A/N: Hello all, sorry it's been longer than usual. Life as always, plus the editing for this has gotten really tricky. Hopefully this will tide those still loyal over until I can get the rest back on track.
Reviews are , as always, the inspiration I need to keep plugging away.
This chapter may seem pointless and not a lot happens (it's a lot in flashback, and flashback within flashback to boot!) but bear with it. Some important stuff is glossed over (and also touched upon too)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Glee, if I did I would have forced Darren Criss to do more hip swivelling than he did in the first ep of Season 3 (and he did a lot!), but that's just because those hips should be declared a World Heritage Asset (and speaking of assets...)
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If it wasn't as funny as it was, it really would have been quite terrifying, Lord Tubbington thought to himself.
After the 'Miracles of Lima' incident, the entire city had been overrun by media, sightseers, amateur investigators and most annoyingly of all, by agents from almost every agency the government had.
At first they had concentrated on the hospital, but soon the men and women in the poorly made suits (Kurt had been most vocal about that) were spilling out into the city proper.
All the various intelligence agencies jockeyed for position and access to whoever might shed some light on the strange goings on in Lima.
The official law enforcement authorities weren't alone.
The Centres for Disease Control sent a team to investigate the claims of miraculous cures and impossible healing.
Almost every hotel and motel in town was filled by police detectives, special agents, television reporters, newspaper journalists and the like.
It wasn't just US agencies or local press either.
There were agents from all over the world. Spies from Russia, China, England... even a team of steel-eyes Jesuits sent by the Vatican.
Walking down the street outside the hospital, or the mall or the local parks became a nightmare of foreign accents and tripping over camera crews.
Luckily, it seemed that someone or something was on Kurt and Blaine's side.
The investigators (both journalistic and governmental) were, it seemed, incapable of teamwork.
At times it almost seemed as if someone high up in the government was deliberately pitting the various agencies against each other.
Witnesses would be interviewed over and over again, until they reached the point where they refused point blank to speak to anyone else about anything.
Agencies who requested transcripts or reports from other agents would find the files delayed for unspecified reasons, or lost, or...
Electronic bugging, computer tracking, wire taps, listening devices and security footage were unreliable at best.
Half the time the material just wasn't there.
More than one agent or reporter was heard to question aloud what sort of town was it where more than eighty percent of the red-light cameras, security surveillance or even the cameras in the auto-teller machines simply didn't record anything anymore.
If an agent or reporter was able to actually find a recording, trying to send it to his or her head office, or to another reporter usually resulted in the 'accidental' erasure of the original instead.
(Kurt insisted that he hadn't asked any of the machines to help keep the secret, but... he hadn't asked them to cooperate with the investigations either)
Agents or reporters who managed to rise above the obstacles and make some progress in the investigation found themselves 'rewarded' with promotions or new assignments.
These rewards were almost always too good an opportunity to refuse, so as time went on, the quality of the agents left... fell slightly.
Someone was very, very good at damage control.
It had been almost a week since the shooting incident.
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Burt had been required to go in for an examination by the CDC doctors. He had endured several hours of gentle interrogation by a variety of government investigators, but all attempts made by the assorted media agencies to 'share his important story with the public' had been politely but firmly rebuffed.
Dave had gone home to his father, taking Dog with him.
Finn had eventually stopped crying, but Rachel had insisted on staying close to him.
She had turned up every morning on their doorstep at eight and filled Finn's days with activities and things to keep his mind off his missing friend.
Finally she had taken him to visit Dave and Dog and both she and the large footballer had sat and laughed as they watched Finn and Dog demonstrate the perfect way to scratch one's own back.
Dave had talked softly to Rachel for quite a while during their visit, and a few days later he had asked her if he would be able to have some time to talk to her fathers.
Rachel's dads had called him an hour after Rachel had left Dave's house and invited him over for dinner.
Finn had sat on the Berry's back porch looking at the stars and holding Rachel closely to his chest as they had tried hard not to listen to the three soft voices murmuring around the table in the family kitchen.
Jeff had been forced to go on a previously planned family trip to visit his grandmother, but he and Dave were calling each other at least twice a day.
They had been a little disappointed to discover that their psychic link faded beyond their ability to read after a separation of a few miles, although the Andersons and Lord Tubbington were still impressed by the distance covered.
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Lord Tubbington sat in Brittany's living room and watched the news reports, while he thought back over that momentous meeting in the Hummel's backyard.
