Stay Alive

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

If Madeleine had thought that this battle would be like the last one, she was so wrong it was stupid.
On the surface, it was still the same. The screams, the yelling, the gunshots, the cries were all there. The constant roar punctuated by gunshort cracks was still there. People were still playing dirty.
The blinding flashes of silver everywhere were there, and so were the bursts of flame. So were the roots shooting out of the earth. So was the lightning. And so was the thick layer of blood covering the ground.
Only this time, in every move she made, it felt like the odds were against them.
The blood was pumping through her body and her heart was still ringing in her ears this time, but it felt like they were losing.
They weren't - at this stage, there was no winner and no loser, but Madeleine wasn't looking forward to the outcome of this. She'd already stepped over Daniel Ford's body - clearly, Marius hadn't taught his army by the same rules she had.
Aim to wound, not to kill.
She'd drilled this into everyone over and over again, but as it was war, no one was playing by the rules.
At that moment, her sword was sliding over that of an enemy gifted, who was shooting flames at her. She was retaliating by using her air to create gusts of wind to change the direction of the flames to shoot them back at him, and twisting the air around his feet to try and trip him up. However, he was proving extraordinarily good at avoiding them and keeping his balance.
He shot a flame close to her ear, and it zoomed past her, but so close that she could feel the heat close to her skin.
While he used the distraction to stab at her with his sword, Madeleine attempted to use her necklace to fling up a shield... but found that she wasn't wearing it.
Dammit!
She used her hands to savagely twist a block of air around his throat, asphyxiating him.
He fell to the ground choking, and Madeleine jumped over his legs before moving on.

[Macy Deltine]

((This is though the eyes of Steve 'Bonkers from Yonkers' Ritzski))

Steve walked dizzily though the field, trying to keep out of the way of flying bullets that didn't look to nice. He saw someone aiming a gun at him from the side and, without thinking about it, a large tree-trunk behind the man exploded, sending him flying. Steve looked away, walking on, though the loudness, the loudness of the world. He hated how loud everything had to be, it wouldn't give him time to think. He kept repeating the word "running" quietly, while exploding something else without realising again.
He knew his hair was a mix of black and blue, reflecting his mood. His helmet had slipped over his eyes, as it was too big for him, and before he could push it back up, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't know who it belonged to, so he sent a shock of electricity though it, and the hand wasn't there any longer. He pushed his helmet back up, and the sight was the same as it was before. He didn't like it here. It was just too loud. Everyone else seemed to be pumping with adrenalin, but he had just taken his medication before he came and was lacking in energy. He looked at the faces of his enemy, they seemed to turn in horrible, monster-like faces.
"I don't want to be here." He said, to someone near-by him who was in Warriors. They either ignored him, or didn't hear him. "I don't want to be here." He said louder. He saw someone getting punched in the stomach, and he could feel the blows, as if it was he who was getting punched. He exploded a large patch somewhere near-by, but didn't know where. He just wanted to get out. More things exploded around him, but this wasn't by his doing. He counter attacked the explosions by his own electrical explosions, which were very powerful. Someone hit him on the back of his head, and that blow made him realise: these were the people that took Macy. Steve didn't know her then, but he did now. Macy, who seemed to understand him. Rachel was becoming quite distant recently, but Macy was his friend.
He jumped back on his feet, and hit the man with what seemed like a soft blow, but that soft blow sent a bolt of energy though him, making him fall to the ground in pain. Around him, two more explosions went off at a group who were fighting a small girl in his year, the other at three more enemy solders who were trying to join in with the action. Finally the adrenalin was kicking in, and Steve felt alive. Distracted, but alive.

