Magic is.. getting an after-credits scene? [6]

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After-credits are practically expected these days, as are inevitable sequels used to set up wider universes over time.
Don't blame me, blame Marvel!

That being said, sometimes an after-credit scene or twelve can help soften the blow of a rather abrupt ending, right?

Events unfold including but not limited to:
Not telling!
Nuh uh, you'll have to read and find out!
Okay, okay.. Jeez..

So there's this bit where at least one person reads this part before chapter [5.11] and gets horribly confused in the comments.
You KNOW you want to scroll down and see if I'm right now, don't ya? :)


 

"owwie.. "

"Yeah, no kidding, magical overload hurts like a bitch. Give it an hour or two and you'll be feeling better I'm sure"
What? Where am I..
What am I..

Wh-Why? I’m.. I’m..
"I'm alive?"

"You most certainly are little sister. Congratulations, you’re influence is spreading at last, we've all been waiting to meet you again with bated breath I assure you!"

"I'm.. I'm Alive?"

"Yup, have fun with that by the way. It's been good catching up 'Lady Death' but I've got to get back to work, the universe doesn't run itself ya know?"

Slowly I rolled over with a pained grunt to stare up at the dark cloudy sky above me in confusion.
Wasn’t it day time a minute ago?.. or was it night time?..
I can’t tell, my head hurts too much to think at the moment.

My eyes trailed down from the cloudy sky to focus on the flattened slab of sold black stone I’m apparently laying on, only just being able to catch a glimpse of a strangely tall, overly hairy man standing above me as he turned away almost lazily.

"Who.. are you?"
He laughed, a warm, deep, lovely laugh that lifted my spirits despite my confusion and pain.

"When the time is right, you'll know little sister.. for now I have work to do and you have a mortal mate to comfort.. have fun with that too, of course."
Without another word he just seemed to fade out of existence before my eyes until all that was left were a few wisps of lingering dust that floated down to land across the otherwise pristine black stone mass beneath my numb body.

For a few long moments I tried to process everything that was happening but I quickly decided, with more than a little encouragement from my poor aching head, that if he'd even existed in the first place then he can wait for another bloody day to be dealt with!

Slowly as the seconds ticked by my foggy mind started to become hazy on the details of his face, eventually even those faded until I could draw nothing but a complete blank about him and his existence in general, as if he were just a dream and just as easily forgotten as any other daydream tends to be.

======

"Hannah? Hannah!"
The sound of running feet and a frantic skid greeted me, followed closely by an almost silent cry of 'Holy shit!' before more frantic footsteps brought the worried face of my best friend into view at long last.

It took a few attempts before my lips decided to cooperate, by which time he’d already reached my side and wrapped those warm, warm arms of his around me in a vice like hug as almost painful waves of worried, scared and yet joyful magic poured out of him, seeping into my skin like the most refreshing of summer rainstorms.

"..john?.."

"Hannah!"
His eyes cut around me in horror for some reason before coming back to focus on me at Last.

"..You’re real?.. right?.. not a fake-stupid John.."
The words tumbled past my lips but I didn’t regret them when a smile that could only be equalled by the warmth of his arms quickly lit up his whole face because of them.

Those strong, warm hands cupped underneath me and I found myself being lifted high into the air suddenly, hugged tight to his chest like I was the most precious of treasures he’d ever seen in his life.

Carefully he turned to start walking us back across the wide, completely flat black surface I’d been laying on which, on closer inspection, appears to be some kind of obsidian if my eyes are to be trusted in the slightest at this point.

His eyes swivelled around with worry every few second which I found highly off-putting for some reason and, out of curiosity more than anything else, I shifted my head over to better glance around us this time.

At first the only thing that greeted my curious eyes was an edge to the obsidian flat-top, but as we kept moving on we crested that edge and were met by a deep trench where I think water used to be?
One that seemed to contain a sea of a completely different verity now as thousands of dried up, half petrified corpses lay stretched out as far as the eye could see inside it’s recessed depths.

My traitorous memory fished up barely recognisable or acknowledged faces that were, at the time, attached to unquestioningly ‘alive’ bodies in matching clothing to the corpses before me, dragging an upwell of guilt along with them which hit me so heavily that it was all I could do not to cry out in pain from the power of it and the accusations burning inside me from all of those cold dead eyes.

