Fantasy Cosmical Glitch ( ellarose & starboob. )

[starboob]

The shadow catches Juno’s fall before she can hit the ground, absorbing the sound of the impact altogether. Her mouth opens. Shadows fill it, muffling any sound that could have escaped. She struggles, jerking against the entity, but the entity has always possessed a shocking amount of strength and all of them has wrapped around Juno, holding her still. Her muscles only bulge and tense in the entity’s grasp. “Shh, shh. No need to waste your strength, pirate.” They coo in that annoyingly smug tone of theirs. “It’s no use. You’re trapped and you’ve led them all to slaughter.”

She can feel the grin pressing against her ear, riling her further. It doesn’t matter that her struggles are futile, she’s not a quitter. (And that may be the death of her.) Even with her mouth covered, she screams, trying to force a noise loud enough that will get any of those angels, demons, Ravan, or Ariel to turn around, to turn back and realize that she’s missing.

Juno needs to warn them.

But they always knew they were walking into a trap. The second that Lettie made it known she would surrender herself to Asmodeus, Ravan and Ariel warned her. And Lettie was never a fool. She knew it, too. Yet they thought… They thought…

Her throat strains against the effort. The veins at the side of her neck press against her skin, her face down to her collarbones going entirely red with the effort. Tears spring to her eyes from the force of struggle and, still, nothing happens. Angelus tuts in her ear, holding her down like it’s no effort at all. (He’s always been strong, but this feels different.) The group walks further and further into the tunnel. No.

She can’t let them die.

Eventually her breath runs out and she quiets, falling slack against the ground. Angelus takes this as her acceptance of forgone defeat. She can feel him press his hand against the back of her head as he gathers her arms behind her back, pinning them painfully into place. (Asshole.) “You didn’t really think you had a chance, did you? Oh, that’s too cute.” He chuckles that infuriating arrogant chuckle, hois—

Angelus shrieks as shards of hardened blood, like glass, shoot from the necromancer’s mouth, tearing into his shadowy gag. (For as much as this form makes his body appear like thick black fog, Juno recalls that she’s always been able to use her necromancy against him.) The tip of her tongue bleeds profusely, the cyrstalline shards melting back to liquid with Angelus stumbling backwards from shock. She coughs, spits out a mouthful of fluid, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. In that same motion, she also darts to recover her blade and comes at him swinging.

The militia whips towards the noise at once, spotting Juno further back engaged in some sort of battle with a barely visible opponent. Ariel and Ravan are the first to bolt forward, coming to flank Juno as she cuts and lunges through the air. Their heads turn back and forth, following the action.

Some of Juno’s strikes land, but the entity’s form sutures itself by the time she can land another blow. ‘Is it only necromancy that can harm this fucker?’ She reaches for one of her bones, but the entity is faster. They shoulder Juno, pinning her against one of the walls and just as they’re about to sweep her away, Ariel steps forward.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She draws two black glyphs that only give themselves away by their glowing white outlines. She sweeps into a stance, one arm held out to her side and the other raised in the air. “Cover your ears!”

She brings the raised arm down hard and a deafening note from her invisible guitar blasts through the tunnel, amplified by the tunnel itself. It knocks both Juno and the entity off their feet. They tumble into each other, somersaulting over each other as Ariel continues to shred on her air guitar, playing something loud and heavy. (Juno would be into it if it weren’t so damn disorienting.) She bangs her head to the beat, getting lost in the song. The musician starts to take small steps forward as she plays and, once she’s close enough to the collapsed pair, she gives Juno enough of an opening to scramble away while she draws another glyph that further amplifies the song and causes the entity’s shadow form to shiver, like they’re glitching.

Weakly, Angelus raises his arm as if trying to absorb the kinetic energy as Juno has witnessed him do a thousand times before. She throws three enchanted bone knives into his body, each one exploding, forming giant, criss-crossing stakes in the tunnel. Inky black stuff explodes across the bones and gets onto Ariel’s armor, but Juno’s not foolish enough to think she’s taken him out just yet. This is confirmed when that inky substance starts to pool together.

The group tenses, but the entity doesn’t return. This isn’t surprising as Juno recalls that they also require time to recharge after taking damage like that. It buys them time. Though the pirate is starting to wonder if it’s going to be enough, because…

“Ravan.” Juno’s voice comes out hoarse from the strain she put on it earlier. She swallows hard, looking up at the fallen angel. “Something’s wrong. Lette… She’s not answering me.” She touches her hand over her chest, where her locket is beneath her armor. “I can still feel her. She’s still alive, but I don’t know what’s happened.” She has a few guesses, none of them comforting. If their strongest fighter has already been taken out of the fight…

Doubt starts to collect in the pit of Juno’s stomach and, as if sensing that, a low disembodied chuckle bounces through the tunnel from the Reaper’s den. “Come out and play, human.” Asmodeus. Inexplicably, it’s him. (Even his voice is punchable.) “Or go home, save yourself and your little friends. We can forget this ever happened. I’m feeling rather generous today.”

Liar. Predators like Asmodeus get off on false hope. Juno won’t give him the satisfaction. Nor will she succumb to doubt. In spite of her concern and growing worry, it’s just like Lettie said: This is a rescue. She reaches for her second vial of faerie blood and hands it to Ravan. ‘You’re going to need this, vampire wannabe.’

This gesture at least answers the question on everyone’s mind, though the group is still tense, shuffling among themselves. A quiet sob just barely reaches them and that’s enough for the others to remember why they came in the first place. One of the demons cracks their neck and nods decisively, inspiring the remainder of their group to do the same.

Ignoring Asmodeus, she jerks her chin towards the den. “Who can get us there, stat?” Since surprise is no longer on their side—not even Ariel’s fault as she guesses Asmodeus expected faerie tricks despite their act earlier—they might as well come in with fire. Her fucking speciality.

One of the remaining angels steps forward, already drawing a glyph that he casts down towards the floor. It widens until their entire group is covered. A cylindrical beam of light shoots up from the borders and—

They’re in the Reaper’s den. The chasm is just as Lettie described it and is exactly what they saw on her livestream. Ancient glyphs border the chasm. The gilded cage with twelve faeries inside hangs dangerously close to the edge. And while this is everything Lettie said it would be, nothing prepares Juno for the feeling trapped in the Reaper’s den. No souls or traces of death are here for her to grab, instead she feels… Grief in its most volatile form. Anger.

Juno walks in circles as she enters the den. It's not just the faeries in that gilded cage who whimper, but from twelve different tunnels, spaced out like the hours on a clock, more echo, filling the chasm with a sickening choir. (From those nightmares, she remembers the cells; remembers Lettie trapped inside of one...) Her sword flashes with her anger. "Asmodeus!" She barks, ignoring the ache in her throat. "Show yourself, coward!"

 

[ellarose]

"This was only meant to be an exchange, human. Now that I have what I want, I see no point in fighting you and your ragtag army of degenerates." Asmodeus sighs as if this is a meagre inconvenience. "If you wish to spare their lives... and theirs," The cage above the Reaper's pit drops a few inches on his signal. "You will collect those precious little pawns from their cage and leave peacefully. I am a reasonable man, you see. No one needs to get hurt."

One of the angels is dangerously close to snapping back on behalf of their fallen comrade-- someone has already gotten hurt, someone has already fucking died! And it goes without saying that all of the faeries trapped in this place are scarred. (Physically and mentally.) However, the angel holds back their rebuttal when a demon grabs their shoulder and shakes her head somberly. Not yet. They need to keep their cool until those faeries are freed. Every word, every step, will decide whether they live or die.

Another angel takes initiative, her eyes firmly set on the cage. She grabs a golden whip from her belt, draws a glyph that extends it out even further, and lassos it around where the chain and the roof of the cage connect. Another angel stands behind her to help hold her steady and together reel the cage away from the Reaper's pit and safely to where they're standing. Ravan steps forward to offer them assistance, drawing a red glyph that shatters the lock on the door. It swings open with a low groan and a couple of the unconscious faeries spill out onto the tiled floor. Immediately, the three angels are on their haunches to gather them into their arms and move them into comfortable positions. The four faeries who have roused since then crawl out when they have room to do so safely.

The youngest faerie is among those who have been conscious. She struggles to her feet and automatically gravitates to Juno. She presses her small, frail body against the pirate's leg and hides her face against her armor.

"...Please." The small faerie whispers. Her voice sounds slightly off. Distorted. "Help us."

Red boxes with exclamation points begin to flare up in Juno's goggle lenses, floating urgently around all of the faeries they just freed. Before anyone can properly react, the faeries transform into writing thorny black vines that wrap hungrily around whoever happens to be closest to them. The young faerie traps Juno's leg in a tight hold. A demon who laid one of the unconscious faeries in their lap is now pinned down on their back. Ravan is on his stomach, struggling to free his wrists and ankles.

"Dammit." One of the demons hisses knowingly under her breath. She sharpens her nails to claws and begins to cut through some of the vines around her. She cuts her hand on one of the thorns, blood spilling from the wound. "Fuck. That bastard Asmodeus only knows how to play dirty."

"Beshrew thee, villain! Where has't thou taken Olette!?" Ravan angrily shakes one of the fists he managed to free in the air.

Ariel stiffens in the middle of trying to help Juno free her leg, hearing something the rest of the group doesn't. It takes only a few seconds longer before everyone can hear it, too.

The eerie sound of chains, dragging slowly against the tiled floors. Scrape, scrape, scrape... when it gets louder, eleven of the twelve corridors are sealed completely over with cross-hatchings of black vines. The Reaper's pit vanishes from view. The walls around them shift to a reddish hue and pulse. It's like they're trapped in an arena set in the grotesque belly of a beast. It reeks of blood.

"I told Olette not to involve you, human... and that naughty little minx went and raised an army. How long will it take before she finally learns her lesson, hm?" Asmodeus tuts. "Perhaps she'll know her place once and for all when I throw your dead bodies at her feet." He laughs, though it barely disguises the anger underneath. (There is little he hates more than insolence.) "This isn't quite right, is it? Let me just..." There's a loud snap and the bloody walls change and morph, instead resembling a Desdemonian arena that Juno is all too familiar with. "There. That's better. You came here looking for a fight, did you not? Then I'll give you something to fight..."

From the darkness of the remaining tunnel emerges the source of the chains they were hearing before. It's not Asmodeus, not one of his cronies, not even the Reaper. Instead, it's what can only be described as an angel of death.

It takes even the diehard fans among the group some time before they process that the terrifying angel they're seeing is Titania. A rose as black as a starless night sky blooms directly out of her still bleeding chest-- as if a nightmarish seed had been planted inside of her and burst out. Her unnaturally jerking arms and legs are wrapped up in inky, vine-like veins. She's incoherent, ominously zombie-like as she drags forward step by shuffling step. Scrape, scrape, scrape. The chains on her beautiful, velvety robes drag against the floor. She pauses. Then her eyes glow blindingly bright, her jaw drops and she unleashes a mournful, ear-splitting screech.

Ariel moves to stand in front of the group, quickly drawing a glyph to reflect the sound back at her. It buys them a few seconds... but the effort brings Ariel to her knees and covering her ears. She trembles as her mind swims with remnants of the noise that the angel just unleashed. She hears voices, is struggling to comprehend them fully. But one thing is for certain. "It's her... it's Titania."

"It can't be..." One of the angels refuses. "Didn't Olette say..."

"I already told you. That little faerie is nothing but a minx." Asmodeus sighs with mock sympathy. "She tricked you. She betrayed you. She led you into a trap!"

When Titania growls, it almost sounds as if she is growling at the sound of Asmodeus's voice. But it seems she can do very little to express her rage against the demon. Instead, it seems like it's being forcibly turned on the group right in front of her instead. She raises a hand and a semi-transparent scythe appears in it, the tip gleaming as sharp and bright as the Reaper's teeth.

"And now..." Asmodeus taunts as Titania flies above them and raises her scythe high in the air. "You're all going to die."

 

[starboob]

It’s pathetic, the way Asmodeus tries to poison their minds with lies. As if they have any reason to believe anything that comes out of his mouth. The coward won’t even face them himself. But one thing becomes absolutely crystals—he’s not letting them leave, because they know too much. How he plans to hold off the public or cover up the estate’s long list of crimes against beings of pure magic, she doesn’t want to know; doesn’t want to guess. All she knows is that if they don’t escape, he will get away with this.

So losing, dying, all of that just isn’t an option. (As if it ever was.)

Juno cuts herself free from the inky vines, trying to ignore the question that must be haunting everyone’s minds—what happened to those faeries?—and levels her gaze across the arena. It’s not the wolf mutant. It’s worse.

When Titania screeches, Juno braces on one knee, shoving her beating sword into the ground, but Ariel’s got her. All these angels and demons do and she has to protect them. They already lost one life and she doesn’t want to see another fall because of some asshole’s powertrip.

But they also can’t fight Titania. (Goddess, is this really how she’s meeting her mother-in-law?) ‘Not the time to be thinking of that.’ The necromancer rises up and pulls her sword from the dead earth. She knicks her thumb over her blade, watching as the fuller brightens, then points her sword towards the ceiling. A bright red dome emits from the tip, creating a barrier between Titania and their group. For now.

“You’re sure that’s her?” Juno asks, helping Ariel back to her feet. She nods, somber and helpless all at once, “Positive.”

Fuck. Then they definitely can’t fight her. Not unless it becomes absolutely necessary, though Juno would like to avoid that outcome if at all possible. Titania, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to get the memo and draws angry, haphazard X’s over the blood ward. It’s deteriorating faster than the necromancer would like. ‘Think. Think…’

“Trap her.” She mutters this then wheels around towards the golden cage. She motions for two of the angels to follow and help her maneuver the thing so the opening is oriented towards Titania. “We just need to buy ourselves time.” She’s not sure if the magicked cage can even hold angels or demons or if they only work against faeries and, possibly, mermaids, but she just needs to distract her. Give her another thing to break and maybe, just maybe…

She points towards the one angel’s whip, implying what she needs without directly stating it. Then rushes over to Ravan and Ariel and mutters something else to them. (Call her paranoid, but something about this feels off. The faeries. The den changing. The den changing into something from Juno’s nightmares, something only she knows. Somewhere only she’s been. The only other person who knows is Lettie. She tries to put this out of her mind; tries not to think about what this could mean.) The siblings nod at her instruction.

The second the ward comes down, they fly up to meet Titania, providing a distraction. Ariel preemptively readies a glyph as they soar closer to Lettie’s mother. Titania crosses her scythe through the air, her wings flaring out in apparent warning. She charges towards them. Ravan veers to the left, Ariel meets her head on, letting her glyph dissolve to grab the scythe. She wrestles Titania for control, but the angel of death is unnaturally strong. The black veins wrapped around her arms bulge, allowing her to throw the other angel off of her. Ariel’s back hits the wall and she collapses in a heap on the ground, knocking the wind from her lungs.

Seeing this, Ravan propels himself off of a wall, a guttural scream tearing through his throat as he goes for Titania. Two demons rush up to join him, overwhelming the angel with their onslaught. Glyphs flash and flare, blinding the attacking angel. Her chest heaves under the attacks, readying to blare out another shrill note, but a golden lasso captures her at her shoulders and yanks her down, dragging her into the golden cage.

Juno and the other angel shove the door closed while Ravan throws another red glyph to lock it. It doesn’t take long for Titania to get back to her feet. Her eyes are even brighter in her rage. She throws her body against the gold bars with enough force to dent it. Juno doesn’t flinch. She dares to step closer, holding up a picture in her hand. “Titania. I know this isn't the real you. I need you to fight this, for her.” She gestures to the picture, the one Juno stole from Lettie’s shitty apartment. A picture of her on one of the happiest days of her life, tinier with blonde hair and blue eyes. Just like Titania, her mini-me. The image catches the angel’s attention, giving her pause. Then, suddenly, she’s stumbling backwards, gripping the sides of her head. She wrestles with herself and loses, throwing her arms back and opens her mouth yet again.

An angel, taking a note from Ariel, draws out a glyph just as the noise rushes out of her mouth. She draws another and casts it over the singer’s mouth, grimacing as she does so. Titania hits the bars and falls to her knees. She jerks and screams against the silencer, tears streaming from her eyes.

Juno dashes around the cage, getting as close as she can manage to Titania. She slips her arm through the bar and grabs her shoulder, getting her to face the pirate once more. When her eyes snap open, they’re too bright to look into and the veins against her neck are bulging, the noises she’s making becoming more agitated. The pirate hits the side of her goggles a few times, switching out the lenses for one of the mirror ones. (She thought Lettie installed these just to check herself out, but they may have another purpose yet.) “Titania, look at me.”

Juno’s holding her too firmly to give her much of a choice and when she truly allows her eyes to fall upon the mirror shades, the light in her eyes dims. It’s not out entirely, but the angel is markedly more calm. She scoots back from the pirate, whipping her head around at the others. Her eyes linger on Ravan and Ariel, brows knitting together. They both start to step forward, but just as she’s starting to come to, the flower in her chest flares out its petals. Then the veins covering her throb, spreading themselves out over her body, worming deeper into her skin.

Her eyes are bright again. Juno isn’t fast enough. Titania grabs her arm (and might have crushed her were it not for the Magistrate’s armor). She pulls the pirate down; hard. The sword falls from her hand, though Titania doesn’t go for it. Instead, she grips Juno’s head between both of her palms and starts pressing her thumbs over the goggles, right over her eyes, splintering cracks through lens with her nails.

 

[ellarose]

'Get up.'

Lettie whimpers, curling herself into a tighter ball. She doesn't get up. Lying among the flowers in the meadow, she's completely exhausted herself with her screams. No matter how much she raised her voice, there was no answer. No one came to help her. She's alone. There's nothing but the flowers and the tall, swaying grass that swishes around her like waves whenever the wind rolls through it. This... this is how it's always been, right? She closes her eyes. Oh well. (At least she's found a peaceful place to die.) The earth can reclaim her now. That would be... fine. Her eyelids flit shut, her reasons for screaming-- her reasons for everything-- fly away like butterflies from her chest until she's empty.

'Lette...' The mysterious voice tries a gentle approach. It stirs the faerie just a little. (Hm? Wait a second. Who...) Suddenly, it shifts to a demanding tone of urgency. 'Get up, now! Don't let it touch you!'

Lettie cracks an eye open just in time to notice dark, thorny vines emerging from the grass like monstrous zombie hands from the grave. What the fuck!? They reach greedily for her ankles. The faerie squeaks, whipping her legs out of reach before rolling out of the way. The vines leak some kind of inky substance, staining the nearby flowers and melting them in noxious, purple smoke. (It's familiar somehow. It's right there, but she can't quite reach it.) The ground starts shaking all around her, as if some kind of ancient horror is awakening just beneath it. At a loss, she sweeps her gaze right and left and finally finds the source of the voice. Evidently, this one wasn't in her head like she thought.

It's the unicorn from before. The unicorn...

'Climb on my back. Quickly! If those wretched things get you, you'll be lost.' The unicorn speaks, swishing her beautiful mane left and right as she points her horn towards the clearing she was standing in before. She trots towards the faerie and gracefully bows down to grant her easier access. 'I know someplace we can hide... for now.'

"Wait. What...?" Lettie stammers, dumbfounded. What is happening?

'I'll answer your questions later. For now, we must go!' The unicorn insists. The ground rumbles even harder, more veins emerging with a menacing 'craaaaack'. Beneath them, the meadow's flowers keep vaporizing into sizzling smoke, leaving barren patches of obsidian rock beneath them. 'I'm here to help you. Trust me.'

