When Marilyn had finally been allowed to leave her apartment without a glamour charm she had been bombarded with reporters and paparazzi, despite their efforts she remained stony and silent, only releasing written press statements that were sent to the newspaper via owl. She held contact with Jake and Azalea, yet avoided her family at every cost, unable to face them in the light of what she had become.
Well, not all of her family. Her Grandmother saw her nearly every day, but her Grandmother was different from the rest of the family. Her Grandmother was a Huntress and had seen every horror imaginable and more in her lifetime.
They had begun training shortly after Jake's first visit, being a Caldwell, even by adoption, had some pretty useful perks. But everything comes with a price. For this power Marilyn was sacrificing her freedom, she'd never be able to go back to before, she'd forsake a part of her humanity to harness the power of the Huntress.
Not that she thought she had much humanity to begin with, not after Guantanamo.
She had spent months slaving away, trying curses, hexes, wandless, nonverbal magic and failing repeatedly, or succeeding, but not as powerful as it should have been. She'd gotten her ass kicked thousands of times in the process, never once winning a fight against Gwen, yet, though recently she'd been close.
Now at this very moment they were in Haven, the secret grounds of the Cooper-Caldwell Huntress Clan, used as training grounds and initiation halls since the dawn of magic. Gwen stood before her, nearly fifty years old but she didn't look a day over thirty, her power slowing her visible aging process. She was in uniform, her naval piercing glowing. The piercings were the corporal manifestation of their power and needed to be touching their skin for them to have full access to it. today, after training for months, was her final test day. Today she recieved her own.
It hurt to insert, but Marilyn had known worse pain. And as soon as it was properly on she felt a surge of strength flow through her body.
Wand in hand she stood across from her Grandmother- no, across from the huntress Gwen, and waited, poised to attack.
It was an almost indiscernable nod of the head that tipped her off and with that the fight had begun. Sparks flew as the witches duelled, Mar leapt out of the way of a nasty dark spell with a bound of strength and agilty, landing on a high branch. From there she was followed and they shot spell after spell, leaping from one thin branch to another. A red flash singed her arm as it scraped past her and she retaliated with a black hex that caught Gwen on the ear like a punch. With a wave of her hand she sent a gust of wind to knock her out of the branches but Gwen countered it and jumped forward in a tackle, knocking them both off. They were a mix of smoke and spells as they fell downwards, separating only at the last moment, both landing about five feet away from the other.
Hexes flew madly around them. Mar used a sort of electricity spell to cage them in closer and sent spell after spell, trying to force her grandmother back into it, but was stopped by a well-timed curse that felt like a punch to the gut. With a hoarse cry of rage she raised both hands, fire blazing from them in a steady stream, chasing her grandmother until they were both surrounded by smoke and soot, smelling of singed hair. They were too close now, Gwen pounced like a wildcat, clawing at her granddaughter and they tumbled around, Mar escaping her grip with a twist that had her on top of Gwen, who quickly had her down again, a hand behind her back, but then she flipped them, nearly breaking her own arm in the process. This went on for a while, a few wandless hexes here and there. But it ended with Marilyn's wand at Gwens throat.
Gwen bowed and Mar bowed back, now her training was complete. That isnt to mean there isnt much for her to learn still, but she had now reached a competant level.
"I'm proud of you, Lynnie." her Grandmother smiled, hugging her close.
Marilyn closed her eyes and relaxed in the embrace. Gwen was the only person who could make her feel even a sliver of normality. She could make her forget her scarred face, ruined voice and the emptiness she felt inside.
But that emptiness didnt feel so empty anymore, she felt the power surging through her now.
Now she was ready to start auror training.
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