Week one of drawing a Tau character every day! (Determined via spin the wheel)
Day 1: Rory Truong
RORY!!!! My girl, I’ve waited FAR too long to draw her! I’m honestly not too happy with the one on the right, but I was too lazy to clean it up. I’ve had her design in my head for a few years now, so it was fun to finally push myself to draw her! (If anyone has notes on how I can do her hair better, please let me know! They were supposed to be Bantu knots) you can tell I used a stock image for her shirt.
Day 2: Darceus Alamastern
I wanted to play w her design a tiny bit more, leaning further into natural fox markings than my previous art of her. She’s meant to be some form of piebald, which I hc that many kitsunes have. Her pin is the current dinner crew symbol, and her necklace is Hank’s zodiac. (there’s no real reason she would know that Hank had a zodiac on Alcor’s circle, but I just wanted to include a tribute to him) I’m not sure how I feel abt her markings rn, so I’ll probably continue to experiment.
Day 3: Magnus Wright
Magnus!! The arts kinda booty but wtv this is for fun and it was never meant to be high effort. Bonus bound Alcor
Day 4: Violet Beale
Violettttt! She ended up looking very much like Mira, so I tried to make Ian visible in her hair texture, clothing (it’s almost a flannel) and her nose. (eggsistential-breakdown was my main visual reference) I have her a pin with an atom on it (bc she’s into theoretical physics), which also conveniently looks sorta like a violet flower! So now I hc that’s her zodiac on Dip’s circle. I gave her dyed violet hair bc c’mon. Mira’s daughter named after a color? She would ABSOLUTELY take advantage of that! Also she has braces as a little nod to Mabel.
Day 5: Mike Pines
MIKE!!! Not much to say abt him. I love his character, and I’m so happy with how he turned out! I would have drawn his prosthetic leg, but if I’m doing one very day I don’t have time to do full bodies.
Day 6: Fluffy (Dragon)
You can tell I started to get lazy here. Little baby dragon 💜 he’s probably waiting for Matilda to hand down the riches or smth. I gave him a gator tail bc I like gators. As far as I know his name was a joke because he *didn’t* have any fluff, so I went with the western dragon approach. Also bc he is described as having wings.
Day 7: Robert Carter
I only learned of his existence today, so it was kind of hard to make a design for him. I ended up just using what came to mind when I thought of “cinnamon roll”, which is Toby. (That’s how both of them are described on their respective wikis) and then I ended up giving him my moles for fun!
__________
I don’t expect to keep this thing up for long, or for every one to look good, but I’ll go for as long as I feel like! If anyone knows a character that isn’t on the wiki, feel free to reach out! I can add them to the wheel. Sorry for such a long post, but I like to document my thought processes.
And please keep in mind that these are all headcannons!!! You can draw these characters in any way you’d like! This is just what came to my mind when reading about them.
There are also versions with a white background here in case anyone wants them ig??
For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.
He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.
Worse than prison. Worse than death. Slumped against the basement door, cradling his burning arm, Mag looked up at the sunset coming through the window. He looked at the sun, stared it down until two spots formed in his double vision.
“You tricked me,” he said. Pins and needles poked deep into his arm.
Tricks are for demons, said the light. I am an angel.
“Fuck you. Fuck you! Don’t lie to me, you said they’d be safe! You made me-”
He started to get up, but the light intensified around him. It was like there was light in his bones, burning deep inside, warning him no. With a black scowl, he sat back again.
“We had a deal.” He spoke carefully, fighting to keep the fury from his voice. “You can’t do anything to Piper. That’s - that’s the reason I did this, you can’t… Just let her go, okay? Call this off. I’ll do anything, just… please. Come on, please.”
Silence. Utter silence. Mag didn’t know if it was considering something, or if it didn’t care to reply. He didn’t know anything about this creature anymore.
Finally, it did speak.
Deals are for demons, said the light. I am an angel.
The sun was rising, but Mag felt so cold in its embrace. He shook his head, shook his head, shook his head.
“No. No, come on. No.”
They’re almost here, said the light. You wanted to see her, did you not? You wanted to see her so badly you defied me.
“I don’t want to see her! I’ll never - I’ll never do that again, please, I don’t-”
You don’t need to plead. You’re tainted, and you’ve let yourself taint her in turn.
“I…”
You taint everything you touch, said the light, and Magnus turned away and put his head in his bloody hands. You always have. From the moment that curséd soul entered your body, you were unforgivable. You think this is my fault? No, Mizar. This is always how it was going to end. You were always going to betray me. You aren’t capable of anything else.
The sun beat down on the broken figure on the floor. The light brushed over every scrape, every blemish, every drop of blood. There was a moaning sound coming from the basement.
Ah, said the light. But it is your nature. I forgive you for this.
This fucking drive. The darkening trees rushing past Piper, the potholes that jolted her around as she drove too fast over them, the ever-lingering memory of that night. That night. The thought of it always put a pit in her stomach, but now it felt like an open wound yawing wide in front of her, dragging her back into the mind of that helpless little girl who watched her family tear itself apart on that night.
Another jolt, and her hands tightened on the steering wheel. And she wished she could say she was different now. That she wasn’t helpless anymore. But truth be told, both her parents were in deep trouble, and she wasn’t sure at all what a 20-something paper pusher was going to do to save their lives.
A glance towards the front seat, the mirror clinking against the cups. She was probably gonna die, wasn’t she? From the moment she touched that mirror, the angel was after her… but her Dad, he didn’t do anything! He didn’t deserve any of this! All he ever wanted was for his family to be happy, and he doesn’t even know who took that from him.
Who killed Scarlett.
Who drove Mag away.
Who pulled apart their family just to use them as pawns to bind a demon, and now has the fucking gall to tell her she’s the guilty one?!
Piper could feel it like fire in her blood, a wardrum beating in her ears. Oh, she was probably going to die, but she was going to do it clawing this angel’s FUCKING EYES OUT!
…Her hands were hurting. She was breathing hard, she needed to calm down. They were-
“Nearly there,” came Alcor’s voice, soft and hesitant. He hadn’t spoken much at all this car ride, and she glanced quickly over.
“Yeah,” she managed. “Yeah.”
It was emerging from behind the trees, now. That old house at the end of the road, lit with the fire of a sunset, almost glowing amongst the shadows. At first, nothing at all seemed odd about this place, but as she slowed to a crawl, she noticed how the image of it seemed to waver like the air above a hot road, like a mirage.
“Look at the ground,” Alcor said, pointing out a thin, unnaturally white line seeming to encircle the entire property. “Wards. He’s got something set up in there, I’m sure.”
“Well, we already know it’s a trap, right?” Piper tried for a shrug. “We’ll just have to… We’ll do something.” She picked up the jar of sludge. “We’ve got this - we hit Mag with this, the Angel stops possessing him, right?”
“It only weakens the hold.”
“It’s still something.” She saw Alcor turn away, and picked up the mirror. “Hey, come on, you were full of ideas this morning. Just tell me how I should approach this.”
He didn’t answer immediately; he stared off into space, and then sighed. “I’ve been thinking it over, I really have. I’ve been trying to find some way to save you and Mag and your Dad, it’s just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s just…” He took a breath, let it out, and looked at her again. “I know what you should do.”
“Wh-“
“You should get out of the car, put this mirror on the ground, and drive away fast.”
“Put… wait, drive-?“
“And call the cops too!” He was speaking faster now. “Get them to meet you somewhere, take you into custody, tell them Mag’s coming after you so you get a big guard. You-“
“Whoa, whoa, wait, I’m not running away!” Piper shook her head. “I’m not leaving! Besides, the angel’s gonna kill me if I do that, that’s what you said!”
“The angel wants the mirror. If it gets that and sees you’re surrounded by cops, it might write you off as too much of a hassle to kill. Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Piper scowled. “Wh-, what happened to ‘angels always follow through’?”
“It’s just a general rule. Angels and demons, we’re… we’re fickle beings. We like to think we’re infallible just as much as you do, but we’re n-not.” His lip trembled, his face crumpled. “Sometimes we’re hypocrites, y-you know?”
“Alcor?”
“I told myself I’d always look out for her. I-I’d always be there for her, I’d always be there to protect her!” He shook his head. “But I let her down- I let him down, I let him be used against me, and now I don’t know if I’m doing what he wants - does he want to be saved? Does he want this, if it means… i-if it means his daughter…”
Suddenly, Piper knew where this was going. “I’m not leaving my parents.” She said, and watched him sigh. “I’m not! Listen, we need to focus on what to do about the angel.”
“That’s what I’m doing! Piper, if you go in there, you’ll die. You think they want you to die for them?”
“It’s not about what they want.” She fished out a plastic bag from the back. “You know what I want? I want this stupid angel out of my life one way or another!”
“Piper-”
“One way, or another.” Wrapping the bag around her hand, she picked up the mirror and held it up to herself. “So are we in on this or not? Because I’m definitely gonna die in there if I can’t trust you not to do something stupid.”
“But-” He started, and trailed off, avoided Piper’s stare. He paced nervously in the mirror, wings fluttering behind him… and then he put his head in his hands. “I can’t even do this for Mag, can I. I can’t even keep his daughter safe.”
Piper glanced up at the house. “I know you’re upset, but… we really don’t have time for this. Are you in or not?”
A moment longer he stood still, and for a moment Piper really did worry she’d have to go in alone after all… but then, he gave a deep sigh, wiped his watery eyes, and looked down.
“I’m in,” he said, quietly. “I’ll… do what I can.”
She slipped off the plastic bag. “Thanks,” she said, and when she gripped the bare handle, she could feel the sadness rolling off of him. It was like he was already mourning her; she tried to push that aside. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t respond. Grabbing the jar, Piper opened the car door and slowly approached the ward barrier. It was a glowing white line drawn in the dirt; she stuck her hand through, and it didn’t seem to do anything, but she wasn’t ready to trust it just yet.
“What is this?” She asked the mirror, but he didn’t reply. Piper grimaced at the despair still emanating from him - it seemed she was on her own for this. Trying to rub it out did nothing; it seemed there was only one way forward.
One foot, and then the other. It all seemed normal until her eyes passed through the barrier, and a sudden flash of light had her covering them. When she squinted them open…
“What’s…going on?”
The house had changed. Blinding white light streamed from every window, and a harsh sunlight had bleached the colours out from the world. The wind had absolutely stilled, and silence pressed down like a weight.
There was one more thing that changed. Piper glanced down at the mirror, and noticed her hands, dripping with the only colour the angel ever left behind - red blood.
She left a steady trail on the way to the door. It creaked open as it always did, and the sound made her cringe. Inside, the lights were off, yet everything was lit like the roof had been taken off on a cloudless day. The way it enstranged the house she’d grown up in was jarring; for a moment she just wanted to take it in, get her bearings-
Crrrreak.
A flinch, a turn. Piper gripped the mirror tight, shading her eyes and straining to see anything useful up the stairs - and wow, she really couldn’t. If the angel came from up there…?
Backing up sharply, she headed into the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was the table; nothing’s displaced but for two chairs conspicuously missing from the ends. Odd.
Piper glanced further down the hallway… but in her mind, she knew where to go. Heart hammering in her chest, she took a deep breath, and turned around.
I did it for you.
She saw it first in memory, in the blackest shadow of that night: the glowing door, the shouting the ranting the laughing that plagued her childhood dreams.
I did it all for you.
And now, years later, she stood in the glow, looking into darkness. It was just a little ajar, and the unnatural light didn’t reach inside. And as she edged closer, she didn’t hear shouting.
Please don’t go!
