Chapter 11:
In the end, everything that Alexandria had ever done had been for the greater good of humanity. The deaths, the assassinations, the railroading of innocents. All done for the greater good. Oh, how it galled her sometimes, especially early on, when she was forced to condemn innocents as villains just to maintain Contessa's optimal models for human survival. She had admired Hero and Legend, her counterparts, for their sheer determination to always do the right thing, no matter the cost. Of course, neither of them knew the whole stakes involved. That the choices were fundamentally binary, humanity would have a chance at surviving, or it wouldn't.
The choices were black and white. Not many shades of grey like others proclaimed. Now, this didn't actually connect back to what most people used the black and white analogy for. This wasn't talking about morals, just pointing out that no matter how repugnant an order or action, it was necessary that it be done.
It must also be said that Alexandria completely suspected that she might actually be making a mistake. The way her human companion, the Warden, tried to gain her attention, up to almost grabbing at her arm but aborting the action less than a few centimeters from contact made sure she knew.
The way the Leanansidhe's eyes gleamed, having returned to a fully yellow hue. A hue that only served to accentuate the growing inhumanness of her intellectual adversary. She had great knowledge of contract law, even skimmed through countless law books with her eidetic memory. It had been invaluable knowledge in her early days as a lobbyist, before she ascended as head, chief director, of the newly minted Parahuman Response Team. She fully realized that she could probably recite from memory a full contract, with subordinate clauses and exceptions to direct this proposed exchange of knowledge.
She didn't do it. Part of it was because she was tired. What felt like decades of long work, always completely besotted by decisions, legalese, and ultimatums. She never felt actually tired, in either body or mind, each continuously worked the same, no matter the stress or hours. What really wore on her were the moral questions.
Intellectually, she knew she was a bad person. Sure, everything she did was for the greater good, and if humanity survived it would be ultimately because of her great sacrifices. However, despite how she daydreamed of being deified as a hero of the ages, like countless before, it was not to be. Despite Doctor Mother's assurances and empty platitudes, Cauldron's actions deserved some kind of reckoning after everything was over.
She deserved punishment, penance. In the darkest of days, where she made the most ruthless decisions. The innocent faces of children flashed before her mind's eye, just one of many atrocities she allowed in the name of the greater good.
She was unholy. If heaven existed, she had fully expected to be condemned to hell for her deeds. In the end, however, despite how it grated upon her, it had been her ultimate choice. She was the one that paved the road to hell with her good intentions.
All this inner chastisement was what drove her to say the four words, the Leanansidhe asked for, "Thrice said and done."
The words tasted bitter, and Alexandria wished she could take them back as soon as they left her lips. For a woman that had defied all obstacles, to admit defeat even in such a minor way stung.
Alexandria also knew that her ability to defend the frail ordinary humans around her was limited. She also knew that she had served her purpose, and died for her cause. Her usefulness for Cauldron had finally run out, just as she dreaded in the dark days after Hero's prodding impeded their aims too much.
She had no real purpose left, save to see about the betterment of humanity. Any private goals or aspirations had long ago been discarded as she was pulled deeper into Cauldron's machinations. She had left her mother, and her family, her dream job, and life behind. All for the greater good.
If one small sacrifice here would help a small facet of humanity, she would do it, it was all she really had left.
The Leanansidhe silently raised her head, and her eyes gleamed with yellow. The maliciousness was clear, something unearthly waiting to be unleashed. Ruby red lips pursed, in a facsimile of thoughtful repose, as if the Leanansidhe had to think about what she wanted to ask and didn't already have something in mind.
Thunder boomed, and through the clouds, green streaks gleamed overhead, casting light down upon the gathered few. Ice seemed to literally form from the barren snow-swept rock. For the barest of a second, viridian green seemed to flicker behind the yellow eyes of the Leanansidhe.
"Summons have been sent," Leanansidhe chuckled, in a voice like velvet and tinkling bells.
The blizzard, when before they seemed to be standing in the middle of the eye of the storm, suddenly swept through in force. Winds like the angry fists of God slammed into the mountain, sending flurries and ice shards flying.
"What is going on?" The Warden finally spoke, horror in his voice, "Can you not feel the wrath of Winter manifest?"
Alexandria shot a glance his way, unbothered by the ice that crawled its way through her hair, crystalizing over the inviolate strands, the Warden spoke again, struggling to be heard over the sudden maelstrom of frost and snow, "I repeat, what manner of deal did you make?"
A shard of ice carved into his cheek, propelled by the winter snow, leaving a bloody furrow, which leaked brilliant red blood, striking in the field of white. Her fairy friend flitted into her hand and Alexandria reflexively closed her hand slightly, clutching her to her breast, to better protect the little creature from the sudden onslaught of nature's fury.
The Leanansidhe was suddenly in front of Alexandria, and even she was not unmarked by the storm, a single solitary scratch ran across her brow, but it did not weep with blood. An oily black residue ran like a single teardrop down her face.
Her eyes were a putrid yellow, "Tell me Library of Alexandria," Leanansidhe asked then, and Alexandria realized she intended to use that question, here in the maelstrom, "what dream would you see fulfilled upon all the world?"
Alexandria's free hand shot up, faster than a striking bullet, faster than even an igniting rocket and buried her fist in Leanansidhe's hair, yanking her face close.
"You promised safe passage, muse," she snarled, and the words came out like two edges of a glacier grinding together, the words actually rumbled, as if two titanic mountains were grinding together.
Alexandria recognized then, the light of some strange madness in the Leanansidhe's yellow eyes. Black threads, streaked with incarnadine light sprung from Leanansidhe's nails. In a fraction of an instant, it tore through Alexandria's clothes completely. She shivered, vision going actually black for a moment.
"You must answer," Leanansidhe demanded, one of her own hands clutching at Alexandria's the other grasped something unseen. Alexandria's eyes flickered from it back to Leanansidhe's eyes.
It was true, she agreed to this deal because of the people at risk behind her, and the storm would kill them just as surely as Leanansidhe's hounds had been poised to do before.
Alexandria wanted to answer, she wanted to say something like, "to see humanity grow and prosper," or something like, "to see a world free of Scion."
Instead, the words died in her throat, and she knew then as untruths. There was a greater goal, one hidden from her, and yet one that her body, no, she realized with horror, her agent held, "THE CYCLE MUST BE REBORN."