Episode 18: Part 2

Later the next day, Connor gave a relieved sigh as he turned the sign around on the antique shop from Open to Closed. No sooner had he done that, he heard a knock and saw Stephen standing on the other side of the glass door.

"Hey Stephen, what's up?" Connor asked as he opened the door and let his friend inside.

The Silver Knight strode past and looked around, "I uh… came by to see if you guys wanted to go grab some dinner back at the dorm. Noelle's isolated herself in her room claiming she's still a biohazard so I've been looking for you and Laura."

"Well… you found us," Connor sighed as he dusted his hands, "I just finished my shift and Laura's already here."

Stephen stopped abruptly, "She is?"

"Yep. She's off in a corner of the shop chatting with Spooky," Connor replied while rolling his eyes. "She's been here for a few hours yakking and making all sorts of goo-goo eyes too."

The Silver Knight grimaced in dismay, "Oh… well, about that subject we discussed yesterday… have you thought of anything yet?"

"Just act like a knight and follow my lead," Connor replied giving Stephen a little push, "Why don't you go get Laura for dinner already?"

Stephen reluctantly walked further into the shop to find Laura sitting at a table drinking a cup of tea while having an animated discussion with the ghostly soldier named James.

The spirit reached over and gave her hand a squeeze, "To come all this way to another country, and to go to school while fighting these monsters… you are truly a remarkable girl Miss Gremory."

"Ah… well, no braver than you. Having come here to fight for the Crown without the aid of magic weapons and armor," Laura replied shyly while drawing her hand back and taking a sip of tea. After she did, she smiled brightly, "I must admit though, it's a real treat to be able to spend some time chatting with a fellow Englishman again… even one from the past."

"Likewise," James replied politely as Stephen approached.

The Silver Knight cleared his throat, "Laura… I hope I'm not interrupting. I came by to see if you and Connor wanted to join me for dinner tonight."

Laura gave a reluctant sigh and began to rise, "If it's all right with you, I think I might stay around for a little while longer. I was having such a nice time with James. He had been telling me all about his family's estate in England beforehand and I wanted to lean more."

She turned to the soldier, "That is... if you don't mind."

James stood straight and took her hands with a smile, "To spend a little more time with such an enchanting girl? My pleasure."

"My stomach," Connor interjected as he walked over feigning stomach pain, "Laura, are you really going to ignore poor Stephen over there? I've never seen you act so moonstruck before… and over a dead guy of all people, err… no offense James."

Laura gave a mildly indignant huff, "Maybe it's just because you haven't been around a real gentleman before."

Connor looked to Stephen expectantly before waving his hand, "Oh come on Laura, get off your high horse. There's no reason to stand on ceremony. Why, I'd even go so far as to say you're no more special or discerning of character than anyone in this room."

James frowned and stepped toward Connor, "Sir, you'll apologize to the lady."

"Show me a lady and I will," Connor retorted with a laugh before giving Stephen another pointed look. Instead, he found the tip of the ghost's sword immediately pointed at his nose.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! It was just a joke," Connor replied quickly as he gingerly pushed the sword away.

James frowned again and sheathed his blade while Laura gestured for the ghost to follow her, "Come on James. Let's go get a little fresh air in the rear alley, shall we?"

When they left, Stephen grabbed the Summer Knight's sleeve in outrage, "Connor, what the hell are you doing? You're acting like a humongous asshole."

"That's the idea Stephen. Keep up with me here. Good knight-Bad knight? I'm trying to make you look good here, but you need you to take charge and act all gallant. Defend Laura's honor! For God's sake, punch me in the nose if you really need to."

"I'm not going to hit you!" Stephen huffed as he let go of Connor.

"Then you're not going to impress Laura," the Summer Knight sighed while heading for the door to go home.

Stephen let out a breath watching his comrade go. Maybe Connor had a little bit of a point there. He was just trying to be a good friend and was offering to take a fall for Stephen. He appreciated the gesture and as much as he wanted to throw a punch now, there still had to be a better way.

The next day, the three knights returned to the shop for a meeting after getting a call from their mentor. As they gathered around one of the antique dining tables, James floated over curiously while Kristen rose at the head of the table to share her findings. Sitting on the table was an old antiquated knapsack with a metallic button bearing the regimental marking of James's military unit.

Kristen cleared her throat, "Everyone… I called you all here to relate some things I learned while digging into this situation. I had called up a couple of my Druid colleagues and studied some of the other things that had belonged to Mr. Bennett. I think I may have a working theory as to why all this is going on."

She was interrupted as the bag rustled and the gargoyle Yum-Yum emerged, most likely rummaging around for a snack. Laura quickly reached over and grabbed the little creature. She placed the squirming gargoyle in her lap preventing him from causing any more trouble.

