The Gift - Amanda & Nico; Sunday 07 (Backdated)

[x-staffofone.livejournal.com]

Amanda and Nico talk about Nico's dream as they walk the mall, and the older witch decides to buy Nico something for her birthday.



So they had met, and walked out. Nico wasn't even sure of the destination, and honestly she wasn't listening half of what Amanda was saying. That made her feel...bad. She had never ignored Amanda before. Her sleeping patterns were still royally screwed, and her attention span was as short as it could get, which was pretty damn short. She had tried -and was trying- to be as attentive as possible, but really, she felt a bit like crap. Looked a bit -or a lot- like it, too, but she had made a huge effort to look like a regular human being for her teacher, and most importantly, one of the few people she could speak honestly with. That didn't mean her skin was a bit too pale, her eyes a little too red, and the shadows a little too dark around her eyes.

And why was she having second thoughts about telling Amanda now?

"...and that's when I turned into a pterodactyl and fought Godzilla in Tokyo," Amanda continued, fully aware her student wasn't listening and being ridiculous on purpose. "Hey, Nico. You all right? I'd say you're a bit distracted, but that would be an understatement."

In any other circumstances, she would have laughed; now Nico just blinked, stopped rewinding the dream that was stuck in her head like a movie in high definition, and looked up at Amanda, trying to give her a smile. It didn't go too well, as she looked even more tired when she tried not to. "I'm...", started, but what was she supposed to add? Scared? Everyone knew she was scared, and Nico realized that caused a small burning feeling in her chest, something that had nothing to do with the Staff of One lodged there, or so she hoped. Sighing, the girl decided it couldn't get any worse from there. Fat chance, thought as she stopped and turned towards Amanda.

"I had a dream."

Amanda raised an eyebrow. Obviously not your run of the mill bad dream, and after Meggan's brush with Selene, she wasn't discounting anything. 'I wish Angie was here.' "Want to tell me about it?" she asked, even though it was clear Nico needed to, or she wouldn't have brought it up.

Nico swallowed, insecurity kicking in again. "I...was in this field thing. Dark, chilly, dressed in a nightgown I don't own." She left the 'and I wasn't wearing anything else' part slip. "And I met this...this...Arcana Minoru." It almost hurt to say that name. "She started all this, and she said- she said I'm going to end the world and that can't be right! I mean, she said there was no point on fighting, and that I was going to surrender anyway and that it was all written, that everything has happened so far the way it was supposed and I feel like I'm going to explode."

Only then Nico realized she was hugging Amanda, and crying. "I feel like a pathetic, scared little girl."

The hug had startled Amanda - suddenly she had her arms full of crying teenager - but she held on tightly to her student. "It's okay to be scared," she said, as soothingly as possible when what she really wanted to do was track down every ast one of this bloody Minoru clan and deal with them so her student would never have to worry about them again. "It's scary shite you're dealing with. But that doesn't mean it's true, what this Arcana said. Angie would be the first to tell you that destiny is a load of bollocks and nothing's set in stone. Just 'cause someone tells you their interpretation of something doesn't mean that's how it goes."

Doing her best to put herself together, Nico just listened in silence for a moment. She didn't let go, but the hug loosened a little. Having it out of her chest now, she felt a little better. "She sounded so sure though...", said in a whisper. That everything was written already. It was a pretty damn scary concept to consider. "It made me feel as if I have been used since, I don't know, forever. Like those stupid movies when they make a baby just for the sake of experimenting on it." It hadn't felt like in the stupid movies though; Nico had felt how Arcana had put deadly seriousness in each word. Finally breaking the hug, she looked up at Amanda while she wiped her eyes. God bless water resistant rimel. "It's a warning shot, I can tell. Don't ask me how, but something big is coming this way." She also let slip the fact she already felt a little defeated.

The older witch looked grim. "If it is, then we'll have to make sure we're ready for it," she replied, with an edge of determination that her teammates would have recognised as her "someone is about to get a boot to the head" look. "And I won't lie to you, grasshopper, there's probably some bad mojo coming, but you aren't facing it alone, yeah? And believe me, you aren't helpless, either. We've been working towards this, remember? All those lessons?"

That should make her feel better, but Nico was in a bit of denial. Still, she took a deep breath, and nodded. She had to be better than that. If Amanda was by her side, then she knew things weren't already doomed. "You are right", said as she tried to gather some strength. Another breath, and a sigh. "I just wish I was stronger, you know?", added as she started to walk again. "More powerful, more...capable of dealing with this. It's a bit frustrating."

