"Even men made of iron, as cold as stone, as immovable as the mountains and as unbreakable as the sky itself. Have a breaking point." Astral scoffed as he created portals for himself and hopped through each and every one. Each one of them felt different as he walked through. This trip. His soul and brightness, what was to be its purpose? "Even shimmering stars become dim." He made it to the last spot as he looked around the space station. Finding a hotel he walked in and booked himself a room where he began to rest and let his thoughts dwell.
Tina looked around on the platform as she felt the fabric of it shaking apart. 'Astral, I thought you would design your magic with more integrity than me!' She stabbed her staff directly into the platform as she bonded with it. The power of the platform almost outpaced her magic reserves as she fell to her knees holding the platform together. "I won't let us fall!" Angel swiveled her head and faced her as James and Sanguine ran next to her. The platform shrunk from its sky covering size to only a few feet as Sugar had nowhere to stand. Lilac turned into a lark as she rested on Tina's shoulders.
"ANGEL SAVE HER!" James yelled out as his hand extended for Sugar. With a thundering boom Angel soared past the platform as she scooped Sugar up in her arms. James took a short breath of relief as they drifted downwards. The weight wasn't an issue as much as Tina slowly losing grip on her magic. James held her up with his arm. "We are in this together now. Easy does it." Tina brought the stage to the ground as it dissolved right before they landed on the castle's outer walls. "We need to regroup for a moment." He scooped Tina into his arms as Angel landed next to him with Sugar in hers.
"Wanna trade?" Angel looked over as she giggled a little bit.
"Nah, we should just get to the dining hall and figure out a plan before we go through with it. Astral is running from us, but to a different goal." James smiled as he trotted along the wall. Sanguine stood silent behind them as she felt conflicted now.
"James, who do you trust more between Sora and Astral?" Sanguine asked as the once foggy eyes now were back to their emerald hue. James paused for a moment as he realized this was the time to be open to her.
"There is no choice on who. It always will be Astral, but for the moment. We should follow along with what Sora asks for. I have the odd feeling that he and Astral are linked a little closer than what even they think." James smiled as he started walking again as Lilac landed in the hood of his sweatshirt. "We have no choice anymore if we want to see Astral anymore however. He is doing something we can't. Be the center of his life." The rest of the walk was quiet as the three sets of footsteps were the only noise to the dining hall.
There was food waiting there for them as everyone started to dig in and eat as much food as possible except Angel. Who just twirled her food around her plate with a fork. Astrals voice echoed in her head saying he was incomplete. 'What is making him incomplete. It can't be due to not having us. Its something worse, Jaimie? Maybe.' She stabbed her fork into a cookie as it cracked into several pieces. None sticking to her fork as she paused. Her eyes darted around, she began to start to wonder where Sora was. "James, did you hear what Astral said? How he feels incomplete and not insane?"
James took a massive bite of a turkey leg as he looked up. He devoured his bite and swallowed while he readied himself to speak. "Yeah, I think that's due to there not being Jaimie in his life. He spent trillions of years with her. Losing her has to be very devastating." He paused as he then flashed his mind back to the drop kick of Sora. "Launch angle was flat, speed was variable around the sound barrier. Above but not my much, which means without any help he is approximately eighteen hundred kilometers away."
"Even on foot with Astral's techniques he still is a few days away. Right?" Tina asked as Angel and James nodded at the same time. "We can now talk properly without worry of him." She bit down onto her food as Angel took her first small bite of food. Silence filled the air for a moment.
"Astral isn't incomplete due to not having companions. All I can remember from that day. The last thing. Was my eyes burning with a mass array of lights." Angel started to speak again as James interrupted her.
"But you were knocked out. How did that even happen?" James asked as Angel slid over her plate. He growled lightly as he began to eat from her plate.
