Storm the Castle

[Morene Fellon]

The huntress' mind was blank with all the thoughts she knew she did not need. Sitting down upon the cobblestone floor with her armor on in an attempt to clear her mind wasn't exactly the most comfortable feeling. Either way, Morene succeeded in keeping her breathing steady, despite hearing very clearly the sounds of lava sizzling beyond the garrison walls. Still, that did not distract her; this was her time to rest after a long night of uncomfortably sitting in a wooden chair that barely held herself upright. 

What seemed to be a very long time transpired. A moment in reality, Morene blinked, forcing her eyes open as she heard a now-familiar sound originating from her right wrist. The rather clunky Liberator Aid beeped, only once, and no more. 

A deep inhale followed from the woman, towering even when sat still. She didn't know exactly where she was; the fortification was quite the opposite of 'conventional,' as the Primes found out long before entering. She only knew that by now, Sonny and Ebony weren't training; she couldn't hear their grunts of effort anymore. 

It's just about time to go, then. Morene thought, her mind quickly going back into it's usual state of waken soberness. 

Standing herself upright, almost as if she wasn't just sitting down for a good few hours straight, Morene looked upon the door that she now saw was in front of her. Quickly, the woman remembered she entered through said door, and more importantly, her legs stung. Not as if she couldn't feel them; the Sleeping God himself be damned if her augments were that quick to prevent blood from flowing in her body under a bit of stress. 

Stepping out, Morene felt slightly relieved, almost as if the air was cleaner. It wasn't, she knew it wasn't, but it was a nice thought as she walked down upon the dimly lit halls, the almost robotic whirring of her armor intensifying as she stamped forward with surprising haste. 

A sigh escaped her lips as she wandered, vaguely understanding how the garrison would be structured due to past knowledge of defensive fortifications and a slight lick of common sense. It didn't help much for a previously noted fortification for tiny turtle men, for sure.

---

Knock, knock.

Morene stepped back from the towering door she had just tapped on. Her hands meeting her own hips, the huntress stood outside in patience, and only after she heard a small, annoyed grunt, did she hear a voice.

"Ahh, whaddaya want?!" Not Bowser, by all means; it was far more high-pitched. Had quite the sass in it too; Morene knew at that point it was King Koopa's daughter, Wendy. 

She waited, expecting Wendy to assume another fellow Koopa was rapping on the door to grasp at her attention. The knight-errant didn't bother to give her name, instead waiting for the tiny girl to open the door. Perhaps misguided and spoiled, Morene still wouldn't entirely treat Wendy like a child; this was 'her' garrison after all. That in mind, Morene knew she was still her elder, and though she'd not admit that without the Koopa Kid throwing a bit of a tantrum or getting the slightest bit irked, the woman had to make sure the conversation that would soon follow would be about business, nothing more for now. 

The wooden frame of the door nearly snapped as the rather comically small turtle girl opened it, jumping back at the sudden sight of a human's greaves. Looking up in a sudden burst of shock, Wendy was taken aback by the sight of Morene. Though unintentional, the almost disappointed look the woman gave to the kappaling was a bit scary. Just a bit, though.

"Hey!" Wendy piped up, suddenly not so surprised anymore. "You're that one big girl!" 

...Alright, maybe she wasn't as insufferable as her voice let on. Morene chuckled a bit, not being able to hold it in, responding to the rather flattering comment.

"Why, yes, indeed so," her voice rolled out. Before she could continue, Wendy kept going, inquiring this time.

"Well, I asked!" She paused. Asked what?  Morene thought, before the Koopa child awkwardly continued, very typically so.

"I asked you whaddaya want?" 

This time, Wendy didn't ask with any hostility or annoyance. A bit of impatience, Morene could detect that, but the woman couldn't blame the child. After all, the huntress noted as she looked beyond Wendy's rather small shoulders, her room looked quite cozy. It was mostly wooden in appearance, though at almost every corner of the room, hearts, ribbons and bows lined any place the person who had previously decorated the room could have put it. Shaking her head, Morene answered the question to get back on track. Again, business, nothing more for now.

"I've come to inform you that me and my allies will be heading out soon, and I am grateful that you let us stay so long."

Wendy eventually nodded, looking almost more disappointed than Morene did. Not over an emotional connection, but something in the Koopaling's head told her that these Primes she stood before were a lot of fun to be around, as embarrassing as that was to think about in detail. That, and something in her really wanted to give Ebony Hellscythe some pointers in fashion. Either way, the kappa came to the realization that, if they were free to enter, they were free to leave. 

"Ouh, alrighty then... Don't make a big mess this time, though!" Wendy shouted in the general direction of the Prime, and Morene didn't think of it as much of a pleasurable experience. As much as she wanted to scold the child in front of her for the simple demeanor of absolute sass. 

"Don't worry," Morene shook her head, "I think your father would put my head under the axe if I did; 'tis not on the top of my priority list."

Looking onto the floor, Morene had reconsidered this notion. The knight-errant did feel it would be best to leave with her allies soon, for they still had a job to do (on the assumption that Ebony still wanted to go through with it), but the weirdly disappointed tone in Wendy's voice before the girl sent the woman off was the slightest bit convincing to the fact that this might be one of the few safest places all of them could stay for a while.

With that in mind, Morene stepped away, giving Wendy a rather overly polite farewell in case this would be the last time she'd see the small girl, not thinking too much about that however. Looking back, Morene then set her mind on finding the two troublemakers she intended to take care of wherever they went. Wherever they were, anyways...

---

As it turns out, Morene didn't just have two troublemakers on her hands, but now three.

The huntress was keenly aware of why exactly Summer and Sonny were both in the physical realm at once, and as casual as the scene before her looked, it seemed like a rather unique occurrence for the sun spirit at least. Not to mention Ebony, who was truly calm at the moment. All of the Primes (if you could count Sonny and Summer being counted as two,) knew the knight-errant was in the general vicinity, and that much was intentional. The slight whirring of the woman's armor had made sure to not make any of the younglings in the room jumpy. After all, it was late.

Walking over, Morene pulled up a chair a good meter away from Ebony, sitting down again in the same position she was in last night watching over her allies.

"Dears?" the woman whispered, making sure not to break the serenity of the moment.

"Y-yes, Morene?" Ebony slowly turned her head currently being pampered by what seemed to be Summer, himself giving a slight smile as means to signal he was listening. 

The knightly huntress leaned backwards, chair creaking again as she did so. Rubbing at her chin, Morene exhaled. It wasn't a sigh, nor was it one of relief; the woman seemed to be pondering, and she represented that by asking the two the question that was currently on her mind; "Would you both like to leave by morn, or stay a few more days?"

Ebony was a bit surprised by this. She wasn't shocked or scared of the idea per se, but... Something in the scythe wielder's head told her that this place was cozy, even if the heat wasn't fun to deal with all the time. Besides, who would care about that when you have somebody that can manipulate the weather currently brushing your hair? Ebony couldn't help but think as Morene waited patiently for an answer, not wanting to rush the two at all. Summer himself looked upon Ebony in silence, anticipating her response. The silence almost made the teen girl a bit anxious, wanting to ask why the woman wanted to leave in the first place, but... As she looked down, she saw why. That reason was right on the huntress' wrist.

Eventually, Summer himself decided to pitch in as he continued to brush, stating calmly, "It's up to you, Eb."

The scythe wielder continued to go over her decisions, her mouth agape. The Darklings were still out there, and Morene had a job to do. They all  had a job to do.

---

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

First part is between Summer and Morene's posts. Second part is after Morene's post.

Having her hair brushed wasn't unusual. It was uncommon, but she'd always liked it. Even the rare little twinges of pain when the brush eased out a particularly nasty knot. Maybe something about it made her feel safe, she thought, pondering the situation. Or maybe she simply enjoyed the feeling of someone playing with her hair. Deep down, she knew that wasn't it. That wasn't why she was smiling happily, head lolling back and faint hums escaping her lips. It was because only a close friend - someone like family - had ever done that before. Not back at the old castle tower, but the boat. It resembled trust, a true friendship, someone who really cared about her, much unlike the castle mages who'd seen to it that she had what she needed and left her to her own devices.

It was heavy. She felt like all the strength in the world couldn't lift the weight on her shoulders. It was suffocating, and her breaths felt thick and hot as if her throat was swollen. She couldn't return this. She could give anything back on the ship, and she couldn't do that now. Even without the fighting, she was a burden - still a scared little girl pretending to be something she wasn't.

But, selfishly, she lapped it all up. Never feeling like she'd done anything to deserve it. Yet, even then, both right now - and on the boat - people continued to care for her. She squirmed a little bit, mind aimlessly wandering as she settled down once again. Just thinking. Mostly about home, and general recent events.

Captain.

She'd last seen him a few days ago when-

Ebony swallowed, closed her eyes, and sighed.

It felt like weeks had passed. 

But she couldn't do anything about it. Not right now.

A short wave of reluctance ran through her bones. Could she really sit here relaxing and enjoying herself at a time like this? After everything that had happened, with much more on the horizon? The answer was yes, she could. Drama and inner conflict aside, she needed this. Besides the neatening of her hair, she'd go crazy if she didn't let herself rest. Yawning, all the tension slowly drifted out of her body. Even the cursed mark didn't feel painful anymore. It was just there. A faint tingle around a patch of desensitised skin.

Gentle fingers deftly guided the top of her head, prompting her to twist her neck a little to give Summer a better angle. She blushed, unsure what to do with her hands. Settling for looping her fingers under the leg holes of her shorts, she awkwardly ruffled the smooth fabric, sitting up straight. Within moments, she relaxed once again, cherishing the moment and avoiding thinking of anything. Mind almost completely blank, it was then where Morene entered with her, admittedly subdued, interruption.

---

"I-"

I don't want to.

I'm scared.

I don't want to fight anymore.

I can't.

I don't want you to get hurt again.

"Okay. L-let's go tomorrow." Ebony bit her lip, shuddering. Pictures of the last battle were still fresh in her mind. Feelings of sharp metal piercing her chest. The black blood, the gore, how the limp bodies squelched beneath her feet. Eyes drooping down, she hugged her chest breaths quickening as the scenes replayed in her memories. Too real.

A firm hand clasped her shoulder, massaging the joint and jolting her out of her stupor. "We can always wait-"

"N-no." Ebony shook her head, hair shifting from side to side and messing up most of Summer's work. Although it settled neatly, with any kinky smoothed out. If anything, he'd probably finished some time ago, but neither of them had made any attempt to bring the brushing to an end. "We're going tomorrow." She twisted, half turning around on the mattress to face him while grabbing his hand in the process. She wrapped one set of fingers around his thumb while bringing her other hand over to brush her other fingers over his palm. A moment later, she closed it into a fist, swivelling her hand beneath his and rolling in his fingers, then pressing his thumb over the top. Giving his enclosed hand a squeeze with both of her own, she idly ran her thumbs over his knuckles, looked up, and met his gaze square on. Face stark white and serious, she spoke, not stuttering. Not even once. "No. We have to."

Summer paused, somewhat taken aback by her sudden resolve. Ebony broke the silence first, quickly retreating with her grip and snapping her head away, a faint tinge of red blooming on her cheeks. Accidentally, she scooted forward a little bit, almost falling off the bed. As fast as lightning, Summer's arms shot out, one wrapped around her waist and the other held her shoulder, pulling her back up and into his arms for a moment.

Ebony steadied quickly, almost falling back onto him but managing to stay upright. Within a few seconds, Summer pulled away, turning his own face to look away from her at the same moment she shifted to study him. Biting her lip, Ebony puffed her cheeks out, shuffling a little bit. Had Summer not whipped his head to the side, she would have seen a similar red on his own now-flustered skin. "Thanks," she mumbled, inelegantly puffing out a small gust of air. After some more fidgeting, she pushed herself a bit further back on the soft bedding and lifted a hand to rub the shoulder her touched through her shirt. Her cloak had been folded up and placed to the side.

"You're w-welcome." Just when she was about to pick up the bundle of fabric, Summer did so for her, and the faint sound of him taking a deep breath met her ears. With both hands, he toyed with her hair, bundling it up and running his fingers through it for a moment. Tentatively. Making an effort to touch her, yet doing so barely, as little as he could while still pursuing the action. Her cloak was soon wrapped around her, hood pulled up, and hair neatly contained inside it. "Alright." With fumbling hands, Summer did up the clasp, then placed a hand on top of her hooded head, ruffling the fake ears, patting her a little, and smoothing it out. "Let's leave tomorrow."

