they have to feel us, right?
the ones who leave have to feel us calling for them across the blue,
our orange-tinged memories blanketing them, holding them, washing them in that feeling you get when you finally arrive back home
-Tiny Fairy Tales ( tinyfairytales on Twitter)
Yara almost wept when the vines that had snaked around the pieces of stone in front of her had finally managed to squeeze the large slabs into little pieces and she was able to get up and see Seraph peer over, tears making tracks through the dust and dirt on her face but otherwise very much intact and unhurt. The relief on seeing her like this, when she'd had no idea whatsoever what had become of any of them was matched only by Seraph's even clearer relief as she gasped and then took a shaky breath before exclaiming:
"Yara! Oh, thank the….actually, whatever, just, I'm glad to see that you're alright! Do you think you can climb up?"
Yara studied the pile of stones before nodding and immediately trying to climb before she could change her mind. The pieces of stone slid away under feet and she had to scramble, but then Seraph grabbed her arms and pulled her and they both went sprawling backwards, hitting the ground.
"Owwwwww." Seraph whined.
"Sorry, sorry!" Yara apologised as she quickly scrambled to get off.
"Nah, it's fine, it's just grass…"
Seraph sat up and looked around, going silent. Yara followed her gaze and stared at the ruins of the buildings all around her. It had sounded so loud when everything had crumbled and she'd dived down and curled up into a ball, so loud. She was surprised that there was even any building left at all. But she didn't know how to process what was left. All the piles and piles of rose stone and wood and metal, things that once been doors and windows and tables and chairs and other things. She couldn't even tell where on the grounds she was. All she knew was that on one side, she could see Howl carrying someone, though she couldn't tell if they were injured or dead, and on another she could see Ririsa, Memora, Stella and Tiro carefully lifting away pieces of stone and debris, a bit at a time, peering into the holes and tunnels they'd made.
"They've been at that for a while," Seraph explained. "Mostly everyone's been going everywhere, searching for specific people or where others who can smell them or divine or whatever have said people might be, but they've been working at that section a while. They actually found a few people, too. Cain-sempai and Sasi-sempai were injured but they were okay and the others…well, I don't know them but…well, some of them are okay and some, well..."
Seraph shrugged as she trailed off, biting her lip. Yara glanced over at the four, watching as Stella and Memora tugged a bendy thing that glowed. It took a moment or two of rapid blinking for her to realise that it was a long, thick chain of stars like the ones that hung in the East Wing to make up for the lack of windows. The realisation made her tremble and she turned away to look at Seraph.
"I…where's…" Yara stammered, the question only really forming as she spoke. "Have you found Theo and the others?"
Seraph shook her head and frowned.
"No. Some people've been saying they sorta just disappeared? But if they're not still…you know…then they probably really have gone."
Yara just nodded. She had seen Theo disappear in a swirl of golden flower petals, a proper pure gold the colour of light, something she'd never seen on any flower, ever. But it seemed like a dream now. She swallowed, her throat feeling dry and rough, and asked another question:
"Our friends?"
Immediately, Seraph stiffened, and Yara's heart dropped. She took a deep breath and waited as eventually, her friend answered:
"They're all okay, mostly. Jun's hurt his leg and Kyouki's a bit bashed up, but they're okay still. Jae, though…"
"What about Jae?"
Seraph's lips wobbled and she whispered:
"We…well, we haven't found him yet."
"I…" Yara stammered. "He could still be alright, couldn't he? Just that someone's gotta find him. And they will, won't they? Someone will."
"Y-yeah. Maybe. Maybe."
But Seraph looked away and Yara somehow knew that such a hope was an impossible one, that not everyone could not possibly be as lucky as she had been. Because I am lucky, aren't I? Right now I'm really lucky. Yara couldn't see any signs of the containment barrier from here, but that didn't mean it wasn't still around in some way. She wondered how long it would take for the outside world to be able to see that the building had collapsed, or for her family to start worrying about her. There was a part of her that wondered if an entire building's destruction was enough proof for them to believe, if her own personal devastations hadn't been.
Another part of her suspected that wouldn't be the case, and that when they realised what she had been involved with they'd find a reason to not believe her for this, too, to not believe that it was done to save everything. Including them. No matter what happened, they'd never believe her and yet…
I'm alive now, and Jae might not be but the others are and…they're here. I'm here…
"I want to tell you."
Seraph tilted her head and frowned quizzically at her. Yara stared back at her in just as much confusion until she realised that she'd said it out loud. But now she could hear her voice lingering in the air, she realised it was true. Why here and now, she couldn't really tell herself that. But she wanted to tell, finally. She had to.
"You want to tell me what?"
"About...about what happened to me, in middle school. I want-no, I think I need to tell."
"The others, too?"
Yara just nodded, glad that Seraph had not questioned why she suddenly wanted to talk about it now. She felt sure that if she did try to explain here, that she'd somehow lose the courage and retreat right back inside the shell that had made her press it all down for the past two years, as if she only had a specific quota of words to use on the whole sorry story and had to save them carefully. Seraph frowned once more but then gave a sad smile. Reaching up to brush away tears that had gathered at her eyelids she then grabbed Yara's free hand.
"The others are all together. We'll go to them."
…
As soon as she was sure that the students from the infirmary were now in good hands, Mist walked away as fast as she could. She should have been happy that at least some of them were alive, yet she just couldn't manage to make herself experience that emotion. She didn't even have the ability to feel any sorrow at the few who hadn't woken up and never would again.
It was not just because she'd helped to pull too many bodies from rubble already, something that she should never have had to do, but because none of them were the body she wanted to see. The person she most needed to find. It was why now, instead of being on the lookout for the latest rescue effort she rushed away, away, away, heading straight towards the forest, sending a small orb of light ahead of her to light her way, as the sky was starting to darken.
She reached the river and followed it, making a point of going the opposite direction to the trees that they had grown. Could those not be described as corpses, too? Whether that was the case or not, she wasn't ready to face them, knowing that she had so much to demand of them and knowing that she would never get it.
It wasn't as if it mattered though, really. Even if deep down in the rational part of her she knew that Frost had only gotten as far as she had because the staff of Kawaakari hadn't been able to stop her in time, the rest of her heart disagreed roundly with that. It was her fault, hers that Negi was gone, and so the least she could do was to look for her body and make sure she was brought home again.
A shadow flickered to the side of her and she stiffened, wondering if it was the same shadows that had forced their hands this morning but when she turned, blue eyes glowed and a sleek black form stepped forward, revealing itself.
"K-Kaguya-san!" she exclaimed.
