"I just want to take a look around," Shawn told Marin, while he helped her gather fire wood for a hot dinner.

"I'm telling you, it's a bad idea." Marin told Shawn over Materia practice.

Fahd hadn't called her out, after catching her breaking the rules. She was 'volun-told' to do every chore, sure. But there was no lecture or review about the rules that Fahd and Val had put down. They seemed more a guide to be followed when it was convenient for the teachers.

With passive-aggressive punishments for those that got caught defying the rules or guidelines.

Whether it was setting up camp, clearing signs after a practice session or even gathering fire for the night, Marin was assigned help as needed, but she was taking part in every single chore. As they slowly crawled down the road up to Nibelheim, stopping to practice, to eat meals. What would have taken less than two days of steady driving was taking well over a week.

But all the time out of the car, and not being chased with guns, was better for morale for everyone. They didn't feel as trapped in a tiny box. With six people in a single car. Shawn had more chances to get Main apart from Fahd and Val. So he could continue their discussion.

"We need to know when we are, and this is the most convenient way to do it." Shawn would not give up on going to Nibelheim.

Marin shook her head and found some more fresh dead fall by the thin tree line. "And why would a bunch of tourists go to 'the middle of nowhere?' what's your cover story Shawn?"

He shrugged, "We're on a road trip, we're just letting the road take us anywhere."

Marin looked at Shawn a moment, "Except we're not the ones driving."

"You convinced Fahd to take us under his and Valkyrie's wing." He used the older woman's full name. "and it should be easy to get Danny and Jamie on board." He shifted the rifle, where it rested on his shoulder barrel up. Marin had to do the heavy lifting and Shawn had been assigned to have her back, in case something tried to catch her alone.

"Maybe you could convince them." She went back to her counter-argument, "But it's still risky, we're not changing anything."

Shawn laughed, "We're changing the world just by being here. A butterfly flaps it's wings and all that."

'And it could trigger a tornado somewhere else.' Marin thought. She knew some of what happened after the War with Wutai. Whenever that was going to end. Yet she didn't want Shawn's fixation on Nibelheim to change anything. Not when it could hurt other people's shot at saving the world.

Speaking of this world needed saving a few different ways. And it only had to be destroyed once to threaten all the life on it. And today, all that life included Marin, Jamie, Danny, and Shawn.

Shawn still treated this place like a game, or a dream. Like he could poke the hornet's nest and just wake-up at home, with all their problems here at a safe distance.

Yet whatever Ardyn was concerned Marin. No one else had seen him yet. And his appearance, in both worlds, hinted at a deeper mystery. Deeper than the four of them simply being stranded in a fictional world.

"No Shawn. Whether Cloud has already gone off to Midgar, or something." He was one of the people from Nibelheim. "I don't want to mess with what little we know has or could happen." She rearranged the wood sticking out of the water bucket to fit more sticks. "It's hard enough to just get something eat, and good sleep. We still need to kit all four of us our with equipment and Materia."

"Fahd and Val have provided all of those so far."

Marin shook her head, "Those are loans. At least they've given us as much room and board-"

"In tents." He interrupted.

Marin shrugged, "It's dry enough. We don't have to pay for motels or food. So next materia store we hit, we might just be able to get by and be able to stand on our own soon. Survive whatever comes."

"Is that all you want? To Survive? That's not living."

"It's what I have the energy for right now!" she snapped at him.

Shawn's only response was a hurt look.

Marin shook her head, "Sorry Shawn. A month away from my mom isn't long enough to not be like her."

Shawn swallowed, "I guess." He tentatively accepted her apology. "though I've never met her, I wouldn't know when you're like her."

Marin shrugged, "She's nice enough on first impressions, but you're better off never meeting her."

"I know Jamie doesn't like your mom..."

"She doesn't like anyone that hurts me."

Shawn nodded, "Of course."

