[AFTERMATH] Til then

[shibrogane]

When Temperance arrived at Blackfriars, the space where Pride had been was empty. Two suit jackets laid neatly folded where he had been.

There was some sort of odd magical anchor there, waiting to be picked up. There was no physicality to it. Sort of like an open door, really. It didn't seem like it meant any harm.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She'd changed back into her old scrubs, meticulously cleaned. Her sneakers squeaked, just a bit, on the floor. Temperance was only ever at any Blackfriar's in her scrubs. A ridiculous thought, and she banished it, looking for Pride.

"Pride? Pride?" She'd told him not to move. His injuries were just a little too much and... Her eyes caught on the jackets. Folded. So he had gotten up and left. Whey were all patients idiots? She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back into a ponytail, and paused.

Magic was here, not like before, but something different, something that simply sat. Quickly finishing tying up her hair, Temperance knelt where Pride had been. Closing her eyes, and her brows knotting together in confusion, she reached out for it. Whatever this was, had it whisked Pride away? What -

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

It hadn't. But it did whisk Temperance away.

"Oh, s**t," said Pride, whose voice was lower than it had been, whose hair was shorter and dark as pitch where before it had been a gentle brown. They seemed to be in a... hospital room. "Sorry. I left that there so no one would worry, but... I didn't think it'd pull you through like that."

They were in one of the pods at Ashdown Municipal Hospital's emergency room. Pride watched Temperance with tired eyes, and let the strands of magic fall from his fingers.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance blinked rapidly, trying to acclimate herself to the sudden change. It was... it wa the hospital, which she knew very, very well. And her vision suddenly sharpened on the man talking to her.

"Uh, uh," she said, trying to find the exact words while still shaking off the disorientation. "Wait, P-Pride - is that you?" Things were decidedly different. She strode over to his bedside. "Are you alright?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You'd probably better call me Jennifer for now," said Pride sleepily. He's hooked up to an IV, there's a monitor on his chest. "I'm okay... once I felt the magic change, I wanted to go, and I could go now, so I did go." Which made about zero licks of any sense. "I figured it'd be Mercer," he said. "Nosy ******** class="quote">

The Semblance of Unity

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance lifted the IV bag slightly, reading the label. The standard cocktail of saline and vitamins. They'd have probably checked his blood for any defencies, she thought. No morphine, though, which was a good sign.

"Nosiness is, unfortunately, a trait Chief Mercer and I share." She didn't look entirely pleased by the fact. "If you'd rather I call you Jennifer here, that's fine. Patient confidentiality is strictly enforced in this hospital, so you're okay to be called what you please." Even if Pride was, technically, a strange name, she'd heard weirder. (Temperance had met no less than three women named Tuba, of all things.)

"The magic... we... rebuilt it. I guess. You couldn't leave before? Chief Mercer said your magic was unstable; how does it feel now?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pride watched Temperance through half-lidded eyes. "Couldn't survive without the magic 'cause of the outflow," he said. "Before I just didn't want to go somewhere where sainted Adoelle was someone people thought they'd known... and I don't think Pax would've liked me horning in on their territory..."

He blinked. Well, he closed his eyes and opened them again.

"The redhead said Pax was dead," he said.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Sainted Adoelle?" she questioned, then waved her hand. It didn't matter at the moment, anyway. Pride was a recovering patient.

Then she sighed. "Yes, America is right. I tried... to bring Pax back, but he asked me not to." Temperance looked at the wall past Pride. "I'm sorry."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"No, it's... it's good they're gone," said Pride. He squinted at Temperance, mouth screwed up in some strange expression. "They would've wanted it, since Heliodora is gone. And... I think... if the spirit bond comes back because of what you did... you may have prevented another purge by leaving him."  

[The Semblance of Unity]

The purge? She rubbed the back of her neck. "Was... was Pax so against the spirit bond? We, I don't know very much about the purge, but I suppose that was kind of the point of the purge... How did it even happen?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pride shook his head. "It wasn't the point," he said, "The spirit-bound were already gone. The purge was to stop them from pulling the spirit-bond back, and to keep the cage in place."

He opened his eyes and squinted at Temperance. "I did not miss needing glasses," he said.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She chewed her lip. "The cage doesn't seem like a thing that should be kept anymore, not really. It caused so much harm... Does this mean that P-Pax started the purge?" The Peaceful One.

"Have you looked into corrective eye surgery?" Temperance blinked, her own eyes feeling grainy. "Wait, do you no longer have any magic at all? And what was so bad about the spiritbond, anyway? Sorry, I always find I ask too many questions."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't know," said Pride. "I know that Heliodora wanted it, and that Pax had the means to start it."

He shook his head. "I had magic. I still have magic. I just... I'm really tired, so I'm not using it. And in the real world it takes a lot more energy. And the spiritbond... it was threatening the cage. That's all it was. As far as I know."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She digested that all for a moment. Unless they used the library, they'd never know for sure. And even then, someone had mentioned that bits were erased from the pages of the books there. Troubling.

"Threatening the cage... Well, if it's back, I guess we can threaten the cage a little more." Temperance should stop grilling a tired patient. "When America tied.. when the magic... are you still the sort of conduit - for lack of a better word - for the moonwalkers and wargs that you were or are you free from that?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pride shook his head. "I can't feel all of them anymore," he said. "I think I'm free. I think they are, too."

The Semblance of Unity