Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is the property of Disney, and I make no profit from this fanwork.
Warnings: darkfic, incestuous overtones.
-o-
While this story is based on the TV series, I do still borrow a bit from the comics here and there:
- Nagadir is Elyon's handmaid in the comics.
- It's mentioned in the Elyon special that Meridian uses a different time system to earth, and Elyon still hasn't adjusted to it, so she can't read her clock.
- 'The Light of Meridian' is a title taken from the comics. It and the 'Heart of Meridian' title seem to be basically the same, so I use the two interchangeably.
- "You would be a wonderful princess, if only you weren't stupid enough to be enchanted by my words." This is what Phobos says to Elyon during their battle in issue 12 of the comics. At least in the scan I read. Depending on which language you've read the comic in, the exact line probably varies.
- Elyon's conversation with her birth mother here is also based heavily on the conversation she has with her in issue 12 of the comics.
- Escanor is the name of Meridian's royal family in the comics.
- The Court of Murmurers or the Whisperers…they had their differences, but were still very similar, so I've sort of integrated some of their details from the comics as well in this story.
- Phobos's habit of almost always calling Elyon 'dear sister' is taken from the comics.
Light
-o-
Her brother's prison is hidden behind running water, full of shadows and beasts locked behind bars. It's just like the dark, ravaged place which he'd turned Meridian into while on the throne, and nothing like the bright place he'd told her it really was, the liar. He probably feels at home here.
Or maybe not. He's still tall, but now that he's behind bars, he can't tower over her like he used to, and he doesn't have a throne. He still has a smooth voice and poisoned words, but Elyon knows that he's lying, now.
He's a good actor, she reminds herself. He pretends to kindness, puts on a gentle voice, and it's so convincing that you barely notice when the fangs come out, only seeing them in time to recognize death, not run from it. He pretended to love her, and it was a convincing act. She shouldn't feel guilty for falling for it. No one blames her.
Except herself.
Elyon hates that part of herself. It whispers at her all the time, telling her what a fool she's been, and the only mercy is when it turns on itself; since, after all, it was once the part of her that loved her brother the most.
It's also the part of her that keeps making her come back here.
Confronting that face doesn't make it any better. It still looks kind, a mockery of his former act- now he doesn't hide that he hates her as well as… Well, whatever emotion makes him smile at people so gently and then rip them to pieces.
He's a good actor. It's not her fault.
They've been in silent deadlock for a while, but eventually her brother's voice breaks the silence.
"While I do so enjoy your company, dear sister, shouldn't you be going? We both know that one who sits on the throne has little time for leisure, after all." Phobos laughs quietly, enjoying the way his words stab her.
"I hate you," she whispers back. She's still not used to a world of magic, so she whispers, even though she knows that there's more than that preventing the guards and other prisoners from hearing their 'conversations'. She always tells him this, and the words are always calm. Her voice doesn't hitch. She really does hate him. Elyon's never hated someone before, but she hates her brother.
"My dear sister…your feelings are returned."
Elyon glares, and Phobos smiles back. She turns away, leaving the prison. Somehow, seeing him behind bars never makes her feel better.
…Or maybe it's just that she doesn't want to like it, but she still does.
-o-
"Here again, sister? Why, I'd almost think you've missed me." Phobos's eyes are hooded.
Elyon tries to hide the way she shivers. She doesn't know what's gotten into him! At first he'd just been enraged by his imprisonment, but then she'd come, telling him only that she wanted to look at the real face of the man who'd tried to kill her, and… He'd become like this. Why can't her enemies ever be straightforward?
"I don't miss you, Phobos."
"Yet you keep me alive in this prison, and visit so often. Can you just not bear to dispose of the only member of your family who remains?"
"I have my parents, I don't need you! As hard as it is for you to understand, I leave you here because I'm not like you, Phobos. I refuse to kill people in cold blood, even people like you."
For once, Phobos isn't smiling, and he isn't angry, either. He stares down at her, and his expression is a mystery. "Then you are a fool, sister, and you will die for it one day."
"Is that a threat?" she snaps.
"How could I effectively threaten you, dear sister? I'm powerless in here. No, that was no threat. Think of it as more of a…warning. I'm looking forward to the day when you'll need it. Either way, it's sure to be entertaining."
Elyon won't have him executed, but she really wouldn't mind if he managed to drop dead somehow.
-o-
He still doesn't look any different- immaculate and dignified, but with an ugly streak underneath the surface beauty. For some reason, Elyon wants him to look different. He's in prison, he's been defeated, he's been deposed and is prince in name only… He's been humiliated, and it should show! Why doesn't it?
Elyon glares at Phobos. "Well? Won't you say anything?"
"I'm considering. There isn't much advantage for me, is there? Perhaps you'd do better with one of these prisoners, one who you can bribe."
"I'm not stupid, Phobos. Everyone here is loyal to you- I'd never risk freeing them."
Phobos laughs. "You may not be a fool, dear sister, but you are very naïve. My servants are not loyal to me; they are loyal to my power. If they found another master who would allow them to indulge in their whims, I'm certain that they would abandon me. Though the more intelligent ones would at least ensure that their new master is powerful enough to protect them."
Taking her sights off him always makes her feel nervous, but Elyon still glances up at the cell above his. "You mean…Miranda?"
"She followed the old sorceress. Obviously I cannot know for sure whether she remained with her or not, but Miranda is a follower. It wouldn't occur to her to take this opportunity for freedom."
"What do you know about that sorceress?"
Phobos just smiles at her.
"Tell me!"
At that, Phobos sighs. "Still so innocent, baby sister. You won't torture me, you won't even threaten me with death, and there is nothing you can bribe me with… I have no reason to comply with your orders."
Elyon tries not to grind her teeth. It's bad for them, and there aren't exactly any dentists in Meridian. Though maybe she doesn't need them, when she has magic… Yes, that sounds good. Think about never having to go to the dentist again, and not about how irritating Phobos is being. It's her own fault for thinking that he could be convinced to say anything.