Jamie had informed Marin of Shawn's status as Jamie's brother. Before she had met him, now, on this planet. With Shawn's tentative acceptance of Marin and Jamie together, told Marin that he knew before he had met Marin. That Jamie had told him about their relationship. Not that they had kept it a secret here.

"How about when you use that tone with her?" He asked Marin. He had switched to 'protective older brother.'

Marin swallowed. "I haven't- no." she gave it a moment's thought. "I haven't."

"Yet. As you said, a month is not long enough away from your mom."

Marin swallowed. She didn't want to hurt Jamie. But even she could see that the moods and toxicity she got from her mom were unintentional. The woman was in denial that she did anything wrong, her mom wouldn't admit the effect she had on the people around her. Marin had no idea how much of that ignorance or denial of wrong behavior she had as well. "At least I'm not denying it."

Shawn had a hard look for Marin. "That's just the first step. Besides, you're just a kid. You have your whole life to grow and improve on yourself."

"I'm eighteen."

"That's only the legal age. Besides, around here that's not even a thing."

"What-" Her voice filled with concern. "What do you mean?"

Shawn shook his head, "Don't mistake what I mean. Not in a gross way. I just mean that on Gaia, people can get an independence streak as young as thirteen or fifteen, and go their own way. But our brains aren't really even matured until about 25. People here are expected to be responsible for themselves before they're eighteen."

Marin frowned at Shawn, she didn't want to wait another seven years of pretending to be an adult, before being recognized as one.

Shawn shrugged with the shoulder that was not balancing the rifle. "Be that as it may, people have been known to mature sooner, or later. At least in some ways." Shawn scanned the horizon, before they both turned back with Marin's load of wood.

"Age doesn't equal experience." She told Shawn.

"You got me there." He let Marin lead the way. They walked such that the hills the wolves and monsters hid in. Scratching his other arm with his free hand, Shawn continued, "I'd like to think I have some experience."

"I'd say the same, but you have nearly ten years on me."

"Hmmm."

Marin came to a stop, they were definitely still out of ear shot of the others. But wouldn't be for much longer. "I still don't think we should go to Nibelheim." She remembered the story from the game, the fires, the whole town burning. One day, she didn't know when, if ever.

"Later, we'll talk about it later." Shawn said. "Let's get that wood back to camp. I'm getting hungry."


They had to set the four tents up in the rain.

After a cold dinner in the car, the rain showed no sign of stopping.

Fahd and Val didn't stand back for the four 'students' to do all the work. Everyone worked as quickly as they could. All six of them were still soaked through by the time the tents were set up.

Fahd and Val, with careful use of fire spells, dried out the wet spots in side the tent. Leaving Marin and the others to soak while they tried to salvage a fire. None of the "kids" were trusted with fire inside the tents. Marin sat in her wet clothes, trying to dry the pit with fire magic. She attempted to get the wet wood dry enough to catch on fire. She couldn't dry herself off enough to get ahead of the rain. So she shivered in the autumn cold while the others tried to block the driving rain from putting out the fire.

Eventually, the extra tarp was used as a shield for their rucksacks, which held their sleeping bags. All six of them worked as a team. But it didn't stop them from getting soaked through.

"It gets any drier and it might catch." Fahd said, coming out of the last tent.

Marin had never camped outside of a trailer park on Earth. And she had never put away a tent after a night or day of raining. "Packing up does not look like it will be fun."

Fahd shrugged, "It's one of the hazards of staying outdoors. And there are worse things out there than rain." He came next to Marin's failure of a fire and took over. In less than a minute, he was feeding logs into a fire big enough the driving rain wouldn't extinguish it.

Fahd looked at the kindling they had left from yesterday's dinner. Shaking his head, he said "This won't last. I don't even know why I lit it."

"At least my hands are dry."

The last dry-ish bag was taken into the last tent. Jamie stood there, with the tarpaulin over her to protect her from the rain, though her clothes were just as soaked as Marin's.

"Go to bed." Fahd told her. "But dry off first."

