Welcome to Gaia! ::

She was caught off guard by the sudden gesture, her gaze darting upwards to meet Vaith's. "A-are you sure? It might be safer to stay back..." She trailed off, looking him straight in the eyes searchingly. If there was any hint of hesitation...

But he seemed set on his decision. Expression softening, Xiu gave his hand a thankful squeeze, hoping that that little action was sufficient to express her gratitude. She really was lucky to have him as a friend, and with this thought followed her determination not to let anything happen to him. She was not going to let Vaith disappear--just as he had helped her, she would give it her all to protect him as well.

She had already started towards Shun, her hand clasped with Vaith's, when she heard Ren's plead. The way he said it actually made her heart ache a little, but when she turned to look at him, it was with a small, reassuring smile. "We'll be okay. Ren, after this is all over...we'll be going home. All of us together, so please...please be careful, okay?"

Xiu gave a slight bow of her head before starting towards Shun again, her gaze focused on her big brother. The closer they got, the tighter Xiu's grip on Vaith's hand became. What was wrong with Shun? What had that man done to him?!

She stopped in front of him. For a moment, she remained silent, and then, "...Aniki?" It came out as a soft, scratchy whisper.

"Safe.....?"

A little more clarity came back to Mandy's eyes, finally starting to take in what was going on around her again. Then the rest of Barth's comment sunk in and it was like a slap.

"Wait, they're regrouping!? W-we can't let them do that- they have these nets- if they get going again even with Dragon!Red it'll be a disaster." life returned to Mandy's body as her sudden worry spurred her on allowing her to push back the shock and some of the pain of her wounds. Her head turned left and right as she scanned the ground, looking for something.

"Oh crap where did I put my pin that was idi-"

Another ghoul with a first aid kit appeared interrupting her.

"Oh, um... Do you have any bandages? I just need to get it to stop bleeding, and er, smoking. It's, er, not as bad as it looks.... just, shocking. His weapons are Fear corrosive..."

She paused looking around at the battles and at Barth's and Calder's battered forms, "I'm sure they're plenty of others worse off who need the supplies more, especially if you have anything healing in there...."

Like pumpkin pills. She was regretting not taking one now.

At the response of the ghoul Circe set down her bag near her and opened it up to reveal the first aid kit. "I have tons of bandages. Will these work?" She asked pulling out a roll of large sized bandages, smiling widely. "I came prepared for the largest of injuries." She replied as she pulled out a pair of scissors from the kit. Taking a moment Circe looked towards Barth and Calder. "I have some bandages for you two as well."

Circe looked back in her bag at the pumpkin pill as it sat there boldly. She hadn't needed to use it yet but that didn't mean she wouldn't need it later. Was she willing to give up her only one for a stranger? Sure these were trying times but this went far beyond her kindness on even the best of days. Deciding she wouldn't say anything about it she looked back at Mandy. "Did you leave it up there on the rocks? You tumbled down them." Circe said, unsure if Mandy knew what had happened while she was knocked out. "I'm Circe by the way." She said to the small group. "Do you know what exactly... happened?" Circe asked displaying that she hadn't been in the battle long enough to know exactly what was going on.

Vaith didn't know Shun very well. But what he did know, that Shun was a fellow amytiville student and a badly injured one, left Vaith to answer in lieu of Xiu's scratchy tone. He lowered his body with Xiu, his hand reaching out slowly to lightly tap the boil on the shoulder with his knuckles.

"We're with you dude. We'll make sure nobody gets you."

He couldnt see them. That much could be concluded. Vaith wasn't sure what happened but it wasn't good. "We're not letting you disappear." Vaith murmured softly, glancing at Xiu's shoulder wound. It looked bad. Everything looked pretty bad.

The fact that he hadn't been run through with some sort of weapon yet brought him to the conclusion that it wasn't a Hunter near him. Unless said hunter wanted to toy with his victim before finishing him off. But then the figure.. wait no, figures.. spoke a little louder. Shun still had trouble hearing what was said, but he was able to make out a few words here and there. The light touch on his shoulder confirmed that these weren't enemies.

Xiu... and.. someone else. Bait? No. Wraith? Something like that. The rest, he had some trouble understanding.

Either way, they were still too close and as far as the Reaper was concerned, they needed to get away. Did he really want to be abandoned? Deep down... no. He didn't. But he was a sitting duck out here, so close to the hunters. The only ones he wanted to drag down with him if possible were the enemies.. not the allies.

"No... Get back.." he murmured to them, "Leave me."

Oh Jack, where was Mitsu in all of this? Was she safe? The thought had him trying to sit up again but his body wouldn't allow for it. Letting out a shallow breath, he paused for a few moments. Wait. Maybe he could make the most of this still.

"G-Go find Mitsu... Get her to safety.."

There was no way he could protect her like this.

Another flash of light, And Astra was now in another location she wasn't familiar with. Disoriented and feeling sore, she looked around and was shocked to see so many of her classmates looking battered, some almost ready to fall over.

And looking around she sa-

HOLY MOTHER OF SALLY WHAT IN JACK NAME WAS THAT?!

....She missed jericho. She wanted him to turn up and be the final boss. Why couldn't he be the final boss? She needed to go complain to someone that Jericho wasn't the final boss and instead she had to fight some ungodley creature from hell.

Letting herself calm down for a few moments, she began to concentrate her fear into summoning one of her special fruits. If she could summon one, then she could help everyone out! But as hard as she tried, she just couldn't summon one, and sat down in defeat, looking at everyone glumly, trying to think of other alternates.

...Maybe Jericho had taken FEARoids and painted himself blue?

...it could happen.

HP: 26
Battle status HEAL (cept it failed. OTL)

Xiu was most definitely worried about Mitsu as well--she wanted to find the wolf ghoul next--but the idea of simply leaving Shun here was out of the question. She paused to look at Vaith, as if asking him a silent question, before slipping her hand free and moving towards the dark-haired reaper.

"Don't...don't be ridiculous, aniki! Asking us to leave you behind..." Reaching out with her good arm, she tried to help him up into a sitting position before giving him a rather insistent tug upwards. "Do you think that you'd be able to get up and walk with some support?" So long as she stood with her good shoulder pointed in towards him and had him hang onto that, Xiu was certain that she should (hopefully) be able to help him along.

"We'll find Mitsu, but you're coming with us."