It's only when Elyon is back in her room, idly sketching, that she realizes. He didn't give her every answer she asked for, but Phobos did offer up information.
Her pencil twists, ripping the paper, and Elyon groans and tears the page out of her sketchbook. When she looks at it and sees that the sketch of that cute guy she saw while helping with repairs in the city has developed robes and trailing braids, she growls and sets the page on fire, just like her brother once did to her old picture of Cornelia.
Hopefully she'll do a better job of making herself forget about him than he did of making her forget her friends.
-o-
"Hey, it worked!" Elyon smiles into the mirror, then opens her mouth wide. A little light, and… "Everything looks fine, so I'd call this experiment a success!"
"What experiment, honey?"
Elyon turns around, grinning at her mom. "I had a toothache, and I got rid of it with magic! It looks like being queen is paying off! No school, no math…well, at least once I'm done with this year in Heatherfield and we can 'move away' properly…no dentists…"
Mom smiles. It's still a little weird seeing her in her true form, but Elyon's getting used to it. It's easier than having to call her 'Captain Miriadel' when they're in public, anyway. "As glad as I am that you can indulge in sweets all you like, queens do still need to use math, Elyon."
"Yeah, but that's like accounting and stuff, right? Not stuff like algebra and geometry. I can just fold over to earth and get a calculator, or ask Cornelia to bring me one next time she and the girls visit. Or maybe I should ask Taranee- she probably knows where to get better ones…" Elyon muses on that for a minute as she walks over, then sits down next to her mom on the bed. The mattress is a little too hard to bounce on. She'll need to see if she can do anything about that. "That'll work, right?"
"I suppose…"
Elyon rolls her eyes. "Mom, you'd think we were still on earth and I just said I'm planning on dropping out. I think you and Dad got way too into pretending to be earth parents. And hey, I'm still studying things- just, you know, things which I'll actually use in my life."
"You have a point there." Mom smiles and hugs her. "I'm so proud of you, Elyon. You're growing up beautifully."
Elyon hugs her back. "Hey, it's thanks to you and Dad that I ever grew up at all.
"…Hey, Mom, you can read that clock, right? I have a meeting with my advisors…sometime this afternoon. I have no idea how to tell the time here in Meridian, though, so I'm always stuck waiting around for Nagadir to fetch me."
Her mom looks at the clock. "I think you've still got…about ten minutes, it looks like. I've never really thought to convert our time into earth's units, but that sounds about right."
"Well, at least I've got a little longer to relax. I still can't remember all of the advisor's names, you know. Maybe I should ask Caleb and his dad for help, they know pretty much everyone…"
"That's a good idea. Your father and I would love to help you with that, but we've been away for twelve years- we're still getting to know all of the new faces ourselves. But I can help you out with the time when your meeting's done, how about that?"
"Thanks! …This is going to involve math, isn't it?" Elyon sighs and makes a sketchbook float over to her. Well, no point looking at the newer stuff and getting ideas about working on them with so little time left. Instead, she flips through older sketches. There's the throne room- in its current form, the dark monstrosity it had been while Phobos reigned in it, and the beautiful illusion he had shown to her while she still believed his lies-, her parents, both in their human disguises and their real forms, the Guardians… Cedric, her brother…
At the sight of the picture her hands stop, and Elyon feels like she's been dumped in icy water. She sees that face every few days, but for some reason she still can't tear her eyes away.
"Elyon…you still have those pictures?"
"Um, yeah. I drew them back when…you know." No need to tell Mom about the new pictures, right?
Mom sounds nervous. "You don't want to keep them, do you?"
Elyon doesn't really know, but she answers, "No, not really." Methodically, she tears them out of the book and burns them.
Like that ever made anyone forget anything.
-o-
"You were right about your old servants," Elyon tells him, not knowing why she does. "We've been tracking the ones still on the outside, and the ones we don't capture go over to that sorceress. They've started calling themselves the 'Knights of Vengeance'."
"Do you expect me to be surprised, sister?"
Really, Elyon doesn't know what to expect from him. She doesn't even know why she's here again.
"I've told you that they are not loyal to me; that they would turn, given the opportunity. I'm hardly devastated. Angry, yes. Those who betray or fail me will pay."
Elyon looks over at Cedric's cage. He's no longer a handsome man, and his true, monstrous form is stripped from him now, too. He's pitiful, really, a tiny, misshapen thing. Ugly and weak, more helpless than a garden snake.
She turns back to Phobos, unsettled, and tries to imagine him humiliated like that. She trembles, she can't help herself. She can't imagine it, she hates it, but she wishes she could see it. "They wouldn't betray you if you treated them better, you know. A ruler should take care of her…or his…people, that's what leaders are for."
Phobos just laughs. "Oh, my dear sister. So powerful, yet so ignorant of power. Those who have power should use it, not waste it on those beneath them."
"You're an idiot, then! If a tyrant gets too scary, people always rebel in the end. If obeying is just as frightening as rebelling, why not rebel and at least have a chance of freedom?"
"How idealistic. Perhaps that is true of the mere politicians on earth, but I will obtain the power of the Light of Meridian. The heart of a world, dear sister. It is impossible for anyone to oppose that power."
"….The Council of Kandrakar considered your evil so great that they sealed Meridian off from the rest of the worlds…" Phobos had only faced any real threat when the Guardians appeared, bearing their own heart of a world to fight him with. Would he really have been undefeatable if he'd succeeded in stealing her power? Would her people really have been left with no hope at all of freedom?
"At least you're capable of learning. Who knows, you might even become a good queen one day, if you survive."
He'd told her something like that once before, during their battle. That she would be a good princess if only she'd stop listening to his words… "What, you think I'll only be a good queen if I become evil like you?"
