The Three Kings: Resist
Disclaimer: Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Studios, and TV Tokyo. Harry Potter is owned by J. K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Arthur A. Levine Books, and Warner Bros. Please support the official releases.
Warning: Mentions of nudity, misgendering, vomiting, death threats, violence, fantasy-based racism, sexism, sexualization of a minor, minor character death, mob mentality, severe health problems, illness, incest, classism, rape, forced infidelity, forced impregnation, riots, explosions, severe gore, major character death, child murder, hysteria, looting, massacres, impalement, breaking bones, mutilation, beheading, suicidal thoughts, imprisonment, starvation, buried alive, self harm, loss of consent, torture, duel to the death, burning alive, non consensual body modification, and political executions.
Chapter 4: Caesar
She stands at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. The stone floors were damp and faintly green with creeping mold. Massive pillars of black marble stood on either side of her, rising so high that they seemed to disappear into the ceiling. Carved serpents with hollow eyes swirled along the massive stone structures, looking eerily lifelike.
She begins to move, her bare feet ghosting across the cold floors. The empty eyes of the snakes seemed to follow her as she made her way toward the statute at the end of the chamber.
She stops and cranes her neck back to look at the monkeyish face of an old man. He had a long, thin beard that coiled around his enormous grey feet. The green and silver pain of the wizard's stone robes had flaked off centuries ago, leaving the errant chip behind to indicate their colour.
She knows who he is, but cannot seem to remember a name.
Hello? She asks, but cannot find her voice. She brings her fingers up to her lips and feels a single layer of skin, her mouth suddenly non-existent.
Fear grips her heart and she hears something clunk behind her, the sound echoing around the empty chamber. She ducks out of sight and hides behind the wizard's feet, peeking out to see who else was there.
The statute shakes and shivers as stone grinds against itself far, far above her. Then, in a flash, four figures stand in the center of the chamber. Her eyes widen as she recognizes Em amongst their number. He looks more like a god than he ever has before, with long flowing robes embroidered with golden dragons. Em leaned against a pale wooden staff, a wiry look on his young face.
Em's companions are much more unique. The shortest of them is a goblin that would have barely come up to his hip. The goblin is naked and sexless, with skin made of black rock and eyes that glowed like liquid amethyst.
The tallest was a creature until anything that she had ever seen before. With the head of a horse, the body of a snake, the wings of a bat, and the arms of a wolf, the beast towered fifteen feet over them all and glowed with silvery starlight as flames licked at her fingers.
Em's final guest made the breath catch in her throat. There stood a woman who wore the face of her mother. Erupting from the woman's head are a pair of bull's horns, and between them spun a miniature sun.
"Will it work?" Asks the horse-creature asks, it's voice sounding like crashing waves and crackling flame. As it's tail coils around itself, she watches as it leaves a trail of golden blood.
It's injured, she thinks.
"Maybe. But it's the best chance that we've got," Em answers, his purple eyes glinting.
"We didn't ask for your help for a chance, wizard," the goblin growls and the earth grinds together in its irritation. The goblin is hurt as well. Gold blood leaks sluggishly from its neck and chest like the skin had been taken clean off.
Em rolls his eyes, "No. You asked for my help because you've realized that you've got no other options. I'm doing the best I can, Maglubiyet. You know the rules as well as I do."
"We are only anxious, Emrys," the woman wearing her mother's face says. "If this plan does not succeed... If Godwyn's daughter accomplishes her plan and we are unable to act..."
"I know what will happen if we fail," Em sighs, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "The pieces are being set, Hathor. All we can do now is wait for them to fall into place."
"But even if our plan works, there's still a chance of failure," the horse-creature says. "The others are waiting for the Rip to close. They will not be merciful."
"Don't worry. I think I-" Em pauses mid-sentence, his head twisting around to look directly at her. "Oh. Oops."
"Oops?! " Maglubiyet the goblin cries, outraged. The other gods turn to see her as well. "We trust you with our lives, Merlin Emrys, and you-"
Em appears in front of her, his bright purple eyes glinting. She has never felt so small.
"Luccenia," Em asks, a smirk on his face. "Don't you have somewhere to be today?"
She gasps, jerking awake.
A dream, Luccenia thinks, pressing her palms into her eyes. They're still heavy with sleep. I have more pressing things to worry about.
She summons her house elf. He helps her to sit up, sliding silk slippers onto her feet. Then, with his thin arms holding her up, the elf assists her in walking toward her wheelchair, setting her down with gentle grace. He wheels her toward the doors to her rooms and into the corridors beyond.
The house elf leads Luccenia to the private bathhouse within the Tempio di Vesta. He strips her of her bedclothes and helps her into the warm water. On the other side of the baths, Grata splashed and laughed while another house elf washed her golden hair with perfumed soaps. Luccenia watches the little girl, smiling softly as Grata abandons her position and floats accord the pool to visit her. Grata takes Luccenia's hands in her's, babbling about the stunning brown designs that had been painted onto Luccenia's skin the day before amidst the song and laughter of a culture that she was only beginning to understand.
It's good for her to be a child, free and curious. She's only ten, still too young to understand the life she's been given, Luccenia thinks as Grata abandons her painted hands to dive beneath the surface of the water, reveling in how she could move without pain within the bath. Her house elf begins to run his fingers through Luccenia's hair - she often rolls in her sleep, so her thinning red hair is full of tangles and knots.
She hates her hair. Luccenia wishes more than anything that she could look like her mother, Gabinia, but life did not seem to care what she wanted. Instead, Luccenia possesses Titus Sidonia's features - something that Gabinia had always told her was for the best, all while holding her pain behind a bright smile.
Titus saw her and wanted her. So he took her, not caring that she was married, Luccenia grits her teeth together. There were no repercussions for what he did back then, but I will make sure that he suffers. And I will tear down this corrupt system that allowed him to do it. Today's celebrations are the first step of a long road I must walk. She thinks of Atronia, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling, I only wish that I could have walked it beside you.
The house elf finishes washing her hair, dries it, and begins to tie it into her traditional six braids, threading a pure white ribbon in between the strands. Then he washes her arms and back before lifting her from the bath, pressing warm, plush towels to her skin.
Luccenia is dressed in the white woolen gown of the Vestalis Maxima, ignoring how itchy it feels against her body. Noorey helps her back into her wheelchair and leads her back to her rooms.
Her breakfast is waiting for her. She eats slowly, only managing a few bites of bread and cheese before her stomach rebels and Luccenia vomits into a bucket placed next to her table. It's not the first time that she's been unable to keep her food down and she doubts it will be the last. She washes her mouth out with some cold water, nibbles at the bread once more to get something back into her belly, and hides the leftovers inside of her sleeve. There's a pocket there, enchanted with an extension charm - Tiberius had cast it for her when he'd first joined her guard, mentioning how his mother had done something similar to hold toys and snacks for him when he was younger.
Tiberius is waiting for her in the main foyer of the Tempio di Vesta.
