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ahmedmootaz · 4 years ago

Note

Magica is trapped in an alternate timeline where Scrooge never became the richest duck in the world.

I-It’s been five thousand years...but finally, finally, I have finished writing, @veryman ! It’s been around six months, and for that I am sorry, but I had little time to write lately.

Either way, I finished the prompt which you sent me, and I’d like it if you would tell me your feedback! I expanded a bit on what you gave me; I added Poe as a secondary protagonist, and I added a bit more before the disappearance of Scrooge, and I do hope you do not mind. But regardless, I am eager to hear your feedback! I appreciate every comment I get, so do leave one, please. Again, my sincerest apologies for the wait.

Here’s the story:https://archiveofourown.org/works/29333367

And for anyone who does not want to visit Archive of Our Own for whatever reason, here’s the story on Tumblr! Just note the italics don’t go over too well.

Mount Vesuvius was like a wonderfully drawn painting; it managed to capture many elements at once, and yet showed little of them at a time. Its grey, ash-covered surface was only stopped by the occasional greenery or shrubs, grown from the rain's puddles on its cliffs. A towering mountain, its silhouette gave a grandiose sense to the city it was in. The contrast between the calm forests below it and the harsh towering structure, like any great painting, only added to the beauty of the panorama it created.

And, of course, like any great painting, it hid a secret. A teeny, tiny secret, really; it was a volcano. With enough power to completely melt the colourful villages surrounding it, alongside the better part of Naples. No one often went to the top, as its unpredictable eruption patterns made it a dangerous venue. Besides, the summit was completely barren, with only the rare lizard or the few bushes up there. Only a madman would even think to consider it "hospitable."

Well, barring the small, comfortable looking wooden house on its top. That looked hospitable enough. Old and nearly falling apart, it was a miracle it didn't need supports at this point. It was as if it was held by magic. On this summit, there was nothing. A cold, harsh breeze that encouraged none to remain there, and the dead atmosphere certainly clashed against the small farm and the clothes left to dry in the sun. The unusual sight would perhaps intrigue a traveller who managed to get to the summit, but the few crashed cars next to the hut would probably dissuade them from going any further.

In this calm wasteland, where the air never relaxed, every second more tense than the last, silence reigned supreme, utoppab-

-"BWAHAHAHA! I did it, Poe! I did it! At last, I managed to brew the perfect potion! It'll finally give the Lucky Dime to its rightful owner, destroy my greatest enemy and make me the greatest sorceress on earth!", well, it was dominant for a moment, at least. The victory cries from this little abode came from none other than Magica DeSpell, the solitary sorceress who called it her home.

Standing before a large cauldron, a large potion-book beside her and several jars of materials arranged in a neat order on the table next to her, her joy was a sick, intoxicating one, filled with villainy and vengeance. On that table stood a raven, much larger than the average one, almost twice the size, with its only distinct feature being a small summer hat, black with a white stripe going around it.

-"Yes, very wonderful, Mistress Magica.", adding to the unusual situation, the raven spoke back, both admiring and giving the sorceress in front of him a reprobating glare. "Though I have to admit, it wasn't easy very much to gather the ingredients. We almost lost our lives three times too much getting these things...", he added, turning his neck to the pots and bottles of the materials they gathered throughout the month. The sorceress, however, appeared irritated.

-"Oh, for goodness' sake! We're alone, Ratface, why can't I call you by your real name? If you keep pestering me with that, then I'll have no choice but to keep reminding you of your awful grammar.", she complained, hunching her back a bit, an invisible pang of guilt hitting her chest for a second before she shook it off.

Magica DeSpell was known for many things, but guilt was, perhaps unsurprisingly, not one of them. It wasn't a trait preferred by Villainesses such as herself. An exception to that rule, however, was her brother, Poe. Or as he went by these days, Ratface.

Once a regular duck like her, he was the closest person she had left. He'd accompany her on pretty much anything, alongside her raids on Scrooge. One fateful day however, a spell ricocheted of a wall and hit him, and she never forgave herself since. It was supposed to hit a blank! But of course Scroogie had to have a mirror behind him...why wouldn't he? At this point, everything she did was always countered by him somehow...And of course the spell had to be an irreversible one. Why wouldn't it have been?

-"Well, this time he'll pay...", she mumbled to herself, having forgotten about the outside world for a second.

-"Hm?", the raven inquired, and when she ignored his curiosity, he gave a glare before speaking. "We must speak like this, Mistress, because otherwise we may end up revealing our identities by accident in front of someone who shouldn't them know.", he explained for the umpteenth time at this point, trying to redress his hat with his wings. It was difficult to get used to them at first, however, he eventually managed to somewhat use them as hands. "And we don't want these people to know, because they can black-mail us. And because I don't want anyone discover that now I am a raven.", he added, ignoring the mumbling from his 'master'.

-"Yes, yes. Whatever, Ratface. Besides, you don't get to lecture me; I am the boss-lady after all, eh?", she shot back, enjoying the eyes of her 'familiar' as they narrowed and his beak as he grit it.

-"While that may be true,", he started, a bit calmer than you'd expect, not wanting to lose this teasing contest, "I also have my rights to input my optional completely suggestions, boss-lady, and I believe they have been proven to be quite useful in the past.", he added, stopping for moment and looking at the sorceress in front of him, who fully turned to him and gave him a wide, fake grin.

-"Hmm...They're fine points, but is there something that reaaaaally to force me to listen to you?", she repeated, hoping to break his constant mantra of hiding his identity. Partly because she wanted to be able to call her brother...her brother, y'know, 'call a duck a duck' sort of deal, and partly to escape this guilt she felt by teasing him, trying to forget her guilt for the moment.

Poe wasn't one to care much what people thought of him. He was a man that went on his way and never looked back. Too many times, anyways. They were basically a dream-team until this stupid raven stuff happened. But now, ever since that incident, he merely avoided anyone who knew of his existence and kept this fake-name. She suspected it was out of shame, and it weighed heavy on her, trust her. She tried waving these thoughts away as she watched the bird in front of her almost simmer at this point.

-"B-Because, dearest mistress, me-am a bit older than you in raven-years, which gives me a-", he stopped his imminent rant, sniffing something in the air. "THE BREW!", he yelled, dragging the tall magician's attention and making her run to the pot, which was on a gas cooker. Hey, they had the old log-chimney pot, but they were modern magicians, and when they were pressed on time, it was simply easier than to collect logs or buy them. Freaking inflation and rising wood prices...

-"Alrightalrightalright, so now we...uh, the lizard tail, sewn with tarantula silk to a lizardfish tail, we put it in...", Magica mumbled to herself, picking up the ingredient and throwing it in. Trust her when she said tarantula silk wasn't cheap, but the results were going to be so, so worth it. "And we mix things up until it turns dark-blue.", she finished, bringing a wooden spoon and turning it in the boiling, sickly-yellow liquid.

-"That's it? No 'innocent's blood' this time?", the black bird next to her spoke as he moved closer to the pot. She shook her head, knowing where he was getting at. For some reason, a lot (a lot) of spells needed blood for one reason or another, and it often had to be 'pure duck blood'. It often was an issue for most accomplished sorcerers to find it, and despite it being an advantage to the pair, they didn't really enjoy sticking needles into their own arms and using their blood...

As he sighed, relieved at what meant that he wouldn't have to take a pinch of his blood this time, as they did alternate that role, he watched the viscous brew boil more ferociously, unnaturally strong as it started getting darker and darker while the duck brewing it kept stirring and stirring, carefully avoiding the splashing from the bubbles.

-"Alright, Ratface!", she announced as the potion's colours darkened in front of their eyes, her voice going low and becoming more and more sinister by the second, "This is the Magnum Opus of an entire month's work! The Bougeaia Autrepart!", she proudly boasted, a smile growing on her pale, green-ish face.

She quickly moved her hand to shut off the gas, probably waiting for the awe her partner-in-sharing-the-household would give her. Not that he did so much, as he wasn't one to be entirely surprised by her actions given his time with her, but when he did, it made all of her effort a lot more worth it, if only to see a dumbfounded expression on his face while she proudly explains her plan.

-"Very well. It is one of the most difficult potions a magician can make, and we have a quantity very large. It is perhaps one of our better devised plans.", he devilishly added, not really that surprised. She found it hard to blame him when they both worked for around 25 days to gather the ingredients and the money; somewhere down the line she must've told him. Or maybe he read up on what they were going to create.

-"Indeed it is, and now, hand me the doll, Ratface!", she commanded, raising a clenched fist for dramatic effect, He shook his head at the dramatic display and went to the other end of the table he stood on, picking up a small doll that vaguely resembled Scrooge McDuck with his claw and handing it to his 'mistress'. "Just be a bit careful. It wasn't easy to make this thing.", she called out, cringing at the inelegant handling the raven gave the doll.

-"Oh, tell me about it. I was with you at the Hydra's lair, you know that? And I gathered half of the Mortal Sand we got there, so don't think I don't know how precious is this.", he complained, remembering something for a second, "Speaking of which, you never did make up for that hat I lost there.", he reprimanded, trying to cross his wings. He didn't have much success, but it looked good enough, and he couldn't ask for more, really.

-"Yeah, maybe later.", she ignored him, and before he could begin scolding her for the umpteenth time today, she picked up a ladle and started submerging it in this 'Bougeaia Autrepart.', taking care not to spill any on herself before she started coating the small doll in her hand with the liquid, watching as the dark blue colour got embedded in its cloth.

-"You know, I'd like a quick reminder on what we're doing here before we get started. Don't want another plan where I have to figure out the details as we go on, because those just work so wonderfully.", Ratface...or, well...Poe? Whatever, he asked, looking a bit worried as his sister laid the doll on the ground in a neat and clean corner or their household, one that was made for spells which required some space.

-"What, Alzheimer's gotten to you that quick?", she shot back at him, not daring to look at him before she finishes laying the doll on the ground. When she noticed he wasn't going to argue with her, she started explaining. "Honestly, we were just talking about it...but fine, here's the general outline: We both agreed that taking Scrooge is pretty difficult on its own, yes? So how about a world without Scrooge in the first place? The Bougeaia Autrepart is designed to move people into other places, but with some of the additions we've made, in combination with this little vodoo doll, it's going to be rather interesting, and we can remove Scrooge from this world!", she repeated the plan they'd agreed on, trying again for her dramatic accent.

-"Right, right. And we're just going to take the dime in his absence.", he completed, scratching his 'chin'. "I don't know, Ma- Uh, Mistress, our luck with reality-altering spells is pretty...", he hesitated, trying to find an accurate description of their experiences.

-"Is pretty much the definition of the word 'failure' in every single language on this earth?", she finished with him, somewhat bitterly.

-"Well, when you put it that way, I'll just have to agree.", he agreed, shrugging.

-"Yes, yes, I know, but trust me, this time this time, it'll be different!", she argued back, somewhat on the defensive. "See, this time, with Scrooge never actually in this world, it can't go back to bite us; we're not playing with the rules against Scrooge, he's not there in the first place.", she laughed, basking in the glory of her flawless plan. "...You're still not impressed, are you?", she narrowed her eyes as she stared at the raven, who seemed lost in thought.

-"I don't know...these things are so vaguely written in the books, and always it turns out to be un-complete. We practically re-wrote half of our tomes, remember?", as it turns out, several of the Elder Sorcerers were, believe it or not, villains, and trying to keep the most knowledge to themselves, their writings were often incomplete, especially the bigger spells. They had to applaud their tenacity at first, but a few failed plans later, it started becoming less interesting and more devastating.

-"Well, yes,", Magica admitted, looking at the floor for a moment, "But the worst possible thing that could happen here is it not working, or being temporary. It can't be that bad."

-"I mean...The offer of Scrooge just poof-ing away is tempting...And I can't think of a too terrible outcome...", he slowly came around, and the green-ish duck immediately jumped on the opportunity to convince him. Well, not so much convince him so much as it was to quickly to the spell before he starts thinking too much about it.

"See? You were just being stupid, But worry not, my dear familiar, I, Magica DeSpell, am not without mercy, and I will forgive this outrageous way of talking if you just help me do this spell as quickly as possible.", she proudly boasted, bringing a hand to rest on her chest. His blank stare gave her the impression that he wasn't all too impressed with her gloating. "Just come here and let me finish the recitation, alright?!", she snapped at him, having had enough of his cynical behaviour.

-"What, with these clothes? Shouldn't we prepare for something or-", he started, looking at her 'battle-clothes': her cloaked witch robe, stained with their various ingredients. But before he could even finish his sentence, she'd already turned to the wall, sat on her knees and opened her arms to both sides, as if she was awaiting an embrace.

-"Too late; I'm starting it now.", she turned her head back to him, sticking her tongue out for half a second and ignoring the 'Wait!' he produced. "O' sanguina del mon enemmi mortel, repondra O' appels que t'entendra, O' abyssum qu'attend, repond à ma voca!", she started the chant, immediately letting the room darken and letting loose some purple sparks from the lifeless doll, which started levitating. "Bring my greatest wish true; with the final words of my mouth, McDuck shall be gone like a moth!", she suddenly spoke, the doll spinning a bit too violently for her taste.

The room kept on darkening, and some of the pots and containers she had began to hit each other. Which was basically the same thing that happened with every other spell nowadays. It lost its original impact. Regardless, she felt Ratface beside her, and the doll started emanating even stronger sparks, making a dull, constant humming that kept getting louder and louder.

Her breathing got heavy for a moment, alongside her head, and she felt herself blacking out as if something was choking her. The air grew heavy for one fateful moment, and then with a 'zap', everything returned to normal. Her breathing suddenly cleared, and she took a deep breath to celebrate it. She noticed Ratface also took a gasp. Apparently, this one didn't just affect the caster, but the entire area. That was something they'd have to add to the spell book. She hoped there weren't too many others.

-"...That's it? Feels rather underwhelming, but maybe it's my experience with spells that affect the caster.", her brother suddenly managed out. Of course his first action after this would be bragging. Why wouldn't it?

-"Oh, zip it, feathers, I heard your panting. Bragging doesn't change the reality.", she looked at him as he felt his small hat and straightened his feathers, some of which had puffed out due to his quick breathing.

-"And so I shall, Mistress, O' queen of humility, if only the entire world is humble as you were!", he praised her, raising his wing up above him, as if to glorify the duck beside him. "Then you'll find out how terrible you are at boasting.", he added under his breath, a wide grin on his beak.

-"Oh why you...!", she got on her legs and reached for him, hoping to catch him, but he was faster than her, and his wings were infinitely more developed, and so he took to the skies...or, well, to their roof, avoiding her grasp and yet flying just out of reach. "Just wait until I've had my hands on you, you walking grammatical error! I'll pinch each and every one of your feathers off!", she yelled after him, shooting a few simplistic spells at him, which he avoided with ease.

-"Sure, blame the italian guy you forced to learn English in two weeks, typical.", he shot back, his wide grin still present, the only spells catching him barely grazing his tail. A few moments later, she gave up on de-feathering her brother, stopping to take her breath.

-"Oh, bugger off, you've had far more time to practice. You're just messing with me.", she countered, looking at him as he lightly flapped above her. She turned her head away from him with a frown and looked at the outside. Yep, still as sunny as ever. It wasn't really ideal weather for staying inside, but villainy did not take vacations!...Well, that was a lie, but she'd take one right after her great success with this plot. "The outside!", she suddenly yelled out, running for her door and opening it, walking onto her 'Welcome' mat before stopping and looking around.

-"Uh, Mistress?", her familiar said as he landed on her shoulder, something he'd been practising for a while now; he didn't hit her head anymore. "Is there something about the sun...?", he suggested, looking around him. The same small magical farm, their clothes were in the same position, and the same pile of crashed cars.

-"I don't know...Guess I thought there'd be some change, I guess.", she answered, scratching her head. "Which isn't that smart. Now what? How do we know if something's happened?", she asked him, turning back to enter her home.

-"...Probably from the bald, skinny vulture we have on our dart-board now.", her helper suddenly noted, and she turned her head to the wall where she had Scroogie's head on display. As a picture, unfortunately, but all in time. What interested her, however, was that her nemesis' picture's was now replaced by a vulture. An ugly one, too. And it's not like Scrooge was Mr.America, but this one had wrinkles.

-"What the heck? I thought the spell removed Scroogie from the world! What did that have to do with this chuckleschmuck?", she walked to the picture on their dart-board, focusing on their apparently new rival, who had a few darts scattered around various parts of his face.

-"Unless...", the raven on her shoulder started, bringing a wing to his face and trying to imitate a knuckled fist. "Unless it removed him from this timeline in first place, after, making someone else become the richest duck in the world. Or richest vulture in the world.", he theorized, his tone becoming a little too aggressive at the end. "Another addition to the tomes...", of course. It could never be that easy. Why would it be?

-"...Great.", well, at least she could openly complain about it this time, given that there was no warning of this beforehand. She brought a hand to her face and quietly facepalmed, shaking her head for a bit. "So we still have some old, ugly miser we have to take care of. And we don't have any memory of fighting this guy.", truly a situation that couldn't be envied. The one time the casters of the spell are unaffected by the changes to the world, it happens in a world where they'd do better to have some memories of the changes. Well, she couldn't say it was the worst thing a spell has hidden from them, truth be told, but still.

-"Well, what now?", ever the planner, the bird on her shoulder asked the only question that could be asked. He narrowed his eyes and extended his neck a bit from where it was, trying to read some writing underneath the picture. It used to scare Magica a bit whenever he did that, now she mostly got used to it. Mostly. Stupid bird biology creeping her out. "What are we going to doing to this...Bradford Buzzard?", he squinted a bit, making out the letters. He then turned to their T.V. with a curious motion. "Ma-uh, Mistress, look."

As the green-feathered duck turned her head, she noticed something. They had stolen their T.V. from one of Scroogie's enterprises, mostly out of spite. But their current television had "Buzzard Enterprises" on it. Apparently, this vulture had truly inherited everything the old miser had, including their rage. She felt a slight tingling in her chest, but she ignored it to focus on the more important matters they had at hand now.

-"So, apparently we're struggling to get the dime from this old man?", well, considering they're not rich right now, and that Poe was still a raven, that meant they still had the same problems as they did with Scrooge. Not good, if you ask her.

-"And apparently he, too, managed to turn me into raven.", Ratface spat out, growing very, very bitter. Unsurprising, really; this 'Bradford' did not seem to be able to move much. How did he manage to turn Poe into a raven this time, then? "Besides, are we trying to get his dime? I'm certain not what we were doing in this timeline up to this point, and I don't suppose we've been writing our memoirs to help us out.", he...uh, he joked? Deadpanned? His tone wasn't too amused, by the looks of things. Not that she could blame him, given how things weren't quite going according to plan.

-"You tell me.", the sorceress sighed, not really in the mood for the demoralisation Poe could offer at this time. He didn't mean to be such a pessimist (probably), but his constant remarks didn't do much to improve the mood. Her eyes then spotted a small purple ball on the ingredients' table. It was a small teleportation spell, using some materials from the area where she wanted to go to, it was a nice substitute for those who both lacked the Teleportation branch of magic and didn't have time to travel by broom. "That's it!", she suddenly yelled, getting up and nearly dropping her brother off of her shoulder.

-"W-What's it? What are you-"

-"We'll go pay this Bradford a nice little visit, and we'll see what he's really made of! We already prepared to go to the Bin, what's the worst that could happen?", she encouraged both him and herself, picking up the teleportation spell to Scroogie's bin and another one back to her home, quickly pocketing them in her robe and scavenging for some offensive spells to take with her, alongside her Sumerian amulet, of course. "Do not answer that!", she warned her brother, earning a sceptical look. "Listen, we've seen almost everything from Scroogie, we'll see what we can do this time, and then...well, I don't know, but we'll manage!", she finished triumphantly, quickly putting on her heels and going out of her house, stopping mid-way through her throw of the teleportation spell. "...You're not convinced, are you?"

-"Are you?", well, he wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right, either. Everything deserved a shot. Even if that thing had a very small chance of working. Maybe. Probably. Listen, Magica DeSpell was many things, but she wasn't willing to give up now! She never did, perhaps to her own detriment, but it wasn't this old vulture that was going to stop her now, she fought against Scrooge McDuck, this was barely even a challenge!

-"Could you not rain on my parade for five minutes?", what was a challenge, was keeping Poe positive on this mission.

-"Alright, alright. Here we go, Mistress! Go get that fool!", he put on an enthusiastic façade, making the sorceress grin as she resumed her movement, throwing the spell on the ground with a large 'Bang!'. Aquamarine smoke came out and covered the area where they both stood, and when it was gone, so were the both of them.

Now, it was only a matter of time before they faced Bradford.

Bradford Buzzard was perhaps the single most boring person she'd ever had the displeasure of fighting.

