Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! If you asked a question and I didn't answer – I'm not ignoring you, but don't want to give anything away :)
Additional thanks to both betas of this chapter, serenasnape, and filiuslupi.
Additional disclaimer at the end, slight spoiler if read first ;)
Chapter 10
Richard moved through the darkened corridors of the Terrace with a stealth ninjas would envy. Sam scurried along behind and winced at every one of her footfalls that echoed or cracked on the floor. She didn't dare move her gaze either side of the dark shape sweeping silently before her, so she stumbled over more things half hidden in the gloom than perhaps she should otherwise have done. She had a horrible feeling that if she looked away, even for a second, Richard would vanish. The very idea of being left alone here was enough to send cold shivers down her back, so she trailed as close to him as she dared to.
She was also utterly lost. All her usual landmarks for navigating the labyrinthine corridors had gone, vanished into the darkness. Richard either had a different set of markers, or the floor plan of the Terrace tattooed on his eyelids. Either way, his steps never faltered.
Sam hopped over the remnants of the latest bookshelf unfortunate enough to be in Richard's way, and nearly ran into his back. Extricating herself quickly from the trailing ends of his cloak, she hesitated, and then peered nervously round him to see what had made him stop. Apparently, it was a staircase. More specifically, it was the stairs leading up to Scanns. After a few moments of inaction, Sam glanced at her companion. He was glaring at the stairs intently, and Sam followed his gaze. The Scanns door was visible at the top; off its hinges, but visible, and there was nothing blocking the path. Why the hesitation?
"Is … something wrong?" she asked in what was meant to be a casual tone, but which came out as a slightly strangled whisper. Richard's eyes narrowed.
"Too easy," his arm shot up, flicking the wand out in front of him, "Far too easy. Ostendo." An elongated, mushroom-shaped cloud of purple light swelled out of the end of the wand and drifted lazily towards the stairs. Richard's fingers twitched and the cloud shuddered, then suddenly shot forward, swelling as it moved and leaving thin strands of light hanging in the air behind it. The cloud finally hit the back wall in the splattered way of some bizarre ethereal tomato, but that wasn't what Sam was staring it. Strung out across the stairwell, outlined now by tiny beads of purple light, were thick, glistening fibres. It looked like a pastel-obsessed spider had taken up residence.
"Thought so," Richard tapped his wand's tip, lighting it up with a similar purple light, and stepped forward, swinging the wand towards the nearest strand. It shattered as the wand connected, accompanied by a sound like that of breaking china, and sent a shower of rapidly dissipating fragments towards the floor.
Richard was about to take another step when movement caught Sam's eye. The ceiling above his head, still coated in glittering violet pinpricks, was shifting, something seeming to pool there, like water collecting under a tap…
Before Sam could fully realise what she was doing, she'd reacted and lunged forward. Her fingers buried in Richard's trailing robes and she yanked back with everything she had.
"Look out!" The words were blurred, half-screamed, and would have been too late if that was all she had done. As it was, her sudden action caught Richard off guard and brought him crashing backward onto her in the same moment a fresh spike of highlighted air plunged down, passing through the air Richard's head had occupied less than a second before. Sam gave a muffled gasp as the cloaked weight landed on her, painfully forcing the air out of her lungs even as he rolled aside. He was back on his feet almost instantly, shooting accusatory glares first at Sam, then the roof. Realisation flickered in the dark stare and he glanced down at the lower edge of his robe, which had been dragged through the beam. A section of the heavy material had melted clean away, leaving nothing but a smooth hole.
Sam swallowed hard.
"Wha-?"
"Apparently not as simple a version of that curse as I thought." Richard glared at the faintly glinting webs, then back at her. His lips nearly twitched as he extended a hand and helped her up.
"Sharp reflexes, kid."
"Th-thanks. Er …" Sam glanced at the stairs again, trying not to wonder what effect the webs would have on flesh, "Will they keep coming back?"
"Looks like it." Richard ran his thumb over the damaged robe thoughtfully, then his eyes darkened and he looked back down at her. "Quick reflexes? How fast can you run?"
"I … I've never tried."
"Let's find out." He swung an arm around her shoulders, sweeping the cloak around them both. Sam felt her heart sink as she realised what he had planned. Oh no …
Richard brought his wand up again, holding the glowing tip less than an inch away from the new strand.
"Head down, and stay with me. Ready?"
Sam made a small noise. Even she wasn't sure if it was affirmative or not. Richard nodded.
"Good. Go!"
He dove forward and Sam's eyelids slammed closed as she started running. It was the best option – if she could have seen the glimmering threads shattering so close to her as Richard's arm whipped back and forth in front of them, noticed the fresh lines of webbing drop down behind them so close they licked at her heels, she'd never have made it. At least with her eyelids clamped shut, all she had to concentrate on was the drag of Richard's arm around her shoulders and her own frantic, scrabbled footsteps seeking to keep pace with him.
