AN: Ha! Finally done! In case you're wondering: no, I won't write a sequel, though anyone else who feels like using aspects of the Noblesse/Middle Earth/Dungeons and Dragons combination in their own fics is more than welcome to. Heck, you can even write an AU, or reworking of this fic and I won't care. Thanks for reading! Enjoy the conclusion...
After the fight was over, the six of them were in that state of exhaustion which renders everything much simpler than it would be under normal circumstances. So, when Commander Irron wanted to talk to them, they were a bit less polite than they might have been.
"I'd like to thank you for the assistance you've given us," he said, grudgingly.
"Okay," said Shinwoo. He was more in the mood for food than for words at that point.
Irron didn't like having to thank criminals: these Humans were people who'd harmed Creatures of Darkness for amusement, and they'd only helped under threat, so there was no merit to their actions. Still... they deserved something for what they'd done.
So, he placed these Humans in a separate chamber from the six bards and the Dwarf, and ensured they'd be tried separately. He even allowed the Elves to remain with them, and gave them the courtesy of not placing guards in the room.
That should be enough to satisfy honor.
There was a full-house of spectators for the trial of the Dwarf and Human ambassadors. Those on trial were placed on a dais in the lowest part of the room, while up along the high table were the eight Lords of Darkness.
Normally, it was only one or two Lords who tried the ambassadors, but the magnitude of the bards' crimes, and that fact that the Lords had been in the area anyway, had meant a full trial with all eight Lords for this cycle's ambasadors.
"Hammer Lores," said the Nazgul Lord, Roth. "You stand accused of petty thievery and attempting to escape the dark realm before the end of your term of duty."
Hammer tried wheedle some sympathy out of the listening Lords. "Yes," he said, "I admit to my crimes, but I assure you, I meant no harm. I just wanted to go back to my family, and I needed some collateral to get me back to the Drawven realm." His argument, while plausible, was somewhat hurt by the fact that he ate during his entire defense.
The leader of the council, Lord Roth, was not overly sympathetic with the Dwarf, as this was his third term served as a Dwarf ambassador.
"Dwarf Hammer," said Roth, "You are well-aware of our rules and regulations by now. For your insubordination, you shall spend your time in our realms as a manual laborer."
Hammer nodded. He'd been through the drill before, and was more or less apathetic about the whole thing. At least this time he'd gotten to do some looting.
The Dwarf was taken from the council chamber with only a token protest.
Then, it was time to judge the Humans. These trials were being done in two batches, as per Commander Irron's request.
From Hammer's performance, the Bards seemed to think there was a chance of getting out of this through sympathy. Their leader acted as the speaker for the six of them.
"You stand accused of twenty-six counts of attempted murder, and attempting to leave the realm of darkness prematurely."
The bard leader put the best face he could on it. "We're not supposed to be here—we were falsely accused! We know we messed up, but we were scared! We've never hurt the Creatures of Darkness before, we swear it! Please, just give us a chance to show our innocence!"
And the Human actually did look distressed, so Roth decided to comply with his request.
"Irron, would you send someone to get the mirror?"
A few minutes later, a wall-sized covered mirror was brought into the room and placed behind the dais where the prisoners stood.
"You have asked for a chance to prove your innocence," said Roth, "and you shall have it."
He gestured to the object behind them. "This is the mirror of true-nature. It will reveal you for what you really are."
The bards didn't look too thrilled at the prospect, and were starting to realize that their sympathy-mongering had backfired on them. They couldn't very well say anything at this point, though. When a wreck is inevitable, sometimes all you can do is sit back and watch the explosion.
The sheet was removed from the mirror.
Now, as the eyes see, the bards were all moderately handsome men, and this did not change. However, they did not look so attractive when viewed in the mirror.
They appeared as corrupt and twisted figures, with devious, scheming expressions, and eyes which did not always point in the same direction. Most disturbing of all, however, was the blood which dripped from their reflections' hands.
Lord Roth raised an eyebrow. "Do you still claim to be innocent?" he asked.
Well, the six bards knew when to leave worse-enough alone, and they remained silent.
Roth took their silence as an answer. "For your crimes against our peoples, you six will be imprisoned for the remainder of your five years in the realm of darkness"
The six of them were led away.
