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After hiking all the way back to the beach and now-smoking portal, the last thing Barth had been expecting was good news.

As he stepped onto the Amityville soil, Fear rushed into him in waves. Good, familiar Fear. It was dizzying. He was coming up for air too quickly. He tried to slow the sensations, focus on them one at a time. The ground, the familiar smell of burning leaves and brisk air, October...

Voices he knew.

Tess was babbling happily back at Lizzy, returning the embrace, relieved that Amrita was making certain their little group stayed together. "We were so worried about you, Lizzy! About everyone!" she added hastily. In truth, Tess had only been worried about a few students, mostly because she didn't know many of her classmates and she wasn't nearly as magnanimous enough to extend whatever well-wishes she managed to muster through the fog-induced Insanity. When the spider demoness pulled her and Amrita and Tahki along towards yet another unfamiliar pair of students (unholy Jack was that boil a tikbalang?!), she didn't resist. It was only when Amrita asked about Charlie did it occur to Maritess to ask, "Hey, um, would you know if Sepheran's okay?" While she'd come to terms that her feelings for the basilisk had been a result of Scarentine-pressure, she still wanted to make sure he was safe and alright.

Of course, her eye twitched instinctively at the mention of the patchwork. No, she still hadn't gotten over what had happened on the ship. She doubted she ever will. But compared to the fog and the terror and that dread, embarrassment seemed to be the least of her concerns.

Speak of the undead, it was then Christof emerged from the portal and Tess gestured with her head at his general direction. Hopefully her seeing the patchwork boil would ease her fears a bit.

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Petro found he couldn't quite look at Lizzy in the eye. Actually, now that he thought about it, there were a lot of students he couldn't look at without feeling the urge to hide in his lair for the remainder of his natural lifespan. He fought against the urge, as he was wont to do with anything he did not like, and stood his ground.

It was obvious the smile he gave both the demoness and the vetala was strained but he was trying, Jack damn it! The manananggal they were with seemed worried about Sepheran, "Y' don't gotta worry about him. 'S tough as hell. He made it to the end." He hoped it would be enough to calm her mind before he turned to Amrita, "Charlie? He should be back like everyone who died."

Oh yes, trust Tro of all students to lack tact.

Seeing Jericho alive made her feel... Well, she wasn't sure how to describe that feeling. It was a mixture of happiness, relieve and regret. At least, she was sure it was regret - that last thing on her long list of regrets to do... How would he react to it? She watched as he hugged Riley (and the boils with Riley), trying to catch his eye to give him a grin.

That was enough, right?

"They will be here," She assured Amrita softly, looking down at the Vetala she had missed so muchm gently stroking her hair as she nodded; if she was alive, everyone else must be too. She smiled as Christof emerged, nodding at the Patchwork but not really sure if he saw. She would comfort him but... Well, she wasn't sure how to. Instead, she loosened her grip on Amrita, knowing that the ghoul would do a much better job. Christof and her never became close, after all...

She turned her attention away from her little group to stare at where all the students were emerging from, hoping to spot pink hair, a green cap, a white snake, lime green hair... Until they're all in front of her, live and well, she would continue to feel anxious and worried.

"MAC. MAC! OVER HERE." She waved at the Reaper, her smile growing wider as again, her tears started to flow; he was fine too! She giggled, cuddling Amrita and Tess (and Tahki!) closer; now to wait for the rest.

Petro's voice, however, caused her to freeze. She looked up at the boil with a disapproving frown before shaking her head quickly - she wanted to keep their deaths a secret!

"Sepheran will be fine too," She looked at Tess, hoping that she had missed Petro's slip, "Promise."

Usually Calder had a bit of spunk left in him, and tried his best to perk up others. He did this often with Christof who was used to dropping down in a spiraling depression for things Calder didn’t quite understand but worked hard to bring him out of. Today, now, he didn’t have it in him. When he woke, he was groggy and confused, but felt he was very alive. It was strange to go from being chopped up, to being a ghost, to being alive all in a short amount of time. Add the stress of going through hell beforehand and he was exhausted, beat, worn down, and very, very troubled.

When he could work his limbs, he touched his body and saw he wasn’t a horse kebab, but he still felt like hell. Still, smelling the grass underneath him, the hard dirt, and the crisp air with the rush of Fear that floated on the air like sunshine made him rise up and push himself to his weak legs.

He was alive, and home, but the relief that should have made him smile was forced down by many other thoughts. Despite being alive, the damage was still done. No one was looking overly cheerful, at least from where he was standing. His first thoughts went out to see who was alive, and he looked about, trying to see where Barth was and Christof. It took a few steps and a good deal of deep breaths before he spotted the Igor sobbing into his hands. For someone so large and strong, capable of inventing, figuring out codes in seconds, the Igor always looked small and helpless when he cried.

While he didn’t have the energy to go through the motions with Christof and perk him up, but it seemed he didn't have to. Barth had come over, and for once, wasted the energy to actually move down and hug the boil. Comparing, Calder knew that a hug from the Igor's owner was more appreciated, and watched the pair talk. Looking about, he noticed that most everyone seemed alive and well.

The hunchback flinched as he was suddenly seemingly attacked from behind but- wild eyes turned to see Barth gingerly slipping his arms around him, his face flushing. What... what was he talking about? Contract expiring? Shifting, he popped his barely-attached arm off to peak at the shoulder... which was curiously blank. Barth's mark had gone... but... but.... with a whine, he dropped the arm, twisting to bury his head against the taller demon's chest in a one-armed desperate hug. He had promised to keep Barth alive- promised his Mistress he would protect the slower demon and... and he was alive and well here and hugging him and apologizing and HE HAD NOT FAILED HER!

