Chapter 34: Hot Potato
As Arthur sat there, listening to Rose's point of view of how things happened, he felt awful. More awful than he'd ever felt in his life. And he had so many questions about what had happened to everyone.
"Can you tell me about what happened to...Magento? Is that why the kid's got a stutter?"
Rose nodded as she took a drink from her cup. "Yes," she said calmly. Babd's special tea had a great way of keeping one calm without causing drowsiness..as long as bourbon was added. Something that had taken the old bat years to master given the toxic environment that Lilly's mind had grown. "They were twins."
"What happened, exactly?" Arthur asked quietly.
He felt he shouldn't pry. Not for Rose's sake, but more for his own. The tale of Lilly's imprisonment was more than his heart could bear.
Rose's had seemed...not any less tragic, but it still seemed gentle, in a way. But one thing he gathered that all the prisons had in common?
There's was always some sort of harvest.
O'Callaghan was harvested for drugs, Lilly's mind was mined for gems, and Rose's, he assumed, was for food, considering it was a farm.
"Do you find it a coincidence that all three of ya had to give something up?" He asked. "Like in your prison, for example...what kind of stuff were you guys growin'?"
Rose blinked. "Mostly the kind of food that is used that make alcohol. But I dunna think that the only things they were actually harvestin'."
"What else were they harvestin'?" Arthur asked.
"Me nightmares," Rose again spoke calmly, and with a collected poise that Arthur had never seen in any of Lilly's aspects. She took another sip. "Our theory is that Mallacht is using the negative qualities of our powers tah his advantage. It's why nothin'...good grows here and why there are so many terrible monsters. Especially at night. Luckily, we're now protected from all that as long as we stay in this section of Lilly's mind."
"I see. Makes sense," Arthur replied, looking at Babd. "What's in the tea? I definitely taste the bourbon but alcohol ain't never calmed Lilly down like this."
"Not so much a sedative, but a calming agent. Originally, I was trying to perfect a type of medicine to calm Lilly's nightmares, but I was never quite able to perfect it. Until I landed myself in here," Babd replied glumly. "Most of the supplies I had with me had gotten damaged, poisoned or became completely useless when Rose gobbled me up along with practically half of Dublin. That was one of the many things I, unfortunately, did not forsee."
Rose cleared her throat. "Normally, I would have slapped ya across yer bloody face fer mentionin' that, but considerin' most of those victims are well on their way tah escapin' this feckin' hellhole, I no longer feel as bad. I found me redemption a long time ago."
Babd giggled and Arthur had to beam at Rose with pride in his eyes. She'd certainly come a long way. "All things considered, mo stór, ya did pretty damn good. I can't believe how...different y'all got."
Arthur heard a door slam shut and he looked behind himself to see Lilly walking to the kitchen, a glare on her face as she rinsed what he assumed was the blood of her children off her hands in the kitchen sink. Arthur knew, however, that was just how her face was now. Lilly paused when she saw Arthur looking at her.
"...Mr. Morgan," she said raspily.
"Lillian," Arthur said softly.
He didn't even know what to say. He wasn't even mad at her. He was definitely mad at the situation, but he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her.
All he really cared about was getting them home so they could heal.
Lilly cleared her throat before drying her hands with a towel and walking around the table to sit next to Babd. "We need to collaborate on what to do next," she said, pulling out some things from her dress. "Where is Valentine?"
"The children are still outside," Babd replied, grasping Lilly's arm gently. "For the first time in a hundred years, they are free. Let them enjoy their freedom."
Lilly scoffed before yanking her arm from Babd's grip. "Freedom is impossible while Mallacht still lives," she said coldly as she opened up a map on the table, pulling out more items from her dress. "Every second we waste on playtime is one more second Mallacht gains to stopping us. I will not sit around and smell the fucking flowers until the job is done."
Arthur arched a brow at Lilly's demeanor. He could understand her wanting to get the hell out of there. There was no doubt about that.
Is this just who she was now? Was the Lilly he'd known and loved now gone? Replaced by a tortured soul who thought only of war, vengeance and violence?
Or perhaps Allan had been right. If Allan hadn't been down here with Lilly to give her some respite from the cruelty and the pain, would she have been farther gone?
As Lilly began opening up the random gadgets she had collected off her person, Arthur reached out his hand and placed it over hers. Lilly paused, slowly raising her head to meet Arthur's gaze. "Lillian," he uttered softly. "I'm so, so sorry.". He reached out his free hand to Rose and she took it gladly. "To both of you...and O'Callaghan. If we'd known there was a time difference, we would've...I would've..."
