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The cell was the same as before. They'd dumped her where she suffered most, in that cold, cold space where there was still her lines on the wall, counting years until she could one day be free. She reckoned, back then that one day she would be--- but now Gwendolyn knew that that was impossible. She was always going to be the Volturi's captive.
In the cabin, there was still the same bed with rough and weather-worn blankets, there was still that small little window up on the ceiling where rain often poured through.
She didn't even fight as she was let down into the cell and left there. She liked this better then what she'd found out about Eryn in her own head--- when she'd finally found Libby, and the memory was suddenly ripped from the goddess and given back to Gwendolyn.
Eryn was a monster.
But so was she, for what she'd done to her own daughter.
It was that belief that pushed her soul down, down down until she was a skeleton in a closet, looking out through two holes nearly too small for her to see correctly.
Gwendolyn was once again too deep in her trauma and anger and grief to come back out by her self, and she wasn't sure anyone would come to get her out.
Tomi, Edward and Eryn were at his home in less then a minute. There, Shenny and Lehada waited together on the porche, and Reve was with Will, sitting inside at the dinner table, discussing something.
Eryn burst into the room with a confused Lehada and Shenny trailling close, Tomi and Edward just a few paces behind.
Tomi slid from Edward's back and got to her own feet once inside, her eyes looking around curiously even though this was so not the moment for admiring the coven's home. The entrance was connected to their farm style kitchen and dining room, along with the staircase to the
"What is wrong with you?" Shenny hissed at Eryn. "You disappeared earlier and now youre just walking in here like a bull?"
Eryn gulped down a heavy breath, choosing the ignore the angry dark haired girl, his hands clutching the chair's back.
"Gwendolyn is in danger."
Rêve's head snapped up towards Tomi, and then she slowly, but surely turned her gaze to Edward. Something passed between them, and Tomi's mate gulped before looking to Eryn.
"The Volturi have her. They've taken her as bait. They knew we would go for her."
"We?" Will asked, frowning a bit arrogantly. "No. No were not."
"Will. Please." Eryn was not above begging apparently. He went to Will and took him by the shoulders, shaking him only lightly. "She'd our pillar. She's my soul bound. She cant die."
"Soulbound?" Tomi repeated to Lehada who had hovered nearer. The girl, with her worry lines forged deep on her forehead, shrugged to show she didnt know, either.
"I promised my pack i would never get in trouble again. Youre asking me to put my head on the block, now."
"Ill get you out of here, Will. Ill protect you until my last breath. Just.. please."
He seemed to think for an instant, but then rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fine. But I'm not covering for the vampire and his girl."
"The vampire and the girl have names." Tomi grumbled at him, her eyes sharpening as she straightened her spine.
"I dont care. I'm not covering for your ass."
"Ill be just fine on my own." Tomi snapped back, not letting breathing space between their argument.
Will only scoffed at her.
"Rêve, go fetch the weapons, will you?" Shenny asked, rolling her dark black sleeves up on her arms. She glanced at Tomi, and gave her a brief nod. "I'm sorry for how I acted. I only wanted to protect my own. And that doesn't change--- but if we're going to fight together, I want you to know that I will be on your side."
"Thank you." Tomi gave her a firm nod back.
A minute or seconds later, Rêve was back with a long and wide bag, and then dumped it onto the table. She zipped it down, and let the weapons be seen by everyone. Multiple stakes, and other things that Tomi didnt recognize.
Lehada took one first, and attached them around her wrists before taking the same exact product and turning to Tomi.
"Your wrists." Tomi listened, and moved her arms up in front of Lehada, showcasing her oddly pale skin.
"Okay, you do know that stakes don't really affect us, right?" Edward asked quietly, picking curiously at the wood stakes in the bag like they disgusted him--- or made him laugh. A mix of both, perhaps..
People around froze, Shenny and Eryn helping each other to the pieces of wood stopping in their tracks, Reve slowing herself down at the fridge, where she picked up water bottles.
"What?" Will asked, planted in front of the window with his arms crossed, his head swivelling to give Edward a leveled look. "But that.."
"Was a belief implanted by us---" Edward laughed drily, humor sucked right out of his tone when he looked up at all of their faces and noticed that this was not a tasteless sort of joke. "It was a false lead. Do you really think we'd tell werewolves how to kill us?"
