Runes
Chapter two
Thank you for my Reveiws. I feel so loved. For anyone reading my other fanfic...it might take a while...I'm sorry! It's not my fault, Shinji is laughing at my inability to write him and it is very distracting.
p.s sorry for any bad characterisation.
p.p.s. I own nothing.
Hagal's Aett
Eihwaz: letter EI
Meaning: yew tree
Associations: Stability, patience, perseverance, endurance, personal power, strength, initiation.
Appearance: crooked Z
The boy was a squib.
That was what everyone said at any rate.
Squib, useless, unnecessary, a disgrace to the family name.
Had he been anyone else, born into any other family, it wouldn't have mattered so much. But his family was of pure blood and he was the heir to the family. No one would ever accept a squib as the heir.
His parents had been strong, a good witch and wizard but they are gone. They died to save him and he repays them by being useless, being unable to ever live up to their names.
The family never say this, not directly, and definitely not to his face, but the boy knows. He knows how they think of him, knows what every sniff and sigh and pointed question means.
The boy knows he is useless.
So he shrinks back, takes up the least amount of time and attention that he can. Withering like a plant without water because in his family the water is acid and the plant is a weed.
Some members of the family are worse than others. One in particular is bad. His uncle. He doesn't want a squib in the family, doesn't believe that his family can produce squibs. So he tries to fix it.
His methods are…cruel.
One day they were almost fatal.
He was holding the boy out of the window. It was the third floor, the fall would kill him. The boy isn't struggling, he doesn't protest the treatment. He cries, silently, tears rolling up down his temple to get lost in his hair.
Then the uncle makes a mistake, he is distracted, he lets go.
The boy falls. He hits the ground hard and it is his shoulder and arm that take the brunt of the fall but he doesn't die. He bounces, all the way down the garden before he slows to a stop.
The family are thrilled.
They never mention the incident again and they never mention the peculiar scar that is later found on the boy's shoulder.
He nearly died.
His uncle buys him a toad, the family celebrate.
The boy returns to the shadows.
"I have a question, why are the hot guys always evil?"
Neville made a noise that was halfway between a whine and a laugh but it's covered by Harry's sudden coughing fit and Luna started giggling so hard she fell over, rolling away from the rest of the group
"You know I was thinking more along the lines of questions about what we were talking about." Hermione pointed out, looking like she couldn't decide between horrified or amused.
"Yeah, how do you know all this, about iron man and captain America and s.h.i.e.l.d? How come you always know everything?" Ron complained.
"I read, you should try it sometime."
Ron grinned widely and slung an arm across her shoulders, "Why would we need to do that when we've got you?"
Ginny grimaced and mimed gagging at the mushy moment, glancing around the ship.
They had followed the plane to a massive, giant honest to god flying ship. Ginny didn't know how it stayed up without magic but she was definitely not going to piss any of the muggles that could build this thing off.
They had landed and settled down on the ships roof Hermione had taken over and flapped around, casting various spells. Ginny didn't know exactly what she had done but the end result had been what was, essentially, a bubble. Ginny liked the bubble, she liked it a lot, that was because it created an area of warm, wind free, breathable space that the muggles couldn't see. She loved the bubble; it was a very useful bubble, particularly as they had been sitting there for a couple of hours.
The second they had set up camp (metaphorically, although Hermione had looked rather wistfully at her bag where the tent was packed) Hermione had started explaining about the people that they were following.
That had led to Ginny's question.
She didn't see why the question was such a big deal. The hot guys were always evil…or fictional…or both.
It is while she is considering this, and watching the rest of the group laugh as they tease her brother and Hermione, that the ship explodes.
Right where they're sitting.
When they had snuck onto the ship they had decided to set up camp in one of the most deserted parts of the ship (just in case). They had ended up in the area next to one of the engines.
It was, it appeared, a mistake.
Xxx
Harry flung up a shield the second he felt the ship lurch. He was just in time, flame and smoke hit the spell, breaking it and throwing Harry backwards. He hit a wall heavily and slumped over blinking as stars burst behind his eyes.
A hand stuck itself in front of his face, for a moment he stared at it before letting Ron pull him to his feet.
He looked round. Hermione and Ron were fine. Neville had a burn on his shoulder but it was a small wound and not dangerous. Ginny had a gash on her forehead but it was fixable. Luna was…missing.
His head snapped round again, taking everyone in. there was still no Luna.
There was however a gaping hole in the ship where she had been.
Harry pushed Ron out of the way and darted over, looking down, the only thing he could see was clouds.
A hand touched his arm gently and he spun around to see everyone else hovering uncertainly, waiting for him to speak. Green eyes hardened and he shook his head, grabbing his bag he pulled out a mask and fit it onto his face. "Get inside the ship. Split up and fan out. Don't be seen." Then he led the way inside.
Xxx
Neville didn't go far. The ship was still damaged and at risk of falling. Neville didn't know much about Muggle inventions but if the giant rotating blade had been targeted it was probably important and therefore would either be attacked again or fixed.
He wasn't wrong.
He had gone inside, gone down one set of stairs and ended up in the corridor beside the damage. Outside he could see two men-the metal one and the blue spandex hoodie one- attempting to fix the ship.
It didn't look like it was going well.
That wasn't what caught his attention, what he noticed where the heavily armed men in weird black suits advancing down the corridor.
As they approached Neville smiled slightly behind his mask and brushed a hand across his thigh, checking that his knife was still there before casting a stupefy at the approaching soldiers.
"You could at least make an effort not to look like the enemy." He muttered, dodging a bullet.
