A/N: Speculative sequel to the Uncharted Realms "Retaliation of Ob Nixilis"-I fully expect it to be jossed next week, sadly. It's shippier than I expect, for example.
Flames of the Firebrand
Dirty water filled Gideon's nose and mouth. He struggled against the hands on his back, trying to get leverage to heave the demon off him, but his legs and arms slipped in the mud. Dark spots swirled at the edge of his vision as he fought against his body's natural inclination to inhale. Feeling a motion over his elbow, he snapped his arm back and up and felt it connect solidly, but the effort forced the last air out his mouth.
His lungs contracted, bringing in nothing but water; the force above him did not abate. He was no longer certain if he was actually struggling, his entire world suddenly filled with the sharp pain in his chest. No, it couldn't end like this. It couldn't—as the last of his vision blurred away, a burst of flickering orange light appeared and was gone.
"Get off him!" Chandra punctuated her yell with a blast of flame hot enough to evaporate gold. The dark figure holding Gideon down grunted and turned toward her, apparently mildly inconvenienced by her attack. The round, demonic face grinned at her.
"Hello, little pyromancer," the creature said. "I bet you'll be fun to spar with."
Chandra considered responding, and then decided that the best response was more fire. She felt her hair going up with a whooshing noise, and flames sprang up not only her head but down her neck, shoulders, and both arms. She reached outward, and a ball of flaming, molten mud rose between her hands, which she held lightly as she began to circle their attacker. He got to his feet, limping slightly, leaving Gideon's form prone in the mud, and grinned as he mimicked her steps.
As soon as he was no longer standing directly over Gideon, Chandra lobbed the muddy fireball at him. He grimaced as the burning earth impacted his body, but he merely shook it off. "The direct approach," he said meditatively. "I like that." He raised his hand, sending a wave of black energy rippling toward her. Chandra caught it, sizzling, on a wave of bright white flame that she called from the earth beneath her feet. As it struck the fire, her limbs felt suddenly heavy and sodden, as if they were sponges soaked with water. She grimaced, fighting against the sudden lethargy. Even though he was injured and tired, she couldn't go head to head with him like this. With another burst of effort, she rocketed from the ground, propelled by jets of flame from her feet, and as she tumbled in free fall, she shut her eyes and sent a call into the aether.
The voice that answered was like birdsong spelled out in crackling fire. Chandra grinned as her feet landed on the feathery back of the bird that flew and fell with her. She couldn't resist letting out a whooping yell as she and the phoenix swooped back down across the battlefield.
The demon looked up at her, hands raised, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the rain of molten rock that Chandra sent sweeping down across him, encasing him from head to foot. "Good job," she said admiringly, patting the neck of her summoned creature. As they soared back across the battlefield, she heard a tremendous cracking, shattering noise, and the demon burst out of the impromptu prison, wings unfurling as he took to the sky. "Dammit," Chandra muttered in frustration, and she adjusted her position on her mount's back, directing a constant stream of fire toward her opponent, but he dodged and weaved, and she couldn't seem to hit him directly.
She tried to urge the phoenix faster, but her position on its back was too precarious to do anything too fancy. The demon had the advantage when it came to maneuvering, and a moment later a bolt of black energy struck the phoenix, severing its head neatly from its body. Chandra stared in dismay as it dissipated back into the aether, and then she began to fall. With a gasp of pain, she wrenched her arms forward and blasted fire at the rapidly-approaching ground. The momentum slowed her fall, but she still tumbled roughly into the ground, pain shooting through her legs and back. Gritting her teeth, she started to drag herself upright, and an immense clawed hand closed around her throat.
"Not bad," rumbled the demon, voice hoarser than it had been to begin with. "That little trick with the lava nearly took me out for good."
Chandra choked and scrabbled at the hand around her throat as he raised her into the air, desperately shooting fire from her fingertips, but though he winced, it didn't seem to be enough to pierce through his thick skin. Not good. But she had one last trick up her sleeve. And this was Zendikar, after all; it seemed appropriate.
Fire that can't be seen, can't be stopped. It wasn't quite the same as the flames she normally called. For one thing, there was no sensation of heat, though she knew it was springing into being around her hands and her face. The demon roared in pain, but instead of dropping her, as she'd hoped, his hand tightened. Chandra gasped for air through a constricted throat, intensifying as much as she could the ghostfire. The hand tightened, and there was no air making its way into her lungs—and then it opened again, and she dropped to the ground, coughing roughly.
It took her a moment to blink the tears out of her eyes enough to see what was going on, but when she managed, she saw her opponent still staring at his hand, which was squeezing again, around something that she couldn't see. Even as she watched, he shook it several times and then made a flinging motion, as if tossing something away to the side.
"Well," he said. "Thank you all, this was a most enjoyable day, but I'm afraid I'd better be heading out now." He shook his head. "Stay too long, and I risk my spark again," he muttered. "No, it's time to leave, all right."
She felt the tang of the Blind Eternities wash over her for an instant, and then he was gone. What the hell? Why had he—
There was a small fog bank behind the spot where the demon had stood as he choked her, and now it dissipated, revealing an exhausted, bedraggled, muddy mage in robes that might still barely pass as blue. "Chandra," Jace croaked. Dark blood caked his chin and upper lip, and he was hunched over, shuddering.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"I guess you got here a little late," Jace said with a crooked smile. "Didn't you hear? Always kill the telepaths first."
"You made him think that I was dead," she said, realization dawning. "You asshole, I was doing fine!"