Arthur felt himself start to shake and he lowered his head as tears filled his eyes. Rose immediately got up and embraced him. He buried his face in her arms and sobbed softly, waves of emotions hitting him.
"Arthur? Lugh? Sir Jack?" Cernunnus said into the ear com. "We have a problem."
Arthur sniffled, immediately going back into work mode. "Yeah," he said, wiping his face. "I'm here, what's the problem?"
"Zeus sent an army to attack us. We've dealt with it, we had no casualties. But...in all the commotion, Apate and Carman got here. And...Cahira and The Morrigan have returned. And the twins snuck out and killed people. And Darragh is drunk out of his gourd."
Arthur groaned. "That ain't a problem, that's a god damn mess."
"The queen is back?" Lugh said over the acorn coms.
"Alright, where's Zeus, Apate and Carman?"
"He's being taken to Tir na nOg to stand trial, and we're trying to find the other two. We're absolutely done with others fucking around with our humans!"
Arthur barked with laughter as Rose chuckled and kissed his forehead. "What's happened?" she asked.
"Cernunnus, can you repeat all that through the...dammit, Scotty," Arthur said, looking around. "Where did that little shit get to?"
"It...would seem the royal brood and Lugh are using the drone as a ball to kick around."
"Ah hell," Arthur sighed before getting up and walking to the back patio door, opening it and watching as a bunch of Lilly's kids and Lugh were playing a game, kicking the drone around in the snow and cackling like idiots. "Hey!" he barked loudly.
All the princes and princesses stopped what they were doing to stare at the Griffin God in awe.
"Stop kicking the god damn drone around and get in here! We got a god damn war to win!"
Immediately the children came running in, albeit loudly. Lugh, Sir Jack and O'Callaghan came in afterwards. Calmly. Arthur sighed with a shake of his head before walking back in. "Let's take this to the war room," Lilly spoke quickly before walking across the way one of the many doors.
Everyone followed quickly, including the drone who was trying to clear out snow from the opening of some of its appendages. It clicked at Arthur with a salute before they made their way into a giant room with a large, wooden table. Polished.
"Alright, Cernunnus. The twins I can deal with after I come back. Make sure Cahira and The Morrigan are safe. Find Apate and Carman, lock 'em both up. And keep Olena, Cahira and The Morrigan away from 'em. And sober Darragh up," Arthur said into the coms. "Right now I can't fight two wars, I gotta help Lilly win hers first."
"Cahira, The Morrigan and Olena are currently in the bunker with the other kids and the work staff and some deities. They won't find them, you have my word."
The curtains were a dark, velvety red and the windows were quite ornate. And the walls? There were lots of runes and spells written on the walls. Lilly headed straight for the far end of the table, placing her map and other things on it while everyone else gathered around the table.
"First order of business, are all members of my Royal Council present?" Lilly asked with her deep voice. Everyone except the Four Horsemen raised their hands. "Good. Second order of business, as it has been explained to you, the Four Horsemen have arrived. I'm assuming you have supplies we can use?"
Arthur nodded. "We do, m'lady."
Lilly paused when Arthur said that, a small smirk forming on her face as she cleared her throat and looked over the map. "The entire area in my mind is-"
"Yeah, I got it honey. Pip-Boy, remember?"
Lilly straightened her back and narrowed her eyes at Arthur. "Third order of business, Mr. Morgan, you will address me as Your Majesty. And-"
It was at that moment when Morgan the wolf came sniffing her way in, and the queen hesitated as her features softened. Her eye twitched repeatedly, as if she was irritated.
Arthur sighed and lowered his head before grasping his gun belt. He wasn't going to do this bullshit bickering with her. Not today. "Well, Your Majesty, you're still my wife. I ain't seen you in a very long time. You'll have to forgive me for...overstepping, but I weren't aware I couldn't call you pet names," he said quite calmly.
Lilly blinked as she stared at Arthur. This was...not the husband she remembered.
The husband she knew before was hot headed and had a short fuse. Now that he knew who he was dealing with, his demeanor was...refreshing.
Lilly didn't know what to make of that and having Morgan in the room with her...to feel all these emotions at near full strength was a bit overwhelming. The queen sighed and leaned her hands on the table before bowing her head.
