A/N: This has been sitting around uneditted for more than 3 months now but I finally found the motivation to rectify that. Hope you'll enjoy. Reviews are always appreciated.
The threatening shadow of magic crept close, alerting her senses and pulling her out of her sleep. She woke with a start, instinctively searching for the source of the whimpering she could hear in the darkness of the room. The lights quickly turned on with help from her magic and she gasped at the sight of Zarathustra and Ediltrude who were being encased into the walls. Their breaths were shallow since the walls had wrapped tightly around them and restricted the movements of their chests.
"Do you like my gift?" The voice that came from the other side of the room made her jump out of her bed.
"Valtor." She hadn't seen him for almost two decades but she'd recognize that voice everywhere. It had promised her everything she'd ever dreamed of and more. She'd been too young and naive back then to realize that those kinds of promises always came with a price. But she'd grown stronger and smarter since then. Smart enough to know that with him you should strike while you still had the chance.
"I wouldn't do that," Valtor warned when he saw the purple ball of magic in her hands.
It only made her grind her teeth in anger. "I'm not scared of you," she challenged and threw the magic at him.
To her surprise, he didn't dodge or try to shield himself in any way, instead letting the energy hit him square in the chest and send him flying back until he collided with the wall behind him. The groan that came from him was echoed by Ediltrude and Zarathustra too, and when she turned her attention back to them, she saw the walls tightening their grip on them even more. The horror took a hold of her when she heard a crack that could've only come from a bone that was put under too much pressure. The walls of her own school were going to crush her two colleagues and good friends.
Valtor laughed, apparently having sensed the dread that had filled her. "You see, when I take damage," she heard him approach, her instincts screaming at her not to turn her back on him but she couldn't take her eyes off her fellow witches who were struggling to breathe, "so do they." His breath tickled the exposed skin of her shoulder as he was now directly behind her. "Tell me," he spoke right in her ear, smug as hell, "how many attacks do you think you'll need to finish them off?"
She turned around to face him, not intimidated by his close proximity. Her only concern were Ediltrude and Zarathustra. "What do you want?"
The smile on his face widened at her oh-so-readily offered cooperation. "Sit," his gaze darted to the bed to illustrate the command.
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms but did what he asked nonetheless, wary of what he might do to her friends if she disobeyed. She'd already let him hurt too many people.
Valtor leaned down so that he could look her in the eyes. "I want a kiss."
"What?" Griffin leaned back and had to brace herself against the mattress as the shock of the words washed over her.
Valtor sat down next to her. "When you betrayed me, you left without a goodbye, without anything." His voice was even but she could see the rage burning in his eyes. She'd never had any doubt that should he get a hold of her, he would make her pay dearly for leaving him. "And so I've waited for all these years for us to be reunited." He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing against her lips, but she stayed still, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of pulling away. Valtor lived for the hunt and she wasn't going to provide him with entertainment.
"Push that finger any further and you'll lose it, I promise you," she spoke as the tip of his thumb parted her lips. She only then realized that he was missing the gloves that he almost always sported as she felt his touch. Bastard.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't." He leaned in to whisper in her ear, the gesture so familiar despite the long time that had passed, "You like it too much." He let his hand fall away from her face, his thumb catching on her lip and pulling it down slightly. "You've changed the color scheme a bit," he noted as he now caught a strand of her hair. "It was lighter before," he wrapped it around his finger once, "and longer. It went on for days," he looked her in the eyes, probably hoping to elicit some reaction from her as he knew damn well how much care she put in maintaining her hair. "You loved it when I played with it. And when I did this," he grabbed a fistful of the purple tresses and tugged roughly, forcing her to tilt her head upwards and a moan to fall from her lips, "you went weak in the knees. Which was very convenient since I loved seeing you on your knees."
"You filthy animal!" Zarathustra growled from her prison, startling Griffin.
"Leave our headmistress alone!" Ediltrude joined her sister despite her obviously troubled breathing.
