Chapter Text
Grog looked around the various shelves in the store room for any alcohol but all he could find was meal ingredients. So he left Percy to go get himself a large tankard of ale. Percy seemed fine to sit where Grog had placed him and when Grog returned Percy still hadn't moved a muscle. Percy's hands were holding his sides and seemed to be locked in place. His shirt was rumpled and covered in dirt from collapsing outside. The low torch light of the store room glinted off of Percy's glasses which by some miracle had stayed on his face. He had dirt in his white hair, which was so rumpled it seemed to be attempting to fly off his skull. Percy was breathing hard and fast but Grog had no clue what to do, so he settled down onto the packed earth next to Percy and started to drink as he kept watch.
He hadn't even finished his tankard of ale by the time Scanlan and Pike appeared again in a shimmer of purple light. As soon as she saw Percy, Pike ran over to him. She moved a pile of sacks out of the way so that she could stand beside him.
“Are you doing alright dear? You're safe here, they don't know about you.” She said, but when he didn't respond she put her hand on his arm. “Percy! You're shaking, who were those people?” She went to reach for Percy’s other hand, to hold it in her own, but Scanlan stopped her. Pulling her gently back and behind one of the shelves covered in cured meats, he turned to Grog.
“Could you give him a little shake big guy? His magic is liable to explode at any second, and I definitely do not want to be in the way when that happens.” Scanlan said staring at Percy with an intent look that seemed out of place on his normally happy face. Grog looked at Scanlan who made a small get on with it motion with his hand. Grog looked to Percy, leaning against the wall, then back at Scanlan who was still making the shooing motion. As Grog watched, Scanlan's eyes began to slowly fade into a deep black and his voice was a bit more gravelly when he added.
“Do we need to make a deal?” Grog shook his head, this was just Percy. Grog could deal with Percy without Scanlan's help. When Grog shook his head Scanlan's eyes flashed with a grey energy and the black vanished. His normal brown eyes returning as if nothing had transpired. Pike used her free hand to give him a swat on the shoulder.
“What was that? I thought you only did deals in emergency situations? Isn't that a waste of power?” She admonished while glaring at Scanlan as he tried to drag her farther away from Grog and Percy. Sighing she let him tug her out the door and into the back hallway a short distance away. After he had shut the door Scanlan turned to her and said,
“I would never do that to you.” After Pike raised an eyebrow at him, he continued “Okay I defiantly would, but not this time. I can give people some of all my excess magic, because I am so very old and I have a lot of magic to spare. Grog and I have an arrangement, I give him strength, or endurance, or something along those lines, and he buys me ale afterwards. I'm still a crossroads demon, deals are sorta my thing, but I haven't stolen a single soul since we met and you showed me the errors of my ways.” Scanlan said, punctuating his final sentence by placing his hands over his heart and swooning.
Pike gave him an unimpressed look and untangled her hands from Scanlan's.
“Well as long as you aren't draining yourself I can't complain. Why are we all the way out here anyways? Percy is smart as a whip, but his magic is passive. He’s as harmless as a kitten.” Pike asked, nonetheless staying where she was. She cracked open the door to look at Percy. Trying to see the danger Scanlan warned her of in the sweet man who would disappear into her stacks for hours on end.
“He is as harmless as a cat wrapped in explosives maybe. The power radiating off of him is a stupid amount. I'm surprised that you can't feel it.” Hearing what sounds like a muffled thump, they both quickly turn back to the door to look at Grog.
Grog stomped the ground again, this time, the stone floor under his feet seemed to turn to mud. It swallowed his feet and encased his lower calfs. The ground began to harden again and his skin seemed to be hardening as well. The muscles of his legs seemed to grow and strengthen, pushing his feet even deeper into the stone. Now up to his knee, Grog moved his hips and settled into a defensive stance to eye Percy up and down. Reaching out Grog tapped Percy's shoulder, but that had no effect. Next he gripped Percy's shoulder and shook. Percy slid off of the potato sack, and his breathing picked up from quick to frantic. Feeling like he had busted out his fancy earth tricks a bit early, Grog sighed and leaned out of Percy's personal bubble and slapped him, as gently as he could across his face.
The effect was immediate. Percy's form shivered, blinked and then disappeared in a large jet of flame. Pulling his feet from the stone, Grog jumped forwards into flames and disappeared from sight.
Pike and Scanlan rushed forward, but the tear closed and the fire stopped. Leaving behind a scorch mark on the far wall, and the faint smell of burnt potatoes. Pike reached out and touched the spot where Percy had been, confusion on her face. Directing her confused look at Scanlan, she held his gaze until he answered her unasked question.
“Look, I didn't know that's what was going to happen. All I knew was that he was powerful, not that he was a Planeswalker!” He said throwing his hands up. He covertly looked around the scorch mark as he said this, but the only thing that had been in the line of fire, had been the unfortunate bag of potatoes. He breathed a sigh of relief, not too much gold lost then. He snapped back to the present when Pike replied.
“Planeswalker? He's not Fae is he?” Pike responded confused, “He seemed human enough and he wasn't an elemental or Grog would have noticed.” Pike said.
“No he’s human through and through, Fae are vain fuckers and wouldn't be caught dead looking like anything you could find on this plane. But he is powerful so he could have found a way through the veil.” Scanlan replied and they both turned to stare at the scorch mark on the wall and sighed.
Tumbling head over heels, through what appeared to be a large tunnel of white hot fire, Grog landed flat on his back on top of a pile of cooling embers. Sitting up as fast as he could Grog looked around. All he could see for miles was desert, fire, embers, and soot. No clue of where Percy had run off to.
Pushing himself up Grog felt his body begin to shift, as he had no current use for the physical body he had created. It was useful to be able to move around without detection on the physical plane. But now that he was in a plane more suited for his original form he could shift. Now moving with a body made of rock and dirt, Grog reveled in the feeling of moss growing on his arms and grass on his back. Giving himself a boost off of the sand he rose into the air and started looking for tracks. Eventually Grog found a trail in the sand heading off toward a large volcano and dove underground. Relishing in the feel of earth surrounding him for the first time since he had been banished by the other Earth Elementals into the physical plane. Grog laughed and sped off chasing after Percy.