There was so much wrong with their current situation. When Sam began to cling to him for warmth, Hatsu noticed his own discomfort and clung back. "I'm sure the world isn't frozen," he assured his fast-forming friend. "Elra is.. was.. way North of the Equator, and it was perfectly warm there. This place is somehow isolated." He could see his breath when he talked, and even though the sun was bright, its light felt cold after bouncing off all the ice and snow around them. The wind whipped his stark black locks and did a remarkable job cutting through his clothes. They needed something warm. Adeline, the blind wind-bender of the group, (or, rather, her irksome lizard of a demon) offered to stave off the wind for them, which sounded fantastic.<br/><br/>Various other things were happening in their group at present, but the amount of focus Hatsu could pay to anything with his demon throwing a rage fit in his head was rather limited.<span style="font-style: italic">"Hatsu,"</span>Yami said feverishly,<span style="font-style: italic">"If we find the Succubus' Bastard who caused this we will make them suffer! Start with the eyes: lots of shallow little cuts, then inflict puncture wounds at random. After that we brand him and..."</span>The boy did his best not to listen after that. His demon couldn't think straight when he was this angry; hopefully it would just blow over.<br/><br/>He came out of it just in time to see Death collapse. "Huh...?"<br/><br/>-----------------------<br/><br/>After almost losing the most precious person in his life, and being told things no human should know, Vaan had needed some time to process. He took the night off from training and simply slept with no dreams. The next morning he was up with the sun, and he watched Merle closely as she began to show signs of waking.<span style="font-weight: bold">"Vaan...?"</span>she murmured, using one hand to block the sun from her eyes. The Ex-Silencer hurried over, taking hold of her free hand. "I'm here," he said warmly. "Everything is going to be fine."<br/><br/>-----------------------<br/><br/>For some time now, Hiei had been quietly resting in the woods surrounding the crater (formerly the city) of Elra. Alastor had kept quiet after their last conversation, since he'd clearly pushed his host to a dangerous level of frustration.<span style="font-style: italic">I don't want to remember my past,</span>he thought decidedly.<span style="font-style: italic">Besides, for all I know, Alastor was watching my dreams and made up that story just to mess with me. He's not exactly trustworthy, after all.</span><br/><br/>The reclusive hunter had gotten a good night's rest, so he pulled himself to his feet to go look for some breakfast and a place to stay. Maybe later he'd creep toward the edge of the woods and peek at what was going on by the Reverend's Tower.<br/><br/>-----------------------<br/><br/>(Azrael quietly watches Vaan and Merle, as Death ordered him to.)<br/><br/>-----------------------<br/><br/>(Owari starts the necessary preparations to bring more demons through the portal so they can start to rebuild their fortress.)