The Wizard and the Void - Chapter Twenty
Author: Milady Dragon
The Void was darkness.
The Void was timeless.
The Void was peace.
When people who didn't know just what the Void was heard about it, they automatically thought of being lost, and cold, and in what appeared to be endless darkness. It was all those things, but when someone became a part of the Void in their lives, it gave them a completely different perspective on it.
For a Void Wizard, whose life was so completely interconnected with the Void, it was like coming home.
Things moved in the Void, but they weren't dangerous to anyone who knew the Void's true nature. The souls of Void Wizards who hadn't yet moved on to one of the Heavens were there, but they never spoke, never interacted, nor did they linger. Still, it meant no one was ever truly alone, so those who were aware of what was awaiting them within the Void weren't bothered by it.
There were certain creatures within it as well, however they were native to the Void and did no harm to those who'd come to exist there. There were times when the Void would pulse, like a beating heart, or drums in the dark. There were also those who didn't belong, although they were very few, and there were times when their presence would disturb the eternal peace. However, if those who had passed into the Void were familiar with its very nature, that was just something that was there and not much of a distraction.
Only one person had ever been cast out of the Void after death, to go back, screaming, into the land of the living. That person was back, and the Void was not ready for his return.
This time, this one soul had been utterly disconnected from the Void; there, and yet not. The Void could not expel them while whatever was keeping them separate from the base magic of this plane.
Not yet.
Time had no meaning. Until it did.
And the connection was reignited, flaring back into life like a new star within the darkness of forever.
Phil Coulson found himself again forced out of the Void, although this time it was much gentler than the first…now that he could recall the first. He knew he'd come extremely close to dying if not completely there, but now it had been twice, and the memories of that first time came roaring back to him as he took his first breath of air of this resurrection. The second death was there was well, although he wasn't completely certain that either of them had technically been death, not in that moment of coming back into the world of the living.
The Void had seemingly sustained him, that time after Loki, while it had healed his body. It had also cushioned his mind from the knowledge that he was so connected to the Void that it was no longer letting him die, and that made him just a little bit angry. He should have been able to remember and not doubt himself and his own memories of awakening in that morgue, surrounded by death.
Hydra had been wrong, though, about him being Deathless, if what he'd been told was correct…and in this he had no doubt that it was.
However, there was one other person who could return from their so-called near-deaths, and that man was a Cardinal Wizard, the most powerful of the age. The Deep Ways simply would not let that man die.
Of course.
It came to him.
He was the counterpart.
The equal but opposite of that Cardinal Wizard Grand Master Ianto Jones.
It wasn't something he'd ever wanted, but then who would?
He felt the need to rage at the unfairness of it all.
However, he couldn't, not then. There were voices speaking, and he recognized all three of them; two of them much loved, and the third an enemy. Not the one who had managed to distract him long enough for someone else to kill him by cutting him off from the Void, but this one was just as bad, who had helped whoever it had been who had done this to him.
"Look," one – his daughter, he knew that, now – was sobbing.
Phil didn't care for that happening in the slightest; no one hurt his only child. But, something was keeping him from responding, and he suspected that his body wasn't quite done healing from whatever damage had been done to it yet; had he been physical injured? He couldn't recall that, but his entire body ached so he thought it might be true. By his side, the familiar presence of his dragon warmed him, her emotions blooming back into that place in his mind where she'd lived since he'd turned six.
"I just want to take my Dad home. You've already killed him…I just want to go home with him." She was pleading as if her very heart was breaking.
Daisy thought he was dead.
Well, technically, he supposed he had been, a little.
Being disconnected from the Void had to have killed him. His own lifeforce was so tied up with the Void magic that it would have shocked his body enough to have meant his death.
He needed to move. Phil tried, but the only thing that twitched was his hand.
"Oh, I don't think so." The enemy – Whitehall – was speaking now. Phil wondered what he had to be amused about. "We might have been wrong about him being a form of Deathless, but there's still so many things we can learn from his corpse. We have plans yet, for him and for the pair of you, and none of you will be leaving."
That wasn't going to stand.
With supreme effort, Phil spoke.
"I wouldn't say that."
Phil's voice sounded rusty from disuse, but at least he could speak now.
He peeled his eyes open, sitting up carefully, his entire body aching as if it had been pummeled by a thousand fists. Phil was able to lean heavily on his elbow, so he could see what was going on around him.
