World Refugees Final Mix

"They do not seem to respect your compromise," Maleficent said to Song with an exaggerated sigh. "What now?"

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Song bit her tongue to keep from protesting. They were right, of course. She couldn't tell them that she didn't really give a damn what Maleficent did, just so long as the Refugees and their allies weren't harmed. This universe meant a lot more to Aya and Ren than it did to her, but saying so wouldn't do any good. It would only divide them when they needed to work together.
This was why she'd brought them, really. Not to protect her in a fight, for she was an expert warrior when wielding dreams as weapons. No, they were here to keep her in check, and they were playing their roles well.

"Well... we could either work on those terms until we're all satisfied, which may be never, or the three of us can try to seal you again. Shall we have a vote?"

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"Vote." Aya folded her arms. Sure, her choice was probably going to be pretty obvious. "On that note, though, I'll be right back."

Floating into the air once more, Aya took off into the sky with a violent wind and burst of blue light. A thought had occurred to her: there was still one more player in this little game, one that was not present and was the most important factor. If Maleficent had her own presence in this mind-a mental manifestation, a term she had came up with a few years ago for the purposes of some Psychonauts-themed RP, then it only followed that somewhere around here there was a Margaret as well.

If anyone deserved a vote on what was going to happen here it was her. So Aya searched, seeking out that realization of self with her imagined supersonic speed.

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Ren watched Aya zoom off and slowly exhaled. "Well, while we're all waiting," she said, turning back toward Song and Maleficent with an exaggeratedly bright smile, "we could, I dunno, pass the time with some pleasant conversation? Just putting a pause on the negotiations, you know?" Well, she had to say something to fill in the silence, even if said something was halfway deranged, given the circumstances. "Or we could just... wait quietly..." Ren added, wilting a bit. "That works, too."

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Maleficent sat down on a throne-like chair that had appeared behind her. "Very well. Pleasant conversation. Can you tell me what has become of Pete and Diablo in the months since Xemnas' fall?"

***

The forest branches extended far higher than they should, though they did eventually end. From above it appears that the forest extended far into the distance, endless almost to the horizon. The black mist that surrounded it fluttered and moved almost as if it were alive.

The treetops were not uniform. Some distance among the tree tops appeared to give way to enough brambles with thorns as long as knives.

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Song turned her head briefly towards the direction Aya had zipped off to, wondering what in all the worlds she was doing. Song, too, had been considering trying to bring Margaret into this at some point, but it didn't occur to her that Aya had the same thing in mind.

Oh well. Back to the matter at hand. Pleasant conversation? Suurrre....
"I wouldn't know... They're both still alive. Diablo, at least, is as creepy as ever. Hmm. Are you aware of everything that Margaret does?"

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Aya stared out over the forest, and wondered if they had been too late to stop Maleficent's encroachment. Shoving those thoughts aside and recalling the fairytale that Maleficent had spawned from, she flew to the thorny area.

Nearly two years ago when the world had ended in darkness, Aya was thrown from a crumbling Earth smack into Aurora's castle. It was deserted and the princess had long since been taken by Maleficent. Alone, she was forced to crawl her way through the thorns that had been left behind by the dark fairy. That was, in fact, where she had gotten most of her scars from. Maybe Maleficent knew that, maybe the witch saw her and laughed during those early days when Aya was fraught with madness.

Aya doubted it. Maleficent had more important things to do back then. She didn't fear the darkness of the thorn thickets anymore and without hesitation, dived inside. "MARAGRET! MARGARET, WHERE ARE YOU?"

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Ren leaned casually--or at least gave off some facade of being casual--against her walking stick and clucked her tongue in thought. "I'm afraid I haven't heard from either of them. But I imagine Diablo has missed you very much." And if Pete knew what was good for him, he'd stay away... but it really wouldn't be wise to say that out loud.

She tilted her head a bit, waiting for Maleficent's reply to Song's question.

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"Much of it, though not all. Just as my past actions are shadowy to her, so are many of hers to me." Maleficent pulled a cup of wine out of thin air and took a sip from it.

***

There was no response to Aya's call, though the thorns were as fierce as ever they had been in the past, for all that they were only dreams. At the center of them could be seen the same familiar castle . . . and now a faint hint of music could be heard in the air, faint and distant.

Yet in that castle was no Princess Aurora. It was Margaret who slept within, in a sleep so deep there were no dreams.

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Song just nodded. It was about what she'd expected.
And... casual conversation was proving rather tricky, given the circumstances.

"So... out of curiosity, why are you so averse to becoming who you used to be? I mean, I know you wouldn't have as much power if you stopped using Darkness, but is it really that fun being evil? Most people don't actually rejoice in the fact, or even admit it."

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Only dreams and unlike their real counterparts, Aya could concentrate and imagine herself an ethereal form to pass through the deadly plants.

Aya located a convenient window to break through and took stock of the situation quickly enough. She frowned mightily and made a mental note of where to find her again before just as rapidly leaving. To save time, she does not fly, already knowing where the others were. No, that would be a quick slip in between and in a blink, Aya was standing with the other two refugees.

"Seems that Margaret can't come to the phone right now." She scowled. "Already locked away and unable to vote on the matter. And you know what?" There was a violent motion, a shaking of Aya's hand and an approximation of the Spine slide into her fingers. This one looked different-more bone-like and intertwined with veins. Set in the hilt looked like an actual pulsing, beating heart. "I think we should cut to the chase and do what needs to be done."

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Well fine, if Maleficent wanted to show off, then Ren would just have a drink as well and...

