The Remnant Prince
~Act 4: And Straight On Till Morning
"...And if the world were black or white entirely
And all the charts were plain
Instead of a mad weir of tigerish waters,
A prism of delight and pain,
We might be surer where we wished to go
Or again we might be merely
Bored but in brute reality there is no
Road that is right entirely."
-An excerpt from the poem "Entirely", By Louis MacNeice
Ch.19: Cognizance/ The Queen is Dead
No wealth, no ruin, no silver, no gold,
Nothing satisfies me but your soul.
-O Death
**Approximate Present, or The Past**
Hogwarts, June 1997
There were two things she noted as the tears ran freely down her cheeks in the chilly air: one, that the Astronomy Tower was peaceful at that time of night; and two, that she had not yet cried so much in her life.
Hermione sighed.
She didn't know why she was up there. Dumbledore was dead, and there was nothing to do but wait for the rising storm to come with its passing long in a distant future she didn't know she would reach. Her head shot up when a familiar voice asked gently,"Brown pop, My?"
There he stood, offering her favorite kind. Her favorite since she first drank it in the hospital, and hadn't stopped since. She took it. Loki gestured at the rungs leading up to the viewing loft. His eyebrows went up and he inclined his head in inquiry. "Shall we?"
Smiling through her tears, she nodded. The metal sent a chill through her when her hands made contact with it, goose bumps erupting up and down her arm. She climbed out on the roof, quickly moving to the side of the opening so that Loki could climb out after her. The trapdoor closed with a dull thud.
There settled over them a companionable silence. They popped the tops off of the bottles of pop and arranged themselves on a blanket that Hermione had noticed as soon as she had gotten there. Her heart ached with a raw pain. He broke the silence.
"My sister is with your sister to comfort her."
"Thank you." The words almost got stuck in her throat and rang hollowly in the still air.
"This is going to keep happening, again and again," he said quietly.
"I know," she responded, equally hushed. "But I still can't go with you; I can't just leave them."
"I know," he replied, echoing her and frowning slightly.
The silence grew thick once more. There were no clever, witty remarks, no sly exchanges. Loki was just there for her, like he always was. He smiled bitterly. How ironic that the one person everyone trusted the least, and perhaps logically so, in some senses, happened to be who she trusted most. But she remained one of the few people that had earned and kept his concern and association, and most importantly, his trust and respect. Each smile wasn't veiled in hatred. Each move wasn't a divine plan of action to reach an ultimate goal. He truly cared for her.
Hermione leaned into his shoulder then, and he shushed her and held her close, not caring or commenting when a few tears soaked through his clothes. He just wished he could crawl inside of her and heal all the pain that had been caused, and protect her from what he knew would come. Well, he had a fair guess of it. And then, when it was all over, he could wrestle the throne from his idiot brother if only to save everyone from his stupidity. Hell, he didn't even want it. He didn't need it. Not when he had Hermione. Oh, if only she knew what she meant to him! Preferrably thst and not about his rather torrid dreams starring the the two of them...If only she would ask. At the word he would show her, prove it beyond a doubt. As of yet, they functioned as their usual pair of...whatever they were.
Hermione started humming. Harry was a mess. Ron was...somewhere. She turned and buried her face into Loki's shoulder by his neck. His hold tightened.
"Hold me," she whispered. "Like when we were children."
His heart fluttered. He reclined and allowed her to get comfortably snuggled into the cradle his arms made. Hermione played with his hand. He kissed her hair softly and started telling her about the times he and Naryu had done this or that before they had met her, embellishing the details a bit until he had her laughing so hard that she cried again, but this time with mirth.
"What would I do without you?" she said suddenly.
"What would I do without you?" he retorted.
She tilted her head back, the whites of her eyes shining in the faint light of the night.
"Do you really mean that?" she whispered. He could barely wrench his eyes away from her lips and eyes, or how very full both aspects were.
"You are the only one I don't have to lie to."
She hesitated, and then, before he knew it, she had kissed him, pulling away quickly, her face redder than what Thor usually chose to wear. He cursed himself. Fool that he was, he had not acted. Surprise had kept him immobile.
"I'm sorry," she said, mortified and ashamed. She tried to move, but he gently brought her back to him and gave her a light, chaste kiss.
