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Jalie nods, although not really registering what Sirius said to her. She sways from exhaustion and stumbles a bit, trying to stay up. Despite her efforts she ends up collapsing into Sirius's arms. Her head is pounding, she has a blinding migraine, causing her vision to blur and shake with her heartbeat. Thinking is difficult, taking extra effort. Jalie slips out of the sandman's mind, now freed from it. She lets her body relax and go slightly limp.

Sirius gently held Jalie close. He rested his head rested on top o f hers for a moment. “You poor girl.” He picked her up bridal style, carried her out of the room, and down the hall.

He searched different rooms as his muscles screamed. Finally he found a presentable location. He held her with one arm while he peeled the covers back. Sirius carefully tucked her in. He noticed a chair beside the bed it was red and lumpy. Sirius tossed himself in it.

He leaned back, lifted his legs up, and curled up. His magic did nothing, the sandman wasn’t phased, didn’t seem phased by him. For all his talk was he just boisterous noise? If he can’t relay on the magic he knows, if he can’t keep his word are all those centuries just Child’s play.

Sirius lifted his head up and glanced at Jalie. How was he supposed to protect her? He already failed Camry. A sudden thought crossed his mind what if my normal nature puts me at a disadvantage? What if I could change the nature of the magic I’m using???

Sirius bolted up and ran through the hospital collecting pens, pencils, papers and maker boards. He would occasionally peek to make sure Jalie was still good.

He hunkered down creating various schematics, Including one of his ship.

As Sirius carries her, she watches everything go by in a dazed blur. Jalie doesn't have enough energy to even ask where they're going. Soon after she's laid on the bed, she falls asleep. It doesn't seem like she's going to be waking up anytime soon, unless she is woken up.

Unfortunately for Ashley, she ended up in a nightmare-filled slumber. Initially, it was just groaning and trying to get into a comfortable position to sleep, even if she was as comfortable as she could possibly be in the late stage of pregnancy. As she placed a hand on her belly though, that was where the night terror kinda started to intensify. She began tossing and turning, then the groaning and mumbling turned into straight up shouting mixed with crying. "No! No! PLEASE! Please don't! DON'T TAKE MY BABY!!!" She shouted in her sleep as she cradled the belly in an attempt to protect the unborn baby.

Meanwhile, in the dream within a dream...

(( Guess I can reply a bit as I wait for something important to happen. ))

As time passes, Jonathan eventually stopped crying...he just couldn't do it anymore... While he's still shaken up to the point he could go into a nervous breakdown at any moment, Jonathan decides to get stronger and better...for Futaba's sake, and everyone else who has fallen to the sandman... Of course, he only hopes that he doesn't end up as the last survivor...such a situation would be the last breaking point in maintaining his own sanity... Since he had enough crying, Jonathan would slowly drag himself back inside, likely going back to the room where he was conducting his cauldron synthesis to gather all his things. He did put the portable generator into his carrying bag since it's not like he'll need it right now. Jonathan soon pours out all the alchemic solution out of his cauldron before shrinking it back to miniture size, the liquid instantly evaporates when leaving the cauldron and touching any surface; thus it's very environmentally friendly. With that done, Jonathan was about to leave to see what everyone else is up too...but then heard Ashley yelling in the distance...

"That sounds like Ashley!! Dammit!! Is the sandman attacking again?! And so soon?!" cried Jonathan

Jonathan would make a mad dash to find Ashley sleeping in a room, looking around it's safe to say that the sandman didn't get to her...so that's a bit of a relief on Jonathan's shoulders... Stepping forward while looking around, Jonathan could then tell that Ashley is likely suffering from a nightmare.

"It looks like Ashley is suffering from a nightmare..." said Jonathan as he lightly nudges Ashley in hopes to wake her up "Hey, Ashley, it's okay. You're having a bad dream, so wake up."

Sirius heard a scream. His eyes immediately darted over to Jalie. His shoulders tensed. That would just leave Azumi and the pregnant woman.

Sirius scrambled up knocking over his drawings. He tripped, managed to avoid the bed, and hit the ground. He let out a low groan while sitting up. Right the woman.

He darted down the hall until he saw Jonathan enter a room. Sirius stoped and then wandered closely. It seemed the woman was having a nightmare.

Jonathan was trying to softly wake her up. Sirius stood in the doorway. “How long do we have before he comes back? Is it random, a small period, a day, at night? Do you think we can ward him out, even if it’s a temporary measure? We have his sand don’t we? It would give us time to prepare. Depending on his strength it might need refreshed daily. Better question have you tried placing a ward? Do any of you know how?”

