World Refugees Final Mix

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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When the ground beneath her ceased to be solid, Maleficent did not even blink. Her feet remained exactly where they had been, as if the water were as solid as a marble floor. Using the dark staff she held in her hand, she swept it, wreathed in green flame, in a broad arc, trying to clear the area nearest her.

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Song tried not to be too distracted by Ren's scream. She'd be alright... Hopefully this dream's malleability would be close to that of the White City and they could heal themselves. There could be a chance that Maleficent would be able to restrict a good deal of the control to herself, but Song really didn't know and hoped that the fairy wouldn't think to try. Or had already tried and failed.

Though the water had no effect on Maleficent herself, it seemed to be impeding her fire, so Songbird did as Aya asked and called up more of it, this time in a geyser directly beneath Maleficent. Perhaps if the water surrounded her and Aya turned it to ice, they could trap her, if only for a moment.

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Song must have been psychic at that moment for that was exactly what Aya tried to do.

Slamming the Spine down in front of her, where it embeds itself in the water, ice began to spread forth from the weapon. It infested the water quickly and absolutely as Aya made sharp gestures with her hands. No words passed her lips and her eyes were narrowed in concentration.

Great claw-like spines erupted from the frozen water all around Maleficent, curving inward and lacing together like the teeth of a Venus flytrap closing upon an insect.

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Ren bit her lip as she watched Song and Aya's attack close in. It was amazing to behold--and she had been too weak to help create it. An ugly mix of jealousy and inadequacy bubbled up within her until reason started screaming for her to ignore it, push it aside until after the battle. Let it go unchecked, and she'd be giving Maleficent another weapon against them. "I'm a little more than useless," Ren half-sang to herself under her breath as she stepped forward. She had to hold onto that thought now if she wanted to help.

Since Maleficent had already shown distaste for it, she thought of cold iron, mentally shaping it into a latticed fence surrounding the icy cage to further contain her. It glinted a little in the light they still had, protected from corrosion by Ren's will.

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Maleficent seemed unaffected by the ice, moving through it as if it or she were only mist. But when Ren's cold iron appeared around her, her face grew less calm, and her already white face grew even paler.

She hesitated, her face weaker than it had been, but then rose up and through the ice, moving above the circular confines of the iron fence to float in the air high above. This put her closest to Songbird, though her attention seemed less on the dreamer and more on Ren, who had summoned the cold iron.

Maleficent made a grandiose gesture, and thorny black vines began to grow out of the earth, attempting to wrap themselves around Ren.

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