It'll be all right
Who: Kitty, Emma, Gaz, Obi-wan, Illyana. With guest appearances by Rachel Grey and Alicia, and the 'princess' at the end of the castle. What: Kitty accidentally draws some of her friends into a fantasy adventure! The rest of the tests and the completion of the quest! When: Early morning 5/6 Where: Fantasy Fairytale Land Status: Complete Rating: Pg-13 for killing things
The night went by without any sort of incident, and by the time the sun was rising in the sky, it was time to move on. Kitty felt drawn to the West, and so that was the direction they took. But the farther west they went, the more barren and desolate the land went. It began to look a lot like Limbo....
Illyana felt a shiver fill her as the landscape became all too familiar. And she sighed. “This bodes not well. We need to find my challenge before it finds us.” She felt herself sure that this would not end well and shuddered at the sheer dark memory of the place.
Emma nodded, wishing she could still turn into her diamond form. “I’m guessing this won’t be as simple as the others.”
Even Gaz who had no idea about Illyana's past could feel the foreboding in the air. She put her helmet back on, axe at the ready, squaring her shoulders a bit in case she needed to strike.
Moving along in quiet, Obi-Wan contemplated the difference in his human sense of foreboding and the way that the Force communicated with him. He still felt like he was missing one of his limbs. Perhaps even his right arm. But he trusted in his companions. He had faith in their collective strength.
There was something in the distance. Someone standing on a hill. Her armor gleamed, a tail lashed. Her legs were goat like, and she had large, curved horns. The Queen of Limbo awaited them.
Kitty grit her teeth, and looked at Illyana.
Illyana facepalmed and she sighed, then she strode out to meet the being. This was her, at her worst, and worse yet. She recognized what she saw from her own self. And she loathed it. She strode to the queen and stared at her as the figure gritted it’s teeth.
“Well, you look shitty. Why are you here, oh darkness?” Illyana went on the offensive in words, even as she stared, seething.
The Darkchylde laughed, drawing her own soul sword, the weapon twisted and demonic. She pointed it at Illyana's throat. "I'm here, because you are here. Wherever you are, I go. Whoever you are, I am. You and I are one and the same, and it's time to embrace your dark side."
Illyana wanted to scream “No!”, wanteds to turn her back on that life, that fate, but some things... some things were not allowed. Sometimes, you couldn’t run. Especially from yourself.
Illyana started to speak, then she nodded, jerkily. “I hate assholes, but then I am one. Da.” And she gripped the sword and stepped forward, grunting as the tip slid into her. She shuddered as pain lanced through her, but magic and determination pulled her forward along the blade.
She staggered as she gripped the Darkchylde’s shoulders and pulled herself flush with the other being, the sword fully impaling her and blood slipping quickly down her front. And she kissed the Darkchylde, roughly, suddenly, fiercely, accepting her, and knowing she had damned her soul for ever. Again.
Kitty realized what she was doing when it far, far too late. "Yana! No! Don't! It's not worth it!" She started to run forward, only to be blasted back by the combined force of their magic. When she pickd herself up, and the dust had settled, the Darkchylde was gone, and only Illyana stood in their place.
Illyana stood there, shimmering, bloody, but whole. Her soulsword gleamed in her hand.
"Some prices are worth paying." With a cry, she slashed the sword through the air. The very essence of Limbo melted away, and they stood in a clearing, back in the normal dream world.
“That was fast.” Emma noted. She had no idea what had actually happened. “I assume that made sense to you. You won, right?”
Gaz blinked. “Uh, hi. Again. You guys okay?” She had no clue what had just happened, but it was a test, that much she knew.
Obi-Wan knew that what he had just seen Illyana do was similar to what he had experienced in the privacy of the cloister. He had compassion for the woman, for having to do it for all the world to see. He moved forward, ready to make himself useful, though it seemed the worst had passed.
That left just Emma and Kitty for tests, and Kitty still had no idea what was in store for them or which direction they needed to be heading in. Fortunately, a cry overhead solved at least part of that. Several dragons flew overhead. They weren’t large, by dragon standards, nor were they small. They seemed to be just big enough to be ride.
