Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) throughout this mercifully short conflict… especially for the one who achieves a higher level of being.

~保護者~

"Ascension"

~保護者~

"We might have just another hour… if we're lucky."

Dragging her gaze from her son and over to Wave, Alana let out a soft sigh. "I know."

Wave looked over Jet yet again, assessing the state he was in. Motionless. If not for the fact that he's breathing, I might have thought… Swallowing thickly, she returned her attention to Alana. "I… I don't know what to do," she admitted. "I have mental powers, but they're nothing grand or especially strong. Even those that I'm familiar with who have powers far greater than mine have never done this, to my knowledge. I have no idea how to combat it at all." Alana was painfully silent. It lasted too long. Wave sought to fill in the void that had taken root within their conversation by imploring, "Do you have any abilities that can help us to help him?"

Upon hearing this, the normally stoic woman suddenly looked like… like she might cry. She quickly turned her head away in an effort to hide this, but Wave had already seen. "I have… nothing," she whispered, almost too quietly to be heard.

The reality of what she had just admitted crashed down around Wave and she found herself staring on in a mixture of shock and genuine horror. Nothing…?

Surprising Wave again, Alana stood and stalked over to the room's sole window. "What use are my gifts if I cannot take what is broken and render it whole again?" she asked, more speaking to herself than to Wave.

Nevertheless, Wave soon stood as well and walked over to the other woman, placing a hand on Alana's shoulder once she was there. She allowed them both to lapse into silence for a time, making a concerted effort to gather her thoughts while trying to also offer her unspoken support. It was clear that, while she herself had been the one seeking assurances in the beginning, it was now her turn to offer them. Too often I find that it's those who mask their pain the best who require comfort the most. With this in mind, she let out a soft breath and murmured, "Alana… even though I don't know how right now, and in fact none of us do, we will find a way to free Jet from this. Somehow. And… you're right. He's very, very broken, in more ways than he cares to let on. But that's why you being here is so important for him."

"My being here has not helped him," Alana answered a touch sharply. But then her suddenly tense shoulders sagged again and she added in a murmur, "Not enough."

"It has, more than you seem to realize," Wave insisted. When Alana didn't answer her, Wave sighed. "I can't pretend to know how you feel, Alana. You suffered loss after loss after loss before you perished, all ending in the most crushing loss any mother could ever experience."

Alana's eyes slipped shut, perhaps in an effort to prevent the tears from escaping. "Why speak of this?"

"Because it matters," Wave told her softly. "It matters that, despite all your pain and heartache, you and Sein both still left Jet with by far your greatest gift. Your love. Everything you two did was out of love. Love for your people, love for your parents, love for each other, love for your son… and it's that very love that will get him through this, with both his parents by his side."

Her voice choking, Alana admitted to her, "I never want to see another important person die in front of me… ever again."

While Wave couldn't promise everything, there was one thing she felt confident enough to say. "You won't be losing your family again," she answered. "Not Jet, not Sein, and not Kath. And even pretending somehow any of them were lost, you have to remember that not even the dead are ever truly gone." She managed a smile and tried to steer the conversation into safer, less turbulent waters. "I think, in the back of his mind, Jet's always known that. He spent his whole life longing for parents he didn't have, love he'd never experienced. Given how quickly he's warmed up to you both, I think he somehow knew, however distantly, that you two were out there, still loving him after all this time."

"We could never have stopped loving our son," Alana whispered.

"That's it, right there," Wave murmured back. "That's the gift I've been talking about. That's what Jet needs if he's ever going to heal. Not just from this, but from everything."

"That cannot be enough," Alana argued, her voice sounding choked again. She swallowed hard before continuing, "There has to be something more, and I do not have anything more to give."

"The power you seek is right here in your hands and in your heart," Wave gently insisted. "I believe that I already told you that. Maybe now that you've heard it twice, you'll start to believe it." Alana swiped at her eyes, trying to dry them, and Wave finally removed her hand from the hawk's shoulder. "I won't lie to you. Helping Jet will require a lot from you and Sein. It will be hard, maybe even soul-crushing at times, to try to help him work through everything he's been through in an effort to move forward. Professional help is certainly going to be required in multiple areas. But, Alana, at the heart of all of that… what he needs the most is your love, and Sein's. Continue to share that with him, and he will make it through. He just…" Sighing softly, Wave looked back over at Jet. "He needs his mom and dad. That's all there is to it."

Sein seemed to take this as his cue and stepped into the room, his expression immediately growing soft at the realization of what had gone down in the time before he arrived. He wasted no time in standing beside his wife and taking her in his arms with a carefully tight grip to try and further comfort her. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get back…"

Alana wasted no time in hugging him back as she murmured, "It… is alright." Wave neatly moved away to give the pair some space and reclaimed her seat beside Jet.

