I'M ALIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEE! I'm back! WITH THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER! AND A QUESTION! It's at the end of the chapter, you'll have to wait for it.
Chapter 23! Enjoy!
Jolie helped Lucine down the porch steps.
"Careful. Is your leg okay?"
"Just cramped up is all. I have to get used to walking again. Where are we going?"
Jolie pulled open the car door and showed the blonde woman how to fasten her seatbelt. "I don't think it has a name. It's a valley in the Neutral Territories, away from civilization. So nothing gets hurt if something goes wrong. I'm meeting with the Neverseen. We're ending this today. The last members of the Black Swan against the last members of the Neverseen. One side is going to die today, and I will do everything in my power to make sure it's not us."
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"You're just fine, aren't you? And so is Uncle. I can do this. I've never done it on a large scale like this, but I'm confident I can. My mother believed I could. So did my dad. I'm going to prove them right."
Lucine smiled, blue eyes carrying the same sparkle as her mother's.
Jolie stood firm on the barren ground, trying to not show how much her knees were shaking. The stale wind threw small wisps of dark hair around the edge of her face. The rocky sides of the gully concealed Aunt Amy and Uncle Alvar, but with guns. She herself had a pistol on her hip that she knew she could draw, aim and fire in less than three seconds. They had done everything they could to make sure this last day ended in their favor.
She could see black-cloaked figures approaching from several hundred feet away. She counted five of them.
A large hand squeezed her right one. "You've got this, Jolie."
Alvar adjusted his grip on his pistol nervously. He hated leaving his niece relatively unprotected, but assured himself that even if reinforcements didn't show up, he and Amy, both with long-range sniper rifles, would be able to cover Jolie's escape. Even if it meant they wouldn't make it out.
She was barely fourteen and stood in between two figures, one a head taller than her, the other around the same height, all three cloaked. Their cloaks looked similar to the Neverseen's, except for instead of a white eye on the sleeve, there was a diving moonlark embroidered in silver on the back. You would only see it if the light struck the fabric just right.
Jolie was too young to be wrapped up in all this. But without her, all the good left in the lost Cities wouldn't have a chance at survival. He would do what he could to assist and support her. It was the least he could do, a small amount to put toward atoning for the part he had played in his brother and sister's deaths.
Amy sighed, checking the distance through the scope for the third time in thirty seconds. She'd had dealings with the Neverseen before, but Sophie had made sure she was never in any real danger. A situation without any stupidly overpowered backup was tense to say the least. Alvar had told him Jolie would come through, and she trusted him, whether or not she should.
Jolie took a deep breath. It was now or never.
The Neverseen stopped about a hundred feet in front of her. She counted five of them, standing in a line. She'd learned to identify various members by their stature and someone was missing.
"Vespera's not here." She murmured to her companions.
"Who is Vespera?" Lucine asked.
Jolie gripped her hand. "She's the leader of the Neverseen. I'm pretty sure she's the one responsible for everything that's happened. Her and the rest of the Banished Seven."
Gethen's taunting voice echoed across the space between them. "Is little Jolie" -he spat her name as if it were poisonous to him- "going to tell us why she thinks a child can order the Neverseen to a meeting?"
"You've got this." The man on her left whispered.
Jolie took a deep breath. "Your turn."
Lucine threw back her hood. Long blonde hair flowed to the middle of her back and turquoise eyes glared at the cloaked figures. "That answer depends on which Jolie you are speaking to."
Alvar almost dropped his pistol. He, like everyone in the Neverseen, knew exactly who Jolie Ruewen was. When his niece had told him what she could do, he'd taken it with a generous grain of salt. There was no telling what was exaggeration. But standing down in the that valley, fully flesh-and-blood, with burn marks scattered across her face, was Jolie Lucine Ruewen.
Jolie kept her chin high, waiting for the shock at her aunt's announcement to die down a slight fraction.
"That is impossible!" Fintan yelled. "How…"
"Your Everblaze isn't as infallible as you first thought!" Kenric tossed his hood back, the fire that had taken his life the first time now glaring in his eyes.
Jolie gripped their hands, reaching deep into herself and feeling that pull inside her mind. Instead of pushing it back, she let it out, feeling the great rush of power flow though her. Her knees buckled and she fell, relying on those next to her to keep her upright.