Kitty’s eyes followed the flight. The lead dragon had been purple. They seemed to settle into hills overlooking a vast, endless sea. She grinned. “I think we’re gonna need a ride.”
However, to get to the hills, they needed to pass through a forest of diamonds.
Recovering took Illyana a few moments and she put the soulsword in the sheath that had seemingly appeared suddenly, as she breathed. She smiled to the others. “I won, da. And I think we are okay, yes.” She sighed. She was damned, but for once, it was her choice entirely.
Illyana blinked as she looked upward, and then glanced sidelong at Kitty. That lead one had looked like Lockheed, he of the cleavage diving habits.
“Then we’d best start that way. “
Emma made a face. “I guess it was inevitable that you’d be last.” She shook her head and headed toward the dragons. “We may as well get this over with.”
Shrugging, Gaz followed the line, axe over her shoulder, trying to remember what purple dragons meant in D&D terms. She didn’t think they meant anything, so it must have been for Kitty or Emma specifically.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. “Oh, good,” he muttered, though plenty loud enough for Kitty to hear, because that was the point. “Your imp has enormous relatives.” He knew for a fact that he did not want to get on that animal.
"He's not an imp," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. She started down towards the diamond forest, pulling out her book and scribbling in it. It was important to her to chronicle these events. She wasn't entirely sure why, but the empty book had been given to her for a reason, right? So she was going to keep writing in it.
Maybe she'll get a clue what her task would be. She was kind of hoping there wouldn't be a princess to rescue.
“He is, but he is a nice imp, sometimes. When bribed properly.” Illyana grinned as she walked along, hand resting on the hilt of her soulsword, feeling it properly back in her hands again. She felt whole, as she had not for awhile.
The diamond forest was as brilliant as it was gaudy, and shone with some kind of inner light. It was difficult to see where they were going, the light came from all directions at once, refracted over and over again by the artificial plants. Emma took the lead, because whatever her challenge was it wouldn’t matter that she wasn’t wearing armor. A challenge for her would be a challenge of wills.
Gaz just took the back, walking and watching to make sure nobody ambushed them. “Why are we talking about imps?” She had no idea what that was about.
“Have you met Lockheed?” Obi-Wan asked her. “Who likes to drunk dial people in the middle of the night?” He gestured to the dragons.
Kitty grinned. “Or send naughty messages using my phone, the bastard.” She took another step, and then the ground shifted under her feet. Something shimmered, moving through the crystal trees, until a woman emerged, with the tail of a snake, though the scales were made of diamonds and rubies and sapphires. She had the face of Emma’s sister.
Emma laughed and kept walking. “Oh, finally your outside matches your inside.” She passed through the snake, leaving her without fangs or claws. “You have no power over me, darling. You never had, and you never will. I’ve always been above you, and you’re just too self-absorbed to see it.”
She turned a little, looking at the rest of the party with the corner of her eye. “Monsters only have the power you give to them. She’s quite harmless.”
The lights in the diamonds coalesced then, and a single face stepped out, a young woman, with long red hair. “And what about those who aren’t monsters, Emma?”
Rachel’s voice was gentle, and power sang in it.
“Who decides who’s a monster?” Emma’s voice was calm, still, but her body language was clearly tense. “It’s all relative, isn’t it?”
Rachel smiled softly, sadly, as she moved forward, to face Emma. Her body slowly took on more definition, and wore the costume she had last been seen in by Emma in the dreamworld. “True enough. We all make our own hells. The question is, what do we do in them?”
“Curse the person with the keys to the gate.” Emma replied smoothly. “So what are we going to do, sit and chat until we work out our differences, or are we going to have some highly symbolic battle where neither of us wins because we’re both good people who occasionally have to do terrible things?”
Rachel smirked and then arched an eyebrow. “It’s your challenge. What do you think?” Challenges met the challengers and Rachel strode toward Emma, light gathering around her like fire.
All of this had happened extra fast, and the moments were moving swifter between Rachel and Emma, but it was all clear to those outside their face off as well.