She heard, like ice through her heart, the faintest moaning.
Piper!
She stood on the precipice of her memories. The tape stopped here, at the top of these stairs. What laid below, for better or for worse, was resolution.
For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.
He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.
Step by step, every one letting off an awful creak. It was dark down here, but, finally, Piper felt a rush of something from the mirror; her vision went double for a second, then blinked open and she could see the stairs.
“Thanks,” she muttered, but immediately froze in place at the sound of a gasp.
“Who’s- Mag?” Said the voice, and Piper’s heart went right to her throat. “Is that you?”
“Dad?”
“Piper!” She could hear the horror in her name, but it was music to her ears; she ran down the stairs. “How are you- you shouldn’t be here!”
She could see him, tied to a chair and blindfolded, in the center of the basement. Dried blood crusted his hair. “I came to get you! Are you- oh my stars, what happened?”
“Mag, he-” A cough; David shook his head. “Pl-please, get out of here, Piper.”
“I’ve just got to untie you-”
“No! Piper, it’s-” He jerked away from her arms. “It’s the demon!”
“The demon.” Piper cast a glance down at the mirror. “There’s- there’s something I found out, Dad. But I’ll tell you later - just let me get you out of here.”
She set down the jar and reached for the blindfold on his face - the knot was at the back of his head, and it was tight. She couldn’t get her nails in!
“Just pull it off,” Alcor muttered, and she blinked. Oh, yeah.
“Who said that?”
“Uh, don’t worry about it, Dad.” Piper slipped her fingers behind the front of the blindfold. “Just let me- agh!”
It was like her fingers were on a stovetop; she jerked them back, sucking in a breath. Sharp tingles shot down her hand like little zaps, and when she dared to look, she could see her digits were already reddening. What on earth? It was like she’d been burned… wait.
“Piper?”
David. She’d ripped the blindfold halfway up his forehead, and he was peering into the darkness - because it was dark, but she could see.
“Piper, are you okay? What happened?”
She could see - there was something glinting on his chest. Some kind of symbol, attached to a chain, and oh that was the exorcist’s necklace he owned. He’d gotten her the same one when she moved out - it was specifically tuned to repel Alcor’s demonic energy.
“Piper!”
Her hand still stung, and a lump lodged in her throat. He must have put it on because he thought Alcor was with Mag… but how was she supposed to get him out of here if she couldn’t touch him? Maybe if she put the mirror down-
“Don’t even think about it in here,” Alcor shook his head at her. “I think that’s his plan.”
“That voice again!” David was straining against the chair. “Who is that! What have you done with my daughter? Just let her go!”
Shit, shit, shit, what was she supposed to do? If she couldn’t get him untied-
A blinding flash. Piper covered her eyes as they adjusted; the lights had come on! She squinted them open to see her Dad, staring at her with wide eyes.
“Piper…” His gaze raked over the bruises and bloodstains, down to the mirror in her hand. And he blanched. “That’s- i-it can’t be. No!”
“Dad-”
“Drop that mirror! Piper, drop it and run! Now!”
“It’s not-”
He was thrashing against the ropes. “You don’t understand! Drop it! DROP IT!”
Piper stepped back… and heard the door at the top of the stairs slam closed. Both of them went dead silent, heads darting up to see…
To see a pair of boots standing between them and the exit. Her heart in her throat, Alcor’s energy bubbling just under her skin, she watched it step down.
Creak, creak, creak. Step by step, Mag’s towering frame came into view. His glowing eyes covered by sunglasses, yet she could feel them fixing on her. He got to the bottom step and just stopped there, staring her down. She clenched the mirror.
“Well?” She shouted, trying to ignore her Dad’s eyes on her. “I did what you told me, angel! You’re going to let my Dad go now!”
“What?” Her dad shook his head. “No, Piper-”
“Shh, Dad.” She couldn’t take her eyes off him. “So, are you gonna say anything? Before you kill me like you killed Scarlett?”
Silence - she didn’t dare look at her Dad, but she could hear a sharp breath. The angel didn’t seem to respond at all…and then, she saw the slightest smirk lift Mag’s lips. She scowled.
“This is funny to you? What kind of angel are you supposed to be?”
It didn’t speak through Mag’s lips. Its reply seemed to echo too loud in her mind:
You’re trying to ‘tell’ on me to your father, are you? I apologise, but the futility is… undeniably amusing.
It took one last step down.
The truth is, you have all been tested, and you have all disappointed me. There is only one path left to redeem your souls.
“Wha-” Piper stepped in front of her Dad. “He doesn’t have anything to do with Alcor! You said you’d let him go if I came here!”
I said I would kill him if you ran from me. You are reading your own wishes into my words.
“You-” Piper took a half-step forward, but her foot brushed against something on the ground: oh, right, the sludge jar! Maybe she could-
You're going to kick that at me? Thr smirk was back, wider. I can see the thousands of realities where you miss completely, and the tens of realities where it strikes me without shattering, and falls harmlessly to the ground. I can see everything.
Piper scowled. The angel took a step closer.
Piper Wright. Not a particularly athletic human, nor an especially clever one. In all aspects, a perfectly unremarkable example of your species. Listen to me now, child.
Another step closer. Piper felt her jeans brushing against her father's knees, but she couldn't stand aside.
You cannot win. You can only choose how you would like to die.
The angel made a slow, mocking grab for her. She batted him off with the mirror, backed up to her Dad's side.
Drop the mirror, and accept your end with dignity . A pause, heavy with expectation. When Piper stayed frozen, its expression darkened. Or give yourself willfully to the service of a demon, and die choking on your sins. This is your last chance.
Piper's mind was running a mile a minute, but everything was coming up blank. She wasn't hearing any great ideas from Alcor either - what was she going to do?
Her own terrified gaze reflected back at her from the angel's glasses. She saw it move, saw its hand reach down to its hip and draw out a gun.
What was she going to do?
Very well. Its voice boomed in Piper’s head; Mag's hand, slightly tremoring, drew up to point the gun at her. You have made your-
A flash of movement. Lunging forward like a cornered animal, David sank his teeth into Mag's wrist. And, heart hammering in her chest, Piper watched in slow motion.
Ba-dum.
The gun slipping out of his hands. The angel jerking back, the whole chair lurching forwards as David hung on.
Ba-dum.
Red blood welling up, running down. The gun falling down. Piper feels herself welling up, a great overwhelming rush rising from the mirror and winding her arm back as it took
Ba-dum.
a step. The angel was balling a fist. A shattering sound as the gun smashed through the top of the jar. A raw, throat-ripping yell coming from her own mouth filled her ears as the two of them swung the mirror up and into his face.
Ba-dum.
Mag’s body staggered back; David let go as his chair tipped over.
Ba-dum.
Plastic shards.
Ba-dum.
A frame clattering to the floor.
Ba-dum.
His
Ba-dum.
eyes.
Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum
The angel held its face for a good long moment, and when it looked up, Piper was struck by the glow - or the rather, the weakness of it. She could make out Mag’s pupils darting wildly around, and the stiffness it moved with - it didn’t seem deliberate, suddenly. It seemed like a struggle.
“Mag!” The sudden hope in Alcor’s voice mirrored the relief radiating through her. “He’s fighting in there, he must be!”
The angel’s head snapped towards the mirror. It threw itself at her, but it was a clumsy move; Alcor all but danced around it.
“Well, this is new!” He chirped as the angel turned around. “I’ve never heard of a bluffing angel before! He’s really fighting you, huh?” His grin sharpened. “It’s like you’re trying to kill his daughter. Again.”
The gun was right by the angel’s feet, covered in glass shards and demonic sludge. Alcor snorted as he saw him eye it.
“You gonna try and pick that up? Great idea, that’s really gonna help you keep Mag down.” A nod as the angel stepped past it. “Yeah, there we go. Weird, you’ve gone quiet all of a sudden. What’s the matter?”
Alcor may have found something funny in the angel’s death stare, but Piper wasn’t such a fan of the goading. She gave him a mental tug and felt him clear his throat.
“Anyway, uh…” He hesitated, and then let out a growl. “I really got to offer this, don’t I? Look - I can’t drag you out of Mag in this body, and you look like you can barely move. So even though you r̶̛̰e̵̜͊a̷lly don’t deserve this-”
You’re proposing a deal?
The angel sounded oddly amused. Piper felt her fists ball. “Yes, and you better listen up, because I’m only going to say this once. Get out of Mag, leave me and mine alone forever, and I won’t chase you down and r̷̡͑i̷̺̐̋p̵̢̑ y̷̡̓o̶̮̼̐͗ų̶̌r̸͚̿ s̸͉̆̈o̷̡͕͌u̷̠̓͠l into more piece̷͉̠̬̾̈̀͘͝s̸͕͉̬̗̓͒̽̄ ̴ tĥ̵̬͍͍͇̉͗̈́͊͠͝a̸̛̅̿̊͘̚n tḧ̷͉͙̘̼̞̜͍́̑̔̀͂̃̃͘ę̷̜̪̹̪͗̑̓̈r̵͖̜̣̮̀̔͐̓̌͜è̵̻͍͚̣̟̺ ̵̘͍̀͐͐̅ā̵͚̍͝r̷̙̗̟̅̐͊̏͜è̸͒͒̏̀͜͝͝ ̸͇̙͆͊͝ş̴͓̱͈̤̹̣̂̓̏̅̚t̸̥͛͒̒ạ̷̡̤͆͌͋ͅr̷̥͎̝̞̝̯̪̓̈́̃̅̀̔͠s̴̘̝̓͗͂̈ ̶̰̲͙͌̍̏̓͋̓ī̵͈̣̻͆̀ͅņ̷̖̝̱͑̂́ ̸̪̫͓̘̇̋̌t̷̩̳͂̃̿͂h̷̢̫͙̣͉͉̀͑͜é̸͎͇ ̷̜̣̪͐̉ù̴̢̗̣͙͐̈̀̀͋̚n̸̛̥̟͍̋̍̀̊̂́î̷͔̣͓͇̻v̸̘͎̈́̂͋e̶̬̱̯͚̪̽́͆̒̓́̓r̷̻̼̣̜̘̃̂s̶̨͇̻̯̈́̿̎̿e̶̢̩̪̤̙̾̅̔̈́̾͊̄.”
His words sent a chill down Piper’s spine, but the angel didn’t seem to react. Alcor raised an eyebrow.
“Well?”
An angel, making a deal with a demon. You expect me to dignify this with a response?
Alcor scowled. “Seriously? You can’t be-”
And yet I do admit, continued the angel, there is some wisdom to your twisted words. To leave you and yours to your wickedness - this certainly seems the will of this body. Despite all I have done to try and guide it to the light, still it turns from me at this critical moment.
The uneasiness bubbling from the mirror echoed Piper’s own. They watched as the angel seemed to think for a moment… and then break a very thin smile.
Yes, demon, perhaps you’re right. I won’t be taking your deal, but if Magnus truly wants me gone, I would be less than the crudest bodysnatcher to deny him his free will.
I only hope,
in his last moments,
he realises how much I’ve done for him.
The words were still washing over them as Mag raised his hands to the sky, the tattoos on his arm glowing brighter, brighter, blinding- and then they shut off. And like a puppet with his strings cut, he collapsed to the ground.
Piper and Alcor rushed as one to his side.
“Mag!” Piper raced to catch him, but she couldn’t stop him cracking his head on the floor. She grimaced. “Are you okay? Mag!”
He was breathing; she could hear his ragged breaths, but he hadn’t opened his eyes. The angel’s words pounded in her thoughts like an anxious drumbeat - last moments, last moments, what did that mean? He was alive, she was alive, Her Dad was- Dad!
