Up in the mountains, by the door of the labyrinth

[anti_kringle]

[[The final battle between Father Christmas and the Krampus.]]

As the Krampus is defeated by Father Christmas, his chains are joined again at the end, and his power is neutralised. The door to the labyrinth opens, and the abducted people who have by now found their way to the exit will emerge into the late afternoon light.

Those of their friends and family who have been missing them and tracked their abductor to the mountains, and have come up all the way to the mountain by now, rush to meet them.

Father Christmas leads the Krampus awawy towards Milliways proper, and everybody else follows. Somebody suggests an impromptu party when they return.


[[OOC: With this, the Krampus is defeated, and the plot is more or less done. Please tag into this post with the links to your OOM threads of crossing the labyrinth, threading off from those tags, people can be talking among each other as the emerge -- please feel free to threadhop to compare experiences etc. The most tenacious of the searchers most likely have made it to here by now, one would assume, so are welcome on this post: - you know who you are! If in doubt, do assume your charrie is here. For everyone else, a party post in the bar herself will materialise in a bit. Thank you all for playing!!

ETA: If you haven't yet finished your thread, of course you emerge here as well! Merely mark your link as 'ongoing' or 'faded', or add the link later, whatever works best for you. Thanks!

ETA2: Open up to and including next weekend so everybody can play in their own time!]]

Comments

[lady_bols]

[After this.]

Alex walks out of the Labyrinth in a huge polyester parka, one hand curled around her midriff. Her hair is mussed, and her face is streaked with dirt and mud. But she looks happy, and above all, relieved to be back.

[1stwitness]

Ichabod is sticking close by Alex, occasionally attempting to support her before she shakes him off, as the two of them make their way down the mountain. The shirt he was wearing is missing, and has been replaced with a cheap Captain America T-shirt.

[never_lost_faith]

Katrina has been watching, and carefully exploring the wilderness; and now, as she sees movement on the mountainside, she runs up the path where Gene Hunt had encountered Krampus (if only she knew), and about fifteen minutes after the Krampus had been vanquished, she arrives among the bedraggled people emerging from the labyrinth.

"Ichabod!" she calls out.

[1stwitness]

"Katrina." He starts to run as soon as he hears her voice, glancing back to check on Alex a few times on the way.

[runningred]

Jay stands by the door to the bar, armed and armoured and waiting. He's heard the missing people have been found and he spots Ichabod and Katrina in the distance but he keeps his post. He doesn't want to disturb their reunion, he doesn't feel he has the right.

[1stwitness]

Some time later, Ichabod notices him and makes his way over.

"Jason, have you been here all this time?"

[the_gene_genie]

'Alex!'

Oh, Gene's been waiting. It's been a bloody long few days, and he was really starting to believe they'd never see the end of this. Thank Christ for Christmas, eh?

'Bolly!'

[lady_bols]

"Gene?"

She can hear him roaring, and the relief suddenly manifests in a wave of tears. Happy tears, but tears nonetheless. She picks her way over the rough ground, panning the hillside for him.

"I'm over here!"

[the_gene_genie]

'Bolly!'

Plenty of people get shoved out of the way, regardless of tiredness or injury. One the path to her is clear, he slows to a lope but doesn't stop coming. A few paces away, he opens his arms and without saying anything, folds her into a bearhug.

[never_shall_yield]

Javert steps out first, and without waiting for permission, grabs Valjean's arm to make sure he is steady in the dark. Valjean freezes at the touch, but then nods and murmurs, 'thank you.' It is only a moment, and Javert lets him go.

It is cold, which is welcome enough after the desert. But he has no coat, and is suddenly aware that his shirt is open at the back. A shiver runs through him; there are other people about, and he has no desire to be seen in this state.

'I must go,' he says. And then turns, almost formally, and bows, 'I thank you for your assistance.'

Valjean appears bewildered, but bows too, almost on reflex. 'And I for yours, monsieur. But you do not have to-'

'I must. The horse, you understand. And I am not decent.'

'Ah. Yes.'

Valjean watches him stride away. The sigh is outward; the sinking feeling entirely within. Ah, well. They have helped each other, and now they are free. Perhaps it is progress. Who knows?

He starts making for the bar himself. His eyes are raw, and must be cleaned.

[street_sparrow]

"Monsieur." Gavroche steps out of the crowd, looking him over with worried eyes. "You are well?"

[road_to_calvary]

'Gavroche.'

He smiles tiredly; the darkness of the evening will likely hide the worst sight of him, so he is comfortable in speaking.

'I am well. I do not understand what happened, but still, well enough.'

[street_sparrow]

It does, but what Gavroche can see is enough.

"It's called a Krampus, the thing that took you. Some sort of ogre related to Christmas."

[ostro_goth]

Teja has seen the commotion, armed himself, and raced up the mountainside. Striding quickly, he will meet Javert who is going down, not far yet from the labyrinth door.

"Javert!" he says, looking at the thin, torn shirt the man is wearing. "What happened? You were, indeed, taken by the Krampus?"

He takes off his Tyrian purple cloak and thrusts it at Javert. "Put that on -- I do not wish you to catch cold!"

Under the cloak, Teja is armed with his black lorica segmentata armour, which Javert has probably not seen before. Teja no longer goes about his daily life armed.

[never_shall_yield]

He hesitates at once; torn between the desire to cover himself, and the desire not to accept anything from anyone. In the end, he settles for crossing his arms over his chest, and keeping the torn back out of Teja's eyeline.

'No, thank you. And I do not know what a Krampus is. I only assume you are referring to the beast with horns, in which case, yes. I apologise for having missed another day of work, monsieur.'

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae and Jemma emerge into the sunlight from the labyrinth, scratched and bruised and filthy. Worse for wear, exhausted and dehydrated, but whole.

Relief washing over her, Rae simply sits for a while near the door to the labyrinth, and soaks in the (admittedly weak) winter sunlight.

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche walks - no, almost runs - to her and drops beside her.

"You're back."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae leans her shoulder against him, smiling tiredly. Her hands and arms are scraped, the knees of her jeans torn, and she is all-over filthy, but she can't exactly bring herself to care just yet.

"Yup. Apparently took a while, though. How long have we been gone?"

[a1enzo]

After they get out, Enzo's first priority is to get Shufti to the Infirmary. Once she's checked out and napping, though, he makes himself visible so everyone knows he's okay, and checks to be sure everyone else is as well.

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Enzo!" Invincible looks mildly relieved. "Jeez, man, what happened?"

[a1enzo]

"We arrested the Anti-Santa. No one ever told me there was an Anti-Santa," Enzo says in tones of universal accusation.

[unglitched]

Two more figures stumble out of the labyrinth. One is a bulky man in leather armor; the other is a little girl with candy in her hair.

"...okay, where are we now?"

[its_possible]

"This, I know," he says, looking around. "I've gone walking out here--we're not that far from the bar."

'Not far' still being a walk of decent length, but knowing where you are is a good start.

[unglitched]

"So, wait, that Krampus guy went to all this trouble just to dump us up on the mountain? Really?"

[jump_hella_high]

[Scheduling incompatibilities ahoy. Here, have a solo scene.]

Superhero with a shotgun, bloodstained and wearing what looks like the skin of a red Muppet as a cape over her actual cape, emerges from the labyrinth. She does not look pleased.

"There is not enough alcohol in all the world."