He was in a room, cold and sterile, with a black shroud covering him up to his chest. Lola was beside him, and she was rousing as well; everyone knew that the dragon died when the Wizard did, and so she must have done just that if Phil, himself, had been dead. The table he was on was hard and freezing, and he really didn't want to be laying on it anymore.
Daisy and an Elf – Clint, how could he forget Clint? – were standing next to what he'd been laid out on.
At least he wasn't awakening alone again, except for the other dead bodies. That first time had been horrific for just that reason.
Daniel Whitehall was standing in the doorway, the expression on his face going from surprise to covetous very quickly. His arm was in a sling – Clint had shot him with an arrow, which Phil personally thought was well-deserved, since his memories were all slotting back into place now. Clint always hit what he aimed for, so he must have meant to shoot to main.
Sometimes maiming was much worse than death.
Daisy was standing here, Skye on her shoulders, both hands over her mouth as if to hold any sort of sound in, her eyes round over those clasping hands. Phil smiled at her, wanting to let her know that he was fine – he really wasn't that sure of it himself, but he needed to reassure her. Before he could steady himself more she'd thrown herself at him, her arms going around him as she wept on his shoulder. Lola cooed, and Skye climbed from her perch and was wrapping herself around the other dragon, as if to make sure Lola was alive as well.
Phil met Clint's eyes over his daughter's shaking shoulders. The Elf was as shocked as Whitehall was, but he was grinning through his own tears, his handsome face marred by a large bruise on his jaw, most likely from the earlier fight. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're okay," he murmured, voice choked.
Well, Phil didn't think he was okay, but he'd discuss that later.
For now, he had other things he needed to do.
"So," Whitehall purred, the smile he was giving Phil was sheer darkness, "you truly are Deathless, we just didn't wait long enough."
"No." Phil shook his head. "I'm not." He might not really know what was going on, but of that he was certain of, from what he'd heard. "The Void…it brought me back."
And it was wrong in that room.
"What have you done?" the Void Wizard accused, gently pushing Daisy aside so he could sit up a little further. "You've done something to the Void, here…in this place. It's not right."
In fact, it itched, like tiny bugs crawling all over his nerve endings. He hadn't noticed it at first, simply because he'd been too preoccupied with the fact that Daisy and Clint where there, and that the Void had saved him for some reason. Most likely because of the balance. He'd need time to process what this exactly meant, but it would have to be later.
Whitehall didn't answer. He was backing away, and before Phil could call out to Clint to stop him, the Elf had moved and was punching the man across the jaw, sending him to the floor. The dragon was next, because it had started shrieking and had flown toward Clint in attack mode. "That was really satisfying," he muttered, rubbing his knuckles absently.
"More satisfying than putting an arrow in him?" Phil inquired lightly.
"Six of one…" the Elf shrugged. "We need to get out of here."
"How did they…stop me, anyway?" Phil could remember the Novice, Raina, and her poisonous voice, getting into his head with her honeyed words until he'd had no choice but to agree with everything she was saying, although he seemed to recall Clint trying to call him back. It might have succeeded, except he'd had his connection to the Void disrupted.
"It was that." Clint pointed toward the corner. Laying there was a bright chain, silvery metal somehow being wrong, and he recognized it.
"How the hells did they get Vibranium?" Phil made a mental note to speak to the Council of Barons, or at least have Marcus do it, in order to have a representative contact Wakanda in order to see if they were missing any. If they were, it should have been reported immediately. Vibranium was inherently dangerous, and it couldn't be allowed out of certified hands.
It had to be because it was in the possession of the Grand Master of Voids, and for someone to have reached that lofty position it engendered a sense of trust. Perhaps Phil could suggest more stringent controls…
"Think you can make some kind of weapon out of that?" the Void Wizard inquired.
Clint's smile went sharp. "I can make anything into a weapon. I'm disappointed in your lack of faith in me, Coulson."
"Not lack of faith. Just confirming."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." The Elf went over and collected the chain, using a cloth to do so, slipping it into a pocket of his trousers. He wasn't wearing his armor any longer, which was bothersome, because he looked incredibly vulnerable without it, and with bare feet to boot. Still, Clint Barton was deadly without any sort of weapons in the worst situations, and this was about as bad as it could get, as far as Phil was concerned.
The Void was whispering to him; he'd been ignoring it up to that point, but couldn't any longer. He couldn't have put it into words that anyone else would understand, but he thought he knew what it wanted. "There's something I need to do first, before we can leave."
Daisy was glaring at him, her hands on her hips. "You died, Dad! You probably couldn't fight your way out of wet paper!"
