Prologue: Removal
"Still no word...?"
Faye shook her head gravely, letting her mind rest once more. "Not a thing - I mean, we never talked much anyway, but... it's like she went into hiding after that weird... thing last winter. Still, I can feel something there. Something... frightening, actually." With both hands she pushed her hair back, pulling at it and gazing up at the sky. "And it isn't her. It isn't any of them... but whatever happened over there, it's - I don't know. It feels like it's been going on quite a while, but... why would they let it go on so long without fixing it? Or sending for our help?" Chewing her lower lip in frustration, she sucked in a deep breath and shut her eyes. "...It's moving closer, and closer towards this town. This... it's something malevolent. And we're right in its path..."
Tugging worriedly at her emerald-green braid, Gaia slumped against the cliffside and softly mumbled something under her breath - Faye had uncharacteristically rushed to seek her aid only a few short moments ago, after receiving a rather ominous premonition earlier in the day, and failing to establish contact with a fellow witch who lived in Castanet - the source of the unrest. "Nothing from Gale?" she added at a normal volume, a hopeful note lingering in her voice. Her heart dropped when Faye tossed her messy blonde curls over her shoulder and scoffed, shaking her head. "...You can't reach him, either?!"
"Yeah, but what else is new with that guy?" the witch snorted derisively. "Besides, the other towns can reach them physically, at least, and help them out... my niece told me earlier today that Oak Tree's been sending aid for months now, but things are only getting worse. Things have been pretty screwy there for a while, but the mortals only just started noticing..."
"And we haven't?" Gaia asked pointedly, hands on her hips, head cocked to the side.
Sweeping an arm out importantly, Faye shook her head and went on:
"Well, why would we?! That's what they're supposed to be there for! But listen, Gaia, we can't worry about them right now - don't give me that look!" she snapped indignantly, watching her rival's green eyes flash with indignant disbelief. "Alright, first, we've got to worry about keeping that threat away from here, okay? Then I'll hop on my stupid little broom, fly down to Castanet, scare the shit out of everyone, and see what I can do to... help them or whatever - see if Gale's got anything and ask him and Vivi why the hell they never sent for us. But whatever's going on in Castanet will just have to wait until we make sure it's just Castanet that gets affected, okay?! Because right now, let me recap: We. Are. Next!"
Faye's words rang loudly throughout the cold February night, the mountain clearing allowing her echo to reverberate through the glimmering sky. Arms folded under her chest, Gaia regarded her with a hard stare for a few moments, the two women unblinking...
With a defeated sigh, she finally slumped back against the rock, her warm, bare feet inches from the clear pool in which she made her home. If Faye was really taking the trouble to seek audience with her personally, all business for a change... well, the genuine distress in her eyes had been enough to catch Gaia's attention in the first place, without bringing the what and why into the mix. "...I just hope Sephia's not in any great danger," she finally mumbled softly, her voice close to breaking. "If she's out of commission, then... Castanet..."
The unusual sight of Gaia being so downtrodden, so hopeless, caused Faye's glittering red eyes to soften... but only slightly. She still had her pride as a witch, after all.
At least, a little bit.
"And I want to make sure Vivi's okay," Faye said firmly. "And Gale, too, I guess. But, come on, you're all about the mortals, Miss Goody-No-Shoes - so let's do what we can to make sure too many of them don't get screwed over by that... something, okay? Because... because that's my job, damn it!" She held out her cold, bangle-covered hand as Gaia giggled quietly at the unsurprisingly bald sincerity of the statement, looking down at her rival-cum-colleague with a wry smile and placing her own warm, pale, elegant hand atop Faye's.
She was well-accustomed to throwing a wrench into Faye's own schemes to toy with the mortals. It was a good thing the witch was actually embarrassingly soft-hearted at times.
"You know, I thought you liked your broom. Is it chafing you now? Hmm?"
And fun to annoy.
