2029/Hearts Gone...Gone

Hearts Gone...Gone
Date of Scene:	28 October 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	One minute, they're fighting a garbage truck transformer youma. The next minute? Tellu's shot Molly's heart crystal right out of the sky. As Molly falls into the space between life and death and is tormented by her own mental double, Rashmi, Nanoha, Amy, and Chrono make sure that Tellu doesn't escape with Molly's Heart Crystal. At least she got data out of this, right?
Cast of Characters:	280, Rashmi Terios, Molly Skyline, Nanoha Takamachi, Chrono Harlaown, Amanda Faust

---

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
It's an ordinary Monday night in Mitakihara, which, naturally, means that there's a fight going on, a battle against a youma that doesn't seem to have anyone directing it, or any purpose besides destruction for the sake of destruction.

The youma's an enormous thing, shaped from a garbage truck grown resentful after absorbing years of slights and disdain, now wrecking havoc as a Transformers-esque robot, with a gaping, crushing mouth in its chest, and beetle wings shaped from the doors on its back. Each of its hands ends in four extended claws, and it's been lashing out at the flyers with those claws while trying to crush those underfoot with its huge wide-toed feet.

"ALL WILL BE DISPOSED OF," it declares, not for the first time, in a synthesized voice that glitches out harshly.

Despite the threat, the youma is clearly on the worse-side - the battle is being won. Every sign indicates that soon, this will be another victory for the forces of good.

Which is naturally why Tellu of the Death Busters is here, waiting for her shot. Usually, this kind of thing isn't her scene - she'd rather keep working on her plants, and preparing for the arrival of Pharaoh 90 - but ever since Cyprine got herself killed, Eudial's been making an absolute mockery of the Death Busters. How hard could it be to get one valuable Heart Crystal? That brat Riventon had managed it, so why was it up to her to show up Eudial once and for all, huh?

For one thing, it was obvious that the best way to find a good Heart Crystal was to target one of these sparkling fools who were always getting in their way - and they're so easy to find...

Looking through the scope of her rifle, Tellu hums to herself, taking aim at different figures...

"Now which one do I shoot?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Not for the first time, Rashmi wished she hadn't moved to the dorms. Where if she wanted a restaurant-quality meal, she could just go to the fridge, rather than be headed toward a new okonomiyaki spot, and pick up the telltale ping of Dark Energy a couple blocks over.

So now here she is, fighting a larger-than-average robot made of an entire conveyance made to haul rotting nastiness away. And while on the one hand, a good many of her friends have descended on the garbage-truck youma as well... On the other hand, its every attack has been backed up by the smell of *foulness* and it's making her stomach heave and *she still hasn't gotten to have dinner yet.*

Jinking up and away from the claws, Rashmi walks her third barrage of ice barrets over the stupid youma's stupid feet, and reaches out into the comms-net with her mind.

<< How's everyone else doing? >>

Molly Skyline has posed:
"FIRE!"

Molly is in her element; the purple-haired artillery mage is up on the air, well above the level of any rooftops, and at her command Starcrash -- currently in his usual battle form, as a staff that looks almost like a Gundam should be carrying it -- lets fly with a searing hot beam of super-heated energy, blasting away at the Youma down on the ground. Stay back and snipe or do grid square removal, Sailor Pluto advised her -- so yeah, why not get good at that? The vents on Starcrash pop open with a hiss, releasing little clouds of steam, as do the vents on Molly's barrier jacket; scarred and almost molten in some places from the battle, but they're winning. Of course they're winning; her friends are here, how could anything possibly go wrong tonight?

Molly's actually grinning. After all the stressful times lately (like when Aloisia kidnapped her and she got literally eaten by a Youma while being drained of all her mana) this feels more like it did when she first picked up Starcrash. It's like playing a video game with friends, just more like that Jumanji show but better frankly.

"Starcrash, charge Stellar Convergance -- wait, Overcharge Stellar Convergance. Give me ten percent more power than last time."

<< CONFIRMED. CHARGING >>

On the holographic display in front of Molly's face a little progress bar starts up, starting at the beginning (naturally) with a little :( face. Well, it'll get happier as it charges.

<< I'm great! >> Molly answers Rashmi. Of course she's great, she's not down there smelling it. << We're almost done, right? I'm charging up Stellar Convergance, so don't get too close, I'm about to hit it real hard. >>

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi was looking for a place to throw out a container. Garbage bins we're scarce around here. She then watched a garbage truck mech stomp by screaming and went 'Oh!'. There's a place.

Nanoha Takamachi was here now, launching a barrage of Shot Barrets into the garbage truck mech, going for quantity over quality, like a machine gun of laser light bursting forth from her location.

<< I'm doing fine! >> Nanoha reported, having launched her bottle from earlier into the gaping maw of the garbage truck. Putting trash where it belongs. In the garbage.

Nanoha Takamachi kept up her assault, as she huffed. "I hope the garbage truck will be okay after this..." she says to herself, wearily.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was reveling in the role he'd adopted since coming to this world, namely in sticking back, focusing on more a guiding hand than a forceful fist. After all, this world had many protectors, and they needed training. Training he, personally, couldn't give but real world battle experience could.

Also, it was a garbage youma. He'd have more of his world view shattered by this, but at this point? What-ever.

Garbage trucks can just become sentient monsters and try and assault people. He was hanging out high above, alas, he could still smell it.

<< I've smelt worse. Good, hit it with what you can. It... okay, correction. I've almost smelt worse. >>

Ahhhh, burning garbage, good. Delightful. Ick.

He unleashed a simple spell... magical circles appearing beneath the youma's feet before magical binds would launch up, attempting to snag its feet. Hopefully that'd slow down the monster juuuuuuust enough the others could beat into rubble.

Also, Nanoha wasn't a litterer, another reason to like the most terrifying artillery mage he knew.

<< So, I'm feeling... bagels after this? Something without a very strong scent today. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is glad she's a ranged fighter. Although, that comes with its own problems...

    Explosions would get garbage everywhere, and some of her attacks might make /burning/ garbage.

    So she's mostly been targeting the legs with her explosives, trying to make it fall over.

    A pink gasmask has been added to her costume today. It's... helping? But it does make banter and tactical coordination difficult.

