Ruby took stock of everything at once. Tezzeret in front of them, six guard automatons and two fleshy ones. All in between them and Chandra's mom (Apparently she wasn't dead?)
Ruby raised her hands, slowly closing them, planning to cut through the Aether tube. Dangerous, but it would permanently stop the automatons.
Halfway through, Tezzeret's fake arm wrapped around her right arm, forcing it open as the metal dug into her tendons. It stung, though Tezzeret was probably hoping her arm was on the brink of breaking.
Ruby heard the sounds of weapons being drawn, but focused on the mana she had been building up. Plan A had failed, it was time for-
Tezzeret grabbed her with his other hand, before letting go with his metal arm and slamming it into her throat, causing her to gag as he hoisted her into the air. As he did, Ruby felt like something was being ripped from her as she kicked weakly.
"Put the weapons down," he growled, "or I'll break her neck."
Ruby struggled for air, lifting up one hand and trying desperately to remove the metal crushing her throat. Asphyxiation was one of the only things that could reliably get around Aura, along with specially made rounds and (to a lesser extent) high quantities of electricity.
"Sir," one of the two guards had stepped forward.
"What?" Tezzeret whipped around, the metal arm remaining in place. Ruby tried to maintain a grip on the white and blue mana she had grabbed, shaping it to what she needed, but it seemed harder than it should. Like something was breaking her ability to shape mana.
"May I remind you where we are?" the guard was looking around furtively.
"Isn't that the head judge?"
"Is he… strangling that child?"
"She can't be older than… ten? Eleven?"
"Strange clothes, though. All of them."
"What's that matter? He's still killing her!"
Over the course of the confrontation, fairgoers had gathered around them, drawn by the confrontation.
Tezzeret sneered, but loosened his grip on her slightly, enough for her to breath and, as her control reappeared, finish the spell. Guards were gathering, keeping everyone back from the collection of Planeswalkers.
"Hey," Ruby croaked, "Tezzeret."
"What?" he snarled at her, no doubt agitated that he had been pulled into this position.
"You left your legs open," Ruby smiled at him, before ramming the four barrier-blades she had formed into his knees and his ankles.
Tezzeret roared in pain, dropping Ruby as his legs gave out from under him. Ruby fell on her butt, and Tezzeret lashed out at her. Before he hit her, something smoky black covered her, the temperature around her plunging in seconds.
An arm wrapped around her, pulling her up and out. Blake pulled Ruby close, Gambol Shroud, coated in so much of the same smoky darkness that it was almost impossible to identify, held out in front of them like a… a… sword! Oh, yeah. Gambol Shroud was a sword.
Ruby lolled her head back for a moment, breathing in deep, trying to shake off the cobwebs in her mind. Casting that shouldn't have taken this much out of her, maybe combining it with a lack of air had left her dizzy?
"Ruby," Blake said quietly in her ear, and Ruby closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Blake's breath on her cheek, "are you alright?"
"Just dizzy," Ruby said, "that was a cool trick you did."
"Thanks," Blake said, "I've been practicing."
Ruby watched as Sun disconnected one of Ruyi Jingu Bang's shotguns, working the lever as he fired shot after shot at Tezzeret. The ferromancer had thrown up a shield of metal shards the moment Sun grabbed his weapon, and when Sun stopped firing to reload, launched them in a storm of flechette, his eyes and hand glowing with magenta. A purple wall of light appeared at Liliana's careless gesture, the metal cracking and shattering as it passed through, before disintegrating completely.
"You didn't have that trick last time we met, Vess."
"That was four years ago, Tezzeret," Liliana said, the graceful smile on her face ruined by the sprawling demonic script that covered her body glowing purple and leaking blood, "You couldn't comprehend how much power I have. Let me show you."
Before Liliana's spell went off, Chandra grabbed her arm, snapping the necromancer's hands down, "My mom," was all she said at Liliana's silent glare.
Ruby heard the several voices from the crowd still gathered, leaning around the literal wall of robotic guards to watch.
"Are they using magic?"