"Never, never, be sorry," he whispered fiercely, and would have shown her all of his passion had he been surer of her motivations and the strength of his own heart. Instead, he said softly, "You should get your rest. You're not yourself." The words killed him, but he wouldn't have her reaching for him because her emotions were a jangling, mangled mess. He wanted it to mean something. Damnation. He didn't know he was so sentimental. And of course, he'd be damned if he took advantage of his Tilly; he'd die before he played with her like that, and kill anyone else that did.
He held her until she fell asleep. Her body was soft, and warm. He wished quite a few things that he didn't dare tell her for fear of how she might take it. He, all confidence and smiles on the outside but so vulnerable inside that she was perhaps one of the only people to truly get close to him. Their bond was unbreakable, and ran deeper than their magic.
He stared at her for several long moments, watched her chest expand as her breath curled up and out of her, saw her breasts rise and fall. Her hair fell in uncertain masses all about her face. He swept it back and caressed her cheek. She murmured something in her sleep along with his name, and it made him smile genuinely.
By Frigga, he was a fool. How could he not see it before...He loved her, and he was in love with her...but what could he do about it? Of course, he didn't know that her resolve had set that night, and that her heart was as silly as his, and just as tired of waiting.
...xxx...
**Approximate Present, or The Past, for the Most Part... More Approximately Both and Neither**
CALCUTTA, INDIA, THE OTHER MIDGARD, shortly before the arrival of Agent Natasha Romanoff
Rosalie came into the apartment and closed the door, slinging her bag onto the rather lacking couch.
"Bruce?"
She stepped into the kitchen to see him making something for them. She went to wash her hands so she might help him.
"You know that that the festival is tomorrow, don't you?" she remarked. He glanced at her, his smile odd.
"I'm very aware. I was going to ask this brilliant, beautiful young woman to go with me, but I'm out of her league.
"Bruce-"
"Rosalie."
She smiled fondly and swatted at him. "I wouldn't miss going with you. When did you want to leave?"
Their dinner was quaint and lighthearted. Rosalie watched Bruce from underneath her lashes. She had to know.
Of course, she had no way of knowing how soon that would end up being.
**The Future, Approximately, or The Present**
ASGARD
Frigga was deathly pale. Sweat glistened on her brow and upper lip. Fárbauti dipped the damp cloth she held into the water basin and soothed her with it again.
"Thank you," she smiled, then looked about her at her children. "Don't fret. I am not suffering," she whispered.
"She's lying," Naryu whispered. She and the two she had grown up with as siblings sat around the fading Queen.
"I know. She doesn't know how to lie," Loki said.
Thor stood, pacing and looking like a lost little boy about to cry for his mother. Literally.
By the door, Rosalie pulled Hermione away, leading her sister down the corridor into an empty chamber where their grandfather and Boa awaited them.
Hermione stopped dead. "No. Whatever you're planning-"
"You know he will break if he loses her. All three of them will. Are you willing to risk the ripple effect if any one of them spiral out of control? If they devolve, and rapidly?"
Hermione started to protest again, even though in her heart she knew Rosalie was right, when Rumpelstiltskin interrupted.
"It's almost time that I initiate my last plans before the Dark Curse. I can help you, and the best part is, you don't even have to give me anything in return."
Hermione' eyes narrowed. "What's the price of using what we're given?"
"The law of universal exchange," Boa came forward. "To keep her life, you have to give another. Unless you find a cure."
"She won't make it," Hermione confessed grudgingly, biting her lip, "but it's not right to-"
"What do we have to do?" Rosalie cut in, her tone determined as she thought of what would happen to Hermione if Frigga's three children crumbled. One in particular came to mind. Everyone knew that Loki Friggason was at a very vulnerable point.
"All you have to do to save her life if you can't cure her, is light a candle," Rumplestiltskin explained, "And I assure you that for once, I am at service free of charge."
"And with one of his best students, we can race against the clock all the more quickly," Boa added.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Hermione said. "We can try something, anything."
"Like what, for instance?" Rosalie snapped.
"I don't bloody know, but a lot more people are going to die if we don't figure out something."
Rosalie threw up her hands. "Bandaid plan or no, it's still a go."
"Only if there's no other choice," Hermione persisted. "We don't want to make things worse."
Naryu stumbled in then looking disoriented. She suddenly came back into focus. "I need...I must...Mordred."
And then she fainted straightaway.
Back in the room, a brooding and petulant Fárbauti helped the children she shared with the woman on the bed take care of that same woman.
