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xp_logsSiege Perilous Day 1 - Wanda and Adam try their best to keep Strange alive. It isn’t enough.
TW: blood and character death
Blood oozed, thick and sticky, from between Strange's fingers as he desperately clutched at the wound in his throat. His time was limited, he knew that, but he couldn't go without passing on the information he had been killed for. "W...wanda," he choked out, blood bubbling from his lips.
For once, Chthon was silent in her mind as she cradled Strange's head on her lap. "I'm here," Wanda said, voice strained from her earlier screams of rage. "I'm here, now and always." His blood coated her hands as she pressed them against his, trying as well to stem the flow.
It was futile but it might buy them some time. "Oh you stupid man," she breathed, blinking against her tears that she couldn't wipe away.
He tried to smile but instead his lips merely twitched. "sorry..." he whispered. "next...time...doo better." His chest hitched and more blood bubbled from his mouth, thick, red clots. "must tell you..."
"It's time to scarper." Adam appeared from the smoke, sparks skipping off his shields as he parried the sporadic fire seeking them. "Let's get- oh bloody hell."
Wanda looked up from Stephen's dying body, the look on her face a mixture of grief and murderous rage. "Amanda and Clea kept me from him while others struck," she said quickly, gaze dropping back down to her old friend, to the blood that pooled around and on her. It broke her into pieces but she forged ahead, asking, "I know it hurts but what do you need to tell me?"
He closed his eyes, focusing on sucking a breath in. "...import...nt. Need t.. find...Darkhold..." He gasped, spasming under Wanda's hand and the blood flowed even more freely. Then he stilled, motionless except for the blood dripping to the floor.
"No, no... come on, you bloody geezer-" Adam's hands flared with complex sigils of energy as he put his hand on Strange's chest and whispered a few words. Energy washed over his body, and Strange was suddenly shocked back to the living as Adam channeled a healing spell through him. The problem was that something in the magic they'd used on him already was sucking the energy away from healing the damage and into some kind of sink, stealing away the power from helping.
Strange's eyes flew open, locking on Wanda's. "Order... out of... chaos," he choked out. "The book. You'll... know." He managed another twitch of the corners of his mouth, a farewell smile for her, before laboriously turning his gaze to Adam. "Find...Ill...yana..." His face twisted in agony and his chest heaved as he sucked in another breath... and never let it out.
"Stephen...?" Wanda's voice was very small as she leaned down, tears falling on the face of her old friend. She contorted her body so she could press her forehead to his without removing her hands from his wound, hoping it was still necessary. But when no breath stirred against her face, she allowed one hand to reach up to cradle the side of his face.
"Fuck, fuck!" Adam slashed his hands across his body, enacting a shield around them. It was too late, but he wasn't reacting logically. "Healing. I can do a healing spell. I can bring him back. Wanda, I can bring him back!"
Wanda froze and reached for Chthon. Help me help Adam, she demanded, plunging mentally into the murky depths of the chaos and entropy that lived inside of her. We can bring him back!
For a moment, the shield Adam had brought up crackled with red energy, casting the three of them in an ethereal, hellfire light. And then she took a shuddering breath and pulled back as the elder god inside of her confirmed that this was beyond even him. When she looked up at Adam, her eyes were glowing red but she shook her head. "Adam, look at me. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but...he's gone."
Adam stood very still for a long moment, looking off into seemingly nothing.
"Those fucking cunts. Those fucking cunts are dead. Do you hear me!" He yelled as an HFC mercenary made the mistake of appearing through one of the tunnel entrances. Red light lashed out from Adam's hands, the complex designs of Strange's majicks now shot through with black; a pulsing drumbeat that spoke of the depths of a darker, death magick. The man died instantly and horribly, his body consuming itself from inside out at each of the points his power struck.
"All of you!" He screamed, as the magic coursing through him, feeding off of Tante's teachings and further back, Rack's brutal but crude tutelage.
"Adam, enough!" Wanda appeared before him, bruised and soaked in Strange's blood, arms outstretched to the younger man. Her coat was gone, used as a shroud as if she could protect him in death the way she could not in life. Chthon was raging in her mind, answering her own screaming internal grief and anger, and the walls that she had built - with Stephen's help - were starting to crumble.
But she slammed down on everything inside of her, her grief and rage and chaotic madness, so she could grip Adam's shoulders and look at him with something approaching sanity, though the red glow of her eyes caused her tears to shine in an unnatural light. "They'll pay. I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, they'll pay. But we need to do something for him first. And then we'll rip each one of them apart, I promise."
The rage slowly ebbed back from Adam's mind, as her voice cut through the veil of anger and pain. He took several deep breaths and the wreath of magic energy around each hand faded away. After a moment, he stood up straight and shook his head.
"What now?" He croaked.
"We find who he needed us to find," she said, dropping her hands from his shoulders. Wanda wiped the tears off her face and tried not to look at the blood on her hands. "And we need to get back to our team as soon as we can - I blew my comms earlier and they need to know." Every breath she took hurt and she realized it was the pain at the idea of leaving Stephen here.
