Sweet Dreams Under the Sea - 7:55 P.M.
“That’s them up there! In the gallery!” Buggy yelled.
“In the what?”
“The thing under the roof! Go go go, it’s climbing up!”
Ophelia pierced through the skies. Rascal had reached into his backpack carefully and was now holding binoculars to his eyes as he soared through the skies in Ophelia’s talons.
“It’s disguised as Gene, it has Mendel in its tentacles and it’s trying to get to the roof!”
“Get there quick before they fall!” Buggy shouted, gripping onto Ophelia’s coat tightly. “Drop me off in the gallery, I’ll stay under them, you go up top!” They swooped by the top of the lighthouse. The Juggernaut hissed as they passed by, scrambling to the roof and holding on. It stood up and balanced itself, let out a warning growl. Buggy hopped off as they swooped past the gallery, stumbling and steadying himself. He looked up and the Juggernaut was directly above him.
“Go in front of it!” He called. Ophelia kicked Rascal up and held him in her arms as she veered down and perched on the lightning rod directly before the Juggernaut. Her talons held on tightly to it and held her up as she stood tall, wings spread. The Juggernaut hissed and its tentacles rose up behind it.
“Halt, beast!” Ophelia said to it, voice booming. Rascal hung his binoculars from his neck and looked onto the Juggernaut with fear in his eyes. Buggy hoisted up Flamingo and took aim, ready to take action.
A familiar sound of wings flapping was heard in the wind and Mari arrived, soaring into the scene and hovering over Ophelia.
“Oph, I’m here!” She stood in front of the Juggernaut with Clive on her back wielding a red potion. A large cleaver was strapped to his side, ready for anything. “You aren’t hurting Mendel, Juggernaut!” The Juggernaut flashed multiple twisted grins. It held Mendel over the edge, up high, and briefly released the grip on its tentacles, making him slip down. He let out a shriek, clawing desperately in an attempt to grab onto a tentacle, but the Juggernaut caught him, teasing him. Everyone let out a cry as they saw Mendel almost fall, but were relived seeing him caught.
“Oph, make sure he doesn’t fall!” Mari called out. Ophelia prepared to lunge forwards, but the Juggernaut cut her off with a slapping tentacle.
“If you touch him, he dies!” They roared. Ophelia growled and glared at them.
“Listen, Jugg!” Mari spoke. “I don’t want to hurt you! None of us want to hurt you! We have people before and under you, we have you surrounded. Please, don’t struggle!” The Juggernaut looked down and saw Buggy aiming the flamethrower at them. Buggy put the flamethrower down and raised his hands, backing up. The Juggernaut sneered and turned back to Mari. “We want to help you, you don’t understand! We’re going to sedate you for a bit and take you back to the lab to help fix you! We can’t do this if—“
“Oh, shut up about the necromancer already!” The Juggernaut shouted. They stood up tall. “We could care less about what you’re going to do to us. We don’t want any of it.” They stepped back. Gene’s shoes stumbled a bit, skimming the edge of the roof. Buggy gasped below and held out his arms, ready to catch anyone.
“We told you our plan, Juggernaut! We’ve only ever wanted to help you!” Mari turned back to Ophelia and Rascal and urged them on with a hand motion. Rascal nodded and reached into his backpack. He grabbed some rope and started pulling it out. “Hand us my friend and we can help! Please, Jugg! I know there’s good in you! Well...at least there’s good people in there!” Mari stepped forth, nearly stumbled, but held herself up. She extended a hand forth, fingers gently reaching out for Mendel and the Juggernaut.
“We don’t need you,” the Juggernaut said, voices slowly multiplying. “We’re unfixable...our souls have grown weary. We don’t want anything more than sweet, sweet rest,” they growled. They stepped back some more. Ophelia’s eyes widened.
Someone came shooting through the air behind the Juggernaut. Mari perked up.
“Who...”
Oz came flying in, holding his shield before him. He grabbed the Juggernaut as it hissed and shouted, struggling against him. Mendel slammed against the roof of the lighthouse and grunted.
“Oz, careful!” Mari shouted.
“The rope!” Oz demanded. Rascal threw the rope to him, and he grabbed it in his hands. The Juggernaut slipped from his grasp and charged forth, roaring furiously. Oz threw the rope out in a lasso of sorts, and it caught the Juggernaut by the neck. They choked out and hissed, slipping down and being held up by the lasso.
“Be careful!” Mari cried once more, soaring to the struggling, furious Juggernaut. Ophelia took to the air and flew around the Juggernaut’s vicinity, standing by in case they fell.
“The potion!” Oz shouted, pulling the Juggernaut up and holding them down. He tried not to hold back, seeing as they took the form of his husband. The Juggernaut looked up to him with furious eyes and bit into his arm, sinking its teeth deep, deep down. Oz cried out and let the rope slip from his hands. The Juggernaut released their jaws from his arm and slid down the roof. Buggy ran to where they were sliding, arms extended. Ophelia did a U-turn and yelled out for her necromancer. Clive took his potion and chucked it out at the Juggernaut as it stood itself up at the edge of the lighthouse roof.
With the sound of shattering glass it splashed over the Juggernaut, causing them to seize up suddenly. They slipped off the edge of the roof and fell.
“The Juggernaut!” Mari screamed. “Someone get it, Mendel’s still in it’s grasp!”
Buggy reached over the fence and grabbed briefly onto the Juggernaut’s leg as it fell, but ended up being swooped from the gallery and dragged with the Juggernaut. He let out a shriek as he felt himself yanked into and then over the fence, now in a free-fall.
Ophelia dove down sharply to reach Mendel, who was plummeting down rapidly and still snared in its tentacles.
“Rascal, help me pull these tentacles out!” Ophelia dug her talons into some of the tentacles, perching herself onto the falling Necromancer, and began pulling at them with one arm. Her other arm held Rascal, who joined her in pulling at the tendrils. Mari dove down next to them and tried prying Mendel out of the Juggernaut’s grasp, kicking and pulling. She grunted and cried out desperately.
“Help me, dammit!” She screamed. Clive reached for another potion around Mari’s belt, a tranquilizing potion, and threw it at the Juggernaut’s tentacles. Immediately its grip on Mendel loosened up, and Mari gasped. She took Mendel and pulled him out, extending her wings and drifting back up into the air. She laughed happily, holding him tight and spinning him around.
“We got him!” She said happily, holding onto him tight. The necromancer was out cold, so she held him up as well as she could. Clive cheered, holding onto Mari while grabbing Mendel’s hand tight as if he were to slip away again.
“Little problem here!” Buggy screamed, still holding onto the Juggernaut’s leg for dear life as he fell.
“I’ve got you!” Oz’s voice came from behind him, and he slammed into Buggy hard, grabbing him as he did. Buggy got the wind knocked out of him, but clung onto Oz like a lifeboat. “Ophelia! Push the Juggernaut into the water, it’s heading for rocks!”
The jagged rocks of the sea jut out below. They were growing closer and closer by the second. Ophelia hopped up and soared next to the Juggernaut, now behind it. She shoved herself against it, pushing it aside. She kept on shoving into it in an attempt to move it away from the rocks, but it was only a meager amount and they were falling fast.
“Ophelia, we’re running out of time!” Rascal shouted.
“...Hold your breath, blonde child!” She replied.
“Wh...What?” Ophelia backed up into the air, preparing. She then shot out through the air and rammed into the Juggernaut. She led it directly down into the water, and plummeted down into the water after it. Rascal felt a cold shock as he suddenly was crashed into water, and let out a brief scream.
Mari and Oz lowered themselves down to the shore. Mari rest Mendel down on the grassy sand and kneeled down before him, crying slightly.