"When I was fully knocked out, I was inside of my mind with that small child I beat. Taunting me for my lack of ability to win and beat Titan. Something he claimed he could do. Then all of a sudden he vanished. Just a sky full of colors remained as my eye opened for a mere moment. Something inside made me feel like we won." Angel poked a loaf of bread with her finger. "He lost himself that day. The extent is to be seen. But he can find himself once more. Or should be able to. We can help him. By being safe and out of the way." She tightened her hand into the bread as she paused for a moment.
"We need to take care of ourselves and just be strong for him. Have him worry not about us and our safety. So, we travel with Sora wherever he goes, and stay distanced from him as much as possible. I'm sure he will find it as something he can use as a trick if he needs us." James smiled as he finished the plate.
Tina paused for a moment as she smiled. "Besides. Astral wants us to be close to Sora." She nodded to the two as they all laughed. "We have time to rest. Lets use it well before following in Astral's path." Tina stood up as she walked out of the dining hall to slowly work on repairs of the castle. The twins sat back in the dining hall as they worked on connecting past memories to the present. The other four traveled around aimless as they wandered the castle and the destruction.
Three days passed as James started rounding up people around the capital to begin a small search party to help the aid of Sora and return him to the capital. Tina and Angel sat in chairs as the two of them sipped on some tea as the castle bay doors opened to Sora standing there. The three looked at him as the search party all pointed at him. "Not a word." James muttered quietly as Sora stormed forward to Angel and Tina.
"Why did all of you wait to try and find me?" Sora's tone was that of a disappointed father scolding his kids. "The more time we give to him the more he can use it to get farther away." Angel remained seated as Tina tapped her staff on the ground. Two small birds appeared as they flew off down the castle halls.
"We figured you were going to return at night, based on the velocity you got hit with. Once you didn't come back I rounded up people this morning to begin the search." James stood between Sora and his sister. "Now we can work together and you can explain just a few things. What makes Astral so special to you?"
"He will be the end of the universe if we don't stop him. His powers won't be controlled like the way he thinks they will be. You will see it here shortly and soon enough." Sora saw Lilac, Sugar and Sanguine walk into the main hall. "You group over there. The planet is all yours, I trust you all to take great care of it." Sora waved his hand as a white circle formed in the ground as the rest looked at it in awe.
James froze as Angel clasped his hands. "Is that what I think it is?" She squeaked out quietly only for him to hear. He nodded slowly as Sora smiled faded.
"He moves so fast and so many times. Its nearly impossible to track him. Everyone in, we have a fable to slay." Sora hopped in first as Lilac followed him. Tina shrugged as she walked through. Sugar looked at James with worry in her face as Angel pushed all of them in. It shut behind them as they all looked around the vast empty canvas of white.
Sora opened three more portals as he jogged through them. "C'mon everyone, we aren't gonna be able to keep up with him like this!" Angel and James hopped through them without worries as with each step. Tina, Lilac, Sanguine and Sugar were drained of their energy, each time they passed through the gates of the portal they threw up and became more nauseous. Once Sora opened up a fourth portal he hopped through and turned around.
"Sora, they aren't accustomed to this, we need to move slower, their bodies can't handle it." Angel lifted up Lilac and Sanguine as James cradled Sugar in his arms. Tina created summons that kept her stable and upright. Leaned forward so her projectile vomiting didn't fall onto her.
"But we need to chase him." Sora stood still as James looked up with a fire in his eyes.
"NO WE DON'T, WE NEED TO CARE FOR EACH OTHER, WE ARE ALL WE HAVE, I WILL NOT PUSH US TO KILLING OURSELVES FOR JUST TRYING TO BE FASTER." James screeched with Sugar still in his arms. "I have done it before, pushing myself well beyond what should be done, and when I didn't get results I blamed only myself. Don't fall into the same trap." James stood directly in front of Sora, sitting down in front of him.
"Fine, once they get accustomed to the environment, then we can get moving again, if they can only do short bursts. Well then we may just have to wait after all." Sora frowned as he closed the next portal and waved his hands around. Beds surrounded them as did IV's and a full medical table. "We will help them get stronger, while you two also train to get stronger." James and Angel glanced at each other as their bond now became apparent, it got them this far. They can keep going.