"You look beautiful today, my lady," he says, smiling warmly. He helps her to her feet, allowing Luccenia to cling to his thin arm as she takes shaking steps toward the litter that is waiting for her at the bottom of temple stairs. The sun is shining and Luccenia squints, looking out that the streets before her. Her heart seizes in her chest.
Generally, at this time of day, the witches and wizards of the Forum Romanum walked calmly along the cobblestone streets, darting between the shots and temples. There would be a slow procession of young girls and boys making their way to the Templum Veneris et Romae, where they went to school and learned all they could about the magical world around them. In her early years as a Vestal, Luccenia had so badly wanted to join them, to live a normal life. But when Atronia had taken her aside and taught her all that she knew about the true secrets of the wizarding world, all Luccenia could do was pity them for their lack of understanding.
But today, as it hard all week, the street in front of the Tempio di Vesta were lined with angry protesters, their screams contorting their angry faces. But Luccenia could not hear them, for a barrier had been put in place to block out their harsh words. That didn't stop her from reading the signs they held aloft.
Magia est Viribus, Luccenia swallows hard. Magic is Might.
"What are they saying?" She asks Tiberius as she notices the crowd beginning to chant. He looks shaken, and Luccenia thinks that the silencing charm is only there for her benefit.
"It's not a concern, my lady-"
"What are they saying, Tiberius?" Luccenia presses as her centurion helps her into her litter. He swallows hard. Tiberius glances quickly at the crowd and then back to her. "Be honest with me. I am not scared."
"They're saying..." Tiberius takes a shuddering breath. "They're saying 'Death to the usurper. The Vestals have fallen.' My lady, what happens today-"
Luccenia silences him with a look, "What today is a celebration of love. Of commitment. If they cannot see that-" she jerks her head toward the mob, "-then they are the problem. Not me. And not those who put their lives on the line to support me."
Tiberius takes one more look at the crowd and then back at her.
"Someday," he tells her, "I wish that I will be as brave as you."
He swoops in, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and shuts the door of her litter.
Luccenia feels the house elves beneath her raise the wooden box up with their magic, floating her down the streets towards their destination. She cannot see what is happening outside, but she imagines Tiberius and her centurions casting the barrier around her litter to shield her from those who would do her harm. Every so often, they have to stop and wait for a path to clear, delaying their quick trip to the edge of the Forum by nearly two hours.
The other Vestals will not leave the Tempio di Vesta until I come back, Luccenia tells herself. There are contingencies in case something happens to me, along with increased security. Anyone who tries to enter the temple grounds will be stopped. It will all be alright. It has to be.
Once, someone breaks through the barrier and rushes her litter, tearing the door open. Luccenia has just enough time to hear the man shout, "Filthy cunt!" before a flash of green light fells him. Tiberius is quick, closing the litter door, and screaming at his men to be more diligent. Luccenia risks peeking out through the curtains of the window. The crowd swells, pressing up against the barrier in an attempt to break through.
She lets go of the curtain, sitting back in her chair. She presses a hand to her mouth, trying desperately to keep her fear inside. Tears leak unbidden from her eyes.
I have to do this. No change will occur otherwise, Luccenia thinks to herself. Atronia said that it was hardest to be the first. When the next one happens, it will be easier. And then on and on until this is commonplace.
She wipes her cheeks and steels herself, clenching fists in her white gown. She is silent for the rest of the trip.
The elves set her down and Tiberius opens her door for her, offering his arm once more. Luccenia exits her litter, her back toward the barrier holding back the angry masses, and she ascended the stairs of her family home.
While the four great pureblood houses of the Forum Romanum lived within the temples built during the early Roman Empire, the lesser houses existed on the fringes and were only allowed to come into the center of the Forum for business and schooling. Luccenia's mother had been a member of House Sonia before her marriage and today, Gabinia Flavina had brought her husband and son back to her family home for today's celebrations.
Shortly after Luccenia used her influence as Vestalis Maxima to install herself as Italian Minister of Magic earlier in the year, she ousted her father's old council and replaced them with members of the houses that supported her. One of them had been Luccenia's cousin, Mettius Sonia, who had worked tirelessly beside her to repeal the Pureblood Protection Act.
Mettius had always been a rebel, even under the reign of Titus Sidonia. Much like their shared cousin, Atronia, he had made it his duty to speak out against the Act and calling attention to the declining health of the Italian wizarding families. For even though they were not as pure as the great houses, after nearly fourteen hundred years of intermarrying, the Sonia family were showing the same signs of physical weakness. He was now in charge of a committee dedicated to the research into the continued health of the Italian population.
Mettius had also been one of the few Italian wizards not to be schooled at the Templum Veneris et Romae. Instead, he had petitioned the Ministry to allow him to study abroad in the tiny wizarding community within Pakistan. It was there that he'd met Karya Zardari, a muggle-born witch. And today, against all the odds that had once been stacked against them, they were to be married.
Tiberius announces Luccenia's arrival and is invited inside by the Sonia's house elf. And there, sitting in a wheelchair just inside the door, is her mother.
"Mama!" Luccenia cries, taking three stumbling, unassisted steps toward Gabinia, falling into her mother's arms. Gabinia's hands and feet remain unpainted with henna, as it had been unclear up until this morning if she would be attending the wedding after being violently sick for almost half a year.
"Oh, Luccenia! Let me see you, my daughter," Gabinia pulls her away, placing two hands on her cheeks to meet her gaze. Luccenia hasn't been able to see her mother in so long and is shocked by the toll her illness had taken on her. Gabinia was whisper thin, with hollow cheeks and deep bruises beneath her eyelids. Her usually dark complexion was a pasty grey and most of her thick hair had fallen from her head. She covered her baldness with a woolen palla, a large rectangular cloth that she wore like a hood to keep her warm.
She is here, though. That's enough, just for now, Luccenia thinks.
"My beautiful girl," Gabinia sighs, her breath escaping her chest like a death rattle. "You have grown so much since I last saw you. You are so strong now." When she smiles, Luccenia can see that she's missing several of her teeth.
"Tiberius," a voice calls from the other side of the room. Luccenia turns just in time to catch Tiberius's grin as he moves forward to embrace another figure in centurion armour.
"Cnaeus! You passed your tests," Tiberius laughs. Cnaeus grins back at him before turning his gaze back to Luccenia. She sits down in a wheelchair of her own and slowly rolls her over to meet her half-brother.
Cnaeus Flavina was Gabinia's trueborn son, born to her husband Vel, the uncle of the current Head of the Flavina family. It was for that reason that Cnaeus, tall and sixteen, had been allowed to join the centurion legion. Luccenia hopes to one day include him in the Tempio di Vesta's guard.
"My lady Minister," Cnaeus drops to one knee and bows low before her. Luccenia scoffs.
"We are in our mother's home, brother. We can skip the formalities today," she tells him. Luccenia opens her arms and he falls into them, holding her tight.
"It's... It's been a long time, sister," Cnaeus stutters when he pulls back. His ears are red and he can't seem to look her in the eye. Luccenia tilts her head, confused at his reactions. "You look... very nice."
Gabinia interrupts their introductions, "Come! Come! We must join the others!"
