Andy climbed off Tetsuya's back and approached Seltain.
"So, you've come for a fight, have you?"
Andy looked up at him, "You'd be after us sooner or later, figured we'd bring it to you first."
"Smart planning. That doesn't mean you'll get the upper hand though," Seltain responded. "I'll give you one final chance, give yourself up and they'll go free. You have such potential, it'd be a shame to waste it fighting for the wrong side."
Tet growled before shifting. "Why don't you just crawl back under the rock you came out of? She ain't interested in anything but wiping you off the face of the planet."
Seltain sighed. "Is that her desire or yours?"
Andy scowled, "If you didn't want to use me, I'd say you could teach me. But you just want to use me and hurt people."
"I hoped I could get you to see my side of things, but I guess not." He started muttering a spell while staring at Tet.
Tet looked confused, then an agonizing pain spiked through his chest. He fell gasping to his knees, his eyes wide. "What did you do to me?"
Seltain grinned cruelly, "I removed a certain spell she placed on you. Ring any bells?"
Andy's eyes widened and she cursed under her breath. She started speaking one of the killing spells and directed it at Seltain.
Seltain paused for a moment and said a counter spell before looking at her, "You'll have to try harder than that."
Tet swore, toppling onto his side. The pain was getting worse and he struggled to speak. "Take him out. Don't worry about me."
Andy shot a sad look his way before glaring at Seltain and rapidly muttering spells. Seltain did the same, and she soon felt pain shooting through her. She struggled to breathe as she said a counterspell, the pain slowly fading as she shot a spell at Seltain making him fall backwards. Andy used the opportunity to rush toward Tet, kneeling beside him a moment to make it look like she was checking on him. She stashed one of his pistols in her pocket before standing again.
"Knocking me over? You're weaker than I thought. Not a scratch on me yet," Seltain gave an evil chuckle before starting a new spell. Andy was mid-spell when she started coughing, blood splattering out from her lips.
She got a breath in and finished the spell she was working on before starting another to counter the one affecting her.
Seltain growled as his body slowed. Andy continued to cough, trying to get words out in every breath.
As Seltain's body slowed, Andy finally finished another spell which started completely freezing the necromancer. He got out another spell to counter it, but half his body was already frozen. He fought against it as he spit out another spell at Andy. The world suddenly felt sideways as dizziness hit her. She struggled to stay upright, and finally fell to her knees.
Seltain gave a small laugh as he got his legs moving again.
Andy said a counterspell once more, but still struggled to stand. She growled as she tried a few more kill spells.
Finally, when Seltain swayed, she fully stood, pulling out the gun and shooting Seltain. It hit him in the chest and his eyes widened as he fell forward.
She heard him muttering softly as blood started pooling out around him. Soon, she lost herself in another coughing fit, but focused on watching Seltain. His body gave a final breath before it quit moving.
Andy rushed to Tet's side, wiping her blood off on her sleeve before checking on him.
"You still with me?" She choked out around more coughs. She finally got enough air in to stop coughing as she looked him over.
"Did you get him?" The words were weak, Tet's eyes barely open. He struggled to breathe, sweat bathing his face.
"Yeah, I got him," she said softly. She focused for a moment, trying to remember the spell she'd created for him. She said it as she put her hand on his chest, a seal mark appearing for a moment before fading away.
He gave her a small smile before his eyes closed.
Andy checked his pulse, wanting to make sure it was steady.
It throbbed slowly under her fingers.
She ran a hand through his hair gently before moving to sit. She still felt a bit dizzy and she wasn't sure if it was the after effects from the dizziness spell or from blood loss. She stared over at Seltain for a few moments as she gave a relieved smile.
A massive fireball erupted in the sky nearby.
Andy looked at Tet for a moment before standing and running toward the direction it came from.
Carnage greeted her eyes, bodies littering the ground. Two dragons were falling from the sky.
She said a spell to catch them, lowering them slowly to the ground before looking them over.
They shifted to reveal Tsukasa and Ryusei, both bloody and burned.
A massive green dragon appeared, flames shooting toward her.
She put up a barrier around her and the other two dragons to shield them from the flames. The heat burned as it broke through the barrier.
She said another spell to prevent it from hitting them and then said a killing spell focused at the green dragon.
The dragon stiffened, then began spiraling toward the ground a few feet away.
Andy knelt beside Tsukasa and Ryusei, checking them over and starting to use healing spells on them before moving to look for more of their group.
Kai was consoling Daiki. He cradled a still Kiba in his arms.
Yamae was weakly clutching Ryon as Jack tried to stop the porter's bleeding.
Zal was shakily sitting by an unconscious Kenji and Taka.
Andy went to Yamae and said some healing spells to stop his bleeding and heal his wounds. She then went to Zal, Kenji, and Taka, healing them up the best she could before going back by Yamae and kneeling beside Ryon. She healed his wounds before focusing to revive him. The gold light surrounded him until he starting breathing again. Next she went to Kiba and did the same, making sure he was breathing and had a heartbeat before looking around again. She soon realized there were still a few more group members missing. She sat down for a moment to rest before standing again and going to look for them.
She found them a half mile away. They were crumpled in a pile, blood everywhere. Yoshi and Rei were huddled over Shouma, as if trying to protect him.
Andy closed her eyes for a moment before going to heal them. She struggled as she felt herself growing weaker but she continued to work. Once getting them all healed, she focused on all three at once, the gold light surrounding them. Once it faded, she fell forward to her knees breathing heavily before getting caught up in another residual coughing fit.
Kai knelt beside her with a canteen. "Are you alright?"