"If you wish to use that word. What I mean, dear sister, is that you are still a fool. You understand nothing of power, you show far too much mercy… It appears that I taught you poorly." His smile is mocking.
"Taught me?" Elyon clenches her fists, her nails biting into her palms, and for the first time, she raises her voice in here. "All you taught me about is betrayal!"
"And you've failed to learn your lesson."
"Shut up!" she yells. Phobos keeps smiling at her, and she growls. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Magic flares around her for a moment, too light for this awful place and the rage she feels. Elyon spins around and leaves, stomping through the prison and then, when she gets back home, the palace.
Back in her room, Elyon draws a picture of that smirking face and sets it on fire. It doesn't help her forget- she still sees that face whenever she closes her eyes.
Teaching her? Yeah right! Where does that, that bastard get off on saying things like that? Phobos hasn't taught her anything, besides what real betrayal looks like.
She hates him for that, but she can't put it in the past, either. It's like feeling a loose tooth, poking at a loss…only she doesn't know what's missing.
-o-
"Queen Elyon?"
The guards look surprised, and Elyon doesn't know any of them very well. They must be new, or they'd be used to seeing her here.
Elyon smiles at them. "Hey, guys! I'm just hanging out and helping with guard duty a bit while I study. Ignore me."
At first they look nervous about that request, but when she goes over and sits near Phobos's cell, they have no problems complying. Even if he's locked up, no one wants to be near the tyrant or risk getting his attention.
"'Guard duty', dear sister?" Phobos sounds amused.
Elyon keeps her eyes on her math book, though even Phobos is a better sight than it. "Well, yeah. The sorceress has proved that this place isn't impenetrable, so having me here sometimes will help. And I might as well combine two unpleasant tasks together. Ugh, I can't wait until we can pretend to move away from Heatherfield…"
"There were suspicions about your disappearance, then? Cedric did tell me that earth has become nauseatingly bureaucratic."
"I guess even a broken clock's right twice a day." That doesn't get a response, probably because it's an earth saying. "So…ever heard of the Annihilators? Or better yet, know how to do my math homework?"
"You're asking your 'evil' brother for advice in dealing with an enemy? I'd hardly be stricken if they succeed in destroying you."
"Well then you're out of luck, since they disappear whenever I get near them."
"Hmm, I suppose it's good to know that you won't be slain by an enemy before I can take your powers."
"Gee, thanks."
Well, this isn't working. Since she can't seem to stay away, Elyon thought that maybe she could at least ignore him, but it's still not working. She wants to say something that will hurt him, but she can't think of anything. Even mocking his imprisonment doesn't have enough of an effect on him, since he always manages to twist the 'conversation' to something which will hurt her instead.
"You still won't tell me anything about the sorceress?"
Phobos sighs. "You're terrible at bribery, baby sister."
Elyon's pencil breaks in her hand. She uses her magic to fix it, still carefully not looking at Phobos. Finally she lets herself speak, though it's through clenched teeth. "Fine. You still want my power, right? If this enemy doesn't and manages to kill me, you'll never get it. You probably don't care that much about which one of us is left for you to fight in the end, but wouldn't you rather it be me so you can try to steal my power again?"
She shouldn't, she shouldn't, but she looks at him anyway. There's nothing different to see, though; it's the same deceptive smile he always wears. "Hardly hefty bribery, but at least you're capable of using logic. All right, then, sister… The sorceress is a complete stranger to me."
Elyon blinks, then scowls. "What, that's it? If you don't know anything, then you might as well have just said so from the start!"
"Only a fool freely hands out information to enemies. Come now, you didn't truly expect it of me, did you?"
Phobos is smiling down at her… Elyon curses herself silently and stands up, leaving and trying very hard not to stomp her feet. Here she is, wanting to see him hurt, and instead she goes and puts herself in an embarrassing position!
Stupid, stupid, stupid… She needs to do better than this.
-o-
He's behind bars. He can't get out. Even if he did, this prison's doors can't be breached from the inside. She's defeated him. She's stronger than him. She isn't afraid of him, and she's not afraid that he'll escape.
So why is she here again?
Something's changed in her since she met Phobos. It's not just that she's a bit less trusting, or that she's known the fear of someone trying to kill her. Maybe that's a part of it, but it's something more. That by itself, she's okay with. Not great, but not obsessed or traumatized or anything. So what is wrong with her?
He should look different. He's been locked up in here for a while now, but he still looks the same as he did while hanging out in the throne room. It's weird.
Elyon jumps when she hears the gate being opened. It's not time for the guards to change, and it's not like anyone else cares to visit… Oh no, it's her mom's voice, saying something to the guard who let her in…
Phobos smiles. "More visitors? Well, at least I shan't grow too bored until my release."
Elyon shoots him a quick glare before rushing to the gate. She doesn't want Mom anywhere near Phobos. Really, no one should be anywhere near him, but her parents especially. "Uh, hi Mom! I was just leaving, we should leave, let's leave…" The stupid babbling starts, but Elyon leads her mom out of the prison successfully. For a queen, she sounds uncomfortably like her friends when they're in trouble with their parents. Though none of her friends ever had to try to distract their moms from the fact that they'd been visiting their evil brother who'd tried to kill them…
Mom doesn't say much on the way back home, but Elyon knows better than to hope for freedom. She's probably just waiting till the she can tell Dad and they can confront her together. Or maybe Dad already knows…
The throne room. Of course, that's the perfect place for this confrontation. Elyon fumes, and turns her gaze to the throne. Really, she was so dumb back then. If she'd been thinking at all, she'd have realized that the royal consort doesn't have any power- there wasn't any need for two thrones to be in there at once.
"Elyon, what are you thinking about?" Dad asks.
Elyon crosses her arms and huffs, not looking at him. "That I was really dumb not to realize that there shouldn't have been two thrones in here."
"For the coronation, you mean?" Mom sighs and puts her hands on her shoulders. "You shouldn't blame yourself for that, honey."
