Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wraith heard screams and what he thought were donkeys through the thick smoke that had enveloped the clearing in a matter of seconds. He could hear Eponine and Estrelas somewhere to his left; straining, he tried to block out their noises, and for a moment heard hooves galloping towards his right. Seizing the moment, he raced in their direction and thought he saw a hazy outline of an enormous horse where the smoke was beginning to clear.

Wraith winced as he reached to his side to pull out a non-existent arrow. All he had with him was a small knife... and...

But that wouldn't help anyways, he thought, shaking his head angrily. He could hit Shee, and if the outline wasn't the enemy, but Estrelas or Eponine instead, there could be dire consequences.

There was nothing he could do, but maybe...

"Shee! SHEE! You've got to..." Wraith's voice dissolved into a hacking cough as he felt a particularly poignant stab of the smoke in his lungs.

They were all calling her name. The voices swirled around her, pounding against her temples, unrelenting. She was moving; it was uncomfortable. She tried to get up and immediately fell back down again, feeling a crushing pressure on top of her. There was a... person holding her down. She wrestled feebly with their iron grip.

Wordlessly, Eponine swam through the thick haze toward the coughing sound, and upon reaching him, whacked Wraith on the back as he choked on the smoke. Perhaps a little too hard for a friendly pat, considering the faint clang that sounded from the hand as it hit Wraith's spine. A second clang marked Eponine's good-natured pat on Estrelas back. Eponine might have human flesh, but there was still the metal frame underneath to be reckoned with.

"You two - " referring to both Estrelas and Wraith " - keep on calling, I'll listen," she supplied dejectedly. She took up her post between the two, trying hopelessly to gaze through the smoke and listening intently. Was that the sound of somebody falling, or was it simply the donkeys? Anything could be imagined in this kind of fog.

Wraith gasped as Eponine's hand fell upon his back. He felt, if possible, worse than before.

"Th-thanks."

He looked up at where the horse's silhouette was subtly shrinking, moving farther away at every moment.

Ignoring Estrelas and Eponine, Wraith straightened and bolted for the horse once again, with one last cough.

"SHEE! You have to do it! No one can help you now!" His lungs felt ready to burst.

Shee could hear them; all of them. Eponine, Estrelas, Wraith and... and him. It was throwing her off. Who was he? Was he really here? For that matter, where was she? She could feel the mist in her mind clouding her every thought, hard as she tried to disperse it.

Estrelas' call pierced the clouds, and through it, she could hear Wraith's voice. Looking back to the last scrap of forest they were beginning to leave behind, Shee closed her eyes and tried to focus, thanking Estrelas for the moment of lucidity she had given her.

The smoke was beginning to clear, and slinking out of it were tendrils of vine that began to snake up the now visibly black horse's legs. Jerking, the horse came to a violent stop, with Aislynn holding on, but unable to stop Shee from being thrown to the ground with a dull thud. The vines, not stopping, began to curl up the horse's body.

Wraith, as he got closer to the horse, began to emit a fierce warmth and a saturated red glow emanated from him. He whipped out a dagger and threw it towards Aislynn, where it burst into flame midway through its trajectory.

Aislynn swore. She threw another packet onto the ground, whereupon a thick plume of grey smoke enveloped her and the horse.

Estrelas thought she saw a burst of flame, but that was probably a hallucination bought on by the packet of smoke that enveloped the darkly-silhoutted figures.

She tucked Angel safely in one arm and grabbed Eponine's hand. "Yahh, 'Po-nine, let's run! Thayy probably need our help!" Estrelas threw herself up onto a donkey and kicked it in the ribs as hard as she could. "Go forth Donkey, and let uss save Shee!" she called, pointing ahead.

The donkey merely glanced up at her, trotted a few steps, then bent its head down to graze.

"No., você pedaço do idiot da carne!" Estrelas shrieked at it and slapped the donkey's hindquarters with a practiced hand. With a snort, it shot forward.

"Eponine, come on!"

Estrelas should have been spooked as Eponine easily kept up stride with a galloping donkey, but only Angel noticed that the French recruit wasn't exactly 100% human. She voiced this by sniffing curiously at Eponine, but Estrelas tucked her back under her arm, too intent on riding the reluctant donkey to contemplate mechanical muscles. Not that she would have anyways, not knowing Eponine's secret.

"WE'RE HERE!" Estrelas yelled to Wraith as they approached a few yards away. "Eponine, Angel, and I, here's a donkey!"