“Symbolic battle it is.” Emma said with a sigh, opening her tome. She had a page bookmarked, and opened the book immediately to it. The chant for baleful polymorph was apparently, in this dream, “Make a will and fortitude save.” Despite the unimpressive wording, Emma was haloed by a bright white light that made the diamonds around her look like ice.
Rachel snickered and summoned her will, and the fire flared out, intercepting her spell and turning it into... marshmallow frogs. Which hopped toward Emma. “More.”
Marshmallow frogs? She could be attacking, but she wasn’t. Interesting. “I don’t really want to fight you, I just want to help Kitty get to whatever her challenge is and move along. So no, get out of our way so we can ride dragons to go kill a bigger dragon and get on with our dam lives.” Again, power haloed around Emma, stronger and brighter than before. She was tired of things coming down to making the best of a bad situation. There was no reason to fight Rachel, it wouldn’t solve anything for anyone, and it was just taking up precious time.
Rachel smiled, then and her fire faded, and she faded to just an image. “You have chosen wisely. Speak, friend, and enter.” And she was gone, and the forest was gone, leaving a rock wall, and nothing more, but all who came close to Emma would feel refreshed, and warm, as if they had rested for hours and eaten a good meal.
“Pffft.” Emma noted.
Gaz sighed. “Of course everyone else’s challenge is awesome.” Hers had just been depressing. But there’d been dragons, and that was cool. “Just leaves you, Kate.”
It had been as pretty an event to behold as it was dark and forbidding. Obi-Wan, too, looked to Kitty, whom he realized was his oldest friend. "Whatever's in store," he said, examining the wall, "Is either trying to keep us out or in."
“Up, over, or through,” Kitty said thoughtfully. She looked along either side of the wall, and then stepped through it. A moment later, she popped her head back through the wall. “Our rides await. Everyone grab onto my arms, and I’ll pull you through.”
On the other side, once everyone was situated, was Lockheed and his fellow dragons. Kitty ran over and hugged the purple beast around the neck. The dragon coo’d. His voice boomed. “You follow!”
He swept Kitty onto his back, and took off.
Illyana sighed and bowed to a dragon, then mounted one, and settled uncomfortably. “Up?” And the dragon launched upward, after Kitty and Lockheed, and sent them arrowing through the sky, toward something that glistened far off.
Emma went to yet another dragon, offering her hand for it to smell. “Do you mind?” He shook his head, and she climbed up, clinging on for dear life, reciting the words for the featherfall spell.
Gaz grinned as she went toward the surliest looking dragon, meeting its eyes and staring it down. When it looked away, she hopped on, stroking its neck gently. She wasn’t entirely without emotion. Not anymore.
The others were turning into pinpoints in the sky and Obi-Wan was still on the ground, staring down a dragon that was neither noteworthy nor less than threatening by its very presence. It was a dragon, plain and simple. Obi-Wan was sincerely considering staying behind, rather than mounting the beast. He. Hated. Flying.
The impatient dragon then made the decision for him, taking Obi-Wan by the back of his collar and tossing him onto his back. The old Jedi had only a second to secure his arms around the animal’s neck. He closed his eyes tight and prayed the dragon would take his time catching up, so that none of the others would see him whimper.
The flight seemed to last a long time, the ocean passing by beneath them as the flight of dragons dipped and weaved on currents. Land rose in the distance, a castle came into view. A castle under seige. Great weapons battered at the walls, armored lizardmen fighting against regular men defending the castle.
The dragons swept down towards the melee, spewing fire to clear a path, before landing the party right into the thick of the battle.
"She's inside. Go to her. The castle cannot fall." Lockheed hissed, before he and the other drakes took off.
Kitty drew her daggers, ducking as a lizard man tried to remove her head, and twisted around, stabbing him in the back. “You guys got this?”
Illyana swore heavily in Russian. "Who's inside? Why can't the castle fall? Who are our enemies? " She threw her hands up and sent a torrent of green flame forward the castle, scattering people of both types. "You sure can show some good parties. "
Emma threw a fireball into the middle of the lizardmen. “We have it, I think. Go do your thing.” She smiled at Kitty, before starting to mutter a domination spell.
Gaz grinned, her eyes glowing a dark red as a wave of pestilence started to infect some of the lizardmen. “This is fun,” she growled.
