Destiny

[ lulu antariksa, female, she/her ] whatever you think you know about DESTINY VEGA, the 23 year old, PANSEXUAL NEWCOMER, it is likely time for you to start reconsidering. the rumored ENHANCED HUMAN is often described as SASSY + CREATIVE, but don’t let them fool you; they can also be SARCASTIC  + REBELLIOUS, which often has them regarded as the CONCEALED. they are a FREELANCE ARTIST, but it’s also said they are a MEMBER within SPEAR INC. whatever you hear, you can’t deny there’s more to them that meets the eye, and it’s time we start uncovering the truth.

“Oh.. well, that makes sense then. Sorry, I just moved here a few days back. Still trying to get a feel for how things usually are around here.” Aurelio explained lightly. As the woman questioned him about his pain killers, he gave a soft chuckling and nodded some. “Have at them. They’re just simple headache meds, but they work in a pinch.” He explained. Or at least, they worked until the angels decided to continue bothering him over and over again. They seemed to have quieted down for the moment, at least, so he had a few minutes to recover from the migraine-inducing noises rattling around his skull. “I’m Leo, by the way. Leo Verratti.” He introduced himself. “If you’re going to be taking pills from a stranger, may as well know my name.” He joked.

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She grabbed at two of the pills as quickly as she could, swigging her cold coffee with a grimace to wash them down. Anything to stop the noise in her head. She was sure that if she started to listen to them that maybe they’d settle down, but she had no interest in listening to anything non-human. She wasn’t their pawn, or anyone’s.

“That’s fair, I guess. My name’s Destiny. Fellow migraine sufferer. Maybe with some good old PTSD thrown in these days” On account of being kidnapped and held in the mountains by literal demons, she thought. She forced a fake smile, one that quickly fell, and she took another swig of her drink, and groaned. “I definitely need another coffee. This is just caffeine mush right now.”

The Vega family was one he knew rather well, more so since Destiny’s father fell at the mines. Leo took it as a personal mission to ensure the teenager, her little brother and mother were alright. His job was to keep those within Spear safe and with those seven he had failed. It wasn’t much of a bother to ensure the family was well, he didn’t have one of his own to tend to which made it all the more simple. 

The Spear compound was heavily secured, more so than usual and with the terrible snow storm the town was just hit with it was no surprise to many that they pumped up their numbers. Even taking in more of the locals to their cause since the news of Spear rescuing the missing in the last few days spreading. Hearing his men stopping someone, he knew who it was by the hoodie and bag and nodded his head to his men to let her pass. 

He remained silent as she explained her showing up rather than resting at home and he gives a nod of his head before gesturing her to follow him. “I could throw a stern ‘told you so’ your way, if it will make you feel better.” He answers as they make their way through the compound, stopping at the entrance for him to scan his badge. “They don’t say ‘seeing is believing’ for nothing kid. We could play Spear propaganda nonstop for weeks and it doesn’t mean shit compared to seeing things firsthand.” He glances her way as they walk through the halls of the security wing, “And I wouldn’t think much of you for just blindly repeating back what you hear.”

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She followed silently, her head a little down as Leo spoke to her. She felt like a different person since being taken. More closed off, more quick to anger, less comfortable with trusting those around her, not knowing who or what they could be. “Still, I was raised on Spear propaganda and it didn’t mean shit, so I’m not exactly the best poster child. Maybe if I had been, I wouldn’t have been taken...” She trailed off, looking down. She’d just wanted to find her brother. She was just thankful that after all was said and done, he was safe.

As they got to his office in the security wing, there was some hesitation in her about opening up about things. She’d had weeks locked away to try and piece the truth together, and still none of it made sense. “... I remember speaking to someone. At Halloween. Not that I remember speaking to them, I don’t remember shit from that night but just... words. He called me sister... said I was enhanced.” She held her bag closed to herself, still hesitant to open it. “He died that night so I couldn’t ask him what he meant, or if he even did say it and my brain didn’t just make it up. And I just... constantly feel like my head is full of static, and it hurts all the time. And I don’t know if it’s angelic or demonic or if I’m just going crazy but I just want it to stop, I just want to be normal, I never asked for any of this.”

What was such a small and normal seeming coffee shop doing so busy at that hour of the day? As Leo waited in line to place his order for a simple spiced drink and apple fritter, he occasionally was forced to grit his teeth and bite back the urge to wince from the jolts of pain that coursed through his head - pain accompanied by varying intensities of ringing sensations.