The panther inclined its head at her before asking:
"May I ask what you are doing?"
"I…I want to find their bodies. You know whose. At least to be able to mark their graves so it's easier when we're freed."
Kaguya considered her for a moment, and she felt heavy under the scrutiny, enough so that it was almost a surprise when Kaguya spoke again:
"They will be able to rest soon, but I think I need your assistance first."
"I…" Mist blinked a couple of times. "You need my assistance?"
"Assistance, generally. There are…there are lost children here, and I think they can be saved if we are quick. Climb onto me-we can jump across the river."
There was something in that calm bright gaze that made Mist feel quite unable to question Kaguya, and so she simply obeyed. It barely felt like a few seconds from when she clambered onto Kaguya's back to when they were across the river, and she silently got off and brushed herself down and followed Kaguya to the forest.
She was surprised to realise that they were heading towards the Portal of Otohime, and even more surprised when she realised that there was something coming out of the water. No, more like being pushed and though at first from the way the moonlight hit the figure and made their skin look opalescent she thought it was Otohime, as the person emerged further, gasping and retching, she realised that it was another girl. One of the four remaining girls who'd gone missing in the summer. Mist immediately darted forward to help get her out, dragging her away from the edge of the pool and near to a tree, settling her against it. She frowned as she tried to remember who was who, and concluded based on the long plaits that this was Rain.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Rain didn't appear to hear her as she still gasped for breath, eyes wide and unfocused. When she retched, Mist scrambled to the side, and then after Rain vomited pool water into the grass in front of her, Mist searched her belt pouches and pockets for tissues. She held them out, but the girl just stared at her, unblinking. Instead she twitched, stretched her legs, but when her bare foot brushed the wet grass, Mist quickly tugged her up.
"Come on, you can't sit here."
Rather than getting up as Mist tried to coax her to the next tree over, Rain crawled. Mist was starting to get the sense that something was very, very wrong and when she'd settled the girl again, she wiped her face for her and then studied her, realising that her eyes were not just wide with emotion but that her face had become gaunt, making the eyes bulge. Despite that though, she had an eerie beauty to her, helped by the odd shimmering of her skin.
And hold on…Mist thought, peering at her neck, are those gills? The little lines she'd spotted on the side of her neck were starting to fade but nonetheless they did look like gills. As she stared, there was a light breeze and as it tickled her hair she shrunk back and whimpered, folding into herself.
"It's just the wind," Mist said, confused. "It's alright, it's fine…."
She awkwardly patted her shoulder, not sure what to do when she heard Kaguya call for her.
"Young one, I need your help."
She murmured something that she hoped was at least vaguely reassuring and got up, seeing that Kaguya had transformed into his human form and was in the middle of pulling another girl up while trying to use his body to block the other two girls from getting back in. Mist darted forward and dragged them heavily towards the tree, feeling bad when the whimpering turned into wailing. Once she'd dragged them towards the tree where Rain was, the wails quietened back down into a whimper as they huddled together, shivering. After a few moments, Kaguya came back with the fourth and final girl, Juu, literally holding her hands and carefully guiding her, encouraging her to move one foot in front of the other as if she was just learning to walk before letting her sit down and cling to her friends.
Mist stared at them for a moment, then carefully took off her cloak and attempted to wrap it around the girls, doing the same with the scarf she had on underneath it. She then turned to ask Kaguya what it was she should do when she realised he had gone back to the water.
"Otohime," he was saying. "Otohime, you can come out now too."
Mist walked over and knelt down and saw that Otohime was floating anxiously beneath the surface, her human face turned up to them. With a shock, she realised that the way the girls looked now was exactly the way Otohime looked. Although their hair and eye colours and face shapes were largely the same, they had that inhuman gauntness to them, their complexions had all become pearlescent and there were a million other things that she could not quite pin down but all added up to a sense of not being quite human.
"I…I cannot…" Otohime whispered, her words floating up to them.
"You can, Otohime," Kaguya calmly said. "I know why you didn't come out once you had your voice again, and I do not blame you. But Akari is gone now."
"I….no…those girls…"
"You did not hurt them," Kaguya said. "You protected them with what you had."
"I…the flute…when it broke and I…"
"It is understandable why you chose to remain here. At that time, Akari was still in denial and still at large, and the balance was still uneven. You would have felt it, I know. But that is how I know you can feel this too."
"Kaguya-san, what's happening?" Mist murmured.
Kaguya looked up at her, the brightness of his eyes clouded with sorrow.
"The curse that Akari put on Otohime, it might be broken but at the same time it is still not yet broken."
"I don't…but the Headmas…I mean, Akari is dead. And the flute was broken, right? I'm still not entirely sure by who-I don't know if I was even told, but it was, right?"
"Yes, but before all this Otohime was like you, or your friends. A normal young girl. Perhaps in those times, the trappings of her daily life were very different to yours but at the core of it all, in terms of her desires and hopes and dreams and capacity to love and imagine and wonder, she was the same. Can you imagine how it would be to know that through chance, you had stumbled across something that would invoke the wrath of a God, that would expose that God as a liar?"
"I...I'd be terrified."
"And that is exactly what Otohime has been. Isn't that what you have been all this time," Kaguya turned back to Otohime. "Scared?"
"I…yes…yes, I am."
The words made the water bubble despite how quietly they were spoken. Kaguya gave a sad smile and the said:
"But it's over. This girl and many of her classmates and friends, they have ended. You can come back up to the surface and live out what remains of your mortality. With me. You do not need to be alone."
"I can't."
"You can. Just take my hand."
"I…I can't…I can't…"
"I will protect you, Otohime, just as I protected my mistress all this time."
Kaguya's voice took on an odd note, high and wavering, the emotion of it so heavy that it took Mist aback. This was her first time interacting with Kaguya directly, but from all she'd heard about him she'd assumed that his voice never departed from the soft one he had been using all this time. She studied him anew, watched feelings flit across his face as he continued to try and reason with Otohime, reassure her. She knew that he was trying to help the former sea-serpent break past the last of the fear that had kept her shackled and that had possibly led to the four girls being in her pool in the first place, but despite not really understanding how any of that had come to be there was one thing that she saw all too clearly. One thing that Kaguya, in all his wisdom and gentleness, clearly wasn't seeing.
"Kaguya-san, I think her mortality is ending now." She murmured eventually.
Kaguya's gaze snapped back up and the intensity of it felt like it was pinning her in place. She gulped and swallowed and then pointed.
"She's more see-through now."
"That's…"
Kaguya stared back down and Otohime looked back, shimmering all mirage-like. The only thing that Mist could really see was the emotions on her face, somewhere between weary and fond.
