Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Madison: The Lost Tra'lapp ❯ Mathew Acreage ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2/?

 

 

Demetrius splashed in the covered hot tub and said “I'll have to start at the basics since your mother didn't tell you anything about our world.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Roxanna interrupted.

 

Demetrius gave her a stern look and said “Let me finish, Miss Roxie! Everything will be explained, I promise.”

 

Roxie sat back with a sheepish smile.

 

Demetrius cleared his throat and said “So, about our world.” He paused with a significant look at Roxie before continuing. “The world I come from is known as Tra, located in a dimension parallel to this one. Tra is full of magic, and it's been very clear from the start that without clear leadership, things fell to pieces. War, rampages, lots of orphans, really bad stuff.”

 

Demetrius ducked back under the steamy water of the hot tub for a second to catch his breath, and Madison considered the implications of what he had said. Damn, three minutes into his explanation and she was already having trouble grasping it. Magic was real? How could she believe that? How could she not believe it, with evil bitches rising up left and right? Even Roxie obviously believed it, brown eyes wide with wonder.

 

Demetrius popped up out of the water with a murmured “Mm, this water is warm, and I really like the bubbles! Anyway, Tra needed leadership, and several of the strongest rose up to, err, “volunteer” their services.

 

“More like demand, huh?” Roxie said sympathetically.

 

“Right about that, Miss Roxie. Anyway, they weren't evil, simply the strongest and smartest. Edan became the first Tra'ayne which means “world of fire” in the language of Tra.”

 

Roxie frowned and asked dubiously “Did you say train?”

 

Demetrius dove underwater and came back up saying “No, Tra'ayne. Anyway, Tra'ayne Edan was a very wise ruler. He had legions of impatient fire users under his command, and to keep them from getting restless he created several athletic contests and artistic conventions. Ayne is now famous for its parades. Great place to vacation.”

 

Madison sighed impatiently and said “Can we just skip to the juicy part, please? Like, how my dad ended up missing, how my mom is involved, who that Hag was, and what a Tra'lapp is? I don't want to be at Roxie's all night. I've got cats to feed.” Madison scowled when Demetrius' only response was the smile widely at her, pearly whites sparkling. “What?”

 

“Oh, it's just that you're just like your father. Impatient, intelligent...you even have a feline, although not a tiger the way your father did. Tigers love water.” Demetrius replied.

 

Roxie raised an eyebrow. “Mathew never owned a tiger.”

 

“He did in Tra,” Demetrius countered.

 

Madison interrupted with a sharp, “That's all very nice, but I still haven't heard my questions answered.”

 

Demetrius ducked back under the water of the hot tub and came back up shaking water from his soggy blonde hair and flicking his glittering tail. “I was going too, if I could finish.” Demetrius paused, waiting to see if there would be objections, then continued. “Along with Tra'ayne Edan of fire, there was Tra'aener Makani. She ruled wind and all wind users, very nice lady. Good with kids. There was also Tra'mme Keb of earth; he was always a serious type, but a steady ruler for Mme.”

 

Demetrius' face subtly darkened with anger as he said softly “Lastly, there was the water Tra'lapp Shasa. Before her Corruption she was cunning and mischievous. After her Corruption she slid into scheming, malicious, and evil. Soon she became twisted, and was known as the Hag.” Demetrius ducked back under the water.

 

Madison stood up, needed to move around and work off some nervous energy. This Tra'lapp Shasa, now known as the Hag, is a ruler of an entire empire of people! That was a great deal of responsibility, and only somebody with a clear head should be allowed too. What had gone wrong is this Corruption (and the way Demetrius said it, it was clear this deserved Capital Letters) to make her evil?

 

Roxanna strode confidently over to the hot tub, walked up the steps, and knelt next to the rim of the tub. Demetrius smiled cheerfully as he surfaced next to her.

 

She reached out a mahogany hand and smiled, saying “I realized I never really introduced myself. I'm Roxanna Maxwell, but you can keep calling me Roxie, as long as you drop the miss.”