It wasn't that he was difficult to fight against, oh no, in fact, she was surprised he managed to stop them for so long in this timeline, but he always played by the book! Not a single interesting move! He didn't boast, make dramatic moves, or do anything Scroogie did, really. All he did was avoid, dodge, and stand behind his fancy machines. Which...yeah, okay, it wasn't that bad, but he was terribly uninteresting to fight against. The Bin stayed in its regular shape, and so did most of Duckburg, though it had a bit of a fancier design when it came to buildings.

Regardless, Bradford didn't even try to seem interested. He always seemed (and most likely, was) always annoyed, always spiteful, and just...indifferent. He didn't care about anything she and Poe did, he just wanted it to end. His immediate reaction to their arrival wasn't to fight...it was to sigh and complain about how he didn't have time for them. Which wasn't only rude, but incredibly hurtful. He had no idea how much these teleportation spells cost, and she truly did her best to deliver a spectacular entrance to her foes. The least he could do was at least seem interested.

The worst part is that apparently, in this timeline, they had never plainly told him they needed his dime; they were after his fortune. Which she probably realized they did because they wanted a challenge, considering the fact that the moment they asked for the dime, he handed it over.

She was so dumbfounded at first that she thought it to be a prank. A trap, even. But no, apparently Bradford cared just as little about his first dime, talking about how "He can always make a copy." or some such thing. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said he was searching for an opportunity to get rid of it, and yet a quick curse-check from her part revealed no dangers. He was just...boring. And it's not that he was scared of their power, at least that might've made up for something, he just gave them the dime and told them to go off.

So there she was, back in her hut, Lucky Dime in hand, an unbelieving expression across her unfocused eyes as she sat on her television's couch, still trying to reflect on the events of the day, trying to see if she misunderstood a word or a euphemism from the vulture's monotonous voice. She found none.

-"I mean, it's been a while when we saw the Dime last, Mistress.", throughout the long silence, from their unceremonious return to them now sitting, unable to decide what comes next, this was the first thing Poe muttered. It wasn't bad as an encouragement, but it didn't quite catch Magica's attention, either.

-"Mhm.", she mumbled absently, not even opening her beak.

-"Sure, it wasn't as spectacular as we both thought, but that doesn't matter! Do you know what this means, Mistress? Do you know just how much power we have in our hands?!", now, Poe was known for many things following his unfortunate transformation, but optimism was not one of them. That actually made her turn some of her attention to him. "It's the end of the old-centuries rivalry between us DeSpells and the...Mc...Ducks...", he slowly realized, opening his eyes a bit more. It wasn't the fact that they had gotten the Dime so easily which was bothering Magica, it was that she didn't even know if it was worth it.

She spent little under fifty-five years fighting against Scroogie. At some point, both of them knew that there would be no Scrooge without Magica, and there would be no Magica without Scrooge. Every single victory she had in her life was directly or indirectly caused by a desire to earn revenge on Scrooge, he was her greatest goal, and defeating him would be her Magnum Opus. Years upon years of work, blood, tears...all for some vulture to hand this over.

-"...Is the Dime even useful now?", she muttered, her eyes going to Poe, pleading, almost unsure of her every word. He seemed to have gotten the gist of why this victory in particular was unsatisfying, but now he simply blinked at her, not wanting to cause her any grief. "I-I mean, why did we even go after his Dime in particular instead of killing him or...or whatever?", her voice shaky. She knew the answer. She always did. She just had to hear it from someone she could trust.

-"We wanted it because it was Scrooge's the most important coin; it was his first, imbued strong emotional attachment, and we could use that attachment for our magic, alongpart the hate we had for him.", he repeated their goal slowly, trying to get where this was going. "Using the immense power extracted from it, we would do as we pleased. We'd turn me back into a duck, turn stones into gold...its possibilities were endless.", he finished, the massive smile on his beak dropping for a bit.

Bradford had handed them the Dime without a hitch. If he had any attachment to the Dime, then it wasn't enough for him to care about it. This would mean the Dime was useless...it couldn't do them a thing, or if it could, then it was severely weakened. Even if it wasn't, it didn't...it didn't feel as if they earned it. Okay, this was stupid, since they were villains, after all, they weren't about being fair, but after all these years, having such an underwhelming encounter...it just left a sour taste in her mouth.

-"Who gives a flying duck?!", a groggy, loud caw was the answer she got to her suspicions. "So what, we had a disappointing enemy, we have the Dime of the richest du- vulture in the world! So what if it not has emotional attachment, we'll find another object with emotional attachment! Anything would be better than Scrooge!", he yelled, sensing the conflict his sister felt and trying to set the record straight. "Anything would be better than being stuck as a crow."

The speed with which she spun her head to him could perhaps snap many necks, but Magica didn't care for the pain in her neck so much as she focused on the bird on her shoulder. She knew exactly what he was getting at; Poe was stuck as a crow for nearly five years at this point. He never loved his situation for even a second ever since the accident with McDuck and his two ducklings. Throughout these years, he worked with her for the Dime less out of a general desire for villainy and a want to help her, he worked with her because he also wanted the Dime's power.

And now he probably feared she was going to throw all away, just because wanted a 'real' fight.

-"R-Ratface! How dare you suggest I'd do something like that!", she vehemently denied. She then resisted the urge to slap herself because she just admitted to something he was yet to accuse her off. She stared at him, the eye he turned at her undecipherable. He remained silent for a moment before speaking up.

-"Do you want us to talk, Magica?", he offered, and she looked surprised. He seldom called her by her real name, and it was often a sign she could call him by his. She swallowed before nodding, as if the word 'Yes' would take too much energy out of her. He nodded in return, jumping off of her shoulder and landing beside her. "What's the issue, Magica?"

-"It's...It's stupid. I know it is. You wouldn't approve, and I know you taught me that the only good victory is a quick and easy one, but...but...It's just so maddening, you know?", she began, hunching her back and turning her head to him, a twinge of uncertainty in her voice. "I spend all my life hunting Scrooge McDuck, wanting his head on my wall, and when I finally win, I don't even win against him. I don't even know if I got the right object in this world.", she complained, bringing her hands to her face and covering it. Her entire life was built on waiting for this one, singular moment! All of her moves, triumphs and losses. So why wasn't she satisfied?!

-"...I get what you're saying.", the raven replied after a moment, trying to understand her, apparently. "I get it. It feels as if we were robbed of our moment, doesn't it?", her sat down on the couch, trying his best to imitate a regular duck sitting. She hesitated before nodding, almost afraid of his answer. "...I cannot say it doesn't leave an undelicious taste, to be honest. We've worked so hard for this moment. And yet, what other choice do we have? What were you planning on doing? What do we have to gain from a Scrooge in this world?", he questioned, not with a hostile tone, but a rather intrigued one, as if he truly wanted to know more about this situation they found themselves in.

-"I- You know what? Forget it, we'll melt this dime and find the strongest emotional object here-"

-"Answers, Magica.", he firmly repeated, turning his head to her.

-"I don't know!", she yelled out, partly angry, partly anxious. "How should I know? I spent all of my life fighting Scroogie and I'm not even the one to take him out! It's all a stupid spell...And I can't bring him back, because this stupid spell will account for the past, and that means the source of our power, the one in my hand right now, would be gone.", she started laughing out of desperation, holding the Dime up in the air and trying to channel some energy into it. It emitted some energy, sure, but it wasn't as strong as you'd think or want. "And so would any of chance of turning you back to a duck since we'd need the power it grants for a chance at reversing back the irreversible...", she venomously spat out, frowning at her momentary meltdown and at the situation.

Magica DeSpell was known for many things, and losing control of herself was not one of them. It wasn't publicly known, anyways, but this...this mess was a whole new low. They'd failed before, but never before had they gone so horribly right, and they never found themselves in a situation where they had to ponder if bringing back their biggest enemy would be a good idea or not.

-"We could find another McDuck, Magie.", he tried soothing her, reserving his own thoughts for later. "Someone must've made it out there. Be it hero or villain, there must be someone like Scrooge. There have to have been.", he comforted her, trying to his best to rest his arm on her shoulder. Or his wing on her arm, in this case.

-"I know, Poe.", she sighed heavily, leaning a bit onto his arm before quickly rethinking that decision as he struggled against her weight. "But there's no Scrooge McDuck. There's always someone like him, but there's never the Scrooge McDuck.", she bitterly admitted. He was a worthy rival. Many had come and go, and most were able to face her again. Some couldn't continue on living, for that matter. All but Scrooge had fallen to her.

At first, she had only rage and fury for him, but as the years went on, she started to love their fights more and more, her schemes became more and more elaborate, her plans became works of art that she spent more time on than she cared to admit, and she invested so much emotion to her fight against him that seeing him gone in such an anti-climatic way was...depressing, honestly. Scrooge brought out her worst, in a way no one else could, and for that, she (secretly) thanked him; her worst was scarier than her on a rampage, and that didn't just say something, it spoke volumes.

-"So? You'll bring him back? Just because of that?", another caw, this one a bit more inquisitive and pushy. She tried looking the other direction. "Down here are my eyes, Magie.", he pushed her. She looked at him, a twinge of guilt in her eyes.

-"I don't know. We didn't do much in this world, y'know. We can live like this never happened.", she suggested, her voice a mere whisper. One that sounded like a yell in the dead silence in their home. Her brother kept staring, part sympathetic, part...was that sadness in his eyes?

-"Magica,", he began, trying to find his words, "We're villains. We're the worst people on God's green earth, and we care certainly not about who we hurt, maim, and kill. And when you're a villain, you fight against Karma and the universe magically siding with your enemies, not mention having to work with The Evil Overlord List to keep everything in check.", he explained to her, his eyes never leaving her. "It's not about who we're fighting. I just want a world without Scrooge. How bad can whoever replaced him be?", he begged, stopping for a moment before adding, "My freedom could be a battle away."

Well, he was certainly making the choice easy, wasn't he. So? So what? Does she just leave her brother to suffer? The one, and so far, only man to stay with her for all of her life? Just for another rival? She prided herself on being heartless, but this...She didn't know anymore.

What was her happiness anymore? Could she not find happiness without her endless fight with Scroogie? Who was she? Her own independent person, or merely a shadow in Scrooge's massive figure, never to step out from under it? What was her life? An endless chase for a goal which she could only achieve in one way, lest she render it underwhelming for her? She's been building up the moment so much, for so long, and she sacrificed everything to have it. Everyone. Was the chase she started what defined her? Or had Scroogie won without realizing, making her little more than another person swallowed by the ever-greedy monster that was his shadow?

-"I don't...I don't know, Poe.", she hitched, suddenly realizing that this wasn't good for her figure. Not at all. She suppressed any emotional instinct in her body and brought her knees to her chest, resting her head on them. "I don't know what to do anymore. All this chase...All this madness. And I never won.", she closed her eyes, sensing a bit of a stinging sensation and trying to block it. "And when I did, I still lost.", alright, she wasn't going to speak now. Her voice was dangerously close to cracking.

-"You're wrong. You've won several times, and were -still are- Scrooge's most dangerous foe for years. Several set-backs, sure, but all great people have set-backs.", he started brushing his wing against her arm, not really able to pat. She interrupted him before he could speak further.

-"Isn't it funny? The day I win, I can't even be happy. I need Scroogie to be happy. Laughable, isn't it? I'm becoming less and less my own person. Just a planet in a star's orbit. My own shadow is slipping out from under me and becoming his.", she lamented, her hitches a bit more noticeable.

-"Then reign your shadow back in! You're Magica DeSpell, for goodness' sake! Control it, make be it yours!", the raven stood on his two feet, trying his best to be considerate. He was making her happier, sure, but he was not so truthful, was he?

-"...Maybe. I'm...I'm sorry about this Poe. This...idiocy. I guess I'm not as sturdy as I thought myself to be.", she sniffed again, looking at him as he stared back.

-"Nobody is. We all think we're invincible at one point. The only thing that matters is getting back up. Bigger, better, badder.", his voice lowered, and the pure devilishness in it was infectious. She smiled a weak smile, and he returned it in kind. "So, when are we going back to our timeline?", he suddenly questioned, and she opened her eyes wide at his question.

-"You...You're okay with it...?"

-"If I said I was, you'd know I'm lying. But it's not the biggest issue, either. This dime isn't solve my issue anytime soon with its power like that. And we have no real other target at this point. So it wasn't that close to me. I hope.", he explained himself, trying to have an air of dignity before swallowing and continuing, "...Since we're being truthful here, I won't say that this doesn't feels like a wasted opportunity. I've long dreamed of a world without Scrooge, but to tell the truth, someone like Scrooge will probably as be annoying as Scrooge. Probably.", he concluded, some of the sadness in his eyes washing away. He removed his eyes from Magica for a moment, looking at the ceiling.

-"I...And leave you as a crow? Do you have any idea what you're saying?!", she refuted the idea, earning a quick glance. "No, I...I shouldn't...I can't do this! We have to find the closest thing that'll help you! We must!", she started panicking, trying for once to think of him more. He smiled and rubbed her arm again.

-"Primarily, I am a raven. And I thought you were a heartless, selfish villainess? Or do we need to spend more time learning how to be proper villains?", he tried easing her worries away, a teasing tone in his voice for a moment before he cleared it. "Listen, Magica, whatever happens, one of us isn't getting what they want. If we go back to our timeline, there's always a chance we'll get Scrooge. A chance we'll find some other solution. If we stay here, there then won't ever being another McDuck.", he explained to her, his voice calm and collected, trying his best to keep her calm. "And you'd better do it when I'm in a good mood, because I'm sure this will bite my tail sometime later.", he added, deciding that perhaps some pressure is needed.

-"But-"

-"NOW!", he ordered her, and she jumped, surprised from his cry, heading to where she'd first preformed her spell, hastily picking up the Scrooge doll and covering it with more Bougeia Autrepart, setting it on the ground where it once stood.

-"O' sanguina del mon enemmi mortel, repondra O' appels que t'entendra, O' abyssum qu'attend, repond à ma voca!", she repeated the same chanting she said this morning, waiting as the puppet levitated once more and sensing her brother come beside her. "Bring Scrooge McDuck back and reset this timeline on the right track!", she cried out, letting the doll emit sparks once more, the spinning a bit faster than the first time they cast it.

The same suffocating sensation they felt this morning soon filled their house, forcing them to wait as the constant 'zaps' and 'bangs' started whittling down. It wasn't any more pleasant than it was the first time, but at least they anticipated it. A few painful moments later, their breathing regained its regular pace, and their house started becoming more illuminated.

-"...Ugh...", the small black bird on the ground tried holding his head between his hands as he stared immediately at the wall behind him. Yep. Scrooge was back alright. "We really need to find a spell that counters harmful effects from other spells. I don't think I want to keep do this...", he complained, allowing their home to bask in the silence for a moment. Even the air had stopped its continual blow for a moment. A moment of peace wasn't rare when the pair of them were both adults, but the whole 'evil magic' thing didn't also allow for too much peace.

Then there was a sob.

It wasn't a particularly sad sob. Particularly pained, either. It was simply reigned. Defeated. When he turned back, the green-ish duck was still on her knees, her hand covering her eyes, emitting another sob every few moments before interrupting it with a quick chuckle. He gave her the moment; no need to be pushy now. He already knew what was bothering her.

-"I guess...I guess I really am a screw-up...", she mumbled between her hitches. "Fifty years and I cannot get a dime. Fifty years and I've also grown attached to winning by one single method...I'm hopeless, Poe. Hopeless.", she ended solemnly, not showing her face, afraid of even worse humiliation if she was shedding tears.

-"No."

-"Stop it. You're the best person I could ask for now, but lying won't make me better.", she bitterly refuted, making her hand leave her face as she tried tucking the threads of hair that made their way to her eyes away.

-"Then what will?"

-"I don't know! Winning? Not being a failure? Something along those lines! I've been working my bum off for years, playing off every failure as a learning experience, but it's too much. I've had it. I just want to win for once. Is that too much?", indeed, Magica DeSpell was not known for making such emotional rants, and yet, everyone had moments when they snapped. She just needed to let some steam off. That's all.

-"I meaning, we are villains. Winning isn't really something we do often.", well, he was certainly keeping his realist tendencies. That was fun. "...I don't know Magica. I wish I had some magical answer to tell you, but there really isn't. We're back to square one.", he stated as a matter-of-fact, quickly picking up the pace before she could reply, "But that doesn't matter. You're Magica DeSpell! Sorceress of the Shadows, Empress of Napoli, and my favourite little sister. You'll push through. Somehow, against all possible odds and against your better judgement, you'll rise up again. You always did.", he resumed, an encouraging tone in his voice. He held his had high, looking the sorceress in the eye. She seemed touched.

-"Poe...that was...Absolute malarkey.", she admitted, chuckling with him. "But you know what? I'll take it.", she laughed, opening her arms for a moment as the raven in front of her understood what she wanted and opened his wings. A small moment ensued before she went down and gave her brother a quick hug. A silent one, and those were rare, so he'd better cherish it. because she wasn't planning on giving much more of them. "Alright, that's enough."

-"Aw, and here I thought you were going to showing some more affection to me.", well, it wasn't that she didn't love him, but disregarding the rare outburst of emotion, she never showed much emotion to her brother. He, on the other hand, didn't try to hide it. At least, before the whole raven business. And now she was sad again. She snapped out of her internal thoughts when she noticed he perched himself on the couch, almost as if waiting for her to come closer. "So, what's the plan now, Mistress?"

-"The plan?", oh, right. A plan. A plan to reclaim herself. To try and fight against this feeling of hopelessness. "I'd...I want to try and train my Shadow Magic a bit more. Perhaps having more control over my shadow will make me get in a better place. It can serve me, and it's the most loyal helper I'll probably ever get.", she mumbled, earning a disapproving glance. "Besides you, of course.", she added, and the glance went away. "Besides, shouldn't you be a cold-hearted, uncaring villain? Why do you care whether or not I consider you loyal?"

-"No, I meant the plan to get rid from Scrooge. Or to win over him. Or any other plan.", oh, so that was how it was going to be? Now he was going to ignore her questions. We'll see about that, Mr. Tough Guy. We'll see. She wiped her eyes, making sure there wasn't anything in them.

-"Hey, when did your English improve all of a sudden? And why didn't the cracks show when we faced Bradford? Are you really sure you're just having some difficulties? Because I'm telling you, you won't get on my good side if I figure out you've been messing with me...", well, two could play at that game! She, too, could ignore his questions, although he replied to this particular question with a most satisfying answer: A shrug. One day, she'll kill him. Not today, however.

-"So, plan is being?"

-"Now you're just forcing it.", she rolled her eyes, walking a bit closer to him as a most devilish plan popped into her mind. "You know, I think I have a new plan.", she began, and he immediately became attentive. Or at least, feigned attention. "I'm planning a vacation."

-"A what?", the pure, raw confusion in his voice was priceless. If for nothing else, this plan in particular was already working.

-"A vacation. It is when someone takes a break from a particular work or job.", she dully explained, watching him mutter something under his beak.

-"No, I know that! Just...really? The last vacation we took together was in the seventies. It's an...uh, a strange extremely proposition.", he explained, apparently coming on board of this particular plan. "I guess you finally decided that some relaxation can benefit the both of us. So, where to, Mistress? I think Sardinia would to be very nice.", he suggested, a small list of places they could go to popping up in his mind. It's been a last while since the two of them actually planned a relaxing trip together. Usually they'd just yell at each other before one of them storms away for a few days and relaxes on their own.

-"Actually...I've been thinking about staying here. I mean, look at our home. It needs some work, that's for sure. We have some laundry, and to be truthful, when was the last time we walked around Napoli? Must've been three years at least.", she tried to remember, and he thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

-"You know what? You're right. We'd do better to stay here. Away from McDuck, away from our troubles in life.", there we go, he was starting to see from her perspective. "And our house does look like it hasn't been cleaned since the dawn of time.", well, that wasn't such a great perspective, but it wasn't wrong per say.

-"Alright, consider us on vacation from now on!", she announced, looking around their ancestral home for a moment. "I think we'd best start on cleaning this place up if we want to finish quickly", she stated, and she earned a nod from her brother as he went to a broom nearby. She then remembered something. "And...uh, Poe?"

-"Hm?", huh. He didn't immediately object to her using his name. That was encouraging.

-"Can we...you know, use our names from time to time? Maybe the weekends? Just...sometime when we can be ourselves for while, yeah?", she timidly suggested, trying to decipher his expression. Poe had donned Ratface as his name for a while now, and she knew that he didn't exactly like the name, only keeping it so that nobody recognizes how low he sunk. But she already knew who he was, so it wasn't that big of a deal...right?

-"...Sure, I suppose. Only on weekends though.", his murmured, his voice so low, almost as if he hoped she wouldn't catch it. He knew she did from her relieved expression, though. "Well, don't just stand there. Get in work; grab the mop.", he ordered, turning his head away.

-"Will do, Ratface, will do.", well, if there's one thing that this disastrous spell helped with, it's that it made the rift between them slightly smaller than what it used to be after the raven incident. Slightly.