After catching her breath she nodded slowly, "I will be I think. How's everyone doing?"
"They'll live. I take it Seltain is dead?" He offered her the canteen.
"Yeah, he's dead." She took a drink.
He let out a quiet "thank god" before asking "Where is Tet?"
"He's back by Seltain," Andy answered. "He should be alright."
Kai nodded, then stood. "We need transportation back to the base. Any ideas?"
She looked thoughtful for a moment, "I can use a spell to lift and carry everyone but I'd still have to walk it. You have any better ideas?"
"Too bad you can't summon vehicles." He chuckled, then frowned. "I could shift and take some, but it would be several trips.. Yamae could maybe port a few of us."
"You guys help me get everyone together, then if you want to take anyone you can, but I'll work on carrying the rest back."
He sighed and nodded, then shifted and flew off towards the main battlefield.
"Owwww, I'm not cut out for this." Shouma winced as he sat up. He eyed her critically. "You okay?"
She sighed, sitting down, "Little worn out, but I'll be fine."
"Seltain?"
"He's dead," Andy answered.
Shouma grinned for a minute, then sobered. "The team?"
"They'll live. I revived and healed everyone."
He exhaled softly, then looked at something behind her.
"Don't disappear like that please." Tet tried to control his breathing as he shifted back to human.
"Sorry, I was trying to help everyone.."
He sat down next to her, kissing her gently. "I know. I just kinda freaked when I woke and you were gone."
She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"
"Extremely lucky and grateful. We should have expected something like that." He wrapped his arms around her gently.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fight her growing exhaustion. "At least he's gone now, so we don't have to worry about that anymore."
"Yeah, he's just a pile of ashes now. You're free." His voice was wistful.
"What are we going to do now?"
"You have a clinic to run, don't you?" He tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. He squeezed her tight, then looked up as Tsukasa walked up.
"I have a truck and a car coming to pick us up. Tet, I want you to take Andy home after she grabs her stuff from the base." He and Tet shared a long look, then the tiger nodded quietly.
Tsukasa moved away, speaking to Kaito as the aide nodded rapidly.
Andy looked down, "Won't you guys still need a doctor? And a cook?"
Tet shrugged. "I don't know. We move around a lot sometimes." He lifted her chin. "Boss probably just wants you to get some normalcy back, now that the big bad is gone. You don't really want to be stuck with us do you?"
"I can't really imagine going back after the last couple weeks, you know?"
His eyes widened. "Are you saying you want to stay? Andy, you have a normal life to go back to. I thought you wanted that?"
"I don't know.."
He sighed, wrapping her hand in his as they waited.
Finally, the vehicles arrived, Tsukasa pulling Tet aside and whispering to him before waving Andy toward the car. Tet was frowning as he took over the driver's seat and waited for Andy to climb in.
Andy got in and buckled herself before staring out the window quietly.
Tet sighed, but pulled out onto the road. After an hour, the base appeared. He parked outside the quarters, the car idling as he turned to her. "Grab your stuff. I'm making dinner tonight."
She raised an eyebrow but went and got her stuff, shoving it into her bag before returning to the car.
He gave her an amused look. "I never said I couldn't cook." He pulled back onto the road, heading for her house. When they arrived, he turned the car off and kissed her. "Why don't you get cleaned up while I cook?"
She nodded, heading to take a shower and change. She stood under the running water for a while losing track of time between her exhaustion and her mind thinking about everything. Eventually, she climbed out and got dressed, then headed for the kitchen.
Tet looked up with a smile. "Just in time." He finished plating up the food, bringing it to the table. "I hope you like it. It's not as good as your cooking, but I remembered some tricks."
She gave him a small smile before sitting down, starting to eat. "It's really good."
He blushed with a pleased smile. "I guess I'm not as rusty as I thought. Took some classes once." He sat down, starting to eat.
Andy continued eating in silence, struggling to stay awake.
Tet watched her quietly for a moment, then stood. He quickly swept her into his arms and moved towards her room. "Time for you to rest."
She looked up at him and nodded, "Fighting Seltain was pretty tiring.."
He gave her a soft smile. "I imagine so, not including saving us again." He gently laid her in bed, covering her with a quilt. He sat beside her, running a hand through her hair. "Sleep, Andy."
She yawned, "Will you still be here when I wake up?"
"I'll try." His smile was fleeting, his eyes sad.
She wrapped her arms around him before quickly falling asleep.
He waited for awhile, then slipped out of her arms. He pulled out a pad and began to write. When he was finished, he placed the letter in an envelope and propped it on the bedside table. He leaned over, kissing her on the forehead softly. Then he quickly left, closing the front door behind him.
When Andy woke, she looked around, wondering where Tet was. She noticed the letter and sighed, opening it to read.
My warrior goddess,
Where do I begin to thank you? You are so amazing, going from terrified to braver than I could ever be in such a short time. Your patients are truly lucky to have you. You saved my life, showing me such love and kindness as I've never known. I love you too much to let you stay in this world, knowing every day could be your last. I can't rob the world of your beautiful spirit. We got orders to move locations while you were in the shower. I don't know where we're going, but I want you to know I will do my best to return to you. Please don't hate me, I would be devastated. Just wait for me, please?
Eternal Love, Tet
Tears ran down her face as she read the letter, a mix of emotions running through her. Anger at him leaving and at him not wanting her to stay with them, sadness that he was gone and she had no clue when, or if, he'd return, and worry for all of them for their next mission. She crumpled the letter and threw it across the room in frustration, sobbing into her pillow.