By the Grace of Her Humanity
Ch.4: S.W.O.R.D
"Think of what paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise."
-Cat's Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut
They talked quietly until Lucy knew she was ready to come up out of hiding. She trailed her hand along the wall as she went, singing some melancholy Nation song. Loki inquired as to what she was saying, and so she taught him the verses and their meaning. By the time she emerged, the sun had moved to a considerably different position. She saw her mother's patronus prowling around in the garden, so she went back towards the trap door.
"Lucy." Lucy let the trapdoor bang back down. It sounded like the Titanic crashing to her ears, which had been so muffled by environmental silence that any noise magnified in intensity.
Lucy sobbed and sank to her knees, palms flat against the cold door.
"What are we?" Lucy whispered.
"You're the same as you always have been," Katia soothed, kneeling beside of her.
"But you know how demons are."
"But your father'a grandfather wasn't evil. He helped us."
"Helped you? How?"
"Oh, many different ways many different times," Katia replied, drawing her youngest child to her. Lucy let her, laying her head on her chest.
"I don't want to let it take over. That's what happened to grandfather, isn't it?"
"No, sweetie, he was just a bad man. There are good and bad angels and demons. It's not like everyone thinks..."
Mollified somewhat, and after some time, Lucy grasped her mother's hand and closed her eyes, ready to be taken home.
...xxx...
"It's all over the news," Katerina babbled excitedly from below as she searched for Lucy. Lucy sat forward carefully, listening intently. Loki yawned. "She doesn't grasp the concept of stalking and capturing, does she?"
"What's all over the news?" Pippin piped from somewhere close by her perch.
"It's leaked that Loki had been banished here to serve his penance."
"So?" Pippin asked.
"So a lot of people and going to want to tear into him," Katerina shot back, showing a rare moment of brilliance outside of being book-smart.
"You're not one of them, are you?" Pippin asked with a note of fear evident in his voice.
"Of course not! I'm not that stupid." His older sister rolled her eyes at him.
"But she *is a freaking tattletale," Lucy muttered, unconsciously sheltering her tiny companion.
"You're going to smother me with your detestable kitten attire," Loki coughed.
"My bad," Lucy apologized. She plucked him up and set him on her shoulder, a much safer position. Grumbling half-affectionately, he settled in and held onto a long strand of hair. Lucy picked a blossom off of the nearest branch, placing it in the center of her palm. It began closing and blooming repeatedly as she stared down absentmindedly at her friend and his sibling.
"It's raining, it's poring, Katerina is boring," she muttered in a mock sing-song manner, growing impatient. The two below finally wandered away, and Lucy, with Loki clutching on for dear life, slithered to the ground once she was sure they had gone. She flitted off through the trees, interrupting a fox napping, one that blinked lazily at her, dancing past a wolf sniffing morosely at something, teetering by two chattering squirrels. She sat down by the bank of the stream and began making a flower crown with those at hand, picking some from each type and hue. Taking what was left, she made a small yet still extremely colorful one that looked like a ring to go on her hand, and offered it up to the man on her shoulder.
He blinked at it twice, and then took it hesitantly. Lucy, giggling, placed him on her knee and raised her crown to her head, situating it. Her eyes darted down to see that Loki still held his in hand.
"Well, put it on already," Lucy urged, ready to take flight and play more. Something passed over his features, some bitter-irony filled thought, and then he crowned himself. Lucy squealed excitedly.
"What do you want to do now? We can decorate ourselves with that patch over there as long as we don't take too many-"
"Who're you talking to?" Pippin's voice rang out suddenly.
Lucy startled, her eyes dilating with panic as they flitted downward.
"Hide" she mouthed. As she stood, his figure flickered out and the pressure on her knee disappeared.
"No one."
She turned to face Pippin, who was alone. "Where's Rina?"
"She went home. And you were talking to someone, I heard you."
Thinking quickly, Lucy blurted, "It was Emil." She cringed. Why was the name that came first to mind that of her mother's first son, the adopted child that Voldemort murdered in cold blood alongside his adoptive sister?
"Emil?" Confusion saturated Pippin's voice. "Wasn't that-?"
"Yes," Lucy said softly, and the blush that came was genuine.
"He's invisible."
A look of supposed understanding came over Pippin, and Lucy hated lying to him all the more. He glanced around for a moment.
"Where is Emil?"
