"Spirit. Some people hear it. Some people fear it. Spirit. Some people just won't go near it. Sho' as I'm me and you should know you're you, your spirit is the key to unlock the true you."
- Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, Ghostbusters II
"There's something very familiar about all this."
- Biff, Back to the Future Part II
Muzet dropped to the ground like an overgrown fairy who'd inhaled an entire can of bug spray. Motionless and collapsed face-down, her wings and her hair unfurled across the arena sand like slowly trickling rivulets of blue-green blood.
"That was something," Cless gasped to catch his breath. The weight of the Eternal Sword was almost too much for his tired arms. He turned to Jude with a look of bewilderment.
"This thing is one of the summon spirits in your world? Mint and I never had to deal with anything like her back home."
"It's a shame we had to hurt one of this world's beings," Mint said as she stood beside the Aselian swordsman regretfully shaking her head. "She seemed so beautiful before she turned so… violent."
"I don't know what world you two are from, but we can vouch for you," Stahn said next to them. "Miktran has nothing on this weirdo."
"Mary isn't going to believe when tell her about what we had to fight over here," Rutee said in agreement, cradling her bruised arm as she put Atwight back in his hilt. "Too bad she didn't drop any treasure I can take back."
Milla slowly stood up from the floor hobbling on a sprained leg. She glanced toward Jude as she recovered from the tough fight.
"I'm surprised you picked Muzet as our opponent for the exhibition round. I thought she almost had us for a second."
"She was acting a little wild today," Jude said with a confident smirk. "But I think that's just because she had to fight six different heroes from three different regions of space. She probably wore herself out from her own excitement."
Jude's confidence lifted the morale of the rest of the group. They laughed together as they celebrated their hard-won victory.
However… their joyful laughs didn't last long.
Stahn suddenly cringed agony and went into a convulsion as if his hair had been caught in a bug zapper. Muzet had instantly appeared behind him and clasped her palm to the top of his head to draw out what little energy he had left. She let him go so he slumped over in pain. The sensation caused him to frantically scratch his hair and shake the dizziness out of his head.
"Well Mr. Mullet was no fun," the spirit said with half of her mouth twisted in a frown. "He has almost no magic."
"Wait a minute!" Rutee exclaimed in anger. "We already beat you! We're not ready to fight you again!"
"Oh, I don't want to fight any of you. I'm too sleepy for that," Muzet said to the swordswoman with her eyelids half-closed. "Now I just want to tether with all of you so I can recharge my mana."
"Cut it out, Muzet," Jude said as his patience started to fade. "We've had enough of your games. I'm ordering you to return to your astral form."
"Whaddya talking about, silly?" Muzet blinked as she smiled. "Did you skip the tutorial for how the Arena of Crossovers works? Once you summon me here, I don't have to leave until I want to!"
Jude shot Milla a slightly nervous look.
"Was the old lady at the receptionist desk going to tell me that… ?"
Milla looked back him with a death glare that silently said "Nice going, genius." Jude shook his head and crossed the bracers on his wrists.
"Then we'll just have to make you leave the hard way," he menaced toward Muzet. Muzet cackled maniacally at the gesture.
"What? Do you think you can kill me? I'm a spirit, stupid! I'm not even alive to begin with!"
She roughly grabbed Stahn by his head to BZZT him again.
"Tether!"
She disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared next to Rutee. She greedily wrapped her palm over Rutee's head and gave her the same ruthless mana-stealing treatment as Stahn.
"Tether tether!"
She let go of Rutee and darted behind Jude and Milla. She grabbed both of their heads and made them howl in agony as she drained the energy out of their bodies in violent electrical currents.
"Tethertethertethertether!"
Cless and Mint stood close together as chaos sizzled and screamed around them. Their fear was rising as they considered their options.
"Mint, can you still cast Deep Mist?" Cless asked while he carefully kept his eyes on Muzet fading in and out of sight.
"Y-yes…" the druid-cleric replied nervously. "I have plenty of magic left. But she's moving too quickly for the spell to have any effect on her."
"Acid Rain?" Cless suggested.
"Of course. But she doesn't use any physical defenses. I can't weaken her spirit barrier," Mint said.
"Silence?" Cless suggested.
"She's not casting any spells. I can't stop her from attacking directly."
"Time Stop?" Cless suggested.
