"Copia, you need to calm down."

The Cardinal glared over at the broad ghoul walking next to him. They had just finished the ritual, just barely, the crowd still roaring behind them as they walked to their trailer. Aether was checking his phone, a deep frown on his face. Mountain was already at the trailer and ducking inside ahead of everyone else, as he usually was. Eager to get back to his mate.


"I can't. Something is wrong, I just know it! That face you're making isn't helping things."

"Sorry. Let's get our stuff and we can go back home to wait."

Copia heaves out a sigh, rubbing at his head. It was pounding, centered behind his left eye, and it had been getting worse. He was hot, too. Why was it so hot?


They see a faint green haze, the tail end of Mountains phaze as they enter the spacious trailer. The other ghouls are lounging about looking worn and tired. Copia sighs when he doesn't see Annie or Kali anywhere and his stomach churns.

"Copia, you don't look well," Cumulus says, her soft voice laced with worry as she rises from the chair she was occupying. "Come sit down. Swiss, grab him some water."

"I do not feel well. My head… it is pounding and getting worse." He sits in the vacant chair, slouching over and holding his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. "It is very warm in here. Is anyone else hot?"

"I could name a few," Swiss laughs, glancing over at Dew with a wink as he hands Copia a cool bottle of water.

"Not what I meant. Cazzo, my head…"

"Yo, boss…" Copia looks up at the multi ghoul, eyebrow quirked in question as he drinks from the bottle. "What's going on with your eye?"


Aethers head snaps up at that and he quickly moves over, shoving Swiss aside. He crouches down to be level with Copia, gently taking the man's face in his hands as he turns it to get a better look. Copias left eye is pulsing with a faint glow, the pupil dilating and constricting.

"Vincenzo, this is not good. What are you feeling?"

"Pain. Immense pain. I can… can hardly…ahh!"

His eyes flutter before clenching shut, his face screwing into a grimace as he doubles over clutching his head, fingers gripping tightly in his hair. The ghouls feel a surge of…something that presses on their own heads making them hiss out, the sound barely heard under Copias sudden roar of anguish. Just as soon as it started, it was over. Copia groaned, swaying before falling forward into Aether who catches and steadies him.

"Satanas, you're burning up! Cu, cool him down. Rain, more water. We need to-"

He's cut off by everyone's phones going off with multiple notifications, his own ringing loudly. He shares a panic laced look with Cumulus as he reaches for his phone, swiping the green icon to answer it. Even before he puts it on speaker you can hear Sunshine's frantic voice.

"Aeth?! Thank Satan! You need to get back here. Now! Something happened. It was like that night the girls came here. Mountain and Seth are already going to the forest with a handful of ghouls."

"Annie…" Copia says weakly, looking up at his ghoul. His eye is glowing a steady bright white, the pupil wide.

"Aeth, I'm scared," Sunshine's soft wavering voice sounds from the phone. Aether looks around at the ghouls, seeing them frozen with nervous apprehension.


"We're coming."

____________________________________


Copia fought and protested against the broad ghoul when he phazed them to Copias chambers. He was beyond agitated and wanted to go out with the others to search for his beloved, but the ghoul wouldn't have it. Aether finally convinced him he would only slow down the search, and so the Cardinal stayed back, restless and pacing while Aether joined the others. He found Seth with Mountain and the other Ministry ghouls before they made it out of the gardens and told him to go back and wait with Copia.

Aether, his pack, and the dozen or so other ghouls fanned out as they ran through the trees, calling out for Annie and those in her group. The sun was nearly set, the forest dark when Dew called out he had picked up their scent. Relief flooded them as they converged on where the gremlin had called from but that relief was quickly replaced with an icy surge of anxiety seeing Sage stumbling through the trees. Annie was cradled in his arms, one arm hanging down swaying with his steps and her head rolled back, unconscious. Mysti and Ace struggled behind them, limping as they held Kali between them, body lax and head hanging down with his arms held around their shoulders, feet dragging. All of them were without their glamour and covered in soot, their clothes singed and burnt but they otherwise looked unharmed at first glance.


"We're back," Mysti breathes out when she sees the others, a strangled mix between a sob and a laugh bursting from her lips before she stumbles. Swiss is at her side then, holding her up and once she's stable he takes Kali's arm from her, draping it over his own shoulder. Dew steadies her when she stumbles again and he stiffens at first when she wraps her arms around his middle, sobbing into his shoulder, but quickly relaxes a bit and wraps his arms around her, holding her close.  Zephyr goes to Ace's side and takes Kali's other arm as Cumulus steadies the ghoul. Mountain moves to take Annie from Sage but the other earth ghoul growls in warning, tightening his hold on his burden as he bares his fangs.