She didn't want to start a fight, but she didn't want to show weakness. Especially in front of her children. Trust was hard to come by these days and for all she knew, any number of her children could be in cahoots with Mallacht.
If that were the case, they'd report back exactly what was said. Lilly found little harm in that, however. If they were truly in league with Mallacht, they would automatically get the wrong information. At least while inside the shield.
"My apologies, true husband. With the exception of Allan, I'm not used to...romantic affection," Lilly said before pointing at the map. A display came up over the table, showing where Lilly was pointing. "Now if we-"
"Alright, hold on, Ma!" Cyan interrupted with a sigh. "This guy really is your actual husband?"
Lilly sighed. "We don't have time for this. I can explain once the war is won, but right now we need to fo-."
"How are we so sure we're going to win this one?" Fawn asked. "We lost the last one."
"We have the Four Horsemen now," Laguna replied with a grin. "Duh!"
"Don't you "duh" me, you little twat!" Fawn shouted angrily.
"Children!" Lilly barked loudly.
"Fawn, you put the "duh" in dumb," Laguna cackled.
"Oh stop egging her on, Lag!" Cedar scolded. "She may be dumb, but you're the slow one!"
Lilly took a deep breath in as the kids, with the exception of Crimson, started yelling at each other while Fawn, Laguna and Cedar began fighting one another. Before she could use her shout, however, Arthur's whistle cut through the room.
"Everyone shut the fuck up!" The Griffin God shouted, causing silence to reign over the war room. "Small wonder you undisciplined bastards lost the last war."
Lilly raised a brow and crossed her arms, half glaring at her husband. "Undisciplined, you say?" The queen took a claw and sliced her skin open, a black dagger appearing from her blood. With a wave of her hand, the dagger went flying towards one of her children. "Hot potato."
The kids immediately sprung into action, one prince grasping the dagger, checking around and throwing it to someone else. A pink haired princess did a back flip in the air before catching the dagger in her hand, tossing it to another girl. That one spun and kicked the dagger away towards someone else. Lilly watched for her husband's reaction as more daggers came from her arm and went flying around the room, being caught, kicked or flung from one royal to the next.
The man looked stunned. As did her father and Lugh. O'Callaghan looked quite pleased as the children continued showing off. The daggers started glowing, however, and some of the royal brood now has the daggers stuck to their hands.
"Damn!" Valentine said with a chuckle before easily dissolving the weapon. "Give us something easier to do, Mother."
Carmine sighed as he took the glowing dagger from his hand and swallowed it whole. He burped and smoke came out of his mouth.
Jay grinned as he turned the daggers into multiple but smaller ones, then sealed them into a pocket dimension before smashing the dimension into nothingness.
Others did similar yet spectacular things to their daggers in order to deactivate them. Lilly smirked a little as she looked at her husband. "Now, can we please get back to the task at hand?"
"Yes, Mother," the brood said quietly before they all sat back down.
"Good. Now..." she pointed at the Saint Denis section of the map. "By now, your father is probably aware that something went wrong with the prison transfer. No doubt, he will be angry. He will be chaotic. And he will act rashly. Which we can use to our advantage.". Morgan came to plop down beside the queen before rubbing her head on Lilly's leg. With a sigh, the queen began scratching behind the wolf's ear. "I was hoping we'd have time to get Morgan's eyes, hearing and vocals back, but I don't think we do."
"Why would we need those back?" Sapphire asked.
"Because our father is afraid of the Morgan," Valentine replied, causing the room to fall dead silent for a few moments.
"What? How?" Cyan asked.
"I saw it myself in town. Morgan showed up and Father ran. If we had the wolf back at full capacity, we could defeat him."
"I agree," Rose said, walking over to Lilly's end of the table to zoom in on various parts of the map. "And I have figured out, through years of investigation, that each item he took are in Strawberry, Blackwater and Tumbleweed."
The kids groaned in frustration. "Of course they'd be guarded by those fucking twats!" carmine shouted. "How are we supposed to get her eyes, ears and voice out without our dragons?"
Lilly grinned at Rose before looking at Arthur, Lugh, her father and O'Callaghan. "I don't suppose you would be willing to volunteer for such a mission, would you?
Arthur smirked before heading over to Lilly, placing a palm on her cheek before kissing her forehead. "Just tell me what we gotta do."
As Rose opened up some screens and data was displayed, Lilly smiled at her real husband.
For the first time in five hundred years, Lilly felt truly at home.