Rasputin Vrestreni: This World Is Something New To Me

((Totally didn't steal title from Rugrats movie. Warning, F-words. Since because Belinda Diamond.))

If Esra hadn't told him to just wander, Ras might have had a clue as to where the heck he was. As it was, he was alone in the massive-ass castle without even the slightest clue as to what was what, where, when or how. How long had he been wandering for anyway? His legs were getting tired. A woman opened a door behind him and he turned. "Excuse me...I'm a bit lost..."
The woman tilted her head, smiling. "Lost? Oh, it's easy to get lost when you're new here. Everyone gets lost all the time when they first come visit. You should have seen poor Mr Shadow trying to find a bathroom. I'm Niamh, by the way. Who are you?" He opened his mouth to answer her and she gave an annoying cooing noise. "Are you the man Mr Sunshine's older sister brought in? My you looked in a state when he pulled you past. So pale, you were. Look better now, of course. I liked the robes you were wearing. I don't like the shirt you have now though. It's all Gothic and stuff. Anyway, everyone else is in the dinner hall, or were last I checked, apart from my youngest and my husband and Mr Sunshine and yourself of course, but we have others. Mr Sunshine actually attracts some of the loveliest guests. I'm sure you're going to be another lovely guest. Anyway, I was thinking-"
He cut her off, finding himself rather irritated by her babbling. "I'm sorry, but could you be quiet please? I have a headache. I just want to this dinner hall place and talk to the others."
Niamh looked a little unsure, like no-one had ever told her to shut up before. Probably why she spoke so much then. He tried to give her a smile. She smiled back. "Sure, okay. Follow me."

The dining hall had one man standing at one end, eating toast and watching two men further down threaten each other. One girl beside the ginger man looked embarrassed. She caught the teenage girl looking at Vrestreni and turned to look. Her face brightened and she got up to greet him. "You're okay!"
He smiled, recognising the girl who had taken him away from the fight with Bonifac and then the man who had tunnelled despite being too tired. "My name's B-J. B-J Maleficent."
"Rasputin Vrestreni." He turned his eyes to the others in the room, but the redhead and the blonde men were still arguing, something about why the blonde wouldn't just die, and the man standing gave him a brief glance that was full of malice. He didn't want him-or any of the others present-in his house. The teenager was texting again. Reminded him of his sister. She never got off the phone either. Shrugging, Ras returned his attention to B-J, smiling. She was staring at him. "Can I help you?"
"Huh?" She shook her head and blushed. "Sorry."
"Thanks for saving me anyway..."
"No problem. Actually, depending on your magic type, I could use your hand..."

-----

At least he didn't wake up in a prison cell...it was a strange first thought to have, but it hung there nonetheless as the first thought into the man's head. He sat up and realised he had been drooling in his sleep. Wiping the side of his mouth on his sleeve, he took a moment to take in his surroundings and sighed. There was a car by the road, evidently having broken down. His chest had healed and by the looks of things he wasn't that far from Roarhaven. Two people stood by the car, arguing. It seemed like one of them was the reason the car had broken down, the other was pissed off with them...one of them was Billy-Ray Sanguine. He didn't recognise the other person, but he heard the mention of Mevolent. He had no idea how he had ended up this far away from them, but it looked like he could get away without them seeing him. The repair work on his chest was mediocre at best and he wasn't sure how he would fare in a fight at the moment. As he edged away there was another stroke of luck as Sanguine and the other person started a scuffle. Slipping away was easy. Now he just had to hope he was going the right way. If not, he could probably move down to the road a distance away and hitch a ride or something. Someone was running after him and he realised there had been two broken down cars at the road. It had been a collision. Sanguine had been driving one car and the other had had two Asian people in the passenger seats, and another one arguing with the Texan. Before breaking out in a run he doubted his body could handle at the moment, he glanced over his shoulder to see two of the Asian men chasing after him. He turned fully and snapped at the air. He was well aware Japan were under Mevolent's control now. The two men were knocked head-over-heels and he turned and made a break for the road. One man scrambled up in seconds and was hot on his trail. He wasn't sure what to do, but as a third person, the woman who had been arguing with Sanguine, cut off his escape route, he found he had no choice but to stand and fight...

-----

Gale lay the girl on the bed and backed away a step or two, resting the back of his fingers against her cheeks calmly. The others were downstairs. This was Belinda's house. She had said they were to leave Daemon there and then leave completely. Didn't look like that was happening. The redhead turned to leave when the girl began to awaken with a groan. He glanced over his shoulder as she sat up, then gave a toothy grin. "You're awake I see."
"Where...who are you?"
"Gale Blaze." He bowed theatrically. "I helped save you."
"Oh...thanks I guess..."
"No problem. Austin and Belinda were quite worried when they saw what that ginger minger did to you."
He came closer to her and she felt a strange something in there. They both smiled and he sat on the edge of her bed, resting a hand on her leg as though he hadn't realised it was there. "You should be good to be up and about in a couple of hours...we didn't have a healer, so we had to make do with what we did have...and it will hurt to move...a lot..."
She nodded slowly. "Okay, thanks...where am I?"
"Belinda Diamond's house. She told the rest of us to leave once you were put in here, but no-one's moving. It's all stubbornness. Actually, Austin had his fingers digging into upholstery last I saw and had trapped his coat under his chair leg so they couldn't give it to him and make him leave." She gave a slight laugh.
"Tell him I'm fine. And to clean his fingernails. Or cut them. Or something."
Gale nodded, a toothy grin overtaking his face radiantly. "Oh I will. I'll make sure to tell you how he reacts. You're actually pretty cute for someone who hangs around that guy..."
"I don't hang around him, he abducted me."
He laughed and got up as a crash sounded downstairs. "I'll be right back."

Austin drew his feet in, fingernails still digging into the sky blue sofa. Belinda stood opposite him, leaning against her fireplace. She wasn't looking happy. Cadence had been trying to make the atmosphere a little less tense but Maxim had thrown something at her. Now everything was tense and sombre and Belinda just wanted everyone to leave. Everyone. Even her boyfriend and siblings. Cadence sighed. "Bel, why d'you hate us?"
She turned her cold gaze on her. "Because you rejected the teachings of the temple, blame our dad for everything, think you're oh so beautiful and wonderful and special and that you have to be a fucking giraffe height-wise, stole my first boyfriend, make fun of me for being fat and disapprove of all of my friends and of all of Austin's friends." She turned to Austin. "And I hate you because your stubble looks like something crawled on your face and died, you constantly ask me for money, you also rejected the temple teachings yet still use Necromancy, you go around with one of the world's most annoying girls who I swear to god has cheated on you before like eight times, you have no personal hygiene, you never put what little money you do have to good use and you get into trouble like this all the fucking time."
Austin sighed, putting his feet back on the floor. "No job, need experience before I can get experience, I like her, only once and one case of being assaulted, homeless, no showers on the streets, Cay is the one in trouble, and screw you, you have no sense of family anything."
"What the heck do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. Just Cay and I tend to stick together. Only in stupid ways." He sent a meaningful glare to his sister, who shrank back murmuring about everyone being against her. Baritone laughed and sighed, grinning. "You're so sour, Bel."
"Ugh."
"Cow."
Bel took a furious step towards her little brother and Cadence was reminded of when they were children back in the temple. Katharine and Nostradamus stepped in to stop the siblings as Austin rose to meet his sister's challenge. Gale came down the stairs, announcing Daemon was awake and grinning as he realised what was going on. "My money's on the broad." He announced loudly as they both took their objects of power, before turning and both pounding the elemental into the wall.

