Mission Impossible

[Patches]

"So not a mortal, then." Kor'ulach stroked his chin in thought. Yang was too serious to make that up and he wasn't a trickster demon like some of the imps Kor'ulach ran into. No, Yang was a much higher caliber than those. He was protecting the offspring for a reason, then. If what he said was true--and Kor'ulach had no reason to believe he was lying--then he truly might bring about destruction.

"How is that a problem?" Kor'ulach asked, raising a brow as he regarded Yang. "Chaos, destruction... Isn't that what we stand for?"

[Yang]

"That's what you stand for," Yang said darkly. "That and running out on your betrothed with no warning." He had to add that. He had to, it wounded him and prickled at him and--it was just insulting! No one said that demons and devils were honorable but that was a whole different matter altogether.

"You're going to ruin everything if you free this human. So stop. Meddling."

For once, he needed Kor'ulach to let things be. Even Yang didn't know the full extent of his master's--that was, his true master and not these humans who summoned him--plans. He made a shooing motion with his hand. "Take these idiot children away from here before the girl's family returns."

[Patches]

"That last part was completely unnecessary," Kor'ulach said dryly. As if running out on betrothed demons was something to stand for. But sure, he stood for chaos and destruction. In fact, he reveled in it. He might have even stirred his poor hapless master into a few messes in the past just because he could. He even intended to ruin the wedding but he actually turned out to like Temperance so he decided to let that one pass.

Although he still thought Charles was undeserving of her.

"So," he said impatiently, "strip his power and hand over the boy. You get to keep all your silly powers and we get the boy. Win/win."

[Yang]

"I can't strip his power. Only the master can strip his power." And his soul, and everything useful within the vessel. Yang wanted to see that happen. The young man that they had imprisoned inside the room was, as the humans put it, a right pain in the ass. Actually he reminded Yang of Kor'ulach. A lot.

"If you won't help, at least don't make a mess of this too," he snapped as he glared at Kor'ulach, then at the humans who were on their feet again, looking scared and wary. "I'm not letting you inside so if you want to go through with this foolishness, then you'll have to kill me."

Not that Yang would stand by idly and let them. He would banish Kor'ulach if he had to. They were demons--death was nothing to them. It barely even hurt. All they had to do was find a way back up top again, usually through an unwitting, foolish summoner.

[Patches]

Kor'ulach rolled his eyes. How powerful could one little mortal be? Yang couldn't even strip his power on his own? He couldn't do it with Meathead? Turning his head toward where the mortal was encaged, Kor'ulach ignored the rest of Yang's rant. Ooh, Kor ruined everything again! Boo-hoo. Why didn't he cry about it to his old crippled master that couldn't even do his own damn dirty work? (Never mind that if Kor'ulach was in his position, he'd probably have minions doing his work for him, too.)

"I'll do it, then," he said haughtily, heading straight for the mortal without a care in the world. How much trouble could he get into, anyway? The mortal was being rescued by him and Yang and Meathead couldn't stop him! (Or they could, he supposed, if they actually worked together. There was probably a reason they'd been the chosen ones for the job.)

He raised a hand and curled his fingers inward to pull the power toward him but he was met with an unexpected resistance.

And then the flow of power started going in the other direction, toward the mortal.

[Yang]

"Stop! Don't! You don't know what you're doing!" Yang cried out as Kor'ulach made a beeline for the inner chamber. Zohod hurried after him too, but stopped in his tracks as though frozen. Yang, too, felt his limbs stiffen. Only his eyes moved, shifting to Kor'ulach in mounting horror. Was this his doing? Did he freeze them? But it didn't feel like his power.

It felt like the Master's.

From where he stood, he could see the cage. And the white, thin, gaunt face pressed to it, with a smile that made his very soul shiver. The look in the young Hazleton heir's eyes was... it was like nothing that Yang had ever seen before. Bony, long fingers clasped the bars and he seemed to be forcing his face closer and closer, almost as though he thought he could squeeze his entire body through if he tried hard enough.

"Kor'ulach! What's happening?!" He had to use telepathy to communicate now, since his lips wouldn't move.

[Patches]

Apparently

he

didn't know what he was doing.

