Sorry everybody. It's been... Crazy. And this chapter faught me. Especially the scene with the Deacons of Dread. All hail Sassykitten and Desna for their help with this chapter. So here we are. Finally. Let me know what you think about the end of this chapter.
xxOverkill Fieldtripxx
When his brother told them that Fairy Tail's celestial wizard was "crazy sweet" and "always underestimated" for some reason Cristoff had thought she was a simply a nice woman who exceeded expectations. Meeting her had proven that she was far more than just nice. She was so beyond nice he had thought about carting her home in the hopes that she would fall in love with one of his brothers because they would most certainly adore her to peices. He didn't consider the idea for long because she and the reflector mage quite obviously had some sort of dance going on.
He thought for sure that given his brother's forwarning and the circumstances of their meeting that he wouldn't be underestimating her. He did anyway. So did the creep who had the balls to suggest he would be adding her "smoking little body" to his doll collection. She had requiped into an odd one-legged cow print outfit and brought down the huge cavern they were in by using the man as a mallet to crush the stone supports. It wasn't the threat to her that angered the terrifying woman, but the fact that the man already had a "doll collection".
"Lucy?" Sorano had a awed look on her face. "Was that a- a stardress?" Stardress? He knew that term. He just couldn't place it.
"Umm... Yeah."
"That's- that's-"
"Bix! Where to next?" Bickslow jerked into motion with Lucy and Midnight right behind him.
"What just happened?" Sorano glared at Gray.
"You are her teammate and you don't know?"
"I've never seen her do that before!"
"Idiots!" Sorano stormed off in Lucy's wake and Cris was following before he even thought about it. Apparently his brother's guild either neglected Lucy dreadfully or just couldn't communicate worth shit. He was leaning toward the later. They were basically a guild full of orphans after all, and he had met Makarov. He loved his brats, but a responsible parent the man was not. Laxus's time in Bosco was proof enough of that. Cris had been away at the time, but he heard a lot from the family who had been around, mainly Kaleb and their father.
The magic pressure in the tunnel spiked along with the air pressure. Richard gave a cry of "Meteor!" and the three witches hit the ground, pulling the wizards closest to them down with them. Cristoff's dragon was all sorts of pissed off at the ball of light that hit the ground on the other side of Sorano.
"Someone hide me." The ball of light turned man seemed to be in an almost hysterical state of panic.
"What the hell, Jellal?" Sorano picked herself up fromnthe ground to glare at the blunette. "You scared us half to death. And since when do you need to hide?"
"There isn't time to explain! She's-"
"Dude!" Bickslow sounded terrified. "You can't bring her here! Don't involve us! We don't want to die!" A very familiar voice came from behind them in the tunnel.
"I can smell you. So close. You can't run forever."
"Fuck!" Why was Emzadi hunting one of their allies? And why was Bickslow so upset about her being there? "Cris, you and Angel need to get the hell away from him right now. Richard, you can melt the wall right? You need to get everybody out of the way. Mavis. We're all going to die!" Cris put Sorano behind him as he backed away from her guildmaster.
"Bickslow?" Lucy and Midnight were the only ones still on the ground at this point. "The hell is going on?"
"Fucking Jellal is a fucking idiot!" Midnight started laughing.
"Damn. Cobra is so missing out today."
"What exactly have I missed?" Cris turned to see Cobra, along with the rest of their allies at the other end of the tunnel, right behind Bickslow. Bickslow spun around with a squawk and just stared. There was silence from all of them. Cobra was practically fused to Beck's side and seemed... happy. It was scary. The poison slayer suddenly grinned. "Oh, this is going to be fucking epic. Congrats, Blueballs."
"This is not a good thing, Cobra!" Bickslow made a whimpering sound. Emzadi's voice was a whole lot closer when they heard her again.
"Much as I love hunting...I hope you're ready when I catch you...my mate." The purr, the sultry dip in her voice had Jellal swallowing hard and Bickslow was backing away the way Cobra had just come from since he was pretty sure that direction was lacking an over excited sister…
"Why not? Blueballs won't be anymore once that Dragoness catches him." He chuckled.
"That's my little sister...she once cut a hole through Mt. Amastila in Joya, burned a hole clean through it...turned a quarter mile wide circle of ocean into steam to catch a bunch of pirates, their ship hit the fucking ocean floor before the water crashed in on them...Emzadi isn't like Wendy Cobra…" Bickslow said.
