MAL IGNA AÏDOENOUSThe Violet Shade
The afterimage burned green into his retinas, the color a flickering flaming neon before those oversized letters dissolved into the green canopy above; nothing but the stinging scent of burnt sugar and lavender left behind.
Finn didn’t blink or breathe, knees digging deep into the damp loam of the forest. His ribs screamed, the bandages wrapping around him scraping his burned chest with white-hot friction everytime his chest expanded. Even still, his weight pressed down on the wrists of the girl beneath him, no more soot-stained ragged peasant clothes wrapping her body.The fabric beneath his scraped palms was immaculate, all dark purple leather that smelled cleaner than anything else in the forest. He’d hauled her on his back for three days, dragging what he thought had been barely a hundred pounds of sickly dead weight through ogre country, and now…
“Hi there, cutie.” The words were whispered, each vowel with a lilt to it as she licked her lips. Purple-stained lips curved up into a bright smile as green eyes sparkled in that face, entirely and completely unbothered by the heavily burn-scarred nearly-six-foot-tall sorcerer crushing her body into the dirt.
“That a dagger in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”…how does she even know that joke?
Before Finn could give more thought to that, cold steel slid into his peripheral as the edge of a polished jian rested flush against a pale throat. “So…”Mulan leaned over the both of them, her voice dropping down into the dirt with as much force as she said anything else. “We finally find the Violet Shade.”A laugh sounded out, musical and light and horribly out of place among the purple-smoke remains of the zombie ambush. “That’s right!” She didn’t even flinch away from the steel as she smiled up at a frowning Mulan. “You got me!”“Yeah, we got you.” Finn grunted back as he shifted his grip, pushing her wrists harder into the soil. Teeth grit tight, he pushed down the fresh wave of agony radiating up his shoulders and knuckled down with his sputtering cursed energy. He swallowed a mouthful of copper, cursed energy sputtering to life with just the annoyance he had on him; red power flaring around his knuckles. "I mean it. One wrong move, she takes your head off, and I burn whatever's left."
"Boys." The girl tilted her chin up, a thin white line against her throat where Mulan’s blade pressed in. Despite that, she didn't seem to care as that smile grew. "Boys. I am unarmed, presently under someone else, and being very brave about the fact that he is bleeding on my jacket.”
“Off her, Finn.”Boots crunched on dead leaves as Emma took his other side, standing opposite from Mulan with a glare strong enough to match. Her own sword was lowered but it still hummed with leftover light. Red jacket dusted with purple ash, the sheriff of Storybrooke leaned over to stare at the girl on the ground.
“Mulan’s got the neck.” She clicked her tongue, tilting her head with the words. “Get up but before you open up your burns or something.”
As much as he wanted to argue, Finn didn’t.
Honestly speaking, he couldn’t.
Not when his spine felt like it was made of shattered glass.
With a grunt, he rolled backward off Mal and forced his mouth shut, biting down on a curse as the movement pulled the blistered skin across his back. The curse still jumped out of him anyway as he hit the dirt in a half-crouch, one hand planted in the mud as he did his best not to die on his feet in a fairy-tale swamp. Perfect.
Grunting again, Finn’s head rose to stare at her.
The purple-haired girl he carried all across thick brush day after fucking day, because he thought she was a victim.
Read the residuals, McHale-san. Utahime-sensei’s voice echoed in the back of his skull, the words and tone somehow mocking. Feel the flow. He hadn't felt a damn thing even with another sorcerer pressed up tight against his back, a loaded bomb cuddled up against him like a heated blanket.
The girl sat up, one hand dusting a stray leaf off her purple-leathered shoulder, ignoring the sword still hovering a bare inch from her collarbone.
"Who are you?"
“I believe the enormous floating letters handled the introduction, but I understand age can be cruel.” She offered a sweet smile Emma’s way, every tooth on display a sign of how much she didn’t give a shit. “Mal Igna. Mal, if we’re friends.”
"You concealed yourself." Mulan didn't move the sword. "You waited for an ambush."
"Waited. That implies a lot. Possibly a lot more thought than I put into this, Mulan." The purple-haired girl pursed her lips, the name rolling off her tongue with a hum. "Must every nap be a conspiracy?”
"A resting freeloader." Finn spat the word, the back of his hand wiping down a streak of sweat and soot from his forehead. "I hauled your ass for days.”
“And the ride was most appreciated, Sorcerer Finn.” Bright green eyes crinkled his way as her gaze slid back to him, lashes lowered with gratitude he didn’t buy for a second. “Quite the service, really. You have excellent posture.""...I'll burn your face off."