    Magical Rocket Girl Red lands from dodging a thrown hunk of garbage and points dramatically. "MMF HMMF HMMF MMFHMMF HMMF!"

    ...?

    She takes a deep breath and pulls off her mask, THEN points dramatically. "YOUR BRAND OF INJUSTICE STINKS!"

    She raises her arm. "Shoot it when I fill its armor full of holes! AURA PILLAR!"

    A large launch tube appears strapped to her arm, firing a missile high into the air before it turns and comes back down, airbursting over the garbage hulk youma and showering it in lances of piercing energy from above!

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
The garbage truck youma roars as it's struck by Molly and then Amy's blasts, Molly's strike score a deep tear in the left arm, causing it begin separating from the body, while Amy's aptly named Aura Pillar tears dozens of little holes in it from the piercing lances falling from above.

"IF YOU //// THINK IT //// STINKS //// HOW DO YOU THINK I //// FEEL?!"

The damage they're dealing out has done more to glitch it out, static filling it's synthesized voices. Rashmi's ice barrets freeze the feet in place as the creature tries to take a swipe at Amy, and the awkward angle causes it to teeter -

And then Nanoha's machine-gun like fire of Shot Barrets tips it over onto it's back, where it roars and kicks like an angry beetle. It's stuck! In perfect position for Molly's finisher to close out the fight!

Five little sparklers fighting that rank youma, every single one of them focused on the fight. Most were on the ground - but there was one flying about, this way and that, firing blasts from a distance and raining down hellfire.

Honestly? As a botanist, Tellu couldn't give her blessing to one who fought with such blistering heat - but as one seeking to terraform and colonize this country for her own people's needs, she couldn't help but approve of the tactics. After all - isn't striking from afar and picking off her opponent at a safe and careful distance what she's doing?

Honestly, a girl after her own heart.

So Tellu takes careful aim at the girl now hovering in place, a glow building and building in her staff-weapon, and fires. An improbably black light streams from the rifle's end and strikes Molly square in the back in a long, sustained shot. A small circle of black light glows at her chest, above her heart, growing as the beam stays connected, until finally, in a sparkling burst of light, it emerges - her heart crystal.

Or in Device Mage terms, her linker core. When you're that high up, there's only one place to go - the ground.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly is grinning like a cheshire cat; this is gonna be great. It'll be the biggest spell she's ever pulled off; bigger even than the version of it she fired at Chrono during the training session the other day, bigger than when she fired it into the portal, bigger than at the end of the fight she and Rashmi were in a little while ago... The. Biggest. Spell.

She's definitely getting better. Maybe she *is* cut out for this, afterall.

The progress bar on her Battle Display is almost full, and the little Emoji goes from being a :) to a :D as it finally fills up; this time it even sprouts little bunny ears and does a little dance-dance. Perfect.

"FIRE!!" Molly levels Starcrash at the Youma; and as a large, freezing orb of energy manifests at the tip of her staff, her Visor makes here aware that something else is happening.

<< CRITICAL WARNING INCOMING ATTACK >>

"Wha--?" As the Eclipse Orb coalesces into a beam and strikes the Youma, and a series of smaller, searing hot barrets all blink-blink into being around her, Molly is made aware that she's being hit by something in the back. << There's someth-- >> she gets out, before it happens.

A glowing, purplish crystal, oblong with irregular fascets, emerges from her chest. It hovers for a moment, before it's flung away from her, tumbling end over end into the distance. Her wings blink and then vanish; and then her barrier jacket in its entirity just kind of... flies apart, bursting around her and disappearing into a cloud of purplish, glowing motes that flicker around her and fizzle out, leaving her in a school uniform... at a few hundred feet up.

Molly's eyes widen, as she starts to fall.

Starcrash tumbles from her hands; and the series of Solar Barrets, all thirteen of them, resolve into beams that just... fire in random arcs, all over the place.

No; not random. Starcrash, with failing power, is directing them away from Molly.

<< ALERT ALERT >> Broadcasts the device, to everyone around. << CRIT##L SI###ATION: LINK## ##RE DI###ABL# ASSIS########### >>

Ad now, Molly is grasping at the air, falling, as Starcrash's light flickers out and tumbles away from her.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Oh bagels sound *amazing* right now, >> Rashmi answers Chrono, as the youma rocks back from Nanoha's assault and starts to topple over, and Amy's orbital strikes(?) keep it well pacified. << But okay I'm just *starving* and I would happily eat a *boot* if it had eel sauce on it. >>

And Molly starts to charge up her finisher, and while her Accumulator canister is pretty well topped up by now, this is *definitely* something she wants the others to see; her friend being awesome. << Oh right, Nanoha-chan! Have you met Molly before tonight? She's an artillerist too! Check this out-- >>

But the moment before the Stellar Convergence is let loose, Nicomachea pings a Dark Energy release.

But Rashmi barely has time to react to it, when the beam of darkness lances out, striking Molly full in the chest and... extracting?!

Exctracting...

*Oh no.*

"MOLLY-CHAN!" Rashmi's horror-stricken voice rebounds over and around the skyscrapers of Mitakihara.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown inhaled to let out a sigh of relief...

... Unfortunately, inhaling there was a bad choice. Hack. Cough. Cough cough. Rise up a little bit and--

Then there was an alert. By the time he could react to it, Molly was already hit. He'd expected her jacket to go off and catch her...

But it didn't. Something was knocked out of her?!

But there was an attacker.

<< Molly was hit, Nanoha, can you catch her? Locating the attacker >>

He'd messed up. Grown casual. There'd been too many attacks, too many fights that were one and dones. He should have seen this coming. Stupid. STUPID. He whipped around, his device scanning and...

There she was. Tellu.

<< Target located, distributing locational data. >>

            <<Stinger Blade!>>

He held up his staff and dozen blue swords made of blue energy appeared around him, performed their little spin... then launched themselves at the girl. Raining down magical blades on the girl and intending to force her to retreat, and likely take out half the roof with her on it. She'd already hurt one of them, the last thing he intended to do was allow her to get a second one of them.