Snorting, Faye rolled her eyes, tossing her hair back once more and closing her eyes. Her wild, loose mess of dirty-blonde curls began to flap and whirl around her, ruby-red waves of light flowing from her fingertips and beginning to wisp off of her body. Her tattered black cape followed suit, floating around as if being blown by a strong wind. "Oh, shove it! I liked you better when you were moping, little smartass... let's just focus, okay?"
Biting back another cheeky remark and sucking in a deep breath, Gaia nodded quietly, closing her own eyes. Her long braid began to whip about as well, along with her diaphanous white cape and long skirt. She said no more as she felt the power pulse from within her body, aura flaring grass-green and troubled mind focused upon the task at hand: Cessation. Protection. Death...
Death?! She swallowed hard, as her mind corrected itself almost frantically, suddenly aware of a strong sense of hatred pulsing from afar - the sensation had gripped her tightly almost as soon as she'd connected with the land to draw upon its energy. No... not just death - vengeance!
Eyes flying open as the surge of seething emotion flooded her veins with surprising force, Gaia let out a loud, ragged gasp and toppled back in midair, the glow about her body flickering and flaring up almost uncontrollably.
"Gaia!" Faye snapped, keeping her eyes firmly shut - her own power was radiating in steady waves despite the distraction. "What the hell are you doing?!"
About to ask if Faye didn't feel it, too - the frightening burst of fury and loathing seemingly swelling from the very earth itself - Gaia instead shook her head and furrowed her brow resolutely, regathering her concentration and determined not to let the chance pass to protect her people. Even if it meant fighting back against the land itself, the very entity she was tasked to help nurture and protect...
Faye was mischievous, coarse, rude, and irreverent, but by no means an idiot - she clearly felt it, too, maybe even before Gaia had picked up on it. Something in Castanet, or perhaps someone, had invoked the land's wrath - and now, whatever it had inflicted on Castanet clearly wasn't enough anymore. Perhaps even the mortals in Echo Town could feel the faintest stirrings of trouble, if any were still awake far below them on this chilly winter's night.
And, as much as she wanted to soothe the land's anger, Gaia could tell by the sheer force of it that a fledgeling like herself was no match - especially if it had been festering and growing with the passing months. All she could do was push herself to her limits to ensure that any damage done remained minimal.
Sephia... I don't know what's happened to you... but we'll do what we can to help you and the others after this! So hold on, okay?!
Though her feet didn't touch ground or water, Gaia became immediately aware of the violent trembling, roaring, rumbling - a great, terrible shrieking, a protest against their defense. It had been closer than she'd imagined. Feeling her heart speed up, her fingers shook uncontrollably with the sheer force of keeping her power focused - it was working! She could feel the cold waves of rage rolling farther and farther back as they forced its will away from Echo Town, away from the countless others who would surely suffer in its mission to seek vengeance upon the innocents for some horrible crime... what had happened to cause such fury? And what would happen to Castanet, left to suffer its wrath alone? What had they been going through already?
As Gaia pondered these questions, concentration slipping once more while disturbing images and sensations flashed across her mind's eye, she felt the intense force push back wildly against their power. The mountainside was thrown into even heavier, more chaotic and brutal tremors - the sheer force of which would surely rip apart the very town below in no time at all-
"NO! I... I won't let you touch them! GET... BACK!"
"Gaia?!"
Faye's eyes flew open just in time to see the blinding flash of colors illuminating Gaia's face - normally beautiful, now distorted with a mixture of fury, horror, and determination - and to get flung away like a mere piece of garbage, the shockwave of the desperate goddess's last-ditch surge of sealing magic erupting across the mountainside and bathing her spring in a nightmarishly colorful glow.
Losing control in the utter shock and terror of the moment, Faye's own powers exploded outward an instant later, briefly running through the ground in red-and-green currents.
She hit the forest floor hard, a painful burst of stars spraying across her field of vision, before everything went black.
