Chapter 35: Guilt From Within
How much time had passed? Minutes? Hours? A day? Forever? It was impossible for Lonnie to figure out. Along with being stuck in a layered geometrical structure, she was also restrained from her senses. Either the cell or her muzzle were enchanted, because she couldn't see, hear, or say anything. She never thought she'd imagine it, but she actually missed the annoying dripping water sounds that echoed in the Raft's Third Sector. Occasionally, she felt like her legs were being rubbed, but this only made her panic about what was expected of her in this mad house.
She tried to mentally go to the Dreamworld and see if she could communicate with any of the Nightmare cousins, but she kept bumping into invisible walls. Obviously, the spells for blocking the dream hoppers from anybody else's heads were genetic in the De Mort clan. She wished she could cry, but when she started to, her face got more humid and she couldn't wipe it in her condition.
Suddenly, the bricks around her moved. Gravity pulled her to the ground, but released her. The sound of close electricity caught her attention. When she looked up, she saw that it came from the top of somebody's head and literally moved like living wires. The somebody in question was...
"A..." Alva's finger shushed Lonnie. He lifted a black cloak on top of her.
"Shut up and follow me," he said. His voice was low but made him sound like a sugar over-consumed child who was having a hard time keeping his energy lowered. Alva grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards an opening at the floor. He cautiously helped her slip in it and pulled the bricks back together, blocking their entrance. They now had to crawl their way through what appeared to be an air vent. Steaming fumes that spit very much like dragons blinded them on the way, but Alva seemed to know his direction, so he let Lonnie keep a hand on his left ankle in order to avoid getting lost. After what seemed to be five minutes of crawling and landing your hands in grease, Alva came to a halt and pointed upward. Lonnie nodded silently and watched as he pushed a square tile upward, leading to the most despicably green-and-black chamber/cell the world had ever seen. Knocked unconscious on the floor was...
"M..." Lonnie got shushed again. She nodded in apology and followed Alva to the living area. Martin was knocked out and dressed in a darker, green version of his favorite outfit. Oh, sure! She thought. I get stripped naked, but he gets a full-clothing change! Mom's actually lucky to be a popular cross-dresser!
Alva put a finger on Martin's ear. A small blue bolt zapped Martin awake, Alva had to cover his mouth to keep him from yelping or saying Alva's name in shock. "Follow me." Alva guided Martin into the trapdoor and blocked the opening. "We got only about seconds left before the Third Sector freaks get cut off to get out."
As if on cue, the lights flashed through the air holes. Pure blackness ruled the Third Sector, with only the electric light of Alva's hair glowing dimly in the dark. He opened a small door on the wall, revealing a five-foot fall to a river or some sort. "Jump," he said.
Martin and Lonnie looked at each other uneasily. The choices were limited, but they gave in and jumped into the water. The water was awfully cold, Lonnie froze on the spot. Martin grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her as best as he could while he followed Alva through the waters. The waters seemed to go in an endless straight line in a metal, oddly clean version of sewers. A light opening eventually appeared, and the waters got more rapid and starting to become filthy.
And what a shock it was, for the Raft's visitors to see the inside of the Raft. After exiting what appeared to be a great wall of metal that went endlessly up but used its tiles to camouflage in the environment, the group swam into a new different world. Black and light green grass fields, blue sky with a bright sun and puffy white clouds, while swimming in a river that passed what appeared to be a 1950s suburban town with barbed wired fences and houses the sizes of mansions, and up ahead, a distant city made of skyscrapers.
A fishing boat trolled its way towards them. Its sole two occupants, a girl with large glasses in a grey schoolgirl uniform and a boy in a crocodile green carpelet gypsy coat, threw a rope ladder out. "Hop in!" The boy shouted.
"Thanks, Bevalheath!" Alva got in first and helped Martin lift up Lonnie, who was still frozen.
"God, the water must have solidified her!" The girl said. "Swimming in the Alaskan waters must have done it."
"Let's quickly bring her inside." Bevalheath and the girl lifted Lonnie and brought her to the living cabins below the deck. They looked rather homey: wooden walls and floor made of freshly painted planks, a small kitchen and dinner table and chairs, a couch and shelves occupied by a small TV and radio station, two sleeping cabins, and one bathroom. The moment they got in the kitchen, the girl ran to boil up a pot full of water. Alva, in the meantime, hugged Martin.
"Martin, old friend..."
"I thought you died...in the explosion." Martin choked through tears. "Why on earth are you here?"
"My mom pinned me," Alva said as they broke the hug. Bevalheath showed a seat for Martin to sit. "Carly and I managed to get some clothes from my dad's thrift shop for you and Lonnie to use as disguises."
"Disguises?" Martin frowned.
"You can't stay in the Raft." Alva went to check on Lonnie to see if she was melting. "You-Know-Who may be leaving us to scram and go with our lives as we please, but by any second now, he'll realize you two escaped. He's got snitches everywhere."
"He even got McLean neutralized." Carly cautiously carried the pot over to Lonnie. "With her camera system, she could video tape you and your whereabouts and send them to the man." She tossed the boiling water on Lonnie. The ice instantly melted and sent the girl's body back to normal.
"Here, change into this." Bevalheath threw a bunch of clothes at both Martin and Lonnie. They were mostly the same: black biker jackets with red fire motifs on the sleeves, white T-Shirts, torn blue jeans, leather gloves, and black running boots. The only separation between the two was that Lonnie's disguise involved red makeup and a long red wig, and Martin's involved car grease and black eyeliner. Martin grimaced at the sight of clothing that was most definetly not his type unless it was Ruby, but nevertheless changed into the clothing. "Why do I smell like shark bait?" He sniffed at his jacket.
"I could ask a similar thing about the wig," Lonnie said as she hurried to finally get some clothes on her. Even if it was villain clothing, she was pleased it wasn't Voldemort's.
"Sorry, but we needed to get clothes that would mask both your scent and your mark of villainy." Alva scooped some car grease and flattened Martin's hair backwards, even spitting on it at one point to make sure it stuck. He quickly traced the eyeliner on Martin's cheeks to make it look like he spent a lifetime of scars. Then, he pulled out a pair of red glasses and put them over Martin's eyes. Once Lonnie got her wig on, Alva viewed them to make sure they looked physically convincing. "OK. If anybody asks you who you are until we get you out of here, you claim you're the brother-sister gang Fire Lewis and Hot Madrid that nobody remembers because you mostly hang at the landfill and eat dead fish."
Lonnie got up and looked through the curtains covering the only small porthole in the cabin. A dinging sound came from somewhere in the kitchen. "Anyone in the mood for codfish potpie while we discuss the plan?" Carly put on some cooking gloves with salmon patterns and bend down to open the small oven and pull out a casserole dish full of steaming deliciousness.
"I'm in," Alva said.
"I don't get it. Where's the Third Sector?" Lonnie pulled the curtains back together and sat down with the others.
"Camouflaged in the horizon." Bevalheath brought some cups and filled them with iced water before passing them around. "Sunk below us. Whatever artificial stuff that makes the virtual world of the First and Second Sectors a prison paradise come from the metal shell that separate us from the Third Sector."
"We're lucky the 'neighbors' don't care about taking over our life advantages," Carly said as she cautiously sliced in squares the potpie with a knife. "So far, the only things You-Know-Who has done to our sectors are put the essence draining bracelets and use blackmailing to make anyone he deems useful serve him. Otherwise, he leaves us to do our usual business."
"Yes, he's too busy trying to make Horcruxes." Lonnie scowled.
"Oh, you won't believe what he planned to do with me!" Martin snapped. "The world's worst villain and parent has just decided to make me his new son and general and stabbing you and me with an enchanted dagger to switch our marks with brainwashing ones!"
Lonnie blinked. "Well, it's better than being love potioned..."
"He told you about the Handed Dagger of Young?" Alva arched an eyebrow.
"You heard of it?" Martin asked his old friend.
"Who hasn't?" Alva made way for Carly as she put a full plate before him. "The Young Clan created it a millenium ago, the sole Shen Gong Wu they actually built themselves out of dragon bones and the blood of a descendant of Toshimu, the creator of your power. Whoever possesses it can rip the mark of villainy of a villain. The gig is that, unless you either return the mark or replace it with another one, the owner will die."
