she's seen worse, all things considered, but that's never made her feel better about it before. nomi sleeps on, remus beside her with pale pink pulses emanating from his palms, and parker prays with every minute that passes that those drk triad fucks don't find them.

king gave her the rundown after she stopped yelling in the most king way possible and it's only added to the foul backyard mud pie soup stirring in her gut - full of anxiety, paranoia, and undying devotion. 

you idiot. you stupid, beautiful too-good-for-this-world idiot, she thinks when nomi's lashes flutter, as she curls towards her like she thinks parker could ever walk away from her. not in a million and one other universes. 

even in that other one, she came around, didn't she?

"i know. i know, baby. it's okay." rough knuckles smooth gently over nomi's pale cheek. she thumbs her lower lip and then reaches to cradle her closer. 

"don't worry; i got all my anger out on wayland." this she says with a wolfish grin, but the playful smile doesn't meet her eyes. 

Naomi Sato  Gunner Graves PENELOPE LIVY

☉

remus knows something's coming before the inferno races towards them. the jackal's appendages glow, head turning, and the light dies from its paws quickly enough for parker to seize nomi closer and protect her from whatever approaches. 

flames dance around them, but while nomi panics, parker's gaze hardens. her eyes water from the smoke, but their attackers aren't coming at them from the shadows. the only unown floating around them is mr k-man. 

"i lied," she says gently, dropping her mouth close to nomi's ear. "got a little anger left for these fucks."

Isaac Merlo 's gifts, hanging off her hip, are slipped over her knuckles. the firelight dances over the brass. one nod at remus and the lucario takes over as nomi's protector, sheltering her with body and mind. parker stands, clangs her fists together, and grins when the tornado of fire is smothered by another wave of flame. 

amulius' blaze kick steals the air, leaving their surroundings smoldering. 

"ayo, councilbitch and - you." who? she doesn't fucking know. but she recognizes the stupid familiarity of not remembering and shoves that away with a shrug of her shoulders, a raising of her arms. "you want her? you gotta get through me."

Naomi Sato PENELOPE LIVY Gunner Graves

☉

parker can't summon magma from her fingertips. parker can't curve a bullet in the air. there's a lot of things parker can't do, but parker can fight, and right now that's all that matters. her adrenal glands squeeze and her brain strips away all the excess, all the shit that doesn't matter - like the stinging in her eyes and the burning in her lungs and the way they're definitely, probably royally fucked. 

remus barks and amulius reacts, but the jackal can't deflect the bullet and the bird's too busy keeping the flames away from them. parker lurches to the side, into a thick plume of smoke. red, angry pain spurts in her shoulder, lancing down her side. 

(the nerve damage is permanent this time)

nomi, crying, fumbling over a ring, saying her name over and over again. parker wipes her nose, can't see the ash mixed with blood, and she steels herself. her friendship bracelet glows and amulius emerges like a phoenix, screeching bloody fucking murder as he aims a blast of fire toward the man they once called brother. 

PENELOPE LIVY Gunner Graves Naomi Sato

☉

amulius lands on the ground with a thud, sending sparks flying. he gives up his search through the smoke and parker raises the crook of her arm to her mouth, crouching low where she can take in lungfuls of less dense air, but it's a moot point. all around her is fire. all around her is smoke. 

"mul," she chokes out and her feathered companion watches his own flames as he hunkers over her as a makeshift blanket, staving off the worst of the heat. "we gotta - ack - find nomes."

and maybe she could have, if not for the amalgamations that emerged from the smoke. a splitting headache knifes its way through her as her brain scrambles to forget what it's seeing, but layer upon layer of truth burns away those protective barriers and exposes her nerve endings. 

a ghost glints gnarled teeth, swiping with the fractal shards of its pronged arms. monsters from nightmares too close to nostalgia make her stumble back, away from the gathering cataclysm and remnants of ruination. 

she feels the heat second, the panic first. every ounce of her being switches from fight to flight in an instant before amulius is hauling her back out from the lava. angry, shrieking chirps are leaving his mouth by the time it hits her and she screams. and she screams, furiously raking her hands down her arm, watching it bubble like putty underneath her fingers and slough to the ground in a mixture of blood and flesh and molten rock. 

her bravado is gone. there's nothing else in the world. not even nomi, in the face of this pain. just - IT FUCKING HURTS AND I'M DYING AND I'M DYING I'M DYING I'M DYING AND

I KNEW WE'D DIE HERE. I KNEW WE'D NEVER GET HOME.

Gunner Graves PENELOPE LIVY Naomi Sato

☉