Bolting upright with a disoriented snort, a confused and groggy Rebecca Salazar quickly found herself - quite literally - shaken into lucidity, her breath catching in her throat as fierce tremors and rumbles rocked her house. She could her something shatter, and a loud crashing down the hall found her springing immediately to her feet, slippers slapping loudly against the hardwood floor.
"Toni?!" she screamed, skidding to a stop at her son's bedroom door and throwing it open - much to her relief, the young boy was awake and safe as well, his wide blue eyes finding hers in utter disbelief... though he also wore a wide grin, pointing unsteadily in the direction of his bedroom window. He was holding on tightly to his bed frame to keep from getting pitched onto the floor as the bed rattled and thumped about wildly.
"Du-u-u-ude, Mom! This... is so fuc-"
Shaking her head rapidly, Rebecca held up a hand, the other steadying herself in the doorway as the house continued to quake. "I don't wanna... hear it!" She grunted as a particularly hard jolt knocked her off-balance and into the door. "Come on, Toni! Vamos - we've g-gotta get... outta here!"
As she frantically beckoned the dark-haired eight-year-old over and snatched his hand, turning to spring out of the house as quickly as possible... the tremors suddenly stopped, causing Rebecca to nearly topple and catch herself against the door frame once more. A myriad of emotions warred throughout her body - exhaustion and alertness fought chaotically against fear, relief, confusion, and aggravation.
She was surprised she didn't explode, really. Still...
Slumping down to the ground and letting out a ragged, shaky laugh as she finally processed that the worst seemed to be over - for now - Rebecca turned her head to face a bewildered Toni, drawing him into a tight hug and mussing his hair. "Oh, thank you, God... oh, we're alright. We're alright, thank you, God... you okay, Toto?" she murmured weakly, stroking the black curls soothingly even as Toni whined and squirmed. He finally slipped out from her hold after a few moments, rumpling his hair with a cringe. With a faint hint of amusement, Rebecca noted that it was even messier than before.
"Sheeeeesh! I'm okay, chill out! Don't be such a wuss, Mom! That was awesome!"
About to sputter out an astonished rebuttal, Rebecca was stopped as she heard confused, frantic shouts from outside, peppered with muffled barking - the neighbors and their dogs, no doubt. Of course they'd felt it, too... why wouldn't they have? It really would have been ridiculous if her house had just started shaking on its own for no reason, after all...
Be just my luck though, eh? Ah, come on, lady, she thought as aggravation emerged victorious from the emotional tussle, lolling her aching head against Toni's bedroom door with a soft whine. Get off your butt - we're good now!
Springing to her feet again, she darted over to the window at the front of her house - ordering Toni not to move unless he wanted to be grounded until he was forty - and threw it open, taking a brief inventory of the silvery February night outside. Aside from some newly-formed piles of snow where the quakes had shaken it loose, as far as Rebecca could tell - in the glow of the moonlight, anyway - Echo Town was largely unharmed. The dark, shadowy forms of the sleepy town's citizens were emerging from their lit-up houses, all volleying concerns and reassurances back-and-forth, near-and far. Idly, she noticed the stylist who lived by the riverside emerge from his own house next door to the general store, brandishing a flashlight - but everyone else seemed to still have electricity.
Small favors, I guess.
"R-R-Rebecca! Is ev-v-v-veryone o-k-k-k-kay?!"
Swiveling her head around, Rebecca spotted her best friend, Emma Sheffield, hopping from foot-to-foot outside the house right next to hers, teeth chattering audibly. Her apple-print nightgown, tightly-crossed arms, and fluffy pink slippers all did little to shield against the bitter February cold; meanwhile, her teenage daughter, Yuri - oddly showing no signs of her usual winter discomfort, even in boxers and a tank top - was rubbing her mother's shoulder soothingly. Her glasses were askew and light-auburn hair was slightly mussed.
"We're okay!" Rebecca called back, waving, and receiving an acknowledging nod from Yuri, who stifled a yawn. "You guys, too? Is anyone hurt?"
