A/N. I forgot to mention in the last chapter, but that was the end of mission eleven. I really hope you enjoyed the dance. It's nice to have a breath of air, before the plunge.

Emily walked alone, her footfalls softly echoing against the stone path. The late night air smothered her. In the shadows of a cloud-clustered sky, she was little more than a smear in the dark.

Stopping, she glanced over at the Gym. There will have been quite a mess left after tonight's party, she observed. She should go and put it to rights, it was the dutiful action to be taken.

Her toe nudged a stone. But I don't want to, she realized. Mr. Carter had been carried to the infirmary, where he now lay like a trampled rug. I don't feel like I can return to that room, responsibility or no. She looked up at the starless sky. All I feel is useless.

Her skin prickled as she made out the sound of steps approaching her position. She turned in time to see a highly unlikely sight. Alfred and Harry lurched toward her, Alfred all but carrying the larger youth. Harry slumped against Alfred's shoulders, his face the color of cracked ice.

"Ms. President!" Alfred gasped as Emily stepped into view. "Please, we were only… er, I mean, hale and well met, Mrs. Robinson."

Harry mumbled something.

Emily examined her comrade. "He seems to be in shock," she observed. "And his eyes are red. Is that normal?"

"He was like this when I found him," Alfred explained. "And… I think he's been crying. He was just standing in the courtyard, looking at nothing. It really freaked me out." Alfred nudged Harry, the younger boy's small face bewildered. "Harry, are you okay?"

Harry shuddered. Gradually, he straightened up. "I… I'll be fine guys." He swallowed. "Julie's gone. She, she just disappeared."

"Jess has also obliterated," Alfred added. "Though I'm not sure how many of the others noticed. It's rather unusual: I always thought of people being obliterated, but it doesn't seem to work like that. It's almost like, well, they disappear on their own."

"Yes," Emily agreed softly. "People only pass on when they are ready. When they choose to accept peace." She took a heavy breath. So the mission had been successful after all. Well, that took some of the load off.

Alfred balanced on the balls of his feet. "Right. Mike's going to be ecstatic… when he wakes up that is. Meanwhile, we can make things easier for him, by starting to…" he trailed off.

In the dim glow of the towering streetlight, forms could faintly be seen, heading toward them. Alfred squinted "…Hello? Is that you, Richie-"

Alfred broke into a yelp of terror as the beasts rushed toward them, suddenly visible in the dim light.

At first glance, Emily thought they were shadows, broken from their creators, free to plague the surface. But as they sped closer, she could make out details-or the lack off. Arms, tentacles, and other appendages broke off from their torsos, before slurping back into the black fluid of their bodies. The creatures possessed no eyes, no features, only a gaping mouth, which snapped at the head of convulsing ball of obsidian sludge.

"Guardskill: handsonic, Version Five."

Alfred's mouth hung in disbelief as the creature flashed toward him, shadows reaching out to engulf him. He blinked his eyes shut as motion flew before his face.

He opened them unsteadily. Angel stood before him, black blood dripping off her trident. The creature shuddered from the blow, and collapsed, quickly dissipating into curls and wisps of ebony.

"Gerrofme, GERROFME!" The second shadow had nearly engulfed Harry, despite his energetic attempts to drive his elbow through its head. As Emily stepped toward her friend, the shadow crept back, freeing itself from Harry. The being seemed to regard the small girl, bulges and bubbles of black tumbling and jerking.

The monster flew at her with inhuman speed. Emily's blade struck even faster.

The two halves crashed into her. She felt bone-chilling cold. The shadows clung to her like a coat of snow. For half a second, her vision flickered. The path was replaced with code, 1's and 0's blinking out of existence. System reset.

Then the halves dissipated.

Emily barely had time to blink before they heard the gunshots. A cacophony of pops, screeches and yells broke out from by the dorms.

Emily altered her blade back to version one, for flexibility. "Come. By the sound of it, your friends are under attack."

