17

Chapter Text

Brave 3.6

"No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... Death."

-Ganondorf

-April 04, 8:01 pm-

"Why are you kneeling?" I asked out of curiosity, suppressing my desire to jump off the roof to avoid this awkward conversation.

"The last individual who identified themselves as Fae was Glaistig Uaine." He explained slowly as if it was obvious. "One of her monikers is the Fairy Queen. Your own name is a variant of Madb or Medb depending on who is asking, who was a queen in her own right. So I am treating you as your name implies your highness. Or is it your majesty? Hmm… should've asked Armsmaster before destroying the coms."

I found myself unable to speak for a solid minute as I wondered if he was taking the piss or if he was serious. I slowly allowed myself to read him as best as possible, neither his heartbeat nor his body language showed any hint of lies; his tone, while weird, didn't ring my inner lie detector and most importantly there was no hint of amusement in anything he said or did.

"Wow, you're probably the first person to actually get the references. And don't worry about the debt, I didn't do it for that." I eventually replied, stepping closer to him. He stood up slowly and asked

"Then why?" 

" Because no one should watch their mother die in front of them. " I immediately thought as I scrambled to give a mostly sincere answer.

"Because she needed help and I felt like it." He chuckled as he heard my answer and started to walk away. Before leaving he said "Hmmm… Very well, I should warn you however that my superiors are looking for you. They really want you to join the wards.

"I know, Weaver and Harlequin told me." I replied dismissively. 

"Did they tell you that Dragon was drafted into your search?" He replied with some small smugness in his tone. I half expected it given how close Dragon is to Armsmaster, but a straight confirmation is nice. Playing up my confidence I replied with, "Wow, all that for little old me? Piggy knows how to make a girl feel special. Or is it Armsy?" In truth I was nervous since Dragon wouldn't fall for any simple tricks, and I had no way to make sure that Saint wouldn't listen in. Plus there was my deal with Amy that I needed to complete. 

" Fuck, I need a break. " I mentally complained about the tasks before me. Meanwhile Browbeat stood still and replied, "As far as I'm aware it's both. Please be careful, I'd rather you join us on your terms."

"Not going to try and capture me?" I asked, interrupting him from leaving. Despite the full face mask I couldn't help but picture him smiling as he said "You are at the very least a trump that can counter powers, I have no wish to fight you." And with that he jumped to another building and began making his way back to his patrol route, or so I assumed 

"I'm a trump?" I muttered, and as if the city itself was answering me I heard a car crash. I made my way down to see if anyone was injured.

-April 5, 2011, Boardwalk after school-

Somehow Emily had convinced me to go shopping with her. And by convincing me I mean she dragged me into the impromptu trip before I could say no. Accordingly she was now putting her birthday cash to good use, especially given how yesterday she had been flooded with gifts from her other friends. I was actually surprised by the sheer amount, until I remembered that I barely talked with people as is. Emily was my main friend. Lily, Marco, Jake, Charlotte, most of my class actually, were just school friends or in some cases people I talked to during forced groupings. 

" Holy shit I'm such a fucking idiot! I could be sociable for once! " I frowned even as the self admonition rang true in my mind. Somehow Emily sensed my self depreciation and poked my cheek to get my attention. "Hello, earth to Marie." She said in an almost teasing tone. "Come on now, it's only been 15 minutes since we started. There's no way you're tired already."

"Maybe I am." I replied with a small frown adorning my face. That got Emily to stop her window shopping and grab my hand. We quickly left the store and headed towards the pier. The smell of the sea got stronger as we stopped and she asked. "Are you okay?" Her gray eyes are staring into mine and I feel my heart race slightly.

"I…" I began saying as words were lost in my tongue.

" What am I doing? I should be making an army, preparing for Leviathan. " A practical part of my mind says.

" What am I doing? I should be helping her like a good friend. " Another piece of my mind says.

" Do you remember? How it all began, you extended your hand to me. When I needed you the most you were there, and for that I'm grateful " A scene, not unlike a memory, flashes inside my mind. I feel my eyes water slightly as regret fills my soul for a brief moment.

