Heretical Edge

She was possessed. She had been possessed this entire time. The little girl from the Atherby Camp, Tabby, was a Seosten. A Seosten who had been the real source of Felicity Chambers' apparent immunity to possession. She wasn't immune, she was just already possessed. No one could jump inside her because there was already someone there. It was this scared, innocent little girl. This brave, incredible, unbelievable little girl was the one who protected her for so long.

The reveal was a broadside barrage of surprise, a mental blow that would have left the poor girl reeling, lost in the simple act of trying to comprehend the sheer ramifications of what it meant.

It would have left her that way, if there weren't far more pressing concerns. Her team, her friends were back at the hotel and were about to be confronted by Roxa's team. When that happened, the Seosten were going to kill whoever was convenient and send the rest out to their own space to be enslaved and put to work. Everyone except Avalon, who would be blamed for everything so she could be imprisoned, taken away from Gaia's protection, and killed. They would kill her.

So, no matter how shocked she was by this sudden reveal, no matter how much she wanted to sit down for a few minutes to actually absorb what it all actually meant and try to come to terms with the idea that she'd had another person inside her head for… for years by this point, it had to wait. She had to get back to that hotel, had to stop what was about to happen before her friends died or were taken away. She had to shove all her confusion into a mental box to be dealt with in the future, because if anything happened to Avalon and the others, she'd never forgive herself.

No, she put all that aside, offering a hand to the newly-revealed Tabbris as she invited the girl to join her, to possess her again so they could get out of this place and save the others. Every doubt and uncertainty she might've had was tossed away and ignored. Avalon and the others were in danger, maybe the worst danger they'd ever been in. So nothing, especially no lingering hesitation about letting herself be possessed again, would stop Flick from getting to the hotel.

Nothing, that was, aside from maybe one thing, the sudden arrival of the very source of the danger they were all in to begin with. Even as Flick held her hand out and Tabbris reached for it, a voice spoke up from the doorway. A voice neither of them ever wanted to hear again, after it had just spent so much time gleefully taunting Flick about what was about to happen to the people she cared about.

"You." It was Charmeine herself, the Seosten woman standing right there in plain view. She had left. She left, but now she was back. She was right there, staring at the two of them in shock.

Tabbris, who had already started to step toward Flick, was the first to recover from her surprise. She did her best to leap to the other girl. But Charmeine was faster, throwing herself that way. Her hand caught Flick's extended arm, pivoting around before flinging the human girl into the wall with almost casual ease. In that same motion, she continued the pivot to come back around to face the incoming child while dropping to one knee. As Tabbris cried out and tried to throw herself past, Charmeine caught her arms and held her in place. "Stop," she ordered. "Stay, be still, stop now!" The snapped words echoed through the room as she refused to loosen the grip she had on the kid.

Obviously, Tabbris would have simply recalled back to Flick if that was still an option at that point. But her most recent host was the guard laying unconscious nearby. She had possessed the man to knock him out, and now she had to actually physically touch Flick in order to possess her again. Which was just a thing the woman holding her arms had no intention of letting her do any time soon, no matter how much the frantic, terrified kid kicked and squirmed and struggled.

"Get the fuck off her!" The bellowed, enraged scream was enough, in that moment, to actually make Charmeine flinch just a little. She had been distracted right then, staring so intently at this kid's face, that she'd actually forgotten they weren't alone in that room. The second she threw Felicity into the wall she had dismissed the human girl from her mind, labeling her irrelevant compared to this child. Now, with the shout ringing through the woman's ears, her gaze snapped over just in time to see the blurred motion of a staff swinging right at her face.

Even then, caught flatfooted on one knee with her hands occupied holding a kicking and squirming kid while a staff was literally inches from her face in full swing, Charmeine was still quick enough to jerk mostly out of the way. The staff caught the side of her head with just a bit more than a graze. But it was enough for Flick to trigger the concussive charge in the weapon, creating a blast that flung her across the room. Tabbris would have been yanked with her, but the other girl grabbed the kid with one hand at the last second and pulled her to relative safety.

