At some point in their lives each Nova Lux candidate learned they had the gift of magic, the ability to manipulate one of the natural elements. Perhaps it was learned at a young age, or perhaps only recently. Regardless, it wasn't long before the Novus Orbim Imperium knew as well.

It was determined in short order through a variety of tests that their varying talents were notable. While others may be capable of magic, their bodies in particular were an ideal conduit for the raw magic that suffuses the earth. Accordingly the arrangements were made shortly after, parents informed, travel plans made. There was at least a month worth of waiting, time to say goodbyes and get things in order.

And then it was time to go.

---

The main method of travel between Sanctum Cities is via airship, and this is how four of the new recruits have travelled thus far. Their ship, the Concordia, is a sleek vessel made up of metal and wood, a cross between the new and old world that ferries them across ocean and continent. From Sisica, to Norba, then Hasta, Baetarrae, and finally Calcaria. Their final destination is Palmyra, home of both Nova Lux and the prestigious NOI First Military Academy.

For Selma, Sadie, Crystal, and Rivka, the journey has been pleasant enough. It may even be more than that, for those individuals who’ve never experienced the wonder of flight. Airship travel is both relatively expedient and considered mostly safe; not in just that the technology works, but also in that the deadly clouds of Nox that cover the planet rarely float up very high into the atmosphere.

They also have their very own contingent of guards, just in case. Both NOI soldiers and a singular Ars Magi, a blonde-haired woman in a gold and blue uniform that patrols the deck. None of them make much time for their guests but give short answers if asked about the trip and destination.

Individuals rooms have been set aside for each girl, the cabins more akin to train than airplane. Each has enough room for both their passenger and their luggage, along with a wide window to grant them a view of both the sky above and the clouded world below. Unfortunately, they’ve also been mostly confined to their rooms for the majority of the trip. This mean limited time spent on the deck, and not much contact with each other. Food and drink are provided, but each girl is mostly left to entertain herself for the duration of the trip.

Until they reach Calcaria.

Chie, waiting at the docks with her own escort, can see the lights of the Concordia as it touches down nearby. The docks around her mark the highest point in the city, a network of suspended pathways that connect to towering stone and steel structures that spread out in the sky like a maze. Here she is supposed to board and be taken with the others to Palmyra—

Or at least, she was, before plans changed. After near ten minutes of waiting to board Chie is informed by one of the Imperium soldiers escorting her that she’s being rerouted, as are the rest of the new candidates. The four girls inside the airship are similarly told to gather their luggage before they, like Chie, are escorted from the dock and to an adjoining rail station. Smooth metal cars rattle along the elevated tracks that run through the building, stopping briefly to let on passengers before continuing their journey down into the city.

It’s into one of these rail cars that the five girls are escorted, the metal doors sliding shut behind them. The markings on the outside designate it clearly as a private car, something important and military. There’s enough room for the five of them and their luggage, and they’re left to situate themselves and make preparations. The guards escorting them huddle outside the car, speaking over earpieces and making short gestures.

They appear to be waiting for something.

Which means the car won’t be moving in the immediate future, leaving the five girls temporarily to each other’s company as the minutes tick slowly by.

---

"Ngaaaaaaaaah~"

Whatever uncomfortable silence may have manifested between the five strangers was unceremoniously broken, as the far-and-away tallest of their number languidly streeeeeeetched her arms and back towards the roof, scraping the sky that much more before she blissfully sank in to the leather cushioning of the nearest seat. A face framed by evergreen locks bore a plainly relieved smile upon soft features, and after a moment one emerald eye popped open, taking stock of affairs.

For a girl like Selma Rosmarie, travel was an entirely alien prospect. Her family were settlers, rooted to their chosen homes, and deeply connected to the land they called theirs— that had not changed even in the wake of their century-old exile from Germany, as it was known in the old world. They maintained the homesteading spirit, preferring to nurture and cultivate where others might move to greener pastures. To them, it was a rare thing to even leave the agricultural districts of Hasta. To take to the skies to cross an entire continent? Unheard of. Leaving home was all too daunting. Her world had been so small before, and now...

The ride on the airship was a wondrous thing, really. To be so high up that landscapes stopped being scenic, and instead all melded into an endless canvas of woodland, steppe, meadow and mountain below had to have been every bit as magical as she and her four companions were. Even in spite of the obscuring Nox clouds, there was no way she hadn't clung to her viewport for two... eh, probably three hours, watching the earth roll by beneath her, paired with her best source of entertainment— an eclectic mix of musics piped out from her phone and into her ears. A non-insignificant number of them were far more heavy on screaming guitar than you would really expect to accompany such a gorgeous backdrop, but playlists unfortunately still eluded her. It spoke to the Concordia's luxuriant construction that the freely dancing giantess hadn't garnered any noise complaints during her portion of the trans-Eurasian flight.

That she had been made aware of, anyway. Must be some sturdy walls and flooring!

Flooring...

Whew.

All that was nice. But... It was also ethereal. In a way that didn't quite sit right with her, once the wonderment of flight had petered out some. Having worked upon soil and stone her whole life, she had to admit: it didn't feel right to not be standing on terra firma. When she had busted a move or two, it was one thing. A light, feathery step was good when you were carried by a fun rhythm. When you were walking, though? Or standing, or sitting? Or doing anything else? It was wrong to have that underlying sense of nothing beneath you. She had been reassured multiple times that she wouldn't fall through, and had definitely put the floorboards through their paces before she'd stopped to think about the matter, but she could still feel it. A nagging in the back of her head, saying "Selma, Selma, what in the Hellma?" whenever she shifted her weight and felt not the world, but a few layers of wood and steel beneath her heels.

Even stepping into the rail car, another artificial mode of transport, still had its connection to the ground. It just went through an extra medium or two in the track, rather than the airship's total removal.

She wondered. Did the other girls have the same problem? A few of them looked pretty classy, compared to a bumpkin like her, anyway, so she didn't regard it as too out there if they had been on an airship ride or two before... Was it as amazing for them, or had the sight of the world sliding by turned out to be something you could grow accustomed to? A routine occurrence? Was there anyone for whom uprooting and rocking over half the world's span could be normal?

These kinda questions didn't get answered just by rolling them down the cliffs of the mind until they hopefully hit an answer. Selma could see that much clearly, even without the naturally high vantage point. May as well find out. Hadn't had a chance until now, so best get striking while the iron's hot!

"Hallo!" she called to the rest of the assembled magical girl initiates, transitioning her remaining outstretched arm into a chipper wave at the wrist and putting on her best friendly smile. "I'm Selma! Anybody need help with any luggage? I don't know much about trains, but I'm sure I can lift whatever you need me to, so don't be shy!"