The journey up the staircase couldn't have taken more than a few seconds. It felt like eternity. With every passing heartbeat she expected to feel some searing spike plunge through her. None came, and suddenly the stairs ceased to contain infinity and her feet hit flat ground. Off-balance, she stumbled against Richard, her eyelids flicking open for long enough to see the doorframe whiz past as they tumbled through it in a mass of limbs and cloak. Sam tripped, Richard didn't, and she found herself being hauled back onto her feet. The ground swam beneath her and she clutched automatically at the hands on her shoulders. Slowly, past the deafening sound of the blood rushing in her ears, she became aware of someone talking to her.
"…Sam? Don't give up on me now, kid. Sam? Can you hear me?"
Sam's eyelids snapped open and she let out a gasp as she focused on Richard's face, held inches away from her own. His eyes were grey and she forced herself to concentrate on them.
"I'm okay," she gulped, although it came out more as 'emmoky'. "I-I just…"
"Sit down," Richard gently pushed her shoulders, supporting her weight as she dropped to the ground, "I need to check the main room."
Sam sat, automatically drawing her knees up towards her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. She realised she was shaking and started to try to stop it. Once most of the major twitches had ended, she reluctantly let her gaze move from the floor between her feet up to the rest of the room.
It was about what she'd expected.
Scanns was wrecked. It looked like several bombs had gone off in there – anything that wasn't broken was upturned, in disarray or slightly on fire. Several less easily identifiable objects were making strange noises or giving off sparks of varied colours, some of which the brain didn't want to admit it could recognise. The scene flickered before Sam's eyes, her mind overlaying two very difference pictures onto this one. Scanns when she'd first arrived, busy, lively, filled with chatter; then Scanns when she'd been here last, filled instead with the eerie silence of a hundred Sues. Now this. Three very different faces for one room.
A low exclamation dragged her out of her thoughts and she blinked, squinting through the gloom to where Richard's Lumos spotlight was visible. He was on the far platform, but she couldn't make out anything else.
"What's wrong?"
His lack of answer was less than reassuring, and Sam suddenly became very aware of the yawning doorway behind her. Scrambling to her feet, she picked her way through the debris towards the steps. She swallowed a gulp as she edged round the upturned bulk of the heavy table and scooted up onto the platform. Once there, she stopped. Strangely, only one area seemed disturbed.
The golden Suescope table was missing. It had been replaced by a very large hole. Richard was crouched next to the opening, alternating between running a hand over its strangely smooth edge and glaring into it.
Sam crept forward, half-expecting a rebuke for moving. None came, so she decided to risk a question.
"What happened?"
Richard still didn't answer. He leaned forward, increasing the power of his Lumos as he shone the beam into the pit. Warily, Sam crouched down and shuffled slowly on her knees to the edge. She peered in. The shaft was about two metres across and perfectly straight, as if something very sharp had cored the floor like an apple. Floors, piping, electrical wires and openings gouged into lower rooms all caught the soft white light; layers upon layers of architectural strata. Here and there, a small waterfall gushed from a fractured pipe and slashed mains cables sparked unhappily.
All this, however, was only visible for part of the way down. The actual bottom of the shaft was hidden by thick, oily grey fog, glistening strangely in the Lumos glow.
"Katryna did that?"
"So it would seem." Richard glanced round and Summoned a marginally-intact book. He tossed it into the shaft and watched dispassionately as the fog closed over it. Sam half-expected a long pause, followed by the distant echo as the unfortunate tome vanished into the earth. In fact, she was oddly disappointed when the dull thud rose to meet them almost immediately.
"Only a few floors," Richard shot an appraising glance back at the doorway, then at the hole, "But I don't like the idea of attacking those webs again." He leaned forward and shot off another of the purple mushroom-lights, this one passing down the hole unhindered. He gave a curt nod and the flicked the wand again. Sam jumped as thick cords erupted from the tip of the wood, accompanied by a short 'bang', and secured themselves to the intact flooring surrounding the hole. Richard looped one around his hand and stood up, positioning himself with his heels hanging over the edge.
"Wrap them round your hands once, and let the line out slowly. You'll only fall if you let go." With that he took a step back, and Sam had to swallow a yelp as he dropped downwards in a swirl of cloak. The Lumos vanished with him, plunging Sam back into street-lamp enhanced gloom. She quickly grabbed a handful of rope and looped it round her hands like he'd done, trying to ignore the way her fingers were shaking. It looked easy enough …
But he makes everything look easy.
She pushed the thought from her mind and dithered on the edge, trying to summon enough courage to jump as he had. After a few minutes of internal debate, and some unpleasantly worded objections from her leg muscles, she gave up on that idea and crouched down, slowly lowering herself over the edge as she wriggled backwards. That worked a little better; and managed to stave off any fresh panic until she was hanging a few feet down the shaft and her hands decided to lock around the ropes.
