[RE] for the many

"WESSEX. It is...all of us. The Monster Hunter's Guild burned down." This message was repeated with the shell as well, whose twin was inside. Multiple pairs of attuned's sent their thoughts inside as well, calling for Sunjata specifically to verity who they were. And finally, if Wessex was close enough, she'd be able to hear thoughts coming from one of the ascended. LONGNIGHT

WESSEX

the wraith

How hypocritical would she be if she didn’t let them in. The words repeated in the shells, the voices at the door. And she wants to, oh she wants to. But the years weigh against her better judgement.

With one hand on the Temple door, as if she could somehow feel who was out there (she can’t), the Queen bows her head and does not respond for a moment. ’Rex? Is it really everyone? Tell me where we sat and designed the house.’ comes across the Ascended channel. And to the rest, she says, “I’m here. Tell me who saw their loved ones at the Festival of Lights this year.”

Because that was something that couldn’t be easily guessed. That had been an utter surprise, even to herself.

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

PHOEBE

there's a bulletproof bond

As soon as she heard the voice on the other end of the shell, Phoebe was in action. The boys were hidden and locked away in the College and she went running down the connecting tunnel to the Temple. It might sound like Remi, but that made her panic, based on his request. He was apparently outside with everyone from the Guildhall, and while it sounded like her brother, the monster that gored Emmett had looked like her brother too. "Remi, what is the first thing you and I experienced together in Caido?" she said, gasping for air as she skidded into the Temple proper.

"I think Remi is on the shell but I'm confirming!" she said to those in the temple.

between me and you

Coding base by Sky!

A man's voice speaks directly into Wessex' mind. Princess, it's actually us. Followed by a woman's, We sat in the Ruins, you told me about your sister! Please just open the door. "You!" Came cries from outside, as well as, "I don't know?!" From the shell, the voice paused for a moment. "I...I do not remember." LONGNIGHT

darling, can't you see?

I'm a broken man with addictive tendencies

There’s a call in the back of his mind, from Remi specifically and a few others he doesn’t recognize — to be let in, that the Monster Hunter’s Guild has burned down — but it causes him to jump to his feet, heart thundering in his chest. Wings spring from his body, shifting easily into the bird who could dive above heads and meet the door quickly, without his lumbering body getting in the way. And for once? He’s surprisingly sober. He reaches the door, hearing the call for Wessex but hearing his own name through that second bond.

And something in him knows it’s not fake.

He can spot the Queen as her hand rests on it, as she calls out — hearing Phoebe soon after as he grits his teeth. “It’s them! Open the door.” He tells Wessex, coming up beside the Queen and placing a hand on the door. “I can hear them, Remi is out there.” He explains, roughly, accented thickly, steel eyes shooting a look to the Queen.

She has a chance to save them now.

And he reaches for the door in an attempt to open it, wondering if Wessex will stop him.

and I think I love you

SUNJATA

WESSEX

the wraith

Princess. Ruins.

Call her biased, but with those answers, Wessex pays no attention to the ones that are spoken. She nods at Sunjata and steps back, readying Loren’s summoning magic just in case.

“Just wide enough to see at first,” she says. “Then just wide enough to let two at a time in.”

Because there’s no way in hell she’s flinging it open.

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

The door opens a crack and indeed it is the party outside that you expect. They're pressing against the door though to get in. LONGNIGHT

darling, can't you see?

I'm a broken man with addictive tendencies

The queen removes her hands from the door, instructing him to open it enough to let two people in. And he grins the handle a bit harder, unlocking and opening, small at first until familiar faces can be seen, and he opens it wider with a sigh of relief, holding it open while people begin to make their way inside.

Eyes glance to Wessex first, then to Phoebe, before he clenches his jaw and returns to the task of ensuring people get in.

and I think I love you

SUNJATA

Though the door was held open for just two, it was three who came in: Ronin, Aoife, and Remi. Shivering from both cold and shock, the alchemist gave the queen an appreciative nod, a hasty smile for Sunjata, and an awkward shrug at Phoebe. Talk later? He mouthed, indicating that his attention for now was to Ronin and Aoife. Though he was interested to know what the answer to her question had been. R Ǝ M I Since you burned me at the stake, all of my feelings went away At least there’s no feelings in my way

OLIVER

To hear someone banging on the door brought flashbacks of the time with Bastien. However, the voice was calm and didn't sound like they were in pain.

Rather than speaking up like a dumbass, Oliver chose to sit a bit away from the door, allowing others to get far closer than him. Silently, he stared at the door, the anticipation building inside his chest.

Wessex, their queen, immediately took charge and walked forward. She started to ask questions, very clever ones...or maybe they were clever? Oliver wasn't sure, he was kind of just rolling with whatever happened. Next, Phoebe made a comment about the shell. Now, Oliver hadn't used the shell because he didn't exactly have any friends over at the Guild, but he did know that it was helpful. As long as the monsters couldn't mimic speech: things would be okay...or well, as okay as it could be when the guild had apparently burnt down.