A hesitation, but Mag seemed okay, only that bitemark on his wrist oozing blood. Her Dad… she turned around and cringed. The chair had tipped over and pinned his face between the back and the concrete; he groaned as she turned him onto his side.
“Piper…?” he managed. He was still bound to the chair in thick rope; she looked to Alcor, and he nodded. “What’s going on? Mag… Mag! Is he-”
“He’s okay, Dad.” Piper felt the mirror heat up, and she passed it through the rope with a wisp of smoke. “Are you okay? No, don’t stand up-”
And he grabbed her and wrapped her in the tightest hug and buried his head in her shoulder. Piper froze, but he sagged against her, and she kept him up.
“Dad?”
“You’re okay…” She could feel his whole body trembling. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay…”
She felt a lump rising in her throat. “I’m okay, Dad.”
“I-I was so worried about you. When I heard the news, I-I didn’t…” He squeezed her tighter. “I hate it but part of me was…I-I didn’t th-think I’d see y-you again… I’m sorry, I’m-”
“Don’t be sorry.” She shook her head, squeezed tight. “D-don’t be sorry, okay? You saved me, Dad.”
He tried to speak, but it just came out in sobs of sheer relief. Her eyes blurred as well.
“I-I thought I was gonna die. I thought we both were. B-but we’re okay, aren’t we? We’re gonna be okay.”
He squeezed her tighter- but a cough behind them, and it froze. David saw something Piper didn’t; she could feel him tense up.
“Mag? Mag!”
She turned as he nearly pushed her away and stumbled to Mag’s side. Mag- her eyes widened.
He was bleeding. A lot. Red blood was wetting the rags on his chest, and as she ran to him she could see him dissolve into bodyshaking coughs; red rimmed his lips, his eyes dimmed but meeting her gaze.
And he smiled.
“Piper,” he said, quietly. David was trying to stop the bleeding, but there was a sickening crack, a wince. His hand half raised to cover a sudden bulge on his collarbone. “Ow.”
“Mag?!” She saw the white scars on his arm - they were reddening, opening, bleeding. “Wha-what’s going on?!”
“It’s the angel!” Alcor’s voice was low and horrified - David’s eyes shot over like he just noticed the mirror. “It’s taking its gifts back - every time it healed Mag, it’s… oh, no.”
Piper watched in horror as a pattern of road rash peeled down the side of his face. “No… no, no, no! Alcor, you’ve got to- you can heal him, right?”
“Alcor?” David blinked, and started forwards as she pressed the mirror into Mag’s hand. “What-”
“Trust me, Dad.” Piper curled Mag’s hands around the mirror. “Come on, Alcor!”
“I’m trying!” It seemed like the bleeding was slowing - and then his shoulder popped out. “He’s not- Mag, you gotta… let me help you! Please!”
“Mag…” Piper looked back to those eyes. She put a hand on his shoulder. “I need you to do something for me, Mag. You need to unbind Alcor.”
Mag didn’t respond. He just looked at her, and smiled. She shook his shoulder.
“You’ve been lied to, Mag! Listen to me - it wasn’t Alcor that killed Scarlett! The angel framed him to get you to bind him!” In the corner of her eye she could see David flinch, but she didn’t have time. She leaned in closer. “You’ve got to say you unbind him, and then he can heal you! That’s all you’ve gotta do, but you’ve got to do it now! Please!”
Her jeans were getting wet. Slowly, steadily, blood was pooling under him. His lips, turning blue, quivered, and moved.
“I lost it,” he said, hardly louder than his breath. Piper didn’t know what he meant, but she shook her head.
“Mag…” she started, but he was speaking again.
“The photo… I lost it.” Tears formed in his eyes. “I-I was going… it w-was going to be the last thing I looked at.” A laugh, that dissolved into a cough. “B-b-ut th-this, this is the real thing! Th-this is so much… so much more than I deserve.”
“Mag, stop it!” David grabbed his other hand and held it to his chest. “Just unbind Alcor! You heard what Piper said.”
“I heard.” He finally looked away. “I-I gave my life to that angel. I did… I-I don’t even know what I did. I don’t wanna know.” His eyes closed. “If you still love me, just let me have this. Let me die not knowing.”
“If I-” Piper scowled. “I do still love you, and I’m gonna try to save you! Come on, Mag!”
“Mag. Heh.” His face was going deathly pale. “Even now, I don’t get a ‘Dad.” Those eyes fixed on her; the slightest smile graced his face. “That’s okay, I… I get it. Just… remember I loved you, Piper. I loved you more than anything.”
“If you loved me, why won’t you let me save you? I don’t want to watch you die!”
“It’s best this way, kid. I… made my peace a long time ago.” The slightest head shake. “There’s nothing but prison waiting for me if I live.”
“There’s us waiting for you!” She grabbed his face when he turned away. “Mag - Dad, we’re right here!”
“What, you’re gonna visit me?” A coughing laugh. “I-I’m just a stranger to you. I-I’m just guilting you, aren’t I? Should’ve kept my damn mouth shut.”
“Stop…” Piper’s voice shook, but she pushed through. “Stop telling me, how I feel, about my family!”
Mag looked at her again, and she stared him down.
“All I ever wanted to do was know you, Mag! You keep saying you love me, you’d do anything for me, but I finally have a chance to a-actually-” Her voice broke. “-to actually know who you are, and you just want to leave me again like you always do!”
His eyes widened a little. Piper could feel David’s hand come to her shoulder, but she shook him off.
“I’m not dead, Mag! I never fucking died, I’ve been here this whole time! “ She slapped her chest. “I’m not just a photo, I’m right here! And I don’t want you to die!”
“Piper-”
The energy that had seized her was leaving. “I don’t want you to die, Mag.” She sagged back down. “I’ll visit you, I’ll do anything, just don’t… don’t do this. Please. Please.”
The blood soaking her jeans was cold. Mag’s eyes slid closed, and his breath had slowed to a rattle. Piper looked to David, still holding onto Mag’s hand with a white-knuckle grip, staring into the middle distance.
It was so quiet in here, she thought. But Mag took a big breath.
“You promise…” He managed, eyes still closed. “You promise you’ll… visit?”
“Yes. Yes!”
“I promise.” David cupped his cheek. “Please, M.”
A pause, a tension.
“Then…” Mag took another breath. “Alcor the… Dreambender, I… release you… from your bonds.”
And with those whispered words, the whole world seemed to shudder. Piper heard the mirror shatter, and then a deep boom rocked the foundations the same way it had done all those years ago.
She looked behind her, and she saw, from the glowing frame, a hand, reaching out. Alcor the Dreambender wasted no time with theatrics; pulling himself out of the mirror, he immediately pounced on Mag and dug his claws into his chest.
“Wha-” David stood up quickly, but Piper pulled him back.
“He’s here to help,” She said. “Just trust me, please.”
David hesitated, and then bowed his head and took her hand. They watched Alcor pull some wispy, shiny thing out of Mag, and the last flickers of light on his tattoos went black. Casting it away, he then put his hands on Mag; they started to glow, and, before their eyes, the wounds began to close.
Mag didn’t respond at first. Then, like a drowning man breaking the surface, he took one big, full gasp, and then settled into something more regular. He was still covered in blood, but the pink had returned to his skin.
“He’s gonna be okay.” Alcor’s voice came as a surprise to both of them. The figure Piper knew in the mirror was now here, physical, and her eyes widened as she watched him rise to his feet, watched him turn around with something like a smile on his face. “He needs to rest, though. From this, and… well, everything else.”
His eyes looked from her to David, and the smile tightened a bit. She cast a glance at her Dad - stars, how was she even going to begin to explain the last few days? The last time she saw him felt like years ago.
“Dad?”
David glanced over at her, and then back at Alcor. He looked the demon up and down, from the wings twitching on his back, to the gold-on-black eyes and pointed ears. He swallowed. “You… really didn’t kill Scarlett?”
“I didn’t.” Alcor shook his head. “I swear.”
“He’s the only reason I’m alive, Dad.” Piper put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s… a lot happened the past few days, Dad. I don’t know how to start.”
He seemed to take a breath. “Well…” he started, stiffly. “You saved Mag. And you saved my daughter. Thank you, Alcor.” Then he looked down. “I’m going to need some time to… adjust. Let’s just figure out what we’re going to do now.”
Piper looked around the basement: the blood on the concrete, the chair with the rope, the gun, the Mag. And that’s not to mention the demon standing in front of them… she sucked in a breath.
“Uh, yeah,” Alcor’s wings fluttered nervously. “And, bad news, but the angel’s a sore loser. My omniscience is telling me it just used one of its pawns to tip off the cops - oh, and the cop getting the call is named Frank, and his favourite food is, eww, prawn salad?”
“What?”
Alcor blinked. “Oh, sorry, gotta get used to omniscience again. My point is, we’ve got about two minutes.”
“Two minutes until… the police show up?”
“Yeah.” Alcor seemed to see the pallor on both their faces, and put his hands up. “But it’s okay! I’m a demon, remember? I can clean this all up and get you out of here - it’ll be like nothing happened.”
“He’s got the whole country looking out for him.” David crossed his arms. “Piper, too. You can make people just forget about this whole thing?”
“Uh… not really, that would be a pretty big deal.” He gave a nervous laugh. “But hey, if they never find you-”
“Never find us? We’ve got lives to get back to!”
“That’s not what I meant, I-” Alcor looked back at Mag. “Well, we gotta get him out of here, at least! You remember what he said, he’ll go to prison if they find him!”
A pause, a tension that filled the air as they all gazed at the sleeping body. David broke the silence first.
“I promised I’d visit him in prison, Alcor.” He spoke quietly. “He knew what that meant. We all did.”
“But it was the angel, guys!” Alcor turned to Piper. “Come on, this isn’t - this isn’t fair!”
“What’s not fair?” She frowned as Alcor recoiled. “What’s wrong, Alcor? Look, I-I didn’t want him to die, but… you know, he killed people! That can't... you can't just whisk him-”
“So we’re just gonna throw him in prison? He needs help, he doesn’t need to be punished!” Alcor paced in place. “After all these years, I-I can finally help him! I can finally do what I should have done the second I saw her that night… and what, I-I’m just supposed to do nothing again?
“Alcor-”
“I̵ s̸h̶o̵u̸l̵d̵’̷v̵e̷ ̶b̶e̵e̴n̷ ̵t̷h̵e̶r̴e̶!” Alcor bellowed, and then shrank back, holding his head. “N-not even that night in the basement, I-I should have been watching over Scarlett. This whole thing happened b-because the angel wanted to get back at me, and I just let it happen! I can’t do nothing again. I-I can’t just leave her to this, I-I won’t!”
Piper reached out… but she didn’t know what to say. She could hear something in the distance.
She could hear sirens.
Piper looked to her Dad, but only saw the same speechlessness reflected back at her. The demon kept sobbing, and Mag was snoring on the floor.
There were no easy answers, and the sirens were getting louder.
Standing in a foil blanket outside her house with the red-red-blue-blue police lights flashing in her face, Piper found herself feeling, of all things… impatient. Yes, stars, she was happy to be alive, relieved this was over - but she just wanted to go home. She just wanted to go home.
She just, wanted, to go home, but the cop didn’t seem to hear her question. “Just hang on one second, Miss Wright,” He muttered, tapping away on his magi-orb, and a thought popped into her head.
She’d never told this guy her name.