"They would have Odin abandon you to their whims," she burst out suddenly, addressing her son and niece. Eris shook her head and turned to face them.
"I don't know how I was allowed here."
Fárbauti's hands paused, brushing against Loki's, and she glanced between him and Frigga, who had only just fallen asleep.
"I'm sure you know by now that the king yet harbors a soft spot for me. Frigga and are are the only reasons you haven't been killed. The only two."
"Three. My mother knows. That was always her special gift: the power of knowing."
"And with it the powers of persuasion and blackmail. She is truly still the sister I knew. Cunning, ambitions, and qualmless when it comes to getting what she wants or needs."
Fárbauti closed her eyes on the last few words, but reopened them a moment later. She smiled tiredly at both Eris and Loki, and then at Thor, who had come up by her shoulder and put his arm around her.
"He should not have been so dishonest with you."
The Queen lowered her head. "It's partially my fault. I was foolish."
"But the song remains the same, and the majority stains his hands," Loki snapped. "He has never been able to do right by anyone."
"But when he tries to make it up...he tries *so hard, so very hard," Fárbauti replied softly.
"He wouldn't have to if he did things properly the first time," Eris remarked.
"He's more than a hard man to like sometimes," Fárbauti agreed. "But at the heart of it all...he knows how to repay his debts."
"Yes...by some imagined wrong, I'm sure. Because he was always so fair." The delicate and heavy stress changes coupled with his sarcasm made the price sound very bitter. Frigga suddenly started gasping in her sleep, eyes fluttering behind closed lids. A blood red tear seeped from the corner of one of her eyes.
"She's running out of time," Eris muttered. Thor's grip tightened before he ended up hugging Fárbauti. Frigga's eyes flew open suddenly, and she began to feebly try to raise herself up.
"Mother, do not try to speak. You are not well enough," Thor pleaded. Fárbauti held up her hand for silence and bent to place her ear by Frigga's lips. It took her three times to hear and process correctly, and then she looked up at the other three.
"Where's Naryu?"
...xxx...
Odin strode furiously into the throne room, taking his place at the head.
"An audience was requested?"
"Yes, my lord," a guard reported, and gestured at another. The Sylph architects, saved by their absence from their homeland, entered.
"Our task is fully completed," Ellie chirped, her voice ringing out high and clear.
"All-Father," Heimdall's voice boomed out, and he appeared a moment later, his steps urgent.
"Queen Silth, Queen Ravena, and the next in line for the throne in Nidavellir are here to see you."
Odin stood furiously. "Do they have no presence of mind? Tell them that I bid them leave. They may return when our affairs are in order."
He turned toward the Sylph. "You may remain here until your safe return is assured. Frigga would have wanted you to experience the best of our hospitality if she were well. I'm sure she still does."
Ellie curtsied prettily at him and offered the king a gracious saccharine smile. "So sayeth the king."
At that moment, a murderous-looking Queen Silth burst into the room, a halberd held akimbo.
"I will not be ignored, All-Father," she snarled darkly. "I have come to collect my blood. Give me the two bastards from yonder kingdom at my doorstep and we will not meet in war."
Before Odin could respond, Ellie stepped forward with Skiye at her side, the others of their band soon following. All of them had weapons drawn: Ellie and her twin each held a dirk in each hand, while their younger sibling unclipped a short-handled-halberd clip that elongated into the real weapon; Marie had a katana glinting dangerously; Skiye had uncoiled an electrified whip; Mykael gripped a hunga munga; Hillel toted a kidinjal; Celino palmed a stiletto nonchalantly.
All of them narrowed their eyes, but it was little Celino that spoke, surprising everyone but his own. "Speak ill of them no more; they are our redeemed kindred whom we are fiercely proud of. To smear them is to smear us. Do you bite your thumb at us in contempt? Because if you do, your cries will fall upon deaf ears when our help be needed the most."
The Queen narrowed her eyes at them. "Your house can have no honor if it harbors those two. Chaos and destruction will follow them through their life wherever they may be. Their cursed blood will be spilled and they will be killed on sight if they ever step foot in my kingdom again."
"Then no part of them will be found therein," Ellie slid in silkily. "And should it be taken there by force for such a purpose, a sharp and pointed reckoning will befall the perpetrator."
"With extreme prejudice," Skiye supplied. "Extreme."
Mari tipped her head and giggled. "It's almost endearing how you think to frighten us. Run back to your brood."