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude, Tameron, Kira and Lee breezed through the forces like wind. They were running- running so hard they could barely hear the sound of screams and yells over their own panting. For Jude it was particularly painful. Looking onwards, with terrified, wildly enhanced eyes, he could see everything.
He could hear everything.
But nothing compared to the smell.
The smell of blood was all over the place; so strong it was making him gag. Where the glory was in this battle? He saw none. Just... blood. Most of these people weren't dead- thank god- but they were incapacitated. Maybe his side were winning. Maybe they weren't. It was hard to tell, he was so focused on throwing his protective invisible shield over them all.
It was funny how eagerly they ran through into this war. But he knew that they couldn't have stayed back with defense. How could anyone bear to stand in the back line; to stare out at their friends and family as they fell one by one across the battlefield. How could they stay still?
There was no way Jude wouldn't be able to fight. There was no way his body- his instincts- his adrenaline could let him away with it.
His will to survive drove him out here. Funny, that.
The second the four of them broke through to the front line, Jude let go and four people appeared to jump out of nowhere. Not one wasted any time. With a burst of speed each ran off in their own separate direction, Lee ripping his shirt off and letting his wings loose in a blur. Kira sped off through the crowds, weaving and ducking her way in and out as fast as Lee's wings flew him forwards.
Tameron just disappeared; lost to the mass of crushing bodies.
Jude brought his sword up with a battle cry which was lost to the wind and went headfirst through into the crowds. This was easy. They were just Cardsdale villagers. They lacked the proper training. They were scared. They had no powers. They were vulnerable.
He could use that.
Flicking out several blades, he thrust them randomly in every direction. As he planned, the villagers panicked and scattered, cutting a wide berth through the enemy's front line. Many of his own comrades dived through- their hands flailing weapons too. Jude stood up triumphantly, when-
Wham!
A boy leapt onto his back and knocked the wind out of him. The pair crumpled to the ground, but not before Jude and him had become locked in a vicious fist fight. As the boy knocked into the side of Jude's face, Jude saw with a shock that the boy was younger than him- Tameron's age- maybe even younger...
Another punch caught Jude in the stomach and he coughed. In that split second, Jude brought up his own fist and thrust it into the boy's stomach, catching him underneath the ribs with a terrible force. The boy's eyes widened as he too rolled off Jude, winded. Jude leapt to his feet, gave the boy a good hard smack to the head, and he was left unconsious. Jude stared down at the limp figure of the boy for a few seconds, but there was no time for that now. Wrenching himself away from it, he sprinted back towards the throng of villagers that was re-grouping.
Three adolescants stepped out to greet him now, spinning their swords with a controlled but deadly force. Jude ran forward at them- a move they hadn't been expecting and grabbed one of the blades mid-spin. The metal shuddered between his fingers, then simply melted away into a pool of silver liquid.
Growling, the first boy stepped back, and Jude ducked and kicked out with a spin, tripping all three up. Plucking the two other swords from their dazed hands, he pulled a gun and fired.
One shot to one knee-cap. Each boy was rendered incapable of walking any further. All they did was writh and twist- screaming and screaming on the ground.
This time, no more villagers chose to meet him. They parted willingly this time, and Jude sped through, chewing metal and spitting bullets at arms and legs as he went. Hopefully, that should count a few more out.
A blond head caught his eye, and suddenly, with a strange burst of misplaced euphoria, he sped towards it. But it wasn't her. Just another girl from his year, pulling pins and firing grenades. It hurt his ears so he moved backwards, avoiding the bombs as they fell around him.
There were more now; falling all over the place. Bodies, bombs, blades, blood and nothing but. He could see too much.
It was too much.
With a wild cry that he was surprised to hear falling from his own lips, he dived headfirst into a pile of brawling thugs. What he hadn't banked on was that they were gifted. Fiery hands scalded his arms, so he kicked out wildly, his metal armour soaking into his skin and clinging to him as a permanent protective shield. But he could still feel the heat of the fire. He could still hear himself screaming.
Flailing wildly, Jude reached desperately and clawed his attackers eyes; hooking his thumb right around the back. There was a satisfying squelsh and scream of pain. The man's fiery hands leapt to his own eyes, inadvertly scalding himself. The four other gifted brutes leapt backwards warily as the man send fire around in a shower of orange sparks, desperately trying to nab Jude.
Unfortunately for him, Jude had had a brain wave. Shrouded in the clutches of his invisibility, Jude crept around the men and one by one, melted the armour they wore, exposing their bodies and to the flying bullets and blades. Immediately, Jude then rushed forth, giving each one a good kick in the groin as he moved. The thugs rolled to the ground, useless.
Would he find her?
Jude kept looking around wildly, his new strategy paying off. Every member of the enemy he passed- it took but a touch to melt their armour completely. As the metal melted, his soaked it into his skin, building up some ammo. If he found her, he could advise her to do the same. It was working, was it not? It was putting them at an advantage-
Jude collided suddenly with a dark-haired girl, his invisibility faltering. However, she'd seen him, and her eyes narrowed viciously as she swung her blade back with deadly force. The metal splattered across the ground as Jude reacted instinctively. Hissing the girl dropped all weapons and pulled Jude to his feet and quite literally thrust her hand through his stomach.
Her hand slipped easily beneath the metal and through to his skin. Jude felt himself blanche as the ghost of her hand trailed torturously through his arteries and organs; tickling them unpleasently. Her eyes were sneering at him from behind her helmet; her dark hair sparkling in the moonlight...
Her hand reached its destination- his heart. She was going to rip his heart right out of his chest. Desperately, Jude flailed forward and kicked out madly. The girl flew backwards, but not before she'd wrenched part of his chest open. Stumbling forwards with a lurch, Jude grabbed a fallen sword from the ground. There was a flash of anger in her eyes as he ran forward, pinning her to the ground and then- he'd sliced the girl's throat.
His own scarlet blood flowed freely down his metal exterior, but the wound was not as deep as it would've been had she gotten a good grip. He wiped his bloody hands quickly across his front and face, trying to clean them as he focused his efforts onto closing off the wound with metal staples. They snapped painfully across his pale skin, but he knew he had to close the d**n thing up.
Otherwise, he'd bleed to death.
His eyes slid momentarily over the pool of blood streaming from the dead girl. He shut his eyes for a few moments; breathing deeply; then snapped them open again, invisible once more.
Somehow, Jude knew that wouldn't be his last kill tonight...

[Will Wright]

"Next!"
Will shifted the student she had just finished healing out of her way to make room for another one. This time the boy's face was contorted in pain and frustration. A dagger had been shoved through his heart and had been removed.
"I don't want to die!" the boy breathed his last words as Will tried her best to healing him fast but failed.
Not another one, this...is crazy!
"Take him," she forced out as two tall and strong guys from the year above her moved the body.
"WILL, WILL, COME HERE!" Juday shouted from somewhere behind her.
"WHAT IS IT?" she roared back her voice barely heard over the clashing of metal and the banging of granades and bullets goiung off.
"I NEED HELP, I THINK HE WAS STABBED WITH A POISONED SWORD," Juday screamed deperately.
"RIGHT, I'M COMING NOW!" Will turned to Finn, "Stay with him, and whatever you do, don't let him die, just heal and move on," Will said sternly. She raced over to Juday who was looking completely helpless.
"Move!" Will forced Juday out of the way. The boy she was dealing with was deathly white. She felt for a pulse....there was none. No, wait ther it is, just very faint.
She bent down and sniffed his slash.
"I don't think...you should fo that," Juday dropped of halfway.
"It's a slow working poison. Get him up to the Great Hall. We have to work on the minor to medium wounds," Will raced back to her post.
"Will, I can't keep up, there's too many." A voice boomed from beside her and two slabs down.
"Just keep it up, it'll all be over soon...hopefully," she muttered the last word to herself. True it was exhausting and she was getting drained as well, but she kept on striving forward for the school, for her parents, for her group and for everybody who had lost friends, family members or even their own lives.
Will's stomach gave a sharp twinge. I'm not going to be sick, I can't...I have to stay strong for-
"Will?" Anton'[s face appeared before her.
"What Anton? Can't you see I'm a bit preoccupied at the minute? Anyway you should be at your station healing the warriors and everyone else!" Will scowled at him.
"Yes, I realise-"
"THEN GO, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS!" Will snapped.
Anton looked as though he had been cut deep," Fine, I won't ask."
Will sighed and turned towards him, also healing at the same time, "Ask me what?"
"If I can go out onto the battlefield and look for people who need healing and bring them back here?"
"No."
"What, why?"
"No,"
"Please?" Anton begged.
"Look, you asked me and I gave you my answer, stop arguing with me, it'll get you nowhere. Now return to your station!" Will bellowed.
Anton trudged back towards his station. Will looked at him go and once she felt satisfied he was obeying her she returned to her healing processes. Anton was anticipating this and ran off towards the battlefield.
Will stared over at Tamika who was starting to slow down. She went to the middle of all her stations and put her right hand on her necklace and her left arm stretched out before her. A white light illuminated before them and hit all the Carers square on the back. They all began to quicken up again.
"Better," she whispered to herself. She turned around to look at Anton's station. He wasn't there. "He's so dead when I find him!" she cursed angrily under her voice.