He gave her a smile. "I'm not going to fight anyone, sweetheart. I trust that you two had some sort of exit strategy?"
"With this." Daisy held Nick's teleportation ring out to him. "I…messed with the spell to get to you, though."
Phil accepted the ring, instantly seeing what he daughter had done. "You have no idea how proud I am of you." What he was seeing within the ring was amazing.
Daisy blushed. "I didn't even know it would work, but there was no way we were leaving without you."
Somehow, she'd managed to manipulate the Void just enough to make it part of the spell, which looked as if she'd used it to track him. It was ham-fisted and inelegant, but it was beautiful all the same.
It took him but a single heartbeat to fix it, but he memorized the way the strands of magic had been warped. By his Cardinal daughter. They were going to have a few lessons in the future if she was going to insist on doing things she shouldn't have been capable of doing.
Clint put his arms around Daisy's shoulders, careful not to dislodge Skye. "Your kid is awesome."
He gave the Elf a grin. "I'm aware." He sat up even further on the uncomfortable table or bench or whatever it was he'd been laying on, swinging his legs over the side to let them dangle, not touching the floor. "Clint, can you act as lookout?"
"Sure. But we can't hang around, Phil. They'll come looking for Whitehall soon enough."
"I don't think I'll need long."
It was easy to read the trust in Clint's brilliant eyes, and the Void Wizard was touched by that. "Let me get Whitehall stowed away and I'll keep your lookout."
"Thank you."
Clint's lips curled upward in a smirk. "You want to thank me, buy me dinner somewhere nice." Then he paled, as if he hadn't meant to say that.
"It's a date."
That changed the archer's embarrassed expression to a bright smile. "Excellent. Let's get to work then, because you have a date to plan."
With that, Clint was out the door, dropping Whitehall's dragon onto his chest then grabbing the other Wizard by the feet and dragging him away.
That left him with Daisy, who was glaring at him, fists resting on her hips. "Just what are you planning, Dad?"
"The Void here is sick."
"I know. I can tell."
That really didn't surprise him. Daisy had been exposed to Phil's own magic since she'd been a child, and would be familiar with how the Void should feel. "I'm going to close the Void Point, so Pierce and his people can't use it again."
Daisy's eyes widened. "You can do that?"
"I did once before. Clint was there, he'll tell you. But, this place needs to heal, and the only way it can do that is if the magic is forced back through the Void Point, so it's no longer cut off from the rest of the Void. Plus, we can't leave this source of power open to them. They'll just screw with it again."
She was chewing her lip, but she nodded. "How can I help?"
Phil's heart swelled at her offer. "We need to find the main break in the universal veil letting the Void through to our world. Chances are, it's going to be belowground somewhere." He closed his eyes, focusing on his own connection. "I feel it's close."
He opened them once more, watching his daughter also attempting to find the Void. She nodded in agreement. "I got it, too."
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Clint said, having returned from disposing of the unconscious Whitehall and his dragon. "There's a door that's warded out the ass just down from here. I'm willing to bet that's where we need to go."
"Lead the way."
He slid off the table, the shroud puddling on the floor at his feet. Lola jumped after him, first leaning against Daisy and then Clint, greeting them both happily before following Phil out of the door. The corridor beyond was empty, and the Elf was on his way down toward the right, past yet another laboratory, this was more than a little disturbing from the equipment within. He'd apparently stowed Whitehall inside, strapped to the rather nasty-looking table by leather straps that had to have been made for the express purpose of keeping someone from getting up. He didn't want to know what they did in there.
He wondered where their victims had gone. They'd have to find that out.
Phil's legs felt like overcooked noodles. Daisy must have noticed his unsteadiness – it was pretty obvious from his staggering – and she put her arm around him, supporting him as they headed toward the door Clint had noticed. The Void Wizard felt it was a bit troubling that Daisy had to help him, that he couldn't make it without her, but discarded that notion. He'd just basically come back from the dead. He could let her help. She probably needed to do something, after all that.
The door was exactly how Clint had described it. While he might not have had magic of his own, Elves were more attuned to the natural world, and could sense magicks. That ability made the Wizards who came out of the Elven Enclaves some of the more powerful; he'd noticed it about Daisy's friends, Jemma and Leo.
They were Great Wizards, but perhaps he might give them a few lessons as well. And Daisy's Void friend, Trip. Oh, and the boyfriend he wasn't supposed to know about…Lincoln was his name.