"I..." Lettie realizes in this moment that she's guarded and stiff. Unicorns in her nightmares are often harbingers of pain. She half expects this unicorn to burst into a sea of flaming roses the second she touches her. 'You do the most irrational things when you're emotional. That's what killed your mother.' The faerie flinches and trembles as the memories return to her, piece by piece. "I thought you were..."

'We can talk about this later, Lette.' The unicorn frets. 'Please. Let me protect you from him... like I should have all those years ago. Please.'

From him. From Asmodeus. Mother or Asmodeus? The unicorn or the vines? When Lettie looks at her choice this way, the answer is simple. She sniffles and hoists herself onto the unicorn's back, hugging her arms tightly around her neck. (Her mane smells like mother's perfume.) The unicorn rises and gallops through the meadow and then over the watery surface the pastel lake, her hooves splashing gently against it. Black vines follow behind, chasing them just beneath the surface of the water like the shadow of a deep sea monster.

Despite the urgency of the situation, Lettie breathes in the scent of flowers and drifts to sleep against the comforting warmth of the unicorn's back.

***​

When Lettie rouses again, it's to a sharp, searing pain in her wrist. She's cold. The faerie jerks upright as if waking from a bad dream. (If only.) She looks down at herself to find smatterings of cuts and ink around her marked wrist. The unicorn has severed veins in her teeth. She spits them out and crushes them beneath her hooves. Ink stains her once pristine white face and dribbles down from her mouth.

'...Disgusting.' The unicorn complains in a sassy voice Lettie firmly recognizes now as her mother's. 'Are you alright, Lette?'

"What happened?" Lettie is endlessly confused. She looks at her wrist, rubbing it gently. (It stings.) It looks like those things from before almost got to her, but...

'I didn't mean to leave you. I was called back to my body for only a moment.' The unicorn sighs somberly. 'It seems that I am not in control of myself in the real world. I saw Ravan and Ariel and...' She shakes her head and lowers it mournfully. 'Others. I did not recognize them... but they're here for you, are they not? I'm-- I'm hurting them.'

Ravan, Ariel... and there's someone else. Lettie knows it. Someone important. Someone she can't imagine life without.

"If you're hurting them, then you need to go back right now! You need to stop." Lettie shakes her head. She looks around at the bubble they're in, a safe haven from the vines. "I can take care of myself."

'It's not that simple, Lette. These are Reaper's roots... Asmodeus has poisoned me with them.' The unicorn tips her head to indicate the crushed vines on the ground. 'They've tainted my body and now they're after my soul. I can feel it.' She shakes her head and huffs irritatedly. 'That bastard keeps inventing new ways to control people. For years I was his captive audience as he boasted about all of the things he could do with the toxic flora that grows around the Reaper's pit.' She shakes her head. 'So much faerie dust has accumulated there. The Reaper is absorbing it, harvesting the ability to create complex glamours and illusions... nightmares.'

Nightmares. Lettie thinks about the vines, about the ink they spewed. The smoke. Something about this is... it's right there. It's right there. Damn it!

'Asmodeus wants to build an army for the Reaper. He might be sealed away... but he has a theory that the Reaper can control those bonded to his flora.' The unicorn says somberly. 'I suppose I've just become his first test subject.' She looks at Lettie's wrist. 'He's trying to do the same thing to you. Should your friends kill me and survive this fight, I have a sinking feeling that...'

"He's going to turn me against them!?" Lettie finishes the thought, her voice tinged with alarm. Wield her like a weapon against the ones she loves the most, just like he's always done. (Just like she's always feared.) Her mind flickers back to what was said just before. 'Should your friends kill me'. No. No way. Not when she's just got her back. "I... I need to get out of here. I can warn them. I can help--"

'You can't. You've been chained to this place. Asmodeus is the only one who can set you free.' The unicorn sympathizes with her. 'With this remnant of myself, I've built a safe haven for you... I'm sorry. This is all I can do. This is... this is all my fault.'

"Then we need to trick him into setting me free somehow." Lettie shakes her head emphatically. There has to be a way. (She can't give up. There's a little voice that keeps nagging at her... she just has to remember who that voice belongs to.) She reaches out to touch the unicorn's forehead. "You made a mistake, but I'm not mad anymore. And I don't hate you. I never did. Right now, I just miss you... and I love you." She crushes her eyes shut tight when they warm with tears. (Maybe this is a dream. But at least she can say the things she wished she could say, if they ever got a second chance like-- like--) "Mother, we need to stop blaming ourselves and recognize who's actually at fault here. That bastard's fucked with our lives for the last time."

***​

In a swooping, blinding flash Lettie suddenly sees the world through her mother's eyes. She sees her real mother, her twisted reflection cracking in a familiar pair of goggles as they're crushed beneath her fingers. And beyond the reflection?

Oh, stars above. Juno. Juno, Juno, Juno, Juno, Juno. How could Lettie forget for even a second? The love of her life. Her everything. And now she's--

"Stop-- stop it! Don't hurt her!" Lettie cries out. "Don't let him fool you. Asmodeus is hiding, like he always does. It's not him. And this-- this is someone very important to me. I love her." No one present can hear it, but her voice cracks like lightning in the real Titania's mind as she holds the part of her that remains in her hands. The angel of death releases Juno at her command, snapping backwards in the golden cage as though she's been struck. Lettie's presence alone burns through the glamours and illusions shrouding her mind.

"I'm trying, Lette..." The real Titania whispers the first words she's uttered since her appearance. She curls up in the corner of the cage, weakly trying to rip the Reaper's rose from the center of her chest. "I'm trying."

Ravan runs right to Juno's side, offering her an arm to support her with. He winces seeing the blood that streams down the scarred side of her face, out from beneath the goggles. Some of the glass has splintered inward over that eye specifically, there's no telling how deep it went, and... it's one of the rare occasions where Ravan the vampire wannabe cannot stomach the sight of blood. (The only other time was when a certain little faerie lost her wings.) He pales and helps to move Juno away from the cage, frantically gesturing to some of the nearby angels for help. "She needs help. Can any of you heal her?" Is all he can wheeze out. "We-- we need to get these off of her. Be gentle... and use this if you have to." He hands the angel who offers her assistance the vial of faerie blood.

 

[starboob]

Juno gasps when she’s caught in Titania’s impossible grip. Automatically, her own hands clasp around the angel of death’s wrists and the survivor inside of her takes over, feeling for the threads that make up her assailant’s flesh, her bones, applying the slightest bit of necromancy to undo her—

‘Stop.’ Despite the fear that hammers in her chest and holds her in a vise, another part of her breaks through the surface and reminds her that this is Titania, Lettie’s mother, the family member she thought she lost. The mother she thought she killed. Juno can’t (won't) hurt her. But her non-violent struggles are useless against this supercharged angel. It’s all she can do to try and turn her head away, to close her eyes as if that might provide her with more protection.

It doesn’t.

The glass shatters and shards pierce her right eye. Light and weird shapes fill her vision. Liquid streams down her cheek, pooling around the goggle. She tilts her head, as much as she can, to protect her left eye which is shut tight, still.

Titania continues to apply pressure until there’s a wet pop, followed by a dull throb in the injured eye. She gasps out again, this time unable to resist the urge to jerk away from the angel and, miraculously, she’s freed. Before she falls someone—Ravan—catches her and hauls her away from the cage. Soon, she’s surrounded by angels. One crouches to her level. She feels something delicately cut through the band on the goggles. They’re lifted from her face, though both of her eyes are firmly shut tight or as tight as they can manage with the shards stuck in the right one. The angel coos at her. “Don’t open your eyes just yet. Try not to move.”

A feather dusts over her face, sweeping away the loose broken glass. The warmth of someone’s thumb brushes over her left eye, then gently lifts the lid. “Focus on me,” he instructs, then lets go of the lid so that Juno can see (partially). All she can see is the group of angels, everything else is obstructed. She can only hear Titania’s whimpers and cries behind the group and, automatically, she tries to go towards her. She has to help. But the angel sets their palm on her shoulder and keeps her down. “Stay. If you don't want to lose the eye, you need to stay down. Stay still.”

The angel’s voice is firm, but Juno can tell he’s not saying everything. ‘How bad is it?’ He doesn’t say. He just draws a glyph (she assumes) over the right eye, dissolving the shards of glass. Air hits the injury, sending shocks of ice through her eye. (Or what remains of it? How bad is it?) ‘Don’t think about it. What’s done is done.’ Her lip quivers in spite of this. She holds herself together as best she can, because this isn’t the time. She's tough as nails. This is nothing.

Her heart pounds as the angel drips something over the wound (faerie blood). Gingerly, he smears the stuff over what remains of the eye. His expression is schooled and she swears she catches a shadow of a grimace or uncertainty as he finishes tracing the glyph. It glows.

Juno’s body jerks. She seizes, millions of stars scattering across her vision. A stabbing pain shoots through her eye, eliciting an animalistic cry from her throat as the wound drains and closes. Needles shoot through her fingertips down to her toes. The white streak in her hair billows with a current of unfelt wind, the combination of faerie and necromancer blood fusing with the angel’s magic. And as suddenly as it all starts, it stops and she’s slack on the ground.

When she blinks, her right side is completely blurred, barely making out shapes. The eye waters when the angel tries to flash a light into it and she scrambles away. “You’ll need to cover that.” The angel is apologetic when he speaks, but Juno’s not really listening; doesn’t even seem concerned. (Or maybe she’s trying to ignore what she feels.) Instead, she gets up, grabs her sword, and launches towards Titania.

She’s still trapped within the cage, fighting against herself. Two demons are holding her down through the bars. Ariel is trying to coax her. She reaches towards the rose planted in Titania’s chest, but each time she gets close Titania snaps and gnashes her teeth. (It almost seems like a warning more than an attack.) The angels who were all around Juno, including Ravan, chase after the pirate, trying to pull her back, but she shrugs them off. “Get off me! That’s not a flower in her chest, can’t you see? It’s a nightmare seed.”

It took Juno a while, but as Titania held her, it all came together. The mirror goggles she destroyed should have broken her spell, but it’s not a spell. It’s like those inky hearts on those nearly destroyed worlds—she should have realized this sooner, with Titania’s literal heart sprouting venom. “I know what to do, just hold her.”

This is only half true. Juno knows what to do on her end, but without Lettie? She doesn’t know how this is going to work, but she has a few ideas. Juno takes the last vial of faerie blood and pours a splash over her sword. The entire blade shakes. Then fuller erupts with a bright white light, eating away the demonic red. Her right eye waters, forcing her to shut it tightly. (The eyelid has lightning like scars over it, where it had to be reconstructed and stitched back together.)

It’s not exactly like her connection with Lettie (where is she? Is she okay?), but she hopes it’s enough to beat back some of that nightmare seed without harming Titania. Lettie can’t lose another person. She won’t let her if she can help it.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” One of the demons asks, looking warily at her glowing sword.

Juno nods then presses the tip to the center of the rose, sending a pulse of her necromancy through it, trying to suss whatever magic this is before proceeding. Titania thrashes against the demons, then everyone’s piling on top of her, not shying away when her veins bulge dangerously over her arms. “Titania. Can you hear me? I’m Juno and I know you don’t know me, but you need to trust me. I’m a badass necromancer from another world. I’ve healed the hearts of the worlds and raised a goddess from the dead with the help of your daughter, Olette.” The angel calms slightly at the mention of Lettie. “I think I can help you too, but you need to work with me. I'm going to try and give you an opening and once you feel it, I need you to fight like fucking hell so I can unroot the seed without hurting you. Lettie misses you so fucking much. Please. For her, give it your everything.”

 

[ellarose]

Titania sinks for an instant, perhaps calmed by Juno's words. She seems present now in a way she wasn't before. It's quiet. Still. Everyone collectively holds their breath. (Some of their group looks at the pirate like she's out of her damned mind. Others haven't stopped staring at Titania since the moment they first laid eyes on her in her current state, still processing the shock that she's alive, processing the state of her now.) Moments later, Titania jerks forward. It happens so suddenly she nearly knocks the demons and angels holding her onto their backs.

The rose in her chest glitches erratically, the edges of the midnight black petals flickering and chipping away. She yanks right and left, freeing her hands to give the rose another definitive pull. This triggers a glowing grid that transposes itself over the rose. The lights pulse out like a heartbeat and suddenly the walls and floors of the arena are aglow with the same grid. She pulls again and vines-- no, wires-- spill out behind it like guts. The severed vines that attacked them before flicker and reveal themselves to be wires as well-- they've only been made to look like vines, complete with their own thorns. The wires are transparent with white-blue electricity snaking through them.

No, not electricity. Juno might recognize it as a faerie's 'raver magic'... but it's tainted somehow. There's something wrong with it. Faeries can't rely on their sources in a place like this, after all. (It's not coming from faeries, then. Or at least not directly.)

"Tech?" A shaggy-haired demons squints confusedly, pulling his attention away from Titania and Juno to look at the network of grids projected all around them.

"Brilliant observation, my friend." A nearby angel quips back. She flies over to the grid and experimentally knocks on it. It echoes with a clang, clang, clang. The arena flickers and then disappears altogether, square by square. Some fill with clouds of static. Others are blank. The angel sees her own reflection in the surface she just knocked against, figuring it out. "They're screens." She whips her head around, surveying the area. "Where the hell are we?"

Crash! Cracks appear through her reflection, her eyes hollow out, and a monstrous face with sharp teeth flashes briefly. The angel jerks away, startled. She closes her eyes, rubs them harshly, and then checks the screen again. It's blank now... but the ominous crack remains like a bad omen. She frowns.

"Shit, bro... I don't like this at all." The demon shakes his head rapidly. "It's giving me the heebie-jeebs."

"I don't-- I don't deserve it..." Titania makes the demon jump when she speaks. She draws everyone's attention back to her as she fights it, shakily huffing out her words. She tries to pull harder on the rose and Ravan lunges forward, trying to restrain her arms with all his might. "Leave... me..."

"Thee deserve not this." Ravan says, his voice stern but gentle. Ariel pets the woman's bangs away from her face carefully, her brows knitted in concentration. "Be not ridiculous. We won't leaveth thee."

"You don't understand. He's been... too quiet. Asmodeus." Titania elaborates the severity of the situation. "She's next... Lettie's next."

The room lapses into eerie silence. Ravan and Ariel exchange a concerned, conflicted glance. Then they look over at Juno. (The pirate's words from that morning echo in Ravan's mind. It seems as if an eternity has passed since then. 'I almost lost her once. Never again.') But... a choice has to be made-- and soon. He thinks about the letter that Lettie left him. He glances at his sister again, his eyes bright and determined this time.

"This is... the only way I can protect her now. Don't waste any more time on me. Go to her. Before it's too late." Titania begs quietly, her attempts to writhe free now coming across as gestures towards the tunnel opening she emerged from earlier. "Go."

"We'll wend." Ravan promises. He looks at Juno, realizing shortly thereafter he'll have to elaborate on what he means by 'wend'. "We'll go. Juno, stayeth with Titania. Ariel and I shall findeth Lettie." Ariel nods firmly in agreement. She rises with a wince, her fall earlier took a lot out of her, but she steels herself an instant later.

Ravan exchanges places with another demon once this is decided, turning to the others gathered around them to let them in on what's happening. He insists that some of them should stay behind to look after Juno and Titania while the rest search the area to find Lettie... or Asmodeus. Thanks to Titania's efforts, it seems that the illusions blocking their way forward are broken... for now.

Ravan exchanges one last glance with Juno, offering her a reassuring nod. And with that, they venture off into the darkness of the tunnel.

"Good kids... they always were." Titania sighs, deflating when Ravan and Ariel have left. Perhaps with relief, perhaps with exhaustion. To anyone watching, they might think she's just given up on herself. But then she turns her head to Juno, a thousand questions flashing in her eyes at once. (This is someone her daughter has come to love? It's... unexpected. But she's no room to judge anyone from where she's fallen now.)

'My daughter cares about you very much... so I'm going to trust you.' Titania responds at last, closing her eyes. 'I'll fight. Whenever you're ready.'

 

[starboob]

Nothing good ever happens when the crew splits up. Ravan, Ariel, and the small group they left with become smaller until they’re swallowed by the darkness. They leave the restless pirate captain behind, her hand flexing and unflexing around the hilt of her sword. Separated, she can do nothing to protect the entirety of their crew; she can do nothing to protect Ravan and Ariel. The muscles in her legs beckon her forward and she considers it. On top of protecting her crew, it should be her going after Lettie. She can’t sit here idle with a bright red target on her back.

A lump catches in her throat. Eleven likely and unlikely scenarios flash through her mind like scenes in a flip book. Her restlessness snares around her heart. They all need to be searching for her.

Even in her distraction, however, she can feel Titania’s gaze running over her. She can’t see her through her right periphery, but she still can feel her presence, having formed a temporary connection with her to help partly break her curse or poison or whatever the hell it is that now strangles her. Another person important to Lettie is here and Juno’s the only person who can help her. Titania is someone she can protect. (She wants nothing more than to split herself in two, like that fucked up abomination of herself could. A deep set truth in her bones tells her that not everyone is going to come back, but if she could be two people, then maybe more would.) Her free hand comes up to rub the back of her neck, finally turning to face Titania.

Oddly, despite the damage she caused, Juno can’t find it in herself to resent her for it. Her stomach doesn’t even lurch like it does whenever she’s called back to her trial with the wolf-mutant. A moment had arisen where she could have broken free, but at the cost of hurting Lettie’s mother. Maybe she should have, but done is done.

The blurriness from her one eye, now devoid of its stormy iris, is distracting enough that she closes it, allowing herself a better look at the angel. Titania withholds a sympathetic wince and Juno pretends she doesn’t notice. She only nods.

“I don’t know how much I can help,” she admits. Even before when she had assured Titania that she could help, it was never a certain thing. She’s never needed to be so precise before—at least, healing the core of the worlds always felt as though there was a larger margin for error. Working on Lettie’s mother… Working on something that’s been infused with tech? Her hand tugs at the high collar of her armor and the ghost of Lettie’s slack form weighs in her arms The chill of an operating table presses behind her. “Could take a fucking miracle to fix this.” Part of her wants to offer a reassuring grin, wants to add that she’s made miracles happen before, but her eyes eye is hollow, half of her addled with worry for her faerie. She rubs her chest where she feels their connection, then sets to action (distraction).

Juno instructs Titania to lie on her back. Then she gets one of the angels to unlock the cage so that she can get inside. They’re apprehensive, knowing what kind of damage the angel of death can do, but seeing as the necromancer has pulled this much of their idol back to the surface, they oblige. Juno kneels down next to Lettie’s mother and fishes through one of the pouches on her utility belt, pulling out a bone shard. She crushes it to dust then rubs it against the blade, followed by another third of faerie blood. The fuller flickers to whorls of a deep jet black, speckled with white. “Ready?”

At Titania’s nod, she presses the tip of the blade against the grid-rose and then sinks her blade slowly into the angel’s chest. The crew gasps, but none dare stop her. Titania does not flinch. No alarm sounds from her lips. Her features do twist into disbelief, but she feels nothing. Blood doesn’t even spill from the wound. The sword just phases through her. It is, however, too jarring for her to stare at for a moment longer, so she tilts her head back and stares up at the golden bars.

Juno closes her eyes, focusing on the corruption that sprouted from Titania’s heart. If she treats Titania’s heart as a core, she finds parallels between the angel and the worlds. Usually, it’s Lettie who finishes healing the hearts after Juno kickstarts the revival, but she’ll have to fill that role herself this time. “Titania. I can feel your regret. Shame. But I also know you’re more than your mistakes. Lette told me about the breakfast dance parties. I think that’s why her favorite foods are breakfast ones.” Once, during one of their late night study sessions, Lettie told her about her half of the healing process. So she tries to implement that cursory knowledge here. “You taught her that beauty is nothing without brains. You fucked up, but you also made Lette strong enough to survive. And I need you to let yourself feel that pride. This thing? It’s feeding on your nightmares. You need to hope, Titania. I’d like to get to know my future in-law.”

