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“-so no, I don’t think she’s a magical girl, and the fact that you’ve confirmed it doesn’t dissuade me from thinking that something magic is going on with her. You don’t just disappear for three months in the wake of a kaiju attack and reappear refusing to talk about what happened and are suddenly fifteen times more confident and self assured than you’ve ever been before with there being something wild happening.” Bean continues their infodump, going over everything they know about Luna.
It was a bit awkward bringing her up immediately after seeing her storm out after she had just helped her alleged online best friend move in. She was seething with rage, fear, and a level of profound sadness I don’t often feel from anyone, even Veritas when she goes all out. I kind of had to pop my head in and ask what happened, Chloe seemed pretty rattled by some of the stuff they talked about in the car ride over too.
I’m glad we did, as late as it is there is something serious going on with Luna, maybe she really is in the mob.
“But I don’t know anything about magic so I hope it’s not against the rules made by your flying cat employers to ask questions about that.” Oh right, questions, I probably can help with the magic stuff.
“Uh, sure, ask away?” I don’t think there’s any specific rules about it? It’s more about the distribution of Antipathy Relics and of course transformation stones that the Preservers are strict about, I’ve told Chloe a lot about how magic works, and would probably explain more if she asked.
If you were in a good mood.
“Right, first question: Mind control magic, is that a thing?”
“Uh, not that I know of? Closest there is to that is a Red Mage in Atlanta who can get monsters to fight each other.”
“Ok, that rules out one theory then, what about reading minds? Luna is super worried that if she finds out I’ve found out anything about what happened to her I’m going to be in danger, so like, what if someone has a spell that tells them what she knows at all times or something?”
“That seems way too complex for a normal spell, I can’t think of what kind of spell that would even-WOAH!” I’m nearly knocked out of my chair by a wave of such intense primal fear that for a moment I think Amalthea is casting a spell right behind me.
Who-what IS that?
“Eliza! Are you ok?!” Chloe rockets up out of her own chair.
“I’m fine just- Someone is generating a ton of fear right now and I can feel it from here, they must be a few miles downtown I have to-“ I pull out my stone, and speak the words.
Explanations later, saving lives now, Thea might be blowing up a city block, we need to go!
“I Wɪʟʟ Nᴏᴛ Fᴀɪʟ!”
“Fᴜʀɪᴏᴜs Aᴠᴇɴɢᴇʀ Sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴏʀ Fᴜʟɢᴏʀᴀ!”
I’m Fulgora now, all in, I turn to Bean and Chloe. “I have to go see what that is, I’ll be back.” I take off, flying downtown to where I felt the magical disturbance. It’s close, very close.
It’s not a long flight, I can feel a swath of fear, sadness, and disgust all originating in a tiny alleyway about a mile away from campus. I zip to the entrance and see-
“Luna?! What are you doing?! Get away from her!” I shout, what the fuck? What the fuck? Why is Melpomene here? Shit, shit, shit.
“If you hurt her I swear to god I will-“
“Hush dearie, Luna and I were just having a little conversation about how things will be, moving forward.” Melpomene responds, dismissing me with a wave.
Luna isn’t even moving, she is as still as a statue, but I can feel her fear intensify several times over when I arrive. Is she afraid of me? Is she seriously working for the Corrupted?
“Luna, is that true? Are you working for her? Have you been working for her this whole time?” I have my staff out and ready, lightning sparking along the magically-conjured wood.
Melpomene cackles. “Of course she is! She’s been with us since April, she’s really helped us get our movement running smoothly, it’s just a shame that we have to resort to more drastic measures now.”
There’s- there’s no way we can beat her as we are now! We can barely hold our own against Nanaya and this girl can go toe to toe with Castalia, we are way out of our league here!
Yeah, that’s why you’re the green mage, I know I’m screwed, and that makes me mad enough to try anyway. Besides, I know you feel that, Luna’s practically rattling with fear right now, if she’s been with the Corrupted this long, she knows how strong they are, and wouldn’t be afraid of us if she was all in.
You think… She’s afraid of Melpomene?
“Luna. You don’t have to do this, you can walk away, and we can protect you, I know Melpomene is powerful but-“ Melpomene cuts me off with a laugh, and Luna starts sinking into despair, all the fear washing away and being replaced with utter hopelessness. More teal magic than I’ve felt from the few Teal Mages I’ve met in my entire career.
“You don’t get it, do you? You really think you’re on the right side in all of this?” Mel scoffs, taking a step back from Luna, who is still not moving, not even looking at me.
I was about to say something else, something like ‘are you fucking insane?’ But I’m prevented from doing so, as a car pulls up on the sidewalk beside us, and-
“Chloe?! What are you doing here? Bean!?” I shout back over my shoulder. The two of them come sprinting out of the car to look down the alleyway, where Melpomene is just laughing, and Luna…
Holy shit, that is more fear than I have ever felt before from… Anyone?
How is she not an Earth Guardian?!
“Luna! It’s ok! We know you don’t want to do this! You can run, please, we can help you-“ Bean starts shouting, but they stop speaking the moment Melpomene unfurls her wings and starts hovering a few feet off the ground.
“I’m not doing anything to her, she’s here because she knows what needs to be done, she knows what the Preservers have done, what they are still doing to the Dark World and that they must be stopped. So go ahead, try and stop me, and see what happens.” The Disgust Mage spreads her arms wide in an inviting gesture, and I’ve had enough of her shit.
I launch forward, power crackling along my incarnate weapon as I swing for her smug fucking face.
“Lɪɢʜᴛɴɪɴɢ Aʀᴄ!” I shout, my staff inches away from her cheek when-
Something grabs my ankle?
