Move Along {Brennan}

[Brennan Shardae]

He didn't exactly mean to, but one isn't raised a certain way without things becoming habit, and the Avian Reserve was on of those things.  Unsure of what to make of what had just happened, he fell upon his Reserve to keep him from looking to troubled, and instead nodded at her decision to leave immediately.  He couldn't know what prompted it, but it was a decision he hadn't wanted to make.  He would have, but he hadn't particularly wanted to.  Now, he didn't have to.

How was he to know that this 'disturbance in the Force' was dangerous?

Fortunately, he'd flown to her place in the past, so he actually did know how to get back.  This time, he didn't feel the need to worry about someone seeing him, either.  The Royal Flight was going to have more to worry about than the fact that he'd been in Theia's home.  She'd decided to fly, and so his only hesitation laid in the fact that he'd lost the wings he was familiar with.  Sure, he still knew how to fly, but this was still a big deal.  Giving Theia the chance to prod at him about it wasn't an option, though.

One deep breath later, he'd shifted to take to the sky.

[Amaltheia Monarch]

Amaltheia couldn't fight the strange feeling creeping up her spine, the one that told her that something was very wrong, but she shifted and followed him all the same. She let out a small cry of glee as she took to the sky, her small, light form rocketing passed him and diving down to his side after a moment of self-satisfying glory. She was still as fast as she'd ever been, and that made her just as giddy as a mouse.

The flight wasn't a terribly long one. Pyrige was only an hour or so away from the actual city itself, and so Theia wasn't nearly even beginning to get winded when they began approaching the scene of tall buildings. She focused her keen eyes more sharply on some of the ones that were decrepit, making a note that the unlit ones were going to be problematic if she didn't stay high enough. Neither of them were dropping any altitude, though, and she stayed just a breath behind Brennan, giving him some room. She wasn't interested in crowding him while he got his new bearings.

[Brennan Shardae]

The absolute first thing that Brennan noticed upon taking flight was the strength in his wings.  He'd never been weak, but there's only so much that a raven is capable of.  A falcon holds so much more power in flight than any raven could ever boast, and that didn't even take into account the increase in sight.  He felt as though he'd been blind before, and only now could he really see.  It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before, and he wanted to push his own limits just to see what exactly he could do, but he refrained.  Better to get a grip on it before pushing.

That was a wise choice since, unlike Theia, he didn't have that feeling warning him that something was wrong.  It was just him and this new form, though he took notice of Theia shooting past him and then diving.  She looked brilliant, much in the same way that Avalon looked as a hawk.  They were different, of course, but it was the same sense of beauty in this form.  They were opposites in their own right, though.  Avalon was always golden and warm, where Theia's feathers took on a silvery sheen that was only enhanced by the moon and the city's lights as they approached.  She fell back behind him to let him show the way now that they were in the city, but that didn't change the fact that the city was beautiful.  It just drew his eyes from her form as well.

The city was beautiful.  He'd never taken the time to really look, and though there was certainly filth and trash, that was on the ground.  He had no need to be on the ground.  He was in the sky and the city's heights were brilliant.  Light and dark, the buildings rose up towards the clouds in what looked to be a vain attempt at achieving what Brennan and Theia already possessed. 

He didn't take any notice of it as a building seemed to fade in and out of reality, or that others were doing the same thing.  He was so caught up on the lights and the movement that it never got through to his rational mind that something was wrong, even as he flew closer to buildings that were both there, and not.

[Amaltheia Monarch]

Theia had fallen behind enough to feel the disturbance in power. She felt something shift, some sort of... interference. She narrowed her eyes on Brennan as he suddenly descended, and flew directly towards a rather large building that was well-lit, if nothing else.

What is he DOING?

And then it hit her.

Before she had time to react, they flew in too close, and she was only barely able to stop him from slamming into the building. She shifted into demi-form as she grabbed him, still in his own Falcon form. She forced her energy through him, causing him to go back into demi-form as well. The only problem there, was that he was too heavy for her to simply hold up and support herself, as well as retain their current position in the sky.

They were going down.

"BRENNAN!" she screamed. "LOSE THE WINGS! NOW!"

The descent was horrifying as they spiraled downward, a tangle of black and blonde hair, black wings and white, until she felt the impact. The terrifying sound of glass shattering against her wingless back snapped pain through her, and she screamed, holding onto him as they plummeted through a rooftop pool encased in artistic, architectural glass.

She hit the water, hard, and sank to the bottom, limbs flailing as she struggled to push off the base of the pool and up. A ripple of magic tore through the enclosure, the glass walls and man-made structures bending and finally exploding, sending the icy, sharp shrapnel in all directions. She caught a few pieces in the face and arms, but it wasn't enough to stop her as she swirled madly in the tumult of water.

"Brennan? BRENNAN!"

[Brennan Shardae]

It took him precious moments to realize what was going on, that there was a problem, and then the shock of being forced to his demi-form hit and further disoriented him.  All he knew was that they were falling, and it was as he tried to flare his wings to slow them down that she screamed for him to 'lose the wings'.

So, he did.