Anton stormed throguh the battlefield. It was a truly awful sight. Blood, swords, guns and bullets flying from them, holes in the ground from grenades exploding and people using their powers. He was terrified but he pushed it aside and hunted for peole who needed his help.
A groan came from his left and he followed it. A girl was teapped underneath someone. He pushed the body aside and looked at the girl who was bleeding all over her face.
"I'm here to help," he put simply.
"Hahaha, I need no help, you and your pesky friends are gonna lose and you will die a painful death!" she cackled.
"You stuck up, murderous witch," he drew a dagger from its sheath and killed her. "I can assure you, we're not going to lose,"
He ran on and healed about five students along the way. He knelt down beside one of his friends, Jonathan, who was hurt badly.
"Don't worry I'm-" a squelching noise sounded and Anton keeled over. His mouth open with a trickle of blood flowing down the side. His eyes wide open. The sound drifted away slowly and everything was black.
He had been sliced from his left shoulder downwards and was hanging on by a thread of skin.His life had been taken, he had been caught unaware and his life was ended.
Brutally.
Nastily.
Uncaringly.

[Tamika Dombrovski]

Tamika stood at her post. Completely numb. Probably good way to feel right now. She had made a game out of healing people. She saw how many she could heal within fifteen minutes, then tried to beat her own record. This game had went on for the past hour or two. It was slowly losing its amusing-ness. All the people coming in and out were quite hypnotizing. Tamika didn't even know what she was doing anymore, she just did it. And she began slowing down. Tired, bored, not even getting that satisfied feeling from helping save someone. She became slower, nearing sleep... Then bam. Energy hit her like she had just raided a Red Bull factory. She looked round and saw Will had recharged, so to speak, her and all the other carers. She gave a smile of thanks and began to pay more attention to what she was doing. Growing increasingly disgusted by the injuries people could give each other. One lad had just been in with his throat slit, she had tried her best, but he had died.
"How dare they think they can do this and get away with it..." She muttered.

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith was doing well. She had fashioned her body armour and helmet from the ex-car bonnet and was adding to it using the enemies swords. She had a brainwave after she was fired at for the third time. She created an extremely powerful magnetic outer layer on her armour and she therefore had no need to worry about bullets. Except for her legs. Not that any of the enemy were aiming for the limbs, it was all hearts and minds with these guys. Like assassins. A boy tried to stab her from behind but his sword was deflected away, it spun and gashed his arm. Ailith turned feeling the repulsion through her back, and drove a metal bound fist right between the guys eyes. He fell over, eyes shut, and Ailith nabbed his sword. She split it in half and smoothed the peices over her elbows. An older girl took a shot at Ailith but her armour repelled and the bullet slowed right down before reversing rapidly back to the girls chest where it struck in the right lung. Ailith swiped her gun and blocked the barrel. She then turned immediately not wishing to see another person die at her (indirect) hand. Ailith was clear for a little while she was at the edges. Which was important; if the enemy got behind them, they would be useless. It would be all down to ... a tap on Ailith shoulder made her almost swing iron and steel clad fist into the face behind her when she recognised the features.
"We can't keep meeting like this" Jude voice came through the screaming and battle cries of those around them.
"Jude! What are you doing here?! Madeleine's going to kill yo.. move!"
Ailith pulled Jude behind her by the soulder, the bullet was deflected by Ailith and the gun sealed by Jude. The boy ducked the reversing bullet, discovered the blocked gun threw it at the pair, it was again repelled and it hit the guy in the groin, doubling him over. Ailith and Jude exchanged a look and Ailith raised her hand to hi-5 Jude.
"That's what I call backfire."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