"No way. I've never even seen a mage. Now we have six of them in the middle of the Inventors' fair?"
Ruby breathed in again, taking in the surrounding area. They were walled off, and if they took to the skies, there would be a storm of thopters chasing after them in seconds. Which left…
Ruby's eyes widened as Tezzeret sent two more streams of metal at them, the heavy fragments of metal streaking towards them with much more grace then they should have.
Screwing up her face, Ruby focused at two points as hard as she could forcing two barriers into existence right in front of the shards.
They slowed, but were eating through her barriers. Ruby felt her sweat drip down her face, and-
Nissa pointed her staff into the sky, green mana seemed to crystalize the air around her as it met the metallic shards. They still continued to move, like a fish swimming through molasses, but they seemed to be rusting at high speeds.
"Nissa," Ruby's voice was rough, "can you open a hole in the ground?"
"What?"
"We need to get out of here with Chandra's mom. Can you open a hole in the ground?"
Nissa crouched, placing a hand on the tiled floor, nodding.
"What about Tezzeret? He'll be able to track our Sparks," Blake said.
"No he won't," Liliana said, "Tezzeret's horrible at it. That metal he replaced his chest with ruins it both ways. We won't be able to reliably track him, but he won't be able to find us."
"Sun," Ruby, "How far can you go?
"At the drop of a hat?" Sun licked his lips, "five."
"Do it. Take out the robots."
"Not Tezzeret?" Sun's blue eyes were slowly lightening to a couple of shades off white, and the smell of ozone lit the air.
"We need to get away for now. It'll be easier if he isn't dead," as much as Ruby wanted to make Tezzeret pay for Ral's arm.
"Alright," Sun said, raising his right arm to the sky, currents of racing mana under his flesh causing an almost tribal design to appear in red, "I get it."
What happened next took a little over ten seconds. Five flashes of light slammed into Sun, each one bringing with it a wave of heat and an unholy roar. The ground shattered, shards of tile flying into the air as a wave of blistering heat washed over the area.
In the center of the destruction, Sun looked completely calm. Not a single hair out of place as the mana started to circle throughout his body.
"Nissa. Get that hole open."
"Are you-?"
"Yes."
"What are you idiots doing?" Tezzeret was yelling the be heard over the roar of energy, "stop hi-"
Before he finished the order, Sun exploded from his place too fast for anyone except Ruby to hope of stopping.
To the casual observer, it would look like Sun had moved with the speed more fitting for a jet than a fourteen year old, giving quick punches to each of the robots, before stopping at the last one.
That same casual observer was probably surprised when each of those robots shattered like they were hit with a canon ball.
"Mom!" Chandra called as she turned towards the wall of guards behind them, making her own wall of fire, "Come on!"
"Don't mo-" the guard was cut off by a heavy wrench smashing into the side of his face. Mrs. Naalar ran over to the hole Nissa had made, jumping down to the Animist, followed by Chandra and Liliana.
"Blake!" Sun said, wincing, "get Ruby in there, I'll be in right after."
"No," Blake snapped, "That's the sort of thing they say in books when that person isn't going to be there. We're going together, or not at all."
"Let me make that decision for you," Tezzeret swung both arms at them, the shattered remains of the guards flying at them.
Ruby threw up her hands, creating a giant barrier around them. She shook as the blades dug into it. She couldn't hold this for much-
Then she was falling, the ground swallowing them whole as Ruby collided with something soft.
They had gotten underground, but needed to go deeper if they wanted to be able to dodge sewage and stuff. She would need to tell Nissa, that was important.
Ruby let her eyes drift close, just… just five minutes. That's all she needed, five minutes to-
- X Pia X-
Pia stood in the dark, mentally running through what had happened. First, she had been accosted by Tezzeret, which made sense. Second, a pair who looked like they could have been sisters march up and trade threats with Tezzeret. Stranger, but she wasn't surprised someone as brutish as him had enemies. Then Chandra, her daughter Chandra, who was supposed to be dead, executed by Baral, had shown up with what appeared to be an entire group of powered individuals. Who she was now in a hole in the ground with.