Even using her sword as a conduit for her magic, blood starts to leak from her nose, her body not meant for taking on the faerie's role in these healings. This should be where Juno stops, because they need to be smart, but then there's that stubborn pirate bubbling up to the surface, refusing to give up on someone so important. (Lette will understand...)

The floor glitches. Tiles flicker to storms of static and lost signal messages. Juno doesn't notice, but the others in their crew do, taking slow horrified steps backwards. Everything goes dark. A scythe like smile, full of sharp pointy fangs stretches wide right beneath them. Each fang peels off, becoming an amorphous horror that glitches through the screens in a wild swarm. Juno feels the breeze and wingbeats cutting into her cheeks, but she's so close...

 

[ellarose]

Ravan and Ariel traverse the dark, winding cooridors. They only dare to split up for brief intervals whenever they encounter forks in their paths-- wanting to stay close, but also striving to cover as much ground as possible. Occasionally, they have to press themselves down to the ground or against the walls whenever sinister shadows pass by. (Is it all in their heads, or...? Either way, nothing has bothered with attacking them. Yet.) Sometimes they encounter rooms filled with cages or test tubes... but they're all eerily empty. Not a single faerie to be found. (What happened to those faeries they heard before? What happened to the ones Asmodeus threatened Lettie with?) There's no telling how much time they have... how much time Lettie has. Unease is thick in the air around their group with each wrong turn taken, with each shake of their heads when they come up empty handed.

Eventually, the vampire wannabe feels an insistent tap-tapping against his abdomen from his inside cloak pocket (yes, Ravan sewed pockets in his velvet cloak-- they're practical!) and stops short. He holds his hands out and Lestat climbs out into them. The mini skeleton claps his hands above his head to gather everyone's attention.

"Doth thee knoweth where Lettie is, Lestat?" Ravan asks inquisitively. Lestat signs eagerly and nods. (Everyone else in their group wears blank, confused stares as Ravan listens intently, a serious look in his eye as he strokes his chin.) "...Ah, I seeth! So she wore bone shards in her hair." While this still doesn't make a lick of sense to the rest of the group, Ravan understands that Lestat has a sense for these things. They're Juno's bone shards. As they get closer, that feeling that they're close by gets even stronger. (Thank stars for Phillip.) "Taketh us to her, mine own valorous cousin."

Lestat proceeds to point to the right. At the... at the wall.

"Ooookay." A purple-haired demon rolls her eyes, exuding attitude as she scratches behind her horns. Clearly, she's not inclined to trust a small fanged skeleton to act as their compass. She releases a big sigh. "I think we should keep going straight. Even if that is the way, we're not a bunch of faeries, man. We can't glitch through the wall."

"Maybe there's a secret entrance. A mechanism of some kind." Ariel muses in defense of Lestat, sympathetic. She's inclined to believe him-- the skeleton might be small, but he's been a massive help to them over this past month. Given this isn't the first time they've been fooled into taking the wrong path, it makes sense that they need to try something different than taking the obvious path ahead. She flaps her wings, gliding left and right to observe the wall around them closely. Hm... "Wouldn't put it past that tricky bastard."

"Guys, I don't like this." "There's nothing here. Let's just go." "You guys can go. I'm staying here." "Byeeeee." "Wait! What if you get lost?!" "If you're gonna waste time looking for a secret entrance, I think you're gonna be here for a while." "What if we, like, hit the wall with a mace?" "Oh stars above. You can't solve all your problems by hitting them with a mace, Cindy! You just can't!" "No? Watch me, bitch!" "Heavens. This is precisely why I don't associate with demons." "Pfft. Nerd."

Ariel massages her temples. While she's normally the queen of chill, she is about to lose her damned mind on these children. Everyone's panicked. Tensions are high. She takes a deep breath, on the verge of snapping herself, and Ravan helpfully intervenes before she can.

"--Waiteth a second! Cease thy arguing." Ravan holds his hands out and steps in front of the point of the wall where Lestat pointed. Cindy's heart shaped mace nearly smashes him in the face and she draws it backward just in time. "Dude!" (He takes a deep, steeling breath. He summons up his determination. He might get teased forever for what he's about to do... but he's prepared for that possibility. Lettie is worth it. Besides-- if they don't figure something out soon, he gets the sense it's not a problem he'll have to worry about for all that much longer.) "Alloweth me to..."

Ravan takes one step forward, then another. And then he walks right into the wall. Instead of colliding with it, though, he slips through as easily as one might slip into a lake.

"The fuck!?" The purple haired demon's jaw drops. The bickering group lapses into a stunned silence when the vampire wannabe disappears completely from their sight.

"Ravan!" Ariel cries out, watching with horror as her baby brother melts into the wall. She reaches after him hesitantly. As much as she wants to follow, what if... (Their team still needs someone to look after them. Lettie needs them, too.) "Ravan, can you hear me?"

"...Mace time?" Cindy raises it again, bouncing eagerly on her tip-toes, and the angel standing next to her holds her arm out in front of her like a strict schoolteacher. "No."

"Tis fine. See?" Ravan pokes his head back out of the wall, eliciting a few terrified screams from their group. It makes him look like a disembodied head.

"I dunno how to tell you this bro, but your body is..." The shaggy haired demon looks like he's going to be sick. Ravan just rolls his eyes and steps all the way out of the wall.

"Tis an illusion. Perfectly safe to walketh through." Ravan clarifies. He disappears again, his voice still audible as he goes. "Now, we shan't wasteth anymore time. Come anon, we wilt maketh haste!"

Ariel takes another deep breath, calming her nerves. Then she moves through the wall, following after him. Huh. (No wonder they've had shit luck finding Lettie. This place is like a labyrinth of nightmares.) She catches up to glide at Ravan's side, tilting her head as she looks over at him.

"How'd you know that would work?" Ariel asks him out of curiosity. Their group follows right behind. Cindy experimentally tosses her mace through the walls, giggling maniacally as it phases through them with funny 'bloop-shwoop' noises. Everyone has given up on trying to stop her. At least someone's having fun.

"I didn't. It wast a theory." Ravan supplies honestly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"...Would've been real embarrassing if it was solid." Ariel snorts and shakes her head, smiling at the thought of her brother determinedly walking into a wall like a nerd. "All I'm saying is... you could've tested your theory just as easily by reaching for the wall. It'd spare you a broken nose."

"Well..." Ravan blushes and purses his lips. (Oh. She-- she has a point. She always does.) He flips the end of his cloak dramatically and tosses his head to the side to shake it off. "Tis fine. It worked, did it not?"

"That it did. You did good, little bro." Ariel nods sagely and turns to Lestat. "Alright. We won't let these damned walls stop us anymore. Lead the way, Lestat."

As they draw closer, they come upon a winding staircase leading down, down, down. It becomes even darker if possible. The only thing lighting their way now is the subtle glow of the angels ornate halos and wings. (They can hear a radio playing... it's one of Titania's songs. And there's sound of someone talking furiously in hushed tones.) Eventually, they reach the bottom of the staircase and come upon an area covered in tall grass, trees, and plants. Ravan, Ariel and their group hide behind some bushes there-- peering at the area ahead of them. It can only be described as a dark, spooky lab set up in the middle of a midnight black forest. Everything is dimly lit in neon shades of purple, blue and gold. A raised platform stands among brambles and overgrown plants. Atop that platform is a glass coffin encircled by golden chains, tilted slightly upright to face a wall covered with a giant curtain.

They all shift uncomfortably, getting bad vibes from that curtain. What could be hiding underneath it...?

Ravan breathes in sharply and presses a hand over his mouth. He notices that Lettie is inside the coffin... she's-- not dead. Thank stars. She's asleep. And it appears that she's lying on a bed of toxic blue flowers. (As long as she's breathing in the pollen of those flowers, she's not going to be waking up any time soon.) Her wrists are encircled with golden chains. It's what Lettie would likely call 'overkill' in her dramatic tone of voice if she were currently conscious. There's a screen nearby displaying a scene... though it's too faraway to make out any details.

"What do you mean they're 'investigating the estate'?" Asmodeus barks nearby, starting Ravan out of his horror and rage-induced daze. The demon is pacing in the shadows of the trees nearby, pausing as another voice speaks inaudibly on the other end of his phone. "Then tell them Olette is out of her damned mind! Her ridiculous broadcast doesn't give them clearance to--" The demon grits his teeth. "Did they find those faeries? I set them free... that should prove that the little minx was lying." He growls under his breath as the other person speaks again. "Do I have to do everything myself? I'm in the middle of something important here." Another pause. "Fine. Fine. Send your people over and I'll go take care of this mess." He clicks his phone off and hisses. "Useless."

Asmodeus storms closer, stopping in front of the screen to monitor what's happening. The group hiding nearby crouches lower into the shadows, holding their breaths. One of the demons in their group draws a glyph to camouflage them into the plants. "Thanks, babe." She mouthes to herself. (...Her faerie girlfriend taught her that one. Might just save their skins now.) Asmodeus proceeds to storm to the other end of the room, to a wall of complex machinery. He smacks his fist on a button there, the sound of a heavy metal door cranks open... and then he draws a glyph, creating a door of shadows that he promptly disappears through.

Ravan's eyebrows knit together. (What did that button do?) Instead of dwelling on that in full, he starts to approach the coffin--

And then the nightmares pounce.

 

[starboob]

Healing Titania’s corruption isn’t at all like dealing with the magical cores. It’s not better. It’s not worse. It’s just different. She can feel the angel’s rabbit pulse calming as she conjures whatever hope she has to beat off this corruption. She can feel her own magic draining from herself as she gives more over to the angel. The wingbeats around her don’t register nor do the terrified screams of the crew as they’re onslaught with nightmare beasts they have never faced before. Aside from the cuts they deliver as they pass, they do not attack. (It can’t be anything to do with nightmares having no entry point. That never stopped them on Desdemonia, but perhaps it has something to do with the invisible torus of bastardized necromancy and faerie magic surrounding them.)

Blood runs like a faucet down Juno’s nose, splashing onto Titania’s robes. An eternity passes before she feels the cables releasing their hold over the angel’s heart. Petal by petal, more of the grid rose flakes away. Her sword shakes as it's pushed out from Titania’s chest and without it there to support her, she falls over onto her side, heaving. She sputters a bit, spitting out the blood that’s gathered over her lips, but hardly has the strength to do much more than that. Her eyes are still closed and, for a moment, she imagines that she’s lying beside Lettie on a grassy knoll.

But then the screams register. The wingbeats hitting her. Something crashes into her back, then wraps around her waist, yanking her backwards before she can even think to open her eyes. Everything is spinning around her as she’s hurled into the air, somersaulting upwards. Nightmares crash into her, batting her back and forth between them until one manages to make eye contact with her and morphs into a winged version of the wolf-mutant. The scar over her eyes starts to itch, but she ignores it, wise enough to know the illusion. ‘Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

The beast screams in her face, much like the angel of death had earlier, taking her higher into the air. When she looks over her left shoulder, she makes eye contact with another nightmare and this one morphs into the Shrike, though this one has a knife sharp nose. ‘Fuck!’ Her arms flail around her middle, searching for her utility pouches for something, anything that might be able to save her.

It’s too late.

She plummets towards the Shrike’s waiting stake. Her eyes shut closed. “Lette—”

Feathers circle around her, she feels this nightmare arc upwards, except it’s not a nightmare. It’s Titania. She is larger than before, easily able to carry Juno in one arm while she wields the demon sword in the other. She blinks confusedly, barely registering as Titania slashes through the wolf-mutant and then dives down to behead the Shrike in one fell swoop. Her eyes are hardened gemstones, despite their red rims. She’s unhesitating.

“You’re not seeing the nightmares?” Juno’s mouth practically hangs agape.

Titania sets her down, grimacing at the steaming pile of rotted flesh. “I most certainly am.” Her voice is steadier than before, more sonorous. In a rare moment of stupefied awe, Juno doesn’t even register the nightmare that approaches from her right. (To be fair, her right eye is…) Titania skewers its head before it can even get within three feet of Juno. “But anything that stands between me and my daughter will be struck down. I lost her once. Never again.”

The words echo Juno’s earlier sentiments and though she doesn’t know this woman or how she should even feel towards her, all things considered, an odd kinship swells in her chest. When her gaze flicks back down to Juno, taking her in, she frowns. “You have blood all over you.” It sounds like a criticism, though it’s clearly laced with concern. “Are you…?”

“Yeah,” she grumbles, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. Her nose has stopped bleeding, though the lightheadedness she feels hasn’t subsided. (It also hasn’t gotten worse, so…) It’s not like there’s anything to be done about her current state anyway. “I’ve got this.”

Titania gives her a dubious look, obviously questioning the information but the angel doesn’t press the issue. She merely nods then gestures with her chin. “I saw some others down that way.”

“Right.” With one defiant sniff, she takes her sword back from Titania and they make their way towards the others. Along the way, more nightmares try to slow them down but they may as well be tanks with how they roll over each would-be assailant. Titania is mindful to stay to Juno’s right, protecting her from what she cannot see. Juno, meanwhile, lights her sword on fire using the Major’s lighter and burns nightmares to crisps and even causes a few to balk and turn back rather than meet a sure demise.

When they arrive around a particularly aggressive thick of nightmares, Titania launches into the air for an aerial view and points out their crew members, completely ensnared in nightmares. (Some are even being feasted on, yet they don’t seem to realize it, convinced these nightmares are lovers or friends.) Juno cuts one demon free who then screeches in protest and nearly pummels her for killing her mother. Then she smells the piles of burnt rotten flesh, sees the other nightmares and realizes her folly. The Desdemonian doesn’t fault her and offers only a brief explanation. The same one she gave Lettie their first night together. “Close your eyes. Don’t let them get into your head. If you can wield flames or water, these shits hate that.”

That message spreads through their group and becomes wildfire as demons and angels summon hellish or heavenly flames, hosing down the nightmares to rescue the rest of their crew. Once they’re all gathered together, the angels and demons work together to create two rings of fire to protect their group, dissuading anymore nightmares from attacking.

Another eternity later and they make it to the corridor the others had gone down. “Titania, do you remember the way?” One of the demons asks this and it seems, in that moment, they all realize (again) that Titania Lycoris Radiata is among them and even saved some of them. One angel nervously bounces from foot to foot, trying and failing to not stare. Titania is oblivious to this. She squints down the hallway and starts to lead them. “Yes. It’s fuzzy, but yes. I can get us to her.”

So they start down the path, following the mother. Their armor barely jostles to give themselves away and their footsteps are as careful as they are quiet. The rings of fire still protect them and beat back the shadows. Juno has the half thought to tell them to knock out the lights, but then she remembers what happened the last time they traversed a dark passageway and decides against it. It gives them away, but Asmodeus already knows they’re here.

As they walk, one of the demons notices Juno shutting her right eye and reaches into a magic circle (surprising Juno) and produces an eye patch. Sheepishly, she admits to attending a pirate themed party earlier. (Juno doesn’t understand why pirates would be the theme of a party, but Avangeline doesn’t always make sense.) She thanks the demon (Ella) and slips it over her eye.

They arrive at a blank wall. Titania feels over it, just hovering her hand over the surface. “Here. This is the entrance. I’m sure of it.” She pushes her hand through the boundary, eyes glinting when it phases through. “Put out the flames. The stairwell down is too narrow for us to travel like pack animals.” Once the flames are out, Titania phases through. The others follow, one by one. Juno stays behind, deciding to take to the back. But when it’s her turn to step through, tiny footsteps come running towards her, out from one of the distant laboratories.

A child—a faerie child—comes running down the hall, cheeks stained with tears. She has a mop of blue hair and soft green eyes. Aside from the mark on her wrist, deep purple bruises cover her biceps in the shape of handprints. Juno fumes. But the kid doesn’t run towards her, in fact, when she seems to realize she’s running into a stranger, she squeaks and starts to turn around.

“Wait!” Juno ignores the voice in her head telling her it’s a trap. She moves towards the kid, chasing after her. “Kid, don’t run—” she reaches for her shoulder and pulls her back. “This place is…” Dangerous, obviously. “How did you…?”

The child grins, eyes flashing bright red. Juno steps back, but the entity breathes something in her face. The effect is immediate. Her mind goes numb. The entity nicks her cheek and sucks the droplet of blood from their finger. “That faerie has made you soft, pirate,” the entity’s infuriating voice slithers through her mind. If she were capable, chills would slip down her spine. She feels nothing.

The entity grins, then melds into shadows just as Ella pops her head through the wall. “Juno, you good? What’re you doing?”

“I-I… I thought I saw something.” Juno’s mouth moves, though the real Juno is hidden behind a fog, seeing through her own eyes, feeling and speaking, but it’s not her. “This place is just fucking getting to me.”

Her legs walk her over to the wall and she steps through, the entity right on her heels, pulling at the strings. “That’s a good pirate. Keep playing along…”

 

[ellarose]

Juno. Juno, Juno, Juno, Juno, Juno, Juno.

Lettie can't believe she forgot about Juno... and here she is, on the verge of forgetting her again. It's not her, though. It's this place. It's something in the air. (When she finds whoever is responsible for this mysterious something, she's going to tear their fucking throat out.) Until then, she has to repeat the pirate's name over and over to keep her from slipping beyond her reach. If Juno vanishes, Lettie will surely follow closely behind. She's everything. The love of her life. Her future, the one she's fighting for.

Mother's safe haven shattered when she left, whisked away in a flash of light when Juno reunited her soul with her real body. Then they disappeared, leaving Lettie alone again. It's so quiet here. She stands solemn and still atop the empty lake-- now devoid of all its color-- thinking of her pirate and the state she was in before her vision of the outside world was severed. 'Juno, I'm sorry. This is all my...'

Shadows pool beneath her feet, eagerly twisting beneath the water ripples to drag her under. To devour.

Lettie swallows hard, stopping herself. Juno wouldn't hear a single word of that, would she? Instead of moping, she needs to instead focus on getting back to her so she can fight at her side with the vengeance of all the stars in the sky. With that in mind, she turns her gaze skyward for guidance. (But how...?) The sky is colorless, blanketed in a thick fog that seems to be seeping into her brain.

There are no stars here. 'You've been chained to this place. Asmodeus is the only one who can set you free.' It's already over. He's won.

Shadow tendrils begin to snake around Lettie's calves as her white eyes reflect the fog around her... until Juno flashes through her mind. Offering her hand and one of those lopsided grins she loves so much. Pulling her in, squeezing her close. The faerie breathes in sharply, pressing her eyes shut and shaking her head. No. Don't let it in. The tendrils retract as if they'd just been burned. They snap back angrily and then slowly sink. Retreating. For now.

Weird, isn't it? It was so beautiful here before. Does Lettie see through it since mother revealed the gimmick of it? Perhaps because she remembers her life outside of... wherever this is. Because she remembers Juno. Because she's not accepting this as her reality or her future. It's not over till it's over.

"It can't end like this." In true fucking faerie fashion, Lettie starts talking to herself. (She imagines Juno teasing her for it to keep her close.) "I won't let it."

"Insignificant little creature." A low voice drawls. The shadows gather together, forming a menacing shape. It emerges from the water a looming, glitching mound of darkness. It has no discernible features outside of the glowing, kaleidoscope eyes blink open within it. The thing stares down imposingly at the little faerie. A mouth filled with disturbingly sharp teeth appears when it speaks again. "Remember your place."

