Chapter 138
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John Brown and Lenin waited for D'Hoffryn to return with the refugees. As they waited, they discussed their situation.
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Lenin: Are you planning to leave, and take your soldiers with you?
John: Yes. I will not serve a demon.
Lenin: You seem willing to work with D'Hoffryn.
John: As an ally, not his servant.
Lenin: And what price do you imagine he will ask of you?
John: We shall see.
Lenin: Indeed. Need I remind you that we are outnumbered. Even combined we cannot hope to defeat them, not without allies like D'Hoffryn. And we need you as well.
John: Because I have more credibility than either of you. I was never charismatic, people only followed me because they believed in the same things.
Lenin: Abolishing slavery.
John: Yes. I admit, you and I had similar goals, but your Soviet Union was a dictatorship in it's own right.
Lenin: I had hoped that the state, the dictatorship, would wither away over time. That didn't happen, and I betrayed the collective when I served Evil. But you can help rule our kingdom, and defeat the fascists. If we do not, what would stop D'Hoffryn from allying with the nazies and the slave owners.
John: Perhaps we can be his ally, but I will never serve D'Hoffryn.
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As they talked D'Hoffryn and his servant Lynette arrived. They brought Magneto, the gypsy witch Leisha, and about 40 others. They included Benjamin Linus, and Rumplestiltzkin. Rumplestiltzkin was clearly weakened by his torture, he was carried by his mother, Fiona.
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Magneto: Thank you for your help. I spent some time in eastern Europe after the war, so I'm familiar enough with your picture, Lenin. And I believe you're the abolitionist John Brown?
John: I am sir. I'll understand if you want to go back to Antarctica, but we could really use your help fighting these nazies and slavers.
Magneto: The nazies used me as a guinea pig, happy to help you all get some vengeance against them.
D'Hoffryn: Music to my ears.
John: And what exactly is your price D'Hoffryn?
D'Hoffryn: I will answer and collect in my own good time. For now, Leisha here is taking the others to Earth.
Lenin: My friend makes a valid point, what is in it for you?
Leisha: I only used magick to free myself from my abusive husband, and John Constantine sent me to Hell for it. I want a word with him.
D'Hoffryn: I can't force Leisha here to take her vengeance against Constantine, but I can hope. Each of these people has a valid reason for vengeance against someone in Antarctica. This ofcourse does not cancel your debt to me John Brown.
John: How did you get Rumplestiltzkin out? I heard he was being tortured by his more evil counterpart, not in the Pit.
D'Hoffryn: A number of beings made deals with him, including me. I owed him for, a long time, he waited until now to call up that debt. Fiona here helped.
Fiona: I wasn't a good mother, I can only hope it's not too late to make amends. When you all get him back to Antarctica, please tell him that I helped. I cannot go, I too owe D'Hoffryn a debt. I will stay here and serve him.
D'Hoffryn: If your son wishes you free, I'm sure he and I can make a deal.
Fiona: One can hope he will want that. I give you one piece of advice John Brown. Do you know how I became the Black Fairy?
John: I heard you made some kind of evil deal to save your son.
Fiona: That is partially true. The night my son was born, I was warned of a prophecy, that another was created that same night, a dark being who would bring ruin to my son. I was obsessed with finding this other child, of eliminating any threat to my child.
John: You were willing to kill a child?
Fiona: Yes. I didn't realize, until it was too late. That dark being was me, the darkness came from my willingness to do evil. I know you had a noble goal in freeing the enslaved peoples, just be careful about what you're willing to do to achieve it.