Dusty

"Dusty" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
The silence was deafening.
Akkey sat alone on the beach, surrounded by the aftermath of the battle. Everything was still, as if watching her while holding its breath. Breathing ragged, she cradled her broken wrist, gritting her teeth against the pain that racked through her entire body.
She needed to forget, needed to feel numb for a while. She grunted, raising her good hand again, and pulled the water over her head, disappearing into the lake, letting the silence and darkness completely engulf her.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Akkey carefully stood from where Firkugaan had wrapped his tail around her. He slumbered peacefully, and she didn’t want to wake him.
They had finished their debriefing for the raid earlier during the day, and the island settled for the night. She could hear the roar of the ocean below her, felt the river running through the ground from afar, tasted the waterfall on her lips.
She told Nala the other day that she learned new things regarding her abilities, and they were true. 25 years made her more attuned to water, being more creative in using it, and Dario’s spell was going to be a game changer.
But seeing Liam’s abilities sparked a dormant idea inside her.
She wasn’t sure if it would work well, if at all. She needed to test it out. Not here, though. I need the lake. Akkey melted the snow around them, quietly opening a portal, and sank through the ground.
She opened her eyes and she was underwater in her little cove in Yrus. It was pitch black and silent. Perfect.
Akkey felt the lake and its entirety. The push and pull of the waves, the creatures that swam in it, the shapes and objects that floated and sank within it. She knew this lake inside and out, having spent and used it for the past two and a half decades.
She half closed her eyes, fingers twitching. The water shifted in response. She took a breath, and this time reached far in her mind, looking for memories, for power, for the same feeling. I know… you’re in there… she knotted her brows in concentration, digging deep and chasing the monsters in her mind.
She had spent years healing. Hunter, Maya, Blunt, Grey… they had all helped. She got better. But it never really went away. Not completely. Sometimes, it came back, and there was nothing she could do but suffer through the pain. And now with Frigga back on her tail… She grit her teeth, I need something more foolproof, more solid… She raised both her arms, steadying herself in the moving water, gathering the energy from her finger tips to her toes. The shadow crossed her eyes. There.
Quickly, she brought her hands together, and the water seemingly boiled around her. Her eyes turned dark, and she felt pain through her entire body. Her mouth opened in a voiceless scream.
Her skin felt like it was splitting, claws tearing at them again, prying them open with the same invasive power that Dust did. A slimy sensation snaked its way around her mind, and her head thudded in extreme pain. Akkey gasped, her lips parting, and the familiar shadows leaked out, spilling from her mouth, her eyes, her ears. Her scars burned like fire.
“Come… on…” she grunted with the effort of keeping it at bay, “Just… a little… let me use it… a little…”
Her fingers twitched again, and everything exploded.
Out of the water came a massive, uncontrolled wave, darkness and water writhing and curling around each other. It destroyed her house in an instant, freezing itself into a giant, blackened, icy structure of spikes and unruly magic. The lake rocked in deep waves, spitting out Akkey onto the beach.
She laid amongst the rocks, the darkness still leaking out of her as her body convulsed in pain. Her fingers grabbed at the loose gravel, trying to find something steady to hold on to, tears streaming down her cheeks. In that instant, she had felt her energy leave her, yet the agony remained in her body. She gasped, eyes rolling back as her head continued to pound, shadows writhing their way across her eyes and across her skin. Just like that day 25 years ago.
Hours crept by agonizingly slowly before the pain finally subsided and the shadows disappeared, leaving Akkey on the beach, completely exhausted, unmoving, barely conscious. But the sun was rising; people were waking up and she needed to get back to Haligan. She exhaled carefully, pushing herself up to her knees, working her limbs and making sure nothing was broken, before pulling the shoreline beneath her and returning to the island, leaving the destruction she caused behind.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Her cheek stung where Hunter slapped her.
Akkey had stayed under the lake for hours after her fight with Liam, letting the sun rise and the people of Yrus to wake. Only then did she make her way to Maya’s house, and was pleasantly greeted by a now awake Hunter, who was immediately taken aback by her state.
He had tried to heal her, but strangely the magic didn’t come out of his fingertips as he wanted it to. They had to settle for stitches, splints, and bandages. Akkey had forgotten what wounds like these felt like.
They had asked for an explanation, and she recounted what had happened, eyes cast down and unable to meet theirs.
Hunter’s came up at that moment and made contact with her face.
“I don’t give a crap if you didn’t really cut off her oxygen, or boosted her mentally as you always do to yourself. Being surrounded by water like that will be terrifying for anyone,” He glared at her, and Akkey shifted her eyes away from him, cheek stinging, her left wrist throbbing in the sling Maya had tied for her. “You could have killed the kid. Isn’t he Nala’s ward? What would she say when she finds out? And that you’re trying to control what’s left of Dust? What even gave you the idea? What if it messes you up again? You know what happens with your episodes!”
A tense silence filled the room for a long, long time as he continued to glare at her, before his face softened, bringing the same hand down again. The injured half breed flinched at the movement, but she felt the hand on her head instead.
“You goddamn idiot…” Hunter said gently. Maya shook her head, cleaning up the bandages used. “I’ve been awake for barely 24 hours and you come back looking and sounding like it was Ragnarok again, playing with dark powers and deities,” he sniffed humourlessly. Akkey quirked her lips silently in response.
Hunter continued, “I think Eir leaving might have something to do with this-” he twiddled his first two fingers, only managing the slightest spark of magic, “-so, you stay here for a few days and heal. Then I’m going with you to Haligan and sort this out.”
Maya abruptly stopped what she was doing and opened her mouth in protest, but Hunter shook his head, giving her a sad, gentle look, and she understood, “There’s a bunch of things to be done. Talk to this Milae person, find the girls, get Eir back, and apologize to Liam and Verdandi.”
Akkey’s shoulder slumped tiredly, suddenly looking very old, losing the youthful glint she had in her eyes. Her good hand hovered over her cheek, “Right… yeah…”
He waved hand with a sigh, “I’ll do some catching up with everything I’ve missed in the village. I’ve slept enough to last me for a while, I’d say. You go and rest. You’ll need it.” he told her, and turned on his heel, leaving the house to start his day.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Act I
Category:Events
Category:Hunter Lindholm
Category:Akkey Black
Category:Maya Lindholm