It was all chaotic and overwhelming. Oliver wanted to trust the oh-so familiar voice, but he had no authority. So, he stood still, watching as Sunjata reached for the door. On the inside, Oliver hoped that everyone was okay, that the fire hadn't hurt or killed anyone.

His worries were lifted as finally, finally the doors were opened.

At the sight of people, Oliver would make sure to see who all he recognized. Fortunately, everyone he knew seemed to be either entering the temple or already in there. It was especially good to first see Remi, the person who he first saw. He even flashed the other man a small smile.

i saw that my life

was a vast glowing empty page

and i could do anything i wanted

black hearts, the wicked never rest. i curse the day i let you in

so tell me dear,

It had burned and they had rushed out. As did much of her worries, fears, hopes, plans. Deimos and Amalia are okay, she knows this, and she reassures herself over and over again until they reach the Temple door. And then it opens, just a fraction at first, after she had sat upon Auni’s back in her vulture form, calling for a name that felt so similar to her own language it made her cringe. But whoever it was, opens the door in the end, and she slips on through with Auni, shifting back into herself, giving a nod toward Sunjata before she crosses her arms across her chest and makes her way further into the Temple — flashbacks to last LongNight come to mind, and she seeks out the shadowed corner of the Temple to settle in, to recount what has happened, to swallow her rage, to form a plan as to what to do next.

can your heart still break?

if it's already stopped breathing?

KIADA

sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one

i breathe you in so sweet and powerful

She suddenly hates being out here as much as the next person does, but she does her best to focus on the positives. They weren't dead, and she hadn’t managed to catch herself aflame in the attempt of leaving. Jigano has helped her, leaving her with Lily who she clings to like a useless child. But without her sight, without hands that work, what good is she?

Luckily, the door opens and she stumbles inside with Lily’s help, immediately asking the red head to help her to find Bastien; to prove to him that she’s okay, that maybe he can hold her and tell her that everything will be okay. Her, Samuel, and Remi were told they were marked… Had the fire been brought upon by that? She hopes not, but the churning in her gut is the indication of her uncertainty.

like a wildfire burning up inside my lungs

i'm burning up, i'm burning up, i'm burning up

REXANNA

DEIMOS

Safety, on the heels of the luxere, on the smoke and fringes of cinders and smoke curling and coiling from his presence. He could taste the fire in his mouth, stuck between his teeth, unfurling over lips, pushing through the door alongside Amalia, alongside Kiada, alongside all the other ones roaming their way from sanctum to sanctum. A portion of him wondered if all the preparations had mattered. If anything they did ever really afforded to tangible things, if it was all coming down to nothingness again. There were ashes still in his eyes and he merely gave abrupt nods to those who’d let them in, who permitted them access when they didn’t have to, refugees bound back to ice and hearths.

Only thereafter did he slink into a corner, something favorable in shadows, in blends of darkness, to let the embers seethe from his heart, from his lungs. He sunk down to the floor, Zuriel not far behind, pressing her maw against emblems of stifled chests and burnt lungs – the healing staccatos and rhythms bending and blending over him, gaze cast upon the floor. His shoulders sagged, the weight increased, a mumbled regret and rue scoring over the brambles to Remi. Sorry. Then there seemed to be naught else; caught and trapped once more.

He was something solid

to lean against

violent and fierce and unmoving

Caiside and Cera had burned. There was a certain relief in that, after seeing what had happened to Ru'in's body, the way it had been twisted and used by the monsters. Their pyre had been as glorious as it was horrifying, a truly memorable send-off even if it was also incredibly tragic. Jigano had waited for Amalia and Deimos and then a bit longer still.

Almost foolishly long, really, taking chances he had no business taking, putting himself in danger in ways that would make Rory shake him if the hunter knew. Part of the bard knew he hadn't been entirely stable since the blight, even when he had thought himself recovered. No... even before that. Rory had done much to ground him when they were together, giving him strength just from his presence, but when they were apart Jigano was far too receptive to the hissing denigration of his demons and the growing list of his failures they loved to enumerate.

This week of darkness magnified those voices tenfold, and Rory was a long, long ways away, unreachable in the night.

Rubbing Caiside's guild pin in his fingers, Jigano had followed at the tail end of the group, raising his lantern high as he sang for the souls of the lost while they walked, voice soft to continue to calm the luxere until they came in sight of the Temple. The lantern might not protect him entirely, but it was more than most had, and he stayed towards the outer edge of the luxere herd, letting others shelter in their midst until the doors opened and people began to filter in, pushing and shoving in ones and twos. He waited, still singing until no one else was left and only then did he let his song die away and follow, last of the refugees.

He gave Sunjata a weary nod, and another to Wessex . "I don't know how they got in. Roana's body is a good bet, but I kept an eye on the corpses as often as I could. Maybe they just slipped in the door at some point. Or several points. They started the fire, though. Probably wanted to chase us outside into the dark. Luckily Lily kept the luxere from bolting and we were able to make it here..." He grimaced, meeting the Queen's gaze reluctantly. "Assuming they didn't try and slip in among the shadows at our feet as we came in just now."