(I'll tell you when to play the song and I'll put lyrics down for the best experience on reread. Also, it turned out to only be the sinus infection. Not monkey pox, not covid. Just me being worried for nothing.)
"Dude, that is not what you told me!" Angel protested, pointing accusingly at the man.
"What did he tell you?" Blinky asked, likely surprised that he had said anything to her.
"He let me believe that they would just need them for just battling Gunmar and Angor, not Morgana!"
"I will be battling Morgana with the help of the Trollhunter," Merlin stated as a fact. Angel and Blinky had matching glares towards the old man.
"What about Gunmar? We can't just let him run loose in Arcadia, let alone that witch!" Flapjack chirped his agreement and Merlin scoffed.
"She will be released eventually. If not Gunmar, then another monster."
"Let me get this straight," Blinky interrupted. "You want Gunmar to release Morgana?"
"Merlin, I thought you were here to save the world, not destroy it," Toby said indignantly.
"I'm not destroying the world, I'm risking it!" Merlin defended. Angel scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Like that's so much better," she shot back sarcastically. He ignored her but an emotion akin to that which only comes with time, flashed in his eyes.
"The world harbors greater dangers, not just the ones in your little town."
"Woah, what dangers?" Toby asked.
"You could not hope to understand." Angel's eyes snapped to him and she growled.
"What don't you try us instead of assuming what we'd be able to understand?" She blurted out louder than she meant. A few things began floating in her blind anger.
"Jim, Jim?" Claire said, turning around to try and get his attention. Jim finally snapped out his stupor to pay his full attention to the conversation.
"You wanna weigh in here?" Toby urged. "Merlin just dropped the bomb that we have to let Morgana loose!"
"Wait, he destroyed my Vespa," Jim said simply, pointing to the scraps of it. Or not, Angel thought as she watched him. His eyes weren't fully focused and his movements were slow.
"He what?" Blinky exclaimed dramatically. "See? Then you must listen to the voice of reason. Mine!"
"Ok, don't use his dissociation for your benefit," Angel said, poking him in the chest. His glare back was simply hiding guilt. "Let him-"
"Gunmar has the Staff of Avalon," Merlin interrupted. "Soon, he will find a way to free her. This is when we strike. Together, we will slay Morgana before the eternal night begins."
"Woah, woah, woah. I'm sorry," Toby shut down. "You Jim to go against Gunmar and Angor Rot and Morgana?!"
"Now is the time to strike. She's been imprisoned for centuries and she will be at her weakest. This is our best chance." Angel hated how he had a point. And what he'd said earlier made sense too; it was the logical and most objective option, or one of the better ones. Just at what cost?
"If Jim frees Morgana, you get your magic back," Claire observed.
"That would be a plesent bonus, yes." Angel rolled her eyes. So maybe not as objective as she thought.
"Oh, you only want your magic back," Blinky said. "Arrrgh, put your fist through the old man's face."
"Old man make sense," Arrrgh said. "Stop witch forever."
"I'm with Blinky," Toby said. "It sounds like Merlin just wants his magic back."
"What if Merlin's right?" Claire said thoughtfully, taking the words out of Angel's mouth. Because despite it all, Merlin was making more sense than she'd like to admit. "He's been right about everything else." Merlin thanked her and Toby laughed nervously.
"Claire, Gunmar and Morgana want to destroy the world; We live in this world!"
"Yet this world is protected by the Trollhunter," Merlin countered. "The choice is his to make. What say you?"
"Uh, I need to think," Jim said after a moment, still a good bit distant. Merlin bowed and said he'd await Jim's decision. Blinky and Arrrgh left to get reenforcements, saying that who they would be fighting would be up to Jim.
Jim suggested that they all go home and get some rest. Basically telling them all to let him think it over on his own, in quiet, alone. Toby left for his house, Blinky and Arrrgh took the basement tunnel, and Angel decided to just teleport Claire home.
"That's a lot different than shadow portalling," Claire commented as the two appeared in a flash on her back porch. "It seems a lot easier, too. Just a little jarring at first."
"You'd think," Angel said. "Although it is close to shadow portalling in that I either have to have an emotional connection to the place or know exactly where I'm going, the more I do it and the more people I teleport with drains me. I've never been able to take more than two others with me. Though I guess I could be practicing more- sorry, I'm rambling."
"It's ok," Claire assured having been on the end of her nervous ramblings for almost the entire school year. Angel's phone rang just then and she only pulled it out long enough to hang up. "That's Douxie again, isn't it?" Angel sighed, refusing to meet Claire's eyes. "You haven't told him about Merlin, have you?"
