I felt like a child.

In her arms, I cried quietly for over an hour. The notion of hurting Lindon in any capacity felt like a million daggers striking my heart all at once. Hot metal, vicious cuts, merciless and painful.

Meika barely flinches, never wavering and gently keeping my hair away from my soaking cheeks. "It doesn't have to be this way," she whispers.

"How do you know severing the connection won't destroy us both entirely?" I say, a vacant ache consuming my voice.

My vision burns and blurs together into a sea of colors. Charred reds and sailing blues, a deep mahogany brown spreading where the fire spared the ground. It meshes into a world of dark sadness, the light fading from outside.

When my eyes close I feel his hand lacing through my own and see the light coming from inside. Pure and happy, something so free about being the conscious embodiment of joy and safety. Lindon looks at this world and marvels at its beauty, he doesn't feel the same overwhelming disgust.

Something I was so grateful for until I'd been forced into solitude.

Even now, even as jaded and broken as I am, I'm so much happier knowing that there will always be some silver lining. A bright side I cannot find.

"I don't," she says calmly. "However, I do know you weren't going to make it another day without some source of Mana beyond the human souls. I estimate we've about two weeks to find him when the contract is complete."

The golden lights casting through one of the warped windows ebbs away from the carpet. The night is creeping up on the humans left in the dark. "Can you go get them? It's dangerous outside and I need to sleep tonight. We'll put wards along the perimeter and give everyone a safe nights rest."

"You can't keep avoiding this, Iridian."

"I need to sleep on it. Meika, if this has any potential to hurt him, I'm going to have to consider this carefully."

She sighs and shakes her head in my direction. Instead of protesting further, she helps us off the ground and stalks out of the building. A little dramatic, but I can tell she's trying to contain her disappointment.

I scrub my face uncomfortably and hold my hand out. Instead of a tiny spark, a blaze cloaks my fingertips and engorges my wrist. Concentrating, it flickers from red, into a faint blue and pure white. Heat fills the room quickly but with few ways to hold it, a draft is created.

I hear faint arguing in the distance but a cold, calm voice cuts the bickering at the source.

Flicking the fire out, I assess the damage to the building. Meika and the boys walk in, both looking skeptically from the floor to ceiling. Daniel throws three of the bags on the ground, broken glass skittering across the uncovered cement and hardwood.

Looking towards the witch and then towards the door, I see Remi hiding outside.

"Are you coming in?" I ask, trying to force my voice into something more playful and familiar.

She quickly thrusts her way past everyone else and comes to stand behind me, arm barely grazing my shoulder. Remi looks around like a lost animal, jumping when Theron shifts a floorboard and a mirror crashes to the ground.

Her fingers wrap around my wrist and dig in tightly.

"Sorry," he mutters, backing into the center and trying not to touch anything else.

"Are you sure there's no one else in here?" She continues rambling quickly but I can't understand a word of it when it gets faster and quieter. "What if-"

I shush her and look backward. "If it will make you feel better, Meika and I will go case the place, looking for anyone hiding inside. Seeing as I killed most of them, that shouldn't be the case, but we'll make everything a bit more homey in the meantime."

Remi nods, forgetting about her hand. When the realization hits her, she jerks away as if I were burning hot.

Annoyance is displayed prominently on Meika's face when she raises both hands before her. Two different sigils appear. A deep purple on the left and bright green on the right. So bored and clearly displeased, she walks around the room with an obvious swagger as charred wood mends itself into mint condition and broken things remanifest into their original state.

The mirror Theron had dropped slides back up the wall, cracks and shards clicking back together and smoothing over. The carpet sews together and curls back out over the ground. Windows slam closed and a wind swipes through to clean up the trash and dispose of it inside the green aura.

Daniel is tripped by one of the toppled shelves shifting under his weight and the slipping back into its rightful place on the wall.

Taking a deep breath, she drops her hands and looks around. "Good enough for me. No potential weather damage, I've fixed all the windows and doors within the room."

