Inception: Rise of the Heir
After the murder of Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle disappeared for ten long years. He sank deeper into the Dark Arts & pursued knowledge that others could only dream of, consorting with the darkest members of wizarding society. With his eyes set on North America, he has no idea that the magic he so desperately seeks will shape his life & his inevitable future for years to come. TomxOC
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for my o/c's and my own storyline.
"I've tried to read through it, but I'm unfamiliar with the language...if one could even call it that." Tom said as she took the book from him, watching as her trembling fingers brushed up against the golden clasp. Cautiously, she opened up the soft leathery cover to reveal a series of old yellow pages, filled with symbols and letters she did not understand.
"Did you know what you were purchasing when you bought this for me?" He asked, his voice curious.
Lyra frowned as she ran a delicate finger down the page, trying hard to understand what was written before her. "No. I saw it out of the corner of my eye at a bookshop...I felt drawn to it, but I didn't have a chance to actually open it. I was interrupted…"
"Do you understand any of it? I've never seen runes like that before."
"They're not runes." She said gently, placing the book down upon her desk and rubbed her face, summoning a few different volumes from her purse and placing them neatly alongside the desk beside it. "Well...not entirely anyway. They appear to be a mixture of both runes and letters of some sort of alphabet. I've never seen anything like it before and I've seen my fair share of uncommon tongues."
"Whatever this is...it's old, I can at least tell you that." Lyra bit her lip and rummaged through her desk, pulling more empty parchment from a drawer and sat down quickly, dipping her quill into some ink. Her delicate fingers traced over the strange markings as she flipped open a book and started to read through it, furrowing her brows in concentration.
"What are you doing?" He asked curiously, walking over towards her and peering at the book she was reading.
"Trying to figure out if there's any language that bears any sort of resemblance to this." She flipped a page hastily and grimaced, shaking her head. "These books are filled with hundreds of dialects and dictations from around the world, if that language has been documented at all it should be within these pages."
Tom picked another book up from off the pile and blew a thick layer of dust from off it's cover, gently opening it's antiqued cover.
"Some of these volumes are quite old...How is it you've come to amass such a collection of literature? Potions, History, Ancient Runes, your selection of books is quite impressive..." He felt a tinge of jealousy as he scoured the aged text. "Some I've never seen before in my life.."
"I've gone through painstaking lengths to have as much knowledge at my fingertips as possible...Some of them were given to me in place of payment for services rendered-" Lyra waved her hand dismissively, her attention focused on her reading. "-the rest I've collected along my travels-"
She peered at him from over the cover of the book, watching him pace back and forth as he flipped through it's pages." -What are you doing?"
He ignored her question and responded quietly, his eyes still buried deep into the book. "Services rendered?"
Lyra stared at him and hesitantly spoke. "After I left MACUSA in order to survive I offered my talents to others for financial stability-"
"Like a mercenary."
"I suppose you could call it that...many came to me exactly as you had through the unconventional contacts I had carefully developed for years, and although I was skeptical at how successful I would be, it turns out people are more than willing to dole out substantial sums of money for others to do things that they consider to be below them-" She cleared her throat in agitation as he continued to flip through the old book and addressed him icily. "-What are you doing?"
He raised an eyebrow and continued to read the page, ignoring her inquisitive looks. "Helping."
"I don't need your help." She said stubbornly.
"I wish that were true, but it will take you far longer to read through all of these yourself... and you don't have weeks left before your potion runs out."
Lyra sniffed her nose in the air indignantly and quipped. "Shouldn't you be figuring out where you need to go after you leave this country?"
He remained silent and continued to ignore her and pulled a chair up beside hers while he continued to compare the runes he was studying, narrowing his eyes as he flipped through the pages slowly.
"I see no hurry, especially since you've agreed to let me to escort you to your next destination before we depart from each other's company."
His reply, although hardly meant to upset her, sent a painful sting through her body and she remained silent, trying to numb it's effect.
"The way he speaks about his departure...I always knew at some point we would part ways, in fact I used to reassure myself that once we had, this entire venture would be easier...why do I now all of a sudden feel upset by it?
Have I really grown so used to him?
It doesn't seem to bother him at all."
