Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once the girl had turned on the hood vents, Ricky had hoped that the smoke creature would be sucked away within the second. Furthermore, he expected a possibility that he, too, would be sucked into the vent - he wasn't one for science. He had assumed it would look much like a the Ghostbusters captured ghosts or a vacuum captured dust, a quick inhale of everything in the room. Fortunately, it wasn't that severe but unfortunately that meant the smoke had not yet cleared.

As a preemptive measure, however, he hit the floor, ducked and covered while he waited for the smoke to clear, coughing all along the way.

Ricky's HP: 3 - 2 = 1

Jasper wasn't an idiot -- he wouldn't fight a losing battle, and he wasn't going to risk getting messed up in a winning battle. The smoke inhalation hurt, and as soon as the kid with the gauntlets showed up (somehow he assumed this was Leo: a more rational part of his brain supplied that not-so-helpful knowledge), he took his chance and ran. If the youma-smoke-thing hadn't seemed so damaged, so close to being done, he might have stayed to help out .. but now that things looked almost under control, self-preservation instincts took over.

Coughing, vision blurry and chest aching, Jasper ducked a shoulder down and made it towards the door. The doorframe began to swim and go a bit blurry, though, and darkness crowded into his vision. He assumed the smoke was getting thicker, but as he felt himself thump into the ground, his last waking thought was that maybe he'd overstayed his welcome.

Jasper is unconscious.

As with Joshua, the youma's smoke curled in front of Ricky's mouth, sapping the breath from his lungs and obscuring his vision as much as he hid him from others. Clawing hands would have no effect now, instead passing through the youma's body as he worked to find a safe place to hide, to sap the breath from this one as he had the other.

As his vision started to go dim, one of Ricky's desperate hands would drop to the floor -- and curl around something strange. Unexpected. Beneath his fingers, he'd be able to make out its forking shape, the rough bark of its surface, delicately sprouting leaves at the ends. To his touch, it was a simple twig -- but even a simple twig was a weapon, if he chose to use it.

This twig felt familiar in his hand, and as his hand curled into a fist, ancient memories would kick in, his arm swinging through the air almost of its own volition, as if he'd done this a hundred times before. Five hundred. A thousand. The simple twig cut through Smokey like he was butter, and clutching hands let go of Ricky's clothing, the youma dissipating finally up into the vents as Ilmenite collapsed in front of his crystal.

When the smoke fully cleared, the other civilians might be left wondering what had happened to the enthusiastic, courage young man they'd seen fighting the monster along side them. In his place stood someone new.



Another Knight of Chronos had awoken to protect their sacred home.

And in a matter of seconds, it was over. The smoke had cleared, and a stunned silence had descended over the kitchens, an awful void of noise where there had previously been chaos and cacophony. The youma was gone, destroyed by someone that he'd never laid eyes on in this life, but knew as well as he knew himself; the recognition was instant, a flood of warmth and and a subtle glow at the back of his mind that reminded him that there was more. How had he forgotten? How had he forgotten the knights of Chronos?

How long had they slept, waiting for their moment to return and protect the Surrounding? Had it been necessary for it to fall into such disrepair to remind them of who they were, their obligations? It seemed that the Zodiac was always awakening out of necessity, almost moments too late, but...

But here he was, a Page of Chronos, and he had defeated the youma. There were civilians on the ground, unconscious -- God, he hoped only unconscious -- and he could only take a second to look at the page and nod in recognition.

"Thank you," he said. Two words, but powerfully delivered, and carrying a multitude of meanings. Thank you for being here. Thank you for awakening. Thank you for saving them. Thank you for remembering.

And then he knelt by one of the civilians, beginning to check for signs of life. The first's pulse was thready, but there; his chest rising and falling subtly. He was hurt, but he could be saved. He announced as much, moving to the next prone form, and then Ricky approached him with someone in his arms.

Joshua, wasn't it? He'd saved him from the whale at the very beginning of this mess. He reached for his wrist, tested for a pulse, and dread began to uncoil in his stomach. He slid his fingers between the young man's neck and Ricky's sleeve, pressing into the hollow with slowly-mounting panic. Nothing.

"Give him to me, please," He said, taking Joshua from Ricky's arms.

Hitting his knees slowly, he set Joshua down as gently as he could, taking off his mask and exposing a face riddled with scars. His eyes, violet and wide, held a wealth of fear and panic; no, he thought, no. The page had arrived, no, the page had gotten here, this young man just had to be...

"Check the others," He rasped out, not caring who began. "Check their vitals. Start CPR if they aren't breathing, if you know how." He brought his cheek down in front of Joshua's face, but no breath slipped past his skin. His hands fumbled on Joshua's shirt, fingers seeking the notch at the tip of his breastbone, and then hands settling a safe distance away from it.

As he began his ministrations of CPR, arms locked, smoke furled out past the young man's lips, curling at the corners and dying away. But even when Leo breathed into him, even as he continued to attempt to stir his heart back into action, it didn't help.

It didn't work.

Joshua was dead, and there was nothing he could do.

He closed his eyes, taking a moment to steady his voice, and said, "Rest lightly." It seemed that Joshua needed no more encouragement; a moment later, his body disappeared, fading from existence as though it had never been there.

That was unsettling, but there was nothing he could do about it just now. "We'll carry the unconscious ones to Virgo outpost. Anyone who is able to walk, we'll take you next."

Reaching for his mask, he replaced it with a shaking hand and rose to his feet. "I know you have questions. But for now, let's take care of the wounded."

It was finally over. The smoke disappearing after taking one final lunge at one of the men. The room was clearing and people were coming. Bodies littered the ground.... Dead...? Were they all dead? She was lucky she'd made it out alive.

As the last whisps of smoke faded and Leo took a hold of Joshua, Menthe scooted the rest of the way to the table she'd once hidden under, pulling her knees towards her chest before she buried her head in her arms. She was rocking very lightly, but one could hardly tell considering how hard her back was heaving with the heavy sobs coming out of her.

That was it wasn't it? There was no getting out at all. All the noise about 'getting them home'... it was just naive hopefulness. She had never been one for fantasy.. so why had she let herself come to believe it here? They were just going to keep being picked off one by one until they were all gone. Nowhere was safe... not even in large groups... Not even with officers.. Would they have faired better had there been one of those aliens there? Who knew.

It was all pretty clear now... She wasn't getting out of here. All she was doing was waiting for the time to come when some monster caught her off guard and got her too.

The mint haired lady was inconsolable as she rocked and sobbed, hearing very little of what was going on in the background. That most everyone else actually WAS okay...

When all the unconcious had been delivered to Virgo, and people came back to take her, she did not put up any fight, letting herself be lead. Her eyes were puffy and red, her blouse damp, and her gaze never left the ground. Menthe was silent, a few sheets of paper grasped tightly in her hand, her posture defeated.