RTD

Septimus steps out of the portal to see Leo sitting against a tree, hugging her legs to her chest and sobbing. He rushes to her side and holds her. Leo's tears dampen his cloak. Marisa watches them, then turns her attention to Giovanni, who's keeping a silent vigil by Astrid's side. "Something doesn't add up." Marisa says out loud. Everyone looks up at her, as if just now realizing that she's there. "I mean, why did this fail?" Marisa asks in general, but stares at Leo. Leo wipes her tears with her hand.
"Because," Leo sobbs, "it was a time sensitive spell, and I preformed it too early." Septimus holds her tighter. Marisa paces around. Suddenly, she stops, and whirls to face Leo.
"You knew this might happen, right?" Marisa demands. Leo's eyes widen. "Why else would you have given me this?" Marisa takes the piece of paper that Leo gave her earlier and holds it up. "RTD, you said. What is RTD? And what does it have to do with this mission?" Sep and Giovanni look at Leo in surprise. Leo's face turns bright red.
"Marisa, stop-" Leo starts, but Marisa cuts her off.
"Tell me. Obviously, it's important." Marisa demands. Hot tears roll off Leo's cheeks.
"Fine," Leo glares at Marisa, "RTD, is Realm Traveler Death." Everyone is taken aback. Leo looks at all of them in turn, her gaze finally resting on Astrid. "I didn't want to tell you because it could be disasterous." Leo gets up and leans against the tree. "I designed the magic to work a cetain way. This particular spell has a loophole, but it's a doozy." Leo looks at Marisa. "The loophole, is the fail safe." Septimus jumps to his feet.
"Leo, you're not suggesting that-" Septimus interjects, but is cut off by Leo.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Leo closes her eyes. "The magic resets when it backfires on a Realm Traveler." She raises her hand, it glows red, then a bolt of red lighting shoots from her hand, circles back, and hits Leo. She falls back into Sep's arms, unconcious. He's stunned.
"Mighty Aslan." Marisa whispers. Sep looks at her.
"Marisa, go back to RTHQ." He opens a portal next to her. "Now." Marisa nods and dashes throught the portal and into the main lobby of RTHQ. Giovanni watches her, then turns his attention to Septimus.
"What do we do now?" he asks. Sep looks him in the eye.
"Pray."