Attention:
This is a dead!fic.
Yeah, we all pretty much know that this isn't going to be updated again. So, I'll just give you a [long] summary of what I'd planned, many months ago:
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First, the snippet of my forever doomed-to-be-unfinished second chapter:
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They first met at the same party where she would later meet Rasiel.
Belphegor had been sulking, though would vehemently deny it if questioned.
Because he was not jealous that Rasiel was getting most of the spotlight as usual, he was not furious that Rasiel was the shoe-in for king, he was not itching to carve up Rasiel in beautiful ribbons of crimson and silver and bloodbloodblood, in finery unmatched by any mortal-made material and of which Rasiel was undeserving.
(But isn't he so nice? He was easily willing to bedeck Rasiel in bloody art nonetheless. Undeserving? Like he was declared undeserving to be KING?)
So he drifted across the ballroom, accepting congratulations and greetings with polite smiles that, even if they were a little too tight and restrained and fake…
...Well, he was still a prince, still royalty though not the one to be king, which meant everyone still knew not to comment on it or provoke him in any way.
/Tch. Peasants.
… But isn't that strange?
Royalty and peasants and all those in between… their blood was no different from each other.
They were all the same shade of lovely, lovely scarlet life, the life that ran through the veins of every living creature.../
And when a tealette girl around his age approaches him with a rather interesting offer…
Can you really blame him for listening?
They're by themselves in the hallway, cornered.
(But who cornered who?
He doesn't like to think about the answer to that, not when the walls are closing in and her eyes are piercing straight at him with unnerving clarity and something is wrongwrongwrong and then it's over and it's all rightrightright and he just knows that he can trust her.
[He shouldn't have.])
He's given an offer, an once in a lifetime chance that could either be his making or be his downfall.
"Do you wish to be king, Prince Belphegor? Then have patience, and cooperate with me. I'm Frances; remember that name well. In less than two years, Rasiel will be disposed of, with you sitting neatly atop the throne as next-in-line. So I propose a… mutual alliance, shall we say. Don't you want to see your brother ultimately defeated? To taste the sweetness of the final victory that you have triumphed over him? Think about it; I'll be waiting. But don't think too long, or the moment will have passed and the opportunity gone for good."
It's sealed with a kiss, that sears like fire and lingers warmly even when she's long gone.
There was just something, something about her, something that sparks interest and giddiness and want, unmuted by the traces of unease and suspicion stirring in the back of his head.
/Every prince needs a princess. I'll make you my princess./
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Now the actual summary:
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After a flashback scene, it's revealed that Fran met Belphegor at the same party she met Rasiel, just earlier. She promises to help him become king and kill his brother, which she accomplishes through her plan to enthrall and poison Rasiel. Cut-back to her second wedding day to Belphegor, a few weeks after Rasiel's death, and brief mention of the kingdom's tradition of a brother taking on a deceased one's wife. There are rumors in the palace that Prince Belphegor had a hand in his brother's death, who he infamously hated and feuded with, and the gossipers think he did it out of lust for the dead king's queen. Fran passes by, unnoticed, and smirks to herself after hearing that.
"Something funny, froggy?" Belphegor asks her at the altar, before the ceremony, 'froggy' being mostly affectionate nickname that referred ironically to the story of the Frog Prince. "Oh, just rumors," she replies. The priest is the same, and the Royal Mage makes an appearance in the wedding crowd. A suitably vague and ominous message is thought of.
Some filler depicting their married life. Belphegor and Fran play each day and each night like a game, a dance, with him wary but madly obsessed. Emphasis on madly.
("He knew that if she had killed one king before, there was nothing really stopping her from killing another, and accordingly kept her at a slight arm's length. But she knew exactly how much the prospect of death, and cheating it, thrilled him. She drew him closer with each threat, each submission, reeling him in like an arsenic-addicted fish. Every drop of drink and bite of food was scrutinously checked for unsavory substances, because Belphegor, in the end, was no fool. No, in the end, he was just a madman carving bloody markings into his bride, even as she strangled and struggled right back. Their's was an understanding of violence- and the passion found within it.")
Flashback scene-snippet reveals that Fran purposely 'bumped into' Belphegor before meeting Rasiel, and shows she manipulated him the same way she manipulated Rasiel, and never held any real loyalty to him, neither. She also used her 'witchcraft/magic/Mist Flames' to 'bewitch' him, though more subtly than Rasiel's outright infatuation. Instead of such a noticeable change, which Belphegor would've been far more suspicious of than Rasiel, Fran just accelerated his own 'Verns Madness', making him more pliable to her manipulations. The mysterious 'he' she truly loves is mentioned in her thoughts, and it cut-backs to her standing on the same cliff with Belphegor, on the second anniversary of Rasiel's death. They're there for a picnic, and Fran mentally remarks on how he was relaxing his guard; he only gave the food and drink a cursory examination, because he was so distracted by the gloating humor of picnicking over the grave of his dead brother, with his dead brother's wife now his own.