"Chandra," Pia jumped at the unfamiliar voice, before realizing it was the elf that had been with them, "can you give us some light?"
Heat blossomed into existence as Chandra's hair suddenly burst into flames, allowing Pia to see around the small cave they were hidden in.
The black haired girl was clutching the brown haired one tightly, her sword in one hand as she took long breaths. The other wasn't moving beyond her own breathing.
The boy was leaning against a wall with one arm, the other hanging limply at his side. His whole body seemed to convulse, and something brown and red escaped from his mouth.
"Whoa!" Chandra reached out, steadying him, "you alright there, kiddo?"
"Fine," he winced, "Aura should be fixing the damage, but I think my arm is shot. Hurts a lot."
"Let me see," the elf hovered her hands over the hand over the arm, "Oh my."
"What?" the black haired girl extracted herself from under her friend, sliding the sword she had in a sheath hidden by her backpack, and started to shake her friend.
"Sun," the elf continued, "I thought Aura protected you?"
"It does, unless you get hit by something really strong, why?" the blond haired boy, who must have been Sun, responded. Aura? Wait, was that a monkey tail?
"Because your arm has at least ten hairline fractures, and your hand…"
"Completely wrecked?
"A very good way to put it, yes," the elf's hand glowed green, "I can heal the fractures, and make sure your hand sets properly, but I don't have the time to heal it fully. We need to move."
"Go ahead," Sun said.
"Alright," the elf frowned, "I'm sorry."
"Sor- DUST!" Sun screamed in pain, "Fucking- piece of-"
"Do you really need to be so loud?" the woman with the bleeding tattoos, which she was dabbing at with a handkerchief, asked dully.
"This hurts a lot," Sun's eyes were still screwed up, "Nissa, what are you doing?"
"Healing your hand," the elf, Nissa, continued the healing.
"I thought you said you were just setting the bones?" the black haired girl looked up from where she was continuing to shake the brown haired girl, "Ruby, wake up," worry leaking into her voice.
"This is setting the bones," Nissa said, "you- Sun, you very nearly crippled this hand with that move, some of the smaller bones are powder. How many bolts do you normally use?"
"One?" Sun's voice squeaked at the end, "three max? I'm still ramping it up."
"And you used five?" the black haired girl asked, "are you trying to kill yourself?"
Pia found herself feeling like an outsider, everyone so focused on Sun, with his occasional outbursts of swearing, or the girl who was still unconscious, that they had hardly spared her a glance. Even Chandra had walked away, instead focusing on poking Ruby.
"I'm done," Nissa stood up, looking towards the two crouching over Ruby, "Is Ruby alright?"
"She isn't waking up," the black haired girl said, sounding incredibly worried, "Ruby's a light sleeper."
"Yeah she is," Sun rubbed at his arm, "I'm never going to try sneaking up on her again. Do you think something's wrong?"
"I'll check," Nissa crouched, waving her green covered hand over the girl's body, "her mana's low. Was she casting a lot before we left?"
Mana?
"No," the black haired girl said.
"Looks like Tezzeret learned some new tricks," the tattooed woman said, "did you sense it, Nissa?"
"What?"
"That metal of his. It was eating through the mana. Ruby's barriers, your spell. It probably would have done the same to mine if I hadn't used the Chain Veil."
"You-" Nissa stopped, "you're right. We should move, there has to be a drill in the-"
"What's going on?" Pia finally asked aloud, drawing attention to herself, "Chandra. Who are these people? Where have you been?"
- X Chandra X-
Chandra froze at the question, turning to her mother.
Pia hasn't changed much over the years, a few streaks of grey in her hair and a few lines on her face, but otherwise the same. A shawl over a long, sleeveless jacket which in turn was an equally sleeveless kurta. Heavy welding gloves covered her hands and arms, and a pair of goggles like her dad used to wear around her neck.
Chandra swallowed, standing from her place next to Ruby. Glancing back at the youngest member of their group, she found Nissa's green eyes staring up at her.
"Go," the elf said softly, "Ruby will be fine. Mana loss is an easy fix."
