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Hunters.

Mandy felt her breath stutter to a halt, her vision greying a bit at the edges as she felt a burst of panic overtake her. Hunters had overtaken the trial. They thought they were in that false body thing and oh Jack she had not been expecting this where was her skellyphone when she needed it they needed to alert someone why had she come over to them they weren't ready for them she had none of her usual weapons and against them they were only good as swarms and four wasn’t a swarm oh Jack-

Before Mandy could do anything about the situation aside from freak the flip out and thank high heavens that one of them seemed to be buying the others ramblings she found a weapon pointed at herself then nothing.

When she woke up next she seemed to have settled into a state of shock, just staring blankly at the Hunter when they asked what base they were from until the gas hissed back in, slipping her back under.

It seemed her answer, or lack of a answer, would be her downfall.

Although, whom could say for sure? She might have been doomed from the start. It didn't matter, as Astra watched the hunter indicate for two of his buddies, and she soon heard a hissing noise. She felt drowsy, but tried to stay awake. tried to fight the effects...

Darkness overtook her, but it was a short reprieve. For she was soon thrust back into the waking world. Her eyes opening slightly, she had to shield them from the lights that were ever so bright. But she opened then again, only to wish she hadn't.

She was separated from Mandy and Yuki. They were in another cage, while she was in a cylinder all by herself. She could still see through it, but it was hard to make out what the hunters were saying now.

Panic overwhelmed the small fairy. This cage was so much smaller and too much like a bottle that it was unbearable. She had heard plenty of stories of humans trapping fairies in bottles, and the idea had always terrified her. Now, she was completely trapped in one herself.

"L-et me out! LET ME OUT!" She cried in dismay, flying towards the walls, but only to be repealed backwards by a intense shock. It hurt, yet it didn't stop her from trying agian. And again. She was like a small bug flying, buzzing around the edges of her confinement trying to find it's way out.

Eventually she stopped, panting with her efforts to escape, looking back to her comrades. A pang of guilt washed over her as her eyes brimmed with tears.

Wasn't she supposed to be stronger then this? More brave? Hadn't she already gone through so much in her life? She thought she might have gotten stronger. Succeeding in the terror warrior had been marvelous, as had becoming a knob. But in the end, was that worth anything? Did that make her any more of a scarer, or a fighter, or of anyone worth remembering?

Wasn't she supposed to be protecting her friends? Putting on a brave face in front of the enemy? But no, she wasn't doing that. She was getting close to the cage, begging the hunters to let her go. Let them all go. They hadn't done anything wrong, why were they doing this?

Then, a crackle sounded, and a soft humming started.

There had been plenty of times she had felt pain before, that she had screamed in agony before being destroyed, dissipating, and then reforming. But this time was different. The pain was immense. It define her entire being. Nothing in her life mattered anymore, just the pain, and wishing it would stop. It tore through her entire soul, ripping her apart over and over again.

She screamed. Oh jack did she screamed. She screamed for them to stop, for someone to save her. Anyone. Yuki, Mandy, Riley, Jericho, Red. Just, someone to come and stop this maddening torment.

And within all that pain, something snapped within the fairy. Her form began to shift, began to warp in on itself. Briefly she reached out towards the edge of the glass, her hand reaching towards her friends in a final plea of help. before she was utterly blinded. Everything that had mattered to her, her thoughts, memories, feelings... they were gone.

Her form still twisted, convulsed, rearranged into something different, until finally the process had ended, and the finished product laid on the ground. What remained of the being known as Astra was now a intricate staff. Metal in design, it was covered with glowing runes along the pole, which ended up a spherical orb, still pulsing with soft purples and blues.

It may have been ironic, to see her final form that of something she had once possessed, but to her it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, just a relief that the pain was over, and a hunger replacing it. There may have been something else, a faint recalling of others near her. She might have known them, but it was not important.

All that mattered now, was the hunger.

The figure in the white cloak sighs and takes out an extremely plain looking eyephone, "Sir I need you down in section C." They pocketed the phone with a sigh and a slightly worried look. Moments later another a tall blonde man in a three pieces suit walked in, causing the first to stand straighter and carefully move out of the man's immediate line of sight.

Glancing at the captive, the new arrival frowned, "We don't need them, trainee. We have enough specimens and weapons for the time being."

"But sir, they..."

The man in the suit had already summoned his guns.

Yuki was only vaguely aware that another had arrived, curled as he was on his knees, trembling and sobbing for Astra's loss. When he did, at last, try gather enough of himself to look out at the humans... He saw the weapon in the hands of one. The weapon that she was, now.

They were opening the cage door. Was it to take another of them to the chamber?

His body seemed to move of its own will, following his deep desire. He managed to get to his feet. He wanted it - wanted her - the weapon in the cloaked Hunter's grasp. In the fraction of a second that he'd had to reach out, his mind swam with the questions of if she was even still alive as this... This thing. He wondered if she could see him trying to get to her, or if she was angry with him for not being able to prevent this from happening to her... If she knew, or had known, that he loved her.

If he was destined for the same, he would accept it. It would be unfair for him to become anything less.

The sudden, white-hot pain that tore up through his hip sent him tumbling forward and crashing to the floor. Yuki cried out with the shock of it, the floor beneath the ruined appendage collecting the black, tar like blood as it seeped from what remained of his leg. He couldn't stand again; the first shot had made certain of that. Through the pain, he still weakly tried to drag himself forward with his arms.

What was already out of his reach was taken further away, when the Hunter walked off with her to retrieve something. What that something was, however, he would not find out.

When his wavering vision turned to the suited human, his eyes stared down the barrel of the gun. There was no longer time to protest, to plead, to move...

With the pull of a trigger, for Yuki, it ended.