"Thank you," Kristen sighed before reaching in the knapsack and removing a silver medallion with an emerald stone in the center. As everyone looked closer, they saw that there was something inside of it.

The Druid held it up and showed the knights before Laura asked, "What is it?"

"I believe this is a very rare Orphic Charm," Kristen explained, "I've never seen one before, but I've heard about them and seen sketches when I was just an apprentice."

She turned to the ghost of James and asked, "Where did you get this?"

James studied the trinket and nodded quietly, "I found it on the outskirts of a village in the area. My company was skirmishing with some of the American militias and I found it in the grass after we had chased them off. I thought it was a curious treasure and kept it as a good luck charm."

"Hmm… then it makes a lot of sense now," Kristen said thoughtfully.

Stephen shook his head, "I don't get it. What makes sense?"

The Druid held out the medallion again, "This Orphic Medallion was named after the mythical figure of Orpheus who once ventured into the Underworld and traveled among the dead. A long time ago, several older Druids experimented with the limits of natural law… particularly as it related to death. Inside this charm is a lily petal, a flower which symbolizes death. It was said that these Orphic medallions may have had the power to preserve one's being in spite of natural death."

She gestured to James, "Case in point. He must have had this amulet in his possession when he died and the medallion preserved a part of him in the form of a ghost."

"Whoah… that's really freaky," Connor exclaimed, "But couldn't an artifact like that be really dangerous?"

Kristen nodded sagely, "Yes. We Druids consider magic that defies the order of things to be a grave affront to Nature itself. Things created by necromancy like the undead are abominations to us. That's why objects like these Orphic Medallions were destroyed and outlawed by our Druid Orders."

"Wait… James isn't a monster or an abomination!" Laura protested, "He's good and honorable."

"I know that," the Druid nodded, "It seems he was accidentally caught up with faerie magic that he didn't understand. I'm not faulting him for that."

"Is there anything that can be done?" James asked in concern causing everyone to become quiet again.

Kristen sighed, "I'm not completely certain. If I do a ritual to disenchant the medallion, it may dispel the artifact's powers and fully release your spirit. You could cross over to… uh… wherever it is that our souls ultimately go."

"I see," James replied pensively, "Then if that's the case let's perform the ritual."

"James…" Laura murmured in worry.

Before anyone else could interject, a sparkling green messenger pixie flew in through the windows and darted over toward the Druid. It bobbed in the air for a few moments whispering something in Kristen's ear before winking out of existence.

"Damn… not now," she said, "Balor's forces are attacking again. We'll have to deal with them first."

"Then let me help you," James chimed in while giving a look to Laura, "It's the least I could do if you people are willing to help me."

The Summer Knight cleared his throat and nodded, "With two knights out of action, we could use all the help we can get. Now if only the Fomorians believed in taking Spring Breaks too."

Across town, car alarms went off as a great hulking beastman marched down the street sweeping some aside with a large falchion blade. The Fomorian monster wore leather armor and slobbered from its hyena-like head while carving a swath of destruction. As the monster known as a gnoll tossed aside another car, it tore a nearby mailbox off the curb and hurled it through the window of a nearby grocery store.

Marching close behind the gnoll came a platoon of spriggans along with the sorceress Leanansidhe herself. She smiled in satisfaction at the chaos and destruction being sown until she saw three armored Hibernian Knights arrive on the scene. They leapt off their horses and drew their blades while barring the path of the Fomorian assault. To her surprise, she saw a strange incorporeal spirit of a young man alongside them.

"Okay Connor, how do you think we should take them?" Laura asked the team's co-leader.

The Summer Knight turned to Stephen and cleared his throat, prompting his comrade to step up. The Silver Knight took a moment before nodding quickly and trying to speak like a confident commander, "I think we should focus on dog face over there. Connor, maybe you could draw off Leanansidhe?"

"I think I may be able to assist against the sorceress," their ghostly ally interjected.

As the spriggans surged forward, Connor twirled his blade and ignited it with flames before moving the block them, "All right Stephen, you and Laura go stop that Fomorian! I'll handle these clowns!"

Stephen and Laura took a moment as Connor clashed with the spriggans and threw a small crowd of them back with a whirling sword slash and a blazing cloud of Summer Fire.

Meanwhile, the large fey beastman continued to advance and drag his falchion across the pavement carving a small ravine as it went. As the ghostly spirit of James began to swoop around and harass Leanansidhe, the Winter and Silver Knights moved to halt the hulking monster before them.

