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xp_logs2015-01-20 11:24 pm
x-gambit.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2015-01-20 11:24 pm
The Dark Phoenix - Log 7
Around them, energy is sleeting through the sky, opening up rents in the universe. Wanda grabs North and Doug and begins pulsing energy through him, using her powers to hold the rents closed. Strange appears at her elbow, adding strength but they are quickly failing.
In the storm of telekinetic assaults and the firebird, it was easy to miss the thin red strips that were appearing in the sky. The clouds around them were turning dark and as the lines grew, they twisted the air around them. The view was ominous enough, but what it meant underneath was entirely worse.
"No. Oh no, no, no." Wanda's whispered words were torn from her by the savage wind the battle around them was whipping up. She shoved her hair away from her face as she stared up at the sky. She didn't even have to look with her abilities - she could see straight through the bigger tears, into ... she flinched from the sight. Whatever the outcome of the other fight, Wanda knew the rents would keep coming. Her powers flared and she slammed them towards the sky, reaching for the red, ugly scars with everything she had.
It wasn't enough. She could barely feel the chaos that drove them from where she was. She spread her hands and tried again, slamming pure energy against the nearest hole but it barely flickered.
Wanda cursed loudly and bitterly in several languages, hands clenched tightly at her side, as she stared into the darkness that was creeping into their world.
"What is going on?" Someone interrupted her mid-curse from a few paces behind her. North was peering up at the sky, bloodied and exhausted, looking older than his fifty years of age as held himself up as best as he could with Doug's help.
"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour," Doug murmured as he put his shoulder under North's arm. Not that there was anything like silence around them, but there was definitely a sense that the end was well and truly nigh.
She stared at them for a moment, fighting the desire to sink to the ground and simply wait it out. The end was coming faster than they could stop it and ... her thoughts paused. Wanda needed more agility, more speed, more power and she stared at the men in front of her as an idea slowly formed. Wanda gently touched a ring that she bore around her thumb and caressed it, whispering a name along with a phrase in words so ancient that only Doug would have known what they meant.
A hand touched her shoulder. "You called?" Strange's voice was soft, but intense, and his eyes reflected the horror in the skies. "I would ask if you needed help, but it would redundant. I take it you have a plan? Possibly a completely insane one?"
The slight shift in energy behind her as Stephen made his appearance should have been buried under onslaught that was the world breaking but Wanda felt it and smiled as she turned. "Insane and possibly completely improbable, my love," Wanda said, taking a few precious moments to kiss him. She left a hand on his chest as she turned to Doug and North. "And probably painful. Our universe is being torn to pieces - what you see up in the sky is the result of that. I could potentially repair them by using my chaos powers but I am not powerful enough. But maybe with the four of us, I might be."
She took a deep breath. "I know magic well enough and Stephen well enough to know there should be a spell that will allow our energies to be brought together, to give me that boost I need to reach what is broken. All mutant powers generate energy. But it is not just that." Wanda turned towards the younger man. "Douglas, your pattern recognition and North, your precognition, would also let me see where I need to reach in all that swirling matter. But I doubt it will be easy or painless..."
Wanda gave them a small, tired smile. "But when have we ever let that stop us? Are you both willing to try?"
"Pete always told me that he wanted the moon on a stick, and yesterday." Doug smiled wryly in the face of the terrible events going on around them. "Since when have I let a little thing like difficult and painful get in the way of doing the job?" Wanda had believed in him, at a time when he hadn't even believed in himself. For that, he would follow her to the very gates of hell. "I'm in."
North merely nudged his companion into walking the both of them closer to the couple, a grave look on his face as he offered his colleague a hand in silent agreement.
Wanda did not need more than that to know that she had her colleagues’ immediate and complete support for whatever harebrained plan she had, dangerous or otherwise. For someone whose instincts and training were finely attuned towards survival, it was… immense.
But they had already lost too many comrades from their tight circle of risk-takers.
Wanda slipped her hand into North's and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She squeezed it tight before offering Doug her other one. All those years together - the constant struggle, near death experiences and the quieter, normal aspects of being friends and teammates - had led them to this very moment. And if they survived what they were about to do, if they survived any of this, Wanda would never forget it.
