Beyond our world
Disclaimer: Don't own and don't make money off of this.
Challenge info: Quidditch League Little League Ravenclaw Chaser, Genre: Fantasy
Bonus Prompts: (Dialogue) "So... what is that?"
(Quote) 'I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going – but I'm on my way.'
(Song) My immortal by Evanescence
Luna snuck behind the group that seemed to be gathering in front of the police station. From what she read of the reports many of the cities kids went missing and some recently turned up dead. Harry would be able to scare the people to let him pass but she had to go the back way. Most of the officers and experts on the case seemed to be dismissed after two weeks. It was going to be hard to convince the team leader that she was competent. Going through the building she saw the team leader shaking his head at the group. He glowed more than the average person there. He got up and crashed into her before they both fell to the floor.
"I'm so sorry!" He scrambled to get up before offering her a hand. She turned to him smiling and he froze as a shiver and familiar rush ran through him. Her eyes seemed familiar and there was welcoming aura. Her hand grabbed his and he took a moment to pull her up before they sized each other up.
He was her height with haunted brown eyes. He held himself tall and after shivering a little smiled at her. They stood around for an awkward moment until a man came striding in. His gaze was sharp and piercing and David shivered at the commanding presence. He was dangerous man to cross. He walked towards David's office.
"I'm Harry Potter and you must be David —and you ran over Luna Lovegood. Now that we know each other, can we please get to work so that I can get out of this heat?" Harry asked, as he pushed them in the office Luna pointed at. They didn't fight it and David picked up three files before they went into the conference room through his door. He gave one to each of them and went to the whiteboards. He briefly discussed what was 'known' about the case, than spent the rest of the hour going over what his office thought. Putting down his file he looked at them before closing the blinds.
"Look, I don't know who you are — we have enough experts on this case. I don't care who or what you are. Help us find the kids still alive, and I'll keep whatever I see you do secret, no confidentiality agreement necessary." David motioned them to open the folders.
"There are many strange things happening around the mounds, mysterious lights, sightings of 'fairies', and children coming without aging?" Luna asked, not even looking at the folders in front of her.
Sitting down before he fell, he nodded. "Yes. This place has always been a haven for weirdness. There have been very few deaths, but there is no evidence of how they died, and the others come back with stories, or they come back without aging a day after years have passed. It's a mystery that no one admits exists much less solve. How…"
"We see in color in the land of the colorblind, David. Why don't you tell us what you know?" Luna asked kindly.
"There's something hunting our children. A lot of 'fairies' seem to make this place their home. Most are benevolent or harmless tricksters. One is the cause of the problems. They are killing our children without any marks on them," David slumped in his chair.
"Do the files actually contain anything pertinent or new?" Harry asked.
"God, no. They end up just saying we have no idea how this happened or why. The rest are conspiracy theories from aliens to psychic vampires," David brushed aside the thick folders and placed a thin one in front of them. They put their chairs together and Harry read over Luna's shoulder.
"These are the reports you never submitted to anyone..." Luna looked at him with a sad smile.
"Yes. It's no less crazy- but half of the force is convinced this is a conspiracy by the parents and the others are convinced that aliens are taking them because of the nearby 'crop circles' that pop up around here." David smiled back.
"Well, yours is sound. Do you have any place in mind that we can start?" Harry asked.
"Yes, follow me and we'll take my car to it. It's one of the famed 'fairy mounds' that just... doesn't seem right. Too many mysterious lights, electronics go haywire, people see things, items from miles away are found there and tourists can't find it no matter how accurate the directions." He finished with a grin as they reached his car.
David drove as they talked. Luna was discussing a recent award she got in discovering a new dragon, and Harry was going was happy to be away from Britain after his Order of Merlin, third class. Talking about work after a while Harry was on one last field mission before his promotion to Head of Law Enforcement and Luna had found proof of some creatures her father wrote about. The mound was at the edge of city boundaries. It was surrounded by a forest and near a cave under a hill. They finally stopped and Luna looked around in awe while Harry looked annoyed.
"So... what is that?" he asked, pointing to the mound and cave doubtfully.
Luna and David shared a look. The space was filled with a mixture of positive and negative energy. It shone like a light house in the darkness with blurred edges and a huge spot of light in the cave that seemed to be residual energy. Luna saw all colors of the rainbow in the area when she tried to see with her senses and knew David was seeing something similar. The sound of children panicking stopped their responses.
