[FIRE] (Not) Panicking

[Elsa Bellefonte]

The suspicious behavior, the text, the people moving around in just the wrong place at just the wrong time. It all pulled together in such a way that Elsa simply couldn't ignore it. She'd forwarded the text to her sister, figuring that Humphries hadn't managed to get clear of the explosion in time to send more, and a repeat wouldn't hurt. Then there had been her... her message to Riley, somehow. He'd pulled back at just the right time, though through the ensuing chaos, Elsa couldn't determine what happened with him and Beau and Devyn and...

... and everyone around her panicked. A few of her squad and some of the staff worked to get them corralled, and Elsa sent a few messages, barked orders. She knew who she really needed right now, who needed to be standing beside her as they faced the quite literal fire.

"Erika!" Elsa yelled, looking around. Her sister had been right beside her, but where was she now? "Erika, where are you!?" she hissed and extended her mind out, knowing that she was pushing her power yet again, already feeling the strain of skimming through so many panicked thoughts at once. She didn't dare send a message out at wide, no, not yet, but once she had the thought...

Erika! Find me!

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Erika hadn't been offered a lot of chance to react before she had found herself being pushed back by the panicking masses of people trying to escape the arena. In the blink of a second, the machinery for the fourth challenge had exploded and the brunette had lost track of what had happened after that. People was yelling, running and pushing. She had been right next to her twin sister, but now Elsa was nowhere to be seen and Erika felt the panic spread through her body, causing her to freeze in place.

It wasn't until she heard -- no, thought she heard her sister's voice call out, but it wasn't something that had been called out. Instead, she heard it inside her mind and it left her feeling as if she was on the brink of going insane.

Looking around, Erika tried pushing her way through the crowd, her eyes darting back and forth as she desperately tried finding her sister. "Elsa!" she called out, though the voice was drowned in the hysteria. The same hysteria she felt overtake her body. Her chest was heaving, her eyes filled with tears and she was honestly to god, scared out of her mind.

Where was Elsa? Where was Everett? Where was Franck and everyone else she cared about? Were they all safe? Had someone gotten hurt? What if someone got hurt? What if something happened to her sister? Or Everett? The idiot was prone to getting hurt and this... No, she couldn't think about that right now. Right now she had to find her sister, and then, she had to find Everett and make sure that they were both OK.

"Elsa!" she called out again.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa's mind skipped from thought pattern to pattern. It felt like trying to find a book in the library while the building burned down all around you. Except library books didn't generally scream out for attention, each one insisting on being selected and desperate for whatever it took to get them out of their situation. Elsa was just thankful she didn't have empathy, that she didn't directly feel what everyone around her felt, just picked up their loose thoughts...

where was elsa? Where was Everett. Everett. Elsa. Everyone she loved

"Erika!" Elsa yelled again. Her head snapped right in the direction of the thoughts, and she effectively swam her way through the crowd. She could still read the thoughts, feel them crawling along the edges of her mind, almost as if she'd opened an instant chat with her sister. Elsa tried forcing more information along the connection: I'm safe. Safe. Safe. Safe. Coming your way. Coming. Coming. Coming.

Elsa at least managed to work through the crowd. Apparently even in a crisis, people still avoided her. For once, she didn't mind, so long as she could keep heading toward those thoughts, toward the person that mattered most.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

She heard her sister's voice inside her head again, and Erika froze in position, looking around, her eyes snapping in all kinds of directions. She felt people brush and bump against her, but she remained standing where she was, looking for her sister, trying to catch her face among the many panicked faces running around, screaming and just... She didn't know. She couldn't think. She could hardly breathe.

And there, there she saw her sister. Pushing her way through the crowd, heading in Erika's direction. She didn't hesitate. Moving towards her sister, Erika felt the relief spread across her body; oh thank god. She really was safe.

When they finally met up, Erika wrapped her arms around her sister's slender form, hugging her close. "Oh thank god," she whispered against Elsa's hair before pulling back, lowering her hand to wrap her fingers around Elsa's wrist. There was some comfort to be found in the touch, and she didn't want to risk losing her again. Now, they had to get out of here, so that Erika could go find Everett. "Come on, we gotta move. Now!"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

They met, and Elsa wrapped her arms around her sister. The relief pouring out of both of them was obviously palpable: Elsa sucked it in along with a few shaking breaths. The breaths calmed her as much as the hug, enough to realize that her ability had clearly pushed itself forward yet again.

To Elsa's surprise, Erika ended the contact first. Elsa nodded in agreement though: they certainly had work to do. Though Elsa could already tell where her sister's thoughts went, even without actively using her ability. "Everett," she called over the din, "is he here? Do you need me to help you locate him?"

Because Elsa would. She did start moving toward the exit, figuring that would be a good path to take regardless of Erika's response. Elsa's eyes scanned the crowd too, figuring that looking wouldn't be a bad idea just in general. She'd keep her mind to herself though at least for the time being.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Erika could feel the relief wash over her body once again, and she couldn't help but to relish in the feeling of her sister against her. She was thankful that she was alright. But then again, she wasn't surprised either. Her sister could take care of herself. She always had, and she probably always would. Didn't mean Erika would ever stop worrying though.

Shaking her head, Erika furrowed her brows. "No, I think I know where he is," she said. Where else than the kitchen would he be, anyways? He lived for that place. It was his baby. Following her sister, Erika pursed her lips. She was glad it didn't seem as if Elsa was going to stop her. Not that it would have worked -- which was probably why she didn't. "Though, you could -- just in case."

"I'm going to head over to the kitchen straight away," she announced. Now that she knew Elsa was safe, she had to make sure that Everett was too -- because unlike Elsa, he didn't know how to take care of himself, and she wouldn't be too surprised if he managed to smell the fire and get engulfed in it, and that alone was enough to make Erika worry. "Text me if you need me. I won't be far away."

"And Elsa... Be careful."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Erika knew? Elsa wasn't certain whether she should be relieved or worried, and watched her sister closely. Erika seemed more... determined than anything. Determined, Elsa could work with. She could most definitely work with that. She nodded, but extended her thoughts out, hopping about, looking for familiar thoughts. The search distracted her, but Elsa could certainly multitask.

"Yes, that makes sense," she agreed, nodding. Everett was likely to be there... "Be careful," Elsa pulled herself away to look at her sister. "There might... might be more fire there," she chewed her lip, wondering how much she should share. Later: let Erika find Everett first, then they could sort this out. This... mess. How had Elsa not seen this coming? How had Priya outmaneuvered her like this? Probably by f**king her way through Elsa's friends.

"I'm always careful," she intoned, though almost hollowly. She turned, her thoughts spreading out, barely noticing that it came a lot easier now then it used to. She turned and walked, already pulling out her phone and issuing orders. She might have caused this, but she would fix it. That was what Elsa Bellefonte did.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Offering her sister a quick nod, then a smile, and then the brunette turned in the opposite direction and started jogging towards the exit closest to the kitchen area of the school. She wasn't going to hang around here for much longer, because knowing Everett, every second she wasted doing nothing here, was another second for him to get himself killed, and that wasn't exactly something either of them wanted -- she sure as hell didn't.

At least now she knew that her sister was safe -- now she could focus whole heartedly on making sure the same thing counted for her husband too.

After all, these two people meant more to her than the whole school combined. Maybe that was what separated her from her sister and made her sister such a more compatible headmistress; unlike Elsa, Erika wouldn't hesitate for a second when it came to throwing it all away for a guy she loved.