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Half Youma General Cinnabar - Retrieving Laurelite

Their efforts were rewarded when they cleared the ground far enough the pink corrupt could worm her way under and drag out the badly burned body of their remaining General-Queen. When she was free, Cinnabar snarled in effort and released the carcass as the others did, her breathing shallow in pain.

“She’s out! Good job everyone!” She shouted over the small group. The very small group. And not a one of them higher than lieutenant, save for Ochre. Later, she might spare the energy to be angry at the show of disloyalty on the part of her fellow Generals, or if not disloyalty, then apathy. And that was nearly as bad. Losing their last Sovereign would have been a terribly blow… and not just because this particular General-Queen had saved her life when others, just like this, would have left her for dead. But there was no time for considering it now.

Hands sore and blistered, she stooped to one knee beside Dia, digging into her pockets for the starseeds she carried.

“I’ve got them, Lieutenant.” She said as she pulled her hands free. There was a rumble under her words, but her odd-colored eyes were approving when she flicked her gaze to the senshi. “You did very well there. Thank you.”

When Prehnite offered more crystals, Cinnabar reached for them, gathering them into a pile with the others and a nod of thanks to the lieutenant. She struggled to be gentle with it, but she forced one between the General-Queen’s lips, forcing her jaw closed on it to crush it. Whether it would work or not, she wasn’t sure, but they had to do something.

”They might not be enough to fully heal her, but we can pull her back from the brink… She’s strong. If anyone can recover from this, it will be her.” She said, her eyes dropping to the mangled body between them. This would have to be handled carefully… Because, yes, as the other general was shouting, she had consumed a lot already.

The General felt her lips curl in a snarl at how easily he gave up on Laurelite. As though she were not worth bothering to even try to save. Anger sparked and heated like a low flame, but she kept it in check, pushing it down. At least, until his lieutenant joined them.

”She is no more crazy than any of us and a lot more brave AND loyal than most of those here.” Cinnabar snapped at Tourmaline, a grating, feline growl under her words. She grimaced in a snarl before she turned and held out a single, pale blue starseed to Dia.

”Here… if you eat this, it will heal the burns. You deserve that much for what you did. I’ll make sure the General-Queen knows who pulled her free when she wakes up.” She nodded, the anger on her face easing when she looked Dia over. “General Cinnabar. You are…?”

Ochre, Corrupted Super

As soon as Dia retrieved the charred remains of their General-Queen, Ochre dropped the weight immediately. Shaking his hands, he winced. "That thing is hotter than an oven," he remarked to himself. His gloves assisted in dampening the heat for a time, but keeping the dragon hoisted for even that small count of seconds ate through his temperature tolerance quickly.

Now that the carcass was on the ground again, he turned his attentions toward Cinnabar, Dia and Laurelite. Cinnabar administered more starseeds to the burnst body, whose effects Ochre remembered acutely. After a time, there was nausea, and a pit of dread about consuming more. He wondered if Laurelite felt that now - if she were even conscious. He doubted it.

"So, I always burned myself at cooking, and my brother always told me to run the burn under cold water. Shouldn't we be doing something like that for her? Otherwise, isn't she gonna keep burning?" Ochre's voice was small at first against the assertiveness of the half-youma general, but he grew more confident in his words as they progressed. "And someone needs to scrape off all that charred stuff. Can we take her to a real hospital? Or at least back into the Castle?" Starseeds, he imagined, would not cleanse her wounds of the charred skin.

Sailor Dia, Corrupt Senshi of Candy

Everything was overwhelming her senses - her mind struggled to focus on the conversations going on around her as her body ached, blistered skin throbbing. The feeling intensified every time she barely shifted, so she tried to remain as still as possible, her mouth grimacing. Her gaze had been on Laurelite, intensely focused on the only thing that made sense at the time - saving the leader that remained - so when she heard a familiar voice chide her with a disbelieving "Are you crazy, Dia?", she whipped her head up in a mixture of anger, exasperation and exhaustion.

"What else can we d--"

Her words fell silent as the terrifying looking General Cinnabar cut her off, the Half-Youma coming to her defense in a heartbeat. While still a stranger, the woman held such authority in her voice that Dia struggled not to flinch, despite the fact that it was Tourmaline that had been lashed out at, while she herself had been praised.

