Disclaimer: I don't own anything save for my own ideas.
Bloody Kitsune: This chapter is a bit short, but there isn't much left in second year for me to play around with. This lets me cover some things on screen that might not normally get covered. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Review:
FANactic Writer: Thank you!
Jostanos: She's becoming one, Jost. She isn't there quite yet, but eventually...*Grins brightly down at my notes before looking at you with a dark smirk*
Calla makes a mistake
Calla trusted Vivian and Hermione to keep her from running into something as they made their way through Hogwarts. She felt around the various energies coming from the students while ignoring the castle's energies for now if only to keep from getting lost in them. She would need to have Candy Pop or Night Terrors with her when she finally began to examine the castle's energies since they'd be able to pull her back. So far, she hadn't felt anyone since they'd begun this morning in the Great Hall, but there had been far too many people around for her to properly observe the various energies. If there was one thing she'd been able to discover since beginning this process, it was how distracting being around so many people was when she actually used her ability on a far less passive level than usual.
Actually being able to sense spells as they were being cast and the insight it gave her into the work that went into the spell itself was awe-inspiring, Calla had never known just how the magical energy used in the spell mixed with the energy of the world around someone in order to bring the spell itself into existence. The chains of runes and arithmancy formed before a spell was cast were amazing to feel even if she couldn't actually see it. Sensing the emotions attached the magic gave her an insight of the person casting the spell that she'd never had before, she couldn't believe just how much she'd been missing. Needless to say, she was going to have trouble returning her sensing ability back to it's previous level.
Vivian swore as Calla nearly ended up slamming into a wall and only the grip she had on the hybrid kept the Toy Maker's daughter from getting some bruises, "Damn it, Cal! We need to take a break."
Calla looked at Vivian slowly, "Why?"
"Because that's the eighth time you've nearly hit a wall in the last ten minutes," Vivian frowned when Calla just shrugged, "Cal, what the hell is wrong?"
Calla was about to say that there wasn't anything wrong when she realized just how hard it was to actually focus on anything at the moment. It was getting a bit difficult to breath too. She swallowed heavily, "C-can you lead me to Poppy's room, Viv? I-i think I've over done it."
Vivian nodded as her frown deepened, "Right."
Candy Pop was surprised to find Vivian, Hermione, and Calla in his rooms for all of a few seconds before Calla's condition registered. He swore in one of the fae languages and rushed over to where Calla was laying on his bed looking a bit blue in the face. Night Terrors snarled in his mind, "What the actual fuck happened?!"
"What happened?" Candy Pop demanded as he immediately began scanning Calla over with his magic.
Hermione squeaked in fear moments before Leon took over while Vivian began to explain, "After Calla nearly hit a wall for the eighth time in ten minutes, I suggested we take a break. Calla asked me to take her to your room and collapsed the moment we entered the door. Neither of us wanted to leave her."
"What's wrong with her?" Leon growled as he walked closer to the bed.
Night Terrors snarled at the brat and Candy Pop was heavily tempted to let him play with Leon. Taking a calming breath, Candy Pop summoned the bag of potions kept for times like this and barked at Vivian, "My cell is on the bedside table. Go to Jay's number and call him, he needs to know what's going on."
"Right," Vivian quickly did as he bid.
Candy Pop looked through his potions for the right one and promptly uncorked it before pulling Calla into a sitting position. He swore under his breath when her head rolled slowly to the side. She looked at him with hazy bloodshot green eyes that glowed dimly in the light. Night Terrors swore loudly as he spoke to Calla, "Calla, can you understand me?" Calla just blinked slowly at him making the incubus curse, "Damn it," He pressed the potions vial to Calla's lips, "You need to drink this."
Calla's lips stayed closed and her eyes went half-lidded as the glow increased just a bit. Vivian shouted, "I'm putting him on Speaker!"
"Pop, what's Calla's condition?" Jason demanded as Candy Pop shifted the hybrid carefully.
"She's not breathing right," Candy Pop began forcing himself to stay calm, "From what I can tell, the fae magic inside of her core has been steadily depleted by her sensing ability. At the current moment, I'm trying to give her one of the replenishing potions, but she seems to be catatonic,"
Jason swore viciously, "Is it safe to transport her?"
"Considering the fact her magic is starting to rise up, I don't think it's okay to risk it at the moment," Candy Pop answered as the glow brightened slowly.
Jason swore again and the sound of something breaking came over the phone. Jason quieted after a moment before saying, "Candy Pop, get Calla to drink that potion no matter what. Get her stable enough to bring home, I get everything ready on my end."
"Roger that," Candy Pop nodded though he knew Jason wouldn't be able to see it.
"See you soon," Jason said before ending the call.
Candy Pop looked at both Vivian and Leon, "Leon, go tell Hoodie that something came up and I'm taking Calla home for a bit. Vivian, go grab Shukaku and bring him here," Both looked ready to argue, "Now!"
They immediately took off to do as he said while throwing glances back towards him. When the door shut, Candy Pop began trying to get Calla to open her mouth in order to take the potion. Using his magic, he forced Calla's mouth and began dosing her with the potions. Once it started circulating through her body, he dosed her with a few more potions as she slowly began to lose the blue tint to her skin and and the glow dimmed down once more. Soon enough, he deemed her stable enough to travel. The minute Vivian arrived with Shukaku saw him taking Calla and her familiar to Jason's workshop.
