An Orange Sky
Chapter XIX – The Kiss of Death
The knot Remus had been working on whilst Lucius berated his accomplices for their idiocy now began to slowly uncurl. Remus' heart rose as he felt the pressure around his wrists loosen but the feeling quickly dampened. What use were his hands to him without a wand? He was still defenceless. He listened to Lucius' shrill cawing whilst analysing his predicament from all angles. He heard Harry sniffing behind him, and the twins muttering to each other. A sudden shriek told him that Lucius seemed to be losing the plot. Had Sirius managed to find Estelle yet? What kind of room was behind that door? He'd never come across it before. Why had he been unaffected whilst everyone else could hear the supposed screaming? Unanswered questions fleetingly whipped through Remus' brain and all the while a tightening in his chest became more and more unbearable, his mind constantly returning to Estelle.
Remus suddenly noticed that there was a lull in the shrieking of a furious Lucius. He looked over to see the malformed man and his cronies rooted to the spot, the door before them slowly being consumed with silver ivy. A silence reigned in the corridor as the archway began to unfold, the feeling of apprehension roiling in Remus' guts as he prepared to spring up to the aid of Sirius and Estelle. The seconds seemed to trickle by and the archway loomed, dark, foreboding and utterly empty. Where were they? A voice screamed in Remus' head.
Sirius fell onto the flagstones with a thud. The shock froze Remus in place. Sirius' face was a pale mask of horror, drained of all blood. With a moan he pulled himself out of the way of the archway, his limbs shaking with fatigue but colour now once again pinking his cheeks. And yet Lucius stood stock still, the expected attack on Sirius surprisingly withheld.
Remus was wondering as to the strangeness of the scene when he heard the first crack. It echoed along the corridor like a gunshot, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. The sound was followed by another as the flagstones surrounding the archway split beneath deathly white soles. Cracks zigzagged from the feet, winding their way across the floor. A chill cold filled the hallway that seemed to suck at Remus and pierced his bones with a heavy weariness.
Estelle stepped forward, a sly smile upon her face. She looked over her shoulder at Sirius, slumped tiredly upon the floor.
ARE YOU WATCHING, MY LOVE. YOU CAN'T STOP ME. THIS WILL BE YOUR FATE SOON.
Remus winced at the pain of the voice inside his head, yanking the rope from his wrists in order to cover his ears, yet it did little to abate the intruding screech. He stared in revulsion at the Thing opening its maw in the imitation of speech. With pure horror he realised that what he thought was Estelle was actually a monster. Was this thing Estelle? It couldn't be, Remus told himself in panic. Her hair was too dark, her skin to pale, and her limbs were elongated beyond human form. But it was the eyes that struck fear into his heart. White fleshy orbs that stared with a deep hunger at the nearest cowering form: Goyle. Yet he knew it must be Estelle when her clothing of shadows parted for a second to reveal the scar across her abdomen, he himself had inflicted.
Goyle's eyes bulged in terror as Lilith approached, licking her lips with anticipation, as he struggled to move, his feet glued to the floor. An icy cold drained the warmth from his body, her mouth coming within an inch of his face. Where were his companions? Why didn't they jump to his side? But no help came. Lucius and Nott were similarly detained.
JUST A LITTLE KISS FOR ALL YOU'VE DONE Lilith crooned, before leaning in closely.
The woman was staring at her with a mixture of expectation and contempt. She had changed. That saddened empathy had been replaced with a nervous energy, causing her to pace back and forth while Estelle sat at her feet. Who was she to say that Estelle was not her own person, that she had only been created to serve one purpose? What did she know?
As they waited for this mysterious task that the woman would not talk of, Estelle reflected on their conversation.
She couldn't be the Siren! She knew herself, knew that she never wanted to cause any harm to her friends. Surely if she was the Siren and that voice was human then she would be different, more . . . more . . . what? She couldn't imagine how she could be any different. She was herself, no one else, especially not Lilith!