"She's your fucking sister, KIN, you got nothing to worry about unless she's like Fireprick…" He eyed Bickslow seriously, reaching out to slid a hand along Becks hip just needing to touch his mate, Beck wasn't claimed yet, and until he was...Cobra wasn't letting him out of his sight or even out of arms reach.
"No...she's not reckless, Emi has control...but...well..she has a history and I don't want to be between her and Jellal...like...at all." Bickslow said.
"She vaporized a woman…" Jellal said.
"Yeah...she does that.." Bickslow affirmed getting wide eyed looks from everyone and Cristoff rolled his eyes.
"Not at random damn it, Bix you're making her sound insane, Emzadi is perfectly intelligent and rational and in control of her magic...it's just...she's a female Dragon Slayer...an adult...female...dragonslayer...shit…"
He called up his magic, filling the area with a cool mist and keeping Sorrano behind him, it wasn't likely Emzadi would let flames into the area where her mate was, but, with unmated people around him...especially females...he was concerned for the safety of the women. He'd walked right through the worst fire Emzadi could call unscathed, his Lunar magic allowed him to eclipse her Solar, there simply was no other kind of magic user in existence that could handle her as well as Cristoff could, but protecting others from a Dragonlust driven Female? That was a whole different thing.
"Stop running from her, you're going to get everyone else injured or even killed if you run...you're her MATE, she won't hurt you, but she would destroy this COUNTRY to get to you if you go running around like a frightened mouse!" Cristoff snarled and Jellal looked at him startled.
"I...I have a history, I'd be a terrible mate." He said. Cristoff snorted.
"She has a history too, so do I, so does everyone here, the Dragon magic selects compatible SOULS, it doesn't give a damn about what you've done and neither does she." Cristoff shot back.
"But...what would happen if I said no?" He asked.
"You'd top the list of the greatest fucking morons to ever walk Earthland." Cobra said.
Cristoff shrugged "Pretty much...the magic isn't wrong, it never is, you're right for her and she's right for you."
Jellal looked unconvinced and Cristoff knew he was running out of time.
"Have you ever felt like part of you was missing? Like you didn't know when or how but somehow something big was missing." Cristoff said and Jellals eyes widened in disbelief as Cristoff smiled and nodded.
"She's your missing piece and you're hers, neither of you can be complete, can right what's wrong or feel any real form of completion or comfort until you're together." He said quietly and Jellal looked back the way he'd come and a sultry humm travelled over them all.
How had Cristoff just...nailed what he had been feeling for YEARS, like some part of him wasn't there that should be, like there was a gaping whole in him, he'd thought it was redemption he needed, that atonement and making up for his crimes would fill it but it hadn't and he'd been so lost...so frustrated and flirting with hopelessness because of it.
Would becoming the mate of this woman...fix that?
Cristoff was watching the bluenette think hard and held his breath. He knew Emzadi suffered, she was lonely, like he was, like any Dragon slayer without a mate was, She'd lost two loves...lost them to her own magic, and carried those heavy scars on her heart. Finally finding the one her dragon called for had to be so wonderful for her….if that Dragons desire wasn't running from her…
"Jellal!" Most of the group flinched as Erza's voice rang out. This could turn really bad really fast if she said the wrong thing. "Don't be an idiot! The woman is your soulmate and you are running from her like a coward! Your soulmate, Jellal. She is your salvation. Go to her." From where Cris was standing something seemed to break inside the man. He then shocked them all by sprinting back the way he had come. There was an only slightly startled yelp, a thud, and a moan that was most definately not inspired by pain.
"Wow."
"You said it, Cosplayer."
"Well, if I'm the one saying things then I say we keep going and leave them to their..." The noises coming from the dark tunnel were turning the Fiorans interestingly colors. "Well, you know. They can catch up later. Or not. Or whatever." Cobra snorted at her.
"Yeah. Or whatever." He then leaned into Beck and nipped at his jaw with his teeth, causing Beck to groan and Midnight's jaw to literally drop.
"What in the..." Sorano's eyes were wide as saucers.
