Crow was useless, and Gem was pale. Incredibly pale, her skin having been drained of all its colour, reduced from the almost luminescent, healthy whiteness that had seemed to shine with her smile to a sickly, greyish desaturation.

Xeno Warper worked intently on helping her, they had no more magical treatment available- yet even one-armed she’d managed to somehow bind the wounded girl’s sides in such a way as to reduce her pain. It had been amazing to see her work, how she correctly deduced the placement and severity of each instance of damage from barely more than a glance.

And throughout the entire affair, Crow was useless.

He knew nothing about medicine, nor even first-aid. All he had was his strain, and glimpsing a few moments into the future would be of no help in saving his teammate. So, like Astra, he simply waited. On stand-by in case the person actually doing something to help needed assistance.

Sharing the position with her made him feel only slightly better about it being his.

It was hard for Crow to focus on his own lack of ability, however. Each time he found himself beginning to spiral, his attention would be snapped back to Xeno’s work, either by Gem moaning in pain, gasping or, the worst of all, coughing. When Gem coughed, he often saw droplets of crimson amidst the vomit and spittle.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the work continued, and Crow found the sounds of the treatment bleeding into one another- no longer distinct noises, simply parts of the same song.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Xeno stepped away from Gem, wiping her own sweat-covered face and practically melting into the nearest chair. It was a curious thing to witness. Despite her tiny frame and girlish face, the fae had seemed older than anyone else on their team as she worked to save Gem, her smooth features gaining years of maturity and strength from her focus.

Now, however, exhaustion had wiped them clean once more.

The first thing Crow wanted to do was ask about Gem. Xeno’s expression gave nothing away, equal parts worry and relaxation as it was. Astra beat him to it, however.

“She’ll live, and recover.” was Xeno’s answer to the forceful interrogation. “I bound her broken ribs so they should heal properly on their own, but…”

Astra practically shook as she waited for Xeno to continue, Crow found himself wondering where her sudden worry for Gem had come from.

“She had internal bleeding,” the fae finished. “I’m quite sure it’ll stop, but at the same time… Well, I can’t be sure. Without a relic, any healing she does- whether she can do any at all with damage this big- will take weeks.”

The statement hit Crow like a knife to the heart. He didn’t know how long the Sieve would last, but from what he remembered of the previous ones- none had ever taken much more than a fortnight. Weeks of recovery meant that Gem would be unable to participate for its remainder.

Which meant she needed healing from a relic.

“When will she wake up?” He asked, trying to keep his voice neutral. Xeno’s answer was prefaced with a shrug.

“I’m not sure, perhaps a day? Maybe several, maybe a few hours. It’s hard to tell with this sort of thing.”

“Never mind when she’ll wake up,” Astra cut in. “What do we need to heal her? I have about three thousand credits, unless the Sieve’s medicinal relics are a lot more costly than I think, that should be enough to shear plenty of time off of her recovery.”

Crow felt a wave of relief wash over him, quickly followed by an equal amount of disgust at himself. His teammate was lying wounded and unconscious, and yet he was getting comfort from the fact that he wouldn’t need to worry about not being able to hoard more of his credits for the Eclipse’s Nectar.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shrill, half-amused voice ringing out from behind him. Everyone turned to the entrance.

“That’s assuming,” Unity Eden said, grinning as he leaned against the frame of the door, “that she’ll even want to continue competing when she does wake up.”

The artificial straightened up, walking further into the room as he spoke.

“I mean, did you guys actually see what happened? She wasn’t just beaten, she was tortured- horrifically. Like a sociopath’s pet mouse. Little-Miss-Talent’s going to be waking up in a cold sweat for months after today, hell just finding something she couldn’t do without trying probably would’ve shaken her up!”

For a moment Crow simply stared at Unity, not quite able to process the cold callousness with which he’d spoken of such a serious thing. Astra snapped him out of his confusion a moment later as she stormed across the room and seized the artificial by his throat, lifting him into the air one-handed as she spoke.

“Why don’t you give me a reason for why I shouldn’t throw you at that wall until we all find out which of you is more durable?”

There was a cold fury in the girl’s voice, and for the first time Crow realised that she hated Unity. Not disliked, not hated the way a child might speak of- true, genuine hatred. The kind that might well have pushed a person to kill.

“Astra, wait!”

The words seemed weak in his own mouth, but Crow spoke them anyway- hurrying to his sister and grabbing her arm. He tried to force it down, yet she didn’t budge or even show any sign of noticing his efforts. It was then that he felt the glow of magic about her, something he hadn’t even noticed under the shadow of her rage.

Reluctantly, Crow brought his own magic to the surface- trying to shift his sister’s arm once more.

Astra had more potency than Crow, at least according to the test old Bert had made them both take, but her magic had always been focused more on her use of the Itamis sphere. She didn’t have a strain like the Eye of Chronos, there was no way for her to cheat and use such abilities with a fraction of the usual potency the way he could with his Neramis. The amount of power she’d been able to spare for her physical enhancement was, as a result, just that amount lower.

Even so, it was strange for Crow to see her arm forced downwards by his own. Besting Astra at anything was a rare thing indeed, under different circumstances he’d have been giddy over it.

Any giddiness he might have drawn from his current situation would not have survived the look his sister affixed him with.

“What are you doing, Crow?”

Her voice held none of the hateful contempt it had when she’d addressed Unity, but somehow the icy dispassion struck Crow even harder. After a moment he realised why. It was tinged with wariness, perhaps even anticipation. But of what?

Of an attack, he realised. She’s expecting me to hit her again.

Burying the revulsion he felt at the realisation, Crow steadied his mind and sharpened his tongue to speak.

“Hear him out,” he found himself saying. “Unity brought up something you didn’t think of- something none of us thought of. Personally, I’d say that outweighs the way he voiced it.”

Astra didn’t budge, and Crow continued.

“Besides, I’d really rather not see my sister kill someone and spend the rest of her life regretting it.”

He could see the conflict on her face, a hundred miniature expressions warring with one another across her features- lasting only a few seconds in total and barely noticeable under her stiffened look of anger. Finally, she relaxed her grip and Unity fell to the ground- gasping for air.

She didn’t wait for him to get his breath back before addressing him.

“Well, Eden? What other unfathomable leaps in logic do you have to share with us?”

The boy coughed before speaking, and when his voice finally came out it was unsteady and coarse- filled with pain.

“None, really.” He spluttered. “Well, actually I find it extremely interesting that Karma Alabaster vanished after the task ended, but I assume none of you really care about such things as the political implications of her and the Gemini having a genuine friendship.”

Astra took a step forward, and he flinched back.

“And what, exactly, was stopping you from delivering your insight into her mental state without wrapping it up in the monstrous way that you did?”

Unity faltered, going several moments without answering- then finally stifling himself entirely into silence. Crow spoke in his place.

“Because he wants everyone to hate him.”

Unity and Astra both turned to stare at Crow as he spoke, the sudden pressure made him falter slightly.

“I mean, it’s got to be something like that. Unity’s saved me twice, and one of those times came at the cost of him getting a spear through his arm only for him to deny helping. For whatever reason, I think he wants everyone to see him as a malicious little pile of garbage.”

Reluctantly, Crow met Unity’s eyes- recoiling slightly at the indescribable look the artificial was giving him. He’d expected him to feign offence at being even indirectly referred to in such a disparaging way. What he was met with instead was far more unsettling.

Sneering with a glint in his eye reminiscent of a chained, rabid dog, Unity spoke.

“You can dress it up however you want, Crow. I’m a monster. The reason I spoke the way I did was because I hate the Gemini, the reason I’m as misogynistic as I am is because I hate women. I like looking at beautiful things and destroying them because… well, it’s just what I do.”

A smile appeared on Unity’s face as he spoke, though it was tainted by the darkness of his words and didn’t come near his eyes. The expression vanished behind a mask of startled agony as Astra kicked him squarely between the legs, causing the boy to fold up into a ball and groan.

“Then what you do is disgusting, and what you are is pathetic. Not a monster, not a demon, butcher or tortured soul- pathetic. A sad, pitiful little scraping of shit.”

She spoke harshly, but without emotion. Crow could feel no more magic around her, though the fact that Unity’s groin wasn’t gushing blood should have served as proof enough that it had subsided.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but stumble out of his sister’s way as she stormed out of the room- arms straightened at her sides and hands curled into fists.