Silth snarled in response, feral and angry, but at that moment, a messenger hurried forth from outside, and, a moment later, a stream of angry rulers burst into the throne room, their voices all starting up at once.
"None of you-none of you are welcome!" Odin bellowed. "Guards!"
"This is a grave insult, Odin!"
"I will be heard!"
"SILENCE!" An angry feminine voice commanded. Fárbauti strode furiously into the room. The rulers fell silent. "You will get you out of this palace! This is my child you have come for, and my niece. You have come for the blood of children."
"They are no more children-they have come of age," Ravena slit her eyes.
Fárbauti was dauntless. "The fact remains that you have come in vain! The world will leave my house alone, and blessed is the thought of that day! You should all be ashamed, coming in like so many savages with the Queen stricken and the Realms in disarray."
"Are you so ancient and in denial that your mind has lost recollection of recent events?" The young Dwarven heir taunted. The Queen whipped around and flung herself upon him. By that time, there were ample guards to wrestle each leader and their protective stations out. Odin himself lifted Fárbauti away and let the guards take the dwarf out.
He held her flat to his chest, arms tight around her as she struggled.
"Get you off of me! Let me go and touch me no more!" She shrieked. His grip weakened at that momentarily and she used the change to slip away. She faced him angrily, tossing her hair.
"You have no right-not after what you've done to me."
She spun away but he caught at her wrist and brought her back. Genuine regret and sadness crept over his face as he observed the lividness and the anguish emanating from her. He touched her face lightly and she turned it away from him.
"Do you know how long I waited for you?" She whispered harshly. She turned her face back to his, her breath trembling. "I loved you."
"I know," He replied softly. Her eyes searched his face for something.
"There is no place for this now, not here and not ever. You would do good to remember such."
She pulled away, and this time he didn't reach for her. She sighed.
"Go see your wife. She's...she's not well."
He hugged her on an impulse, and she stepped away quickly as if he had burned her, she hurrying to leave. She paused at the door.
"You must never reach for me again."
Fárbauti waited for a response for a moment, and then was gone. Odin lowered his head. "I will not. I promise."
He covered his eyes. What had he done?
In the hallway, and having heard, Fárbauti leaned into the cold stones, letting their sharpness press into her to ground her. She straightened and walked onward. A shadowy, cloaked figure detached itself from a column nearby and crept away. Someone else came up the passage soon after.
Odin glanced up once more from where he sat at his throne, half expecting Fárbauti or a dreaded messenger with grave news. Instead, he saw that a red-eyed Naryu stood at the door with a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed young man. The man held her steady. She was shaking, clinging to him, almost glassy-eyed.
"Hello, Mordred," Odin greeted quietly.
"Odin," Mordred said. "Loren said that Naryu needed me."
"We all need you," she said quietly, her eyes darkening, turning to smile tearily at him.
...xxx...
"Thank you for coming," Naryu said, genuinely grateful. Mordred quirked a smile. "Of course. You took care of me, always. Now I'll tKs care of you, always."
Dobby suddenly popped into existence. "Miss Naryu, you must come quickly; the Queen is getting worse."
She and Mordred shared a glance. "You think it will work?"
The look he gave her said everything.
"Let's go, then."
They hurried on, unaware of both Alosa and a shadowy, cloaked figure that observed them. The figure moved. Alosa followed. From another shadowy way, A Marlfox, man, Frost Giant, and Fire Giant all proceeded to creep through the corridors for their targets.
...xxx...
"Rosalie, what are you-" Hermione broke off abruptly as her sister finished levitating an unconscious man into the room and closed the door.
"Guess who I found this one wandering around searching for?"
Thor strode around Frigga's bed toward them. Frigga lay sleeping as Hermione fluffed her pillow and Loki tended to her. Boa and Rumpelstiltskin stood off in one corner, with Eris perched on the window-seat looking out . Hermione watched her sister lay the limp figure out on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not taking any chances. She's fading fast and none of you can deny it."
"You should...you should not speak of her that way," Thor reprimanded, choked with emotion. He glanced at said woman. Rosalie refrained from commenting. She raised her wand, pointed it at the stranger, and said, "Rennervate!" He stirred feebly.