Alfred swallowed. "Are you sure? I mean, it's prom night, maybe they're just celebrating-"

With a curse, Harry grabbed Alfred's elbow, and they ran after Angel's retreating form.

The alley between the boy's and girl's dorm had dissolved into chaos.

Members of the Battlefront returning from the gym fought desperately against the foreign foes, cries of fear ringing out in the near darkness. The combat division had managed to hold a loose perimeter around the other members, and was fervently pounding ammunitions into the lurching shadows. A few of the enemies were torn apart by the munitions, but more pored constantly from the doorway of the girl's dormitory.

"Aim for the chests!" Emm roared, his face lit by the blasts of lit gunpowder. "Just keep them back! Arg, what the hell is this?"

Jake's face was pale. He slashed out with his halberd repeatedly, as the masses of darkness surged forward. Abruptly, his weapon caught in the abdomen of one, and was wrenched from his hands. "There's too many!"

There was a cry of horror, as the monsters finally broke through. With a click, Elliot ran out, and was overwhelmed. A flood of black washed over the Battlefront.

Emily lit up the alley like lightning. Her blade cut a deep gash through the enemies on the outside as she flew right into the melee. Without waiting to free the first blade, she summoned another, and used it to destroy the beast inches from Luke's cowering form. With a fierce spin on her heel, she whirled down the middle of the alley, swords slashing.

She came to a stop. Immediately, the shadows around her darted toward the newest threat. Emily frowned. She could barely move. She didn't care how formal the occasion was, this was quite definitely the last time she wore this ridiculous dress. She quickly used delay, and the monsters crashed through her afterimage as she moved onto to aid Hannah.

Hannah growled as Angel drew near. Hannah was hard at work, her own knives holding off a trio of shadows, as a trio of diversion division members quivered behind her. Hannah managed to stop the shadow's progress with vicious, darting slashes of the metal, but she only had two hands.

At last, Hannah made eye contact with Emily. "All right, just take out the one," she grumbled through gritted teeth.

Emily surged forward, her twin weapons cleaving slices of slime through the enemy on Hannah's flank. At the same instant, Hannah dove between the two others, her own weapons sinking through the shadow's torsos. The beasts dissolved.

Hannah straightened up. "Pretty good. Maybe you-"

The opening of the men's dormitory interrupted her. A pajama'd NPC gawped out at them, his friends behind. "Wha… what is-" he trailed off with a choke.

As they watched in horror, the boy threw up, sludge raining from his mouth. His eyes bulged, and his skin flew apart, as a beast of shadow roared up from within him. With rips, the others behind him began to follow suit.

"Enter night, exit light," TK whistled.

Emily and Hannah strode to stand between the newcomers and their friends.

Harry stumbled up. "Everyone! Get your weapons ready, we have to cover this doorway! Get behind the girls, and… just let them do, you know."

Several age-long minutes of searing metal later, the stream of enemies from the door had ended. The Battlefront gasped and heaved, tired eyes blinking in disbelief.

"What… what was that?" Irie whimpered immovable from Kate's side. "What were those things?"

"We can figure it all out later," Harry comforted, wiping his hands off on his dress pants. His face was haggard, with the look of one who'd seen too much in very little time."But right now, we just to get to safety. We're all just going to crash at HQ tonight, all right? I'll set up a watch. Tomorrow, we'll track down Fred, and get this all sorted out. Is everyone okay?"

Shell-shocked faces gazed back at him. There was a loud cry.

Luke cried out again, tears burning red streaks down his face as he shuddered. "I… I couldn't… I couldn't help him…"

Hannah was suddenly beside him. "Luke! What's the matter?"

A shudder tore through him. "I tried to stop it, but, but I couldn't…" he swallowed. "When the shadows broke through, one got a hold of Elliot. I tried to pull it off, but, but, I…"

"I failed. It ate him. The slime covered him, until I couldn't see him anymore. I kept pulling, but it only started eating me…"

Around the boy, the Battlefront swayed.

Hannah's knuckles whitened as she pulled Luke to his feet. "That's enough. Everyone, Harry's right. We're retreating to HQ, now.