Yuurei was happy to get rid of the giants that had invaded Rush Valley. Still, the job wasn’t over with because the real one would start. They had to tend to do those who needed their wounds taken care of. There were those who needed help with rebuilding their homes, finding those who were missing, and the town would need to be clean from the mess that was created. There was a lot to do here, which meant that he couldn’t go back to the guild.

The Nephilim would get to an area where his scouts would gather around. They were on ground level, and Yuurei was on a rooftop. He would vocalize well enough that they would be able to hear him without a problem.

“I am glad we were able to go through this! We took care of these giants, and even though I don’t know where they came from, I’m glad that we were all here to protect the people in Rush Valley! Still, we lost a lot of people during it all, and I know we want to mourn them, but we will have time to do that later! As of right now, I need you all to be strong and help the people in Rush Valley. I will be doing the same thing! We need to clear out the debris that was left from the aftermath, find missing people, feed those who are hungry, and possibly start the construction of homes! So go forth and do this for Paradise Dawn and the people of Rush Valley!” He shouted this to all his men, and they would scream and would all split up in different groups to help out.

Yuurei would look over to Haru as he had smiled at her as he wanted to tell her that she did a good job herself.

“Haru! I’m glad you were here. You did a good job with taking out some of the giants, and on top of that you were quick on your feet to follow orders, and express your ideas, and that is good on the battlefield. I’m proud of that and as of right now we should try and find people who might be stuck in the debris.” He said to her as he wondered what she would say to him.

386

Haru had mixed feelings over everything that had occurred. On the one hand, they had swiftly dealt with the threat and minimised the damages caused. On the other, they had lost numerous people, both scouts and citizens alike amidst the chaos that had raged throughout Rush Valley. Let alone all the other horrible things the other guild members had dealt with simultaneously with them.

While they had definitely saved a lot of the town from the calamity, many buildings, both homes and businesses alike had been utterly crushed by the monstrous giants. The worst part of all? They had no idea where they had come from, why they had come, and if that had truly been the last they'd see of them. There were far too many unknowns to properly celebrate.

The memories of seeing people crushed and munched by the giants would no doubt haunt Haru for the rest of her life. Just another traumatic event to throw onto her ever-growing pile of horrible experiences, she supposed. Her ears twitched as she listened to the light mage's speech to his underlings. He was definitely far better at this leadership thing than she was as he easily rallied his troops and set them to work throughout the township of Rush Valley.

"Alright." The neko nodded, no smile in return. How could he so easily act so confident in the wake of what had happened, "I'll start in the south I suppose, then work up from there." The feline added, planning to check a few places that held a lot of interest to her personally that lay in the south. Her benefactor for the mines had a fancy house in that district and her favourite little food store wasn't far from there either. The ranger knew she shouldn't show such selfish reasoning in her work as a Paradise Dawn member. However, that sort of thing had never stopped her from doing whatever she wished in the past.

The demi-human wasn't sure whether or not Yuurei would be accompanying her, so she waited to see his response first before heading off to the south side of town.

(355)

Yuurei would hear the tone of her voice and he would rub the back of his head. He understood that he sounded like it didn’t bother him, but it did. Still, he had to be stern and tough for everyone. If he didn’t then they would all feel it and it would affect their morale.

“Alright I will come with you then. With everybody working as a team, we don’t have to split up.” He said to her as he was glad that she at least spoke to him.

Yuurei would start moving towards the South of the town. He made sure that he moved at the same speed that he knew she would be able to move in. While he moved around he saw more of the aftermath, and it would cause him to shake his head. He was not happy with what happened. He felt like he could have done better. If only he had thought about bringing the giants all together earlier, then all of this could have been avoided.

“Do you think I could have done better in avoiding all the damage that was done here? Do you think I could have saved more people if I had thought of things better?” He asked her these questions, but before she could answer he would continue.

“I feel like I failed, so many people died and I couldn’t stop it.” He said this as anybody who looked at him now could see that he was upset.

Renji would only look at him and he would pat Yuurei on the back of his head. The Exceed knew that this guy was doing the best that he could. He was learning and at the same time, he was growing as a person. Renji could see him doing a lot of good and he would continue to get better as time continued to go by.