-----

Lilia sat up in bed. It was a little early to be asleep for most, yes, but she had not slept for days. She had some important things to plot out. Finally she had been going to sleep, but a noise had awoken her. She lifted her eyemask and instantly noticed someone else in her room. She narrowed her eyes. "Whoever you are, leave without taking anything or killing anyone and I'll not kill you."
The intruder tilted their head and made no other movement and no sound. The Adept sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know who I am and what I can do, right?" The stranger stepped forward. It was just one step but it held the malice within it, just the step. She scrambled to her feet and released her Gist. The intruder evaded it amazingly. He was beside her in seconds, delivering a powerful kick to her chest. The Gist retracted and she gasped, remaining on the floor as her energy lulled. She was completely vulnerable as the man stood over her. She struggled weakly but inevitably he took her head and twisted it sharply, breaking the neck.

-----

Harrison shook his head. "There is no way that's happening."
Ursa grinned. "I know someone with direct links to Mevolent. I know his every move."
Harrison pulled a revolver out of his waistband. "I'm not going to kill Scaramouch. He's more trustworthy here. You, however..." He knew he was lying. He was the only one Fred trusted. After this he would have to kill all of them. Even his girlfriend Kat and the pregnant Hibernia. They would all have to die. He pulled the trigger, holding the gun close to Ursa's head, but there was no bang. Borealis opened his hand and let six bullets drop to the floor. "Ah."

-----

Amadeus opened his eyes and found two men stood over him, whispering quietly to one another. One of them held up a hand to stop the other. "He's awake."
"Is that even the right word?"
"Fine. He's crossed. Happy now, Larrikin?"
The second man, Larrikin, nodded, holding out a hand to help Darkside to his feet. He accepted it and the man's hand came off. A burst of blood sprayed the sensitive in the face and he cried out in disgust. Larrikin grinned.
"Oh, cool! All these years of being here and I've never realised I could do that!"
The other man gave him a withering look. "Larrikin..." He moaned disapprovingly.
Larrikin laughed again and Amadeus watched disbelievingly as his hand grew back. "You have to admit that was awesome, man."
The other man outstretched his hand. "I promise mine won't come off." Amadeus accepted the hand warily and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
"Thanks."
"No problem. My name's Hopeless."
"Amadeus Darkside." They shook hands and Larrikin stood to the side, grinning like an idiot. "Did...did you two get me out of there or something? Where am I? It looks...weird..."
Hopeless and Larrikin exchanged worried looks. Then Larrikin turned and bluntly stated "You're dead."
Hopeless facepalmed. "What have I told you about tact?"
"That Marie, Nefarian and Raven are better at it?"
"...Besides that..."
"Wait a second...I'm dead?"
"That's what I said." Larrikin spread his arms wide, grinning. "Welcome to the afterlife!"
"From now on only Marie and Raven can greet the newly dead..." Hopeless crossed his arms moodily and glared off to the side, clearly very annoyed with his companion. It seemed like this happened a lot.
"It's great here." Larrikin continued regardless. "You can do whatever you want, don't have to eat or sleep or pee, you can if you want though...and you can do practically anything...except have babies..."
"Didn't want any anyway." The American responded, sounding bored.
"Good. Hopeless, can I show him around?"
"As long as you don't lock him in the fire cage as a joke?"
Amadeus frowned. "Fire cage?"
"It was where Mevolent was trapped by some ruler of this place named Archangel or something...it was to stop his soul ever returning to the mortal plane or whatever..."
"Evidently it failed." Darkside spat back vehemently.
"I know, and I'm sorry. Archangel does it with every bad soul to stop it getting recycled. No soul has ever escaped before, according to him...I think he's lying though...I think something fishy's going on..."
The look in Hopeless' eyes intrigued and somewhat disturbed Darkside. He decided to talk to this Archangel and see if he could work out what the hell had happened. As if he could read his mind, Hopeless nodded. "Whatever your plan, go for it, Amadeus. Any idea is our only idea."

((No idea where the Larrikin and Hopeless thing came from...but it was fun...no idea where the serious portion at the end came from either...according to my brother, naming knives, killing people with knives a lot and stabbing crocodile-related stuff is very Australian...next couple of days'll be fun.))

Zafira Kerias: Messing Up Big Time

Zafira stayed by Javier for as long as she could but he literally shoved her out the door to the Sanctuary. He was healing but of course she still worried. He was hurt badly but apparently he was fine. Zafira paced the office once she got there. Minor attacks had occurred in the border states. The ones bordering Canada had issues and from what Zafira understood Mevolent had gained Canada. Which was far from good. If he gained anymore of North America it'd be bad. She had gotten reports from various Sanctuaries worldwide. Every Council was on high alert. With Meolent's plan failing at the Pocono 500 she didn't dare say they were safe. In fact she believed they were screwed. Finally after a few hours of either pacing or reading she sat down and Alexander Remit scared her to death.
"Grand Mage." He said from behind her. Zafira turned to him. Usually he'd call her by her name and not use her full title. As he was in the Sanctuary it was not uncommon he would use her full title. Less suspicious.
"What Remit?" She asked
"Mevolent wishes to speak to you." Remit took her and teleported. Then they were in the throne room, Zafira still in her Elders robes. Damn it.
"Next time let me take the robes off." She told Remit before turning to a very pissed off looking Mevolent.
"Master?" She asked unsure. His hand twitched,
"Zafira. You are a dead dead dead, Necromancer." He growled and sent her straight into the wall. She sprang up and sent shadows at him and he deflected them. Then two Redhoods grabbed her and forced her to kneel before him. She was not afraid but merely freaked. Mevolent seemed pissed even further.
"I should confine you to the castle but I actually need you to do something." He told her. Zafira kept her head bowed not wanting to deal with his wrath.
"I want you to go and somehow someway make sure my army gains the west coast." She didn't say a word she just nodded. He dismissed her and she was teleported to the Sanctuary. She took her Elders robes off and put them on her chair and shadow walked home. Javier hugged her
"Did Mevolent hurt you?" He asked and Zafira nodded slightly. Javier kept her close kissing her head and bringing her to their room. They just lay there happily. It wasn't as if she was gonna go anywhere anytime too soon. They slept together through the night locked in their embrace.

Javier wandered the house wondering when Zafira would be home. As he loved her so much he doubted he'd be able to withstand being separated from her for long. It was almost a day before she came home and Javier was worried. She looked hurt and pale. He held her close
"Zaf?" He asked. She pressed her head into his chest
"It hurts. Mevolent wanted me again and he stabbed me and stuff. I had only got my surroundings and I couldn't fight back before he got me. I managed to help myself and my dear father helped me. It just hurts seriously. Really really hurts." She explained. Javier put his hand to her stomach
"Here?" She nodded "I got you Zaf. Just sit down. I'll get one of those leaves." He helped her to the couch and she sat there. He got her a leaf and she chewed it relaxing soon.
"Why did he hurt you?" He asked
"Cuz I got him in the groin. He moved too fast technically I did no wrong." She shrugged. Javier laughed and hugged her close. He wasn't going to let go easily.

Serpine was planning. He wanted to kill Zafira and end the Grand Mage's control of America. If he managed to kill her it'd make capturing America so much easier. Well util the count of prisoners. Baron Vengeous had reported to Mevolent Serephia Jackson of America was freed. Which meant Zafira had to have done it and Serpine was determined to have her executed or something violent. The problem laid was that Mevolent was trusting her. She did resemble Justaria a lot. Serpine had liked that Necromancer. She was powerful and she was a good soldier. He bet Mevolent would have had her made a general if she hadn't died in battle. Serpine knew Vengeous knew the details. So he went to Vengeous
"Why does Mevolent trust Zafira?" Serpine asked.
"Simple." Replied Baron. "She's Justaria. Her true name is Justaria and Mevolent knows she is powerful. He hopes in time Justaria will influence Zafira." Serpine looked stunned
"She is.. Wow." He muttered. Who ever thought the Grand Mage of America was somewhat traitor to both sides. Ah the things Serpine learned.

When Zafira woke up her wounds barely stung. Javier had carried her to bed and she was happy to be with him. Until she realized Mevolent's motivation to hurt her
"Oh my god he's gonna attack New York."

