Disclaimer: "Reign" or the characters used in it are not mine, sad but true :-( Violations of any rights are not intended.
Pairing: Bash/Catherine - Basherine
Rating: M / P16
Kategorie: Romance, Drama
Summary: Can one single document from the past change the fate of an entire nation? And can two souls - who couldn't be more different - find each other, against all odds?
Comment: We all know that Sebastian is only a fictional character and that the fate of the Valois family has taken a different course.
But that's what I love about fanfiction: they allow our imagination to go new and unexplored paths.


When souls collide

Chapter 1

"How can this be? That's impossible!" Catherine de Medici stared at the letter in her hands in disbelief. Hands that had begun to tremble slightly. All colour was slowly fading from her face and her right eye started to twitch nervously.
"What happened?" Mary, the Queen of Scots wanted to know and gaped at her mother-in-law in alarm. She slowly rose from the other end of the table and hurried over to Catherine, who looked as pale as a ghost in her black yet elegant mourning dress.
"This can't be true," the Queen Mother murmured instead of an explanation, whereupon Mary reached for the document that had put the older woman in such a state of shock.

The young Scot quickly scanned the flowing words and her eyes widened once she apprehended the full extent of this information.
"The Pope has met Henry's request posthumously and legitimized Sebastian?"
"At least that's what my spy in the Vatican says. Supposedly a mounted messenger is already on his way here with a papal decree. But why now? Henry passed away nearly two years ago."
Catherine jumped to her feet with a vehemence that send her chair flying to the ground and caused Mary to recoil in alarm. "Oh no, I won't allow that bastard to rob my sons of their legacy!" With a chalky white hand, Catherine grabbed the knife in front of her and a determined, almost murderous expression lay itself on her grim features.

"Catherine," Mary warned her and looked helplessly back and forth between her mother-in-law and the letter. "Don't do anything rash!"
The dangerous and doom-laden glint in Catherine's eyes didn't bode well.
"Don't you worry, Mary. I'll rather do the opposite. My next action needs to be considered carefully," she pondered, looking with a surprised look at the knife in her hand as if she had no idea how it had gotten there. Catherine quickly laid it back on the table.

At this moment, Charles - France's true and only King - entered the salon. His usually so worrysome pale cheeks were red with excitement and a long-lost glow had reappeared in his eyes. This sight made her heart beat faster with motherly joy and pride. Until she noticed the man that appeared right behind her son. The man who was responsible for Charles' agitated and her upset condition. The Queen Mother unconsciously clenched her hands into fists.

"Mother, Mary! Look, I've hunted down a rabbit and a pheasant!"
Radiating with joy and excitement, Charles presented his trophies and pointed at the poultry. "You love pheasant mother, don't you? I'll have it prepared for you for dinner."
It was difficult for Catherine to put a smile on her face when all she could think of was strangling her son's half-brother with her bare hands.
"That's great, Charles," she pressed out between her teeth and threw a deadly glare in Sebastian's direction. Henry's bastard stared back at her in irritation.
"Catherine, Charles was in no danger whatsoever!" He assured her with a serious expression on his face. His words prompted the Queen Mother to laugh out loud. A bitter, joyless laughter.
"No? And what do you call reaching for his crown, once Henry's and your mother's contemptible plot accelerated?"

Besides herself with rage, Catherine de Medici straightend up to her full height in front of the young man. Poisonous arrows that were directed at Sebastian were firing from her dark eyes.
"Charles is and always will be the legitimate heir to the French throne and I swear to god that I will do everything within my power to retain his reign," Catherine hissed threateningly.

"Excuse me?"
"Mother, what are you talking about?"
Bash and Charles asked at the same time. Both of them were looking at Catherine in bewilderment.
"I'm talking about that!" The Queen Mother spat and forcefully threw the letter she had received against Sebastian's chest.

There was a deadly silence in the salon while the half siblings read the message. Once they've finished, they stared at each other perplexedly.

"Okay, we should all calm down," Mary tried to intervene. She was obviously sensing the growing tension in the room and was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Catherine, maybe your spy was mistaken? Because officially the Vatican has not yet taken a firm stand on this subject and..."

A knock at the door interrupted the Queen of Scots.
"Your Majesties" The young servant boy bowed to those present. "A messenger from the Vatican has just arrived. And a messenger from Florence, from the House of Medici."

At this revelation, Catherine gave Mary a self-opinionated look that could only be interpreted with 'What did I tell you?'. Gracefully the Queen Mother straightened her skirts.
"We will meet them in the throne room," she arbitrarily decided and left the room without waiting for the others.
No matter how urgent or important the message from her relatives was, she would not dream of missing out on the message from the Vatican.