315|701

As they ran south, Haru would steal glances towards Yuurei as he spoke, keeping her main attention on avoiding slipping or tripping over any debris. His questions had merit, she supposed, but he seemed to be blaming himself for everything. That part she couldn't understand, he had done so much in the battle to stop them. Without him, she wasn't even sure they'd have been able to put an end to it as quickly as they had. That was if they even managed to stop the giants at all.

"It's not your fault." she stated bluntly, stopping mid-run and waiting for him to do the same so she could speak to him properly, "Nobody saw this attack coming, not until it was too late. No one is to blame for what occurred, you least of all." The feline woman sighed, scratching the back of her head as she glanced over towards a collapsed building beside them. One of the taverns she used to frequent, it reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble. "If you had not been here, we only would have struggled more and things may not have gone in our favour at all." There was no point dwelling on 'what ifs' in her opinion. What was done was done. All they could do now was move on and try to rebuild and restore the town to its former glory.

(232 | 587)

Yuurei would hear her words and noticed that she had stopped running. He would slow down stopping as well as it seemed like she didn’t like what he said. He would hear her words and he would nod because he was thinking properly. His mind was clouded from the people that had died and he would smile at her. He told everyone to wait before they could mourn, but here he was being all down about the situation.

He would clap his hands against his face as he would look at her.

“You’re right, it was a group effort, and I’m glad everyone was able to work together to help me with finishing them.” He said to her as he looked down to see the mess that was down below.

“We can start here. We could clear out the debris so others can start planning the foundation before rebuilding.” He would say to her as he would get down from the rooftop.

Once he was down there, he could see the mess more and he couldn’t believe that this had happened. Still, he knew that he had to start somewhere, and he would go from the top. He would use his strength to lift up the broke structure on top and he would move to an empty spot.

He wanted to pile things up neatly, so someone can move them out of town later. He also did this, so that the people who the tavern could get anything that was salvageable here. Then there was also the fact that someone could be under here and nobody knew. It was why he worked from the top, so nothing collapsed on anybody.

280|981

She'd send him a soft, sad smile in return, it seemed he just needed to be reminded that not everything rested upon his shoulders. Although, she could understand that as a leader of the scouts he may be feeling like the casualties that had occurred guild wise might be his fault, however, what was done was done. They'd fought tooth and nail to the end to the best of their abilities and fortunately came out victorious, a better outcome than she'd anticipated when they'd first arrived at the scene.

With a nod she'd leap down to the ground, landing gracefully as she eyed up the rubble, picking up and moving away what she could without making things worse. They really needed some sort of vehicle to cart away all the mess outside of the township itself. The best they could do themselves right now was stack the rubble away from the buildings and onto the street to be picked up and moved.

With each stone or plank that the demi-human removed, a small wave of anxiety filled her. What would she find beneath? So far it had been simply more rubble, but she never knew when that would change. Piece by piece they cleaned up the tavern, and fortunately it didn't appear that there was anyone trapped or dead inside its walls, but this was just one of many buildings in town. She doubted they'd always be so fortunate.

This also begged the question, what happened to the people that may have been in the building before the attack? Had they managed to escape or had a fate worse than being crushed to death been bestowed upon them? The memories of seeing people torn limb from limb and crunched inside the giant creatures' mouths sent a shiver up her spine. It was not something she wished to ever recall, yet she couldn't get the screams of those being tortured out of her mind, the flashes of images of the devastation and chaos forever flickering through her head.

She felt her heart racing as she squatted down, ears flicked back as she clutched at her head with both hands, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to forget, only to focus on the events even stronger than before. The visions never faded, instead only growing all the clearer as unwanted adrenaline surged through her.

(393 | 980)

Yuurei would continue moving the rubble from where it all was and onto the street neatly. They had to move fast, or at least at a quick pace. They didn’t want to stay in this area for too long. While he was moving things from the top and onto the side, he would see that there was a lot of mess here. Still, he was glad that was what he saw, and not dead bodies or people buried here in general. This was good because it would seem like whoever was here had gotten away before they attacked. He kept moving things as he made sure that everything had been clear. While he was doing that, he would look over at Haru to see how she was doing.

