Who: Alecto & Rabbit Where: Sheffield market district What: Letting off steam by blowing up buildings When: Late night hours of 22 July 1980 Rating: PG-13 for swearing Status: Complete
Donning his Death Eater robes, Rabastan took off his gold watch and also his family ring. The ranks sure as hell did not need another fucking disaster like their unnamed colleague who had left some jewelry at an attack. Rabbit had never been one for spontaneous attacks and he supposed he had a fucking good reason for going off and blowing some random Muggle buildings apart. Nothing lifted one's spirits like seeing a perfectly-constructed building either explode or just plain incinerate. He welcomed the chance to have Alecto accompany him because in case they got into trouble, at least he would have someone there to help him out. Not like he expected anyone would be near enough to assist the filthy Muggles but still it was better to be safe than sorry. Locking the front door of his home, Rabbit placed the mask over his face and headed for the outskirts of the property where he put on his gloves and withdrew his wand from his outer robes.
Turning on his heel, he apparated to a spot just east of Sheffield, which he knew from past experience had no wizarding population to speak of. They could spend a good deal of time here or until Rabbit felt appeased from the horrible fucking night he had had. First, these vicious attacks by Hurtz about him and Italy had nearly destroyed their budding courtship. He had been greatly relieved to work it out to the point where she was willing to have a peaceful date with him even if he had no clue what the hell they would be doing on Friday. Second, Hurtz again decided to attack him but this time on a subject that hit a little too close to home for his taste. She had decided to suggest that in the end, a Lestrange would be proven to be the father of Narcissa's baby. Which was fucking insane especially when one considered that he and Narcissa had been lifelong friends and had made the poor decision to mess around once in fifth year. Cissa's rationale behind telling Lucius about that little adventure frankly blew his mind. Why anyone would blabber about something as private or secretive as that made absolutely no sense at all. Rabbit could only hope that Narcissa could find it in her heart to forgive him for his reaction to the news but he also hoped that she would never act like this again. All of those fucking feelings had arisen to the surface again tonight. Maybe because he had never fully resolved them. Whatever the reason was Rabbit had not figured it out. He supposed he would just wait until Alecto showed up and consider until then how fucking messed up his life had become in the last two months.
Alecto was a bit surprised by Rabbit's impromptu request, but she wasn't complaining. Her week had been just as wretched before she had Danny help take her mind off things. And while it worked, it only temporarily relieved her worries; she still had to see comments here and there about propriety and such. Not to mention that she was half-holding her breath in wait for Rookwood to surprise her with an owl summons. And then there was that strange little voice in the back of her head that kept saying how nice it had been to wake up next to Danny for once. But that voice was immediately shut off, for Alecto had no time for such nonsense. No, what she needed to be worried about was her mouth, and her inability to keep it shut.
So with all those thoughts churning around in her brain, she immediately donned a dark set of robes, a pair of leather gloves (her grandmother's) and her mask, and apparated to Rabbit's coordinates. While random muggle killings without orders wasn't usually her style, she had been wanting to blow something up ever since that fight with Rookwood. And so did Rabbit, for some strange reason, which honestly puzzled Alecto. But she wasn't going to push the subject.
She arrived and saw another masked figure nearby. Alecto moved cautiously, but made sure he could see her as she approached. She gave a nod and said, "Well hello, darling," with mock-seriousness. "What are the plans for the evening?"
Rabbit had spotted her coming and he smiled at her from beneath his mask, realizing too late she couldn't exactly see it so he wiped the stupid grin off his face. "I was just thinking we could blow up some fucking buildings and maybe hit some fuel sources along the way. You know cause a few fires that will burn for a while. Cause general chaos, panic, and destruction - that kind of thing. Basically the Death Eater mantra these days."
"As much as I would love to send our Dark Marks up there in the clouds, we must refrain from that seeing as how none of this has exactly been cleared by anyone," Rabbit shrugged nonchalantly. "But seriously when has that ever been an issue for either of us? There should be some Muggle marketplaces that we can hit and maybe even a few parks or monuments. "I don't fucking care at this point," he said with a trace of anger coming through his deep voice. "If you are ready, let's head in." With that Rabbit looked at her and strode off towards a tall building that looked something like a village government building.
"Well someone's in a mood," she said with a bit of snark in her voice. While she was admittedly curious to know why he was acting so cranky, she decided to just ask later. He didn't seem to be in a talking mood.
She shrugged and followed Rabbit towards the building. Since this wasn't a planned attack, she didn't get a chance to brew any explosives. Perhaps tonight she'd get to practice fiendfyre again.
Alecto of course knew that they couldn't send up any Dark Marks, seeing as this wasn't exactly business. So she strode up to the building and opted to send a large fireball at it, effectively causing the windows on the one side to explode outward as part of the structure caught fire. She cackled before turning to Rabbit. "Your turn."
Rabbit's anger was crackling. He hadn't been this frustrated in years, not only at Narcissa for her seeming inability to keep her mouth shut or Lucius for jumping on his case for upsetting his wife. He had difficulty understanding how his words, although harsh they may have been, could not be rationalized considering the magnitude of the secret she had betrayed. But his anger towards himself was fairly subdued tonight as if it had not discovered the right moment to manifest itself. Feeling a bit daring, Rabbit threw an expulso at the nearest wall and had the satisfaction to watch though the fire light as it slammed into the opposite wall. The ceiling began to collapse and the foundations shook but surprisingly the building did not fall. Evidently it would take more than Rabbit had thought to get the thing to collapse and he took a deep breath to attempt to calm himself before glancing at Alecto, "Go for it."