Piper cast a glance around the scene. There were a lot of cop cars in front of her house; the whole front of it was flashing. And there were a couple black vans, too - men in body armour and rifles huddling in groups lit by that same flashing light. There were orders being shouted and police tape being rolled out and a growing crowd that was - Piper didn’t know why they were twinkling at first… but then she realised they were cameras.
There was a helicopter flying overhead, too - it was loud.
Oh, this was…
This was a big deal, wasn’t it?
“Just, ah, talking to her now,” The cop muttered into his radio, and she looked back to see him clear his throat. “Sorry about that, Miss Wright. This’ll only take a second.”
Piper blinked slowly. “What?”
“I said, it’ll only take a second! Sorry, I know it’s loud-”
“No, I-I mean, um… what’ll only take a second?”
“We just have some questions for you.”
“Questions…?” She could see the back of a news reporter standing a couple feet away. “Here?”
“Oh - yeah, I see your point,” said the guy, and then popped open the door to his police car. “We can do it in here if you’re more comfortable.”
“You’re not gonna… take me to a station, or…?”
“It’s best to do the interview as soon as possible - just to get the details down while your memory’s fresh.” His radio was going crazy, and he pressed something to silence it. “I’m sure this has been an ordeal for you, so I promise I’ll be quick. Then we can let you go to the station and see your father - how’s that sound?”
Then he flashed what seemed to be a reassuring smile, but Piper’s mind really stuck on the word ‘let’.
She just wanted to go home, but the helicopter’s spotlight swept over the house, and then curved around to land on her. The officer tapped his magi-orb.
“So, Miss Wright,” he said, and the forced-gentleness he spoke with couldn’t clothe his naked curiosity, couldn’t disguise the way he leaned forwards, ready to hear a good story. “Why don’t you tell me, in your own words, what happened here?”
I don't generally do this, but for the 10th TAUnniversary (!!!) I thought I'd share a little snippet from one of my ongoing fics! The snippet is under the cut; you can read the full story so far here!
It's so wonderful to see how active this community is, and I'm really proud to have been writing for it since 2017! <3
Worse than prison. Worse than death. Slumped against the basement door, cradling his burning arm, Mag looked up at the sunset coming through the window. He looked at the sun, stared it down until two spots formed in his double vision.
“You tricked me,” he said. Pins and needles poked deep into his arm.
Tricks are for demons, said the light. I am an angel.
“Fuck you. Fuck you! Don’t lie to me, you said they’d be safe! You made me-”
He started to get up, but the light intensified around him. It was like there was light in his bones, burning deep inside, warning him no. With a black scowl, he sat back again.
“We had a deal.” He spoke carefully, fighting to keep the fury from his voice. “You can’t do anything to Piper. That’s - that’s the reason I did this, you can’t… Just let her go, okay? Call this off. I’ll do anything, just… please. Come on, please.”
Silence. Utter silence. Mag didn’t know if it was considering something, or if it didn’t care to reply. He didn’t know anything about this creature anymore.
Finally, it did speak.
Deals are for demons, said the light. I am an angel.
The sun was rising, but Mag felt so cold in its embrace. He shook his head, shook his head, shook his head.
“No. No, come on. No.”
They’re almost here, said the light. You wanted to see her, did you not? You wanted to see her so badly you defied me.
“I don’t want to see her! I’ll never - I’ll never do that again, please, I don’t-”
You don’t need to plead. You’re tainted, and you’ve let yourself taint her in turn.
“I…”
You taint everything you touch, said the light, and Magnus turned away and put his head in his bloody hands. You always have. From the moment that curséd soul entered your body, you were unforgivable. You think this is my fault? No, Mizar. This is always how it was going to end. You were always going to betray me. You aren’t capable of anything else.
The sun beat down on the broken figure on the floor. The light brushed over every scrape, every blemish, every drop of blood. There was a moaning sound coming from the basement.
Ah, said the light. But it is your nature. I forgive you for this.
For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.
He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.
For a single, wonderful moment, Piper had forgotten there was anything wrong. She woke up in a comfy bed; not her own, but as she yawned and stretched and cast an eye over the room, she saw the sunlight streaming through a window, heard birds chirping out their morning tune. It all seemed so peaceful.
She did feel kind of grimey, though. Her hair felt like a rat’s nest, and she was… sleeping in her clothes? She raised a hand up to rub her eyes, and found she was clutching a mirror; as she watched, it flickered to life, and with a toothy grin Alcor the Dreambender gave a cheery wave.
“Morning, Piper!”
Piper froze in place as the events of the past two days filtered back in. Oh… oh.
“Sleep well?”
“Yeah…” Piper said, faintly. She sat up. “I don’t know how, but… what’s on my hand?”
“Oh, just some demonic sludge from the demon we summoned last night!” Alcor made a face as he watched her try to wipe it off on the covers. “Sorry, it’s probably dried on by now.”
“Why do I have demonic sludge on my hands?”
“I needed to coat the room to protect us from the angel!” He watched her hurry over to the sink. “Probably could have, uh, washed it off at the time… but hey, no angel, and you got a good night’s sleep! And look at all the sludge we got!”
Piper looked at the glasses of dried black ooze by the side of the sink, and wrinkled her nose. “That’s, uh, great… where is the angel, anyway?”
Her phone started ringing from the bed. Piper shook her hands dry and wandered over to look at it - oh, it was her Dad, again. With a guilty expression, she silenced her phone and looked up at Alcor expectantly. He gave a sigh.
“Well, let me just say first that I thought of this when I said we could go to a motel! It’s not ideal, but you were really tired, and now that you’re awake we can stay here and brainstorm some ways to-”
“Wait, wait.” Piper shook her head. “You didn’t say where the angel is.”
“Where he is… right.” He clapped his hands together. “Probably, uh, somewhere right outside?"
“Right… outside?”
Piper glanced up at the open windows, and felt a rush of fear. She moved quickly to close them.
“Yep! And, ah, he wasn’t far behind us when we got here, so he’s probably got some kind of plan ready to go the second we step outside the door, but, uh…” Alcor scratched the back of his head. “You know, we’ve got a plan too!”
“We do?”
“Yeah! We can stay in here as long as we want, and think of what we’re going to do next!”
Piper’s eyebrows drooped. “So we don’t have a plan.”
“We don’t have a plan, yet!” Alcor’s smile looked strained. “But hey, like I said, all the time in the world to come up with one! Come on, let’s start spitballing! Want me to start? Here’s one I came up with last night: decoy mirror!”
“Decoy mirror?”
“Yeah! You wrap it up in a bag and drop it as we leave, we run to the car, by the time he figures it out we’re off!”
“Okay…? But my car’s busted up. What if it doesn’t turn on?”
“Hmm… we could steal one!” Alcor clasped his hands together. “Sta- uh, someone taught me how to hotwire cars once, I bet I could get one going!”
“Steal a car. Great. Sounds great.” Piper’s phone was buzzing in her hand; she dropped it back on the bed and rubbed her eyes. “And then what?”
“And then we drive off!”
“And then what?” She saw him pause, and dragged a hand down her face. “Look, Alcor, your plan is… nice, but we can’t just run away from the angel forever.” She thought of last night and shuddered. “He’s nearly killed me twice now. We’re not going to keep getting lucky - we’ve got to stop him.”
Alcor’s smile finally faded. “Yeah… yeah. I know. I just… I’m not sure how.”
“Well… how do we win this? What needs to happen for this to stop?”
“What needs to happen? We need to get rid of that angel, for good.” He saw her eyes dart towards the demonic sludge, and shook his head. “Not with that stuff, that’s not strong enough. No, I think… I think we need me.”
“You?” She looked at him, and the glowing runes of the mirror. “You mean…?”
“I need to be unbound.” He looked down at his clawed hands, and clenched them. “I know… I know you might have mixed feelings about that. I get it if you still don’t trust me-”
“Oh, no.” Piper waved him away. “You know what, I’m in with you now. If we need to unbind you, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Wh… really?”
“Really.” She thought of the angel’s twisted smile on Mag’s face, and gave a grim nod. “I know who killed Scarlett now. It wasn’t you.”
Alcor blinked a few times, and then a big, beaming grin stretched across his face. He seemed at a loss for words; after a moment, Piper cleared her throat.
“Anyway,” she said. “So we need to unbind you. How do we do that?”
It seemed to take a moment for Alcor to hear the question; it sobered him a little, and he nodded. “Right, right, uh… yeah, that’s the hard part. You see, the easiest way to undo a binding is for the person who cast it in the first place to renounce it.”
Piper grimaced. “And that’s Mag.”
“Yup, that’s Mag, who, uh, currently thinks I killed his daughter.” He gave a helpless shrug. “So if you’ve got any ideas for how to get him alone long enough to explain everything, I’d love to hear it.”
She was silent for a moment… and then sighed. “No idea,” she said. “You sure there’s no other way?”
“Nothing that’ll work in your lifetime. It’s gotta be Mag.”
It’s gotta be Mag… Piper looked away, out to the sun’s light glowing through the blinds. Well, shit, she thought. How was that going to work? Even if they could somehow stop the angel from murdering her before Mag even knew what was happening, what was she supposed to say to him? Would he even listen?
She thought of that rainy night he showed up at her doorstep, somehow only days ago. The stranger playing cards in her living room, desperately trying to connect with her; the photo he slid under her door. She didn’t doubt he cared about her… but that was the problem, wasn’t it?
A memory played in her head, a bloody hand against the side mirror. I did it for you, he’d said. I did it for you.
He’d done this all for her… but would he stop for her? She didn’t know.
She really didn’t know.
Piper hung her head at that. She heard her phone buzz once, and looked over. Stars, her Dad must be worried sick; with a sigh, she picked it up.
…
Huh.
“Oh!” Alcor was saying from beside her. “I know! What about the Dinner Crew? We could - how far is it to Portland from here? - we could drive out, see if they’d be willing to help us…”
His words washed over her as she looked at the two missed calls, and the message from her Dad’s phone:
I TOLD YOU THIS WAS THE END OF THE CHASE
Wh… what? What chase? Piper frowned in confusion, and as soon as she opened her texts she could see another message was being written.
“...haven’t talked to them in centuries, but that might be a good option. What do you think, Piper? Piper?”
Piper heard his voice, but she didn’t look up. “Just uh - just one second,” she said. “I don’t…”
“Is that your Dad again?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t answer because the message posted, and the dread that had been slowly creeping into her stomach suddenly turned to cold-blooded horror:
IGNORE THIS NEXT CALL AND HE DIES
It posted, and almost immediately, her phone began to buzz in her hands. Her Dad’s friendly profile picture smiled up at her; she sat frozen for a second, and then scrambled to answer it.
“H-hello?” She said, her heart beating in her throat. “Dad? Is that you?”
Silence. It felt like it lasted an eternity… and then, she could hear a breath on the other side.
A voice. Not her Dad’s voice.
“You know who this is.” Mag’s voice, cold and dispassionate, sent a bolt of fear right through her heart. “And you know what I want. You understand where I want you to go?”
Piper could see Alcor bristle out of the corner of her eye. She swallowed, and nodded.
“Good,” said the angel, like he could see her. “It is too late for you, Tainted One. I am going to kill you. You are going to come to me, and I am going to kill you. Do you understand?”
Gritting her teeth, she nodded. “You’ve been trying to kill me this whole time,” she said; her words were quiet, but clear. The angel brushed past them.
“Bring me the mirror. Save your father. Let your death redeem your soul. Try to fool me again, and his blood will be on your hands.”
Then it cut out. Piper stood there for a moment, her phone still pressed against her ear… her fist, slowly clenching. Alcor’s eyes were wide.