Then I hear it, a click and then a roar. The explosion rocks the boardwalk, I grab Emily and run as more explosions are heard. I smell the sea, the burnt flesh, the frozen wastes; I hear the people screaming and I keep running. More explosions rock the boardwalk and Emily screams as a piece of shrapnel cuts into her arm.

There's people all around me, more bombs detonate in the background as plumes of smoke rise from Brockton Bay proper. It doesn't matter, Emily is hurt, my friend is hurt. I pick her up, my hand putting pressure on her wound as I shut down my emotions, I need a place to cure her. The docks workshop was nearby, but it would take too long to get there, so I broke into an abandoned shop. 

"Emily, look at me. Everything will be fine, I promise." I tell her as the cracked glass makes my steps sound like thunder in my ears. The shop was dirty, but that didn't matter; alchemy was a solution. Using the stone that I kept on me I disinfected the building, and I proceeded to heal her. 

" Inactive Corona. Infection is cleared, damage to muscle is reversed… " Information flowed as the alchemy did its work 

"So, cape?" Emily asked jokingly, she was nervous, and I didn't know what to say. I really didn't want her to know like this at least, my communicator rings, I pick it up and

"Maeve, help!" Dinah whispers as I hear an explosion in the background. I can hear her scream and I hear more explosions all around her. I cursed under my breath and called Belle. "Belle, I need you to find where Dinah just called me from, she's in danger. Contact Taylor and tell her I'm heading towards Dinah."

"Got it Marie, do you require my assistance or should I aid the PRT in evacuating civilians?"

"Help the others I'll go grab Dinah. Have Tattletale analyze the situation and see how we can turn it in our favor." The words came out of my mouth before I could genuinely think them, they were enough to make me reconsider my emotional suppression. People aren't tools to be discarded and used, I'm not going to mimic the failures of Cauldron. Relaxing the suppression, I shudder and tell Belle "Actually make her work on getting as many people as safe as possible, tell Grue and Regent to aid Bitch in getting people out of collapsed buildings, avoid fighting as best as you guys can." 

"Got it, I'll bring you your costume, stay where you are." Belle replied as I heard Tattletale complain about being woken up. I hung up and focused on Emily, she was softly rubbing the spot where a scar would have formed had I not healed her, however her eyes were focused on me. Looking at how I moved, the way I moved, it was as if she was looking at me for the first time.

"I… uh…" My mouth opened and I mumbled, not really knowing how to even begin to approach this with her. On one hand I had helped her, on the other I had lied to her for over a month and she had every right to be angry with me; I wouldn't blame her if she decided to hate me.

"So Dinah is in trouble?" She asked, breaking the awkward silence. Taking advantage of the prompt I replied

"Yeah, I'll go and rescue her. And Emily I'm sorry for not-"

"Don't apologize. It doesn't suit you, Marie I… Well I can't say I'm surprised, I knew that you were hiding something. Dad always said that parahumans had their own hang ups." She interrupted me with that new piece of information, which was somewhat shocking to say the least.

"Your dad studies parahumans?" I asked, given that Catherine was a psychologist for parahumans, I was wondering if Emily and I would've met eventually.

"Nah, he used to be PRT. Stationed up in New York even, but he took early retirement when it was offered. Settled down with mom and me, and the rest is history." She explained calmly, I heard something hit the roof and soon after Belle came down, dressed like Harlequin, with my costume in a bag. Emily turned away as I put it on, and before I left I asked her, "Don't you need me to drop you off at your house?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll head to the nearby PRT shelter. Just promise me you'll be okay."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I replied with confidence. I had my gear, my skills and my friends were safe. I left both Belle and Emily behind and proceeded to run, the heat around me seemed to disappear as I leapt up and towards the downtown district. It took a few minutes but Belle informed me that she left Emily with a PRT trooper and that she was heading to the hospital to deal with the bomb threat.

I could feel the adrenaline high kicking in after a while, I saw police cars and the PRT fighting the ABB, part of me wanted to help them, yet Dinah asked for help, she had priority. I could see smoke in the distance, the rumble of collapsing buildings, the roar of Lung. Is the ABB working for Coil?