As she headed off to find the mop, passing by Poe while he tried his earnest to brush the dust away, she couldn't help but reflect on this day. So, another thing to add to the tomes. Another failure, too, but this time, she couldn't help but feel it was self-inflicted.

She was this close. The Lucky Dime was quite literally in her hand -she quickly checked, obviously finding nothing- and she let it go. Why? Was this really the only way she could find her satisfaction, by defeating Scroogie herself? How far was she willing to go? How much more would she have to sacrifice?

Would she even get there?

Perhaps not. However, it was this 'perhaps' that kept her going; Magica hadn't expected Scroogie to be such a persistent opponent, to always be watchful, to always be determined to win, to always be so confident, yet never passing the line that would make many other fall for an over-inflated ego. And yet, he slipped from time to time. She knew that, as a villainess, the world was basically working against her, and yet...there were times where she came so close, she could not actually believe it. But he always bounced back up, striking her and Poe down at the last second.

And yet, she could not imagine any more hollow a victory than what she had today. For all she hated him, Scrooge was such a worthy opponent that anyone else simply could not reach the golden standard which he'd set. The snark, the fighting, the boisterous spirit that just felt so wonderful to crack with a devious plot...It all made her unable to imagine a victory over someone other than him when it came to the Lucky Dime.

The issue was that she feared he became less of a rival, and more of an obsession. Was she truly unable to accept winning over someone else? How much control did she have over this rivalry of theirs, really? She always thought that he'd be living in fear of her, making his every more around her fearsome existence, and yet it appeared she was the one who was losing her mind about him.

So what would she do? Realize she's become in his orbit? Accept it? Try to cut all ties and just stop going to North America altogether? It was all just so maddening...

And yet, the answer she found herself satisfied with was that she had to try harder. She couldn't possibly let Scrooge rob her blind; she was Magica DeSpell! She went so far to get to defeat Scroogie, and she wouldn't simply let go! She'd get better, stronger, more dangerous, and she'd have to balance this out a bit. Scrooge was not the main character of her life; she was. He wasn't going to out-shine her in her own life.

And yeah, the Lucky Dime is essentially her sole goal which she's been working towards, but perhaps trying to regain more control before going after Scrooge again will make her feel more firm about her position. Honestly, it was all so complicated that she couldn't help but feel a bit bad for leaving a Scrooge-less world behind her, but after all, a world without Scrooge McDuck is certainly not the world she was used to. She wouldn't simply leave the world behind her and run away, she'd stand up and get a hold of this situation again. It's what she did before, and what she'll be doing for a long time, or else her name isn't Magica DeSpell.

-"Mistress, what on earth is taking so long?! Have you forgotten what a mop is?!", and her name wouldn't be Magica DeSpell if she stopped doing dramatic monologues and forgetting about her surroundings, either.

-"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming you smart-mouth...", as she picked up the cleaning supplies and headed to where her brother was, she couldn't help but stare at Scrooge's picture, filled with darts.

Perhaps a world without Scroogie would be a world that's less dangerous. A world that's more successful for her. Far easier, too. But she did not care about easy, she cared about the challenge and the victory that followed. For now, she could handle a world with Scroogie. The question was: Could he handle what was coming next?

Oooooh, that was a good one! She had to write that down for her next confrontation with the old miser. Right after they finish their vacation, of course.

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #magica de spell #poe de spell #duckverse #My writing #ask #Life crisises and siblings and magic #we have it all

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emerald-echeveria-plant · 3 years ago

Text

(Me: when will you stop?

Also Me: till the earth explodes :3)

Name:

Veronica Flare

Name pronunciation:

Ver-on-i-ca Fla-re

Nickname:

The executioner

Personality:

Flamboyant, vengeful, extravagant, sadistic, loyal, looney, charming, jokester

Age:

523 years old

Species:

Venus flytrap

Sexuality:

Pansexual

Gender:

Transwoman

Pronouns:

She/her

Ethnicity:

???

Looks:

Backstory:

(WARNING: mentions of torture, suicide, & transphobia)

During the era of which Hatred was ruling over Amoretia, she had many enemies who would happily want her buried alive. So in response, Hatred decided to strike fear into them. She thought they'd be much easier to control and leave her alone if they were afraid of her. Yet, how could she accomplish it? Torture. But an amount of torture that would keep them alive and make others fear her. If her enemies saw the state of her victims, they would see what she was capable of. At first, Hatred would handle most of the torturing but couldn't for long. Her armies and supporters needed her leadership. So, Hatred hired multiple tortures to do the job for her. The job was simple, torture the enemy but too much to a point where they die. One problem though. Some of the things Hatred would instruct them to do, was a bit too much for them... Such as It affected their mental and emotional health. Hatred didn't care though, she still wanted them to do it. If they didn't, they would be met with her wrath. And one of the things no one should ever do.. is anger the queen.

The tortures slowly fell in numbers. Some of them going insane from what they committed. While others committed suicide. A few of them tried to start a revolt against the queen with the prisoners they were supposed to be torturing. In response, Hatred had them tied to a ship and slowly had it sink. Hatred hired more torturers but it would always seem to be a repeat of what happened last time. Going insane, suicide, and revolting against her. Seeing as no matter what she did, the issue wouldn't go away. After pondering with herself for a while, she came up with a perfect idea.

She'll create her own torturer.

Hatred went through many spells books in order to find a way to create such a being. Not being satisfied with any of the options she had, she went onto experiment. While she wasn't away fighting alongside her armies or making plans with her cabinet, she'd frequently experiment on how to create life. Her first few experimentations didn't go as planned. Most of them coming up as failures in her eyes. Hatred would get severely frustrated with not getting the results she wanted. Often destroying her own room in the process. Hatred tried for months to create the perfect specimen. They had to be equally terrifying, threatening, and cruel. As well as some certain traits that would make them not become insane or betray her. She made a specially designed potion containing such traits. Making the being morally corrupt, sadistic, and loyal to her and only her.

A year later, she finally got the result she wanted... Well, sort of. By using a venus flytrap along with a potion and black magic, she created a being from it. A being she would call Victor Flare. Of course Victor wasn't exactly what she wanted. To her he was way too skinny, not as tall, and not terrifying looking at all. Yet, he had some form of intelligence and had all four of his limbs along with working organs. By this point she was growing tired of experimenting and decided to go with him. He was born twenty three years old yet had the mind of a newborn. Right after he was created, Victor was immediately put to learning about Hatred's ideology. It confused him a lot at first. Mainly because he had no clue how to read or write. After realizing that the creature she created couldn't just learn about her ideology, she allowed him to be taught subjects like math, science, and language arts. Victor eventually learned how to read and write as well as speak. After becoming intelligent, Hatred thought that he was finally ready. She began to teach him how to torture her enemies. Most of the time the torture lessons would be hands-on. Victor found himself enjoying giving pain to people. Most likely due to Hatred making him have the certain traits that she desired. She was pleased with the outcome of seeing him torture and made him her royal torturer. Finally getting what she wanted, Hatred could finally focus on spreading her ideology as well as defeating some of her enemies. She'd usually bring back some soldiers on the enemies side or even her main enemy for Victor to torture. He'd always do as she requested in order to make her happy. Hatred never physically showed her happiness but did seem to be pleased with what he did. Although he could do better. Hatred eventually casted a spell that gave him powers that would allow him to do more awful things. The powers were tied to his species which allowed him to control and manipulate plant life. Victor became fascinated with his powers. His first thought was how there were so many ways to make a person suffer. He would then use his powers, primarily manipulating vines in order to tear them apart, limb by limb, slowly and painfully.

As much as he enjoyed making Hatred's enemies suffer, he started having other thoughts. He began to question his own actions. Why was he torturing these people? Sure he liked it but why them? He knew they were the enemy but why were they the enemy? When asking Hatred these questions, she only reiterated that they didn't follow the right way of how to truly live. How love was an infectious disease and how it would be the Galaxy's downfall. How she was born in order to stop such a thing from happening. Even though Victor was maybe five months old at this point, knew that her ideology was incredibly flawed. Yet, he never commented anything about it. Knowing that if he did, she'd torture him as well. Victor knew that these people he was hurting were innocent... Strangely, it made it much more fun for him. Most likely due to him being specifically made morally corrupt. After answering that question, there was another question brewing in his mind.. Who was he? Well he knew who he was. He was the loyal servant to Hatred who was given the task to harm her enemies. But.. who was he really? Behind those layers of plant flesh and blood? What was the core center? This lead to him questioning his own identity.

He questioned if he was only a torturer and if that was the only thing in his life. Victor wanting more meaning in his life took up hobbies. Mainly reading books. His favorite books being that of fairytales. Victor would also often be taking care of his appearance. Nobody wants blood stained faces after torturing all day. He first wondered if he wasn't a torturer, what else could he be? Maybe a makeup artist or a hair dresser. Those jobs sounded thrilling but not as much fun as tearing someone's skin off. As much as Victor took care of his appearance, he could never shake the feeling something was off about him. He felt uncomfortable in his skin. Often covering his skin with layers of clothing. He never knew why though. He didn't know but felt like he needed to. Victor would only get his answer when he was reading another one of his books. It showed illustrations of beautiful women wearing gowns and enjoying a picnic. Victor felt what would be known as "gender dysphoria". He felt uneasy with his own gender. As if he was born in the wrong body. Well, he kinda was as Hatred would put it. Although it was more about gender for him but it was everything else from Hatred. She didn't even want him to have a gender in the first place. Victor would slowly begin to put on makeup. First it was a bit of eyeliner then lipstick and full on layer of makeup. He felt comfortable with himself as he put on the makeup. Victor felt beautiful. When Hatred was away, he'd sneak into her room and wear one of her dresses. He didn't like the colors but enjoyed wearing it regardless. Eventually, Hatred would catch him doing this. In response she yelled at him before kicking him out of her private quarters. She wasn't mad about him wearing a dress but actually about that it was HER dress. Hatred didn't like it when people touched her things. Despite that, Victor began to take on more feminine traits. He started to talk in a much more high pitched voice. He wore high heels while torturing people. They were confused but didn't question it if they wanted a harsher punishment. One day, Victor full on dressed in a beautiful long gown, heels, and makeup. He adored it very much and praised himself for looking so good. Yet, he still didn't feel comfortable with himself. Despite looking gorgeous, he didn't like his gender. He didn't feel like he was born in the right body. He was destained to be someone else. Victor came to the conclusion that he wasn't born to be a man... He was supposed to be a woman. But how exactly could he turn into one..?

Magic. That was the answer. If Hatred could create him with just a potion and a few funny magic words, then surely there was a way for him to become a woman. After looking through several spell books, he finally found the spell he was looking for. The creation of a potion that would allow one to permanently become a woman. It was hard work but Victor managed to collect all the ingredients he needed to make the potion. He then finally drank the potion. It was a success and a bit later, Victor would change his name to Veronica. Along with his pronouns to she/her. When Hatred came to learn of this, she didn't really care. All she wanted was her enemies to suffer. Veronica happily compiled as soon as Hatred called her by her correct pronouns.

Veronica finally felt comfortable with herself. Enjoying to be in her own skin and loving herself throughout. Although she was met with a problem, many people loathed her for torturing people. When her enemies found out that she was trans, they decided to harass her on that. Often yelling slurs at her and sending hurtful letters about how horrible of a MAN she was. Veronica was angered by this. Offended that they still thought of her as a man and not as a woman. She could take being called a horrible person for committing atrocious acts or even being called a literal hellspawn. Veronica found their insults to be humourous sometimes. She'd even provoke them to insult her more. But misgendering her was taking it too far... She wasn't a man anymore and was happy being her true self. Then it all came crashing down when many people began to refer to her as "Victor" her deadname. Finally reaching her breaking point, Veronica unleashed hell on Amoretia... All of her enemies would feel her wrath for treating her horribly. Many of them were mainly torn limb from limb while others had much more horrible punishments. One person was slowly impaled by a bamboo shoot. Another covered in flowers that attracted bees and slowly died from being stung to death. Yet the one person that met the worst fate was young woman by the name of Patty Marrion. Patty would often be the one harassing Veronica daily. Calling her all sorts of horrible things, saying her decisions were choices instead of actually feelings, and literally made pamphlets demonizing trans folk. After weeks of being tormented, Patty was now at the mercy of Veronica who wasn't very keen on letting her go. Veronica seem to play it simple though... All she asked Patty to do was drink a glass of wine she specially made for her. Patty knew this was one of her sick and twisted games of Veronica. She expected to be poisoned but nothing to seem to happen at first. Yet before Patty could respond, most likey taunting her about how her planned failed, she began to feel something change inside her... What Patty hadn't realized was that Veronica put inside a special seed. A special seed that slowly turned Patty into a tree... It was quite a horrifying sight as Patty realized what was happening to her. She begged for mercy. Apologizing repeatedly for her actions. Yet, it was too late... Veronica watched in glee as Patty slowly circumed to her fate. Right after the transformation was complete, Veronica took an axe, chopped down the tree, and made a lovely chair for Hatred to sit on. Veronica's tyranny wouldn't end after those events. Right after she went in a rampage and gifting Hatred the chair, Hatred promoted her by making her executioner. As well as have some form of control over Amoretia while she was away fighting wars. It was a very good deal for Veronica as now she could implement about how much she adored being herself and torture anyone she wanted!

Unfortunately after two years of this, Hatred would then be "executed" by her enemies. Veronica became extremely depressed that their "wonderful" and "fantastic" leader was put to death. Not wanting her legacy of destroying all love to die out, Veronica tried to lead Amoretia and the armies herself. Veronica never truly believed in destroying love but would do it out of respect for Hatred. Yet, the other monarchies weren't going to let that happen. They declared that Veronica had to be put to death for her crimes. She would end up going on the run for a while. Then, it seemed like she straight up disappeared. There wasn't any trace of her left. No leads, no eyewitnesses, and no sightings. Amoretia would soon be ran by a government in order to establish some sort of order. Sadly, the kingdom would never return back to it's prime time... Although some people on Amoretia do still believe Veronica is still out there... Plotting.. Seeking revenge.. and going to return one day.

Likes:

Makeup, fashion, taunting others, desserts, making jokes/puns, torturing people, violence, & practicing magic

Dislikes:

Being misgendered, her deadname, people disrespecting Hatred, insects, stepping on her shoes, transphobes, dull things, and sour foods

Powers/abilities:

Nature manipulation - connected directly to the natural world and thus can communicate, influence, manipulate and control nature

Potion making - substances with magical properties such as enhancing physical and mental abilities, healing, granting powers, changing shape, or bewitching someone depending on the kind of potion that is made.

Immortality - endless lifespan

Weaknesses:

Fire - the most feared thing a plant could ever face.

Vulnerable - can have a long lifespan but can still die

Water - isn't a very strong swimmer

Physical strength - Veronica isn't the strongest and even Baozhai could beat her in a fight

Occupation:

Torturer & Executioner

Other:

Veronica's flytrap flaps often closes whenever she goes to sleep or whenever she doesn't want to talk to anyone.

#I'm sorry if i portray my trans character inaccurately #this is my first time writing and creating a transgender character #I'm open to any criticism if you have any to give in order to improve her character and to accurately portray her being trans #Baozhai: um who are you?#Veronica: I'm you but much better looking #Baozhai: HEY >:((#oc insert #Veronica

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kanene-yaaay-o-retorno · 4 years ago

Text

The Colors of my Soul(mates) [1]

[Second oneshot]

[AO3 link]

Kanene’s Notes:

Nope, I do not regret the pun. Okay, okay! I’ve plaining this AU for almost an year so I’m pretty excited to post it!! dfghjsdfrtyucfvgbhjv yaaaay!! Thank you very very much @olliedollie1204 for such a positive feedback and awesome ideas. it helped me a lot!!

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* That fanfic has Virgil, Logan, Patton and Roman (only a brief mention of Remy) in a platonic relationship (yet), but it can be viewed as romantic, if you wish.

* Warnings: A bit of swearing and depreciative thoughts. It’s mostly fluff and hurt/comfort, tho.

* This characters do not belongs to me. They all belongs to the amazing Thomas Sanders in his series of Sanders Sides.

* Something around 4.500 words. -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any advice is very very welcome!

* Tô com preguiça de postar a versão em português brasileiro aaaa! Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Say to someone important how much you love them, be safe, talk with the one that you love, drink water and sleep well! Byeioo!~

[~*~]

What can do a creature if not, between creatures, love? - Carlos Drummond de Andrade

- What the fu-

Virgil only discovered he had more than one Soulmate when he was twenty years old, more specifically the exact moment he took a wrong turn and kept going even knowing he was in the wrong way because one hour it would lead him to somewhere Virgil would recognize before his mortal being inevitably starved to death in the middle of nowhere and his eyes got dragged from the visions from thousands of futures created by his mind to a Teddy Bear Store - they seemed to replicate worse than bacteria during Valentine’s Day - and two bears from the crimson shelter suddenly dyed themselves in two milliseconds as he slightly glanced at them.

Two of them. Virgil felt his entire face burn in hot shades of embarrassment with drops of disbelief, almost as if all the people running, stumbling, locked in their own worlds and swearing while walked in the sideway because ‘some stupid teenager decided to just stop and block their way’ could, by only looking at him, stare deep into his soul and realize the one staring astonished the store already carried in his fate another one more Soulmate at home.

One completely different in shape and form, even if also blue, however in a light, sky blue completely opposite shade from the new navy one staring him down - Virgil knew plentily their link wasn’t bonded yet, albeit he was equally sure that the person behind those black glooming teddy bear’s eyes were already judging him, - wondering why, between all the people, he was their soulmate. The other red one was very much likely crackling in his face when an employee came and pointedly turn the adult’s attention to the sign in big, graphed words clued in front of their store:

“You dye, you buy.”

Virgil signed, pushing his hoodie down further, wondering how much time it would take of him hitting his head on the wall to finally pass out. This option sounded much more attractive when he realized that this new ‘discovery’ about himself would cost all his month’s saves.

He asked, to the Universe, the stars, the Earth and whoever was seeing him in that exact moment: why?

Was it a kind of prank? A punishment from fate when, years and tears ago, Virgil lifted his chin up and dared the Universe to give him more soulmates as he locked all his uncolored – although never really free of some weak drops of paint from what one day they came to be – simply stuffed animals, - and nothing more, anymore, - away and promised he would never, ever allow himself to go all through this shit again?

But… That had been… years ago. Almost a decade since that soft voice he got to know so well, the impulsive acts, long conversations and warm feelings.

But…

Time has passed, that is true. Nevertheless, deep down has he really changed?

Virgil stared at the bag carried so close to his chest since his bare hands were sweating and shaking way too much for this task. Yes, he knew his Soulmates won’t feel anything until both of them decided to ‘give the First Step’, accepting to link their souls and fates, for the longest as it lasts. However, he didn’t want to risk it, because what if they felt? What if he in some way broke the Soulmate System when got two at the same time and now everything was messed up and they could already feel his touches even through the bag and the first impression Virgil would gave to them was ‘That anxious, weird boy and his creepy, sweaty hands’ and-

A girl almost hit him as she passed running at his side, making his arms protectively hug further the teddy bears closer to him, arms protectively involving them, the soft touch somehow calming his tumulted thoughts. The lost man took a deep breath.

Clear your mind. Rational thoughts. Focus on the two sides of the coin. Three people wouldn’t be able to break a millennial, unknown system, don’t matter how good he was in screwin… No, a voice that sounded suspiciously a lot like his psychologist calmly pointed, not like that. Virgil huffed, trying again. He was a magnet of problems and bad…Okay, also wrong. Neutral thoughts, focus on neutral thoughts. Come on. Come on.

It was okay.

They wouldn’t feel him until they gave the first step. Right, that… sounded like a start. He didn’t do anything. Now, what Virgil needed to do was go to his house, clean his bed in order to find a good place where he could put and ignore them and then he would get his headphones, listen his playlists and wonder where the fuck his life was going.

It was okay. Everything would stay okay as long as he didn’t give the First Step.

Virgil unconsciously hugged tighter the teddy bears, his fingers finding way and drowning themselves in the soft, cozy fur, combing them in light, soothing touches as he continued his way.

Okay. Everything was okay.

[~*~]

Plurinfanto, or Multiple Souls, it’s the nomination used for the cases when a person has diverse soulmates at the same time and in a same period.

The first known case was with Pharaoh Cleopatra when multiples of her woolen fabric started to dye themselves in various colors and shades. In Ancient Roman, it was believed that the occurrences were blessings from Venus in a sign of prosperity and abundance. Grand, longstanding parties were executed through days nonstop in order to get together those intertwined souls. When the connection broke and the colors disappeared, it meant that days of pain and foreboding were waiting forward.

It is not known for certain the exact moment when the meaning changed, albeit researchers believe it was around the fall of the Roman Empire, when all the invasions resulted in a cultural reconstruction which led to the loss from much of their costumes.

��CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER HOW TO HAVE THE SOULMATE OF YOUR DREAMS!!!!