And Evair, the mother to all magically gifted humans. Surely she would not have designed a way to kill her own children! It seemed implausible, obscene even. How could someone become so maddened with grief that they would want to kill their own blood? No . . . the woman was lying, she had to be . . . had to be.
But as Estelle thought back, she realised that the woman had held some truth in her words. Estelle had been selfish. She had known all along that she should have never returned from the forest or let her friends grow close to her. It was just that she was so lonely. But that was no excuse for endangering the lives of her friends, she knew. The voice in her head had warned her to go back before it was too late, but she had ignored it. And now she could plainly see the consequences.
Suddenly the woman stopped pacing and seemed to look right through the blank whiteness of the Crossing at something else.
"Prepare yourself," she muttered.
"Prepare myself for wha-" Estelle finished her sentence with a gasp. An icy claw had sunk its talons into her stomach and was pulling at her, dragging her through the walls of the Crossing back into the real world. Estelle watched in confusion as the perfect countenance of the woman watched her go, a frown upon her brow.
I JUST KNEW YOU'D LOVE TO SEE THIS! The voice shrieked, as painful as ever. Estelle tried to blink but couldn't. She could see in front of herself, the cracked flagstones zigzagging away from her feet and the thin sliver of moonlight dancing with motes of dust, the slumped bodies, the staring eyes. But she could not control her movements. She watched in horror as Lilith forced her body to move towards the death eater Goyle. The hate she had once felt for the man quickly dissolved into pity. She knew what awaited him, had seen Lilith do the same to the soldiers who had once attacked that innocent girl and created a monster in her place.
The whites of Goyle's eyes showed, his pupils almost rolling to the back of his head in terror. The veins in his neck bulged as he struggled in vain to flee the creature approaching him. In the pit of her stomach, Estelle felt a sickness she had experienced only once before; the feeling that comes as you stare a man in the face who knows he is about to die. She wanted to retch and fall to her knees in disgust but Lilith would not allow her to. Instead she kissed Goyle on his thick, rubbery lips.
Goyle screamed and screamed and screamed until his mouth and windpipe were so shrivelled no more air could escape. Estelle could feel his shuddering breaths against her skin, his last gasp, warm on her face. He died but Lilith did not stop kissing him. She forced Estelle's mouth upon his peeling flesh until it folded away and his skull began to crumble against her face. Lilith could not stop the tears that escaped from Estelle's eyes; she was not powerful enough to disperse grief.
And, as Lilith sucked the man dry of his life force and magic, Estelle began to feel a cold ache in her limbs and bones. A nervous energy vibrated through her veins, sharp and cruel. She knew it was the black magic of a death eater. The feeling intensified as the screams of Nott also faded and his magic was absorbed into Estelle too. It was painful, their magic, like pinpricks inside her body, making her want to jump out of her own skin. Lilith's constant cackles did nothing to help.
Finally Lucius' hollow eyes stared into her own. Estelle could still feel his fingers digging into her skin, his grunts in her ear and his body pressed against her own. She could still feel him moving inside of her; she could still feel his hatred and lust and envy. How many times had she wished him dead as she awoke from nightmares of that night? Thousands of times . . . but not this way, not like this.
It did not make a difference. Lilith's hunger was all consuming. In the end he was a pile of dust and fragmented bones upon the floor. All her fears seemed terribly futile in that moment. In the shadows of the corridor she could hear Draco wail; no matter how cruel, Lucius had still been his father. Lucius' magic was the most dark and icy. It pierced her heart and blackened it; like a wild beast it raged through her body, clawing and slashing and staining her mind.
The pain was unbearable; Estelle knew she had to escape the bonds of her own body and the black magic. Most importantly, she knew she could not watch the death of her friends. She fought against Lilith, using the newly acquired magic against her captor until, with a frustrated screech, Lilith's talons began to slip from Eirlys' stomach and she felt herself slipping back into the numbing bliss of the Crossing.
Something was wrong. The pain of the black magic had not gone. It had followed her to the Crossing. Estelle whimpered and doubled up in agony. That cooling hand rested itself upon her shoulder. She looked up into the hazel eyes, tears stinging her own.