Reaching over, Amanda tapped lightly on Nico's head. "It's not always about raw power, remember?" she reminded her student. "It's about how you use what you've got. Deflecting things away instead of trying the brute force block, effecting the environment around someone if you can't effect them. Sneaky is better than strong."

She was going to spend the rest of the year sighing. "I suppose so", said, although it was going to take a while until it actually sunk in of her. "The resourceful tend to live longer than the powerful?" How much she wanted that to be true was currently beyond words to explain. "Ah, whatever, I'm not going to move from Goth to Emo for a freaky dream and the confirmation that my family is screwed up." She was going to try at least? "So I'll let you buy me something pretty in order to change the subject, what do you think?"

"I think," Amanda replied thoughtfully. "That since it's your birthday treat, we should do what you want. Which includes whatever you want to buy." she grinned. "Since I owe you a present."

That was exactly what she needed to hear. Straightening up, Nico inspected the area of the mall, looking for a store worth of her time. She had been in there before, and knew first hand that her usual tastes were a lot of things, but not mainstream, which was a shame, really. She was going to default to the usual stores she visited there when an apparently new store caught her attention. "Hey, that one wasn't the last time," she commented as she turned at Amanda. She hadn't heard of any new store opening, and it looked...well, it looked pretty awesome. It was all black, to begin with, and if the clothes on display were a fair guide, Nico might have just stumbled upon some sort of Gothic paradise of sorts.

The older witch tried not to make a face - it was, as she had just said, Nico's treat and Nico wanted Goth. "Well maybe they heard it was your birthday and opened up just for you," she said, nudging the younger girl with her shoulder. "Let's Goth to your heart's content."

"It's on, mentor dearest." It wasn't her money, but Nico would be considerate, since she wanted to stay in Amanda's good graces, considering they had a lot of training sessions to come. Nico headed for the new store, peeking the insides with interest, Amanda right behind her. It looked...shiny. Too new, as if it had fallen into place the moment she had looked at it. Something tingled at the back of her head, but she disregarded the energy that came from it. Without thinking much, Nico crossed the store.



The past catches up with Nico as she ends up facing a man she hadn't seen in a whole year.



She entered somewhere else. It was a small room, with old boxes and a dusty floor, and most importantly, Amanda wasn't there; Nico turned around, and realized she was looking at a brick wall. No entrance. No mall. No Amanda. "What the hell...?"

"Not hell, Nico dear." The voice came from behind her and was as familiar to Nico as her own. "It's so good to see you again."

Her blood froze, and she suddenly felt like fainting. And she would have, if the rage hadn't kept her on her feet. Turning around, Nico took a couple of seconds to think just when was the last time she had felt like that. Probably the one time she decided to run away? "Hey...dad", said, some of her usual sass coming back as she desperately tried to compose herself. "You are making it increasingly hard to believe, let me say." A beat. "Where's mom?"

"Close by. She wanted to talk to that teacher of yours." Robert's voice was as mild as always, almost kind, as if they were at a Parent-Teacher Night, not in a spell-rigged trap. "We're sorry for the dramatics, but you haven't been easy to get to and we're running out of time."

In less than a second, Nico had the ridiculous feeling that her father would send her to her room, no music and television for a week. The next second, she realized that whatever familiarity they had shared died with the girl she saw them killing. Nico bit her lip, hands curling into fists. "Leave her alone." She didn't move though, torn between a need to reason with him and the intense need to hurt him -which was in turn a repulsive feeling-. "The Staff of One is useful like that. I asked to go home, and it sent me to the safest place on Earth. Figures. Running out of time? For what?"

"You're not a child anymore, Nico." Her father's tone turned somehow disappointed. "You have the Staff and the Book. You know about the Curse and what will happen to your mother if we don't take steps to prevent it."

That got a snort from Nico. "Then stop treating me like one." She couldn't believe it still hurt her to hear that tone of voice. "All I know is that this family has a really bad mojo going on. Karmic balance and all that jazz...and it's got nothing to do with me. And I have no idea of why mom alone has to deal with whatever you guys are doing, but it's none of my business, so back off." She needed to buy more time, needed to know what she had gone into, and more importantly, find a way to reach Amanda, wherever she was. "So, if you are going to tell me something I don't know, you better do it now, because Amanda and I were sort of in the middle of something here."

