Welcome to Gaia! ::

Micha'el and Lottie had finished dancing when they heard the music fall silent and switch from live orchestra to Arcanic Speakers, using arcane energy that mimicked speakers in Non-magic Earth. Lottie's eyes widened and Lily walked out on stage, followed by a hush and a cheer from other fans in the hall. She let loose her first number of the night to her relatively small audience in comparison to normal. Micha'el wondered if Lily enjoyed the small gigs more than those huge nights at the Hypersphere Stadium in Entei. He waited on the backlines as Aoi's Team and even the Twins and JayBird enjoyed the music. It was during this time that he wondered where his other teammate was, she hadn't even come to see them after coming in earlier. He looked around to find that Professor Solomon was on the side-lines, speaking with Alexis and laughing about something. At his crossed eyes with Solomon, however, the headmaster's eyes were drawn to a balcony above. A hidden message? Micha'el looked up above him, over the stage to see an open set of doors. He looked back at Solomon again, hoping for another sign. But alas, Solomon had turned around to indulge himself in some cake.

"Breath, should I take a deep?"

Micha'el could hear Lily's next song beginning, a cover of a Non-magic Earth Song ((Utada Hikaru's 'Face My Fears' from Kingdom Hearts 3)). He looked over to Lottie, who had already approached him and cocked her head, raising an eyebrow at her partner. The two exchanged looks as he gestured to the balcony and mouthed 'Tsuna'. Micha'el looked back at Solomon again, and this time he was staring at the boy, and nodded.

"Faith, should I take a leap?"

Micha'el swallowed, he sensed this moment would come. He could see it in Tsuna's body language in the days leading up to tonight. In her restless ramblings about Lumina and Ivan during his illness. She had been uneasy... and it usually only meant one thing. Micha'el felt a hand on his arm, Lottie gave him a firm squeeze. They both knew. Tsuna was leaving.

"Taste, what a bittersweet..."

The two of them had made their way up the stairs towards the end of the hall, wasting no time to try and find their teammate upstairs. They passed students watching Lily from the balcony, paying Team Sun no attention. They both stepped through the open doors and as the icy cold air hit them they had hoped to find her there.

"All my, all my life..."

But as the wind caught at Lottie's dressed, and brushed Micha'el's hair aside, they found no one. Out here, where it was quieter, the two could finally speak over the sound of Lily behind them. "We won't be at Hope for a while, I think" Micha'el said, clenching his fist. "Remember how long it took us to find her last time?"

"Let me face let me face let me face my fears."

"Micha'el - she'll wait for us" Lottie reassured him, smiling innocently with her hands behind her waist. Micha'el took a breath, sighing. "How do you know?" he asked quietly, hopeful. "Because" she said, swaying over towards the rails, "we're a Team, and we're not kids anymore." She gave him a grin before cocking her head as Micha'el stepped up to her, looking down over her shoulder to see Tsuna waiting for them outside on the grass.

"Watch me cry... all my tears." ((commence dubstep))

Micha'el's eyes widened, and with a some glee he held tightly onto the railing, not caring for how cold it was against his soft hands. Lottie let out a cheer and threw her fist into the air before hopping over, shortly followed by Micha'el. The two landed gracefully and quickly approached Tsuna. Micha'el couldn't tell if she expected them, or if she was just apprehensively watching them from afar before attempting to leave. But they both knew one thing for sure, Tsuna wasn't planning on leaving without them this time! "Team Sun on another adventure!" Lottie exclaimed as Micha'el placed his hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "Ready to do this together?" he asked, smiling.

At Lumina's and Ivan's apartment, Tsuna collected her essentials and a change of clothes, passing her guardians along the way. Maverly was at Lumina's side, being ever tentative to the both of them. It was strange how a lady who presented so cold, so up-tight, seemed to melt in the face of danger. Maverly had been with Lumina most of the time since Ivan fell ill, using her advanced knowledge of medicine to help him. Lumina had appreciated it deeply and was often reassured by Maverly, in fact she wasn't sure what she would have done without her so far. The two had quickly come close. Lil P' exchanged a quiet goodbye with Tsuna by the door, catching her before she could vanish. He didn't put up much of a fuss beside warning her than Lumina will be devastated... but will hopefully understand her choice.

