AN: I just came back from France, I'm too tired to own any of this.
CHAPTER 22 - Deploy the Gatewatch
One floor above the chamber where Chandra had duelled Voldemort, standing in front of Malfoy Manor, Ajani and Gideon watched calmly as Nissa, staff held in front of her and mantle flapping wildly behind, directed a massive construct of vines and roots of vaguely humanoid shape to slam violently and repeatedly on the shimmering dome surrounding the place until it collapsed with a thunderous rumble.
Scant moments later, Chandra appeared next to them in a fiery burst, panting and bent over. Planeswalking out of the plane then back in had obviously taken a toll on her, and after the day she had had it was starting to get too much.
"Voldemort's alive," she said gasping for air "He's got at least twenty minions in there. Oh, hey Gideon."
The soldier placed his left hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly: "Rest now Chandra, we'll deal with them."
He had barely finished speaking that a series of crack! announced the arrival of everyone that had been in the ritual chamber.
"Who dares disturb Lord Voldemort?" demanded the man standing at the helm of his troops.
He was probably an intimidating figure to the populace of Wizarding Britain, but none of the planeswalkers were impressed; case in point, Nissa's construct tried to swat him like a pesky fly. The dark wizard teleported to safety, but the closest six minions weren't as quick or smart.
"Attack you fools!" called Voldemort casting a large flame spell at the plant creature.
As the behemoth started getting consumed by animal-shaped gouts of flames, both sides started moving: the Death Eaters started casting a barrage of multicolored spell, Gideon and Ajani charged onward enshrouded in golden light, while Chandra offered a some covering fire. Nissa dismissed her summon to avoid collateral damage while it trashed; with the plant creature gone, Voldemort was free to direct his attention to the fight and start casting the same green spell he had been using earlier, but so was the elvish planeswalker, who stabbed her staff into the ground and summoned a number of smaller quadruped vine constructs to fight. With the disparity in numbers levelled a bit, it soon became apparent that the Death Eaters were more used to shock tactics and short incursions against inferior or scared opponents rather than fighting experienced warriors and agile elementals. Even Voldemort's obvious ability, power and ruthlessness couldn't even the odds, and in the end he had to call for a retreat to cut his losses.
"Today I spare you Potter, but next time you'll die!" he threatened before disappearing in a plume of black smoke, soon followed by his remaining minions.
The return trip to Hogwarts was a happy affair –meeting back all her friends after the battle with Bolas was just so much better than Jace's reassurances– but would have been very slow going: they were all tired after the battle, and Chandra in particular, and Malfoy Manor was in the Wiltshire. Hadn't it been for the timely –or untimely depending on points of view– arrival of the law enforcement wizards, they would have needed weeks to get back.
Apparently they had taken so long because some bureaucrat had been trying to push charges against Chandra for kidnapping Fudge or some other nonsense, and since the minister had passed out upon getting back there had been no one to stop them –nobody had seemed to be willing to listen to Fleur either for being French or not completely human– until Fudge had woken up and set things in motion.
Unfortunately that was where the good news ended: Fudge was under the illusion that his good friend and confidant Lucius Malfoy couldn't possibly be in cahoots with terrorists –because Voldemort was dead and nobody could change that, obviously, so those were just some rabble playing dress up– and that it had all been a huge misunderstanding, which in turn meant that the populace at large was willing to accept that version over Chandra's, and even Dumbledore's warning mattered little.
That left only one problem:
"What do you mean with we should stay?" asked Liliana arcing a delicate eyebrow while caressing Fleur's head "The Tournament is done, nothing's holding us here anymore."
They had all retired in the planeswalkers quarters and had barely been seated a minute before Chandra had stated her conviction about not leaving that plane just yet.
"Voldemort is the same as Bolas, we swore to protect the Multiverse so we should deal with him while we're already here," tiredly explained the redhead from where she was sitting collapsed against Nissa's shoulder.
The elf didn't seem remotely perturbed by the close contact and kept instead a slender arm around her friend's shoulder.
"He's not a planeswalker or otherwise capable of spreading his influence," said Ajani in a contemplative tone from where he stood next to the fireplace "Nor is he a world ending threat like the Eldrazi."
"I agree, the locals should handle him," concurred Gideon while reclining against the wall, his muscular arms crossed in front of his chest "We can hardly ignore the Dragon in favor of this, especially now that Jace is finally free from Ixalan. We need to gather more allies."
"I hate to contradict you Chandra, but they are right," said Nissa tightening the hug minutely "We shouldn't interfere in this any more, he is not that vast of a threat."
"Last time he was active," interjected Hermione interrupting her worried fretting over Chandra's health to look up at them "He had practically conquered Britain until Chandra stopped him. The people were barely resisting thanks to the wounds from the previous war with Grindlewald. It's happening again, and if he wins there will be not much left."
"What do you mean, young Hermione?" asked the soldier showing that she had his undivided attention "As powerful as he is, he can hardly face the world united."
"That's the thing, nobody is going unite! Chandra and Kiora told me of Zendikar, of how different races joined together to fight and win. Here it will never happen. Voldemort is seen as a British problem, so Britain will have to deal with it. Once we fall, it will be another nation's problem to solve, then another and then another. And that's without considering that Voldemort plans on eradicating a large slice of the world's population."
"That's a pretty dire picture you paint," allowed Nissa frowning "Are you sure your people won't rally together in the face of evil?"
"Non," answered Fleur shaking her head "And even if zey tried, You-Know-Who's blood supremacist movement has sympazisers in every nation zat would prevent it, or worse, support him."
"You can ask Dumbledore for confirmation," chipped in Chandra "He's some planar big shot apparently. He's also convinced I'm the only one that can stop Voldemort."
"And why is that?" asked Liliana with a bitter laugh "He may be powerful by this plane's meager standards, but he's got nothing on Tezzeret or the likes. Anyone of us could easily take him to task."
Chandra briefly debated not answering before glancing in Ajani's direction and explaining about the prophecy. Foreseeably, this roused various worried or incredulous reactions.
"It matters little if it's a true prophecy or just a prop," said the leonid grabbing Elspeth's mantle in one paw and stilling the debate on the merit of prophecies "If Dumbledore believes it to be true, then he'll try his best to keep our Little Flame here. It's better to have him in our camp rather than opposing two of the most dangerous individuals on this plane at the same time."
"Agreed," assented Gideon nodding "We all know how it goes if we try to work against the plane's people."
"And what about Jace and Bolas?" asked Nissa stroking Chandra's hair "We cannot forget them either."
"I need to stay, but you all don't," said Chandra sitting up a little straighter "Go, meet up with Jace, keep an eye on Bolas, and if needs be we can rally pretty fast."
"Someone should stay with you anyway, there's safety in numbers after all," said the soldier grabbing his own chin in a pensive fashion "I could-"
"I'll stay big man," interjected Liliana waving a dismissive hand "Despite my wish to hunt down the last holder of my pact and the fact that I don't believe in prophecies, I already have a spy in place and my minions work well against their magic. Also, this people's wards block direct planeswalking so I'll be safe long enough to call Jace if Bolas comes seeking me."
"I bet Fleur has nothing to do with it, right?" asked Hermione smirking.
"We've been a terrible influence on you Hermione," considered Chandra with a laugh.