Rising tension

Luke stumbled into the party room and scanned across the bodies until he found Amy's. He grabbed her, pulled her up onto her feet, and then out into the corridors.

"Heyyyyy, Luukkee! How are ya-!" exclaimed Amy but she was cut off by Luke shoving a needle into her arm and injecting something into her. Amy's drunk state quickly passed and some water supplied by Luke made the hangover pass by quickly too.

By now they were already outside the underground lab having opted to exit through the large staircase and doors which was how Luke got in it the first place.

"I don't have much time to explain but - it's Cassie." said Luke as they ran through the forest. Luke let go of his grip on Amy and they began running towards the female dorm. Amy was about to ask was was happening when she saw a dark figure sitting on the edge of the female dorm roof.

"Stay down here. I'll go up." commanded Amy as she ran for the dorm entrance.

The stairs were - for once - faster than the elevator as Amy hopped over the banister multiple times to cut corners. Once on the top floor she sprinted down the corridor and out the doors into the open space roof and looked around. Only a shadow made by the moon disclosed Cassie's location on the higher roof and Amy climbed up onto it.

As soon as Cassie saw her she shuffled away.

"I know you went to meet up with 'The Crusaders'." said Cassie. Amy didn't know what she was talking about until she remembered the night. And how they revealed they were the ones who were attacking Cassie.

"Cassie, I didn't know they were 'The Crusaders'. They said nothing about it when they invited me and nothing about it at the party." reassured Amy. She slowly edged closer to Cassie with her hand reached out for Cassie to take. But Cassie only edged further off the roof.

"I just want it to stop. I want everyone to stop treating them differently because they're afraid and actually do something. I should've gone to the police when I had the chance but now THEY don't even believe me."

"Cassie. We can sort this out. You're not alone. We can go together and sort this out together. We can go to Cynthinia and talk to her about this. I know she'll listen to me. Just trust me." Amy edged closer to Cassie who didn't edge away. Instead she turned to her.

"Alright ... I'll trust you. But you need to promise me. Promise me that Cynthinia will do her job and make these animals pay for what they've done!"

"I promise."

Cassie stood up and went to take Amy's hand. But her foot slipped and down she went. Amy dived for her and caught her wrist. Cassie grabbed onto Amy's wrist and arm and looked up. He face went from fear to relief to fear once more. Amy looked behind her and saw Oskar towering over her. Shadow hands latched onto their arms and began to pry at their fingers.

"You know, I never thought getting rid of a loose end would be so easy. I mean, don't get me wrong. Our little punching bag sessions were fun." Oskar chuckled a little. "Remember when we strung you up from a tree a literally left you there during a storm. Oh now THAT was a fun weekend. But now your use has worn out. We grow tired of hunting you down and beating you to find the satisfaction we once gained. So now we let you drop. It'll seem like an accident and who'll believe a blind kid and an ability-less runt like you."

"Why are you doing this to her!?" questioned Amy as she fought the shadows trying to loosen her grip.

"She knows too much." said Oskar with a sigh.

"Too much about what?" asked Amy looking at Oskar then back at Cassie and the shadows.

"That they've been dealing with the local mafia. Planning to get them inside the building to kidnap Cynthinia's child and sell it." explained Cassie as she tried to push the shadows away but only passed though them.

"The child of a goddess and celestial weapon user will go on the market for more than a solar system. Criminals all over the universe would sell their entire crew just to get their hands on a baby with THAT much power." Oskar filled in the rest of the details.

"Why tell me as well?" asked Amy.

"Because we're gonna drop you as well. You tried to save her but got dragged down with her. Convincing story isn't it?" said Oskar.

The shadows pried the last finger open and Cassie began to fall again. She looked at Amy who's arm was stretched out as if trying to grab her again and Oskar who was getting ready to push Amy off once she had died from the fall. There was a flash of bright, green light and a swirl of hundreds of shadow arms enveloped Cassie and brought her to a stop. She landed on the ground softly and looked around to see Luke standing their with the symbols on his eyes glowing which indicated he had used his ability.

Amy had watched from above and quickly rolled out of the way as Oskar's foot swept through the air beside her. He had gone to kick her off but now that she and Cassie had survived he wasn't going to let the floor have all the fun. Amy scrambled for the edge of the roof and shoved herself off. She fell and was caught the same way as Cassie by Luke and they all looked up.

Down came Oskar who landed upright without even bending his knees to soften the landing. The floor around him formed crater and he looked up at the three of them with murder in his eyes. The three of them turned and ran into the forest behind them.