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Parisian Misdirection

Act 3

Twilight at Louvre's Edge

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The gunshot was what had tipped her off to the frog witch's exact position in the Louvre. Even with her slightly enhanced sense of smell (being part mouse), distinguishing which patch of Eruka's scent was the real one had been quite the conundrum. Pondering a solution to this problem, as well as keeping watch for her two other sisters who'd arrived earlier and gone inside, Mizune hovered high above the museum, framed by this night's crazed moon.

When the shot was fired, Mizune honed in on the sound, and was just in time to see Eruka crash through one of the second story windows of the Louvre. Amplifying the strength of her propulsion magic, Mizune swooped in towards the falling frog witch. With deft speed and precision Mizune managed to intercept Eruka mid-fall. However, Mizune was still quite a bit smaller than her amphibious friend, and couldn't catch her properly. She only slowed Eruka's descent by a small margin. This however, was just enough time for the other Mizunes to zero in on their position and form a triangle formation to gently secure and lower Eruka to the ground. When they had landed safely, the sisters immediately combined, returning to the form of a teenage witch.

She cradled Eruka's head in her arms as she murmured "Why did I let you go alone Eru?"

Eruka smiled weakly at the question. "Because I asked you to." The frog witch shook her head. "There was no need to involve you."

"'Chi'. That's a lie and you know it." Mizune replied "You just didn't want me here."

"Never could fool you could I?" Eruka croaked as she tried to rise to her feet.

Mizune let Eruka use her shoulder for support, as she asked in a hurt tone, "Why Eruka?"

Mizune had always thought of her and Eruka as a team. Eruka needed the offensive capabilities of the Mizune sisters. Likewise the Mizunes needed Eruka's strategic guidance to be truly effective. They balanced each other out, and more importantly they were friends. Best friends.

At least that was how the Mizunes explained it all. That was why they were always with her at the witch masses. Why they'd stuck with her when they'd confronted Medusa for the first time. Why they'd allowed themselves to get caught up in Medusa's scheme to release the Kishin, despite Eruka's ardent warnings. And ultimately why they were still with her now.

Eruka's smile lessened slightly "You don't have to be here Mizune. You could've gone back. You could've told the witches at the mass that you were manipulated. They might've let you back in."

"But you didn't go back Eru." Mizune replied

"That's because I've got a big blundering hulk of a reminder why I can't go back following me around." Eruka said resignedly "I released Free. The man who almost killed the leader of the witch clan and had the audacity to steal her left eye for his own ends."

Mizune noted that the derisiveness in Eruka's tone was fairly weak, tinged with something she was trying very hard to mask. Her efforts didn't fool Mizune, however. Hidden within Eruka's tone was, oddly enough, a twinge of awe. Mizune chuckled in her unique mousey way. The frog witch would probably deny it at every turn but deep down, she admired the big lummox. "Is that really so far off from releasing Asura?"

Eruka opened her mouth to make an indignant reply, but was silenced as a pistol shot resounded through the courtyard. She gave a weak croak as she took a bullet in her side.

Mizune, noting that the blast had come from the window Eruka had previously fallen out of, activated her propulsion magic and launched both her and Eruka to a shadowy corner of the Louvre courtyard, just out of range of the shooter's gun.

"Stay here Eruka" Mizune said as she lay the now half-conscious Eruka to the ground before muttering an incantation and producing pink slicer beams from her fingers. She held her hands across her face, imitating whiskers as she took an open stance. When her opponents leapt out of the second story Louvre window Mizune resolved that she would have to make this quick. Activating her propulsion magic once more, she launched herself at her enemies. "Don't die on me Eruka."

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Eruka grimaced, holding her side in pain. It was getting harder to breathe as she willed herself to produce a solidifying solution to cover the wounds in both her side and thigh. Yet she could barely manage to produce a thick liquid at this point, much less a makeshift bandage. She croaked weakly as her vision began to blur, obscuring the Mizunes as they battled with the five remaining thieves. Eruka wasn't sure if she'd last until they were done.

Pleading waves of magical energy flowed from Molok on her back. Though she hadn't the presence of mind to grasp at and use these energies, she understood what was being said:

"Use me!"

She'd hoped she wouldn't have to do this so soon. Sentient items were always unpredictable, no matter how affable they seemed. She wasn't sure what would happen if she fed the weapon. However, regardless of how she felt about the situation, she didn't have much else in the way of choices at the moment.

The frog witch struggled to rise on one knee, brandishing Molok with her good arm. Hoping against hope that her suppositions were correct, she focused her efforts on producing a nutrient rich liquid to feed the magical artifact. Her consciousness was beginning to ebb as she felt energy begin to flow into her from Molok. A request was embedded in that energy:

"Let me help you."

Molok's messages were clearer now that she was in direct contact with the artifact. And as much as she didn't want to, she knew she would die if she didn't give Molok control. Slowing her breaths and concentrating on the link between her and Molok, she opened the floodgates of her soul so that Molok could work unfettered.

Suddenly, she could feel her wounds being slowly overtaken by the solidifying salve she'd tried to produce before. Then she realized that her body had begun to produce many other solutions, some of which she'd never known she could make. One of these solutions, a stimulant of sorts, began to flow through her circulatory system, numbing her pain while at the same time revitalizing her. Even more concoctions dispensed themselves within her, acting as healing accelerants.