[~*~]

The computer made a soft ‘click’ as Virgil closed it and sat on his bed, adjusting slightly his position to stare the three vivid, brilliant stuffed beings contrasting to the general dark theme of his room.

Virgil growled, resting his back on the cold wall, the shivers calming his flowing thoughts about all the variants this whole thing had. No to mention that people change with time, leading to the souls who they “relate” to change as well, meaning that you can have someone in your life for years and then, one month, or weeks or the next day, you can wake up only to discover you and the said person don’t “match” anymore.

And NO ONE talked about this just because it was a freak tabu to doesn’t have ‘an only one soulmate who will be with you until the end of your existence’. Oh, for fuck sake. Virgil ran his hand through his hair, wincing when he accidently pulled some tangled strands. That sounds like a line of commercial, does anyone believe that bullshit for real?

“Hello dear, newer fellow!!” The popping thought broke his line of reasoning, jumping excitedly in his mind and automatically pulling him out of his wanders. It has a strong and full of… about everything, tune demanding attention. Virgil felt a warm kiss on his forehead, meaning one soulmate – a deep part of him turned his attention to the red colored teddy bear, - had given the First Step. The one who in some moment changed his position so now he was sitting on the floor felt his face get hot again, heart thumping strongly in his chest as his arm moved, fingers stopping inches away from the fur, questioning if he was ready to retribute the gesture.

[~*~]

Many history icons have reports of being Pluriers, as shown in the book ‘The Romance in the History of Those Who Wrote It’, by historian Henry Senyura. The subject is also beginning to gain more visibility after the protest from the teacher Joan A. in 2010, who got touched towards the situation of some of her pupils being forced to choose only one among their Soulmates for the six-month annual exchange, by the end of that period most of them lost or weakened their bonding due lack of communication, small changes of personality and continuous absence. She held a protest at the front of the school, stating that no one had the right to interfere in ‘matters of the heart’.

A lot of fiction works are beginning to address the topic more frequently, as in I’m Not One, a movie directed by Devon Stan; The Seven Colors of Rainbow, a book written by Lílian Lee and the psychological analysis Life’s Watch, recently found between drafts by the famous writer Robin Green, published after their husband’s authorization, Josué Green.

[~*~]

Logan hummed. As it seems, this was a relatively common thing, since the concept of Soul Mates surpassed the barriers of unity and time, being ‘souls who in a way or other intertwined themselves in some part of their life. Sometimes it didn’t necessarily mean a romantic relationship, as the majority of society and media pointed, but it also didn’t hold any assurance that all of them were platonic.

He massaged the bridge of his nose. Remy wasn’t in the dorm so everything was silent enough for him to hear his own thoughts.

It has been a remarkable amount of years since he got his last soulmates, - except for Remy, however they both considered this occurrence as a separate incident - well, until, of course, this day. At least it was a good thing he always carried in his bag extra easy manageable stuffed animals or else maybe the System would dye one of clothes, what would be less than ideal for him in the middle of his philosophy debate. But things got even more interesting when, after his classes, as he arrived at the small, pleasantly well-organized store next to his university, one more stuffed animal colored itself right before him.

He didn’t exactly understand why. Logan considered himself an owner of a… quite strong, strict personality, this added with his difficulty in managing his and one another emotions usually tended to bring some complex tribulations in his rela-

Anyway, that is beside the important matter. The one laying his chin on his crossed fingers undid his pose for a bite of time in order to adjust his glasses, barely fixating his gaze on the two plushies in the desk before him, his third – Pat - resting a few centimeters away, closer to Logan’s fingers, who were barely touching. Mind running. Asking, reflecting, wondering what was the exact amount of time to be acceptable to give his First Step?

‘The First Step’.

Logan never really understood from where and how that expression emerged. It didn’t come from the words’ etymology nor some semantic detour. His most concrete hypothesis consisted of the phrase being derived from old romances.

“Did you know it used to be called the ‘First Kiss’?! But that confused a lot of people who really believed that, to be able to talk and interact with their soulmates they would have to kiss each other, like the Sleeping Beauty! I always got confused in this movie when I was a child, by the way! That ended up messing with a bunch of relationships before they even started, since a lot of peeps don’t feel comfortable enough with strangers kissing them. However, they also speeded up a bunch of them as well…” Logan blinked, his attention escaping from his previous thoughts to the light sky blue plushie of Baby Yoda, for a moment surprised with the sudden input. He felt fingers carefully holding his arms and a bit of ghost movements as Pat probably moved his representation to somewhere else, a hug and warmth engulfing the one yet absolving the new information moments later.

“That was… enlightening.” His voice danced across the room. Even though he was completely aware they could chat telepathically, the childish act of saying the words out loud still comforted him, in a way. “Thank you for your contribution.”

He took a deep breath and closed the tab of research on his cellphone, internally thanking from the escaping of his turmoil of thoughts, his free hand carefully combing the Baby Yoda’s head fur, almost methodic.

“Looo, no!” The other protested with no heat in his tune, leading a toothless smile to resurface in Logan’s features. “Stop doing this. You know I end up sleeping every time!”

“Oh no, what a tragedy.” He deadpanned, already plugging his phones and changing to a most relaxed position on his chair, his eyes traveling across the countless movies on the device before him. “In which episode did we stop?”

“I’m going to fight you.” Pat sounded like he was pouting.

“How so?” Logan asked, trying to hide his amusement.

Silence followed his words.

“Pat?”

“What is the skeleton’s favorite instrument?”

“Pat, don’t you fucking da-”

“Language! It’s a xiloBONE!”

Logan audible growled, fast in his final decision. “I’m going to drop you out the window.”

“I’m going to hug you!” And immediately the one rolling his eyes felt himself being squished in a strong bear hug, huffing only half annoyed.

“You are an incorrigible heathen, let me go in this exact instant.” His answer was a ‘butterfly kiss’ – as Pat was fond in calling them – on his forehead. “Urg, affection.” Yet he smiled and mirrored the act, lightly poking the other’s side.

“We’re on episode 19.”

[~*~]

Roman stared the paper, his pencil’s tip stopped in the middle of the biggest petal’s flower, his eyes narrowing in the hope of a clearest way of how to convert the vague idea he had in transforming the night full of stars in a flower. No to tell he also would need to choose a good pallet of colors indication for it, later, and probably re-do all the process over and over and over until got the best result as possible. A yawn found its way from his lips and the designer stretched, getting up to drink a bit of water and rubbing his eyes, wondering if it was really worth it to make a black tea to help him through the night.

A glimpse of color caught his attention. The navy blue teddy bear on his couch, the main inspiration of his newest tattoo. Roman wondered why it wasn’t resting in front of him while he drew. A corner of his brain, obscured by the tiredness, telling he had a previous good reason for this choice although his actual self carried absolutely no idea of why.

Well, if he couldn’t remember it, it means the reason wasn’t THAT good, right?

Roman held the stuffed animal, spinning with it across the room for a couple of minutes, imagining who would be the person behind it. A king, a queen, a non-binary royalty? Did they like Disney? Musicals? Sing? Would they chat for hours at first with a few words exchanged or would they take a bit to warm at each other? Was navy blue their favorite color or…

Or…

Navy blue.

Oh.

He fixed his glare on the plushie, his hands feeling and slowly drawing in the soft fur of it.

Navy blue, huh? A humorless chuckled flew in the air. It could have no significance, it could be a world of it. It probably didn’t mean what he, for a moment, a so silly, stupid moment, wished it meant. Of course, one day this would happen, right? It was something normal, something expected. Not the magical, right out of the story books or his old daydreams, occurrence.

This wasn’t a second chance. The Universe doesn’t give you second chances. He wasn’t the same boy from eleven years ago, holding his own costumed teddy bear crying his eyes out, hugging he – No, it – the closest as possible, wishing with all his heart and soul for the color, the voice, the thoughts, the rambling, their bickering, the forgiveness to come back again.

No, he grew up. He moved on. He got better.

Then why did a part of him still felt this way? Like he was about to hear the excited giggles, the soft reprimand, that lovely, deep and so truly -and sometimes boring, Roman had to admit – questions? Why would a part of him still say that he could have it all again if he just… waited long enough, hoped high enough, dreamed long enough…

…If he was enough.

There aren’t more than seven billion colors in the world. Roman would be stupid if he really believed there was a path where he wouldn’t stumble in that so (un)fortunate well-known shade of blue again.

Roman growled, his forehead making a loud, dry thumping sound as hit his desk. The one who should be asleep hours ago had absolutely no energy to battle against those thoughts, again. At least for now. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the teddy bear laid on the cold tabletop before him. Well, what a better way to get rid of your own means thoughts than put some stranger’s unpredictable thoughts in the middle of it? Roman slightly pushed the bunch of flowers and some warmup sketches he had out of the way, carefully carrying the representation next to him, nodding. Honestly, that was the best idea he had for a while, why did he even put the lovely thing away?

Awake Roman was so silly, thinking that… something he couldn’t quite recall right now would be a bad idea, he pointed as snorted softly, pressing his lips on the teddy’s forehead, the quote he knew by heart flying from them in a natural flow.

“It is not immortal, since it’s flame. But let it be infinite while it lasts.”

A warm sensation rested on his own forehead moments later, leading the sleepy form to hum happily.

“Is it… poetry?” Oh shit, Roman widened his eyes. His soulmate heard that?? Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. Roman mentally facepalmed himself. So that was why he usually said it before the First Step!

“Uhh, yeah. Of course. Fidelity Sonnet by Vinícius Moraes.”

“I see. Classicism, I presume. A literature of very soundly pleasant rhymes, indeed. The first sonnet was probably created by the humanist Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, although it got even more known in the western literature after the works of Camões, who- ”

“He is from Modernism, actually.” Roman didn’t know why he suddenly sounded so defensive. Logan felt a cold feeling run his body when the other’s hands let go of him, for a piece of second wondering if it was supposed for him to do the same with the red narwhal plushie on his hold.

“A very common mistake to make due the lack of context.” He retorted, unable to formulate another answer. He had, of course, thought, balanced options and chosen the best topics to discuss with his new soulmates when they bonded. However, his fingers firmly gripped the pen, its tip tapping on the first topic written in the notebook partially forgotten in front of him, the poetry figuratively threw him out of his tracks, leading the decision to be the most impartial as possible due his… not so impartial past memories with that specific shade of red an even more difficult task than it already was.

“Yes. Sure. Sorry, I- I’m just… very tired right now.”

“You should go sleep, then.”

The other snorted with the direct, immediate response. “I should, shouldn’t I? Gotta work, though.”

Some part of Logan’s brain registered the new fact, separating and keeping it in a special place so he would remember to write it down in the new folder he bought, later.

“I see.” … poetry? That wasn’t a hard topic to talk about. The one now nervously cleaning the very clear lenses twisted his mouth. He could talk about this for hours. No, correction: he already had previously talked about this for hours non stop.

Logan strangely felt the urge to rub his face and scream. It has been years, - eleven years and 10 months to be precise – and exactly eight years since the one wearing glasses learned poetry because of him. Because of his constant habit of reciting Shakespeare before they would go to bed, until Logan brought himself to research and decorate all the poems he could muster, taking the task to now wake Prince – the name still carried a strong taste in his tongue – in the same way every single day. Before they realize, that becomes something between them. There were times when both didn’t talk, content in only reciting some verses and hear the other complete them. A part of Logan, that illogical and unfortunately full of feelings one wondered how their rap battles would be if they found each other right now.

Did Prince even maintain his liking the same things he one day did? Does he still recite poetry? Does he maintain the same dreams? The same habits? Does he even remember about him?

Highly improbable.

“You can call me Lo.”

Roman slowly blinked, getting out the fog surrounding his brain to realize he was mindless staring at the pan’s boiling water, surprised the other still there. Well, it seems like he hasn't screwed terribly everything yet.

“Lo? Like Lowrance?”

“Even though my name does contain ‘Lo’ in it, no. It’s ‘Lo’ like Logic. I came to believe it’s a good idea the nomination after a predominant characteristic, since we can’t actively exchange our real names through the Soulmate System.”

Roman’s breath hitched, a memory with yellow-ish edges and nostalgic smell unrolling in front of him.

…

‘I think we should choose you a name with more personality in it, ya know?’ He threw himself on his bed, kicking his legs on the air before immediately scoping the plushie and laying it on his stomach. ‘Like a characteristic!’

‘I don’t see what is wrong with the nickname I choose.’

‘No, no! There is nothing wrong with it! But that could be something just between us!’ Then he gasped, picturing that, if he was inside a movie there would be a lamp shining right above his hair in this moment. ‘We could call you Ro!! You wanted to be a robot, right?’

His soulmate growled and Roman felt a few pokes on his arm, the verbal protest doesn’t taking long before accompanying it. ‘I was three years old!’

‘And I’m never letting you live this down.’ He beamed, both knowing the annoyed scoff he got as response held no real heat. ‘Besides, we could even match our names!!’

‘That would be very counterproductive.’ Roman felt his hair being softly smoothed, a usual indication the other was losing himself in his thoughts. ‘Nicknames are supposed to help us. Having two equal names is not the most efficient thing.’

Roman dramatically scoffed, picking the stuffed animal and half hugging it, his free hand occupying itself in making a couple of gestures to no one, since his soulmate couldn’t exactly see them. ‘It’s not about being productive, Bear! It’s about feelings!!’

‘And since when,’ a light poke was delivered on his belly, making him squeak and mess with the teddy bear’s hair in revenge ‘Everything isn’t feelings for you, your highness?’

…

“Okay,” Roman and his self past disappearing with the fading memory said, in synchrony “You shall call me by Prince, then.”

Suddenly he felt himself falling, his hands quickly holding on the tabletop as the cold, nauseous feeling took over his stomach, more like a punch on it, his veins being filled with amounts of adrenaline for a glimpse of a second.

“Excuse me? Warn a guy next time you decide to just drop his representation, dude! Damn.” Roman shook himself, trying to bring his body to calm down.

“Sorry, I got… startled.” Logan gulped. The word ‘Prince’ echoing on his mind as a broken vinyl disc. What were the chances? That couldn’t be such a common nickname, right? Nor color. Nor interests. What were the chances? What could be the chances? Maybe he was just projecting, being played, tricked by a dangerous partnership between his own brain and emotions. Maybe he was just jumping to conclusions due the nostalgic feeling fogging his actions, his thoughts. Perhaps-

“Hey, Lo? Are you there?”

“Yes.” Logan answered, his fingertips colliding quickly with the fabric of his pants as he visualized his options. “Yes, I am.”

“Hm. Okay, then. I’m… glad to know.”

Silence. Logan took a wobbly breath.

“Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back; Wherein he puts alms for oblivion; A great-size monster of ingratitudes:”

“Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour'd; As fast as they are made, forgot as soon.” Roman continued without even noticing until the words danced in the air, just like the years haven’t passed.

Then he understood.

His heart stopped for a second, his eyes widening and his voice disappearing, as if his whole being was afraid to break the moment, the spell; as if this was a dream and a miscalculate step would make everything fade.

“Bear?” Roman felt a light poke on his cheek.

“Hello, Prince.”

Roman choked a laugh, quickly crawling the teddy bear next to his chest, hugging it both firmly and yet so caring, curling around its - no, him - feeling an equal warmth involve his form as he hided his face on the soft fur, giggling and hugging, feeling so happy, so alive and right and good and he would never, ever, ever again let him go.

“I missed you, bitch. Never scare me like this again.”

“I… missed you, as well.” Logan tried to not let the emotion take over his tune, his hand petting the narwhal plushie softly, the words had abandoning him, as it seems. “This reunion is a… good surprise.”

“Oh, shut up, I know you’re having a blast somewhere in that logic soul of yours, too.”

Logan huffed, grinning. “Stop crying on my hair, your troglodyte.”

“Make me, I dare you.”

“Always so dramatic.” They both rolled their eyes, letting the moment be bathed in the deep waters of a comfortable silence.

“Eleven years.”

“We have so, so much to talk about!! Oh, my goodness gracious, I’m going to get my tea. Do you remember about that play I wrote about zombie princes and a dragon witch? You will NOT fucking believe what happened with it!”

“Good thing I have you to explain to me then.” Roman stopped, a gigantic smile taking over his features as he closed his eyes to feel everything even more.

“Yeah, I agree.”

Somewhere in the world Patton and Virgil smiled during their sleep, unable to control themselves when a gigantic wave of pure joy and delight filled every corner of their hearts, coloring it on the most brilliant gleam, just like their stuffed animals resting peacefully on their grip.

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blackcloverdatabase · 5 years ago

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English Translation of Novel 3: Chapter 4 – The Hero Who Disappeared (Part 2 of 2)

Here’s the second half of the final chapter of the Book of Yuno. In short, this chapter features Yuno and Asta being awesome. There’s also a scene showing William and Patry, more Mereoleona, and, finally, Yuno finds an answer to William’s question.

As a brief recap of part 1 (which you can read here if you missed it), this part picks up after Yuno drops the drawing given to him by a young girl named Silka. After examining the drawing more closely, he makes a realization and asks William to show him what’s in his book pouch.

--- The Hero Who Disappeared: Part 2 ---

A few minutes later, at the reception hall,

“Please help me! I’m being chased by evil mages!”

Another play had just begun on stage. Though the number of children gathered around the stage was overwhelmingly smaller than before, the guest seating was completely filled. The cast was drastically changed so that a major accident due to that last play’s fatal casting error would never occur again. The theater staff advertised that there would be a lot of famous people on stage, and it looked like their strategy worked.

While he was thinking, he walked toward the front row of the audience. He tried going around the venue and touching other Magic Knights, but Yuno would be the best new “host” for him after all. Earlier, everything was so sudden that he took on an appearance that would make it easier to escape from Yuno and the others, but now he’s ready. By simply exposing other people to the Original Sin, he can completely takeover their consciousness.

“……Kishi~ There he is.”

He sneered as he spotted Yuno and Bell. As he thought, Yuno was standing guard right below the stage as he did before. He crept up behind Yuno, carefully closing the distance between them as he concealed his presence. Like the other spectators, Yuno was looking up at the stage, so he was able to shorten the distance between them in no time. Once he was close enough to touch him, he reached for his Original Sin Grimoire, but…

“!!”

Yuno nimbly turned around and grabbed his arm, then yelled,

“I’ve caught the host of the Original Sin Grimoire! Surround him!”

Suddenly, the audience and performers moved at once, surrounding Yuno and himself in the blink-of-an-eye.

“Wha-!?”

He involuntarily cried out. To think that a few Magic Knights were hidden within the audience…… No, the entire audience was comprised of Magic Knights. Moreover, they were all people he hasn’t seen before. Either he called over new Magic knights or they’ve changed their faces with magic. All the children that were in the audience have disappeared, so they must be using magic. The one who caused all this must be……

Quickly but meticulously assessing the situation, he clicked his tongue. Yuno looked straight at him and said,

“No need for you to pretend to be a kid anymore, Al…… no, avatar of the Original Sin.”

“……You’ve got me. You’re good at sensing magic, so I tried to stay away from you.”

The avatar, Al, looked bored as he responded, seemingly unworried about his current predicament.

“So, how did you figure me out…… Yuno-niichan?”

He innocently giggled as he asked, continuing to maintain his guise as a child. Yuno hid his irritation, daring to glare at him with cold eyes as he answered,

“……It was Silka’s drawing. You had a book pouch in her drawing, but you don’t receive a grimoire until you’re fifteen. A child like you shouldn’t need a book pouch, right?”

All this from a drawing that made him a bit uneasy.

Of course, Al doesn’t have a book pouch right now. That’s why, at first, Yuno thought it was just a mistake Silka made while she was drawing. Still, it worried Yuno because in the drawing Al gave to Vangeance…… he did not draw a book pouch. He thought that maybe Al forgot to draw it, but if he purposefully didn’t draw it, then that would imply something else entirely.

- Al usually wears a book pouch, but he’s hiding it. –

In other words, Silka included something in her drawing that he didn’t want Yuno to see. He felt as if he got a glimpse of Al’s true intentions. Moreover, the reason Yami felt the Ki of the Original Sin from Vangeance is that he had Al’s drawing with him.

“……Hm~ Good for you. To think you’d get this far just from some small……. stupidly trivial detail. It practically a coincidence. Aah~, this sucks.”

Just as the avatar said, his hypothesis was based on something truly, stupidly trivial. Even so, an ordinary organization wouldn’t mobilize over something like that. Right, a normal organization wouldn’t.

“……Yeah, you’re right. Everyone who excels in magic detection was willing to take my absurd hypothesis seriously, and when they gathered together, they were able to sense your mana.”

As a result of that, they were able to sense the Original Sin’s mana from him.

“In order to trap you, so many people gathered here in such a short period of time. Even if you didn’t come here on your own, we prepared a way lure you out.”

Even knights who had just finished their shifts and knights who were off duty that day came to help. They were all more than happy to cooperate with Yuno, rushing to his aid.

