Chapter 49: Castle De Mort
Had anyone been living in that time period, they would have thought that there would be no way, even to the last blight (the villain monetary currency) that they'd venture into Mt Vesuvius. And if you doubled the bet just so that they'd go back, they'd probably toss you into the local lava cascades.
As the readers know, only Gladiola had to deal with the experience of going back to the area. For the Simian Witch, she would have dreaded it. For Marius, well, he didn't think it could be any different than Penna's house back in Auradon Prep.
"Is this the right place?" Gladiola asked confusingly. They had arrived, escorted by the guards, into the main heart of the dark estate. The lava cascades had been dried up, leaving some light grey steams to spit it in a yet soothing tone. In the dark cavern, small teal lights were illuminating the walls in a hive pattern. The castle itself, though majestic, gave out the feeling that the building itself is sleeping.
"Isn't the place supposed to be burning up with all the monsters working? Or did Penna decide to put her take-over-the-world plot on hold?" Gladiola was beyond confused.
"Well, since she aimed to be different from her father... I guess she gave the workers a curfew so that they may go to bed?" The Simian Witch suggested. They looked at the guards, who just gave them mere nods.
The gates to the castle opened and they were escorted inside. Shockingly enough, the hallways they passed made them feel like they were walking through a forest of green-and-blue trees made of gems and an earth made out of serpentine stained grass. The guards brought them to some kind of ballroom-sized ballroom, where Brittany Crouch and Roedor Pettigrew sat. She rubbed her eyes in tiredness as she drank from a mug and he rubbed his eyes as he watched floating bubbles show the main locations of the castle.
Brittany straightened herself when the group was brought before her. "It's too early..." She yawned.
"We accidentally landed in your terrain. We are only trying to get back to the city," Marius said.
"You can go back in the morning," Roedor yawned.
"It's morning." Marius pointed out drily.
"I mean like 6am or something."
"It'll be too late."
"Amateurs. Gladiola rolled her eyes. She shrunk to the size of a mouse, escaping her bonds, and grew back to regular. She pulled out a cowbell just her size and began beating it like a loud gong while singing.
Gladiola: I'm a nice lady
But I can be shady
To get anything I want.
You can give me disdain
But I'm all to reign.
Gladiola: My crown centers the universe,
Because without me, your life would be a curse.
Gladiola: I am royalty.
I am deity.
I am femininity.
I am society.
I am royalty!
I am ROYALTY!
I AM ROYALTY!
"ENOUGH!" One of the bubbles popped. Penna De Mort landed by punching the floor, creating cracks on the beautiful colors. Judging by her messy hair, the dark marks underneath her eyes, and her wrinkled nightrobe barely covering her, she looked beyond ticked.
"Whose genius idea is it to conspire and provoke my slumber?" She demanded. She froze and darted her eyes at the Simian Witch. "Crucio!"
Magic hit the Simian Witch, who began to twist like a worm. She was biting her lips to keep herself from giving in and screaming.
"So, finally had the nerve to wait seventeen years for revenge by sneaking in my domain and killing me in my sleep?" Penna sneered. "A bit late... AAH!"
Penna stopped her Cruciatus on the Simian Witch when Impius, who was delighted to see her again, pulled away from the leash one of the guards held him by and jumped on Penna, giving her a bunch of cheek lickings.
"Aw, it's a cute little rodent!" Roedor lost all tiredness and rushed to have a better look at the imp.
"Stop licking me!" Penna tried to pull Impius away. The imp did exactly as Penna said but replaced licking with hugging. "OK, whose animal is this?"
Gladiola, the Simian Witch, and the guard pointed at Marius. He had been so speechless, seeing Penna nearly close to how he remembered her.
"Hi," was all he could let out in the cheapest form.
Penna blinked. She dropped Impius roughly, prompting Roedor to slide and catch him. "I... I've seen you before... somewhere..." Penna shook her head. "No, I must be having a migraine."
"Perhaps your Ladyship would care for an early morning bath to clear her thoughts?" Brittany asked cautiously. "Or would you prefer that we move on to interrogating?"
"I'll aim for the first option," Penna sighed. "Keep these three under surveillance once I'm ready for them. And tell the cobras to make me my black venom tea!" She unwrapped her wings and flew her way out. "I miss Dårlig's cooking..."
"Ah, yes." Roedor took a long deep breath. "His croissants frozen in the fridge are nothing compared to his croissants that come straight out of the oven."
