The Affinities

Maddie smiled at the girl named Jo and the others. "Hello...My name is Ma-" Her sharp, sudden gasp threw her off her sentence as she was pulled to the ground by Haley, covering her ears quickly to null out the blaring sirens and screams. Dozens of shutters crashed down over the windows as the madness proceeded into chaos, fire roared fiercely around them and smoke seeped into the halls incredibly quickly. Everything was going to hell. On impulse, she focused quickly on the sound and sight of rushing water and then with a quick wave of her hands, water sprouted from her finger tips and circled around the small group, encasing them in a weak shield. It wouldn't last long, nor would it keep the smoke away, especially if the fire spread and grew, but it would help to douse any flames near them. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew from her right, sweeping away the majority of smoke that clouded over them, allowing them to breathe easier. A hand was outstretched towards them, accompanied by an offer for assistance. "Y-yeah, that would be great..." Her voice was quiet and a bit raspy as she replied but still audible enough for everyone near her to hear.

 

"Nice to-" Andrew got cut off by Jellal's shout and the following gunshots and explosions outside, before the orphanage's security system activated. His eyes burned with fury as he looked at Jo only uttering a sing word. "You..." But right now was not that time for that. "Everyone to the secret passageway, now! Haley, you know the way. Lead them to it. I'll go round up all the foolish youngsters that think they can fight. Now move it!" he shouted. He put his hand on Caeli's shoulder and said to him in a rough, almost threatening voice, "You too. Go follow them." It was an order, not a request. Andrew moved quickly over to Jellal's room. He saw him form a fireball by the window, no doubt thinking of taking down some soldiers, but that was before metal replaced glass. "Guess you won't get that chance. Go follow the others to the secret tunnel. Or help me round up everyone and lead them there," said Andrew in a dark voice. He was pissed that this would happen when he just got back. And now he had to gather everyone up. He ran around the whole orphanage calling to all the kids, "Hey! This way! Come this way! Follow the crowd out! Don't leave anyone behind! Single-file, all right!" He wasn't too worried about kids trying to fight back, since they really can't with the windows blocked. Thank goodness for the security system.

 

The sound of gunfire made Ulrich cringe. That sound was all too familiar to him, and perhaps to everyone else. Melancholy threatened to take him as he relived his memories, but Ulrich shook them away. As he regained some consciousness, pandemonium had been slowly quelled and everyone was running... somewhere. Perhaps somewhere safe. He smiled at that thought. Andrew was barking orders for them to retreat, and indeed they were going somewhere safe. Nevertheless, he did not follow them, he simply ran around the house calmly telling others to follow the rest of the people, assisting Andrew in his task. After all... he made a promise.

 

Jo barely flinched and instead grinned. "Alright! Time to whoop some government hide!" Jo bolted from the others and pried open a shuttered window. Slipping out the window, Jo landed solidly on her feet and let her hands slide to her guns. "Bring it on!" Fire lept from her boots and spread across the ground. "Hey fellas! You lookin' for something?!" Rifles aimed at her and muffled voices shouted, "There she is! Get her!"

 

Keel followed behind Andrew with no complants. So much for this safe place. Now where the heck where they supposed to go. It's not like there was another home just waiting for them.

 

As Ariana heard the gunshots, her past flashed before her. Growing up in a village with mostly witches. Having a younger brother and sister. Watching the humans invade her village and shooting most of her friends and family- running into the forest with her two siblings and best friend Allen. Surviving for two days and getting caught. Watching humans shooting her siblings and best friend as she ran away like a coward... She would not stand back and watch them kill more people... She wouldn't run... Not again... She watched as Jo pried open a window and ran to join her. Ariana summed a small wave of water and aimed at the humans. "You need a hand?" she said to Jo.

 

Jo grinned, "Sure, just keep that water away from my fire. Watch my six!" Jo ran into the fray of humans, her pistols blazing with fire-enhanced bullets.

 

Ari gave a small smile, With her bag on her back, she shot a blast of water towards a group of humans. Oh yeah! That'd teacher them to mess with witches.

 

"Ah wait a sec..." mumbled Andrew as he listened to the sounds outside. He heard shouting from the soldiers. Shouting to aim at..."Oh HELL no. I am going to KILL those kids," he swore as he rushed over to where the shouting was loudest and found somehow, a melted shuttered window and two kids outside, including Jo. "HEY. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING BURIED ALIVE? OH WHAT'S THAT? THOUGHT YOU HAD A CHOICE? OF COURSE NOT," shouted Andrew as he stomped on the ground and earth rose up around both Ariana and Jo, before forming a dome and swallowing them beneath. Andrew collapsed onto a knee, putting a hand to his head and panting. Awww geez, I am going to kill them for making me expend so much energy. Taking a breath, Andrew took a rock and wedged it into the window, before running from the room and heading towards the passageway as most everyone else had gone there too. Meanwhile, the dome of earth with Jo and Ariana had enough air to last a few minutes. Andrew made it spit them out at the end of the passageway, which led a distance away from the orphanage. Calling tiredly to everyone to evacuate, he hurried to catch up with Haley and the other kids. He was going to beat the crap out of those two, as he was still burning with anger at their audacity. If Jellal was going to stay behind and fight, then he would leave him to his fate. He made his choice.