"What the hell is with this mountain!" Lucy was still sitting in the floor next to Midnight. Her hand was raised and she was pointing at something behind Cobra and Beck. Cristoff echoed her in his head as he watched the slayer he knew from his brother's letters to be extremely gruff and antisocial pin his other brother to the wall and straight up nuzzle into his neck.
"Oh, Cosplayer you have no idea. The shit I've seen today is- Fuck! The girl! We've got to get moving!" Cobra let out a vicious growl.
"You know about her? Can you get us to her from here? I-" He glanced at Beck and blushed just enough for Cristoff's dragon keen eyes to see it in the dim light some of their party members were putting off. "I got sidetracked." He growled again as Bickslow walked right past him and through the group he and Beck had been leading, an angry looking Lucy and Midnight right on his heels.
Cris wrapped an arm around Sorano and pulled her along with him as he followed. He mentally kicked at his dragon when it started purring. Now was absolutely not the time for anyones inner dragon to have any aditional opinions about anything. One dragon dealing with instinctual shit was to many on a mission like this. They now had at least three mate driven slayers, which was a recipe for disaster on a continental scale.
xxOverkill Fieldtripxx
Most people don't realize the human body is mostly water. In addition to this she was a healer, so she felt the mass of bodies before the tunnel opened up enough for her to see them. She wasn't the only one who detected them she was sure. Cobra for one would have already heard them and Beck would have been forwarned by his 'little spies'. She reached for the only person close enough to reach for and tugged on the sleeve of his fur-lined coat. Steely blue eyes met hers instantly. She pursed her lips to show distress and pointed forward, tapping on her ear and her nose and raising an eyebrow.
Laxus tipped his head to the side and closed his eyes for a moment. He took a couple deep breaths before opening them and nodding. He then turned, waved a sparking hand at the wizards behind them and grinned. Xally could see Cris and Gray grin in return and ready their magic. Freed's hand went to his rapier and Erza's to her broadsword. Van and Gajeel smirked before dropping into the shadows. The sweet smile that Meredy was wearing was...disturbing.
The five wizards ahead of her in the tunnel silently shifted their positions. Cobra and Midnight slipping in front of Bickslow, and Lucy dropping back to walk beside Beck, keys and whip already at hand. Xally found it quite impressive that they were able to cooperate and plan so easily without words. They were from different teams and different guilds after all.
When the two lead wizards seemed to walk through a wall of darkness and vanish there was a wave of panic. That increased when Lucy and Beck dove after their apparent romantic partners, taking Bickslow with them. The sounds of fighting reached them immediately however, telling Xally that the darkness was just an illusion. There seemed to be a lot of illusion and mental manipulation type magics in this dark guild. It explained how they had escaped notice for so long.
Xally stayed right by Laxus's side as she joined the fight. Not that she could have seperated herself from the man if she wanted to. Twice the flow of battle pushed her away from him and both times his lightning body brought him right back to her side. She thought back to the way Emzadi had spoken about him at the start of this mission and couldnt help but giggle. This earned her an odd look from the lightning slayer at her side.
This large room seemed to be some sort of gathering place for the dark guild, which ment there were plenty of enemy wizards to go around. It was a good thing too, as far as she could see, because they were mowing them down with relative ease. The teamwork she was seeing was phenominal, and with Kaleb as a brother she knew about teamwork.
The shadows around them seemed to be playing some odd version of either catch or wack-a-mole with their enemies. She recognized Vander's playful nature and guessed the fact that Gajeel's shadows were dragon magic contributed to them playing with the dark wizards like mice. She watched a forcefield wizard as he was yanked, screaming into the showows and spit back out in another direction. He was sucked into another shadow almost before he had landed. This was repeated a couple times and he had both pissed himself and vomited by the time he dissapeared for good.
Cobra, Beck, Midnight, and Lucy were the most impressive of the bunch. They moved almost like a single unit. The two Witches had been best friends for years and of course Beck and the poison slayer had their magics to help them hear each other, or whatever it was Beck did with dragon slayer souls. She wasn't sure how Lucy was fitting in so seamlessly though. Practice with her spirits perhapse? The blond was wearing a black dress that allowed her to fight using the light based attacks of one of her zodiac keys. Midnight seemed to be warding off long distance attacks as the other three orbited him. He would occasionally throw waves of dark magic at the enemy, and his red eyes seemed to glow when he heard their screams.