The eyes opened, and he began to sit up. With another flick of her wand, Rosalie had him restrained. His eyes locked onto the sick area. Rosalie withdrew a small bottle, advanced, immobilized the man, who immediately fell to the floor. She opened his mouth. His tongue lolled out. Rosalie uncorked the bottle and dripped a drop into the open mouth before her. She sat back on her heels, mobilizing the trussed captive.
"What is your name?" The man panted before answering in a monotone. "Versh."
"And your mission?"
More panting. Versh answered, "To find and acquire the two children of Laufey that caused so many grievances with many a Realm."
"Is that all?"
"No. If I could not apprehend them, I was to kill them."
"Had you another accomplice?"
"Only the one you slew." His bitter hatred leaked into the reply.
"I did not kill him. It's more than that spy deserved. "Who sent you?"
He ignored her. She shrugged. "Very well."
Rosalie switched her gaze onto her grandfather. All of the others were watching her, and continued to do so, along with her prisoner, while she accepted a candle from him. She looked down at the man.
"You must be Queen Ravena's. Your accomplice was a Marlfox, and I know both a Frost and Fire Giant had similar intentions. You were just the unlucky one."
"You're going to kill me," he said.
"Rosalie-" Hermione began, stepping forward. Rosalie lit the candle by waving her hand over the wick.
"It has to be done, and if you don't, I will. Besides...none of you can risk it."
Her eyes returned to Versh. She traced a pattern over him with the hand holding the candle, and then she began chanting his name.
"Versh, Versh, Versh..."
Queen Frigga gasped and sat bolt upright. At that moment, Fárbauti's voice came through the door accompanied by pounding.
"Someone has just slain Queen Silth!"
Naryu rushed forward and ripped open the door, ushering her in and closing it after glancing to and from both ends of the corridor.
"Why does this concern us?" Boa inquired.
"Because," Fárbauti said angrily, "they did it with the daggers my son and niece use."
"But they were here-"
"But you would lie for them, and Frigga is asleep. Did any of you step out for a moment?"
Everyone looked at each other. "We-we all did, to collect our things and a few supplies."
"Well, fuck," Rosalie swore. At that moment, Naryu and Mordred arrived with Dobby, Alosa appearing behind them. "You fools," he whispered. "What have you done?"
Mordred glanced down at Naryu, whose grip had tightened considerably. She sagged.
"The Queen is dead."
"We know, sister," Thor began, "But-"
Naryu screamed and fell to the ground. "You must get to Amora quickly," she panted.
"Amora?" Eris said, surprised. "You know of her?"
"We used to be friends," Loki replied.
"We know of her," Mordred acknowledged quietly.
"She introduced me to higher magic," Eris said, stunned.
"She's going to be killed," Naryu whispered wretchedly.
"Killed?" Thor sounded alarmed. Naryu looked up at the room at large, only half seeing them.
"Yes. By my father in her chambers."
No one had noticed the terrible expressions and emotions on Boa's face. Clearly she knew things they did not.
...xxx…
The woman slid into her room and closed the door quickly, trembling. She ended up sliding all the way down her door into the floor. She had never been so conflicted before about a task, about the many sides she had taken and switched to and between. She stared at the blades in her hands, with dried crusted red on them, and wondered what she has done. They clattered to the floor.
There was no going back.
Then again, her friends had betrayed her ...and she had been promised so much by Ravena. But this was something new. Or at least something that had seemed new and promising. Now she wasn't so sure.
Ravena had assured her that none of them would come to true harm, even those implicated, but she wasn't entirely sure now. And suddenly, being promised a throne didn't seem so promising.
There was a rustling, and when she looked up, a figure had appeared, cloaked darkly as she was.
"Farose," she said. He removed his hood.
"Amora."
"There's been a change of plans...a rewrite in the script."
His voice was monotone and dead, like wind rustling over old leaves. He stopped down to her level, his eyes an eerie blue.
Amora found herself nearly powerless to that stare, transfixed. And then they were fighting, she for her life. Items and furniture flying helter-schkelter, glass breaking, cloth ripping. But he had magic, too, and while she was skilled with it, she had no combat skills. Pinned both magically and physically, she closed her eyes, preparing to die.
But someone pulled him away.
Her eyes snapped open. Someone with blonde hair sent him hurtling through a portal, unconscious. The person turned, and their ringed brown eyes glinted in the light. Amora felt her bruised throat weakly, eyes looking at anything else.
"Div," she finally managed to choke out.
When she next looked up, perhaps to give thanks, Div had vanished.