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“So, have you heard about Jacqueline..?” came the soft voice of the Verrier girl. Her eyes were locked on LeBeau like she wanted to read his thoughts without effort and the expression on her face was rather grim. She had no idea that he believed her sister to still be alive. She had fought the words of Franziska Riddle since she had stated that her entire family had been killed. She had escaped with Mexxia without a second thought, just keeping him out of the other woman’s grasp, but she had failed at that – her family’s death... it had been in vain.
“What do you mean ‘heard about’ her..?” The silence between the two at William’s words was deafening. The looks exchanged between the two were intense and understanding. His eyes widened a bit after only a moment, and he shook his head; “Non... Non, ce n'est pas possible.”(No... No that is impossible.)
“Franziska m'a dit ... Elle a tué tous. Tout le monde dans ma famille.”(Franziska told me... She killed them all. Everyone in my family.” her eyes met William’s, and she found a new-found sorrow in the male’s eyes. She had never seen that in him before. He had always been so positive, so seeing him like that was not only a surprise, but it had pained her. Like she had killed a man with words; in a sense... she very-well may have. He took a seat then, next to her on the bench and shook his head again.
“Elle a peut-être menti.”(she may have lied.)
“J'ai vu ses yeux. Elles ont tenu la vérité...”(I saw her eyes. They held truth...)
“ Franziska a toujours été un menteur habile, mais...”(Franziska has always been a skilled liar, however...)
It was true. Franziska had always been quite skilled when it came to lying, but the look... The look in those eyes as they stared down at Jocelin and told her that her sister had been killed... The seriousness in her tone... It was so believable, and with the others in her family dead as well, she could tell by the look in William’s eyes that he knew they were all dead, as Franziska had told her and Mex. He had seen that they had all been slaughtered; so what had him so convinced that Jacqueline was still alive? Not seeing a corpse? Jocelin had avoided seeing many dead bodies in the past short while, but she knew that the people were dying. Jacqueline could have simply been one of the mass. She wouldn’t get her hopes up... For fear of finding proof, however, the thought that her sister lived was a happy one... But where would she be..?
“Christopher Daniels hold still!” came a shout from the other end of the Great Hall; An irritated tone of voice from none other than Miss Tanaka.
“Oh come on! I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine Etsy, just let it heal naturally!”
“Are you kidding me?! Just hold still and let me do this!”
“No, I’m not kidding you. I don’t want to—FF- OW!”
“You know, it wouldn’t hurt so much if you’d just hold still!”
“Honestly, Daniels, could you whine a little more? I don’t think the first years down the hall could hear you.”
“Leon, shut it! Also; Etsuko... seriously; this is more painful than having them broken in the first place.”
“Quiet!!” she snapped back at him and pulled out her wand. ”Ferula! Fine, you want them to heal on their own, I’ll let them heal on their own, but you’re going to have to let me at least put them in some sort of cast!”
“And how can I help anyone with two casts on my legs?”
“Oh so now you think you can help us without healing them completely anyways?!”
“I didn’t say tha-”
“Seriously though, I don’t think they could...”
“When I can walk again, I swear, Leon!”
“Forget it, Etsy. Just leave him there. He obviously doesn’t want to help in this war, and he obviously doesn’t want to be walking any time soon.”
Etsuko looked to Alice then and blinked a few times. Her large round eyes just staring... It didn’t look like she was going to stop, either, which had the chestnut-haired woman give an awkward smile back in the Asian’s direction. “Heh... Oh come on! I was just joking!”
“Joke about something else! I’m not leaving him here no matter how much anyone wants me to. Even if it’s Christopher himself!” She let that stare linger a moment longer before looking back to him. Her eyes met with his, and he swallowed a bit. He’d seen that look before, and it was complete annoyance. He hated when she got like this, there was absolutely no winning when she did... “I still-“
“I don’t care what you want, Christopher! This is for the better of everyone, not just you or me!”
“How is it better for you anyways?”
“Well, how could you have any s-“
“ALICE!”
“I still say leave him...”
