Dimension 20: Fantasy High – The Seventh Player

by Yalamodo

In this retelling of the Fantasy High Campaign, a seventh player will be forced to admit that no one can stand alone. As Adaine and her new friends grow closer amid mystery and danger, can they learn not only to trust each other on the battlefield but off it as well? The same plot but with a new character to explore more complex aspects of relationships, platonic and romantic.

24. Sisterly Showdown

Chapter 12: Sisterly Showdown (+ Cool Kids, Cold Case prelude)

"Well, that goblin woman is going to be coming by next week sometime, so I'll have to be speaking with her soon." Adaine looked up from her work. Ever since the disastrous 'Festival' of Corellon, Adaine and her parents hadn't interacted much. But every once on a while, Angwyn walked into whatever room Adaine was in and announced something as if trying to bait her into conversation. Nine times out of ten, it didn't work.

"You mean my friend's mother?" Adaine clarified pointedly. Poke an owlbear enough, and it will give you what you're asking for.

"Uummmm, yes, the goblin," Angwyn responded. Adaine frowned, leaned forward, and stared her father straight in the eye. Angwyn replied in kind, a trace of confusion crossing his features. While his statement seemed on par with his normal level of casual racism, Adaine got the strangest idea that her father was trying to connect with her.

"Mrs. Gukgak?" Angwyn pushed his lip out further. "Actually, Captain Gukgak." Adaine corrected herself for her father's benefit. If he wouldn't respect the woman, he should at least respect the title. Her father started to sigh, caught himself, and acquiesced with a huffy hand wave.

"Very well, very well, yes, yes, yes," he said, brushing aside the disagreement. "She's coming by soon."

"Good morning mummy, good morning daddy," Aelwyn interjected before Adaine could respond, turning to regard her sister with a mask of perfect charm. "Good morning, Adaine, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm so well, thank you so much for asking," Adaine responded in as close a mockery to Aelwyn's primness as she could manage. The image of a snickering Machaira only aided the neat smile that tugged her lips from their practiced pose into a real grin. Aelwyn glanced down before replying.

"Alright, listen, I meant to ask, can I borrow one of your divination books?" Aelwyn inquired, bobbing a finger toward her sister. "I have a test coming up, and I'm a little bit fuzzy on some of my divinatory practices." Aelwyn shivered her fingers to emphasize how tiny the amount of fuzziness was, but Adaine smelled blood in the water. The younger Abernant took her time to answer, blinking slowly and drawing in a small breath in the high-society fashion of insulting surprise.

"Divination?" Adaine repeated. "I thought you were good at everything?"

"I'm focusing on abjuration, but, ah, there are elements of abjurative magic and divinatory magic that are not complimentary, so I'm just a little fuzzy on some of the basics." Aelwyn elaborated, speech slowing and eyes narrowing as Adaine tilted her head in faux disbelief. "Can I borrow a book, or do you want to rake me over the coals some more?"

"You can borrow a book, absolutely," Adaine responded at once, blinking slowly and smiling at her sister. "I don't need it. I've already read them; thank you." Aelwyn closed her eyes and touched her upper lip with her tongue. Adaine silently reveled at her victory. It was so much more satisfying to give Aelwyn what she wanted here because it forced her sister to acknowledge that Adaine was better at something.

"Very well, Adaine," Aelwyn chirped, a little less perky as she swallowed her pride and let herself upstairs.

"I can show you, if you like." Adaine preened a bit further. "It's very easy, at least for me." Aelwyn didn't rise to the needling, maintaining her composure as she disappeared up the stairs and into Adaine's room.

"These two library books, they're wildly overdue," Aelwyn called out a minute later. Adaine stepped over to the foot of the stairs as her sister leaned out of her room, holding aloft the books Adaine had checked out on the second day of school. She'd never gotten around to reading them. Adaine could feel the anxious frown pulling at her lips.

"Ahhhh," Adaine's attempt at defending herself couldn't quite come together, mouth forming an O as anxiety swelled, thin chest beginning to constrict. That's a problem we can fix, Machaira's voice echoed in her head. The books were a temporary problem. She was the best wizard in her grade. This was manageable. With a quick huff, the younger wizard swallowed the attack before it could get properly underway. "Oops." She finished instead. Aelwyn's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, picking up on Adaine's improved self–control.

"Alright, I'm just going to borrow these ones, thank you," Aelwyn half–sang quickly, waving the overdue books and turning to make off with them.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Adaine stopped her. "Borrow the ones that aren't library books."

"Alright, here." Aelwyn passed the library books over and took Adaine's home textbooks instead, quick–walking back to her room as a testament to just how nervous she was about her upcoming test. Adaine reveled in her moment of superiority for a bit before barring herself in her room to crack into the dusty books. She wasn't sure if they would still be relevant to her anymore, but she couldn't hang onto books this overdue and not read them. She started with Aeons of Solace, the history book.

From this, she gathered that Solace used to be a human monarchy whose royal family was connected by blood and marriage to the royal family of Highcourt, their southern neighbor. However, Solace was conquered some centuries ago by Kalvaxus, the Emperor of the Red Wastes, a being so mighty that the fearsome Nightmare King and Lords of the Necromikron were mere pawns before him. Kalvaxus laid waste to Solace, leaving the monarchy in shambles. However, Alexandria the twelfth of the House of Tilering, Queen of Solace and sole surviving member of the royal family, gathered her strongest allies and defeated Kalvaxus in combat. Solace was liberated, the monarchy disbanded, and the first Council of Chosen was formed. The elven oracle, Eleminthindriel promised Alexandria that she would return if ever there was trouble, beginning the relationship between Fallinel and Solace in earnest. Some of this Adaine had already learned from Hudol history lessons, so she wasn't terribly bothered until she found a painting of the first Council of Chosen. Standing behind Eleminthindriel was a young, handsome wizard labeled: secretary and paramour to the oracle, Arthur Aguefort.

"How old was professor Aguefort?" Adaine wondered aloud. She pushed the history book aside and cracked open Aguefort's biography. She remembered that the librarian had deemed it 'spicy'. She understood why. It was much harder to get through than the history book had been. She could feel her cheeks redden more than a few times. Every once in a while, a little voice in the back of her head whispered that she could try that with Machaira, or she pictured the tabaxi's sly grin after reading a passage, and the blush deepened. Even without Aguefort's lurid sexual details, the biography was not a helpful book. The ex-principal didn't use dates and only mentioned people by their first name, so it was more of a memoir than any sort of helpful historical account.

That being said, hidden among weird jokes and descriptions of Mass Polymorph orgies, Aguefort described the creation and use of unique and powerful spells. Adaine took notes with an excitement for magic that she hadn't felt in years, especially when she got to Aguefort's section on divination. One passage in particular stood out: "The strongest of all divination, of course, is the art of prophecy. You know what they have to say about prophecy, chuck 'em in the bin, ha ha ha (this is not a joke)." Adaine frowned. Who phonetically spelled out how the reader should laugh only to tell them that what they read wasn't a joke?

"You should chuck prophecies in the bin…?" Adaine murmured. Had they had a prophecy? Well, there was the oracle that died in the boat, but that had nothing to do with her party, right? And besides, Aguefort wasn't writing just for her. So why was she so focused on that line? Did Principal Aguefort hide prophecies in his bin? Adaine grappled with the idea for the rest of the evening. Briefly, she considered calling Machaira. It seemed unlikely that there would be anything left in Aguefort's bin after all these months, but she would need a rogue's help if she wanted to check for herself. Besides, Machaira was her best friend, and Adaine wanted to talk to someone about her findings. But if she called Machaira, the scout would want to know if there was anything else in Aguefort's memoir. A heavy blush heated Adaine's face at the thought. In the end, she decided that breaking into the principal's office to search a trash bin that had been available to the faculty and the police for months wasn't a risk they could afford to take when they'd had zero sign of a prophecy or any real reason to seek out such a portent.

Still, there was nothing wrong with taking some more notes on Aguefort's magic descriptions. And maybe a few more discreet notes on some of the, ah, other parts. Machaira did say that she liked to be on top… Adaine squirmed with nervous energy at the thought, carefully rereading the passage as the image of her crush sprawled across the page.

"Not Mr. Seacaster – CAPTAIN Seacaster as well!" Bill Seacaster correcting Mr. Hughes on how to address Fabian

"Mommy, Daddy, I am so sorry. I have to skip dinner today. I'm out with a friend doing a little bit of studying. These finals are coming up, and I'm worried I won't get a perfect score. So, I must away, I'm afraid." Aelwyn rushed out as respectfully as their classical Fallinel education allowed, hands clasped in front of her chest. It was about a week after Adaine read the library books, Aelwyn had entered stress mode. Stress mode for Aelwyn consisted of annoying attention to etiquette and dangerous levels of prim and proper.

"I've gotten perfect scores on all of my tests." Adaine interjected with a smirk. Sisterly suspicion, like everything else, had to take a backseat to one–upping Aelwyn. The bitch in question immediately turned on Adaine with a frown barely concealed under a mask of curiosity.

"What's that, disemboweling a gremlin?" She inquired airily. Adaine held a straight face for a solid half second before pointing a Ray of Sickness at Aelwyn, barely restraining giggles at how quickly they could come to exchanging spells. Unfortunately, Aelwyn managed to resist the spell, but she didn't manage to keep her good manners.

"Alright, that is quite enough, thank you," Aelwyn exclaimed, flat palm smacking the dinner table. Adaine actually let a titter slip through, supremely pleased with herself. The front door clicked and swung inward, revealing one Penelope Everpetal. Adaine's amusement evaporated, features creasing in confusion.

"Penelope!" Aelwyn greeted, striding gracefully toward the Aguefort Queen.

"Oh my god, your house is so cute," the sorceress said in lieu of hello. The girls exchanged kisses on the cheek before Aelwyn turned back to their parents, who were barely paying attention to any of this.

"Tata!"

"Why are you studying with somebody from my school?" Adaine demanded quietly as Aelwyn made to leave. "You hate my school." Penelope looked over at Adaine as if the younger girl had said something dumb and slightly obscene.

"Um, because I'm a great sorceress?" Penelope reminded her. Adaine let her gaze flit to Penelope for only a moment before refocusing on her quarry.

"Why are you studying with a sorceress? You're a wizard." The diviner was proud of how stable her voice was and prouder still that she had gained so much confidence since her last conversation with Penelope.

"Eheheh, maybe when you're a little older, you'll learn," Aelwyn drawled, eyes half–narrowed in a haughty attempt at superiority. She fluttered her fingers in the way Adaine always did at a defeated opponent, and righteous sibling fury blazed through Adaine's veins. "Tata!"

"I think she's sneaking out," Adaine yelled back at her parents.