<< Amy, ensure the youma is destroyed, Nanoha, maintain distance and prioritize Molly's safety. Rashmi, maintain a proper vantage point and support as needed. >>

Chrono, meanwhile, was already flying off towards Tellu, intending to engage and drive her away, going into full TSAB enforcer mode it seemed.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi keeps up her assault while Molly charges her big gun. This is basically costing her nothing to keep up, as the shots are weak, but numerous. She then watches as Molly gets her shot off. Raising Heart is telling her that it should be enough to finish the youma, based on the data available, so Nanoha is tapering off her attack when suddenly an attack lances out from seemingly nowhere into Molly.

Molly is falling. "Molly-chan!" she suddenly blurts out as she suddenly takes off from her location on flier fin, now there's a size difference. Nanoha is so tiny. Molly is... not. She is not princess carrying Molly down in a catch.

Instead. "Starfall!...."

< Starfall! > repeats Raising Heart as a shiny, sparkling shimmering disc appears around Molly, orbiting as her descent suddenly slows down, it's like she's being held in mid air. Nanoha Takamachi starts carefully dragging her down to the ground carefully.

No rapid descent anymore.

"I got you, Molly-chan!" she says worriedly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    If you think it stinks, how do you think I feel? Oof, being a garbage truck monster is probably suffering. she thinks. "Then let us put you out of your misery?" Amy offers, awkwardly, just before attacks line up for the finisher--

    And then everything is going wrong.

    Molly's already falling by the time it really hits Amy that something wrong has happened and Starcrash is calling out, and she turns, dismissing her weapon, and runs under where the mage is falling -- but Nanoha can fly and so better catch her. "What... what happened?!" she calls out in concern.

    Make sure the youma's done? Right-- Amy looks over at where at least one of the Solar Barrets finished it off. <<"Youma's down!">> she responds, remembering to use the Device telepathy. <"Location data where?! What happened?!">> For the moment she stays under/near Nanoha, looking around for any more monsters or Dark Generals that might be coming to finish the job!

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
The youma's red, red eyes widen in shock and then? Stellar Convergence strikes, the orbital orb beam tearing through the metal and the garbage alike, burrowing through the center of the robotic garbage truck, and then tearing out of it, as the beam goes awry and floats up as Molly begins to fall.

There's a harsh clank and rattle inside the robotic youma's chest and then the metal collapses in on itself, a cloud of dark energy rising up and dissipating into the air.

A crystal fell away from Molly, and it's snatched out of the air - but not by Tellu, not directly. Instead, it's a thin tendril that's grabbed it, a vine that wraps it's ends around the crystal, holding it securely before withdrawing through the darkness, retracing it's slither back to where Tellu is perched, ready and waiting as a sniper - it slides right by where Nanoha is landing, with Molly safe in hand, the other girl by this point fully unconscious, or near it.

As Chrono launches his stinger blades, more vines rise, creating an enormous bubble of plant matter that sacrifice themselves to tank the blow. Tellu leaps away as soon as the last blade's energy has struck, doing a backwards hand spring to keep the rifle tucked close as she bounds to the edge of the roof, stretching a hand out -

And the vine deposits Molly's Heart Crystal into her hand.

"Mmm, that was a close one," she laughs, and gives Chrono a quick, but dismissive once over. "Good shot, kiddo. That definitely would have wiped out that wimp Eudial."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown narrowed his eyes. "Ah. It's you. No Riventon with you this time?" he asked. "So then, Tellu of the witches five? I thought you'd been purified by now. A shame you're still cause trouble."

"We're going to take that crystal back, you know. We could save yourself a whole lot of pain if you'd just give it over... but you never will."

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

Five orbs of blue magic appeared around him, before they zoomed forward, swirling through the air and attempting to slice through her vines and... if she was smart, she might realize that the orbs weren't 'missing' her... they were trying to hem her in.

<< Nanoha, Amy, I'll try and lock her down and distract her, see if you can hit her from a distance. She's more powerful than she looks. Rashmi, focus on amplifying them and, when they hit her, amplify my speed so I can make a play for the crystal. >>

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly is falling.

She feels... she's never felt like this before. Even when she got drained by Sunbreaker, it wasn't like this. When Aloisia Strauss drained her, that wasn't this bad, either.

I'm dying, is the thought that crosses her mind as she tumbles end over end. She tries to reach for Starcrash, but the device is just... spinning away from her. THe light in the staff's crystal has gone out. That ought to be important to her; it means something. What does it mean?

Does it matter?

Molly decides it doesn't. The air rushing past her face probably means something as well. She hears someone say something -- Starfall, whatever that means -- but it's so far away. Her chest hurts. Something is missing. Something important.

But it's gone now.

Everything is going dark around her; and it's cold. It's so very cold. She almost doesn't notice the impact with the ground, as Nanoha does the best she can to slow her descent -- and a fine job it was, turning something that should have been a lethal impact into merely bone-rattling. And it hurts, certaily, as she sprawls on the pavement, but... it's like she's feeling someone else's body. It isn't really her that hurts. It's almost like she's playing Dungeons and Dragons; sure, Akira Starleaf, her Sorceress from when she was ten, was down to zero hit points and making death saves; but it's okay. Her friends will save her. Or if they don't, she'll just cry and make a new character.

Not this time, Molly.

Someone called her name. That was Rashmi. She sounded scared; she shouldn't be scared. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay. Her eyes flutter, and she draws her arms and legs in, curling almost like a dragonfly that's been hit with a rolled up newspaper. The world recedes from her, and she feels... free. LIke she's flying. She's flown before, but never like this.

She's soaring.

"I love you all," she whispers, as her eyes close and she sighs, settling into unconsciousness.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Time seemed to move in slow motion, as Molly fell.

That was a Heart Crystal they pulled out.

People don't live long without their Heart Crystals.

Those vines mean it's that Tellu lady, who was with Riventon in another street fight very similar to this one, what felt like *ages* ago.

Her heart unclenches, as Nanoha catches the limp form of her best friend and begins to guide her to the ground, but then Molly speaks. And the things she says...

You don't talk like that unless you're dying. Tellu is about to *kill her best friend.

On the heels of the panic leaving her now that Molly's relatively safe in Nanoha's grasp, and the meaning of her friend's words, something new finds a home in the hole the panic left behind Something new.