Glancing to the side, Ebony spotted Sonny, now slouched down in a chair next to many magical looking runes and words. Idly, she wondered what he had been doing, but didn't ask. Nonetheless, he was asleep, having passed out during the conversation - or maybe even a bit before. Meanwhile, Morene merely looked at them both with her usual motherly amusement at their awkward shenanigans, remaining silent and letting it take its course.

Some more time passed, with Ebony meshing her fingers together and occasionally stealing a glance at Summer before hiding under her hood. Huffing a little bit, she crossed her arms, then slid back far enough for her back to lean against the wall. Flaring her magic, she undid her boots, kicking them off the bed. Yet, despite the display of energy, she slouched. A loud yawn escaped her lips a moment later, prompting her to immediately straighten her back, then hide her rosy cheeks under the shadow of her hood, beginning to nod off again. Maybe it was time for them to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

[Summer]

The storm spirit heaved a deep sigh, his own eyes starting to droop as well, his thoughts clouding up just a bit. He hadn’t been the one exerting himself all day, that had been his other half. But nevertheless, Summer’s body still felt downright heavy. A shared body meant shared pain and shared exhaustion. Even in moments like now, when their mind was split into two different bodies, they were never truly separate. There was an ever-present drain that he could feel even now, as their two bodies slowly but surely ate up the last of their power.

He wasn’t the only one either. While Morene didn’t look all that tired, there was still some trace of it on her face, as stoic as it usually was. Or perhaps that was just the spirit’s exhausted glance telling him that. Sonny was perhaps even more tired than Summer was, given how he was passed out in a nearby chair, head lolled back, his chest rising and falling with small, even breaths. And judging by Ebony’s yawn... The storm spirit cast a quick glance over to the ebony-clad mage, only to find her with her eyes closed as well. She slept, sitting against the wall that the head of his bed was pressed against, breathing softly. He and Morene were the only ones left awake.

“Well, looks like it’s time to sleep, then...” Summer said with a heavy yawn, stretching his arms up over his head in an exaggerated fashion.

“It seems so...” Morene’s tone was gentle, an almost amused but still motherly look on her face as her eyes glanced over the two sleepers, before turning back to meet his gaze. “If you wish, I can take Ebony back to her room.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” the storm spirit grunted as he tiredly pushed to his feet, green/grey eyes deliberately scanning over the arcane runes his other half had magicked into place, drawing the soldier’s attention to them. “She needs to stay in here anyway, by the looks of things. I just need to get some things sorted out, and then I’ll go commandeer her room or something.”

“Very well,” Morene too rose to her feet. “I shall retire to my own room as well then. If you need anything, you know where I am.”

“Yup! Sleep well,” Summer said with a smile, voice chipper but quiet as to not rouse Ebony, looking at the soldier as he stepped over to his other half. “See you tomorrow.” Wordlessly, Morene made her way out, boots tapping on the stone flooring, the door latch clicking shut as she gently closed the door behind her, and the storm spirit set all his attention on his other half. As much as he enjoyed being separate once again, this state was far too exhausting to keep up, and he knew he’d pass out too if he even tried staying this way right now. He threw together a quick spell, focusing as much as he could on keeping the cost of it down and....

Sonny’s body exploded into a blast of brilliant light, quickly coalescing around his other half. Suddenly the world became a brilliant amalgam of light and swirling colors. Summer tottered on his feet, his senses jumbling together as it felt like gravity itself shifted on him. Swiftly, the light faded away, leaving the storm spirit swaying about in a room he couldn’t see, his eyes having adjusted to the blinding display. Slowly, he took one large step backward, followed by another, retracing the steps he’d taken to get away from the bed until his calf bumped against it.

Okay...

The bed creaked as he tenderly seated himself, careful not to disturb the girl laying just a few feet away. His vision gradually began clearing back up, revealing first the glowing runes marking every wall, before he could finally see the walls themselves, and the stonework that made them up. Now that they were back in one body, that was one thing wrapped up. Now he just needed to get Ebony all tucked away and comfy, and he could retreat to her room and let the spells work their magic.

Slowly and methodically, he shifted around on the bed until he was facing her, before unclasping her cloak and gently lifting her out of it, her body hanging limply in his arms. Despite the fact she’d nodded off not minutes ago, she already seemed to be slumbering deeply. Carefully shifting in his spot, he brought out one foot from beneath him, using to slide the blanket out of the way so he wouldn’t have to try and wrestle it out from beneath her, and delicately set her down on the mattress. Perhaps it had been because she was sleeping so deeply already, or perhaps it had been from his surprisingly gentle touch, but she didn’t once stir as he slowly set her to bed, dragging the blanket to cover her slumbering form.

Summer’s chest heaved in a deep, silent sigh as he covered her up. Part two was finished. Now all he had to do was head over to her former room and sleep the night away. Then he could wake up, make some breakfast for Ebony to return the favor from this morning, and they could be on their way, leaving to the next trial that awaited them. Slowly, careful not to bounce the bed too much, the storm spirit turned. It was inevitable, really. He didn’t know why he’d expected this stay to last longer, but he had. Well, there wasn’t much he could do about it. In the end, it wasn’t his decision to make.... He slid forward, weight shifting ever so subtly as he began to lift himself from the bed. 

Two arms shot forward and wrapped around the storm spirit’s waist, forcefully dragging him backward. A harsh gasp escaped him as he was pulled back onto the bed, which was soon answered by a sleepy sigh from Ebony.

Um....

Summer’s body twisted as he looked back towards the young mage wrapped around him. Her face was hidden, buried into his side, the warmth of her breath seeping through his thin shirt. Did she just.... Was she...? His tired mind slowly ground to a halt, not fully processing the situation. He tried pulling himself forward with an experimental tug, trying his damnedest to not rouse her from her sleep. That small motion was met with more resistance, a tired groan escaping the slumbering girl as she clung to him tighter.

Ah...

A deep sigh escaped the spirit as he sank back down into the mattress, giving up after no more than a moment’s fight. It looked like he was stuck there, Ebony’s grasp was just too strong. Even though he easily had the strength to pry himself free, especially while she was sleeping, he didn’t want to struggle too much. He wasn’t about to go and risk waking her up, after all. Or at least, that was the excuse he gave himself, his heart hammering in his chest as he lifted his legs back onto the bed, sliding his way beneath the blankets as he carefully wriggled his way lower in Ebony’s hug, until her arms were wrapped around his chest instead of his waist and he could actually lay properly.

Resting his head on the pillow, he closed his eyes, ready to sleep. But something was... off. Sure, just the other night he’d fallen asleep just like this before, listening to her quiet breaths and slowly drifting off in her warm embrace. But this time his mind just wouldn’t rest. It wasn’t the result of his pounding heart or anything of the like. It was something much less... positive. Something he recognized immediately.

Leaving...

That single word echoed in his worried mind as he lay silent, his nervousness peeking through even as he relaxed in Ebony’s grasp. In the end, he’d supported her decision to move on. It was time for them to get going, after all. No matter how much he just wanted to stick around and laze about, or at the very least keep the young mage from charging into danger, it just wasn’t an option. Not so much for him, but for the ebony-clad girl lying beside him. At the moment she’d made her decision, her resolve steeled, and Summer could hear it in her voice. A tone he’d heard all too many times before. Though she might have been reluctant, or even scared, this was still something she wanted to do. She couldn’t just let this task go uncompleted.

And so they had to finish off this mission. Before Ebony could willingly go on to Omni and ask to be sent home, she had to do this. It was what her conscience demanded. That feeling... it wasn’t something that the storm spirit had felt himself, so he didn’t really get it. But all the same, he knew what it was about, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to rest if she just left it uncompleted. And even if everything turned out alright, even if the other Liberators could handle it, the guilt would undoubtedly eat her up. She should have been there, but she wasn’t. Sure, Summer might not have felt that same drive that she was feeling when she finally put on a brave face, but even so, he wasn’t about to stop her.

Nevertheless, even after he’d made up his mind, sleep didn’t come all that swiftly. He just couldn’t shake the unease that festered in his chest. Tomorrow was going to be the start of a row of big days, and even though he needed to sleep, it was much easier said than done. But slowly, unsteadily, he found himself drifting off, Ebony’s soft breaths doing their part to ease his worries just a bit....

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Ebony stirred, her eyes greeted by darkness. She was in one of those peculiar states of mind just after a long dream, where she didn't exactly remember any of it, but she just knew it was happy. Other vague themes stuck in the back of her mind, just below the surface. That there was a boat; the calm rippling of waves backed by the crisp salty sea breeze; the steady rocking from side to side as sailors sang a merry tune. Home.

empty.

Out of reach, it was non-existent. A fleeting idea. Hollow, yet given meaning.

She shivered, feeling the cool night air against her face. Squirming, she nuzzled deeper into the blankets and grabbed onto the warm squishy object she was cuddling, not lucid enough to comprehend exactly what it was, just that she had a natural urge to snuggle against it. It shifted a little in her arms, and a sleepy groan escaped its lips.

She blinked, noticing the faint outlines of a silhouette. A face, with dumb fluffy hair... Summer.

Why was he...?

Heat rose to her face, instantly dispelling the midnight chill. She flailed a little, pulling away and tugging the blankets higher so she could completely bury her face underneath them. 

Having no recollection of how she ended up in bed in the first place, or when and where she fell asleep, Ebony blushed vividly. Her mind short-circuited, alerted to the fact there was a guy in her bed and she was hugging him.

Admittedly, this wasn't the first time, and Summer was her friend, but she'd only done so before because he was hurt and she needed to keep an eye on him.

Regardless, it was still a shock, but she didn't want to disturb his sleep, and taking all the covers away from him would be mean, so she was very limited in what she could do.

And then he shuffled, moving to fill the small gap she left.

"S-summer...?"

Tentatively, she poked his shoulder.

Definitely asleep.

She blinked, her eyelids drooped, heavy. It was a few seconds before she opened them again.

Yawning, she pushed her head back above the blankets, then spun around, facing away from Summer. Easy. She could just pretend he wasn't there. Or would have been able to if not for his steady breathing. Once noticed, she found it impossible to ignore, making her scrunch her nose and furrow her brow as she hid her face in the pillow.

Yet, as fickle as always, deep down her mind nagged her to return back to where she was. He was warm and huggable, despite usually feeling cold. Awkwardly, she meshed her fingers together, in thought. She bit her lip, then reach back and grabbed one of his arms, pulling it over her like a blanket so it ran over her shoulder. Wiggling, she snuggled into his limp grip, a tad flustered, but slowly becoming used to his presence.

It was just this once, of course. Only because it was cold, she assured herself, despite her body's strong natural heating. Definitely.

Eventually, her eyes did drift shut and faint sleepy hums and sighs pushed through her lips as she once again drifted back to sleep.

[Morene Fellon]

Chaotic visions of the sinews of disorder plagued at Morene's mind as she slept. Though no sweat rolled down her face, she still shifted in discomfort, the poor excuse of a blanket now halfway off the mattress she currently laid upon, barely keeping itself upright. Her expression did not change however, even if the dreams continued, fueled by the woman's long years of slaying the undead spirits of the night. 

As whatever could pass as a 'sun' within this Verse rose above the horizon, a narrow luminescence peeked itself through the arrowslit and slowly crept up to Morene's face in the matter of a minute. Half-awake, the huntress groaned at the sudden source of light. Not a heavy sleeper by any means, Morene's eyes eventually shot open, soon leaving the thoughts of her nightmare behind, for it was typical of her to have, unfortunately. Still, she thought, scratching her head as she sat upon the side of the mattress, I need to get some of my artifacts back sometime. Perhaps they'll help to keep me sane if I'm alone.

Almost as if she expected to place her bare feet upon the hardwood floors of her own cabin, the knight-errant realized she was not in Creedmoor, but again awakening within the wretched realms of the Omniverse. A sigh escaped her lips, remembering her, Ebony and Summer were to leave the garrison today. 

Getting up from her bed, Morene Fellon stretched her arms outwards, routinely checking on her body to see if all of it's functionality was still there. Waiting for a moment, Morene made sure her movements weren't groggy as she walked over to her armor, itself standing with an open hatch at the corner of the room almost as if it was on display. Sliding her arms and legs within the suit, Morene made sure the various plugs in her body were aligned correctly as the Cerantium power armor clamped itself shut quite loudly. Still, the woman kept her helmet off of course, walking outside the room she currently resided in, the door still wide open. 

