The undiluted, absolute panic that gripped him the moment Atty’s eyes closed was a thing of nightmares to Dion. There were only a few instances where Dion had felt genuine fear— genuine helplessness. Even being strapped to that table with Ren was nothing compared to the overwhelming dread that shook his body while he cradled his unconscious brother.

BOOM!

People screamed, pushed, pulled, and shoved each other, all racing for the bottom of the stairwell. A piece of the ceiling broke away, taking out one of the guardrails above. The building was coming down faster than it could be evacuated. 

Hyejin was already gone, either swept away by the crowd or abandoning them to save herself. It didn’t matter. It was just the two of them now, like always.

Getting Atty off the floor without getting crushed by the fleeing crowd was a struggle. Dion had to keep him between the wall and his own body to shield him from the flailing arms and legs of the writhing mass. A few accidental hits landed hard in Dion’s ribs when other evacuees tried to shove their way past. He might have ‘accidentally’ elbowed a few people himself. 

The next landing was for the thirteenth floor. It looked like the door had been jarred open. Hold on, Atty. Please wait just a little longer… Dion shuffled them carefully down the last remaining stairs as fast as he could manage. It had only been seconds, but it felt so very much longer.

On the other side of the door was a large function room. There were food and drink tables set up, although most of them had spilled when the building started shaking. Nothing potentially dangerous, and no people. It must have been where they planned to have an afterparty. Dion assumed the staff had already fled.

As if on cue, the moment he pulled Atty through the doorway, his brother’s muscles began to spasm as he transitioned through his seizure. Dion slipped his jacket off to act as a pillow, whispering aloud to himself, “I’m so glad you didn’t do this on the stairs.” Atty appeared to be unharmed, thankfully. More than he could say about his own bruised ribs.

BOOM!

Dion took a second to steady his breathing. It seemed easier to get his bearings since they left the stairwell. It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. I got this. He took a longer, deeper breath, trying to ignore the sounds of crumbling concrete that echoed through the stairwell. One thing at a time. Atticus, first. Always Atticus first.

The second wave of panic hit him hard in the gut when Dion rummaged through his pockets. He found the cloudy liquid fast enough, but he couldn’t seem to find the syringe kit he normally kept with it. Did it fall out? No, no, no, no. Not now! 

BOOM! KROOOOOOM!

Dion threw himself over Atty again, squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for the impact of the roof to cave in on them. If he was going to die, this was better than Yoshida and his sick, twisted revenge. If he could at least give Atty a fighting chance, that would be enough. Just like dad, I suppose…

Thump. Thump.

That noise wasn’t a roof caving in. Dion looked up. Something was swinging and hitting the window pane nearby. It sounded like the window was cracking under the force, but it was hard to see through the dust. 

CRASH!

Something big smashed through, tumbling as it hit the ground. Then it got up and dusted itself off. The blue light of the breather mask’s mana gauge was glowing in the debris cloud. Surely not? The sling on his arm was missing, but the aggressive stranger from earlier was now kitted to the teeth with firearms. His gold eyes only locked with Dion’s briefly once the air cleared before he turned his attention back to the broken window.

A deafening siren played in the street, drowning out all but the screeching of the monsters and the sound of heavy impacts on the street below. Now that the window was ‘open’, the true chaos from outside was all too ready to filter in. It sounded like carnage outside. Screaming, screeching, shooting, drone announcements; It was hard to make out which sounds were which.

Crab-like legs wrapped around the window frame. The thing screeched loudly, trying to crawl through the window that was only half its size. Dion had never seen anything like it before; part crab, part arachnid, part teeth. The chill that travelled down Dion’s spine rested in his stomach. 

Echo took one look at the monster and muttered in a language Dion didn’t understand, “Que bicho estranho!”

He wasn’t sure if Echo was actually talking to him or just talking out loud. The other man still hadn’t properly acknowledged Dion’s presence once since he ‘arrived’. 

BOOM! SKREEEE!

The whole building shifted again. A crack large enough to see through formed in the walls as if the side of the building threatened to slip away.