Marin looked at Jamie, "there's only room for one of us to set up at a time. You go first." she shivered, keeping her hands warm by the fire, while it lasted.


Despite Shawn. Marin and Jamie had the same tent tonight. Their wet clothes piled at one end of the tent. They went to bed in yesterday's clothes, as they were still dry.

The ground was cold, even though the floor of the tent and an extra tarp. Marin and Jamie had zippered their sleeping bags together, and huddled under a pile of every scrap of dry fabric they had. All their wet clothes were piled on the extra tarp. Maybe they would dry some in the dark of the cloudy sky.

"Some camping trip." Marin said, while they both huddled for warmth.

"The inside of the car doesn't seem so bad now." Jamie told Marin, she shivered in her dry clothes, Jamie huddled in Marin's arms.

"There are three bench seats, and six of us." Marin said. Something was wrong, but Jamie never found Marin's hands with her own.

"How are you s-s-s-o warm?" Jamie asked Marin. "I'm fa-fa-freezing."

Marin only shrugged with her head. "Maybe Fahd starting a fire for that little bit was enough." Back on earth, Marin also had a habit of under dressing by a layer in the cool weather, to her mother's dismay. Marin over dressed in the winter though, suffering sweat before her mother tried to dress Marin herself. This behavior persisted past Marin's seventeenth winter on Earth.

"M-maybe." Jamie said. She was already shivering less. Between Marin's body heat, and the layers above both of them.

Marin whispered the rest "I just hope Shawn-"

"Stop," Jamie interrupted with her own whisper. "Shawn can take care of himself."

Marin closed her jaw, before she stuck her foot in it. "All right. Danny can handle himself too." She remembered that look in his eyes, after K-town. "He's grown a lot in the last few months." 'He also suffered a lot too.'

Jamie's shivers had finally subsided and she pulled herself away from Marin, onto the other half of the bed they'd made. Their combined sleeping bags were wider than some of the beds they had used in rest stops so far.

"We all have." Jamie said mournfully. "these last few weeks, then the months before that..."

Marin wished that things had been light enough to see Jamie's face. She put out a hand for Jamie to take it, but it was just brushed away in the dark. "I wasn't doing well during the funeral." Marin kept her voice just loud enough for Jamie to hear.

"None of us were. But you-." Jamie shuffled around in the dark. "Where's my bag, i don't want this to fall against the side of the tent."

Marin pulled out one of the rucksacks. They could figure out whose as what later. "Here."

"Thanks."

The emotional distance between them made Marin want to close it even more. Marin lay no the other side of that invisible distance for now. If Jamie wanted to close the gap, she would. They'd been working on this grand plan, to get away from their families, build a future together. This planet left the plan in shreds. And now there was a few inches of metaphorical space between them, even as they huddled together for warmth.

Marin started, "do you not want to..."

"No, not tonight." Between the mountains and the heavy clouds, it was as dark as night in the tent. Despite the sun on the horizon somewhere.

Marin held her hand in front of her face, she couldn't see it. "Okay." Things were not okay, but Marin didn't want to pester Jamie with questions in the cold and the dark.

Whatever their parents thought of their friendship, Jamie and Marin were seen as close friends. Neither of them were interested in more than a kiss or holding each other. Marin could feel the romance, before. They were definitely a thing, just not something that might be seen as normal.

"Can I ask you one question though, Jamie?"

"You just did. And you may."

Marin could hear the grin enter the latter of Jamie's words. "Was there something I did, or didn't do?"

The bag shuffled, like Jamie was shaking her head. "No, I mean, yes. No wait-"

"Um, Jamie?" Marin asked.

"I- it just. It's not a good time."

"I don't understand what you mean?"

Jamie shuffled in the sleeping bag, he voice muffled as the other woman faced away. "Let's just get some sleep. We can talk about it later."

Marin felt butterflies fill her stomach. Jamie's words had all the weight of 'we need to talk later.' Marin's heart fell, she rolled over herself, to face away from Jamie.