"That kind of power sounds familiar," Lonnie said. "It sounds like...Starlight Glimmer."
"The Young Clan didn't want the dagger in the hands of foolish evil," Alva said. "Chase Young himself said during the traditional Evil Bragging Tuesday that he gave the relic to Starlight Glimmer for safekeeping."
"Sure. It couldn't be anywhere safer than with a communist unicorn." Martin rolled his eyes drily.
Lonnie suddenly froze. "When Haya's aunt came over for Family Day, she told Moonlight that her mother was nowhere in the Isle. You...you don't suppose..."
Alva shook his head. "No, Chase Young and his daughter Chelsey personally gave Voldemort the Handed Dagger of Young when the Third Sector villains went rogue. They left later on to join the others."
"You mean...there's a bunch of villains out there on the loose who aren't on his side?" Lonnie was shocked to hear this. It was bad enough that Voldemort had returned, but that a bunch of villains had left the Raft? She remembered stories that her mother told her about Heylin villains like Chase Young and his daughter: invincible warriors more cunning than death who wanted to turn the world into ten thousand years of darkness. Even Mushu and Cassie cowered at the stories. None of them lived without knowing of the Young Clan's appetite for the Lao Mang Lone Soup, memorable for its key ingredient being whole dragons.
"Yeah." Bevalheath spoke with his mouth full. "The only thing the Dark Lord's got in allies are the descendants of a bunch of mortal human baddies while three quarters of the villains who left the Third Sector were a hundred SAP wizards and witches..."
"SAP? Amira mentioned it before, but I wish to know what it means," Martin said, clasping his hands together on his cup.
"Hang on, we got a flyer." Carly went back to the kitchen and opened a small drawer full of chopping knives, folded towels, and piled papers filed in alphabetical order or publication date. She skimmed through the papers until she pulled out a red one. She brought it over and laid it out on the table. "It's one of those propaganda flyers we always get in the junk mail. The members of this all-wizards club still bother reaching their message to us Muggles."
Martin and Lonnie looked at the red flyer. At the top right corner was a black pentagram, each corner occupied by a menacing figure that held a spear and aimed it at a screaming figure lying at the pentagram's center. The teens flinched when they recognized the central figure as Penna De Mort's own silhouette. Her open mouth screamed the printed words SORCERERS AGAINST PENNA.
Lonnie was the first to decide to read the propaganda out loud. "'A world is filled with villains, heroes, reformees, and other forms of living creatures that, to some eyes, are nothing worth more than pests, yet are relevant to the system's balance. As evil sorcerers, we believe that the evil acts we do are mere contributions to the world's balance. We are made to conquer, to destroy, and to test the worthiness and strength of the warriors out there who were built to stop us. As much as we hate heroes and reformees, we still accept that it's just the way life works.'"
"Reading that first paragraph out loud makes it sound like combining Fairy Godmother's Remedial Goodness classes and Dragon Hall's Unfair Negotiation Class." Martin rolled his eyes. "I could fall asleep by now."
Lonnie widened her eyes as she read further. "'However, sorcerers like us can't tolerate everything. Evil occasionally comes with unnecessary evil, a bad creature that poisons our lives for amusement like a worm to an apple. Such an unbearable insect has appeared in only one form, and that form is Penna De Mort.
"'Lord Voldemort himself has never bothered us, but his daughter has on too many accounts. To her, evil is only to amuse herself and we are her toys. She has purposely sabotaged our plans and ruined our lives. She went even as far as to endanger our children, whose futures may be in peril because of this beast who laughs at us and says that her sole excuse for harassing us was sport.
"'We won't tolerate it anymore. Our coven, built by the most powerful witches and wizards and other immortal and dark monsters known to man, have formed to built Sorcerers Against Penna, a society dedicated to purge the world of the parasite that is Penna. We are a society that promise that a perfect balanced world is not one with Penna De Mort killed or destroyed, but one as if Penna De Mort never existed. We are pledged to cleanse the universe of the beast and give our descendants, the youngest members, the future they deserve. We promise to be SAP.'" Lonnie looked up from the paper. "Total extremists and parents-of-the-year! They want to annihilate Penna as much as her own father wants to kill her."
