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Sacrificial Healing
A spell Wanda had never heard of, though the concept was easy enough to grasp. This spell... It could change everything.
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Hailie's body had been possessed at least three different times at this point, and Wanda was starting to figure the tells of when the goddess's conscious was no longer in control of her body. The voice-the same voice that Hailie had calmed them all down in, the same voice she commanded them in- changed pitches and suddenly the shivers going down Wanda's spine weren't from The Destroyer. Who was it this time?
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Hailie Hecate took the spell book from Wanda's hands. "Is... that it?" Anjanie asked. "Yes, it is. The spells in this book, the forbidden magic, it's in here. Hailie can read this and send back The Destroyer from wence he came." Hecate closed the tome, Wanda could sense the magic coming off of it in waves. She couldn't focus on the runes inscribed into the cover, almost as if they were constantly changing. "I hope so, " Anjanie said. As she spoke, Wanda wondered about how they were going to use the spell book. Esmeray and Anjanie had a fight about killing Hailie, a fight Wanda wasn't fully present for. She fully regretted this, she needed to be focused, she couldn't afford to not know what was going on with Anjanie and why killing Hailie was being brought up. The forbidden magic, Anjanie was able to use, she grew up learning how to control it- at a cost. Hailie, well, she was a goddess. And, they were cousins. It was a lose-lose situation for Anjanie, but, they had the spell book. They had half of the flowers. They could save Hailie, and vice versa Hailie could save them.
They could do this.
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They could not do this.
Hailie was only getting worse, the small moments she was in control she was dying and the moments Hecate was in control she was coughing up void and black bile like blood.
There were spells about time- reversing injuries, freezing time -
However, these spells came at a cost. Anjanie could lose her immortality if she used too many, she could die. She couldn't let that happen, not again, never again.
Wanda wasn't going to let that happen again. No deaths. Not again.
-
"Close your eyes and focus," Hecate placed her hand over Wanda's, setting it on the pages of the spell book. "Keep them closed!" Wanda squeezed her eyes shut at the stern voice catching her peaking. "Breath, think of a spell. Focus." Wanda focused- something she honest to gods thought she lost the ability to do a long time ago- "What spells are we looking for?" She whispered, scared to break whatever small bond of magic that was flowing through her hand and into the book.
"Anything that could help us. Something powerful enough to destroy The Destroyer. Something powerful enough to destroy a God." Hecate removed her hand from Wanda's. She took a small breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth. Focus. They're counting on you. Find a spell.
She felt... Something.
Wanda opened her eyes.
It was in another language, but, she could read it. The strange letters seemed to wave where they sat, as if they were a mirage. Wanda squinted, focusing on the words, and they seemed to settle. She looked up at the group, Hecate's posture seemed to have changed from when she was helping Wanda, more like she was earlier when they first met- she must be bored by now, goddesses and their- Anjanie and Peter sat in chairs to her right; Peter looking intensely at the book as if he could will the words of a spell into existence; Anjanie's gaze far off somewhere none of them could follow.
Wanda looked back down at the tome.
Sacrificial Healing
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"Anjanie, you and Spidy try to contact Wakanda. See if they're okay. I need to speak to Wanda." Hailie's head turned to Wanda as she said this.
Her body had been possessed by the other goddess for the majority of the day at this point. The deity coughing and almost falling over on multiple occasions due to the poison.
They were running out of time.
"Wanda,"
Wanda looked at her. The presence of the room seemed to shift, a pressure lifting and settling at the same time. Almost as if a large cosmical decision had been made, but no living being knew, or would know, of it's existence.
"Yes?"
"Hailie is... out of time."
Wanda looked into Hailie's eyes, the azure blue eyes that had seemed so determined just twenty four hours ago. Now reserved and cold. There weren't many tells between Hecate and Hailie, mainly the voice and the way they acted, but her eyes seemed to covey beyond just who was in control of Hailie's body. A deep emotion.
"What- what do you mean? She's, still alive, isn't she?"
"Hailie, she- the poison that is in her will let The Destroyer possess her. We cannot let that happen, no matter what. I cannot keep control of this form much longer. Her body is getting weaker by the moment. If The Destroyer gets a hold of her body, even if only for five seconds, everything, everything, will be destroyed. He will have access to the Omniverse, and use Hailie's power to destroy everything that she holds dear. Her power is too great."
"You need to kill her."
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"I- surely there's another way- no- we can't kill her! We- there has to be another way." Wanda stared dejectedly at Hecate, what she told her running through her head. 'They needed to kill Hailie' 'If The Destroyer takes over Hailie's body, kill her' 'Her power is too great' 'He will destroy everything '
"It is the only way." Hecate stared back at her, a regret in her eyes Wanda didn't expect from the goddess. "My grasp on her mortal form is slipping. I cannot control her much longer. When she comes back she will be vulnerable, more than she already is, and He will take over. When that happens, you must kill her. The Destroyer will still have power over Tony, you need to cure him before that happens. Find the flowers, cure them both, if Hailie gets possessed... You know what to do now."
"I..." Wanda was about to say she can't. It is what she wants to say. That she couldn't.
"The spell in the book. The Sacrificial Healing spell. It is the last thing I need to tell you about before She goes."
Hecate's demeanor seemed to change again, almost more deadly serious than just a few seconds ago when she told her to kill Hailie.
"The Sacrificial Healing spell let's you bring back the dead. You can kill Hailie, for a moment, and then you can bring her back. But it comes at a price. You can trade in one soul for another. One is dead, the other is alive, and it stays that way. The universe is at balance."
"An eye for an eye, a leg for a leg. " Wanda muttered.
The goddess before her nodded solemnly.
"She does not have much longer. Remember what I told you."
Wanda nodded.
"We have almost all of the flowers, we can save her, we can save them."
It was Hecate's turn to nod.
"Just, promise me. When the time comes, kill her, before she kills everyone else."
Wanda pursed her lips, but she looked down and nodded again. She had been nodding a lot this conversation. But there wasn't much else to do but agree with the goddess. She was right. Hailie was running out for time. They had most of the flowers, but not all of them. Who was to say they could save Hailie and Tony before The Destroyer took over their bodies? She was right. She had always been right. Anjanie and Esmeray's argument from earlier played in her mind again. If Hailie died, there would be hell to pay. If Anjanie did not kill her, her family would be destroyed. But if she did, the gods would kill them all anyways.
Wanda was willing to take the fall.
Anjanie was Hailie's cousin, neither of them deserved that. Neither of them deserved the heartbreak that was family breaking one another's trust. Neither of them needed to know. All that needed to happen, was for Wanda to tell Anjanie what needed to be done, and Anjanie would hate her for it, but she knew the circumstances. If she could she would do it herself but she did not have the power. It did not matter. She alone would take the fall, Anjanie would only know part of the plan. She just needs to know about the danger, what she needs to do, and that Wanda knew how to fix everything when it was all over. Wanda was willing to act the villain again, even if only for a moment.
They don't need to know what the cost of fixing everything is.
"One more thing before I go," the goddess looked her in the eye again, Wanda seeming to finally get a grasp on her features. It looked the most like Hailie since they found out she was infected. The bags under her eyes almost unnoticeable in the darkness of the room they stood in. Her unruly brown hair curling around her face, framing her eyes.
"This was not Hecate speaking."