Jace stared at her, and she glared back at him. "Well, maybe," he said, after a moment or two. "But I thought this would get him away faster, and I needed your help."
"At least you admit it," Chandra snipped. She'd never really gotten along with Jace, though she had to admit the last three times he'd showed up on Regatha, he had legitimately seemed to be checking that she was doing all right. She wasn't sure if he viewed her as a friend or as a responsibility, and it had never seemed like the right time to ask. Now wasn't really the right time either.
"Now really isn't the time," Jace said tiredly. "I needed your help because Gideon's drowning, and I can't get the water out of his lungs."
All of Chandra's irritable thoughts evaporated immediately. "Where is he?" she demanded. "What do you think I can do?" And oh gods let there be something I can do.
Jace waved a hand, and a little more of the fog bank cleared to reveal Gideon lying on his back, eyes shut, hair and armor soaked with water. He was lying horribly still, and he looked oddly small and pathetic, lying there like that, even though he was at least half a foot taller than Jace. "I tried, but I can't push hard enough to push the water out, and I can't breathe for him," Jace said. "Not with my nose and face broken like this. I need you to do it, Chandra."
Gods take it all. She wasn't a healer. She barely knew what Jace meant when he said—
"Sorry about this," Jace said, and he reached out and touched her forehead. Images and knowledge flooded into it instantaneously, along with a nagging headache, but she didn't bother worrying about that. She could punch Jace for this later. Right now, Gideon needed help.
She scrabbled over to Gideon's limp form and ended up straddling him—which was awkward, but she'd rather him be awkward than dead. "Okay," she said. "Water out of lungs. Got it." Then she pressed down hard.
Jace hovered over her as she worked, which Chandra found annoying, but not annoying enough to tell him to leave. Besides, she needed her breath for other things. There was a crack beneath her hands, and she felt one of Gideon's ribs snap beneath her weight, which made her stomach lurch, but she kept moving. Pump, push, get the water out, and then, as it trickled greyly from the corner of his mouth, lean forward and press her lips to his to get the air in.
Damn it, Gideon. How had he gotten himself drowned, anyway? Chandra muttered expletives as she worked, with breath she didn't have. She needed to keep her energy up, and being angry was an easy way to do that. "C'mon," she muttered into his cold lips. "C'mon, you goddamn idiot, I will fucking kill you if you die."
It wasn't fair. He wasn't supposed to be this pathetic. She wasn't supposed to like him, although he, like Jace, had stopped by the monastery on Regatha on a few occasions, hovered around apologetically, and then left again without really having much to say. "I forgive you if you live, all right?" It had been eight years ago, anyway, they'd both been stupid teenagers. And now he was just being stupid, because dying was stupid, it was moronic, and Chandra wasn't going to let him do it, because fuck that.
Once more, back to the chest compressions. There were angry tears pricking at the back of her eyes, and she was running out of breath. Jace, can't you do anything, dammit?
"I'm trying!" Jace snapped, sounding close to tears himself. "I managed enough healing to stop him drowning before you finished with Nixilis, but I'm almost out of mana."
"Gideon, please," Chandra muttered. She pressed down on his chest once more, dipped forward to breathe into his lungs—and his eyes flew open as he vomited dirty water all over her. Beside them, Jace gulped in a gasp of relief.
Chandra sat back, grimacing. She was soaked from head to foot, and she was stupidly, stupidly relieved. Gideon groaned, leaned to the side, and vomited again, this time onto the muddy ground beside them. Then he sighed and wiped his forehead. "What happened?" he asked.
"Nixilis shoved your head into a puddle and held you down." Jace had sat down as well. "Apparently, being invulnerable doesn't protect you from drowning."
"You idiot," Chandra put in. She was having a hard time keeping back the tears threatening at the edges of her eyes.
"Is he…" Gideon trailed off, looking around.
"He's gone," Jace said tiredly. "Chandra beat him halfway to a pulp, and he was in enough pain I managed to worm my way back into his head and convince him he wanted to be off Zendikar. Thanks, by the way, Chandra, there was no way I could have done that if he hadn't been ready to keel over from your ghostfire."
"You're welcome," Chandra said to the mud at her feet.
"Thank you both," Gideon said, and he sounded so damn sincere that she had to look. He was smiling at her, a tired, battered smile, but still a smile. How could he smile at a time like this?
But he was alive. He wasn't dead. He was going to be fine. They were all going to be fine. Before she really knew what she was doing, Chandra had leaned forward again and put her arms around him, and then her lips were on his. Gideon made a soft, startled noise, and then his arms tightened around her, and he laughed into her mouth.
Chandra bristled, but not enough to stop kissing him. Beside them, there was a slightly embarrassed cough.
"You can have a hug as well, Jace," Gideon said, briefly disengaging his lips from Chandra's to speak.
"Um," Jace said nervously.
"Oh, it's fine," Chandra said. "I promise not to burn your face off."
"I—I could use a hug," Jace said. "But—Gideon—do you still—you know that Nixilis was lying about—"
"Of course," Gideon said, and whatever he was talking about, it seemed to calm Jace's fears, because the mind mage knelt and huddled his way into the hug from the side. With a sigh, Chandra let herself relax into both of them, feeling Gideon's hand on her head, Jace's arm awkwardly around her shoulders. She turned her face up and kissed Gideon once more, for good measure. He had thrown up dirty water all over her, after all. He deserved to get it back in his mouth.