Blurred Lines Mods (blurred_mods) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-08-31 17:28:00 |
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FINAL BATTLE [20/29]
THE FINAL BATTLE [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
The forest
Kate had been thankful for the small break in fighting so that she could quickly patch up the cuts she'd received in the earlier battle and made certain she was ready to fight again. They had not been bad particularly, but she'd still had them and fighting after patching up was always better than just running straight into the fighting without having had a chance to make certain you weren't bleeding all over your opponents (or really more importantly, yourself). She made her way from the Greenhouses down towards the forest, knowing that they'd set pumpkin bombs to go off, and so she wanted to be careful as she approached. She was on full alert looking for the enemy. Perhaps, she thought, it was easier when they were masked and faceless. She had spotted Bertie Higgs, and as much as she had sometimes not liked him when they were colleagues, fighting him - possibly to the death - was not particularly an enjoyable idea. She hoped that she had back-up coming up because although she was an Auror and he a Hitwizard, he was far more experienced overall than she was, and she could use the assistance. Well... if she could draw him towards the pumpkins, perhaps they would do her work for her. She kept back, so that if he really wanted a clear shot he would have to move closer to the pumpkin patch. "Impedimenta," without a seconds more hesitation she aimed her wand at Higgs and followed it up with a finger removing jinx. Oh honestly. All right, so it wasn't as if Bertie was absolutely enthralled about this. He wasn't. And thus far, he was rather sort of bored. His last duel had left him only vaguely bruised and as much as he wasn't quite looking for a fight, he had rather been expecting more from his former colleagues and their supporters. Perhaps it was no small wonder that they had fallen so quickly to the Death Eaters all those months ago. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up the second before the impediment jinx hit him, shoving him toward the pumpkin patch. His eyes turned to one Kate Proudfoot as he regained his balance and deflected her next jinx with a flick of his wand. He had wondered - vaguely, mind you - if he would feel any moral sort of hesitance at facing one of the aurors or Salazar, even one of his own hitwizards. He found very quickly though, that he didn't. "Confundo!" Although she was having a degree of difficulty telling exactly who was on her side and who wasn't -- she hadn't been getting out of camp much recently -- Ciara was enjoying herself. It was a mere two years ago that she had become a werewolf, and had not taken to it well, but this, this was why it was worth being a werewolf in Fenrir's army. Despite a few aches and pains from her earlier fight, she was ready and willing to go again. Despite her extremely small stature she knew it would be hard to go undetected with her bright hair and obvious young age, so as soon as she spotted a woman that she recognised as one of those "terrorists", Ciara sprinted towards her, teeth bared for the attack. What Ciara lacked in size and strength she made up for in speed and agility, and her feet made very little sound on the grassy surface as she quickly covered the distance and pounced. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been back behind what used to be the the pumpkin patch trying to repair what was left of the broom he had when the Death Eaters were calling their retreat. He saw Bellatrix Lestrange killing his old potions professor, but he did not immediately make to move himself - he needed to fix the broom, and he kept at it until only a few minutes later when he realised people were fighting real close to him. He peeked around the pumpkin bombs he was hiding behind to see Kate combating some werewolf and... their good old friend Bertie Higgs. "Shiiiit," he whispered to himself. Kate could hold her own pretty well, he knew, but two on one was never fair even if Bertie weren't a threat all on his own. He watched Higgs for a moment, disgusted at the man he had once respected as a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the head of the Hitwizards after Millicent became Minister, then decided he had to act. "Locomotor pumpkin," he said as he mounted the (hopefully fixed) broom, magically tossing the pumpkin at the werewolf. He rose into the air on the broom, heading closer to the three so he could hopefully surprise Higgs with a spell or two, and just as he had trained his wand on the Hiwizard... The broom started bucking wildly. Kingsley flew off of it, tumbling to the ground and trying to right himself as quickly as possible. Kate