She stole a quick glance at him and watched as his chocolate eyes read the book fastidiously, his dark black hair hung handsomely over his face while he rubbed his upper lip with his thumb, lost in thought. Her eyes strayed to his left forearm and lingered upon the black angry mark they now both shared, feeling her heart yearn for something she did not understand. Without warning another wave of burning heat rose in her cheeks and quickly stifling its appearance, she swallowed the lump in her throat that had begun to form instead.
"And why should he be bothered?" She argued with herself. "He came with a purpose, he got what he wanted. He's focused on his own ambitions...unlike yourself. Two years and you're still no closer to solving your own problems."
Lyra grimaced, filled with self loathing and started to berate herself. "It's true, all of it. If I had only looked in the right places, studied harder, been more aggressive...I might have found answers by now. Every time I think I'm close to an explanation it's either completely wrong or I get thrown back ten paces and I'm right back to where I started."
A small voice echoed inside her head. "It's not too late. You need to forget everything else...all these distractions are making it harder for you. His leaving is a blessing." She felt her heart anguish at the thought and continued to question herself.
"If his departure is something I should look forward to then why is it bothering me so much to think about his absence?
Why do I care?"
Lyra grimaced as she turned to another chapter, the last set of runes unlike the ones she searched for. She waited for her internal voice to argue with her once more, to explain logically why she had formed such an attachment, but it remained silent. "There's no point in exploring these ridiculous feelings any further, they mean nothing...you're just confused and overwhelmed. The time will come for him to leave and when he does all these unimportant curiosities will be far behind you."
She looked down at her own forearm and traced the outline of it gently, another small voice inside her mind whispering back at her. "But will they?"
Tom closed the book and frowned, uncomfortably shifting in his chair as he rubbed his eyes. "I've been reading for hours and I'm still no closer to figuring out this language than I was when I started. It's time for a new approach." He turned towards Lyra, the silence had grown between them for hours as they each tore through books of old languages. Neither spoke, the room was silent except for the occasional sound of quills against parchment or the turning of pages. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he realized her head was slumped against her arm, the old literature still spread out upon the desk and in her hand the feathered quill was still clasped loosely between her fingers.
"She's fallen asleep...hardly surprising given the last few days." Tom thought to himself as he placed the book he had been reading down next to him gently and made his way over towards her. He plucked the quill from her delicate fingers and placed it back into the inkwell, pausing momentarily before he leaned her back gently into the chair, grabbing a musty cushion from an old moth eaten couch and placed it behind her head gently.
"She speaks of truth and honesty, yet she hasn't told me where she disappeared to last night...and I would set a wager it had something to do with her condition. There's something she isn't telling me." He reached out and pushed a few strands of hair away from her face, gently tucking it behind her ear, his finger lingering underneath her jaw.
"Why am I behaving this way?" He scoffed and turned around quickly, aggravated at the unfamiliar impulses he felt and displayed and sat down at the desk, tapping his fingers against the polished wood angrily. "I find myself clinging to any semblance of normalcy, but everything has changed. It would have been so much easier to rid myself of her and be done with all of this, instead I listened to that foolish old witch and dug myself further into this hole of confusion."
Tom looked towards her once more, his eyes focused on the black tattoo that matched his and he felt himself relinquishing his temper. "Is this not what I wanted?"
He clenched his jaw tightly, biting down on his tongue as if it would stop his mind from racing and stopped when the bitter metallic taste of his own blood assaulted him. "I need to test this new magic, so I can truly accept what it is I've done. If it proves useful, then my plans...however altered due to these...unforeseen circumstances, could still be successful. Remember your ambitions. Do not let your pride become a hinderance."
He rubbed his thumb over his lip as he continued. "Besides...she's proven herself quite useful already...a breath of fresh air from the others who have pledged themselves to me in the past. She possesses true understanding of the dark arts and doesn't hesitate to use them to her advantage, others have needed to be taught, to be groomed, this I would not have to do...she has already planted the seeds deep within herself long ago. I doubt that I will ever find anyone as powerful and resourceful to stand with me. She was not dismayed earlier when I spoke of my future intentions…if not for her own distractions I would think it would be easy to persuade her...Of all the hurdles I must overcome this by far will be the least of my concerns."