"Kaguya," Otohime whispered up, the words bubbling gently. "Let me go."
"That's…"
"It's alright. Just…the girls. It's not too late for them so please…make sure that what I did doesn't hurt them for the rest of their….their…"
The words whispered away, and the shimmering intensified as Otohime slowly faded away. Kaguya gasped and plunged his hands into the water once again, but just like that the shimmering dispersed, fading into the reflections of the moonlight on the water. Kaguya uttered something in some Ancient Language or another before breathing heavily, staring at the water for a moment before drawing back and standing up, striding across to the girls. Hurriedly, Mist scrambled up and followed.
Seeing them both approach, the girls made odd, piteous little noises and shrunk further into each other. Kaguya knelt down.
"it's alright, you're safe now. It's over…"
"Sa…safe…" Jan said.
"You're safe." Kaguya repeated. "It will be alright. You can go home."
"Ho…home?"
"Yes, home, soon. But first, we will get you food. You can sleep."
"I…um….I might have some…" Mist stammered.
She searched her belt pouches again, and found a couple of apples and a few rather squashed looking packets of snacks. She didn't even remember picking those up, whether she'd had them with her from the start or whether they'd been found and given to her. She handed one apple and a couple of the packets to Kaguya, and watched as he opened them and then carefully encouraged one of the girls to eat, guiding her hands to the food, directing it to her mouth. Hesitantly, Mist went over to another girl and did the same, and eventually all four girls were munching quietly.
"What happened, Kaguya-san?" she asked. "To make them like this, I mean?"
As they sat down a short distance away to give the girls space, Kaguya studied her for a moment. Once again, his expression was the same steady one that he presumably had most of the time and yet if Mist looked closer she could see that there was more beneath it. Though she was only really able to see it because of how clear a mirror it was for her own feelings. Such a sour-edged grief that curled up in on itself, stinging her. She hadn't imagined that a powerful deity would ever experience such a thing.
"Those four girls would have seen their friend get murdered."
"By Frost." Mist said, remembering Robyn's vision.
"Yes, by her." Kaguya acknowledged. "They must surely have thought that she would come after them too for seeing what they saw. I tried to make it harder for that girl to pursue them, but she was persistent. If they hadn't fallen into the pool and if Otohime had not recognised their fear and woven the spells to allow them to live in the water as she does then they would be dead too."
"Ah. Otohime-san…knew about Frost?"
"Not as such, but she knew bad things were happening, and that they were in some way related to what happened all that time ago. And she knows what it feels like, to be in fear for one's life after witnessing something that a powerful being would rather remain unseen."
"Ah….but then the spell made them…made them like this."
Kaguya nodded.
"Trauma is a transformation of its own, is it not? A curse. And the length of time that Otohime had been waiting, is it any wonder that the effects were irreversible, that she would not be able to see or understand past her own terror and her own prison?"
Mist didn't know quite how to answer, beyond just nodding a couple of times. Kaguya looked around, and then his gaze settled across from them. Mist tensed, expecting to see something emerge from that deeper part of the forest or perhaps simply appear, but nothing did. This made it even more baffling when suddenly Kaguya said:
"Ah, you're still here."
"Who is?" Mist asked, still not seeing anything.
"I'm not sure, in truth. Just that they are probably one of the ones you came here to find."
Mist stared at Kaguya, but he didn't seem to notice as he continued:
"Although, perhaps it is not the boy."
"How do you know?"
"I don't. But I know that in life, the boy was scared of my panther form. I am not sure he would have kept following once I had transformed."
"But they're…definitely one of the ones Frost killed?"
"I am sure. I cannot hear or see who, which is why I cannot give you this answer, but I know it is one of them. They have been haunting this forest for far too long, but perhaps now they will get to rest like the first of them-"
"Negi." Mist breathed, cutting him off.
Negi. It has to be, right? She still couldn't believe that Negi would ever want to see her, but it had to be Negi, it had to be. And if it was, she could see her, could hear her. Please stay. Please, please stay for a moment. Unsteadily, Mist took a few steps forward and then faltered. She looked over her shoulder at Kaguya, still sitting there and regarding her.
"Where? Where, exactly?"
Kaguya pointed to between two trees, indicating slightly closer to the left. Mist took more steps forward, one at a time. She imagined Negi as she had been in life, all chewed fingernails and bright eyes and fidgeting, always fidgeting. That off-the-shoulder dress that she liked, the one with the big bow at the neckline when normally she couldn't stand dresses. The way she always decorated her shoes with pink flowers.
Negi, her Negi, whom she'd adored without question and let down so horribly.
"I…it is you, right?" Mist asked, wavering. "It is…it is you, Negi, right? I hope that it's you…I…"
Mist reached out as if to touch Negi's hair, or pat her shoulder, things that she generally didn't do but knew always annoyed Negi when someone did try it. She longed to see that exaggerated scowl once more, to be able to laugh at it but she couldn't. She never would. So she let her hand fall back to her side and instead knelt down, bowing, pleading forgiveness.
"Until the battle's lost and won, you used to say all the time. Remember?" she whispered. "It's done now, though. The battle really is both lost and won and….oh, Negi. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't ask you to forgive me, I could have found you sooner if I hadn't given up, but all the same I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Her voice broke on the last sorry, and tears washed over her. Still doubled over in contrition she let herself weep, suddenly far too tired to do anything else. She cried and cried, shaking with the force of it, remembering Negi as she had been. Complaining over essays; grumpy after having been startled by Xeiv; rambling so much on the way to class that Mist had thought her ears were going to fall off; suddenly turning up at their dorm with a kitten in her arms and grinning from ear to ear; dragging her down the road to the sweet-shop; eating far too fast for her own good; laughing, smiling, wondering.
Negi, her Negi, whom she'd let down so horribly despite adoring her without question.
I will find you, I promise. You'll come home and you'll be sent off safely. I'll make sure your fathers dress you in that dress you liked and…
I failed you in life. I won't fail you in death.
Mist tried to say these words aloud, but couldn't quite manage it as she still wept. She gulped and gasped and realised she at least needed to sit up when she felt small hands patting her head. Tentative, but still just patting and patting. Mist's heart skipped a beat and she stayed still for a moment longer before slowly easing up. The hands moved away and Mist looked up. Teardrops were still stuck to her eyelashes and they made her vision blurry enough that all she could see was pink hair framing a face and for a moment she thought it really was Negi, that somehow she had made herself seen.
But when she wiped the tears away and blinked, she realised it wasn't. Of course it couldn't have been. Instead, it was one of the girls, her hair a lighter shade and wavy, held back by a star-shaped clip-Risu. For the first time since Mist had pulled her out of the water, there was an expression on her face that was not blankness or fear.
"S…ss….sa…fe…safe now." Risu said, hesitantly.
Mist didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at that, so instead she just nodded. It was at least true, even if not specifically for her.
"Yes. Shall we go?"
"G-Go?"
"Yes, go. Where it's safe."
This wasn't quite right either, but it had to be damn sight better than remaining in the forest. She got up and dusted off her knees and watched with another odd mix of amusement and sadness as Risu copied, and then the other three girls did too, dropping their apple cores and empty packets and a whole ton of crumbs. Mist started towards them but to her surprise Kaguya went over, and with a simple spell had made the whole lot disappear. When he straightened up, he first helped the girls steady themselves before then looking over his shoulder at Mist.
"You know that the guilt you bear is not fully yours, don't you?"
"Um….."
"In time you will be able to see that, I think. But in any case, I can help you get them across the bridge, then after that I'll need to go back."
"Why? Aren't you free, too?"
Kaguya regarded her for a moment, and in that look she saw more of the same emotions that had overcome him when he'd tried to pull Otohime out and she'd faded away. Sighing when the silence stretched out, Mist said:
"If you think my guilt is unfairly placed, then yours is, too."
"Well."
It wasn't entirely clear if he had more to say, but at this point the girls started to whimper again and Kaguya blinked out of his daze, gently taking Juu's and Rain's arms while Mist got ahold of Risu and Jan. Carefully, they all moved across, each step slow and steady as the girls re-familiarised themselves with walking. Occasionally, an owl would hoot in the distance or a small breeze would tickle them, and the girls would cry out and they had to reassure them. It really was as if they'd completely transformed, and forgotten what they had been before. Nonetheless, they did manage to get them across the bridge and by the time they did, they did at least seem to find walking a little easier.
Kaguya smiled at the girls.
"You're in good hands now." He told them warmly. "Do not be scared, alright?"
The girls blinked at him, and Mist stared too.
"Didn't you hear me?" she demanded. "You don't need to just hide away in the forest because of Otohime-san!"
"I am not hiding, as such. This is still my home and domain."
Mist wasn't fully buying it, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to start a full argument with a deity. So instead she asked:
"What will you be doing, then?"
Kaguya gave her a thoughtful look, and then gazed up at the sky as if attempting to read the stars for an answer. When a few moments went by, she sighed and shook her head and said:
"After I've taken them to my friends, will you help me?"
"What would you like me to help you with?"
"What I originally came here to do."
Kaguya considered her for a moment and then held out his hand. Mist grasped it, and shook firmly. Then, she watched as Kaguya disappeared back into the shadows of the forest before turning back to the girls and focusing only on them.
…
Jenna had no idea what, if anything, she should say once Yara had finished her story. To think that her friend had been carrying all of that around with her all of this time. No wonder she seemed to be afraid of teachers. The Kawaakari teachers would never do anything like that (though arguably, what they had done was worse), but Jenna couldn't blame her for being so cautious about it. The full realisation of the fact that Yara had been trying to deal with that all by herself all this time made Jenna just want to hug her and not let go. Indeed, she would have gone to hug her right at this moment, but Robyn was already doing that, and though Yara wasn't complaining she looked very squashed.
"Okay, you know what, I'm adding your entire school to my punch-list!" Seraph was declaring.
Jenna looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"You're making a list."
"Of course I am! The creepy computing teacher, her parents and then the entire school! All of it! Even the building!"
"Um…I think that punching a building will probably break your hand." Jenna pointed out.
"SO? They all deserve to be punched! All of them!"
"Raffy, please don't break your hand," Yara said quietly. "That wouldn't be fair."
"So?" Seraph spat furiously. "They all hurt you! So I want to hurt them!"
Yara blinked.
"You…you all believe me?"
"Of course we believe you," Jenna said. "How your school and parents still don't, even after they dug into your mind to see what had actually happened, but we do."
"You should report them, after this." Lucy called over. "You've been a victim of a crime twice. Twice. If you're scared about what might happen-and I can see why you would be-then we'll all help, right?"
Lucy shot a fierce look over at Hiraga, Lidia and the rest of her surviving friend group-all of whom had been sitting with Jenna, Robyn and their surviving friend group for a little while now-and they all chimed in with their support. Even Julka and Elly, who weren't even sitting near them but had been close enough to listen, spoke up to say they believed her. The only one of them who didn't nod or otherwise show agreement was Starri, who was still curled up piteously with her head in Lidia's lap. Jenna looked at the older girl for a moment before then looking back at Yara, who now wriggled away from Robyn's embrace and stared at them, wide-eyed and blinking. She assumed that Yara was still processing but then abruptly she got up.
"I..I just…."
"Wait, where are you going?" Hiraga asked.
"It's okay," Jenna murmured as she watched Yara. "I think she's going to look for her hedgehog."
"Oh…right, if you say so."
Sure enough, Yara went in the direction of where the hedgehog house was kept, and though she was out of sight for a little while, a few moments later she emerged and came back up towards them, her hedgehog in her pocket and a small bag in her hand. Sitting down, she put the bag down and looked through, pulling out tiny hats and scarves, presumably to choose a set from them.
"Hey," Jenna said lightly, shuffling over. "I thought it was gonna be my turn to choose."
Yara looked up and then smiled briefly. Jenna grinned back, and for a little while the two of them debated the merits of the variety of hedgehog-sized hats and scarves that they were choosing from. A little time went by, and more people were found-some alive, and some dead. Every time, both of them looked up, but none of the people found happened to be Jae, and any hope that Jenna might have still had slowly faded away, even as she tried to not think too much about it.
Eventually, after the hedgehog was dressed and they'd played with her for a little bit, Yara yawned and curled up on the ground, resting her head on a rolled-up cloak. Jenna patted her head absently and vaguely considered going to sleep herself, but found that she didn't feel particularly sleepy, despite the fact that exhaustion seeped right into her bones.
She saw that Seraph, Jun, Gin and Getsu were also now all fast asleep, as were some other students further away from them all. Mostly, people were just talking but Robyn was administering what Jenna understood to be a very basic, stop-gap version of the last rites to yet another dead student, and then covering them with a blanket. Again, she thought of Jae, sent another prayer silently into the night. He had to be found, he had to be. That much would be enough.
"You should take a break." Jenna said when Robyn leaned back, rubbing her eyes.
"I…" Robyn sighed as she looked over. "I can't."