A brown haired woman was leading a group of children to the cave from the forest. The group consisted of five to ten year olds. They were panicked while the woman tried to lead them to the cave and carried a child who was sobbing quietly. Putting the child down, she went behind the last child where they saw a dark looming shadow try to get at the children. It hit an invisible barrier but one of them passed under her arms into the shadow. Dark wisps curled around the child like tentacles as it lifted the child a few feet off the ground as something attached to the child's neck as they all became pale.
The woman cried out in a strange language, but looking at the frightened children behind her, kept her guard up as the three tried to reach it, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier. The thing kept growing trying to find a weakness in the shield as the child was being drained. They all stood there helpless trying to pass the barrier until the child was dropped dead and she waved her arm so he floated down, landing softly then with a pained look made a wind sword and stabbed it as it got close with the head. The thing cried out and slowly vanished. She gathered the glowing energy that appeared undigested by the creature and put it back in the child. The five year old glowed before gaining wings and pointed ears before waking up.
They spoke to each other before the child became an orb of light which entered the mound. The children noticed the adults and at their cries, she turned to them. She smiled at Luna, nodded at David, and looked confused at Harry. Motioning to Luna to approach as she appeared a few feet in front of them and putting her hand on Luna's forehead, they talked to each other. Luna seemed to be serene then angry until they both relaxed. The brown haired lady led the children in the cave and nodded to Luna, leaving them alone. Harry and David tried to follow them but Luna shook her head.
"She wants us to go to their realm. She is giving protection to those children and so needs to reserve her energy here. She needs them back before dinner so will send them back one by one to the city after she does. They'll be safe." Luna relaxed as they stood down.
"Do you believe her?" Harry asked.
"I do. The portal is open to us- just don't eat or drink anything. She told me that a Corrigan will meet us and show us the way. We need to hurry."
"I'll follow your lead, Luna. If you think we should go, I'll follow." Harry nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'm going in Harry, are you joining us?" she asked, looking at David. He nodded and she continued, "I'll lead the way because she showed me the path to the portal," Luna lead them into the cave.
They entered the cave and Luna confidently led them as Harry cast a Lumos wandlessly. David stared at the hand that held the orb of light with surprise then shrugged. He realized he was still in a state of shock distantly. The children they were leaving with the sylph when they reached the portal. To Harry, it appeared to be a solid stone wall but David disappeared behind it before Luna pushed him into it before entering it herself. A green bull-sized wolf stood over Harry and Luna as she tripped over him. The long braided tail wagged. David was staring at the wolf in awe.
"It's a cu-sith," Luna whispered to Harry.
There were two beings floating towards them. Both were radiantly beautiful with long flowing hair wearing long white veils. One was carrying a bundle that they realized, when they got closer, was a human child glowing and laughing. The first one nodded to the one carrying the child and the Corrigan carrying the baby disappeared behind them. She nodded in greeting before looking closely at them.
"You are the humans the Sylph said were coming. We must hurry. The head of the nursery hates adults, unless they're nursing mothers. None of you seem pregnant or nursing." the Corrigan looking disdainfully at them.
The walk was quick and everything seemed glowing with soft edges and finer detail. It was like a dream and they were walking through an empty hallway. Coming upon the right door the Corrigan opened it and there were many human children- and fae babies together. Beyond the nursery was a daycare with young fairies and humans playing.
"Human children's beliefs make our children stronger. The faster they grow the better we fight the Div's. Div's are invaders here and the demons that you saw kill the child that she turned into a fairy. They prefer human children. We fight them but we're outnumbered and they're stronger than us. We don't have many as strong as the sylph." the Corrigan closed the door after a moment.
They were lead into a room and told to wait as the Corrigan stood guard at the door. Luna explained to Harry that the Corrigan were cursed human princesses before explaining what sylphs were. Sylphs were flesh and blood but part spirit; they were strong air elementals that could procreate with humans. Finally the door opened and the brown haired woman came in with a grim smile.
"I bid you welcome, strangers, I know it's' human custom to offer food and drink but I don't think any of you want to stay here permanently. I must warn you to never tell what you saw outside of the cave. They won't believe it like they wouldn't believe my human."
