Half of what Gabbro told them was true. Yue was in the room, but he was most certainly not conscious. When Proga charged into the room after hearing the scream Opal worried he'd lost his mind and was charging some poor unsuspecting demon. Only when Gabbro followed close behind did she and Kait decide to join them. The room was small, nothing more than a bed that reminded Opal of the cots they'd used in the human infirmary and a lamp. Yue's limp form was on the bed next to the demon that had screamed. He'd balled himelf up in the corner using a pillow for protection. Proga had not let his guard down and was still standing on two legs, lips open to show a large set of animal fangs. The demon screamed again and Gabbro stepped in front of the animal.

"Ob- its me, don't you recognize me?" His voice was coaxing.

The demon's eyes were wide, one orange, one green. He squeaked and pulled the pillow over his face.

"Your brother? I thought you said you were looking for him! If you already saw Yue before-"

"He wasn't here before, clearly." Gabbro shot Kait a vaguely annoyed expression. "Now kindly stop yelling and help me get him to settle down. You don't want Obsidian upset, I promise you. If you have something to help him... relax it might be helpful to get us out of here without drawing attention."

Opal glanced at Proga who had settled back down, looking surprisingly human with both paws resting on his legs. His head titled to one side. "Maybe you should..." Honestly Opal thought he looked cuddly in his confusion, but she supposed this Obsidian might not.

He gave her a brief nod and backed out of the room, head swinging side to side with each step.

Kait was pulling her pack off now and moving cautiously towards the bed. "Hi there, my name is Kait. I'm just coming to check on my friend here... look the bear is leaving, you're safe."

An orange eye appeared from behind the pillow.

She knelt very slowly by the bed and put her hand over Yue's wrist. Her mouth became a hard line. "His pulse is weak. I need to get him outside to examine. Obsidian- is that your name?"

The demon nodded, watching her intently. "Yes."

"Do you like sweets Obsidian?"

"Yes!"

Opal was surprised with how quickly he went from timid to excited. He climbed over Yue and joined Kait on the ground expectantly. "Before I give you some, will you answer some questions for me?"

Obsidian jutted out his chin. Now that Opal could see him properly he didn't seem that much younger than any of them. Definitely not as young as his behavior.

Kait seemed to take that as an ok. "First, is this really your brother?"

He looked up as if just noticing him. "Big brother!" He waved.

Gabbro waved back.

"And my friend over there- what do you know about how he came to be here?"

"He's my friend too. He fell asleep though after I got here." He dropped her voice. "He got in trouble for hitting. You aren't supposed to hit."

"I see. What did they do to him for hitting?"

His eyes got wide and he backed away a little.

"Its ok its ok-" Kait backtracked quickly. "We don't have to talk about it. Here, have a sweet."

Obsidian almost shoved it into his mouth but stopped when it was at his lips. He sniffed it. His head jerked three times like he was being shocked. "This is medicine, not candy." His voice had lost the higher pitch. His eyes were sharp. "Brother why are they trying to put me to sleep?"

Kait stiffened. "I'm not trying to-"

"Fruit from the cockatiels favorite tree. Dried and sweetened with crystalized apple jam. I know what it does, fox."

"Obsidian, you're sick. In order to get you out we need you to be calm. I know how you hate to fly." Gabbro had knelt behind Kait. "But we won't make you take it."

Obsidian looked back towards Yue. "He's sicker. You need to get him out soon. I'll eat it this time. For him." He popped them both into his mouth and closed his eyes to enjoy. When he opened them again they were unfocused once more. He seemed to notice Opal. His teeth had seeds from the berries when he gave her a huge grin. "Big sister!"

Opal started. "What? Do- do I know you?"

"Yes!"

Gabbro shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you Opal. Ob- how about the demon in front of you. Is she your sister?"

"Yes!"

"They both are?"

"Big sister-" Obsidian pointed to Opal. "Little sister!" he smiled at Kait who gave him a forced one back.

"If we are both your sisters... is he your brother too?"

Obsidian looked at Yue and shook his head. "I only have one brother, little sister."

Kait pulled her pack closed. "We need to get Yue. Gabbro- how do we get out of here?"

"Well since the entrance isn't an option anymore we'll have to take the ladder all the way down and hope they don't decide to turn off my key's access or-."

"What's the or?" Kait asked quickly. Obsidian was swaying on the spot now, eye half open.