Looking outside the hallway, Morene took a right in the direction of Ebony and Summer's current sleeping area. As she approached, the sabatons on her feet stamped along the ground beneath her, surely to stir the two Primes she was about to approach. Turning the handle of the door, the wooden frame creaked as it opened. Morene didn't bother to make her presence any less known; it was time to wake, get ready and leave. 

"Alright my darlings, it's time to get up!"  The woman emphasized, speaking softly as she did so. Almost immediately, Summer and Ebony groaned at the sudden intrusion of noise, light and a very giant woman attempting to mother the two of them, almost as if they had to get ready for public grade school. 

As adorable as it was to see for Morene herself, she watched as Ebony let go of Summer in what seemed to be a hug. The huntress sighed at this, knowing that the girl would not like the concept of leaving, but she was at least reassured that the girl would be in good company in the form of her friend, or friends, as one might argue. 

Summer was the first to speak in response.

"Come on now, the sun just rose..." The storm spirit grumbled, sitting himself upright, Ebony still barely waking up from either of her two allies' sudden motion and noises. 

"Yes," Morene began, "we've got a lot of travelling ahead of us!" 

As the knight-errant walked forward, Ebony eventually got herself upright, making a rather strange high-pitched noise as means to portray slight discomfort and even slighter annoyance. She stayed silent otherwise, Summer resting a hand upon her shoulder as she continued to latch onto him, barely half-awake at the moment. The woman before the two Primes couldn't help but give a chuckle. Morene talked to herself in her head, deciding not to comment on the rather flustering situation otherwise. No rush for now; these two are going to need an hour or two to pack up, truly.

Instead, the woman decided to instruct her two children instead. "I want you two hydrated for when we leave; we won't be doing much walking at all, but we'll still be surrounded by terrible heat."

Summer opened his eyes after a long bout of rubbing them, his eyebrows raising in interest. 

"Shouldn't you be worrying about that? Big clunky armor and all?" He quipped, Morene almost instantly clicking her tongue. What an assumption! Hand to her chest, Morene smiled at the sudden tease. Well, IF he was teasing, anyways... otherwise the storm spirit would have heard an earful on just how not-at-all clunky armor is supposed to be, her own being no exception to that. Still, the woman had the humor in her to respond.

"Mind you! One of the hardest parts of crafting this suit was putting in a functioning air conditioner! I must remain comfortable while protecting myself, after all."

Striking a little pose, the knight-errant watched as Ebony finally opened her eyes.

"W-whuh..." the scythe-wielder barely murmured. Looking around, she saw her arms still latched onto the man that protected her late into the night. Sucking air through her teeth, the realization allowed the poor girl to fully regain consciousness and a clear train of thought, however slightly panicked. 

"I--" Ebony began, almost shaking as she quickly continued, "I'm sorry...!"

"Heeey now, what'd I tell you about those apologies?" Summer eased the girl's thoughts, even if it resulted in the eventual loosening of her rather firm grasp. 

"I know... Hm," Ebony had hummed, the faintest of smiles on her faces. Silence followed for a moment. Morene shifted her weight, directing the two's attention towards her. 

"Come then, let us travel on a full stomach and spirit rather than lacking."

---

The blistering heat was now evident to all of the Liberators, standing at the gateway to the garrison. Remaining under the shade, Ebony huddled up against the castle walls in hopes that the hazy winds wouldn't hit her back. Summer had been close, seemingly bored. Meanwhile, the reason as to why that was became true to sight; Morene was busy crouched down, summoning her warbike into existence one more. 

All of the Primes, especially Morene, inferenced that the ending of the summon drew near, and a pit in the scythe-wielder's stomach had spawned as due result of that. The storm spirit seemed to take notice, putting a hand on her shoulder once more, this time to make her feel ever so slightly safer against the never ending sizzling of lava pits that could be seen only a hundred or so meters away, if not less.

"Come," Morene requested, signalling with her hands for both of her friends to draw near. She had finished summoning her Thunderbike. 

A pause, but after a brief moment, those loose orders were followed through with. 

It didn't take long for Summer to seat himself behind Morene, sighing as he did so. Surprisingly, Ebony hopped on quickly thereafter, wrapping her tiny mage arms around the man. Pressing upon her gorget, the huntress inhaled as her helmet wrapped itself around her head, the visor glowing blue as it activated. Slowly, the woman's hand lurched over to the dash, clicking upon a button. Turning a dial, Summer and Ebony almost jumped as a sudden noise that they soon identified as music began playing. 

"Here, something to occupy you two with!"

With that, the warbike's engine roared, and the Liberators rode onward to the Gates.

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Last post ending would have been perfect, but we still gotta wait for more DD so...

"Miss Morene, Miss Morene, Miss Morene!"

Hopping, skipping, and fumbling, a short Koopa holding an oversized scroll sprinted through the archway just as Morene revved the oversized motorbike. Over the roaring engine, and the loud music, she barely heard the voice calling her, but did skid to a halt after travelling a few metres, looking over her shoulder and waiting for the Koopa to catch up. The soundtrack steadily decreased in volume, becoming light background noise.

Having squeezed Summer tightly the moment Morene had hit the throttle, Ebony raised her head, a little confused by the sudden stop. After a short pause, her arms rapidly relaxed off and she shuffled back. Summer glanced over his shoulder, bemused, and swivelled one leg over the bike to sit side on and face Ebony better. Blushing, as usual, she avoided his eyes for a moment, reached her hands up, patted her cheeks, pulled up her hood, then awkwardly twiddled with the rim of her cloak. The bike shook a little as Morene hopped off it, causing Ebony to instinctively latch onto Summer's arm for a moment - almost dragging them both off the ride - before once again letting go once she steadied.

"S-so..." She trailed off, crossing her arms and twisting to sit side by side with him, looking off into the distance. Her eyes settled on a large cloud of ash drifting over the horizon. "Nice weather we're having."

"Thanks." Summer smiled, responding immediately without any thought.

---

Apparently, as Morene informed the rest of the party, Bowser had - in fact - found work for all three of them. While the source of the darkling threat was banished from the Steppes, some of the monsters still remained. With no master commanding them, many had congregated together in a small abandoned fortress, an outpost. Thus came their mission. It was self-explanatory. They had to kill things. Fight more darklings. Although obvious, no one explicitly brought that up, with Ebony dreading yet another battle, and Summer and Morene likely tentative to spell it out in front of her - especially since they knew that she knew.

It was meant to be open, damaged, and while almost as large as the castle they'd just been living in, its fortifications were primarily destroyed. Morene was even given a rough map of the area, with some red squiggles added by the Koopa 'tactics expert' denoting key features. 

And thus, after Morene explained all of this, with the initial messenger nodding enthusiastically and adding in little details, the trio was off once again, taking a detour on their way to the Nexus gate, music booming in the background. Ebony snuggled into Summer's back as they rode, noting that his natural cold would make adequate protection from the warmth if her body wasn't naturally used to it. He was also significantly more squishy than Morene's armour, that she'd previously held on to on the bike, so it was much easier for all the little bumps on the makeshift road to go unnoticed by her.

Her heart raced.

It was just so fast. Faster than a horse. Faster than a boat. Faster than many winds she'd encountered back home, outside of storms...

She swallowed, then pressed her ear against his back, shifting even closer. Ashen air, the roaring engine, and the rough ride, it felt oddly nice. The apparent curse, the book, the skeletons, it was as if it had all been left behind. Sonny said he'd been trying to figure out what it was, and a way to dispell it, but Ebony hadn't heard back from him about it yet.

Even at such a high speed, travel took a while. It was hours at least, but Ebony wasn't keeping track. If not for that fact she felt she'd fall off if she let go, she'd have fallen asleep long ago regardless of the noise. Eight hours sleep or not, she'd never been a morning person. Sighing faintly, she shuffled, rubbing against Summer and slouching, using him to both stay on the bike and to support her own weight.

A moment later, the motorbike bounced over a larger than usual dip in the path, eliciting a small yelp. She shivered, feeling cool fingers tap over her forearms before a similar palm clasped over them. Loosely pinning her arms, Summer had moved one hand back from its prior hold. Her own palms opened and clenched, squeezing his sides and ruffling his shirt, pawing like a cat on a fluffy blanket. Magic flickering, she straightened her hood and pulled her billowing cloak in, faint hums unheard over the music.

---

With a sharp screech, the bike skidded to a halt atop a small hill, flanked by a stream of lava bubbling over the hot rock. There was a larger hill ahead, and Morene calmly informed everyone that their objective was on top of it. Naturally, she had no intention of charging in without knowing more about what they were up against. Ebony was thankful for it - but more for the delay rather than the tactics.

So, a few seconds later, Ebony and Summer were once again left alone together while Morene opted to scout ahead. Her armour hissed faintly, with thrusters pushing the woman off her feet and sending her into a silent glide up the steeper incline.

Ebony, not listening at first and barely realising the bike had stopped, opted to continue hugging Summer until she felt him shift in his grip. Immediately, she tried to let go and shuffle back, only for his arm to loosely trap one of hers, only partially letting her unravel. Her eyes widened in shock as he twisted in his seat, using his hold to keep her close enough to ruffle her hair under the hood. "Gotcha," he grinned.

Initially, she tried to use her hair to hide her peachy skin but that was swiftly brushed away. So, inevitably, she settled on pouting, puffing out her cheeks and holding her breath for the few seconds it lasted, and absolutely not enjoying it.

The moment he let go, she hopped off the bike, stumbling a little. "I'm... I'm not c-cute!" Her voice cracked halfway through as she blurted out the words, using her hood and cloak as a shield a split second after. Morene was sure to have heard a faint echo of the words from her distant perch.

"I..." Summer paused. "I didn't say anything." Although she couldn't see it, his poker face was near-flawless.

"Y-y-you were th-thinking it," Ebony stuttered, rapidly spinning around and trying to look as assertive as she could. Her eyebrows furrows and giggles were buried just beneath the tip of her tongue at the silliness of the conversation.

"You can't prove that~" Summer sang.

Ebony bit her lip, shuffling from foot to foot. "I'm cool."

"Sure, sure." Calmly, Summer reached out again, making the presence of his hand know, obvious, and easy to dodge.

It met the top of Ebony's hood, and Summer nonchalantly hopped off the bike, landing in front of her with a crunch while still toying with her head, fiddling with the fake floppy ears. Somewhat awkwardly, Ebony leant into it, but shook her head at the same time, simultaneously using the motion to rub against his hand more while also pretending it was a sign of refusal. "Am not."

A longer pause followed, just enough to break up the short talk. It was interrupted by Summer - well, his mouth. Sonny's voice was the true speaker. "He was thinking it," the spirit commented, lying - thoughts weren't shared with his other half.

[Summer]

In a flash, the gentle and rhythmic motions of Summer’s hand, as he ruffled and toyed with the soft fur and ears of her hooded cloak, passing the movement through to her head, was interrupted. Sonny’s words seized Ebony’s attention, and she quickly lifted her head up, nearly dislodging the storm spirit’s hand, her deep green eyes meeting his own, the tinges of red that had already seeped into her cute face only growing into a deeper scarlet. The smiling face of Summer stared back at her, no hint of anything other than his usual exuberant cheer in his expression. Their silent stare-down lasted for only a moment, before the young mage averted her eyes, her head falling down to stare at the volcanic rock beneath their feet.

“I-I knew it...” she stuttered quietly, kicking weakly at some of the loose gravel littering the ground. Though her tone was disgruntled, she still did nothing to escape the hand softly rubbing and ruffling her hood. To this, Summer simply chuckled, offering no other comment. His hand dropped from her head, hanging back down by his side as he shifted to face the hill Morene had gone over. Next to him, Ebony shuffled, suddenly nervously pressing up against his side, always trying to stay near his comforting presence. Her warm hand brushed against his, and suddenly the spirit felt her tense up, that hand jerking away a fraction of an inch. With a calm smile, still looking up the rocky cliff face the soldier had gone over, he chased after her hand, wrapping his slightly cool palm around hers and holding it gently. Though he tried to hide it, he still couldn’t stop the small, reddish warmth creeping into his cheeks.