No one was in a very good mood after that. They still had one more trial to go, after all, and dealing with Humanity was always so very depressing...
So everyone was surprised when the Dark Elf Lord spoke up.
"With the council's permission," he said. "I would like to offer the other four Humans and the two Elves a place among my court."
Well, after that, a great deal of arguing commenced.
"Cadis, I know you've got a soft spot for outcasts, but the Human ambassadors are always scumbags."
"You want to invite that into your home?"
"The Elves, certainly, there's a precedent for that, but the Humans..."
"I don't think it's a good idea, Raizel."
And so on.
They were so preoccupied with Cadis Etrama Di Raizel's proposal, that they failed to remember to have the mirror of true-nature removed from the hall, and no one even noticed that the Humans and Elves had been brought in, until one of them started laughing.
Well, when Commander Irron had come to get the four Humans, the two Elves had insisted on coming with them, saying that the six of them were a team and refused to be separated.
Being rather too depressed to argue about it after the last trial, Irron hadn't protested.
And so, the six of them were escorted into the council chamber without a great deal of ceremony. Not many noticed their entrance, as the council Lords seemed to be discussing something among themselves. The six of them found themselves ignored for the moment, and set about finding something to do in the interim.
Suyi tried to straighten her hair in a mirror, which someone had placed a few feet behind the dais on which they stood. She fiddled with a few strands for several seconds before tapping Seira on the shoulder. "Is it just me," she said, "Or is that mirror wrong about the way my hair looks?"
Seira tilted her head. "You know? I think it is," she turned to her fellow archer. "Yuna, don't believe the mirror; it's a liar."
Yuna had to look at it for a few seconds before she got it. "Oh, it makes you prettier? Seriously? I've got to get me one of these!"
Indeed, all six of their reflections looked much nicer than normal, even Seira's and Regis', and Yuna wouldn't have even believed that was possible, if she weren't seeing it with her own eyes.
Ikhan was comparing reflection with reality. "This is hilarious," he commented.
Regis sniffed. "Shinwoo, you look like an absolute pansy."
Shinwoo, rather than being offended, just laughed. "Well, look at who's talking. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were girls, the both of you."
Ikhan snickered, and put on a falsetto voice. "Oh, Regisina! Let's do our nails and then we absolutely must go clothes-shopping. Your outfit looks positively mannish!"
Regis had his face half-covered by one of his hands, shaking his head back and forth at the sheer idiocy of it.
Seira, who was helping Suyi braid Yuna's hair at this point, looked up at Ikhan's words. "Don't listen to them, cousin. I think your clothes look lovely." Seira was the master of the poker face, and she said the line with such sincerity that Regis couldn't help but break into helpless laughter.
It was then that they noticed the attention of everyone in the room was fully on the six of them.
Regis straightened up hastily. "My apologies," he said. "You know how Humans are with novelty," he said, ignoring the fact that he'd been the one making the most noise. "You summoned the four of them here, yes? But the six of us are a team; we face our fate together."
The Leader of the Council, Roth the Nazgul Lord, managed to regain his composure. "Yes," he said. This wasn't what he was expecting. These were the four Humans who were treaty-breakers. They'd antagonized a family of Werewolves and tried to imprison them in the Union headquarters. How could they have such positive reflections in the mirror? But... now that he thought about it, these were the Humans the Lords had seen in the Black Woods, were they not? These kids were scapegoats, had to be...
"Cadis, here has offered to house the six of you during your stay here." Roth decided to say. He gestured towards a Lord at the very end of the table: one who had dark hair and red eyes...
They'd seen him before.
"Is that...?" Shinwoo was amazed.
"I think it is," Seira put in.
"Since when have guys with alligator-infested lakes been on the council of eight?"
Ikhan was thinking about it. "Turn it around," he suggested. "'That guy has a lake filled with alligators in his backyard: he sounds like someone on the council of eight.'"
The six of them looked at each other.
Then, they began to eliminate possibilities.
"Dragon." said Suyi, pointing at Lord Foreth.
"Balrog," said Seira, nodding at Lord Hellspawn.
"Watcher," said Ikhan, noticing Lord Zamon.
"Nazgul," Shinwoo pointed out Lord Roth.
"Troll," Yuna gestured to Lord Dron.
"Orc," said Regis, pointing out Lord Kallingar.