It was quite possibly the first time he'd ever considered teaching students. Certainly, he'd given Daisy some instruction in certain spells, but not others. He'd have to think about it.
Perhaps.
Phil reached out to touch the door, the better to scan the spells involved. It was all fueled by Void magic, which wasn't unexpected, what with all that energy emanating from the Void Point. And yes, it was just beyond that door, and he would have to get through those wards in order to reach the source of all the free-floating magic in that house.
"Hm…" he perused the wards, not really all that impressed. "Daisy, you put up better wards than this. I'd have expected better from the Grand Master of Voids."
"Maybe it wasn't Pierce," Clint pointed out. "Besides, why would they need to ward something when their own little cabal would be the only ones to access it?"
Clint had a point. "There are still a lot of spells on this thing. I'm wondering if the Masters used this as a teaching exercise for their Novices."
Phil flexed the hand resting on the wooden door, catching the web of magicks in his fingers. The dark strands tickled his fingertips, and he gently began to unweave them, some of them much easier than others, but all of them coming undone at his touch.
It seemed like the Void was helping him, not that he really needed it. Phil had always been good at warding, and had passed that along to Daisy…yes, because she'd come home from school on a day off, complaining about a prank that had been played on her, and he'd spent the next several hours showing her how to ward, using spells that would also translate to her Cardinal sensibilities.
It was somewhat ironic that he'd taken to warding so well, when he'd been so very good at breaking them before he'd changed his life. Perhaps it was his ability at destruction that had given him the ease to create.
As he worked, Clint and Daisy managed a lookout, making certain no one would sneak up on them while he was working. Phil did still feel a bit weak, but the Void seemed to be replenishing his energy a little. He really needed to save his strength for the Void Point, because he suspected it wouldn't be as simple to disperse it as it would have been before those idiots messed with it.
It only took a short time to take down the wards, leaving the door free of any magicks. The door itself had a strange, carved sigil on it, but that wasn't enchanted at all. Some sort of decoration, perhaps, but it was an odd one if so. It looked to be some sort of octopus, only with a skull for a head. Somewhere in the back of Phil's memory it tingled something, but he didn't have time to examine it. He needed to get inside and shut down that Void Point, to cut off these Hydra Voids from this source of magic.
It wouldn't make them any less powerful than they were naturally, but it would take away any sort of spells that had relied on this particular point for its power. It would also allow the Void here to heal, before the damage they'd done would travel any farther.
Before he could push the door open, Clint had done so, to reveal steps down into the dark. It took only a moment for him to summon hand-fire to illuminate the way, the brilliant blue light reflecting from damp, rough-hewn walls that were only about the width of Clint's rather impressive shoulders.
"It's really strong down there," Daisy whispered. She attempted to bring her own hand-fire into existence, but it was pitiful thing, flickering weakly. It would have been stronger if the Void wasn't stifling her powers, and she sighed in frustration before canceling the spell back out once more.
"You gonna be alright?" Clint asked, before Phil could get the words out.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. Let's just get this over with."
"Agreed." Phil started down first, guiding the hand-fire forward, the better not to take a misstep.
The light from the hallway vanished, accompanied by a slamming door. He looked back over his shoulder to watch Clint turn away from the closed door, giving the Elf a nod, acknowledging the need to make sure no one realized right away where they'd gone. They would still notice the wards down, but hopefully it would buy them some time, especially with the quick Locking spell he cast on it, fueled by the free-floating Void energy. Couldn't make it easy on their captors, after all.
One thing Phil hadn't said – and he knew he really didn't need to – was that, once the Void magic was gone, it would be obvious what had occurred. Still, he'd fixed the ring, and it would take them back to Shield Keep, as he hoped that was the closer destination. Once there, they could contact Nick and let him know where to send the troops, as it were.
Although, he was pretty sure his friend was already searching for them. Especially since Daisy had been taken from the Wizard School, Nick would have known something was up, because he could be a paranoid bastard at the best of times, which this wasn't.
They seemed to descend deep into the world, which felt odd. The way the power was so strong in the house, Phil would have sworn the Void Point was closer to the surface. But no…they kept going down and down, and he was beginning to worry that it would be so strong that he wouldn't be able to close it.
However, the Void was calling, and he had to answer it.
The closer they got, the stronger it became. The power was filling him, strengthening both his magic and his physical body, as if it was settling into every bone and muscle. It had already been a part of his heart and soul, but this was something so very different. Phil wanted to take time to just stop and feel, but he knew that was impossible. Closing the Void Point was what had to be done, and no amount of introspection on what he was becoming could be taken at the moment.