“We need a doctor!” Dion said, checking on Atty again. He was still convulsing violently. Dion couldn’t tell if Atty was still bleeding. The dust was caked on everything, even Dion’s sweaty hands. Atty, please. Just hold on a little longer. I’ve got this. I’ve got this.

“No time for that,” Echo replied curtly, shooting at the monster in the window. Laser bolt after laser bolt landed in the soft flesh of the crab monster’s underbelly. The smell of seared seafood filled Dion’s nose as the creature tumbled from the side of the building.

WHUMP!

“This building is coming down. We’ll be squashed if we stay,” Echo continued, turning back to Dion and Atticus. He seemed to frown when he noticed Atty’s convulsions, but didn’t comment. It probably wasn’t a weird sight for someone with mana poisoning.

“I know, but I can’t yet. I need to find a syringe.”

Echo’s eyes squinted at Dion over the mask. “Ugh. I hate those things. What do you want one of those for?”

“He needs medicine. I can’t move him right now.”

“How do you plan to find a doctor without moving?”

“That’s… a fair point,” Dion conceded, suddenly questioning himself as well. The panic was clouding his logical reasoning. Atty’s spasms had started to slow down, but they weren’t over yet. Maybe they could wait this one out? But how long would that take?

“Oh!” another familiar voice cried as the tall stranger emerged from the stairwell. He was also covered in coloured dust except for a wet, bloody gash on one of his biceps. His shirt was barely a rag hanging off his neck. “You’re still here? Your lady-friend is already halfway to the starport. I thought you went with her.” He waved a hand in front of his face as though it would somehow move the dust out of the air, instead kicking up more.

Echo chimed in before Dion could respond. “He said he doesn’t want to move.”

“That’s a bad idea. This building is going to collapse.”

“He said he knows.” Echo leaned out the window and began shooting at something again.

WHUMP! WHUMP! SKREE!

The tall man gave Dion a look like he was a fool, and Dion found he couldn’t quite disagree. Interdimensional monsters were crawling the streets, his employer had abandoned them and he was thirteen stories high in an unstable building with two weird locals. 

“Wait, why are you here?” Dion asked, watching Echo lean so far out of the window that it looked like he was going to fall out. Come to think of it, Dion didn’t see either of them go down the stairs. They had disappeared once they entered the stairwell.

“We were on the roof, but it collapsed. This level is kind of the roof now,” the tall one answered; that explained the dust and the injury. “The stairs are blocked, though. We need another way out.”

Atty’s jerking movements were slowing down, but he still wasn’t conscious. For the first time in the last few minutes, Dion felt some kind of hope. Atticus was going to be okay. Next: leaving. Immediately.

“How do we get out of this?” he muttered more to himself than anyone else.

“We? Are you coming too?” Echo asked.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to stay?” the other one added.

Dion’s brain wanted to explode and leak out of his ears. It was like talking to two toddlers while also trying to think with a pudding instead of a brain. They weren’t going to be useful to him. He’d have to find a way out on his own.

“Ember!” the masked man at the window called in an uncertain waver.

Cracks worked their way through the building walls like lightning. It happened so fast that Dion didn’t have time to process it.

Fear filled Echo’s eyes as he stared at his own feet, arms stretched out on either side to stay balanced. Several words in his language spilled from his mask as he suddenly started sprinting toward them. The exterior wall peeled away first. Then the floor began crumbling underneath Echo. Each footfall barely made it in time for the concrete foundation to fall away.

Dion leapt up immediately and started dragging Atticus further away from the collapsing floor. It was a wild guess; for all he knew, the entire floor could collapse under them anyway, but it definitely would if they stayed put.

Ember held onto the doorframe of the stairwell and swung himself with a hand outstretched for Echo– but Echo wasn't fast enough; the floor caved under his feet.

He fell.

“Echo!”

WHOMP! 

Unfiltered sunlight streamed through the dust, blinding Dion for a moment. Dust erupted from the gaping hole. It was a tense few seconds before the sound of crumbling concrete finally subsided. 

The collapse had stopped only a few steps away from Dion and Atticus. Ember was still hanging onto the frame, but his feet were dangling over thin air. The rest of the wall and floor had vanished, leaving only the skeletal structure of the supports. There was nothing left of the several floors beneath them.