"We're okay," Yuri called, her normally-soft, gentle voice raised only slightly so Rebecca could hear her, as Roger Dunhill's voice floated around from nearby - he was making the rounds, checking up on everyone in the aftermath of the earthquake. He'd be stopping over to check up on them in short order, no doubt - at least, unless Dr. Klaus made it across town first. "It's all okay, Ms. Salazar... just a dented teakettle..."
"I kn-kn-knew I should've p-p-put that thing aw-w-w-way," Emma mumbled, rubbing her arms and hunching down further. "Th-th-that was an heir-l-l-loom..."
Suddenly, Toni squeezed into the window frame beside his mother, eliciting a grunt from her as he rather roughly knocked into her side. "Hey, Yuri! Ms. Sheffield! Didja guys see it, too?!"
"Ow! Toni, did you not hear my instructions earlier?! You could've cut your foot on something!" Rebecca snapped, giving her son a hard flick on the forehead and earning an annoyed "Ouch!" for her trouble. "Besides, the Sheffields have to get inside! They're freezing their butts off!"
"I'm fine," Yuri assured them, regarding Toni curiously as he rubbed his forehead and scowled up at Rebecca - Emma, meanwhile, gave the younger woman a thumbs up and scurried indoors with a quick wave, and a "Glad you're all okay!". Turning her attention back to the Salazars, Yuri crossed her arms and cocked her head, raising an eyebrow at Toni. "You say you saw something, huh...?"
"Yeah!" Toni confirmed, nodding enthusiastically, as he thrust his arm out and pointed in the direction of the mountains rising up in the distance, behind their houses. "From over there! It was, like, this cool burst of colors in the sky! Like, all red and green and like Christmas and stuff, and - it was soooo, sooooooo cool! I bet there's an alien back there causing the earthquakes! You should go kick his ass," he added, craning his neck to grin up at his exasperated mother.
Humming thoughtfully, Yuri folded her bare arms over her chest and turned her gaze in the direction Toni had pointed - the night sky was once again clear and starry, and from the corner of her eye, she could see that the sign of Chez Clement, looming over the plaza above them, was now crooked. On the opposite corner of the plaza from that stood her tailor stop, looking peacefully dark and overall unharmed. "Aurora borealis, perhaps," she muttered dreamily, a slight smile crossing her chapped lips. "Pretty... I wish I'd seen it..."'
"And I'm not kicking anyone's ass, alien or not," Rebecca sighed, pushing against a squealing Toni's face until he was out of the window frame. "Go on, back to your room - get some sleep, kiddo. I've gotta clean up the stuff that broke. You clean up any mess in your room tomorrow! Glad you guys are okay!" she added, turning her attention back to Yuri, as Toni rolled his eyes and darted back off to his bedroom with a huff. At the younger girl's nod, Rebecca leaned out a bit further. "Hey, just let me know tomorrow if you guys need any repair work done, okay? I might be having a lot of that for the next few days," she added under her breath, as Yuri simply nodded once more, this time not bothering to stifle her yawning. "Okay - well, tell your mom I'll see her tomorrow. And you go get some sleep, too, girlie. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, Ms. Salazar," Yuri called back distractedly, her gaze already wandering over to the mountains once more as Rebecca slid the window shut, going to grab her broom, dustpan, and vacuum.
Squinting, Yuri let out another thoughtful hum, trying to picture what Toni had seen - she felt a tiny tinge of jealousy that he'd been able to witness such a beautiful sight amidst the short-lived chaos. Still, the glittering winter sky held its own quiet beauty, and-
Eyes widening slightly, a slight jolt shocked Yuri out of her serene contemplation - the distant treetops flashed an angry red for the briefest and most unnerving of moments, in tandem with a faint, anguished shriek.
Mouth working in soundless shock, she stumbled back against the side of the house, before shakily making her way back indoors. Ms. Salazar was right - she needed to get some more sleep. It wasn't good to stay up so late... her imagination would run away with her, after all...
