From the Mountains to the Desert [Open!]

[Ayen]

After the invasion on Moon Valley by the Netherrealm forces a small group of refugees who got out alive finally made it to the Empire of Jherrazad in hush silent with a deep depression hung over them as a result of losing the only home they ever knew. Among them was Tori, her best friend Shinta, his younger sister June and her other friends Nex, Lily and Mary alongside their families and Kara's parents. Many of them were still in shock at it all, not able to believe that their homes were taken from them just like that. And there was nothing that they could have done to stop it.

“This is it,” began Mary, “Armageddon and we've all been left behind!”

“Put a lid on it, will you?” said Lily. “People are scared enough as it is without you adding to it.”

“I used to think there was no God but now I'm not so sure,” said June. “If there's a hell then there must be a heaven. But if that's the case...”

“Then God has abandoned us,” interjected Shinta.

“Haven't I always said that Mary's god is a dick? If it was Allah he would have sent those assholes back to hell,” said Nex.

“You worship the same god, Nex.”

“Say what now?”

“There's no point in dwelling on it,” said Tori. “As long as we all stick together we'll be fine.”

At least that was the lie Tori continued to tell herself. She looked up to the black castle ip ahead as their parents stood at the front gates and requested sanctuary at the castle. Tori could only hope that Ranko's successor proved to be more compassionate than she was.

[Tenjou, Utena]

"June!"
Utena ran towards the group of refugees that made it out of Moon Valley alive and wrapped her arms around June pulling her into a strong hug, happy to see that she had made it out okay with the others. She wanted to kiss her but was afraid to with her family standing right there so instead she pulled away from the hug and brushed her hands through June's hair.
"How are you holding up?"

[Kara]

Out from the tower of the castle descended Kara, landing right in front of the Moon Valley refugees and hugging both her parents while they waited for the gates to be opened. After embracing her parents Kara looked over to a disheartened Tori for what felt like eternity, overjoyed to see the love of her life was still standing Kara embraced her as well, making sure she didn't unintentionally squeeze her during as tears fell from the Goddess' eyes. "I'm sorry, Tori," she whispered. "I couldn't save Moon Valley..."

[Ayen]

June wasn't. She cupped Utena's cheeks with her hands and pulled the pink-haired female towards her in a deep loving kiss not caring who all saw it. Her parents were caught off guard the most by the show of intimacy June showed towards Utena but none were as surprised as Nex whose eyes grew wide and threatened to fall out of their sockets at the display.

“Shinta! Your sister's a lesbian!”

“Shut up, Nex.”

At the end of the kiss June made sure Utena's face would only be a few inches away from her as she looked into her eyes and whispered, “Have you made your decision yet? We may not have much time left.”

Meanwhile Tori's eyes softened while looking into Kara's, the shock of losing her home finally wearing off and being replace with a painful sorrow as she started to cry just as Superwoman held her in her arms. The redhead hugged back and wept on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Tori. I couldn't save Moon Valley..."

“Don't! Don't you dare blame yourself.”

“Where's my hug?”

“Shut up, Nex!”
“Shut up, Nex!”
“Shut up, Nex!”

[Tenjou, Utena]

Utena was just as surprised as the others were as June kissed her, looking back into the brunette's soft brown eyes lovingly but the words to part from June's lips would leave a sour taste in Utena's mouth. Not the words themselves but the allegation that their time on this planet was drawing to a close.
"Don't talk like that we're going to make it through this. I may not know how exactly but we will make it through this, you just need to have faith."

[Chloe/Kat]

Although having a bunch of people occupying the inside of her castle was the last thing she wanted, there was still a part of her that cared about people. A part that came into being and influenced by all the time she spent with Amoura and Argus. The gates came open and the guards began escorting the refugees into the rooms they could use inside the castle. It was just big enough to fit all of them and right now the castle was the safest place for them to be.

[Kara]

Kara did her best to comfort Tori as she shared in her pain. Although she wasn't born there Moon Valley was as every bit a home to her as it was to Tori and losing it like this was extremely painful, but they had to press on. If they defeated the Netherrealm then they could take back Moon Valley. She had already revived both Kari and Aircano from destruction, she could do the same for Moon Valley. The sound of the gates opening caught her attention and she turned to face the opened entrance, smiling. Pleased to see that Chloe was being merciful. "You better get going. We'll talk later, okay?"

[Ayen]

"Don't talk like that we're going to make it through this. I may not know how exactly but we will make it through this, you just need to have faith."

“Let me know what your decision is,” replied June as she removed her hands from Utena's cheeks. “Before it's too late. You owe me that much.”

June walked past Utena and moved with the rest of the crowd at the sound of the gate, staying close by her family side as they headed towards the castle.

“It was nice to see you again,” said Shinta before rejoining with his family.

“You aren't by any chance bisexual, are youl?” asked Nex but he would get no chance to hear her reply as Lily shoved him from behind. “Hey, watch it!”

“Get moving.”

"You better get going. We'll talk later, okay?"

“Be careful. I already lost you once I can't lose you again.”

Tori kissed Kara on the lips and then ran along to catch up to her parents who were now on their way to the entrance of the castle with the rest of the refugees.

