Thank You, everyone, for your reviews. I am in a bit of a dilemma on who to introduce in next chapter. Your responses would be welcomed. Please comment and review where should I improve further. Writing back and forth is a bit distressing so, please bear with me. Thank you once again.
I don't own anything. It's a fanfiction.
Sam took this chance to speak alone with Rose. He told her everything he learned from these people and warned her not to trust them, not a single soul is trustworthy. They were in constant danger. He was also wondering about Wolsey's family. He wanted to know if they were taken care of. Although he didn't remember them, he couldn't help but pity them. He was also making a secret plan to leave Rose under someone else's care and find his family or any safe place and shift Rose there until they could find a way back to his time. He had to do that his family, for his unborn grandchild's sake.
Rose was a survivor, she's going to escape this 16th century and the backstabbers. In a way, her past was interesting but she was not going to take a risk and see if history repeats itself or not. She found a new courage when she heard that more people are back from future, she hoped they would be from her own time. If they are, then there's a portal somewhere and all she needs to find it out and use it to return back to her family.
"Sam, can you go and meet the new people and ask them how they traveled here? Maybe there's a portal somewhere. We can go back to our place." Rose was not sure if the 'new guests' will help her or not but she has to take this chance.
Sam was reluctant to leave her but left her with a warning, "Don't trust anyone, not even people who look like your family." He was going to make sure that they both survived this journey.
In a different part of London, Thomas Boleyn didn't waste a second when he was summoned to the court, he cleaned himself and called his stable boy and prepared his horse. As soon as he arrived, he started hearing the rumors about the return of the King's former Queen, Anne Boleyn. His heart constricted at the thought of his daughter and his son but he had to save his head. If she has returned, his good fortune has returned. He was entering the palace stable when he met his old nemesis, Wolsey.
xoxoxox
The hall was in chaos since the arrival of replica Of Queen Jane and Thomas Cromwell. Henry felt the inquisitive eyes boring into the back of his head. He needed to take the new guests away from them. He informed his privy council member to meet him in the office and asked his wife and the 'guests' to follow him.
Lily had finally stopped laughing and looked around her surrounding measuring their way to escape. She also tied her coat more tightly, since people looked outrageous to see her bare knees.
Tommy was apprehensive that everything he knew about medieval times was from Game of Throne and it was not much help. His brain was conjuring images on different ways he can die. He held Lily's hand just to make sure that anywhere they go, they go together. She squeezed back his hand assuring him.
They followed the King to a room on the third floor in silence.
Queen Jane Seymour was beyond confused when she saw her look alike taking a protective stand for Cromwell. Over the years, she had tried to form a respectable relationship with that shrewd man. They were not allies but not enemies. She definitely knew that her future self-was not a pious person as her future self-has dressed worse than the future Anne but she couldn't find in her heart to find that repulsive.
"Tell us, who are you and How did you come here?" Henry was annoyed at his wife and his minister's closeness. He wanted answers that would explain all that is happening.
Tommy raised his eyebrows at his rude manners but kept tight-lipped, Lily wore a frown "My name is Lily and this is my brother Tommy, we were…in a family event when some kind of dark magic brought us here. It was like 'whoosh' and we were here." Tommy didn't like the King much but could sense that he was as befuddled as they were, he added, "Trust us, buddy. We don't exactly want to be here."
"How could you be my sister? I mean I'm honored to get her majesty as my sister, in future but how?" Thomas Cromwell never paid any attention to the Catholic Queen. They just ignored each other. Not only Cromwell but everyone was astonished at their relationship. The Queen was too kind and generous whereas Cromwell was a ruthless and shrewd man. The Heaven must have made a mistake when it made Jane Seymour and Cromwell as brother and sister.
Edward Seymour particularly took offense in this situation, his family gained so much because of the King's interest in his sister but now, his position as her brother faltered. His power in court was already waning with his brother's arrest, now his sister had a more powerful brother than him.
"Why shouldn't she be my sister?" Tommy was exasperated at the foolish set of questions. "She is smart, shrewd, successful and beautiful. Just like me. We even have same blue-green eyes."