Fran suggests, unsmiling, that he take the joke a step further, and literally step further onto the cliff, closer to the real grave of Rasiel. Belphegor thinks it's a brilliantly funny idea, and agrees, after making a remark on how she should smile more, since she has all of these amusing thoughts. She follows him, and they stand on the cliff, with him a little closer to the edge. "Hey," she says, peering over the edge as if startled. "Isn't that his vase still there?" Belphegor, frowning and suddenly deeply unamused, peers over as well. "Where-" he manages to ask, before being cut off. Fran hits him with a bolt of magic to ensure he's too dazed to struggle, then steps up, and with a neat, quick push, shoves him off the cliff. She watches him fall and be impaled on the jagged rocks, before the raging tide pulls his body off in ragged piece.
When the last piece sinks below, Fran smiles, and comments to herself, "Now you're really over his grave- and soon to be in it. Pity you can't see me smile, right?" Then she efficiently gathers up the picnic supplies, packs them away, and takes a moment to compose a shellshocked facade, before walking back to the castle to announce the truly tragic news of King Belphegor's fatal slip into the sea, when he was making a jest about his brother's lack of a gravestone and unfortunately leaned too far. The citizens sympathize with her 'loss.' She takes a week to mourn, and then makes a public announcement wearing the appropriate mourning clothes and an appropriately shaky-but-brave face.
She declares the Royal Mage, Mukuro of the Six Paths, the next ruler of the kingdom, as there are no more prospects of Verns blood. The citizens celebrate, approving it as a radical but right step towards modernizing the caste-ruled Kingdom of Verns, as Mukuro, and his apprentice, Nagi Chrome, are widely known to have been born as commoners. Mukuro ascends the steps to the stage, kisses her gloved hand, and smiles at the crowd. He smoothly pledges to do right by their trust. Nagi nervously lingers offstage. Fran smiles pleasantly at him and makes offhand, joking remarks about not giving up her throne entirely just yet; the crowd laughs agreeably. Mukuro smiles back at her, assures the crowd that of course he would never forget who gave him the opportunity in the first place. Neither of their smiles reach their eyes.
Flashback scene reveals that Mukuro's 'assurance' was actually a reference, reminder, and implicit threat to Fran, because it turns out that he was the one who taught her to refine her magic, years ago when they were both tweens. Cut-back to a few months after the ruling hand-off, and Fran acknowledges mentally that he is far more experienced, powerful, and skilled than she is in magecraft, which is the technical term for what they did. Furthermore, she acknowledges mentally that he knows she knows that.
Flashback scene: He visits her a few times after becoming the Verns Regent, and makes several more implicit threats to her about his awareness of her guilt and methods in murdering the past two rulers. He warns her that he won't fall for any of that.
"The student will never surpass the master," he says with an unfeeling smile, "and even so, a dog who bites the hand that fed it will be put down quite quickly. Don't you agree?" Fran doesn't drink the tea he offers, and just stares blankly at him, reactionless. Mukuro sighs with mock hurt at her lack of trust, shrugs uncaringly, and leans back in his chair with his cup raised, which Nagi scurries out of the shadows to hurry to fill. "Still, I suppose I may have taught you a little too well, brat. A king-maker and a king-killer? My, my, my, how ambitious you've grown. Well, we'll see how ambitious you can get when you're locked in your chambers with an unfortunate wasting illness. If you manage a miraculous recovery...? We'll see how supportive the public will be of your ambitions when they're told of your past exploits and current deceit of your magecraft."
Fran is still reactionless. "Are you done monologuing?" she asks 'politely,' then flicks her blank gaze from him to Nagi, who squeaks with distress and shrinks backward. Mukuro's mirth abruptly dissipates, and he sets down his cup gently, glaring coldly at Fran. "Brat, don't play your mind games with my Nagi. You're forgetting who gave you all of your little tricks. No magecraft will harm me nor mine, so don't you even start. I've cut my heart out years ago. You're six lives too young to be trying to best me, brat." Fran rolls her eyes and looks away, like the sulky child he remembers her as and expects her to be. She drinks her tea, and smirks into it. 'I've found his heart,' she thought, and pretends to be bored as she watches Nagi shakily apologize to a soft-eyed Mukuro.
Cut-back to the present, where she's sprawled, truly bored, on the lavish bed of her ornate chambers. A knock on the only door that led to the outside corridors comes, and she calls, "Enter!" with an expectant air. Nagi unlocks the magic-trapped door and tentatively pokes her head it, squeaking when she met Fran's eyes. The timid mage ducks her head down quickly, wheels in the cart containing Fran's (surprisingly not-poisoned) breakfast, and swiftly leaves, apologizing nervously as she locked the door behind her. Fran idly considers that Mukuro has gotten soft over the years because he hasn't attempted to 'silence' her even once yet, and quickly focuses back on the implications of such a thing as she samples the breakfast offerings.
