#ralxjace

He wanted nothing more than to defy the Living Guildpact and usurp his power, and yet something stopped him. A sudden change in the wind had caused Ral to pause and calculate more carefully what he needed from Jace Beleren. He had decided to defend Beleren, and for a reason he did not entirely understand, he had even lied to his master. What had taken ahold of him? Looking into the reflective glass orbs that were Niv-Mizzet’s eyes just a week ago atop Nivix, he had steeled himself against the great dragon. But, deep down he knew that Niv-Mizzet could see the storm churning inside him, and was only waiting for the lightning to strike.

---

Jace gazed out the high, arched window in the hall from which he toiled as Ravnica’s Living Guildpact. Out the window, the air seemed electrically charged and dense. Roiling clouds seemed to shift endlessly in the sky above. He wondered if Ravnica’s intense weather was natural today, or if this was the result of the Storm Mage’s powers as usual.

‘If it is the Storm Mage,’ he mused, ‘he must be in a bad mood tonight.’

The hall was a testament to Azorius sensibility, it’s style severe and imposing. It was decided that the seat of the Guildpact should be in the Azorius guild’s law keeping halls to give Jace a facade to match his nearly unbelievable title.

‘Keeper of all peace in Ravnica,’ he thought with a derisive snort, ‘Azor willing.’

Even he was reeling from the shock of ascending to such a position in just a few moments of seemingly divine intervention. Azor’s forum had venerated him to near god-hood status, and granted him the ability to counter any decisive effort from a power-hungry guild. Beleren could, provided he did not planeswalk away from Ravnica for too long, keep the peace between the diverse factions that always seemed to be at each other’s throats. And, yet, a certain guild had continued to pursue dominance right under his nose; The Izzet guild never seemed to stop researching and experimenting to find new ways to irritate Jace personally. Niv-Mizzet had been attempting to expose the phenomenon of planeswalking, without knowing it, using the particularly clever Storm Mage as head researcher on the project. But, Ral Zarek had sabotaged Project Lightning Bug to protect Jace, and his self. Jace’s thoughts lingered on Zarek’s face, remembering the odd expression of both distress and relief there as he had entrusted him with the secret that he, too, was a Planeswalker.

Strangely, as he thought on Ral Zarek’s face, he found he could remember little details, like how Ral’s eyes were a particular shade of white blue that flashed like lightning when he spoke. At that thought, Jace paused and touched his cheek. His face was flushed.

‘What the hell,’ he thought.

---

Inside a laboratory full of glass bulbs of all shapes and sizes, and mazes of copper pipes, sat an overthinking and perplexed Storm Mage. Rubbing at his temples, he unconsciously generated sparks that made his hair stand on end. His mind couldn’t stop turning over the events of the Dragon’s Maze and what had followed thereafter. He needed to do something about it. The Living Guildpact was the only other Planeswalker that Zarek knew of, and the only one who knew his secret. He picked up a bulb in his hands and within seconds it had popped from the tension, sprinkling his hand with glass shards. He tipped them into a tall pile of shattered bulbs and stood up decisively. Jace Beleren owed him his life for the secret he kept, and he would take advantage of that fact. He grabbed his finest (slightly lint and debris-ridden ) coat and rushed out the door, leaving an experiment sparking dangerously.

---

The Guildpact was just preparing to settle out his cases for the day when there was a resounding clatter outside his doors. He looked up, confused, and made towards them. When he reached the door and touched the handle, his hand was met with a sharp and powerful shock.

He yelped in surprise and quickly withdrew his hand.

The door flew open.

Jace used the little clairvoyance he had left after the shock to stumble back just in time to avoid being hit by the door. In the doorway stood the Storm Mage, looking resolute and defiant.

Ral looked Jace up and down.

“Is this is bad time, Guildpact?” He attempted to disguise a hint of amusement behind a stern expression, but Jace knew it was there.

“The door handle...” Jace stammered, “I did not foresee it!”

“Hm. Nor did I, Guildpact. It’s not in the nature of electricity to be predicted,” replied Zarek.

He shrugged and proceeded through the foyer towards Jace’s arbitration solar.

‘How presumptuous can he be?’ thought Beleren, shaking off his surprise and attempting to assume an air of authority and importance. He shrugged back his shoulders and called out to Zarek once they were in the quietude of his solar.

“What is this about, Storm Mage? I’ve nearly cleared my head of the day and you come... Well, storming in.”

He furrowed his brow and took the opportunity to scan Zarek’s body while he was turned away. Ral wore his guild’s colors, a rich navy blue striped with ruby reds. He wore thick, loosely fitted pants tucked into high leather and suede boots that were heeled and toed in metal. He had on a brilliant double breasted sapphire vest that appeared soft to the touch, copper buttons shining, with his crimson neck scarf tucked down across his chest like a cravat. The neck scarf was characteristically stained with oil spots and perhaps sweat, a pair of heavy duty metal goggles hanging down over it with red tinted lenses. This man knew his looks commanded attention, and dressed accordingly. Jace wasted no time taking advantage of that fact.

“I would actually prefer for our conversation to not be overheard, Guildpact,” Zarek said in a subdued tone.

