really got this death thing down

9

chapter nine: don't you wish all the important plot-relevant backstory would stop happening offscreen

*

The air is immediately a lot more charged, both with tension and with energy, and also with a lot of miscellaneous shrapnel flying left right and centre which Ruby has to flinch back to avoid. Her guitar is on the ground, where she'd left it. Buzz is just about to step backwards on it. Ruby lets out a tiny little whine of horror and mutters, "Not my baby, you bitch – "

"Whoop, that's not good," Blacker says, and hesitates for a moment before swooping in low and pushing Ruby off at the last moment, so she stumbles to the ground just in time to snatch it up. The uppermost E-string is snapped, but the rest of it is still functional. She holds up a hand as Blacker circles around, and is tugged back up to join him on the sword just as Buzz swings around, looking furious.

"Nice!" Ruby exclaims appreciatively.

Blacker is visibly shaking. "I have no idea what I'm doing, and I think I'm running on pure adrenaline. I was never meant to be be a field agent, Ruby! Why did you want this?"

"You're doing fine!" she reassures him, and scans the ground before spotting five people standing back-to-back. She points. "You're not good to fight, I don't think, so how about you just drop me off over there?"

"I can do that! Not fighting sounds good!" he agrees, relieved, and proceeds to do just that, letting her off right next to her friends before taking to the sky with a vague cry of, "I'll do air support! Maybe? I don't know what I'm doing!"

"Hi guys; here to provide magic buffs and miscellaneous necromantic services!" Ruby says, hitting the ground and immediately doing her best to beat back the dark, writhing shapes that Buzz seems to have summoned in place of the resurrected animal army without a high E-string.

"This was meant to be a fun seance," Elliot moans.

"No such thing," Ruby says cheerfully. "Welcome to my world, y'all. Kinda sucks, huh?"

"Kinda," Del agrees, and Ruby ducks neatly as she takes a sharp swing over Ruby's head. "So, do you think we're all actually going to survive this, or-?"

Buzz is kind of going insane with power, several metres to their collective right. It's horrifying to witness. Hitch and Froghorn are the two that are currently facing off against her, and although they're giving it their all (and they have a lot to give), it seems like they're fighting a losing battle.

"Uhm," says Ruby. "Let's take a rain check on that. Get back to me later and I'll let you know how we're doing."

From the sky, several swirling sigils rain down, bursting as they impact the ground and sending plumes of smoke and magical energy everywhere. Thanks, Blacker.

"Just to check, you guys came here alone, right?" Clancy calls over to Hitch.

"Just the three of us, when we realized Ruby was gone and the barrier had been breached," Hitch yells back, and somehow manages to convey the fact that he's raising an eyebrow curiously even from so far away. "Why?"

In response, Clancy just points.

Ruby hears Buzz mutter, "You've got to be kidding me – " and then an assembly of sword-riding mages rush to join everyone in one fantastic wave of force. At the very front –

"What the fuck is LB doing here," Elliot breathes. Clancy appears to be attempting to hide behind him, but his swords are poking out and also Ruby thinks that LB could probably care less about one (1) undead teenager right now, judging by the expression on her face.