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 Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 7:57 pm
It was good that the others had the presence of mind to run and to try to get the unicorn away from them. For a moment, Lysithea didn’t resist, just let Malus tug her, nodded at Varuna’s suggestion and went deeper into the maze of hedges, turning to watch as the unicorn slid on the snow, screaming out again in anger.
Oh, she hoped that it didn’t break a leg again. Hoped that it would be okay…but. The snow didn’t last nearly long enough, and the creature was back on its feet rather quickly, whinnying in protest once more before picking itself off of the ground and beginning to follow.
“We just…” Lysithea felt as though she were trembling. She was trembling. “We need to do something, this…isn’t how things are supposed to be.”
The sound of hooves on the stone were growing louder as the creature began to catch up, and finally Lysithea tugged on Malus’ hand, pulling him and gesturing the others to follow through another break in the hedge, hoping that it would be enough. It surely wasn’t a large enough gap for the unicron to follow.
“Are…are you all okay?”
It was worth asking, especially if they had a moment to breathe.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:04 pm
Varuna was grateful for Adria’s offered hand, which she took when she very nearly tripped over some overgrowth. She could hear the hooves and the screaming and roaring of the angry unicorn just out of sight. The last thing she wanted was for any of them to be injured before they could figure out how to help it. Because of course they were going to do something to help it.
“Is it Chaos?” she asked, out of breath as she ducked through the hedges behind Adria and the other two. She couldn’t tell. These days, there were so many strange things that weren’t exactly Chaos, but wasn’t right, either.
“What… what about that magic we used before? On Alastor,” she asked, her voice just a whisper so they could try and stay hidden for as long as possible. “You both said it was different before, right? It was used to purify, wasn’t it?”
She glanced sympathetically up at Malus, knowing that he must have gone through a lot. She didn’t know him well, but she wanted to. They were all supposed to be working together as one. A foundation.
She had no idea if it would work, but it was better than just standing around, letting the unicorn spread any more darkness around the World. How it got that way in the first place… she wished she knew.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:08 pm
Malus nor Adria seemed to calm down despite having a break that gave them at least a brief reprieve from danger. “Well-yeah, but it only works on Chaos,” Adria answered, and despite everything, he wasn’t even sure what was going on.
Lysithea seemed to recognize the unicorn, but–the Negaverse couldn’t be up here. And it couldn’t corrupt animals, could it? –Was a unicorn an animal? Or was it more like a person? How did that work here? Could they corrupt non-Earth creatures? Magical creatures?
Adria had a sudden lump in his throat and his anxiety bloomed rapidly. “I mean–Lysithea,” he looked at her quickly. “Have you seen any chaos at all or anything on your world? Anything weird?”
“Negaverse or not,” Malus insisted. “We saw on Alastor that it doesn’t have to be the Negaverse. But you’re more in tune with your world. Can you feel anything wrong, or–I don’t want to hurt it if we don’t have to, but I don’t want to see it trample or stab someone, either.”
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:09 pm
The idea of attacking the unicorn, even if it was with the intent to purify it made Lysithea feel rather sick, and as she shook her head, she took a look at their surroundings and stopped in her tracks. “Um. I-I mean. That looks pretty wrong to me.”
It looked as though it was a small pond, or had been a small pond. Whatever filled it was now black and bubbling slightly, like tar or something out of a movie even. Now that Lysithea was paying attention to feelings...it felt wrong too. Out of place.
Unwelcome.
Another angry screech and the sound of branches snapping came to Lysithea’s ears and she turned her head, gaping as she saw the unicorn trying to force its way through the hedge, it’s eyes angry, teeth bared.
“Adria, can you distract it with your magic? Ru, can you and Malus watch Adria’s back? I want to see if I can…heal this water or…or whatever it is…maybe…”
Maybe that would work, but it would be far easier to do if the threat of being pounded into the ground by hooves or gored by a horn was lessened.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:10 pm
Varuna frowned with concern. She knew Adria and Malus hadn’t really calmed down, and Lysithea still seemed to be reeling from seeing the unicorn corrupted as it was. She could only hope that whatever this pond was filled with would be cleansed by Lysithea’s magic.
