Cassandra Pendragon
"What a mess," I groaned and slumped into one of the few surviving chairs. Well, I say few, but in reality there were only two left. The rest had been reduced to splinters. At least parts of the buffet were still intact.
"Could have been worse," Viyara harrumphed while she sniffed a plate of roasted duck curiously with her elegant and, by now, decidedly elven nose. "Would you mind if I brought Aurelia some food? You don't need me and she's actually doing something useful while you're moping." I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes at her. True, the vampire was using her magic and charms to keep any unwanted guests away and the inevitable rumours to a minimum, but I had barley sat down. And before that I had been running around for what felt like days on end. Moping my lily white ass. I was just tired. She was right, though. Activity at least kept my sadness and anger at bay. Grumbling I got up again and jerked my head towards the abused remains of the carved mahogany door.
"Go. Tell her thanks, would you?" When she turned away I hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head. "You, too. Thanks for coming with me."
"Told you you'd need us. Now get off me… unless you plan to finish what you've started, of course."
"Oh my, sass certainly looks good on you," I chuckled. "Not that flustered around me anymore, are we?" She shrugged and gently wiggled her way out of my embrace.
"Apparently you can get used to everything. Even someone like you." She was already through the door when she turned around and allowed me a glimpse of her reddened cheeks. With a parting wink she vanished around a corner and towards the elevators.
"Honestly, will she ever tire of that game," my sister asked and shook her head. For a moment she sounded much too old for her age, but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
"I hope not," I admitted quietly. "All done?" She nodded.
"Not much to prepare in the first place. A… gentle tap to the noggin and Lamia's mom was as meek as milk. Your harem is looking after them and the old man is keeping an eye on the rest."
"You, on the other hand, could be a little less pert. Fine, let's get this over with." For a moment I wondered if it was luck or fate that had brought us to a skyscraper with a huge, domed roof garden, but I chose not to dwell on that particular thought. "Once we're done you can go fetch your girlfriend and return home."
"Aren't you coming with," she asked with a hint of trepidation in her voice as soon as her thoughts returned to the reason why we had come here in the first place.
"We'll see. If everything works as planned I will. At least for a while. You know as well as I, though, that we have a massive problem right here." I'm sure you've managed to piece most of it together, but allow me to still give you a quick rundown. I've mentioned a gate, once or twice, without explicating the point. Truth be told, I wasn't able to, but that had changed, long before we had demolished the top floor of one Shanghai's taller landmarks.
The gist of it: there was a gateway on Earth that led practically anywhere in the known universe. It might as well have been the unknown part, too, but as the name suggests, no one had tried. Now, the how, why, when and so forth were still a mystery to me, but if I had been forced to hazard a guess I'd have put my money on what I had told the nameless monk all those years ago. Earth being formed from primordial matter and the likes (author's remark: chapter 147. It's taken a while, but hey, better late than never). Not that it mattered, much. What mattered was, that I had finally found out why I had even bothered with the coven of witches in the first place. I had meant for them to guard the gate and keep it closed, but they obviously had botched that particular job up marvellously. Not that I blamed them. Something had to be rotten in the state of Denmark for that thing to open again after centuries of slumber and my utmost priority, once I had made good on my promise, was finding out where the stench was coming from.
As to why I knew and cared… aside from Asura's message, I could practically smell the magic of the gate on Lamia's mother, or Madame Feng as she was called. Considering she had been the first one through and the reason why I firmly believed that Gaya and Earth were already linked, my worries should become self explanatory. With the realms merging over there and a gateway opening up here I couldn't shake the feeling that dealing with the one better involved the other.
On a side note in case you're wondering, I hadn't left the little monk alone in the snow. Right now he was three floors down, joyfully tucking into a meal delectable enough to distract him for a little while. With Cecilia, the part-cherub, keeping him company I expected him to have the time of his life. All in all you should, by now, have a good idea of why I had decided to crash that particular party and why I was eager to talk to the phoenix once her daughter was whole. Then… depending on her answers, I could just about envision myself traipsing through the gate and taking the long way home.
