fire and the thud

Tyberius shook his head irritably, like an animal warding off a fly. He stared down at Dorito, who had finally managed to pull herself together. His own powers rose up to defend their owner, and a dark mist seeped through the earth, solidifying and clinging to the legs of his small targets. His pale blue eyes sharpened, focused completely as he felt Dorito's power encompass his mind. His own power would take hold on her mind, and she would be able to see her stupid sister die. Tyberius hissed, satisfaction rolling through him even despite the pain Dorito threw onto him. His fist curled up, trying to focus on his revenge.

He had lost track of Levi by now, the faintest idea coming to him that he should have probably made sure the other boy was safe before engaging the little creatures. A single, small dark feather tumbled gracefully out of his shirt, followed by a light snow of down. The instinct to retreat was strong, growing stronger in the face of the damage his psyche was taking. His own stubbornness refused that desire, and he held on, pushing his powers to take effect faster.

Dorito stared hard at Ty, trying to burn a hole through him with her scowl. She was taken unawares by the curling mist running up her legs. She tore her eyes away from him long enough to see... Cheeto! There were bugs! Bugs were on her, maggots and cockroaches and flies! Her skin a sickly palor and her eyes sunken and dry. Her veins were pitch black and on the surface, her skin was peeling, sloughing off in some areas as she opened her mouth, black muck running form between her teeth and indeed slowly dripping from every orifice on her face. The once green hair withered to a dead brown and hung in feeble strands as flesh gave way to wet, putrid bones. Dorito let out an ear-piercing scream, tears once more flowing as she dropped to her knees, crawling with arms outstretched and clawing at the air through the mist. How?! HOW!? Not her. Not Cheeto. Not like this! How could this even be happening!? She could still feel their shared thoughts, she could still sense her sister! She was terrified! She was dying! There was nothing Dorito could do to save her!

Cheeto stared, her vision was hazy and she thought for a second she saw a glimpse of something under the fire that was consuming Dorito. Clothes fell off and flesh vanished, fat bubbling and running off as bones blackened and chips, eyes popping and empty sockets flickering like a jack-o-lantern. However she could feel the connection, the terror, there was a haze about her... She could... She could save her sister. What she thought was just a jerk, a bully, was actively murdering her sister before her eyes with fire. It had to be done, she needed to.

"You.... YOU...."

She turned from her sister, she could still save her. Cheeto couldn't hold back and cried openly as that light that had haloed her before, the pale strands and the faint aura, became a sparking, writhing force, a palpable thing that moved and coiled like the heads of a hydra.

"Cheeto... please come back... please Cheeto don't die..."

"You're killing my sister, you FREAK! YOU MONSTER! YOU BASTARD SCUM!"

The small form was lifted from the ground by the light, from her arms extended her own powers. Constructed from what seemed to be solid light were two huge wings coming from her arms, though not with feathers but with great serrated blades, two wing-fans of knives as the girl threw her arms from her sides to out in front of her to wide like a raptor taking off. She had to kill this man or he'd kill her- Kill Dorito! To know that she'd be alone, to walk without her sister, she would be worse than dead. Tyberius had to die and she would rip him to pieces then and there!

The hallucinations were beginning to take hold on those nasty sisters, and they got to see the pleasure of watching each other die. Ty lifted his head in victory, his head turning in surprise upon hearing Levi. He was apparently engaged in his own battle, attacking one of the sisters like some odd little dog. Despite himself, Tyberius managed a smile, a faint streak of affection numbing his wariness for the current situation. He was a little shit, but Levi wasn't all that bad after all.

Shuddering with the effort, Tyberius managed to increase the effect on his power, ignoring the knowledge that he was going to have an awesome headache after this was all over. At least he could always guilt Levi into taking care of him. All this was his idea, after all. Who seemed to be the more submissive sister was moving now, throwing insults that rolled off him. Really, after all this damage, the best she could do was call him a freak and bastard scum? It wasn't the most original, and Ty couldn't even give her points for a good delivery. 0/10. She was changing now, hoisted up by light and given what looked almost like wings. His roommate was biting her, and Ty was immediately pricked with concern, especially now that she had those-- were those knives? Ty only had a second to pause before he was hit by her attack. He could feel them slice easily through his shirt and into his flesh, burrowing deeper as they ran upwards. In reflex, Ty staggered back, his arms coming up to take some of the damage. Finally, he felt the blades exit his body, and he dropped to the ground with a dull thud, tongue lolling out in his effort to stay sitting up. Thankfully, adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, and the full blast of pain didn't hit him quite yet, but with each breath he took, he could feel more of his blood seep out. His concentration broke almost as soon as the blades began their work, stopping the hallucination in it's tracks.

The blades cut through Ty, and already Cheeto was getting ready for her next attack, already was her light forming new constructs to attack with. However she was knocked out of the air by Levi. How could she maintain her concentration, teeth sinking into her arm as she hit the ground and grappled with the demon. The illusions cast by Tyberius vanished at the same time as Cheeto's light seemed to, giving Dorito time to recover. The veil pulled over her eyes was slowly drawn back as she could see what was actually going on now. Cheeto was no longer decaying before her eyes, the falsehood melting away as Dorito could instead see Tyberius... Bleeding? What was going on?! Cheeto was no the ground with the smaller of the two sinking his teeth into her arm and something had cut Ty up rather fiercely. It took her a few seconds to realize that this had devolved into a proper brawl.

