knightsoflegend | chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

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chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there. Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown. Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

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[And then. Rose rolled a Nat 20 Sense Motive on Sam. That sure is. A thing. That happened.]

Sam.

[An unspoken question hanging in the air.]

[Meanwhile Sam pulls a rocking sense motive check, so he knows exactly what Rose is laying down.

It's not worth hesitating anymore. They'll be pissed, but he has to get it out on the table. Dean wasn't kidding when he said things went from bad to worse.

He wishes he'd known sooner.

His jaw clenches and he exhales a heavy breath before lowering his gaze back to the floor, fidgeting with his hands between his knees.]

I just didn't want to hurt anyone.

[He wrings his hands together, and just starts talking.]

Tia had a look inside my head, had someone poke at a lock on it. They said there was a good chance that if anyone messed with it, it could really hurt someone, and I had so little control over what was happening and I just...I didn't know what else to do.

[He looks up, gesturing to Dean.]

I was pissed. You'd made the deal and you'd shut me out. So I asked her for help.

[He figures Dean will know who he's talking about.]

I didn't make any deals or anything, but I let her in my head. She tore the walls down and I have control now, but... [He winces. It didn't stop there. They're gonna know it didn't stop there. Once he got close it was so hard to get away and she had him so convinced that it was real.] ...she was just playing me the whole time, wasn't she?

[Her Dad's worker bees had been busy in the Castle, on the most important mission they had, working next to Rose.]

I'm so stupid.

[He can't even be mad at them for not telling him something about this sooner. He was part of the problem.]

[ maybe it's even worse that he doesn't look shocked, just looks disappointed and more exhausted than ever. he runs a hand down his mouth, shaking his head and turning away for a moment. ] Yeah. Yeah, she was.

[ his eyes meet rose's for a moment, before sliding up to the ceiling ] You've been drinking her blood. [ it's not a question ]

[Like Dean, there's no surprise in her expression but instead the weight that had been gathered on the road that led them to here. It's as if she's used up all the anger she has, and all that remains is her concern for Dean, for what any of this could mean for the brothers, for just how much worse it could get before they could finally catch a break.]

[That has his brow furrowing, and he shakes his head.

Of course, they'd think that. They probably thought that this whole time, given they don't exactly look surprised by this. It only makes them avoiding him make that much more sense.]

No, Dean. I'm not.

[His voice is firm.]

I told her from the get-go that I wasn't going there. [She hadn't pushed, but now he's not so sure it was because she didn't want him to. His voice is bitter as he adds-] She was probably waiting for me to ask.

[ with a 24 sense motive, dean turns to study sam for a long second, weighing how much he believes what his brother is saying to him. ] She never tried?

[She once had told Dean that she would be there to think clearly when it came to Sam so he could let him in without fear of what he'd miss. This is one of those moments when she knows that promise she made is going to matter when Dean quietly second guesses if he can trust his instincts later. (Sense Motive 30).]

[As far as either of them can tell, he's being nothing but honest here, spilling his guts as completely as he can.

It doesn't make sense for him to tell them everything else and have this be the thing he lies about. It would be pretty obvious pretty quickly if he was lying, anyway.]

I mean, she told me what I would be capable of like...off-handedly, but in the next breath she'd say that's not what she wanted for me.

[He seems to be a little lost in his own thoughts then, like he's replaying the memories in his mind, trying to pick them apart. He'd been so sure.]

I just never took the bait, I guess, if that's what she was doing. Maybe she was just waiting for the chance to ask for my help with something different, considering her Dad's henchmen were just down the hall.

[ look at his impressive nat 20 will save. he looks ... fully relieved, honestly. ] I'm sure that ain't far off.

I'm not gonna pretend that I'm happy you went running to in the first place. But you're right... we shouldn't have cut you out.

We need you on this, Sammy. [ big swallow, as he avoids looking at rose ] I need you on this.

[For so long now it had felt like her and Dean against the world, not being able to completely trust anyone, or wanting to keep them as far from the trouble as they could manage, for those they could.

She'd never been against bringing Sam in, had wanted to talk to him long before now but because of who he was to Dean, because of the history there for him? There were some things that weren't for Rose to push.

So she should be happy to see Dean take this step, has wanted, so much for him to have a relationship with his brother but now that he can't seem to look at her as he speaks to Sam, a horrible thought enters her head and sticks there, making her insides feel like they're shrivelling up. (Sense Motive: Crit Fail.)

While she should speak maybe, the voice that was so quick to rise during the debriefing from hell - mind the pun - can't seem to make itself heard now and so she manages to push a weak smile onto her lips for the sake of either who might look at her (Will Save 17).]

