Gourry followed Sylphiel as he tried to keep his focus on his senses rather than his fears that he would have to tell the twins that their mother had died. Because surely he was overreacting. Surely a group of students wouldn't do that. But then he remembered that they had thrown Flare Arrows in the manor and the thought that he may just have to explain to the twin that their mother, who had loved them so devotedly, was dead before they had even gotten out of diaper and that they would grow up without her care and knowing full well that their father had failed to protect her. And then how would they trust him to protect them?

A knife twisted in his gut as he felt the pressure of unshed tears welling beneath his eyes and for a moment he feared he would lose it. Focus, he reminded himself. He'd already avoided one hellish future for his family. He could do it again if he just kept it together!

From up ahead he could hear Nerys trying to talk some sense into the gang (not to mention distract them from the party coming in from behind) and he realized that they were getting close. He held his hand out to the group to signal to proceed carefully. He put his back to the wall and crept around the corner. Tom's gang was divided into two groups, one to the west and another to the east, and the ones to the east were guarding Anne and Peter. Anne looked withdrawn and Peter looked mutinous but otherwise fine. But as relieved as he was to see them unharmed, he was still worried about the fact that there was no sign of Lina.

Gourry quietly relayed what he was seeing to the others as Mara Jade came out of a room to the west to get Anne and brought her back to the room she had left. Was Lina in there? "We'd better move now." He said.

Sylphiel started chanting a spell and cast, "Ray Freeze."

The students to the east were trapped by the spell, unable to move. Gourry stepped forward as Gomez ran to Peter and untied him, "The game is up," Gourry said to the group to the east and felt a hint of sadness as he noted who was among them. Adora. Hyacinth. Arnold. Biff. Lore, "Put your weapons down and let's settle this peacefully."

Gourry felt Peter come up beside him, muttering a chant under his breath, obviously springing for a fight. He must have felt humiliated by the ordeal. While Gourry understood his desire to get his standing back he also hoped that Tom's gang would stand down without a fight. Hyacinth looked noticeably pained, but Adora cried, "Attack!"

Gourry grabbed his sword and deflected a spell with it as his eyes widened as a sense of failure awoke within him. He was used to being disappointed in people, particularly his family. But these were his students who had now turned on them. As Peter unleashed a counteroffensive and they quickly overwhelmed Tom's gang, several of whom ran into the room that Mara Jade had disappeared into with Anne, and Gourry wondered where they had gone so wrong with them to have come to this point.

There was no time to try to undo the ropes that bound her to the chair by casting a Bram Fang. Lina wondered if she tried to jump if she could land close enough to Tom to knock him off course. She hurled herself forward and her face exploded in pain as it hit the floor as she landed a good foot away from Tom. She pushed herself to her side and started chanting just as Anne lunged at Tom and knocked him over. Mara Jade and Indy continued to tussle as Adora pulled Anne off Tom.

Lina had just freed one hand as Adora knocked Anne out and then, to Lina's disbelief, held out a hand to Tom, "Are you okay?"

"Adora!" Lina said incredulously, "Tom just tried to cast a Blast Ash spell! You were in the blast radius and he would have hit you!"

"The world we are working towards requires some sacrifices," Adora said as she helped Tom, who appeared dazed, up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lina asked, hoping she could keep her talking.

"Tom, we have to get you out of here," Adora said as she ignored Lina.

"Not yet," Tom said drowsily, and Lina hoped that Anne had given him one helluva concussion.

But Adora ignored him as she looked at the wall opposite the door and cast, "Bephis Bring!"

Tom moved back towards Lina as the wall crumbled down as Lina tried not to think of that spell, not even to wonder if Tom had worked it out. Adora came up behind him and knocked him out and hoisted him over her shoulder, "Mara, I need help carrying him!"

Mara Jade swung Indy around, knocking him into the wall. He fell to the ground, a bloody mess, and then Mara Jade looked at Adora, who had already entered the tunnel with Tom, "Do you really trust Arnold to hold them off for long?"

"Where do you plan to take him? You have no gear to camp." Lina pointed out.

But Adora continued to ignore her as she continued down the tunnels, "That's why we need to move, now, Mara!"

Mara raced to joined them as Lina cried futilely, "Wait!"

But Mara quickly disappeared down the tunnel. Lina took a deep breath to ground herself as a mixture of humiliation and anger rose through her. And then she looked at Anne and Indy, both lying unconscious on the ground, and she started chanting the Bram Fang spell to try to get her other arm free. As soon as she did Peter ran in, followed by Gourry, Cuchulain, Ripley, Sylphiel and Gomez.

Gourry's eyes misted with relief as he saw her as he knelt beside her, "I'm fine, but you have to stop Tom. Through that tunnel." Lina said, and Peter continued running as Gourry looked torn, "I'll be fine."

An indecipherable look crossed Gourry's face as he nodded, and from outside the door Lina could hear her parents as they secured the remnants of Tom's gang. Gourry got up and followed the students down the tunnel as Lina heard Indy groan. She looked over and saw that Sylphiel was chanting a healing spell over him.

Lina finally freed herself and stood up shakily. Sylphiel looked at her sharply as Amelia came in with Leia, "Thank goodness you're safe."

"None of us is safe until we get Tom back," Lina said as she started towards the tunnels.

"You need a healing spell," Leia said as she grabbed her.

But Lina shook her off as she yelled, "It can wait! Take care of Indy and Anne."

