Orlok says, "Really?"
"Yes, we were able to recognise that there is some blood across the front of her heart that makes all of her other cells beside it start freaking out. If we remove it, the Queen should be able to return to normal. Wadim will be starting the procedure right away," Gheorghe says.
Veekeeris adds, "Still, how are you guys going to get the blood out of her heart without hurting her?"
Stretching his arm, Wadim says, "We will use the process we use for our internal augmentations. Gheorghe will watch the scanner, Ivana will then slip her hair into the right spots, and using her hair as a guide, the mass from my curse will slip in and remove the parts. It will be a delicate process, but we should be able to get it done. Hopefully."
Vėja says, "Hopefully? It still seems too dangerous. A single mistake and the Queen could die. Do you think you could live with that, Wadim, being responsible for ending a legacy as old as our country?"
Wadim starts to feel anxiety wash over him, and Ivana, moving up, says, "It isn't fair to put all that pressure on him."
"I am only being realistic, and don't pretend like this doesn't go for you as well. If he messes up, you'll be just as responsible for ending the Queen's life. For three kids who couldn't even keep up with their responsibilities and fled the country, I don't think this is something that you can hopefully achieve."
Ivana grips her wrist as the anxiety that spreads over Wadim spreads over her as well. Stiprais not missing a moment hugs her, and says, "I know this is all so worrying, you shouldn't be forced to have to deal with this, my daughter. If it is too much, you can just tell Orlok no, and stay with me and the rest of our family. I will protect you."
Φ The feeling of my father's chest is something I have forgotten. His body isn't nearly similar to that of all the human men I have met, due to his curse. It feels like resting against a harsh tree, but within that harshness is strength and stability, enough to make me want to bow my head and just beg him to protect me.
It's what I always did during times of chaos and strife, why I was never able to truly or effectively get the pain that they were causing me across, since I never had the will to ever leave. And now in the most stressful time of my life, I feel it again, and it's just as strong as it ever was, maybe I can just sleep her-.
As my eyes try to well up with tears, Elia, with a smile across her face, appears in between the small gaps my eyes try to look through on my father's body.
Φ Seeing Elia Ivana jump back over towards Wadim and Gheorghe. Then, with her eyes barely visible like always, she says, "Get to work."
The three of them salute her and say, "WE WILL GET TO IT!"
Stiprais touches her shoulder and says, "Don't interfere outside-."
Yet Stelara smashes the three Ministers into a wall and restrains them with large amounts of blood, then shouts, "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!!! REALLY RIGHT BEFORE THE SURGERY YOU HAD TO GET IN YOUR CHILDRENS HEADS. I SHOULD HAVE BEATEN YOU ALL MORE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER TO GET IT INTO YOUR HEAD HOW TO BEHAVE. I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE YOU FOOLS!"
Elia moves to sit down, and Orlok makes a chair out of hardened blood for her. Then she says, "I will be looking at the three of you the entire time, understand that?"
Sweat starts to trickle down their foreheads, and in one moment, they all have only one thought: We can't fail.
All three quickly move next to the Queen, and Orlok mumbles, "What can of man even am I. I need to push forward as well."
-Break-
Location: Queen Castle
Φ Dragging my body against slowly, I look out the broken openings in the castle and down below in the city, I see the chaos that was only a little flame has grown into a raging wildfire.
"There is no way everyone will be able to hold on if Angra is like this. I need to go get that cursed item from Dragoste quickly!"
I try to push my body forward, but I fall to the floor, and say, "Come on, move! You're fully healed, so just push forward. Don't let something as stupid as exhaustion stop you from saving everyone."
With my hands against the floor, I activate my legacy and create two pillars of ice to raise my upper body, and then try to walk, but the moment I move my feat they collapse, and I fall onto the floor again.
Even though you brought everyone here, even though you were picking up on Dragoste's weird behaviour, even though you chose to go after him alone, you're just lying here. Come get up, take responsibility for what you have caused, and fight Orb, fight. Because if you can't do this alone, how can you protect everyone back home!
My rage fuels my body as my hair turns bright red, yet it isn't enough. I can't pull myself up. I can barely stay awake. "I need to move, I need to fight, I need to, I need to, I need to, protect Capti's family."
"Then let's do it together, Orb," I hear as a piece of meat falls into my mouth.
In front of me, I see Willow crouching, who says, "Look at the state our supreme leader ended up in."
Quickly devouring the meat, I say, "Willow? What are you doing here? It isn't safe!"
Smashing his fist against my head, he says, "I could say the same for you. Look at you lying here, completely defenceless as Blamator Nightmares roam the area. You're lucky Avram is holding them off, or this place would have been overrun."
Forcing myself up, I say, "Still, you need to get out of here or else Dragoste could get you. Thanks for the meal, but I got this from no-."
Hitting something against my leg, my body falls forward, yet I catch myself with my hands before a fall to the floor. "Safe," I say before Willow smashes his elbow into my back, knocking me against the floor.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"
Grabbing my face, Willow says, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THIS ALL ON YOURSELF. LET ME HELP!"
