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- Location
- In a tower. In the plane of Chaos.
Bat's compassion being highlighted? a most rare find indeed. Him being concerned about a powerful headstrong kid is common place but is always amusing to watch.
Now is Klarian going to do something to bring Ashley into things and how much does he possibly know about her/her magic? Those are things i am excited to learn about
Now is Klarian going to do something to bring Ashley into things and how much does he possibly know about her/her magic? Those are things i am excited to learn about
Chapter 7: Stumble
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Hellflame Dragon's Stigmata."
The resulting explosion tore through the door easily, but I couldn't help but frown as a bit of flame still spat out back towards me. I thought I'd managed to get the spell set up properly this time, so the explosion would only be one-way, but it looked like I hadn't quite managed it after all. I mean, that's why I was still practicing with it after all, but it was still annoying.
At least it got the job done. Not opening the door, but blasting through whatever obstruction was wedging it closed on the other side, allowing me to swing it open easily. Sure, I could have just forced it open with pure brute strength, but I clearly needed to practice with my new spell. Plus, it wasn't like anyone else was here besides Al and a couple others who knew that an explosion from where I was last seen wasn't anything to worry about.
For the record, "here" was an abandoned store not far from the complex we'd settled down at a few days ago after the whole Amazo fiasco. I'm not entirely sure why it was abandoned, but unless there was some sort of toxic waste here (which I doubted, I would've smelled it from a mile off), it didn't really matter to me. We were here to scavenge whatever the old store owners may have left behind that we could use.
I highly doubted we were the first people here, but people tended to overlook things on the first or second passes, so there might still be some canned food or blankets or something we could still find that we could use. Plus, well, any other scavengers didn't have me, which definitely opened up some options for us. Like, say, getting into a blocked-off storage room.
Hefting the tattered old bag I'd brought with me, I made my way through the storage room, looking over shelves as I hunted for anything we could use. It was a good thing I'd liberated my left arm from its cast, since most of what I was finding (mostly canned food that wouldn't go bad for a long time) was on the upper shelves that required a bit of stretching or even climbing to get to. Al had not been happy when I'd torn the plaster off just a few days after I'd gotten the cast in the first place, but I could tell the arm wasn't broken or sprained, and I knew from experience that anything less than that would be well-healed by now. Heck, even if it had been broken, I'd probably be taking it off in a little less than a week with how fast I healed.
I'd all but finished looking in the room when a glimpse of something on a top shelf caught my eye. It took a moment of clambering up, trying not to put too much weight on anything liable to collapse under me, but eventually I'd managed to bring myself to eye level with what I thought I'd seen, and confirm that yes, I had in fact seen it.
"Jackpot," I grinned, grabbing the lucky find and tossing it into my bag.
My search complete, I made my way back to the group at large, who were gathering together at the back of the store. Al noticed me walking up, and raised his hand in greeting, drawing the attention of the other adults with us – Leeroy, a balding man in desperate need of glasses, Amanda, an older woman with long sleeves even in the summer heat, which I knew hid fading track marks, and Sammy, a small guy who reminded me a bit of a rodent. All good people we'd run into at some point or another, all with their own stories, just like us.
"Didja find anything good, Ash?" Al asked as I stopped before them. "I know we did!"
I sniffed the air experimentally. "Is… Is that strawberry? Did you guys manage to find fruit?" I asked, surprised. "How was it not rotten already?"
Sammy shrugged. "Looks like they forgot to shut down the power. One of their fridge units was still on. It was almost picked clean, but I managed to wriggle in a bit and find a pack no one had noticed. It's not gonna last long, but it's not completely moldy yet, so we should be able to finish 'em off tonight."
"And he's not the only one!" Amanda said cheerily, pulling her own bag up. "I found a few shirts and pants! We'll have to see if they fit anyone!"
"I found a few bags of chips myself," Leeroy reported with a shrug. "They haven't been opened yet, so I don't think they're stale, but I don't know if or when chips go bad."
"And we all found a few cans of veggies and soup," Al finished off. "Nothing too special on my end, though."
I chuckled. "Damn, a good haul all around them. I found a few cans myself, but…" I flashed a grin at them as I pulled my find out from the top of my bag. "More importantly, I found a couple boxes of these!"
Everyone blinked at my discovery. "Really, Ash?" Al asked in a tone that couldn't quite hide his fondness. "Twinkies?"
"Hey, come on, these babies last forever!" I cackled as I put the white-and-blue box back. "Plus, you know the twins are gonna be all over them, when's the last time they got something this sweet? Hell, when's the last time any of us got a treat like this?"
A few murmurs among the others rose in agreement, and Al chuckled himself. "Fair enough, Ash. Fair enough. Welp!" He clapped his hand against his thigh in lieu of clapping. "Everyone good?"
"Yep!"
"Yeah."
"We're good!"
"Good to go!"
"Perfect! Let's head back to the complex, then!"
* * * * *
Someone had found a metal trash can and dragged it into a large central area of the complex by the time we got back, and everyone had taken a turn to throw something flammable into it. Mostly garbage, but there were a few broken wooden boards and such as well.
All in all, it made for a merry little fire I'd taken the opportunity to light up. Sure, the smell left a bit to be desired, but I'm pretty sure I was the one most affected by that, and a couple pans and pots we'd gotten together over the years meant that was quickly overtaken by the smell of warm broth filling our little camp.
As our dinner was cooking, Sammy took the opportunity to pass the box of strawberries along, making sure everyone got at least one to eat for themselves. A few canned vegetables were added to the soup as it cooked, and we managed to scrounge up enough bowls and mugs to pass around, filling our bellies as best as we could.
After we'd eaten, one of the other teenagers, a guy with an acne-scarred face called Johnny, took out his guitar, one of his only actual possessions he used to help panhandle for money sometimes, playing it for whatever tips people would offer him. I'd bugged him once to help teach me, but the lessons ended up nearly driving the others crazy with the off-tune plucking I produced. At least I had a passable singing voice, and I and several others ended up singing a bit (if slightly off-key) to whatever songs Johnny cared to play for us.
And, of course, I'd brought out the boxes of Twinkies for everyone later on. Fred and Suzy's ear-rending shrieks of excitement at that had made my night, for all that my ears were still ringing hours later.
Now, I had found myself on the roof once again as people fell asleep beneath me, gazing out at the New York skyline. Every so often, I swear I would see a yellowish streak of energy going from one point of the city to another, sometimes close, sometimes far.
Rumor had it that a few Justice League members had started patrolling the city more often. Jon Stewart was a given, this was the closest thing he had to territory, but Superman had also been spotted a couple of times, and Captain Atom was apparently all over the damn place over the past couple of days.
I'm sure the official story was that they were looking for whoever created Amazo, or were trying to quell the general uprising of minor crimes that always seemed to follow a major villain attack. I'm also sure the official reason was a load of bull. They were looking for me.
I… wasn't sure how to feel about it, to be honest. I doubted there was any malice in their actions, they were probably just worried about me vanishing from my hospital room so soon after I'd gotten hurt helping them out. And even on the off-chance their reasons weren't quite so benevolent, I could see where their fears may have come from. A normal wizard just… popping out of nowhere would have been bad enough. A Dragon Slayer? We were different, and not necessarily in a good way. The League probably didn't know anything about Dragon Slayers, I doubted anyone on Earth besides me did, but you didn't have to know exactly what that meant to see how dangerous we were.
But… if they wanted to recruit me…
I shook the silly thought out of my head before it could even finish forming. No, I was some random stranger, they wouldn't want me in the Justice League yet, if ever. And even if they wanted to, I dunno, take me under their wing, I couldn't just… leave the little community I'd helped Al build over the past couple of years. The League… they did their best, but even they couldn't save everyone, especially not people who everyone seemed to forget existed unless it was to complain about them. If I didn't care for these people, who would?
My musings were interrupted by the flash of something across the street, on another rooftop. I drew my head up from where it had been resting on my knees, frowning. I was ready to dismiss whatever that had been when I saw it again, something small, moving on the opposite rooftop. I scrambled to my feet, tensed, and jumped. I may not have been able to fly like Superman or Captain Atom, but I was plenty strong enough to "leap tall buildings in a single bound", or cross the street without needing to touch anything but the rooftops.
I landed and looked around. There was… nothing here, not anymore, but a smell lingered in the air, one I couldn't quite place. I hadn't noticed it before due to being upwind of this building, but now that I was here I could hardly miss it with how cloying it was. I'd never smelled anything like it.
Another flicker of movement, another building a few rooftops away. No streets to cross this time, not of the same block, but I did have to leap over a couple of alleyways to reach it. The smell was even stronger here, but once again, whatever I had seen was gone.
A creeping suspicion was building in my gut, one that only worsened once I caught a flicker again across another street. I glanced back towards the complex, but it was dark, the fire having gone out by now. Nothing I could hear, though. Gulping, I turned back and chased after the movement, silently swearing that if I couldn't catch up to whatever it was within the next few minutes, I'd turn back.
It only took a few more building hops, however, before I managed to catch up to the thing. By that point, my suspicion had grown worse, and by the time I reached it I was almost certain that what I was smelling was some kind of magic, though what kind I couldn't say. My experience with other types of magic here on Earth was… limited. So with no other way to identify what it was, I was ready for a fight by the time I touched down on the last building in my chase.
Instead of another mage, though,I found myself face-to-face with a cat.
"What?" I blinked and crouched down, studying it. It looked like a housecat, orange with darker stripes decorating its fur and a black collar around its neck, casually licking its paw as it sat a short distance away from me. But it was definitely no ordinary cat – whatever magic I had been smelling was rolling off this thing in waves, not just a smell anymore but something I could physically feel, and when it opened its eyes to look at me, they were solid red all the way through save for the two pinpricks of its pupils.
A familiar.
No sooner had the thought crossed by mind than I was back on my feet, racing back to the complex. I didn't know much about familiars, but I knew they couldn't go far from their masters. And this one had been drawing me away from the complex, which meant…
No, couldn't think about that now. I was only gone for a couple of minutes. Everyone should still be fine, even with magic there's only so much you can do in that time.
