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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

Maximilian stood in the center of five demons, arranged like points of a star, forced to kneel to the ground, encircling him. Their hands were bound with chain, their heads covered with hoods that prevented them from being able to see where they were. They could barely move, under the effects of some sort of magic, or perhaps, simply in too much pain to resist. Klaus stood off to the side, having done his part in fetching what Max had called his 'ensemble', eyeing his boss in a curious fashion.

"What do you know about music, Klaus?" He asked, reflecting that very same curiosity back towards his faithful underling.

"Humans like it." He shrugged, trying to answer as best as he could.

"And you don't?"

"I can't say I've ever really thought about it enough to answer that question."

"I'm sure somebody as smart as you could find enjoyment from it. Or, at least, an understanding. To draw a comparison to something you know, think of music like a machine, or a formula. A combination of different parts coming together to create something beautiful."

Klaus nodded his head, so Max continued.

"Instruments and sounds, voices and melodies...all different pieces of something bigger. Now, what do you suppose happens when one of those pieces falters?"

"The machine stops operating." Klaus answered, again, trying to keep up with the conversation.

"Dissonance happens." Max told him, bluntly, causing a pause to fall between them the briefest of seconds. "You lose the harmony. You fall out of rhythm. But, dissonance isn't simply a concept to be used in music."

"After all this time, you're telling me the reason you decided to call them that was because you're a music nerd?"

Max laughed to himself. "To be dissonant is to be different, out of the ordinary. It's to ruin an otherwise beautiful symphony with a note so poorly out of tune that you can't help but hear it above all the other working parts. A broken cog in a wheel, if you will."

"I understand where you're coming from, but why tell me this?"

"So you understand that what I'm about to do is nothing personal towards you, or any of the other beings in this city. My goal from the start has been to pluck out those broken notes, to find harmony again. You may think that it started with werewolves and vampires, or mages and witches, but it actually begun here." He told Klaus, lifting the scepter which housed Malakai upwards, drawing attention towards the Catalyst. "With a demon, just like you. We've come up with so many different initiatives over the years to try and accomplish our goals, from mage-weapons to Project Acuity, but recently, it dawned on me. Humans require protection. They crave it. They fear when they don't have it. So, why be subtle?"

From the scepter, black tendrils of energy began to extend, moving towards the five demons Max had surrounded himself with. The tendrils pulsed as they made contact with each of them, beginning to interweave with their essence, draining their magic the way Malakai had once tried to drain Adelaide and Isen. The demons began to writhe and groan in pain, creating a mess of noise as Klaus looked on in confusion and burgeoning fear.

"...what are you doing?"

"What we were meant to do."

"Taking what's ours."

The tendrils began to constrict, tighter, pulling magic from their host, drawing it inwards towards Max's body. He seemed to display his own discomfort as it invaded his form, syphoned through Malakai's magic. The demons shook until they fell to the floor, lifeless, and empty.

"The Calling...you brought us all here for him to feed on?"

"Not just your kind. All of them. All...of..."

Max's eyes began to take on a hint of red, indicating that Malakai had taken full control of his host. "...them."

A wave of magic began to escape the Catalyst, growing outwards, as black as the tendrils of magic had been. It began to stretch, passing through solid objects as though they weren't there. A sphere, ever-expanding, slowly stretched away from Max's body. When it touched Klaus, he immediately felt the dark magic invading his system, and through it, he felt weaker. Malakai was draining him, the way he just had those poor demons. Klaus saw their lifeless bodies, and then, the malice on Max's face. His immediate instinct to switch out returned to him, but he couldn't muster the power to do so. It was like he was locked in place, frozen.

First, the DSTF building. Next, the surrounding neighborhood. With each Dissonant it connected to, it grew, drawing from their own magic to sustain it's field. With each home it passed through, more Dissonant life were connected to the field, fueling it more. Magic enchantments broke, shattering protective spells created by Samara. The demons summoned by the Calling provided significant boosts to the strength of the field, speeding it's growth. The transference of magic, from their bodies to his, would eventually complete Max's goal of wiping out every Dissonant life within the city, and in turn, connecting their magic to a would-be demon king who's entire purpose was not to preserve life, but to take it.

Before long, all of Cresthaven would be caught within his malice.

Soon, all of Cresthaven would join together.

Like a symphony.
 
"Let's get this shit done." Adelaide sighed, waiting impatiently for Rykard to lead the way before the sudden screeching of her phone distracted her. "Does everyone in existence need me right now?" The only person that should have been calling was either Nikolai or Roland, and considering Nikolai was still within sight she knew it wasn't him. Roland's number was lit up on the screen as the screeching continued before she finally answered it, holding up a finger in Rykard's direction.

"Kind of busy, Roland."

"Youneedtoleaverightthisfuckingsecond." The words were spoken so quickly they mashed together into an almost nonsensical voice of panic, and her brow creased as she tried to sort them out in her head.

"Leave? I'm leaving the shop, yeah. Someone came to get me and--"

"NOW, ADELAIDE. Max is setting off a spell that's going to start sucking magic from everyone and anyone caught in it is going to be stuck and then probably dead. Get the fuck out of Cresthaven."

She swore profusely and ended the call without a thank you or goodbye, shoving it back into her bag and glancing at Nikolai.

"Run." It was the only word she got out before she grabbed at Rykard with one hand, opening up a portal with the other and shoving the both of them through before it had even fully formed. The magic brushing against her clothes stung, and she could only imagine how it felt for the demon she'd forced through a partially opened portal in her moment of panic. If Maximillian was setting off something that powerful and insane, she didn't have a second to spare, even if that meant leaving her newfound family and a distraught vampire behind. A part of her felt the gut-wrenching guilt at leaving them in harm's way, but she hoped Nikolai would take her advice and try to get everyone out of there in time. If not, then she just had to hope for the best and figure out how the hell to handle the situation.

The portal snapped shut behind them as she made contact with the hard ground of her restored house, her grip on the demon released as she grasped blindly for Ember to ensure her familiar hadn't been hurt. The annoyed meowing and garbled voice in her head told her that the cat was indeed intact, albeit annoyed, and Adelaide groaned as she finally regained her ability to see straight and rolled onto her back.

"Perhaps you should wait to ask the little mageling why she brought him before you throttle him to death, Ignas." Tyrath's voice broke through her fog as she slipped away from her bag and latched onto the arm pulling her up, seeing that Isen had rushed over at her sudden appearance with a look of concern. "She's fine, Hiyori, probably just disoriented. I don't think she even made a proper portal to come here." There was a brief pause and Adelaide could hear Danica chattering in the background, realizing that several of the demons had come over to watch what was going on several feet away.

"Ignas, drop him. He came to warn me. Max set off some sort of spell that's draining magic from everyone in Cresthaven. He killed some weird clone demon thing that tried to get into the shop."

"Kill him, Ignas. He serves us no purpose."

"Danica, shut it before I find a way to permanently muzzle you. We don't have time for this, we need to stop Maximillian and Malakai before everyone stuck there is dead."
 
Ignas' hand tightened around Rykard's throat, hoisting him up off of the ground with ease and constricting with enough pressure that Isen could hear a crunch beneath the demon's fingers. It happened so fast that he had hardly been able to process it, but instead of worrying about the familiar demon's appearance, for now, he was instead at Adelaide's side almost immediately. His hand moved to her back as he tried to help her up. "Are you hurt? What happ-" He fussed, only for her to cut him off.

"Is this true?" Ignas asked Rykard. Upon realizing that the demon couldn't respond in his current state, he loosened his grip around Rykard's neck, instead pinning him against the nearest wall with his forearm against his chest. "Make one move. One. It won't matter how fast you are, there won't be a place on this planet you could run from me. Speak."

"Fucking asshole." Rykard practically spat out. "I save her life and this is how you treat me?"

"Ignas." Isen called out, next, standing back up. "If he saved her, he's not a threat...."

"Keep talking." Ignas told him, letting him down from the wall so that he could stand on his own.

"This isn't my business. I was repaying my debt. You allowed me to live, I returned the favor." Rykard told them, bluntly. "Allow me to take my leave from this place."

"Stay." Ignas commanded, his voice still demanding in tone, but his ire seeming to have faded for now. "Adelaide. You said Max set off a spell?" Ignas knew it was Malakai at the heart of this, now Maximilian, but to hear that they were orchestrating a spell that could drain magic from Dissonants was concerning. "I knew there was another purpose to their Calling, but I presumed it was to create an army, not a buffet..."

"What does this mean?" Isen asked, quickly. "Where's Isabella? And Takami?"

"If they're in the city, they're as good as dead." Ignas told him, trying to act as though that realization didn't bother him, even after they had gone through all of the trouble to find Takami in the first place. "It means Malakai is powering himself up for something, probably an even bigger spell. If I were to guess, they're beginning whatever their end game is, and all of Dissonants in Cresthaven are collateral."

"What do we do to stop it?"

Ignas remained quiet, for a moment. Isen's eyes filtered throughout the room, across all of the other people there. Mages, demons, so many people with power, all stumped by the dilemma. Ignas was silent. It seemed like he was nervous.

"We need to do something. We can't ju-"

"Isen." Ignas interrupted him. "Do you remember what happened when we faced Malakai before? He's doing to Cresthaven what he did to us. He's making himself more powerful. His purpose, his power...it's to takeaway life."

"Yeah. And yours is to restore it." Isen fired back. "You've told me before. You've used it to save my life, countless times. You're the exact opposite of him, you can't tell me you're okay with letting all of those people die..."

"Isen." He repeated, a second time.

"No. If none of you are going to do anything..."

"Then you'll go yourself?" Ignas cut him off, leaving Isen silent. "Then you'll die, alone. Is that what you want? Is that what she wants?"
 
"Fucking hell, Ignas. Get him off the wall before you break my house." There wasn't nearly enough room in her mostly cleared out living room for this nonsense. Why hadn't she opened a portal to the backyard, instead? Right, the panic and the need to get somewhere safe before she could think anything out properly. What was Rykard going on about repaying the debt of letting him live? Hadn't he only come to get her because Carlisle had sent him and he'd owed the doctor a favor? Which one was it, or was it a mixture of both? Whatever the case was it had given her some warning about the situation, but now it left her with a living room full of squabbling demons and a headache starting behind her eyes.

"Um, yeah. Roland called me in a panic when Rykard and I were getting ready to leave. Could barely understand him at first, said it was going to suck the magic out of everyone and that I needed to leave. Didn't exactly have time to ask questions, just grabbed this big lug and got out of there." She rubbed at her back with a grimace. "Didn't even open a proper portal." She grimaced again at the mention of Isabella and Takami, but Ignas was right.

"I don't know. Takami stormed out not long before I got the call, Isabella was in her room. I told Nik to run, so hopefully he took everyone that was still there and got the hell out of dodge." Adelaide propped herself on the arm of the couch that had been pushed out of the way for demons, looking around and spotting Tyrath and Danica behind some of the other demons. They seemed to be having some sort of almost silent conversation, a look of fury written across Danica's face while Tyrath looked as calm as ever. Isen and Ignas were bickering in the front as the other demons stood and watched the back and forth with a mixture of interest and annoyance, leaving Adelaide to rub her temples and sigh.

"Can you two quit fucking arguing like children? I've already got mental whiplash from the multiple portals and fleeing on the spot, so knock it off! Isen, there's not a chance in hell you're going in there by yourself. I'm sorry, but what are you going to do? Just walk right up and try to take him down yourself? No one's going to be able to fight him until that spell is no longer in effect." Sitting had been a mistake, and she groaned as she forced herself back to her feet to glare at the bickering people. Danica and Tyrath's conversation had ceased when she raised her voice at the other two, their attention now solely on her when she spoke.

"I'll go back in. I'll find a way to undo the spell before it takes out the entire city, hopefully. Then we can focus on actually getting to Max and Malakai. There's no way any of us are going to last a single second while that spell is in effect, especially when he can do that shit at close range. I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe knocking out the spell will throw him off enough that it'll mess with his magic too. If he's funneling his into it... Well, it's worth a shot." She nodded with a bit more confidence. "I'll go back in, and when the spell's gone and it's safe, the rest of you can come in and go to town on it."
 