"Damn it." Shenny hissed, tossing her stakes onto the floor which tumbled and fell down upon frank wooden flooring, creating a loud echo of anger in the home.
"What you need is something that can cut a head right off. And fire. Fire is the only way to guarantee that we are dead."
Eryn looked at Rêve. Then Will did, turning his body completely towards the blonde. Then Shenny.
Rêve gave them all a nod, just as Lehada attached the circles around Tomi's thick wrist.
"So.. You're a fire Elemental?" Edward asked, unsure of they were really looking at her for that reason.
Rêve shrugged, but nodded again.
"Good. Stick close to me." Edward pointed, and then picked up a long Katana from the bag. "This. If you have any that can cut through rock, use them. Obsidian is best, but anything that cuts through marble is fine."
"Okay. Yeah. We have that." Eryn nodded, rushing to a pantry, which instead of being stocked with food, was a wall of weapons. "Shenny. The honors are yours."
The girl, usually so angry looking, though she now had a serene sort of look about her, smiled wide and approached the wall. She let her fingers drift against a blade, before finding a long, metal like whip. "I thought I'd never have to use you again." She whispered quietly, before cracking it in the air and tying it around her neck, as if she was resistant to any sort of cuts.
"Everyone without powers grab a blade." Edward demanded, his voice hard and precise, and while Tomi was focused on helping Lehada with the cuffs, she still was acutely aware of the effect that sort of voice from him had on her. "The rest of you--- use your powers. If you need, shift, Will, but only if absolutely needed."
"Yeah, I will, don't worry." Will mumbled, picking up a few knives before shoving them in his boots.
"This," Lehada began, tugging at Tomi's hands to catch her attention again. "Will help you control your powers. It was made by Rêve. It helps to control the influx of things coming out of your hands. We can't help with the rest of your body, but that is something you shouldn't struggle with too much. Right?"
Tomi gave her a half sure smile. The last person that had dug his teeth in her had turned to dust, and she still didn't know how.
Edward disturbed her thought process as he shoved a knife in her hand. "Use it only in cases of emergencies, okay? If you do, aim for the head first."
Tomi gave him a nod, and he lingered there for a moment, gazing down at her, as if he was realizing they were fighting again after promising each other forever, which was threatened once again, before sighing and going to Eryn to help him with the rest of the weapons.
While Gwendolyn hated the cold, she also did not enjoy the sort of heat that came from the feeling of skin twisting hers. Of hands on her arms, on her legs, where they prodded and pushed while trying to find answers for the things making her scream out, her back suddenly burning and numbing with absolute agony.
She'd been let go from the doctor's grasps, but she was still writhing in pain on the metallic bed they'd laid her on, as if she were just a meal on a plate for them. She tried to move on her stomach, but air was painful on the tender skin, and when she tried to turn so she was laying on her back, it felt like laying on straight, broken glass.
There was nothing to do. This pain was going nowhere, and she either. She just hoped it killed her before she had to face Eryn again--- because she knew he was coming, could see it on the lines of faith that were slowly disappearing all around her, threads breaking, tendrils falling like dead birds.
Her wish was not answered by what she hoped it would, but the plunging darkness that suddenly fell upon the castle gave her answer enough. Night --- in a human and natural way --- had come. Tomi was here, and she had brought vengence with her.
Tomi and Lehada had been partnered up, but as they stepped near the north entrance just before the gates, the two of them stopped in their tracks and had to.. re-evaluate the situation.
Though it became very obvious that this was not happening, or at least not now, Tomi was still adamant on wanting to try something. It was Lehada who pulled her out of the throes of feeling no enough--- like a failure. Lehada was right, though. Tomi had been fooling herself to think she could do anything against the new Era of Volturi. There were perhaps dozens of the red coats on the roof alone, and hundreds more taking guard at the main gates. Tomi could never take all of these people.
The two of them retreated, and went to hide behind a nearby alleyway to try to gather themselves. Minutes later, it seemed everyone else had had the same idea because the rest of them were there, too, running up to Lehada and Tomi with haste.
"They brought all of them--- all of the Volturi, from all over the world." Edward said, grabbing at his forehead angrily when he finally stopped. Tomi patted his chest, and he took her hand in his as comfort, rubbing his thumb up and down the top of her fingers.