Xally threw a wave of water at a cluster of wizards and she could physically feel the smugness coming from the tall blond at her side as he slammed a fist into the ground. Lightning surged and everything her water had touched was fried. He smirked at her and grabbed her hand to drag her toward one of the tunnel entrances that seemed to be vomiting dark wizards. Somehow she knew exactly what he was wanting. They laced their hands together and she felt their magics flow as one. The power of his lightning and the force of her water.
"Unison Raid! Surging Tsunami!" They shoved the roaring wave of lightning and water down the tunnnel and she knew no more threats would come up that path. Magic was still flashing in his eyes when he looked back down at her. She had been around dragon slayers her whole life, but the way he growled at her sent a shudder down her spine it was so damn sexy.
A loud curse shouted in the now almost silent cavern was what drew her attention back to the rest of their party. There were only a few enemies left and those seemed to be quite captured. Some were trapped in the cavern floor or encased in ice. Others were in what appeared to be magic canceling cuffs and rope. Bickslow, Vander, Meredy, and Cobra seemed to be in the midst of some sort of interrogation session, and her older brother looked frustrated.
"We'll have to split up." Bickslow grumbled, kicking one of the men at his feet. "I refuse to leave the girl in that box a moment longer than we absolutely have to, but they will start killing off hostages if we don't get them out. We may have already lost some."
"We have two healers so one should go with each group." Lucy was wearing a maid outfit and chains for some reason. Xally was starting to understand why Bix called her Cosplayer.
"Angel and Moon Boy are coming with us." Cobra sneered as he dropped a probably dead wizard to the ground.
"Who is 'us'?" Erza demanded.
"And who the fuck told you that you were the boss of me?" Angel was seething until Cris ran his fingertips up her arm. Xally thought nothing of it though, since Cristoff had a soothing effect on pretty much everyone.
"Beck comes with me and Jester-head seems pretty invested. And I've got my reasons for dragging you along you fucking Swan-whore!" Cristoff's eyes flashed silver and he growled at Cobra with bared teeth. Xally blinked. That was...different.
"Suck my dick, Moon Boy." The two slayers looked ready to trade blows until Beck interveined, running a hand around Cobra's side and up his chest. Cobra purred and leaned back into his unclaimed mate.
"Come now sexy. Don't go offering to share what is mine. At least not without asking me first." Xally giggled when Lucy turned bright pink, squeaked, and hid behind her hands.
"My word..." Angel breathed in obvious shock. "It's like you sucked all the venom right out of him."
"Oh, I plan to. I just haven't had the time required to do it properly yet." Cobra groaned and turned his head back to nuzzle into Beck's neck. Gray made gagging sounds until Lucy slapped him upside the head.
"Idiots." Xally smiled at the lightning slayer's single grunted word.
"Very well then." Xally found it rather fascinating how Erza always seemed so incredibly serious. "Unless you require additional party members the rest of us shall venture forth in search of the kidnapped townspeople."
"You don't really have to search She-Thor. Take that tunnel and stay right. It'll take you to them."
xxOverkill Fieldtripxx
"Feel like sharing why you insisted on bringing us with you, Cobra?" Angel spoke the first words since they had split off from the bigger group.
"It's not like Moon Boy was going to go the other way when you are with us."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
"Ugh. Fine. So why am I here?"
"Because..." Cobra was silent long enough Bickslow thought he wasn't going to finish his statement. When he did continue speaking it was almost in a whisper. "Chipmunk will need you."
"Ch- Ch- Chip- Oh gods..." Angel paled and probably would have fallen if Cris hadn't tucked her against his side and held her up. "It's not... Tell me it isn't..." Cobra said nothing, just shifted closer to Beck as they walked. Bickslow wasn't stupid. He glanced back at his brother and picked up the pace just a little, knowing the others would keep up.
Cobra pulled away from Beck and growled just before the tunnel opened up to reveal what looked like a throne room. In the back of his mind Bix started scripting king under the mountain jokes about dwarves. Lucy would appreciate them, but she wasn't here. His current company would either just not get it, or get pissed because they thought he wasn't taking the situation seriously. He was beyond serious, just... jokes were how he delt with stress, and there was a fucking throne under this crazy ass mountain. A throne with somebody on it.
