What should have been a simple life in the desert sand and stars becomes anything but. Haunted by dreams of a life of violence, and seeking answers as to why, Peridot and her friends find themselves caught in an ancient battle between Light and Dark...and find that the cost of being a soldier is higher than they might have ever thought.
Raven: Why now? Why did we remember all of that now?
Scarlet: How should I know? Maybe it's got something to do with the thefts Peri mentioned?
Scarlet: She did say some of the stuff was being used for a ritual...
Raven: A summoning ritual? THE summoning ritual?
Scarlet: ...I don't want to think about that.
Raven: I don't think we have much choice. If we remember and we died latest, then...that means that the guys and Royal remember, too.
Scarlet: I'll corner Royal and talk after class. From the way the others are acting, though...I don't think Peri, Cel, or Edie remember. Yet.
Raven: We need to tell them. To warn them.
Scarlet: Oh? And how do you plan to do that? Say, hey, those dreams we've been having and the feeling of knowing? Yeah, that's because we all lived a life before this one and we died fighting in an ancient war?
Raven: ...well when you put it that way...
Scarlet: No, we need proof. And a better explanation than just dumping it on their heads!
Raven: ...better think fast, then. We've got company.
Peridot: SCARLET!!!
Scarlet: Peri?
Scarlet: Peri, what--oof! Hey! You just saw me last night what's this about?
Peridot: You were gone!
Scarlet: Hey...hey, it was just a dream. I'm here. I'm okay, I promise.
Raven: Scar...
Scarlet: Shh. Not now, Raven. Peri, breathe with me. See? Alive and well.
Scarlet: It was just a dream. Just a terrible, terrible dream.
Peridot: It wasn't. It can't have been just a dream. It was real...
Scarlet: ...well, it's not real here.
Peridot:...*sniff*
Scarlet: I promise. However real it was, it isn't anymore. You can let it go.
Later...
*knock on door*
Celestial: Come in.
Peridot: ...rough day, huh.
Celestial: ...you could say that. You too?
Peridot: Rough night, rough day...I'm exhausted.
Celestial: Gonna get worse. Razz texted, asked us both to be there tonight.
Peridot: Ugh...great.
Peridot: How'd it go with your Dad? After coming back empty handed, I mean.
Celestial: I dunno. I went back to Mom's, remember? He hasn't called or anything yet, so...next weekend'll be fun.
Peridot: ...I'm sorry. I really didn't think...I mean...is there anything I can do?
Celestial: Nah. I knew I was playing with fire. Figured I'd have more time, but....*sigh* At least this is easier.
Peridot: How? Nothing's changed.
Celestial: Sure it has. You know what I've been doing and we can talk about it now. Do you have any idea how much easier that makes things? Not having to do it alone?
Peridot: ...not really.
Celestial: ...hey. You know that goes both ways, right? You can tell me anything now. You always could I just. I'll shut up now.
Peridot: ...I didn't trust you.
Celestial: What are you talking about?
Peridot: ...I got this feeling, before the dance, that I couldn't trust you. It was from that...other life, I guess, and I didn't even think about it. I just...let it overtake me.
Peridot: I'm sorry, Cel.
Celestial: It's okay. I didn't give you much reason to trust me for a while there, even with all our history. I was trying so hard to keep you safe that I didn't trust you, either.
Peridot: Heh, well...six things to juggle?
Celestial: Let's see...Dad, Parsley, keeping it all a secret from Mom, keeping you safe, school and practice, and the dreams...yeah, it was a lot.
Peridot: ...and I wasn't helping matters, was I.
Celestial: Eh, no? But that's over now. That's what I mean by it being easier. We can talk about it now. ...Do you want to?
Peridot: I don't know where to start.
Peridot: Years of dreaming of everyone training or fighting or dying, years of it all leading up to this, and I just...*sigh* Watcher, Cel. How do we even start to put an end to this? How can we?
Celestial: We keep the door closed. Lock it down tight.
Peridot: But how? If he breaks free that means even the Hunters couldn't keep it closed, and they've all got more training in this kind of thing!