Was it my fault? Did I cause Coil to lose control and try an overt move? It had to be Coil, no one else had any reason to target Dinah. I reasoned against the little feeling in the back of my head, the one that begged me to step back and think before heading to a trap. Another detonation, this one shook the surrounding buildings and I heard a laughter.

"Wow, that one kicked a bit harder than I expected. Then again I am a genius, so it makes sense to surprise myself." Bakuda said to herself, even as the stench of corpses hit my nose. Bakuda was here, attacking people for no reason. She was alone, which triggered my paranoia, where were her grunts? She tossed another grenade, this one sent cars flying into buildings. I didn't see Dinah, nor anything of her, but I did recognize someone, bleeding in the corner, his body was missing everything below the stomach. "Chris…" My voice shakes with anger, I can feel my heart beat faster,

"Damn Marie, you're really good at playing that fiddle." Chris says with a wide smile…

"Hey, come on, join us." Chris extends his hand as if beckoning me, I move to join the group…

"Everyone let's play, the talent show is in May, let's show them our spirit!" He yells, grabbing everyone's attention. I find myself smiling and taking my position in the orchestra.

Dozens of moments flowed through my mind, this was my fault… No, it was Bakuda's. She chose to attack today. Bakuda, Bakuda, BAKUDA!!!!!!

"You bitch!" I screamed before landing a dropkick on her. She screamed in pain as the impact broke her shoulder, I could hear her bones snap as Oni Lee appeared above me, his kukri glinting in the sunlight as it fell on my face. My own knife went up and clashed with his, by all right my knife should've broken his kukri. It didn't, both blades sparked as he kicked me away.

"Witch." He taunted me in Japanese.

"Fairy, you dumb fuck. Get it through your head." I replied in the same language. Bakuda was rolling on the floor in pain, and more explosions occurred all around me. I tossed my knife at her and Oni Lee blocked it with barely a flick of his own blade. I drew my sword and asked, "Bakuda, Oni Lee, why are you doing this?"

"Like we'll tell you." Bakuda replied through gritted teeth, I could smell the anger and hate coming off of her. My grip tightened on my blade,

(Master there's 89.9% that there are more bombs nearby. I would suggest stopping the bomber first.) Fi's voice echoed in my mind.

"Got it, stop the bomber and kill the demon." I muttered back at her. Oni Lee teleported behind me and drew his pistol, my sword was already in motion to meet him, nothing but ash met my blade and a shot rang out. I'm very grateful for my speed, the shot grazes my cheek, my shield activates and I see how close it flies, and the master sword finds itself slicing through Lee's stomach. Ash covers it as he disappears again, and reforms far behind me, more bullets fly, one, two, three, five pings all around me as my shield protects me from the bullets. 

I see Bakuda forcing herself up and I run towards her, Lee appears before me with a hand grenade and I'm launched backwards. I sheath the sword and draw the fire rod, I aim at Bakuda and I fire. Several fireballs rush at her, a flash of light and they hit. I don't hear screaming, nor do I smell burnt skin, what I do hear is a whistle. The ground around explodes, launching me into the air where Oni Lee is waiting with more grenades. I swing the rod at him and the world explodes around me as my senses are overwhelmed. I hit the ground and I feel my bones crack in protest. 

"Right on time," a man in a top hat said, "A little later and she would've been fried." His mask covers his face, but I know him, I could recognize that ringleader's outfit, "I wonder if the boss will pay us extra now?" He mused, the heat around me began to increase exponentially, a small sun was beginning to form nearby.

" I should've killed Coil. " I thought to myself as I released my control over my heat absorption. Using it to fuel my healing and glare at Trickster, " I should've killed him day fucking one! "

"So Coil is working with the ABB now?" I asked him, ignoring Sundancer hiding behind the nearby car. I don't see Genesis nor Ballistic nearby, Lee is also not around so that means he's escaped with Bakuda. Fuck.

"Oh wow, he really wasn't kidding when he said that you were smart. Let me introduce myself," Trickster began saying, his voice carrying confidence and gusto,

"Shut up Krouse." I interrupted him, my voice was cold as the grave, I drew the master sword and pointed its tip at him "Get your simurgh infected ass away from Brockton and put a bullet between Noelle's eyes then repeat until both her and you are dead." The sun disappeared, Sundancer must've heard me, you could hear a pin drop as the wind was taken away from Trickster's metaphorical sails.