Managing to get his order, he scanned around for an available seat; eventually having to settle for making a request to sit at someone else’s table. That was when he heard the woman speak up as he approached and offered her a small smile. “Thanks. It’s… really busy in here.” He remarked as he slid into the seat and dug around his pockets for a moment. Eventually, he produced a small pill bottle and dumped out a few of the pain killers - downing them with a swig of his spiced drink and sighing. “Damn headaches, you know?” He stated casually, shaking his head and pocketing the bottle once more. Seriously, what the hell do they want now? I already moved to this place like they wanted me to. He couldn’t help but think to himself.

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“It’s just after the new baked stuff came out of the oven... People want their food hot and fresh, I guess.” She said, shrugging and sipping on her cold cup of coffee at this point. She grimaced at it a little, torn between risking losing her seat if she got up to get another, or just suffering. Suffering probably was the better option.

She watched as the other tipped some pills out, and she wrinkled her nose, nodding. Her migraines were still there, though she tried to block them out as much as possible, not wanting anything to do with them, if they were caused by what a freak she was. “Got any spares? My heads hurting a bit too. Not to the ‘I’m gonna pass out if the pain doesn’t stop’ stage, but still.”

Destiny stared at the sword on her bed, her head buzzing. Not as much as it did with the migraines but since the snow storm, then her kidnap, they were the least of her problems these days.

Picking it up and hiding it in the bottom of her duffel bag, she threw her hoody on and headed out the door, heading towards the compound. As security approached her she sighed, raising her eyebrow. "I'm not sneaking around, you know me. I just came to see Leo, he said he might be free now?"

She stood and waited until she saw the man, hugging herself awkwardly. "Mom wanted me to come talk to someone, said I'm not coping with trauma or... something." She shrugged, pulling her bag closer to herself. “I’ve been a total bitch about Spear’s beliefs for the past few years, just so you know. So I don’t really deserve the sympathy. Maybe a firm ‘I told you so’ at least.”

Destiny stared into her coffee cup, the drink having been sitting there for.... who knows how long at this point? Ever since being rescued from the mountain by Spear she’d been.... numb. Her mother put it down to the trauma, telling her she should talk to a professional, but she refused. It wasn’t as though they could understand what she’d seen. The words she shared with Lilith, the things she’d found out about herself the night of the storm... none of that could be taken back. She was jumping at everything around her these days now she was finally forced to see the truth.

She’d taken to wearing her dad’s old work jacket, a Spear Inc logo on the sleeve the only thing to identify it as such, but she wore it like a warning, an armour to protect her from angels and demons alike. She needed to get back to Spear. Needed them to protect her, even if it meant a lot of grovelling at always calling them crazy for their beliefs.

Seeing someone approaching her table, she shrugged, muttering. “You can take the other chair, whatever. I wasn’t expecting anyone.” 

“The faye aren’t so easily killed, yet oddly enough they dwindle in number these days.” They were once arrogant and it seemed they paid for that arrogance over the centuries, something that she might be able to use to gain some favor with them, the dark would be easier to talk into it. 

Laughing at the spunk of the girl Lilith manifested a chair for each of them, “I always find it amusing when strong women are called ‘bitch’. I have been called much worse through the years but make no mistake I am the OG Bitch.” She assures the other as she takes her seat in the chair behind her. “However I am not sacrificing you for some mountain god. I am releasing the true God, the Morningstar. Believe it or do not but I am the lesser evil in this town. A truth you might not see till its too late.” She shakes her head at the girl when the notion of things being unfair, “Fair? I wonder what your basis for comparison is. Your life has been planned for you, to die fighting for a cause that you didn’t even know existed with no reward at the end. I am giving you the chance to change that.”

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Destiny stumbled back into the chair that appeared behind her, for once her headache less severe, as though the dread of accepting so much of what she’d been denying for her whole life released some of the pressure. Now she just felt sick and terrified. 

“You kidnap and you kill, I don’t see a lesser evil, all I see is evil.” She said, shaking but still she tried to lift her chin, to look more confident than she felt. “The miners that were killed. My father. Was that all for this God of yours?” 

She looked away as she spoke of Destiny herself, of fighting for a cause. Little of what Mike had said to her in the storm made sense, and she hadn’t even been able to begin processing any of it. “No one planned my life but me. I’m not interested in any bargains or deals you have to offer. I just want to be with my mother and my brother.” She wanted to be with her family, her community, with people she could trust. It hadn’t always felt like Spear could be trusted, but the more she saw, the more she feared trusting anyone but them.

