Bear's Beauties: Existential Crisis 47 (Patreon)

[center]<<Nikhol Diomedes>>[/center]

I had done missions like this before, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed the waiting. It was easily the most boring thing I could think of, at least with cooking there was the excitement of setting something on fire and having to put it out. Fortunately, I had a rather fascinating diversion to keep me entertained while my enhanced doxies kept watch for me.

So many intriguing creatures on this planet, such a wealth of biodiversity to draw inspiration from. It was something that was rare to see, back in the Empire and even the Republic. Oh sure, there were countless different species to be found in the galaxy that made the ones on this planet look cuddly. But I couldn’t think of a single world that had as complete an understanding and record of their planet’s evolutionary history as this one.

I turned another page of the book I was reading. That holovid that Harley had put on last night was so fascinating, I was honestly impressed with the visuals and cinematography considering how primitive the technology behind it was. That was without considering the potential ideas that it could inspire in my studies of the Force and Alchemy specifically. I’d have to do something nice for her, as thanks for choosing that Jurassic Park movie.

It was because of that holovid that I was able to pick out my reading material for the evening. An encyclopedia specifically on these ‘dinosaurs’. It was fascinating to see how the understanding and study of them progressed over time, the ‘tyrannosaurus rex’ in particular. I would love to see a fight between one of those and a rancor, or just have one to enhance with Sith Alchemy. Malora would find some way to combine the two. If I could get some DNA samples, I might just make the attempt myself.

The doxies started to get slightly more animated, pulling my focus to the here and now. Reaching out with my senses, I easily sensed the presence of both the serpent, and the soul riding along inside it. Well, play time’s starting. Reaching out, I easily grabbed it with the Force and telekinetically brought it up into the air, floating it in front of me.

“Listen well, Thomas,” I purred, stepping up in front of the snake and looking it in the eye. Running a finger under the reptile’s chin, I continued, “In three days, at noon, you will find me waiting in Diagon Alley, on the steps of Gringotts. If you want your pet back, you will show up yourself. If you don’t, then I will use the fragment of your soul you put in this to hunt down the rest of your little trinkets. If you think I cannot, let me give you a… demonstration.”

Reaching out with the Dark Side, I began to squeeze on the patchwork soul riding in the snake, my own face almost certainly a rictus of pure Dark Side ecstasy. The Patchwork struggled to slip free, and after a moment I let it, tearing off a small fragment as I did so. Not enough to act as a Horcrux, nor enough to use in any Dark Side rituals, but enough to make him come to the conclusion that I was not bluffing about tracking down his other horcruxes. To ensure that he wasn’t able to go to the locations that his horcruxes were hidden, that would take a little bit of… creativity.

“Let’s see how much you can endure, shall we?” I cooed at the snake, eager to experiment on it.

I’d considered seeing how many enhancements it could take, removing the soul fragment, then keeping it when we left, but Lana pointed out that Hyacinth would probably be uncomfortable with it. That girl was lucky that she was so fun to tease.

There were a few office workers present when I departed, but none did more than stop and stare. I saw no need to bother with them, so I didn’t. I had much more entertaining prospects in my immediate future. The snake, Nagini Bear called it, was a bit disappointing. Oh the venom was useful, but there were only so many ways to have ‘mundane venom, but even more lethal’. Have your venom do something novel! Like the platypus! Or perhaps hallucinogenic, just do something interesting.

So my next three days were filled with using the soul-based connection between Riddle and his snake to funnel all of the pain and torment of Sith Alchemy from it to him. Since I didn’t need to worry about keeping it, I didn’t bother actually enhancing the snake. Instead, I slowly drained its life force to reinforce and improve a gift I was making for Cameron.

I hadn’t had much interactions with the assassin droid, but merely torturing the serpent would have been wasteful. True, I was better with the biological aspects of Sith Alchemy, but I’d made sure to study all aspects of the art while I was on Korriban. I’d procured a delightful knife and used the life force to improve its strength, durability, and give it a monomolecular edge. Then I’d removed the venom sacks, painfully, and used the Force to incorporate them into the structure of the knife itself.

The last part I needed Cameron present for. By this point, the knife itself had its own Force signature, and in order to properly tie it to Cameron she had to be present. It was a relatively quick process, and the serpent was just barely alive enough to continue serving as bait.

“Well, what do you think of it?” I asked Cameron as I finished the enhancements on the knife.

She took a moment to examine the knife, before sliding it into the sheathe I’d similarly enhanced and saying, “Thank you. I will put it to good use against those that would threaten our Family.”

“That’s why I made it. In addition to enhancing the physical qualities and capabilities, it has been laced with an extremely lethal toxin, returning to you should it be lost, and it will be able to penetrate most armors that I am familiar with outside of alchemically enhanced armor and mandalorian beskar. I believe that Bear will enjoy the design as well,” I said, thinking back to those comedic movies that Bear seemed to love.