The man on the throne was short and bearded. He was surrounded by four people who really could have been stand ins for the devil's court. The whole group was wearing red and black. There was a tall, thin man with the longest mustache he had ever seen. He honestly looked a little like Phantom Lord's old Master. If you had put the man through a taffy puller. There were two females, pale women who looked like two sides to a single coin. One was red, red eyes, red hair, red lips. The other had black eyes, black hair, and black lips. The last person in the group loomed over the others. He was shaggy, ill-kempt, and big enough to make Cris and Beck look small.
"Quite fewer of you now than were." Mustache man's voice was oily. "Lost much to Dread did you?"
"Psycho please." Cobra sneered at them. "We sent the others away because we didn't want them spoiling our fun."
"Fool!" The dwarf king seemed to be trying to shout through a beard to thick to open his mouth. Bickslow faught against the urge to comment on the densness of the man's dwarf king beard. "You dare underestimate us? We are the the Decons of Dread! You can not stand against us!"
"You boys are welcome to come stand against me though..." The red woman's voice sounded like sex. It wasn't that it was a sexy or suggestive voice, she really sounded like she was three licks shy of an orgasm. She smiled a little and pointed at Cristoff. "You would do nicely to warm me for a night. You might even survive more than one."
"Succubi!" Angel spit at the woman. Bix wasn't sure if thats really what the woman was or if the word was just being used as an insult.
"Sssiiisssterrr, I've ssseen thisss one beforrre." Either gothic chick was half asleep, part snake, or very drunk. Given the breathy quality to her voice Bickslow was going to toss the possibility that she was a qhost onto that list too. "The Annngelll in the darrrk. She hasss fallen farrr to think she cannn danccce in the light." Cris growled.
"She has chosen to walk in the light and the light has embraced her for it."
"Ah, but why settle for embracing that stick of a creature, when there is a woman like me who is offering you so much more?" The red woman openly fondled her own breast as she spoke in a way that was bold even for those of the group raised in Bosco. Cristoff snorted at her.
"If I was that into half jewel water balloons I could buy a whole bag at a kids toy store."
"Shit bro!" Cobra cackled as Bickslow stared at his brother in shock. "I seriously didn't think you were capable of talking to a woman like that."
"Sssooo disssapointing, aren't they sssiiisssterrr?"
"Well, there is still the quiet one. How about it big guy? Let me taste you." Cobra snarled.
"I will melt your face in acid bitch! You won't touch my mate! I'll tear off those great gloppy boobs of yours and make you eat them! I swear to-"
"Hey, hey! Easy sexy." Beck nuzzled Cobra's neck. Cobra continued to growl at the red woman even as he leaned into the beastmaster's touch. "I'm not saying you can't do those things, but she isn't taking me away from you. I want to be with you. I'm not going anywhere." Something in that little speach seemed to placate the poison slayer because he smirked and started purring.
"How dare you disregard us!" At this point Bickslow just couldn't help himself anymore.
"Look here dwarf king. We dare a lot of things, including disregarding you, disrespecting you, and kicking your collective asses because we..." Bickslow trailed off there. The speach his guild usually gave here just didn't work in this situation.
"Are badass?"
"Super pissed off?"
"Don't feel like sharing our sexiness?" Bix gave his rather unhelpfull teammates a halfhearted glare. Cobra snickered at him.
"You were gunna give that Fairy Tail blah blah nakama speach weren't you?" He gave the snarky man a fullhearted glare."Only it won't work because you are the only Fairy here." Bickslow drooped.
"Yeah. Natsu would have made it work anyway though." He perked up then. "Hey! You guys are practically honorary Fairy Tail wizards anyway at this point so we totally outnumber White Sea!"
"I never agreed to that!" As pissed as Angel sounded she sure looked pleased by the idea.
"You know, Bix, at this point Beck has more claim on Cobra than Fairy Tail ever did." Bix gave his brother his best sarcastic eye. Not only had he busted his bubble, but Cobra wasn't the only one White Sea Wizards had a claim on these days.
"To much life smell." The giant hulk finally spoke. "Can I eat them?"
"It would pleasssse usss ifff you did."
The hulk gave a rusty sounding roar and launched himself at them. Bickslow bairly managed to dodge the huge, clawed hand. He activated his figure eyes and caught the monster's gaze just long enough to find that there was nothing there. He heard Cobra shout a confirmation of what he had already seen. Whatever this guy was he wasn't human. He had no soul.