Meanwhile, back at Micha'el's dorm room, Lottie was bashing on his door with her iron fists. The excessive knocking would be enough to enrage any neighbours had they been in and not at the ball. "Wait a moment!" Micha'el announced, walking into his wardrobe door as he attempted to squeeze his head through his shirt, one arm precariously shoved through one sleeve as the other dangled below. With a curse he let out a pained "AH!" and almost kicked his foot against his bed before managing to get his shirt on. The knocking ensued once more and finally, with a sigh, he pulled the door open. Lottie marched in immediately, turning on her heel as he closed the door. Micha'el, arms crossed said "I heard you the first time, every time!" Lottie cocked her head and grinned, holding her weapon behind her innocently "you sounded distracted!"
"You were the distraction, Lottie"
"I can tell, your hair is a mess, and you don't even have your socks on" Micha'el cursed again, moving to his mirror to brush his fingers through it as Lottie plonked herself down on his neatly made bed. Thus, thud the door sounded. It must have been Tsuna. She was always firm and confident with her door knocking. Letting her in, with a smile, he gestured she place herself anywhere as he took his desk chair to begin putting on his socks. "Sorry, I've barely had time to get ready" he said, eyeing Lottie. "So" he then began, "what's this mission about, where do you need to go?"
"WHO, do you need to see?" Lottie chimed in, leaning towards her friend, quickly quieting her energy, noticing that she was perhaps treading on deep water. The two then gave Tsuna their full attention, prepared to do almost anything for Tsuna.

Lottie scowled listening to Tsuna's description, she couldn't imagine having such a keen sense of smell to be very useful if it made bad things smell even worse. Micha'el nodded, remembering her previous descriptions when Ivan first became ill. The two then continued to listen until Tsuna was finished. Micha'el noticed her stare at him when she mentioned people, he wondered if she meant what he thought she meant. Either way, he didn't press now as she turned to the other matters at hand. All the while he ignored the pang in his chest. Zoltan, he thought, brother. Lottie then pulled herself further back on Micha'el's bed, pressing her back against the wall as she stretched out her legs. "Well.. Miss Asche would be the first pick, but she's obviously lost too if she can't heal Ivan."
"We really have nothing to work on, do we?" Micha'el asked, nonchalantly as he began putting on his shoes. Nonetheless, Team Sun pushed on. With a sigh, Lottie began to muse. "So Ivan's illness is magical, like a curse. He got it on that last mission with Miss Asche, with undead bird-things right? Sounds like dark magic..."
Micha'el paused, finishing the last tie on his shoe as he slowly came to sit up. "Dark magic" he repeated, as if searching his mind for something. "That's Delorius Tatem's specialty, shadow and bone - except they don't actually deal with necromancy, but their land deals with creatures like that all the time."
"Delores tata-what?" Lottie asked, baffled. Micha'el looked between the girls then added "sorry, the Conclave of Declasia. I read some books about that when they joined the Guildeam a few years ago. Allegedly, they borrow their magic from the Underworld."
"So... We need to go to the Land of Crows? That's the other side of the world Micha'el! We can't just open a portal like Professor Truesvale."
"No, we can't, but there are places that have portals open all the time. For example, the Greymarkets are known to set up portals between each other, a kind of black market travel. We could go to the Underground in New Coventry and find a portal leading to a Greymarket in the Land of Crows? Failing that, we could still search the Greymarket for information, there are all kinds of people in those places."
"Dodgy people" Lottie remarked, "everything is under the radar in those places. Not illegal enough for the Guilds to intervene, but not legal enough to be out in the open."
"Trust me" Micha'el said, looking to Tsuna, "we'll find something there... I've been to some when I was younger"

Together the three of them peered out the window, seeing the night was drawing to a close in a few hours. Micha'el nodded, mentally noting our summer nights never lasted long and that the morning sunrise would be upon them soon. Lottie pushed herself up from the bed with a spring in her step, holding her glaive lovingly. "Yup!" she said, turning to Micha'el who still needed his Aria. Micha'el stood, taller than both Tsuna and Lottie after his recent growth spurt, and reached his hand out towards the Aria which had been silently waiting on the nearby desk. It seemed to hum as he called it, singing back to him as it hovered through the air. It then spun elegantly, spiralling slowly as it began to fold in on itself. It folded once, then twice, impossibly a third time as it shrunk in size to resemble a pendant by the time it reached Micha'el and hung itself from a necklace on his chest. "Something Miss Asche taught me" he grinned, then pulling a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. With a flick it revealed itself to be a long white coat, beautifully handcrafted. As he placed it over his shoulders he said "and that I taught myself."
"Woohhh" Lottie beamed, is- is that from your Mum?!"
Micha'el nodded, to which Lottie let out an exasperated sigh and leaned against Tsuna. "We need to beg her for something of our own someday" Lottie mused, Micha'el's mother was a wonderful seamstress. Micha'el shrugged, forcing a smile and said "She's a busy lady, we'll get you something soon I promise. Anyway, we're all set I believe? We'll have to take the Western Mountain Line. Fortunately the trains run through the night to take goods to New Coventry City direct, with some passenger carriages, I think."

With that decided, Team Sun made their way out of the Academy, avoiding the great hall where the students still revelled.

((I'll timeskip to getting off the train at New Coventry))