*Fury.*

<< Chrono *hold her down.* >> Even in *thoughts,* the normally sweet-tempered Rashmi sounds like she is one bad joke away from breaking something. << I'm going to give her *one chance* to give up that crystal. We don't have time to be clever, *Molly-chan is going to die* if she doesn't get that back. >>

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR FLASH >>

    << SOLAR FLASH >>

Rashmi is not nearly the flyer that Nanoha is; she doesn't have the speed, or the ability to turn on a dime. But what she lacks in airspeed, she makes up for with repeated castings of a flash-step spell, blinking forward again and again and again, teleporting toward Tellu's position by thirty and fifty meters at a time.

It's hard to tell if there's murder in her eyes; the glow of her magic makes her glasses opaque, at certain angles.

But it's not hard to guess.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
There's a gentle thud as Molly hits the ground and falls silent. Raising Heart tells her in her head that she's okay... for the moment. She isn't dead. That's good. Nanoha Takamachi frowns hard now, as things become intensely suddenly personal.

"DIVINE SHOOTER!" calls out Nanoha, determinedly, as more powerful shot barrets lance out from her location, stronger shots than before but just as numerous as she suddenly starts to actually burn through some of her mana supply now, in her linker core, aiming at Tellu from a distance like Chrono tells her. Not that Chrono had to do that. It was happening whether he ordered it or not at this point.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Tellu reveals herself, and a vine deposits the crystal in her hand with a fluorish. <<"YOU! ...Err,">> "YOU!" Amy calls out. "Give that BACK!"

    Nanoha lands by her, and Amy catches a glimpse of the look on Molly's face.

    I love you all.

    "You too..." Amy whispers back.

    And then she glares at Tellu and is engulfed in a pillar of fire. The fire leaves her armored and carrying a giant cannon, which fires a shot that should explode the corner of that roof.

    Shit. I can't really unload or I risk damaging the crystal! she realizes.

    The second shot is just a ball of metal rather than an explosive, aimed at Tellu's body or the plant matter she's blocking with..

    I've got to think of a better way to fight her, fast. She'll realize we can't risk damaging the crystal any moment now! At least she's got dodging covered -- the moment Tellu focuses on her, she'll dismiss the cannon and fly away on the thrusters now in her armor!

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Dark energy pools around Tellu, as she prepares a duskport out of here - now that she's got the crystal, even if it's disappointingly not produced what she was looking for, it's still a source of magical energy, and still something to be studied. Not every being is magical, on this planet, and magic functions so differently between people - perhaps studying this crystal, and the more to come after it, will help her learn why -

"That kid? He's not been in my department for ages -"

And then she's forced to pivot, weaving and dodging as her vines grow from the concrete at rapid fire, pollen and seeds blown in the air grown to full adult life by her power as she strikes away at the orbs of magic that are trying to herd her away.

An attack is called out, and Tellu dodges the first and the second and the third, only to be struck in the shoulder by the fourth as Nanoha fires and keeps on firing, burning through what must be a truly prodigious amount of magic with seemingly no effort.

    ellu cries out, irritable, and clutches her shoulder as tendrils of plant matter burst from the ground, from the concrete, pouring out of the building like a river of untapped life, reaching out to entangle and throw away the attacking Mahou.

"Obviously I'm not giving this back," she says disdainfully, and then is quick to tuck rifle and crystal alike against her chest, as more shots come after her. The plants swirl and form another bubble of defense as Amy's high powered shot joins Nanoha's, and she curses to herself, trying and failing to gather enough energy for a dusk port.

By the time Rashmi is one more port away, the planet matter has been trimmed away a bit.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono had learned a lot of things on this planet. So many, many things. But there was one thing he'd learned years and years and years ago that he was incredibly aware of. As Rashmi just ignored his orders and flew in. As Nanoha rained down a plethora of blasts that, frankly, would have left him likely wheezing by now and, for her, likely amounted to a small afternoon walk.

It was that girls could be scary when they wanted to be.

The thing he learned from this planet, though, was that magic took that scaryness and ramped it up to eleven.

<< On it >> Chrono said, not even arguing.

            <<Blaze Cannon!>>

Fire erupted from his rod, a short-range swirling vortex of flame, designed to tear through shields and the hulls of vessels, the flames would hopefully tear through the last of the plants that Nanoha was blasting through and clearing out... Hopefully helping to clear the way for Rashmi.

He'd then pull back slightly, casting delayed bindings behind Tellu, little traps for her to step in if she tried to run. There was no running from this. That girl had fully stepped in it this time and the boots of consequences were coming in the shape of the kid of a korma restaurant and a bakery.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly lays where Nanoha has left her, and she's entirely still. She's not even twitching. She's just... still. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, it wouldn't even look like she's breathing.

But she's not gone. Not yet. Dimly, she's aware that things are still going on around her. She can still sense something going on. Someone is holding her heart, and that's strange. Someone is talking about divine shooting... What does that mean?

Rashmi sounds angry. Molly doesn't think she's ever heard Rashmi sound like that. Well, angry sure, everyone gets angry, but not like that. What is she so angry about?

Molly hopes she didn't do something wrong, she'd be devestated if she'd upset her best friend.

Slowly, the purplenette sits up. She's in a field, full of flowers; purple ones mostly, like her hair, but with white and blue and yellow and pink ones, dotted all around. The sun is shining, and it's warm, even though there's snow on the ground amongst the flowers; just a little.

It's so pleasant here. She feels a tug, like she's not supposed to stay. It's not time for that, really; it shouldn't be.

But she doesn't want to leave. It's so peaceful here. She would very much like to stay; she stands up, brushing off her school uniform, and walking barefoot through the flowers, all abuzz with bees and butterflies with irridescent blue wings.

People want her to come back. She knows they do. But just... just five more minutes. Please.

She resists the tug, the pull to come back; and as she does, feels a different draw, from the opposite direction, and follows it. She wades through the flowers until she finds a little clearing amongst them, and the middle of which is a single crocus, with white pistles and black petals.

"What are you?" she asks, as she edges closer. "You... you don't belong here." She kneels, reaching out gingerly to touch the flower.

It erupts, rushing up at her and expanding to surround her, devouring her almost like she fell into a Pitcher Plant; the field of flowers disappears, and she plummets screaming into a void, dark beyond dark and filled with pulsating, sticky tendrils that wrap around her, tugging her limbs apart and holding her.

"You're mine," whispers a voice.

