And then he dreams of cutting foreign throats [ Open! ]

[secondcity_npc]

Characters: Anyone interested in fighting off a giant tiger and the Unseelie Queen
Time: April 16th-April 17th
Location: The University of Chicago campus
Content: Round one is a celestial guardian. Round two is the Queen of Winter. Round three will hopefully be Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Format: Poster's choice
Warnings: None. No tag order.

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[secondcity_npc]

The high-arched ceilings of Hutchinson Hall currently resembled an immense wintry cave, stalactites of ice dripping dangerously from wooden beams and broken chandeliers. A thick frost had coated the windows high up on the walls, and the day was so gray and tumultuous that hardly any rays of light pierced through the blue-iced shell. The temperature hovered far below freezing, a chill that pierced like a double-edged dagger into your lungs, numbed hands and feet in seconds, and delved past even the heaviest of coats.

Hutchinson Hall had become the domain of Winter.

It was deathly quiet save for the cracking of ice as more of it slowly coated the floor and the tables, leaving bulky white-capped obstacles - miniature glaciers - littered about the room. It would have been beautiful - the dancing diamonds of light and ice and blue crystal - but the room held not the chill of a wintry wonderland, but the unnatural bite of death.

It was obvious where it came from once they would enter the room - Pandora's box, an ornately-carved wooden chest that could easily have been carried in a child's arm - sat on the far end of the hall on one of the former tables. Curled up around it in the possessive and lazy posture all cats seemed to have was Grimalkin.

The Winter Queen sat nearby, on a throne of ice and majesty, enchanting green eyes narrowing as they entered the room. She was the loveliest and most deadly of creatures, and in those eyes, there was something that whispered of madness.

"Come to play, have we?"

[eroded_earth]

The snow and ice cracked under Terra as he walked into the wintry Hall. If he wasn't on a mission he might have admired the winter scenery, however he was all business. The keyblade was dismissed for the moment, as usual there was no need to carry it around, especially with his ability to summon it back to full power. He walked in with the others at his side, not sure what sort of fight they were in for after the tiger.

"This isn't a game. We're here to take back the box," Terra said, taking a daring step forward.

[iamaman_punch]

In situations like this, there was always a point where Linkara figured it couldn't get any weirder. For this fight, he'd figured the giant Halloween death hand teaming up with the Swords of Revealing Light was it. Of course, that had promptly been shown up by teleport spam, complete with afterimages, and Terra somehow managing to not only get a twin to his hat but mimic his signature hat-flip, which he knew he hadn't done since he'd arrived in the fake Chicago, or the real one for that matter. Obviously, this wasn't his everyday life-or-death paranormal battle, or at least it sure as hell wasn't playing by the established rules.

Then again, this was Chicago, the Critic's city. Nothing here played by the rules.

So really, learning that there was a second form to this mini-boss battle wasn't a surprise, nor was seeing the hall entirely frozen over. Lung-piercing, extremity-numbing, coat-ignoring chill? For six months out of the year, "freezing my ass off" was the equivalent of "must be Tuesday" in Minnesota. It was nothing to write home about. The fae causing it, on the other hand...

"Something like that." He stepped forward with Terra, posture decidedly casual, as though there weren't about to be a giant battle over a legendary mystical artifact against a massively powerful fae queen and her familiar. "But before we start, I really want to know what the hell inspired the impromptu indoor ice skating rink. I mean, look at all this! You're holding a magical jewelry box, wasting your time and ours with a pointless game, and you're going after the wrong enemy to boot. So what's the point?" Either he'd get some answers out of that line of questioning or someone would take the opportunity to call up a whole mess of fire - either which way, something had to come of this.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

While the fight against the tiger had resulted in victory, if there was anything Eraqus had learned from his years as a Keyblade Master, it was never to judge the end of a battle by the first encounter. He had a feeling that the most difficult part was yet to come.

And their surroundings of deathly cold ice definitely confirmed that feeling. However, he showed no signs of being bothered by such cold...he couldn't afford to now.

He stood just behind Terra, ready to summon his Keyblade at a moment's notice. If she thought this was a game, she would soon find out otherwise. He did little more than inwardly groan at Linkara's lack of seriousness about the situation...that was hardly surprising at this point. However, they would just have to see how the fae responded to it...and he was prepared to call up that 'whole mess of fire' if necessary.

[scarfandknives]

While the name Linkara gave this cold was Minnesota, to Knives this cold was "September," cold enough to be labeled cold, but not cold enough to be winter. She lived in the snowy confines of Toronto, there was snow on the ground all year but two weeks in July.

Of course, as Knives walked into the icy hall a large bright flashy VS. appeared behind Queen Mab. Only now that her powers were no longer limited it was enhanced with a booming announcer voice speaking the simple word as well. Knives casually spun one of her blades in her hand as the word 'whip' cycled around the tip of the item. Her eyes trained on the Queen of Air and Darkness.