Luccenia dismisses Tiberius, allowing him to follow Cnaeus toward where the groom's party was getting ready, as Mettius's late mother had been Tiberius's older sister.
Luccenia joins the women in the bridal party, learning more and more about this foreign culture with wide eyes and amazement. Around mid-morning, an emissary from Mettius sends gifts from the Sonia family - a tradition that, Luccenia learns, should have occurred the day before, but couldn't due to the protestors outside blocking any chance of the presents getting into the house. Luccenia even participates when Karya, looking utterly radiant in her heavy red and gold lehenga, is showered in flower petals by her groom's relatives.
"There's so much that happens," Luccenia tells Karya when they have a moment together before the ceremony. "Is it always like this?"
"We're actually doing a compressed version. Usually, the ceremonies start a week beforehand - and that's only in love matches," Karya explains in perfect Latin. She'd explained yesterday that she and Mettius had practiced learning each other's languages since the day they'd first become friends. "In an arranged match, there'd be a ceremony between our two families to finalize the engagement and then Mettius and I would be allowed to court each other. But since we started dating in secret when we were fourteen..." Karya chuckles nervously, "I never thought that I'd actually be here."
"I'm sorry that I couldn't allow your parents to enter the Forum ," Luccenia says.
"As much as I want them at my wedding," Karya sighs and shakes her head, "their lives would be in so much danger if they ever came here. Maybe someday, it will be allowed, but now..."
"I hope to one day see such a thing," Luccenia tells her.
"I do, too," Karya agrees. And then, in an action that would have usually gotten her executed, Karya reaches out and takes hold of Luccenia's hand.
She's so warm, so solid, Luccenia thinks, staring down at their intertwined fingers. The henna on their skin seems to weave together, interlocking until it was impossible to tell where one hand began and the other ended. In that moment, there is no difference between Luccenia's millennia of wizarding heritage and Karya's lack thereof. I hope that one day, everyone can know that to be the truth.
"Welcome to the family," Luccenia says with a bright smile. She places a garland of white roses over Karya's head and wheels her chair into the hall, stationing herself beside her mother and step-father.
The wedding is just as stunning as all of the ceremonies that had come before. Held within the audience hall of the Sonia household, Karya and Mettius had combined the best parts of both of their cultures. Karya had been carried into the room by Tiberius and Cnaeus, both of whom were dressed in the red uniform of the centurions. Then, as Karya and Mettius sit side-by-side, they exchange garlands before a sacred flame.
Karya walks around the fire three times to the chanting of a priest before grabbing the handles on the back of Mettius's chair and pushing him around it for a fourth and final time. Together, they utter vows of marriage and promises of love in both of their languages. And then finally, Karya helps Mettius rise from his chair. Her groom clings to her as she helps him take seven steps into the beginning of their journey together. Luccenia has to hold back tears watching her cousin walk for the first time in years. She glances over at Tiberius, sitting beside Cnaeus on the groom's side, and sees that he is crying openly.
Then, finally, Karya and Mettius clasp their hands together, pressing their lips together as they are pronounced bonded for life. They are married in the eyes of Italian law, the first international couple to do so in almost a hundred years. The audience, consisting of the lesser families that have supported Luccenia's ascension to the position of Minister, erupts into thunderous applause.
This is what revolution looks like, Luccenia thinks as a smile breaks across her face. She looks out at those who had joined them today and sees the faces of nearly three-quarters of the lesser families. Not violence or hatred, but unity and love .
The reception afterward is just as lavish as the ceremonies that had preceded it. There's an eight-course meal, with each dish being paired with its own wine. Luccenia wishes that she could try some of the curries that Karya had included from her Pakistan, but her stomach rolls after the first bite. She doesn't even think that it's the spices - it's getting harder and harder for her to keep food down these days and there isn't much that Em's miraculous potions can do.
Instead, she watches as Mettius and Karya move onto the floor for their first dance. Mettius leans most of his weight on his new wife, but she supports him with a radiant smile. Luccenia sits in her seat as those that can stand move to join them, pairing up and twirling majestically in each other's arms. Tiberius asks for a dance from the Pentronax heiress, Helvia, a slight woman four years his senior with light brown skin and dark curly hair.
Tiberius is older than most of the unmarried men in the centurion legion, turning twenty-five next month. If he settled down and had a family, Luccenia wants him to have a wedding just as grand as this one. She hopes that she will live long enough to see his children be born, maybe even grow up. Luccenia watches Tiberius dance with Helvia, holding her graciously and staring at her with absolute reverence, and thinks that he'd be a good husband, that he'd be a good father.
"My lady."
Luccenia turns and sees Cnaeus moving toward her, his ears the same pink as they'd been in the entrance hall earlier this morning. He's embarrassed, she frowns. Why?
"Cnaeus," she nods toward the empty seat next to her. Cnaeus sits, his back oddly straight, his eyes darting between her face and the floor. "What troubles you, brother?"
"That has been... it's been an experience, right?" Cnaeus asks. He gathers the courage to look at her, "Do you... ever think about getting married?"
"I'm the Vestalis Maxima, brother. Marriage has never been in the cards for me," she answers. In truth, she'd never really thought about marriage, or men in general. Luccenia keeps wondering when her mind will finally find them attractive, but for now, she is content with her lack of interest. Marriage, or even love, would just be a distraction.
Cnaeus snorts, "Like you're going to keep the Vestals around for much longer."
Luccenia freezes.
"Who told you that?" She asks carefully.
Cnaeus shrugs, "You're doing away with all of our other traditions. Dissolving the Vestal Virgins just seems like the next logical step."
Luccenia thinks very long and hard before she answers, "Being Vestalis Maxima gives me legitimacy within a power structure that would not allow me to speak otherwise. Or did you forget, Cnaeus, that I am your half-sister and carry our mother's maiden name? I am a bastard-"
"Born to Titus Sidonia, the Minister of Magic."
" Former Minister of Magic," Luccenia stresses. "And I don't know why you're defending him, after what he did to our mother."
"She was his lover. Everyone knows that,' Cnaeus interjects. "If she had a problem with Titus, she would have refused his offer."
"Titus Sidonia is the heir to one of the four great houses of Italy. On top of that, his trueborn son, Marcellous, is the heir to two - House Sidonia and House Papas. The combined power of the Sonia and Flavina families could not even hope to match theirs. There was no way Gabinia could have said no to him," Luccenia snaps. "Our mother was not Titus's lover, Cnaeus. He was her rapist." When he sputters, shocked at her bluntness, she adds, "Do not couch the circumstances of my birth to preserve my innocence, brother. Call them what they are. I certainly do." She sighs, "I do not know what you hoped to accomplish by coming here, but I believe that our conversation is over."
Luccenia reaches down to move her wheelchair, but Cnaeus lurches forward, grabbing her wrist. Immediately, she reacts, pulling her wand from her sleeve and presses its tip into Cnaeus's neck.
"Remove your hand from me, Cnaeus Flavina. Or you won't live long enough to worry about my marriage prospects," Luccenia growls, ignoring the fear she feels. In a magical battle, she would be next to useless. Unlike Cnaeus, she'd never gone to school and barely had enough strength in her body to perform even the simplest of spells. I'm practically a Squib, but that doesn't matter. Atronia taught me enough to get by.