That glare... The glare of a furious Asian... It was a glare that no one wanted to be directed at them, for sure... Especially when that particular Asian was Etsuko Tanaka. Alice glared right back, however. She was much more concerned with Tiny Vampire Fury than she was Tiny Asian Fury. Fact. Etsy glared a little harder and Alice just smirked. Her lips parted but Etsuko’s hand rose then.
“I swear if you say something right now I’m going to just lose it! Take your smart a** remarks and just get away.”
“Ouch.”
“Aaaand YOU! I’ll give you something to say ouch about if you don’t man up and let me do what needs to be done!”
Alice and Christopher’s eyes shifted to each other after Etsy looked back to Chris’ legs. He smiled a bit awkwardly and shrugged slightly, while Alice, on the other hand, was trying not to burst into laughter over the whole situation they’d gotten themselves into. Chris’ eyes gave Alice a look that basically said ‘get out while you still can’, and then it happened...
“heh.... Hehehe...”
“Something funny, Leon?!”
“N-no! Hehehe. Not a thing! Don’t worry, just uh... thinking of.. something... that... happened earlier! Hahaha~”
That glare. Gods. If looks could kill Alice would’ve died and been resurrected and killed again at least five times with just the one. However, she just silenced her laughter and gave a sweet smile as she folded her fingers together behind her back and took a couple large steps backwards before waving slightly to Christopher with a wiggle of her fingers. “Have fuuuun~”
“Yeah, thanks...”
“Where iz Jocelin?!”
“Heal me! Now!!”
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Jocelin and William, had taken a walk out to the castle grounds. Joce had wanted a breath of fresh air to hopefully clear her mind, and though the two were half-ways mourning, they kept their heads held high, for the most part. They walked down to the lake, near the forest and stared out to the water.
“I remember... I did love to swim here, when we were much younger, still in school.” she started; ”Me and Mexxia did swim here a lot. Me and Jacki, az well.” she let out a soft sigh at the memories, and felt William’s hand on her shoulder again. It made her wince slightly; the last time he had felt it just like that, had been when she was losing her consciousness... While not a pleasant thought, she turned to him. “Merci, William LeBeau. Wit’ out you, I would not have survived, I am quite sure.”
He smiled a bit and nodded; “You’re practically a sister of my own, at this point, Jocelin. Don’t worry about thanking me. I’m just glad you are alright.” his eyes went back to the lake, and they stood there together for a while in silence. There seemed to be a lot of silence between them tonight... normally they had talked quite a bit, but circumstances, for sure were an altering factor.
The female turned to look up at the Frenchman when her eyes caught something in the tree line. Her eyes widened slightly and she reached for her corset’s side, where her wand was kept and her finger tips drifted over the wood softly, ready to grab it and pull it out to aim and fire if necessary. She hushed her voice and whispered to the other; “Shh... J'ai vu quelque chose...”(I saw something...)
William’s eyes shifted as he too reached for his wand; “... where..?”
“Jus’ zere... In ze trees...”
The two looked along the tree line carefully until what it was revealed itself; Joce’s arms dropped, and she took a few running steps before she felt a hand come to her arm and keep her in place. She looked back to William, who had his wand up and at the ready. He shook his head slightly with eyes to Joce’s , then let them shift back to the being who had come out from the trees.
“You would dare show yourself here?! After what you did?!”
“You would keep a woman from what she wantssss mossst..?”
The hiss was almost threatening in William’s ears; but Joce’s large chocolate eyes were shifting between the two, her arm still held by her friend, yet she looked out to the half-basilisk who was slowly slithering closer to them. “Joccce~ Don’t you want to be with me again...?”
”I... I do! Mexxia... Please... you must stop what you are doing! You must stop zis insanity! You could have killed Christopher!” her voice held a sense of fear about it, however, her eyes were beginning to well already with tears. ” s'il vous plait... Pour moi!”(Please... For me!) her hand that was not on the restricted arm reached out for him slowly, almost cautiously. Mex’s tail-half slithering him ever-closer. William’s wand, however was still raised. He looked to the side and noticed a few people running down the hill. He needed to stall some... They were still a ways away. It was unfortunate, really, how good Mex’s hearing was.