“He’s got your dad,” He said, and started to pace within the mirror. “Oh - oh, no, oh, shoot, he’s got your dad! What are we gonna do?”
Piper didn’t respond. Like she was in a dream, she felt herself pocket her phone, and she reached down to grab the mirror. Alcor eyed her nervously.
“Piper?” He said. “You, uh… you okay?”
Okay? Piper felt her heart hammering in her chest. She shook her head. “No. No, I’m not. Blood on my hands? Like I’m the one threatening my Dad?”
She stalked over to the cups of sludge by the sink. They’d dried on top, but when she felt on top her hand broke through to a wetter layer. She felt it between her fingers, then started to stack them on top of each other. Once she had them in line, she looked over to the blinds, made her way over, and pushed them aside to look through to the parking lot.
“We’ve got to get to him,” she said. “Come on, Alcor. Let’s steal one of these cars.”
It was an awkward joke the cop down at the station made when he was taking David’s statement; a little throwaway line after he mentioned Scarlett, and moved quickly on from before David had time to get mad. But he was home now, slumped in front of the TV with his phone in his hands, and every time he thought of that thoughtless little comment, he wanted to put his fist through the damn wall.
Used to this? Used to this? Dear god, he hoped he’d never become used to this! It was hell losing Scarlett, and as he was finding out, Piper was like a new, entirely different hell built on top of the old one. He did some of the same things he did the first time: he didn’t sleep, he threw up when he tried to eat, he waited desperately for any kind of update, any kind of indication that she was going to be okay. Hearing her voice on the phone - stars, he couldn’t describe the relief he felt in that moment, but then she hung up, and anything could’ve happened to her after that.
Anything.
David remembered the first time, remembered the look on Mag’s face when he came home that day. He remembered how he tried to say something, but he just shook his head and he burst into tears, and when David rushed over to him they squeezed each other so tight they couldn’t breathe, and there was an awful kind of comfort in that, a grim fondness for that memory every time it passed his mind.
Because that was the last time Mag had cried with him. And a year from then, after all the lies told, the trust broken, the demon summoned just downstairs from their sleeping daughter… David realised, that was the last moment he felt like he still had a husband. The last moment he recognised Mag.
David’s own reflection stared up at him from the darkness of his phone, and he gave a deep sigh. And now, looking back from this mess… David wondered whether it had been the last moment before Mag had stopped lying. He’d always thought something in Mag had broken after Scarlett died, but maybe it was always there. Maybe he’d never been the man David thought he was.
How else could he explain what he’d done to Piper?
Stars… David sat back in his chair, taking a long moment to rub his eyes, and run his hands through his greasy hair. He could hear the TV chattering away, the 24-hour news covering an abandoned police car on the interstate hours out of town, the incessant speculation on what this all meant, where he was going, and what had happened to Piper.
He needed… he needed a break. He just needed a break. He just needed a break.
He stood up, and looked at the gift bag on his end table. The Father’s Day card, the torn envelope with his name in her handwriting. She’d gotten him some nice soap.
…
A shower would be nice.
David turned away from the TV, and headed slowly upstairs. He walked down the hallway, passing frame after frame of Piper’s smiling school photos. He paused, at the door to her bedroom - it was a guest bedroom now, really, but he’d never been in any hurry to take down her posters, or ask her to come get her clothes, her old stuffed animals lined up on top of her closet. He’d seen them last night, their shiny eyes gazing at him through a crack in the door, and he’d closed it.
And he left it closed now, continuing on to his bedroom. He checked his phone one last time before leaving it on the nightstand with the volume all the way up, and grabbed a towel on the way to the ensuite. Then he stripped, stepped into the shower, and turned it on.
The water was cold… and then warm. He turned it up some more. Hot. He turned it up as high as he could bear, and stood under the jets, his head bowed, sobbing into his hands.
He didn’t know how long he stood like that, but his legs were tired by the time his tears faded to shuddering breaths. His skin was lobster-red and itchy when he turned off the shower, and as the steam rose away, it left him cold. He wiped his eyes, and took a few slow breaths before stepping out of the shower, drying off, and putting on his bathrobe.
He did feel a little better, he decided, but then.
Then, he opened the door. And his phone wasn’t there.
David paused for a second, frowned, and walked over to his nightstand. He wondered if he’d dropped it; he glanced under the table just to check, but it wasn’t there.
It was just… gone. And the longer David stood there, the more an eerie sense of something wrong began to creep down his spine.
The TV. He could hear it when he got in the shower, but it was silent now. The whole house was silent now, like it was holding its breath.
David looked down the long, dim hallway, and set his jaw. He kept one eye on it as he opened the nightstand drawer, grabbed a key, and knelt down beside his bed. Pulling a metal case out from under the mattress, he unlocked it, revealing a small pistol and two magazines. He picked it up, loaded it, and also grabbed a little silk bag; he drew out a thin silver necklace etched with an intricate pattern of glowing wards, and slipped it over his head.
There was a noise downstairs just as he finished. Rising to his feet, David gripped the gun tight as he shuffled towards the door. Down the hall he went, walking slowly, his heart beating in his chest as he looked in every door. He opened Piper’s door, glanced in quickly, gritted his teeth, and continued.
Down the stairs, every creak echoing terribly loud in the silence of the house. He could make out a voice as he reached the bottom, coming from the kitchen… no, coming from the basement. David paused in front of it, his breath coming a little heavy as he recognised that voice - was that Mag?
It was Mag. What the hell was he doing here?
There was a faint light coming from behind the door; David edged away from it, and looked to the front door, left wide open with the sun streaming down on the porch. Casting one last glance at the basement, he let his common sense win him over and hurried out of the house.
Hurried, and then stopped dead, just a few feet from the door. There was something strange on the porch, a glowing white line carved into the wood, and it seemed to only glow brighter as he approached it. What was this thing, a barrier? A trap?
He looked back at the basement door, and narrowed his eyes. Someone was going to explain to him what was going on.
As he approached the door again, the voice had gone silent. He reached out, grasped the door handle, and then quickly twisted it open and pointed the gun up as he stepped through.
He didn’t see anything at first. But as he stepped down, he spotted the feet, and then the rest of a lone, tall figure standing still in the middle of the basement. His heart clenched at the sight; oh, stars, it really was Mag.
Mag was in ragged dirty clothes, head down, facing away from him. David thought he’d turn around, but he didn’t; cautiously, he opened his mouth.
“Mag?” He said, his voice echoing in the basement. “What are you doing here?”
Nothing at first. He could see Mag’s head roll a little to the side, and his right arm clenched - he had a knife, David saw, and he raised the gun.
“Mag?”
The tension seemed to build all over his body, and he was muttering something. David dared not step closer, but he could just about make it out:
“…handle this, I can… let me handle this…” he was saying, and then he suddenly snapped up and turned around. “Dave?”
The sight of Mag… stars, David had thought he looked rough the last time they met, years ago, but that was nothing compared to now. Thin and hollow-cheeked, sallow-skinned and sweaty with dark bags under his eyes like bruises, a shredded orange jumpsuit just barely hanging onto his form - David hardly recognized him. He saw Mag process the sight of him for a second, and then his face split into a beaming grin that showed off his knocked-out teeth.
“Dave!” He said, stepping closer - and pausing when David raised the gun. “Hey, it’s me! It’s Mag!”
“I know,” David said, grimly. He watched Mag’s grin fade. “What are you doing here? Where’s Piper?”
“What am I doing here?” Mag repeated, and blinked. “What am I doing here, I’m… oh, right, I’m here to protect you?”
“Protect me?”
“Cultists, there’s a- there’s cultists, they’re coming here!” Mag’s arm twitched a bit as he spoke, and he put a hand over it. A hand, David noticed, that had his phone in it.
“Is that why you stole my phone?”
“Stole your phone? Oh… you were going to call the police on me!” Mag looked at the gun pointed at his chest, and scowled. “Have a little faith in me, Dave! I’m not gonna hurt you!”
“What happened to Piper?” David saw Mag’s scowl deepen as he turned away. “Mag, what did you do to-“
“NOTHING! Jesus, Dave, I did nothing ! I’ve been the one trying to track her down! I’ve been the one going to hell and back-“
Mag took a step towards David, and he stepped back. Mag cut himself off when he saw this; his whole face darkened.
“Un-fucking-believable,” he muttered, and threw the knife down in disgust. “There, are you happy now? Can you stop aiming that thing at me for one fucking second and have a civil conversation?”
David shook his head a little. “Why were you there, Mag? Why were you at Piper’s apartment?”
“Because I wanted to see my daughter again! I didn’t know there were cultists after me, it’s not my fault!”
“Cultists?” David frowned, but Mag was pacing back and fourth.
“You know, I just wanted to visit her again, that’s all I wanted to do, I just wanted to see her one last time! I’m like a fucking stranger to her, Dave, I’m surprised she even knows my name! And whose fault is that, huh? Whose fault is that?”
David arched an eyebrow. “Are you- are you blaming me?”
“Oh-hoh, he catches on quick!” Mag barked out a laugh. “You were just so eager to cut me out, weren’t you? You were just waiting for me to slip up so you could take Piper away from me!”
“Are you serious? I tried to keep her in touch with you, Mag, I really did! You kept missing visits!”
“It wasn’t! My! Fault!”
“Oh, really? Were you too busy shooting up cults to see your daughter?”
“Shut up!”
“You can’t bullshit me anymore, Mag, I looked at the timeline of your charges! You left her hanging to go on murder sprees!”
“Shut up, SHUT UP!” Mag covered his ears with shaking hands. “Shut the fuck up, you don’t know what you’re- it’s not my fault!”
“Mag-“
“This is what you do. This is what you do!” He raked his nails down his face. “You’re always trying to, trying to paint me as some kind of dangerous person-“
“Of course you’re a dangerous person! You did it, didn’t you? You killed those people! You-”
“I NEVER HURT HER!” Mag bellowed, and the sound was so loud it rang through the basement, sent David flinching back.
It was so loud, it seemed like it took all the air out of his lungs, and he sank back against the wall, holding his head as he spoke so quietly.
“I never… I never hurt her. I didn’t. It was a cultist, it was- i-it was a cultist, it was a cultist…”
And before David’s eyes, his words faded to shaky breaths, and he buried his head in his hands as he started to cry. David blinked; he lowered the gun, and as Mag’s sobs got louder, and seemed to shake his whole form, David started down the steps. He walked slowly at first, but then faster, and he laid the gun down on a passing table as he came to kneel next to Mag.
“Hey,” he said, laying a gentle hand on Mag’s shoulder - Mag flinched away, and he took it back. “What’s going on with you, Mag? What happened?”
“I-I…” Mag started, but he was too choked up to speak. He gulped down a few shuddering breaths, and tried again. “I-I feel l-like I’m losing my m-mind, I-I can’t… I-I d-don’t…”
“Hey, hey. Take your time.” He watched Mag take a deep breath, and let it out with a hacking cough. He frowned. “You don’t look well, Mag.”
“I don’t, I don’t feel well,” Mag managed, and gave a little chuckle. David gave him the slightest smile, but it quickly faded.
“Mag,” he started. “What happened at Piper’s apartment?”
“I-“ his shoulders raised up defensively… but he took another look at David, and they slumped down. “I messed up, Dave. I really messed up. It’s my fault she’s in trouble - a-and that’s why I have to rescue her! I have to-“
He made to rise, and David put a hand on his chest.
“Mag, you can’t go after Piper. If someone else has her, you have to tell the police. They have to know who they’re dealing with so they can bring her home safe.”