(😭Futaba.)

Jalie stirs in her sleep when she hears the scream. While it doesn't wake her up, it ends up triggering her own nightmare. Her reaction, however, greatly differs from Ashley's. Instead of screaming, Jalie whimpers quietly and curls herself into a tight ball, her tail twitching slightly. Her mind wanders to what the sandman said; "Parasite... monster..." Leading to the things she grew up hearing; "Freak... no one likes you... why don't you just die..." The kids at school feared and hated her, along with their parents and most adults too. The parents were worried for their children's safety. As a child, Jalie couldn't control her power nearly as well and she'd often slip into people's minds, hearing their thoughts, and sometimes influencing their actions by accident. Silent tears fall from her eyes in her sleep.

(Sorry for the time!)

Camry looked around, still unsure of what door to pick. Then, he felt sadness erupting from the connection he had with Jamie. “Hush, my friend, you are perfect. I need you, my friend. Wake up.” He slowly floated to the door. He had to help his friends.

"Easy, easy, Sirius... Yes, I can make both magical wards and special mechanical ones through cauldron synthesis...although I'm unsure if I can really have the drive and concentration to make them... As for when he's coming back...who knows...? I'm actually a bit surprised he attacked us during the daytime light...so needless to say that my theory that he'll only attack at night was indeed false... Not to mention despite all of the circumstances, he attacks aggressively enough regardless of day or night cycle...he's very dangerous... As much as I would like to likely move to another location, I know there's likely going to be no point in doing so...I'm sure he'll find us wherever we go, even if we go to that underground shelter I've managed to find... I feel like trying to fight him isn't going to yield success either...even with both mines, Ren's, and Azumi's powers during that fight...it didn't look like our attacks weren't effective at all... I guess this is where the wards would then come in...but if they aren't strong enough to keep him back... Anyway, I can handle Ashley here, why don't you check on the others? I'll notify anyone if there's trouble." said Jonathan as he resumes helping Ashley to try and wake up while she's suffering from a nightmare

Jalie relaxes slightly and stops crying. "Camry?" She says quietly, out loud, although she is still asleep. His voice in her mind chases away the other, bad thoughts.

“I see, here’s what needs done. There is always more than one way to create wards, or a form of protection.”Sirius stepped up to Jonathan. “Be firm in waking someone up. After you’re finished here create some type of Holy water. It’s the easiest thing to create. Ask some sort of light being, or being of a protective nature to bless it. Sprinkle that on the outside and in.” Sirius grimaced. “If you do not believe in a light being or protective one…” Sirius spoke softly. “Then you have to imbue your own will to form protective waters. The issue with this is you Jonathan have to decide what’s worth protecting. Even if it’s a faint memory, the thing you hold dearest must become your salvation.”

“Jars or some form of a container need to be collected. This would be a task best suited to her and Azumi. They have the most to protect. They will need to concentrate their intentions into the container. Love, need for protection, and how they want to protect their charges. Someone with some form of magic must tap the jars The containers are then spread around, or buried. If you see Azumi before I do ask her to do this along with her own type of warding.”

“Also if anyone believes in some sort of protective light or Higher powered being. It’s time to ask them for protection. It’s the oldest nonsensical whammy there is.”

“Cedar and pine will be the easiest to find and burn for purification and cleansing.” Sirius stepped away from Jonathan.”

“I’m going to go find a way to manipulate my current nature, even if I have to bend a knee. I’m also going to see what they have in the kitchen for dried herbs. It won’t be as powerful, but it’s a start.” Sirius stepped away and spun around.

"A 'light' being?", Azumi tilted her head, "I am a divine fox spirit. I am a zenko, mind you, though I am no goddess. Would that be enough?"

"Seriously? They're gonna pray to you just to make holy water?", Ren said

"I'll have you know we kitsune were once revered by humans to protect fields and promote good harvest!", Azumi smirked

Ren felt awkward at people treating her like a god. But what she said was true, her kind were respected. If his familiar had nine tails, her statement would have even more truth to it. Kitsune, more particularly Zenko like her, are divine in nature and rather wise. He could not question someone who obviously knows more than he does. Ren nodded and chuckled to himself before saying , "Alright"

Azumi giggled back in response and asked Ren to fetch a jar of some sorts. Ren did so and went on his way to the hospital equipment room. He was able to procure two jars that he put in his satchel. He stared in awe at the various jars that held strange objects. They mostly had sand in them. Probably the Sandman's works, he thought to himself. Thinking of the Sandman made him think of the loss of Futaba and the fate of Turuilla. It was sudden and it hurt Azumi the most when the former had perished. He would make sure to bring that hurt back to the monster tenfold.