Gourry quickly caught up with all of the students but Peter, who flew ahead of them as he gained ground on the gang who had fled with Tom. Gourry still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Adora and Mara Jade were helping him. Both of them had been so reliable and talented and dependable in previous conflicts. Had they not appreciated them enough? What had caused them to do this?

Peter was close to catching them! He cast a spell, and Adora stumbled forward, losing her grip on Tom as he fell to the floor. Mara Jade turned, her green eyes flashing as she reached into her pocket and threw something small at the wall and yelled, "Bomb!"

Gourry registered the gleam from a red ruby, and the memory of stepping on one and falling through the floor rose through him as he threw his arms and yelled, "Fall back!"

Those behind him stopped, but Peter continued to run ahead as time seemed to slow and elongate painfully, "Peter!" he cried desperately as a sense of helplessness rose through him. Peter had run so far ahead that there was no way he could grab him, "Stop!"

The ruby hit the wall and an instinct within Gourry told him to kneel as he held the Blast Sword over his head, just as an explosion rebounded through the tunnel as rubble rained down upon them as it collapsed. The Blast Sword seared through what hit them, protecting Gourry and those who were behind them. But as the shaking stopped Gourry looked ahead at the cloud of dust and saw no sign of Peter. Just a large pile of rocks blocking the pathway.

Lina's stomach sank as she heard Gourry yell at Peter to stop and heard the sound of an explosion. She put her hand on the wall and felt the vibrations as her heart raced as she wondered just how much worse this could get as she continued down the tunnel and saw Gomez ahead.

"Is everyone okay?" Lina asked as she tried to see who all was there. Gourry stood up, covered in dust and bleeding a little, but he seemed to be moving okay as he surveyed the mess ahead.

"Peter was right in the blast zone." Gourry said flatly.

"Vu Vrima!" Ripley cast and some of the dirt and rocks coalesced to form a golem, "Golem, move this rubble aside!

Lina made her way up beside him as the golem picked up some rocks and handed it to Gourry, who moved it to Lina and on down the line. And while Lina desperately wanted to form two lines, there just wasn't space in the narrow tunnel to do so. "Peter!" she yelled, "If you can hear us stay calm! We're coming to get you."

"What happened?" Sylphiel asked from behind them.

"Mara Jade caved the tunnel in, Peter got caught in the blast." Cuchulain explained. "We're trying to clear the rubble to find him."

"What?" Sylphiel said incredulously. "I don't understand this at all."

"We need Amelia here," Lina said through gritted teeth as Gourry handed her a very heavy boulder that she strained to hand over to Ripley. "Sylphiel, I need you to get with Jean Luc and figure out where they could try to escape from. And then form a party to find Tom. He knows that spell."

"Right," Sylphiel said, sounding a little dazed. Lina couldn't blame her.

The sweat stung her brow, the salt rubbing into the open scrapes from when she'd fallen face forward in a pitiable attempt to stop Tom. She wiped it from her brow, dirty with blood and dust, as her muscles ached under the weight of the rocks she was moving. But despite the constant discomfort, Lina kept hoping that this was a painfully detailed dream.

How bad of a teacher and headmistress was she to have had this happen?

"I see him!" Gourry exclaimed as he rushed forward and started clearing the rubble with his bare hands. Ripley told the golem to stop as Lina moved beside Gourry and saw Peter's green tunic and prayed that he was alive. The amount of blood was alarming, but a little bit of blood could look like a lot.

"Is Amelia here yet?" Lina asked as she turned around briefly.

"Coming!" she said, and Lina turned back around and felt herself go cold as Gourry cleared the rubble over Peter's head and…she didn't see how anyone could survive that.

Lina stepped back towards the wall as Amelia pushed forward and Lina noted how she checked for a pulse as a sense of derealization hit her. This could not be happening! Lina knew that at some point she would lose a student. Hell, she couldn't even say it was the first time.

It still hurt to think about Aria after all.

But Aria had died before Lina had been knighted. And Aria had chosen to sacrifice herself. Peter, Lina was sure, had not chosen to die. And Aria had had no family to grieve her. It hadn't been the first time Lina had been confronted with a bereaved family member. Abel was another person who would torture her conscience, despite the fact that killing Zuma was the only option.

And Peter's parents would not be understanding at all.

Lina felt cold at the thought of facing them as Amelia tried to revive Peter as the students behind her started whispering to each other. This was bad. It was as bad as it could get if Amelia was not immediately casting Resurrection.

"Dame Lina?" Ripley said.

Lina put a hand on her shoulder, trying to stay grounded, trying to be the strong leader they needed. Their school had been invaded by someone they should have been able to trust. Because the last person they should have worried about an attack from was their former comrades in arms. The least she could do was keep it together.

Gourry came up beside her and grabbed her hand, silently communicating that he would walk with her through this ordeal, and thus fortified she said, "He was grievously injured. Let Amelia do her job."

"How badly injured?" Cuchulain asked.

"Very," Lina said stiffly.

"Gomez, do you think you can fit in the tunnel and try to pursue them?" Ripley asked as she eyeballed what had been cleared.

"I do." He said.

"I'm coming with you." Cuchulain said.

"We'll be right behind you. And be careful." Lina said, still wrangling with the fact that it was not a demon who had done this, but one of their classmates. Someone who they should have relied on to have their back, not stab it, "They don't care who they'll hurt."

Lina looked over at Amelia who was still trying to revive Peter and felt pulled in two directions. But there was nothing she could do for Peter. And if Tom had successfully extracted the full version of the Giga Slave from her then they were all still very much in danger. He had to be stopped. Lina walked over to Peter and said, "You fight like hell!"

And then she followed the other students through the hallway.