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Doucette let out a noise that she quickly clamped down on, her eyes hardening somewhat as she tried to reign in the fear that was crawling up her stomach and threatening to choke her. At least Alex had a fear that was reasonable. Spiders were creepy and could kill. Thunderstorms were just...well, they were what children were afraid of, and she wasn't a child anymore.

For a long moment Revontulet watched her guardian. She knew about the woman's fears, irrational and stupid as they were. There had been thunderstorms sweeping through before where the woman had locked herself in her bedroom, cradling the ratty teddy bear and working a hole in the ear. Obviously it was the object her hand subconsciously groped for.

In her own subconscious Ren knew she should comfort the redhead, but Doe's ability to be crippled by something so insignificant as sound and light registered as nothing more than upsetting on the young girls compassion scale. After Eiry offered his words of comfort though, Ren moved over and put her thin arm over Doe's shoulders.

"It's ok," she managed, though the words were weak even to her ears.

Doe clutched at Ren's free hand and offered a grateful though unhappy smile at Eiry. "Thanks." More than anything she wanted to be able to brave through this...she just wasn't sure if she could honestly. Thunderstorms scared her more than she could really put into words and the next grumble of thunder had her shaking like a leaf in the aurora's arm.

It seemed like everything was in order as much as it could be considering that they were wet and off track and slightly more miserable than usual. Alex seemed to have gotten her head back into order, Revontulet was more or less scuffed from the day before but ready to trudge on, and Doucette was nervous of the storm but nonetheless ready to brave through it. They were all good to go! Zul didn't even seem put off, his eyes staring boldly towards the path that they needed to go. Eiry sucked in his breath. They were going to complete this mission and find the doctor without anymore hiccups. It was raining now! It's not like it could get any worse.

Nodding his head to both himself and to the others, the ghost raevan puffed up his chest, adjusted the backpack straps on his shoulders, and glided forward, where Zul's eyes were pointing to. He might as well start leading the group. "Well, then, off we go! Single file, with myself at the head, a test to see what spooks and specters may pop out at us, though I doubt anything to happen. We've traversed this path before, it's safe! And before long we'll be in the heart of the forest." said Eiry aloud, hoping to continue this atmosphere of determined heroics. "How novel," he said, drifting further along the path, before turning back to make sure that everyone was following, "An actual path! We'll have ourselves at the next campground before anyone can figure out how to spell tiddlywinkets!"

There was one thing, though, that was on Eiry's mind. Everyone was so quiet...

“Thanks Alex,” Doe whispered weakly as another rumble of thunder threatened in the distance. The redhead braved a bit of a smile, as if to assure the other woman that there was no need for her to join in the coos. It was embarrassing enough as it was, feeling outright childish in the group, but to have to be coddled as well only added to the blush that was creeping into her cheeks. What was an interesting sight, however, was the way her skin paled with each crackle and then reddened once more at the thought of how stupid she was being. Like turning a heat lamp on and off.

For her part, the aurora was doing some sort of absent minded back-rubbing, her eyes instead focused on Zul and Eiry. She was ready to get moving again. At least Alex had taken off into the forest, encouraging movement. Ren was certain Doucette was going to immobilize them here.

Much to her surprise though, in a short wave of calm from the storm, her guardian jolted up and threw all her things back into her pack, swung it back into position, and put a determined but sick look upon her face. It was obvious that scared as she was she was not going to let the storm hold her back. It was just some silly rumbling after all.

As the group took off, Ren and Doucette took the back of the crowd so that Eiry could lead the way with his optimism and Zul could guide with the compass. Unfortunately, with the way their tracks took them deeper into the forest, and thus deeper into the storm, it was obvious Doe was slowly losing her grip on the bravery that had moved her out of camp and Revon was finding herself trying to physically push the woman along. Tears were rolling down round, freckled cheeks and she couldn’t help the little hiccupped-yelp that accompanied every clap of thunder. It was actually the lightning that scared her, but the sound heralded the flashing, dangerous light and what elicited the reaction from her.

“No, no, no,” she started whimpering under her breath, pulling against Ren’s hand. She looked white as a sheet. The hoard of spiders hadn’t made her feel this sick to her stomach and they’d been an actual nightmare, things that people couldn’t even imagine in their most twisted thoughts. And yet the redhead looked as if she might pass out at any moment, her weakness the only way the frail aurora managed to drag her guardian this far.

