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So people listened, sortof. Shanta seemed to decide something, and Shashi came roaring around, knocking over Ari, who yelled at Cas and then dashed off too.
"Shashi won't move? Okay." There wasn't very much time to ask why, and he headed off back accross the clearing to Muna instead. If the transport wouldn't come to Muna, Muna would be going to the ride.

Over his shoulder he saw a crackling orange ball bounce around, heard the crumple-crack of metal on trees and roar as a rush of water emerged from the earth carrying someone.
"Good." He breathed to himself. Something like that bought a bit more time. Wait- was that Naomis voice? He did a double take just as a laser beam erupted from Cas and hit the wall of water, then looked away, furiously blinking away the spots in his eyes. Pick up the injured, avoid Vivian, get them to safety was pretty much all he was thinking.

Everyone was for a few seconds, and all he could hear was his heartbeat and his feet hitting the ground. That wasn't good. He tapped a silence to his chest, and the noise he was making disappeared. Now hearing everyone else was easier, but it was eerie. He shot a glance over again, then Vivians voice rung out again in the relative silence.
He'd reached Muna now, who seemed to be trying to get up.

"Yeah, I thought she was my friend too, man." He stated gruffly, forgetting he had a silence on and trying to scoop up Muna as gently as possible. The boy was quite easy for him to carry, but being gentle was a little more difficult. He fought the urge to cast mend on the wound, or lock on the bloodflow, because he really wasn't good with human body systems and had no idea what was going on except BLEEDING EVERYWHERE
Basically the plan was to run back to the carpet, drop off Muna, let End make his own damn way there, then find some way to check on Naomi and Ian.

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As Socket flew past Ian, his stomach dropped. The crunch of metal colliding with tree just seemed too... unreal. This wasn't possible. This wasn't happening.

No. No, no, no, no, no no no no "no no no no--" Ian moved in the direction Socket had crashed, but Icarus's hand stopped him. He shouldn't be going, he knew he shouldn't, but he didn't care. Socket, his pet project, the only thing he'd poured genuine effort into for years, had been reduced to nothing but scrap metal in mere seconds. At the very least he had to gather the pieces, maybe he could--

Ian's train of thought was interrupted by the world going white. He yelped and covered his face with his arm, trying to minimize any ocular damage. When the light faded, he faintly registered Naomi laying knocked out nearby and Vivian laying blackened a little ways away.

None of it mattered. Nothing that was going on mattered. He had to get to Socket, he had to move. As Vivian began to stir, Ian realized that he wasn't going to have another chance where she was this distracted. He tore away from Icarus and Yvonne with more than a little effort and started making his way to where he thought Socket had landed.

No, no, no, please, no.

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Nivenne
Siyaahi

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴ

Somewhere deep in her mostly-tainted heart, Vivian knew that this was the last time she was ever going to cast this, so she sure as hell was going to make it a good one. Taint, she knew, was fueled by negative emotions, so she channeled every negative thought and all the pain she'd felt for months, for months with nobody helping her, with nobody even trying to, with people making it worse and worse and WORSE until she couldn't stand it anymore.

She channeled all her hatred for Ezrael, for Lara, for everyone who dared keep her alive for their own benefit, their own guilt. She channeled all her fury at the people alienated her, like Aerykah, people who lied to her, like End, people who betrayed her, like Muna. She channeled all her anger towards the people that attacked her, that made out to be a terrible person. Couldn't they see how much she'd been suffering!? Couldn't they see how much pain she was in!? Couldn't they see she just wanted to get out of the hell she'd been dragged into!?

Oh, it would be so easy, so easy now, to release everything, everything all at once, and unleash the biggest destruction Vivian could ever cause. She wasn't stupid; she could see the sphere of influence glittering around her, but she didn't care. She didn't <********> care. After all, what else could her greatest destruction possibly be, but the destruction of herself?

With this, Vivian knew, she'd be free. She'd be free of the pain and mental torture that she'd been through for months, for months and months and months and she could finally die and be in peace and --

...and...

...she'd be alone.

...that was the heart of the matter, wasn't it? She'd be all alone. She would be taking care of everyone's problems. She wouldn't be able to hurt anyone anymore, because she'd be dead. She wouldn't be able to talk with End or Muna or Shanta or Nina or anyone ever again. She'd be dead and very, very alone.

And that was the thing. Tomas, even Tomas broken beyond repair, did not want to be alone.

It was this thought that broke Vivian's concentration.

And it was this thought that let a spark of sanity resurface.

Vivian looked up through the sphere, and her eyes, dull and dark before, were bright and alive. And Vivian did not look angry, and she did not look malicious. She did not look malevolent, antagonistic, ruthless, or cruel.

Vivian Summers looked scared.

I don't want this. I never wanted this. I have to stop. I have to --

But whatever Vivian wanted to stop, it was too late. The lapse in her concentration release all that power she'd been building up, and Vivian's terrified gaze disappeared behind a thick smog of taint. Naturally, with nowhere to escape, it rushed back inwards towards its vessel, dyeing Vivian's skin, if possible, even darker.

