The Gift part 3 (2) (3/12), Nico, Amanda Julian, Dori & Crystal

[x-staffofone.livejournal.com]

Plot finale; Amanda and Julian arrive too late, and the ritual starts. But things don't go as planned...or do they?

Backdated to December 3rd due to massive fail. Thanks for reading!

It was time. Don't ask her how she knew it- she had just been feeling that sort of moments of knowing, as if something inside of her was shaken and a coldness ran down her spine, all the way to the back of her head. It was time. Was it night? No, not yet. She was tired, and didn't think she could stand against her father. She wasn't going to, anyway, since she wasn't about to put her friend and her teacher into pain because of her. It was her fault, and she was going to pay for it. Alone. By now, she was only hoping it would end soon.

Robert took his cue from Tina, moving into position. From inside his robes he pulled out a knife - a plain, rather ordinary kitchen knife, honed to razor sharpness. With the other hand, he took Nico's arm, pushing her sleeve up so that her skin was bared. "When the blood flows," he intoned, "Let the Staff of One emerge." The knife flashed across Nico's white skin, blood welling up immediately from the cut.

Nico didn't even fight him, she just flinched at the feeling of the blade, and then at the by now familiar sensation of the Staff of One coming out of her chest. She remained silent, though. She felt pathetic, powerless. How she managed to shoot a defiant glare at her father was unknown to her, but she did. Her lips were sealed though.

Tina's cold eyes did not leave the sight of Nico and her husband. The splash of red against white kept her transfixed. She extended her lithe hand toward Robert, reaching for the knife.

"As it was given, so shall it no longer be."

Robert reversed the knife, holding the blade out to Tina. "Let what was joined be undone."

Tina took the knife, her hand tightly gripping the handle blade. "Let the binds be severed," she said.

She lifted her other hand towards Nico, her fingers curling around some unseen thing, then brought the knife down in one quick motion, drawing the blade across the air.

"Blood to blood, One to no one."

Robert took hold of the Staff, wrenching it away from Nico with an almost savage movement, before he thrust it deeply into the floor of the cavern. The Staff vibrated violently, but stayed where it was, and Robert looked to his wife with an expression of triumph. "At last!" he crowed.

So far she had been numb. The cut? She had had worse, every time the Staff wanted out. The pull? Same. But when the knife went down, she woke up. And screamed. Loud. It was as if something was tearing her into pieces from inside out. It wasn't cold or hot, but it was there, like a gust of wind, so soft and still so sharp she was surprised to be still whole. But she wasn't. Now she knew how it felt to have one's soul cut. And she was free too. Oddly enough, the lack of the presence of the Staff of One connected to her soul wasn't comforting at all.

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Nico made a weak attempt to free herself from her parents. "You have what you want", said in a shaky voice. "Let my friends leave."

"Stop!" Crystal shouted. "How can you do this? She is your daughter!" She felt trapped and useless, unable to do anything to help Nico or Dori, only able to watch helplessly while Nico's parents carried out their strange ritual. Stuck in the cage, she had to fight for control of her powers so that she didn't cause Dori any further injury. She didn't know what the Minorus had in store for their two caged prisoners, but she wasn't about to help them out by harming Dori again.

Tina ignored Nico's pleas, giving a smile to Robert and knowing nod. Nico had no idea of the importance of what they were doing. She was too young to understand the magnitude of it.

It was for her that they were doing this, all for her. And if the two of her friends should die for the sake of millions, so be it. It was a sacrifice she was willing to gladly make to protect her daughter from the even harsher fate that would've befallen her at the hand of the First.

Tina threw the blade to the ground, then grabbed her daughter's arm, yanking her toward a neatly painted, but wet red circle of arcane symbols painted in the middle of the cavern floor. A pungent coppery smell wafted through the cave.

"Be a good girl, Nico. You know this is right."

Robert came and took Nico's other arm and between them the Minorus deposited her in the centre while from the shadows other figures came forward, dressed in the same black hooded robes. Showing no signs of discomfort at the scene - a sobbing, begging young girl being hauled into an arcane circle, two others imprisoned and helpless to do anything but watch - they began a low chanting, soft at first but slowly swelling to fill the cavern.

Robert bent over Nico and smoothed back her hair, planting a kiss on her forehead. "It's for your own good, sweetheart," he said with a fatherly smile. "Your mother and I love you. You'll see."

She didn't realize the tears were still falling until her parents left her in the circle, where she just propped down, face against the ground. The wetness made her realize of her actions, allowed her brain to work again. Dark. The circle. The chanting.