“You gonna be okay?” He asked, his voice nearly a whisper, quickly giving her hand a comforting squeeze, a gentle little squish that one wouldn’t expect out of someone as monstrously strong as him. Ebony simply leaned a little bit more into him, squishing against his side, not responding just yet. While he waited, his stormy eyes slowly began to wander over the steep hill in front of them, working their way up and keeping a lookout for any sign of their friend. Or any sign of danger telling him that they needed to rush to her aid.

“... I’ll be fine...” the young mage mumbled after a few seconds, her voice quiet, barely, barely audible over the sizzling, bubbling river of lava no more than a few meters down the ridge from them. “I-It’s just like last time.”

“... Really?” He pushed, but not too hard, a genuinely concerned tone just barely starting to creep into his words. The young mage squeezed his hand back but didn’t respond. Though she said that, it was different this time. This time, they weren’t being thrown into the midst of it, forced to fight or die. Even if they had sought out that trouble last time, it hadn’t been long before there had been no escape. That wasn’t the case now. Escape was an option. If they wanted to, they could just turn around and leave. Just walk out of this verse and find trouble elsewhere. Of course, Summer didn’t air any of these thoughts. He didn’t want to frighten her more. She was having a tough enough time as is.

And so the two stood in silence, staring up the hill and simply waiting for any word from their friend. No matter whether it was an all clear or an ‘oh god start running now.’ No more than a minute later, they got just that answer. “It’s all clear!” A large figure clad in massive armor stepped into view from just over the steep hillside, looking down at the two and waving, her voice echoing. Fortunately, it had been the former.

“Awesome!” Summer shouted back, tone immediately springing back to his usual pseudo-cheer. “We’ll be right up!” With that said, he quickly turned towards the girl at his side, a reassuring smile on his face. Ebony turned to meet his gaze for just a moment, before quickly looking back up the hill, hiding behind her cloak again. The storm spirit stepped forward, rock crunching beneath his boots, and the young mage quickly followed after, still holding onto his hand tightly. The two crested the hill in short order, soon coming side-by-side to Morene, and to the view beyond.

Upon summiting the hill, the two were met with the sight of a decrepit castle, at this point little more than a vaguely castle-shaped pile of crumbling stonework. Though it was no more than football-field distance away from them, most of that stretch was a shallow pit into a sizzling, burbling moat of lava, far too thick to cross in conventional ways. There was a single, almost-wrecked stone bridge stretching across the moat, connecting the entrance arch to outside world, but it seemed like that was the only one. Based on how ruined the rest of the castle was, Summer had to say he was quite surprised it was even standing. But the twisted lizard-things now inhabiting it probably needed that bridge as well, lest they get stranded and starve, and thus probably left it intact enough for them to use. Good thing too. It might have been the only way in, but it also meant that it was the only way out...

As for the castle itself, Summer guessed that this had once been gothic in design. It had that basic “evil villain’s final lair” design to it. Dark brickwork, evidence that tall, evil-looking spires had once stabbed up into the ash-clouded sky, that sort of thing. If it had been night and actually storming, the spirit supposed it might’ve looked actually menacing. Of course, since it was daytime out, it was illuminated pretty nicely. As well as it could be given the ever-present soot cover, which was to say that it looked more like late-evening than noon. Not completely light, but also not dark enough to be spooky. Though the periodic flashes of volcanic lightning, mostly just flicking about in the ash clouds, did add a nice touch to the atmosphere.

What didn’t add a nice touch to the atmosphere was the fact that the castle was absolutely ransacked. If the youkai had to guess, it was probably well-maintained at one point. At least, as well as the Kappa-like creatures that owned these castles could maintain such a structure. Sure, they might not have been the best at it, but they were still aeons better than these darklings. The outer walls were crumbling, providing little cover for the inside of the castle. Structures that looked like they once might have been tall, villainous spires fit for a king’s lair were now knocked down at the halfway point, stone and shattered brickwork strewn about their bases. And so, so many of the rooms that Summer could see had at least one wall torn down. Likely things that had been destroyed in the initial scuffle, probably by the darklings themselves. 

Of course, now the darklings would reap what they had sown. This was their last stronghold, and with how much they’d torn apart the place, it wasn’t all that strong. Demonic, winged lizards scuttled about down below, going about whatever twisted semblance of a normal life they had. After the disappearance of the great dragonling, they didn’t really have all that much to look forward to, and it showed. They just... scurried about haphazardly, some seeming to play in their own, dark way. Some tore at each other, leaving wounds deep enough to be seen from even where Summer and Ebony stood, but always, their little play-fights ended with them shuffling off their own separate ways. Their numbers were too few, they didn’t want to kill themselves off even further due to such trivial matters.

“Looks like they’re all down there then?” The storm spirit was the first to speak up, his eyes locked onto the numerous forms of prey, all flitting about down in the castle. “No darklings anywhere else?”

“That is correct,” Morene answered back almost immediately, her power armor hissing as she stepped over next to the two, her heavy boots thunking loudly against the stone ground. “Not a single one on the surrounding hillsides, and none of them have even thought about keeping a lookout. Even though this is their last haven, they still put no thought towards defense.”

“Any weapons you saw?” Summer asked, still scouring the gathering beneath them. He didn’t see any himself. At least, nothing beyond the general, short-ranged weaponry they wielded. Swords, maces, axes, that general sort of thing. If they wanted to counteract a siege, then they were shit outta luck. Unless at least one of them was a Prime, which he doubted.

“Other than what they’re wearing, nothing.” The soldier’s voice betrayed barely-hidden disgust. These things were basics to her, and here they were almost spitting in the face of it all. Eyes still on the prize, Summer opened his mouth to give his opinion but was interrupted by Morene before he’d gotten so much as a peep out. “If we wanted to play this smart, we could simply destroy the bridge and starve them. They need to get their food from somewhere, and with no way to forage the surrounding lands, they’d swiftly turn on each other. No need for us to get involved.”

“Ah, such beautiful insight. A woman after my own heart~” Summer sang in a cheery, joking tone, his teeth bared in a happy, if menacing grin. Not a moment after those words left his mouth, a pair of arms wrapped around his own, the one that had been holding Ebony’s hand scarcely a moment ago, and he felt the warm young mage press against his shoulder just a bit more. The storm spirit grinned a little bit brighter. “I don’t suppose Kuz... the Kappa King gave us a time limit, did he?” He bit his tongue, catching himself before he called... whatever the king of the kappa here was, Kuzenbo. His smile only grew brighter as the chat went on, enjoying as Ebony tried more and more fervently to make her presence known.

“He did not,” Morene answered quite placidly, her tone giving away that she already knew what he had in mind.

“Then what’s to stop us from just destroying the bridge and letting them starve?” There was an almost cheeky not to the storm spirit’s voice. Like a student who just found an easy way to cheat on his test.
“Only ourselves,” the soldier sounded almost as cheerful as he did. This little task of theirs was so easy it almost felt like cheating. 

“Well then, let's get to it~” Still in a sing-songy voice, Summer turned his head to face the girl hugging his arm, smiling sweetly. “Think your magic could do it from this range, Eb?” He asked, meeting the young mage’s gaze in an instant, as she’d been looking towards the two, and acting as if he didn’t notice that she suddenly started hugging his arm.

“U-Um...” she stammered, another blush rising to her cheeks from the proximity, her eyes nervously flicking between Summer and Morene. “Wh-what if they don’t have to eat?” Silence fell in the wake of her question, her blush only growing brighter in the face of their stares. She shyly averted her eyes, trying to hide behind her hood.

“Actually that’s a good point...” The storm spirit said in a low tone, his tone betraying that he was delving back into thought. “If they don’t need to eat, then we’d be cutting off our only method of attack as well. Also given the fact that they’re lizards, they might be able to go months without eating. We don’t have months to sit around a wait to see if they might starve to death. The Kappa King-”

“Bowser,” Morene added helpfully, sensing he was having trouble with the name.

“Bowser... wouldn’t be too pleased with it either I assume. We could probably have gotten away with waiting a month or so for them all to starve out, but the better part of a year? He probably wants this castle back soonish...” Summer spoke in a low, rambling tone, as though thinking out loud to himself.

“So...” Ebony chipped in hesitantly. “That means we’re going to have to fight them all.”

“It seems so.” The soldier sounded almost disappointed about it. And they’d felt so smugly satisfied about the whole matter too. “We can still bombard them from this distance at least,” she suggested, unslinging the rifle from her shoulder, the weapon making a series of mechanical clicks as she set it to Sniper mode. “With no way to shoot back their only options are to take cover, try to rush us, or die.”

“Sounds more like ‘take cover and die,’ ‘rush us and die,’ or ‘simply lay down and die...’” Summer growled, an ominous tone flowing out through his words. The cheery green he’d been wearing suddenly just... shifted, becoming vaguely menacing. Not more than a few moments later, however, that smile fell away, a disappointed grin crossing his face as he came to a realization. “Unfortunately...” he began slowly, staring regretfully down at the castle below. “I don’t have any attacks that can reach from here. Or at least, any reliable ones. So... I’ll let you two have all the fun, I guess.”

“Not all the fun,” Morene said, turning to face the spirit once again, rifle at the ready. “You can always take down anything that decides to wander hither.”

“I suppose...” He trailed off, eyes flicking over to meet her gaze for just a moment, before he looked back towards the castle, settling on that for a few seconds longer, before turning to look at Ebony. “Well, I’ll let you two get to it!” The storm spirit was once again cheerful, a bright smile plastered on his face. “In the meantime, I’ll cook up something for...” he trailed off for a quick moment, staring forward blankly as he read the flow of the air around him, using everything he could to quickly determine the forecast for the next day, and with it, the current time of day. “... Lunch! Sound like a plan?” Hearing that, the young mage’s eyes seemed to light up, and for a moment, it seemed as though a cute, wondrous grin was going to spread across her face. Unfortunately, she managed to get herself composed just before that. She let out a small cough, quickly putting on her super serious, stoic, cool-looking face, and she was ready to not be all excited again.

“Th-that’ll work...” though she managed to not visibly give away how enthused she was, she still stuttered a little bit, her normal, cute shyness shining right through.

“Alright, you two get right on it, and I’ll get to cooking~” he sang, slowly wiggling his arm, a silent message for the girl hugging it to let go. “Go on and kick those darkling’s asses for me!” That last little bit of inspiration was all that Ebony needed. Her mouth lifted in a cocky grin, and even though there was still a bit of blush staining her cheeks, she still stared confidently into Summer’s eyes.

“Of course!” The young mage said with a cool, calm laugh, her warmth regretfully lifting away from Summer’s arm. “We’ll take care of them in no time.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear~” The storm spirit’s voice was almost melodic as he ruffled her hood one last time before they got to bombarding, digging it firmly against her ebony-black hair, but not firmly enough that it was uncomfortable. “Good luck~” he cheered in a mellow tone for them both, quickly flashing Morene a cheesy grin, just to show that he was rooting for her too. The soldier nodded politely, her power armor whirring as she turned to take up position and snipe down as many as she could.

“Heh, I don’t need luck,” Ebony stated, throwing a confident grin over her shoulder to the spirit as she stepped over to take up position alongside Morene. “B-but thanks anyway...” Those last few words of hers were spoken quickly with a low voice, and before Summer had so much as a chance to see her expression after that sentence, she whipped back around, cloak twirling as she turned away. The youkai simply grinned at her retreating form, letting that last sentence of hers sink in before he actually got started on his own task.

Once that moment passed, he closed his eyes and turned his attention inwards, towards the iridescent material that now made up his being. Omnilium. He needed to make some food for them, maybe some water too. Keep them hydrated and energized. For that, he’d need a few basic ingredients, maybe a few kitchen utensils, a surface to chop some vegetables on, something to cook them over... Wait. His train of thought paused. He could just summon up food directly, why was he going through these extra steps?

Because simply summoning up food was cheating, of course. It wasn’t the same. That hesitant thought had lasted only a moment before he blasted it apart. He liked cooking, of course he wasn’t just gonna pass it up by magicking up some food that would taste exactly how he thought it should taste. Where was the fun in that? He wanted it to be a surprise. He wanted to see what he had missed, what he could improve upon, all that fun stuff. 

Besides, he still needed to return Ebony’s favor. She’d been so kind as to cook him a meal. She hadn’t just gone off and summoned something. That meal, though it hadn’t been something conjured up by a master chef, had been something she’d poured her heart into. For him to just... cheat a meal into existence, now, after he finally had the chance to cook for her and return the favor... Well, that just wasn’t right.

So he needed to conjure up the supplies to make something quick, easy, but still delicious. Not something like a stew that’d take hours. No, it had to be something that took less than that. Or... It was going to take them a while to actually properly kill the darklings. He could take a bit longer and make something that was a bit more time-intensive... Unless he wanted to give them something for a mid-bombardment break, that was. Give one of them a chance to eat and regain some of their energy. This was going to be a proper siege, aft-

A brilliant, mystical sensation slammed into the storm spirit, wrenching him clear out of his concentration and sending him stumbling. He could feel it. It? What was it? His mind overloaded, his senses dimming for a moment in the face of overwhelming arcane energy, the same way one’s hearing would dim in the face of a blinding light. He grimaced, biting down the mental agony with clenched teeth and forced his eyes open, ready to fight whatever had decided to rear its ugly head.

Only to be immediately greeted by the flailing, panicking form of Ebony, her arms outstretched. Rocks and magic twisted around the young mage in a veritable maelstrom. Waves upon waves of pure arcane destruction sloughed off her almost visibly, the air itself shimmering around her. Each and every wave rolling off of his ebony-haired friend was felt by the magically-attuned spirit, shaking him down to his very core. He hadn’t seen a magical output like this since...

Whatever he was thinking was immediately thrown to the wayside. Summer’s ears rang as he hurled himself forward, feet pounding over the stony ground, quickly covering the short distance between him and Ebony. His mind raced, processing and feeling and reading the pure, mystical chaos radiating from her. Mathematics and magical formulae raced through his head as he forced himself to think. He pushed through the tortuous fog blanketing his thoughts, weaving together the most familiar spells he could out of this tumultuous, airborne magic, desperate to force it into a more containable form as he swiftly approached her.

And suddenly black consumed the storm spirit’s vision, but not the black of him losing consciousness. Summer threw his strong arms around the panicked mage, nearly tackling her off her feet with his momentum, and buried his face into her cloak on top of his hug. Each and every powerful wave emanating from Ebony slammed into the spirit, rattling even what felt like his very consciousness, but he held her close regardless, throwing together spell upon spell upon spell, trying his damnedest to contain her out-of-control magic. Wind and thunder and lighting exploded away from them, and the youkai could even feel as the very magic that made up his being was torn asunder, but he still refused to let her go. Even as he felt his consciousness slipping away, as pure agony enveloped his body as he was ripped apart, he only hugged her tighter. Until...

For a second, nothingness. Summer’s sense of self slipped away for just a moment. Or perhaps it had been more than a moment? He couldn’t tell. All he knew was that he’d stopped thinking for some indeterminate amount of time, and now he was again, which was probably a good thing. If he was thinking, he was living. At least for now. Who knew how long that would hold for. His eyes cracked open, revealing the Ashen wastes in front of him, and below, the castle with all the little vermin still scurrying about. 

Wait.

His heart hammered in his chest, a wave of adrenaline surging through him, his mind racing. Something was just... missing. There should have been something cooler nearby, something counteracting the powerful heat of his body, something shielding him from the infernal heat of the Steppes. His eyes rapidly flicked over the sight in front of him, his body refusing to move further, his breaths swiftly growing shorter and shorter. He could feel what was missing, the lingering sensation of cool phantom arms pressing against his body, rapidly fading away.

Summer. Where had Summer gone?

Wait!

His body moved without him telling it to, the world turning into an ashen blur as he whipped around, rapidly turning, looking for Summer. But he was Summer? Why was he looking for himself? He was here wasn’t he? His ebony-black mantle flared out around him as he spun.

Wait!

His cloak? As cool as they were when they billowed in the breeze, he didn’t own a cloak. The spinning stopped, or at least the physical spinning did, his vision spun sickeningly, but the spirit didn’t care about that. Everything became clear in an instant. The notes Sonny had taken earlier flashed into his mind. His other half might not have told him about them directly, but he did read them himself, just to see what he saw. The anxiety seeping through his chest, burning his heart, the way his body moved without his say, the pure panicked rush to find himself of all people.

He took in a deep, calming breath, focusing on the feeling of his own body. Kinesthesia. He felt... shorter, smaller, lighter. He couldn’t read anything exact out of it, because that wasn’t something one could do, but since it felt unfamiliar, he could at least tell that he was vaguely smaller. Still forcing himself to breathe deeply, forcing down his heart rate through his will alone, he finally tried to move. With no one fighting for control, he found it quite easy to lift his arms up, turning his head down so he could see them. Long, slender, pale, smooth. Just like he thought, these weren’t his arms. He could feel another rush of panic coming on but forced it down with a calming breath.

This was Ebony’s body. Somehow they’d merged together, and now he was feeling what she felt, physically and emotionally. Somehow, they were both trying to control her body, even though at least one of them should have been shunted to the back of their shared mind. That was what happened to him and Sonny, after all. Either way, since he could move her body, then that should mean he could speak? Lowering Ebony’s arms back down to her side, he slowly lifted her head up, staring back over the scattered darklings below. Each movement he made caused her heart to jump, and he could feel her trying to stay rigidly still, panic still coursing through her veins. It took more effort than necessary for even the smallest motions. He needed to put a stop to this quickly.

“Testing...” Of course, it was Ebony’s cute voice that came out of her mouth when Summer spoke. Though there wasn’t a trace of her usual timidness in it, nor of the panic holding her rooted in place. Instead, it was simply... quizzical. The storm spirit’s influence was shining through. “Okay this works! Hi Eb! Summer here! We’ve just merged for some reason. Nothing to worry about~” A cheery tone that the young mage would easily be able to recognize as Summer’s manner of speaking came out of Ebony’s mouth, in her voice.

“S-S-Summer?” came the response, shy, nervous, and above all, scared. He could tell just from her tone that the experience wasn’t exactly pleasant for her. Not that he couldn’t already tell from the panic and anxiety surging through her. 

“Yup. Now if you’d hang on for a moment...” Their one-sided, one-voiced conversation sort of reminded the storm spirit of what happened between him and his other half. Only cuter and much more enjoyable. Ebony coughed quickly, clearing her throat, and Summer quickly tried to channel her tone as best as he could. “I-I’m c-cute!” The mage’s voice suddenly exclaimed, a stutter thrown in for good measure. This out-of-character announcement was quickly followed by a contented sigh. He’d been wanting to hear that in her voice for a while.

“N-n-no!” It didn’t take more than a moment for the actual Ebony to follow that up. Embarrassment he wasn’t used to rapidly welled up in Summer, and infernally warm blush that he could also feel rose into the shy mage’s cheeks, and suddenly she wrenched control from him, grabbing hold of her cool hood with both hands and pulling it over her face, almost completely blocking out their shared vision. Gods it was weird feeling this warm. “I-I-I didn’t mean it! I-I’m not c-cute, I’m cool!” She asserted, her fear already starting to slip away in the face of her friend’s antics. And that was all Summer needed. Ebony’s lips lifted in a cute smile, and one of the storm spirit’s trademark, amused giggles rose out of her.

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

It had been simple magic. A basic explosion. Cloak billowing behind her, her right arm had been outstretched while her left idly scratched her neck, noting the absence of her choker. No magic suppression. Nothing holding her back. A mountain of power, her power. It wanted to be used. It had to be used. And, the moment she tried to channel the smallest sliver of it, the rest barged through the gates, flooding her mind, etching into her senses, rocketing outwards. Neglected pressure building silently beneath her skin, just waiting to explode.

She'd screamed, closing her hands into fists and digging her nails into the rougher outer fabric of her fingerless gloves. Holding it back as best as she could, aggressive shivers had run down her limbs, shaking her core. Stumbling and flailing, she'd hobbled backwards, desperately moving away from Morene - and Summer. 

The storm youkai, undoing her futile efforts, had pushed through the waves of mana. With mana permeating the air, and the roaring tirade of grinding rock and dust casting a deep rumble through the mountain - immeasurably loud - Ebony was unable to hear even her own pleas for him to run. To her horror, Summer had pushed and battered his way past the shockwaves, gritting his teeth and planting himself right in the danger zone. Smack-bang in front of her; at the worst possible moment. Her magic hadn't even started flowing at that point. It was just the warmup.

Trembling, she'd hissed through her teeth, fire coursing through her veins. She remembered cold, a nice coolness, and then feeling a calming presence amidst the storm. As the mana was expulsed from her body, chunk by chunk, comforting arms had wrapped around her, holding her tight while her body spasmed under the strain. She remembered the blood trickling down her nose. Pain. Suffering made tolerable by the friend weathering it with her. Unable to hug back through the violence rocking her body, bones either shaking and grinding painfully or simply locked in place, tears had dripped down her cheeks. But it mattered. He mattered. While it made no conceivable difference, she remembered him being there with her. That was what counted. Her emotional blanket, soothing her as her world slowly turned to white.

---

Small tremors still wracked her mind despite Summer's attempts to ease her, little ripples in the pond. Like rain. Regardless, she smiled, recognising the joke and playing onto it to distract herself, all while Summer giggled through her mouth. His confidence was overwhelming. As if someone had built a house around the pond to shield it from the downpour. One with a large fireplace, and a big chimney. But she was still sitting in the puddle, waiting for it to dry out, shivering, anticipating the spread of warmth.

It took a few short moments, but Summer's laughs subsided, with her subconsciously going along with it in part. Once they did stop, however, a few short snickers escaped her lips again, this time caused purely by her. "I-I think y-you're the c-cute one," she stuttered, barely able to talk through her developing laughter. Dread pushed to the back of her consciousness, she ignored it, pretending it wasn't real. That nothing bad had happened, and that everything was going to be alright. Just as Summer said.

Before speaking, she felt his own emotions push back against hers a little, surging and mentally squeezing her, like a hug. Her doubts slowly deteriorated, encompassed by his self-assured mindset. But, both their happiness and friendship merged, meshing together like a Venn diagram. 

"Well, of course," he took control of their voice, speaking a little bit haughtily. "At first, I was always cute inside yet stuck in an unadorable body. A tragedy." Her voice took a dramatic tone; he spun her around, twirling. One hand moved up to her face, brushing the back against her forehead before waving off to the side. Ebony shivered a little, controlling the other arm and clutching it to her chest. "But now," he chuckled, her shoulders bobbing up and down as giggles - rather than his intended evil laugh - escaped her lips. "My plan has finally been realised!"

Ebony swallowed, simultaneously dreading and laughing at the beast she had unleashed. A slight nervousness was mixed in with the girly chuckles, before being dispelled once Summer took a little more control - not forcefully, Ebony could have stopped him if she tried. "At last, I have the host to match."

"N-never! Y-you can't. I'm cool, not c-cute!" she insisted, half acting and playing along, but mostly embarrassed and genuine. "I'll never let you!"

"The choice is not yours, my dear. For while I, Summer, possess this body, we shall be known as Stormy Night, the cutest prime in the Omniverse." A small crackle of lightning ran down her back, enveloping her cloak in a dark black-grey cloud. Lightning arced around her, casting down into the ashen rocks and spreading through the ground like roots of a tree. Her dark purple flames hugged her arms for a fleeting moment, mixing with the growing static before swirling upwards like a tornado. At that moment, despite the absurdity, they acted as one.

Stormy Night:
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[Morene Fellon]

Morene Fellon's eyelids blinked as if they suddenly weighed a thousand tonnes. The ritual that took place between her two children was astonishing, and at the same time very peculiar to watch. It wasn't disturbing by all means, but it was very sudden under the circumstances. The shock didn't continue for long, watching as the 'two' Primes now melded into one teased each other. Well, no; all of it was entirely Summer's words poking gentle fun at the girl.

Still, the situation was anything but fun. Morene had looked beneath her, the drawbridge echoing as she stood upon the stone along with the added weight of a few Darklings crawling onto it already.

Surprisingly enough, Morene had barely felt more than a bead of sweat roll down her face as she jogged over to her fused comrades. 'Jogged' was a bit of an understatement; it was more like a full-on sprint with the assistance of her thrusters launching the woman forwards at an alarming rate. The huntress kept her thoughts short and simple; Darklings began swarming in faster than Morene could outrun them. Breathing in a steady gust of air through her nose, the knight-errant observed the twisted and collapsed spires upon which the Darklings had previously destroyed. As the sheer number of Darklings seemed to increase as Morene listened in through her helmet, the woman picked up her pace, leaping forwards. 

