Hospital

Raiden noticed that Yukino was already being questioned. He stopped and let them speak. It would be best if she wasn't given too much at once, especially considering how she looked. The battle took a toll on her. It did for everyone involved. The best thing they could do was prepare for whatever came next.

"... One who used Regalia that Dalis fought... And the other Noel's that Darren has." Hikari answered Satoshi. "Ask whatever you need to, Raiden. I need work to do..."

Raiden closed his eyes lightly and said, "I was going to ask about you, first and foremost. Despite all you've told me about yourself so far, you are still human. Not many people can go through that and you've done it twice..." He was concerned for her, knowing she was essentially running herself ragged. "Though I did learn something from the battle. I understand why it is we weren't able to defeat that Reaper, and I can only assume any others would be under the same conditions."

"Don't worry about me, the rest of humanity comes first", Hikari started, pulling lost strands of her away from her line of sight. Giving a calm breath, the woman address being mortal like everyone else. "I have to go past being human if I want to help everyone survive this... What did you learn?"

If there was a solution to the invincible Reapers, it'd be a godsend.

Satoshi perked up at hearing this. Having additional insight to beating the Reapers would mean that they would at least be able to bide some time, at least somewhat, to maybe get that extra boost from whatever he found out himself.

The Regalia user Dalis fought...

"Where is Dalis? Maybe she knows something about this gun I don't."

"No, you don't have to do that," Raiden said first. "We don't need a strong sword in order to preserve humanity. We need a strong comrade who can understand the feelings of those around her. Strive to be that before anything else..." He didn't want to see her become a cold sword just for the sake of victory. That was the last thing the others needed. Seifer and Rosalia would be devastated by it, he could already tell.

"At any rate..." he said to her, continuing onto his point. "The Reaper wasn't of this plane. Attacking it was almost like attacking nothing. I can only assume that it is between dimensions, able to interact with us but we cannot harm it properly. The Reality Bangles are the only thing that seem to allow us close to its existence, but even that can't get there completely. We need a method of bringing them to this plane completely if we wish to defeat them, or in a better scenario we need to get them completely to their side and seal them there forever."

"That thug brought Dalis here with us, so she's likely in another room", Yukino replied to Satoshi. For a brute-ish looking man, Bashiro seemed reliable. Best to learn his name later, he was likely as loyal as those of the slums. The Chosen Sword looked toward Raiden, happy to hear that he believed humanity didn't need a strong sword over a strong ally. She was back to the same problem: having trouble believing that. Being human felt wonderful, but at the same time, in times like this, it felt worse than anything.

"How... on earth would we get them to this plane? If this theory is right... getting to their side is out of the question... because it would be on Brandt if anything. A parasitic home world of theirs... that devours everything in sight..."

Right. Satoshi took note of that for future reference, now focusing on Raiden's talk since he was here. Come to think of it, they had never been introduced, but for what it was worth, if he had an idea, it was worth a shot.

"Making them leave Brandt sounds like a more likely approach. That would require a considerable amount of energy, though." He fiddled with his pistol a bit, spinning it on his right finger. "If we can figure out how to utilize an energy that could do such a thing, though, that would save us a lot of trouble."

Suddenly, Carlos heard Hikari's voice in the corridor outside of his room. He was overjoyed to hear her. "S-She's alive! Maybe the other are alive too!" He said as he got up of his bed. "I need to- !" He ran to the door but then... He stopped. He didn't want to see her after all that happened. He offered his help, pretty confident in his strenght and all he could do was be sent to the hospital. "How could I face her after all this? I'm just not ready for whatever this is... Maybe I should go home and pray for this to be finished quickly. Maybe...".

Carlos grabbed his things, dressed quickly and decided to get out of the hospital. He was ready to go... But he noticed his bangle on his wrist. "Oh, I didn't remove it. I'll have to return it to Hikari or some of her friends... If they're alive. Someone else is going to need this sooner or later". Just for the simplest of things, he gathered all his courage to face Hikari and give her the artifact. "I'll give her this thing, say goodbye and everything will be over...". As he exited the room, he saw her talking with other people he recognized from the slums. "Hi..." He said as he came closer to them.

Trinity had slowly gotten off the bed, making sure her clothes were fine and her deck was in her pocket. She also made sure she still had her bangle. She wasn't sure if she was suppose to have it but she needed it. Making sure she was alone, Trinity headed out of her room, hoping to avoid the group that had fought and survived the battle with Sovereign as she headed for the hospital exit. She didn't want to deal with any of them and their questions of her and she did bad with groups. Trinity was a lone wolf and she planned to keep it that way.