Lilith glanced at the little girl on the ground screaming for the faye and she walked over to the girl with a curious tilt of her head. She could smell the angelic nature of the girl, hidden under the veil of human. “Didn’t do anything? I think running and attacking a Queen is crime enough. Though if its their life you fear for, you have little reason to. Some ice shards through the body will hardly phase.” After all it wasn’t death she was looking for, at least not right this moment, it had to be done the correct way. “Perhaps if they remained where put they wouldn’t have to experience the pain. A lesson you get to learn by their mistakes.”

She tilted her head as the other asked what she wanted. “Do you care to actually know?”

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Destiny resisted the urge to scoff at the ‘queen’ comment, still staring at the unconscious person, speechless as she watched their chest still moving, still breathing. A cold dread washed over her at the veiled threat, still she took slow steps backwards into the cavern. 

“If a crazy bitch is gonna sacrifice me to some mountain god then yeah, I want to know why.” She said, swallowing once she realised she’d said it outloud. She just had to hope that Mike had seen her be taken. That he knew where she was. He was helping her find her brother, so at the very least she hoped he was safe. Her mom couldn’t be left all alone. “We just want to go home, this isn’t fair.”

Walking up the mountain was no difficult feat for the demon, even without any shoes against the harsh icy snow. While the freezing temperatures made her pale white feet turn bright pink she didn’t feel it. The opening to the cavern was a path she had taken many times, more so during the first few decades of Lucifer’s imprisonment. Startled by the sudden appearance of one of the prisoners escaping out the cavern she raised a sharp brow at them. “Killed one of my children have you?” She could only imagine that one of the wraths must have been fallen to allow this escape, she’d have to get one of her more skilled to watch these ones. 

The faye in front of her however had little words for her, something she could thankful for since they had been known for their long winded speeches in the past. Seems the fact their numbers have dropped so drastically took that quality out of them. The vines that wrapped around her wrists and ankles however only made the demon queen let out an annoyed sigh, “Vines? In the middle of this icy environment?” She tsks at the faye before twisting her arms and grabbing hold of the vines that wrapped around both wrists. Spreading an icy chill from her own hands it spread up the vines cracking them to pieces, with a blast of telekinetic energy she sends the shards into the faye, impaling them. While it didn’t and wouldn’t kill the faye it did bring them down. Wraths finally leaving the cavern get blasted with Lilith icy glare, “Get this back inside, you’ll be set on racks for this let down. Torn apart and put back together till pain is nothing to you.” 

@risingpeaksreblogs​

Destiny’s teeth chattered as she lay on the cavern ground, trying to take deep breaths to ground herself because... she couldn’t process this. Any of it. One minute she was heading out into the snow to find her brother, the next she saw... things in the forest, and whatever came after that.... it was a blur. She couldn’t even be sure how she’d ended up here.

When someone nearby grabbed her arm and told her to follow them, she just nodded, just wanting to get home, to her bed, and to her family. 

Only as they were caught making their escape, Destiny felt nausea overwhelm her at the vines coming from the other, and as the person was then stabbed with those very vines, she let out an involuntary scream, quickly covering her mouth. She felt the things move past her, paralysed in fear as the woman looked in her direction.

“…” Marshall watched her as Destiny snapped at him, eyes narrowing slightly—especially when she compared him to Spear. So, she was unaware… Which sucked because Marshall couldn’t be the one to bring her into that world. “Did he have a sword in this dream?” Marshall questioned. “A powder substance he threw around?” 

“Understandable.” However, becoming a deputy made him able to accept a statement of pain and still not budge from an investigation—something he was sure the Light Faye royals were thankful for. “Do you remember him having any weapons though…? In this dream.”

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Destiny rolled her eyes, pressing her face into her hands as she let out a long sigh. She didn’t used to be like this, so angry and disillusioned at the world.  She could be sassy and a rebel, but never bitter and overwhelmed like she was now.  She wasn’t even in control of herself half the time, plagued with migraines and nightmares that she couldn’t explain thanks to the stress. It’d started with their move here, and Spear be damned, once this was over if her mom refused to move them away, then she was going to follow through with her plan to just pick up her things and go. 

“He had a sword in the dream. Are you happy now?” She said, looking up at him with an exhaustion in her eyes, entertaining his notion that one of her many nightmares could mean something. 