Come on, come on… Richard was already down there, and for all she knew he could see her messing this up. The thought granted her an extra pulse of determination and she managed to ease her fingers open enough for the ropes to begin sliding through them. The cord was smooth, light, and Sam could feel a sensation like static-cling as it moved over her skin. It didn't appear to be giving her friction burns – which was useful, since whatever more specialised properties the cord had, it did little to alter the fact her entire weight was being supported purely by her arms.
She risked a look down through the squashed triangle of space between her forearms and body, and swallowed a gulp as she watched her feet sink into the fog layer. It took a lot of effort to keep herself from trying to crawl back up the rope, although she did hold her breath as her head moved into the haze. She didn't have to do it for long. The world went white for a few feet, then suddenly opened up again into clear shaft. Clear, dark shaft, the debris-strewn floor visible only as a patterned area of blackness. Sam dropped the remaining metre, landing oddly, and automatically flung out a hand to steady herself. Her palm hit the wall and she jerked back, swinging round and squinting in disbelief.
The wall was foggy. Her gaze tracked the thin grey layer upward, until it curled over into a softly undulating ceiling above her. She looked down, watching thin trails of mist seep gently around her feet and rise up onto the wall. This is weird …
She shivered and stepped away from the wall, hopping over the biggest floor-level trail, and squinted into the gloom as she strained to hear. Now, where did Richard go?
More importantly – where the hell am I?
Looking up again, she was suddenly struck by an intense desire to be somewhere that wasn't roofed with oily fog. Something was prickling unpleasantly at the back of her mind, darting out of view ever time it started to become clear. It felt … a little like a warning? Wary as she was about following any unidentified strings of thought, it seemed sensible to heed this one.
Slowly, feeling the way with hands and feet before she moved, Sam began to work her way along the walls until she came to an opening. She ducked through, avoiding the thin streams of fog swirling through alongside her, and found herself in the middle of a low-roofed corridor. It was actually surprisingly well lit –
"The Suescope's not here."
– and that would be why. Sam turned, relieved, as she focused on Richard standing further down the corridor, shadows fleeing from the wandlight around him. Sam hurried over.
"We're in the cellars, aren't we?"
"Yes." His reply seemed distracted, and Sam realised he was staring intently at the wall; his wand held close to the tendril of fog trailing up there. She was about to speak when silver flashed in the light as Richard drove his spork into the wall.
Hard.
"Damn," he hissed. Sam stared at the spork. It was embedded in the mortar, with the trail of smoke bisected neatly around it. The split ends waved in the air, peeling back slightly towards Richard's face. For a split second, they almost seemed to have nails…
"Get back to Scanns," Richard tore the spork free again and swung round, sudden urgency in his voice, "Now!"
A hand slammed into Sam's shoulders, shoving her back towards the hole with such force she had to break into a run to stay balanced. She glanced down and yelped, skidding to a halt as the smoky trails swirled up in front of her. They surged together, swelling up across the opening like a smoky grid. The lines thickened, melding into each other, until it blocked the hole completely. Sam scrambled back, colliding with Richard, who swept her bodily aside as he lunged for the misty curtain. He slashed across it with the spork, but the surface healed again instantly behind each slash. Sam's elbows scraped the bare wall as she backed into it.
"Wha-?"
"Damn!" Richard stepped back, shoving the spork back into its holster, and aimed his wand at the fog, "Reducto."
The spell hit the surface and vanished without even a ripple. Richard tried a couple more spells that Sam recognised, then several she didn't, then punching it. Nothing made any difference. Spells went straight through and somehow his blow rebounded like he'd punched rubber.
Richard stepped back, eyes narrowed, and when he spoke Sam was certain the words weren't aimed at her.
"I didn't think you were that crazy …"
"Wh-what's happening?" The words escaped Sam's lips before she could stop them, and she swallowed another yelp as Richard span round, his hand clamping so hard around her arm she could feel the bones creak.
"You are going to be ready to run like the devil is on your heels whenever I tell you to."
Sam goggled at him.
"Why?"
"Because she might well be."
Sam didn't have time to contemplate the words as she was suddenly dragged away from the wall, swept up in the seething black shadow Richard formed behind his own Lumos as he moved forward. Dark walls blurred past, mundane things like old furniture and trunks leaping into the pool of light so suddenly they formed abrupt, ghastly shadows before melting back into darkness. Sam was horribly aware of the fog drifting around their ankles, tracing their steps, guiding, herding. It was even more apparent whenever Richard tried to take a passage clear of the trails – the entrance would seal with solid mist instantly, driving them back – and when Sam looked tentatively back she could swear there was even more following them. It was as if the smoke they'd passed already was eager to get back in on the action.
