Armageddon Read online

  armageddon

  urban fairytales

  by

  erik schubach

  Copyright © 2019 by Erik Schubach

  Self publishing

  P.O. Box 523

  Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

  Cover Photo © 2019 GrandFailure / DepositPhotos.com license

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  FIRST EDITION

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Gathering

  Chapter 2 – Looming Threat

  Chapter 3 – Seattle

  Chapter 4 – Evacuation

  Chapter 5 – Incoming

  Chapter 6 – Deployed

  Chapter 7 – London Calling

  Chapter 8 – Silence

  Chapter 9 – Down Under

  Chapter 10 – The Gates of Seattle

  Chapter 11 – One Big Lizard

  Chapter 12 – London Has Fallen

  Chapter 13 – Know My Wrath, Know My Pain

  Chapter 14 – Seattle Burning

  Chapter 15 – Night of the Red Hood

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1 – Gathering

  One of the girls called out, “Parker!”

  I had to grin as I responded, “Coming Mandy!” It was still so odd to me that whatever magics she had encountered in Neverland had reverted her to a teen, no more than eighteen or nineteen when she and Robyn had returned to us five weeks ago. And Mandy had a fluffy wolf tail now.

  I covered my mouth to stifle the involuntary snort as I opened her door on the cabin of the ancient Sea Devil we were all on as the tall ship swayed in the wind while we sailed through the sky, the sails mind-boggling full in contrast to the wind we were sailing against.

  Mandy was sitting on the edge of her bed with a razor-sharp dagger on her lap, a new pair of pirate dungarees sporting a hole in the seat as she held a needle and thread uselessly, a pleading look on her face as Tinkerbell was having a good belly laugh on the little bird swing fastened to a small wardrobe cabinet, sparkling fairy-dust sifting to the floor as it shook loose from her as she shook with humor.

  Ok, there is just so much control you can exert to make sure someone didn't feel they were being made fun of, but... come on... a giggling fairy. I chuckled too, finding it almost a relief to see I could still smile with the end of the world as we knew it about to come about.

  Amanda looked up at me with the disaffected teen glower that every girl was issued in their teen years. It was tempered by all the experience and knowledge of someone much older, someone who has seen and dealt out too much death.

  She growled like the wolf inside her and snapped at Tink, “Why are you even in here? Shouldn't you be bugging mom at the ship's wheel or something?”

  The giggling fairy buzzed over to her, and as she landed, attained human size in the blink of an eye and the sexy as hell fairy kissed Mandy's cheek with a playful grin and said as she became fairy sized again and buzzed off out the window, “Fine, grumpy grump butt, love you.”

  Amanda smiled almost against her will since she still liked to project the stone-cold emotionless killer facade she had when she was an adult. It didn't work well now since it came off as cute and brooding now. She squeaked out as the shimmering kiss on her cheek seemed to absorb more into her skin rather than fade away, “Love you too, you annoying glow bug.”

  Then she turned to me. “Oh god if we all live through this, since mom married her, she'll be my mom too forever. How embarrassing is that? She already dotes on me and it is as embarrassing as fuck.”

  I automatically said, “Mandy, language.” Being so used to chastising my Ella for the same, and I admit I'm starting to see Mandy as a teen she appears, though I know I shouldn't.

  She grumped out, “Sorry,” then added, “I'm not a kid.”

  I nodded as I stepped up to her to kiss her cheek. “I know, I know, and I'm sorry. It's just, I forget, with you looking all...” I motioned to her and shrugged in apology.

  She smirked and said, “You're one to talk, miss glamour to the nth degree.”

  I looked down and then blushed. Even after all these weeks, I wasn't used to the random body shuffling between me and my love, Ella Marie. We swapped consciousness between our two bodies, the third of us a passenger in one or the other, except a brief time every day when all three of our bodies were manifested. I woke up this morning in Marie's body. The body of a genuine French Countess of old.

  I knew I should get as much done as I could before our short time apart expired for the day and I became a passenger in either my own Parker’s body or Ella's since we had learned that it wasn't quite as random as we first thought. Whoever last wore Marie's body would be the next one locked away in the minds of one of the other two.

  God, it was confusing, and amazing being with both aspects of my love. But I still wasn't used to being in someone else's body, so I was always more than a little relieved whenever I wound up in my own. Hell, Dorothy had certainly done a number on us, it is both a blessing and a curse. But damn if I didn't look good in my Marie's form. I found myself blushing at the compliment she paid in her retort.

  It only took a few days for everyone to get used to it, and found it easy to tell who was in who's body. Since Marie had a distinct French accent, Ella had her Cockney British accent, and my American accent even though I insist I don't have an accent. I do admit to purposefully not speaking at times to keep people guessing.

  I sat and sighed as I studied at the young woman who looked every inch a pirate from storybooks now and held my hands out in resignation. “You're going to have to learn to do this yourself sometime, lady.”

  As she put her pants in one of my hands and handed over the needle, she gave me the cheesiest of toothy grins, her slightly elongated, pointy canines glinting as she said, “But not today.”