“Sssso~ A reunion..? Cccertainly you can’t keep usss apart~ Not with ssssuch a large audienccce~”
“I will do what is right!”
“William! Please!” Jocelin called, however a familiar voice caught her ears as her other arm was taken, and a spell flew toward William’s hand. Invisible magicks, but she could feel the presence of the... curse? Her eyes went straight to William’s hand... Which was on the ground – so, that’s why he had let her go so willingly after Mex took hold of her other arm? She was pulled in close to the muscular body of her lover and tears began to fall. “M-Mexxia... What have you...?”
“William!!”
”Stay back!... I knew... I knew you were not dead... I can not bear to truly lose you!”
Jacqueline’s eyes shifted from William to Jocelin, to Mexxia and back, she shook her head and frowned. “I am sorry...” and her wand was drawn and aimed. At her side, of course, was Alice Leon, Christopher Daniels, and Etsuko Tanaka. She had managed to help Etsuko heal Christopher relatively fast, so he could help them, however, his weight... was definitely being carried by that cane once more.
“Let my sister go!”
”Or elssse what, Jacqueline~? What isss it that you’ll do~?” he asked, an unimpressed look upon his face; though his ear twitched slightly at the sound of Christopher’s voice, and the sight of the wand being pulled gently from the end of his cane, Etsuko having to help him stand as he did.
“Else we can not let you live.”
“What a pleasssant sssurprissse~ Missster Danielsss it fillsss me with joy to sssee you sstanding~”
“And it just makes me the happiest man in the world to not see you writhing in pain as a blubbering mess, hiding behind your new mistress” rust coloured eyes met with the azure-slitted snake’s hues as they had the night before, and he just smirked. “Or are you going to deny that..?”
“Mex... I...”
“Ah.... Missss Leon~... How niccce of you to join usss...”
She remained silent, however, after he spoke. Everyone did, but he turned his attention back to the crying Jocelin in his grasp. One arm wrapped around her waist. She appeared uncomfortable, for the first time in his embrace... She wasn’t sure what to do, what to feel or say... She was for once, less brave than her sister. While she was glad Jacki was indeed alive, she just... couldn’t think of what she wanted more... Then it happened. His fangs were out once more and he went in for a bite; spells were charging from every direction as he did, but one was let loose.
“NOT MY SISTER, YOU b*****d!! and the green lightning was sent toward the Half Basilisk.
His tongue flicked a bit and with the wave of his hand the lightning was sent in another direction; back toward her – This was not Mexxia... Jocelin pushed away from him and noted the damage that had been done to him the previous night by Christopher. It was horrible, really... his tail was oddly misshapen, his horn, completely broken off... wounds and an odd posture... She knew that it was Mexxia... but she didn’t want to believe that it was... Either way; she noted William running toward Jacqueline then and her eyes went back to Mex, “Please! You must stop this!”
His azure eyes locked with her’s a moment, but before she could say anything more, or he could reply, there was a click and then the end of Chris’ cane went flying past her vision, knocking Mex back a bit and forcing him to release her. Joce stumbled back a bit and looked over as Christopher stood without his cane, pushing Etsuko gently away from him; determined to stand on his own.
Joce took a few steps away from Mex, and though he held out his hand toward her, she was so conflicted! Everything was so confusing! She didn’t know what to believe at this point; but he had harmed William, he had lashed her sister’s attack back at her, and her wand had been drawn. She sent the strongest protection spell she could toward the French couple a little ways away as they put up their own as well, and her brown eyes locked on the flash of same-coloured hair flowing past quickly.
“Enough people have been harmed!” came the voice of Alice Leon as she made her way closer, it was odd to see her so up-close and personal. She had always figured she would see Christopher there first; but noting the limp to his step as he too ran in, she knew then, that he had his moment of personal conflict with the half-basilisk. She couldn’t fight though... She loved him – she couldn’t bring herself to harm the one she had spent so much time with, truly bonded with and promised her life with... So it was up to the others.
