The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 43

Sera considered. You watched her consider her actions, consider the people she'd met, consider your words. You could feel the gears turning in her head. You felt her make a decision. But it was a decision fueled by hated and by grief.

You'd been hurt.

Her soul sister had been hurt.

Branded.

Injured and drugged.

You'd been hurt.

And so she'd been hurt.

And that she couldn't forgive.

You saw the decision and steeled yourself for what you had to do.

Sera roared, breathing fire and the group behind you took a step back. You didn't blame them for being afraid of the dragon. Loki stayed by your side, though he was so weak to fire. You wanted to send him home and protect him, but you knew that would be just as bad as what Sera was trying to do to you. Loki wouldn't appreciate being defended while you fought the dragon alone. Just as you wouldn't in the same situation.

You heard the others draw their weapons. "I will kill them all," Sera snarled and roared her fury.

You stared her right in the eye when her roar ended.

You had to do this.

You couldn't stall any longer.

It was your responsibility.

So you straightened your spine, gathered your courage, and spoke strongly and clearly: "I repudiate you Seraphina. You are not the sister to my soul. You are no longer bound to me," as you spoke, you used your magic to sever the bond between you. And Sera cried out in pain as tears spilled down your cheeks. You did it anyway. You had to. "You are no longer my familiar. You've changed Sera and are not the dragon I claimed to be mine,"

"Soul sister-" her voice was plaintive, pleading as she felt the pain of the bond between you breaking.

You snapped it as fast as you could. It was better to rip the bandage off. It hurt like hell. It ripped at your soul to snap the magic between you. There was no describing the feeling of anguish of tearing your soul from hers. There was no describing the immense loneliness of her not being in your mind and soul anymore.

There would be time to mourn her loss later.

For now, you had a job to finish.

"I repudiate you, Seraphina," you repeated and she wailed her grief.

Her expression hardened. You had now hurt her too. "Then you shall die with the rest," she snarled and threw flames directly at you.

You were up on your broom in an instant, hauling Loki into the air with you by a tight grip on his arm. You only flew far enough to get out of the range of her flames before you set Loki back on his feet. He gave you a nod of thanks as magic shimmered around his hand, his dagger in the other.You stood up on your broom, sword bared in your hand.

"Don't let her escape!" you told the others and the fight began.

You hated that your friends had to help you, but you couldn't face a dragon alone. The jewel on the handflower on your hand glowed as you drained the power in it ruthlessly. Loki used his ice magic to combat Sera's flames. Stark and Thor kept her grounded. Bullets flew. Anything to keep her here. To keep her grounded and still so you could do what you needed to.

You flew in a circle around the dragon, dropping a circle of magic and potions around her while your friends kept her distracted. It was essential to the spell. There was only one way to do this. Sera roared and tried to swat you out of the air, but was distracted by Tony blasting her in the face. She roared again and swatted at him. She tried to take to the air, but suddenly the Hulk was there, pinning her down. You could have sighed in relief.

The Avengers were great at working together. They'd never trained to fight a dragon, but they'd fought giant beings before.

And they just had to keep her distracted and in one place.

The rest was up to you.

So the Hulk kept her pinned down. You stood in front of her while she roared and fought with the Hulk. You turned to Loki. "I need Gleipnir!" you called to him. This was part of your plan. Loki nodded and summoned the silver ribbon from his dimensional pocket and tossed you one end of it.

This ribbon had been used once before to restrain Fenrir the giant wolf. It was the only thing strong enough to contain an enraged dragon. You hadn't asked Loki how he had it or why, but you were glad that he did.

"Be careful, darling," he told you, gripping his end tightly.

"You too, Lokitty," you told him.

He gave you the tiniest smile. It was an expression meant to reassure. This was hard for you and you were fighting back tears the entire time. You had to do this. There was no choice. Sera was trying to kill you all and after you repudiated her, you weren't sure you were safe from her anger. "Together. We do this together," he reassured you. You nodded, relieved. You could handle this with Loki by your side.

"Together," you agreed and you and Loki both ran toward the dragon. Your friends held her still while you bound her in the silver ribbon. It took all of you working together to get her bound in the ribbon. You and Loki had to move quickly among your friends, jumping over and around the dragon to bind her so she couldn't attack you anymore.

You were all breathing heavily when the dragon was subdued. When she was snarling, bound in a silver ribbon, panting with effort as she tried to get free. The dwarves had crafted the ribbon well and it was unbreakable. Sera was trapped until you freed her.

You placed a hand on her muzzle. "I'm sorry I failed you, my Seraphina," you told her softly. The group remained spread around the pair of you, ready to jump back into action if she somehow got free. Loki stayed by your side, just in case. He trusted the dwarves' craftsmanship, but he would stand by you for what came next.

Power glowed around the hand you had placed on Sera's muzzle. You locked eyes with her and drew even more power, draining the power reserve jewel on your hand dry as well as every other ounce of power you could.

This spell you were using was one of the most advanced spells there were.

It was not undertaken lightly.

It was a lot less difficult the last time you'd done it. That had been a cat who'd gone astray. This was a dragon. And she fought the spell with every ounce of her being.

But she deserved this.

So you drained your power ruthlessly and finally the spell took as power flowed around you. You were actually glowing and your hair floating in the non existent breeze. Your eyes glowed purple with your power as you forced the spell to take hold.

The power shimmered around the dragon, flowed and sparkled and condensed and settled into her. There was a flash of light and the silver ribbon dropped away.

Your hand was on a dragon egg.

You fell to your knees and picked up the egg, cuddling it to your chest. "You deserve a second chance, my Seraphina. I'm so sorry I failed you," you told her as tears fell down your cheeks. Loki knelt beside you and his arms wrapped around you to comfort you. It was over now. Everything would be alright.

"What did you do to her?" Stark asked, gently for Tony, when your tears had eased.

"Instant reincarnation spell. I'll give her to the Witch's Council and they'll rehabilitate her when she hatches, give her to a new witch who will give her a second chance," you explained. You weren't sure they understood, but Loki did and the two of you could explain it better to them later. For now, all they needed to know was that Sera was no longer a threat.

You stood to head home with the team.

Or at least that was your intention.

Instead the world turned black around you as reality swam and you passed out. Hard. You'd spent all of your magic reincarnating a dragon. "Shit! Magelet!" Loki grabbed you as your knees buckled and you remembered nothing after that.