"This is the spell to fend Arcana off." She spoke clearly, managing to straighten herself over an elbow to watch at the men circling them. "You have killed with this", she added, as everything fell into place. What they were doing, why they were doing it. What was going to happen now. "I can't die because of what's meant to happen." She almost sounded disappointed. But she saw their logic, and in a way, it wasn't too different. She wasn't too different from them, apparently.

Before she could argue though, the ground trembled. Thunder roared up in the sky, and Nico felt how her hair started to go up. Entering the state in which she could see energy came naturally. Had it really been just months since the time Amanda had taught her how? She could see it clearly now; energy flowing from everywhere, gathering and building up around her, surrounding her like an animal ready to strike. The tremors increased, and then, for a second, everything went still, and Nico felt the taste of raw energy focused all over her.

Then the world exploded. The sky opened, and what fell wasn't lightning, but more of the same sort of energy. The ground around and under her cracked, and waves of sheer power surged through her, filling her, numbing everything but the feeling of her whole body burning. Where Nico had been, a pillar of crackling energy rose as the chants increased. Everything was on schedule.

This was magic. Powerful, frightening magic. Crystal could only watch as the world went crazy all around her, feeling both horror at what she was witnessing and concern over her students. Dori needed to be checked for injuries; Crystal feared her attacks had caused more injury to the teenager than they would have had they affected their intended target. She had meant to use her abilities on a full-grown adult male, not a 17-year-old girl. She felt horrible about what she had done, but she had only been trying to stun the man, not kill him.

"NO!" The voice was an anguished and angry cry, belonging to the blonde witch who had reached the cavern mouth, Julian by her side. Seeing Nico pinioned by magical energies horrified Amanda, but she knew they had to keep on going any way. They might be too late, but Nico wasn't dead, not yet.

"Get Crystal and Dori loose," she instructed Julian, even as she strode forward towards the circle. "I'll..."

She didn't get to finish what she was saying as the Staff of One suddenly uprooted itself, zooming across the room and straight for the Brit. Amanda barely had time to raise one hand in a defensive gesture before the heavy wood smacked into her, knocking her to the floor.

For a moment, Julian faltered, wanting to charge into the fray headfirst to save Nico. But given the energies her parents were working with, it was unlikely that he could do anything to affect her current state without seriously risking the mission. Dori and Crystal, he could do something about- and he quickly closed the distance between Amanda and the cartoonish cage that his best friend and her royal highness were being held captive in. Without a word, he pointed at the draconian padlock and blasted it apart from the inside with a bubble of telekinetic force, "Come on, we need to get you out of here."

There was a part of Crystal that wanted to stay and fight. While she didn't go out and look for battles, she also didn't run from them. But Dori was unconscious and needed to be taken to safety, and Crystal absolutely did not want to risk causing her any additional harm. Her powers might still hurt Dori rather than someone else, and Crystal had no way to know how, if, or when that would stop. Besides, even if she could use her powers properly again, what could she do here? This was beyond everything she had trained for. Fifteen years of using mutant abilities hadn't prepared her for anything like this. The young woman picked up the unmoving form of Doreen Green and fled.

The voice of Amanda hadn't reached her, nor the presence of Julian. Nico couldn't hear, couldn't see, couldn't anything, really, besides feeling how the energy built up in her. And more energy, more than she had always felt. Way beyond her limits. She had probably felt how her brain liquefied if she could be certain she had a brain left. Because that was the expected result, right? It was going to kill her, after all. She felt like a rubber band being pulled more and more, just...waiting...to...break.

Something broke inside of her, but not the way she though. It had broken free. Suddenly the energy didn't hurt, suddenly it felt good, and with every passing second she was starting to feel stronger than ever. And then she heard the giggle.

Amanda?, she reached out; it was just a thought, but it was laced with hope, and confusion.

"Not quite so, gorgeous." She knew the voice whispering in her ear. It was darker, older, stronger than ever, but she knew it. It was her own voice. It was. Arcana. "Bra-vo, now take a sit in the copilot's seat and enjoy the ride."

The pillar of energy fluctuated, curved, squirmed like a worm for a moment before it collapsed; it didn't really explode, but everything was illuminated for a moment. Then, darkness, total and complete, until light seemed to return to normality, the huge hole in the ceiling of the cave helping too. Half of the people around the circle were no more; piles of dust rested when they had been. Both Robert and Tina had been pushed backwards against a wall, and not delicately. And in the middle of it, a figure stood slowly, clothes torn to sheds, head down, arms dangling for a moment before it straightened, eyes completely black scanning the surroundings. The cracks did not wait; extending from her eyes to the rest of her face, to the neck, shoulders, and starting to cover her chest and arms.