I killed them.. I killed them all.
I drained them dry to stop Arista’s plan in practically a suicide mission, but then somehow survived it anyway?

A horrified sob pushed itself out of me and with an almost frantic jerk, I twisted away from their cold eyes to stare blankly into John's nice warm chest instead.
His hands shifted a bit and he shushed me delicately while draping a blanket of his warm magic around me as best he could to drive away their angry stares at last.

I didn't acknowledge it outwardly but even in my guilty haze I had enough mind to reach out with my strangely muted feeling magic to pull the ‘blanket’ closer around myself for comfort.

I’m alive and I won.. but at what cost?
Why doesn’t it FEEL like I bloody won?!

I feel dirty inside, the residue of more than a thousand dead mages haunting me from the inside out!
It’s a stink that feels like I’ll never be able to get clean from!

How did Al deal with this?
This horrible clawing, nauseating guilt?!

Despite what I said, despite my actions and my thoughts at the time, I'm not a monster.
I'm just Hannah, I've just done something horrible to save the world for the first time in my incarnation’s lifetime and it doesn’t feel like a victory in the slightest!

No matter.. no matter what happens now, I have to accept that about myself.
I have to accept it and the fact that whatever innocence I have left in me is now forever tainted by this.. this gnawing guilt that HURTS so damn much!

No matter the reason. I just murdered a LOT of people.. in revenge?.. of all things I did it for revenge and hatred, and to give all my suffering meaning at last.
Words are pretty but facts are facts.

Al would be so disappointed in me for this.

Maybe Pastor Roberts was right all those years ago after all?
Alice is bad.. Alice has always been bad and she just proved it!

"..Alice is bad.."
I rolled in John’s arms slightly so my eyes could trail along the practically mummified trail of bodies piled up around us again, memorising each one as best I could to burn them into my memory for all time.. my punishment for what I’ve done..
“I'm sorry”

"Huh? You say something Han?”
Part of me wanted to smile at his obliviousness but a much larger part of me just wanted to curl into a ball and cry instead.. so that's what I did..

John walked, I cried and the world kept turning until finally I gave in to the exhaustion I could feel crashing in around me at long last by falling into a fitful sleep filled with accusingly blank eyes and the fearful cries of my ‘victims’.

A mantra formed up, echoed by those same wailing voices in my head to the point of utter madness.
‘Alice is bad’
‘Alice is bad’

‘Alice. is. Bad!’

======

“Han? Where are you going?”
I smiled at him as best I could, trying to keep my nerves and the tremble in my hands as hidden as possible.

“I’m just going to bed John, don’t worry.”
For a long moment he inspected my face, it took everything I had to not crack and start crying again under his scrutiny.
“I’m tired that’s all. We can sort everything out in the morning, okay? I’m glad Sarah’s going to be okay and Eris too but I just need to rest now.”

I need some alone time.
If I didn’t know full well that he’d stop me I’d have warped out to one of my boltholes the moment my head started to clear honesty..

I really AM glad to hear that Sarah’s okay, but I can’t face her right now.
I can’t face anyone.

I just want to be alone, I j-just need to be alone!

“..Han..”
It all got too much for me, with that one simple word, my name of all things, he broke me.
It was said with all the care and worry he could muster tucked tightly behind it and a ragged breath left me again as I turned to run away from him before I could just collapse into him like the useless puddle of guilt that I feel like right about now.
“HAN!”

He was too slow to catch me for once.
With barely a few steps I was through the doorway into my realm at last.

The world inside our elevator seemed to brighten to greet me for a moment but before anything else could go wrong or John could catch me the magic of this realm, my magic, surged up to form a rift in the air just like the ones I learnt to create in my mindscape while fighting Arista and I sprinted into it as it snapped shut tightly behind me.

I just want to be alone!

That’s all, just alone for a while so I can lick my wounds and avoid having to face S-Sarah or anything else that I’ve got coming as a result of the last few days.
I need to work.. I need to focus on something that isn’t messed up beyond all reasoning like my bloody LIFE is right now, is that so much to ask?!

