Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Technetium: Yes, that was indeed an HHGG reference with the puff of logic.
Anon: Yes, this one is Arwen. Nicely spotted! I wanted a Canon Sue possession. Here's hoping the solution's up to par...
Oh, the little 'Gothic' poem is made up, too.
The Game of the Gods, 5
"You needed some time to face her, didn't you?" Morgoth asked.
Varda gave him a haughty look as she sat down again. "I only had to gaze on the beauty of Arien rising," she said. "Since it reminds me most of the Trees that someone at this table destroyed."
Morgoth would have had the good grace to look ashamed, if he had known what "good grace" or "ashamed" meant. "You did want to wait," he said smugly. "You can't face the Sue I have for you."
Varda gazed grimly at what appeared to be Arwen, daughter of Elrond, under Morgoth's thumb. "Let us play."
"You don't want to wait?" Morgoth asked, voice dripping with false sympathy. "Perhaps for Tilion to rise as well?"
Varda only gazed intently at the false Arwen.
Morgoth chuckled, and gently sent the Sue into motion.
---------
Arwen Undomiel inclined her head to Elrond. "Of course I am looking forward to marrying Aragorn, Father," she said. "Our love has lasted for nearly a century. It is time that it was made permanent."
No! her mind screeched in the meantime. You just want to sell me off and use me as a breeding instrument for little Elflings, and so does Aragorn!
But Arwen kept all of that out of her eyes. She had a plan, and soon enough she would be the Queen of the Reunited Kingdom in her own right.
Elrond sighed and looked forward, in the direction of Minas Tirith, where they rode for Arwen's wedding. "You have made your choice," he said quietly. "And I will no longer try to dissuade you. I fear the mortal life will grow dark upon you, but perhaps the sweetness of mortal love will bloom like a flower in that darkness."
Arwen rolled her eyes. If he's so worried about me, why doesn't he actually try to keep me from marrying that foul-smelling human?
But she knew the answer. Her father was against her. All men were against all women, in Middle-earth. Arwen didn't want to wear gowns, and she had to wear them anyway. She wanted to learn to fight with a sword, and she had been denied. She wanted to live in Middle-earth without fading, and they were going to deny her that, too.
She comforted herself with thoughts of what she would do when she was by herself that night, and schooled her face into the sweet smiling maidenly mask her father would expect before he turned towards her.
------
"Is something wrong, Varda?" Morgoth asked. "You look- well, paler than you should."
Varda shook her head. "Continue."
"Could it be that you fear no one will catch my little Sue?" Morgoth asked, laughter flavoring his voice. "She looks as like Arwen as ever, and even acts like that. Only her mind is different."
"Corrupted," said Varda.
"Free," said Morgoth firmly.
"Play."
-----
Arwen glanced around. She seemed to be by herself, definitely. Her father had long since retired to his own pavilion, and Arwen had dismissed her maids, kicking them out when they wouldn't go of their own free will. They had whimpered and simpered at her until she was sick. One had even said how wonderful it was, that she was marrying King Aragorn and was going to be Queen. Arwen had made sure to slap her especially hard, and kick her in the ass on her way out.
I'm going to be Queen all right. But in my own right, not as some mindless brood mare for Aragorn.
But now she was alone, so she could let her true self out.
Carefully, Arwen opened a small wooden box that rode hidden among her other possessions and took out the thick black makeup that expressed her inner personality. She lathered it around her eyes and mouth, then used a bright red lipstick on her mouth itself. It was a strange look, but it made Arwen feel womanly, as did the dead white powder that she used on the rest of her face. This was the face of tragedy and angst, the one that she never showed anybody else.
She wet her hair with water from the basin that was always filled at night, and smeared gel into the long dark tresses until they stood up in spikes. Finally, she pulled her gown off and stood revealed in only her shift. Swirling red designs were visible on her legs, symbols of death and destruction. Arwen always left them there when she rode, conscious that no one else could see them and comforted by their presence.
She drew out a sheaf of parchment from her precious store and began to write down the words of inner torment.
"All that I can do is nothing,
No one understands me like the darkness,
And I can only retire to the stars
And stare up and scream in misery
Until someone comes to get me,
Dark lover, darkness lover, darknesswouldbelover,
Star-lover..."
-----
Morgoth tried to peer over the gaming table. Varda appeared to be bent over, and there were the most undignified sounds coming from her. The gaming table was too high for Morgoth to see what was really going on, though.
"Are you all right?" he asked at last.
Varda straightened, and glared at him. Morgoth smiled. He was really bothering her, he congratulated himself. He had always thought that turning Arwen into a Sue might work, and apparently it was succeeding spectacularly.
"Elrond could always-" Varda began.
"And why would he intrude into his daughter's pavilion at night?" Morgoth inquired.
Varda shook her head.
"My Arwen's an expert at hiding her true nature," said Morgoth. "She'd clean up before anyone could see her."
"Psychic?"
"Of course."
"Play," said Varda.
------
"Arwen. My Evenstar."
Arwen just barely kept from rolling her eyes. She reminded herself that it was necessary to go through with the wedding first, and then she could kill Aragorn and become the Dark Queen of Gondor. "Elessar," she said, curtsying, and let him kiss her cheek.
"Will you wait for me a moment, Arwen?" Aragorn asked, drawing back. "There is something I must ask your father."
Arwen kept her smile in place, though inwardly she was seething. Treat me like a female, why don't you? Exile me from the important conversations? "Of course. I'll wait for you in the next room."
She swept through the doors, and then paused. This room wasn't half-bad. The walls were covered with tapestries that she would want to rip down, of course, since they showed trees and waterfalls, and replace with scenes of mountains and machinery, but the view was good. Arwen wandered over to look out the window, already dreaming of the knife that she would stab into Aragorn's heart that evening. Perhaps she would ask him if he wanted to try a little game. Aragorn was a bit of a pervert in bed.
The door opened behind her, and Arwen glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Elessar. A sweet smile could charm him, of course.
Instead, she met a pair of eyes shining with fierce light, and recoiled, clutching her head in pain. The light seemed to stab all the way through her, flaying back the layers of her mind.
A stern voice singing with sweet music said, "What have you done with my granddaughter?"
Galadriel! Arwen hadn't seen her grandmother since she'd gone punk, and had forgotten her annoying power to see into hearts. Arwen tried to summon up the usual sweet facade she used, but nothing was working.
"Grandmother..." she panted.
"I know thee," said the voice behind the terrible light. "Houseless One, back to the darkness from which thou camest. Thou hast turned from the Halls of Mandos; turn now from the mind of the Evenstar!"
The light was terrible. The light was cutting. The light...
Arwen came back to reality with a cry, and, sobbing, flung herself into Galadriel's arms. Galadriel held and soothed her, and the touch of one who had seen the Two Trees shining in Valinor gradually soothed the evil memory from Arwen's mind, until at last there was only the Evenstar left.
------
Morgoth opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
"Galadriel," he said at last, and the name had the sound of a curse. "She was always a nuisance."
"Your Sue was worse than a nuisance," said Varda. Her voice was hoarse, her eyes swollen, but she was smiling again. "Shall we try once more?"
"I almost won."
"But you didn't."
"I almost did."
"But you didn't."
Morgoth glared at her, and seized a mostly shapeless piece. "A changeling Sue," he said, setting it in the middle of the board with a look of defiance.
Varda clucked her tongue. "Really? That one will be easy enough to defeat..."
Ugh. Oh my god. I think I just horrified myself.
It's over now, though. It's over.