Heroes of Silvatica City

Caoimhe didn't expect Leroy's departure to be such a gut wrenching one, but he was making her well up even more. "It's okay, Leroy," she murmured, kissing his forehead and then pressing hers against his. "You're a good boy, Leroy... I hope you're not gonna be in pain anymore." Funny, Leroy caused her a lot of issues but she was going to miss him as well.

"It's not your fault either," Squishy replied. "We will face Hailey and all that that implies soon, but for now, you must rest and recover... Seeing you like this... You don't know what it does to me." Its smooth face crumbled slightly and it rested its head on Ica's shoulder. "Whoever it is ain't gettin' back in here," Aaliyah said to Ire. "We can protect this place, and the kids." Honey swooned again. Aaliyah was glowing with radiant, mama-bear goodness.

Caoimhe smiled wistfully at Leroy until he started transforming, when she gingerly got out of bed and groaned in pain. Then Huxley was in front of her. "Don't say anything, then," she murmured, holding out her arms to him.

"I love you too," Squishy whispered. It sounded sad. "Please... Forgive me. For letting you get hurt." "I'm on it," Honey told Ire smartly, and she was already on the phone calling a team to search the subways. Meanwhile, Tenpo had woken up at home and was fretting about Zeke. She didn't want to be the super clingy type, especially after last night, but she was starting to worry.

Caoimhe winced, but giggled. "You know what... I wouldn't mind that, sometimes. Asshole," she added. Huxley was the only person she'd ever insulted on the regular.

"I'll be right here," Squishy said to its now sleeping partner. And it was, the whole time, barely evening blinking as it watched over her protectively. From Tenpo's immediate response, it was clear she was waiting by the phone. "Great I'm making brunch, hurry home "

"Heh," Caoimhe smirked. "But it was the first..." She tiptoed up and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye Hux." She would be happy to see Milo one more time, it had felt so brief for her favourite other Will.

"Tenpo, honey, calm down," Aaliyah said soothingly, but hearing Tenpo having a freak-out after last night was upsetting. "He's probably just gone to the supermarket to pick ya up some flowers or somethin'. Right? Hey, c'mon, he might just be walkin' slow. I'm sure he's nearby." She clicked her fingers at Daniel to get his attention and pointed out the door. He needed to find Zeke, now!

Caoimhe's face was stained with tears now as she sat down on the floor and held Milo. "Good to see ya again so soon, my Lolo," she murmured and cooed. "There, there, it's okay baby. It's like ya said. Me 'n Will're gonna have babies, 'n it's gonna be you bein' reborn. We'll get to meet 'n fall in love with each other all over again, 'n I'll get to hold ya when you're even tinier. Right?" She liked the idea she was spinning, but didn't know if it was true at all.

It wasn't late at all, Honey still had hours left on her shift, and anyway she was part of this mission and wouldn't leave until this was done. "Tenpo, darlin', come to the school okay?" Aaliyah was still saying. "We're gonna find Zeke but why don't ya come on down to the school first? W-we're gonna send ya a car," she added, when Honey overheard her conversation and gestured to her phone that was calling an armoured convoy. Tenpo accepted, and within 30 minutes she was at the school with them, looking distraught and only just dressed.

Caoimhe nodded. "Okay. I promise to make it not hurt... I love you," she said to him one last time, kissing his forehead. Whether or not her hypothetical future baby would actually be Milo or not, she would treat them just the same as she'd treated Milo and give it all the love in the world. She kept her arms around Milo as she started to gently pull on his aura, and Huxley's, and Leroy's. It was a lot to take in, so it was slow, but for Milo and the others it would feel like drifting off into sleep. She was straining too much to talk to Milo and tell him how brave he was, but she was caressing his back all the while.