"How do you know?" He asked, I could see the panic in his eyes matched the one in his voice. He didn't even call me out on me unmasking him.

"Didn't your boss tell you? I am a fairy. I know things, now do me a favor, get some rope, a sturdy branch and hang around for a few hours." I replied, Sundancer begins to summon another sun, I can feel the heat burning through my body, each vein and muscle beginning to burn.

"You aren't a very nice kid, are you?" He comments as he begins looking for something to teleport to. I can smell the fear rolling off of him, my anger spikes as each second that Noelle is here increases the chances of shit going wrong,

"I'm going to kill you and Noelle." I reply, Sundancer's sun is fully formed and she seems to be focused on me.

"Not gonna happen newbie." Trickster states with as much confidence as he can muster, which isn't much given the way he grips his cane and how his body is tensed. I dash towards him; he teleports to where I was leaving behind a piece of a car for me to drive the Master Sword into. It sliced into the metal like a hot knife through butter, the heat around me increases as Sundancer begins to attack, my insides feel like they are being smoked. The immediate area around me begins to turn into mist as the temperature drops, I spring towards Sundancer, out of the corner of my eye I see an arrow, my arm is already moving to block it with the master sword. It dings like a bell, and a hammer almost smashes my head in. It was going just slow enough that it would've bypassed my shield.

"Well, well, aren't you a little young to be using a sword like that?" Circus smugly states, dodging my slashes.

"Circus, honey, if what you wanted was for me to cut off some unnecessary fat, then all you needed to do was ask." I reply amicably, with fake cheer and pure spite running across my tongue like a river, "So when is the shitty engineer coming? Or do I get to also fight the undersiders? Tell me Circus, what did Coil promise you?" To their credit, Circus took my taunts as jokes and simply stated in an amused tone.

"Wow, the boss wasn't kidding when he said you're well informed Maeve. So I'll cut to the chase, you come with us to meet the boss and join us. Or your pal gets to enjoy his company."

My blood chilled. I could hear Belle say something, it didn't matter. Circus wasn't lying, their smell exuded confidence, their heartbeat was calm and showed no signs of lies, their eyes never wavered and the truth was clear in their tongue.

"Say that again." My voice was stiff and robotic,

"Oh, you didn't hear me? Your little friend Emily-" Circus began saying, I stopped caring. Sundancer really should've turned off her sun, because my metaphorical batteries were fully charged, the goron tunic prevented me from truly being damaged by the heat. So I effectively had a near infinite supply of heat to work with, which in layman's terms meant that I could fight forever.

I guess from the outside it looked like I teleported, the truth was a lot simpler, I threw Fi at Circus. I heard the blade sink into their chest and tear through bone like it was nothing as the blade emerged from the other side. I grabbed the hilt and swung, vivisecting Circus, and I swung again and again and again until nothing but giblets remained. My body was ablaze, but couldn't feel anything. I was too angry to feel anything.

Turning my gaze towards Sundancer, I moved behind her, in one swift motion I brought down her head to the ground, the circles activated and I knocked her out. I also took the liberty of fixing the concussion. Dinah was nowhere to be found, either she escaped or was captured. 

Trickster screamed and ran away, I mutely followed him. My left hand burned, my heart pulsed with rage and all I could think was that it was my fault Emily got kidnapped. A doorway appeared, I saw Emily and I saw Coil. He was aiming a gun at her. I saw red as I rushed into the doorway.

-Calvert POV-

I tried to use my power, my way out, my cheat, my proof of existence. It didn't work, the pain was genuinely unbearable, I couldn't even move for several seconds as the image of two blue eyes burned themselves into my mind. Circus had been killed, faster than a moment between blinks. And now the damn monster knew he was involved!

"You're going to die." Emily Cross said calmly, her gray eyes holding no small amount of disdain. Part of me wished to truly harm or even kill the brat, but the one time I did I only lived half a second before those blue eyes killed me.