"Ah, just a small correction, I am more beautiful," Lilly laughed at her brother's little scowl. "Anyways, I think I know the answer, not about the time travel but the concept of our rebirth is simple. See, according to Buddhism, the doctrine of rebirth states that the karma decides the people's rebirth. In their rebirth, they are surrounded by same people with whom they were in their previous birth. The relationships and feeling towards them may have changed over the time but they are same. For e.g. Tommy and me, maybe in our previous birth, we were enemies and tried to kill each other, then we died, however, it may have happened, we hated each other till our death. Then we are given a clean slate to start over. Like us, I don't know if Jane and Cromwell hated each other or not in this time but now, I'd burn and kill as many it takes to keep my family safe."
Henry saw a flicker of fire in her cold and calm eyes, a fire which arouses passion in him. His wife, his sweet Jane was a much different person in the future, a prospect which started to thrill him.
Tommy never felt so overwhelmed, "Aw, I am so not crying but that's sweet. I love you too, Sista."
Lily whispered, "Grow up, I said that to warn the clowns of the 16th century not to hurt us. There, there…no need for water works." Lily was the smarty pants of her family, even as a child the history of The Virgin Queen Elizabeth I intrigued her. Although she knew little about King Henry and his court, she knew enough to know that he was a dangerous king.
"How do you know it's 16?" Tommy knew it was farfetched but he felt that Lily knew this place. Lily sighed and said, "Tudors, we live in Virginia, at least know the history of the place we live."
Jane Seymour knew at that moment, Lily, her future self, was the woman she wanted to be. She always wanted to be brave and courageous but she was always shushed by the men in her world. Tommy or Cromwell looked happy to hide behind her or Lily, the future seemed much brighter than the present. She admired her future self but her outburst somewhere reminded of Anne Boleyn.
Suddenly the door was forced open and stood Thomas Boleyn, he looked pale and sickly, "Your majesty, (he bowed) Wolsey is alive, I saw him in the stable, he was leaving."
Charles leaped to his feet and ran towards the room, where Anne was kept. He wanted to make sure if she was okay or not?
Henry was confused, the glimpse he saw in Jane was a reminder of Anne, his fire. It was Anne, he loved not Jane but somehow, the future Jane looked more 'Anne' than the future Anne.
xoxoxox
Lady Ursula Missledon would have done anything for her mistress but the task given to her was much harder than Hercules labor. She never knew Anne Boleyn personally but as a Catholic, she hated the woman who took England away from true religion. She knocked carefully and entered. Anne Boleyn was still wearing the rags but looked beautiful. She could see the reason; the King fell in love with her.
"Forgive me for intruding, my Lady, you look well. I am Lady Ursula Missledon, lady-in-waiting, Queen Jane sent some dresses for you. You can wear this green dress, it will look pretty on you." Lady Missledon knew the former Queen hated green and avoided it but her mistress unintentionally gave her a pastel green dress and the others looked worn out. She was worried that Anne Boleyn's vanity would be hurt.
Rose loved greens but it never looked good on her, she was more of bold colors while Lily was the pastel beauty. She longed to go back to her home. Until yesterday, she wanted to take a day off but now, she wanted to go back to her home. The bloody hormones were making her sad and depressing. Bran would always know how to make her day. A single tear slid down her cheek, mourning the life she lost.
"You are here." Charles Brandon couldn't hide his relief. "Wolsey has left the court, now you are alone here." He saw her look gloomy, maybe she has remembered her past. He hoped that she was a changed woman much like the replica of Queen Jane from future.
"I wish but I am never alone here," Rose revealed the woman standing hidden by the door. Charles Brandon looked at Lady Missledon and the dress. He knew Anne hated green and he knew Queen Jane enough, to know it was an unintentional mistake. He signaled Lady Missledon to leave them.
"You should change. Your attire is scandalous and the King wants your audience." He gave her the green dress.