“Everyone was willing to mobilize all for the sake of a single Magic Knight. To resolve a single incident, we are all able to act as one…… This is the organization you made an enemy out of.”

Yuno said this as he looked at each of the Magic Knights who had gathered.

“And, the place where you decided to do your evil deeds is the country where this organization’s members risk their lives to protect…… did you really think we’d let you get away with that?”

‘I love the Magic Knights and this country.’

Those words Yuno uttered earlier that day came flooding back into his brain. While amplifying such feelings inside him, that was the forceful declaration he made to Al.

“………Hmph.”

In the face of Yuno’s overwhelming spirit, the avatar turned his gaze away, feeling ever so slightly overwhelmed. However, as if to hide that fact, he said,

“Ah, I see…… Well, it doesn’t matter to me~ I admit that I was careless. I thought I could wear my book pouch in front of Silka because she’s a kid, but look what happened~ Wow, I really goofed up.”

He joked frivolously before the look in his eyes sharpened.

“If I had known this was going to happen, I would’ve killed her…… I really goofed up.”

Hearing him utter such disturbing words strained the nerves of the Magic Knights who surrounded them. Among them, Yuno responded with eyes just as icy as before.

“By the way, the moment you came here, we created a barrier around the reception hall. Nobody can leave, and nobody outside can see what’s going on in here. Even if other people infected by the Original Sin are here, they won’t even notice what’s going on.”

Right. It was possible that there were other people infected with the Original Sin lurking at this event, so they prepared extra safety measures. Moreover, even if they were protected by the barrier, if a battle suddenly let loose in the reception hall, the citizens would panic. To avoid that, they completely isolated the avatar within a physical and visual barrier.

“Even without that barrier, you’re still surrounded. Give up quietly.”

But, in response to Yuno’s words, the avatar simply put his index finger on his mouth and said,

“Hm~ then, conversely, I don’t have to surrender as long as I break through you people and the barrier, right?

“Huuh!? Are you stupid!? There’s no way you could do that!”

Unperturbed by Bell’s jeers, the avatar lightly surveyed his surroundings.

“I wonder about that? I think I can do it if I try…… after all,”

A wicked glint shone in his eyes.

“I’m the “first” Original Sin, so I can do a lot~”

“Huh……?”

An instant after Yuno stammered,

“Guaaaaaaaaaah……Ah, GAAAAAAAAH!”

All at once, dozens…no, tens of dozens of knights gripped their heads as if they were in pain.

“H-hey! What’s wrong with you! Why’re you suddenly using your magi-ACK!”

“Idiot! Don’t use such large-scale magic in a small place like this!”

Those tens of dozens of knights began attacking their colleagues, as if they lost all sense of self.

“……What!?”

The avatar used Yuno’s agitation as a chance to escape his grasp and lightly hopped onto the stage.

“Ki-shi-shi~ I’ve already broken through the first barrier you set! Your encirclement was too easy to escape~”

“You bastard…… what did you do!?”

“It’s just as you see. I’m just remotely letting their personalities and mana run wild. Well, this is magic that only I, the original, can use. It only affects people with the correct wavelength, but there’s even more of them affected by it than I thought there would be.”

Just as the avatar said, about one-third of the knights who were gathered seemed to be affected by his magic, attacking their surroundings indiscriminately. With the remaining knights working to stop them, it looked just like a free-for-all battle.

“Ki-shi~ Thank you for creating an environment where I can best demonstrate my powers.”

As the avatar said this, Yuno could sense invisible tentacles beginning to sprout from his back. They wriggled and writhed like snakes as they grew, swaying eerily as they pointed their heads toward Yuno.

“……Now, become my new host, Yuno-niichan.”

The last battle with the Original Sin had begun.

“Wind Magic: Towering Tornado”

With the activation of Yuno’s magic, he generated a forcefield of wind around the feet of the avatar. From there, a tornado sprung forth into the sky. The avatar leaped to the side to avoid it and sent forth his tentacles from various angles to attack Yuno, but,

“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooh!”

At that moment, Asta leaped out from behind Yuno, slashing each of the tentacles that made their way to Yuno. Yuno unleashed a slew of different wind-based spells as Asta used his ability to read Ki to detect and strike the avatar’s invisible tentacles. In the few minutes since the battle had begun, the two were able to hold their ground, but the battle was at a standstill. The other knights were focused on stopping the knights who were rampaging, so Asta and Yuno were the only two who could focus on fighting the avatar…… Moreover, it was impossible to know how long it would take for the others to stop the rampaging knights.

“……What the heck, Asta? Didn’t you transform into an old man?”

To distract himself from such negative thoughts, Yuno joked with Asta as he stood beside him. In response, Asta pointed his sword at the avatar and laughed ferociously.

“I can’t just stay spaced-out in a situation like this! ……. Well, this opponent is gonna be pretty hard to fight.”

As he spoke, sweat dripped from his forehead, as if he were feeling under pressure.

“When I think about how our opponent’s a kid, I feel like I can’t fight at full strength……!”

“……Don’t worry about it. He may look like a kid, but on the inside, he nuts. In that sense, he’s just like you.”

“Are you saying I look like a kid!?”

“So, you’re not going to deny that you’re nuts?”

Their fierce battle with the avatar continued as they bantered. However, as Asta said, he couldn’t help but hold back with each attack, making him unable to land a decisive hit. Yuno, too, only used his weaker spells. Unable to land a decisive blow, they fell into a stalemate. He knew they couldn’t keep on like this. The longer the fight is prolonged, the more casualties will be produced at the hands of the rampaging knights. He understood that, but he couldn’t help but hold back, frustrating Yuno even further.

“Ki-shi-shi~ It looks like you’re getting frustrated there~ ……. Why don’t you take a little break and make a deal with me?”

He said when Yuno and Asta attacked the Original Sin together, stopping their attack dead in its tracks with a single hand. Of course, he was still on high alert, not erasing his tentacles. Yuno also maintained his guard, narrowing his eyes as he asked in turn,

“A deal?”

“Yup. I’ll free all the knights rampaging under my spell right away, and in return…”

As he spoke, he pointed to Yuno and Asta like a kid pointing to the toy they want.

“Give me either your body, Yuno-niichan, or your body, Asta-niichan. In return, I’ll free everyone else here.”

“Are you kidding!? What kind of deal is that!? Those terms are too unfair!”

Asta shouted in response. However, as he viewed the state of the battle being waged between the audience seats, he replied,

“Really~? If the battle continues to drag on, at this rate, those knights will die, and one of them might use magic powerful enough to break the barrier. If that happens, a lot of the townspeople will die!”

Noting Asta’s silence, the Original Sin giggled cheerfully as he continued,

“But, if either of you hands over your body to me, I’ll let them all go free. Isn’t that great!? And then, all you would need to do is find me again. If things go well for you, you’ll even be able to get your body back! Isn’t this an amazing deal!?”

“………”

‘There will surely come a time where you’ll have to make a choice when there is no right answer.’

Yuno could feel Vangeance’s words from earlier reach out from his chest and into his mind. As a Magic Knight, he shouldn’t be making any deals with unfamiliar, dangerous magic tools. He should resume the battle immediately and gallantly stand against him. However, the avatar spoke the truth. If this situation continues, the townspeople are going to get drawn into the battle. Shouldn’t a Magic Knight offer his body to protect the people? He wasn’t sure what the right answer was. Perhaps there would be a clear answer in hindsight, but it’s difficult for anyone to judge what is right when faced with the present. However……

‘Make a decision you can be satisfied with……’

Those words seemed obvious to Yuno. Vangeance, the hero of the Clover Kingdom, imparted such an “obvious” thing onto Yuno as if they were his parting words, as if that was the conclusion he had reached after a long struggle with choices and decisions. In this situation, the choice that would be most satisfying to Yuno would be……

“……I understand. I’ll become your host.”

“Wait! Yuno!? What are you saying!?”

Ignoring Bell’s attempts to restrain him, Yuno stepped forward. The avatar narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Hm~, you really plan on giving yourself to me? You didn’t seem all that interested in my deal earlier, though?”

In response, Yuno silently raised his right hand and launch a full-powered “Towering Tornado” toward the sky. This broke through part of the barrier in the sky, forming a hole just large enough for one person to pass through.

“Once you’ve made me your host, escape through there. There are captains outside, but you should be fine if you take a hostage. However, promise me that you will return the hostage unharmed later.”

Bell’s face turned pale as she listened.

‘Is he seriously making a deal with the Original Sin…..?’

“……Hey, Yuno.”

While Bell was frozen in confusion, Asta stared at Yuno’s retreating figure as he spoke.

“Did you come up with an idea?”

Yuno turned his head over his shoulder, pausing briefly before responding.

“I leave the rest to you…… Asta.”

Leaving only those words behind, he slowly walked toward the Original Sin.

“Ki-shi-shi, I don’t really get what happened, but it looks like you’re serious! I’ll be pouring a huge amount of mana into you, so do your best to endure it, ‘kay? It’s going to be so painful, you’ll want to die!”

The tentacles wrapped around Yuno’s defenseless body, and the avatar made a dash toward him. From his chest, he pulled out his white grimoire, the Original Sin, but…

“Just kidding~”

He passed by Yuno, pressing his grimoire onto Asta’s body.

“I decided I don’t want you after all, Yuno-niichan. I’ll use Asta-niichan as my new host instead!”

“Gua…….. Ah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Having the Original Sin Grimoire pushed into him, Asta screamed as his body convulsed.

“……Hey, this isn’t what we agreed to!”

Yuno desperately shouted while restrained by the tentacles. The Original Sin lightly tilted his head toward Yuno and smiled.

“Don’t give me that. After all, Yuno-niichan was planning to screw me over, right? You were glaring at me the whole time. Plus, I’m the Original Sin. There’s no way I’d believe the words of someone who set such a massive trap for me.”

He snapped back with disdain. Then, he looked at Asta’s two swords, causing him to say with irritation,

“Plus, those swords…… are not something humans such as yourselves should possess. I’ll take them back.”

Then, he turned back toward Yuno with a smirk.

“I was lying when I said I’d let those knights go. You really shouldn’t make important deals with kids, you know?”

“………!”

With those words, Yuno hung his head down. He made a decision he could be satisfied with. To think that this would be the result of that.

“……This is following my predictions so closely that I’m honestly shocked. Is my plan seriously going that well?”

“……Huh?”

The avatar stammered at the words Yuno said to himself. At that moment,

“That hurt you bastard! What the hell did you do!?”

After getting through the pain, Asta regained consciousness and yelled.

“……Huh? Wait? .....W-why haven’t you been taken over……GAH!”

The avatar lightly tapped his temple in thought as Asta forcibly pulled the Original Sin grimoire out of his chest,

“Oraah!!”

And used all his might to pierce through the grimoire with his large sword. In that instant, the tentacles which were spread throughout the stage vanished, and the knights who were being controlled lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

“……What? Wait? …... But…… why?”

The avatar, too, fell to the ground, his eyes wide with shock, unable to believe what was unfolding around him.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?”

Yuno approached his miserable figure, informing him as he ruffled Asta’s hair,

“This guy hasn’t had a single drop of mana in him since he was born, so if you try to take over his body using his mana as an intermediary, then you probably won’t succeed. That said, you’re welcome to keep trying…… Well, I guess I didn’t bother explaining that to you earlier since you’re just a kid.”

“D-don’t screw with…… guh.”

The avatar lost consciousness while he was speaking. Seeing that, Yuno sighed deeply in relief before calling out,

“Mimosa, please heal the avatar…… no, Al. Everyone else should help treat the injured…... we’ve won.”

With those words, everyone cheered in victory. Standing upon the stage, Yuno looked just like a hero who led his troops to victory. He didn’t really want all that attention…… but he was happy that there were no casualties.

“Hey, you handsome bastard!”

“……Oof.”

Just as Yuno dropped his guard, Asta punched him in the stomach, making Yuno let out a strange noise. Ignoring the noise Yuno let out, Asta energetically drew even closer to Yuno.

“You offered your body to the Original Sin because you knew that was gonna happen, didn’t you!?”

Yuno answered as he gently rubbed his stomach, wondering if Asta meant for his punch to hurt that much.

“Well, I knew that he was a rather contrary person, so if I made him think that I was up to something, I had a hunch that he would go after you rather than me.”

He thought there was a possibility that he would try to take over Asta, who has no magic, and he believed that, if he created a gap that Asta could exploit, he would destroy the Original Sin. He felt bad for inflicting so much pain on Asta, but Asta is used to that kind of thing, so he was able to make such a decision. As a result, they were able to achieve victory, but Asta seemed dissatisfied.

“That’s fine, but what were you planning to do if that guy actually took your body over!?”

“……Well, if he did that, all you would have needed to do is beat him, right?”

With a slight smile on his face, Yuno put his hand on Asta’s head once more.

“Even if he did take over my body, I have no doubt you would have found a way to beat him…… that’s why I said I would leave the rest to you.”

Yuno’s words left Asta in a daze for a moment, but, before long, he had his usual grin on his face before punching Yuno’s stomach one more time.

“Shut up, you handsome bastard! Don’t think you can persuade me with that!”

“I wasn’t trying to. I was just saying. Stop being so violent.”

They started fooling around as they usually do, but then……

“I’m…… not…… done!”

A voice emanated from the Original Sin grimoire that Asta had stabbed,

“I’M NOT DONE YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!”

Suddenly, a golden eye appeared at the center of the grimoire, and it started moving on its own, tearing its own body to escape from Asta’s sword. It flew up into the sky, followed by a trail of golden light as it headed toward the hole Yuno had opened earlier.

“……Are you kidding me!? I didn’t know it could do that!!”

“Apparently, it can…... but, if it were that easy, it would have done this from the beginning. Most likely, it’s using up the last of its strength, so one more push should defeat it.”

While Yuno and Asta spoke with each other, they followed after the Original Sin using Yuno’s wind magic. As they followed in pursuit, Asta readied his sword, closing his eyes in concentration as he held his sword to his side.

“……UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!”

Pitch-dark magic rose from one half of his body until he was clad in black anti-magic. Then, he launched himself toward the Original Sin.

“Hey, bastard!! You probably don’t want to hear this from me, but you really don’t know when to quit, do you!? Just give up! You probably don’t want to hear that from me, though!!”

“Ki shi~…… I’m not trying to…… survive.”

The Original Sin retorted bitterly as it passed through the hole in the barrier. The eye on the grimoire moved about as it looked down on the capital. Then, suddenly, its magical power began to rise.

“But, I refuse to die alone……. I’ll self-destruct and take the entire city with me……!”

“……Don’t screw with me!! What could you possibly gain by doing that!?”

“Don’t bother, Asta…… it’s not a matter of what he will gain or lose. I’m sure he must have his own reasons for making the decision he has made.”

Yuno called out, having followed behind Asta and the Original Sin. The Original Sin opened its eye and bellowed with deep held resentment.

“Shut up….. Shut up shut up shut up! What could you possibly know about me!? You don’t know what I’ve been through, so don’t talk like you understand me!”

“I don’t…… I really don’t, but you’re the same. You don’t know our circumstances, either…… You don’t know what we can never forgive, nor what we must protect.”

As Yuno spoke, he exchanged looks with Bell, and his body began to draw the mana from his surroundings into him. At the same time, his body became wrapped in pale green light. Before long, a wing of ghostly light sprouted from his left side, and the green light wrapped around his left hand into a crown-like ring.

“Spirit Assimilation: Spirit Dive”

Witnessing such tremendous magical power before his eyes, the Original Sin froze in terror. Even the citizens below looked up at the sky, their mouths agape in blank amazement.

‘This is the culmination of Spirit Magic, reached after an unfathomable amount of effort…!’

The magical power which Yuno was clad in was so overwhelming that it forced such thoughts into the minds of all who saw him, but, even so, Yuno’s expression looked a little sorrowful.

“That’s why, this is what I’ve decided to do…... I’m sorry.”

With those words, he pointed his left hand toward the Original Sin.

“Wind Spirit Magic: Spirit Storm”

“GUUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

A vortex of light exploded forth with a roar, overwhelming both the Original Sin’s mana and its screams as it dispersed into the sky of the royal capital.

‘……It looks like they were able to resolve everything safely.’

Vangeance walked through the plaza, which had regained its peacefulness and liveliness. He wasn’t patrolling. He was simply taking a stroll, wanting to watch the faces of the townspeople and Magic Knights as they enjoyed themselves. He thought that clearing up the turmoil left behind by the attack and explaining things to the townspeople would be an arduous task, but…… things went a lot more smoothly than he was expecting. When he explained that the Original Sin had slipped into the venue, there was a considerable amount of panic, but when he explained that it had been defeated, he raised Yuno and Asta up as heroes, telling the townspeople about the “heroes who fought against the dangerous magic weapon”. With that, the townspeople’s anxieties were completely wiped out and replaced with celebration.

Such propaganda… well, it certainly sounds bad when framed like that, was necessary to reduce the public’s unease. As a result, the trust the Magic Knights lost today was completely restored, and, after repairing the reception hall, he continued the event. He thought about discontinuing the festival, but with the public’s support, he decided to continue as planned. Since it was such a special event, Vangeance decided that he wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the festival a little, too. And so, he began walking around on his own.

……Well, technically speaking, he wasn’t alone. More precisely, ever since the day he was born, Vangeance has never been alone.

‘So? What are your thoughts after having seen the first Original Sin?’

This question was directed inward toward his other self, Patry, who shared his body.

‘……Hm, it was exactly what I thought it was.’

After a short pause, Patry responded from within Vangeance’s heart. It has been a long time since they became able to communicate through their souls, but it was rare for them to exchange words in public as they were doing now. However, Vangeance wanted to ask Patry as soon as possible.

‘……You mean that it was one of the prototypes of a magic tool you elves made with the humans several hundred years ago?’

Within his heart, he could feel Patry nod his head in silence.

‘……Although, I really couldn’t believe it until I saw it. To think that one of the magic tools we made remained here, completely unbroken. On top of that, it was even revived in modern times…...’

At first, he thought that someone simply made something similar to it and released it into the public. However, as the investigation continued, he noticed more and more similarities between the ancient magic tool they had built and the Original Sin. Moreover, a few days ago, when Charlotte spoke with one of its avatars, that suspicion turned into conviction.

The person who manifested as the avatar of the Original Sin highly resembled Dordt, a younger elf who was involved in the creation of the magic tool. However, Dordt’s soul did not enter the Original Sin. Rather, it seems that his residual thoughts were dwelling within it. At any rate, there was definitively a connection between the two.

Vangeance asked Patry,

‘I just want to verify what I heard before, but, originally, the Original Sin was developed for peaceful purposes, made to increase its owner’s magical power by a small amount, right? I’m sure its original name was also different.’

‘Yeah. Although….’

Vangeance could feel a deep loathing and desire to kill within Patry’s words.

‘Five hundred years ago……we elves were trapped, toyed with, and killed by the humans. Those feelings of rage and anguish from that day must have mixed in with Dordt-san’s other residual thoughts, replacing the intentions that machine was originally built with into something far more vicious. It seems that it took quite a long time.’

He flared with rage before taking a brief moment to think.

‘However…... I don’t know how or why it had revived. It probably reacted to the mana emitted by the reincarnation of myself and the other elves…… At any rate, it certainly wasn’t my intent to revive it.’

‘I understand. That’s why you cooperated with me, right?’

Vangeance understood that the Original Sin was something created by the elves. Recognizing how dangerous it was, he decided to take immediate action, even receiving information about it from Patry. One of the measures he took against it was the creation of this festival. The Original Sin was constantly seeking the strong to use as a host. He judged that, if he created a chance for the Original Sin to come in contact with the Magic Knights, the strongest people in the country, then it would surely make a move. Though, if all he wanted to do was capture it, then it wouldn’t have been necessary to do things in such a roundabout way……

In any case, Vangeance sent words of gratitude into his heart.

‘Thank you for all your help, Patry. You also told me that if the first Original Sin is destroyed, then all its copies, the manuscripts, should disappear… I think we’ll continue the investigation to confirm that, though.’

‘Yeah. Well, that’s also just speculation on my part. I think everything should be fine now, but…...’

Pitch-black emotions began to flow into Patry’s words again.

‘The day when our longstanding desire is fulfilled draws near. Before that day comes, I want any irregularities to be eliminated…… I’m counting on you.’

‘……Yeah, I know.’

With his brief reply, Vangeance felt Patry’s consciousness melt into his heart. He touched his hand to his chest, gently curling his fingers into a fist.

‘The day when our longstanding desire is fulfilled draws near.’

Which means……

“Ah, Captain Vangeance. Thank you for your hard work today.”

Just as dark thoughts threatened to absorb him, he heard someone call out to him from the side. When he turned around, he saw Yuno, Asta, and Bell coming closer to him. He noticed that they were carrying paint brushes. It seemed that Yami’s drawing class was reopened, and they were helping out there. Before he could reply, Yuno began to speak.