"It's not... I don't..." Cnaeus glanced nervously around the room again. "Don't move! I mean… Don't go. Just don't…"
The bottom drops out of her stomach. Luccenia realizes that her brother is not embarrassed. He's scared.
"Cnaeus…" she breathes. "What have you done?"
An explosion rocks the audience hall, ripping through the barriers outside and blasting a hole in the wall, sending chunks of marble and clouds of ash everywhere. Cnaeus dives on top of her at the last moment, shielding her from the blast. Luccenia lays there beneath him, her eyes wide with shock and her heart pounding in her chest. Her ears ring so loudly that she can barely think.
There is an awful moment of silence. And then, the screams start.
They were high, thin sounds, drenched in agony. The hall was littered with countless corpses, unmoving as the dust settled around them. She sees a man, lying face down beneath a fallen column, his head cracked open like an egg. Then, a hand and a foot and an arm that all belonged to someone who'd been torn apart. A girl, no younger than Luccenia herself, dragged herself away from the blast point, the lower half of her body missing, the rest of her burnt black, her hair falling from her head in flaming chunks. She is begging, crying for her mother, screaming for anyone to help her- but no one is coming.
"Play dead," Cnaeus tells her as he smears blood on her face. "Play dead. Play dead," he keeps says as he moves off of her. Luccenia shakes, staring at the floor beneath her, hears the screaming all around her.
Cnaeus lays something heavy across her back. It's warm and sticky with gore.
"Play dead," he tells her again. "I asked him to spare you. Just play dead, Luccenia. I can get you out of this, I promise-"
He throws a cloak over her, hiding her from view. And then Cnaeus leaves her.
The mob outside thunders through the opening. Luccenia can see flashes of red and green, of slicing purple and dark light, and knows that those who could not run are being cut down around her. She smells something burning, rancid and all-consuming, and the rallying cry of " Magia est Viribus."
Luccenia hears one voice carrying above all the rest. It belongs to a man, deep and deadly, calling for her to show herself. When she recognizes it's owner, her blood runs cold.
Marcellous. How?
Luccenia doesn't know how long she lays there, beneath the cloak and the heavy thing on her back. It is long enough for her to overheard her step-father crying Gabinia's name, before he's cut off in a flash of green. Luccenia moves her spider-thin hands over her mouth to keep any sounds in, but she can't stop her eyes from making tear tracks through the blood Cnaeus covered her in.
They'll give me away, she thinks hysterically. They'll see tears and they'll know that I've been crying and they'll know that I'm not dead. I have to stop crying. I have to.
She can't stop. Her sobs force themselves out of her chest and the thing on her back lets out a rattling sigh and-
Luccenia turns her head and sees the mangled face of one of the wedding guests - Marcus Uticensis, he'd just turned thirty, he has a wife who was expecting their first child. His chest is split open, staining Luccenia's dress a bloody red, and something grey is dripping from a crack in his head. She can see his organs spilling out of his stomach despite-
Marcus isn't dead . And it's so sickening to watch how his heart continued to beat, how his lung would suck air into a body that could no longer use it, how his shattered brain struggled to maintain a life that was slowly slipping away. Luccenia wants to scream, wants to breathe, but she can't because Marcus's dead weight has trapped her beneath the cloak. She's choking, unable to think, unable to give voice to the agony inside of her.
There's a roar, bestal and deranged, followed by a thousand bright lights and screams, more screams, and Luccenia so badly wants them to stop, wants them to go away, please, she's only fourteen years old and she just wants her mama-
The fighting stops. The lights die out. The silence presses down on her and she can't- she can't stop crying, she can't.
There are footsteps, slow and painful, coming closer and closer until they're right on top of her.
Play dead. Play dead, she thinks desperately between each sob. Em, please help me play dead.
The cloak is whipped off of her and Luccenia shrieks, covering herself with her hands, curling beneath Marcus Uticensis's half-dead corpse. She doesn't want to die. She just wants her mother. She just wants to-
"Luccenia! It's me. It's me. You're safe. I promise you're safe."
Tiberius kneels before her, throwing Marcus off her. She doesn't even think. She just throws herself at her centurion, wrapping herself around his body and cries. "We have to go. We have to go now."
He scooped her up, cradling her effortlessly in his arms. Luccenia remembers tiny snippets of the world as they pass them by. She sees Gabinia and Vel in the middle of the floor, staring blankly up at the ceiling, their faces twisted in their final seconds of pain. She breathes in the smoking remains of the Sonia household, of the rooms that she'd grown up in before being given to the Vestals. She sees violence carved into the walls and hatred splattered across the floors.
Luccenia throws up on Tiberius's shoulder. He doesn't seem to notice.
Tiberius leaves the house through the backdoor, crouching behind the remains of a garden wall to hide from the mob outside. The outside air is heavy with soot. In the Verania home beside them, a woman's hysterical screams, accompanied by the wails of an infant, filter out of a bedroom window. Tiberius sets Luccenia down on the ground for the first time since joining the Vestals and she, in a moment of frivolous childish wonder, digs her toes into the earth.
I lost my shoes, Luccenia thinks and a giggle escapes her lips.
"We need to get to the Tempio di Vesta. We can shelter there," he tells her, his voice betraying how scared he is. "I don't have my troops with me, so I need you to watch my back." He presses a wand - her wand, she must have dropped with when Cnaeus tackled her - into her hand. "Avada Kedavra - that's the spell. Don't say it. Not until we're out there. You have to mean it, my lady."
"You… want me to…" Luccenia finally finds her voice. "Tiberius, these are my people..."
"They are not your people. This is war; they have chosen their side. And they aren't going to hesitate to kill us," Tiberius presses a kiss to her forehead, just like he had done this morning. It feels like it's been a million years since then. "Please," he begs. "Please, my lady. Grata's back at the Tempio. She's all I have left."
Above them, the baby's cry is cut short. The woman is thrown from the window and her body slams down in front of them. Her clothes are torn and bruises are forming around her wrists and thighs. Blood pools out from where her head had cracked against a rock.
The men and women who had murdered her spot Luccenia and Tiberius when they come to the window to laugh. Luccenia leaps onto his back and Tiberius runs before the first volley of death can reach them, blindly firing a killing curse over his shoulder. It catches one of the woman in the chest and she yelps, falling out of sight. Luccenia clings to him, using every ounce of strength that she has to keep her from falling off. She looks up and takes in the streets as they pass.
The mob has set fire to almost everything. The shops that had lined the streets of her beloved city have been looted, their noble patrons dragged into the streets and massacred. They pass by a fountain, the water stained red with blood. Luccenia sees two bodies floating face down in the pool and a third impaled on the sword of one of Rome's early heroes.
She and Tiberius are attacked a half dozen times before they reach the Tempio di Vesta. Tiberius manages to hold his ground each and every time, but he is tired and hurt, the blood from his injuries soaking into his red centurion cloak. Luccenia has tried to help him, but she's too weak to fire a spell normally, let alone one with the magnitude of Avada Kedavra - all she's managed to do is give someone a nosebleed before Tiberius took them out. She feels so useless .