Lettie can scarcely process what she's seeing before a shadow arm snaps up and snares around her ankle, dragging her down into the depths below the lake's surface. She tosses her arms above her head, grasping for air. (Fight as she might, she can't wrestle her way out of its grip.) Above, she can still see those bright kaleidoscope eyes boring down into her own, burning neon holes through the misty waters, through her retinas. The Reaper.

***​

Once both halves of their group reunite, they're able to make quick work of the nightmares. (Thanks to Cindy and her mace, Ravan and Ariel's group suffered no casualties. However, horns have been chipped and feathers have been lost. Everyone's bruised and tired.) After this they find themselves with a rare moment to breathe and collect themselves. With Asmodeus out of sight, everyone wanders around the lab freely to investigate the different machines and screens. A few of them investigate the plants growing around the area, trying to identify them.

Titania doesn't care about anything but the glass coffin. She rushes to it, gazing down worriedly at her sleeping daughter. Though she says nothing, her expression says everything she doesn't. She presses a hand against the glass and closes her eyes as if she's tempted to try something... but then she shakes her head, thinking better of it.

"...We need to get her out of there." Ravan startles Titania out of her reverie, having come to stand at the fallen angel's side. He raises a hand, poised to draw a glyph, but she holds a hand up to stop him before he can.

"No, we cannot. Only Asmodeus can break the seal on those chains." Titania shakes her head somberly. "We either have to convince him to let her go or kill that son of a--" She trails off, her gaze snagging on Juno across the way. Juno... who called her her future in-law. Stars. The angel's head is still spinning with the implications of that. She's missed so much of her daughter's life. Missed her so much.

Needless to say, Titania thought Juno would have also joined her at Lettie's side. But instead..."What are you doing?"

While investigating, no one else dared to approach the ominous black curtain. But 'Juno' does. And she takes this curiosity a step further by drawing it open, revealing the large glass window behind it.

And through that window stares a round, glowing pair of kaleidoscope eyes. Then a smile filled with jagged, glitching teeth. The Reaper.

Positioned directly across from it, Lettie's eyes snap wide open. But she's not awake... not exactly. She's in some kind of trance. Her white eyes flash before reflecting the same bright colors and patterns as those of the Reaper staring at her. Her body takes on the faint, rainbow sheen she'll sometimes receive after connecting with her source. That light begins to travel out from her chest and towards the Reaper, as if the monster is inhaling it. Absorbing it.

"No! Close it!" Titania shouts, her voice filled with desperation. When 'Juno' does nothing, she flies forward to close it herself. The pirate seems poised to fight her off, but Ravan glares suspiciously at this and rushes in close behind. He tackles 'Juno' to the ground before she can lay a hand on the fallen angel.

Snap! Titania draws the curtain back over the glass, obscuring the Reaper from view. Lettie's head falls back against the flowers again, her eyes drifting shut. She breathes an inaudible sigh of relief. It's short lived. Upon closer inspection, she notices that her daughter's calves are stained with what looks like coils of ink. Those same markings sprawl out beneath her eyes like tears as well.

Narrowing her eyes, Titania whips around to face Juno. "...What the hell were you thinking?"

 

[starboob]

“Oh, isn’t this rich.” The laugh that follows is low and rumbled, nothing like her own. (Not that anyone here would know. The only one who would is...) It comes through clenched teeth. Saliva foams at the corners of her mouth as she struggles against Ravan, though the movements are especially jerky and restrained. "As I seem to recall this is all your fault, Titania." Her one eye is bloodshot with something akin to rage. Even so, her ire does not appear to be targeting Lettie's mother, despite what she says. "Was it not you who gambled that little brat's life away? Wasn't it easy to sell her off so you could enjoy the riches of the Belladonnas? With that pesky little Onus out of the way, you never would have to worry about explosions and sob stories over her evil step-sister. Don't pretend that you actually care for her now. You're fueled by your shame."

Titania actually flinches, taking a half-step backwards. The other angels, her fans, gape between the pirate and their idol, not wanting to believe the tale, yet her reaction implies her guilt. Juno's mouth twists into a grin too wide and even to be her own. "Oh, yes. She is the reason Olette is here; the reason her soul belongs to Asmodeus. Rightfully, might I add. Not even the power of a wish granting faerie could reclaim her soul for her. Remind me, Titania." At this point, Juno's skin is on fire, hot to the touch. A thin sheen of sweats breaks over her entire body. "How old was she? My memory is a little fuzzy on the matter."

"Enough, fiend!" Ravan shoves Juno's shoulder, slamming her into the ground, his eyes searching the pirate's for an answer. (Something's not right. Asshole is not Lettie's type. More than that, Juno doesn't sound like Juno. He might not know her well, but he knows enough.) Juno ignores him, angling as much as she can to look over the rest of the shocked group. "Convenient, isn’t it? The little minx failed to mention that minor detail in her story."

“I—” Titania’s mouth opens and closes, her blue eyes rimmed with fresh tears as mistake after mistake is thrown right back into her face; as she is reminded nothing can truly make up for what she has wrought upon her own daughter. Betrayal, guilt, hurt all flash through her eyes when she looks at Juno. (But this pirate was so kind to her earlier. So determined to save her soul, to know her. What happened?) “What madness has gotten into you?”

“Don’t deflect, Titania.” With one final thrash, she throws Ravan off of her with unnatural strength then hauls herself to her feet. Before Ravan can recover, she kicks his windpipe. He gags, grabs his throat, and falls over to the side. She steps over his crumpled form. "A few good intentions will never absolve you of your past. As a poet from another world writes: You know it's just too little too late.”

Ariel's eyes flash with fire, her feathers ruffle, eyes shifting from her baby brother to Juno. She hurls herself towards the pirate. Juno merely side steps out of the way. Though she moves with ease, her breaths are coming out ragged and her words are starting to slow, like she concentrating on two tasks at once.

Luxe takes advantage of Juno’s apparent distraction, grabbing her golden lasso and capturing the necromancer around her biceps. The golden length of leather brightens and she yanks it down, bringing Juno to her knees. Three more coils of the lasso wrap around her and Luxe, Dominic, and Ella rush the pirate captain, dragging her as far away from Lettie, Titania, and the Reaper as they can manage. They wrestle her into a chair and attach her bindings to it.

"What is going on!?" Dominic demands.

Ella rubs the base of one of her horns. "Shit... She started acting strange during that last battle."

"Yeah, she stripped out of her armor," Cindy comments from the back. It's only then that the group seems to realize that the pirate is no longer wearing her upper body armor and only has on the body suit, much of which is torn. Not to mention, her sword is discarded on one side of the room along with her utility belt. Two parallel cuts now streak down the right side of Juno's face, from her temple to her chin. More lacerations cover her arms. While everyone else made it out with relatively minor injuries, Juno appears to have given up on blocking altogether. "I thought she was just trying to prove what a badass she is. Took it like a champ."

Juno struggles and thrashes against the golden lasso, seething in the seat. Cindy tilts her head. "Maybe she's concussed?"

“No.” Titania approaches the group from the back. Though still wounded from the verbal lashings and now unable to look at the pirate directly, she is certain of one thing. “That’s not Juno.”

“Tis not.” Ariel and Ravan flank Titania, Ravan leaning against his sister and rubbing his still sore throat. His voice is hoarse and strained and his eyes barely withhold their malice when he looks upon the pirate. “The pirate is bewitch’d.”

“Oh…” Ella mutters under her breath, recalling how she found Juno hunched over in the corridor. “Oh shit.”

Juno’s stupidly buff muscles bulge beneath the lasso, the entity within her mustering all their strength to break free. The bindings dig into her arms, but Luxe doesn't dare release her and even wills more strength into the magicked lasso. “How many demons and angels does it take to figure out the obvious? I’d applaud you all, but well.” She rolls her eye. Then her teeth sharpen to fangs. The veins in her neck bleed to black and, soon, so do the ones along her arms. The blood from her wounds even starts to turn inky. "Try anything and I'll stop her fucking heart. It would be easy, too, like crushing an egg." Tears stream down Juno's cheeks in thick rivers, yet her grin remains wild and deranged. "I'm sure little Onus would appreciate that. Although," Juno tilts her head, observing the way those inky coils continue to crawl over Lettie's body, "it doesn't look like she has much time. Tragic."

Meanwhile, as the real Juno is pushed further and further inward, unable to break through to the surface no matter how hard she struggles and resists, her connection with Lettie starts to come back. (Perhaps because of the connection the entity and the Reaper share?) Within her mind, she catches glitches of Lettie. Lettie. Desperate, the pirate reaches out. "Lettie—" The connection drops, then comes back. "—Scared—"

Static.​

"—the entity—"​

Static. Static.

"—nt—"​

Static.​

"—Dress! Your dre—"​

 

[ellarose]

There is nothing here.

These depths are as dark as they are deep. Silence settles over the lost, forgotten faerie like a heavy blanket. (Is this suffocating? Is it comforting? For now, all she feels is indifference. The abyss drags her down. It's not accepting her... it's erasing her. So this is her place?) Maybe this is what death is, the beginning of a long, eternal slumber. Knowledge of her own name has vanished already and the rest steadily follows after it, drifting away like...

Like balloons. A blue one flashes in her mind. Someone very important to her ties the string around her finger so she doesn't lose it. (It's her favorite color. The faerie guessed it on the first try... well, sort of.)

Memories cut their way out of her, leaving wounds she can do very little about. This all-encompassing, hungry darkness take up the space they once held in her heart. It gets in her eyes, in her mouth, causing the butterflies in her chest to squirm. Do something. But she doesn't have arms to reach out with. She has nothing. She's... nothing. Nothing. Or--

Or... she groans softly as she rouses and tries to move. ('Don't give up', a distant voice encourages.) Dark, oozy hands cling to both of her arms, stretching out in strings and thinning the further she gets away. The won't snap. They gather in clusters around her biceps, leaving prints as they insistently yank her down, down, down. 'Give up already.' Her muscles burn and spasm as she writhes in their hold, but the sensation reminds her she's alive. She's not nothing. ('You've got this.')

'You did everything you could to avoid this outcome... and yet here you are. We've been waiting for you.' The hands grab for her throat. Another covers her eyes. She thrashes. No. 'You must be tired. Sleep. It'll all be over soon.'

"Shut..." This thing, whatever it is, wouldn't waste time on taunts like this if it had already won the battle. "Shut the fuck up." The faerie grinds each word out through sharpened teeth. She's played these cruel games long enough to know it'd simply take, take, take from her regardless of what she says or does. If she were really so insignificant... this would already be over. In a dazzling flash, phantom wings appear on her back. She flutters them desperately. In their current state, they get caught up in the ooze. Sticky. Gross. ('You're the fucking faerie.') She screams and they grow in size, snapping strands of darkness as they stretch outward. Two powerful flaps of those iridescent wings are enough to bat the shadows away like flimsy old cobwebs.

The faerie hauls herself out onto what feels like a shore beside the sea of shadows, her chest heaving with every breath she takes. (In flashes, she remembers herself standing on the surface of a lake... being slammed down into these miserable depths by that monstrosity with kaleidoscope eyes. The Reaper.) Sputtering, she empties darkness from herself in violent coughs. She wipes it from her chin with the back of her hand. She blinks hard. It's still in her eyes, stinging them and blotting her vision.

Now what? Well... for starters, she needs to tie the little string connected to her memories around her finger, like the person from her memory, so she doesn't lose them. The faerie closes her eyes, focusing on memories of that person. The person who she held tighter to than the memory of her own name...

"Welcome aboard, princess. Quite a fucking fall for someone with wings. How did eating shit taste?" The familiar voice echoes. (It's the voice of someone who spent her teens smoking too much carb. The voice of someone very important to her.) "They call you the flightless wonder back home?"

"Juno." The faerie whispers, cradling her hands over her heart.

A single star flickers to life in the darkness. It shines down a faint spotlight over what appears to be a notebook. The faerie crawls to it, flipping it open and peering inside. Revenge tally...?

"Look, you're stuck on my ship. We both are. We're both fucking prisoners to that piece of shit cube and maybe murdering you crossed my mind a few times at the beginning. Like, you've been fucking annoying and have stolen my only fucking chair and you keep trying to steal the good mirror, but I'm not going to turn you into dust over that. Well, not anymore. I dunno, I changed my mind."

A faint light flickers ahead. Clambering towards it, the faerie finds a pink puff pen. As she touches it, a new page appears on the notebook-- a contract written out in the pink ink from that pen. Beneath, there's a line drawn for her to sign her name upon.

Oh, stars. What's her name again...?

"Odella, run!" No. "Olivia, watch out!" That's not it, either. (Ah... that was the time that Juno almost killed her with a bomb.) "The second my dumb muscles aren't frozen solid, I'll give you a lesson in humane murder. But it's one of those once in a lifetime lessons, so pay close attention, Ollie." Oh. This was a whole thing, wasn't it? Those early memories cycle through her mind, Juno calling her by numerous different O names. Ophelia. Olympia. Oleander. Princess, bugsy... disco tits.

"Wow. Even the creepy fog learned my name before you did."

"Fuck, you know your name is hard to remember. Who the fuck names their kid Orinda anyway?"

The faerie may not be any closer to remembering her name, but each memory accompanies a new star until the darkness around her is full of them. Nearby, the shadows are mending the limbs she tore before. They're going to strike again. This time she'll be ready. (Olivia, Ophelia, whatever her name might be... if anything is clear to her now, it's that she's been stubborn and refused to lay down and die. No matter what the worlds threw at her, she always found a way to keep moving forward.) The faerie lengthens her pretty nails into iridescent claws that match her wings.

"Lettie." Lettie's head snaps up. (While her voice is framed by static, this Juno is more than just a memory. This Juno is as real as the name she just called her by. Lettie. Her white eyes glow, clearing the darkness in them away.) "Scared." The sound of her voice tugs at her heartstrings. "The entity."

Lettie scowls, showing a hint of fang. Fucking Angelus. (More memories click into place. She sees Juno tearing the entity off of her, punching him in the face... because it's fucking rude to touch a lady's wings.) What has he done this time?

"Dress! Your dre--"

The stars that have accumulated around her begin to fall. They spin and attach themselves to... her dress. The glamour cast around it breaks at this response, releasing billowing folds of the sparkling, cloud-like fabric around her. Lettie can't help spinning herself around in a circle, feeling like a cosmic goddess. (Her light alone is enough to scare the shadows away... for now.) Standing there, she shines like a beacon for the lost.

"Juno! I can hear you. Sort of." Lettie reaches out to her, closing her eyes tight as she concentrates on clearing through the static. "But I can't see you. Can you see me?" She bites her lip, recalling Juno goggles shattering... her eye. (And how is it that she can hear her all the way down here?) If she's near enough, maybe her light will be enough to... "I'm scared, too. I don't think I can leave this place. It's fucking with my memory... making me tired. I'm trying to hold on." The wounded shadows thrash nearby. They're building up, regaining their strength. "Where are you? Do you think you could find me?"

 

[starboob]

Juno doesn’t want to die.

It’s been a long while since she’s wished for an early grave and, more recently, she has found a reason to live; to do more than just survive from one morning to the next. The entity threatens all of that. The entity doesn’t care about her will to live and shows her just how easy she is to overpower. He tosses her to the side like a ragdoll, leaving her helpless to watch.

Her heart convulses in her chest. Even in this liminal space, she can feel pressure around the muscle as an invisible hand squeezes. Imagining a quaint little life with her faerie does nothing to reinvigorate her strength; she has none left and now she might die before ever knowing peace. (Well, no. That’s not true. Lettie treated her to it in slivers, as much as their lifestyle would allow. She knows peace, because it’s in her faerie’s arms and she’s been held by those arms for months and months.)

She can feel herself slipping away even as the soothing comfort of her fiancée’s voice reaches across this liminal space, coming in clear as crystals. (She still doesn’t understand that phrase.) She holds onto it, savors it, and though her voice can do nothing to shield Juno’s heart from sudden pulverization, it gives her an extra second to jostle the entity’s concentration. And that second could be the difference between death and her fututre.

Her faerie. Her love. Her Lettie.

The static seems to have faded, something about the faerie’s brilliance, perhaps? Because when she opens her one eye, she can see her, just as breathtaking as she remembers. (How long has it been since she promised Lettie that those lips would be hers? Is her last promise going to be a lie?)

“Yes, yes.” Juno nods and starts to reach out towards her, but her spirit quivers as the entity pushes back against her. Her knees nearly buckle and she refuses to fall, stubborn as ever. Stubborn as all hell. She takes a moment to gather herself again, to give herself another second and find her beacon. “I can see you,” she continues. “I’m right in front of you, babe.” A thin shimmering membrane seems to separate them. It doesn’t seem that Lettie can see her, for whatever reason, but she can make out all her sharp edges in piercing detail. (She soaks it all in, in case this is her last chance.) “I…” Her voice breaks off against another convulsion, a cross between a gasp and a whimper eliciting from her throat. She doesn’t have much time.

“Lette, don’t just try to hold on. Hold on. You need to, have to, because—” It’s there again, more insistence. Her lights are fading, Lettie’s form flickers in front of her and she knows it’s not because of a shoddy connection. (Goddess, she’s brilliant like a thousand fiery suns. If this is her end, at least she gets to see her one last time.)

Angelus is going to kill her, but maybe…

“I—I need to possess you. Like Old Humperdinck.” Her thoughts come at Lettie rushed and erratic now, Angelus forcing his dominance over her spirit. “It could save us both. I can’t explain—”

Their connection wavers. Juno gives one final shove. (On the outside, her pores bleed, drenching her body in blood.) “Please, Lette—I don’t want to die. I’m not safe.”

It’s not really a question of whether or not Lettie will let her try and she knows this. If there’s something her faerie can do to protect her, she knows that she will. No one’s got her like Olette Lycoris Radiata does, so as soon as she has the okay, she jumps.

Her hand slips through thin membrane that separates them and though time is of the essence, she cannot help but to let her hand gently glide across Lettie’s starry cheek. She rests her hand there, holding her entire world in her palm, then slips her free hand around Lettie’s waist, pulling her in close. (Shadows gather behind Lettie, angling pointed tendrils towards her.) She closes the distance between their lips. Lettie disappears from the Reaper’s view, hidden by Juno’s spirit, at least for now.

On the outside, Lettie’s eyes fly open, but they aren’t her eyes. The left one is a stormy gray while the other is entirely black, lacking an iris. Juno blinks. Her head spins, not totally immune to the noxious fumes, but not as affected as a faerie traditionally is. She feels the weight of the golden chains around her wrists and feels the softness of the flowers beneath her fingertips.

From across the room, the entity’s neon red eyes burn through Juno’s face. He searches around, confused when he doesn’t feel her soul go out. Though he knows the necromancer isn’t in her body anymore, he doesn’t know where she’s gone. And with everyone else so focused on Juno’s body, no one notices that ‘Lettie’ is now stirring.

As Juno feels the blue poison flowers, she senses their breath in a way she’s never quite felt before as a necromancer and guesses it must be part of occupying a faerie’s body. She ignores this newness for now, instead working to pull the life from the toxic flowers, turning them to mulch. A dull headache thumps against her temple not too soon after, reminding her that while she is a necromancer, the body she’s in is not.

She treads this new territory carefully. As her head clears in slight, she inspects the glass coffin from the inside, pressing her (manicured) fingertips against the glass to test it. The golden chains come into a view as she does this. They flicker both around her wrists and around the coffin itself, though the ones around the coffin are more yielding and dim out completely.