"I-"
"Chandra," Nissa said in a tone that brokered no argument, "that's your mother. Go talk to her. Now."
Chandra walked towards her mom, continuing to drink in every inch of the woman's face. What did you say to a parent who you hadn't seen for years? Who you had been sure had died?
"Hey mom," Chandra tried to sound natural, "these are- I-"
Chandra froze for a second as her mom stepped forward, heedless of the flames around Chandra's head, and wrapped her in a hug. Chandra swallowed, and after glancing back at Nissa, who nodded meaningfully, put herself out.
Without the danger of accidentally burning her mom in the way, Chandra returned the hug with all of her strength.
Pia still smelt the same, of Aether, oil and metal. Her clothes were softer though, closer to what she had worn when the Nalaars lived in Ghirapur then when they had been on the run. She must have been in Ghirapur for a while before now.
"Mom?" Chandra croaked out, feeling her throat tighten, "How? I- You weren't at the execution, and-"
Pia tightened her hold, causing Chandra's chain mail to rattle.
"I was imprisoned," she said gently, "I only found out about it after, Baral came to gloat. He said he had killed you."
So Baral had survived Chandra's ignition. She had never been sure, but had always hoped she had fried the bastard.
"He tried," Chandra said, "but I don't die easy."
None of the Gatewatch did. They were survivors at the core, had to be, when their lives can be recorded as a particularly long stretches of fighting, to the points where they weren't felt more like calms in the storm.
And that was the path they had chosen for themselves, glady and of their own free will.
"I'm glad," Pia said softly, "Now, who are these people?"
"We don't have time for that," Ruby croaked, a flashlight suddenly turning on, "Not at the moment. We need to get somewhere safe, then we can do introductions.
"I-" Chandra felt Pia nod, "You're right. And I know where we can go."
"Where?" Chandra asked.
"To Oviya's home," Pia said simply.
- X Thalia X-
Thalia toyed with the pistol hidden under her coat as her and Gideon followed Thrask. They had been traveling for hours to reach the Ochran hideout.
Do not worry, Traft whispered in her mind, You are not being watched.
Thalia loosened her grip on the pistol. She could trust Traft on that, at least. The geist was capable of sensing the living.
"We're almost there," Thrask said roughly, "I hope you know what you're doin', Boros."
"We're not Boros," Gideon said for the hundredth time since they had set out.
"If it walks like a Boros, talks like a Boros and, judgin' by the way you're goin', not have any instinct to keep itself alive like a Boros, it's a Boros to me."
"Fine," Gideon's lips tugged, "We can find the rest of the way."
"Alright," Thrask turned, pushing passed the two and almost disappearing from the low light of the Undercity before she stopped, "And, if you survive this, do me a favor and put in a good word to the Livin' Guildpact, eh?"
"We will," Thalia said for Gideon, who was focused on the hidden path in front of them.
"Good luck, then," Thrask faded into the darkness, leaving Gideon and Thalia to stare down the hidden tunnel.
"How are we doing this?" Thalia asked, eyes scanning the area.
"Weapons out. These are trained assassins, so I'd rather not take the risk."
Thaila nodded, unsheathing her saber and feeling Traft's presence shift, preparing to use the trick they had been working on. At the same time, Gideon's sural uncoiled, the strangely flexible strands of metal at the ready.
Thalia and Gideon walked for ten or so minutes before the tunnel opened up into a large common room. People of all races on Ravnica were watching them, ready to fight. As they walked further into the room, Traft shifted further.
Finally, a palid skinned man stepped towards them. Through his dirt encrusted hair, a pair of ears tapered into points, marking him as an elf, but something about him didn't seem right. Like they were looking at an empty shell.
"Gideon Jura," the man's voice was similarly empty, no beyond that, it was hollow, in some metaphysical way Thalia couldn't easily identify, "Welcome to my humble abode."
"You know me?" Gideon said, apparently trying to do his best to keep an eye on everyone.
Having a geist sharing her body had it's benefits.
