[June 20th] [Perry Mason] Lux Aeterna, 20

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Lux Aeterna, scene 20
Day/Theme: June 20th - Horror in the halls of stone
Series: Perry Mason
Character/Pairing: Just about everyone! Perry Mason, Della Street, Hamilton Burger, Paul Drake, Lieutenant Tragg, and Florence and Elizabeth (OCs) probably have the largest speaking parts.
Rating: T/PG-13

Takes place at the climax. It probably would have been better if the climatic scene had been with a later theme, but #20's was just too perfect.


By Lucky_Ladybug

The time had come at last. With Lieutenant Tragg’s directions, Captain Caldwell’s maps, and the alliance of every one of the rebel groups, Florence’s castle was successfully stormed. But out of all the people who had been fighting against her, it was only Perry’s group that managed to make it into the tower throne room.

She was not in the least surprised to see them. She was on her throne, the Forbidden Box on her lap. She was already prepared for the final confrontation.

“So,” she greeted, “you’ve all come. I expected it, really; none of you are the kind of people who would ever give up, even if you should.”

Perry was in the lead. He advanced deliberately, calmly, into the circular room. “Perhaps you should have taken a page from Vivalene, Florence,” he said. “By now she likely would have tried to destroy all of us.”

“There have been many pratfalls and mishaps set before you, all of you,” Florence answered. “And you still managed to come out with your lives intact. Even Lieutenant Tragg here.” She nodded to the senior member of the team. “I really thought he had brought about his own death. But suddenly there was word that he was still alive and back in Los Angeles.” Her lips curled in a smirk. “You must be very proud of yourself, Lieutenant.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Tragg returned. “Oh, but not because I managed to survive. I doubt I had much to say about that. No, I’m proud because I’m here now, witnessing this moment.” He gave her a falsely friendly smile. “I’m afraid your empire ends here, Miss Flo.”

“Oh really.” Florence was not impressed or intimidated. Not that anyone had expected her to be. She rose, the Box held tightly in her grasp. “You already know this is the source of my power. And that it can’t be destroyed by ordinary means. Not even other magic has succeeded. I’m terribly afraid, darlings, that this is the end for all of you.”

“No, Sister, it isn’t.”

Florence jerked, looking to where Elizabeth was standing in the doorway. But she did not even think of the other woman being the only decent triplet. “Vivalene?!” she cried. “That’s impossible! There’s no one who loves you enough to revive you!”

The others rushed her upon her temporary distraction. But she snapped to just in time to raise the lid on the Box, cruelly blasting them all with the dark energy inside. They went flying in every direction.

“You remember that, don’t you?” she said, sneering as she stepped forward, surveying their crumpled and injured forms. “You remember when Mr. Vann blasted you with the Box. And you, Mr. Burger.” She stopped in front of the dazed district attorney. “You remember when Vivalene nearly killed you with it.”

Hamilton clutched his side as he weakly rose on his elbow. “You didn’t use the same level of power that she did,” he said, grimacing in pain.

“No, but I easily could.” Florence looked out at all of them. “I could strike all of you dead at once.”

“Then why don’t you?” Perry retorted. He pushed himself up. “It would solve your problems.”

“I would defeat you only to be pounced upon by more of your rebels,” Florence sniffed. “I know the castle is overrun with them.”

She started to raise the Box’s lid again. Her short blonde curls began to blow about in the wind generated by the dark magic. “I can be as sadistic as Vivalene when I want to be. But I have to be careful about which ones of you I take out. The last thing I want is to fuel any of your determination to fight. I want to break you.”

“We’re all determined,” Perry said. He reached to help Della stand. “No matter how many of us you kill, the rest will be filled with the combined anger of themselves and of the fallen.”

“You talk big, Mr. Mason. And of course I know you practice as you preach. But I wonder how much you can take.” Florence’s gaze flitted about to first one, then another. “Even you have a breaking point.”

“And you’d have to be an idiot to try to find it,” Hamilton declared.

“You’re starting to sound more like Portman and less like Flo,” Paul glared.

“But you never really knew me, darling. You only knew Vivalene.” Florence smirked at him. “I was always the quiet one, the one in the background. I knew how to play my cards and play them right. And right now, none of you will be able to so much as touch me, let alone rip this Box away from me.”