Isen wanted to argue with her, but he bit his tongue. She was berating him for wanting to go, then offering herself up in the same breath? What was she thinking?

"He's been searching for you." Rykard interjected on Isen's behalf, breaking the silence he had been holding since being threatened. "That's either a really stupid idea, or the one thing that would distract him enough from whatever the hell he's plannin' to do with all that juice he's squeezing."

"If that's what she wishes to do, we must make preparations. I know time is of the essence, but sending her in blind would be a shortsighted decision on our behalf." Ignas followed up, only frustrating Isen more. He was okay with this too? Was everybody but him losing their damn minds?

Feeling desperate for some validation in his concern, Isen began to look to anyone who would even gaze in his direction. Ember? Tyrath? Even Danica? Surely somebody would stop this before Adelaide got herself killed, right? But, everybody seemed to operate under the idea that what she was proposing was their only choice.

"Are you all that afraid?"

Isen could feel the eyes on him now, when a moment prior, they were avoiding him like he was an annoyance or disruption to their big plan.

"If I weren't the only human in a room full of people much stronger than I am, I'd call each and every one of you a coward. If you send her in there..."

"Isen, remember what we talked about. She does not need your protection. She can handle herself, and there's nobody more capable of stopping that spell, not even me."

"We'll never know that because you won't even try."

"Watch your tongue, Isen. Do you forget what's at stake?"

"No, I'm aware. And it seems like I'm the only fucking person here who cares about her."

He pushed past Ignas, past all of the demons in attendance, making a beeline straight for Adelaide. Out of sheer frustration, and adrenaline, he gripped her wrist and tugged her towards the exit. "Outside. We need to talk." He urged, pulling her away from prying eyes and attentive ears until they were several paces away. Stopping beneath the shade of a large tree, Isen only let her go when he was certain she wasn't about to teleport herself away from whatever he was about to say.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice somewhere between angry and panic. "You won't send me in, but you'll run head first into a dangerous demon's magic spell? You promised me that we would be together, no matter the life time, but I want you here in this one. You can't go."
 
"Doesn't surprise me, consider the DSTF looking for me was why I sought out Isen in the first place." If Malakai had his hands on her, then he had an infinite power source as long as he didn't kill her draining it all at once. If her going back into the city distracted him long enough to save the other people in the city... Well, she had the magic reservoir in the ring, so she could handle being drained for a little while... Right? As long as she found a way to break the spell spreading through the city before she ran out of magic, then everything would be fine. It wasn't like they had any other choices, either, when she was the only one that could contort magic like that. Nikolai might have been some help, if he hadn't been stuck in the city running away from the damn spell.

"Mistress, we can't. What happens if you fail?"

"Not we, Ember. You're staying here. You're so tiny the moment the spell hit you would probably kill you. Stay here, watch out for everyone here for me." Adelaide didn't like the way that Isen was looking around at everyone like that, or the way that they offered him no further argument or an attempt at comfort. Every single demon in the room was ready for her to throw herself back into Cresthaven and hope for the best. While she understood his worry, she also understood that they didn't have any other choice. If she couldn't break the spell and stop Cresthaven from becoming a city full of dead Dissonants, then what hope was there for the rest of the world when Malakai became that strong? What hope was there for any of them to live?

"Isen, stop. Isen!" Her eyes grew wide when he stalked over and yanked her out of the house, her heels digging into the ground as she made a half-hearted attempt to pull away before sighing. None of the demons had attempted to follow them out of the house, and she had a feeling they were already discussing a plan to send her in prepared for the best possible outcome. Well, good, that's what needed to be done, even if Isen was unhappy about it.

"Of course I'm not going to send you in! You're human, Isen. You don't have magic to fight against it, you don't have Ignas' strength. You wouldn't last an hour in there if one of Malakai's demons came after you! What good would that do?" She threw her hands up in the air with a frustrated groan. "I have to go, Isen! If someone doesn't break that spell then every Dissonant in that city is going to die. Isabella, Takami, they'll both be dead, and anyone else that we care about." Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting. "I don't have a fucking CHOICE!"
 
Hearing Adelaide raise her voice towards him was something that caught him off guard. Had he been more aware of the frustration he was showing, he would have understood, but in the moment, he felt blindsided by the sudden outburst of anger. What she was saying wasn't wrong, but it still hurt him to hear her say it, to hear her reinforcing every doubt that he had already been fighting against.

"Ignas and Danica should be the ones going, not us." He countered, trying to ignore the peaking of his own frustrations so that he wasn't shouting back at her. "It's their throne, their enemy, their fight, not ours."

His eyes turned downwards, away from her, towards the soil beneath their feet. He didn't want to look at her right now. He didn't want it to be like this, a fight before she possibly went off to do something incredibly dangerous. "Adelaide, don't get me wrong. I care about Isabella, and Takami, and everybody in that city as much as you do. Samara said we were heroes, and I feel like we need to honor her by saving them, but fucking...what good is that city to me without you? I'd burn every single inch of Cresthaven if it meant keeping you safe. I don't need a demon or a sword to do any of that. I thought I had nothing left to live for before I met you. What the hell am I going to have left if you die in there?"

It was honest, and vulnerable in a way he had wanted to be since he had lost his connection to Ignas. He didn't mean to make this harder on her, but if he kept quiet and let her go, and she didn't come back...how could he forgive himself for not speaking? For not trying?

He took a step forward, towards her, only looking back up once he was within reaching distance once more. "We will find another way. That's what we do." He sighed, finding himself repeating familiar words without even trying, unaware that bringing up Samara twice under such heated circumstance might not be the wisest thing to do.
 
"And their enemy is all of our enemy now." The way he dropped his head and stared down at the ground made her feel almost bad for raising her voice at him, but it seemed the only way to get her point across. Isen seemed dead set on talking her out of going back to Cresthaven, and the longer that they stood out here arguing the less time she had to work on breaking the spell. There was a part of her that contemplated just opening a portal and leaving right then and there, now that he'd put distance between them, but even she wasn't that cruel. Besides, her bag was still inside and any aid the demons had to offer before her departure would be beneficial. One way or another, she was leaving before the day was over and she wasn't going to let anyone stop her.

"I don't want you to burn down a city for me, Isen." Her voice was full of frustration as she realized he still wasn't looking at her. In a less heated moment the sentiment would have been so sweet it might have made her cry, but in the middle of an argument with rising emotions it just made her angry. She didn't want to go in by herself and possibly die trying to save Cresthaven. She didn't want to give up the newfound family and friends that she'd made after suffering multiple losses and loneliness in her life. This wasn't about what she wanted though, it was about what she had to do.

"Stop fucking dragging Samara into this, Isen. First the heroes bit, now you're going to pull that line to try and stop me from going?" Adelaide was downright seething now as Isen approached and finally looked at her, and before she knew what she was doing she'd stepped forward and jabbed her finger into his chest. "I don't want to go and play hero and maybe die out there. Do you think that's what I want? But I can't sit on my ass and do nothing when I'm the only one capable of fixing this. What kind of a life am I supposed to have--" She jabbed at him again, stepping forward and tilting her head up to glare at him as she continued her tirade. "--If I spend it feeling guilty that I didn't do anything? I am leaving-" Another jab. "and that," a final, harsh poke into his chest as she sucked in air to finish off her rant. "Is final."
 
The first jab was barely felt. The second was an annoyance, and by the time three and four came, they were like daggers stabbing into the center of his chest. "Stop." His hand rose, defensively, curling her wrist once more.

"Adelaide, stop."

He continued to protest as she persisted. When it didn't appear like it would work, this time, instead of tugging her away like he had done before, his hand pulled hers upwards and away from him so that she could no longer keep poking and prodding in punctuation with her heated words. Pushing it above her head and into the tree behind them, it was made clear now that he was becoming just as outwardly frustrated as she was. He was trying to fight off his unwanted emotions, but she was pushing buttons without even likely realizing it.

"Fucking stop!" He told her, sternly, staring straight through her now as he held her hand taut. "You're so stubborn. It's frustrating." He finally crumbled, letting out some of those emotions and biting back the fear that he might regret it later. "And what do you mean 'what kind of life' are you supposed to have?" He asked her, his own tone becoming as venomous as hers. "One with me! Here! Like we said we would!"

A silence fell between them as his voice echoed back at them. He didn't care if anybody inside could hear, he just hoped that nobody would come out to try and interrupt them.

"There's no right way to do any of it, but I know damn well that losing you isn't it."
 
"Let go!" She hissed angrily when he pushed her hand up and out of the way, narrowing her eyes and nearly stomping her foot in frustration. This was ridiculous. She should have already been back in Cresthaven working on breaking the spell, not standing there arguing against a tree about why she needed to do this. Isen couldn't possibly understand why this was so important, why she would choose this over staying here and creating a life with him.

"You think I don't want to stay here and just live happily fucking ever after? Of course I want to, but how can I? I would be forced to know I let all of those people die, every single day of my life, Isen. How could we possibly be happy with that weighing on my conscience every day? And you think Malakai would stop with Cresthaven?" She scoffed, yanking her hand away from him and slipping under his arm. This was getting out of hand so fast, and she needed to get back inside to figure out what kind of plan the others had come up with so she could grab her bag and get the hell out of there.

"We don't have time for this, Isen. I'll fight tooth and nail not to die, but if my life means that you and everyone else can live in a world without Malakai killing off every Dissonant he finds and enslaving humanity, then so be it. I'll do whatever I need to if it means you get to live as a human again." The thought of missing out on Isen learning to be human again and enjoying it was enough to bring the sting of tears to her eyes, something she internally cursed as she turned and began to stomp away from him toward house.

"I have to go."
 
"I already told you, I don't want to live as a human if it's a life without you."

Isen let that linger between them as Adelaide turned away from him, angled towards the house. What came next was a split second decision on Isen's part, one that could have easily backfired against him. He tugged on her hand, once more, before she got far enough away from him that he could no longer reach out and grab her. Pulling again, with as much strength as he could muster to stop her from storming away, the momentum would swing her body backwards here he would be waiting. Instead of berating her, or getting angry, he did the one, singular thing that could come to his mind; the only thing he could think of that would show how equal parts angry and in love with her he was.

He kissed her.

It wasn't a sweet kiss, and far from the most romantic of circumstance they had shared, but it was real. It was pure, unfiltered emotion, as conflicted and confused as they were, a release from the frustration he had been wrestling with. He held her steady, against him, chest-to-chest, as he kept contact for as long as he possibly could before pulling back an inch or two to catch a breath. "I love you. Don't go." He whispered, a second time, but it was followed with another kiss. Not because he didn't want her to say it back, but because he was afraid, given all that he had said and done, that she wouldn't.
 
She didn't want him to be without her either, but what else could she do? It was almost unbearable walking away from him with such an overload of emotions threatening to take her to her knees, but she knew if she turned back to look at him there was a chance that she would crumble. She couldn't afford to crumble and back down now, not when there were so many people relying on her, not when the thought of staying at Isen's side and growing old together was so tempting she could almost feel it now.

No, what she was feeling was him grabbing her hand and yanking her back, not the distant thought of them growing old and holding hands on a sunny morning on a porch. She expected him to yell at her, to threaten to throw her over his shoulder and make sure that she couldn't go back to Cresthaven if he had to sit on her or tie her down. What she didn't expect was the sudden urgency of his lips on hers as hands held her tightly to him, bodies melded together as she felt her defenses chipping away bit by bit. She could have handled the anger or the threats, could have allowed him to hate her if it meant sparing him pain when she whisked herself away to the path of danger, but this... This was something that almost broke her heart on the spot and in turn fired up another burst of anger. Not anger at him, but anger at the situation, at the fact that she had to choose between the person she'd come to love more than anything in existence and the rest of the world against a maniacal and power hungry demon.