Despite Destiny’s outburst, Mike remained composed. He didn’t take her yelling to heart, recognizing the brunette’s anger was a direct result of her worry. It was a familiar reaction, as well as one he could sympathize with. “I understand,” he offered calmly. “Still, to find your brother we must exhaust every resource we have at our disposal. Making sure he isn’t a patient or that no one helped him get a room narrows down where exactly we can look for him.”

Thankfully, convincing Destiny didn’t take very long, the brunette giving Mike a picture of her brother and taking his advice to speak to the volunteers. The archangel nodded, agreeing with her plan. “I’ll be right back.” The archangel walked away from the view, heading in the direction of the security office but not intending to stop there. Looking through the cameras would simply take too long. As well as it’d be far too difficult since almost the whole town was already in the medical center. Instead, Mike reached out to one of the local witches, asking them to use a location spell to find the boy…

In less than twenty minutes, Mike was back at the emergency area, walking over to Destiny. “Miss Vega…” He offered the cell phone back, his brow furrowed as he met her gaze. “I’m sorry, your brother never made it here.” Mike placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep Destiny grounded. “But security reached out to Town Hall through the emergency line and it seems he was taken there instead, as many others were. I’m heading out now, I’ll pass by there and bring him here once I come back.”

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Destiny headed over to the check-in desk, begging the volunteer standing there to look over their lists, to find her brother somewhere. She looked down at her phone every now and again to make sure her mom hadn’t found him, but she hadn’t had any luck either. Seeing Mike coming back over, she rushed over to him, ready to hear what he’d found out.

She put a hand to her chest, realising her heart was beating so fast it could power the generators of the hospital, her shoulders slumped with relief to hear he’d been found, albeit not with them. She texted her mom to let her know, before she shook her head, moving towards the exit. She’d left her backpack with her mom, but the long bag that contained Bosa’s sword was still on her back, not risking losing it, not with Marshall around. 

Hearing her family was on the way and probably with more of Spear’s people, the Light Faye had to wonder what their thoughts were. They’d been fighting the locals in court, but they seemed rather quiet since Halloween Night… Or maybe Marshall had been too busy to notice what was happening? “I’m glad,” Marshall said when Destiny assured she had everything under control.

Following after her, he looked around to scan the surrounding faces. “I know… I’ll be honest, I still have questions about that night. Anything you could tell me about Bosa… anything you remember. Evidence has come up that makes us think he carried a lot of bizarre weapons with him. Last person who had contact with him before he died was you.”  

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Hearing about the name Bosa again caught onto Destiny’s last nerve, and she swung around, staring at him. “I told you I didn’t have contact with him! I saw him in a dream, in something that wasn’t real! You’re sounding as crazy as Spear, believing all this crap!” She snapped, realising she shouldn’t be mouthing off to an officer of the law, but she was tired of talking about him, tired of the things that Fish and Arynn were desperate to believe in. Magic wasn’t real. Angels and demons weren’t real.

She held her head as she felt another headache coming on.

“I just... Want my family. And then I want this snow storm to pass so I can go home and try and convince my mom to move away from this mess of a town...” She muttered, irritable. 

Mike looked down when the young brunette bumped into him, recognizing her as the daughter of one of the miners that had fallen victim to the demons’ schemes. They had met on the night of Halloween, the archangel intending to keep an eye on her after he heard she was questioned on more than one occasion about having been the last person to see Bosa alive. He never got confirmation as to what exactly the Sheriff’s Department was after though, his focus forced to change once the demonic activity in Creation Peaks began to rise.

“It’s alright,” he assured her. “No harm done.” Brown eyes inspected the young woman for a moment. “Miss Vega, correct? If you can’t locate your brother, you can call the operator of the center and ask them to check the patient list. Volunteers have also been taking the names of everyone who was assigned a temporary room. You can ask them at the front desk if your brother signed in at any time.”

Mike could have left it at that. Considering what was at stake, he should have. But simply walking away didn’t sit right with him. The boy could have been out in the storm…And that meant they needed to find him. Quickly. “Do you have a photo of him? I have a friend in the security department. I can ask her to look through the cameras and see if your brother is somewhere around here.”

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“He’s twelve! He wouldn’t have known how to do any of that!” She yelled, tearful, not angry at him, more angry at herself. She should’ve checked, she should’ve just taken him with her from the start. She paced back and forth in front of Mike, definitely freaking out more than a little. 