"Isn't there anything that we can do, instead?" Lucy asked curiously.
"There isn't, unfortunately." Robyn said. "I mean, the Last Taste can be administered by anyone, but that's still part of the rites, and the rites can only be done by someone who uses necromantic magic, regardless of if they're born into it or if they choose it."
"Surely there must be something we can do? Like…"
Jenna trailed off. Robyn had explained the ins and outs of necromancy to her and the others many times-making it less of a 'great unknown' was her way of tackling the fear people had of her magic. But Jenna hadn't always paid attention-not because she didn't care, but usually because while things had still been at least halfway normal her head had been filled with better things. Such as her classmates various burgeoning romances.
Well, they're still important, but I wish that we were back in the days when they were the most important thing.
"I appreciate it, but there really isn't…until help comes, I'm the only one who can do what needs to be done and I'm duty-bound to it."
Jenna blinked at Robyn, and then pulled a face.
"Yeah, well, that sucks."
"If Yoyo-sempai was still alive, though, she would have helped," Robyn added. "Whatever she really thought about any of this, she would have helped."
Lucy snorted almost immediately.
"Right, that's why the spirits of the kids in the forest aren't at rest yet."
Robyn blinked at her wearily, and Jenna jumped in.
"I mean, we didn't get a chance to find out more from them, did we? Not that we should have let them just wander around but, like…we could've interrogated them or something. Right? And then made her help."
Lucy didn't seem like she agreed with this, but rather than say anything she just shook her head and looked away. Jenna didn't say anything further-in truth, her thoughts on the matter were probably closer to Lucy's than to Robyn's, but Robyn was her friend and she'd seen how much the strain of this had affected her. So instead, she glanced at her, who now had a faraway look on her face as she stared somewhere in the distance. Over the past few hours, Jenna had seen that expression long enough to know that Robyn was communicating with the dead, so she waited for her expression to clear before asking:
"Are you okay?"
"Hmmm? Yeah….yeah, I…" Robyn blinked a couple of times. "They're going to try and reach out to other necromancers in the area, or anywhere they can really. The silencer spell doesn't apply to the dead, so it's something they can try."
"To get help, you mean?" Hiraga asked, interested.
"Yes, that's right," Robyn said. "I mean, I've been here most of the time so I'm not sure how the containment barrier's doing, but didn't someone say the silencer spell isn't broken yet?"
"Yeah, I've been trying a few times," Tate said. "But I'm not sure whether it's the spell or maybe the storm messed up the signal or something because I can at least press 'send'….it just doesn't go through."
"Ariadne-kouhai's friends are still experimenting with the barrier, last I saw." Lily added.
"Yeah, I saw that," Kyouki said. "I'm not sure if they're getting anywhere though…"
"Soon though, hopefully," Robyn said worriedly. "The more time goes by, the more likely it is that ravens will come and think that they can start to….you know."
"Oh Goddess, no." Lidia said vehemently before frowning. "Wait, should we even be saying Goddess anymore, considering?"
Hiraga snorted at this and made to answer but something seemed to catch his eye and he looked over his shoulder. Curious, Jenna also glanced over and saw that Quiet was walking across, spinning something around in his hand quite casually-though when he got closer, his expression was anything but casual. Even so, it softened slightly as he spotted Hiraga and sped up.
"I found this," he said without preamble. "Figured you might be looking at it."
Quiet knelt and held the object out to Hiraga, who recognised it immediately.
"What…that's…." he scowled as he reached up to pat his hair. "That's ridiculous, it's meant to be clipped on. I chose one with a clip for that reason!"
"No, what's more ridiculous is that you wear that thing all the time." Lidia said with a grin.
Hiraga whipped around to glare at her before turning back around to stare at the small crown that was still in Quiet's hand, suddenly solemn. His hand hovered as if to snatch it back but hesitated instead.
"Here," Quiet murmured. "I'll do it for you."
Biting his lip almost hard enough to bleed, Hiraga nodded wordlessly as Quiet tenderly clipped the crown onto a small section of his hair, adjusting it carefully until he was satisfied before leaning back and smiling briefly before he sighed. Moving his hand from Hiraga's hair to his cheek, he leant in and said:
"I've been helping Howl, so I only just heard…I'm sorry."
Hiraga tried to say something in response, but seemed to buckle under the weight of finding whatever words he needed to do that and he gritted his teeth, something between a sob and a hiss of pain escaping through the gaps. Immediately, Quiet wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.
In any other situation, Jenna would have gawked, probably found something to poke fun at but in these circumstances she couldn't (no matter how cute they were anyway) and so she made a point of looking away to see that Starri was now getting up and rubbing her eyes and staring in confusion at the flower petals that had fallen around her. Blinking, she then pulled forward a lock of her hair that had been plaited, little winter flowers woven all the way through it. Jenna couldn't help but giggle-for most of the time that they'd been sitting there, Lily and Lidia had been plaiting and decorating Starri's hair but until now she'd seemed oblivious.
Lily and Lidia were also giggling at Starri's confusion and so it was those two that she turned to:
"What were you two doing?" she asked.
"Honestly?" Lily confessed between giggles. "I have no idea."
Starri stared for a moment and then suddenly, she started to laugh too, laughing and laughing and laughing until she was wheezing for breath.
"I….I…" she gasped. "I shouldn't…I shouldn't be laughing, really….but…."
"It's exhausting, isn't it?" Jenna said, surprising herself. "Being sad like this? And yet this is only the start of the rest of our lives without any of them."
"Kouhai, that's…." Lidia started.
"Jenna…" Kyouki also attempted to start, before trailing off.
Jenna smiled at them, utterly determined not to cry. If she started to cry, she knew that she would never stop and she didn't want to spend the rest of her life crying, she just couldn't. And yet…
"How do you think we'll live the rest of our lives, if we're this sad?"
Even Quiet and Hiraga were looking at her now, and Jenna had to fight harder to keep her control, but before anybody could answer all of a sudden Robyn jumped up and started running. Startled, they all turned around to see that Mist was approaching them with four unknown figures who looked utterly drenched and-
No, wait.
"Oh Goddess," Kyouki exclaimed, also jumping up. "Juu!"
She ran over to Juu, who was instantly recognisable by her long colourful hair but also somehow completely different looking, although Jenna couldn't quite pin down what the differences were. Instead she watched as Mist explained something to Robyn while keeping a firm grip on Jan's and Risu's hands as if stopping them from wandering off.
"Juu…." Kyouki whispered. "Juu, it's me…Kyouki. Do you remember? I was…we were roommates for a little while and I…"
Juu stared unblinking, and then slowly said:
"Kyou…ki."
