The Stage is Set

A Crow to a Flock pt.5

Reaper feels Geno send back a pulse of relief and pride. Reaper sends back one of joy and strength. He has half his brothers back in his reach. The rest of the journey no longer feels as long as it did before. He holds Cross close, trying to understand what his brother is saying through his tears. Briefly, he wonders how much they have gone through to have Cross sobbing in his arms like a tiny chick. His mouth thins at the thought before refocusing on what Cross is trying to say. He thinks he has the gist of it. He takes a breath to steel his spine and shoulders before scooping his brother off his lap. Reaper stands up, cradling Cross close to his chest before cawing out to get everyone's attention. He looks over at all of them. His grip on his brother tightens.

"I think I understand the gist of everything, but someone needs to explain what is happening, and what the plan is before we go any further." Reaper looks over all of them with a grim look. "We need to plan. I promised to bring you all home, and I'm not taking you home as dust."

Blue stands up, a broken sword in his hand as he scowls at Reaper. He staggers just trying to keep his sword up. "I'll Tell You What The Plan Is!" That's new, Blue's usually very aware of keeping his emotions in check. Reaper doesn't like what that could mean. "WE'RE GOING TO FIND THAT DISGUSTING, PRETENTIOUS, EVIL LITTLE NOSE CRUSHING SACK OF HORSE SHIT AND KILL HIM!" Reaper and Lust blink at the tone shift. Lust nearly laughs in shock, he's never heard Blue call someone that before. Blue spins on his broken ankle towards Ink's door, stumbling as he does. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?! I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS!" Blue drops his sword and hunches over with the force of how loud his screams are. Error startles awake with the volume, and Nightmare moves to cover his skull. Blue's face deepens its hue with anger as Dream tries to get him to sit down to heal, "I'LL MAKE YOU HURT SO MUCH YOU'LL WISH THAT YOU COULD DUST NATURALLY! I'LL BREAK YOUR SKULL INTO DUST MYSELF-"

"BLUE!" Dream yanks him down as he starts to cry again. Blue tries to breathe as Dream shushes him. Blue's screams echo down the hall, and slowly the silence refills the space. Dream wraps his wings around Blue, hiding him from sight as he turns to Reaper, "I'm sorry. None of us know what's going on with Blue! He's never been like this before." Never been this driven to kill, the words go unsaid but known.

"When did this start?" Lust looks over as he wraps his hand around Killer's arm. His healing magic is weak and slow, but Killer slumps in relief as the cracks start to heal.

Dream looks at his brother, "I think right after Swap took Ink's soul piece."

Nightmare nods. "That's about right." Nightmare looks back at Reaper, "Whatever is happening, we don't know anything about. We've just been trying to keep an eye on it."

Reaper sighs, he pushes down all the emotions starting to crowd his soul again. "Alright. Here's the plan. We're going to rest for a moment. You all need to eat something, I have water, too." Blue goes to protest and Reaper's wings spread in irritation, "DON'T START WITH ME." The hall falls silent. "You have been missing for MONTHS. You're magic is bound to be low, you need to eat to regain strength, and magic, and to heal properly. As you eat, you are going to explain everything you know, and we'll share whatever we think may be helpful. Then, we are going to heal you, the food will raise your HP, but we'll use healing magic with most cracks, broken bones, and fractures. So we don't burn through all of our magic stores, we'll use bandaids when possible. From there, we'll go into the room this, Swap? Went into and find Ink." He looks around, seeing no argument before setting down Cross to pull off his bag. "Alright then. Now, start from the beginning." He pulls out food and the rolls of gauze, "And don't leave anything out."