"I don't want to." Adelaide barely managed to gasp out the words he'd swallowed up in an onslaught of kisses when she finally broke away, her fingers curled in his shirt as she pulled her head back to look at him with an almost broken expression. "I love you so much, there's nothing I want to do more than stay here with you and shut away the rest of the world." She was kissing him just as urgently as he'd devoured her, holding onto him like she couldn't bear the thought of letting go or losing touch.

"I have to." It was pure torture pulling her lips away again, her brows knitting together as she clutched at him and uttered a noise of pure frustration. "Just... One more kiss." Or maybe two, or maybe a handful until she felt that the furious yearning was finally sated enough to tear herself away.
 
Lost in the moment, Isen almost forgot what he was mad about when her lips pressed back to his. Reality checked back in when they separated, briefly, reminding him of why he was so desperate to keep her here in the first place. "Then do it." He whispered, his voice low and heavy, a desperate request for something he knew wouldn't happen. "Just you and me."

He remembered when she had said the same to him in the passion of their first, intimate night together. Letting his mind go there, back to what they were doing in that memory, wasn't the smartest decision he could have made with their current proximity, and the stress he had accumulated, but it happened nonetheless. He felt the thought play at the back of his head, causing his breathing to get just a little bit heavier, and his eyes, piercing through his partners, to stare just a little bit longer.

When she called for one more kiss, he obliged without question, and it was only partly because it was what he wanted to do more than anything in that heated moment. He also knew that for as long as they were here, intertwined with each other, she wouldn't be able to leave. He'd make that kiss last for as long as he possibly could to prevent her from slipping through his fingers. She wasn't going to listen to him, and he couldn't stop her. This was all he had.

His lips ached for hers, and pressed forward without concern for how urgent the motion must have seemed. Each kiss was harder than the last, and lingered longer still. Palms found hips and fingers pressed in tight, refusing to let go or allow her to slip too far away from his embrace. The racing of his heart became loud enough to drown his thoughts, and so, he indulged just a little bit longer. Another minute wouldn't kill them, would it? Surely the world would be alright for just another handful of minutes? If he was to let her go, and she was to never return, he needed her to know in this moment just how much she meant to him. Words weren't working, actions would suffice.
 
The effects of their frantic, passion fueled kisses weren't lost on her. Every kiss that lingered longer than the last, every hungry noise and demanding stroke of tongues that had her stretching up on her toes to bring herself closer to him. The feel of his hands on her hips holding her there, pressing them together until they were little more than a meld of warm bodies fighting to hold onto the moment. It was something that she never wanted to end, her hands sliding their way up his chest until she slid them into his hair to tangle there. The heat of his body was a soothing balm to the inner turmoil drowning behind insistent kisses, each gasping breakaway to breathe more needy than the last.

"Fuck. Isen, we need to... I have to..." Her voice faltered as she pressed herself against him more, resisting the urge to scale up him like a damned animal and wrap herself around his waist. She licked her lips, panting as she caught her breath even as she eyed his lips through hazy eyes. "I hate this." The words were a mumble against his mouth as she swore internally and gave into the need to be closer to him, grabbing at his shoulders and pushing herself up to tangle her legs around his waist awkwardly. There was never a moment of doubt that he would catch her when she jumped, only the agonizing need to have as much of them touching as she could possibly manage.

"I love you. You're mine, and I'm yours, no matter what."
 
Isen's hands dropped from her hips and instead anchored themselves beneath her thighs when she jumped, without warning, to intertwine herself around his waist. For further support, he pressed her back against the trunk of the tree, pinning her safe and snug between his torso and the solid bark. "Then you need to come back to me." He told her, breathless, his forehead meeting hers. His eyes opened for a brief moment, sharing a second or two of calm before they flickered shut once more. "I don't care what it takes. You come back to me." He repeated, for emphasis, before he kissed her yet again, once more timing the sudden action with the end of his sentence as if punctuating it and preventing her from giving a response he might not have liked had she been left to reply unabated.

Now that their formation had changed, it was even more difficult for him not to let his mind go to places it shouldn't in the moment they were trapped in. The warmth of her body, and the spread of her legs around his waist, his lips perfectly molding into hers alongside each, delirious pass of her tongue...Isen knew it wasn't right. None of this was. To be locked in each other's embrace like this after fighting, and now on the cusp of something insanely important and dangerous, was a comfort and yet, a distraction above anything else.

Fuck it. The longer she was here, the happier he was, and if that meant they crossed another line they shouldn't, well, what was one more for the collection?

The hands under her thighs roamed, higher, finding purchase upon something much softer. He grasped at her rear, pulling her hips flush into his only to press them straight back against the tree immediately after, rocking their bodies together with need while his lips, craving more of her, departed to the now-familiar territory of her neck. He didn't question any of their actions, nor did he ask for permission. If he wasn't going to be able to convince her not to go, then he would savor every second of this like it could be the last, intoxicated by a want that he had yet to find a control over.

The rest of the world be damned, at least for now.
 
I don't care what it takes. You come back to me.

She would soak her hands in as much blood as was necessary to return to him, to the life they wanted to have. If that meant she had to crawl her way through corpses and snuff out the life of multiple demons and DSTF members, then so be it. Nothing shy of losing her life was going to stop her from bringing back what was left of her to end up in Isen's arms again, not when she was finding it so hard to leave them now. They had come to each other after a life full of loss and bloodshed, had forged bonds neither of them had been prepared to understand or thrive in. The thought of giving all of that up was excruciating, stealing away any arguments she might have offered had he given her a chance to speak.

She barely noticed the rough bark of the tree through her clothing, her hands too busy clawing at him as she tightened her legs at his waist. The feel of his hands coasting up her thighs to her ass only brought her closer to him however impossible that had seemed, her fingers raking across his back and grasping blindly at him when his lips found her neck. Was it wrong for them to have a few final moments with each other before the inevitable? Did she care? The moan that spilled from her lips and the way that she ground herself against him greedily had taken precedence over any coherent thought, and she wanted desperately for the barrier of clothing between them to be gone.