Alice’s wand came up as she readied a light at the end of her wand and just before it shot out, she felt a swift hit to her side. With a small grunt she was sent flying to the ground a ways away, and Etsuko instantly sent off a quick spell to sooth the pain Alice might be feeling. Christopher, on the other hand was coming in close once more and grabbed at Mex’s other horn, hauling himself up onto the man’s back, getting him once more in that head-lock as Jacki’s eyes focused on Mex and her wand rose slowly; she was readying something... but what it was, was unsure.
Mexxia, however, had different plans; “Not thisss time, Danielsss!” His head went down with immense speed, flipping the already-harmed male to the ground, landing on his back, picked up by that tail, the scale-coated lower body tightening around Chris’ torso. He just smiled coolly again, however. It bothered him, and so the tail wrapped tighter as a constrictor would around it’s prey. Etsuko didn’t much like that idea; and thus, he too, would face her wrath, though it would be much different from that which she showed earlier, to Chris and Alice. “I lost Amalia! I will not lose you too!” she nearly screamed as an offensive spell was cast toward Mex, and she and Alice both made an advance on him together, on either side.
“You have already cost one person who they loved most!”
“You won’t hurt anyone else!”
Alice jumped and grabbed that horn which Chris had a hold of previously and pulled back hard, Etsuko, landing on his tail and jabbing her wand in between scales as Chris had the broken horn the previous night. He let out a venomous hiss at the girls and tossed about his body, flinging them off a bit, landing on top of Etsuko afterward, and looking straight to Jacqueline. “You were sssuppossed to be dead!” The look she gave in return was emotionless, though her lips did part to speak softly “Well... it would seem zat we do not all get what we would like, hm..?” her eyes closed once more as she began further focus. William didn’t like that statement, however, and rose his wand, sending out a few waves of invisible blades; Sectumsempra slashes, cutting into the human half of Mex’s body, and leaving gashes along his scales, in some places, if it hit twice it would cut through the scales, leaving trails of blood along it.
Mex slithered off of Etsuko, the curses sent off from William causing his tail to stretch out a bit, and let Christopher fall to his knees. His calm expression replaced by an odd look of hatred in his eyes. His brows furrowed and his lips were mostly straight, turned to a frown in the corners as those rusty hues locked on the snake-man. He stood, though definitely felt it in his ribs, pelvis and legs as he got Mex’s attention with a whistle and took a few steps foward, tossing a simple but furious punch at the man’s face.
Though sent off a little, Mexxia’s jaw moved slightly and he rose a hand to it, popping and cracking with each movement, he knew it was broken, but did he care at this point? Not one bit – These people were threats to his “mistress”, Franziska. They were standing in her way, and in the way of the other Dark Ones. So, he had to stop them, despite what his heart had told him about stopping, his mind continued, and with another loud, threatening hiss, he lashed out, sweeping Etsuko’s already limp body to the side a bit and hit Chris back a bit as well. He stumbled a bit eventually falling backwards, unable to keep his balance due to the pain he was in, though with a hook, Mex would find someone else on his back – a rather angry Frenchman, blonde locks blurring with green as Mexxia attempted to shake William off his back, and he took hold of that horn and with a hit against Mex with a blast from Alice’s wand, William was sent back, kept hold, and with a snap, the half-basilisk foe was sent to an odd position, holding his head – blood pouring down from the crown – William stood a ways away, after having rolled upon impact to the ground, and stood from a kneeling position, holding the other horn in his hand, coated in blood, a fair amount of green strands of hair along with it, and even a bit of flesh along the edges.
He turned on William then, a sadistic look in his eyes, that hiss sounding once more as he turned quickly, knocking Jocelin back, onto the ground. As he went toward William, Jacqueline finally let her eyes snap open and her wand dropped to the ground, her hands raising over her head before she brought them to the ground, ”Everyone! On your toes, do be careful!” she called out to them, as her hands pressed into the ground – a shockwave pulsing from her first; which most jumped over, Alice quickly making her way to Jocelin and helping her up as Christopher picked up Etsuko’s body, all jumping over the pulse of energy, William easily avoiding it.
