(Please bare with me as this is a rough draft and this idea has been TOUGH to work out. Thank you for your patience! )
"There's two?" Lotta poises her gun, climbing from the wreckage of the blast. The younger versions of my husband and his companion hunker together.
"Four..." I correct, exhausted as I place my hand over my temple. My body shivers, struggling to recover from the exertion of using an ability I thought was lost to me. "Two Verandos... Two Caspians." I should know, I yanked them from their time period with my bare hands it felt like.
Quickly, Tiberius pushes her gun down, aiming it towards the ground. "Don't kill them. What if it somehow influences the future?"
Taken aback, Lotta raises an eyebrow with a look of disbelief. "We don't know anything about any of this, we have no idea what those things are or if they're even... copies?" She demands, gesturing as the younger Caspian flashes his teeth. Tiberius makes her lower her hand once more, attempting to not frighten the shell shocked youths.
"They don't look like copies to me..." he murmurs.
Tyler slips out from under a table with a groan, dabbing at the blood under his nose with the back of his hand. The pair wheels around to face him and he stumbles backward. "Oh. Oh, this is not good."
"Dónde diablos estamos?" The younger gray-haired man whispers to the darker one.
I run a hand through my hair, glancing towards my warlord then back at the two. "They're from the past. I pulled them out when I yanked Verando and Caspian back from the portal." The pair face me, crouched, ready to defend themselves as I say their names. "I must have..." Pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhale roughly. "We can't go over this now. You two need to come with us."
"Like hell." The younger gray-haired man spits. "I don't know who the fuck you people are, but you'd be best to be keepin' your magic to yourselves," Caspian murmurs something to him, gesturing him to settle, shouldering closer to him. If I wasn't reeling from the catastrophic nature of the event, I'd be utterly fascinated.
Lotta presses a button on her gun, taking aim and firing a shot that hits the younger dark-haired man in the shoulder blades. He spasms with electricity, screaming as he writhes to the ground in a heap of agony. Verando crowds over him, trying desperately to comfort him without touching him for the risk of being shocked himself after the initially shared jolt.
Tyler rushes her, shoving her gun towards the ceiling to stop the second shot.
"If one more person touches me-" She scowls towards him, jerking her hands away from him.
"Don't! They're from the 1800's, they're not lycans yet, they're werewolves! You could kill them!"
"Good!" Lotta takes aim again and Verando yanks the bow off of his back, firing an arrow at her faster than any of us could prepare for in our battered state. Taking an arrow to the shoulder, she cries out, dropping to her knees as she fires a shot at him.
It narrowly misses, he springs out of the way, bolting for one of the windows. "Let him go!" Tyler pleads only for Tonic to scramble to his feet.
"He's working for the mafia and a street rat, you will never find him again if you let him out of your sight! Lotta, get your men to go after him!" Tonic shouts, earning a disgusted grimace from the woman.
"The fucker shot me, let him rot!"
Tiberius rolls his eyes heavily, "Children!" He declares, racing after the man.
I crawl towards my warlord, pulling him into my lap. "Randy," I whisper, brushing some of the soot of the impact from his cheek. What had I done? What were the repercussions for having two of the same being on the same plane? "Randy, can you hear me?" Shutting my eyes tightly, I ball my hands into fists before turning towards Tyler. I needed to get this under control, we had come too far for this to all be unraveled by a single event.
"Tyler, get Landon here to run damage control from the control room. We don't have time for this and the press is going to be here any second. We need to get the wounded out of here immediately."
I had known this would happen in a sense, having this wedding was a beacon for Caspian to reveal himself. What I hadn't planned on was Tyler learning how to open a portal, I hadn't imagined he would be able to summon a dragon and that he was strong enough to hold the vastness open for so long. He and Pascal had been working far more than I'd given them credit for, I was dangerously out of the loop.
Pascal cradles Legardo, it's war times all over again. The smoldering remains of the building from the explosion of the vortex surround us, I hear sirens rolling in all around. "The boys.." I whisper, panic rising in my chest.
"Safe." Legardo coughs.
I clutch Verando tighter, owing the bastard son my life for all he'd done for us. Our team begins to swarm in, a range of heroes and government officials though I'm disappointed to see though who are collected from the debris have claimed the side against us when I thought they were friends. More and more handcuffs close on wrists, magical depressors made from Wraith blood that would prevent the completion of the flow and stop magic temporarily.
A design from Landon.
"We need to go, Your Majesty." When I look up, I see Ron before me. Aged, retired, but he had been with us from the beginning and there was no one who knows our situation better. He offers me a small smile, "We're going to take care of them and get this mess sorted out."
"Do we have anything that can hold Caspian?" I murmur, afraid to speak too loudly for fear he'd awaken. My eyes drift to the younger version of himself, feeling the familiar throb in my temple of frustration, confusion, and over-exertion. "Can we call on Tyr?"
Tyr. What would the god have to say about this monstrosity of a situation?
"One thing at a time. We've got a chain, blessed by elves, it's not perfect but it should be enough for now." The look on his face told me all that I needed to know, there would be no stopping Caspian from releasing himself if he was so inclined. Shuddering at the reality, I carefully get up, my body shaking beyond my control as I allow them to gather Verando and take him away along with the younger version of Caspian.
Carefully, they begin the process of binding the vessel of Fenrir in the elven chain. I summon Tyler who limps towards me, guarding his bleeding leg. "You've gotten a lot stronger." I nearly challenge him. "Where have you been?"