"I don't."
"Really? Elyon…your mother and I are worried. It's obvious that you've been obsessing over this- Vathek says you visit the prison a few times a week."
"I'm not obsessed. Just…paranoid, I guess. That sorceress already broke in and freed Miranda. I just need to check that everyone else is still in there, you know?"
Please don't ask why I've been speaking to Phobos, please don't ask why I've been speaking to Phobos…
"You're afraid of Prince Phobos escaping, aren't you?"
Elyon winces. Well, it could be worse. If they'd asked why she's been speaking to Phobos, she really wouldn't be able to answer. It feels good to see him locked up, and she wants to see him even more humiliated… Awful feelings like that aren't things she can tell her parents about. "Well, yeah. My own brother tried to kill me. A girl doesn't get over that overnight, right?"
"Of course not, honey. But you shouldn't blame yourself for being tricked by him, and, well, it looks to us like you're doing that."
"Dad, I'm okay, really. I'm just kind of paranoid after all the attacks."
It takes a while longer, but Elyon manages to convince her parents, or at least convince them to give up for now.
-o-
"The Knights of Vengeance almost got Caleb. They could have killed him… I don't know why they let him go." Elyon bites her lip, and wishes she had someone better to talk about this with. "This…this is why you kill people, isn't it? Because…because if you leave your enemies alive, they'll always have the chance to come after you again."
Her brother smiles. "Why, my dear sister, it appears that you're finally learning."
Elyon winces. Any thought that Phobos approves of can't be good, can it? But… "Keeping all of you locked up in here is stupid, isn't it? Like leaving a ticking time bomb and just hoping that it won't go off."
Now Phobos doesn't look so smug. Instead, he looks tense, like he's waiting for a fight. "Yes, it is." He's practically glaring at her.
Elyon doesn't like the feeling that comes over her, or the smile that forms on her face, but disliking something isn't enough to stop it. "You're afraid, aren't you? I'm more powerful than you, and you can't fight me anyway, when you're stuck in there. If I decided to hurt you, you couldn't fight back."
Suddenly Phobos turns calm again, smiling as he always does. "Well, sister, will you? If you killed all of the prisoners here, it would solve so many problems." He gestures around at the cells. "All of these threats to you, eliminated in a flash."
Her gaze follows his gesture. None of the other prisoners can hear Phobos when he's speaking to her. They wouldn't even know what was coming. "I…"
"Why do you hesitate? Certainly you have the power."
Elyon feels faint. Her hand covers her mouth, though she doesn't think she's going to throw up. "That's…that's evil."
"It is necessary, sister. Don't take me for a fool; I know exactly what you were thinking. You're developing the necessary instincts for power- you're simply still burdened by those tiresome 'morals' which stay the hands of weak rulers. You'll never be able to protect those precious little people of yours if you don't learn to make some unpopular choices now and then."
Her people? Most of the nausea goes away at that, and Elyon at least has the strength to glare at him again. "Shut up! Why should I listen to you? You don't know anything about protecting people- all of the 'unpopular choices' you made were just for your own benefit, and hurt everyone else!"
"That you disagree with me doesn't make me wrong, baby sister." Phobos's smile is even more mocking than usual. "You're still learning so slowly…still so much like the child who first walked into my palace and ate up my sweetened lies."
Elyon tries to say something other than curses to him, but she chokes up. Before treacherous tears can form in her eyes, she turns away.
When she's alone in her room, she lets herself cry. She's beaten him, but that bastard refuses to lose; somehow, even locked up in that cell, Phobos is corrupting her far more than he did while she was in the palace under his control.
That he's evil doesn't mean that he's always wrong…
Life would be so much easier if the sweet older brother he'd pretended to be was real.
-o-
She's seen something awful. A terrible nightmare, but it's real. She's scared, she wants her parents; but they're gone, the rebels have taken them…
Somehow she ends up in the throne room, probably nudged in the right direction by a guard or servant. There's sunlight all around her, and it doesn't matter if it's real or not. Roses are everywhere, beautiful ones. Not blood red but a warm color, as if the golden light is spilling onto them. Vines everywhere. There are black roses, but they're beautiful, too, so she ignores them.
She's surrounded by warmth, and it's nothing like the stifling heat of summer- more like being curled up in bed and never wanting to get up to go to school…
And there's her brother, he'll explain and make it better…
He kneels down, hugging her, speaking in a quiet, soothing voice. "It's all right, dear sister…" He kisses her forehead.
Pain blossoms in Elyon's back, vines sinking in and draining her of strength, and still her brother holds her.
-o-
Even on earth, the feeling follows her. When she hangs out with Alchemy, she tries to pretend that this is how things have always been, that there never was a cute guy at a bookshop who told her about her unimaginable fate in Meridian, who told her she was a princess. That there never was a loving older brother waiting for his little sister, guarding her throne and welcoming her to it, all while planning to take her light.
The Light of Meridian. That's what she is, and the light brims under her skin, always wanting to go back home, and even without the awful memories biting at her, she wouldn't be able to forget because of that power.
It's easier when she's hanging out with Caleb, with Cornelia and the others. They've been through all of this together, and even when they don't say anything, they know. Well, most of it.
All of these threats to you, eliminated in a flash…
It's better that they don't know about that. Her thoughts twist now, and they keep going in that direction. When the girls tell her about the Horn of Hypnos, she can't help but think that they let Jeek off too lightly. He's caused them way too much trouble- their lives would all be easier if he was gone.
Elyon is scared of those thoughts. She can argue that it's evil, yes, but it's still true. She thought that she'd be able to come up with better arguments when she wasn't up against Phobos's twisted logic, but she hasn't.
What do you do when locking a criminal in a prison isn't enough anymore? Put that way, the answer seems so easy.
But she's the Light of Meridian, and these sorts of thoughts aren't worthy of that position. And if she can't stop these thoughts from coming…maybe she isn't worthy of that position.