Holding tight--very tight--to the neck of his dragon, Obi-Wan ignited his replacement lightsaber and swooped low enough to fell a few lizards. He didn’t have any spells at his disposal. He would have to do things the old fashioned way. “Fun is subjective,” he said, as his dragon took a dip too quickly. It made him nauseous, really.
Kitty ran through the battle, and disappeared through the wall and out to the other side. She took stock of the preparations within, before dashing towards the keep itself.
Outside, the lizardmen turned onto the newcomers. A gigantic warmachine lumbered towards them, lizards in robes raining hellfire down.
Illyana ducked fire, then spread her hands and called down protection from the darkness, and around all of them a dark aura glowed, enough to soak up some of the hellfire, if not forever, then for awhile. She danced out of the way of a lizardman and sliced him in half with her soulsword.
Emma tried to dominate the leader of the army, retreating behind Illyana for cover.
A redhead was waiting in one of the hallways for Kitty. She was dressed like a warrior in heavy leather armor that enhanced her shape, but was clearly protective in nature. She had a large sword sheathed on her left hip. She was apparently waiting for Kitty. Tarot smiled widely when she saw Kitty. “Hello weary traveler. Have you come to the end at last? Are you ready for it to be done?”
Kitty let her eyes roam over Tarot for a moment, then rubbed at her face. “..You have no idea. I was wondering if you’d be a part of this.” Kitty’s eyes went past her, and down the hallway. “If you tell me the princess is in another castle, I might strangle you.”
The Lizardmen had given up their siege to concentrate on the newcomers (and their now dominated leader). They were in disarray, all semblance of order lost. They were bent on simply ripping apart anything they got their hands on, including each other.
“The princess?” Tarot asked with a laugh. “We’re under siege, she hasn’t gone anywhere. But you have to decide who she is. I can’t tell you, of course.”
Gaz was glad that cleave was a feat, as she neatly bisected one lizardman, then two, then three. She cackled happily, even as one of the lizardmen got off a shot with an arrow that hit her breastplate and plunked away uselessly.
Even dressed in chainmail, seated upon a haphazard swooping dragon, Obi-Wan was ever the Jedi, blocking attacks with astounding speed. The laser sword completed the look.
She leaned up, kissing Alicia soundly.
"I already know. I need this closure," Kitty said, as she headed towards the stairs. She had a hunch she needed to go into the tallest tower. She didn't know exactly what she would find there, but she knew she needed to find it. She hoped she would be allowed to say good bye.
Some of the lizardmen had gotten into the tower. She weaved under their swords, stabbing one in the ribs and phasing her hand into the second's heart. Then she continued on her way.
Something big rumbled outside the city walls. Big, and heavy, feet stomping. Drums beat to a war tune, and over the rise came a thing, bigger than any dragon, lumbering on four gigantic legs, furry and grotesque, with a head as large as a bus. It looked like a cross between a pig and a bulldog, with gigantic tusks and teeth the size of a man's arm.
Roaring, it charged, the beat of the drummer on it's back increasing to the tempo of it's running as the ground shook. On it's back, spearmen and bowmen cut down the people who weren't crushed by it's passing.
Cue raid boss music.
Illyana stared for a moment, then spat two words and sent brilliant bolts of blue energy into the thing’s legs, cutting two down to size and making it stumble, but not coming close to stopping it. “Son of a bitch.” When had that spell lost so much strength? She shook her head and took up her sword again as lizardmen scattered. “Spread out! Make it choose it’s targets!”
Emma let go of the lizardman she’d been dominating, and ran away from Illyana. She attempted to cast a charming spell on the the fighters on the beast’s back. She might not get all of them, but she might get enough to leave openings for the more fight-y members of the party.
Gaz walked much like Jason Voorhees - it looked slow, but wasn’t. She simply walked toward the smaller mobs (because that’s what they were in her head, let’s face it) and picked them off with a wave of purple bolts that fired from her greaves, death following in her wake. The little ones cleared would give them more room to play. When there was no more of them to clear out, she approached the beast from the front. She was the tank.
