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Tess suddenly snapped her head towards the barely dressed boil when he mentioned others dying, crimson eyes saucer-wide. "Died? You mean those visions we had were real? W-who else died?" the beginnings of panic was causing her voice to jump an octave as she relived the terrifying images the fog had caused. She almost didn't hear the reassurance Lizzy gave her about Seheran but she did and gripped the spider demoness' hand a little tighter for it. "You were alright, right? Right?" she whimpered, feeling her lower lip quiver at the mere thought of Lizzy dying, not knowing that she had.

On instinct she drew closer to the demoness and Tahki, almost not wanting to let go of Amrita but doing so all the same. She spared a glance at Christof. Briefly. And when it looked like he would be no threat to the undead ghoul, she turned her attention back to Lizzy and Tahki and the barely-clothed boil. She stared in surprise at the reaper the demoness had called over. When he pulled Lizzy into a fierce embrace, Tess squeaked a startled squeak.

What had happened to them in the fog?

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The idea that neither the ghouls Lizzy were with knew of the deaths hadn't struck Petro until that moment. Until he saw the look of abject terror in Amrita's eyes and the winged vampire's shock. He tensed, realizing his error, his plummeting self-esteem approaching the negatives at break-neck speed. He hung his head, but given his height he needed to purposely look away in order not to look at Lizzy.

"'M s-sorry. Didn't think, I don't think very well." It was a pathetic apology. Almost as pathetic as the tikbalang felt. When the sound of someone approaching reached his ears, Petro managed to raise his sights enough to spy Mac.

Brown eyes blinked at the sight of the reaper hugging the demoness. It only made the monster boil feel worse. "Should let y' two have y'r space," he murmured, nodding to the others a quick "Pardon me," and started for his lair.

If they were still on the island, he might have been very miffed with Carry, but he was too tired to care. They were here now, everyone was alive and safe, and the school was up ahead. What was there to be angry about now? In the end, the reapers were after her too. In the end, they had been all screwed from the start. It seemed the fog on the island had invaded his head, and he held it a moment as he turned around to address the ghoul properly. He never liked people at his back, and his primal instincts to protect himself had been so overused that he just wanted to plop down on the grass and sleep.

Despite how tired he was, a crying ghoul always made him a little unsure. With so many people crumbling around him, it became harder and harder not to do the same. In fact, he was usually the one to break into tears before most, but he seemed rather slow to start. Every part of him felt numb as if he jumped into a cold river.

"Well, you're here. Must mean you're one of us." He looked around and back to her once more, reaching out to pat her on the head. "Come on. I'm not dead now, and neither is anyone else. Well, unless they are supposed to be." Undead and ghosts being kept in mind. Sighing, he went over and hugged her, only because she was close and she seemed to desperately need it. His heart wasn't all the way into it, and he felt he still didn't know Carry, but he wasn't about to let anyone cry on their own. Leaning his head down, he whispered to her softly. "You didn't cause our boats to crash. If you were evil, the teachers would have thrown you to the wolves....or Red. You didn't pick up a blade and slice me. None of this is your fault. Now stop." It was a soft command to keep her from thinking about the island too much.

Jericho's return smile was met with a brief nod from her direction before she looked away again; she was too busy hugging Mac (and waiting to hear an explanation about Charlie) to go spare the dragon a hug. Besides, she wasn't sure she would be able to act normally around him right now...

"I... Uh," She managed to turn her head from being squished against Mac to look at Tess. She couldn't bring herself to lie to her friends! It was one thing trying to keep things from them, and another to lie outwardly. She paused, before she relaxed, her expression softening as she tried to wriggle free from Mac, although her hand was on his arm in an almost 'NOT LETTING GO, NOPE' way, since things had turned out badly the last two times she let go.

"Hey, I'm fine now, aren't I?" She reached for Tess with her other hand as she grinned - it was partially forced, but she was truly glad, "That's all that matters..."

Please let that work!

Well that was a great trip. Just moments ago she had been lost in that body-less area then bam she was back. Everyone else was too. Including the ones that had fallen to their deaths as well. Was the christmas trip this fun?

She was alive. Or really technically only dead once again. The ghoul knew she couldn't have died for real. Or could she? She did expect to not remember anything had she really died. Oh well. Whatever. Holly was just glad to have this humanoid body back for now. Where were all the other's though and what happend after she'd 'died?'

Ah. There was one familiar face and from the looks of it he was upset, not like he could hurt her or anything. Holly walked over to the boil. "West. What in Jack's name happened after I fell?" Hopefully he knew something and hadn't died too or she'd have to find another to fill her in. "And where is Savior?" She'd become fond of the other ghoul from the trip.

