Like a Snow globe in Motion, Shaken (Gear, Sess)

[Hitura Rael]

Raldon stared at Ellen in utter disbelief. It was like everything he said went in one ear and out another, bits and pieces picked out of what he said to color what she heard and completely distorted it. And then she summoned up the storm, larger and inside the building. He could feel the heavy tiredness leech down to his very bones, threatening to freeze him from the inside out. He growled at her, a gutteral noise trapped in his chest. "No, Ellen!" He stompped forward, closing the distance. "Turn down the wind so you can hear!" How did she expect him to say anything to her with this noise?

He dropped to his knees and groped blindly in the dark on the floor. He knew it was there... somewhere-- Yes! He reached with both hands. He grabbed the sheet that had spilled onto the floor when the power went out the second time. In the same motion, he grabbed the plate. With plate and sheet in one hand, he used the other to wrap it around himself, bundled in it as best he could be. The plate remained hidden, clutched to his chest with his free arm tugging the sheet tight over the bottom arm.

Shitty disguise as it was, he had to try something. He approached Ellen one more time, stopping feet from her. "Ellen, you misunderstand," he strained to be heard over the winds. "I don't choose them, I wasn't staying here forever. I wasn't joining them at all. They were just being hospitable. And you're being rude to them. I love you, Ellen. Please stop acting like this. Turn off the storm and leave them alone." He shifted his hands under the blanket, as if to open it and pull her in an embrace. Beneath, he worked the sheet from his left hand to free up the plate.

"Let me see the world how it is for myself. Let me learn that lesson. Come with me to step in if I need it. Stop being responsible for me and let me be responsible for me. Let me stand on my own feet and find out the world's cruelty for myself. Lords and masters are supposed to make decisions for the people they rule and protect, right? Let me learn what the world is like so I can make the best decisions for my people. The best ones for you. Stop everything you're doing here, let all of them go. We can pretend this never happened, rest, and leave in the morning once they give me some supplies. You can even share my bed." He smiled down at her, a genuine one full of hope and love. "What do you say?"

Of course, should she try something or not comply... he had a plate. And if it came to that... he would move for the staff at the same time as pushing it into her face like a circus clown with a cream pie, intent on breaking it on the floor.

 

[Nemesis]

Raldon lurched through the blinding blizzard towards Elen's form, standing strong amidst the chaos like a statue. Her eyes flashed dangerously in the flickering light, the howling chaos about her making it unsure of whether or not his pitiful babbling reached her ears. As he drew close and gathered his courage, the plate flew from his hand. It was the moment of truth. All the lives hung in the balance.

There was the crash of the plate, chunks of masonry flying in all directions. At that moment, the blizzard died out - and he grasped for the rod, seizing it in both hands, heaved with all his might.

...

...

And nothing happened. It was as immovable in her grasp, as if she were made of stone. Not for nothing were the Faust Robes deployed by the Mulian elite of elites - even towering mobile weapons were no match for their extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Had he, she thought, been paying attention during their extermination of the Noise, he would have realized it was nothing but futile.

The Alchemist's expression was unmoved. If anything, slightly amused, as Raldon struggled.

His only reward was her remaining hand clamping about his throat, somehow managing to be colder than even the most frigid of icebergs. Elen hoisted him aloft, off his feet - purely, it seemed, to demonstrate his own powerlessness. His words, wrought of deceit and desperation as they were, had given her plenty of ideas for their future.

After all, soon he'd be saying them with sincerity in his heart. She beamed at him, like she had so many times before. Only this time... there was a certain, underlying edge to it. The kind that implied he would, very, very soon, be intensely regretting his outburst.

"I knew you'd understand... darling."

The staff flicked in her wrist, drawing a circle on the ground beneath them. A white light pulsed from the ground, and before the world vanished - and his consciousness with it, Raldon would have heard her say brightly:

"...Let's go home."

---

​

The next morning...

Rose Elwren opened her eyes, blearily. Hell of a storm, she thought. You started thinking you heard all kinds of things. She sat upright, Magnolia darting from under the pile of blankets up and into her hair, as she walked to open the window.

Sunlight poured in, and she was immediately grateful that the blizzard had finally stopped. Even though it was still winter in Alaska, it was nothing compared to-

Her eyes adjusted to the light, and slowly she started to take in the devastation before her.

Where the white giant once stood, there was only now empty ground. The police station and dozens of smaller buildings all turned to rubble. As if some kind of enormous porcupine had thrust spears into the ground, gouging great holes that ran deep into the concrete. Police, firemen, and ambulances milled about, collecting survivors, collecting witness testimonies.

But her eyes were on the distant manor, where Lord Lemuel had once resided...

And the yawning chasm that now occupied it, stretching away deep below the earth.