  I smirked. “Not today, brat.”

  She looked around as she stood, her hand absently touching her hip. “Be right back.” And she flew out the small window. I still found it amazing that she had learned to fly in Neverland, and as long as she believed she could, then... well... she could.

  I shook my head and started sewing a little hem around the hole in her pants for her tail. A moment later, Mandy stepped in through the door, sliding her short cutlass into the scabbard at her hip. She looked sheepish as she said, “Left it in the crow's nest.”

  Rolling my eyes I prompted, “One of these days, you're going to have to tell us the entire story about what happened to you in Neverland. It's like you're still you in there, but at the same time, you act like a teen and a pirate. Hell, you and Hook both believe she's your mother even though you know she technically isn't. And, 'the Lost Boys put the whammy on us,' needs more explanation.”

  She nodded slowly and said, “Maybe one day. But in my heart and mind, Wendy truly is my mom, more than my biological mother had ever been.”

  I finished up, bit the thread off and held her pants out to her with a wistful smile. “I can see that and how happy it makes you both... and that...” I was aware of the pants falling through my h
and to the floor as my time expired, and I blinked when I found myself kissing Ella in our cabin below decks.

  I, we, hesitated when Ella's voice said in my head, “No, that's Marie, love. Though a moment ago it was me.”

  I snorted when Ella's body said, “Oui.” I snuggled into the back of Ella's mind, almost snorting a second time over the fact that I was in my own body now, just not in control. So I just sat back and sighed as they started kissing again. I've got the weirdest love life ever.

  My two mates snickered and stopped kissing. As Marie explained, “We had just cleaned up and were getting a change of clothing, when we accidentally fell into each other's arms, my Parker.”

  I sighed. I loved when she said my name, as it came out as Park-air in her delectable French accent.

  Ella said as I felt us stand, “It is time to get to the fuckin' daily planning meeting. If you would'a told me that there would be a gathering of Avatars this massive just a few years ago, I would'a thought you daft.”

  Marie and I chastised in our minds, “Ella, language.”

  I felt a mischievous smirk on our lips as she said, “Oh sod off you plonkers.” I poked at her in our mind and knew I'd probably be smiling just then if I could. I loved her feisty nature, it was one of the things that first attracted me to Ella-Marie, well that and how smoking hot she looked in...

  “You know we can hear you, Parker?”

  “Fuck.”

  They giggled. “Language, Parker.”

  Ok, I deserved that. I snuggled back in and went along for the ride. I looked out of Ella's eyes as we entered the main gun deck with all the cannons, where a long table had been set up for our daily planning meetings. And it was an awe-inspiring sight to see, with a dozen Avatars and their keepers. The most powerful assemblage of women ever in the mortal realm. I always felt so out of place amongst them, but I loved them all, they were my family.

  This... was the gathering.

  Chapter 2 – Looming Threat

  We looked out a gunport before taking our seats. The questioning looks around the table had Ella raising a hand in greeting, “Ella, with Parker on board.” Then needlessly she pointed at Marie, in Ella's body and supplied, “Marie.”

  Everyone turned to Red... could we call her that anymore? I mean, Mari had... well she had died and the mantle of the Red Hood had passed to Evelyn, who was sitting at the end of the table with Rapunzel, though they shared the cloak now, it is like they needed to wear it from time to time, being the source of their power.

  Then again, our leader, Maireni Damaschin, now held half of the power of the Scales as Daria beside her held the other so she was even... more than she had been before.

  I had to smile that after Ella supplied who was who for the rest of the day, everyone just took it in stride like it was normal now, three women sharing two bodies. I guess it was no more odd than the gun deck being filled with characters from books and fairy tale princesses.

  Ella growled in her head at me, “We're not fuckin' princesses.” I could taste her amusement as she silently added to me, “Well unless we have Marie with her legs up over her...”

  I blurted, “Ella!” Ok, if I could smile, I'd have been smiling at her chuckling amusement at how easily she could rile me. She liked to come off as so rough and uncouth all the time, but I knew it to be the act it was, for inside she was a gentle loving woman, with a fire inside of her that drove her to protect those she saw as her family.

  Mari said, “Wendy tells me we'll reach Seattle today. Daria and I can feel the approach of the five Elders much more intensely as we near, and Masika agrees that it more likely their arrival is hours or days away than weeks or months.”

  Ella turned us to look at the reclusive Elder, Titania, who had left their collective when they strayed too far from their path. She has lived hidden away in Neverland, under the guise of the Voodoo Queen Masika, the Sea Hag of Neverland since the day she turned her back on her own kind.

  I felt us smiling at Mandy who had sat next to the woman with ebony skin, her head laid on her shoulder as her hand absently held Robyn's in the seat on her other side. It was so strange to see not only Amanda treating the being older than time like her grandmother, but seeing Robyn with those large fairy wings sticking out from between her shoulders, and how her skin glistened with fairy dust.