It is Molly's own voice.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It's weird, how when your feelings are big enough, they crowd out so many other things. Like how much effort you're expending. How low your reserves are getting. That you have to dodge around sudden upsurges of thorny vine trying to bar your way. That you have to hitch up your movement so a sudden barrier of plant matter can get shredded, before you go on.

Solar Flash, like most flash-step spells of its class, is designed for tactical repositioning. To get out of the way of an attack, to close in suddenly. Using it for long-distance speed would *definitely* void any warranty such a spell may have, and when Rashmi stops, inches from Tellu, she is *exhausted.* But her Flier Fin holds strong, and she tucks her armored book against her chest, almost as a mirror to the Witch 1 in front of her.

Doesn't matter how much she doesn't have left. Her accumulator is full, and it'll be *more* than enough.

"You need to give that back," she says to Tellu. What might be most concerning is... she's not even yelling. She's in a rage that's just past the point of yelling, and every word that falls from her lips is quiet, controlled, almost conversational.

A *promise,* not a threat.

"You need to give that Heart Crystal back *right now.* Because if you do, you get to leave right now. If you don't... you don't get to leave until *after you've woken up.*"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi keeps up her assault... until plants burst up around her, they wrap around one of her ankles and she bursts into the air to rip the plant up and out with her, and away from it. This serves to stop her assault for a bit as she frowns quite hard. She hovers in the air and aims Raising Heart down range.

Farts, thinks Nanoha. She's angry, determined, farts to this... this woman that hurt their friend!

"Divine Buster."

< Divine Buster! > calls out Raising Heart as there's a sudden build up of energy as Nanoha Takamachi no-scopes a Divine Buster downrange at Tellu, a large, penetrating blast of energy rocketing through the sky at her as she tries to bring the woman down.

"GIVE THAT BACK, NOW!" she screams.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Well. Maybe things are going more according to plan than expected, if that plan is Amy's gut reaction after seeing Molly on the edge of death. Tellu keeps summoning plants to block -- she can blow them away to clear shots for the others. And as vines shoot out from the building, Amy takes to the sky, her planned course of action saving her from a nasty grab from the vines that shoot up where her feet were a moment ago. "Yes. You are."

    The next shot explodes into a cluster of chunks of incendiary material, burning away at the shield of plants and at the seeds and pollen they land near. The next shot becomes a ball of fire for an instant, heating the air and burning more pollen and seeds before it dissipates.

    Now Tellu can see the gimmick, of Amy's 'Super Mode' -- she gets all the mobility of, well, a rocket girl, dismissing the big heavy cannon while repositioning, summoning it just to fire, then dismissing it again, and repeat.

    Girls can be scary when they want to be.

    Magic ramps it up to eleven.

    By using their souls to power magical Witch-hunting terminators.

    Amy's red eyes seem to glow. A trick of the light? Magic?

    "You will return it." As her long hair billows behind her from the heat of her costume's thrusters, Amy intones the words icily to her target, to the problem to be solved, because if she lets herself think about just what's happening in other terms she might freak out.

    The gem on her arm is a quarter black.

    More shots come every time the plant shield is raised, the soul gem growing a sliver darker each time.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
The blasts keep coming and coming and coming, and then Chrono is able to use Blaze Cannon to tear away Tellu's barrier, and she - laughs, a little, looking intrigued of all things.

"Maybe I should have done more field work sooner - your magicaln abilities are interesting to observe, even if they are an overall waste of energy, capable of nothing but destruction.

There are traps being placed, traps that Tellu doesn't realize are there, because she doesn't try to flee - no, instead, Tellu swirls an arm through the air before pointing straight down at Nanoha.

In doing so, she causes dozens of petals to swirl in the air, quickly forming a neat ring of wind and whirling petals - and the blasts are stopped cold by that swirl, condensing into a single mass of energy that gets smaller and smaller, before being absorbed into the center of that ring, flowing right into Tellu's outstretched palm.

A smile spreads over her face as she takes in the energy, her hair blown about by the energy being captured by her ring of flower petals. The black star at the center of her forehead seems to darken with every bit of energy she takes in, and when Rashmi makes her promise - for it is a promise, not a threat - her green eyes fix on the girl before her, and she smiles, warm.

"No." And she considers her, the obvious exhaustion, failing to recognize the threat of the accumulator at her back. "You must be good friends with her. Honestly, I don't know what that's like, but I do know about having things you can't let go of. We'll just have to see what you girls can do, huh?"

And in the distance, her vines are shifting equipment that's been designed to take readings, take energy signatures, meant to study the outcome of this fight, one way or another. She can't shoot out all of their heart crystals, after all, the guns weren't designed for rapid fire. But if she can get a substantive sample of their energy readings, maybe she can learn more - maybe she can see if any of them hold the keys to what she seeks.
% Nanoha fires on her - Nanoha with a thick, sustained blast of pink energy and meanwhile there's Amy with multiple shots of burning that destroy her resources, and Tellu whistles, because oh, this lot would be so useful. Maybe they'd even make good hosts.

And then the ring of petals is there, again, holding back the damage - draining it away, draining and draining and it's pouring into Tellu, so much energy that it starts to hurt, like she's filling to bursting and she screams, high pitched and pained -

And then plants strike out from the ground, and spears of spiked vines burst from the ground and reach for the sky, aiming to cut and tear, to rend and sunder -

Aimed at everything except Molly, lying there empty on the ground, cold and getting colder, heart beat slowing, blood pressure dropping.

Tellu isn't looking nearly as bad as they likely want her to, but she's panting, looking breathless, and she's picked up singes, here and there, pained. She's taking in their energy to replace her own, but she's still losing energy, and she can't fight freely, not with the rifle and the crystal in hand.

"And you'd do all this to get back just one crystal," she notes, and looks at Rashmi, and knows her equipment is taking in so much. She's got to push further. She might have to give back the crystal - but she won't walk away with nothing.

"Go on then, see if you can pour out more than your friends just did."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"She's one of the most important people in my world," Rashmi says in answer, then turns her head away from the magenta hellfire of Nanoha's Buster. When the glare dies down, for a brief instant she looks *dismayed* at the fact that Tellu seems... winded? But little more... by the onslaught.

The cold hand of fury continues to close around her guts, however, and the stone mask resettles over her face. "...Alright, then. ...Question. Those flowers are a defense, right?"

It's really not that important that the question be *answered,* because it serves very well as a statement of intent.

