OTA

[willysilver]

Beltane was fast approaching. Beltane heralded the season of war. But of late Will's skin had begun to crawl. Magic he was familiar with, magic he had not felt for many years, magic strong and dark haunted him. It was not the strange magic of the Trooping fae that Fin possessed. No, this was familiar.

An old foe.

It wasn't simply a matter of the Unseelie whom Will and his brothers would battle and defeat, as was tradition. This was something he'd defeated with great cost long ago.

The Milesian.

He was keen and watchful as he knew they prowled the Earth. Somehow they had come back from banishment. And the strength of them had grown. Will knew the battle this year would be so much more weighty. There would be no need for a mortal on the field against the Milesian. They came from the Land of the Dead and would take as many lives as they could, fae and mortal alike. Today Will had heard tell of several people dead in the tube. Of course the authorities had their theories and suspicions, but Will knew. He just knew and so tonight with the initial investigation wrapped up he gathered his strength and descended into the tube stop. Magic crackled in the air. Dark magic. Dark as could be.

He reached for the neck of his guitar on his back and to those who could see such things his hand closed around the hilt of a broadsword. A few people waited for the train and Willy wasn't about to let them meet the same fate as the earlier travelers. Those hadn't been killed so much as claimed.

The Daoine Sidhe prince wasnt about to let his city fall to the enemy. Not even if he had to defend it all by himself.

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[akatawitch]

There was an eerie familiarity in this mess for Sunny as well, though the difference was that her mother was thousands of miles away and could only panic at her over the phone. And her father couldn't hit her for getting her mother upset.

But the fact of the matter was that any urban center was impossible without public transit, and in London, that was the tube. That that recently came with assuring her mother that she was not going to be murdered, well.

She couldn't say that she didn't share the trepidation, actually, but she couldn't tell her family why. Something was wrong. She just had no idea what.

Attempting to keep herself embedded in her reread of Middlemarch while she waited for the next train--it was really rather therapeutic right now--it was increasingly difficult to keep her nose in her book. Not just because she was anticipating something and that always made it hard to really read, but because she felt a shift around her.

Which was apparently a fae prince with a big damn sword.

She had seen Phouka react to the tube. Willy was not down here because he wanted to be. What are you doing? she mouthed, though she didn't entirely notice she'd done that.

[willysilver]

Willy's eyes scanned the platform and peered into the dark of the tunnel. Something was here, there was no doubt in his mind. He caught sight of Sunny and had every intention of warning her away, but then the lights began to flicker. A bank of them went out completely. Another went out, then another, and those left blinked on and off...more off than on.

He drew his sword.

[akatawitch]

Hate him though she did, Sunny was not too proud to speak to Willy at all, and this was one of the times where it seemed she really rather should. When swords were being drawn in public, nothing good was happening.

She slipped away her book and traded it for her knife, the blade green even in the failing light. Her step was brisk and business like as she made her way over to Willy. "What is it?"

[willysilver]

Willy didn't look away from the dark maw of the tunnel. He could hear it, skittering and scampering with the whisper of claws and scales.

"The Milesian," he replied. "An ancient foe. Banished to the Land of the Dead so long ago. Their kind have returned. "

[akatawitch]

In her mind, Sunny saw Ekwensu dancing in the flickering flame of a candle.

That was an idea to file away for later.

"And how many people are going to die horribly soon if they make it out of this station?" she said, looking toward the tunnel as well.

[willysilver]

"That is a very good question, Sunny, and I do not wish to know the answer," Willy replied.

From the dark of the tunnel a hand reached around the edge. The long, spindly fingers had too many knuckles, too many bends. It gripped tightly and slowly a face emerged from the darkness. It was sickeningly pale, large jet black eyes like pits trained on the two of them. And then it opened its mouth wide, far too wide, and it hissed. That was all the warning they got before it scampered up the wall so it could get a better look at the platform, and the pair of them.

"Beware," Willy cautioned, his blade raised to it.

[akatawitch]

It reminded her a little of Mmuo Aku, the skittering, scraping sounds so like a swarm of insects, and the hands of it and the movement so very like spiders. And yet, it was not a masquerade, let alone one made of so many crawling, stinging, venomous bugs. But still, you didn't get cocky even when something didn't seem as dangerous as things you'd already faced. People died that way.

When her nerve wavered for just a moment, Sunny's brain defaulted to humor as she found her resolve again.

"Well. If this story ever gets out and that thing doesn't kill me, my mother certainly will." The raised her knife. It was not made to cut flesh, but that was not what she needed it for.

[willysilver]

"With luck your mother need not know of this," the prince replied, his eyes locked on the Milesian as it scuttled toward them across the ceiling. It was nearly right above them when it pushed off and dropped to the floor. Willy immediately took a swing at it, breaking a frail looking arm. The creature shrieked and backed away, but only to shake off the injury and right itself for another attack.

[akatawitch]

Sunny didn't give the thing much time to recover from the loss of its limb, her knife slicing through the air sending a blast of force to slam it into the nearest wall like the bug she couldn't stop associating it with.