Another rift opened up before me, leading into a wide room set up like a rather large workshop that I’m pretty sure didn’t exist until a moment ago.
It didn’t matter though, I sprinted through the opening anyway and the moment it snapped shut behind me I let out a heavy sigh before sinking to the floor and curling up into a tight ball so I could cry or sleep or.. or ANYTHING, just something other than the guilt that just won’t leave me ALONE!

‘Alice was bad’

======

Left? Right?
Door’s shut, no sound from outside.. I think I’m clear..

Like a nervous little rodent I sprinted out of the rift that had formed between the void that holds my workshop and one of the lesser used food storage areas of my realm.

John’s obviously found a new way to track me faster because the last two times I went on a food run he’s popped up far too quickly for my liking.
I tried to make a bracelet that hid my magical signature completely but he still bloody found me so I’ve got no choice but to be quick about things sadly.

With a grunt I snatched up a bag of potatoes to toss into the rift followed closely by a chunk of magically preserved meat.
That should keep me going for another week or so at least!
Maybe two if I stretch it out a bit an-

“HANNAH?!”

“SHIT!”
The door to the storage room crashed open as a panting John burst through it at full sprint.
I barely had time to dive through the rift and have it snap closed at me heels before he would have actually gotten within grabbing range this time.

“It’s getting bloody dangerous, I need to find a better solution for this.. maybe I can find a way to create food from nothing? Sure, it won’t have much nutritional content but it’s better than.. well, nothing?.. at least.”

Ari’s continued silence and the strange feeling of my stupid broken core pulsing in tandem with what I can only imagine is my now fully ‘activated’ Locus Point, was truly maddening for the second or two that I allowed myself to pay them any attention, luckily that didn’t last long and with a grunt from me the potato sack with accompanying meat slab floated into the air from the ambient magic of my realm alone, to follow behind me slowly as I made my way back towards my lab.

“..Stupid persistent John..”

======

My stomach rumbled loudly again, followed quickly by a tight hunger pang that I’ve come to realise is an indicator that I forgot to eat again, AND that I’m a few days off from my next joyful visit from Mother Nature.

Slowly I set the pocket wardstone I’ve been working on aside and lay my head down on the desk.
I didn’t get much sleep last night, or the night before.. week?.. month maybe?

John’s got this whole tracking thing down by now.
I can barely open a rift at all anymore before he comes flying in out of nowhere to try and bloody grab me!

“What do you think little guy? Think it’s worth trying?”
My roommate ‘stared’ blankly back at me for a moment or two before snapping his mouth a few times to flash his teeth in that strange way that I’m starting to find at least somewhat ‘cute’ as time goes on.
“You’re right. Everything’s worth a try, no progress without risk, huh?”

Slowly I rose my hand up and as my magic rolled excitedly around the room a rift about the size of my palm formed up at just the right height for me to quickly shove my fist through.
I’d barely gotten my wrist past the opening before my hand came into contact with something hard and someone let off a startled yelp of pain in response, frantically I spread my fingers out and grabbed the first thing I could feel before yanking my arm back out and letting the rift close once more.

“SCORE! Fresh cooked chicken leg, come to Mommy!”
My roommate flapped his awkwardly wide ‘tongue’ out at me hungrily but I was already two bites into the drumstick and there’s no bloody WAY I’m sharing!

It’s not like he really needs to eat or anything anyway, stupid greedy little bastard!

“Hunger problem solved, now if I could only work out these thrust calculations at last, finish the dagger prototype and find some permanent solution to stop this stupid body from bleeding so badly every month I’ll be golden.”
Meat finally gone to the great abyss of my grateful stomach I paused with the bone to stare at my dopy looking roommate with his surprisingly expressive ‘face’ turned towards me pleadingly.

Finally after a long pause to consider him I waved the bone back and forth a few times before tossing it over to him so he could snatch it out of the air.
The bone disappeared quickly and his mouth finally stayed shut for once as he got to work digesting it; that should keep him busy for a day or two at least!