September Silver: Effrancia, Elizabeth, and Outer Space

This is confusing, and I'm making up weird rules, and I have tonnes of odd characters, and blah blah blah, but here's the next chapter!

Ember was still being chased after her dad, even though she was already dead. His motto was that you could always cause more pain, and he was going to stick to that.

Even though she hated being weak, she didn't really care or think about it in that moment. So Ember cried out, "HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

And then out of nowhere, Eff came and knocked him in the head with an anvil.

"Hello, Silver," she said. "We meet again. Now I get to finish you off for what you did to me."

Ember was crying too much to reply, so she sunk to the ground and wept instead of thinking up a smartass comment.

"Whoa, whoa," Eff said as she stepped back. "What the hell is happening?"

"It... it doesn't.... matter..." Ember sniffed between snobs.

"All right... god, how do I deal with you... how did you die?"

"He just killed me, you dipwit!" Ember yelled.

"No need to snap, Silver."

Ember shakily stood up. "We need to go find Elizabeth."

"Uh... who?"

"Elizabeth Wisdom."

"Uh, what? I thought that she lost control of her gist, killed hundreds, and then got put to sleep. Why do you want to go talk to her?"

"Uh, well... she didn't exactly get put to sleep the first time, by the way."

Eff frowned. 

Ember took a deep breath, then added, "I think you'd know her better by her other name. Liberty Wit."

"Mevolent's person? The psychopath? The wanted criminal?!"

"She's my sister. And besides, she only became a psychopath once the gist took over. And now that she's here, the gist can't follow her through death, so she's temporarily cured. She's normal."

"All right, fine," Eff groaned. "Let's go. Where do you think she is?"

"I know where she is. She's with my mother."

"Does your mom have any powers?"

"She's an Elemental, so we should be able to defeat her. I can't suck people's souls like this, because I'm dead, and Elizabeth doesn't have her gist, but I have my wings and she has her knife. And her own wings. I'm sure you could help us too."

"Yeah," she shrugged. 

"Or mess everything up, like you did the last time I met you. You know, before I stabbed you in the arm and you died."

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"So do I. I disturb myself greatly, you know."

"I had guessed."

They flew in silence over to where Elizabeth was.

"I can deal with your mom, if you don't want to hurt her," Eff offered.

Ember looked at her slowly. "I want to hurt her so badly, it's not even funny."

"Okay," Eff said. "Not afraid to hurt the ones you love. I like that."

"I don't love her," Ember said. "I only love one person in the whole world and that's Elizabeth, and she's gone. She's become insane. She's barely there anymore. The gist took over, she changed her name, she changed her life..."

Eff rolled her eyes. "This isn't a good time for a pity party, Silver."

Ember gave her a murderous look. "All right, well, why don't you do something useful then?

"Watch your mouth kid, or you’ll find yourself floating home," Eff muttered.

Closing her eyes, she manipulated Ember's mother's sight until Liberty appeared missing.

"What?" her mother shouted, whirling around. "Where are you, you good-for-nothing bitch?

Ember tensed and grasped the syringe hidden in her robes, but Eff grabbed her arm and motioned for her to be quiet.

Suddenly, images of unicorns floated in front of her mother. 

"What's happening?" she yelled. "Elizabeth, get back here immediately!"

"I want her to pay," Ember whispered to Eff. "Could you put an image of Mevolent in front of her?"

Eff glared at her. "I'm not your slave, Silver."

"Please."

They glared at each other until Ember finally looked away. "Alright, you know what, fine. But then you'll never get to find out exactly why I want to put his image there."

Eff stared straight ahead. "Whatever." She was curious, though. 

She made some images so it looked like Liberty was running away in the opposite direction, and Ember's mother howled and ran after the image.

"Now grab your damned psychopath out of here," Eff huffed, "And let's get out of here."

Ember was already busy untying Elizabeth and checking the wounds on her face. "How are you, Elizabeth? Are you alright?"

"Oh, Ember!" Elizabeth said with joy. "You're here! I knew you'd come for me. Are you alive right now? Please say you are..."

"Unfortunately not," Ember sighed. "I was, but then our father killed me, you know how it is."

"I do. Now, let me say hello to your friend!"

Elizabeth got up and turned to Eff. "Hello! It's so lovely to meet you. Thank you very much for helping free me. I'm Elizabeth Wisdom. You?"

"Effrancia Devastine," Eff said with a slightly cautious tone. You could tell she was a little worried that at any given moment she'd turn back into Liberty and kill her.

"Lovely!" Elizabeth said. 

"Do you know how to get out of this hellhole?" Eff asked.

Elizabeth paused. "Um, I think that we have to speak to the ruler of Heaven about it first. Either that or we have to wait for another Healer to get us, and that's not going to happen."

"Perfect. Let's go," Ember nodded, and she spread her snowy-white wings. Elizabeth revealed a pair of raven-black wings, and Eff kinda just stood there.

"Why don't I get wings?" she grumbled under her breath.

Ember glared at her. "Shut up."

"I'll carry you," Elizabeth offered with a smile, and Eff jumped. Ember sighed and grabbed onto Eff, and together they flew over the land of the dead.

They finally reached a little office with a receptionist there. She looked friendly, with square green glasses and bob-cut hair.

"Hello, Order," Ember said. "It's good to see you again."

The receptionist named Order smiled warmly and took her hand. "Likewise. Have you come to collect somebody or drop somebody off?"

"Neither. I'm stuck here for now, so I was wondering if I could get permission to leave."

Order sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry. How did you die?"

"My father... you know how it is. He killed me."

"Same as me! Now we can be matching. But anyway, I don't think you're going to get permission."

"Yeah, that's the disadvantage of being on the Wanted list for years."

Eff looked at her. "You're on a Wanted list?"

"Well, technically the Midnight Princess doesn't really like it when you still her inhabitants. And I steal them a lot."

"The WHAT?"

"Oh, she controls death. She also rules Heaven and Hell, didn't you know that?"

"But--"

"For god's sake, you've been here a week and you know nothing. Are you stupid or just ignorant?"

Eff lunged at her and she enveloped her in her wings. Immediately she was surrounded by images of One Direction.

"NO!" she screamed, flailing her arms about.

Order kicked at Eff's legs and she fell to the floor. The images disappeared, Ember letting out a sigh of relief as she helped Eff up.

"In the beginning," Ember continued, "There was no death. No life disappeared. Back all this time ago, there wasn't such a problem of overpopulation, because we owned all the galaxies, all the universes."

"But then the Midnight Princess was born, and she hated everyone. She grew up with darkness inside of her. And then she learned how to kill people. She learned how to steal their lives without batting an eyelid, and she became the most powerful sorcerer the world had ever seen. Of course, she was the first one to really use her powers for something other than good, so... Anyways, she took all the other universes besides this one and turned them into Heaven and Hell so she'd have somewhere to put all these people. And now she's less powerful, so she can't kill people like she pleases anymore, but she made Heaven and Hell inaccessible.... Eff, are you listening?"

Eff was busy trying to get a piece of skin out of her hair. "Wait, what, huh?"

Ember and Order groaned simultaneously. 

"You have to let us try," Elizabeth said to Order. "It's our only hope."

Order looked at them. "When you go to prison, I promise to bring you pancakes."

Ember nodded decisively. "Good. I like pancakes. Now, let's go."

"Your Highness," Order said into a microphone on her shirt, "September Silver is here to see you, along with Effrancia Devastine and Elizabeth Wisdom."

Order paused for a few seconds, and then she nodded. 

"Okay, guys, you can go up. Good luck!"

An elevator appeared out of nowhere, and Ember and Elizabeth got in. After a few seconds, Eff followed them.

"This had better work," she grumbled as the doors closed.

-------

About five minutes later, the doors opened to reveal a pitch-black corridor. Ember and Elizabeth strolled through like it was absolutely no problem at all, and Eff pretended to feel the same.

