“…Sarah.”
Van furrowed his eyebrows as he saw Sarah floating in the air. Instead of finding his friends as well as Charlotte’s family, they keep finding people that shouldn’t be here in the first place. Just what exactly happened?
“It’s time for you to tell me what’s going on, pruned midget,” even Charlotte was becoming more and more frustrated, “Why is that old fuck’s granddaughter also here? Just what did you mean earlier by the comet being your base?”
“Can we relax first? I swear, you people are talking faster than the ones in my head,” Angela let out a short sigh as she slowly and carefully floated Sarah towards the ground, gently laying her on her back before proceeding to slap her on the face.
“Andre– Ugh!”
Sarah woke up screaming, but before she could even finish her gasps, Angela once again slapped her on the face, “You surprised me, girl!” Angela said as she lightly patted her small chest due to being startled.
“W… what?” Sarah blinked a couple of times as she touched her cheek, looking around the unfamiliar place that she found herself in, “Where… are we, Miss Elton?”
Sarah slowly stood up, continuing to scan the place, “Wait… where is Andrea!?” Sarah then grabbed Angela on the shoulders, her voice and eyes quivering as she did so.
“We were attacked,” Angela calmly said as she pushed Sarah’s hands away, “Whatever it was, it destroyed our beautiful flying base.”
“…Attacked?” Sarah’s lips started quivering. She then turned his head upwards, looking up at the skies, “So we fell? I…”
Sarah held her head as she tried to remember what happened. And after a few seconds, her eyes widened as the scenes of the attack seemed to reflect in his eyes, “…A light? I saw a bright lig–“
“Stop talking between yourselves and tell us what happened.”
Before Sarah could whisper her thoughts, a coughing noise disrupted her words. She quickly looked towards the direction of the voice, only for her to slightly back away.
“M… miss Charlotte!?” Sarah stuttered, “What… what are you doing here?”
“We should be the one asking that question!” Charlotte could not help but click her tongue as her patience was reaching its limit. She still hasn’t found her family even after a few hours, and now there were people that shouldn’t have been here in the first place.
“My grandson-in-law and I were peacefully training and this stupid huge-ass meteor suddenly fell out of fucking nowhere!” Charlotte’s voice started to get louder and louder, garnering the attention of the other people that were also searching for other survivors.
Some were already gathered around them, as they heard the conversation between the group.
“Grandson-in… Evans!?” Sarah furrowed her eyebrows from Charlotte’s words at first, but as soon her eyes strayed towards a small boy behind Charlotte, her breaths paused, “Y… you’re here as well? Wait, why? Weren’t you supposed to be inside the Pit?”
“…I was,” Van said, “You made sure to put me there, after all.”
Van glared straight towards Sarah’s eyes, the tone of his voice making the temperature of the cold night even lower.
“What? What are you–“
“Where is Andrea? What did you do to her?” Van took a step forward, golden trails of lightning flickering from his eyes as he did so, “Did you throw here away as well after you were done playing with her?”
“…Evans?” Sarah could not help but slightly tilt her head from Van’s words, “Why are you saying that?”
Sarah blinked a couple of times as she looked at Van’s face, which clearly showed his aggression, baring his fangs towards her like a rabid dog.
“You told everyone that I killed my father,” Van knotted his eyebrows even further, “You wanted me inside the Pit!”
“Who told you that!?” Sarah raised an eyebrow as she waved her hands, “I would never… Was it Chri–“
“Enough!” Charlotte got in between the two, “Tell us how you got here so we can continue our search already,” Charlotte said as she looked at Angela, who seemed to be the one who knew of what happened.
“We were attacked,” Angela said as she sat on a nearby rock, “We… were already on our way here when a sudden beam of light… erupted right in the center of our floating base. What? What do you mean it was a sphere of light? No, it was a beam.”
“Focus, Angela,” Charlotte tapped Angela’s shoulder as she started talking to herself.
“That was it,” Angela said, “Our floating base fell after that since the boy’s mother was no longer able to control it after the explosion.”
“…The boy’s mother? You mean Van’s mother?” Charlotte squinted her eyes as she slightly glanced towards Van, whose eyes were now wide open from hearing his advisor’s words.
