just when you thought that it was all over

[.magnarock.]

[... I come back and post some more!!!
blame my love for tormenting my characters and no one noticing me being on my laptop in bed until i died at half two. ;D anyhoo. this is set, friday afternoon, a few hours before: www.haematite.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=magna&action=display&thread=1188588283
(i forgot to put it up when it was supposed to... )]


A pale finger of moonlight gently crept onto a young woman’s face from between the withered branches of an ancient willow tree. Stretching their figures out into distorted shadows on the unkempt field. A breeze, barely palpable danced slowly through the long grass and brushed a quiet rustle from the forests leaves.

The room is dark, the floorboards dusty and the windows covered to block out the blazing sunlight. An old, well used block of steel shaped into a diamond swung into a strand of sunlight. A girl fidgeted slightly in her cross legged position and the stone swirled, loosing the link with the board underneath it. She sighed. “Come on.” Taking a deep breath she shut her eyes.
“Right. Go” She whispered and set the stone back in the middle of the board. It gave a low hum and a chime that echoed into the corners of the room. Then it swung across the board into various positions and above the intricate shapes.

After casting a brief glance across this scene of black and blue and dark green from its hiding place safe in the hollow of the willow, the figure paused a moment longer before wandering out across the deserted steppe. The distant calls and caws of a wood pigeon masked its footfalls and the quiet swish of its robe on the uncut grass as the distance to a decaying farmhouse.
The gate swung open as the figure approached with caution disappearing from its posture until it reached the door.

The girl in the dark room gasped; her grass green eyes wide in fear, her voice sounded empty and was breaking with emotion.
“No. Daddy.”
She hastily blinked back the tears forming in her eyes.
“You idiot, you stupid, stupid man.” Drying her eyes with her sleeve she cleared her throat and twirled a dark curl in a distressed manner. She gripped the dowsing crystal in her small hand and took a few deep breaths, placing the crystal around her neck by the thin metal chain she stood up and forced herself to grin hugely, it looked strange and unnatural for a few seconds before she cheered up slightly. “Much better. Now, time to go.”

Lifting the heavy, weather-beaten knocker and releasing it after a few moments, it swung back and made contact making only a tiny clicking sound. A second later and she was in a dirty and dimly lit sitting room, a young man looked up from tampering with an old fashioned radio, pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose he smiled. “You’re back, good. I was worried that- hey, what’s that look for?” He said noticing the somewhat skeptical look that had formed on his companions face.
“You? Worried?” Her voice was childish but still mocking.
He laughed. “Yes, I don’t want to have to eat dinner by myself- and you’re lucky he’s not back yet or you’d be in some serious trouble.”
“I see.” She said, with a hint of slyness. “I’ll be in my room when dinner is ready.” With that she left.
But no sooner had she opened the door with a sun engraved on it than a small whirlwind of black robes came flying down the corridor and crashed into her.
“Wah! Oh. Devon. What’s wrong? Has anything happened?” She asked while the little girl regained her breath. The man who had been repairing the radio wandered over as she composed herself to speak.
“He’s- he’s going to do it. I- I’ve just seen, dowsed it.”
The other two looked quite serious. “Are you sure, was it definite?” The man asked, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
She nodded. “Definitely.”

[.magnarock.]

[and now. lets find out what happened to Sei-ey-face]

[this is much later on in the evening, about seven forty ish, sun is just begining to set. it's still friday though]


The world was dark and aching dimly, he was lying down but it was a foreign bed, the sheets were scratchy and the rock hard mattress felt slightly damp under him. Sei opened his eyes painfully and felt the sleep crack in their corners. His head spun as he forced himself awake and he felt his stomach lurch as he failed to prop himself up on the sagging pillow. The world spun again and went back to being black and fuzzy.