At this time, Angelus seems to figure out what’s happened, having locked onto the coffin. He froths at the mouth, snarling as he struggles against the golden lasso. Luxe struggles to hold him down without Juno’s efforts to help her. “You fucking bastard!”

The rest of the group follows Angelus’s ire towards the coffin. Titania gasps and is the first to glide over to it, followed by Ravan and Ariel. The rest of the group have the sense to stay and watch the possessed pirate. Titania’s hands are against the glass and just as she is about to utter something, Juno cuts in. “It’s Juno. Long story, just help me get the fuck out of here.”

Titania recoils back. Ravan and Ariel both do double takes, though as Angelus continues to curse in the background, they start to make sense of what’s happening. (Not really, but they’re wise enough to not demand an explanation.) Once Titania has also recovered, they inspect the dimmed chain around the coffin and work a few glyphs to break them. Then, together, they lift the lid and help Juno (?) out of it.

The pirate in the faerie’s body staggers on her two feet, feeling the weight of the faerie’s physical exhaustion as well as her own. Plus there are the heels her fiancée insists on wearing, as if they even hide the fact that she’s short as fuck. Ariel offers her arm to the pirate as she regains her balance. Though, weak as she is, she more or less leans on the angel.

Angelus is seething in his chair, boring holes into Juno. It’s already odd to see herself from outside of her body, but worse with her paling features and the blue tint of her lips. Dead bodies come with the territory of being a necromancer, but her own dead body? A chill slips down her spine.

Was this a shit idea? To add to the long list of shit ideas she’s had?

“I bet you think you’re clever, that you’re protecting her like this.” Angelus is huffing at this point. Dark shadows are beginning to pool around him, pulling on the dark matter from the brambles around them. “Well, you can’t keep her from us forever.” With a powerful burst of energy, Angelus breaks through the golden lasso, shredding the cord to pieces. He rises and two glitching orbs of energy grow from the palms of his hands. (Though why he stays inside of—)

Cindy raises her mace, ready to charge the entity.

Juno hears Lettie scream, “No!” (It takes her a moment to realize that the voice is actually hers, technically.)

The chaotic demon doesn’t process the shout. She rushes towards Angelus who doesn’t even bother to move. But Domic and Ella are quick, throwing up a glyph to shield the pirate’s body before the mace bashes Juno’s brains in.

“Ravan.” Juno tugs on his sleeve, eyes wide. “Get that fucker out of my body.” Then she turns to Titania and Ariel. “I need you two to cover for me. I’ve got to check on Lette. She’s not fine, but she’s fighting.”

Though Ravan and Ariel are both still processing that Juno is somehow commandeering Lettie’s body, they readily agree to the instructions. It’s Titania who still struggles to process what’s going on, not that Juno can blame her. Her hands fidget, like she’s tempted to reach out and stroke Lettie’s hair. Her eyes search Juno’s, perhaps hoping this is some odd prank of her daughter’s. Ariel takes Titania’s hand and gives a subtle nod. “Hey, we need to focus and keep her covered. Lette’s a fighter.”

That seems to be enough for the mother to agree. Both angels step in front of Juno, giving her the cover to go back inwards and search for Lettie. With a deep breath, Juno closes her eyes and dives inwards, following her connection towards the faerie's spirit. Though she intends to go back into the liminal space from before, she’s only able to grope around the area. She concentrates, again, on their stream, testing if she might be able to reach the faerie now that they’re sharing a body. “Lettie? Lettie, can you hear me?” She waits a moment. “If you can, see if you can follow our stream back to your body. It’ll be a little cramped, but I’m not trying to stay here long. Just gotta get Angelus out of mine.” Well, and resurrect it, but she leaves that part out for now, not wanting to worry her faerie more than necessary.

 

[ellarose]

The road home isn't an easy one to travel, even when the compass of Lettie's heart points her in the right direction. "Ju--" A hand slams over her mouth stifling her voice into silence. A tide of shadows pulls her under again, chains and arms alike weighing her limbs down, dragging her backward. Each time the faerie tries to wrestle herself free, it seems that another of the Reaper's hands appears within the cluster to strengthen its grip. They wrap around her, attempting to cover the glow of her dress from view.

"We've been waiting for you." The Reaper's glitched out voice taunts. Lettie realizes she's now being dragged across a glyph drawn in the ground. Around this glyph stands a circle of faeries with their wrists tied together with chains. No... no. They' might have been faeries once, but now they're statues of dust, frozen over with something glassy. They stand suspended in this timeless place. In front of each faerie is a smaller glyph indicative of a source-- the ones with a faerie present are faintly lit. There's only one glyph that's dim, one spot around the circle that's empty. The stars.

That's where it's taking Lettie.

"Your place..." The Reaper continues. "It's right here. There's no use fighting it now."

Lettie tries again to get away and slips, scraping against the ground. When she looks up at just the right angle, she notices the solidified faeries all around her have vacant, empty eye sockets. They've all been burned out horrifically, scorched away by powerful magic no doubt... they weren't provided with goggles to protect their eyes with. (Stars. What the hell have they been doing with them?) The chains around the faeries glow, the chains around her glowing in response. They're going to link her up to this circle, use her as fodder for whatever sick project they've been working on.

The Reaper's kaleidoscope eyes flash through Lettie's mind. Spinning with an unnerving sea of vibrant colors, just like faerie wings do when they're threatened...

No. Panic and aversion slam into Lettie's chest with a vengeance the closer she gets to her so-called place, breaking past the numbness that keeps trying to blanket itself over her. Be smart. What are your strengths? Remember them. She reminds herself that she can glitch at this prompting. Doing so, she manages to free herself from the shadows, though her chains remain. This at least leaves her light enough now that she can lift herself to her feet and break into a run.

The Reaper gives chase, erratically glitching after her. It glitches. (The eyes, the glitches...) Bastards. On some level, she's always known. Seeing it for herself, though...

Lettie continues glitching herself, desperately leaping into the air, flapping her phantom wings and propelling herself further and further away from the Reaper. (Now that it can't reach her with shadows, she can put some distance between them... though she's not sure for how long.) It's a chance. Rather than attempting to shake the Reaper, she finds the stream as quickly as she can and follows it home.

Soon enough, Lettie collides with Juno, wrapping her arms tightly around her middle to anchor herself there. She's home. She shivers violently and buries her face against her chest. She can't find the words to explain what she just witnessed. Right now, she needs to be held. (Even if it's only for a second.) "...Juno." She's scared, but she needs to-- has to-- hold on. "They're-- they're trying to create something. I don't know what it is yet, but they're using--"

Lettie's words break off in a yelp as the chains around her yank her harshly backward. Asmodeus steps in, holding the other end of her golden chains like a leash.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Asmodeus muses condescendingly. "You should know better than anyone that the relics are powerful tools. We've been working to create our own relic for thousands of years." He takes Lettie's chin into his spindly hand and she snaps it away defiantly. His nails nick her cheek. "But we've been missing something... I suppose you could say we've always been one ingredient shy of perfecting the recipe. I don't need to tell you that faeries with your source are a rarity, Olette." He grins. "With a dash of your starlight, Avangeline will be in possession of the most powerful relic in the worlds."

Chills cascade over Lettie's skin. Juno sometimes called cubey a 'death box'... but surely all of the relics aren't made this way. Avangeline must be trying to recreate the essence of what they are in a way that's completely wrong. The thought of them attempting this for thousands of years, wasting the lives of many faeries in their failed attempts to create one... those bastards.

Everything clicks into place. They were studying the original cube at the Creation Corp. They specifically had her go into that lab to interact with it. That's what kickstarted this entire thing. (Could it be that they weren't even studying the cube back then? What if they were actually trying to study... her?) But then the cube teleported her away from there... it took her to Juno. At the time she thought it doomed her. Sure, it needed her for the mission... but whether the cube intended for it or not, it was a rescue.

Lettie tries to claw away from Asmodeus, but his hold on the chains is ironclad. She slips onto her stomach at his ankles. Fuck.

"Now, there's no need to panic. We won't take everything from you, Olette.... just enough to complete the relic." Asmodeus grins devilishly. Lettie's head is bowed, she slowly rises to her feet again. If she can't move away from this asshole, then it looks like she'll have to... her hands roll into tight fists at her sides. "Your body will remain and you'll be our obedient little bit--"

Asmodeus is cut off by a fist in his face. There's a satisfying 'crunch' as Lettie's knuckles connect with his nose. She doesn't hesitate. (This little faerie learned to punch faces from the best face-puncher around.) With her other hand, she elongates her nails into claws and rakes them hard across his face before he can recover, leaving cuts harsh and deep enough to leave four scraggly scars behind. She's about to go in for another hit, but he grabs her by the throat before she can.

"You bitch!" Asmodeus snarls. Lettie makes a strangled noise, but still manages a wicked little smirk at the sight of his bloody mess of a face. (It's crystal clear to her now. They're trying to do to her what that 'guardian' did to Calytrix back on Fabel... only worse. Asmodeus already has a fuck ton of power on Avangeline. But he's got an insatiable hunger and his pursuit will never end. He'll never be satisfied.) He tosses the faerie down and stomps on her chest to keep her pinned there.

"She's a lost cause, pirate." Asmodeus taunts. He wipes blood from his eyes and then waves a hand to summon up the view from Lettie's (Juno's) one working eye. Outside this headspace, Ravan has drawn a complicated glyph with blood, and 'Juno' is being held still within it by several angels and demons. The glyph beneath her starts to glow as Ravan's magic flows through it. The red in her eyes flickers as Angelus is chased out. "Just like you'll be if you don't make it back to your body soon. Your time is running out, isn't it?"

"Juno... I'm holding on." Lettie coughs out. Asmodeus drives his heel in deeper, trying to cut her off. (But he's done silencing her.) Her white eyes are overflowing with worry-- but there's an unmistakable spark of determination there, too. She throws open her fingers, sending a particularly sparkly blue butterfly fluttering to her future wife as a parting gift. "Go. Do what you need to do."

 

[starboob]

For as long as Juno can remember, she has been living on borrowed time and her life has never really been her own. Even now, it belongs more or less to a cube and with each passing second her own freedom slips further and further from her grasp.

When her one good eye opens, it’s hollow and vacant. Stormy and gray, sure, but it may as well be the color of death itself. Her heart thrums weakly in her chest, not even strong enough to gallop with rushing adrenaline; not even strong enough to react to the distant and near explosions or the howls of her compatriots. ‘We brought them to their graves…’

Juno isn't giving up, she just has nothing left to give.

Someone lifts her up and props her body in an upright position. Another tries to remove Lettie’s limp form from her lap, but she grabs their wrist and threatens to snap it if they try. They pull themselves away and the pirate sinks again. Her arms are leaden, her entire body is a stone, and she still forces herself to curl herself around Lettie like a shield.

They’ve done everything and it’s still not enough.

A single butterfly flutters in her chest. It’s Lettie’s last gift and it’s what helped Dominic put her pulverized heart back together; it’s what keeps her alive now. It will be what allows her to die in her own body.

The ground below her shakes, but for all that’s happening around her, Juno may as well be on another world. Titania, however, breaks her from her reverie by pulling on her chin. Her blue eyes pierce straight through Juno’s soul. She flinches. The resemblance between the angel and the faerie is particularly uncanny, even if they could not be more different. “If you can’t fight, then go.”

Juno only blinks, uncomprehending. Then the smell of smoke fills her nose. Ravan and Ariel are shouting. One of Angelus’s energy blasts narrowly misses the siblings, splintering the scraggly trees behind them and setting the dark forest on fire. “I—” Juno stammers, remembering her legs, remembering the wall behind her. She uses that to push herself up, still carrying Lettie in her arms. Her muscles are aching and even that effort winds her. She blinks harshly to stop the world from spinning and her finger tips dig into the wall behind her, scraping against the smooth surface for leverage. “I don’t even think I can go. H-Here.” She adjusts Lettie’s body to offer to her mother. “Take her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Titania scoffs. With an impressively fluid gesture, she flips the demon sword around and tucks it into her belt. Her body adopts a familiar glow as she grows in size, living up to her name as she does so. Easily, she scoops the duo into one arm. She tosses her head over her shoulder, checking on the fight behind her. Angelus might overpower any one of them one on one, so they’ve made sure to overwhelm him with their numbers. “Ravan, Ariel—now!”

Juno doesn’t know what she’s signaling and she doesn’t find out until their group is five minutes out from the dark laboratory. Even though they glide through the winding passages of the Reaper’s bunker, she can feel the reverberations of the explosion in the air. It pushes Titania and the rest of them forward. When she looks around the angel’s arm, Cindy grins and waves Juno’s utility belt, now without bombs.

She sinks against Titania, tilting her chin up to look at her and feeling more like a small child than she ever has. Confusion tears through her heart, followed by guilt, and all of that is eaten by her exhaustion. She doesn’t think she can even move if she tried; her strength is completely spent. She can't feel her magic. Keeping her eyes open is a labor and all of her energy goes towards that, not wanting to leave Lettie alone.

Maybe that’s why Titania starts singing to her as they escape the bunker. The angel holds Juno (who holds Lettie) closer to her middle, keeping the necromancer warm as the speed of flight causes her to shiver. Her voice is soft and laps gently over Juno’s aching body. It must just be her imagination, but the aches start to unknot themselves from her limbs, washed away in alternating tides of ice and heat. Strength slowly starts to return to her bones, her muscles, and despite the lullaby, Juno could not be more awake.

It takes a second to process what Titania has done and she doesn’t fully realize it until the angel sets her down on the ground a few levels from the surface. She staggers, but only because she thinks that’s what’s supposed to happen. When she realizes her mind’s trick, she stands up straight, blinking in surprise.

The others in their group stop behind Titania, panting, and checking over their shoulders for pursuers. Titania gets onto her knees to look over Juno, brushing her stubborn bangs from her face. She takes a piece of her robe and takes care to wipe off the blood sweat from her face with a level of tenderness that almost causes Juno to flinch. Dominic comes up behind her and traces out a glyph that glides over Juno, scanning her. He frowns. “Well, you are healed.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Juno balances Lettie on her back, refusing to give her up. She takes her sword back from Titania, wielding it in her free hand. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Because you should be dead. That should not have worked. It defies—”

“Just say you want me dead, then.” She scowls at him.

Dominic immediately closes his mouth and tactfully looks over at Titania to change the subject. “Why did you stop us? This isn’t… We’re not…?” The giant angel sighs, rubbing her forehead. “Because just beyond this level there are yet more demons; the ones who guard this place. Perhaps more since Asmodeus knows we’re here.” She falters for a moment, pressing a finger to her lips as she contemplates what to say next. “I suppose I just wanted to make sure that you all were prepared.”

She doesn’t say it outright, but it’s obvious in the way she lets the message linger in the air. Even she’s not certain that they’ll make it and when Juno turns to see the rest of the battered group, she understands why. Cindy might still be grinning, but the rest of them are tired. Ravan and Ariel are cut up and leaning on each other. Luxe is covered in bruises. One of Ella’s horns has broken off. And she hadn’t noticed it before, but one of Dominic’s wings is sporting a large gash. The others look no better either. None of them were fighters and they've been at this for what feels like hours. Even with her own strength back, she's still exhausted. ‘Fuck.’

“We need to hit them hard and fast, then." Juno adjusts Lettie again, refusing to set her down or relinquish her to someone else. Titania doesn’t even try and it occurs to her that she was probably the one whose wrist she threatened to break. "If we can just give ourselves an opening to escape, we'll be good. My ship and crew are waiting to collect us.” (Even if this works, what are they going to do about Lettie?) "Ready?"

Whether they are or not, they have little choice but to go.

 

[ellarose]

The cube appears, floating down from the ceiling. It turns in a circle to view the area, taking in every demon and angel before firmly settling it's (gaze?) on Juno and Lettie. For once, it's respectful enough not to say that this mess was just about what it expected, coming from the two of them. These disaster magnets. (The sentiment can still be felt radiating off of the little box-- underneath the silent poise, it's still the same asshole they know.) It simply floats down to Juno's shoulder and addresses their exhausted team, who are clearly dreading-- fearing-- having to try and get past Asmodeus's backup beyond this point.

"I've got it." Cubey says. Since their opponent lied, there were no real faeries in that gilded cage around for it to save. Their cool down period is long over now... at least that works to their benefit. When everyone is gathered around, the cube whisks them all aboard the Lady Vengeance with a blip!

Just as Captain Juno promised, the crew is ready for them when they arrive. Several stations are already set up with medical supplies to take care of everyone's injuries. A couple of Thistle's faeries are present as well, offering their healing magic and help to the demons and angels whose wounds the skeletons are unfamiliar with. The Medic flits all over the place like a supervisor, offering their advice and services to those with the most serious injuries. The cube nearly malfunctions when it sees the state of Juno and Lettie.

"What in blazes!? ...Were you blocking with your face again, Captain?" The Medic tuts worriedly. It moves her eyepatch quickly to the side, scanning the pirate's eye (or what's left of it) before it can be batted away or flashed the classic bird. "I hope you know I am puffing my non-existent cheeks at you. If you want to salvage it, we need to take you into surgery right away--"

"Give it a rest, Medic." Marjorie supplies, understanding better than anybody just how stubborn their captain is. Phillip offers to take Lettie from Juno so she can get her own injuries looked at, but sure enough, she doesn't want to let her future wife go for even a second. The skeleton duo exchange a knowing glance and lead her towards the row of cots they set up, directing her on where to set the faerie down. The Medic hovers over her, giving a full body scan to come up with a diagnosis.

"She's... comatose." Anyone can see that. Still, the Medic is perplexed. "Aside from that, my readings on her condition are fuzzy."

Phillip signs worriedly, indicating the unnatural coils of black veins beneath Lettie's eyes. Like vines, they spread down over her sparkly cheeks, flowering outward... but sometimes her expression softens as they wither and recede. Whatever it is, it's struggling to take over her completely.

"My little Lette. She's fighting it." Titania observes, reminding everyone that she's there. Phillip does a double take at the sight of the fallen angel who resembles his bestie, standing as tall as he does. (She along with Ariel and Ravan have followed them over to the cots.) They've kept quiet, but they're all invested in making sure Lettie's all right. "Asmodeus infected her with the Reaper's flowers. It makes quick prey of broken souls." Just as it had with her. She shakes her head, gazing down at her hands. (Her guilty hands, which signed her daughter's life away to this fate-- that cost this pirate her eye.) "She's always been resilient... so full of character and life."

"Thee needn't tell us that. We knoweth." Ravan points out. While he defended Titania earlier, facing reality in the aftermath is... complicated. "Ever since she wast taken to the estate, Lettie worked tirelessly to escapeth this v'ry outcome." He reaches in his cloak pocket for the letter she sent him, clutching it tightly in his hand. (Are these her last words to him?) "I didn't knoweth the full extent of what she wast going through... though she did try to tell me. However, the silencing be--" He pauses. "Curse. Her neck wast covered in bruises." The vampire bites his lip, touches his throat. "After yond, I did notice a shift. She didst everything she could to keepeth us from worrying." He shakes his head incredulously. (Her efforts did nothing to keep him from worrying.)

"That's Asmodeus's whole schtick. He's been trying to isolate her, keep her from relying on anyone." Ariel huffs. Her breathing is a touch labored-- a skeleton comes in at her side to help support her. She looks over at Juno. "I can tell she's changed, though. I trust she's gonna hold on for us... we just need to figure out how to get to her." Her gaze shifts over to Titania. "Do you know anything? How do we get through to her?"

"Her soul has been imprisoned... I couldn't say where he's trapped it exactly, but Asmodeus is most certainly in possession of it." Titania hisses through her teeth, pressing a hand to her temple. "She can't escape. That damned contract binds her to him."

"...So it sounds like we gotta kill that bitch Asmodeus before it's too late, huh? Oh, oh, pick me!" Cindy volunteers, eager as ever, waving her mace. (When did she get here? Or has she been listening in the entire time?) "Let me smash his face in!"

"You'll have your chance... unless I kill that motherfucker first." Titania says, her voice low and menacing. Ariel and Ravan glance at each other, wide-eyed, and then back at the fallen angel. "We all need to rest. Prepare for the battle ahead." She sweeps her gaze across the room, captivating everyone's attention with her queenly poise and tone. "In the meantime, we have to find a way to lure Asmodeus out of hiding. Bring the fight to us this time."

"We walked right into his trap today." Ariel concedes, touching a nasty bruise against the side of her neck. Then she looks around at the rest of their comrades, similarly bruised and battered. "We can't fight on his turf again or we'll lose for sure. That magic was real fucking trippy."

Some time later, everyone disperses from Lettie's side to get their own injuries looked at. Everyone except for Juno, of course, who refuses to leave the faerie's side for even a second. The skeleton crew can't help lingering nearby, concernedly glancing over at their stubborn pirate captain.

"You know you can trust us to watch over Miss Olette, Captain. Your eye is... you need to have it looked at." Marjorie finally breaches the subject, settling a hand down on Juno's shoulder. "Would you like me to fetch the Medic for you?"

At that moment, an effervescent butterfly flutters out of Juno's chest. It flies affectionate circles around the pirate before landing rather playfully on the bridge of her nose.

 

[starboob]

‘Please. Please don’t leave me.’

Juno hasn’t taken her eye off of Lettie. Both of her hands are clasped around one of hers, willing her to come back. (For a second, she was able to come back. Her small arms wrapped around Juno’s middle and she could feel the tremble of her figure. She was terrified.) ‘What is he trying to do to you? How can I help? Tell me what to do, Lette. I can’t do this without you.’

Lette wouldn’t want her thinking like this and she cannot help herself. She is helpless for her faerie and life just isn’t worth much without her. Lettie might think otherwise, but Juno has a hard time imagining what could be worthwhile if there is… if there is…

The butterfly parts from her chest and lands playfully on her nose, like Lettie knows she’s despairing—and of course she does, she always knows what’s going on with Juno. Psychic link or not, she knows her pirate too well and reads her like a book she’s memorized.

But did she know that this would only cause her pirate to shudder and break like a world splitting in two? Because that’s exactly what happens. Her big shoulders shake and she collapses over her knees, tears cascading down her cheeks. She’s not strong enough to hold them back.

“Captain…?”

“It’s not fair! Marjorie, it’s not fuckin’ fair—” Juno is inconsolable after that and the skeleton is too stunned for words. But she doesn’t say anything to bring the pirate back. No speech of reassurance or reminding her that she needs to be strong because everyone else is relying on her. She just wraps one boney arm around Juno’s big shoulders and lets her captain come undone. It seems she’s been holding in too much, as she always does.

All of her insides are hot and melted together and there seems to be no end to her tragedy, but she does appreciate Marjorie’s arm. She appreciates that everyone else who can leave has left, offering her some semblance of privacy. The butterfly never leaves her sightline, but when her heart starts to ache from the strain, it flutters back to its home. “I-I have to do something, Marj. I-I c-can’t…” She breaks into another round of sobs, becoming entirely incomprehensible. The skeleton seems to understand anyway.

“Would Miss Lettie want you straining yourself?” She tilts her skull, trying to get Juno to look at her. It half works. “I think she’d want you to at least see the Medic.”

Juno nods weakly, lifting herself up for the first time since she broke down. Marjorie is quick to offer her a tissue to wipe herself up and then calls for the Medic.

Not much can be done for her eye. Though Juno hadn’t expected much. After Dominic’s magic failed to bring her vision back, she guessed that she’d never see out of her right eye ever again. It waters every time a light shines through it. Shapes and light can make their way through, but she’s lost the ability to turn those shapes and light into images. The Medic recommends that she keep it covered during the day. “Your necromancy—”

“No.” Juno shuts that thought down before the cube can finish. After everything with Gran’s eyes, she refuses to use necromancy on her own; she doesn’t want to be an omen anymore. The cube sighs and leaves her with a non-costume eyepatch, one that will cup over her eye.

It takes some convincing, but Juno eventually agrees to clean herself up and lets the skeletons watch over Lettie. But clean skin and fresh clothes do nothing to wash away her defeat. Again, she’s not giving up, she just has nothing left to give. She’s powerless and buckling under the weight of knowing that each second she can’t help Lette, is another second she’s left alone fighting that demon. Rest might be the only thing she can do, but she wants nothing more than to push herself until her new heart gives out.

Maybe that’s why Marjorie tricks her when she returns to the gym turned infirmary. She gets the pirate into Lettie’s cot, makes sure they’re both comfortable, and then offers her a glass of cold water. Juno doesn’t notice the odd flavor until it’s too late. “I’m sorry, captain. This is for the best.”

***​

Avangeline does not rest. The neon veins of the city are aflame tonight. Angry citizens have taken to the streets, demanding justice for Titania; demanding justice for Olette. And despite the estate’s best efforts to stop the spread of the faerie’s story, recordings of the broadcast continue to repeat over the radio airwaves and on television. For every one broadcast stream the estate takes out, two more seem to replace it.

It’s desperate enough that power is cut and even then it plays, like a ghost or a warning: The goddess of revenge is coming. The mermaids use their voices to mimic it, sending it through the air and singing it into pipes. It is Avangeline's hollow anthem tonight.

A strict sundown curfew is put into place and still angels and demons are on the streets demanding that the estate be held accountable. They demand Asmodeus’s heart on a spit. Some groups flock towards the estate, others are bold enough to go directly to the Reaper’s den. Even faeries join in, finally deciding that they have nothing left to lose if they fight.

As the city becomes more dangerous, some take to the forests for safety and it seems that even the trees have opinions on this fight. Those who enter with ill-will towards its protectors are snatched at the ankles and swallowed by the earth.

Lettie’s spark has officially ignited and the flames might grow to rival all of hell and the stars combined.

 

[ellarose]

"I'm going to do what I should have done years ago. If facing my mistakes in the real world means..." Titania's voice is a dulcet whisper above the cot. Her airy, refreshing perfume wafts over the faerie and pirate duo sleeping there. She's cleaned herself up just enough to resemble herself for the cameras and interviews awaiting her outside. The fallen angel has notably not made much an effort in regards to her outfit, nor has she put any make-up on to accentuate her already beautiful features. She is not squandering even a single second on her vanity, on worrying over how the people of Avangeline might perceive her. That fear once took root, it took complete control of her... and then she went and did the worst thing she possibly could by shackling her daughter with that same fear. Forcing her to hide the eyes she got from her despicable feather, the fangs, the claws, the sharpness. But Lettie's not him. Titania's had years of isolation to reflect on this. "If it means bringing you back, Lette, I would face those vultures a thousand times over. I don't know if it will be enough. I might fail you again. But I promise you, I won't rest until I've done everything I can to..."

Titania pauses midway through reaching for Lettie's cheek when she realizes that Juno is beginning to stir beside her. She hesitates, drawing her hand back to her side.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry." Titania takes half a step back. Normally the epitome of composure, her cheeks turn the faintest shade of pink under the eye of the woman her daughter had claimed so passionately to love. (The words she-- no, the entity controlling her-- had said still echo in her mind.) While she refuses to let the public's opinion bother her, she cannot help but care about the opinion of this pirate from another world... no last name, no status on Avangeline, and yet she means everything to her Lettie. (She has not so slyly been asking Ravan and Ariel for the details. How did they meet? Are they really-- is Lettie really at that age where she's thinking about getting married now? And married to a necromancer pirate captain, at that!?) "Please, stay where you are. Keep resting."

Every time that motherly panic starts to rise in her chest, Titania will catch a glimpse of the way this necromancer pirate captain looks at her daughter. (Just like she is right now, checking her sparkly cheeks to ensure that those inky veins haven't grown any further over her skin. They have, unfortunately-- just a little. But they do still occasionally shrink back. She's holding on.) Juno may have lost an eye, but she's lost no affection for Lettie in the process. In one eye she sees more love than she has ever seen before with any of her own...

Titania was going to get married herself before she surrendered herself to Asmodeus. But she was in it for the money... and Lettie saw right through her. Now her pursuit of those comforts may have cost her daughter a future with someone who loves her wholeheartedly.

"There's no place you need to be right now other than right there at her side." Titania continues. "I was in a similar state for... years. I suppose it has been years." Her blue eyes are big wells of sadness as she reflects on this. A selfish part of her is relieved to finally be free of that place. How could she not be? To taste again, to feel the sun on her skin, to see and talk to other people. But she would have faced the rest of her lifetime in that prison if it meant keeping Lettie from it. "I could hear pieces of what was happening in the outside world. Try talking to her. Remind her that she has reasons to keep on fighting."

"Asmodeus robbed me of years of my life on a faulty, twisted deal." Titania shakes her head. "I thought I was taking her place all those years ago. That sick bastard lied about everything." Not only that-- but he twisted the narrative to make Lettie believe that she killed her. The fallen angel could not stop herself from trembling with rage when Ravan and Ariel told her that piece of news. It was when they showed her Lettie's earlier broadcast that she broke down completely, hearing her tell her story... how she thought that she burned her own mother alive. The trauma that demon has inflicted on her is immeasurable. It's a miracle he hasn't broken her down the way he has set out to.

Even now, Lettie continues to defy him. She stubbornly refuses to give up on herself... on those who love her most. That's her Lette.

"As long as he has Lettie's soul in the faerie ring, he has leverage over us." Titania sighs, averting her narrowed eyes. "However, I've decided to reach out to as many journalists as I could yesterday evening. I'm going to take interviews today... it should fan Lette's flames into a wildfire that none of those bastards at the estate will be able to put out without a fight. We're hoping it'll coax them-- Asmodeus included-- out of hiding." She looks back at Juno, nodding once. "It'll be... chaos, to say the very least."

"In the meantime, you should rest as much as you can. Regain your strength. If not for me, then do it for her." Titania rests her hand over Juno's, sending a gentle healing pulse through her. "If you know Lettie, you know she's a stubborn, clever little thing. Trust that she'll hold on long enough for you to get back on your feet. She's going to need you when the time is right." She smiles warmly. She considers leaving, then, but then something keeps her from leaving the pirate's side now that they're alone. She seems a bit shy as she breaches the next subject. "So... you're engaged?" She cannot stop herself. They might be on the brink of chaos, but she has to be in on the recent goss. "I must admit, I ah... I might have heard something recently about a stunning ring. Do you still have it with you?"

 

[starboob]

Dreams of chasing Lettie around their modest house, of fixing the creaky screen door when her lover asks, of finding shapes in the clouds and stars together are stamped away and forgotten when her eye opens. She flinches back from Titania at first, not recognizing her or the place she’s in, but when her weight shifts the familiar faerie beside her, she relaxes again. So long as she has her Lettie, she knows that she’s safe.

But does she really have her?

Even after checking on all of her freckles and stroking the pad of her thumb across her ink stained cheek, she’s not so sure. Titania says she’s fighting and she has no reason to doubt that, but there’s only so long one can fight on her own. She’s the fucking faerie and she’s only one of her. Juno pulls her in tighter, resting her head back on the pillow. Sleep won’t be coming for her again unless Marjorie slips her another sleeping draught. She wouldn’t resist sleep if it came, but her mind is too full of unhelpful nightmare scenarios, imagining what might be happening to her future.

The healing pulse helps soothe the residual ache in her bones. It also helps close the cuts that cover her skin. Now the two parallel lines that parallel her signature scar are only a faint baby pink. She focuses on her breathing, feeling the small weight of her faerie at her side as her chest rises and falls. Then as Titania lingers, she looks over and up at her.

“Always.” Since she swiped the ring, it hasn’t left her person. Though instead of resting in her pocket, she’s since looped it around her necklace. She pulls it from beneath her Lettie and the Skellies shirt, removes the necklace, and holds it out for Titania to take. “She doesn’t know what it looks like yet. Haven’t really had the chance to propose to her in the way she deserves.” In the way she imagines her perfectly dramatic faerie would want and has probably spent her life dreaming about. She knows she could do it anywhere and Lettie would be pleased because it’s her, and she’s determined to make it special. “She’s my world. I’ll do anything to see her smile.”

Titania inspects the ring closely, her features completely blank and only because there is nothing to say. She can only marvel at the sparkling rock, cut like a rose and with holographic butterflies that fly around the band and settle over the petals. Stunning is an understatement and to say it’s perfect does it no justice either. She hands it back to the pirate. “She’s going to love it.”

Juno glows, pulling Lettie in tighter, stroking her shoulder. She’s going to love it.

The thought doesn’t carry her as far as she’d like. When she looks down at her faerie, the ink stains have gained. ‘I should have shown her sooner.’ Now she might not get that chance. Titania places her hand on Juno’s shoulder, distracting her for a moment. “It’s going to be alright. We have to believe in that. She is lucky to have you.”

“It’s the other way around.” Juno absently presses her lips to the top of Lettie’s head. “She saved me and I’d give anything to save her.” Anything.

***​

After Titania leaves for her interviews, Juno stays still for as long as she can manage. But the quiet in the gym only amplifies and echoes her worst thoughts. She has to get up. She has to move or do something before she tears her own mind apart. While her muscles and body aren’t sore, fatigue still crashes over her the second she lifts herself from the cot. Her heart is already beating rapidly in her chest, but the stubborn pirate doesn’t take the warning. She scoops Lettie into her arms and carries her to their bedroom.

By the time she gets there, her heart is screaming at her and her chest is sore. It’s like it’s being compressed by an invisible hand. (Again.) When she sets Lettie down on the mattress, she narrowly misses collapsing directly on top of her. She lies next to her, her vision fading as the cramp becomes unbearable. Her breath shallows until she’s holding it entirely, trying to move through this and let it pass.

The butterfly works tirelessly in her chest, circling her heart like an electron around an atom. A minute goes by, then another. It's eternity. The wave passes. Juno sinks against the mattress, flipping onto her back and reaching for Lettie’s hand. It’s cold, not at all like her faerie. She rubs her thumb in the space between Lettie’s index and thumb and once she feels okay enough, she eases to sit up and grabs both of her hands, rubbing warmth back into them. “I’m here. I’m here. I’m not leaving you. I just can’t get to you yet.” It is weird talking to Lettie when she’s comatose, but Titania mentioned she might be able to hear her and since she cannot use their connection, this will have to do.

As she strokes her thumb over Lettie’s cherry stained lip, it belatedly occurs to her that no one’s taken off her make-up; so she gets up and takes slow, ginger steps towards the bathroom. She rifles through Lettie’s supplies until she finds her removal crap and hairbrush. “I shouldn’t’ve left your make-up on. I know you hate that.” Carefully and gently, she wipes off her make-up, just like Lettie taught her. When she gets to those lips that were supposed to be hers, she pauses and frowns. She shakes her head of her dark thoughts, though she doesn’t dare to fill herself with hope. It feels too dangerous.

Once she finishes with the make-up, she starts on her hair, removing the flowers that haven’t already fallen out of the braid. As she does so, her finger grazes over a hidden shard, pricking it. With a hiss, she pulls it back and sucks on the wound to staunch it. Then her brows knit together, frowning. She pulls her finger from her mouth, looking between it and the braid. ‘What the…?’ Hesitantly, she hovers her hand over the shard laden braid, attempting to just feel for the shards. Nothing.

One part of her tries to rationalize that she’s still recovering, but another part reminds her that she can always sense things regardless of her reserves. And when she starts to panic that she’s lost her necromancy, she reminds herself that that cannot be the answer either. Her skeletons are still tapping through the ship as they meander about. Yet when she tries to concentrate on them, again, nothing.

Perplexed, she tries to distract herself by finishing with Lettie’s hair. When she has a pile of shards in her palm, she turns them over, tempted to test herself, but her heart is still sore from her earlier excursion. She sets the bones on the nightstand instead and lean back against the headboard, closing her eyes and dives inward.

***​

A screen hovers in front of Titania, a ten second countdown flashing in front of her face. She’s in the bridge of the ship, awaiting the start of the first interview. Though she manages to hold her poise, it never escapes the mother that her world is on the brink of collapse, her mind still partially with her daughter and the pirate.

Faeries flit all around her, somewhat distracting her from her thoughts. They’re just out of shot of the camera and they work tirelessly to keep their signal from being tracked. While they are trying to draw out Asmodeus, they cannot make it too easy for him.

Outside of the bridge, Ariel, Ravan, and the rest of the crew are stationed around the ship, keeping watch and staying on high alert. Inez and Cindy are below deck, waiting (excitedly) to use the cannons at a moment’s notice.

The camera’s red light blinks on and Titania draws her attention back to the screen. She doesn’t bother with a smile, just as she has not bothered much with her appearance. In front of her, a charismatic angel with pink tipped blonde hair greets her with a wide smile. The host holds her composure well, for someone who is so obviously disbelieving.

“Titania, welcome, welcome!” Her voice is annoyingly sing-song and chipper. Titania almost wants to scream, but holds herself together, knowing she cannot mess this up. “I never thought I would see the day where you returned—though I hoped, we all did. But the news yesterday, your daughter’s broadcast, really shook Avangeline to her very core! It is just bananas out there.” She titters, throwing her head back as if this is a laughing matter. “Now that you’re back, we really can put this whole thing behind us! Those disruptors really ought to go home, right, Titania?”

 

[ellarose]

The golden chains crank and release with a snap. A blue haired faerie falls towards the Reaper's waiting mouth. His jaw slams shut. He swallows. Sparkling dust clings to his too-sharp teeth, which he puts on display in an uncannily large and sinister grin.

Lettie's eyes are closed, but she can see each moment play out in her memory as she hears the sound of the chains, the gnashing of the Reaper's teeth, the satisfied sigh he releases after his... meal. (She's going to be fucking sick.) Lina's died a thousand times and she'll die a thousand times more. The faerie's locked in a nightmare hell where the memory repeats itself on an infinite loop. Though it's the most prominent, storms of others pass by. They intermingle, voices overlap voices as ghosts of past mistakes and trauma rush around her.

"...You're still here?" Asmodeus sighs above her, stepping in for his routine visit. Lettie grits her teeth. (The bastard fixed his face way too fast. Though there's nothing she wants more than to rip it off again, the gag around her fanged mouth and heavy cuffs around her wrists prevent her from it.) "You know you're the only one who can make all of this stop."

Right... Lettie can make it stop. By giving up. No matter how long this torture ensues, that's not an option.

'Lette, don’t just try to hold on. Hold on. You need to, have to.' Juno's still out there. Lettie can feel it down to the very depths of her soul. The pulse of her heartbeat echoes alongside the sound of her own-- the beat thumping the softest reassurances in her ears. Not only that, but she caught glimpses of her, too. She saw Juno's face for an instant. Her remaining eye, her anguished expression... the way she broke down into sobs. Lettie wished to reach out for her, to wipe the tears from her cheeks with the pads of her thumbs, but she couldn't. (...Because she wasn't really there, was she?) Marjorie was there instead. Marjorie held her. So Lettie did the only thing she could to be close to her, burying herself into the steady warmth of Juno's chest. Listening for the sound of her heartbeat.

"Would you like to join Lina?" Asmodeus asks snidely, gathering her hair into his fist and using it to lift her head. Lettie glares at him, rage burning bright in the center of her chest. 'Don't you dare say her name.' "Or is Lina old news now? Ah... I see." He grins. "Perhaps you require a change of scenery?"

As Asmodeus throws Lettie back down to the floor, the memory shatters. It warps into the sparkly, marble floors of the Guardian of Light's palace. They're soaked with warm blood. Though the faerie doesn't want to see where she knows it's coming from, the demon yanks her around and grips her chin in his hand. He holds her there, forcing her to look.

Lettie flinches, her heart breaking to pieces. A whimper escapes her and she can't stop the flow of the tears that cascade down her cheeks. 'Not this. Not again.'

There lies Juno. Her body crystalized, a sword sticking out of her chest. Her lovable stormy eyes are aimed at the ceiling, blank and lifeless. (The heartbeat that was once there becomes a distant sound. The faerie wonders if she only imagined it. Now all she can hear is the sound of her past self's mournful scream as she discovers the gruesome scene.) Juno. Juno, she's...

'I’m here. I’m here. I’m not leaving you. I just can’t get to you yet.'

It doesn't stop the flow of tears, but Lettie goes slack with relief at the sound of her love's voice. Gradually, she's able to calm her erratic breathing. (Her cold hands are warmed and so is her heart.) Juno. She's okay. She's here. She's not leaving.

"Of all the... I don't have time for this!" Asmodeus throws a tantrum at this development, tossing Lettie to the ground in a rage. (Why are they hearing that blasted pirate's voice? How?) "You can surrender now, Olette, before you lose anyone else... or you'll leave me with no other option." He drops down to his haunches-- nearly reaching her eye level, but still holding himself in such a way that he towers over her. "What do you say? Shall I go pay your precious Juno a visit?"

***​

"I couldn't disagree with you more." Titania responds flatly, disarming the insultingly chipper host with her ice-cold composure. No longer is she the lovable starlet, all dazzling smiles and charismatic, agreeable responses. She's not that person anymore. (She won't be surprised if the tabloids tomorrow are full of speculations that the Titania in the interviews was an imposter Titania. Possessed and puppeteered by a nefarious demon.) "I encourage and thank all of the revolutionaries who have taken to the streets on my daughter's behalf."

No matter what they have to say, it won't bother her a single bit.

"I do appreciate the well wishes... those who are relieved to see that I've returned." Titania shakes her head. "I recognize how fortunate I am to be missed, to be mourned. To be commemorated with statues and countless tribute pieces." She looks directly at the camera as the host shifts uncomfortably. "However, faeries like my daughter go missing all the time. In comparison, they are so quickly brushed aside and forgotten about." If her voice, her opinion, is this important to the people of Avangeline-- she needs to wield it appropriately. "They need our help. They've needed it for a while and we haven't been listening. What we must do now is--"

The interviewer frantically hand-waves a signal and the camera flips off.

"What are you doing?" Titania asks, pointing a glare at the woman.

"This isn't..." The interviewer shakes her head. While she's somewhat intimidated by the other angel, she holds her ground. "We have sponsors, Titania. Your views don't necessarily align with..." She sighs. "At the very least, we need to prepare appropriate warnings for this type of content in advance.That aside.. you're actively encouraging the violence on the streets! I was excited for this interview, Titania, I really was... but I'm going to get in trouble if I keep you on the air like this. Stick to the script or the interview's over."

 

[starboob]

Something in the mother’s jaw twitches. Just below the screen, her nails scrape against her thighs, digging into the flesh in an effort to keep herself from acting out irrationally. At first, the nod she gives is imperceptible and when the angel on screen prompts her with a look, the performer clears her throat. “I apologize.” She wants to add something biting like, ‘It’s just that my daughter is currently being fed to a monster and I am only trying to do what I can to save her. Bite me.’ Instead she swallows down that fire and placates the interviewer with a smile. “I forgot. Please, let us continue. I understand this interview means a great deal for your career and I don’t mean to tarnish it.”

The interviewer relaxes and smoothes out her feathers. “Thank you for understanding, Titania. And, look.” She leans in conspiratorially, as if they actually have any semblance of privacy. The cameras may be off, but there is still a crew in that room with her. There are still eyes watching. “I get it. I feel for you, but The Morning Splash just isn’t the place to talk about that.”

That. Titania burns in her seat. Somehow, by some miracle, she schools her expression and even manages a nod. “Of course, I should have thought of that.”

Titania knows she’s lucky to be offered a second chance and she knows she’s in a rare position where nearly every news outlet wants to hear from her—the resurfaced angel who stole hearts all across Avangeline. Even so, that does not mean the news outlet or the tabloids will play by her rules. They never have.

Some things never change. But Titania has. She will make good with the time on screen she has. So when the little red light flashes and they’re on again, she wears a nice smile, but it’s only a way of showing her teeth. It’s a warning.

***​

The interview is quickly ruined, devolving into heated shouts. The beloved angel’s outburst is so unexpected, however, that the behind the scenes crews are so engrossed in the drama that they miss the cue to cut the signal. Titania’s last words invoke the elders themselves, damning them for gross negligence. She gets an extra minute because of that. Is it enough?

It’s not long after the screen goes dead that Ariel comes in and informs Titania that most of her other interviews have been canceled. The few that remain are from mid-tier vloggers and small radio stations. Those fall through at the last minute.

Titania knows she’s being silenced and that means she has them scared.

Good.

***​

Though Juno does not intend it, she falls asleep. Not for long, but those twenty minutes surprise her. It’s the creak in the door that causes her to start and as she comes out of those almost dreams, Marjorie is trying to creep back out of the room. She’s carrying a tray of something hot and savory; the smell causes the necromancer’s stomach to rumble, whining for the hot meal.

Marjorie sighs. “Well, I don’t suppose you’re going to be going back to sleep?”

Juno shakes her head and while the skeleton would ordinarily chide her, she decides against it and steps back into the room. The Medic did say that raising her own body back from the dead would work up an appetite. She sets the table tray over the captain’s lap. The steam instantly hits Juno. Her jaw tingles in anticipation. She doesn’t even bother with identifying what’s in the bowl before she’s shoveling piping hot spoonfuls of stew into her mouth, burning her tongue; though she doesn’t seem to be bothered, ravenous as she is. Marjorie tries to get her to slow down, but the pirate doesn’t listen.

The bowl is empty in under two minutes. The slab of bread is gone in seconds, along with the glass of milk. The skeleton’s eye glows are bright, giving the effect of her surprise. “Would you like me to fetch you more, Captain?

Juno nods, burps (“‘Scuse me.”), and hands the tray back to her. “Oh, Marj?” The skeleton is already halfway out the door, but she stops and turns. “Could you bring me my sword? I won’t do anything. Promise. I’d just feel safer with it.”

Her eye glows are obviously skeptical, but she knows her captain and knows she’ll be up and about if she doesn’t get the sword. “Of course, Captain. Anything else?”

“No—well… Thanks. For everything.”

Marjorie tilts her skull, having never heard those words from Juno before. She’s hardly able to acknowledge it and simply nods before leaving the captain alone to her own devices. And perhaps she should have sent for Phillip or one of the others to watch Juno, because when she returns, sword strapped to her back and with an even larger spread of food, the stubborn pirate is poorly disguising her shortness of breath. “Captain!”

“Sorry—I had to. She’s cold as fuck.” Juno frowns, concern washing over her as she looks down at Lettie. She brushes some stray strands of hair from her face, stroking her icy cheek. Not only has the pirate moved her under the blankets, she’s also put her in one of her leather jackets. (She figured that it would match her outfit best. Something about it being a classic look, according to Lettie.)

Marjorie huffs and sets the tray down in front of Juno, leaning the sword against the bed. Then she places her hands on her pelvis. “You could have waited the five minutes, Captain—and don’t you dare get technical with me. It wasn’t long and you know it.” She grabs Juno’s wrist and then the spoon, shoving it in her hand. “Now eat your food.”

While Marjorie, of all her skeletons, is more likely to take on an actual authoritative role with the captain, it is rare she does so. In fact, Juno really can’t recall whether she ever has. She’s so shocked that she simply nods like a guilty little kid and dutifully eats her second portion of beef stew. Satisfied that Juno might actually listen to her, she drops her hands and turns to leave. “I’ll be back to check on you again. Don’t you dare move a muscle while I’m gone. No necromancy either. You need to rest, you stubborn pirate.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Juno sinks further into the bed, feeling more like a stupidly buff child than a pirate captain. The stew, however, does distract her from most of her shame. It takes seven minutes to finish; mostly because it’s larger than the first. More sated, the bread lasts longer, too, and she doesn’t even get to the bowl of fruit. She sets the rest down on the nightstand, picking at it here and there. Already, she can feel more of strength returning to her. She’s still not her usual self, but it’s more than before and enough for her to (somewhat) believe that rest is really what she needs.

This does not mean that Juno is going to sit completely still. She reaches for her sword and, as she sets it over her lap, the sparkly butterfly spirits out of her chest and lands on her hand. “Not you, too. I’m not trying anything, bug. Promise.” Oh, shit. She’s totally losing it if she’s being a weirdo like Lettie. (Or maybe she just misses her enough to try her means of filling the silence.) She lifts the butterfly to her face, looking at it closely for the first time. She tilts her head. “What even are you?”

It’s obvious that this soul bug is different fromLettie’s usual ones. It’s not a bomberfly and it does more than just channel Lettie’s healing magic. If the latter were its only purpose, she’s pretty sure it would have disappeared once it was used up. This one, however, remains.

As if trying to answer Juno, the wings shimmer and somehow flourish in a way that is very much unlike a real butterfly—Wings (formerly Wormy) doesn’t do this at least. It’s almost like it’s pantomiming the very faerie that it came from.

She looks between the butterfly and her fiancée, lifting her scarred brow. ‘Hmm.’

True to her word, Marjorie comes back to check on Juno. She even dashes into the room to see if she’s caught the pirate in the act of breaking her sacred rules, but the pirate is being good. She’s still sitting on the bed and the little butterfly is on her shoulder. “Hey, Marj, could you get the Magician’s tome for me? I’m not banned from fuckin’ reading, am I?”

Marjorie’s eye glows narrow. “No… I suppose not.”

When she returns to the bedroom, Phillip is following her, carrying the heavy text. He sets it down gently on Juno’s lap then goes over to Lettie's side of the bed, brushing his finger over her forehead. He signs frantically over her temperature. “Yeah, I know. It’s… bad. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Phillip sits down on his bum with his knees bunched up towards his chest. He watches Lettie, patiently waiting for his best friend to return. Knowing that Phillip will also be watching over their stubborn pirate captain, Marjorie leaves and not without reminding Juno that she's banned from moving around.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Marjorie.” Juno mumbles, rolling her eyes as she flips through the pages, pouring over the text. Littlest Lettie (the butterfly) perches over the corner of the pages and flies up whenever Juno is ready to move onto the next.

Forgetting that Phillip is on the other side of the bed, Juno pauses and looks at Littlest Lettie. “I wish you were here. Like, here here. Then we’d have this fuckin’ solved in no time.” Her little faerie is a genius. She rubs her eyes a bit, also finding herself wishing for Thad, of all necromancers. She won’t mention this out loud, but it’s true. She needs help and that geek did know what he was talking about when it came to necromancy. Thanks to him and Ainsley, she was able to figure out enough spirit theory to get Lettie her wings back.

‘Spirit magic…’ Juno snaps her attention back to the book, frantically flipping to the section on spirits. Her eyes widen.

***​

“Hey, Titania?” Ariel swings through the entrance, holding a phone to her shoulder. (It’s muted, but somehow it just feels extra muted to hold it like so.) When Titania looks up from the map of Avangeline, the younger angel continues. “Someone from Grapevine is on the line… Do you want to take it?”

 

[ellarose]

As if some form of fairytale magic is responding to the sound of Juno's wish, Lettie's cold and lifeless fingers twitch. Swirls of ink spiral down from her fingertips and loop around her wrists. From underneath the blankets, this change goes unseen-- even to Phillip, who sits at the faerie's side and watches her closely while the pirate flips through the Magician's tome. Her fingers twitch again. Whatever force is behind this movement, it isn't enough to move the faerie's body beyond that. At least for now.

The butterfly, or Littlest Lettie, flits over to Juno's other side, intentionally putting herself out of Physical Lettie's line of sight. Shielded entirely by the pirate captain's muscles, the bug continues to peer down at the pages of the tome alongside the her. She cautiously prepares to disappear herself back into the safe haven of Juno's heart at a moment's notice.

Phillip, meanwhile, becomes restless with the watching, with the worry brewing in his ribs. He stands and signs that he's going to find the cube-- ask for a heated blanket, a space heater, anything they can use to warm up the freezing faerie. When Juno gives him the okay to leave, he looks at his faerie bestie one last time and then exits the room.

Physical Lettie's fingers twitch again.

***​

Asmodeus curses, frustratedly shaking his glass lantern. The glow of the faerie's soul trapped within fades and brightens in pulses, like a stuttering heartbeat. It changes colors constantly, beaming holographic patterns in a way that hurts the demon's eyes to look at for too long. (An overdramatic annoyance to the bitter end, isn't she?) He ought to have more control over her than this. He is the rightful owner of her soul! So why won't this damned faerie move for him like a puppet on strings?

All Asmodeus wants is for Olette to pick up that human's sword... and then run her through with it! Is that too much to ask? And-- and he'll make that stubborn, conceited faerie watch as she kills the one she loves. (Again.) When he tells her it's her fault, she's going to break into pieces... and then all of the pieces will fall into place. He'll win.

When Asmodeus possesses the most powerful relic known to man, he'll be able to change not just Avangeline-- but the worlds-- as he sees fit. He will ascend above demons and angels alike, above even the elders themselves, and turn into the most malevolent god. The sort of horrifying monster who can change the landscape of any place, the fate of any being with his whims alone. He'll have anything he desires. He'll never be bored again. It will be so much fun.

As it is now, the demon can do little more than control her fingers. (Why?) It's infuriating. Asmodeus's own fingers twitch with the overwhelming desire to drop the faerie's soul into the Reaper's waiting maw... imagining the heartbroken shock that will overwhelm that human when Olette's body turns to dust in her bed. Unfortunately, the momentary satisfaction of such an impulsive act does not outweigh Asmodeus's goals. It has been ages since he last encountered a faerie like her.

Asmodeus is confident that Olette is the final piece of a puzzle he's been trying to solve for years.

The stars aligned when she appeared before him for the very first time. A single glance into those distinctive white eyes was all it took to know he found what he's been looking for. (It had only been for an instant. Titania had promptly scolded her for letting her glamours slip, shielding her small daughter with her feathery wings as she scooped her up into her arms.) He knew he had to secure her into his estate while she was still young. There were enough resources available for him to figure out which clubs Titania frequented on the weekends. She was a notorious drunk back then, still struggling after her own kind disowned her. It was so simple-- slipping potions into her drinks when she wasn't looking, setting his plans into motion as they played rigged games and that foolish angel gambled her own daughter away...

To her credit, Titania was devastated when she realized what happened. She tried to take it back, but the deal was already sealed in blood. Asmodeus reassured her that Olette would be taken care of at the estate. She'd be among friends, among other faeries who understand her. 'Let's face it, Titania. You can barely take care of yourself. How do you expect yourself to take care of that child all on your own?'

***​

"...Now, let's get real for a second. Because I think it's important to have an honest conversation about it." The interviewer from the Grapevine says in one of those fake-authentic, well-meaning tones. She tucks a strand of her fluffed purple hair behind her ear, leaning forward and setting a hand on Titania's knee. (The fallen angel has to resist the urge to jerk back as if she's been burned. Don't touch me.) "You struggled in your role as a single mother, did you not?"

"I wouldn't call it a role. At least not in the same sense as..." Titania gestures to the cameras. "It wasn't the same as playing a character in a film. It was real. And I did struggle with it. I wasn't prepared to be a mother... I'll be the first one to admit that." She nods to herself, accepting the flaws of her past with wizened grace. "I wasn't at the stage of my life where I could be the mother that Lette needed or deserved. I was barely an adult when she was born... practically still a child myself. Some nights, she'd be the one taking care of me. Puffing her little cheeks, telling me I should know better than to work myself so hard..."

"Well, I know you had me fooled. You had a way of making motherhood look so effortless and glamorous in front of the cameras." The interviewer shakes her head sagely. "You and your little Lette seemed like such a loving, inseparable duo. In the end, everything we saw was no more than an act. It's truly intriguing." She leans in, her eyes glinting. "How do you feel, knowing that your daughter is a vandal and a thief? A criminal? Would it be fair to say that her path in life is directly connected to your parenting style?"

"Excuse me?" Titania straightens up in her seat, towering over the interviewer in such a way that she almost shrinks back. Seeing that she's getting a rise of her, though, she holds firm. "My daughter is fighting for her life as we speak. What about that don't any of you understand? There is corruption at Avangeline's core and--"

"Oh my, it seems I've touched a nerve. But we've heard enough of these conspiracy theories, haven't we?" The interviewer laughs in an annoyingly dismissive way, flapping her hand towards the camera. "We brought another special guest in-- perhaps he'll be able to shed a little more light on the situation?" She turns to face the cameras, her audience, with an alarming grin that barely conceals her glee. (Their ratings will be through the roof.) "That's right. He recently came forward, revealing himself as the mystery father of Titania's child. Let's welcome Phobos Algol."

Titania stiffens to such an extent that she might as well have become one of the statues in the Starry Grove. She averts her gaze, unable to look directly into his blank white eyes. (Not again. Never again.) She was not told of this... but she should have expected it. (They told her. They showed her the magazines plastered with that smug asshole's face--) "Why is he here?" Her voice is tense quiet. The interviewer pretends not to hear her, going on with her spiel about how they probably haven't seen each other in years now.

"How are you, Titania?" Phobos asks, smiling for the cameras. Showing his own teeth. They're as sharp as ever. When the fallen angel doesn't respond, he and the interviewer share a cordial laugh over how shocked she is. They engage in banter that she can't hear over the blood rushing in her ears.

"From what we understand, you're a descendant of Deimos Ailanthus? The founder of the Creation Corp?" The interviewer proceeds to talk, her voice still mostly muffled in Titania's current state. "That's an interesting connection there."

"Yeah, yeah. That's exactly right, Jan. My twin brother was named after the old geezer and everything." Phobos drawls as he leans back casually in his chair. "Now my baby girl's setting fire to his labs. A little agent of chaos, isn't she? So adorable."

"That's... certainly one way to put it. Did you play any part in encouraging this behavior in her?"

"Maybe indirectly? Titania did whatever she could to keep me out of the picture. However, I did try my damnedest to be a father to her. We met a few times behind her back... got along fine. Oleander really was such a good kid." (No one corrects him. Why is no one correcting him!?) "Though I gotta admit, she came to me for money a few times. I did whatever I could to support her. After a while, though..." He shakes his head. "I realized she had a problem, you know? As her father, I couldn't condone it. I cut her off. She was... angry." Titania seethes silently as he speaks. Lies. All of it. "She must've done some digging, found out about our family ties and--"

"The audacity..." Titania's voice trembles as she finally raises it above a whisper. Everyone turns to look at her. "You're full of shit, Phobos." She rises from her seat, towering over both the interviewer and the demon. "Would you kindly shut the fuck up?" That's when the fallen angel tackles the father of her child on live television. She raises her fist above her head, aiming it right for his nose. "You have no right. Oleander!? Really. You don't even know her name!"

***​

"Ju..." Lettie's lips barely move around the first syllable of Juno's name, her voce barely a voice. It's like she's talking in her sleep again, but she's much too quiet to hear. "Ju..."

