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And once again Ennéa found herself slammed brutally up against the wall. The back of her head impacted with such force that Ennéa could almost feel her teeth rattle. Yet oddly enough it didn't hurt quite so much this time... everything seemed distant and numb -- pain included.

That was a bad, bad, sign, no doubt, but Ennéa just couldn't seem to focus enough to worry. She coughed instead, a deep rattling sound, and tried to concentrate on the creature in front of her. It was difficult; her vision kept blurring and blood from some cut somewhere on her forehead kept trickling into her right eye.

Even Baraz's impotent shrieks of fury in her mind seemed to grow quieter, the sound of his voice mixing once again with the buzzing of the insects, incessant but vague. White noise.

Ennéa didn't even struggle when the creature brought its lips to hers again. Its touch was prickly cold and vile but like the noise and the pain, the sensation was distant and easily ignored. Ennéa giggled, or tried to anyway, what escaped was barely more than a faint gurgle. Who knew her first (and second, apparently) kiss would be like this? Did it even count?

Her thoughts chased themselves and spun and swam about. Bone-white stark in the dim//compound eye insect wings//lighting fixture above her head was flickering//glints of silvery blue slit-pupil//no, Jordan's quiet reassuring smile. Tobias?

Maybe she was dead and this was the afterlife. Not a lounge this time but full on paradise where she could finally, finally, see her family.

But. Her brother and mother weren't dead. Tobias... they couldn't--

Ennéa went rigid. She could hear their voices just behind the apartment door a few paces away. The creature was still upon her, its cold wrongness sapping her strength and blighting her senses, and her family was just a few paces away!

The creature would kill her. It was killing her. And then it would laugh and move on to her mom and Tobias and kill them too.

The unfairness of it all flooded Ennéa suddenly. All the Joy, her determination, her hopes and fears swirled together, emotions still running fever high pitched even higher with adrenaline and terror. She was so close to having her Perfect. ********. Christmas. Reunion. and then this creature had to come and kill them all. Outrage. Anger.

Ennéa was freezing cold and so weak, a pale husk, but that anger burned inside her and warmed her through. She would not allow this stupid bug monster to kill her family!! She would not!!!

Ennéa tightened her grip on Baraz. Her fingers were numb but it didn't matter. She swung anyway. In her mind, Baraz screeched the scream she couldn't.

A whirlwind tore out from the axe, winds roaring sharp, angry, and fierce, all directed at the creature and its bugs almost as if the force of Ennéa's emotions were given form.

Attack: 8
HP: 14/40
Charge: expended

The creature went down. Ennéa wheezed heavily and stared at the creature's still form for a couple long moments before it became apparent that it wasn't about to leap up and attack again.

She exhaled a shaky sigh of relief and slumped back against the opposite wall, only to be racked by yet another coughing fit that brought up an alarming quantity of blood-flecked spittle.

...Is it dead? Did... did we kill it? Baraz asked. He sounded dazed, as he usually did after such attacks.

"I think so?" Ennéa said between coughs. She messily wiped the blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth on her sleeve and grimaced.

She felt Baraz's single silvery blue eye turn regard her. Hey, you okay? He asked in concern.

"I think that thing broke some ribs and my head hurts." Ennéa reached back found a bump the size of a softball on the back of her head. Even the gentlest brush caused her to wince in pain and when she looked at her hand her fingers were all smudged with blood. "A lot."

Okay. Uh... okay. Baraz's wings rustled as the ahriman tried to rapidly think of what to do next. We need to get you help though first we should make sure that thing is dead.

Ennéa pushed off from the wall and wobbled unsteadily. "It's dead, Baraz." There was no satisfaction in her voice, just numbness. The wild emotions that had swirled through her were spent, dissipated like the blowing whirlwinds. All she felt was tired. Empty.

Still, I think we should check--

"Baraz," Ennéa gently interrupted him. "I just..." A wave of dizziness hit and Ennéa had to quickly reach out to brace herself against the wall. "I just want to go home." She said plaintively.

Baraz paused a long moment. Okay. He said finally, giving in. Okay, let's go. You need a healer.

Ennéa hobbled towards the door.

Attack:
HP: 10/40
Charge: expended

Ennéa squeaked as the creature tightly wrapped its arms around her waist and she stumbled backwards into its' embrace. She had been caught completely off guard with no time to react. It was all she could do simply not to pass out as the hallway spun dizzily from the sudden movement.

JACK DAMNIT--- ENNÉA!!! Baraz shouted in panic and dismay. Iknewitiknewitiknewitdamnit!! He muttered over and over as his wings flapped frantically.

The creature's body felt so terribly cold at Ennéa's back and its voice against ear made her instinctively shudder in revulsion as despair seeped through her. She should have checked, she should have listened. Stupid. She stared down the hallway to the door that was ever so close and yet always just out of reach. Locusts were swarming angrily around it, trying to get in.

Dead and dead...

A withered petal drifted past her face. Ennéa flicked her eyes and watched with detached interest as it fell to the floor. Funny, she never thought it would end like this.

In her mind, the Baraz abruptly paused and his single eye stared at her. No! He said sharply. Ennéa-- use your pendant!! C'mon, please!! There's no reason you should die too!! Ennéa tightened her grip on him and rubbed her thumb gently along his wooden haft. Sorry.