“You may have already heard, but Silka was walking through the venue on her own. She is being safeguarded now. Al has also regained consciousness. Apparently, the last thing he remembers is picking up the Original Sin Grimoire in the woods a few weeks ago. Since that moment, his consciousness has been hijacked this entire time.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. They may need psychological care after all that has happened, so I’ve left detailed instructions so that they can be fully supported.”

Hearing this, Bell shouted in admiration.

“As one would expect from Vangeance! You sure work quickly~! By the way, Yuno and I want to go on a date after this, so exempt us from writing this incident’s report! Asta said he’ll write it for us!”

“I never said that! I definitely wouldn’t for a reason like that! And anyway, what the heck is a date!? Would somebody tell me already!?”

Asta hurled back at Bell without a moment’s delay. And so, the four continued their lively exchange for some time. Vangeance watched the other three with a smile as his thoughts from earlier resumed. The reason he lured in the Original Sin the way he did was to stimulate their growth…… especially Yuno’s. He knew the Original Sin was using Al as a host, but he let him go free so that Yuno could catch him. Even he thinks what he did was dangerous. Of course, he kept an eye on things to ensure that no harm would come to the townspeople, but he couldn’t guarantee that no injuries would occur.

However, Vangeance did not have a lot of time left. With the limited amount of time remaining for him, with all the things he still needed to teach Yuno, he had no choice but to make use of this chance. What could be gained by taking this risk was just too great. By resolving this incident, Yuno has become even stronger, and he has garnered even more support from the people.

And, Vangeance was able to entrust to Yuno the thing he couldn’t do. From time to time, a person will need to make a decision they can be satisfied with. It’s truly an obvious thing. It’s not something one usually needs to persuade someone else to do, but……

Even until the very end, Vangeance couldn’t do it.

Patry, the one who has lived together with him since birth, or Julius, the man who showed him how to live his life. He couldn’t decide which one he should choose. Even worse, he’s going to leave the answer to the two of them. He considered himself the worst kind of man there is. That was why he didn’t want Yuno, the squad member who held his highest of hopes, to ever go through this. He wanted Yuno to live his life in a future of his choice, without regret.

That was why, to convey the importance of those words, he told Yuno such an obvious thing. He was a little worried about whether he was able to transmit his feelings to Yuno properly, but……

“……Yuno, now that I think about it, I haven’t told you yet. You did a great job today. I saw how the battle went using Marx’s communication magic. You did a truly magnificent job.”

These words came from the bottom of his heart. He could tell when he watched Yuno battle today. Yuno understood what he wanted to say, and he put it into practice. He was able to make choice after choice without regret and led the way to victory in such a desperate battle.

“I look forward to your future successes…… yes, truly.”

Witnessing Yuno as he was today filled Vangenace with relief, while, at the same time, it made him have selfish expectations for him. Perhaps, no matter how hard things might be in the future, he will lead the world in a positive direction. Perhaps he will be able to bring about the future Vangeance wanted to make, but couldn’t. He wanted to entrust Yuno with such selfish wishes.

“Thank you very much. It’s all thanks to what you told me, Captain.”

Yuno said with a small smile on his face. He was about to elaborate further, but,

“Oh, Asta. Isn’t it almost time for the rehearsal?”

Noelle called out to Asta, interrupting their conversation.

‘Wait, they still plan to continue that play……?’ Yuno thought, with all kinds of implications left unexpressed. Beside him, Asta screamed,

“It’s already time!?”

And hurriedly put the parchment and brush he was holding back on the desk.

“That’s right! Yuno! You’re coming, too! You might be able to land some kind of role if you come right now!”

“No way. I’m heading back to headquarters. I have to write my report and prepare for the next mission.”

“……Oh, really?”

Asta replied with a bit of disappointment in his voice. Yuno wanted to hang around a little longer, too, but there was a mountain of things he had to do. He won’t procrastinate on his duties for personal reasons.

……Also,

“What, Asta? Are you disappointed?”

“H-huh!? Why would I be…… oh?”

With a provoking smile, Yuno continued,

“Don’t look so down…… we’re both running down the same road, so we’ll see each other soon.”

Both were competing to see who would become the Wizard King. As long as they stay true to their promise, Asta and Yuno will meet again and again. And, each time, they’ll be able to feel each other’s growth, which will inspire them to grow even stronger. Yuno and Asta have come this far by continuously repeating this process. From now on, as well, they will continue to lift each other up in this way.

“……Well, I’ve run way ahead of you, though.”

‘And, someday……’

With such powerful feelings, Yuno said forcefully,

“The one who becomes the Wizard King will be me!”

“………”

Provoked by Yuno’s words, Asta cracked a brave smile and bumped fists with him.

“Huh!? Like I said, I wasn’t all that disappointed, and it’s obvious that I’m the one who will become the Wizard King! No matter how far ahead of me you are, I’ll be going beyond my limits and follow behind you, so you better be prepared!

“If all you do is follow behind me, how are you supposed to get ahead of me? As I thought, you’re hopeless. Just aim to be the King of Disappointment instead.”

“The King of Disappointment!?”

When the two started their usual nonsensical banter, Noelle looked a little annoyed, but that was soon followed by a relieved smile as she poked Asta.

“……Hey, let’s go. We’re going to get scolded by Captain Mereoleona if you keep this up.”

“Right! See ya, Yuno!”

With cheerful words and a full smile, Asta ran ahead of Yuno. Yuno smiled a little, too, as he lowered his chin. He thought about saying goodbye to Asta, but……

“ASTAAAAAAA! You were loafing about in a place like this, huh!?”

A lioness stomped forward with each step leaving destruction in its wake. Imitating a lion’s paw, her flame magic took hold of Asta’s head.

“O-ouch! Wait, Ca-captain Mereleona! I think you’re using too much strength! This is the amount of strength you would use if you wanted to crush someone’s head!”

“I’m using just as much strength as I want! For people who don’t show up on time, this amount of strength is just right!”

Mereoleona yelled before gritting her teeth.

“Moreover, what was with that battle earlier!? It’s true that the Original Sin had taken the form of a young child…… but everyone, including you, was far too cowardly! We’re about to launch a surprise attack on the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout, but I can already see it’s going to be rough with you lot!”

“That’s not true, Captain Mereoleona! Asta, well…… he-he did his best!”

Noelle sputtered, practically in a whisper. In response, Mereoleona glared at her and shouted,

“How so!? Especially in the final stages, when he pointlessly activated his anti-magic state, he was totally useless! I bet this is why he lost during the Selection Exam, am I wrong!?”

CRACK!

Something snapped inside of Asta. Most likely, Mereoleona’s words broke Asta’s heart once more. Before long, he was back to acting like a senile old man again, a look of blankness returning to his face.

“……Ah, that’s right…… I…… didn’t get to fight Yuno during the Selection Exam……”

Seeing him like this once again, Noelle began to protest at Mereoleona with tears in her eyes.

“Look! You broke his heart again! What do you plan to do with that!?”

“Wa ha ha! Perfect! After this event is over, I planned on temporarily reopening my hot spring camp, so I’ll take him along, too! Let’s re-forge the spirit of this pathetic greenhorn!”

With the end of that far from quiet conversation, the three of them walked off into the distance. His smile stiff from watching them, Vangeance cracked his mouth open and said with a heavy voice,

“……Is he going to be okay? It looks like he’s about to suffer quite a bit, so is it really alright if we don’t help him?”

“He’ll be okay. Even though he’s like that, he’s still my rival. He’ll be able to overcome any difficulties that stand in his way. “

Yuno spoke without a moment’s hesitation. He would never use the word “rival” unless he meant it, so there was no need to get involved in Asta’s messes.

“……I see, then I guess it’s fine.”

Seeing how Yuno felt, Vangeance had only that to say, though he could sympathize with the conflicting emotions Yuno must be experiencing. Then, he remembered to ask Yuno.

“Come to think of it, they interrupted our conversation earlier, didn’t they? Earlier…... before that young girl from the Black Bulls began speaking to your childhood friend, wasn’t there something you wanted to tell me?"

“Ah, that’s true….”

Yuno’s expression suddenly became serious as he looked Vangeance in the eye.

“I have an answer to your question from earlier…… when you asked whether I would sacrifice my life or the life of another to become the Wizard King.”

“Ah, that was just a hypothetical question, so you don’t really have to-

“I thought about it a lot, and, in the end, I’ve decided that I would sacrifice neither of them.”

Yuno answered, interrupting Vangeance’s words.

‘Come to think of it, he really hates losing,’ Vangeance thought as he questioned Yuno further.

“Okay. Then, what happens next? Would you give up on becoming the Wizard King?”

“No.”

Yuno’s reply was immediate, speaking clearly as he continued to look into Vangeance’s eyes.

“I would find a way to become Wizard King without sacrificing anyone.”

“……..”

The fact that Yuno’s answer completely ignores the point of the question left Vangeance speechless. He wasn’t surprised, per se. Rather, he simply wasn’t expecting to hear such an answer from someone so levelheaded. However……

“……I see. That’s your ‘decision that you can be satisfied with’, right?”

“Yes.”

“Understood. If that’s your answer, then I hope you’ll stand by it…… I’ll be rooting for you.”

As Vangeance responded, he quietly thought to himself,

‘For the sake of his dream, he’s prepared to conjure up a new choice if doesn’t like any of his options, and he has a reliable strength to make that possible. He has shown this time and time again with both his words and his actions. Maybe he truly will be able to build a world…… where everyone can live with a smile on their face.’

However, he knew that entrusting his wishes to Yuno would be too selfish of him. Vangeance was a man who couldn’t make a decision. Without making his choice, he’s going to leave countless debts unpaid and disappear from the world. That’s why he was not in a position to entrust anything to him.

However…… no, that’s precisely why,

‘Am I permitted to pray, at least?’

As he dreamed that the future Yuno would forge would overlap with his own ideal world, the disappearing hero raised a question with no answer.

--- The Hero Who Disappeared: The End ---

I’m happy to get a little more information on the whole ‘two souls in one body’ thing. I thought it was especially interesting when the novel described how William could “feel” Patry’s emotions as they fluctuated. Between the dreams of Patry’s memories he would experience as a child and being able to feel Patry’s undoubtedly heavy emotions, it’s amazing he could maintain his own sense of identity. It sounds like the sort of thing that could drive a person insane.

I didn’t realize it when I watched the anime, but it seems he was certain he was going to die. I guess that makes sense. Patry’s victory was supposed to guarantee his death, and unless Julius could find a way to capture Patry safely, he probably thought he would die with Patry if Julius won.

There Yuno goes again, waxing poetic about Asta for a full paragraph. And come back Mereoleona! I’m glad she finally appears in novel 3, but she’s only in this chapter and one other ;A; Hopefully, there’s more of her in novel 4 (whenever that gets announced). Then, Fuegoleon will actually be awake, too. I think we’re due for a chapter, or perhaps even a full novel, featuring the Vermillions!

#Black Clover #Yuno #Asta #william vangeance #mereoleona vermillion #patry #noelle silva #Book of Yuno #my translations

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etraytin · 5 years ago

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Quarantine, Day 138

July 27

Today was pretty much entirely devoted to wedding preparations.When my sister got married seven or eight years ago, she decided that she wanted to have a backyard reception under a big tent with catered food and such. My parents, poor naive idealists that they were, did not fully understand how much greater an undertaking it would be to create their own venue rather than rent a venue the way they did with the Eagles Club for my wedding years earlier. After wrestling with the bazillion and one things that are required to turn a backyard (in this case our family friends' huge rural backyard) into a slice of wedding paradise, they firmly decided never to do that again. When my youngest sister got engaged, they booked a large and very nice venue for the reception they wanted, complete with chairs, tables, event coordinator, catering hook-up, all the stuff they'd need. It wasn't cheap, because nothing about weddings is ever cheap, but it was going to be so easy!

Then coronavirus hit. Back in March when it started we were sad that the bridal shower in April would be a bust, but we figured that surely the August wedding would be safe. It was so many months away, after all! But it just kept hanging on, and more events kept getting cancelled, and it started looking worse and worse. The venue didn't actually cancel on her until like a month ago, but the writing was on the wall. My sister and her fiance are religious and traditional, so waiting a year for the wedding while living together was definitely not an option. They pushed the big celebration forward a whole year, but decided on backyard nuptials at my folks' house with a small and socially distanced group of close friends. A nice idea, except we were right back into the whole "make your own venue" wedding.

The only reason this was possible at all was because my folks filled in the fifty-year-old swimming pool in our backyard last year, after many years of obnoxious maintenance tasks and fewer and fewer actual swimmers each year. Without that, there wouldn't be nearly enough backyard for our purposes, but even so there was a lot to do. They renovated the screened porch, put in new screens, redid the patio, power-washed any siding that would hold still long enough, painted the guest bathroom that opens onto the outside (any house with a pool needs one bathroom that opens to the outside), and did many, many other outdoor tasks. In a way this is much better than the work on the other venue, because all that work was for a huge tent full of tulle and rope lights that would come down in a weekend. We're working our butts off here, but at least the aesthetic and property value of the house is being increased! The backyard would be looking amazing right now except that last week a huge branch crashed into the edge of the house and ripped off a chunk of fascia and gutter that is not literally hanging down in the middle of the patio and threatening us with exposed nails. It's certainly a look, but it's not quite what we're going for, Needs more tulle.

Today was also a bit of a bummer because we had to say goodbye to Steve the Tree. Steve was one of the first presents my husband brought me when we were dating. Our first meeting was in the spring of 2000 when I flew out to his town in Pennsylvania and went to prom with him after chatting online for two years. Our second meeting was that summer, when he flew out to see me in Illinois. Because this was 2000 and you could still take basically whatever the hell you wanted on a plane, he brought me a tiny Japanese Red Maple seedling in a 7-11 go cup. It was from the tree in his family's yard. We planted it in my yard and hoped it would grow despite not quite being the appropriate climate. Steve had a rough few years, threatened by deer and uprooted by snow and rabbits, but eventually he caught root and grew into a large and handsome bush-tree. (Steve was always wider than he was tall.)

For eighteen years he grew in the front yard at my parents' house, until last year when there was a long spell of shockingly cold weather, well into the negatives for days at a time. It was bad enough that most of Steve's branches died, leaving him looking weird and skeletal when spring rolled around. During our summer visit I tried to convince my folks that Steve just needed time, that he did have growth in the trunk and the lower branches and he could bounce back like he had so many times before. Unfortunately, over-avid pruning by a friend whose knowledge of trees might not have extended to red maples combined with a very dry spring and summer this year finally sealed Steve's fate. When we came to visit this time, I couldn't find a single green stick or growing leaf left on Steve. It was time for him to go. We have decided that the only thing we can do now is take a road trip to Pennsylvania, to the house my husband's folks moved out of fifteen years ago, and steal another seedling. Google Maps says the tree is still there, I think we could do it!

#quarantine #japanese red maple #wedding planning

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shadowed-dancer · 6 years ago

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Queens of the Old Book (my versions)

Alright, I've been meaning to do this for a while and finally got around to it. I’ve designed my versions of the 26 queens who came before Skywynne! It’s a really long post, but I included pictures, poems, brief physical descriptions, and some backstory for each! I’m gonna draw my favourites again soon. Hope you enjoy.

Mo the First

The very first Queen of Mewni, A destiny foretold By the little man from beyond time, A wonder to behold

Hair: Light brown Eyes: Greek Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Warnicorn

Mo was the first Queen and did a lot of things to set up a kingdom. She built the first castle out of wood from the stump that sheltered her and her family, and set out in pursuit of corn. She laid all the foundations for a prosperous kingdom.

---

Cassandra the Overwhelmed

When the entirety of a legacy Is up to you to make, The pressure starts to multiply Which lead Cassandra to break

Hair: Black Eyes: Green Cheekmark colour: Yellow Aureole sign: Tadpole

Cassandra was freaked out by the prospect of running a kingdom and began breaking down after the birth of her child. She did nothing to better her kingdom, and let it fall into despair. It was during her reign that people fled her kingdom and established the Spiderbites, Johansens, and the minor kingdoms like Garbage Beach and the Dock of Unending Torment.

---

Jasmine the Star Chaser

There was no star Within the sky That didn't catch Young Jasmine’s eye

Hair: Dark brown Eyes: Yellow Cheekmark colour: White Aureole sign: Silkworm

Jasmine was a star gazer and started the trend of sky named children. She created the Aureole signs and looked to the stars for answers, which somehow ended up helping her repair the kingdom from her mother’s reign.

---

Andromeda the Shallow

The suitors flooded in the halls And spread throughout the land. Yet Andromeda the Shallow Picked the worst fit for her hand

Hair: Blonde Eyes: Pink Cheekmark colour: Light blue Aureole sign: Hydra

Andromeda had suitors from all sorts of kingdoms, yet she chose the worst political choice (a selfish vain man who just wanted power) just because he was handsome. It was because of his stupid desicions and insistence on growing their land that the animosity between mewman and monster started to grow.

---

Calliope the Musician

The peasants of Mewni hear her call, The music echoing in the hall, And despite the love for her fine tune, Her show was cut off far too soon

Hair: Magenta Eyes: Teal Cheekmark colour: Yellow Aureole sign: Narwhal

Calliope was the first and only Queen to become a songstrel and began the tradition of song-day and the coronation song. Her idea was that the princesses after her would have a song written about them, then give back the sentiment by writing their own song to become queen. She died shortly after her daughter’s song day, leaving her 14 year old daughter to become the youngest queen in Mewni history.

---

Cassiopeia the Indecisive

For Cassiopeia the Indecisive The choices mounted thick. To ease the issues in her mind She called upon Glossaryck

Hair: Pink Eyes: Blue Cheekmark colour: Green Aureole sign: Pixie

Being the youngest queen ever took its toll on Cassiopeia. She had a lot of choices to make as Queen and couldn't handle the pressure, so she called Glossaryck into existence as her advisor.

---

Titania the Explorer

A world awaited beyond the shores And none would be quite bolder Than the girl who left to sail the seas Titania the Explorer

Hair: Black Eyes: Green Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Lion Dragon

After getting married and having her daughter, Titania took to the seas and found many islands of Mewni (pie island being one of them). She made most of them part of the kingdom, and didn’t take her responsibilities as queen very seriously.

---

Artemis the Wild

Running all throughout the kingdom, A completely untameable child As bright as the suns upon her cheeks Was Artemis the Wild

Hair: Red/Orange Eyes: Yellow Cheekmark colour: Yellow Aureole sign: Lion Dragon

Artemis was a crazy kid who refused to listen to reason. Since her mother left to explore the sea and her father was stuck ruling, Artemis was left to her own devices for most of her childhood. When she got older, she'd run into battle without a second glance and married the first random guy she came across. During her rule, she made a lot of spontaneous decisions, not always for the best.

---

Terra the Wise

Always calm and always sure The kingdom could depend on her. An answer to every single plight, the Wise knew how to run things right

Hair: White Eyes: Purple Cheekmark colour: Light green Aureole sign: Deadhorse

Terra disliked her mother's way of ruling and took the time to think everything through. She had great reasoning skills and always weighed her options before making a decision. She was the wisest of the queens and never made a bad decision in all the history of her rule.

---

Luna the Fearful

The monsters lurking in the night Filled poor Luna with dread. The swirl of fear and fantasy That must have filled her head

Hair: Lilac Eyes: Purple Cheekmark colour: Purple Aureole sign: Pony Head

Luna was born as the monsters began getting restless. She was terrified that they would attack, but there were no soldiers strong enough to fight for the kingdom. Her fear of monsters evolved into other things, like fear of losing her family, and it caused her to become paranoid.

---

Neptuna the Beautiful

No man or woman on Mewni Could resist Neptuna’s beauty. A treasure of the earth, No gems to capture her worth

Hair: Dark blue Eyes: Light blue Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Pixie

Neptuna was a beautiful queen who didn't really do much. Her greatest attempt was trying to charm the monsters into stopping their attacks, which didn’t actually work.

---

Orion Queen of Peace

When beauty alone proved not enough To convince the monsters to cease A temporary solution came from Orion, Queen of Peace

Hair: Pastel green Eyes: Brown Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Deadhorse

Orion saw that her mother was unable to keep the peace just through her looks, so she proposed a solution. If the monsters stopped attacking Mewmans and stayed in a certain part of land, the Mewmans would stop attacking them. This worked for a bit.

---

Polaris the Unbalanced

When a system seemed to be in place The scales were tipped too far one way. And the later acts of Polaris Ensured it stayed this way

Hair: Ice blue Eyes: Teal Cheekmark colour: Purple Aureole sign: Hydra

Polaris didn't like her mother's idea of getting along with the monsters so she tried taking more land from them, which they obviously disliked. She doubled down though, making it impossible for anyone to talk her out of it, and started a war. Her ideas began spreading until the Mewni population believed they were the rightful owners of the land.