cast a shield charm in time to see a pumpkin fly into the air and aimed at the werewolf that was jolting towards her. Thank Merlin, that save had been pretty much brilliant, and as she strengthened her own shield charm again, she glanced to see who was coming to join her - because she could only assume that someone aiming pumpkins at a werewolf could be on their side. As it turned out she was somewhat surprised to see Kingsley flying through the air and then not in the air and her eyes widened as he fell to the ground. What in Merlin's name? But she didn't have time to think about that, because Higgs was still there and although his last spell had bounced off of her shield, future ones might not and she could hardly take that possibility for granted. She turned back to give Higgs and the werewolf her full attention, hoping that Kingsley would be able to take care of himself. It wasn't much like Kate to taunt in battle, or she might have done so right then. But despite the numerous fights of the past year, she was still inexperienced in comparison to Higgs and taunting & sarcasm would have taken attention away from her fight. "Deprimo!" she moved out of the path of the werewolf - should the pumpkin not hit her, and cast the spell at her former colleague. Bertie's eyes flicked first to the werewolf - which, he thought, he was not entirely excited about - and then to the flying pumpkin. He frowned, deciding he was in no immediate danger when a rather rumpled looking Shacklebolt fell from the sky. Well. He quickly protected himself with a shield charm and then turned his wand back to Miss Proudfoot. And so, first a tripping jinx and then a silent incarcerous. This wasn't even about the government, not really. At least not for him - and honestly no one else's opinion very much mattered to him. Bertie just liked to win. Well, if there was one thing Ciara didn't expect to happen, it was having a flipping pumpkin falling out of the sky. Except it wasn't falling, it was thrown, by a horrible wizard on a horrible broom. But she barely had time to bare her teeth at Kingsley before the bomb exploded, showering her with bits of pumpkin and earth, and throwing her bodily to the side, where she landed hard on the ground, face down. Ow. Waiting for the pains all over her body to subside, mainly in her abdominal area which had been hit by the bomb the hardest, Ciara lay still on the ground, the taste of blood in her mouth. She would get that wizard now, oh yes she would. Then, as she started to feel like she would be able to get up again, an idea occurred to her. What if they thought she was dead? What if they thought the pumpkin bomb killed her, and she waited until one of them was close enough to attack? It seemed foolproof. Kingsley was on his feet moments after he landed on the ground, but moments during a battle could be lifetimes, so after his shield charm was up he quickly glanced around to figure out what was going on. The werewolf was lying on the ground, not moving, so Kingsley turned his attention back to Kate and Higgs. "Over here, you big ugly middle-aged piece of shit!" Kingsley yelled, casting a silent Expelliarmus that met Higgs' incarcerous and caused both spells to go flying awry, hitting nobody, and then the first other spell he could think of - one that caused his hair to grow unusually long to hopefully prevent him from seeing. He knew he should have tried something more deadly... but the man had kids at home. "I'm over here!" Kate definitely did not have Kingsley's style in battle, but she was pleased to see him back on the ground and in one piece. But where Kingsley may have gracefully got to his feet moments after he landed, Kate was less gracefully off her feet an instant later as she got hit by Higgs' tripping jinx, stumbling over nothing she landed flat on her face, her wand in front of her and her abdomen - still aching from Lucius' damn purple stuff earlier - protesting vehemently. "Shit," she muttered, echoing Kingsley's favourite expletive, and without getting to her feet she used the distraction of the spells flying away and Kingsley's spell to cast one of her own - albeit from the ground and admittedly not with the best form. While Kingsley might be nice, and Kate might have been under other circumstances, she didn't feel particularly generous right now, so although the first curse was a jelly finger jinx, she clamoured to her feet and followed it up with a rather forceful and expertly formed blasting curse. Bertie gave a vague roll of his eyes, not remotely impressed or amused by Kingsley's taunting. He'd certainly never taught that. With an almost lazy wave of his wand, he redoubled his shield, letting the hexes collide with it, leaving him relatively unharmed. "Oh, shut up," he said, vaguely annoyed, flicking his wand to cast a silencing charm at Kingsley. Blasting hexes