He turned to meet Jace’s eyes.

“I wanted to remind you about a favor that I performed for you just a short while ago, Beleren,” he said, stepping towards Jace.

Not waiting for any further explanation, Jace plunged his fingers into Zarek’s mind to ascertain the reason behind his visit. He didn’t feel like being toyed with this afternoon. His irises and pupils began to glow a bright white, like lighthouses blinking on. He reached towards Zarek’s thoughts  - and suddenly his body was electrified with a sensation much like his hand on the door handle. Except, unlike the shock his body received, his whole mind lit up with a burst of raw static charge. Quickly withdrawing his magical reach, he gasped, eyes returning to normal.

Zarek’s eyes, however, now glowed an electric blue, and sparks flecked his white-streaked hair.

“Don’t you think it’s a little rude to enter my mind without...” he rumbled, “my consent?”

“I don’t usually need consent,” Jace said through gritted teeth.

“Well, that seems like a habit you’ll need to work on around me,” Ral admonished, his eyes returning to a white hot blue,” And you’ll be owing me a bit of your time, Guildpact. Do you think you can make time in your busy schedule?”

He brushed wayward ash off his velveteen vest.

“Now, let’s talk civilized, shall we?”

---

The Living Guildpact had suggested this was a conversation best had outside the gates of Azorius in case being seen talking to the Storm Mage implicated himself. Naturally, Ral Zarek had suggested his own laboratory, which was tucked away in the heart of the Izzet guild, surrounded by inexplicable noises and muffled explosions. Any Izzet guildmember would be too busy wrapped up in their own experimentations to notice the Storm Mage leading a shorter, plainer man through the maze of boilers and machines. At least that’s what he hoped. Zarek figured Jace Beleren, the most powerful illusion mage across multiple planes, could produce a simple glamour spell strong enough to trick most prying eyes.

Night began to fall in Ravnica, and several moons in various phases shone down on the bustling megalopolis . Lights all over the Izzet guild flickered on like lightning bugs emerging in swarms. A vast system of spell-fortified glass tubes snaking their way throughout the many labs, factories and private chambers of the Izzet pumped red and blue mana constantly, glowing brightly all the while. The sight was intoxicating. Jace felt the presence of so much raw, flowing mana energizing and awakening him.  Electric lights were strung between every archway and through every metallic, echoing passageway, dancing in Jace’s vision, and all manner of wild sounds floated from half shattered or charred windows. As they ascended through the separate layers of buildings, built one on top of the other in an intricately stacked pile, Jace could look down upon the entirety of the guild. Some structures were made entirely of glass panes fitted together with metal framework, like alchemical green houses, and he peered inside as they passed above. He shook his head, amused, as he noted an Izzet goblin watching proudly as an automaton finished assembling itself.

“This guild never sleeps, does it?” asked Jace rhetorically.

“And nor do I, Guildpact,” Zarek replied. “There is always something new to be discovered... Or invented!”

Jace rolled his eyes and followed the Storm Mage up a flight of ornate metal stairs strung with red and blue lights burning brightly in the night. At the top, was Zarek’s lab, in a tower which seemed to float above the rest of the guild. It’s exterior was a shining, intricate web of metal flourishes, that Jace realized were curved to look like lightning.

“Please, Guildpact, make yourself comfortable,” said Zarek, welcoming Jace into his tower with a cocksure little smile.

Ral opened the door to the most intricately arranged chaos Jace had ever seen. Chambers attached the walls filtered into pipes which intersected and connected, snaking across the ceiling. They managed to avoid the endless work shelves lined with experimental materials that overflowed from every corner. Huge skylights shone with the twinkling night sky above, one propped open just a bit to allow excess steam to find exit. Ral’s work table was massive and made of smooth, handworked metal that boasted an array of fine tuning instruments built into it. Honestly, Jace was impressed. Whatever hot air he thought constituted the majority of Ral’s brain was clearly… Well, probably thoughts. Fairly complex thoughts at that.

Inside, Jace could not find a place to sit. Every surface was covered with half-assembled baubles and rare trinkets. Jace spied from afar a Winter Orb resting precariously upon a pile of charred journals and tomes. He shivered, thinking of the last time he had been forced to use one.

---

“So, who has the bigger dragon’s hoard, Storm Mage,” quipped Jace, “You or Niv-Mizzet?”

Ral began pushing piles off of surfaces and miraculously uncovered a very fine plush seat for Jace.

“We have been embroiled in that conflict for quite some time, Mind Mage,” said Zarek solemnly, peeking at Jace as he carefully took a seat.

He closed the door and made to find a seat as well, but instead took a brief moment to watch Jace as he examined the many trinkets littered about his feet.

Beleren had shed his official Guildpact regalia to assume a less obvious persona and had of course set an illusion upon himself to go undetected. Anyone looking at Jace would see a short, built man with a blond beard and comely nose, dwarvish possibly. But upon entering Ral’s lab, he had promptly dropped his illusion, as if shaking off a coat and hanging it up on the rack before getting comfortable. His brown hair fell down past his brow, spiky and tousled. He wore dark blue wyvernskin gloves that he was slowly removing unconsciously while peering inquisitively down at various clutter. He was transfixed with Ral’s many toys, and Ral was transfixed watching Jace pick them up with long, elegant fingers.