I slammed into the ground before the entrance of the complex, foregoing the roof to instead head for the entrance closest to where everyone was gathered. It was mere moments before I was at the door, wrenching it open and racing inside.
Too late, I realized that the smell of magic had not lessened this far from the familiar. If anything, it had gotten so, so much stronger when I returned, far more than the familiar itself had ever put off.
But even that couldn't fully mask the iron smell of freshly-spilled blood.
The resulting explosion tore through the door easily, but I couldn't help but frown as a bit of flame still spat out back towards me. I thought I'd managed to get the spell set up properly this time, so the explosion would only be one-way, but it looked like I hadn't quite managed it after all. I mean, that's why I was still practicing with it after all, but it was still annoying.
At least it got the job done. Not opening the door, but blasting through whatever obstruction was wedging it closed on the other side, allowing me to swing it open easily. Sure, I could have just forced it open with pure brute strength, but I clearly needed to practice with my new spell. Plus, it wasn't like anyone else was here besides Al and a couple others who knew that an explosion from where I was last seen wasn't anything to worry about.
For the record, "here" was an abandoned store not far from the complex we'd settled down at a few days ago after the whole Amazo fiasco. I'm not entirely sure why it was abandoned, but unless there was some sort of toxic waste here (which I doubted, I would've smelled it from a mile off), it didn't really matter to me. We were here to scavenge whatever the old store owners may have left behind that we could use.
I highly doubted we were the first people here, but people tended to overlook things on the first or second passes, so there might still be some canned food or blankets or something we could still find that we could use. Plus, well, any other scavengers didn't have me, which definitely opened up some options for us. Like, say, getting into a blocked-off storage room.
Hefting the tattered old bag I'd brought with me, I made my way through the storage room, looking over shelves as I hunted for anything we could use. It was a good thing I'd liberated my left arm from its cast, since most of what I was finding (mostly canned food that wouldn't go bad for a long time) was on the upper shelves that required a bit of stretching or even climbing to get to. Al had not been happy when I'd torn the plaster off just a few days after I'd gotten the cast in the first place, but I could tell the arm wasn't broken or sprained, and I knew from experience that anything less than that would be well-healed by now. Heck, even if it had been broken, I'd probably be taking it off in a little less than a week with how fast I healed.
I'd all but finished looking in the room when a glimpse of something on a top shelf caught my eye. It took a moment of clambering up, trying not to put too much weight on anything liable to collapse under me, but eventually I'd managed to bring myself to eye level with what I thought I'd seen, and confirm that yes, I had in fact seen it.
"Jackpot," I grinned, grabbing the lucky find and tossing it into my bag.
My search complete, I made my way back to the group at large, who were gathering together at the back of the store. Al noticed me walking up, and raised his hand in greeting, drawing the attention of the other adults with us – Leeroy, a balding man in desperate need of glasses, Amanda, an older woman with long sleeves even in the summer heat, which I knew hid fading track marks, and Sammy, a small guy who reminded me a bit of a rodent. All good people we'd run into at some point or another, all with their own stories, just like us.
"Didja find anything good, Ash?" Al asked as I stopped before them. "I know we did!"
I sniffed the air experimentally. "Is… Is that strawberry? Did you guys manage to find fruit?" I asked, surprised. "How was it not rotten already?"
Sammy shrugged. "Looks like they forgot to shut down the power. One of their fridge units was still on. It was almost picked clean, but I managed to wriggle in a bit and find a pack no one had noticed. It's not gonna last long, but it's not completely moldy yet, so we should be able to finish 'em off tonight."
"And he's not the only one!" Amanda said cheerily, pulling her own bag up. "I found a few shirts and pants! We'll have to see if they fit anyone!"
"I found a few bags of chips myself," Leeroy reported with a shrug. "They haven't been opened yet, so I don't think they're stale, but I don't know if or when chips go bad."
"And we all found a few cans of veggies and soup," Al finished off. "Nothing too special on my end, though."
I chuckled. "Damn, a good haul all around them. I found a few cans myself, but…" I flashed a grin at them as I pulled my find out from the top of my bag. "More importantly, I found a couple boxes of these!"
Everyone blinked at my discovery. "Really, Ash?" Al asked in a tone that couldn't quite hide his fondness. "Twinkies?"
"Hey, come on, these babies last forever!" I cackled as I put the white-and-blue box back. "Plus, you know the twins are gonna be all over them, when's the last time they got something this sweet? Hell, when's the last time any of us got a treat like this?"
A few murmurs among the others rose in agreement, and Al chuckled himself. "Fair enough, Ash. Fair enough. Welp!" He clapped his hand against his thigh in lieu of clapping. "Everyone good?"
"Yep!"
"Yeah."
"We're good!"
"Good to go!"
"Perfect! Let's head back to the complex, then!"
* * * * *
Someone had found a metal trash can and dragged it into a large central area of the complex by the time we got back, and everyone had taken a turn to throw something flammable into it. Mostly garbage, but there were a few broken wooden boards and such as well.
All in all, it made for a merry little fire I'd taken the opportunity to light up. Sure, the smell left a bit to be desired, but I'm pretty sure I was the one most affected by that, and a couple pans and pots we'd gotten together over the years meant that was quickly overtaken by the smell of warm broth filling our little camp.
As our dinner was cooking, Sammy took the opportunity to pass the box of strawberries along, making sure everyone got at least one to eat for themselves. A few canned vegetables were added to the soup as it cooked, and we managed to scrounge up enough bowls and mugs to pass around, filling our bellies as best as we could.
After we'd eaten, one of the other teenagers, a guy with an acne-scarred face called Johnny, took out his guitar, one of his only actual possessions he used to help panhandle for money sometimes, playing it for whatever tips people would offer him. I'd bugged him once to help teach me, but the lessons ended up nearly driving the others crazy with the off-tune plucking I produced. At least I had a passable singing voice, and I and several others ended up singing a bit (if slightly off-key) to whatever songs Johnny cared to play for us.
And, of course, I'd brought out the boxes of Twinkies for everyone later on. Fred and Suzy's ear-rending shrieks of excitement at that had made my night, for all that my ears were still ringing hours later.
Now, I had found myself on the roof once again as people fell asleep beneath me, gazing out at the New York skyline. Every so often, I swear I would see a yellowish streak of energy going from one point of the city to another, sometimes close, sometimes far.
Rumor had it that a few Justice League members had started patrolling the city more often. Jon Stewart was a given, this was the closest thing he had to territory, but Superman had also been spotted a couple of times, and Captain Atom was apparently all over the damn place over the past couple of days.
I'm sure the official story was that they were looking for whoever created Amazo, or were trying to quell the general uprising of minor crimes that always seemed to follow a major villain attack. I'm also sure the official reason was a load of bull. They were looking for me.
I… wasn't sure how to feel about it, to be honest. I doubted there was any malice in their actions, they were probably just worried about me vanishing from my hospital room so soon after I'd gotten hurt helping them out. And even on the off-chance their reasons weren't quite so benevolent, I could see where their fears may have come from. A normal wizard just… popping out of nowhere would have been bad enough. A Dragon Slayer? We were different, and not necessarily in a good way. The League probably didn't know anything about Dragon Slayers, I doubted anyone on Earth besides me did, but you didn't have to know exactly what that meant to see how dangerous we were.
But… if they wanted to recruit me…
I shook the silly thought out of my head before it could even finish forming. No, I was some random stranger, they wouldn't want me in the Justice League yet, if ever. And even if they wanted to, I dunno, take me under their wing, I couldn't just… leave the little community I'd helped Al build over the past couple of years. The League… they did their best, but even they couldn't save everyone, especially not people who everyone seemed to forget existed unless it was to complain about them. If I didn't care for these people, who would?
My musings were interrupted by the flash of something across the street, on another rooftop. I drew my head up from where it had been resting on my knees, frowning. I was ready to dismiss whatever that had been when I saw it again, something small, moving on the opposite rooftop. I scrambled to my feet, tensed, and jumped. I may not have been able to fly like Superman or Captain Atom, but I was plenty strong enough to "leap tall buildings in a single bound", or cross the street without needing to touch anything but the rooftops.
I landed and looked around. There was… nothing here, not anymore, but a smell lingered in the air, one I couldn't quite place. I hadn't noticed it before due to being upwind of this building, but now that I was here I could hardly miss it with how cloying it was. I'd never smelled anything like it.
Another flicker of movement, another building a few rooftops away. No streets to cross this time, not of the same block, but I did have to leap over a couple of alleyways to reach it. The smell was even stronger here, but once again, whatever I had seen was gone.
A creeping suspicion was building in my gut, one that only worsened once I caught a flicker again across another street. I glanced back towards the complex, but it was dark, the fire having gone out by now. Nothing I could hear, though. Gulping, I turned back and chased after the movement, silently swearing that if I couldn't catch up to whatever it was within the next few minutes, I'd turn back.
It only took a few more building hops, however, before I managed to catch up to the thing. By that point, my suspicion had grown worse, and by the time I reached it I was almost certain that what I was smelling was some kind of magic, though what kind I couldn't say. My experience with other types of magic here on Earth was… limited. So with no other way to identify what it was, I was ready for a fight by the time I touched down on the last building in my chase.
Instead of another mage, though,I found myself face-to-face with a cat.
"What?" I blinked and crouched down, studying it. It looked like a housecat, orange with darker stripes decorating its fur and a black collar around its neck, casually licking its paw as it sat a short distance away from me. But it was definitely no ordinary cat – whatever magic I had been smelling was rolling off this thing in waves, not just a smell anymore but something I could physically feel, and when it opened its eyes to look at me, they were solid red all the way through save for the two pinpricks of its pupils.
A familiar.
No sooner had the thought crossed by mind than I was back on my feet, racing back to the complex. I didn't know much about familiars, but I knew they couldn't go far from their masters. And this one had been drawing me away from the complex, which meant…
No, couldn't think about that now. I was only gone for a couple of minutes. Everyone should still be fine, even with magic there's only so much you can do in that time.