Her grin drew a little wider as she flexed her bicep in jest, but her words and intent were sincere all the same. If anyone looked to be struggling, or would just appreciate the hand, all they needed to do was take her up on it. No sense being cold to the people she was gonna fight alongside, right?

"Congratulations!!"

"Huh? What? Why... huh?"

"Surprise, Chie!"
"We kinda sprung this on her out of nowhere..."
"Don't worry, the teacher said we could use the classroom!"
"Hey, come sit! This is your farewell party!"

"Farewell party? I didn't think it was that important..."

"Quit the modesty already Chie! It's Nova Lux you're going to! Nova Lux!"
"I don't really want her to go, though..."
"I know, right? I don't like goodbyes."
"Come on, everyone... keep a smile on! I don't want to see Chie go either, but we should support her, right?"

"..."

"Hey, Chie, try these! I baked them myself!"
"Oooooh... why have I never gotten some?!"
"These are farewell cookies. You come to my house enough as-is."
"...Huh? Hey, Chie, is something wrong?"

"No... no, nothing at all. Thank you, everyone."

---

---

---

The dim light coming out the screen of Chie's phone was more than enough to see with for the darkened night sky which surrounded her. It wasn't pitch-black by any means- the abundance of night lighting at both the dock and scattered through the vast city below made sure of this- but the artificiality of it all didn't comfort her any. Anticipation, nerves, fear, longing... the emotions Chie felt were complex, compounded by her incessant staring at the minutes counting down. Her escort was a rather tall, serious man and had made for a poor company. Not that Chie had tried particularly hard to strike up a conversation, but most any of her questions were answered swiftly and with no hope for a followup. She was left with nothing to entertain herself, save for the act of slowly watching time tick and tick by.

It felt strange. She wasn't particularly bound to her home, but now that it was almost time to leave...

"Ah!"

Chie's thoughts were broken as she heard the airship dock. Naturally, it was at the station where she'd been (im)patiently waiting. She looked back up at her escort who, after a bit of hushed chatter with his earpiece, told her to wait just a little longer. It wasn't long before three girls were escorted off the airship by a slew of military personnel. Chie thought to ask some more questions, but before a word could escape her lips her escort had already begun explaining. He informed her that the airship would not be used to make the rest of the journey. Instead, she and the other three would be lead to a railcar which would be making the rest of the trip in its stead.

It hardly took any time for the five to get settled, but a silence hung over them nevertheless. It was quite the... interesting group. Out of the four, Chie figured she looked the most ordinary, but maybe each of the other girls thought much the same about themselves. One girl had hair unlike everybody else's, vibrant and colourful. But even more than the colour, what stood out how well-maintained it was. It looked like it'd give the feeling of silk were you to touch it. Another one was more modest. Her hair was fashioned in twintails and what stood out most about the her was just how fidgety she seemed. She'd been fiddling with something, or otherwise had been nervously twitching her legs or fingers, all the way from the airship to here. As for the last one, well...

"Hallo!"

The last didn't take too long to make herself known. She introduced herself as Selma, no family name given, and was a taller woman than Chie could have imagined possible. It was no secret that the people of Calcaria were shorter than some of the more western-laid city city states, but Chie hadn't even seen a man as tall as Selma. The girl seemed nice and friendly enough, but the difference in height was going to leave Chie uncomfortable for a while longer. Selma had introduced herself, however, so it wouldn't do to not respond in kind.

"My name is Masuzu Chie. I don't need help with my luggage, but I hope we can all get along from this point forwards."

Chie waited to hear the names of the other three.

Crystal sat in her room on the Concordia listening to music from her phone. Rather, she was skipping songs almost constantly trying to find ones that fit her mood. Skip, skip, skip, listen, skip, listen, listen, skip. She ignored the passing scenery out of a fear of heights because she couldn't exactly draw it while it was moving by so quickly. This fidgeting with her phone went on for the entire time she was there until finally the ship landed in Calcaria. She continued sitting in her area until someone came along to bring her out of the ship. She grabbed her luggage, a simple briefcase, a backpack, and a travel bag, and headed out the ship to the docks.

She turned down her music so she could hear and was taken along with the other three girls to a rail car, which they all went inside to wait to move on. Thinking back, she couldn't remember being in Calcaria before in her life. Supposedly she had been to several of the other cities when she was extremely young, but she only remembered two other than her home of Norba, those being Bellanum and Drusa, the three of which were very different than the small bit of Calcaria she could see while moving from the ship to the tracks where she was now. Looking around she saw that the other girls didn't seem to have much in common. There was an amazon woman, or so it seemed to Crystal, a plain looking girl who was eyeing the rest of them, and a girl with colorful hair who seemed a bit too stoic for her liking. She gently turned her mouth up and blew air at her bangs, causing them to float for a moment, before closing her eyes and reaching to turn her music back up. That is, before one of the other girls spoke up.

"Hallo!" the tallest girl spoke up. Her name was apparently Selma, and she offered help with luggage. Were Crystal not as strong as she was, she may have even taken the girl up on that offer, but it was simple enough to carry for her. Besides, it would be wrong for a semi-noble to ask a commoner for something like that. It was part of her job to protect the common person, not make them work for her, even if they offered to do so.

The plain looking girl, Chie, responded saying that she hoped the four of them could get along. Crystal sat quietly for a moment before taking out a pack of gum sticks and putting one in her mouth, holding the pack out for the others. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine. Anyone want some gum? It's regular bubblegum flavored, so hopefully nobody dislikes that." Crystal paused a moment. "Anyway, my name's Crystal. Pleasure to meet you all." She just hoped that her voice didn't betray her nervousness at the whole situation. It wasn't the other girls that were the problem, it was the nagging thought that she had forgotten something and the general anxiety of moving to a new place that had her on edge.

Rivka's fingers drifted along a piano that no one could see, keeping time to a piece that no one could hear.

Herself included. Her earbuds were tucked away in her pocket. They would have been in the way of any instructions she needed to hear, or the first words from the four other girls in the car. Not that it kept her from keeping her eyes closed while her fingers tapped out a melody on her outstretched legs. The airship had been nice, but she felt... cramped. At least she had been able to unpack a little, practice the depressingly few instruments she had been able to bring with her. Mutiny had been a heartbeat away when they told her she couldn't bring her target pistol. On an intellectual level she understood the concern about bringing an unaffiliated firearm on any transport that would bring her to the academy. On a personal, reproachful level she thought that if they couldn't stop a single girl with a .22 sport pistol from unpacking and loading it, let alone firing it, then humanity was in much worse shape than she thought.