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John and Elaine had spent the rest of that first afternoon at the Hummel's explaining to Kurt and the others about the traditions and procedures of the Society of Godmothers. After questioning from Kurt and Blaine they had admitted that the pair had opted for the 'traditional' suite of Godmother powers, wishing themselves simple gifts of insight, good fortune and wisdom.
Burt and Carole had stared at the rings offered to them for over three hours.
Finally, after words with Blaine and Kurt, they had agreed to put them on.
Lord Tubbington, the Andersons and even Finn had offered suggestions for wishes, although Lord Tubbington had stressed that it remained unknown how powerful their wishes might prove to be.
("No Finn, "Burt had growled, "Your mother and I do not need big metal wings and laser beams for eyes.")
Brittany had simply giggled when someone thought to ask her advice and told them that Burt and Carole would never know what they wanted, but they could get what they need.
(She started singing the song at that point too)
Carole and Burt had put the rings on each other (much the same way Kurt and Blaine had done) and stared into each other's eyes and kissed as the whirlwind of sparks had erupted.
It was Pang who had thought to prepare.
It was Blaine, however, who acted.
Blaine's supernatural senses alerted him to the danger seconds before the others noticed it, and he moved fast. Snatching the precaution which Grandpa Pang had wisely thought might be needed (he had been observing the family for a few days he revealed later), Blaine opened the umbrella and held it over the heads of the kissing couple.
When they counted them later, there were forty seven coins in total, all pure gold.
Burt and Carole kept whatever wishes they had made to themselves.
Lord Tubbington had stared at the coins and started to shake. When asked why he told everyone about the prophecy.
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What had happened next was...
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"Prophecy? "Kurt exclaimed, "All this time you've had a prophecy? And you didn't think to mention it before now because...?"
Lord Tubbington withstood the Diva Glare Kurt threw his way better than most people would have, although he did still quail slightly.
"We have fragments, pieces of prophecy, "He explained, "Some have been lost over the centuries, some seem to have come to pass, others we preserve and ponder over, and some..."
"What happens? "Blaine asked softly, sensing the cat's deep sorrow.
"Some are never heard and recorded in the first place. "Lord Tubbington said simply. "Sometimes the... the Seer speaks but the witnesses do not hear, or aren't there or...they don't listen."
"You seem to speak from experience." Kurt was gentler now also.
"I thought I could find my Queen without help from any mortal, however gifted. I thought I was wiser than I am. I refused to listen to the Seer. My friend, one of the fairies mentioned in that play if you would like to know, she found her, and took the record. But it was wartime, one of the useless, petty wars you humans seem to love so much. They found them, the Seer and Moth, they thought they had secrets, and they tortured them. Neither of them would break the trust I had placed in them, so they died. Moth died broken and alone. She hasn't been reborn again. I fear she may be lost forever. So many of us have gone, just faded away over time. We are older than the earth you know, it gets a bit wearying sometimes... remembering.
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"What happened to the Seer?" Blaine knelt beside the stricken Cat as Kurt tried to rub his ears to comfort him.
"She died too. "Lord Tubbington sighed, "She was human, the Seer always is. They burned her, as a witch. That's the real tragedy you see, because of who the Seer was this time. It wasn't just a human with the gift of sight this time. It turns out, we'd actually found the incarnation of...HER, but I was so full of my own importance that I hadn't even bothered to check it out."
"Ok, I'm hearing capitalisation here again, "Kurt said, "Who are we talking about?"
Lord Tubbington looked at Pang.
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"There are many humans who share the gifts of the seers, "Pang explained. "Some are more powerful than others. Some even realise their cycle of rebirth as they live and die and are born again, but they never remember all the details, just visions of the past, the way they see visions of the present and the future. But one human remembers everything, one human through all of history is The Seer, the one who sees. She, for she is always female, remembers her past. She sees all the possible futures clearly too. In Ancient Times she was honoured as the Prophet of Apollo."
"The Oracle of Delphi?" Jeff exclaimed.
"Yes, "Pang continued, "Also known as The Pythia. Many Seers used to congregate at her temple, for protection and help. It's not a common gift, but those who bear the burden are often... different."
"Like Brittany?" Kurt asked, "She's a seer isn't she?"
Pang nodded.
"No, "Lord Tubbington exclaimed, "She's not a seer, she's..."
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Everyone turned to look at the slender, athletic girl who was dancing with her own lengthening shadow now.