"Im going in anyway. I can take them." Eryn said, cocking his head back as if he found allow them ridiculous.
"No way. You'll be dead in seconds. And anyway, we dont know if they've collected her essence." Lehada stood her ground, though her face was still somehow gentle and quietly rebellious.
"No, I would have felt it."
Shenny scoffed drily. "Are you trying to convince us or yourself?"
Eryn bared his teeth, sweat beading at his temples like he was genuinely afraid--- as if what he felt for Gwendolyn was so pure and genuine that he could not even fantom something happening to her. "We need to do something. She's probably--- She's probably growing by now."
"What?" Tomi asked, suddenly distracted from her lover, who had lowered his hand to her waist and had tugged her closer, as if he needed to feel her just one more time before they went into battle. "Growing?"
"When Gwendolyn got taken---"
"When you bargained her like an object, you mean?" Edward scoffed, leaving enough breathing space between him and his mate so that he was not all consumed in her.
Eryn glared at his shoes, but nodded. "They took something from her. The deal was that when she remembered, she could get that back."
"There is no time for prophecies and Goddess' claims," Shenny grumbled, leaned back against the wall with a look of pure non-chalance and coldness on her face. "We either find a way in there, or we dont."
"Right," Will whispered, his eyes squinting up at the building, his eyes focusing on specific windows. "Edward and I could help you guys up the windows. Take it from there."
"No way," Shenny mumbled. "We'll be cornered in seconds."
"Right," Edward tilted his head, almost a bit curiously. "They'd hear us."
"Okay, well, Tomi is a night guardian. We send her in, she blinds them, and we have at it." Will waved in the girl's general way.
"Are you insane?" Edward hissed out. "Their hearing will be enough to have her neck twisted off in a minute. If not seconds."
Tomi tried not to imagine that scene, but was soon shivering with disgust as she turned out of her mate's arms and looked to the sky for something to distract herself with. Then, she noticed. The sun was falling, and rain was promised if the clouds were anything to go by.
"When night falls, I could use that to lock them in in darkness. I'd have enough support from the natural element, but as Edward said their hearing would catch on. We'd need someone to make them... distracted. Keep them there until we can get Gwendolyn out."
Rêve raised her hand. She extended a hand to Edward, and then to herself. His mouth tightened at the corners like it did when he was unsure about something, but he didn't protest as he heard her out in their heads.
"She's suggesting that we could do it together. She'd use her powers to seize their minds and allow me in to alter their thoughts by implanting my own. Give them false leads."
"Would that really work?" Tomi asked, her voice like wind when dusk hit and the night began to seep between her fingers and into the threads of her hair. "Youve never extended your power that far, Edward."
"No, I haven't. But with her help--- when she quiets the thoughts and empties their heads, there is no telling how far I could go."
Tomi gave him a slight nod, still unconvinced. "If we try that.."
"It's risky." Lehada completed for her. She was cool-headed here, compared to the stuttering girl she was back in school, which did not surprise Tomi much. She had always had a feeling that the girl was strong. Soft--- but strong.
"When Tomi is done.. Edward and Reve will have to be quick with their minds. Eryn and I will go in once their done." Shenny informed. "We should be able to get to her without much problem from there on."
Will twisted his neck a few times, still hesitant like Tomi. "I don't like this. We dont have enough info."
"I need to get to her, Will." Eryn said urgently, glancing at the sun that was halfway gone now. "Its now or never."
"Okay," He caved in, grumbling. "Tomi, with me." Will said. "Edward and Rêve, station yourselves somewhere hidden, but from somewhere near Eryn and Shenny, so they can see or hear the go."
"And me?" Lehada asked, her eyes slightly hooded.
Will gave her a small smile, and then a pat on the shoulder as he walked towards a door that lead into a building that created the alleyway. "Youre our fail safe. If something goes wrong, you choke these motherfuckers until their heads roll off."
Lehada nodded, and put a hand to her heart as if that notion was important to her--- like she wasn't trusted to help before.
Before everyone parted, Tomi raised on her tiptoes and left a kiss on Edward's cheek. "See you on the other side." She whispered, before rushing to follow Will up the fire escape when the door to the building would not give in.