The syllables came out indistinct, clumsier and almost sounding like 'Gougi' as a result, but Kyouki's reaction was first to laugh and then to burst into tears, flinging her arms around her briefly. Juu flinched and immediately Kyouki stepped back, assessing her.
"Oh Juu…."
"Come on, let's get you warmed up, yeah?"
Lidia, Lucy and Starri had gotten up now and between them, Mist and Robyn they got the girls sitting down in a huddle, using blankets to protect their privacy as they stripped off the soaked white dresses that they had been clad in. Pyjamas had been unearthed from the infirmary when the students who'd been in there were rescued, and Robyn still had a pile of those that she hadn't yet ripped into makeshift bandages, so the girls were dressed in those instead and then wrapped in the blankets. Throughout this, Jan, Juu, Risu and Rain barely said a word, instead mostly whimpering or making other noises the way a young infant might, and staring at everything around them as if it really was new to them.
"What happened?" Jenna asked incredulously, partly grateful for the distraction but also mostly just confused beyond all reason.
However, before Mist could answer Kyouki started to cry again.
"It's because they were in there, wasn't it?" she said, sniffing. "We should have said something, El-wait, where's Elly?"
"I…." Julka came over hesitantly, looking around her. "She was with me a moment ago, I think, um….but why do you want her?"
"Because that day, when we were getting the portal water and we saw them, Elly said that we shouldn't tell and she was really, really fierce about it-"
"Hold on, you knew?" Mist demanded. "You knew about it all this time and you didn't say anything?"
"She said it was safer!" Kyouki said. "I mean, not those words but that…that Hibi was dead and that the only reason they weren't was because they were there and…they said too, they said that Otohime-san…."
"Wait, you…you knew that Hibi was dead before I did?" Robyn asked.
Robyn's voice had been gentle as it always was, far too tired to be angry, but Kyouki flinched visibly and started to sob in earnest. She tried to explain, something about losing language and bubbles and being scared, but it was lost in her tears.
"Alright, alright, how about we go back to the beginning?" Quiet said.
"Yes, yes, I think that would be best." Lucy said. "So…um…Mist?"
Mist was still standing and she stretched briefly before she gave her explanation as quickly as possible, still occasionally glaring viciously at Kyouki who shrunk away from it. Jenna glared back, but was roundly ignored, even when Mist finished and Lucy asked Kyouki to explain.
"I…I shouldn't have listened," Kyouki said. "But Elly seemed really scared as well, especially because of what they had said. They described what you said Hibi told you, basically, that they'd seen Lunar getting hurt and then Hibi had tried to help and they'd run and at the time they described the one who'd done it as not having a face-"
"Frost." Julka said immediately.
"Well yes, of course it was Frost," Mist replied just as fast. "We knew that thanks to Robyn."
"No, I mean, Cookie…Elly, I mean, she had that suspicion even back then. Even when I still trusted that she was just someone who'd known Mona, she was suspicious. By the time we met in the forest outskirts on the Water Nymphs night, she had a whole list of suspicions and…I think that she would have been about to tell me about all this before Frost did what she did then."
"Julka, what's your point?" Mist asked testily.
"Elly probably realised straight away that they were talking about Frost and it must have rattled her. Scared her enough to keep her quiet."
"That's still…she should have at least told us, or something!" Lucy burst out. "She's clever, she should have realised that something was wrong about this all…I mean, if they're all like that now then there must have been signs of it before!"
Her voice gradually rose, and it made the four girls whimper more, huddling close to each other. Starri and Robyn tried to soothe them, as did Kyouki (although more hesitantly). Eventually, they became preoccupied by the sensation of grass and some nearby winter flowers and calmed.
"Sorry." Lucy murmured.
"But what has actually happened to them?" Hiraga asked. "I mean, I get that it's what Otohime-san did to protect them but what did it actually do? Would they eventually have turned into sea-serpents too?"
They all turned to stare at the four girls, watching as they sniffed at the grass they'd pulled out, absently weaving it into clumsy ropes. Rain sniffed at the grass, and then promptly tried to eat it, prompting Robyn to pull it away from her mouth and hands hurriedly. Rain opened her mouth as if to protest, but then suddenly yawned, which made the other three girls do the same. They dropped the tufts of grass that they had been pulling out of the ground and rubbed their eyes, again blinking and staring in that odd, vacant way. Robyn managed to get them to lie down, softly telling them to go to sleep and singing little snatches of a lullaby as she rearranged the blankets around them. Kyouki helped too and soon they were asleep, curled up tight.
"That's….I don't know." Mist shook her head.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Lidia said, contemplatively. "It's kind of like how Professor Snow was starting to get. Not just a little ditzy but….more. I mean, it's like we…or someone…is going to have to teach them to do everything again."
"I mean, that's not really the same thing, is it?" Robyn asked.
"No, but they were both curses, right?" Lidia shrugged. "Perhaps it's a similar sort of magic at work in both cases."
"Yes, but that doesn't really help…" Mist said. "Anyway, where the hell is Elly? Did she just rush off when she saw us coming or something? She must have known we'd find out eventually."
"No, that's not something Elly would do!" Julka burst out.
"But…"
"I'll go and look for her. I'm sure there's some sort of explanation, even if it's a very Cookie-type of explanation that doesn't really make sense. But anyway, regardless, I'm sure that if she'd really realised that it was harmful for them to remain in the water then she would have acted differently."
"Elly's been a help up until now," Quiet pointed out. "It's thanks to her that we could piece a lot of what's been happening together. Julka-sempai, go and get her and then we can hear her out."
Julka nodded and then darted off, calling Elly's name and gradually disappearing. There was a brief silence and then Mist rubbed her face and groaned.
"Well, in that case I'll be off."
"Where're you going?" Jenna wanted to know.
"I was looking for the bodies of the ones in the forest." Mist said. "They need to be found, and Kaguya-san is going to help me."
She started to stride off before anyone could say anything, but after a few stunned seconds Robyn jumped up and called out:
"Wait!"
Mist stopped but didn't turn around, instead looking over her shoulder.
"I need to come with you," Robyn stammered. "I mean, I need to be here, too, but the situation is different because they haven't…..they won't have been waiting as long. But if you're potentially disturbing their bodies then I'll need to make sure that you're safe in the process."
"Negi wouldn't hurt me," Mist ground out stiffly. "And you were able to communicate with Hibi and Amuri and you didn't have problems there."
"That's…it's not about the people they were, it's the fact of them being spirits who've been restless for too long. Even with their best intentions, it would take more control than might be reasonable to expect-"
"Okay, fine."