Suddenly feeling rather chilly as she gazed up at the glittering February sky, Yuri let out a long, shaky exhale through her nostrils, before slipping back into her warm, safe home.
"Gaia..."
She wasn't sure how much time had passed in her unconsciousness - the ache in her bones and head felt fresh against the numbing snow and frozen dirt, but other than that...
...Other than that, things felt calm, and clear. As they should be...
No. No... not entirely... Her brow furrowed, twitching the slightest, most irritating bit. Something's missing...
Mumbling the goddess's name once more, Faye lurched up into a pained sitting position, gritting her teeth as her temples throbbed. Every pulse sent a flash of red behind her closed eyes, and she groaned weakly. "Gaia... I... Gaia? I think... I think we're okay..."
No answer came. Maybe Gaia was exhausted, too - after all, she wasn't quite as magically experienced yet as Faye... still a baby, really, just like her niece's little friend in Oak Tree. Chuckling weakly, in spite of her pain, Faye clambered uneasily to her feet, gasping as the world seemed to spin around her for a moment with the motion. The pain, the dizziness... it was like the worst of being drunk and hung over, rolled into one hellishly cruel and freezing experience. She wanted to fly back home right now, and just sleep it all off, discuss the matter when she could think, stand, and see straight once again. But Gaia...
...She didn't feel Gaia's presence anymore.
In fact, she didn't feel the hostile presence that had been seeping outward from Castanet, either - whatever threat the land had been presenting had, at least, been confined for the time being. The frightened animals, shivering in their hutches, warrens, burrows, and caves, were the only other signs of life she could sense up here now, aside from her own. The people of Echo Town were clearly nearby, all safe and accounted for in... in the aftermath of whatever had happened, at least. Not that she was skipping around and singing "Glory hallelujah!" over the fact, or anything...
"Gaia!" she tried again, stumbling weakly up the nearby path - she'd been flung quite a ways down the mountainside, but had at least landed in the nearby forest. The walk was still long, but she could tough it out. "This... this isn't funny, you moron! Get... out here, now! Are you alright?! Look, I didn't... degrade myself to working with you... for this. Now ANSWER me!""
No answer. Of course not - but, still, Gaia wasn't...
No. She was a goddess... she couldn't have...
No, Gaia was... was...
Ignoring the blinding pain, Faye broke into a wobbly, unsteady run up the mountain trail now, futilely yelling out the goddess's name over and over again, even as she knew there would be no answer. Yet, they were out of danger - they'd kept it at bay together, they'd contained, it, so where the hell was she?!
Throat going dry as she reached the torn, ravaged crater on the mountaintop, Faye fell to her knees and let her next yell die in her chest. Gaia's spring was now a dried-up pit, blackened and scorched, free of snow... or vegetation. Large chunks of uneven rock and dirt far below her told of a landslide taking out the trail leading down to the Undine River, and the air was deathly silent. Deathly silent, and viciously cold.
Not even a trace of her ever-present warmth...
"No. No, no, no, NO. This is stupid - Gaia, where - where the HELL ARE YOU?!" she roared, slamming her hands onto the ground and trying to call upon - really, anything. Even a weak sensing charm, in case she'd somehow gone utterly stupid and had somehow missed something. Any spell that could help her, some way to sense and connect with Gaia's consciousness, any trace-
Faye cried out in shock and sagged helplessly, eyes wide as an agonizing jolt lanced across her brain and shattered her concentration. Gritting her teeth, she tried again - only to be met with the same results once more, ripping an anguished scream from her throat and lighting up the sky with a brief burst of red. She collapsed to the ground, pounding it with her fist as the reality of the situation set in.
No Gaia. No way to even reach Gaia... or anyone.
Immortality aside, she was as good as... as normal now.
