Jack sprinted as fast as her short legs could carry her, which was considerable given her Quidditch conditioning, but Kip was taller and faster. He managed to lead their way to the Department of Ministries, casting a spell that sped their lift at a breakneck speed. His friend Yuri had come with him, their friend Remy dragging away a screaming redhead who was fighting against letting her friends run to what she was certain was their death. Jack and Claire had not had the chance to say anything to the people who mattered to them most. If they went down with the Ministry, their families would hear about it the old fashioned way – via third party.
There was a good chance Jack was running back into the bowels of the Ministry and dying for nothing. But she had secrets. She had information. She had weapons. And if Pierce somehow survived with one scrap of information and they had none… what would become of all of them? Not just herself, or society, but her family, her friends? Jack had to save her family from the wreckage – she just had to. Even if that meant plunging into a crumbling ruin.
The lift shuddered open and Jack stormed down the hallway, allowing Claire, Kip, and Yuri into the department’s sacred halls. “Yuri – there are files in my office. Please-“
He was off to obey without another word, proving his loyalty to any kin of Kip’s. Kip had his own agenda and he ran down the hallways, as though he knew exactly where to go. The man was shrewd, and he thought quickly – he would figure out the department’s system. Jack headed for a room that had significant control over the building itself and ran in. A quick spell sent gears into motion that would open the cages of all of the magical creatures up a few floors in her old department – they had their own right to flee. And then, with that, she took off running for The Veil.
Claire had a much simpler task, and she ran straight for Fred Weasley’s office. The magical mechanisms within the Ministry were crumbling and, with that, were the protective spells that once kept Fred’s place looking like a normal office. As she burst in, however, there was no drawer, no box, no file she could not open, no secret that was hidden from her eye. She shoved what she could into her bag, quickly expanding it. She rolled her eyes as she came across a puzzle box that had once sparked so much sass, and it too went into her bag. The job was done.
When she reached the main door, Yuri and Kip were already just arriving, breathless. They too clutched their side bags, and Kip had noticeable burns on his face. “Jack!” he roared. Her name bounced off of the walls, but she did not appear. The walls shook and rattled, dust and material beginning to shake loose and fall at their feet. “Jack!” Their two minutes were quickly becoming nothing. Kip could not stay much longer, but he could not lose his family after finding her so soon.
Jack suddenly came slipping around the bend. “Run!” she bellowed, shoving her knapsack onto her shoulders. Her friends obeyed, throwing the doors open. She soon shot past, adrenaline pumping through her. Behind them, the walls were buckling, pieces of ceiling and frames falling apart. The bottom of the Ministry was buckling, and soon it would all collapse.
Kip had to power the lift entirely by power, and it was even faster and more frightening than before, for the passages were shifting, bucking, seizing. The four people, bonded together by need and principle, stood apart, contemplating their ends separately.
The lift stopped and Kip and Jack forced the doors open, spilling out into the atrium. Huge chunks of the ceiling had fallen and were still falling, and people were streaming out the doors. They had almost made it and Jack did not intend on letting this be where her friends died. Her left hand found Kip’s back and her right arm swept around Claire and Yuri, shoving them forward. The four tripped into a sprint, bolting for the doors.
They were just about out of time.
by Claire Bishop Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:27 pm