Later
They were kept in a rather nice guest room, but dread still filled the air. The guards had confiscated everything Gladiola kept in her hair for inspection, the Simian Witch had gotten silver handcuffs to nullify her powers, and Marius, well, he got nothing. Still, he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't just tell the past version of his girlfriend that he's her future boyfriend. Incineration would ruin everything he had.
Gladiola observed the view from the window. "It's so creepy how they're sleeping so peacefully when they work for a world domination hungry witch. Last time I was here, she had the VKs and reformees in cages and I had to save Ronilda from getting roasted in a lava pit."
The door knocked and opened. Brittany Crouch came in with a tray holding a water pitcher, drinking cups, and a platter full of macaroons. "Her Ladyship didn't want you to starve, so she had me bring you some refreshments."
"Are we prisoners or guests?" The Simian Witch asked.
"In-between." Brittany put down the tray on the nearest table. "She doesn't take kindly to trespassers, but she lets newcomers live longer if she's trying to resolver her confusion. And I must say, you greatly confuse her. The way she blinked at you, it was as if she saw the ghost of her father." She told that last sentence to Marius.
The prince took one of the blue-colored macaroons from the tray and popped it in his mouth. "Definetly Dårlig's cuisine." He said after pleasantly chewing his way through the delicious treat. "Sea salt caramel that tastes exactly like caramel with a pinch of seawater."
"Is this really the time for being a food critic?" The Simian Witch frowned.
"Hey, don't blame him if he went through endless alternate realities just to stop you on an empty stomach!" Gladiola said in defense while Impius proceeded to snatch most of the green-colored macaroons and stuffed them in his mouth. Cascades of green crumbs fell on the floor. "See, even Impius is famished to the point that he only eats the pistachio ones."
"Actually, that's not pistachios. That's kiwis," Brittany said.
"And Impius just loves pastries with the green color," Marius shrugged before eating a regular chocolate macaroon before then saying crossly, "and yes, forgive me if time travelling makes me hungry. I ate nothing, going through a monkey dystopia, Hogwarts in the 1910s, a moon-themed dynasty, De Mort's Estate in 1900, London in the 1920s, and now the Isle of the Lost in last November!"
The Simian Witch pouted like any adult would if they disliked being lectured by a boy. She poured herself a cup of water and drank silently.
"I'm confused." Brittany leaned in and scratched Impius underneath the chin. "I mean, we're all confused right now, those who are awake. But right now I don't understand why you dare time travel in areas that Her Ladyship fancied in the past."
"That's a good question. Silvia, do you want to answer?" Marius snarked at the Simian Witch, who kept pouting, and he went back to Brittany. "Long story aside, we traveled to this time because an enemy to permanently damage reality by preventing a first meeting that's supposed to happen today."
"The official meeting of the Muggle Ruby Kyle and that hybrid Martin Fiske?" Brittany asked.
"Wait, how come you know?"
"You come from the future and yet you don't know this? Her Ladyship is the main regent of all things evil. The world is her chessboard and all the villains in it are the pieces she moves around, to find compatible matches, victories, and failures that lead to the ultimate checkmate. She knows all of them by heart, she gave them their special abilities, and she led them to the ones that would procure them with descendants. She also gives them their weaknesses so that when she pulls the strings, they dare not oppose her. She needed to have Fiske and Kyle come together to push her victory further..."
"Let me guess. She sent in Gummy the pythonaconda?" Gladiola said drily.
"None of us are fans of the name." Brittany shook her head. "But yeah. Her Ladyship intends to use a pythonaconda attack to get those two together."
"So... she's why my... I mean, Martin ended up with Ruby?" The Simian Witch was full of disbelief.
The door opened. Roedor Pettigrew came in and shared some whispers with Brittany. "Her Ladyship is ready to question. She demands that you come." Brittany spoke out loud to Marius.
Marius nodded. He picked up Impius and handed him to Gladiola. The imp tried to reach for its master, but a headshake from him told Impius to behave. Marius followed Roedor out into a hallway before the human rodent led him to the end. Roedor knelt before a circle on the floor and knocked on it, making the blue tiles shift like molting snakeskin. The result caused a spiral staircase to rise. Once it stopped rising, the boys climbed it up until they came across an entrance. Roedor dared not to enter, but he gestured Marius to go in. Once Marius was in, he turned to see Roedor go back down and the staircase followed him.