Elizabeth ran out again. “But you’ll still have to get past me.”

Florence gave her a bored look. “You’re terrible at playing Vivalene. Yes, Elizabeth, I know it’s you now. I don’t know how or why, but you must be a fool to try such simple tricks on me.”

“I was successful.” Elizabeth smiled. “I wasn’t supposed to stop you, only distract you.”

“You didn’t do a good job,” Florence said.

Without warning she whirled, the lid completely up on the Box. Paul had been sneaking over to her, having desperately hoped he could wrench the device away while Florence was occupied.

He did not even have a chance to cry out in pain as the dark magic struck him in the chest. He collapsed to the floor, gasping, barely able to catch his breath.

“Paul!” Perry and Hamilton burst out in unison.

Paul looked to Hamilton, his eyes filled with agony. “Well . . . now I know . . . how you must have felt. . . .” The life faded from his face, even as Della gave a horrified cry.

“Paul! Paul, no!”

She, Hamilton, Perry, and David all dropped to Paul’s side. Perry swiftly looked up at Florence, his eyes dangerously aflame. “Is this the same thing Vivalene did to Hamilton?” he demanded. “Can Paul be saved?”

“You’ll have to make your own decision on that,” Florence responded. “I didn’t intend on killing him. But then he was here, in my way.”

“And you couldn’t have that.” The tears were pricking Della’s eyes. She whirled, facing their nemesis. “What kind of witch are you?! I thought no one could be as evil as Vivalene. Now I’m not sure.”

“I was the one who taught Vivalene to walk the path we took. But she chose of her own free will to follow.”

Steve stepped forward. “That doesn’t matter now.” His voice was pinched and cold, bespeaking his fury and heartache at Paul being struck down. “You know, if all of us come at you from every side, there’s no way you can kill us all and keep your Box too.”

“It’s a suicide mission,” Florence said. “Yes, some of you would survive. But would it be worth the price?”

Perry got to his feet, clenching his fists. “Throughout the ages, freedom has always been built on sacrifice.” His eyes narrowed. “We came here knowing that it was unlikely we would all make it out again. And I tell you now, Florence, that yes, it is worth that price.”

“I’ve heard it takes more courage to live than to die.” Florence held the Box in front of her, ready to attack once more.

“It also takes courage to die so others can live,” Hamilton returned.

“Then come. By all means, come! You know this is the only way to get the Box from me. Take it and kill me.” The power swept across the room as a whirlwind, blowing everyone’s hair and clothes. Florence’s eyes were wild.

“Are you willing to give up your life rather than relinquish your queenship?!” Perry yelled over the gale.

“No!” Elizabeth wailed. “If you die now, Sister, you’re not ready at all!”

“I’ve spent my entire life carefully planning and plotting to have all the power I could possibly achieve,” Florence cried. Her words reverberated eerily around the throne room. “If that is taken from me, I have nothing. And you will have to kill me to take it!”

“Then that is what we’ll do!” Perry charged. His patience and temper were gone. The attack on Paul, and Florence’s sickeningly selfish speech, had snapped all that had been left of both. He would have no more of this. No more suffering, no more deaths, no more of Florence’s reign as queen.

“Perry!” Della screamed. “Perry, no!”

She ran after him. Hamilton ran after both of them, followed in hot pursuit by David. And before long the entire group was launched at Florence, from every possible angle. She struggled. She fired. Several fell. But then it was Perry who seized her from behind.

“This is it, Florence,” he said. He grabbed for the Box with one hand.

Florence jerked, fighting to get out of his grip. “Then die, along with everyone else!” she roared.

A deep purple, almost black, exploded from the Box. The two were silhouetted against the backdrop of the dark magic for one agonizing eternity. Then the black filled the room and the tower began to shake.

When the floor gave way, Della screamed in panicked alarm.
****
The castle lay in ruins in the canyons. The smoke and debris were still rising from the jagged onyx and marble as cut and bleeding hands touched her shoulder and started to lift her limp form from the ground. “Della! Della, please. Say something.”

The voice was so tortured that it immediately pierced her consciousness. Her eyes fluttered and she forced them open halfway. Frightened blue eyes were staring down at her. It was not the deep turquoise blue, but a lighter and no less caring blue. Her lips parted and she tried to speak. “. . . Hamilton?”

