The heartless silenced him, deep in thought as she reached into a bag she carried always at her side. "The spell book Faylin gave me." Faylin's name hurt in her mouth, but she continued on. "There has to be something in here," flipping through the pages with desperation, not understanding a single word, she threw the book at Salem and encouraged him for a try. "I can't read anything it says now!" Akira said frustrated. "Odd," the boy said flipping through the pages at a steady pace, "I can read and understand every word." Akira glared at him, but walked over and stood behind him as his eyes lit up with recognition. "This is how she does it..Her magic..It's all so simple now." With a flutter of his eyelashes and a raising of his hand, Gail's body shot straight up into the air and a white light pierced her central body. "Woah," Akira started, only to silence herself as she watched in awe at Salem's new raw power unfolding. With his other hand, he traced symbols of radiating light into the air and flicked the out to Gail's body, to which they seemed to tattoo themselves onto her exposed skin. They glowed faintly, as he began to speak a spell that was in a different language to his normal one. The tattoos lit up with an almost blindingly bright light, and then they were gone, and Gail's body was laying there looking fresh and renewed. The mage shot up, her eyes first scared but soon switching to aware. "There's no way you did that," looking at Salem, she felt her temple. "I was near gone, you couldn't have performed that spell! You don't have the magical training!" she gawked, "I couldn't do that-" "How about a thank you," he interrupted her, smug. "Thanks," she said quietly, looking down at her legs. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." "I don't know about this sap fest, but that was friggin awesome!" Akira said, forgetting the peril that followed them in their tracks. "I wanna learn how to do that!" "You can't," Gail said. "Why the hell not?!" a look of disappointment growing on her face. "Because that's magic only capable of being performed by beings of pure heart." Akira crossed her legs and stuck out her lip in a pout. "Stupid freaking goody goodies." Gail stood, brushing the dirt from her dress. "Where's Faylin?" a question revealing that she honestly had no idea what had happened. "I remember…I remember.." "What?" Salem asked worried. "I don't know. We're missing the twins and Faylin though."
The two exchanged a hesitant worried glance between Gail and each other, and ducked their heads to whisper. "She doesn't remember." "Should we tell her?" "Of course not, she'll freak out and get hurt." "Well, she needs to know something. " "Yeah, but not THAT." "I don't know, Akira." Gail stomped her foot growing impatient "Hey you guys, I can hear you, you know." The two jumped and turned around to face her. "Well, you see," Salem started. "The twins were captured, and Faylin ran off." Pondering the thought, the mage crossed her arm. "Captured? How?! And he ran off! What an idea! Of course he has, he always leaves when we need him." Her face hardened over into an unrecognizable emotion. "When I need him.." she paused, "I'll just track him, no biggy. The twins, however, I need more information." The two explained to her the venture to the Unbirths hideout and all that had occurred, explaining to her in full detail of the occurrences and the fight between them and Jessamine. They told her about how Faylin had kind of gone mad at that point and had left before he did anything stupid, and how the twins had stayed behind so that the group could have a chance of escaping alive. "We're not gonna be able to go back without a guide, and I do believe we're going to need to be a lot stronger in order to face them," Salem bluntly stated. Gail nodded. "Let's focus on Faylin," she started, beginning to weave a tracking spell from the essence of Faylin's soul. "It'll take a moment-Ah, he's..Oh no." "What?" Akira said a little bit too loud. "Oh, no, no, no. That is not good at all." Reaching quickly for Akira's and Salem's hands, she snatched them, jumped into the air, and snapped into her dragon form. She held them close as she protected them with spells and zipped through the air, breaking out of the atmosphere of the unknown world an into the stars.