“My… mother?” Van stuttered,
“…Yes,” Angela let out a light breath, “Master Evangeline.”
Van could only turn his head downwards. Just what exactly was happening now? Her mother, who he hasn’t seen since forever, was involved in this somehow?
“So let me get this straight,” Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a long sigh, “You were on your way to rescue our little pumpkin here from a floating base, but you were attacked as you got here? And the boy’s mother is the one controlling the base?”
“Yes,” Angela nodded her head, “She has… incredible powers, maybe even more powerful than you, muscle demon.”
“Ho…” Charlotte raised an eyebrow at Angela’s words, but after a while, she shook her head, “Right. You still have a lot more explaining to do later, but for now, I need to find my family and Van’s friends.”
“Andrea!”
As soon as Charlotte finished her words, Sarah let out a scream, “We need to find Andrea as well!” Sarah’s tone started to panic as the realization got to her. Andrea was buried in the ground somewhere, she needed to find her.
“…Andrea is with you!?” Van’s eyes once again widened, completely waking him up from the thoughts of his long-lost mother, “Why!? You dragged her here!?”
“I–“
“I told you enough!”
The clouds of dust in the air all rippled, flying away as Charlotte’s voice thundered throughout the Deadzone, completely stopping everyone from whatever it was they were doing.
“Our families are still out there!” She roared, “If you want to kill each other, go ahead! But do it after we find everyone, dead or alive!”
Although her tone was filled with strength, the obvious moisture and redness coming out from her eyes failed to mask the agitation she was feeling. She has been glancing towards the field where those who didn’t make it were gathered, trying to look if her daughter-in-law was one of them.
Paris was only human. Charlotte has been trying to keep her hopes up from the start, but realistically… if even some of the Enhancer-types from the Pit died, then there was no way she would have made it.
Hearing the distress in Charlotte’s voice, Angela could only sigh as she stood up from her seat, patting Charlotte’s hand as she walked past her, “We’ll find them, I sense a lot of people are still alive.”
“Van, come with me,” Angela gestured for Van to follow her, “And uh… you, princess, why don’t you help the others once you’re done panicking. I am sure you sense the people too, I am copying your Skills, after all.”
“O… okay,” Sarah let out a long and deep sigh as she looked at Angela. She also looked at Van. Van, however, only glared at him before turning to follow Angela.
With Sarah and Angela’s help, the excavation and rescue of the people that were buried underneath all the ground and rubble were expedited. In just one hour, the number of people now gathered on the ground quadrupled… and the dead even more.
Everyone was looking for their friends and family amongst the pile of the dead that was neatly sprawled on the floor.
Cries, laughters, as well as sighs of relief all mixed in the air, creating a certain grim harmony of death and hope. Some were reunited, but some had to embrace their dead… and some both, united in death.
Van, Charlotte, as well as Sarah, belonged to those who were releasing sighs as they still had not managed to find their friends and family.
“This… is weird,” Angela shook her head a couple of times as she approached Charlotte, “I no longer detect anyone, I already checked a few kilometers… I even saw bodies from the Circle, did you have something to do with that?”
“They visited earlier,” Charlotte said, her tone already weak, “Are you sure that there are no longer any bodies around?”
“This… should be everyone,” Sarah was the one to answer Charlotte, “Most of the people from our side… are all dead. Only the Enhancer-types survived the fall.”
This was weird, Sarah thought. What about the Headmaster? What about Van’s mother? Angel’s brother?
Surely, they would have survived the fall, but none of them could be found. Not to mention even Andrea was missing.
“That decides it then,” Charlotte lightly clapped her hands, her tone a little livelier than it was before, “All of them are inside the Pit.”
Charlotte then cracked her neck and knuckles, stretching her arms as she started breathing rhythmically. “The both of you are sure that this is everyone? No one is buried anymore?”
“Yes,” Angela said as she started stepping away from Charlotte. She then gestured for Sarah and Van to come with her.
“…What’s going on?” Sarah asked. Angela also asked the other people to gather in one place, a distance away from Charlotte.
“She’s going to change the terrain.”