Sam knew she was shaking. She kept shooting sidelong glances at Richard, trying to draw some kind of comfort from his face, but there was none there. His expression was closed, except for the hard green of his eyes, glittering with black determination.
She didn't want to ask.
She didn't need to ask.
She didn't have the chance. The corridor suddenly opened out before them into a large space. She couldn't make out much detail, other than that the entrance seemed to have been knocked through a wall – going by the debris – and the ground inside was thick with fog. It covered the room, wall-to-wall like an undulating, faintly glowing carpet, highlighting the rough triangular shape to the space.
Next to her, Richard muttered something and fired a bolt of white light at the roof, where it stuck, forming something roughly like a lightbulb. Sam followed his gaze in the new light and felt a traitorous dart of relief sink into her mind as she saw, sitting at the far end of the room and half-buried under assorted rubble, a familiar golden shape. Worries momentarily forgotten, she took a step forward. Her foot plunged through the deeper fog and jarred painfully to one side. She winced, transferring her weight back, and looked down at whatever she'd just turned her ankle on.
A tiny Lumos rainbow danced on the fog, refracted strangely by the curved shard of thick, clear glass just peaking out from the surface. A shiver started at the top of Sam's spine, but halfway down it was overtaken by a fresh one, as the next second an unearthly howling shattered the silence. It wasn't loud, or close by, but something so primal didn't need to be.
"Chandra," Richard's head flicked up towards the roof, and for a moment concern and confusion battled across his face, "But not here – "
The howl cut out, but the noise didn't stop. It had been replaced, so seamlessly it was only when Sam listened that she realised it was a different sound making her hair stand on end. It was the high, cold sound of laughter, tinkling like a crystal waterfall as it echoed back and forth across the mind as much as it did through the air. Suddenly there were words, buoyed up by the laugh rather than hidden by it.
"A little cut was all it took,
a crack in fortress tall.
Strings all broken, puppets crushed.
How far the mighty fall."
Sam froze. The final flimsy shield of doubt she'd been clinging to shattered as that voice crept into her ears and she shrank back, heart hammering on her ribs. Was it even possible for this to get any worse?
Apparently, it was.
Sam barely had time to register what was happening as the fog suddenly rippled, surging up her legs before she could react. Her feet left the ground as a thick coil tightened impossibly around her waist, wrenching her forward and up, spinning her round dizzyingly. The world blurred and Sam's eyes squeezed shut, her stomach lurching even when her back slammed into the floor hard enough to make her teethrattle. She forced her eyes open again, unsure of what to expect.
She hadn't expected this. Her jaw dropped as she stared upwards, or at least, what should have been upwards. In actuality, what should have been the ceiling seemed to be the opposite wall and she found herself looking across at the floor, where Richard was still visible, his cloak hurled aside as he held both wand and spork out in front of him. It was as if her personal definition of 'down' had been shifted by ninety degrees, leaving her pinned halfway up a wall by some twisted gravity.
Something giggled by her ear.
"Stay here, little Serena. Enjoy the view. I'll play with you later."
Sam swivelled round, in time to see a tendril of fog pull away back into the floor. She sat up, which was horribly disorientating, and turned back towards Richard. He hadn't moved yet, and was glaring at the fog with oily black hate.
"Funny," he growled, the comment clearly not aimed at Sam, "I never saw you as the submissive type."
The laugh echoed again, still appearing from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"My, my! Dear Richard, you surprise me. You think Sues are incapable of a more … mutually beneficial arrangement?"
"I'm not here to talk to you, Serenity," he hissed, eyes narrowing, "Show yourself! Let's get this over with."
An exaggerated tutting sound rattled through the air and Sam watched as the smoke drew away from around Richard's feet, leaving him surrounded by a fog-ringed puddle of clear space.
"Ah, but it's been so long since we've had a little chat," the voice purred, "I've been waiting for you, Richard. I knew you'd make it down here. So did your darling Katryna."
"I'm flattered," Richard was speaking entirely through clenched teeth now, that much was clear in his voice, "Now, show me something corporeal so I can kill you."
The giggle rose again, but this time there was a focus, the sound collecting out of the air as an area of fog began to rise up opposite Richard's glare. Shapeless, then rounded, then something rather like a mortar shell made of mist –
– then it shattered. Trails of fog flew off in different directions, merging back into the mass, as a figure condensed to something approaching humanoid. It was, however, only approaching humanoid. Twin points of sickly golden light formed and elongated into slanted slashes of eyes, the blank face forming smoothly around them. Gassy hair unfurled, but the longer strands were still attached to the floor, as was the end of her torso, dissolving into shapeless fog that boiled down into the swirling mass below her.
Serenity smiled brightly.
"This better?"