though, were something else entirely, and he had to work to keep himself protected. Even as it collided with his shield, he was forced several steps closer to the pumpkin patch, the force of the explosion knocking him backwards. With an irritated grunt, he shot an angry blast of fire at Proudfoot. It wasn't long before Ciara's face started to ache from being pressed into the ground, and the moment she sensed that somebody was near enough to attack, she went for it. Legs pushing off powerfully from the ground, she leapt through the air onto the back of Kate Proudfoot, and sunk her teeth in with relish. Teeth and scrabbly little nails ripping through skin and flesh, Ciara relished the taste of blood in her mouth. It had been a while since she'd killed, and the urge to rip deeper and deeper grew stronger. Hanging on like a limpet she took a moment to yell "I'm not dead, youse are!" Blood was dripping down her chin and her eyes were wild. Kingsley found himself silenced at about the same time he heard a yell from where Kate was, and he glanced over just in time to see the werewolf who was apparently not dead or unconscious launch herself onto Kate's back. Shiiiiit, this was going to be difficult - he couldn't risk hitting Kate. Accio werewolf! he tried to yell, but the words didn't come out of his mouth. The werewolf still came toward him, however, though slower than usual due to the wandless magic and her tight grip on Kate. He had to get them apart though or his options to incapacitate her were extremely limited. Kate was struck with absolute pain as the werewolf bit into her. For a moment she was fairly certain that she was going to die and she hardly had time to think about the fact that she didn't want to. Her wand dropped at the impact she began to fight - kicking and hitting at the woman - monster was the only word that came to mind - on top of her trying to kick her off and then suddenly she felt as if she were moving across the ground and it was at once painful because of Ciara's teeth, and the unevenness of the terrain and also unnerving, because there was nothing pulling them that she could see. Bloody fecking wizards was the thought that appeared in Ciara's mind as she felt herself fly through the air. Her legs remained fastened around the witch's waist and she instinctively gripped around her throat like a limpet, only letting go when she felt herself collide with the wizard who she could only assume had cast this spell on her. Dropping her grip on Kate, she used the other woman as a springboard to leap at the tall auror, claws aimed at his face (well, his shoulders, he towered above her by quite a long way) and teeth aimed at his chest. She was a tiny tornado of fury and anger, all nails and teeth attacking every inch of him that she could reach. Bertie wasn't really sure if he was annoyed or amused at this whole charade. He wasn't typically a fan of werewolves, but the distraction it provided was opportunity enough, and he capitalized on it immediately in the form of a blasting hex at the currently-being-dragged Kate Proudfoot. Oh and why not, while Shacklebolt was distracted as well? Weren't aurors taught anything? Bertie was on the verge of being somewhat offended that they didn't seem to think they very much deserved his attention. And so, "Expulso," he murmured, aiming more for Kingsley's feet than his face. Kingsley felt a sharp pain (different than the pains the werewolf was inflicting upon him) as the exploding hex hit the ground next to his feet and exploded. He felt air on his feet and realised he no longer had a shoe on the left foot, but he knew he couldn't think about it quite yet - he had to get this werewolf off of him, despite the fact that he had made her come to him in the first place. He twisted a little to the side, trying to get far enough away from her that he could put his wand straight up to her chest. A flash of orange in the corner of his eye gave him an idea and he twisted again, finally in the right position. "Deprimo!" he shouted, his wand point blank at her chest and not even a second later she was flying through the air, straight at the pile of pumpkin bombs they had set up earlier. It all happened very quickly; too quickly for Ciara to realise that the sudden burning pain in her chest was a retaliatory spell, that she was once again travelling through the air or exactly what fate had in store for her upon landing. She had always assumed that death would be painless; like going to sleep at the end of a very long day. She also assumed that her life would flash before her eyes, and she would have a moment to reflect on it, knowing that her life was about to end. None of this was true. There was no time for flashbacks as her world became one of intense pain for just a split second, then turned to nothing. Her life was ripped from her body as her limbs were