"We best go." A young teen said, I was helped to my feet then limped after Mattie. The darkness gripped my heart first, squeezing its life into a painful flutter, the voice settled deeply.

"Senka, come here." The unintentional denial stirred fearful whispers. He moved quickly, the first distinct cry from the group being pushed back forced more people away from me. Even Mattie stumbled back, his hands gripping my shoulder as the shade towered over me.

He leaned in close, wholly silent and putrid with anger. "Your games—are hardly appreciated." I stared, helplessly into a featureless mass of either deep-black skin or sandy-pale flesh, it was a blue of eyes, noses, mouths, ears, yet it was covered by pure darkness from around the cabin. He smelled like blood, his magic easing from him like a steam. "We are leaving."

"What?" I said dumbly, a whisper of total disbelief making me stumble back. "I'm—" my hair popped as I was pinned between pain and his strength, Mattie's nails scraped over my shoulder. I was pulled towards him until a blast of wind pushed everyone back, I gasped when the pain subsided into a taught pressure against my scalp while I was dragged through a stumble towards the door.

"Now, Senka." I screamed wildly, raising my legs to kick into the darkness as my nails punctured into the flesh of the stranger's hand.

I was lifted into the air with my toes briefly scraping against the floor, until I was grabbing a fist and pulling it away from my tearing collar. "Let me go!" I knew my nails sliced into his arm, but the desperate feral flail was a gnat to his readjusted grip that popped my neck, and he forced me forward towards the open door. I tried to cast, but the flare of magic catching broadly against a firm surface that licked back into my face.

My hair was pulled back with his other hand and I retaliated by summoning my pistol. I didn't have the conscious effort to fire, while one of my eyes had been squeezed shut from the pain howling under the strained roots of my hair. "Enough, Senka. We don't have—" I fired through an aching clench of my teeth.

He shouted loudly, gurgled with a sudden rush of blood. "Shove him out!" Someone screamed, I fired again, feeling the pressure of soft flesh tearing underneath. Vines had wrapped around me, a blade cut into the arm firmly latched firmly around the back of my head.

The irritation from the man flared out his magic forcing us to flee, just as I was yanked back and my cuff was pulled off. I stumbled back into the crowd, a few air mages stepped out as seeds were flung and the mass of darkness-cloaked-as-a-man was wrapped and forced out from the cabin.

Once the doors shut the lights flickered on. Aerit was wrapped around my middle, Mattie brandished the blade and the few teens around me had already begun barricading the windows, walls, and any opening available for exit. I shook, my whole body was numb, I couldn't take a breath.

"Raymond?" Aerit whispered, shaking me into a loud sobbing inhale. I screamed aloud, covering my head while absolute fear took away any attempt to ground myself past it. I was holding onto my chest, the pain in my hip was anchoring, but it wasn't enough to stop the constant panic.

"Raymond!" A pair of hands had yanked my attention up, and with a hard flinch I saw Aerit. Her expression was terrified, tears were streaming down her cheeks. "You're hurting yourself." She held my wrists away from my hair, the pulse from the wound subsided and returned to my hip.

I dropped my hands into my lap, looking up. "There's a body." I said, slowly pointing at the door. "Can you see it, too?"

Aerit gasped loudly, turning with the group to find, both of the adults had been skewered by their blades through the door. Shield Luno was on the floor, Mattie held the blade with a terrible pant shaking him.

"By Setria's grace." Cass was approaching Mattie, and slowly, she took the blade then laid it upon the floor. He seemed to shake himself away, and nodded at Cass.

"Who's Senka?" Someone whispered.

My vision blurred as a horrid dizzy vacancy took the terror and sewed it back into dread. "Raymond, are you Senka?" I shook my head.

"I don't know who that is…" My wrist burned, it was being stared at, judged. "I'm sorry—" My sob was sharp, it burned the back of my throat and into my nose. More tears poured down my cheeks while my palms fizzled the droplets. "I'm sorry! I don't know—don't let me go back." I managed to choke out through a spat mumble.

"Back…?" Aerit asked, "Raymond, where?"

"To Hollow Skulls! I'm going to be a slave again!" I couldn't see Aerit's expression, my vision was flooded with anticipation for the worst, it felt barely contained as I folded over my legs, sobbing low between my knees. "Hawkins…Yuna…I want Hawkins and Yuna!"

"He's so hot, he might burn down the cabin." I heard, it made me flinch.

"Everyone gather your buttons!" Aerit shouted, a gentle hand had placed itself upon my shoulder with another thicker palm in the middle of my spine.

"We're not going to let you go, Raymond. We're friends." Aerit said, tucking a bang away from my face.

"Aerit's right, we got'yer back." Mattie cleared his throat through the strain. His warmth rubbed down my spine in a wide circle. Cass was replacing my cuff, her smile gentle when she squeezed my wrist.

I cowered when someone else stepped close. "Careful, please!" Aerit's tone stressed up in pitch. "Your button." She said, placing it into my hand.

Aerit, Mattie, and Cass had pressed their own. Tossing them to the floor while I stared at mine between my knees, I was shaking still, and reaching for it made my heart hurt. I could see the buttons blinking vaguely around me, as mattresses were brought from the dorms and the earth mages continued to block us into the common room. A part of me knew it was futile, but maybe it could be enough as we came up with a plan to escape. I pressed my button, hoping it wouldn't be the last sign I left for Hawkins and Yuna.