“Hmm, I see. This appears to be exactly what we feared might happen.” The Head of Magical Law Enforcement rubbed his chin pensively, casting his mind back over the information he had received. “I don’t suppose the Ministry or Mister Verum will be over the moon to hear about this. Although, if we look at it in the very little positive light it has- it gives us a fraction of a lead. I want the area searched for any traces, any clues, anything. Parson, Michaels, thank you for your time, you may now return to the investigation.” The two auras that had brought him the report both gave a curt nod and left the room through one of its many doors.
Isaac Andrew Stevenson sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully whilst reading through the information again. It all spelt out one thing; and spelt it out very clearly at that. He smiled to himself, this was concrete stuff, except for a few minor things this was it, “It’s the death sentence for you this time, and it won’t be soon until it’s the end of the line. Now,” He murmured to himself, arching his fingers across the desk and leaning forward on his elbows as he looked across a map of the world where Great Britain had been enlarged and dragged into the center. “, Where could you have gotten to?”

[at about 6am on saturday]
Squinting slightly, his eyes still unadjusted to the low light, he scanned the wall he was facing. It was old, the stone it was made from crumbling and cracking in places.
Slowly, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder, he pulled a hand out from underneath the itchy duvet to touch it; just to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. Sure enough, it felt cold and unyielding beneath his pale fingertips. Something about it seemed to remind him of the walls at Hogwarts on the spiraling staircases, except these walls seemed, more foreboding, lifeless even.
“Wait.” He croaked; his throat dry and not used to speaking. The realization washed over him as he caught a fingernail on a loose piece of stone. He was supposed to be going back to Hogwarts tomorrow, or today. What day was it? What was the time? And- “Where am I?” He whispered, barely audible.
After another brief struggle with his sheets he had managed to sit up slightly and turn to face the room. A gasp escaped his lips and he put a hand to his mouth, his eyes wide, shining with fear in the fading light.
It was a dream; it just had to be. There was no way that it could be real, and that he, Sei Carters, was sitting, fully clothed, partially bandaged, in a cell. A three walled room with oppressive vertical bars on the fourth. Thick steel ones, undoubtedly rattled by many that had been imprisoned before him in a blind, seething fury.
“Wha- at am, I doing- in he-re.” He murmured, trying to piece together enough of his sanity to remember the blurry events that had led to this point, his hand straying from his mouth to remove the sheets still half covering him.
He had just started to swing his legs out from underneath him when he gasped again, cold air filling his tired lungs. “D-ave. S- Saire. Th- gh- uh-“ His face paled and his mouth choked on the words as his most recent memories slowly replayed and he felt the room starting to spin. The world went black and his stomach lurched, he put a hand to his mouth but he began to slide forwards, consciousness slipped away completely and he buckled from the bed onto the rough, stone floor.

[.magnarock.]

“Mr Stanson, it’s looking bleak. I’m sorry. We haven’t found anything useful.”
He sighed and continued walking down the corridor. “Ah well, Not to worry just yet, perhaps we’ll be able to get something out of our little witness.”
Sergeant Whitt let out a breath. “He hasn’t woken up for more than ten seconds yet; last time he came to he fell out of bed.”
Stanson laughed quietly. “Must’ve seen the whole thing then. How traumatic for such a young kid.
“Mm. Left.” They turned left at the end of the corridor, their footfalls echoing on the stone.

The world came back into focus and Sei squinted his eyes open. He heard an echoing scream far off in the distance and froze, gripping the sheets to his chin. Wait, he was back in the bed? ’but i fell out… maybe someone put me back in… where on earth am i?’ He rolled to his right, weakly kicking away the sheets. His head spun and he groaned, the memory of the last time he had been properly awake coming back to him vividly. He shuddered, feeling sick to the core at the recollection of Saire’s face, contorted and pale with death. A sense of rising panic filled him, he had to get out of this place; he had to. He felt as though he was going to pass out or loose his mind, this place seemed so oppressing, as though the walls were constantly closing in on him, suffocating him. He sat back down, trying to compose himself, telling himself it would be alright. “Shhh, shh shh. Mmm mm mmmmm mmm.” The lullaby took over and he closed his eyes, rocking back and forth. ’the light is different now, it must be morning, that means it’s saturday. saturday the thirty first, thirty first of august.’ He hung his head in his hands, trying desperately to think of anything else but yesterday. He didn’t notice the warden going along on his rounds, he didn’t notice the far away screams and moans, he didn’t notice anything until the sound of seagulls outside brought his attention back to the real world.
He turned around and climbed up on his bed, holding the bars of the small semi-circular window to get a decent view from it. “Seagulls? That means- Surely no-aagh!“ He exclaimed as he saw what was outside. Sure enough, there were seagulls. But there was also miles and miles of raging seawater in all directions a few stories below him. “The sea!? There’s no land anywhere! How can this be.” He flumped back down onto the hard mattress, which gave an ominous creak, and buried his head in his hands.

Clouds and consciousness came and passed for Sei over the course of the morning. The next time he woke up, the sun was a little higher and he pulled himself up to the window again. “I don’t want to be here.” He mumbled, trying to judge what the time was from the sun. Later than twelve, but earlier than seven… he made it out to be either four five or quarter to six-ish.
“-and I’m hungry.” He sighed and sat back down on the bed. He started suddenly as he realized he was missing his shoes. “-my shoes… was I wearing them when they took me here?” He frowned, trying to glue together strands of his fuzzy memories. “I… -don’t think so.” Shivering, he rubbed his forearms; it had gotten cold all of a sudden. “Bad planning, they need to put glass in those windows.” He grumbled, wondering when someone was going to come check on him. “Have they forgotten about me completely in here?” Another shiver. “What if they have…” He stood up, feeling lost and scared now. “What if they’ve forgotten about me, and- and they’re never going to come let me out.” His voice on the verge of wailing and looking like a lost child, he looked around the room for some means of escape, tears welling up in the corners of his stinging eyes. He sniffed, was it just him or was the room getting darker. He peered closely at a corner of the room, there was something strange about it. He blinked and shook his head. “I’m going cr- crazy.”
Images of Saire flashed across his vision and he shook. “S- aire. W-w-why.” His voice choked with sobs as he curled up on the floor next to the bed.

[.magnarock.]

A dark shape began to form through the wall, like miniature clouds gathering for a storm. Sei sniffed again and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t wanna be alone in here. They’ve forgotten about me, I bet they have.” He looked miserable. What if they thought he’d killed Saire and Dave. Would he be stuck in here forever? What would happen to him? Memories swirled in his head and felt almost irrepressible. A faint rattling and rasping sound started somewhere in the cold room. He shivered again and terror began to creep across his chest, tightening its choking grasp until he could barely breathe. It felt as though there was someone standing behind him, another shiver ran down his spine and he froze for a moment before summoning the strength to turn slowly and look. A monstrous black cloaked creature was floating inches from his face; like a ghost, the ripped strands of it’s clothing waved eerily like they were in water, he paled and fell back onto the bed, hands grasping the sheets, shaking uncontrollably. It came closer; breath wheezing and shaking, and it felt as though all he could think of was the moment Saire crashed to the floor, he put his hands up to shield himself and terror etched itself across his face. “G- go aw-way! Ohmygod, god no! No! Help!!!”
Terror spread out like cracks in glass across his heart as he realized that he’d been hearing other people be attacked like this, no one had done anything. Had they died? Was this how they killed people in here? Panic and fear danced in his dark eyes. He felt the energy begin to drain out of him and slid to the floor, the dementor hanging over him ominously as he tried desperately to fight it off; it’s grizzled, clammy, bone like fingers groping out like the jaws of a trap. He screamed as he felt his heart wrench and jerk. Every single painful memory he’d tried to suppress came to the surface in his mind in a constant reply, each one more vivid than the last. He felt as though he was being slowly dragged from his body. He screamed incoherent Irish as the dementor began sucking the happiness and joy from him.