Then let's just call it even and put it behind us.

[He's more than eager to do that; he'd be lying if he said that wasn't what he'd wanted to do in the first place, when he'd first come here, after he'd first fucked up and gotten involved with Glasya in the first place.

There'd been a lack of trust on Dean's part the entire time, but maybe, just maybe, they can get past that. The world coming apart at the seams tended to put things in perspective.]

I won't lie. I'm not exactly psyched about leaving- [This place had become his home, something he'd never really had, but if it was as bad as they said then maybe there was a reason they'd never stayed put before.] -but if you're going, then I'm coming too.

[ dean glances at rose, and does the slightest of double takes, but doesn't apparently think too much of it, giving sam a firm nod ] Good. We won't know for sure what's going down until they get out of that meeting.

For tonight, we just keep an ear to the ground.

Actually... [ Pushing those thoughts aside and making herself focus on the here and now. (WS 33).]

I was going to suggest we maybe, pack a bag. If they really believe we've been compromised...

[Her voice trailing off as she allows them a moment to consider where she's going with this.]

I don't want it to come to that, but with Wynn not here... I really don't know how this is going to go.

[His eyes move to Rose; he has to wonder where she stands on all this, the things he's done and his place with them, but there will be time for him to figure that out later.

He nods in agreement.]

It can't hurt. Then, at least we'll be ready if we need to make a quick exit.

Agreed. But we don't actually high-tail it out of here until we know for sure. We need to know what kind of moves they're gonna make around here, and the sooner we cut ourselves off, the less we're gonna hear.

[Nodding her agreement, he'd see no argument from Rose. It's not that she wants to go anywhere, but she was tired of being so thoroughly unprepared. Just like carrying holy water had become a form of reassurance to her, so now was having a go bag. Just in case.]

I'd rather not go anywhere until we know what's happening with Myri... [Worry twisting into something else, a troubled expression.

Telling herself that Myri didn't understand what Elena had told her, had helped Rose push aside that particular revelation for a while, but it wasn't enough to completely quiet her unease.]

And what's the deal with those Hellsing people?

What happened to her?

[Sam's met her a couple times and she's been super nice, do hearing something happened to her is a cause for concern.

He rolled a whole three before mods on a knowledge check about Hellsing so I'm gonna assume he has no idea. He looks at Dean to maybe answer that one.]

We don't know. Something the Mind Master did. She just... won't respond.

[ he glances back at rose ] Hellsing are hunters, technically. Old family, used to be the Vanhelsings. [ he raises his eyebrows ] Yeah. That VanHelsing. They used to focus on vamps, but they've expanded over the years to anything supernatural. Religious fanatics who work for the Crown.

They've got their own mini-army at their beck and call. But the most dangerous thing on their payroll doesn't get a check. It's that vampire they've got on a leash. And he's here too.

[Oh Dean. It's cute how you think Rose even knows who or what a Vanhelsing is, but she's at least not going to get fixated on that part, despite the vacant stare that gives her away.]

Yeah, that freak in the debriefing. [She didn't need her spidey sense to know what he was.] The kind of vamps I'm used to, from the other side of the veil. The really bad kind. They all look like him.

And that's what the brought in to help? Let me guess, he's the one that put that massive pentagram over the castle?

[And then Rose makes it worse. Vampires can be bad, but a really bad one is...worse.

Words.]

Well, that bodes well. What a frickin' mess.

And he ain't your friendly neighborhood Spike. This guy's a killer, with a capital K. And there's a lot of people who speculate he's the most powerful vamp out there.

Strigoi.

[She shakes her head, trying to force images of dark-haired vampires with red eyes from her head, a hand coming up to brush over her neck, as if the marks could still be seen.]

That's what we call them. They do a really good job of seeming normal at first but it's like they don't have a soul or something. Scary strong and fast but just, pure evil.

How'd they get him to work for them anyway? They're not known to play well with others. Assuming that's what he is...

Grandpappy took him down enough to put some hardcore binding spells on him, and then they've doubled down on those over the years. They've also tricked him out with some biological upgrades, same as Iscariot does with their agents.

So he's not necessarily working for them by choice. Not sure if that's better or worse.

[...Probably the latter. You know, since breaking free might be a thing he could do someday. That would probably get ugly.]

Worse. [A beat.] Just because they've got him leashed now, doesn't mean that will last forever. There's always a way.

And them being here... what exactly is that going to mean for the Knights. For us? [And by us she clearly means the three of them, what with all the Hell antics going on in this place now as well.]

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