"Aelwyn sneaking out?" Arianwyn repeated, looking up with a frown as if the notion was a radical new idea. "Never, she's a good girl." As their mother returned her attention to the papers in front of her, Adaine's expression fell into a loathsome deadpan that would have scared off a Harvestman. At that precise moment, the doorbell rang again, and Angwyn reopened the door to for Detective Gukgak and Gilear. Adaine had to swallow a bark of dismayed laughter as Gilear approached her father.

"Hello, Mr. Abernant, my name is Gilear Faeth." The balding elf introduced himself breathily, gaze slightly unfocused. This is not what I meant when I said bring an elf, Adaine thought, leaning back from the conversation, eyes wide and mouth stretched in a panicked grin. Angwyn's expression narrowed somewhat. There was no way this would end well.

"Oh, a wood elf, very well, take a seat at the breakfast nook," he gestured toward the breakfast nook as Arianwyn packed up her work.

"Yes, I've come to accompany as sort of an elven intermediary as Detective Gukgak's questions concern some matters of culture." Gilear began with promise. "By the way, do you have any food here? I didn't manage to eat before I got here." Adaine reformed the aloof face that she was expected to wear but felt her mouth begin to pull at the corners. Detective Gukgak glanced up at Gilear, perhaps rethinking her decision, before focusing on Angwyn.

"Yeah, we just had a couple of questions." The goblin took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and slowly released a sigh of resignation. "Um. This is sort of, um, something I wanted to talk about. Uh, as quickly as possible, my case is actually probably going to be shut down by the end of the week." Adaine's mask broke with wide–eyed surprise once more. "But we just have some sort of follow up questions for you as this thing sort of moves over to the council." Sklonda briefly discussed Daybreak's scheme before summarizing the tea, palimpsests, Zayn Darkshadow, the association with DJ Brainz, Daybreak's assault on Biz Glitterdew, and the murder of Zayn, all but the last of which was information her father would have already known if he had ever take the time to pay attention to his second daughter. It was at about this point, when the diviner stood poised to possibly hear some new information, that Angwyn finally registered the pale shadow of his child in the corner.

"Adaine, why don't you run along upstairs?" He commanded with a shooing motion. Adaine turned, quietly left the room, and cast Clairvoyance before the door to her room had finished closing. She placed the sensor tucked into a ceiling corner on the other side of the wall from the breakfast nook under the assumption that her parents could see into the ethereal plane.

"So the main thing we're trying to understand is, first of all," Sklonda opened, flipping through the police file. "We're tryna to understand is, first of all, the conjuration of that corn monster shouldn't have been able to happen. Uh, there's a ward against that. There's a book in the restricted section of the library that is enchanted to prevent conjuration. Watches and Wards should have prevented that conjuration from occurring."

"Well, I certainly don't know anything about Aguefort's defensive capabilities," her father stated. "However, if what you're saying is true, that there was an attack on the girl, an attempted attack on Kristen Applebees, that would have been an act of perditional contradoxy."

"Yeah, well, starting an apocalypse," the detective dismissed.

"Well, that's debatable, whether it would have started an apocalypse," Angwyn countered. "That's a religious theory that may or may not be true. Gods like to claim that apocalypses are happening because it revs up interest in the faith. You tell people that something's always going to be available, there's not an urgency on it. So, you have sort of, you know, eschatology for people to come get excited about the world ending, and the world's not going to end. Em, perditional contradoxy is an element of the treaty between Solace and Highcourt. Em, when Solace came under the jurisdiction of the Council of Chosen, much of the human clergy was left in Solace, in what was a semi–theocratic state. Part of Highcourt not going to war with the fledgling nation was built into the treaty, which is that the soul of any chosen of the Sun God would never occur on Solision soil." Adaine frowned, pretty sure her father had dropped a verb somewhere in there. "An act of peritional contradoxy would countermand that treaty and likely insight a war."

"Huh." Detective Gukgak, apparently a woman of few words, scratched down a note before abruptly shifting topic. "And do you know anything about the death of the elven oracle?"

"N–no, I can't say I do," Angwyn replied, surprise managing to find its way past his expressionless tone. "Uh, I know that The Cerulean went down and she was aboard. Terrible tragedy." Detective Gukgak sighed.

"Yeah, my husband was an operative of the state department when he was alive, um, and, uh, was assigned to that, uh, so sorry, that you don't know anything more." The goblin murmured, voice trailing away as she took a moment to compose herself. "Thanks for your time." The detective stood and left with Gilear in tow. Adaine dropped her Clairvoyance spell and inhaled deeply.

"Oh god," she breathed. Riz hadn't volunteered any information on his father yet. When asked about a picture on their wall, Sklonda had quietly told the party that Pok Gukgak had died some years ago, but Riz remained quiet. Clearly the younger goblin didn't want to discuss the topic, but she had to tell Riz about this as soon as possible. Steeling herself, the elf ran back to her room and logged onto the weird religious messaging service. Prayer Chain. Right, so her bookmark for the URL wasn't great for remembering the actual name, but she didn't think her parents could monitor its chat room and doubted they would care that she had accessed the site.

6:28 p.m. Adaine Abernant: Guys, some shit just went down, and I think I, like, maybe remember the case that we were doing and we forgot about, but it's still happening? There is stuff happening, and I think that it's, oh my god, we need to meet up right now.

6:29 p.m. Adaine Abernant: Let's go get ice cream.

As Adaine locked her room, preparing to go meet her friends, she noticed that the door to Aelwyn's room was ajar. Immediately prioritizing this unique opportunity, Adaine slipped into enemy territory as quietly as she could. Once the door closed behind her, however, Adaine tossed the place. The first thing she found was a bunch of spell books under some loose papers. The top book had been opened to the Modify Memory spell. Adaine's hand hovered over the books for a moment before she turned and dove into Aelwyn's closet. If she was going to find any good dirt on her sister, it wasn't going to be out in the open. Sure enough, in the back of the closet, Adaine found a small wooden model of a ship inscribed with the name The Harpy. Surrounding the model were evocation storm runes. What was the name of the oracle's ship? The Cerulean. This was a different ship then. Even so, how many ways could this possibly be interpreted that didn't involve her sister conjuring a storm to sink a ship?

"I knew she was bad," Adaine exclaimed aloud, a grin of vindication stretching from cheek to cheek. As horrible as all of this was in the grander sense of things, it made her next course of action deliciously clear. At that moment, her crystal started buzzing like crazy. At first Adaine thought that her party was responding to her Prayer Chain invite through their group text. While her party did in fact send her a good half–dozen messages, so did a bunch of the weird Hudol boys Adaine had forgotten to block. She never really wanted to see any of them again, even if they had provided good practice for standing up to guys like Biz. But right now, the creepy Hudol boys were much less important to her than the scores of pictures they and her party were shooting her of a scantily–dressed Aelwyn making out with Fabian. For a moment, she merely stared, mouth open, stunned. The sororal hatred that normally simmered under her skin began to burn.

"Oh my god," she breathed. "I'm gonna fucking kill everybody." Then more texts began to stream in with new pictures: Machaira dragging Aelwyn by the neck; Machaira holding her sister against the wall; Machaira, curled lips hovering over Aelwyn as she pinned older elf down. Adaine found herself glued to the images. In all of them, Machaira was the picture of savage dominance, fangs bared and claw tips slipping from their sheaths, every line of her body poised to display power over the other girl. Now, if that was the end of it, Adaine would have been all kinds of flush at the idea of having this primal image of feminine power pin her against the wall. Domination wasn't normally her thing, but this brought to mind flustering passages in Aguefort's memoir and some of her more recent fantasies. However, Adaine was saved from such thoughts by the rage that surged up her throat at Aelwyn's grin of aroused amusement, at once sensual and condescending. Voice choked by fury, Adaine stared at the image, trembling, until a text from Riz snapped her back to proper awareness.

6:45 p.m. The Ball: Can you come over to Ostentatia's party? These guys are creepy, your sister summoned weird girls, Fabian wants to make out with your sister, Machaira wants to kill your sister, Aelwyn wants to fuck (?) both of them and kill me, and I'm not having fun in high school anymore.

6:45 p.m. The Ball: :(

These texts were followed with yet more pictures of Machaira choking Aelwyn and Aelwyn making out with Fabian. Adaine saved and opened the latter image in her gallery and rushed downstairs to show her parents the picture of her sister at a fucking party before charging out of the house.

"Well, that could have been doctored," Angwyn called out as the front door slammed shut behind her, as if she needed another reason to hate her parents. Adaine barreled down the street at speeds only barbarian–style anger could achieve. What the FUCK was happening at that party?

"You wanna make out?" – Kristen upon realizing that the girl she is talking to isn't actually humanoid

Machaira didn't have high hopes for this party. True, Ostentatia Wallace was hosting, but the Hudol bloodrush team was sponsoring it as a celebration for their first ever sporting victory… because Aguefort had to forfeit when Coach Daybreak died. But the only Aguefort bloodrush players actually coming to the party were the ones in her adventuring group, the group that had killed Daybreak and enabled their victory in the first place, which was also the only group of non bloodrush–players invited and the only Aguefort students besides Ostentatia herself in attendance; and, as the confusing cherry on this irrational sundae, the party was taking place months after Hudol's victory had been declared… none of which made sense to her. But nobody else questioned the situation, so Machaira assumed that she was being stupid again and that she would just embarrass herself if she said anything, again.

Gods, she'd made such an ass of herself during the sleepover with Adaine. The memory still made her fur crawl a full three weeks later. Machaira had been so torn between wanting to spend time with her friend and wanting to hide her secret and wanting Adaine period that she'd practically tripped over her own tail every time she opened her mouth. But Adaine had been so happy to finally have Machaira over without her family getting in the way that the high elf had actually put up with her nonsense. The poor diviner had clearly never thought she'd be able to have Machaira sleepover, or anyone else for that matter. Adaine had been leaping at any opportunity to make her feel welcome, almost desperate for Machaira to stay. There were a few times when Machaira even thought that the wizard might, just might, return her feelings. But each little instance of hope had been almost immediately extinguished as the universe reminded the scout just how small and silly she really was.

By the end of the night, sharing a bed with Adaine had been too daunting a prospect, and Machaira had curled up at the foot of the bed like the cowardly cub she was. But then Adaine had her nightmare, and no amount of awkward shame could stop the rogue from being there for her. At first, the other girl's pleas for her to stay had sparked the familiar mix of righteous anger and protective concern for the young wizard. But, as Adaine cried herself to sleep on Machaira's chest, the tabaxi wondered if maybe the high elf wasn't just afraid of being alone, but if she was specifically begging Machaira to stay, if she mattered to Adaine, perhaps not romantically but still more deeply than as a mere friend. She wondered if, in the aftermath of her family's abandonment, Adaine had committed herself to Machaira in some more significant way. For a few beautiful minutes, the scout had allowed herself to consider that maybe Adaine would never love her the way Machaira wished she did, but that Adaine could at least accept her, scars and all. Either way, when Machaira drifted off, Adaine peacefully pillowed on her chest, at least one dream of hers had come true.

One dream too good to be true.

Machaira understood why she was forced out of Abernant Manor so suddenly, and she knew that Adaine hadn't wanted to hurt her. But she couldn't shake the whispers that told her Adaine was embarrassed of her. And, when she looked in the stream that morning, Machaira didn't blame her. So the rogue took those feelings and shoved them aside to deal with later when her friends weren't around to worry about her. Hearing Adaine joke about how dumb Valentine's Day was hurt a lot more than it should have considering that Machaira had never placed much stock in the holiday herself. The scout knew better than to be around her crush during her heat cycle on Valentine's Day, but she couldn't resist leaving something behind for her friends. When her heat cycle finally hit, it had been torture. The only thing her subconscious wanted to focus on had been the one thing she desperately didn't want to think about. Then Adaine called and offered to come over, and Machaira broke completely.

Machaira didn't want to be attracted to her best friend. She didn't want to feel this way about Adaine. But she couldn't control how she felt any more than she could control her body. Her fantasies had been vague and rough, undetailed and hedonistic imaginings of her crush. But whenever her mind slowed down and focused on what Machaira ACTUALLY wanted to do with Adaine, every slow kiss and nip, each gentle caress and nuzzle, the myriad of soft, contented sounds Machaira knew she could draw from those small elven lips… the thoughts were intoxicating, pregnant with desire and caustic to consider. Machaira couldn't remember having a heat cycle by herself where she came so frequently or cried quite so much. At the end of two days (it had been a quicker cycle, thank Bast), she'd been a mess. As Machaira looked around her camp, old blankets stained with cum and blood from where she had accidentally scratched herself – for the first time in years, mind – and cheeks wet with tears, the rogue bitterly compared it to Adaine's clean, welcoming bed. Machaira didn't need help at loathing her own animalistic nature, but sometimes the universe gave her help anyway. The universe even reinforced her new low opinion when, upon returning to school from her "virus", Fig and Kristen had friends Valentines waiting for Machaira but Adaine didn't. Sometimes it was the little things that drove a point home.

All in all, Machaira half–hoped Adaine didn't come to the party. Maybe she could just forget everything for a few hours. As she focused on Ostentatia's address, 69420 Spell Channel Lane, about two blocks down the street from Abernant Manor, Machaira fixed a smile on her face and took comfort from the bolstering presence of her friends.

"Hello, my name is Percival Nevillesvine," introduced a skinny, buck–toothed high elf boy with a bad slouch and a worse lisp.

"Hi," Gorgug greeted cheerily.

"Hello," Percival responded. "I'm the quarterback for the Hudol Hellions." Fig, face drawn into a bewildered grimace, was already shaking her head 'no'.

"He's the quarterback?" Gorgug parroted, frowning at the party.

"Welcome to my house party," Percival continued with a small gesture, which confused Machaira even more because she could have sworn that this was Ostentatia's house.

"Hello, comrade, ha ha," Fabian laughed, slapping his leg with a grin. Apparently, he didn't want to be outdone as the most antiquated speaker in the room.

"Ah, very well, from one athlete to another, so sorry about the loss of your coach, aha," the 'quarterback' offered with a wet smile that made Machaira's insides shrivel.

"Yeah, well I killed him myself," Fabian boasted amid awkward giggles from the rest of the party.

"Well, bully for you," Percival amended. Fabian bellowed out a hearty pirate laugh as his new friend turned to address the group at large. "There are some tables with beer pong set up in the backyard. There is a cake of black base and a pool with which you may feel free to jump in. Perhaps we will skinny dip later." He finished with a laugh, eyes rolling over to Fig. Machaira officially lost hope for the party. The rest of her friends voiced the sentiment with uneasy groans and murmurs. As they stepped inside, it became rapidly apparent that the only people there were equally weird–looking Hudol dudes, all elven, and all older than they were.

"You know what, maybe I won't go skinny–dipping," Fig muttered to Gorgug under her breath, beginning to fiddle with a lock of hair as she slipped closer to the half-orc. Machaira was about to suggest they leave when a latecomer strode through the door, the first woman to arrive outside of their party. A flimsy, gossamer peach shirt was unbuttoned down to her midriff where the lower half of the garment was tied off. Her denim short-shorts did wonders for her perfect ass and long, elegant legs. Partially braided blonde hair bounced as she swept inside without so much as a hello and beelined toward Percival. Despite her new attire, Machaira instantly recognized the figure. Shock kept the rogue from attacking long enough for others to notice Aelwyn's arrival.

"Ah, you're here," Percival exclaimed. Without breaking stride, Aelwyn Abernant grabbed a bottle of liquor and smashed it over the boy's head, hands already forming a cantrip to pull a swallow of spilled booze out of the air and into her mouth.

"Mmm." Aelwyn smashed her fist onto a table. "I came here to fuck!"

"Oh my god, hell yeah!" Fig cheered as Riz, Kristen, and Gorgug had a furious, whispered discussion to confirm that this was definitely Adaine's sister and not just a look-alike.

"Party is getting started," Aelwyn cried, snapping her fingers with a flourishing whip. BAM! A bunch of Aguefort cheerleaders appeared on either side of her, classically attractive women with flowing hair and glowing eyes. Fabian whooped and clapped. Percival sat up, nose bleeding over a goofy smile.

"Wonderful, wonderful," he cried thickly, giving Aelwyn a vigorous golf clap. "The party has started." Kristen stared ahead, eyes bugging out of her 'thirsty duck face' as Fig had termed it. The cleric pinched her leg until it bled, and a powerful reek of arousal and corn rolled out from her. A similar but more masculine scent came off of Fabian. But it was Riz that had the misfortune of receiving Aelwyn's attention.

"You're a funny little man," the high elf told him, eyes narrowed in a way that clearly said the goblin was beneath her. "You ever played knifey fingers?"

"Uh, that sounds terrifying," Riz admitted.

"What are you, a little cunt?" Aelwyn demanded.

"Oo, I love you," Fabian burst, grinning and clapping for this devil in whore's clothing. Aelwyn immediately zeroed in on Fabian, walked over, grabbed the back of his head, and planted a kiss on his mouth. Fabian kissed her right back while Fig cheered him on. Aelwyn fully dipped Fabian, ripped his shirt down, pulled out a bag of dragon spice, and snorted a line off of Fabian's chest.

"WOO!" She screamed before pushing her new boy toy aside. "Alright, this is a Hudol party, so I'm going to set the rules. First of all, one person invisible at all times. If you manage to stab them, they have to drink. Let's DO THIS!" The wizard bellowed, clapping loudly.

"You aren't – "

"That's the only rule?" Gorgug asked.

"You aren't Adaine's sister, are you?" Fig finished.

"Oh, you're one of Adaine's little friends," Aelwyn concluded, rounding on Fig with an evil grin.

"Wait, are you Adaine's sister?" Fabian exclaimed, smiling with way too much enthusiasm.

"Aelwyn Abernant, in the flesh," the older girl preened. The party screamed as one.

"Oh, you just kissed Adaine's sister," Kristen exclaimed.

"Fuck yes!" Fabian cheered.

"You can't do that to a friend," Kristen objected amid raucous laughter.

"Oh, lighten up, Kristen," Machaira finally spoke up, collecting her voice into a low rumble. "It's his first skank." Everyone gasped, huge eyes flitting between Machaira and Aelwyn.

"Okay, I mean, that, you know, that was a little uncalled for," Fabian protested.

"I mean, can you really call anyone else a – ow," Kristen broke off as Riz bounced up to elbow her in the side.

"Oh, that's right, your Adaine's little pet," Aelwyn hummed, eyes narrowed over a dangerous grin. "Fur isn't normally my kink, but let me get a few shots down and we'll see what a short little dyke can do for a real woman. I even have a collar for you in the trunk." Machaira strode forward, shoving Fabian out of her path. Her friends were all shouting over each other to try and tell her no, but the tabaxi didn't care. She grabbed Aelwyn by the throat, dragged her across the room, and slammed her into the wall, pushing thw wizard down toward the floor until her head was beneath Machaira's. Most rogues elected for expertise training in sleight of hand or deception; Machaira had opted for athletics. She put that training to good use as she tightened her hold on Aelwyn's windpipe, preventing the wizard from speaking without completely suffocating her. With her left hand, Machaira grabbed Aelwyn's right wrist and pinned that to the wall too.

"Be careful how wide you spread your legs," Machaira snarled, bringing her lips to Aelwyn's temple. "Because someone might just fuck you right up your bleached asshole." She tightened her grip slightly, claws sliding out just enough to prick the elf's skin. When Machaira relaxed her hold, Aelwyn looked far too pleased for comfort.

"Oh, kinky," she ground out around the tabaxi's fist. "I can see why Adaine keeps you around. Want to find out if we taste the same?" For a flicker of a second, Machaira's claws twitched over Aelwyn's pulse. This girl was every temptation from the rogue's old life rolled into one. Aside from a few superficial facial features, the elder Abernant was the polar opposite of her crush. The tabaxi reluctantly removed her hand from Aelwyn's bruised neck, wishing she had an excuse to let out a little frustration on her, maybe get some revenge for Adaine.

"I don't eat cheap shit," Machaira growled, tossing a bottle of harsh vodka at the high elf. She turned around and walked off, shoulders tensed as her friends whooped after her, muscles primed for some kind of retaliation, almost hoping the wizard gave her a reason to attack. Fortunately, Aelwyn seemed to have other priorities. The moment Machaira rounded the corner away from Aelwyn, she whipped out her crystal, fingers fumbling to text Adaine as quickly as possible.

6:42 p.m. Machaira Mekhit: Your sister is here, she's crazy, S.O.S., help!

The tabaxi took a deep breath and ran a hand over her scars. She could hear Fig and Gorgug begin to play in the back. This was their first gig together. She had a sneaking suspicion that it would be a bloody opening for their band's career. As awkward as Machaira felt about Adaine right now, the diviner was still her best friend. She had to tell her about this. But there was no way the Abernant sisters wouldn't start fighting once Adaine arrived. Machaira needed to have a plan before then. The scout secluded herself in the foyer and tried to think for a minute. She had full confidence that their party combined could take down Aelwyn no problem. But those cheerleaders were summoned, and that was an unknown Machaira wasn't sure how to deal with.

"Hi, I'm Emily." As if sensing that Machaira was thinking about them, one of the cheerleaders appeared in front of her.

"Hey," Machaira greeted the brown-haired 'human', ears going flat against her skull as she backed away. "Uh, look, I'm waiting for a friend."