Elyon sighs.
"Bummed about your last day?" Cornelia asks, sitting down next to her at the lunch table.
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Great, now there's another thing to remember to be upset about. "Not having to come back to school is about the only good part of it. I'm going to miss you guys."
"Don't worry, we'll visit! Well, as long as Will gets better at her folding…"
"Hey, I can always come pick you up. I've been getting lots of practice, coming back and forth every day. I'm going to have to do double the work today, too- meeting with the royal architect."
Cornelia huffs. "At least you don't have to help decorate the gym. Hay Lin's going way overboard with decorating plans."
"Cornelia, the royal architect wants to talk about sewer plans. Again."
"Oh, eww." Cornelia winces. "Which one is worse? Sewers or decorating the gym… Hmm, tough call."
"How is that a tough call?"
"Well, you only have to sit around and listen to some old guy talk; I'm going to have to work and get all sweaty. It's one thing when it's Guardian business, but I can't get all sweaty right before a party!"
Caleb butts in at that, and as the two start flirting, Elyon lets her mind wander. With all of the damage done to the city lately by the Knights of Vengeance, she's had to spend a lot of time talking to architects about how the repairs are going. You can't fix things with magic if you don't know what to fix and how it should be fixed, after all. She can't wait until those 'Knights' are dealt with for good…
Elyon winces, and decides that maybe listening to her friends flirt isn't such a bad use of her time.
-o-
She glares at him. He glares back. This time there aren't any insults, or any tangled debates which leave her feeling like she's sinking into darkness.
Phobos is mad at her for imprisoning him again. Elyon is mad at him because…
It doesn't make any sense! She's beaten him now, again, stuck him behind bars again, and it's satisfying, yes, but it's not enough. Elyon is starting to become afraid that it'll never be enough. It's as if some kind of curse has been put on her, and it won't fade until he's gone.
Eliminated in a flash…
She feels sick again.
Trying to distract herself, she thinks back on the scene she saw in the Meditation Chamber. It's painful, but it's no worse, really. But it's bitter, even worse than the taste these arguments with Phobos leave in her mouth. How could her parents lie to her again? Hadn't they learned better about that when all of their lies and dumb excuses led her right into Phobos's hands? Apparently not.
Elyon would never have expected her birth parents to be such horrible people, but maybe it makes sense. They did raise Phobos, after all.
She can't trust what her parents and Trill tell her, but… Who else is she supposed to ask? Phobos? Yeah, right. He isn't any more likely to tell the truth than them, if he'd talk at all.
Only a fool freely hands out information to enemies…
She hates it when he's right. And, as usual, she doesn't exactly have anything she can offer him, even if he would tell something other than lies.
Why do the people she trust always lie to her? Is she just really bad at choosing who to trust? Or is it that everyone is full of lies? Elyon doesn't need a happy fairy tale about her birth parents. She's had that from Cedric and her brother, and they've definitely put her off fairy tales. Nothing is perfect, nothing is completely good… She's learnt that. Her parents didn't have to coddle her and pretend that it really was that way, just to make themselves feel better.
Life would be easier if she just didn't trust people from the start, like Phobos…
Ugh, it's time for dinner. She doesn't really want to, but she'd better go.
-o-
She should be in pain. Her knuckles should be bruised and bloody from hammering at the walls of the jewel she's trapped in. Her eyes should sting from where she's cried tears of frustration, and her feet should hurt from kicking the wall uselessly.
She'd rather be in pain than feel this, this thing building up in her, this thing which can't seem to be released. She's tried screaming, she's tried crying, she's tried all sorts of stuff in the hopes of breaking free of her prison, and it's all useless. It builds up in her painfully, and Elyon is terrified of what she might do if there was something in here which she could hurt.
She wants to use her magic to make someone hurt, and this time she doesn't care all that much whether it's Phobos or someone else. Phobos would still be nice, though. Someone needs to bring that bastard down a peg or two, and prison clearly isn't doing all that much.
Ugh, how could she be so stupid? There must have been some sign that the jewel had been taking her powers, and anyway, haven't they had enough issues with Nerissa disguising herself already? She really shouldn't trust anyone fully, should she?
Note to self: no matter how cute the jewelry is and no matter who it's from, don't put it on until it's been checked over for any dangerous magic.
Even if it's from Cornelia.
Elyon can't seem to stop crying. You'd think eventually she'd get tired of it, but in this weird limbo trapped in the jewel, normal body-type stuff doesn't seem to work. She can cry, but it doesn't hurt properly, and she doesn't ever cry herself out. If she ever wants to angst indefinitely, she'll keep this place in mind.
But that's not exactly going to get her anywhere, and there's a war going on. Well, a war of sorts. Yeah. And she can hear everything that goes on outside the jewel- oh, sorry, the Heart of Meridian which she's trapped inside-, so she should take advantage of that. Whatever her chances of getting out of here are, at least she'll have useful information on Nerissa's plans when she does escape.
-o-
"Hi, Phobos, do you mind if I pop in for a minute? I've got something to show you." Elyon takes the item from the guard, and for a second struggles to carry it and keep it covered. Oh, there, she can just make it float along beside her.
She enters the throne room, and her brother steps down, smiling at her. "I always have time for you, dear sister. What do you have there?"
Elyon grins. "We-ell, I've finally gotten back into painting, you know, and I noticed that you're the only one who doesn't have a family portrait…" The cloth covering comes off, and the portrait is revealed. "Tada!"
It's a portrait of her brother, surrounded by the roses he loves so much, and with one of those strange black roses in his hand. He's looking forwards, but when you look at it the right way, Elyon almost thinks that he's looking down fondly at the rose he's holding.
"Elyon, you painted this?" Her brother steps closer, looking over the portrait. His hand reaches out, and he's just barely not touching the painted black rose. "I knew you were very talented, of course, but I didn't know you painted this well!"
