A/N: And so we come to a close of our fanfic. Also, I noticed that I forgot to mention this, in this version Arthur comes to the House before Monday out of his own volition, so the Fetchers don't have time to arrive and the Sleepy Plague doesn't happen. I was so caught up in pointing out Garth Nix's plot holes that I left a huge gaping one in mine…
Also, I'm not sure how much of a Denizen Arthur has become. Arthur used the Minute Key a lot and also the Second Key, before he realized they would contaminate him. I'm putting him at 45% Denizen right now.
Arthur emerged out of a reflective silver jug, slightly disoriented. He pocketed his newfound treasure from the Old One.
Fortunately, all of the higher-ups were still in the Upper House, so it wasn't too hard to organize another meeting.
"Now listen up," Arthur said, "the time has come for us to strike against Lord Sunday."
"So soon?" Suzy asked.
Arthur frowned, irritated by the disturbance. The arrogance that had been washed away in the Old One's presence was returning now.
"Yes," Arthur said. "First of all, we will need another one of those Nothing spikes. The Drasils currently grow beyond our ability to stop them, but using the power of six Keys I will be able to launch both of the spikes high enough. The genius in our plan, like in many plans, lies in its simplicity. One of the spikes will be empty and pierce the Incomparable Gardens over our tower, where no doubt Lord Sunday has already stationed troops. Dame Primus and I will be in another one, which will pierce the Gardens a few miles to the left, and with the first one as a direction, the two of us will enter the Gardens and free the Seventh Part of the Will, and claim the Seventh Key."
Dame Primus frowned. "Lord Arthur, I must ask you to wait for us to gather our forces from the Great Maze-"
"We won't be needing them," Arthur said. "They'll all just be slaughtered anyway. The only ones who stand a real chance are you and I, and it'll be just us."
"Wait, so you won't be taking any of our forces?" Marshall Noon asked incredulously.
"No," Arthur said. He felt anger rising within him, how dare his subordinates question his authority? He stood up, and the atmosphere within the room changed. "And that is my final word on the matter."
He would later feel guilty for saying this, and at the same time to prideful to ask.
As it turned out, they didn't need to manufacture a new spike, because they were only transporting two people they could make the base a whole lot smaller, and so simply split the old one into two.
Arthur wrote on the spikes using the Sixth Key, and enchanted them with the rest as well. He and Dame Primus got into a chamber beneath one of them, and the other one was left empty.
"I must still ask you to reconsider," Dame Primus said. Though she carried no Keys with her, she was still six parts of the Will itself, and her voice carried a certain power with it. "We may have use for our troops, and though they might be slaughtered, they could help in buying time."
Arthur shook his head. "I'm not going to condemn thousands of Denizens to their doom just to buy a few minutes."
Arthur then drew on the power of all six of his Keys, and levitated the two spikes. He then moved the one they were on as far as he could get it without hampering his ability to manipulate the other spike.
Saturday couldn't have done this without harming the Drasils, Arthur thought, at least not with one Key. Plus, Arthur was only transporting the spike, and not around two thousand Denizens too. The laws of gravity still applied in the House after all.
Arthur then twitched the Second Key, and both spikes rocketed towards the floor of the Incomparable Gardens, with one moving faster than the other.
Lord Sunday was not one to worry, though the fact that the Heir had defeated even Saturday meant that he was next, and though he considered it far beneath him, he was forced to intervene.
He had heard that the Heir had a preference for using the Stair, and had so used the Seventh Key to lay out a trap for the Heir. If he went on the Stair, it would try to land him in the Incomparable Gardens, where he would ambush him, imprison him, and force him to surrender his Keys.
He also knew about Saturday's plans, and that the Heir, if he was not coming through Stair, he would come from above Saturday's tower. He had that covered as well, as there were scores of his soldiers waiting to receive them.
He felt smug, as usual. There was no need for someone like him, who was flawless, to worry about something as little as the Rightful Heir.
Just then, he felt a tremor underneath his feet and turned his gaze, using the Seventh Key to see where the commotion was.
As expected, the Heir had decided to come through the point beneath Saturday's tower. Really now, with all that Mother harped on about mortal's creativity, they were so predictable. Sunday turned to where the spike was and reached there on his dragonfly. To his surprise, there was no one he could sense in there. He frowned.
And that's when the second spike hit the Incomparable Gardens.
The moment that they reached the Incomparable Gardens, Arthur climbed out immediately, and shouted, "Keys! Shield us from being detected by Lord Sunday's Key!"
Nothing happened, but a small cloud of dark ink from the Sixth Key surrounded Arthur and Dame Primus. It sort of smeared out their appearances, but to Arthur it didn't look like much of a disguise.
Then again, that might have been because he had been the one to cast the spell.
Both of them continued onwards, towards the Elysium, guided by the Atlas which used Arthur as the pivot of a compass. Behind, Arthur could vaguely make out a tall Denizen on a dragonfly, and from him emanated what felt like a hand, which swept over the Incomparable Gardens.
"We need to move faster!" Arthur said and began sprinting.