But it didn’t feel right to her to have Lysithea go off to a creepy, sludgy pond when they had no idea what they were dealing with.
“Malus, go with Lysi,” Varuna said, gesturing to the pond. She paused for a moment and frowned again. “Have none of you read-- or seen horror movies? Malus has offensive magic, and so do I. I’ll keep Adria safe, and Malus you can keep Lysithea safe.”
She paused to give Lysithea a look. It wasn’t harsh or uncertain or anything like that. Instead there was a hopefulness in her eyes.
“We’re a team. No one should do anything alone,” she reminded Lysithea, especially after previously scolding her about trying to do everything on her own, as if they wouldn’t be able to help her. “It’s not your burden to bear on your own. Come on Adria,” she gently nudged him towards the unicorn.
“It won’t be able to see you as easily if you’re directly in front of it. I’ll stand off to the side to distract it.”
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:13 pm
Could Adria distract it with his magic? –Sure. Well, maybe. He could try! He could use the magic, but whether or not the creature would be affected by it remained to be seen.
He barely had time to examine the bubbling pool of tar–or whatever–that had caught Lysithea’s eye. He didn’t need to feel it to think that it looked unnerving, but he wasn’t as interested in it as she was.
He was interested in not being stabbed or trampled by the rogue unicorn.
Adria didn’t want to be separated from any part of the group, but if it was better for he and Varuna to hold the line while Lysithea investigated the strange, toxic black pool, okay. Distractions were better than hurting it, and if it got too close–or if Lysithea was in danger–she had Malus to back her up.
“Okay, yeah,” he said, to Varuna and Lysithea.
He wasn’t weak. He was an Eternal Senshi. He’d been in trouble and come out on top before.
He just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Just, go fast. Please,” he insisted. Malus didn’t need to be asked twice; he nodded, and turned to Lysithea to let her lead the way.
As soon as Adria saw their movement out of the corner of his eye, he swallowed the lump in his throat and faced the unicorn.
He managed to wait until it got closer–close enough that he thought his magic might have a chance while also giving him enough space to run if he needed to.
And then, he stomached the fear that had steadily built up, and summoned his second strongest magic.
…And if that wasn’t enough, maybe he’d just cast his other magic all at once to see if it bought them any time.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:14 pm
Hurrying towards the strange goopy pond, Lysithea called her super magic, hoping that something stronger might be enough to dispel whatever was causing this…issue.. “Lysithea Healing Horn!”
The tip of the ethereal horn was pressed against the surface of the pool and.
Nothing happened.
The sight of the black, sludge-like pool was…well. It was still awful, her magic did absolutely nothing. The fact that they were in the middle of a fight and a memory decided to choose that moment to reveal itself to her…that wasn’t so great either. “Uh…guys…” Her voice sounded slightly far away and Lysithea covered her eyes with her hand, half trying to push the vision away. “Um…”
The world around her seemed to fade, and suddenly there was the same woman as before. The other Lysithea. The one with the horn and the silvery hair…they were in the same garden, though it obviously wasn’t so unkempt and overgrown, and the pool that now held the black sludge looked almost normal. A little gray and murky, but not…like old tar.
A voice spoke from someone who was out of sight. “Lysithea. You know that this has to be done once a year. You’ve let it go on too long, and look at what’s happening!” The anger and reproach in the voice was almost enough to wither anyone, but the other Lysithea simply stood straight backed and sighed.
“I know. But things have been busy, I’m doing the ritual now, don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. It always is.” And pulling something that Lysithea couldn't quite see out of seemingly nowhere, there was a sudden bright, blinding light, and by the time Lysiteha could see once again, the pool was utterly clear, shining almost like a mirror, reflecting the sky and the Senshi that stood looking into it. “You see? Nothing to worry about. So long as it gets purified, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” The other Lysithea gave a laugh and whatever she had been holding in her hand vanished, but not before Lysithea saw that it was something shiny, it glinted in the light before it vanished.