A smile that looked more like a scar crossed her face. "Mind if I crash your party for a moment?" Even if she was there -in a fashion- her voice was distant, low like a whisper, but so strong it filled everyone's heads. Her attention finally fell on Amanda. "We need to talk, Gemile, Amanda, Szardos, Sefton, 'Daytripper'; names don't mean much to me, and as you see..." She wriggled a hand of fingers cracking like glass, the horrible smile not leaving her face any second of it. "Time is not in our side."

Amanda visibly flinched and climbed to her feet, Staff held in her hands like a weapon. "Let her go," she grated, looking like she was ready to wade in and start cracking heads. "Or I'll make you let her go."

There was a strangled snort from Robert. "Are you insane?!" he burst out, even as the unseen force held him against the wall. He struggled, the terror in his face clear. "This isn't some petty warlock. This is the source of evil, the progenitor of every demon you ever faced. This is the First."

Tina appeared almost momentarily dumb stuck, sputtering as she stared at what had been her daughter with wide eyes, frozen against the wall, unable to move.

"What have we done?" she breathed, staring at the face of her very fears. The one thing they had tried to fight.

Julian reentered the chamber, sweat dripping from his brow and breath coming laboriously as he'd just sprinted from the juncture where Crystal and Dori had escaped toward the waiting fresh air at the end of the tunnel. Amanda had intended for him to leave too, that was the plan, but he wasn't leaving Nico here- not a chance in hell. Hurrying over to the older witch's side, his eyes fell upon the transformed Nico Minoru, "The hell?" he asked before reaching out his hand to hold Nico in place.

The thing that had been Nico a moment ago chuckled with such softness it was ridiculously creepy. "As much of an honor it is to be confused by my Master, I am not the First.", said as she looked at Robert, although she was still keeping an eye on Amanda, not that her completely black eyes could reveal that. "And you", added as she pointed a crooked finger at Tina. "Are next in the line. Before your daughter, you will join the Minorus with me, and you will help me with the souls of those that escaped. But not now." She then seemed to forget about them. Turning to face Amanda, and then Julian, she just kept on talking, apparently ignoring the telekinetic hold on her. "I'm Arcana Minoru, the First Minoru, if anything. But this body...is too young. It can't hold me for much longer. Oh." She waved a hand, and Julian would feel how his TK around her apparently exploded as a massive force pulled it away. "When her time comes...you will see how she stops fighting. How she turns against you, how she finally understands." Another movement and the ground around them cracked, a dozen of spikes made of rock coming out. "I came here to talk with you, Witch. Don't make me force you to listen."

Amanda threw up an arm to protect her eyes against flying chips of rock, shards bouncing off the battered leather of her jacket. "You want to talk to me so badly, why don't you let Nico go?" she retorted. "Use my body instead if you need one."

"You would die. It would be a shame. You should be dead already, yet you cheat it over and over. A wild card, that you are. Dangerous. And valuable." Lifting a fist, six chains made of black metal sprout from the ground all around Amanda, a couple trying to get a hold on her ankle while the rest were either attacking Julian or trying to wrap the witch. "I won't hurt you if you promise to behave", offered with a voice that was still creepy, but not soft too. It was as if she could twist Nico's voice at her will. "I might even share some insight on what's going on inside this little head."

Julian tried to dodge the chains, but ended up taking one across the temple, sending another spike of pain into his hind brain. The world flashed white for a second before another whacked into his gut, sending him to the floor, unconscious.

"Fuck!" Amanda blurted as she saw Julian go down, even as she struggled against the chains that were wrapping her legs. Another whipped up around her forearm and she swung at it with the Staff. "Your fight's with me, bitch! Leave the kid alone!"

Tina stared at Arcana, her expression slack. The words she had spoken were given form, brought to light. Heard from the First herself. She did not want to hear them. She did not want this future. Her eyes suddenly narrowed as Amanda spoke up.

"I warned you this might happen, blonde witch! If you hadn't helped her it would've been over!" she said.

Anger was winning out over fear at the moment. They could have prevented this had it not been for the woman and her blind attempt at nobility. Nico was too young to grasp it. And now this. The face of their daughter, the words of a demon witch.