It would seem like she wasn’t doing well, and he would finish up while the girl seemed to have been going through something. When everything was done, and he was ready to move from this place he would make his way toward the woman. He remembered not to touch her even if he wanted to. He didn’t want to trigger her in any way, so he figured that his words would be good enough. He made his way in front of her as he would crouch down. He would look into her face as he could see that she was going through something.

“Are you okay Haru? You know you can talk to me about anything right? Is it what happened today? Do you need me to hug you?” He asked in a soft voice, so he didn’t startle her.

Yuurei understood what she felt, as he had also never seen a lot of people die before like today. It was crazy, and if it wasn’t because he himself had not faced death he would be the same way. Well, maybe not because he would have tried to act tough, but on his own, he might have had a breakdown. Still, he waited for her to do something before they would move on.

341|1322

Haru's ears pricked up with his voice, snapping her out of her thoughts long enough to collect herself. She was thankful he hadn't touched her, if he had she probably would have snapped at him in a daze. Picking herself up she'd stare at the ground by her feet for a few moments, unsure how to talk about it.

"Ah, um...It's fine,  I'm alright." She forced a smile up at him for a moment, clearly not 'alright'. Despite thinking she was good at hiding her feelings she truly wasn't when she was this emotional, "Sh-should we head over there?" She stuttered nervously pointing at the next closest building that needed to be cleared out and checked. This one looked more like a home from what remained than a business. There was a much higher chance they might find people that had been hiding inside before it collapsed.

At least the working sort of distracted her from dwelling on the battle and the terrible thoughts. Talking about it was not something she felt comfortable doing. She despised the idea of feeling vulnerable in front of anyone, even those she was close to. As she approached the broken home she'd scan the area, trying to determine where best to start pulling pieces off, choosing a plank that looked to be sitting on top of everything else. As she did her heart dropped as she spied a small limb within the rubble beneath.

"Yuurei help over here, I can't tell if they're alive or not." Haru called, holding the plank up so the light mage could clear out around the child that lay below. She stared at the little arm, it wasn't moving but that didn't mean the worst had occurred, they wouldn't know for certain until they dug them out.

(298 | 1278)

Yuurei could tell from the tone of her voice, and from her reaction that she was not fine. Still, he was not going to push into the subject unless she wanted to talk to him. He would stand up tall as it seemed like she wasn’t going to open up to him like that. He watched her walk over to the next place that collapsed. He would find his way over there as well, and while he was looking on where to start, she would call out to him.

He would walk over to her, and it would seem like she would find someone. He would start moving the things around and above where the arm was. He was doing his best to be careful as he knew that if he had done things incorrectly it would have collapsed. The Nephilim’s heart rushed because he didn’t want this kid to be dead. It would have broken his heart if that was the case. He continued to move things out and onto the street. Yes, he was moving them where they needed to go, but he was rushing back and forth.

Yuurei would continue to do this as he was picking up a sweat, but nothing was more important than this kid’s life right now. The light mage would clear up the rubble around and he would see that the child was lying there unconscious. He would over to his chest to see if his heart was beating, and he would sigh with relief when he heard it. It wasn’t just that, but he could feel the breathing coming from him as well. It wouldn’t take long, but he noticed the child wasn’t alone.

“Shit it seems like there are more stuck.” He said this as he would creating his magic circle.

This would bring out the stars that would allow him to move faster. He would get things going and he would start moving a bunch of shit out of the way quickly. It would be an older woman around their age, and it seemed like she was protecting the kid from all of this. They were both breathing, which was a good thing, and they needed to get medical attention.

“You carry the child, I will carry his mother or sister. I’m not sure which she is.” he said as he would wait for Haru before they would go look for the people in his squad that were taking care of the injured.

414|1736

The light mage worked quickly moving the rubble away from the child's form, eventually freeing them from the debris. Upon checking for a heartbeat, the demi-human noticed the visible relief on his face, the child was alive, although not quite out of danger, he would, of course, require immediate medical attention. She was about to scoop him up and take him to aid when Yuurei called out about more people beneath. Most likely the child's family members.

Acting fast alongside the light mage the feline woman would help move the debris from the other body as well, revealing an older woman, most likely the mother of the child. She too was breathing thankfully, but both were unconscious. With a nod in agreement, Haru would carefully cradle the child in her arms, taking him quickly but gingerly as she strode towards where the local doctors and healers from the guild had set up to treat the injured.

