A/N
Two chapter update! I must be on a roll! Thanks for keeping up with me everyone. I hope to start a new AU after this is finished. I've been thinking on it for awhile, but I wanted to finish this one first. There should be just another chapter and all will be well.
"Go left! Go left! Around the pillar! They'll reach the window before we do!"
"Where do you get this information?" He yelled as he darted past a piece of falling rock and headed straight for the pillar.
"Don't ask! Fly! It's part of my mutation, okay? Just fly!" I yelled back as we whirled around the pillar like things possessed.
There was a large window two stories down. It was there I was hoping they'd catch sight of us and stop.
Crepuscule stopped a few feet away from the glass and a second later, Kitty, Rahne and Jubilee came running through the hall just beyond the window. They didn't see us.
"Plan B! We have to get their attention—AHHH!" I yelped as Crepuscule lurched forward and slammed against the window, breaking into the hall. He skittered on his back legs a moment, then tore after the three girls.
"Danny! Crepuscule! What are you-"
"Get on!" I snapped, cutting Jubilee off. "The buildings going to collapse!"
"But the Soulking-"
"He has his own problems! Come on, hurry!" I yelled as Crepuscule bent down slightly for them to hop up. Kitty sat behind me, Jubilee behind her and Rahne sitting at the rear.
"Get us out of here!" I ordered. Crepuscule moved carefully to not allow his back hooves to slip on the floor, then barreled back towards the way we came.
"What problems does the Soulking have?" Kitty asked over the noise of hooves.
"He and that guy I told you that I've been talking to are fighting on the roof!" I said back.
We reached the window and Crepuscule was out like a shot.
A loud groaning sound caused us all to look back at once. The part of the building the girls had been in was collapsing in on itself.
"Whoa…" Kitty breathed. "That would have been, like, a little disastrous."
"Just a little." Rahne muttered.
Crepuscule winged up, carrying us over the roof of the tower, well, the parts that were standing. The others of our mutant group were watching the fireworks on the ground. The iron soldier had been dispatched or just stopped working, Alistair's monster's had fled, the Demights which kidnapped us were not even anywhere near the castle, but I felt the remnants of a retreating troupe heading east. Encroth had killed and feasted and crept back to his hole in the earth to sleep. The entire place had been ransacked. If the Soulking lived, he'd have a heck of a time putting his life back together.
Speaking of him, it seemed the waves of magic were getting stronger. The Morphos were moving in patterns that my human eyes could see. And they had begun to give the roof a wider berth. The waves of magic already killed some of them.
As I watched, they became agitated. The magic was pulling in tight, building up energy…
"Crap."
The explosion of magic slammed Crepuscule to the side and for a second we were free falling. At the end of that second, Crepuscule got his bearings back and snapped his wings down to get out of the way.
"What was that!" Jubilee screamed.
"Shockwaves! Hang on, there's another coming!" I yelled. "Crepuscule! Lean down!"
He turned his wings to lean down and we barely missed the next magical shockwave.
"The ground! Get on the ground!" I yelled helplessly. The air was so think with energy I had to pull away from the butterfly portion of my mind's eye to see. The Morphos were evacuating as fast as their wings would take them.
That wasn't a good sign. I could feel it.
"Down! Down! We need to get down!" I yelled again. Crepuscule flapped his wings harder, unable to dive because of the weight.
"Guys…" Rahne's voice came with a hushed whisper I heard all too well. I looked over my shoulder.
Something was coming that I didn't need butterfly eyes to see. It was a hazy outline of something that didn't look like anything except a ripple at first, but I've had enough experience to know that that was not a good thing.
We were only fourteen feet from the ground. We weren't going to make it. It moved faster than he did.
I heard whispers of something that sounded like a prayer, though I didn't know from who.
Then it hit.
I felt Crepuscule's terror as he lost control of his flight. I felt Kitty grab my shirt in a desperate attempt to keep us together. I heard Jubilee and Rahne scream in terror as the world shook and turned. I felt blood run down my fingers as the scars that had mostly healed on my hands opened suddenly and began stinging in pain.
Then, everything I knew disappeared and it all went black.
It was cold and dark. There was no light, but the feel of dankness was everywhere.
I got up slowly. My body didn't hurt, but I remembered vaguely that it should. I had riding on Crepuscule's back, and we got caught in the wave…and my hands…
I felt across my hands. No blood. No feel of dried blood.
I crouched down slowly, feeling my way to make sure not to hit something I couldn't see. There were no animal voices here, not even the slight brush of hunger. I reached out, and found some insects. That was all.
That was all I needed.
I walked a little more confidently, stepping over stones I would have tripped over and sometimes misjudging distances. It was hard to translate from bug sight to my own.
A quick check confirmed that I was alone. The entire place was a large domelike structure with no entrances, and more importantly, no exits.
So, how did I get in? For bugs to be so well accustomed to the place, it wasn't made overnight. They'd still be in confusion. So, I must have been put here somehow. Kitty, perhaps? No. If Kitty had been here, I should have been able to find he bugs would have made a ruckus if Kitty fell through their nests. So, how?
"I see you are awake."
Ah. The robed man strike again.