I slammed into the ground before the entrance of the complex, foregoing the roof to instead head for the entrance closest to where everyone was gathered. It was mere moments before I was at the door, wrenching it open and racing inside.
Too late, I realized that the smell of magic had not lessened this far from the familiar. If anything, it had gotten so, so much stronger when I returned, far more than the familiar itself had ever put off.
But even that couldn't fully mask the iron smell of freshly-spilled blood.
Welp looks like Ashely is going to get a chance to eat some Chaos pretty soon.
- Location
- In the Grail's Church
Wait, what Gen Dragonslayer is Ash? Didn't almost all of them have that thing that turns them into a dragon? Or did Atlas Flame (or whoever the Hellfire dragon was, I don't remember) also do the thing were he went into her soul and suppressed the dragonification?
Thanks for the chapter!
Chapter 8: Fall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I gagged and stumbled, barely catching myself on the wall before I fell to the floor. The stench… The stench of blood… it was… oh god…
I… I had to calm down. Even if something had happened here… I…
No, focus. I can't think about it. Not until I know for sure… One way or another.
It took far more effort than I'd like to admit, but I managed to pull myself up and keep moving. It… everyone was just a bit further inside. If I could get there in time… Even if someone was hurt, I could use my flame, cauterize the wound. They'd need more help than that, but I could buy them the time we need to… to get some help from somewhere. I… No one here had any insurance, we couldn't afford a hospital, but sometimes there were clinics willing to… to look the other way every so often, when there was someone that could help…
I couldn't let myself think of the other possibilities. Just keep going… one foot in front of the other. The room's just up ahead, I just need to… I need to…
I stopped dead upon entering the room.
It was… empty. No one was in here. Not just that, but… it looked like no one had been in here for a while. We… we'd scrounged together blankets and sleeping bags over the years, but now there was… nothing here at all.
"What the hell..?" I breathed out. I couldn't even breathe through my nose anymore, the scent of blood was so thick, but… There was no blood in here at all. "What the hell's going on..? Where the hell is everyone..?"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about them!"
A voice… It came from right behind me. I started, stumbling forward a few steps, and whirled around to face the speaker.
He looked… young. I was always bad at guessing ages, but he could have been anywhere from a very tall 8-year-old to just a year or two younger than me. He was dressed in some kind of… robes, I guess? Looked like some sort of fancy school uniform almost, mixed with what I'd call a wizard Halloween costume. He was pale enough to be a vampire, his fingernails sharpened into claws and black hair fashioned up into horns… or maybe those were horns, blending into his hair. Beady eyes gleamed with mirth over a sadistic grin.
And his scent…
It was him. He was what smelled like blood. But it didn't smell like he was covered in it or anything. No, it was something more… innate, like nothing I'd ever smelled before. And beneath it, an undercurrent of… of rotting, cloying, of a million scents mixed together changing second to second, and yet one I recognized all the same…
"It was you." My voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "Your cat, your… familiar. You baited me out."
The boy cackled, clapping his hands together. "Oh, yes, I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain! All the details are so… boring, anyways." He held his arms out, and the cat melted out of the shadows to leap into them, purring as he stroked it. "Sorry about that, anyways. I wanted a couple minutes to, ah, set everything up all nice and pretty, and Teekl was happy to help me out there."
I stared for a moment before my hands balled up into fists, my lips peeling back from my teeth. "What the fuck did you do with them, you little shit?!"
He just sighed in response. "Language, please. I'm just a boy, you know."
"Why you-!" I lunged at him, but he just… melted into shadow as I went to hit him. I nearly fell over before I pulled myself up and turned back to the center of the room, where the kid was reforming.
"Now, now, they haven't gone anywhere!" He held up a finger and wagged it at me. "In fact, they're not going anywhere for a while, so we have plenty of time to talk!"
"BULlSHIT! They were just here a minute ago, what did you-?!"
The boy just rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and my stomach lurched as the room… unfolded, I guess, twisting itself into eye-watering curves as the roof above us opened up. I fell on my ass as the floor heaved, and when I looked up, I could see the night sky… still there, but with some sort of… bloody filter over it, tinting the stars and moon red.
"See? They haven't gone anywhere – we did!" He giggled. "A little playroom of my own, just a little to the left of reality. Somewhere we can talk in private~."
I pushed myself back to my feet as the room stilled again, glaring at him. But… If he really did put us here, in this… pocket dimension or whatever it was… That had to take a ton of magic, and he didn't seem phased at all by it. He… he was probably stronger than me… but he wanted to talk, and he said… everyone was still where we left them… Though I couldn't be sure if he'd done anything to them.
"Who. Are you. And what. Do you want?" I bit out.
"See, communication! Now we're getting somewhere!" The cat – Teekl – leapt down from his arms as he gave me a bow. "My name is Klarion. Klarion the Witch Boy. And you, Miss Ashley, are what I want."
I snorted, folding my arms. "Pass. You're way too young for me, and that's only the tip of the 'No' iceberg."
"Not like that, you silly moose!" Teekl meowed up at him, and he waved a hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, goose, she gets what I mean. No, see, I saw what happened in New York a week ago."
"Amazo," I growled. "Don't tell me you-"
"No, no, nothing like that. Ivo makes fun toys, but he doesn't even know how to have fun with them! I wouldn't be caught dead working with a dullard like him. But you!" Klarion's smile widens as he claps his hands together, until it's several molars wider than should even be possible on a human face. "Oh, that flame of yours! I like fire, you know. It's not as flashy as, oh, rearranging all the orifices on someone's face, for instance, but sometimes it's good to just… go with the basics, see how you can use them to break your toys in new and inventive ways!"
The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling at his words, but I forced myself to adopt a deadpan expression. "Okay. Fire. Basic. Yeah, I get it. But why come to me for it? I mean, if you're this powerful of a mage," I gestured at the… everything around us, "can't you just… make your own fire? Why come to me about it? And," I add, clenching my hand back into a fist, "why piss me off to do it?"
"Heheheh… You're right, I could probably just do it myself… But that's not all I saw." Suddenly, Klarion's right in front of me, and I barely keep myself from flinching. "I wasn't so sure at first, but that's why I wanted to see you in person… And I think I was right."
His eyes changed, irises going from black to red as he grew more animated. "Most humans mages, they're like… like puddles, see? They can be wide, do a lot of things, but it's… shallow. They just don't have the power for more than a few hedge tricks. Oh, but you, Miss Ashley…"
I yelped as his arms shot out and gripped mine. "What-?"
"You're a well. I can see it, feel it. You can't do anything but fire, but when you drink from your magic, you drink deep. Deeper than I thought a human could ever be! It's… What's the word?"
Mrreow.
"Exhilarating! Thank you, Teekl. It's almost a shame that it's just fire, because if you could use other types of magic… Oh, the possibilities! And here's the thing, Miss Ashley. I think that I could help you learn those other types of magic."
My mouth fell open as I gaped at him. "... You're serious."
"Oh, I'm never serious! Still… You called me young, Miss, and I am, but I'm also old. Really old, older than most anyone on this little dirtball of a planet. I've learned a lot over the years, you know, and while I don't like reusing old tricks too much, seeing them in new hands… Oh, that could be just the shakeup I need to get out of this rut I've been having."
"... And what about my people?"
Klarion blinked. "Hmm? Those hobos? Eh, who needs 'em?"
I fixed my gaze on him, snarling. "They are my people. And if that's your attitude, then sorry, brat, but no deal!" And with that, I set my arms on fire, burning his hands clean off.
Klarion hissed, jumping back even as his hands reformed out of ash. "Oh, Miss Ashley…" His face… contorted, his eyes becoming nothing more than crimson dots and his skin talking on an unearthly pallor. "I never said you were going to have a choice." Red light bloomed in his palms, and he unleashed a torrent of lightning at me. I crossed my arms, taking the impact of the magic on my flames, and leapt into the fray.
"You never answered me!" I roared as I brought a flaming foot down on the spot Klarion was – had been, he was already gone. "WHat the hell did you do with them!"
"Wouldn't you like to know!" he taunted, flicking his fingers up. I jumped to avoid the ground reaching up, trying to swallow me, and flipped onto the wall. "I might have let them go if you'd been nicer, you know! Now I guess they're gonna stay right where they are until someone finds them! I bet it'll only take, oh, a couple of months? HEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I launched myself off the wall at him, even as he erected a crimson barrier of magic around himself and Teekl. My fist impacted it, then the rest of me flipped around and landed on it, letting me punch it again, and again, and again.
Klarion scowled, his face back to normal-ish, as cracks started appearing on the dome. "Naughty, naughty. Break your own toys!"
I leapt off the dome as it transformed, spikes erupting from its surface. But I wasn't fast enough, and I barely kept myself from screaming as my foot was pierced straight through, even as I pushed myself off of it. My landing was… more of a crumble as I hit the ground, my foot unable to support my weight.
"Now then," the spike ball vanished, "let's try this again."
This time, I couldn't hold back my scream as red lightning slammed into me, sending me skidding along the floor. I couldn't… My magic… It hurt, it hurt so much. Worse than anything Amazo ever did to me.
And then, it cut off. I took in a ragged breath, dimly aware I'd curled up into a fetal position at some point during the assault. Klarion was speaking.
"You know, this would have been so much easier if you'd been all power-hungry instead of soft and boring. Who even cares about those stupid little people? But I'm not letting someone as interesting as you get away, not when I can do so much with you!"
I… My friends. He did something to them, and if I couldn't get back to them… But how..?
"Are you even still awake? I hope so, I don't want to break you yet."
… Klarion said we were "to the left of reality." Does… that mean..? And earlier, in the city, I saw the lights… Captain Atom…
"We still have so much fun to do first!"
I groaned, but rolled over and put my arms beneath me, clambering to my feet. "God, do you ever shut up?" I spat out, taking several deep breaths in.
"Oh good, you're still alive!" Klarion rubbed his hands together, the red light of his magic billowing out in a mockery of flames. "Now, last chance. You wanna come with me all quietly, or do I hafta start getting creative?"
I closed my eyes, and breathed in. Not just breathing in the air, but breathing in fire, magic, even as foul as it felt in this place Klarion had made, letting it fill my lungs, my belly, my entire body.
"Tch, guess that's my answer! Thanks for leaving yourself wide open, though!"
Klarion's magic shot forth from him, but I had just enough time to plant my feet… and Roar. Not at Klarion, but up, up into the sky, a sky that Klarion had tinted but hadn't changed even as he warped the rest of our environment.
"Wait, what are you..? NonononononoNONONO!"
Hellflame Dragon's Roar.
The blood-scented magic slammed into me even as Klarion screeched, but I couldn't bring myself to care, using my last moments of vision, of consciousness, to watch my flames climb up and up…
Until they slammed into and shattered the blood-red night sky, billowing back out into reality and lighting up the street for the whole city to see.
I… I had to calm down. Even if something had happened here… I…
No, focus. I can't think about it. Not until I know for sure… One way or another.
It took far more effort than I'd like to admit, but I managed to pull myself up and keep moving. It… everyone was just a bit further inside. If I could get there in time… Even if someone was hurt, I could use my flame, cauterize the wound. They'd need more help than that, but I could buy them the time we need to… to get some help from somewhere. I… No one here had any insurance, we couldn't afford a hospital, but sometimes there were clinics willing to… to look the other way every so often, when there was someone that could help…
I couldn't let myself think of the other possibilities. Just keep going… one foot in front of the other. The room's just up ahead, I just need to… I need to…
I stopped dead upon entering the room.
It was… empty. No one was in here. Not just that, but… it looked like no one had been in here for a while. We… we'd scrounged together blankets and sleeping bags over the years, but now there was… nothing here at all.
"What the hell..?" I breathed out. I couldn't even breathe through my nose anymore, the scent of blood was so thick, but… There was no blood in here at all. "What the hell's going on..? Where the hell is everyone..?"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about them!"
A voice… It came from right behind me. I started, stumbling forward a few steps, and whirled around to face the speaker.
He looked… young. I was always bad at guessing ages, but he could have been anywhere from a very tall 8-year-old to just a year or two younger than me. He was dressed in some kind of… robes, I guess? Looked like some sort of fancy school uniform almost, mixed with what I'd call a wizard Halloween costume. He was pale enough to be a vampire, his fingernails sharpened into claws and black hair fashioned up into horns… or maybe those were horns, blending into his hair. Beady eyes gleamed with mirth over a sadistic grin.
And his scent…
It was him. He was what smelled like blood. But it didn't smell like he was covered in it or anything. No, it was something more… innate, like nothing I'd ever smelled before. And beneath it, an undercurrent of… of rotting, cloying, of a million scents mixed together changing second to second, and yet one I recognized all the same…
"It was you." My voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "Your cat, your… familiar. You baited me out."
The boy cackled, clapping his hands together. "Oh, yes, I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain! All the details are so… boring, anyways." He held his arms out, and the cat melted out of the shadows to leap into them, purring as he stroked it. "Sorry about that, anyways. I wanted a couple minutes to, ah, set everything up all nice and pretty, and Teekl was happy to help me out there."
I stared for a moment before my hands balled up into fists, my lips peeling back from my teeth. "What the fuck did you do with them, you little shit?!"
He just sighed in response. "Language, please. I'm just a boy, you know."
"Why you-!" I lunged at him, but he just… melted into shadow as I went to hit him. I nearly fell over before I pulled myself up and turned back to the center of the room, where the kid was reforming.
"Now, now, they haven't gone anywhere!" He held up a finger and wagged it at me. "In fact, they're not going anywhere for a while, so we have plenty of time to talk!"
"BULlSHIT! They were just here a minute ago, what did you-?!"
The boy just rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and my stomach lurched as the room… unfolded, I guess, twisting itself into eye-watering curves as the roof above us opened up. I fell on my ass as the floor heaved, and when I looked up, I could see the night sky… still there, but with some sort of… bloody filter over it, tinting the stars and moon red.
"See? They haven't gone anywhere – we did!" He giggled. "A little playroom of my own, just a little to the left of reality. Somewhere we can talk in private~."
I pushed myself back to my feet as the room stilled again, glaring at him. But… If he really did put us here, in this… pocket dimension or whatever it was… That had to take a ton of magic, and he didn't seem phased at all by it. He… he was probably stronger than me… but he wanted to talk, and he said… everyone was still where we left them… Though I couldn't be sure if he'd done anything to them.
"Who. Are you. And what. Do you want?" I bit out.
"See, communication! Now we're getting somewhere!" The cat – Teekl – leapt down from his arms as he gave me a bow. "My name is Klarion. Klarion the Witch Boy. And you, Miss Ashley, are what I want."
I snorted, folding my arms. "Pass. You're way too young for me, and that's only the tip of the 'No' iceberg."
"Not like that, you silly moose!" Teekl meowed up at him, and he waved a hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, goose, she gets what I mean. No, see, I saw what happened in New York a week ago."
"Amazo," I growled. "Don't tell me you-"
"No, no, nothing like that. Ivo makes fun toys, but he doesn't even know how to have fun with them! I wouldn't be caught dead working with a dullard like him. But you!" Klarion's smile widens as he claps his hands together, until it's several molars wider than should even be possible on a human face. "Oh, that flame of yours! I like fire, you know. It's not as flashy as, oh, rearranging all the orifices on someone's face, for instance, but sometimes it's good to just… go with the basics, see how you can use them to break your toys in new and inventive ways!"
The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling at his words, but I forced myself to adopt a deadpan expression. "Okay. Fire. Basic. Yeah, I get it. But why come to me for it? I mean, if you're this powerful of a mage," I gestured at the… everything around us, "can't you just… make your own fire? Why come to me about it? And," I add, clenching my hand back into a fist, "why piss me off to do it?"
"Heheheh… You're right, I could probably just do it myself… But that's not all I saw." Suddenly, Klarion's right in front of me, and I barely keep myself from flinching. "I wasn't so sure at first, but that's why I wanted to see you in person… And I think I was right."
His eyes changed, irises going from black to red as he grew more animated. "Most humans mages, they're like… like puddles, see? They can be wide, do a lot of things, but it's… shallow. They just don't have the power for more than a few hedge tricks. Oh, but you, Miss Ashley…"
I yelped as his arms shot out and gripped mine. "What-?"
"You're a well. I can see it, feel it. You can't do anything but fire, but when you drink from your magic, you drink deep. Deeper than I thought a human could ever be! It's… What's the word?"
Mrreow.
"Exhilarating! Thank you, Teekl. It's almost a shame that it's just fire, because if you could use other types of magic… Oh, the possibilities! And here's the thing, Miss Ashley. I think that I could help you learn those other types of magic."
My mouth fell open as I gaped at him. "... You're serious."
"Oh, I'm never serious! Still… You called me young, Miss, and I am, but I'm also old. Really old, older than most anyone on this little dirtball of a planet. I've learned a lot over the years, you know, and while I don't like reusing old tricks too much, seeing them in new hands… Oh, that could be just the shakeup I need to get out of this rut I've been having."
"... And what about my people?"
Klarion blinked. "Hmm? Those hobos? Eh, who needs 'em?"
I fixed my gaze on him, snarling. "They are my people. And if that's your attitude, then sorry, brat, but no deal!" And with that, I set my arms on fire, burning his hands clean off.
Klarion hissed, jumping back even as his hands reformed out of ash. "Oh, Miss Ashley…" His face… contorted, his eyes becoming nothing more than crimson dots and his skin talking on an unearthly pallor. "I never said you were going to have a choice." Red light bloomed in his palms, and he unleashed a torrent of lightning at me. I crossed my arms, taking the impact of the magic on my flames, and leapt into the fray.
"You never answered me!" I roared as I brought a flaming foot down on the spot Klarion was – had been, he was already gone. "WHat the hell did you do with them!"
"Wouldn't you like to know!" he taunted, flicking his fingers up. I jumped to avoid the ground reaching up, trying to swallow me, and flipped onto the wall. "I might have let them go if you'd been nicer, you know! Now I guess they're gonna stay right where they are until someone finds them! I bet it'll only take, oh, a couple of months? HEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I launched myself off the wall at him, even as he erected a crimson barrier of magic around himself and Teekl. My fist impacted it, then the rest of me flipped around and landed on it, letting me punch it again, and again, and again.
Klarion scowled, his face back to normal-ish, as cracks started appearing on the dome. "Naughty, naughty. Break your own toys!"
I leapt off the dome as it transformed, spikes erupting from its surface. But I wasn't fast enough, and I barely kept myself from screaming as my foot was pierced straight through, even as I pushed myself off of it. My landing was… more of a crumble as I hit the ground, my foot unable to support my weight.
"Now then," the spike ball vanished, "let's try this again."
This time, I couldn't hold back my scream as red lightning slammed into me, sending me skidding along the floor. I couldn't… My magic… It hurt, it hurt so much. Worse than anything Amazo ever did to me.
And then, it cut off. I took in a ragged breath, dimly aware I'd curled up into a fetal position at some point during the assault. Klarion was speaking.
"You know, this would have been so much easier if you'd been all power-hungry instead of soft and boring. Who even cares about those stupid little people? But I'm not letting someone as interesting as you get away, not when I can do so much with you!"
I… My friends. He did something to them, and if I couldn't get back to them… But how..?
"Are you even still awake? I hope so, I don't want to break you yet."
… Klarion said we were "to the left of reality." Does… that mean..? And earlier, in the city, I saw the lights… Captain Atom…
"We still have so much fun to do first!"
I groaned, but rolled over and put my arms beneath me, clambering to my feet. "God, do you ever shut up?" I spat out, taking several deep breaths in.
"Oh good, you're still alive!" Klarion rubbed his hands together, the red light of his magic billowing out in a mockery of flames. "Now, last chance. You wanna come with me all quietly, or do I hafta start getting creative?"
I closed my eyes, and breathed in. Not just breathing in the air, but breathing in fire, magic, even as foul as it felt in this place Klarion had made, letting it fill my lungs, my belly, my entire body.
"Tch, guess that's my answer! Thanks for leaving yourself wide open, though!"
Klarion's magic shot forth from him, but I had just enough time to plant my feet… and Roar. Not at Klarion, but up, up into the sky, a sky that Klarion had tinted but hadn't changed even as he warped the rest of our environment.
"Wait, what are you..? NonononononoNONONO!"
Hellflame Dragon's Roar.
The blood-scented magic slammed into me even as Klarion screeched, but I couldn't bring myself to care, using my last moments of vision, of consciousness, to watch my flames climb up and up…
Until they slammed into and shattered the blood-red night sky, billowing back out into reality and lighting up the street for the whole city to see.
This chapter fought me. I managed to get the inspiration back once I started watching Young Justice properly all the way through again though. Especially once I got through Denial, since that's the episode the rest of this arc's gonna be based off of. Hopefully our young Dragon Slayer can pull through...
Oh, nice! I liked where this one was going, glad that you broke through your writer's block.
Klarion possibly could've gotten her on his side by offering the apprenticeship, being hands off and not an asshole. But the dude is to stupid evil.
Thanks for the Chapter!
Chapter 9: Crash Landing
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Implied torture occurs at the end of this chapter, please proceed with caution.
My return to consciousness was not a fast process. It came in fits and starts.
One moment, I was falling, staring up at the sky as black crept over the edges of my vision… Then Klarion was screeching something as I was pulled, the bloody smell of his magic washing over me… I was in a room of red and browns… A man, someone I didn't recognize, was talking, his blurry shape holding… some kind of stick? Or maybe a wand…
My final return to the waking world was accompanied by a groan. I wasn't sure how long I'd been floating around in that drifting, half-awake state, but once I exited it, I was hit with the bone-deep pain and exhaustion. A side-effect of whatever Klarion had cast on me, I guessed.
I opened my eyes to see that I was in… some room I didn't recognize. One wall, across from me, was covered in mirrors, long broken, above a sort of… desk protruding from the wall. Most of the rest of the room was in a similar state of disrepair. Lots of rotten wood planks, a few moldy briefcases piled in the corner, and a few plastic-and-metal chairs strewn haphazardly across the floor. Also a torn-up leather couch that I was leaned up against.
I took stock of myself as my thoughts began to pierce through the slowly diminishing fog of pain. Still wearing the clothes I was in last night… or however long ago that encounter with Klarion had been, though they looked a lot dirtier and more ragged as a result of that fight. If you can even call it that, given how fast I got fucking steamrolled by that little… No, Ash, focus. My hands were tied up in front of me. It looked like normal rope, but…
There was something around my neck. I could feel it pressed up against my skin, cold and hard. Metal. Was… was this a fucking collar?!
My teeth ground into each other. That son of a bitch. I started calling up my flame, ready to go hunt him down and charbroil him–
A beep sounded from the collar, and next thing I knew, my entire body was tensing up as electricity surged through it. A choked scream tore its way out of my throat, the seconds of the renewed agony passing into an eternity–
And then it was over, and I slumped forward, panting. That was… unpleasant, to say the least. Looks like Klarion had thought ahead a bit after all. He wanted to keep me from just using my magic to bust myself out of here, wherever here is.
Though… that hadn't felt like magic coming off the collar. Was it tech? Klarion hadn't struck me as the type.
Questions for later. For now, there really wasn't anything I could do. My hands balled up into fists at the thought, but… Patience. I just had to wait.
* * * * *
My patience was eventually… rewarded, for lack of a better term. A door to the right of me opened up, and in sauntered Klarion, Teekl perched on his shoulder.
"Well well, looks like our little Sleeping Beauty is finally awake!" he crowed, hands opening in a wide gesture. "How was your nap?"
Well, I was already his prisoner. I didn't know what exactly he wanted yet, beyond probably still wanting my power or whatever, but there probably wasn't any reason to antagonize him further. I should be as civil as possible.
"Where the fuck did you take me, you little shit?"
Perfect. 10/10, Ash.
Klarion pouted. "Still such nasty language. And uncreative, you already called me that."
"Oh, my bad." I shrugged. "Would you prefer 'crotch goblin', then? It's not a term I usually like using, but it really does fit in your case, I think."
"You're a meanie, aren'tcha?" He skipped over and sat cross-legged in front of me, Teekl transferring herself to his lap as he did so and submitting herself to pets. "As for your first question, well, ever you so rudely wrecked the little playhouse I'd set up for us, I decided that direction was the better part of valor, so–"
Mrreow.
"Yeah, discretion, she knew what I meant. Anyways, I brought you back to my little… Home away from home. At least for now."
That didn't really answer my question, but I doubted I was gonna get anything clearer from him. "So," I said, fidgeting in my bonds a little, "is this the part where you try your whole recruitment spiel again? 'Cause my answer's gonna be the same as last time."
"Mmm… Nah. Not yet. I'm still deciding just what I wanna do with you. There's just… so many options, you know?"
"Great. Glad I can amuse you, at least…" I grumbled. After a moment, I stuck out my chin at him, showing off my new little accessory. "And I guess the collar's here to keep me from just turning you into brisket first, huh?"
"Yes, although that one was my idea."
I blinked and turned back to the door to see the new speaker. He was a taller man, tanned skin, black hair in a ponytail and a goatee. He was wearing skinny black pants, a white shirt with a deep neckline exposing his hairy man-cleavage, and a gold chain around his neck. Sleazy as fuck, in other words. He had a stage magician's want, black with white tips, in one hand, and in the other… My eyes narrowed at the sight of the old man, bound up in ropes, the same as me, he was dragging behind him in the other hand.
"It's a little something of my own creation. Similar to what they're using at Belle Reve at this point in time, I believe," he continued. "Klarion told me about your, ah, abilities, so if you try to set anything on fire, or snap those ropes of yours through pure brute strength…" He smirked. "Well, you've already experienced what happens, right?"
"You look fucking ridiculous," was my very mature and sensible reply. I took plenty of satisfaction in the way he scowled at me.
Klarion rolled his eyes, standing back up. Teekl plummeted off his lap with a yowl. "The old geezer's still not talking, huh?" he asked the newcomer.
"Not yet." The man strode over and pushed the old guy down next to me, eliciting a groan from him. "Give it time, though. He can only hold out for so long."
"Yeah, but I wanna get in the Tower now!" Oh wow, he really is a brat. Was the whining really necessary? It came out really grating on my ears.
The man just rolled his eyes, turning and walking back towards the door. "Well, at any rate, a long performance like that always leaves me feeling famished. I'm going to get something to eat."
"Ooh, ooh, me too!" Klarion crowed, running after the man as he left. "I want one of those happy meals with the little plastic toys!"
The door closed behind them, and I huffed, trying to ignore the way my own stomach grumbled at the thought of food. "Hey," I said instead, nudging the old guy next to me, "you okay?"
He groaned a bit as he sat up. "Not the first time I've been captured by the enemy, kid," he replied with a chuckle. "Though I'm not as young as I used to be, and Abra's, ah, tender mercies are something he's rather experienced in dishing out."
I winced. "Damn, that sucks. Though," I chuckled, "I'll probably find that out myself soon enough."
The old man turned to look at me, blue eyes narrowing in… some emotion, I couldn't really place it. He… he smelled faintly of clockwork and parchment. Was he a mage too? I wondered. It might explain why Klarion was interested in him as well. He'd mentioned something about a Tower..?
"Kid…" he started to say, but I cut him off.
"It's Ash. My name, I mean," I said. "If we're gonna be stuck in here together, might as well get to know each other, yeah?"
He sighed. "I suppose so. Call me Kent, then. I…" He paused for a second, I guess unsure of what to say. "I know what Klarion and Abra Kadabra want with me, but I wasn't expecting them to bring anyone else here."
"Yeah, well…" I shrugged. "I guess I caught his attention, so he came and…"
Oh. Oh, god, the others. Al, Leeroy, Amanda, Sammy, the twins… Everyone… I'd managed to break through whatever thing Klarion had trapped me in, but… Had anyone actually seen the fire I roared out? And even if someone had, I… I still wasn't sure what Klarion did to them. Could the heroes or hospitals or whatever even help them? Had Klarion only grabbed me because the others were basically already… already…
"Ash… Ash! ASH!"
I became dimly aware of Kent grabbing my knee with his bound hands and shaking me slightly. Contact. A point of grounding, some part of me recognized. "Ash, talk to me, kid. What's wrong?"
"The… the others," I stammered out. "My friends, the… the people on the streets. Klarion did something, and I don't… I don't…"
Kent squeezed my knee, a gesture of reassurance. "... I was there when Klarion brought you in, you know," he said, his voice gentle. "I wish I'd been able to do something then, when I saw him portal in, dragging a girl half the weight she's supposed to be behind him… But he started whining to Abra, you know, saying he had to get out before the Justice League showed up." I started, and looked up, meeting his eyes. "I can't say for sure what he did to your friends, but since he was blaming you for having to skedaddle so quickly if I understood him right… Whatever you did, you did help them."
I took a shuddering breath in. Yeah… "Yeah.. I hope so…" Now if only I could convince myself of that.
We sat in silence for a moment before I tilted my head at him. "So… skedaddle?" I asked in a (only somewhat forced) teasing tone.
Kent snorted. "You try keeping up with the current slang when you're 106 years old."
"Damn, you don't look a day over 105, old man."
"Oh, hush you."
But we were both smiling.
* * * * *
"So you used to be Doctor Fate?" I asked him. We'd been chatting back and forth for a while. I… think he was trying to keep my mind off of… everything, for which I was grateful.
I'd been surprised to find out the old guy next to me had apparently been a superhero himself, way back when, but while I may not have known too much about older heroes, there were a few names I kept track of. There weren't that many magical heroes, after all. And given Kent – Kent Nelson was his full name – was clearly a mage of some sort himself, there weren't that many options for who he had been.
"After a fashion," he said, nodding his head. "Really, I was more like Fate's host."
"His host?" I frowned. "So, like, is Fate a ghost or something?"
"A spirit, yes. A Lord of Order, bound to the Helmet of Fate," he explained. "He can only act when someone dons the Helmet, but his power is truly immense. The Helmet itself is currently located in my home, the Tower of Fate. It's here in Salem. That's why Klarion and Abra are here, why they brought us. They want the Helmet for themselves."