Tiberius races up with Tempio's steps, leaving bloody footprints behind. When he crosses where the barrier should have been, he comes to a scrieching halt.
"No," he gasps, staring at the Tempio's door. It's been blasted clean off its hinges. " No! Grata! "
He barrells toward the entrance hall. Tiberius is barely inside before they are set upon again. He cuts through them all without a hint of remorse, roaring like an animal the entire time. One of them grabs Luccenia off his back, but she remembers Atronia and what she'd taught the Vestals about fighting.
Fight dirty, Atronia had told them all. Luccenia sinks her teeth into her attacker's flesh until she draws blood. The woman shouts and drops her on the ground. Luccenia grabs the first thing that she can find, remembering, Even the playing field. Use weapons. She slams a fallen metal torch into the woman's knee, hearing the bone snap. Luccenia doesn't even think when she takes a second swing at her attackers head, doesn't even think when the woman falls to the ground.
Another pair of hands grabs her, ripping Luccenia's weapon from her hands and hoisting her up into the air. The man swings her around and all she can see are his teeth, yellow and rotting in his skull.
"He promised that he'd give you to whoever found you. Lucky me," the man laughs, filling the air with his foul breath. Luccenia steels herself, stops struggling, and reaches for the front of his breeches. The man grins, "Eager to start, are you? Little slut."
Luccenia gives him a polite smile as she slips her hand inside his pants. If a man is so close to you that you can smell what his last meal was, Atronia had said, a sly smirk on her face. Grab him by the balls, twist them like a doorknob, and then rip them the fuck off.
The man wails, high pitched and horrified. He drops Luccenia again and she lands on her goddamn feet, throwing his ruined manhood on the ground where it belonged. She makes a fist, remembering watching Tiberius instruct his new recruits on how to fight hand-to-hand, and slams it into the man's throat.
He chokes and Luccenia does it again, feeling something break beneath the skin. Use your legs, Atronia had told her, so she grabs the man by his hair and smashes his face against her knee with all her strength. Luccenia lets him go, grasps for her fallen weapon, and swings it at his stomach, at his head. The man crashes to the ground is a splat and stays there.
Luccenia's strength leaves her the moment the fighting stops. She shakes, shivers, and tips over, her limbs feeling like limp noodles. Her lungs burn as they suck in air and her fingers tremble uncontrollably, but she forces her head up to see Tiberius dispatch the rest of their assailants. Her vision blurs as he stumbles over, but she keeps herself conscious as Tiberius pulls her up and back onto his back.
"We have to find Grata," Tiberius says, his words slurring. He moves slower and stiffer than before. "There will be more still inside the building." He pushes her a little farther up onto his back, "They must be here for…"
Tiberius trails off, but she knows what he's talking about. Titus Sidonia, she thinks. They're here for him.
"I don't understand. How did they get inside?" Tiberius wonders aloud. "The barrier around the Sonia house could have withstood a thousand explosions. How…?"
"Cnaeus. He knew that it was going to happen. He's the one who hid me under the cloak," Luccenia tells him. "He said that he was trying to help me-"
"If he were trying to help you, he would have gotten you out of there, not put a body on your back to keep you in place," Tiberius growls. "If I see him again, I'll kill him. I'll fucking-"
He stops at the entrance to the bathhouse. Luccenia peaks over his shoulder and shrieks.
There were no bodies there, only scraps of flesh and bone that were scattered across the room. The walls had been painted a deep wine red, while a dark mist hung in the air like a promise. The bath itself had been tinted pink. Floating in the water were a small pair of hands, the charred remains of a torso, and the head of a house elf.
And there, leaning motionless against the far wall, is Grata Oceanus.
The noise that escapes Tiberius's mouth is inhuman. He rushes over to her tiny body, cradling his baby sister in his arms. Luccenia slides from his back as he rocks her back and forth, barely able to comprehend that she was seeing.
Grata was ten years old, she thinks. How could anyone… She was ten years old. Luccenia knows the others are dead, too. She doesn't even need to see it. I am the last of the Vestals.
She turns back to the bath, watching the bits and pieces of Grata's house elf float in the pool. The creature had drawn the most spellfire, almost like Grata's murder had been a mere afterthought. Luccenia looks around the room, takes in the blood-stained walls and tastes the copper in the air. She turns her gaze back to the elf, What did you do?
There's a sound that echoes down the outside hall.
"Tiberius?" Luccenia whispers, dragging herself across the floor. Her centurion looks almost catatonic, barely even breathing as he held his dead sister. "Tiberius, someone is coming."
"I don't care."
"Tiberius," she tries again, clutching his arm. "Tiberius, please!"
"Let me die," he tells her, his voice broken beyond repair.
"Tiberius, Marcellous was at the Sonia house. He led the attack. That's why he's here now. He's looking for Titus," Luccenia says. Tiberius looks up. "Something's happened to him. He's walking and leading armies and- I don't know how, but if he can cure himself, then…" She leaves her sentence hanging.
Tiberius looks down at Grata, cold and small and lifeless. He presses a kiss to her forehead and sets her down.
Fueled by desperation, Tiberius moves more surely, each step solid and resolute. Together, they move deeper into the Tempio, down flights of stairs hidden beneath layers of protective spells and curses. Luccenia clings to Tiberius's back, rubbing comforting circles into his skin. She loves him, more fiercely then she's ever loved any member of her blood family. She tells him this as they walk. Tiberius stays silent, soaking it all in.
Just before they reach the prison levels, Tiberius whispers, "Luccenia?"
"Yes?"
He turns his gaze toward her and says, "I saw my family murdered today. I'm the last of my house. And I… I can't… There will never be anyone else, not through me," Tiberius swallows, his voice a shivering, shaking mess, "You're the daughter I always wanted. I want you to know that."
Tears fall from her eyes and Luccenia admits, "You're the father I never had."
Together, bound by the blood of the covenant, they take their final steps through the door.
Titius Sidonia lays naked within a cell, propped up against the back corner, just as he has been for almost a year. His normally pale skin is a transparent grey, his eyes a glinting ember in the dark pits of his skull. Stripped of the trappings of his station, his flesh clings to his skeleton like a wet cloth, making him look smaller than Luccenia has ever remembered him. He turns his head toward them as they come in and gives them a toothless smile.
He is not alone.
A flash of magic separates Luccenia and Tiberius. She screams, clawing for purchase on the stone floor as she is flung across the room, slamming her against the brick. The metal torches twist around her limbs, crucifying her to the wall. Tiberius is forced to kneel and she hears him roar in anger, his wand floating in mid-air just out of his reach.
A figure steps out of the shadows, revealing a woman. She is in her mid-forties with the red hair of House Sidonia and blue eyes bright with calculated intelligence. The woman looks shockingly familiar, but Luccenia cannot place her.
"That's enough of that," the woman says, sounding blank as ever. The wand in her hand dips ever so slightly and Tiberius's voice is cut off. Titus laughs, his chest heaving in his levity.