For once in his life, Jason regretted the fact his daughter was only half fae. Fae naturally absorbed the magic in their surroundings and transformed it into their own when it got too low. As a half-fae, Calla had to learn how to do that and could only do so after she reached adulthood. Even then, she wouldn't be able to do so freely. Seeing his daughter almost catatonic due to overusing her fae magic sent knives into his heart, he never wanted something like this to happen. He looked up as Candy Cane entered the room carrying a crate filled to the brim with glowing crystals. She set the box down and quickly began placing the crystals around Calla's body. Standing up fully, Jason grabbed a few and began to help making sure to place a medium sized one right over Calla's chest.
When the crystals had all been place, Jason watched as they began to pulse warmly radiating soft green energy that began to flow around Calla's body before sinking into her skin slowly. The blue tint to Calla's skin faded almost immediately easing the fear and worry that he was feeling. Candy Cane spoke after a few minutes, "The kitten should be able to wake up soon, right?"
Jason nodded slowly, "Yes though she'll likely be bedridden for a few days."
"What are we going to tell the school?" Candy Cane asked with a frown.
"Family Emergency?" Jason offered after a few moments.
"I'll call Hoodie. Should we say it was a death in the family?" Candy Cane asked as she took out her phone.
"An illness of some form that made them take a turn for the worst," Jason answered as he moved to sit down on the chair beside Calla's bed, "Tell Hoodie to be a bit creative,"
"Which family member should we choose to kill off?" Candy Cane asked with a smirk, "Jeff?"
Jason snorted softly, "No especially since I have no intention of ever calling Jeff a relation of mine," He ran through a list of family members that he hadn't seen or heard from in a long time, "Cerra."
"Isn't she that mousy little cousin of yours that married a shadow demon?" Candy Cane looked at him curiously.
Jason nodded with a low chuckle, "Half-shadow demon."
"Right," Candy Cane shook her head and called Hoodie while walking out of the room.
Jason looked back at Calla with a low sigh and leaned back against the chair. He was relieved that they'd been keeping quite a few of those crystals in storage despite none of them actually needing them in a long time. He looked down when a paw touched his pant leg and found Shukaku staring up at him. Bending down, he picked up the tanuki who looked at his mistress and whined softly. Gently rubbing between the tanuki's ears, he spoke, "She'll be alright, Shukaku."
Shukaku just whined as he curled up in Jason's lap somehow knowing that jumping on Calla's bed would be a very bad idea.
When Calla woke up, it felt like someone had stuffed her skull full of cotton and convince Seedeater to sit on her chest. Every breath made it feel like her ribs were closing in on her lungs, she couldn't recall ever feeling this way even back when the Dursleys were still alive. What made everything worse was the almost empty, yet weighted feeling encompassing her body. She wanted to scream or run away from the feeling. Despite never having experienced it before, she knew something that had always been apart of her was nearly gone and wasn't recovering quickly. Before panic settled in, a hand settled on her head and Jareth's voice echoed through the darkness behind her eyelids, "Easy, Sprite. You're not in danger," A whimper left Calla as she struggled to open her eyes, "I know what you're feeling isn't fun and I'm going to try helping you along. I need you to relax for me, Okay, Sprite?" Calla struggled to nod, "Alright."
An almost hot energy raced across Calla's skin coming from the hand on her head. It sank beneath her skin almost scorching everything it touched as the energy slid through her body. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but it was better than the almost empty weighted feeling that seemed to slowly be slipping away. When the energy returned to the hand, she felt better, but still empty. Opening her eyes wasn't hard, she found Jareth standing over her with a tired expression on his face, "U-uncle O-Owl?"
"Hey, Sprite," Jareth offered her a tired smile, "Don't feel too good right now, do you?"
The way his glamour flickered around the edges told Calla just how tired he was and she wondered what had made him that way. She nodded with a small shiver feeling a bit cold without the heated energy running through her body, "A-almost empty."
"That makes sense," Jareth ran a hand through his hair, "Sprite, do you know what happened?"
Calla shook her head, "N-no."
"That little sensing power you got from Jay is a powerful thing," Jareth looked more serious than Calla had ever seen him, "Forcing it into a non-passive state takes more energy than I think you realized," She frowned slightly in confusion, "You nearly drained yourself dry of your innate fae magic which is why you feel almost empty. Your more human magic tried to help, but all it did was damage you,"
"D-damage?" Was that why Calla's head felt like someone stuffed cotton in it and her chest felt like something really heavy was sitting on it?
"Not irreversible damage thanks to your friends getting you to Candy Pop and him administering potions," Jareth told her as he reached out to grab her hand, "Right now, you're healing which is a good thing,"
Calla's mind went to her father, "Papa?"
"Currently sleeping, he hasn't left your side since Candy Pop brought you to his workshop three days ago," Jareth answered earning a wide-eyed look from Calla, "At the current moment, we're in my Labyrinth which is helping stabilize you thanks to the fact it can bend certain rules to an extent," He chuckled softly, "Thanks to your non-fae half, I'm able to assist you though not quite as much as I'd like. For now, you're going to be stuck on bed-rest for a couple of weeks,"
"What about school?" Calla didn't want to think about how much work she'd be missing.
"My Labyrinth is much like your father's workshop or Laughing Jack's carnival," Jareth smiled a bit darkly, "Time passes as I wish here. When you're healthy enough to go back to school, you'll have only missed a week of class,"
Calla relaxed at that, "W-what's going to happen now?"
"You get better and I use this time to help educate you on your fae heritage," Jareth answered as he stood up, "Now, are you hungry?" Calla's stomach answered for her, "I'll go have something made up for you and inform the jester about what's going on,"
"T-thank you, Uncle," Calla whispered softly.
"No thanks needed, Sprite," Jareth smiled at her, "You're family after all,"