"I make it my job to know the powerful," he said calmly, hooking his thumb around the second joint of his middle finger from below. Jerking his thumb towards his body, the finger gave a sickening crack, bending at an unnatural angle, "And you are one of those. Your comrade and her… interesting companion, however I can't say I know. You are…?'
"Thalia," the cathar said.
"Thalia. It is a pleasure to meet you. And you are-?"
Thalia's eyes widened slightly, "There's no one he-"
"Oh, don't be like that," the man said, giving a hollow facsimile of a smile, "I can see him clear as day."
Thaila felt half her face shift into a scowl as Traft took control of it, "And who are you to demand my name?"
"I haven't demanded anything," the man said, "I merely want to know the identity of the spirit who enter my home. Would you not do the same, Gideon, Thalia?"
Thalia let Traft take full control for a moment to steady herself. This thing wasn't normal, the only things she had met more unsettling were Emrakul and Her brood.
"...I am Traft. You are?"
"See?" the man smiled. If he wasn't so wrong, it would have been a calming thing, "Was that so hard? Would you three like anything? Food, drink? You are guests in my house, so help yourself to anything I can give."
"You could give us the location of Vraska?" Gideon said.
The man staggered back, a true look of shock appearing for a second, before he gave an equally real bark of laughter, "Well played, Gideon. Unfortunately, while I am a man of my word, I don't know where Vraska is either."
"You don't keep track of your men?" Gideon asked.
"Normally I do," the man said, "but Vraska has an interesting ability to avoid my means of detection. You missed her by hours, my friends. If you desire, I can send a messenger your way when she reappears."
"That would be helpful," Gideon agreed, "but how will we know you sent it? We don't know your name."
"Call me Father," the man said, "It is the only name I have use for. The messenger will identify me as such."
- X Ajani X-
Ajani fumbled briefly, trying to get his footing with the gauntlets and grieves he had forced his paws into. He hated these things, though he was thankful for Grandmother acquiring them. A six foot tall bipedal lion would cause more than a bit of a stir walking around Ghirapur.
Ajani breathed in, picking up the familiar scent of Grandmother… and several unknown scents… Planeswalker scents. The naturally-unnatural scent of unprocessed Aether radiating from them, so unlike the cracked metal smell that the Aether used to power everything in Kaladesh had.
One, two, three, four, five, six. The most Ajani had ever come across at once outside of Tamiyo's story circle. Why were they here? Were they looking for him?
Ajani suppressed his Spark as well as he could (and as a hunter used to stealth, that was quite well) and dropped into the bushes. It wouldn't be enough if any of them were looking for Sparks, not at this range, but it was better than nothing.
"This is really good, !" One of the Planeswalkers said, a young girl in a red cloak. Ajani silently reached up, touching the gold hem of Elsp- his cloak. The girl carried the scent of flowers and metal.
"Thank you, dear. It's an old family recipe."
"Sun," the black haired girl sighed, "Slow down."
"Sorry, that's exhausting. I really don't get how you can go that fast all the time, Rubes," the blond boy said. Ajani filed away the name for the inevitable confrontation.
Those two, the black haired girl and Sun, had a strange scent about them. Ajani couldn't place Sun's, but he recognized the one around the girl. Feline, and not like she owned one, like she was one.
"Why do you think I eat so much?" the cloaked girl said. Rubes.
Ajani moved as silently so possible to make his way to the other side of the balcony, allowing him to see the other four guests. Damn it, he had been so focused on the Planeswalkers that he had missed the extra scent.
The reprimand disappeared upon noticing that it was one of Grandmother's Renegade friends. Nothing to worry about.
The Planeswalker seated next to the Renegade had a mane of red hair, a pair of goggles pushed up onto her forehead and was wearing a set of armor made up of chain mail and tubing.
Next to her was a woman wearing a long coat that appeared to be made of leaves. Her pure green eyes were scanning the area before, quite suddenly, jumping to him.
"Come out!" she called, standing, "I know you're there!"
Ajani stood, prepared to throw off his gauntlets and face down the group if the need came.