"Help me," she begged, clutching her stomach, willing the pain away.
"You are doing well," the woman said, crouching beside Estelle. "Listen closely; I can take away the pain." Estelle steadied her heartbeat, concentrating hard on the woman's voice.
"I need you to use the magic, Estelle. I need you to shape it into two forms . . . two people."
"People? Who?" Estelle gasped, watching the slight impatience pass across the woman's face.
"Two who have died and must be brought back." The woman grasped both of Estelle's shoulders, forcing her to look into the woman's eyes. "It is of the utmost importance, Estelle, that you choose right. The world depends upon your choice." Estelle's anguished mind struggled to comprehend the woman's words. She had to think of two people who were dead? There were so many to choose from. Damiene, James, her parents, Lily, all the friends she had lost over the years. Who was she to choose? How would she know if she had picked right?
"W-why?" Estelle managed to stutter through clenched teeth, biting her tongue to keep from screaming.
"They must be brought back, they are still needed. Quickly, Estelle, choose!" Estelle tried to clear her mind, tried really hard to think. She could see Damiene reaching out to her, begging her to bring him back, James too, and all the others. Their voices clamoured in her head, each one yelling to be noticed over the others. Someone who had died?
Then she realised. The pain and the voices seemed to abate as enlightenment struck. What had Sirius said? The woman had brought him and Dumbledore back to the Land of the Living. They had died! And now they were alive. How had that happened? But she already knew how. She looked at the woman with determination and she gave a sigh of relief.
"Good, I knew you would understand. Shape the magic with your mind, think of their faces, of their behaviour, of every little detail you can remember." Estelle closed their eyes and tried to remember them through the pain and smiled at the thought of Sirius' cheekiness and Albus' kindliness.
"Think back to their Crossing, I am waiting there, give me the magic," the woman said, the excitement spilling through her voice. Estelle imagined the two, dark against the whiteness, and sure enough, a golden outline waited beside them with arms outstretched as if waiting to accept a gift. Estelle reached out and felt the woman's cold hands brush hers. The pain left her, flowing like a black river through her finger tips and into the woman who passed it on, like a bridge, until it flowed into the two so dear to her. She shuddered to think that the black magic had become a part of them but it could not be helped. At least it had been used for good in the end.
The connection ended and Estelle slumped into the pastel pale grass. The pain had gone. Seconds, or minutes, or hours, or years passed. Finally she spoke.
"What just happened?"
"You cultivated magic using your Will alone. It is an old type of magic use, long forgotten after the creation of spells."
"That was the past . . . I just travelled back in time, didn't I?"
"The Crossings overlap in layers, time is of no importance here. You merely sifted through layers of Crossings in order to reach them."
"But there were two of you, one here and one there."
"I am physically in this Crossing; I was consciously in that Crossing. I cannot explain this to you without explaining magic far beyond your comprehension." Estelle scowled at the insult.
"Why Sirius and Albus? Why bring them back above everyone else?"
"Albus brought you to Hogwarts from the forest. If he were still dead you would be still residing there now. And Sirius' role is still yet to be needed, but his time nears ever quickly." Estelle frowned and stood.
"If you had left Albus in the Crossing then he wouldn't have brought me to Hogwarts and Lilith would never have been released. You could have avoided all of this. I'm not the idiot, you are! You brought this whole disaster upon us, no one else!" Estelle yelled. The woman's face hardened once again.
"Don't be a fool!" she snapped, her voice cracking like a whip and echoing across the Crossing. "I have had hundreds of years to prepare for this moment. Do you think I would make such an imprudent mistake at so crucial a time? As I knew, you fail to understand the mechanics of the awakening of Death. You would have always managed to make your way back to Hogwarts, it was your fate to do so. However, I simply manipulated the date that you were to become Lilith's host so that I was prepared. If I had left you to your own designs you would have stumbled upon Eden whilst still a student and a whole school of pupils would have been endangered. You think too little of me, I am trying to contain Death rather than unleash her upon the world." Estelle sat back down and lowered her head.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. The woman nodded in acceptance. "So what happens now?"
