CHAPTER THREE ♔ heaven rain the colors down to form another prize

[romanticidal]

♬ someone like you (acoustic) - brian vander ark

WHO || Rafael, Buffy, Des
WHAT || The OT3 escapes Italy
WHERE || Venice --> etc
WHEN || June 8th
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

It's already about ten or eleven in the morning by the time Raf, Buffy, and Des made it to a hotel in Venice and got a couple rooms to crash in for a few hours, since they were running on zero sleep and a lot of adrenaline after their escape from Rome and subsequent barrage of revelations.

A few hours of rest is all they're looking for before they make their way back to London, but they're still cut off from the Knights, thanks to Iscariot taking all their phones.

When Buffy's eyes flutter open after some very, very satisfying sleep, it might take her a moment to realize that she's actually awake. Rafael's face is remarkably close to her own since they're sharing a pillow, and his own eyes are open, studying her face with a thoughtful, fond expression and the shadow of a smile on his cheek. One of his arms is still wrapped around her, and he squeezes her side when he sees she's awake and greets her gently.

"Buongiorno, carina."

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

[ring ring zaradphone. he must pick up, because des immediately perks up.]

Hey, it's me. [There's a terse pause. Des leans back. Surprisingly, there's no yelling. Or maybe not surprisingly. Des you can't just transpose your temper problems onto your boyfriend.] Oh you know. Around. Took Rafael to the airport. Got kidnapped by the Roman Catholic Church so they could execute my friends and brainwash me. Typical weekend. How've you been?

[slightly less terse pause. des doesn't miss a beat.] Apparently, I'm a Satanist. We really gotta cut back on the infant sacrifice and lamb's blood keggars, babe. No, I'm not bullshitting you. I told you those assholes were out for blood months ago. Just when you thought it was safe to get back in a fuckin' limo. I just now found a phone. We're on our way back.

[He sighs and rubs his face awkwardly as Zarad talks.] Well, as princely as I am, they are very hard to negotiate with. We'll talk about it when I'm back in London.

[whatever zarad said on the other side of the phone is apparently enough to make Des stick his tongue in his cheek and try to feign like he has composure. When he finds his voice, he deadpans.] Stop. You're gonna make me blush.

[A shorter pause.] I know you do. I'll see you soon, all right? Love you.

[He hangs up the phone and rolls his eyes with a little self-satisfied smirk.] I forgot the bastard wouldn't panic if the sky was caving in.

[romanticidal]

If only I could be certain things would go so well with Burt.

[slay]

Hey, we got our plane. I consider that a success. Remind me not to punch him the next time I see him.

[nothingsodivine]

A plane that comes with the all-strings attached bonus of full disclosure if he asks for it. There's no BS-ing him when we owe him that much.

[Des has a code of honor, apparently. He can throw his dead girlfriend under the bus, but fuck if he's gonna lie to someone he owes a favor.] But it might go better than I'm expecting. You can't make him any money if you're dead.

[romanticidal]

I will deal with Burt. [ he's used to it ] I am just glad your ... that Zarad did not over react. [ raf, it's not overreacting when you actually were kidnapped to be executed by the catholic church. or brainwashed. it is JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF REACTING. ] I still have to speak to Isabella.

[slay]

[ muttered: ] Great. Everybody's calling their ... [ mimics rafael's awkward silence and refusal to say boyfriend. ] How keen. [ w/e buffy will call ... someone ... kat ... maybe spike ... ]

[nothingsodivine]

She's actually gonna yell.

[Meanwhile, Des side-eyes the fuck out of Buffy. Girl why you being insecure. You got Schrodinglaid last night.]

[romanticidal]

I am certain Burt has told her by now. Perhaps... that call can wait.

[slay]

[ oh. awkward. that means he definitely acknowledged her—well. okay.

buffy clears her throat. ]

I guess that leaves Wynn, so he can send somebody to pick us up.

[ hrnnnnngh.

okay here goes. she grabs the phone. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des is gonna investigate the jet's alcohol supplies. (search 23??)]

[romanticidal]

[ uh it's burt's plane. what do you expect here. ]

[slay]

Bad time? 'Cause I kinda expected that to be an exclusively my end thing.

[ there are short breaks between buffy's words before she prompts her own explanation.. ]

Kinda lost my phone in the … being kidnapped. It's a whole … Thing. Forget it. What announcement? [ a beat. ] Iscariot, and then some. It's been a riot. We got Becksworth to put us on a plane back. I'm bringing Rafael and Des with me.

[ another short pause. ]

Alive. Mostly unharmed. They had this whole big execution planned—and let me tell you, I feel terrible breaking up the party—but we got away clean. From the snipers, too.