Flipping over in the air before coming down nimbly on her feet, Charmeine took a step back that way with an audible growl, before abruptly pausing. She went completely still, the slight cut on the side of her face where she'd been caught by the staff still leaking just a little blood. Not that she noticed. Every ounce of her attention was completely taken up with what was right in front of her. Felicity was standing in front of Tabbris, staff held out protectively with one hand while she used the other to keep the kid behind her and away from Charmeine, for all the good that would do. Her eyes, the quiver of her chin, the white-knuckled grip she had on that staff, all of it made her fear perfectly obvious. She was terrified. But the human didn't move. She stood her ground.

"Don't… come… any closer," Felicity snapped, voice cracking just a little as she used one end of staff to point at the woman. "You're not taking her. You're not touching her." She addressed the girl herself without taking her eyes off the actual threat. "Tabbris, possess me again, right now."

"Don't," Charmeine warned sharply, her own voice much steadier, though she didn't move closer. She stayed right where she was, "Do not possess her, kid. I will hurt her to get to you."

"You aren't getting anywhere near her," Flick cut in, keeping that staff raised and ready. She was actually able to make the words come without catching in her throat, without whimpering or betraying any more of her obvious fear than was still there in those narrowed eyes. The girl was obviously using her anger to quash that fear, smothering it through righteous, protective rage.

"I didn't say anything about getting near her, or hurting her," Charmeine pointed out mildly. Still, she maintained her position, standing still as her eyes shifted from what little she could see of the kid, to Felicity herself. "I said I would hurt you if she goes back into you again. And don't you have somewhere to be right about now?" The question came with a tone of put-on, exaggerated curiosity. "Your friends are in danger, in case you forgot. Seems to me like you might want to save them while you have a chance." The words were pointed, lest Flick miss the implication.

"Funny," Flick managed after swallowing, "I was about to ask you if you're sure you shouldn't run off to make sure your evil scheme plays out right. I mean, do you really trust your minions to do it right?" Without looking that way, she gave the end of the staff a slight wave toward the still very unconscious guard lying in a heap off to the side. "I think they need direct supervision."

There was a very slight pause before Charmeine gave a soft chuckle. It was barely audible, an exhale more than anything else. Just the single, "Heh." Then she turned her gaze to the man on the floor, silently considering him as the tense silence dragged on. Silence that was only broken once she extended her hand to the side, showing them the small device she was holding. It was a communicator, a fact that was made clear as she pressed a button, demanding, "Status report."

"Everything's in position," came the immediate response. "We would've moved already, but you said to wait until you got back. So, are we doing this now? I shouldn't have to remind you, the timing's pretty particular. Those other kids are gonna burst through those doors any second."

"You're right, you don't have to remind me." If a person's voice could cut someone's soul through sound alone, Charmeine would have managed it. "And no, do not move." She met Flick's gaze while adding, "Get the human kids somewhere safe and out of the way. No force, no violence. Use the Porter kid as a host, tell them whatever you need to, just get them somewhere else before Dare shows up. Between you and our moles in Roxanne's team, it shouldn't be hard."

In the resulting silence that followed, Flick wouldn't have been able to say who was more confused and surprised, Tabbris and herself, or whoever the other woman was talking to. All of them had to take a moment to comprehend what had just been said. Or try to. Finally, there was a soft, clearly nervous cough before the voice asked, "Um, are you sure you want us to just--"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I know," Charmeine cut in with a voice that was entirely too sweet to be anything but profoundly dangerous, "that you aren't asking me to repeat myself right now." She let that stand for two seconds, just long enough for the implication of her words to set in before adding, "Right?"

Immediately, the voice on the other end of the communicator confirmed he had heard the order and would carry it out. He was still in the middle of saying all that when she tapped the button to end the connection, cutting him off without warning. She was too busy staring at the two girls on the other side of the room. Making a show of putting the communicator away, she spoke in a mostly flat, even tone that rose just a little unnaturally toward the end. It took Flick a second to realize it was her attempt at sounding pleasant, or maybe even cheerful. Clearly, she needed some more practice. "There, now, see? We can have an actual conversation without the human there panicking and doing anything stupid. Your little friends are safe and contained. Depending on how this conversation goes, they might just stay that way a bit longer. First, put that weapon away."

When Flick hesitated ever so slightly, the woman spoke again, more sharply that time. "If I had any immediate plans to hurt you, that stick wouldn't even slow me down. Telling you to put it away on your own is me being downright neighborly. Don't give me a reason to say it again." After another tense second or two passed, she gave a soft sigh. "I'm not about to hurt you, or the kid. I want to talk to that one, and letting you live for the time being seems like the best way to do that. Unless you'd prefer I try an option that's less certain, but much more palatable for me."

Closing her eyes, Flick let out a soft whisper about absolutely not being sure about this before putting the staff away. The woman was telling the truth about one thing at least. It probably wouldn't have done her much good anyway. She didn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation. Not that she wouldn't have given it her best shot if it came down to either fighting or standing aside to let her get near Tabbris. Still, she didn't move out of the way, staying between the two as she demanded, "What do you want?"

"Oh, so many things, to be honest" Charmeine informed her. "More than one of which involves you permanently ceasing to be a problem. But most pressingly, you." That last bit came as she focused on the younger girl behind Flick. "Let me see your face. Step beside the human, now."

Flick opened her mouth to object, but fell silent when the other girl nervously did so. Still, she didn't let her guard down in the slightest, taking a single step closer without actually blocking her. She was hovering, ready to fling herself in front of the smaller figure at a moment's notice.

Charmeine remained where she was, staring with rather intimidating intensity at the young girl. She might as well have been committing every atom in her face to memory, her gaze enough to make the kid reflexively shrink back a little. Finally, she gave a very strained, "It's real. You're real. You're her child. Sariel's child. Her real Seosten child. All this-- all that time and you're just… you're really here." Her tone had softened throughout that, until it became nearly unrecognizable by the end. In those few sentences, her voice had turned from one of threats and barely restrained violence, to one of wonder. "Sariel had a kid and you're right here." A pause came before, "Why are you right here, with this human, instead of somewhere safe?"

"Um." After making that soft, uncertain noise, Tabbris took a single step forward, putting herself just a little bit in front of Flick. "Mama wanted to help Flick when, um, when she found out her own Mama was gone. And she didn't want me to be taken away by Kushiel for any of her experiments, or locked up in the prison, so she wanted to send me somewhere anyway."

Flick's gaze snapped that way despite herself, anger rising in the girl as she started to ask for clarification on that. But Charmeine beat her to the punch, her own voice demanding, "What prison?" The words came so sharply that the other two flinched, making her eyes roll reflexively before she gritted her teeth and tried again with a pointedly softer tone. "I mean, what prison?"

Before responding, Tabbris actually exchanged a glance with the older girl beside her. The two had only officially met moments earlier, but they had been a part of each other's lives for years. Long enough that the Seosten instinctively looked to the human and only answered Charmeine once Flick gave a short nod, as though telling her it was okay. Only then did the girl explain, very hesitantly, how she had come to both exist and end up with Flick. She didn't know the entire story, obviously. But she did know enough to get the general point across. Her mother, Sariel, was being kept in some sort of breeding prison, where Kushiel was experimenting on her and others in an attempt to… make more children. Whom she was then doing who knew what with.

By the time the young girl finished her story, Charmeine muttered something the other two didn't catch all of. The only bit they understood was, 'Kushiel.' Though from the sound of her voice, the rest of the words weren't exactly the kind that would be said in polite company. Then she gave a heavy sigh. "She's supposed to be getting her head on straight. They said she was retired, sitting out the rest of the situation here on Earth for the time being until she feels like herself again."

"Yeah? Well they lied," Flick reflexively retorted. "What an unprecedented turn of events from a species whose culture is built entirely around manipulating and deceiving the rest of the universe."

"Okay," Charmeine snapped while taking a step that way, "that's just about enough out of you."

