[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0RCAxMiLo&ab_channel=NorthernLight]You ever get that feeling..[/url]. long car ride. Waiting in a place you can't get up, stretch, move around. Scratch it 'til you bleed, that bone-deep itch to [i]move[/i] just won't go away. Can't sleep. Get up. Shake your legs. Stretch. Beat bruises into your thighs... it just... starts up again as soon as you settle.

That feeling was creeping up Yue's spine; settling into her neck and clawing at her shoulders. She splashed water on her face and smoothed out her hair. It really didn't help that it felt like there were far too many hands pressing cloyingly against her skin at all times in the Stoneworks, especially with the spike in... 

[i][color=#CE2B95]Fuck it, we're just calling it 'Aether' from now on. Never gonna get it straight, and now we can talk freely about it to other Final Odyssey nerds.[/color][/i]

If only she could just... [i]close her eyes[/i]. Shut it all out.

Yue stared at the Silverscale Grimoire laying on the bed she had recently made while listening to Zolya distantly through the door. She was right... stretch her legs. Get away from all this... [i]fucking HOVERING[/i] and [i]fretting[/i] like she was going to explode at any moment.

[i][color=#CE2B95]Well...[/color][/i]

She glared at the overgrowth outside her room's window. Had she really become so damaged that everyone had to bend over backwards to take care of her? Yue thumped her fist against the door frame... maybe a little too hard: it resonated through the walls of the manor. Right. Deep breaths.

[b][color=#CE2B95]"I'm... I need to clear my head,"[/color][/b] she called through the door. [b][color=#CE2B95]"Some light exercise sounds like a good idea now that you mention it. I'm gonna [i]stretch my legs[/i] a little,"[/color][/b] she informed, to the immediate panicked rustling from the adjacent room.

[b][color=#c45302]"Yue,"[/color][/b] Archer called curtly, sliding into the hallway unsteadily while trying to pull a shirt over his wiry, but chiseled torso. [b][color=#c45302]"Yue, wait! Ah fuck,"[/color][/b] he muttered, lightly distressed as his eyes tracked the rapid thump of footfalls over the roof.

The metallic chime of the Barrier medallion echoed through windows, and the whole manor shuddered with the force of her launch. The tall grass, flowers, and trees groaned and swayed as they were buffeted by her turbulent wake. Archer huffed with an annoyed expression.

[b][color=#c45302]"Going out to 'stretch her legs a little' has a much different definition to the Parahuman Super-Athlete who travels miles in seconds and [i]doesn't feel fatigue[/i],"[/color][/b] he snipped, before Zolya could even turn the [i]I-don't-see-what-the-issue is, let-the-girl-run[/i] expression on him. [b][color=#c45302]"At least she's headed East,"[/color][/b] he muttered after a second as he finished tucking his shirt in. [b][color=#c45302]"Can you keep an eye on her with your birds?"[/color][/b] He asked, taking a deep breath. [b][color=#c45302]"I don't think I have any prepared summons that can keep up with her."[/color][/b]

[hr]

It was strange. The barrier cut through the air with hardly any friction, almost like it were impossibly smooth and the wind just... had nothing to grab hold of. It had actually thrown her off balance and nearly caused her to stumble for her first several steps. Combined with the lack of ailerons, stabilizers, and other control surfaces that were hidden in the crevices of her armor kind of made her feel like she was constantly falling. No invisible fingers clawing at every hard contour or flapping uncomfortably at the backs of her arms and neck, just sliding through like a an egg off an oil-slicked griddle.

The shock from each step which normally rattled in her knees without the Exo-Frame and the impact absorbing gel layer seemed to get effortlessly reflected away from her body. Granted, she could feel a great deal more turbulence in her wake, but its not like she could be subtle at this speed to begin with.

Her foot sank into the grassy earth, and she felt the ripple of kinetic force slap the ground as she pushed off. It rippled out, reverberating back and ripping up the soil like splashed water. She took a breath, feeling threads of [Silver] peel out, slip along her arms and even drape gently across her shoulders, thrumming with power against her skin.

When was the last time it felt like this... gentle authority? Like she had cut through the tangle of strings holding her down. Like the forces of the world bent the knee instead of fighting to restrain her. Thorns and vines had clawed at her heart so long that it just... felt normal.

Yue turned sharply as she splashed through the Stoneworks' barrier and pushed [i]hard[/i] on the firmest purchase her foot could find. A familiar ripple of compression pressed against her, nearly knocking her body upright. Yue flared her arms unsteadily to create some drag at the top of her breath, and the barrier seemed to respond to her desire for stability by shaping channels to redirect the air. Appropriate levels of lift and drag were suddenly at her fingertips, and Yue flailed for a moment as the ground fell beneath her just a little more than she was expecting. The normal crackling roar which would flay her unprotected skin clean off no more than a gentle flutter in her ears.

The walls of ShieldTown were rushing up on her far too soon for her liking. It felt like she was trapped in a little sauce pot. The looming darkness stabbed through with artificial light, metal ceiling and distant cliff walls pressed in on her. She just wanted to cut loose. Scream and [i]run[/i] for everything she was worth. It burned in the back of her lungs, and nearly knocked the breath out of her as she slid to a halt some distance outside the walls. Yue huffed, staring up into the billowing pillar of dust she had disturbed. A narrow, knife's edge of morning sunlight was cutting through it from the plate-gap above.

How far was it? 

How silly would she feel if she could have escaped all this time and just... never tried?

What if it was just as easy as stepping outside and she could save Alex and the others from all the chaos and disruption her mere presence wrought?

What if she could just... [i]go?[/i]