“I really should get around to naming you, shouldn’t I?”
He ignored me, much more focused on what little meat remained on his bone then my voice, not that I can blame him really, I’m not even sure if he understands me or not honestly?
“How about Darren?.. hmm, no, you don’t look like a Darren on second thought.. how about-”

======

==

==

==

==
And, cut! Roll credits!
======


Executive Producer... Nessa M

Screenplay by... Nessa M

Fact checking and location information by... G Oogle

Script Supervisor... Licorice

English Translation by... Anam Chara

Alternative language Translation by... G Oogle

Theme tune by... Y Outube

Best boy... John (as if he’d let anyone else claim it)

Dolly Grip... Eris (she won’t let go!)

Boom! Operator... WHO GAVE SARAH EXPLOSIVES?!

Graphics designer... *Placeholder*

Breakdown Artist... Hannah (*sigh* too easy..)

Key Hair Stylist... The other Sarah from the salon, I guess?

In loving memory of:
Hannah’s Mum

Edith

The thousands of extra’s that died during filming for the final act due to an unfortunate miscalculation on just how well magic works in the real world, because we forgot to hire a special effects guy.

In smug memory of:
Arista, may her core fragment disintegrate over a septic tank of some description for all eternity.

Special thanks to:

All of the readers who got this far! :3
See you all in the sequel!

Nessa M

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Comments

You so totally.......

D. Eden's picture

Have me hooked Hon. Can't wait to see more!

D

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Crazy coda

Podracer's picture

All I can think to say is ;D

"Reach for the sun."

a win that doesnt feel like a win

darn it. I was hoping for a James Bond ending with her and John boy about to do the beast with two backs when the screen fades to black ...

DogSig.png

OK inserting size 10's into appropriate mouth

I've yet to see the story of the two volcano gods playing catch.. I think the hairy "brother?" is one of those rock tosser's???
Geeesch!! Hannah: You know John's you best friend and feels so nice n warm.. Do we really need to take up so much of "season #2"
to get you to realize and accept your "mate" as such?? Huh??

alissa

Very cool, a great little

Very cool, a great little story and we also get to see the credits and who did what. Now that makes it all come together in my very humble opinion.

Magic is.. getting a final comment roundup.

Hi Everyone!
No mix up title this time but hopefully still a worthwhile roundup to read :)

It feels really weird to know that, come Monday next week, I won't be posting up another chapter to worry over once more lol
Writing and posting has become part of my weekly rhythm and that's going to be a strange thing to step away from for a while.

I just want to say that I've loved every minute of the story so far, not for the plot, but because of the reception it's gotten from all of you :)
Kinda hard to believe that this was all going to be a one-shot challenge entry from a first-time author a year ago or so, huh?

I want to thank all of you for your support, your input and comments along with your continuing interest as we go on into the next stage of Hannah's life once the sun stops trying to melt us all into puddles for another year lol

The BC community is so open and welcoming that even back when this all started and I was having a virtual panic attack over each kudos or sitting on the 'refresh' button all night to keep an eye on the story and comment section to the detriment of my sleep cycle and work ethic in general, I've never felt discouraged by anyone or anything which has happened even when constructive criticism was involved ;)

That all being said, lets get on to the comments, shall we?

====

I'm glad your hooked still D :)
Shame you've got so long to wait until the next part now, huh? lol
Hopefully it's worth the wait.

From what I've heard about the currently completed chapter of the new season, from our ever helpful 'Script Supervisor' Licorice, it should be an enjoyable and very Hannah-like start if nothing else ;3

====

Is it bad my first thought on your title there were:
Why is Pod calling me a Crazy 'little Bear'? lol

I had to google it because I knew that couldn't be right (turns out the Coda I was thinking of is spelt with a 'K' instead) but on the plus side I just learnt a new and rather useful music word! :)
Thanks for the comment Pod, I'd send you a wink back but I get the feeling I'm using too many smiley faces at the moment as it is lol

====

Oh, I could just picture it now Dot... in fact, didn't Hannah have a fantasy about John being James Bond and her his knee-perched eye-candy while he played cards before 'entertaining her' in certain ways?