Handing the two over to them, Haru would sigh in relief upon being told their injuries didn't look too serious past a few broken bones, their organs seemed to be functioning just fine. With some time and patience, both the older woman and child would probably be fine and make it. However, the ranger knew not everyone would be so lucky. As she gazed around the small camp she noticed there were already many injured people undertaking treatment, some with far more serious issues than others.

The cries of a child sobbing gained her attention as she noticed they were gripping onto the clothing of a masculine figure that lay lifeless. Yes. Many people would be losing their family and friends today. She highly doubted anyone would be left completely unaffected by the traumatic events. It was going to take a long time until the town of Rush Valley was back in working order.

(310 | 1588)

Yuurei would be with Haru as they had brought the child and possibly his mother to the area where they were taking care of the injured. One of the scouts would take them to a bed, and after examining them would tell the captain and Haru the results. He was glad to hear that they would be fine, and he would look over at Haru as she was looking around.

This was something he knew would happen, and he was glad that everyone was working fast to gather all the injured. He would walk over to Haru as he would basically reassure her of what was happening.

He could see that after this was over, they would need a nice vacation to relax from everything that had happened.

“It seems like the people who came with us to Rush Valley are making sure that everybody is being taken care of. I know it won’t be perfect, but at least they will save a lot of lives today.” He said this to her as he was wondering what they could do to help.

Yuurei would know this, but one of the scouts would be making their way toward Yuurei. They had important news to tell him and Haru.

207|1943

Haru rubbed the back of her neck, giving it a small massage as she prepared herself mentally to return back to cleaning up the town. As far as she could tell it was going to be a long day for everyone involved. Once they had managed to help all the survivors and cleaned up the town, there was the issue of actually rebuilding as well. That in itself wouldn't be an easy task, likely it wouldn't be completely done for several weeks to come.

She closed her eyes as she folded her arms, thinking about how long it would be until she could return back to her normal duties and quests. No doubt at least a month minimum for sure, possibly longer. There was also the matter that she hadn't checked to see if her mining contractor was even still alive.

Her mind wandered to thoughts of the elderly Joyan woman that ran the local ramen store, she had been planning to take Yuurei there since discovering it not long ago. With a sigh she'd open her eyes to see one of the light mage's scouts reporting something to him, her ears perking up as she listened intently, in case it was important information she should be aware of as well.

(211 | 1799)

Yuurei would soon see the arrival of one of the members of his division. The man looked serious and anxious. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he was going to find out right now. He would approach Yuurei and he would bow slightly. After that, he figured he would tell Yuurei what he needed to know.

“Yuurei, we need you to go back to Paradise Dawn. It seems like something bad is happening, and the Guild Master wants everyone to come back. Of course, we will leave some people here to tend to the wounded.” He said to Yuurei.

“I understand. We will leave one-fourth of our men here. A lot of us seem to have done what was needed to do for the town. We will have the ones left behind to continue to do everything they can to clear out all the mess in Rush Valley.” He said this to the man as he would go gather the men.

Yuurei would walk over to Haru as he had sigh because he figured this was going to be bad.

“It seems like Khalfani wants us back at the guild. My guess is there are more giants somewhere else.” He assumed that would be the only reason for that look on that scout’s face.

Once she was ready Yuurei would make haste to their guildhall.

225|2168/2000

[exit]

From the distance she was standing, Haru only picked up a few keywords and it wasn't until the light mage returned to her side that her suspicions were confirmed. The fight was far from over. If not more giants than something else. It was beginning to dawn on the feline just how needed Paradise Dawn truly had been needed in the north. Even if the rune knights were sent out here, the time it would take them to travel from the capital to elsewhere in Fiore would mean far more casualties.

With a heavy sigh, Haru would prepare to follow Yuurei, no doubt she would be required to return as well given as she was head of the rangers, whom she had sort of left to their own devices during the whole ordeal originally. Calling aside one of the scouts that were to remain behind, the Neko would request that upon seeing any of her rangers, they deliver the message that they too should head to the guild base alongside Yuurei's scouts. Their skills did not lie with aiding those here, but fighting whatever monsters were awaiting them now. Confident that her team would meet her there she'd rush off alongside the light mage.

[EXIT]
(204 | 2003)