Cris slammed him with a Lunar roar, but while it forced him back a couple steps it didn't seem to do any damage. In fact he absorbed the magic and grew even bigger. There was the loud popping of bones and the monster hulk's face grew longer, long teeth bared in a snarl. The toxic purple fumes Cobra threw at the monster visually mented layers off his face, but he didn't even flinch.
"It's a fucking zombie werewolf! He's dead, so has no soul human or animal! He won't feel pain and Lunar magic is just feul!" Beck had pulled his sword from requip space and managed to shave a layer of muscle off the monster's back as he dodged another attack.
"Cost 40! Oh angel of the sunlight! Shamsiel, I summon thee!" The enormous white Elvis baby really wierded Bickslow out, but it would probably be effective against the wolf zombie man. "Shamsiel, distr..." Angel trailed off and Bickslow could see a familiar empty look on her face.
"Deacon Eldred, I require more power. Their minds are shielded from me. The female is the only one I can capture at this level." The red woman had her hands reaching toward them, fingers spread. The black woman stood still and silent at her side. Magic circles bagan appearing around mustache man, hellbeasts launching themselves at their group as they appeared. Bickslow felt the pressure in his mind as the drarf king's eyes began to glow. Cobra's attack fizzled out and he began walking slowly toward the females. "Ah! A dragon! Yes. Come to me little dragon. I shall feast well tonight!"
It was all Bickslow and his babies could do to keep the hellbeasts off Angel's now useless angel and away from where Beck was trying to keep himself alive against the monster. Cristoff was the only one capable of destroying these beasts and he was gaurding Angel while he did so. That left Cobra on his own against a mind controling succubi, a hell summoning wizard, some sort of magic manipulation mage, and whatever the goth chick was. Bix was betting another succubus, which could not be good.
He was proven right when goth chick bared long fangs and sunk them into Cobra's neck. The poison Slayer groaned and then gave an angry growl, which from the looks Bickslow saw on their faces was not what they were expecting. When he began to laugh they started backing away.
"You forgot to do your homework. You forgot who Angel runs with. Didn't stop to think what would happen if you put poison straight into the poison dragon slayer's blood did you? Thanks for the power up. Shame you wasted your chance to get a decent hit on me. Oh, and tell my mate thank you for his gift."
Seeing as how Beck was very occupied Bix wasn't exactly sure what Cobra was talking about until both females were swarmed by hundreds of Becks 'little spies'. Mice, rats, snakes, bats, the little and not so little bugs that lived in the dark. They screamed. Not that Bickslow blamed them. He would have screamed too. A couple of those spiders were the size of a man's hand. Cobra released a roar at the group and then went after the hell summoner as the females faught off the little creatures. Angel hit her knees when the red woman lost her concentration.
"Sh-Shamsiel, the w-wolf monster. Destroy it!"
"Let's play! We can arm wrestle! Lend me one of your arms!" Beck turned to go after the dwarf man once the Angel crashed into the wolf monster. Bickslow would have backed him up, but the goth chick had freed herself of Beck vermin army and started chanting, her voise suddenly clear and wide awake, and a magic circle formed under her
"The fallen rise up! Death to our enemies. Bring dread to the light! Sacrifice Vanquish!" There was a pulse of magic that... Did nothing? Bickslow had been braced for an attack of some sort and the fact that none seemed to come had him really worried.
He hopped on his babies and went as high as he could to see the whole cavern. Beck pinned the armored dwarf king to the throne with his sword as he watched. Cobra seemed to have the advantage against the hell summoner since most of the hell spawn were after Cris and Angel knowing their magic was the only thing that could defeat the darkness. The wolf-zombie-man was missing an arm and a large chunk of his chest, but still fighting. The two females managed to free themselves of Becks 'gift' and placed them selves back to back, palm to wasn't a spell cast, but a forcefield began to glow around them.
Then he saw them. There were three tunnels leading into this one they had entered through straight across from the throne. There was another to the right where Angel and Cris were, and the third on the left near where Cobra faught. From all three came the shambling shapes of enemies they had already defeated. The dwarf king was a fucking magic battery or some shit and in his final moments he had powered up what would normally have been a weak necromancy spell into a huge ass zombie bomb.