“Oh, God, Mendel...I thought you were done for...” Clive hopped off of her back and ran to the edge of the tide.
“The Juggernaut and the Coven Leader are in the water, someone needs to get them out! They’ll drown!” He looked to Oz. He was setting Buggy down as he heard Clive speak, and quickly turned to pay attention.
“I’ve got ‘em, don’t worry!” He glanced back to Buggy. “You good?”
“Yes, yes, I just fell down a few stories—go save them! Birds can’t swim!”
Oz flew up and dove into the water, propelling himself down. He saw Ophelia struggling against the water with wet wings, Rascal desperately paddling up to resurface. Oz shot out to Rascal and took him in his arms, going upwards. They resurfaced and Rascal gasped in a breath. The two were in the air now.
“My cat!” Rascal yelled, coughing out water. “The air holes! The water!” Oz rushed him to shore and flipped him around, prying the backpack off of him and popping the plastic bubble off of it. Milky tumbled out, a bit wet and startled, but otherwise fine.
“Buggy, tend to these two! I’m getting the others!” Oz dove back into the water in a rush.
“Wh-What? Okay, I’ll...” Buggy ran to Rascal and crouched next to him. “Are you okay?!”
“I’m good!” Rascal lay on the shore, waving his hand to dismiss Buggy. “Milky, is she okay?”
“Milky’s okay. Here, Milky!” Buggy held out his arms. Milky shook her fur out dry and let out a disgruntled mewl of displeasure.
Meanwhile, Oz dove down beneath the Juggernaut, who still had rope around its neck. It was still shifted to Gene, eyes shut. Oz hoisted them in his arms and took off the rope from around their neck. He then held the rope out to Ophelia and shoved it into her hands, as if to say ‘hold on!’ She took the rope and held on tight. Oz grabbed the rope and held the Juggernaut as he swam up to the surface. It was taxing, carrying two people at once as the other dragged him down, but he managed to crawl onto shore. Buggy ran to him and pulled the Juggernaut up. Clive joined him and helped pull up Ophelia, and Oz dragged himself up.
“They’re safe,” he gasped. Ophelia began coughing and hacking up water.
“Ophelia, are you alright?” Clive asked. The Coven Leader nodded and coughed some more, her wings weighing her down.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she spat. “Is Mendel okay?”
“He’s okay. He just passed out. I think he’ll be fine.”
The Juggernaut let out a low, weak growl. It tried to get up, but fell back onto its face. Oz turned to it with his shield ready. Mari stepped up and stood before the Juggernaut as it lay at her feet.
“Why...why do you want to help us so badly?” The Juggernaut murmured, half sedated. “It’s no use...unfixable...” Mari looked to Oz, and he simply nodded and averted his eyes. She gazed back down at the Juggernaut and took a tranquilizing potion in her hands.
“It’s going to be okay, Juggy. We’ve got you safe and sound.” She kneeled down beside them. “This’ll only feel like a pinch for a little bit. Sleep well.” She held the bottle over her head and brought it down on the Juggernaut. It shattered into millions of little shards and scattered, the elixir soaking into their skin. They slumped into the sand and finally fell asleep, the first good sleep they have had in close to a year. Mari grabbed another bottle and simply popped the cork out of it and lightly drizzled half of it out over them.
“That should keep them under for a bit.” She stood and tucked the bottle back into her belt. “Get its limbs tied together just in case it struggles free. Oz, take them and Ophelia to the lab, since her wings are wet and can’t fly. I’ll take these guys back.”
“Alright. I’ll take Mendel, too. I think that’s all i can carry.”
“We’ll meet you there.”
Oz began gathering everyone up. Rascal, Clive, and him began to gently tie up the Juggernaut.
The moonlight rippled gently against the waves and the ambience of the sea accompanied the slight mumble of voices among them. The Juggernaut’s fiery rage had finally been snuffed, and their chorus of wandering voices had been lulled to sleep.