With long strides, flying skirts and prepared for the worst, Catherine de Medici hurried towards the throne room. Mary, Charles and Sebastian were right on her heels. But before the Court Marshal could open the heavy oakwood door for her, the Queen Mother impatiently pushed it open herself and crossed the hall.

"Say, what you got for us?" Catherine bawled at the messengers, who were waiting for the arrival of the sovereigns, visibly exhausted from their long rides. No one dared to question her authority.

"Your Majesty, I have a letter for you from Florence, from your cousin. It is of utmost importance. I was told to..." Catherine tore the letter out of the hand of the surprised man, but did not bother to read it just now. With a resolute gesture she silenced the man and turned to the second messenger instead.
"What about you?"
"A message for Sebastian de Portiers and one for Lord Stephane Narcisse," announced the young man, who obviously felt uncomfortable under the serious and indignant stares that were all directed at him.

Bash stepped forward and reached for one of the letters with a papal seal. Catherine impatiently urged him to open it.
Then she watched Henry's bastard reading the lines with a serious expression on his face. Once he had finished, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's impossible," he finally stammered and regardsless of his privacy, Catherine snatched the letter from his fingers.

Mary and Charles, giving in to their curiosity, joined her by reading over her shoulders. When the Queen Mother reached the end of the letter, she let the paper silently slip out of her hands and grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself.
"If father actually legitimized Sebastian two year ago with the Pope's consent, then he is the rightful King of France, not me," Charles mumbled and his mother thought she could detect a hint of relief in his voice.
Both Bash and Catherine shook their heads.

While she was still fighting hard to stomach her shock, Catherine de Medici ripped open the seal of her own letter and let her eyes fly over the message her cousin has send her. The message contained a similar wording, but it also challenged her to prevent the bastard from being crowned at all costs.

"There's a message for me?" Stephane Narcisse's deep baritone could be heard from the other end of the hall and Catherine could not suppress a shiver at the sight of her former lover.
Not only had he shamelessly exploited and betrayed her, he had also blackmailed her son Francis and nearly instigated a war. To top it all he had countenanced the charge of regicide against her without any remorse, where Stephane had willingly condoned the possibility of her losing her head.

Only Mary's and Sebastian's courageous intervention had saved her from certain death. Without them, she probably wouldn't be standing here right now. The fact that Bash of all people had helped her to prove her innocence seemed like a cruel irony of fate.

"Why is Narcisse always present as soon as trouble fills the air," she whispered in Mary's direction, who reached for Catherine's hand in a comforting gesture. She questioningly pointed at the letter from her Medici family.
"They want me to... oh for god's sake, read it yourself," the Queen Mother started to explain but then she just handed her friend the letter in question while she watched Narcisse's reaction to the message he had reveived from Rome.

For the fraction of a second the expression on his handsome face changed and his gaze met hers, but then an illegible mask lay itself upon his features.
"Sebastian, a word?" Lord Narcisse asked once he'd finished in a calm, expressionless voice and all people present held their breath.
"What about, Narcisse?" Bash asked him with suspicion in his eyes and Catherine wondered what kind of information Stephane had received.

Without doubt the Vatican had informed him about Sebastian's legitimation and the change in order of succession. She feared that the Pope had assigned the task of executor at French court to the intriguing Lord, a devout Catholic.
"About your entitlement to the throne of France."

Narcisse indicated a terse bow. A sure sign that he had already taken a side in this inheritance battle. And that was the side of her late husband's bastard.

"There's a lot to consider and to regulate, my young friend. The official announcing of your legitimation will not only show you your true friends. First and foremost it will show you who your enemies are. Not every noble man will be happy to see you on the throne. Some of them will only accept Catherine's sons as France's true heirs." While saying this, Narcisse provocatively looked over at Catherine and Charles and the Queen Mother had to summon up all her self-control in order to detain herself from spitting at this goddamned Judas.

"And you, Lord Narcisse...?" Sebastian left the rest of his question unsaid.
"I am on the side of the eldest legitimate son of my late King Henry II. On your side, Sebastian, the side of law and order," Stephane announced with a solemn expression on his face that eliciting a sound of indignation from Catherine.
"On the side of law and order? I wouldn't know anything about that." Mary mocked and seemed as outraged by the Lord's words as her former mother in law.

"I think we should talk in private, Sebastian," Lord Narcisse urged. "We have to get access to the original document as soon as possible to confirm your entitlement and the Privy Council needs to be summoned immediately."
Narcisse grabbed Bash by the arm and literally dragged him out of the door.


Oh my, I wonder what you must think... I have lots of unfinished stories and still I keep on starting new ones. And this time it's not a Cathry, but a Basherine one. Be assured that I'll keep on working on my other fanfics.

I have no idea if there are still some Basherine fans out there – but why not giving it a chance.