And yet no one seemed to have noticed yet... It WAS rather quiet out, but still...

Once more Dorito's powers came out. Her ability to project mental commands having seemed less than adequate before, she decided to turn on the juice. She sent her powers out towards both of the men that had begun to brawl with them, hoping to save her sister and herself and, hopefully, these two as well.

STOP!

A trickle of blood ran from Dorito's nose as the word replaced every waking and unconscious thought in the minds of Levi, Ty, and even Dorito. The girl didn't even wipe the blood as she crossed her arms and stared at the two boys and her sister. Cheeto had stopped resisting Levi, staring at Dorito in surprise as her sister stared at them. Dorito spoke as she approached Tyberius, her voice was stern and hurting, still burning with anger but it lacked an edge as she moved the reddened fabric of his shirt to look at the wounds.

"Brawling like this... You've gotten hurt, looks bad too."

Dorito turned to the incubus on top of her sister and spoke as though he was used to receiving orders from others, like a doctor addresses a nurse during surgery.

"Come here and help me, we have to bandage this properly. "

She addressed her sister next, same tone of voice.

"Cheets, get some pressure on these wounds to stem the bleeding and quit fooling around with pretty-boy. After we stop the bleeding we'll get some ice cream."

Cheeto still seemed in shock, her expression blank as she lifted her arm, those light constructs of hers reappearing and forming pads that slipped under Tyberius's shirt, pressing on the wounds with enough firmness to stem the bleeding.

"People got hurt, and we could've gotten the authorities called on us, gotten in trouble with the academy, who knows? We're stopping this now before it gets worse."

Tyberius froze, stopped and staring at Dorito with his tongue still out. Feeling something press onto the large hole on his stomach, Ty hissed and squirmed away from the pressure, hurting and not willing to say anything. "Don't you touch me. I'm fine, it's not that bad." He especially didn't want to be helped by them of all people, they who had hurt him and made him show weakness. He wanted Levi, he wanted... What did he want? A loud crack sounded, and he twisted towards the source, his mouth pressing in a firm line as his body reminded him that he was still in bad shape.

He was quick to take advantage of the moment to get to his feet, his legs locking as he tried to stand straight. Breathing shallowly, Tyberius pressed a hand to where his shirt lay in tatters, cemented to his skin by the blood that was already quickly drying under the hot sun. Flies were beginning to congregate around him, and he swatted uselessly at the hoarde. His fingers doused in his own fluids, he pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to steady the swaying, dizzy feeling that came with a loss of too much blood. It left a sticky handprint, and he looked like something out of a murder movie. "Can we ... It hurts, Levi. Why'd you make us come out here?"

Were it not for their shared thoughts, Dorito's quick eyes, and her own quick reaction, Cheeto would be suffering from a major concussion. The blow still shook her head but the flash of light between Levi's head and her's was enough to show that she could get a barrier up between them before impact. Her own concentration was broken enough to dissipate the compress she had applied to Ty's shirt. Dorito's voice was disappointed as much as it was scornful as she addressed Levi.

"My god! Act your age and take care of your boyfriend here! He's bleeding and you're trying to bully girls half your size?"

Cheeto was a bit dizzy, clearly dazed, but she shook it off and frowned at the two of them. Just as Levi seemed to flare up and show his darker side when Ty was threatened, Cheeto got up and crossed her arms with a scowl at Levi.

"You don't get any pretzels, you butt."

"Cheeto!"

The two girls shared a few glances, Cheeto's pleading and Dorito's firm. An entire conversation played out between them in a few seconds of those shared glances and indeed their shared thoughts. Cheeto turned begrudgingly to Tyberius, rubbing her arm and looking away but another glower from Dorito got Cheeto to turn her face up to his and give him a proper, repentant look.

"I'm sorry I cut you like that. That is, if you're sorry you called me and sis demons and did... whatever it is you just did to us."

Dorito looked between Levi and Tyberius with a slowly growing smirk, her own hands on her hips as she tried to diffuse this situation. The fighting had stopped but the boys were still quite hostile. She'd be ready to turn the other cheek in this situation if they were willing to drop the aggression. Why shouldn't she be peacemaker, a bit more straining on her end and she could have these two making out like they so desperately wanted to be. It was at this moment Dorito did, in fact, notice her nose was bleeding somewhat steadily, she tried to ignore it as she spoke.

"C'mon then. I don't think you two fully noticed it but Cheets and me were originally just trying to be friendly. We'll pay for some more pretzels for you two and we can put this whole 'violent horrible conflict' thing between us, okay? Hey, we'll even help with your wounds! I know a place where we can get you a great new shirt and Cheeto's great at first aid!"

Both Dorito and Tyberius were bleeding, and Cheeto had a large bump forming on her head. Levi seemed beside himself with rage and Cheeto had let out a flash of something even Cheeto had never expected her of, today had been horrible but at least it was... interesting.