Robyn looked over.
"I…hopefully nobody else will be bought over but…."
She took a small bottle of what Jenna recognised to be the particular type of honey water used for the Last Taste and handed it to Starri.
"You can administer that, and clean them. If ravens come, chase them away. I'll try not to be too long."
"Yeah, yeah, this much we can handle! I mean, this isn't really a break for you but you know, whatever. Just go, take the not-a-break break while you can."
Jenna grinned and Robyn smiled back. She went over to the still fast-asleep Jun, briefly knelt down to check how he was before lightly kissing his forehead and getting up again to join Mist, who started walking off even before Robyn reached her. Gradually though, she managed to catch up and the two were soon out of sight.
Jenna sighed and stretched, tiredness hitting her again, though she was still sure that she would not be able to go to sleep. Still, as she listened to the others talk, she found that she didn't want to join in with those conversations the way she might have wanted to usually. So instead, she decided to lie down and she just stared up at the stars, willing herself to not cry.
After all, if she cried, she'd never stop.
…
As Julka ran off, she realised that she actually had no idea where Elly could have gone, or why it was she'd left Robyn's side in the first place. It was entirely possible that she had known about the girls who'd emerged from the water, as Kyouki had said. Julka couldn't quite believe that, not yet, but she admitted it was possible. It had always been hard to keep up with Elly's thought processes, and on top of that she'd been particularly afraid of Frost. It wasn't so inconceivable that that might have played into Elly's silence somehow. She didn't think that Elly could have known that they would be rescued, though, no matter what Mist thought.
So, then, she wondered, Where are you?
She knew that Elly hadn't been sitting by the dead all this time, because while she'd been helping others she'd seen the smaller girl walking around too, sometimes also helping but otherwise talking to others. She'd even seen her with Sera and Kay testing the containment barrier one time. But now there was no sign of her whatsoever. So she walked around and around, almost aimlessly.
"Are you alright?"
She turned at the voice, and saw that it was a student from her year group, one she didn't know but had seen in lessons a few times. She noticed that they were holding their phone tightly, and when they saw her eyes drift towards it they grinned and held it up.
"I've been able to call my Mum!" they exclaimed. "That means the silencer-thingy that your group mentioned have been telling everyone else above is gone, right?"
"I…yeah," Julka stuttered, momentarily wrong-footed by the 'your group' label. "That's…so that means there's help coming?"
"Mhm. I mean, I called the police first, but they didn't believe me, so I called Mum and we live in Ashgrove which is like, a couple of regions away? So I'm not sure when and how help will come but anyway, she said there's been some weird things happening across the land? I can show you some news stories-"
"No, no, it's alright. You should save your battery!" Julka said hurriedly.
She wondered why the police hadn't believed her year-group mate, but she couldn't really dwell on that.
"Oh, yes," they exclaimed. "That makes sense but anyway….um, there's some of us, just sorta hanging around over there, we're all trying to call and message as many people as possible and yeah…"
"That's great!" Julka exclaimed, meaning it. "I need to go now, though, so…"
She rushed off before her year-group-mate could respond, her relief at the fact they'd be getting faster help quickly subsided by the worry that something horrible had happened to Elly. The buildings were all as safe as they possibly could be, as far as they were all able to tell, but that didn't mean they were actually safe. It was why they were all outside instead of taking shelter in the South Wing, the least damaged of the lot.
Wait. South Wing.
She whirled around and looked back the way she had come. She could see the branches of the Angel Tree stretching out freely now that the upper floors had gone. They glowed against the night sky, such that even if the moon wasn't shining so brightly she'd still be able to see without needing to create light.
It's so strange, not needing to create light at the slightest hint of darkness. In truth, her hands twitched with the need to carry out what had been an automatic action all of her life, but she clenched her fists tightly. In some strange way she felt as if she owed it to Kagami and to everyone who had suffered over the ages to try and not cower in the dark. That was of little relevance as she ran as quickly as she could towards the South Wing, remembering the night when they had communicated with Rielle, and how Elly had cried afterwards. She'd never explained why she had cried-indeed, she didn't even seem to want to acknowledge that she had done so, even though Julka had tried to broach the topic. But it seemed clear the tree meant something particular to Elly, and so if she had gone anywhere deliberately, it was likely to have been there.
Approaching the side of the building that would get her to the tree quickest, she was relieved to see that somehow, a rough path had been cleared. She had to squeeze herself through, and occasionally she'd brush up against rough edges that scraped through her bandages and made her wince but she managed to get through to a point where it was wider and she kept going until she approached the Angel Tree.
Elly was sitting at the base of the tree, curled up and frowning, notebook in one hand and pen in the other while Milo sat by her feet, dusty but perfectly calm. Julka was momentarily flummoxed.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm writing." Elly said irritably, without even looking up.
"Um…."
Julka took a few steps forward until she was looming over Elly, but still the girl didn't look up. The circles under her eyes were the largest and darkest they'd ever been, and the glow she'd had seemed to be slightly fading, though that could easily be explained by the fact that the tree looked so much brighter at night.
"What are you writing about, then?"
"Stuff that's happened. Questions not answered-there were….there were a lot of those."
This was true. There was a lot that Julka had been hoping to find out, and indeed they had all assumed that they'd get the chance to pull the answers from their professors before it was too late, but things had progressed too quickly for that.
"Like Frost." Julka said tentatively.
Elly looked up briefly, her eyes flashing as she hunched her shoulders.
"Yeah."
You really were scared, weren't you? Julka realised. It was not something she could truly criticise though, because there was a part of her that wondered what it was that would haunt her the most when it came down to it. Watching everything come crashing down, playing a role in killing her teachers, or not being able to protect Lunar and Amuri.
She suspected that Elly might have been wondering similar things in the way she still remained tense as she quickly returned to scribbling as fast as she could, face still scrunched up in concentration.
"Can I look?"
Elly didn't respond and after a few confused moments, Julka decided to sit down next to her and peer over her shoulder, but Elly didn't respond to that either. Usually whenever she felt someone peering over her while working she tore them a new one. A little dread flared in Julka, but she ignored it until she looked at the pages properly and saw that the writing on the page was completely unintelligible.
"Elly…that's…are you okay? What are you writing?"
"I told you, about what happened."
"Yes, but, that's…you can read that?"
Elly glowered even more vehemently-something Julka hadn't thought would be possible until she did it. Her hands slipped away from the notebook and she didn't even seem to realise as Julka grabbed at it, instead grumbling:
"You're always going on about my handwriting. You can read it, can't you?"