He nodded. “Thank God.” He tried to help her sit up. “Are you badly hurt?”

She considered the question and slowly shook her head. “I . . . I don’t think so. . . . But . . .” She reached out, gripping his wrist. “Perry . . . Lieutenant Tragg . . . everyone. . . . Are . . . are they . . .”

The anguish and grief in Hamilton’s eyes chilled her. “Della. . . . You’re the only one I’ve found and gotten any response from.”

Della went stiff in his arms. “Then . . . everyone else is . . . dead or missing?!” It was too horrible, too nightmarish to be true. It could not be true. She would not accept it.

Hamilton could not answer her. He held her close, gazing out at the broken palace. Mignon was lying on her side near a large piece of onyx, one arm extended and her eyes closed. Lieutenant Anderson was on his back on top of another piece, blood trickling from a wound in his forehead. An unknown, limp hand hung out from between two pieces of marble that had fallen at pointed angles. Other bodies, known and anonymous, were strewn everywhere as far as they could see.

Della sat up, staring at the scene. It was indescribable. She was still dazed, still unable to fully process it. She gripped at Hamilton. She could feel her heart shattering into countless pieces. As the dam broke, she sank against him in shaking, shuddering tears.

Hamilton could not help but shed some himself. “Is this how it ends, Perry?” he said under his breath. In spite of all that they had said, in spite of how they had tried to steel and prepare themselves, he knew now that it had not worked. There was no way to prepare oneself for this sort of carnage. It would indeed be easier to die than to be among those left behind to struggle on. Now he understood all too heartbreakingly well how everyone had felt when they had thought him dead.

“No! It’s not true. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not true.”

Both of them leaped a mile. Della’s head shot up. “Perry?!” she cried. “Perry, where are you?!”

“Follow the sound of my voice. The dark magic is trying to drag you both into utter despair.”

Hamilton stood, bringing Della with him. “Perry, everyone’s dead except us. And we’re both badly hurt.”

“I’m seeing that everyone’s dead except for me. Here—take my hand.”

A hand shot through a black mist neither of them had even realized was there. Della immediately gripped it, trembling. “Oh Perry. . . .”

Hamilton took hold of it as well. “What now?” He was still cautious, still trying to figure out what was going on. This could be a hallucination too, for all they would know. He could not believe so easily. Not after this horror.

“Concentrate.”

And they fought to, with all of their hearts and souls. For a long time nothing happened. The mist and the bodies remained. The only true indication of anything else was the hand they were both clutching and Perry’s assurance that reality was different from what they were seeing.

A gentle, soothing wind swept over them, as if cleansing them from the evil influences. Della opened her eyes, staring in awe. They were still standing in the ruins of the castle. But the scene was vastly different. Perry was standing in front of them, smiling and triumphant. Next to him, Paul was grinning. And all around them were the others. There were bruises and lacerations and other wounds, and some people were sadly dead, but from what Della and Hamilton could see, their closest friends were alive and well.

Della’s heart caught in her throat. “This . . . this is real?” she whispered. “We’ve all made it out?”

“It’s not possible,” Hamilton rasped.

“Oh come on. This is one time you don’t have to doubt.” Paul reached out, gripping Hamilton’s shoulder. “We’re all alive. And it’s all over.”

Lieutenant Tragg was hauling a sullen Florence up and snapping handcuffs on her wrists. “I think it’s safe to say that an interview with a police psychiatrist is in order.”

“And how,” Andy chimed in.

Mignon approached Hamilton, touching his arm. “Hamilton.” She sounded as awed as Hamilton felt.

He turned, gazing at her in amazement. “Mignon. . . . You are alive?” It was too incredible to be true. What if this was still fantasy, a cruel and unreal fantasy that would be torn away? It could be Florence’s last cruel trick on all of them.

Perry pulled Della close. “Everyone is alive.”

Hamilton drew Mignon into his arms. Then Paul was right—it was all over. Except . . .

“Where’s the Box?” he exclaimed.

“Buried in this mess somewhere,” Tragg grunted. “Who knows how long it’ll take to dig it out.”

Hamilton sighed. “Just as long as we find it before anyone else does.” He stared at the remains of the castle. “I hope this means that all of Florence’s magic left with her spell.”

“I suppose that’s anyone’s guess,” Perry said. They would worry about it later. For now they would celebrate their victory and survival.