Tenpo was distraught. "Baby girl, c-calm down," Aaliyah told her, hugging her close but wincing at the same time. Tenpo was hyperventilating and her collar was starting to run out of charge. It was getting too loud in here. Oh god, poor Zeke. He had been dragged back into this, and was now likely being tortured like Ica had been. Honey felt partly responsible for Zeke's involvement, so she wanted to make one part of it right. "I'm going to go to the hospital," she said quietly to Ire. "Ica's recovering, but maybe she knows a bit more about this Hailey. I'll report back with the intel if you like this idea, ma'am?"

Caoimhe sat back against the bed, wincing from all her bruises and the new one forming from where O had pushed her. "I'm... Sorry I didn't get to know ya properly," she grunted. "Thing is... You really suck." The whole room lit up with warm, green light and O began to weaken more. It was Caoimhe's aura, and it was as strong as it had ever been.

Tenpo was doing breathing techniques to calm down, all while Aaliyah stroked the back of her head and shushed her. It was working, mostly. Tenpo involuntarily put her hands on Aaliyah's bump and just stared at it for a little while. There was something so calming about a growing bump with a little one inside. Aaliyah let her touch the bump as much as she wanted. "Good girl... Now ya ready to go out there 'n get your boo back," she told her. Tenpo's lip was wobbling yet she nodded. Honey nodded to Ire and clicked her heels together before marching off to the hospital. She hoped Ica was awake at this time.

What horrific manipulation. Caoimhe looked like she was about to cry but held it in. "Y'already did that," she said. "Look at ma face because of it." She wasn't going to kill her anyway. Will would always have a small, quiet part of him that enjoyed violence and was generally an asshole, but hopefully the other sides of him would drown that out.

Morella had arrived and was fixing Tenpo's collar. She now had a grim look in her eyes as she imagined what would be coming next. And Squishy was not naive to Ica's stoicism, which was why it was trying to feed her. Neither of them noticed Honey at the door.

Caoimhe's eyes had gone steely again as she silenced O, hopefully for good. Whatever came next, she would deal with it, whether that was by Will's side or not.

"Thanks," Tenpo murmured, rubbing her neck slightly. She was ready to go out and find Zeke, but she and Aaliyah had kind of been left at the school. Honey clicked her heels together and walked into the room. "Hello, I'm Harper from SHADE," she introduced herself. "I need to ask a few questions about Hailey, if I may."

Caoimhe was sat on her knees in front of Will, waiting with trepidation for him to wake up. It felt like so long since she'd seen him, but it had been a couple of hours at most. She smiled weakly at Will. "Another... Ahem, another personality came out," she mumbled, not meeting his gaze. "She was dangerous... The others said to get rid o' her, so we did. They're... All gone now."

Honey came to stand beside Ice and tried to look sympathetic. "It's believed that she has taken Ezekiel, but we don't know where. Do you have any idea where they might be?"

Caoimhe winced the tiniest bit, but then leaned her cheek onto Will's hand. It felt warm and gentle on her beaten up face. "This is all my fault," she told him. "Will... I'm sorry."

Honey waited for Ica to calm herself and give her any sort of answer.

Caoimhe sighed and shook her head. "Will... I told ya." Why was he still twisting this? "It meant nothin'. He gave me a hug to comfort me, which I didn't ask for, 'n I looked up 'n he kissed me. That was it. Didn't mean nothin', I made him stop right away. He was a friend to me, that was all."

Well, this was a waste of time coming here. "Thank you for the information," Honey said, smiling at the two of them. "I'm sorry to take up your time, I hope you have a speedy recovery." She turned and left, heading back to the mansion.

Caoimhe's eyes started watering. That was Milo alright, her sweet child. "Will... D'ya forgive me? I-I'll never... Not be sorry, 'n not hate myself for what I did."

"We will be," Squishy said, putting its hand on the back of her head and kissing her forehead. "Once you've healed, my love." Honey smiled at the kid. Damn, she was always awful at talking to teenagers. "Ica told me you can find things easily," she said. "If you don't mind... Could you find Zeke? Or Hailey, the one who took you?"