Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jake didn't have to worry. Sherry wasn't in the mood to talk. Not to anyone other than Armagnac. And the weapon was horribly silent.

She hadn't felt so alone in such a long time. Never alone. And yet, here she was, surrounded by people, sitting next to someone, and utterly incapable of noticing much beyond the silence in her head. I'm sorry, she repeated, staring at the tablet and watching the faint smoke that rose from it. No matter how many times she apologized, it didn't help.

"Leon, what's wrong?"

Now he wasn't talking at all. Cass frowned more and more, worry etching her face in an almost Renaissance-esque manner as she watched him write the single word on the back of his hand. 'Sorry'. She took his hand with both of hers and squeezed it, giving him a look that borderlined terrified. Her mind was racing to come up with reasons for why he was apologizing to her. Nicodemus was working quickly to make sure the most obvious one didn't just plow the others down and send her into a tizzy.

Even he knew what the most likely answer was. It did eventually slip through his grips and spill out of the mist hunter's mouth: "Leon, where's Marcus?" there was a note of fear in her voice - or perhaps it was hope. Maybe she was assuming wrong.

She really hoped she was assuming wrong. She really looked like she needed to be told she was wrong right then, but the chances of that happening and being true were very slim.

Robert pat her head like she was some kind of dog and Candace glowered up at the man, watching him walk away and simply leaning against Dakota without a word. "You're not broken, Dakota. You're here, alive, and in one piece. You're not-- A wail had her immediately sitting up. Dakota pushed her away and Candace readily stood up, giving the boy a weak smile before she tucked her tablet under one arm and hurried across the room to Gale. She had promised to protect him, to be there for him; Candace was doing an absolute s**t job at it.

"Gale!" Candace called as she approached, keeping her voice as soft as she could. She needed to be strong for him. She could cry later. Giving Eva a kind smile, Candace reached out to take Gale only for Hunters to take away Bix and Ceres and the boy freaked out. No..no, this was awful. It broke her heart to see Gale like this. She tugged at Gale to try and get him away from Bix. He needed to stop looking at Bix, it wasn't helping his pain. "Gale, Gale, Gale." She murmured, clearing her throat to fight against the tight feeling inside it. "I'm so sorry, Gale.."

Wilson closed his eyes and sucked in a breath as he heard Eva’s crack voice. “Please, not you too,” he whispered as he let his hand drop to the side when Gale shook him away. As he heard Tedan’s song his fingers twitched for the feel of his viola in his arms, the bow held tightly in his hand while he let the imaginary notes fill the void in his thoughts. “Where’d you get that?”

Clueless, he let the moon hunters gently push him away. It was only when he caught sight of the stretchers he perked up and stared at them. “What are you…?” His voice died as the two were covered with white sheets and Gale’s screams reached a new level of loud. He winced, but tried to reach out toward him. “Gale—“ He stopped. Paused, pondered as his gaze turned downcast. Then he walked away to plop down next to Ryan.

Leon practically felt the question coming before he actually heard it. Like a bolt of lighting that traveled down his spine. The panic in his eyes made them turn to pinpricks, and he no longer had the nerves to look Cass in the eyes anymore.

Of course she was going to ask about that, and of course she was going to want an answer for that meathead. He could almost hear the dragon hiss it like a snake, the silence only made things worse.

He was strong and brave. But not when he had to be the mailman with the black envelope.

He refused to speak. He refused to answer, and only held onto the fellow trainee's hands tighter.

The song was forced to an early halt as the Moon Hunters came with those stretchers. Just before the chorus, Tedan's voice trailed off, staring as they took him away. No ... no that was all wrong, they were supposed to all sing together, that was how it was meant to be. Gale seemed to act out his thoughts as he screamed and struggled, trying to reach toward Bix even as they disappeared through the curtains.

Turning to Wilson, Tedan offered the other a parody of a smile, just a tiny thing, a small spark of light in the darkness. "It's ... a song ... that Jerry made up. For the Sun Hunters," he answered softly. "We all used to sing it together. Stupid song." It had been dumb, and silly and ... all of those things. But it had been theirs. And now there was one voice that would never sing it again.

He stirred as he heard an unfamiliar voice. Female. He had thought it might of belonged to one of the older hunters running around helping those who had just came back, but it sounded too young. Probably an overly helpful trainee or something.

He made no movement, his head still resting in his hands.
The reply sounded weary. Tired.

"No. Just go away."

He didn't care if he was being rude. All he wanted right now was to be left alone.

He just didn't want to say it, why was Nid not here to help. Leon shook his head, clinging onto her hands like a lifeline and grit his teeth.

And Robert decided to break the news.

No words were still exchanged as he nodded to the life hunter.

If Robert wanted to be the one to break Cass, let him. He just was not man enough to do it himself.