She missed the chance to practice. She wouldn't admit it out loud but growing rusty with her firearms felt as awful as her instruments would. Part of her ritual was missing, something that she did if not every day then as often as she could. It was unnatural. The escorts didn't bother her, the confinement didn't bother her, nor did these new locales that she traveled through. But that disruption got under her skin.

Probably, she mused to herself, she should chat up the others. She had listened and watched through half closed eyes in silence as they found their own seats but she had yet to acknowledge them. Probably rude. Her luggage was piled in front of her, the largest case providing a rest for her feet that admittedly required her to slouch way down in her seat and elevate them both above her head. Whoever designed suitcases, shockingly, had not considered putting them at below seat height. By all rights she should have been uncomfortable and in half an hour she probably would be. For now the unorthodox position was stretching her spine very pleasantly.

"Sokolov. Rivka." She drew her name out lazily, lending a stretched, musical lilt to her pronunciation. "Privet."

She certainly was big, that first speaker. Selma. That was what she said. The other two seemed a little withdrawn, if not nervous, and she wondered if that was because trees didn't walk where they were from. This one had evidently learned, and picked up a bubbly personality while she was at it. Then Chie and Crystal, in order. Her fingers slowly tapped again as the big girl reminded her of some piece of music somewhere, a tune she could not name. Hm.

"If it's no trouble, bol'shaya devochka, you could help me stow my instruments."

She pulled herself upright in a single motion with eyes finally open, planting her feet squarely on the floor and absently adjusting any purple strands that had gotten out of place during her recline. The hard case at her feet received a gentle nudge. "If you can do so gently, Miss Selma. They let me bring so little that I would hate to lose what they did."

"A pleasure to make all of your acquaintances. I think we'll get along fine." She added, glancing around the car. Despite being willing to keep talking, she found she... Didn't have any small talk to make. Hm. "Has anyone learned the school anthem yet?"

Her fingers were already finding the note progression on her leg.

Quiet conversation fills the rail-car as time ticks by. The figures outside of the car continue to speak among themselves, pausing briefly when the lights both outside and inside begin to buzz and flicker. They don’t die but they do briefly dim, humming with quiet effort before full and fluorescent illumination returns to the car.

It’s after that brief interruption that the doors slide open once again.

A short, dark haired woman in Imperium uniform enters, flanked by four of the soldiers that had been milling around outside. The men take position at front and back of the car while the woman addresses the occupying passengers:



“Ladies. My name is Captain Wei, I’ll be escorting you to Calcaria’s military base.” Her tone is crisp and formal, information delivered at a break-neck pace. “A heavy front of Nox is moving in from the north and it’s been decided that it would be unsafe to send you through it. We’ll be holding you over a day or two until it clears.”

Explanation given the woman makes a signal to the operators outside, and with a gentle shudder the rail-car begins to move. It lurches forward along the track, clearing the station in a matter of seconds. The track running from the airship docks provides a spectacular view of the city as the car glides down toward the city surface, and those looking out the windows find a sea of lights spread out before them.

As the car picks up speed buildings move by faster, buildings rolling quickly past the windows. Once they reach the ground they pass through what must be the central station, a web of tracks and moving cars that necessitates a brief slowdown. From the window they can see clusters of people moving through the bustling station, the waves of bodies pausing briefly as the lights flicker and dim for a brief moment. A tremor of darkness runs through the surrounding buildings as well, until steady illumination returns a few seconds later.

“They’re redirecting power to the diffuses.” Wei comments in explanation. Considering her earlier remark about a heavy influx of Nox it’s likely the cities defenses need the boost. Such occurrences aren’t common, but it’s likely each of the girls in the car have experienced it at least once. The cities Ars Magi are most likely deployed as well, to contain anything that breaks through, something confirmed with Wei’s next statement:

“I’m afraid your original escort was needed elsewhere. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have in the meantime.”

The car begins to accelerate once more, leaving the central station and heading onward tower its destination. Occasionally other trains can be seen passing by, flashing by the window. Other stations similarly pass by, filled with waiting pedestrians.

---

"Sure can, Rivka~ Leave it to Ms. Rosmarie!" the aforementioned tree chirped in response, dutifully hopping right back up out of the leather seat to grab hold of the largest case, its oblong shape and unusual balance practically feather-light in her grasp. Lifting it over her head and sliding it into the compartment above was no difficult task compared to the work she did day in and day out in what would become her previous life— all the difference was simply in how smoothly you needed to do it. For a bale, you could toss it around a little without worry, but something so delicate and precise as an instrument deserved all the gentle touch her towering frame could muster.

"Eaaaaasy does it... All set!" she flashed the Russian(?) a thumbs up and shut the compartment hatch, before reeeeeaching over across the aisle to the twintailed girl who introduced herself as Crystal, and plucking out a stick of the offered gum. "And you make an offer I can't refuse, Crystal. Good to meet you too, and thanks!"

Music was precious in a world like theirs. While Selma didn't fancy herself too artistically inclined, she nevertheless knew how music made her feel. It was the speech of the soul, a way for hearts to reach out and touch each other in ways that words didn't always know how to. She could tap her feet to almost any tune, but if those tunes ceased to be, so too did that simple joy of hers. She couldn't let any of it be taken from the world.

A feeling that was reinforced doubly upon the arrival of Captain Wei, a clipped military woman who all but commandeered the big girl's attention as she'd seated herself once more. She was straight to the point, almost stiff in her precise explanation of their current travel itinerary. She wondered who the Captain was beneath all that stoicism, professionalism, and decorum— what music did she like? Selma knew that being all business and no nonsense wasn't all there was to the dark-haired woman, nobody could live like that, but at the same time she could scarcely imagine herself managing the same demeanor. Not for long.

Would the Ars Magi that was previously supposed to shepherd them to the Academy have been the same? Would Selma, in time, after she had fought enough of that which came from those accursed walls of arcane fog? No way. I don't have it in me.

And yet, what was it but proof that Captain Wei took her job seriously? She'd been through brownouts like what was going on outside herself, she'd heard about the aftermaths of nights like this in the news. As somebody whose home had lied upon the outskirts, she'd even once been told to relocate to a shelter deeper within Hasta for a night, just as a precaution. She couldn't ignore how important it all was to keeping Humanity safe and sound. Neither could the Captain, who may not have been able to afford being any less focused.

As she watched the tracks on the opposite side roll by, punctuated by the errant stations and trains headed away, her emerald locks brushed up against the window as she mulled it over, an errant, idle thought escaping her lips.

"I hope we can clear that stuff out one day."

Crumpling the reflective foil wrapper into a pocket, she popped the stick in her mouth and began to contemplatively chew, sweetness washing over her tongue.