“Isss that all you’ve got, Jacqueline...?” however when he looked over to her after straightening himself from both his horn being taken, his body being nearly shredded by curses, and the shockwave she had sent out, he only noticed a dark smirk across the French girl’s face. Her hand rose slowly and she shook her head – The others had known that she was practicing her Earth-based magicks, and they were prepared; Joce and Alice standing, Chris keeping Etsuko in his arms and William looking over to Jacki and giving a slight nod to confirm they would all be fine, before making his way over to Chris and Etsy, just in case they would need some help staying on their feet. Jacki’s hand switched it’s position slightly, her thumb and middle finger meeting before she quickly moved her middle finger in, and her thumb and index met, the snap was loud, and even caused another small pulse in the ground and air, however, that was not all that would come – there was a rumble... A deep Earthen rumble. Ripples forming on the lake’s surface before the ground beneath them seemed to shift slightly and quiver. A chasm opening near Mex’s position, how deep it was, even Jacki wasn’t sure, she had never created such a large blast with the spell before, since she had only been practicing, but she knew that no one would want to fall in. She moved it about the area, trying to capture Mex in it, but to no avail. His tail slipped in for a moment accidentally and she managed to close the ground around it rather hard, slamming the walls of the chasm together on his scaled body, but other than that, the plan had failed. He was trapped there, for the time being...
William made his way over to Jacki afterwards, Chris set Etsuko down gently on the ground once more and aimed his wand at Mex, William, Alice and Jacki all doing the same, though Jacki’s arm seemed weakened from her last spell and the effort in which her wand was held was minimal. But it was still held up with confidence.
Those slit pupils scanning each person; William’s steps took him closer to Jocelin before he tossed the horn her way “Take it. As a reminder of who he once was... Leave now... You don’t need to see this...”
She caught it and looked up at William before the streams of tears down her face seemed to widen, but she nodded. “Oui...” she looked to the horn and then at Mexxia, giving a soft “Je t’aime... Mexxia...” and turned to run; as she took the first few steps, however, she heard the charge of energy blasting behind her from the others’ wands and didn’t dare to look... not until she heard a scream;
”JOCELIN!”
She turned and everything around her seemed to move in slow-motion. Her hair whipped around her head, hitting her in the face as large brown eyes locked on the azure ones coming straight at her, a strike of green hair, black tail, brilliant blue eyes and the sharpest of fangs was coming straight at her; spells missing from his speed, though as he came close enough, she turned and instinctively held out her hands to stop him from crashing into her; the spells of her friends all hitting him at once as he came to a quick stop, though what likely ended it...
She looked down to her hands from his face; his face had shown pain and sorrow, her hands were holding that horn... which now, was through his chest, rather than out the back of his head. She froze, even her tears stopped for a moment. Her jaw dropped and she looked back to his face; ”M-Mexxia, I...”
A smile then came across his lips, his eyes no longer sinister as he looked upon her, rose a hand to her cheek and closed his eyes; ”shhh... Je t’aime.... Jocccelin...” he said softly. Her arms withdrawing from him as she pulled the horn out and was splattered with blood as she did so. She didn’t cringe, not at all. She just watched him as his body became limp and fell to the ground.
Joce fell then to her knees, leaning slightly over him. Tears as streams down her face as she uttered apologies in both English and French to him, leaning down to rest her head on his chest a moment before lifting and looking over his face, her hand, running through his hair softly; “Mexxia... What... What have I done..?” she asked in a low tone, she was joined around him, by the others. No one knew what to say... Though Jacki did kneel next to her and place an arm over her sister’s shoulders with a few tears in her eyes as well.
“You did... What had to be done...”
“Oui... Yes, I know...”
Etsuko said nothing, just taking Christopher’s hand lightly. Her eyes closed as she leaned against him, yet not too hard, allowing him to lean on her as well if he needed it, while Alice’s eyes simply lingered on the half-basilisk’s corpse. William stood near the other three, keeping his distance as Jacki dealt with her sister... He could wait for their reunion...
“Mexxia... I am.. so sorry...”
 Aya the Small · Sat Nov 03, 2012 @ 07:47am · 0 Comments |
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