Akari's time relaxing under the tree in her soul gem is a distant memory as she paces in circles around the edge of the hill. Cold air tears at her strength as she paces, making her want to curl up with Liora for warmth, but she's just too agitated for that now. Her hands clench and unclench as her mind tries to attack the problem before her.

If I could just communicate with Asumi. Maybe she could get her to listen, Akari considers, her emotions on the edge of panic.

Serena, for all the amazing things about her, has one fatal flaw. Akari saw it in Shirakaze, and now she's seeing it again. Her girlfriend will always make the sacrifice play if she thinks it will help someone. In Shirakaze, that sacrifice cost her health, nearly leading to a fatal mistake. Here, though… Serena is determined to revive Akari, even if it kills her.

She has to admit, it's something that she holds dearly about the other girl. Without that trait, the smaller sentinel never would have taken Akari into her home, and they never would have properly gotten to know each other. Now, though, without Akari or anyone else able to temper her self-sacrificing nature, Serena is going too far.

Once again, Akari reaches out with her mental voice. Hoping beyond hope to sway her girlfriend onto a safer course of action.

"Serena, we shouldn't do this today," Akari says, projecting her mind through their shared connection. "If we wait for the others to come back, they can speak to their patrons and receive guidance. At least try to find a way to help you do this more safely. I would feel a lot better with Baylee or even Claire out there to help if anything goes wrong."

It bites into Akari's pride to have to ask Serena to get Baylee, of all people, for help. Yet, as they experienced more and more together, Akari began to form a grudging respect for the preppy rich girl. At least their team leader would keep Serena from doing anything too stupid. She's still a priss, though.

[Don't worry,] Serena's voice echoes in her mind, and Akari can practically see her sad smile. [Felix and I have everything planned out. Florina and he channel power through me, which I channel through our connection. You then take that power and push it back out the connection, reforming your body around your soul gem.]

"But the power has to pass through you in both directions!" Akari exclaims, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "The toxicity alone will kill you! Even if you were healthy, which you aren't, this would be a bad plan!"

Through their bond, Akari can feel Serena's heart hardening with resolve. An unwavering determination to bring her girlfriend back, no matter the consequences. Damn girl! If only she weren't so cute.

[It'll be okay,] Serena says, sad but determined. [You'll be out here with me soon.]

"Not if you get yourself killed!" Akari shouts into her soul space, keeping the words away from the connection. Still, Serena will be able to feel her dissatisfaction.

Clearly, Akari does need to be out there with Serena. Who will keep her girlfriend from doing stupid things!? Perhaps Asumi can, but she has no method of communicating with the icy presence she feels near her soul gem.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Akari tries again. "Serena, can we please just pause and think about this a little bit more? There has to be some kind of safety measure we can put into place."

[I'm sorry,] comes Serena's soft mental voice. And… stars. She's never sounded this fragile before.

[It's my fault that you… that you died…] the other girl continues, a heartbreaking amount of grief flowing through their bond. [If I'd been stronger that day… No, Akari… I can't wait. I'm going to fix my mistake.]

Akari freezes in place, her eyes locked on this distant sky. Serena… blames herself for Akari's death? But… that doesn't make any kind of sense! The poor girl was taken against her will and put through what amounts to torture. Akari remembers well just how injured and out of it Serena was when she fought her uncle. There was no possible way she could have helped. Akari shouldn't have even needed help; if she wasn't so arrogant and didn't try to take him on alone, they would both still be alive.

"No… Serena, please! This isn't your fault. I did this… it was my uncle who hurt you, who killed me. Don't take this on yourself!"

Fear squeezes Akari's heart in a vise grip. This is her fault… all of it. She knew the kind of danger she put Serena in when she agreed to let her help, and even more so when they started dating. Now, that kind little blue sentinel has paid the price for her carelessness. Akari… well, she can't live with being apart from Serena. Not anymore. And so, she will have to fix this.

[We're going to begin soon, Akari,] Serena says, still so full of resolve. [Be ready to start pushing the healing energy out of our connection. Just willing it to make you a new body should be enough. The better the mental image of your old body you provide the energy, the less of it will have to go through me, so… Try to do your best, okay?]