He sailed through the sky gracefully; at least, as gracefully as the great flapping wings from his back would allow. Below him, the battle raged on, but the higher he climbed, the smaller it seemed. If he just kept on flying, the battle would disappear altogether. It would be as though it didn't exist.
Like it wasn't even there.
If only.
Lee shivered at the weight of the great rock in his arms, clutching it closely to his chest as he rose further still. It made him feel slightly giddy, as the clouds swirled just above him.
Any second now...
Silently, swiftly, Lee's wings stopped propelling him upwards. He seemed to freeze in mid-air; completely suspended, as though he would be there forever. He savoured the silence of the moment- before he would come crashing back to earth.
With a whoosh, Lee suddenly found himself hurtling back to earth at a terrifying, yet graceful speed. Plummeting downwards, he held his slab of earth forward in his arms, and with a cry of rage, thrust it downwards towards the ground beneath him- straight into the back line of the enemy.
There was a satisfying thud as the rock crashed down on top of them; scattering their formation and cutting a few more bodies out of the way. Grinning mirthlessly, Lee rose again, dragging a new piece of earth from beneath his enemy's feet as he did so.
Thud!
This next slab hit with another satisfying crunch. He was causing havoc in the heavens; he rather fancied himself to look somewhat like a black angel silhouetted against the sky. The angel of death, that was.
Increasing his speed with a burst of adrenaline, Lee began to zigzag around, moving slabs and rocks beneath his enemy's feet. Many stumbled backwards; cries went to the sky; and that's when the arrows started flying.
The arrows- and the bullets.
Oh, and those hand grenades where reaching higher altitudes than he would've liked.
Rising further into the sky, and out of reach of the the bombs, he swerved in and out of the range of fire. Any time an archer aimed at him, he quickly shifted the earth beneath their feet and they fell backwards, only to be trampled by the on-marching enemy. A few had already broken the enemy's front line; fighting their way through along the ground. But not another joined him up in the air.
He was alone up here.
A bullet stung the tip of his horned wing; sizzling past with a nauseating speed to match his own. Suddenly, desperately, Lee threw his hands into the air and conjured five hand grenades out of nowhere. Unpinning them one by one, they too fell towards the earth like his great rocks. The explosions; the fire; the brilliant orange colour sizzling... it set his senses alight in the very worst way. Smoke scratched at his notrils, clouding his vision, and the smell of the death and destruction he was causing was overpowering. He gave a massive swipe of his wings, and the smokey sky cleared.
Out of it, finally, an opponent rose to greet him. She sped upwards towards him, her bold, blue eyes glowing fiercely with a blaze chillingly familiar to him. Rising forward; aided by wingless flight she drew her sword and charged.
Lee didn't have time to react. He dodged her- badly- and her blade slide across his wing. Fumbling for his own sword, and wishing he wore some sort of protection across his bare chest, his hand gribbed the hilt clumsily. His worst weakness.
It was like the girl had read his mind.
He'd barely drawn before the girl was racing towards him, her own blade clanging off his as it slid down the slope of his blade to his throat-
Forcing his blade upwards and hers too, Lee grunted as he aimed a punch at her stomach. He caught her, but she swerved around him, coming up to elbow him in his stomach. Both flew apart; winded and panting, but the girl didn't need much time to recover. From below him, another arrow shot upwards.
Suddenly struck by inspiration, Lee grabbed the arrow as it passed, and flung it at the girl. She avoided it as it slipped past her head and she grimaced, her blue eyes narrowing.
Lee blinked- and she was gone.
Spinning around wildly in mid-air, Lee swerved in and out of the line of fire, his eyes searching frantically for his opponent. It didn't take long for her to reappear; right behind him.
A mistake.
Lee backflipped; spinning to face her mid-air, driving his blade awkwardly forward. He hadn't meant to catch her with such force- hadn't meant to sink his blade so deep; but suddenly his sword was splitting her stomach opened, and dragging further up through her chest.
She gagged, her face paling, and then, with a stream of scarlet ribbons flying behind her she fell back down towards the crowd below.
Thud!
He hurled another rock.
Bang!
Another gun-shot fired.
Whizzz!
Another arrow flew, catching him on the shoulder, and embedding itself in his skin. The pain caught him by sharp surprise, and his momentary lapse in concentration only encouraged the archers.
Lee flew out of range, swerving dangerously. Then, with a feeling of horror, trying desperately to ignore his shoulder as it began to shake horribly. He forced himself to ignore it, taking back to throwing rocks and the odd conjured hand grenade. By all accounts, everything was going smoothly.
Everything was perfect.
He just wished he knew whether it was blood on his face that made it so wet- or tears.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Thud.
Another enemy soldier hit the floor, and Madeleine's quick burst of bloodlust subsided again.
Though it was pitch black, the battlefield was illuminated by the light of hundreds of flames and lightning bolts, which served to highlight the rivulets of blood running along the ground.
She wasn't sure how many people had been killed so far, but the scene reminded her of the plague in Exodus - where the Nile turned red with blood.
A sharp pain in her right shoulder made her spin around. Now, the actual enemy army had moved through - they weren't just fighting a bunch of brutal teenagers.
The blade that she'd been struck with was sharp, but it had missed its mark - luckily. As she turned, her hands were already moving into wave casting stance.
The wave shot out from her with a pathetic force; only enough to make the opponent stagger backwards slightly.
Madeleine cursed, and the man sneered at her as he unpinned a grenade and went to throw it at her feet.
She jumped over it and rolled to the side, just as it exploded where her feet had been only moments before in a cloud of dust and dirt grey smoke.
As a precaution, she removed all the grenades from his belt with her psychokinesis, before twisting the air savagely around his ankles and standing up herself.
He did fall, but he grabbed her foot, bringing her down along with him.