"Tell me more about that." Emily demanded perkily, all but bouncing in her tight uniform. Machaira glanced over the cheerleader's shoulder to see others like her draped over the nerdy… wizard athletes. No matter what the Hudol boys (and Kristen) said or did, the cheerleaders laughed along and kissed them.

"No thanks," Machaira declined. "Why don't you go make out with someone?"

"Aww, you're cute." Emily told Machaira before backing her into an end table. The rogue found herself pushed against the furniture by the deceptively powerful woman. Emily grabbed her in an iron embrace and forced her tongue into Machaira's mouth. The tabaxi, already beginning to crack under the emotional strain, felt frayed nerves snap. This went beyond her loyalty to Adaine, her ingrained memories of abuse, or even this cheerleader's possibly deadly nature. Machaira was scared and confused and tired and she just didn't know what to do anymore. Her fight or flight instinct practically exploded, and she drew her legs up between them, kicking Emily into the next room.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Machaira roared just before the front door to her right opened with a bang like an arquebus.

"Where the fuck is she?"

"Am I my own dad?" – Gorgug, enough said

"Where the fuck is she?" Adaine demanded without preamble, just in time to see Machaira look over to her wildly, fur puffed, ears flat, pupils dilated, and bushy tail trembling around her ankles. Adaine had heard her friend scream from the front porch and wasted no time in rushing over to her. Off to the side, a stunning woman stuffed into a tiny cheerleader costume was picking herself up off the floor, the front of her bra dusted with fur and bare midriff stamped with a boot print. Based on the cornered look in Machaira's eyes, Adaine had a pretty good idea what had just happened.

"Why hello there," a rail–thin Hudol nerd approached her.

"Uh, you're cute," the Aguefort model gushed. "Tell me more about that."

"She's a conjuration," Machaira hissed, hand on the pommel of her saber. "Back away." The tabaxi led Adaine into an adjoining room before the wizard could vaporize that unnamed bitch and shuddered, gaze half on Adaine and half on something that existed only in her head. For a moment, sympathy swept aside Adaine's fury. Poor Machaira looked dreadful. In her desire to be Machaira's girlfriend, the diviner had put her crush through a decent bit of stress, and the rogue seemed to have had some kind of panic attack of her own. Adaine bit her lip.

"Hey." Machaira's attention flicked more fully to Adaine as the high elf spoke up. "I need you to help me kill my sister." She would set things right with Machaira after her sister was dead.

"Okay." The scout's response was immediate. "I'm with you." You always are, Adaine thought as Machaira shook herself vigorously, mane fluffing and tail twitching in anticipation of a fight.

"Did Aelwyn do anything to you?"

"She made a few unflattering remarks," Machaira replied drily. "A lot of standard furry–fetish shit. Her conjured cheerleader, uh, was, um, a little too, ah, handsy for comfort." Machaira shrugged, eyes flitting toward the floor. "Nothing new, and nothing serious though." She huffed, shook herself one last time, fixated on Adaine, and smirked. "Sorry, I'm being stupid. Let's kill that bitch." Aelwyn first, scritches second, heart–felt confession third, Adaine mentally declared.

"Good, you're here," Riz whispered, apparating next to the girls. "We need to find Aelwyn, fast." Adaine held out her hand and called the lines of time and fate to serve her. A residual, magical image of Aelwyn appeared going up the staircase. Adaine took off in pursuit, both rogues at her heels. Riz loaded his arquebus, and Machaira gripped her blade, predatory focus driving back emotional turmoil. Adaine followed the echo of her sister up to a locked door at the top of the staircase, behind which Ostentatia's and Aelwyn's muffled voices drifted. All three freshmen quieted down and listened.

"Listen, it's just a little bit of divinatory magic," Aelwyn was saying. "Don't be a square, Ostentatia."

"Okay, I just don't know this Hudol stuff super well, and…" The dwarf's voice trailed off. "I don't know, can't you just take my word for it?"

"I would love to be able to take your word for it, but we just want to make sure." Adaine frowned. She could hear an incantation from the other side of the door, but she couldn't identify it. Cold trickles ran down her spine as Adaine concluded that the spell was probably Aelwyn's unique creation. "Oh goody, you were telling the truth. Goodbye, Ostentatia." Adaine fired a Ray of Frost at the door and kicked it down. Machaira and Riz circled around her, weapons drawn and trained on Aelwyn, who stood in the middle of Ostentatia's bedroom with a crystal palimpsest in her hand.

"You fucking bitch!" Adaine accused, hands raised toward the other wizard, too late to stop Ostentatia from being sucked into the palimpsest. Adaine swung out with a punch, barely missing her sister. Aelwyn backed a few paces deeper into the room, scowling at Adaine. Riz raced into the room and ducked past Aelwyn toward the window, trying to prevent the abjuration wizard from hitting all of them with the same spell. The elder Abernant swung, and a mercury blade shimmered into existence in her left hand, slicing through Riz's cheek. The goblin winced and ducked behind the bed, eyes wide. The detective gulped and shifted back uneasily as swirls of arcane energy began to stem and crack from the older girl. Riz popped a shot at Aelwyn, but a circling miasma of runic patterns ate the bullet that should have blown through her head. While the bullet damaged the runes, they didn't fully dissipate. Adaine's sister smirked and raised her hands to cast a spell only to drop concentration as a blur of scales and fur bulled into her.

"Oh, this will be sweet," Machaira snarled, rocketing forward with a slash for Aelwyn's neck. Once again, abjuration runes spiraled into place to protect her, but Machaira's saber shattered half of them into silver mist. The tabaxi lashed out with her off hand and tore a few more away with her claws for good measure, mane fluffed as she circled to stand behind Aelwyn. "I wonder how disappointed mummy and daddy will be when your little sister kicks your ass?" The scout taunted, saber tip weaving through the space between them as the smaller girl searched for any weakness in her defense.

Affection for the rugged rogue surged underneath the euphoria of finally having an excuse to put her sister down for good. Adaine raised her hands to cast Dispel Magic on the abjuration wizard, but Aelwyn was faster. Her sister shot a Fire Bolt at Riz, forcing the goblin to twist out of the bulk of the attack. A small explosion blackened Riz's corner of the room. Aelwyn smirked at Adaine, took a small, silvery pocket watch out of her pocket, clicked it, then flipped her the bird before twisting her hand through the air and vanishing in a puff of mist. Adaine had just enough time to mutter a swear before the world shivered around her. Adaine's balance didn't shift, but the walls of the house vibrated for a second before coming to rest. A bird hung suspended in midair outside the window, wings dragging like the pixels of a laggy, low–resolution video set to one–percent of its normal speed.

Well… fuck.

The sounds of battle began to filter in from outside, the confused voices of her friends mingled with vapid giggling and weapon strikes. A ghostly light flickered up from the first floor. The music faltered then swelled into a sick power chord. People shouted, and fires roared. But Adaine only had one target in mind. She tried to recall the motions Aelwyn had made with her hand. If she had to guess… Misty Step. Aelwyn was only thirty feet away. Machaira was staring around, mouth slightly agape and eyes huge as she tried to process the time slow around them. Riz shuffled back a pace, hands clutched around his arquebus, narrowed eyes darting around the room.

"She's teleporting," Adaine warned, fingers already weaving the arcane patterns of a Blink spell. "She could turn up back anywhere in this room. You should fucking hide."

"We got to find her," Riz grumbled.

"Yeah, we got to find her," Adaine agreed.

"That's the easy part," Machaira assured them, eyes flashing and mane fluffed with excitement, seemingly much happier now that they had a proper fight on their hands. The scout swirled her saber point in a tiny circle and took a step toward the window before mist billowed out on either side of Adaine as she entered the ethereal plane and peered into multi–dimensional reality. Her parents could say whatever they wanted, but Adaine had done a damn good job on her spell–casting homework this year. Adaine peered through the gauzy, glassy version of Ostentatia's house. Coils of mist rose and fell at impossible angles, and the figures on the material plane appeared as vague outlines through the translucent, permeable layers of the building. Adaine scrambled about the house, sticking her head through the floor, walls, and ceilings as she searched for her sister.

"Where are you, bitch?" Adaine stage–whispered, kneeling on the upstairs floor to poke her head upside down into the main foyer.

"Your sister's out here," Riz called, voice muffled by the barrier between worlds. "I don't know where you went. You wizards are tricky."

"We broke her shield thingy," Machaira added. "She's bleeding and poisoned now."

"Yeah, rogues," Adaine cheered from beyond the veil of the spirit realm. "Fuck her up!" Aelwyn almost immediately appeared on the ethereal plane, wide eyes locking with Adaine's giddy smirk. Blood ran from a scrape on her head and a long gash down her arm, the edges of which were a deep green in color. Adaine clasped her palm over her fist, rested her chin on her hands, and smiled as prettily as she could.

"What the fuck?" Aelwyn shrilled. Adaine flipped her two birds. "Oh, that's fucking bullshit." Aelwyn scowled as she returned the gestures, air of decorum gone in the face of her predicament. "Oh, fuck you. Hell – "

"I'm going to tell on you so bad," Adaine gloated. "You're going to be grounded forever."

"Uh, not if I kill you and your friends first," Aelwyn retorted.

"Fuck you, you bitch, I'm gonna kill you so bad." Adaine grinned viciously, eyes narrowed with evil glee. "I've wanted to do this my entire life."

"You're not going to get to," Aelwyn sneered, reapplying her refined mask. "A sad ending to a sad chapter to a very sad – "

"Mm-mi-me-mi-sad chapter-mi-me-m – " Adaine mocked squeakily, flapping her fingers in a puppet mouth at her sister.

"Fuck you," Aelwyn snapped. "You thought that was cool? How do you – "

"So cool, so cool," Adaine squealed back, eyes screwed up like a crying baby before she pulled back and smirked down her nose at her sister. Gods above, this was therapeutic. From somewhere on the prime material plane, a sweet, sensual base chord reverberated. Adaine knew it was Fig, but some part of her felt like it was an omen of good things to come once she had killed Aelwyn. With that, Adaine Blinked back to the house, willing herself ten feet toward the window. The diviner stumbled a bit, grabbing onto the window frame for balance. Her head dipped out the broken pane to see Machaira and Riz flanking a fire elemental in an Aguefort cheerleader costume. Both rogues were burned but standing and glanced up as she appeared.

"Guys, I'm sorry, but at least you're fast," Adaine quickly yelled down. She began to run through the motions of a Web spell when she noticed a few problems: number one, the fire elemental would burn the webs; number two, she had to manipulate the webs through the window of the house to get its full effect. Trusting that her friends would forgive her, Adaine carefully centered her spell between the rogues to catch Aelwyn when her sister reappeared. Adaine poured energy into her spell, feeling her concentration slip as fires raged and her friends shouted in the background. The high elf clenched her fist, and blue chains tore through the air around her, snaking down into the arcane equations of her spell. Adaine bent fate to her will, finally understanding why she had visions of exploding spider webs that morning, and forced her Web spell to break through the window and fill the living room beyond. A part of her felt guilty for using all of her portents on herself, but this was personal.

"Where's your sister going to pop up?" Riz asked.

"Right where you're standing," Adaine called down. "Anywhere within ten feet."

"Cool," the goblin answered. Both rogues disengaged from the elemental in a whirl of blades, Machaira climbing in through the downstairs window while Riz turned toward the front door. Adaine popped back into the ethereal plane and had only a split second to exchange middle fingers with Aelwyn before her sister blinked out of existence.

"Oh fuck," her sister's voice echoed up from the prime material plane.

"Ahahahaaaa," Adaine cackled. She stuck her hands down through the ceiling to shove another two middle fingers at Aelwyn even though her sister wouldn't be able to see it.

"I know you're fucking watching, you little bitch," Aelwyn's shouts resonated back. "I fucking hate you. Always taking my things, you're such a piece of, you're so annoying – OOOWWWW! You furry cunt!"

"Hey, look at that, I caught a bitch," Machaira growled happily. "I wonder – rroooww!" Aelwyn popped back into the ethereal plane about ten feet below Adaine. "Get back here so I can kill you!" Machaira yowled, voice distorted by the veil between worlds. Aelwyn scowled at Adaine, breathing heavily as she clutched a deep stab wound in her side, blood pushing through her fingers.

"Well, at least when your Web gets burned up by my elemental, I won't be there to feel it, but your kitty will." The abjuration expert tittered, lips clenched tightly in anger and pain. Adaine arched her eyebrows over her neatest, most perfect smile.

"I. Am going. To kill you." She promised, voice clear and quiet.

"Well, we'll just have to see about that," Aelwyn disputed airily. "This wouldn't be the first time you've… failed a test." Her sister's expression was innocent, voice soft as quilt. In the real world, her friends cried out in pain and anger. Elementals laughed and burned. Machaira howled. A bunch of people started chanting something, 'drunk her', or maybe 'Dunkirk'? The roar of a familiar engine joined the din. Adaine's body shock with the urge to punch Aelwyn in the face. Adaine popped back just in time to hear Kristen yelling.

"Adaine, come down to us."

"I'm not," she shouted back. "I'm going to fucking kill my sister."

"Where is your sister?" Gorgug asked.

"She's gonna come and get me," Adaine hollered back, moving to stand in the doorway to Ostentatia's room. Ultimately, her friends and the elementals were tangential to the real showdown between sisters. The Blink spell tried to tug her back to the ethereal plane, but Adaine resisted it. The younger wizard stepped to the side of the doorway and readied a Dispel Magic for when Aelwyn dropped in on her. Adaine had passed her Spell Sniper test months ago, but she was certain that Aelwyn was a stupid little bitch who never planned for this kind of fighting. Their parents had taught them to only respect theoretical mastery of magic; Adaine found it a wonderfully ironic weakness to seize upon. As she prepared the spell, fingers drawing out on the final somatic motions of the spell, her mind crystallized into perfect, deadly concentration. Here, surrounded by her friends and on the verge of achieving her most fevered dream, no panic attack could touch her, no doubt enter her mind. Her breathing slowed to an easy rhythm, freed from fear or anxiety.

Riz scrambled up the wall and through the window, quickly joined by Machaira. Riz seemed to be mostly okay, aside from the cut on his cheek and a burn mark on his chest. Machaira, however, was a little more roughed up. Flames danced across her shoulders, torso, and head, filling the air with the smell of burning fur and flesh. The tabaxi huffed, shaking a chunk of charred skin off the back of her neck, saber in hand, yellow eyes reflecting the firelight over a grin of savage joy, prowling toward Adaine like a herald of Avernus. They noticed Adaine preparing her spell and slipped out in the hall to join her. Riz tightened his grip on his arquebus, eyes darting around as he backed into the bathroom behind her. Machaira smiled at Adaine as she loaded a bolt into her crossbow and crouched down, hiding behind the doorframe next to Adaine. Her battle lust didn't lessen, but affection tempered her amber gaze for a moment as the rogues readied themselves.

Aelwyn poofed into existence right where Adaine knew she would, head snapping in every direction to try and find Adaine. The younger wizard released her spell, firing a beam of blue energy that struck her sister squarely. The Blink spell fell away in a cloud of sparkling mist, but Adaine could sense something else, something more powerful on her. Adaine tried to concentrate and force more energy through the spell, but she had already freed the magic and was too surprised to dispel the second, stronger enchantment. Riz fired and missed, bullet punching into the wall behind Aelwyn. Fortunately, as Aelwyn turned to glare at them, she didn't see Machaira. The bolt sunk into Aelwyn's shoulder, punching into her scapula with an audible crunch.

"Aaaahhh," she cried, stumbling and grasping the bolt.

"Woo," Machaira cheered quietly, re–clipping her crossbow to her belt, tail waving above her head.

"We gon' get blasted, Adaine," Riz predicted from behind her.

"I don't give a fuck," Adaine informed him, mentally cycling through her spells. "I'm gonna kill her. And if she kills me, so be it. She will be in so much trouble."

"Got to have your priorities," Machaira agreed with a smile, picking up her saber again. Gods, Adaine loved this girl.

"You little fuck," Aelwyn growled, holding out her hands toward Adaine, palms extended and wrists touching. An immense Cone of Cold erupted down the hallway. Adaine had just enough time to erect a partial shield against the icy energy, but it still tore the breath from her lungs, skin burning and muscles tightening painfully as the temperature plummeted. Machaira slipped back into the corner and twisted her head aside. The cold whipped across her jacket, ripping at her face and extinguishing the flames that burned across her chest. The scout shivered, sneezed, and coughed up a wad of blood.

"I'm-m-m-m, o-ok-k-kay," she chattered, stumbling as she tried to stand. Behind them, something hit the ground with a limp thud. Adaine's normal concern for her friends was bound by anger. She'd probably feel bad about that later, but right now she wanted to end this bitch.

"Woo-aaarrrhhg." Adaine turned to face the sound as Gorgug jumped and through the second story window behind her, Kristen tucked under his arm. The barbarian was breathing heavily, covered in blood, earth, and glass shards. The cleric was surrounded by a cloud of kung-fu ghosts wearing tweed jackets with patched elbows.

"Yes, well–argued," one asserted.

"A point for reason," another agreed.

"The consolation of Boethius shall be your demise," cried a third.

"What is happening?" Gorgug inquired, voice quaking slightly as he crouched into a defensive position.

"I'm going to kill my sister!" Adaine declared emphatically. This wasn't a threat or a hyperbole. Corellon be damned, Adaine was going to watch the light die from Aelwyn's eyes.

"How did she stop time?" Gorgug asked.

"I don't fucking know," Adaine shouted. "Just kill her."

"So, did she have something?" The half-orc pressed.

"Oh, she has a watch," Adaine remembered. "She has a clock." An elemental cheerleader burst in through the open window, perky grin distorted by flickering necrotic shadows. A spectral philosopher swirled in front of the cheerleader as it bore down on Kristen.

"Of the many virtues there are, none is greater than love." He whispered. The philosopher tore open his chest, and his heart shot out like a cannonball, sending the elemental wheeling. The elemental didn't bleed, but its incorporeal form flickered, edges growing ragged, darkness pooling off and dissipating in uneven chunks. Unsteady, it tottered about amid Kristen's Spirit Guardians and clumsily swung out for the cleric twice, dark hands missing horribly both times as it swayed.

"Uh, what's more important, saving Riz or holding Aelwyn in place?" Kristen asked.

"HOW DOES SHE CAST HER SPELLS?" Fig queried from outside. Gorgug cocked his head toward Adaine.

"Like a little bitch." Adaine replied evenly, unflinching gaze trained on Aelwyn even as ice cracked off of her brow.

"Mmmhhhh," Machaira exhaled heavily, biting her lip and quickly looking away from the diviner. Oh, live or die, this was a beautiful day all around. Kristen ducked into the bathroom and touched Riz's shoulder. Divine light pulsed from her fingers, and Riz sat up with a gasp, limbs uncurling from their frozen positions, frostbite receding across his body. Kristen's wounds also sealed a bit, and the confused lesbian grinned as she did what she did best.

"Um, can I talk to you for a second?" A vapid voice giggled before wind howled outside, whipping around the yard. Everyone fighting upstairs was momentarily distracted as Fig popped up with a yell in the window behind Aelwyn and fell back out of sight.

"Still standing," the tiefling hollered from outside.

"No regrets," Adaine encouraged the bard. Another sexy chord rose out of sight from Fig's bass

"Actually, can I talk to you," Fig requested in her best 'girly' voice.

"Uh, yeah, you're cute," the elemental gushed.

"Um, I really need you to steal Aelwyn's little time piece," Fig suggested, maintaining her giggly tone.

"Oh my god, awww, what, you're cute, tell me more about that," the cheerleader babbled.

"Are you malfunctioning?" Fig inquired, real laughter brimming up from beneath her fake joy. Something banged and scraped against the front of the house. The rest of the party snickered as a burning Fig clawed her way up to the bedroom window behind Aelwyn, nails cracking and bleeding. The tiefling forced her way through the window to flip off a very confused Aelwyn.

"What the fuck?" The older Abernant wondered aloud, momentarily overwhelmed by the chaos that was Adaine's party.

"Give her a hug," Adaine called out. Fig grinned and propped herself on the window sill with her elbows, arms shuddering from the strain as she reached out for Aelwyn with a flaming hand. FFWWOOSSHHH. Fig eeped as a fire elemental flew around the house to hover behind her. The elemental swung out twice, somehow unable to hit the flailing bard half–hanging out of a window.

"Sister, why have you forsaken me?" Fig rebuked it, affecting a hurt, serious tone. "We of the flames must stick together."

"Are you singing 'Sister Move It Down'?" Kristen asked, trying to peer around Gorgug and Adaine as another fiery cheerleader roared up the stairs behind the her. In her efforts to duck around the others and get a bead on Fig, the human managed to dodge both attacks.

"Um, you're cute," the cheerleader tittered.

"I, um…" Kristen winced and looked down at her feet, expression torn between awkwardness and arousal. A spiritual philosopher with tiny spectacles and a balding head interceded for the indecisive girl.

"The unexamined life… is about to end!" He punched the elemental across the jaw, sending a cloud of ash and flames down the stairs. Suddenly a mechanical roar washed over the house, building in volume and intensity by the nanosecond.