Tom cursed softly when he realized he was reasoning with himself once more to abate his disgust and stood up quickly. He walked over to his suitcase, opening it and pulling his coat out from within in its depths, locking it behind him tightly once more. Quietly, he stood over her sleeping form in the chair, watching as her chest rose and fell gently. "Still...these feelings are a nuisance. Such changes I feel within myself...It's like a sickness…"
Placing the coat gently over her, his hand grazed her skin once more and he held his breath softly, watching as her rosy lips parted. An idea dawned on him and he grinned perversely, still staring at the woman before him. "Perhaps she is not changing me at all, but providing me with a valuable lesson. Not everyone can be swayed by charm or fear, others will need to be persuaded to my cause by other means, emotionally invested in ways I before thought to be of no use."
As he made his way back over to the desk he chewed over a difficult truth he still struggled to accept. He had somehow become attached to her, when it had exactly happened he could not be sure, but when he was not busy with tasks of his own he found his mind often straying to her. Although he found her physically attractive it was not the reason for his obsession, but he realized for the first time in his life he had found someone who did not seek his company for personal gain, nor cower in fear from his ambition but instead listened and gave him a reassuring ear when he had needed. Somehow she had snuck past his well built defenses and made herself indispensable to him and he could no longer think to leave her behind. He had marked her as his own and his possessive nature would not part with her.
Smirking to himself, he focused on the pages before him once more, reading fervently as his fingers thrummed against the worn leather book.
Upon waking Lyra burrowed herself under the warm fabric that laid atop her. Raising a lazy hand, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and felt the golden rays from the sun pouring through the boarded up windows of the ramshackle old house. "I must have fallen asleep…" She thought to herself as she looked down at what had been thrown over her, her body resting in a different place from where she had been awake last. Feeling herself relax, she nestled into the warm fabric of his coat, his scent reminding her of the fresh dew that would lay heavily upon the forest floor in the morning and the smell of the trees right after a heavy rainfall. The subtle note of fresh parchment mingled behind the others and for some odd reason, she found it to be strangely comforting. "Tom...he must have found me asleep and…"
Her cheeks turned red when her sleep induced stupor wore off and she realized what he had done. She looked around the room anxiously to see where he had gone and reluctantly slid the coat off her body, folding it carefully between her arms. Her search did not last long, for moments later she recognized the dark head of hair bent over her desk as he scribbled notes down upon a piece of parchment before him. Lyra sat up and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by his soft, silky voice instead.
"I hope your more rested today than you were yesterday."
She felt her cheeks blush in embarrassment at his words and frowned. "How long was I asleep for? I didn't mean-"
"You were tired. You haven't slept in days."
"I know. But I don't have time to sleep."
He stopped writing momentarily and hesitated, as if he were thinking of how to respond. "You were only asleep for a few hours at most."
Lyra could sense he was stretching the truth delicately to avoid adding to her embarrassment and placed his coat over the back of a nearby chair.
"Thank you for…" She trailed off, the words feeling awkward on her tongue and he quickly interrupted, his attention still focused on the parchment before him.
"You looked cold."
Lyra felt the color rise in her face once more, her heart fluttering and tried to dismiss the moment as she peered over his shoulder, curious at what he was writing. Pages of parchment lay scattered across the desk, littered in notes and she gasped in surprise. "What is all of this?"
"If the language is real, it does not exist in those books. I've been studying these runes all night and through a somewhat grueling process I've been slowly figuring out a pattern between a few of these cuneiforms…"
She bent closer to him and looked down at his writing, his script perfect and neat and read his notes carefully.
Tom pointed to a few of the various symbols, tapping his fingers against the page. "These particular symbols are used multiple times, so that would only mean that they would be a vowel of sorts, I concluded that when used next to each other these particular runes could only be an a,e, or u."
"You did all of this?" Lyra asked breathlessly, her mind spinning in confusion. She touched the parchment carefully, her fingers delicately trailing what he had written. "How…?"
"Paired together with other runes, I used a certain algorithm to decipher most of the alphabet that remained." He took her hand gently and placed a different piece of paper into it, his fingers lightly brushing up against her own.
"In one night...he did all of this?"
Lyra read the parchment he had given her and felt the color in her cheeks rescind, her heart beating in excitement. She suddenly frowned when she had finished, confused by his actions. "Why?"
Tom looked up towards her and raised an eyebrow. "Why what?"