Nagi was Mukuro's heart, his living and breathing anchor for his conscience. Perhaps she had been human before, but the effects of such a ritual transfer had definitely left her as something more closely bonded to Mukuro. Fran thinks, 'Either way, he still made the worst decision of his life by letting his heart come in such close, constant contact with me. Or was his worst decision of his life choosing to take me on as a pupil?' The thought amuses her, and she sits and eats her very delicious breakfast as she plots.
She basically turns out to slowly possess Nagi. The reason 'no magecraft will harm me nor mine' is because Nagi and Mukuro have a sympathetic bond, so not only does something interpreted as an attack not work, it would also alert the other. Only Nagi can hurt herself, or hurt Mukuro, and vice versa. Nagi isn't aware of Fran's possession, so she doesn't 'recognize' it as an attack, which she needs to do in order for the magical protection to let her 'reject' the attack. A possessed Nagi slits Mukuro's throat one unsuspecting day, and Fran forces her to hide his body, drag it out of the castle onto the same cliff, throw it into the ocean, and then jump off herself. Nagi is crying as she complies, and feels only relief as she suicides to reconcile with her 'soul,' Mukuro.
Fran emerges from her chambers a few days later, when the shocking murder of the Regent by his trusted apprentice is revealed, and the other shocking news appears that apparently the Regent locked away the queen to seize more power. She is sorrowful as she reveals these news, choking up with tears- tears of inner laughter and vengeful mirth. "Do not blame Nagi Chrome for the murder of her master," she insists earnestly. "Instead, praise her for doing what she had to to release me from my prison. She was such a good girl; I thank her for her duty, and grieve that the guilt of killing her benefactor was harsh enough to induce her to kill herself." The crowd cheers.
That night, she meets with the priest on the cliff, Torikabuto, and tells him that everything is ready. "He is overjoyed with you, Queen," Torikabuto replies, and leaves. Fran looks across the sea's horizon, ignoring the deadly waves and rocks below that had seen so much betrayal, and smiles with soft eyes. "I entirely hope so," she murmurs to herself.
A few months later, the royal navy of a kingdom across the sea, The Thousand Flower Kingdom, along with their king, Byakuran Gesso, arrives for diplomatic meetings regarding an alliance. Another month later, Fran and Byakuran are engaged for a political marriage and merging of their kingdoms, though the citizens celebrate and note how truly happy they seem with each other. The citizens hope for a finally happy ending for their by-now beloved and tragically-suffering queen.
Flashback scene reveals Fran met Byakuran the earliest in another kingdom, when they were still children, and they became fast friends who delighted in mischief and messing with the townsfolk. They decide to become powerful in their own rights when they grow up, and promise to marry, soon devising plans to take over their kingdom by usurping the current rulers, who weren't very well liked. Byakuran then had to move to The Thousand Flower Kingdom, but they agreed to continue correspondence and build up power bases. Fran ends up moving to the Kingdom of Verns to convince Mukuro to teach her magecraft, and subsequently furthers her ambitions by using and discarding Rasiel, Belphegor, and Mukuro (and Nagi). Byakuran still sends messages through Torikabuto, his mage stationed in Verns to support Fran, and is revealed to have done much the same as she did in order to get the throne, except with the women, as The Thousand Flower Kingdom was a matriarchy in contrast to the patriarchal Kingdom of Verns.
Cut-back to the wedding. Torikabuto is the priest again, and the Funeral Wreaths are seen in the crowd as Byakuran's escorts. People mentioned in the 'rumors' of the first chapters, such as the Enma-Tsunayoshi and Kyoko-Haru couples, are also seen cheering in the crowd. "I love you," Byakuran says, lifting her veil and smiling. "I love you too," Fran finally answers, smiling and leaning in.
Fast-forward to them sitting on the cliff at night, letting their legs dangle off, arms around each other. Fran's magic is shaping barriers around them as a precaution against them falling off. "To the future!" Fran calls, raising a glass of champagne. "To the future!" Byakuran returns the sentiment with a warm smile, and they clink glasses.
The End.
***Alternate Ending:
Byakuran then hits Fran with a blast of his own magic (sky flames, orange magecraft, etc.) to daze her like she did to Belphegor, and to shatter her cautionary barriers. He nudges her off, still smiling warmly, and it's the last thing she sees with widened eyes before following the route of her past victims and crashing onto the deadly rocks. The deadly waves and rocks below that had seen so much betrayal, see another one. Byakuran raises his glass again to the empty air, and repeats, musingly, "to the future..." He chuckles to himself, and drinks, then gets up and walks casually back to the castle.