"She can easily kiss goodbye to any chance of survival after the war." Bevalheath shook his head. "If You-Know-Who doesn't kill her first, the SAP will erase her first."
"And the worst part is that the majority of their claims is correct." Carly took the paper back and put it back in the drawer. "The Isle villains suffered sadistic suffering and feared De Mort because of her cruelty, but the SAP villains were personally offended. They are among the greatest villains in their areas and De Mort humiliates and mocks them like a brat in a playground who doesn't know she angered the big bullies."
"The leader has it worst!" Bevalheath waved his fork in the air before faking to be poked on the neck by it. "Stories went around for years, even before the SAP leader came to the Isle, that Penna De Mort tried to kill the SAP leader's son when the child was barely eight days old."
"What?" Martin exclaimed.
"No way! Penna tried to kill a baby?" Lonnie paused. "Then again, she is her father's kid..."
"Her father prefers using a Killing Curse. She tried to slice the dude's throat open!" Bevalheath made the hand gesture on his throat. The slashing noise his tongue made did not help Martin and Lonnie. Well, the charming things you never knew about your 'friendly' neighbor.
"The SAP leader was lucky enough to save her infant from death, even if it caused her face to get scarred in the process," Alva said. "Unfortunately, she had to give up her son to her Muggle husband and shield the two of them and their home with a shielding spell. At the cost of never being able to raise her own child, she had to abandon them to ensure that Penna De Mort wouldn't come back to repeat her deed."
"Did she ever see them again?" Lonnie asked.
"She's spreading propaganda to annihilate De Mort." Carly rolled her eyes. "You think she had time for a family reunion? Besides, she claimed that, for the safety of her own boy, she and her husband had to act like she abandoned them because she didn't want to have a Muggle spouse and a half-blood for a son."
"And I thought my mother was the worst mother of the year." Alva leaned over while Carly cleared the table. He turned to Martin. "She got me stuck in the Raft after that warehouse explosion."
"The one where you sacrificed your life to save me." Martin shook his head in guilt. His friend patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey, consolation wise, I had no idea that my electricity powers would actually make me immune to energy generating powers. At least two hours after I went unconscious from my fall, I woke up and found myself without scratches. When I got up, the entire place was in ruins. I went off to find you and that's when the SHIELD officials came and arrested me. Not because I was the partner of a dangerous monkey boy criminal, but because they believed my also-arrested mother when she told them I was her accomplice for that nuclear explosion in Hong Kong."
"I remember that year," Lonnie said. "An entire nuclear factory got damaged and threatened to harm an entire town. Took my mom and all the connections she knew to help out everyone and avoid radioactive natural endangerment."
"She completely lied!" Martin hit his fist on the table. "You were with me and several countries away when Electronique blew up that factory!"
"I know, but would anyone listen to a VK?" He shook his head, which made his electric hair move like waved currents. "She didn't last long, though. After the Isle's barrier rejected us and she saw that we were to be imported to the Raft, my mom said she'd rather die than be imported to the Raft. The prison medics decided to let her have it and injected a death serum on her. They threw her corpse in the water and gave the sea monster a shocking dessert."
"At least they let you live in the First Sector's electricity warehouse." Bevalheath pointed out. "Alva's now responsible of running the electric power in all the Raft that generates practically everything. In the Raft, if you run something in the First Sector, it means that it can damage the Raft if you dare tamper with it. Last year we suffered from a blackout when some kid tried heating up a marshmallow over Alva's warehouse generators."
"Is that where we're going? To your warehouse?" Lonnie asked Alva.
"No." He shook his head. "After the short current cut I caused in the Third Sector, the ZAM-Trio will easily figure out that only the Raft's lead expert in electricity and Martin Fiske's sole friend here could have done this to distract them and sneak out the captives. The first thing they might do is raid my warehouse before they start hunting you down. Besides, you're not here on vacation. As soon as we hit the port, we're taking you straight to the submarines that'll get you out of here."