"I don't have enough time," Mint replied. Her head sank in desperation. "I'm sorry, Cless."
Cless pulled his healer into his chainmail-covered arms and rested his hand on the back of her head. He lowered his voice to a comforting whisper.
"You have nothing to apologize for. Blame it on the doofus with the pocket protector."
Then he pushed her away with an almost violent force. She stumbled behind him so now he was shielding her from Muzet.
"Get out of here, Mint. I'll deal with this monster."
Just as she started to run, Muzet fluttered out of sight in front of Cless and instantly reappeared in front of Mint. The spirit smiled deviously as she stretched out her hair.
"Not so fast! I think I'll tether with you first!"
The feathery wisps of Muzet's hair tangled around Mint's wrists like iron shackles, forcing the healer to drop her scepter as she was lifted up.
Cless gathered his waning strength and charged at Muzet in rage. Strands of Muzet's prehensile hair curled into a ball and slammed into the swordsman's gut. He collapsed to the ground as the wind was knocked out of him and the Eternal Sword turned to a lead anvil in his arms.
Mint dangled three feet off the ground with her arms stretched over her head. Muzet briefly skimmed her over with anxious eyes.
"Ooh… what's this?" the spirit stopped and tilted her head curiously. "I sense this woman has an unusually high mana capacity resonating through her whole body."
Mint looked frightened. Cless looked like he wasn't really sure where this was going.
Muzet concentrated as she searched for the mysterious history hiding deep within Mint's damp, terror-filled eyes. She came to an understanding with a soft smile.
"I see. So you come from a timeline where most of your world's natural mana supply has already faded. You've conditioned yourself to channel the life energy around you so you can use healing magic without your planet's help. I can feel your aura nurturing me just from being close to you. You must be the reason I've been feeling so crazy."
"Crazier than usual," Milla weakly mumbled under her breath.
Muzet's eyes gleamed wildly. Her face loomed closer toward Mint's until their noses almost touched. Her lips exposed her ghostly white teeth and curled back into a wicked grin as she conceived an idea.
"You're all of mana of an entire world bottled up inside one pretty lady. I really want to tether with you."
Mint remained levitating in the air as Muzet changed into a sphere of pale blue-green light. The sphere phased through the healer's chest and bound itself inside her body, causing Mint to slowly sway backward in the air as if she was being swept into a trance. The arena echoed with the gentle rhythm of her heartbeat while she floated motionless and Muzet was giving her the old spiritual beefaroni. The merging of the mortal and the air elemental was surprisingly peaceful, but eerie.
The light sphere emerged out of cross on Mint's dress and turned back into Muzet's physical form. Muzet carefully lowered the healer back to the ground so she weakly fell to her knees with her head slumped in exhaustion.
The spirit unfurled her wings and yawned like she had just woken up from a thousand year beauty nap. She looked content, relaxed, and just a little sweaty.
"Ah! That was refreshing! Now part of me will always be tethered to you!"
"What did you do to Mint, you sky witch?" Cless growled at her through clenched teeth. He struggled to stand back up on his feet.
"I just helped her do her job," Muzet smirked innocently in reply. "Healers from your world allow mana to channel through their bodies so they can produce magical things like restoration spells. I helped her produce something really, really magical!"
"What are you talking about?!" Cless snapped back.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," the spirit playfully giggled. She waved goodbye to the party as she disappeared back into the ether.
"Take good care of her from now on! And make sure she doesn't perform any strenuous physical activity or use an excessive amount of mana for the next nine months!"
Muzet left the party staggering on their feet as they held their groggy heads groaning in pain. Cless knelt beside Mint to check she was all right.
"That was weird," said Stahn.
"That was scary," said Cless.
"That was gross," said Milla.
"It could have been worse," Mint said quietly with her face hidden under a veil of long blonde hair. She smiled serenely to herself as she placed a palm over her abdomen and sighed in relief. At least now she wouldn't have to worry about picking someone to inherit her hat.
Author's note: This fanfic was inspired by listening to 54 Oonagh songs on repeat for like a week.
Author's other note: I wonder if she can still use the Unicorn Horn.
Author's other other note: I thought about naming this fic "No Son of Mine" after the 1991 Genesis song. I like "An Herbal Supplement" better though because it's like a follow-up to my old Mint fanfic called "An Herbal Remedy."