A small bit of light shined over me. I turned to look at him.
"Win your fight?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"For the time being. I'm afraid he escaped when a certain child and her little friends got caught in a magical wave and had to be saved."
"Bet you must be ticked." I said nonchalantly.
"I am glad. Your group managed to put a stop to him. For now. I must show my gratitude for doing this favor to me."
"How generous. What's the gratitude?"
"I will send your group back to your planet. I will return Crepuscule to his Adelia."
I frowned. I do a lot of frowning around him, I've noticed.
"You're being very kind about this. What's the catch?"
"You're very suspicious."
"I was taught by Mr. Logan. Suspicion is his forte."
"I see. Then I cannot fool you. There is a slight…condition."
"Which is…?"
"I saw what you were doing with the servant creature. Directing him. Normal humans, even normal magical peoples cannot see what you were directing him away from. I can only assume that you saw my conflict with the Soulking."
"Everyone did. You were on the roof." I pointed out, uneasy with the way this conversation was going.
"Not the way you saw. The way I know you saw."
"So, you aren't what you appear to be. Join the club, most people aren't. Or are
you trying to cover up the fact that the Soulking is the same as you are?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You only proved what I feared. You have two choices."
"Two choices? What if I don't like them?"
"Then I will have to dispose of you."
"I see."
"You may become my servant. I will grant you power and you will be my agent in the human world."
"How lucky." I deadpanned. I don't like leashes. This sounded like a leash.
"You also have the option of having your memory erased of the battle. And of all the times we met."
"How convenient." I said sarcastically. " So, as long as your appearance is kept up, you don't care what happens to anything else."
"I did not say that. I gave you these options to help you."
I snorted. "Options? Bull. You give me nothing except unacceptable decisions. I won't let you mess with my mind, and you are not making me your little attaché, to come to your beck and call. How do you dispose of people? Leave them to rot in these little caves? I don't think you've made a real effort to give me a chance."
"Most humans would jump at the chance to have power to do good."
"I'm not most humans. And you have no guarantee the power is to be used for good. I don't accept your terms."
"I will have to dispose of you."
"To protect your fragile persona? Why bother, anyway? Who am I going to tell? Who will care? I can keep secrets better than most, and really, who will care that you beat the tar outta some guy who's like you, anyway?"
"Those that worship my kind will find themselves sorely tried if they found the truth."
"Well, I haven't been meeting 'those that worship' your 'kind', so I don't think we have a problem. Besides, they all live here, right? Just send me back home, and I may never cross paths with them.
He seemed to ponder this.
"I have come up with new terms."
"Goody."
"If you're going to be sarcastic, I won't tell them to you."
"Go on."
"You may go home. However, if you do return to this world, you are not allowed to speak of this battle here or back on earth. You must guard this secret zealously."
"I'll put it in the back of my mind."
"There is one more thing."
"Which is?"
"I know of your psychics. I want to place a failsafe that will render them unable to view the memory."
"And will this rendering hurt me?" I asked guardedly.
"No. Not unless you voluntarily allow them to view it."
"Fine. Just get it over with. And if I feel you poking around, I'll bite you."
"Crass child." He placed a finger on my forehead. I felt a little lightheaded, then it was over.
I shook my head a bit. "So, when do I and the others go back?"
"Right now?"
"Hunh? Wait, I want to say goodbye to Crepuscule!" I said, glaring at him. He gave an exaggerated sigh.
"You have one minute." The air turned colder and as I watched, the cave warped into another cavern, where Crepuscule in his animal from was digging at a cave wall in annoyance.
The robed man nodded. I stepped forward. "Hey!"
Crepuscule's head wheeled around in surprise. He blinked at me, confused.
"I came to say goodbye. Me and the others are going home."
He padded over, looking at the robed man guardedly. "Home?"
"Yeah. Back to my world, where we first met. That guy," I jerked my thumb back at the robed man, "will take you back to Adelia, he said. Say hi to her for me, okay? Tell her thanks for everything. And if you see any of the others we saw, tell them thank you on my behalf, will you?"
"If that is what you wish." He tapped my shoulder with his nose. "Are you sure it is safe to trust him?"
"Yeah. For now. I wouldn't in the future though." I patted his nose. "Be good alright? Remember, you're nobody's servant now. You're your own man. If I'm in this world ever again, I'll drop by and say hello."
He said nothing. We both knew how hard it would be for me ever to come back.
"I will miss you, Lady Danny." He said softly. "You were a good friend. I hope that I find other people in my life with souls like yours. I cannot say that it wasn't frightening at times, but you made a world of difference. Good bye, my friend."
I hugged him around the neck.
"Your time is up."
"Somebody needs to slap you, robe boy." I patted Crepuscule on the neck after breaking the embrace. "Be good. Be tough. Don't let Adelia order you too much."
"I won't. Live well." He said as I stepped back.
"I plan to." I waved as the cave blurred.
We stopped back in the cave I was. I looked questioningly at him.
"Your journey home begins now. The others have already started. Are you ready?"
I nodded without hesitation.
"Very well. It is time." He reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
Here I come Julian. I'm coming home now.
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