THEN
Barrett didn't feel the cold of the lake, but he certainly felt the crush force of the pincers as they dragged him down. The light of the cavern rapidly faded above, until it was just a pinprick in the distance - not that Barrett really cared. The talking tree had inadvertently revealed its weakness through its fear of his simple presence: there was a way in besides the cave. Now he knew the way this would end...provided he didn't drown in this hellhole. While the Blessing did allow him to hold his breath for entire hours at a time, the strength it provided did not interact with whatever non-magical powers the tree and by extension, the crustaceans came from...which meant there was no way he could break out of it, at least not on his own. Two hours down here would be absolutely brutal, slowly running out of air, especially since he was no quitter.
But he had faith.
When he felt Miori's ice cold hand grasp his own, through the flickering remnants of his vision, he knew he had been right. Barrett put all the strength in his other arm to levering at the claws holding him in place, even if it was to no avail. All that mattered was they she understood the situation.
Miori let go of him and instead placed her hands on the giant lobster's pincers, ice crystals trailing off of her as her expression contorted into one of focus. The explosion of water molecules as they froze ran up the limb of the creature, stopping somewhere outside of Barrett's point of view, but that was exactly what he had been waiting for. This time he started pushing with both hands, feeling the parts of the claw that were now infiltrated with ice, pushing the shell outwards, weakening the structure from within, until finally, with a strained cry that obscured his vision thanks to the bubbles it produced, he made one last effort to pry them away. The part of the inner pincer holding him, thinner than the outer claw, snapped clean off in a puff of dark blood that turned into wisps in the blackness of the lake. He felt the thing start to thrash behind him, but the cold hands were upon him again, dragging him away.
He turned to look down at the lobster writhing in pain, spotting that parts of its shell seemed destroyed despite Miori's ice reaching nowhere near that fat up its limp. There was really only one explanation he could come up with, and he made a note to pat Wyland on the back once they were offworld. He was about to turn away when, as the lobster was retreating into the darkness, something else moved.
When a third and fourth claw, belonging to a wholly separate giant lobster, emerged from the depths, Barrett tugged at the sleeve of Miori's kimono, causing her to look back at him and consequently at the new threat. In response the water underneath them blossomed into more ice, the pressure accelerating their curved path of ascent, filling Barrett's vision with more and more white until they burst through the surface of the lake and tumbled onto the shore.
Barrett retched, projectile vomiting out water and the lunch he'd had just after coming down from the lodge, before coughing out of a reflex rather than any remaining liquid. One his lungs didn't feel like they were getting freezer burns anymore, he looked over at Miori on the gravelly ground next to him, lying prone. Her eyes were closed, and the snow that made up her face was melting away into the lake water covering the both of them. He poked at her shoulders, which thankfully didn't collapse from his body heat, before he scooped her up and got to his feet. He had made it all of ten metres from the water's edge before he heard the ice break, and the shriek of a lobster behind him. Not waiting to check which one it was, he quickened his pace, aiming in the vague direction of the path up the mountains.
"I'm proud of you," he said quietly as he marched on, unsure of whether she could hear him. He'd figured out what he needed to do and where he needed to be: the problem of course, was just getting there alive.
"Are we sure this will work?" Raya crossed her arms. She looked at the transmitter pole up and down again. It was even messier now that Lovelace had tacked on about a dozen more components from her seemingly magic machinery sack with no end to its storage capacity. It was just too messy for her to comprehend, just like the fact that Lucas decided it was a good idea to point the dishes at a pile of rocks. Granted, it wasn't any pile of rocks, but when she had previously guessed what he wanted to do, she hadn't expected the methodology to be this....dodgy. "What if he just ignores all your texts?"
"He asked me about daiquiris last week. He'll pick up."
She sighed. "Well, I'm heading inside. Tell us if you get something."
Lovelace waved at her from the other side of the cairn in the former of their property, flask in hand, as Raya ducked back through the front door.
Wyland poked at the omelette on his plate, courtesy of Marcello. "You never told me you worked with Lachan."
Raya frowned. "We don't work with him."
"How come Lucas has a direct line to him?"
"He visits sometimes now that he has...well I don't know what the other one is to him."
"You do realise what he's done, right?"
"Not really our business."
"He funds terrorist groups! That makes him responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, at least by proxy! How can you even...?" He shook his head.
Raya stopped on her way to the bar, and pulled out the chair opposite him. She sat heavily, a scowl on her face. "Don't you literally partner with a guy who brutally murders innocent creatures on a regular basis?"
"That's-" Wyland furrowed his brow. "That's different. Innocent or not, we only kill them if they're a threat."
"Kind of easy isn't it? They're just threats, got to take them out. You don't even decide what is or isn't threatening."
"You live in the UHE too, you know. I realise your dad did some weird law thing to exempt this land but you're still here. I'm just defending that."
"Do they know what you are?"
"Of course they know. Even Barrett knows. It's not like people judge me for it."
"Then why hide it?"
"I'm not hiding it."
"Aren't you?" She leaned back in her chair. "I feel like you can do a lot more with your powers, and you just...don't."
"I'm not used to them yet."
"You dove into a freezing lake with the right magical technique that only a Drus could do to make sure you could rescue Ellis."
"What are you trying to say, hmm?"
"I think you're a people pleaser."
"What's so wrong with that?"
"The part where you get so used to it that you start judging people the same way the people you're trying to placate do."
Wyland frowned, too.
"Hey, you started this."
"I still don't understand how you can trust a criminal like Lachlan."
"Because," she said sternly. "I've met him and I know him. I don't trust whatever Fae he's on the payroll of, or his buddies, but I trust him. At least he's comfortable with who or what he is."
"That's just...insane."
"We were in the same op, Danny. I wore a hat and tucked my tail away the entire time because I didn't want anyone to know what Reynard did to me. But that was just letting him control me. Lucas..." She glanced out the window. "He doesn't judge me for what I am. Nobody should have to be oppressed by people's preconceptions of them."
"Isn't that what you're doing to me?"
"I'm just asking questions, not judging your choice of friends. I get why you stick with Barrett, I really do. But I never hear Kofuku talking about you doing your own thing. Are you...happy? Like really."
He said nothing.
"Take it like this: me and Lucas basically abandoned the cause you said you work to protect, but you're okay with us for some reason?"
"I'm not-"
She raised an eyebrow, knowing full well he caught that. "Everyone's a hypocrite and nobody is a good person. I just prefer them to be honest about it."
Wyland's poster visibly drooped. "I didn't mean that. You guys are my friends-"
"And Lachlan is our friend. You don't get to decide it for us...and nobody gets to decide the same for you either."
Outside, Lucas let out a cheer.
Raya stood up. "Maybe it's time you considered what you're really fighting for." She left him at the table, opening the door outside. "Did it work?"
"Hell yeah." Lucas grinned at her, and past him, she saw the infinite spiralling corridor of a faery path. It looked strange though, as she watched, it flickered, causing the shape of its aperture to spazz out for a moment.
Lovelace backed away from it. "That doesn't look safe."
"Did you tell him about the fallout?" Raya asked.
"Yeah, it's just..." Lucas looked at his phone. "Oh shit he hasn't read up to that part."
"A bit late for that." Raya stared into the portal, which made her feel like a migraine was coming on, but she could make out a figure walking towards them. "I see him!"
"Yo!" Lucas waved at the person. "Wassup loser!"
Lovelace nudged Raya. "I can't believe he still calls everybody that."
"I know right?" She smiled. As the figure got closer, her smile fell away. "Wait, I don't think that's Lachlan."
"Is it Chloe?" Lucas asked, squinting. "It's definitely a woman."
"Please no. I cannot deal with that brat right no-"
The portal flickered again, before the person inside was spat out onto the ground at the base of the cairn. With an unnatural noise, the aperture snapped shut, leaving the woman in the lab coat to pick herself up and spit out snow. "Fucking ow!"
Raya's smile returned as she headed over to help her up. "Karina!"
"Sorry about that doc," Lucas said, providing an arm for her to grab. "There's a lot of fallout and Lachlan didn't read that part."
"You don't need to tell me, I can fucking feel it!" When she opened her eyes, her irises were a bright, maybe even glowing, golden colour. "Going back in is gonna be a problem."
Raya stared at them. Sometimes Lachlan would go on about how he replaced parts of Chloe's body to make her human or more Fae, but this was...urgh.
"They're for opening the portals, if you need to know," Dr. Onari said.
"Did it...hurt?"
"Yes. But worth it." Karina Onari rubbed her eyes. The stretching of her skin revealed more faint gold veins underneath the surface. Then she looked up at the dome-shaped storm. "Now what the hell did you drag me into?"
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