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Poke was familiar with Medea, having seen her before. But to see her so close and up front, she could not help but feel a sense of respect for the priestess as she opened the door, and she listened intently to her speech. Yet even before she had begun talking, the dragon ghoul knew what her answer was.

"There's no way in hell I'm going to back down, I'm raring to go" She snarled. "I'll never abandon my friends". With that, she walked through the ring of fire, heart set on doing whatever she could to save the missing students.

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Having moved to the lockers to escape the screeching noise, Astra was able to hear what Maeda had to say as well. Her face frowned with determination. She wanted to help save everyone.

And besides, since when had she been safe anyway?

The fairy quickly ran through the flames.

[Entering]

As Medea made her presence known a drop bear found herself walking through the office, ears flickering in distress at the loud shrilling that acted as the siren call to the locker rooms. For weeks she had resisted her curiosity about the rumors of what occurred around this office, telling herself that for once she would stay out of it, until finally she caved to her nature and found her feet winding her their way here. She had never been one to hold back, to move forward and fight had been her philosophy – no matter what sense disaster after disaster had given her she could not deny that. So, she made her way to where everyone waited.

Her lips pursed in confusion as she took in what she found, students milling and a trap door that quickly had a Priestess pulling it open. This was what happened when you stayed behind, once you finally took to the field again you found yourself a little lost.

Medea then spoke and Mandy once again found herself on firm ground. She didn’t know exactly what their cause was at this moment, but with a horsewoman and her fellows involved she could sure guess, but she knew one thing – anything that asked her to fight to protect her friends was something she could do without hesitation. She didn’t know about following the Clans path, for although she had loved them when she had lived with them one didn’t easily forget the nightmare of the trails, but she would always follow and fight for her classmates – for Halloween. That was her allegiance.

Besides she thought, her lips curling into a dangerous smile as she stepped towards the flaming trap door, being born with the power to make others fear? Why that was something every little Drop Bear was reminded was their duty from the moment they could understand words.

It was only at the last moment before going in that Mandy paused, listening as Calder questioned Medea and hearing a valid concern spoken. She took a step back, letting others go forward as her hand reached into her pocket and curled around her off skellyphone. She sighed, even as Medea reassured them and pulled it out, switching it on and flicking open to her chat window to the only person she had to tell before she did something possibly foolish.



She quickly turned it off again, shoving it in her pocket before a reply could make her hesitate as the thought of leaving her ghoulfriend alone had made her do so all these weeks when the scent of trouble brewed on the horizon.

She turned to Medea, nodding. “I’m in” with that Mandy dropped through the trap door.

A sudden and continuous shrill noise drove Taima from the office. She fled with some of the other students down the now-familiar hallway behind the cabinet, making it to the locker room just in time to hear the priestess speak. Taima found herself frowning at the end of Medea's speech. She was a student, not a soldier--she wasn't violent by nature, she wouldn't seek out a fight if one wasn't present, but this fight had found them. This fight belonged to all of them, and she owed it not just to herself, but to the missing students and to everyone going after them to help if she could.

This had bad trouble written all over it in huge, glowing neon letters, but Taima had never backed down from a challenge in her life and she wasn't about to start now. With a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and walked through the ring of fire.

Shun watched quietly as a number of students were filing in through the flames. In particular, he saw Xiu crossing over and there was a sense of concern when he witnessed this.

"Please, watch yourself," he said quietly to her. He would rather not end up losing anyone else to the Hunters.

Shun's concern was met with a small smile, though her own expression faded into one of worry as she looked up at him. She reached out to grasp one of his hands with both of hers, giving it a little squeeze. "You too, aniki. Please don't do anything too..." She trailed off uncertainly before letting go of him with a little laugh, "Just...stay safe."

She didn't doubt that the reaper would go through hell and back to get Mitsu back, but the idea of losing either of them--or any of the students, whether they were currently captured or among those willing to fight--frightened her to no end. If all went well...well, then they would all return in one piece.

"You and Mitsu. You guys have to come back, okay? Both of you."

Shun's expression darkened as Xiu more or less requested him to not do anything too drastic while taking one of his hands. Unfortunately, he had a feeling he was going to need to take some dire measures. However, his features soon softened subtly as she continued to speak.

"I'll be sure of it," he said quietly before placing his hands into his pockets.

"I'm not returning without her. Not if I can help it."

Danny was actually just having a grand old time playing with the flames when Roch turned on her and said some rather serious words. Oh. She hadn't thought about that. Death. That was a thing.

She wouldn't turn back though, not now.

"Yeah. Uhh. Same thing for you," she said. Neither of them were very good with words for each other, but Danny especially. It was more actions that made up their relationship, the spaces between words.

The flame demoness wrapped her arms around Roch and put her head on his shoulder. It just seemed like a good time for a hug. She'd never expected the students to go missing. Never expected that bullet wound in her neck. Never expected the hunters to attack the four islands. She couldn't know if this was the last time she'd see Roch or not. "Together, yeah?"

"Yeah," Roch said, one hand awkwardly wrapping around her waist, just like the first time they'd slow danced together. "I just got her," he muttered. "Hell, I just got you and Amrita, too. A year ain't long enough to have enough memories, much less a month. But if I die... or get caught... It's more than I could have hoped for before comin' here."

Instead of being in his pocket, though, his other hand had his guitar by the neck, reminding him of exactly what they were going into. "No matter how this ends up, let's kill as many of those jackers as we can," he added.