“Maybe you guys should move on without us,” Ren suggested, finally, with a frown, looking between the others in the group. She did not want to be stuck here with Doucette, but she had a feeling the group would not have approved of leaving her behind. Additionally she wasn’t quite sure how they were supposed to catch up with the group later should they take a little pow-wow to ride out the storm, but what other option was there?

Just then Eiry got doused with something...rather unpleasant. Doucette was far too busy in her own head, but Revontulet’s brows furrowed slightly, confused about what was covering the sigel. How...strange and disgusting.

Alex paused when Revontulet spoke, distantly aware that she had no concept of the passage of time with the storm blotting out the sun. Turning to the two, she shook her head firmly. "We wont leave you behind here. Something is very wrong with the forest and if we were separated..." She trailed off. She had been the one to run wildly when faced with her fear. "At least Doe isn't running like I did," she said her thoughts out loud, hoping to impart some form of comfort and admiration, "I just saw the spiders and fled. She's doing a lot better than I could." Trying to offer a sympathetic smile, she missed what happened to Eiry immediately, only whirling around when the keening sounds started.

Blood? Zul watched the elder Sigel screech and flail about over the blood of a dead rat, his expression completely unmoving. Of all the things he would have thought Eiry was afraid of, blood was not even on the list, especially given his penchant for pranks and instilling fear and dismay in others. The demon retained his neutral expression even as things got worse and, deciding he was not dealing with this, he looked to Alex expectantly.

The woman swore something at her ward and pushed her pack into his arms as she went past the Wisp to another tree, doing a running jump up the side of it and turning to grab a branch and haul herself up on it, hissing under her breath as her ankle reminded her that it was still rather in pain and she had done nothing to lessen that fact. She checked the thick leaves and boughs for any other surprises before she yanked one off, getting sloshed with water. "Eiry, come--"

"Damnit." The demon dropped the pack and abruptly flew up to Alex, pulling the leaf from her hands, the excess that dripped on his skin drying quickly. Without hesitation, he zoomed to where Eiry was rolling about and dumped the contents on him. "Eiry, the rat is the dead one, not you. Help us get you clean." And he let the leaf fall aside, ignoring Alex's aghast look as he returned to Doe and Revontulet's side. There, his countenance softened considerably, putting an arm around Doe as well. "I'll carry you if I must, Doucette, and I beg your forgiveness if I do. I will not leave you, but you may expel all your fear and upset with me." He was used to that, even if it wasn't directed at him for a change.

He could feel Alex about to snarl at him and, turning his blue eyes calmly to her, he said in a very even voice above Eiry's wails, "What the doctor sought clearly has something to do with the essence of fear. The odds of the three of you facing your worst upset is not a coincidence." Zul's lips dipped slightly in a frown, not even smug when Alex swallowed her words visibly. "All we can do now is prepare for the worst and keep moving forward, or we'll perish from our own uncertainties before we ever find the doctor and the fear that undoubtedly has him ensnared."

It was hard for Eiry to respond to anything at all when he couldn't even hear the small voice of reasoning in the back of his head. It sounded a lot like Isikoro. He sounded disappointed. But there was still too much going on in his panicked mind for him to acknowledge anything else, much less Isi's voice or Alex's voice starting to pipe up in the distance, trying to direct him. He was still struggling, swiping at himself and screaming, trying his hardest to just get this vile horrifying blood off of him. When he realized that he wasn't ridding himself of the blood, but rather spreading it around more upon himself, Eiry began to weep with frustration, his heavy globs of tears smearing onto the blood on his face, but like the rain, it wasn't enough to get it all off. He hadn't even been able to summon up any words, and that, for Eiry, was a rare thing indeed.

He hadn't heard Alex, and he hadn't heard Zul, either, so he was still struggling and throwing himself to and fro, when behind him, the two worked in tandem in order to gather water with a large forest leaf and throw it on him. Eiry spluttered from the sudden curtain of water thrown over him, still struggling for a moment more, before he began to drift back into reality. He was drenched again, though this time, with something that was helping rid himself of the blood. There wasn't so much of a mess anymore on his hands and he could feel that most of the stickiness was gone from his face and neck. He couldn't say the same for his clothes, which were once white, but now dyed a soft red, and he was sure that there was red in his hair. He still struggled, but he was slowly coming back. He was breathing hard, still trembling like a leaf (pun not intended, but reinforced) as he curled up over himself and his arms in the woods, his wings spluttering like dying flames on his back.