The ones featuring the burned demon with the dream powers reminded me of the Empire’s Wrath, back home. She favored psychological warfare just as much as Freddie did; Force, if she were so inclined she’d probably be as good a psychiatrist as Harley. The ones featuring the killer in black with the white mask were Bear’s favorites. I had only heard the basic plot, but I was intrigued by the Final Destination holovids. Far too many Sith would do well to accept the vids’ message: sooner or later death comes for everyone. What I’d done to Valkorion proved that.

[center]<<Bear Sandosen>>[/center]

“Hyacinth?” I called gently, the girl’s head lifting from the book she’d been staring blankly at. “It’s time, we’re heading out.”

“Oh, right,” she muttered, closing the book. She was about to get up when I put a hand on her shoulder. “What?”

“Hyacinth, regardless of what the prophecy says, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Tell us to go and end Riddle, and we will do so in your name, by your hand,” I told her. Gazing into her emerald green eyes, I couldn’t help but note that when we arrived, I never expected to find myself caring so much for her. Not just because she’s carrying my child, but, as corny as it sounds even in my head, because she’s her. She’s Hyacinth. Pushing that aside, I continued, “Whether or not you decide to come, or stay here, you shouldn’t have to lose another set of parental figures. So Arthur and Molly will be staying here.”

Hyacinth threw herself at me, wrapping me in a hug that I returned, holding her close and whispering soothing noises in her ear. I don’t know how long we stood there, before she stiffened and said, “Padfoot, I…”

“Relax, Pup,” Sirius said from behind me. Hyacinth and I broke the hug and I turned around to face him. “I’m better at being the crazy uncle than the stern father. I honestly prefer it that way. In any case, I’ve already talked to Bear and the rest of them. I'll be coming with you when you leave this world and move on to the next. In any case, whether you go or stay, I’ll be right there at your side.”

“That’s a good boy, want a treat?” Lisa chimed in from behind Sirius, prompting a raised middle finger from the man in her direction. “Anyway, it’s time to go. Will you be joining us?”

Hyacinth’s eyes danced back and forth, her mind clearly working as she tried to put her feelings to words. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, “I… I need to see it. He took so much, from me, from everyone. I have to see him die. And, with the extra strength from the ritual, I can really help.”

“With me, in the back,” Taylor said as she walked in, her voice firm. “That’s the only way you’re going, Hyacinth. You have someone else to think about now.”

Taylor’s words were accompanied by a very pointed nod towards Hyacinth’s abdomen. Hyacinth opened her mouth, before pausing. Her hand drifted to her stomach, and she gave a reluctant nod. Patting her on the shoulder, I told Hyacinth as she turned to look at me, “Go see the rest of the Coven. Hermione’s going to be staying, helping brew potions, while Luna and Rhonda are both coming.”

Hyacinth nodded, taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders before walking out of the room. I shared a glance with Sirius and Lisa, the latter of whom gestured for me to follow Hyacinth. Nodding, I did so, keeping a decent distance from her as she made her way through Grimmauld Place. Hermione was, as expected, in the kitchen which had been converted to a mini potions lab, brewing from three cauldrons at once. Well, she wasn’t brewing at the moment. Instead she had her arms wrapped around Hyacinth, Rhonda, and Luna in a group hug that they returned with equal enthusiasm.

I stood there, in the doorway, watching as they spoke to each other. They weren’t talking loud enough for me to hear, not that I tried very hard to listen in. But even with that, I heard the bushy haired bookworm tell them, “Don’t any of you dare die on me.”

Her eyes turned up towards me and she said, “That goes for you too, Bear. You’re not allowed to die, you have a Family to come back to.”

I gave a wry smile, making my way over and joining the group hug, “I promise. We’ll all come back, safe and sound.”

I felt Hermione nod into my shoulder, before pulling back and taking a deep breath to compose herself. Giving a smile, she looked at us and said, “Good luck.”

She was still scared, but I could tell that she was pushing that aside to focus. I lean over and kiss her on the forehead. The way she immediately blushed was cute, and I tell her, “We’ll be fine. We have a plan, and in case it goes sideways, Nikhol and Lana will be there to take care of matters. Absolute worst case scenario, we’ll all be wearing portkeys.”

“That does make me feel better,” Hermione admitted.

Cameron entered the kitchen, dressed for combat, a new knife strapped to the outside of her thigh. “It’s time,” she said, making me nod.

“See you when we get back,” I told Hermione as the rest of the coven and I joined the enhanced terminator. Glancing down at her knife, I furrowed my eyebrows as I couldn’t help but think it looked familiar. Wait a second… “Is that the knife from the Scream movies?”

“I believe it was originally modeled after it,” Cameron answered. “Nikhol has used Alchemy to enhance it. Before we depart, this is for you, Rhonda.”

Cameron paused as we passed by the entrance hall and picked up a long, cloth wrapped bundle before handing it to the tall ginger. She removed the cloth wrapping, to reveal a sword with rubies in the hilt and pommel, making Hyacinth gasp in surprise. Ah, given Rhonda’s focus on physical enhancement, giving her the Sword of Gryffindor makes more sense than giving it to Hyacinth.

With that taken care of, we placed our hands on the portkey that’d been prepared, and were whisked away. Soon, we’d be solving the problem of Riddle, for good.