Saving the day (Luther and Darcie)

Luther had found out about the attack on the Durmstrang ship as it was happening. He'd even been able to get onto the ship with a few of his soldiers. They'd killed or captured several of the British Rebels, who were currently being interrogated. He had slammed through every single door in the ship to try and find her but he was too late.

Viktor Nickel, an instructor at the school, informed him that Darcie had been taken by the leader of the British Rebels. So while people in the ministry were trying to congratulate him on saving the lives of the children, Luther was already on his way to Britain.

Since he'd met Darcie in the bar Luther had thought that she was someone he'd like to 'bump into' more. To that end he'd cast a descrete tracking charm so that he'd be able to run into her more. This would mean more talking and more talking with Darcie would means more of that wonderfully happy feeling.

But it was paying it's way in other ways right now. Right now he was crouched down behind a guard in the middle of a graveyard. Honestly. Guards in a graveyard... were they asking to be attacked? Sneaking up behind the man, Luther lunged forwards. One hand clamped over the man's mouth and, positioning the other on the side of his face, Luther twisted, snapping the man's neck with ease.

The fact that there were two guards standing next to a crypt entrance kind of gave something away. Deciding to be stealthy, Luther reached the fence surrounding the graveyard and pulled one of the spiked sections out cleaning. Getting a feel for it's weight, Luther threw it with his enhanced strength. It impaled one of the guards through the stomach, pinning him to the stone of the entrance.

When the other guard went to check on his companion, Luther rushed him almost silently. By the time the remaining guard turned it was too late. His right hand came up and grabbed the man by the front of the face, covering his mouth and dragging the man to the ground. Luther looked around to see if an alarm had been sounded while, without looking, his metallic right hand closed, crushing the man's skull and killing him instantly.

Now fairly sure that he wasn't going to be interrupted, Luther pressed his ear to the door. He needed to build up a picture of what it was like in the large interior before he just charged in.

Darcie whimpered slightly, she absolutely hated where she was stuck right now, she felt as if she was going to pass out again, but then she pressed her face to the cool stone of the sarcophagi that she was thrown in when the guards had brought her here.

What was even worse was that they had not thought to empty the tomb before they had put her inside, so she was very aware of the skull in front of her face, and the rapidly decreasing amount of oxygen in the small space in which she was being kept, trying to keep herself calm she could not hear a thing outside, only her muffled breathing.

A feeling of dizziness crept over her and she was scared that this would be a black out she would not wake up from as she went under, giving out a faint sort of moan as she fainted again, her wounds from the fight still sore and the bruises were now developing.

Luther heard the sound of a rather heated debate going on behind the door he was listen in on. Two men involved. One wanted to open the door and the other wanted to lock it with new locks and hide. It looked like the one who wanted to make an ambush was winning and Luther didn't know any other entrances to the place.

Throwing caution to the wind, Luther punched straight through the solid wood door and wrapped his metallic arm around the next of one of the men. With all of his strength he pulled, breaking the door as he yanked the man through. Dropping the man, Luther's wand sprang up in his free hand, banishing the second man into one of the stone sarcophagus so hard that the stone actually cracked.

Or maybe it was the man's bones.

The first man was trying to get to his feet. Luther knelt down and grabbed the man by the back of the head. Without a hint of regret, he lifted the man's head before slamming it straight onto the edge of a step. Needless to say, the man was dead.

Stalking into the tomb, Luther picked the last man up by his face and effortlessly held him off of his feet against the sarcophagi,

"Which one?" He demanded coldly. The man shook his head so Luther used his other hand and broke one of the man's fingers, "Wrong answer. Which one?"

It took another three fingers before the man gestured to one of the sarcophagi. Luther looked at the man,

"Thank you." He said simply before slamming the man's head against the stone and cracking his head open like an egg. Moving over to the right one, Luther gripped the stone tightly and pulled. It was hard. It actually tested the strength of his arms for a second or two. Before it broke away cleaning. Two bodies fell out and Luther immediately caught them both. Frowning, he threw away the old one before gently shaking Darcie, "Darcie? Darcie it's Luther... can you hear me?"