"Nothing to do with you? Nico, it has everything to do with you." Her father's gaze grew more intense and he took a step towards her. "You are the last Minoru. Only you can end all this."

Nico took a step back too, realizing she actually felt scared. "Whatever is wrong with this family ends with me, is that it? I can't even read that stupid book properly, but I know that much." Not to mention that Arcana had been very explicit on her statements. She started to focus; she needed to get away from him, and while she wasn't optimistic about being able to beat her father on magic, she did have the Staff of One if she needed it. "End this, right? Coming from someone I saw killing an innocent girl, I'm not precisely thrilled by the idea."

"I'm sorry you had to see that." And he did actually seem regretful. "Those deaths... they're not something we're proud of, but you have to understand, it was the only way we had to save ourselves. To save you. But we've found a way to put an end to all the deaths, to free the Minoru family from the First. We need your help, Nico."

That didn't sound good, at all. Not because she was making an effort to stay as insanely angry as she supposed she should be towards him, but also because his phrasing, considering the evidence, was worrying. "Sounds like a plan, dad, but I'll have to decline." Nico's eyes went black, her magic focused as she tried to feel the energy around her to use it. "You are going down, dad, and so is mom, and then you are explaining all the things you have to, and only then we'll see what's worth saving and what isn't."

"Nico, please, listen to me." Robert took a step back as her eyes changed, raising his hands in front of him protectively. "No-one has to die if you help us. You want that, don't you? An end to the killing?"

She wanted to listen, she really did, but at the moment Nico was feeling oddly full with a growing anger, and every word her father said only made it worse. "Is that a threat!? I want you and mom to stop being a threat. So t'nod evom!" It came out of her like a rush of cold air, surrounding Robert and wrapping around him, but Nico knew, or felt, that it might end up doing much more if her father didn't fight it back. She just hoped it was enough to contain him.

He immediately froze in place, but he could still talk. "Nico, it's not a threat. You mother and I, we won't harm you, we just need your help. If you come with us..." Even as he spoke, his fingers were twitching.

Nico fought the desire to let him go. "No. Let Amanda go, and then turn yourself in. And then we will talk. Let me help you the right way."

"I'm sorry, Nico. We can't do that." The twitching of his fingers became an intricate pattern, the weaving of magicks together, and his pocket started to glow. "We didn't want to use force, but you don't understand how important it is that you come with us." And with that a bolt of energy erupted from the pocket of his shirt, streaking towards Nico.

The girl hadn't seen it coming, and her reply was purely instinctive; raising one arm, she put up a shield, which was not strong enough to contain the bolt, throwing her to the ground. Even as she fell, Nico felt how the restrains around her father vanished. "Not here, not now!", shouted as she made an effort to get to her feet, and then bit her tongue, hard. Blood came. "When Blood is shed, let the Staff of One Emerge." And it did emerge, with Nico pretty much pulling the later half out of her chest, ignoring the horrible feeling she had been living with for a whole year now. "Don't make me use this on you", she warned, although half of her already wanted to turn her father into a chicken.

His eyes widened and he took a step back, pulling from his pocket what seemed to be an ordinary pen, if pens glowed ominously. He was clearly afraid of the Staff, however, as he spoke again: "Please, Nico, don't do anything rash. You don't want to hurt anyone, you're not like that, remember?"

Nico had expected her father to have a magic artifact on him, but the pen took her by surprise. Still, she was going to keep an eye on it. "It has been a long year, father. And no thanks to you I've learned to stand my ground." She could almost smell the fear the mere sight of the Staff caused in Robert, and felt surprised she no longer felt as repulsed by holding it as she did before. What doesn't kill you...

"Now...Down!" A swift movement of the Staff, and Nico sent what probably would pull her father down and against the floor.

With a strangled cry he did just that, falling to the floor as if gravity had suddenly increased ten fold and unable to even lift his head. "Nico, please..." he managed in a strangled voice, even as he pointed the pen at her again and sent a lightning bolt skittering towards her feet across the concrete floor.

And again he took her by surprise, but this time it hurt. The sudden jolt made her drop the Staff, and she fell on her knees, with a barely contained cry of pain. Funny thing, far from being scared, Nico was furious. One hand holding the Staff quickly, she channeled its power into herself; Amanda was going to be really mad later, but at the moment se needed the energy. Extending one hand, Nico felt a small crack appear at the corner of one of her eyes, a wide, feral smile creeping on her face. "yM niap, dlof net." What came from her hand was a dark mass that felt as if it had tore her palm open -although there was no harm done, at least not physical-, bringing tears to her eyes. It launched towards Robert, shaped as a large, sharp tendril.