"Isen..." She groaned his name and then shuddered, clamping her thighs around him and trying to increase the friction her body was demanding. "I need to feel you. I can't... I need you, and these fucking clothes are in the way!" She hissed out the last sentence, digging her nails into him as another wave of anger at the world that wanted to tear her away surged through her.
 
They didn't have the time, nor did he have the patience, to meticulously work his way through the layers that separated their skin from making direct contact. The rush that came along with the urgency of the situation took him back to the dressing room at the mall, another situation where, despite improper timing, he nearly lost control of himself when faced with his urges towards her. This time, however, the added frustration both of them had been experienced seemed to be translating into the way they kissed and touched each other with actions rougher than usual, more urgent and less refined.

Romance be damned, she was his.

He began to let her down, from the way he was hoisting her up, letting her return to a standing base only to them, immediately, twist her body around with warning. Pushing her, front-first, against the tree this time as though it were a wall, his palms, which were well acquainted with the delectably tempting softness of her ass, tugged at her pants, pulling them down over it's curve.

"No time." He whispered, taking a glance over his shoulder towards the front door of their home. Nobody was looking, somebody had shut it during their argument. Perfect.

The sound of a belt clanging followed suit until she could feel something that was very, distinctly, not a hand, now prodding against her from behind in all of it's glory, full mast and twitching as he grinded himself against her a little harder to reignite that intoxicating sensation. Palms hit, flat, against her ass, reusing another now-familiar tactic in spanking her plush skin until it turned red, using it as another source of venting his anger and frustration outwards. When he was pleased with the shade he had cast onto her body, his next move was to do what they both wanted most; he pushed himself forward, past her folds, entering her from behind and, without delay, the push of his hips pressed her body flush into the tree with each a powerful, and desperate, push forward.

"You better come back to me." He grunted, withdrawing halfway, only to slam forward once more, giving her no real rest or break in between thrusts. "Fuck, Adelaide..." His voice tapered off into a moan, foregoing further conversation attempts in favor of sharing those small, but lascivious, noises directly into her ear as his larger body towered over hers and kept her pinned.
 
If she hadn't found herself pinned to a tree seconds after he put her on her feet, she would have jumped him and ended up on the ground tearing off his pants. Her feet had barely been flat on the ground when her vision spun and she felt her front pressed against the trees, arms flailing as she caught her balance and grabbed blindly at the tree. The feel of denim scraping down her thighs was almost torture as she bit her lip, listening intently when she caught the sound of his belt coming undone and felt a tremor of anticipation racing through her. The need to have him touching her, filling her was so overwhelming that she was almost ready to beg for it, a half strangled moan leaving her lips when his hand landed on her backside again and again until the sting was almost unbearable.

Her thighs shook as he brushed against her, every jolt and jump of her body in response to his hands landing on her ass leaving her more slick and desperate for him to be inside her. His name left her mouth in a hushed plea as her nails dug into the tree, her hips pushing back into him as she felt him sliding into her. It lacked the gentleness from their prior couplings and left her securely pinned between her lover and the tree, unable to do anything other than hold on and meet every thrust with a near delirious cry of pleasure.

"You'd better be here waiting." A hand found its way back to where he was making those delicious noises beside her ear, grabbing at his hair and twisting her head to steal a hungry, needy kiss from him through the sounds he pulled from her. "You'd better be..." Another kiss, and a shudder that rippled through every muscle as she groaned and met another vicious thrust with a roll of her hips. "...Right here waiting to do this for a lifetime. Fuck, Isen."
 
Isen's lips hungrily met hers, though the pace by which his hips had begun to move made it difficult for him to focus on anything else given the distraction it was posing. As always, she felt incredible, but this was something entirely different due to the passion that exuded every small movement, every push and pull. His hands, which had been digging into her hips, moved elsewhere once their rhythm had been established. He knew their current speed would not be maintained for long before they both gave in, so he wasted no time in allowing his hands to explore her body, continuing to act on the urges that filled every inch of his body. Fingers found skin beneath clothing, his palms running upwards, over her stomach, grasping at her chest and using it for leverage as his hips bucked ferociously into hers.

"F-fuck." He practically whimpered against her lips, holding on as tightly as he could. "There's nothing I'd want more." He cooed, his voice a whispered mess, thankful for the cool outside air normalizing the increasingly building temperature of his body as things grew more strenuous.

The closer he got, the more unkept his behavior and movements became. His hips would push forward then freeze, in place, just momentarily, letting her feel everything as he pulsed inside of her before repeating the process. Thrust, wait. Push, pull, wait. He kept her on edge, making it all the more startling and exciting when he found that quickened pace from before once again, hammering her against the tree while his hands, refusing to grow stagnant, went elsewhere once again. One set of fingers found blonde hair, curling and pulling, yanking her head back and forcing her back to arch, making her body recoil more with each push into her sex. The other descended, now, between her thighs from the front, helpful fingers hoping to overload her body with sensation as they found her clit and began to work it in agonizingly slow circles. Working in tandem, his actions made sure to coincide with each stop and start with the soul intention to drive her absolutely crazy with no regard whatsoever who was out there to hear their echoing moans, or the noise of skin meeting skin, again and again in a fashion that couldn't ever possibly be misconstrued as anything other than what they were doing to one another.

"Mine. "He progressively growled, nipping at her ear as he panted heavy exhalations. "All mine."
 
Every wandering touch left fire lingering in its wake, every slide of his hands across bare skin, every pinch and dent of fingernails bruising in their intent. The way his words were almost a match for the whimpers that continued to leave her as the intensity of their movements grew, frantic and needy and almost animalistic in their quest to find mutual release. Every hard thrust and slam of his hips into her backside had the noises increasing in both volume and intensity, and the rhythm he'd chosen was well on its way to driving her mad.

She felt so blissfully full when his hips bucked and pressed her into the tree, the only thing holding her upright the hands roaming her body and hers still loosely tangled in his hair. Then he'd pause, leaving her trying to wriggle and grind into him in frustration until he was moving again and sending her into a spiral of building pleasure and incoherent thoughts. It seemed that every time she felt herself growing close to the edge, clawing for both her own release and the body of the man working her over furiously, he would shift just enough to keep her from tipping over as he continued to ravage her.