I nodded my head, slowly. I wasn't entirely sure what a Lord of Order was, but it had to be something pretty magically powerful from what Kent was saying. "Why do they want it, though? Does Klarion wanna hijack Fate's power or something?"
Kent laughed. "Hardly. Klarion is a Lord of Chaos, Fate's equal and opposite. He likely plans to destroy the Helmet and get rid of his competition, so to speak. As for Abra, well… I'm not sure about him, but the man does like using his technology to fake magic. Perhaps he thinks working with Klarion will let him figure out the real thing?"
"Mage envy, got it." I chuckled a bit at that. After a moment, though, a thought struck me. "Hey, if Fate's so strong… Why did you stop wearing the Helmet?"
Kent's expression grew somber. "... Those that wear the Helmet of Fate become host to Nabu, to Doctor Fate. But the more I wore the Helmet in my time, the less Nabu wanted to let me out. I had a girl, a wife, but I found Nabu was demanding I spend more time with him and less with my Inza. My little spitfire helped me see how… unhealthy it was for both of us to be heroing full-time, but Nabu refused to see reason. So I stopped wearing the Helmet entirely. I still worked as Doctor Fate for years afterwards, but under my own power, not Nabu's."
I stared at him in mounting horror. "Wait, you mean when you wear the Helmet-?"
"Nabu takes control entirely, yes. And you can't take it back unless he takes the Helmet off you himself."
… Suddenly, I was feeling sick to my stomach for reasons other than my growing hunger. "And he called himself a hero?" I hissed. Kent looked up in surprise at my tone, flinching when he caught sight of my eyes for some reason, then nodded.
"You have to understand that Nabu wasn't always like that," he explained. "He used to only wear me for a set amount of time before letting me out, and his powers don't work if he has anything less than full control. He's a good man, er, spirit, or at least he was. He just… developed tunnel vision. Started seeing the whole world as his responsibility, something he couldn't take any time off of protecting. Like I said, it's unhealthy. Hopefully the years of not having a host have… softened him a bit, helped him see how unhealthy his mindset was becoming." Kent sighed. "I never intended to leave him forever. The world does need Doctor Fate. I just don't want anyone to sacrifice their lives for it.
I shook my head. No matter what Kent said to me about that… The way he talked about how the Helmet worked, how Doctor Fate worked… I couldn't understand why anyone would want to do that to themselves. Kent seemed to understand, and we lapsed into silence.
Silence that was broken when the door to the room opened again, and Abra walked back in. He pointed his wand at me, and I yelped and I felt the collar pull me up, stumbling to get my feet under me as Abra pulled me to him.
Kent's head shot up. "What do you think you're doing?" He all but shouted, anger clear in his voice.
"Calm down, old-timer," Abra said, a grim splitting his face as I slid to a stop in front of him. More ropes shot out from his sleeves, binding themselves tight around me. "Ashley here and I are just gonna have a little talk. Just like you and I have had over the past couple of weeks, right?"
Kent and I both glowered at him. "When I get out of there," I said, slow, "I am going to burn that stupid little goatee off your stupid little face."
Abra huffed. "Do you really think you're in a position to make threats?"
"Not a threat," I corrected. "A promise."
He scowled at me, then without a word, turned on his heel and walked out, dragging me behind him by the collar… telekinesis… thing he was doing. I managed to look back at Kent before the door closed and nodded at him, trying to project confidence. Trying to assure him that I would be fine.
Abra took me through a hallway and out onto a stage, overlooking a large, ruined theater. All but one of the seats of the theater were empty, and that one seat, right in the center-front section, was filled by Klarion, who… had a bucket of popcorn for some reason.
I growled as Abra shoved me into a wooden chair set up at the center of the stage. "So, what's the big plan?" I shouted out to the little chaos demon. "Any questions you're gonna, what, interrogate out of me? Because I don't know if you've realized this, but I know jack shit about fuck. There's literally nothing you can get out of me."
"Ohoho, someone's been talking to the geezer, hmm?" Klarion called back from his seat. "Well, you're right, you don't know anything. But that's not the point!"
I snarled at him. "Then what is the point?"
Klarion giggled. "I still want you to help me, Miss Ashley. I still think we could do great things together! But you're too much of a goody-two-shoes for that, aren'tcha? So, if you're not gonna join me for any other reason, there's really only one option I have left."
Abra gave me a twisted smirk as the tip of his wand began sparking with electricity.
"I decided I'm just gonna have Abra break you," Klarion giggled. "Break you until there's nothing left, and I can put anything I want in place of you."
Sweat dripped down the side of my head, but I glared defiantly at Klarion, then at Abra. "Do your worst," I hissed in challenge.
"Oh, believe me," Abra said, raising his wand. "I will."
I didn't give them the satisfaction of screaming that first night.
Alas, Klarion's a slippery little bugger, and as such Ash has slipped out of the League's hands for now. But this setup seems very familiar to something in canon, doesn't it?
Odd1todd89
The strange tightrope
- Pronouns
- It
well, fuck..... that is going to suck.....
- Pronouns
- He
Just like your average Fairy Tail backstory.
Kent seems to be concerned about Ash and pretty fond of her, makes sense since she's a kid in a horrible situation that's displayed a lot of willpower and morals. Ash's reaction to Nabu is understandable since possession is creepy, Kent somewhat explaining why Nabu is the way he is both as a defense and condemnation wasn't something I expected but it was a neat take on things.
Ash is probably going to break out and take a bite out of Klarion for that sweet sweet Chaos powerup.
Ash is probably going to break out and take a bite out of Klarion for that sweet sweet Chaos powerup.
Thanks for the chapter!
- Pronouns
- SL
Foreshadowing Ash becoming the new doctor fate?
Chapter 10: Rising
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The first few days were definitely the hardest to get through.
Oh, Abra Kadabra's tender mercies were bad, to be sure, but in the end, it was just pain. I knew pain. Pain was an old companion. You don't get in nearly as many fights, as much trouble as I do without knowing how to work through the pain others are all too willing to inflict on you.
Though to be fair, pain from a fight or accident was very different from what Abra was doing. In a fight, most people are either trying to kill you, or they're trying to make you hurt enough that you don't want to fight anymore. And one way or another, those had clear end points, points where new pain stopped coming. Abra, though, wasn't just trying to hurt me. He was trying to break me, tear down my defenses and tolerance piece by piece.
By the end of our little sessions, I was barely able to keep myself upright on the chair, and when he dragged me back to the… dressing room, I guess, where Kent and I were being kept the rest of the time, it would take me at least a half an hour before I could pull myself into a sitting position, let alone be in any fit state to talk.
Kent, I think, had it better. Abra and Klarion needed to leave him able to talk, able to let them into the Tower of Fate. Plus, as old as he was, they physically couldn't push him too hard, lest his body start giving out on him. His years of experience also gave him an edge – he didn't talk too much about his time as Doctor Fate, not after that first night, but I got the sense this wasn't his first time being captured like this.
They didn't need any of that with me, though. As long as they kept me alive, they'd be able to keep… working me over, so to speak. And the pain was only a part of it.
I realized that the day after I first woke up here. Abra had come in with a plate of food – nothing fancy, just some bread and oatmeal. Kent wasn't released to eat; I guess they were worried about him getting up to something if they let his hands free for too long. Instead, Abra fed him directly, an indignity that Kent took in stride.
Not me. He didn't have any food for me. At first I wondered if he meant to feed us one at a time, but when he left after feeding Kent and left us alone for minutes stretching into hours, I realized he wasn't going to come back with anything for me. They needed Kent relatively healthy, but me? A lack of energy could only help their progress with me.
At least I was still getting water, though. A lack of that could have been far worse in a shorter span of time. The amount I was getting wasn't much, but it kept me hydrated.
In between our alternating sessions, Kent and I talked. It wasn't like there was much more to do here. Kent didn't ask me why Klarion wanted me so badly, and I didn't volunteer the information, much like how Kent didn't talk about his older days as a hero. Instead, we talked about… well, anything that popped into our minds.
He talked about a book series he read recently, a science fiction series. I hadn't taken him for the type, but apparently he liked the worldbuilding behind it. I told him about the pulp novels I'd sometimes fished out of the garbage, the poor quality often being a source of amusement I'd drawn on colder nights, when I had no one else around to talk to. He told me about his wife, Inza, and the time they'd had together before her death, their own little misadventures of domesticity. I talked about Al, and the twins, about how Fred had once picked an enormous rat right up off the floor, and I'd panicked trying to get it away from him before it bit him (he and the rat were both fine), how Suzy collected all the weird coins she found on the street and hoarded them away like a little dragon.
It was… nice. An anchor we could both latch onto in our shitty situation.
Sometimes, though, Kent wasn't up for talking. There were moments where he'd close his eyes and go completely still, still sitting up. Not sleeping, but… meditating, I guess. Sleep was hard to come by for both of us, especially since Abra or Klarion liked to wake us up randomly up in the middle of the night, usually to drag one of us off for an hour or two, but the meditation Kent did was something he tended to do after he'd come back from one of his sessions, regardless of the time of day. Not that I could tell, there were no windows in here, and the only clock was a pocketwatch Kent had, but neither of us could properly get at with our hands bound.
It wasn't until several days (I think) into our captivity that I finally learned what he was doing.
I'd been leaning against the couch, trying not to move too much and relax my muscles as best I could after Abra's most recent workover of me, when I felt… It was hard to describe, exactly. It wasn't a physical sensation, but it was like… someone was knocking at the door to my brain. I grimaced at it, closing my eyes, but the whatever-it-was persisted until, fed up, I "pushed" back at it, my magic welling up not into physical flame, but unformed and malleable.
And suddenly, I was somewhere else. A black void, featureless and expanding ever outward. I stood there, barely even registering that I wasn't tied up anymore, merely staring blankly outwards.
"What the hell?" my voice echoed in the infinite space.
"Heh, about time you stopped lollygagging and showed up."