Inside, she was incredibly confused. Because a while ago, she was minding her own business, and now she was walking in a random corridor and she had no idea what was happening and all she wanted to do was get an anvil and smash someone's head in and have a nice relaxing afternoon.

After a while, she was happy that Ember had gone first, because she walked smack into the end of the corridor. She swore quickly, and Elizabeth elbowed her.

"What if the Midnight Princess is right behind this wall? And if she hears us?" Elizabeth whispered angrily.

"Then I'll get doubly arrested."

"Emby, we're trying to negotiate, okay?"

Eff expected Ember to smack Elizabeth for that comment, but instead she laughed and hugged her. Beaming, she whispered, "I've missed you so much."

When they pulled away, Elizabeth smiled and knocked on the wall. "Midnight Princess? We're here to see you?"

Nothing.

Elizabeth screamed inhumanly and slammed herself into the wall. The wall caved in and crumbled all over the floor.

"That's my girl," Ember grinned as Eff stared. "Okay, let's go."

They walked through the wall and then gasped. 

They were in outer space, stars sitting motionlessly around them. It was pitch black except for a shining silver mass of energy, in which the Midnight Princess slept. Her hair was made of stardust, and her skin glowed like the sun behind the moon. She opened her starlike eyes, and when she spoke it was melodious.

"What brings you here?" 

Ember curtsied. "I am September Silver, and this is--"

"I know who you are," the Midnight Princess sighed. "I know who you are and why you're here. You'd like to take somebody with you?"

"Two people," Eff said, and Ember elbowed her. 

The Midnight Princess stared up into the darkness. "I should destroy you now," she whispered softly. "I could, you know."

Ember frowned as she floated. "I know you could. But I have to return my sister to life. I love her. She made me promise her that I'd always bring her back, even with the gist."

"Fabienne S."

"What?"

The Midnight Princess finally turned her head to look at them. "She annoys me, that one. She won't give up. She won't give in. She won't join my kingdom."

"...and?" Ember said warily.

"Let's make a deal. I know you know her, I can see everything. I'll give you forty-eight hours to kill her. If you succeed, I'll let you and your sister live. If you don't, I'll keep you both here."

Ember paused for a second, and then she nodded. She would do anything to save her sister, at least momentarily. "All right. I'll do it."

"Your forty-eight hours start now," the Midnight Princess said, and Ember felt life returning to her body. "Be gone."

"Wait a minute!" Eff yelled. "What about--"

The Midnight Princess waved her hand, and suddenly Ember was back where she'd started. Back in the place where Fabienne S was. 

Liberty Wit was next to her. "Took you long enough. What were you doing, buying a goddamned ice cream?"

"Oh, I wish it were that simple." And Ember walked back into the house, ready to kill.

Harrison: The Revised Plan

The atmosphere in what appeared to be a grand hall was that of awkward tension. Garnet had fallen asleep at the table, head on his arms. Vex sat opposite B-J, looking a little awkward and trying to get as far away as politely possible from the blonde girl beside him. A Vampire, apparently, and she appeared to have a thing for the poor guy. There was a redheaded teenage girl on Vex's other side, texting someone on her phone. Nobody had spoken for about an hour now. She began to drum her fingers nervously on the table. "So...you two are working with my brother...how are you finding that?"
Tewdews, the vampire, shrugged. "Boring. He ran out of jobs for me a while back."
Vex met B-J's eyes. "Disconcerting. We're failing."
She sighed. "Any idea how the Grand Mage is?"
"Last I saw, he was in pretty bad shape, but as far as I'm concerned, he's back at work, so I think he's fine..."
She gave a relieved sigh. Garnet shifted beside her, snorting and mumbling to himself in his sleep. He always sleep-talked, but always at enough of a mumble to be impossible to make out. The teenager raised her eyes from her phone finally. She then raised her phone so that she was holding it to Vex's face. "Smile."
He looked a little bewildered as she took a photo and sent it to her friends. There was a few minutes silence before she turned to him again. "I think and my best friend agrees that you are hot."
"You're too young for me."
"Yeah, I thought as much." She turned to B-J. "Isn't he hot?"
"I guess so..." She mumbled, not sure what to say, "I mean...not my type...but..." She shrugged and hoped the teenager would leave. Vex shifted uncomfortably. It was probably the knowledge of who these people were and what kind of place and crowd he was getting himself into. He fixed his eyes to B-J. After all, she was the good one. She knew the Grand Mage. It didn't matter about her family. He jabbed a finger at Garnet. "Who's he?"
"Garnet Dorado...friend of mine..."
"Ah, I thought I recognised him...he goes around killing people with that guy with the ponytail who gives names to his knife, doesn't he? Mortis something..."
"Mortis Grievance." Garnet mumbled, turning his head the other way. Vex nodded, eyeing the ginger man nervously.
B-J bit her lip nervously. "I...I never heard that..."
Her friend barked out a laugh, his head still on the table. "Killing with Mortis is fun! He has the stupid name for his knife and once almost got lynched with that stupid custard-coloured ribbon he sometimes holds his hair back with...other times it's just a scrunchie...but ribbon means he's feeling gruesome...but when he was hanging from the tree I just stood there and laughed. He nearly killed me for it. Letting him nearly die, I mean." He finally sat up. "Mr Vex! I thought I remembered that heart-wrenchingly annoying voice. Still sing horribly off-key in the shower?" He noticed the raven-haired girl staring at him and barked another laugh. "Innocence is dead boring, Bill."
"Don't call me that."
"Assassins or not, leave my shower singing out of it." Vex added, making Garnet laugh again.
"Mr Slow Reactions..."

-----

Harrison had never been very good with computers. He had Van Dreg peering over his shoulder telling him how to do everything and getting increasingly annoyed as the Australian Mage became increasingly confused. Finally the other man pushed him off and took over, asking what he needed accessed. The Australian stepped back and let his companion do the work for him, his gaze trailing to the window. He thought he saw a movement out there and moved to look, but he was distracted by Kat calling for kitchen-related help...something to do with the dinner exploding on her. Scaramouch's tongue poked up out of the top of his mouth as he concentrated on Harrison's task for him, unaware his life was now in danger. The computer screen was out of view of the window, but the person peering through it from a distance could just about see the overweight Mage's flabby backside. That man had just accessed the secrets he needed and so was the only thing standing between him and such secrets.

Ursa Borealis readied a gun, taking careful aim. As he squeezed the trigger, a random dog burst into the bushes and cocked his leg against Ursa's. Naturally being peed on was distracting. The bullet drilled through the glass of the window but it didn't hit the fat Mage. It instead exploded a cushion on an armchair instead.

Scaramouch's head whipped round to look at the exploding cushion, eyes widening. He went to examine it, sifting through the feathers until he found the bullet. A gasp escaped his lips and he looked back over to the window, raking his eyes over it until he found the little hole where the bullet must have come through. He edged out of range of the window and into the next room. He pulled the computer plug out as he passed with his foot, so when the man broke the window lock, slipped in and went to the computer monitor, there was nothing there.

Ursa kicked the dog away from him as violently as he could, watched the overweight Mage edge out of the room, looking terrified. He allowed himself a chuckle. He could easily adapt to this. He slipped in and rolled his eyes. Of course they would turn off the computer. "Fred?" He called, moving into the main room, tilting his head. It was empty. Of course. "Valarian? Riordan?"
Harrison walked through. "Ursa Borealis, I assume."
"Yeah, bitch. Fred Mould tell you about me?"
"He told me you killed all your team mates when you were with him. Including Valarian and Riordan."
"Oh yeah. And Lacerta...she was hot..."
"You're psychopathic and unstable..."
"And I have links to Mevolent."
Harrison paused for a moment. "Are you trying to get me to try and kill you or are you making an offer?"
"Both. I think I have a revised plan for you. But I want to kill the fat guy."