"She's a crazy faerie queen, I thought fighting her was the point," Knives said to Linkara, not sure why he was confused by any of this. This all was perfectly reasonable to her. Beat up fairy, take box by force, put an end to all this. Right? She also didn't understand why Terra thought this wasn't a game, sure, it wasn't his game but this seemed like a game to her.

"I wonder how many health bars she has, best way to find out is to fight, isn't it," Knives stopped spinning her left blade and trained her eyes on Mab finally. This was a serious fight, no way she can take it easy or take her eyes off the enemy for anything.

GOAL: Close the lid to Pandora's Box to defeat Queen Mab

[secondcity_npc]

The Unseelie queen's eyes flickered as the five of them filed into the room, her nails tapping slowly against the arm of her throne. Her lips spread in an amused, beautiful smile at their words and she reached out to gently stroke the lid of the opened box. She said nothing, but it was possible that even if she had, they would not have heard her over the series of ear-splitting cracks from far overhead, splinters of ice raining down about their heads.

The tiny shards were quickly followed by the man-sized spikes of ice that came thundering down from the ceiling.

"I would like to see you try."

[wavesinherheart]

While the cold was admittedly distracting, Aqua had dealt with worse inconveniences before. It was hard to beat fighting on top of a moving dragon, as far as sheer inconvenience went. And besides, she expected that moving around would help keep the chill to a minimum as it was. If not, well, she'd deal with that later. Right now there was the fact that giant icicles were raining down on them - nothing she had had to deal with before, but she had the distinct feeling that unlike the ones the Ice Colossus had used, these ones weren't going to be so easy to deflect.

Instead, she dodged the icicles that were thundering down towards her, before raising her Keyblade towards the roof and calling up a ball of fire. And just in case that enough, the fireball proceeded to almost explode, sending smaller fireballs shooting across the room. Master Eraqus wasn't the only one prepared to supply the 'mess of fire' requirement.

[eroded_earth]

A flash of light later and Terra was once again armed and ready to fight. He jumped back to avoid the icicle before it crashed into the floor before him. The ice crystals and snow flying upwards from the impact would have been almost beautiful if not for the fact that it would kill him on impact. Terra didn't reflect on that long, he was already rushing forward through the snow, his eye set directly on the enemy. Slashing through any giant icicles in his way like they were nothing more than annoying road blocks.

Flames erupted onto the blade of his keyblade as he started using Fire Strike and Fire Surge multiple times. Aqua had the right idea using flame based attacks, but Terra decided to stick to the physical based ones as opposed to trying any magic right now. Before too long Terra had a trail behind him of melted snow and ice as his flames burned through the Winter spell.

[secondcity_npc]

For every bit of ice and snow shattered and melted by the flames, the remaining spikes grew larger and sharper and the floor became increasingly heavier with snow that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. It was the bitterness of the cold that continued to drop the temperature of the room, biting and frigid.

Grimalkin rose to its feet, stretching in the languid way that most cats do and sauntered over onto Mab's lap. She watched the fight with a strange, maddened intensity, eyes flickering in the glimmer of ice. Her lips parted around a silent word, and the snow that had accumulated on the ground abruptly shot upwards towards the ceiling, blindingly white and frozen.

[scarfandknives]

Knives danced around icy battleground, not at all phased by falling ice. In fact, at every third dodge a steel blade shot from Knives's hands toward the Queen of Air and Darkness. Surprisingly accurate given the distraction of dodging for her life. Steel blades that after striking explode with fire. Knives has such interesting toys now that her powers aren't being limited by anything other than her own capabilities.

When the white out happened Knives stopped, reacting only to what she heard and felt coming toward her. She's seen more than enough Batman to know you NEVER throw things when you can't see. She readied to move and waited, this really sucked but she wasn't exactly Daredevil. She needed some sign to where Mab was to attack her. What she wouldn't give for one of those enemy radar things you get in some games.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Eraqus dodged the falling icicles with speed unexpected for someone his age, completely unfazed by the attacks. He, too, had experienced such things before and knew how to deal with them. He contributed pillars of fire swirling about the room, even if they were just replaced by even heavier snow and ice, they at least worked long enough to push their band of fighters forward. He focused on cutting a path for those in front of him to get to the box...they would worry about closing it once they had their hands on it and Mab was out of the way.

When all the snow went up into a whiteout, he paused for a bit, thinking over the best way to deal with such an obstacle. He didn't have anything like tracking spells or such...they just had to get rid of the snow.

So he countered the ice by casting a small but powerful tornado. It swirled up the snow, and while for a moment it would be just as blinding, Eraqus direct it around them and then behind them in the hopes that it would sweep the snow out of their way.