It only took a few more bounds to reach the fusion of Ebony and Summer at that point. Stopping herself by skidding onto the ground with the width of a coin, the woman's mechanical power-armor purred as it weighed itself down onto the ground. The two Primes, dubbed by their own conscious to be called 'Stormy Night,' saw as Morene extended an armored hand towards them. A waving gesture was made, and almost immediately did the fusion understand what that had meant. Morene's voice boomed through her helmet suddenly, distorted and almost scary to hear had the two Primes not known who was beneath the protective ceramic plates.

"Follow me, I'll show you how to deal with these cretins of the brainless variety."

Just like that, Morene Fellon had leaped towards what seemed to be a ramp made of collapsed cobblestone. Ebony's conscious had went over to look at Summer in hopes for a response, but was immediately jolted forwards by Summer himself, as they were after all one and the same now. Already, the huntress was, what? Almost ten meters or so in front of them? Looking behind, the snarling and screeching of dragonling maws were much closer. 

Gulping, the Stormy Night duo had almost instinctively reeled back, pedaling their body away from the creatures as they readied an explosive bolt of raw arcane power, standing still suddenly as Ebony began to chant. Morene turned almost immediately, covering the small girl as she channeled her energies for a charged shot of elemental energy launching it at a tiny cluster of braindead Darklings after the woman had took a few of the more reckless ones down. Sparks flew, as did flesh as due result of the magic explosion that followed. Ebony's conscious couldn't help but figuratively lean over Summer's, heart rate increasing, forcing their body to trip ever so slightly as they swerved backwards towards their armored ally. 

"We're gonna be alright," Summer had loosely mumbled in Ebony's distinct voice, just enough for the both of them to hear. A slight nod from the fusion responded, and their breathing patterns slowed; a much harder task to accomplish when two minds were controlling a single entity instead of one.

Leaping on top of the stone walls, Morene Fellon grasped her armored hands around the edge of what used to be a standing wall, feeling little to no resistance as she stepped on top with the assistance of her jump pack, rather the foundations of it at least. Morene's Cerantium sabatons crumbled the rock material beneath her as she vaulted over, looking back to see her fused comrades quickly join her on the high ground, Darklings closing in as they made their chase.

Looking downwards at her feet as they stamped onto the slanted floor beneath her, Morene breathed as she reached behind her hip. A familiar second-nature feeling coursed through her, sending chills through the woman's steel spine as she felt the spawning of a weapon in her hand, her Omnilium pool helping in that regard. She couldn't feel the weapon's heft, but if she could in that split second, there would have been a slight sense of comfort as she did, though she already knew the firearm she had gripped in her palm was her light machine gun. 

A quick glance backwards revealed her allies to be directly behind her, Ebony's familiar face looking onto her with a sense of worry and concern, yet a posture only Summer's battle experience could muster up. 

A nod was exchanged between the two Liberators, and they ran forwards. 

Ramping upwards, Morene shouted as she balanced her center of gravity and fired the first few shots directly into a dragonling's head rushing towards them; already they were beginning to climb up.

"Don't stop running, sweeties;" the woman growled, "just keep shooting."

The huntress launched forwards with the assistance of her thruster, Stormy Night quickly following and obliging to her request. Ebony's body was figuratively (or literally, depending on how you looked at it,) pulsating with magic energy. The adrenaline rush of the constant screaming of horrid armed creatures of the night; it filled her with a sense of crippling fear only slightly muffled by her fusion partner's battle-sense. Still, Ebony's body was safe enough under Summer's calm and Morene's constant protection; the 'trio' kited the monsters as if a pattern; create space from a cluster of the dragonlings as the fusion charged a ranged attack, and Morene covered the two as they concentrated, making sure nothing clawed at them from behind.

It didn't take long for any of their opponents to close in on the sprinting invaders, despite the loud rings of bullets and even louder streams of magic coming towards them at any which way; Morene knew there weren't many Darklings to begin with, but she was more worried about how fast they were closing in. Considering only a second later Morene heard a familiar yelp, only to look down towards the body of Ebony's ankle being grasped onto by a dragonling, the huntress' answer was apparent. 

Aiming over, Morene took aim for a steady shot to the head, knowing she wouldn't miss. Fortunately for her, the knight-errant didn't have to subject her metaphorical daughter-figure at the moment to another horrifying sight of heads exploding; a swift kick to the temple was all it took from the fusion to force the reptilian zombie to plummet towards the ground. The woman's eyebrow raised, prouder than any normal mother would ever be upon seeing such a thing. 

Running forwards, Morene herself thought she was maybe having a bit too much fun with the whole maternal figure thing. A slight shrug followed, nobody else noticing but the abundance of roaring creatures coming their way. As the slanted and crumbled cobblestone led her and her allies back downwards, Morene Fellon was thrilled to aim with her LMG once again. Left and right, holes were being punched into Darkling heads, and though many times they threatened to get close to either of them, there weren't too many to deal with in the first place. The woman imagined this might have gotten boring if given enough tasks like this from the king that ordered it to be done. 

Of course, Morene knew to keep her mouth shut so the exact opposite wouldn't (sometimes literally) magically happen. 

As her and Ebony's body stepped upon the floor once again, the ringing in both of their ears stopped as they looked to see exactly why Morene wasn't going to get bored any time soon. 

Darklings, two of them in fact. Of course, anybody with half a brain would understand that if the both of them hesitated, this meant they weren't normal. Obviously so. 

One of them stamped their barely armored feet onto the ground in front of them. The huntress knew they both were stronger than all the other dragonlings they had faced, possibly smarter as well. Both of them looked relatively the same, almost as if they were twins; two times Morene's size, armored about as much as their underlings were, snarling with some sort of dark, disgusting slime spewing from their maws and holding some crude cudgels in their hands. 

As the two monsters stamped forwards, Summer spoke in Ebony's voice.

"You take the one on the ri--"

"No."

Ebony's body blinked, looking over at Morene after she had exclaimed such a thing so firmly. She continued, not much time to explain, as usual.

"We both focus on each other, we both focus on them. A bit harder to manage, surely, but you two should be able to cooperate well enough to do so! Think on your feet, my dears!" Morene raised her arms up as to exaggerate her words, certainly getting the message across. Ebony's conscious no doubt had her head nod, but it shook afterwards, Summer having to trust the knight-errant on the account such a thing was wise after learning so suddenly how to fuse.

Morene continued, teasing the man and his obvious doubt; "Switch your targets, hun! These creatures won't have the brains to distinguish an attack from a feint, I am almost absolutely certain."

"Well... If you say s--" Ebony's voice was interrupted again, this time by the sudden swinging of one of the dragonling twins' and their makeshift clubs.

[Summer]

Ebony’s voice cut off with a squeak as one of the dragonlings raised their makeshift bludgeon to the sky, bringing it over its head in a mighty, so unbelievably predictable swing. Child’s play, the storm spirit would think. Would. Had Morene’s little comment not set his blood boiling. Rage bubbled up to the surface in an instant, his heart pounding, his vision wavering. It took him but an instant to read the darkling, from the way it shifted its feet, the way it swung its club, even the glint in its eyes telling exactly where it was aiming. More choreographed than a stage play.

It would be a simple attack, rush forward before it had the chance to finish its swing. The electricity was already surging through his body, building up, soon to reach critical levels. Just a step or two closer, just one more second, and it’d be good as dead. One devastating strike with all his strength behind it and to hell with what Morene said. Nothing could withstand his lightning. He willed his body forward, leg muscles tensing, trying to spring forward like lightning and strike the brute into dust. But even through the hot, frothing fury coursing through his veins, icy claws grasped his heart. Two simultaneous, conflicting emotions.

Strike him down now!
Get back! It’s too strong!

A whirlwind of emotions raged through him, half of him pushing with all his might to spring forward and tear that berserker limb from limb. And to hell with the consequences! Who gave a shit if he lost an arm! So what if that club smashed his ribs! He’d tear that damn lizard apart faster than it could him!

And the other half scrambling to flee. It’s too big! Get back before it starts swinging for real! A hit from that would just end him! It wasn’t worth the risk. Get back and run and try to use range instead of melee. But why?

Why?

Why wasn’t he attacking?
Why wasn’t he running?

Panic seized him, instinct taking over as conscious decisions vied for control. In an instant, Summer shattered the spell he had been weaving, all the electrical magic he’s been channeling dispersing into his body with a jolt. His heart raced, but different. An organ pounding with a rhythm he wasn’t used to. He knew rage, he knew worry, and he knew desperation. But this wasn’t any of those. The tables turned, the moment he could have seized to take out the dragonling passed, and now the cudgel was racing right for his body. His eyes widened. He needed a spell. Another spell. Something he could throw together and cast in a moment. His mind, thrown into turmoil, scrambled for the tempestuous supply of mana constantly swirling through his body. 

Push it back, buy another moment. Throw it away with a force of nature, a raging squall. In an instant, superheated air exploded to life with a roar, blasting forward from his body and slamming against the wall of scale, but even all its muscle wasn’t enough to help it. The dragonling was thrown clear off its feet, spinning as the strength from its swing turned its ragdolling body over in the air. Not a moment later, it hit the ground with a heavy thud, loose rock and gravel bouncing away from its massive form as it rolled and skidded along.

Now! Strike now! His mind screamed. Centuries of combat experience just begged him to take advantage of this, but still, his legs would not move.

No! What about the other one? An unfamiliar... something yelled back, not with words, but with feelings, trying to turn his body towards the second one, and toward the sound of gunfire. 

No! Not his! The realization that he’d lost in his frenzy crashed right back into the storm spirit, and immediately he relinquished the control he’d been holding. And all the strength Ebony had been using to try and fight against Summer was suddenly thrown into a spin. Her stormy cloak flared out spectacularly as her body was sent spinning. And spinning. And spinning. And tottering. Muted browns and glowing oranges melded together in a brilliant blur as the fusion stumbled and spun, desperately trying to regain their balance.

Instinctively, Summer shifted Ebony’s feet, aiming to slam her foot into the ground in the direction they were spinning to stop them then and there. And the young mage did just the same. Her black and purple boot shot downwards, but rather than the earthshaking thud both of them had been expecting, they were instead met with a loud, dull splash. Radiant oranges exploded through their still-spinning vision, splashing over the fusion, and down they went. Unnatural, infernal heat completely engulfed their right leg as they fell to the side, their left leg bending at the knee and straining with every ounce of strength to keep them from plummeting completely into the moat of lava.

A set of black and purple gloved hands slammed against the hot earth with tremendous force, and Ebony’s teeth clenched as she fought to keep them from falling any further. Mentally, the youkai immediately set to work, hastily tearing as much mana free as he could spare. Whatever panic had been there, clawing at his heart, was swiftly crushed, replaced only with the need to act.

Reduce the heat, mitigate the damage. Her lava-dipped right leg flash-froze as the nature of an Antarctic winter coursed through it, and simultaneously, he threw together the most powerful regenerative spell he could, all to mitigate the damage of them dunking her fucking foot into lava the best he could. The molten rock sizzled and cracked, but where the spirit expected to feel agony, dying down and flaring back up like spring winds as the regenerative spell healed up the burns as they came, he felt... nothing. But heard everything, the gunfire no longer destroying his ears.

The rapid-fire reports from Morene’s gun stopped in an instant, immediately replaced by a surprised, almost garbled yell. Whatever it was, he couldn’t hear it over the still-echoing gunshots, nor the blood pounding in Eb’s ears, blasting through her body with an adrenaline-fueled heart. Her head shot up, their vision no longer spinning so much, letting them actually get their bearings straight for once. The knight-errant dropped her hand down a bit (wait where’d her gun go?), her foe still reeling from the lead-fueled onslaught, and she instinctively turned to face the fusion, her body tensing up as she prepared to spring forward. 

“Stop!” Stormy Night barked out, Ebony’s voice rougher, more aggressive than anyone had heard before, and instantly their friend faltered. Though it was unmistakably Summer speaking, the voice still threw her for a loop. “Darklings!” Her voice strained a bit as the fusion swiftly hauled herself out of the lava pool, and though her words were quick, snappy, and decidedly vague, Morene quickly got the message, pointing her hand back at the dragonling in front of her. She hadn’t yet noticed all the lesser lizards starting to scamper up to her, but for the fusion, there were more pressing matters to deal with. They flopped forward, liquid stone dripping off their now-free leg and sizzling as it spilled over the scorching rock beneath them. 

