"Ready."

They drew the array around their teacher's body - safer, that way - so she just places her hands right above the edge of the circle.

El gets in position too, and then-

they activate it.

The world is white.

There's -

Something.

A gate, the doors intricately carved, like someone took the array at the center of who El is and rendered it in grand stone -

There's a being before it. Features whited out. Familiar.

Grinning.

"Who are you."

"You could call me the World, or the Universe, or God, or perhaps the Truth. I am the one and the all - "

"And, of course, I am you."

"What do you want?"

"For the Truth to be complete."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll know."

And the Gate begins to open.

There's darkness behind it, darkness and hands and a single immense eye -

Nope nope nope she does not want to know not like this-

And yet the Gate takes her, all the same.

And she knows.

Coming back to conventional reality promises to be quite painful. There's rather more blood than they started with, and their teacher's body is whole and softly breathing, and Bellona is gone.

Well.

Not quite.

Her clothes were left behind.

No no no no no no no no no she needs to get her back-

-that old armor, lying in the corner. Iron. She drags herself over, dips a finger in the blood pooling around her, fix that later this is important-

-the seal needs two anchors, one on the target and one on someone alive. She's still got both of those for now, have to hurry, losing blood quickly-

And then, to activate-

The arrays glow, brightly, bloody red -

(A flash of white, but that might just be the pain.)

The armor shifts.

Weakly: "El-El?"

Good. Good.

She's just going to- pass out, now.

The last thing she'll hear then is Bellona screaming: "El!"

When she wakes, she's in her bed, wounds bandaged, pain diminished, the armor now containing her sister sitting against the wall next to her.

And their teacher, alive, whole, looking rather exhausted, in a chair at the bed's foot.

Oh good. Everyone's alive. She can just lay here a bit longer, then. She lets her head slump back into the pillow.

"El? Are you awake?"

"Debatably."

"I was so worried - "

Akira, meanwhile, gets up - moving a bit gingerly - and fetches water for El.

"You should drink a bit. Slow sips."

Slow sips is about all she's up to.

"Shouldn't have disappeared, then."

"I didn't decide to - " she says, sounding upset. "And now you're hurt - "