"Wait!" Nu went to cling to Magpie's arm as she tried to pull the cork from the vial, but the nimble thief sidestepped away. "We shouldn't use that yet. Whatever she's suffering from, I can fix her."
"But-"
"I can do it. Please."
Magpie nodded, watching Nu closely as she looked back and forth between Senshi and Van, both lying on the ground unconscious. "Van's still bleeding, but Senshi at least looks stable. Can you keep her comfortable while I try to stabilize Van?"
Nu didn't wait to see if Magpie listened, but rushed back over to Van's side with the water stone.
Nu had never seen anyone hurt so badly. Van's shins were burned, bleeding down onto the ground, but it was his other injuries that scared her. He was coughing up blood - lots of blood, and his eye...
His face was scratched up and burned, so it was hard for Nu to assess the damage done to his eye right away. She quickly grabbed her water stone and summoned her affinity, hoping Mama would know what to do.
Some of the life-giving water went over Van's damaged eye and stayed there while the rest worked on the rest of his body. The burns were easy enough to fix, but the internal injuries he had sustained were more difficult.
"My dear Van, what happened to you?" Nu asked, knowing he couldn't hear.
He responded with a cough, making her jump as Van opened his good eye.
"Wait! Don't open the other one," she warned.
Van nodded and struggled to sit up, and Nu felt guilty she couldn't help him. She was too busy trying to keep her affinity active despite how much her birthmark burned and how lightheaded she was starting to become. After all, if she couldn't use her powers now then what good is she?
Van looked around, seeing Magpie cover the unconscious Senshi with her cloak. "Senshi? Magpie?"
Nu nodded. "They found us right after you..." Nu trailed off, unable to get words past the sudden lump in her throat. "I need to look at your eye," she told him.
"Don't bother," Van said. "I'm sure it's-"
"I'm still going to try," Nu said sweetly, and Van gave a frustrated sigh.
"You really should save your energy. There's no point in trying."
Van seemed off, Nu noticed. He seemed more irritable than normal, and seemed guilty and disgusted and nervous, perhaps from losing the fight? Nu let her affinity end, letting the water mixed with Van's blood drop to the ground, and she put a hand on his shoulder.
"She's waking up!" Magpie interrupted the moment and Nu scrambled over to the semi-conscious Senshi.
"Senshi, are you okay?" Nu asked as Magpie stood up to give her space. "What happened?"
Senshi pushed Nu away and grumpily scoffed. "I'm fine. It's nothing."
"It looks like it's something," Nu pressed, motioning to the blood mixed with petals on the ground, but Senshi stayed silent. "I can help you, but you have to tell me what's going on."
"Nu!" The desperation in Vandal's voice made her look up, and she saw Magpie dragging an unconscious Jayden towards them. Magpie was limping and holding something in her hand that glowed a faint blue colour.
"What?" Nu turned to their Magpie, who was grinning slyly.
"Damn, thought he could have kept them occupied for a bit longer," she said. "I only just found her."
Nu watched in horror as the air shimmered and the illusion of Magpie faded away, leaving a man standing in her place. The man towered over the petite Nu, his physical strength nearly as intimidating as the aura of power that surrounded him. A blank mask covered the bottom half of his face, disguising his features and his birthmark.
"Hello, Nuallis," he said, grinning behind the mask.
Nu froze. She recognized this man as the masked man - the one who had destroyed her village that day to find her. The kind of power he had must come from an Air Prodigy, and the only reason Nu was still alive is because Ike could match his power that day.
But Ike wasn't here now.
The masked man shook his head, looking around at the others who had their weapons pointed at him. "Relax," he assured them. "I'm not going to fight you now."
Nu's shoulders relaxed and she let out an obvious sigh. The real Magpie and Jayden moved close enough to hear the conversation, and he grinned at her. "I'm sorry I had to use your image, but this one's easily confused in her weakened state, it would seem. You were a lot more difficult to handle."
"What do you want from us?" Nu asked him.
The masked man crouched down beside Nu and held her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "You."
"You can't have her," Van growled, taking aim and moving towards the healer.
The masked man backed up, his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey now, no need for violence! I already said I'm not going to fight you. Yet."
"Nu," Magpie interrupted, "Jayden needs your help."
"Heal them up all you want, Nuallis," the man said, walking away. "It won't stop Cordis from killing them all. And then once they're all dead, you're mine."
His last words echoed in her mind as he disappeared, and everyone looked at her expectantly.
Nu shook her head, moving over to look at Jayden. "His name is Caecius," she explained. "He's an Air Prodigy, basically a perfect user of the affinity, but he wants mine for some reason, and he's not going to stop until he gets it."
Nu recalled the fight between Ike and Caecius, trying to remember every detail. Ike's Earth Prodigy abilities were a perfect match for Caecius's Air abilities, and he was able to counter everything the Air user tried. Maybe Senshi's Earth abilities would be strong enough too? That would explain why Caecius was trying to use the vial on her - he wanted her gone.
He wanted everyone gone. Everyone except Nu.
"He's working for Cordis?" Magpie asked, and Nu shook her head.
"I don't know, maybe? He can create illusions in the air, though, so we'll have to be careful. Even if we think we are alone, we may not be."
She focused her attention back to Jayden, still unconscious and bleeding. She clenched her water stone tighter and summoned her affinity. She was already getting tired, but healing Jayden's massive wounds was even more exhausting. She found it hard to focus on the conversation her companions were having, each catching each other up on what they've been doing since the earthquake and questioning what they were going to do now.
Nu's head felt dizzy when Jayden finally stirred. "Nu?"
"Hi, Jayden," she said with a smile.
Van and the others came over, hearing Jayden awake. "We should find a new safehouse," Magpie suggested, and Nu noticed that she was also injured.
Geez, Nu thought to herself, why is everyone so reckless?
Nu moved to stand, but she was so dizzy she stumbled. Van, who was standing beside her, grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet. "There were these invisible creatures and Umbras at the hotel," she said, clinging to Van's arm to steady herself. "We have to find another place."
"Did anyone see anywhere while they were wandering around?" Magpie asked.
"I found an abandoned cellar," Senshi said, but Jayden shook his head.
"No, I'm sure there's a new place to go somewhere around here," he said, standing and looking around them.
Finally, the exhaustion from using her abilities so much took its toll on the poor healer, and her legs buckled. Van caught her as she fell, and she smiled up at him.
"I think I need a nap," she said before the world went dark.
Caecius is the main bad guy of Nu's story. He's a marauder who wants to use Nu's affinity to bring back his lover (an Earth Huntress called Nieth), but in doing so he's risking destroying the world. He's a powerful air user who can create illusions, cut people with sharp gusts of air, and if he has time to focus for it he can literally pull the air out of your lungs.
He had a previous fight with an Earth user that he actually lost because the Earth just blocked his attacks and the air Caecius manipulated couldn't get to him, so he's going to be wary of Senshi's powers.
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