"Easy, Sage," Mountain says softly. "You're back home. You're safe. Let me help?"


Aether and Rain go from ghoul to ghoul, giving them a quick once over ending at Sage who continues to walk forward.

"Sage, we need to get her inside. On Copias orders I'm giving you permission to phaze to his chambers."

"We can't," Ace says softly, looking at Aether. Their eyes are dull, full of exhaustion. "Whatever spell they did…we still can't phaze."

"I was wondering why you were without your glamours. In that case, buddy up. Cu, take Ace. Dew, Mysti. Zeph and Swiss, Kali. Lay him on the long couch." He turns to Sage, cautiously reaching out to stop him. "I'll phaze Sage and Annie. Is that okay, Sage?"

The ghoul looks down at him and after a moment he nods. Aether rests his hand on the ghouls shoulder feeling him tense.

"Rain, get whatever herbs you need and meet us there. Mountain, we may need Lilit, too. The rest of you go back to the dens."

Aether turns to see them nod, those without someone to phaze jogging off back through the trees towards the Ministry. When the last ghoul phazes he rests his other hand on Annie, phazing all three of them to Copias bedroom. The door opens with a clatter seconds later.


"Aether! You found- Annie!" Copia's hopeful look goes to one of panic and he rushes over to them, taking the woman from the ghouls arms, Sage letting him. Once free of his burden he groans and his legs tremble and give out, falling to the floor even as Aether tries to help keep him up. As he checks the ghoul Copia carefully lays the woman on the bed, one knee on the mattress as he gently cups her face, brushing soot and ash from her cheek.

“Annie? Amore, can you hear me?” The witch remains motionless, but her breathing is steady and even. It does little to comfort him as he takes in her appearance. Her shoes and pants are singed, the fabric of her torn vest completely burned away, her sleeves singed and frayed. She seemed otherwise unharmed aside from some scrapes and slight cuts and bruising on her wrists, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he got her clothes off. “Oh, what happened to you out there?”


He’s distracted by Sage pushing Aether away from him, struggling to his feet. “I’m fine! It’s Kali and Annie you should be taking care of. Kali took quite a beating, and Annie…”

“What about Annie?”

Sage shakes his head, taking a deep breath as he shrugs looking down at her. “I…I don’t know. I can’t explain what happened…”

“Try. Please. Tell us what happened,” Aether gently prods, leading the ghoul to the vacant chair at the vanity. Sage sits with a groan, lowering his head to his hands.

“It took us hours to find them,” the ghoul starts slowly after a minute or so. “We encountered just about everything but them. Fairies, nymphs. You name it. We were just about to give up when Annie reached out once more and found them.”

Copia walks into the bathroom to get a basin of water and a cloth, listening as Sage continues.


“We didn’t want to, but Annie… You know how headstrong she is. She felt it was her duty to warn them. To warn everyone. We passed through a ring of trees, and….and our glamour was forcefully dropped. They surrounded us, masked with obsidian spears and clubs. Kali grabbed her, but he couldn’t phaze. None of us could, nor could any of us call on our powers. Even Annie couldn't.

“They grabbed us next, dragged us all to the bonfire, to this platform where Annie spoke with their leader, but…”

“But what, Sage?” Aether asks softly, kneeling down next to him with a glass of water the ghoul ignored. Copia began to gently clean Annie’s face, wiping away the soot and ash.

“They are with them, Aeth. They've aligned themselves with the Magistratus. Said they were ready for us, knew we were coming. That man…” Sage glances over at Copia with a nervous expression before turning back to Aether, speaking the next sentence so only the other ghoul could hear. “He was with them, was one of the monsters who raped her, threatened to do it again before they killed us."

He sat back, running his fingers through his disheveled hair, no longer held back in the neat ponytail you usually found it in . "Kali broke free then. Tried to fight them off. But this man…He grabbed him, punched him with a flaming fist hard enough to knock him out and kicked him after he was already down.

“They tied us to a stake, then. Annie…she was a wreck. She was far beyond a panic attack. It got worse when they lit the pyre.”

Copia could barely contain his rage, focusing instead on being cautious and gentle as he cleaned Annie. Somehow he knew today would be bad, but he never expected anything like that would happen. But, if they were powerless, tied to the pyre….how did they escape?

"Yet somehow…" Sage sighs and presses his palms into his eyes, shaking his head. Copia looks over at him, brow raised.

"Somehow…what? What happened?"