I stare at the two dead bodies near the entrance and frown. Everyone seems to follow my gaze, Theron stumbling back and cursing.

"For fuck's sake, what in the-"

I hold up my hand and for some reason, he silences as if it were directed at him. Instead, I close my eyes and take a second to focus on the feeling of replenished Mana in my veins. Lifting upwards, I collapse my fingers inwards, crushing my nails against my palm. The bones puff into powder and swiftly disperses into a dark black energy. It trails towards me and comes into contact with my skin, glowing through my veins and into my chest.

When the moon rises, Meika's hair tumbles down her shoulders about an inch, silver consuming the roots and cutting off near her ears before bleeding into an ombre. With her leather outfit still strangely clean and in order, she looks down and seems to consider something before shrugging it off.

"Do we have to?" Meika grumbles looking at the flights of stairs and down each hall.

I roll my eyes and laugh. "You don't have to do anything but the downstairs, I'll worry about the second floor and the perimeter."

"Are you sure?" Her voice shifts into a more worried, uneasy tone.

"Of course." I turn to the guys and cross my arms. "Do one of you want to come with me."

Silence follows for a little bit as they glance at each other. To my amazement, Theron cuts Daniel off and gestures towards the door. "I could do with some fresh air if you're going outside first."

Nodding, I let him pass in front of me and head out the door, trailing behind. Instead of chasing after him though, I stop in front of the door and bend over, tracing a thinly veiled symbol just above the ground.

In the back of my thoughts, I hear a stiff cough and glance upwards. Theron's covered his mouth, facing the other direction. Pressing the sigil into the ground, a small beam casts out and into the air. A gentle orange light traces behind and forms a translucent wall just before the door.

Pushing up off the ground, I catch up to Theron and continue a leisurely pace around the building.

The next few symbols I etch into the bricks about five yards off. The energy stretches out and binds itself to the other wall.

He watches with something similar to wonder in his eyes, but the judgment is clouded and far more harsh than anyone else before him. It's almost as if seeing the bright lights and protection makes him feel worse in the long run. I know for a fact that nothing is sucking at his aura, so I just dismiss it from my mind, hopeful it's his personality acting up again.

"How are you feeling lately?" I ask, stopping at the corner and dragging my fingers through the dirt.

Theron steps out of my way and exhales sharply through his nose, saying nothing. Even with all the words being backed up in his throat, it's as if he's avoiding speaking at all.

When the sigils blend together and strengthen into a thicker, more vivid barrier I look up and meet his eyes. Their cloudy again, but distant and cold. Everything else appears perfectly normal, even better than. The weight he'd been carrying heavily on one side is slowly healing and every time I check him over there's something stronger there.

"I certainly don't mind the silent treatment," I smirk a little, trying to joke. "But I am worried about you."

"Why?"

It's more gravelly than normal but I let it pass.

"You seem tired, overly drained."

He raises a brow at me and stretches against the tighter fabric of his jacket. "I mean why do you care?"

"Haven't we been over this?"

This gets him to laugh a little bit, loosening up and trying to find the stars above. "I did ask but you deflected."

"Deflected?"

Theron looks at me, thoroughly amused this time. "You only asked me another question in return, it's not like I ever got a legitimate answer. I want to know why you take us with you when we're more than an inconvenience, why you care. Aren't you just saving us for meat shields or something?"

Confused, I shake my head and glare at him, ignoring the small smile growing on my lips. "I don't understand. What use do I have for a meat shield?"

I stop and bend over again, manifesting one giant sigil and slamming it down into the hard earth below. A small crack forms under my palms and he chuckles.

"I suppose you're right in that department, considering you are the first woman I've ever met that's been able to take care of herself."

Shrugging, I get up and dust myself off. "I'm not technically a woman, so I suppose you've never met a woman who can take care of themselves. How unfortunate."

