the_lioness | (no subject)

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The final battle doesn't last long. The Swoop's guards carry the day with the considerable help of the King's Own, the angry villagers, X-23, the Lioness and the rest of her strange friends. Wounded and dying men are carefully lifted out from under downed Stormwings and carried inside. Prisoners are quickly put under guard. Warriors and villagers alike hold their noses at the stench.

"Shang," one man says to another, pointing first at Raph and X, then, hesitating slightly, at Jack. "Definitely."

(Apparently Max blends.)

"Not that one," Alanna clarifies as she walks by, jerking her head at Jack. "Pirate."

The men straighten up, tiredly lifting their swords in a salute. "But the others are Shang," the first warrior whispers when he thinks she's out of earshot.

Alanna snorts. If that's what they want to think, she'll let them. They are half right, and it's the easiest explanation. Much easier than anything she can offer Jack, she decides, coming up beside him. When she'd brought him through to Tortall the last thing she'd expected him to face was a cursed kraken.

"Jack," is all she says, pushing back sweaty hair with fingers that smear dirt across her forehead.

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"Alanna," he counters. There's a darkness in the black eyes as he swings away from the battlefield to face her, but his grin is as sharp as ever.

"Seems like your lot's won, aye?"

"Aye," she answers, lifting her chin. "It seems we have."

There's no joy in it, only a grim and frustrated relief. Lives were lost, enemies were captured and tempers were stoked. This won't be the last of it, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's true they are safe for now; even as she tries to content herself with that, Alanna frowns at the sounds and scents of the battle's aftermath and wonders how she ever could have thought there would be glory in this.

Slowly, she turns tired, bloodshot eyes on Jack and says, "I'm sorry."

Alanna's friends could count the number of times she's outright apologized on one hand.

He looks startled for a second, but doesn't pretend not to know what she's talking about.

Jack gives an elaborate shrug, even as his glance flicks toward the cove and back again.

"Wasn't you who summoned it, luv."

A beat.

"Likely you'll have a devil of a time getting rid of it now, though."

No, it wasn't; Alanna acknowledges that with a nod and decides there's no sense in trying to justify Daine's actions to Jack, especially when the girl's magic has turned her inside out on more than one occasion. However, it was her decision to let the kraken continue its destruction without interference from X. As much as she cares for Jack, her oath to king and country will always and ever come first.

She won't apologize for that.

"Actually, that's why I came to find you."

She inhales and chews on her lower lip.

His look turns distinctly wary at hearing this.

"Why's that, then?"

Alanna starts to reach for his hand -- a light touch of reassurance, something to ground the both of them in this utterly surreal moment -- when she realizes she's on his left and quickly changes her mind.

"Numair and I have a plan." Beat. "I asked you once if I could kill your beastie. I thought you might like to be there when we, ah, dissuade ours from further indulging its appetite."

The look on her face is the same one she wore in Nassau and the day he told her about Elizabeth: fierce, determined, loyal and fond.

Jack stares at her, and then his grin flashes, sudden and fierce.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he tells her.

A beat.

"Besides, might be as you'll need me."

Solemnly, "It's true. I just might."

Eyes bright, she flashes a quick and reckless sort of grin, then squeezes his hand just as fast.

"Come along then, mate. Step lively, man the anchor, heave to!" This smirk lingers. "We just need one more..."

Spotting X elsewhere on the battlefield, Alanna waits to catch her eye, then nods and gestures for her to follow.

"To the cove, Jack. To the cove."

X meets Alanna's gaze for a moment, then flicks sideways to Jack.

She falls in without another word -- a slim, bloodied figure moving as easily as she did six hours ago, twelve hours ago.

Superhuman endurance is good for many things, though not preserving clothing from rips and tears.

X does not appear to notice.

Not even when other people do.

"To the cove!"

As Alanna leads the way toward the water, Jack slants a sideways look at X and confides in an undertone, "You look bloody awful. Awful bloody, too. One or the other, savvy?"

(He doesn't seem to expect a response, nor does he wait for one before sauntering off after Alanna.)