"Holy shit!" Dots of darkness littered her vision when the taunting cycle of movements abruptly shifted into the madman's pace from before, her fingers curling and grabbing so hard that she feared they would go numb from the pressure. "Fuck, don't stop. Don't you dare fucking stop." Her head sagged back into the hand that had yanked it back by her hair, her body obeying as it arched and met every thrust as greedily as he gave them. As if that hadn't been enough stimulation to work out all of the emotions that had brought them to this point, the fingers between her thighs had her gasping and writhing as she alternated between pushing back into him and trying to press herself closer to the insistent circling of those delightful fingers.

Coherent sentences crumbled into broken murmurs and pleas of his name, her core tightening as her thighs clenched and bucked into his fingers with no care for anyone other than the way that he was making her feel. The sudden sting of teeth scraping at her ear had her nearly screaming as the orgasm took hold of her, her entire body winding tight and spasming to the tune of his name falling deliriously from her lips over and over again.
 
Pushed beyond any normal limit, Isen found himself nearly buckling over behind her as the pleasure amplified and ricocheted through his body, spreading from his core until his head was spinning. Peaking around the same time as she did, his mind adrift and his voice alight with her name, he found relief in the crescendo of his own orgasm in tandem with her own. Holding tight, he put all the focus he could muster into the circular motion of his fingers against her clit, trying to force her body to ride out it's high for as long as possible until his own made it impossible for him to maintain any form of thought, never mind a dedicated rhythm. Feeling her walls close in as if milking his very soul from his body, his throbbing shaft erupted inside of her for longer than he could possibly keep count. What felt like seconds dragged on into an eternity for the pair, wrapped in each other, shivering and writhing in the afterglow of two unexpected, mind-melting releases.

His breathing began to calm down, and his eyes opened back up, finding the back of her head in front of him, his fingers still tangled in her hair. They pulled themselves free, stroking calmly over her blonde locks as if the switch had been entirely shut off when her body brought him to his climax. The immediate thought was that perhaps he had been too rough on her, but she didn't seem to mind, and it had sufficiently drained him of any anger he had built up during their previous argument.

"You're incredible. Have I ever told you that?"

He didn't pull away from her as he swooned in compliment. Instead, he turned her back around so her back was to the tree again and he could be in front of her, his chest heaving as he placed an arm over her shoulder against the bark for support. His forehead closed in next, bumping lightly into hers as a low laugh followed suit.

"Remind me to make you mad more often." He teased, lips ghosting over hers with playful intent. "...you have to go, don't you?" He asked her, letting reality seep back in but still holding on to the off chance that he had someone how convinced her to change her mind on going to war by herself. "I can't convince you to stay just a few more minutes?" Isen sighed, opting to tempt her with yet another kiss, though lighter than before.
 
A smarter, more coherent Adelaide would have been concerned about the fact that they hadn't used protection or at least the pull-out method, but current Adelaide was still catching her breath and struggling to form proper words. The hand smoothing over her hair sent a shiver down her spine as she let Isen pull back and then turn her to lean against the tree, offering the support her legs weren't ready to give her yet. Never mind the fact that there was currently a combination of them both trickling down her legs.

"Maybe. Can't think to remember." Her eyes shuttered closed when he pressed his forehead to hers, savoring the simple intimate act for a long moment before she dared open them again. "Brat." She would wholeheartedly agree that the sex had been absolutely mind-blowing despite the shortness of it, fueled by anger and passion and all sorts of desperate emotions that had led them to this predicament.

"I do." She sighed into the ghost of a kiss, wishing with all her heart that she could stay right where she was. It didn't matter that both of them were braced against a tree with their pants halfway off, or that she was a mess that would need cleaned up somewhat before her departure. That was the least of her concern, and she would have traded the world to just be able to crawl into bed with Isen and shut out the problems. To steal kisses as she pleased, rest her head on his chest and drift off to sleep when the day came to an end.

"I should get cleaned up and find out what they came up with while we were out here... Talking." It took every bit of her willpower to duck away from him and pull her clothing back into place, casting him only a brief glance to assure herself he was doing the same before she started back toward the house. As much as she desperately wanted to steal another kiss from him, every kiss that made them linger outside took away from what she needed to do.

The front door opened quietly as she slipped back inside, leaving it open for Isen before she walked past all of the demons and up the stairs to the bathroom. She didn't wait for him, didn't have any intention of taking an actual shower or doing anything other than a quick cleanup to get the majority of their sexual encounter off her skin. The rest could be dealt with later, and she wasted no more time than was necessary before going back down the stairs and stopping in the living room.

"Alright, what do I need to know before I go?"
 
"Right. Talking." He breathed out, forcing himself to laugh again. He shook his head, jokingly, leaning in to give her a quick kiss as she started to pull away.

He had failed in his attempt to convince her not to go, and despite the fact that it had a somewhat happy ending, Isen still felt uneasy as he watched her head back inside to hear their 'plan'. As far as he was concerned, they could have sent her inside wearing a suit of magic proof armor and he'd still be worried about her. He whispered an 'I love you' as she parted, cleaned himself up, adjusted his clothing and, eventually, once he had settled down his thoughts, he joined them in the living room.

"Are you done being a nuisance?" Rykard scoffed.

"He will never be done with that." Ignas chimed in. Isen wasn't sure if he was joking, or speaking the truth. "But I think he got his frustrations out. Isn't that right, Isen?"

Isen could feel the heat rise to his cheeks. Ignas knew? He tried to look anywhere but at the demon, his eyes falling back to the only place they ever seemed to go; her, as she listened in to the discussion between the demons who had gathered.

"Breaking that spell won't be easy." Ignas added to the conversation, interrupting when he felt necessary to get his say in once more. "With all of the demons caught inside of the city, it's going to be strong."

"And getting stronger."