It struck home squarely, bringing a shriek of pain from her father. He dropped the pen and curled into a ball, muscles spasming against the agony she had projected into him combined with the power of the Staff.



Amanda is busy with the other half of the Minoru couple, as they 'discuss' parenting methods, and fate.



Amanda had been getting a weird vibe from the Goth store, but dismissed it as being mostly her student's own aura - the Staff of One tended to grate on the edge of her nerves, a bit like a mystical mosquito buzzing in her metaphorical ear. She cursed herself, however, when Nico vanished as soon as she crossed the threshold. The Brit immediately crossed in after her, only to find herself in a small, bare room, some kind of abandoned storeroom, facing a woman who was unmistakably a Minoru.

Eyes narrowing, hands folding into fists by her sides, Amanda looked her up and down: "Tina Minoru, I presume?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

The woman didn't waste time, raising her left hand, where a ring was glowing furiously, and shooting what looked like an arrow made of fire right at the other woman's head. "You have became an issue, Sefton", said as she attacked.

Finally a bad magic-using person who didn't do the gloaty speeches. Amanda ducked and rolled out of the way, fetching up behind some boxes. Salem Centre wasn't her favourite place for a fight - the area had little to no energy for her to use and she was stuck using what she had stored from New York and her own body to provide herself with fuel, so power conservation was key here. Something Tina Minoru wouldn't expect, perhaps - most magical types were used to the old-fashioned magical duel, not a physical confrontation. Still, it didn't mean she wasn't going to let the woman of completely scot-free - balling up her fist, Amanda popped up from behind her box and punched towards the woman, sending a small but forceful jet of energy straight at the woman with intent to knock her off balance.

Tina took a step back, waving her hand in front of her, making a fire shield; the hit still made her skid a little. "As we thought, you are a resourceful woman. Under other circumstances you would have been a proper tutor for our Nico." Tina's hand described a large circumference, making a ring of fire, and with another movement it collapsed, forming not an arrow, but a spear of fire. "You have cheated death enough times, though. We'll handle Nico from here." She didn't even aim at Amanda, but at the general area, not caring to burn the whole section.

"If you want to 'handle' Nico, you're really getting yourselves into a world of trouble," Amanda said, clapping her hands together and encasing herself in her own shielding spell. It was perhaps not as strong as it might have been in Times Square, for example - she felt the heat of the flames as they washed over the bubble - but it stopped her from being incinerated. Not so much the boxes; they ignited, filling the small room with smoke and heat. "Nico's a good student and I've been teaching her how to counter your shite," she continued, a feral grin of her own appearing. "And if you even touch a hair on her head, I'll kill you myself."

Eyebrows up in what was probably surprise, Tina stared in silence for a moment before countering Amanda's grin with an equally wicked one. "I have killed far stronger witches than you for less, girl. Do you even mean your words? What makes you think that you out of everyone can pretend to be a parent, leave alone The Last Minoru's? Or do you plan to use her for your own needs?" Another hand movement, and Tina was holding a large whip made entirely of fire, and closing the distance between them. "Time to end Rack and Selene's broken doll."

"Well, for a start, I treat her like a fucking human being and not some sort of family heirloom!" Amanda was shorter than the other woman but she faced her with no sign of fear on her face. "And I don't know what Evil Magic User's Monthly newsletter you used to get the dirt on Rack and Selene, but you're a bit out of date. I was a kid when that stuff happened." She gestured and the shielding spell shrank to a garbage can lid-sized disk on her right arm while in her left, it elongated into a flexible tube with a heavy weight on the end, for all the world looking like the glowing outline of a half-brick in a sock. "I'm not a kid now," she continued, taking her own step towards Tina. "And you are so fucked." With that, she swung her 'weapon' at Tina's head with unerring aim.

If Tina's arm hadn't gone up as fast as it, her head would surely have been hit. And even if she used a shield of fire again, the force of the hit certainly was felt on her arm; she still lashed out, trying to hit Amanda's side with the whip. "You never stopped being a child, Amanda, and for how long do you think your ghosts will stay dead?"

Taking a step back, she attacked again, going for the woman's face now. "Nico will kill us all, you stupid brat. You know nothing on how much it has meant to us to love her as we do while knowing there is no future for her. You can't defeat destiny."