There's a boat near the shore, with Numair in it. Daine is standing in the water off to one side.

Jack's expression is decidedly sour as he eyes her.

"You again."

Daine braces herself as a wave rolls in and tries to push her to shore. There are many things about this day that she does not understand. The pirate's hostility is only one. Looking past him to Numair, she smiles slightly at the mage and nods, ready; even now, she can sense the great beast near the sandy bottom of the cove, its tentacles weaving around small rocks, its belly full of ships and men and the sea.

She wades deeper, letting another wave buffet her tired body. This is hers to help finish.

The pirate can glare all he wants. He's not as scary as the Stormwing queen.

Alanna claps a hand on Jack's shoulder and makes a disgusted sound at the sea.

"Don't suppose you have any ginger," she asks, loudly. "Why couldn't all this happen inland like any good war should? Well, nothing to do but jump in, I suppose."

Off comes her mail. She doesn't re-buckle her sword belt, just holds the weapon high. Hoping Jack has stopped paying attention to the girl, Alanna stomps into the surf and starts for the boat, just beyond the worst of the waves. Numair is holding it steady.

X remains silent, bending over to unlace her boots and remove them before stepping into the surf.

Given how slick the kraken's skin was last time she climbed on it --

Bare feet will be more efficient, even if only fractionally.

Then she, too, wades into the surf, following Alanna.

Bloody awful or just bloody, there will be time for that later.

Now there is a mission.

"Told you to keep the bracelet with you," he snipes at Alanna. "'S why I gave it to you in the first place!"

Jack opens and closes his left hand a couple of times, eyeing the cove warily, then sighs, draws his own sword, and splashes into the ocean, toward the boat.

He seems perfectly at home in the water, even though he's keeping one sharp eye out seaward.

Shaking sea spray out of her eyes, Alanna smiles to herself. The bracelet is on her wrist, where it usually is, hidden by her sleeve.

Even warmed by the afternoon sun, the water is cold. She shivers, turning sideways into a wave, and grumbles "Don't you say a word" at Numair when he eyes her with thinly veiled amusement. He answers with a smirk and offers his hand. Alanna scrambles into the boat with a complete lack of grace and in turn offers her hands to X and Jack.

"It's time, Daine."

X boosts herself up easily enough, almost as if she has done this very maneuver every day for years.

(Maybe not every day, but swim enough aquatic combat and/or insertion missions with small boat pickup and you'll learn a few things. Maybe more than a few. Even if this boat lacks an outboard motor.)

And since magic is not her forte --

X turns her attention outward, watching for signs of the kraken. And what it might get up to next.

Taking a deep breath, Daine slowly sinks beneath the surface and reaches out with her senses.

The seals are happy the men have gone.

Somewhere nearby, a turtle is focused on a mate.

Her hair swirls into her face, but Daine doesn't notice.

Ship killer. It's fair time for you to go.

Why, little fish? he asks. I am content here. There will always be more raiders to feast upon.

Daine swallows.

This isn't your place. We agreed on these raiders. These ships. No more. My friends can make you leave. It will be better for you to go willing.

The water seethes and boils as some near-unimaginable bulk stirs beneath it. A tentacle breaks the surface, reaching toward the boat.

"Not good," Jack mutters. His teeth are bared in a snarl, and his grip on the sword is white-knuckled as he moves forward without thinking.

Watching Jack out of the corner of her eye, Alanna quietly buckles her sword belt back in place and begins the mental preparation she needs to overcome exhaustion and hours of using her Gift. Numair is a step ahead of her. A swirling cloud of sparkling black light coalesces into a net that ensnares the tentacle and drags it down.

Another tentacle breaks the surface and sends a wall of water at the boat. Once again, Alanna is cold and drenched. She scowls and starts muttering spells, her hands shaping purple light like clay.

If a kraken can laugh, this one does. Daine flinches at the cruel amusement it sends through her mind and pushes off the sandy bottom of the cove. After sucking air into her lungs, she finds Numair and shakes her head.

"He's not going to cooperate," the mage tells the others. "Daine's tried."

"Could have told you that," he mutters.

A beat.

"Happens as I did tell you that, come to think of it!"

Beads rattle as he shakes his head.

"Never thought I'd wish to see Jones again; wonder if young William's got the trick to it--"

A feral gleam is easily visible in his eye as he leans over the edge, shouting down at the creature below,

"-- you're not the first of your kind I've met, beastie, and the last what came too close to shore ended up rotting on the sand! Go back to the depths before it's too late!"

X, meanwhile, tilts her head for a moment, calculating the variables.

Then she shrugs, one-shouldered and quick, and dives into the water.

She really is a remarkably good swimmer.

And if the kraken is as large as it appears to be --

Getting close enough to hurt it is not going to be difficult.

At.

All.

A startled look crosses Alanna's face. Rotting on the sand? Jack hadn't told her that. Surprise is replaced with savage glee, which is in turn replaced with intense concentration.

"Don't worry, Jack. We're just getting started," Alanna promises, one side of her mouth tilting up in a reckless grin.

This is why she wanted him here.

"You should have fled, beastie!" Shouting, she hurls a ball of purple fire at a tentacle and blasts it apart. Numair is muttering a spell, something that is churning the waters in the middle of the cove, and Alanna starts building a wall of light. "Do you really want a rematch with my secret weapon?"

Evidently the answer is yes.

Waves rock the surface of the ocean in the cove as tentacles thrash in sudden anger, threatening to swamp the small boat.

Jack yelps, and hacks through the tip of a slimy protuberance, then stabs another one.

"We're not going to be able to last long like this, luv!" he yells.

In all this chaos X seems to have vanished from view.

Maybe she was pulled under by a tentacle, or forced down by the increasingly violent waters.

Maybe she drowned.

Or maybe -- just maybe -- people that are looking will be able to see a flash or two of pale skin amidst dark hair and dark clothing and dark water and dark kraken.

Maybe there's some blood, too. On occasion.

It really is a good thing she took her boots off. Scaling a body that big is hard work. And she still has to find one of the more vulnerable places.

(This will be easier if kraken biology resembles that of an octupus or squid. There is a chance X has studied diagrams of those -- if not much of one.)

Have faith, Jack. Have faith.

The wall spell in place, Alanna continues blasting tentacles aside as the boat drifts nearer the center of the cove. Numair's eyes close as he concentrates. Suddenly, Alanna slams her hand down on his arm.

"Not that one. We'll boil X, too."

While Numair seamlessly switches spells, the kraken flails into the wall. A flash of purple light threatens to blind them and moves like lightning down smoking tentacles toward the kraken's body. That has to hurt. Alanna nods her approval, then starts whipping the water off their stern into a frenzy. In a pinch, they'll be able to combine forces and strand the kraken on the suddenly dry bottom of the cove.

She got the idea from Jack.

"This is just the beginning!" she yells.

X should be on the beast by now.

It is one thing to acknowledge the strength of Master Numair and Lady Alanna's Gifts. It is very much another to see them wield that power side by side in a showy display of intimidation.

And where did Laura go?

Daine takes a step back, then another, moving closer to shore. The water is sucking at her ankles, pulling, and for one horrible moment she thinks the kraken has grabbed her leg and is yanking her out to sea, making her pay.

When she can, she scrambles on the beach and up a rock, eyes locked worriedly on her tall teacher.

A muted roar explodes outward through the ocean, and the water beneath the craft begins to shudder... and then appears to rush downward and away, as something huge rises up from beneath in fury.

Wood creaks and groans as the kraken's tentacles seek and find purchase along the sides of the boat, pulling the craft closer and preventing hope of escape.

Its head is angled to one side, allowing it to glare at those who have offered pain along with sport. With one giant eye now clear of the water and fixed on its prey, the kraken's maw gapes wide to swallow.

"Not again--"

He goes oddly still, and the look in the black eyes now is both still feral and yet strangely sad.

"Warned you, beastie," Jack murmurs, low and directed at the creature alone. "You should have gone back to the deeps and stayed there, a sailor's tale meant for fell nights and dark dreams, but now it's too late--"

Suddenly he moves, leaping up to balance on the rail, and metal shrieks against ivory as Jack cuts deep along the line of the jaw, severing tooth after tooth.

"-- you'll not be taking us down to the locker!"

It's difficult to gain purchase as X drops from one tentacle onto the body of the kraken, but she manages, claws digging in and drawing blood.

Then, of course, she hears Jack's should from a closer position than previously, which means the time for planning is over.

X retracts her claws for a brief second, falling down and down, then stopping with a sharp jerk when she digs them in again, sliding to a stop near level with the kraken's eye.

It's not a very intimidating sight, insofar as staring contests go. X's body is framed by the kraken's gigantic eye, which remains unblinking even amidst the chaos going on near the ship, even through the pain of Numair and Alanna's magic.

X stares back.

And then, because she never bluffs, X buries both clawed fists in that vast eye, digging deep.

And twisting.

If she has to dig through to find the brain or cerebral ganglion or whatever animating organ works inside a creature such as this --

She'll do it. Or die trying. And that second option is a lot more difficult to ensure than it looks.

For centuries, the ship killer -- man-eater, old as time -- had lurked at the bottom of the sea, feasting on whales and ships. When the human mages rounded up other creatures like him and locked them in the Divine Realms, he escaped their notice.

It took a little fish the likes of which he'd never seen and her talk of war to drag him from his depths. And what a feast had awaited him. The kraken had seen no reason to return to his dark resting spot, at least for a while.

But that was before he had one less eye with which to see.

His opinion rapidly changes.

Shrieking, shaking the rocks above and below with his pain, the kraken gathers together his remaining tentacles and flees for safer waters.

In the midst of another fire spell, Alanna feels the situation change. The tentacles that had managed to get to the boat slide away. The gigantic mass just beneath the green waters seems to fold in upon itself and disappear. Not only does her target beat a hasty retreat, but the kraken moves so fast the water is sucked after him.

It's going to take her a long time to forget the sight of all those teeth.

Numair snaps to attention, flicking a long black rope of magic from his wrist. He grabs the rope with both hands and pulls, just in time; out of the retreating waters comes X, dangling below, Numair's black cord wrapped around her calf. He grits his teeth -- it's not easy to maintain both that and the spell keeping the boat from crashing to the bottom of the cove.

Counting herself lucky that she'd already poured a good bit of her Gift into water spells, Alanna grunts as she tries to gain some measure of control over the sea before Pirate's Swoop is no longer a waterfront castle. Several tense moments pass, but finally she flings her Gift forward and yanks it back, bringing the waters along.

What was low tide is now nearing high tide. The seals on the rocks look very confused.

"Ha! Take that, you slime-ridden feculent pestiferous pustule!"

To all appearances, Jack's completely lost his mind. He's dancing back and forth from foot to foot on the rail, swaying wildly as he waves his sword in the air, whooping and howling a barrage of insults after the retreating kraken.

"Get back to your miserable pit and be sure to tell whoever's passing for Jones in this world, that Captain Jack Sparrow sends his regards!"

"You can put me down," X calls to Numair.

"It is okay."

And once she is neatly (but not gently) deposited back in the water-logged boat she looks at Jack.

Carefully.

"I do not think it can hear you anymore. The kraken."

Beat.

"You are not underwater."

Alanna laughs.

And laughs more.

She collapses to the boat's deck, laughing so hard she starts to wheeze. Numair also sinks to the boards, though he fails to understand why the Lioness finds the situation funny. The pirate seems... unhinged.

(His liberal use of kohl is admirable, however.)

"I do not think I have ever seen such a sight as that," Alanna gasps, grinning.

This could refer to a number of things at the moment.

Jack swings around to eye X.

"...ah. Might be that you're right." He sheathes his sword -- and promptly dives overboard.

Several seconds and a number of muffled noises later, a dripping Jack clambers back over the railing and into the boat, his boots thudding soddenly against the wooden deck as he lands.

"Much more better." He flashes a broad grin at everyone.

X laughs, the sound short, sharp, and a little bit surprised.

Now that was a new experience.

Edited 2009-09-18 05:10 (UTC)

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