[Mojave]

This is gonna be written like the event happened a long time ago/is a fairy tale from the perspective of the two characters introduced in the first few posts. c:

The Lost

Bezeil | Arcturas
The Seekers (Team Good)

Castrail | Mendzel
The Seekers (Dukes of Hell)

Pogo | Xeno
The Readers

Amalie Jynx | Makayla Hollowgreen

"Ma, where do fairies come from?" A small child sits upon a woman's lap turning the pages of a book it held in pudgy hands. The woman looked down to see an image of a beautiful, tiny figure sitting on a leaf. Upon closer inspection she noticed it wore an impish grin and seemed to be pulling the wings off an aphid. With a gentleness that hid her impatience she took the book to examine the cover. "Faeries, Fairies, Fae, and Their Ilk" was emblazoned upon the cover.

1/205

[Mojave]

"Makayla, my name is Amalie, not 'Ma'." She reminded the small person sititng with her absently. How had the girl even found this volume? It had been locked up... hadn't it? With a sigh, Amalie decided perhaps she hadn't secured the book; watching the girl was always a laugh a minute. And by laugh, she meant headache. She was into everything. All. The. Time. And Amalie was often forced to drop what she was doing to intercede before something truly awful happened. Like something of hers was broken. Or drooled on. Or broken, since that happened the most often.

2/205

[Mojave]

Seeing an opportunity to keep the child quiet and stationary, Amalie decided it wouldn't hurt to tell her a little story. How true it was even Amalie didn't know, but wasn't the Shadowhunter motto 'All the stories are true'? Resigned to her fate for the afternoon she settled the girl next to her on the couch and took the book into her own lap, turning to the beginning of the chapter. "Are you able to read on your own?" The ancient warlock asked the child. It wouldn't do to tell this story (which wasn't in any books) if she was just goingto be called out within several moments.

3/205

[Mojave]

"Yes, but a lot of the words in this one are weird. Will you read to me?" She smiled up at Amalie with a child's trust. Even if the story the older woman told her wasn't what was in the book, Makayla appreciated the attention. Despite how gruff Amalie was, it was far more warm than the treatment she got at the Institute. Caspian had made it clear he wasn't her father and he wasn't interested in pretending to be either. It was one of the reasons she was here, having run away to Amalie's apartment. Again.

4/205

[Mojave]

While she'd never spawned children of her own, Amalie understood that the young Shadowhunter just wanted affection. Not necessarily attention- she got plenty of that at home with her training and studies- but to be at least welcome somewhere instead of barely tolerated. After four years of the back and forth custody argument with Caspain and the state of the city between all the major players, Amalie was reluctant to alert the Clave to Makayla's situation. And if Caspian hadn't complained or tried to pawn her off on anyone, there was a reason. A reason that could get herself or the youngster killed if she intervened.

5/205

[Mojave]

The warlock stroked the child's hair with sincere affection (she had delivered the girl into the world, she could honestly say she cared for Makayla more than anyone else seemed to) and settled in, letting the young Shadowhunter nestle against her. With a wave of her hand, two steaming mugs appeared. Tea for herself, cocoa for the child. Makayla sipped carefully, mindful not to spill any or burn her tongue. Reassured, Amalie lifted the book and pretended to read. "Once upon a time..." She began.

6/205

[Mojave]

A long, long, long time ago...

"You know.." A pale, blond youth said with arms crossed as they examined the tracks they'd been following for some time. "I think we're lost, Mendzel. You have gotten us lost." They were met with a scowl as their golden companion hissed, most unangelically, "I did not, Castrail! I'm not the one that chose to come down here, Bezeil is! Why don't you blame them? And I told you I'm not a tracker and didn't even want to come anyway!" "Ssshh! Stop yelling already." Castrail had gone still, deep golden eyes scanning the forest around them. "We're not alone."

7/205

[Mojave]

"Did you hear somethin', Pogo?" A rather dark, swarthy individual paused in it's attempts to pass through a tangle of vines. This was rather difficult since they'd emerged in this world in the center of the tangle of greenery, completely unexpectedly.

"Just you crashing around, Xeno." Came the bored reply, red eyes glaring at their companion in disgust. "Can't you... I dunno, be more graceful? There are demons back home with lower rank and more stealth than you."

8/205

[Mojave]

"So why didn't you bring them if I'm such horrible company?" Xeno rolled their eyes, extricating themselves from a blackberry vine that had caught at their garment. It wasn't at all practical for a forest. Then again, neither one of them had realized where Arcturas was going; they probably wouldn't have followed if they'd known.

Pogo glared skyward as if asking their former master for patience; not that they were likely to get anything from above, the rebellion and their fall having occurred only a millennia ago.

9/205

[Mojave]

"Because Arcturas is our sibling and our responsibility." Pogo's eyes glowed crimson in their anger, and Xeno sighed. "I thought I heard someone yelling. Think maybe Arc came here to terrorize someone?" The smaller Pogo shrugged, annoyance gone to be replaced with boredom. It was hard to care, even if Arcturas and Xeno were their 'brothers'. They were always causing trouble and forcing Pogo into these tedious expeditions and adventures. What was wrong with their home dimension, or better yet, what was so great about this one? "Hard to say." They finally responded before walking away.

10/205

[Mojave]

"Is it Bezeil?" Mendzel asked, unable to keep a neutral tone. "Please tell me it's them so we can go home?" Castrail scowled, "I don't think so. I think it may be one of them." They replied, moving silently along the path like a cat creeping on it's prey. "They're just on the other side of this cluster of trees."

"Them? Them who? There are a lot them's here, you know." Mendzel sighed, kicking a pebble into the underbrush. The resulting rustle caused Castrail to hiss, grabbing their companion and yanking them down into a crouch.

11/205

[Mojave]

"WILL you shut up? Do you really want to be found here by one of them?" The intense golden eyes blazed vehemently, a hint to the heavenly fire burning inside Castrail. "WHO, for the love of Our Father, is them?!" Mendzel hissed in a furious whisper. "The Fallen, you idiot!" Mendzel's rich dark color faded as they blanched and huffed weakly as if the air had been knocked out of them, "Oh."

"Oh is right. What are you doing here, Team Good?" Both Castrail and Mendzel looked up into blazing crimson and faded crimson eyes.

"Hell." Mendzel cursed, Castrail too stunned to reprimand them.

12/205

[Mojave]

Some distance away and hidden by their own magic and the dense foliage, two pairs of green eyes watched the two groups discover each other. One of them, a pale youth with a halo floating behind their head fell over into silent paroxysms of mirth. The other, darker, was grinning. "You know, Beziel... I think we're in trouble." "I think you're right, Arcturas love. But I for one am not ready to go back. What do you say we make them work for it?" "Work for what?" "For catching us of course. Come, follow me!"

13/205

[Mojave]

Bezeil led Arcturas deeper into the woods, and they happily followed. They weren't ready to go back either; there was so much more life in this world than their home dimension. Not to mention an appealing lack of squabbling siblings and lots of tasty things to eat. Bezeil's company was an added bonus. The two had been friends before The Fall and despite their personal differences of opinion about things, hadn't stopped being friends. So they came here to relax, catch up, and play the occasional prank on the mortals.

14/205

[Mojave]

Before too long the two broke cover, emerging on the edge of a vast plain. The only thing they saw in the entire area before them was a lone building and neither examined it close enough to determine if it was occupied or vacant. "So what are we going to do?" Arcturas asked, grin still in place. "Have you ever wondered what happens when an angel and a demon mix their magic?" Bezeil asked sweetly, arms behind their back as they grinned mischievously.

15/205