There was a great crack in reality and a hole split in the sky, edged with gold and shocks of lightening shooting out from it. Beyond was the void and the dead. Jolie flung her consciousness into that void, searching, searching, searching. It wasn't long, though it felt like an eternity, before she hear a familiar warm voice calling to her from a darker part of the void. She wrapped her mind around that pulsing spark and pulled it over and through the boundary between the living and the dead. Earth and fire flowed into the shape of a person, but the amount of force flowing through herself was making her vision blurry.
Lucine dropped Jolie's hand and it was replaced by a familiar scarred one and the tingle of power joined her mind with her mother's. Together, they were able to pull two or three minds from the void at a time. Elements flowed and pieced together. Jolie felt the earth come alive as her father's life-force was freed from the darkness.
Shadow and water flowed together, rising to meet their bearers. The Empathetic energy around her snapped and crackled, accepting its single bender.
Deeper still into the void they plunged, searching. Biana was more difficult. Her draconic heritage tied her to the void. It took more effort than the others to break the ties and pull her back.
Despite the aid, Jolie screamed, almost running out of power as she wedged her mind in between Dex's mind and the land of death. Without her parents supporting her, she may well have been trapped. But with the golden glow surrounding her, she felt the ties loosen and her Uncle Dex sprang out of the void, body reforming as he grew closer to the surface.
Jolie pulled back into her own body and collapsed against her parents. She would never be sure when they fused their power with hers, but she knew without their aid this would not have been possible. She saw standing next to her all that she had lost. All the darkness had tried to claim. This time, she had won. This time, she was stronger.
She couldn't hear what the Neverseen were saying, but she went to stand, knowing she had to get up, had to keep fighting. This wasn't over. This would not be over until the blood of the Neverseen ran red in the dirt.
"No."
Her father's voice cut through the fog of mental strain. "You've done your part."
"This is our fight now. Rest."
Her mother may have said more, but that was all Jolie heard before passing out.
Sophie took a deep breath for the first time in three horrible years. She felt the currents of the wind around her and gathered them to her will. Her Cognate bond hummed in the background, a constant source of strength. She clenched her fist and felt the air respond. After all these years of waiting, it was finally time.
Biana beat her to the punch. Wreathed in Everblaze, brilliant blue scales glittering, she let out a painfully loud screech-roar. Blue flames burst from her maw, bathing the Neverseen in the heat of her bloodrage. The only reason they were still alive was Fintan's feeble shields of flame
"Let me have Gethen." Sophie whispered. "He's mine."
The ground under her feet supported her every step. She reached deep for that elemental power she had not called in over a decade. It responded eagerly, lifting her hair on a gentle breeze. She closed her eyes, honing the air carefully.
The form she used a simple, but sent Gethen fly with a single blow. She focused a mental blade a sliced deep into his mind, seizing every thought in the fabric of his mind and tearing it to shreds.
The battlefield around her was bathed in flame, gold and blue. She didn't have to look to know Dex had taken his most powerful form. Augmented by ancient dragon blood, his full-size dragon form stood over a hundred feet at the shoulder. She felt the flap of his wings and lungs larger than she was drawing breath for another barrage. The absolute fury of blood-rage, the most dangerous state a dragon could be in, when their power was at its greatest. And it was high noon, when the sun was strongest, shining its fire on those who relied on it for life.
Biana's eyes had lost all form, merely fire trailing from the sockets. She was high above them. For her, this was not mere battle. This was a hunt. And a hunt she was going to bring to its bloody conclusion.
Sophie pulled back after making sure Gethen was not getting up again. She had taken her price in blood and it was best to get out of the way of the angry Titan dragons.
When she turned around, the sight that met her eyes was both heartbreaking and reassuring beyond all words. Fitz had his eltule steel sword out, standing over their daughter, defending her from what bodyguards the Neverseen had thought to bring. She had hoped to never see him have to fight again, but seeing her husband defending their daughter with all the strength of the earth, it was not just knowing he was alive and well, it was a feeling she could best describe as the incredible love and faith she had in him. They were going to win. They were going to root out the last traces of darkness in the Lost Cities and they were going to do it together.
She blasted the tainted ogres away from them as she walked over to him, giving him a respite. He was breathing hard, face flushed and splattered with ogre blood. Fitz looked up at her and she knew that never in her life had his eyes seemed so beautiful to her.
Neither of them had to reach out telepathically for the other's thoughts. Fitz sheathed his sword and pulled Sophie against him. She hugged him as tightly as she could, relishing the feeling of her husband's arms around her.
"I thought I would never see you again."