"Zip it." Emma stepped closer, the tip of her boot nudging Mal’s knee. "You, purple girl. Where did you come from? Why were you in that camp?"
“I happened to be passing through.” The girl let out a loud sigh, dramatic and breathy as if Emma was asking more than a simple question. "Looking for my way home, as one does, when an old witch began making a public nuisance of herself with hearts of all things. Messy stuff, and a hassle to deal with."
"Cora.”
Mary Margaret breathed the name, Finn turning his head to see the schoolteacher step out from behind the massive oak her daughter had stripped bare. The enchanted longbow was still in her arms, the wood gleaming in the morning light and knuckles white around the grip. “She slaughtered the safe haven."
"Exactly.” Mal pointed one finger lightly toward Mary Margaret, green eyes still sparkling. “A massacre, and one I wanted no part of. Like, I said, just a hassle.”“The Violet Shade bears a kind heart?” Mulan grunted the words, blade nearly trembling as she forced them out. “You think us fools?”“Who said anything about kind, Miss Muscles?” Mal snapped her fingers with another bright tinkle of a laugh. “I simply didn’t feel like getting involved in the massacre or fighting Cora. So I put myself to sleep and ducked under some bodies. Very simple. Very effective.”
"Ems." He pushed himself up, knees shaking for a solid two seconds before Finn managed to lock them out. Eyes narrowed, he dragged a hand through his oddly silky head of hair; not even a single knot in it after tussling with the witch-girl. “What’s the radar sayin’?”The sheriff narrowed her own eyes. “I… I don’t…”“Come on. She sellin’ us a bridge?” Blue eyes slid over to the woman in red as Finn readied his fists. “We burning the witch?”
“Burning?”
The blonde’s jaw worked, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she ignored the squawk from a suddenly-surprised Mal. Finally, a short exhale huffed its way free of Emma’s nose as she crossed her arms. “She’s not lying.”
"What?" Mulan’s blade almost shook again, dark eyes narrowed down at the witch. “Emma, are you certain?”
"She believes it." Emma turned her head away to face the trees at their back, a hand kneading her forehead like it was fresh dough. "Or she's telling the truth. Same thing."
"Delusion is far from truth." Mulan’s counter was a quick one. "She is a magical unknown. She called those constructs."
"Oh, please." Mal sat up straighter with a roll of her eyes. Mulan’s blade tracked the movement, resting against her collarbone but the girl didn’t even bother to look at the steel. "Those rotting rioters weren’t here by my choice. Blame the old bat. She knows you’re crawling around her woods.”“So she sent you to us—” The blade rose again, Mal’s smile faltering just a bit as the jian kissed her neck — “to track our presence?”“Track?” The smile fought for life, bursting back into place on that pretty face. “Now you’re just grasping at straws. None of that is true. In fact, I could show you what I was here for…”A hand reached casually into the pocket of her jacket, only to stop as Mulan stepped in closer with her sword. “Hand out. Empty.”Mal held up the hand, all eyes on her as they spotted the ornate brass in her grip. Finn blinked as Emma’s breath hitched, the blonde slamming her hand against her own pockets. “I believe you’re looking for this?” The girl opened her fingers and the brass dropped to the ground, compass hitting a rock near Mulan’s boot and bouncing closer to her. Without sheathing her sword, the warrior woman dropped into a crouch and snatched it up from the dirt in one quick motion. “Thief.”“Better than spy, no?” Mal brushed her hands together as she wore a proud grin. “You really need better pockets, Emma. You didn’t even notice me bump into you.”
“Maybe because you were invisible!” It took actual effort for Finn to fight down the laugh pushing its way up his throat, Emma’s face as red as he’d ever seen it.Mal simply shrugged back. “Maybe.”The compass found its way back into Emma’s hands again courtesy of Mulan, the blonde eyeing Mal like she wanted to gut her. "You touch me again, you lose the hand."“I gave it baaaack.” The word came out a coo, annoying and overly sweet. “Can’t we call it an olive branch?”"I call it a reason to sever your fingers." Mulan frowned.“Yeah.” Another sword pointed itself at Mal, Emma matching her expression. “How about you don’t give us another?”“...so we’re not burning her?” Finn huffed from the ground, all eyes returning to the place where he sat still; legs crossed and arms folded. “Just checking.”“No.” Emma huffed. “We’re not burning her.”Those sparkling green eyes flicked down from Emma to Finn, Mal’s smile twitching downward as Finn flexed his scarred hand in front of his face. “...you seem very eager to throw around burning.” His eyes sharpened her way, gaze narrowed to slits. “Yeah, real simple answer for that.” Red flame burst to life for a split second, his Cursed Technique manifesting in his palm as he drew on his Lapse. “Cursed fire is all I’ve really got, so might as well use it.”Once again, Mal’s expression dimmed — that confidence lagging in a way it simply hadn’t even when Mulan held a sharp sword to her. Huh…
"K-keep her away.”