“The police.” Mag scoffed. “Like they did with Scarlett?”
David’s lips pulled tight. “I know,” he said, and gently pushed Mag down. “But you can’t help now. There’s a manhunt out for you.” When Mag still tried to rise, he added: “And every second they’re looking for you, they’re not looking for Piper.”
That, finally, seemed to stop Mag in his tracks. He sat back down hard; his arm started twitching again, and he hugged it against his side.
“No, wait…” he said distractedly, and then looked back at David. He gave a guilty smile. “Stars, you’re, you’re right, aren’t you? I’m just a liability to her.”
David didn’t like how he said that, but he couldn’t find a way to phrase it before Mag spoke again.
“You’re right, you’re both right, I should’ve, I should’ve just stayed away from her.” With a flat, joyless laugh, he pulled his knees up to his chest. “Every time I’ve seen her, I’ve just made her life worse. And now she could be, she could be dead in a ditch somewhere, and it’s all my fault!”
“It’s… you said cultists came to the apartment?” David struggled to find the words. “You couldn’t have - they didn’t-“
“They were only there because I was there.” He shook his head, held his arm in a white-knuckle grip. “It was, it was all such a perfect plan in my head, you know? I break out, and I get to see her just one last time, and we have a nice night. I just wanted one last night with her, you know?”
“Mag…” David’s face softened, but he kept speaking.
“Just one last night, and I would’ve been happy for the rest of my sorry life. Heck,” he said, and gave a dark chuckle. “If she agreed to visit me, I would’ve even let them take me back to prison.”
Those words struck David cold. “Don’t say that,” he said, and watched Mag turn away. “I’d visit you, Mag.”
Mag gave a dismissive snort… but then, he looked back. “Even now?” He said, in a small voice, and swallowed when David put a hand over his.
“Of course I would.” David squeezed gently, and then lifted it up with him as he got to his feet. “Come on, M, we can finish this together. How about I make you a cup of coffee before we call?”
Mag’s eyes were misty. “You’ve still got coffee?” He said, and gave a watery laugh. “You hate coffee.”
“So does Piper.” David laughed as well. “It might be pretty old; I hope it’s still good.”
“You know what?” He wiped his eyes. “I think it's worth a try.”
Mag seemed to start getting up, but all of a sudden David felt Mag’s hand tighten around his in a vice grip; he flinched back from the pain.
“Agh, Mag, not so tight!” When Mag didn’t respond, David tried to pry his fingers off. “Mag, let go! Mag?”
Mag’s eyes were shut tight. As he watched, Mag’s whole body seemed to tense up, and he shook his head.
“No,” Mag was saying. “No, no, that’s not - what are you doing? Agh, you can’t- Stop! No! No!”
“Mag?!” David said, but it was like Mag didn’t hear him. After a moment Mag’s grip loosened and let him slip out, and then David watched him cry out in pain and fall to the floor. “Mag! Mag!”
Mag jerked and twitched like he was having a seizure; David froze for a moment in pure horror, and then rushed to his side. He struggled to roll Mag over - once he did his hands hovered over his shaking body, unsure of what to do.
“Mag! Mag! Mag, what are you- what’s going on?!” He saw his phone still clutched in Mag’s hand and tried to pry it out, but his grip was iron. As if in response, David watched it tighten even harder, and crush it to bits.
What was going on? He looked to Mag’s face, and caught a glimpse of something strange happening under his flickering eyelids; it was like they were starting to glow. Even brighter was something on his right arm - David could see a bright white light shining out from the holes in his jumpsuit, and smoke was starting to come off the fabric.
Just like the white lines outside, and it hit him then: possession. David’s stomach dropped; he froze for a second, then scrambled to take off his necklace. He forced it over Mag’s head, but the wards stayed a steady blue.
They didn’t detect anything! How was that possible?
Before David could think of anything else, Mag suddenly went still. He sat up without a word, and when he opened his eyes, pure white light gazed into David’s soul.
David scrambled to his feet. The demon in Mag’s skin rose with him, and he backed away, backed up to the gun on the table, and grabbed it.
“Stay back, stay back!” He pointed it right at Mag’s face. “This is loaded, stay back!”
The demon didn’t listen. Wordlessly, it walked towards him, walked forwards as he backed away, walked forwards until David had his back against the wall, his arms outstretched, the gun point-blank to Mag’s chest.
“Stay back,” David said, shaking his head. “Stay back, I-I’ll shoot! I’ll…”
The demon regarded him for a moment with those terrible eyes… and then leaned forwards, pressing Mag’s chest against the barrel of the gun.
A second passed, and then another. David could feel his heart hammering in his chest; his hands tightened on the gun, but he looked at Mag’s face, and he swallowed a lump in his throat.
“I’ll shoot,” he said, quietly, even as the gun weighed down his hands. “I’ll… I’ll…”
He trailed off, and watched as Mag’s face twisted into a horrible smile.
For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.
He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.
It was dark outside the store, but Piper swore she could feel the fluorescent lights beating down on her. She stood in line, shuffling slowly forwards until it was her turn. Dumping everything on the counter, she watched the cashier take a long look at her items before his gaze flitted up to her. The lights buzzed loud in the stretching silence - she tried for a smile.
“Hi,” she managed. “Uh, busy day, huh?”
“Hmph.” He grunted, and picked up a box of chalk. “You got a lot of these.”
“Yeah! Um - sidewalk party! We’re, uh, we’re all gonna draw on the sidewalk!”
“I see. Lot of candles, too.”
Piper laughed - it sounded way too loud. “Yeah… power outage? At my house?”
“Uh huh. And the sigil ink is for school, yeah? I hear that one all the time.”
“It’s… i-it’s, uh…” She looked at his raised eyebrow, and stretched her smile. “Look… I really need this.”
The man stayed still a moment longer… then, with a sigh and a shake of his head, he picked up the scanner. Beep, it went, and Piper tried to take a deep breath. She glanced down at the mirror in her purse, her heart pounding in her chest.
Beep. Beep. The man stuffed everything into two shopping bags and tapped his screen.
“Comes to, ah, one ninety seven, sixty six. Cash or card?”
“Card?” Piper blinked. “Oh, uh, I mean, card, yeah! Here you go - or wait, I scan it.”
After fumbling through the payment, she snatched up the bags, took her receipt, and hurried out of the store. The parking lot was dark, with glass crunching under her feet and the roar of cars speeding through the nearby highway. There was a shadowy figure smoking against the wall, and Piper tried not to look like she was walking too fast as she made a beeline for her car over at the gas station.
Once she was in, with all the doors locked, she tossed the bags onto the seat next to her and let out a huge breath.
“Oh, my stars,” she said, patting her pockets for her keys. “He totally knew what I was buying that stuff for. Do you think he’s gonna call the cops on me?”
“Probably not?” Alcor made a face. “He probably wouldn’t have sold it to you in the first place, but, uh… we should probably go. Quickly. Piper?”
“I’m working on it, where’s my- oh! In my hand!” A nervous laugh as she put her keys in the ignition. “Sorry, uh… getting a little tired, I think. Been a long day.”
“I know. We’ll be stopping for the night soon, though.” Alcor strained to peek over the dashboard. “We passed a motel a couple minutes ago, right? If you drive back that way, that’s probably the closest one.”
“Yeah,” Piper said, a little distracted as she pulled out of the parking lot. “Yeah, that’s… I’ll do that.”
It was quiet as she accelerated down the ramp, and merged back into the highway. The road stretched out endlessly ahead of her, the streetlights passed her by one by one by one; stars, she felt like she’d been driving for a lifetime. She shifted a little in her seat, rolled her shoulders, rubbed her eyes. Glanced over at Alcor, and made a face.
“So, uh,” she started, if only to break the silence. A few seconds passed as she thought of how to follow it up. “I still don’t get it. We’re summoning demons… to bind an angel?”
“Exorcise an angel, binding’s just a part of that.”
“Uh, okay?”
“It’s, uh, different.” Alcor took one look at her expression, and sighed. “I get it, this is way out of your comfort zone. But I promise, this is the safest way I can think of to get the materials. We’re summoning weak demons with strong binding circles, and we’re not even making deals with them, okay?”
“Okay…” Piper turned the wheel as she took a gentle turn. “Then, uh, what are we doing with them?”
“Nothing. We don’t need them - we need their chalk.”
“Chalk?”
She glanced at the shopping bag full of chalk they’d already bought, and he seemed to anticipate her question. “Chalk from a used summoning circle - it’s imbued with a low level of demonic essence. Once we get enough of it, we should be able to use it to trap the angel like normal chalk can be used to trap demons. We’ll need more complicated stuff later, but it can wait for when you’re not exhausted.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Piper said, slowly. “But why doesn’t normal chalk work?”
“It’s, uh, complicated.” A short laugh. “But basically, angels aren’t drawn to the physical world the same way demons are, so they can’t be bound in the same way. It’s not exactly harder, but the materials for it are different - not exactly stuff you can just buy in a store.”
“Okay…”
“The simplest way to repel an angel is with demonic essence. That’s why we’re doing this tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow - summon a few demons in your motel room and he won’t come near. You can sleep easy!”
“Sleep easy,” Piper echoed, rubbing her eyes. “I hope so.”
She was starting to feel warm sitting back in her seat; she shifted around again, turned on the AC and blasted it right at her face. She kept her eyes fixed on each road sign as it came out of the black and sped past her, waiting for that motel. Come on, she thought, any minute now…
She was so focused on the road ahead, she didn’t notice the dark figure of a car merging onto the highway and smoothly pulling up behind her. The lights came on in an instant; Piper jumped in her seat at the sound of a siren, and then her stomach dropped at the flashing blue and red lighting up her dashboard.
“Oh, shoot!” Piper gripped the steering wheel; she realised she’d swerved a bit out of the lane and quickly corrected. “Shooot… Alcor? What do we do?”
“The cops - dammit, this is the last thing we need.” Alcor strained to look out of the side mirror. “Uh, stay… stay calm? Maybe he’s pulling someone else over?”
The highway was empty but for the two of them; Piper made a face. “I don’t think he is.”
She flicked on her signal and started slowing down; Alcor blinked. “You’re pulling over?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“You can’t do that!”
“What do you mean I can’t do that?”
“You’re a missing person! He probably recognised your car!”
“Maybe he’s just here for the demonology stuff?” Piper eyed the plastic bags. “We could hide those somewhere, right?”
“It doesn’t matter where you hide it if he runs your plates, Piper!” Alcor watched in panic as they kept slowing down - he banged on the glass. “Piper! Piper, he’s gonna take you into custody! Piper-”
“What am I supposed to do?!” She snapped. “Run from the cops? I’m in a fucking Camry, Alcor!”
Alcor didn’t respond to that. Piper took a few short breaths as she turned onto the shoulder; her eyes were burning, and she rubbed them.
“It’ll be - it’ll be fine, okay?” She came to a stop, grabbed the plastic bags, and opened her glovebox. “We just act natural, right?”
“Piper-”
“We just act natural.” She tried closing the glovebox; she forced it up a few times as the plastic bags bulged. “It’s not like they can arrest me, right? I haven’t done anything wrong - I’m the one who got attacked! They can’t arrest me for getting attacked, right!”
“Piper-”
“Agh, stupid little- this is just perfect!” She slammed the glovebox one more time, and watched through blurring eyes as everything came tumbling out onto the floor. “What am I supposed to do?! I’m screwed! I’m screwed!”
Alcor spoke quietly. “You’re not screwed.” He said. “It’s gonna be okay, okay? Take a deep breath.”
