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The Scorpion was ignored. His self-righteous rage would have to wait. "Get out of here, both of you! It'll do us no good if--"

...were those Eiry's fingers on her collar?

The cold digits pressed over her throat and she couldn't stop the deep breath she took, preparing to hold it. Alex was grateful the Sigel was between her and Aphi; she didn't want him to see this! He had to worry about Isi first and foremost! Her head tilted back a little, green eyes sliding to the side as the minty Sigel continued his broken poetry, the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing on edge. What was he going to do? What did he think Rivener would care about? He'd probably watch his brother strangle her and just smirk.

And then he licked her.

Eiry probably felt her reaction more than saw it. Her spine stiffened, and despite her containment, a shiver ran through her body and she had to fight the feeling of wanting to retch, releasing the breath she'd been holding. It was like some wet, cold slug on her face, and the residue of ghost-spit was no more pleasant. The next thing out of his mouth wasn't his tongue, and she wasn't sure which she preferred; the shriek all but deafened her, forcing her to jerk her head to the side and wince against the sheer pitch of it, trying to pinch her other ear between her shoulder. "Damn it, Eiry!"

He was gone.

Her eyes turned up the stairwell as the rubber-necked Sigel made his way up it...away from them. Watching Rivener. Good, she thought grimly, let him play with his brother. Without the Raevans blocking her view and otherwise touching her inappropriately, she could put her attention back on the two she was most worried about. Alex tried to wipe her wet cheek against anything she could, wanting to at least feel a little more comfortable in her skin if she was going to be part of the furniture.

Isi nodded to all of Aphi's instructions, doing the best to lift his arms and curve his body like he was told. He could feel something in his legs, something beyond the numbness. It was probably pain, and at that moment, Isi was glad that his legs couldn't feel it. He let his eyes connect with Aphi's the moment that he started swing, the moment that he was let go.

What a terrible feeling that was.

Isi had forgotten what it was like to float free, subject to only gravity's whims, that and that alone. It had been such a long time since he felt that, a year or two in fact. Whenever he first met Aphismet, that was when he felt it last. It was that feeling of dropping, like dropping from the window, that caught him now and Isi felt like he was going to be cradled in it forever. Falling took so very long.

THMP!

Just like that, it was over, and Isi found himself slamming into the ground below. Thankfully, curling himself like he did, along with the angle Aphi provided him, spared him the harm of smashing the back of his head against the floorboards. He felt most of the impact in his back, but that quickly faded away into a dull ache. He tried to roll himself onto his stomach, but even that proved too much because the rush of blood redistributing itself throughout his body covered his sight with black. Isi moaned, and held his head for a few moments, waiting for the momentary sickness to wash away from him, before he rolled himself onto his stomach, and tried to get his legs to respond. No use. Whatever energy they had, it was gone, wasted in the initial flee from his psychotic raevan, and slowly put to sleep by hanging in the ceiling for a grueling amount of time.

"I can't move," Isi said, more to himself than anyone else. It was then that he felt truly pained, because he couldn't get up to get to his raevan or to his brother and poor Alex.

"One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it on the limb of a tree;"

Ahaha, closer now closer, what fire, HAHA, what flame! All the more to burn him down with, yes, all the more to burn him down with. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. With the swing of his arm, as soon as Rivener entered the dominion of the attic, Eiry beckoned forth a poltergeist barrage of knick-knacks into Rivener's body. Start off small, first, small. smile! Always smile. Haha. HEH HEH. Small smile! Small! Another wave of his arm, and a small flurry of ghostly orbs buzzed around Rivener's head, shining their bright light into his eyes. Exhaust, exhaust, taunt, smile Aha! Duck and dodge, dodge, and the duck and the duchess and the dirk and the dagger, dodge!

"Hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart!"

Eiry's impaired laughter broke the air as he cleverly flitted to and fro, sometimes even THROUGH his enemy, speeding always out of his reach and into something else, like furniture or the walls. He slid and pulled himself about, all the meanwhile keeping the grin tacked onto his face, his head lolling about his shoulders. It almost seemed as if he were clothing on a coat ranger being tossed about wildly by the whip of a blustery wind.

"Hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offense!"

Heavier. Heavier. AHAHAHAHA. Eiry picked up a heavy briefcase with his ghostly will and he threw it towards the red form of the monster that seethed after him. Then after that, a metal chair, a heavy iron coat rack! SMILE. STILL. SMILING. Lead him to the roof. Yes, the roof tops, there. Ahaha! SMILE. IS HE? WHY YES, YES INDEED. STILL SMILING.

STILL.

AHAHA.

"HUNG IT BECAUSE I KNEW THAT IN SO DOING I WAS COMMITTING A SIN-A DEADLY SIN THAT WOULD SO JEOPARDIZE MY IMMORTAL SOUL AS TO PLACE IT EVEN BEYOND THE REACH OF INFINITE MERCY!"