Full of worry, Marin felt a tear escape the eye that was pressed into her pillow. Whether it was her ignoring Jamie for months, the stress of this place, or something else. If Jamie was done with them staying together, they were done. They had to both be on board to stay together or they had nothing.

Marin didn't want to become bitter and foul, like her parents. They had delayed their divorce for their own reasons, and it had torn the family to pieces.

Marin closed her eyes and tried breathing and counting each breath. Her heart was full of worry, but it would only keep her awake. The rain pounded a rhythm on the tent roof and west-facing wall. She only needed to start calming her nerves down a little before the rain drops could lull both of them to sleep.


Marin kicked what was touching her foot.

Her ankle caught in a vise, her heart leapt to her throat and blood pumped in her ears.

Opening her eyes, not to a dog, but a man gripping her ankle. Marin rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to calm herself at the sight of Fahd on his hands and knees at the front of the tent. His face was under lit by a flashlight. His remaining hand held her leg.

Her heart still pounded with adrenalin. From the memory of two dogs grabbing at her ankles with their teeth, making away with her boots. She still didn't remember how she ended up barefoot that night, years ago.

"Hey," Fahd let go of her ankle.

Marin took her foot back, her nerves still firing, wide awake. She had ended up on top of the sleeping bag. Jamie was beside her. The other woman snorted in the dark, still asleep. Jamie really did sleep like the dead.

"What is it?" She hissed in a loud whisper.

"You're turn for watch." Water dribbled down the front of his head, off of his chin and onto the wet clothes by the entrance.

The rain had lightened, but it was still constantly dripping onto Marin's tent. She knew better than to argue with Fahd. So she grabbed her still-drying coat, and found a dry pair of socks before pulling her wet boots on. Her Materia bracelet was just inside the pillow case, where she could grab it with her hand quickly if needed. She hoped she wouldn't need it tonight. Even as she slipped it over her wrist.

"Double watches tonight," He told he, "four hours." They wouldn't be done sleeping until very late the next day. "I'll get Danny." Fahd told her, before he stepped in the mud over to Danny's tent.

Marin could feel the moisture begin to leak into her socks and down her neck. She quickly found shelter under the tarp, that had been set up between the tents. There was a dry place to sit, facing dry coals. And away from the tents, to watch out for danger while the others slept.

There were more camp chairs, but clearly whoever had been on first watch had only set up what was needed. Before those things were soaked with rain or caked in mud.

The ground squelched a little as she sat in a mostly-dry chair. At least the driving rain was gone, even as the sky was black. A weird flashlight glowed from Fahd and Val's tents, behind where Marin sat. If she didn't look behind her, she could get a sort of night vision under the midnight clouds.

She was no longer stuck with the last watch of the night. Or every single damn chore. Whatever Fahd had been up to, it was over.

"Personne ne me dit rien." she mumbled in French. At least the French words were as close as she could get in the sentiment in English, 'no one tells me anything.'

"What was that?" Danny asked quietly, checking the safety on a gun before passing it to Marin.

"Just complaining," she said, after checking if the gun was loaded. It certainly was, with the safety on. She could only fake sitting easy now, with the loaded side arm.

In the darkness, anything that attacked them could come close unseen, if the rain didn't stop the monsters. The rifles didn't have the range when it was this dark.

"About what?"

"The damp, sleeping in the cold, the rain, wet clothes..."

"Or the rain?" Danny offered.

"The rain." Marin agreed.


Marin opened her eyes at a noise. The inside of her tent roof was dark gray.

"We're Under ATTACK!" Jamie's voice yelled again.

Marin, dry in her last change of clothes, slipped on her materia bracelet.

More yelling, this time wordless. A gun shot rang out.

Marin was out of the tent in wet boots, no socks. She didn't have a knife, a sword, or a gun. Her Materia was her weapon. Leaving the tent to flap open. There was movement in the dim gray, of things low to the ground. Shawn and Jamie were trying to shoot back whatever it was.