Raiden crossed his arms as she was absolutely right. Then again, he had thought about this much as well. "If they can interact with this world without their physical form being on this side, it has to mean they have a way to move their energy between the worlds," he said to her. "We've been fighting that all this time, like astral images of their true forms. We could hack away at them forever and never make a dent. However, if we cut the energy's path to get here, the portal that they use for that means, then they lose the ability to harm us. In the worst case, they would be forced to come to this plane in full physical form just to continue their plans. That would at least even things."

Raiden then held up his deleted units, showing them to her. "I said before that I couldn't track the energy of anything besides Darren due to it being similar to things I have already seen. Now that the Deletors have done this to my units, I can analyze the energy signature still on them in order to begin tracking the portal." His tone showed that it stung for him to speak like this. What he would say next hurt more. "I already knew that I wouldn't be able to do much against the Deletors, but I figured that if I did this much, it could help us in the future... Among everyone here, I am the one who doesn't have bonds to this place, so I am prepared to sacrifice myself to defend your bonds. That was the promise I made to you all." He noticed Carlos coming in as well, remembering he fought and lost like the rest did. He had no problem with Carlos hearing this as well.

"No!" Yukino screamed, nearly getting up. However, the physical strain that required caused her to cry out in pain, sitting back down. "No... sacrifices! No sacrifices!" The commander shouted, not having this as a possible option by any means. Even if such a thing could kill the Reapers, they'd find another way. She grunted and groaned, clearly worse off than she let on. Her eyes were shut tight, fighting through the searing pain coming from her back and sides. Being launched into a wall was devastating on a mortal body, and she could only think of pushing it. "Be... Be careful studying... that energy. The power of the Reapers... can drive you insane... just being around it. We'll look more into your theory, but... Don't... Don't let yourself get indoctrinated analyzing anything."

She couldn't really notice Carlos or respond to Satoshi said for a moment.

Raiden mentioning sacrifice didn't sit with Yugure, and nor did it with Satoshi. While he wasn't inclined to scream as she was, there was still something to say in response.

"I can't say I'm as acquainted with you as she is, but if there's one thing the two of us both agree on, it's that we're not having anyone risk themselves anymore. Deaths and disappearances have been hard on us through the time we've all known each other as is. Avoiding it is the most significant thing we can do." He nodded to Raiden's deleted cards. "You mentioned something about energy signatures in your cards. Mind if I have a touch? I'm acquainted with the sensations."

Raiden rushed to her, trying to help her lay down and relax. He knew that what he said would be harsh, but it was a truth that IF it came to something like that, it would be much better if it was him than anyone else. Still, he wouldn't say that out loud and upset her more.

He understood the energy was unpredictable as well as dangerous. He didn't even need to be told that much, but hearing details on how bad it could be gave him something to go on. "This is the best we can do, Yukino. I will take every precaution I can to make sure I don't lose my mind to it. That said, I want you to do what you can to recover. You will be needed to fight when I have the information we need."

Hearing this new person, Satoshi he believed he heard him called at least once, mention that he could gather something from touching the card. That seemed risky. It was like he was asking to have some of the energy for himself. Still, he had no reason not to. He handed him the Autumn Rain Liberator, Coil unit that was Deleted. Luckily it was only one out of the 3 he had in his deck. It hurt him to give it up but he also knew that if it could help and this person could retain his mind through whatever process he was doing, it was best to let him try.

"Hey Hikari" He said in a sad tone. "I'll make this short, I promise. I know you must be pretty busy right now with all this so... I just want to return this to you" He then handed over his bangle to her. "I'm just not ready for this and I don't want to be a nuisance to you guys. I wish you all good luck". He left, without waiting for an answer. He just turned back to give them more words of encouragement. "Destroy those bastards! I know you can!".

He began to walk to the exit, thinking about all the things he lived in like... 5 days or so. The best and the worst 5 days of his life. He walked his way to the exit, watching the ceiling. Well, he was until he bumped into a girl who also went to the exit. He nearly made her fall, so he was pretty embarrassed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I was just...!" He attempted to apologize. "I just didn't see you. I'm so sorry".

Satoshi set down the pistol next to Yugure and took the card in his right hand. Nothing special about it at the moment. But of course, that was because he hadn't switched hands yet. He moved it over...

...only to immediately drop the card on the bed, falling out of his seat and having a strong grip on his wrist. The rings were glowing their old black with red outlines, pulsating at a rate that sent pain rushing through all parts of his body. Whatever energy the Reapers had at their disposal was actively bringing his blood to boil, trying to revert him to the numbness of Void that he had experienced firsthand from Nebula Lord months ago.

The experience was over in a moment, but it was so intense, Satoshi was panting and sweating, still clutching his wrist. That power...what made no sense about it was that it shouldn't have felt remotely like Void, but it managed to trick him into believing it was. How was that possible?