He saw the glass right before they hit it, and couldn't do a damn thing to stop it except squeeze his eyes shut and tilt his head downwards to protect his face.  The image of the water below them was a godsend, even falling in the rain of glass as they were, and he actually pushed off of Theia and to the side before they could impact.  The last thing he wanted was for his weight to force her down harder.  Again.  She'd already hit the glass harder, something that naturally threw his thoughts to their first meeting.  He hoped this didn't keep happening, and then he was crashing into the pool water and not wondering much of anything.

That hurt more than he expected, especially with all the glass.  Nothing compared to Theia's scream echoing in his ears and mind, though.

This was all his fault, wasn't it?

He kicked off the bottom of the pool as soon as he hit it, shooting for the surface to the sound of her screaming his name.  Again.  "Theia!" he called in return.  He was bleeding, but he couldn't be as bad off as she was by far.  She'd hit first. 

"What happened?  How badly are you hurt?" he asked her quickly, pushing through the water with no real regard for himself and the glass in the water.  Above all, he felt guilty.  He wasn't supposed to endanger people.  It was his job to protect people.

[Amaltheia Monarch]

Theia looked like something out of a horror film. White-blonde hair was streaked with blues and purples from the blast of power, and stained with blood. She had strange, spiderweb cuts all over her bare arms and most of her back, since the top she'd been wearing was low-backed enough to let her demi-form out with ease. She stood at the edge of the pool, still coughing, trying to wipe the blood and chlorinated filth from her eyes long enough to see.

She was shaking, trying to gather her thoughts. The blast of power was nothing she wasn't able to shield, but the structure itself was completely ruined. She couldn't hear any voices or shouts below, which led her to believe that this was commercial property, probably something sublet, and currently unoccupied. She couldn't see any traces of life around the area save Brennan, who was wallowing around in the water, trying to get out.

"Get to the stairs," she finally said, unable to believe what was happening.

"Aleya, if you only knew what I have seen."

"Aeson?" she said suddenly, jerking her head. "Fuck!" she screamed. Was Brennan sucking her into the void? Was she falling into it herself? The Ecl, all-claiming. The hollow, the place where you go and just don't come back. She could feel the draw, the seductive sound of white noise, and Aeson's voice, but he was so far...

"We need to get to Aristide, NOW," she commanded, reaching out to pull him out of the water. She was soaked and bloody, but so was he. This wouldn't, she felt, be any sort of unusual occurrence to that demonic man.

"I won't be tormented by the voices of the damned," she hissed to herself, under her breath. She stalked towards the nearest exit, and if Brennan wasn't following, she was going to finish him herself before he leveled the city on accident.

[Brennan Shardae]

Well, apparently, she wasn't too badly hurt.  She called out some name that he...recognized.  Aeson for a boy...  She said she hadn't said that!  Was she deliberately messing with his head?  What was going ON?

"Aeson?  You said that earlier, and Alia.  Who are they?" he demanded, following her out without hesitation.  He'd like to get to Aristide, as well.  He'd had enough already, and wasn't going to keep this up.  Of course, he had no idea just how bad it all was.  Flying into buildings and seeing things that weren't there wasn't the least of it. 

How far was it to Aristide?  He didn't know, didn't know anything about the guy, except that they had to get to him and make him fix this.  "What's happening, Theia?"

[Amaltheia Monarch]

Amaltheia whipped around so fast that her hair slung back, splashing bloody water droplets around in the stairwell, no doubt spraying Brennan. Her eyes narrowed, and she took a step towards him in an almost threatening manner. She hadn't done that in a while, and with her power and grace behind her, restored, it was... as frightful as it should have been.

"You are never to say those names again, Brennan. Ever. Do you understand me?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet, a shrill sort of whisper, laced with rage and sorrow - the same sorrow she'd been carrying when he stopped her from her swan dive into the asphalt.

She turned back around once she was satisfied, power arcing in her eyes, making them effervescent. "What's happening, Brennan, is that you got put back together wrong. You're a Falcon in form, but not wholly in soul, and your magic is going to basically equate to someone dropping an atomic bomb on this city if we don't find a way to fix it." She spoke stiffly as she descended the stairs, banging through doors as they came.

"He knew what he was doing," she said. "I don't care what he says, he knew we'd be back." She was firm that this was some way to ensure that he collected the debt she owed him. She was generally going to assume something was wrapped up around her, even if it wasn't, but that was as logical a reason as any when dealing with the witch doctor.

"Keep yourself calm and under control, Brennan. Every time you stutter in your power, everything else around you is going to be affected, and that doesn't exclude you."

[Brennan Shardae]

Okay, he didn't get this.  None of it. 

He stopped dead in his tracks when she whipped around like that, torn between getting angry and indignant himself (since he hadn't DONE anything to learn those names, SHE'D said them), and feeling appropriately cowed (it was his fault they were in this mess).  It was a tough spot to be in, but he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded. 

Then, she explained, and he just STARED. 

Put back together WRONG?!  Atomic bomb?!  WHY would someone want that?  It didn't make any sense!  "Why would that man do that intentionally?  Isn't that...stupid?" he asked, somewhat surprised that she was basically telling him to go back to the Avian Reserve.  Within seconds, it was back with a vengeance, but that didn't mean he was going to keep it up.  He felt so easily distracted.  He'd never had that sort of problem before.

Oh. 

That explained it.  Time to focus.

[Amaltheia Monarch]

Thread continued here.