The blue hawk pulled away just enough to look into her eyes, a moment giving him insight into what was bothering her… as if he didn't already know. "We will get him back. He will be okay, and I'll do everything I can to make sure he is."

"What can we do to bring him back?" Alana asked him softly, voice full of pain.

"We'll… have to fight him and figure out how to break the control. She's on Kaden's world, so going to her directly isn't an option. We might have to watch for a weak point so we can fight it," Sein murmured. He didn't everything he could to sound sure of himself, but there were too many uncertainties in this situation. She might not display a weak point this time because she's so focused, and so many other things could go wrong… Sein shook his head to clear his thoughts and sighed. "We'll have to figure it out."

Though she hated to interrupt, Wave did so. "Astra isn't going to know how to fully control him right away. His abilities aren't anything she will have encountered before, meaning that it'll be a lot like the situation we heard about with Shei and Aniko. She won't be able to make him fight at full capacity right away. The faster we act, the better."

Sein nodded slowly at this, pulling out of the hug fully but keeping an arm around Alana. "That's… actually entirely true. She obviously hasn't controlled him before, at least not like this, so she wouldn't know what he's capable of immediately anyway."

"She can't have ever controlled him at all, or else she'd have been able to control him much more seamlessly this time," Wave answered.

Alana, however, had a different point to make. "If she does not possess the ability to fully make use of his capabilities, we should be able to control the battle to some extent. For one thing, we may be able to prevent her from forcing him to leave the area."

"Which she might do because she has very obvious targets in mind," Sein answered. "And judging from the last battle we had with her, there's a lot more of her attitude in the fighting than the person she's controlling actually fighting how they should. She noticeably had someone built for speed and acrobatics fight head-on. There's a good chance we won't even really be fighting Jet, so much as fighting her. Though, I guess we kinda knew that."

"We'll still have to be very mindful," Wave murmured. "Whatever she does manage to tap into will not be weak, assuming she gains full access. Jet's been training for so long that he's nearly perfected many of his powers. A few, he has perfected. Whatever she manages to throw at us will be lethal if we let ourselves get struck."

A frown found itself on Sein's face. "How well does he heal from injuries?"

"Very," Wave assured. "And even when he experiences a death, his revival speed is incredibly fast. Whatever damage we're forced to deal to him won't remain very long."

"And I assume he heals fast enough in battle to render some wounds meaningless?"

"Yeah. And even wounds that don't immediately heal rarely slow him down. The way he can just ignore injuries most of the time is… concerning, if you ask me. It takes him too long to notice things, sometimes."

Sein sighed. "Good and bad. On one hand, we can fight him without fear of seriously hurting him. On the other… we have to deal substantial damage with each hit if we have to incapacitate him."

Alana unexpectedly buried her face in his shoulder. "I cannot strike him, Sein. I cannot."

Just as sudden as Alana's actions had been, a few tears streamed down Sein's face. You… had to remind me of that… "I don't think I can do it either, but we can't die here. If he comes back from this and we've died at his hands…" Sein didn't entertain that thought long, rubbing his face gently with a hand. "We may not have a choice." A choked sob escaped Alana, rendering her unable to speak.

Wave was forced to look away, not wanting to be brought to tears herself because of what she was witnessing. However, she soon had to engage with the pair again as she quickly got to her feet. "It feels like her energy is really taking hold. She might be about to wake him up."

Sein quickly disengaged from Alana, lifting her head softly so he could look her in the eyes. "Whatever we have to do here, we're doing it to protect him and existence. We will not kill him, but if we are forced to fight… we'll have to. Can I count on you to fight alongside me so we can save our son?" Choking back another sob, Alana could only force herself to nod. Meanwhile, with no other choice but to arm herself, Wave very slowly drew her sword. Sein gently kissed Alana's forehead, whispering something gently to her and arming himself as well with his gauntlets. Left with no options left before her, Alana unsheathed her own sword.

"Get up," Astra demanded of Jet. Of course, with no current capacity for free will, Jet immediately obeyed. His eyes were dulled and unfocused, a clear indication that he wasn't even remotely awake or in control right now.

Sein readied himself, taking a stance. "Now would be a good time to not be inside, right?" he asked Wave quickly. She reacted without a word, unleashing a bright hex that practically threw all of them outside as far away from the palace's main building as she could manage at such short notice. They landed just beyond the palace's largest open grassy courtyard. Thankfully, there were no people around, hence why she had chosen this spot.