[willysilver]

It hit the wall and bounced off, falling to the floor. It looked up at her and reached out a spindly hand in Sunny's direction.

"Life," it hissed and there was a tension in the air as its dark magic called Sunny's soul to leave her. Willy recognized that magic and he waved a hand. A shimmer rose up between the Milesian and Sunny to keep it from taking her life.

"It means to kill us both. Have no mercy," he told her.

[akatawitch]

Sunny only smiled. She was already half a ghost, at least when you put everything about her abilities into layman's terms. She drew a pattern in the air with her knife, chanting low in Igbo and summoning flame around the abomination lying prone on the floor.

[willysilver]

The flame caught and soon engulfed the Milesian, as swiftly and as easily as if it had been dry leaves. It screamed as it burned and thick, choking black smoke filled the platform. It burned bright enough with a white-hot blue flame that it could be seen below the smoke. The scream died away as the body was replaced by ash.

An express line raced through the tunnel and platform without stopping, pulling the smoke along with it down the tunnel.

The air clear, there was nothing to fear in the pile of black dust.

"You will have need of that magic again, I fear," Willy said. "That was but the first of many."

[akatawitch]

She nodded her understanding, her eyes on the pile of ash on the ground. Then Sunny pulled together enough of her manners to say, "You prevented it from doing me harm," whether not she really needed that help, he had done it. "I'm grateful for that," she said, carefully skirting a 'thank you.'

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin hadn't really known where he was headed. Part of him wanted to avoid the tube all together these days, but- It sang to him sometimes, calling him down, luring him closer. He didn't even realize he'd been drawn all the way to Will until he found himself leaning in to rest his head on the other fae's shoulder.

"I was looking for you," he murmured, snapping out of the little trance that had brought him there. "I didn't know it, but here I am."

[willysilver]

"You must go," Willy said firmly, offering the young fae no comfort. "A dark foe is coming. You must go home, Fin."

His warning was too late, though. The lights on the platform began to flicker on and off, some remaining unlit. It cast the platform in shadow and Willy made a subtle move to put Fin behind him.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I can help. Let me help," Fin whispered, keeping close and holding Will's arm gently. "I was drawn here for a reason. Let me fight at your side."

[willysilver]

"This is not a battle for your kind," Willy said, though he knew it was a battle for all. The Milesian did not care what life they took, so long as they took it.

A train rushed in and stopped. The few on the platform got on, others got off and quickly made their way to street level leaving Will and Fin in the flickering, fading light.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Your fight is my fight, Will," Fin whispered, staying close and speaking in the other Fae's ear. "I'll fight at your side."

[willysilver]

There was no time for any further argument. A spindly hand reached around the edge of the tunnel. Will saw it and drew his sword. He'd just unsheathed it when a grotesque face emerged from the dark, pale and gaunt with black eyes like pits. Its mouth was open and long, sharp teeth caught what bit of light there was and glistened.

"Life," it hissed, then scrambled forward. It only just emerged from the tunnel and then climbed the wall up to the ceiling where it twisted its head around to stare at the pair with those hollow eyes.

"Come, foe," Willy said, braced for an attack.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin had no sword, but he had his power, and it glittered around them for a moment, forming a shield. Not the strongest, but offering a thin layer of protection.

"What the hell is it?" he asked quietly.

[willysilver]

"One of the Milesian," Willy answered. The creature jumped from the ceiling, shrieked as it hit Fin's magic, then scrambled to the floor. It rose up on two legs, all skin and bones. It reached into the shadow beneath its coat and pulled out a wicked looking blade, black as its eyes.

And then faster than lightning it attacked. Blade raised, it charged the magic veil and stabbed at Will. The obsidian blade cut across the leather sleeve of Wills jacket and the fae repaid the favor by swinging his sword. Hard.

He connected with the Milesian's arm and shattered the bone. It hung limply and at an odd angle. But the creature simply shook the dangling limb and it snapped back as if nothing had happened at all.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Bloody hell," Fin swore, magic jutting out towards the attacker, little sharp blades of light lashing out at the being. Magic he'd never done before, power that simply came from somewhere inside of him.

[willysilver]

The Milesian shrieked, a high pitched and unholy sound, as Fin's magic assaulted it. It distracted it enough that Willy could attack. The sword cut low, taking out a leg. The creature stumbled back and black fluid oozed from the wound.

"Fiend!" Willy shouted and raised his blade again. Arms up, his belly was vulnerable and the foe shot in with its black blade and cut the prince deep.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Will!" Fin gasped, not sure what to do other than shield them again. He was no fighter, and though his magic was strong, it was still not fully under his control.

[willysilver]

Will's magic was powerful and he let it go. A wall of energy pushed the Milesian back, blade still in it's grip dripping with blood. The creature brought the blade to his lips and licked it clean.

"Light. We need light," he panted as he let his wound flow freely. "If we cannot kill it we must drive it back into the shadows."