"Sefton, Sefton, you can't win. You won't even attack me, because you know Nico dearest will be the one hurt. And we don't want that." She turned around, apparently more irritated than before; she wasn't a fucking revolving door, after all. "Let's cut the crap and skin you right now. I'm sure I can make it without a host until Nico gets older", said as she raised a hand, with all the intent on flay the woman alive."

At that moment, there was a burst of sulphurous smoke in the cave, and a furious blue figure appeared between Amanda and her enemy. "You will leave my sister alone", he snapped, reaching back without looking to lay a protective hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about me, Blue." Amanda glanced over at the Minorus. "We need to stop Nico killing her parents, possessed or not." She fished in her pocket and pulled out a Magic marker. "You still know that protection spell?"

"Of course." Glancing over at her and visibly relieved to see no blood, he took the pen from her hand and turned towards the frightened pair against the wall. "Understand, you two, I do this for Nico's sake." And he knelt and started to draw, quick and skilful, remembering every mark.

As soon as the last line was drawn, Amanda stretched over, just laying her fingertips to the black symbols. "I'm rubber, you're glue, what bounces off me, sticks to you!" she quickly intoned - no time for anything fancy and the old nursery rhyme was the first thing that came to mind. The protection spell flared blue for a moment as she powered it, feeling even that small spell draining her resources. "Stupid fucking small towns," she grumbled under her breath - she might need to defend herself very shortly. "Kurt, help Julian. He's out cold."

There was a screech, and a sound that could only be compared with nails over a chalkboard, and then nothing. Arcana just stared at Kurt with something of a smirk, as another crack appeared on Nico's face. "Good work, Kurt. Now please fuck off", said as she waved her hand, making a fist of at least half the man's size appear out of the ground, hitting him and sending him away. "Enough games." She started to float then, the air seemingly exploding in bursts of light around her. Hands came from the ground, pinning Amanda to it as Arcana lowered herself so she was face to face with her. "She is going to rip your heart out, and she is going to love it", a soft chuckle, and Arcana took advantage of the restraints holding Amanda get even closer, a tongue that looked more like a snake's than a human one giving her a soft lick on a cheek. "Put the Staff back in place and she's yours, Sefton." The restraints on the arm holding the Staff loosened. "Just one little goodbye present", Arcana added before she lunged forward, lips touching lips and she held the witch's head with both hands.

Even if she had tried, Amanda wouldn't have been able to avoid the kiss, pinioned as she was. But it was so out of the blue, so completely unexpected, Amanda froze in place and the kiss ended before she even thought to react. Then, as Arcana pulled away, the deterioration of Nico's body growing worse and worse, Amanda took advantage of the bewildering opening and thrust the Staff forward, jabbing it into Nico's chest.

Kurt had been stunned by a hard landing, but had recovered quickly and scrambled over to check on Julian. Distracted now, though, he was watching events with mingled fear and pride for his little sister.

With Arcana's hold lifted due to the distraction provided by the fuzzy blue thing and the blonde witch, Tina hit the ground.

Grabbing Robert by the arm, Tina yanked him toward the exit in the commotion. "Run, you fool!" she whispered to him as they slipped out of one of the cavern entrances. Retreat now, live longer. She did not think it cowardice but rather a smart notion.

Nico's body barely offered resistance to the Staff of One, which merged back with her easily, although not precisely quietly. The moment it touched her, Arcana's magic vanished from the place, and she feel on her knees as the cracks were rapidly filled with white light that seemed to wash away the affects of her presence in the girl's body. "Mark my words", whispered as the cracks on her face seemed to fill with light, too, and then her eyes. Nico seemed to explode for a moment, sending a wave of magical energy and a flash of blinding light that seemed to last unnaturally long, but when it died down, she was standing up, head cocked up, clothes in shreds; there was no sign of deterioration on her body, but she looked as she if had seen just everything that had happened. And she had.

She was already crying by the time she hit the ground, feeling suddenly weak and confused. Hugging herself, she closed her eyes shut as she tried to erase the images, but she couldn't. Words wouldn't come out, but just some babbling and more cries. The little rational voice that had somehow managed to get a hold of her mind decided it would be better if she just stayed there forever, and everyone just left her alone. One thing was sure; she didn't want to open her eyes again.

Amanda had instinctively thrown her arm over her face to protect herself from the magical blast and once it had passed she felt incredibly weak, as if it had drained all the magical energy out of her. But that weakness didn't stop her from moving to the huddled up Nico, slipping her jacket off and draping it around the girl's shoulders and tattered clothing and then wrapping her arms around the shaking body. There were no words - what reassurances could she make?