When the smoke finally cleared, Vivian dropped like a marionette cut from its string, staring up at the sky, chest trembling with uneven breathing that would never force enough air into her lungs again.

She was alive, but for how long?

xxǀcαяυѕ Ɗσмιтσя ♕ 2ηɗ ♕ Tσмαѕ

__ It was like watching a car crash -- Icarus couldn't take his eyes off of it. Except instead of a car it was a girl he didn't even know. His attention ripped off Vivian for only a second, shifting to Ian in alarm when he felt the boy break away from him and Yvonne."Ian, we--"

Icarus turned his head back to Vivian in alarm. It would be bad to get distracted--

Vivian's expression sent a chill running down his spine.

Then it was nothing but black, contained in the shimmering sphere trapping her. As Vivian reappeared in sight, still breathing, Icarus stood frozen.

Then he took a step back, and turned to where Ian had gone. He turned away from Vivian and followed his friend. "Ian, listen, man--we--just--" He couldn't think. Icarus couldn't even formulate a sentence anymore. He stopped talking for a moment to suck in a shaky, shuddery breath.

"...You can rebuild, okay? It's possible if it's you. So just...just grab Socket's parts and--and come on."

I can't stand being here any longer, Icarus thought. ＞

Sтσηє ♕┊♕ Mуѕтιc

☼☀yvønne☀☼☾tømas-øne☽✦ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ✦
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Yvonne watched as Ian pulled away and Ari trapped Vivian in some kind of magical barrier. Maybe they did have time. "Oh."

Yvonne glanced to Vivian again. Couldn't believe that she recognized the look in her eyes. Then again, Vivian wasn't completely deluded in seeing their similarities. A Tomas was a Tomas. Vivian was a Tomas. Vivian is a Tomas, she thought briefly. She didn't want to be alone. It broke her.

Wondering if the same thing applied to Ekaterinas, she followed after Ian and Icarus.

She stopped for a moment before them. What do they need right now? I can't bring back Socket and I can't erase the events of today.

"Let me help you with that," Yvonne said, bending down to pick up what was left of Socket. She gathered what she could and clumsily held it out to Ian. "Sorry. I- I don't know what you need to hear right now. If you need to hear anything. We can talk about this later if you want. Today has been a lot."

A lot of what, she wasn't sure. "But Icarus is right. You can do anything. And time is the best doctor, remember?... Are you ok? To stand, I mean."

Yvonne dashed a hand across her cheeks and offered the other to Ian.

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Ian reached where Socket had fallen and his first thought was, I'm going to be sick.

Socket, precious Socket, the robot he'd poured four years worth of blood, sweat, and tears into, wasn't even in a recognizable state anymore. Bits of scrap metal, nuts, bolts, wires, everything that made Socket... Socket... lay scattered around the general area. The mirrorstone that made up nearly half the components, and completed the magical circuit? Shattered. Ian could see the pieces embedded in the trunk of the tree. The propeller? Completely bent out of shape, and one of the fan blades had snapped off and was stuck so far into the tree Ian doubted he would ever be able to get it out. And so many of the components inside, that Ian had delicately Shrunk down so they would fit, had spent countless hours tweaking the inside of the robot so they would all fit snugly, those were beyond help.

In short, it was the worst repair job Ian had ever seen. He stared at the pile, expressionless, feeling numb. This wasn't real. This... this couldn't be real. This was the worst nightmare of Ian's life, and he had never wanted to wake up so badly. He had to - he had to pinch himself awake. Or maybe...

One of Ian's hands drifted to his opposite forearm before he realized what he was doing, and quickly shoved his hands in his pocket. Stop, he told himself firmly. Not... not here. Now now. Later, maybe, but not now.

Ian took a deep breath and set himself to the task of gathering what Yvonne missed, and there was a lot of it. She'd gathered the larger chunks, but there were dozens of small pieces of shrapnel, screws, wires, and circuit boards that were lost in the grass. Ian set out his scarf on the ground and focused on collecting it all, adding Yvonne's things to the pile when he was done.

Despite being numb with disbelief, Ian was an efficient worker, and he found all of Socket's pieces in a surprisingly short amount of time. Carefully rolling the scarf up, Ian took the bundle in his arms, and finally spoke for the first time since coming upon the robot's scattered corpse.

"I can fix what's broken, Icarus," he murmured. "I can't fix what's destroyed."

And with that, Ian fell completely silent, completely focused on the orange bundle in his arms.

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Siyaahi
Nivenne

☼☀yvønne☀☼☾tømas-øne☽✦ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ✦
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Yvonne dropped her hand. She wondered briefly if her eyes deceived her when she saw Ian's hand move toward his arm. No, she decided, she wasn't.

"You might not be able to fix what's destroyed, but you can start again."

She gently moved her hands to rest on either of his shoulders. "I'll help you get whatever materials you need. If I can help with the building, I'll do that too. Most of your code is on your computer, right? So it's not... it's not hopeless."

Yvonne sighed and leaned forward to hug him, carefully minding his scarf full of parts. She opened her other arm and gestured for Icarus to join them. "C'mere, Icarus. It'll take work. But I know how much this means to you, so we're here to help you through it, alright? Are you gonna be okay?"

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