She glanced over her shoulder and gave Stephen a small smile. "By the way, darling, please tell me you can actually do what I just said?"
Strange's expression was grave, but he nodded and gave her just the hint of a sad smile - there was no stepping back from this endeavour of theirs. "It will be difficult, but it is possible," he said, slipping into "professor mode" as he talked. "There is a spell, used by magic users to combine their energies and their skills for great undertakings. It's called a soul gathering. You are not mages, but the principle is the same." He moved to stand behind Wanda, hands on her shoulders. "Douglas, if you could stand on my right side and place your hand on my shoulder? And Mr. North, the same on my left? Excellent. Now, you two join hands, so Wanda is in the centre of a very small circle... Yes, that's it. Perfect."
The mage took a breath, preparing his mind for the task ahead. Then, he looked from Doug to North and gave another one of those small, quirky smiles of his. "This may feel... strange," he said, and before anyone could respond, he unleashed the spell.
"Eh, I've done this before." Doug tried for blase, not quite hitting the mark. But he was no stranger to multi-person melds, when they had tried to get through to Xorn, and again in Genosha... The spell took hold, and Doug realized this was different - deeper in a way. Instead of just thoughts and feelings, this was...well, Strange -had- called it a soul gathering, and he did feel connected to the others at that level. His analytical brain took to parsing the information coming across from the others, and he took an idle moment to wonder what they might be receiving from him.
North inhaled deeply, sharply, as he felt something inside of him shift. His powers kicked on immediately and of its own violition as blue irises receded behind white film and his head lolled backwards. Strange were the ways of magic indeed, and David was reminded why he had always made it a point to stay as far away from the supernatural as possible.
Now, though, he gritted his teeth against the uncomfortable sensation of having... things (people?) (souls?) close to him and connected in an unnamable way, pressed up against one another until it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.
Visions began to pick up in his mind's eye, gaining speed as Wanda instinctively began to get the hang of it. North could only marvel at how clear and easily understood they were with Doug's ability to analyse and pick apart each one with amazing deftness.
Then the pain began and oh, how it hurt.
In the storm of telekinetic assaults and the firebird, it was easy to miss the thin red strips that were appearing in the sky. The clouds around them were turning dark and as the lines grew, they twisted the air around them. The view was ominous enough, but what it meant underneath was entirely worse.
"No. Oh no, no, no." Wanda's whispered words were torn from her by the savage wind the battle around them was whipping up. She shoved her hair away from her face as she stared up at the sky. She didn't even have to look with her abilities - she could see straight through the bigger tears, into ... she flinched from the sight. Whatever the outcome of the other fight, Wanda knew the rents would keep coming. Her powers flared and she slammed them towards the sky, reaching for the red, ugly scars with everything she had.
It wasn't enough. She could barely feel the chaos that drove them from where she was. She spread her hands and tried again, slamming pure energy against the nearest hole but it barely flickered.
Wanda cursed loudly and bitterly in several languages, hands clenched tightly at her side, as she stared into the darkness that was creeping into their world.
"What is going on?" Someone interrupted her mid-curse from a few paces behind her. North was peering up at the sky, bloodied and exhausted, looking older than his fifty years of age as held himself up as best as he could with Doug's help.
"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour," Doug murmured as he put his shoulder under North's arm. Not that there was anything like silence around them, but there was definitely a sense that the end was well and truly nigh.
She stared at them for a moment, fighting the desire to sink to the ground and simply wait it out. The end was coming faster than they could stop it and ... her thoughts paused. Wanda needed more agility, more speed, more power and she stared at the men in front of her as an idea slowly formed. Wanda gently touched a ring that she bore around her thumb and caressed it, whispering a name along with a phrase in words so ancient that only Doug would have known what they meant.
A hand touched her shoulder. "You called?" Strange's voice was soft, but intense, and his eyes reflected the horror in the skies. "I would ask if you needed help, but it would redundant. I take it you have a plan? Possibly a completely insane one?"