But before she could do whatever it was she had planned (as far as Charmeine could be said to plan any of her reactions), Tabbris moved more fully in front of the human girl, chin raised as she planted her fists on her hips and firmly declared, "My mama told me to protect Flick, an' that's what I'm gonna do. Even if I've gotta protect her from you." She met the older woman's gaze without blinking, the only sign of nerves coming in the form of a single, almost imperceptible gulp.

With an audible growl, Charmeine let her gaze shift between the two before giving a somewhat reluctant smile of appreciation. "You've got nerves, kid. Fine, since I like nerves, and for your mom, I won't teach the human to keep her mouth shut. But now…" She looked away, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face before she covered it with her hands. For several long seconds, the woman simply stood there with both hands against her face, before slowly shoving them up and back through her hair with an audible, almost wheezing exhale. "Okay, well, I guess we've gotta get her out, don't we?"

"Uh." Tabbris blinked, tilting her head all the way backwards to look at Flick behind her from an upside down position. Their eyes met and both girls made a few uncertain noises at each other before she finally straightened up once more and tentatively asked, "What do you mean?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you, kid?" came the testy retort. "Believe me, I served on a ship with your mom for a long time. I know the history between her and Kushiel. I know what--" She paused before finishing with a simple, "I know them. And I owe your mom. So I'm getting her out of that place."

"You're turning on your own people?" Flick reflexively asked, only to yelp as the woman went right past and over Tabbris in order to grab her shirt collar, cutting off her air with that tight grip.

"I'm not turning on anyone," Charmeine snapped. "I owe Sariel, and I don't owe Kushiel. This is about making sure my friend isn't…" She trailed off, head turning to look at Tabbris before simply releasing the human as she finished with a pointed, "I'm getting her out, that's all that matters. You wouldn't understand how our people work. Now come on, kid. You wanna save your mother, you better try to keep up."

"Wait a second!" That was Flick. "What about everything else? What about my friends, what about Avalon? What about everything you and your people have been doing all year?"

Charmeine's response was dismissive as she turned to walk to the door. "Not my problem anymore. Good luck with Manakel and all that. Kid, get your butt in gear already."

"I'm not leaving Flick," Tabbris stubbornly declared. "Mama told me to protect her. If I leave an' something bad happens, it'll be my fault."

"And I'm not leaving her alone with you," Flick put in. "Plus I have to make sure my friends are safe from your people."

"Oh for the love of--" Giving an annoyed grumbling sound as her fists clenched, Charmeine glared at the two of them. "I have been so patient, saint-like, really." To Flick, she added, "You really do not understand the gift I'm giving you by walking away from this. You're just--both of you are--" Again, she growled deep in her throat, eyes closing as she muttered what sounded like numbers. She was counting to ten. After finishing, her eyes opened and she took in the sight in front of her briefly before groaning. "Oh right, there's two of you." With that, she promptly counted to ten again, once for both children she was being forced to interact with.

Once that was done, Charmeine cracked her neck to one side, then the other before announcing, "This is what's going to happen. I'm going after Sariel. Her kid is coming with me. The human," she added with a distasteful look at Flick, "can accompany us if she keeps her mouth shut and does everything she's told. As for Avalon and the other pests…" Another sigh came. "They either stay here and deal with Manakel themselves, or they come with us. Every human in my sight will follow my orders, which will almost certainly amount entirely to, 'sit in the corner and shut your mouths,' and when Sariel is free I will drop you back here on Earth to fend for yourselves. For the duration of the trip, you have my word that I will not intentionally do anything to harm you or your friends. Unless you really piss me off. Even Avalon. I will put that part of my mission on hold until Sariel is safe and then I'll give you a head start. That's the offer, take it or leave it, you have five seconds to decide."

"What, you want me to just sign the rest of my team up for a cross-universe trip without talking to them, without explaining anything, without--" Flick stammered, eyes widening through that.

Charmeine, for her part, replied with a simple, "... four… three… two…"

Flick cursed before hurriedly nodding. "Fine, yes, yes, whatever, get them away from the rest of your people. I'll apologize later, just get them out of there. We'll go with you."

"Good." Charmeine gave a slow Cheshire smile. "Then buckle up, children.

"It's about to get interesting."