Of course, Lord Sunday was on a dragonfly after all, and their chances of outrunning him were nil.
Arthur had known that all along, and it was time for the next phase of his plan.
"Dame Primus," Arthur said. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you behind."
"What?" she asked.
Arthur shrugged. "One of us needs to distract Lord Sunday. This disguise will probably fail if he gets too close to us, and when he sees you, he will try to capture you. But that doesn't really matter now, as I can free you once I free the Seventh Part of the Will."
Dame Primus snarled, with a hint of the snake in her eyes. "You brought me here… to be used as bait?"
"Yes, Lord Sunday will be looking for a reason for why this attack happened, so give him one: you," Arthur said, without remorse, knowing full well that the Will would have readily done the same to him.
That wasn't to say that he didn't feel bad about it.
The Will didn't try to resist though, probably sensing that for the greater cause this was necessary. Arthur undid the spell on Dame Primus.
Dame Primus had been given all the knowledge that the Architect had, including that of House Sorcery, though that had been locked up in the Sixth Part. Now, though she possessed no Keys, she took out an umbrella, and fired a bolt of lightning at Lord Sunday's dragonfly.
The lightning bolt fizzled out of existence several feet from him, and he turned to look at what had cast the spell.
Dame Primus glanced in the direction she knew Arthur was heading in. She then prepared another strike; she had to distract him for as long as possible, though she knew it was futile in the end.
Still, she allowed some of her long-repressed hate to come out as she shouted, "Where are you running off to, traitor?"
Arthur had to direct all of his concentration at not turning around and fighting. Something about the Keys made him want to instantly turn around and start engaging Sunday, though he knew it wasn't wise to do so.
He passed through open fields, orchards, vineyards, sandy beaches, all filled with various types of flora he did not have time to admire. He didn't know how long he had been running, but it must have been hours, though incredibly he didn't need to stop or rest. Denizens and other creatures seemed to be unable to seem him, showing that his disguise was probably working.
As he reached the steps to the Elysium, the staircase itself unwinding and started coiling around him.
Arthur had wanted to fight something, and now nothing could stop him from striking at the thing using the First Key. However, he was surprised to see that it did nothing to the creature, and then tried the Fourth Key. He tried burning it with the Fifth Key, and that's when he started panicking.
Arthur! a distant voice shouted. What you fight is one of the Architect's first creations, the wormsnake, which can only be killed by the Seventh Key. However-
Arthur realized that the thing was like the cage, and after a brief moment of shock, he got an idea and jumped onto one coil, ran around it, then to the next coil, and like that was off the thing and continued up to the hill.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Lord Sunday had taken care of Dame Primus by then and had discovered their ruse. He was flying very close to Arthur, and Arthur felt his disguise dissipate. As he got closer, Lord Sunday began throwing lightning bolts at Arthur which he had to deflect using his Keys, each time he did so it would send a spike of pain through his head and cause him to get more and more fatigued.
Arthur finally felt the attacks stop, and walked into a clearing with a green Denizen and a cage, inside of which was the Seventh Part of the Will, as it was supposed to be.
The Denizen, probably Sunday's Dusk, was dispatched of within seconds before he could even react using the Second Key, and Arthur fiddled in his pockets for the glass key he had made, and for a moment feared that he had dropped it somewhere, but thankfully found it and inserted it into the cage and turned it.
Arthur had been expecting some sort of shock, or sparks to fly, but there was merely a simple click sound and the door opened. The key them broke into a million tiny pieces and sparkled before being carried away by the wind.
And that was when Arthur felt something travel through his fingers. At first he thought it was simply numbness, but with horror realized that his fingers were dying. And it was spreading up the length of his right arm.
The Old One said I'd be fine! Arthur thought. He then realized that the cage's killing property had been made by the Architect, and the Old One might not have known all about it. The Keys seemed to be delaying it, but they weren't stopping it.
The sensation travelled up his arm, and he felt wherever it went go lifeless, until the Seventh Part of the Will touched him with a root, and the sensation dissipated.
I have prevented it from killing you, the Will said. However, I would have been unable to do so if you hadn't freed me first, as I cannot touch the bars of this cage.
Lord Sunday landed besides them right then, not even bothering to use the ladder hanging from the dragonfly. He took a glance at his fallen servant and raised his hand, but was stopped as a root emerged from the earth and struck him. More branches came out, multiplying over and over and binding him tightly, preventing him from using the Seventh Key.
Quickly! the Will said. I cannot hold him off forever!
"I, Lord Arthur Penhalingon, the Rightful Heir, hereby claim the Seventh Key to the Kingdom, and with it mastery over the Incomparable Gardens and sovereignty over the House and the Secondary Realms. I claim it out of truth, testament, and against all trouble!"
The Tree withdrew its roots once that was finished, and Lord Sunday stopped struggling.
"You have doomed us all," Lord Sunday said and took out the Seventh Key from his neck, where it floated in the air and landed on Arthur's head.
A/N: So, that's all for this time. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you liked, do review!