Chapter 9: Rebirth
While the others got everything together that they were tasked with, Letty spent her time trying not to think about it. Distracting herself with redecorating and organizing the teapots Mizi had been getting for her, her mind was still restless.
Luckily, she didn't have to wait long. Devin gathered everything, Mizi and Deryk worked together to develope the preservation tea and Qaelemony diligently set up for the ritual. Once she got word that everything was in place, Letty removed the bronze, completely lack-luster jewelry box from it's inconspicuous location on the shelf.
Carefully, she takes it down to the ritual room Q had prepared and calls them all on the comms. Her voice, steady but with a tinge of fear as she spoke...
"It's time." Was all she could get out.
A few seconds later, there is a chill breeze and Mizuki and Deryk step into the room, the whisp of shadow that was a portal disapating behind them. Muzuki immediately moves to Scarletts side and reaches for the bun's hand. Her red eyes look up at Scarlett, "Hi" she says softly, her voice tight. "This will work."
Deryk comes out of the shadow like he was born from it. Melded by it... The shadows move at his whim and for a small moment... just a brief glimpse, he looks every part of the powerful creature that he is. Even his face holds a serious look... one that they would have all seen on Qaelemont's face numerous times. Though, this fades rather quickly as he grins brightly, sending the shadows away. Like a happy puppy, seeing his family returning from any duration of being gone, he trots up to Scarlett and sets the hot jar onto a coaster on the table. His palms are slightly red, having been burned a bit from the jar, yet as he settles near his chosen mother, his palms glow a glittery gold, healing all the marks and damage. He grins at Devin and then feels the approach of his Sire. A shiver runs down his spine as he looks toward the door, expectantly.
Devin wiggled his ears in greeting. He gently dropped the satchel of ingredients as well as the bundle of Ochu parts he had harvested to the floor for everyone to have at and stepped back. Devin wanted to help as much as possible because he knew he was ill suited to do much to help directly. He would support in any way he could, though.
He smiled at Deryk and turned his gaze to where he felt Qaelemont approaching. He refrained from crouching down out of an old habit. The need to become as small as possible while the "adults" worked on important tasks had to be stuffed down into a mental box and buried.
Deryk looked over to his brother, the moment distracted away from Qaelemont's imminent appearance, and tilted his head. "Ah... brother... is... is that vine still... wiggling?" He was watching it closely, curious and cautious. These were components, and yet Deryk couldn't really pull himself away once his interest stuck to it. He'd need a diversion to get back on track.
Mizuki looks at Devin, then at the sack, "Ooo...fresh and wiggling! Devin, that's perfect!" She makes little grabby hands, fingers wiggling. "Got to set them to cook. Be right back! Don't start without me!" She grabs the sack, opens a shadow mid-stride and is gone.
Qaelemont stands at the edge of the circle as the final wards settle, the chamber falling into a hush so complete it feels like held breath. He lights the candles in sequence; black flames rise, steady and soundless, and the incense responds, smoke threading the air exactly as intended. Power gathers—dense, intimate, immense.
He opens the book and speaks the Nymian aloud, each word deliberate, each syllable a step toward unmaking without loss. His leaf-green gaze passes over Scarlett, then Deryk, subtly aligning the flow while concealing the rite’s true edge. Mizuki’s place remains empty, the locus waiting.
“Soon,” he murmurs, voice low to the circle itself, and continues drawing the power inward, holding it—patient, precise—until all is ready.
Letty watches silently at the door for a moment, taking it all in. This could be her end- No. Her family has figured it out. This has to work, was the only thought left swirling in her brain by the end of her internal struggle.
The clicking of her heels on the floor was steady and methodical as she finally worked up the nerve to stand next to Qaelemont. A silent nod of appreciation is given to Q, her eyes meeting his as her thoughts focus on what he needs to do if this fails. She knew how much she was asking of him, of all of them. However, they also knew she would do the same for any of them. "Do not let this fail." Q would know her deeper meaning.
Then, she turns to Devin. "Little cat, the fierce dreamer." She speaks softly. "I must ask something very important." She stares into his eyes, trying to convey her thoughts. "If you no longer see me, or my soul, tell your Master." Another look at Q, emphasising that he was her failsafe.