Instinctively, even though it didn’t hurt them, Summer seized control of their shared body, panic all but forgotten as pure adrenaline raced through their veins. He forced her hands beneath her and shoved the mage roughly to her feet. Or at least, tried to. Her right leg, heavier than normal, refused to bend. On hands and knee, relying heavily on the one leg that could still move, the fusion shot a glance down towards her lower half, heart hammering in her chest, fearing the worst. Only for that fear to prove unfounded. Instead of a missing leg, or something burned down to the bone, the found it simply... encased in rock. Black, cracked volcanic stone imprisoned her right leg, right up to her upper thigh.

Also her clothes were on fire.

“Honey, your outfi-!”

“I know!” Morene started, but Summer snapped right back, his harsh, impatient tone betraying just how absolutely fucking done with this shit he was. He didn’t have time to deal with this god damn pool of lava. And the fierce conflagration currently eating away at Ebony’s shorts? That could fuck right the fuck off. He had things to kill! Wind roared, exploding to life and billowing out over the moat behind them, before slamming a terrifyingly powerful gust of superheated air into their back. The wind washed over them, immediately extinguishing the raging fire (and the numerous smaller ones) eating away at her outfit, and also sending their light body tumbling. Their shared vision spun in a sickening blur, and sharp rocks bashed and nicked their rolling form as they bounced over the landscape, before colliding with the soldier’s leg and collapsing into a heap on the ground, eyes turned up to the ashen sky. The thin shell of volcanic rock no longer imprisoned her leg, crumbling and cracking away from the force of their tumble. The wall of armor that towered over them spared a quick glance down.

Somehow, despite the frothing rage that had been threatening to overtake the duo not more than a few seconds ago, there existed an almost serene calm. A rational light broke through the dark clouds of their anger. The eye of the storm. A quick thumbs-up was the only response from the daze, but otherwise unhurt fusion, the spinning in their vision already fading away. Her eyes, once again clear and stable, quickly flicked up, towards where the second dragonling should have been. The air stirred before the fusion’s gaze had even settled, before they’d even laid eyes upon where the brute should have been. And she found it exactly where expected, looming above Morene, club raised high above its head, ready to pound her into dust. The soldier was already moving, well aware of the beast, as its earthshaking tread wasn't exactly unnoticeable. She started to bring her weapon to bear, easily in time to parry the strike.

Except before she got that chance, a powerful blast of wind slammed up from beneath the mace-wielding lizard, throwing it clear up into the sky, tumbling over rapidly, its large wigs doing nothing to abate the rolling. “You’re welcome.” She said cockily, an arrogant tone that immediately gave away who was talking. And that tone was all Morene needed to tell that the fusion was doing perfectly alright. The knight immediately threw her attention back towards the two dragonlings, quickly drawing her polearm.

Ebony rolled over their shared body, away from the soldier so that they didn’t interrupt her anymore, and pushed them to her feet. Something had come over the spirit of storms. No matter how much energy and raged boiled inside of him, he found himself strangely calm. Almost... content, in a way. Content to let the mage do all the moving. Now wasn’t the time to go berserk. If he tried to do anything, he’d just clash with his friend, and it’d end up just like that clusterfuck had. He couldn’t let his anger get the better of him now, or nothing would ever get done.

There was no time to speak. They couldn’t plan, they couldn’t confer, they couldn’t organize and set up signals. At this moment, there was no way to just... take a breather and work out how exactly they were going to move and work together with this shared body of theirs. Which meant every erroneous action he took, every instinctive move he made only brought them one step closer to death. So he just resolved himself to not move. In a melee like this, where victory or defeat often came down to simply shifting your feet wrong, having two consciousnesses fighting over where to move... It just made everything so...

Exhilarating.
Terrifying.
And above all, dangerous. 

No matter how exciting it was, he couldn’t push Eb too much. No. He needed to stay still, he needed to relax, and watch, and wait for the perfect moments to strike. He couldn’t wrest control from her anymore. All he could do was trust in her, in the small, timid girl he was fused with. Even as he felt the heavy form of one of the many lesser lizards jumping onto Ebony’s small form, he didn’t react. The young mage could handle it.

And indeed she did, almost nonchalantly shrugging it off, unconsciously using the storm spirit’s massive strength to simply shake it loose and kick it to the side. Right into the pool of lava she’d just clawed her way out of. With a scream and a hiss, the darkling began thrashing and struggling, desperately trying to escape before the molten rock burned it away. But that was of no consequence to either of them. They didn’t dwell on it, and not even the smallest twinge of guilt crossed their heart. Ebony’s attention was devoted almost entirely to her bigger foes, and she stoically stared down the first charging dragonling, eyes locked on it, lips moving in an all-too-edgy chant as she weaved together a spell of her own.

Yet, in spite of all the bravado she showed, Summer could still feel those paralyzing, icy claws gripping the young mage’s heart. Perhaps what rooted her in place wasn’t the magic she was channeling, but the sheer terror of seeing that wall of muscle bearing down upon her. But she never faltered. Her voice didn’t waver, and she didn’t stumble over any words, even as each thunderous step the grey-scaled behemoth took shook the very ground beneath her feet.

But perhaps it was a stupid courage, the storm spirit thought. Ebony’s magical power boiled to the surface, carefully controlled, and he immediately knew what she was casting. And it was big. A spell big enough that it couldn’t be cast in a second or two. It’d take several to get the mana cost lower enough for her to handle. That was far too much time, the brute would be on them long before she finished. And even if she did, there was no doubt in his mind that it wouldn’t be able to scare it off. So he prepared himself, already probing for his own power with a practiced ease, readying another blast of wind, and preparing to unleash it at a moment’s notice. No matter how tough their body was, no matter how strong the still-present regenerative spell was, a direct hit to the head from that thing would still end them. So he needed to be prepared.

Fortunately, it never came to that. Black flashed through the corner of their vision up to right where they were looking, dead center. Morene, poleaxe raised and level, threw herself at the small dragon. The speartip of her polearm skewered the giant lizard’s gut, and the two fighters were thrown to a standstill, their strength and momentum not enough to overcome the other. But at that moment, the soldier didn’t need to overcome her foe, she didn’t need to overpower the darkling and throw it back. All she needed to do was stop it, and that was just what she did. 

The beast threw its head back, maw opening up and letting loose a powerful roar, echoing and reverberating off the walls of the castle and the far hill. A scream of pure agony, born from the speartip buried into its stomach, so loud that it gave everything, even the brainless darkspawn scrabbling about, a moment of pause. A well-needed moment that let the focused mage finish off her spell.

Hellish heat and deep purple, almost black flames erupted from Ebony’s body, wrapping around her, enveloping her completely, but still somehow not obscuring their shared vision. Screams and cries that couldn’t even hope to match the one born from the dragonling, but still just as agonizing, exploded out from the smaller, brutish lizards all around the fusion, and in an instant, they were sent scurrying. Even Morene, who was focused on trying to extract her polearm from the impaled darkling, seemed to flinch at the sudden wave of infernal heat.

The calm, focused look on the young mage’s face cracked, her lips spreading, baring her teeth in a downright monstrous grin. It took all of Summer’s willpower to suppress the cruel laugh he could feel trying to rise up. These sorts of spells were always so wonderfully brutal. No one could even get close to them, lest they succumb to the hellish flames that Ebony was wreathed in. Except he’d force them to anyway...

[Morene Fellon]

Watching as Summer's rage took over the poor mage girl whose body they both possessed, Morene paid no mind to the dragonlings she was fighting mere seconds ago. Summer's behavior was downright concerning. For somebody who claims to have been in the monster hunting business for longer than the huntress herself, the storm spirit was not handling himself well at all. His actions were reckless, careless; this would be nothing more than eye-roll worthy to Morene in any other circumstance, but with Ebony's well being at stake?

Not acceptable.

Through the blistering heat, Morene outstretched one of her arms, LMG in her right hand lowered appropriately. Aiming carefully, one of the woman's grappling cables shot outwards a very considerable distance away... Just enough to reach the body of Stormy Night. However on an inclined slope, Morene very carefully whipped the cable to the left, catching the poor girl by her side. A satisfying tug could be felt as the cable wrapped itself around the girl, and... Summer was already not pleased by this. The radiant purple flames surrounding the mage did not dim down, similarly to the uncanny expression of anger in Ebony's face; her eyes lit up like the lava surrounding the stone walls the Liberators were clearing.

Yanking the cable at an upright angle, Morene grunted in exertion as she watched the mage's tiny fused body fly towards her. The horrific heat emitting from the girl was too much; even for Morene's armor, which was already going slightly orange from nearly overheating. After a very short moment realizing this, Morene settled on pulling the fused body up the incline of the drawbridge they stood upon as if she had the two of them lassoed. Almost immediately, she could see Summer's side of the fusion was already fuming.

"Let me g--" the mage's tiny voice began, with a very uncharacteristic growl to it. Definitely Summer.

"No," Morene interjected, much more sternly than expected.

A moment of silence, if either of them ignored the horrific screeching that approached them in the backdrop of the falling stronghold.

"You will listen instead, child," the woman continued, still sounding as if she was scolding Summer, even through the scalding heat, "you're being absolutely careless. I will not let this continue if you continue to put yourselves in harm's way; we work together, same as they are."

The amount of words Morene seemed to enunciate capitalized on how she felt perfectly. She finished, feeling ever so slightly bad that either of them had to be scolded for their behavior, but this was serious. Again, a twinge of guilt surged over Morene as she looked upon the mage's eyes, and as the screeching continued, the knight-errant eventually realized that was Ebony's side taking over, stronger than how simply pissed Summer was at the moment; it was a look of fear.

A single hulking step upon stone was heard. Morene knew exactly what was to happen if she didn't move in the next split second. So she did, activating her thrusters again, carefully avoiding the heaving strike by rolling out of the way and just barely dodging the colossal attack. As Morene's giant sabatons stamped upon the ground, she had already retracted her cable, almost knocking poor Ebony's body down to the ground. Immediately thereafter, Morene turned and pulled from her pocket voids the Moonriser poleaxe. Slightly irked that she was interrupted, Morene took initiative over the dragonling. Morene noted this was the partner of the other one who was just now scorched to oblivion and currently writhing upon the stone bridge, though she didn't care much at all what it was at the moment.

Taking a high stance with polearm rested upon her pauldron, Morene stepped forward at an alarming speed and swung the hammerhead of her weapon straight into the dragonling's snout. Her opponent's cudgel had clearly missed what was an attempt to trade hits; the knight-errant's range was far greater, to which Morene calculated perfectly. Watching as the hammer cocooned in powerfield energies lodged itself into the dragonling's head was mildly satisfying. Still, the dark energy zombie attempted to claw at the huntress, slowly and sluggishly, as expected of an opponent with a chunk of their skull now caved into itself.

Taking the shaft of her poleaxe, Morene slid her gauntleted hands to it's center of gravity. Pulling, Morene ripped the hammerhead downwards to slam the dragonling where it was better off; on the ground. Grasping her now freed polearm, the knight-errant held it in one hand as the soldier of Nebula still attempted to crawl at it's weapon some distance away. Looking beside it, Morene saw a rather large brick of stone. Grasping at the cuirass of the dragonling, Morene propped the head of the still frenzied reptile onto the slab, taking a few steps back, and swiftly ending it's life with a clean decapitation with the axehead of her weapon.

Breathing in, Morene was admittedly grateful for Summer to have had the rest of the lesser dragonlings scatter in a heatwave-induced panic, as otherwise she would have expected to continue fighting. Speaking of Summer, the woman turned to notice the fused body of Stormy Night some distance away was barely standing at this moment. Ebony's exhasustion getting to the both of them, more than likely.

Raising her voice so the both of them would hear, the huntress covered her visor and bevor with her giant Cerantium arm to avoid going blind from the Primes' blistering heat. She spoke again, gentler still.

"You remember what I said? Or am I going to have to tuck you both into my arm all the way back to the garrison?" She anticipated a response soon thereafter; hopefully from Summer, as Ebony was the last person in the entire verse who needed to hear any of this.

Before anybody could reply, more zombie-like battlecries could be heard. A low growl escaped the woman's lips, masked and distorted by her helmet whose visor shined an intense blue, almost as if it intensified along with her slight frustration.

[Summer]

Oh. This is bad.

There weren’t many things that caused Sonny’s heart to sink like it just had. Not in man nor in nature, monster nor god. He was as steadfast in his optimism as the sun was in its presence above. As long as its light beat down upon the earth, he would hold his resolve that everything would turn out alright.

Oh. This is really, really bad.

He held such unshakeable optimism because he brought that light. While he didn’t drag the sun through the sky himself, as that was far out of his pay grade, he did at least make sure that its radiance could shine upon the ground below. As long as at least that much was within his power, as long as he was able to guide everyone, he could make it so that everything turned out alright. It was just what he did.

Fuck.

So it, of course, made sense that the only time the sun spirit felt that deep, sinking feeling in his gut was in situations he couldn’t control. A type of situation only brought about by one thing; the tempest of temper and spite that was his other half.

Fuck why’d you have to say that?

Though the two could apparently feel each other’s emotions now (or at least, to a certain degree), it wasn’t that that tipped Sonny off to his other’s rage. He didn’t need a mental connection to tell the moment Summer snapped. It was plainly obvious in the shifting of the winds, in the sudden chill in the air. Their shared ears popped as the calm before a storm suddenly descended upon them. An eerie silence fell over the battlefield. A dangerous silence. Even the snarling rabble all around the duo of Stormy Night and Morene hushed for just a moment, their bestial roars echoing hollowly off the castle and the surrounding hills. The echoes felt almost... empty, in a way. Like they were just going through the motions but they themselves were eager to flee.

“You dare question me?”

Oh here we go.

Ebony’s normally timid voice just snarled, completely stolen by Summer. Her soft face, usually so slack and frightened, suddenly contorted into a look of pure fury. Though Sonny couldn’t see it, he felt it in every little movement of their shared muscles. Her teeth clenched and bared, her fidgety eyes, usually trying to look everywhere except towards where her attention lie, were locked to Morene’s with a monstrous glare. Her small body tensed with unnatural latent strength, ready to spring out at the first thing to move, like a jaguar waiting in ambush. The fire enveloping them may have faded away, but the fire in Summer’s veins was just starting to heat up

“Yes I da-” The soldier, speaking indignantly, her own expression one of maternal disappointment, met the fusion’s eyes, unflinching.

“Quiet!” She barked, all her pent-up tension releasing as she sprung up, throwing herself into the air in an impressive vertical leap. Her hands clapped over Morene’s armored shoulders with a powerful clang and her boots dug into the grooves in her waist, like a bear climbing a tree, and thus the short terror that was Stormy Night was able to bring her face mere inches away from the much taller Morene. A soft wind began to stir across the battlefield, bringing with it a chill that didn’t belong in the Ashen Steppes, especially not as close to the lava as they were...

And here we go. Summer’s world-famous rant shall commence in 3... 2...

“I have lived for two thousand, three hundred and forty-four years.”

Off by a second, whoops. Sonny was thoroughly unimpressed by how his other half’s rant started off. He’d heard it a million times before. The only thing that changed between them was how the other person was reacting, so he was watching Morene very carefully, just waiting for his chance to butt in. Which should probably be soon given how uppity the darklings circling them were getting. The sudden shift in the winds had intimidated them for a bit, but they seemed to be getting their nerve back...

“I have fought and won and killed for two thousand, three hundred and forty-four years.” The winds picked up in pace, rising and falling with the storm spirit’s infuriated tone, whipping up stronger as he raged, and calming down for just a moment as he lulled.

I have seen more battles than you, yadda yadda yadda.

“I have seen more battles than you have even dreamed of! Survived more than you’ve even fought in!”

Lava sizzled as the first drops of an impossible rain began to seep down from the heavens. Sonny half-wanted to turn up and face the sky, even though up there he knew he wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Ash obscured the sky as always. But even then, it’d probably be more fun than just concentrating on the soldier’s completely baffled expression, listening to his other half’s ire, and keeping yet another ear out for the circling lizardmen. He had to do what he had to do, however.

Something something ancestors of your ancestors...

“I’ve been around since the ancestors of your ancestors just started learning how to beat each other with sticks. I’ve seen every single new innovation that you humans put together to kill each other better! And you want to know what?”

Oh, here it comes. Finally.

The normally hellish air of the Steppes suddenly became downright chilly, and the weak, erratic gusts began to absolutely howl. If Summer had expected an answer from Morene, he certainly didn’t give her the time to actually vocalize it. “None of it! Not a single bit of it! Even compares to the might of a storm!”

And just like so many times before, with a practiced perfect timing entirely to emphasize his point, the heavens crashed down. A maelstrom of rain and wind tore down, bringing with it thick, soggy soot and almost instantly drenching Stormy Night and Morene. The darklings surrounding them, who’d just begun to find their nerve to attack once again, suddenly found themselves lifted up and hurled away by the tempest, their twisted, scaly bodies slamming against brick or plunging into lava.

And just as quickly as it came, the storm passed, leaving only the light pitter-patter and sizzle of a light sprinkle over both the hardened and the still-liquid rock. Stormy Night stared deep into Morene’s eyes, chest heaving, fingers still clenched firmly around her shoulders, her grip almost threatening to start caving in the armor, lest she find herself sliding off the rain-slick metal.

And... release.

Literally and metaphorically. The fused spirit hopped back off the soldier, boots kicking up a spray of ashen mud as she landed solidly on the ground. Sonny could feel it, in their shared chest, and in the breeze itself. Summer’s rage had subsided just a bit, the hammering of their shared heart starting to calm.

“So, Morene,” yet in spite of his sudden (relative) calmness, the fusion’s voice still held untold danger within it, her glare still just as enraged as ever. Morene simply smiled, as if... amused by this whole thing. “Perhaps the next time you even think about-”

Okay time to cut things off there before he really cocks it up.

And that’s just what he did. Wresting just barely enough control from Ebony and Summer, Sonny forced their mouth closed, letting the last words come out as nothing but a muffled mess. Their heart hammered, blood rushing hotly through their veins. But of course, there wasn’t exactly anything he could do about it. But the very moment he felt their shared muscles relax in resignation, he sprung.

“Testing testing one two three don’t you even try to talk Summer I’ve got work to do.” He spoke with as much speed and fervor he could muster, a far cry from his usual slow and methodical tone. He couldn’t spare a single opening, after all. If his other half had the smallest silence to steal from him, by the gods he would. “Don’t you even think about it either Morene, I see your mouth moving.”

Stormy Night’s gaze was, fortunately for the sun spirit, still solidly fixed on Morene, giving him the perfect cue that she too was about to speak and also probably irreversibly fuck things up. The perfectly authoritarian tone he gave to the usually soft-spoken Ebony stopped the soldier mid-mouth-gape, before she could utter so much as the slightest syllable.

“We are going to deal with this later. When we’re not in the middle of a massacre and preferably after we’ve all gotten used to being one big happy person.” No body language accompanied Sonny’s absolute deluge of words, as Summer and Eb simply held their shared body perfectly still, as if terrified that the slightest movement would draw the sun spirit’s ire. “Get it got it good. End of discussion.”

[Morene Fellon]

Morene rolled her eyes. Not much more to it than that; Sonny was right, there was more important things to be focusing on at the moment. As quickly as expected of her, Morene looked upon the horde of Darklings still remaining, immediately counting them in her head. The huntress took note that finally, only a handful remained; perhaps... twenty or so. That was manageable. Morene then looked onto Stormy Night, raising her chest as she did so.

"In that case," the woman replied, "follow my lead, mhm?"

The knight-errant wasted no time to see if Summer came out to furrow his eyebrows at the woman taking the time to speak, instead taking a bounding leap forwards. Calling upon herself to once again summon her LMG, Morene's eardrums rumbled as they came in general range of the viscous screeching that followed from the monsters ahead of her. A deep, distorted sigh escaped the woman's lips as she stomped forwards at an alarming rate, gaining a rhythm in her step which nigh-exponentially increased her speed one leap at a time.

She intended to get this over with.

As the Darklings charged forwards to the woman, there wasn't much in the way of letting her kite the poor creatures. Still standing upon the barely standing drawbridge, Morene still had to be careful not to fall to her demise in the lava pits below. The huntress knew that wouldn't be much of a problem for her, though.

Approaching the edge of the bridge, Morene's sabatons stamped onto the cobblestone, leaving prints of her heels as she charged forwards. Narrowly avoiding the few Darklings that got a headstart in storming at the woman, the knight-errant's armored body swerved the zombie's eventual slash with it's rusted sword, and as she stepped on the ends of the drawbridge, she used her momentum to jump right off of it.

Stormy Night, only now starting to move, felt a pit in her stomach, possibly due to Ebony's worry watching her new maternal figure jump straight off of a bridge as molten rock threatened to drown her in fire below. Had Morene have been thinking about this, she'd have likely told Ebony that she should know better.

Launching her left arm backwards, Morene shot one of her grappling cables and latched it firmly onto the edge of the bridge which she just flew off of. Activating the thruster on her back once more, Morene used her free hand to unleash a fury of bullets right into the cluster of Darklings who were now horrifically confused as the hulking knochten swung herself overhead. Morene slowed herself down enough to count the Darklings whose heads were turning into mist, downing eleven of them and crippling at least four more. A good few seconds passed as the huntress depleted her ammunition, landing on the ground. The weight of the woman's armor smashed into the stone floor beneath her, yet she continued to stamp forwards and away from the horde of Darklings now engorged in rage.

Stormy Night could almost see the woman give a quick nod as she steadily approached, drawing the dark energy zombies nearer than they already were.

"Wh--" Ebony's words came out of her possessed body, interrupted by Sonny still roaming around in her head. The sun spirit almost immediately noticed her panic, the pressure in her chest raising as the creatures drew near, their horrific battlecries becoming louder.

"You're gonna be alright," Sonny interjected, almost forcing the girl to breathe. "Okay?"

Ebony couldn't do much but muster a whimper. She looked at the oncoming blob of Dragonlings, wanting to run away, but Sonny made sure those thoughts didn't do much else other than surface. The sun spirit stood still as Morene charged forwards to the fusion of Primes. Raising her hands level to her chest, Sonny almost forced the girl to close her eyes and breathe. Morene whizzed by, stopping herself by ripping her heels into the floor beneath her. Cobblestone turned to dust, but that didn't stop Stormy Night from focusing on their next move. The more cheerful of the spirits repeated a single word in Ebony's head.

Breathe.

So she did. The continuous wailing of the monsters that threatened to get nearer made it difficult, but Ebony managed to keep her lungs filled, even if her knees were as soggy as her clothes which were uncomfortably pooling sweat from the sweltering heat. The entire situation was uncomfortable, but Ebony knew she had to do this. What 'this' was could have only been clear to Sonny at that moment, who begun to channel the small girl's ocean of destructive mana.

A few short seconds passed as Ebony's body heated itself to a literal boiling point. As weird as it was, the thick air of the Steppes was still more discomforting than this particular spell she was channeling, but she committed to it nonetheless. The small girl's body quickly dispersed the radiation-like flames around her, screaming as she near instantly combusted them into her infernal shield which she again hoped Morene wasn't near. It wasn't as bad as last time, but as the Darklings ran into her firewall of nigh-immediate demise, the knight-errant behind Stormy Night thankfully used it to her advantage.

Raising her fist, Morene Fellon of Creedmoor spun the minigun latched onto her gauntlet. Only a few unfortunate soldiers of Nebula got horrifically seared into a crisp before a flurry of even more projectiles began slamming into their chests, piercing their organs like hot iron. The sound of the gunfire made Ebony's poor ears ring, but that did not deter her.

There was a moment that the gunshots stopped. Ebony clenched her eyelids closed even tighter than before. She could now only hear the searing flames of her shield accompanied by the hissing of molten lava down below.

Slowly, Stormy Night forced her eyes open; an action none of the three Primes that were fused disagreed on in any way. Even beyond her firewall, Ebony's eyes saw the the bloodied carcasses of the Dragonlings now lying on the floor. Thankfully, none of their wounds were too gruesome, as expected of Morene's accuracy, but to Ebony herself... it was gross She could barely manage keeping her body from throwing up.

The only sound that followed was that of the huntress behind them reloading her gun, noticeably sluggishly. As the flames of Ebony's magic died down, all that continued was the hissing and crackling of the arid skies. Morene monotonously spoke, presumably to Sonny and Summer in particular.

"We're clear."