...Promptly drop her Virgin Mary and yelp as Aya suddenly reappeared out of thin air. "Don't do that!"

She looked at the Spine in Aya's hand and gulped, feeling a little queasy at its new look. "N-Now calm down a second and let's try for one last chance at reason before we start hacking at each other! Do we even know what a fight here will do to Margaret?" She wasn't sure if Aya would listen to her at this point, but she still had to try, even if things were swiftly going to hell in a handbasket.

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"It is more enjoyable than you can possibly imagine," Maleficent was telling Song smugly when Aya reappeared. "You misunderstand. Margaret does not sleep out of any maliciousness on my part. If I understand correctly, you came here out of a desire to be with me, correct? Well, my dear, you should know that two things cannot occupy the same place at the same time. If it is Margaret you wish to speak with, you may certainly have her. You have but to say the word."

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So much for casual conversation. It didn't sound like there was much chance of achieving anything with it, anyway.

Song glanced at her two companions, trying to communicate her thoughts. Eh, but what did it matter? Nothing was likely to surprise Maleficent now.

"There's no point in us seeing Margaret now if it means you won't be here. We came to either make a compromise with you, or get rid of you. Since the former doesn't seem to be an option..." Her hands poised in a grasping gesture and the familiar winged staff materialized between them.

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"Ahhh, I see now. So it's one or the other with no form of middle ground." Probably for the best-a blending of the two would produce a completely different person and that would entail both parties giving up their identity to be. "Well, looks like it's back to the dark reaches of the unconscious mind for you."

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Ren cringed and reluctantly materialized her own staff, which now resembled a low-key version of the one she'd used during the Dreaming. "If you have any other solutions, now would be a really good time to share them," she said, offering Maleficent one last chance to resolve this peacefully.

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"Ah, yes, this is after all what 'heroes' are for . . . to 'get rid' of anything that doesn't fit in with your idea of how the worlds are going to be. Very well. Songbird, I am sorry than your friends are not as willing to compromise as you are, but it appears that we are going to play a different game now." With these words Maleficent lifted her arms, calling down the green fire which suffused her body, wrapping her in its embrace. She laughed her haunting hollow laugh. "I must confess . . . long have I desired to dance with the scarred warrior."

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Songbird held her ground, staff raised before her, watching that the fire didn't come too close. Of course, she didn't really know if she'd be using the staff as a weapon for long. She had another plan, but while it wouldn't be hard to guess for those who knew her, she wanted it to happen suddenly and unexpectedly, not simply at the start of the battle.

So she waited, and she did not let the sting of Maleficent's words show.

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"I really hate it when people go put words in my mouth." Aya sighed, "But I guess it's just inevitable." When one doesn't share their opinion too often and must be judged by their actions at least.

A grin slid across her face, shoulders hunching just slightly and grip tightening on the strange variation of her trademark weapon. "Dance.." she said the word as if tasting it, unbothered by the green fire, "Nothing left for me to do but dance." Her stance shifted subtly, "All these bad times I'm going through, just dance."

No more waiting. No more posturing. She didn't even warn the others as she exploded into movement, violent, like a wild animal leaping onto its prey. Her strike didn't come from the spine, but from her foot of all things, swung in a roundhouse kick as she pivoted her body. Fire of her own followed the foot, colored a bright, furious red, sharply contrasting with Maleficent's own. "Got canned heat in my heels tonight!"

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And something inside of Ren just snapped a little. "Okay, you know what?" she asked, losing the polite edge to her words. "Screw you, Maleficent. We tried to be peaceful and diplomatic. Sure, things have gotten off on the wrong foot, but please," she said, making sure the word dripped sarcasm this time, "remind me of how you tried to help reach a peaceful solution that didn't involve offering a rigged deal. Now, I still don't want to fight you, but if you insist..."

And then Aya was taking the initiative and jumping into the fray. Ren looked at Song, shrugging a little and silently asking how best to support her.

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Maleficent's green fire flared brighter and she was pushed back by Aya's kick, though the red fire did not seem to burn her. She caught her balance and sent a fan of the green fire out from her hands in the direction of the three women. Using this brief attack as cover, she moved backward away from them deeper in the darkening mist.

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Song shrugged right back at Ren. She really couldn't say how this fight would go, given the versatile setting, and she wasn't used to fighting in coordination with others anyway. They'd just have to wing it.

And speaking of wings, Song leaped into the air as Maleficent's flames rushed towards her, and she did not come back down. Rather, she floated some distant above on a pair of white wings. Her hand reached out and gestured as if pulling something upward, and the ground behind Maleficent gave way to a rush of water, as if an underground river had burst through. A little water wouldn't do much damage, but perhaps being doused in a wave of it would disorient the fae for a moment, or at least extinguish her fire, as was Song's intention.

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Aya didn't even attempt to dodge the fire, 'tanking' it as she would say in her own words. Visibly, it had its effects as her skin bubbled and peeled, but Aya didn't show any pain for it.

As water bubbled forth in Maleficent (and thus her) direction, the liquid that came at her rapidly crystallized into cloudy ice. From there it quickly came under her sway and was spread to either side of her. "Song, good, try to get in front of her too!"

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Ren gritted her teeth and tried to fend off the flames through force of will, but her attention was still divided between the fight and trying to come up with some desperate way to resolve this peacefully. A tongue of flame lashed out at her arm, burning through her jacket's sleeve and leaving her with an ugly burn as she screamed and stumbled back.

"Mind over matter," she gasped to herself, trying to break through the pain and get back into the fight. She still had her potions in the dream, everything would be fine... "That's all it is, just mind over matter..."

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