Welcome to Gaia! ::

Petalite sighed in relief when her cousin realized the seriousness of the situation and didn't laugh at her broken a**. She gratefully allowed Lina to place the balls in her mouth, swallowing reflexively. The rush of energy that ran through her veins eased her pain, but she still wasn't able to stand.

Her blue eyes stared as everyone began to turn on each other. This wasn't how the Negaverse was supposed to act. She glanced up at her cousin, pulling her head down to her level again. "When can we go home?"

--

As Zanazziite was berated by Captain Uranophane, she looked to the ground. She really shouldn't have yelled at Zinkenite, but he had been the last straw on the camel's back. She didn't retaliate, taking the verbal lashing.

And then Tanz was talking again, and she looked up focusing violet eyes on her. Her eyes flickered to Scheelite at his hurtful words, just because Tanzanite was half-youma didn't mean she was horrible, or heartless. Youma had feelings too.

Tanzanite's words brought her gaze back to the General. "Yes, General?" Lifting an arm she lightly grasped Tanz's youma hand that was hanging over her shoulder. "I won't do it again, General." Her voice was quiet and obedient.

"Of course," She assisted the taller woman as well as she could, but then realized she wasn't sure where she was supposed to take her. Glancing across her body at Wolframite she gave the Captain a questioning look.

"Don't mistake this." From his tone, Raite wasn't as pleased as Zinkenite took him to be.

"I'm not here to help you strip." Unfortunately, Raite didn't lean that way either. "I'm following my superior's orders." Even if that superior meant Serandite. That remained questionable.

He didn't speak of Scheelite and Tanzanite's predicament. It was not his problem, nor his issue to take part in. Instead, he carefully stripped away the cloth where Uranophone was done with, and begun to apply medicinal attention.

Which might have involved him dumping alcohol over the wounds before wrapping it. It was necessary, but one couldn't be sure that that much alcohol was required to cleanse a wound. Maybe he was a bit more irritated then he let on.

Laurelite continued to gingerly step around all of her injured comrades, dispensing energy where it was requested, checking to make sure no one had sustained anything life-threatening. While it was true that some of the Negaverse had gotten significantly more beaten up than others, the fact remained that the ones who had come close to death... were already dead.

She saw no point in dwelling on lost causes.

Her gaze swept slowly over the room, meeting the faces of all who were still in it -- in spite of the tangible exhaustion that was evident on even her face, she was still standing.

"General Tanzanite is dismissed," she coolly said. End of discussion, was the silent but detectable addition. "As for the rest of you, take your orders to heart... Rest. Recover. Keep our goals in sight. The more you address your own differences, the greater a rift it creates between our ranks. Obsess over weighing success versus failure, and those two words begin to lose their meaning."

Laurelite stalked her way to the center of the room, no more than a couple of feet away from the nearest officers sitting on the ground.

"Think only about what needs to be done, and how it can be done. We're on the right side. We are on the Earth's side, and rest assured the Earth will guide us to victory."

A pause.

"We will be going back."

Mica had opinions about the various ongoing arguments, but wisely kept her mouth shut. Instead she strode over to Captain Scheelite and, as unobtrusively as possible, placed the energy orb she had received next to him. She had originally considered giving it to Tanzanite, but Scheelite was the one still on the ground.

Tanzanite did not turn, nor even pause as Scheelite took back the words that had made her so intent on going. Even as his leg made him cry out in pain, the General did nothing more than allow her body to drape over Zanazziite and Wolframite. She did not even look back as Serandite spoke, only allowing her eyes to close as they helped her from the room.

She did not turn, because despite the way the words had torn at her.

Despite the dull, hollow feeling beating in her chest where her heart felt like it should have been.

Despite the way her stomach knotted when he'd spoken the words.

Despite all of that, she knew deep down; he was right.

Only two words left her lips as the three of them vanished through the doorway, issued in as cold a tone as she had ever spoken, “I'm fine.”

The weakened General would ask the two to help her to the room where the General-King many of them had never known was encased in a crystal, embracing the woman who had held Aree Cadence together for as long as she could. It was Ursula's disappearance that had been the last stepping stone in Tanzanite's path to the General she had become. It had been their betrayal of the Negaverse that had caused her to finally understand that what they were doing was truly right.

