Decided to do three chapters again this week. It's another one where I finally gave up on keeping word count down. It does cover a running rant or two on the canon relationships. And yes, I'm putting this just ahead of another "versus" fight…
Bond came down much harder than he had when they entered the lower level. He crashed straight through the balcony floor into a dining room below, sheering off his wings. He smashed the single table before sliding into the main dining room. "Oh, Bond!" Anya said. "Are you all right?"
"Borrrff," he answered mournfully. He tried to transform and rise. Half of his right front leg was missing. It was only the most obvious damage. Anya teared up at the pitiful sight. Slowly, she turned. Welrod stood behind her, holding a more advanced anti-tank rifle. More armed men were lined up behind him.
"Sorry, kid," he said. "It happens." He abruptly turned and bowed. "Your Majesty, we have secured Ms. Forger. We await a report from the Prince of the Ill Wind."
The Queen descended from above, back in her armor. "Well, the more the merrier," she said. "We can be civilized. Come. Join us. Ah, it seems we have one more." There was a ding of an opening elevator. Prince Ferdinand stepped forward. The Flea followed, holding the advanced prototype rifle Rudolph Blackbell had wielded. "Good morning, Your Highness. I was about to have you brought to me."
"I certainly would not have disappointed you," he said. He waved back the Flea, and then bowed. "I had hoped for an audience long before this."
"Wait," Anya said, "do you know about each other?"
"You could say I know of her," Ferdinand said. "It is our business to keep track of all members of the Centralian royal family."
"You know, I hid my true identity because it was an embarrassment," Fiona said as she led the way back up. "All the fairy tales talk about lost princes and princesses living among the common folk. They never talk about what it's like to be one."
"It was how the royal family maintained order," Ferdinand said. "Among them, it was a scandal merely for my grandfather to marry a countess instead of a queen."
"Royalty are vermin that should have been eradicated," Fiona said. Electricity sparked between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. "The world will be free when there is more shame in being descended from a prince than from his whore."
"After what my family has done, we have no right to judge any other," Ferdinand said. "In any case, it meant something rather different in those days. Ah, hello, Mr. Forger."
At the table, Loid looked up. "Anya!" he said. "You made it!"
"Worrff," Bond said. He hobbled up the steps behind them. Welrod, who had gone up another stair, took aim. At a wave from Fiona, he stood down. Fiona sat down facing Loid. Willow came to her side and began brushing her hair. Anya took a seat in the middle.
"Hi, Anya," Damian said. "I got a look at the feed when you came in. You did a good job. Thanks for getting my father out."
"You're welcome," Anya said. She took Damian's hand. "You were pretty cool, too."
Ferdinand looked at Anya. "We had considered if you were part of the family," he said. "There have been several telepaths in the line. We could not rule it out, but there was nothing conclusive." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, none of the others were nearly as powerful or high-functioning as you seem to be. Many were merely taken as nonverbal schizophrenics at the time, which was a more fortunate outcome than some…"
"She's something, isn't she?" Fiona said. "Ever notice something else? Everything always goes right for the Forgers, and it's usually because people who were ice cold suddenly feel like being nice. Like me and Yuri. I wanted her Papa. He just wanted him gone, for a lot better reasons than I had. And what happened? We were ordered to make love, or the closest thing to it, and it was so damn good, I married him! Just like it was written by a child who wouldn't even understand wanting to just die alone!"
"Sure, you definitely would have hated every minute of it before," Handler said. Willow's face reddened.
"Lady Briar, these things have been studied," Ferdinand said. "There are certain effects when others are in very close proximity to a telepath for an extended period of time… weeks at a minimum. Moods improve. Bonds form and strengthen, both with the telepath and each other. New ideas are considered and accepted more readily, without any diminishing of logic and critical thought. Unfortunately, it is well-established that it is far easier for a telepath to be manipulated than the reverse…"
"But you already said, she's not like any other telepath, is she?" Fiona countered. She rose to her feet, staring at Anya. "Can you be sure? Maybe your Papa was never going to love me, I can live with that. But we both know I was going to take your Mama out of the picture even if I couldn't have him. Can you say you couldn't make me fall in love with Yuri instead of Papa? Or give Handler the idea to send me after the one other person who was a threat? Do you have any idea what it was like to see my husband hold our newborn baby girl… and still not be sure?"
Anya rose in turn. "That's just silly," she said. "Nobody can make anybody fall in love. You'd understand if you could see it happen. Nothing can make you stop loving someone, either, not even loving someone else. Papa always loved you, and you still love him. You just never loved each other the way people who get married do. I knew that then. You know how? You never thought about making love with Papa, because that just made you sad. But once you were with Yuri... Yeah. Like right now."
Fiona stared with one wide eye. So did everyone else. She sank back into her seat. "Oh my god," she said, kneading her brow with both hands, "being a mind-reader must be the most horrible thing on the whole planet." At her side, Franky smirked.
"Uh, Anya…?" Damian said.
"I know," Anya said. "I mostly tune it out. Trying not to think about it never really helps."
Fiona looked wearily at Loid. "I would have accepted it," she said. She shocked Franky.
"And I would have known you wanted more," Loid said.
Willow put her arms around Fiona. "Mother, I know what you do with Daddy," she said. "Last year… I still wasn't sure, so I spliced into the compound's security cameras."
"Now that is a precocious child," Handler said.
"That's my girl," Fiona said.
"He's been gone a long time," Willow said. Her mother embraced her tightly.
"You know I have always cared for you," Loid said. "But it was as the poem says; we were masks without faces behind them. It was Yuri who changed everything, for both of us. The first time I heard you say you loved anyone or anything was when I told you that he had let you escape after you spared his life, and you told me he was the only man you ever loved. You had never smiled for me, but you wept for him then. It made me more proud of you than I had ever been."
He gazed at Nightfall intently. "I thought you were doing this because of your feelings for me. Perhaps it was one last flattery. I think I understand, now, why you took my son. It was the only way to be sure I would be here for you to say goodbye." He looked to Anya, who only shook her head.
"Mother?" Willow said.
The Queen looked at her prisoners and her own men. When she turned her gaze to Welrod, he saluted. "Your Majesty, I informed your loyal Guards of the mission objective at the start of the operation," he said. "It will be an honor to serve you to the end."
"Yeah," Damian said. "So, the complex is nuclear…"