Akari turns desperate eyes on Liora, who has been silently running circles around the tree at the top of the hill. She's been trying to get Celeste to agree to wait as well; however, from the look on her frantic familiar's face, she's not having any luck either.

"Serena, don't do this," Akari says, starting up her pacing again as she waits for a reply.

However, as seconds and then minutes pass, no reply comes. Akari tries again and again, all to no avail. It's as if her messages aren't reaching Serena at all.

With a huff, Akari stalks back up the hill to speak with the panicked Liora. It appears that both of their girlfriends are ignoring them. Together, they settle in against the thick tree trunk to wait.

If we both survive this, we are so having a conversation about ignoring me during life-threatening situations, Akari grumps to herself.

Around an hour later, Akari is up and pacing again. She still feels that icy weight of her soul gem's slowly diminishing power bidding her spirit to rest, yet she's just too agitated. Soon, either Serena will revive her, or she'll die trying. And if they both fall… well, that path into the distance might be the only thing left for her.

[Akari… we are about to begin. Are you ready?] Serena's voice finally rings through Akari's mind.

"Will you stop this and listen to me if I say no?" she asks, already knowing the answer. Damn self-sacrificing healer girl.

[Are you ready?] Serena repeats, and Akari growls with frustration.

"Yes, fine, I'm ready," she says through gritted teeth.

[Good. Remember, push the energy I send back through the bond and will it to create a body. And… Akari… just know that I'm sorry. I know I should listen to you… I know I should stop, but… I can't do this, Akari. Not without you.]

Akari finds her vision blurring with tears. Annoying, as her body is more of a concept within her soul gem than an actual physical thing. She clenches her hands into tight fists.

"Well… I feel the same way, so don't you dare die! You hear me! Don't you dare leave me alone!"

[I'll do my best,] Serena's voice arrives as a mere whisper, although their connection seems to be growing in strength. [I'm beginning.]

A wave of agony assaults Akari's mind in the next moment, although she quickly realizes that the pain is not her own. Serena just shifted.

This time, instead of Serena's mental voice, it's a small trickle of power that begins to move through their connection. It manifests in her soul space to one side of her hill as a swirling fog bank of primarily white and blue, but with tinges of gold. The fog appears similar to how Serena's Dominion Art, her Living Mist, appears on the outside. Yet in here, it is more of a concept than a living thing.

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The swirling blue-white mist with just a tinge of gold is how Akari imagines what power from Serena would look like, and so that's the form it takes. However, it isn't actually Serena's power anymore. It's hers.

As she has the thought, the trickle of brightly colored mist turns dark and violet, sparking with black lightning. Akari lets out an internal sigh. Her powers are the night to Serena's day. However, this is what needs to be done.

Slowly, the trickle of power coming from Serena opens up more and more, until mist is flowing into her soul space to surround her hill before shifting to flickering black power. Akari swallows, knowing what following Serena's directive could do to her girlfriend. Yet… if she's going to be any use in helping her recover — both mentally and physically — she's going to need to return to the land of the living.

With a mental force of will, Akari finds the origin of the mist once more and shoves her dark power back along the same stream. As if it was waiting for the moment, Serena's power shifts to one side, allowing room for Akari's power to exit through the same connection. Into her power as it leaves, Akari vests it with one absolute command. Create me a body so I might save Serena.

Two opposing powers flow back and forth within the connection, each taking a side, and the increasing flow forces the connection between her and Serena wider still. One power is dark, the power of black storms and violet stars in the night. The other is bright, the power of wispy clouds drifting across a clear sky, and the bright golden light of the dawn. Akari expects the two powers to conflict, but… they don't. Like night and day, the two powers run side by side, an eternal flow of power in and out.

Each second that passes increases the amount of power flowing in from Serena, and thus the amount of power flowing out from Akari. Their connection is widening more and more to facilitate the massive exchange of power. Yet, even around the power, flickers of agony from Serena make it through.

