Rising Shards

Lillia knew she had to act quickly to rescue the others in their nightmare pods. She already wanted to put her nightmare in a box where she could never think about it again.

She had volunteered herself to rescue the others alone, knowing they likely wouldn’t have enough time to free everyone while also dealing with Jeans and the mask.

Lillia scanned through the pods, trying to remember everyone’s powers as she strategized the best way to get everyone out quickly.

While she didn’t actually remember her powers, Lillia found herself drawn to set Ko free first. With a quick burst of fire breath, the barrier holding Ko inside her nightmare pod broke, and Ko fell out.

Lillia winced, unsure of how comforting she should be as Ko came to. She was clearly waking up from a nightmare, and while part of Lillia wanted to kneel down and hold her until she felt better, she also wasn’t sure if she should.

Ko coughed, throwing Lillia out of her internal debate. She blinked as she looked up at Lillia.

“Well, I know I’m not having a nightmare now,” Ko said groggily, only managing one eye open. “Because there’s a dream right in front of me.”

“Oh,” Lillia said, immediately blushing so much she had to turn away. “There’s…you should probably use the cleaning function of your adaptive gear.”

“Good idea,” Ko said.

Lillia willed herself to turn back around somehow after Ko was dried off. Ko looked around, and saw she was the only other one freed.

“You saved me first?” Ko asked.

Lillia nodded. “Well, Oka, Zeta, and Kalei rescued me first, but they left for the Wildfire Hearts device. I…I figured it would help to have your athleticism for this, and—”

Ko hugged Lillia, her grasp firm. Lillia hesitated for a few seconds before hugging her back, resting her head on Ko’s shoulder. After the trials of the day, she couldn’t deny how comforting it was to be held in Ko’s strong arms.

“I was really worried about you today,” Ko said.

“Yes…” Lillia said, cursing herself for being unable to say anything else.

A cold wind passed around them. Lillia rubbed Ko’s back, although she wasn’t entirely sure why. Her fingertips grazed against Ko’s ponytail, and she remembered it calmed Ko down to have someone run their hands through her hair. The first time Lillia was more terrified, while she was able to run her hands through Ko’s hair much more easily this time.

“Were you….” Ko trailed off. “Worried about me, too?”

“Yes,” Lillia said, relishing in the tighter hug from the athlete.

Lillia suddenly snapped back to where she was, and the situation at hand. Though she would have spent a lot longer in the hug any other day, this wasn’t the time for it. “We should probably get your sister next.”

“Right, yeah.”

Ko and Lillia got to work freeing the others. Once Kai was freed, the Matora sisters began looking for metal in the wreckage that could be used as a ramp to the upper levels of the pods, so the girls inside wouldn’t drop down and fall immediately. It took a lot of work, but with Lillia’s direction (she was less delicate with the others coming out of their nightmares when she was with Ko, pretty much getting them to act immediately), row by row they were able to get everyone free.

“Hey,” Kai said. “Where’s that purple haired girl?”

“Oh crap, is she not here?” Iris said.

“Who was supposed to watch her?” Amara asked.

All eyes fell pretty quickly on Latte and Roux. Latte took a sip from a coffee machine she’d somehow cobbled together or found in the wreckage, no one was sure, and with her tilting the whole machine up to drink from it, no one really wanted to ask. Roux whistled nervously and muttered something about short attention spans.

“Should we go after her?” Iris asked. “Someone else, preferably? I think I can barely manage a thread of my shield ribbon dealies right now.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Amara said.

“And she was probably gonna betray us so.” KJ said. “Really, it’s a net win for us probably.”

"Who is this purple haired girl?" Lillia asked.

Iris quickly explained that a girl named Caeda had appeared to her group, apparently a newly fanged Cani that had wound up in the void. It was clear there wasn't much they could do for her, unfortunately.

“What do we do in the meantime?” Kai asked.

“Recover, maybe?” Maia asked. “I’m still reeling from that freaky dream…”

Lillia debated sending the group to help Oka, Zeta, and Kalei, but there were plenty in the class that were visibly shaken. Plus, their powers were all drained, so they might be getting in the way. Something deep in her heart said her friends would handle this, and it brought a strange calmness to her despite the unknown of it all.

As she was about to speak, her wristband lit up, and a shaky projection started to come through.

“Come in students, class of AB-815, can you hear me?”

“Naomi!” Lillia asked.

“Lillia! Are you safe?” Naomi asked.

Lillia couldn’t deny the rush of fluttering in her stomach hearing Naomi’s voice again, and even more from the care in her voice.

“Yes, we’re…there’s.” Lillia wasn’t sure what to say, and as she tried to talk, Ko gave her a quizzical look.

“It’s been a lot, alright?” Iris said.

“We’re working to get you home from here, can you tell me anything about your situation? Any detail you can give us will help.”

“There are three of us close to the Wildfire Hearts, er, totem?” Lillia asked.

“Nefarious device?” Amara suggested.

“Item of dark magic?” Roux said.

“The thing they gotta blow up,” Latte said.

Lillia managed to pull herself together and relay the situation. Naomi had the same thought as Lillia that the rest of the class should stay together. If Oka, Kalei, and Zeta couldn’t manage to destroy the totem, if they were all together long enough, the staff at the school could bring them all back once they could finalize their position.

“Make sure no one wanders off,” Naomi said. “I’m trusting you to handle that.” Lillia sighed as Naomi signed off.

"You heard her," Lillia said. "Nobody leaves here."

The class murmured words of agreement.

“Interesting,” Ko said, rubbing her chin.

“What?” Lillia asked. “What’s interesting?”

Ko smirked. “Nothing much. It’s just interesting.”