But then, so does the hand that whips out, palm facing forward... directly at Tellu's face.

"I have to warn you," she says. "There's *nothing* I can do that would kill you."

...Why would that be a warning?

"Verbal command: Accumulator Purge."

    << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. PURGE CHANNELS GREEN. ALTERNATE GRIMOIRE LOADED. AWAITING COMMAND. >>

The canister attached to Rashmi's back winks out, and suddenly there is now something new in the space between Tellu's face and Rashmi's hand; a ball of glowing golden energy, so dense it seems to be straining against its own surface tension, blindingly bright at its core. And spreading out beneath her, beneath Tellu, a large, intricate magical seal.

And her voice is granite, as she gives the command.

"Solar Buster."

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BUSTER >>

The ball of energy quivers, then collapses, a coruscting beam of golden light roaring away from the hand. The beam itself is the size of a coffee cup, something that might allow for a *degree* of precision in aiming. Especially if, say, there's less than a meter between caster and target.

Unfortunately, as far as power levels go, it's not up to Stellar Convergence standard, and not a patch on a Divine Buster. But who ever expects the back-row support to whip out the magical version of an anti-materiel rifle, at point-blank range?

Molly Skyline has posed:
Terror.

This isn't what dieing was supposed to be like. Molly'd been good! She'd always tried as hard as she could, to do the right thing. To be kind, and generous, and forgiving. To self-sacrifice, for the good of others. She'd done her best to support her friends, to make her Moms proud, and, and --

Where were the flowers?! She wants to go back to the field of flowers!

Dimly, she becomes away that she's screaming; and definitely, it's her who's screaming. But she can still hear the voice. Her own voice.

"You belong with me."

"No I don't!" she shrieks back. "Let me go! Let me die the way I'm supposed to, I want to go back to the flowers! Let me go back, I don't deserve this!"

"You're not good enough."

"Don't say that!! I am! I am! I tried so hard, I've always tried!" Molly squeals, thrashing and pulling at the tendrils wrapps around her. What are they? Vines? ...Tentacles?

"You're worthless. Your own parents didn't want you."

Molly screams, straining at the bonds that hold her, trying desperately to reach upwards. Up; the flowers were above her. The field of flowers is still up there, waiting for. Is it... Heaven? She wants to get back there. To Heaven, if that's what it is. And a pang shoots through her heart, for her friends she leaves behind. Rashmi will be so sad, but she wants her to be okay. Except, she doesn't have a heart... it's gone. That's what's gone. Can you even get into Heaven without a heart? ...What if it's like in Egyptian Myth, where they weigh your heart against a feather? What happens if you go there... without a heart?

"No, no," she gasps, fighting back against the dark. "My Moms are my parents, and they love me!"

"You're not a real orphan," taunts the voice; her voice. "Your parents didn't die, they discarded you like trash. You're worthless and will always be worthless. Stay with me, where you belong."

"No! No!" Molly screams, "You can't... you can't make me!"

"I'm not making you. You brought yourself here. Because you *know* you belong here. Here, in this discarded place for things with no value."

"No," Molly gasps. "No I don't, let me go." The purplenette writhes and fights, pulling in her limbs against whatever it is that binds her in the dark. Up; she has to get back up. Even if there is no up, in this place. Maybe up is less a direction, and more of a... concept. An emotion. Perhaps even just a thought. Maybe... it's just hope.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown pulled back slightly, lowering his rod. She managed to take in the blast for Nanoha? Not to mention Amy's? There was... a lot more power here than he'd have expected. A foe they couldn't just brute force. Tactics, those tended to be his strong suit. He, admittedly, in terms of raw power? He knew he was outclassed. Heck, even outside of this world, where magic made sense, he'd probably be outclassed. He had no true idea of their BS power meant they were just that good everywhere, or it was just this world.

But this world was different, but tactics, strategy, locating the right point to push. That could make the difference. He flew up, evading the spikes of plants, watching Tellu closely. Something about her was... interesting.

Oh shit, go Rashmi. That was his girl! Watching her unleash that... he suppressed the urge to boyfriend-gush and instead... he focused on Tellu.

And then, while Rashmi unleashed her blasts, he tried to bind once more. This time, he went for more precision binds. Aiming to snag her wrists for a moment. To see if she could bring up her defenses, her roses, if she couldn't move her arms freely. After all, from what he'd seen she had launched with that... and considering what Rashmi was unleashing? He figured Tellu would have bigger concerns than what Rashmi's backup was doing.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's intimidation check: Failed.

    How is she this strong?! Ugh, we've gotten lax...

    Vines shoot up from below, all over! The tip of one misses her boot by inches, and it's a race upward, the plants growing with alarming speed, making her stop focusing on Tellu and just on dodging vines. After a few moments she turns towards the vines and brings her hands together like she's going to shoot an energy blast and whatever she was trying to do just results in exploding the vine in front of her and blowing Amy back in turn, tumbling towards the roof where she has to dodge more vines.

    "It's not about a crystal. She's our friend." Amy growls, unsteadiness creeping into her voice.

    "Everything I can do will kill Witches." Nope, somehow it's not as scary as Rashmi's announcement.

    Red hefts her launcher -- a regular-size one this time, and aims it from her shoulder at Tellu from the side. A jet of metal at thousands of degrees slices through vines between them to clear a path for a missile, the tip of which explodes on contact against whatever it hits in another jet to clear the way for the charge behind it that does the same. A three-layer piercing attack!!

    Amy sure hopes this works!

    Also Rashmi's beam is really cool, didn't that slice through a building the other day, but Amy can ask about it later--

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha's Divine Buster hits home and does a fair amount of damage. Good. She hit. She wasn't aiming properly. She just blind fired it. It was a tactical gamble. And it worked for now.

Vines and plants whip and sunder into the air as Nanoha Takamachi darts backwards through the air and gets more distance between her and Tellu. She frowns. "We would. As you would fight all of us for it. And think you can win." she says. It's just tactics. They outnumber her. They have the tactical advantage. They can stop her from just vanishing with the crystal long enough...

"Raising Heart, again..." she mutters.

< Master, Energy Reserves Low! >

"I DON'T CARE AGAIN! DIVINE..."

"BUSTER..."