Piper took in a shuddering breath, and pressed her hands to her face as she let it out. “I’m so fucking tired.”
“I know. I’m sorry. We’ll be on the road soon, okay?” When she glanced over at him, she found a reassuring smile on his face. “Once this is over, we’ll be at the motel, and you’ll be able to go to sleep. You’ve done a traffic stop before, right?”
“...Yeah.” Another deep breath, in, and out, and then she set her jaw. She looked behind her, at the blinding white headlights shining through her back window, then over to the glovebox again. “Okay. License and registration.”
“Yeah!” Alcor watched her dig through the papers that had spilled into the footwell. “I’ll dim myself, too. I’ll look like a normal mirror, but I can keep an eye on things, okay?”
“Okay.” Piper heard footsteps just as she found her registration; she sat up, and put her hands on the wheel. “Okay, okay.” Glancing over at the mirror, she found it blank, just as he said. Chalk boxes were still strewn around the footwell, but there was nothing she could do about them now - hopefully he wouldn’t notice. Nothing to do about it now.
“Okay, okay, okay.”
She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as a bright light came up to her window. She couldn’t see the figure well behind the flashlight; but a hand reached out and knocked on the glass, and she rolled it down.
“Uh, hi officer, I just-”
Click. Piper paused at a strange noise… and then froze as the cold, hard barrel of a gun pressed itself against her temple.
“Don’t move,” said Mag’s voice with an eerie echo, and Piper didn’t dare to breathe. From the corner of her eye, she could see the mirror light up again, could see a furious brickwork demon come roaring into view.
“Y̵̛̘̼͛̿͋̊̏̈͘ö̵͇͕͕̩̹͉́͌́̀̄̀͌̽̄͘͘͜͠ȕ̶̮̦͒͒͆̐͐̔̈̚,” Alcor snarled as the angel put away the flashlight; the pure glow of his gaze cast its own light into the car.
Piper squeezed her eyes tight as Alcor descended into a furious static - she could smell the burnt plastic of the car seat, could feel his words tearing at her eardrums. And the gun to her head… Oh, god, she thought. Oh, god, oh god, oh god. This couldn’t be real. She was dreaming. Please let her be dreaming.
But when Alcor’s fury finally died down, the gun pressed harder.
“Open your eyes.” Mag’s voice was flat. Emotionless. “Look at me.”
Her heart was beating like a rabbit. She couldn't get enough air in her lungs. Oh god oh god oh god-
“Look at me or die.”
Those icy words cut through her panic, and she opened her eyes, looked into the pure white light of the angel’s gaze. Mag’s face was completely obscured by the brightness; all she could see of him was the tattered orange jumpsuit on the arm holding the gun. A terrified whimper escaped her lips; she wanted to cover her mouth, but she didn’t dare move.
The angel stared at her for a moment, its alien gaze raking down her form. Then it spoke again.
“This is the end of the chase.” It said. “I let the air out of your tires. I cut your brake lines. I have total control, and I will kill you the second you step out of line. Do you understand?”
Piper could feel a sob welling up her throat. She just nodded.
“This is how you survive. I will tell you exactly what I want you to do, and you will do it immediately. Look at me. Do you understand?”
Piper looked at it, looked at those terrible eyes. And as she did, she realised she could see just the barest hint of something underneath catching its glow; she could see Mag’s lips, twisted up into a garish smile.
A smile. It was enjoying this.
“Do you understand?”
Piper swallowed back the bile rising in her throat, and nodded. From the corner of her eye, she could see something move in the mirror.
“Piper…” Alcor started - but what could he say? The barrel of the gun pressed ever harder against her temple, and he fell silent.
“The plastic bags.” said the angel. “Wrap them around the mirror, but do not touch it. If you touch it, I will kill you.”
Piper was terrified - terrified of the angel, and terrified of a hot, reckless anger building in her chest. Calm down, she thought. Don’t get yourself killed, she told herself.
(Like it’s not going to kill you anyway, it whispered back. You’re just another Scarlett.)
“Do you understand?”
Piper struggled to look at those eyes. She bit her lip, and nodded.
“Good. Do it now.”
The barrel pulled back a fraction, and Piper worked quickly. She dumped everything out of the plastic bag, spread it over the mirror, and turned it inside out to fit it in. Alcor watched her worriedly.
“Piper?”
The handle was still sticking out. Piper emptied the other bag, and pulled it tight over the handle. The plastic bulged a bit at the point; she picked it up, and looked back at the angel.
“Good,” it said, those eyes moving as it nodded. The gun was still pointed right at her head. “You may redeem yourself yet, child.”
(Redeem herself, snarled a voice inside of her. The fucking audacity.)
“Now hand it over, and I will let you go.”
“Piper?” Alcor’s voice was high and panicked as she started to move. “Wait, Piper, you can’t! Please, he’ll kill you, he’s lying! Piper, please!”
Piper paid no attention. The plastic crinkled as she presented the mirror to him, handle first.
“Piper, think of your Dad! Think of Mag!” A hand was coming forwards, reaching for the mirror. “Remember what he did to Scarlett, you can’t hand me over! Piper!”
Piper held the mirror steady as the hand came forwards, forwards, milliseconds passing like minutes as the blood pounded in her ears. She waited, waited until the hand was right over the mirror, waited until the fingers were curling around the covered handle and take him away from her forever - and then she moved. In the blink of an eye her hand tightened on a fistful of the plastic bag and she wrenched it back with all her strength; the bare handle pierced through the bottom of the bag just as the angel’s hand grasped it.
Demonic essence. For a terrifying instant, Piper thought it hadn’t worked; he didn’t burn, but after a moment his whole body tensed up like he’d touched a live wire. He stumbled back with a strangled yelp, tearing the mirror from her hands and dropping it on the tarmac as his hands moved up to grasp his head.
Piper didn’t want to get out of the car, but she had to; she opened the door quickly, scurried over to the mirror, picked it up, and rose to her feet just as-
“Piper?”
Mag’s voice. Mag’s voice, and when Piper looked up at him she saw his eyes, wide and confused, shining only dimly from the light of the moon.
“What…?” He blinked a few times, frowning as he tried to make sense of the situation. His arm was still extended, and the confusion shifted to a growing horror as he realised he was holding a gun, pointing it right at her. “Piper? I don’t- agh!”
His eyes flashed, and he dropped the gun and went down to his knees. Piper stood there frozen, but she could feel a spike of urgency from the mirror; Alcor’s presence was pooling into her whole body, not taking over yet but standing ready.
“We’ve got to go,” he said. “Now.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted towards her car, jammed herself into her front seat, turned the ignition and felt it roar to life.
She stomped the accelerator, and the car started going; but only at a crawl. The engine revved loudly - the dial went into the red - but it struggled to pick up speed.
“Piper!”
“I’m going!” The car shuddered as she turned it back to the highway. “Something’s wrong with it, I don’t know-”
A hand slammed down onto the side of the window. Piper caught a glimpse of furious white; a gun aimed right for her face, but she made it onto the tarmac and picked up a burst of speed. BANG! Her ears rang, her windscreen shattered, and the angel was dragged off its feet, hanging onto the door by his fingertips as they made it to fifteen miles an hour.
“Oh, my god.” Piper said, but she couldn’t hear her own voice through the ringing. She glanced to the side and saw him still hanging on as they broke twenty. “Oh, my god!”
His hand was over the open windshield; she tried to roll it up, but he was too heavy for the motor. Twenty five, and the whole car was shaking and juddering - she didn’t know how much longer it was going to run. They needed to get away from him before it gave out.
Alcor was saying something. She couldn’t make out his words, but it made her look down at the mirror. She grasped it firmly, raised it up above her head, and brought the edge down hard on his fingers. They slipped but held; there was a cry of pain, and another BANG that felt like it was tearing right through her eardrums. She cringed as she raised the mirror again, and brought it down with all her strength.
This time, the angel was dislodged; Piper felt the car pull hard to the left as the weight fell off the side. She struggled to correct it - nothing happened when she tried to brake, but she had just enough room to turn away from the guardrails and right herself.
And there she was. Alive. She stared forwards, eyes wide, chest heaving, heart hammering in her chest. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The whole car was shaking; she could see broken glass from the windshield shuddering off the dashboard and falling onto her lap. The display was a flashing mess of warning signs.
She sat there for a moment, stunned. A sign passed them: COZY JOE’S CHEAP MOTELS - 5 MILES
A blink, and then a blink again.
Piper stayed there frozen for another moment, and then reached forwards, and turned on her hazards.
For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.
He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.
See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.
Nxlar the Antithetical is from @gnomewithalaptop awesome TAU Dash Simulator!
Piper had never in her life been so tired at eight PM. Her whole body felt so sore and clumsy and heavy, like lead was running through her veins. She was so tired she wasn’t even quite sure she was awake; she kept jolting up, opening her eyes, looking around the motel room as she tried to get ahold of herself… and then opening her eyes again. It was confusing, and half-formed dreams followed her into the waking world. She was sure there’d been a unicorn here, but she was…
She was drawing a circle. Or more aptly, Alcor was drawing a circle, with her hand. It moved smoothly and steadily, a focused presence sharing her body as it drew a complex array of symbols on the tile…
Piper jolted as she opened her eyes again. Had that been a dream too? No. That was real.
Stars, her neck was killing her. She cast a longing glance at the bed just a few feet away, and then slumped down to look at the mirror in her lap.
“Alcor…” she started. “When are we… when’s this done?”
“Nearly done with this binding circle.” He said, and she could feel her eyelids drooping lower. “I picked a more powerful demon to quickly ward off the angel, so the circle had to be a little more complex. Nxlar’s a good choice, she’s dangerous, sure, but pretty sensitive to…”
“…and that should hold her! You ready Piper? Piper?”
Piper sat up; there was a wetness on the side of her mouth. Eww, she’d been drooling.
“Jeez,” Alcor gave a sympathetic frown. “You really are tired. You wanna just go to sleep?”
“I’m…” she rubbed her eyes. “I can’t sleep until we do this, so let’s just do this, right?”
“I mean, I can do it alone,” he said, sheepishly. “I, uh, sort of have already been doing it, rather than telling you what to draw. If you just wanted to go to sleep while I, uh, use your body…?”
Piper gave a slow blink. She could tell he was trying to broach something to her… but she was fried. She just sat there fighting her eyelids as he made a few more quick markings.
“Uh, alright,” Alcor said, and had her stand up. “I’ll do the talking, then.”
Grabbing twenty three candles, he walked around the chalk, setting them down in a zigzag pattern on an inner and outer circle. Once that was done, he took a look at his work - and rolled his eyes a bit at the clutter of her circle. Twenty three candles? Alcor thought any demons with more than twelve were being a bit extra. And Nxlar - ever the contrarian - didn’t even want you to light them, so it didn’t have the pretty candlelight glow while you chanted. Not to mention all the intricate chalk symbols you couldn’t even make out in a dark room…
Alcor shook his head. Well, aesthetic concerns aside, the circle was done. Raising Piper’s hands up in the air, he began the summoning.
“O, Nxlar the Antithetical, O Great Mistress of Decay, I draw upon your darkness!”
The room seemed to drop ten degrees, and Alcor let out a subtle scoff that fogged the air. Putting ‘great’ in your own summoning chant - a little gauche, don’t you think? But a sickly rotting smell was starting to emanate from the circle, so he put it out of mind.
As he watched, the unlit candles started to sag and bloat at their bases; the white wax greyed and split, and a dark, stinking sludge oozed fourth and began to pool in the center of the circle.
As tentacles slowly took form, Alcor slipped the mirror behind Piper’s back, and opened her eyes. He watched a dripping maw form, and smiled as a rumbling, frustrated growl rattled the walls.
“A̷ b̶i̶n̸d̵i̶n̸g̶ c̷i̶r̴c̵l̵e̴?̵” Nxlar’s voice was a staticy echo. One of her tentacles snaked out towards the edge of the circle; it stopped short, and she hissed as she drew it back. “Y̷o̴u̶ ̸d̷r̴a̷g̴ ̸m̶e̸ ̶o̴u̵t̶ ̶h̴e̵r̵e̵ ̵w̴i̴t̶h̵ ̴n̷̬̚ō̴̺ ō̸̩f̸͎̎f̸͎̅ë̴͇́r̴̝̈i̷̠͆ṉ̴̀g̶͔̓,̶ ̷a̸n̶d̵ ̸t̵h̶e̵n̶ ̷y̴o̴u̸ ̶t̶r̴a̵p̷ ̵m̶e̵ ̵i̵n̴ ̶t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̴t̶i̵n̶y̸ ̸c̵i̴r̶c̴l̴e̸?”
“Actually, that’s the best part about this.” Alcor couldn’t hide a grin as he stepped closer. “I don’t need a deal at all.”
“W̸h̴a̷t̸?̴”
“I just needed to summon you.” To the demon’s astonishment, Alcor carefully rubbed out a compelling ward with his foot. “There you go, you can go now.”
“You - you don’t want a deal?” Nxlar’s tentacles began to writhe beneath her; the confusion was turning quickly to anger. “ Y̴̤̆ȏ̶̘u̵̥͠ fo̷͍͒r̵̘̊c̸̜͆ḙ̸͂d ̵̔m̴̺͌e̵͙̿ ̴͕̀tŏ̶̥ c̷̣̿ö̸̘́m̸̲͐ȩ̷̓ h̵̢̛e̸̡͐r̷̨͒e ̶f̵̹̂ȯ̶͖r̶̳̋ ̶̧͗ n̶͙̚o̷̯͌t̵̼̓h̴̦͐i̵̢̕n̵̜̿g̸̹͆?̷̧̊”
“Yep!” Alcor gave a cherry wave. “You’ve been so helpful - thanks for coming!”
With a shriek, Nxlar launched herself right at him - she shrieked again as she bounced off, and started battering at the binding circle with her tentacles. Alcor stood at the edge with a cheshire grin; when her assault slowed, he gave a wink, and chuckled as she screamed in frustration and fought even harder.
“You can do that all you want, Nxlar, you’re not gonna get through. You might as well…”
Alcor felt something bubbling up in his throat; he had just a moment to notice it before it came up as a loud, ripping snore. He covered his mouth, but Nxlar paused, her four eyes frowning.
“̴W̶h̸a̴t̴ ̵w̵a̸s̷ t̶h̸a̷t̷?̷”̴
“Nothing!” Alcor waved her away. “Anyway, you should go, so-“
“No, that was a snore. Are you s̶l̶e̴e̴p̵i̶n̸g̸?̴ Or…” she peered closer, at the faint glow in his eyes and the mirror clasped behind his back, and realization dawned. “You’re no human. You’re possessed!”
“I… uh…”
“You’re Alcor!” Nxlar said, and recoiled in fear - but almost as soon as she did, she was leaning forwards again. “I can barely feel you! What happened to you?”
“Uh, nothing!” Alcor felt his face starting to burn. “Nothing, you should go, I-”
“Are you…” Her jaw dropped open, and her tentacles froze in place. “Are you bound?”
“No! N-no, I’m, I just-“
“You are bound, aren’t you? You’re bound to that mirror!” All the anger was gone; Nxlar was grinning with pure glee. “The mighty Dreambender, bound away and pleading for my help… this is the best day of my existence!”
“Pleading for your help? I’m not-!”
“Oh, just wait until the Midway Bar hears about this!”
“No, don’t tell the- ugh.” Alcor dragged a hand down his face. “Okay, fine, I might be kind of slightly bound right now-“
“Kind of? You’re more stuck to that thing than the last piece of flesh on a bone!” She cackled with delight. “Aww, little Alcor, don’t look so embarrassed! Getting bound happens to the best of us - or wait, what am I saying, of course it doesn’t!”
She then collapsed into a fit of laughter. Eyebrows drooping, Alcor picked up the chalk again.
“Okay, cool, we’ve had our fun. I’m just gonna draw a banishment ward now.”
“You’re a little - a little weakling!” Nxlar was wiping yellowed tears from her eyes. “A little human-born weakling, trapped in a mirror! How’d they trap you, did they pwomise to be your fwiend?”
Alcor rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re very funny, Nxlar. Goodbye.”
He finished the ward and pressed a hand to it. Nxlar was still cackling away as it began to glow.
“Sure, I’ll leave!” A tentacle waved as she faded away. “I got such a story to tell at the Midway Bar - why don’t you come down there sometime? Oh, wait, you-“
And she was gone mid-quip, though Alcor didn’t think he was missing much. He pinched his nose and let out a low groan; there goes his reputation. He was never going to hear the end of this after he got unbound, wasn’t he?
Oh… well. That was a problem for another day. Staring down at the thick grimey sludge left behind in the circle, he was glad at least that he got what he wanted.
“Here’s our demonic essence,” he said through the mirror. “I’ll just spread this over the room, and then you can get some well-deserved sleep, okay Piper?” A pause. “Piper?”
No response, and after a moment, another snore broke through. Oh, she was out , and he didn’t blame her. He could feel her scattered dreams, her flashes of fear as the dangers replayed themselves in her mind… Alcor made a face, and touched the mirror to her forehead. He wondered if he could still do this. Concentrating, he sent a pulse of his power through the mirror, and into her mind.
He felt her dreams settle down, felt the edges smooth out into a soft, pleasant grey, and he smiled. Good. It was the least he could do for her. And this body was exhausted as well - he just had one thing left to do, and then he’d let it rest.
There were a couple plastic cups over by the motel sink, and Alcor grabbed them and started scooping as much sludge into them as he could fit. It was thick, disgusting ooze, and he shuddered as he stuck his hand into one. He started painting along the baseboard, moving beds and tables that got in the way, leaving a black, smelly continuous line through the entire room.
Once that was done, he stepped back, careful not to wipe his forehead. There. The angel wouldn’t be able to maintain a consistent hold on Mag in this room; if it was trying to keep him in the dark, it wouldn’t come in.
His face tightened. Mag… he was going to find a way to reach him. But for now, he couldn’t help him. He could only help Piper, and he swore, he was going to find a way to get her out of this mess.
He finally walked her body over to the bed, lay her down on the mattress, and pulled the covers over her body. He kept a hold on the mirror as he propped it up on the other pillow, adjusting his view until he could keep watch on the door.
“Goodnight,” He said, softly, and then he closed her eyes.
His own stayed open, a soft yellow glow shining in the darkness.
That was the first thing running through Mag’s mind as he came to. The wave of agony that crashed over him; everything, everything hurt. His ribs felt broken, he couldn’t breathe through his nose, he tried to move his arm and felt such a spike of pain it made him sick to his stomach - oh, that was dislocated. Ow. Ow.
“Oh my stars!”
Bright headlights were torture to his pounding head. Through his swimming eyes, he saw a silhouetted figure approaching him.
“Are you- are you okay?!” He watched them cup their hands over their mouth. “Oh my… d-don’t move, dude, I’ll… I’ll call an ambulance! Hold on!”
An ambulance, shit. Mag gritted his teeth, and dragged himself forward. Every movement was a herculean effort, and he could feel the little pebbles of the tarmac scraping themselves along raw and shredded skin. A car on the highway zoomed past so close to him - he needed to get out of here. He needed to get out of here now. Come on, he needed to heal!
“H-hello, 911? Yes! Yes, oh my stars! I-I found a man on the highway! He’s really hurt, you gotta send someone quick!”
It came slowly, reluctantly. Mag squeezed his eyes shut as his shoulder snapped back into place; there was a pop in his chest as his rib reset itself. He got to his knees, and the tattered rags of his clothes hung loosely from him as he got his feet underneath him.
“Y-yeah, I’m on the 101, exit… Oh, I don’t know!” The man had his back to Mag, peering desperately into the darkness as he approached. “I-I don’t, maybe I can drive to find the nearest one? O-or should I stay with him, he really needs help! I-I can…”
Mag’s foot scraped on the tarmac, and the man glanced back - glanced, and then turned around with wide, horrified eyes.
“I-I can…” His eyes traced up, up the filthy orange prison jumpsuit, all the way up to meet Mag’s eyes. He backed up against his car. “I… I…”
Mag could hear the 911 operator still talking in his ear. He reached forwards, plucked the phone out of his hands, dropped it to the ground and stepped on it.
“Sorry, man.” Mag said, and tried the car’s handle; it swung open. “And sorry about this, too. It’s a bad day for both of us, eh?”
Then he squeezed himself into the car and started the engine; the man, standing frozen in front of the headlights, quickly scampered out of the way. Stepping on the accelerator, Mag sped up on the shoulder before merging onto the highway. Hair was in his eyes - he shoved it back, then put two hands on the wheel and leaned forward.
“Come on,” he muttered. “Can’t lose her now. Hold on, Piper.”
His hands tightened on the wheel - tightened on the gun pointed at-
It was a cultist.
That voice… his voice, but not his words, he knew. And the memory that flashed in his mind now, the gun pointed at a hooded figure with a knife, it was blurry, surreal.
It wasn’t his own, he knew. The angel altered his memories sometimes; there were things it knew he couldn’t handle, things he could sleep better at night without. It knew what was best for him.
It was a cultist.
All he had to do was trust it, and it’d keep him safe.
It was a cultist.
It’d keep his family safe.
It was a cultist.
It’d show him how to bind Alcor away, and they’d work together to dismantle every sick cult that tore families like his apart, to make a world where what happened to Scarlett would never, ever happen again.
It was a cultist.
He didn’t need to think. He didn’t need to feel. He just had to give himself over, give himself completely, let himself become a hammer to be wielded, an instrument through which the angel could reach into the world and wipe away the darkness wherever it existed.
It was a cultist.
He didn’t need to think, and that was good, really. He wasn’t a smart guy - he never had been. He was a warm, mortal body, and that was all he needed to be. He just needed to trust in the angel, and everything would turn out okay.
It was a cultist.
He just needed to trust the angel. It knew what it was doing. It knew what it was doing.
…
Why was that giving him a pit in his stomach?
Mag grimaced; he could feel his arm pulsing. A cold presence was pushing itself into his mind, pushing him to the side. He closed his eyes, letting him swallow him up, and he thought no longer.
Glowing eyes opened in his place, and peered into the darkness.
There was a motel coming up on the side - the sign read ‘COZY JOE’S CHEAP MOTEL ROOMS’. It looked at the sign, looked at the long, squat building just off the side of the highway.
Hi!!! I love magfic so much -- the dynamics between Mag and Piper and Alcor have me actually feral (also: nxlar cameo ✨️✨️) Just cause I love to put things to a timeline: did you have a specific time frame in mind while writing it or is it meant to be more squishy?
(I am asking this in an official ask instead of on the discord for Wiki Citation Reasons btw)
Thank you Gnome, that’s so kind of you to say! I don’t have a clear timeframe for when this takes place, but it does happen after Noie, who is born in 3669. So maybe it happens 1000 years later, in the 4600’s?
I am definitely a squishy timeline writer though haha. Piper still drives a Camry XD
