All Things Magical
by zapenstap
The crystals left Heero's hand in an easy toss, sailing in a gentle arch into the air. They flashed in the light, and even seemed to gleam when no light reflected off their facets. Teleb's eyes followed them ravenously, his lust glimmering with unsatiable hunger. Then, to Heero's wonder, an aura of soft white light sprange up around Teleb's form. It burned with intensity, a halo of magic pulsing from the power he now weilded. The crystals halted in mid-flight and changed their direction, almost as if they were being sucked forcibly into Teleb's open hand. Suddenly, Teleb's head snapped up and he snarled as if sensing something. Heero distinctly heard Kyra curse.
"Not for you, Renegade!" Falora's voice yelled suddenly from the hallway.
A sheet of yellow fire sprang suddenly up between Teleb and his prize, ripping the glittering prisms away from whatever spell he had cast to ensnared them. At this sudden intervention, Teleb turned toward the doorway and snarled like a rabid beast, staring straight passed Heero into the hallway. "Falora Eredes," he hissed, and his eyes glowed balefully. "And Kyra Anderman." He raised a hand that crackled suddenly with white fire.
"Oh, God!" Duo cried, still holding Relena's arms, staring with wild eyes and the bright flashing wall between them and Teleb. "This plan is shot. Heero! We're in the way. We'll all be killed!"
"What are you still doing here?" Heero shouted back at him. "Get her out of here, damn you, or I'll kill you myself!"
But there was little time for movement of any kind as Falora shot into the room and skidded across the floor. Kyra trotted in after her, but moved to the other side of the room, safely out of the way. The crystals shifted direction in the air and floated into Falora's hand as she straightened with the grace of gymnast. Her fist closed around them and blazed with light. She smiled in triumph. No glow of white surrounded her like it did Teleb, but Heero had no doubts that some strange power coursed through her veins. "Here I am," she shouted defiantly at the Renegade, lifting her eyes to meet his, her voice edged with mockery. "Let's finish what we began at Elendros!"
Teleb laughed low in amusement as he walked calmly forward. The wall of yellow light vanished with a spark as he touched it. Falora gasped and shuddered as if wounded. "That battle is to my hoard of victories, little girl," Teleb said. "I remember clearly the breaking of the Unicorn Core and the revenge of the Highlord. Surely you remember Hylock's Last Stand?"
"I remember," Falora said evenly, regaining herself, "And the valour of his kindred who fought until they all fell, one by one. But I seem to recall that you ran like rabbit when Reizul came, and you refused to finish your match with me. Let's finish it."
"Very well," Teleb agreed with the hint of snarl in his voice. "With humans, theives and oathbreakers I will not parley." With that, white lighting exploded from his hand.
"Look out!" Kyra called sharply, her voice snapping like a whipcrack from the sidelines.
"Get down!" Heero shouted, and flung himself at both Duo and Relena, knocking them to the ground beneath him.
Heat and fire flashed over them. Heero covered Relena's head with his hands until the light faded from the corner of his eye. Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed Relena about the waist and hoisted her out of the way, pulling her to the far side of the room. Duo groaned and rolled to one knee, rubbing his head and wincing in pain. Heero ran his eyes over him, but other than a little disorientation, Duo seemed unhurt. He could feel Relena's stomach fluttering under his hands.
"Who are these people?" she said in a small voice, turning her head to stare up into Heero's face.
"You know as much as I," Heero whispered, and brushed a wisp of hair from her eyes. She was unharmed.
The lighting flung at Falora vanished and she smiled in a self-satisfied way, but Teleb's smirk was deeper. Moments passed and suddenly Falora gasped and shouted in pain. Though there was no light, nothing visible to see, a sound like crackling filled the air. She writhed as if caught on fire, though there were no flames, and doubled over in pain, falling to her knees. Through her screams, only swear words and curses could be heard, and then whimpers followed at last by cries of anguish.
They all watched in breathless silence for several agonizing moments as the small girl shook and cried out pitifully.
"Let her go," Kyra commanded, her voice strained with desperate emotion. "You're killing her!"
"Falora," Duo said quietly, his breath coming quickly to his throat as if he had been running. His eyes seemed glued to her torment. "I've never seen anything like this," he choked. "We've got to get out of here. We can't do anything in this battle, Heero. We're totally useless."
