The Faith
Chapter 12e -
Virus, p5 -
Again With The Barn Wall
(Tobias)
I heard Ax's revelation even as the thought occurred to me. It sent a cold shiver down my spine - what it meant for Sarah and what it could mean for the rest of us. Emily's Elemental Spirit awakening had caused a lot of damage and, from what Sarah had said and from what I had seen, Emily was powerful. Sarah, on the other hand, was not. If she was going to become as strong as her sister, than something drastic had to happen. But if the Spirit that had a hold of Cassie was planning on forcing out Sarah's Spirit, then we would have two Elemental Spirits running around, as opposed to just one, both wanting the same thing… it wouldn't be pretty, that was for sure.
But Sarah didn't seem to be responding to Cassie's healing. She remained unconscious, hanging there, lifeless, until Cassie gave finally gave a disgusted sigh. I thought, or stupidly assumed, if you want a more specific description, that Evil Cassie would let her go, given that she was obviously not in a state to wake up herself, much less have her seharai raisha wake up. Oh, but I was wrong. Very wrong. Instead, Evil Elemental Spirit Cassie flicked her wrist and sent Sarah flying through the back wall of the horse stall, which, ironically, was also a wall of the barn. Wood splintering is a bad enough sound, but the dull thud that was Sarah's body limply hitting the ground on the other side of the wall is something I never hope to hear again, not for anyone, not for mi itala.
Everyone was silent. The first sound we heard was Marco, who seemed to be the first to gasp. But something else was wrong, because the gasp became a cough, something that was closer kin to a choking wretch, and he gripped his chest before he just… collapsed, on the floor. That broke whatever had taken a hold of us and Cassie moved to walk out of the hole she had created, while Alay paused long enough to check on Marco, before dashing to the stall, vaulting the low wall, and placing herself between Cassie and the newly made exit. I stumbled up and out of the hole, going straight to Sarah's side while Ax morphed human and followed my lead. Jake, I knew, would check on Marco and watch both Rachel and Marco.
Rachel…
There was this twinge of guilt, because I was putting all of my effort into watching over Sarah, and protecting her, but I had done nothing for Rachel, not even gone to see if she was okay. But… Sarah was family, albeit not blood family, and Rachel… she was my girlfriend. In another time, in another situation, she would have been the most important thing to me, but… family came first, now, because I had never had a family before to care about.
"Sarah?" She had landed on her side, or rolled over onto it on her own, and I was afraid to death that I had lost her. Alay had said she wouldn't survive trauma and being thrown through a barn for the third time in her life counted as 'trauma'. But when I gently turned her onto her back, she looked up at me with a confused expression set in big eyes. The entire left sleeve of her shirt was torn and already soaking up the blood from the deep scratches and gouges that were both new wounds and old wounds reopened.
"Mei…?" She blinked and raised her right hand to her face. "Mi atala… mei…?"
"Cassie's Elemental Spirit has awoken," I explained slowly. "She attacked you and threw you through one of the barn walls. You're bleeding but… it can be morphed off."
"Seharai raisha?" she repeated. I wasn't surprised English seemed beyond her at the moment - more likely than not, she had a concussion and wouldn't be thinking too hard. "Cassie-hitala?" She blinked again and her hand fell to her chest. "Ia… dehnke… Medai elan?"
"Everyone's…" Do I lie to her? Should I tell her Rachel and Marco were unconscious and that Alay was currently in a silent stand off with the insane, Evil Cassie?
"They are fine. Neh. Fiiiineh." Ax stopped and looked slightly irritated. "They are fine, Sarah." She looked up at him and, for a moment, didn't seem to recognize him.
"Nades………?" she asked calmly. "Iades Sarah. Nades Aximili-atala-shorn?" He nodded, though, really, I think he was as confused as I was. Sarah had obviously hit her head very hard, because she had made no real attempt to do anything related to her personality and the situation. Had she been in her right mind, she would have been up in a flash, not caring about anyone's warnings, and placing herself between Cassie and Alay, after she had checked on Marco and Rachel and done what she could for them.
came Ax's thought-speak.
"Thanks, Ax." Let's move her gently - I think she has some sort of head injury.
"I don't remember saying you could leave!! Get the hell back here, damn it!" There was a loud thud as Alay tackled Cassie, causing them both to fall through the hole and to the ground. "Stay!" commanded the Weapon, pinning down Cassie's arms with her knees and Cassie's shoulders with her hands.
"Let us hurry," said Ax. "Sarah, we need to move you. Can you walk?"
"Ia dehnke kaiait… jaia," she said quietly. "Iades veranda…"
"It's not your fault," I told her gently. "We can move you just fine on-" Her hands suddenly grabbed the shirt of my morphing outfit, and of Ax's as well, and yanked us down. I saw something, something big, move out of the corner of my I and felt a wave of heat before there was an explosion and-.
