———

He had sent the first message four hours ago, intending on cashing in on the free cat time.

Nothing. AFK, MIA. She wasn't even online for a single second.  

Usually, for a sane person, thats normal.

Problem is, she was almost always listed as online because of the installed visual translator.

I mean, what idiot would turn off their only way of reading mid-day?!  Night, maybe, if you're normal, but at 2:56pm?! 

His headcannon was confirmed when he got her IP, then tapped in to Heartstabyls camera feed, and checked the location.

The second he saw what was happening, the world felt like it was spinning, his chair certainly was, as he ran out the door and began a speedrun :

Acquire SSR Healer: Ortho

Advance to Mirror Chamber map

Advance to Heartstabyl map.

Actions after this will affect ending plot line.

Time til bad ending:  ????

He'd watched this bad ending before, he'd seen it play out years ago.

He really was fucking cursed.

———————————————-

It was practically too late when Ace realized what direction the glass was going to go into.

By the time he grabbed her wrist to move her out of the way, she had already been hit.

Her eyes were completely blank, body bleeding in so many different locations now. He could barely take his eyes off the sight before she began to tip backwards, falling lifelessly, the weight bringing him down with her.

Wrapping two arms around her waist, he summoned as much wind magic as he could to stop their fall, but in the end, it was Elephys's bubble that came in clutch.

He felt himself begin to fade as the pink bubble wrapped around them both.

——————————————————-

I...did this...

Right before he too, finally faded into unconsciousness, Riddle only momentarily viewed those with major damage.

Spade, who had vigilantly remained on the battlefront till the end, not once switching out, was the least injured of the larger cases, but was still certainly a wreck. Several large slices to his arms and a few minor burns, plus the half a giant thorn sticking out of his knee that was ignored as he made haste to check on the other two.

Trappola and Avillion lied completely still.

The former had a large cut under his eye and another near his lip. An blot arrow pierced his shoulder blade, several burns near his neck.
His leg was pierced by a thorn near the calf, another in his arm. Glass stuck out mostly only near his hands, but a single shard had struck him in the forehead.

On her, Glass chunks, now stained red with blood, protruded from several places around her body, the largest near her stomach, not far from a large blot arrow in her bicep, and another stuck within her thigh, a third in her left arm, with a matching one on the right.
Many burns lined her upper arms aswell, along with an assortment of other medium and minor injuries that didn't cease to evade his notice, but far too many if he had to list it.

Grim had already made his way to her side, pushing her arm with his paws, babbling off silly and empty threats to get her to wake up, to no avail.

Finally, he, too, fell unconscious as a pink light enveloped him, and the two carrying him.

——————————————————————

Watching Idia Shroud himself frantically burst into Heartstabyl, minutes after the fight ended, would have been the equivalent of a mythical beast sighting if everyone hadn't been either weary or unconscious.

The second everyone saw him, those who knew him expected him to turn tail and leave.

Ortho grabbing Ophelia, with Ace still attached, then Idia, and quite literally jetting off, using rocket boosters hidden in his ankle non the less, was definitely not on anyones bingo cards for this year's exceptions of the Shrouds.

This did not stop Lilia, Grim and Nevermore from almost instantly giving chase, Deuce collapsing from his knee impalement a few times while still stubbornly rejoining the chase each time.

It came to an abrupt end when in a flash of pink, all seven were teleported into the Nurses office. Dr.Keola, who was cleaning out Riddles wounds, laid eyes on Ophelias and Aces state for only a few moments, then passed the wipe and gauze to a confused Trey, and ran to the phone.

"We have an emergency in Med Bay—Sorry,
The Nurses office.

We need all the hands we can get. Hands with medical training that are attached to living, breathing humans.
Do not try to bullshit this Crowley, these kids might not make it if you do."

Slamming it back in, he turned to large group.

"Lay them down over here, and Deuce, right?
You sit in the bed right next to them.
Until we have more hands, I'm going to focus on the critical cases, so just try and stay comfortable.
Is there anyone else injured I should know about?"

As if on cue, Vyr, struggling as he carried Elephys on his back, came through the door.

"Oh thank the Seven, you guys are already here.
I really didn't want to deal with a wild goose chase after all that."

"—Ok, I'm adding that once those two are stabilized, anyone still conscious better explain what happened to you twelve."

—————————————————-

Lilia, Vyr, Trey, and Ortho were extremely helpful during the stabilizing of the two, and assisted with everyone else aswell.
The old fae's knowledge and expertise at pulling out impaled objects concerned nearly the entire room, while the little robot scanned everyones injuries in seconds, and was extensive with what he could help with.

Nearly the second she was declared stable, Grim wasted no time in climbing up to Ophelias bed, and curling up in the crook of her neck, practically using her hair as a blanket.

Idia hid himself in the corner closest her bed, hoodie fully up to hide himself as he fidgeted with several devices, ever so often nervously glancing to Ophelia, then to the heart rate monitor, next to Riddle,, then finally to Ortho.

The order itself never changed, but his stress levels fluctuated, only decreasing majorly once all the extra helpers had left.

It was declared Ophelia ,Riddle and Ace were in a Magic induced Coma, and after that, Dr.Keola couldn't get anyone to leave, to the point everyone just fell asleep somewhere in the room.

Maybe it was just the trick of darkness, but at some point in the night, Nevermore had called out in a different language to something that looked like two silhouettes above the three comatose students.

But Idia swore, SWORE he heard someone singing a foreign lullaby, and he swore he saw a crying purple cat above Ophelia and Riddles beds.

The only reason Dr.Keola believed the poor kid was because everyone's injuries, other then faint, almost unnoticeable heart shaped scar over Riddles left eye, was miraculously healed.

However, none of the three comatose woke up, and the hellcat had seemingly joined them.

So all Dr. Keola could do was hope they broke through, and woke up on their own in the near future.

———————————————-