knightsoflegend | flight ♔ pride can stand a thousand trials

WHO || Failboat [closed]
WHAT || The Knights return in the wake of the Keijen Blade concert, much worse for the wear
WHERE ||On a plane
WHEN || Directly after the concert
HOW || Actionspam or prose

The mood is darker than it's ever been as the Knights' plane takes off from the blackening skies above Los Angeles, which continue to spread out after them. They expected a trap, they expected the worst, but what actually happened dwarfed even those dire expectations.

Painful revelations about their teammates themselves, followed by the separation of Vi from the team, and then being forced to watch Blade enact a dark ritual in the concert-hall-turned-dark-temple that culminated in the sacrifice of hundreds, including the deaths of those who had been on the mission back-up team were only the beginning. Realizing at the last moment that Crombe still had no understanding of what Blade was truly doing, the team made a last minute bid to change his mind and get him to stop the ritual, but it was far too late, and as things escalated quickly, the Nightmare God Malaak'a was freed from his prison, the seal broken with the final step - Nadia's death. The god himself appeared before them, and Blade stood triumphantly behind him - only to use the dagger soaked in Nadia's blood to plunge into his father, and usurp his power for his own, ascending to some sort of deity-like powers himself.

This scene lies further and further behind them now, the images forever etched in their minds, and the silent forms of two of their teammates - one mysteriously incapacitated, the other dead, act as haunting reminders on their journey back towards the castle of what has befallen and what may be to come.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Look, I'm the last person to lecture somebody about claiming they hate somebody forever and then winding up with them, but then again, I'm not dating somebody with horns and a tail.

He doesn't have horns and a tail. [he scoffs lightly.] That's ridiculous.

Everything about this whole situation is ridiculous.

Well, considering it started out with me being a 4000 year old detective with a chip on his shoulder, chasing something that never existed, and that journey has put me in the path to what might be Drow Armageddon.... this whole situation was always ridiculous.

So if Hell doesn't want Armageddon either, why aren't your Hell hubbies here stopping it themselves?

Because they have to stick to their corners and don't get involved in things like this- same for the other side. We wouldn't be here either if it weren't personal to us. We could've just fallen off the face of the planet, and left y'all wondering without all of this... Mess. Maybe it would've been less cruel that way, but I'll cop to that being selfish- I need to finish this. This was everything Elena knew since she fell into this world, but as for me... Well, the Talisman may have been a pipedream, but it all led me here.

So it's 90% stubbornness.

I haven't really changed all that much here, so yeah... A good 90%.

What's the other ten?

I can handle politics a lot better than I used to...

I meant for why you're here.

Oh right. [He drags a hand down his face.] Because I don't want anyone else to die because of this. Because of her. [Three guesses who he means.] If I've got the means to prevent that, I'm gonna try.

Didn't seem to have the means back there.

I thought Buffy knew better than to punch the Mind Master after she almost killed three people the last time that happened. [he flinches again, and looks down at his hands.] Not that it would've helped Myri, but... I was hoping I could have done something to throw her off balance, something she wasn't expecting. I just didn't make it in time. Alainn was down, most of us were weaponless... I chose the option that helped the most of us it could.

I just thought the whole reason Wynn let you guys come along was because you had some kind of trump card to help us beat her.

[ a beat ] That word is ruined forever, isn't it.

[The look on his face SAYS YES IT IS RUINED.] We do. Killing her is hard- making her stay dead? That's even harder. The rest is on all of us to figure out, which is where I'm headed as soon as I'm done here.

So ... what? You don't know how to kill her in the first place?

I don't know how to make her drop her shields.

[flatly] So until then... please don't let anyone else attack her directly.

How are we supposed to kill her if we can't attack her?

[A bit defensively] Just until we figure out something about the shields. And then you can set her on fire as much as you want...

[He sighs and massages his temples.] I'm off my a-game here, Kat. I didn't get up this morning to watch a thousand people get boiled alive and Keijen Blade doing... Whatever the hell he did. I think, regardless of our differences and how much you all hate Elena and me right now, we can all agree that was fucked up and something should be done about it. So if this is an interrogation about me pulling my weight... I've said everything I can. And I'm sorry I didn't do more this time. It won't happen again.

No, it won't. Because next time, we're not letting her get away.

Myri's spell almost worked. I know it. We just ... have to get stronger. [ she looks suddenly as though she feels uncomfortable having said something so honest to someone she doesn't trust, and narrows her eyes at him ] And you need to spell out some demon killing tactics or whatever and stop sitting on them yourself.

[At the mention of Myri, Des's expression falters a bit.] All right, but can we at least pick up the pieces first? I can't do anything about it right now.

[ she stares at him for a second, jaw tight ] Fine. [ and with that, she turns to go back and check on myri ]

flight ♔ pride can stand a thousand trials

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject