Tag-Team Fic, Chapter 15
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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Title: The Other Turn
Author: faynia
Chapter: 15
Rating (this chapter): PG
Pairings (this chapter): none
Warnings: none
Word Count (this chapter): 750
Author's Notes: Honestly, I don't think I meant for this to go this way at all.
There had been many an occasion when Helga could feel the very magic in the stones they would one day use to build the castle thrum in displeasure. The peaceful hum would become as angry as the person generating the energy. Magic made the earth tremble. Only, Helga thought no one else noticed it but her.
'For God's sake, Salazar. Please, just let them go. They haven't done any harm,' she pleaded, stepping in between the boys and her friend.
But, as usual, Salazar would not listen. He never listened to her. Harry's voice was becoming reedy in desperation. Willful, stubborn boy. They were all the same. 'Step aside. If you allow them to leave, I shall-'
'Now, now, my friend, there is no need to threaten our dear Helga.'
'Quite.' Salazar's jaw tensed, and Helga's gaze slid to where Godric was levitating a few large boulders to the sides of the cave. His expression was grim, very unlike him, and Helga's hands shook in reaction. Rowena trailed after him with a look of deep dissatisfaction. She danced lightly over a few misplaced stones and came to rest beside Salazar. Her dark eyes narrowed on the two boys on the rocks behind.
Helga begged her for help soundlessly. The boys truly did need to leave. Time was agitated. Things were not going as they should and any event that occurred down here, anything lethal, would surely crumble out their future from beneath them all. She had seen first-hand what could happen should things go Salazar's way.
It had been repulsive. Her heart ached thinking of it.
'Godric, Rowena, please.'
Godric shook his head and clapped a hand on Salazar's shoulder, standing united against their common foe - a young man and a small child.
'You can't have us,' Tom declared, voice carrying loudly in the open area. The angry thrum stilled. Silence pervaded the cavern. The steady drip-drip of water leaking from the lake ceased and plunged the room into unnatural stillness. 'We're leaving now. Give us back the necklace. It's ours, and you stole it from us.'
Salazar's face purpled in rage even as his hand haltingly dived beneath the neckline of his tunic. 'How dare you?' he hissed, revealing the intricate necklace beneath. The hour-glass stood framed in gold and glinted in the barely lit cavern.
'It's ours.'
Helga turned to find Harry had managed to reach Tom, finally, but seemed unable to move further than that. If he could move at all. She took an uneasy step toward Salazar, ignoring the twin expressions of outrage on Godric and Rowena's faces.
She had to do what she must. She simply wished there was an easier way.
'Salazar, give it to me.'
'Yes, give it to her.' Tom's laughter echoed shrill and gleeful around the chamber. 'Give it to her, now.'
Helga's horror grew as her arm rose of its own accord, reaching for the chain dangling between Salazar's pinched fingers.
'I'll kill you first.' He began to hiss low and heated. The sibilant noises chased away the chills sent from Tom's laughter, raising the hair on her arms. Rapidly, they grew louder and harsher until the earth began to rumble beneath their feet. 'You are no descendant of mine, boy. I disown you.'
Rocks crashed from the ceiling, smashing around them. Helga groped wildly for Rowena who took her by the wrists and drew her close. Godric moved in front of them, his sword raised, poised for battle with an immovable enemy. Tom's face went sickly pale, the superior smirk slipped from his face with the utterance of Salazar's declaration. He shied further back into the rocks, arms drawing up around his head as if petrified by the noise.
Only, Helga knew that wasn't the case.
He was in pain. His life, his ancestry was being scraped by ancient forces too unwieldy to control, even with Salazar's strength. She shook under the raw power flowing through the cavern. The air became too thin and too hard to breathe.
And then, just as her vision began to darken at the edges, everything stopped. Her ears rang in the sudden silence and it was all she could do to keep standing as she watched Harry lunge forward, collecting the pale, broken child into his arms.
Salazar fell sideways against Godric, who caught him with one arm, keeping him upright.
'What have you done?' Rowena asked. 'Salazar, what have you done?'