"SEACASTOOOOR!" Fabian shouted at the top of his lungs as something, probably the Hangman, crashed through the front door, shaking the house to its foundation. For a moment, Fabian's war cry and the Hangman's engine drowned every other sound and brought the battle to a lull, elementals and adventurers alike freezing in place. The walls bowed and rattled as the Hangman tore down the central hallway beneath them, smashing aside furniture and no doubt leaving terrible skid marks on the floor. Glass shattered with a definite crash, the Hangman's thunderous charge audibly bouncing over the porch and finally splashing in the pool. For a moment, there was silence save for the crackle of flames. "Where is everyone?" Fabian demanded distantly. True to form, the remaining six of them took time out of the battle to yell over each other at their friend.

"We uh, we're at the window – "

"We're up here."

"Come upstairs."

"We're at the window."

"We're up here."

"We're on the second floor."

"It's crazy, where have you been?"

"I almost died. Fig's almost dead."

"He's fine."

"Most of the elementals are still alive."

"Get up here and kick some ass."

"Most of us are still alive, too."

"Why did you run? Were you scared?"

"I did not run," Fabian shouted back.

"You looked scared, Fabian."

"I was not scared," he insisted loudly, Hangman bubbling noisily as it tried to drive itself out of the pool. "I was not scared. I mean, uh, the Hangman… had some business." Thump. The fire elemental behind Fig staggered in midair as a bolt struck it in the back of the head. The flaming cheerleader turned to gaze at Fabian with a deep, inhuman sucking sound. In the split second during which Aelwyn was distracted by Fabian, Adaine cast Mage Hand to try and steal Aelwyn's fucking time–slowing watch. Unfortunately, her Mage Hand only pawed feebly at Aelwyn's pocket. The elder wizard turned, sneered, and Counterspelled, sending Adaine's own Mage Hand to grab her hair and slam her face into the doorjamb. Adaine's nose cracked against the metal, blood already beginning to trickle down her face and drip onto her shirt.

"Ooh, a little bit of telekinesis," Aelwyn exclaimed. "I didn't realize that we were back in grade school."

"I'm down," Fabian cried imperiously from the pool below. Adaine grimaced. She hoped that the Hangman would be able and loyal enough to drag Fabian to their healer before he drowned. Riz murmured a thanks to Kristen and poked his head out of the bathroom. The familiar crack of the arquebus rang in the tight space, and Adaine could feel the hot path of the bullet race past her face. Aelwyn's ward had begun to regenerate, shattering when the bullet struck home but absorbing enough of the impact that Aelwyn received only a small abrasion on her cheek.

"I'm getting very tired of you," Aelwyn ground out through clenched teeth.

"We should spread out so we don't all get hit by the same spells," Riz yelled to the group. The shadow elemental took a swing at Riz, but the nimble goblin ducked past and hid deeper in the bathroom. Machaira had the opposite idea, darting around the corner with her saber drawn and lunging for Aelwyn. With a single, quick thrust the tabaxi imbedded her blade up to the hilt in Aelwyn's stomach. The older wizard gasped, bloody spittle splattering across Machaira's muzzle, blue eyes wide and staring. Machaira twisted her saber and snarled lowly with feral satisfaction. For a moment, Adaine thought her sister was down. Then Aelwyn's gaze flickered and refocused on Machaira's.

"Fuck… you," Aelwyn ground out, fingers twisting spell energy into an arcane rune. Adaine had just enough time to recognize that it was a homebrew creation of her sister's before Machaira stiffened. The scout took a staggering half–pace backward and sunk to her knees. Red mist floated up from the rogue and into Aelwyn, who moaned as the mist seeped into her wound, partially healing her injury and reforming a thin, silvery layer of her defensive ward. Aelwyn looked over to Adaine and shrugged, grinning as she spun a new series of symbols.

"It's not much, but every little bit helps… and hurts," she finished, flicking a Fire Bolt at Adaine's face. Flames filled her vision, melting her skin, boiling her eyes, and searing across her skull. Adaine was distantly aware of her own scream before pain overran her senses, tearing through her mind like the worst panic attack of all time. The world faded to black in a haze of heat and the reek of her own cooking flesh. Suddenly brilliant, radiant light filled her vision, and Adaine awoke with a gasp, Kristen clasping either side of her face. Divine energy pulsed into Adaine's head, fulling reversing the damage caused by Aelwyn's cantrip. Gorgug, the shadow elemental, and the fire elemental behind Fig were nowhere to be seen.

"Bless you, my child," Adaine half–groaned and half–teased as she sat up, clutching her head.

"Roof," Kristen responded. "She's gonna be up on the roof." Adaine, still panting after being pulled from the brink of death, watched Kristen, surrounded by heavenly philosophers, make a heroic leap out of the window sill and up toward the roof only to hang from the edge of the gutter. Her legs churned, kicking uselessly against the side of the house, tie-dyed shirt riding up to expose her belly button as she flailed about, grunting and whining. The air elemental whirled up from the ground toward the roof. Feet stomped above them, a muffled scuffle resonating through the ceiling.

As Adaine stood and gathered herself to pursue her sister, she caught sight of a bundle of scales and fur lying face down on the floor. A pool of blood slowly spread from beneath the ravaged body. The scarred muzzle was turned away from Adaine at an odd angle, but the thick, bushy tail tip twitched just the tiniest amount. Ever so slowly, the tabaxi pulled her hand across the floor, claws gouging weakly at the hardwood. She coughed hoarsely, fingers flexing instinctively around her saber. Her tail kinked more sharply as Machaira, teetering on the edge of consciousness, forced herself to stand with a low growl. Adaine sucked in a harsh lungful of smoky air, a grin of relief spreading across her face. They weren't done for yet.

"I got Fabian," Fig called, struggling to work her bass up over the window sill as she stared behind her, wobbling precariously on her perch. The bard played a quick, thrumming melody, waited a minute, and whooped. Fig grinned triumphantly back into the house and noticed Machaira. "Shit. Stay put, girl, we got this." The tiefling pulled a foot up to the window, started to stand up on the sill, and noticed something below her. "Fuck you, you slimy bitch." A coil of infernal magic reverberated within Fig's voice, but evidently the spell didn't take because the musician scowled and muttered a curse under her breath. Fig pulled herself the rest of the way the window and leapt up. Just like Kristen, Fig only succeeded in dangling from the gutter with her feet kicking against the window pane and whined. "Eh, eh, eehhhh, I can't do nothing." Gorgug bellowed from somewhere outside, and the roar of fire elementals flared. Another incorporeal professor rushed up to the elemental cheerleader on the stairs.

"Epistemology is the study of how we know what we think we know," he shouted at double speed, cocking back a fist and sending another spray of cinders down the stairwell.

"Wow, helpful," Kristen called from her dangle. She let go of the roof with one hand to try and slip a pencil from her pocket but accidently dropped it instead. The fire elemental rushed forward, and Adaine instinctively flinched, covering her face with her arms. Instead, the cheerleader charged Kristen and punched her in the stomach, leaving a black and red mark on her exposed belly and igniting her camp shirt. The cleric flinched but maintained her hold on the gutter. The elemental raised its arm to strike again when a horrible series of screeches tore through the air. BA-BA-BUM-BA-BUM-BA-BUMP. Fabian rocketed up the stairs on the Hangman, shouting a war cry as he went. The elemental turned to face him, darkening the floor as it moved. Adaine took a moment to pity the unemployed dwarf who owned this house. Ostentatia's father had given everything to his daughter only for her to be poisoned, then trapped inside a palimpsest while teenagers destroyed his home. The only consolation for her conscience was that they were trying to save his daughter.

With that in mind, Adaine reluctantly admitted that she had no choice but to attempt to climb onto the roof. She rolled up her sleeves, knowing that she did not have the skills for this, and leapt past the fire elemental out the window.

"You can do it," Kristen grunted as Adaine climbed over her. "Your sister is a piece of shit." The wizard reached up to the gutter, pushing off of Kristen's shoulder. Her fingertips found the edge of the shingles, and she strained, desperately trying to employ muscles that she had neglected her entire life. Her elbows bent inward, and Adaine's eyes just cleared the edge of the roof before her quivering arms gave out. The elf sagged against the house with a small, embarrassing noise of complaint, legs dangling uselessly next to Kristen. The diviner huffed, squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to Blink into the ethereal plane, but only succeeded in releasing a small, quiet fart. Below her, Gorgug was wrestling with a fiery cheerleader, meaty hands clenched where the throat would be on a real person as he pinned her down. But a slime elemental was oozing its way over, dripping fingers outstretched towards the berserker.

From inside the house, Riz wormed his way out of the toilet and ran out of the bathroom, feet slapping wetly on the hardwood. The inquisitor mumbled an apology as he clambered over the girls, working his way up to the edge of the roof and dampening Kristen and Adaine both in the process. Adaine strained again, managing to just rest her chin and forearms on the rough shingles before her body collapsed, face hot as she gasped for air. Before her, Aelwyn was wrestling with the air elemental. The windy cheerleader, which seemed to be trying to frisk her sister, had a hazy red light hanging around its face that Adaine recognized as Fig's handiwork. Unfortunately, Aelwyn seemed to be keeping her elemental at bay for the moment. Riz leveled the barrel of his arquebus over the edge of the roof, took aim, and fired. Aelwyn's ward shattered, but the wizard herself remained unharmed. Aelwyn's head snapped over toward Riz, glaring daggers.

"Whoop," Riz gulped, ducking back over the edge of the roof. Adaine remained even as her grip began to slip. She scowled, air tearing at her throat and arms burning with effort. Aelwyn started to raise a hand toward Riz when Machaira appeared on her right side, claws gouging into the roof. The tabaxi's head hung, crimson seeping around her teeth and oozing out of her stomach. Distant flames cast eerie, dancing shadows across her features, framing a blazing, predatory gaze. The tabaxi took one step, then another, boots dragging as she staggered across the roof toward Aelwyn. The rogue drew her saber, and the wyverns on her scabbard glowed with green light. The sword made a harsh, saurian scream as it was pulled from its sheath, yellow venom dripping off of the edge. Machaira growled and lunged for Aelwyn, only for the older girl to step aside, letting the blade slip harmlessly past. The scout's head turned to glare at the older wizard and met her scornful blue gaze squarely. Instead of disengaging or hiding or running, Machaira stepped forward and lashed out with her off hand, unsheathed claws gleaming as they sank into Aelwyn's throat.