Alecto watched Rabbit started to take the building down, but was surprised when it did not fall. However, surprise turned quickly to glee when he let her finish the job. They did work very well together, almost as well as her and Amycus. Making quick work of it, she sent a second expulso at the bottom floor and watched as the building came crashing down in front of them. The impact made her jump back away from the force of the collapse.
She stared at the rubble for a moment, taking in the damage. Quickly she turned to Rabbit. "Back me up if I try fiendfyre?" She had been dying to try it again, but she didn't have the facility for such a test. Besides, she wasn't confident in her ability to control the curse just yet, so she needed Rabbit to be there in case it got out of control. She just hoped he was in the mood for a bit of instruction tonight.
Rabbit whistled in appreciation as her expulso leveled the building. He leapt back from the edge where he had stood just before the structure came down. At the mention of the fiendfyre, he waved his hand in acceptance, "Oh by all means, go for it." The still-smouldering ruins of the first building lay in a heap in the dirt as he looked around for another target. He was rather surprised no people had come out to survey what had originated the destruction. Their spells were not exactly quiet considering Ally had just caused the building to implode. He outstretched his wand in anticipation and hoped that this worked better than it had the time they practiced. At least he knew a few counter-spells to fiendfyre now so he could defuse it if he so needed.
Alecto grinned wickedly as she closed her eyes and remembered the spell for fiendfyre. With a deep breath, she summoned the magic and shouted the incantation. A great dragon of fire erupted from her wand and leapt towards the neighboring building. She was in deep concentration, holding it there, trying her best to make sure it didn't turn around and head towards her. The first time she attempted this under Rabbit's tutelage, she almost killed them both. But this time, it seemed to devour the buildings in her immediate path, taking on a life of its own. This was far more satisfying than her potions; this was the fire of dark magic, and it was exhilarating. She tried her best to rid her mind of all distractions and concentrate on keeping the fiendfyre under control. The dragon of fire began to take a left turn through the village, consuming two buildings, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.
His initial reaction was one of pure delight as the cursed fire sped around the village burning up building after building but then it took a west turn towards the residential section and something snapped in Rabbit's mind. He realized that if this continued, there would be a huge investigation which would be traced back to the Death Eaters, well Dolph would trace it back to them eventually, and so he knew that he had to stop it from incinerating the sleeping families. Although Rabbit was no sprinter, he could run fairly fast and he yelled out the first counter-curse that he could remember. While the spell slowly stopped the fire, he continued to pour his magic into this phenomenal display of the Light Arts. Whoever would have thought that a Death Eater could use this much energy for the other side? He supposed Rosalind's job required similar displays but tonight he was alongside a fellow Death Eater and thankfully they were so close because he imagined that otherwise she might disclose his actions tonight. It wasn't as though he wanted to save these Muggle families but he really need to save his own skin here. The fire finally stopped just short of the first house in the section but charred the grass down to the dirt in a vacant lot on the northeastern corner.
Rabbit sighed in exhaustion and dropped to his knees. Fucking hell, that had taken a lot out of him and he thought he should probably not expend too much more energy tonight. He should sleep very well later. Looking up at Ally, he murmured, "I didn't think it through. We need to be careful and should avoid fiendfyre on these unauthorized missions. It would go very badly for us if Dolph found out about the ranks going off and killing people indiscriminately."
Alecto's concentration was broken when Rabbit started running towards the fire, yelling the counter-curse. "What the fuck...." was all she could mutter as she stood there, mouth open behind her mask, staring as Rabbit exhausted himself trying to prevent the deaths of nameless muggles. As he finally fell to his knees, Alecto finally caught up with him. "What was that about?"
Though immediately after Rabbit spoke, Alecto felt like an idiot. He was right, that was entirely too careless. She wasn't thinking when she asked to use fiendfyre, she just wanted to try it out again, test out her dark magic. Anything more to piss off the ranks would go very badly for her at this point. "Shit, Rabbit. Shouldn't have asked. Thanks for backing me up there."
"What do you say we call it a night then for this place?" Rabbit felt completely bushed. He could stand to drink a bit tonight but there was no way in hell he had enough energy to send up any more counter-curses tonight. "We could head into some town and drink a bit." If he hadn't been courting Italy, he would have invited her out to his house but he had the distinct feeling that it would not go over all that well. Especially if Italy knew about their history, which thankfully she did not.
"Yeah, probably wise, that," she said with a shrug. As short-lived as it was, the fiendfyre had still taken quite a bit of energy, and Alecto felt noticeably worn out. Besides, this night was Rabbit's idea, so if he wanted to call it quits, she agreed. "Yeah, I could go for a drink, but we gotta change outta these robes. And lose the masks."
"Let's meet up in five minutes or so at that place we used to visit in Newcastle. You remember that place, right? We had to practically carry Amycus out of there last time we went," Rabbit snickered at the thought of his mate and the blackmail they could have used on him after that night. Amycus had hit on some rather unattractive girls that he had been convinced were quite beautiful. Amazing what a bit of alcohol could do to a person.
Before taking off, Rabbit looked around to make sure the fires had been extinguished before apparating home.
Alecto laughed and remembered that place fondly. "Oh yeah, I remember," she said, and felt a sudden pang. She missed her brother so much. And she missed getting in trouble with him and the rest of the boys. Well, she still got in trouble, but her brother's absence was noticeable. Perhaps she'd owl him when she got home this evening after drinks with Rabbit.
But for right now, drinks called, and she needed to change into some less sinister looking robes. "Right then, see you in five," she said as she turned on the spot and disappeared.