Ranryu

The sliver vanished silently. "Good." Wynn stretched. "Now, we wait."

"It's just a pinprick. And no, don't do that. Your magic could have unexpected effects when mixed with mine."

"A marker. Cut yourself with it, then pass it to the others. Call it an insurance plan. I won't allow any of you to be erased."

"It is... planned. These agents know what they're doing, but nobody can know everything. Here." She tossed him a tiny shard of Shadow, razor sharp.

She gritted her teeth, trying to find words she was allowed to say. "I was shown. All the possibilities. And the one I'm going for requires us to wait a little bit longer."

"You don't understand." She made no move. "We can't escape. If we did, at least two of us would die. Just sit tight."

He's a guy who saw @That1Cellist on the shard and randomly made an account, if I have the story down right. Fae, have you even read anything Brandon Sanderson? @The last Fae in the Woods

Wynn laughed. "Just watch. I doubt you'll like it, though."

Why is there quacking? But why?

"That's the goal. Lerac's life depends on it."

"Touching other people's hands with my mouth is weird. I'm only allowed to do that when I'm eating baby fingers." - @That1Cellist

Cannibalism and ritual sacrifice, of course.

Wynn tried to answer, but her mouth betrayed her. It took her a second to find words. "Advance carefully. There's only so much I can do on my own."

"It wasn't willpower, you're right. You did exactly what was foreseen you would do, exactly what Malum wanted you to do. And in the end, Haly will pay for it in blood."

No comment

Wynn facepalmed. "The future isn't set in stone, she says. You can change it with willpower, she told me." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. "TAAron, you better find a way to change what you're going to do. Don't do this to Haly."

Wynn saw what he was about to do. "TAAron, don't! I promise, you don't want to start down that way."

Wynn grunted disapprovingly. "Unnecessary violence. Haven't you ever studied psychology? Rewards work better than punishments."

Wynn used the distraction as an opportunity to do something. Not much... just a little Shadow on Haly, as she was at the moment. The agents wouldn't notice, or at least wouldn't indicate that they noticed. After all, this didn't conflict with their purpose.

Wynn managed not to laugh at being called dear. Even if she wasn't older than these strange agents (which she most likely was), she wasn't that much younger than them.

She gave up, knowing that her symbol of friendship only meant so much. "We both know what's coming. If you had any sense, you'd kill me here."

She sighed and sent another round. "Unfortunate that we had to fight at all. I understand, you're just doing your job. But I've come to learn that standing up for one's friends is a 'human' thing to do. And seeing as how my friends are human, I have no other choice."

Unfortunately, everything was going exactly as it had been foreseen. Wynn sighed. "I acknowledge that you will be the victor of this fight, but it's against my principles to simply let you do something that will most likely destroy my friend." She launched a volley of Shadow at the agents, knowing what the outcome would be.

"And who are you to decide which timeline is the proper one?" Wynn retorted. "If this timeline was allowed to happen, surely it is the correct one."