Darcie could only see and feel around her a sort of crushing blackness, she could not hear anything but muffled tinny sounds of things slamming and breaking all around her and for a moment her thoughts lingered to the fight on the ship, was she still there? Her eyes felt so heavy they were unable to open, despite she had tried to about five times, her breathing was soft and not frequent enough to be healthy.

Then she felt herself falling, and in her fall, even her thoughts seemed to be drvien away from her mind as a fresh bout of dizziness overcame her, and her body went completely limp as she went into a faint again.

Laying Darcie down gently on her back, Luther began to heal what he could. He managed to heal a rather nasty concusion that was probably the reason she kept fainting. Along with that his healing magic was able to cover the worst of her cuts.

Luther was tempted to revive Darcie straight away but then he considered the state of the place. She was a sensative and lovely person. Some would say she was naive even but the fact of the matter was that if she saw the guards as they were she'd probably either faint again or freak out.

Deciding on something with a little bit of a flair, Luther transfigured the bodies, the two outside the door as well, into funeral arrangement flowers which he then threw into the corner so that she was less likely to see them. Flowers were out of place and she was intelligent, she might figure out what they really were. Now sure that the environment was suitable for Darcie, he cast a few healing spells to gently wake her up,

"Darcie... come back to me Darcie." he whispered quietly, "It's Luther. I'm here for you."

Darcie groaned a little and she felt herself rousing from her faint, she wondered how she knew she had fainted, but that was not the most important thing to think of at the moment, the most important thing was to figure out who it was that was waking her up. Groggily she heard someone speaking to her and as she became more and more aware she knew it was Luther.

Opening her eyes she looked up at him and blinked for a few moments before trying to get up and looking around where she was she suddenly remembered what had happened in between her being put into that horrible coffin.

A little shakily Darcie wrapped her arms around one of Luthers taking deep breaths, but pretty soon she was fairly sure that she was hyperventilating.

"L...L...luther!" she gasped.

Luther knew that Darcie was going to be a little bit panicked but she was looking wide eyed and breathless. He pulled her closer to him in order to give her a light hug. The action was not something that happened often but he felt that it would be good for him to hug her to help her calm down.

He gently rubbed at her back as he held her. Of course his eyes were constantly darting around the room checking for threats but that was something that he always did. Luther nodded,

"Yes it's me Darcie." he told her quietly but firmly, "It's alright Darcie... you're safe. You're safe and you can breathe slowly because there's plenty of air to go around."

He cupped her cheek as gently as he could, which actually turned out to be pretty gentle, with his gloved hand,

"Calm down Darcie and come back to me alright?"

Darcie, when she was hugged into Luther and her back was rubbed she began to calm down a little bit, she took large steadying breaths and she wiped the tears that had started to run down her cheeks away, it was so horrible what they had done to her and she didn't even know why it had been done.

Unable to stop herself Darcie nuzzled her cheek into Luthers hand and she quickly darted forwards to hug him properly wrapping her hands about his shoulders tightly and not wanting to ever let go, she was so happy that he had managed to come and help her.

"W-what happened? Is everyone okay? What about Mikhail, and the students a-are they alright did the Besturmen get there in time?" she asked quickly, not really caring about the ordeal that she had gone through as long as her friends were alright.

Luther was glad that he was able to calm Darcie down a little bit just by giving her a hug and rubbing her back. This environment was still 'hot' in that it still had the potential to contain enemies. He really didn't want to be here longer than they had to be because of that.

He watched, detached, as Darcie nuzzled her cheek into his hand. Luther smiled slightly in as convincing a way as he possibly could. It hurt to know that she was nuzzling his hand, being gentle with him, and he couldn't feel it. Of course when she hugged him tightly about his shoulders he felt that and couldn't help but smile slightly more,

"You were captured by British Rebels and taken to a graveyard in Britain." he told her before raising an eyebrow. She was more concerned about the others than herself it seemed, "Mikhail is fine, no injuries. The children are also fine. No fatalities and only one injury which was then healed by one of my medics when I arrived with my men. I got there in time with my men but thankfully the attack wasn't too well planned. They had only a few good fighters to our many. Now..."

He leant down and scooped Darcie up so that he was carrying her in his arms,

"Where to then Darcie?"

Darcie was not surprised that she was ablle to be kidnapped, after all she was pretty much useless at all spell work and she had managed to hold out for a long time before she had given in and been taken, there was however the idea that was niggling at the back of her mind, it was so strange why they would pick her!

"Oh I'm so glad to hear that they are all alright, I dont think I could bare it if one of them was not okay...and the children especially, did many of them manage to use my portkey?" she asked, in a hopeful voice eager to know she might have helped.

Gasping when she was picked up, darcie let her head rest against Luthers shoulder and she blinked up at him, not knowing quite where she should tell him to take her, she honestly didn't mind...although she thought getting back to Germany would be a good idea;

"Uhm...could we ust go back to Germany, does the Minister or the Highmaster need to see me or something?" she asked a little unsure of what to do "I...I just dont know what to do or where to go now."

Luther was quite surprised that Darcie had been kidnapped if he was honest, she was an intelligent woman. There must have been some reason for her to have been targetted enough to be taken but he couldn't think of why it was,

"Yes they are all safe and I'm happy to say that so are you Darcie." he nodded with a small smile, "Almost all of the lower years linked together to use it."

He looked down at her when she gasped, concerned that he'd missed an injury that had caused her pain enough to gasp. But she was fine and was resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled a little bit and shook his head,

"The minister and highmaster will want your side of the story but I'll ask you the questions in the comfort of your own home for your benefit Darcie." he told her, "Before we go... did you see if they took anyone else?"

Darcie was more than a little upset that there might have been someone else taken and she just had not noticed it, after all it was highly possible that there was something wrong with her preceptions after she had been under sttack for so long, and she had of course been stunned on her way here.

Biting her lip she shook her head however; "I'm sorry I don't think there was anyone else, but I'm worried in case there was and they are in a lot of pain or something....you don't think that another instructor was taken do you?"

When he told her that the questions would be asked in ehr own home Darcie nodded her head and she nuzzled her head against Luthers chest, whispering her address in his ear and smiling gently up at him;

"PLease excuse if there are any messy piles of underwear or stuff in my home, I didn't think I would be having a visitor." she laughed lightly.

Luther was of the mind that there was no one else of importance here. Darcie was important, to him and to others, and he had rescued her. He asked if she knew of any others simply because it was something that he could see the rebels doing. He shook his head,

"There was no one else missing from the ship." he told her in a reassuring manner, "I was merely asking to see if you heard anything. They might have attacked somewhere else. But I can't see any evidence of anyone else and when I asked they said there was only you. And they weren't about to lie to me."

Seeing that she was comforted by the fact that the questions would be asked in her own home. He listened attentively as she told him her address. He smiled slightly and nodded,

"Don't worry..." he disapparated with a pop and appeared in front of her home with Darcie still in his arms, "Mine is messier I assure you. Is there a key?"

Darcie smiled happily to herself when he told her that there was nobody else missing from the ship, it was nice to know that everyone was safe now, it was something that she hoped was going to happen, even though she would have loved it if the attack didn't have to happen at all.

When they apparated over to the home she lived in, Darcie smiled and she was glad to see the house, more like a large flat, it was a big old manor house, however there was an extention charm on the flat that she lived in. Pointing to the stairs Darcie smiled slightly and ran her hands through her hair.

"Just up the stairs, Flat 2." she said, and when he asked if she had a key, Darcie bit her lip and flushed a little bitm it wasn't the nicest of areas that she lived in, it was quite rough which is why she could afford to live in this large house...

Which would tend to make people concerned when she said she usually left her door unlocked; "Uhm no I leave the door unlocked to the flat."

Luther wasn't very concerned with the other people on the ship even though he knew that he probably should be. They were outside of his bubble and people outside of his bubble were none of his concern 80% of the time. Of course he wouldn't go out of his way to hurt them either, they just weren't a priority.

He nodded and set Darcie down on her feet a little bit reluctantly. He wanted to carry her all the way but she'd probably say that it was bad for him or something just as caring,

"Flat 2. Gotcha." he started to lead the way up the stairs with Darcie behind him. Call him paranoid... and you'd be right. Luther wasn't about to let Darcie go first when this was clearly a rough neighbourhood. When she told him that she left the door unlocked he was within touching distance of the door. He froze, "What?"

