Mistwoven Healer

"Uh… Serena? What exactly are you doing?" Asumi asks, watching the swirling mist surrounding the soul gem in my hands. We both sit on our respective hospital beds, although this room is quickly becoming too small for us now that we've both recovered at least a little.

Eyes narrowed in concentration, I don't look her way immediately. It's important that I don't accidentally do something that could harm the gem, so it's important that I do this part carefully.

"Probing Akari's soul gem," I say after a moment, my hair still swirling in the airstreams kicked up by my power. "Magic works off of instinct more than anything else, and I have certain advantages in trying to figure this out. I can directly see Akari's life force within the soul gem; if I can get my power to attach to it, I should be able to directly empower it. Theoretically, if I can do that, with enough raw power, I can literally regrow her body around the gem."

"Riiiight," Asumi says, twirling a lock of pure white hair around a finger. "The kind of raw power that you were strictly told not to use because it would kill you."

[Serena is historically bad at not doing things that might kill her,] Celeste piles on from Asumi's lap, having been resummoned before I went to bed last night.

I lock glowing blue eyes on my familiar, "Hey, if you're going to be a traitor, we can just unsummon you again," I joke.

Celeste knows well that I'm incredibly happy to have her back and active again, rather than throwing all of her energy into trying to reconnect with her mother. While we've still not managed to connect with Althia again, the situation is a little bit less urgent now that I'm not likely to die any time soon. From what we know, there are only around another six months remaining before the convergence begins, and once Althia is able to cross over into our world, she might be willing to just help both Akari and me directly. Or perhaps Akari's patron, Vyrannis, would be willing to help.

For a while, we all just sit in silence as I continue to try to get a thread of my magic to connect with that tiny whisper of remaining life force in Akari's soul gem. However, after nearly thirty minutes passing without any progress, I find myself turning toward Celeste and Asumi once more.

"You're feeling the same thing I am, right Celeste?" I ask aloud so Asumi can be in on the conversation.

Celeste huffs, [Yes, it's not that we can't connect to the life force; it's that we can't pass our mana through the barrier of the soul gem in order to do so. I'm willing to bet that this is the reason why so many attempts to revive fallen sentinels end with the soul gem breaking. In order to get healing mana inside, you need to create an opening.]

I nod my agreement before turning my eyes up to take in Asumi. "Unless, that is, you have mana that can ignore the normal rules."

Asumi frowns, running her hands through Celeste's fur and making the familiar sprawl out on her lap in a puddle of floof. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to back up for me a bit. Rules of mana? I thought magic could do like… I don't know, pretty much anything."

Right, I forgot that Asumi, despite her current state, never took any of the classes on magic in high school. Those classes were only taught to those who had the magic toxicity tolerance to learn inscribing or potentially become a sentinel in the future. For everyone else… well, magic is magic. There isn't really much of a need for them to understand it more than that.

"So, to put it extremely basically, all magic comes from mana, and there are two types. The kind that sentinels use and the kind that the Volcora use. They both work differently but can produce pretty much the same effects. However, I've been thinking about how the magic in your body and the magic Florina uses because it just doesn't make any sense to me," I explain.

Celeste's head pops up from Asumi's lap, her ears twitching. [You think that Asumi and Florina are using the theoretical raw form of mana?]

"Yes," I confirm. "A while back, while Celeste and I were treating Stygian Mana injuries, we noticed how our mana seemed to interact with Stygian Mana — the kind Volcora use. We considered that it was possible that Tributary Mana and Stygian Mana were just two halves to one whole… or perhaps different polarities of the same particle. The crux of what I'm thinking is this, though. Mana always comes with a cost. Whether you pay upfront or pay later, you always have to pay a cost to use magic."

Slowly, Asumi begins to nod her understanding. "And… you think that Florina and I didn't pay a cost?"

"Exactly!" I exclaim, running an excited hand through my hair. "Well, I'm less sure about you as you constantly feeling cold all the time could absolutely be a repercussion from Stygian Mana or a trial from Tributary Mana; not sure there yet. But Florina? The amount of magic she's using every day puts even experienced sentinels to shame, and so far as I can tell, she isn't suffering any repercussions for it."