"Quiet!" Valtor turned to them and let go of Griffin's hair. With a wave of his hand, they sank further into the walls so that their mouths were covered too which made breathing even more of an issue. "Your headmistress doesn't seem to mind our little stroll down memory lane." He left Ediltrude and Zarathustra to watch on in horror without having the ability to interrupt him again as his attention shifted back to Griffin. "But of course you don't. You were happy. And the Ancestresses were happy that we," he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers, "got along so well."
"You didn't seem so unhappy yourself," Griffin countered, sick of him making it sound like he'd been doing them all a favor.
"I was not," his hand dropped to her bare knee and the feeling of his skin against hers almost had her jump. "We were the dream team," he spoke, his fingers moving ever so slightly over her skin, trying to drag her back to a time when his touch had been like oxygen for her. "We could've had it all." The change in his voice must have been unbidden because he immediately tried to cover for it, "until you decided to throw it all away." His fingers dug in her leg, causing her to lose her train of thought and hiss.
"You could've had it all, you mean," Griffin spoke despite the pain. "You never loved me." Something blenched inside her, the notion too ridiculous to even be thought of, much less spoken of. "You only loved the power we could wield together," she continued, trying to ignore her own slip-up.
"And you loved it too," Valtor barely waited for her to finish. "You can deny it all you want," his hand slid up her thigh, "but I'll never forget how your body shuddered under mine, how it glowed, painted in the colors of our combined magic." His hand on her waist was bringing back the feeling of his touch and his words in her ears were painting a picture in her mind. "It was so powerful that it was a shame we couldn't fuck on the battlefield," the vindictiveness of the words had a moan fall from her lips. "The raw energy would've turned all our enemies to ash." Valtor took a breath, his chest rising and falling erratically, his own speech affecting him too much. "But instead, you joined the Company of Light, betraying not only me, but your very essence. And the memories of that betrayal were what kept me warm with rage all those years in Omega." His grip on her waist tightened enough to make her hiss in pain before he let go of her as if he was too disgusted to touch her.
"So the kiss is your revenge then?" She glanced at the two witches that were still trapped in the wall out of the corner of her eye. "What will happen to me?"
"You didn't do me the courtesy of warning me about your betrayal, did you?" Valtor said and she had to admit that he had a point. "But I'm giving you a choice here. I'm not forcing you to do anything."
"You don't seem to have a problem with coercion though," she objected.
"The choice is still yours ultimately."
"And how can I trust you to keep your word?" she asked, this time openly turning to look at Zarathustra and Ediltrude. They seemed just as bad as before but everything in their body language screamed at her not to accept Valtor's deal. That was not an option though, and they knew it just as well as Valtor did. He'd set the perfect trap for her.
"I'm not the liar here, Griffin," Valtor said and there was something so dangerous in his voice that she had to look at him to make sure that he wouldn't get another idea and strangle her instead. He seemed to have something worse in mind though.
From the side came Ediltrude's muted screams – the walls had started tightening around her again. Next to her Zarathustra was thrashing as much as she could against the restrictions of the walls, desperately trying to help her sister.
"Stop it!" Griffin yelled as she blindly reached for Valtor, her gaze remaining glued to the gruesome scene in front of her.
"That depends on you," Valtor spoke calmly, as if the pain he'd inflicted had helped him regain his composure.
"Fine." She turned to him and grabbed his collar, pulling him close and crashing her lips on his. The fear loosened its grip on her as the commotion on her left stopped.
Valtor's hands came to rest on her waist again and he pulled her into him, his lips keeping hers parted as his tongue slid inside her mouth. It was like a hungry snake that was just waiting to strike and wrapped around hers, refusing to let go even when she could no longer breathe. The world started slipping away and she clutched at his shoulders, holding on, but he seemed determined to take away her breath and her life. Her oxygen ran low and her arms fell at her sides as darkness took over.