In moments, Eruka was back on her feet, feeling far more energized than she ever had. Her wounds were all but gone, and she felt strong enough to take on Death himself. So why were her eyelids so heavy?

The realization dawned on her a moment too late. Molok had taken the opportunity to release sleep inducing endorphins into her system. With her in a deep sleep Molok could take full control of her body and do whatever it pleased. Eruka fought with all her might to keep her eyes open, even going so far as to hold her eyes open with her fingers. But it was to no avail. She fell into the sleep driven darkness, losing all conscious track of her surroundings in the black curtain that followed.

When she opened her eyes once more, she found that her environs had changed drastically. Dry cracked ground spread out from beneath her feet, rolling ever so gently into an infinite horizon. Night had turned to twilight, casting an eerily reticent orange glow upon the sparsely dispersed tufts of ragweed that speckled this otherwise barren landscape. The tall, thin grass blades waved in the wind that wafted across this wasted land. Eruka could feel the badland breeze flow across her neck, gently billowing her silver tresses towards the horizon. The place had a bleak sort peacefulness to it, which, for all intents and purposes, Eruka did not care for.

Finding herself in such a lonesome atmosphere, Eruka didn't expect the darkly regal voice that came from behind her.

"Why hello my dear."

Giving a startled croak, Eruka whirled about, producing a set of tadpole bombs in hand. However, she made no further move, held place by surprise at the new sight that graced her vision.

Wet muddy earth spread before her, leading to a swampy lake. Reeds and ragweed grasses reached out from the mist ridden waters oversized and oversaturated from the liquid feast in which they resided. Further into the lake was a small island, whose plant life was somewhat tamer than that which resided in the muggy waters. At the island's center stood a large weeping willow, whose drooping branches swayed listlessly in the still flowing badland breeze.

Leaning upon the tree in a rather relaxed manner was a silver haired man sporting clothes that seemed more suited to nomadic desert travel. Adorned with bangles, necklaces, and other trinkets of tribal origin that intermingled with more modern pouches, belts and bags, he gave off the air of a well traveled gypsy. Even with all these trinkets the man somehow managed to have a sense of elegance about him. The gypsy chuckled, producing a cane sized umbrella as he left the support of the willow.

"Eruka I presume?" He asked, casually raising the umbrella to his shoulder.

It took a moment for Eruka to speak. She could easily feel the man's soul energy from across the lake, and knew this was yet another battle she couldn't win. Of course, no one ever said it would have to come to that, but that didn't change the fact that the idea of it was unnerving.

"Yes. That's me" Eruka managed, pausing to swallow a nervous croak. "You're Molok, right?"

The gypsy flourished his umbrella as he bowed theatrically. "At your service, my dear."

Eruka flinched at the phrase. She wasn't used to being addressed in such an… archaic manner. Shaking off her discomfort, the frog witch tightened her grip on the tadpole bombs she had in hand. If the man before her was Molok, then there was little doubt that this badland swamp was her and Molok's respective soulscapes merged into one. Knowing that fact only raised a myriad of other questions, but before she could ask any of them, Molok made his own inquiry.

"I trust you found my services satisfactory?"

"The healing part of them, yes." Eruka answered in a guarded voice.

Molok chuckled at the statement. "I suppose I should apologize for putting you in a meditative state with so little warning. Alas, I was thoroughly engrossed with my duties."

Eruka bit back an indignant reply. The man before her seemed personable enough, but if there was one thing she'd learned from working under Medusa, it was never to trust first appearances. She wasn't about to give him a reason to surprise her.

Noting the frog witch's silence, Molok flipped the point of the umbrella to the ground and leaned forward upon it. "Now, whatever could be on your mind, I wonder? Plans of escape I'd assume, or perhaps something more curious?"

Eruka frowned as she asked "What do you want?"

Molok gestured towards the frog witch with his free hand. "Why, only what's best for you of course."

Eruka shook her head. "No one's that charitable."

"Is that so?" Molok replied raising a hand to his chin. "I find that hard to believe."

Eruka crossed her arms. "I find it harder to believe that you think that way."

"Oh?" Molok said amusedly "It would seem to me that the mistrustful see only lies in the words of those who cross their path." He pursed his lips "Then again, I haven't really given you reason to trust me. Other than healing your wounds of course."

"That was just so you could get me here."

"Perhaps it was."

"Then why?"

"You seem to have a fairly active imagination Eruka." Molok replied, popping open his umbrella. "I'll let you concoct a reason that best suits your beliefs."

Eruka frowned as raindrops began to fall from the oddly clear twilight sky above. "What are you going to do with my body?"

The gypsy chuckled once more. "Why, I'm going to use it of course. That much should be clear to you. "

Eruka bit her lower lip. "For what?"

"Oh, there are some people I'd like to meet." Molok answered as the light drizzle became a torrent of rain. He turned back to the weeping willow at his island's center. "Until then, my dear. Au revoir."

Before Eruka could give a reply, Molok had already stepped into the willow and out of sight.

A long moment of silence passed as the gravity of Eruka's predicament set in. Mulling over the situation at hand for a few moments, the frog witch brought a hand to her head in distraught frustration as she found that she didn't know what was going to happen next. All she knew was that it couldn't be good. Indeed, in the best case scenario, she'd be set free, with whatever crime against humanity, witches or whoever it was Molok was after attributed to her. In the worst case scenario, she'd be trapped here forever.

In either case, her luck wasn't turning around anytime soon.

"Goddamnshit" she muttered under her breath.

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More to come…

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