Julka was so used to going back and forth with Elly about her handwriting that she was just about to launch into her response when she paused, realising that Elly's words had been slightly slurred and there was something about the way she was sitting, as if relying upon the Angel Tree to prop her up that gave Julka pause.
"Cookie….this isn't even handwriting, it's scribbles. Look."
She turned the notebook so that Elly could see and waited. Elly blinked a couple of times, then reached out to snatch the notebook. Not wanting to rip it, Julka just let go but watched as Elly fumbled and dropped it. She swore, again slurring, and then tried to grab it before she gasped and clutched her chest, breathing heavily for a moment. Gradually, she quietened but she was still doubled over, and the glow on her faded a little more.
"Julks, I never had any real hope that this situation would be reversible."
"But-"
"I'm going to die soon, and it's not okay but it…is. It just is what it is. But I've had my time as the person I could have been and that's alright."
And when she remembered that, any hope that she'd had that the situation could still be reversible faded away along with Elly's glow. Despite this, though, she had to ask. She knew it couldn't really be anything else, but she had to ask:
"I…it's happening now, isn't it? Your delayed death?"
Elly grimaced and then nodded once, unable to lift her head to meet Julka's eyes.
"Do you want me to get something?"
"For the pain? There's no point." Elly rasped. "It'll be over soon."
"I…that's…."
Julka trailed off, because she knew that Elly was right, that there was no point. It didn't seem fair though, that they had managed to stop things (even if it had come with a horrific consequence) but they had not managed to find a way to undo the Death Enchantment that had been inflicted on Elly.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Elly didn't respond immediately, but after a few moments in which the glow around her faded further, she managed to lift her head slightly.
"I want to be a cat."
"I…you mean, you want Milo? But he's right here."
As if to prove her point, the cat chose this moment to meow, head-butting Elly's knee. Julka wondered if somehow, Milo knew that they were about to lose another beloved owner. But Elly seemed not to notice as she curled up, drawing her knees to her chest before lying on her side, resting her head in Julka's lap.
"W-wha…Cookie….oh. You want to be a cat." Julka said, suddenly realising. Or rather, hoping that she did.
"Mmmm."
Julka stared down at Elly, who had closed her eyes, looking for all the world as if she'd fallen asleep. Tentatively, she lifted a hand and rested it against her hair before softly patting, as if Elly really was a cat. A brief smile flashed on her face, but she didn't open her eyes or say anything else as Milo stopped head-butting her and proceeded to climb on her shoulder, curling up there as if acting like some sort of misplaced scarf. So Julka just sat there, stroking Elly's hair and watching the glow of her skin gradually fade, thinking about the days of their childhood.
"What are you doing?"
Ragna looked up from where she was digging in one of her mother's flowerbeds, her hair escaping from the bunches that no doubt her nanny (or maybe even her mother) had tied them in that very morning. She looked up, and her intense little frown turned into a wide, face-splitting grin.
"I'm exploring!"
"In….your mama's flowers?" Julka asked. "Won't you just get into trouble again?"
"I get into trouble anyway." Ragna's smile faded away as she sighed heavily.
"I know. What are you exploring for, Ragna?"
"Well I don't know, do I, Julka? That's why I'm exploring! You should know this, you're in second grade now!"
"…"
"Oh, by the way, I'm not Ragna anymore."
"You're…you're not?" Julka asked, thoroughly confused.
"No. I'm Cookie now."
Julka thought about this and though she was still confused anyway, she smiled and nodded:
"Good."
Cookie's big grin returned, and she stood up, wiping her hands on the skirt of her dress-another thing her mother would surely yell at her about. She went to the gate and opened it before bounding out and grabbing Julka's hand.
"Anyway, I don't need to explore in this boring place anymore! You're here now, so I can explore somewhere better, with you!"
"I…."
"Come on, Julka! Let's go, let's go!"
Julka looked down at Elly again, listening carefully for any sounds of breathing. Oh, Elly. This isn't fair. Milo jumped from Elly's shoulder and proceeded to paw her face a few times before looking up piteously at Julka.
"She's gone now, Milo," Julka said heavily. "She's gone."
She patted Elly's hair softly one more time, thinking how incomplete she looked without a beret-after coming back from the forest she'd insisted she wasn't going to wear one because Frost had 'ruined' them for her. The memory made her chuckle until her hand brushed against Elly's cheek and she recoiled against the coldness of it. Carefully easing Elly off of her lap while trying not to cry, Julka got up, ignoring the pins and needles in her legs and then leant down to pick up Elly despite not being strong enough to do so. Her arms twinged agonisingly but she resolutely ignored it as she looked around.
"The only thing is, how do I get back from here carrying you….?"
Julka looked down as Milo proceeded to nudge her ankle. When the cat was satisfied he had gained her attention he mewled and then trotted off to the left. Julka followed without really knowing why until she saw that there was a wider gap from where the wall had collapsed. Milo paused, and turned to look expectantly at her.
"Waaaaait," she looked down at Milo. "Did you understand me?"
The cat turned away and continued on its merry way. Julka didn't bother to speed up to try and keep up-the pain in her arms only increased with every second she held Elly and it was all she could do to keep moving in the first place. She didn't understand it, how someone who wasn't here anymore could be so heavy, but she gritted her teeth against the waves of pain and kept going, step by painful step.
Getting outside, she looked up to see that the sky was starting to lighten and paused to stare at it for a while when a whirring started up above her, followed by a shadow. A number of people in the distance started to scream but as she squinted she realised that it was a helicopter. More than one, in fact, there were a whole number of helicopters and suddenly, there were footsteps and running, and she heard someone yelling:
"The barrier's broken, there're people here!"
Julka turned and saw people emerging up from the gardens, two of whom pointed to her and broke away. At the same time there was a rush of new people coming in from the opposite direction, adults, all in uniforms that indicated that they were either from the Imperial Law Force or medics of some kind.
"Julka!" Lidia exclaimed. "You took such a long time and….oh….oh no."
She trailed off as she looked at Elly, her eyes going huge. Mist, standing by her and covered in dirt, nodded grimly.
"It's over, isn't it?"
Julka couldn't respond as she watched the flurry of activity around her-students getting piled into stretchers or being treated then and there, others being asked questions. She saw people setting off to begin their own searches in the rubble. More sirens, more chatter and hustle and bustle. And above her, the sky kept lightening, brightening. And even though her arms felt so heavy, at the same time she couldn't help but feel lighter than she'd ever thought she'd feel. So she was able to nod at Mist and even manage a smile as she said:
"It is."