Life 58: Strange Tidings
"Hello Chloe." I said quietly as I sat beside the girl that, what remained of Max Caulfield, kept pulling me towards.
Every part of me wanted to be with Kate, but things seemed to be pulling us apart…
Her and I had finally become something more than what we had been before, and enjoyed a day of bliss together… until her sister Lynn came to visit her in her dorm… where we were in a position that wasn't quite saintly…
Fortunately, we weren't undressed or anything, but the sheer fact that her little sister had caught us together… Kate was afraid that her father would find out about us, and had shut me out…
My words were doing nothing to change her mind… so here I was, alone and lost.
Without a purpose, the stubborn entity that Max had become insisted that I go to Chloe.
While I knew what had become of Rachel Amber, the girl's best friend didn't… Max insisted I tell her.
I flat out refused, considering I shouldn't know that the poor girl was gone, that nothing and no one was bringing her back…
But seeing Chloe Price, so broken up, her spirit crushed and broken into little pieces… she looked so familiar to me then… Luna Lovegood came to mind then, a girl I hadn't thought of since my first life… the poor girl…
I knew I couldn't let this injustice lie, for I had failed enough before…
I would save her.
Chloe didn't notice I was even here., but that didn't matter in the slightest.
"Everything will be alright Chloe Price, I swear to you this." I muttered under my breath, my eyes burning as I stood from the booth, my footsteps echoing as I walked out into the blazing heat of Arcadia Bay.
I knew what I had to do.
I wrote a letter.
My blood formed the letters.
What I was undertaking was a feat of magic both great and vile, both terrifying and awe inspiring… but despite all my years and experience, I couldn't do this alone.
So, I wrote to the one man I knew I could trust, that I knew wouldn't judge me.
The man I once considered my grandfather, and I his own kin.
"Hello again, my friend." A kindly voice said behind me, my body turned towards the hollow tide of the bay, my eyes fixated on the corpse of a fallen whale.
This world was ending, what would my transgressions do to it?
I turned then, and saw the familiar face of Albus Dumbledore, shadowy black robes on his frame, a dark grin on his face so much like that of my former Godfather.
This man may be Albus Dumbledore, but he was so very different from the man I once knew.
"Albus, it's not been an hour."
"Magic can do many things Harry, your continued existence should be proof enough of that I believe." He said to me with a chuckle, his eyes warm as he gazed at me. However, our exchange was swiftly interrupted as his eyes scanned across the bay, the stench of death heavy in the town.
"He's been here…" Albus muttered, his eyes growing so much older than he usually seemed, his face finally matching his so very old age.
This wasn't the mischievous rebel that laid waste to the Magical Tribes of Europe, this was the warrior that had saved the lost remains of the Magical World… the counterpart to the vanquisher of Grindelwald…
This was the man I knew as well as myself.
"I know… As his avatar, I feel his presence… He's been quieter than usual." I said in return, my eyes narrowing in annoyance.
My patron was pissing me off.
"He speaks to you?" Albus asked in surprise, his eyebrows reaching for the sweet heavens, the fizzle in his eyes returning.
"Once. Normally I get a… pull, to what he desires… I've gotten nothing so far this life… yet he walks the Earth... This isn't going to end well Albus." I stated, my feet bringing me to the close shore, my left hand coming to rest on the decaying face of the whale, the wild beast gone from this world.
"I know… He seems to be acting against you Harry. I am worried." Albus said in a tone that drew so many memories from me. An image of a sneering reptilian man came to mind, an emerald light burning through my pupils for a moment.
I shook myself from the past, for that life had long been taken from me… yet the fragments persisted…
"This wouldn't be the first time…"
"Are you ready for the end Harry?" Albus asked me, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder, our eyes meeting.
His presence was always a comforting one.
If only he had some Lemon Drops…
"You asked me that once… and I knew my answer even then…"
"Is it still the same?" He asked, a look coming onto him that I had come to know well, but not from him.
Never from him.
Doubt.
"I've always been ready, but I won't go quietly."
Death may control me, but I would not be docile to his whims.
I would make my path that which I choose, Destiny rearing from my road.
I stood in Arcadia Bay's cemetery, the one place in the entire town that held a connection strong enough to pierce the veil.
I called out into the dark, and I pulled upon the tether that tied me into Death's service, one that I had tried to break free from so many times… yet Death stood straight against my petty attempts.
This time, I would not let him stop me.
I'll let him try, but just as he won't give me up, I won't let him stop me.
"Death! This is your last chance! Set me free, and I'll stop now!" I called out into the dark, the familiar presence of my master so very strong in the air that I swore he was breathing upon my neck at that very moment.
Yet he stayed away from sight, silence being my only companion.
I snarled in frustration, as I accepted this.
"So be it…" I muttered out, as I stepped closer to the center of the land, a shape burning itself into the grounds as I walked.