"We must wait for Lilith to make her move."
"Her move? What will that be?" Estelle did not receive an answer. Instead that familiar clamping feeling of claws buried into her stomach returned. Her expression turned to pure horror.
"NO! NO!" she screamed, scrabbling to clutch onto something, to stop the monster from dragging her back to hell. "Help me!" she cried, stretching her hand out to the woman. "Help me, Evair! Help me!" She screamed. Evair's face turned to one of shock as she realised Estelle knew who she was. The girl's hand was close enough to grab, white and trembling.
"I am sorry," Evair whispered, before turning her back, allowing a screaming Estelle to be dragged back into her own body.
. . . Evair, seeing her sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, murdered, went mad with grief. With all her power she summoned Death herself binding her to a cave. To imprison Death, the cave had to be surrounded by life at all times, so Evair planted, with her own hands, a forest around it, filling it with animals that would remain there forever. She cast the most complex of spells so that there came a time when a young woman would flee to the cave for safety, there her blood would mix with the sand and from this Death would be freed to inhabit her body. Death would then be liberated to walk the Earth and be compelled to destroy all life from the land. To do this Evair sacrificed herself, pouring her blood into the creation of Death's prison.
Edaim, discovering his loves creation and what it meant for the world, sought to destroy it. Although he could not, he managed to prolong the time of Death's awakening by thousands of years. He also gave some hope to all life. Entrusting the whereabouts of the cave to his descendants, he bade them guard over it always and build a mighty castle, filled with magic that would protect it until the time of awakening. With his utmost strength, Edaim twisted fate so that at the time of Death's awakening a young man, who loved the young woman as much as Edaim loved Evair, would come across her. By sharing his passion, only he could prevent Death from releasing her ultimate power. To do this, the man would have to be willing to sacrifice himself to save his love. The plan was flawed in many ways but Edaim hoped with all his heart it would work. With his last strength, he sealed the room containing the cave, so that none but the chosen two could enter. With his last breath he whispered the name of his wife, the woman who had betrayed him but yet he still loved . . .
The world was not as it should be. Things like this did not happen. It was all a nightmare. Remus closed his eyes in queasy disgust as the remains of Lucius Malfoy settled on the floor. The monster that was Estelle had paused for a few minutes, its eyes rolled into the back of its head as if it were watching something in another dimension. Occasionally its mouth would quiver in glee. Remus' friends shivered and crouched behind him. Remus knew that he should seize the opportunity to untie them but terror froze him to the spot.
He was cold and his limbs shivered with fatigue. The energy was being sucked out of his body just by the proximity of the monster, yet he could not move away. A helplessness writhed in his stomach. His thoughts were constantly returning to Estelle. She was in there, he knew. As the monster had sucked the life from the death eaters, it's eyes had turned a soft green-brown, Estelle's eyes, filled with terror and pain, and it had wept. He knew Estelle was in the monster, being forced to watch. If only he could reach out to her, help her to take control of her own body once again.
Remus watched as Sirius, who had remained slumped against the wall nearest to the arch, now began to pick himself up using trembling arms. He could hear his laboured breathing from across the hallway, see the grimace upon his face. Sirius stood, steadying himself with a hand against the wall. His steps were painfully slow as he approached the monster. He stooped, his hands curling around a shard of flagstone that had come loose from the floor. Its jagged edge shone in the moonlight.
Lilith twitched. A small movement of the finger.
Sirius raised the stone as you would a club, swinging his arms back.
Lilith's eyes rolled back and with a grin of malice the white orbs faded to brown-green, scared and confused.
"No! Please, don't make me!" Estelle's voice wept, startlingly clear in the chill air. The shard of rock split as it hit the ground, shattering into tiny pieces. Lilith turned to Sirius, his face showing mixed emotions at the sound of Estelle's voice. A sob issued from Estelle's lips as she saw Sirius' deathly pale features.