Aphismet glanced over at Alex when she said she was fine, smiling at her softly. Such a big heart she had... "Don't worry about us. We're not the ones still stuck in a wall." The chef returned to his work, prying another board away from the woman. Just a few more and she'd be able to pull free. He just needed to free her arms.

"I don't know how we're going to stop him, Alex, to be honest... We might have simply leave. We can stay at a hotel in the city until Kyou finds a cure, as much as I hate that idea. It's becoming much too dangerous here."

With a final crack just after Alex called for Isi, the last wooden plank trapping Alex worked itself loose and Aphismet dropped the crowbar, holding onto the Italian as she forced herself free. Letting out a relieved sigh, Aphismet hugged Alex to him tightly, pressing kisses to her cheek and hair. "I'm so glad you're both fine, you and Isi... Come on, let's go. We'll get out, like you said. Isi's downstairs." Making sure the woman could walk properly, Aphi led the way to the second floor where he found his brother still laying down. Frowning in concern anew, Aphi rushed to Isikoro's side. "Hey, are you okay? Your legs numb, you dizzy? ...Listen, we have to get out, so I'm gonna carry you, alright? Hold on."

Ready to ignore any grumpy protests from the proud young man, Aphi picked up the frail boy and hurried down to the main floor, rushing out of the house with Alex hopefully on his trail.

It was from out here that the trio would be witnessing the great battle between Sigels...

Rivener's focus was not on Eiry's words. That brat was always prattling nonsensical crap anyway. Unimportant, irrelevant, anachronistic drivel more suited for the ******** dark ages. Eiry was a remnant of the past who refused to move on to the present, and there was only one thing to do with things that refused progress.

You destroyed them.

Things were being thrown about as usual in the attic. Rivener's sturdy, resilient wings were more than adequate to knock aside most of the debris flying at him. When the orbs began showing up, buzzing obnoxiously around Riv's head, he stabbed at them with his stingers, popping them like soap bubbles the instant the ghost-poison came into contact.

Eiry was getting on Rivener's last nerve, disappearing and reappearing all over, passing through Riv in a very foolish display of annoying behavior. Had Riv been not so busy with the orbs he would have stung the ghostly Raevan right then and there.

A suitcase came for Rivener then, and in a grand display of his strength Riv simply roared and slashed at the oncoming object, ripping it almost clearly in half before throwing it to the side, its contents (old clothing and a pair of leather shoes) spilling onto the floor. The metal chair was knocked aside by a wing and the coat rack was caught in mid-throw, Rivener swinging it at Eiry in a way that would have connected with the disjointed head if the green Sigel hadn't been intangible.

Rivener had no qualms following once Eiry went out to the roof, screaming his stupid, idiotic poetry. It grated at Riv's nerves so. "Shut UP you worthless piece of s**t!!" the dark Sigel screamed back before roaring, beating his wings down hard and zipping towards Eiry like a black-and-crimson bullet.

She drew strength from Aphismet's insistence to hug her and press his lips to her skin; her legs didn't feel so wobbly, and the tremor that had started in her spine was relegated to her hands for the time being. "Thank you," was all she said before they were downstairs. Just as quickly, they were outside. Alex had the strangest sense of vertigo with how time seemed to speed up to meet with how slowly it had moved before.

"Isi," she took one of the teen's hands, trying to push down the guilt that made her feel sick, "he's not in a state we can help him in. He could have seriously hurt you." Alex didn't want to be the bad guy, but the teenager had to hear the truth! "What if he'd got a hold of Aphi?" What would have happened to you?, she thought, letting the unspoken question hang in the air. "We'll go to Kyou's first thing tomorrow, but we absolutely can't get in the middle of what's going on up there, nor can we risk getting caught again!"

The roof lit with a phosphorescent glow as Eiry's powers seemed to put a staple on her words. "The best way we can help them is to give Kyou all the information we can and help him with a cure. Eiry will be o--"

"You're leaving them?"

Alex turned to see Zul leaning out of the driver's side of the truck, colorless eyes made hollow by the sick light cast from his central horn as they stared at the roof. The inverted pentagram on his brow seemed to have it's own blood-red glow, but she was certain it was a trick of the light. "Zul," she murmured, casting a glance to the two males before moving to her charge, "they're both..."

"Sick," the demon finished in a guttural whisper. "So leave them? You're just going to walk away from me when I get that bad?" His eyes lowered as the words hissed out between his lips, angry and accusing.

She didn't need this right now, god, she didn't need this. "Aphi, Isi," she spoke to the two, looking towards them while putting a hand on Zul's shoulder. His skin was clammy but hot. "Why don't you guys come over to my place? We'll compile a report and bring it to Kyou. That way, if they calm down...I know Riv knows where I live." Alex licked her lips nervously. She didn't like leaving them anymore than Isi did; if it was Zul, she knew she wouldn't be leaving at all. What a hypocrite.

Either because he was satisfied with the answer or because he was too sick to do anything else, the demon sunk back into the truck and stared up at the roof, silent.

Isi was determined that, somehow, he'd be able to pull a heroic mad dash up to the rooftops and by some miraculous selfless deed pry the two fighting raevans apart and awake them to their senses. It was only a mad plot, though, that was quickly shattered by the cold reality in Alex's voice and the snatch of her warm hands. He jerked his eyes away from hers, refusing to keep eye contact.

"We can't just leave him like this. He could get hurt, he could get killed, he's already sick, what happens if he gets lost or comes to and finds that we've left him? What happens then? Dammit! What COULD I do then?" Isi challenged. He knew that what she was saying was the truth, but he couldn't help but feel like it wasn't the answer. He didn't want to believe it.

In the settling darkness behind them, the rooftop lit up again with ghostly light.

As Aphismet settled him on his feet, Isi had half the mind to sprint back into the house and ignore everything the stupid adults were telling him to do, but when he made the motion to gather his legs into a run, they promptly fell out from underneath him. His arms reached out and he anchored himself to Aphi, holding himself up by holding onto Aphi's waist with both arms. Without his fore-arm crutches, he was immobile beyond the strength of his legs, which wasn't much at all. He was still in his pajamas, all riddled with holes and dirt as he locked his knees as best he could to keep him standing.

"I don't like it. I don't like ANY of it," Isi mumbled, his head hanging low so that his face was covered with his bangs. His voice was tense and low, "I don't want any of it. I don't. I just want Eiry to switch the salt with the sugar and read me his latest favorite poem, or have me act out the Prospero to his Ariel. That's what I want."

Aphismet listened to Isi's protests, seeing how the boy had tried to run back into the house. With a disapproving frown the chef hooked his hands under Isi's arms and hauled the boy upright again, just in time for Alex to wrap them both up into a hug. Aphismet stifled a growl of disapproval to hear his precious Italian offer to go up there herself to stop the two warring Sigels. If anyone was going to go up there, Aphi would rather it be himself.

Or better yet, no one at all.

If the chef got the silent message to keep quiet, he didn't obey it. With a small frown, the chef turned to his brother and squeezed at the boy's shoulder with the arm he'd already draped there, drawing Isi's eyes to him. "Isikoro, we can't do anything. I don't care how much you want to save Eiry or whatever, and as much as you don't want to hear this, your wishes will NOT come true here. Eiry is not going to go back to normal, not until Dr Kyou comes up with a solution, alright? That is not the Eiry you know and love. Just like that is not my Rivener."

With a sigh, the chef decided that he could at least come up with some kind of concession. "Listen, we can't be in that house. It's NOT safe. And while it's not perfectly safe outside either, we can stay here. I'll go buy us a tent or something, and we can camp out at the edge of the yard, okay? You'll be able to keep an eye on Eiry, but hopefully we will be far enough that he won't notice us."

In truth, Aphismet was worried they would still be in danger by staying within view of the mad Sigels, but it's all he could offer his brother.

Alex felt a chill down her spine. Camp at the edge of the yard? What if Eiry saw them? If he could pull them through the sturdy structure of the house, what else could he pull them through...?

The two had come to an agreement, and she wasn't about to put that into turmoil. Instead, she pressed a soft kiss to Aphismet's cheek before releasing the two from her grasp, rubbing her wrapped hands together. "I need to take Zul home then," she said in an apologetic tone of voice, "and get him more ice. Aphi, will you call me to let me know you guys are okay, periodically?" She hated to be the nagging girlfriend already, but damn if she wasn't genuinely frightened for their well being. Alex wanted to stay, wanted to keep them both within her sights, but just as they were being dutiful Guardians, so too did she need to be.

"I'll come by in the morning and evening to bring you guys some food," she offered as she glanced to her truck, affording her roof-staring charge a brief glance of worry. "Just call me if you need anything. I wont be that far."

Isi watched from underneath his bangs as the two adults exchanged their promises and vows, a panicked list of things that needed to be said before they parted. He felt torn, every which decision they arrived at, but this, Isi felt, was the best decision for their raevans. That's all that he cared about, it was being near by for Rivener and Eiry. They were their guardians, were they not? So slowly, painfully slowly, Isi convinced the guilt he felt in his gut to ebb away. Eiry and Rivener needed this more than they needed safety and four walls around them.

Before Alex managed to move away, Isi pushed himself off of Aphismet and forced himself to take the few steps he needed to get to her and throw his arms around her person. Isi hugged her tightly, almost as if she were driving away for the last time.

"Thank you for picking up the phone," Isi said, his voice muffled by the fabric of her clothes. He couldn't say much more than that, otherwise, he'd never let go. So he pushed back off of her and stumbled back over to Aphi. He let the woman go back to the car, but his eyes didn't follow her form slipping into the truck. Isi looked back to the rooftop where he could hear the sing-song voice of his raevan and the animal growl of his brother's sigel just barely riding to them on the wind.