"Those always seem to find you," Reia replied wistfully while she bent over and examined a modern speaker more closely. Somehow the little gizmo had been torn from the wall, but was still in one piece. She casted a sideways glance my way, her bright eyes half hidden behind a curtain of her flowing tresses. "Don't you think you could… let it be?" There was a lot she didn't say, but I heard it all the more clearly. I owed it to Erya to be there when she met her children, my world was at least as much in peril as this one, everyone I loved was half a universe away, but yet…
"We'll see," I answered softly. "One step at a time. If we get the seedling to bloom, here and there won't be farther apart than a hop, a skip and a jump." With a sigh she straightened and shuffled closer.
"It's just us here. What's really on your mind?" It was one thing for Ahri or Viyara to know what I was thinking, but when your little sister started reading you like an open book it usually wasn't a good sign. I still pulled her closer and wrapped my tails around us.
"If you know me well enough to say that, you can figure out what's going on can't you?"
"Probably, but I'd still like to hear it from you."
"Fine, then. My… our siblings. Earth isn't as protected as Gaya and the gate… something that powerful will draw attention. It's only a matter of time. And once they get here…"
"They might as well get to us." She sounded tired. "So… what are we going to do?"
"I'm not even sure if there is anything for us to do. But that's just it. I don't know… and I'm not going to… Reia, do you have any idea what our family actually is? Have I ever told you?" She snuggled deeper into me.
"No, but I think I've picked up a few things along the way."
"You most definitely have… look, I make them sound like monsters most of the time, but the truth is they aren't that different from… well, children, I think. One of the downsides of immortality. You don't have to grow up." I breathed in her scent of snowdrops and felt a small smile tug on the corners of my mouth. "Unfortunately children are…"
"Cruel and stubborn," she completed my sentence with a slight shiver. There was a story there, but I didn't want to pry.
"That they are, especially if they've been lied to. Do you know who ended my last life? And why?" I felt her shake her head and her reply was barley a whisper:
"Bits and pieces… I didn't want to ask…"
"You can ask me anything you like. Always. One of our brothers, Michael… believe it or not all of this started because we're actually pretty much alike. Stubborn, prideful… let me ask you a question. You're an immortal… a pretty tiny one, but still. The legacy that burns in your blood will one day come to the fore. You'll become… unstoppable. You've also lived for long enough to realise how many mistakes people make. Constantly. Some are irrelevant, but others have to be wiped away with blood. Now, imagine for a moment that years have passed, decades, centuries… millennia. You've found your place in the world and you've watched civilisations rise and crumble and when it comes down to it, it's always the same. What are you going to do, sister mine? Will you stand by idly, allow them to keep treading in circles over and over again? Would you try to guide them? Or perhaps reach for power yourself and try to lead? Try to make them see, try to make them… better?" Her answer took me by surprise:
"I assume your… our brother chose the latter? And once you start… where do you stop? How far can you go? I think I understand." I smirked and kissed her forehead.
"Do you now? That would be pretty amazing. But you haven't answered my question. What would… what are you going to choose?" Without hesitation she replied:
"Whatever doesn't drive us apart. You, me, Ahri… maybe Lamia," she added under her breath. So simply, but yet…. there wasn't much of a difference between her view of the world and mine. Some things were sacrosanct and they were worth protecting with everything it took. Funnily enough, for the both of us it was family, I only had an additional hero complex to deal with. When I was asked to kneel, I simply couldn't keep my head down. Come to think of it, neither could she.
I pulled her into my chest and whispered: "I do love you, little one. Never forget that. If more immortals were like you… but they aren't. Michael certainly isn't. To put it simply, he has a vision of the future, a vision I can actually appreciate, but I can't abide his methods. He wants order and I… I want people to make their own choices. For good or ill. We've clashed over it countless times and there's no way to resolve our conflict. Unless one of us changes or… vanishes. Unfortunately the former is much less likely than the latter. And so here we are. Me on the run and him on my tails. In the end… he had his chance. He had his chance to silence me, but he screwed up and now it's my turn. That's why I can't turn a blind eye whenever our siblings are involved. It's my prerogative and also my task. And also the reason why I never really wanted you to become what you are. Pulling Sarai, Mephisto, Chaleb and Lilith into my fight is bad enough, but I never wanted you to…"
"Tough luck," she interrupted me and gently placed her hand on my cheek. "I guess you didn't mention Ahri because there really is no point. Just… can't you think of me the same way?"
