Instance 9: Cynthia

Fuck. That was rough.

I watched as all of the life faded from Dawn’s eyes.

It hurt. Badly.

I looked across the buildings. About two hundred feet away, on the next rooftop, only visible through a dingy overhead lamp, I could see the crouched form of Evander, rifle leveled, and now being pulled up and placed on his back, as he stood.

The fused spirit then raised their hand to the sky, and discharged a small flare with Iris. One which illuminated the sky briefly with a floating ‘J’ symbol, before fading. When I looked back away from the symbol, Evander was gone. Probably off via Zephyr.

The J, if I had to guess, meant the Jefferson building. Where it had all began. Of course the French bastard had a sense of dramatics. My annoyance almost distracted me from the body in my arms for a moment. Which crushed me a small bit again when I looked at it again.

She wasn’t smiling, her expression had been contorted into a mixture of pain, joy, and sorrow in her final moments, something which would now likely be seared into my memory.

Feeling the rain start to intensify, and the warmth of the former embrace starting to fade, I finally decided to move. Gingerly lowering Dawn to the ground, and closing her still open eyes, before tucking her body to the side, I took off my leather jacket and laid it over her. I dunno why. It just felt like I should.

I then scanned my surroundings. Seeing the small form of Calypso flitting around above, looking downright panicked. I didn’t blame her.

I looked up to her, and just held out my arm.

“Come here, little one. You know how this works…”

At first, she didn’t move. But after I kept my arm out for a few moments, she came down to a landing. Looking at me and saying something I couldn’t understand due to her not being my spirit. But I just took a deep breath. Calling Andromeda to me. She landed behind me, and we merged.

We then absorbed Calypso.

“Another one. Very good. And this one holds immense use as well.”

Andromeda’s voice cut through, sharp and clean. Commanding.

“I hope you are correct. Lest you end up forgotten in the gutter.”

Maeve’s voice was next. She’d done nothing but try to unnerve me since she’d merged with Andromeda, likely out of spite. I could feel parts of Rebecca, deep down, which would boil to the surface from time to time whenever something happened that might invoke her spirit. She couldn’t speak, but she could feel, that much I knew, and I was trying to be a welcoming guest.

Now, I had added Calypso. In terms of a physical change, not much had seemingly changed about me and Andromeda’s merged form…save for a bit of sparkling dust which lingered between our limbs.

“…You tricked Dawn” A younger sounding voice, which I assumed was Calypso’s rang out in my head next.

“I didn’t trick her. I didn’t lie. We’re going to have this all fixed. Then it’ll all end up fine.” I replied, undoing the merge before Calypso could potentially respond for now. Or before Dawn’s spirit could potentially flare up. I really hope she wasn’t going to be mad. I didn’t trick her. I felt adamant about that, but…

I’d still gotten her killed. Even if it was reversible.

It was because of that, and the fact that I felt like being a bit of a bitch to Enzo, that I decided to walk to the Jefferson building instead of flying with Andromeda. I needed the few minutes it would take to think. To suffer with my own thoughts.

I walked across the roof back towards the door, opening it, and restraining myself the best I could from looking over my shoulder, back towards where Dawn’s body had been. I successfully resisted the urge, and shut the door behind me with a sense of…almost finality, as I began to descend the stairs back to the ground floor, dripping water behind me from my drenched hair and top. Save for the faint drippling of water and the echo of my own footsteps, however, I was alone with my thoughts. Not something I was the biggest fan over. Especially after…that.

While not merged, Andromeda was the only spirit who could communicate with me, the other two were sealed in her form, but Andromeda wasn’t a talker. She’d learned early on in our relationship she couldn’t really boss me around, especially once I figured out how much the power dynamic had her relying on me for some pretty basic abilities. Me and Dawn had figured that out together, even though she and Calypso had a good dynamic, she still wanted to help set some boundaries. All of us had been suspicious of the shadows at first, and were worried they might try to possess us or something. I had been Andrew who had assured us that it wasn’t like that, after doing some research and observation of the shadows and their behaviors.

Andrew. That guy still perplexed me. He’d confronted me yesterday, said Enzo was using me, then according to the French bastard himself, he’d confronted him alone and had gotten killed. Evander had taken the shadow, but it was somehow refusing to work with him. I was honestly surprised he’d had the shadow at all, in truth. Their name was Delphi. Which, if myths had anything to say, meant Andrew had more planning ability then we’d thought. But Enzo couldn’t figure anything out, and the names had been deceitful before, so we proceeded as normal.

Still. I’d liked him. Even though it wouldn’t be permanent…I’d felt a pang of guilt.

I’d reached the bottom floor by now, opening the door into the outside and back out into the rain in further silence. I heard the faint boom of thunder and for a moment almost worried about being struck by lightning-before dismissing it. There was no fucking way. Just some little girl fear.

Shaking it off, I pressed onwards towards Jefferson. Once more restraining my gaze from looking up at the rooftop, instead affixing my eyes forward and electing to take a slight detour around one of the other nearly larger buildings, so I wouldn’t have to look at the Franklin building at all for the rest of this.

Even though it was far out of sight, the body and expression of Dawn was still plastered on my face. She’d been the first one to reciprocate something, anything like love, at least on that end of the swinging spectrum of my attraction. I’d had boyfriends before, and I’d even liked a few, but…this had been different. Girls I’d liked had always been different. I dunno how I realized I’d liked both ends, but it had just been something I’d come to terms with and then shoveled down into me somewhere, for my own good, after what I’d seen on T.V about the nasty huts witches who would kiss each other in their evil huts while spreading plague onto society.

This was different. I corrected myself a few moments after the supposedly incorrect thought had passed, somewhat fruitlessly. It wasn’t over yet. She’d be back. We could pick up where we left off. It would be fine. I’d never have to think about that expression on her face ever again. Yeah.

Pressing on through the rain, I rounded a corner to the next building, only a hop skip and a jump away from Jefferson, or what was left of it. Where it had all began. My thoughts kept coming back to that. Enzo was dramatic. That had to be the reason…

They had cordoned it off, after they’d dug up David and the few other bodies. But that wouldn’t stop me. The only reason I considered it in the first place was because of the way I was planning the route out in my head, going over the limited barrier, around the back, through a window, and up a staircase I was pretty sure hadn’t been collapsed yet. In the absolute work case scenario, I’d merge and use either Andromeda, Calypso, or both to force a way through, or go out and fly back around. But I figured that was what Enzo would be expecting, and though we were working together…

I still didn’t trust him.

No matter what happened I wanted to put off merging as long as possible. I didn’t want to have even a small chance of feeling anything I didn’t want to feel from Calypso and her…passenger. I couldn’t handle it right now. I’d wait until the very last second.

Granted, the last second might not be very far off. I would assume, if Enzo wanted to meet, at this stage, it wasn’t to talk. He’d probably already lured Mark and Kelly out somehow, or was just counting on them to have followed Dawn, or something in that vein. He’d want me to help him deal the final blow, put those two down, then take my shadows from me, thus having all of them and doing what he promised.

The idea of Mark and Kelly finding Dawn, with my jacket over her, made me feel sick to the head and stomach. They’d think I killed her, wouldn’t they. Then had second thoughts or something. Hell. I may as well have, even if technically the killing blow wasn’t mine. They’d think I was pathetic. I’d wanted to explain the plan to them, to everyone, before Paul and Rebecca but…I hadn’t. Why?

I was afraid, for one…and a part of me wanted to get rid of the shadows, too. Get rid of the targets Enzo had said would be on our backs, from wizards, and other supernatural’s. The way he’d explained it to me was that we were safe, until we left campus, or this town to be more specific. If he had to guess, someone representing the supernatural establishment was already watching, waiting for something to happen so they could take action. Thus far we hadn’t given reason, likely since so far, not many normal people had been involved. Or it was just below the radar enough. Either way, I didn’t want to tangle what was out there. Individually, I was sure we’d get stomped. But Enzo and Evander, with all twelve spirits? They’d be unstoppable. And the other eleven of us would be left powerless, and likely off the hook.

I wanted that more then anything. To the point where I was willing to kill for it. Even if, as I reassured myself again, the killing was temporary.

It was temporary. It was temporary.

I repeated the mantra, as I pulled myself over the meager barricade they’d put up against the partially collapsed building. I would have been worried about campus security, but I doubt they would be about in this storm, and even if they were, they wouldn’t be able to see me. The rain was pelting down harder and harder by the minute, and I’d nearly slipped pulling myself over the barricade, even though it wasn’t that high. Thankfully, I kept my balance, and was soon over the obstacle, and walking towards one of the back windows. Moving through the sludge and mud of the general area, I reached the window and jimmied it open, sliding into the first floor of the Jefferson building, mud tracking inwards, though I wasn’t paying that much mind, considering it was doubtful anyone would come to work here in this building for awhile. Trying to remember the general layout of the building from the one meeting with an advisor I’d had in here near the start of the semester, I headed towards the general back, avoiding the center where I knew the collapsed portions to be, which thankfully wasn’t far from where I’d entered. It was hard to make things out fully in the dark, but I eventually found my hands onto the cool metal of the push door into the stairwell, entering into the dark but unmistakable atmosphere of said stairwell, slowly starting to head up the stairs. Considering how wet I was, I wasn’t keen on running and potentially slipping down stone stairs. That…and I wanted to take my time. I needed to be prepared when I went to talk to Enzo. I couldn’t do anything rash.

I was…slightly angry that he’d killed Dawn like that. I’d hoped he’d have some kind of other method, like throwing something at her throat telekinetically to decapitate her, or something in that vein. Instead, he’d crushed her chest, then done it again, an agonizing ten second death. I hadn’t expected Enzo of all people to care about human suffering, but I’d hoped he’d be efficient. Whatever. It was fine. This would all be fine.

I was about halfway up the stairs, the darkness in front of me now slowly adjusting to my eyes, enough for me to make out the marked up walls and the dingey look to it all. Even before being destroyed, Jefferson was a shithole. And then Enzo had killed someone in it. Apart of me though that this place might get torn down. The last remnant of the initial and inciting deed done here wiped away. That would be nice, once this was said and done. Though that did bring up the question of how we were all going to justify coming back to life considering the police investigation…but honestly, at this stage, I didn’t care as long as it worked. Shaking that from my head, I soon reached the top of the stairs, putting both hands on the door which would lead me to the rooftop and Enzo. I hesitated, visibly…then realized there was no real point in stalling. He had Arthur and he had a bigger range then ever, so he already knew I was here. I pushed the door open, and stepped out onto the rooftop.

I could see the shape of them, merged, and standing on the opposite edge of the roof. Rifle and axe stowed, they looked almost like an old painting of a warrior. Like something you’d seen depicting Napoleon Bonaparte. Almost.

Over time, the merged form, and Evander himself in general, had become more and more horrifying, if you thought about it. Now? The spirit was massive, easily twelve feet tall, the merged form about the same height, clad in bronze armor, the front of which was fully decorated with some form of military honors and metals of a land that was surely far from here, and knowing the potential age of the shadows, likely long dead. The decorations did add to the intimidation, and was likely the carry over when merging Atlas and Evander, outside of the now added massive battle axe to their back alongside the rifle. The axe would likely be unliftable by me, but I knew they could lift it one hand, and throw it obscene distances. The masks of Iris and Juno were more integrated into the armor now. Like the spirits had been subdued beneath the might of Evander, now more akin to shoulder plates then masks, the masks imagery now carved into the bronze of the armor, image reflecting. Arthur too, seemed to have been well integrated, with the original strange distortion at the neck being replaced by the helmet as a large, symbols of tendrils also now being carved into it, curling up their neck and helmet. Zephyr was the only lingering effect which hadn’t seemingly been subdued, with parts of the armor still shunting from time to time, as if defiant. Like Larry himself was stick kicking, somewhere in there. Though the effect was weak, and didn’t do anything useful like expose a weakness.

“Conduct yourself well, regent. You want to be in their good graces. Prim and proper.” Andromeda’s voice had cut off my internal thoughts and train of them, I’d frankly almost forgotten the pixie dust covered spirit had been there at all during my walk over, likely by design as I’d been lost in thought most of the way. But I nodded, before responding.

“I’ll do my best to finish this tonight.” I said that with confidence, through our link.

“Very good, regent. Good luck. I will be there when you need me”

At least one person was certainly on my side. Or at least had a vested interest in seeming that way. I began striding towards the merged pair, who turned around to face me. I kept my face neutral, knowing I would likely have to get close to communicate with them through the torrents of rain.

“Hello, Enzo.” I said once I was close enough. “Good evening.”

They turned to face me.

“Good evening, Cynthia. I see you’ve collected Calypso successfully.” No sign of emotion or anything in Enzo, for once.

“I did. Thank you for your assistance.” I said calmly, despite my building emotion.

“Then we are ready to begin the final phase. Mark and Kelly are on their way.” They pointed back the way I came, to the Franklin building. Very distant, barely visible through the rain. But I could see faint trails of golden movement. Orion and Artemis.

“I see. Then we shall face them together, yes? With Calypso, Andromeda is much stronger.”

Evander and Enzo paused, a moment. Then another. Before they finally spoke again. “I believe it may be best for us to change the plan, here.”

My blood ran cold.

“…How so?” I asked, cautiously.

“With the knowledge of Delphi’s abilities, I don’t think it unlikely that Andrew departed some form of insight on Andromeda’s abilities to Mark and Kelly, and likely a plan for…all of this. Your primary edge is gone. So, I propose we move up our timetable. I take Andromeda, Maeve and Calypso, defeat and claim Orion and Artemis, then I fulfill my end.”

I took a step back out of instinct. They noticed. I froze after they did.

“…No. That’s not the deal” I said with defiance, despite the twinge of fear which struck me. “We deal with them first, then proceed. I already don’t trust you’ll follow through, I need insurance. Being the last one remaining lets me have assurances.” Mostly in the fact that I could potentially hitch some influence through my potential shadow majority, depending on how the fight with the others went.

“…I’m afraid, Cynthia, I’m not asking.” Their voice resonated out throughout the rooftop.

I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t getting out of this without a fight. Figures.

“Fine. Then I’ll proceed with the plan once I’ve ripped the shadows from yo-“

I was cut off by taking a plated elbow to the face at Zephyr speed, as Evander struck first. Sent flying backwards by the force of the blow, I tumbled towards the edge of the roof, but Andromeda managed to merge with me just in time, and I stuck my claws into the roof’s surface, slowing me to a stop. That hit knocked out a few teeth and turned my nose into a pancake but it was barely not lethal.

We barely had time to recover, though, as they were already moving again, closing with Zephyr and now with their axe drawn. Channeling Maeve’s last saved skill from Rebecca, in the form of reaction time, we dove left and took to the air, managing to clear the ground. Evander wound the axe back, and chucked it. We smirked in the merged state, and outstretched a clawed hand, pulling on the immense energy surrounding the axe and sending it curving back downwards, striking Evander in the side, not piercing the armor, but lodging the weapon there.

“Paul tried the same thing. Really don’t learn, do you!” We called, as we raised our arms, and decided to pull on Calypso. The area beneath Evander shook, and they channeled Zephyr again, dodging as that section transformed into a large vined plant, limbs grasping towards them, using Atlas’s strength to break them, but slowing down in the process, just as one of the air conditioning units behind them transformed as well, remembering a story Dawn had told me about experimenting with Calypso in the process. The unit transformed into a fully grown brown bear, taking parts of the roof with it. I then used Andromeda, giving the bear and it’s energies a command: Kill.

The benefit of having three shadows worth of battery meant feats that might have taken Dawn minutes now took us seconds. It helped that Calypso and Andromeda worked so well in tandem.

Evander, facing down a bear, decided to do the bull headed thing and punch it, and for Atlas’s credit, this did stagger the creature. But I wasn’t done, looking to another nearby unit and starting to pull on Calypso again.

Just as Evander began to have a handle on the bear, a nile crocodile bore down on them, forcing them to wrestle with both creatures at once. We moved to work on another unit, when we saw movement below, accompanied by a flash of light. We averted our eyes, but the animals didn’t, blinded by Iris to allow Evander to use Zephyr speed, getting behind them and withdrawing their rifle. We moved to dodge, channeling more of Calypso, collapsing more of the floor, transforming it into thousands upon thousands of hornets, the swarm, the floor moving forcing Evander on the backfoot and buying us the seconds we needed to seize control of the swarm. Evander did, however, manage to get a shot off with the rifle, though we dodged the first, when they squeezed the trigger twice again and clipped our wing, we were forced to hit the ground, though managed to react in time to dodge the third shot, since there was also a swarm of hornets cascading down on them, with orders to find any gaps in the arm, crawl in and sting.

Though the insects did prove a distraction, with Arthur, they weren’t blind either, and were soon turning the rifle around towards us. By now, however, the two larger animals had recovered and were charging back across the roof, providing a momentary distraction and allowing us to charge forward, through the benign to me swarm, and throwing off Evander’s aim, grabbing at the rifle, and wrestling with them over it. Normally Atlas would overpower us flawlessly, but with the crocodile and bear brought to bear, along with the worry of the hornets, they were more then distracted. Ceding the rifle to me and allowing me to toss it to the side, utilizing the martial art Maeve had been imparting onto us to land a heavy blow.

Despite previous aggressiveness, all of the shadows in Andromeda at the moment seemed to be working together, to chip away at Enzo bit by bit, starting to wear down Evander.

They summoned the axe from their side to their hand, allowing hundreds of hornets into the gap left behind, where they would start to strike exposed skin. But, they did swing it around, and I wasn’t able to intercede in time to stop the bear from having it’s brains caved through. Before they could swing around to the crocodile though, we interposed, the axe flying back into Evander’s helmet, this move also shattering a section of armor for the insects to crawl into, and start their work. We moved to land a strike forward, one which knocked at their center of mass, and staggering them for a moment. The crocodile surged from the side, and together, we were about to move to knock Evander over, when Iris’s mask glowed. We, once more, covered our eyes, but the animals weren’t so lucky. We looked back, having backed off to be safe, to see the crocodile reeling, and most of the hornets dead or blinded beyond repair. The few that remained remained inside, but weren’t dealing damage fast enough. Our wings were still too damage to fly, so we moved to use Calypso again, make something else-

When Evander picked up the crocodile overhead, and tossed it at us. Thanks to Maeve, we hit the ground, but our focus was broken at the crucial moment. Evander charged in a rage, and we dove before they could kick us head on with Atlas strength, but the strike clipped our leg, and I could feel the bones snapping. Barely able to stand, I staggered upright, preparing to counterattack when we noticed something-

Evander was gone. A shadow cast over us. We tried to move, but it was too late. Evander grabbed us by the throat, lifting us high above the ground, slowly pressing in on our throat. We desperately kicked, trying to get them off, but it wouldn’t work.

“Enough games. This could have been easy” Evander said, hatefully.

I squirmed, trying to find something I could use. Looking down into the gap in their helm, I noticed something. Hornets, still moving around.

We held out our hand, and moved to use Calypso, but Evander’s other hand went up, and crushed mine, mangling it. We let out a choked scream, and they squeezed us tighter around the throat.

“No more tricks either”

We slammed their gauntlet with our one working hand, as if an attempt to desperately free ourselves. They just squeezed tighter, falling for it. We used Calypso twice. Once, to transform the hornets into an animal I saw on T.V. A lethal jellyfish. One which would make contact with the skin beneath Evander’s armor. Then, right after getting a full dose of neurotoxin, we transformed them back into hornets.

We couldn’t tell if it had worked. But I hoped so. I unmerged, in one final attempt to free myself, but even the size change wasn’t enough.

As I unmerged, though, something registered. A faint stirring, near Calypso. A feeling like someone smiling. A feeling like someone hugging me tight on a rooftop. But it faded just as quickly, as I separated from Andromeda, Maeve and Calypso.

My vision was going black, I couldn’t breath, everything hurt-I was slipping away.

“…that was for Dawn. I’ll see you again…real soon…Enzo.”

Of that much I was sure. One way or another.

I glared at what I hoped was him through the helmet of Evander, a single bloodshot eye. I just grinned a bit, then felt the last of my breath leave me, and the lack of it carry me away into whatever came next.

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