[noimgeorge]

Amidst the flurry of icicles and blinding snow, an invisibility charm was just about entirely unnecessary. It didn't stop Fred Weasley from using it, however. He kept nimble enough to avoid the current fighters, slowly making his way toward the Queen of Air and Darkness, extremely satisfied that he'd thought to cast Repello Nix to keep the snow off of him. It made moving through the whirlwind much easier.

His mind raced as he neared the throne, weighing all of his options. Fire spells were the obvious route to choose, her attacks being of ice and snow, but they were likely to be a little too obvious. The others were already using them, but the snow and ice just kept coming. But what would take out the source? Petrificus Totalus? But she was already casting without words or a wand, and it didn't look as if any of her small movements were causing it. It might work on the cat, though. A stunning spell might do the trick, at the cost of giving away his position.

Best to go for the unexpected, he decided. Aiming his wand at the Sidhe Queen's frozen throne, Fred cast a silent blasting spell to blow her seat from under her. Congfringo!

[secondcity_npc]

The mad queen's laughter echoed from the blizzard, far from where her cold throne rested.

"Oh yes Mortals. How magnificent you are. Continue to expend your strength until you find yourself in eternal rest."

A shadow suddenly burst from the wall of white opposite of where the laugh had come from, a feline form hurling itself at Knives faster than one could blink, claws like icicles extended toward her.

Eraqus's spell caused the white out to momentarily clear, and when it did tendrils of darkness reached toward him, even as ice rained from the sky.

Mab's voice continued to laugh in a lovely voice like the patter of new fallen snow, until Fred's spell brought a roar of rage that emerged some ways away from the woman arching in euphoric pain, her back arching as she flicked out her arm as if to crush an insect, lances of ice extending from her fingertips.

[eroded_earth]

The snow slammed into Terra, tossing him several feet in the air before he hit the ground again. He didn't stay down long and as his Master kicked the snow up into a whirlwind to hopefully redirect it, Terra slammed his fist into his shoulder armor, activating the full thing. Light shined from his form for a second just as the armor asserted itself over his body and Terra rose, his face mask allowing him some degree of visibility even in the snow storm.

And then the darkness came from out of the snowstorm. Terra acted without thinking, reaching out to it, like the darkness in himself. The dark shadows pulled at him and he launched himself at the tendrils aiming for his Master. "NO I WON'T LET YOU!" His keyblade flared with dark purple energy and he managed to divert one or two of the tendrils from reaching Eraqus. He was controlling the darkness, but just barely.

The dark aura around Terra flared, reacting to the darkness in Mab's shadowy tendrils. It was not a good reaction and Terra cried out in rage and pain as he attempted to keep the darkness in check. Suddenly the blocking he was doing failed and a dark tendril stabbed through his armor, piercing his shoulder and punching all the way through before pulling itself out. It was his non-keyblade wielding arm but that didn't mean it was any less painful.

He screamed in pain, dropping to his knee in the snowy field, the armor cracking around his arm but still staying in tact everywhere else. Terra was panting from pain but he gripped his keyblade and rose to his feet again, "No."

[wavesinherheart]

For all that Aqua trusted Terra, she couldn't keep her heart from skipping a beat when she saw Terra reach out and force the darkness away. True, he might not have been holding the dark and menacing keyblade he had been when she'd last seen him before arriving in this world, but it was still a good deal less comforting than she would have liked.

And then Terra was falling to his knees in pain and almost before she'd had time to recognize the fact Aqua was already moving, clearing the space between herself and the others. She couldn't control the darkness, but that didn't mean that she didn't have her own method of dealing with the darkness, light coalescing around her Keyblade even as she came, like it once had when she'd struggled to unmake the X-Blade. She didn't even stop to think whether or not it would work. It had to work. She wasn't going to let anything else happen to them.

Mere moments later, she skidded to a stop in front of Terra and her Master and raised her glowing blade to intercept the tendrils. What she was attempting was no easier than forcing back the X-blade, but slowly, very slowly, she was able to force them back. Inch by tortuous inch they fell aside. She wasn't losing anyone else today!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Eraqus cleared the snow just in time to see the dark tendrils coming directly for him. He prepared to cast a barrier spell, hoping at least that if his shield could absorb the majority of the attack, then no one else in the room would get hurt...and if they hit him, his natural light could hopefully soften the blow.

That is, until Terra stepped into the path of the tendrils, redirecting most with his own darkness but also taking the blow for some of them. He felt that sudden surge in darkness in his student strongly enough. Eraqus's expression turned to anger and disbelief. Why had he felt that he had to do that?! Even if the worst had happened and the darkness had gotten him...he was old and could afford the sacrifice; not like all the younger people here.

"TERRA!" he yelled, obvious anger coming through his voice. "Don't be foolish!" Even though it was a little late for a warning like that.

He pointed his Keyblade at Terra and cast curaga on him. None of them could afford to be injured or slow now. It was a good thing that Aqua had stepped in to fend off the remaining tendrils, as he temporarily stopped concentrating on their opponent.