Clearly, the answer would help them have some sort of direction. He gasped out a quick, "That's all, thanks," letting himself stabilize. Some of the nurses freaked out a bit, but a gentle gesture with his hand for a moment let them know he would get up in a moment.

The floor was nice and cool right now.

Hikari... was kind of blacking out. Exhaustion and strain were quickly catching up to her, and her hopeless mindset right now only helped weaken her spirit - her body in response. We must speak, Hikari, voices rang in mind. The woman just... slumped. Of course she couldn't lay down like a normal person, and she was in the middle of a conversation anyway. Raiden was... saying something. Words of reassurance, perhaps? Carlos had approached with his Reality Bangle. What did he need? Why is everything blurry? No, stay awake. Stay up. Sit up. Stay... awake.

Her eyes closed.

Trinity didn't nearly fall, she did fall on her ass. This in turn ended up causing her Witch deck to fall out as she had been in the midst of pulling it out. She started to collect the cards, then panicked when she saw the cards of Famm and Fianna were well...the stats were gone and the picture was just a black void. "I-its fine!!! I didn't see where I was going either!!!!" She hoped the guy wasn't some gentleman as she hurried to pick up the empty cards of Famm and Fianna.

Raiden was shocked to see what happened to Satoshi. This was someone with the power of Link Joker in him like Seifer did. It seemed that energy and the power in the Deleted unit didn't mix. Whatever he was trying to do was quickly shown to be ineffective to say the least. He picked up the unit and looked at it for a moment. If it was that intense, why wasn't it effecting Raiden? Likely he couldn't reach it.

"I'll be sure to be careful with it," Raiden said as he saw that Yukino was falling asleep. "She should rest. I'll check on some others before I go." He went to the door, hoping that Carlos person was alright as well. Raiden wanted to check on Noel, making sure she was alright since she took some of the worst of it. He went to her room, hoping that she was alright.

"Here" Said Carlos while giving his hand for her to stand up. "Let me help you". When she fell, the Vanguard deck she was carrying scattered on the floor. "Oh, you play Vanguard too. That's nic-" He stopped when he noticed the two gray cards among the others. Those cards were in the same state as Thunder Break Dragon. They were... Deleted.

"Those cards..." He said to her. "So you were there too. And you survived... Now that's really nice". Other survivor. Not a friend, not even an acquaintance, but she was in that damned shopping district and managed to get away safe and sound. He felt some relief and happiness. "You must be with the others then. But I don't remember seeing you".

Trinity shivered as she quickly gathered her cards and immediately tried to get away. "I-Im sorry but I don't know what you're talking about!!!!" This was bad. I mean not terrible, but she was panicking.

"Wait! Don't run!" He tried to stop her as she tried to run. "I'm a friend. I just want to wish you good luck in your fight and... Hope that you come back alive. That's all". Saying all that to a stranger... Once he finished, he resumed his way out of the building. "Oh! And the others are back there if you want to talk to them" He said, pointing at the direction of Hikari and the others. "There's no need to keep it secret".

Xat woke up and looked at her surroundings. She saw the white walls and the heart moniter and the IV bag. "I'm in the hospital huh. Who saved me?" She asked as she sat up. She saw her decks next to her and she picked them up. "We beat an oman however Malice is still at large. I figured out how to use the spirit animal to get to cray and communicate with the units. Now all that remains is telling Yukino and then going back out there to search." She told them as she removed her covers. She noticed that she had bandages on her body and felt to see what was broken. She noticed that her arm and saw that her foot was in a cast.

She sighed and putting most of her weight on her unbroken foot to get out of bed. She placed her decks in her bag as she grabbed it. She then took the iv out and unplugging the heart moneter before limping out of her room. "I'm comming for you malice just you wait." She said under her breath and began her walk down the hospital corrader.

Raiden noticed that she was still asleep. Looking at the medical papers for a moment told him that she was in a comatose state. Trying to wake her or speak with her at all wouldn't be happening any time soon. He decided to go and check the other rooms for now.

As he left Noel's room, he saw Xateramusa. She was bandaged up and it looked like her arm and leg were broken. He grabbed her good arm immediately, pulling her close as he said, "What do you think you can do like that? How did this even happen?" His ever wandering eyes looked around as he was scolding Xat, seeing Mirai in one of the beds as well. That was good that she made it out safely.

Xat glared at him and yanked her arm away. "Don't stop me Raiden. As for what happen thats none of your consern." She didn't want to mention she met malice, and now seeing what he was caple of didn't want to drags others in. "By the way your theory was correct on the connection." SHe said as she limped away again.