"I could," I chuckled hoarsely, "as soon as you can kick my ass in a fight. I don't think we're quite there, yet. Do you?" Her eyes went wide.
"Can she actually best you?"
"Of course. All she'd have to do was ask. But I imagine that's not what you want to hear. Honestly, I don't know. At a certain point power only amounts to so much. Your willingness to bleed and sacrifice is just as, if not more, important and I don't think I have anything on her in that regard. If it ever came down to it, we'd probably kill each other in the process. She… remember when we escaped Shassa's tomb? My little episode afterwards?" She nodded. "It was her, you know. She drove her blade through my body. She… was willing to kill the one being she truly loves because she thought I was wrong and... had to be saved. From myself. The strength it took… I don't think I'd have been able to do the same." She pushed herself back and sought my gaze.
"Are you actually admiring her for betraying you?"
"Sure. Do you think I care about her so little that betraying me would make a difference? No… I only see an angel that was faced with an impossible choice. She made a decision and saw it through, whatever the cost. That's… admirable and one of the things I love about her."
"I… do you expect the same of me," she asked quietly. I sighed.
"If you think I'm about to doom our family… then yes." When her face darkened I quickly added: "don't think too much about it. Besides… I've changed quite a bit. I can't be sure, of course, but I flatter myself that you could simply talk to me. And that I'd listen. To put an end to our depressing heart to heart: that's why I can't let it rest. If our siblings descended upon Gaya because of something I didn't try, simply because I was too… lazy, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I know they're coming for me… for us, sooner or later, but if we can, let's make it as late as possible, shall we? Preventing Earth or Gaya from falling into madness because neither can cope with the creatures crawling from the shattered realms is an added bonus." She stiffened in my arms.
"You expect them to materialise on Earth? Why?" I shrugged.
"One phoenix has already made it through. Who's to say she'll be the last one?"
"Couldn't we simply ask her?"
"We will. Once we've taken a few drops of her blood and cured your… what is that girl to you anyways? I know you're infatuated, but is it actually more?"
"Do you seriously expect a child to answer that," she mumbled through a widening grin.
"No… but you've never acted like one before. If you want to play coy, that's fine, but I'm just curious."
"And if I was to say I truly liked her, what would you do?" I grimaced.
"I'd swallow the pill and sit you down for the talk about the birds and the bees and what slavery might have done to her. And what I expect you to do to help her heal." She blushed. My pert little sister actually blushed.
"In that case we're just friends," she grumbled.
"Sure. Wanna try that again? On second thought, I don't think you need to." I sighed again. "Fine. I'm not going to make the both of us wish we were stuck at the bottom of the ocean with Lilith, so I won't mention the… ahem, logistics of the matter, but I do want you to know that she's probably never had the luxury to say no." For the first time in what felt like ages Reia became a squirming bundle of discomfort in my arms again, but it was easy enough to keep her still.
"Listen, this is important. I don't know what happened to her and since the two of you didn't have more than a few hours to talk up until now, neither do you. I can still guess, though. I've seen people like her before. More times than I care to remember. On one hand she won't reject your advances, she doesn't know how. On the other, she probably doesn't even know what she actually wants. How could she? She's never been allowed to desire anything for herself. Which puts you in quite the bind, to be honest. You can't lead, because she'll simply follow without any regard for her own wishes, and you can't expect her to voice her desires. You'll… oh boy, you're growing up yourself and now you have a companion you need to take by the hand and show her the world, allow her to experience what she wants, what she likes, what she hates. Without projecting your own desires onto her. You'll have to hold her hand until she can stand on her own and tell you whether or not she wants you. Do you think you can do that?"