[Power without cost,] Celeste whispers in my mind.

"And if she can break that limitation," I say, looking down at the soul gem in my hands. "Maybe she can help us break this one, too."

Asumi gives me a conflicted look, picking absently at the fabric of her hoodie. "Serena… didn't Florina already tell you that healing your friend wasn't something she could do? It's… a bit of a leap."

To this, I just shrug. I'm not under any illusion that this will be the full answer to the problem, but any massive issue can be broken up into a bunch of tiny pieces. If this doesn't work, then I will try something else. While I won't do anything I think will genuinely risk Akari's soul gem until I'm certain, I think that I possibly have all the tools required to save her. Right now, I have access to Tributary Mana and, if I'm willing to take some risks, Stygian Mana, too. With Florina, I might have access to the combined form of mana as well. With all three… surely something should be possible, right? I just need to figure out how.

"To start," I say, pushing myself to my feet, "we need to gather more information. I don't think it's that Florina can't help but that she doesn't know how to. Before going there, we need to increase our theoretical understanding of what needs to be done, and from there, we can turn that theory into practice."

"Cool!" Asumi cheers, hopping up from her bed as well. "Uhh… how do we do that?"

An hour later, Asumi, her brother Daizen, Lucas, and I stride into the GDF Headquarters. As a sentinel and already having Lucas babysit me, Daizen's presence is a bit of a sore point for me. However, my father and Asumi's decided that if the two of us were going anywhere, we needed a minder to keep us out of trouble — and to ensure that the right people were instantly contacted if one of us were to collapse. Also… Daizen and Asumi wanted to see the hub, and I couldn't really blame them. Without a sentinel to escort you or special access, that's a part of the GDF that's rarely accessible to non-magic users.

Not that I consider Asumi a non-magic user, but I haven't gotten to talking with her about that yet. She might think that she simply has a magical health condition, but I suspect that it's far more than that. Althia is rarely wrong, and she thinks that the points of power are potent tools worth possessing and using. If Florina is any example, then Asumi might one day grow to be more powerful than I could ever be. Still, that will be a conversation for later when I can get her into one of the training rooms to test her power safely. First, we have an appointment to keep.

Asumi, Daizen, and Lucas follow Celeste and me as we move to the elevators, waving at Ashlyn, the receptionist, as we pass. While the two newcomers to the GDF are gaping around at the lobby with awe, I simply smile up at them. Part of me wishes I could go back to being the naïve girl who was nervous to talk with Ashlyn and Prof. The version of me that didn't need to carry a friend's soul gem around her neck and didn't bear the scars of her many failures.

Yet… Asumi is right that I can't let those emotions consume me. I can't go back to who I once was, and I need to accept that if I'm going to move forward. I… I can survive this. No matter what may come. I will figure out how to save Akari and will use that knowledge to help thousands of other sentinels.

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A soft smile crosses my lips as I press the call button to the elevator. The thought of being able to tell Audrey that I finally figured it out and she can have her best friend back is a nice one. I'll let that be another gust of wind pushing me forward toward success.

"So," Asumi says, sliding up next to me to watch the screen above the elevator. The number currently reads 144 and is ticking down rapidly. "Who is it we're going to meet with?"

"Is it another sentinel?" Daizen chimes in nervously beside his sister, and I can't help but notice how protectively close to her he was standing. I'm just glad Asumi has someone who cares for her that much.

Clearing my throat, I say, "Yes, he's another sentinel — although he's a lot stronger than me. He's my mentor in healing magic, actually. His name is Calan, and no one I know of has healed more sentinels than he has. If anyone has experimented with reviving sentinels in Japan, he either knows them or worked with them. I'm willing to bet that he can help us avoid a lot of the pitfalls we might run into."

Daizen coughs into his hand, "Right… Sis… are you sure we should be getting caught up in all this sentinel business?"

Beside him, Asumi just shrugs. "If Serena is any metric to go by, sentinels are nice. It's the Volcora that we need to be on the lookout for, but where could be safer than the GDF Headquarters itself!?" she responds cheerily.

"I-I guess…" Daizen mutters, and Asumi lightly pinches his ear.