Marius looked around the office. It was split in half, relating well to its mistress' split personality. The left side was made of dark, unpolished wood, the stone floor was covered in glass shard, broken wood, and unrecognizable stains, and everywhere stood some kind of artistic representation of Voldemort impaled with weapons, stained with magical burnings, or else. The curtains were ripped and spiderweb nests caught the most flies in the area where Penna dedicated her hatred for her father.
The right side, on the other hand, looked much more pleasant. Its dark wood was polished and accompanied by golden trimmings. The chimney let out a warm, teal fire that brought its light on the reflective glass table. A cushioned curule seat was placed in a comfortable area and shelves full of books reached the ceiling. There were cabinets with glass doors revealing countless magical artifacts and an altar holding up some kind of stone basin. What stood out the most to Marius from this side of the room were the animated pictures (he was already made aware on the difference between magical and non-magical photography). They hung on the wall or rested above the fireplace, showing moments where Penna was either in some foreign land or spending quality time with her 'current family.'
The biggest picture of all hung above the fireplace. Just about the height of it fit Marius', it represented two people standing in front of a distant lake. They were a man and a young girl who looked like she could be eleven. Though they were in a pose meant to be still in a photography, they continued to interact, with the man silently caressing the girl's hair. She looked at him with a small smile while biting back the tears she was trying in vain to hide.
Marius recognized the man from the previous time travel. He also recognized the girl in her Slytherin uniform.
"Dumbledore with Penna when she was in Hogwarts," he said rather out loud.
"The only powerful wizard I ever respected."
He turned to the center, where a desk stood. Its chair turned, revealing Penna sitting in it. And in proper attire.
"I was one of his students when he taught Defense Against The Dark Arts in Hogwarts." Penna looked at the picture in softness. "He saw greatness in me..."
"He also saw how much Voldemort hurt you and he knew you weren't doing evil acts of your own free will," Marius said. "He still kept in touch with you even after you turned evil."
"I am the sorceress I am today because of him," Penna nodded. "He encouraged me to build my own potential rather than rely on the inherited. Under his guidance, I traveled the worlds to different wizarding communities, where I learned the different practices and collected more than a thousand artifacts. I have created more villains than my cursed father ever did..." She paused and shook her head. "This is ridiculous! I'm supposed to interrogate you, why am I talking about my life to you?"
Marius tapped his fingers together. "It's... complicated."
"Try me," the sorceress said drily.
"We... I know it sounds impossible to you, but I swear on the River Styx I'm telling the truth." Marius took a deep breath. He walked up so that way there was only a one-foot distance between her behind her desk and him. "We meet in a few months from now... in Auradon."
Penna scowled. She looked like she didn't want to believe him, but since he swore on a sacred river, she knew he was telling the truth. "And?"
"And I messed up big time trying to remove your Kraken Needles... And Voldemort tried to kill you because he found a better replacement... And the Simian Witch time-traveled to stop your evil transformation, and everytime she did that, you died and its the apocalypse, and I had to travel to endless realities to fix them and now it's important that we make sure Ruby Kyle and Martin Fiske's first meeting goes as planned to set things back on track."
"Wait. You tried to remove my needles? And ensure I turned evil?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Marius couldn't answer her. How exactly do you tell you soon-to-be girlfriend, who used to be a so-called stone hearted being, that you care for her?"
Penna could easily tell from his facial expression that he was having trouble answering, so she continued. "How exactly do we end up meeting?"
"You tried to commit suicide," he told her, earning her startled look. "You chained yourself and jumped into a river to drown. Naga alerted me as I was nearby and I flew in to rescue you. I treated your leg, I kind of twisted the truth about myself so that you wouldn't jump to conclusions on the first meeting... and then I asked your name..."
"I highly doubt I'd tell you my name firsthand," Penna said crossly.
"You didn't." Marius shook his head. "You told me 'If I told you, you probably wouldn't treat me as nicely as you are doing right now.'" Penna's expression softened as he continued. "I apologized and asked if you were being mistreated by others. You said 'No, nothing of the sort! It's just... it's hard for others to genuinely trust you and appropriately behave towards you after all the bad things you did that deeply affected them. Maybe if I hadn't done so many mistakes in the past, I wouldn't feel so secluded. The fault's all mine.' We gave each other nicknames so that only if we truly became friends, we'd tell our real names. You called me Bug Fly because I look like a bug and I can fly." He shook his wings. "I called you Viper Eyes because when you blush, they sparkle like Naga's scales."