Apparently

he couldn't stop the flow of his own power. Instead of growing more powerful by robbing the power from the mortal, he was instead losing his own power. It was a strange feeling; it had never happened to Kor'ulach in his entire life and he'd lived a long, long, long life.

Try as he might to tug that flow of power back toward him, it didn't work. And when he attempted to simply cut off his power altogether, it didn't work, either. It was like he didn't have control over his own power. Unsettled, he dropped onto his knees and then forward, hands hitting the floor.

"He's..." he could barely even get the words out. "... he's..."

Puff!

The plume of smoke and he was a cat again, dropping onto its side and panting and then letting out a terribly pathetic meow.

[Temperance Ayers]

"Teddy!"

Tempie ran into the room after Yang and Patches and the giant of a man, calling out her brother's pet name, only to see them frozen in place. At least, the last two were. Patches was kneeling, looking horribly ill, and then--POOF!--he was a cat again. Tempie ran to pick him up, cradling his limp form protectively.

"Teddy stop it! You're hurting him! He's a friend!" She ran to the cage that held her brother and her heart just about broke at the sight of him. He looked like he'd been starved for months. His entire body had wasted away to nothing; she could see the bones protruding from his hands and his cheeks. His hair fell lank by his temples and his eyes--there was something inhuman about the way he hungrily looked out at her.

"Teddy, hold on, I'll get you out!"

With Yang and the giant apparently incapacitated, Tempie looked around for a key. That was pretty stupid, though, because the entire cage had no doors. Magic. It was sealed. She tried to put a hand out to touch it but recoiled as the magic pushed her back. "Charlie! Help! It's sealed!"

[Charlie Ayers]

"Whoa!"

Everything was going sideways. The guardians were frozen and Patches, Patches was about half dead. Sometimes he played at it when Charlie wanted him to do something but there was something about his limp form that screamed he wasn't playing now. His green eyes rolled back and then they were just white. Charlie's own eyes widened and he touched the top of the cat's head.

Inside the cage, though...

Charlie recoiled at what he saw there. This was what had been trying to steal his energy--his soul. And he looked... He looked like no human being that Charlie had ever seen. He looked... sick. He looked... dead. But he was alive, somehow. Charlie retched in the back of his throat and turned away.

"Oh my god..."

Getting a hold of himself, he managed not to be sick and took in a couple of shaky breaths. Time to man up. He had to help Tempie with the magic.

"Okay. Okay. Let's..."

He reached out and his hand was pushed back, too. The magic was strong but surely... He looked over at Tempie. She was strong, too. Charlie, too. They had chosen the two of them for a reason. Making up his mind, Charlie reached out and took Tempie's hand.

"Robbie, stay back!" he warned. Then to Tempie. "Together, all right?"

[Temperance Ayers]

"Tempie..."

Teddy's voice was a rough, low croak. He reached out but the force that kept them out also pushed Teddy back. Tempie let out a cry as her heart wrenched again, throbbing in her chest. Those monsters! They were torturing him down here! "Teddy, stay back! We'll get you out!"

She grasped onto Charlie's hand and in that moment, she couldn't remember feeling more fond of anyone in her life. Even if he made that terrible noise at the sight of Teddy--which Tempie heard, oh yes--he was still here. He was here for her when no one else was and Tempie couldn't have been any more grateful.

"NO!" Yang's frantic voice echoed in her mind but she tried hard to shut him out. He was the enemy! Of course he'd try to stop them! She glared at his still-frozen form once, and then turned back to her brother. Tempie focused all of her power, every single bit of it, onto the cage. She willed her magic to bore through it, to drill through and break the barrier. All the while, in the back of her mind, she knew that her family must be closing in but she refused to stop trying.

Sweat beaded on her temple as the barrier buckled. It didn't break, though. "More Charlie! A little more!" She sensed the cracks forming now, spidering all along the face of the invisible wall. Tempie felt like her heart would explode, and every inch of her burned with the exertion, but some feverish inner demon spurred her on. Even when something sharp and metallic tickled the back of her throat, she kept trying. If it killed her, she was going to free Teddy!

[Charlie Ayers]

"I.... I... am...."