Whines turned into wails, his body shuddering for some time before he was aware that others had gathered around them. Sniffing, he glanced over to a pair of backwards, trembling feet... Am... Amrita? Brows raised, he quickly pulled back from barth, flushing hotly at being caught in such a moment of weakness. Was she still angry with him? After everything that had happened? Had she been okay? He couldn't raise his eyes to meet her, the shame of the way they had previously parted bubbling up in his chest, but he gave her a nervous nod.

He felt as though he had been turned inside out. He couldn't figure out which way was up, nor what to do with himself. He felt lost. His eyes scanned the faces, heart racing as he spotted white hair and green plaid some ways away.... C-calder! Calder was alive too! Not impaled, not in pieces, Kelpies were not supposed to be in pieces, Kelpies were solid Parts and... and he wasn't coming over. Was he mad about the code? About how he had lead them all to such a brutal fate?

The hunchback slumped, feeling numb as he dimly tried to shove his arm back into place like a child fidgeting with a broken toy. He didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't speak to explain how lost he felt, anything beyond the miserable sniffles that kept escaping him. He had to pull himself together, he HAD to, but his heart wasn't in it.

His mind was still lost in the Aether, of the horrors it had held for him, of the loneliness.

He never wanted to die again. Die dead. Ever. It was more terrifying than anything he could have imagined... how did he know they weren't dead now and this was some strange afterlife? A final farewell?

How did he know?

Calder caught Christof's eye and gave a weak smile, but quickly averted his eyes. Seeing his friend die reminded him of how they fell out of a window together. Time and again he seemed to be around when the Igor was hurt or in pain, and he still recalled a flood of other moments where he let his friend down. The only memory he could really hold on to that said that the Igor was his friend was the pat to the head and the hug in the laboratory, and he wasn't too sure the pat on the head had been all up in his head during a very bizarre and stressful time. Ears down, he watched as the backwards ghoul from before, when Calder first talked to the Igor and they started their crazy ride of a friendship, came to the Igor to be close. Looking at it, he noticed that in the end, Christof had plenty of friends. He was surrounded by people who either owned him with a contract or were just friends. Maybe it really was him that needed the friendship more.

Before he could turn to leave, he was shocked by a grip at his back. Having come from a traumatic island and instinct never liking an attack from behind, he was ready to slam a hoof into someone when he heard Carry. Surprised, he looked behind him. "Gri- Uh....Carry? They didn't take you?" He had felt that, seeing she was from there, that the island would keep her.

Pride shook her head and released the poor and probably traumatized kelpie, realizing that a hug from behind was probably not the best of ideas, considering where they'd just been. Would the island's denizens have kept her? Why did she return? Even she didn't know. But at this point, she didn't care. All memories of the island were being forced behind her, for better or worse. She smiled weakly, plucking some stray dirt and things from his hair like a mother might. Wasn't she Grimgra, the one with the baby? She chuckled slightly at the thought and loved Calder all the more for it. "No, I guess not." Carry shrugged in exhaustion, but she couldn't help but keep giving the boil the once-over to make sure he was still in one piece.

"I was behind you... in the hallway, I saw you fall and I... I..." Her voice cracked and she started to sob again, shoulders shaking with the force from her lungs. She tried to suck it up, to regain composure, but it proved to be for naught. "I-I-I'm just so glad... you're okay. That everyone's okay... Was it all my fault? I don't... I don't even know, Calder..." She shook her head again and wept, crying for the boil who now stood before her, crying for the memories she had and didn't have, crying for the distrust that had grown between herself and the other students that she couldn't mend. Could she fix it? Pride had no idea.

Sharra had his arm around Aksaja's shoulders, and he'd planted a kiss into the boil's dark hair, crying rather pointlessly now as he squeezed a shoulder there, and turned to touch an arm, pulled friends into his embrace. Ah, ye gods... He rather thought something within him would shatter for the sheer emotion of it all. The nergal was quickly coming to realize that...these people, this place, had become more important to him than he'd ever imagined that they would. This whole going to school bit...it had been a way to free himself. Yet, it now felt like another life entirely.

But he was still missing the most important piece.

"Yaya!" Tearing him away from all of his loved ones, acidic green eyes searched the throng of students, making his way through them....and then...he heard his name, name from the lips of the one person who had been on his mind as a constant, and with a cry, he fixated on it like a beacon, and went to shove his way past students, though it took a moment before he espied the ghoul in the dirt...and stopped before her, breathless and ragged, still feeling as though pieces of himself...inside and out, had been torn all to bits. Oh Jack, she too looked as though she'd been through her own personal sort of hell. Those tears came all the harder, as he extended a hand down to meet hers....found those dainty fingers, curled his own about them and held them to himself.

Bending down, he joined her in the dirt, to pull the ghoul into his arms, having just enough presence of mind to keep from overly jostling her injuries. "I love you..." He whispered, desperately, as though he'd never needed to convey a thing more. Cradling the marid, he pulled her into his arms entirely, fully intending to carry her all the way to the school if he had to, having no desire to let her limp any further. "I love you so much..." Fingertips stroked ebon hair...and he kissed her...as though he'd never before been kissed, and had a lifetime for which he must make reparations.