Chapter Text
The sound of a bell ringing filled the air. Immediately, Taako's body was struck with an invisible bolt of necromantic energy. Pain shot through Taako's body as the souls occupying it resisted. Lup and Kravitz fought to stay inside, to stay with Taako and protect him, but the Bell wouldn't let that happen, and the pain only grew as they stayed planted. They couldn't both resist forever.
It felt like they were fighting for hours, but in reality, it was less than a second before Kravitz's soul was thrown out of Taako's body. However, Kravitz didn't manifest a physical form right away. Instead, he hid in the dark fog. He never missed the chance to make a dramatic entrance, after all.
Taako stumbled backward, but caught himself and stood tall.
"What?" Edward said, manifesting himself at the opposite end of the catwalk, holding the Animus Bell. His sister appeared beside him, trying to grab the bell and figure out what her brother did wrong.
Kravitz smiled as he manifested a body of his own. He took control of the smoke and had it sink down, obscuring everyone else's view as he made his way to stand in between Taako and the twin liches. Kravitz laughed, a deep guttural laugh that he amplified to fill the room ominously.
"Bad luck, indeed," he said, and he banished the smoke to the edges of the room, revealing his form; a tall, dark-skinned human wearing an expensive suit and the Cloak of the Raven Queen's Reapers. He called forth his scythe and balanced it on his shoulders casually as his other hand held his book of bounties.
Edward and Lydia were stunned. Kravitz heard the clattering of a battleaxe behind him, and deduced that Merle and Magnus were as well, but Kravitz was only focused on the pair of liches in front of him.
"Edward and Lydia," Kravitz read, speaking in the same booming voice from before. "You've both been found guilty of lichdom, which is enough to get you thrown in the Eternal Stockade for—well, eternity. However, your crimes don't stop there." Kravitz flipped a page of his book for an added effect. "Your necromantic days started early, with attempts to raise the dead. Then you attempted to turn an unwilling party into a lich, which is horrid on its own, but then you botched the ritual and left his soul scarred and in excruciating pain." Kravitz looked up at the pair of liches in front of him and he felt his form start to shift in anger, remembering his dear friend Keats. He took back control of himself, though. He needed to finish their list of crimes.
"Then you derived life from the suffering of others, and being unsatisfied with that, you created a living Hell filled with empty promises that you lured innocent people into so you could feed on their suffering." Kravitz scowled as he continued. "Then you used a Grand Relic to amplify your necromancy and tore souls out of their own bodies when you couldn't torture them any longer." Kravitz snapped the book shut and had it disappear, making the liches flinch at the sound.
Kravitz shook his head condescendingly. "That may be it for your crimes against the Raven Queen, but you see, now you've made things personal." Kravitz turned to gesture behind him at the three adventurers. Magnus and Merle were standing with their mouths agape, one clutching a battle axe that he'd previously dropped and the other a holy book, both standing behind—
Kravitz was stunned by just how radiant Taako was. He was perfect, standing unafraid with a hand on his hip, his carefully crafted arcane outfit leaving Kravitz weak in the knees. Taako waved and Kravitz' heart soared.
Kravitz, with his arm outstretched to the one he loved, turned his head to look the liches straight in the eye as he said: "Now you've gone and hurt my boyfriend."
"Go get 'em, babe!" Taako called from behind.
Kravitz smiled and gripped his scythe to strike.
Lydia grabbed the Animus Bell from Edward and aimed it at Taako, stopping Kravitz in his tracks.
"I'll do it," Lydia said. "You'll lose your precious boyfriend."
Kravitz let his face fall. He looked back at Taako and thought about Lup, still inside, simmering and barely holding back, wanting just as badly as he did to get her hands on the twin liches.
Kravitz turned back towards the liches and raised his scythe to attack.
Lydia shook the bell and an explosion of fire shot out of Taako's body as Lup emerged. Her form was engulfed in flames as she shot to take her place next to Kravitz.
"You're the ones who have been hurting my brother," Lup said, her voice dripping with venom. "Cover's blown anyway, wanna get in on this, babe?" Lup called out, and the Red Robe Barry Bluejeans appeared beside her.
Lydia and Edward called forth their fog of suffering and prepared to strike.
"Don't kill them just yet," Kravitz told Lup and Barry. "I've got a friend that might want to get in on this."
Lup and Barry nodded and surged forward to meet Lydia and Edward's attack head on.
Kravitz turned to make his way to the three adventurers but to his surprise, Taako was already making his way over—quite fast, in fact. Taako ran towards Kravitz and they met in the middle to wrap each other in an embrace and they kissed.
When they pulled away, still holding each other, Taako said "Boy, you have no idea how much I missed doing that."
Kravitz laughed out of pure joy. "I think I do, love," he said, and then he made the mistake of glancing down and he was fully distracted by Taako's outfit.
Taako took notice and pulled away to spin on his heel. "What do you think, babe?" Taako asked, striking several poses in a row.
Kravitz shook his head, smiling. "There are no words to describe you, Taako."
Taako pouted. "You didn't even try."
Kravitz raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then why don't I give it a shot." Kravitz took Taako's hand and brought him closer. "I'm completely and utterly obsessed with you, love. You're...charming. Beautiful. Alluring. Luminous. Stunning. Resplendent."
Before he knew it, Kravitz was being kissed by his boyfriend again.
"Uh...excuse me," Merle said, interrupting the reunion. "Aren't we like, in the middle of something?"
Kravitz cleared his throat and let go of Taako—but still held his hand. "Yes, um. Sorry about that," he said, embarrassed. "Liches. Wonderland. Right."
Magnus gestured to the fight happening on the other side of the room. "Should we, like, help or something?"
Kravitz turned, viewed the fight for a moment, and said "No, those two have got it. I do need your help, though. See, for a long time, Edward and Lydia have hidden this place from us Reapers. I've got an old friend who you could say is personally invested in these two, and I'd rather he be the one to take them to the Eternal Stockade."
Kravitz produced several small illusions in his hand. "These are necromantic runes designed to keep Reapers from finding this place. There should be some around here, and if we mess with them enough, I should be able to contact my friend."
Magnus frowned and thought it over. "Okay," he said. He jabbed a finger at Kravitz before saying, "But you'd better have some pretty damn good answers once this is over." Magnus swung his battleaxe over his shoulder and went to search for the runes.
Merle threw up his arms in an aggressive shrug and said "Sure! Why not!" before making his way to find the runes.
"I'll go look too," Taako said, giving Kravitz a quick peck on the cheek. "I've got to stop distracting you."
Kravitz smiled. Taako was indeed a very good distraction. He went to search for runes himself.
Not much time had passed before Kravitz felt a shift in his reaper senses.
"I think I found it!" Called Merle.
Kravitz took out his Stone of Farspeech to confirm that yes, the wards were down. Kravitz dialed the only other frequency on his stone besides Taako's.
"Hello? Kravitz, is that you?"
Kravitz smiled at hearing his old friend's voice. "Yes it is. It's been too long, Keats."
"That it has."
Kravitz dodged a large piece of metal that swung from the ceiling and crashed into the wall.
"Sorry!" Lup called out.
"You on a bounty or something?" Keats asked.
"Yes, actually, that's why I called," Kravitz said. "I've got a couple of bounties here that I think might interest you."
A sigh was heard from the other end, followed by a chuckle. "Is this your way of saying you need my help?"
Kravitz rolled his eyes. "No, actually, I've got things pretty well taken care of. I just figured you deserved a bit of closure."
There was silence on the other line for seconds before Keats said, "...you're kidding. You found them."
"Just make your way over here, and ignore my friends in red. They're under Istus' protection."
The sound of reality tearing filled the air as soon as Kravitz hung up the stone. Everyone stopped their fighting to witness a fissure appear in the center of the room. They watched as it grew until it was large enough for a young-looking elven reaper to step through and enter the room.
"Keats?" Edward and Lydia gasped.
Keats gritted his teeth. "You two left me to rot in the forest," he said, his voice eerily calm. "I begged you to stop your necromancy, but you craved power more than you ever loved me." Keats summoned his scythe and said, "You two are going away for a long, long time."
Lydia and Edward threw bolts of energy at Keats, but Kravitz rushed in from the side to deflect their attack.
The twin liches started readying another attack, but in the midst of their preparation, Lup and Barry shot rope-like bolts of red lightning at them.
Lydia and Edward were frozen in place. As they struggled against the bonds that held them, they lost focus on maintaining their appearance and their extravagant clothes faded to reveal their plain black robes.
Keats walked forward to stand in front of his siblings. "Goodbye, brother. Sister," he said. Then Keats swung his scythe and Lydia and Edward were gone.