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

[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."