 

Madison rolled her eyes. “Roxie, you would be nice to the Yeti if he asked you nicely for the blood of innocents.” Madison ignored the black woman's glare with the ease of long practice and stared at the rain outside of the window. The rain had always soothed her, but this torrent seemed angry. No doubt the Hag's doing.

 

Demetrius respectfully shook her hand and said “Hello Roxie, I'm Demetrius Arid of the Western Corner of the Shimmering Sea. It's nice to meet you!”

 

“Oh, the Shimmering Sea sounds like a nice place to live.” Roxie said, curiosity shining in her eyes.

 

Demetrius nodded enthusiastically “Oh, it is nice! The water is so clear, you can see for miles. It's nearly always sunny as well…until the Hag comes on her yearly visits. She visits to keep us in line, you see. Make hurricanes rip through the cities, terrorize the poor Sirens when she says they `sing to loudly' or some other made-up reason. She hates those she says as being only half human, because of her Corruption.”

 

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An emaciated shriveled hand reached up from inside of a puddle and felt around the edge of the water until the searching fingers landed on a shining silver scale. The claw-like fingers closed around the scale, it's luminescent completely hidden in the palm, before the hand slowly sank back whence it came and disappeared with barely a ripple. A soft cackle filled the air.

 

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Madison turned slightly away from the window as she asked Demetrius “Hey, do you know what happened? That Corruption thing, I mean.”

 

Demetrius sighed and shook his golden head. “Nobody knows the full story, but on the day when all the First Tras were supposed to step down and name their successor, she didn't. She claimed that she would stay the Tra'lapp because someone in the successor's family had wronged her. Her successor should have been Mattyu, the only one who had been able to walk through the water version of the Trials.”

 

Roxie gasped and said “Mathew…he's Madison's father!”

 

Demetrius nodded and said “Madison is Mattyu's daughter all right. I don't know why he married and had a child. Maybe it was because he knew the Hag would try to get rid of him so the people couldn't protest her continued rule, and knew his powers had to be passed on. I'm sure he told your mother the whole thing. Why wouldn't he? Madison, your mother is a fairly powerful Earth user. She knew the entire story; she was a citizen of Tra until a little over twenty years. I suppose that's when she married your father and had you.”

 

Madison stared hard out of the window and finally said tightly “The Hag has my father?”

 

Demetrius hesitated, shining blue eyes flicking between Roxie and Madison before he said “It's…very likely. She's been on the throne for over three thousand years, and the last thousand and twelve years of her rule was oppressive. The magic has eaten away at her all those years as it does for any Tra, and my clan and I suspect that she is now increasing her lifespan by feeding the magic through Mattyu-“

 

“Mathew. His name is Mathew Acreage, not Mattyu or whatever you keep calling him.” Madison hissed.

 

Demetrius cast a miserable glance at Roxie's sympathetic face before saying “I suspect she is feeding the magic through your father. When she splashed me with water to turn me back into a merman, the magic felt as though it had a taste of your father in it.”

 

Roxie leapt on that, changing the subject with a curious “She splashed you with water?”

 

Demetrius swam lazy circles around the hot tub and said “Yes, the spell my clan and I use to appear human could be quickly dissolved with water. Would you mind helping me change back? Legs would be handy. I'll need a handful of dry earth and-“

 

Madison suddenly screamed “Get down!” before throwing herself on the carpet. Roxie acted purely on instinct as she dove onto the ground next to the hot tub. Demetrius whirled sharply to face the window Madison had been staring out of just in time to see the window and the wall around it explode, sending shards of glass and slivers of wood into the room. The Hag swooped through the breach, sharp blue eyes peering from a face of wrinkles as she took in the scene: Roxie and Madison on the floor and Demetrius snarling defiantly.

 

The Hag landed almost daintily on the floor and said “So, half-breed, I've found you once more. You should be more careful where you leave these.” A shell bracelet-covered hand threw down one glittering silver scale. The Hag walked slowly over to where Madison was sitting up and suddenly kicked her in the side. Madison fell with a cry of pain.

 

Demetrius snarled “Don't touch her!” even as Roxanna suddenly stood up briefly fell into the stance taught in her advanced kick boxing class, and launched herself at The Hag with a wild cry. The Hag fell back and Roxie's initial punch missed. Roxanna delivered an expert kick to the Hag's solar plexus, and when the Hag wheezed as the wind was viciously knocked out of her, Roxie drove her elbow into the Hag's creased face. The Hag staggered back and Roxie optimized the chance by grabbing Madison's elbow and hauling her back towards the hot tub. Madison quickly recovered and without hesitation, jumped into the pool and wrapped her arms around Demetrius. Roxie joined in, and together they dragged him into the living room and towards the front door.

 

“Hurry, we have to hurry!” Demetrius gasped urgently, “She'll be coming after us as soon as she catches her breath!”

 

“No, do you think?!” Madison snarled.

 

“This is not the time! We have to get to the car!” Roxie yelled, knocking the front door open with a well placed kick.

 

They wrestled Demetrius into the trunk of Madison's black VW, and then suddenly Roxie ran back into the house and disappeared through the broken front door.

 

Madison yelled after her, but she heard nothing as she started the car. The rain suddenly stopped then, swirling around, taking form. The Hag's shrill shriek rang out as the water solidified and began to take a form that was vaguely humanoid. Roxie suddenly shot out of the house, carrying a plastic bag. She crawled into the passenger seat and cried “Go, go!” as the water creature began raising a giant hand. Madison put the car in reverse and stomped the accelerator as Roxie tired the bag-it was full of water, Madison realized-over Demetrius' head.

 

The house exploded.

 

Roxanna's distressed yell rang through the car as the windshield was pelted with pieces of what used to be Roxie's house. Madison managed to avoid any huge parts of the house and swerved around the water-creatures legs. The giant hand was slammed down right next to the car with a shuddering `whoosh' and Madison turned the wheel wildly. The hand rose again, and the Hag's shrieking laughter echoed through the night. Demetrius suddenly began yanking out scales, red blood oozing as he pulled them free. Roxie yelped “What are you doing?” but Demetrius kept yanking at them. When he had two handfuls of his own red-stained scales, he yelled a word that lilted beautifully to Madison's senses. The thunderous booming behind them proved that the water creature was slowly catching up, despite the fact that the speed meter hovered dangerously near one hundred miles per hour.

 

Demetrius reached both hands out of the window and threw the scales at the water creature. The exploded like hand grenades as soon as they touched the water creatures' gargantuan legs. It wailed with pain, and the Hag's laughter turned to a howl of anger.

The creature fell to the street and its body dissolved, flowing back into the water from which it had been made. It didn't start to rain again though, and Roxanna pressed her face to the window to search for any sign of the Hag.

 

“She's gone!” she said triumphantly, “we got away!” then turned back to Demetrius at his pain filled chuckle. “Don't move, I have to try to stop the bleeding.” She said firmly.

 

Demetrius managed a wan smile and said “Yes ma'am.”

 

Madison dared to slow down to eighty-five and glanced in the rear-view to confirm Roxie's findings. She turned her eyes back to the road and said “Demetrius, what was that you did?”

 

“Mermaids and mermen have scales that are full of magic. My clan and I used that to try and stop the Hag when we needed too.”

 

“Handy, but it must be painful.” Madison observed and she took a turn on two wheels.

 

Roxie kept pressing the old Guns and Roses t-shirt she had found into Demetrius' wounds as she asked “Where are we going Roxie? My house is…is…”

 

“I know.” Madison said gently, but then her voice firmed as she said “We're going to see my mother.”

 

Roxanna and Demetrius exchanged wary looks as the slightly battered pitch black Volkswagen sped off into the slowly brightening night.

 

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Woo! This was a very informative chapter huh? All kinds of things were explained, and there was foreshadowing! Did you catch it? I'll give you a hint: Demetrius says it a couple times. Oooo, isn't that Hag evil? But now you learned a little of her background, which is always a plus. Next chapter, to visit Madison's mom! Lucy, you've got some `splaining to do! Quick note: all the Tras' name have a meaning. Bonus points for looking it up and getting a notch above the average reader!

 

~~Asaka_sama