"I'm right here and I am never leaving again." Sophie murmured against his neck.
Fitz pulled back, eyes sweeping over her face. He didn't reply and he didn't have to. He pressed his lips against hers in a frantic kiss. She melted into him, welcoming any feeling after the emptiness and darkness of the void.
When they separated for air, there was only one thing on either of their minds.
"I love you." Neither of them knew who said it first and that wasn't important. They had each other's back and neither of them were ever going to leave again.
Sophie slid one of her hands into his and turned to face the battlefield again. Dex and Biana had made short work of the remaining Neverseen members between them. Sophie waved a hand and pulled all the oxygen away from the fires, extinguishing them instantly. She wasn't sure where either dragon had gone, but they wouldn't probably be back when they had had their fill of each other.
A loud voice yelled across the intervening space, startling her, but she recognized it.
"THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!" Rocks slid down the side of the valley as Alvar ran towards them, whooping, "I wouldn't never joined the Neverseen if I knew my baby sister had THAT up her sleeve!"
Sophie smiled. "You sound like a five-year-old."
Fitz tensed next to her. Sophie sent a soothing telepathic message over their Cognate bond.
It's okay, really. Did you figure out my message?
Yes we did. It was a shock and I did blame you for a bit for not telling me. He looked away.
But do you understand why I didn't say anything? Why I couldn't say anything?
Yes. I'm sorry that I ever made you think you couldn't tell me. You're my wife. No matter what, I will understand. I may not like it, but I will understand.
Thank you.
Sophie grinned at Alvar. "We did it. It's over. We're free. Completely. Permanently."
"Free." he echoed. "I'm not sure if I remember how to be free."
"You and me both." Fitz smiled at his brother. "But we've got all the time in the world to figure out how."
Running footsteps approached from the other direction. Amy came flying down the side of the gully and almost knocked Sophie over.
"It worked! I can't believe it worked!"
Sophie hugged her sister tightly, almost forgetting to compensate for the fact that her baby sister was taller than she was. "I missed you Amy. I missed you so much."
"When Jolie told me she'd brought a butterfly back to life and thought she could do the same for people, I didn't believe her. But when she was able to pull it off, and in my backyard no less, I thought, we might just have a shot at this!"
"Are you the Moonlark?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Sophie turned around.
She recognized the blonde young woman, but she had only seen her in pictures.
"Jolie? Jolie Ruewen?"
"Yes. I was the test. Your wonderful daughter, who I assume is named after me, told me what happened after I died."
"Wow." Sophie thought her face might split in half from the amount of smiling she was doing. "I really didn't know if the calculations we made were right. We were betting everything on Jolie having this ability. Although, that might become a problem. You're both Jolie."
"Your sister and daughter refer to me by my middle name, Lucine."
"Lucky there's only one of me."
Sophie whirled around and met the eyes of a red-haired Councillor she never thought she'd see again.
"Kenric?!"
That day must have been labeled National Day for Joyous Reunions. Sophie flew into his arms, dropping Fitz's hand for a few seconds.
"Hello again, Miss Foster."
She groaned, letting go of him and taking Fitz's hand again. Sophie held up her left hand. "I can't count how many times I've heard that incorrectly. It's actually Mrs. Vacker now."
Kenric grinned. "So you two did get together. I wasn't sure if that would ever happen. How is Oralie doing?"
Alvar nudged Sophie's arm. "Speaking of Oralie, you guys should probably get her and everyone else out of the Lost Cities. Things are probably about to get messy and when there's giant dragons who don't care about collateral damage, she could easily be hurt or killed."
"But where would we put them all?" Sophie's military mind was rusty, but still working. "It would be easier to just take the confrontation away from the Lost Cities. Keep everyone safe."
Fitz squeezed her hand. "But Alvar is still right. We need to get family and friends out. Even if we do our best there still might be some casualties and we need to protect our families. Do you have space, Alvar?"
"Not much. I can take Kenric and Oralie, let them get reacquainted. We're isolated, so they won't be found."
"Is that okay with you, Kenric?" Sophie knelt, gently lifting Jolie as she began to stir.
He nodded. "I've apparently missed a lot. How long have I been gone?"
"Not as long as I have." Lucine said. "Jolie and Amy told me I was dead for almost forty years. You only have twenty to twenty-five years of history to catch up on."
"That is more than I thought. Is Oralie still on the council?"