Her light-purple eyes look into Deryk's and she smiles. "My chosen son, it is only right that my emotional regulation come from you and my dearest wife." She pulls him into a hug and whispers. "No matter what, keep your focus on maintaining the emotional balance of the room. It is impairative that everyone remains as level as possible. You can do this."
Her eyes scan for her dearest wife next. A small chuckle escapes her when Mizi poofs in front of her, ready for the ritual -right on time-.
"Princess." She smiles and dips Mizi into a long, bridal-style kiss before returning her to her feet to speak. "This is going to attract unwanted guests. I ask you to be my champion. I trust you to keep ALL of us safe and to be able to be in the place Qaelemont needs you to be, as only your speed allows. You've done the research, you've prepared. This will work." Her voice is shakey, but her eyes show the ferocity of the belief behind those words.
With that, she steps into the middle of the circle with her phylactory jewelry box and waits.
Deryk blinked and hugged her tight, not speaking for a moment. He... wasn't sure he was the right choice.. but she seemed to think so. He smiled and nodded. "I won't let you down, Kaasan." He moved to stand at the edge of the circle, his eyes glowing more golden than green. Black scales, with golden edges, sprout up across his chest and shoulders, peeking through his shirt. His lineage with Lilith on clear display... but that was just proof of how much of his power he was tapping into. This was a big job, and he wasn't about to let anyone freak out tonight. Calm pours from his form like a fog, crawling across the floor and filling the room. He doesn't speak, and only looks at Scarlett with gilded eyes, a smile and a nod given. He was ready and would do what was needed.
Devin's ears flicked as he was addressed. His wide, blue eyes stared at Scarlett as she gave him the task of keeping track of her. He nodded, determined to do anything to make sure the woman was safe and sound.
He stepped up to the circle, taking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Another breath was accompanied by a wisp of fog, a little condensation, as he reached for the power he had taken from his sire. In hisind, he knew he could use it while awake, but he had never tried. This was the worst time to test drive that power, but he was determined to succeed.
The ability to dreamwalk rose up and filled him. The calm from Deryk helped keep him grounded, as did the presence of his Master, like an unmoving force that would not fail. Devin's eyes fell closed, catching a final glimpse of Scarlett in the center of them. He focused on her, feeling her and memorizing the very essence of his dear friend.
In his mind's eye, he saw the purple sky with pinkish clouds drifting by. The circle was gone, as was the rest of the room. Instead, he stood amidst a patchwork of ruins and broken cobblestone paths. The architecture was reminiscent of Ul'dah, with spots of Gridania, Ishgard and Kugane mixed in. A potted plant, long dead, drifted by gravity having no effect on it. Pieces of the crumbled buildings hovered and lazily rotated, a frameless door here, a mosaic of tiles there... A table set with six chairs bumped into a broken wall to his left, making one of the chairs spin and the table flip upside down. Some towering structures in the distance held no clues, but Devin didn't pay much heed. Dreams were chaotic sometimes, and until he actually focused on them, they could remain fragments of anything and everything.
He could feel Scarlett's presence, along with Mizuki. He could sense his Master and Brother, smiling at the familiarity of them. They were nearby, the shades that he often saw of waking people. He could urge them to sleep, but that wasn't his task. He had to watch over Scarlett, keep her from fragmenting like the ruins he stood in. So, he waited for her to join him, and for any of them to join him in this dreamscape.
Mizuki lets out a slow breath, mouthing "Wow" after the kiss, her cheeks flushing. With great effort, she pulls her thoughts back to the task at hand. Her red eyes look into Scarlett's pale gaze and she nods, "I will protect you, I will protect our family. Nothing held back." She takes a step back as Scarlett steps into the circle. She pulls out a log dagger with a long blade and wicked barbs, the black metal seems to draw in the light. Mizuki closes her eyes and the dagger grows in her hand. The handle grows long and twisted, the blade stretching and curving, until the little aura holds a large, shadowy scythe. The Shadows swirl around her body in a torrent, though her clothes and hair don't move. With her free hand she unfastens the clasp on her robe and lets it fall to the floor, revealing her tight, flexible leather bodysuit. The shadows coalesce, forming a fiendish humanoid shape that hovers behind her. Her crow appears from the darkness of the ceiling and lands on her shoulder. Mizuki opens her eyes, looks at her family and wiggles her fingers in a little wave, "I'm ready!" she says with a little nervous giggle.