"Much." A jet of red light shot through her head, splitting the fog apart like a dropped melon, before the curse splashed into the wall. For a split second, no one moved. Then a fresh laugh bubbled up as the splayed strands of fog curled back, slotting neatly back into the head as Serenity's face re-formed. The eyes gleamed again and she giggled.
"Oops. Possibly not corporeal enough?"
"I will not play your damn games!"
"Ah," Serenity's eyes narrowed, and suddenly the ground-level fog began to ripple and bubble as her arms extended down into it, "But I do. Play with me, Richard. It's not like you have a choice."
The next few moments were very busy. Serenity plunged back into the fog layer as if the floor had given way, just as Richard lunged forward, scything his spork through the now-empty air. The laugh bubbled again, losing focus as it spread out through the undulating fog. The mists swirled, eddies dancing just out of Richard's reach. He tried another spell, this one sending out a pulse of rippling air that managed to clear a path through the smoke for an instant before it closed back again seamlessly.
He didn't have time to try again as the fog rose up behind him and he threw himself aside, misty tendrils slicing through the air so fast they whistled. Richard hit the ground in a roll and the fog followed him, snatching at his body as he ploughed through it. He leapt back to his feet and the mist began to wind up his legs, hands forming and dissolving again instantly as they tugged at his clothes. The spork sliced the tendrils from the main fog and he shook them off, but they came back again just as fast, and suddenly Serenity was there, wrapping vaporous arms around his chest from behind.
"You want to know why Katryna didn't fight me herself?" she purred, before her current head ruptured around Richard's fist. His hand passed straight through and the smoke surged in the opposite direction, flowing rapidly up his arm, across his chest, down, and then Serenity was suddenly behind him again, this time with her hands held over his eyes. Her lips brushed his ear, her eyes gleaming.
"I think you do. See, you are not the only ones who can make a deal."
This time it was the back of Richard's own head that smashed hers apart and he span round, whirling the strands of fog off him. He straightened up again, eyes burning darkly.
"What?"
Serenity giggled and crashed back into the fog again.
"Dance with me, Richard!"
He reacted just in time. A massive, serrated spike of very solid-looking fog erupted past him as he leapt back, the tip gouging a crater in the roof and showering the dark stumbling figure with brick dust. The spike shattered almost instantly, but a fresh one took its place, then another, and another, forcing Richard to dive from side to side, from feet to hands and back again to avoid them.
He faltered very slightly coming out of the final roll and Sam heard him gasp as the ground erupted in a mass of thick, misty threads. A smoky tendril whirled up, catching around his wrist and wrenching him forward, off balance, as it started to tighten. Richard yanked his arm free, but the moment of distraction had been enough. Another solid trail hooked around one leg, then the other, then an arm as each limb was bound in succession. The tendrils rippled and Richard gave an audible grunt as his arms were dragged out at his sides, then his legs, leaving him spread-eagled in the air His muscles twitched, straining visibly under his clothes as he fought the bonds.
The remaining tendrils whirled around each other, rising up and melding until two slits of yellow brilliance opened and Serenity formed anew opposite the bound figure. She smiled again and stepped forward, running her hands back and forth along Richard's straining arms, from wrists to chest, before they finally stopped on his shoulders. She leaned in closer, and when she spoke her crystal tones were oddly conspiratorial.
"Guess my deal, Richard. It's not like yours, don't worry, you're still speschul there."
He didn't answer, his lips pressed together so tightly they had almost vanished. Serenity giggled and slid one hand up his neck, rotating it as it reached his face so the half-closed fingers sat to the side of his mouth, like a naked glove puppet.
"Tell me, Serenity," she said, in a deeper voice that mimicked his, as she made her pseudo-puppet 'talk' along with her words, "For I am dying to know." Abruptly, she whipped her hand around again, sliding the gassy fingers up his cheek in a half-caress as the two of them slowly rotated, until they were facing the debris-shrouded Suescope. Serenity waved a hand towards it.
"See, Katryna really doesn't want you to find this. Erebus and Chandra ... Well. They're nothing special, are they? As easily subdued as the rest of them. Now me, I am special. She's a little scared of me, you know that? Like she is of you." Serenity leaned even closer, her hand sliding to the back of his head as their foreheads pressed together. She smiled.
"That's my deal, you see. I didn't challenge her, and I guard that little prize."
"Do not touch me," Richard jerked his head back, shaking her hand off. Serenity giggled and began miming speech for him again.
"'But how is that a deal, Miss Serenity? It's very one-sided.' Well," she nodded at her hand, a mock-serious expression on her features, "They broke the globe, for one. Oh, and of course – " she stepped back suddenly, her eyes narrowing as a cold smile crept onto her face, and she twisted her hand so the fingers were pointing directly at Richard's bound form, "I get to do this. Crucio"
He couldn't even try to dodge. The spell slammed into him with all the subtlety of a rampaging hippogriff. Sam squeezed her eyes shut so she didn't see, but the screaming wasn't as easily blocked out. The sound cut into her mind, accompanied by Serenity's laugh as she cast the curse again.