ripped from her torso and her blood was ripped from her veins. As the jaws of death swallowed her up completely, there was just a bloody shell left. Just another war casualty. Even now that the werewolf seemed to had disentangled herself from Kate she still ached, and she ached more when she was thrown across the grounds by Higg's blasting curse. "Dammit," she managed, although with hardly any voice behind it. She raised herself up off the ground in time to see the werewolf explode in the pumpkin bombs, and Kate was horrified to realise that the only thought she had on the matter was that the death had been too quick and not painful enough. She pushed herself up on one shaky arm and practically collapsed back down again. She had to get up though, she couldn't allow Kingsley to keep fighting Higgs by himself. Bastard, she thought to herself as she glared at Higgs. She pushed herself to her feet, but she was bleeding down the side and she was certain that would scar too - cause damn werewolves. Kate focused and with that focus she sent a blasting charm towards Higgs, even as she realised that she really really needed to get somewhere safe where she could just lay down - and she wasn't certain she was going to be able to do that if she waited much longer. She was already beginning to feel light-headed and that wasn't counting the massive pain that her entire body was in from the blasting curse. Bertie was momentarily distracted by the flying werewolf. But then he decided he really didn't care, being as it was only a werewolf and if it died than it was entirely little consequence to him. He didn't flinch under Kate's glare, only giving a vicious sort of smirk as he blasted another incendio in her direction. Her blasting hex though, hit him hard in the leg and with an irritated burst of swearwords, Bertie found himself on the ground. Well that was irritating. Kingsley had pulled himself up by that time, a shield charm quickly cast to protect himself, and un-silenced himself, limping over slightly closer to Higgs. "I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast," he muttered to the man. The auror hurt, but not as much as Kate must after having the werewolf latched onto her for so long. "Protego!" he yelled, putting up a shield charm then shot off three more spells in quick succession. "Reducto! Deprimo! Confundo!" He stole a second to glance backward, checking on Kate. Kate was pretty certain if she'd tried to Apparate she'd have splinched herself under her current physical conditions. She gave Kingsley an apologetic and almost guilty look as she moved away from the fighting. At least it was only one on one and surely Kingsley could manage Higgs. She was almost certain of it in fact. It wasn't like her to run from a fight, but she felt that if she didn't walk away right now, she wouldn't be able to walk away or possibly even crawl away. Turning around, she pointed her wand at Higgs and sent a final reasonably strong blasting curse headed his direction and then she cast a shield charm as she limped back towards the castle, hoping that Kingsley would be able to do all right on his own. Bertie clambered to his feet, feeling on rather high alert as he pushed himself back up. It was only pure luck that Kate's blasting hex missed and he was rather unhappy with this entire turn of events. Oh, but she was running. Of course she was. Kinglsey's barrage of spells were deflected and blocked by a now rather irritated hitwizard. His feet back on under, Bertie sighed, obviously exasperated with the talk. "Silencio," he growled again. And then silently on his own: Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Incendio. The silencing charm bounced off Kingsley's shield as did the disarming spell even as Kingsley tried to dodge and block with his own spells. He cast off another two blasting curses (one veering wildly to the left - completely away from Higgs), but soon found himself knocked on his feet by the Impediment jinx and everything felt hot - very hot as flames quickly engulfed him. "Aguamenti!" he yelled, holding his wand straight up so that gravity would bring the water down on him more evenly. By golly he hated Higgs. Bertie raised his wand to throw another blasting hex at Kingsley when a call for retreat met his ears. He sighed and cast one more shield charm around himself as he stalked off, leaving Kingsley to deal with the fire. He wasn't going to be left out on the field by himself. 