I had carved a pentacle into the Earth, blood of evil filling it's void.
Atop a leyline, was a cauldron filled with blood and sulfur, a box resting beside it.
A blistering fire burned beneath the steel, smoke and fog filling the air with the scent of agony.
There was no turning back, as I crossed a line that I had drawn for myself so long ago.
Stepping to the cauldron, I reached into my robes and pulled out an object of shimmering white.
A human skull laid in my hands, the bones still holding bits of flesh.
Rachel.
I had seen much more vileness than this, so my stomach held.
I dropped the skull into the water, and took a breath, reaching then into the box.
I began to speak, my voice wavering as I braced myself for the strain that I knew would come.
The darkness would once again try to consume me, as it always tried.
Never again would I let it control me…
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your daughter!" I called out, my hand dropping a rib from James Amber, Rachel's father that had tried to kill the girl's mother and lied about it… A betrayal of family, yet still family all the same…
I knew my actions were no better… but damned if I would let go of this life without getting my way once…
The next ingredient was a loophole of sorts…
"Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master!" I bellowed out, my hand dropping Chloe's appendix into the cauldron.
The girl had had it removed years ago, but strangely it had been kept for ice for years.
While Chloe had not sacrificed it for Rachel, the Magic held.
Apparently Chloe would give anything for Rachel, and Magic itself knew that.
The cauldron spewed forth a violet smoke at the inclusion, and a smile formed briefly on my face.
Even if the end came, there would be a calm before it.
The end would not come quietly and painfully.
There would be closure before rapture, I would ensure it.
Finally, I pulled forth a vial from my robes… the scarlet blood of Mark Jefferson, a man now dead as punishment for his wicked actions.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" I screamed as the magic tore into my flesh, the pressure in the air mounting as lights began to fill the sky in a monsoon of motion and magic.
The blood fell swiftly into the cauldron, and a vortex opened from the ground, gravity pulling on my bones as an unholy screech filled the night, and then nothing…
The night turned dark and silent once more… and the blood began to bubble.
A lesser wizard would have thought that failure was all that had happened… but I knew my strengths and faults…
A girl broke through the surface of the crimson depths, her eyes wild as she struggled to breathe through lungs newly formed.
I pulled her from the cauldron, her body shimmering in the night air, her hair almost glowing in the light of the fire.
"Welcome back Rachel Amber."
Chloe Price had come to the end.
She had nothing left.
Her mother didn't understand, that she had lost so much… even her hope.
Max, her once best friend, had finally returned to her life… and replaced her in no time at all….
She didn't blame her, as she had replaced her long before, when she had met the love of her life… her angel…
And now, she knew that she was alone.
The police and the feds had searched Arcadia Bay for any missing girls, and found nothing…
Rachel might as well have been dead, because she was gone…
Chloe had lost everything… and now she was here.
She stood atop Arcadia Bay's lighthouse, the place she had once felt comfort… And stood on the edge.
She looked down at the hills below, the waves that had once graced the shores now weak and wallowing under the heat of the night.
She didn't know what was wrong with her, or this damn town, but she looked to the sky then, and saw a sight that should have been impossible…
There were two moons in the sky.
Of course, as if this town hadn't gotten bad enough… now reality itself was fucked.
She took a breath then, and looked over the land, her eyes closed as she began to move her legs… only to feel a vibration in her pocket.
Her cell phone.
She thought she had left it behind, but apparently she hadn't.
She didn't want to talk to her mother, not now, but she answered it anyway, not even looking at the number in her anger.
"What?!"
"That's some way to say hello Price."
I opened my eyes to the abyss.
I had fallen asleep in the graveyard, my strength gone after I had resurrect Rachel, only lasting long enough to give her a set of her clothes and her old cell phone.
She would do the rest, and knew enough to keep her mouth shut.
The strain of Necromancy was not one I had known, so it drained what little energy I had left, and left me hollow… until I awoke in the realm of my patron…
Death had deemed it time for a meeting.
DEFILER
That was all Death said to me, his voice piercing and sharp as it rang throughout the darkness of the void, horror attempting to consume my soul… but I didn't scare easily.
I had beaten Death long ago, even if he held my soul now. I had prevailed over fear a long time ago, and his threats did nothing.
"You're working in the shadows, I've felt it. You refuse to explain, and for that, I took revenge. You knew what I was doing, and you refused to stop me." I said in the emptiness, my form not even existing, my mind my only vessel in the space between mortality and its end.
Silence.
CONSEQUENCES
"You can try you ghastly fuck. I've mastered you, and now I've mastered your domain. You. Can. Try." I called out, the vibrancy of my power igniting like a flame in the darkness of death, light blooming in a world without it.
Death felt pain.
If only I could make him bleed…
"You've taken more from me than I can remember. One more love lost won't stop me." I screamed at the unseen entity, my magic burning at the chain that held my soul in the being's grasp, the harsh binds on my very existence…
THE FIRST
I froze, my anger fluttering out like a burnt out match, my magic disappearing into the void in a swift chill.