"Where are the submarines?" Martin asked.
"At the heart of the First Sector is a ruined subway station. Back when the place was full of guards occasionally inspecting us, we noticed that they used a hidden door there that leads straight to their submarine hangar. I managed to locate the door, but I can't figure out the code to hack it. Not to mention that by the time we reach the First Sector, the river won't be big enough to support the boat, so we'll have to sneak by foot."
"Superb." Martin rubbed his temples as he muttered.
"Good thing I now where we can find the First Sector's best info broker. We just need to stop by the aquarium to get our passage," Carly said eagerly.
"That's perfect!" Alva said. "The aquarium is only a ten minute walk from where we'll have to park the boat." He looked at the two renegades. "I know you've disguised at least once, but you really need to watch how you act and behave. Texas McLean got orders to cover every perimeter with cameras. Even vocal recognition is part of her security applications."
"So that's why you didn't want me to talk when you saved me." Lonnie now understood.
"Exactly." Alva got up from his chair and stretched. He almost caused the room's sole source of electricity to pop. "I don't know if she has already done it, but she could have easily have your voices recorded so that she can unleash sonar detectors all over the Three Sectors. I cross my fingers she didn't."
Once the kitchen was cleared, Bevalheath went upstairs first to the dock. They waited for at least five minutes until he poked his head down and said. "So far no signs of trouble. We should be able to reach the First Sector in about ten minutes."
Carly flinched. "Wait! What about the SCPD?"
Alva gritted his teeth. "Shit!"
"SCPD? Is that like a police department?" Lonnie asked.
"Short for Sector Customs Police Department, sis." Bevalheath poked his head back down. "If any ship or vehicle goes between sectors, they first have to go through the border officials. Make sure that we aren't doing illegal smuggling."
"Gee, how convenient," Martin said sarcastically. "Auradon couldn't do their job to prevent four kids to steal a wand, the Huns couldn't do their job when De Mort stole marks of villainy, and nobody did anything when De Mort Senior took over the Raft. Why are officials so bad?"
"The SCPD are units of robots, not fleshed villains!" Carly tapped on Martin's head. "I live separately from my mom. I live in the First Sector and she lives in the Third Sector. Once, she actually managed to break her way out of her cell and tried to smuggle her way to the First Sector, but the SCPD drones instantly found her hiding in the trunk of a medic's car. They chained her by the arms to ensure that it would never happen again."
"Did the Dark Lord kill her?" Martin's blunt question got him an elbow punch from Lonnie. The three Raft VKs shrugged, the same way you'd shrug when you say that you killed someone, but frankly, it's not like that person would be missed.
But now the question hung in the air. How on earth would they get to the First Sector without being caught by the SCPD drones? Since hiding in a trunk did not seem to work for everyone, they needed to find another hiding spot for the two fugitives. If they didn't, lives would be ruined.
Back in Auradon
This was probably by far the most silent night Marius had ever dealt with. It was like the reappearance of Voldemort caused everyone to shut themselves away when the meeting was over. School was closed, restaurants and shops were vacant of customers, the doors locked tight, and curtains shielding windows. The city looked deserted when Marius decided to just walk his way to the hospital rather than normally fly there. Gray clouds covered the sky, not in the sense of when rain was coming, but in the sense that they felt like depressing someone. And yet, even though it wasn't raining, the sidewalk Marius was stepping on certainly felt muddy.
He sighed. He never should have come to Auradon, or that's what he thought. None of today's events would have occurred if he had just stayed home. Maybe if he hadn't fallen in love... He physically slapped himself. Why was he thinking such things?
Marius: I never meant things to go this way,
I thought they were cleared in my head.
Yet it still happened anyway,
And I just chose to keep ahead.
My heart melted from that first moment
When I heard her speak to me. To me.
They kept telling to let it go.
I should have stayed where I was, but no!
He jumped on a lamppost and just hung there, watching the clouds boom with thunder, before he went back to marching on the sidewalk.
Marius: The guilt from within shouts to me
That I should have stuck to my duties.
My kingdom does mean to me,
But she's my star above all the rarities.
Nobody tells me how she should make me feel!
These sentiments are for real,
I don't need to be a lying eel!
