Indy
The sounds of a woman's screams echoed through the forest made me pause for a brief moment from the sheer anguish and pain from it. It wasn't until I heard a gurgling cry from the soldier I had stabbed in the neck with his own knife that I snapped out of that stupor. I yanked the knife out, which hastened his death, and looked towards Bo.
Bo was seated on top of his void drake, Midnight, who was breathing flames down on the soldiers that had thought to try and gun them down. His expression was blank and seemed to be barely recognizing the scene before him.
'He's in shock and disassociating.' I thought to myself. I quickly did a count of the number of bodies around and saw that there were thirty in total. I didn't see anyone still alive so I decided our job was done.
"Bo!" I called out. Midnight stopped breathing black flames and turned her head to look at me. Bo looked at me blankly, his eyes seeming to look right past me.
'Oh gods…he might be sinking too deep.' I thought. I rushed over and motioned for Midnight to lower her head. She did, bringing Bo to nearly my eye level but even then Bo barely reacted.
"Bo…are you okay?" I asked. Bo blinked at me and didn't reply.
'Shock.' I thought. I reached out and smacked Bo lightly on his face. He blinked again, the far away look in his eyes disappearing. I offered him a slight smile.
"You okay?" I asked again. Bo nodded this time then slid off of Midnight's neck and stood in front of me.
"No…not at all…" Bo admitted. He sniffled as tears started gathering in his eyes. Bo quickly turned away from me and wiped them away.
"We had to do this…" I said, trying to console him.
"I know…" Bo muttered.
"They would have put Reagan in danger of we hadn't."
"I know…"
"You don't have any reason to feel guilty…"
"I KNOW! I'M NOT!" Bo suddenly snapped. He spun around to face me, tears freely flowing and his lower lip quivering. "It doesn't change anything! Gargesh is still dead! He's gone! It feels like a part of my brain has gone with him! It's…it's…it's too quiet."
Bo collapsed to his knees and started sobbing loudly. Midnight lifted her head to the sky and let out a sorrowful wail to the heavens that bore the same level of emotional weight as Bo's sobs.
I did not know what to do, in my time with my grandfather I was not taught about emotions and how to deal with a sobbing boy. A few days with my father showed very quickly that he had little frame of reference for that as well. I thought back to all the times that KC was fussy and how Angie calmed him down. Taking a chance I pulled Bo into a hug. Bo froze, his breath hitching in his chest. He didn't know what to do or how to react and honestly I didn't either. Despite that Bo's tears continued to flow, Midnight continued to wail and and remained unsure.
"He protected your mother…" I said, cautiously gauging his reactions as I spoke. "…The one thing he cared about was doing a good job for you. He kept her alive so I'm sure he can be proud about that."
Bo clutched his chest like it was hurting and let out a heaving sob. "I know…but it hurts! My chest feels empty and jagged, like a part of me was ripped out! Its too quiet inside my head! I can only hear Gadget's and Midnight's thoughts, his spot is bare!"
Bo slapped the side of his head. His tears turning into furious sobs as he kept hitting his head. I grabbed his arms to stop him, effectively restraining him despite his larger size.
"And you're hurting both of them by beating yourself up. Look at Midnight, she's in agony and I bet Gadget is too." I said sternly, hoping to break through to him. Bo stopped and looked to Midnight, the evo let out another mournful cry. He seemed to snap out of it right then and reached to pet Midnight.
The evo stilled at his touch and a crystalline recall structure formed around her body. It shrunk and then flew into Bo's farm crystal. I sighed a sigh of relief. The wailing was going to attract more soldiers from any of the various countries on this island. Honestly I was surprised that us fighting hadn't gained Grimm-Guard's attention or Bone-lasher.
"What now?" Bo whimpered.
"I don't know…" I replied honestly. Bizarro's presence in our mental link suddenly flared to life and I felt a wave of panic and relief wash over me.
Jane
Ten minutes earlier
"Louie! Angie! Slow down!" I yelled after the two parents. They were running blindly through the forest, following any set of footprints that looked remotely human as they came across them.
"We can't afford to slow down!" Louie replied without even looking over his shoulder. I glanced over at Iris and Nate to my left who were both struggling to keep up with the terrified parents.
