From: Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 18:03:45 EDT Subject: A cry in the night... title: a cry in the night posters: Teri, stana It slammed into her, rushed over her like a wall of icy water-- robbing her lungs of enough breath for a scream. The pure power had rushed into her, through the fog of sleep, setting every nerve, every channel of her mind and body on fire. Opening wide her senses to the current of power-- she felt the searing white of Clip's rage battering against her, travelling through her as her body sought to control it. Teri saw Stana wince as once more she was powerless to the emotion around her, once more the unwilling medium to a power she couldn't contain. Her wide eyes saw Shinji brace himself against the constant wave.. saw Clip surrounded by a painfully lurid whiteness... Teri was levelled into silence, as she pushed herself to her feet with fear- bright eyes... "CLIP!!" Stana screamed for her, finding the words where Teri was held silent. The older girl was poised for a second before she lunged towards him-- until her knee gave in. The sudden collapse drove Stana sprawling onto the brittle ground of the camp. "Clip! No!" she shouted, icy hot tears that her eyes refused to hold back chipped down her cheeks. Teri felt her vision fading-- the edges blurring to a cloudy white... Her thin fingers were white-knuckled around her throat as she gasped for air.. she could feel her knees sinking, the bright air like jelly-fish stinging as she slowly sank-- and was caught. She coughed as air, blessed air rushed through her lungs. But the arms around Teri seared her flesh with a dark and tainted rage so unlike the mind-collapsing purity of moments before... that she flung Shinji's arm away and staggered towards the fire, confronting the image of Clip. White phosphorescent energy spilled from his skin as he faced the slavering mouth of a scaled beast... Clip's eyes blazed fiery gold in the drowned firelight, and the air crackled around him as he stood gaze-locked with the monster. There was a growing aura of impervious strength that seemed to demanad a cease of all motion within the glade. Stana struggled against the pulsing throb of raw energy. She drew in a breath, then another as she fought against whatever was holding her back. All direct sight of Clip was impossible at this point. He was cloaked in a light that was the sun itself. The attacking creature snarled, but there was an inquiring uncertain tinge in the menacing sound. Stana again tried to get her legs to move, tried to ignore the pain in her knee. She _could_ ignore that pain, she had in the past! Clip had been distracted momentarily by her shout, she _knew_ that, and she needed to stop this confrontation before Clip killed himself. Her body refused to listen to the logic. Helpless she looked to Teri for aide. The younger girl's eyes were locked on Clip's face, her own wide and pale. Limbs limp, Teri fought inwardly-- fought this bright watery power that was still tearing a path through her, and through her into her companions. "No!" she screamed at herself, trying to push against the energy that rushed through her veins unbidden. "Clip--" she breathed as her control, her thoughts fought against the ravaging wave of power and light that poured from him... something... She dug her fingers into her forehead, crying out against the pain-- and the two Jiy flashed to a spinning halt at either shoulder. Their fierce spin created a sharp breeze against her arms, and a loud whining hum as both Clear and Jiy brightened blindingly-- and the white-power rushed outward from her, exploding from the two whirling globes... For a single heartbeat there was sweet "silence" in the air, before Teri's pain, fear, and worry followed suit, rushing from her uncontrolled in a slamming circle of emotion. Clip's head snapped around, as Teri's emotional explosion hit him full force, knocking the white aura from his body. There was the emotional equivalent of a sonic boom as the shadows rushed to fill in the void left by the Unicorn's power. "Clip," she sobbed into her hands as she sunk to her knees, but the words seemed to carry. Shinji let out a piercing cry as the beast, shivering from the unseen blast, turned and fled, leaving a sticky-slick trail in its wake. Within seconds, the boy had dissapeared into the forest after it, his immobility broken with the snapping of Clip's hold on them all. The camp still flooded with invisible pain, as every nerve in Teri's body, and some she never knew existed, screamed raw. Stana lay curled around herself in a fetal position, sobbing against the unfamiliar hurts she was suffering from. Teri's vision had clouded completely, and she felt more than saw Clip's eyes widen as the lingering traces of his regal power dissapeared, and he too, was hit with the full force of Teri's broad-sending. From the opposite side of the flame, his shoulders shook with the stress as he fought to ignore the near- maddening, echoing screams of his own nerves. Tears of helplessness brightened his otherwise bleak eyes. The Jiy flickered fitfully. The Once-Clear sparked a last, blinding time before a small burst of crimson, center-borne, splashed against the inside walls of the glass... dying the globe a dark crimson... Teri let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed into a shivering coma of light.... and the air was once more silent.