Heero stared in shock at Falora in her pain, but he was more conscious of the girl closer to him, in peril of the same fate. "Take Relena," Heero pleaded. "Take her out and I will follow when I can!" They would have to get through the door. Maybe he could distract Teleb from them. He had more of a chance than the others, if Mandred really had fortified his body at some point.
Relena's hands squeezed his in a death grip and her face went pale. "No, Heero," she begged, "I won't let you stay, not again. It's more than I can bear." There were tears in her eyes. "Please don't stay."
He tried to pry her fingers off of his, but she only tangled them tighter. "Relena..." he began. "You told me before not to go, and now I can not stay?"
"Then let me stay with you. Don't send me to safety! I don't want you to die on me, Heero!" she cried, and beat on his chest with a flat hand, tears on her cheeks. Whatever will power she had reserved for retaining her composure was swept away.
Heero stared at her for a moment and then pried her fingers from his hands. "Go with Duo," he said grimly, and shoved her away. She stumbled back and stood still, hands clenched at her sides and hurt in her face.
Falora was on the ground now, lying on her side, spasms running through her body as she fought to rgain her feet. Her hand opened and the crystals fell to the floor. Teleb approached her at a steady walk. Upon reaching her, he smiled and kicked her down. She fell with a groan, shaking and quivering, but whatever Teleb had done to her he seemed to have stopped, leaving her limp and tormented on the ground at his feet. The crystals leapt from the floor to his hand on their own accord. In his grip they blazed once more and he smiled as his face was illuminated with their radiance.
Suddenly, he turned and flung a hand in Kyra's direction, who had crept toward him like a cat. "Not so fast," Teleb murmured and Kyra was lifted several feet into the air as if by a whirwind. With a shout and a curse she was flung backward into the far wall, her legs kicking futilely. She hit with what must have been a bone-crunching thud and slid to the floor, head hanging limply. Teleb, caressing the crystals in his left hand, smiled at the two girls lying about like broken dolls. He seemed to have forgotten Heero, Duo and Relena completely.
Duo swore under his breath. "We can't just forsake them!" he whispered fiercely. "And the mission! He'll kill her and escape with the crystals whether we stay or run! We must do something!"
"Don't change your mind," Heero snapped. Relena first, then the crystals, then Teleb, Kyra had said. That was the mission. "Relena needs you. You said yourself that we are uselss. Let me do what can be done to complete the mission and aid your escape!"
"I don't need Duo," Relena said quietly, and it was like she had transformed into another person. Both Heero and Duo turned to stare at her, standing proudly alone. The tears and terror were gone; steel fortified her eyes and voice. He knew it well, Relena at her most powerful, weilding authority like a weapon. It frightened him now. "I know you don't need me," she said to Heero quietly, and a series of conflicted emotion passed through her face. "But I need you. And it's not fair for you to place me in safety and yourself in peril."
Heero stared at her with slow comprehension. His senses seemed to pick up everything but the meaning in her words.
"The mighty Kyra Anderman," Teleb was saying in wicked, mocking tones. "Brought down at last. Your luck has finally run out. Your benefactors will never be able to find me to take me." He chuckled. "But though I have two crystals, I lack still my diamond, and I know that you, and not those local kids, know where it is. Tell me, or I kill Falora, your little friends and then you."
Kyra moaned and said nothing.
Relena turned her eyes on Heero, shimmering softly like collected rainwater. "I'm not afraid for myself anymore than you are," she said more softly, and then turned abruptly away from him, her gaze focusing on Teleb, the warmth in her expression evaporating, replaced by a hard resolve. "The most terrifying thing I ever experienced was my only brother in a fight to the death with my only love. If I survived that, this is nothing." And she turned and ran at Teleb.
"No, Relena!" Heero yelled hissingly after her. Only love? "Damn it, you silly girl! Stop!"
Teleb did not see Relena coming. While he still stood smiling over Kyra, Relena grabbed his left hand with both of hers and pried the crystals from his grasp. Only then did he turn his eyes on her. Her blonde hair streaked in front of her face as she stared up at him, her mouth parting in sudden fear. Without thinking, Heero whipped his gun out in a steady grip before him. He fired a single true shot, straight for Teleb's chest.
Teleb jerked and turned so that the bullet plunged into his shoulder. He cursed loudly, clutching the wound, and flung his arm out in Heero's direction. Suddenly, Heero felt as if he were hit by a ton of bricks. One moment he stood braced with the gun still smoking in his hand and the next he was flat on his back, winded from an invisible blow.
Relena...