"We've been running around for hours Louie! Calm down! We need to think!" Nate called out.
"I am thinking! Thinking I need to get to my son!" Louie yelled back. I sighed and started to say something when a figure jumped from a cluster of bushes to the left of Louie and Angie.
It was a evo I had only seen once inside Moldworks shortly after the building was set up. A Strange Meow, a evo that mysteriously went missing shortly before we returned from the royal palace. Louie tackled his wife out of the way before they were trampled on by the evo.
The strange meow skidded to a stop when it noticed that it'd nearly trampled someone. It was then that I noticed that the evo had two things wrapped in its tentacle tails, or rather two someone's.
"Kamden Chase!" Angie screamed and jumped to her feet. Louie jumped to his feet as well. I quickly rushed in front of the parents and put myself between them and the Strange Meow. Iris stood at my side with a small dagger in hand, ready to strike.
"Hold on! We don't if that evo is friendly." I said. The Strange meow narrowed its eyes at me then looked to Angie and Louie.
"Progenitors of the little one?" The strange meow commented. Its tone sounded contemplative. KC laughed loudly and reached out for his parents while wiggling. "It would seem so…"
The strange meow lowered KC to the ground and unwrapped his tentacle tails from him and let the giggling toddler run to his parents.
"KC!" Louie and Angie cried out as Angie scooped him into her arms. I watched the tender embrace and reunion for a moment then turned my attention back to the strange meow.
"Who is your splicer and why do you have KC?" I demanded. The strange meow cocked his head to the side.
"I belong to the little shadow: Indy. I had the little joy because my master and his bond brother saved him and captured this scoundrel." The evo replied. My eyes widened and a look with Iris.
"Indy has a evo?" Iris muttered in bewilderment then her eyes hardened. "Where is Indy and Bo?"
"A bit away. Ensuring closure." The strange meow replied.
"Stop speaking in riddles and answer us!" Nate snapped. The evo flinched at the angry father's tone and lowered his head.
"Near the forest's edge." The strange meow answered and pointed several of his tentacle tails off in a direction.
"Louie, take Angie and KC back to The King's Glaive. Iris, Nate and I will going to hit those two!" I ordered. Louie nodded and started leading his wife and child back to the mana train.
"Where would you like the captive?" The strange meow asked, he lowered the second figure wrapped in his tentacles and I realized it was indeed the captive that had managed to get free and kill Bo's evo. One hearing about ghe captive Louie and Angie both stopped mid-step
"We need to keep him alive until Reagan…" Iris started then froze mid-sentence.
The captive's appearance started to change from being the exact replica of Reagan's appearance, slowly morphing back to his original face. My eyes widened in shock, the sudden transformation taking both Iris and I by surprise.
"Wait? Why is he changing back?" Nate asked. The strange meow turned to look at its captive then let out a confused grumble.
"I don't know…" Iris replied.
"Reagan is not answering me!" I exclaimed. Iris and Nate both had worried expressions.
"He's not answering me either!" Iris announce.
"Fuck! Nothing here!" Nate hissed. I looked to Louie and Angie who both shook their heads.
"Fuck!" I growled then pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Do you think he betrayed us?" Nate asked after a moment. I quickly dismissed that with a shake of my head.
"The spell Chase has to monitor that would kill him if he had. Chase would have also warned us if he had."
"Regardless…this man is useless to use." Iris said then deftly threw the dagger she had been holding into the man's eye. His body went limp in the strange meow's grasp and his head sagged instantly.
"Yes…next time warn us before you execute soldiers." Nate grumbled and looked away.
"Sorry."
"Fuck!" I growled earning a concerned look from the group. "Anders says that Reagan got made!"
There was a tense moment of silence from Anders side of the mental connection before he gave a curt response.
Both Iris and I visibly relaxed on hearing this. I was certain we were going to have to go an get him.
"So let's recap: Not only are Indy and Bo missing and somewhere in this forest but now Reagan is also missing and presumed dead." Nate said. I nodded reluctantly then looked over to Iris. Iris shot me a pointed look that made me groan and run a hand down my face.
"I know, you don't need to say anything Iris…we need to tell Chase."