-----

Esra pulled the surgical mask away from his face and shook his hair loose from the cap thing. He allowed himself a stretch and sat down to rest his legs. Standing up that still for so long was difficult. The man had been lucky to have survived until being brought to his attention. His elder uniform had been thrown away for the man's own safety and his own underclothes were being washed and repaired. Meanwhile, this Garnet person was about the perfect build for the man, and so had been relatively willing to donate his clothes to the poor sod. They consisted of a Black Veil Brides shirt and a pair of violet trousers. In the other room, the Czech man was waking up. Esra chose not to go see if he was alright, deciding he would prefer to sit there and hum 'Carolyn' by the same band on the shirt. His sister loved them as well, and he had heard them a fair bit in Mevolent's castle. After a few minutes, he remembered the Grotesquery was in there with the man and went in there hoping he hadn't already freaked out.

Rasputin was well aware there was something gorey and bandaged beside him. He turned his head away from it and sat up before opening his eyes and sliding off the surgical table. He looked down at what he was wearing, wrinkled his nose and looked at the room. Looking back at the 'table' he found it had actually been a plank of wood on a bed. On the rest of the bed lay the disfigured thing in bandages. Apart from a few blood stains, it was a nice room. White and pink colour scheme, cream carpet, floral bedspread and walls...a pretty room used for gruesome purposes. The door opened and Ras prepared to attack. The man smiled. "Welcome back to reality. You're lucky you were brought to me when you were...actually, you're lucky you survived that late at all anyway."
"Where am I?"
"Ireland, specifics are something I won't give because I don't know. A friend's place. He's already getting sick of us using it as a base of operations. Before you ask anything, we know you're an elder from the...Czech Republic? Anyway, we know you've been replaced by the owner of this." He held up Bonifac's ring and smiled. "My sister and her friend brought you here to save your life. You'd best be thankful, but for now it's dangerous to return to your home. My sister at least will try her best to help you, but I'm afraid my friends and I have our own agendas." He gestured to the thing on the bed. "Feel free to explore, sir."
Rasputin shrugged and left the room.

-----

He jammed the funny window latch as best he could as they exited through it, but it still opened fairly easily. His knee was of course still very difficult to walk on, and he had to lean on Madame Mist heavily for support. Once again, they were in clothes not their own to get as far as they could undetected. They made it pretty far with a pair of nice hats pulled low over their faces and limping to the Sanctuary. Once they were there, they changed into their robes and Ravel did his best to hurry to his friend's office, but Ghastly wasn't there. He went down to the hospital wing, but he wasn't there either. He paused to ask someone if they had seen the scarred elder but they said they hadn't. He went back to his friend's office, but he wasn't anywhere even though the 'something important' he had bled over and his phone were. He shouted out the question as to whether or not anyone had seen Ghastly at all since the previous night, but nobody could honestly say they had. Mist came to stand at his shoulder, resting a hand on his shoulder. Trying to comfort. He rested his own hand over hers. "Where do you think he's gone?"
"I don't think he's gone." She replied quietly. "I think he was taken."
"So do I..."

((Hey guys...this is what I do on heavy metal when I should be revising for exams...I think I can still get a B in Maths without the revision...I've never revised before and I can get As in Biology and Physics very easily...I'm that kind of annoying person...I have no social life, just smarts and sleep and creativity and internet. That's it. Who needs social life? I want to time skip to marry Ravel and Mist, but I've decided Ghastly can't die because he must become best man, so screw you, original plans...but first they need to find Ghastly and some other stuff needs to happen...oh, and Fabi, I haven't won the race, but I have named our knife man with the ponytail as I do...Rist is just about the only thing I still know where I'm going with...Rist and the thing with Vex, Mortis and Garnet...))

Maralie/Liberty Star - Mara's One Direction Collection!

"HOLY MOTHER OF NANDOS!" Maralie screamed as she teleported into her living room. Eleanna and Liberty stared back at her.

"Hey Mara," Liberty grinned.

"I don't feel so well," Harry muttered, clutching his stomach.

"Oh, Hazzabear, are you okay?" Maralie asked him, ruffling his curls. "It's just the teleporting."

As Harry sat down on the couch, Maralie glared at the girls. "What, you think you can just waltz right into my house?"

"Uhm, basically," Eleanna nodded, holding up a key.

"Shut up," Maralie muttered, throwing herself down on the sofa like a sack of potatoes. Harry gave her a weak smile and Liberty was sure she saw a blush creeping up Maralie's cheeks.

She smirked to herself. Oh, this'll be good.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please?"

"No!" Maralie yelled, blocking the door with her slim frame.

"Please?" Harry pleaded, his hands together in silent prayer.

"No!"

"Then I guess I'll use force," he grinned. Maralie's eyes widened and she shrieked as Harry threw her over his shoulder.

"HARRY!" she screamed, pelting his back with her fists. "Let me down!"

"Not until I see your '1Derful One Direction Collection'!" Harry quoted, laughing.

"I'LL BITE YOUR SHOULDER!" she screamed, kicking her feet.

"You do that," he chuckled. They reached a door which was clearly marked Maralie's Room! :) and Harry kicked it open.

"NOOOO!" Maralie screamed, as if he had murdered someone. "MY ROOM IS SECRET!"

Harry let out a gasp as he looked around the room. The walls - and ceiling - were covered in One Direction posters. Harry couldn't see any wall. Her bed had One Direction stickers on it and the pillowcases and duvet were One Direction. The floor was covered in One Direction rugs and her wardrobe door had One Direction pictures all over it and her curtains were One Direction. Two One Direction shirts and a pair of One Direction Converse were on the bed. There was a table with a One Direction blanket on it, and it was covered in One Direction merchandise. One Direction dolls, One Direction secret diary, One Direction pencil case... And to top it off, the bookcase in the wall was full of every single One Direction book in existance.

Harry's eyes were wide as he turned to face Maralie, who was looking at her feet and kicking the ground sheepishly.

"You like One Direction," his voice came out wavering.

"What gave it away?" she replied jokingly, smiling slightly.

Harry smiled and suddenly swept her off her feet, carrying her bridal style. She blinked and laughed. "Harry!"

"You're perfect," he whispered.

Maralie swallowed and let out a shaky laugh, flustered. Harry chuckled and flashed his dimples at her.

"I never imagined I'd ever see perfection, but I have now," he murmured into her ear. Her breath hitched and her breathing got quicker.

"You flirt," she muttered.

"Well," he smiled, "that is my role in the band."

She rolled her eyes and giggled. "I heard you think it's cute when a girl tweets you 'Meow'."

Harry frowned, but smiled as well. A half-smile. "Irrevelant topic, but it's true."

"Meowwwww," Maralie giggled, blinking up at him. "Meowwwwww!"

Harry laughed. "My purrfect little girl."

She giggled again and poked his face. "Look at your dimples!"

The rest of the day continued like this until Maralie fell asleep on the couch, Harry beside her.

*giggles* HARRALIE!
~ Mara x

Zafira Kerias: Battle of Long Pond

Aah tis where the Pocono Raceway is if you know where that is you may understand what Mevolent planned

Race day in Long Pond, Pennsylvania was a bright day. Temperatures were high and fans had piled into the raceway. Long Pond becomes the second largest city in Pennsylvania twice a year for the two races. It was the perfect plan. If mortals were exposed o magic here then the Resistance would be scrambling to cover up. Mevolent was in the woods waiting. There would be time when drunk mortals saw magic and the sober as well. From what Zafira had explained the race would last about four hours and the fans were pretty drunk, fast. Mevolent didn't understand why these mortals enjoyed this. By 2pm the sounds of America's nation anthem were heard from the track and within a half hour the crowd was cheering and the sound of 43 race cars going around the track at 200mph was heard. Very loud.