"It was hot. So very hot, but the fire…it didn't burn us. I could feel it, licking at me but I felt no pain. I'm not burned, none of us are aside from Kali where he got punched. I think her choice of leather today is what saved her from truly burning. She was sobbing. Screaming."

Aether looks over at Copia then down at the woman laying in the bed. "That's…like what happened to Lilit. Annie burned but Lilit was unharmed."

"I tried calling out to her," Sage continues, "but then she screamed….differently. Everything shook with this.... massive shockwave of pure energy. I've never felt anything like it. It was more powerful than the day she lost control, but it still felt like her. 

"It got so bright then. It felt like my eyes would be seared from my skull. I had to close them, but I heard... something. I think it was Annie, and we were enveloped in this gentle warmth, almost like being cradled in a bed made of the softest feathers. A rustling, another voice like hers chanting something. Pressure... so much pressure.

And then... it was gone. And we were in the forest. She and Kali were unconscious so the rest of us picked them up and just started waking. We didn't know we were home until Dew and the others found us."

Copia looks back down at Annie, her face beautiful and peaceful. Yet as he looked at her…



"Aether, come check her. Per favore. I'm going to check on the others."


Aether looks over at him and nods, giving Sage another once over before moving to take Copia’s place at Annie’s side. Copia lingers, watching as he moves his glowing hands over her body. With a sigh he walks into the other room, seeing Ace and Mysti together on the loveseat, the ghoul holding and comforting the ghoulette. Kali was laid out across the longer couch, now without his shirt,  with Rain crouched next to him mixing something in a mortar. Everyone else, it seems, had left.

It was Rain that Copia walked to first, kneeling down next to him, looking over at Kali as he slept. He grimaced seeing his burnt face and bruised multi- colored torso.


“How is he?”

Rain’s breath hitches as he adds another herb to the mortar. “He was burned pretty badly. Dew helped with it, and I’m making a salve now. I’ll need Aether to confirm but, I think he has some dislocated if not broken ribs. Definitely internal and external bruising but I don’t think there’s any bleeding.”

“That bastard kicked him pretty hard,” Ace says softly, looking over at them. “We froze, and he…he didn’t hesitate when that man…”

“What could we do? We didn’t have our powers,” Mysti says softly, wiping at her eyes. “They had spears pointed at us…I was so terrified.”

"We couldn't have known, Mysti."

Rain was now gently smearing the salve he had made on Kali's face when his eyes suddenly flew open, wide and blazing, and he grabbed Rain's hand as he turned on him with a loud menacing growl, pinning him down as they tumbled off the couch.

Mysti shrieks and jumps up, scrambling away, falling over the back of the loveseat and onto the floor. Ace shouts out as well, sending a blast of air that knocks Copia away from the two grappling ghouls. The stunned ghoul looks at their own hands for a second before they move and jump over the couch, peeking over the top of it to watch the two struggle on the floor.

Rain reaches up with one hand to grab Kali's wrist when he raises his fire engulfed fist and Rain rolls them again, straddling Kali's middle making the ghoul hiss out in pain. With the moment of distraction he pins down Kali's burning hand and reaches out with his other, calling water from the sink to wrap around and extinguish the flames before bringing his free hand to hold Kali's other flailing and slashing arm down. Kali growls and struggles more fiercely, trying to get away. The floor begins to tremble and shake, the stone cracking as the ghoul begins to call on his earth.

"Stop, Liko!" Rain shouts, leaning over him. "It's me! It's Rainy. You're home, you're safe! Calm down…please…"

Kali blinks and slowly stops struggling, looking up at Rain as his eyes try to focus. He's disoriented, vision still blurry.

"R...Rainbow? Wha…Ah!" He hisses and screws his eyes shut as white hot pain surges through his torso and Rain quickly slides off him. He kneels at his side, his trembling hands cool to the touch as they gently hold Kali's face, brushing his hair away.

"You're back home, but you're beat up pretty bad."

"I'm fine," Kali huffs through clenched teeth as he swats Rain away. His body trembles and his breath hitches between hisses as he grabs hold of the couch to stand. "Where's Annie?"

"You're not fine." Rain stands as well and holds onto him as he stumbles. Kali pushes him away again, but there's little force behind the action. Copia walks over with concern in his face, having risen to his own feet after being knocked back.

"Kali?"

"Copia.." the ghoul looks at the man, his face falling and flashing with…shame? He swallows thickly, opening and closing his mouth as he tries to find the words. "I…I'm sorry. I tried, but I couldn't… I let you down. I wasn't able to protect her and.. and.."