The moment they made contact Nico felt it, the jolt of energy, how her senses were no more attuned than ever to the energy flowing. It wasn't just Amanda, it was everyone -everything- around her; she could feel it, smell it, taste it around her. She suddenly felt hungry, hungry of energy, and it scared her. Burying her head in the woman's chest, Nico let a small cry as she realized she had been trying to drain Amanda's energy until that moment, but something was getting in the way. Maybe she could control it, somehow. "Something's different", said under her breath, although sure the woman could hear her. "I'm different. I'm...stronger." She would later have to blame herself for getting exactly what she had wished for.

Amanda's breath caught in her throat at the sudden pull, a hard tug at her insides. Was that how it was when I Healed Remy? came the unbidden thought, even as the drain stopped and she heard Nico's choked whisper. "We'll deal with it, grasshopper, both of us," she murmured, even as her voice cracked slightly. "Let's get everyone home first though, okay?" She brushed Nico's hair back. "We'll take care of you."

"I'm sorry", said in a little voice as she tried to pull herself away from Amanda, feeling that she could hurt her, would hurt her if they stayed together. And she remembered the kiss, too. And everything. She had seen and felt everything. The few grass that had managed to grow around in cave's soil suddenly died as she tried to move away, and not too far away, a rat suddenly collapsed, and in front of Nico's eyes it started to decompose and degrade. It was a horrible sight...and yet she felt a little better. "What is wrong with me?"

Amanda's skin went cold at the sight of the rat, the memory of Selene's teachings, Askani's death, the cultists in the sewers when Angelo's ex-girlfriend was taken...No. Please, not that. She's just a kid! "I don't know, Nico," she said, honestly. It took effort, but she reached out her hand to the girl. "But whatever it is, we'll work it out. Trust me, okay? I know I haven't done too well at protecting you so far, but I won't leave you now."

"It's working. It's it's n-not magic." The ground cracked under her. "It's natural. It's working now." What she had wished all that time, and now that she had it, Nico understood why some mutants would give everything to get rid of it. What it felt to have in ones' nature to do what she was doing. It felt wrong. She threw herself away, suddenly feeling the energy around, feeling Kurt, Julian, the few members of the Cult that were still around, the X-Men who weren't still there. She was hungry, but she couldn't- shouldn't... "Stop it", said as she tried to control herself, but she felt her need lashing out, holding and killing more rats, grass, a bird that had entered through a hole in the cave. "Stop it!", she cried out as her eyes went black, and her pull seemed to increase in range; she didn't know how, but she was keeping the people, out of it, barely. A Cult member fell to the ground, and Nico tasted what a human life was like. Hands on her face, she tried to stop herself, but she felt too scared, too hungry to take control.

"Nico!" Amanda raised her voice, using her best "stern teacher" tone, one that Nico would recognise. "Calm down! Focus, like I taught you. Breathe." Even as she spoke she was sending her thoughts as loud as she could to Jean: ~Get everyone the fuck out of here, now!~ "You can control it, Nico, you just need to concentrate. C'mon, deep breath in through the nose, out through the mouth." She drew nearer the girl, until she could put her hand on Nico's shoulder. She felt a slight tug, a pull she recognised now, but it wasn't as strong as before. "You don't have to take it all. Just enough to manage."

Her tone made her look up again. She didn't see Amanda, but the energy around her; it was fuzzy as if she couldn't focus on the woman. The rest of the world was neatly delineated in patterns of energy, but the woman...she had protection of some sort. Maybe it was because she couldn't hurt Amanda. She would never do it. That gave her hope. Nodding a little, Nico closed her eyes and focused. She felt the recoil, and shivered. It was as if the power didn't want to stop. It didn't make sense, but she realized that there was magic and genes involved. She had to be stronger than her own power to manage any control over it. Slowly, her reach retracted over itself. She still felt the hunger, but it was manageable now. Still, she would need energy later. The feeling of Amanda's hand on her shoulder calmed her somehow. Opening her eyes again -they looked normal now- she nodded again. "I'm a mutant." Then she leaned on the older witch, feeling suddenly tired. Ridiculously tired. "I think...I'm going to sleep now."

Amanda braced herself against the weight of Nico slumping against her, her own fatigue making it a close thing that she didn't spill them both on the ground. "Let's get out of here first," she told the exhausted girl. "You can sleep all the way home."