Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books and my twisted version of the lore.

Warnings : weird stuff going on, drugs

Notes : I am back. I had several family stuff on the line. I hope to make this story a bit faster from now on. But I don't promise. This installment of all the weird things happening around Geralt is a bit though but I hope you enjoy the kind of more old school witcher approach of this part, even if we are still in the modern AU.

Destiny - part 2

Ghosts of the future past

###

Reaching Cintra was a weird experience but a compelling one. Geralt thought loneliness was the solution to his melancholy but the simple contact with another living being brought him back on track somehow : the simple relation and care for the animal was one thing but also the way his strangeness - traveling around, old fashioned way - was helping connecting with people, made a lot for him.

He wished the attention away though when he entered the capital. His old mare walking in the traffic was a sensation. Fortunately the weeks leading to that point were enough to keep the animal under control without using Axii. Roach was a placid old lady and she trusted him easily, despite the massive change of life. Vesemir often said in his youth that he was a kind of horse whisperer. Maybe it was true, or maybe he was simply feeling better with beasts.

He searched on his phone, a pension for her, while he stayed here. There were several in town, thanks to the old-fashioned ways of the Cintrian royal courts. The difficulty was to find one discreet enough to quit the city with his Child Surprise. In Geralt's head things were playing quite nicely. He knew that he would have to convince the queen to let him take her child away for a time, but he didn't doubt that their security was top priority in her mind.

He found a pension about two miles away from the castle in a quite shady place. This was risky but they had to be part of the shadows for this. The pension wasn't very expensive and the staff was afraid of him, so they didn't even try to make him pay extras. He paid in advance for the day, even if just a few hours were needed in his opinion. He simply looked with the recommendation to find his Roach in good health when he would come back was all that was needed to convince them.

Geralt walked back to the castle, taking some dark turns. There was something strange in the air. A weirdly strong concentration of Chaos. But what he found there was something very similar to North Novigrad. Drugs were taking a lot of people. There were whispers and mouvements in the shadows, in abandoned buildings, partially destroyed. He witnessed sad scenes also and was feeling a deep anger growing inside.

The most disturbing moment came from an elven woman, sitting in a dark alley, holding the one who was probably her husband close to her chest. Geralt came in their direction, because he felt a weak but very distinctive vibration of Chaos. The man had glassy eyes and a weird tube attached to his head and disappearing in his shirt. There was a glowing pink liquid in it. Geralt stopped and kneeled next to them.

- "Can I help you ?" He asked softly. The woman shook her head slowly. "I have herbs and…"

- "He already has the maximum dose of Fisstech, sir witcher." She cut him, but she smiled at him sadly.

The drug name was a red flag in Geralt's mind : a weird reminder that somehow Nilfgaard was already playing cards in the North, and maybe for a very long time. The remembrance of Novigrad was painfully stressing. How many warnings did he ignore for the last twenty years ? Was this a sign of something more important ?

- "Can I ask what kind of illness your husband suffers ?"

- "The Chaos is poisoned. The human world is killing us."

Geralt's blood ran cold as he remembered some words pronounced by an elf in Posada. The vibration in his medallion grew and he felt his head slightly lighter. The drug was saturating the dying elf system and somehow it affected him too. He couldn't tell how. Maybe it was on his clothes and he was breathing it or...

- "Fisstech ? This is probably killing him faster."

- "No. It helps. Leave us be, sir witcher." The woman was not agressive but her tone was adamant.

He got on his feet and tried to move forward but the dizziness got stronger. This couldn't be the drug, or was it ? He found himself going further in the junkyard alleys of this part of the city. More drugged people, more whispers, more shadows. He turned on his left trying to find the exit and stumbled in a deserted dark street but at the end he could see the castle on its hill. He recognised the large broken monolith seating on top of it.

He heard voices, whispering in a language he didn't recognise and the vibration got stronger. Geralt was beginning to see double.

Then, Jaskier's ghost appeared in the street, leaning against a wall. He was quite disheveled and was wearing a long red leather coat. He had seen this outfit in dreams. The man was speaking to someone he couldn't see and he couldn't tell what the subject was. Then the singer looked back at him and smirked.

- "Well well well… You don't look too good, buddy."

- "Shut up… You're not real. You're not there."

Jaskier raised an eyebrow and grimaced.

- "Of course."

He took a little bag of white powder out of his pocket and sniffed almost directly in it. The ghost disappeared and the vertigo sensation with him. The voices stopped.

This was extremely weird and worrisome. There were too many things adding to the pile of shit he was in. Geralt almost ran out of the street.

###

The contrast with the rich environment of the castle hit him hard, but he tried to let his bad feelings go. He had one goal and he had to be focused.