”Dedushka believed when the last Void is gone, the Nox will clear away.” Deprived of her foot stool, even at her own request, Rivka stretched out across more than one seat. The small bag she kept next to her was tucked under her head, giving her the perfect angle to watch the sky and the lights that passed above the car. Each streaming, flickering light as they hurried by and the thick, oppressive cloud of raw magic that strained them so. The fog that threatened to blot out even those stubborn lights and plunge the city into darkness.

At least the city had more than twenty three.

The corners of her mouth quirked, a faint expression suspended somewhere between a smile and a frown as her mind drifted away to a different sky.

”Little goblins!”

She laughed and swung the smallest of her assailants up onto her hip, greeting the other little marauders with pats on the head and ruffles of their hair. It was like wading through a human tide trying to reach the kitchen, but she listened attentively so far as she could differentiate all of their questions.

“I am going to be an Ars Magi, that’s right.”

“Of course you can have an autograph. Of course I’ll come to visit.”

“I would love to listen to what she taught you, but I need to go see babushka myself first okay?” She laughed again and set her littlest cousin back down at the edge of the kitchen, gesturing them all away with a smile and the playful “Shoo, shoo, this is my party and I need to catch up! Chase each other around!”

”They’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day, Riva.” The same fingers that first showed her how to play the piano brushed over her cheek and the old woman smiled. ”So has everyone else, of course, but they’ve been bursting. So proud that their sistra is going to be a big hero.”

”Babushka,” Rivka greeted warmly, leaning down to kiss her cheek and wrap the smaller woman in a tight embrace. ”I’ve missed you.”

”I missed you too. I’m glad you’re here early, I wanted to talk to you. Sit, sit.” She waved a ladle at a stool near the counter and her granddaughter sank onto it obediently, just like she had done since she had to climb onto it. ”I couldn’t be prouder. Before, but certainly when I got the news. It makes me so happy to have you here tonight. I’ll see you again before you leave, I hope, but it was important to see you.”

“I don’t think I’ll be here when you come home. You’ll be training for a long time, and then you’ll be working. I’m old.” She waved her hand. “I’m not complaining. Your family will take care of anything I leave until you can claim it. But there are things that I want you to know, and I have to tell them to you now.”

Rivka bit her lip and resisted the urge to argue. But her babushka was old. Maybe seventy six wasn’t quite so old in the old world. But it was now. Every year she was away the odds of their reunion would get lower, and lower, until the day she returned for her funeral. It hurt. She could face leaving home even if she had never done it because her parents, her siblings, her cousins, they would all be here when she returned. But her grandmother…

”I know, Riva.” Her smile was comforting, Rivka’s thoughts clear as day on her face. ”But everything in its time. You, though. You’re going to be an Ars Magi for a long time. But you don’t know what that means to me.”

“My father was the last of us to live in Russia. None of us have laid eyes on home since, and my father... “ The pot boiled and she reached out to turn the heat down, using the lull to collect her thoughts. ”My father was never the same man. My family told me about who he used to be, how he had laughed, and sang, and enjoyed life to the fullest but I never got to see it. My father stopped singing decades before I was born. He composed the most beautiful pieces, made sure our family survived here in Baeterrae. But he left something important behind in Russia. There wasn’t anything he regretted more than fleeing his home, even if he didn’t have a choice.”

Her voice caught and she took a long breath, favoring her granddaughter with another, sadder smile.

”He would be so, so proud of you Riva. ‘That girl is going to lead us home’. I can just hear him.” Rivka cocked her head silently, feeling the other shoe begin to fall. ”But he would be wrong. We’re never going home, Riva. This is home. This is what you need to protect. The Nox is never going to go away, not when it makes monsters of men. Not when we spend our strength so desperately to keep it outside. We’re all going to realize that soon. All of us that have spent so long dreaming of our return. We created this, somehow, and we can’t undo it.”

“And that’s when they’ll need you. They’ll need you for hope, Riva, just as much as we will. Just as much as your cousins will when I’m gone.” Two glasses and a bottle came off of the shelf above the stove, and when they were full Rivka’s babushka extended one to her. ”I think that’s an awful burden. But if anyone can take it you can, da?”

The glasses clinked again in her ears, and Rivka felt again the way the drink had burned. And the toast her her babushka had raised a few hours later knowing full well that for her it would go unfulfilled; Poka ty snova ne vernesh'sya domoy.

”But I think he was wrong.” She added under her breath, suddenly tired of the view. So she looked away, and let her eyes drift over the soldiers. Captain Wei held no interest for her. The captain’s words drifted into her ears without tone or passion, nothing but a rote recitation of the facts. Facts that she didn’t really care about. Until she reached her destination she was cargo, and like good cargo all she really cared about was arriving. She would have preferred to talk with the other girls but they seemed…. Reticent. A nap might have been nice but even for her that would have been awfully rude.

Instead she entertained herself with looking over the soldiers’ weapons, without much interest for the men and women themselves. She saw mostly more robust, powerful versions of what she had practiced with. The cylinders, if she had to guess, were of a more potent stock than what she worked with. Her target pistol only had six shots, after all, and she was only shooting paper. Or wood, or cardboard, depending. But the principle was the same and she examined the mechanisms in as much detail as she could at a distance, seeking differences where she could find them.

Another try, perhaps.

”Where are you all from? Miss.... Ssselma,” She continued, finally remembering the tall girl’s name. ”Is that a touch of Germanic Hasta?”

Captain Wei is content with the lack of questions, leaving the passengers to talk between themselves or sit in silence as the city slides by. The quiet rattling of the car fills the empty space, more stations and buildings passing.

When Wei speaks again it’s not to any of the passengers, but to a small earpiece that her fingers rise to touch.

“Here.” She says. A long pause follows, during which bad news is likely delivered. Something that makes the woman scowl at least, her lips tugging down before she responds: “Understood.” Dark eyes flicker toward the four passengers, as if to make sure they’re still in the spot she left them. She clears her throat after, beginning:

“There’s been an itinerary change.” She gives a short pause before continuing: “We’ll be getting off in the next three stations, a car will take us from there.” More stations rattle by, the lights in each flickering and dim. Three more until the car slides to a slow stop.

---

The station that they arrive at is lit by emergency bulbs, cool orange lights set at regular intervals throughout the darkened hall of the station. The floors are tiled black and white, the walls and ceiling made of smooth metal paneling that reflect the meager lighting. Pillars run through the length of the station, as do half-walls of waist-high greenery. Rows of displays overhead scroll with cautionary text, repeated by a calming electronic voice at regular intervals:

“--expected to resume within the next several hours. Please hold until then. This is a code white announcement: Travel along the Kei Line is currently suspended. Operations are expected--”

The main power seems to have gone out, and the waiting passengers with it. The space is almost eerily empty, only a few clusters of people-shapes sitting in the darkness. Shapes that Captain Wei surveys briefly before she motions for her passengers to take their luggage and disembark. It takes a moment to do so, but soon the group is moving through the rail station, heading toward one of the long flights of stairs that leads toward the surface.

It’s near halfway there when the world goes white. A blast of force ripples through the rail station, the impact hard enough to throw each of the four girls and their small entourage from their feet and to the tiled floor. Everything is a swirl of color afterward, disorienting noise and blurred vision.

Both Crystal and Chie soon feel hands pulling them to their feet. Forcefully yanking them up and dragging them backward. It becomes obvious within moments that these are not their guards, but someone else. Tall figures in dark clothing, their faces covered by bone-white masks with jagged, geometric designs inked across the surface. They are neither gentle nor friendly, their gloved hands attempts to secure each girl as they retreat.

Selma and Rivka come to their senses near the same time, both getting a view of those figures attempting to spirit their fellow candidates away. There are two per abductee, and though there may be more hiding in the dark it’s difficult to tell.
Captain Wei and her soldiers seem to have taken the brunt of the blast, and none are rising quickly. Whatever hit the small group seems to have had more effect on them than the four girls they’re meant to protect.

Which means they'll have to fend for themselves, at least for these precious few seconds.

---

---

Chie was quiet and observant, as is her nature. She exchanged pleasantries well enough when prompted, but her focus was dedicated to learning about the other three rather than them getting to know her. They were nice. Conversation between the four of them was a constant, even if the subjects themselves barely held any kind of importance. Chie did, however, learn where her fellow Ars Magi-to-be all came from. Crystal hailed from Norba, Selma's past lay with Hasta and Rivka had made her home in Baeterrae. Nova Lux scouted the four girls from every corner of the world, it seemed like. Maybe there would be even more kinds of people waiting at the academy itself.

Her musings had to take a backseat when captain Wei informed all of them that they'd be getting off soon, another change of travel plans being made. It made Chie uneasy. Was the attack so severe? She didn't notice anything amiss before all this, but she couldn't help but worry for the safety of the people she left behind just over half an hour ago. It made her shift uncomfortably in her seat. Looking away from the rest of them. Distracting herself by watching the lights flicker by. She stopped thinking about the other three, forgot they were even there.

When it was time to step out of the railcar, Chie had found the atmosphere just as unsettling. Calcaria's railways were bustling during the day and she didn't have much experience with this dark, barren wasteland stretching out in front of her. She wasn't used to how dark everything was, to see people so silent and distant. Even though they had the military escorting them, somehow, it felt like something would jump out of the shadows at them. Some kind of void that slipped through, somehow, and was aiming for them specifically. A ridiculous thought, surely.

Instead, it wasn't ridiculous enough.

Chie felt some kind of impact, sudden and violent, throwing her back. Her ears were ringing, her vision went black and she was too shocked to move her limbs. She tried to get her bearings on the surroundings, but everything spun and moved. Her body hurt. In a daze she weakly tried to move her arm, but found it stuck on something. Same result with the other one. Then, Chie noticed the reason why. Something was dragging her. Clarity shot through Chie, as did panic. Some manner of void must have bust through. They were going to drag her off and kill her, like... like they...

"G-GET OFF! LET ME GO!" she hysterically yelled, struggling and thrashing in the grip of her captors. She didn't know the truth of the matter, of course, and it's not like she could do much. Whoever, or whatever had her in its grip also strongly overpowered her. "H-help! HELP ME!" she continued her panicked shouting. It was all she could do.

Crystal sat in silence for the most part, listening and learning about the other girls. At one point they had all exchanged information on where they were from, but luckily she managed to get away with not saying her last name. Soon enough, the Captain announced that they would be leaving the train in three stops, so Crystal put her headphones down completely around her neck and shut off her music. The flickering lights made her feel even more uneasy, so she wanted her full attention on her surroundings despite also wanting her music to calm her down.

As they arrived at the station they all gathered their luggage and left the car, only to be hit by a blinding light and powerful shockwave throwing everyone to the ground. The next thing she knew, there were two figures trying to drag her backwards away from the others. Crystal panicked for a moment until her eyes readjusted and her training kicked in. She still had her backpack on, adding to her weight, so she jumped up and threw her legs out behind her to land on the ground and push forward, stumbling one of the figures. Next she used the advantage from that stumble to crouch backwards slightly before jumping forward and using the leverage from her arms being held to kick her legs upwards as if doing a backflip, twisting her arms in the grips that were holding them and leaving nearly 180 pounds of weight hanging midair that the abductors were trying to keep hold of. Finally she used the leverage given to her by them once again to throw her legs downwards and back onto the ground, twisting free from one of the attackers as her weight shifted too much for them to keep hold. The entire process was quick, about six seconds, and was quite painful to Crystal's arms, but it was worth it to escape.

With her left arm free Crystal turned and punched the other figure holding her right arm in the throat as hard as she could, leaving them gasping but still holding on tight to her arm. Deciding that hurting her arms further wouldn't make things much worse than they already were, she jumped backwards slightly and kicked midair with both feet towards her captor, hurting them and pushing herself away from them at the same time, causing them to lose their grip on her and for her to fall backwards, hurting her back as she fell onto her backpack. One backwards somersault and a lot of stress on her back later, she was crouched near her where her luggage had fallen and was ready to fight, slipping her backpack off quickly.

How tasteless.

The indignant thought penetrated the haze in her head, all the more surreal for how normal it was. How utterly atonal. They fucked with her ears she thought angrily as the ringing registered, scowling around the copper taste in her mouth. One second she was walking along, carrying her bags through the dark station and ignoring the way the shadows seemed to surround them. She kept the anxiety at bay by running through a selection in her head, humming into the void around them. The next she was face down on the tile, her luggage was arrayed in front of her... And so was their escort.

That finally broke the haze if not the tinnitus.

The detonation had disoriented her but the shock was probably the only thing that kept the fear at bay. The anger, too, however irrational. She clung to them both for support and pushed herself on her elbows, casting her eyes around in the dark. The flash had disrupted her night vision but her eyes had had longer to recover than her brain, and she remembered where her escorts had been. Spread out to safeguard the group from most directions, Selma had been on her left, so the nearest guard was... Her hand hit uniform and she grabbed the sling she knew to be around his torso. The soldier was unresponsive, so was Captain Wei; by all standards they should have recovered faster. Occam's razor said whatever they were hit with, the four magical girls to be were more resistant to. Which to Rivka's mind said magic. That was a thought she shied away from, the ramifications more frightening than anything she'd already seen. That was a threat to the adrenaline fueled serenity she drew tightly around her like armor, and so for now it was discarded. She could think it through later.

Right now she hit the quick release on the sling and drew the rifle close, hands taking their placed on the grips fore and aft while she rolled to her right. Her thumb flicked off the safety and she felt the rewarding thrum of the rifle's power flowing. The ritualistic movements, familiar and safe, cleared her head enough to take action. Selma was stirring, but she wasn't up yet. The other two had been grabbed, one- Chie- yelling for help. Crystal had freed herself already, but in the dark there could have been more than those four.

"Eyes behind us, devushka," She hissed, almost in Selma's ear, and jabbed the bigger girl slightly in the ribs to hurry her along. Their assailants, whoever they were, were hostile. Their escort was down, one of their number was still captive, and they could be surrounded. An authorization for lethal force if she ever heard one. Their white mask gleamed in the little light available, and one of Baeterrae's best youth marksmen sighted on the helpful target. Dragging his (her?) target kept his captive too low to block the shot. She'd only get one without endangering Chie, as soon as she fired they'd know. "We could be surrounded."

But that first shot would be perfect.

She pulled the trigger from a kneeling position with form her judges would have praised, surveying the scene in front of her for her next target and trusting her new tree friend to have her back. If they could group up they could protect each other, alone they were dead. Or worse.

Rivka released the trigger and whistled in the dark, hoping against hope their escorts could recover. Two and a half to three semi-trained teenagers and one untrained did not a spec ops team make.

Selma was a working girl for as long as she could remember— the family business was the family business, after all. You didn't get to sit out on the last vestiges of humanity's agriculture. When the day broke, you got up and hopped to it. No matter what aches or pains assailed her, the young sapling had it down to her roots that go time was go time.

The burst of light, sound, and pain felt like a punch to the nose, of course. When you had no idea something like that was coming, you couldn't brace for it, couldn't take a strong defensive stance in the mind or body. Even her tough hide only offered so much protection from a cherry bomb sucker punch... but it clearly did much more for her than the soldiers had access to. Even Captain Wei was down for the count, as far as her blurred vision could clock. Uh oh. That's really not good. Craning her neck further, she grit her teeth and squinted at the only two things she saw on their feet— tall, masked, and decidedly dragging away her two new friends, judging from the thrashing close beneath them. If there were ever a "go time"—

Sharp pain to her side brought the world back into focus, a new stimulus resetting whatever in her brain had still been left reeling. Two knuckles, just under the ribcage, and a hiss of Baeterrae-tinted purple in her ear brought much needed direction to a swimming sea of colors and sound.

"Eyes behind us, devushka, we could be surrounded."

—With the mental tabula rasa, and an understanding of the situation the girls had found themselves in, "go time" was clearly now.

"Jawohl."

Since sight was limited by brightened eyes adjusting to a dark room, since sound was limited by her eardrums filtering out the explosion that had gone off in their faces (albeit enough for her to hear Chie's panicked screaming), Selma turned to her next strongest weapon. Everything that walked the earth took a step, and everything taking a step left its mark on the earth. Ground imparted force unto feet as feet imparted it unto ground, vibrations passing more readily through solid material like concrete, tile, and stone than a fleeting medium like air could ever carry.

Tap.

Pushing herself off the ground, the rising tree took a deep breath and felt the response to the vibrations send out by her knuckles rapping against the linoleum. More effective than her eyes ever could be even at full capacity, this dowsing ping offered a 360-degree layout of everything connected to the earth here— a mental map of subtle differences in vibration and reception. Very good for low-light situations. Rivka to her right, the assembled soldiers ahead and beside. Crystal and Chie up ahead, the former having freed herself and gotten much closer to their assembled backline, the latter still within the clutches of the two assailants, some four or five meters ahead. Whatever was behind... she would know about. Everything in this section for sure.

KRAK.

A second strike, a full punch against the polished hardness beneath as she rose to a knee, unintentionally mimicking her partner's posture. A second ping to keep the picture clear as one might expect, but now that she knew the layout of things, the composition, and the locations of everyone around her that she didn't find friendly, she could do something about 'em. In exchange for what little Nox she could use, for her only real trick with magic so far, she gained far more value in forewarning, which was as we all know, forearming.

THUD.

A stern stomp upon the black and white at her feet followed the crack of Rivka's rifle, heralding the big girl rising to her full height, her venerable bookbag now carried in one white-knuckled hand as opposed to her back. Inside was nothing too special— just a few notebooks and clothes, really. But trees weighed a lot living or dead, and this one was intent on making their assailants feel it.

"I've got our back! Is Chie still in trouble?" she called over her shoulder, the tightly woven fibers of the top strap of the backpack tensing under centripetal force as her wrist began to whirl, anticipating a melee. Unlike Rivka, a sport shooter par excellence, Selma's strengths lied a little closer to home. The ringing in her ears had cleared, finally, after that which the gunshot had wrought ceased.

If push came to shove, she'd launch her best shot at continued education into one of those featureless masks and settle the rest with her bare hands. It didn't matter if they'd just met, if they were all still really awkward around eachother, if they'd not progressed past small talk.

There was no way in hell she was gonna let anyone get taken.

Things are happening quickly now, the quiet walk through the darkened subway transitioning abruptly into a panicked struggle.
Crystal’s would-be abductors are surprised to find that the girl is alarmingly competent in self-defense. The first stumbles back, the second releasing their grip on her and clutching at their throat as they tumble backward onto the tile. It takes the first a moment to right themselves, rising unsteadily and taking a wary step backward.

Chie proves easier for the other masked figures to keep ahold of. At least, initially.

Rivka is a trained marksman, and there’s just enough light and just the right angle to take her shot. Her targets are tall too, and busy keeping the girl in their grasp held tight. They don’t notice that the purple-haired girl has the rifle until it’s too late.
There’s a sharp crack as the magitech rifle goes off, a sudden illumination in the dark. In the flash of light the pale masks of their attackers are starkly visible, none of the strange symbols drawn on seeming quite alike. And one of those masks, worn by one of the two hold Chie, shatters abruptly as Rivka’s shot strikes true. The person behind it staggers backward, a hand rising to grasp at the wound opened up by the blast. A wound that by all rights should have put down any normal human.

Chie finds, consequently, that one pair of hands on her has suddenly let go. The other loosens, a momentary gap that may allow her escape if she takes advantage.

In the meantime, Selma’s dowsing reveals that Rivka’s concerns aren’t entirely unfounded. There are more figures in the dark, hostile and heading toward the group from behind. Two more in those strange masks, both of them with heading to engage.