"Get into the storage room, climb out the window and hope Reugu is able to give us a lift."

"Let's do that one."

Proga was back to his normal state and picked up Yue easily enough. Opal didn't like how his body looked so limp or how his jaw hung open. His chest barely moved when he inhaled. Spark hadn't even entered the room but he didn't even question them as they exited with an unconscious Yue and a new sleepy demon holding Opal's hand.

They were no longer the only demons out in the corridor either. Opal tensed for a fight and then realized most of the just seemed to be trying to figure out what was going on. Apart from the scream a while ago there was also strange noises coming from above, cracking and banging sounds. One particularly exhausted demon with wild blue hair had appeared from a room at the end of the hall complaining the water wasn't working much and arguing with another one who was pushing a cart with a stack of sheets out from another room. The disagreements and confusion grew louder around them as more demons opened their doors. None of them paid much mind despite Yue being carried around. Maybe for demons it wasn't uncommon to care for unconscious friends.

They found the storeroom and broke the window out. Gabbro pulled off his bag and took out a handful of what looked like rolled up paper. When he threw it out the window it hovered in the air for a moment and then let out a sharp whistle. Gabbro saw Opal staring and pulled out another for her to examine. His pack wasn't as impressive as Kait's but did appear to have some interesting things inside, in particular it looked like he had a pair of giant curved black talons, long as her forearms, and several small black bags that held multi-colored stones. He unrolled the paper and pointed to markings she couldn't understand.

"It says 'Whistle'." He explained. "Most sounds translate pretty well to this paper but whistling is best for meet up points." He offered it to her. She threw it as he instructed. She was pleased when the same noise resulted before the paper evaporated to nothing. She wanted to ask for another but she thought she could see Reugu in the distance, swimming his way through the air with the assistance of those massive feathery wings. She recognized the glint of silver. But there also seemed to be a number of other figures behind him, closing in. He was being chased- no- followed? They were moving faster than he was. Were they going to attack him?

A band of demons rocketed past the window fast enough to rattle the broken glass.

"The fire must have spread." Gabbro leaned his head out. "I doubt they'll be able to save it. Everyone will be evacuating soon."

Opal watched three of the flying demons spin quickly next to each other and felt the wind picking up. Rain? She put her hand out. No, it wasn't coming down, it was coming off of the demons.

Reugu's massive scaly body appeared outside the window. It seemed to help Kait to have Yue to focus on as Proga laid him between them, she sat backwards with her hand over his wrist. Obsidian held Opal's hand as the creature's wings carried them up. Black smoke billowed out from the top level of the crumbling hotel and she could see wings of many colors as demons spilled out from the vertical doors and windows, racing away from the flames. On the ground other demons we rushing away as well. Spark sat far back by Reugu's tail, watching.

Opal turned and nearly lost her grip when Reugu jerked towards the left abruptly. Opal regained her balance and faced forward again, thinking maybe the wind had forced him sideways or he was trying to avoid some of the fleeing demons. She only had enough time to duck as a demon with massive wings and a long yellow tufted tail hurtled over the top of them, claws extended.

She watched, open mouthed as the angry creature just barely missed tearing Kait from Reugu's back. She'd been stupid to think they were going to get away so easily. The fire was no longer distracting Yue's captors. They were being chased.

"Back to Bloom's!" Gabbro yelled, flattening himself as a second demon with green scales zoomed past. To Opal's amazement Gabbro got to his feet, standing on top of the flying serpent with ease. He held one of the talons like a dagger in his fist. The green-scaled demon was yelling something in a language she didn't recognize but certainly sounded like curses to her. She didn't understand how he was going to fight off a creature like that with a knife but as it dove again Gabbro tossed one of the multi-colored stones she'd seen in the bag into the air and brought the talon down over it in a quick slash. The air around it lit up yellow. The scaled demon dodged just in time to avoid a bright flash of electricity that shot from the talon.

Obsidian squeezed her hand and gave her a sleepy smile. "Big brother is pretty awesome, isn't he?"

Opal wanted to agree but had to use all of her energy to keep from being thrown off as Reugu had needed to roll to avoid another attack by the yellow-tailed demon. He wasn't fast enough and she heard a terrible half scream half crow and saw bright red blood droplets fill the air behind them. The sound made her head spin.

"Fire demon!" Gabbro yelled while sending an electric current past the attacking demon to force him to let go of Reugu's side. "I need your assistance right now!"

Spark didn't respond. Opal saw he was still staring back towards the hotel still, towards the smoke.

Reugu whirled again, giant beak snapping closed just short of one of the pursuers wings. The smaller demons were much more nimble in the air and its claws caught him again.

"Spark!" Proga was nearly laying over the top of Yue, trying to keep him and a terrified Kait from falling. "This is the right time for you to help! Do what he says!"

Spark gave him a blank look, only now seeming to notice they were being attacked.

Reugu rolled again. Opal gripped Obsidian tightly. The hair on the back of her arm stood up as another electric current zapped past them. This time she heard the screech of pain from the green demon. It wasn't enough to stop him, if anything he seemed angrier.

Spark shook his head. "I can't."

"You don't-" Gabbro started. The demon with the yellow tail dropped over him suddenly, pinning him. With a surprisingly strong kick, Gabbro forced him off. The demon spun away and had to drop to regain its balance in the air. Opal thought Gabbro would fall but with Kait and Proga's assistance managed to regain his hold on Reugu. He was panting and there was blood across his face as walked towards Reugu's tail. "You don't need to aim! I can do it for you- send me your flames."

"You-you want me to hit you?" Spark shook his head. "No. I can't."

"You have to!" Opal yelled, still not understanding what Gabbro could possibly do with the fire but suspected something about his weapon would help.

Spark gave her a blank look. Gabbro wiped the blood from his forehead and stepped past Opal and Obsidian, demanding Spark use his flames again. Spark finally tried, but he flinched as he did it. It was something, at least. Opal hoped it would be enough to scare them off.

Their attackers seemed to figure they were changing tactics and had kept back for a second. When one swooped to test Gabbro, he was only able to send a weak jet of easily avoided fire. Then they both swooped at once, heading for Yue and Reugu's wings.

Opal stared at Gabbro trying again with even less of an effect.

"Since when do you hold back?" She yelled at Spark. "Come on that was pathetic!" She hoped that would get a rise out of him but his eyes remained empty.

"Try again!" Proga begged.

Again, only a fast flash of flames. Enough to force the demons to redirect but not stop them. Opal wondered if he was too tired. He was kneeling next to Gabbro who still held the talon. She could see his arm was shaking.

The tailed demon shot towards them. Opal screamed a warning. She could do nothing but hold onto Obsidian as it landed on top of Yue. Proga was on it in a moment. She could see the yellow feathers and blood droplets trailing their path through the air. Proga seemed almost able to throw him off, then a stream of blood poured from his chest, the demon's claws forcing their way in. When Proga fell back, it's back foot closed on Yue's arm and nearly pulled him away but Proga caught him. Opal watched the dizzying airborne tug-of-war in terror. Kait, face warped with rage, grabbed hold of the creature's leg that held Yue. A moment later it screeched in pain and Opal watched it rolling away in agony. Kait fell back, holding her own hand in tears, teeth clenched. She clung to her wrist, the palm that had clutched the other demon was sickeningly purple and gray.

Proga's sides heaved as he put his hand to Yue's neck.

"You promised to do better!" Kait screamed, eyes fixed on Spark. "Do better for once!"

Spark clenched his fists, finally. Opal saw his eyes starting to glow yellow. His teeth looked much larger than before and there was something wrong with his hands. He turned on Gabbro. The bands on his wrists glowing orange, then appeared to be on fire themselves as grabbed the other demon.

They were both engulfed in the inferno. Then it started to spread. Opal felt them start to drop again.

She couldn't see Reugu's other half but she could see blackened scales trailing their path. Falling as they had before, faster and faster and faster. She felt like they were spinning, she could see the ground rising to meet them buildings and demons blurring into one another, the wind and heat burned her eyes and face, her teeth rattled. She was losing her grip and then she was sliding down, hands desperately trying to find purchase but there was none. Opal clawed at the open air as if she could dig her way through it to Reugu's back but it was above her now. She was falling away. If she screamed she couldn't hear it.

Above her she could see flames spiraling up before them, ring after ring, Gabbro standing upright with the talon in the air directing the fire as she fell away from them. So, he'd managed to control it after all. Opal shut her eyes, pretending it was just Cloud giving her the sensation of flight as the cold sensation of pain snapped around her wrist and spun her around and around, forcing her to face the ground flying towards her.