“...Purify it…we…we have to purify it!” The words still sounded far away as the vision slowly faded from her eyes and she looked around, glad that the unicorn still seemed distracted with Adria’s magic.
The memory hadn’t been too long then…good.
Lysithea felt a sense of panic wash over her, and then seemed to calm a little, closing her eyes for a moment and summoning the court wand to her hand. It came far more easily now that she knew how to call it. Knew what to call. “I need your help, we have to try to purify the pool…it…it’s not supposed to be like that…I just saw, the um. Lysithea of the past purified it somehow, we need to try, if you guys are willing?”
Her eyes were frantic, though she could have kicked herself. Of course they would be willing. They were her friends. Her team. Her foundation.
“We have time before the magic ends, I need you all!” She always did. And always would, after all.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:14 pm
Okay, Lysithea was just going to run to the pond. Varuna was trying to keep an eye on Adria, and also hoped that Malus would be able to keep Lysithea from slipping and falling into the tar. She was so reckless it made Varuna’s heart seize.
But she needed to focus on one thing at a time, even if she wanted them to all be together. She kept her hands ready to use her magic in case it was needed, but Adria’s sunset seemed to be keeping the unicorn distracted enough.
So they were going to try the magic again. Doing something was better than nothing, so she took hold of Adria’s hand once more and urged him to go with her to where Malus and Lysithea were.
“Better be fast,” she said quietly, glancing over to the unicorn. She would prefer not to be kicked into the tar pit.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:18 pm
“What?” Adria said, a bit shaken to be called from one place to another so quickly. He hadn’t even been sure that the unicorn was really that distracted with his magic. He seemed torn, like he thought he should cast another one just to be sure, but Varuna had his hand and was tugging him along so he offered her no resistance.
Malus seemed strained, partly because Lysithea had just gone into some sort of trance and he really wasn’t sure that there weren’t toxic fumes or something coming out of the pond.
He watched as Varuna and Adria hurried over, and when they were getting close, he stuck his hand out and gripped the wand tightly. “Yeah, yeah–let’s just do it now,” he said hurriedly. They were pressed for time and he couldn’t tell Adria’s attacks from each other so he had no idea how long they had before the unicorn broke free.
“I’m ready,” Adria said quickly, putting his hand on the wand, too. He didn’t like the stress of the situation but he didn’t falter, and even as he put a hand on the wand he kept his eye on the unicorn. He could probably cast his magic again if he had to, but he was focusing everything he had into the wand for now.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:21 pm
The sense of relief that Lysithea felt when Varuna and the other came closer was...immense. There was no surprise there though, obviously they would come. They were family. They were a court. Reaching out, she took hold of Malus’ hand on the wand, lowering her own so that his was on top. She took a half step back so that she nudged against Adria, drawing Varuna’s hand onto the wand with the others. When they were all holding on to the court wand, she closed her eyes and tried to reach for the magic they had used up on Alastor, tried to…well. Tried to reach for it and couldn't figure out what she was reaching for. She didn’t want the shield. She didn’t want…no. They didn’t want the shield and the offensive magic, they needed to heal, needed to purify.
Drawing in a deep breath, Lysithea closed her eyes and tried to find it, and found something, a warmth coming from her friends. From her court. It filled her and moved down the court wand, a beam of light shooting out but.
Again, nothing happened.
It wasn’t working. The court magic wasn’t doing what she needed it to do. What they needed it to do. The pool was still as black and bubbling as it had been, and the Unicorn did nothing but give an angry scream again and lower its head, pawing at the ground as it prepared to charge them again. “Ru, can you try your magic? See if you can at least get it to lose its balance or something, I…I don’t want to hurt it but.”
But it couldn’t be allowed to hurt any of them either. Her eyes were on the water, and she chewed her lip, gripping the court wand tightly enough that her hands hurt under the gloves she wore. “I’m not sure what to do…”
Calling Cosmos might work. It might give them enough power to take care of this issue. To get the pool purified to…
To fix this issue that had been left to stew for over a thousand years…no wonder it was so strong.
No wonder that their magic hadn’t worked. This wasn’t…this wasn’t a group issue. This was a Lysithea Issue.
Calling Cosmos would do nothing but end in disappointment if she didn’t come, disappointment and resentment. The pool seemed to bubble with more spirit as she thought it and Lysithea narrowed her eyes at it. Interesting. Negative feelings seemed to be what the pool wanted…but they couldn't just fix this with positive vibes. That. Was stupid.
What had Cosmos said though…about those who had the power to heal. That it took great strength and resolve…well. Lysithea had that, did she not? She had strength, not just her own, but the strength of the three who were here with her. She had the resolve to keep them all safe. To save the unicorn. To protect her moon as well as the Earth. If she could just.
If she could just be more. If she could just be someone who could save them. Who could stop this. Who could purify this mess and see that they all got home in one piece…They were on her homeworld. This was her responsibility. There was a strange feeling, almost a tug from somewhere beneath her…a call that she could just barely hear, almost the same voice that she had imagined when she had started to glow.
An answer?
A bright, almost blinding light appeared in front of Lysithea at that moment, and she blinked her eyes against it, though reached out without thinking, the court wand disappearing to wherever it went when it wasn’t with one of the members.
When her hands closed on the object, the glare faded, and it turned out to be a crystal, like a flower in bloom, with the head of a unicorn in the middle reflecting all the colors of the rainbow.
By the time her head had wrapped around that though, a great power flooded through Lysithea and her fuku changed to a long dress, her buttwings growing larger, her tiara shifting to one that didn’t sit across her forehead any longer, but sat on the top of her head.
Like a Princess.
Like the Princess that she was.
“Please, I’m going to fix this. If you could cover me, I would appreciate it!” Her voice was surprisingly calm in spite of the storm of confusion that had been let loose in her mind. But she knew that she had to end this.
And she had to end it now.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:23 pm
Varuna frowned again, her eyebrows furrowing with frustration. The magic wasn’t working? Even though they were able to channel their magic together on Alastor? Was it because they weren’t doing the right thing, or…? She didn’t know. She didn’t know what the black tar was, or why the unicorn was attacking them. She didn’t want any Chaos to take over Lysithea’s world as it had Alastor’s, but she also wondered if they could go back to Earth, figure things out, and come back with a better plan. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe it would be too late.
She clenched her jaw shut, a rush of anxiety keeping her from speaking. It felt so much like when she was a child, but she didn’t understand why. These were her friends and she wanted to help them.
She held out her hand to cast her super magic, pushing the unicorn back more, her other hand still holding the wand in case she was still needed.
But this was Lysithea’s world, and they were just guests. Without the court magic--
Something else was happening. She flinched away from the bright light, but could see enough of the transformation of Lysithea changing. Large wings and a gown like Ganymede. Like others as well.
Her eyes widened in surprise and relief. Varuna nodded when Lysithea asked them to cover her, although she continued holding her tongue. She was proud of her friend for drawing out the magic she needed to help heal her world from whatever was happening to it.
Although, she also wondered if this just meant the progress she thought Lysithea was making in understanding that she didn’t have to do everything by herself and carry everyone's burdens was for nothing. She hoped not, but only time would tell. And she had faith in Lysithea, as she did Adria and Malus.
She tugged at Adria’s hand again, and reached for Malus as well, making sure he came with them so they could keep the unicorn from getting too close while Princess Lysithea was working on purifying her world.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:26 pm
Neither Malus nor Adria removed their hand from the wand despite how useless their efforts to help had been. Adria stared at Lysithea with visible confusion for a moment, but it wasn’t until Varuna tugged at his hand that he seemed to snap out of it. Malus looked like he was caught on a loop, like something wasn’t quite adding up; when Varuna touched his hand he seemed almost startled, but he tore his gaze away from Lysithea and dropped his hand from the wand as he moved with Varuna.
Lysithea thought she could do this on her own. She seemed more confident. Whatever memory she had, whatever she’d done to earn this power, she seemed to think she could handle it–and she seemed to think it could fix everything.
So they needed to make sure she had the chance to try.
The three of them against one unicorn–that couldn’t be too hard, right? It’s not like they were trying to dust it or hurt it, just distract it.
There were a lot of ways to do that.
They could hold the line.
A burst of warm light appeared for Adria; another glowing orb of light began to set. Malus didn’t know how much his magic might help–or hinder–theirs, so he was careful to only cast the weakest version of his magic. It created an illusion of a stained glass world, but he didn’t know how much that would disorient the creature, or if it might help at all.
It was worth a shot, though. He just wanted them to get out of here in one piece
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:27 pm
Lysithea closed her eyes, holding her crystal out, and feeling a warmth spreading through her, and a supreme thankfulness to Adria, Malus and Varuna. “Thank you, we’ve got this. It’s going to be okay.”
The crystal began to shine just as it did in her vision, her memory…whatever it had been, and slowly the chaos that had overtaken the pool began to recede. It took longer than it had in the memory, it was overdue by about a thousand years after all.
As the light came from her crystal and the the chaos eroded, the unicorn stopped trying to charge, it snorted in disgust and shook its head, great globs of the sludgy much falling off and seeming to sizzle as the water turned back to water. Pure and crystalline, sparkling in the light still emitting from the Lysithean Crystal.
When the deed was finished, when the feeling of wrongness had faded from the area, Lysithea gave a little, tired laugh and turned to look at the other three…the other four if you counted the unicorn who was still snorting softly and trying to get free of the hedge that its back legs were stuck in.
It looked at the three senshi and tilted its head before giving a whinny of welcome, sanity and calm restored to the light pink eyes.
“...And that’s my unicorn…I um. Told you she was beautiful.”
Taking a few steps, Lysithea made it to Varuna and let out a sigh, slumping to her knees and resting against the senshi’s leg, her new transformation fading as the exhaustion overtook her. “...That was. That was not what I had planned for.”
But her home was safe. Her family was safe…the unicorn was safe.
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:18 pm
Varuna still wasn’t sure what happened, but she was glad it seemed to be over. She was glad that no one had been hurt or gored with a unicorn horn, or sucked into a pit of tar or whatever it was that had filled the pond.
She was grateful to the two young men with her. They were all stronger and more experienced as Senshi than she was, so she wanted to learn from them while they let her be around.
When Lysithea joined them and slumped to her knees, Varuna eased herself down as well so she could place an arm over Lysithea’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple.
And then she tilted her head a bit and nodded. “See? You didn’t need me to find out if she was a boy or girl, after all,” she gently teased, finding her voice again although it was quiet. Lysithea was right, though. The unicorn was female.
“Are you okay?”
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:21 pm
Malus was still on edge. It was hard to trust that chaos could just evaporate so easily, that it could just have such an immediate effect on the world and the unicorn and–he didn’t understand this world. It wasn’t like Earth. It wasn’t like anything he’d seen before. Lysithea was quick to assure them that everything was fine and that the unicorn was fine, and–
He was tired. A strange weight had settled over him and he tried to piece together everything that just happened.
Adria was still wary; he frowned and was quite keen to keep his distance from the unicorn. Lysithea might trust it, but it had just been trying to kill them. She might have had some way to purify the water, but how did it get corrupted in the first place? And how did it affect the unicorn? Had it affected anything else? Were there other things out here for them to be worried about?
He bristled and kept his guard up; he glanced around for anything strange or dangerous, and took a small step away from the unicorn. “Are you hurt?” he asked, but his voice didn’t have much volume to it. He was nervous about agitating the unicorn, and even if he was afraid of being stabbed–after he’d promised to try his best to avoid things like that–he stood between it and them.
Just in case it was still in a trampling mood.
“What were you planning?” Malus said, a little louder and more rushed. He glanced at the unicorn and then Lysithea, and stayed close to Malus. Just in case. He’d have rather sat down on the ground with Lysithea but he still felt like he was processing everything. “What was that, what happened?”
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