Penna placed a hand over her mouth in a pose suggesting thought, but considering how she was looking down, it was evident that she did not want to show herself blushing. Her face reacted as she was internally scolding herself.
"I apologize," Marius said sincerely.
Penna immediately snapped her fingers. A small trapdoor opened up and Naga came in, slithering. Why Penna summoned the snake, he did not know, but Marius did not waste and immediately applied the method of gaining trust. But it seemed like time traveling did not affect too much the small bond Marius had with Naga in the present timeline. Currently, the snake jumped on him and gave him some affectionate 'kisses' on the face.
"Aw, you still like me even in the past!" Marius smiled. "If I had known I might run into you again, I'd have brought you a live raccoon."
Naga gave out some sort of pout and hissed.
"Language, Naga!" Penna got up from her seat. "I already spoil you, don't expect to get this treatment doubled!"
"You don't have favorites," Marius pointed out.
Penna covered her mouth with both hands in further frustration. Naga, sensing that things were getting tense, slithered to some corner to rest peacefully without getting involved.
"I'm sorry," Marius said. "I shouldn't have gone to such details."
"Why is this happening to me now?" Penna said bitterly as she paced in front of her chimney. "After gaining the world's knowledge on magic so that I could set the pieces to create the world as I want it to rid myself of my overshadowing ancestry, I get this? A sign that I will fail?"
"No, you apparently gave up on it after you realized it was just... part of Voldemort's plan to use you as a weapon... and to reincarnate in you in case his Horcruxes got destroyed."
She turned her back and folded her wings, facing the fireplace. Her arms were now crossed as if to try to comfort her. From her corner, Naga looked sadly at her mistress. Marius could see some tears hitting the floor in silence and gleaming. He walked up to look at Penna: her pride was working hard to maintain itself while her mouth insisted on holding back the noises while the tears did their work.
Without hesitation, he hugged her, causing her to stiffen a bit in surprise.
"Let go..." She failed to say stoically.
"No," he said. "You're suffering and you never deserved it."
Before dawn
Marius had joined them back downstairs and refused to tell them anything on what happened. By the time the enchanted clock in the guest room indicated that it was only half an hour or so left before dawn, Brittany Crouch came back in with a map of the area where 'Gummy' is supposed to be.
"Her Ladyship has her spies placed. They just reported to us on the location of the targets."
"How recently?" The Simian Witch questioned.
"Five minutes ago." Brittany rolled her eyes as if it were so obvious. "The pythonaconda is ready, but its siblings are camouflaged in case Roth Logan dares to attack it first. Since Jessie and Minuit already left for school, they made a stop at the Northern District. Fiske is in his castle while the capuchin is still on patrol. According to Mulciber, Kyle is just about to do her morning bike ride." She pointed at a midpoint in the map. "We'll drop you to this area where you'll have a better look in case Roth Logan appears. It'll be easier for you to apprehend him." She looked a bit ashamed. "Hopefully no tears will be shed when you send him to limbo."
"Is it true what they say about limbo?" Gladiola asked. "That it's a white void of nothingness between life and death?"
"Depends on the ones trapped in it," the Simian Witch said. "When my husband was petrified due to the Yono curse, his spirit was forced to wait in limbo until I had Discord free him. Monty swore that in his perspective, limbo was like a white, empty library in his white, empty castle."
Brittany nodded. "The Dark Lord nearly got trapped there forever. He claimed that while there, he was a bloody, powerless fetus."
"We get it," Marius brushed it off patiently. "Thank you." He clasped his hands. "Time we get there. I can fly us there, or would we use the wizard method of teleportation?"
"It's called apparating. And don't worry, I'll have these two there in no time." Brittany referred to the ladies.
"Fair enough. I'm a fast flyer, I'll be able to reach it in ten minutes or something."
"You are mistaken," Brittany said rather sternly. "They will go. You are staying."
"What?" The three said.
"Her Ladyship has made it clear that you are to stay here for safety."
Wow, the irony, Marius thought. The Penna he knew in the present had been so insecure, she almost tried to stay away from him. Now, past Penna wanted to keep him safe?
"Besides, isn't she supposed to set things straight?" Brittany pointed at the Simian Witch.
"She's right," the latter said. "And if we fail..."
"We won't fail." Marius corrected her.
"But in case we did, wouldn't you prefer spending your last hours with her before reality collapses?"
Yet again, the situation was becoming ironic for him.
"Fine," he sighed. "I'll stay."