"Children should be seen, not heard." I reply and she laughs. It is a cruel sort of laugh, a laugh of someone who lost many things, a laugh of madness. Her gaze never wavered as she asked,

"That's funny, tell me Calvert, do you fear God? Do you believe in hell?" My own heart stopped for a second, how did she know who I am? What else does she know? However instead of asking that, I asked her,

"Why do you ask?"

"Because Calvert, that girl? Maeve? If she's anything like the woman I remember, then you'll die, screaming, begging for an end." She giggled even as she told me that I was going to suffer,

"You don't know what you're saying." I reply, my tone growing colder by the minute.

"I know a lot more than you do. Even if this is another world, some things never change. Heroes are human, villains are greedy and there's always someone listening in." She said in a sing-song tone, I grabbed the gun under my desk, " Door to Maeve ." I aimed at her and fired, the magazine was empty. 

" How? " I thought and then I realized something, the PRT trooper that my men bribed, she had piercing blue eyes. Eyes had seen before.

"Checkmate." Contessa said beating me at chess.

The telltale opening in space and time was followed by a short girl with a sword almost as big as her, kicking my knee in. Faster than I could say anything she grabbed me by my mask, slammed my head into the ground and proceeded to rip the mask off.

" P̸̺̞̲̅̔̈́̂̍̒ã̸̝̩̰̿̔́̍̊͆ṛ̷̢̝̤̊̋͗̐͒͝a̵̟̠̪̩̼͔͆̓̄̌̈͜͝l̸̡̢̳̟̂̋̀̂̃͂̚ĺ̵͈̻͑e̶̳̗̻̫̿̂̅̈́͜ľ̷̢̛̰͔̭̞̭͈̄̋̎ ̴̡͖̳͆̓̈͌̆͝͝ͅS̶̥̰̮̿́̄͊͜ͅi̷̪̰͎̙̝̙͌̇̽͝m̴̛̼̀͐̓̈́͝u̷̼̤͎̬̫͊̈́̿̉l̷̜̿͌͒̆͊à̷̹̪̟̻̍̆͑͝t̶͕̬̣̹̘̂̂̀̒̈́̐͘í̸̧͍̪͍̠͉̟ö̸́̀̅̂͜͝ͅn̷̡̻̙͇͔͈͂͑̍̈̄͒ " I screamed as I heard her.

"Calvert, I told you that I would make you wish for Contessa to kill you. Now, little shard, listen well. You want to see the future? To truly know everything? Let me show you ." Her voice was like the roar of a storm. She slammed the back of my head into the ground and then light filled the edges of my vision. I couldn't feel my leg anymore, it was gone as if it had never been there.

" This is my gift to you, a refined version of the Spice. " A small vial appeared in her hand, the liquid inside it glowed blue. Every instinct I had told me to run, my power activated on its own and I started screaming as she poured it down my throat. Time stood still, the future, the past, the now… it all stretched before me. I could see her punching my face in, I felt my jaw break after the first few blows. I was aware of it happening now. In another world she rips out my jaw and drives it into my eye socket. In another world, she smashes my head to the wall until I'm pulp. In another world she drives my body into the floor. In another world that sword of her glows blue and burns me…

In another world…

In another world…

Pain, God… Everything is pain, I can't scream, time is too slow. I can only watch as she kills me, her blue eyes blazing with hate. My power screams so much information. I feel a planet crumble in the back of my mind. Her blue eyes never leave my own, even as my body breaks.

-Marie POV-

I could see what I did to him, a billion different paths, his body shut down after a few seconds, yet I hope it lasted an eternity for him. Behind me Emily sat, her face had some bruises but otherwise I couldn't see anything wrong with her. I slowly walked up to her and placed my hand on her head. The initial scan revealed no internal damage, the alchemy quickly fixes any damage she might have. I don't trust myself to speak, so I scanned the entire complex, destroyed the self-destruct devices and breathed at last. There was a void where my anger once was. I thought that I would be happy over him dying, but all that was left was a void and a single question

" What am I becoming? " I ask myself as Emily hugs me from behind.

"Everything will be alright, Marie. I promise." She says calmly, I don't even bother to ask how she knows.

I hear a heartbeat, it's like a song. 

Brave 3.6- end