"I don't want to wear this dress," Rose said. She knew the corset will definitely choke her life. "The court follows a decorum" He threw the dress on her.
"Then throw me out, truthfully, I don't give a damn. I am going to wear my top and jeans until I find the clothes 'I' want to wear. I am definitely not wearing that corset. Not even if you kill me." Rose was mad at the way he was treating her. Decorum, they don't have any decorum, they killed her. Rose felt a fist clench her heart.
"Hush now…," Brandon almost shouted. He was not known for his anger but Anne took few steps back and shielded her face and her belly. Brandon felt her actions hit him. She must have thought he was going to hit her.
Rose was beyond scared of people of the 16th cent. when Brandon raised his hand, she instinctively shielded her face and her baby. Then only realized that he was holding out the dress, she felt stupid to think that Bran, even in the time when he hated her would ever hit her.
"Why do you hate me so much?" She wanted to know what made him antagonize her.
"You separated a mother from her daughter. A princess was turned into a bastard. You celebrated the Queen's death. Is it not enough?" Bran was reminded of everything Queen Catherine and Mary went through because of her.
"You are no better than me, you did the same to me and my child." Her voice was small but enough to knock the air out of his body. He did the same to her in the worse manner. He may say anything but he knew it was because of his instigation, it all started. He killed her, he took her away from his child. He was reminded of his sin he committed during the 'pilgrim of grace', it was all after her death. Was it a way of God punishing him?
xoxoxox
The duke of Suffolk knocked on the office door and entered, Thomas Boleyn came running towards his daughter, who took a step back.
"Anne, I knew you'd come back." Thomas Boleyn saw his fortune walk back into the room
"Don't you dare come near me, you think I don't know your intention. You sickly dementor, don't think for a second that I am a fool." She knew this guy was not good news, this must be someone who must have manipulated the investigation. She turned her back on him when she saw her sister in 'her' coat.
"Isn't this my allegedly 'lost' coat? I can't believe, you stole it." Rose remember crying for this coat, not literally. It was the first thing she bought with her own money.
"I didn't steal it, I just borrowed it with the intention of never returning it." Lily fell in love with this coat. Last year pool party, she found it. "In the end, winner's keepers, loser weepers." Lily just gloated.
"You both do realize that …" Tommy knew the 'others' were looking dumbstruck at them.
Henry, the members of Privy Council, Thomas Boleyn and Jane couldn't believe that the women knew each other and were fighting over a coat. Thomas Boleyn couldn't believe that his daughter would forget her own father. He had to remind her otherwise he'd lose the favor again. He knew the person who can remind her of her time as Queen Anne Boleyn. He would send for Elizabeth as soon as possible.
"You know each other," Henry asked curiously what could have been their relationship
"Yes, she is my sister. You were the 'new guests'." Rose realized that her family was here. Her family, not some echo from the past but her real family. She looked at them, "They killed me, they chopped off my head, Ned Stark style." She just held them tightly fearing them to be a figment of her imagination.
Tommy was not scared until now, but his sister's fate reminded him of a dream, far away from his wakefulness, where he was botched. It suddenly made sense in a disoriented way. Lily's voice brought him out of his reverie. "It's ok. I've got you both." Tommy added, "Well, see the silver lining, the world knows you have a brain."
Rose took few steps back and hit Tommy in the head with a goblet. Tommy cried, "What's wrong with you? It hurts. I could die." Lily replied, "then you'd be the first man to die before your birth. See there's still a silver lining."
Henry couldn't believe it, they were a distant relative in their time but now, they were sisters. No wonder he saw Anne in the future-Jane. Maybe they were Elizabeth's descendants or Edward's. Thomas Cromwell lost his head, figuratively when Anne Boleyn hugged his future self. He was a brother to the two Queens of England. He killed his sister, not his but his future's.
Jane was sure it was some kind of nightmare, first, she finds her former rival back in court. Next, she has a brother in some distant future whom she never liked and now, she is her rival's sister and she loves them. Charles Brandon thought over everything the future Jane said about rebirth. It made sense but what were they doing in the Hampton court?
