Welcome to Gaia! ::

The baku returned Lizzy's hug and offered her a small smile before nodding. Lizzy certainly had a point--from what Xiu had seen, not all Hunters were as ruthlessly as some that they had encountered, which seemed natural. After all, there were always both compassionate and sadistic types of people in each group. It wasn't fair to seek out and destroy all of them.

Xiu's concern also lay in the possibility of Shun doing something that he would later regret. She had friends who were among the initiated, and although she could not stop them or shun them--as they were good people, she knew--but she couldn't help but worry about them.

"When you leave Amityville, that's that," She murmured suddenly, folding her arms over her chest, "You go on your way to do what you want to do with your future...but if you join the horsemen, there is no 'graduation'. At what point are you freed from doing their bidding?"

And honestly, the possibility of the horsemen turning on the rest of Halloween had popped up in her mind from time to time, particularly after that Trance on the Conquest isles.

"Sounds like deception to me. Candace supposedly treated Mitsu alright while she was taken. And yet, look what happened," he retorted lowly.

Shun's eye narrowed at Lizzy soon after.

"Don't tell me you're actually siding with them," he hissed. The very thought angered him and he hoped he was wrong on that matter. Hearing Xiu again, he turned towards her sharply.

"Do the students who join Medea look or act like slaves to you?"

The fox growled low in his throat as a certain hunter got away from him, glaring ice shards after the man in question. Ill get you next time, Lex. It said.

All the action over, the fox turned back into his human form and halfway grinned at Night as he appeared and left. His eyes then traveled to Aymet. Of course the two of them made it out ok.

He was just about to return to his distorted home... as something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. No it cant be, those texts told him he was not here. How could he be here? Why would Thackery go with the hunters?

Musta been his imagination.

[exit]

Ofelia went down. She would have with or without his intervention. She was a sun, and there were too many horses. The losses here and there didn't matter. The orb, though-

Harrison watched the orb. The horses didn't bother him.

Yeah, like he ******** thought.

Allan and Medea both fought over it. A dumb kid got in the way- wasn't he the one who attacked Caelius earlier? Allan saved his a**. And Medea got to the orb.

That tug of feeling again. Like things were going really bad, like the glass between him and the battlefield was getting thinner. B0nez was yelling even louder now, a nonstop stream of excitement and swearing, Fear flooded the battlefield in a warm and heavy wave. He could almost feel it.

With the shriek of distant triumph, a flood of shadows poured over the battlefield then materialized. Someone (not him) gave the order to Retreat- Allan. The Sun Division Leader. Direct orders.

It was like falling from a height. He remembered he was on the ground again. B0nez and the sounds of battle came to a loud, sharp, present foreground. Rep was still at his feet. They were surrounded. Hundreds, thousands...?

ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT OR NOT, SPACECASE. WHO CARES ABOUT OOH~ I'M FEELING FUNNY AGAIN...

With a start, Harrison pressed the end of B0nez against Rep's prone chest, and he discharged the long-held charge with a crackle, and then a fizz. Harrison didn't bother to see if it had done any good, stooping to pull Rep over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. s**t. s**t, they had to get out. Where was Jordan...? He still had the headset, although it was stacked with radio chatter.

"Jordan, if you can hear it, me and Rep are pulling out. Get back to base," He put in over the din.

He did what he should have done in the first place.

"DEUS EX MACHINA."

Healing: Rep (miss)
[exit]

Had there been time for a retort to that jackdamn Hunter, anything other than a gasp before the world seemed to ripple and distort, Belladonna would have made a joke. Something quippy, something cute, but any thoughts of that were obliterated with the explosion around Lifen. For a second the witch rushed forward in attempt to help in someway, for that delicate Horsewoman did not deserve such a harsh and sudden attack, but the force of such knocked her down to the ground, instead. Even the angry shout had been drowned out, demolished by both the noise of the attack and what happened next. At first the snow seemed a terrible place to have fallen but it quickly improved in opinion as everything else seemed to explode into further confusion. The world moved and heaved beneath her, which made the witch glad she had fallen after all, but she was forced to raise a hand against all the colors and sudden movement. It was too much to watch, too powerful in emotion and too confusing. Was this what everything had been about?
When she finally chanced a look around, it was no longer a group of students, Horsemen and Hunters, but had instead changed to hundred of Horsemen. But where had they all come from? For a long moment Belladonna stared at them all, her pink eyes darted from one to the other in attempt to burn each new face into her memory. It wasn't until she heard Mengyao's odd voice of disbelief from far above that the impact of things really and truly hit. These were the Lost Clans returned, the dead undone. And that had been what this had been about, hadn't it? A few humans had to be spared to return those destroyed by their hands. Hundreds of lives for what, just a handful of humans? The thought bothered the witch in a way she couldn't articulate, not at first as she was further distracted by the reasoning that the Hunters would continue to harm those made of Fear, no matter what. These people that had given their lives in favor of the fallen Clans members would have continued to wreck havoc… Yet what would these Horsemen and women do now? Would they take further action against the Hunters? Would it continue to be some knock out, drag out brawl until finally they demolished each other?
But the thought that bothered her the most and gave Belladonna the most pause was the question of what was the worth of a life anymore?

