[METAish] For the Love of Coffee

[evermore_crystal]

The five minutes that Ave was occupied was more than enough for Strae to cast a replenishing spell. By the time he came back on the offensive, she was ready with a plethora of defenses. "It is nothing to me, but what would that be to you?" She answered, exasperated. "It's what you think of it that guides your actions. Since when have my opinion mattered to you?"

Due to Ave's flurry of attacks, a few minutes passed before Strae noticed something was amiss up in the house. But before she could glance up to check she was forced to redirect her attention, this time toward a nasty looking piece of...whatever that was she had just incinerated. Another quick glance and -- Liet? The girl looks...but the range -- she was forced to terminate her thoughts once more to block another flood of attacks. Damn it. He's not allowing her the time to call back the reversed summon. Unlike most things, it takes far more time to take it down than to set it up. She'd have to--

"HALT!" She shouted, throwing as much power as she dared into the imprisoning seal magic. All movement within the area ceased; debris floated lazily while the air itself seemed to have turned sluggish and thick. Even Ave and Liet became temporarily trapped in the spell. Strae did not spare a glance toward the girl, not wanting to waste any more time. She quickly began to draw the blazing patterns back into herself. As the trails faded, the void at the center gave one last throb and faded along with the light.  

[shibrogane]

"It does not and it shall never," he shouted. But then he froze in the middle of his next volley of offensives, caught momentarily in the seal.

That Strae hadn't stopped to look at Liet was a good thing. She would have been quite astonished at what she saw- a young woman, not a girl any longer, sprawled haphazardly over the windowsill. Her wings were gone, and so was the gashed scar over her nose. Everything about her seemed... darker, even her skin, which was bloodless pale. It seemed that the older woman hadn't stopped the reverse summon in time to prevent the removal of one of Liet's many souls.  

[evermore_crystal]

As the last vestiges of the summon disappeared, Strae allowed herself to look back, and was -- for a lack of a better word -- surprised. The girl...was not a girl anymore. The figure slumped across the window, threatening to crash face-first into the debris-strewn ground below, seemed an entirely different person.

With practiced (from what, we shall not discuss for now) ease, Strae leaped up to grab the edge of second floor window and swung herself up, careful to avoid stepping on Liet. She dragged the girl -- now a young woman -- away from her precarious position and laid her on the floor. So the tiles did crack, she noted, though barely aware of the thought.

The young woman was, without a doubt, still Liet. But in come ways she was...not. It's not simply because she looked different. Something was missing, and Strae had a pretty good guess what it was.

Great.

She KNEW being stuck with Ave was not a good idea. She should go find a better place to live, and soon.  

[shibrogane]

It was several minutes before Liet woke back up, and several more before she sat up. Not like she wanted to; immediately she slumped against a nearby cabinet. Her head hurt so much, and her back felt like it was going to seize up any second. Even worse than all that, she thought, someone was missing from her head. Had that thing taken away the part of her that had given her wings?

"Strae," she said, the name bitter in her mouth. This was her fault, wasn't it? Before it had only been her partner that Liet had cause to hate. But even Avedis had never wronged her like this. He'd never taken, quite literally, her soul. Yes, she had many (as many as nine and as few as three) but soul-stealing wasn't a forgivable offense. "Are you and Avedis done fighting?"

She ran a hand through her much longer hair and looked up at her female guardian. Dark smudges over and under her eyes made her look very tired, and very vulnerable. "Please say you are."  

[evermore_crystal]

Something inside her, the part that she had always tried to kick out of her mind, shattered. Because DAMNIT SHE IS WHAT SHE IS and if she keeps dwelling on that part worlds will be doomed. Strae knows she has no control over the consequences of her own actions, because they have already been predetermined by fate. They just needs someone to set it off and they happened to be the unlucky bastards. She was just a pawn of fate with a fake free will. But still, that tiny section of her mind she had failed to banish screamed with pity and hurt and guilt. It's not her fault, she knows. But the bit of her that made most of them almost indistinguishable from humans refused to believe it.

"Yes, it's over," she replied in a strangely distant voice. "The seal should let go of Ave in about 10 minutes. He'll be up here by then, no doubt." She stood and looked down at the young woman on the floor. "This is out of my hands. None of this had been my responsibility to begin with." For the first time in months, her hands reached out to rip the fabric of space. "I'm sorry there's nothing I can do. Ave's struggles have damaged the portal; I doubt an attempt to return that soul will be successful." Strae turned toward the portal she had created.

"Maybe I should get things done so I can leave. The longer I stay, the more things will go wrong," She grinned. "Everything always does go wrong. There is no use hoping. But," She added, "Don't stop looking. You will find him, unless you give up. It's already been determined. Though what you will face on the way...well, that depends."

There was a tiny "pop!", and the dimensions' seams closed back up.

Strae had left.