Work Text:
Merasmus’ castle, 196X…
The wind howled outside bringing a comforting feeling to the wizard, escorting a warm cup of hot chocolate through the dimly lit halls to the living room where a fire was crackling in the fireplace. He sat down in a slightly tattered leather chair and put the drink down on a small table by a book on satanic rituals. He reached for the book but stopped to glance at something he thought had moved in the corner of his eye. Perhaps a trick of the firelight, he ignored it and opened the book where he left off. Hardly getting a page in before a scratching sound somewhere in his right ear became impossible to tune out. He half closed the book and turned his head to the noise but didn’t see anything move again. He put the book down, took a sip of hot chocolate and stood up to go investigate.
In the room adjacent to his living room was a small library, strewn with ancient artifacts and books on magic and the occult, as well as a few military themed picture books he allowed Soldier to keep there. It was never really completely organised or clean, that wasn’t how Merasmus liked to keep things, but he would never allow his collection to be carelessly destroyed.
That was why, when he saw the raccoons tearing into his belongings with tiny claws and teeth, his blood ran cold, knuckles white and clenched into fists, frozen in a rage he didn’t even know where to begin how to express. He scowled, grabbing one hand with the other to stop the urge to punch something and needlessly break his hand. Eyes glowed a bright greenish glow, smoke emitting from them and filling the room as he growled in anger, letting out a cry as he left his human body behind for that of his ghost form, sending clouds of smoke around him.
`BEGONE FOUL BEASTS`
His voice boomed, causing the creatures to look up in anticipation. They began to scatter and hide but Merasmus did not want this. With a forceful movement of his arms he shot a ball of fire just barely hitting one of the creatures as it ran. Its body was thrown back with the force of it, as it was quickly set alight, killed almost instantly.
By the time Merasmus prepared to make his next shot the rest of them had already hidden away somewhere he couldn’t see. He put his hands to his temple and reeled back with another growl. At least while there was no destruction happening he had a moment to calm himself. He floated town to the ground, avoiding the charred corpse on the floor, and started assessing the damage the raccoons had done. Maybe vaporising them all wasn’t the most productive solution, nore was it particularly kind when it wasn’t the creature's fault Soldier had made them Merasmus’ problem.
He picked up a book that was laying open on the floor and saw the hint of a raccoon's nose poking out underneath a table. He flicked through the book for something useful then read off a spell, holding his hand out cautiously at the creature. Suddenly it started to float, surrounded by a sort of magic bubble. He tentatively coxed the bubble out, keeping it from floating away with his hands. There was an obvious option as to what to do with it but it may not be too kind. He guided it towards one of the windows, pushing the curtain out of the way with one hand and guiding the bubble out with the other. Whether it would float down nicely or fly into the sky until the spell wore off and it fell to its death Merasmus wasn’t sure as he only skim read the spell, but at least this way they had a chance.
He continued this as he cleaned up with the rest of the raccoons he found. There were 12 in total, unless he missed some, he dreaded that idea. Leaving behind the library, some things were definitely destroyed beyond repair (nothing that belonged to Soldier unfortunately), but it could have been much worse.
He sat back in the leather seat, sinking in leaning his head back in a tired frustration. He reached out his hand to the table, and as he expected, his hot chocolate had long become cold.