Celestial: The simplest way would be to stop the ritual. They don't have everything they need, so there's still time to stop the key from turning.
Celestial: I've done what I can to sabotage it. Now we just need to...somehow warn the others without coming off absolutely insane.
Peridot: Heh...no chance of that. Pretty sure I freaked Scarlet out something awful this morning.
Celestial: This morning...oh. Oh, Per....
Celestial: I'm so sorry...you two are so close I didn't think...
Peridot: ...I shouldn't be this shaken up about it. Alternate realities or past lives or whatever, she's alive! She's still here. They're all still here but I can't...I can't unsee it, you know?
Peridot: it felt so real...
Celestial: It was. But don't get lost in that, okay? What matters is that they're here. We're all still here, Per.
Peridot: Sure, but for how long? If Basil and your dad pull this ritual off, what then? A shadow over the land, all goodness destroyed?
Celestial: We won't let that happen. Whatever it takes, we'll stop him.
Peridot: Whatever it takes? Even if it's all of our lives? Like in the dreams?
Celestial: I hope not. I really, really hope not, but there has to be a reason it's our nine lines that are needed to get that door open. If we're the key, we can lock that door just as easy as unlocking it.
Peridot: Oh, sure, except that means finding a way into the Abyss and then finding the door and if those dreams are anything to go by that's not easy either!
Celestial: Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
Peridot: Oh now you're spouting wisdom, hero boy?
*both laugh*
Peridot: ....we are so doomed, aren't we.
Celestial: If we can't find a way to keep that door closed? Yeah. Which means we need to rope in our Moms, but...
Peridot: ...how do we even start to explain this.
Celestial: ....I don't know. Not yet, at last.
Peridot: ...D'you know when Basil was going ahead with the ritual? How much time do we have?
Celestial: It can't happen until the thunder moon next year. It's supposed to be a blood moon, so...extra power, I think.
Peridot; ...meaning we have until summer to figure out how to explain, and prove, this entire mess. Watcher preserve us all.
Celestial: Hey, we'll figure it out. We're working together now--there's not a thing we can't do if we work together.
Peridot: ...I dunno, Cel...this seems so much bigger than all of us combined. Do we even stand a chance?
Celestial: Maybe not, but we have to try.
Celestial: If we stop now, or if we stop without even trying, then what was the point of any of it? We can't give up yet.
Peridot: ....or everything we've lost will have been for nothing.
Celestial: ...yeah.
Peridot: I didn't ask...are you okay? After the dreams, I mean...
Celestial: ...like I said. They're still here.
Peridot: Yeah, but...we still felt them die, Cel...that's not easy.
Celestial: ...I'm okay. I'll be better when this is over and everyone's safe.
*banging on door*
Coach: Five minutes, Celestial!
Celestial: Coming! I've gotta get to practice, and so do you.
Peridot: *sigh* Yeah. Man...high school on top of all of this. Blegh.
Celestial: Heh...it's something.
Peridot: Hey...are you...sure you're okay? Something's bugging you, isn't it.
Celestial: I'll be fine. Don't worry, Per--if all this hasn't done me in yet, not much will.
Peridot: ....okay. If...if you say so.
Celestial: I do. Wear your good stomping boots tonight, okay? I don't like Razz calling out of the blue like this.
Peridot: Eh, what's the worst that could happen there? Parsley?
Celestial: Don't tempt fate, Per. Not until this is over.
That night...
Peridot: Seriously? Someone asked for me by name?
Razz: By that name you gave me, yeah. And by asking for the "champion that took down three of my best guys", too.
Peridot: My best guys...Fruity called you?
Razz: Nah, his boss. Fruity was the commander, the guy who called was the General, kinda.
Celestial: Top of the food chain. He'd have been the one who okayed the hit.
Peridot: Oh, great...okay, be honest, what're the odds the guy who hired him knows I'm poking around?
Razz: Eh....not great? He wouldn't want to admit that not only he failed, but that some teenage Nutmeg Drew's been sniffing around, too. Hex is...paranoid about getting passed over.