Again, even as Richard's screams lost any real human quality, degrading into a primal howl of pure, undiluted agony.
Again, as the shrieks died to little more than a strangled rasp.
Again.
Again.
When the noise finally ended, Sam's eyes opened. She didn't want them to, but something overrode that desire. Her view focused on Richard, slumped against his bonds, his chest heaving. Sweat ran down his face, the drops sending tiny ripples through the fog as they fell. Serenity's fingers twitched.
"I like the part where he stops moving!" a chillingly girlish giggle echoed round the room again as she rose up over Richard's groaning form. Her eyes narrowed and she flicked her hands forward once more.
"Let's do it again."
Sam's eyes wouldn't even close this time. They burned; vision blurring with tears as she heard herself yelling at Serenity to stop, felt her throat tear raw with what she knew to be a fruitless effort. The pain didn't matter, barely even registered over what she could hear in Richard's fading cries. He was barely making any sounds now – the loudest being a sort of whimper. Spasms ran down his body, jerking his limbs erratically, followed by a faint click as the wand finally dropped from his fingers and vanished into the smoke.
Then he fell. The smoke bonds dissipated and he just folded, collapsing backwards in an ungainly heap. Mist swirled around him, but he didn't move. Only the faint movement of his chest and tiny twitches of his contorted features, showed any sign of life.
Serenity giggled again, then fog whirled up around her and crashed forward, washing over the fallen Richard like a breaking wave. Smoke whirled over him and suddenly she was there again, straddling him with her thighs. It was the most solid she'd looked so far – all aspects of a human figure in place except the feet, her legs dissolving back into the ground-level layer somewhere around the ankles. She leaned forward, insubstantial fingers brushing a light caress over his contorted face.
"You know half them were in love with you, don't you Richard?" she murmured, tracing his features lightly with a smoky finger, "I can see why. Good bone structure, thick hair, tall, broad shoulders." A weird sigh echoed through the cellar as Serenity arced back, strands of wispy hair forming purely to flick out behind her, dissolving at the apex of their swings. For a moment she was almost frozen in place, the two figures locked together in some twisted parody of Hollywood lovers and then Serenity leaned back abruptly, her eyes blazing again. A chuckle rippled through the air as she sat back with her hands resting on Richard's chest.
"I'm sure I can work with that." Lips formed and twisted in a bright smile; "Although, a few minor adjustments will be needed before I can call you home."
Sam let out a yell of horror as Serenity lunged forward, plunging her hands into Richard's chest. The smoke in the room shuddered and changed, its movement suddenly directed rather than random as it began to spiral back towards the Sue, rising into her in thick trails. Richard's expression twisted even further beyond pain as Serenity sank into him, her eyes glowing brighter with every inch of smoke that vanished. A shudder ran through his body and suddenly his back arched off the floor, eyelids flicking open and releasing the faint yellow glow that was building in his eyes. His lips curled back, teeth bared in a silent grimace as …
… he started changing. Sam almost swallowed her tongue as she watched the dark surface of his chest ripple and expand, swelling up around Serenity's arms. His twisted features shuddered, jawline softening, cheeks rounding, as the dark spikes of hair topping his head began to lengthen. Serenity stretched out over the morphing body and brought her face close to his. The slit of mouth opened, spilling more light over the distorted features below her as, with a slow relish, she drew a nearly snake-like tongue down his cheek.
"Fight harder, Richard," she purred, "I want to feelit! Make me work." The smoke whirled round her like a miniature tornado, condensing further into the ever more solid body that seemed to be fusing slowly into Richard's chest. Serenity tossed her head back and gave a strange mewling sound. Her body was almost fully opaque now, leaving nothing more than thin threads of fog traced out across the floor, her now discernible hips grinding into the spasming form beneath her. She dropped down until her face was brushing right against Richard's cheek again.
"Don't rely on Adrastos," she whispered, "Or maybe you want this. Yes? You're mine, Richard," her arms plunged even further into him, until they were almost chest-to-chest. Serenity's eyes were half-closed, as much that were possible for glowing slits, and she gave a low hissing sigh that swept through the air, somehow sending the last remaining trails of fog fleeing before it. She smiled and dragged her face over his again until her eyes were hovering directly over his unfocused, glowing gaze.
"You're fading," the word was nearly sung, "I win. I'll take you, make you. Sometimes, I'll even let you watch. You are mine!"