A glass kettle began shrieking loudly at that moment and Zarek ran to quiet it, adjusting knobs and kicking a copper tank that gurgled on the ground. It continued to shriek, so he grabbed it up and tossed it out an open window. A goblin cried out in pain far below moments later. He leaned against the wall and smoothed out his vest nonchalantly. If you could call it nonchalant.

“So, Beleren,” Ral cleared his throat. “The reason I’ve asked you here—“

“Expecting I will share with you some mysterious insights into planes walking?” Jace finished, a bored expression clinging to his lips.

“—To repay me for—“ Ral continued on.

“—Selfishly covering your own ass from Niv-Mizzet’s fire,” Interrupted Jace again, “while you conveniently seem to help me out?”

This time it was Jace who looked up to meet Ral’s eyes with a defiant smirk.

“Do you really think you’re that unpredictable?” finished Jace, tilting his head to one side.

The Storm Mage turned to his metal worktable, which was laden with delicate glass filaments. He picked a bulb at random and idly stared at the coils, avoiding Jace’s glare. It exploded with a tiny storm inside and promptly popped. Ral sighed and brushed the shards into the pile once more. It tortured him that Jace thought his actions were entirely selfish, even though he himself had never considered they could be anything otherwise. An odd sensation tugged at his chest and he turned to face Jace.

“Contrary to whatever you may think, my actions weren’t entirely selfish,” Ral countered confidently. “I didn’t want either of us to be exposed. I figured it would be drastic for the living Guildpact to be caught away from his plane.” He faltered slightly.

He made towards a creaky looking chair, then seemed to change his mind, and resolved to merely pace.

‘Does he ever stop moving?’ thought Jace.

“So, get to the point… Why did you ask me here?” Jace asked directly, growing tired of Zarek’s games.

“Well, I wasn’t sure there even were others like me, let alone IN Ravnica... Until Project Lightning Bug’s findings, that is.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, which was mostly jet black, but marked with lightning bright streaks of white.

“As you know, Niv-Mizzet does not yet know of this fact. I thought that withholding certain information from them might grant us an advantageous situation…” Ral finished, with a flourishing gesture of his hand, the other propping his head up.

Just then, a contraption that Jace noticed had been whirring and emitting a small shower of gold sparks steadily since he had arrived, now started popping and hissing erratically. Ral began cursing in a language of numbers and terms that Jace did not understand and ran over to quiet it. The contraption’s spinning golden rings began tipping and clashing, and as they did so, a tiny tear seemed to rip in the fabric of reality in the space around the experiment. They gears had gotten loose, and the rings suddenly collapsed on each other, letting out a burst of potential energy that had been storing with each steady rotation. Jace and Ral were both blown backwards, away from the machine as space and time seemed to contort, rippling and eventually, tearing apart. Ral threw himself in front of Jace to shield him from the blast, grabbing his tunic—

Jace awoke to the sound of ocean waves lapping up against the shore and shrill birdcalls in the distance. There was sand in his mouth, and the gritty feeling jarred him awake.

‘What the hell’, he thought, pushing himself up and looking around, panicking just a little. ‘What was I doing?’

It seemed he was on a fog-laden beach painted in soft blue and deep, mysterious grey. The sand was bone white, and a forest loomed nearby. He blinked. For a moment he was completely lost, no memories surfaced and he felt as he did once before, when everything had been taken from him. He felt like a stone cast into an ocean, sinking to the very bottom… But, then, without warning, a brightly colored memory popped into his head, like a bubble, rising to the surface.

Ral’s lab-

The experiment exploding-

Ral!

Swiveling about, he soon caught sight of Ral lying nearby, his back against the sand, his eyes closed as if sleeping peacefully. His clothing had been singed, and a fine layer of soot coated his face.

Jace hurried over and knelt down beside him, peering down into his unconscious face.

‘He could’ve gotten us both killed! What even was that thing?’ Jace thought angrily, looking down at the inert mad scientist. ‘I should leave him here and planeswalk back to my sanctum, get this infernal sand out of my pants.’

He made to get up, but something stopped him.

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Ral’s face, there in the sand.

Jace looked away quickly, then down at the man lying on the ground. He knelt down just a bit closer.

He considered what Ral’s lips would feel like against his own for just a moment, then immediately pushed the thought away.

“What am I thinking?” he exclaimed to himself quietly, shocked at his own caprice. It suddenly dawned on him how inexplicably attracted he was to Ral, unable to stop his eyes poring over his face as he lay, unaware and silent before him.

Jace lowered his face to Ral’s and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth, his cheeks hot and flushed.

Ral’s eyes fluttered open, recognition slowly lighting up in his eyes, and mixing, beautifully, with sheer and utter confusion.

In that moment, Jace panicked harder than perhaps ever before, dissipating his physical form in a quantum blip so fast, he didn’t even pick a destination.

Ral laid in the sand, blinking repeatedly, questioning whether he was awake or not.

‘What the hell?’ he thought, feverishly.