#brynnso

Its voice was a mixture of gravel, and the noise of your own screaming as you were dragged over it and many sharp rocks.

The magician moaned in pain and fear, clutching the artefact even tighter to their body. They started backpedaling, frantic, clumsy steps back up the hall and away from the wrong thing.

It didn't make a sound as it walked, even as the veins, the twisted limbs, and the spikes on its body pulsed and shuddered. It raised one if its arms towards its prey, dark purple energy crackling between the claws.

The magician raised the artefact up like a shield. It started crackling and glowing with power.

“I'll be taking that, thanks!”

The artefact was summarily yoinked from their hands by a pair of gloved hands. The magician blinked, and saw a blue Ixi casually putting it into his pack, the smuggest grin they'd ever seen on any Neopian on their face.

“Alright, Brynn, do your thing!”

They looked back to the monster. Without anything holding it back, purple energy shot from their claw, and towards them.

Everything turned to pink, then black.

“Heeey Xandra! I got you a gift!” Hanso sang, holding his pack behind his back.

From behind the counter of the Vault, Xandra growled. “Hand over the artefact.”

“Hmm…” Hans pursed his lip. “Nope! Sorry, I want you to guess what it looks like first!” He smiled.

Xandra's unamused scowl grew even deeper. “Less talk, more artefact!”

Hanso chuckled. “I'll give you a hint: it might be a mirror, like last time; it could be another idol, like last week; or it could even be a curve ball like that one--”

Brynn grabbed Hanso with one massive claw and held him up in the air. One of her extra arms undid the latches of his pack, and she started gently shaking him until the artefact fell out and onto her waiting limbs down below.

“Here.” Brynn held out the artefact for Xandra.

Xandra smiled and happily took the item. “Thank you. It's good to see that there's at least one competent person in charge of safeguarding Neopia...” She grumbled as she walked over to her bevy of magical equipment further in.

The magical chain attached to the Xweetok's ankle adjusted accordingly.

“Hey, I brought it back here, at the very least!” Hanso cried as Brynn put him back down.

“Yes, Hanso, you were a great help.” Brynn said flatly, her eyes—the ones that could face forward, at any rate—fixed on Xandra as she subjected the artefact to magnifying glasses, charts, and other arcane machinery.

Minutes later, the Xweetok sighed sadly. She placed the magical device in a specially designed box, came back to the counter, and shook her head.

“I'm sorry. It's not still not the artefact that reverses your mutations.”

Brynn sighed heavily, her whole body and all of its extra bits and limbs sagging as if deflated. Even the ominous purple glow in her veins dimmed to a depressed shade of blue.

Xandra clambered on top of the counter, and scratched Brynn under one of the flares of spikes around her neck. “I don't like you being stuck like this, either.” She cooed.

Brynn purred. The sound was a cross between a magnitude six earthquake and an unholy predator beyond all logic and normalcy about to devour you.

Xandra pulled her hand back and quickly wiped off the goop on it with the hem of her dress. She used a nearby knife to hack the fabric off before the slime could spread to the rest of her clothes. “I'll let you know if this new artefact could be useful for an alternative cure.” She said as she pulled out a box of matches, lit one, and dropped it onto the now sentient scrap of cloth.

The creature screamed and writhed as it burned to death, but no one paid it any mind.

“Thanks, Xandra.” Brynn mumbled, small smiles on her mouths before she ambled off to the exit.

Hanso remained at the desk, watching her leave.

“Though I'm always loathe to give my competitors a leg-up in things I want...” Xandra sighed. “You should really go say something to her.”

Hanso looked down at the desk and frowned. “I would if I knew what to say.”

“An appeal to vanity is always nice. Even the most practical, and no-nonsense women still like being complimented on their appearance.”

Hanso looked up and stared at Xandra.

“Okay, I'll admit, that was a horrible suggestion. Just… figure it out, you're the one with the silver tongue, and the overflowing self-confidence!”

A light bulb went off in Hanso's head, and he smiled. “I think just did, actually! Thanks, Xandra; you know, for an ex-evil mastermind on parole, you're really not that bad!” He reached over to pat her on the shoulder.

Xandra's grabbed his wrist before his fingers could even brush up on her dress. “Make no mistake, Ixi, this is purely for Brynn's happiness, not yours!”

Hanso chuckled. “Surrre it is.” He pulled his hand back and casually shook the feeling back into it. “See you soon, Xandra, it's been a pleasure talking to you.”

Xandra just glared at him and went back to work.

Passersby always gave the entrance to the Vault a wide berth, more so these days when Brynn was around it.

The Kougra sighed as she watched a scholar loaded with several texts and scrolls drop them all, and run from the area screaming their head off. Her rear facing eyes turned to the guards at the sides of the entrance, both of them giving her nervous, polite, and absolutely terrified smiles.

“Maybe they just forgot they had an urgent appointment…?” One of them squeaked.

Brynn's mouths frowned. “Yeah. Probably.” She turned to leave, down one of the rarely used exits of Faerieland Castle and out to its back streets.

“Wait! Brynn!”

Brynn's eyes turned to Hanso, running up to the entrance of the vault. He held his hand up to ask for a moment to catch his breath.

“Brynn, I know life's really hard for you these days.”

Brynn sighed and closed her eyes that had lids.

“Hanso...”

“You got turned into a horribly mutated monster—and holy nutballs, that artefact cut no corners, you are just: wow, who even thought up that?”

“Hanso.”

“And one look at you sends people reeling, and most everyone else, especially little children, just run and scream from you—I've never seen people run that fast while screaming so loud until today.”

“Hanso!”

“But I know, deep down inside, you're still Brynn: you're still brave, you're still determined, you're still dedicated to protecting the innocent from the maniacs and want-to-be supervillains we face when we go out hunting for artefacts.

“And that is why I am still with you, why I still love you, and why still think you're beautiful—even if just looking at you sometimes makes me want to lose my lunch.”

Hanso stood up on his tip-toes, grabbed Brynn's less spiky and dangerous shoulders, hoisted himself up with great effort, and planted a kiss on one of the Kougra's safer, less pointy and/or rugged cheeks.

Hanso immediately went down gagging and flailing violently.