< Divine Buster...! > repeats Raising Heart in a more stressed tone as Nanoha fires the spell again so soon after the first, trading energy for a stronger hit to hopefully aid in knocking Tellu out of the fight along with Rashmi's attack.

Though her Flier Fin wings start to diminish already as the divine buster lances through the air.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
And the thing is - compared to Nanoha's blast, this isn't anywhere near as much power, but Tellu steps back, the instinctive response someone has to a hand being shoved in their face, and she trips a bind, magic snagging her foot, holding her in place, and she equally instinctively goes to tug herself free, and a bind catches her wrist.

"It is," she says, and there's worry in her voice, but also interest, the kind of interest that meant there was still a smile - if a worried one - on her face.

The petals whirl, but slower, slower, and then Rashmi blasts at full strength, and bound and winded, the petals are only able to absorb a fraction of the energy before the attack strikes Tellu full in the face.

The good news (for her) is, the force is enough to break her free of the binds. The bad news (for her) is that she goes rolling, and she'd been holding the rifle between her body and her arm, the crystal in her hand, and she can only protect one.

The rifle is more important - they're harder to make, harder to explain the loss of, and so the crystal goes flying away, ready to crash into the ground unless someone catches it.

On the ground, Molly's lips are beginning to turn blue. Her heart rate is continuing to slow...

And on the roof, Tellu rolls to her feet, curses, and catches herself in time to be hit by Divine Buster, and then Amy's piercing attack, which causes blood to pour from he shoulder, and she cries out - and gets back to her feet.

"Do you know how much of a pain it's going to be to take notes on all this now?" She's actually scolding them, as she stands, and she might be hurt but she's not out. (She kind of wishes she was, though.)

"The crystal is your friend," she says to Amy, in a lecturing tone, "There's no difference between the two. But I'll take what I got, today. I hope you'll show me more, in the future."

And then, the Devices will warn about dark energy - but she's just duskporting out - her and her equipment. Nope, not leaving that for the Mahou to discover.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown saw his moment and took it. The moment Tellu started to make her choice, protect the gun, Chrono was already falling, his descent amplified by a kick off the magical wall of the world.

As the crystal plummeted from Tellu's hand, it made it a few inches in the air before sight of it was lost...

And then, as Tellu was getting on her feet, Chrono was already flying away, the crystal in hand.

            <<Stinger Move!>>

And a rapid moving blue arrow dashed across the battlefield, before Chrono landed by Molly, sending up some dust and rock, before pushing the crystal to her chest and just kneeling there by her. Definitely dramatic. Definitely over the top.

He definitely did NOT land too hard and his knees were definitely NOT rattling right now and he was NOT holding in a whimper. Nope. TSAB enforcer just doing TSAB enforcer things.

<< Molly's linker core has been recovered, restoring now. She's going to be okay. Treats are on me. >>

Yup, distract with promise of food. Nobody notice how long he was sitting here. Just... just making sure Molly was okay. That was all.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hit!

    It's satisfying.

    Less so when Tellu gets back up, but what's important is she let go of the heart crystal, and Amy's off like a rocket, but she wasn't ready as fast as Chrono, who's already there.

    And Tellu shouts back that the crystal is Molly, which is a concept Amy is intimately familiar with. (And also implying that referring to her as a mere crystal earlier was a deliberate diss)

    Amy remembers the image of Katarina leaping out the window, Lulu's soul gem clutched in her hand, and shouts back at Tellu:

    "Don't throw souls!"

    And then she's flying after Chrono, landing by him as the crystal is placed on its body's chest.

    "Is her soul gem okay?" Amy asks, kneeling and leaning over to look at it closely for signs of the corruption she's so familiar with.

    "Can you really... put it back in?"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi watches as Tellu runs away... and Chrono retrieves the crystal. She's... not doing fully well, but she has enough to fly. So she flies down over towards to Chrono's side, landing on the ground, able to stop spending energy on flying as she breathes heavily. "I..." Raising Heart suddenly opens up at the tip and vents steam.

"I shouldn't do that again. But it worked." she says as she frowns.

"Will..Molly-chan be okay?" she asks as Chrono returns the Heart Crystal to where it belongs.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There is something *really satisfying* about blasting someone in the face so hard they forget to defend themselves from the three other people pointing magic at them. ...Well, two. And the cold hand of fury in Rashmi's guts turns subzero, as the crystal tumbles over the side of the roof, catching Barrier-warped starlight before the building blocks it from view --

--And half a heartbeat later Chrono is soaring up, Heart Crystal in hand, and Rashmi's *everything* just relaxes all at once, and for a moment it's only her Flier Fin that keeps her upright.

Then the moment passes, and she looks up at Nanoha. Sees her own ankle-wings struggling to keep cohesion.

While she hasn't been using that spell *quite* enough that it costs less mana than she produces naturally, it's a near thing.

<< Thank you, Chrono dear, >> she says in a mental sigh, and bumblebees her way back to the ground. "You can," she says in answer to Amy's question. "Naru's been shot by these a couple times now. ...And don't ask what would happen to a Puella, I have *no idea* and never want to find out."

Her eyes fall on Chrono, and without a word she kneels next to him, and puts one of his earliest lessons into practice.

*Always* keep enough in reserve for emergency battlefield patch-ups.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

As the ring of soothing energy spreads out under the Enforcer, she looks up at Nanoha, and smiles at the concern on the artillerist's face. "If you get it back in time," she says gently, "they recover. I don't know if there're any permanent side effects, but... I haven't heard of any yet. And, Nanoha-chan? Thank you *so much* for helping save my friend, I... don't think she'd've survived if you weren't here."

"You too, Amy-chan," she continues. "Both of you made all the difference, and I can *never* pay you back for this."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly is fading, and she knows it. Even here, in this liminal space between life and after, she knows she can't linger forever; her time is coming to an end. She really is going to die. She was okay with that, when she was up there, among the flowers. She could have been happy there; waiting for her friends, waiting for her Moms, waiting for her fellow Orphans from back home... It would have been okay. She could have spent years, decades, just smiling at people, watching them all succeed at whatever they wanted to do. But not this. ...Not this.

There's a figure in the dark; it's like Molly is looking in a mirror, but it's... not Molly. It's wrong, somehow, and it's holding up a hand, ready to clamp down on Molly's face.