Drawing inspiration from her talk before the battle, Madeleine quickly transformed into a small venomous Texas Coral snake, sliding out of his grasp and over his back, before biting down on the back of his disgustingly fleshy neck.
The scream that came from his lips was something terrible, as his muscles slowly started to degenerate.
He was lucky. The venom was neurotoxic, but luckily for him, she'd bitten him with only enough venom to paralyse him for a few hours.
Hopefully he wouldn't get trampled on.
The snake-Madeleine slid forward and smoothly morphed back into herself again in mid-step, pychokinesing a few of the man's weapons onto her belt as she ran forward, before she had to draw her sword quickly and clash it against that of another opponent; this time a non-gifted, and a neophyte.
He couldn't be more than twelve, and judging from his poor swordwork, had had the barest minimum of training.
It was easy to disarm and wound this person, and as she did so, Madeleine found herself looking out on the field and thinking:
Thank God that he's in the defence...
The teenager's sword fell from his hand as Madeleine's blade stroked his shoulder and chest lightly, and blood started to well up.
He fled, presumably to the nearest enemy healing station, and Madeleine moved yet again to take over from a struggling first-year Warrior.
A couple of things changed then. For the past while or so, Madeleine had been fighting mostly gifteds, and mostly in one-on-one combat. As soon as she was facing the woman, several of their people, a mixture of gifteds and non-gifteds advanced on her.
With a couple of swords pointing at her, Madeleine created a gust of wind to blow them all aside, before shooting out an airwave that was decidedly less pathetic than the last, and knocking a couple of them over.
One who managed to remain standing lunged for her, a huge burly man with a sword in his hand, and Madeleine, acting without thinking, altered the particles in his blood to deprive him of oxygenated blood. Not stopping to see the results, she started to create another airwave to shoot at the others.
A mixture of fire and ice came flying towards her and as she dodged them, an explosion came from nowhere at the group, who then either collapsed or scattered.
Knowing where it came from, Madeleine resolved to thank Steve later.
Then, she jumped high into the air, floating for a minute as a shapeshifter in the form of a wolf charged at her. It jumped up, snapping at where her ankles had been as she hovered upwards.
Up here, she could see everything - the flames, the starlight-illuminated plains, the masses of people, the blood rivers, and the bodies scattered across the patch of No Man's Land that they were fighting on. In the distant dark, a huge dark bird thing was flying over them.
And for the first time ever, Madeleine felt sickened by it all. Was this the 'glory' of battle? Was this bloody massacre what she lived for; what Shaun had lived for; what the school was making them strive for?
As soon as the thoughts came to her head, she knew that that wasn't true. She and Shaun didn't live for this at all, but still...
She dropped silently to the ground as the wolf-soldier disappeared into the masses of people. It would be so much safer to stay airborne - but she was Head. It was her job to fight, her job to protect her army.
And since when did she ever play safe anyway?
Her feet touched the stony ground - left foot first - and she pulled herself up straight, shuddering and wincing slightly as a huge - and real - black spider scuttled across her foot.
She heard a small step behind her and twisted around, jumping as some roots flew up from the ground, attempting to bind themselves around her feet.
This new assailant was a woman - tall but very slim, with dark brown eyes and hair. She raised her hands and created more roots from the ground.
Madeleine dodged them, and twisted air around the woman's wrist, trying to block off circulation to her hands so that she couldn't move them. Amazingly, the woman just brushed it off, and one hand flew to the gun at her waist, the other continuing to make things jump out of the earth.
Biting her lip slightly, Madeleine flew up into the air slightly, attacking the woman with air powers.
She seemed to give up, and dropped her hand to her sword belt, drawing up.
Madeleine's sword flew out of the leather sheath into her hand as she dropped down, immediately hitting with the woman's shiny silver blade, elaborately decorated at the hilt - and completely, oddly bloodless. With her other hand, Madeleine continued to assault her - before woman X almost managed to hit her chest with her sword.
As Madeleine focused on her fencing properly, two fire-controllers started battling near her, lighting up the field with random flares of bright, spitting vivid ochre flames.
The huge black shape that she had seen was nearer to her now.
Madeleine and the unknown woman were circling each other, and she'd had to revert to using her air powers again. This woman - still with one hand on the hilt of her sword and the other lightly resting on her pistol - was creating roots from the earth with her mind only. Then, Madeleine hit her across the face with a sharp gust of wind, stinging her cheeks.
Her attacks suddenly became fiercer - Madeleine couldn't deny it, she was really good - but so was she. It would take a while, but Madeleine could eventually take her out.
Then, a huge flare of flame shot up beside her, lighting up the view around her, and the black bird came fully into view.
It wasn't a bird - it was a teenage boy, with huge, black, leathery horned wings, dripping slightly with blood, throwing a rock down at an enemy.
"Who the hell is that?!" she yelled, to any nearby Warrior.
A voice that she recognised as Jack's called back, "It's Lee!"
And Madeleine's heart froze for a fraction of a nanosecond.
Lee... no...
She only froze for the length of time that a blink took - but it was enough for this woman. As Madeleine focused again, the woman's pistol was raised and the trigger pulled back.
She didn't have time to move. The bullet flew through the air at the speed of light, and hit her in the calf, breaking through the skin and shattering the bone like glass.
At that, things went in slow motion.
She was falling, and scarlet was billowing from her leg, streaming onto the ground. But as she was falling, some invisible force raised her arms and sent out an airwave.
Not just an airwave - but a massive force, sending out a shockwave that sent everyone in the immediate vicinity down to the ground, making her attacker shoot backwards into the air, over the heads of the other Warriors.
Madeleine's leg buckled underneath her, and as she bit her lip in pain, her head hit a rock -
And all went black.