"Ajani!" Grandmother smiled, "When did you get here?"
"Just a few minutes ago," Ajani said, keeping his head in the confines of the hood, as he looked around. 'Rubes' was squinting at him, her head turned to the side, "Who are these people, Grandmother?"
"Oh," Grandmother's smile turned sheepish, "Of course. You've met Pia before, right?"
"Once," Ajani said simply.
"Well, this is her daughter, Chandra," Grandmother waved a hand towards the red head.
"And the rest?"
"Friends of hers. Nissa," the one in the coat, "Liliana," the one he hadn't gotten to before his cover was blown, wearing a purple dress and smelling of rot, "Blake," the girl who smelled of cat, "Sun," the boy, "and Ruby."
"A pleasure to meet you," Ajani said, "might I-"
"Your cloak looks familiar," Ruby cut him off, ignoring the discreet elbow to the side from Blake, "Do you know someone called Elspeth?"
The name was like a dagger to his gut. Ruby knew Elspeth? How-?
"Yes."
"Oh," a wide smile stretched across Ruby's face as she stood, walking towards him without a care, "Good! I've been meaning to find her. I can feel her spark, but it's muddy. I can't get it right. Would you min-"
"Ruby," Ajani lowered his hood, ignoring the sounds of movement at him exposing his head and knelt. He needed to look her in the eye for this, she deserved that much, "Elspeth's-" Ajani felt his voice try to stick in his throat, like admitting it would tear open the wound, but he forced it out, "I'm sorry, but Elspeth's gone."
There was something painful about watching the revelation sink in. It seemed to happen in slow motion, starting with her eyes. They dilated, the joy filled silver darkening to a tarnished grey, made all the worse by the smile frozen onto her face.
Then that crumpled, replaced with a stricken look as she stepped back, "She's- she's dead?"
"Yes, I'm sorry. She spoke of you a lot," a lie. Elspeth had mentioned Ruby once, in passing.
Ruby seemed to ignore Blake and Sun standing up, each reaching out for her, tear brimmed eyes staring into his one, "How."
It wasn't a question. It was an order.
"We… We were on a plane, Theros," Ajani heard Pia say something, before being shushed, not unkindly, by Grandmother and her daughter, "Another," Ajani's eye jumped to Pia briefly. Did he-? No, the secret was out. leonin didn't exist on Kaladesh, "Planeswalker used a ritual to become a god. We, me and Elspeth, killed him… and the leader of the gods, Heliod," Ajani spat the name, "rewarded her by killing her with her own weapon. I," Ajani's voice weakened, "I was right there. I should have done something, anything. I-"
"It's not your fault," Ruby said from the tangle of limbs holding her, "It was his... Heli-" Ruby's eyes seemed to grow wide with a realization, before hardening, "Heliod."
Ruby freed herself from the hug, marching past Ajani and towards the balcony.
"Ruby!" Blake called, "Where are you-"
"Don't," Ruby snarled, "follow me."
Then she was gone, a single step forward saw her body start to fade from existence, and by the next she was gone.
Blake stepped forward, but Nissa grabbed her by the wrist, "give her time."
"But-"
"We'll give her until tomorrow morning," Nissa said, "and if she isn't back by then, I'll come with you to look. We need to plan our next step anyways. I think we know what Tezzeret is after… but now what?"
The rest of the group nodded, frowning.
"Couldn't we just destroy it?" Sun offered.
"That'll be our last resort," Nissa said instantly, "We- I need a map of the city."
"There's one in the closet," Grandmother pointed towards it.
Even as Sun grabbed it, Ajani frowned. They were clearly going through the motions, worry about their friend taking precedent.
So where had she gone?
- X Koth X-
Koth's eyes were open by the time he heard the second scraping noise. By the third, he was ready to fight.
Had the Phyrexians found them? He had been sure their current base, a set of artificial cavern deep in the heart of a mountain with no way in or out without a geomancer, would have lasted for longer.
Koth cleared the space between his 'bed' and the passage. If the Phyrexians were here, he wanted to be ready for them.