Amanda deflected the strike at her side with her shield, feeling the heat of the whip crackling over the sleeve of her customary leather jacket. If I need to replace another one, I'll be pissed off. The strike at her head was ducked, sparks crackling across the shield she raised to protect her head and she swung at Tina's knees. "Fuck destiny," she growled. "Just because someone foretells something doesn't mean it happens exactly that way. You ever hear of metaphors?"

The last hit threw her off; Tina wasn't a close quarters fighter after all. "You don't get it. This wasn't foretold. The First already saw it all the moment the pact was made with Arcana. You also can't defeat a Dark God, witch; The First will use Nico's hands to tear your heart from your chest." And yet she didn't stand, looking actually scared, her legs hurting and her magic ring without much more energy.

"You don't get it, do you?" Taking advantage of the woman's unbalance, Amanda pushed Tina's whip-hand away with her shield-arm and reached forward to grab her by the front of her shirt, her weapon vanishing as she did. "I don't care what your fucking First said and I don't care if I have to face down Hell itself. Nico is under my protection and I will do everything I can to make sure she can make her own bloody choices, destiny and prophecy be buggered." With that, she lined up her right hand to punch the other woman in the face, right between her eyes.

Tina was so, so not a close quarters fighter. The punch hit her right in the middle of the face, sending her back to the floor with an 'oof' by any response, where she remained for a moment. The space around them started to shift though. "So be it, witch. You'll learn from your mistakes painfully and slowly."

The room suddenly seemed to vanish, and the next second, they were in the same room...or were they? It was the same space, but they weren't alone anymore; Robert Minoru was still curled in the floor, and Nico...well, Nico was having a bad case of a bloody nose, ears, and spitting blood, unable to go beyond all fours.

"You idiot!" yelled Tina as she helped Robert up. "She was not to be harmed."

Amanda moved to place herself between Nico and her parents, the shielding spell widening again to form a wall between the two sets of combatants. "'S all right, Nico," she said over her shoulder, as calmly as if this was just another lesson. "You can let go of the power now. I've got this."

Robert flinched as his wife touched him, pain still coursing through his nerves. "The...the Staff," he stuttered, by way of explanation.

"Thanks...God you are well", muttered as she slowly placed her head on the floor, the Staff of One entering in her chest as she tried to calm herself, but fighting against fainting. "Once we get out...I think I'm dropping the Goth looks." She laughed a bit and then winced in pain.

Tina made an effort not to kick her husband. "You had to knock her out when you had the chance." She didn't look as worried as she should though. Turning her face to Amanda, the older woman gave her an impish smile. "Next time, you won't be around to protect her. Next time you will arrive too late. Until then, Amanda Sefton. Nico, dear? I wish you knew better, but you leave us no choice. Until next time, sweetie." And before she finished speaking, the shape of Nico's parents shifted and started to fade.

"And fuck you too, bitch," Amanda muttered mostly to herself. She waited until the pair had definitely gone before dropping the shield and dropping to her knees beside Nico. She was sweating and breathing heavily, a sign of how much strain the magic had taken. Around them, the fires from Amanda's battle with Tina had vanished, leaving only the unused storeroom, much as it had looked when they'd been caught.

"Nico, don't move, 'kay? I'll get someone from the school in to get us out." Already she was dialing Kurt's number. "Just lie still."

Nico wiped her face, cleaning the blood that had apparently stopped coming. "No more bleeding, but my head...yeaaaaaaaaah, I'll just lie here." Still, she opened her eyes a little, squinting as she looked at Amanda. "I'm sorry. So so, so sorry."

"No need to be sorry, love. They caught us both on the hop. And you did well – you didn't let your dad take you, so that's a plus, right?" Amanda finished her rather terse instructions to her brother, smoothing her hand gently over Nico's hair, brushing it out of her face. "I should be saying sorry to you."

"No way", Nico complained weakly as she tried to stay focused. "I hurt him", added as she looked down. "I hurt my father, and I know it was the right thing to do...but I don't feel like it was."

"Sometimes we have to hurt people if they're trying to hurt us first," Amanda soothed. "We'll talk about it later, okay? Just rest for now." Outside the door there came the unmistakable "bamf" sound of Kurt's teleportation and a whiff of sulphur. "In here, Kurt!" she called, not leaving Nico's side. "And it looks like our ride's here," she added to the girl.