For a moment, the two stood there, motionless. Machaira tore her hand from Aelwyn's neck, ripping a chunk of flesh with it. Blood gushed from the wound, instantly soaking Aelwyn's peach top so that it clung to her chest in a macabre parody of her sexual charm. In that moment, Adaine smiled like she had never smiled before. Then Aelwyn glanced up at Machaira, unsteady fingers forming the same pattern they had the last time the rogue struck her. The wizard flicked the symbol at Machaira, and it dissipated against her sternum. Machaira coughed, frowning, as her throat split open. The blood that poured from the wound evaporated into a mist and drifted toward Aelwyn, seeping into her own wound and partially sealing it. Aelwyn's protective ward flickered to life around her, and Adaine's bitch of a sister sucked in a deep lungful of air, skin pallor darkening from chalk-white to her normal shade of pale. Aelwyn straightened, grinning as Machaira fell backward and slid halfway down the roof toward Adaine before friction halted her, saber clattering from her grasp, jaws struggling weakly in a faltering effort to speak. As Adaine watched, even that little bit of movement stopped, and Machaira's head slowly bent with the pull of gravity to lie still across the shingles, tail dangling limply alongside.

"Well, that was annoying," Aelwyn commented lightly, firing at Lightning Bolt at Riz. The goblin managed to twist aside, and the spell only glanced off of him, adding the smell of ozone to the air. Kristen flinched and yelped as the bolt went just over her head, but Adaine didn't react. In that moment, the elemental wrested the stopwatch from Aelwyn's grasp. The older woman struggled to take it back but couldn't overcome her conjuration's strength or the arcane force of Fig's Suggestion.

Adaine was distantly aware of Gorgug below her as he pushed the elemental cheerleaders aside and stomped toward the chimney. The fire elemental smashed her arm against his back, engulfing the half-orc in flame. Gorgug staggered, managing to evade a strike from the slime cheerleader in the process. His flesh and bone hands gouged chunks of brick from the chimney, tearing up to the roof in a fit of berserker fury. He swiped the stopwatch from the cheerleader's grip as if she were a baby and clicked the button. FWOOOMP! Time reset, the environment around them now moving according to the laws of physics as it should. Fire and water mingled in a cacophony of splashing and burning. The Hudol kids began to shift about and talk all at once.

"I say, it's a regular rumble!" One nerd shouted. Magic glowed from a dozen different sources as these uncool wizards prepared to do the one thing they were good at.

"Oh my god, click the watch again," Adaine called out, eyes tearing away from Machaira in panic. Gorgug was staring around wildly, scrambling to figure out his next move. Kristen tried to heave herself up onto the roof, slipped, and crashed back down onto the brick patio.

"Fabian, wait up," the cleric hollered, scrambling to her feet and running inside, staff banging against the dented patio doorframe in the process. Great, now their healer was even further away from Machaira. The air elemental turned on Gorgug, striking him twice across the face with the miniature whirlwinds that made up her fists. Fig strummed another Healing Word as the tiefling abandoned her window position, noisily clopping through the warzone that was once Ostentatia's bedroom.

"Axiology is the study of value pertaining to both aesthetics and ethics," someone, probably a guardian professor, cried from inside, quickly followed by a flare of light and ash from below. A giggle echoed out, two more bursts of light, and Fabian shouted as the cheerleader fought back. The second fire elemental flew up to the roof and slapped Gorgug across the back of the head. Flames burst over his fhead, and the half-orc fell, crumpling over the apex of the roof.

"You know nothing of the flame!" The Hangman spat. The engine revved, and a fiery cheerleader was flung out the window as Fabian rammed it with his motorcycle, creating a comet that streaked across the neighborhood.

"Oh my," the Hudol boys exclaimed.

"Members of the Hudol Academy," Fabian cried out. "There is a matter of great consequence happening upon the roof of this building. I ask that you turn all of your attention to the roof of this house!"

"A request humbly and eloquently made, and one to be answered," responded a voice that was vaguely familiar to Adaine. Percival whatisname, maybe? She didn't really care. Fabian might have been the most fightery fighter to ever fighter, but he spoke these nerds' language so well that they all cast Fly and launched themselves into the air, offering to help with as many overly proper turns of phrase as they could muster. Two of them rushed over and hoisted Adaine up by her armpits.

"I say, good show."

"There we are, fit as a fiddle."

"Thank you, flying Hudol students." Adaine almost laughed at their silliness despite herself, light-headed with this shift in fortune.

"Hellions!" One warbled in a poor attempt at a war cry. Adaine's levity evaporated at the sight of her friends spread out on the roof, burning and unconscious at Aelwyn's feet. For the first time in her life, Adaine understood why a barbarian's rage was so powerful. It wasn't just about anger. The emotion that sprang from Adaine defied every tenet of logic she had built her life around, burning away the anxiety and exhaustion that should have made her presence here impossible. When Adaine locked eyes with her bitch of a sister, everything about the situation – the years of abuse that Aelwyn had subjected her to, her constant sensation of being trapped in her own family, her helplessness to save her friends, her love for Machaira and Gorgug – all boiled together. It wasn't just rage, but no humanoid could ever properly express that tangle of emotions. Adaine remembered the last time she was overcome with this level of emotional chaos and had brained Doreen in the cafeteria. Channeling that memory, the young high elf ran at her sister and punched her across the jaw.

"Fuck you bitch," Adaine shouted, fist glancing over Aelwyn's ward. The silver runes flickered, motes of light cracking away at Adaine's measly attack. It was the weakest thing she could have done, far weaker than a punch from either of her friends passed out on the roof below her. But both of them would have told Adaine that it was a good punch anyway, and that made her even madder. Right then she didn't give a fuck about magic; she only wanted to hurt her sister. For her part, Aelwyn was more bewildered than injured.

"What are you, fucking insane?" Her sister demanded, hands going to her temples.

"I, uhg – yes, I'm fucking insane," Adaine retorted, stomping one foot. "You make me fucking insane!" Adaine locked eyes with her sister and saw that, for once, Aelwyn was the one who was overwhelmed and scared. The Abernants maintained eye contact even when Adaine Blinked into the ethereal plane, each knowing that their fight had nowhere else to go. Her vision of the battlefield was now overlaid with monochromatic mists, but the only thing Adaine needed to see was right in front of her. The sisters were so intent on each other that neither flinched as Riz once again shot at Aelwyn and missed. Aelwyn, breathing heavy and ragged, didn't even look as she blasted the inquisitor with another Lightning Bolt. Riz yelped and fell from his perch, hitting the brick below with a limp thump.

"Hudol students, aid that man," Fabian commanded.

"The Ball?" Percival echoed.

"Yes, The Ball, oh, yes, The Ball!" Fabian gleefully repeated himself. "Word's gotten around." Adaine might find that funny later, but Aelwyn had just dropped a third friend of hers.

"Right, up you go there," a Hudol boy declared. Shoes dully impacted the roof, and Kristen's philosopher ghosts swarmed over Aelwyn and her elementals.

"Get up, Gorgug," Kristen instructed, hand already glowing with healing energy. The spell pumped into Gorgug's heart like a magical defibrillator, and the half-orc sat up, blinking around the battlefield, eyes still darkened with rage. Kristen snatched the stop watch, clipped it to her fake dog tags, and slipped it under her shirt. The cleric shot Aelwyn one of her confused, over-eager sexual grins from the corner of her eye. Behind them, another air elemental and water elemental reemerged and swarmed back into the fray. The air elemental on the roof lashed out at Gorgug, catching him once in the chest and a second time between the eyes. The barbarian staggered and grunted but remained conscious, lip pulled down to expose more of his tusks. A spiritual tutor charged the swirling cheerleader, but its voice was drowned by the elemental's maelstrom.

"Come on, pull now," a Hudol boy groaned, trying to lift Fig up to the roof. The rascally musician strained until she turned purple but could only manage to get her head over the edge of the gable. Fig grinned and struck a screaming note on her bass and blew up most of the right side of the roof. Adaine had to cover her face from debris, but Aelwyn and her elemental took the spell's full force. The conjuration was obliterated and dispersed into wind, cheerleader costume blowing away in the resulting gale. Aelwyn was left standing, but her ward was Shattered. Adaine's sister gasped and staggered, blood bubbling up from the wounds Riz and Machaira had left and dark bruises spreading across her body from Fig's Shatter spell. A drow ghost in a cheap suit and puffy tie cocked back a fist and punched straight through a fire elemental's chest.

"It is the discourse that matters," he cried, throwing his hands in the air as the cheerleader crumbled and died. "By discussing these issues, we come to a greater understanding of not necessarily the truth but of ourselves within the truth." Kristen dropped her staff and fumbled in her pockets for another pencil.

"Hahaaa," Fabian shouted, bounding up to the roof and tackling Aelwyn at a dead sprint. As they hit the roof, Aelwyn tangled her legs with Fabian. With their heads so close together, the younger girl wasn't sure if Fabian was trying to restrain her sister or if they were making out or what, but she definitely didn't feel great watching this unfold.

"Gross." She announced flatly, recalling the pictures that had flooded her crystal less than an hour ago.

"Stay down, stay down," Fabian hissed at her, trying to get a better hold on Aelwyn's wrists.

"Not right now," Aelwyn rebuked him.

"No, I'm not trying to do that," Fabian denied, blushing as his leg pressed between hers. "Just give up." Stone–faced, Adaine Blinked back into existence and held out her hand to cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on her sister. She reached into Aelwyn's mind, feeling her will connect with her sister's for but a moment before the enchantment broke through.

"Fuck you, bitch," the diviner gloated as her spell took hold. "Yeah, you laugh bitch. You fucking laugh, bitch." The older wizard sneered at her.

"Ahahaha, are you casting – you're casting Tasha's Hideous – Hideous Laughter?" Aelwyn cackled. Adaine grinned, flipped two middle fingers, and slowly nodded her head. "Tha-a-a-at spell woul-wouldn't work on me in a – in a mi-i-ill-i-i-ion fucking ye-e-e – ahhaha, uhahaha." Aelwyn was crying now, denial and desperation madly fighting against the slow onslaught of humiliation. "It's such a stupid spell. You-ou cast, hah it on me, ahaha, o-on your fi-first day-ay-ay, and th-then I-I…" Adaine nodded along happily. "Aheyhey, Aheheh, Ehaha, Ahaha – "

"Oh my god, Hudol boys," Adaine shouted, jabbing a thumb at her sister as she lay helpless. "Can you believe that she fell to Tasha's Hideous Laughter?" Personally, Adaine thought it was a neat little first level fallback, but she knew from experience how terrible Hudol's arrogant humiliation treatment could be. All of the weird Hudol boys descended to the roof, still hovering slightly from their various levitation spells, faces drawing into disgusted winces.

"Oh my," Percival exclaimed. "A first level spell, tch-tch-tch-tch-tcha. No, that won't do at all." He tutted down at the laughing, sobbing Aelwyn before looking to Adaine. The diviner crossed her arms and smirked as all of the Hudol students turned to face her. "Who are you to be able to subject Aelwyn Abernant to a simple, elementary enchantment?"

"Adaine Abernant, how do you do?" She declared proudly. Instantly the Hudol boys scrambled to introduce themselves to her.

"My name is Percival."

