Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Nine

[Snowy_One]

"What?" said Robin, her voice a bit muffled by the ground. "Can I at least roll over onto my back?"

[Snike]

"You can roll over," Lane said, as he was walking away "Just don't try to sit up."

[scorri]

"I'm alright. Uri healed me and then my daggers are helpful for that too. I'm more worried about you. You shouldn't be pushing yourself--" As he was saying that, she tried to stand up before falling back down. "No, come on. None of that. You can't keep on pushing. Here, if you really want to go see people..." He crouched and looped one arm around her back avoiding the problem areas and then his other one under her knees. Standing up, he shifted her slightly so she could be comfortable and then smiled at her. "Right then. Let's go see other people on our way to get you back to the wagons."

[Ether]

"I appreciate the kind words but... I can't help but feel responsible for this. If I had taken him out sooner this wouldn't have happened." Faatina retorted, shaking her head. This girl really was too nice, worrying over them despite her wound, even after being healed, she needed Erion to carry her in order to move around properly.

"I'll be okay... just a few scratches. There are others a lot worse off." The paladin continued, in reply to Amalia's worries. With the adrenaline receding, she was starting to feel the rather deep gashes along her sword arm, stomach, and leg, but judging from the level of bleeding, they hadn't hit anything immediately vital.

***

Finally, it had taken a while, but Isabella had managed to repair the damage done by the twin axes. Moving to stand, a distinct clattering on the ground caught her attention. Her vision immediately changed, which made the offending piece of gear obvious before she had even looked. It seems that her visor had been damaged in the attack, and one glance told her all she needed to know. Repairing it was out of the question, she'd have to have it replaced, if anything. Still, it had served it's purpose, considering that it had broken and she was still alive, it must have deflected one of the thrown weapon away from her face and down into her shoulder, where it had struck her.

"Tch, so much for that. Thank you, my old friend." She mouthed quietly, her crimson eyes giving off an inhuman glow despite the daylight.

***

Arietta had felt pretty good. She had only taken one notable hit during the whole fight, having shrugged off most of the others with ease. And then she felt worse. A familiar feeling, that hadn't been familiar until recently. Fucking poison. Seriously, why the fuck did these assholes feel the need to poison every goddamn pointy stick they had in their arsenal? It was just annoying at this point. Heaving to the side and emptying the contents of her stomach onto the pave, she stumbled a bit, resting against a nearby wall.

"Fer fuck's sake, y'assholes..."

Edited September 16, 2016 by Ether

[Nanami Touko]

"You should still have yourself looked at Faatina. It wouldn't do to have you collapsing because you didn't take care of yourself well enough." Amalia spoke as if she wasn't in the same situation, pushing herself up again to try and stand-- but Erion wouldn't have it. She knew she was pushing herself, but what was wrong with that? Something, it seemed, as she was quickly braced, and then lifted, Erion propping her up against him in her arms. "Huh? ...Whaaa...?" She blushed, squirming weakly, trying to roll out onto her feet.

"E-Erion, this isn't appropriate, I, I can walk by myself... P-Put me down." She asked him meekly, not used to being this close to anyone, let alone a man. "You've had your joke, come now..."

[scorri]

"It's perfectly appropriate. You're unable to walk by yourself due to recently being severely wounded.If you're going to tell Tina to take care of yourself, you need to do the same."

He continued walking, ignoring her feeble attempts to escape but stopped at her next comment. "My fun? You think this is fun for me?" He looked down at her, clearly sad. "I won't deny that in another situation I would be enjoying myself right now. But this? No. You were too close to dying for me to be doing this for a bit of teasing. You protected me from the enemies. Well now I'm going to protect you from yourself."

[Nanami Touko]

"No, I..." Being this close to someone felt awkward. Eespecially considering what Erion had been thinking about her the first time they'd met. It was overshadowing the real issue that was her body being weak, but she couldn't ignore it. Neither could she ignore the serious tone it took, as she tried to imply things. "M-Maybe, I... I'm sorry..." She avoided his gaze, still bothered by the holding, but his reasoning was solid. Especially if he did care, it meant this was hitting him harder than she'd thought. "It's not like I would have died for nothing... You're safe. You'd already been shot, and light magic, it's... Powerful." She stopped squirming, finally, but she was struggling to enjoy her situation. On the one hand, Erion was nice, handsome, strong, this felt nice-- on the other, what the hell are we doing getting so close to one another?