Eventually, they did reach the bottom. He could hear Daisy panting behind him, and he reached for her hand. It was clammy, she was being affected by the strength of the Void Point as it muffled her Cardinal magic. He hated having her there, but they would be leaving once he'd done what he needed to be done, and they couldn't afford the time to go back for her if they'd left her upstairs.
"I'm fine," she whispered, her voice choked a little. "Just don't take too long, Dad."
He turned back to look at her. She was white as a ghost, sweat dampening her dark hair. Her eyes were squinted and slightly glassy, bloodshot from her earlier crying, lines along the corners which told him she was in a lot of pain. Skye didn't look any better, hanging limply from Daisy's shoulders. "How's your head?" he asked softly.
"Wanting to jump off my shoulders and find a new owner, one that's not putting it through this sort of shit."
He'd normally caution her about her language, but Phil thought this time he could let her slide on it.
Clint huffed out a laugh. "The air's a bit thick down here, even for me."
Phil didn't feel that way at all, but then this was his element. "Let's get this done so we can go home."
"That's the best thing I've heard all day," Daisy sighed. "This makes me wonder how all the Voids deal with all that Deep Ways magic at Gateway, no matter what Master Jasper says."
"Gateway is different," Phil explained as he entered what looked to be a natural cave, barely as tall as he was. "It's not as concentrated there as here and it's not a traditional Cardinal Point, really, because it was created and not come into being naturally. Here…this is as strong a Void as I've ever felt. Add to that the mess those idiots have made in the magic…no, Gateway is infinitely easier to deal with than this is." He didn't add, for you, but then he didn't think he needed to. Here, he was at the height of his power, no matter what he'd just gone through.
The passage opened out into a cavern, so tall his hand-fire could not reach the roof and still illuminate the floor. The walls glittered in the light, bright micas and other bits of minerals reflected some of the bluish light, while others absorbed it. The air was cold and still, and through his grasp on Daisy's hand Phil could feel her shiver. He wished he had something warm for her; sensing her master's thoughts, Lola was by Daisy's side in a heartbeat, leaning against her and throwing her wings out wide, wrapping them about her in an attempt to keep in her body heat. Daisy gave her a grateful smile and a rub across her head crest.
Phil used his magical senses and sight to locate the actual Void Point. It was directly in the center of the cavern, and with a flick of his wrist the Wizard sent his hand-fire toward it, to light the way. He didn't follow it immediately; instead, he turned toward his daughter and his…more than friend. "I'll go and take care of things." He handed the ring back to Daisy. "When I'm done, I might not be able to send us home, so I'm relying on you to use the ring. It should get us all back to the Keep."
He met Clint's eyes. "I'm counting on you to come and drag me out of there if I'm overwhelmed."
The archer nodded. "We won't leave you behind." Then he smirked. "You have a date to plan."
"Yes I do." Before he could even think to stop himself, Phil reached up, clasped the back of Clint's neck, and pulled him into a kiss. It was messy and they bumped noses but it was the most perfect kiss the Wizard had ever had. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he sighed, once they'd pulled away from each other.
"We're gonna have a talk about that, Phil," Clint warned lightly.
"If we must." Phil pulled a face that said he didn't really want to. He did, but he couldn't help the light teasing.
That had the Elf laughing. "We must. Because I was just as bad as you were, apparently."
"Dad."
Daisy was rolling her eyes at him, and he couldn't help but grin at her.
"There's a time and a place," she groused, "and it's not in a cave with a whacking great Void Point in it."
She did have a point.
Still, he couldn't regret it. Not one bit. He'd been wanting to kiss Clint for years, and the only thing that had stopped him was the notion that he didn't deserve to be happy.
Thanks to Daisy, that idea had been gone a very long time now. Because she showed him that it was perfectly alright to be a Void Wizard, and to be happy, and to have a family and loved ones.
He regrets…oh, he regrets. For not finding Clint and telling him that he was alive. For not kissing him over a decade ago. For not exploring whatever might happen between them. But now, he'd gotten this back, and wasn't going to lose it again.
Phil Coulson, Master Wizard of Void Order, had a job to do.
He didn't say goodbye, because he fully intended on coming back out of that Void Point.
He turned on his heel, and walked toward his destiny, Lola at his side.
In that moment, he knew this was exactly what it was.
His destiny. One of many, he felt certain.