Boscha and Maya continued to race towards the head as the yellow tendrils streamed from the ground and into the sky. The girl held tightly onto the staff as the pain in her body intensified and her body was swiftly succumbing to the draining. Earlier in the day she'd taken a potion to boost her energy levels as Boscha knew she would need all the strength she could muster for the day. This draining spell was not simply lowering her stamina, it was sucking the very life out of her and everyone down below. Add to that the energy she had expended with her last ditch attack on Dieter and she would be spent even faster.
"We...need...to get there...Maya." The teen strained out as she slumped forward onto her staff, the palisman constantly clicking to keep her awake. "I'm up. Thanks girl." She violently shook her head as she slipped in and out of consciousness as they reached the Day of Unity grounds. Below, thousands laid motionless as she could see many looked to have figured out what was going on and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. She also spotted the abomiton guards though they looked to be deactivated and offered no resistance as she flew by.
Among the throngs of people it would be a monumental task to find Hana in all of this. Helping to narrow it down was the fact that the grounds had been broken up so that the crowds were grouped by their respective covens and were in color coded sections. Boscha quickly identified the Potion Coven area and leapt off of Maya, landing on one knee as she struggled to keep herself upright. The crab landed down next to her as she watched the girl stagger forwards. "G-go...that way...I'll go th-this way." She shakily pointed in two different directions as Maya headed off and she went her own way.
"Mom!" she shouted repeatedly, hoping the woman was still had enough strength to answer back. With each passing moment, every call became softer, her legs weaker, her mind more muddled as her very essence being sapped away. "M-mom, where...are...you?" Finally, the draining spell forced Boscha down as her legs gave out under her.
This was it, she figured. This was how it would all end; With Boscha vanishing among the throngs of citizens fed a lie by Belos, never having the chance to make things right, with her mother going to her grave believing that her daughter hated her. Tears poured down Boscha's face as she sat up, her head hanging low as the spell was doing it's work. She'd come so far, her old friends were even willing to risk so much just to help her get here and yet this was the end of it all.
Just as she was preparing to close her eyes and let it take her, she heard it. That all too familiar clicking sound. Boscha looked down to find Maya tugging on her cape and pulling her forward. "What?" She understood what the palisman was trying to tell her as she pushed her body beyond what should have been possible and got back to her feet. "Take me...to her." Maya scurried ahead as Boscha trudged along, every step feeling like she weighed a ton as she followed passed the strewn bodies of Potion Coven members, that golden aura that drained from her doing the same to them. The teen paid no mind as she was solely focused on the palisman leading her.
After what seemed like walking miles on broken glass, she found Hana laid out on the ground, her brilliant pink hair gently blowing in the breeze. Boscha finally dragged herself over as she knelt down next to her mother. "I'm...I'm here, mom." She noticed her mother's outstretched hand intertwined with another as she weakly looked over to see a man with spiked red hair and glasses. The two seemed to have been comforting each other as the end was drawing near. "I...was wrong...about the...social life." Boscha joked as she placed her hand on top of her mother's.
Maya quickly crawled into her hand and transformed onto her staff. Boscha held her up one final time and with the remainder of her strength fired a blast of energy into the air that exploded into a bright ball of fireworks. The action didn't go unnoticed by a certain someone as Boscha collapsed between her Hana and her mystery man, the lights finally going out.
"Boscha? Boscha?!" A muffled voice called out in the darkness as the pain Boscha felt from the draining spell had vanished.
"Baby, wake up! Please." The voice was different as Boscha heard it call her name several times and felt something stroke her cheek as something wet dripped on her face. Was it raining? It didn't burn. "Please, Boscha. I love you."
Boscha felt her eyes begin to open as she looked up to see the light of the suns rays blocked out by the shaded face of Hana who was crying heavily. "Mom." Boscha said weakly as her mother's eyes opened wide and looked down at her.
A teary smiled ran across Hana's face as she lifted her daughter up and hugged her tightly. "Oh my precious baby! I thought I lost you."
"You're alive." Boscha said as she returned the hug. "I'm so sorry for what I said, for everything. I was just..." The girl cried into her mother's shoulder as Hana held her close.
