Umbra's Hospitality

I wasn't sure what to do, as a profuse amount of blood dripped onto my shirt from Faith's head wound and severed arm, I started to panic, hyperventilating while staring at the ground.

I'm no hero... I'm not like everybody else. I'm a weak leader, not meant for battle. I have no idea what to do here... what kind of damn attack was that? One of that power... is it coming for us? Whoever threw that... are they on their way?

I peered back toward the corner, fearing to see somebody turn with the power of leveling this entire bunker.

I thought Faith could use strands... why wasn't she healing her wounds? Was she unconscious? She doesn't feel dead... what the hell do I do?!

"HIYOCHI! Can you hear me?!" I screamed out.

It was dead silent for a moment, but I heard coughing and an affirmative statement.

"Ruby-nee... you're alive?" I heard behind the large boulders and smoke.

"Hiyochi! Faith has a bad head injury, I can't get to you, what do I do?!" I screamed out to her.

"I don't have anything... Ruby-nee... my resources were destroyed. Syringes, and pills, they're all crushed under the impact. I have nothing left..." Hiyochi mumbled.

"Hiyochi..." I couldn't help but say her name as if she was anything to depend on.

As I held Faith in my arms, looking down... I couldn't think of what to do. I was more than a pathetic leader. Sky wouldn't freeze up in this situation, would he?

Dammit... why am I thinking about what he would do?

No... I subconsciously know why. That's because he's a good leader, whether I like it or not.

Sorry, Sky, but I'm going to have to steal your skill.

I pulled up my radio while tearing off the sleeves of my shirt. I left the shrapnel in Faith's head, knowing that she would bleed out quickly if I took it out.

"Griff, Jeff, reporting. This is Ruby, are you two still there?" I asked into the radio.

"Ruby! What the hell was that explosion? Is everybody okay?" Jeff asked through the radio in a panicked voice.

"Don't you worry, you have one job, and that's comms. Please, set the frequency to alert the Arkians that an explosion took place in the bunker, one that injured Faith almost fatally, and one that killed a whole shitload of people," I told them.

"Okay... okay... shit..." I heard Jeff's voice again, and a small spark of static.

"Attention all Arkians, this is Jeff speaking. Ruby is okay, but the explosion you just heard hit the bunker. I don't want to alert anybody in battle, so ignore this message if need be, but Faith has been hit with shrapnel and is in a critical state," Jeff finished.

Before the static arrived after he finished the message, a spark of blue lightning appeared at the source of the explosion, and Sky came running in, with blue hair, obviously morphed into Avie, and slid right beside me as I covered her head.

"Who did this?" Sky asked. There was a rage in his eyes I couldn't fathom. I had seen him concentrated once when we fought against Cole and Fico in the forest between Karia and Zealous, but not even then did he have this look. I was upturned by it, unable to find words.

"WHO THE FUCK HURT FAITH?!" He grabbed onto my collar and pulled my face close to him.

Purple eyes...

"I-I don't know... It happened so fast... can you heal her?!" I yelled at him.

A plethora of Golden Strands sprouted from his body like an explosion, surrounding Faith, and everybody else injured.

The purple in his eyes didn't subside, but the blue in his hair did. His ears were no longer pointed, and his look wasn't filled with as much rage as before.

"I thought this bunker would be safe... this is a miscalculation on my part, and I apologize that I hurt your daughter," I told him.

Sky walked over to the boulders surrounding the room, charging up an attack, and disintegrating them with one of his weird abilities.

Golden Strands flooded the room, replenishing those who were injured from the initial collapse, and the explosion in the food bunker. Their wounds were miraculously healed... and the strands even interacted with Hiyochi in a strange way, littering her back in a strange pattern.

"That's everybody accounted for. I have to go find who did that," Sky told me.

From the hallway leading to the food storage, Alexia came running next, out of breath, and looking ahead toward Sky and Faith.

"Sky! My fight just ended with Carl... it's Cynthia... she's here... she's The Masked Girl," Alexia told him.

"W-What...? Cynthia's... alive...?" He asked Alexia. She nodded while panting.

"I'm here to help Hiyochi, Carl got her to run away... he bested her in combat, it was extremely impressive..." Alexia said between breaths.

"Thank you, Alexia. You've done a lot, and I thank you for that. Where did Cynthia go?" Sky asked her.

"That's not surprising to you? Your sister is still alive... and you're not even shocked by it," Alexia added with a slight chuckle.

"It doesn't matter, she's not family anymore, she's the enemy. If she's the one who put that hole in the mountain, I have no problem killing her," Sky admitted.

"You're not going alone... that explosion, that killed my people, it's personal between all of Zealous and its Leader as well. I can't fight that well, but I have quite the skill of hiding behind a shield. Let me join you," I told Sky.

"As long as comms are taken care of, I don't care what you do. Alexia, you'll be okay here?" Sky asked her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm an Asterio. So long as I breathe, I'll be there to administer Golden Strands for the injured. Are you still holding up okay?" Alexia returned Sky's question, and he smiled.

"Still kicking, don't you worry," He said.

"Ruby?" I heard from the food storage yet again.

This time around, Umbra was standing at the entrance, with weird gauntlets on her wrists.

"Umbra?" I said, just as surprised to see her standing in front of me.