[Tenjou, Utena]

Utena remained standing where she was in silence as June headed for the castle with the others, her eyes falling upon Kara who was only a few feet away from her position and then walked over to her with determination in her eyes.
"Kara, you and I need to talk."
The former Champion of Ohtori wasn't about to let everything she cared about slip away because of wrongfully placed moral obligation.
"I think you need to reconsider Chloe's proposal. Have you even stopped to consider the unity it could bring to Jherra if for once we all worked together? Well have you?"

[Kara]

"Don't you worry I will be." Kara watched Tori make her way to the castle with the others before hearing Utena behind her and turned to the face the girl who was now walking towards her with a purpose. She didn't even need to see her Life Force to know what she was going to say. "A line has to be drawn somewhere Utena, and I'm drawing it. I'm sorry but the answer is still no."

[Cirno]

The blue dressed fairy approached the group, with some of blood from the last few demons she'd killed on her. Her clothes were in perfect condition, save bloodstains in the fabric, though she looked absolutely exhausted. To be precise, even though her physical condition was absolutely pristine, albiet covered with blood Cirno had the expression of someone who had fought hard. Though she was flying, it couldn't be that big a deal. After all, Moon Valley was just invaded by demons. A fairy would have been little trauma. And besides, Cirno could survive as many beatdowns as needed, given that as long as something in the universe was cold, she couldn't truly die. Which is why she looked how she did, she'd been killed several times... she just had come back whenever they did.

"I may be the strongest... but that was a lot of devils... who could have gotten that many yokai together?" she thought. By her definition, the demons were yokai, of which the commonly accepted definition in her realms practically amounts to 'sentient, but non-human', heck, fairies like herself counted as yokai.

However, her gaze then found Utena. Glad to see her friend ok, the child-sized fairy floated down from the sky.

"Good, so you made it out!" she told her, with a smile on her face. Anyone nearby would notice it got a fair bit cooler when Cirno appeared.

[Maelys Knight]

[/center]

Among the survivors was a young child who seemed to be frightened about the attack on his home. He looked frantically around, as if searching for his parents who were most likely killed in the attack. Except the boys parents were killed thousands of years ago. The 'boy' was not a boy, either. Maelys was doing a pretty good job of playing the part of the orphaned child pretty well for now, but he needed to find someone in charge. He closed his eyes and cupped his face in his hand, tears beginning to creep down his face, however he wasn't actually crying. Searching for someone of greater power, one of the people he had witnessed among those defending the town, if ineffectively, and was almost blinded by what he saw.

The woman that was nearby the line of refugees put off an unbelievably intense aura of power that nearly hid the people standing near her. She must have been one of the defenders... He moved along the line towards the woman, wiping off the fake tears. He emerged out of the line near the group and stopped. He spoke up in a soft, shy voice. "I... I want to help fight..." His voice was too quiet for them to hear, he realized. so he tried harder. "I want to fight the demons who took my home!"

[Tenjou, Utena]

"How can you be so short sighted? Are you trying to get all of us killed!?"
Utena wouldn't get far in her rant before she felt a chill nearby and turned to see Cirno had approached them and for a moment she forgot all about the goddess she just unloaded upon and gave the ice fairy a hug.
"Cirno! I'm so glad to see you made it out alive. Aminee is inside the castle."
Pulling away from Cirno Utena would see another child approach them, a young boy who couldn't have been much older than Cirno. A look of sympathy crossing her features at the sorrow in the boys eyes. When he expressed his desire to help fight the demons Utena was at a lost for words. A person this age? They would be slaughtered, unless Superwoman or Cirno here sensed something she couldn't he was just a boy. But how to break the news?
"I understand it's hard, I wasn't born there but Moon Valley was home to me too. Let us handle it okay? We'll get Moon Valley back I promise."

[Maelys Knight]

[Light Shock: 3]

She sees me, sees a young boy who would get torn to pieces by those demons... at least one person fell for it... He put on a look of desperation, he wanted really badly to help them take back his 'home'. The boy stepped forward, planting it into the ground. Let's see how this next reckless move will cause her to see me... "I-I can fight! I know how to fight!" With that, he held his hand up, and a black thread extended outward from it, taking form as a wand. He looked off in a direction that was away from the group of people, away from the line of refugees. I need to look reckless and desperate, but harming other refugees will not do any good.

He aimed the wand down at the ground, then stamped his foot down and raised his wand at the same time. What happened from there was a line of white Light energy went surging through the ground to explode violently a good distance away. Maelys brought up his shoulder to shield his face, a reflex that would have been for a child of the age his form was. He turned back to the group of people. "I want to help take back my home!" Now his face showed determination instead of desperation.

[Cirno]

"Fairies can't die. We can be beaten up though." she mentioned "And besides, me, lose? I mean, I'm the strongest after all."

Little did Aminee know that Cirno was most certainly not a kid... sorta. Ok, so Cirno was just a child by yokai reckoning, a rather powerful child, but a child none the less. However, yokai could live thousands of years and not die. In human years, Cirno was well over fifty. Looks could be deceiving where she was from, Tewi Inaba for instance looked no older than she was, yet was one of the oldest yokai in all Gensokyo.

Cirno actually liked what she saw in the young boy though. The sort of fearlessness and self-confidence that she herself possessed. It wasn't so much 'I see myself in him' as much as that she figured he'd make a good friend.

At any rate, it was rather hot here, so Cirno turned up her cold field's intensity a bit in order to compensate.