There were still voices of fear in his mind, his gut wrenching from feelings of terror, of existential doubts and moral quandary, but he had most of the blood off of him now. What the problem was, for Eiry, was that blood, in copious amounts, acted more as a trigger than anything else, launching him into a familiar and terrible battle he had with himself and his beliefs. Dragging him back to reality wouldn't be easy. But the water had helped enormously. He was drifting low to the ground, his glasses knocked from his face. He reached down to the forest floor, picking them up again with violently shaking hands, and attempted to attach them back onto his face, poking himself in the eye a couple of times as he tried to force them back over his ears.

"M-my..." Eiry muttered in an incredibly small voice. His stomach was still rolling, twisting, making him nauseous and pale. "Apologies..." That was all he managed to say before a lightning bolt slammed into Alex's tree, splitting the air around them and blasting them with a gust of sudden hot air. The sound was deafening. It certainly got through to Eiry's better senses, making him throw himself into intangibility once more as he covered his head and ears as much he could. The branch fell close to him, even passing through him, but he had his special ability to thank for his safety. He quickly and sporadically ducked away from it. The lightning had singed the air and the forest around them, but more importantly, it had somehow affected Alex. Pushing himself off of the ground, trembling hard, Eiry blinked more tears from his red eyes, trying to will the temporary blindness away from them so he could begin searching for Alex underneath the chaotically splitting tree. "ALEX!" Eiry screamed. Then he realized something else. Doe. She was terrified of not thunder, but lightning, and look what had just happened. This was real, the tree had splintered and fallen, this was undoubtedly something real. The blood staining his clothes must be real also, he realized with the twist of his stomach, but he had no time to panic any longer. This event called for action and as much as he wanted to scream and weep and curl up in a ball, he couldn't. His existential breakdown would have to wait. He also couldn't help but feel himself beginning to panic regarding placement in Zul's gaze. He had hoped that this trip might be some way for them to begin reparations, but after seeing him break down like that, he was sure that Zul would have nothing of him at all. He would probably think worse of him, if that wasn't already the case. His gleaming gaze, still spotty from the flash of light swung towards Doe and Revontulet, where he launched another scream. "Revontulet, lady, d-do not let D-doe run! C-catch her! We must stay t-together!" his voice was still trembling and hoarse from his screaming and he knew not what to do. He floundered towards Doe and Ren, hoping to help them, while hoping that Zul would do something to help his guardian.

"There's nothing to apologize for," Zul remarked in a terse manner that clearly said otherwise, "there is nothing that can be done."

"I hate to say it, but I agree with him." The Italian sounded miserable, clinging to her branch. "Will you--"

And then the world was very, very bright; there was a sensation of both falling and being hurled --

---------------------------------------------------

"LEX!" the demon cried out in tandem with the Wisp, his blue eyes very wide and his pupils extraordinarily small before they suddenly seemed to explode and fill his entire socket. The Sigel curled his lip and gave a short shake of his head, and when his eyes focused again, the pupils mostly went back to a normal shape, somewhat slitted and slim. "That's it! We're leaving!" he said cold and calm, letting Revontulet struggle with Doucette for a moment. He swooped to his fallen Guardian who had been flung from the blast and slammed into another tree, tossing the debris everywhere to clear it off the fallen woman. Despite his trembling rage and obvious upset, he picked up the extremely unconscious woman with the utmost delicacy, holding her so that her brow was against his neck, her arms limply over her stomach.

"I've had enough. I will not lose Lex to that man's fool errand!" The Sigel floated after the other three, ultimately passing them in his self-righteous rage. "Kyou is willing to endanger all of us for his precious studies, but I am not. I will not risk you, fair Doucette and Revontulet," he had promised he wouldn't leave her, after all, "nor will I risk my beloved's brother. I wouldn't forgive myself if we were to lose you out here, to yourself or other means." His eyes were steely as he looked at the blood-stained Sigel. "And for a third time, I find myself carrying my most important human in her attempts to deal with what the doctor has wrought. No more. He'll be found, and it wont be by us. We're leaving. Now." The command in his voice did not give room for complaint nor peep, and, cradling Alex against his chest, he regarded them all with an expression that was largely angered from what they'd all been subjected to, but that did not hold them at fault. He would protect them to the nitty gritty depths of his power if he had to. If the smoke flare didn't go up by the time he got them out of the forest, he'd go back in for the others, but right now, his team was his concern.

And without room for any words, he took the lead and briskly began to backtrack, not about to leave them to spend another night in that cursed forest looking for a hapless warlock.