Title: Exile To Another World
Characters: Taniya, others||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 1-2||Words: 1,500||Total: 1,500
Genre: Drama||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: GX canon: D8, 2-shot; Include The Word Boot Camp, YGO, #24, fierce; Word Count Set Boot Camp, GX, #19, 3,000; Chapter Set Boot Camp, GX, #2, 2 chapters; GX Mini-fic Masterclass, #7, Random Raffles (only duel spirits allowed, no humans); Collect the Seven Stars: Taniya
Notes: This takes place in season one of GX, after Taniya's duel against Juudai. No humans will appear in this fic.
Summary: Taniya came to the human world to find a mate. She's been gone a long time and returned without one. Nothing will be the same after this.
Taniya didn't attempt to escape. She thought she could have, but it wasn't something she wanted to try. She wasn't certain why the guards chained her as soon as she entered the encampment, but her people knew how to keep a captive in place. Even if she could break the bonds, any of the guards would be able to take her down. She'd trained with all of them all of her life. If anyone knew what they were capable of, she did.
She wasn't surprised to see she was brought before the Queen's throne. She'd been gone over two years and almost anything could have happened in that time. She'd thought all along about what she would say when she saw her mother again.
But Queen Tia didn't sit in her throne. It wasn't even her sister Thea - in fact, Taniya now grasped that she didn't see Tia or Thea anywhere in the gathering. Her shoulders tightened and she pressed her lips together as she stared at the one who lounged there casually.
"Rose. What are you doing there? Where is my mother? Where is Thea?" Taniya demanded, surging forward, or making the attempt to, before the others dragged her back. The more she looked, the more she understood that many familiar faces weren't there anymore. She did see a scant handful that she recalled from before she'd left, but no more than that, and none of them looked at her. What had happened here? What was going on?
One of the guards she'd never met struck Taniya on the back of the head. "Address Her Majesty properly. Queen Rose deserves your respect."
Taniya shook her head in a vague attempt to clear it out. "Queen?" But her mother had been Queen! Thea had been next in line, if Taniya hadn't returned before Queen Tia succumbed to old age or fell in battle. Rose hadn't been anywhere near the line of succession!
"Yes." Rose bent her head in acknowledgment. "I suppose someone should tell you. During your time among humans, an assassin crept into our lands and foully murdered both Queen Tia and Princess Thea." She balanced a sharp blade on her fingertips before beginning to trim her nails with it. "As you weren't here and we had no way to contact you, it was determined that a new Queen was needed. Someone who could protect the tribe."
As you clearly couldn't. The words weren't said aloud but what Rose didn't say was as clear as what she did.
Taniya shook her head again. She couldn't wrap her mind around her mother and sister having been murdered. They were both strong warriors - who could have done this? Why would anyone even have them murdered? They weren't at war with anyone. It didn't make sense.
Before she'd thought about it the questions ripped from her lips. Rose tapped her blade on the edge of her throne. "Exactly what we wanted to know. Unfortunately, the assassin died without revealing the name of who hired them. No one has claimed the deed since then, but I have my suspicions." Pale blue eyes regarded Taniya thoughtfully. "But that really isn't your problem to worry about."
Taniya tried to figure out what she meant. This was her family, her clan! Why wouldn't she worry about this? She needed to know what had happened and how to avenge them!
"You should have been here. I am aware that you departed to find a suitable mate, but there are suitable males anywhere. You had no need to travel so far and thus to not be here when your mother and sister needed you the most." Rose didn't shift her attention away from Taniya for so much as the space of a heartbeat. "Therefore, by reason of you being absent, your mother and sister have now perished. By law, that makes you guilty of their murder by association."
Taniya's eyes widened. A low growl rumbled deep in her throat. "What are you talking about? We have no laws like that!" She knew the laws; it was one of the tasks she'd had to accomplish before being considered for the throne. If someone wasn't there for a good reason, whatever happened wasn't their responsibility. It might be their responsibility to be there, but - but she'd had a reason. her mother had agreed to it. No one had dreamed for a moment that an assassin might somehow strike. it wasn't her fault. it wasn't!
"We do now. I passed those laws myself." Rose's smile widened a brief fraction. "But as you weren't here and could not have known this would happen, I will mitigate your sentence."
Taniya hadn't ever heard anything that took her aback like this. All of it struck too hard, too fast. Part of her was still reeling from that incredible duel against Yuuki Juudai. But then to hear about her mother and sister being dead, a new Queen on the throne, and she was being convicted of it by association, by not being there? It didn't make sense and she had no idea of how to process it all. Normally events such as this would be settled by duels. But Rose didn't duel. She never had. She could claim a champion and there wasn't any of them that Taniya thought stood a chance against her on her worst day.
But that required being able to issue the challenge, and Rose didn't allow her time to speak.
"This would be a death sentence. But due to your situation, I hereby pronounce the sentence as - exile. Eternal exile. You will never set foot in our lands again, on pain of instant execution." Rose allowed herself a small, controlled smile. "Have her escorted to the nearest gate. She is no longer welcome in this world."
Taniya struggled and fought to no avail. The guards kept a firm grip on her, and even if they hadn't, she could feel the presence of the mages, ready to seal her from combat if she became too much for them to handle.
"You should consider yourself lucky, Amazoness Shapeshifter," Rose taunted her as the guards wrestled her away. "I was quite tempted to have you bound to your beast form and keep you as my pet. I would enjoy having such a fierce creature as my bodyguard."
Taniya couldn't see why, but everyone stopped suddenly. Rose continued to speak. "Before she's cast away, find her deck and give it to me. An exile has no right to a deck. Let her survive by her wits, if she survives at all."
Taniya wanted to keep hold of her deck. But one of the guards kept a very tight grip on her neck, keeping her from moving even the little bit that the chains allowed her, and another searched her roughly until she pulled out her deck triumphantly.
"Here it is, Majesty!" The guard stepped away, carrying the deck to Rose. Taniya growled, focusing her energy, and could feel her body starting to change, fur growing, teeth sharpening.
Then a collar snapped around her neck and she jerked her head up to see a face she knew – Amazoness Sage, Sophia. Her lips formed the other's name, but nothing came out of her mouth.
"Take her away," Queen Rose ordered with a simple wave of her hand. Sophia said nothing, but Taniya thought she spied a hint of sorrow in her wise eyes. Then she saw nothing else, but was dragged away out of the encampment.
Taniya breathed harder as they dragged her, trying to focus on the change, only to have nothing happen. Sophia rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You won't change, as long as you have that collar on. There are few who could take it off." She said nothing else as Taniya was brought to the nearest gate. This wasn't the one she'd used to get to the human world. No one had ever gone through this gate, as far as Taniya knew. It rose high over the land, gray stone and shimmering faintly with magic to those with eyes to see it.
As they approached, the doors swung open. Taniya couldn't see what was on the other side, even as they dragged her up to it.
Sophia moved closer to her, and one last whisper echoed. "Look for Artemis. She and the Paladin were both exiled after Rose took over."
If she said anything else, Taniya didn't hear it. The collar drained some of her energy as well as keeping her in human form, preventing her from fighting as they cast her trough, the door slamming shut behind her.
She landed on what felt like solid rock. She rolled over and stared up at the star-filled sky. Had it been night at home? Her mind was so scrambled right now she wasn't even certain. Taniya knew she couldn't just stay here, but none of her body wanted to move at all. She only wanted to sleep – and she dared not.
This hadn't been the homecoming she longed for.
To Be Continued
Notes: I'll put up the second chapter in September, during GX month. See you then!