Xxx
Hermione winced as the woman was hit by the large green thing, which she vaguely recognised as the hulk. She muttered a quick incantation and sent a cushioning charm at the lady just before she hit the wall before continuing on to find someone else to fight.
As she ran past a group of scientists she thought she saw a flash of blonde hair and froze, nearly taking a bullet.
She stood for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut and jerked her head twice in an odd parody of a shake.
"The mission comes first." She murmured in a tone that suggested repetition and continued on.
Xxx
Ron had taken the first left that he had seen and had continued like that. It made more sense to him then running any way like the others had done, at least he would be able to find his way back.
He had-to his surprise ended up by what could only be the control room. It appeared well defended. There was one door and, from the bullets that would occasionally fly out and take out one of the approaching soldiers the door was also guarded.
He didn't attack. The set up was… suspicious, at best. You didn't go straight for the king. It was too obvious. Sending in the pawns while a knight took advantage of the diversion, that, made more sense.
Ron took advantage of his current state of invisible to sneak through the soldiers, stunning a couple of them as he went. A lurch went through the ship and Ron felt the dizzying sensation that he usually attributed to portkey or a quiditch dive.
Bugger, first move to the knight.
Check.
Xxx
Ginny and Harry had, quite accidently ended up together.
They weren't really sure where they were but it was a corridor. A long boring corridor with no-one to fight.
It was the sound that caught Ginny's attention and got her to stop. Without the noise she probably would have continued running straight into the man who had come blasting through the wall in a shower of rubble.
Correction.
It had been a nice empty boring corridor.
Harry stepped forward, wand in hand and sized up the man. He was easily recognisable as the crazy guy from earlier.
Harry nodded towards the hole and Ginny obeyed, slipping through it to find a man, sitting back against the wall with blood dripping from his chest.
"Oh shit."
Xxx
Neville scowled at the sound of gunshots. Blood dripped from his shoulder and trailed down his arm. They couldn't see him but one of them had got in a lucky hit. This had allowed a couple to slip past him and he could hear them fighting with Captain America.
Finishing the last of them of he ran back to the damaged area one was down but he got there just in time to see the Captain fall from the ship.
"Incarcerous." He barked, sending a rope out to wrap around the Captains arm. He pulled and the Captain's hand latched onto the ship pulling himself up.
For a moment the two of them stared at each other and Neville was acutely aware that his Disillusionment charm had broken. Then the Captain darted forward and pulled a red lever and the moment was broken. Neville turned away, not recasting his charm until he was out of sight. Hopefully the man would assume it was one of his comrades.
Xxx
The man sat up. He looked…mad, very mad, very, very mad.
He shifted slightly, pulling out a knife in favour of his wand. He'd seen the man move and he really doubted that he would get a hit with a spell. Not with the magic that the man could do. The knife however had the runes Tyr, Sowilo and Nauthiz, carved into it. That should hopefully let him get a hit.
The man stood and dusted off his outfit, only then seeming to notice Harry, standing in the corridor. Harry took a moment to curse the fact that the man could see through his spells. The man looked him up and down, from his boots right up to the mask on his face.
The mask was black, it had no eyeholes or indents and it was magic that allowed them to see and breathe. The only thing that made the masks different was the markings. Across each of them in white was painted the rune that they bore. It was this that the man's eyes were fixed to.
He smiled.
"What?" Harry snapped irritably, he wanted to check on Ginny, the room behind him was too quiet. "What is with the staring?"
The man laughed and the hairs on Harry's arms stood up. He really didn't like where this was going.
"You don't know? Well I suppose you wouldn't would you?" the man seemed to be getting way to much humour out of the situation and Harry (As usual) responded with anger.
"Know what?"
"Just what that mark you have means."
Harry froze; hand fluttering up to his face, his mask was still there. The man however was not, Harry spun and flung the knife just as he was seized and slammed into the wall. Hand at his throat. He struggled, biting and scratching, he even managed to get in a good punch, but the man was physically stronger and knew how to put him in a hold that he couldn't escape.
With his other hand he removed Harry's mask, brushing back his hair and tracing the mark. "Sowilo."
Startled Harry stopped fighting. "What?"
"Yes, I know what it means Sowilo, rune master." The man smiled again, a cunning smile that was more satisfied then happy, "My name is Loki, remember it."
With that he released Harry, letting him drop and vanished in a cloud of green, as he left Harry thought he heard the words "See you soon."
Harry scowled at the place that he'd been, rubbing his neck, "Bastard." Then he turned and ducked through the hole. Ginny was there standing near two men. One was large and sort of reminded Harry of Kingsley, the other was quite clearly dying.
"Muffilato." He whispered before going over to Ginny who looked up at him in shock.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he waved at the man, "Is there anything you can do?"
She winced. "Not to heal him. If I had the Dittany…maybe but it would take too long and Hermione has it..." She trailed off staring at the man, Harry waited patiently for her to finish whatever thought had caught her attention and was not surprised when her eyes light up. "Isa, I could use Isa to put him into stasis!"
Xxx
Fury leaned back and watched as the medics surrounded Coulson.
There was nothing they could do.
None of them could see the single line drawn on his arm, even though it shone silver, standing out against the pale skin.
Just a warning but most fights from Ron's perspective are going to involve chess so for those that don't know:
Pawn: can move one space forward and can only take diagonally.
castle:can move as many spaces as you wish horizontaly or vertically.
Bishop: can move as many spaces as you wish diagonally.
knight:can move five spaces but two (or three) must be verical and three (or two) must be horizontal. can jump other pieces.
Queen: can move as many spaces as you like in any direction.
king: can move one space in any direction
Check: tells someone that you can take their King. If they cannot move out of Check it becomes check mate.
Check mate: game over
please reveiw.