"By my shoulder. He doesn't like strangers." And indeed she did feel little feet planted on her shoulder.
"Well, tell him he doesn't have to worry about me," Pippin said.
"He can hear you, silly," Lucy rolled her eyes. "And he understands our language."
Pippin blushed furiously. "Of course he does."
Lucy heard a snicker by her ear. She tried to ignore it best she could.
"So what did you want?"
Pippin seemed startled. "What? Oh, um, whatever you want."
Lucy shrugged, ready to make Pippin a crown, too, when all of the hair along her arms and neck stood on end and she heard the slightest sound.
"We need to go now."
"Sure," Pippin shrugged, hesitating only a moment and still unaware of the danger. By the stance of the feet on her shoulder, and the fingers of one tiny, invisible hand on the side of her neck, Lucy knew that she wasn't the only one that had noticed.
"On the opposite bank," Loki whispered, and Lucy, who had been glancing around helplessly, searched the area. There was a small band of three or four creeping through the trees, still off at a distance though Lucy could see them perfectly. Being a Nation had its perks.
"Hither, now!" Lucy hissed urgently, but softly, tugging Pippin away a distance and, once they were hidden, breaking into a sprint with him, going the roundabout way home. Pippin slowed, panting. Lucy sat down on a swing wearily. They had come out of the woods, and now sat on the playground.
"Are they gone?" She whispered, turned away as Pippin tried to even his breathing, bent over double with his hands on his knees.
"I can't be sure. I'm curious as to why they were interested in you."
Lucy shrugged. "Maybe they were still looking for Kateri?"
"I would assume they were if not for the fact that that area was nowhere near where we found her or where she came from."
Lucy frowned. "Maybe they were after Pippin?"
She stamped her foot impatiently at Loki's scoff. "They could be!"
Pippin straightened and tilted his head, frowning. "Why's that woman watching us?"
A chill spreading, Lucy whirled. There *was a woman standing by the edge, her stare too trained to be casual.
"I don't know. But we should go."
She shot up, grabbing his hand to lead him away. The only assurance of safety she had for them consisted of the little carved Safe-Keep Charm in her pocket. They got out and down the block.
"We need to get home," she kept repeating softly to herself, casting about for any way to take a twist or turn, cutting through anywhere she could, looping around even more despite having chosen the roundabout way in the first place. She and Pippin slipped through a hedge and made it into a large yard that they skittered around hurriedly.
Finally, after much helter-skelter and erratic travel, they made it to her house. She ducked around the side and knocked at the back door. It flew open at once, and, to her surprise, her father pulled them in at once and quickly set the locks and wards.
Severus Snape wordlessly ushered his charged toward the study, where all of the Snapes, Baker-Malfoys, Enrique, Fabio, Jasper, The Italies, Evita, Antonio and Rose were waiting.
"Dad, what's going on now? You're scaring me," Lucy whispered.
"Witch Hunters are afoot," Jasper whispered.
"Witch Hunters? But I thought-"
Katia shook her head. "Our world hasn't been discovered by the Muggles at large. But small sects believe in magic the same way they know Mutants exist. And they think both Magic and Mutants are evil. We can't die, but we can still be captured. We can't leave the boundaries of this house anymore if we're to stay here. Not by physically walking across them at any rate. Magical transportation should be fine. We were just having a family meeting."
While she had been speaking, Kat ran up to Pippin and pulled him right against her bosom, kissing his hair.
"But how can they harm us?" Lucy asked confusedly.
"They snatch defenseless and untrained children," Jasper rejoined.
"Besides, we can't risk exposure."
"And there are organizations working against Mutants and Magicals alike. We should be working together. We have been," said Katia.
"Will we be safe?" Lucy inquired. Katia and Severus glanced at each other.
"They're determined," Cecelia remarked. "The main adversary is S.W.O.R.D., the Sentient World Observation and Response Department. They usually only concern themselves with aliens, but lately they've been allying themselves with Witch Hunters and those after Mutants for ill purposes."
"Then what happened?" Pippin asked.
"Ve, don't they have their own Mutants?" Lovino added.