"More than likely. We would need something equally as powerful to bring it down, but as much as I hate to say it, we really only have one chance at this. Once Malakai catches on to what we're planning..."

Isen purposely made certain he didn't hear what was said next. He refused.

"...we put our heads together and we came up with only one option that made sense." Ignas looked between Danica and Tyrath, both of whom had helped with their quick research session amongst their collective, demon knowledge. "Project Acuity was a form of anti-magic."

"We destroyed it."

Ignas nodded his head. "We destroyed everything that we found, but that doesn't mean it would be impossible to produce another. The architect herself is within the city, and a dear, loved one of our undercover mage."

"Lorelei."

Ignas nodded again, a second time. "Those drones were capable of draining both my magic, and Adelaide's. With some repurposing, it should be able to do the same to Malakai's and bring that field down. It may even render him and Max unable to use their powers against us. We may have an opportunity to end this, but only if you're still willing, witch."
 
Adelaide ignored the comment from Ignas. She would have expected it from Danica, so to hear it from Ignas made her wonder if he was just trying to cover his own nervousness. She could feel Isen's eyes on her as the demons talked, forcing herself to keep her head in their direction and not let her attention wander back to the man she was about to leave behind. It was hard enough as things were, and the last thing she wanted was to get emotional in the middle of a very, very important conversation.

"We need to make it quick before he kills me, got it." Adelaide knew very well what was at risk here, what had caused her and Isen to have their argument in the first place. She didn't need to be reminded of the upcoming danger, just prepared for it.

"Project Acuity was a nightmare." He was right, though, it was a form of anti-magic, and a way to shut down magic was exactly what they needed now. "And Isen's right, we destroyed it." She felt a brief surge of pride remembering how they'd taken down the multitude of drones and helped to keep the remaining Dissonants safe. She struggleed to follow along in the conversation for a minute, and Isen made the connection before she could. Of course, fucking Lorelei. She'd barely seen the old woman lately with everything going on, Nik had spent far more time with her than Adelaide had and the thought hadn't been remotely close to the surface.

"I'd have to find where everyone went when I left." Adelaide was frowning as she mulled over the possibility. Finding Nikolai, Lorelei and the others shouldn't be too hard of a task if she just followed the feel of a magic or used the phone she was now remembering that she had. Seriously, how did she keep forgetting about that important mode of communication? After a mental slap to her brain and dragging herself back to the conversation she nodded in agreement.

"Not sure we'll be able to access an actual drone, but I'm sure if we find some scraps of things we can put together something to do the same thing. Just have to get Lorelei to teach me the spell and make something, then get close enough to Max to actually set it off..." It was an entirely high-risk situation resting on an old woman's shoulders and the hope that she would help them. She'd seemed repentant for her actions once she saw just how insane her now deceased husband was, so all Adelaide could do was hope Lorelei was up to the task.

"Yeah, let's do this. But if I get this done and come back to find you idiots didn't keep him safe," She took her time glaring at the various demons around the room, but the majority of her ire was centered on Ignas, "I'll start taking you out, too." It was a bold threat to make to a room full of demons, two of which were some of the most powerful she had ever met or heard of, but she made it without flinching before going to retrieve her bag. The motion of slinging it up and over her shoulder was almost mechanical before she turned the entirety of her attention on Isen, acting as if the demons filling the room didn't even exist.

"I'll see you soon." She stretched up and pressed a hand to his cheek, swallowing the rapidly growing lump in her throat before pressing a hard kiss to his lips. "I love you." She closed her eyes and opened the portal, unwilling to look at the expression she knew would be on Isen's face as she stepped back and fell through into Cresthaven and shut the portal.

"Never an easy fucking landing, I swear." She rubbed at her sore back as she picked herself up from the floor of Samara's shop and groaned. She could already feel the effect the spell was having now that she was back in Cresthaven, which meant she needed to grab a few things from here and then figure out where Nikolai was so she could start to make a plan. Or maybe she could call while she was getting stuff and see what all they'd grabbed on the way out.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." No matter how many things she moved around in the bag, her phone was nowhere to be found. "Fuck!" She needed to move fast if she was being forced to use a locator spell, the longer she spent inside what was once hallowed ground, the more of her magic she was going to lose.
 
"I'll see you soon."

"You will."

Isen nodded his head as the knot in his chest tightened around his heart.

If this were the last time he'd ever see her, would he be okay with that? To lose another loved one to something out of his control? To go on living in a world where she didn't exist?

Before he had met Adelaide Lancaster, he wanted so badly for his life to end. Plagued and in misery, Isen was bound to a life he could never outlive, and could never take. Haunted by a sinister voice inside of his head, branded as a 'Reaper', he truly felt as though he had nothing to live for. Things had changed, so suddenly, from a meeting in a snowy forest to a longing goodbye on the brink of a potential genocide. What felt like years had, in reality, been a much shorter time, but they had lived through more in that period than many would experience in life times.

It hurt him to think about how he would need to continue to live after this. And it wasn't because he could no longer end his pain. It was because he could, at any time, but he no longer wanted to.

"I love you too." He whispered, an exhale against a pair of fleeting lips, his eyes never straying from Adelaide until she vanished through her teleportation, whisking her away to whatever waited on the other side of Malakai's draining field.

He had to trust her. She would come back. She said she would. She had to. She wouldn't lie to him. She wouldn't.

Ignas placed his hand on Isen's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze, though with much more force than likely intended. "I apologize for being too harsh on you before, Isen."

"Don't talk to me." Isen shrugged his shoulder, brushing him off.

"I'll talk to the kid." Rykard grumbled, inserting himself.

"You're lucky you can still talk at all." Ignas corrected, not trusting Rykard for a single second.

"Were you always this much of a prick? Last thing I remembered was when you had Malakai's dick in your mouth. That ended well, didn't it?"

"Watch it."

"Yeah. You're reaaaal good at keeping friends, aren't you, Iggy? Like I said, I'll talk to him..." Rykard trailed off, his eyes glancing past Ignas towards some of the other demons who were currently making their way into the liquor cabinet in the kitchen. "...in a bit."
 
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