A Haven to Call Home: Interlude

[xp_erverse]

Haller and Hope build a circuit to pull off a daring astral rescue.


Hope focused her gaze into the distance. There was a faint shimmer already there and Hope pushed off easily, speeding in the direction of it. Suddenly stalks erupted in front of her, appearing like milky glass, though they glowed with a strange inner light. It threw psychedelic patterns of light on the floor. The stalks thickened quickly, evolving leaves and roots as they gained in height. Hefting her sword, Hope didn't slow down and with a slash or two the stalks fell to the group, dissolving into a cloud of glitter that clung to the billowing silk. I wonder what that was.... She directed the thought towards Haller, but didn't slow down for a second.

~Distortions. This place is artificially attached to the astral plane. The joins between the two thickened like scars. Be careful navigating them. It's unpredictable. Your visual . . . reacting to your visualizations.~ The psi's voice in her mind stuttered. ~The brambles. The astral plane reinterprets the obstructions in a way that allows you to deal with them.~

He didn’t sound too well... Hope narrowed her eyes and sped up, her skirts billowing behind her. The shimmering area was unfolding in front of her, a shimmering and glittering mix of all possible colors playing over what seemed to be a thick curtain moving softly in the wind. Also, the border they needed to cross to get out of Radha's strange dimension...

And where Quentin's backdoor was supposed to be located... Reaching for the back of her mind, Hope manifested an exquisitely engraved wooden box with mother of the pearl inlay in her free hand... she didn't know if that was Quentin or just the effects of her own mind, but she held it tight, willing for it to open...

... the light that filled her sight was so bright she couldn't even see what was in the box, till she felt something around her eyes. A slight weight dropped on her nose and ears and everything was just a shade darker. 'Sun glasses... of course he would give me sun glasses'. She quickly pushed the thought away though. She had to find the exit and the elaborate necklace was growing heavier every second.

Glancing around, it didn't take her long to spot them. A pair of lovely delicate French doors, made from pale wood and glass that just held a touch of frost in them. Hope could only get glimpses from what was on the other side of the open doors... a white marble balcony, with the clean roar of the waves and the loud cries of the sea gulls in the background. But she wouldn’t be able to get through, the door opening filled with a tightly woven lattice of slender chains. Bright yellow gold, many shades of silver from white gold, platinum, palladium and silver itself, offset by the reddish tint of rose gold and the even deeper red from the pure copper chains. Even a small number of electrum chains were easily spotted.

The lattice was what she had to pierce.

Gripping the ‘Haller sword’ tightly in her hand she hefted it and sped off again, heading directly for the French doors. The closer she got, the more the lattice started to shimmer and glitter, but thanks to the sunglasses it didn't hinder her. Coming closer and closer she simply pulled her hand back and slashed. The first hit only destroyed a few of the chains and she pulled back again, coming in for a slash from a different angle. This pulled loose far more of the chains and without hesitation she slashed again, this time coming up from below. It started slowly, but suddenly all the chains started to unravel, sliding and dropping to the ground with only a melodic tinkle.

The sword flared in her hand, and a hint of amusement brushed her mind. ~You've been watching Shatterstar? Well done.~

~I had to learn this somewhere.~ Hope tossed back as she watched the last few chains hit the floor and she headed for the door. Doug only taught me a little bit about knives and how to fire a g... ugck...~ Her hands flew towards her neck, scrabbling at the necklace that had suddenly tightened.

~Hope!~ It was their bonds. The same bonds that held Radha's followers secure to each other also tied them to Radha herself. Loyalty, love, fear -- those connections all pulled taut, and what had been a necklace had become a noose.

~They do not wish to leave!!!~ The insight came in a sudden flash of understanding as the ‘noose’ tightened even more and Hope was forced to take a small 'step' back. ~Their bonds with Radha and each other... but each person has bonds with people outside too...~ Strands of light unfolded from the necklace through the French doors, glowing in all shades of colors... love, affection... grief, even hatred. Another flash of insight followed. ~We need to remind them of those... help me touch them!~

Light flowed from the blade like water, streaming up her arm to pool around the construct at her neck. Drops of power beaded down the strands leading away from Radha's dimension, lending them weight and definition. Slowly, the opposing force began to counter the pull of Radha's world.

~It's you who carry us, not we who chain you,~ came Haller's thoughts from within the sword. The tether that connected Hope's astral body to her physical one glowed into existence, and the glittering ties began to knit around it, reinforcing their connection to the world beyond Radha.

Soundlessly, almost too fine to see, a hairline crack formed on the blade.

~H-here,~ the voice in her mind faltered. ~Here you . . . are the master.~

'Here... I am the master...' How to strengthen those ties... what ties keep me there? An image of Sue popped into her head. 'Love...' A strand of green and pink intertwined started to vibrate in the tether. 'Friendship'... Another colored strand flared up as images of Topaz, Tandy and other friends floated past. Images after image floated past, strands of multicolored lights in her tether starting to vibrate and flare up more and more. And as they vibrated, the ties knit around it started to vibrate and flare too, strengthening, as the attention of the 82 lives in her hands were slowly drawn to the ties they had in the real world, no matter how faint they might be.

Slowly the necklace loosened and Hope didn't hesitate, spurting out through the French doors, only to stop at the edge of the balcony where waves rolled angrily against the cliff. But this sea was not scary... this one was an old friend... Hope didn't even notice the slight weight lifting from her face, vanishing along with the French doors behind her as she raised her arms. The waves responded to her call, becoming higher and higher as the waves in the back of her mind rose as well.

With a final gesture of her hand, the waves crashed over the balcony and Hope was swept away, pulled under water. She calmly floated through the mire, since there was no need for breath here and set her focus on shifting herself and the people she carried with her back to the normal world. Alone she'd never be able to accomplish this, but with a final pulse of power from the sword and a deepening roar of the sea, the astral plane spit them out.

Emerging into reality felt like breaking the surface of the ocean.

The moment Hope returned to her body they were thrown from her astral form. Without Radha's influence the world pulled at the lives he'd wound around Hope's neck. They wanted to return to their natural forms, and Haller let them: light drifted to the ground like pyrotechnic stars and unfolded once again into physical beings. All around him dozens of men and women rematerialized. Some of them retched into the grass, others just lay where they were, shaking. A few, stronger or angrier, were already struggling to their feet.

and he

X-Factor had set up in a clearing a safe distance from the commune, far enough away to avoid detection but large enough to accommodate the evacuees they'd hoped to receive. The rest of the team was probably mixed with the crowd.

he'd been holding those minds so tightly their release tore him like a serrated blade ripped from his flesh

Madin was there, vomiting into the grass. They were safe. That was a relief. He wanted to apologize to them, but later, it would need to be later. Shaking with effort, Haller got to his feet.

bleeding out now, glistening ropes of him spilling like entrails

In a daze, knowing he hadn't been the only one to feel such nauseating strain, Haller cast about for the tent where he'd last seen Hope. He needed to check on her next. If she were in psychic distress maybe he could–

spilling ou t

i nt o t he

d a r k

His steps slowed to a stop. Around him the trees shuddered as a gust of wind, bitter with fall cold, swept through their leaves.

He thought it sounded like the sea.

And a fragile unity, shot through with hairline fractures and stressed beyond limit, finally shattered.

Without a sound, David Haller fell.

Comments

[xp_daytripper]

Stunning log, guys. I loved the way you had the two of them work together and the imagery was just gorgeous. <3