It was a clouded dawn. And still drizzling rain.

Marin left the tent behind.

Val appeared from her tent.

"Wake the fuck up already!" Jamie yelled.

Growls snarled in the night

Jamie and Shawn closed the semi-circle the tents made around the fire pit. There was no fire.

Marin twisted around, looking over the tents. She remembered 'Nibel wolves sometimes flank their opponents.'

She was immediately bowled over by something heavy and made of wet fur, claws, and teeth.

"AHHH!" she screamed as she went down, in front of her and Jamie's tent.

The Nibel wolf squealed as something jolted it to the side.

Marin smelled wet, stinky, breath as jaws snapped in front of her face. The wolf gave up on Marin and faced it's new attacker.

Val kept it back with a spear, towards another empty tent.

Marin blasted the wolf with an ice spell, she couldn't miss at this range. She wasted her mana to cast from laying on the ground, not able to go through the gestures as effectively.

The Nibel wolf got a face-full of ice, blasted in it's face.

Val continued to push it back with her spear.

"Watch your flank and rear." Marin warned. As only the empty tents would block Val from further attack. They had already failed to protect Marin.

"I know. Get up!" Val growled.

Marin had lost an unlaced boot, pulled in haste. She used the mud to suck the other off as she stood, risking the exposure to step evenly.

Giving Val's flank a glance, she threw another ice spell at that Nibel wolf.

Gun shots rang out 'rat-at-tat-tat' over and over each other. Danny was about. Somewhere.

Marin and Val concentrated on theirs, while they tried to look for more in the dim gray light.

Marin found herself behind Val, watching the woman's sides and back, casting spells over the spear-woman's shoulder. Marin missed one out of every three spells.

The two of them made quick work on the wolves. Val wasted no time, leaping to the larger fray.

Nibel Wolves had a nasty habit of replacing dropped ranks, if the pack wasn't taken down quickly enough.

Marin grabbed her boots and jogged as close as she could manage behind Val. Val could move fast when she wanted to.

With no weapons on hand to juggle, Marin was able to knot the boots quickly enough that she wouldn't lose them again. She kept checking behind her, in case another wolf came.

By the time she joined the others, it was five against four. Fahd was on the furthest side, Val flanked the wolves. Shawn, Jamie and Danny had clustered together for protection. The three of them were back to back to back. So they couldn't be flanked.

Fahd was stabbing with his prosthetic arm, it had grown another foot from a blade attached to it. Or hidden inside it.

Marin shifted her focus from Fahd's blade to what was right in front of her. As her belly and chest burned in the rain. Looking down, her gray shirt was dark with mud. As she moved it pulled and burned. The wolf that had snuck up on her had gashed her front with it's claws.

Upon joining the others, she noticed that Fahd was favoring a leg and Jamie looked ready to faint.

Hoping that Fahd could manage while wounded. She cast a Cura spell at Jamie, then Fahd.

The last of the danger passed while she finished. So she tended to herself, thankfully she was the least hurt and needed only the weakest Cure.

Fahd looked around, in the dark, Marin could not see his expression. He and Val had flashlights on their shoulders, looking for more trouble.

While they confirmed that the wolves really were dead, no more appeared.

Marin could now feel the grains of the mud in her boots. She regretted not wearing socks now, or tying her boots the first time. She didn't mention her discomfort, or voice a complaint. She stood there with her mud, and blood, soaked clothing. While the rain continued to fall. She had no dry clothes left. And the rain showed no signs of stopping.

Fahd had Marin, Jamie, Shawn, and Danny line up in front of the fire to review the fight.

She wriggled her toes, they scraped against the dirt in the mud in her boots. She wasn't listening until Fahd got to her.

"And you."

Marin jolted.

"Why did you heal yourself before Val?"

"What?" Marin looked at Val. "You're hurt?"

Val wiggled a gloved hand at Marin. Marin noticed nothing.