"They broke her, "Lord Tubbington sighed deeply, "They hurt her and she cannot forget. So I made a wish, my last wish. I swore I would find her and guard her. I swore I would remain in whatever form I was reborn into and not leave her until my Queen came and healed her. I used the last of my power to cloud her vision as best I could. I could not take the memory from her, so I hid it in a whirlwind of memories and visions. Through the years since then I followed her as she grew old and died again. Sometimes, even in her confusion she speaks true. Sometimes she has even uttered true Prophecy. I recorded them and sent them to the Archives. One day she will be healed, but till then I hold to my wish."
Brittany smiled at them as she noticed their stares.
"Do I have something on my face?" She asked smiling. "Oh no, don't tell me I forgot to put clothes on again."
She checked herself quickly, sighing with relief when she felt her shirt beneath her fingers.
"It's OK Britt, "Kurt smiled at her, "We were just talking about... stuff."
"Like finding a Queen?" Brittany asked as she looked at two identical cans of soda on the table and tried to figure out which one was bigger.
"You know how to find them?" Blaine asked softly.
"Well, we know lots of Queens Blaine Warbler! "Brittany smiled at him more broadly and giggled at his obvious foolishness. "I mean, we know songs by Queen, we sang 'Somebody to Love' that one time, remember Kurt? And Mercedes, you have a poster of Queen Latifah on the front of your project book, I loaned you the glue for it. Rachel wants to be the Queen of Broadway one day, she told me so when I interviewed her on Fondue for Two. And Rachel ad Finn met the old Queen while we were at Nationals, you must remember telling us about that Rachel, you squealed really, really loud. Then there's Quinn, she's always been the Queen B remember, and for a Queen closer to home, there's a Queen sitting right there Blaine Warbler."
Blaine looked over to where Brittany was pointing, at him and Kurt.
"Britt honey, "Carole interrupted gently as Kurt began to pale and bite his lip. "That's not a terribly nice word to use to describe the boys, I think..."
"I mean, he's totally got the crown and everything. I was there, you danced with him Blaine... I think. Or am I forgetting to remember it right again?" Brittany seemed unsure.
"She means Prom!" Finn exclaimed loudly, a grin breaking his serious look.
"Yeah! "Brittany nodded eagerly. "We all rode there in the coach with... oh shoot, what is his name? Starts with an...N or an M I think...and ... and Blaine danced with Kurt all night and broke his shoelaces and then at the end of the night Kurt was the Queen, and after the crownifying all the other students clapped them while Kurt danced and Dave sang and... no, wait, that hasn't happened yet. It was the other Prom. Sorry, I get them mixed up. It was the Prom I didn't go to with Santana."
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Brittany was holding her head as if she had a headache.
"Sorry... I get...I get muddled...I think I might go ..."
Carole started to lead the girl over to a chair in the shade while Burt poured her a large glass of iced water.
"I was... what was I talking about?"
"Nothing important sweetie, "Carole smiled, "You were telling us about the time New Directions sang that song by Queen."
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"Oh yes!" Brittany nodded, "Somebody to Love, I really liked that song because..."
Brittany stopped speaking and stared into space blankly for a few seconds.
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"The second cannot find herself until the first is found, but the first will do the finding. She will not speak until the deathless has died and the fire had been lit anew. Can I have a soda please?"
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Carole hid her shock well and handed the girl a soda.
"Was that...?"Kurt whispered.
"Prophecy." Pang nodded solemnly.
"Quick, "Lord Tubbington hissed, "Write it down someone, while we still remember it. It's one of the rules. It must be written down."
Luckily, Rachel always had her diary on her. (You never knew when you might need to capture a song inspiration)
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Lord Tubbington changed the channel and looked over to the message he had just replied to on his email.
The boys would need to go to pick up the fragments of prophecy from the courier in New York, he decided. The fact that prophecies couldn't be transferred by electronic means at all had always bothered him, but it had only taken few days to gather the precious fragments together and get them sent over from Ireland. The boys needed a break anyway, and the lawyers would love the chance to finally get their signatures on the documents of transfer.
Lord Tubbington sighed as he watched more news stories about unexplained miracles and strange magical occurrences that were beginning to crop up across the country now, and even overseas.
Faerie was approaching, the Queens were needed, he thought, Blaine and Kurt needed to come into their full power. They needed to solve the prophecy, they needed to...
He thought back on what the boys had achieved so far.
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Lord Tubbington, for the first time in centuries, felt... excited.