His sister nodded. "He's right. The old leader Abigail Brand that ran it happened to be one, and had other Mutants in it-even a Magical or two, I think, but now that it's come under new leadership after their uprising and schism, nothing of the former remains. S.H.I.E.L.D has always tried tempering them. Now that's impossible. At one time they were supposed to serve the same protection based purposes, but S.W.O.R.D. went way south, went rogue, and now they're out of hand doing as they please and attacking without prejudice-even old members. Everyone is suddenly a threat. They're the main reason behind the Mutant Scare, and Goddess help us if they could convince the public about us. There would be a Culling of Magicals alongside the Mutants. We're a minority. Even with the Mutants, even with the old S.W.O.R.D. members trying to overthrow Roger Chillingworth and his minions, we would likely suffer severe losses."
Lucy swallowed. It was a lot for her to take in. But her parents and relatives were direct. They didn't lie to her or sugarcoat anything. They told her when something was serious. The situation had to be dire.
"What do we do?" Her voice came out small and frightened.
"Well, we have each other and a "Give 'Em Hell Attitude" if worse comes to worse," Rose affirmed. Lucy let her eyes rove over the faces surrounding her.
Yes, they had each other.
"And you've me," whispered a voice in her ear, only one she could hear.
Yes, that too.
...xxx...
Things passed that way for a few weeks, staying inside the boundaries and not taking owl mail, secret meetings full of hushed tones and playing Pokémon, reading, talking, or practicing magic with the bedroom door locked. Lucy rubbed her eyes tiredly, frowning as she stared at the runes scrawled on the white expanse of a sheet in her sketch pad.
"And what do these five mean?" Loki prompted.
Lucy recited them each in order. "Balance, Knowledge of Wisdom, Power, Strength, Agility."
"Very good."
Lucy turned the pad to the side. "Watch this," she said, despite not having requested a break or giving any other warning. She sketched an accurate copy of a ring she wore.
"That's very nice, but-"
"I'm not finished," Lucy interrupted. Loki grumbled. Lucy removed her ring and made as if to lay it overtop its likeness. Instead of laying flat, it seemed to move into the paper. A moment later, Loki was left staring at a seemingly innocent drawing.
"Cameron likes to draw as much as I do...he showed me. It's simple enough-"
"Let me see."
Lucy cleared her throat. "What do you say?" There came a momentary pause. "Please."
Lucy moved it so he could touch it. His tiny hands ran over a smooth page, she knew. The charm worked that way.
"Impressive." Lucy beamed at the complement. A knock came at her door that had her scrabbling. She jumped up and checked the spyhole-something Magicals did to doors so that they were like a peephole, merely invisible to the other side.
Lucy opened the door to allow Cameron to enter.
"Pack your bags. Call Columbine if you need help. We're going back to Mexico."
"When?" Lucy cried. Then she noticed how serious Cameron was.
"Someone was taken," he said quietly. Lucy's fingers tightened on the door. "Pippin?"
Cameron shook his head. "A six year old named Eliza Henderson."
Lucy felt a wave of shame wash over her at the intense reliefs she felt that it didn't appear to be anyone they knew well. And of course the immense sense of joy that she had not been the one ripped away from her family. Although it might have been a bit harder to steal her person with a personal and literal shoulder angel and devil combined.
"Thanks," she said. As soon as he was gone, she sat down and tried not to cry in anger and frustration. And then she called Columbine.
...xxx...
Later that night, unpacked in their other house and thinking of their bare country estate, Lucy sat staring glumly at the wall. A tiny tap came at her foot, and looking down, Lucy saw that Loki had drug her DS across the comforter and stood expectantly nearby. Lucy smiled sadly, reaching out to scoop him up. He didn't comment about being girl-handled.
"Thank you."
"Whatever for, Lucy?"
"Don't ruin it."
She hugged him again and set him down.
"You're a good friend."
"Your standards can't have been very high to start with, then," he said. Lucy rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Pippin's voice called to her from the hallway, and going up and peeping first, Lucy let him in and locked up behind him. She had hidden Loki in her pocket. She sat on the floor, not noticing what Pippin held in his arms until it pounced on her.
"Cloud? Hey," she greeted him, petting him within the circle of her arms and hugging him gently. The kitten purred and curled against her chest and throat. His head came up and he sniffed before diving at her pocket. Alarmed, Lucy scrambled to get him contained.
"No, Cloud! Bad boy!"
He squirmed free and swiped at her pocket again before she could adequately get away. She stood, but his claws snagged, and a long rip opened up in the fabric. Cloud yowled as he fell to the floor nursing his paw. Another cry reached her ears as, to her horror and in full view of Pippin and her kitten, Loki tumbled toward the floor and the clutches of Cloud, who had since recovered.