One of them doesn’t make it fare before there’s another crack of gunfire. The figure doubles over, stumbling several steps before hitting the tile. Captain Wei is shakily rising to her feet, pistol in hand. The remaining attacker collides with her a second afterward, tackling her to the ground. The weapon clatters to the tile, and the masked figure is soon scrambling for it.

"No chance, buddy!"

Before the masked figure's fingers could close around the molded grip of the pistol, before their fingertips could brush against the textured plastic, Selma burst into action. There wasn't much distance between her and Captain Wei to begin with, and with her long stride it was all but child's play to intercept her foe, kicking the gun clear and swinging for the fences with her Improvised Bludgeon of Continued Study. Even as the pistol skidded along a few more feet, the backpack's ominous whirl had terminated into an upward arc akin to that of a golf swing or tossed stone, rocketing up into the mask of the figure with all that built momentum behind it.

With it bending down, it only made sense to attack where it was trying to go— you create a bigger collision that way. With all her leverage and strength behind the swing, Selma was sure that this collision in particular would be pretty big— but would it be enough? That, she didn't know, and didn't wanna bet on. Most people could probably take a swing or two from her using this before going down, so when it came to these jerks who could very well have walked right through that first attack that had dazed them, for all she knew...

First thing's first, I gotta make sure this thing can't hurt Captain Wei! Gotta get it away somehow!

Their escort had still been stunned when she'd rose and fired her first shot into one of them, and now she was down again. If she'd hit her head on the way, that could have been her completely out. Tile was no joke, and Selma knew enough about striking the earth to know that there were right ways and wrong ways to go about it. Skull against stone? Obviously wrong. Could seriously injure yourself doing that.

... Or.

You could really give something else the business.

Immediately, she swung again, a plan already formed in her head. She just needed to get this guy stood up, even just a little. So long as his posture was A) off of the Captain and B) slightly raised, she could do something a little more permanent than swinging around a sack of books.

The first strike had been enough to halt the masked figure's advance, and the second convinced it to give up on the "be in a good spot to get uppercut by a teenager's belongings" idea. It rose, hands still outstretched to intercept a third blast from below. It came soon after, sure enough— but this time, there was no driving force behind it beyond simple momentum. No swinging arm, twisting hips, or wrenching torso to carry it through, just one final and distracting moment of contact as the backpack left her grasp, forcing it that extra little bit higher.

Perrrrrfect.

It then felt a pair of arms suddenly clamp down upon its waist like an industrial vise as the big girl swept around behind it, locking her hands together in a palm-to-palm grip. Part of being in a big, working-class family was big, working-class scuffles with big, working-class siblings. In the low light, young Rosmarie's face was almost as hidden from the world as those behind the masks these things wore, but there was no mistaking the sound of a grunt and a laugh escaping her maw. She'd had to learn an evil thing or two to keep up. And since this thing was even taller than she was, she had just the one.

She dropped her weight low, center of gravity dipping beneath that of her prey as she stepped one leg over to the side, outside of theirs and physically blocking any attempts at regaining balance. Her arms pressed inward, disallowing any room to swim under and bringing the lock tight against her own hips as she drove them into its leg, below its balance.

And then she arched skyward and twisted, carrying it clear over her head and back down onto the hard, unforgiving floor. Their combined weights met that of the world with a thunderous crash as she dropped herself into it atop the masked assailant, aiming to hit the ground with him as hard as she could.

Really, what kind of German would she be if she couldn't pull off a suplex, anyway?

Cinnamon. Crystal thought as she stood up and squared her shoulders. Should have gone with cinnamon. She glanced back at where the two shots gunfire came from. ... Apple, perhaps? But that would be overstepping... As she thought this, her gaze travelled to where the first shot hit, noticing that she wasn't the only one who had been grabbed by their would-be kidnappers. Sure, there was Captain Wei being grappled behind her, but she was a trained soldier and had two of the other girls backing her up. She hadn't even heard Selma's comment on Chie, being too focused on escaping when she said it, but now Chie had her full attention.

Crystal took one last look at the two who had grabbed her, noticing as they step back a little. Perfect. She bit down hard on the gum in her mouth before she turned and booked it towards Chie, her footsteps loud enough to draw the attention of her target, the man(?) turning their head towards her as Chie broke out of their grip. Within range of the abductor, she slammed her foot down and threw all the force she could muster into a punch towards their left temple, moving inwards to catch their face if they backed up or tried to turn away. She turned towards Chie for a moment, just long enough to say "Get to the others." before rebalancing her weight, shifting her footing, and slamming her left knee into the kidnapper-to-be's stomach.

She pulled back and waited for Chie to start moving before getting between her and the two wounded attackers, slowly taking steps away from them while keeping an eye both on them and on her own assailants. With any luck, Rivka could give her cover until their guards got back up. What a way to start school.

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Chie continued to writhe and struggle beneath the iron grip of her two would-be captors. The girl didn't have any time to think; merely kicking and screaming on instinct while her body felt electrified from the adrenaline pumping through her. "Let GO I said-!" she yelled in vain defiance.

"I've got our back! Is Chie still in trouble?"

"Selma!?" Chie blurted out in a panic at hearing her name being called. Then, a gunshot rang through her ear. A flash of light scraped by her face, and unbeknownst to her, it had hit one of her assaulters. "Eee-!" she gasped, her eyes widened from the sudden shock. For a moment Chie had stopped struggling, but then noticed the grip on her had weakened. With as much force as she could muster behind her pulling, somehow, Chie had managed to break free. She staggered back, fearfully looking back at whatever, or rather whoever, had attacked everyone and grabbed her.

They were tall and dressed head-to-toe in black, save for the ominous white mask. Or, at least, one of the two wore a mask. The other was clutching their face, shattered pieces of white at their feet. Though the shadows obscured their features, Chie could still tell that something was dripping onto the floor from between their fingers. Blood.

"A-Ah... aaah..." Chie whimpered, slowly pacing backwards. She didn't know what to do, or where to go. She couldn't take her eyes off her attackers in case they tried to grab her again and she also had nowhere to run. The exit was past them, Chie knew as much, so running for it wasn't an option. There was nothing to gain by running back, either. She and everyone else in this tunnel were stuck.

It was lucky, then, that Crystal dived in front of Chie and started scrapping with one of her assailants. "Get to the others," she'd growled back at her. Chie briefly glanced at Selma, Rivka and Wei, then back at Crystal.

"O-okay!" she replied and ran back towards the other three. Of course she was worried about Crystal, too, but with everything going so fast she hadn't the time to dwell on these things. Chie narrowly avoided Selma throwing another one of the masked men, letting out another small shriek, before crouching down next to captain Wei. The woman's gun lay only a short distance beside her and without thinking, Chie grabbed onto it with her right hand and then reached out to Wei with her other arm. "Please let me help you up!" Chie asked of her, trying to throw Wei's arm over her shoulder.

