8 VI

The next day was complete chaos. Citizens of Hella were boarded onto large aerocrafts and sent to Celestia one by one; it was a long journey to the glittering kingdom so everyone was forced to get ready early. "Keep it moving, let's go!" Gemma shouted to the passengers boarding the aerocrafts. "Make it quick, we don't have all day!"

Aries rushed over to her friend, flushed and out of breath. "Gemma," he breathed, "Shawn needs you. Says it's important."

Gemma grinned. "Thank the King I don't have to do this anymore; you're taking over!" She quickly ran away before Aries could object and found Shawn at station fourteen. "Shawn," Gemma greeted her leader. "What did you need?"

Shawn scowled. "I can't find Libby. I need you to look for her while I board the rest of these people."

Gemma frowned. "Huh, that's weird. I'll get her down here as soon as I can." She summoned a gust of wind to levitate her up to a large rocky ledge near the castle and crouched down on it, scanning the ground and skies for her friend. "You know what," she muttered to herself, long black hair blowing around her in the wind, "let's make this a little easier." With the snap of her fingers, there were now over twenty Gemmas on the ledge instead of one. "Go find Libby," Gemma commanded her duplicates and they all nodded, scattering across the boarding plain, skies, and castle in search of the missing Hellguardian.

Then the real Gemma used her air manipulation abilities to fly herself up to the top of the King's castle, landing on Asha's balcony. She ran through the room, ignoring the piles of clothes and food wrappers strewn all around, and raced down the hallway until she reached Lizbeth's room. But much to Gemma's dismay, the room was empty. No sign of the demon anywhere. Gemma cursed under her breath and left the room, mulling over where Lizbeth could have gone. Shit shit shit shit shit-

But the sound of thundering footsteps shook Gemma from her thoughts. It was two of her duplicates, dragging a purple-streaked blonde in-between them. They immediately dropped her on the ground upon reaching Gemma, who waved a hand and they disappeared in a hazy smoke. "Libby!" Gemma exclaimed, helping her friend up before smacking her arm. "What the hell! Where've you been?"

Lizbeth brushed the dirt off of herself, wiping blood from her lip. "Aries ran me over with a fucking hover-bike. I had to go to the infirmary to patch myself up," she growled.

Gemma laughed at the thought, considering it was certainly something Aries would do, but she quickly covered it up with a cough when Lizbeth shot her a dirty look. "Well, I glad you took care of that because the last of the aerocrafts is going to leave soon and we need to get ready." Gemma gave her friend a pointed look. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" She dragged her friend into the nearest room and jumped off the balcony. She used her wind-manipulating skills to cushion the fall, much like Lizbeth did after her. Gemma scanned the boarding before spotting Shawn talking to one of the flight commanders. "Shawn!" Gemma called, running up to her leader. "I found her."

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Lizbeth. "Thank the King," he muttered. After shooing off the flight commander, Shawn turned back to the pair. "Where were you?" he asked Lizbeth.

"Fixing myself," she replied lightly. "After Aries ran me over."

Shawn nodded, and said with a completely straight face, "next time, let me know beforehand." Lizbeth scowled and he chuckled. "I'll talk to him. Though I can't say I'm surprised," he laughed again before turning to Gemma. "Gather up the rest of the Guard and meet me outside the castle. We'll need to leave soon."

Gemma nodded, turning to round up the rest of the soldiers. "Sometimes I hate being second-in-command," she muttered, launching into the sky. Shawn turned to Lizbeth and the pair headed toward the castle.

"Aries!" Gemma called as she glided over the boarding platforms. She found the dark-haired demon leaning against an aerocraft, eating something Gemma couldn't quite distinguish. She landed in front of him, scowling. "C'mon, we're leaving."

Aries arched a brow. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" he asked.

Gemma didn't smile. "Careful, or I might run you over with a hoverbike," she muttered. She could have sworn that Aries' face blanched as he slung an arm around her shoulder and they shot upward, looking next for Asha and Samuel.

Samuel was found in his room, snoring away. Upon seeing this, Aries had grinned and grabbed an airhorn that he'd hidden under Samuel's dresser and blew into it as hard as he could. Samual shot forward, bleary-eyed as he reached under his pillow for a dagger. "Woah, it's just us, Sam," Gemma started, walked toward the demon slowly. Samuel narrowed his eyes but seemed to deem the two figures worthy of living and stood up, stretching his arms. "We're leaving for Celestia any minute. Get down there soon or we're leaving you," Gemma grabbed Aries and they jumped off of Samuel's balcony, landing softly on the ground below.

Asha, however, couldn't be found and despite searching everywhere, she was nowhere to be seen. "Let's just go back," Aries suggested and the pair landed in front of the aerocraft where Shawn was standing with Sam.

"It took you long enough. What were you two doing?" Shawn asked, arching a brow as he crossed his arms.

Gemma sputtered, "we were looking for Asha like you said!"

Shawn chuckled. "Asha is waiting inside," he gestured to the open aerocraft door, where a head of dyed blue-grey hair could be seen. "Have you loaded their luggage onto the aerocraft? We'll be in Celestia for three nights." Both Gemma and Aries nodded and Shawn smiled. "Perfect. Other than getting everyone else loaded, we should be good to go. And everyone made sure all passengers were sixteen or older?" Five heads bobbed in answer and Shawn nodded again. "Good. Then we have nothing else to get done."

Gemma let out a relieved sigh. "Finally. I hate work."

Samuel chuckled, bumping her shoulder. "Don't we all?" Gemma shrugged, nodding.

The large obsidian castle doors opened and the King stood behind them in all of his glory. "Hellguard. We are boarding," he gestured for the group to follow him and they all walked near the west side of the castle, where the King's private aerocraft awaited them. The King walked up the ramp, ducking into the aerocraft and seating himself in the second of three compartments: the pilots', the royals', and the guests'.

After the Guard boarded and got seated, the ramp closed up and they took off smoothly.