I don't think so. We lost Iscariot in Rome, and the others in Venice before we took off from Milan. They got us in the limo on the way to the airport, though, so they might be waiting for us in Heathrow.

[ a longer pause as wynn takes time to explain the situation. alarm begins to build in buffy's expression and she turns away from des and rafael, voice sharpening. ]

… The one in our dungeon? The one that—[ She stops, biting down on her tongue. ] How's Elena? [ beat. ] Kidnapped?

[ someone else was kidnapped? ??? worst day. actually it just keeps getting worse when she hears wynn's correction. a pit sinks in her stomach and she smooths a hand over her forehead, steadying herself. ]

And the team in New York with Myri? We saw the news. [ And thankfully Des at least remembered people were there … because Buffy sure didn't …

After a few more moments of silence, Buffy's expression blanches and the phone slips out of her hands, clacking against the back of the seat it's attached to. Her hand remains loosely held up by her ear and her eyes search the plane, lips parting but unable to find words. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[ALL OF THE BOOZE THEN. HOORAY.

Des returns at the mention of his name, so he hears everything from that point on. He unscrews the cap on some mini bottle of vodka and stares at her when she drops the phone.]

What the hell happened?

[romanticidal]

[ raf reaches out a hand to buffy's shoulder and picks up the phone, staring between it and her with concern. ] Buffy? What is wrong?

[slay]

Luthir.

[ she shakes her head, tears stinging the edges of her eyes with empathy for what vi must be going through. they’d only just gotten married. they had a whole happy life ahead of them—they were supposed to, anyway. ]

Luthir’s dead.

[ she stares down at the phone like somehow it’s the culprit, even if wynn on the other end is simply the messenger. ]

[romanticidal]

No... [ raf stares in shock for a moment, before squeezing her shoulder and turning his head away as he lifts the phone to his ear and continues for her. ] Sorry, she is... She is here. It is just very shocking for us to hear. Si. How-- [ he grows pale as wynn explains, then his teeth grit together slightly, eyes sliding over to meet des' for a moment. ] I see.

[nothingsodivine]

[well.

des feels like shit now. he runs a hand over his face and cringes when rafael looks at him. he'd been so convinced that blade was bullshitting...]

Sonuvabitch.

[slay]

[ On the bright side, this is one time Buffy will never pull the I Told You So card. Someone died. That's not the kind of thing to be smug about. She rubs her hand against her mouth, getting herself under control, and then reaches out to take the phone back from Rafael. ]

I've got it. It's — [ Well, it's not okay. She presses her lips thinly together, but keeps her hand held out as she opts not to finish that sentence. All she can think is how happy they were just two days ago, saying their vows, celebrating with their friends. It's not fair. ]

[romanticidal]

[ raf frowns, but nods, handing it back so that wynn can fill her in on the rest of... the terribleness. yay. ]

Poor Vi...

[nothingsodivine]

I thought that bastard was bluffing us out.

[Of course it doesn't mean that Blade was telling the truth. It could have been an unfortunate coincidence.

...Yeah.

Des and his bottles of convenience alcohol will just take a seat over here now.]

[slay]

[ Buffy concludes the call, clarifying that Keijen Blade was involved in New York and Vi is safe. She reiterates that Rafael will be coming back to the castle with them and that they should talk more there before hanging up. ]

Vi's alive. Whatever hold he had over her, it's gone. [ Small consolation in the wake of Luthir's death. The plan worked exactly like Elena and Buffy knew it would. ] But Elena's gone. She took the doppelganger out of the dungeon and ... I don't know. Eloped. All we know is she went willingly.

[ She sighs, rubbing the side of her neck. ]

I guess we weren't the only ones having a bad couple of days.

[romanticidal]

She broke him out of the castle? [ what. the. fuck. ] I did not know they were--

[nothingsodivine]

[Des snorts.] Doesn't matter what they were. He was the only other doppelganger she knew. She's a kid- a lonely, frustrated kid dealing with the fact that she's a species most people would rather shoot first then try to be friends with. He could be playing her like a fiddle and she'd follow anyway, because she probably felt safer with her own kind after everything.

[slay]

I hope you're right.

[ Buffy shakes her head, glancing out the window. ]

Because if she doesn't feel safe, then it means she's terrified right now. [ And Buffy sure as hell doesn't wish that on her. ] But she knows exactly what she's doing. He's hurt Elena more than any of us—he got under her skin, and betrayed her. [ Wis 21 to remember their conversation about how Elena doesn't hate him, even now. ] If he's playing her, she knows it. Which means we can get her back.

[romanticidal]

Si. We must. [ no doubt about it. get off our ladies' dicks, bad guys. raf is 100% over it. ]