She bit her lip and grumbled quietly.

[scorri]

"You dying for me is never going to be something I want. It was my fault this happened. If I had just taken him out better... I should have gone for a more damaging shot the first time. Then you wouldn't have had this happen and maybe he'd still be alive. That would have made you happy..." Her trailed off as he continued to walk towards the wagons. She seemed to be muttering to herself which caused his lips to twitch towards a smile. "You're allowed to relax you know. The battle is over, I'm not going to drop you, and there's not much you can do to help at this point. It'll all be ok so just relax and let me help you."

Edited September 16, 2016 by scorri

[Snike]

Veronika still hadn't stirred by the time Lane made it over to her, though it seemed as though she was merely unconscious from being bludgeoned, rather than having an even more serious wound. The disciple healed what he could, before turning his attention to the red-armored man a short ways away. He didn't seem to be very injured, except by a familiar-looking lance wound on his side.

"Poison?" Lane asked.

"Poison," Axel agreed. In response, the healer closed up the wound, whereupon his patient stood up, then bent over and picked Veronika with relative ease.

"Thank you. I'll bring her over to the wagon," Axel said, as he walked away. Lane merely nodded, and walked over to the blonde-haired axewoman from before who was resting against a wall... and was beside a pool of vomit. Probably poison, yet again.

"Could I have a look at your wound?" Lane asked, while wondering how the seraph knight managed to poison this many people so quickly.

[Snowy_One]

Robin rolled over onto her backside, letting the fresh aid flow into her lungs instead of dirt as she looked down at her clothes. They were the new ones, now bloodsoaked with her own blood. A mini-right of passage it seemed. Not a pleasant one for her for certain.

"This sucks so much. Why do I keep almost dying? I must have either really pleased, or really displeased, fortune." she thought to herself as she looked to her side, noting the gathering of people.

"How many of us survived?"

[-Cynthia-]

"I can use healing staves, but I didn't have one on hand when I left. Would probably be a good thing to purchase going forward...Your efforts here are appreciated by all, I'm not certain we would have so many survivors if it weren't for you," Lysandra responded to the avian man, looking over towards Zerachiel occasionally just in case.

Edited September 16, 2016 by -Cynthia-

[Ether]

"Go fer it, big guy. Goddamn flyin' pest had 'er spear coated in poison. These folk seem t'like pullin' that shit." Arietta replied, leaning back against the wall and allowing Lane to check and heal her wound.

***

"I'm alright, I told you. I'll have it looked at, but others need it more, right now." Faatina replied, walking Sharif along behind Erion, chuckling a little bit at the scenario that Amalia had found herself in. She felt... a little bit bad about following and potentially eavesdropping, but they were going the same way, after all...

[Snike]

"Yeah, don't remind me about that spear," Lane said, frowning as he examined, then mended the wound with his restore staff. "Should be good now, though there might still be some poison left in your system. It should be almost done running its' course, however. Are you good to walk back to the wagons?"

[Nanami Touko]

As he continued his serious reasoning, she shrunk into his arms, continuing to look away. "Please don't blame yourself... He was... Not to be reasoned with. As unfortunate as that is. Maybe in another life..." She really didn't want Erion to blame himself for all of this. She'd been the one yelling at the sniper. Why he yelled traitor, she still didn't know, but none of it mattered now. He was... Dead. And they were alive. No matter how worse for wear they were.

She finally glanced back at him as he mentioned trying to relax. "I-I can't..." she mumbled, "I just... Hope I'm n-not heavy, or anything. You must be tired, after all..." Amalia had no idea how heavy she was, considering carrying yourself was impossible. "Y-You should put me down so I don't strain you... I've got more muscles than an average Avian. I must weigh something uncomfortable..."

[KentaEzren]

"Phew...." Kenta sighed.

[scorri]

Erion sighed as she started talking about not blaming himself. She didn't get it. He'd had the shot. If he'd done better, she wouldn't need to be carried like this right now. Though her comment about her weight got him to chuckle. "You're serious, aren't you? Darling, you're light as a feather. I'm pretty sure I could have carried you when my knee was still all broken. Now I told you, just relax. You're allowed to let someone else take care of you, I promise. No one is going to get outraged at any of this. It'll be ok."

Uri frowned. "Of course. And I left the one I'd been using behind. Well, no matter. It looks like most people have been taken care of at this point. It looks like it would be best if we started to head back to the wagons. Let me know if you need anything else." With a nod, he started to head back towards the wagons, though he kept an eye out for any wounded, on either side, along the way.

[Nanami Touko]

Amalia blushed further, was she really so light? This was a new situation anyway, getting carried like this, so it wasn't like she had experience to doubt his claims. But that didn't mean she could just calm down! "You don't get it at all, do you Erion? I can't just calm down... Not when we're so close..." There weren't any Avians around aside from Uriel, so maybe he was right, but still. "You don't know about aquilan culture... So it's difficult, for me to relax, like this." She didn't quite look upset, but there was an obvious bit of discomfort behind the blush, as she attempted to control her furrowing brows.

[scorri]

Erion stopped walking and looked at her with a calm but serious expression on his face. "You're right. I don't know your culture. But I do know that you could barely stand on your own. That you've been fighting and dealing with all the stress that comes from that. From watching people die. So please. Let me take what little bit of your burden that I can and help you like this." He would put her down if she insisted here, but he also felt like he was doing the best thing he could right now.

[Nanami Touko]

Stop looking at me like that... She fidgeted for a second, before sighing, slumping against his arm. "Alright... I'm sure Uriel won't get confused, and he'll understand, so..." She let that sit and... With a heavy flush, rested her head against Erion, heart beat increasing steadily. "J-Just... Watch your hands... A-And your thoughts." She still remembered the other day when his first thoughts had been about her being a dancer and-- N-No! Don't start thinking about that right now! She stared at the ground and bit her lip, blushing and trying to shut her brain up. It was difficult, being this close.

[scorri]

Erion chuckled. "Is that what this is all about? Don't worry, darling. That's got nothing to do with why I'm carrying you. I won't deny that you've got my interest in that way too, but there's a time and a place for that sort of thing. Right here and now? Not the time or the place. Only thing I'm worried about right now is making sure you're safe. So no need to worry about anything improper happening."

[Nanami Touko]

Amalia didn't dignify what he said with a response, but she definitely turned further red, about as red as she was going to get, and thwapped a hand against his chest. Stop saying all of that... Honestly.

[Snowy_One]

Robin sighed. No one had bothered to respond and, while on the ground, there wasn't much else for her to do. She had been told to not sit up or anything of the like for, what she had assumed, reasons related to the lance being plague-infested. If she sat up too fast might the wound reopen? Might she end up throwing up everywhere? She didn't know. She was just gonna follow the doctors orders.

"Sooo... Ummm... Violent battlefield with dead bodies around in which I myself have been close to death yet now cannot move? Ummm... Hmmmm... Maybe I could try to do sign a song? Reach out with my mind to see if I could mentally talk to someone else just for the heck of it? Wonder just how big the world is and how much detail abounds? Imagine a happy family life at home? Think about what's for dinner? Debate if I'm worthless and staying with the group out of a desire for self-inflicted machoism which is a previously unknown desire of mine or if I feel I hold some inherent value to the group that is mired by constant fits of self-depression now that my world now not only does not center upon me but I have been turned into an orbital at best of major ongoings?

Well... With luck dinner will be after this plague lance has stopped afflicting me. Otherwise it will likely have to be something that either stays down or won't cause much of a mess at which point I don't know. However if I am just over-reacting than I could opt for the classic of steak and copped veggies in a stew. I wonder if lying in a pool of my own blood is ruining my hair? If it's not steak than hopefully it will be at least something consisting of meat in some form. Especially not 'meat byproducts' I've head about on occasion. I'm half-convinced someone couldn't sell chickens feet so they just ground them up into a paste for sale. Yea. This is probably unsanitary lying in my own blood..."

She wriggled about a bit, trying to move just a bit of a distance away and get away from where she had fallen.

[KentaEzren]

Kenta looked around, and sat down on the grass as the battle had ended.