Light began to gleam through the fog as a very final kind of shudder rippled through Richard's body. The yellow light spilled out of Serenity's eyes and she laughed, high, tinkling notes like a child's giggle played through a windchime, as the light flowed down, thin rivulets of golden inevitability plunging towards Richard's eyes. The light swelled, intensity increasing with every fraction of time as it oozed closer, closer, its glow adding a brassy finish to everything it touched, even the silver. The final few strands of fog swept up into Serenity's glowing form and in the same moment Richard's eyes squeezed shut.
They snapped open again instantly but this time they were far from empty. Serenity didn't have time to even register the change as his left arm swept up, catching purchase across her solid enough neck and forcing her aside. Pain washed across his features as her arms tore out of his chest, but it vanished under the determined scowl of effort as his other hand came up like a counterweight, a thin silver shape clutched in his fingers.
There was no way the Sue could dodge. The spork ripped up into her chest, shearing the smoke away under razor metal before coming to rest with both it, and Richard's right fist, embedded in her ribs.
Once again, the tableau froze. This time though, the scene was very different.
Richard's eyes narrowed.
"No Serenity," he growled, his hair retreating back to normal length, his chest subsiding again as he spoke, "You're mine." He gave a low grunt and the spork tore upward, slicing through the insubstantial flesh with a sound like tearing cotton
Serenity didn't even scream. The final expression, if one could be determined on that featureless face, was of pure surprise.
Then, with a very quiet yelp, the Sue imploded.
The spork glinted in the light, Richard seeming more to hang from it than provide it with support, then it fell as he slumped back. This time, he lay still.
Sam didn't move. She was still playing the last few minutes over in her mind, trying to come to grips with what just happened. Richard … won?
He'd actually won!
… and now he wasn't moving and she was stuck halfway up a wall with a haywire sense of gravity and … she could hear footsteps …?
She looked up – or down, depending on which viewpoint you were using – and her gaze locked on the doorway in the far wall. The heavy door they'd come through the first time she'd been in here was missing, but right now there was something else in the frame. Or rather, someone.
"Jackie!" Sam had never, ever, been so glad to see anyone in her entire life. The redhead looked a bit battered – her shoulders were torn and bloody, and there was an angry red crack across her bottom lip – but she was upright, moving and had both spork and wand drawn. There was also a rucksack slung across her back with a broomstick jammed through it.
The mismatched stare swung across the room, her eyes widening further as they flicked from Sam halfway up a wall, to Richard's collapsed form, then to the motes of fog still dissolving into nothingness around him.
"He won," Sam croaked, and Jackie nodded as she dashed over to Richard's prone form. There were a few tense moments as the redhead gently checked for a pulse, then gave a small nod and began rooting around in her rucksack. She produced something wrapped in gold foil and reached down, easing Richard up into a position more slumped than sat, but he was at least vaguely upright, leaning against her. She smoothed damp hair off his forehead and shook him gently.
"Richard? Hey, c'mon, you gotta eat this. It'll help."
The third attempt got a bit of reaction: his eyelids flickered slightly. Jackie seemed to take this as agreement enough to unwrap the chocolate and start trying to force it in between his teeth. She must have been successful, since the strength of Richard's eyelid flickers increased, and eventually one of them opened enough for him to focus on her. He started co-operating a bit more and Jackie finally managed to get him moved into a proper sitting position.
"Well, you look like shit," she muttered.
"… thanks …" Richard groaned and shifted, trying to take a bit more of his own weight. He had to settle for taking the rest of the chocolate, but he didn't complain. It seemed to be working, and his other eye was soon open enough for him to notice the mess of Jackie's shoulders. He frowned slightly.
"… you're bleeding …"
Jackie shrugged.
"Chandra's worse. Stunned and trussed up nice and snug, before you ask. And I even got to Field-prep afterwards. There wasn't much left, a couple of packs and a broomstick, but there's enough chocolate to get you back up to par."
"So, in order to aid my health, you're going to ensure I have diabetes by the time I'm thirty-five?"
"Well, you're being obstructionist again. That's a good sign," Jackie propped him up on the rucksack and stood up, "Finish that bar, or I will go seriously motherly on you. I'm going to get Sam down."
Richard gave a noncommittal grunt, but stayed put. Sam gave a low sigh of relief as Jackie made her way over. Now some of the earlier blind terror had faded, she'd been starting to get the feeling she'd been forgotten about.
After a few tries, Jackie managed the right counter-curse, and Sam's world gained the correct angle again. She accepted the steadying hand the older woman offered as they made their way back over to where Richard had started on another bar. Sam was furnished with a few squares herself, and could quickly feel the sweet warmth soothing her insides a little.
"Right," Jackie dug through the pack again and started applying some kind of bright green cream to her wounds, "Now, could someone please tell me what's been going on?"
They told her. Sam did most of the talking, Richard seemingly content with the occasional clarifying grunt and technical term, but she faltered a little when trying to describe the battle's end. It was just too soon to have found the right words. Richard took over.