"If she is, not for much longer. I'll explain on the way." Fitz hoisted Jolie into his arms. "But right now, we need to get ourselves situated. The Banished Seven aren't going to kill themselves."
The next week was an exhausting one for Sophie. The amount that could happen in three years was staggering. Her eldest was fourteen, all grown up into a wonderful young woman. The quintuplet were ten. Ten years old. They had mastered their abilities and were the perfect fighting team. And Ry, her little baby boy, was seven almost eight. For her, his fourth birthday had been two weeks ago. Marella, after a teary reunion, had told her that Everblaze gave him his sight and the thought of it made her heart want to leap out of her chest.
Sadly, the children had been moved to a safe and secure location until after the battle. As much as it pained her to not see them immediately, what was another two weeks, really? After three years of absence, two weeks really wasn't much. But it felt like an eternity.
"So what's our game plan?"
Sophie, Fitz, Dex, Biana, Keefe, Linh, Tam, Marella, Alvar, and Kesler sat around a large table. They had taken a week to reunite and catch everyone up to the present.
Kesler stood. Now that he no longer had to hide, Sophie could see the barely-controlled fire lurking just under his skin. His eyes were a bright gold instead of the periwinkle she had been used to. It made her wonder how she had ever mistaken him for just another elf. "If I can still write in Ancient Draconic, I will challenge Tyrginth to a máchi timís. Sophie should be able to translate that particular phrase."
She nodded. "'Battle of honor'. But won't he refuse? He knows what we're up to."
"My brother? No he won't. It is a challenge of his honor as a drajatan. He still fancies himself a member of Clan Cliffbreaker. He will answer my challenge, with the rest of the Banished Seven. He is not so arrogant as to meet a challenge without insurance. Maybe we'll finally find out who they are."
Fitz sighed. "But what do we do then? You can handle your brother, but what about the other six? You can't fight seven Titan dragons at the same time, especially if they're all as powerful as you."
"I believe that if we work together and time it correctly, the eight of you can handle it. But I believe I have figured out which of the Seven took the name Vespera. I had an elder sister in Clan Lightbreath. She took our mother's clan while Tyrginth and I chose our father's. Her true name is Luminence, the Lifeleech. She was not a powerful dragoness, hence her propensity for manipulation and delegating tasks to more powerful underlings. But she is not to be underestimated, as you well know. Your only other true danger is Nova. He is Clan Nightbearer and has likely taken the identity a powerful Shade. I do know he is capable of casting powerful illusions and I've seen him cover entire cities in darkness in seconds."
Tam sat up straighter. "I can handle him with Keefe's help. One of my main teachers was a dragon of Clan Nightbearer. I can take him down."
Kelser gave him a grave nod. "Don't get yourself killed doing it. Jolie is extremely weak from the battle last week and may not be able to bring you back. That goes for all of you. All we need to do is take down one of them. They're going to come in their elvin forms, so we'll be able to pick them off afterward. If Tyrginth goes down, so does most of their brainpower. I know all of you are a bit rusty on your skills, Sophie especially. Do whatever you need to do and get yourselves as ready as you can be."
They dispersed. Sophie took Fitz's hand as they walked out. The halls of Dawnfire had undergone a frantic cleaning a few hours before, but the only thing she could focus on was her husband.
"Are you ready to go home?"
"I don't know." She watched him adjust the facet in his pathfinder. "I haven't been home in such a long time. What if it doesn't feel like home anymore?"
Fit smiled at her, pulling her close as he lifted the crystal to the light. "Don't worry. I think I can help with that."
BIG QUESTION! The chapter after this one isn't finished, but it's stupid long. Over 12,000 words right now and getting longer. Do you want me to publish it in segments, or wait until it's finished to publish, even if that's more than a week? If I publish in segments, I'll publish a few thousand words at a time every week and then combine them when it's done. Or I can put all my effort into finishing the chapter and publish it whenever I finish it. It is up to you guys. But you have to decide by next Saturday or I'll wait to publish until it's done.
But after that chapter, I'll be back to my regular schedule. Such A Twisted Legacy may be late, I'm sorry if it is. But there's another wedding in the works. If you don't ship Bianex, you may want to skip that chapter.
I'm working on more oneshots. I'm hoping to do the gang experiencing human holidays. (Some America-specific, because that's where I am). If any of you have suggestions you want to see them experience, tell me in the comments!
Reviews get teasers for the next chapter, just let me know if you don't want one.
Shine brightly!
Ruby