"You seemed busy." He sounds embarrassed. Pascal allows Legardo to leave on a stretcher, she guards her shoulder as she approaches me, eyes red and puffy from the tears.
"You both could have gotten us all killed. That was incredibly reckless." While Tyler looks ashamed, Pascal seems unafraid of my threats. Pursing my lips, I exhale slowly. "But that was incredible, you should both be proud of how far you've come.. without my help. I haven't been a good teacher to either of you."
Nodding towards me, Pascal wasn't one to accept praise. I shut my eyes as Lotta attempts to hold a strong face when they carefully move her. The arrow in her shoulder had to be excruciating, I'd been shot enough to know the pain. "I'd still love to know anything you could teach me, Nicolas." Tyler attempts, hopeful.
Right now I didn't feel equipped to teach anyone anything, gesturing to the vessel, I extend my hand to Ron to take the chain. "Well, you can start with a sealing spell. We've put Caspian on ice before, it won't kill him and it'll take a lot of energy but we need to keep him in this state for as long as possible until Tyr can get to him. Repeat after me."
I begin to chant as I carefully lower myself to my knees, much as it feels odd to feel my magic spark and quiver inside of me, I ignore it in favor of allowing the other two to take the brunt of the usage. I wasn't even certain I had any ability at all, for I could only assume the charge I'd had to summon these four back to us was a remainder from the enhancer. As I wrap the chain around Caspian, his feet begin to freeze over.
I recall the teachings Verando had given me, how to bind a lycan who was prone to escaping. Starting from the elbows, behind his back, and then down to make a figure eight between his wrists. Taking that, I chain it to his hips and cross over his chest. Finishing in a chastity belt type closer to prevent slippage. There wasn't enough chain for his legs but this would have to do.
"Burn this," I tell Tyler.
"Burn?" Tyler manages, scrunching his eyebrows.
"Friction makes heat, heat melts metal. Concentrate."
Cupping his hands over the last two links, he begins to murmur, his hands reddening as he shivers from the exertion. With a gasp, he releases the links. It's a crude melt but it would do for now. Scalded, his palms are blistered and red from the attempt. "I did it." He grins.
I try not to let it bother me, it took multiple attempts for me to learn such a thing. I also must remember that I had to learn this all on my own in most aspects. Freezing the last bits of the man solid, I park them here to await Ron to return with instruction. "Do not let anyone else have him, do you understand? We can't trust anyone."
My blood runs cold, I'd just let them take Verando without so much concern, pulling my lips into a thin line, I wrap my arms around myself as Tiberius appears out of the shattered doors. "He's gone. I can't find him."
The younger version of Caspian slowly sits up, rubbing the side of his head. "You could not have held him if you caught him anyways... If you're going to kill me, do it now. I've got a splitting headache and I'm bordering on a hangover."
"What a mess." I whisper to myself, flicking my hand absently to cast a pile of debris in front of impending flickers of press lights. Staring at my hand, Tiberius raises an eyebrow at me. I'm not quite sure what to say as he searches my face.
"You've been using." He accuses me.
Caspian perks. "You have drugs?"
I'd kill him if it wouldn't possibly affect the timeline. "Please be silent, can't you just think we abducted you or something? You should be a lot more frightened, considering the circumstances." I snap at him, irritated by his relaxed state.
With a snort, the man picks gravel out of his hair with a careful dusting of his fingers. "Please. Look at this place, you people got your asses kicked. I'm not worried about magical filth. Besides, I was about to get arrested. This seems a bit more interesting." Flinching, he yanks one of the metal prongs out of his side.
"What a strange creature..." He tilts his head. "How does it bite?"
"It shocked you, idiot." I snap harshly, Tiberius gives me a warning glance.
"We might need him. Best not to piss him off. We need to find Verando's younger self, this can not be good to have these existing in the same time frame as their current bodies. There's bound to be a penalty. Tyr is going to be livid-"
"Tyr?" Caspian leaps to his feet, looking around cautiously. "I'm dead aren't I? I've gone to Valhalla? Purgatory?" Drawing his sword, he points it at me. "Say your demands, magic man."
Shaking my head, I flip my hand, gusting him back onto his back with a scoff. Tiberius rests his hands on his hips, glowering at me and I shrug, unapologetic. I'd be much more satisfied with myself if the blood didn't steadily drip from my nose. I nearly drop and he hardly catches me in time. "You are a real piece of work, you know that?" He scolds through his teeth.
"Would you believe me if I said I had no control over it? My body is just... acting." I flinch, my voice sounds like an echo in my skull. Caspian climbs back to his feet, rubbing his bruised ass. "Can we just kill him and be done with this?"
"And alter the timeline?" Tiberius hisses. "I think not."
"I can't be dead, this hurts too much." Caspian winces, stretching with a loud exhale. "Who do I need to turn over to you? I don't have any money..." Looking me up and down, he rests his finger on his lips with a casual cock of his eyebrow. "I could suck your dick?"
Balling up my fist, Tiberius grips my arm. "Nic. Come on. Control yourself."
"He's a piece of shit." I snarl, flashing my teeth.
"Takes one to know one, baby." Caspian shrugs.
"He has no idea what his future self has done to you. We might need him." The Siren reminds me. The dark haired man dusts off his clothes, carefully sheathing his sword.
"If you want help finding Verando, I'm your best bet. If not, I'm starving and I think you're supposed to feed your prisoners?"