Charlie, too, was accessing every ounce of his magical power and even beyond that. He was pulling from the beyond, from wherever dear old Patches came from. Normally, he would have used Patches' immense strength but he was afraid to try that, now that he was clearly drained of energy. So he pulled from the holes in the dimensions around them and he ripped them apart, tearing them open forcefully and bringing that energy into himself and then back out, toward that damned shield.

And he could feel it working, his power and Tempie's power, combining. It was a force to be reckoned with. Despite the resistance it tried to give, the magical shield around Tempie's brother began to crumble. The cracks widened and pushed apart, the magic giving way.

It felt like it was crumbling Charlie, too. His body had never felt so much strain. Sweat poured down his face and arms and his breath came out harsh, lungs bursting, heart racing. He held tight to Tempie.

"I think... it's working!"

And it was. The holes in dimensions, however, were widening, too. And all around them, electricity crackled and the groans and howls of monstrous creatures not of their world filled the air.

[Temperance Ayers]

"We're doing it! It's working! It—"

Then, like a giant hand slamming into them, Tempie was knocked back. The barrier reformed, strong and impenetrable, and as Tempie lifted her head, she saw her family and coven there at the entrance of the room. Witches and warlocks were chanting, bringing the barrier up, separating them from Teddy who had shrunk into the furthest reaches of his cell now.

A sob broke out from the very back of Tempie's throat. Without thinking, she clung to Charlie and buried her face into his shoulder. It was no use now. They couldn't fight against the entire coven of elders and experienced witches...

Hard, strong hands seized her then, forcing her apart from Charlie. She clawed and scratched like a wild creature but it was no use. They pulled them away from each other—Robbie too, though he hardly struggled—and Tempie shrieked at them to let her go, all to no avail.

[Charlie Ayers]

"No!"

He could taste blood dripping down his nose into his mouth as he cried out. The crumbling shield was back up, stronger than ever and he was so drained that he could hardly stay on his feet. The dimensions snapped closed around them but the screams were still in his head. Worst of all, Tempie was crying and her family was ripping them apart from each other, no matter how hard Charlie tried to hang onto her.

"No! What are you doing?!"

They ripped her away and when he went for her, there were several members of the coven grabbing him and pulling him back and away from Tempie. They were so close. So close and this...

"No..." His legs wanted to give out so badly but he refused to show such weakness in front of these people. He tried to pull his limbs from them but they held him firmly in place. And there she was, the matriarch of Tempie's family, walking calmly toward them. But there was something not so calm in her eyes as she looked at Tempie.

"Leave her alone!" Charlie struggled to get to her but his throat was grabbed in a chokehold to prevent him from trying again.

[Robert Stephens]

Robbie knew that this was all foredoomed to failure from the very ill-advised start. He went through with the dramatic escape, the battle between demons, even the attempt at breaking the barrier and he watched with mounting apprehension. Though he didn't help them, he didn't hinder them either. He... didn't want this.

All he wanted was to live peacefully with Charlie, the way they once did. But once Temperance Hazleton came into the picture, life became chaotic. Charlie was smitten with her from the beginning; he was in love with her, despite her best efforts to rebuff him. At first, Robbie left well enough alone. If she kept it up, Charlie might give up on her in time.

But then she warmed to him. Of course she would. Charlie was perfect—the perfect witch, perfect older brother. He was patient, loving and caring, and everything anyone could possibly want in a partner. He was also, however, foolishly in love and now all was lost.

Robbie didn't struggle the way that Temperance and Charlie did. He let them pull him aside, watched in silence as the imposing Hazleton matriarch approached Temperance. What she did to her, Robbie didn't know because something crashed into the back of his skull, rendering him unconscious.

When he came to, it was to a throbbing, splitting headache. He reached out in darkness and touched what felt like a limp hand. "...Charlie...?"

[Charlie Ayers]

"Nmgghhh..."

Why did everything hurt so much? Charlie coughed and his hand twitched slightly under the hand of somebody else. The voice that spoke his name...

"Robbie?"

He was lying face down on a stone floor. Ugh. His everything ached as he forced himself to sit up. When he reached up to wipe something off his face, he found it crusty. Looking down, he could see flakes of something on his hand. What the...? Then he recalled the magic, the power, and Tempie.

"Tempie?!" He reached out for Robbie's arm. "What'd they do with her, Robbie?"