  I was still trying to wrap my head around the reality-bending power of the Lost Boys' make-believes. Whatever their imaginations could think up, became reality. And Hook... Wendy had an artifact, her hook, that allowed her to focus that power to devastating effect as she could rework reality with it. This vessel, a living piece of Neverland itself, was an example of how much power Wendy wielded. The Lost Boys' imaginations had no power outside of Neverland except while on the ship which acted like Neverland territory.

  I felt us sigh as we kicked off some large clown shoes before we looked over at Dot and flipped her off. Dorothy of Oz was the other new addition to our group, and she and Ella had a tumultuous relationship of mutually assured destruction. They were worse than a couple of siblings in their good-natured battle of wits and wills.

  Dot, was volatile, having the power of the four Cardinal Witches inside of her, the good and wicked fighting for dominance, making her unpredictable as well, keeping you guessing if she was going to hug you or turn you into a toad or worse at any given moment, since she, like Hook, had the ability to bend reality on a whim.

  Outside of Masika and Snow, the two literal goddesses in our group, Hook and Dot were the most powerful. But not the most dangerous. That designation would have to go to Red, as she not only had power, but she was the most skilled battlefield tactician of the group and could utilize things we couldn't even imagine in the environment around us to devastating effect in any engagement. She was the fourth Red Hood and held the mantle longer than any for a reason.

  She said with her vaguely Romanian accent, “We're on the cusp of a war to save the mortal realm from being wiped clean so the Elders can start over with a blank slate, and still we have no plan other than, as Ella eloquently puts it, to kick some Elder ass, when they arrive.”

  Then she looked over at Masika and reminded us almost accusingly, “Titania, will not interfere with the hordes of the armies from other realms that the Elders bring with them... and will not attack the Elders herself unless it is to defend herself. Leaving our greatest weapon, useless against the enemy.”

  I could feel the gaze of the Elder as she inclined her head at Mari and said with a sweet smile and laying a finger on the side of her nose, “You've known that from the first. I am here to chronicle what befalls the mortal realm, though I break my own convictions by providing you with information, which is only fair, as they have spies in your realm that supply them with similar intelligence. There must be a balance.”

  I saw Red fight that last statement, as one of the Scales, she felt a driving and almost overwhelming need inside to create a balance of good and evil in our realm. But unlike the last scales, the brothers Grimm, she and Daria could resist it.

  For a moment I wondered about the brothers' fate. For as annoying and manipulating the fucking Grimm brothers were, they did help tilt the scales in our direction before they were called to stand before the Elders for judgment.

  Daria placed a calming hand on Mari's, which I noted was clenched into a fist on the table. “There are no weaknesses you can share of your people? I know it is a lot to ask, to betray your own kind.” I saw the look that Daria McQueen sometimes got, when she was breaking something down analytically, like a police detective when she was looking for some slight inconsistency in a story.

  The sly smile on Masika's face as she asked, “Besides hubris, and losing their way? No.” She started braiding Mandy's hair as she absently said, “With few exceptions, all the realms deemed imbalanced by my people have fallen to a reset. We wield too much power, and should not be deciding the fate of other realms.”

  It was Snow who nodded slow
ly, her white hair cascading down to pool over her shoulders, small white antlers poking out the top of her head. “Exceptions like my Gardens, Oz, and Neverland.”

  Masika turned to face her, smirking. I felt almost as if Snow, or perhaps just her Perchta aspect, was the only person who the Elder saw as an equal here, and you could almost feel the power radiating between the two goddesses at the table. “Yes, like your Gardens.”

  Gretta smirked back and said, “So you do have weaknesses.”

  They silently stared at each other for a few seconds before Masika blinked and looked away, back to Red. “Yes, there are those who we found remarkably... resilient, and were able to dissuade us from crossing their realms.” She looked amused as she looked around. “Most of whom are here today.”

  Mari perked up but it was Daria who voiced the question, “Most?” Then like a puzzle piece clicked into place for her she seemed to nod to herself and asked, “Why is it that whenever your people are denied, they open portals into the demon's hell dominion? They seem to use demons to punish the realms who displease them. They must know that if they were stopped in these realms, the demons would be too... unless...”

  Rose chuckled from where she sat in the corner, away from the table, thorny brambles and vines pulsating, coiling, and writing around her as she cocked her head at an unnatural angle. Her voice was barely above a hiss, “They fear them.”

  I prodded Ella in our head and she relaxed and allowed me control for a moment as I looked at Rose and made a show of tilting my head up before releasing control of our body back to my Ella. Rose's eyes widened a little as she tilted her head back to a normal human angle. I was proud of the progress she has made since we met, to regain her humanity, and take on more human mannerisms.

  The Elder straightened for a moment as if offended, but then inclined her head in acquiescence as she said, “That may be true. We had found the hellish realm of the demons early on, just off of the mortal realm, when we numbered seven. But there were so many demons, and so many varied magics that we could not cow them, and we lost one of our own when they swarmed us as we retreated. Never had we been met with such ferocity and single-minded purpose of a race to destroy, to kill, and to corrupt. So our one self-imposed rule was to never open a path to their realm again. It is mostly isolated, with only three realms touching it.”