Mischief in the Stars

Casualties of War

"Rory, that was brilliant. You were brilliant!" Channing congratulated, smiling at her proudly. The crowd had dispersed, going back to their own homes. There had been a vote to decide who would rule Fantamia. Their way of voting seems rather mundane; not much magic went into it. They had Eliphas fast enchantments on the boxes to ensure no one would rig the vote, but that was it. Her friends thought it was fairly evident that she would be the one on the throne, but she insisted on a vote to make sure.

"I can't believe how many people started chanting! That was amazing!" Rory gushed in excitement, unable to contain how overjoyed she was with the outcome of the speech. "I didn't even know what I was saying half of the time, and I don't even remember saying it!"

"Hey, breathe. You did great, Rory," Maximus told her with a proud smile. He grabbed her shoulders gently, and she let out an excited breath, nodding at him.

"Thank you all for helping with this, I think you're right, it's definitely important for them to know what's happening here," she said in agreement.

"I think next, we should-" Channing began before they were interrupted. A group of scorchers marched up to them, their steps in synchronization. The cracking sound filled the air as the sparks on their uniforms lit up, ready to protect the scorchers.

"Rory Lucina, you're under arrest for the tampering and manipulating of the events at the Pacem Ball. You have the right to-" one of the scorchers began, her hand already on her sparking handcuffs.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Maximus interrupted, standing in front of his sister protectively. He raised an eyebrow at the scorcher, daring to make another move to arrest her.

"Manipulating events in the astral plane-" the scorcher said, but Rory cut him off with a snort, causing Eliphas to stare at her curiously from a bit away, "-has dire consequences."

"Unless you want to go through us, you won't touch her," Aidan spat out in a sharp tone, "you won't arrest her, you won't charge her, you won't so much as slap her on the wrist. You're just gonna walk away."

"She has broken a rule of Thera. It's against the law to tamper with an event in the way she did," a man informed him with a monotone expression, "for that, she is under arrest and will be placed on trial."

"No, actually, I won't be. You have absolutely nothing to arrest me for," Rory snapped, rolling her eyes at them. The group fell silent, seeming slightly surprised at the confidence in her tone.

"You broke the rules of Thera," a scorcher accused, a sneer on her face, "that has legal consequences!"

"And pray tell, are you going to enforce those rules? Because if that's true, which one of you shall it be? Hm?" she flashed her eyes brightly, challenging them. No one moved.

"That's what I thought. I think you forget who just took down an entire coven. We saved you, all of you. My family does not answer to you. We know what is best for the realms, if you disagree with that, you're welcome to challenge me. It's been fun seeing people try..." she laughed with no humor in her voice, her eyes flickering dangerously up to the group in front of her. "If you want to arrest me, feel free to try. Give it your best shot. You'll know where to find me."

With that, Rory broke the tight formation of the scorchers, waltzing right through them. She had a smug expression on her face as she stared at their incredulous reactions. Her brothers gave the scorchers pointed looks, happily following their sister through the scorchers. Aidan clapped one gleefully, letting out a hearty laugh. Channing was the only one left with them. He stood silently for a moment before letting out a vicious snarl at them, baring his teeth. They jumped back slightly in surprise, fearing the wolf. He smirked coyly before heading after the others.