She ran away and left her family once already and regretted it. She wasn't going to do it again.

Ennéa laughed, there was nothing else she could do, she was so scared. The sound was high and desperate but it didn't matter because at that same instant she butted the back of her head into the creature's face as hard as she could. Ennéa gasped at the sharp spike of pain that lanced through her skull but she doggedly kept moving, squirming and straining at her captor's arms and trying as best she could to bring Baraz around to sink his blade into the creature's neck.

If she was going to die she would at least go down swinging with no regrets.


Attack: 3
HP: 6/40
Charge: 1/3

Ennéa opened her eyes and instantly regretted it as pain once again crashed through her skull, leaving her breathless and trembling. She screwed her eyes shut and groaned. Even in the dim light of the pod room it felt like someone was driving spikes into her... wait, the pod room?

Ennéa gingerly opened her eyes again, gritting her teeth at the pain until her eyes adjusted enough to squint around the room. How did she get here? The last thing she could remember... She shuddered and rubbed at her arms to rid herself from the phantom memory of insects crawlingbitingstinging her skin. The creature's face had crumpled from where she'd hit it and inside... the darkness high pitched buzzing screaming, rising higher and higher... Ennéa hunched down protectively and moaned.

The man's voice made Ennéa start. She had been so preoccupied with the room and her own pain that he hadn't really registered, though now she vaguely remembered someone telling her to wake up. "Huh? Three weeks?" She repeated blankly, the words not really sinking in.

Stupidly enough, all Ennéa felt was deep disappointment. She sighed and scrubbed at her hair. "I didn't make it after all..." She tapped her fingers on the side of the pod, trying not to cry.

Then everything else finally percolated through her mind and she jerked upright. "That- that thing! My family-- are they okay??!" Ennéa tried to climb out of the pod but her arms felt like they were made of limp noodles and the man was blocking her way.

"I know. I just... I-I know. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ennéa fell back into the pod's seat with a hard thump but she didn't care. "I know it was prohibited, b-but I... you rescued them too right?? Mom... Tobias..." She still reached out, trying to grab his sleeve, not caring that she was crying yet again. "Please! Please, tell me you did!!"

Ennéa reached out with her other hand and clung to his wrist. She bent her head over his hand, her shoulders shaking with both relief and the force of her tears. "Thank you... I..." She hiccuped. "T-thank you."

She sobbed for a couple moments longer before she forced herself back up and tried to compose herself. "Thank you," Ennéa said again, letting go of the man's wrist and wiping at her eyes with her free hand, "for protecting them when-- I-I... couldn't."

Ennéa slumped down, withdrawing into herself. "That creature..." She shivered. "Visiting is prohibited because... of things like this happening, isn't it?" She looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry." She squeaked, biting her lip and struggling not to cry again. "I just wanted to see them. I couldn't bear the thought of my brother thinking it was his fault..."

If it were possible, Ennéa would have slumped even lower. She nodded dully at the hunter's words. He was right, of course, she had lead that thing right to her apartment's doorstep. Stupid. Impulsive. Foolish.

She gave a wibbly sigh. All she wanted was to see them one last time. To tell Tobias she was sorry, to tell him that it wasn't his fault.

And to have a perfect Christmas. Ennéa frowned slightly at why that had seemed so important at the time. But still...

She had wanted so many things and nearly killed them all as a result. Tears once again slipped out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Gods, when would she ever be done with crying? Sorry couldn't even begin to cover what she felt, so deep was her sorrow: her mother and her brother; her fellow hunters and phoenix squad; Baraz; and herself. How did it ever become this way?

The memory of that creature from the hallway surfaced in her mind and Ennéa squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?! Why couldn't she have been born normal? It was always the shadows and the monsters and the creatures...

Anger flared then, covering over the sorrow. It always came back to them. Always. That thing had almost killed her family and just about nearly killed her. Just like every other shadow creature, coming in between and ruining everything.

Almost ruining, Ennéa reminded herself, that had been a close call. She couldn't protect her family but the other hunters had. She wasn't strong enough now, but someday perhaps. Wasn't that why she had run away and become a hunter to begin with? To learn how to fight back and defeat her own monsters? She had wanted to show her brother that she didn't need him, she could protect herself.

Tobias...

Ennéa still felt a pang of guilt and regret but it wasn't as sharp as it had been. There would always be monsters between them but she didn't always have to be the victim. She could fight.

And even if she couldn't be with her family, she could protect them from afar.

She looked at the hunter's summoned kunai. "I... don't know." She answered truthfully as she wiped her teary eyes on her sleeve. "But. I want to be able to bear it."

"I want to be a hunter." Ennéa rambled on, "And I know 'sorry' doesn't cut it, but for what it's worth, I am."

She was so sorry, for so many things. Ennéa sighed miserably again but then forced her head up to look the man in the eyes. "And thank you. I don't care if you were just protecting them for their bloodline or whatever, thank you for saving them anyway." She said genuinely.

Ennéa nodded, utterly exhausted. She felt empty, but in a cleansed sort of way. "I will." She mumbled, laying back.

She watched the man leave as the pod hissed shut around her. "Thank you." She closed her eyes.