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=Booking a Warp]

"Great ... though I need you to put me pretty close to that house," Gabbie noted with a grimace, "Tacito might no be able to find his way back to HQ on his own. Hasn't been there much."

[spoiler=Light At the End of the Tunnel]

They'd made it to the other side. Perugia forced open the panel resting between them and the world above. "Here we go ..." She moved the heavy plate out of the way and climbed out of the tunnel ... and into the lawn of another house several blocks from the battle. Perugia kept a low profile as she scanned the area, trying to make sure there was no one else around. Once she was satisfied, she reached down to help Alexis up. "It's clear, come on."

Suddenly there was an explosion, and Perugia was thrown away from the tunnel entrance as a plume of smoke, dirt, and debris shot up into the air. Rising from her back, she shook herself off. Had someone rigged the tunnel? Was Alexis still alive? These questions hounded her all the way back to the entrance. She couldn't see anything but smoke at first, and feared the worst. "Alexis ..."

She heard a cough, and then a hand reached up to her. "I'm alright ... mostly," Alexis said, her voice weak and strained. Perugia had to do most of the work in getting Alexis out of the tunnel, but the woman was in one piece. Her clothing was in tatters and singed from the blast, but she didn't seem to have any notable injuries other than being quite shaken up.

"What happened?"

"Explosive arrow," she coughed, "they'll think we're dead, I'm sure. Let's go while we still can."

"Explosives shot through the tunnel?" Perugia tilted her head as Alexis struggled to her feet. "Well ... that's ironic."

"It's what I deserve, yes," Alexis smiled faintly. She thought back to her second latest bombing, the one that had devastated an entire block. Alexis wondered if she would ever be able to feel any kind of self pity again after everything she'd been through, and everything she'd done. Once Perugia was sure Alexis could move on her own, the two got moving again, fleeing the site before any curious listeners wandered over.

Hunch

Anna stood up from the tunnel entrance and rested her crossbow on her shoulder. "If that didn't do it then oh well," she shrugged. It wasn't worth chasing them through a potentially boobytrapped tunnel just to kill or capture a few runners. She held up the light seal in her freehand. "I'm glad I'm not going to have to explain any of this ... though it would be nice if she'd at least left some clues I could point to." Anna sighed, turning away from the tunnel to scan the basement for the second time since she'd arrived. "I mean ... there were a couple of warps and this light seal is still here but that's not really enough to go off of ..."

She was confident neither Gabbie nor Lois had gone into the escape tunnel, confident enough to launch an explosive bolt from the Visceral into said tunnel, potentially killing anyone inside. Of course, she couldn't explain her hunch to anyone else ... she'd come off trigger happy at best. "Time to go. Hopefully Gabbie shows up, either with Lois or an explanation."

Picking Up

Making off with even a handful of prisoners was turning out to be quite awkward. Zerachiel, rather than being tied up, was carrying a barely conscious Lucille in his arms, while Gabriel escorted him toward the wagon. The walk was tense to say the least. Meanwhile, Leo and the Seraph Knight were tending to their own injuries as best they could. Leo doubted he would be able to walk unassisted. He didn't want to go with them, anyway, but the alternative was to be picked up by the authorities, interrogated, and once his ties to Invictus were exposed, executed.

It took Reign a moment to catch up, but once he was at a comfortable distance, he called over to Faatina. "Hey, you forgot this," he held up her lance. He couldn't be bothered to clean the thing, not without something to wipe it off with. He had enough respect for the fallen not to use their clothing for that sort of thing. Alas, this was Faatina's problem to figure out, and probably a common one.

Thany had been the first to arrive back at the wagons, which was both a relief and concerning to the boss. "What happened to everyone else? There weren't any casualties, were there?" He'd hoped she hadn't fled the battle, or that things hadn't gone so bad that half their number would be carried or dragged back by the other, healthier half.

[Nanami Touko]

Amalia had finally... Calmed down, so to speak, but she still wasn't the happiest about the situation. Her legs were feeling better, so she'd probably ask Erion to put her down soon, and a good moment for that was right about now. The fellow she'd punched, right in the jaw; the hard head that had broken her fingers, he was just a little ways off from where they were, now. "E-Erion, could you put me down...?" There wasn't an embarrassed urgency in her voice this time, she really just wanted to say something to him.