4) Walden vs Aberforth What the hell had they gotten themselves into? They had clearly misjudged their opponents and there was tension in the Death Eater camp. Walden was slightly worried but his face didn't show it. He was doing his best to ignore the chiding from the other side. He still held on to a small semblance of hope for the Dark Lord. Perhaps he'd survived and was waiting to charge in. It was only a glimmer of hope but he clung to it nevertheless. He was scanning the crowd and narrowly avoided a spell coming from his right and then he spotted Aberforth Dumbledore. Walden immediately remembered the last time he'd met Dumbledore on the battlefield and he growled. He'd been bound and beaten, left humiliated with a purple stain as a reminder. Now Walden had a chance to return the favour. With a flourish of his wand he pointed it at the older wizard and a jet of blue light shot toward him, intent on wreaking havoc on Abe's insides. Abe wasn't surprised at Bellatrix's actions or that they'd restarted the fight all over again. This was never going to be sorted out so quickly and he could only hope that whoever had ended up face to face with the insane woman who take care of her quick and cleanly. The woman was clearly out of her mind. He dismissed her from his thought at that point. He wasn't facing her so she was none of his business. Instead he cast a small proximity spell around himself and surveyed the battlefield, trying to find some of the younger Order members. He wanted to do his best to keep them safe since they were the wizarding world's future, not some decrepit old man. The spell screamed its warning and Abe dropped to the ground in an instant, swearing under his breath as his body protested such rapid movement. A spell whipped over his head and he sucked in a deep breath and rolled to his feet, following the movement with a shout of "Furnunculus!" Walden laughed and knocked the spell away with a flick of his wand. He'd already had an eventful day and this meeting with Abe was already easier than trying to fight off two opponents at the same time or dealing with Aeneas and Bellatrix. He liked the other man better when he was on the ground and he decided he wanted a repeat performance. "Crucio!" Abe ducked the spell and threw a shield around himself. He'd heard what spell Macnair had chosen to use and well, if the man was going to pull out the big guns this early then he supposed he ought to get a little creative in return. The fire cracked against the shield that Walden had quickly conjured but he hadn't expected Abe's next attack. The ground beneath his feet scattered under the force of the blast and he struggled to keep his footing. The addition of water made it more difficult but Walden was determined to stay on his feet. He wasn't about to let Dumbledore and a spot of mud bring him down. This was not going to be like last time. Walden pointed his wand at the ground and then rotated his wrist so that his weapon moved in a twister-like fashion. With a quick pull he clambered back and the mud and rocks in the crater formed a funnel. There was a flash of light and he threw his arm forward, sending the tornado of earth towards the older wizard. Abe didn't bother trying to stop the enormous flurry of earth that was flying towards him. Instead he set up a shield that would split the earth tornado into two and allow it to pass by him. His shield worked well though he was still peppered with small stones and the occasional clot of earth, leaving him with scratches and tiny bloody cuts. The tornado expelled its energy harmlessly though and Abe smiled slightly. He raised his wand and cast another Incendio but this one he forced into the shape of a giant goat, easily five feet high, that he sent charging towards Walden. Walden stared at the fiery goat that was galloping towards him. He would have retaliated but there was a tight squeeze around his ankle and then suddenly his left leg was yanked completely out from under him and his body hit the ground with a heavy thump. The vine that was snaking up his leg was also pulling back from it's source and Walden's body was being dragged towards the forest and away from Aberforth and his flaming goat. He slashed his wand through the air repeatedly and finally the plant snapped in two and he stopped moving. He moved to his knees and pointed his wand at the goat. "Aguamenti!" A jet of water poured from his wand. He gave another quick flourish and the severed vine rose into the air and flew towards Abe's throat while Walden twisted his arm so the plant moved to strangle the older wizard. Abe was more than a little startled when Walden suddenly feel and was dragged towards the Forest then he saw the vines emerging from the trees and realised it was one of the many defences the Order and Albion had put in place in the days and weeks before the battle. It made him more than a little wary. Technically the vines should stay away from him but he wasn't going to trust that entirely. He shifted away from the forest, keeping an eye on the vines. As such he missed the section of vine flying towards him and it wrapped itself around his throat in an instant. He quickly pointed his wand at Walden and wordlessly cast Rictumsempra then pointed his wand at