Sergeant Whitt looked across at his superior as they took another left turn. “Sounds like the dementors are snacking again.”
Mr. Stanson sighed. “I don’t care how long those things have been guards here. They give me the heebie jeebies.”
“Imagine how the trainees feel.”
They laughed quietly, empathizing with the auras who had never encountered dementors before.
Another scream made them pause for a moment. They looked at each other, both unnerved by it. Whitt broke the silence. “Say… That sounds a bit like-“
“The kid! Oh sh[zz]!!! I thought he got put in a section without the dementors!” They both started running.
“He- has just seen two people- get killed though- that’s- probably enough- to bring a dem- entor.” Whitt muttered between breaths. They ran past a wandering dementor, shuddering as they passed a few inches from it. Turning right at the end of the corridor, Stanson had already drawn out his wand and blasted open the door. Whitt ran in after him, “Expecto Patronum!” He yelled and a white blast erupted from the tip of his wand, it twisted into the shape of and owl and flew towards the dementor. It hissed and writhed in the light and in another heartbeat it retreated through a crack in the wall. Stanson rushed over to where Sei lay pale faced and terrified. Barely breathing and his black eyes glazed over.
“Dammit. Bloody dementors.” He muttered checking for a pulse. He found one quickly; Sei’s heart was beating madly and unevenly. “Least he’s still alive.’ Stanson turned his wand sideways and held one end of it in each hand. Holding it a few millimeters from his chest he murmured: “Scarcio” and a blue light began to glow around it. He pressed it into Sei’s chest held it for a few moments. “Moderacio.” He said and Sei’s heartbeat began to slow down and even out.
Whitt breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God we got here in time. Those things- I swear…”
Stanson nodded and removed his wand, putting it back in the pocket of his ministry robes. He sat back on his haunches, trying to determine how long the dementor had had with the child. This was definitely too much of a close call, if he’d died. Well. At least 72% of the most useful evidence he’d ever come across would be gone.
Sei blinked, the world spinning and bleak. He jumped and bolted upright, his eyes wild in panic. “Where is it? It’s not safe in here!”
Stanson; used to dealing with Dementor victims, but not very used to dealing with children, attempted to comfort him. “Shh, don’t worry now. We got rid of the nasty Dementor.”
“Thewuh-?” Sei breathed.
“The Dementor, the thing that was attacking you.”
“Oh, ahkay.” Panic returned to his eyes. “You’re not going to leave me here are you?”
Stanson shook his head. “No, we need to ask you a few questions.”
Sei felt like he couldn’t breathe, did they think he’d killed them?
Whitt saw his discomfort. “Just so we can find the killer more quickly. If you can manage, all we can get would be useful, but we’re patient.”

[.magnarock.]

Sei was back in his cell, feeling better now that he knew what was happening and the date. Saturday the 2nd and it was now probably ten past ten. The interrogation had been strange and long. He flumped down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. Basically, they suspected a man called Raika Tyakess for killing both Saire and Dave. But they weren’t sure and because of this he was a possibly suspect; a very unlikely one, but one all the same. Now, he knew that he hadn’t actually killed Dave, just hurt him a lot, in a way that could have been fatal if un-attended to. So how come they had both apparently been killed in an incredibly gruesome way? He shuddered at the description, long shreds of skin ripped off magically until the victim died from blood loss. He hung his head in his hands, thoroughly confused.
It was all too much for him to deal with; he curled up under the covers and felt sleep washing over him.

[Sunday 3rd]
He woke next to the sound of someone entering his cell, it was Sergeant Whitt and he smiled slightly as he bade him good evening. Sei’s brow creased slightly when he heard this; it was still light outside, he voiced this and Whitt laughed. “I meant that you’d slept in late, it’s almost eight o’clock. We’ve all been up a good few hours.”
The rest of the morning was taken up by more questioning and interrogations. Sei hadn’t realized how hungry he’d been until he was given lunch back in his cell afterwards. He hadn’t been able to focus properly up until then and had blindly agreed with them, giving the account of things that they would have probably expected, he wasn’t sure exactly where the story came from, it just seemed to be in his mind. Sasha; his adoptive mother had fallen down the stairs and had been taken to hospital by his adoptive father, Dave. Saire, his girlfriend had been visiting for the day and was killed by Raika whilst he was upstairs getting something. He had heard her screaming and being killed and hid. On Dave’s return, he was also killed by Tyakess, but it sounded as though he put up a fight. When the auras came Sei assumed that they were Raika and tried to repel them.
It all fitted and made perfect sense. He just didn’t know why it seemed to be the only thing he could say. Whoever this Raika person was; he was in a lot of trouble.