"I told you, Helga," Titus addresses the woman. "I told you they would come for me."
The woman - Helga - hums in agreement as Titus dissolves into a coughing fit. Blood drips from his mouth, running down his naked chest. Luccenia's eyes widen, He's dying.
"It is quite convenient. I do require a scapegoat," Helga says, her voice tinged with bland disinterest. She gives Tiberius a quick glance and he bares his teeth at her, wild with fury. Helga barely even blinks. She turns her attention to Luccenia, moving closer. She wipes the blood off of Luccenia's face, "You're unharmed. That's good. It is a serious crime to harm a Vestal, no matter what crimes they may commit."
"I don't know who you are, but you will never get away with this!" Luccenia uses all of her remaining courage to snap at the woman. Helga pays her no heed. "Marcellous can burn whatever he likes, kill whoever he likes, but the world will look at what he did today and they will not let this stand-"
"Do you think that I care about my son-in-law's pureblooded nonsense?" Helga asks, tilting her head in thought. "He may believe himself to be a king, but he is nothing more than a pawn. Fanatics are so easy to control, after all. Your father understood that, more than any Sidonia before him. It would almost be a shame that his son is so narrow sighted, if he wasn't so useful ," The woman nods toward Titus's cage. "You would have known that, had you been raised within the walls of father's house, like he wanted you to."
Luccenia eyes widen, finally remembering where she'd seen the woman's face before. The Tempio di Vesta contained numerous secret texts that had been hidden from the wizarding world before the enactment of the Statute of Secrecy. Atronia had made her memorize each and every one, including the ancient marriage documents between Pompilina Sidonia and Godwyn Pendragon.
"Helga…? Helga Hufflepuff?" Luccenia whispers. That's not possible. She was born over a thousand years ago! But then she remembers an inquisitive Atronia commenting that Hufflepuff was the only Founder to not have a known grave.
Helga hums again, "Smart girl. It's too bad that your mother gave you to the Vestals, instead of allowing you to be raised by your father. I could have used you to inspire Marcellous instead of my own daughter. Gabinia thought to protect you by destroying your chances at marriage when all she did was damn you to an early grave."
Luccenia's heart clenches and she realizes just what she's pinned against. The prison cells beneath the Tempio had been repurposed to hold Titus after his arrest, as their primary duty had been to bury Vestals who had committed treasons against Rome.
"You would have been an interesting pawn," Helga tells her and flicks her wand again. The stone behind Luccenia turns to putty, sunking her in and spitting her out in the tomb on the other side. Luccenia shrieks, launching herself at the barrier, clawing at the brick until her fingers bleed. She lurching over as her stomach heaves, bile spilling from her mouth and splattering against the floor.
Em! Luccenia prays, Em, help me! What do I do? I don't want to die here!
The barrier flickers and goes transparent, allowing her to see the world beyond. Luccenia looks up, pressing herself against the brick, and locks her eyes on Tiberius. His face is contorted with mad grief, his eyes bloodshot red as he silently screams for her, tugging against his restraints. Helga walks past him without a second thought, kneeling before Titus's cage.
"The time has come, my old friend," she tells him, reaching through the bars. Luccenia watches as Titus crawls forward to touch Helga's fingers, staring at them with absolute reverence.
"Those of House Sidonia have worshipped you and your daughter for centuries," Titus admits. "I have loved you from afar my entire life, just as my mother loved Hollarius for all of her's. I have always been your servant, Helga. Tell me what I need to do, just as you have always done. Let me help you."
Helga removes her hands from his and stands tall.
"Become a martyr, Titus Sidonia," she tells him. "Become the spark that saves us all."
Titus smiles, "For you? Anything."
Helga nods and turns back toward Tiberius. With a flick of her wand, she forces Tiberius to rise to his feet. His wand snaps back into his hand and Luccenia watches him fight Helga's will, watches him try and fail not to point it at Titus.
There is a flash of green. Titus Sidonia flies back in his cell, his eyes blank in his death. Luccenia screams as Helga commands Tiberius to stand and turn his wand on herself, cutting her with a slash of purple flame. Helga doesn't make a sound as she crumples against the far wall, red blossoming from her stomach.
The door to the prison is blasted open and footsteps thunder into the room. Luccenia recognizes Marcellous at the head of the charge, but is astounded by how much he has changed. His body is strong, his hollow cheeks filled in his healthy skin and his eyes filled with unwavering determination. He has a full head of hair, coloured in the traditional bright red of house Sidonia. He is dressed in the armour of a centurion, but wearing yellow and black robes to match his family's crest.
And beside him, with cropped auburn hair, dark eyes, and a sword at her belt, is a woman that Luccenia recognizes from Atronia's secret texts: Hollarius Hufflepuff, daughter of Helga. There is a ring on the girl's left hand and Luccenia realizes that Marcellous has taken this immortal as his bride.
"No!" Hollarius shouts, drawing her sword and slicing Tiberius up the back. His blood splatters on the ground and he roars in pain, his voice returning to him. He buckles, falling to one knee, a cruel and uncharacteristic grin on his face.
Hollarius orders her followers to restrain the centurion as she runs to her mother. Marcellous approaches his father's cell as a wretched noise erupts from his throat. Luccenia watches from her tomb as her half-brother falls to his knees in front of Titus's body, openly grieving before his followers.
"Mama, mama…" Hollarius whispers, helping her mother to sit up. "Heal yourself. Please, just…"
Helga pulls a small, red stone from her bloodstained robes and Luccenia sees her wound sewing itself shut.
"I'm alright, my daughter. But…" Helga looks helplessly at Tiberius. "I couldn't stop him. I've never been much of a fighter…"
Marcellous rounds on Tiberius, casting a curse that makes the centurion writhe in agonizing pain, "Did that bitch order you to do this? Where is she? Where is Luccenia?"
Tiberius laughs. Except, it's not his voice that comes out of his mouth. Instead, a loud, rumbling hiss makes it's way past his lips, sounding like steam escaping from a volcano on the verge of erupting. He moves like there's something not human using his body, something ancient and terrible lurking just beneath his skin.
"Oh, she's long gone," the thing inside Tiberius tells Marcellous with a mouth full of bloody teeth. It spits in Marcellous's face, "She stayed long enough to have me kill your weakling father. She laughed when he begged her to spare your life - said that you'd crumple like paper beneath the weight of her army."
"What army?" Hollarius growls through gnashing teeth, approaching the thing inside Tiberius like she can't even see what's wrong. The centurion turns his eyes to hers and then falls to the floor, clawing at his face as Hollarius rakes through his memories.
The girl snarls and lets Tiberius go. Hollarius turns to Marcellous, "Luccenia… she let the mages into the Forum . She's traveling to America to fight back against us. She's…" Hollarius rips back into Tiberius's mind, leaving him shrieking on the stone floor, twisting in ways that no human body should. "She's been talking with the American Minister and is planning on allying with the mages to overthrow the Statute."
" Liar!" Luccenia screams, throwing herself at the barrier. There had been no talks, no plans for allegiance. The San Francisco mages had been a means to an end, an opportunity to do away with Titus's power as Minister. "Liar! Liar!" She continues to cry, but no one can hear her.