Pretty sure she'd put up a bit of a fight, secretly I get the feeling she'd love the 'romance' of it all at this point though... but then it's hard to judge which way she's going to go sometimes isn't it? lol

Leading into Alissa's comment, we can all only hope that she doesn't spend the whole of Season #2 dancing around the idea of the beast with two backs when her 'mate' is involved :)
Knowing her she'd spend the entire time obsessing over it and completely miss some massive world events, simply because she was far too busy focusing on not-focusing on John in general ;3

====

I'm not sure I'd say it's a foot-in-mouth situation Alissa lol
You had to get one more interesting theory in before we go into the break didn't you? ;)

You're right that the volcano god's, both the 'supposedly dead' one from Crater Lake called 'Llao' and the currently uncertain-but-possibly-still-alive but definitely powerful one of Mt.Shasta 'Skell', may have something to say about someone interrupting the millennia long ceasefire in their hot rock tossing fight at some point lol

This mysterious hairy 'brother' is definitely... mysterious... isn't he?
I think we can safely say that *spoilers*, I mean *spoilers* and if you take into account *spoilers* *spoilers*.
Huh?... Oh well, I tried, guess we'll just have to wait and find out after all Alissa ;) lol

Even Mr Mysterious Brother recognised John's status as her 'Mortal mate', it's really just a matter of time and Hannah's stubbornnes...s..
..Oh Powers..
It's going to take until Season Twenty-Seven before she admits she kinda likes him publicly at all, isn't it?

Damn Hannah and her mule-ish personality! lol
Hopefully things work out somehow though Alissa.
Thanks for all your comments again and the rather fun theories to go with them of course, hope you have a good summer :)

====

I've got to admit the 'credits' part was a kind of last minute but I rather like them now that their done too Janice :3
I'm thankful for your humble opinion and I'm glad you enjoyed the 'little' story until the end lol

======

It's been a fun ride everyone.
I'll still be around and hopefully getting some smaller bits done in the process, but generally I really am ready to take a nice big gasp of air and rest my poor aching keyboard fingers at last.

632,651 words, 1,883 pages of A4 paper at the last rough count.

Just two chapters short of beating the original French copy of 'Les Misérables' apparently and, if our esteemed fact checker G.Oogle can be trusted at this point, then approximately half of the total 'Harry Potter' series on word count alone and about nine chapters longer then the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy (including the hobbit) naturally.

Hell, we beat the apparently un-readably long 'War and Peace' by 70k words and (much to my amusement) we're 40k words longer then the entire Twilight series... with much better vampires.. ;)
While that's a lot of fact and figures which come across as just a LITTLE bit smug on my side of things, my point is that you've all amazed and impressed me by sticking in through THAT much text to read for so long with such zeal. And just think; there's more to come too! :3

I'll leave you all with that slightly horrifying thought, lol
I've gone on far too long at this point, might have to change this from a 'comment' into a 'short story' if I keep going.

Thank you all for everything you've done to help keep Hannah's Journey going over the last year or so and I hope you all enjoy the season to come just as much when it's finally ready to start rolling.
Nessa M

Roll the second credit roll

You know the one that's just a big block of text scrolling to fast to read where every name involved in the movie can be found?

Now if I remember correctly there was a promise of a prize when I finished the story. Management has made an exception and will allow me to know about it. However I will not be allowed to actually receive it... At least I think that's what they ment. There's not very much difference between the request approved rune and the seal of a cursed soul... So it might just be them notifying me of my impending therapy session...

Now to a way to big amount of waiting.

-Winlyn

Roll call!

Welcome to the after-credits Winlyn!

I could be cruel and go on about other things for my own amusement first but you deserve the promised prize at this point :)
Luckily it's nothing physical or hard to sneak past the management guards hopefully so you should be okay with it, cursed soul rune or request approval seal included lol

The prize is... *drum roll please*...
A special edition 'catch-up' document stolen directly from Hannah's first ever attempt at a Mage's log-book, scanned in by your's truly, and the first chapter of the new season!

Hopefully its worth the effort and the 'excruciatingly long wait' of a day or so that you put in! :)
Seeing as you've got the story freshest in your mind I think you might get a bit more fun out of he log-books description of events considering Hannah's rather lackluster attempt at providing 'details' without getting distracted in the process for various reasons but it's also there to help everyone else get on your level if they need a refresher after such a long break too lol

Both parts should be up within the next hour or so, just got to do my usual formatting stuff etc first and I'm a bit rusty on that front.
Congrats on reaching the top of the mountain for the second time Winlyn!... it's all downhill from here, literally :3 lol

Nessa