"Sirius, run! Oh God, run, please." But Sirius didn't move and Lilith stepped closer, her lips inching closer to his own. Remus' breath came in jagged gasps. He was watching his friend's death and he was doing nothing. The voice of Estelle rang in his head. She was still in there! She was still there! In that second he could not bear to be apart from her for a moment longer. He needed to feel her against him, to know she was still alive despite being trapped inside that monster. He needed to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be fine, to comfort her and sooth the fear from her eyes.
He jumped up, knowing his fate, and yet unable to turn around. The thought of not looking into Estelle's eyes was unbearable. He had to!
Remus caught Lilith's wrist and spun her around, the cold fatigue immediately intensifying beyond description, crippling pain coursing from his finger tips and up his arms, spreading through his muscles. Behind him Sirius slumped to the floor.
Remus' other hand plunged through the snapping shadows surrounding Lilith to rest upon her naked hip, icy and blue, yet it was a comfort to him. His lips met Estelle's of his own choice and he brought her body to his. Though his muscles were quickly deteriorating, his mind sparked with bliss. He was kissing Estelle! This was his last act, his secret desire! He had her; for once in his life he had her!
"REMUS!"
Estelle could feel him, his lips, his hands, his body against hers.
"Remus! Let go! Please, let go, Remus," she sobbed. But he would not. She could feel his warm magic entering her body, rejuvenating her strength.
"No! No!" she screamed, trying to force the magic back into him, trying to stop him from fading away. She could feel the metal of the apple pendant, pressed closely into her chest as well as his. A click echoed through the hallway. Lilith shrieked. Remus' love-filled magic surrounded her, lifting her away from Death's clutches.
"No!" She pushed the magic away from her, trying as hard as she could to force it back into Remus' body.
NO! Lilith screeched, her influence slipping from Estelle's body. Estelle could feel Remus' warmth and his lips; she could feel Lilith's consciousness desperately clawing into her mind, trying to stay embedded in her host. But it was of no use. Estelle was free and the pendant snapped shut.
Estelle moved her arms, her own arms. Immediately she had to grab hold of Remus, who collapsed into her chest. They sunk to the floor together.
"Remus? Remus! Please don't go, please. I love you, Remus. Don't leave me. I promise I'll stay with you just don't leave me . . . please." She was talking to a dead man and she knew it, but she would not give up.
"I love you." Sirius hands tentatively touched her shoulders. "I love you." Remus' warm magic was gone and she was cold, so cold she could no longer feel. "I love . . ." Remus rolled from her arms and onto the stone floor. "I . . ." She collapsed into Sirius' arms. She didn't have the energy to breath any more; her heart was broken and it refused to beat, neither was there any blood left in her to be pumped. Lilith's magic, which had animated her body, was gone and there was nothing left to keep her alive. Someone was shaking her, tears dripping onto her face. The world blurred. Blackness. I love you.
She screamed and she yelled and she cursed. The Crossing seemed to shake under her grief and rage.
"You! You! I hate you! You caused all of this! You selfish, murdering bitch!" She bit and scratched at Evair but nothing would leave a mark and Evair stood calmly and accepted Estelle's attack. "You killed him! You killed him!" She collapsed to the ground and sobbed and sobbed.
Evair stood watching, a look of shock upon her face.
"It was not meant to be the wolf," she muttered. "Not the wolf . . . the animagus, yes . . . but not the wolf." Estelle screamed the scream of the broken, the scream Lilith had screamed and Evair had once screamed. The scream of a broken heart and an empty soul.
Evair could feel the tugging, the calling she had yearned for for over a thousand years. The feeling sung in her heart and her soul rose with it, yet she held back for a few seconds more.
"I am leaving, Estelle. I have completed my task and I am leaving for the Land of the Dead. I am sorry." Estelle looked up, her face red and tear streaked.
"Am I going too?" she asked, biting back a sob.
"It appears not. I can no longer help you, Estelle. Goodbye."
"No!" Estelle screamed. "Don't leave me here! Come back! Don't leave me!" But Evair had gone and Estelle was left in the emptiness of the Crossing for all eternity . . .