Helga… She did something to Tiberius! She put something in him! He would never- Luccenia thinks desperately, This can't be him!
The thing inside Marcellous lifts his head, pulling his lips back into a smile. It turns Tiberius's head to look at Marcellous, "You're too late. Everything is already in position."
A foot comes down on Tiberius's back, forcing his face to the ground. Cnaeus points his wand at his former friend and warns, "Tiberius, just stop. Stop talking. You'll get yourself killed-"
"You traitor!" Tiberius roars and for a moment, Luccenia sees her centurion beneath the control of the thing . "You killed my sister. You destroyed everything that Luccenia hoped to accomplish!"
"The world Luccenia wanted to create isn't one that we can live in: having us marry muggleborns, stripping us of our traditions, opening our barriers to outsiders," Cnaeus tries to reason with him. "Tiberius, I love her, more than you know. But she wanted to bring muggles into the Forum, just for a wedding. She had to be stopped before she could do any more damage."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Tiberius shouts, struggling against Cnaeus's strength.
"Tiberius-"
"Cnaeus Flavina. Move ," Hollarius says, sheathing her sword. In her hands is a wand. Luccenia plees for Tiberius to run. Cnaeus steps back, his head bowed in respect. "Tell me, Tiberius Oceanus. Have you been taught how to duel?"
The thing inside takes back it's hold of Tiberius, making him grip his wand and rise to his feet. It doesn't seem to feel the injuries that Tiberius has sustained, the wound on his leg leaking sluggishly. Tiberius is deathly pale, his gaze unfocused, but the thing within him manipulates him regardless.
"I have."
"Then dance with me," Hollarius says.
They bow, face each other - straight-backed and proud - and begin.
The duel is so one-sided, it's painful to watch. Hollarius plays with Tiberius, blocking his curses with an almost uninterested look on her face. When she grows bored, she tortures him, making the centurion scream until he bit out his own tongue, until he raked all the skin from his face and arms. Bleeding and broken, Tiberius twitches on the floor.
Hollarius kneels before him, a goddess of war and death.
"You don't deserve this honour," she snarls, pulling his armour from his body and tossing it aside. "You will be remembered as nothing more than a traitor, a stain that needed to be removed before our world could live in peace. And if little Luccenia Sonia thinks that the mages of San Francisco will be enough to stop us, then she is going to be proven wrong so very quickly," Hollarius jams her wand into the soft tissue of Tiberius's neck, ripping the red centurion cloak from him and leaving him in a white loincloth. "She left you here to die."
"Lu- Luccen-" Tiberius stutters, his bloody fingers reaching blindly toward her tomb. "Lu-"
"Incendio."
Luccenia watches mutely as Tiberius Oceanus burns , barely able to comprehend it's truth. She cannot cry. She cannot even scream. There's nothing left for her to give.
"Cnaeus," Marcellous calls and Luccenia's two half-brothers come together. "Look at me."
Cnaeus dies, forcing himself not to turn his gaze toward the burning embers of Tiberius's corpse.
"I believe that I instructed you to deliver Luccenia to me after we liberated the Sonia household," Marcellous says. "Is that not the case?"
"I was, my lord," Cnaeus answers.
"And I promised you that, if you did so, I would give her to you as a bride. Is that not true?"
"It is, my lord," Cnaeus says.
"Then why, may I ask, is she on her way to America to continue in her treasonous ways?" Marcellous asks, cupping Cnaeus's face with his palm.
"I… My lord, I don't understand…"
"It is because you failed to do as I ask. You failed me, Cnaeus Flavina," Marcellous tells him.
"My lord, my lord, please -"
Cnaeus yelps and something falls from the side of his head. Marcellous slips his wand back into his side holster.
"I will only take your ear. Be thankful that I am a merciful Emperor," Marcellous says, his voice hard and final. "Fail me again, and I will take the other - and everything that is attached to it."
"T-Thank you, my lord," Cnaeus says, clutching the side of his head, his eyes wide with pain.
They leave, taking Titus Sidonia's body with them. Luccenia watches them go, helpless inside her tomb. She curls up against the barrier, shaking as cold suddenly overwhelms her.
I'm going to die here, she realizes. Then, she thinks, I don't want to die. I have too much to do.
"Em," she calls out, begging for an answer. "Em, I need you to help me. I need-"
Luccenia's voice dies in her chest. Because for the first time since being locked inside the tomb, she realizes that she's not alone.
The body lays propped up against the back wall, her remaining skin half-rotted off its face. The most of the white woolen cloth of her dress had been eaten away - by time or rats, Luccenia could not tell. But the pin that held back the girl's hair, dotted with white diamonds and set in yellow gold, gave her identity away.
"Atronia…" Luccenia whispers, horrified. "Oh god. Oh god, no…"
"She didn't suffer," a voice tells her. Luccenia whips around and sees Em, dressed in his red tunic and blue neckerchief. She pulls her arm back, makes a fist, and punches him right in her jaw. The god barely flinches.
"What is wrong with you?!" Luccenia cries, "How could you?! How- You said that helped people while everyone else was fighting! How could you let this happen?!"
"That was when I was mortal, Luccenia. I'm not anymore. Gods… we have different rules-"
She punches him again.
"Luccenia, it's true. I can't just do things anymore," Em explains, looking almost annoyed. "I have to work through someone else, through a mortal human."
"And who's that? Your Daughter of Albion? Your Queen Consort To Be? Your precious prophetic figureheads?" Luccenia screams hysterically.
"No. It's you."
She stops, "What?"
"The Daughter of Albion prophecy is one of three, just like the one threatening the Return of the Three Kings. Why do you think your mother gave you to the Vestals, when you would have had a better life living with your father's family?" Em tells her, "Why do you think Atronia singled you out to teach you how to fight? To teach you how to lead? Because I needed you ready to play a role in all of this."
"What are you saying?"
"I need you, Luccenia. To help everyone else, while the two sides are focused on fighting each other," Em asks as he walks over to Atronia's body, plucking the diamond pin from her hair. "If we don't move quickly, the Rip will close and we won't be ready. And we have to be. Or we'll lose everything."
"What do you need to me do?" She asks.
"Undo the hold on the magicks of old," Em tells her. "Release the ancient powers that slumber within the earth."
"How? Where?"
"Where rumours call land snakes and sea serpents. Where Linbhóiblìonn fell."
"Must you always speak in riddles?" Luccenia asks, feeling utterly exhausted.
Em smirks.
"Never become a god, Luccenia," he says. "Divinity forces you to work in strange ways."
Em presses Atronia's charm into the barrier. The diamonds light up and the wall dissolves into a pile of dust.
"Condensed spells. Atronia always loved them," Em explains, waving the now-jewelless hairpin. "It's an old trick, but a good one." He clears his throat, "You need to get out of the Forum . Follow the water. It will always lead you to where you need to go."
Then he vanishes. Luccenia curses him halfway to hell, her voice echoing in the empty prison. She pulls the loaf of bread that she'd saved in her sleeve just that morning, though it feels like an eternity ago. She pulls it apart, forcing herself to eat each and every bite, knowing that she will need the energy for the battles to come.