Littlest Lettie takes this as a cue to slip into Juno's chest, hiding as Asmodeus wrests some semblance of control and Physical Lettie's eyes snap open. (Only they're not her white eyes-- nor are they Gran's or the eyes she got from her father. They resemble the Reaper's kaleidoscope eyes.) She rises softly, shakily. The mattress barely registers it when she moves. With jagged and uncertain movements she reaches for the demon sword laid on the bed nearby. Her ink stained fingers curl around the hilt, but...

All the puppeteered Lettie manages to do is drop the sword onto the floor with a loud clang! Not only that, but the impossible weight of it pulls the tiny faerie right down with it, leaving her limbs splayed out like she's a discarded doll. When her head makes impact with the floor, the light flickers out of her eyes again and they flit shut. Once this is done, Littlest Lettie flies out of Juno's chest again, resting on her shoulder.

Marjorie bursts in shortly afterwards, no doubt drawn by all the noise. "Captain--" The skeleton is poised to scold her again, but freezes when she notices the collapsed faerie on the floor. "What happened?"

 

[starboob]

It all makes sense now. And it’s all so fucking obvious that Juno almost wants to beat herself up for not realizing it sooner. Thaddeus had even started to say something about what necromancy is. Unfortunately, the important part of that lesson was interrupted when Lettie glamoured herself into a sexy bikini and started jumping up and down to get Juno’s attention. Anything the geek had been saying before was completely wiped from Juno’s memory until this very moment.

Now it’s staring right at her.

Juno’s necromancy isn’t gone. Duh. Her skeletons are still bustling. Her sword even has a soft red glow just by being next to her. It’s just that none of this feels the same as it did before Angelus killed her body. Before all of this, Juno believed her magic came through her pulse. That’s where she could feel it and grasp onto it, because it was always there, pumping and coursing through her; an easy signal to latch on to. What Thaddeus had tried to explain was that that was a rudimentary way of viewing her magic. (She would have pummeled him for the insult, but then there was Lettie in her sexy bikini and she suddenly had more important things to do.) He wasn’t wrong. Her magic isn’t just in her pulse… It’s all encompassing.

When she went to search for it earlier, she mistakenly thought it was too faint to feel, but the truth is that it’s everywhere, even in the space between her cells. Of course it felt insignificant in her pulse, because compared to what is now? It's overwhelming. (In some ways, it’s like drinking for the first time. You don’t realize you’re drunk until you stand up and find yourself on your ass instead.) She suspects that resurrecting her own body has—

“Lette?” Juno turns the second she notices movement, tearing herself completely from the text. Her heart aches as it thumps faster, hope rising when she sees her fiancée up and then falling soon after. That is not her fiancée. Even when she’s a supernova or bursting nebula, her eyes are iridescent, not this fucked up dizzying kaleidoscope. (The same pattern her wings used to adopt whenever they were threatened.) Lettie’s also never been able to lift her sword, but those ink whorls around her wrists are all the warning she needs.

Juno half-flinches, scooting herself as far back as she can manage, but then Lettie topples off the bed, apparently not supernaturally strong like the whorls had made her mother. (For once Juno is glad Lettie’s neglected strength training.) Her brows knit together, peering over the edge with Littlest Lettie.

Her initial shock fades almost as quick as it came. She frowns, staring at her fiancée’s sprawled limbs. When Marjorie bolts in, Juno doesn’t turn to look back at her. Calmly, she replies, “Asmodeus has her.” ‘Or he thinks he does. I see you fighting, Lette.’

Juno slides off the bed and reaches for her. In warning, Littlest Lettie ducks inside of her chest at the same moment Phyiscal Lettie’s eyes snap open, searing into Juno. She lurches forward before Juno can react and grabs onto her forearms, squeezing. The tips of her claws are pressing into her skin, but only enough to leave angry indents. She can tell the actual fucking faerie is doing everything she can to keep her claws retracted, to keep from ripping into Juno’s veins. She’s even resisting the strength that must be flowing through her if those demanding inky swirls are any indication. Juno’s stormy eye meets the dizzying kaleidoscope that have overtaken Lettie’s. Gently, she reaches for Lettie’s face. “You don’t want to hurt me. And your arms are too puny to do anything.” If the real Lettie can hear her, she hopes she’s smiling and puffing her sparkly cheeks through all the fear and exhaustion she imagines she’s experiencing. This is one way the pirate can show she’s still got her.

A second later, her body goes slack in agreement and she’s unconscious again. Juno sets her down, then reaches backwards and clasps around Phillip’s rib. (He must have come back not too long after Marjorie rushed in.) Phillip helps Juno back to her feet and herds her away from the tainted faerie. She looks up at the larger skeleton then to the older one. “He’s going after me now.” Her jaw tightens, grappling with her desire to help, knowing she’s on the cusp of figuring something out, and also being too weak to do anything about it. Somehow, she doesn’t think that Asmodeus is going to wait patiently for her to recover and though she knows Lettie is tough as nails, even she’s got her limits. “I can’t be around her. Least not until I can walk three fuckin’ steps without getting fuckin’ winded. Phillip, can you…?”

He can and does, lifting the pirate and her sword into his arms to carry her. “Hey, Marj?” she asks just before Phillip can take her out of the room. The skeleton, who is now crouching beside Lettie, half turns. “If you see the others, let them know what’s going on and try to keep Ravan, Ariel, and Titania from coming in here.” It’s not that the others are expendable, but Asmodeus is fighting dirty. Lettie is going to fight him as best she can, no doubt, but she doesn’t want to risk those three especially. She hardly wants Marjorie staying there with her, but someone has to watch her body in case it moves again.

“Yes, Captain.”

***​

Juno has Phillip take her to Thistle and her faeries. They’re all mostly gathered in the bridge, having turned it into their temporary headquarters while they’re aboard Lady. Iris is keeping watch of the skies and making sure to keep them on the outskirts of Avangline’s densest cluster of islands. Juno doesn’t mention it, but she imagines that the four cubes they have with them will work together if anything gets too shit bananas. It’s good for them to be cautious, especially with all these bugs on board.

Anyway, Thistle and some of the other faeries are looking over a holographic map of the city. One of them is entering in data as new pinpoints are dropped on the map. The markers are all circular red dots, some of them larger and/or darker than others. Based on what they’re saying, she guesses they’re tracking the protests. The upper tiers are almost entirely disaffected.

“Oh, Juno.” Thistle looks away from the map, leaning to the side to get an unobstructed view of the pirate. “You’re up. Is Lettie…?”

“No.” She shakes her head, letting her frown show. “Might be worse, actually. Asmodeus… Just try to stay clear of her. I don’t know how much longer she can effectively hold him off.” Worse comes to worse, they might have to split up the group, for safety. Juno most of all would benefit from being away from her, but she’s not ready to acknowledge that. “That’s why I’m here, actually. But if you’re busy—”

“This can wait.” Thistle waves her hand through the map. It glitches, then disappears. “What’s up?”

“How do your glamours and illusions work? I know Lette can use them on others and I’ve seen her create, uh… Willow wisps?” “Will-o-wisps.” “That’s what I said.” It’s not, but Thistle and the others don’t push it. “We might need to help Lette out if she can’t hold off Asmodeus… Basically, can you create illusions of me to fuck with him? But don’t make them too like me. I don’t want to freak her out. Like, make my scar a little shorter or longer. Darken or lighten my eye. Give me two or no dimples, small stuff that only she’d notice. Is that possible?”

Alternatively, there’s always glamouring volunteers if the willow wisps (will-o-wisps) don’t work like that. She’s less keen, however, on risking others, including the skeletons. They’re family, too. "Or do any of you have better ideas?"

 

[ellarose]

“Oh…” Thistle wears a crooked, devilish grin. A few of the faeries behind her exchange glances with a similarly wicked gleam shining in their eyes. Faeries do thrive on a delicious diet of mischief, after all. To say they approve of Juno’s plan would be an understatement. She’s just handed them the perfect opportunity to fuck with the Asmodeus. The demon who orchestrated the downfall of many lovers, friends, and sisters for his own gain. It’s about damned time they fight back doing what they do best. “I think we could arrange a little something for that bastard. What do you say, ladies?”

The faeries behind her chime in with enthusiastic agreement, already whispering excitedly amongst themselves as they come up with the various ways they might annoy the ever-loving shit out of the demon. They weren’t permitted to come the first time round… they’ve got a hell of a lot of fight in them.

“Hey, hey. We’re sticking to harmless pranks, guys. Harmless pranks.” Thistle has to cut in when she overhears one duo chatting about the prospect of dropping an anvil, pushing him overboard, or filleting him. “Asmodeus is using Lettie’s body as a shield right now. She’s one of us. If you’re going to participate, you need to acknowledge that we can’t hurt her under any circumstances. Capiche?” She scowls. “Save the violence for the day that coward finally shows his face.”

Once the terms are agreed upon, the faeries get to work orchestrating a plan. To begin, they cluster around Juno to study her closely— ensuring they commit her features to memory so that they can apply her advice, to make her doubles realistic but not hyper-realistic. A faerie with bright green hair can’t help but stroke Juno’s muscles. “What? I’m only doing my homework!” She attempts to defend herself as her friend drags her away, shaking her head with disapproval. "She's so buff, Misty. Give me a break."

“…She does have a point.” Thistle says, though her tone is more studious than infatuated as she pokes Juno’s muscles. “I’m sure Lettie has these guns memorized.”

“They’re so big.” One of the faeries with rose-red hair swoons, fanning herself with her hand. (If Lettie knew other faeries were ogling her pirate right now... that might just be enough to bring her back from the brink. Unfortunately, it's too risky a strategy for them to rely on at this stage.)

“I think we’re all set! If he shows his face around here, we can send Asmodeus on a wild goose chase with our will-o-wisps.” Thistle nods sagely. “That’s just a saying. Rest assured, we won’t be involving any geese in this plan. I know how Lettie feels about geese.”

***​

As the faeries get to work deploying their soul bugs, preparing glyphs and will-o-wisps around the ship, Ravan and Ariel invite Juno to temporarily take shelter with them in their mothers home— in a cottage not too far from where Lady is currently anchored. It’s on a secluded island on the outskirts of the city, in an area that offers a small semblance of privacy amongst all of the chaos. It takes some convincing to get the stubborn pirate to budge— but ultimately agrees when she’s promised a safe and quiet space to read the Magician’s tome. Besides, they can trust the faeries on Lady to have their back on this one. They’ve got this. For good measure, they also promise to send video chat updates via Melvin if anything happens in the meantime.

On their way to their childhood home, Ravan and Ariel explain to Juno how Titania and Lettie would sometimes come to visit them whenever the hustle and bustle of the city got to be too much or, more often, when the starlet needed a place to hide from it all. There were many occasions where Titania would leave Lettie there with them for days or weeks at a time. Their mothers, Mirabelle and Valerie embraced Lettie like she was one of their own.

Ivy crawls up the stone walls of the house. Wisteria and wind chimes hang up in the tree branches. A few forgotten toys faded by weather and time are scattered in the front yard. A small vegetable garden sprawls out at the right side of the house and a quaint duck pond rests on the left. It's peaceful-- somehow untouched by the chaos that Avangeline has been plunged into.

“I know what you’re going to say, Mirabelle.” Titania’s sighs just as they walk inside.

“Hey. I know I’ve gotten on your case many, many times This isn’t one of them.” Mirabelle replies. She’s pressing an ice pack to Titania’s eye— which is swollen. “It’s about damned time you punched that motherfu—“ When she notices her babies are home, she stops short. “Fudger.”

“You can say motherfucker, mom. We’re all adults here.” Ariel provides, a hint of amusement sparkling through her exhaustion. Still, her eyes ask about a million questions when she notices the state of Titania.

“Waiteth a second. Who hath been punched?” Ravan asks the questions for her.

“My babies!” Mirabelle sets the ice pack down on the kitchen table and glides towards Ariel and Ravan, scooping them both into a tight bear hug. (As different as the siblings are, their faces both take on a similar shade of red in embarrassment as their mother dotes on them.) “Valerie’s out in the city, organizing protests... and I just heard about you two braving the Reaper’s den. Do you have any idea how worried I've been?” She presses exaggerated kisses to the tops of their heads. “Thank goodness you’re both all right.” Then she shakes her head. “I can’t believe you haven’t seen it. It’s all over the news… here.” She shuffles across the house, grabs the remote and turns the tiny kitchen television on.

Sure enough, it lands on another talk show replaying the moment that Titania tackled Phobos and punched him in the face. If the people of Avangeline weren’t talking about the issues they’re facing before, this has certainly gotten everyone talking now. Those who weren't interested before want to know now-- they need to be in the know of all the latest gossip.

“Isn't that Lettie’s…” Ariel gapes from the screen, to Titania, and back. Badass.

“Her scumbag of a father? Yes. Those interviewers pulled a dirty trick, bringing him on set.” Mirabelle clucks her tongue with disapproval. "The second I saw it, I knew I had to get her out of there. Anyway... they won't find us here. They never do."

The show pans over to riots in the streets. Windows of many establishments known for mistreating faeries and mermaids have been vandalized or broken into. The most prevalent breaking news now is that that many teenage faeries are joining together in an organized effort to set the estate aflame. The reporters mention having tried to contact the officials at the estate, but thus far have so far have no comment from them or Asmodeus on the matter. (It's fair to say he might be too preoccupied with something else right now.)

“It’s chaos out there.” Mirabelle sighs. At last, she turns to face Juno. Her brows raise when she fully takes her in. “And you... you must be Juno! Our little Lettie’s betrothed, if I’m not mistaken? My oh my.” She is not shy, walking around the pirate captain to get a good look at her. She smiles warmly by means of approval. “Please, sit down anywhere you like and make yourself at home. If you need a snack,” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “Or want to see any childhood photos of your fiancée,” She winks conspiratorially “Just give me a holler.”

 

[starboob]

Juno trusts Thistle and her crew to handle Asmodeus without hurting Lettie. She even called them capiches to make sure they understood. (Lettie has told her what that means and Juno still hasn’t totally integrated the knowledge. It sounds too much like an insult to her.) Even so, she doesn’t like being away from her ship. The video chat updates do little to soothe her, still feeling too far away from her love and the danger she’s in.

As if sensing her distress, Littlest Lettie spirits out of her chest, and flies around the left side of her face before settling on her left shoulder. A small reminder that her faerie is with her. (Juno figured that out just before Physical Lettie tried to attack her.) Well out of Asmodeus’s view, it’s safe the little bug to perch on her shoulder and remind the pirate that she’s still got her.

This all happens while Ariel and Ravan are showered in an embarrassing amount of kisses and affection. Juno only catches the tail end of it, some part of her aching when she sees how warm and affectionate Mirabelle is with her children. Her memories of her own mother are long forgotten, but she doesn’t even have the sense she was ever held by the woman. While she has Eliza now, she’s starved for that kind of affection and feeling those pangs more without her faerie to dote upon her.

While the clip of Titania punching Lettie’s asshole father plays on the tiniest television she’s ever seen, she can’t help taking in the rest of the cottage. She leans against the wall, grasping her necklace. Her chest aches and she isn’t sure whether it’s her injuries or the reminder that the last wish she has might not—

Littlest Lettie flutters around her eye, bumping into her cheek a few times. The tension in her shoulders drops, a faint smile tugging at her mouth. ‘I can’t help it, bug.’

Mirabelle distracts her not too long after. Juno’s blush is as fierce as it had been when all those faeries were poking and squeezing her arms, still not accustomed to so much (positive) attention at once. “I, uh, yeah,” Juno stammers, overwhelmed by Mirabelle’s hospitality and immediate approval. She rubs the back of her neck. “I’m that pirate, yeah.”

Her throat starts to close thinking about her faerie all over again, tears just starting to brim in her eyes. She presses the feelings down and passes it off as her exhaustion. (No one buys it, but they pretend for Juno’s sake.) Ravan and Ariel help her onto the couch in the living room while Mirabelle finishes making sure Titania’s bruise is addressed.

Though she has the Magician’s tome open on her lap, none of the words are sticking. When she’s read the same sentence twenty times without retaining more than the prepositions, she lets her eyes wander over the small home. She clutches her necklace, eventually removing it to look at her last wish. A cottage sparkles to life in her palm. The garden surrounding their little home is lush, full of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Tinier versions of her skeletons materialize, milling in the front. Fred's shaking down a skeleton for some molars. Abigail flies around on her cloud. Marjorie and Juno are checking on the rosemary. Meanwhile, Lettie naps in the hammock Juno set up for her between two big fruit trees.

As Juno is lost in this fantasie, Mirabelle and Titania creep into the living room. It's Mirabelle who disrupts the pirate, settling in right next to her with a wide grin spread across her lips. "What's that?"

Juno jumps, her arms flailing and flying up in defense as the tome is knocked from her lap. Her hand closes over the wish, though she knows it's already too late. She's been caught. "N-Nothing."

“Uh-huh.” Her grin turns knowing, but she doesn’t press the issue. Instead she draws the pirate’s attention to the book—no, photo album—in her lap. She waves Titania over to sit on Juno’s other side. Ravan and Ariel join a minute later, setting out snacks on the coffee table. Ravan sits on the floor on the opposite side of the table while Ariel sprawls out on the sofa perpendicular to the couch. With everyone settled, Mirabelle opens up the album. "Let's embarrass Lettie."

At first, Juno doesn't think she can handle this. Each story swells the ache in her heart. She wishes for nothing more than her little faerie right there on her lap, puffing her cheeks as her loved ones reveal all her childhood foolishness. But then she catches Ravan tearing up when he shares a story about one of Lettie's early crushes and all the faerie antics she pulled to get this girl's attention. He sniffles it away, choosing to laugh instead at her misadventures in love. Titania, however, lets her tears fall when they get to her teenage years; the years she missed because of her disappearance. It's then that Juno understands that she's not the only one who could lose a piece of their family. To commiserate with others who understand might not be such a bad thing. She lets the ache bloom, feeling every inch of it in the safety of this little cottage.

The pirate relaxes into the couch, letting herself smile and ache over each new story. Then she shares some of her own, pulling out her pocket photo album (wallet). Aside from the picture she stole from Lettie's apartment, the polaroids of her and Lina, and their mall photos, the rest are miniature versions of her wanted posters. She tells them all about their adventures together, their tumultuous beginning and how Lettie softened Juno to her over time. (“Crimes 'gainst seashells? What doest yond coequal cullionly—er, mean?” “No fuckin’ idea. We were so drunk…”) The night everything changed when Juno claimed Lettie as her fake girlfriend to protect her from the Duchess. (“Wait, so was the Duchess a jealous ex?” “Not really. Jealous, yes, but she never would have claimed me as more than just hers.”) When she made her vow and how Lettie never held her to it; in part because of her curse, but more so because she wanted their relationship to be unconditional. (“And she still didn’t know you liked her?” “I didn’t even know I liked her. I was scared. Didn’t really think I had a chance.”) And on and on and on until she’s told them everything, making sure to tell the Lettie’s version of their adventures. It helps to be reminded of everything they’ve survived already, too.

When she finishes, a mug of cocoa warms her hands and she's leaning against Titania. Titania has blanketed one of her wings over Juno's shoulder. She doesn't really think about how it's weird to be sitting so comfortably with Lettie's mother and just enjoys the simple companionship. They sit together, alone, while the others prepare dinner. Littlest Lettie flutters around the mug before settling on her hand. It's silent until Titania whispers, “That’s her, isn’t it?”

“Huh?” Juno looks up at the angel, confused. It takes her a second to realize she’s staring at the sparkly blue butterfly. “Oh, yeah. I think so. Just a piece.”

“Then she must really love you, to have been able to accomplish something like that." Titania briefly glances over at Juno before returning her gaze to the butterfly. "It gives me hope.”