He arrived at the front gate. The guards asked him the purpose of his visit and he replied that he wanted a meeting with the Queen because he had information to share with her. This was probably a poor move for anyone but he was the White Wolf and very well known in the Continent, so, if he'd asked, there was at least a message sent.

They made him wait where he stood for something like a full hour. He stayed calm, knowing that every bad action would probably fire back at him. To his surprise, they made him come inside and he was led to a working cabinet, after they took his swords. He sat on a chair in front of an empty desk for another twenty minutes at least.

He had plenty of time to look around and he saw what he was there for, on a bookshelf. There were some old photos telling a story he should have picked up earlier or at least remembered. The first one was the queen Calanthe, probably young Pavetta and the former king. The second, Pavetta smiling with a child in her arms - his Child Surprise. And the third was Calanthe, the big man from Skellige he saw at Pavetta betrothal and a young girl in a green dress. So she was a girl, he thought. The names were stuck in the back of his mind thought.

He grimaced. He should have paid more attention to the Continent news and come more prepared than he was. Maybe he thought that filling his destiny was a simple straight line and that things would be easier if he just tried.

Jaskier's ghost appeared out of thin air and sat on the desk, in front of him. Geralt frowned.

- "Yeah I told you, buddy. You probably didn't listen to my gossips. News of the Continent has always been your least favorite subject, even when you asked for it. And this particular subject you always wanted to ignore and forget. I guess you were successful… Anyway. That's so sad for the young Cirilla. Pavetta and Duny died on the sea, in a tempest. Calanthe has raised the girl as her own. King Eist of Skellige has become her husband, finally, and is raising the child with her. Do you remember now ?"

- "Yes. I remember." He whispered.

The singer vanished when the door opened in his back. Geralt stood up and looked at who entered. King Eist was there with two guards by his sides, a crown on his head and some gray in his hair. It's been something like thirteen or fourteen years since the brethrotal. Sometimes, he forgot that people were getting old in a normal way. Jaskier was aging too gracefully to really notice the change and Yennefer was almost eternal just like him.

The eye stand off lasted long enough to be very uncomfortable.

- "Fortunately, I am not the kind of man to be annoyed when people forget the ranks and titles." Eist said before sitting at his desk and inviting him to sit back down. "You asked for my wife, but I won't let you talk to her, and I won't tell her that you were here either. You are the one person she will never accept in these walls. But I am curious about what you wanted to tell her after so many years."

Geralt frowned but he quickly organized his thoughts. He had to be convincing. Jaskier's ghost reappeared and lean against a wall, just in the corner of his vision. This was just enough to disturb him. There was no reaction from the guards, so it was all in his mind.

- "I ask for an interview indeed. While I was working in the North, I met some dwarves there. They gave me some very worrisome news from Ebbing from where they came before that mission. They said that Cintra was in great danger." Eist smirked. "I was like you and couldn't believe their warnings. But many things in the hunt we were participating in were connected to Nilfgaard already and before I knew it, I was in the middle of an attempt of assassination. A group of Reavers were charged to kill some important people joining us : people that could have created an alliance in the squattered kingdoms of the North. Aretuza was aimed as much as the vassal states."

- "Aretuzan problems are not ours. What's your point witcher ?"

- "My point is that aretuzan problems could be very much your concerns when you see this coming your way from the Empire. If they try to prevent alliances and armies to be created, then you will have to face this alone." Geralt said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

His movement was seen as a menace by the guards that reacted in a blink of an eye. Swords were drawn out and the cold metal was touching his neck. Eist gave the silent order to let him continue. Geralt unlocked his phone and displayed the photo he had taken. He turned the device slowly. The king took it and looked at the screen thoughtfully. His expression changed slightly.

- "What is this ?"

- "The danger that is coming your way. I took that photo in the Metina area, from the mountains. After the events in the North, I chose to take a look by myself. I am not sure this is the only menace - this is only the part I have seen - as I didn't wait for them to notice me, to be honest with you. They are moving slowly but they could be there in a month or two maybe if they take the road of Toussaint and Sodden."

- "And what do you want ?" Eist's eyes were piercing but he couldn't hide a growing smirking.

- "Fulfill Destiny's wish. I believe that I was placed in your history to protect that child from what is to come soon." The king laughed but Geralt didn't let him. "Don't get me wrong. I don't want that child. I promise I will return her to you when the menace is gone. You have the most powerful army of the Continent. I gave you some insights the enemy cannot imagine you have to prepare. I'll let you deal with politics and alliances. Do whatever you want to prevail. But I can hide the child and protect her far from the heat of war."

- "You are serious ?"

- "Very."

- "The answer is simply no. But I must applaud your creativity, witcher." The king put the phone on his desk and crossed his hands.