The gnoll warrior gave a furious cry and charged forward swinging his weapon hoping to cleave his enemies in half but they tumbled out of the way. Laura was the first to recover to her feet and pivot around quickly bringing her rapier to bear. As she thrusted, she gave a surprised gasp as the Fomorian caught her blade. While the rapier wounded the inside of its hand, the gnoll held fast and brought its own sword around hoping to crush the knight.

To Laura's relief, Stephen fired an arrow and struck the weapon arm of the monster causing it to yelp in pain and drop its weapon. Before he could turn back to Laura, Stephen decided he had to make a bold move. He couldn't sit back in his comfort zone in the middle of combat when a friend was in danger. He charged forward while dropping his shoulder like a football player. The gnoll yelped again in pain as Stephen threw himself into the monster's wounded arm and pushed it aside a few feet. "I don't think the lady wants to dance with you! Mind if I cut in?"

While Laura dropped back momentarily to regain her balance, Stephen kept pushing until the gnoll planted its heels and reached out grab the Silver Knight. Stephen fended off the grapple with his bow and called on a silver arrow with his other hand. In an improvised move, Stephen used the arrow like a dagger and used it to stab upward into the bottom of the beastman's maw. Just as fast, he pulled the bloody arrow out and kicked his large foe backward to put some distance in between them. He quickly nocked the arrow and fired a powerful shot which pierced through the monster's weak unarmored kneecap and crippled it.

While the gnoll howled and slumped over, Laura moved forward and raised her sword to finish off the wounded beastman. In a chilly burst of blue arctic air, Laura darted forward and thrust her blade into the Fomorian's shoulder causing a cloud of ice crystals to erupt and cover its body in seconds. As the Winter Knight pulled back her sword, she twirled it and gave a final decisive horizontal cut to the frozen monster, bisecting it and destroying the monster in a blast of steam and ice shards.

The two smiled and gave a nod toward each other as they turned to see the last of the spriggans get incinerated by Connor's fiery blade nearby. As the last evil foot soldier disintegrated, the three shifted their attention to the red haired sorceress while the ghost of James Bennett swirled around one last time and broke away to rejoin the knights. To her surprise, Leanansidhe suddenly found herself all alone after having been distracted by the meddlesome spirit. Without the backup of the gnoll berserker or the spriggan troops, the tides of battle had dramatically shifted.

"A meaningless victory," Leanansidhe snorted before she spun around and took on her smoky form and retreated from the battlefield.

Once she had departed, Connor grinned and sheathed his sword before turning to the ghost, "Thanks for the help back there Lieutenant. We really appreciate it. Distracting that witch was a great move on your part."

James cast a sideways look and nodded smartly, "She appeared to be the monsters' field commander. Disrupting the enemy's leaders is always a sound strategy... monster or not."

While Connor exchanged a few more words of praise with the ghost, Laura turned to Stephen and tilted her head slightly, "I think I should also be thanking you a little for your actions as well. If you hadn't shot out that beastman's weapon arm… well, you really played a blinder today."

"It was nothing," the Silver Knight said trying to be modest, "I'd be a pretty awful man if I had let that dogface creep hurt you."

"Yes… I suppose so," she said thoughtfully as she gave him one more appraising glance before patting his arm and starting home.

Stephan watched her go before he felt Connor throw a companionable arm around his neck and give him a little shake, "Hey! Nice work, but now's not the time to rest on your laurels. You coming or what?"

That evening, the three knights gathered together back in the shop along with Kristen and James. While Laura and Connor helped prepare the items for Kristen's spell, James took Stephen aside to a corner and placed his hands on the Silver Knight's shoulders, "Stephen, there's something important that I wanted to talk to you about before I depart."

Stephen looked his ghostly peer in the eye and nodded hesitantly, "All right…"

"Your friend Connor took me aside earlier and explained to me about why he had acted the way he did recently. He told me all about how and why he was trying to help you."

"Oh… did he now?" Stephen said as he shifted uncomfortably.

"I completely understand now and that's why I want to speak to you," the spirit said with a serene smile, "Laura is a remarkable girl... brilliant, beautiful, and strong willed, don't you think?"

Stephen frowned in slight confusion before nodding, "Yeah. I don't understand what you're getting at though."

James tapped his own chin thoughtfully, "She's going to need someone equally as smart, strong, and talented to keep up with her."

"Unfortunately, it seems I'm not quite there yet," Stephen answered with a deflated sigh.

James gave a kind-hearted chuckle, "Perhaps not, but if seeing your actions on the battlefield was any indication, I'd say you shouldn't sell your own potential short. It took a lot of courage to confront that beastman directly. Perhaps if you went about your romantic pursuit with the same kind of courage and noble intentions, I think it just may turn some heads."

Stephen thought it over for a moment and nodded with a smile. He extended a hand and the spirit took it in a cold handshake, "Thanks James. That's actually some pretty good advice. I'll keep it mind."