"Your parents didn't die, they abandoned you," she taunts. "You're not an orphan, you're a reject." She smiles, "And you belong here, with discarded things and broken toys."

"No," Molly gasps; and then, there's a light. Just a little one, just over there; behind her double, there in the distance. A little hole in the darkness, shining a soft glow on the sickened world surrounding Molly; a field of dead flowers, overgrown with rubbery tentacles with thorns instead of suckers.

"No," she gasps again. "I'm not broken, and I'm not worthless. And I'm not going to die. You know... how I know?" She finally rips one arm free of the binds around her. "Those... those are my friends. And if I ever die, it'll be *Me*, saving *Them*." She tears her other arm free, and pushes her double's hand away.

"But right now, it's them, and they're saving *Me*, And that's how I know I'm going to live."

Molly tears free, and runs, pushing past her double and making a break for the little circle of light; her arms and legs work overtime, and she can feel the malevolence behind her, working up to stopping her. Viney tentacles try to snare her legs, and the light keeps trying to recede; or perhaps the place she's in is pushing it back. Huge rocks fall from above, smashing into the ground around her; she trips up and sprawls into what's become a sloppy, slippery mud, skidding forwards on all fours before she hauls herself back up. She can feel her limbs burning and her lungs growing ragged; and she can feel her heart absolutely racing.

She can feel her heart again.

With a gasp, Molly reawakens. Color has returned to her lips, and her eyes snap open as she coughs, sputters, and chokes on a scream. She pants heavily, rolling onto her side and resting, just to lay there and breath, clutching at her chest.

Death Buster Tellu (280) has posed:
Tellu didn't use a door - so she had to go through the Dusk Zone, to get out. And getting to the Dusk Zone, for her, means going to the place where the Daimons are being cared for, waiting for hosts. And so there she is - in a hellish region, surrounded by strange, distorted creatures of terrible mass.

And she is relieved, tipping her head back, regaining her energy from being in this dark place.

"I've got so much interesting data to look over," she says with a sigh, "It would have been nice to just drain them dry, get them down on their knees and go down the line, getting her heart crystals... but the readings I found? I'm going to be studying for a while."

There's silence, around her, the eggs and the masses of flesh from those awakened but embodied, and she nods.

"This doesn't count as a failure. We gained precious data - and that crystal, it was quite powerful. I wonder what that girl would be like, as a host..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh thank you," Rashmi mutters fervently. To who? Does it really matter? She *knows* ultra-princesses, fairies, has fought a dragon at least twice, and is pretty sure there's at least one actual god bombing around Tokyo. Any of them, all of them, anyone else, it doesn't matter. Just the sound of Molly's gasp for breath brings a rush of gratitude strong enough to blind her for a moment, and she crouches down to gather the British girl up into a hug.

"It's okay, Molly-chan. You're gonna be okay. You're here. You're back, it's okay..."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave an appreciative smile towards Rashmi. Ahhhh, she always knew what to do. Slowly, he got to his feet before holding out his hand to Molly. "You weren't dismissed, soldier. Molly, this is Nanoha. I believe you met before, she's one of the most powerful bombardment mages I've ever seen and you could learn a lot from... her uhhhh..." And Rashmi was hugging Molly. His hand moved, awkwardly, down to his side. Right. People need to uhhhh... do the.... not soldier thing. The friends trying to care for each other thing. Yes. That. The awkward thing that made him squirmy. He glanced away. "Ahhh. So. Right. Food. My treat. Everyone must have spent a lot of their magic on that and very little recovers it as well as a good, hearty meal." Then his eyes drifted to Amy.

Well. In most cases... He was just going to... stand here. Awkwardly. And be boy soldier.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    As the others gather around, Amy glances at them, thinking of the fight they just had, and how if any one of them hadn't been here, Molly would be...

    She feels like she should say something. "Thanks... Everybody. I'm..." She looks down at Molly. "We... didn't lose a friend today."

    She's not sure what else to say, but before she can think of anything, Molly stirs. "Congratulations!" Amy greets her excitedly. "You're back in your body!" She wants to hug Molly, but the positioning is awkward, so -- oh Rashmi's got it, and Amy goes to make it a group hug, sandwiching Molly from the other side. And dismissing her 'armor' so she's not pressing hard plates into her friend. "You're okay now, right? Please be okay..."

    Whenever Molly wants them to let go, she does, stepping back and using a grief seed to remove the corruption filling a third of her soul gem.

    Chrono's looking at her. She looks back at him, eyes briefly meeting awkwardly before she looks away. "It's fine. I still have a spare after this one, and... Good food helps my mood, which is... also important to soul gem health."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
"Molly-chan, you're okay! Hello!" Nanoha says as Chrono sings her praises and Rashmi thanks her. She blushes. "I mean you're welcome but it was nothing...!" she says. "I'd have helped regardless." she says as she relaxes. "I feel weak right now though, but I'll be alright." she says.

"Yeah I need to eat something now for sure. Did someone say bagels earlier!?" she says. She doesn't know if it was said but she's feeling bagels anyways.

"With tremendous amounts of cream cheese! and oh! Strawberry jam...." she trails off.

Look, low mana means hunger.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly sits up, or rather is gathered up into Rashmi's hug.

This is absolutely the best way to wake up fron almost dieing; in the arms of your best friend. She sighs, but it's a sigh of relief. She's not going to die; and her scary double isn't going to get her. And, she wasn't real anyway, right? Nevermind her life flashing before her eyes, not once but twice while she was there; she saw all the bad parts in the first one, but all the good parts in the second one. And she's still sitting there, chewing on that, as she realizes that... yes, she is in fact still alive, and Rashmi's hugging her, and so is Amy, and everyone is close.

"I'm okay," she gasps, blinking her eyes. "I just... wow I hurt, like... all over. I--" she pauses. "Where's Starcrash?" she asks, with sudden urgency.

Starcrash is over there; standing lodged business-end down in the middle of the road, and looking quite, well, dead. No, not dead, just out of power, like Molly is herself.

"I don't think Starcrash can transform back to being an earing, but I guess I could just pass him off as cosplay stuff," she mumbles. "And... I need to eat, yeah, I need mana." She pauses, looking up. "Nanoha-Chan? It's *great* to finally meet you, and..."

The purplenette looks back and forth between everyone present. "Thank you... all of you. Thank you so much for saving me."