his throat and cast a delicate wordless Reducto that crumbled the vine to nothing, thankfully without doing any damage to his throat. He quickly cleared his throat, pointed his wand at Walden again and barked hoarsely, "Tarantallegra" He'd grown fond of that spell after watching Rodolphus dance a jig. He'd barely managed to regain his footing before he felt an energy wash over him like a sheet covering an expensive piece of furniture. Walden's feet moved involuntarily and he was dancing, something he hadn't done in a very long time. His joints protested as he kicked and then moments later he clicked his heels together like some sort of jolly school boy. He growled and tried to steady his aim as he flailed and twirled. "Crucio!" The curse was strong but it flew from his wand at the same moment he did an awkward piroette. His eyes narrowed and he thought the counter curse over and over until his body lurched to a stop and he was facing back to Aberforth. He spun quickly, this time thinking the unforgivable with the intent of causing the old man so much pain he wished he were dead. Abe had taken the opportunity of Walden's distraction to duck into the Forest. The vines by and large ignored him though he had to do some fancy footwork and use a cutting curse from time to time to avoid the ones who were a little more indiscriminate. He ducked behind a tree just on the edge of the Forest as he saw Walden come to a halt. "Shame. You danced so well," he called out. "Not nearly as well as Rodolphus Lestrange but well just the same." A vine curled around his ankle and he quickly cut it in two and flicked the main part back into the forest. "Stop that," he chastised the vines before leaning out from behind the tree and casting a summoning charm on Walden. "Come into my parlour, little fly." Just the mere mention of Rodolphus angered Walden. He had no right to say anything. No right at all. Now Walden was being pulled forward against his will. He tried to dig his heels into the earth to keep himself from moving but there was nothing he could do. He tried to counter and failed. He was intent on not entering the forest and with a quick wave of his wand he conjured a wall out of the ground. It would have been nice if it had been a cushioned wall but he worked with what he had and that was dirt and grass. His body crashed into it with and uncomfortable force and he groaned. Despite the pain, he was not sliding towards the edge of the forest any longer. He reached his wand around the side of his makeshift wall and shot a silent Incendio towards Abe and the forest. Abe laughed long and hearty when he saw the wall suddenly appear. This could only end badly for Walden and a little mockery would add nicely to it. Abe was a firm believer that in certain circumstances rubbing things in was well and truly warranted it and this was one of those circumstances. The fire that suddenly burst into life in the trees to his right didn't stop him from laughing but it didn't reduce it to a chuckle. A quick Aguamenti had the flames out and Abe then pointed his wand at the wall, casting a silent Reducto and then a Jelly Legs jinx at the same place he'd aimed the Reducto. The wall that Walden had conjured suddenly evaporated and Walden was quick enough to get a shield up before the Jelly Legs hit him. Dancing had been enough. He did not want to have to deal with wonky knees. He was within the safety of his shield when he chose to look around him. It was mass chaos and he could see Death Eaters losing. The vigilantes were overthrowing them and he couldn't understand it. He had to make sure that he preserved their culture. There had to be something left to go back to. They would try again. Walden shattered his shield with a blast of air and he pointed his wand at the ground in front of him. He was concentrating and then all the pebbles from his makeshift wall trembled and where there had been rocks there were now bees. Lots of bees. Walden swirled the cloud as he lifted the insects from the ground and then he gave them orders, just by tapping his wand. The swarm shot like a bullet towards the forest and yet again Walden was forced to run away, only this time it was going to be more difficult. He would have to take every last Death Eater with him. Abe watched Walden warily, especially when he suddenly pointed his wand at the ground. When the man turned the pebbles into bees and sent them into the forest after him, Abe swore and took off at a run. He needed slightly better ground to deal with this. Like a small clearing or a stream. There was one or the other close, he was sure. He'd deal with the bees and then come back and sort things out as best he could. Bees! He'd give Walden full marks for creativity and being an annoyance factor. And let's face it... it was kind of amusing.
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