"It's fiiiiine, Dai! Even if we do run into trouble, Serena will look out for us!" Asumi exclaims.

Watching the pair with an amused smile, I nod my acceptance. "Don't worry, Daizen. I know I'm not as strong as I once was, but I will look out for you and your sister while you're here helping me. I promise."

The elevator dings open, and we all step inside. When the doors close, I punch in the code to bring us up to the hub. Once we're on our way up, I turn back to Daizen.

"Besides, as long as we don't run into Nightsong, we should be fine!" I add with just a slight note of tension. It's highly unlikely we'll run into Nightsong, but I can see why Asumi thinks messing with Daizen is fun.

The young man's eyes open so wide I think they might pop out of his head, making me giggle. "N-Nightsong… you mean the one threatening to wipe out several cities' worth of gang members on the news?"

I grin, "Yep! She kind of hates me and my team, but I'm sure it will be fine."

Daizen's eyes flick to the closed elevator doors and back to me. Then, he lets out a heavy sigh. "I don't suppose you could have told me that before we got on the elevator that will bring us into a nest full of the most powerful people in Japan?"

It took quite a bit of gawking around at the hub before I finally managed to drag Daizen and Asumi away from the elevators, and it was only because they were kind of blocking the way that they listened to me in the first place. However, pretty soon, we're on our way to talk with the one who is potentially the busiest man in all of the GDF. Best not to keep him waiting.

As we hurry toward the campus-like center of the hub, I allow my eyes to trace fondly over the now-familiar buildings. Something that was surprising to me when I first entered the hub, but is just standard fare now, is the number of restaurants and small sitting areas here. Despite being the center of activity for sentinel life, the hub was clearly built with de-stressing in mind. With its gardens and friendly little cafés, it's hard to see this place for what it truly is.

After we walk past a pair of giggling teenage girls on our way to the café where Calan should be waiting for us, Daizen turns to glance at me. "You know, I thought this place would be filled to the brim with sentinels, but I can only see a few moving around. There are mostly just high school and college kids here. Do they do classes for future sentinels here or something?"

Smirking, I glance back at the two C Rank sentinels we just passed. "Um… Daizen. Those were sentinels."

Glancing around at the busy street and breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass, I take in the bustling scene around me. "In fact," I continue, getting into the teasing spirit, "almost everyone you see right now is a sentinel."

Daizen frowns, looking around suspiciously, "But… I thought I would be able to see their familiars," he says, all of a sudden sounding a hell of a lot more nervous.

Smiling, I just pet Celeste from her perch on my shoulder. "Not every familiar likes to be seen as much as Celeste does. In fact, many of them don't make their presence known at all. Most sentinels just look like normal people outside of their assault states. Stars, you've probably walked past dozens of sentinels in the skyway in your life without ever realizing it."

"Don't worry, Dai," Asumi cheers, joining in on the fun, "this just makes things more exciting!"

Glancing at Daizen's horrified expression, my face falls just a bit. "How you're reacting right now is the exact reason why most sentinels don't go about showing off what they are. It's nice to be able to have conversations with people without having to do the whole 'I'm a sentinel, yes really,' thing."

"Sorry," Daizen murmurs, "it's just… Asumi looks more like a sentinel than a lot of these people. But… I think I'll just let you all do the talking and stay out of it. I'm only here in case one of you needs me."

We meet Calan at a small café just off the main hub in the outdoor seating section. Well, I'm not sure if anything can really be considered "outdoor" in the hub, but we're definitely outside the building within the building! Anyway, the poor guy is wearing a ruffled pair of jeans and a blank blue t-shirt. His hair is completely mussed, and he has prominent dark circles under his pale blue eyes. Honestly, I didn't even know that a sentinel could look so disheveled with our natural good looks, but Calan somehow managed to pull it off.

As we approach, Calan offers me a genuine smile and gestures to the open seats. "Ah, look… a friend who isn't dead. That's nice."

My eyebrows raise with concern as I sit, leaning over the table to take the older sentinel's hand. "Calan… are you doing okay? We can meet another day if you want to go take a nap first."