Zafira led the group of sorcerers through from their seats on Pit Road. They has heard rumors of attack and they planned to intercept. Except their spotter had warned Mevolent was in the woods. They got in the van and drove through the tunnel from the infield. They parked in the back of the parking lot and went into the woods. Their spotter gave them good directions. The roar of the track was heard even here. Zafira found Mevolent's army. Why in god's name here was beyond her belief. Javier and her were still under orders to fight for America. The wounds inflected on her in torture stung but she was determined to go on. On a silent cue the agents attacked Mevolent's army. The battle itself was harsh. Zafira took down any person in her path and didn't care who it was. Javier fought beside her as hard as he could. Mevolent wasn't seen but they managed to injure Serpine. Ah well to her he was worthless. Then someone from the crowd pointed up and Mevolent rose to the sky, towards the track packed with cheering fans. Zafira and a few others shot anything they had at Mevolent. Zafira climbed a tree and sent shadows at him. She misaimed and the wall of shadows hit him, in the groin. Mevolent came crashing down and he barely managed to slow his fall. When he stood up he called to Remit and they retreated. When the army teleported she turned to her phone. The spotter confirmed they'd gone to Ireland. Zafira sighed in relief. 3:30pm. She looked and saw Javier laying in a pool of blood. She knelt beside him.
"Help him!!" She snapped. There was commotion and their teleporter took hold of Zafira and Javier and they were in the Medical Bay. The doctors worked on Javier and Zafira was teleported to the woods.
"Grand Mage shall we continue the facade as race fans?" Alexia Di asked. Zafira nodded and they went snuck back into the pits. Hell it looked like Jeff Gordon's car was on fire.

The race had ended an hour ago. Jimmie Johnson had won and that was that. Zafira was sitting with Javier. He was released and sent home. He would recover and that was good.
"Oh Javier." Zafira murmured. He took her hand and kissed it.
"My love?" He responded and they kissed. She was worried about him and he was stubborn. The couple just lay there happily.

B-J Maleficent: How To Die

((Nemone said she would just check her Deviantart messages then do her geography work and learn her drama script. Then Derek's new blog and the Charisma person ensnared her and now she is stuck writing here again...silly disobedient and easily distracted Nemone. And aaaalso, tell me, what did you think when you first saw the title? TELL ME! *teehee*))

Gale moved to the back of the group, keeping Daemon away from the newcomer's sights. Andeep smiled. It was a wicked smile that sent a shiver down his spine. "'Ello." She cooed in her annoying cockney accent. "What'cha doin' here? You ain't supposed to be here."

Aleron smiled back. "This is a Necromancy temple in Ireland. I'm an Irish Necromancer. I think I have a right to be here."

"This temple doesn't function anymore...and Necromancers creep me out."

He shrugged. "Well, you're kinda surrounded by Necromancers, so..."

"Ugh. Lovely. Robyn!" A girl shadow-walked in, short, dark hair framing her pale face like a porcelain doll. Andeep shuddered, repulsed, and waved her hand airily. "Intruders. Be a dear and help me take 'em."

Gale frowned. "You're meant to be in prison..."

"Meant to be." She replied, her voice like the tinkle of breaking glass, "but there isn't a prison out there that can hold a girl like me." She gave Gale a once-over and he subtley nudged the symbols he used to give the beautiful boy illusion. Not that he wasn't actually attractive, it just helped him seduce people.  Seeming to realise she was being ensnared, she turned her head and sent a volley of shadows towards Cadence, who responded by bringing her own, weaker shadows to defend. Austin stepped in beside her and sent his own shadows while Robyn was occupied. "Gale, get Daemon out of here."

"How? You're blocking the exit!"

"Aleron, help him."

Andeep was changing her hands into hammers, ready to attack. She was happy that Austin had distracted the other Necromancer boy as she swung her hand-hammer at the back of his head. She saw Belinda swing the hockey stick in the corner of her eye, but knew she was too far away to hit her. Ah, she thought as shadows pulled her arm off course. Of course this girl was a Necromancer as well. She swung for them again and felt something off in her mind as Ron dodged and punched, falling short and letting the shadows impact for him. She stumbled back and felt a fog cloud her mind. She couldn't think straight, and then she saw Defiance, his hand splayed towards her, head tilted, tongue sticking out in concentration. He was messing with her mind. "Get...out..." She moaned as Hadrian and Diamond turned their attention to Robyn.

Hadrian didn't attack Robyn Njarik, he instead dragged Gale away from the middle of the fight, stepping over Mallethands as she fought a mental tug-of-war with Defiance. He knew his way out of here. Meanwhile, Njarik was turning out to be rather powerful. She slammed Austin to the ground and swept Belinda's feet out from underneath her just as she went to strike. Cadence held her hands up in surrender as Austin jabbed, but was intercepted. The eldest of the Hawthorne siblings moved to haul her brother and sister to their feet, then held her heel to her chest. The three circled their opponent and all struck at once, but she managed to easily block all three. The next strike was a little different. Belinda reached out slowly with her hockey stick, trying to hook it against the prayer beads wrapped around Robyn's wrist. She grabbed the stick instead and Belinda began to draw her shadows in. Robyn no longer had any room to maneuver  the wrist with the beads as the other two closed in from behind. She sweep-kicked Belinda and pushed the other two back. Austin paused to remove his coat even though it was quite cold in there. They all pulsed shadows at her again, which she easily blocked, but at the expense of seeing their next move. As the shadows fell once more, Belinda's hockey stick slammed into her stomach as Cadence hurled her shoe at her face. Foul play, she thought as she doubled over in pain and realised the youngest Hawthorne sibling had disappeared. Suddenly she was forced straight again as his coat was pulled taught around her throat. Her hands went to her neck, but she was struggling with her left. She pulled harder and her prayer beads snapped. Belinda had managed to hook her stick in while she had been recovering. She kicked back and her foot crunched into Baritone's ankle. He made an amusing noise when he met pain, but his grip on the coat tightened and her ability to breathe lessened. She kicked again, but he had moved his foot and she just delivered a glancing blow. He hissed in pain and she saw black at the edge of her vision. She was better than this.

Austin dropped her as she lost conciousness, panting with the effort. He had never been very strong. He wrapped his coat back around himself tightly and tapped Nostradamus on the shoulder. He slowly relinquished his hold on Mallethands and joined the trio as they shadow-walked out, Baritone pausing briefly to pick something off of the floor. They met the others outside the temple and Cadence went to untie Maxim while Katherine went to retrieve Moses. "Where were you for the fight?" Belinda hissed when she got back.

"There was a fight with you guys too? I'm sorry, I got separated...there was a boy there." She lifted her shirt to show some pretty nasty marks as proof.

-----

The girl with the short black hair and sharp green eyes had watched the scuffle from the cover of some woodland nearby. As the man struck the killing blow on the other she stepped forward but still remained hidden. She waited until he was gone before using the air to propel herself forward, getting to the injured man sooner. She carefully lifted him. He was in Elders robes, so that certainly was interesting. She dragged him off to where she had been camping, keeping a hand pressed against the stab wound. "I don't know if I can help you, but I'll do my best. My companion here is a tunneller and my brother is a healer. Garnet!"

The next voice was a man's. "You get into so much trouble. What do you need?"

"One-way ticket back to Ireland."

The man gave a drawn-out, theatrical groan. "Seriously? You make me act like a taxi again and you'll find yourself my toothpicks. I'm getting exhausted with all your moving around."

"Please, G?"

Garnet sighed. "I think I have enough energy for one more trip, but I need to rest. Where to?"

"Taking him directly to my brother is too dangerous. We're going to a friend's house and contacting him from there." Rasputin sort of lost the conversation as the Garnet man heaved him up and the two started arguing about Crocs or whatever those atrocious shoes were called. He sort of blacked out when they started tunnelling.

Basilisk came into her room, her eyes meeting with the green eyes of B-J Maleficent as she went to slip something into the coffee on the desk. She instead went over to Maleficent and handed her the sleeping pill. The raven-haired girl smiled and passed her a vial of clear liquid in return which was slipped into the coffee instead. B-J crushed the pill, opened her window and blew the resultant powder out into the wind. She left the window open, went to the coffee and began to drink. "Thanks, Arachne."