Kali trails off and looks around, finally taking in his surroundings, seeing Rain and the Cardinal in front of him, Sage and Aether standing in the doorway to the bedroom. He hears a sniffle behind him and turns to see Mysti with fresh tears and Ace slowly standing up from behind the loveseat.

"How are we here? Where's my sister?"

"She's in the other room. According to Sage,  she somehow saved you all," Copia tells him, waking into the kitchen. His mind was a mess, he couldn't focus on a single thing and it was giving him a headache on top of his headache.


Kali looks over to the dark skinned earth ghoul still standing in the doorway before down at himself, seeing he's still without his glamour like the others. He focuses and his dark golden bronze skin slowly changes to the human tan it normally is, fluctuating between the two before he groans and what little of his glamour he managed drops.

"Liko.." Rain steps closer, placing his hand on Kali's back. "It's okay. The spell they used is wearing off, so you'll be able to glamour in a bit."

"I feel naked and exposed like this. Especially With the others here," Kali whispers, looking at the water ghoul as his tail wraps around his thigh in a nervous gesture. "You know I never liked…"

"I never understood why." Rain sighs and gently cups the unburnt side of his face, leaning over to press their foreheads together. "You were always such a handsome ghoul. Still are."

"Not to me…"

Rain sighs lightly, stroking his thumb over Kali's cheek. "Want me to get you some clothes?"

"Just a blanket will be okay. I just need to be covered."


Rain nods and gives him a smile before waking over to where a blanket was folded over the back of the couch. Kali takes it and moves to wrap it around himself before flinching and hissing sharply at the pain that races up his side.

"Be careful," Rain says softly. "Your ribs are bruised and possibly dislocated or broken."

Kali hands the blanket back to Rain and tenderly prods at his side with his fingers, wincing and hissing again with a growly undertone. "Dislocated. Fuck, this is gonna hurt."

"What do you..?" Mysti starts to ask before she pales, eyes widening in slight horror as Kali takes several deep breaths and pulls his arm across his chest, holding his bicep. On the next deep inhale he holds his breath and clenches his jaw as he pulls and twists with a quick lean to the side and they hear a series of pops and clicks. Mysti turns and gags at the sound.

"That was gross…"

"That was awesome!" Ace says at the same time, their face lit with awe.

"Liko!" Rain gently scolds. "You could've hurt yourself further!" The ghoul simply shrugs and grabs the blanket again, wrapping it around him with more ease than before with barely a wince.

"It's whatever. Not the first time I've had to relocate bits of me."

"I don't care. Now sit down. Please. I need to examine you again now that you're awake." Rain turns to the other two with a soft sigh. "You two seem physically okay. You can go, if you want."

Mysti looks at him, brows furrowing. "Not until I know Annie is okay."

"Mys," Ace says softly, wrapping their arm around her shoulders. "She's back home, with Copia and Aether. She'll be okay."


"She's fine. Unconscious, but unharmed aside from some bruising," Aether says from the doorway. "Listen to Rain and go back to the dens. You both need rest."

Mysti opens her mouth to say something but a look from the broad ghoul makes her shrink back a bit. "A-alright. I guess, uh, I'll come by tomorrow? Goodnight, guys."

Ace gives a small wave and follows her out, closing the door behind them. Kali looks over, watching Aether move behind the couch and go towards where Copia stood in the kitchen, hands holding the counter next to the kettle but the stove wasn't on. They talk quietly, Rain going to Annie's shelves to look for something and he takes the chance to ease up from the couch and slip into the bedroom.

Sage is sitting on the vanity chair facing the bed, head in his hands as he sighs lightly. Kali looks over at him having not seen his ghoulish side before, taking in his green tinged gray skin and ram-like horns that curled back and around his pointed ears. It made sense why he kept the sides of his hair shaved down now.

"I should've helped," Sage says softly. "Should've jumped into action like you did, but I froze. We all did."

Kali sits next to Annie, reaching over to hold her hand with a soft sigh. "Then all of us would be injured. Or worse."

"I pledged myself to her service. I would die for her, and I still froze when she needed me… When that monster of a human..."

"Sage.."

The earth ghoul sighs again and rubs his eyes. "I'll do better next time."


Kali goes to reply when there's a commotion from the other room, raised voices and yelling followed by the sound of glass shattering. The ghouls look at each other with wide eyes before they scramble to their feet and rush out just as the outer door violently slams shut. Turning he sees Aether staring at it with his jaw clenched. Rain is leaning against the wall, his arms wrapped tightly around his chest as he stares at the floor.


"Rainbow..?" Kali goes to him, holding his arms, feeling him tremble."What happened? Where's Copia?"

"He left," Aether answers with a sigh, crouching to clean up the shattered mug.