"Your human?" Harry asked reaching for his wand.
"Put away your wand, wizard. He wasn't my pet or slave- but lover and husband. He was a wonderful human- even by your standards." She looked happy for the first time.
"Did you love him?" David asked sceptical, "Or did you just want him for his youth?"
She stood up and glared at David, "He was thirty when we met. We stayed here for a long time, but when I gave him human children- he refused to give it to anyone else and insisted he go himself. He was missing for nearly thirty years- so came back aged as time caught up with him."
"What happened?" Luna asked as the sylph cried.
"He contracted an illness from the human world. Our magic couldn't cure it. He went back to the human world- and didn't return for a long time. He came back when he was old- nearly 90 human years. He would scream at me to find another lover, but I couldn't. I spent five human years by his side, holding his hand, and he would wipe away my tears when it seemed he got weaker. Our magic gave him strength- but it couldn't give him back his youth." She wiped away the stray tears.
"What attracted you to him?" Luna moved closer to the sylph as the sylph accepted the hug.
"Everything about him- I fell more in love with him every day that passed. He was so bright that everyone else is dim and boring. He didn't understand another lover wouldn't make me any happier because he brought out the best in me. He's with me now and is with me in my dreams simply put he brought me to life and it was my immortal lifespan that split us apart," the sylph gave a small smile as Luna let go.
"He sounds like a special man," Luna moved away from the sylph to sit with David.
"He was. He told me it wasn't heaven without me but looked forward to it. He often said when he returned and we found out he was dying that, 'I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going – but I'm on my way.' He accepted his mortality as inevitable, and died with dignity He didn't mean to take everything I gave him with him in death," she was about to say more but a loud bang on the door.
The door flew of the hinges landing on the floor. A Div appeared holding a shadowy sword and the humans hid as the sylph ordered them as it was their fight before attacking the Div. The red eyed child following the Div attacked the Corrigan. The fight was fierce as the sylph wielded her wind blade and the Corrigan tried to knock out the child. Finally the fight slowed as both good fairies won the battle. The sylph killed the Div with a stab to the heart. The Corrigan had subdued the child and when it died the child went limp. The sylph gathered some energy before fueling it into the child purifying it. His eyes began to glow and become a shade lighter. She carried him and handed her to Luna who had approached the child when she saw what the sylph was doing. Suddenly the sylph trembled and fell to her knees bleeding profusely from her wounds and the Corrigan laid her gently on the floor. In one last shuddering breath she vanished in a pastel light show.
The Corrigan looked at them before she told them to bring the child with them because portal would close to close soon and they would be stuck there forever if they stayed. The three humans looked to each other and nodded. The Corrigan led them out to the portal and walking through they crashed into a cave floor in an undignified heap. They exited the cave and walked to the city under the night sky. They talked to each other as they tried to make sense of what happened.
Luna and David were forced to take turns carrying the boy the entire way because he cried whenever Harry approached. Finally reaching the city they were greeted with suspicious glares. A few people seemed to recognize David but no one approached them. They finally reached the corded off police station with two policemen standing in front of the entrance. The barrier was removed as they entered the police station. They were greeted with anger and surprise. Taken into protective custody they were taken to the head of the police station while the child was given to an officer before being sent to the hospital. The four were joined by Harry's boss. The man looked solemn and David looked around him as the others seemed on edge. A crowd was looking into the office as the blinds were shut. Anti-listening charms and a silence ward activated. A few hours later David left the office with them with his ears ringing and partially deaf. He was allowed to keep his memories as long as he swore an oath on his sight that he wouldn't speak a word of what happened.
Luna and David were visiting each other when the young child entered the room in a hospital gown. He was escorted by a policeman. His aura yelled that he was changed but no one but them noticed. He stammered a thank you then looked unsteady. Luna caught him as he fell and they were tense until the doctor came in. He had red haired with glowing eyes. Touching the little boy's head checked he was okay. He grinned at them, "This little one can't be near Div's for a while. He said he wanted to say thank you"
"Will he be okay?" Luna asked while David nodded speechless.
"Yes, but it will take time and care. We'll make sure he's safe from them until … taint can be cleared" The doctor carried the boy to his room and left the two alone to talk. Luna kissed him on the cheek as he left to go to his own room in thanks for the help. Luna grinned at the blushing man before going back into her bed.