"Why exactly do you want to do this?"

"I can't help the Grand Mage, but I can help get something to defeat Mevolent. He has to believe I'm dead for this to work, for me to have any chance of reaching it."

Arachne nodded slowly, emptying yet more pills onto the table top as B-J sat on her bed and drank. The Child of the Spider followed the raven-haired girl's example and blew the resultant powder out into the winter wind. She gave a curt nod to B-J which the daughter of Serpine returned.

The potion had been made by the two girls with a little help from Jerry, but he would be dead soon. Arachne was banking on getting him to fight Gale and on Gale winning. The potion itself had the same effect as that from Romeo and Juliet, giving a perfect illusion of death. Her father found her under the effects of this potion and she was readied for her funeral. Arachne came down to get her, replacing her with a reflection that had been killed beforehand. She lowered the reflection into the coffin and replaced the lid, guiding B-J safely out of the castle. It was up to her, in the white cotton dress she was to be buried in and little ballet pumps, to make her own way out there. She had done it before, but not from this much scratch. Arachne didn't fancy B-J's chances.

Neither did B-J. She looked a little strange dressed as she was in the dead of winter. After a while, she stopped. Her legs were numb, her bladder full and her stomach empty. She felt a little silly, but she seemed to have a plan. There was the sound of breaking twigs followed by the striking of a match and the crackling of a fire. Confused, B-J followed the noise and found a ginger man, looking about sixteen, covered in acne and with a thin layer of hair growing on his upper lip. He was sat dangerously close to a fire he had just started, rubbing his hands. He wasn't very well-dressed either. Not that B-J was usually a fashion critic. But honestly, the yellow jacket with grey checks, what from that distance looked like a kilt with green tights or leggings beneath and the browny-grey crocs...it looked disgusting...He looked up, saw her and looked back to the fire. Then he frowned, looked back round and his mouth dropped open, partially from shock, awe, and sympathy. He looked around, panicking slightly, and waved her over. "You must be freezing."

She held up one finger, telling him to wait as she went to find a bush to relieve herself behind, then came to join him. "What brings you to this forest?" She asked quietly.

He cocked an eyebrow and looked confused. "I'm exploring. What about you in that dress?"

She looked down at herself. "I lived nearby...but I'm running away...this is a funeral dress, they think I'm dead."

He thought for a moment. "Wicked. Did you make them believe that with your magic?"

She snorted a laugh. "Hardly. I'm an elemental."

"Adept. What's your name?"

"B-J."

"What's that stand for?"

"...uh...nothing...just B-J..."

"That's a lie."

"B-J Maleficent. What's your name then?"

"Ooh, sinister. I'm Garnet Dorado." He reached into a bag beside him and produced a pack of marshmallow things. "Hungry?"

"Starving...you're strangely friendly..."

"A pretty girl in the woods is not something I'm going to be rude to." He took off his jacket and offered it to her. She accepted gratefully. "Plus I think we've met before, and you seemed nice when we were kids, Caitrina."

"Oh...Seamus...I thought the name Dorado was familiar. You were the one crazy about constellations and you tried to grab my boob once and my dad nearly killed you as a result."

He gave a dry chuckle. "Oh, I remember that. How's Lorcan?"

"Insane. Deborah?"

"Dead. She worked at the Sanctuary when that bomb went off."

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten." She frowned for a moment as she stuffed about seven marshmallow cake things into her mouth at once. Once she was able to talk, she asked him a few questions. "So...were you aware some idiot brought my dad and Mevolent back to life?"

He blanked. "What?" This was followed by a forced hysterical laugh. "You're kidding, right?"

"Oh dear...you were unaware...right, they're who I've pretended to be dead in front of, and also, what discipline did you train in?"

He sighed, shifting back from the fire a little. "I tunnel. Under the ground and through to anywhere."

Her face brightened. "Great. I need a favour."

He groaned. "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"

They arrived outside Mr Twist's castle and Garnet slumped down against the wall, Rasputin Vrestreni in his lap. B-J knocked as urgently as she could and waited. She heard someone talking as two sets of footsteps approached. Erin Motionless, she supposed. Only the voice was too deep. Twist opened the door, raised an eyebrow, and turned to see how the person behind him would react. Esra Sunshine tilted his head to the side, tilted it to the other side, held his hands up with the finger and thumb of each joined to form a square, then shoved Advantageous out of the way and enveloped his older sister in a bone-crushing hug. "Please be real!" He cried. Maleficent laughed and hugged him, patting his back.

"I'm real. Did'ja miss me, you eedjit?"

He pulled away, composing himself and putting his usual scowl on his face before sighing and nodding. "You're my sister. I thought you were dead."

"As long as Mevolent thinks that, I'm happy. Anyway, glad you're here. You were just the one I needed." She pointed down at Rasputin and Garnet. "The guy in the elders robes needs a heal and a change of clothes."

Esra paused, stared and nodded. "I'll get to work immediately. You can go meet Dexter Vex. I think you'd like him." He dragged the Czech elder inside, humming 'We're Off To See The Wizard'.

((...GARNET SWORDFISH!!!))

Aretha Tesla: Plans

Just stay calm, I heard Niccolo's voice in my head again as I struggled to suppress the panic rising inside of me, I have a plan. Go with it. That was certainly nice to know, but it really wasn't all too helpful.

"How about we go for a walk?" Rosa said lightly, and I followed her as she walked off the other side of the bridge and into the forest. Trapped, again. And I didn't want to just go numb inside again... But did I ever start acting like myself again to begin with? I thought back, and realized that I really hadn't. Niccolo just showed up out of the blue and swept me away who-knows-where. I followed, because... Why did I follow? I never just did what he told me to do before.

I never even had that much faith in him, to be honest- I mean, I always trusted him to save me if I was dying, but never for anything more than that. I trusted him to be hard and cruel, like he always had been, so why was he acting so different, and why was I just accepting that?

I have a plan, he had said; the bind that he told me would work wasn't working, I was walking right into whatever trap Rosa had set, and I was supposed to just go along with it? If I ever do try to kill you... I want you to kill me first. What was he planning? And what role did I have to play in it?

As we walked deeper into the forest, I realized an ambush was waiting- and I prayed that somehow he would keep himself and Marina from following me.

Charisma Thorne - Friends Reunited - Well, For A Bit Anyway

Now, I know I should've left a bit of time before my next chapter, but it's way, WAY too much fun to write! So here's chapter two, enjoy!

Charisma Thorne – Friends Reunited – Well, For A Bit Anyway.

“And where exactly do you think you’re going?” A women who looked to be in her middle twenties hurried up to Charisma, who was walking out of the Sanctuary.

Charisma kept walking.

“Charisma, you’re not allowed out, you know what the Grand Mage said and I have specific orders to-“

Charisma cut in. “-Dianda, I’ve been working non stop for the past three months! I haven’t had one single jot of time to see my family or go do something I want to do! I know we’re in a war but surely I deserve some time off? Just this once? Please.” Charisma turned to Dianda. “Please. I’m finding this war really tough. I know we all are. Please, Dianda, I’m begging you to let me go this once.”

Dianda sighed.

“Fine, Charisma, I’m letting you go just this once. And no word to anyone else about this, alright? Be back by 1900 hours sharp.”

Charisma smiled. “Thank you so much. I’ll be back then.” And off she walked.

Ten minuets later, having only broken the no-magic-anywhere-except-on-missions rule only seven times, Charisma walked up the flight of stairs to her apartment – but just before she went to open the door, she stopped. She felt a shift, in the air, a little disturbance. Grinning to herself, hungry for action, she counted to three, kicked the door open and jumped inside.

Instead of danger, instead of Hollow Men or Redhoods, there was a short, blonde girl running towards her.

“Chrissaaaaaa!!” She grinned.

Charisma knew exactly who it was. Rosinda Pine, her best friend since forever.