My world came crashing down around me, even in the world between my worlds.
It was impossible… it had to be...
"You couldn't…"
I DON'T BLUFF
I felt a wave of darkness swarm me, as I felt it pull me down, its filthy fingers trying to pull me apart.
I let it.
YOU ARE MINE
I didn't need to be reminded…
I awoke with a gift.
The mental image of a searing pair of emerald eyes in an unholy storm, all that remains of the world burning as the sky fell scarlet.
My eyes glimmered with what had to be tears, as I pulled myself from the ground, and was shocked as rain fell down from the heavens.
The skies cried with me, as the epilogue to this story was coming.
The song of Maxine Caulfield was coming to an end, and my time in this world was almost over…
The drought was over…
The storm had begun.
(Friday)
"Alice looks a bit skinny Katie." Lynn Marsh observed in the silence, as the two sisters sat alone in the elder's dorm room, the ten year old Marsh girl humming as she pat the beautiful bunny. Alice, the proclaimed Rabbit Queen, merely slept on the girl's lap. They had gotten together for the morning, as Kate's worries had gotten worse, begging her sister to come over.
"I'm sure she's fine Lynn." Kate muttered as she held her hands together on her lap, her eyes locked on her fingers.
She had chewed her nails the night before, the stress getting to her, her sleep restless.
Lynn just smiled at her sister, a cloth rabbit toy flying from her hand and smacking Kate in the face.
Kate just jumped in response, her eyes slight with sheer disbelief.
"About time you stopped being so angsty." Lynn said with a grin, Alice waking up enough to give a small nod, seemingly agreeing with the younger Marsh girl.
"I was not-" Kate tried to defend herself, only for Lynn to laugh in her face.
"Katie, you are a terrible liar." Lynn said with a grin as she moved to sit beside Kate, Alice coming to rest on her owner's tense lap.
Kate looked down then, taking a breath as she tried to come up with some response, only to be shocked to an inch of her life.
"And that's why I'm not telling Daddy about your girlfriend." Lynn said with a chuckle as she gave her sister a hug, Alice being squished between them, the bunny's anger being loud and obvious.
Kate's face just froze then, shock on her features, before a small smile found its way to her face.
"Thank you Lynn."
"On one condition." Lynn said with a sharp grin, her eyes glowing with mischief as Kate's heart dropped like a stone.
Kate gulped.
"I get to meet Max, you know, when she doesn't have fuck me eyes."
Kate just nodded quickly, as she couldn't find words after hearing her baby sister describe the bad influence that she called her girlfriend.
She wasn't looking forward to their meeting, but anything was better than her father finding out.
Maybe she'd tell him in… five years or so, but not today.
Hopefully Max wouldn't embarrass her too much…
Her hopes were in vain… but they wouldn't be the least of her worries…
"It's a storm Albus." I said to him, our focus on the sky above us, the sun missing from the sky, as a red light started to consume the sky.
We gathered here, on the shore of Arcadia Bay, as we watched dark clouds begin to gather in the skies, the light gone and forgotten from the air above.
"I know… I can sense it… Death has come for this world." Albus muttered, his breath forming steam in the air as the heat of a thousand suns washed over the town, despite the fact that none reached it.
"Will you stand with me Albus, despite the cost?" I asked him, my trust going out to him, hoping with all my heart that I wouldn't have to face the storm alone.
He didn't disappoint, his grin so familiar that it instantly made me grin in response.
"Always my friend." He said to me, as he pulled his wand free, aiming it at the sky, as I did the same.
The storm was coming, and if a protection ward from two of the strongest wizards in existence could keep it at bay, we had to try.
For the sake of all of us.
As one, my oldest friend and I screamed into the heavens, our wands acting as one as did our voices, our magic screaming into the skies as we gave all we had.
"Protego Horribilis!"
"Is something wrong Max? You've hardly touched your tea…" Kate asked me with a tilt of her head, the two of us sitting together in my dorm, Kate obvious to what stared me in the face through my window.
Albus and I had hid Arcadia Bay from the coming storm, to give them what little peace we could… before we would fail.
Albus and I knew we couldn't beat Death, and no matter what came after, we knew we would die with no regrets.
I only hoped that the next life would be peaceful…
"I just want you to know something Kate, before it's too late." I said to her, my hands reaching for hers as I drew closer to her, my awful tea forgotten as I met her gaze.
Her hazel eyes were so beautiful… If only I had gotten more time with her… She was truly special…
"What are you talking about Max?" Kate asked, concern filling her eyes as I pulled her into my arms, before I lost what little strength I had left in me.
This would be my last chance to tell her, because both Albus and I knew we couldn't hold the spell up for long… we knew we had but hours left…
The storm was almost here, and we weren't ready…
"I love you Kate."
But I hope she is…