Author's Note: I am now acknowledging the reviews. This is no particular order.
Alexia Lupin- I don't know where this plot is going, either; but I do promise that it will keep twisting. Did you hurt yourself when you fell?
Varewulf- My ideas are never original. I did find the sentence that caused me to do this, but I've also been mildly interested in plushies for a while. I keep finding other things that prove that this isn't an original idea.
Za and Kuusuru- Thank you for the encouragement.
Urd- It's odd, because I know I've been exposed to nutcracker, but I don't remember very much about the story. I will keep going.
After Jennifer had washed the blood off, she carefully stitched Brightflame's side. Raziel watched sullenly. After several minutes, Jennifer tied off the thread and scrutinized her work, massaging the seam between her fingers.
Jennifer gently squeezed the plush dragon to her chest. "She'll be fine, she just needs attention."
Raziel stared at the dragon's glassy eyes. He could barely detect slight hints of awareness flickering behind them. "Are you going to be fine?" he asked Jennifer.
Jennifer rubbed at a bloodspot on Brightflame's wing with a spit-moistened finger. "I'll recover. He didn't take very much, and it was necessary."
"How much will Brightflame take?" Raziel asked. "She told me that she only has what spirit is given to her."
"Do not concern yourself, Raziel," Jennifer said, "It's different for her. Normally, she just gathers the energy I would lose anyway. When I first made her, it took months for her to gain awareness. It's probably going to take her that long again to regain consciousness."
"Then why did I feel her take energy from me?" Raziel asked.
"We're capable of great things in moments of desperation," Jennifer said. "I doubt that she'd be able to do it again."
Raziel sighed. "Is it very hard to take someone out of a game?" he asked.
"It takes a bit of work," Jennifer answered carefully. "Who did you have in mind?"
"Could you bring out someone from my clan?" Raziel asked.
"No, that's not possible," Jennifer whispered. "Your clan… they…"
Raziel held up one hand and looked away, "I only dared to hope. I realize that they were never anything more than a memory."
Jennifer sat in silence, rocking ever so slightly.
"Would you be able to summon Janos?" Raziel finally asked.
"He's possible," Jennifer said, "but I have some conditions if you really want me to bring him."
Raziel sensed the edge in Jennifer's voice. He stared at her in confusion.
"I think of the guy as a bit of a religious fanatic," Jennifer explained. "I want to know who would take care of him if he gets on my nerves."
Raziel stared at Jennifer in open shock. "Is that all?"
Jennifer fought the urge to giggle nervously, she continued with her more serious concerns. "No, that's not all. I think it would be easiest on the old bird if he didn't know anything about the pillar's destruction. I can bring him out right at the moment where you revived him, and we can convince him that everything turned out fine. Are you willing to play along?"
"You want me to lie to Janos Audron?" Raziel asked in alarm.
"Technically, he was never supposed to see any of it," Jennifer said. "At least give him time to come to grips with the fact that this isn't his world first."
Raziel remembered that Janos had an unshakable faith in the wheel of fate. He wondered what the ancient vampire would do when he found out what his god was really like.
Then Raziel remembered the last time he had seen Janos. The ancient vampire was lying on the floor, possessed by a Hylden. He was begging for death, but Raziel had hesitated, unable to deal the killing blow. Then, the Hylden had retaliated, knocking Raziel unconscious.
"What happened to Janos?" Raziel asked.
"He was forced into bringing the Hylden back into Nosgoth. Then he was their slave for hundreds of years," Jennifer said. "I'm not sure exactly what it's done to his mind."
Raziel let his mouth twist into a grimace as he thought about this. "We will tell him about it once he's accepted this world," he said sternly.
"We'll see," Jennifer said.
"So you will bring him?" Raziel asked.
Jennifer rooted around in a drawer. "It will take some time, but I will do it." Jennifer held up a scrap of cloth and shook her head. "Totally the wrong shade of blue, I'm going to have to buy more material," she muttered.
"Is that what I think it is?" Raziel asked incredulously.
Jennifer stowed the scrap of cloth back in its drawer and grinned. "There was plenty left over, and I figured that I'd find a use for it someday."
Raziel suppressed a shudder. Of all the things he had seen over the years, he was surprised that he would be so disturbed to see the remains of the cloth that now made his body.
A loud knock on the door interrupted Raziel's thoughts.
"Don't let him in," Jennifer said fearfully.
Raziel wondered what Jennifer was talking about when he heard a familiar voice, muffled though the door.
"You knew, didn't you," it growled menacingly.
"Go away, Kain," Jennifer yelled back. "I haven't healed yet from the last time."
"I promise not to hurt you," Kain's voice lost some of its harshness. "I just want to talk."
"Do you believe him?" Jennifer asked Raziel quietly.
Raziel glanced at the ugly welt on Jennifer's neck. He then thought of everything that Kain had done to him. Raziel sighed as he yanked open the door.
Kain leaned against the wall. He was not restored to his fully evolved form, but he did look older. He seemed weary.
Raziel grimaced at Kain. "You had better not try anything."
"I am sincere," Kain said, shouldering his way past Raziel to sit heavily on the couch. "Your new face suits you," he added.
Jennifer kneeled on the floor across from Kain. She saw an old and defeated tyrant, and she felt sorry for him.
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Kain asked.
Jennifer kept her eyes down, not meeting Kain's gaze. "Not in the first moment, but before you decided to kidnap me."
Kain sat back, exhaustion claiming him. "So what is to become of me?"
"What do you want, Kain?" Jennifer's question was simple, but she spoke as if it contained the world.
Kain was silent for a long moment, contemplating, "I wanted Nosgoth," he said slowly. "Now it seems that I am only a poor imitation of what I once was. It no longer matters what I want."
Raziel recognized Kain's feelings. He had felt the same way during the rare quiet moments in his journey through Nosgoth's past. There was nothing left to live for. At the time, Raziel's quest for answers had been the only thing sustaining him. Kain truly did have nothing.
Raziel clasped his hand on Kain's shoulder companionably. This was the first time ever that they had been equals. The gesture felt odd. "You could build a new life here, if you can manage to live modestly," Raziel said.
Kain snorted at the absurdity of the idea. "I suppose you've managed to adapt quite well."
Raziel gave Kain's shoulder a light shove before releasing it. The old emperor's spirit wasn't completely broken.
Jennifer stared openly at the two Nosgothian refugees and grinned. For a moment, she was afraid that Kain would insist on ruling the world once again. Jennifer could not have allowed him to live with that ambition.