They needed time. With Beck free mustache man wouldn't be able to hold his own against the unmated pair. As soon as the hellspawn stopped multiplying Cris would finish them off pretty quickly. The zombi wolf was on his last leg, literally. All Bix and his babies needed to do was hold off the new additions long enough for one of them to find a way past the forcefield. With this kind of spell the zombies would go back to being regular dead people as soon as the wizard who cast the spell went down or ran out of magic power.
"Let's dance babies!" *dance, dance! It felt like years later, though it was only seconds when Shamsiel shoved the monster man back into the zombie hord.
"An angel's light shines like a thousand suns!" If he wasn't so busy Bix would have laughed when two pigs popped of the angel's hair and sent out a light attack that finished off the monster along with a bunch of his lesser buddies. A strangled scream, followed almost immediately by Cobra tearing into the zombies told Bickslow the hell raiser was down. He called the babies from that side of the room to clean up the zombies Angel's angel's attack had missed, only to discover that there were more behind those.
"Fuck this shit! Guys we gotta shut the psycho twins down!"
"Stop trying to order us around, Jesterhead!" Asshole Cobra might be, but he turned his attention toward the glowing dome anyway. "Poison Dragon talon!"
"Shamsiel! Strike the same point Cobra did!" Angel had the right idea. Bickslow wasn't the only one to think that because Beck followed Shamsiel's strike with one of his own.
"We're up next babies! Don't let up!" *fire, fire, fire!
"Lunar dragon crushing fang!" They kept up like that. Swapping out to cover each other's backs while keeping up a constant barage on the shield until cacks formed. "Lunar dragon's-"
"Poison dragon's-"
"Roar!" Not only did the shield shatter, but when the dust cleared there were no enemies standing.
With the fight over Bickslow turned his attention to the walls. He began pulling the groutesque tapestries down and what he found underneath was rather astonishing. Beautiful murals all depicting a woman clothed only in her long hair. Most also showed couples frolicking in the woods or running through fields of flowers. He was pretty sure Freed would have a conniption if he saw this stuff.
"Fuck! I can't find it! It's in this room somewhere. It has to be. The room with the throne!"
"Then shut the fuck up so I can listen!" How listening was supposed to help Cobra find a secret door Bix wasnt sure, but whatever. "There! I can hear her!" Cobra and Bickslow raced to the wall where the long haired woman was shown standing alone. They ran their hands along the edges of the mural until Bicjslows long fibgers finally found the hidden latch.
"Got it!" He threw his weight against the door and pushed it open. All his team could see was the reflection of green eyes in the dark, like a cat's. With his eyes syill active from the fight Bickslow saw so much more. Murky yellow, gray, and black formed such a thick shell around her soul he almost couldnt see her. The rich purple light of who she was all wrapped up with green fire. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Ow!" He glared at Angel and rubbed the back of his head. "What the hell did you slap me for?"
"You can't go flashing those things at her when she's been in the dark for who knows how long. You could hurt her eyes!" He winced and closed his eyes, pushing his magic down. "Cristoff could you very gently give us a little light?" Before the light was enough to see by Bix and Cobra edged into the dark room.
"Chipmunk? Can you hear me? Little Chip..." The girl let out a vicious growl. Cobra flinched and looked at Beck. "She can't... She isn't in a place where she can hear me."
"She is human. Without trust I can't help her."
There was light enough now for Bickslow to see. There was a wooden cage suspended in the middle of the room. From one wall ran five long chains pulsing with magic. One ran through a ring at each corner of the cage, linked to a cuff on each of her limbs. The fifth ran up tobthe ceiling and down again through the top of the cage, ending at a pronged collar around her neck.
Bickslow had seen this kind of set up before. Not only were they draining her magic, but they had chained her in such a way as to control her every move whenever they felt like it. The things he had seen in these people today as well as the fact that she wore nothing said they did so often and in the worst of ways. And yet she still bared her sharp teeth at them and faught.
"Oh gods..." Angel sounded sick. He could hear Cris humming softly, no doubt comforting the woman.
