Aphmau and Lucinda met through a series of fate, magic, and unfortunate circumstances. A skeptical witch with an obsession with magic, and a young girl with too little friends, and too much free time. That's how it had started. The slow shift from stranger to friend was one Aphmau didn't recognize, and looking back on it, it feels like a fever dream. The past hazy and vauge, so much so that she'd have a hard time comparing it to present.
After all, so much had changed since then, so many new people coming and going... In the midst of it all the only consistent seemed to be Lucinda.
Lucinda, and her long red hair and ever improving magical abilities. Sometimes Aphmau couldn't help but feel... less than, she guesses. It almost seemed like Lucinda had it all; magical, social, strong. Always knowing what to do and never backing down. Everything Aphmau would do, it seemed Lucinda could do better, gracefully and with ease. But those were all just fleeting thoughts. Things before a mission, sometimes. After missing a shot, sure. But never in the midst of it all. And never with Lucinda.
"Aphmau!" Lucinda called out to her, snapping Aphmau out of her daydreaming.
Oh, crap, that's right.
She was supposed to be skimming the files Lucinda had handed her. The next targets. In the, the uhm- dim lights, darkly lit basement, and cabinet files throughout the room of dead and missing people. This is where the unfortunate circumstances of their friendship came into view. With them in the center of it, sat at a dark wooden table.
"Whoops my bad, back to the files... let's see..." aphmau drawled and looked back down again, rolling her eyes playfully at Lucindas huff of impatience. Teasingly, of course. She was used to aphmaus air-headedness. They always kept a positive atmosphere despite the inherently negative aspects of their job.
Looking through the files what she found wasn't what she was exactly expecting. Usually it was the classic evil looking sketchy guy- wizard hat, beard, photo taken behind a wall where you can see them in a cloak and dark alley way. That wasn't what she found. They were two highscoolers. One, granted, clearly older than the older by a Longshot, but highschoolers none the less. She looked up at Lucinda.
"Well?" She asked.
"Lucinda, you can't-" she huffed out a laugh "you can't be serious right now..! These are a couple of kids, same age as us even!"
"Actually, ones pushing 20. Aaron got held back."
"Lucinda, they're young. They're in highscool, I mean cmon." Aphmaus voice still had a light tone, still one of slight inbelief.
"Keep reading, Aphmau. Problem or not now, in the future they're going to be. It's our job to stop them." Lucinda was serious, her voice and face said it all. Aphmau's face fell and she kept reading.
Travis valkrum- 15
Aaron lyncon- 19
Aphmau kept reading. It had started off innocent enough, then it got worse. And worse.... From practice of illegal magic, to alleged genocide, their family tree had it all. Travis and Aaron weren't directly linked by anything other than their last name.
"Ok... ok, ok. And why them? Why these two and not-"
"Not their family?" Lucinda cut off Aphmaus soon-to-be rant, "Well, because that's not how this kind of magic works.." she was less stoic now, but her brows were furrowed and was looking right at Aphmau. This was one of those moments Aphmau felt... clueless, almost. She had a grasp on magic, but she was an amateur compared to Lucinda. Lucinda had the files, the charm, the magic, and Aphmau had her outgoing personality and... well, bullets. Helpful, but where somone couldn't help for more. But time doesn't pause for pity, and Lucinda kept going.
"These twos families have a history, intertwined by years of previous partnerships, which has turned to a, well, less than friendly kind of tension. The lack of communication here has lead to their families being on the brink of collapse." She looks down at the files.
"We don't know the details. And, if we do our job right, we never will. But their families have been cursed by more than just mistakes of the past." She looks up at Aphmau, and finally-
"Have you heard of the Ultima?"
And it clicks.
That's right... The old folktale, a man who's rage turns him into a wolf, and everyone he looks at into a corpse, but- "Yeah, yeah of course I have. But it's not real. It's a folktale, a story you tell little kids..." she looks at Lucinda, face desperate. You're so smart, Lucinda. You're so smart don't you know the old folktale, the story you tell to kids, in the dark? And how its not. Real?-
"That'd be the lyncon family."
What-
She grabs Aarons file from the table. "The Ultimas curse is one that passes down generation for generation," And points to his photo. "So that'd mean. This is our guy."
The photo is in front of Aphmau now. She stares at it, and she finds that she can't look away.
"Oh... ok. Ok. Right.." still dazed. She's still dazed and so so confused and- and scared.. she hasn't been this scared since her first mission. She's blocked most of it out now- bloody knives, blood on hands, blood getting on Lucinda and nothing being cleaned. Clothes being burned and aphmau wishing she could do the same to her hands-
But, oh, that's right. It's coming back to her now. Not the events, exactly, but that feeling. Lucinda must be able to tell, because she takes the files and closes both of them, tucking each to the side.
"Let's take a break. We can continue going over this in the morning-"
"And valkrum?"
Lucinda pauses. "I'm sorry?"
"If Aaron is supposed to be the descendent of the Ultima," her voice starts rising, and desperation starts to lace every word, "what the hell does that make Travis Valkrum."
".. right. If you must know- which you do-
his family is the host of a demon. It's magic is strong, and they're whole family is blatantly related to it and it's magic, any experienced magic user would be able to sense something. But, it seems no one's been able to truly put a finger on it until now." And with that she takes the files in hand, stands up, and sighs.
"He's the last of his line. His father died a while back. Car accident..."
"So I'm assuming it's just him and his mom.." aphmau looked up and Lucinda, who nodded. "So she's going to lose her son, now, too?" Aphmau was met with silence.
"This was a productive meeting, I'd like to think-"
"Lucinda-"
"We'll talk more about mission details tomorrow." She starts walking up the stairs and tells aphmau to get some rest on her way out.
The lights flicker. Everything is so normal, now. So quite. How can everything outside be so quiet when on the inside Aphmau feels like she's about to scream. She feels the gun in hand and eyes on targets, and despite everything being blurry she doesn't miss the feeling of blood on her hands, or the faces of children, on bodies, on the floor.
She doesn't get much sleep that night.
YOU ARE READING
The Prevention of Disasters and The End of The World(MYSTREET AU)
Fanfiction(MYSTREET SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 4, 5, AND 6) ⚠️Also cursing, repeated mentions of things like blood and death, along with a mention of ideation relating to self harm. So, some general angsty stuff. I'll most likely be adding specific warnings as the...
