Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

[seaoftroubles]

• Duke gets his trouble triggered by Octavia in a kitchen accident and our crew discover that post-trouble bomb, it is EVEN MORE DIRE as he goes black-eyed and can't stop himself from trying to stalk whoever set him off
• Lucifer and Octavia stop Duke from doing anything bad (has Octavia make him bleed maybe so he can use his massive power supply to knock Duke tf out?). Duke recovers and says "fuck this, we need to end it" and suggests they go back to Haven one final time to figure out how to end the troubles forever.
• They arrive in Haven and Duke IMMEDIATELY goes into convulsions and vanishes in a burst of green smoke. OOPS.
• Lucifer and Octavia find Gloria (and Dwight maybe? And/or Nathan?), find out about the "no marks killer" who has been going around killing troubled folks -- and all the troubles that are going off like crazy without Audrey around to talk them down. I imagine there's some "okay, that sucks but WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR BOYFRIEND????"
• Duke is spotted around town murking folks, but they can't quite catch him
  I may or may not write a scene of Duke and Croatoan while Duke is under his control
• Trap set for Duke? Not at the police station. Gloria's house or the hospital/morgue, maybe, since she's coronering. Duke takes the bait, Lucifer pounces again to keep him from, getting away. After a false start or two during which Croat!Duke is DEEPLY UPSETTINGLY CREEPY AT THEM, Lucifer and Octavia manage to talk him around. (Possibly using Duke's new joy at being the subbiest sub who ever subbed!)
• Duke starts leaking troubles when Croatoan realizes he's broken his hold. He panics, and Octavia or Lucifer cover his eyes to keep the troubles in. Gloria goes "I'll get some drugs!" and scoots to find something to drug Duke with if need be (and gets out of harms way ;D). Duke takes over the eye-covering -- and goes into muscle contractions as Croat tries pull aether out by another route. This doesn't last long before Croatoan APPEARS DRAMATICALLY IN THE DOOR looking like a gremlin cosplaying as a noir detective. Duke can't even see him -- he's covering his eyes -- but goes "FUCK THIS SHIT" and starts launching the troubles he still has control over at the guy. I really like the idea that at least one of them is radioactive. Maybe Croat!Duke killed the lady from the nonsense trouble episode and got her "shooting microwaves" power. Lucifer and Octavia also fight. Eventually Croat EXPLODES (or . . . dissolves . . . or otherwise dies grotesquely) and our three spend a moment just panting for breath and looking at each other, all "omg, is that it? did we win?"
• Duke collapses dead. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Lucifer gods the fuck out, wiping out the troubles in a giant aether-nado, and resurrects Duke, who's spent maybe 30 seconds dead -- but that's [mumble mumble] amount of time in Hell so he's still a littttttle bit fucked.
• They go home and have more angsty h/c times yay!
• (Also probably Octavia checks on Gloria first and maybe convinces her to retire to Baltimore XP)

Comments

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[okteiviakom]

Something washed over Octavia. It felt like calm, but maybe it was just a kind of numbness. Panic got swept aside, replaced by old instinct.

(Blodreina never had room to feel things.)

"Lay him down!" she barked. "We have to do CPR."

(Her eyes were too wild.)

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't think--" He wasn't breathing. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't going to breathe ever again--

Lucifer let Duke slide out of his arms.

Octavia seemed to know what to do. He didn't.

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had no choice. Zero. She had to fight because otherwise she would die, that was what her instincts were screaming at her. So she did everything on autopilot, in accordance with what she'd learned a long, long time ago. Pulse (wasn't there), position, compressions --

It wasn't doing anything.

It wasn't doing anything.

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[my_own_advocate]

It wasn't doing anything. And Lucifer knew-- he knew it wouldn't do anything, he realized. He could feel-- nothing.

Not a hint of a human soul.

He could feel something else. Elsewhere, further, pricking at the back of his consciousness.

"Octavia," he said. "Octavia."

To heaven? No. Something twisted in his stomach.

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[okteiviakom]

"Do something!" Octavia screamed.

And there she was, returning to her body from whatever safe, numb place she'd slipped to.

(The way Duke wasn't returning.)

Her hands faltered. Beginning to shake.

Re: Trap! Confrontation! Battle! Deeeeath!

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer startled at the sound of that scream. Why hadn't he expected it? No idea, but his body jerked with it, as if a thought had just violently slotted into place.

"I'm going to find him," he said. Something had just injected ice into his veins and he needed to move. "Stay here."

As if she would be anywhere else.

He unfolded his wings, and turned. And within a moment, a beat, he was gone, leaving a sole white feather drifting to the ground.