[h3]Vail[/h3]
For nearly a straight fifteen minutes, curses that would make even the saltiest sailor blush with embarrassment echoed down seemingly every hall and into every classroom within the AMRO compound. Each swear was more colourful than the last, and she was loud. Loud enough to make heads rear from around corners to inspect just what was disturbing the peace and quiet so violently. Those curses were followed by heavy, thudding footprints that, in some cases, left visible cracks in the concrete floor. The figure led an obvious trail as she stomped through the halls, determined to make as much of a ruckus as she could. Those that stood in the way of the figure were shot a look that might have caused lesser souls to drop down dead, and they knew immediately that they had best step out of her way if they valued their lives. [i]If only looks could kill[/i], Vail thought, as she clenched both of her fists. Without her gauntlets there was no groan of metal this time; only the unusual, sickening sound of her own bones stressing against her alchemical strength. She felt no pain, and so there was nothing to stop her own bones from shattering when she pushed herself too far. Vail’s alchemy had broken her own body more times than she could count, and it was always when she was in a fit of rage. She was not there yet, but oh boy, she was close.

Thoughts of Joux only made her more frustrated. Vail disliked many people, but there were only a few select individuals that she felt raw, unconditional hatred for. He was one of them, and Alistair’s goody two-shoes act around the old man did not help. Alistair was far from Joux’s lap-dog, even if he acted like it sometimes, but the fact he even attempted to appease the man, let alone try to [i]excuse[i] his worst actions sickened her to her very stomach. Joux was the worst kind of person, and if Vail had anything to say about it she would lock him up and throw away the key.

“[COLOR=ed145b]You know what?[/COLOR]” Vail said to herself. “[COLOR=ed145b]Fuck him. Fuck both of them. Fuck this whole shitty institution, fuck alchemy.[/COLOR]” She heard a book drop just to her right, and a worried student who had bent over to pick it back up looked at her, his legs already shaking in fear. “[COLOR=ed145b]And [i]fuck[/i] you.[/COLOR]”

Vail could feel alchemical power well up inside of her as she descended further into her rage. Her alchemy was unconscious, reactionary, and did nothing to help the situation. It made her feel powerful, but never powerful enough to get what she wanted, which only enraged her further. Alchemy seemed to buzz in the air, making it visibly shake in anticipation, radiating from the young woman as she continued to storm down the halls. Every tiny sound she heard away from her made her flinch; she needed somewhere quiet and alone to recompose herself. She found a tiny, relatively empty room some ways away from the other, busier parts of the compound that for a brief moment might grant her some solace and an opportunity to vent. She looked about the small room and knew what she was going to do. She was going to tear it to pieces.

She threw herself at the largest cabinet she could, something almost twice her height, and hurled it across the room with only one arm. She brought both fists down on a desk, shattering it in an instant, and still carrying enough force to crack the stone floor, then grabbed both halves of the desk and threw them across the room as well. The sounds of destruction from the room were almost deafening as the woman tore it apart, reducing everything inside it almost to dust as she tore through it with a flurry of kicks, punches, and alchemical energy that would have frightened even Alistair if he had seen it. Glass shattered, stone cracked, and wood splintered, and such sweet destruction felt all too satisfying.

It was then that her vision went white as light blinded her eyes. Her body was thrown to the ground as an immense force was brought down upon her, and she felt a thousand tons of concrete and metal crash onto her relatively frail mortal form. Her alchemical power exploded, fighting back against the force that tried to push her down. Vail was too consumed by her rage; nothing would stop her now. [i]Nothing[/I] would. Even as the very weight of the world pushed down on her, she pushed back, and slammed both fists into the ground to support herself as she forced her form back up, and in her rage she screamed. She screamed to curse Joux, she screamed to curse alchemy, and most importantly she screamed at whatever this was that tried to restrain her. She had no idea what it was; if she had done so much damage that the ceiling had collapsed, if one of the Asylums had finally grown tired of the chaos she caused, or if Alistair was trying to restrain her… but she told it that no matter what it did to her or what it was, it was going to pay.


[h3]Alistair[/h3]
“[COLOR=f6989d]I need to find Vail,[/COLOR]” called out Alistair.

The Vile had torn the entire building they resided in asunder, leaving nothing but rubble and terrified alchemists. Most of those at Innocence had been slain in an instant, consumed by the blast. The only ones who survived were those lucky enough to find shelter under the barriers of more powerful alchemists like Julie, and that number was far, far too small. It made Alistair sick, himself having only just managed to find shelter under the barrier, and he tried his best to assist the Chrono by manifesting his own alchemical barrier to support hers. His assistance was minimal at best, as Alistair knew he could hardly compete with a Chrono, but he hoped that his assistance might have helped save at least one person. Too many had been killed in those few, scant moments. 

Alistair thought that he heard someone call out to him, telling him that it was not safe to go out alone, but he hardly had the option. His mind was linked to Vail’s and he felt her rage, her anger, and then he felt it suddenly silence. He had not gone mad, twisted by the severing of the bond between two paired Asylums, which meant that she was still alive, but he could feel that her signal was weak and faultering. She was injured, badly, and would not last for long on her own. The pink figure darted gracefully across the rubble and debris of what was once a building, now reduced to broken fragments, and did his best not to look at the remains of the young alchemists that he passed by. There was nothing he could do to help, and so he pulled himself away, his usual smile completely absent. Who would do such a thing to children?

The link between the Pendulum alchemists was strong, and Alistair could use it as a beacon to pinpoint his companion. She was ahead but out of sight, potentially buried amongst the wreckage, and when he sensed that she was below him he called out telepathically, hoping for some kind of response. “[COLOR=f6989d]Vail? Vail?! Are you okay?[/COLOR]” For a moment his composure faltered, and the tiny glimmer of Vail’s consciousness blipped out of existence.

Then he felt it. The spark; a tiny, glistening spark in the corner of his mind that told him that he was not alone and that his mind was still something he shared with another. It shimmered, vanished for a moment, and then roared back into life with new fury and passion. And rage. So much rage. He heard movement, as stone crashed against stone, and something fierce tore its way closer to him. The very ground below him rumbled.

And then she appeared. In an eruption of alchemical energy Vail burst forth from the ground, sending fragments of rock in all directions. Alistair was thrown backwards, crashing into the ground with about as much grace as one might expect as a hefty rock slammed into his chest, and as he pushed it off of himself he watched the burned figure claw its way up from the ground. Alistair saw burned flesh, torn clothes, and broken limbs, all attached to a feminine form that barely acknowledged its injuries. She yelled and pulled herself out of her stony tomb, steam and smoke pouring off of her body… it was Vail, but her body was twisted and torn.

“[COLOR=f6989d]Vail, please! Calm down. We need to get to safety! This thing is too dangerous,[/COLOR]” Alistair called out.

Vail took a single step forward and then collapsed under her own weight.