---

Venus the Sympathetic

When too much fighting lead to blood And it all became too hectic The Queen just had to step away, Venus the Sympathetic

Hair: Orange Eyes: Teal Cheekmark colour: Yellow Aureole sign: Blowhole

Venus was naturally a sympathetic person and found the war took too much on her mental state. She couldn’t stand to see her people suffer, and as a result had to leave Mewni for a bit to travel the multiverse and clear her head.

---

Astrid the Scholar

Every book in the multiverse Was gathered by Astrid’s hand. All the knowledge and wisdom To share within Mewni’s land

Hair: Blonde Eyes: Blue Cheekmark colour: Purple Aureole sign: Tadpole

Astrid loved to read and (just like her mother) traveled the multiverse to gather a copy of “every book in existence”. She wanted to have the most magnificent library ever, and succeeded. She claims to have read every book in her collection, and no one doubts it for a second.

---

Pandora the Trickster

Good intentions, a bit of play, Too much magic, a dangerous day, A prank gone wrong with too much power, All that face it on will cower

Hair: Black Eyes: Blue Cheekmark colour: Red Aureole sign: Demon

The creator of Pandora’s box, Pandora loved to play pranks. Unfortunately, she greatly underestimated her powers and accidentally created the most dangerous box in the multiverse. She hid it in her closet, and it remained there far beyond her death until her great great something granddaughter found it in the ruins of the castle and tossed it in another dimension (probably for the better).

---

Daphne the Overachiever

When doing good was not enough Daphne dreamed of things too grand. She did the absolute most of any Queen to rule the land

Hair: Purple Eyes: Pink Cheekmark colour: Lilac Aureole sign: Hydra

Daphne always wanted to do the best things for her kingdom and went above and beyond to prove herself a good queen. She never stopped at a solution, and would work hard even after the problems were solved.

---

Soupina the Strange

A spell gone wrong is a tragic song Of potential forced to change. The wonders that she must have seen, Poor Soupina the Strange

Hair: Teal Eyes: Yellow Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Pig-Goat

Soupina showed the signs of a great queen and a powerful magic wielder, but she got stuck with her mewberty eyes and went mad. She never reached her full potential, and caused a lot of problems for Mewni.

Potato the Comforting

Her heart would always lead her home, Her priorities were straight. So to care for her maddening mother, The kingdom had to wait

Hair: Light brown Eyes: Blue Cheekmark colour: Yellow Aureole sign: Warnicorn

Potato was the daughter of Soupina and was born after she went mad. She didn’t spend much time actually ruling, and instead spent most of her life trying to comfort her mother. During her reign, the mewman monster relation grew worse with no queen to guide them, causing a lot of citizens to act on their own.

---

Galexia the Queen of Change

Perhaps Galexia saw more than the rest For she was certain she was doing her best. Her insistence to categorize creatures so strange Gained her the title, the Queen of Change

Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Cheekmark colour: Blue Aureole sign: Narwhal

Galexia began making huge changes after she claimed there was a difference between demons, monsters, mermaids, etc. It was hard to accept at first, but it caught on, and soon the Waterfolk and Lucitors were accepted as Kingdoms of Mewni. She did this so she could marry the Prince of the Waterfolk.

---

Trinity the Rebel

When the lure of life beyond the wall Is too strong to ignore, The promises of fame and glory Called Trinity back to shore

Hair: Blue Eyes: Green Cheekmark colour: Teal Aureole sign: Demon

Trinity almost didn't become queen because she had run off to the waterfolk kingdom and had no desire to return. She came back a few years later though, ready to be Queen after learning all the perks of being famous. She never took ruling seriously though, and the kingdom fell into even rougher shape. She was also the first “half monster” princess.

---

Serena the Popular

Sometimes the quickest way to peace Is to make yourself loved near and far And the one to break this secret Was Serena the Popular

Hair: Magenta Eyes: Blue Cheekmark colour: Red Aureole sign: Pixie

During Trinity’s time, the smaller kingdoms began to get angry with the Butterflies and started making demands for more power. Similar to her great something grannie Neptuna, she believed that being liked was the way to peace. Unlike “the beautiful”, Serena had to work hard to make herself loved. She befriended the royals of the minor kingdoms and created a sense of unity.

---

Celestia the Mournful

No one knows the weight of loss Celestia the Mournful had to feel. With 3 sons lost and 4 daughters gone She was unsure of what remained real

Hair: Green Eyes: Green Cheekmark colour: Blue Aureole sign: Blowhole

Celestia suffered greatly and kept losing her children before they had even reached their first year, which drove her to question everything she knew. Only her youngest daughter, Gemina, survived and ended up living a long life. Celestia’s sons were named Taurus, Aries, and Sagitar. Her daughters were Caprica, Libra, Virga, and Aquaria. Taurus was the oldest boy and Caprica was the oldest girl.

---

Gemina the Animal Lover

Some say the animals whisper In languages of their own. So Gemina kept them by her side And they guided her on the throne

Hair: Light brown/orange Eyes: Teal Cheekmark colour: Magenta Aureole sign: Narwhal

Gemina was the first (and only) Queen to go beyond speaking alligator and actually found ways of communicating with other animals. She claimed they were very wise, and trusted their council more than that of Glossaryck and the MHC. The only reason she wasn’t deemed mad was because she seemed to be right, and her decisions based on her animal friends often benefited the kingdom.

---

Helia the Direct

Helia didn't have the time To leave the kingdom a wreck, So with a firm and steady hand Became Helia the Direct

Hair: Blonde Eyes: Purple Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Deadhorse

Helia had let the kingdom fall into poverty during her early rule, and worked to fix it. She was extremely firm and never beat around the bush, causing many to think she was rather rude. Her blunt attitude was passed onto Lyric, her daughter.

---

Lyric the Short-Sighted

A million futures can exist And for many, this will leave them vexed. But Lyric only sees the now, No need to worry about what's next

Hair: Ice blue Eyes: Ice blue Cheekmark colour: Pink Aureole sign: Pixie

Lyric made all her decisions based on what would benefit her immediately and never considered the consequences of her actions. The two most famous examples were choosing the book of fashion over the book of spells, and giving her daughter the throne at only 17. Throughout her rule too, she made many choices that ended up causing her more trouble in the long run. She let her daughter fix most of these.

#my art #svtfoe #svtfoe oc #queens of mewni #lyric butterfly #soupina the strange #soupina butterfly #svtfoe queen

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twilight-adamo · 6 years ago

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Author’s Notes: Brave New World, Chapter 1: The Parting of the Ways

In April 2018, the same day I posted the epilogue to As Dreams Are Made On, I wrote the first scene of Brave New World, and most of the second. And then I got stuck, for quite a long time. I lost myself in research, tried to build out my plans, tried to focus on other things for a time, particularly These Our Actors, which posed its own challenges - but I’ll cover that in my author’s notes on Rosalie’s installment. I had a difficult year for a number of reasons. For a time I wasn’t writing at all.

I see from the revision history that I only came back to Brave New World in February of this year, spent a couple days on it, and left it alone again until June. June was when I finally realized that there was one particular thing in my life that was destroying my mental health and my ability to create, and that I was carrying on with it out of a sense of obligation, but I’d help no one - least of all myself - if I wore myself down on it. So, reluctantly, I dropped the obligation that was dominating my mental landscape, I took a step back, and I allowed myself to breathe. I’m still not working at a hundred percent, but I am getting better. And over the last few days, I’ve been able to write again.

My original plan for this chapter had been to focus on the wedding of Charlie and Kate, and I threw myself into a ton of wedding research, wanting to get everything just right. I figured Carlisle would officiate, so I researched Anglican marriage services and drew heavily on what I found. I looked at venues and considered colors and organized the wedding party and stopped just short of actually planning an entire wedding. And I got through the ceremony, which felt shorter than it should be, and I was beginning to write what came after, and I was thinking about what I had planned for the reception (notably what probably would have been an even cheesier musical moment than the rendition of “The Best Is Yet To Come” from the epilogue of As Dreams Are Made On), and I realized...none of it was working from me. It was indulgent in a story which is already going to get indulgent in parts, but worse, it was dull. My protagonist didn’t have much to do aside from stand and watch and react.

I also wanted to have a family meeting scene where we got some sense of where everyone was going over the summer, what they were doing, and I had a choice between tacking it onto the end of an overstuffed and boring first chapter or onto the beginning of the second chapter, which I’d planned to set primarily in Jacksonville. So I finally looked at the ten or so pages of wedding stuff I’d already written, considered how much more I would need to get through and how little I would enjoy it, and decided it all had to go. The first chapter would focus entirely on the family meeting, a last goodbye to Forks before I started the grand road trip that would take up the first few chapters of the book. Once I’d figured that out, I finished the first chapter in a day or two. It’s still a little more talking than I’d like and a little less action, but I think it sets up the next chunk of story nicely, at least.

As for the stuff I didn’t cut: as I said, Bella’s nightmare was the very first thing I wrote. I’ve made some minor tweaks here and there, but it’s pretty close to what I originally wrote over a year ago. I wanted to show some of the psychological effect of Bella’s decision to start a fight with the Volturi, I wanted to show that Eleazar’s panicked reaction to whatever he saw had affected her, and I wanted to start things off with a sense of menace hanging over our heroes. The Cullens and their extended network of friends and family may not be in a state of outright war, but there is still danger lurking at the edges of their lives, and unresolved mysteries hiding just below the surface of things. I wanted to spin a vision of something that could yet be, and establish that “happily ever after” is still a long way away, down a dark and twisted road.

It was also just enormous fun to write.

And it was a nice segue into a domestic scene with Alice and Bella, a glimpse of their lives a few weeks on from our last visit with them. We already got such a glimpse in the epilogue of the last volume, but seeing as that chapter was focused largely on prom, I thought they deserved a little alone time.

I spent a great deal of time trying to work out the plan for the summer - where everyone would be going, what they would be doing. I actually nearly forgot to include Eleanor in those plans, up until the last minute. I’m sorry to say that, focused as Brave New World is on Bella’s perspective, we’re not going to see much of the others’ adventures in this text, but they’re certainly fodder for future installments of These Our Actors, and Bella will get updates here and there, particularly once everyone is reunited in Forks. Bella, Alice, Rosalie and Emmett will all have quite enough on their own plates, so hopefully none of you will be bored.

There will be much more of Renée - and Phil - in the next chapter, which will cover the gang’s time in Jacksonville. I confess I’ve never been to Jacksonville (I’ve really only visited Florida for the theme parks) so I’ve got a bit of research to do. “I’ve got a bit of research to do” is likely to be my recurring mantra on this story, as I’m trying to blow out the boundaries of this world, introduce vampires we never met in the Twilight novels from places that were never really touched on, and perhaps bring in stranger things besides. But that’s a way off. For now, I’m a little ways into Chapter 2 (and have even written a bit of Chapter 3), and having great fun writing Bella’s free-spirited mother. I hope you’ll love my take on her as much as I do.

And now, as a bonus, I present the raw text cut from Chapter 1 of Brave New World. I’ve held onto it for reference, in case I decide to draw on it for flashbacks or a future installment of These Our Actors, and it’s possible the details may change, but since I don’t have any plans for it now, I thought I’d share what I came up with before I changed directions. It’s under the cut. I’m afraid not all my formatting carried over into Tumblr’s interface, but you should get the gist.

(Picking up from the end of the scene with Bella and Alice in bed at the cottage.)

I’d been pretty scarce around Forks the last few weeks, since school let out - I’d completely missed late spring giving way to high summer. Officially, I had been busy helping my dad and his new bride with wedding preparations. In actuality, I’d spent most of that time dropping into comas, recovering from them, and moving on to the next. I’d had a limited window of opportunity to turn a few select vampires human, and no time to waste. Edward had been the first to volunteer - he’d told Angela the truth, and she’d eventually decided she wanted to be with him regardless, but he still wanted to lose his bloodlust for the time being, and needed a bit of a break from everyone else’s thoughts after the past few months. I had carefully packed his powers away for safekeeping, then taken his vampirism from him. At his request, we were leaving him human until he reached his long-delayed eighteenth birthday.

Rosalie, Eleanor and Emmett had decided to turn human, too, and I had requested that they stay that way until Carlisle had finished identifying effective birth control techniques for hybrids, or at least until the summer ended. Kate hadn’t become pregnant just yet - and I really didn’t want to consider just how miraculous that was - but I didn’t want to push our luck with another extremely sexual and potentially fertile couple. Or thruple, as the case seemed to be - they had become much more open in their mutual affections toward Eleanor since she and Jessamine had moved to Forks.

Jasper and his sister - now going by Mina to avoid confusion - had decided to stay vampires for the time being, as had Carlisle, Esme, Tanya and Irina, though I had made my tweaks to the new arrivals so they and the shifters would no longer find one another offensive, assuming the vampires all stuck to non-human blood. It was just as well. With a five day coma after each de-vamping exercise and a day for recovery, I’d been cutting things awfully close to the rehearsal and the wedding itself. And no matter what dad said, I still felt a little guilty about that, even if he and Kate had plenty of help from everyone else. Especially since I was in the wedding party, if not precisely in the role I’d expected. At least I wasn’t maid of honor or best man, so to speak - those particular honors had gone to Irina and to Harry Clearwater, respectively. But I was still expected to stand at the altar.

After a luxurious spell in bed, followed by a relaxed breakfast and a shower, Alice “helped” me dress in the tuxedo she’d made for me, complete with high-collared blouse, fitted waistcoat, and a navy blue bow tie and cummerbund, all of it tailored perfectly to my frame. In all honesty, it was a blatant excuse to get her hands all over me and take me in one last time before the ceremony, but I can’t say I minded. At last, she finished, tying my hair back with a navy ribbon and kissing me softly, leaving me to finish my makeup while she hurried to meet Kate, Irina and the other bridesmaids.

Once I’d finished preparing, there wasn’t much left to do but head for the Cullens’ house, where dad and the rest of his party would be waiting until the time came to head for the venue. A mixed crowd of humans, hybrids, werewolves and most importantly vampires meant we were taking no chances with an outdoor wedding, and we were probably one of the few wedding parties this summer hoping for rain, or at least overcast skies. Fortunately, we’d gotten the latter, at least long enough to get the vampires into the hall, and by the time the reception was over with, it would be well past sunset.

It didn’t take too long to walk to the main house from the love nest Alice and I had made of Pine Cottage, and I arrived to find the others gathered around a table in the den, in the middle of a game of poker. There were two other groomsmen after Harry and myself: Emmett, and dad’s Deputy Chief, Joe Miller. From the pile of chips in front of him and the enormous frat boy grin on his face, it looked like Emmett was taking the others for all they were worth.

“Hey Bella!” he called out, waving as I came in and gesturing at the empty seat beside my father. “Want us to deal you in?”

I chuckled, taking the seat but shaking my head. “Thanks, but Alice already warned me about you. Hey, dad. Please tell me you didn’t put your honeymoon fund on the line.”

I nudged him with my shoulder, and he slung his arm around me, giving me a brief hug. “Hi, kiddo. The honeymoon fund’s safe. Kate would kill me. You girls didn’t think to warn me?”

“Well, you know, I’ve been busy. Distracted. And I figured Emmett would be too much of a gentleman to take advantage of a man on his wedding day,” I added, shooting a mock glare at the ex-vampire in question.

“Your first mistake was assuming I’m any kind of gentleman,” Emmett returned, with a broad smirk. “Besides, I respect Charlie too much to just let him win.”

Dad gave him a deadpan look. “I’m touched. Really. You can respect me a little less, though.”

“Can’t do it, sir.” Emmett drew himself up, looking impossibly earnest, save for the twinkle in his eye. “Did I ever tell you you’re my hero? You’re everything I wish I could be.”

“He’s been like this for the last hour. I’m starting to think he’s just always on,” Deputy Chief Miller remarked, glancing my way. “How’s your summer been, Bella?”

“Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg with him,” I replied, gesturing at Emmett, who chuckled. “Oh, you know, good. Busy with wedding stuff, getting ready to leave town, all that. Alice and I are heading to Jacksonville with mom and Phil after the wedding, we’ll be back in August.”

“Your, uh, girlfriend’s going on vacation with you?” he said, his eyebrows rising.

“Don’t worry, Rose and me will be chaperoning,” Emmett interjected cheerfully.

Dad cleared his throat. “More importantly, Renée and her husband will be providing adult supervision. And separate guest rooms.”

I bit my lip to hide my smile. I still didn’t really have memories of my mom - or, rather, the mom I had here and now - and I’d only recently gotten to spend any time with her, since she and Phil had come to town for the wedding. It had all been e-mail and phone calls before that. But from my memory of the books, and based on my interactions with her so far, I would not really call Renée Dwyer a responsible adult, and Phil was friendly and level-headed but not really a parent to me. That suited me fine - I didn’t really feel like an actual teenager, even now, and I didn’t need active parenting - but it was apparently important to dad to keep up the convenient fiction.

What he wasn’t saying, of course, was that Jacksonville was only part of our trip. That just about everyone except Edward was leaving Forks for the summer, and that in fact he had no honeymoon fund to worry about, because Alice had arranged everything.

“Huh. Well, uh...have fun down in Florida. Is Jacksonville anywhere near the theme parks?” Miller asked, clearly ready to change the subject.

“It’s not - not any of the big ones, anyway - but Carlisle and Esme are going to join us down in Orlando for a few days before we head back,” I lied - another little fiction, this one mainly for my mom’s sake, but we were all keeping to a consistent narrative. “So we’ll be going to Disney World, anyway. The Cullens have never been, and they’ve been nice enough to invite me along.”

The deputy chief’s eyebrows shot up, and he glanced at Emmett, the lone Cullen in the room. “Seriously? What with this house and all, I sort of figured you’d be going every year.”

“Oh, we don’t travel much once we put down roots. It’s mainly just camping trips,” Emmett said. “Can’t wait to ride Space Mountain, though.”

“Gentlemen, I think we have a hand to finish?” Harry interjected at last, a little smirk on his face. “And then maybe we can find something to do that doesn’t give Emmett a chance to shake us down.”

“We have a pool table,” Emmett suggested innocently.

“We are not falling for that twice, kid,” dad said firmly. “Joe, I think it was your bet.”

“God help me,” Miller said, shaking his head as he pushed in his chips.

*****

After the game came to its merciful conclusion, we had just enough time for a movie before it was time to head for the venue. Neither dad nor Kate had been especially invested in the idea of a church wedding, so they’d picked out a lodge in the nearby woods, and asked Carlisle to officiate. I’d only seen the venue in photos. Seeing it in person, nestled among the towering pines, decorated in fairy lights and banners of blue and silver and lavender, the whole scene accompanied by the sounds of the wind in the trees and the river flowing nearby...I was simply awestruck by everything that lay before me.

“Well then. Guess this is our cue to go around back and get in position,” Harry said, clapping my dad on the shoulder. “You ready for this, Charlie?”

I looked over at dad. He, too, seemed briefly stunned and frozen. But when Harry spoke, he started to break into a grin. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“You’ve got this, dad.” I turned to him and gave him a loose hug. “I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

“I love you, too, Bells,” he said, hugging me back and kissing the top of my head. “Go on, then, I know you’re eager to see Alice.”

“God, you make it sound like we’re codependent,” I complained, lightly, pulling back. Not that he was entirely wrong: I could definitely feel a tingle of excitement running through me as I headed inside with Emmett and the deputy chief.

The rest of the wedding party was gathered in the lodge’s tiny lobby, preparing for their grand entrance to the great room. We didn’t have a ring bearer or a flower girl - Harry had the rings - but everyone else was prepared to play their role. I wasted no time making my way to Alice’s side, slipping my arm around her waist, while Emmett followed me at a more sedate pace, chuckling softly as he joined Rosalie.

“We were never that bad,” he remarked to Rose, looking at the two of us.

“Oh, you were worse,” she returned, smirking up at him. He made a scandalized noise in response.

“Is that how we’re going to play it, Rose? ‘Cause I seem to recall a particularly insatiable little -”

“How did the wedding prep go?” I asked Alice, tuning the two of them out as I turned to kiss her cheek. “You look gorgeous.”

“Mmm, I’d hope so, after all that. It was nice to be pampered. The makeup artist was a bit of a perfectionist, but Kate got the worst of it,” she replied, looking up at me through her lush, dark eyelashes, a smile curving her red lips. Her hair framed her face in messy waves, and of course she looked amazing in her bridesmaid’s dress - lavender, strapless, accented in silver, tailored to fit the individual figures of each woman in Kate’s wedding party. “It’s possible the poor woman suffered a static shock or two.”

“I told Kate to use her powers for good,” I joked, my eyes sweeping over the room. Eleanor and Deputy Chief Miller, who’d be escorting her up the aisle, had joined Emmett and Rose, and the deputy chief seemed a little lost and perhaps slightly scandalized by the increasingly shameless flirting among the trio. And Kate, as might be expected, was sandwiched between her maid of honor, Irina, and Tanya, who’d be giving Kate away in the place of their mother.