Obi-Wan, at last getting the hang of this dragon thing, whispered something in his beast’s ear. Was was worried that without the Force, he wouldn’t be able to communicate properly, but with a nod, the dragon seemed to understand. He flew towards the monster’s hindquarters.
The monster didn't know where to turn. It lashed at the flying thing with it's tail, and thrashed it's head. It's roar crumbled part of the stone wall of the castle, but it wasn't interested in that any more. It needed to take care of these new threats. It was limping now, and rounded on the one that had hurt it the most so far, then shifted towards Gaz, the threat from that one obvious.
Kitty had to pick the lock to the door in the tower. It was warded, and she couldn't pass through it. She could hear the battle outside and knew she needed to hurry. She trusted the others to be okay, but she really didn't want them to have to fight longer than they had to.
She pushed the door open, and stepped inside. A woman stood a the window, looking down, and when she turned, Kitty felt her eyes well up with tears. She wrapped her arms around Xi'an, squeezing her tightly.
Her wife whispered something into her ear, and Kitty nearly broke down into sobs. She barely kept herself composed, and a thought occurred to her. She looked around the tower, which seemed to be more like a prison than a palace. She'd grieved so much, that she'd kept Xi'an locked up in here. She had to let her go, for both their sakes.
"It'll be all right," Xi'an said, eyes soft and loving.
Kitty kissed her, long, and soft and sadly. "I know."
Taking Xi'an's hand, she led her out of her prison.
Moving to the side opposite of Gaz, Illyana flipped closer and let her momentum swing the sword into a precision strike against one leg, her power flowing through it as she sent flames ravening at the wound she was cutting, and rolled away.
Emma let the brawlers deal with the beast, she was busy taking over the minds of its riders. The charm spell was particularly effective, she had most of them standing still, moving only to keep their balance on the lumbering beast. She couldn’t make them fight each other, or do anything that would hurt them, but she could take them out of the fight.
It got especially good when the uncharmed creatures began to attack and berate the charmed ones, because she gave the charmed ones permission to defend themselves. The battle on top of the beast was as hot and violent as the battle against it.
Gaz grinned at Illyana. Really, this shouldn’t have been as much fun as Gaz thought it was, but she was having a blast. It wasn’t every day someone got to be a Death Knight. She froze the ground under the huge beast’s feet so it couldn’t turn around and snap at Obi-Wan. At some point, her helm had gotten knocked off, but that was okay. Her strangely lit eyes cast an eerie glow as she ran closer to the monster, attacking it head-on.
By the time Kitty had gotten back down out of the tower, a small legion of the lizardmen had broken in. She drew her daggers, moving like a dervish to clear a path for Xi'an. When she turned around, she saw the woman smiling at her. Xi'an faded away, and Kitty sagged against the stone wall.
The beast outside ripped it's leg from the ice, muscles and tendons tearing, bones cracking as it fought the resistance. It howled in pain, lashing its tail every which way. It tumbled forward, the ground shuddering beneath it. A massive treasure chest spilled off it's back. Flames burst out from inside it's mouth and from the wounds left behind by Illyana.
With one final huff, the creature stopped moving.
Illyana was taking no chances, with a Russian oath, she swung her soulsword, and the head split asunder from the rest of the beast, settling a few feet away. She was bathed in it’s blood and was not really that concerned, as she turned to eye the thing. “Done is done. Did Kitty finish?”
Emma sighed and went to look at the castle. “Yes she did. I’ll go get her while you clean up and check on the others.” She trudged over, her mind aching from all the casting she’d done. She checked Kitty for wounds, her hands careful and delicate. “It’s over? You did what you needed to do?”
Obi-Wan guided his dragon back to the ground. Jedi had an innate ability to connect with animals, it had just taken him a little longer to get the hang of it than usual. He was, however, very glad to be be back on solid ground. “I imagine that all would have made a great deal more sense to me if I played more arcade games.”
Gaz grinned to herself. “Loot!” She pointed at the treasure chest, unable to keep from looking like a kid at Christmas. “Dibs on swords!”
Unfortunately for Gaz, there was no time to sort through the loot. The world started to fade away, as consciousness dragged them back to the world of the waking. The task was done, and the quests complete!