He made his way back to the party, brushing off any thoughts that would bother him regarding the Sandman.

"Here's the jars. I made sure they're sterilized. I wasn't sure about heat treating them for full sterilization because I can't control my fire magic... or my spells in general"

"All that is left is to concentrate my will onto the jar and to have me bless it yes?", Azumi smiled at Sirius, "Or must someone literally ask me first for this ritual to work? Either way, I shall bless it beforehand and do the rest of my work. Ren, to me!"

Ren nodded as he assisted Azumi with blessing the Jar. It was thanks to his connection with Azumi as her summoner that allowed him to cast the magic of the divine. A normal mortal would not be able to unless they were very faithful to their deity or another similar being. After the blessing of the two jars, Azumi then concentrated her intentions into the Jar. For the sake of my friends. For the sake of my family, especially my summoner, Azumi thought to herself as she attempted to put these thoughts into the jar. For the sake of the people I care about, Ren added in his thoughts. He was not sure if it would work even with his connection to a zenko, but it was worth a try.

"A light being, huh? Well Aurora was a pure mana when she was alive...she had the ability to use water, ice, and light magic, of which she really couldn't use for offensive purposes, but I could use them... Even though she's gone, I can still use light magic to some degree...granted it's far from my prime, but I suppose I'll take your idea to heart and see what I can do..." said Jonathan

But then Ren and Azumi came into the picture, and after hearing what they have said, they sounded to be the best candidates for the ward project.

"Hmm...yes...I'm sure Azumi would be the perfect person for this job than myself; I could even tell because of the magic she was able to produce when all three of us was conducting my cauldron synthesis... With all of these jars set up, I doubt I need to do much of anything...but I suppose if I could help out a little, I can at least try..." said Jonathan

Jonathan would then concentrate his magic to affect the jars that Ren and Azumi made with his light magic energy. Though it did took a while for him to produce the light magic, he was able to put in as much as he could inside of the jars before having to stop and take a break.

"Hah...that's all I can do...for now... I just hope that it works... We need to find a better way to beat the sandman...and something tells me I doubt using force is going to work..." said Jonathan

Camry was so close to the door. He kept calling out to Jalie. “Yeah, it’s me. You gotta wake up. You can’t keep sleeping like this. Come on, get up, I’ll be back soon!”

Jalie wakes up to a pounding headache, though not nearly as bad as before. She groans, bringing a hand to her head. "Where are you?" She avoids talking to him in her mind for now, trying to regain her senses and help the headache go away. She looks around the room, not remembering being brought in here or even where she was. Jalie stands up and looks at the papers scattered on the floor, they have drawings on them. She picks up a few of them and looks through them. "Huh.. what are these?" She picks up the rest of them, deciding to keep them with her.

After a few minutes of tossing, turning and screaming, Ashley was finally able to awaken from her nightmare filled slumber. It was rather intense and the expectant woman was just glad to finally be awake. Between the relief and the labored breathing, she just leaned back into the pillow as she began caressing the belly, feeling both strong and rapid kicks from her baby. After a few deep breaths, Ashley was able to breathe one final sigh of relief. "Goodness, that was terrible." She said.

Ashley then proceeded to look around, only seeing Jonathan's concerned face. "You were trying to wake me, weren't you?" She asked, frowning as she looked down at her belly, where her hands rested and the baby continued to kick, granted those were slowing down a bit.

The nightmares must've been a lot for the little one. "That Sandman you were talking about...I...I saw him."

"Yeah, I was trying to wake you up...you looked like you were having a nightmare, and given that you're pregnant, I wanted to make sure that you didn't fall and greatly hurt yourself..." said Jonathan as he then listens to Ashley saying that she saw the sandman "...Did he do anything to you in your dreams? While you were sleeping, you were only tossing and turning while screaming...so at least no physical harm befell you... Anyway, you're still safe...for now... Can I get you anything? Food? Drink? Anything?"

Jonathan didn't want to reveal that they did have a confrontation with the sandman not too long ago...and even worse that Turuilla is now cursed, and Futaba is dead... Only to not only prevent panic, but also sadness in losing someone, even if the two haven't been together for a long time...