"The chains..." But Cobra and Beck were already on it. Cobra pouring corrosive poison onto the chains and Beck throwing his not inconsiderable muscle mass against the weakened links. Bix Pulled the key off the wall and approached the cage slowly, speaking softly. "It's ok. We aren't here to hurt you. I promise. We are getting you out of here. What's your name little one? It's not really Chipmunk, right? Cobra gives people the weirdest names. They're usually insulting though, so he must really like you." She threw herself away snarling when he touched the gate.
She was small, but now that he got a better look he was pretty sure it was malnurishment as opposed to young age that caused it. Her eyes, even when they weren't reflecting the light of his magic, were a bright green, and her short, choppy hair reminded him of the spices in his favorite cookies. With sun and food she would be stuningly beautiful.
He kept his eyes on her as he unlocked the door. He heard Beck snap the last of the chains, and he let the door swing wide open. He didn't even have the time to blink before she lunged. Her hands slammed into his shoulders and her sharp teeth went for his throat. The instinct to not die in a pool of his own blood had his magic activating before his back hit the ground. He latched onto her soul to hold her still and he felt as though he had fallen into the green fire inside her.
xxOverkill Fieldtripxx
The tall one had done something to her. She couldn't move. It was about what she had expected when the door opened. They wouldn't have been stupid enough to loose her chains and open the cage without a backup plan. She had to try fighting though. One more time. Always they faught to he free one more time. Except now the beast within her seemed to give up, sinking to the ground.
'Why? No! Why are we quitting?'
'Not quitting. Safe.'
'Never! They will hurt us! Always! We always fight! You said!'
'This one. Safe.'
'But... He trapped us...'
'Set us free. Protect us.'
'...how do you know?'
'Know. Safe.'
'But...'
She heard voices around her then. Four men and a woman. The woman was crying. One of them was growling and hissing, another one with a deep voice seemed to be trying to soothe that one. Then came a softer tone and with it she felt a cool magic wash over her. She tried to fight against it and a rough voice spoke up close to her. The tall one. The one the beast within said was safe.
"Easy little one. It's ok. My brother is a healer. He is helping. We won't hurt you. Whatchya got, Cris?"
"Some internal damage. A lot of scar tissue. She's fine for now, but she will need work and time."
"Scar tissue? What do you mean 'for now'? What is wrong with her?" The angry one snarled like the beast within. She tried to turn and look. She wanted to understand this one. There was something about him. But the tall one still had her.
"Calm down, Cobra. You're making her nervous. Little one I can let you go if you promise not to try to kill us." She wanted to be let go. She would defend herself, but she would wait for them to come after her. If the tall one let her go.
She felt her body sitting up. It was odd. Her body was moving without her telling it to. Then she felt something warm settle around her shoulders. She had never been so warm. It smelled good too. Really good. Then she was in control of herself again. She blinked at a pair of red eyes and pulled the sweet smelling warm thing closer around her.
"There you go little one. Feel better?" She let her eyes leave the tall one's red eyes to search for the other four. A big man with dark hair stood behind where the tall one knelt in front of her. There was a pale woman with wide eyes standing back there too, who looked vaguely familiar. She cast around for the angry man. Angry people were always dangerous. He would hurt her more if he was angry.
"Sorry, Chipmunk." She turned her head to see a one-eyed man standing next to another big man with long green hair. "I didn't mean to scare you. You aren't the one I'm angry at. I would never hurt you. I promise, Chip." Chip? Chipmunk. She knew that name, but... It had been so long, and this man wasn't... Was he? "It's me."
"E-Erik?" She could see a tear in the corner of his eye. It didn't fall, but she could see it. He beckoned the woman closer and she could see it now. "S-s-s-" Sorano gave a little smile.
"It's me little sister. We're all here. Macbeth, Richard, Sawyer. They don't know you are here yet. They will though. We will take you to them." She turned her eyes back to the tall one. She remembered these people as the kids they had been in the Tower of Heaven, but that had been years ago. She didn't know who they were anymore. The beast within said this man was safe though. She didn't understand, but he hadn't hurt her, and he smelled nice. She was wrapped in his cloak. He was protecting her.
"My name is Bickslow. This is my brother Cristoff and Beck." She eased closer to him, letting herself lean against him and breath in his sweet warm smell.
'Safe. Kin. Mates. Safe.' She still wasn't convinced, but she wanted to beleive what the beast within said.
"I'm Aerstyn."
xxOverkill Fieldtripxx
To be continued