{-Veronica-}
She sat in front of the fire, watching it dance and lick the stones around it with an odd fascination. She imagined the wood to be people, crying out as every part of their being was turned to ash. Now, were those people her enemies or her subjects? Was she reveling in their screams or was she wishing she could make it all stop? Did she burn her hands to push them further or pull them out?
Absently, she gestured to the fire. "Xander, why isn't this Askr?"
"Your Highness, with all due respect, we are still recovering from what Hel's forces did."
"That was nearly two months ago. What more could need to be done?"
"You saw it for yourself when you went to stop her. You tell me."
"Hel only came because she wanted the Askrans. They're taking everything from me. So why can't I kill them? It can't be so bad if she wants it, too! For once I want him to know what it's like to be me. What it's like to have everything disappear in front of him, ripped apart from the one thing he thought would never change, thrusted into a world he didn't belong… I want him to suffer like I did, I want him to regret everything he's ever done… for everything he did…" She clenched her fists and hoped that no one would notice the tears.
Xander's question came as something well-meaning and gentle, but she didn't take it that way. "What did the Askran king ever truly do to you?"
"What did he do to me? What did he do to me? What about kidnapping and practically brainwashing my brother? Summoning the dead through my land, blissfully ignorant of everything until she threatened him?"
"As far as I understand it, Princess Veronica, Prince Bruno came to them. They provided for him so that you could meet again. If they hadn't, who knows where he might be—"
"It's not a good thing, Xander! They've done something to him and we didn't even get anything out of it! I was so excited to hear that the Order of Heroes, our biggest nuisance since the moment they formed, were giving up… that their bonds of friendship or whatever broke with the disappearance of their precious Zacharias. And I had Bruno back! With my brother I could squash all those Askrans and this war would be over! But then they got their Summoner. I never liked losing to them because of her to begin with. Now I've seen her without that cloak and she's even more pathetic than I thought! She's younger than me! She's short, she has no fighting experience, and she's so normal. There's nothing special about her at all! And I lost! I should've just killed all of them in the realm of the dead! It's not like they were expecting me to play nice anyway!" She paused, adding much lower, "Do you think Father would have finished this by now?"
"I didn't know the man, so I can't say."
"Could Letizia do this better? Was she right to ask to take over until I'm of age..?"
"Letizia?"
Veronica slowly got up and dug through a couple of the scattered books. She gently took out a picture that had been ripped and put back together, holding it up so Xander could see it and pointing to the taller girl. "That's Letizia, she's family to Bruno and I. We met once when I was young, but Bruno never liked her. She visited more after he left and kept me company when Father was busy. When he died, she offered to rule in my place until I was eighteen. The voice didn't like it so I said no… and I haven't heard from her since."
"Well, at least that answers my question of how long she's been writing to you." Bruno walked over to them with a letter in his hand, though made no motion to give it to her even before seeing the picture. "I thought I told you to get rid of that."
"I'm quite certain I told you to get rid of that damn lance but it's still here," she returned coldly. She quickly hid the picture among the books again, telling herself to put it somewhere else once he left. "But that's not the point. Is that from Letizia?"
He tossed the letter into the fire as she went to grab it.
"Bruno! What if it had been important? What if she needed me for something?"
"Even if she did, it's not going to help you. She's never done anything to help you!"
"So says the brother I have waited two months to see! You're worse than she is because at least she stopped taunting me when she left!" Veronica sighed and took a step back. "You left and, however many times you've said you're not, you're still with them. You're not back. You're not home. And once you finish this ridiculous quest of yours you're never going to be." She turned around and started collecting her things, adding much quieter, "Before I left, your ex told me that he wanted to see you in person. I don't know why so don't ask, I just figured you'd like to know."
((A/N: This is the first time I tell you that Fauna does not wear the summoner cloak or carry Breidablik at all in this series. If everything goes to plan, eventually there will be a single character who mentions this. The role of Summoner isn't nearly as important as canon, in case you're only just now figuring that out.
Why is this the last chapter and not a bonus? It mentions some things that may or may not become important in the future. And since it's the last chapter, there's a couple bonuses left to go and, on the last bonus, there'll be information for the next story! Here's some shameless plugging, too:
I have a poll in my profile that can affect bonus chapters. How? I'll base some of the people that I'll write bonuses for depending on who gets voted for. Voting for, say, Eir, Líf, and Thrasir (you can only choose three) makes it more likely that I'll write a bonus involving those three. Have a specific idea for a bonus or are curious to know more about a certain aspect of a character? PM me! I promise I won't bite. This is especially important as more characters are introduced so I know who everyone is interested in seeing!
Enjoying this mess of an AU and want to know how to keep it going? Simply reading, favoriting, and reviewing would really make my day. Want to see the art I occasionally do of the characters in this AU? Check out my DeviantArt under puppy-luvr06. Curious to see what other things I'm writing? I've got an original series going on RoyalRoad, my usernames there being PuppyLuvr06. Thanks for reading this story and I hope you'll enjoy the bonuses to come!))
