I'm so sorry for the wait. ;A; I'll try to be better next time.

BdMgSbDmGs

Bad Decisions Make Great Stories

7: The Devil has a Heart of Ice

BdMgSbDmGs

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I was in a dark place; swirling clouds of black and red were all that I could see, with the exception of Marshall Lee, reclining in a chair and giving me the most hostile look he could muster with his rather limited palate of expressions.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked. Judging by my surroundings, this had to be a dream, though I didn't know why dream Marshall was being so pissy.

Then again, it wasn't out of character.

"How did you get here?" he said.

I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

A voice that seemed to come from the outside made a worried noise. "Marshall, what's wrong?" it called.

A look of realization crossed Marshall's face for a moment, but it was quickly replaced with confusion. The swirling darkness around me seemed to intensify, the blackness becoming more choking and violent. He screwed up his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Are you... am I hallucinating?"

"I don't know," I said, keeping my eyes on him as the clouds threatened to swallow everything up.

But he didn't appear to be paying attention to me anymore. He shook his head and rubbed his temples. "What's wrong with me…?" he seemed to say, though I couldn't see his lips moving. "No, that's impossible." The darkness was just at arm's reach, then. Already my vision appeared to be failing. I let myself fade out into the blackness as deep sleep pulled me away with its long, tangled claws.

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My head was killing me and my arms were sore when I woke up. I rubbed them, and they felt sticky and bumpy. My eyes shot open. I was greeted with the sight of blood on my sheets. I got up, as silently as I could, and made my bed quickly, hiding the stains. I stumbled over to the overnight bag that Marshall gave me for a change of clothes before stripping down and hiding my dirtied shirt in the bottom of the bag. I shuddered at the thin, swollen scabs that crawled up from my hands. I needed a shower. And an Advil.

I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was close to 4:30 in the morning, though I had no intention of going back to sleep. I crept into the bathroom and shut the door before turning on the light. My reflection in the mirror made me flinch. The scratches went all the way up my shoulders and across my chest. Blood smeared all across my torso and arms. I turned on the shower and waited for it to get warm, trying not to stare at myself as I leaned heavily against the counter in the meantime.

The heat stung my skin, and the water ran orange as I tried to gently scrub the half-dried blood on my skin without reopening any of the cuts, not daring to use soap of any kind. It took a while, but I sort of had a while to kill.

After I'd rubbed myself clean, I curled up into a ball in the floor of the shower and rubbed my forehead against my knees. I tried not to cry. I'd been so focused on getting myself cleaned up that I hadn't thought about how I even got cut up in the first place. It wasn't unapparent, either, the patterns, the headaches. Somehow, I'd been using magic in my sleep. I had no idea how, or why, but I did it. I was scared.

But that would mean that the dream that I'd had… No. That wasn't possible. I didn't even know the spell to read minds before he told me. There was no way that kind of magic could just—just pop into my head.

…But what if I did? I didn't know the spell for "stop" before I performed it. I didn't know the rune for water before I drew it in the air. They were just impulses. So really that wasn't… there was nothing that could have stopped me from doing magic in my sleep. But…

No. That couldn't be right. That couldn't be possible.

I sighed and shook my head to clear my thoughts, then got up off of the floor. I stepped out of the shower lightly, cringing as cold tile met my feet. I dabbed my body off and, after seeing red speckles on the towel, let my cuts air dry before dressing. My head didn't feel any better; if anything, it was worse than when I'd woken up. It was going to be a very long day.

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We stood before a valley sculpted from ice. Marshall had furnished us with thick coats and tall boots for the icy weather, but the piercing winds made me feel like I was naked in a frozen lake. A small plane carried us to a remote area in the glaciers. I had no idea where we were in relation to anywhere on a map, not like it mattered anyway since I was apparently about to be in an entirely different dimension by the end of the day.

Rising walls of rock and ice surrounded a barren landscape. The snow lay on the ground frighteningly peaceful. The cold stung my eyes and crept down my skin in icy tendrils. It was unnatural. Everything about this place seemed off. The wind tore at the fabric of my jacket, yet the scenery was completely still. Not even the clouds covering the unending sky shifted. Everything was… frozen.

"What is this place?" I asked, softly, feeling as though my voice could cause the careful balance to collapse.

"The glitch," Marshall said, his gaze carefully kept straight forward.

"Glitch?"

"Watch."

He took a slow step forward, then another, and another, then disappeared. I gasped, looking around wildly.

"What? Where did he—"

Infernus nudged my shoulder—I hid a wince—and pointed. Way out, about twenty-five meters away, I'd say, Marshall stood facing us, a raven figure amidst a white wasteland. He took two more steps, suddenly appearing a few meters to the right of where he was before. Three steps after that, he was all the way across the empty valley, then, a few moments later, he appeared standing right in front of me. I jumped.

"So… what are we supposed to do?" I asked, shying from the intensity of his scrutinizing gaze.

"Find the hole," he said.

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We'd been walking for what felt like hours. More than once we'd been separated, or walked through glitches that left us high in the sky or face-flat in the snow. But we made it.