Rose colored eyes merely blinked at first, staring at the crystal being offered to her. As fresh as she was, she'd never actually laid eyes on a star seed before, only having taken energy for her quota, thanks to Ochre's teachings prior. The crystal was beautiful, foreign and cold at the same time. One hand rose to receive it, an involuntary wince spreading across her face as the burning feeling escalated.

"Dia." She said quietly, struggling to keep her voice leveled. It was embarrassing, the overwhelming urge to cry, her voice threatening to waver and expose just how hurt she was feeling. This was her first real fight - her first real battle and she not only failed to be useful during the most important moments, but hurt herself after the fact. Useless. She was useless.

The crystal slipped between her lips and she struggled to swallow it. Was she supposed to chew? Was it like a pill? Was she doing it wrong?

Her thoughts fled as Laurelite spoke, the word leaving an eerie feeling that sent a chill through her entire body. The backs of her hands ached, the blisters on the backs of her hands and arms pulsing, the exposed flesh red and ugly as she stared down at it. She didn't have the energy to try to lift anything - once again, the word useless ringing through her head.

"Can you teleport her?" She had no clue where Metallia resided, further revealing the fact that she was a greenhorn of the Negaverse. "I don't think I'm much more use to you now, General."

She wanted to help, but she also just wanted to collapse into a pile of tears and sobs - everything was awful and there was nothing she could do to help. Poor Laurelite - if Dia felt this bad with her burns, how on Earth could the General Queen be feeling right now?

Half Youma General Cinnabar

Cinnabar growled under her breath in frustration, feeling distinctly helpless in this moment. She cleared her throat before she replied, pushing down the animalistic sounds.

"You're right, but I don't think it would be a good idea for us to fumble about with make-shift treatments." She said as she half turned her head, speaking to Ochre over her shoulder. "She needs a hospital, or those of our ranks who have medical training. This is beyond simple first aid, which is all I'm capable of giving..."

Suddenly, Laurelite woke up to the living hell of pain her life had become. She said something, and Cinnabar's pointed ears just caught it. Red-black eyes went wide and she stilled, the singular word drawing a ripple of fear down her spine. There was not much in this world she truly feared, but the great power behind the Negaverse, the one who fed all of them?

Was she... supposed to take the General-Queen to her?

It made sense... who else had the power to heal her? Cin swallowed thickly and nodded as Dia spoke, the corrupt's name filed away in the back of her mind for later.

"Yes. Ah... yeah, I'll take her." She said as she shifted on her knees, bending towards the prone body. She paused for a moment, flicking her gaze first to the young woman and then around to the others. "You did good, Dia. You and Ochre, and the others who helped. The General-Queen will remember it."

The General who had called appeared, his face an angry mask, and Cinnabar bristled as she saw him grab the corrupt by the back of her black dress. The way she felt, she might have started something there over his treatment of the corrupt, but when the choice was between confronting him, with the possibility of a physical fight, and taking care of the downed General-Queen, there was really only one choice she could make. They had not saved her to leave her to die on the ground here.

Still, Cinnabar snarled as she slid her hands as gently beneath the charred body as she possibly could. The sound grated between her teeth as she cradled the body and lifted, settling her with an arm under shoulders and knees.

"The rest of you should go home. Get some treatment and some rest. If you need me, call Cinnabar on your crystals." She said as she paused, Laurelite barely a whisp of weight in her arms. Gathering herself and fighting off the drag that came as the adrenaline faded, Cinnabar teleported the General-Queen to safety, her mind turning to the great presence that waited behind the doors they had been defending not moments ago.

[ Cinnabar & Laurelite Exit! ]

Sailor Enif [exit]

So much was going on around her while the crux of her focus had been on the fight between her and Cas against the Negaverser. She honestly had no idea that a General Queen had shown herself and was murdering others. Not until the power of a Princess had reverberated around her. And the scream of a dragon youma.

Quickly overwhelmed and confused (and maybe a little scared) there wasn't much for her to do or say or think! Especially not once a glow started to surround her and before she could look for Cassiopeia she was gone from the rift.