Just so that everyone is fully aware of it: Shadow cannot sneak. He can startle the crap out of people by appearing out of their shadows, but he cannot sneak.
XD
Enjoy!
Part 7 - The Signing of the Treaty
Brigadier General. The rank came with a rather bitter taste in his mouth, he mused, watching as the treaty that would end the war between Kaminari and Berkite was signed.
Anastasia, a queen in her own right, was not dressed in the frivolous fineries he was used to seeing her in for formal occasions. Rather than flowing gowns and carefully-styled hair, she sat across from the young prince she'd nearly been engaged to in a more utilitarian dress, hair pulled back to keep it out of her face.
She would never be a warrior, but she looked every bit the part right now, intricate gold and bronze pendant on full display included.
So many rumors had spread surrounding the pendant that never left the queen's neck. A gift from a suitor she hadn't immediately rejected, an inheritance from her father that she'd only recently found, a spoil of this war that was defining the early years of her rule.
Only he and Anastasia knew the truth, and only he and Anastasia would ever know the full truth.
She'd figured out rather quickly that the pendant held a part of him within it. It had never once left her throat since the day she'd asked him about it, just a bare week after the coronation.
The final signature was added to the final copy of the treaty, and he did his best not to fidget, fully aware of the fact that this wasn't quite over yet.
He wouldn't be comfortable again until Anastasia was safe back in New Ebenthan. Well…
Safer.
Clan Darigan had already proven once that it wasn't safe even in New Ebenthan, but given what Masaru had told him about everything King Archibald had gotten his hands into… He was grateful to see that miserable creature gone, for all of the pain that it caused his Ana.
Movement a good twenty feet away drew his attention, ever-so-faint vibrations leading him to turn just enough to spot a man at the edge of the room who most definitely should not have been there.
Shadow.
Or, well, the man that he was still quite sure was Shadow. The time-travelling Shadow, in fact.
…He'd shown up the night Archibald was killed.
Brigadier General Gaius, to anyone watching, continued to be a steady, solid, unmoving presence at the queen's side.
Gnome moved, his consciousness splitting, the construct remaining rooted in place even as the earth shifted, placing him firmly in the time-travelling Shadow's path.
Shadow froze, eyes wide as he stared at him.
"Vhy are you here?!"
"I don't know what you're talking abou—"
Gnome growled. "I saw you at the Gala, Shadow! I saw you on the battlefield!"
Shadow was silent for a long moment, and for a moment, he thought his brother would simply run.
"I've been running this decade multiple times. I haven't seen Archibald's assassination yet, though that was on my list. The battlefield was this round, though. I'm getting sloppier."
…Oh, heavens.
"Shadow… Vhat are you hoping to accomplish?"
Red-violet eyes met gold, and Shadow shook his head. "I can't tell you, little brother. I can't risk telling you anything. I'm sorry… I can't risk anything changing."
"Vhy follow me?!"
"Because you've gotten into the thick of the mess I'm trying to unravel."
…Oh. Oh no.
"Ana…"
"Gnome, please… Forget we ever had this conversation. If something changes, the world will tear itself apart trying to fix the timeline."
It was the desperation in Shadow's voice that brought him back to himself.
Shadow didn't often poke his nose into things. When he did, though… He had a very, very bad habit of getting in well over his head.
"How far back did you come?"
Shadow took a step back, clearly intending to retreat.
"Shadow!"
"Three thousand years… give or take?"
Oh, he didn't.
The way he was biting his lip said, quite plainly, he did.
"Fucking. Idiot."
"Yeah, I know. But I don't know what else to do. How am I supposed to stop history from repeating itself if I don't know what went wrong the first time?"
Gnome let his head hang. "Don't you dare screw this up, then, Shadow."
The sorrowful smile he got in return told him enough about the time Shadow had come from. "I already did. I'm just cleaning up my mess." And then he was gone, faded back into the shadows that were as much a part of him as the very earth was a part of Gnome.
The earth that his current shell faded back into, even as his full consciousness returned to Anastasia's side.
Brown eyes rose to meet golden-brown, and Gaius knew that Anastasia had noticed his absence, as non-physical as it had been.
He would have to tell her about his brother tonight, on the return to New Ebenthan. If Shadow was running about, meddling or not, she would need to know.