Elyon blushes a little. "Oh, I'm not that great. I'm really out of practice still…"
Her brother shakes his head. "This is beautiful, dear sister. I'll treasure it always."
He puts a hand on her shoulder, and Elyon covers it with hers, smiling up at him.
…
His hand is on the painted black rose, and he goes still, then limp. Elyon holds her brother, laying his body down on the ground. He's not there anymore. She turns to the portrait, and kisses her brother's cheek. "Now you can be eternal, just like your roses."
-o-
Elyon wipes her eyes. They aren't groggy at all, even though she just slept. She's getting used to that, though she tries not to nap unless she really can't handle that awful feeling any longer. But did she always have such weird dreams? Or is that something new about being stuck in the jewel? She never used to remember her dreams this clearly, that's for sure. If they're all like this, it might be better to go back to normal.
He'd planned to turn her remains into a black rose in his garden…
Elyon shakes her head, trying to dislodge the thought and make it fall out. To be imprisoned for all eternity like that... She hates him, and he would have done it to her, but she's not going to do it to him, no matter how much she wants to see him hurt. That's just too awful.
Portraits. Great, now she's reminded of the fake memory 'Trill' showed her of her parents. It doesn't really matter, but Elyon still can't help but wonder what they were really like. And what really happened to them? Did Phobos do something to them to try to get the throne? He turned on his own sister; he probably wouldn't have had a problem with hurting their mother, too.
What was that? Elyon's sure she heard something, and not something from outside of the heart, either. But it can't be, can it? Well, unless Nerissa's absorbed someone else into the heart.
There's the noise again, whatever it is. Maybe a whisper?
"Is anyone there?" Elyon calls out, trying to make her voice regal to hide her nerves, and also trying not to be too loud. She definitely doesn't want to get Nerissa's attention.
"Elyon?" The voice is still quiet, but Elyon can hear it better now. "…Elyon?"
"Who are you?" Elyon looks around warily. Maybe it's an enemy… She turns around, and gasps. "You're…my mother?"
It looks like her, anyway. She has the same hair as Elyon and Phobos, and she's dressed the same as she was in the fake memory. Her face is much kinder, though. She at least doesn't look like the kind of person who'd torment people just because she can.
She looks worried, too. "What has happened to you, Elyon?"
That feeling starts rising again as she thinks about it, and Elyon tries not to cry. She wouldn't want Mom to see this, and she doesn't want this mother to see her like this, either. "I was tricked…Trill gave me a jewel from your crown to wear, but it was spelled to steal my powers from me… Trill's, um, not really Trill. Well, there never was a Trill. She's really an old sorceress, a former Guardian, and she tricked me into giving the jewel back to her, so now she has the Heart of Meridian…"
"I wasn't asking about that, my little one. You look to be in so much pain."
"Oh! I…" Elyon bites her lip. Whether this is her real mother or just some illusion, she doesn't want to lose control in front of her. She shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. But…no one's ever been able to tell me what happened to you. Did my brother do something?" Her possible-mother doesn't say anything right away, and Elyon goes on. "He did, right? Mom, what did he do to you?"
Her mother shakes her head. "It doesn't matter, little one."
"But it does! He's evil!"
Her mother's eyes are so weird, way too gentle considering that she's talking about the son who probably killed her. "Truly, Elyon, your brother is very weak, for all he grasps at power. He's the only family you have left- you should help him."
"Help him?" Elyon glares. "Help Phobos? I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped, you know! He's evil, and he likes it just fine that way."
Her mother smiles sadly. "You don't understand your brother, do you?"
"What's there to understand?" Elyon scowls. Shouldn't the woman who raised him know what he's like? "Who are you, really?"
Her mother's image is fading. "I can't speak with you for very long, little one. Your father and I wish we could be by your side…"
Whoever she is, she's gone now. Maybe it was just a hallucination. And if it was her mother, then apparently being a spirit has made her delusional.
Elyon wipes her eyes and turns her attention back to the world outside of the jewel. Whatever that stuff was all about, it doesn't matter.
-o-
This whole experience is starting to become a really annoying lesson in biding time. There's not much point in getting angry whenever she sees Nerissa hurt someone; if she wants to rage, after all, the only person around for her to hurt is herself, and Elyon's definitely not into that sort of thing.
Now, at least, things are more awkward than rage-inducing. Elyon would really rather not watch Nerisssa try to seduce Cassidy's spirit over to her side. Well, not physically seduce, thankfully (she could happily go her whole life without seeing an old hag and a ghost going at it, thanks), but there's something so personal about their conversations…
For the first time, Elyon really feels like a voyeur, spying on Nerissa like this.
Ugh, Nerissa's way too good at manipulating people. 'The chink in the armor of your soul', please!
Well, okay, she has a point with that. Everyone does have their weaknesses, and those weaknesses shouldn't be exploited like this. Nerissa had done the same to her, drawing on her curiosity about her birth parents… She doesn't feel like it, but maybe Elyon is lucky that Nerissa didn't find anything else of Elyon's to try to manipulate. Wanting to know about her birth parents is normal; the hatred she feels isn't.
And Nerissa might be able to see, or at least think that she sees, why Elyon can't seem to stop going back to that prison, and try to use that. Elyon's had enough of being used, and this is something which should stay between herself and Phobos. If she could cut Phobos out of the equation that would be even better.
He's the only family you have left- you should help him…
Yeah, right.
-o-
An Escanor is holding the Heart of Meridian again.
Elyon is the Light of Meridian, so she probably would have felt it anyway, but the change is even more obvious because of Mrs. Lin's lessons. Even if it's only inside of the jewel, at least here her powers are hers again. And since she's taken them inside of herself, and she's inside the heart, she feels it right away when it changes hands…and she feels how happy the heart is about it.
Apparently the heart doesn't have much in the way of taste.