A bitter chuckle starting to make itself heard under her mumbling, she rolled over onto her back, smacking the ground again. "No... no, that's not right. No fucking way - no, this... this isn't happening. Okay, what the HELL did you do to me, woman?!" she yelled, glaring up at the cruelly-glittering night sky and propping herself up on her numb hands. "AND YOU! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO?!"
Silence. Of course. It would be silence... because...
Because...
No. No, Gaia couldn't be taken down that easily, no matter how badly the buffoon screwed up her own spells.
"You... you idiot..."
On that last word, Faye's voice hitched - but only for a moment, as she cleared her knotted throat and willed the burn away from her eyes. No, the time for blind emotion had passed - Gaia wasn't dead, couldn't be dead... but, whatever had actually happened was nonetheless extremely grave. Faye was in a state of emergency now, and she needed to keep a cool head as she figured out the details of the situation at hand before things got even worse - for her, for Gaia, and for that stupid little town below that probably wouldn't even miss that reckless fool.
At least they'd succeeded in keeping the primary threat at bay... for all that was worth, now. Still, Castanet had Gale and Vivi to solve their own little issues, once they got their act together - they were more than capable in their own right. They'd gone this long without seeking Faye and Gaia's assistance, after all.
Dragging herself to her feet and propping herself up against the wall of the ridge that rose behind Gaia's spring, Faye shot a hard, ruby-red stare at the dried-up crater. Her body felt weak and drained, her throat was raw, she hurt all over, and she couldn't so much as try to change her own hair color now without suffering a brutal migraine.
"I'm supposed to be the troublemaker around here, you moron. I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but... if - when I get you back? Your ass is mine," she spat, before turning to limp back down the trail through the forest.
She still had her pride as a witch, after all.
Miles away from the night's chaos, in the small city of St. Ruthersford, a young man lay sprawled out in bed, snoring quietly and drooling a bit on the pillow he hugged tight to his cheek. A series of thumps and a rattling noise filled the chilly apartment, before warmth once again started blowing from the vent on the far side of the room.
Dead to the world as his subconscious took him to strange and occasionally wonderful places, Henry Turner didn't hear his phone vibrating on his nightstand, the name "Rio" hovering over the displayed number. He shifted under the thin blanket, mumbling incoherently, and completely unaware that - when morning came - he would find a message from his cousin that would finally sweep him out of his drafty little apartment in St. Ruthersford... and, hopefully, towards the bigger and better things he'd always dreamed of.
Author's Notes: Like trading out his crappy little Dodge for a diamond-encrusted pony rocket. But, man, those pony rockets depreciate fast...
So, while I'll be working to make sure this can stand up on its own, this wound up turning into a sort of companion piece for my other ongoing story, Stumbling Out of the Shadows - this one starts about a month before that one, anyway, though the events of Shadows do kick off this story's plot. I'll be working on the two concurrently, though Shadows has priority for now. This idea was just bouncing about in my head forever, and now that I have some fuller ideas for it, I want to see what I can do with it. Plus, I figure it's nice to have options in case I get stuck and frustrated on one story. As you can probably tell, I'll be using the Story of Seasons name for the standard-issue Harvest Goddess... you know, the really fucking annoying one. As for Faye... I just liked the name. I was originally going with "Asteria," but that felt clunky.
Welp! Yeah man I tell ya hwat dang'ol Harvest Goddess done dang'ol blowed herself up real good got all dang'ol EYAHHHHH dang'ol boom, man. Meanwhile, Witch Princess is all "STELLAAAAAA!" - she's the only one allowed to vaporize that woman, after all! - Toni doesn't give a shit about earthquakes when he's got FREE ALIEN LIGHT SHOWS, AWW YEAH, and Rio makes life-changing calls at the most inappropriate hours of the morning. Geez, hasn't she heard of the 9 AM rule?! What an ass.
Anyway, hopefully you all will join me in seeing what lies ahead for Echo Town when Henry snores and drools a path of destruction through there. Or maybe he'll actually be awake next time. Feel free to leave feedback, if you'd like - I'll see you again in chapter 1!