Encounters
Disclaimer: Disney's, not mine; I'm just borrowing them. I do own Kristi and Denice, though.
Summary: The clan finds out why Denice and Kristi are in New York and it's a reason that bodes ill for everyone's future...
Feedback: Always appreciated, especially constructive critisism.
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Kristi started off. "About two months ago, a few members of my clan were exploring a cave where they saw something... interesting." She paused and nodded to Denice, who continued."We saw a group of what I thought was Oberon's children.
"They were standing in front of what appeared to be a porthole in the wall and appeared to be speaking to it. When they'd finished, it closed and they seemed to fade into thin air.Now, we didn't find anything suspicious about that at first. After all, the clan is accustomed to the strange doings of the Third Race, but-"
"Wait a minute," interrupted Broadway. "Two months ago? Shouldn't all the Children have been on Avalon?"
He missed Owen involuntary twitch, but Kristi noted it with interest before continuing the discussion."That was what bothered me, so," she paused and met Goliath's gaze briefly before staring at the table expressionlessly and continuing. "I foolishly decided to check it out on my own before the sun had set. Without the help of my clan."
"The trouble was," Denice added softly. "I knew that Kristi would have tried something like that." She smiled, but it looked strained. "I called her boyfriend Darren and told him to watch over her. He was half fey."
Kristi felt a tear start to work its way down her cheek and brushed it away angrily. She didn't feel like crying. She couldn't cry... there was too much at stake here.
She spoke before Denice could continue. "He got there first, about five minutes before me." She squeezed her eyes shut. By the time I got there, he was screaming. Such terrible screams..."
Owen's blue eyes suddenly went wide with shock. He heard the screams in his mind; unnatural, terrible sounds. He shook his head to clear it and tried to focus on Kristi. Something felt wrong.
Denice put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Kristi if you want me to continue..." The hybrid nodded.
"When Kristi entered the cave, she saw a man in a black cape throwing energy fields at Darren and he was mumbling something about a Lady Milena."
Kristi looked at Owen, saw him pale and saw the sudden fear dawning in his eyes.
"Milena?" he whispered, but only Kristi heard him; everyone else was too focused on the honey gargoyle telling the tale.Kristi interrupted.
"He started to shout, and that's when I intervened. I sent out a magic pulse of my own and knocked him of balance. Then the strangest thing happened. He looked at me and smiled, saying 'Milena has come at last.'I had no idea what he was talking about; all I could think of was stopping him from hurting Darren any more, but he kicked me and I fell.
"Then he said 'I was ordered to bring you in the presence of the king, for the time is near at hand.' "
"Time?" asked Brooklyn, puzzled. "What time?"
Kristi again looked at Owen and their gazes met. "I truly am sorry, Mr. Burnett."
"Sorry?" Lexington looked at both of them in alarm. "What for?"
Owen raised a hand. "Let them finish their story."
Denice nodded. "When I arrived the man was shouting at her over and over and had just raised his hand to shoot an energy pulse at her-"
"Den jumped between me and him and absorbed all of it." Kristi smiled thinly at her friend.
Denice grimaced and her eyes glowed ruby. "I never felt pain like that before. I should have died but somehow, all it did was to transform me into my present form."
"You mean you're not...?" Angela ventured.
"No," Den confirmed. "I was born human."
"So what happened with the man?" asked Broadway.
Kristi's expression became puzzled."When Den fell, I was so angry, I lashed out at him with all I had, but... this time it was different. I felt as though my power had intensified. It went way beyond its normal limit and he put his hands over his ears and screamed.
"He turned into this ... creature; started to disappear piece by piece and then he screamed something in a strange language about coming after me. I stooped to check on Darren but he wasn't breathing and his body was disintegrating. The cave was starting to collapse and somehow I got Den and myself outside."
Kristi refused to look at anyone. She didn't have time for sympathy; she needed them to understand what was going on."When the clan found us we explained what had happened. My... my father told Darren's mother and she came to see me."
Kristi brushed a lock of hair out of her face and looked at Denice.The honey colored gargoyle shook her head in disbelief. "Vivian must have been so in pain and angry over losing her son but she seemed more shaken over what had passed between us and the man. She was the one who suggested we leave."
Kristi got up and began pacing. "Millennia ago, there was a great war between the Children of Oberon of the Seelie Court and those fey who would oppose them who formed the Unseelie Court. It lasted for a while until, finally, Oberon triumphed.
"He banished the instigators from Avalon and tried to imprison the more dangerous among them using various talismans."