But even if he's a man, even if he's evil and using it for horrible causes, even if he's not the rightful ruler, he's still an Escanor, and the heart doesn't care about legalities. Any Escanor is good enough for it, especially after all that time being held by some foreign deceiver.
Elyon knows that it's only the heart influencing her, but she feels a sense of rightness, too. It's disgusting. She shouldn't feel so good just because her brother is holding the heart rather than Nerissa. He's just as evil as her, and now the only person capable of stealing the seal is trapped inside it.
-o-
There's a new prison now, since Phobos destroyed the old one. Everyone who fought for him all the way through is locked up in there, just like it was in the old prison, except…
Phobos. Her brother is locked up in the bowels of the prison, and any escape or rescue plan will involve fighting through most of the prison first. He can't fold or teletransport form his cell- those were the first things Elyon made sure of.
But it's not enough. Nerissa, Phobos, Cedric, all of them, they've all taught her that it's never enough. No prison is tight enough for people like them. She'd told him before that it's like keeping a ticking time bomb and just hoping that it won't go off, and he'd agreed. He's right. She's right. The only way to eliminate a threat is to eliminate it.
The Council of Kandrakar had spared Nerissa. She'd spared Cedric and her brother. It was stupid, and it nearly lost them everything.
She won't make that mistake again…she won't.
-o-
Elyon tries hard not to sneeze on the wet paint. She hasn't painted in so long; the fumes are really getting to her. Well, at least she used paint from earth. No telling what they put in the paint in Meridian, after all, where no one's heard about lead being poisonous. Note to self: look into fixing that.
She's just started on the background, and doesn't know how long it'll take her to finish the whole thing. Already she can picture it, though, and at the moment focusing on it is the only thing keeping her from going crazy. She's made her decision, and she can't back out on it just because it's an unpleasant one. Lots of necessary things are unpleasant, and just because they're nasty doesn't mean they're not right.
Right and wrong aren't decided by how much you like something, after all.
A black rose sits on the desk beside her canvas.
-o-
They're stuck in a silent staring contest again, but something's different. Sure, he's looking dignified again now, but she's seen him at what must be his worst, defeated entirely, and by his own general who, even if he'd never say it, he might have trusted a tiny bit. He'd nearly died when Cedric swallowed him- and as always, Elyon gags at the thought-, and he'd weakened himself, barely managing to stay alive until Cedric was defeated.
She's seen him on the ground at her feet, now, even if it was mostly because he was too exhausted to move. She knows what her brother looks like when he's weak.
Maybe it's just because she wasn't the one who made him that way, but it doesn't feel as good as she'd thought it would. Somehow, whenever she tries to picture it, she instead remembers that twisted happiness she'd felt when he'd taken the seal, finally putting the Heart of Meridian back in the hands of an Escanor.
She still hates him, but neither emotion can seem to make the other go away.
-o-
It's going to be beautiful. The roses are a golden red, almost like the sunlight has been caught in them. There are thorns, and what look like nymphs are hidden in the background. It's going to be perfect.
The black rose hasn't changed a bit since the day she picked it.
-o-
"Tell me…what was Mom like?"
Her brother actually looks surprised, but his face settles into a cruel smile quickly. "She was a fool. Rather like you, baby sister."
Elyon nods. "Yeah, I thought so."
His eyes narrow. "Oh? You actually agree with your elder brother on something, do you?"
Elyon smiles. It's probably a bit bitter, but she doesn't care. "When I was first trapped in the heart by Nerissa, our mother spoke to me. She told me that you're weak, and that I should help you."
An odd look comes over her brother. She wouldn't say he looks wistful, since there's hate and derision there, too, but it's probably the closest Phobos can get to it. "Is that so? Apparently even death hasn't cured her of her blindness."
"You didn't get along, huh?"
Phobos looks amused. "My dear sister, you still know very little of our family's history, don't you? Perhaps I shall educate you a bit. Male Escanors have no power. They are barred from the throne, regardless of how powerful they are or how much of a need there is for someone, anyone to stand as heir. That was all Mother ever needed in order to see me as weak."
Elyon considers that. "You know, for some reason I've never really thought of it that way… Sheesh. Even in most places on Earth women took the thrones of their kingdoms sometimes. We've got kind of an opposite thing going on in most places on Earth. Patriarchy and all. Not that there are all that many monarchies left anyway… Um, yeah." Ugh, babbling incoherently in front of Phobos. Not one of her better moments. "If it helps, the only reason I think you shouldn't be on the throne is that you're a total psychopath."
"Oddly enough, it doesn't." If Phobos gets any more deadpan, he'll be dead.
…Well, that thought's pretty much ruined her good mood.
She sighs. "But anyway, I've been wondering…which one of us understands you the least?"
She shakes her head. "In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter. I'll see you tomorrow, brother."
-o-
She's still working on the same background- it's a really complicated background, after all. And maybe…maybe she doesn't want to be done with this painting.
The black rose is still untouched.
-o-
Elyon floats, sitting on an invisible chair in the air. She's still shorter than him, but it's nice not to be quite so pathetically short in comparison.
She peers at him. It's starting to really occur to her, how weird he looks holed up in stone like this. Phobos's gardens might have been evil underneath the illusions, and really creepy, but they were still gardens. He doesn't look right without plants around him.
"I guess you like plants because they can't talk back…"
Elyon freezes as she realizes that she's said that out loud. Ugh, thinking out loud around Phobos is a very bad idea. Even if he's locked up, it's smarter to watch what she says.
Phobos smiles. "Their company is much more enjoyable for it."
"What, even the Whisperers didn't talk back?"
"No. We got along very well."
"Where are they now, anyway? The Court of Whisperers…we've got a whole court of magical beings gone missing on us."
Phobos's smile is even smugger, now. He must like hearing that something in the palace isn't under her control. Note to self: look into finding them. Someone should take care of them now that Phobos can't, even if they are…well, them. Plus, who knows what they've heard and are waiting to tell to…
She shakes her head.