Shinwoo was looking between Lord Cadis Etrama Di Raizel and Lord Sorros and scratching his head. "Ikhan, how do you tell the difference between a Dark Elf and a Werewolf?"
"Don't know," answered the mage. "I suspect that gramps is a Werewolf, though, so I'd say Sorros is the Dark Elf."
They looked up at Raizel, who shook his head.
"Darn it!" said Shinwoo. "We were so close!"
Raizel had a small smile on his face.
There were eleven people dining in Frankenstein's house that evening.
"So, we're part of the Dark Elf court now?" asked Yuna. "I think we might be the wrong species."
"Actually," said Tao, "Rai's the only Dark Elf here. The rest of us were born of other peoples."
"Yeah, but you're all Creatures of Darkness, at least. It just seems strange is all..."
"We're not all Creatures of Darkness; Frankenstein is a Human."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He got kicked out, much like you four. He's the one who inspired the formation of the Union."
Shinwoo and Ikhan exchanged a disturbed glance. "That was hundreds of years ago, though, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
Suyi shuddered.
The six of them weren't sure what to say to that. Tao, however, had decided that he may as well keep going.
"Takeo, '21, and I aren't true Creatures of Darkness either. We used to be Human, until the Union turned us into this."
"You two were... Human?"
"The three of us, yeah. You're right about '21. He's a Werewolf now, but he wasn't always." Tao was trying to be casual about it.
The six adolescents looked at each other before deciding to let it go. They'd be here for five years, after all. They'd find out eventually. Right now, there were a few matters that needed discussing.
"So, what does the Dark Elf court do?"
"Whatever we want to. See, we're more like a group of temperance than a group of heroes. We protect the realm of darkness, and we antagonize the Union, of course, but we five have the potential to be some of the worst threats middle-earth has ever seen."
Tao may not have been an evil man, and he was very good at affecting megalomania, thus his tirade was more entertaining than frightening.
"We're Creatures of Darkness with an insider's knowledge of Humanity," he went on. "Back when we were controlled by the Union, we did things we'd rather not think about. Frankenstein used to be darned scary before he grew a conscience. And Rai? A thousand years ago, he was the one who gave the Lords of Darkness a bad name."
"And you're not like that anymore?" Regis wanted to know.
"Well, no. Or at least, we try not to be. But we're all tainted with blood, one way or another. You think you won't fit in? Who was it again who was kicked out of the Human race for excessive violence?"
Yuna laughed at that.
"What about us?" Regis wanted to know. He and Seira were Elves, not Human.
"Exiled from the Elven forests for being overly sympathetic? Rai would have taken you two in, even if the Humans weren't involved."
M-21 spoke up. "Aside from the whole 'lost Humanity' motif we've got going with our Human members, the six of you would make valuable additions to our court. We've got the big guns: Rai and Frankenstein; the three of us form the mid-level offense—but we don't have a lot of finesse to work with." He shrugged. "Tao's the best of us at subtlety, but he works at optimum with overly-complicated systems, not everyday problems."
"Saw the six of you take out that bard together," commented Tao. "Couldn't do anything to help, of course, but that's how we knew you were in the realm. That was some impressive teamwork. I've never seen Elves who were able to function effectively as defensive support before."
Seira nudged Regis. "They think we're elegant," said Seira, trying to get a smile out of Regis.
Regis scoffed. They'd been impressed by that haphazard mess? Give him another year of experience, then he'd show them elegance...
Still, tying themselves to the Dark Elf Court would give the six of them a permanent connection: one that wouldn't be broken after a score of months... or even five years. That was something Regis had been worrying about. Eventually, he'd have to go back to the Elven forest and lead his clan, as would Seira. This would give them an ironclad excuse to maintain ties with their Human friends.
"Well, we should be able to kill time here, if nothing else," commented Regis.
Seira nodded.
"Cool," said Ikhan. "We've never worked in a team this large before."
Tao clapped the Human mage on the shoulder. "Welcome to the court."
The eleven of them talked for many minutes after, clarifying assumptions, working out team-strategy, planning out long-term goals for the next five years...
Camaraderie, mused the Elf, that was the atmosphere in the room. Admittedly, it wasn't the most impressive of things to watch, but, regardless, Regis was coming to see it as one of his favorite forms of elegance.