The voice was thin, strained and almost to the point of panic — the perfect combination to make Finn look up as Aurora peeked her head out. The princess was shuddering, something Finn couldn’t miss even as she barely bothered to step out from behind the same tree Mary Margaret had been hiding behind.
Her hands clutched at her dress, muddied silks clutched tight as she stared at Mal with wide eyes.
"Aurora?" Mary Margaret took a step back toward her. "Are you alright?"
"There is something..." Aurora swallowed hard, shoulders still shaking. "There is something foul about her. Sir Finn, she should not be near us."
"Foul? Oh, sweetheart." Mal took a half-step toward the princess, head tilted. "I bathe. You're the one sleeping in the dirt."
"Do not speak to me!" Aurora seemed to find some heat inside her, royal pride forcing her spine upright as she left the tree behind. "I command you—"
"You don't command anything of me."
Finn felt it then.
A sickening weight in the air, heavy and heady and too damn familiar as it shook through the clearing. The sticky residuals of the night before — that sleeping curse that he’d fought to the death to exorcise of the sleeping curse he had fought the night before…He could almost feel it again, that same resonance vibrating in harmony with the sudden spike of magic radiating off Mal.
Like two tuning forks struck in the same room.
"Hey!" Finn took a staggering step forward, battered and burned body inserted directly between Mal and the princess. Blue eyes glared down at the purple-haired girl, fists clenched again as he ignored the shooting pain in his ribs and back and everywhere the fuck else. "Back. Off. We're not doing this. Big Em says you're not lying about the camp, fine. But I don’t trust you.” “Even after our kiss?” Those eyelashes fluttered his way.Finn flexed his fingers tighter, too annoyed and in too much pain to even care. “Give me one good reason I don't let Mulan do what she really wants right now."
Mal looked at him. “Well… if you’re going to be so rude about it…”“Rude?” Tongues of red flame licked at Finn’s fingers as the sole sorceror stomped forward another step. “You wanna see ru—!”"Finn!”His head snapped to the right, teeth still grit tight. “What.”“Finn, you’re hurt and angry and irritated. Step back please.” Mary Margaret’s voice cut through his aggression as the queen stepped forward, bow lowered but not slung. Her gaze turned to Mal, eyes searching the girl’s face. "We don't execute people in the dirt. But we don't have to trust you, either. So, just answer with honesty and we will treat you with honor, why are you here? What do you want?"She scoffed, rising to her full height with both hands up. “I simply want to go to your Storybrooke. I have…” Her shoulders dropped, something almost vulnerable poisoning the unbothered confidence the purple-girl wore so casually. “I have family there. I simply need help getting there.”
"We are not taking you anywhere!” Aurora didn’t hesitate in making herself heard as she shouted from behind Finn’s shoulder. "You are cursed."
"Last I heard, so were you.” Mal shot back, shoulders squared as she looked at Emma again. Her eyes barely seemed to touch the rest of them, only landing on Finn for a moment before returning to the blonde with the compass.
"You want to get home. But if you’re going to do that, you need the ashes held by a certain witch to do that.” Her leathers creaked as she took another step forward. “And Cora knows you're coming. One of the most powerful witches in Misthaven, and you think you’re going to get one over on her just like that? With the Red Death near death?”
Green eyes winked over at Finn.
A middle finger rose high without breaking eye contact.
“To beat a witch like Cora, you can’t do it alone. You need someone who knows how her magic works, someone who can get past the wards she undoubtedly has. Simply put, you need a witch to beat a witch.” The smile on her face spread wider. “And I’m the only one you’ve got. "
The purple smoke finally faded to nothing to leave just heavy silence behind, broken only by the sounds of distant birds and the echoing caw of a raven.
Emma’s eyes dropped to the compass in her hand before she slowly looked up.
"Oh, yeah?" Her jaw was set hard. "And what exactly can you do?"
Mal simply smirked.