This leaves a little bit of an uneasy silence. Theron glances back through the darkness and tries to see into a growing night. Stars were beginning to show in the sky, though the illuminate next to nothing.

The only light being the flames pulsing in my veins, a soft amber that guides us a few steps and lets us see past the tip of our noses. That being said, a tiny shriek sets him on guard again and I sigh.

"She's okay," I say, answering his tense curiosities.

His posture relaxes once again and he pretends nothing happened, pointing back on the ground and muttering about how I missed a good length.

"So I take it you're not going to answer my question then?"

Theron laughs again and stops for a moment. "You didn't answer mine either and technically I asked first."

Of course...

"Believe it or not I do have a heart Theron and I do worry about this world's population. Not to mention the fact that I've grown mildly fond of each of you for different reasons. I want to see you get somewhere safe, I want to see you succeed because I've determined that I want you three to help be role models for the species... You're not all bad and if I can only manage this one time, I'm sorry for how I've been..."

He freezes in shock while I take care of the next two sigils.

Even when I begin walking again, he doesn't budge and instead just stares at me in profound confusion. "What did you just say?"

"I said I'm sorry for how I've been acting and that I shouldn't be taking this all out on you when you weren't the people who locked me away. I've been literally insane... Meika said I was almost unable to function, so I'm apologizing for my madness," I explain tiredly, rubbing my head.

He shakes himself out of the stupor and pushes forward, rounding the corner with me. I place down a few more symbols wordlessly and he nudges me playfully. "I'm alright, just sore."

Blinking, it takes me a minute before I smile. "Good, I'd hate for you to be a dead weight."

Theron grins this time, checking behind us one final time as we round the side and I place down the last few guards. They glisten in the reflection of the moonlight before sparkling into the sands below and disappearing.

A giant dome of static and electricity covers the large building, sizzling in a bright orange light before fading into a gentle hue. Instead of charging straight in, I throw my hand out to stop Theron from getting electrocuted and rest my hands against the barrier.

I hear Remi groaning inside, kicking aside a few planks and complaining about how everything is in a different language.

"Guys! I need you out here for a second!" I call.

Daniel and Meika appear after a minute, Remi close behind. They all eye the giant light wearily but Meika steps up and presses her palms against mine, a purple spark bursting into the strange atmosphere and then dispersing.

"Okay, very slowly and one at a time, I want each of you to touch the wall. You need to create an energetic signature for the sigils to recognize or you too might be incinerated."

Daniel chokes on his tongue and looks worriedly between the witch and me. "Incinerated?"

"Yes, incinerated. It means burnt to a crisp and left as a pile of ashes."

Theron and Meika snicker. He steps forward from behind and reaches out hesitantly. "Just touch it, right?"

We nod and Meika lets go just in time for Theron to rest his hands against the translucent surface. A green spark diffuses into the wall before easily allowing him to pass through.

Skeptically, Daniel goes next. His signature is a teal blue that echoes outwards and rings.

Remi is last and obviously the most fretful. Instead of approaching, she backs away towards the front of the door. I frown, worried about if she'll get hurt from the stupidity.

To my surprise, Theron goes up and rests a hand on the small of her back, giving a gentle nudge. She looks alarmed and soothed all at the same time. Remi doesn't put up a fight though, her legs like gelatin when she stumbles down the stairs and shoves her fingers against the clear barrier.

A small yellow light bursts out and she yanks her arms back again, turning away before she sees anything else.

"Good enough," I whisper, heading through the wall. It envelops me and disappears as if it never existed in the first place. "Time for the upstairs."

Hey everyone!

 Guess What? I have Backlog! (Several chapters are written but unpublished in a queue.) What does that mean? I'm going to be having a schedule. I've chosen Saturday as the main day I'd like to post for multiple reasons, HOWEVER, I'd LOVE for YOU to pick the other day! SO: Comment below and let me know which day sounds the best for you!

As always don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you thought!

Happy Holidays everyone! Love you all!