"I- I haven't had the time..." The look Claire gave her said that she knew it wasn't the truth. "Ok, so... at first when I heard from Darci that you guys were visiting 'Jim's Uncle Merlin', I didn't tell him because I was afraid of the answer myself. Then Merlin, being the jerk he is, didn't go to him or call or send any sort of message and refused to let me do so. And I listened only because he made sense in the fact Douxie would just complicate things.
"I know it would for me because he isn't even here and I'm always distracted because I know how Merlin treated him in the past and I can't answer or text him because I know myself and I know I wouldn't be able to hold back.... Sorry..."
Claire had been struggling to keep up with her words, the worried ramblings of a person who had too much on her mind and needed someone to talk to. But she simply refused to. Flapjack chirped and rubbed against her cheek in support.
Angel jumped having forgot the bird was even there, but sighed and held a hand to him and pulled him close in a little hug. Claire knew Angel well enough to know that she wasn't going home, and since she mentioned she slept outside of in the woods, Claire invited her in. As they went inside, Angel had a nagging feeling that she had forgotten something important.
. . .
The next morning, Barbara had yet to come home. Jim couldn't get ahold of her, the hospital hadn't seen her, Mr. and Mrs. Nunez hadn't seen her, and none of Angel's wizard friends had seen her. (Douxie might have; she still didn't trust herself enough to call.)
"Asking for mommy's permission?" Merlin asked as he rummaged through the fridge.
"You're asking us to wage a war!" Jim yelled.
"It's only fair to have everyone weigh in," Angel added. Merlin ignored them both, it seemed, just asking where he could get some haggis.
"What kind of cannibal wizard hungers for boiled meat in a sheep's stomach?" Toby asked before walking to the door. "Ugh, I'll see if anyone at school has seen her."
Nomura burst in through the door just before he opened it himself and fell on Toby. He freaked out over her blood being purple and Angel couldn't blame him. She was a little unsettled as well.
"Nomura, what happened?" Jim asked, setting his amulet down on the table next to Claire's purse, knocking it open slightly to reveal a spare horngazel.
"Userna tried to capture me at the museum," Nomura answered as she stood up. Angel's ears began ringing as she remembered what that meant.
"Nomura still isn't answering?" Barbara asked.
"I should have gone with her," Strickler said. "It's dangerous to be alone."
"Maybe she turned off her phone," Angel offered.
"I'm going to go find her."
"Wait, I'll drive. You said it's dangerous alone. We're in this together."
"I'll tell Jim when he gets back," Angel said as they left. "Stay safe. That goes for both of you.....
How the hell had she forgotten? She promised. It was Jim's mom, Barbara her friend, and she had just forgotten to tell them something that important!
She was a horrible person in every sense of the word.
"You think your mom is with him?" Claire asked desperately. As Jim called Strickler, Angel looked once again at the horngazel in Claire's purse.
"We don't know for sure she was with him," Toby tried to assure as Jim put down the phone. Angel resisted the urge to wince.
"Split up and search everywhere! Find my mother!"
As they left, Claire's reassured Jim. Toby got freaked out again when Nomura popped her own shoulder back in place. She said something about getting ready to fight.
Angel lifted the horngazel from Claire's purse without anyone noticing and hid it until she could get away.
She was going to fix this, even if she had to die trying.
. . .
"Flapjack, go away!" Angel yelled as she slid down the way to the canal. Somehow, the dang cardinal knew exactly where she was going. "This is dangerous, and you're a little bird."
That got her head pecked and her hair pulled.
"What? It's the truth!" She shooed him away, but he didn't go far. Angel took out the horngazel and began drawing the half circle. However, a determined chirp stopped her halfway. "FJ, this is my fault. I didn't- I fucking forgot that Barbara and Strickler went to the museum. Now Gunmar likely has them both and is about to free Morgana and it's my- ow! Knock it off!"
Flapjack had started pulling her hair again and when she shook him off, he began chirping in her face causing her to back up and drop the horngazel. It was like he was telling her that she wasn't at fault, that she wasn't alone, and that he would follow her anywhere, that he trusted her.
Angel refused to let that get through to her in full because she wouldn't be able to handle the weight of what that meant.
"Ok, fine. Then you will stay on my shoulder and if I tell you to go and hide, you do it. Got it?" Flapjack chirped something of a reluctant yes as he perched on her shoulder and nestled in her hair. Angel pulled the horngazel to herself and finished the circle.
She kept the horngazel on her because the entirety of Trollmarket was warded with druid stones. From Claire's possession, she knew that she could teleport within the warded area, just not into or out of it.
So, she would stay invisible until there was the right moment. It was easy to sneak past the guards, since they started rushing up the steps the moment she had opened the door. All she had to do was wait for them to get to the top then teleport to the bottom.
