MIAB

21: Falling Inside the Black

"My name is Zeo, you know," The robot said in a monotone, looking bored.

"Whatever." Julia glared at him before turning to the others, "I'm not letting him fight Raul! I should fight Hades and get Raul back!" She stood up on wobbling legs and made her way to the door, "I don't want him to get hurt!"

"Julia, you're too weak to fight!" Mathilda said, Claude helping her get to her feet. Pierce Hedgehog was still on the ground, the blade smoking because of the intensity of the attack. Kai still wondered where the small, timid girl had gotten that intense power, a power that reminded him too much of someone that had died not too long ago.

"I may be weak but I have to save Raul!" Julia announced, leaning on the doors before opening them, "He's my little brother, you know! It's my responsibility to help him when he's in trouble like this."

"Julia," Zeo walked towards her, ignoring the look the Spanish girl shot at him, "you have been possessed for weeks by Hecate. She was draining your power in order to keep the link between the two of you so there is no way you can defeat Hades in this state. Not to mention that you can't possibly form a bond with Thunder Pegasus at this moment, with your soul room in disarray."

Julia's grip on the door handle tightened, obviously angered. Kaori knew that Julia understood what Zeo was saying. Her bond with Arion was in a fritz as well, thanks to the weeks of Nemesis controlling her, and they'd have to take some time to reconnect.

Zeo placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'll get Raul back and send Hades back to his prison. You can count on that."

Julia smiled at Zeo, "Thanks. Don't you dare hurt my brother."

"Got it." Zeo said, raising his hands in the air before taking out his Cerberus blade. He walked through the doors before turning to everyone else and grinned, "Let's go save Raul, everyone."

~~~MIAB~~~

Outside the Forsaken Fallen Headquarters, Chaotic Dimension, 17th Universe (Time Unknown)

"I feel like shit." Zeus muttered as Oliver finished cleaning his wounds. He and Ming-Ming had moved the wounded beast to a clearing away from the castle where they could get water to clean the bloodied holy beast. They had ripped some of their clothes in order to stop the bleeding, as they had been lacking bandages.

While they had been cleaning Zeus's wounds, said holy beast had woken up, saying that Brooklyn said hello. Now, almost ten minutes after he woke up, they were finally done dressing him.

"You don't look like it, at least," Ming-Ming said, sitting down next to Zeus, "I'm worried about everyone. Are they okay?" She sighed. Maybe she shouldn't worry too much about them – they were competent bladers – but she had a sinking feeling that something was going to happen.

"They're fine," Oliver said, trying to reassure the blading pop-star, "Well, I would hope so." He also sat down next to Zeus but he placed a hand over Zeus's head, who gave out a whimper, "Who would have known that holy beasts get fevers too?"

"We're not so different." Zeus muttered, coughing a bit. When had the air gotten so stuffy? It was getting hard to breathe and he didn't know why that was. He seemed to be the only one affected by the new development, as Ming-Ming and Oliver had engaged in a new conversation.

They were outside and far away from the Forsaken Fallen. They couldn't be trying to hurt them from so far away, right? After all, they were too busy trying to fight the others. Wait . . . didn't he control the air?

"I wonder about that, Zeus," Oliver and Ming-Ming both got up, immediately taking out their blades and launchers. Oliver hesitated when he saw who it was and Ming-Ming reacted in a similar manner. The one standing in front of them was none other than Shun.