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“DON’T. DO. THAT. AGAIN.” Each word from Baldric was punctuated with a harsh but hollow thump from where he was beating his club against Rehua’s side. Said conrasu seemed shocked that the alchemist would be attempting to attack him. When the beating didn’t seem to be working as well as he wished, he started to pull several bombs from his pack.
Off to the side, Tannhauser stared in horror at the newly reformed Vinabert, who stared with large wet eyes up at him. Oran had stopped his gibbering to instead beginning to hyperventilate, unseeing to the world around him.
“I was trying to help!” Rehua defended himself, arms raised in a pitiful attempt to act as a guard against the attacks. This move was extremely unsuccessful, the smoke bomb that landed at his feet made sure he had no clue where the attacks would be coming from.
“NO YOU WEREN’T.” Baldric yelled, an alchemist fire sent soaring the short few feet to catch the conrasu’s leaves aflame. Tannhauser took that as his moment to step a fair distance from the fight, dragging Oran by the scruff with him.
The teen’s prolonged panic attack was seemingly becoming worse somehow, not that the metal man was trained on how to handle them.
“I didn’t see anyone else doing anything!” The walking tree continued, barely able to deflect a small portion of the fires and acids thrown at him. Like a shower of deadly chemical weapons that the alchemist threw with the speed of gods behind him.
“That doesn’t mean you should have killed her!” The other nearly screamed, voice just barely held back by a small part of him remembered what stealth was. Not that any of them were being very stealthy with the full on brawl that had broken out.
They went on unopposed, the plants and trees around them not spared of their wrath, several melting or burning. Once Baldric ran out of alchemist fires and acid flasks he moved on to ice bombs, coring charges, and whatever he could grab easily.
The first ice bomb burst across the ground in front of Rehua, the large spikes slamming him against a nearby tree. Cutting through his wooden form, missing his concentration of being by a hairs width. The next speared through his eye, shattering the glass orb easily and earning an inhuman shriek from the conrasu. Though all damage could be repaired by magic, the pain of such injuries would not go away in any short amount of time.
With the conrasu fully stuck to the tree, unable to do any spells since he couldn’t see, Rehua gave up. Taking the moment where he wasn’t being barraged to focus on healing, any spells he did use to hurt Baldric could put the others in danger, so he held back. As much as it was sorely tempting to just let chaos reign, hurting Vinabert again would likely actually get him killed.
Baldric, calmed somewhat with immobilizing the conrasu for the moment, made his way through the battleground back to Tannhauser. Vinabert had stopped looking as though she was going to cry, instead she simply looked shocked. Wide pupil filled eyes staring out blankly, only coming back to reality when the alchemist gently grabbed her from the other’s arms.
Careful to not drop her or squeeze too quickly, he inspected to see what or if any injuries left. Much of her was covering in bruises beneath the fluffy fur, although brought back together by magic, it didn’t heal.
Oran was still hyperventilating, pale and almost to the point of passing out as he quietly sobbed. Whether because of the carnage or whatever memories he had been reminded of, the teen was most definitely traumatized. But out of all of them, he had the best healing magic, and so once more Baldric would have to step in. Carefully maneuvering Vinabert into the strix’s arms before pulling both of them against his chest.
The contact caused the other to flinch violently, but he quickly relaxed into it, breathing slowing down slightly to instead become sobs. Wrapping both arms and wings around the plush like creature of Vinabert as he pressed his face against Baldric’s shoulder. It wasn’t something he planned to allow again, but he supposed for the moment he was fine with it.
His plan worked, the smell of fresh pine surrounding them as Oran’s magic layered across the small area around him like a blanket. The bruises and cuts littered across the alchemist’s skin healed with a warm tingly feeling. And Vinabert seemed to sigh in relief as the patchwork coloring of bruises across her faded. A glow like a star blooming from the strix’s hands as he focused on getting his magic to work.
“How are we going to fix this?” Tannhauser questioned behind him, switching between watching Vinabert and eyeing Rehua.
“You said your mother laid that line?” Baldric asked Oran, patting the strix’s shoulder lightly to get his attention. Though he looked shaken and out of it, the teen nodded, awake enough to at least hear him. “Then all we have to do is find her, she can probably reverse whatever this is.”