It wasn't a second after the question had left his lips that the door exploded in splinters as a cutting curse came hurtling towards him. Acting instinctively, Luther brought his arm up and caught the spell on his right forearm. Punching forwards with his left arm, through a fire spell, he clocked the guy in the jaw, sending him sprawling. Luther, his overcoat's sleeves now thoroughly destroyed so that his metallic arms were visible, knelt down and dropped a portkey on the unconscious man and he disappeared. He hurried Darcie inside and repaired the door before conjuring four locks. He locked them all before sighing and looking down at his exposed arms,

"I hope you'll remember to lock you door from now on."

Darcie smiled when she was set down on the floor, she was now very happy and content, she was no longer dizzy and she knew that she was going to be able to walk up to her flat with relative ease, she often felt kind of dizzy when she had been doing some sort of exercise, like walking from her fathers here.

She was about to explain why she didn't lock the door when something happened, her eyes widened and she just stood there in shock...that...that trap was meant for her? T-they wanted to kill her than badly? Darce barely even registered what was happening until it was all over and she was inside her flat.

Moving her gaze to Luther Darcie looked at his arms and tilted her head to one side, but didn't mention the fact they were replacements, now the broken glass made so much sense, letting herself slide down onto her knees on the floor, Darcie stared silently at the door;

"Oh my god, I'm going to die...aren't I?"

Luther could see that Darcie was shaken up by the fact that someone had thought to leave an agent behind at her appartment. To be honest he was surprised as well. He honestly hadn't expected anyone to find out where she lived, let alone stake it out.

He moved over to where she was on her knees on the floor. Seeing that she wasn't going to pick herself up anytime soon, he sat down beside her on the floor and shook his head as he fished out a cigarette,

"You're not going to die." he assured her, wrapping an arm around her to hug her to his side as he simply held the unlit cigarette in his other hand, "I won't let you die Darcie. We shall have our defense classes. I can ward your home with the best wards possible. I can have you relocated to a safe house that only I can find. I can even take you into my home if you would like."

Darcie for one time in her life...was actually getting pretty angry, but in her anger she was also getting more and more upset with herself, she wanted to be safe and happy like she was three hours ago, on her way home on the Durmstrang ship to start her new soothsaying ideas for the fourth year classes.

Now her whole world was turned on its head and she hated it, she really felt her heart grow heavy when she realised she would never be able to...to do anything ever again without putting herself and the people around her in danger and she couldn't help but start to cry, silent tears streaming down her face.

Wiping at her hands as some tears plipped onto them Darcie looked at the cigarette and shook her head; "Please don't smoke in here, it makes it smell disgusting and it's a bad habit for anyone to have anyway, it makes you sick you know and I wont promote it in my house." she whispered.

Ignoring Luther Darcie just shook her head;

"I'm going to die when I leave the house anyway...what's the point, you might as well just go home, I'll be here, with my door unlocked like always."

Luther could tell that Darcie wasn't handling this well. But what was to be expected? She had never had anything like this ever happen to her. How was she supposed to react when it was all so new to her? And happening so fast too. To him this kind of thing, being attacked, was something that happened every other day. But not Darcie. Darcie was a good person and she didn't deserve this to happen to her.

As she cried he held her to him a little bit tighter in the one armed hug. He reached up as gently as he could and managed to wipe away a single tear with a feather-light touch. Looking down at the unlit cigarette he nodded in agreement,

"I agree. It is a terrible habit, it is an addictive drug that slowly kills." he put the cigarette away, "I don't smoke, but I used to. It gives my fingers something to do."

He looked at her,

"I want you to feel safe again Darcie. Let me take you to a safe house or even my house. Or at least let me put defences up here."

Darcie just walked into her bedroom and decided to switch off from everything, there was porbably some sort of trap in here that would stab her as soon as she walked in but she really didn't care right now, she had been a good person all her life, why would she be hurt so by the laws of the fates? Why would they put so much pain into her life.

