I don't own like half this shit (okay, mostly, in this chapter, Fade, Koru and the school...) In other news, this is where Ina is serious and I was laughing in disbelief while writing... XD
Chapter Six
Responsibility
Ina padded over to the room the step-sisters occupied, and slipped in through the slightly open door, shutting it behind with a very soft click. The room was lit not by the harsh fluorescent lighting it suffered from during the day, but with soft balls of light. Syth was actually juggling a few of them. Without glancing at Ina, she said, "These are plastic balls filled with magic. Pretty useful."
"Oh. That's...impressive," she said, not sure what to say, and settled onto the floor, in a little alcove between one of the beds and a bookshelf. Nagi sat on the bed opposite Syth, one leg crossed on the bed, the other bent, arms wrapped around it. Herve perched next to Syth, and she couldn't quite see Fade.
"Fade already explained your deal," Syth added. "We're just waiting on Lucky or Koru now. Lucky's been running missions into Hell to sneak people out." Her voice was dreamy, or maybe that was just the atmosphere. Sure, Ina had lived in worlds full of magic, but in recent memory, her days had been filled with chattering and friends, and she'd always collapsed at night, exhausted. In even more recent memory, her days had been lonelier and too long, but still involved the nightly collapse. Well, except the full moon - but she'd manage to collapse the next day, always. But it was the middle of the night, and she was tired, in a room filled with fairy light. She could hear crickets outside, chirruping away, and felt transported to the world of a book. Only, if this were a book, she'd know for sure they'd win. If this were a book, she'd know that things would turn out. But sitting here at just past midnight, she didn't know any of that. She was still heartsick and lonely, unsure of herself.
"Hey, come out of that little corner," Fade said, suddenly looming over her. Before she could protest - though she wasn't sure she wanted to - he pulled her from it, and over to one of the desks. Half-reluctant, she took a perch on it, hugging her knees, and he sat next to her. She really needed to figure this out. All of this. She had to find a way to get rid of the Beast because like it or not, with her grandfather dead, she was Hell's ruler and they were her people. And no matter how much she didn't want the responsibility - didn't know how to handle it, even! - she had it, and she would see it through, somehow. And before that even got handled, she had to figure out what was up with her and Fade, because the dynamic had so suddenly changed. He wasn't sniping, she wasn't smacking his head into desks anymore. The incident with Slade in the infirmary had changed that, even though she supposedly hadn't been awake for it. Things changed so quickly, and it felt almost like she was left in the lurch.
She found herself startled from being half-asleep by a poke to her nose. Eyelids fluttered open to squint at the enormous face in her view; a curious looking Lucky. It was probably a good thing she didn't scream. Glancing over at the window, Ina spied Koru folding himself in, and was slightly amused to notice that they were matching, in black jumpsuits.
"I thought they only wore those things in movies," Syth said airily, as she shut the window behind them. Her hair bobbed, and Ina almost groaned as she realized the girl's hair was now polka-dotted. Seriously, how did she manage that! But there were more important things to think about than what color(s) Syth's hair was right then. Even if that was probably the weirdest and most fun mystery, it wasn't one that really mattered.
"So, who've you gotten out?" Fade asked, after a few seconds, once Lucky and Koru had decided the easiest way to fit into the room was to lie down on the floor.
"Mihi and Lindhal were the only ones in your form I could get. The upper forms all cleared out when the fighting started, except for those of us who were getting other people out. The younger forms also mostly got cleared out. Some of the Sins survived and aren't on Slade's side. Well, just Wrath and Osiris, really." She stretched a foot in the air, in place of her usual punctuating arm gestures. "Sloth and Lust got killed, Pride's disappeared, as far as we can tell, though Mihi swears she's seen her." A flick of her foot. "Most of the people who got out have wound up with Wrath and Osiris. Did you know they were together? Anyhow, yeah, they're running a resistance against Slade. And when I mentioned I knew where you were, they told me to tell you to stay put. They need you not dead for when they win."