Qaelemont gives Scarlett a single nod as she steps into the circle, reverent and grave. Her meaning is understood. He turns inward, voice rising into the Nymian cadence, and the sigils answer—severance without mercy, precision without cruelty. The archlich body unravels, flesh and construct collapsing into ash and light as he draws Scarlett’s spirit free, guiding it cleanly, carefully, back into the phylactery’s waiting anchor.
Only when the bond snaps shut—whole, intact—does he lift his head. His viridian gaze finds Mizuki, steady and unyielding.
“Maintenant,” he says in sepulchural tones, falling back into Auld Coerthan as his concentration is entirely upon maintaining the focus of the ritual, “verse le thé.”
Letty's body goes limp as Qaelemont begins the ritual. Once her spirit leaves the body and ends in the phylactery, the body begins to turn to ash on the ground. Her consciousness slips into the dreamworld that Devin created, however it didn't get there alone. A spirit that had been attached to one of the rings she was wearing hitches a ride and attacks Devin through the dream. It weaves through the ruins and screeches loudly to assail his mind!!
Meanwhile, Mizuki's sharp senses would pick up on not one, but two shambling skeletons rising from... the garden in the yard? Both of them look about half rotted, as if theyd been killed and buried there about 5-6 months back. The magic of the library and the archlich ritual seems to have brought them back!!
Now that Letty's body was ash and she was in the dream with Devin, Deryk would have to work to maintain the emotional stability!
With only ashes to work with, Qaelemont Would need to really concentrate on rebuilding her...
Deryk knows where Scarlett went. While the spirit was in the box, which was something he honestly didn't know a lot about, he still knew how to walk into Devin's dreams. He had been taught over the time that Devin and him used dreams to help with Deryk's horrific nightmares. While he still had them... they weren't as often thanks to his brother. He had resonated with Scarlett's soul, her dynamis, and slipped into the dream with her. He knew that Devin would be able to handle the hitchhiker, so instead, he focused his power to his mother. His... chosen mother, which made her better than blood. He walked up to her soul and wrapped his arms around her. "We've got you. Focus on my warmth... on our love." He knew there would be some... discrepancy. He was in a dream, after all, and it was taking a LOT of his dynamis to do this while awake... still... he channeled the love the family had for her into her soul, keeping her grounded... stable... for the most part. You are so... so important to us, Kaasan.. don't let go."
Devin smiled wide when he felt Scarlett pass from being a mere shade to her dream self. He opened his mouth to greet her when he was interrupted by a startling screech of something else. He snapped his attention toward the crumbling wall of what looked like a bakery to see the mishaped figure of the spirit. The miqo'te clapped his hands over his ears at the horrid sound that emitted from the spirit. It was so startling he didn't even notice that Deryk joined them and nearly lost his focus. But sheer will, Devin held on to his power and bared his teeth.
"Not today," Devin growled as he manifested a pair of shortswords into his hands. The shimmering blades of ice cut through the air as he launched toward his target. The spirit was fast, and it leaped from place to place in a blink. Devin's eyes narrowed as he called up his control of the dream to slam a cage around the spirit. It screeched again, making the miqo'te's bones rattle. Devin lunged forward with his ice swords and impaled the spirit. The ice crackled and shot through the spirit, spikes emerging from all over it like it was a reverse pincushion. Devin goggled at that thought as he molded the ice around the spirit to encase it into a shrinking crystal ball.
"Uh... Hmm..." Devin held out his hand to catch the roughly apple sized ball in his palm as the cage melted back into nothing. "Do I kill it? Or does she need it? Should I eat it?"