Rivka thought she missed. Her target didn't drop. The sound was so different from any target she had shot before, such a rough, abrupt shatter so unlike the easy break of a clay target that it didn't register. But she saw him- it?- stagger when the shot like a hammer struck his face.

So probably not quite human.

The shiver down her spine threatened the detachment she was carefully cultivating, the same motions that defended her reassured her with their familiarity. She was in a competition, nothing more. But her target wasn't supposed to stay standing after she nailed it with a perfect shot. When it shattered it shattered, it didn't stand there clutching its face. But Chie was free, Wei was awake, and the momentum had shifted. The confusion the ambush had instilled was burning away deep inside her. Her hands shook but for the breathing exercises that controlled her nerves, her heart pounded in her chest, her eyes were wide... But they hadn't so much as touched her. And they damn well knew she'd hit them.

"Khuy tebe." She hissed, straightening her legs to take a more stable stance. Stock to her shoulder, cheek on the metal to bring her eye in line with the sight. And she fired. First to the same attacker's chest, barrel rising to take another shot at his head in quick succession. Crystal had attacked Chie's other assailant, putting him on the back foot, and she hoped that her own follow through had put one of them down for good.

"Wei, would you be a dear and whistle us some help?" Rivka sighted on one of the men that had first grabbed Crystal and fired at his center mass. It was the cleanest shot she could get. With Chie and Crystal retreating towards her she had to watch her fire, though putting one more down range was as good a deterrent as any. Not that deterrents were going to work. Anyone that was going to be afraid wouldn't have done this in the first place. "Just as soon as you're done gushing your thanks."

The tides of battle are shifting, the surprise attack having gone far awry by this point.

There’s a crash as Selma slams her masked target into the ground, a strangled cry of surprise and pain echoing through the darkness. The weight and power of the big girl comes down with punishing force, and her attacker crumples into a heap nearby. Crystal drives another back, and another sharp crack echoes as Rivka takes her next shot. It strikes center mass, the figure pursuing Crystal dropping to a knee as the shot hit true.

Captain Wei’s arm reaches to balance upon Chie, putting weight against her as the panicked girl helps the officer to her feet once again. It takes just a moment for her to steady herself, and she reaches to take her weapon from the girl’s grip with one quick motion.

“Stay close to me.” She instructs, taking several quick steps to help another of the soldiers to their feet. Her voice rises after, barking, “All of you, with me!”

The woman begins to move, making a sharp gesture for both her soldiers and the four girls to follow. She heads for one of the long stairwells that leads up to the surface, two of the recently recovered soldiers acting as vanguard for the small party. The remaining two officers are soon stumbling to their feet, picking up the rear guard and discharging their own rifles, their shots echoing those Rivka’s already fired. All together the escort forms a rough square around the four girls, Wei and two in front, two behind, all beginning to move toward the stairwell.

For a moment it seems escape is eminent. Easy, even. The masked figures are wounded, crumpled on the floor, shot and scattered.

But there’s something wrong with them. Rivka realized it after her first shot, that these people are something more than just people. It’s confirmed when the first injured figure removes their hand from the shattered remains of their mask. There’s a face behind, but it’s not quite right. Black veins run through the skin, and one of the eyes is no longer white, but a pool of obsidian. The others are rising as well, dragging themselves to their feet despite their wounds.

The one with the shattered half-mask, what looks to be a woman, raises her hand as the four girls and their escort begin their retreat. There’s a sudden grinding sound, followed by the ear-splitting tear and twist of steel.

And then it is raining chunks of metal. One of the giant display screens set on the ceiling above comes crashing down to earth amidst the escapees, shattering with a cacophonous bang. More follow, displays and chunks of ceiling, turning the way ahead into an obstacle course of debris. One of the soldiers guarding the rear goes down as a piece of ceiling smashes into him, pinning him under part of it.

“Move!” Wei demands, her pistol echoing again in the darkened subway station.

It’s not as easy as that. The falling displays soon block the path, requiring a detour around. One that will give the remaining masked figures one last chance to grab their targets. They’ll have to be avoided one more time, along with the other obstacles, for each girl to get to the staircase.

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Captain Wei getting back on her feet helped calm Chie's nerves ever-so-slightly, desperately clinging onto people as she was in the moment. The captain didn't have to tell Chie twice to stick close, the teenage girl tailing her like a puppy would tail the litter's mother. Her heart was beating so fast.

Wei was aiming for the stairwell and Chie figured that out pretty quickly, so a bit of hope was able to take root in her heart. Unfortunate for her, then, that it wouldn't last long before being weeded out again. She'd all but forgotten about the attackers for a minute, despite the fact Chie really should know better at this point, so she was unprepared for the creaking from above. At first she ignored it, but then a piece of rubble fell in front of her eyes. Chie let out a brief shriek of shock and surprise, her eyes darting up above. She saw the panels of the railstation coming loose. Not only that, but one of them seemed to be right above her. "Ah... aaah..." she muttered fearfully, reason briefly escaping her as she felt herself paralyzed. It fell and Chie tried to shield herself, closing her eyes. A loud crash rang out, but Chie felt herself unharmed. When she opened her eyes again, two parts seemed to have fallen; A set of displays blocking the party's path forward, and a piece of paneling that hit the soldier behind her.

At that point, Chie briefly forgot about her attackers and escape both. She rushed over to the soldier's side, crouching down next to him much like she had done for Wei. "I-It's okay... it's okay, I can get you out of this, so please get up...!" she desperately told the soldier. Chie didn't have a lot of time to save them, even if she didn't realise that herself. There was one thing she could do to help out, something only she could. Making a snap decision, she attempted to gather whatever traces of Nox that were in the area. It pooled at the edge of her hands, flowing into the ground beneath the soldier and Chie both. Something was changing. The weight of the paneling seemed to drain out of it, as if it were a sack gradually oozing sand. It felt like the floor was starting to push against the body of the soldier, rather than having it be something needed to push back against.

Unfortunately, Chie wasn't particularly versed in her magic, nor did she have the benefit of channeling like an Ars Magi would. She'd given the soldier some literal breathing room and, if they had enough strength, the ability to push themselves off the floor. More than this, however, was too much to ask of the girl. She couldn't make the floor beneath them feel weightless and floaty, even though she wanted to. Not only did Chie foolishly exhaust herself a fair bit by trying, but whatever Nox she was able to gather had all but been used up.

Chie had also stopped running for the exit to do this. She was too focused on saving the soldier, forgetting all about trying to escape.