"Shh. It's okay. It's okay. I'm just glad you're safe." Hana said as the two parted and she looked to her daughter and noticed the sigil on her arm. "Boscha..."
Boscha looked away in a bit of shame. "It's...a long story." She said with a bit of hurt in her voice as her mother looked at her sympathetically before noticing her damaged eye.
"Oh my goodness, what happened to your eye? You didn't..."
"Skara was in danger. I had to."
"Boscha!" The three eyed girl found herself tackled by the aforementioned girl as Skara hugged her tightly, crying as well. "I'm so glad you're safe. We spotted your flare and got here as quickly as...Wait a minute." Skara dropped her from her grip and frowned at her friend.
"No. I'm not glad. I'm mad at you. You knocked me out and almost got yourself killed!" Skara scolded. "You're lucky the draining spell stopped when it did."
Boscha looked around and noticed just about everyone that had been down was now up with many celebrating being alive while others were quickly fleeing. "What...what stopped it?" She inquired.
"No idea but it might have had something to do with the eclipse ending. Early in fact." Viney said as she walked up, no longer being fused with Puddles, the creature standing right behind her. She was joined by Celine, Morvo and Seth.
Boscha smirked as she noticed the redness and dried tears on Viney's face. "Those tears for me?"
Viney's face turned red as she quickly turned her head away and wiped her face. "Don't make too much out of it. Puddles was just starting to like you. And besides, I didn't want to lose a prospective partner."
"Partner?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Business partner, mom." Boscha said defensively.
"Really? Cause that's not what it looks like here." Cat said as she and Amelia joined them, the later with her arm in a sling. The spectacle wearing girl showed her scroll with the image of Boscha and Viney snuggled together that Skara had taken and posted earlier.
"Skara?!" Boscha shouted with a huge blush on her face.
"What? It was cute." Skara said innocently.
Boscha growled before she looked to her right and spotted the red haired man that was with her mother racing back to them.. "Sorry I took so long. I've been trying to find a healer."
"It's okay. I think she's fine but I need someone to look at her eye." Hana explained.
"Actually, I can help." Viney said as she approached and began to work on her eye.
Boscha held her head up as Viney used her healing skills on her. "By the way, mom, congrats on the new man." She said with a small smile.
Hana gave a faint smile back and chuckled a bit. "Well, more like an old man actually. Boscha, this is your father, Leonard." He smiled nervously as the girl looked to him.
Boscha stopped Viney and stood up to look at the man in front of her. She approached him slowly, looking him over. "It's...it's great to finally meet you face to face." Leonard said nervously as she looked to him blankly. "I've heard so much about..." He was silenced as his daughter ran a hand across his face, almost knocking his glasses off.
"Boscha!" Hana yelled as everyone else stood stunned.
"That was for leaving us." Boscha said coldly. Leonard seemed unfazed by the blow, fixing his glasses as Hana rushed over.
"Boscha, sweetie, I think we need to have a little discussion about all this." Hana placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I might not have told you the truth about your father. He didn't leave us. We... agreed to separate when you were born. But, we talked and...we want to be a family again. What do you think?"
Boscha was silent for a moment as she looked up to the two before she smiled and hugged them. "This will take some getting used to." Leonard admitted as he did his best to reciprocate the gesture.
"Oh, and by the way, you're double grounded." Hana said happily as Boscha's eyes shot open.
"What? Why?" Boscha asked as they parted.
"For almost getting yourself killed." Hana explained.
"But I did it to save you." Her daughter fired back.
"And you knew full well I would have been against it."
"Wha...wha...Dad!" Boscha cried.
Leonard simply shrugged awkwardly. "Listen to your mother."
Boscha groaned. "Well, at least we're all alive for you to ground me." She pulled the two back in again for another hug. "And now we have all the time in the world.." She was surprised as all of her friends, outside of Morvo and Seth joined in. The two outside the embrace looked up in shock.
"Uh, guys..." Seth said as he and his friend pointed to the sky.
"Dudes, read the room." Viney looked back and scolded the two before rejoining the hug. Meanwhile the duo began to back away as the castle and the Head of the Titan itself began to break apart and levitate in the sky, forming something as many in the area looked on with silent horror.