Another vanguard Esper is in the berserk’s Esper range. Sara already raises her baton, ready to intercept them one last time, perhaps shocking them will be better to incapacitate them, but the Esper is faster.

Just as the berserk Esper begins to rampage, the defensive Esper attempts to subjugate them, holding them down with the help of their sand power, but one other vanguard was wounded because of the rampaging force.

Amara whirls over them, finding the defense line weakened, when the Sentinel shoots another Acceleration Wave.

Sara manages to reach her, enough to get her down, but it is too late for most of them.

Her glasses reflect the horror when vanguard espers turned against them, one by one, then the merciful missiles came to their aid.

The ‘help’ is being shot toward the Sentinels, overloading its core, and slowly the Sentinel rot, leaving only the attached part of the tank remains as a husk. Armed troops then pours to the road, gunning down any berserk Espers with non-lethal paralyzer, and it is quiet once again.

“Miss … Khalida.”

Sara props herself up with Amara’s help, her sight swims and blurs, and her head hurts, but otherwise she’s still alive.  

She only notices later that half of them are ‘wiped out’, mostly berserk Espers are there because of the Acceleration Wave, and the wounded try to stay behind the crude defense line.

Sara can see Amara’s eye color change from warm amber to darker brown, but she still manages to knock a few enemies away before she gestures to Sara to run. The defensive Esper from earlier managed to save the remaining Guide and the fallen, though they are in a bad shape themselves. Thankfully, the aid came for them, or they will have to lose more than it should.

“Where’s Miss Penelope?” Amara asks, but Sara puts up a dismissive hand toward her.

“You should get yourself cared for first, don’t worry about us Guides-”

Sara ponders for a bit, then she takes Amara’s hand on hers. She channels some of her power, at least to keep Amara’s eyes from changing.

Phase 1 Guide, light skin contact. Administer enough power to stabilize the Esper’s power. Sara looks up, finding Amara slightly frazzled. Her forehead is scarred and she bleeds from her nose, but nonetheless, she keeps up a stoic expression.

“Is this your first time receiving Guiding?” Sara can’t help but to ask.

“Is it that easy to guess?” Amara says.

“Reactions differ from person to person, you simply just know it after years of service.” Sara adds. Amara’s hand is cool to touch, though it is getting warmer with her Guiding, which is quite a positive outcome. 

She observes until Amara’s eye color returns, then Sara retracts her hand. Though she somehow wonders, how does Amara fares if not with Guiding? The stray thoughts quashed immediately as she takes notice of Amara's scars.

“Wait.” Sara warns. “Hold still.”

She swipes the scar over Amara’s forehead, using her power again. Amara pulls back, flushes slightly.

“Oh,” Amara muses. “So that’s how Physician power works.”

“That also depends on the Guide but yeah, that’s the gist of it,” Sara sighs. Over her shoulder, the additional medic team already approached the wounded. Sara pulls out a handkerchief from her pocket and hands it to Amara. “There, get yourself treated, Miss Angkara. I’ll try to find Miss Penelope.”

“Thank you, Miss Khalida.” She says, almost too quickly, that it takes Sara by surprise.

Never know there’s an Esper that will express their gratitude. Not another scoff. Not another threatening motion.

“And you should rest too.” Amara adds, before she heeds on Sara’s suggestion to get herself treated in the medic tent. “We … we did our best.”

Sara doesn’t know whether Amara says it for herself, or for Sara, as she finally feels the weight of their ‘failure’.

As the medic approaches the one needing care, so is the investigation team who detains the paralyzed berserk Esper to be contained. They will be later subjected to therapy, they can be ‘cured’ as long as they’re not exposed to a berserk state for too long.

Sara drags her feet with heaviness in her heart, trying hard to not let what happened today fester.