She nodded towards his notes and gently placed the paper back down upon the desk. "Forgive me if I seem ungrateful, in fact it's quite the opposite, but I can't understand why you've done all of this."
"I told you I would help you." He said dryly.
"You don't have to, I'm perfectly capable of…"
"I wanted to."
"Why?" She asked. "What reason could you have to want to help me?"
"Perhaps I just enjoy a challenge…" He said light-heartedly, standing up from his chair to face her. His eyes strayed down towards her arm and he gently grabbed it, pulling up her sleeve and speaking softly. "Or maybe perhaps I felt the need to make amends for whatever difficulties I've brought upon you because of my actions." His thumb grazed her tattoo and he let go of her arm, watching a red hue fill her cheeks.
Lyra looked down, her face burning under his intense stare and spoke quietly. "Tom...what you've done is nothing short of extraordinary...I don't know how I-"
He let out a small laugh and sat back down in the chair, "You speak as if I've figured it all out, which I've hardly done."
She nodded and sat down in the seat beside him and looked over his notes once more, biting her lip in frustration. "These marks…"
"They're not in any of these pages." He tossed another book to the side, pushing a few dark strands of hair out of his face. "And unfortunately without being able to translate these...the writing makes no sense at all."
"I recognize this one...I didn't notice it before..."
He looked at the strange shape of the rune and gave her a curious look. "And the others?"
"Not as much. But this rune right here-" She pointed to a small black circular shape with four clockwise teardrop-like dots inside of it, "-this is a Navajo symbol. It translates roughly to a term that represents the four terms of life, signifying infancy, youth, middle and old age."
"Navajo?" He asked curiously, his brow furrowing. "I'm unfamiliar with the term."
She reached across him and picked up a small book, flipping through the pages until she had reached the chapter she sought, placing it closer to him. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard the term before. There are some native tribes that still live in this country and practice our ways, though their version of magic is somewhat different than ours...Many tribes have many names, this particular rune belongs to the Navajo language...but the others...I do not recall what they are."
Lyra tapped her finger on the book and tucked her hair slowly behind her ear. "Strange...the mixture of both characters is something like I've never seen before...you're right. It'll be near impossible to translate all of this and whatever language this is was probably not documented-"
"So in other words, this book is useless."
Lyra sighed and stared at the half translated page that Tom had spent his whole night deciphering and shook her head. "Not entirely."
"How can the book be of any use to you if you can't read it?"
"Because now I know where I need to go next and there's someone I know who might be able to read it...or at least be able to give me more insight into what this all is."
"And where would that be?"
"I need to go home."
"Home? We're going all the way back to New York City?" Tom said, his voice irritated and perplexed.
"No...Although New York has been my residence for awhile...it's not what I would call home. We're heading further west."
"West?"
"New Mexico."
"The desert." He thought to himself, running a hand through his dark hair. "I've heard tales about the American southwest, although most of them were muggle based…"
Lyra started to pack her belongings quickly, the stacks of books flying into her open purse quickly as she grabbed the few pieces of parchment from off the desk, stuffing them into the pocket while she grabbed the old leather book with the strange clasp and held it out towards Tom slowly.
"You've grown quiet. Does my choice bother you?"
He frowned and rubbed his forehead. "Magic in the desert...I've never heard of any magical establishments or stories that would lead me to seek anything of value in such a place."
"As I said before...there's plenty of magic, it's just different...old. You only need to know where to look."
"And this person who could help you...can you trust them?"
Lyra sighed and wrapped her arms around her. "I would trust him with my life."
Not as long as the past few chapters have been, but I had to cut it off somewhere! Anyway on to talk about the chapter for a bit: So we finally see some of Tom's trademark bookwormish ingenuity here, I think a task like this would definitely intrigue him and out of sheer arrogance I could totally see him trying hard to figure it out what the runes meant (because it would be an intellectual challenge). We kinda see some inner conflict on Lyra's side when it comes to her emotions and how she's reacting to feelings she probably has never had before. Normal people would normally see things like that as a sign of growth, unlike these two (HAH.) I think if Tom were to have an emotional or physical attraction to someone, instead of reveling in it or thinking on it fondly, he would actually think of it as something confusing, something unattractive to his nature. So we'll see where all this goes eventually..but for now onto the southwest! :3