"Draw your weapon. Ready yourself to teleport." Jet did as commanded without a word. The moment Alkarus came out of its sheath and it was clear what he was about to do, Wave tensed up. Alana reacted by immediately using her own power to block Jet from being able to teleport even a short distance away. It would only be effective for as long as Astra remained unfamiliar with how to properly control her victim, but for now it was enough. "Attack them. Now." Astra was only using this as a diversion of sorts while she probed for more powers, more ways to get rid of her enemies, and a chance to get Jet to Mobius.

As she was the closest, Wave was the one who suddenly found herself having to block a fierce sword stroke. Alkarus slammed into her own blade hard enough to create a small explosion of energy, and she recoiled from the second of heat before using a swift spell to knock him back just far enough for her to put some safer distance between them. Sein suddenly appeared, unsheathing his claymore and clashing with the next fierce blow that came toward them. This created a much larger explosion than before as their swords clashed.

Astra suddenly found something promising, issuing another command as she did so. "Teleport to Mobius, now." She had found how to control his teleportation.

"Sein!" Alana snapped, blocking Jet further as he attempted to do as he'd been ordered. She couldn't prevent him on her own, but with Sein's help perhaps they could keep him here long enough for Astra to give it up. At least momentarily. Sein was quick to provide his help and, luckily, Astra gave it up almost immediately at noticing that they were blocking him from leaving.

"Storms, now. Tear them apart with every force of nature you can summon," Astra demanded furiously, already beginning to reach further for anything else she could use against the Immortals. Her deeper digging caused him to suddenly show signs of mental pain and distress akin to what had been present earlier, but he was still by no means aware of himself as he followed her command.

Alana responded by calling upon her own storm powers to nullify his, frowning as she did so. She orders him to utilize abilities she knows nothing about… and that renders them far too weak to be useful to her. What is she thinking? Wave stayed back for now, knowing full well that she would only be in the way.

"Keep the storms at bay!" Sein called, already swinging his sword toward Jet. If I can keep her from thinking rationally, she may make a mistake. If that happens, maybe we can end this well before it escalates to the point we've all been dreading.

"Parry the blow, strike him with the hilt of your sword, then use your wind to launch him away." Jet did what he was forced to do, expertly parrying Sein's attack before hitting him hard in the side of the head and blowing him some distance back with wind. Meanwhile, Astra resumed her probing, causing him ever-increasing levels of pain. There was something deep within him that she could sense and she wanted access to it. "Cut your mother down. She is in the way."

Sensing the danger she was now in, Alana had no choice but to call upon her storm powers again, using punishing winds and fierce temperature fronts to force him to stay away from where she and Wave were standing. Please… do not make me fight him, she silently begged. Sein appeared suddenly in a flash of aura, slamming his sword against Jet's to draw out a reaction.

"Disarm him and stab him," Astra demanded darkly, growing ever closer to her goal. She could almost feel it in her grasp. Just a bit further and she would have what she had always sought. Though unable to make use of his normal speed due to being controlled, Jet was able to knock Sein's sword away with relative ease. His attempt at stabbing his father, however, proved much less successful with Sein grabbing the blade using his gauntlets to hold it still. "Throw him." This wasn't Jet's normal style at all, but he was more than capable of following through. He physically grabbed Sein and threw him away, as commanded. Before Sein could return to the fight, Astra finally reached what had been so hidden from even her, grasping at it to drag whatever it might be to the front so she could make use of it.

The sheer agony of this caused Jet's knees to buckle and he fell into a sitting position, head suddenly in his hands as he fought to cope with whatever she was doing. His eyes were now squeezed shut and his body visibly tense, fingers digging tightly into skin. As Alana and Wave ran over to try to help, before their very eyes his very image… flickered. The best way Wave could think to describe it was like if a hologram was glitching and trying to vanish, but that didn't make sense. Sein rushed back to them and paused at the sight, eyes wide and concerned.

Whatever Astra had found was drug closer to the surface, causing the same abnormal flickering effect several more times. Deeply concerned for everyone's safety, especially her friend's, Wave took a step back and asked, "What's happening to him?"

"I don't know. I didn't know something like this could happen," Sein answered, summoning his sword back into his hand and making his shield appear from his gauntlet.

It appeared that Sein did this just in time. Likewise, Alana pulled herself and Wave behind the shield (and, thus, Sein) just in time as well. An impossibly bright heavenly blue aura suddenly washed over them all, never searing or otherwise hurting them like one would reasonably expect such wild energy to normally do. It faded away very gradually, leaving Wave and Alana both slightly disoriented as their eyes struggled to recover from the intensity of the glow they had all just been subjected to. Despite how disoriented he was, Sein was quick to move forward with unparalleled concern for his son's well-being evident on his face.