"She tried to Sue me."
Jackie blinked.
"But… you're already… and you're not, I mean, you're… oh!" her eyes widened and she stared at him in disbelief, "You… you let her get that far in? So you… you were actually… Why?" She asked, weakly. Richard finished his second bar and shrugged a little more strongly.
"Wasn't solid enough before."
"You planned that?"
"Of course," he snapped, but Sam noticed that he avoided the redhead's gaze. Jackie blinked again and fixed a concerned stare on him.
"Are you okay?" she laid a hand on his shoulder. He shook her off and glared.
"I'm fine!" His expression softened slightly. "And, yeah, I'm … alright."
"Phew," Jackie gave a small smile, "Good. I don't think they even make bras that'd fit your ribcage, anyways."
"I like my chromosomes in their current configuration, thank you."
Jackie grinned and stood up, beckoning to Sam.
"Right, I'm going to dig that thing out before something else decides to go wrong. You – " she shot a pointed glance at Richard, " – are staying put."
He threw a sarcastic salute and leaned back, eyes sliding closed. Sam scrambled to her feet and hurried after Jackie, who was surveying the pile of debris critically.
"Healthy combo of magic and elbow-grease required here, I think. Let's get this cleared off before Sleeping Beauty recovers enough to start butting in."
Sam nodded. She swallowed as she looked back at Richard, lying against Jackie's pack.
"He- he is going to be okay, right? I mean, she really hurt him …"
Jackie flashed a tight smile as she began flicking her wand at the rubble.
"He'll be fine – leviosa– Field level three and above – perfingo – have monthly Cruciatus training – reducto – which is as unpleasant as it sounds. That much – leviosa– will've been a shock to his system, sure – fracta – but he'll get over it pretty quickly. Right," she holstered her wand again and stepped over to the table, "Help me clear the rest off, and we'll have a nosy."
Sam helped sweep the smaller heaps of plaster, brick and less identifiable debris onto the floor. As the Suescope slowly become visible under her fingertips, she couldn't help but stare. She'd never seen it close to before. Over half of the surface was silvery glass, covering a layer of something that looked like mercury, except for shimmers of the darker ripples that seemed to follow her touch along the glass. The rest of the golden top was a bewildering array of switches, dials and sunken balls, devoid of labels. Jackie leaned forward and blew some more dust off, sneezed, and flicked four of the switches.
The screen lit up. Jackie began sweeping her hands across the table, gloved hand on the screen, bare hand on the dials, and the screen responded to her touch. Patterns rose, swirled and vanished nearly as soon as they appeared. Sam tried to make sense of the shapes – she could swear there was something there – but it was no good. Next to her, Jackie gave a quiet grunt, and Sam was surprised to see that she was sweating lightly.
"Damn! I never was very good with this thing."
"Here," another hand snaked past, dropping down over Jackie's on the screen. Sam scuttled aside as Richard leant over, reaching his gloved hand out onto the dials. His actions were more fluid than hers, but their hands quickly began to move in mirrored arcs, and the patterns began to rise again. This time though, they held. Sam watched in amazement as the metal seemed to drop away, leaving a rotating sphere of silver just below the glass. The surface rippled as familiar shapes rose out of it, tiny textures peppering across the instantly recognisable shapes of the continents.
It was a globe.
Sam leaned closer as she watched the tiny planet rotate, the British Isles coming into view, and suddenly that area surged upward, spreading out until a relief of the UK hung below the glass. Jackie gave a small grunt and the map shuddered, tiny flecks of light winking into existence across the surface like tasteful Christmas bulbs. They were scattered, for the most part, although there was a collection around the bottom left side of England, and … Sam blinked as she squinted through the glass. Near the top of the map was something very different to the other distinct specks of light. A brilliant smear of yellow-white light pulsed across a significant proportion of Scotland, thin trails stretching out towards it from all over the map and from a large cluster of individual lights close by.
"Show me," Richard muttered quietly, stroking the screen a final time as the view zoomed in again. This time though, the image wasn't smooth, but blurring and crackling like television static. Sam glimpsed a few brief flickers of some things that looked like trees, some half-obscured turrets in the background and a hint of strange violet, before the view degraded into silvery lightning and the screen went dead.
Jackie slumped slightly, catching herself on the table edge, and let out a loud sigh.
"Urgh. Anyone else feel like their brain just went through a mangle?"
"No," Richard rubbed his forehead and glared at the screen. There were dark circles under his eyes, but his features were set back into their usual determined scowl. He looked up and caught Jackie's gaze.
"We were right." There was little emotion in the statement, aside from an edge of resignation. Jackie swallowed hard and nodded.
"She's going for Hogwarts."
-x-
Additional disclaimer to the Potter Puppet Pals for certain lines.