Peridot: Ugh, great...a paranoid gang leader with nothing to lose.
Celestial: Not too late to leave, you know.
*Door opens*
Peridot: ...on second thought...
Celestial: Oh, great.
Hex: Which one of you's Lime?
Peridot: ...that depends, who's asking?
Celestial: Hex, I'm guessing?
Razz: Yep, that's Hex. Mind yourself, this is neutral territory!
Hex: Hah. Which one of you're Lime?
Peridot: ...that'd be me. What do you want?
Hex: What I want don't matter. I've got a warning for you, little girl. You back up off this road 'fore you can't come back, yeah?
Peridot; Or What? You finish what your guys started five years ago?
Peridot: You don't scare me. You go and tell your boss that if he wants me to stop, he'll have to come and finish me himself.
Hex: That was the wrong thing to say, brat.
Celestial: Peri!
Hex: You should have kept your nose outta this, girl! Take 'em down, boys!
Celestial: The hell you will--come here!
Smoothie: Erk--
Celestial: Razz you good?!
Peridot: Get off me!
Hex: Oof--
Peridot: Oh, you messed with me on the wrong day, pal!
Hex: *coughing* You are...insane...
Peridot: And you've got five seconds to tell me who sent you!
Hex: ...no one...officially. *cough*
Hex: *cough* Fennel Herb...heard someone was sniffing around...*sputter* Asked us to...look into it. Not a hit.
Peridot: It better not be, and you're going to tell her you found nothing, got it?
Hex: ....got it.
Peridot: Good. We're leaving. Now.
Celestial: Razz what the hell?!
Razz: I'm sorry! I wasn't expecting...that!
Peridot: That nearly took all our heads off!
Celestial: You think?!
Peridot: Was Hex the one who called you about me?
Later still...
Razz: Well, yeah? When some teenager no one's heard about starts taking down men twice her size, word gets around! And with the digging you had me doing, I mean, it was a matter of time!
Peridot: Did you sell me out?!
Celestial: Razz, come on! Tell me you didn't!
Razz: ....
Peridot: ...oh, that's real nice of you.
Celestial: Dammit, Razz...
Razz: Look, you kids...you poke your nose into this side of things but the rest of you's still out there, where it's good and light and easy. It's not the same here! We've always had to fend for ourselves and so...
Peridot: When Hex called asking for info you figured you'd earn yourself a favor from the big guy on top, huh?
Celestial: Of course. An eye for an eye. Why does that not surprise me.
Razz: We do what it takes to survive.
Peridot: And do you really think they'd have left you alive after breaking my neck, Razz? No witnesses! You practically sold yourself out along with us!
Razz: Yeah. I see that now. If you don't mind, I'm gonna get while the getting's good.
Razz: And if I were you two, I'd be doing the same.
Peridot: ...not an option, but...good luck, Razz.
Celestial: Yeah, good luck finding a rock big enough to hide under!
Celestial: ....I know that look. What are you planning.
Peridot: This road's not going to get us any further. We don't have the proof we need to get Basil out of the way, so we need to get in there, get closer, and there's one good way to do that.
Peridot: So, it's simple. We go about this the...legal way. The internship way.
Celestial: The internship...way...no. No, no way. Peri, no!
Peridot: Peri, yes! An internship in politics, activism, gets me right into the mayor's office.
Celestial: Which is in the police station. Where my Dad works. My Dad, who would be after your head the second he realizes who it is he's looking for?
Peridot: Then it's a good thing you'll be there to look after me, isn't it?
Celestial: There's looking after you out here and then there's looking after you in the heart of enemy territory! And I'm not gonna be there the whole time, either! My internship is as a patrol officer!
Celestial: You'll be on your own, with Mayor Basil and with Parsley, with no way to get out in a hurry and no backup if things go south!
Peridot: buuuuut it'll be in the station and I can scream really really loudly! Not every officer is on the take, right?