"My name's Hector."

"My name's Walter, hello!"

"Hi, very nice to meet you."

"Well that's rather remarkable."

Adaine lapped up the praise as Aelwyn howled under Fabian, struggling against the spell and her new boy toy to break free and save face. With a whirl of power, all of the elemental cheerleaders evaporated around them. Adaine's smile stretched so wide it hurt, and a few tears trickled down her cheek. She had finally, finally bested her sister.

"It's not funny at all." Aelwyn began to claw at her hair.

"It's pretty funny," Adaine corrected her.

"No-o-o…"

"Pretty funny. Guess what else is funny." Adaine reached into Aelwyn's pocket and held up the palimpsest.

"No-o-o," Aelwyn sobbed as Fig forced her hands behind her back. The tiefling hummed a heavy metal tune as she tied Aelwyn up with spare amp chords.

"Oops, bitch," Adaine crowed, pulling off one shoe so that she could stuff her sock in Aelwyn's mouth. She silently memorized this moment so that she could re-watch it when she tranced tonight and every other night for the rest of her immortal life.

"Oh shit, Riz!" Fig yelled, jumping up and running to look over the edge of the roof. The bard played two Healing Word songs in rapid succession. "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you," the goblin confirmed from somewhere in the yard below them.

"Everyone else good?" Fig asked. Gorgug needed a little pick-me-up, but the others all seemed to be okay for the moment. "Alright, that's Riz, Kristen, Adaine, Fabian, and Gorgug. Machaira, you good?" Fires crackled and Hudol boys prattled, but no exotic mew or pained grunt sounded. "Machaira?" Adaine remembered at the same time Fig did. "Machaira!" They turned, stumbling over shingles to where the tabaxi had slid, head and one arm lolling over the edge of the gable. Fig played another song of Healing Word, but the rogue didn't react.

"Kristen, get over here," Fabian shouted. Their cleric started and jogged to where the other girls were hauling Machaira further up the roof, Spirit Guardians fading around her. The human channeled whatever divine force she had been communing with lately and placed a hand wreathed in radiant light on Machaira's chest. Though the light dispersed over her, Machaira did not react. Adaine, who had pulled Machaira's head into her lap, felt her Blink spell fade as she lost concentration. She stared, uncomprehending, at the face of her crush.

Those beautiful amber eyes had clouded, staring at Adaine with an emptiness that felt alien on Machaira's features. They remained open, reflecting the flames that still crackled below them, but the deeper light had gone from them, more akin to a pair of marbles than the gaze that had brought such warmth to Adaine's life. Adaine could recall only one other time Machaira had looked like that, but healing spells had worked then.

"No," Kristen muttered, calling up another Cure Wounds, only for the spell energy to dissipate off of Machaira's body with nowhere to go. "Come on, work!"

"Revive her," Fabian ordered. "Bring her back, you've done it before."

"I can't," Kristen cried.

"We watched you do it!" Fabian yelled.

"I don't have the energy," Kristen shouted back. She nonetheless began going through the motions of Revivify, but Machaira's condition didn't change. "See, I can't do it." She wailed. "I'm tapped." Adaine felt large arms wrap around her, but she didn't react until she was pulled away from Machaira. The broad, feline skull slid off her legs with a muted thud, heavy and inert. Adaine didn't speak, had no idea what she could possibly say, but grunted as she struggled against her friend. Gorgug didn't react to her punches even though he was so badly hurt that his blood seeped into her clothes. The berserker didn't speak either, but Adaine felt a heavy tear hit her shoulder.

"Hey, what's going on?" Riz asked as he dropped down to the roof, waving a thanks to the Hudol boy who dropped him off. The inquisitor frowned at their cluster, noticed Machaira, and rushed over, eyes wide. "What are you waiting for? Can't you heal her or revive her or – "

"We tried," Fig snapped, voice beginning to waver. "It's not working." Riz began performing CPR. The Hudol boys began to hover over them, murmuring with ominous interest. A glint out of the corner of Adaine's eyes drew her attention where nothing else did. Her friends' panic faded around her as Adaine caught sight of Machaira's saber a few feet away. It had been drenched in her sister's blood a minute ago but half of it had been cleaned by the steady stream of wyvern venom that still trickled down the edge. Gorgug felt Adaine go slack and loosened his grip. The diviner walked over to the blade as if in a dream.

"Riz, it's not working," Fabian yelled, grabbing his hair. "It's – it's not, uh, I, do, you know, something, ah, else – "

"Are there any priests or – or other clerics here?" Riz yelled. "We need a healer!"

"I'm afraid we're more of, ah, arcane practitioners than divine supports," Percival responded. "Apologies."

"Does anyone have any healing potions?" Riz demanded.

"We can't heal her without a heartbeat," Fig told him, voice fully cracking now. Adaine stood over the saber. Unnoticed by the others and without a target to receive the enchantment, venom had spilled down the long, thin sword and begun to collect in the gutter. The venom was a deep, opaque amber color, remarkably similar to Machaira's eyes but lacking their depth and warmth, just like those of the body behind her. The wyvern venom had pooled with Aelwyn's blood but not mixed, creating a tiny puddle that was half red and half gold. Adaine had been so focused on finally getting a leg up on her sister that she had forgotten to make sure Machaira was okay. She had never told Machaira that, that she… The emotion that swelled to fill her throat was more powerful than Adaine could name, building within her like a flood.

"A heartbeat, okay, okay, come on, please," Riz muttered frantically. The goblin started tossing stuff about behind her, but Adaine was numb to everything except the rising tide of emotion within her and the weapon at her feet. She picked up the saber, golden droplets spinning away as she did so. All high elves received training with the longsword and shortsword, but this blade was lighter than either of them, perfect for someone to run in and strike without slowing down. It had a little cup-shaped hilt that went over the fist, clearly designed for small hands. It fit Adaine, but she could feel the slight indentations in the leather grip where Machaira had held it for years.

Adaine knew the texture of Machaira's hand so intimately that she could imagine that the rogue was holding her hand now. Machaira would squeeze her gently and tell her something soothing in that soft rumble of hers, rising up from her chest like a warm ocean current. It's okay, Adaine predicted what the scout would say. I fight your battles, and you fight mine. It all evens out. Machaira had been willing to die so that Adaine could bring down her sister. Adaine tilted the saber up and turned to where Aelwyn lay gagged and helpless.

"Found it!" Riz shouted.

"Hey, Adaine?" Fig called hesitantly. "Um, what's up?" Adaine heard them, but the information didn't register. Machaira's sword caught the red and gold sunset, gleaming off of the blood and venom that coated it. The wizard noticed that the blade was old and had been chipped in a few places. But Machaira had cleaned, polished, and oiled it every day Adaine had known her and every day before that. The time she had poured into this saber, the care she had given it, showed in its wonderfully fine edge, sharper than a razor. Beneath the liquid flow, the metal of the weapon had a healthy gleam to it, kept strong by Machaira's diligence through the years. Yes, all of her friends had been willing to die for her today, when her sister revealed herself in a terrifying storm of deadly arcane prowess. But sometimes it was the little things that made the biggest difference, that made something stronger.

Adaine met Aelwyn's terrified gaze, and that emotion crystalized inside her. Seven months ago, the diviner would have had a panic attack and broken down like the useless bitch she used to be. Adaine could still feel the panic rising up within her, trying to break her. But since then, a ragged tabaxi girl, plagued by scars that ran deeper than any trauma Adaine could have imagined, had walked into her life and taken the time to get to know her. Adaine took a step toward Aelwyn. She understood the power of a barbarian's rage now. She also understood Machaira's predatory philosophy behind death. Before this emotion overtook her, she would finish the mission that Machaira had sacrificed her life for.

"The adrenaline worked!" Riz shouted, ear to Machaira's torso. "Do it, now!" Fig and Kristen both began to cast in a disjointed cacophony of magic. Adaine glanced over to see a swirl of infernal fire and divine light dive into Machaira's chest. Riz grinned, haphazardly tossing a syringe and giant needle off of the roof when his fellow rogue spasmed, coughed, and groaned.

"Ow," Machaira croaked. Their whole party released giant sighs of release and grinned, laughing as they shed a few repressed tears. The Hudol boys golf clapped for Riz. Fig went to call Adaine over, but the diviner had already charged across the roof, stumbling in her one shoe. Adaine forced her way into the group with a crazy grin, tiny tears spilling out across her cheeks. Machaira was burned, bloodied, and ripped up. She positively reeked of smoke, burned flesh, iron, and the unmistakable whiff of death. But she looked up at Adaine through half-closed eyes and gave her that soft smile without teeth, the one that told Adaine that the wizard would be okay even if the whole world was fucked up. Her eyes shone once more with that familiar heat, softening from a burn to a glow that was just for Adaine.

"Good to have you back," the high elf told her crush thickly. "You're not allowed to die anymore, got it? This is becoming a bad habit." Machaira's smile grew to a smirk.

"Is that so?" She murmured, placing a shaky palm on the shingles. Fabian helped her sit up, practically vibrating with nervous energy as he placed a hand on her back.

"Yep." Adaine confirmed, carefully holding Machaira's saber toward her on flat hands. The scout rasped out a laugh and grasped her saber but didn't pick it up. She took a long look at Adaine, from the wizard's own burn marks and bloody nose to her ripped clothes and one bare foot. They were both covered in soot, and Adaine could tell from the hot throbbing around her face that she must be sporting a spectacular black eye.

"Gods, your gorgeous," Machaira sighed, eyes impossibly soft as she met Adaine's gaze. Adaine treated Machaira to her best small, neat smile as their friends broke out into snickers. As Machaira slowly gained more of her mental faculties, her tender expression fell into horrified mortification. She clearly hadn't meant to say that out loud in front of an audience, but Adaine didn't care. She hugged her friend with a delighted laugh, nuzzling her face into the crook of Machaira's neck. The tabaxi groaned, possibly because Adaine had tackled her injuries, possibly out of shame, but returned the hug regardless. Adaine buried her nose in Machaira's mane and absorbed the scout's presence, basking in the warm glow of her affection. The massive swell of emotion that threatened to consume her a minute ago had left, leaving her feeling light and free. With Aelwyn defeated, her friends gathered together, and Machaira alive and well in her arms, this was the new moment she wanted to relive every night she tranced.

Aelwyn's Superior Retort

4th–level abjuration

Casting time: one reaction

Range: five feet

Components: Somatic

Duration: Instantaneous

After receiving damage from one melee weapon attack, you force the attacker to make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, you reflect half of the bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage received from that singular attack back at the attacker and heal for the same amount. On a successful save, the attacker takes a quarter of the damage dealt by the original attack and you heal for the same amount.

I also corrected the spelling for the names of Adaine's parents. I started writing this story before the official spelling came out, and only recently learned of my mistake.