"Don't help me..."
Nu crouched down beside the balled up Senshi, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and the winged woman squirmed away from her touch.
"Of course we're going to help you," she gently chided. "Are you hurt?"
"Just leave me alone. Let me die," Senshi sobbed.
"I can't do that," Nu smiled. "I'm too much like Mama. If I see someone hurting, I can't just leave them there."
Senshi's body wracked with sobs, and Nu looked at Vandal.
"Besides, we can't let you die, Senshi. We need you," she explained, motioning for Van to chime in.
Vandal shrugged awkwardly. "Um, sure?" he said, sounding so unsure of himself that Nu shot him a look.
"What?" he argued, talking hushed and crossing his arms, "I'm not good at this stuff."
Nu shook her head. "I need you to protect me here. Vandal's a wonderful bodyguard, but you've got skills he doesn't. We all need each other if we're going to get through whatever this ordeal is."
Senshi sniffled, wiping at her eyes and nose with her sleeve.
"So why don't you get up and come with us?" Nu encouraged her, tugging at her gently. "Have you seen Jayden? Does he know we've gone?"
"Yeah, he knows," Senshi answered flatly as Nu helped her stand. She gave a longing look at the pedestal before allowing Nu to drag her from the room.
"Maybe we should go get him? I wouldn't want him to worry about us..." Nu mused.
Something caught her attention, though - a building she hadn't seen before in the distance. It was really tall and skinny, with rows of elongated broken windows lining it. The white concrete was marred with dust and grime and part of the top few floors had crumbled away, leaving the entire building with a scarred look down it's face.
Nu blinked hard and rubbed her eyes, thinking she was going crazy.
She could have sworn she saw a light flickering in one of the smashed windows on the top floor.
"And maybe we can look over there?" she suggested, pointing towards the large building. "Senshi, you're faster than the rest of us. Can you go find Jayden and meet Van and I there?"
Senshi wiped her red eyes one more time before mumbling something and flying off.
There was something sinister about the building, something the young elementalist couldn't quite put her finger on, but something she felt she needed to explore. Nu wasn't sure if the others had seen the light as she had or felt drawn to it as she was, but as she walked forward with her eyes locked onto the strange building, she hoped she wasn't the only one.
Pieces of the crumbled building littered the streets as they approached the building, and Nu had to carefully pick her way forward so she didn't trip. The wind blew ominously through the broken windows, whistling a warning. But Nu wasn't listening, completely enraptured with the light in the window. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing up at it. "Van, do you see that? Someone might be up there!"
She rushed forward before Vandal could say anything, ducking through the metal doors falling off their hinges and into the building.
It was so dusty inside that the air itself seemed to be trying to attack Nu, and she wished Granna or Papa were there to blow some fresh air inside. Several pieces of the tiled ceiling had fallen down and some more were hanging off, threatening to fall at any moment. A long counter greeted Nu in the main room, with papers flung all over the floor. She could see some strange device on the counter with a glass screen and wires coming from it, but it didn't look like it worked anymore. Behind the counter was two metal doors with several buttons on the wall nearby depicting arrows. Another metal door with a window was off to the left, with a sign hanging above it depicting a stick figure walking up stairs.
"Nu!" She heard Vandal curse and creep inside, coughing slightly. "You can't just go running off!"
"I'm sorry, but we need to get to the top floor. Someone's up there, I'm sure of it!"
Vandal raised an eyebrow at her as she hurried over to the metal door guarding the stairs. She pushed and pulled on it, but it was firmly locked.
"Van, a little help?"
ns 15.158.61.54da2