[Rachel Hymer]

Rachel tied a white bandage on a tall, blond boy's arm, and sent him on his way. Trying to catch her breath from the commotion, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, and called on the next person.
A girl came over, and showed a large gash on her face. Rachel slid her finger down it, ignoring the girl wincing in pain. "Augh, I hate fighting." The girl commented. Rachel moaned, making the girl realise that there were more people she had to heal. She couldn't think right now, her life was going so...weirdly. Her friend, Steve, was becoming so close to the head of Academics, and Rachel didn't know how to react. She didn't have many friends, and Steve was special. And recently, Caleb Anderson, the boy that was with Macy when she was taken, was becoming close to Rachel, and she didn't know how to react with this either. She had never had a boy-friend, and she wasn't too sure if she was ready, but she wanted to give it a try. They were meant to be going for coffee today, but they had been banned from Cardsdale, and then there was the small matter of a battle happening.
Snapping her from her thoughts, she saw a large man from the enemy armies come too close for comfort to her post, and she sent out a long, arm of ivy straight at his feet. He tried to jump away from it, but she was quite skilled with it. It curled up his legs, winding around his chest. When he was completely wrapped in it, he looked like a sausage, and fell to the ground, trying to roll back his his feet, like a turtle on it's back. Concentrate!
She looked round for her next patient, but there was no-one who need her help at that moment. there was then a series of explosions in a line, near the middle of the battle, and alot of screaming. Rachel knew that work. She smiled and whispered under her breath, "Awk, silly Steve."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira propelled herself forward, her legs blurring beneath her as she whizzed across the battlefield in double quick time. They were burning, actually. She was almost surprised the ground didn't catch fire where her feet raced across it; but then again, her footsteps were so light, it was like she was skipping instead of running. Ducking lithely between attacking members of the enemy, Kira wasn't surprised Jude and herself had reached the same conclusion in deciding a Halloween costume for her.
A pixie was more than appropriate.
Except did all pixies fire guns like she did?
Cartwheeling across the field in an almost circus-like fashion, Kira aimed a high kick at a tall boy, hitting him square on the chest. He stumbled backwards, and in one swift movement she'd dropped to the ground and knocked his feet from under him. His legs gave way and he crumpled to a heap. Forcing her strength upon him (which wasn't much, because he was beginning to recover) she grabbed his arms and squeezed hard. Immediately, the water from inside his body rose in magnificent swirls of vapour from his arm. He writhed madly within her grip, but she'd twisted his ankle.
Once he was dehydrated, Kira sprang up and began running again; the water whip twisting its way like a snake from her wrists.
It lashed out sharply at enemies, cutting them and blocking them. Again and again, she tripped them up, moving them and twisting them about with the sheer force of her water. But these weren't the enemies she was worried about. These were easy.
That was who she was aiming for.
Finally, a gifted enemy had stepped out from the clash of metal on metal; a small boy lying bleeding behind him. Kira looked away determinedly from the body, focusing all her energy at her opponent...
He lunged, and she rolled, giving his back a good slap with the water whip whilst she was at it. He cried out in pain in frustration, swerving to face her. This guy wasn't messing about. He lunged again- and his thick hands clamped around her throat.
The second he caught her in his grip, her ears began to pop. Her water whip fell with a sharp splash she could barely understand. She coughed wildly, scrabbling uselessly at his hands with her own, useless fingers. The man smiled- not unpleasently- and raised his pistol...
With a whooshing noise, Kira summoned the last bit of moisture in her mouth, and literally spat at him- like a jet of ice cold water from a fountain. Dropping her in his surprise, the man swore viciously, but Kira had already ducked beneath him; plunging her sword deep into his stomach.
The second he fell, Kira was face with another opponent, this time a tall, lean blond man. He sprinted towards her, twisting a hand grenade in his hands. It flew through the air towards her, but she twisted her newly reformed water whip as a wave and tossed the grenade back at him.
The man had never stood a chance.
Crack!
A sharp pain caught the back of her leg and it gave way. She stumbled stupidly, and lost her balance. Suddenly, the first gifted man she'd face was towering over her, his split stomach no longer open; but healing into a red raw scab. He smiled again; this time smugly, and spun the blade in his hand-
Instinctively, swearing as she went, her good leg flew up and his the guy thunk in the goodies. He doubled over in pain, and she struggled to get up, scrabbling fiercely along the ground for her gun...
Her hand closed around it and she gripped it unsteadily as she swerved to face the man. His face was almost-unfathomable as he rolled out of her way. The only sign of his pain remaining was the watering eyes- and Kira had to admit, she felt sort of proud of that. He didn't give her much of a chance to feel celebratory though. She tried and failed to produce a water whip, shocking at how quickly the scarlet blood was flowing from her wounded leg. It was draining her- and she knew it.
She fired once, but the man dodged it with ease, creeping closer to her and pulling his own gun out.
She fired again- closer this time. It just cracked past his waist.
One more, and the bullet caught him square in the neck. He slumped backwards, but Kira wasn't taking any more chances. Grabbing the sword as he fell backwards, she crawled forward and in one clean swipe, cut his head off.
Suddenly, a strange silence seemed to settle over her. Kira paused, unsure whether this was because she had just taken this man's life, or whether or not...
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
A massive air-wave hit Kira hard, sending her flying backwards along with many others across the battlefield. She spun through the air- screaming as she went- before landing with a sharp crack like a cat on the ground. There was a moment of swaying, before Kira's leg gave way again and she found herself crawling backwards across the battlefield. She grimaced at the pain- whoever had sent that air-wave better be on their bloody side...
Bet it was Madeleine.
The name stopped her dead in her tracks- a stupid move, but thank God she'd already landed somewhere to the back of the front line. Suddenly, a field-medic came flying towards her from nowhere, aggravated and terrified looking.
"No, no, it's fine!" Kira croaked to the Carer, but he didn't even pause to argue.
He picked her up, and raced her back across the battlefield, a grumpy Kira realising that whenever she got back to the Carer's unit, Levi was gonna be mad as hell...

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith and Jude had been holding their own for a few minutes now but every so often Jude would give his chest a quick rub before taking out the next person, each time he was slower to react; Ailith was watching from the corner of her eye to maybe pick up tips but Jude was definately losing it. Maybe he was tired but he had half carried her all the way from Cardsdale to Orchid Hill. Somethiing was up. The fourth time he rubbed at his chest Ailith looked at Jude properly. The sight made her heart clench. A slit in the front of Jude's armour displayed to Ailith his shirt. It made her heart clench as it was a deep red and very wet.
"Jude! Fall back!" Ailith yelled at Jude, there was no way that wasn't killing him.
Jude grimaced, looking paler all the while and shook his head.
"JUDE! FALL BACK! NOW! NO MESSIN' AROUND!" Two can play the stubborn game but Ailith was determined to be the victor.
Jude shook his head again. "I... can still keep.. going! Not- giving up!"
He swung his sword to take on another brute in front of him. Ailith took a step to intervene when a bulkier lad moved in and blocked her path. Ailith intensified her magnetic force but the it wasn't working on the opponents sword. Dammit! Silver! Ailith, in a desperate attempt to grab the sword erned a hefty kick in the jaw. She could no longer see Jude but she could hear his struggles and the other man's grunts.
"JUDE GO NOW! PLEASE!" Ailith felt a rising panic begin in her diaphram
"CAN'T ... LEAVE YOU!" Jude called back.
Ailith's heart leapt to her neck.
"IF YOU DIE YOU'LL HAVE NO CHOICE! PLEASE!" This bloke was really getting on Ailith's nerves now, d**n her lack of verticalness!
Thud! UUH! Thud! Thud! Three things happened at once. A falling body vibrated the earth behind the silver sword bearer, then the silver sword bearer's head was flung back as something hard was smashed into his head. He fell, revealing behind him Jude, with the hilt of his sword in both hands. In almost slow motion Ailith watched Jude fall. His knees gave way, then his spine became loose and before Ailith could reach him he fell hard to the ground.
"Jude! Come on stay with me! Please Jude!"
"Mmm." He grunted trying to stand.
"OK let's go. Can you make it to the medics?"
"Of course I ruddy can." He struggled to his hunkers but he winced, and nearly dropped back down when Ailith slid her arm under his. With her aid Jude became upright and they quickly fell back behind the second rank, who filled in the gap the left.

As they staggered further away from the raging battle the loss on both sides showed. The Orchid Hill students were winning, having pushed the enemy back about 15 metres. Ailith tried to concentrate totally on keeping Jude moving closer to the Carers. A face leaped to her attention as the pair approached the body. It was the face of the second person Ailith had ever met at Orchid Hill. The Carer Anton. His face was white and his eyes where open but unseeing. But most obviously was the enormus gash running from his shoulder to his waist on the opposite side. Will... Ailith's thoughts slipped to the first person she met at Orchid Hill. She'd have to be told if she hadn't already. Ailith glanced at Jude. If the gash on his chest turned out to be as bad as Anton's ... well, upset wold be round about the emotion she would feel. It was Ailith's turn to be concerned about Jude. It was strange though. She'd only properly met Jude about 32 hours ago...

They reached the medics and joined the nearest queue. It was Will's queue. When Jude was at the top of the queue Ailith helped him wipe clean his armour and he removed his sopping shirt.
As this was happening Ailith turned to Will and said softly, "Will? Do you know about Anton?"
Will had placed he hands on Jude's chest but paused as soon as Ailith reached the name 'Anton', "What?"
"I'm so sorry Will. He's ... dead. There was nothing I could do. He must have been dead for minutes before I got to him." Ailith watched Will face for a reaction, there was none, "Will?"

[Will Wright]

Jude faced Will and with the help of Ailith his shirt was taken off.
As this was happening Ailith turned to Will and said softly, "Will? Do you know about Anton?"
Will had placed her hands over Jude's chest but paused as soon as Ailith reached the name 'Anton', "What?"
"I'm so sorry Will. He's ... dead. There was nothing I could do. He must have been dead for minutes, before I got to him." Ailith watched Will face for a reaction, there was none, "Will?"
Will stood there silent and for some reason calm. She looked at Ailith with her glazed eyes. A fire burned within in her. Her face was hard and cold and very very scary.
She pushed Ailith out of the way with a huge force. She had rage, hurt, a broken heart and lost everything she was about...she had strength and lots of it.
Time stood still as she marched out into the battlefield, the wind whipping her hair around her. Arrows shot pass her, swords clanked in everydirection. All elements were at a constant of being used to fight.
"Oi you, I'm going to run you into the ground and crush you like a bug!" a man from the rioght of her called out. "Ahhhhhhhhh!"
He lunged at full speed towards him. She turned her head and he stopped on the spot. Her eyes burned red and suddenly he burst into flames and screamed as he died.
"You obviously forgot the saftey tip. Stop, drop and roll...then die," she spat savagely. She carried on, past the second rank of warriors. Heads turned toward her. She was emitting an awful lot fo heat.
"You're not supp-" Will turned her head towards the warrior. He shrunk back terrified.
She carried on, things were starting to heat up. Passed the first rank and carried on. In front of the enmy ranks. She was inbetween. A man called out to her,"Missing, mummy and daddy are we? Now we've lost our boyfriend and our best friend's boyfriend as well," he sniggered.
"YOU KILLED THEM ALL DIDN'T YOU?!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs.
"Aww, we are missing them," he sneared.
Will stepped towards him and grabbed a sword on her way. The combat began. Clank, swoosh, clang...the two metal pieces made a lot of noise.
"I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH ANYMORE MURDERS!" she swirled and let out a series of blows. They were all deflected.
"I don't think you have much of a choice, after all, we're following in our mums weak footsteps, as a Carer...shame really, no wait, lemme take that back. It's good you weren't a warrior, 'cause you suck at fighting!" he jumped above her and threw a dagger towards her and it hit...almost.
"Nice try, but I guess you can't fight either, otherwise you would have hit me!" Will staggered as she deflected the dagger.
"I've got years of experience ahead of you girl. You're dad and mum were weak. Think about it, if they were strong they wouldn't have died!" he went to far. In a blink of an eye Will had charged at him and tackled him to the ground. She was punching every bit of him she could find. She kicked him and elbowed him and cut him. By the time she stopped he was a bloody mess.
"You'll never be as good as they were," Will stuck her knive into his gut and twisted it. He coughed and screamed in agony. "Don't you wish you hadn't killed them and all the other that you have. Don't you wish I would spare you?!" she laughed at him.
"Please, have mercy!"
"You didn't give my parents or anyone else I cared for, mercy, so why should you be any different?" she spat.
"Be-" before he could say anymore, Will had dragged her knive thorugh his body. She got up.
Revenge is sweet and I could-
"ANTON!" Will spotted him and ran over to him. His eyes looked into hers..lifeless. She looked over his body which was nearly in two. She put her hands over them and tried. Nothing happened.
"Don't leave me," she whimpered, "Please, I have no one else once you've gone. No one.." she screeched and then cried. Tears flowed non stop down her face and onto him. She closed his eyelids and kissed him on the lips.
"I love you," she whispered gently through her tears. She looked over to the warriors you looked flushed out. Will took another step closer. All from behind her she could hear students whispereing about her.
"Who is she?"
"She's not a warrior, is she?"
"Is she not the head of Carers, 'cause if she is then she's not supposed to be out there!"
Will had enough of war...of fighting...of blood. Of death and everything that was going on. Her head was ready to explode...but it didn't, instead her body did.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Will's scream carried throughout the battlefield and up to the school. Her body glowed crimson. She was emitting ten times more heat than a normal person would. Suddenly a huge fire wave exploded and another one and another one. Pulses of fire waves traveled with such force throughout the battlefield that people wer thrown to the ground and had bad burns. Especially the enemy army. The whole battlefield was up in flames.
Will fell to the ground hard on her knees. Those fire pulses had drained her of so much energy it was unberable and extremely painful. She just about raised her head to see the enemy retreating, she knew then and there that the warriors ahd done it, that Madeleine's work payed off, she knew that Macy and Kira with their groups had trained so hard and they did it. Everyone's work paid off. She then fell forward. Rushing footsteps came from behind her and stopped. She was being rolled over.
"Go get one of the Carers quickly. It's alright somebody's away getting help now!" a boy said in her ear.
Will lay there motionless, at the minute her eyelids were closed and she was with Anton. Nothing could be better. She could hear rushed footseps.
"Where is she?"
"Over here!"
"God, Will? Will are you okay? Can you hear me?" Dustin asked.
"I love bees!" Will exclaimed lazily.
"She needs to be taken to the hospital wing!" Dustin said checking her eyes.
"We'll carry her. Ready, 1, 2, 3. Up!" the guy from the warriors commanded.

She opened her eyes and realised she was in the hospital wing. She had the strangest feeling that she had been carried, but she didn't know if that was her mind playing tricks on her or not.
"Did we win?" she slurred.
"Yes, now rest." Madam Gornray said sternly.
"No, I need to heal people!"
"No, you need your rest,"
"But-"
"You're staying," Madam Goranray walked away.
Will tried to get up but her body felt like a ton of bricks. So she lay there restless on the inside but perfectly still on the inside. The last thing she did before she slipped away from the world was a tear trickling down the side of her face.
For eveyone who had lost their lives and for everyoine she was so close to, for being huirt in anyway and for.....for....
"Anton!" she let out a long whisper.

[Macy Deltine]

((this is though the eyes of Steve Ritzski, again))

Steve looked back for a second, getting distracted by a scream in the distance. He had no idea what he was actually doing, he never did. He set of a string of explosions near by, throwing people of their feet, and ducked as a bullet was being fired at his head, still not knowing what he was doing. His instincts had control of him.
He could only see darkness for miles...yes, there were still people fighting around him, but still, the darkness was taken hold of the place of war. He turned round, and started walking to wards the school again. He just felt...numb.
Stepping over something, Steve turned round to find a dead man, from the enemy armies, just lying there. He almost choked, his thoughts rushing back to his childhood, when he was 6. He remembered going into his parents bedroom in their apartment, finding his mother lying on the floor, shaking. After this, the men came, and took her away.
She would look in his eyes, filling his head with warmth, sharing something he couldn't understand, but liked. She would hardly ever speak, but she could talk though her art. Steve wanted to be an artist, like his mother. He wanted to speak though his work too.
"MOVE!" Someone yelled at him, and he stepped away from the body, in time, as an explosion went off. His body shook from the impact, and he sent some more explosions somewhere, but he didn't exactly know where.
He continued to walk back to the posts of the Carers, having to electrocute some enemies on the way. He hadn't used his standard-issue sword, as he thought that if he had to kill people, it would be with his own hands, not with a tool made by someone else.
Finally he arrived to his destination, and saw Rachel. She saw him, and ran over to hug him. Tears were in her eyes. "Why are you crying?" He asked, saying his first words since he had left to fight.
"Anton Gordon's dead." She said, looking into his eyes.
"Who's Anton Gordon?" He asked, in confusion. She didn't answer, just hugged him. He hated when people wouldn't answer his questions

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

ooc: this is from the point of view of Levi Ryder.

They were retreating.
A yell of glee left Levi's mouth.
Yes! We did it! Thank you, whoever the hell is up there - we did it!
Okay, so, he'd cheated a little. He'd left his post and slipped another Warrior in his year a twenty to command the back line, before using his astroprojection to create a holographic version of himself to keep an eye on the defence, before sneaking through to the front line.
Madeleine would give him hell for it later, but who cared? They'd won!
Orchid, for the first time ever, had been losing. They'd been the underdog - but they'd turned it around!
He had to admit, Madeleine's strategies had done a lot for the school. They'd pretty much saved the day - and all the days after that.
Marius's army had lost far too many, that was what happened. Obviously, no one had listened to Madeleine's "wound, not kill" plan, but that in itself had paid off. Because so many people had been killed or incapacitated, they'd had no choice but to back off. And now they were on top again.
Thank you, o' warrior-god.
But... okay, now they were really on their way back, absolutely fleeing - and Madeleine still hadn't called the order to leave.
What was with that?
In amongst their cheers and whoops, the Warriors were looking at each other, confused. She should have called the order.
Unless...
Levi shook the thought out of his head. Naw. Not Madeleine. She was probably just still in combat with some overeager soldier. She'd call the retreat order soon enough.
He raised a hand to scratch his head and winced as he hit a patch of wounded flesh. Ouch. He hadn't even noticed that he'd gotten that...
Ten minutes later, Levi's cut had been healed, and he was pacing anxiously. Where the hell was Madeleine? She should be here. She should have called the order long ago.
So... where was she?
The Carers didn't have her, and she wasn't with the Warriors - and she wouldn't have gone up back to the school.
Which left one conclusion.
She was still out there, dead or dying.
Levi glanced around the group of Warriors, before swallowing and raising his voice. "Retreat!" he called sharply, his voice gruff.
The Warrior nearest him, Jack, looked at him, arching an eyebrow. "You're not supposed to give that order, shouldn't Madeleine have called it?"
Levi bit down the sharp retort rising in his throat. "Madeleine's not here."
A silence ran through the group, chilling right down to the bone, and Levi could see what the words had left them shellshocked.
"We have to find her. Get the other Warriors, and meet me back here, quickly."