Kate, naturally, looked absolutely incredible. Her normally straight blonde hair had been curled and bound up in an elaborate updo, and dangling silver and sapphire earrings glittered at her earlobes. A brass pendant, formed in a sort of hammer shape and decorated with elaborate, curling lines, hung from a chain about her neck. Her wedding dress was also strapless, all white and silver, the bodice clinging tightly to her figure as it swept down to the full skirts that frothed about her legs, interrupted only by a lavender sash tied about her waist. She looked radiantly happy, her joy outshining her natural hybrid glow.

Alice and I made our way over to her, and I offered a slightly hesitant one-armed hug. “You look amazing, Kate. I just wanted to wish you and dad all the best, one more time, before we get started.”

“Thank you, Bella,” she replied, returning the hug, awkwardly at first, but we both relaxed into a genuine embrace after a moment. “I’m...well I’m glad you’ve accepted all this so easily. And that your mother has been so welcoming. I wasn’t sure…”

“Please, don’t worry about it,” I told her softly, though I could feel that slight, uneasy shift in the pit of my stomach, even now. I tried to quiet it: I’d seen how happy dad and Kate were, how good they were for each other. They were the same people they’d always been, or at least dad was, but happier. Still...the mating bond hadn’t given either of them much choice. I worried about that, as I still, sometimes, worried about Alice. As fast as I’d fallen for her, I’d still been able to do so on my own terms. That was something Alice never got to do, and a chance dad and Kate would never have.

I forced a smile nonetheless as I continued, practiced enough now to make it genuine - which it was, really, mostly, despite my doubts. “Both of us just want dad to be happy. And you make him so happy - I’ve seen it, and now mom’s seen it, and she’s already remarried. She loves my dad but...they didn’t work. You two do. You just...fit.”

Maybe Kate caught something in my body language or my tone, despite all my best efforts, because she looked at me with faintly troubled eyes. But just as she was opening her mouth to say something more, we all heard the music starting in the other room, and Irina clapped her hands.

“Positions, everyone! Bridesmaids and groomsmen, go,” she announced, loud and clear. There was no more time to chat.

Alice and I were last in the procession of groomsmen and bridesmaids, and she nudged me gently as we swept into the room, murmuring softly. “You all right? You just seem…”

“I’m fine,” I whispered, through my smile, as we walked down the aisle under Carlisle’s benevolent gaze, surrounded by our family, friends and loved ones, going to meet dad and Harry at the altar. “Just getting in my own head a little.”

“Mmmm. Stop it,” she said, squeezing my arm as our moment came to part. “We’ll talk later.”

I nodded, very slightly, and we took our positions on either side of the aisle, watching Irina walk up last of all. The music changed, shifting to a classic bridal march, and everyone’s eyes were on Kate as Tanya walked her slowly and gracefully up the aisle. She was smiling brightly enough to transform her face into something even more beautiful, and broadly enough that it seemed like her face might crack in two, and I knew without looking that dad’s gaze was locked on her, his smile just as bright. Love and passion just radiated off the two of them, a palpable force filling the room from wall to wall. The room fell to a reverent hush, and for a moment I would have sworn I could hear their two hearts beating as one.

At last, the moment was broken by Carlisle’s voice, deceptively soft and yet resonant enough to fill the room. “Cherished friends, we come together today to witness the joining of Charles Geoffrey Swan and Katrina Sashova in holy matrimony, to ask for God’s blessing upon their union, to share in their joy, and to celebrate their love. For of all the gifts bestowed upon us by our Creator, love is the most precious, the most fragile, and the most important. As it is written in First Corinthians, love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

“We are taught that marriage is a gift of love, for God is love. It is a gift of God in creation and a means of God’s grace, for through this holy mystery, two become as one. Marriage is given that each partner might help the other, living faithfully in need and in plenty, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy. It is given that with delight and with tenderness those so joined might know each other in love, and that through the joy of spiritual and of bodily union, they may strengthen the connection between their hearts and minds. Marriage is a grace visited not only upon those joined in matrimony but upon all their loved ones - not only upon any children that may arise from the union but also upon their beloved community.

“In marriage, those so joined belong to one another, and embark upon a new life within their community. It is not a gift to be taken lightly, carelessly, or selfishly, but reverently, responsibly, and after serious thought. This is the way of life that Charles and Katrina are now to begin. I have been privileged to know them, and privileged to witness their love for one another. I believe with all my heart that these two are meant to be one. And now I must ask: if anyone here knows of any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Silence followed. I wasn’t expecting anything else, but even so, it felt like the world had let out a breath it didn’t know it had been holding. Dad and Kate beamed at one another once again.

“Very well,” Carlisle said, breaking into a warm smile of his own. “Charles and Katrina, I now invite you to join hands and to deliver your vows in the presence of God and of all assembled here. May you speak honestly and without reservation, from the bottom of your hearts.”

Dad and Kate stepped forward, closer to one another, joining hands, and for a moment dad seemed at a loss for words, until his perfect hybrid memory kicked in and he found his place once more. He cleared his throat and chuckled nervously under his breath. “I, Charles Swan, take you, Katrina Sashova, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. I swear to love, cherish, and honor you each day, from now until my last day on this Earth, in God’s name and by God’s grace.”

“I, Katrina Sashova, take you, Charles Swan, to be my lawfully wedded husband,” Kate returned, her eyes shining just slightly, her face aglow with more than the usual hybrid radiance. “To have and to hold from this day forward: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. I swear to love, cherish, and honor you each day, from now until my last day on this Earth, in God’s name and by God’s grace.”

“I believe the best man has the rings?” Carlisle said, taking them gently as Harry offered them, and cradling one in each hand. “God, by your blessing, let these rings to be to Charles and Katrina be a symbol of unending love and faithfulness, to remind them of the vow and the covenant which they have made this day in your holy presence. Amen.”

With that, he handed the rings off, and I could see dad’s fingers tremble just a little, almost imperceptibly, as he slipped Kate’s ring on her finger. “With this ring, I pledge myself to you, giving you all that I am, and sharing with you all that I have.”

Kate echoed his words softly, slipping his ring onto his finger in turn, and Carlisle joined their hands together, covering them loosely with his own.

“What God has seen fit to join, let no man put asunder,” he pronounced solemnly. “And by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Charlie, you may kiss your bride.”

They were moving before he was done talking, and somehow mustered enough restraint to move slow enough for the human eye to follow, though I heard more than a little laughter at their eagerness nonetheless. Charlie swept Kate readily into his arms, tilting her back just a little as they kissed fiercely, her bouquet dropping to the ground as her hands reached up to cup his cheek.

The room broke into wild applause, with a few hoots and whistles mixed in, and my eyes caught Alice’s as we clapped. For one wild, breathless moment, I wanted to throw caution to the wind, speed to her side and take her in my arms as well, hell, maybe even tell Carlisle to marry us here and there. But just a split second later, I felt a sort of coolness rushing through me, like a cold shower inside my mind, and my gaze swept into the audience, where Jasper raised one eyebrow at me expressively and inclined his head. I gave him a sheepish grin, then looked back at Alice, who winked and blew me a kiss before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. A triumphant march played as the wedding party swept back outside for photos and drinks and all the rest while the lodge staff moved everything around again for the reception.

*****

“I’ll be honest, that was way more God than I was expecting,” Callie remarked to me, once I’d been excused from modeling duty and we had a moment alone.

I shrugged. “Dad and Kate believe in a vague something. It was enough to have a vaguely religious ceremony. Besides, Carlisle’s dad was an Anglican pastor.”

Callie downed some of her sparkling cider, her eyes narrowing at me. “Is that a ‘lingering obsession with Twilight factoid’ or an ‘I spend all my time around the Cullens’ factoid?”

“Column A, column B,” I said, with another slight shrug. “I already knew about it, but I mean, we do talk. Anyway, Carlisle’s not nearly as hardcore as his father was, but he’s religious enough and in the know, so…”

“Vaguely religious ceremony. Right. Gotta say it was probably also the shortest wedding I’ve ever been to,” Callie replied, before looking sadly at her half-full glass. “And it’s the most sober wedding I’ve been to in a while. For us, anyway.”

“Yeah, being legally underage definitely has its downside. And please, you saw that kiss - I don’t think we could’ve gotten those two to wait much longer.”

Callie snorted. “True. Hell, you and Alice probably won’t even make it past ‘dearly beloved’.”

Mom chose that moment to come up just behind Callie, her eyebrows rising at the remark, and I immediately started laughing just a little too loudly. “Ha ha! Like we’re about to get married - which we’re not - because I’m seventeen! I am still just...seventeen. And in high school. And not even thinking about getting married. Yep. Good one, Cal, mom, you remember Callie.”

Callie stared at me and shook her head slightly before turning to face my mother. “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Dwyer. Did you enjoy the ceremony?”

“I did, thank you,” mom said, granting me a brief respite as she smiled warmly at Cal. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything over here.”

I shot Callie a pleading glance, and she looked in my direction just long enough to smirk at me before shaking her head. “No, not at all. I should probably go meet up with my parents. You two should catch up. See you later.”

“Of course. We’ll see you around,” mom agreed, and Callie gave a slight wave and moved off. I glared daggers at her retreating back, just for a moment, while mom watched her leave and shook her head. “I still have no idea how you get a nickname like ‘Callie’ out of a name like ‘Tara Chen’.”

“It just suits her,” I mumbled, sighing. “Long story.”

“If you say so. Now, let me look at you.” Mom turned back to me, putting her hands on my shoulders, taking me in. “I still can’t believe how big you’ve gotten, Bella. Or how...oh, what’s the word....dashing, maybe? How dashing you look in that suit.”

#twilight #twilight fanfiction #twilight fanfic #twilight au #the tempest trilogy #the tempestverse #bellice #brave new world

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thestarlitcrossroads · 7 years ago

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Into the Dragon’s Mouth

On the First Day

This past weekend, the Sidereal Coven took a trip up to Vancouver, BC to participate in the Gathering for Life on Earth, an annual event that most of us have been road-tripping to a little over six years. This year the theme would be Dragons and Dragon Lore, and since members of our coven have been working out of the Dragon Book of Essex since December, we submitted a lecture and a public ritual.

The trip up was lovely, and we were still making last moment decisions about our talk, and getting all giddy with excitement to see all our friends and loved ones again.

We arrived on site, and were immediately set to work chopping wood, laying out lights on the trails, and helping to set up the Temple of Aphrodite, an adult private space for intimate time with ones partner(s). I was very excited, as the policy had recently been changed, and men were allowed to be Temple Maidens if the coordinator should deem it so. I set up most of the altar with the Faery Doctor and Mandrake Witch, and was told that this was the first time that the coordinator has not done it by herself. I have never had a very close connection to Aphrodite, but Venus and Aphrodite are one of the many names of the Witchmother, and so She holds a dear place in my heart.

Upon finishing the altar, we sat around and had some delicious damiana liquor. I also gave a toast to Seb, the Urban Shaman with the Green Hair, as all present were very good friends with them, and I had missed the previous gathering because of grief for my lost friend. We then dressed in our finest white dresses, and processed down to the main site to declare the Temple open for all.

Strong like the ocean Gentle as rain River wash my tears away Aphrodite!

Then, all the Gathering campers came together to open the ritual space. We called up the fire with chanting and dancing. We called up dragons of Stone, Ice, Wind, and Flame with toning, dancing, stomping, and stillness. We called up the goddess of the site, Sasamat (Sasamat) SASAMAT ....sasamat....

All my wonderful friends were there. The Bear Shaman. The Red Haired Warrior Goddess and her beautiful consort, the King of the Green! The Trickster God was there, too, and the Water Dancer with her little brave goblin. And so many others, and so many new faces. My friends. My family.

As soon as all ritual necessities were finished, I spied a water nymph swimming around in the lake, and I felt the Lady of the Water call to me. I stripped myself bare to the skin, and ran to the dock, diving into the freezing, refreshing water, laughing and splashing with the Water Nymph. I jumped into the lake at least three times a day, and more and more nymphs joined us there to play and scream with delight.

I slept early that night, and woke well rested.

On the Second Day

Then, oh THEN, my friends, the real work began. Little did I know that this weekend would be full of significant magical and spiritual occurrences for me. Confirmations, empowerments, and over all satisfaction.

...Ritual Without a Rope...

Gathered together, we six witches.

We called up a circle, surrounded by the Goddess.

We called up the elemental spirits with dance and song.

We called down the gods by singing their sacred names.

We sang up the ancestors with laughter.

We played up the Good Folk with a folkish charm.

We six witches flew down into the caves deep below the earth, there to meet with the Dragon.

He told me many things. Many things that were to come. He was so sad, so ancient, an ancient grief. His voice came out of the walls of the cave, his black scales shimmering with the names of gods and spirits.

“Cunning One,” he called me “You shall work from the shadows and create great leaders of men.”

He showed me a large cup made of white clay with the rim painted blue. “This is the Cup of Promise, the Cup of Community. You must all fill it with what will BE and drink from it in Pact. GO NOW!”

And the circle ended as it began.

...Meeting the Four Dragons...

Our main ritual consisted of meeting with the four dragons of Wind, Stone, Ice, and Flame.

We woke them with offerings of tickles, stomping, listening, and joy.

They imparted wisdom of how to be free, how to transform, how to be still, and how to dance.

I wished to be still, so I stood with the Dragon of Ice, that contemplative serpent who dwelt upon the plight of the polar ice caps....

...Around the Fire...

I returned to the fire, for I could hear the drums and longed to dance and sing.

My mind spinning from wine and mandrake, I sang a song of the Faery Queen and Thomas the Rhymer. I was in a deep trance state, and just let the spirit take me as I sang.

Across the fire, I spied the Green Druid.

There is a certain something when two sorcerers make love that a non-magical person will never be able to attain (in my experience). Perhaps it’s the fact that they can sense each other’s energies and know what needs to be done: push or pull. Perhaps it’s that they can enflame themselves with a deep desire and hold that throughout the entire session. Perhaps it’s that they know how to be deeply vulnerable with themselves and with others. Any of these ways, love making between two sorcerers is a powerful ritual act, and one of which the Green Druid and I took full advantage under the gaze of Aphrodite.

I didn’t go to bed until four in the morning.

On the Third Day

Upon the morn, I attended a divination by tarot workshop. I was very tired, and sucked down my morning coffee, praising Caffeina. I partnered with an equally tired Faery Maenad and we read for each other. The readings we gave were very powerful, and I am still meditating on what was revealed to me.

When some of the participants had left, I led the remaining six (lots of sixes at this Gathering) in a divination game I had learned previously. The group decides on a question, or chooses to let the question form itself in the answer. We decided to ask the dragon spirits their advice and message for us.

We followed the journey of a wealthy young man who was never satisfied, and ultimately lost everything by Fate’s hand, only to find himself in the Wilds of the Mountains. He lived happily ever after.

...Casting Yourself into an Ocean Without a Rope...

We six met with those interested in our ecstatic ritual.

We hissed as dragons and roared and stomped as we drew up a black, shining serpent to protect us on our journey to meet the Dragon of the Sea.

We sang up the elements, and stamped to wake up the Earth, and clapped for Fire, and whistled for the Airs, and danced and sighed for the Waters.

We called up the gods, and sang to the ancestors, and charmed the Good Neighbors with our laughter.

Then we journeyed to the seas, the oceans, the mighty grey ocean.

I was dragged under the waters by a rushing wave. Below, stretched out before me amongst the coral and bubbling waters, was a great, crumbling city. Algae crept over the forgotten buildings. Cars and pots and pans rusted in the salty water. All was ruin.

A great serpentine dragon twisted her way to me from out the depths. She grabbed me and screamed: REWILDING.

Suddenly, I felt myself back onshore.

We flew back to our bodies and began to dance, and dance. Chant, and chant!

LAUGHTER! One sang.

FREEDOM! One called.

REWILDING! I bellowed.

All through all until we were bellowing and wooping and laughing and toning. Then it burst up and back down into our bodies as one great drink from the CUP OF PROMISE.

The circle was ended.

So mote it be.

...A Theme is Chosen...

After a much needed leap into the lake, we attended the yearly meeting where the members vote upon the theme for next year.

The Dragon of the Sea spoke true: “Rewilding” would be the theme for next year.

It is done!

...A Ritual on the Beach...

The Seekers of the Dragon’s Knowledge gathered together on the beach.

The Dragon Priests invoked the dragons and we entered into the Dragon’s Mouth, the Maw of Azhdeha!

Each Seeker shifted and changed as they aligned themselves to the stellar body of the Dragon.

BILO BILO HU!

Mazed and thrumming with the sensuous serpentine power, I returned to the fire to dance and drum.

The stars finally revealed themselves, and I dove back into the water with the Water Nymphs and swam amidst the beautiful stars. A deep sense of peace and longing for that peace came over me. I was in awe, quite simply, floating on my back. Man was never meant to sit at a desk all day. We were meant for this: Good food, good drink, good sex, good friends, and staring at the stars in wonder.

...the Witches’ Sabbat...

I returned to the fire again to warm up. Suddenly, holding an hoofed item that I just blessed in the Horned One’s name, I felt a call to go to the woods.

In a cheerful daze, I wandered away from those crowded around the fire, telling stories and laughing, and away from the ring of firelight. At the docks I could hear, faintly, voices calling. I thought I saw someone out on the end of the docks...but no, the voices weren’t coming from there.... They were coming from the woods.

Carefully, without light, I picked my way along the trail. In the distance, I could hear the voices getting louder, calling to someone. Calling to me.

A red light appeared, bobbing up and down between the trees. A wicked, billowing smoke issued up from the ground out of a fiery pit. There was a deep BOOM as one of the witches kicked the pit holding the fire.

They had called to the other witches, had called for the Man in Black, and I had come. These witches, holding their black sabbath at the end of the woods, away from the lights and joy of the main camp, they had called me here from such a long distance.

Wordlessly, I took the Lamp from the Mandrake Witch. She read from her Black Book to those assembled: a spell and a curse.

Bread and Wine were passed around. We shook our fists at the sky at god himself! We laughed and gave a great scream of delight!

I departed that place, back through the woods, and into the firelight.

...the Wild and Tender God...

The night drew on, and the Green Druid and I were kissing and massaging each other in the corner. I had given a few readings with my cards, but now festivities were dying down to the more relaxed atmosphere of the early morning. The air was growing colder, and the few of us left were huddling closer to the fire, cuddling and enjoying the pleasure of one another.

Grinning sheepishly, I pulled the Green Druid up and we wandered off into the woods towards the Temple once again. With me I brought one of the cloven oranges we had used up at the fire. The Cloven Orange is an SCA tradition that’s been handed down to the Gathering. If a clove is taken out with one’s fingers, then the receiver is given a kiss on the hand. But if the clove should be taken out with the lips, then the gifter and the receiver may kiss, or perhaps much more.

We entered into the Temple and gave the salute of a sensuous kiss to one another. I pressed my body against his, and he gripped my hair, caressing my neck with his lips. Stripping ourselves of our vestments, we fell to the bed to worship before the icon of Aphrodite, Her starlit tresses giving vision to our shining, hot bodies.

I took his cock into my mouth, curling my tongue about the tip. I could feel his breathing slow. His legs tensed with rapture. His balls twitched and slid up into his body.

Then he was on top of me, kissing me all over. I screamed and moaned as he bit into the flesh around my legs and thighs. My breath quickened delightfully as his tongue flashed into the depths between my legs. My hair tingled with ecstasy at his sorcererous touch!

We squeezed the sweet juices of the cloven orange into each other’s mouths, giggling with the honey citrus mixed with the taste of flesh.

He entered into me. My cock pumped and pounded with heat. I rode upon the God’s cock, panting with holy satisfaction. I could feel suddenly that a spirit had touched him. He was the Green Man kissing me with his leafy beard, and then the vision was gone.

I gave an almighty groan which I’m pretty sure could be heard down the hill. My cum shot out in wyrm-like zig-zags onto my stomach.

We fell back satisfied. I gazed in amazement at this wild tender green god laying beside me. Then I passed into the oblivion of rest.

On the Fourth Day

The final day of camp. I woke up late because of...um...reasons.

All was cleaned up, and we held our final rituals.

We processed down to the lake. The sun had finally managed to stick around. A light breezed rustled my white dress as I rang a singing bowl.

Strong like the ocean Gentle as rain River wash my tears away Aphrodite

We scattered the rose petals as an offering to Aphrodite and to the Lady of the Lake. Everyone joined us.

I threw a handful of petals into the air and jumped one last time into the lake.

Swimming and laughing amongst the rose petals, we spied a goose float gently up to us. They made no noise, but glided across the surface of the lake to one of the Temple Maidens.

I knew then that the Goddess was in our midst.

As all things must, our time at the lake came to an end. We dried ourselves off, cried, hugged, and drove home.

The End

@ioqayin

#gathering for life on earth #witchcraft #paganism #dragons #dragon book of essex #andrew chumbley #sidereal coven #canada #adventures in canada #traditional witchcraft

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