"I'm counting on you to take care of Laura for me," the ghost laughed, "If you don't, I may have to come back and haunt you personally."

The Silver Knight snorted in amusement and stepped back with a nod, "You can count on me."

As they ended their little aside, Kristen stepped forward holding her staff, "Okay Mr. Bennett, are you ready?"

The spirit stood straight and proud while giving a nod, "Yes Miss Bloom, and thank you for all your help. I'm ready to face whatever lies beyond the pale."

James turned to the others and addressed them each in turn. To Connor he gave a salute and a small wink, "I'm glad we straightened things out Mr. Walsh. You're a good comrade-in-arms and an even better friend to the others. I wish you well."

"Take care James. I'm wishing you luck too," Connor replied giving a friendly wave.

Finally, the spirit turned to the Winter Knight and gave a mournful look, "Miss Gremory… Laura… I'm sorry we didn't have more time together. I enjoyed your company and I appreciated learning about all the recent events of the world from you."

"I feel the same way," Laura said sadly, "Do you really have to go? I mean… can't you just stick around the shop too?"

James laughed gently as he walked over toward her, "I'm afraid Miss Bloom has enough chaos to worry about here. Besides, I'm a thing of the past and you have a responsibility to the future. I'm sorry Laura. You know it has to be this way."

She nodded again and looked down as he touched her cheek and brushed aside a strand of her golden hair. With that, the ghostly soldier stepped back and stood at attention, "All right then Miss Bloom. You may commence with the ritual."

Everyone stood back as Kristen laid out the medallion on a nearby table lined by fresh leaves and circled by some small candles. A hint of burning incense hung in the air as Kristen lowered her staff and began to concentrate. She began a soft chant in some form of ancient Gaelic and the knights watched as the bed of leaves within the ritual circle began to illuminate. As Kristen's voice rose and the glow intensified, the candles winked out and the leaves evaporated into sparkling dust. In the center of the circle, the medallion's emerald stone suddenly disintegrated and crumbled away to dust. With the artifact destroyed, the ghost of James began to glow with a soft white light before the spirit evaporated into twinkling motes of light just like the leaves from the ritual.

As the light faded, everyone remained silent at having witnessed such an unusual sight, even by the standards of those who encountered supernatural beings regularly. After a long pause, Laura gave a small sigh, "I'm glad that James is probably in a better place but it's a terrible shame he had to leave. I was really getting to enjoy his company."

"Even if all he could ever be was just a disembodied ghost? You know it'd never work," Connor said.

The Winter Knight paced idly, "Oh, I know. But still… he had been so sweet and charming and attentive. Can you believe there was a part of me that actually wished for a minute that I could take him with me to the May Festival tonight?"

Kristen gave a gentle smile and patted Laura's shoulder sympathetically while Connor gave Stephen a quick nudge in the side. He tilted his head toward the girls in silence and fixed his younger friend with a pointed look. Stephen nodded and cleared his throat tentatively, "Well… James might not be here, but it shouldn't stop you from going. If you'd like, I'll try to substitute for the evening. You know… as a friend."

Laura looked to him in surprise wearing an enigmatic expression, "Really? You'd be willing to go?"

"Maybe even willing to dance a little too," Stephen said trying to sound nonchalant, "If you're into that sort of thing."

The Winter Knight gave a mild snort of amusement and headed for the door, "All right then Stephen... as friends. Let's head back to the dorm and clean up. We still need to look presentable after all."

"Of course," he answered as he offered his arm and gallantly walked her outside. Before he left, he turned and gave a quick look to Connor only to meet a little nod from the older knight. Once the two freshmen had left, Kristen glanced over to Connor with an amused smile, "Don't worry. Damon and I will keep an eye on them tonight. I don't suppose you're planning to join in on the festival too, are you?"

The Summer Knight thought for a moment and shook his head with a smile, "Nah. There's enough lovey-dovey stuff in the air. I figured I'd do one more good deed for the night instead."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I've got a sick friend who's missing out on all our fun. I figure I'd go visit and bring her some chicken soup instead. I'm sure that'll cheer her up."

"I'm sure it will," Kristen said with an approving smile as she watched him depart. Despite the chaos of ghosts, missing knights, and monster attacks these last few days, peace had returned to the quiet little valley they all called home. It seemed that at least for now, all's well that ended well.

A/N:
Hope you enjoyed the little filler here. The themes were a little different and I decided to go lighter on the action in favor of characterization this time. Coming up next will be the last crossover in this series featuring some heroes from the work of my good buddy Stormasius. I'll be taking a brief pause from this series to work on another fic for bit, but the knights will be jumping back into action after the short break. Thanks for reading everyone!