- "I beg your pardon ?"

- "This is a very well made up story you gave me here. Bonus points for the very convincing fake photo, but you are not the first to try to scare us with a Nilfgaardian attack."

- "I see, so you don't believe me."

-"No… especially when I have eyes on the borders and that we already know where the attack will come from. Let the maps, the tactics and the politics to us and return to your function and kill some monsters."

Geralt grinded his teeth.

- "I didn't make that photo up and I rushed to you as soon as I understood that there was more than the usual threat your country is facing. I might not be a war master but I know what I saw, and you could ask for an expertise. That photo wasn't created, this is reality. I know queen Calanthe doesn't believe in destiny, neither did I until I could not ignore all the signs, but I know you do. I heard you that night, pleading her to let destiny fulfill itself when she wanted to kill Pavetta's lover. I am here against all odds and my beliefs to make the step I refused to do for more than twenty years. This might be the only chance she has."

Eist looked back at the screen and after a long moment of silence he simply pressed delete.

- "What are you doing ?" Geralt almost screamed.

- "I will consider taking some ground information on that army moving in the South. But, understand this, witcher. Yes, I believe in destiny, and maybe you are what you are saying. But if you try again to take Cirilla away, I will kill you myself and in the most painful way." The king had the deadliest eyes. "My wife lost a child already and I saw the pain it caused to her. If it wasn't for Cirilla she would have died from sorrow. I will never do anything that means taking Pavetta's child away from her and let her face another loss. I love Calanthe to the deepest of my heart and I would prefer to lose everything I have rather than make her feel the slightest of the emotions she went through for her daughter. But, I am not sure how much you can understand of that. Witchers are beasts with no heart after all. Mutant bastard." He spat.

Geralt suddenly felt very empty. His torned heart was bleeding in his chest once again, as if the wound was fresh. For that brief second, he could almost see Yennefer in her chair, caressing her belly and dreaming of becoming a mother, and he could hear himself denying her pain again and again - not because he wished to hurt her, but because he never understood her needs, even when he thought he did. King Eist was stabbing him with his words, throwing to his face the love he had for Calanthe and that deep understanding of her feelings, while at the same time he was denying him the possibility that he could relate.

- "Don't be offended, Geralt. Witchers don't love after all. This is what you always said to me." Jaskier said moving away from the wall, and going just behind the king. "Or did I get it wrong again ?"

Geralt was so angry. He wanted to scream. But he never showed it. He kept it all inside. He didn't listen to what was said to him after that. His phone was given back to him, his swords too. He quitted the castle under the close surveillance of the guards. Then he walked back to the stable where Roach was without noticing doing it.

###

He was lost in memories, trying not to drown in his own feelings when he quitted Cintra by the North.

He passed near another dark monolith and felt a bit dizzy for a second. His medallion vibrated. Geralt stopped Roach and observed the object. Dark monoliths were common in the Continent. He never felt that way near them. He approached the mare until he could touch the cold stone.

- "So what are we doing now, buddy ?" Said ghost Jaskier walking from behind the monolith, making almost jump out of his skin.

- "There is no we." He mentally replied.

- "Fine… And what are you doing then ? The only proof you had has been deleted and Eist was clearly menacing you. There is no way you can enter that castle again."

Geralt suddenly connected the dots. He knew he was properly hallucinating right now and that it was induced by the rock somehow but link with chaos. Jaskier was only a thought voicing a part of himself. It felt almost like those dreams he made, combining his deepest emotions with reality and memories, but taking place in imaginary visuals. Here, only the imaginary part was missing, because he was awake.

- "You're just theorizing, buddy. How can a rock have control over someone's mind ? Just focus on the part you're interested in. How can you get the girl out of Cintra now ?"

- "Well, watch me and shut up." He said to the ghost before moving away from the monolith.

He didn't want to speak with this part of himself so he just ignored the illusion, promising himself that he would need to investigate that at some point. But he needed a clearer mind. Experience was telling him that nothing really happened by accident in his life - and this was important.

- "Yeah, not happening." Said the construct of his mind, following him, in a too accurate rendition of his old friend.

Unfortunately for Geralt, the illusion lasted quite long and that Jaskier he didn't want to remember continued to speak and say a lot of things he didn't want to hear - until he suddenly vanished in the middle of a sentence. The witcher found the silence suddenly uncomfortable. This illusion was gone, but in the corner of his mind he thought : I was better with him…

- "No. I have to move forward." He said out loud, to convince himself that the thought was a lie.

And he did move forward. He had a long road ahead, as he was aiming for Temeria, and more specifically a gathering place there, where he had a chance to contact the only person that could make the connection with Cirilla of Cintra…

Have you an idea to where Geralt is going ? Ta ta ta

I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon.