Disclaimer: "Mulgar's Inn: You can go inn, but you can't come out."
(An: Well, here we go again... and of course we haven't gotten to the coupleness yet; it's not the end!)
By the time they got back to the city, it was quite dark. Remy led them into an inn, where a tall, lanky, pale man was cleaning a glass. He glanced up, and scowled. "What do you want, LeBeau?"
"Just let me in, Caliban," said Remy. "I've got something for your group."
Caliban's eyes narrowed. "This had better not be a trick..." he muttered, opening the divider between the main room and the back.
"Trust me, Caliban, it's exactly what you guys've been looking for," Remy replied breezily.
"Does anybody like you?" Kurt hissed.
Remy shot him a death glare as he pushed aside one of the shelves, revealing a tunnel. "I'd suggest keeping your eyes straight ahead; ain't the prettiest in here." He grabbed one of the torches off the walls as Caliban shoved the shelf back into place.
Kitty let out a little whimper as she looked at the walls. "Why are we in the catacombs?" she whispered, edging closer to the center of the path.
"I did warn you, petite," Remy pointed out. "The rebels are a pretty morbid bunch."
"They must be lovely conversationalists," Wanda commented, and John snorted.
"Why are we going to the rebels?" Kitty demanded.
"You don't honestly think the regent or her guards would let you in the palace, right?" said Remy, incredulous. "They'd kill you on sight. You're the last block between her and the throne."
Kurt hissed slightly and stepped closer to Kitty. For once in her life she didn't flinch away.
"They're the only safe way into the castle. Just do what I told you: keep your eyes straight ahead," said Remy, rolling his eyes.
The walk seemed to take forever to Kitty, but really it only took about ten minutes until they came to a door. Remy knocked, and a woman with an eyepatch opened a slot in the door. She instantly glared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"We need a way into the palace."
"LeBeau, even if I trusted you, what makes you think I'd let you and them in?" the woman demanded.
"Because I brought you a noble."
Kitty recognized her cue and held up her hand.
The woman inhaled sharply. "Well, that changes everything," she said, and opened the door.
Inside the room were a number of people, scattered around and talking in low voices. The woman who'd let them in walked over to a woman with dark skin and purple eyes and whispered something. The second woman came walking over, hands on her hips. "Well, I never thought I'd see you around these parts again, Remy," she said, frowning.
"Why can't you people ever let be bygones be bygones?" Remy moaned.
"We're trying to rebel here; traitors don't serve us well."
"Hmm, getting killed or ditching you guys, when I didn't even have obligations to you in the first place?" Remy mock-mused.
"Can somebody please just tell me what we're gonna do?" Kitty demanded.
The woman walked up to her and grabbed her hand, inspecting it. "Well, for once, he's telling the truth," she muttered.
Kitty cleared her throat, raising one eyebrow.
"Right, right," said the woman absently, releasing her hand. "My name's Ororo. Everyone knows that since the king and queen died, things have gone downhill with the regent in charge. Me and my friends-" she gestured around the room, "-have been trying to keep her out of power. Of course, everyone we find who seems like they might have the mark 'mysteriously'," she made quotes in the air, "dies. Tomorrow she gets coronated, and then we're all in for it." She pointed at Kitty. "Unless we can get her on the throne before that happens, of course." She gestured for them to follow. She pointed at another door. "This tunnel goes all the way under the palace. Handy, isn't it?"
"More like time-consuming," muttered a man who was bent over some weird invention.
"Darling, do us all a favor and shut up," Ororo replied, waving at him.
He made a rude gesture at her back.
"I saw that," she said, pushing open the door. "Come on, then."
Remy was wearing an amused smirk. "You and Forge? Come on, 'Ro, I thought you had better taste."
Ororo just stared at him.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" said John.
Ororo rolled her eyes and headed into the tunnel.
While the first tunnel they'd went through had a downward slope, this one seemed to go higher, until they came to a metal grate. Ororo stroked her white hair. Sparks clustered on her fingertips until she had a sizeable lightning bolt in her hands. She pointed it at the grate and whispered "Strike." The grate melted and Ororo pulled herself up and out, the others following. "The throne room's this way," she whispered, pointing down a hall. "Stay here and let me get the others; we can keep the guards busy."
A few minutes later, she returned, followed by the first woman, two boys, and a wolf. "The idea is just to keep the guards away from the throne room long enough for her to get in there," she whispered. "No theatrics, no wounds, no provoking, got it?"
"You give us this lecture every time," moaned a boy with dark skin. "We get it, Aunty O, we get it!"
"And yet you always mess up," she replied, glaring at him.
The wolf snorted indignantly.
"We don't mess up all the time," agreed the second boy, a tall, lanky blond. "...Just a lot."
"You're not helping, Sam," hissed the first boy.
"Just get in there," Ororo responded, facepalming. "Forge, Callisto, and I will run backup."
The boys and the wolf rolled their eyes, but ran off.
There was a loud crash, a howl, and the sound of ripping fabric from down the hall.
"Three... two... one..." Ororo murmured. Right on cue, there was the sound of footsteps. Ororo smirked. "Now you can go. Make a break for it!"
The group didn't hesitate; they ran down the indicated hallway.
"Well..." said Remy, pausing as they entered the massive room. He gestured at the throne on the other end. "There it is."
"After all this hassle, it seems a little too easy," Kitty commented, starting across the room.
Then, of course, the floor collapsed beneath them.
"You had to say it, didn't you," Remy muttered, rubbing his head.
"Are you ok, Kitty?" Kurt asked, helping her up.
"Oh... my... God..." Wanda gasped.
"Wh-" the others started. Then they saw what she was staring at. It stood about ten feet tall from silver talons to neck, and its eyes glinted. It was a dragon. And it did not look happy to see them.
&&&
The regent snickered softly, allowing herself to lose the form of the old regent and return to her usual, blue self. She leaned toward her mirror, watching as they scurried around. Another day, another attempt. The rebels get more pathetic with every try.
She smirked as the dragon advanced on them. A nesting mother was a very touchy creature.
Then her breath caught as one of the rebels grabbed a girl and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She waved a hand at the mirror and it closed in on them, a blue boy with odd hands and feet and an elf with white stripes in her hair. Could it be... no, I left them long ago. She shook herself and waved away the image in the mirror, dismissing the whole thing to pre-coronation nerves. By tomorrow morning the rebels would be a snack for her pet and she'd... well, she'd be queen. Life would be good again.
(Bwahaha! A cliffhanger! Fear it in its... suspensefulness! Or whatever. Heheheh... we're so close to the end, I can almost taste it.)