Running a hand through his hair, Calan shakes his head. "No… I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. We…" Tears appeared in the corners of his blue eyes. "We lost Kaipo yesterday. Nightsong forced him into helping against the Volcora push, and… now he's just… gone. Even she's realized that I can't go out into the field anymore with how many deaths are happening right now. We need a blue sentinel running things here."

Silently, I close my eyes and allow myself to remember. Memories of the large islander with a heart of gold flash before me, and even more determination settles in my heart. This… this is just one more soul to revive. Akari, Jessie, Kaipo… and who knows how many others. It's for them that we need to solve this problem.

Bowing my head, I open my eyes once more. "I'm so sorry, Cal… I know you two were close."

Calan shrugs, his eyes dead. "It's just one more… I've lost far too many friends. Honestly, Serena, a part of me is thankful that you're too injured to take part in the fighting. Although… you do seem better. Are those tattoos stabilizing you? How does that — no... it doesn't matter. Are you up to helping out here? There are a lot of sentinels who could use your healing."

Letting out a sigh, I shake my head. "Maybe for minor wounds, I could help, but I can't enter my assault state without killing myself. I… was hoping to help in a different way. These are my friends Daizen and Asumi, they're here to help me-"

"It won't work, Serena," Calan says, waving his hand dismissively as his eyes lock on the soul gem resting against my sternum. "We've tried, and tried, and fucking tried. Audrey has exhausted every possibility, and even if she hadn't, hundreds of other blue sentinels have attempted this. I know how hard it is… but you just need to let that dream go. If you want to help, focus on getting yourself all the way better, and then get up here to help me save those who are still alive."

"But… Calan. At least let me try! Maybe I can crack it!" I exclaim, my hands clenching into fists on the table.

Calan stands abruptly, shoving his seat back and looking down at me with a pitying expression. "Serena, I won't help you with what is an elaborate form of self-sabotage. I know how you felt about Akari, but you have to let her go. I can recommend you several good therapists who can help, and I will also help you recover yourself. But I won't walk this road… not again."

"But," I start, my eyes wide. "If you'll just tell me-"

"SHE'S DEAD, SERENA!" Calan roars, blue light flaring in his eyes before he turns away. "The sooner you accept that, the better," he says, looking over his shoulder before he strides from the now silent café.

I sit in stunned silence, looking after Calan's retreating form as conversation starts up on the nearby tables once again. Honestly, it goes to show just how much the sentinels here have gone through that Calan's exclamation isn't even enough to get people to pause for more than a few seconds.

"Weellll," Asumi says from beside me, looking after Calan as well. "He's just a ray of sunshine, isn't he?"

Letting out a slow breath, I close my eyes. "Calan has been through more than most people could imagine, and Kaipo was practically his best friend. He has a right to his emotions."

"We're not giving up, though, right?" Asumi asks, ever cheerful. "We can help him get his friend back, too! He'll see! Your ideas will work!"

"I sure hope you haven't given up," says a dry, familiar voice from behind. "Otherwise, we might be shit out of luck."

My heart freezes in my chest, and I slowly turn around to take in the figure standing behind us. The muscular Japanese woman stands with her arms crossed and a seen-it-all expression on her face.

"Nightsong," I greet softly, nodding my head toward the terrifyingly powerful sentinel. My heart scarcely beats in my chest as she looks down on me with imperious dark eyes. From beside me, I think I can hear Daizen whimpering softly.

"Hello, Miss Solace," Nightsong says, her lips twisting into a tormented grin. "I think we should talk. Do well, and I might even back your little science experiment."

I narrow my eyes, "You want to help me? Forgive me if I don't jump at the chance."

Nightsong shrugs, "You can do what you want, Solace. But just know that everything I've done, I've done in humanity's best interest. Now that your connection with your patron is severed… we might be able to work with one another after all. However, if you want to flounder and fail on your own, be my guest. Just don't come crying to me when Calan's warning comes to pass, and you destroy your friend's soul gem. Self-sabotage indeed."

Gritting my teeth, I stand. Nightsong towers over me, of course, but I feel more confident on my feet. "I suppose there isn't any harm in talking."

Nightsong's smile only grows wider.