Devin made his way back toward Scarlett and Deryk, smiling wide when he saw the latter. He casually tossed the spirit ball onto a pedestal that appeared out of nothing nearby. As Devin looked around for more intruders, the presence of the others started filling in the seams of the dream world. A crumbled wall grew bookshelves and opened up into Deryk's little art studio. One building melted into the shape of the grand staircase in the foyer. Pieces of furniture from Scarlett and Mizuki's home drifted by, hovering lazily in the air. Even a few decorative pillars from the bonding ceremony between Scarlett and Mizu sprouted up like fancy trees. Remembering the bonding ceremony, Devin thought of the ridiculously massive cake he had baked for them. A second later, a broken fountain nearby transformed into an even larger version of that cake.
Mizuki watches as her love dies again. Her face turns to horror as Scarlett's body turns to ash a strangled gasp escapes her chest, tears filling her eyes, her knees starting to buckle. Just then, she hears a wet shambling noise from the garden. "Protect..." she whispers to herself. She takes one last look at the ashes on the ground, her family around them, "Protect them all." Her arm wipes across her eyes and with a sniff, she steps into a portal, reappearing in the doorway, blocking the zombies path.
"Back in the dirt with you, ugly." she growls as she launches herself at the pair. The first undead to engage her his supernaturally fast, but she's faster. She hooks her weapon around the back of it's leg and spins from it's claws, her scythe dragging across it's knees as she goes. The zombie drops to it's knees, tendons and ligaments cut. She continues her rotation around it's kneeling form, her scythe slicing from the back to the front of it's neck. The head falls first, the body following a split second later. The little Aura spares a second to look back at the doorway. This was her mistake.
She senses the corpse loom over her, faster than she could have imagined. She brings her weapon around to try and cut out it's legs, but the hyper-powered zombie sidesteps her slash and steps in, leading with it's claws. An wispy, unformed shadow gets between her and the strike, but the undead's claw passes through it like smoke. The crooked nails bite through the leather and into Mizuki's pale flesh, tearing long strips from her hip. The un-natural force of the hit sends her tumbling though the dirt. "Well...that was rude." she mumbles, pulling her self to her feet.
She winces when she puts weight on her injured side. She tilts her head, listening, and holds her hands out, the shadow form rises up behind her, mimicking her actions. The undead turns toward the door as a ring of shadow opens at her fingertips, red bolts of energy crackling around the edges of the portal. "Begone" she growls, her voice deep, menacing and not sounding like hers. Bolts of dark energy erupt from the portal in rapid succession and strike the empowered corpse repeatedly, driving it back as chucks of flesh and bone erupt from the hits. The body crumples to a heap in the doorway, and Mizuki falls to her knees, head bowed the shadow covering her.
The undead starts to move again, it's battered body haltingly getting up again, when black form rockets from the darkness and through the corpses head with a sickening squelch. The black form, a large crow Mizuki had named Shade lands on the ground, shakes the rotted gore off it's feathers, and hops over to Mizuki before flapping up to her shoulder and cawing loudly in her ear. At the sharp noise rouses her, the darkness retreat into her own shadow and she slowly gets up and starts to limp toward the doorway.
Qaelemont works from ash and intent, hands steady and graceful through the somatic movements as the chamber trembles around all of them. Scarlett’s spirit is secured—drawn cleanly into the phylactery—while he begins the true labor. He calls on the cold truths he knows best: the grave’s finality, the Void’s discipline, love stripped of sentiment and sharpened into purpose. His own affection settles into the rite like frost, resonant with old memories—Sharlayan halls, Laurent’s defiance, the way Scarlett was never allowed to stand alone.
Then he opens himself to Deryk.
Dynamis pours in, incandescent and overwhelming—family, devotion, chosen bonds. Qaelemont does not resist it; he tempers it. He threads that warmth through structure and soul, letting it teach the Void how to *feel*. Bone remembers. Flesh listens. Gold answers gold—her eyes brightening, her hair catching sunlit tones it never held before.
Scarlett reforms, not as she was, but as she is loved.
“Retour,” Qaelemont intones softly, his voice a quiet echo through the room, sealing Void and hope into one living truth.
The ritual works exactly as intended, every bit of the viera comes back into being. Reformed from the toes, to the tips of her ears. Her hair however, was more of a golden-blonde color with flecks of white. Probably reflecting the amount of Dynamis that had been channeled into the ritual, and the love her friends, her FAMILY had poured into her directly even.