Celestial: Well, no, but--there's enough of them that are that this is a really really really bad idea!
Peridot: Worse than picking fights in back alleys in the witching hour? Cel, come on, we run on bad ideas. We always have!
Celestial: not like this!
Celestial: Does "heart of enemy territory" not mean anything to you? Really?
Peridot: Mm, feels like it's not the first time I've heard that. Or done it anyway.
Celestial: ....how is it you're still alive. Honest to the Watcher, how?
Peridot: Gramoony would have said one very overworked Guardian Spirit. Personally? Good luck and good friends.
Celestial: Luck runs out, and friends can't always be there, and--
Peridot: And you're doing it again. I'm not some helpless toddler, Cel.
Peridot: I know, Celestial. I know.
Peridot: but I have to see this through. Basil has to be stopped.
Celestial: Even if it could cost you your life?
Peridot: If Obscuro gets out, it's everyone's lives.
Peridot: So if we can't involve the Hunters, yeah. It's going to have to be us, which means us. You work the street, I work...not in the heat.
Celestial: Haha, very funny. ...Okay, okay, I can see I'm not going to convince you not to do this. Just...promise me you'll be careful?
Peridot: Cel, come on. It's me you're talking to.
Celestial: I know. That's why I want your word.
Peridot: That's--*sigh* I promise. I'll be careful.
Celestial: ...thank you. Let's go home.
The next morning...
Nova: So you're sure about this? This is the only way to get there?
Peridot: Yeah. Political internships aren't easy, but...it's the only way I can get into the offices. I figure...I get close enough, maybe I can find proof and then...
Peridot: ...well, then we can take it to the Hunters because it is obvious the cops couldn't do anything even if there's some not on the take in that station.
Nova: *sigh* Well, I don't like it. I don't like you putting yourself in harm's way like this, but...I can see your point.
Nova: Convincing your mothers, on the other hand...
Peridot: ...I...don't need to. Changing internships only needs Principal Heart's signature, not a legal guardian.
Nova: Peri!
Nova: Do not tell me you're planning on doing this without even telling them!
Peridot: Okay. I won't tell you that.
Nova: Peridot Spring!
Peridot: They'd try to stop me! Mom hates Basil--for good reason--and Ma would just say I'm not trained enough to handle something like this!
Nova: And she wouldn't be wrong. Peri, this is getting bigger than any one of us knows how to handle. It's time to call in backup.
Peridot: but--without proof they'd never act on it! They'd never...
Nova: Never what?
Peridot: Do anything. Grampop I can't explain it I just...without proof the Council won't move on it. They've already got so many other missions and this doesn't make sense as parts it just...
Nova: ...we'll waste more time trying to convince Chronos than anything, huh?
Peridot: You've met him?
Nova: I...had the displeasure of meeting him before you were born, yeah. He's not a man I'm in a hurry to meet again, but...*sigh* I can see how you'd think he wouldn't run with this. So...we need proof.
Nova: And the only way to get it is...?
Peridot: Well, getting Basil to admit it would come first, but...there have to be police reports on all these thefts. If I can get my hands on those, get copies, and then the dates line up...
Nova: You can prove something's going down.
Nova: Except all those reports are in the station and filing for them would take months.
Peridot: And Cel said the ritual's taking place next summer. Those filings could take until next Winterfest!
Nova: Meaning there's no time to wait on paperwork. Okay. I can see the problem.
Nova: but does it have to be you? Celestial's already got an internship in the station. And as an officer he can pull files!
Peridot: He'd have to log them as pulled. If his Dad saw him sniffing around, then...
Nova: ...right. Frosted is. Another issue. OKay then! No choice about it, I suppose.
Nova: You're going to have to speed-read to catch up on what you need to apply for that internship. I'll check the reading list and head to the library while you're at school.
Peridot: *relieved sigh* Thanks, Grampop.
Nova: Oh, don't thank me yet. Convincing Principal Heart will be one thing, but you? You still have to convince your mothers.
Peridot: ...Watcher preserve me.
No comments:
Post a Comment