...that's not her child. "Sword, then," she says. "It would have been nice to be informed that it could take over people's minds," she mutters, looking around for something to get that sword away from Sadde.

Sadde continues mindlessly trying to stab at Theo.

He's a much better fencer than one would expect given his complete lack of previous experience.

Theo manages to grab Windy out of his bag, and activates her, shouting "Windy!" and tossing the card in front of him. "Restrain him!"

It tries, oh, how it tries—

—but apparently the magical rapier can cut through wind, who'd've thought? Sadde's eyes are blank as he slashes and steps forward with unprecedented grace, avoiding the worst of Windy's attack and cutting through everything else, continuing to increasingly close the gap to Theo.

Okay, that is worrying.

Time to try the stereotypical thing?

"Sadde?" he says, hoping that it'll trigger a change. "Sadde!" he repeats, continuing to back away; if it doesn't work, he doesn't want to be sliced, thank you very much.

Yeanope. Stab stab!

"Baby? Let go of the sword," she tries. She spots a likely looking stick over there, maybe...

Maybe, but Theo's not focusing on the potentially helpful stick right now.

"Sadde?" he tries again, slowing down so he can focus a bit more. He pulls out Jump just in case.

Who'da thunk, Sadde is still closing the distance and trying to murder Theo!

Okay, so trying to appeal to the side of this thing that might still be Sadde is probably a lost cause.

Theo uses Jump and flings himself away from Sadde, looking around for a weapon. How about that stick?

Laura gets there first and tries hitting Sadde's sword hand with it.

He parries and starts pressing the offensive against her instead.

Theo gets another, shorter stick. It might not be as good, but it's better than nothing.

He looks back over at the fighting, notes the situation, and decides to just jump right in. Literally. He propels himself forwards and kicks Sadde in the chest.

Sadde's thrown away, but he rolls with it, getting back to his feet very quickly and skipping from one foot to the other. He stops, assessing the situation, and then charges again, and now he's not just quick, he's supernaturally quick, getting much more impulse from kicking the ground than he should have.

Well that's okay, Theo can also do supernatural speed.

... Sometimes. And apparently now is not one of those times.

He shouts for Windy to try harassing Sadde, buffeting him with wind, and then repeats the move he did with Jump, since it seems like his best option for now. He kicks Sadde again, then manages to right himself and runs over with his stick, trying to hit Sadde's sword arm.

Haha no, the same trick won't work twice. Sadde braced himself for the kick and didn't actually stumble, using the momentum from the kick to twirl around and go after Laura, slapping the stick out of her hand. The Sword is a rapier, so no cuts happen, but Sadde is strong enough (or maybe the card is) that it'll definitely leave a mark. His movements are fluid, and he dodges Windy's attacks like they're not there, dancing between tendrils of wind and slicing at them to parry.

He jumps back from Laura and Theo after she's dropped her stick, not actually looking between either of them, and starting to hop from one foot to the other once more.

Well, damn.

He has another idea. He hasn't used the Shadow since capturing it, even though it's been nearly a week – blame the crying – but it might be able to help here. He holds the card out and summons it, saying "Shadow".

There it is.

Stabby stab—

—and Laura is out of the fight.

Sadde twirls, turning to face Theo again, ignoring Laura's slumped form.

Okay. Stupid, malicious magic. He glances at Sadde's mum quickly, sees she's out of the fight, and turns to look at Sadde, a menacing look on his face.

"Shadow, help Windy and grab him."

It does, but it uses its comparative advantage. The hooded form melts into the shadows of the trees projected by the lamps. As Windy continues trying to hamper Sadde's movements, the shadows on the ground move, followed by an equivalent movement of the trees themselves. And even though they don't actually touch Sadde, their shadows touch his, limiting his movement in invisible and unpredictable ways, causing him to stumble and lose his balance.

With that distraction, Windy manages to encircle Sadde's arms and legs, her tendrils holding him in place.