The arm did not protest the energy, but absorbed it without hesitation. Still, it would take time for the General to recover. She would force a grateful smile even as she slumped down into a corner.

There, Tanzanite watched that crystal, and a familiar ache grew in her chest. It was anger and sadness and hatred and loss, all mixed up and stuffed down into the darkness inside of her so that she never had to face it. She stared at the face that she had always looked to for guidance, the dark skin turned purple by the crystal enclosure. She stared until she could not explain the anger she felt, until she could do nothing more than pull her knees to her chest and let her head fall forward,

If the two had chosen to stay while she stared, they would see the usually stoic General bury her face in her arms and scream. Out of earshot of the rest of the Negaverse and the General-Queen who now addressed them, Tanzanite let loose a sound in that two-tone voice that was muffled by her arms. A sound that was somehow remarkably human. She screamed until her throat felt raw, until her lungs burnt and her eyes watered. Screamed until she felt all of the emotion pour out of her and into the emptiness, until there was no energy left to do anything but slam her head back against the wall.

It grew quiet as they moved down the corridors, the silence settling them as it grew darker, lightened by the strange glow that gave them the faintest of light. Honestly, he had no idea where he was going. The Negaverse headquarters was an endless expanse of unknown rooms, corridors, and objects. Still, he was sure that when they saw a chair or anything that resembled a bed, they could set Tanzanite down. Tanzanite. He had to get her real name soon. Had to. It went up on his metal list.

It was the general who directed them at last, and they entered the room that housed the crystal couple that Wolframite once knew. Charonite. Nealite. Two greater leaders. While he admitted that Charnoite never inspired a sense of unity, he had power and strength that pulled them through. He had been a man Wolframite idolized since being corrupted. Power, strength, a roaring masculinity and precise skill that the young boy had envied. His father had been nothing of the sort, and he tossed aside the noodle of his male family figure aside for the General-King in a heartbeat.

As Tanzanite sank to the corner and curled in, he stood there a moment, unsure of what he could do. He felt helpless, and he wondered, vaguely, what Charonite, as a stronger man, would have done for her. What would he have done for all of them now, if he had seen their group? Part of Wolframite wished he was here with his wife, the guiding force that had been Nealite who had watched over her officers, but then again, - maybe not. They would have disappointed, and he was, despite his words to the rest of the group, disappointed in himself.

He sank down beside the woman, being much shorter, and looked at the Crystal and caught the sight of her in the corner of her eyes. He wondered what she thought too, now, in this quiet space. No doubt she wanted Charonite here. Of course she would. Charonite had been a hundred times the man Wolframite would ever be, and in this case, he was a meager presence and comfort to her.

Her screams gripped him, a hollow pain that seemed lost and alone, and he turned surprised, and broke. She had such a brave face for everyone else, but here, she was breaking apart. It was mean to think he didn't want to be here to hear it, but he was. He might not be as great as Charonite, but whatever meager comfort he could provide, he would.

Watching Zanazziite raise up and comfort her, he too thought of something from the past. When Nealite and Charonite both took him to their couch, at a time when he had been afraid for his life and shaking, and sat him down, spoke softly, and wiped away his eyes and the blood from his brow.

He could do that.

Rising up, he took the other side of the officer, and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his face beside her to speak into her ear. "It's okay. You have us. Things will get better." And he held as tightly as he could for as long as she would allow.

Bismuthite felt terribly alone now that Tanzanite wasn't here. He looked down at the energy ob still in his hands. He didn't need it. Everything he had was nothing that sleep wouldn't fix. long measured strides brought him over to the captain that had upset his, well, what could he call her? He viewed Tanzanite as some sort of mother to him. The woman who had given birth to this side of him. And he'd take her as a mother figure over his real one any day. Any way, he stood beside Scheelite who was still on the ground, then knelt to his level. For a moment, rose pink eyes just stared. Stared long, hard, and emptily, before presenting the energy Laurelite had given him.

"You upset her," He obviously meant Tanzanite, "Do you think you deserve this?"

That other officer had already given the captain hers, but this guy was pretty bad off from what he could see. Compared to everyone else, at least. If he wasn't going to use it, Bismuthite reasoned to give it to the one most in need. It was now that he was double thinking it, The orb could always go to the second in need, after all. But in the end he had determined to let the Captain make the decision.