In her mind's eye, Akari can see the same blue spirit form that Serena appeared as when visiting her here. At the time, the spirit was a broken mess, held together only by green threads wrapping her form. Now, though, those green threads are snapping, one by one, and the black taint within the cerulean blue of Serena's spirit grows ever closer to her glowing core. Her spirit is curled into a ball, trying to hold back her agony from traveling through the bond to Akari.

Akari's breath catches in her throat as she watches the horrifying scene unfold. Serena's spirit, her soul, was never meant to channel this much power this early. She's fracturing, as Liora once warned. If this doesn't stop soon, Serena's very soul will be shredded into non-existence.

And yet… that isn't the only thing Akari can feel. As she watches the connection between Serena and herself widen further and further, she can begin to almost see something through it. Another side, blocked out by power, a realm of blue skies and drifting clouds. The space within Serena's soul gem.

It starts as a mere hole in the violet darkness of Akari's soul, but it grows and grows until the lines between their soul gems begin to blur, power streaming between their souls in a constant flow. A flow that no longer took effort for Akari to maintain. A flow that slowly fades into invisible streams of power cycling in a constant loop between them. Night and day sharing one space.

Half of the sky is a cerulean blue filled with clouds and a bright sun; the other half is a dark night, flickering with black lightning and watched over by violet stars. An island of clouds meeting a hill on a dark night. And upon that hill, Akari can see her. Serena, curled into a tight ball with Celeste sprawled beside her in a heap of fur and wings. Her eyes are squeezed shut, but even from her position atop her hill, Akari can make out the whimpers of absolute agony coming from her girlfriend.

For a brief moment, Akari and Liora share a glance. Then, together, they sprint down from their hill and cross over to the other half of this new, shared, spiritual space. Akari feels something odd shifting within her as she crosses to Serena's side, but she doesn't care.

She can see the small girl clearly now, her pale skin covered in green tattoos that are snapping and drifting away into motes of green light. Inside, however, darkness reaches toward her core, preparing to crush it and any hope Serena could have of life.

Without hesitation, Akari takes Serena into her arms, holding the small girl tightly to her chest as tears stream down her face.

"No, no, no!" Akari says, shifting Serena in her arms. "You hold on, okay! You're going to be fine."

Slowly, Serena's eyes creep open, and they blaze with sapphire light. A small, pained smile crosses her girlfriend's lips. "Your body is ready."

Before Akari can even take a moment to process those words, her entire world shifts. Suddenly, her limbs feel heavy, and the air smells of nature. Her eyes shoot open, to find herself lying, completely naked, between the roots of an impossibly massive tree. The sound of rustling leaves and muted noises from the city greet her as she takes her first breaths of real air in far too long.

This tree… are we in an incursion zone? But no, those look like Shinara's buildings in the distance. What in the stars?

Her eyes rapidly skim over her surroundings, finding only a few others nearby. Serena's father, watching nearby with eyes wide with terror. A girl with white hair and delicate features is trying to comfort the older man.

It only takes Akari a moment to find Serena, one wrist encircled by a tree root and the other wrapped in the vise-like grip of a blue sentinel Akari doesn't recognize. This must be Felix, then.

"What's happening!?" Akari demands, rushing over to lay a hand on Serena's still form. The smaller girl is unconscious, and although clearly not in her assault state, a lock of blue hair now mixes with the normal blonde.

"She's not breathing, but the Stygian Mana has yet to destroy her soul gem," Felix explains calmly. Magical inscription circles, unlike anything Akari has ever seen, flicker around his hands from conjured blue mana.

"So, extract it!" Akari demands, storming over to loom — as best as she can, being stark naked — over the proceedings. Black lightning flickers around her, although it's weaker than she's used to. Her time amongst the dead must have drained her more than she thought.

The sentinel shakes his head, "Her spirit is too weak. Without a body to recover its strength, it will lose power, and she'll die within a few hours. Attempting to revive her that way would only destroy her soul gem. Our best bet is keeping this body alive."

Akari's mind whirls at the revelation, but Felix's eyes flick over toward the massive tree.