It took a bit of wandering the empty alleys of Trollmarket, goblins scurrying by every now and then, a few Gum-Gums that looked a lot like Arrrgh marching past; but the Gum-Gums were more crowded around a single area.
"My life is not worth the world," came Barbara's voice from inside.
"It is to me," Strickler said, so softly that Angel almost couldn't hear him. It was too crowded in the hall and despite her training, Angel couldn't get in without her flash of magic. She had no way to get to them at the moment, so she had to wait for them to come out.
They were surrounded by a troll that was Gunmar, one that was Userna (based on the descriptions she'd heard before), and Angor Rot. Barbara was being held by him.
Now wasn't the time to grab them as they were too guarded. So Angel followed them soundlessly to where Morgana was being kept, waiting for a good opportunity to get Barbara and Strickler out of there. And she nearly had it. She became visible.
"Please Walt, don't!"
"I'm sorry. May the world forgive me. For without you, there is no world." He began enchanting the words. Now was her chance. Gunmar was distracted, Angor was distracted, Userna was distracted. But Angel froze.
Gimme gimme gimme some time to think.
Angel knew that her heart was drawing her to save them right now, to stop Morgana from being loose. But despite everything, Merlin was right. Someone else would come along; she was crafty and vicious, it would only be a matter of time.
In the dark grey fading to orange of the crystal around her, she caught her reflection. The decision she had made, because she knew she had already made it; it was clear on her face. The bags around her eyes were deeper than they'd ever been. She touched her pale face and tired face gently.
It was draining, it was horrible, and she couldn't bear to look. Angel turned away in shame as Strickler finished the incantation.
The bright green beam shot out of the staff.
My patience is waning, is this entertaining?
"Don't look Barbara! Keep your eyes shut!"
Our patience is waning;
Is this entertaining?
Barbara hid her face in Angor's arms, cuing Strickler to turn the beam on Gunmar and Angor. The latter dropped Barbara and Strickler ran to her. A few Gum-Gums began following them, but Angel threw them back and grabbed Barbara and Strickler and took them out of the hallway just as Morgana spoke her first words in centuries.
"The eternal night is here!"
I-I-I, got this feeling in my soul!
"Angel!" Barbara exclaimed as Angel let them go. Strickler held her up as the first time teleporting was always jarring. "Wha- what- holy-!" She was cut off by Angel's hand glowing red and sending a flying spear back at an attacker, turning it to stone.
"Here!" She yelled, shoving the horngazel in Strickler's free hand and putting Flapjack gently in Barbara's. "Go to the stairs, quickly! I'll hold them off!"
"But you-" Strickler started, but a eerily familiar chuckle stopped them.
"Go," she urged again and they did as she said with slight protest. Along with barrage of Gum-Gums, the troll assassin came stalking down along with them.
Playing with a stick of dynamite
There was never gray in black and white
Barbara and Strickler, the former needing to both be practically dragged and keep a good hold on the bird on her shoulder, ran this time. Angel got into a defensive stance, her arms beginning to tingle, reminding her of her bracers.
How did they work again?
There was never wrong 'til there was right (ooh, oh)
Feeling like a boulder hurtling
Angor chuckled and Angel had to wonder only a second at where the other Gum-Gums went as three spears came rushing at her. A wave of her hand sent them rushing back to the hearts of the attackers (or where they would be if trolls had them), turning them to stone.
Seeing all the vultures circling
Burning in the flames I'm working in
Suddenly flames appeared behind her just as more Gum-Gums came running towards her, obviously trying to run her over to get to the other escapees.
Turning in a bed that's darkening
She was able to throw a few backwards, but they just got up again. If Merlin had actually given her instructions for her bracers, she might have been able to instantly turn them to stone or something, but of course, he didn't say anything.
My patience is waning
Is this entertaining?
Our patience is waning
Is this entertaining?
They were gaining on her, moving too fast for her to stop them anymore, get a good hold. Angel knew that she was going to die when she entered Trollmarket, but not this soon. Hopefully Barbara, Flapjack, and Strickler were almost out by now.
She wasn't going down without drawing as much attention as possible and making it hard for them to get past her. Her hands went up as she prepared to put up a shield.
The bracers suddenly began forming an internal line of maroon on them. Once it finished, the blank area went through a couple runes before settling on one.
A beam of maroon energy shot from her hands in a wide umbrella, turning the first row of attackers into stone and scaring the others back a moment. Angor simply blocked his face with a smirk.
"Woah," Angel breathed, looking at her lit up arms curiously.
I-I-I got this feeling, yeah, you know
Where I'm losing all control
'Cause there's magic in my bones (in my bones)
Angel barely had time put up a maroon shield before a bright green blade came rushing at her. Right behind it was Angor, raising a fist and punching the shield. Each following one cracked her defense, showing her just how weak she really was.
With a magical click on her bracers, she was behind him. Working with the sudden change and before he could react to her new position, she called to her claws and slashed. It didn't go deep, but the surface wound made him roar in pain.
I-I-I got this feeling in my soul
Go ahead and throw your stones
'Cause there's magic in my bones
'Cause there's magic in my bones
Angor turned with a glare and swiped his arm at her to knock her over. She jumped out of the way the first and second time, stopped the third with her magic, leaving her vulnerable to the fourth. He picked her up by the throat and slammed her on the ground. She was barely able to slow it down the first time, so by the third, she could hardly breathe. A loud crack deafened her ears.
Something had broken.
Look in the mirror of my mind
Turning the pages of my life
Walking the path so many paced a million times
Angor chuckled darkly as he picked up his creepers sun blade. Angel wheezed and rolled over the cracked earth. She heard Angor dinging on the metal of his blade as she felt the back of her head. It was warm and sticky.
Angel felt like this was the end, or near enough to it as she pushed herself to her knees. The Gum-Gums were making efforts to put out the fire or just run through it, but it kept burning them. Strange. Trolls couldn't be burned by any fire other than Phoenix's, certain dragons, and an exceptionally strong wizard spell.
But Angor was her main problem now, along with her inability to actually get up. She couldn't even raise her own hand to put up a shield and the moment she tried, she gained a broken nose.
Drown out the voices in the air
Leaving the ones that never cared
Picking the pieces up and building to the sky
"Not so strong now, sorceress," Angor sneered. Or laughed. As Angel raised her head to glare, her vision was distorted with three of him. "Or maybe The Eldritch Queen gave me more power. You can ask her yourself."
My patience is waning
Is this entertaining?
My patience is waning
Is this entertaining?
A loud screech had Angor on guard and no longer sauntering towards the sorceress. He was looking to the ceiling and now fully the fire that was keeping Gunmar's forces from the changeling and the trollhunter's mother. The two had stopped when it appeared, surprised but also worried for the sorceress. He'd deal with them after the creature that caused the flames was caught.
I-I-I got this feeling, yeah, you know
Where I'm losing all control
'Cause there's magic in my bones (magic in my bones)
The creature attacked and its claws went deeper than what the sorceress could have ever hoped to do. And the attack burned like the sun, his entire arm practically aflame.
Again and again, on his arm, on his back, on his leg; the creature attacked. Each attack was at super speed and he couldn't return any of them. He roared.
I-I-I got this feeling in my soul (soul)
Go ahead and throw your stones
'Cause there's magic in
"Phoenix!" Gunmar growled as he and Morgana came out to see what was taking Angor so long.
"My champion will not be felled by a pest!" Morgana shouted as she prepared a spell to capture it.
A screech louder than before sounded from a bird with red, orange, and yellow glistening feathers of a sunset: on its head, three feathers resided, one of each color, all on fire. Around its big brown eyes were red feathers in a heart shape.
Everyone in front of it's range had to cover their ears. It was like a banshee scream times ten, and would have made even the trolls bleed: the only thing that stopped it was the fact that they didn't have blood.
There goes my mind (I-I-I)
Don't mind
There goes my mind (there it goes, there it goes)
There goes my mind (I-I-I)
Don't mind (there it goes)
There goes my mind
'Cause there's magic in my bones
They were distracted enough. The phoenix used that to dive to Angel and grab her by the back and fly her over the fire. The changeling and trollhunting mother were confused but once he chirped at them, the changeling gently but firmly pulled her away and to the exit.
His fire wouldn't last much longer, nor would the effects of his screech. They needed to get out of there.
"Are you serious?" The woman asked before the changeling turned to his troll form and flew her up to the entrance/their escape. As he drew the semicircle, the woman prepared to fight as Gunmar's forces marched up the stairs. But just before they made it up, the changeling grabbed her and flew out with the phoenix and Angel, drawing two of the soldiers out into the sun.
Angel was set down gently by someone.. no, not someone. That strange firey bird that had been fighting Angor Rot. But those big brown eyes were so very familiar as tears left them.
And it's tears were so warm as they hit her cheeks, so invigorating. Her nose was somehow no longer broken and her head was beginning to stop throbbing. She could actually think clearly again. And as she sat up, cradling her ribs (because those were still most definitely broken) the bird backed up.
Heat waves blurred her perception of him for a moment, but his feathers turned a solid red. The heart shape of red feathers turned a black. The ones on its head flattened and it grew smaller than he had just been only moments ago.
"Flapjack?"