I turned at the voice to see Kent standing there, unbound as well, leaning on a gold-topped cane. The older man smiled at me. "I was wondering if I'd have to nudge you another way to get you in. Normally I'd just be able to pull you in, but you seemed oddly resistant to it, and without a focus all I could do was open the way for you and hope you noticed."
"... Kent," I responded slowly, looking. "Where are we? Did you..?"
"Free us?" He shook his head. "No, our bodies are still in the theater. But even bound up and without a focus, I still have a few tricks that Klarion really shouldn't have underestimated." Kent's mouth twisted up into a smirk. "Like astral projection, for one. I've had plenty of experience having my soul and my body tethered, but separate."
"Astral..? Huh. Okay then." I shoved my hands into my pockets… Or, my soul-hands into my soul-pockets? I guess? "So does this mean you can float our souls over to a friend of yours and get help?"
Kent sighed, his face dropping. "Unfortunately, no. I'm too weak to move my soul far from my body on my own. Maybe if I had my actual cane, but as it is, I couldn't even leave the theater on my own. And while you might have enough power for that, your soul seems… fixed to your body, for lack of a better term. Moreso than usual. It's taking everything I have just to keep us both here with you fighting me like this."
"I'm not-!" I stopped myself, looking down at my body. After a moment, I saw what he meant – Kent's form in this weird void place was pretty solid, but mine seemed… hazy around the edges. And now that I was thinking about it, I could feel something pulling me away. Not hard, it wouldn't snap me back to my body suddenly unless I let it, but if the pull got stronger as I went further away… "Yeah, okay, maybe. Sorry about that. But if we can't go anywhere…" I looked back up at him. "Why'd you bring us here in the first place?"
Kent was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Ash. You know why Klarion brought you here, right?"
"Yeah, the brat wants to torture me until I agree to work with him or whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Not that it's gonna work. I'd rather die than let him have me."
Kent nodded. "I'd gathered as much from how your treatment has differed from mine. But if that's the case, I have to ask: Why do you think Klarion has been letting us talk?"
I made to respond, but nothing came out of my mouth when I opened it. That… was an excellent question. Why would he let us talk like this? We were bonding, our shared misery serving as a foundation for a relationship that could only serve to make things harder for Klarion's goals. And while Klarion might have been too childish to really consider that, Abra was more than smart enough to realize what was happening.
"... Maybe he thinks you'll talk if you're worried about me?" I ventured. "A whole 'I'll stop having Abra try to break her if you let us into the Tower' deal?"
"That is likely part of it, yes," Kent agreed with a nod. "But not all of it, I think."
I blinked. "If that's not all, then what..?"
Kent gave me an odd look. "Klarion wants access to the Tower. More than that, he wants access to the Helmet of Fate, to get back at his old rival as well as using a source of powerful magic to unleash havoc." His expression turned somber. "And if he gets what he wants… Ash, he won't need me anymore after that."
I stared uncomprehendingly at him for a moment. Then his words started to sink in, and my eyes widened. "I… But what does that have to do with-?" But I cut myself off, feeling the blood drain from my face (or whatever the soul equivalent was).
"There's more than one way to break a person," Kent said, his voice gentle. "I've known that for a while, and I think you know it too, Ash."
"He's letting us bond," I croaked out, horror choking my throat, "because that will make it hurt worse… when he kills you."
I stood for a moment, trembles rocking my entire frame as I digested the realization. Then, after several long moments, I balled my fists. "... No."
Kent's brow furrowed. "Ash-"
"No, I'm not just gonna sit there and… And let him kill you!" I snarled, taking a step towards Kent. "I'll stop him, I swear, he won't even get the chance-!"
"Ash!"
His shout stopped me, and I looked at him as he seemed to… sag, as if the weight of his years were finally crashing down on him.
"... Ash," he began again. "I brought us in here because I don't want Klarion or Abra overhearing, but… I'm an old man. I'm far past my prime." He paused, fingers drumming on his cane. "Some of my friends have probably noticed I'm missing by now. I've gone on long walkabouts before, but if any of them grow concerned enough… A couple of them have keys to the Tower. Someone will come looking for me, and Klarion will take the chance to follow them into the Tower. It's inevitable. But my cane, my magical focus, would have returned to the Tower when I was taken. Once we're inside, I'll be able to escape these two, and I know where the Helmet is kept."
"... You're gonna put it back on, aren't you? You're gonna let Nabu take over your body again."
"Yes, and it will be the last time." Kent looked at me. "I appreciate your concern for me, Ash. But one way or another, I think my time here is almost over. I've accepted this. And I hope you can as well."
I looked away, biting my lip. What he was asking of me… I knew he was old, but only now did I realize what that meant. To have lived so long, that you can accept that your life is coming to an end so soon…
"... I can't," I eventually said, my voice low. "I… I'll try not to let it break me, if it does happen. But I can't just accept that your death is inevitable." I turned back to Kent, locking eyes with him. "I'll fight to the very end to stop that from happening. I promise."
Kent just smiled at me, sad. "You're a good one, Ash. But you shouldn't make promises you can't keep."
* * * * *
I squirmed in my seat as Abra shocked Kent again, Klarion howling in delight a row in front of me. It had been… some time since Kent and I had had our little conversation. The days had stretched out for me, to the point where I wasn't sure exactly how long I'd been here anymore. At least a week, probably less than two?
Stabs of pain rang in my stomach, and I grimaced, trying to tell myself that Kent was hurting much more than I was at this point. A week without food wasn't anything I hadn't dealt with before, after all. Even if it was still unpleasant.
Klarion had apparently decided that I could use some more encouragement. He'd taken me out to the theater proper, and Abra had used ropes to tie me down to one of the audience's chairs so I could watch how they handled Kent. I could probably snap the ropes easily if I wanted to get up to Kent and get them to stop, but I knew all that would get me was an extra shock from my collar. Kent and I would just have to grit our teeth and bear it for now.
At least Klarion's freaky little cat wasn't around at the moment. It had gone off to explore or do cat stuff or something, I don't know. I liked cats okay normally – at least they didn't bark at me like dogs – but Teekl was very much an exception, and with her gone, I could at least bear the situation without also having to deal with the urge to punt her.
Mrreow.
Or not.
I glared at the familiar as she leapt back onto Klarion's lap, the child-shaped demon giggling as Abra once again shocked Kent after babbling on about the Tower or something. I'd kind of learned to tune out the man's words past a certain point, he never said anything worth the air he breathed.
The cat purred as Klarion pet her, then sat up and meowed at him.
"Shush, Teekl! I'm watching the show~." Oh, that little creep. I wanted so badly to grab him by the horn… hair… things and just-
"Enjoy it… while you can…"
I looked back up, concerned. I hadn't heard that much weakness in Kent's voice before.
"Soon enough…" Kent continued, panting the words out, "my friends… will come… to help me."
Abra smiled and pressed his wand back down on Kent, and I winced and looked away as he screamed. Klarion leapt to his feet, dislodging Teekl with a hiss from the cat, and began clapping his hands. "Encore, encore!" The Witch Boy cheered, and I once again had to hold back the urge to tear my way free just to punch him in his stupid little face.
Mrreow!
"What?" Klarion snarled, turning back to his cat. I couldn't quite see her from where I was seated, but I could hear her hissing and meowing to her master.
"... Ooohhh~" Klarion sighed out with a grin, looking over to the boarded-up doors. Abra followed his gaze, but mine snapped to Kent, who met it with his own. After a moment, he gave me a nod, and I grimaced.
Looks like it was showtime.
Oh, Abra Kadabra's tender mercies were bad, to be sure, but in the end, it was just pain. I knew pain. Pain was an old companion. You don't get in nearly as many fights, as much trouble as I do without knowing how to work through the pain others are all too willing to inflict on you.
Though to be fair, pain from a fight or accident was very different from what Abra was doing. In a fight, most people are either trying to kill you, or they're trying to make you hurt enough that you don't want to fight anymore. And one way or another, those had clear end points, points where new pain stopped coming. Abra, though, wasn't just trying to hurt me. He was trying to break me, tear down my defenses and tolerance piece by piece.
By the end of our little sessions, I was barely able to keep myself upright on the chair, and when he dragged me back to the… dressing room, I guess, where Kent and I were being kept the rest of the time, it would take me at least a half an hour before I could pull myself into a sitting position, let alone be in any fit state to talk.
Kent, I think, had it better. Abra and Klarion needed to leave him able to talk, able to let them into the Tower of Fate. Plus, as old as he was, they physically couldn't push him too hard, lest his body start giving out on him. His years of experience also gave him an edge – he didn't talk too much about his time as Doctor Fate, not after that first night, but I got the sense this wasn't his first time being captured like this.
They didn't need any of that with me, though. As long as they kept me alive, they'd be able to keep… working me over, so to speak. And the pain was only a part of it.
I realized that the day after I first woke up here. Abra had come in with a plate of food – nothing fancy, just some bread and oatmeal. Kent wasn't released to eat; I guess they were worried about him getting up to something if they let his hands free for too long. Instead, Abra fed him directly, an indignity that Kent took in stride.
Not me. He didn't have any food for me. At first I wondered if he meant to feed us one at a time, but when he left after feeding Kent and left us alone for minutes stretching into hours, I realized he wasn't going to come back with anything for me. They needed Kent relatively healthy, but me? A lack of energy could only help their progress with me.
At least I was still getting water, though. A lack of that could have been far worse in a shorter span of time. The amount I was getting wasn't much, but it kept me hydrated.
In between our alternating sessions, Kent and I talked. It wasn't like there was much more to do here. Kent didn't ask me why Klarion wanted me so badly, and I didn't volunteer the information, much like how Kent didn't talk about his older days as a hero. Instead, we talked about… well, anything that popped into our minds.
He talked about a book series he read recently, a science fiction series. I hadn't taken him for the type, but apparently he liked the worldbuilding behind it. I told him about the pulp novels I'd sometimes fished out of the garbage, the poor quality often being a source of amusement I'd drawn on colder nights, when I had no one else around to talk to. He told me about his wife, Inza, and the time they'd had together before her death, their own little misadventures of domesticity. I talked about Al, and the twins, about how Fred had once picked an enormous rat right up off the floor, and I'd panicked trying to get it away from him before it bit him (he and the rat were both fine), how Suzy collected all the weird coins she found on the street and hoarded them away like a little dragon.
