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.

Comments

[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.

[noimgeorge]

Fred winced. Now there was a scream he never would have expected from a woman, let alone one as beautiful as Queen Mab. It was better likened to the roars of the dragons Charlie worked with, rather than one of the Sidhe. And before he had much of a chance to react, she was on the attack once more, deadly ice lancing toward him. He managed to evade it due the adrenaline racing through his veins, and even then, only just.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, watching the attack pass, its wind stream rustling his hair. Turning back to the Queen, he took the most logical method of action he could think of at the moment, sending another spell racing up the ice back toward her.

Incendio!

[scarfandknives]

Knives dodged under the charging beast with the speed and grace of... well, a ninja. She still took a glancing blow of icy claws to her shoulder, the low flat dodge of hers giving her ample time to remove her scarf. The teenager from Toronto swung over her feline attacker landing firmly on the beast's back, her scarf looping around the creature's neck.

A sadistic very un-Knives-like cackle escaped the girl's lips as she pulled her scarf tight like a garrote. The beast thrashing against Knives provided its own special brand of sound effects flying in all directions as Knives played bull rider, ignoring the ice and snow across the battlefield like it was nothing. A cruel look in her eyes as she did so, but only for a moment.

YOU ARE NOT DRIVING! My body, you're an imaginary friend! You will give me strength and healing and you will BACK OFF! Knives boomed inside her mind at the figure of Azazel, her own special guardian Angel. A shadow of a fallen angel, sure, but still an angel. Providing her with help, but not overstepping again. "Bad kitty, down, down, heel!" Knives chided the beast under her as she pulled her scarf tighter, her auxiliary weapon working for her in a move she thought she'd never have to use.

She liked direct fighting better but sometimes pulling a Solid Snake is good!

[secondcity_npc]

In the blinding chaos that was the blizzard, there was a dull telltale thunk as Pandora's box hit the snow-covered floors, its feline guardian currently wrangling viciously with Knives.

The moment fire had been called into the heart of the room, Queen Mab's attention had completely turned to Fred. It was magic, furious and gold, but unlike any of his previous spells, it had been peppered with motes of greenish light, as hot as the heart of a candle. In Fred's spell, there had been Summer fire as well as his own and Mab knew it. She was walking towards him now, unaffected by the bone-chilling winds or the rain of razor-sharp icicles.

"You dare use Summer fire against me, mortal?" she hissed, her lovely voice and face suddenly twisted and alien in rage. In her anger, she turned her back to those fighting the shadows only a few feet away. "Insignificant child, you will be the first."

Ice trickled up from the floor like sentient vines, wrapping around Fred's legs and piercing him with an unnatural chill. The ice continued to crawl upwards, immobilizing him - it would be moments before the tendrils reached his heart.

[noimgeorge]

Fred's thoughts screeched to a halt, invisibility charm failing suddenly. Dimly, he remembered expecting that to happen once he truly got into the fray, but it wasn't as if it mattered anymore, at this point. She knew he was here, where he was, and she was coming for him. He hadn't the slightest idea what she meant by "Summer fire," or why this would be such a particular offense, but it was too late to wonder now.

He hardly had time to realize what was going on before his legs were inescapably trapped. A frantically muttered Repello spell - this one for ice, not snow - died on his lips, failing repeatedly. The ice already had him in its grip, steadily creeping forwards and bringing numbness with it, which made the situation all the more frustrating. If there was one thing he'd learned to not appreciate early on, it was being numb, losing the ability to feel, physically or otherwise. If Fred had to die - and he wasn't too fond of the idea, mind you! - he would much prefer to go down in a blaze of glory, if you will. He could take the pain, the possible suffering. Anything but losing everything to cold numbness.

He tried to blast the ice away with a well-aimed blasting curse, but it kept coming relentlessly. It was up to his waist now, his left arm caught and immobilized. But his wand hand was still free, and Fred looked up at the Queen of Air and Darkness with a grin, a defiant flare in his eyes as he pointed his wand at her as she approached.

"You don't honestly think a little ice is going to stop me? Even when I have Summer fire on my side?" he asked. He still wasn't sure what that meant, exactly, but if he'd done it once, he was sure he could do it again. "Really, now, you should have just frozen my wand arm to begin with, instead of my legs. Would have gotten you much farther." He was raising the wand now, aiming directly at Queen Mab - her face, her chest, it didn't matter, if he apparently had a good weapon to combat her.

"Incendio."

[iamaman_punch]

Linkara knew Terra had darkness issues, but somehow seeing it firsthand - seeing that darkness around him reach for darkness that was coming from a decidedly unstable enemy, and knowing that Terra had something like that in him - was more than a little unsettling, in a cosmic horror sort of way.

Seeing it take him out was much worse.

"Damn it, Terra!" But things moved faster than he could - Aqua was already fending off the remaining darkness, and the spell Eraqus was casting looked a whole lot like the one he'd used to heal Linkara before this entire mess had happened, and Mab was being attacked by someone else entirely - someone who seemed to have come from nowhere - and the cat had attacked Knives, and-

And the box was on the ground, unguarded. And if that weren't enough of an indication, the big red 8-bit arrow that had appeared above it sure was.

He sprinted past the Keybearers and the darkness, past the newcomer who had taken over his job of taunting the fae queen even as he was being encased in ice - he didn't have much time - past Knives' tangle with the cat, through the wind and the snow and the ice, ignoring snow stinging in his eyes and narrow misses and glancing blows from falling icicles, until he finally got close enough and made a dive for the box. If he could get his hands on it - if he could close it - well, with any luck, it would at least help.

[secondcity_npc]

In the way most of these incidents unravel, it seemed as if time abruptly slowed as several things happened at the same time.

The entire room shuddered violently, as if a giant was shaking it from the outside. The beams crisscrossing the ceiling cracked under the weight of the heavy snow and ice, and the rest suddenly came tumbling down on their heads.

Grimalkin let out a vicious yowl, swiping at Knives with a sharpened claw and leaving behind four symmetrical red welts along her leg.

The moment the light and fire of Fred's spell flared up between him and the Unseelie Queen, Linkara grabbed hold of Pandora's Box. The empty mythical object suddenly burned white hot as it released a single powerful pulse - although hardly enough to knock anyone over - that quickly passed through the room, causing the walls to shudder as it continued even further out into the city.

The pulse seemed to even momentarily pause time as the ice sunk beneath Fred's skin from the Queen's retaliation before it too burned from what was either the heat of the box or the strange fire from Summer.

The dark shadows that had swarmed around the trio were suddenly and forcibly pulled back into the box, black magic seeping away from Terra and Aqua and Master Eraqus and sweeping itself back and vanishing.

The box vibrated for a moment, as warm as if it had been sitting out in the sun for ours, before its lid closed with a resolute click.

Nothing was left behind except a winter wonderland of a hall, the remaining few particles of snow lightly trickling from the ruined ceiling.

[eroded_earth]

Things got wobbly for Terra after that. He ignored the shouts from his Master and Linkara, still fighting to get to that damned box. However, the ice and snow continued to fall from the ceiling and his injury was not helping with his movements. He then realized he didn't have to watch his magical usage any more and just cast Cure on himself, healing the wound the best he could for now before fighting on.

He didn't stop until he felt the warm pulse wash over and through him, penetrating even the protective armor. He looked up and saw that Linkara had the box. The pulse was almost like a signal of relief then, finally, this meant it was over right? There was a loud CRACK above his head and Terra looked up in time to see the snow and ice that had covered the ceiling shift and drop down to bury them. Terra yelped and brought his keyblade and hands up to block, deflecting some of the ice but still ending up waist deep and covered in snow.

Terra shook it off and looked around, the darkness was gone and a few lone flakes drifted down. He smiled at Linkara, giving him a thumbs up before his eyes drifted past his friend and he saw the man who had been fighting directly with Mab. He frowned, was he okay?

[hiptobe_eraqus]

In the chaos of the snow, the shouting and the attacks, Eraqus almost missed Linkara making it to the box and managing to close it. It was impossible to miss the effects of it, though...the dark tendrils suddenly falling away from them, that hot pulse, and the shudder in the walls and ceiling. When the icicles came down on them, he raised his Keyblade and commanded a barrier spell over them as far as it would reach. It deflected a good amount of the ice.

There was a long moment of silence as everything settled. It took Eraqus a moment to realize that, at last, they had accomplished their goal: Mab and her pet were both gone. He exhaled slowly.

Glancing it around, it looked like everyone was okay...until he noticed the young man who had stood up to Mab herself. Even though most of the snow and ice in the building had dispersed, it still held him fast. Eraqus had never seen a blizzard spell like that before, and he didn't know if either fire or cure could fix it. Still, he made his way over to Fred, worry on his face.

[noimgeorge]

His fire spell flared, leaving his free arm full of warmth, even as the ice kept growing. It was on his chest now, just getting to his ribs. Fred's eyes flicked past the flames and the Unseelie Queen, watching Linkara sprint to the box. It was theirs. He hadn't reached it yet, but there was nothing left to stop him from getting to it. They'd won. Morgana had lost another battle.

But Queen Mab had won hers.

Fred smiled, looking back at her. The fury in her eyes was clear and cold, just like the ice creeping toward his heart. It felt as if everything had slowed down, even as a thousand thoughts flew through his mind all at once.

Not so insignificant, eh?

Hurry up, mate, get it, you can do it.

The spell doesn't look any different to me, dunno what she's all up in arms about...

And then he thought of friends. Their faces passed through his mind, as his heartbeat grew steadily more sluggish. Friends, from home and from the fake Chicago. Clare, who'd fallen in a clumsy heap before one of the greatest wizards to ever live, and how Merlin was still alive, he didn't think he'd ever understand. Dumbledore, another of the greats, would envy him for having met Merlin. Maybe he'd let the Headmaster borrow the memory for a pensieve someday. Amber... Fred wondered where she'd got to. He hadn't seen her since the false Chicago had been brought down, though he'd hoped he would. And Tonks -- had she gotten home? He hadn't seen much of her since she'd arrived. And there was always Fleur, who had found him when he'd first arrived. Greeted by a Veela girl. What a lovely welcome!

What would Titania do now, he wondered? Fred still owed her a debt for helping them out of Chicago, even if he didn't know what it was. She would get was she was owed one way or another, of that he was sure. But who would receive the debt in his absence?

Then Fred saw the faces he dreaded most: Mum... and George. What would they think of this? Would Georgie say he'd gotten the cold shoulder? No, he'd have a better one than that, certainly. And Mum... she would be upset, of course, but he couldn't bring himself to even imagine the look on her face when she found out. Except...

Except they wouldn't find out. If what Merlin had said was true -- and he had every reason to believe it was -- life had gone on as they'd planned it from the start. He'd never Apparated into Chicago by mistake; he'd gone straight to the flat above the shop, like he was supposed to. There was another version of himself there now, taking orders and always experimenting and testing new products. Like he was supposed to. They wouldn't even realize that anything had ever been different.

And somehow... that made it all better.

The ice was at his shoulders now -- she really had given him the cold shoulder, after all, ha -- his chest was going numb, and he couldn't breathe. He opened his eyes -- when had they closed? -- and stared defiantly into Mab's cold glare with a smile.

"Not too good a host, are you? Maybe you should think about adding a fireplace," Fred murmured. Numb. He hated being numb.

Fred's spell flickered out.

[iamaman_punch]

Waist-deep in snow, holding a box that felt like it'd been sitting in the sun for a few hours, blinking in surprise, and entirely intact was not how Linkara expected to end this battle. Then again, given how most of his fights ended, this was a step up. The lid of the box was firmly closed, the Fae queen was still there but not completely nuts anymore - or so it seemed - and the darkness was gone, even if there was still a ton of snow.

He couldn't help but grin a little at Terra's thumbs-up and give him one in return. Looked like he was feeling okay, at least. So was Aqua, and Knives, and Eraqus, and...his eyes tracked Eraqus' movement, watching the Master approach the fifth person in their group - the one who had been fighting Mab herself...and was currently slumped over backwards in the snow, pale and unmoving. There wasn't even a slight rise and fall of his chest, and his face was completely ashen.

That.

That wasn't.

No.

For the first time since the battle started - for the first time since they'd found Merlin, since they'd arrived in the real Chicago, since they'd taken down Mechakara, since even before then - Linkara found that he simply couldn't move. He'd gotten the box, hadn't he? It was over. They'd won this fight. Everything should be fine, at least in here.

The unmoving redhead said otherwise.

Good job, hero. You got the Macguffin. You stopped the fight. And you were too late anyway.

His grip on the box tightened, and he forced himself to calm down. This battle might have been over, but there was still a war raging outside, and he would not - could not - let what had happened here go to waste.

His eyes narrowed, and he turned to look not at his friends, but at the Fae queen they'd been trying so hard to defeat - the reason one of their number was dead in the snow. When he spoke, his words were flat and harsh, edged with all his fury and frustration at the situation - at himself - that he couldn't let out just yet. "Now what."

[secondcity_npc]

It was the calm after the storm.

As the snow gently and silently fell onto the ruined floors of Hutchinson Hall, the Unseelie Queen turned that terrible gaze from Fred's prone body to Linkara, a small and almost unconcerned frown on her dark lips.

"Titania," she said, her voice alien and dark and cold, "was settling a score by using this boy." She stood up straighter then, unaffected by the rage or sorrow that permeated the room from the others - not that she didn't care but the idea of mortal emotions was so completely foreign to her, it hardly mattered to her what their opinion of her actions was.

She smiled plainly at Linkara, gesturing elegantly to the warm box in his hand. "You mortals have waved magical battles for eras. If you want to know your last step, I suggest finding the two who started all of this."