Unexpectedly, Owen spoke next. "Unfortunately, something went wrong with this plan. One of the renegade fey, Lady Milena, managed to steal a great deal of these talismans and destroyed them. Apparently, having been a high ranking official of The Seelie Court, she still was able to communicate with its members sympathetic to her plight."
"So they sold out." Brooklyn stated.
"Pretty much. Oberon did find these traitors and pronounced sentence on them. He thought that without help, the Traitor Lady would no longer be able to help her friends." Kristi shook her head and looked at Owen to continue the story.
"Again, Oberon was mistaken. He quickly realized how powerful and cunning the Lady was. The Phoenix Gate was created to capture one of the Unseelies and he was sure that this would bring out Milena. His plan was to capture her within the Gate as well."
"It was a sound plan, except for one small detail. Lady Milena had the unforeseen ability to control the Gate. She freed her friend and hid him somewhere within the fabric of time. Then she herself stole the Gate, and was not seen again for quite some time." Kristi's expression had turned serious.
"She was not detected by Oberon?" Goliath asked in disbelief.
"Correct. This put everyone on Avalon on edge, especially Oberon. No Unseelie had ever demonstrated that level of stealth before."
Owen continued carefully. "When she reappeared, she promised the Lord and Lady of the Unseelie Court that she would make them powerful again using the Gate and they would be given a sign when the time came."
"For some reason," Kristi supplied, "the Phoenix Gate has appeared, jumping randomly from time to time."
Goliath made a noise in his throat. "We have encountered it."
Kristi arched an eyebrow. "What no one understands is why the gate behaves as it does. If Milena is controlling it, she should appear whenever it does. It appears that she has abandoned it and in doing so abandoned her promise to her Unseelie rulers."
"So, this man must have been looking for her." Goliath mused. Brooklyn was starting to look confused.
"But why would he confuse you with her? And why would he want to come after you?" Denice glanced at Kristi who had gone silent. After a while, the hybrid sighed.
"I have no idea. The only possible reason Vivian could come up with was that the Unseelies might think I'm connected with Milena somehow. They might want to use me to draw her out."
"But", said Broadway, struggling to understand, "that doesn't make any sense. How would you know this Milena? What would make them think that?"
Kristi blew out an exasperated breath. "I've been going over that question a thousand times. If I was fully fey I could perhaps figure out why they'd make such an outlandish assumption but I'm not even a Halfling." She glanced at Goliath.
"Despite all of the unclear issues, the message the Unseelies have sent is quite clear. They killed my boyfriend and transformed Denice in their attempt to take me. Vivian assures me that the Unseelies would not have gone to so much trouble if they didn't consider me important."
Lexington's eyes glowed. "True. The fey don't consider the other Races important unless they need them for something." Owen gave him an expressionless glance.
Denice continued, "When Vivian came to the conclusion that they would return for Kristi, she volunteered to leave the clan. She didn't want any more of them to get hurt."
She gave her friend a kind look."Of course, the clan had a different idea, but eventually she convinced them it would be for the best."
Kristi gave a small smile and glanced at her honey colored friend. "I hadn't been gone five minutes when Den joined me. My grandmother had sent her to watch over me wherever I went."
Denice gave a small snort."I would have followed you anyway. She knew that."There was a brief silence while everyone digested all of this information. Finally Angela spoke.
"So," she asked softly, "you don't have anywhere to go."
Kristi bowed her head while Denice answered."We just wanted to get as far away from the clan as possible. When the Unseelies strike we don't want anymore people hurt."
Kristi was looking at the table with unblinking emerald eyes.When she spoke, the entire clan heard the tremor in her voice. "The clan... had a breeding season about six years ago."
Several expressions flitted across the faces of the Manhattan clan while Kristi continued."The hatching won't happen for four more years but... they have twelve eggs in the rookery."
She raised her eyes to meet Goliath's. "I couldn't stay."
"What you did was honorable." Goliath looked back at her with strong eyes.
"There may be little we can do, but you can count on my clan for support."Kristi's emerald eyes sparkled.
"Thank you." She turned to look at Owen. "Mr. Burnett, can we count on your support as well?"
"There might be very little that I could do, Ms. Johnson. However, you have my support as well as that of my employer."
"Well said, lad." Everyone turned to the doorway where Hudson had been standing unnoticed during the entire story. He walked up to the two newcomers who bowed their heads slightly in a show of respect.
"My name be Hudson, lasses. I couldnae help hearing yuir tale. You couldnae have come to a better clan for help."
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A/N: The Phoenix Gate and the Unseelies will feature alot in this story (actually, they're sorta like the backbone lol)... just letting you know that I've modified alot of stuff, so I'm not going to be strictly following cannon...