The two girls hugged. “Rosinda, why are you here? I thought you were in America?” Charisma had started to make tea.

“I was, but after a couple of incidents involving me getting annoyed at being sent on scouting trips over and over again” (At this Charisma grinned) “I was posted back here.”

Handing Rosinda a mug of tea, Charisma sat down.

“I know exactly what you mean. In fact, I’ve just been sent back from a mission where I got bored and went to see Les Mis instead. And actually, how did you get into my flat?”

Rosinda smiled. “Picked up a few handy tricks in America. Talking of Les Miserables, I haven’t seen it yet. Would you mind seeing it again with me? You know how much I like that Eddie Redmayne.”

“Of course I will! There’s a showing in half an hour, do you want to go then?”

“Sure!”

The two girls walked out, chattering.

After the cinema, both still crying a bit, they said good bye, and Charisma walked – or rather, walked for five minutes and jumped over buildings for the rest – back to her flat.

Once again, she noticed a shift in the air way before she got to the door of the building. She raced up the stairs, fire already in her hands. Somehow she knew this was more than just an old friend paying her a visit.

Her door was ripped open, shreds of wood covering the floor like leaves. She ran cautiously through the what-once-was-a-door, and then stopped dead.

“Ah, hello Charisma. You didn’t think you’d be seeing me for a while, did you? I’m guessing you thought I’d be dead when I fell of that train, but look at me. I’m as alive as you, or your little friend here.” At this, he pointed to Rosinda, who was tied up on the floor. “Well, alive as you are for the moment. Soon, however, I have a feeling it’ll be me who’s the most alive one here.”

Charisma Thorne - Well That Went Well

Hello! This is my first chapter, so I hope it's alright! Oh, and I'm Charisma Thorne, Elemental and all round crazy occasional French Speaker and walrus, for those of you who don't know me.

 Charisma Thorne – Well that went well.

“You had ONE job!” the balding man shouted. “ONE job! And look what happened!”

Charisma sat there.

“All you had to do was scout about for a bit. Try to find out Mevolent’s next movements and what did you do? You charged into the building, and ended up killing over 50 Cleavers!”

Charisma answered. “Yes, but I did kill some of them. And anyways, I was bored. I’ve been sent on ten scouting missions in the last fortnight and to be honest they’ve all been boring as hell. So, I decided to make it more fun.”

The balding man sighed.

“Charisma, yes, you did kill some of Mevolent’s army, but you still lost us 50 Cleavers. And we haven’t many left. And the fact you disappeared afterwards. For god’s sake we all thought you’d been killed! Where were you?”

“At the cinema. I went to see Les Mis again. It’s very good you know, and I do love that Aaron Tveit-“

“Charisma for crying out loud, we’re fighting a war, and you want to go see musicals? You need to focus more, you really do.”

“Yes, but Aaron Tveit and Eddie Red-“

“This conversation is over. You have been de-briefed. Go back and see Dianda and the others at the Sanctuary. And NO more trips to the cinema or random disappearances, and for God’s sake, try to focus on what’s happening. We’re in the middle of a war here.”

The balding man stalked out of the dimly lit room. After noting that he probably wasn’t best pleased with her, Charisma walked out, leaving nothing behind but a chair.

Zafira Kerias: Torture Room

Zafira glanced at Javier. His face showed no emotion. Mevolent was serious. He ordered the Redhoods to take her to the torture rooms. Javier was sent to his room so he couldn't interfere. They chained her to the wall and Zafira was pissed. She was on Mevolent's side yet he still planned to have her tortured. Why was beyond her ideas. Mevolent himself came in. He looked at her then spoke quietly,
"You didn't do wrong...well somewhat. But to your people they believe I would torture you. I plan to fulfill their idea. Don't ask me how I plan to do this. Honestly, painfully." He grinned and took out a dagger and Zafira's screams echoed the room.

A few hours later Zafira stopped screaming. Mevolent had at least given her to Javier. Though Javier was heard from the throne room arguing with Mevolent.
"I don't BLOODY CARE!!!!" Javier screamed. "You want to make an example of her let us go back to AMERICA. "
"Javier do not speak to me that way. It'll be you who I torture next." Mevolent snapped. Javier focused on Mevolent and he went stiff. Javier smiled and backed off
"Well?" He asked. Mevolent shook his head clear and nodded. Javier had shown him something terrifying enough to let Mevolent agree. Javier went back to Zafira and looked at her.
"Hush my love I have you. Do not worry you will be safe soon." Javier soothed. Her injuries were far worse then ever. Mevolent had lied to Zafira and Javier knew it. He got revenge on her for what happened in the battle. Remit came over and teleported them to the house and was gone. Javier lay Zafira on the couch.
"Can you speak?" She shook her head.

When Zafira woke up she found herself in her own bed. The injuries sustained were healing and Javier was beside her. He stroked her hair which was in her face.
"Javier." She murmured in pain still.
"Hush Zaffy. You'll be better in the morning."
"I gotta get to the Sanctuary!" She pleaded. Javier put a hand on her chest.
"No. The doctors said that you are to stay in bed for the day." He told her firmly. She growled in frustration but did as she was told. Even as Grand Mage she couldn't ignore the doctors. Though she'd like to. Javier smiled and she fell asleep.

Raeza: Caught up in circles, confusion, it's nothing new

      The bold is the past

      The italic is the present

     This chapter is odd in either, and kinda short, sorry.

     Raeza huddled next to the boulder that had almost hit her, holding the piece of picnic 

     Raeza huddled next to the door, hands by the frame, eyes closed in concentration.

blanket above her, as if it could somehow protect her from the boulders falling all around.

She poured her magic into the blanket scrap, using it as something resembling a shield, as if it

She poured her magic into the layers of wood metal and stone, using the door as a shield, as if it

could possibly protect her from the boulders falling all around. She felt the energy draining out 

would be enough to protect her from the impending explosion. She felt the energy draining out of her, her, surprised that she even had any left to lose. Then, she didn't. She slumped against the rock.

surprised that she even had any energy left to lose. Then, she didn't. She slumped against the door.

Unconscious.

     Kelley Throckmorton became nothing right before the boulder hit. Regret swept over him 

     Kelley became nothing and left straight through the wall. He'd actually done what Mevolent had before he forced it away. He had indeed tried to pull Faeris to her death, Serpine hadn't been 

asked. Regret swept over him before he forced it away. He'd done as he'd been ordered to do. Fine. lying to her. Fine. Maybe they weren't dead, maybe they'd gotten lucky, maybe... 

Maybe Raeza would somehow survive, maybe she could escape again, maybe...

     His hopes were dashed when he saw the bodies. Maeve's skull was dented inwards, but 

      His hopes were dashed when he saw Maeve's body, dead for good this time. She was flat on her 

there was no blood. The wound had been inflicted after she was already dead. Raeza wasn't as

face, if not from the stabbing, she was dead from suffocating in the ground. Raeza wasnt dead yet, but 

visibly injured, but there was a massive slab of granite on top of her and she wasn't moving. 

she would be. He'd sawed through the wired of her computer and blocked the door. She was doomed.

He wiped the tear off his face and went to rejoin Mevolent's army.

He turned away, shedding a slight tear, but he'd made his choice. Mevolent.

Random twist I can't quite fit into my storyline, so I'm dumping it here.

A year before the second Mevolent war:

     Maeve woke in a white, blank room to find a girl with long blonde hair standing over her.

     "Hi, Maeve! Welcome back to the land of the living! I'm Ember, nice to meet you!" Ember's hands glowed, and Maeve felt the strength rushing back into her, strength she hadn't felt missing. She hadn't felt anything, really. Had she... She had been dead.

     "Wha-Where ami I? Who..."

     "Like I said, I'm Ember. I'm part of a...revolution. We think you might be useful in the approaching battle, daughter of Aevil.

     Just logged on as BC! OMG!!!! We hit 10000 pageviews today!!!!! And 250 posts!!!!!! [Celebrates with balloons]