Clearing her vision as rapidly as she could, Alana moved so that she could see past her husband. What she saw when she looked at their son, however… made her freeze. What she saw before her was a person comprised entirely of wispy, ethereal aura forming the shape of a body. The eyes she saw glowed from within with the same heavenly blue light as the aura itself. All she could think in that moment was that what she was seeing couldn't have been possible. Because what she was looking at… looked just like a Faein. Sein quickly came to the same conclusion, lowering his shield and watching quietly. He managed to snap himself back to reality and quickly turned to Wave. "Is he being controlled anymore?" he asked suddenly.

Wave was almost too dumbfounded to speak as she watched Jet. He seemed to be taking a moment to recover, as far as she could tell. And in regards to both Sein's question and this situation as a whole, she found she only had one thing to say. "It's not possible…"

Sein turned back to Jet and took a second, steadying himself as he looked upon his son. "Jet… can you hear us?"

After a long moment, Jet seamlessly floated to his feet with the very vaguest of nods. However, most of his attention was focused elsewhere, within another realm entirely. He had an idea, a plan he could carry out only while like this. But he knew that, as he was now, he couldn't sustain this state for long. If he was to do this, it had to be right this minute. He focused his newfound energies effortlessly through reality, concentrating it on Astra and pinning her to the spot and bringing her to him. Wave and Alana could only watch, too stunned to speak.

"What are you doing?" Sein asked quickly, wanting to understand what was happening. "What's going on, or do you even know?"

He knew. There was no way he couldn't, in this state. But there was no time to explain anything right now. Jet knew he wouldn't be able to do so later, either, but that didn't matter. He focused instead on mending many wrongs of the past… wrongs that had far too much potential to bleed into the future and tear it apart. Taking far gentler hold of Astra's mind than she had done with his own, he began healing it. Healing her. Wiping away any and all corruption to be found anywhere within her. It was the only way. Sein watched in awe at the sight, now understanding his son's intentions. If this state granted him such amazing capabilities, what did that mean Jet currently was?

It took no time at all for Jet to finish what he was doing. That was fortunate, for he couldn't hold out any longer. Utilizing the very last vestiges of power he could still call upon, he carefully cast Astra's limp form through reality again, sending her straight to her sister. Then, not even a second later, his normal form returned to him all at once and he collapsed. Only Wave's lunge and quick grab managed to save him from hitting the ground.

Sein was quick to teleport them all back to the palace after this occurred, landing them back in the room they had been in before this all started. "Lay him back down for now," he said immediately, still trying to wrap his head around what had happened. Wave obediently did as he'd told, thinking it best not to argue with him in light of recent events.

Finally managing to find her voice again, Alana dropped her sword (something she normally never did) and turned wide eyes onto Sein. "Sein, what…?" she whispered, unable to formulate a more complete question than that.

"I… I don't know…" Sein admitted quietly, sheathing his sword back within his gauntlet and turning to her. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I have never heard of anything like this," Alana answered, shifting her attention back to their son. Much to her unending relief, he appeared to be resting far more easily than he had been over the past several days.

A similar wave of relief washed over Sein and he found himself tired, dropping to his knees and simply staying for a long moment. That fight hadn't been long but the turmoil he felt throughout it all was enough to leave him feeling like he'd fought for days on end. "He's okay… that's all that matters right now," he murmured softly.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Wave confirmed, "I don't know what he did, but… Astra doesn't have any hold over him at all anymore. Not even the slightest fragment of her control is left. He freed himself completely."

"He purified her," Sein explained. "That's the only thing he could have done to her, with what we saw. By doing that, maybe he also removed the control with it."

Alana slowly approached and sat down beside their child. She couldn't say she understood why he would have gone to the trouble of freeing himself and saving such a dangerous enemy at the same time, but that show of compassion somehow managed to lift her spirits somehow and prevented her from shedding any further tears for now. "He… Sein, he was… like them. For just a moment in time, our son was one of them."

Sein understood what she meant, looking at Jet with the pride only a father could muster as he teleported beside Alana and leaned against her gently. "He was, and he used the power it comes with well…"

Things grew quiet, but Alana did not allow them to remain that way for long. "Go rest, both of you. Neither of you have slept in some time and you, Sein, look ready to pass out entirely."

No complaints came from Wave. She stood and moved to one of the other couches. "Wake me once he wakes up, will you?"

"Yes," Alana murmured. Then, knowing he would likely need to hear the same promise directed toward him, she added, "I will wake you as well, Sein." Sein managed a tired smile and leaned further on Alana, his gauntlets falling off of his hands as he slowly drifted off right then and there.

~保護者~

4,272 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed this incredibly important chapter. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 5:18) 06-09-20.