Sittig on her bed, Darcie kicked off her high top shoes and simply curled up under the covers, staring at the bedside table as she lay on her side, with a small sigh she resigned herself to what had happened to her and she was sure that after some sleep she would be back to normal, once she was sure that the British wanted nothing more to do with her, if she was still okay by the morning this must be true.

Luther watched Darcie move into her bedroom. He'd seen that type of walk before. It was the walk of the 'walking wounded'. They were people who had been hit hard by something mentally and the effects of it just wouldn't go away. He moved from his position on the floor to stand in the doorway to her bedroom.

Seeing that the covers had fallen slightly, Luther pulled the covers up and tucked her in slightly before taking a step back. He looked at her silently for a few moments,

"I'll be here Darcie." he told her in a whisper before moving back into the living area. He moved the sofa along so that when he sat down in the middle, his wand in his left hand and his unlit cigarette in the other, he was facing the door. It was already locked with magical locks, four of them, so it wasn't going to open until he willed it to. But still, it would give Darcie some measure of security. So he stayed there, silently twirling his unlit cigarette.

Darcie jolted awake and she gasped, she was suddenly awake and the nightmare that she had been dreaming was over, she really had thought that she had been captured againa but she was glad to find that she was in her bedroom and she was just happilt lying in the warmth of her bed, slipping off her jeans and her clothes from last night Darcie placed her pj's on and she sighed happily.

Then she remembered that Luther was here and she peked out of the bedroom door, her pjs were a short and tank top set, with little pictures of sleepy cartoon cats on them, seeing him still there she wondered if she should wake him or not.

It was strange...but she wanted him to be with her in her bed, it was warm and snuggly and she had so many questions to ask that she forgot to last night...she felt she had been so rude and she was so upset about it she wanted to make him as happy as possible in return for her rude behaviour.

Luther had been watching the door all night even though he'd put charms on it almost immediately to warn him if anyone was even anywhere near it. He heard Darcie wake up from a nightmare and glanced at the door to her room. Seeing that there was no danger he looked back down at himself. He'd gotten rid of his unlit cigarette awhile ago, his metallic hands hand crushed it when he'd lost concentration for a second.

Feeling that he was being watched, Luther kept his eyes mostly closed as he looked at Darcie in her innocent PJs. He had to suppress a smirk and was only partially successful. Unable to hide his small smirk, he opened his eyes to look right at her,

"Good evening Darcie. Well... technically it's morning so good morning." he greeted her, waving his metallic hand slightly, "You had a bad dream? Would you like me to tuck you in again?"

Darcie blushed when Luther woke up and she placed her thumb in her mouth, biting the top of it lightly as he asked her if she wanted him to tuck her in again, she really did want him to, she would feel so much safer with him in the room, and she wanted to make sure that he understood how sorry she was.

Skipping over to him she wrapped her hand in his and made to try and tug him up from the sofa, although the hand was metal and it was a little odd for her at first, now she saw him again, Darcie really had gotten used to the idea, the only question was how had it happened?

"I want you to come and stay in bed with me." she said quietly with a small blush "I would feel safer if you were with me in my room."

When she had finished Darcie moved back into her still warm covers and playfully looked up at Luther through the top of them wiggling around in the covers to get warm once more. Patting the space on the double bed next to her, Darcie smiled gently.

"Its nice and warm, I promise its comfy too."

Luther smirked a little bit when Darcie blushed, she had apparently thought he had been asleep and was embarassed about being caught. She was looking very cute at the moment too, especially with the way she was biting the top of her thumb gently.

When she skipped over to him he raised an amused eyebrow until she wrapped her hand around one of his metal ones. He glanced away for a few seconds. When she didn't immediately recoil or let go he turned back to her and smiled slightly.

"Stay in bed with you?" he asked, blinking a few times. Seeing that she meant it in the way he'd expected of her, totally innocently, he smiled and nodded slightly, "If it will make you feel safer than I will."

Watching her slide underneath the covers, Luter had to admit that it was very tempting. Deciding to jump in, he removed his overcoat and hung it up on the door. He slid into the bed on the side of the bed, not quite touching Darcie for now,

"It is rather warm." he agreed with a small smile, "I hope this will make you feel safer as well as make me feel comfier."