Take From Me, Again, and Again

The owl Avie once promised to give to Sky had appeared in the air for his use. The owl dove down toward the White Stone Transporter and landed on the slab of metal holding a White Stone up in the middle, gripping it with its claws tightly. At that moment, Sky wasn't sure what the plan was while watching the Owl peer all around, eventually fixating on Eirikr's position.

"Four, three," Eirikr called out. He rose his right hand and launched a boulder toward Acchi and the others. Sky rose up from the ground ignorantly, dodging Eirikr's hand at the last possible second, and pulled his hand back once more.

The Gaze of Wrath heightened in potency and even made Eirikr freeze in place as Sky's eyes got cloudy from the persistence and strength of the eyes. In a new move introduced by the owl Sky received by Avie, Sky's hand at the owl flickered in and out of existence, and rapidly changed the location of both objects. Sky's hand was severed completely, but on his left hand stood the White Stone from the Transporter, planting right into Eirikr's chest.

"What is this--" Eirikr couldn't even finish his sentence before his body turned into strands, warping his entire body off to the location of The Pinnacle that Sky launched deep into space. Sky remembered the boulder launched at Acchi, and shrunk it down to the size of a pebble with Alexia's ability, simply tapping Acchi's body before falling to the ground with almost no momentum.

With Eirikr gone, and no signs of him returning, the owl named Aether landed right back on Sky's left shoulder, dropping his left hand into his right one to let him reattach it. After their slight encounter with Eirikr, the two sighed and fell to the ground while panting.

Sky had lost his motivation to attack all around him once Eirikr showed up, and his objectivity of Wrath cleared up once he used Gaze of Wrath to stun Eirikr for a slight moment. Sky did not intend to attack any of the World Leaders, even purposefully saving one that had previously tried to kill him.

"What the hell was that?! Hey, you just saved my life... why...?" Acchi asked Sky from afar, slowly walking to his position.

"Please... don't talk to me..." Sky muttered. Aether was still on his shoulders, granting him vision of Acchi, whose face slowly warped with tears as she set down her hand that was trying to reach out to Sky.

"You're awfully inclined on forgiving the man who almost made Chikyu motherless," Netsu snarled back, setting a hand on his hip while tilting his body away from Sky.

"I put in the effort to study the Asterios when everybody told me they were evil creatures. I found that they were beings mainly driven by their anger, rather than their love," Khalil added, crossing his arms while looking toward Sky.

"Does that excuse the action of attempted murder to you? I don't recall that sounding intelligent at all," Netsu fought against Khalil, but he only shook his head.

"Justifiable actions are all we can look at for a kid. We can't try him as an adult, his genetic makeup is only fifteen years of age, not four hundred as we previously assumed. Look, Sky, we followed most of your story so far, The First Trial, Orion, all of it, so it's not like we don't understand where you come from or why you attacked us," Raiden said, swirling her wine in her glass that remained untouched for the fight.

"However, we cannot just excuse you for attempting to murder us. We will think of a punishment, but your actions here in Zealous while defending them from Quake into account. Netsu, do we agree to these terms?" Khalil questioned his fellow Leader. As Netsu nodded his head, the girl Khalil was traveling with, Ellie, had finally made her appearance.

"Thank goodness you're alright! I'm so glad we won!" Ellie called out. She waved over to Sky and Tavian, slowly trotting forward, while Ultima drew her weapon.

As Ellie passed right by Ultima, she swung the weapon through her throat, cutting out her windpipe and causing part of her spinal cord to break under the force. Ellie's head fell to the ground, separate from her body, and Sky's eyes widened as Ultima smiled.

"Oops," She muttered.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!" Acchi called out. Sky was stuck, staring in silence as Ellie's dead eyes ventured up to him, smiling, and mouthing words that could no longer connect because her voice-box was separated.

A nightmare. Sky could only perceive this to be one, detailed nightmare.

Ultima turned tail, running away from Sky and the scene she just created, while Sky ran to Ellie, pushing Golden Strands through her body.

"Come on... COME ON! Please... please work..." Sky muttered. The golden strands coursed through Ellie's veins, invoking involuntary muscle spasms while her body reacted negatively to the strands. She had been pulled into the fight unwillingly, and killed with the same feeling.

Ellie's lifeless corpse spit out the golden strands back toward Sky, leaving his hands clutching the dirt, and whimpering over her body.

Ellie was one of the first people in Sky's life that gave him a chance and showed him that not everybody is to be killed. It was the first person Sky let into his heart after a betrayal, and since had been a loyal companion to the group. Moonlight couldn't believe it, Amera was lost, Dante had been covering his mouth to hide his quivering lip, and Tavian's mouth was agape.

Raiden took the initiative, grabbing onto Sky's shoulders and wrapping her arms around them to subdue him. However, she knew she wouldn't be strong enough, hoping the warmth from another human would be enough to calm him down.

In the same span of just an hour, Sky had lost both Illya and Ellie, two people whom he swore to protect. He sat in disbelief, unable to process what happened to him.