At first, she lay perfectly still. Only Devin would be able to tell that her spirit was still with them. A loong pause that would feel an eternity to all but those in the dream. After a few minutes, Devin would be able to guide her through the dream and back to her body. Spirit appears above body and hovers, a ball of green and purple light, now covered in glowing golden tones around it. It sinks down into her heart and slowly, Letty stirs.
Conveniently, the robe that she had worn in did not burn to ash but instead crumpled into a disheaveled pile of cloth. When she was reformed, Q masterfully reformed her body into the robe, knowing full-well that if his friend came to naked she would be more pissed than if she hadn't come to at all.
When her eyes finally open, they are no longer pale-purple, nearly colorless. They are instead bright, golden orbs shining back at all of them. She says nothing, but rubs her head with dizziness and confusion. "Pr-incess?" She says in a hoarse, soft whisper as she looks around for Mizuki. Her eyes slowly move to examine each one of them and then down to herself. The golden hair falls around her as she looks down and she starts laughing uncontrollably and looks at Q. "My dear friend, how considerate of you to bring me back as a blonde. I suppose we'lll test the theory if I have more fun now, yes?" Letty was definitely Letty.
Deryk realizes he can let the power fade... and as he awakens back into his body.. he feels... empty. Happy, but empty. He lowers his hands.. tries to take a step toward... anyone... and hits his knees. Panting a bit, he looks up, eyes dim, face pale. Still he was smiling. "We... we did... it..."
Mizuki limps into the room just as Scarlett reforms. She pauses, unsure, as the now blond witch looks around, but then the laugh comes. "Letty!" she yells out and rockets to Scarlett, the bloody gashes on her hip forgotten in her elation. "You're okay!" She hugs her reformed wife, pressing her face against the taller woman's chest. Tears of relief and joy streak the dirt on the little aura's pale cheeks. She looks up at her love, "You're beautiful..." she murmurs, reaching her hand up to touch Scarlett's face gently, her fingers, dirty and bloodied tracing lightly over the freshly reformed skin as Mizuki's red eyes look into Scarlet's golden gaze. Behind the dust of battle caked on her face, Mizi's whole face is alight with joy. "Welcome back Letty." she says softly.
After guiding Scarlett back to the waking world, Devin woke up with a big yawn and stretch. Usually he was horizontal for such an all encompassing muscle lock, but he had managed to dream on his feet. He nearly toppled over, but caught himself as Mizuki burst in and reunited with her wife.
"Welcome ba-- You're blonde!" Devin's startled gaze went from Scarlett to Mizuki. "You're hurt!" He then looked at Deryk and Qaelemont with a relieved smile, sighing happily. "You're okay..." He went to Deryk and crouched down beside him, hugging him tight. "You did it, brother."
Hunger.
Hunger consumes the Nightkin.
The vampire's vision is dark, a deep red haze clouding his sight. He has expended a great deal of aether in the ritual to bring Scarlett back to herself. And he certainly knew if he had brought her back naked as a frog, she would have jumped up and boxed his short little pointed ears! Even with all the careful preparation, the feasting he had done at 'the buffet' provided at the Wolves' Den, the Elder is drained and feeling a desperate hollowness. His own eyes glow golden and a certain gravity settles about him, a distant siren song which beckons all around him, promising forbidden delights.
With a deep, shuddering breath, Qaelemont reins in his thirst. He closes his eyes, focusing inward, tamping down the Voidsent's bestial desire and need to feast, the cost for using its strength as the gestalt for powering the ritual. Letting out a slow sigh, the Elezen opens his eyes again, the glow gone and leaf-green gaze regarding Scarlett solemnly before the hint of a smile plays about his lips at her humorous remark. "Peut-être, mon amie..." he replies in a low voice. "Bienvenue à la maison," he adds, his smile warming to one he reserves only for his closest friends and chosen family.
Devin let out a little snort of laughter at Qaelemont's words. He moved to stand with Deryk cradled in his arms like a princess and turned to his Master with a smile, then turned to Scarlett. "We're glad you made it back," he said. Then he grew serious. "Don't do that again. Or... at least don't wait so long, okay?"
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Much later...
Letty takes one of the strangely afflicted books to study in the bath after having a ritualistic makeover....
However all that happens is that a tentacle joins her in the bath.