"If I send you the inscriptions, do you think you can manage it?" he asks.

"Manage what? Are you talking to a tree?" Akari demands.

Stars above, Serena never mentioned that her A Rank backer was a madman!

Felix completely ignores Akari, continuing his work as he nods and speaks to the tree in calm tones. Damn, blue sentinels, they're all the same. The second someone needs help, they will throw themselves into it without a second thought. However, she has to admit that she's glad for his presence.

Finally, Felix does pause and turn to Akari and Serena's father, who watches from beside her.

"Serena's condition is too critical for me to effectively work on," he explains, his tone still calm as can be. "Right now, I am both beating her heart and oxygenating her blood for her. However, the Stygian Mana is continuing to infect her spirit. We need a way to remove it, or her soul gem will shatter in the next few minutes."

He pauses, then says, "As her guardian and her significant other, I would like your permission to place her body into magical stasis. This will increase the time before her death from minutes to... perhaps a week. In that time, we might find a solution."

Akari and Serena's father share a desperate look.

"Do it!" the older man demands, looking at his daughter with an expression of abject terror.

The fox-eared sentinel nods and presses his palm against the tree root. Blue and green power blooms around Serena's still form, swirling with intricate mana so potent that even Akari is forced to take a step back. It only lasts a moment, though, before settling down to something more manageable. A blue-green haze now hovers around Serena's body.

With that, Felix nods to himself. "I will take her back to my lab and see if anything can be done. However, I find it unlikely that I will be able to find an answer to her unique condition before she perishes. Perhaps some unique cleansing magic might do the trick, but… perhaps not."

Akari watches the proceedings, her heart hammering in her chest, but feeling hardly able to move. Nothing feels quite real at the moment, like all of this is just an odd dream, and she's still slumbering under the bows of her soul gem's tree with Liora. But no… this is real. And Serena is…

She wants to yell! To scream that Serena should have just listened to her! However, her throat is tight, and her heart is a fluttering mess. Serena never would have listened to her… same as she didn't listen when Akari demanded to be left alone that night. She feels powerless, but... looking at Serena's heartbroken father, she knows she has to do something.

"I… I will fix this," Akari manages, looking at her girlfriend's shimmering form.

Beside her, Mr. Solace places a hand on her shoulder. He looks like he wants to say something, but perhaps emotion is silencing him as well.

"There is something you could do," the A Ranker notes, lifting Serena up and into his arms as if she weighs nothing at all.

Akari's whole body tenses, her eyes blazing with recovering mana as she watches him handle her girlfriend like a sack of potatoes.

"While we were strengthening her connections," he continues. "I managed to catch a glimpse of Althia the Golden through their bond. According to her thoughts, there should be a point of power near Shinara that can heal your girlfriend. Find it and bring it to her, and she could yet live."

Akari squares her shoulders and nods, "I will find it." Locking her eyes on the azure blue of the sentinel's she continues, "You keep her alive until I get back. Otherwise, I will find a way to kill you. A Rank or not."

Felix rolls his eyes, his fox ears twitching with amusement. "Of course you will. Next time, clothe yourself before making threats. It will make you more intimidating."

With that, blue inscriptions flicker around his vulpine form, and both he and Serena vanish in a pop of blue light.

Akari turns and finds the white-haired girl, Asumi, watching her closely. Although, as she turns in her direction, the other girl's cheeks flush crimson. Normally, Akari might feel embarrassed too, but… not at the moment. Right now, she has work to do.

She opens her mouth to speak, then pauses as a thought hits her. Right… she has access to her inventory again, no need to be naked. That's what the other sentinel meant when he teased her. This time, a flush does creep across Akari's cheeks. Then, in a crackle of dark lightning, she's clothed in black jeans and a dark grey T-shirt.

Letting out a light cough, she looks over Asumi and Serena's father — both look determined to help. Good.

"Let's get started," Akari says, already striding away from the massive tree.

It's time to start calling in every favor she can beg up to find that point of power in time. It certainly would have been helpful if that damned sentinel gave her literally anything else to go on.

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