And
I’m
On the ground?
Pain sears through my back as the force of the impact causes me to bounce off the pavement, I’m barely cognizant enough to see Luna standing over me. Her face is completely blank, but her whole body is still radiating fear and hopelessness. She doesn’t give me time to process the fact that she just threw me around like a goddamn ragdoll, she simply raises one leg, and stomps.
Move!
I roll to the side, just barely avoiding the strike, her foot slamming into the ground and breaking through the sidewalk. She doesn’t slow down even a little, reaching for my ankle again and fucking throwing me into a wall.
How is she so strong?!
She’s probably corrupted, like they are, how a human managed to survive the Miasma and get super-strength from it without getting horrifically mutated is fucking beyond me, but no time for speculation, time to fight. I’m dazed, but I’m not distracted enough to miss her lunging for a follow up.
“Fᴜʟᴍɪɴᴀɴᴛ Sᴛᴇᴘ!” I teleport directly behind her, intending to grapple, but she reacts instantly to my move and is already clocking me across the jaw with a punch that sends me flying. Again. I can barely see Melpomene hovering above all of us, just laughing as Luna throws me around like that damn Artifact keeps throwing Veritas around.
“-Hoooly shit I was fucking joking when I guessed secret magic government super soldier program!” I hear Bean shout.
“Luna, stop!” Chloe also shouts.
“WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!” I shout as I fly to my feet, but it’s too late, Chloe and Bean are already sprinting to Luna.
She isn’t even trying to say anything, or- sign anything. Whatever. She just shoves Bean away and grabs Chloe by the throat. She raises her up into the air, gagging and kicking.
“Oh fuck right off!” I don’t close the distance again, I just swing my staff around and aim it like a rifle, Luna being the only thing visible through all the red in my eyes.
“Fᴜʟᴍɪɴᴀɴᴛ-“
“NO!!!” Bean wails in anguish.
“-Tʜᴜɴᴅᴇʀ!”
I send a bolt of lightning crashing into her chest, on the side opposite the arm holding up Chloe. Luna flies back like she’s been hit by a train, Chloe drops to the ground, coughing and sputtering. The wall behind them collapses as Castalia’s traitorous roommate impacts it and doesn’t even slow down, the single-story building collapsing atop her.
Did you just- did we just kill her? There’s no way a normal person could’ve survived that.
It was her or Chloe, and Chloe is actually our friend.
I think I’m gonna be sick.
Through it all, Melpomene is just laughing at us.
“Chloe! Are you ok?!” I rush to her side, checking for any burns.
“-mfine, what about Luna?!” Like she wasn’t just choking you to death? I didn’t want to do it but I couldn’t risk losing you to her.
“I’m getting you to a hospital.” I reach down to pick her up, but quickly turn to see what Melpomene is doing. I need to stay focused. I need to keep her distracted long enough for them to escape.
We need to grab Chloe and Bean and fly the heck out of here! Melpomene could blast us into next week!
“Honestly!” She sputters out between laughs. “I had expected better from you, try not holding back next time.” She taunts.
“Wh-what the fuck is wrong with you?!” Bean screams, tears already streaming down their face.
“I wasn’t talking to any of you.” All three of her eyes focus on Bean for a single second, causing them to stumble backwards as the sheer weight of her disgust physically knocks them over. She turns her attention to the ruined building, and speaks again.
“Luna, you have quite the mess you need to clean up, and do stop pulling your punches, this ends tonight. See you back at the Castle.” And she vanishes, unobservable in an instant.
I don’t have time to process that, because the rubble is starting to shake, and a hand erupts through the pile of cracked bricks.
“…No fucking way.” I curse, hoisting Chloe onto one of my shoulders. Bean takes a step back.
“L-Luna?” They ask, fear making their voice an octave higher.
The hand presses down, using itself as leverage for Luna to pull herself out from the destroyed remnants of the house. She is… Ruined.
The right side of her face is a blackened, burned mess, her clothes are no better, barely covering any of her horrifically scarified skin. The most terrifying part is that she just… Isn’t reacting. She has that same completely blank look on her face that she’s had ever since this battle started, since I arrived here to begin with. A normal person would’ve died from the shock, the pain, the raw fury of the red magic coursing through their veins.
“What… What did she do to you?” Bean asks, and for once, Luna answers.
She reaches up with one hand, and rips off her face. In one, fluid, horrifying motion, she tears off her skin, tossing it aside, and revealing a shining chrome finish underneath.
Oh. That explains a lot. She threw me around like the Artifact because she is the Artifact.
She’s been the Artifact this entire time. That’s why she can’t talk, why she’s so fast at typing, why she knows so much about magic, why she’s not scared of Anath, and why she kept trying to undermine us. She works for the Corrupted because they own her.
Oh no. She was yellow last time, blue before that, and now she’s-
“Teal- th-thats-” Chloe starts.
“Hopelessness” I finish, setting her on her feet.
“You two, run, get Castalia, warn her about this, I’m going to stall her as long as I can, okay?” I put every bit of authority I can into my voice, it can almost substitute for the confidence I don’t have.
“P-please, don’t hurt her.” Bean stammers, already preparing to run.
“I don’t think I can. Go.” And they do, leaving Luna and I alone. We stare at each other for a moment as Chloe frantically tries to start her car.
“I’m sorry I have to do this, Luna.”
“It’s ok.” A synthesized female voice speaks, much more complex than any of her text-to-speech apps. “I don’t have a choice either, so do us both a favor, and-“ Her chestplate pops open, revealing a teal blue stone. A transformation stone.
“Fɪɴᴅ Aɴ Eɴᴅ Tᴏ Tʜɪs Nɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ”