Chapter 7: Fading
Scarlett entered the library with a loud crash of the doors behind her. Her heels clacked on the floor as she paced the library looking for the others. The normally stoic Viera actually seemed distraught. Perhaps even on the verge of tears. She came to the romance section, where she knew she'd find -at least- one, if not all of them. Bunch of degenerates they were.
"Mizuki." She said, using her wife's full name to convey the gravity of the situation. "I need to speak with you and the others immediately."
Letty's eyes looked a bit bloodshot and there was a stench of graveyard on her. Dirt, moss, dried leaves, beeswax and lilies. The unmistakable smell of a ritual lingered that the pale bun didn't even try to mask. Her eyes scan the room for the others. Were they not in the room already, they definitely all had to have heard her entrance.
Deryk was sitting in the romance section, wrapped around himself as he was devouring a new comic series. He wasn't in that section for the romance novels, but he did like the couch... and the fire. Though when he heard the crash, and smelled his Kaasan, he looked up. He saw her then, and stood up, instantly going to her side. "W..what happened?!" He reached through the bond to call for Devin and Qaelemont, unsure what was going on. All he knew was that Scarlett needed help.
Devin let out a yelp as he was startled from his writing by the summons. Face turning tomato red, he quickly saved his project and leaped up from his chair. He stumbled into the main library and up into the cozy little sitting area where he felt his brother and smelled Scarlett.
"What's wrong? What happened?" He scrunched his nose at the scents clinging to the viera as he moved to stand beside the couch. "Is everything okay?" Devin was aware that the question was dumb, but he still asked it.
Qaelemont feels the bond tighten before the doors finished echoing. Scarlett. Alarmed—ritual-deep.
He stills his brush, sets it aside with care, and strips his gloves. The lab’s calm scents are already being drowned by grave dirt and lilies bleeding through the bond. *I hear you,* he sends to Deryk, steady and sure, and moves toward the door. *I am coming.*
Firelight catches the Elezen's lithe figure as he enters the library. A sweep of his leaf-green eyes takes in the tableau before him—Scarlett standing rigid, Deryk hovering next to her, Devin also at their sides. Qaelemont crosses the space and cups Scarlett’s cheek, his spidery fingers cool and grounding.
“You’re safe,” he says softly. “You’re home.”
His eyes search her face. “You haven’t merely learned something. You’ve *done* something," he ventures a guess.
He guides her toward the couch. “Sit. Breathe. Then tell us what’s happened.”
Mizuki frowns in concentration, hunched over while checking the thick alchemy tome, against her own calculations and the multitude of simmering liquids and congealing gasses in her ever expanding mass of glass tubes and beakers. Her spine straightens, feeling her wife's summon. A fraction of a second and she's gone, the pencil she was holding clatters to the desk. The little Au'ra appears next to Scarlett, as coalesced shadow that becomes flesh, her hands reaching immediately to Scarlett's, "I'm here." she whispers, worry etched on her face.
Letty looks around at them, biting her lip slightly. Her hands squeeze Mizi's as she turns to answer Q, shaking her head. "The souls aren't enough."
A long pause fills the air as she motions for them all to follow her to the sofas and sit.
"It's been a little over a year now since the ritual that allowed me to live forever, as death." Odd wording, but she presses on. Her yes meet Mizi's, as if unable to say what she desperately needed to. The rings on her fingers glow, fill with the souls she'd been siphoning.
Slowly, she retrieved her hands from her wife's and undoes her gloves. Her aether burned hands no longer glow as bright. Instead, her fingers seem longer, skinnier? In fact, when Q touched her cheek he may have notice the slight sunken-ness they had taken. It had been weeks since she'd been home...
"Mizi. You were right." Was all she could manage. It would be on the dhampiric Au Ra to explain for her as Letty hung her head in shame and fear. The feelings so intense that Deryk would be able to damn near taste them.
Deryk can feel the fear.. and the shame.. but he sees something else. "Kaasan... y... you're dying." He wasn't going to sugar coat it... and he looks to the others, a furrow in his brow. "Dying... or... fading... how can we help? What can we do?" He was laser focused on Scarlett, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He felt her fear... because it was his own, also.
Mizi seems to deflate. She closes her eyes, "Shit." She takes a deep breath, turning to face the others, her eyes wet, "Scarlett's transformation allows her to....stay with me, with us, but..." She licks her lips, "Other things fade. No food, the body withers. No soul, the spirit fades." She recites from her reading, "Losing what makes one themselves, body and mind. Skin, muscles, blood, dreams, desires...love." She swallows, "Aren't technically needed to exist, in that state." She looks back at Scarlett, "I've been working so hard Letty." Mizi clenches her teeth, "I -know- there's some way to keep hold of....you." She turns back to everyone and lets out a breath, "So, that's where we are."
Devin lowered his ears and moved to hug Scarlett. His eyes were shining with unshed tears as he looked at Mizu. "What do we do? I can make food if it's needed. I can...um..." He searched his mind for anything else he could contribute. He pulled back a little and looked at the viera. "Anything you need, just ask."
The poor miqo'te wasn't very good with magic other than his skills in the Scholarly ways. He glanced at Qaelemont. "Would anything from those Nymian texts help?"
Qaelemont’s hand remains at Scarlett’s cheek, thumb tracing the hollow there with dreadful precision. Thinning flesh. Aether stretched too far. Not decay—*erosion.* His hand falls away as they move to the couch, leaf-green eyes tracking her every movement. His gaze flicks down to the woman's hands; thinner, more skeletal.
His gaze lifts to Mizuki, sharp but steady. “You were right,” he says softly, without blame. “Et you are not finished.” He turns slightly, placing his cool hand over Scarlett's where it still trembles, a faint levin tingle to his touch from the glowing aetheric scars. “If this state discards what it deems unnecessary, then we will make *you* necessary again—body, soul, memory, love. All of it.”
He looks back to Scarlett, resting his brow briefly to hers. “You are not allowed to fade.” Then to the room, voice calm and absolute: “Devin, the Nymian texts. Deryk, stay with her. Mizuki—work with me. We *will* solve this.”
Letty's lips purse slightly and she smiles at Devin. "I can't eat, but I do enjoy tea still. Mizi has been perfecting the art of tea." She looks over at her wife fondly.
Her gaze moves to Deryk and Q. "I appreciate you all so much. I apologize for putting you all through this. I just... I knew we couldn't continue researching and trying to solve it on our own." She smiles at Mizi again. "I don't want to become the kind of lich that's only reason to be is for knowledge and power. I do want to keep love." She whispers the last sentence.
"Qaelemont, you seem to have a plan. Your confidence is definitely inspiring."
Her arm stretched out and her hand softly places on Deryk's shoulder. "Not dying. I am trusting you -all- to ensure that I remain. And that..." She trails off and looks pointedly at each of them. "If we can't keep me as I am-" She points to her mind, then to her heart. "Don't let me remain here as a power hungry monster. Promise me."
Deryk nodded to his Master's command, not that he would have done anything else in this situation. When Scarlett put her hands on his shoulders, he nodded softly. "I won't, Kaasan... e.-even if they can't... I won't let you stay like that. We won't let it get to that point though, ok? Everyone, together... our family.. we'll figure this out." He begins to plan what he will to to try and bring something back to Scarlett... even if it's temporary... Something... anything. He can feel the dynamis pooling in his hands, making them glitter softly. He is going to wait for the others to go, though, before he says anything... does... anything. He wants them all to be able to focus on their tasks.
Devin was off like a shot as soon as the orders were given. He didn't bother with stairs. Who had time for stairs? He jumped down to the main floor and went to retrieve the half a dozen hooks he had brought back from his time in the lost city. He dashed back up the stairs and set them on the coffee table.
"I...I'll go make tea, too," he proclaimed. "If that's okay, I mean." The poor miqo'te was so flustered and trying to help as much as he could. He was really good at getting things, after all. "If anyone needs anything, just leave it to me." His ears lowered. "I don't think my skills with my blades or Dreamwalking will help... But I'm also really fast, so...yeah..." Devin was rambling out of nerves and fear. He looked at Scarlett with a smile. "We'll help you. You'll be okay."
Mizuki is quiet during the conversation. Her mouth moves silently, her eyes darting as if reading frantically. Scarlett's words 'keep me as I am' echo in her mind, Deryk's faintly glimmering hands. Pieces of the puzzle floating around in her mind, with the weeks of research and testing and notes she's poured her life into since her wife's transformation. A little unhinged giggle slips from her, the stress from these past weeks seeping out.
She points at Deryk's hands again, her eyes a little wild "Deryk! Dynamis! You can infuse it into a plant, water? We do it with Aether, right? Entelechy I think? Lunatender blossom for mind strength, quicksilver and ouco vine to preserve physically, the poison won't hurt her...some Windsbalm bayleaf. Devin can find anything..." she rambles, then looks at Q frantically, "Preservervation!" She says too loudly. "That sounds right, right Q? That could work? Makes sense?"
She stops, and looks at Scarlet, the mania turning off like a switch. Fear, sadness and hope all struggle for control of her face. Deryk is able to feel the tumultuous turmoil of emotion whisper though the powerful tattoos that cover and protect Mizuki. "It HAS to...." she says as she hugs and clings tight to Scarlett.
Deryk blinked... and looked down at his hands... then he looked up and grinned. "Mizi! That's it! Yes, I can infuse my dynamis into just about anything. I don't just sense other's emotions... you know that it's more than that. Yes... I think... with Devin's help looking for things..." He looked up at Qaelemont for a moment, before taking Scarlett's hands into his own... a soft warmth would be felt. He was giving her calm... and hope. " Kaasan... we won't let you fade. We can do this, as a family, and keep you just as you are. All of it."
Qaelemont listens without interruption, his expression composed, almost serene. Scarlett’s plea lands like a blade he does not flinch from. When she finishes, he inclines his head once.
“You have my promise,” he says quietly. “You will not become something hollow. Not while I stand.”
His gaze lingers on Deryk’s hands a fraction too long, then shifts to Mizuki—steady, grounding. “Preservation is a worthy path,” he allows. “Explore it. All of you. Every avenue.”
His chill fingers lace lightly with Scarlett’s. Cool. Certain. *I will keep you,* he thinks with certainty to himself, already assembling rites he will not yet name.
Looks at Mizi, her face showing something close to hope. "The teas weren't just teas..." She whispers, unable to keep from a soft laugh even in this most dire situation.
She turns to Q. "We have the book I used for the ritual to make me this." With that, she pulls it out of her bag and hands it to him. "Perhaps in your old age you would know how to read the ancient language in the back." Still making comedic remarks about her best friend, that was a good sign.
"If we preserve me now, I--" The vanity sets in. She looks at Deryk, then to the place Devin had been before he took off on orders, smiling.
"I am sure if anyone can make some alchemical-dynamis concoction to make me remain me, it is the two of you."
Her eyes looks down. "Should I stay here and try to preserve whatever energy and being I can then? I'm not sure what I should do."
Devin patted the stack of books from Nym. "We'll use everything we have to save you and keep you safe."
He turned to Mizuki and Qaelemont. "I'll get any supplies. Just give me a list and I'll get them in a few hours. Just name it and I'll get it." He lowered his ears, trying to stay calm. Scarlett would be okay and they would figure out how to help.
"You two do have a room here..." Deryk says, thinking. "Teas... yes. We can infuse your teas, your clothing, anything. Even candles and incense that you use. I'm fucking brimming with it.." He says softly, his hands glowing golden. Unlike his clear lack of aether, he was overflowing with dynamis. It didn't seem to slow him down or harm him. Even when Qaelemont would drain what little aether he had... the boy was still strong, if not stronger. "Maybe you two should stay here... with us... It lets me infuse everything you touch easily... the dynamis... it will convince your very cells to remain as they are... or improve... your emotions will feed it, and the dynamis will feed your emotions. All you need to is let it. We can start now, if you wish." He offers his glowing hands to her, waiting for her decision. "The rest we will need everyone on board... but... I can do this part right here."
Mizuki puts her hand on Deryk's arm. "Brother, too much is...hard on the mind. I think it might be best to just infuse the tea for now, please, so we can measure and regulate by result." She smiles at him with a calm warmth, "Thank you." Her head whips to look at Devin, "List! Right!" She pulls a list from her robe and hands it too him, "These things, plus Oucu vine...better get the root too if you can, Lunatender blossom, and...." she pauses as if listening to something, "Quicksilver. Be careful with that though, it's pretty poisonous." She nods as she counts off the ingredients, then gives a hopeful smile to Scarlett, "Whatever input or insight you can offer is always welcome, but let us to the lifting on this one."
Letty smiles at the group, ears drooping slightly. She was putting them through so much and naturally felt guilty. "I'll shrink some things and move them over. It's been time for me to redo the bookclub room anyways."
Truth be told, she needed something to focus on to keep her mind busy while they worked.
She teleported back to the shared apartment and was in the bookroom, waiting and magically rearranging.
While she's doing that, the others would be diligently working on their respective tasks!