 

Jo burned with anger as the dome of earth covered her and her backup. As soon as it released them, Jo tightened the scarf around her neck and ran back towards the fighting. She wasn't done. The beat of her boots ended the second she found her victims. Soldiers, each of them armored with riot shields. Jo's grin widened as she thrust a hand forwards, releasing a wave of fire. "Chew on this!" Fireballs soared into the sky, gathering into one and plummeted towards the soldiers. Out of the explosion, a Juggernaut, armed to the teeth with ammo and a fire-proof suit, slowly stalked out. Closing her hands into fists, Jo surrounded herself in fire. "Let's see how hot you can stand! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Dust clouds covered the scene as Jo smashed her fist into the Juggernaut's helmet and smashed him into the ground.

 

Jellal looked around at the commotion. Almost everyone was evacuated. Now he had to choose whether to run, or to stand and fight. If no one was there, the passage would be discovered quickly. Looking over at the other fire user fighting, he couldn't leave her to die alone. "Damn it all!" He shouted then ran to her side. "If you want to get out of this alive, don't burn your magic up so fast. You'll run out before they do." He said as he drop kicked a soldier i the jaw and picked up his gun. "This should help..." He thought to himself.

 

"Not far now guys! Keep low and together, me and Caeli will try to provide fresh air but smoke rises so still stay low." Haley shouted as she ran towards the secret passage, blasting air infront of her to clear a path infront of her, while simulaniously swirling the air around to provide fresh air for the group. "Good work with the shield, Maddie. Just keep it up!" She knew Andrew had gone back to collect any straglers and some people had gone out to try and fight, which worried her imensly but that wasn't her main concern. These people were her responsibility and she was going to get them all to saftey, of that she was certain. Finally, a smile broke out on her face as she spotted the coner where the passage was located. After blasting a route to it, she placed her hand on a certain point on the wall and pushed. She pushed harder than she normally would and the door opened without too much difficulty to a point a little further than usual. She sighed in relief internally but she was well aware they weren't out of it yet. "Everybody through here now!" She yelled but didn't go through herself, she wanted to make sure everyone got through okay first.

 

Ariana felt great rage as the dome of earth released them. She had no idea why Andrew would do it,but now was not the time for thinking-it was the time for action! She ran towards Jo and Jell to help them. She wasn't just going to leave them behind... She was no coward! Not anymore!

 

Maddie sighed heavily as sweat began to drip off of her forehead from concentration, but mostly because of the heat that was building up in the building. She had the idea of dropping the shield, creating a large splash of water which would help cool things down a bit but she didn't want to risk anything. She could hear Andrew and Haley giving them support and guidance as they neared the secret passage which raised her spirits slightly, causing her to smile lightly even though the world was in chaos. She looked around briefly to see how the others were fairing, though her spirits were dampened once again by the sight of people attacking the humans. She knew they would claim it as self defence and she could understand why, however this wasn't the time for violence, they had to act responsibly and selflessly and not for the cause of some idiotic rebellion. Finally they came to the passage, and she sighed with great relief, sweat pouring off of her in bullets now as the water barrier began to slowly break apart. "I...can't hold it..." She muttered regrettably and forced more of her magic to seep through her body a final time, allowing her to toss the remains of the barrier away down the corridor. This would hopefully douse any remaining flames blocking the "rebels'" path and possibly break up any fighting if the force of the water hit them hard enough. "H-Haley...you're coming too!" She told her friend as she opened the passage quickly and let others go through before her, her voice laced with worry and she sounded exhausted after using up so much of her magic.

 

Noticing that Maddie was becomming more exauhted as she tired to keep their barrier up, he decied to and in some of his own magic to keep it up. "I'll keep up the barrier until everyone gets in." As he looked towards the people fighting, he was reminded the choice he made. It was true that he had joined the resistance, but his reason for doing so differed from the other members.

 

Jo pulled a pistol and shoved it under Jellal's chin. "Don't tell me what to do." Using her other pistol, she shot a soldier running towards them with a sawed-off shotgun. "I know the limits of fighting with magic." She felt a trickle of sweat touch her neck and took a deep breath of charred skin, hair and ash. "As long as the fire burns on, so does my magic."

 

"You would do well to remember i'm here to help you." He said pushing her gun aside. He sent a wall of flame towards the soldiers on on side to drive them back.

 

Ariana chuckled a bit has they argued. "Don't forget I'm here too," She said she she sent a wave of water towards a group of soldiers.

 

Ulrich sighed as he helped usher the other orphans out, guarding from behind. There was too much going on, he couldn't be bothered with it, lest he abandoned the children he was helping. The more that his peers fought and bickered, the more danger would befall the children. Ulrich chose the path guard from behind, rather than go offensive. "Man," he muttered to himself. "These guys are going to get us all killed."

 

Still holding Maddies hand. He tried to lead. But it was hard, cause they were running into the crossfire of the battle. Exhausted, Caeli clumsily tripped and fell over. With only hearing screams and shouts before he closed his eyes and passed out.