"I could now, I-"

"You should not have to wait to be asked!" Fahd bit at her with his words.

Marin flinched and cast a cure spell at Val. The woman had ended up guarding Marin with her spear. But Marin had never seen an injury by the tents or later, it had been too dark.

Marin swallowed and faced down Fahd. "I would have healed her before me if I had known." she told him.

He stared back, not giving a response.

Marin continued, "I healed by greatest need, anyway. Jamie looked wounded and you were barely injured. But you were all on the front lines. So you before me." she threw an apologetic look at Valkyrie. "I'm sorry. I didn't see."

"Look harder next time," Val glared. Though her nod for Marin's spell made the words sound more sarcastic than mean.

Marin looked back to Fahd. "I did what I could, sir. We all did. Why do you have to lecture us?"

In the lighter gray, he had a hard look for Marin. "So you think you've learned so much the last week then?"

Shawn and Jamie nodded along. Danny was watching Fahd.

"We all have, Fahd. I mean Sir."

Fahd shook his head, "That you think the last week has been so instructive, shows how much you have left to learn." He waved his hand at the fire pit. "We're all wet. But we need to get warm. You three, get fuel for the fire, now." He swept his eyes over the group. "Valkyrie, Shawn and Danny."

"What about-" Jamie started.

Fahd cut her off. "You two." He tossed his key chain at Jamie, who snatched the keys out of the air. "Get the last fire starter out of the trunk."

Marin started asking "But you said-"

Fahd cut her off. "Stay together. I am making sure that nothing else hits the camp."


Marin was by the small fire, a pressed log would burn for a couple hours, before going out. But it was heat while she cleaned the insides of her boots with a sock. At this point, the only things that were dry were the insides of their tents, and their sleeping bags. At least they had that much.

By the time Marin was in clean socks, everyone was ready to go back to sleep. They all looked dejected and miserable. She had a few minutes of dry before the dampness sunk in again.

"This sucks." Shawn said, as he tended the fire.

All but Fahd crowded around the fire for warmth.

Fahd was somewhere in the morning gloom, looking for trouble before it found them.

The fire starter was half gone by the time he came back.

"We're in the clear." He announced.

The rain continued it's dripping drizzle. What parts of them were warm and dry would not be for long.

"Break camp. Now." He told them.

Even Val moaned while everyone else made various displeased noises.

In the light of the fire-starter log, Fahd only glared. "The sooner we start, the sooner we're gone."


With the heat full-on in the car, they could dry their front, somewhat. Their backs were plastered to the seats in the car.

Marin watched the sky lighten more outside the window. Everyone was tired, they at least had had a warm breakfast. But the rain sapped what energy everyone had. Three people napped in the car. Marin nodded off sometimes herself, she had no idea for how long.

Val and Fahd murmured in the front row.

Something familiar floated over to Marin's ear.

Shawn snorted in his sleep, similarly to his sister. "What about Nibelheim?" He asked, still waking up from his nap.

Fahd and Val were silent and exchanged a look with each other. Val turned in her seat to address Shawn, "Looks like we're stopping by their inn after all." shaking her head. "No idea why you kids want to go to the middle of nowhere."

"I'm the only one who said they did." Shawn told Val.

Marin spoke-up from the second-row seat. "They have dry sheets and warm beds." No longer caring for anything else but getting dry in that moment.

Now Danny was awake, "Dry bed sounds nice."

Jamie was curled under Shawn's arm. Still asleep.

Marin felt a flare of jealousy, that her girlfriend would be comfortable with anyone else. Only now did Marin remember that Jamie wanted to talk 'in the morning.' That hadn't happened.

Marin looked back out the window, ashamed that she was jealous of something Jamie shared with her brother. It was just platonic touch, nothing more. But it had been all she wanted from Jamie. Marin considered that it wasn't that Shawn was close to his sister. But that Marin had been denied that closeness last night. Shawn had done nothing wrong.