It was… nice. An anchor we could both latch onto in our shitty situation.
Sometimes, though, Kent wasn't up for talking. There were moments where he'd close his eyes and go completely still, still sitting up. Not sleeping, but… meditating, I guess. Sleep was hard to come by for both of us, especially since Abra or Klarion liked to wake us up randomly up in the middle of the night, usually to drag one of us off for an hour or two, but the meditation Kent did was something he tended to do after he'd come back from one of his sessions, regardless of the time of day. Not that I could tell, there were no windows in here, and the only clock was a pocketwatch Kent had, but neither of us could properly get at with our hands bound.
It wasn't until several days (I think) into our captivity that I finally learned what he was doing.
I'd been leaning against the couch, trying not to move too much and relax my muscles as best I could after Abra's most recent workover of me, when I felt… It was hard to describe, exactly. It wasn't a physical sensation, but it was like… someone was knocking at the door to my brain. I grimaced at it, closing my eyes, but the whatever-it-was persisted until, fed up, I "pushed" back at it, my magic welling up not into physical flame, but unformed and malleable.
And suddenly, I was somewhere else. A black void, featureless and expanding ever outward. I stood there, barely even registering that I wasn't tied up anymore, merely staring blankly outwards.
"What the hell?" my voice echoed in the infinite space.
"Heh, about time you stopped lollygagging and showed up."
I turned at the voice to see Kent standing there, unbound as well, leaning on a gold-topped cane. The older man smiled at me. "I was wondering if I'd have to nudge you another way to get you in. Normally I'd just be able to pull you in, but you seemed oddly resistant to it, and without a focus all I could do was open the way for you and hope you noticed."
"... Kent," I responded slowly, looking. "Where are we? Did you..?"
"Free us?" He shook his head. "No, our bodies are still in the theater. But even bound up and without a focus, I still have a few tricks that Klarion really shouldn't have underestimated." Kent's mouth twisted up into a smirk. "Like astral projection, for one. I've had plenty of experience having my soul and my body tethered, but separate."
"Astral..? Huh. Okay then." I shoved my hands into my pockets… Or, my soul-hands into my soul-pockets? I guess? "So does this mean you can float our souls over to a friend of yours and get help?"
Kent sighed, his face dropping. "Unfortunately, no. I'm too weak to move my soul far from my body on my own. Maybe if I had my actual cane, but as it is, I couldn't even leave the theater on my own. And while you might have enough power for that, your soul seems… fixed to your body, for lack of a better term. Moreso than usual. It's taking everything I have just to keep us both here with you fighting me like this."
"I'm not-!" I stopped myself, looking down at my body. After a moment, I saw what he meant – Kent's form in this weird void place was pretty solid, but mine seemed… hazy around the edges. And now that I was thinking about it, I could feel something pulling me away. Not hard, it wouldn't snap me back to my body suddenly unless I let it, but if the pull got stronger as I went further away… "Yeah, okay, maybe. Sorry about that. But if we can't go anywhere…" I looked back up at him. "Why'd you bring us here in the first place?"
Kent was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Ash. You know why Klarion brought you here, right?"
"Yeah, the brat wants to torture me until I agree to work with him or whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Not that it's gonna work. I'd rather die than let him have me."
Kent nodded. "I'd gathered as much from how your treatment has differed from mine. But if that's the case, I have to ask: Why do you think Klarion has been letting us talk?"
I made to respond, but nothing came out of my mouth when I opened it. That… was an excellent question. Why would he let us talk like this? We were bonding, our shared misery serving as a foundation for a relationship that could only serve to make things harder for Klarion's goals. And while Klarion might have been too childish to really consider that, Abra was more than smart enough to realize what was happening.
"... Maybe he thinks you'll talk if you're worried about me?" I ventured. "A whole 'I'll stop having Abra try to break her if you let us into the Tower' deal?"
"That is likely part of it, yes," Kent agreed with a nod. "But not all of it, I think."
I blinked. "If that's not all, then what..?"
Kent gave me an odd look. "Klarion wants access to the Tower. More than that, he wants access to the Helmet of Fate, to get back at his old rival as well as using a source of powerful magic to unleash havoc." His expression turned somber. "And if he gets what he wants… Ash, he won't need me anymore after that."
I stared uncomprehendingly at him for a moment. Then his words started to sink in, and my eyes widened. "I… But what does that have to do with-?" But I cut myself off, feeling the blood drain from my face (or whatever the soul equivalent was).
"There's more than one way to break a person," Kent said, his voice gentle. "I've known that for a while, and I think you know it too, Ash."
"He's letting us bond," I croaked out, horror choking my throat, "because that will make it hurt worse… when he kills you."
I stood for a moment, trembles rocking my entire frame as I digested the realization. Then, after several long moments, I balled my fists. "... No."
Kent's brow furrowed. "Ash-"
"No, I'm not just gonna sit there and… And let him kill you!" I snarled, taking a step towards Kent. "I'll stop him, I swear, he won't even get the chance-!"
"Ash!"
His shout stopped me, and I looked at him as he seemed to… sag, as if the weight of his years were finally crashing down on him.
"... Ash," he began again. "I brought us in here because I don't want Klarion or Abra overhearing, but… I'm an old man. I'm far past my prime." He paused, fingers drumming on his cane. "Some of my friends have probably noticed I'm missing by now. I've gone on long walkabouts before, but if any of them grow concerned enough… A couple of them have keys to the Tower. Someone will come looking for me, and Klarion will take the chance to follow them into the Tower. It's inevitable. But my cane, my magical focus, would have returned to the Tower when I was taken. Once we're inside, I'll be able to escape these two, and I know where the Helmet is kept."
"... You're gonna put it back on, aren't you? You're gonna let Nabu take over your body again."
"Yes, and it will be the last time." Kent looked at me. "I appreciate your concern for me, Ash. But one way or another, I think my time here is almost over. I've accepted this. And I hope you can as well."
I looked away, biting my lip. What he was asking of me… I knew he was old, but only now did I realize what that meant. To have lived so long, that you can accept that your life is coming to an end so soon…
"... I can't," I eventually said, my voice low. "I… I'll try not to let it break me, if it does happen. But I can't just accept that your death is inevitable." I turned back to Kent, locking eyes with him. "I'll fight to the very end to stop that from happening. I promise."
Kent just smiled at me, sad. "You're a good one, Ash. But you shouldn't make promises you can't keep."
* * * * *
I squirmed in my seat as Abra shocked Kent again, Klarion howling in delight a row in front of me. It had been… some time since Kent and I had had our little conversation. The days had stretched out for me, to the point where I wasn't sure exactly how long I'd been here anymore. At least a week, probably less than two?
Stabs of pain rang in my stomach, and I grimaced, trying to tell myself that Kent was hurting much more than I was at this point. A week without food wasn't anything I hadn't dealt with before, after all. Even if it was still unpleasant.
Klarion had apparently decided that I could use some more encouragement. He'd taken me out to the theater proper, and Abra had used ropes to tie me down to one of the audience's chairs so I could watch how they handled Kent. I could probably snap the ropes easily if I wanted to get up to Kent and get them to stop, but I knew all that would get me was an extra shock from my collar. Kent and I would just have to grit our teeth and bear it for now.
At least Klarion's freaky little cat wasn't around at the moment. It had gone off to explore or do cat stuff or something, I don't know. I liked cats okay normally – at least they didn't bark at me like dogs – but Teekl was very much an exception, and with her gone, I could at least bear the situation without also having to deal with the urge to punt her.
Mrreow.
Or not.
I glared at the familiar as she leapt back onto Klarion's lap, the child-shaped demon giggling as Abra once again shocked Kent after babbling on about the Tower or something. I'd kind of learned to tune out the man's words past a certain point, he never said anything worth the air he breathed.
The cat purred as Klarion pet her, then sat up and meowed at him.
"Shush, Teekl! I'm watching the show~." Oh, that little creep. I wanted so badly to grab him by the horn… hair… things and just-
"Enjoy it… while you can…"
I looked back up, concerned. I hadn't heard that much weakness in Kent's voice before.
"Soon enough…" Kent continued, panting the words out, "my friends… will come… to help me."
Abra smiled and pressed his wand back down on Kent, and I winced and looked away as he screamed. Klarion leapt to his feet, dislodging Teekl with a hiss from the cat, and began clapping his hands. "Encore, encore!" The Witch Boy cheered, and I once again had to hold back the urge to tear my way free just to punch him in his stupid little face.
Mrreow!
"What?" Klarion snarled, turning back to his cat. I couldn't quite see her from where I was seated, but I could hear her hissing and meowing to her master.
"... Ooohhh~" Klarion sighed out with a grin, looking over to the boarded-up doors. Abra followed his gaze, but mine snapped to Kent, who met it with his own. After a moment, he gave me a nod, and I grimaced.
Looks like it was showtime.
Dread it. Run from it. Canon arrives all the same.
Here's where I need to start using the episodes more directly as references, at least for now, where everything's relatively "on the rails". Still I don't just want everyone's dialogue to be a word-for-word recreation of the scenes in canon, so we'll have to see the best way to handle those parts moving forward.
Here's where I need to start using the episodes more directly as references, at least for now, where everything's relatively "on the rails". Still I don't just want everyone's dialogue to be a word-for-word recreation of the scenes in canon, so we'll have to see the best way to handle those parts moving forward.
Dopplerdee
Accident Prone(Yes the caps are necessary)
- Location
- Happy Place
Eat the damn cat.
Ash and Kent went through some really shitty stuff but they're both troopers and will get through it. Klarion making it so they'll bond so it'll hurt Ash more is in character for him given he's a vile little shit. Also the whole astral projection thing shows that Kent even retired and old as hell still has it. Looking forward to seeing Ash eat Klarion.
- Pronouns
- He
Image in my head where the JL barge into a scene with Ash having a cat in her mouth