It was all very sudden, actually. We took a step forward, and then we were in a totally different place. We stood in a large room, almost as big as the valley we'd been in just earlier. It looked to be some sort of castle. There were large doors and corridors branching off from the sides of the room, and a dark blue, intricately designed rug that stretched all the way across the room, from where we stood to what looked like a throne on the other side. It was all unlike anything I'd seen before.

But the strangest thing about the whole place was that it was upside down. I felt the force of gravity try to pull me toward the ceiling, but a separate, stronger, almost definitely magical force kept my feet on the ground. It was like standing in the middle of a battle that made me feel like I was being pulled apart. My head throbbed.

"Where the hell's that witch, Marshall?" Infernus grunted from behind me. "I don't like the feel of this place."

"Shut up," Marshall snapped impatiently. "She's on her damn way."

"Who's here?" a strained, high-pitched voice called from behind us.

We turned around to face a beautiful, but very old, woman. She was tall and thin as a toothpick. Her skin was ashen and her hair was the whitest white that I'd ever seen. She frowned at us with thin lips and narrow eyes that burned icy blue. She wore dark blue robes that bore patterns of frost. There was a young maid standing next to her. Her face had the grace of a bird, but her actual physique could only be described as unfortunate. The girl stared at us with a passive expression.

"Gunter, I thought I told you to take out the trash," the woman rasped at the girl. "I don't remember inviting any Sons into my castle."

The girl remained silent.

"You must have some good reason for so blatantly intruding. So. Spit it out." Despite her finer outer appearance, the old woman's voice sounded like an out-of-tune violin. I winced a little every time she spoke.

"Simone… it's been a while," Marshall said, his voice silken.

The old woman sneered momentarily, revealing very white teeth. "Am I supposed to know you from somewhere?" she hissed.

Marshall shrugged, smiling. Or was it a grimace? "I'm a Son. Every witch as powerful as you has seen me around once or twice," he sang. "But that's not why we came here today. We came to ask a favor."

"In what world do you think I'd just hand out favors to the abominations of the multiverse?" She glared deeply into Marshall's eyes, her hands beginning to glow.

"I believe that you may share the goals of us 'abominations,' actually. We need you to open the rift so that we may get into Midnaught."

"So you can do what, exactly?"

"We're going to kill Pride."

For a moment, the old woman, Simone I suppose, was silent. Then she lost herself in laughter. Her hands stopped glowing as she held them to her face, rubbing her eyes and covering her mouth. Marshall's expression didn't change.

"You can't be serious," Simone squealed between breaths.

"Dead serious."

"Don't tell me you're the same group," she paused to giggle once more, "that attempted this previously and couldn't even get into the city."

Marshall's gaze was level. Infernus and Kaugomme exchanged an anxious look.

Simone fell into another bout of laughter that lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time. I shifted my weight and tried not to look embarrassed.

"Okay, okay, fine," she snorted. "If you're so adamant about it after the first time, I'll open the rift. Just give me the passports."

Marshall's expression shifted. Infernus frowned. "What passports?" he grumbled. Marshall almost looked relieved that he wasn't the only one confused.

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't know," the woman chuckled. "Sure, Haley only passed the motion 21 years ago but I was certain that men with such purpose as you would already have them."

"Well, we don't," Kaugomme sighed. "Look, we're in a bit of a hurry. Couldn't you just open the portal anyway?"

Simone clicked her tongue. "No can do. Haley's got a whole network of spells around Midnaught. You need the passports to get through. I couldn't open the rift if I tried."

Infernus growled almost inaudibly. "Are you fucking kidding me…?"

"Then send us to Ordolholm," Marshall said, an edge in his voice that hadn't been present earlier.

"Ordolholm… isn't that…?" I said toward Bonnie and Marcie.

"Yes, it's what your human world calls Hell, a massive understatement in my opinion," Infernus grumbled, "but it's also where this witch Haley lives so we'll just have to suffer through it to get these passports or whatever from her to move on with our quest."

I nodded slowly. "So is this place… dangerous?"

Infernus held back a laugh. "Dangerous? Not even a little bit. It's the most boring hole in the dirt the multiverse has ever known. There's a line for everything. Literally, everything. It's like one of those… what do you call them… amusement parks on a holiday or something. Awful. Truly awful."

"Oh, well… that sounds…"

"Horrible."

"Underwhelming."

Meanwhile, Simone had been casting the spell to create a portal to Ordolholm, and was almost finished when we ended our conversation. The girl held a bowl in front of the old woman as a sort of magenta smoke curled around the woman's fingertips, then lashed out suddenly, swirling into the shape of a door. The smoke door opened. Darkness escaped from the portal's edges. Marshall bowed his head in thanks toward the old witch before walking forward and stepping through the rift. The rest of us soon followed.

For a moment, the world was black, then I felt as if I were spinning. I clenched my head and nearly swooned as gravity righted itself from the distortion of the castle. Somebody caught my arm and steadied me, and I smiled at Marcie after my senses straightened out.

"So this is Ordolholm…" I said.

It was uncomfortable.