It takes her a very long time for her to crawl out of the tomb. Luccenia drags herself across the floor, pausing only once beside the pile of ashes that had once been Tiberius Oceanus.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, feeling so inadequate at that moment, unable to do anything other than apologize. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
She doesn't even have time to bury him.
Luccenia hauls herself over to the pile of centurion armour in the corner, to the red cloth that had been Tiberius's uniform. Slowly and surely, Luccenia removes her stained white dress and wraps herself in his robes. Then she takes each piece and straps them to her body, feeling the spells inside the metal coursing through her body. The legions' uniform was been enchanted by the healers of the Forum , designed to strengthen their wearers to allow them to walk and fight. Without them, Tiberius would have been as weak as Luccenia was, held back by hundreds of years of inbreeding.
There's a reason why we don't just give them out to everyone who can't walk, Luccenia thinks as she pulls the straps on her grieves a little tighter. Just like there's a reason why Karya was the first muggleborn within Italy's borders in centuries.
She grabs his helmet and then, for the first time in her life, Luccenia runs.
She doesn't have any time to marvel at it, just makes her way to the top of the entrance hall as quickly as possible. Luccenia hurries into the temple kitchens. They're the same as the bathhouse had been, the walls painted red with gore. She grabs the first knife that she can find and hacks away her red hair, shaving herself almost bald to avoid recognition. She jams Tiberius's helmet over her head and looks around.
There are no house elves here, she realizes. They must have escaped.
But she doesn't have time to think about it. Luccenia rushes out of the temple, down the main steps, and back into the burning streets of the Forum Romanum. She races down the road, barely seeing anything around her, until she enters the courtyard.
Hanging from the pillared buildings are members of the families that had supported her. Some are still alive, their feet kicking as they struggled for breath. In the middle of the courtyard, the beautiful fountain had been replaced with a massive pile of wood. Standing in the middle, bound naked to the pire, were Mettius and Karya Sonia.
Marcellous and his wife stand before the crowd, ranting and raving. They tell of Hollarius's first victory in France, where she'd hung a blood traitor for his crimes and installed trueborn leaders worthy of such a position. They call for those loyal to the old ways to join them in their conquest, for the lives of the unclean to be vanquished so that they could usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. And all the while, hidden off to the side, was Helga Hufflepuff, looking out at their audience with bland disinterest.
Pawns, Luccenia thinks as Marcellous proclaims himself Emperor of New Rome. Pawns playing at being Kings. I'll play my part in this game. I'll flip the entire board, if I have to.
Hollarius Hufflepuff sets the pire aflame. Karya and Mettius refuse to beg, refuse to cry. They hold hands and wait for the end.
A lighting bolt cracks down from looming clouds, instantly incinerating Karya and her husband. The entire crowd is knocked back as a man, fifteen feet tall and made entirely of crackling light, rises from the ash. Luccenia has seen his face before in the mosaics of old and trembles before his might.
"Woe! Woe! " Jupiter, King of the Roman pantheon, cries out in rage, golden blood showering the streets, "Death to the Empire! The gods are angry!"
The god explodes into a million fireworks and Luccenia runs for the exit, jumping over the fallen corpse of the gateway's guard. She slips through the shimmering sheet of magic that separates the Forum Romanum from the rest of the world.
Above her, the muggle sky unleashes a downpour, the winds pulling at her clothes. Luccenia shivers Tiberius's red cloak, soaked to the bone. Every muscle in her body hurts and her eyes burn, trying to shed tears that she no longer has. Luccenia looks up, the rain washing her face clean.
What am I supposed to do? She asks for anyone who might be listening. Atronia, what am I supposed to do? Almost in response, the wind shifts and the storm begins to travel north.
Luccenia laughs, desperate and hysterical. She takes the first step.
Hello again!
I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: Safiruu, Moonfirekitsune, Tz342, anita15, dragomira, green lilah, and Rita Mu. You guys are awesome!
As promised, here is a summary of the chapter, in case you wish to avoid potential triggers:
Luccenia has a dream where she sees Em, the divine goblin Maglubiyet, Ilia, and Hathor hatching a plot. She is awakened when Em realizes that she is there.
After being bathed and dressed by a house elf, Luccenia travels by litter to attend the wedding of her cousin, Mettius Sonia, to a Pakistani muggle-born witch named Karya Zardari. On the way, Luccenia is met by angry citizens of the Forum who are protesting the marriage. Tiberius kills a protestor who attempts to kill Luccenia.
Luccenia meets with her mother, Gabinia, who has just recovered from a horrible illness. She is also greeted by her half-brother, Cnaeus, who has just joined the Roman Legion. Luccenia joins the bridal party, where she becomes friends with Karya.
After the wedding, Luccenia and Cnaeus talk about the reforms that she has implemented over the past years. After he angers her, Cnaeus accidentally reveals that he is expecting an attack to take place. An explosion goes off and many of the guests are killed. Cnaeus hides Luccenia and abandons her to join the incoming mob, who start to kill the surviving guests, including Gabinia and her husband. Luccenia recognizes Marcellous's voice amounts the mob and realizes that he is leading the army against her.
Tiberius finds Luccenia and together they flee to the Tempio di Vesta. However, they arrive too late to save Luccenia's fellow Vestals, including Tiberius's younger sister, Grata. It is heavily implied that Grata's house elf (and the other house elves within the building) did something to the attackers that caused them to be vaporized.
Tiberius and Luccenia realize that Marcellous had the Tempio stormed in order to discover the location of Titis Sidonia, Luccenia and Marcellous's father. The two of them go to his cell, but are attacked by Helga Hufflepuff, who was waiting for them. Luccenia is imprisoned behind a wall, mirroring Atronia's death, while Helga forces Tiberius to kill Titus. Helga also has Tiberius injure her to make it look like she tried to defend Titus.
Marcellous, Holly, and Cnaeus enter the cell. While Marcellous grieves for his father, a mysterious force takes over Tiberius's body. The thing makes Marcellous and Hollarius believe that Luccenia ordered Tiberius to kill Titus and is currently in league with the San Francisco mages as well as Reyna Palamo. Cnaeus and Tiberius have one final discussion where Cnaeus admits to being in love with Luccenia, but doesn't approve of any of the changes that she was trying to make. Tiberius is then stripped of his armour and killed by Holly.
Em appears and reveals that Luccenia is his chosen and that he has to work through her. He gives her a quest and helps her escape. Luccenia dawns Tiberius's old armour, cuts off all her hair, and then leaves the Tempio behind.
Luccenia watches as Marcellous declares himself Emperor of New Rome and Holly is revealed to be behind the French Minister's murder. To mark his ascention to the throne, Marcellous plans to burn Karya and Mettius at the stake. However, Jupitar decends upon the Form, killing Karya and Mettius, and declares that the gods are angry.
Luccenia escapes the Forum, in search of her new quest.
If there are any other warnings that you believe should be included in the list at the top of the chapter, please let me know.
Until next time,
AlcatrazOutpatinet