Heero struggled to sit up. Once his vision cleared, he could only stare. He had seen Teleb's wound, but even as he looked, it was healing itself before his eyes, the flesh reknitting itself together. The bullet shards were on the ground, bloodstained, but no longer buried in their target. Teleb's attention was again focused on Relena.
Oh, God...
Teleb snarled, his eyes glittering in rage and hate. Relena stepped back, but she stayed as if hypnotized, one hand flung in front of her face.
Coran entered the room from a small sidedoor. His eyes lingered on Kyra, wheezing by the wall, but he assessed quickly Relena's unexpected victory and her present peril. He bypassed his fiance and ran toward her. Even as Heero struggled to rise and aim his gun for a second blow, however ineffective it now seemed, Coran dashed across the room. He came from one of the other entrances and moved quick as lightning, snatching Relena out from under Teleb's gaze before the Alfarian was even aware of him, wrapping an arm about her waist and dragging her from the premises without pause. With both Relena and the crystals were out of the room, the dreadful pounding in Heero's ears abated somewhat, but not completely.
They had to get out too. Everybody had to get out. Without delay, Heero sprang to his feet and yanked Duo after him. "Come on!" he urged, pushing Duo through the door by which Coran had entered. Duo needed no urging. They both slipped through even as Coran vanished out into the hall with Relena.
"You will regret forsaking your word, princess!" Teleb roared. His voice thundered down through the building and the stones shook over Duo and Heero's head. "You vile, manipulative casadrat," he said partially in some foreign language. "I will throttle you until you can not scream and the whole wide world weeps for you!" And then he laughed.
R un, Relena, Heero thought in anguish, breathing in a dark passageway with Duo. He blew warm air on his fists and contemplated what horrible deathblow Teleb was constructing. But how could Relena escape? What could he do for her now? What? He felt... helpless. If there is a God, help her now. Don't let her die for me. He had never prayed before, but he prayed in earnest now.
Duo was standing at the doorway, peering through with troubled eyes. "He's followed her," he said at last. "What do we do, Heero?"
"I don't know," Heero said, and felt a shudder pass through him. "Are Kyra and Falora still alive?"
"I can't tell. They aren't moving."
An explosion sounded not far off. The floor beneath them shook and Heero and Duo were thrown off balance, dancing about to remain standing. Duo failed and fell heavily. Stone and temper cracked above their heads. Then all was still.
"We can't stay hidden in here," Heero said. Duo nodded and they both went back through the door and emerged once more into the main room. Heero felt like a coward for running in the first place. He had never felt like a coward before.
Duo ran to Falora's side and pushed her hair back. "She's breathing," he said. "And... Oh my, God." His tone was held more amazement than fear. "Heero, come look at this." Heero walked over. The diamond around Falora's neck was pulsing with a soft green light that seemed to spread through her body so that she shimmered softly.
Kyra groaned and half sat up. Heero turned to her. "What the hell?" she lamented, and winced in pain. "Did Coran escape with Relena and the crystals?"
"They're being chased," Heero said darkly. "Are you okay?"
Kyra swore and shifted until she was sitting. She groaned in pain. "If I could count all the times I should have died..." She chuckled and put a hand to the back of her head. "Good thing I'm enforced."
"When Teleb hurled you in the wall, I thought that was it," Duo said. "What happened to the plan?"
Kyra winced and laughed shakily. "The plan evaporated when Teleb sensed Falora. God knows how he did it. I revised the plan. She hurriedly stored a regeneration spell in her diamonds and challenged him. There was nothing else to do. If he'd gotten the crystals..."
"He got them anyway," Heero snapped. "If not for Relena, we would be done here."
"Is Falora regenerating yet?" Kyra asked.
"She's glowing, if that's what you mean," Duo supplied uncertainly. "And the diamond seems to be the source."
"Good," Kyra said. "She should recover with a little time then, hopefully enough to make us a Portal out of here, or send out a distress call to Mandred and Immilie."
"She can do that?" Duo said. "Then why hasn't she?"
"Because Teleb would sense it and retreat," Kyra said. "Scrying is complicated and there was no time to prepare anything like that. It takes time to set up a distress call and more time to send it out. There wasn't any time before, but now that Teleb is enraged and after his crystals, he might ignore Falora if she attempts a distress call now. Maybe, he will," she said under her breath. "And maybe he'll kill Coran and Relena first and escape before she recovers."
Heero felt his muscles tensing. He had to distract Teleb from
Relena then. With his life if that was the cost.
PLEASE REVIEW