[ ! ] A grain in the sands of time [Complete]

[Era]

((OOC: At this point I am sure all who had anything they would have wanted to post have done so, and therefore I’m wrapping this up.))

A lupine howl of pain split through the streets as the beast's chest was pierced. A low rumble rolled steadily in anger. Determination lit those golden nightmare eyes as the slender werebeast stumbled backward a few steps, Glimmering Lighting still plunged into her chest. Even as her strength was fading she refused to let go of the hold she had. There was a mocking grin coiling the edges of the beast's razor maw while she fought for the hold she once had.

Jets of black swirled to the ground from the beast like a heavy fog waterfalling down and low to the ground. The corruption around the girl's heart festered, digging with a pointed, grasping coil as the symbiotic apparition tried to hold tight to what was left.

The world of dark twilight was washed in light as everything became white. Even in the blinding brightness the shadow could be seen in contrast. It was being forced to recede. The image of the beast was tearing out of the girl in streaks as the power of the Light overcame it. It looked as if it were being ripped away from the core it held to at high speed. The last of it would still fight jealously to cling to Era's chest, but it faded away only moments before the blast of light dwindled.

The atmosphere normalized and in the beast's place, only the female from the ice remained. For a fraction of a second she hung in the air and two lights, one golden and the other blue, pulsed out from her heart. Tiny lights lit the tips of the light trails flickering like a pair of white flares. The beams were quick to ascend. They spiraled around each other into the air, and then sprang in opposite directions like a pair of shooting stars across Twilight Town's sky.

Gravity took effect Era dropped a few feet onto the solid ground below. She caught herself with relative ease. This wasn't the first battle she'd been in, and under normal circumstances she could adequately land without repercussion. Yet, as soon as she'd landed, a sharp pain shot through one leg. She shifted her weight to her good leg, stumbling a bit in her fatigue before managing to balance her weight.

The small girl had been breathing heavily, her posture crumpled in soreness and enervation. It was quite hard to communicate beyond planes, and to still the beast from doing any further damage to any of these people. Beneath a mess of forward-swept orange hair exhaustion was evident on her features and one hand clung to the opposite shoulder. Her body ached with pain - it wasn't anything she desired pity about, simply a fact. Era understood that the the damage and the fatigue she'd undergone were just a part of life -- the cost of the battle she'd just survived. And the only reason she'd survived due to the good will of those here, who chose to battle a manifestation of her own darkness, and moreover, on her behalf. In that understanding there was a bit of shame. Far above that, gratitude. The right thing to do would be to accept her wounds quietly, as a part of the price of her freedom.

Had she the time and energy, she would have thanked each of her opponents personally, and with as much in the way of gifts of gratitude as she could manage to afford or give up. This would not be the time for that, however. At the moment she was simply doing well to stand.

Frost blue eyes drifted under heavy lids up to the ginger who had so brashly pierced into the heart of the Chaos. Jin was the closest in her vicinity. That drained gaze then flicked to everyone else who'd been scattered across the battlefield. So many had come to help break her from her prison. In her heart she felt the weight of a debt she owed to each of them.

"Thank you." It was a resolute statement meant for everyone, but it had been muffled beneath the weight of a physical, mental and emotional battle that had left her body little more than a beaten rag doll. Her muscles quaked and she stumbled forward onto the pavement, unconscious.

((I know my character's a little brash. I'm not asking anyone to stick around any longer than this if they do not wish to.))

[Jin]

As the burst of light banished the beast back to where it came, Jin sighed. His long-shot idea had worked, but definitely not without a cost to himself.

This sort of thing would happen any time he tried to shift the nature of his lightning with Materia, he figured. His body couldn't really hold up to the strain of carrying around power that wasn't inherent to it, and that included energy of an alignment foreign to his. Lightning may be all well and good, but oftentimes it would be more convenient or practical to tote around earth or wind. That had been what he'd thought when he first tested the small, synthesized trinket out.

But if the harsh cracks running from his fingertips up to his forearm had anything to say about it, the conversion almost had as much of a cost as it did a benefit.

He wasn't bleeding. That much was certain. However, the way his skin had given way to the glowing white energy underneath didn't look normal. Or painless.

And that was probably because it wasn't.

Jin's undamaged arm found its way to the tricep of its throbbing counterpart, and he clutched down on it as if to distract himself from the old pain with a new one. His breaths were seething, his eyes were unfocused, and he was having a hard time standing up straight. Now that the fight was over, it wasn't like adrenaline would keep him on his feet. He had to rely on his own willpower now.

The girl landed and Glimmering Lightning clattered to the ground. Jin fell to his knees - an action much easier than crouching or bending over at this point - and reached for the weapon before returning it to its sheath.

The white glow deepened, slowly fading to a neon blue and finally the navy that Jin's unrestricted power usually took on before the skin finally started to close back up.

"Don't...mention it," he heaved to the girl's thanks.

It was another few seconds before he could pick himself up again, his strength returning as he caught his breath and the injury from using the Materia faded away. He propped one leg up, then pulled himself from the ground and took one final, deep breath before his exhaustion left him. After all, there was still the matter of the girl on the ground and tending to the others.

"I don't exactly have a place she can take shelter while she recovers," he started, looking around at the other three. "Do any of you have some free space to keep her?"

He hoisted Era up in his arms, one hand against her back and the other hooking under her knees. She was surprisingly light, though that wasn't exactly a good sign. Malnourishment could finish off the fighter who survived a battle.

But at least the worst of it had seemed to pass.