“I... Yeah. Hold on....” She muttered, stopping her pacing to pull out her phone, scrolling through until she found a photo of him from Christmas. “... His names Alfredo. My mom can’t lose him too...” After handing him the phone she continued to pace, refusing to let herself cry. “I’ll... I’ll check with the volunteers. I’ll be over at the front desk if you find anything...”

Out of everyone, he hadn’t expected Destiny to show up. However, seeing her there made him wonder what Spear Inc was up to now and how many had taken shelter there with the rest of them… “Coming right up.” Putting three blankets in a warmer, he waited two minutes before tapping someone else on the shoulder and whispering something in their ear. After setting one of the blankets on the counter for Destiny, he smiled. “Hold up.”

Exiting and meeting her on the other side with the other two, Marshall offered a friendly smile. “I’ll help,” he said, beginning to walk. “Behind you,” he warned as the other person tried asking for their blankets. “I’m glad you’re here, and hopefully your mom and brother are here too but you just haven’t seen them yet. There’s going to be a team of people documenting who and where people are here so that we can help families reconnect if they haven’t been able to find one another,” Marshall shared. “Did you already ask for a room? I could help with that.” Anything to get some questions in, really.

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She reached for the blanket, about to grab the others before he ran around to the exit, and she inwardly groaned, pressing her face into the warmed blanket in frustration (though the warmth was nice as well).

“My mom was just grabbing the last of what she needs. I’ve grabbed us a room with a few people my dad knew, it’s fine. I’ve got everything managed.” She muttered, a few steps ahead of him. If she wasn’t holding the blanket, she’d have reached around to hold onto her stolen item, even though it wasn’t like he had xray vision to see what was inside of it. “You really didn’t have to help me, you know. It was a blanket, it wasn’t a ten ton weight.”

Destiny paced the hospital lobby, waiting to see where her mom and brother were. When she saw her mother she ran over to her, asking where her brother was and... confusion. And terror, all in one.

“What do you mean he came with me?! He was coming with you!” She snapped, staring at her mother, tears in her eyes. The twelve year old was curious, sure, but how this had happened, she didn’t want to know. She stared, wide-eyed as her mother explained how just after her daughter had said she was leaving, her brother called out to say he’d see her later, and she’d assumed he’d left with her.

“.... Just... You take one direction, I’ll take the other.” She said tearful, rushing off, calling out her brothers name over and over. Bumping into someone she shook her head, tearful. She hadn’t seen him since Halloween, remembering her snapping at him over gossips. “S-sorry I... I can’t find my brother, I didn’t mean to, I...”

Helping Hand [Open]

@risingpeaksreblogs​

Before the panic of not finding Eponine set in and the chaos that he was drowning in overcame him, the Light Faye found himself being dragged by a nurse towards a room with large machines all around that smelled like bleach and lavander. 

Before he knew it, Marshall was in the laundryroom, handing out warm blankets to people on the other side of an opening through a wall where they had made a desk coming out of the half-wall. “Um… Next?” he called after being thanked and waving the older woman goodbye. “How many people in your household?” the Light Faye asked before looking at the other with a small, but reassuring smile. 

Destiny had been avoiding Marshall, truth be told, so to see him at the hospital, while she was tense and anxious... It sucked. The last she’d heard from her mom before the lines cut out was that her and her brother were on their way, so she wanted to try and get them set up with a good spot once they got there. But that’d been an hour ago.

“... Three.” She said, not looking him in the eye. She had a few bags slung around her shoulder, one being the one she secured the...thing in. She hadn’t even realised she’d picked that bag up until she was already on her way. “They’re on their way, they’ll be here soon.”

“O-Oh… well… damn, now I feel like an ass for being so nonchalant about them. I’m sorry.” Arynn quickly frowned at the mention of her father. He let out a tiny chuckle about the droids - and the irony of her remark about angels and demons. Yet, her words were still curious enough to make him furrow his brows slightly. “What kind of things does Spear supposedly think are out there?” He questioned with interest. Perhaps that company was more interesting than they already seemed.

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“Hey, it’s fine. It’s been a few months. I’m at the ‘hide the pain with an awkward joke and pretend everything’s fine’ stage of the grief.” She said, forcing a smile to show she was doing just that. She rarely wore her heart on her sleeve, but she couldn’t help it right now. At Arynn’s question, she wrinkled her nose a little. “I only know what’s on their website.” She lied, shrugging a shoulder and searching through her bag for something for her headache. “Angels are bad, demons are bad, and anything that’s even close to either of them is just as bad. Whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo.”