The temperature felt like it was too high and too low at the same time. My limbs felt heavier, and the air was just a little too thick. We seemed to be on the edges of a village, just outside a city blocked off with a very tall stone wall. The world appeared as varying hues of gray, and the sky glowed pasty orange. The air seemed stagnant though clouds swirled above us in spirals.

"Haley will be in the middle of the city. We can get inside the wall then stop somewhere to rest, Marshall said, already heading down the slope toward the stone wall in the distance.

As soon as I tried to take a step, my leg collapsed under my weight, and I tumbled into the ash. I lay on my side, groaning.

"Fionna!" Bonnie yelped, leaning down next to me. "What did you do to her?" she snapped in Marshall's direction.

Marshall appeared at my side in the next instant, slinging one of my arms around his shoulder and standing me back up again.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"I don't know, I feel a little dizzy," I said.

Marshall glanced at the village behind us. "We can stop if you need to."

"No, I'll be—" I cut myself off as another wave of dizziness spread over me. "Actually, that would be nice."

Marshall picked me up in his arms. "We'll stop in the village. I'm sure they'll have some place where you can rest." The group travelled slowly across the slope to the village sticking out of the ash. I clung tightly to the front of Marshall's shirt, even though I was sure he wouldn't drop me. Being near him seemed to sooth my headache a bit, and I wondered if it was one of his spells, even though he didn't seem to be casting. Maybe it was just my imagination.

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When I woke up I was lying in a cot. I looked to my side and saw that Marcie was lying next to me.

"She collapsed soon after you," said a voice coming from my other side. I turned and found myself looking up at Kaugomme, sitting in a chair next to me.

"Where's Marshall?" I asked.

"Abadeer had to leave. He asked me to watch you while he was gone."

I grimaced and stared up at the ceiling. "Why did we collapse?" I said.

"It's one of the many perks of Hell," he said. "The more worries that you have, the heavier your body feels. It's a tricky little spell cast all across the realm, and it tends to have heightened effects the lower you are on the scale."

"The scale?"

"The social scale."

"I didn't know there was a 'social scale' in place."

"There is." A pause. "You're not at the bottom."

"Well, that's a relief," I grumbled.

"Can you sit up?" he asked me suddenly.

I tried moving my arms to prop myself up, but they were stiff and heavy. "Nope," I said.

Kaugomme frowned. "Perhaps I can relieve you of some of your worries, then."

I shook my head. "Most of my worries are about things that you can't help."

"I'm sure you can think of one or two."

I struggled to cross my arms, which lay heavily on my chest. "Where's Marshall?"

"He went out into the village to collect any information on the latest changes in security of Midnaught. Or any useful information at all, since lowly villagers as these are likely to know very little."

"You're so pretentious."

"Humility is a virtue."

"Who is Haley?"

Kaugomme froze. I glanced up at him, seeing his face stone cold and jaw clenched.

"Kaugomme?"

He jumped and looked back down at me. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"No, it's just that I fear that the whole answer to your question may burden you more than enlighten, given these circumstances…"

"Just tell me."

"Her name is Haley Abadeer. She's Marshall Lee's mother, as well as the most powerful mind magic user in the multiverse, and also the head of security for all beings."

"I don't see how that's so bad."

"Then I'll just leave it at that."

"No. Tell me. You told me there's more so now I have to know."

"There's no more to tell."

Realizing that I was fighting a losing battle, I huffed and crossed my arms tighter. I noticed that they were significantly lighter. "Oh," I said, uncrossing my arms and struggling to prop myself up. "I suppose my load is a little lighter now."

"I'd suppose so as well."

"I guess I'm supposed to thank you for your help."

"You don't have to."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." He stood up, brushing the dust from his pants. "I suppose I'll go find Marshall and tell him that you're awake."

I nodded. "I suppose you will."

BdMgSbDmGs

Iiiiiiiii'm a bad person. I was going to update this, what, two, three weeks ago? And then school happened and college and friends being assfucks and homework and it was all just awful. I'm sorry it took so long to update this, but I promise this isn't on hiatus. This is like my second favorite story that I'm writing right now. I couldn't stop if I tried.

Anonymous Reviewers:

Guest (first): Who knows Marshall's relationship with Lust? He could love him, he could hate him. I guess we'll just have to wait and see~ Thanks for reading!

Eboniscool: She is getting stronger, isn't she? I'll just have to think of something to counter that. ;o Can't make anyone too powerful, now. Thanks for reading!

NoYoloAllowedBro: Well I'm glad that that update could be a highlight of your day, and I apologize for taking so long! Hopefully this one will make your day a little better, too? ^^; Thanks for the continued support~

Questionable: Eeeep I hope you're still excited even after the month it took me to write this piece of shit. ^^; But thanks a lot for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy this story!

Diaann97: Oh dang, addictive you say? Hope you didn't relapse too hard in that case. Gaaaaah. Thanks for reading!

Guest (second): Okay okay I updated I updated! Sorry it took so long, but thanks for reading!

And thanks to everyone else for reading, too. You guys are ridiculous, but you still rock~!