My guilt from within can't heal
A stone heart that I don't have.
I won't let anyone through the love I have
For her.
My people need me, but so does she.
My thoughts scream to me like a banshee.
Such crimes seem so deep,
It makes turn in my sleep.
Am I sure of what's wrong or right?
Can't I have both in my life?
I can't just let it go.
My feelings are so messed up, oh!
Once the thunder boomed again, the rain finally decided to shower its way down at him.
Marius: The guilt from within shouts to me
That I should have stuck to my duties.
My kingdom does mean to me,
But she's my star above all the rarities.
Nobody tells me how she should make me feel!
These sentiments are for real,
I don't need to be a lying eel!
My guilt from within can't heal
A stone heart that I don't have.
I won't let anyone through the love I have
For her.
Marius folded his wings down as the rain poured down. Flying was most certainly not recommended under such weather, and frankly he was not in the mood for it.
For a moment, it seemed like it stopped raining when some sort of green light covered him. Yet it still rained behind the wall of light. Marius frowned.
"The Lady would probably assassinate me if you died from a nasty cold," a voice spoke behind him. Marius looked behind him. One of the Death Eater offspring was holding his wand up in the air, holding the green dome that shielded them from the rain like an umbrella. Despite the oddly generous act, Marius wished that it was anybody else but Bayen.
"Funny. Last time I checked, you'd gladly murder anyone who felt like competition to you." The prince scowled at the wizard.
"Normally I do." The latter shrugged in agreement. "But with the turn of events and Bloodyle warning me to not test the Lady's level of patience the moment she wakes, it disgusts me to say that for now, differences must be set aside." He waved his hand at the direction Marius was heading in the first place. Understanding that Bayen was offering to walk him to the hospital in a dry shape, Marius accepted the obligation and walked with him. It felt odd, walking through the street like Moses through the Red Sea, with a rival that you never officially met until a few hours ago. Marius wondered how his father felt when he and Roland instantly became rivals despite only knowing each other for a few minutes.
"So," Bayen was the first to dare to break the silence between them, "judging by the reaction you had back at the meeting, I'm assume you prefer the good Lady over the evil Lady?"
"No. I don't prefer any of them, just the one that the two combined make."
"Combined?" Bayen blinked. "Well that's a first. Not many have seen the Lady with her entire being as one. The idea of you actually seeing her in both at once is... rather unnerving."
"Let me guess. You only know her as her evil self?" Marius guessed.
"Everyone knows her as her evil self, a few have seen her good self, and the numbers of those who have seen her as a whole are down to zero." Bayen briefly looked up at the sky pouring upon them. "The Dark Lord created such a being, he managed to ensure that the link between her goodness and evil was severed enough to prevent them from harmonizing. Each one acts as a parasite to the other. The good Lady is kind but so cowardly and helpless. The bad Lady is powerful, cruel, and selfish, but still manages to have enough decent morality against her black heart. His mistake with his offspring by tricking her mother, a benevolent nature demon, is why he first wants to turn Fa Li Lonnie into a heartless Death Eater before she produces his Horcruxes. No goodness can mean no weaknesses...or at least that's what he thinks."
"And what do you think?"
"I think he's not partially wrong." Bayen gritted his teeth in bitterness. "When two cruel villains mate, they ensure the child's total evil future. If it were villains with a morality, the child has a chance of defecting. And then when there's a case like yours...well, you know how reformees function."
Reformees. The word villains used to express their hatred for antiheroes and their offspring. Even at Auradon Prep, VKs still used that slang to refer to anyone who was a reformed villain, a hardly-heroic hero, or the child of both a hero and a villain. Marius knew instantly that Bayen was calling him a 'reformee' because of his evil and good heritage the same way the prince learned that wizards and witches from Penna's world gave racist words such as 'Muggle' for non-magical people, 'Mudblood' for wizards born to Muggles, 'half-blood' if you were a mix of the non-magical and wizard world or any other separate species, and 'pureblood' if you claimed to have zero Muggle blood in your wizard family. The things you learn when you date the daughter of Voldemort.
"And you? How do you think you function?" Marius questioned the wizard.
"I function as I was raised." Then came a venomous glare. "Unlike you, me and the other children of Death Eaters had no choice. Our parents were all dark witches and wizards, pureblood to no exception, who raised us sternly to obey the Dark Lord and his child solely. My mother took it more seriously than others, as her labeled status of 'Dark Lord's Most Devoted Servant and Most-Unlikely-To-Get-Hooked-Up-With-Him.' She raised me harshly the moment I was eleven, to turn me into a loyal member of the next generation personally assigned to be the Princess of Evil's own group of Death Eaters. By the time I turned seventeen, the maturity age of wizards, she let the Dark Lord cast a youth spell on us. We can still die from anything, but we can't grow old. Also, our cruelty still remains."
"I pity you," Marius said genuinely.
"I don't need your pity." Bayen turned his head gruffly. "My dislike for you is enough."
"Right, I keep forgetting Penna dislikes you the most out of the Death Eater kids."
Bayen snorted. "The Lady never liked any of us. Just like her father, she had no compassion for any of the Death Eaters. My mother also raised me to be like she was to Voldemort: a devoted servant on a high level of mad love, but never gets the mutual respect. The Lady was about forty and still looked like a young sixteen-year-old maiden when I got the job of the seventeen-year-old hopelessly devoted servant slash suitor."
"But...You're telling me that you only pursued Penna because your mother told you to? But that's not fair!" Marius did start feeling terrible for Bayen. Spending about seven decades as someone's slave and acting like a brokenhearted stalker just because you were told to? Marius wondered if Penna never knew about this. She probably did, otherwise Bayen wouldn't have suffered so much.
"Nothing in my life's fair." Bayen said in high tone of awful calmness. "It wasn't fair that the Lady had to keep us around while the Dark Lord planned to have us backstab her. It wasn't fair that she only trusted Bloodyle, her foster sibling and a beast, over us wizards. It was especially unfair for me when she preferred to play favorites with the VKs not related to Death Eaters while I had to suffer never getting the affection I never asked for." He lowered his head. "Even now, I still wish she never adopted Sparkle and Joker, especially Joker."
"Because she actually gave them love." Marius nodded. "She really acts like an overprotective parent towards them." His brain recalled the memory of Penna arguing with Jessie when the former had a hard time accepting the latter's sexual preferences until she had a chat with Marius.
Bayen physically struggled to hold back the tears he didn't have, which made him look more insane than usual. "Because her father ruined her childhood, the Lady played the role of the overly doting parent. She spoiled them with everything we were denied growing up: hundreds of toys, evil cute dresses, kits for girly makeup or pranks, blackmailing the other adult villains so that they could get a deserved education and Sparkle could become a jeerleader, battle or show Pokemon, hyena puppies, purple zebra unicorns..."
"Purple zebra unicorn?" Marius asked.
"Never ask for the story. Point is, the girls were so spoiled, Bergen and Feige were respected for their evil works, Indimia got the food she wanted, and Bloodyle had her regular treatment...But Brittany, Roedor, Drystan, and I were completely left out unless she had to scream at us for not doing our job."
"Ouch." Marius admitted that it sounded harsh, but could he honestly blame Penna? Not really. He was willing to bet that if the Bog King were still evil and had tried to corrupt his own son, the latter would have probably abused his servants if they were only tasked by the Bog King to serve his son. Heck, the Bog King barely liked his goblin servants at all. He could only tolerate his own mother and son, but when it came to his goblin subjects, forget it. Good thing he had his wife to keep him in check.
After at least ten minutes of walking, they reached the hospital. The lights were shut off, the parking lot was empty, and nobody was at the reception. Only a guard or two stood on top of the building or behind the trees, as if to make sure that nobody with bad intentions would disturb Penna De Mort during her coma. Marius and Bayen were lucky to not get shot as they pushed the glass doors open. The building was completely dead silent, increasing the creepiness of a ghost town atmosphere as the boys walked through the hallways. Once they were inside the building, Bayen put his wand away and the green shield disappeared.
"The place is dead quiet," Marius remarked. "I'm shocked the doctors didn't stay."
"I don't like it." Bayen leaned on the nearest wall and sniffed the white paint. "Whenever we're in a place that's 'dead quiet' like you say, it either means that everyone's run off to avoid the Lady's wrath...or that someone stupid is sneaking to jump on her."
Marius stiffened. "You don't think Voldemort sneaked one of his minions in to finish Penna off for him, do you?"
"No. He'd rather finish her off himself. Let's sneak." The boys crouched and started crawling down the hallway. All the doors were shut and the blinds closed, but they still took their precautions whenever they needed to lift their heads up. When they made a turn for the east hallway, they saw that only one door was open. The door belonged to the room where Penna was sleeping in.
"You've prevailed in collecting her blood. I'm impressed," a dark male voice spoke from the room. Bayen, in a state of fright, covered Marius mouth and pulled him behind a vending machine. Marius kept his mouth shut and his ears open as he and Bayen unintentionally eavesdropped. Who is it? He mouthed.
Chase Young! Bayen mouthed in fright.
Marius stiffened. The immortal Hun warrior and father of the witch who came to suggest that Penna turned back to evil was here? Judging by the expression of the young wizard, it was a fearful yes answer.
"Of course it worked," an adult female voice spoke back, confusing the boys. None of them recognized that voice. "With Voldemort busy playing with his toys and threatening others' lives, his pest of a daughter is left with little protection. Not even her gang of brats can help her from one syringe taking some of her blood." Some shuffling footsteps were heard and the door slightly creaked. Bayen and Marius sunk deeper in their hiding place.
"And the issue with turning Penna back to the...right side?" Chase Young snickered at the twisted mention of turning Marius' girlfriend back to what villains define as the right side. The side of evil.
"Your daughter gave out the options. In three days, the pest will be obliged to pick out of them. I don't care which one she picks, but I need to get her to exchange a day in order for the plan to work. A day must be given to change another day."
Marius frowned. A day must be given to change another day. What did this mean?
"And your..." The immortal Heylin warrior clicked his tongue, "treasure stolen by Voldemort?"
The boys heard the sound of a hand slapping the other away. "All will eventually be fixed. In less than an amount of time, everything will be as they were meant to be. Our brothers and sisters will be able to continue with their lives, you can go back to spreading evil and drinking soup, and I will go back to catching up with the days I missed with my family."
"Splendid," Chase Young muttered in bitterness. With the tone the man had used, Marius now understood who the woman was.
"And what off the Fae Realm prince?"
"As if a fairy goblin hybrid will stop me!" The female voice laughed. "What will he do? Whack me with his father's scepter? Sing me into redemption? Please! He's an insect compared to me!"
Marius felt like his ego was being punched and regurgitated up and down his stomach, as was the effect of his pride being injured. A flashing light came and went. When the boys dared to peak their heads out of their hiding spots...
"They're gone!" Marius and Bayen ran to Penna's room. She still slept in her bed, with an oxygen mask covering her mouth. While her right arm rested on her chest covered by white bed sheets, the other arm was dangling over the edge. Marius held her arm in his hand and noticed a black spot on her wrist. He pressed a finger above it and a speck of blood spilled.
"Looks like they did make off with some of her blood. Question is why?" Marius said.
Bayen pulled out his wand and tapped it onto Penna's wound. "Sanguis," he hissed. A green glow came out of the tip of his wand and sealed up the cut hole like a zipper. "Good think they only took like three or four blood cells."
"Yes, but what for?" Marius arched an eyebrow. "And what did they mean by 'a day must be given to change another day'?"
"You're worried about that?" Bayen's eyes almost went off their orbits. "I'm more worried about who the witch is! Chase Young acts like me whenever I'm around the Lady and I say that her cruelty charms me! That Heylin warrior is more ancient than the Dark Lord, but he obeys someone else?"
Marius glanced at the unconscious Penna. His head was having a heard time putting the pieces together. Someone bossing around a close-to-god villain more ancient than Penna and her father? Some witch who saw Marius as nothing that could defeat her and yet still managed to play with others to hatch her plan to rid of Penna for good.
A day must be given to change another day.
Just who the Hell was the witch leading the Sorcerers Against Penna?