It's weird. She doesn't feel ready to go yet, and it's not just because Galgheita's waiting back at the palace for a tutoring session. Somehow, it just feels right to stay longer. "Hey…what was our father like?"
"We had different fathers."
"What?"
Phobos smirks. "As the Heart of Meridian, our mother lived much longer than an ordinary mortal. She did not age. More than one consort died of old age while she remained unchanging."
"Oh…" Elyon digests this. Oddly enough, Phobos is actually being way more straightforward about their family history than her parents, friends, and advisors. Maybe it's just because he shows it to her from a different angle. He might be lying, but so far what he says…it matches. He just makes it sound a lot less glorious than everyone else. That alone makes her think that there might actually be more truth to what Phobos says on the subject. Nothing is entirely glorious and untainted, after all. "Well, what were they like?"
Phobos waves a hand. "They were unimportant, men content to remain consorts. I never paid them much mind."
"Figures."
-o-
She's making progress with the painting, too much progress. Long hair, trailing braids, cruel eyes set into a gentle expression…
It's close. Too close.
The black rose won't stay in place much longer.
-o-
"Sometimes I think that maybe I should just take the jewel from Julian and kill Nerissa," Elyon confesses. "I mean…can someone like her really be so enchanted by happiness that she'll never be willing to see that it's fake?"
Phobos looks like he's actually considering it. "It's difficult to say; most people are very willing to be deluded if it makes their lives easier. You certainly were, dear sister."
"Yeah, yeah…" Elyon doesn't let herself get upset at that. She knows the only reason he talks to her at all is because he enjoys toying with her like this. "Nerissa isn't hurt. She's happy. It's the kind of justice that lets the people giving it out feel good about themselves. But is it really all that much better than imprisoning her on Mount Thanos? She's still a prisoner. And she's still a threat."
"Well, I certainly won't be bothered if she's killed. One less enemy to contend with."
She doesn't say anything in response to that- her throat's closed up on her.
-o-
The last of the wet paint on the canvas is drying. Tomorrow, she'll frame it and hang it in the hallway with all the others. She's pretty sure no one else will want it there, but that's too bad. It belongs there, and she's not going to keep it away just because it's an unpleasant memory.
The black rose isn't on the desk anymore.
-o-
He sees the rose in her hand right away, and all of his fake smiles fall away. When she holds it out to him, he looks the same way he did when the coronation failed- ready for battle. "So this is your plan, then, sister?"
Elyon doesn't say anything, but with a wave of her hand, the bars on his cell vanish. No one else is down here, and no one up in the main prison will hear anything. This is private.
Pale flames fly at her a second later, and she dodges. They hit the wall behind her and bounce right back, and next she has to doge both them and Phobos. She's in the air, now, and deflects the next two attacks. Then another…
With his attacks getting closer to her before being stopped, Elyon realizes that he's not really aiming for her- his target is the black rose. And yes, the next strike is sent right at it.
Elyon lets it burn.
Phobos pauses, shocked. He glares at her. "What is the meaning of this, Elyon?"
She sighs. "You still don't get it, do you? I know you would have used it on me, but I'm not like you, Phobos. I've learnt a lot from you, yes…even some lessons that you're not very good at following yourself. I know it's dumb to trust people completely, and that mercy becomes stupid rather than just after a certain point. Sometimes it's necessary to do harsh things. I have power, and I can't ignore that reality." Elyon looks at him steadily. "But I've also learned something that you never did- how to rise up above it.
"I want to hurt you. You have no idea…well, no, I guess you do, since that's what you do to your enemies. I want to see you in pain so much… But that won't help anyone but me, and it won't even help me if leaving you alive in your pain gives you another chance to strike back at me or others. And…I'm the Light of Meridian. Even if I need to be harsh sometimes in order to protect my people, I can't become vicious, or I won't be worthy of the title at all. I guess my light's already been corrupted by…all this, but at least I can still be the light on the outside, even if I'm tainted on the inside.
"I wish you could have learned the same lessons as me, brother. But you haven't, so you've left me with no choice."
Vines of light grab him, pinning him to the wall. He can't break out- he's never been able to break out of restraints put on him by her magic. He looks desperate, vicious and hateful. Not that long ago, Elyon would have enjoyed seeing him like this. Now…
Phobos tries to get his bearing back. "So, sister, you offer me either the black rose, or this alternative?"
"Yes."
Phobos is one of the few people she's ever seen who can smile at someone he hates like that. "Perhaps you will become a good queen."
Elyon bites her lip, and can't seem to stop her eyes from flickering down, away from his face. "It's your fault. You did this to me."
"Did I, sister? You saw harsh realities, and you opened your eyes. There's no one to blame for the results but yourself."
"Maybe not…" Elyon floats forward, till she's in the air right in front of him. She hasn't been this close to Phobos since before the coronation. Her proximity just makes him grow more tense, maybe even panicked. It doesn't make her feel good- it makes her chest ache. She just wants this over with.
She kisses him, and his breath stops. His life ends with vines of light binding him and digging into him, just like he'd planned to do to her with black, thorny vines of his own.
Her vines release him, though, and don't take his magic. She won't take that from him; he should still have what's his, wherever he's going.
Elyon uses her magic to float him back down to the floor, and then sits there, holding her brother's hand. His eyes are closed. He looks like he's sleeping.
He's not there anymore.
-o-
There's a new portrait in the hall; a new Escanor has joined their ancestors.
The portrait's throne room is full of red-gold roses, and they look gentle. There are vicious thorns in them, though, and the Court of Whisperers hides in the background. Prince Phobos looks down at the black rose in his hand.
There's magic in the canvas and paint, just like there is in all the others. It won't fade, and it won't be damaged. It won't last forever, nothing can, but it will last for a long time. All of her descendants will know who her brother was.
Elyon touches the black rose in the portrait, and then walks away.