As Jericho led it back to the others, Malodore shook its head back and forth, slowly; with every shake it seemed to drive away more of the (ugh) fog in its brain.

But there they all were - there was Christof, looking thoroughly undone; the sight of the patchwork in such a state immediately triggered thoughts of suture thread and needles. It was such a familiar, soft frustration that the plague doctor nearly smiled. But the Igor's other master was there with him now. Perhaps later its services would be needed; perhaps not. All the same, it waved at the pair of them, with an extra gesture, miming pulling a threaded needle through the air.

And there were the others - Aksaja. Calder, there; the plague doctor hadn't seen the kelpie since just before the fog had really set in. It waved at him too, silently.

"Jericho, I... I thought, just before I..." It couldn't finish the sentence. Technically it had died - dissipated - before, but this had felt nothing like the white-hot 'death' to the Death Charm in Christmas Town. There, it had been a quick sleet of pain and then it had woken up in the infirmary. Here...

... well. It shook its head again, sharply, and re-focused on the dragon. "I thought, just before, you..."

Again, it couldn't finish the sentence, but it thought it remembered the dragon's fingers intertwining with its own and Riley's.

Riley's.

Its head jerked up as a shot of adrenaline thrilled through it. "Riley. Where?"

It was a little too much for him. With more and more people falling into each other’s arms, crying and breaking down, he felt his thin willpower to not do so starting to break. For once, after all this time of not wanting to be alone, he actually wanted to seek that very thing out. He couldn’t stand here any longer comforting Carry when he could barely keep his own chin up. Stepping away, he patted her on the head. “Go find your friends. I’m sure they’re looking for you.” Again, another forced, small smile, and he turned about. It was sweet of Carry to care that he was alive, but he could barely stand on his own without someone breaking down in front of him.

He had to make it to the school, to his own dorm, before he finally crumbled. If he did it here, he’d never get to his dorm and would wind up a mess on the campus lawn.

As he passed, he noticed Christof still sobbing, and guilt touched the kelpie again. If he could at least offer a word to Carry, he could at least offer a few to the one person he felt was the closest to being his best friend. Stepping by, he leaned in and patted Christof on the head similar to the way the Igor had done to him when he cried on the Cornfield path. “Hey, buck up. We’re all alive. No need to fall to pieces.” It was a very, very sad attempt at a joke, and it felt strange to do so at such a time. He rose back up, removing his hand from the boil’s short hair. It had been the first time he had patted his head.

Curling his fingers to his side, he turned and headed off to the dorms, alone. He caught Malodore's wave and gave a small wave in return. A more 'goodbye' wave than a 'hello'. All he wanted now was to curl up in his room, where he knew it was safe, familiar, and where he had control, and sleep. If he had a little luck, maybe he could even forget.

Sin couldn't return Arachne's hug, she just couldn't. If she hugged the other ghoul she would probably break down, cry, do something foolish. Instead she lightly rubbed her arm and forced a false smile.

"Of course...everyone is alive now." She didn't say alright, because none of them could be alright after what happened. In one way or another caring or not, the way they had left was not the way they returned. This was hard for Sin, so hard to realize that she had changed. She CARED she actually cared, she had friend in Junko, Arachne, Riley, Malodore, Alcie, Viveca...so many friends, and not just demons. She had been as shaken and injured and emotional as anyone else. It was a hard pill to swallow, but she was trying, she just needed time. Time and distance, she had to force herself to be calm and re-assess things.

She stared at the portal again and then turned away from it pretending she didn't care who else came through. She was afraid, because she knew when he stepped back through every emotion she was trying to hide might break free. If she were smart, if she would just listen to her mothers voice in the back of her head...she knew she should go back to her dorm to compose herself first. Except she couldn't she couldn't walk away from the portal without seeing him alive, real. She just had to see him once, for a second, and then she would go.

Again, the hunchback flinched at the sudden physical contact, eyes rising to see Calder murmur his short words before turning to leave him. The joke was lost on him, his mind still reeling and unable to grasp at simple concepts just then. Where was the Kelpie's usual enthusiasm? Where was that passion that helped keep everyone riled up, whether it was in the way Calder had intended it or not...

No. Things were wrong. All wrong. Calder was still upset and just being polite.

Shifting, he gathered up his severed arm, tightened his neck-bandage to make sure his head stayed in place until he could make it back to his room with his thread and needle... He saw a quick wave from Malodore but... but no, the Plague Doctor was too busy to tend to him now. It had Riley to take care of.

Riley had plenty of people to take care of her. She didn't need him. No one needed him. He was no Igor. He tried to stand, but his legs were shaking too much, and so he settled down again, pulling his knees up to hang his head between them and concentrate on breathing.