Biting his hand to get him to release his grip, I say, "I don't need any help, I have got this handled anyway."
"Says the man who is flat on his belly."
"So what, I am feeling better now, let me go solve this. It's my fault that I am in this situation anyway, so I need to fix this."
"HOW IS ANOTHER COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS YOUR FAULT, YOU BRAIN-DEAD MORON!"
"Because I could've done something about it!"
"SO CAN EVERYONE ELSE, JUST BECAUSE YOU COULD DOESN'T MEAN IT'S YOUR FAULT. ARE YOU A CHILD? STOP BEING STUPID AND LET ME HELP YOU TILL YOU'RE FULLY HEALED."
Φ Willow starts to grab up, trying to lift him up, but Orb, with all the strength he can muster, tries to fight back, making sure that Willow cannot even get him off the ground.
"Stop being difficult!"
"I will be difficult, because I refuse!" Orb says with red hair.
Willow quickly puts Orb in a headlock and then pushes his hand right next to Orb's nose, and says, "You smell that!"
"WHY DO YOU HAVE ELIA WITH YOU!"
"BECAUSE SHE SHOOK MY HAND DUE TO FRIENDSHIP! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I CAN TEACH YOU MY WAYS IF YOU SUBMIT TO ME!"
"IF THAT'S HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY, FINE, IF YOU LET ME GO I WILL NEVER BOTHER YOU AND MAPLE WHEN YOU START TRYING TO GET INTIMATE IN THE NIGHT!"
Willow's body freezes for a moment, and Orb, using this, smashes his elbow into Willow's stomach, breaking his grip and freeing himself, then crawls towards the other side of the corridor.
"CHEAP!"
Putting his hands against his head, Orb sticks out his tongue and begins mocking Willow. Yet Willow, standing up, says, "Someone needs to correct this bratty dog, and it will be me."
Standing up, Orb says, "I have recovered more strength from the meat; you won't be able to keep me down from now on, you bastard."
"You wanna bet, you seem to have forgotten who trained you."
"You seem to have forgotten who stopped you from being an atlas eater feed."
"I haven't forgotten Orb, not even for one moment," Willow says as he lunges forward.
They both spend spirit energy throughout their bodies, and Orb stands still, prepared to counter whatever Willow throws his way. Seeing this, Willow, moving past one of Orb's ice pillars, kicks it towards Orb's face.
Then sends his fist flying forward to hit the place Orb will dodge to, though despite this, Orb dodges both the ice block and Willow's fist with minimal movement from his head, and as Willow's right fist plunges into the wall beside Orb, the wolf moves his right leg to hit into Willow's left temple.
And in that very same moment, Willow leans his head, removing all of the spirit energy in his body, making Orb panic for a moment as he tries to realign the position of his strike.
Making has, Willow grabs Orb's leg and rips his right hand out of the wall. Then, in a single moment, he pushes his right hand against Orb's head, and then uses his right leg to sweep Orb's left leg, and then pushes Orb onto the ground.
Holding him down, he says, "I win."
"Cheap! If that was a real fight, I would've killed you!"
"Is that your excuse? In tip-top shape, you'd have been able to restrain yourself before you struck a deadly blow. But you couldn't, Orb, that's why I won, I beat on your weakness, a weakness that will get you killed if you keep fighting.
But you're not an idiot, you're not an emotionally charged fool. You're always looking for the best ways to help everyone, yet in this situation, you haven't done that. You were already tired after your battles earlier today, yet you went to Dragoste alone, and even now you are doing the same things. So why Orb? Tell me what's bothering you, and I will put my all into helping you, like you have done for me on that day."
As tears start to form in Orb's eyes, he says, "CAPTIVANT SAVED ME, WILLOW! HE GAVE ME SO MUCH. I CAN NEVER REPAY THAT. SPENDING HIS LAST MOMENT ALIVE WORKING FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME, A PERSON WHO CAN'T EVEN KEEP HIS PROMISES! Yet I thought in this land I might be able to at least alleviate all of that for a bit, by helping Dragoste and the country he met his wife, and raised his children in. Though I couldn't. Now Dragoste is rampaging without his mind, and the people are slaughtering each other, which I could have stopped if I were stronger.
I can't even do something so small like making sure the places and the people Captivant loved are still standing, yet somehow I expect to keep our country safe. What a fool."
"You're right, you are a fool, an idiot, a dunderhead, a moron, a retard. Yet I have never once doubted you could do all you set out to do, because Orb, you know how to make me smile through all the chaos in this world. You freeze all our hatred, our anxieties, our fear, and show us the beauty that remains after it all. That's why I can put my full faith in you. Don't doubt yourself, just keep going towards your goal. Stop Dragoste, and save as many people as we can."
Picking Orb up, Willow throws him on his back, and says, "If you need more energy to do that, take your time. I will be here for you. Now let's go."