The remainder of her questions were erased with the cold hand that wrapped around her arm and hauled her up to her feet, bringing a small note of surprise from her mouth. Before she could fully articulate what she wanted to say to Mort she was pulled forward into a soft embrace, all words muffled against his chest. Surprise colored her face and hands enough that for a few seconds she only stood there wide eyed and still, her hands stuck in the air from where he'd let go and wrapped her up in himself. But this was where she belonged, here with him and her hands found their familiar place, bunched up in his clothing to bring him close. The notion that he was honestly here with her and not ripped away in some melancholic display of heroism was such a sudden relief that it caught her off guard enough to mumble her love for him despite the public setting. Surrounded by those having their own reunion, Belladonna at least knew she could be undyingly grateful to have Mort back now and to have suffered less than what those around her had.
A brief kiss on her forehead signaled the conclusion of their momentary reverie and she let him go without any sort of hesitation or fight, though she did keep one of his hands wrapped in her's, unwilling to fully let go. The next thing to do was find Alexander and Sophie, not far away and certainly not far from the other. While Mort asked his questions to lighten the mood, Belladonna stepped forward to brush some snow from Sophie's hair. She gave her a soft, warm smile and a tiny hug for a job well done. It didn't matter one bit if the ghoul had chosen to fight or not, the witch was still glad she was safe.
"When we get back, we'll explain everything to you." She offered in a soft voice before she retreated back to Mort's side. His joke earned him a small laugh, for eyescream seemed at once heavenly and devilish after this cold, icy battle.

But there would be time for that later, time for everything after this. Right now, there was a choice.
Home, Halloween, safety.
Or the Unknown, potentially unwelcome Lair.
Belladonna had fought alongside two Horsemen, had earned their smiles (at least one of them) and had made friends with other Clans members. She had stood up for them, answered their call and was now offered solace in their sanctuary.
A brief wave of foreignness grabbed at her feet, tried to turn her toward the orange portal that would deliver her back to her dorm room where it was warm and welcoming, where she could cuddle with Binx. But Mort continued forward, his face set and his hand in her's. It took a few steps, but finally she caught on. Finally she realized that he was inviting her along, not asking her to stay behind. After always waiting at the window, she was finally offered that chance to step out and not only make her own decisions about things, but to join in.
To say that Belladonna did not still have reservations about Medea and the Four Clans would have been such a bold face lie that even she could not have pulled it off. But as she stepped forward, as she wrapped her other hand around Mort's arm to draw him just that much closer to herself, she realized that hesitation was not weakness. It was merely a few additional seconds in which to consider something. And those seconds only gave the witch one extra thought.
She would do her very best to help, no matter what.

(EXIT)

"I won't deny that some of the Hunters are blantantly terrible, but a number of them are genuinely just fighting to protect the humans, just like how we're fighting to protect our loved ones or how the Horsemen were fighting for their own kind." Not to say that she really trusted either of the other two factions, but she could understand why they did what they did.

"I understand why you want to join, but to fight for revenge? At what point does that end? You destroy a Hunter base and kill dozens. They find a way to come back and destroy a number of Horsemen, and maybe even Halloween innocents who are caught in the crossfire. These groups then retaliate, and it's just a neverending circle of violence until..."

Until what? One of the groups dies for good? Until it's far, far too late, and a number of people have already died in every faction? "The innocent humans don't deserve to be caught up in this. Think in the reverse situation: what if Hunters or Horsemen decided to go for Halloween? To target the innocent people here, the people you care about most?" She didn't mention a name, but her voice was tight, and it was clear what she was trying to imply.

"In the end, like Lizzy said, you can't just quit later if you join the Horsemen, even if they ask you to hurt someone who is dear to you."

"Stop that," Lizzy sounded more and more annoyed, "Innocents got involved, so isn't it time to try ending the cycle of revenge." She said it all before, but for some reason, she felt more agitated right now than in the past.

"Maybe. Maybe I resent it," She replied, "We're lucky that Stacey didn't seem to have a lot of people who miss him. If it was someone else - someone the hunters adored - they might had came after us already the same way you are trying to get back at them."

Shun took a step closer towards Lizzy, gritting his teeth as he was continually getting angrier and angrier by the moment.

"You're ******** naive if you think that there will ever be peace," he hissed. He looked like he was about to get physical, but Xiu had beaten him to the punch. Almost literally. The slap had been hard enough to turn his head, where it lingered in that position for a few moments before he slowly looked towards the Baku. A red mark was slowly appearing on his cheek.

He stared at Xiu for a few moments quietly, then averted his gaze briefly. The rage that had been building had died down and he had more of his usual wits about him now. Mostly.

"Fine.." he murmured, "You're right.. about the civilians."

His eye shifted to meet with hers as he added, "I probably won't be actively seeking them out... But if I have the chance to end a hunter, I am not going to let that slip."

Especially if that hunter was Candace.