As Griffin's body went limp in Valtor's arms, the walls released Ediltrude and Zarathustra and they fell to the floor. Their collision with it seemed to snap Valtor, who was staring at Griffin, out of his thoughts. He laid her down on the bed and got up, preparing to leave. "I believe we'll be seeing each other again," he said and disappeared before either of them could regain her bearings.
Zarathustra put a hand on her sister's shoulder in a silent question and when she received a nod, confirming that Ediltrude was all right, she stood up to check up on Griffin.
"Headmistress," she shook the unconscious woman. She was still breathing but, other than that, things didn't look good. She wouldn't wake up even after they'd exhausted their reserve of healing spells.
Eventually, they teleported to Alfea where Faragonda met them with open arms. The two schools had worked together a couple of times in the past but both witches and fairies still had certain concerns and the alliance between them was still flimsy. They were met with hospitality though and were immediately taken to the infirmary when they told Faragonda what they'd been through. Both had a few cracked bones that were immediately healed and they demanded to be let by Griffin's side since they were more worried about her. Nurse Ofelia wanted to keep them both on bed for a while but they'd both sneered that they weren't fragile and didn't need tending to and Faragonda had led them to see Griffin.
"Will she wake up?" Ediltrude asked as she sat down on Griffin's bed. The headmistress' breathing was a little ragged and her skin was a bit cold when Ediltrude took her hand in hers.
"I suppose so," Faragonda said as she looked at the unconscious witch with worry.
"What do you mean you suppose?" Zarathustra snapped.
"Zara, calm down," her sister scolded her. "Faragonda is not guilty for this."
"It's all right. I understand your worry," Faragonda reassured. "The spell Valtor is using is going to drain Griffin's magic and life if it's not lifted before it's too late."
"She can die?" Ediltrude turned to her shocked, her own voice raising despite what she'd said to her sister only seconds ago.
"Yes," Fargonda admitted gravely. "But I don't think Valtor will let it come to that."
"Why not?" Ediltrude asked, glancing at her sister who was now pacing around.
Faragonda hesitated before she spoke. "They have a complicated history."
That got Zarathustra out of her nervous fit and prompted her to stop pacing. "She loved him, didn't she?"
Faragonda looked at her, shocked by the blunt question, before nodding slowly.
Zarathustra huffed and returned to her pacing while Ediltrude rubbed her temple, the new information not sitting better with her than it did with her sister. Faragonda could see the bitterness on their faces as they realized that they didn't know their headmistress as well as they thought they did.
"Despite the way she felt, Griffin put the lives of the innocent before her feelings and helped imprison Valtor," she spoke, not wanting to see them lose faith in Griffin. "That's why Valtor wants to remove her from the equation. He wants to make sure that she's powerless to stop him but also that she knows just how helpless she is."
"So you think he'll free her from the spell?" Ediltrude asked, still on edge, but the worry was back in her gaze as the anger had been contained.
Faragonda intertwined her fingers behind her back. "Not before her magic is drained. And I suppose he'll want something in return for freeing her from the spell."
"What will he want now?" Zarathustra asked as she came to stand next to her sister, her own anger still burning but it was directed at Valtor.
"I can only guess but I'm willing to bet that he'll want my magic in exchange for her life," Faragonda said as she looked at Griffin. "That way he'll eliminate all chances of the Company of Light getting back together and he'll get his revenge on both Griffin and me. He's not forgiven her for choosing her friendship with me over her relationship with him," she circled the bed and sat down on it, opposite of Ediltrude.
"Will you..." Ediltrude trailed off, knowing that the question she was asking didn't have an easy answer.
"Of course." Faragonda looked at Griffin again and caught her cold hand in hers. She would only get colder as the life force drained out of her. "Griffin's my friend," she managed a small smile. "And the Company of Light will only truly be destroyed when we're all dead." But despite the words, there was worry in her voice as she watched the unsteady rising and falling of Griffin's chest.