The finale of the Luca and Malik saga! I didn't originally intend to do three of these but the idea got away from me 😅 Featuring the debut of our primary caretaker, Kairo, and Malik rightfully getting his ass kicked.
Warning for finger whump, aftermath of whump, violence, and injury descriptions.
Malik belongs to @lumpsbumpsandwhumps!
"Your aura is a part of you."
Her mentor stands in front of her. He's using his staff like a walking stick as he paces back and forth. "It's just like your body. You don't have to think about breathing; your body takes care of it for you. When you need your aura, it will come."
"So, it's like a weapon?" Luca asks. She's sitting cross-legged on the dojo floor, listening attentively. Or at least pretending to. The thunk of Kairo’s ornate staff catches her attention with every step he takes.
"Yes, it can be used as a weapon. But it's also much more than that. It's a part of who you are. And it can protect you."
He stops pacing, turning on his heel, and points the staff at her. "Now. Show me."
Luca concentrates, and the aura around her shimmers and then solidifies into a staff of blue light. She swings it experimentally. It cuts through the air, leaving a trail of light in its wake.
Kairo nods. "You're not fighting with a physical weapon as much as you are directing a current of power. Your thoughts, your emotions, they become energy. They flow through your body and become a part of the weapon."
He holds up his staff. "They will be drawn to each other. Block high."
She does. Golden and blue sparks fly around them- the staffs attracted to each other like some strange form of magnetism. Luca stares in awe. "When will I get my own?"
"When you're ready," Kairo says. "It will take time. An aura weapon is a physical manifestation of your soul. You must be in tune with your inner self in order to master it. You must find peace within yourself, in your surroundings, in..."
Luca had stopped listening as soon as he'd said "inner self" and was busy palming an aura sphere like a baseball and posing like a pitcher.
Kairo stamps his staff on the ground. "Luca!"
She snaps to attention. "Yes Master!"
"Pay attention! We're not done yet, darlin'."
The world implodes into white, and all there is is pain.
Luca opened her eyes, sticky with blood, and saw Malik staring at her, snapping his fingers in front of her face impatiently. "Thought I'd lost you for a moment there."
Luca rolls her neck and looks down. There's several pins sticking out from underneath her fingernails. That explains that.
"Had a little tantrum midway through," Malik explains. "Thought your heart gave out." He chuckles.
Must have passed out from the rush of aura and adrenaline, she figured, trying to rationalize away the stabbing in her hands. More importantly, she was still alive. There was still a chance.
Malik's biggest weakness is that he doesn't know exactly what she's capable of. Sure, she's injured, exhausted, has several broken bones and is currently being used as a pinboard...
She coughs, spits blood, tries to ignore the stabbing pain in her ankle, and focuses.
There's a new kind of pain now, something ancient and powerful that could rip her apart from the inside. It pulls at her fingertips, flows into her lungs like air, pools in her hands and feet. She gasps and coughs, and Malik looks over as her hands flare blue.
"Again?" He smirks, grabbing another pin. "Well don't mind if I dO-"
A gauntleted fist slams into his chest and he folds like an accordion. He can hear the crack of several ribs, wheezing as the breath is knocked out of him and into next Tuesday.
Luca slams her elbow into his face, grabbing it with both hands before smashing it into the table- and his laptop. Sparks, blood, and electricity mix as Malik stumbles away, holding his broken nose and breathing hard. "You bitch-"
Luca rips the remains of the chair and rope off. Her eyes are consumed by blue light, and her bloodied knuckles are now shielded by massive semi-transparent blue gauntlets. She crouches in a boxer's stance. "Like I said..."
Blood is smeared across her face like war paint, and she grimaces as she pulls a pin out from under her nail. "Not too tired to kick your ass."
Before he can respond, she grabs him by the lapel and hoists him into the air. The glow in her eyes fades, leaving just Luca, grinning wickedly at him as she watches him thrash.
She smashes his face into the table, then hits him over the head with the folding chair for good measure. The laptop drones on, somehow still recording, and she waves at whatever sick freaks are still watching. "Don't try this at home."
She drives her fist through the screen before dematerializing her gauntlets. She takes a look around at the trashed basement, then at her hands, then at Malik.
I think it's time to get out of here.
She makes sure to step on him on her way out.