"But...the Beast. They can't handle that, from what little Gwen was saying," Ina said. She didn't add that she didn't want her duty, because that was something she'd have to figure out on her own. Among other things. "And...it's...it's my responsibility."
"You're like, what, thirteen, or something? You shouldn't be bothering with responsibility," Lucky said. "And Gwen's that mage-y person who turns green and blows shit up, right? I'll go find her and figure out some way to blow this Beast up. If it can't be blown up, then I'll figure out how to shred it." She winked from the floor. "It's fucking dead once I get ahold of it, okay?"
"You're so overconfident, Lucky," Syth said. She was all seriousness now, and then, to Ina's astonished eyes, her hair shifted to a fairly...dull brown. "That won't work." She crouched, looking down on Lucky for one of the probably very few times she'd had a chance to. "Haven't you been listening to me?"
"Why does everyone else know more about this thing than I do?" Ina demanded. "I'm going to get the whole place dumped on me if we win! I'm going to be the ruler of it."
"Yeah, and you'll deal with it then," Lucky said from the floor. "What, you want it now?"
Forget the politeness, just forget it. Either she was the rightful ruler or not - they couldn't have it both ways and she wasn't going to let them do that. If she was getting this dumped on her when it was won, then she was going to be involved from now on in all of it. "Lucky," she said coolly. "I don't want to be a queen. But I am, anyhow, and if you expect me to get it later, then you'd better start recognizing that I am the queen right fucking now." Lucky jerked upright, wide-eyed, and Ina found herself on the feet. "Like it or not," she snapped, "Those are my people. They are my responsibility." She didn't even know what she was feeling right now, but she was light-headed and even though she didn't know what the heaven she'd do with the responsibility she was claiming, she had to claim it. The one thing she had learned from Satan about ruling was that you couldn't let anyone push you around, no matter how much they meant to you. Lucky was her friend, and she admired her. But if she was to be queen, to take on that responsibility, and run a country, then she had to stand up to anyone who challenged her or tried to run her country for her. And that would have to start with the woman whose head was at her collarbone right now, looking stunned. Her voice strengthened. "I can't be queen in name only. I won't be. I will be involved, I will know what is going on." A deep breath. "I am the queen of Hell, and I will be obeyed." She grabbed a notebook from Nagi's desk - Syth's was probably poisoned or something, knowing that girl's chemical obsessions - and a pen. Flipping to a blank page, she started writing furiously in the sudden, slightly stunned silence.
After a few minutes, Fade gave a soft round of applause. "I get why your grandpa wanted you as heir now," he said.
"Don't remind me," was her sour reply. "I'm fifteen. I don't even want the job. But I got it, so I'm damn well going to be the one in charge. Queen Chandrisa has three councils of lords and ladies, and two councils of ordinary people, but at the end of the day, it's she who makes the decisions, not any of them. She takes some advice, ignores other pieces. But she isn't controlled. That's what's been going on with me, and I am through with that." The pen tore a hole in the page. With a scowl at it, she had it fixed, and continued scribbling furiously.
"So what do you want me to be doing, then?" Lucky asked, very quietly, after a few more minutes.
"Continue with your currents missions, and whatever Wrath and Osiris are asking you to do, that you judge possible. I'm writing a letter to them to give me reports through you." She knew she needed to do that, from her time with Gwen and Crest. "I'll send any directions I have back through them. If you don't mind, I'd also like it if you would take another letter to Gwen. Gwendolyn Tennison, that is." She bit her lip. She was thinking of ordering around the most powerful known being? At least she probably wouldn't die for it, since Gwen liked her... Besides, it was her territory they were planning on fighting in. She nearly dropped the pen, re-realizing that. It hadn't even been a half-hour since she'd woken up, and she'd already accepted that! She was out of her mind. Absolutely out of it. But things happened quickly. She was just adapting to them. So she was fifteen. Chandrisa had been ten when she'd taken the throne! And she'd let General K'thonya - only Private K'thonya back then! - be her regent (her fifteen year old regent!) until she was about eighteen. She didn't have that luxury, though, did she? The only politically savvy person she really knew was Fade, who was her age. All her friends - if they were still alive - had been socialites. Mihi, Jolie, and Gossamer were all social climbers, the kinds of girls destined to marry political men and never get involved in it themselves. She refocused back on the letter. If she thought about her closest friends, she was seriously going to start sobbing or something.
Rulers can't be distracted by their friends. They can have friends, but those people have to receive the same importance as everyone else. It was like an instinct telling her this, and though she didn't like it, she knew it was true. She rubbed her face and stared down at the letter to Wrath and Osiris. It was done, at least. She tore it out and folded it up, scribbling their name on. "Syth, I don't suppose you or Nagi have any random wax laying around," she said. She needed to seal it. Oh heavens, what was the seal for Hell? Actually, screw the official one. She was queen now, she was giving them a new seal. One that didn't involve fire and horns. That had to be bad for their international image, anyhow, not just ugly and tasteless. And she liked the idea of using Stone Circle. In the moments Syth was rummaging in her desk, Ina had taken an eraser from her pocket and with a little effort, shaped it to look like Stone Circle. Syth wordlessly placed a lump of wax next to her, and she took it. "Thanks, Syth." A claw sliced a piece off, and she heated it with a spell, dripped it on the fold of the paper, and smacked the former eraser into it. That done, she set the new seal next to the wax, and started on Gwen's letter, and then groaned. "I'll need to write one to Crest and Draug too, won't I?" she said.
"Well yeah. Being in charge is a lot of work," Fade said.
Ina stuck her tongue out at him. "So is being the only werewolf in the girl's dormitory. At least you got some sympathy if Slade got annoyed about bones on the carpet after the full moon." She didn't stop writing, at least. She knew what she needed to say to this one of her several quasi-mothers, at least.
"There weren't any other girl werewolves?"
"None. The only other not-full-demons were a few nekos, Gossamer the fairy, and a mermaid who was, I think, perpetually drunk," Ina said. "And a few humans."
"I was one of the humans," Lucky said. "And the mermaid was drunk. Only way she was able to live down there, I think. Shoulda just dropped out, really."
Ina shrugged, finishing up the admittedly short letter. All she wanted from Gwen was a willingness to send reports on what she knew to her, just as she was requesting from Wrath and Osiris. While Gwen was definitely working for the Dragon Realms and their government, Ina remembered from a class in law (her sixth period of the day while she had been at the Academy) that the ruler of an embattled region, under commonlaw (about twenty laws shared by most kingdoms), could request temporary service from the mages of his or her allies. She gave a quick mental thanks for Osiris, who had taught that class. He'd certainly be an adviser when this was over. She'd need the help. Or, what about...? Well, she'd think about that route later. Letter finished, she repeated the process she had for the first to seal it after scribbling Gwen's name, and set it on top of the first, starting work on the letter to Crest and Draug.
"So what exactly do you want to do from here, anyhow?" Fade asked.
She chewed on her lip. She really didn't know. Get reports, updates, maybe give a few suggestions? The only benefit to this seemed to be to her, really. It would took care of the loneliness and hours of nothing to do. On the other hand, she might be able to do a bit of coordinating between all of them... She had written, in Gwen's letter, about the fact there was a "rebel" force opposing Slade and his new pet. That could be helpful, if Gwen hadn't found it out already. She quickly added that information to the current letter, followed by another request for reports. Some things she thought important followed, and then she closed the letter. The same procedure was repeated a final time, and she slipped from the desk, pocketing the seal, and handing Syth the wax. Ina handed the letters to Lucky. "Wrath and Osiris, you know where they are. Gwen is probably in the library of the Dragon Realms, just look for a woman in pants that isn't in the army. And Crest and Draug are obviously in Lycanth. Thank you, Lucky."
"No problem," she said, with a grin. "C'mon, Koru." She tugged herself to her feet, abusing Nagi's (fortunately) bolted down, oversized bed, and shoved the window open again. She disappeared through, followed by Koru a second later. Syth shut it behind.
"You're just lucky she likes authority over there better than she likes it here," the normally hyper girl told her, settling down on her bed again.
Ina toyed briefly with the idea of a response, but 'fuck you' was too crude, and laughing was just sleep-deprived silliness. She settled for a cool gaze, before glancing at Fade and Herve. "I suggest we all go to bed now. I think Jim usually patrols around this time."
"She's right," Herve said. He pulled his girlfriend in for a hug, then a drawn out french kiss, while Nagi covered her eyes, and Fade and Ina crept into the hall. Oh, sure, they could have done the whole teleporting thing (or, as Ina had been calling it, after a long visit to the library, disapparating), but that would have taken the excitement out of it. Not that they needed excitement, precisely, but there's something about being a teenager that makes it a bit...glamorous to sneak up and down dark hallways in fear of your safety that seems fairly universal among teens. If there wasn't, after all, how would horror movies have an audience?
The boys rooms were upstairs, and the room Ina shared with the despicable spoiled brat was close to them. As Fade was about to head upstairs, she changed her mind and followed him. He grinned at her recklessly, and passed by his room on the landing above, instead, leading up and out onto the roof. He sprawled on the ground, she sat next to him.
"It's so weird here," she whispered, after a moment.
"Yeah, it is. But you just have to deal with it and move on. Hell was weird for me too." He smirked at her. "Interesting to hear you swear, Miss Proper."
"You've never heard it before because you were never around me," she said with a half-smile. "I learned all my swears from Mihi."
"...so you really swear constantly?"
"Only when I'm seriously mad or around my friends. Or both...they do seem to go hand in hand, usually." She missed Mihi right now, and the pink insanity the other girl brought to her life. "Things change fast."
"You're telling me," was his comment. "So."
"Should I take that as a 'So what?', a 'So who gives a flying fuck?', a 'So please shut up now before I try ripping your throat out?'" Okay, cheap shot, using old comments from him...
"That was more of a 'So what was up with you in there?' but take it how you want, I guess..."
She glanced away. How could she even explain how she felt? At least, when she opened her mouth, the words slowly came. Late night confessions to Mihi had been more fun, but those weren't going to happen again for a long time. If ever. "I'm stuck with a job I didn't ask for." It was low, and sounded as resentful as she felt. "I hate power. I hate authority. I could've made prefect like instantly, but I screwed around because I didn't want it." She sighed softly. "I had enough of playing parent to grown adults - my father, I think, was four till the day he died, and Gwen is still a teenager, and probably always will be - that I don't want that as something I have to dedicate my life too." She gulped slightly; oh she hated this trap she was in. "But this, all of it, is my responsibility. I was made heir because I'm painfully good at this shit, and I have to follow through on it. I'm the fucking queen now, like it or not. I can't let them down. Any of them." Ina wanted to cry, sometimes, like now, but as usual, she held it in. One meltdown in front of Fade and his snarliness was bad enough. Two would have been terrible. Sure, he'd admitted, in a round-about way, to liking her, but...but she wasn't going to do that. She couldn't possibly have time for a relationship or even a mutually awkward likefest when she was trying to survive all this stuff.
"You don't like being in charge? Never would have guessed." It was infuriatingly impossible to tell when he was joking. Smug bastard too, no doubt.
"You and half the fucking universe," came her sour reply. "And my position is what brought that ass after me."
"And the possession of cleavage and a vagina, don't forget. Well...actually, if you'd been a guy, he'd've gone for you too, really."
She snorted. "Thanks." Glancing at the sky, she noticed it was marginally lighter. "We ought to go to bed..."
"We ought to. But I'm comfortable up here, and I'm willing to wipe the minds of anyone who catches us."
"What about Sissy?" More like; why was the idea of being alone with him freaking her out so much?
"Well...I do know how to plant fake memories if necessary. Or you could just tell her you got up way early and went ahead and took a shower and stuff, and she was too busy snoring to wake up to what noise you made."
"Oh, explain and insult her. That'd work."
"Your sarcastic tone isn't obviously sarcastic enough," he said.
She stuck her tongue out. She didn't have to be queenly all the time to have accepted responsibility, did she? And she didn't have to have accepted it for the long term...but she should have a while to decide that.