TW: blood and character death
Blood oozed, thick and sticky, from between Strange's fingers as he desperately clutched at the wound in his throat. His time was limited, he knew that, but he couldn't go without passing on the information he had been killed for. "W...wanda," he choked out, blood bubbling from his lips.
For once, Chthon was silent in her mind as she cradled Strange's head on her lap. "I'm here," Wanda said, voice strained from her earlier screams of rage. "I'm here, now and always." His blood coated her hands as she pressed them against his, trying as well to stem the flow.
It was futile but it might buy them some time. "Oh you stupid man," she breathed, blinking against her tears that she couldn't wipe away.
He tried to smile but instead his lips merely twitched. "sorry..." he whispered. "next...time...doo better." His chest hitched and more blood bubbled from his mouth, thick, red clots. "must tell you..."
"It's time to scarper." Adam appeared from the smoke, sparks skipping off his shields as he parried the sporadic fire seeking them. "Let's get- oh bloody hell."
Wanda looked up from Stephen's dying body, the look on her face a mixture of grief and murderous rage. "Amanda and Clea kept me from him while others struck," she said quickly, gaze dropping back down to her old friend, to the blood that pooled around and on her. It broke her into pieces but she forged ahead, asking, "I know it hurts but what do you need to tell me?"
He closed his eyes, focusing on sucking a breath in. "...import...nt. Need t.. find...Darkhold..." He gasped, spasming under Wanda's hand and the blood flowed even more freely. Then he stilled, motionless except for the blood dripping to the floor.
"No, no... come on, you bloody geezer-" Adam's hands flared with complex sigils of energy as he put his hand on Strange's chest and whispered a few words. Energy washed over his body, and Strange was suddenly shocked back to the living as Adam channeled a healing spell through him. The problem was that something in the magic they'd used on him already was sucking the energy away from healing the damage and into some kind of sink, stealing away the power from helping.
Strange's eyes flew open, locking on Wanda's. "Order... out of... chaos," he choked out. "The book. You'll... know." He managed another twitch of the corners of his mouth, a farewell smile for her, before laboriously turning his gaze to Adam. "Find...Ill...yana..." His face twisted in agony and his chest heaved as he sucked in another breath... and never let it out.
"Stephen...?" Wanda's voice was very small as she leaned down, tears falling on the face of her old friend. She contorted her body so she could press her forehead to his without removing her hands from his wound, hoping it was still necessary. But when no breath stirred against her face, she allowed one hand to reach up to cradle the side of his face.
"Fuck, fuck!" Adam slashed his hands across his body, enacting a shield around them. It was too late, but he wasn't reacting logically. "Healing. I can do a healing spell. I can bring him back. Wanda, I can bring him back!"
Wanda froze and reached for Chthon. Help me help Adam, she demanded, plunging mentally into the murky depths of the chaos and entropy that lived inside of her. We can bring him back!
For a moment, the shield Adam had brought up crackled with red energy, casting the three of them in an ethereal, hellfire light. And then she took a shuddering breath and pulled back as the elder god inside of her confirmed that this was beyond even him. When she looked up at Adam, her eyes were glowing red but she shook her head. "Adam, look at me. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but...he's gone."
Adam stood very still for a long moment, looking off into seemingly nothing.
"Those fucking cunts. Those fucking cunts are dead. Do you hear me!" He yelled as an HFC mercenary made the mistake of appearing through one of the tunnel entrances. Red light lashed out from Adam's hands, the complex designs of Strange's majicks now shot through with black; a pulsing drumbeat that spoke of the depths of a darker, death magick. The man died instantly and horribly, his body consuming itself from inside out at each of the points his power struck.
"All of you!" He screamed, as the magic coursing through him, feeding off of Tante's teachings and further back, Rack's brutal but crude tutelage.
"Adam, enough!" Wanda appeared before him, bruised and soaked in Strange's blood, arms outstretched to the younger man. Her coat was gone, used as a shroud as if she could protect him in death the way she could not in life. Chthon was raging in her mind, answering her own screaming internal grief and anger, and the walls that she had built - with Stephen's help - were starting to crumble.
But she slammed down on everything inside of her, her grief and rage and chaotic madness, so she could grip Adam's shoulders and look at him with something approaching sanity, though the red glow of her eyes caused her tears to shine in an unnatural light. "They'll pay. I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, they'll pay. But we need to do something for him first. And then we'll rip each one of them apart, I promise."
The rage slowly ebbed back from Adam's mind, as her voice cut through the veil of anger and pain. He took several deep breaths and the wreath of magic energy around each hand faded away. After a moment, he stood up straight and shook his head.
"What now?" He croaked.
"We find who he needed us to find," she said, dropping her hands from his shoulders. Wanda wiped the tears off her face and tried not to look at the blood on her hands. "And we need to get back to our team as soon as we can - I blew my comms earlier and they need to know." Every breath she took hurt and she realized it was the pain at the idea of leaving Stephen here.