The slight shift in energy behind her as Stephen made his appearance should have been buried under onslaught that was the world breaking but Wanda felt it and smiled as she turned. "Insane and possibly completely improbable, my love," Wanda said, taking a few precious moments to kiss him. She left a hand on his chest as she turned to Doug and North. "And probably painful. Our universe is being torn to pieces - what you see up in the sky is the result of that. I could potentially repair them by using my chaos powers but I am not powerful enough. But maybe with the four of us, I might be."
She took a deep breath. "I know magic well enough and Stephen well enough to know there should be a spell that will allow our energies to be brought together, to give me that boost I need to reach what is broken. All mutant powers generate energy. But it is not just that." Wanda turned towards the younger man. "Douglas, your pattern recognition and North, your precognition, would also let me see where I need to reach in all that swirling matter. But I doubt it will be easy or painless..."
Wanda gave them a small, tired smile. "But when have we ever let that stop us? Are you both willing to try?"
"Pete always told me that he wanted the moon on a stick, and yesterday." Doug smiled wryly in the face of the terrible events going on around them. "Since when have I let a little thing like difficult and painful get in the way of doing the job?" Wanda had believed in him, at a time when he hadn't even believed in himself. For that, he would follow her to the very gates of hell. "I'm in."
North merely nudged his companion into walking the both of them closer to the couple, a grave look on his face as he offered his colleague a hand in silent agreement.
Wanda did not need more than that to know that she had her colleagues’ immediate and complete support for whatever harebrained plan she had, dangerous or otherwise. For someone whose instincts and training were finely attuned towards survival, it was… immense.
But they had already lost too many comrades from their tight circle of risk-takers.
Wanda slipped her hand into North's and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She squeezed it tight before offering Doug her other one. All those years together - the constant struggle, near death experiences and the quieter, normal aspects of being friends and teammates - had led them to this very moment. And if they survived what they were about to do, if they survived any of this, Wanda would never forget it.
She glanced over her shoulder and gave Stephen a small smile. "By the way, darling, please tell me you can actually do what I just said?"
Strange's expression was grave, but he nodded and gave her just the hint of a sad smile - there was no stepping back from this endeavour of theirs. "It will be difficult, but it is possible," he said, slipping into "professor mode" as he talked. "There is a spell, used by magic users to combine their energies and their skills for great undertakings. It's called a soul gathering. You are not mages, but the principle is the same." He moved to stand behind Wanda, hands on her shoulders. "Douglas, if you could stand on my right side and place your hand on my shoulder? And Mr. North, the same on my left? Excellent. Now, you two join hands, so Wanda is in the centre of a very small circle... Yes, that's it. Perfect."
The mage took a breath, preparing his mind for the task ahead. Then, he looked from Doug to North and gave another one of those small, quirky smiles of his. "This may feel... strange," he said, and before anyone could respond, he unleashed the spell.
"Eh, I've done this before." Doug tried for blase, not quite hitting the mark. But he was no stranger to multi-person melds, when they had tried to get through to Xorn, and again in Genosha... The spell took hold, and Doug realized this was different - deeper in a way. Instead of just thoughts and feelings, this was...well, Strange -had- called it a soul gathering, and he did feel connected to the others at that level. His analytical brain took to parsing the information coming across from the others, and he took an idle moment to wonder what they might be receiving from him.
North inhaled deeply, sharply, as he felt something inside of him shift. His powers kicked on immediately and of its own violition as blue irises receded behind white film and his head lolled backwards. Strange were the ways of magic indeed, and David was reminded why he had always made it a point to stay as far away from the supernatural as possible.
Now, though, he gritted his teeth against the uncomfortable sensation of having... things (people?) (souls?) close to him and connected in an unnamable way, pressed up against one another until it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.
Visions began to pick up in his mind's eye, gaining speed as Wanda instinctively began to get the hang of it. North could only marvel at how clear and easily understood they were with Doug's ability to analyse and pick apart each one with amazing deftness.
Then the pain began and oh, how it hurt.