It all made Marin miss Jamie more.

Marin rested her head against the frame of the car window. She'd rather look out the window and try to nap than anything else.

Shawn sounded pleased, that they were finally doing what he had wanted all along.

Marin no longer cared. She only wanted to be dry and warm. She tried to catch up on sleep before Nibelheim.


The car jolted up the road, the path was covered in gravel. Everyone in the car, if they tried to sleep, they were jolted awake by the ping or bang of gravel pieces being thrown at the under-carriage. Or a bump in the road.

As the shock-absorbers shook the car from side to side, the seats squelched under the damp clothes everyone wore.

No one spoke to break the silence. Not since the decision had been made for the nearest rest stop.

As soon as the threat of the wolves had passed, they had struck camp rather than sleep. Once they had turned off the highway to Nibelheim, the road was too rough for any more naps.

Marin meditated in place, as her teeth occasionally rattled at another bump.

Fahd mumbled something, while Val took a turn driving.

Val replied quietly, "If anyone has a car in the middle of nowhere, they'll know how to fix the shocks."

No one replied.

Marin silently prayed that the car would hold together the rest of the way to the village, then went back to thinking of her songs. She often switched between music and counting, based on how high her nerves rode her. She had long forgotten the source of counting to four with each breath and pause in between. It was from the Internet, somewhere.

The car jolted again. This time Hard.

"Incoming!"

Marin opened her eyes.

The roof of the car banged, something had landed on top.

Jamie screamed, "What was THAT?"

"Gorkii." Marin said. Something dangerous that flew on wings, and rarely attacked alone. Different names in different areas, in these mountains they were Gorkii.

"Valron." Fahd corrected her. He looked between Val driving and his car door. He was thinking of a plan. "The sooner we get to the village, the sooner we can get it off the car."

Marin was glad for the protective screens on the windows. And the armoring under the body of the heavy car.

"I'm not stopping." Val told him. As they hit a bump and were launched into the air for a few moments. Banging back down, a screeching sound filled the air.

The Valron, were local to this area and with wings of a different color than Gorkii. Marin checked out the window on her side. "I don't see any others."

"Maybe not yet." Danny said from his side of the car.

"Oh no, not my car!" Val said, this time she started pumping the brakes, to stay in control of the car.

The screeching continued, as the flying creature continued to claw at the roof.

The ceiling above them crumbled just a little under it's weight.

Marin stared at the roof while she handled her materia bracelet. One of those things on their own would be trouble enough, but it had the advantage.

Jamie was lucky to be alive after the wolf pack had attacked. Only the double watches had saved them all.

The car squealed to a sudden stop, everyone was thrown forward against their seat belts. The Valron slid forward, coming to a stop on the hood of the car. It stared at the occupants before screeching and launching itself at the armored windshield. It's claws pulling at the metal screen over the windshield.

Val reached over her seat, grabbing her spear from where it hung off the back of her bench seat. She launched herself out of the car. "My CAR!"

Marin opened her side, using the door as a shield.

The Valron clawed back onto the roof of the car and knelt over Marin, screeching.

This wasn't the first time she stared her death in the face, but this time she had the tools to fight back. While whipping her arms through casting her favored ice spells, unfortunately her Ice Materia was still weak in being attuned. Blizzard was the best she could do. She stepped back and danced out of the reach of the Valron's claws.

Other car doors opened, she didn't look while concentrating on the Valron and finishing her spell.

Val stuck the thing in the side with her spear, dancing forward and back, trying to draw it's attention.

The thing made a weird coughing sound as the ice splashed against it, conjured ice disappearing already.

A strange growl reverberated from the Valron's throat.

If Marin had to guess, she thought it sounded like laughter. Without other weapons, she could do that many more times. The thing was barely fazed by the Ice magic, she would need to cast them all.

"Fuck."

The thing launched from it's crouch, straight at Marin.

Before it collided with her, she flinched. Squeezing her eyes shut a moment.