So he was understandable befuddled by the preteen pushing a giant crate down the passage.
"Ruby?" Koth asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I need you to make something," Ruby grunted, continuing to push the crate towards his room.
"Ruby," Koth placed his hands on the crate, easily stopping her movement, "It's not safe here, you know that. Your plane must have artisa-"
"Koth," Ruby said, looking up for the first time and exposing her red rimmed eyes, "This… it's not a normal piece. It needs a master and you're the best I know. Please."
"I- Ok. It can't hurt to hear you out. Do you have a desi-?"
Ruby continued to push, "I'll show you once I finish moving this."
"Here," Koth calmly pushed Ruby aside, only for his eyes to grow wide as he wasn't able to move it any more than she was. What was in this? "Actually, can you help?"
"Yeah," Ruby grabbed one side of the crate and Koth grabbed the other. Together, they pushed the crate into Koth's room.
"What's in this?" Koth asked. Ruby produced a large bar of metal with a curve on one end, wedging it into the corner of the crate and popping off nail. She did this on all four corners before opening the crate for him to see, "Metal?"
Stacked in neat rows were bars of metal. Sp much, Koth realized, that it could keep the resistance stocked for months.
"Earth Dust infused steel," Ruby nodded, "It's stronger than normal, but heavier."
Koth took out one bar, weighing it as he let his power do its work. Power resonated through the metal, ready and excited to be shaped, "But why so much?"
"It's easier to explain a crate going missing then a few bars " Ruby said, "and I wasn't sure how much you'll need anyways. If this weapon is going to work, it needs to be perfect."
"You stole this?" Koth asked, "This much metal, this strong- we're depri-"
"We have plenty on Remnant," Ruby said, "it was made to create weapons. That's what it will do. Keep the rest, use it against the Phyrexians."
Koth put down the bar, looking at Ruby, "What is this weapon?" Ruby rolled up a sleeve, and Koth's eyes were immediately attracted to the scar in the shape of a burning heart nestled among the mana filled marks, "And where did you get that?"
Ruby looked down, tracing it, "I- I don't remember."
"It's deliberate," Koth observed. Scars didn't natural come in that shape, "do you know the symbol?"
"It's my sister's," Ruby said, "but I don't remember why I have it."
Koth nodded, not saying the last bit as he ran one metal encrusted finger along the symbol of New Phyrexia gouged into his own wrist. The mark was self inflicted, "The design?"
Ruby touched one of the marks, a red and white swirl, and a large rolled up piece of blue parchment was in her hands. She looked around briefly, looking for a place to put it, before Koth made a table of stone rise up next to them.
The moment Ruby had finished spreading it, Koth immediately recognized it, "Ruby, this is..."
"I know."
"Why?" Koth asked, tracing the blade in front of him. The long double edged blade, the larger than normal hilt, embedded with two gems, the hilt just long enough to fit a hand and a half, the golden pommel that ended in a point.
"Elspeth's dead," Ruby said, "She- they… she's dead."
Koth closed his eyes for a second, giving himself that long to mourn his friend, "Then why-?"
"I promised her I would kill whatever killed her," Ruby said, "This is the easiest way to do that. It's what it was made to kill the one who did it."
"It was?"
"Yes. Can you make it?"
"...Yes. But it will just be a sword. I can't-"
"I'll handle the enchanting," Ruby said, "and- Koth, when it's done, when it's ready… can you leave Mirrodin for once? I know, you don't like to but," Ruby's hand shook as she balled them on the floor, "My friends, they won't want to help. I need-"
"I will," Koth said, "Just this once. Elspeth was my friend too. I won't sit by and let her murder go unanswered."
Vengeance. Koth could understand that well. Mirrodin was all but gone, all he was doing now, going to do until he died, was fight to avenge it.
Koth grabbed the first bar. This would be one of his finest works, it had to be.
Elspeth's blade had been the finest weapon Koth had ever seen, and it's replica would be much the same.
- X End X-
AN: Oh yeah, motherfuckers. it's on. I'll give you one guess of what I call the arc after Kaladesh
