Beginning of the end

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No one can recall dates any longer. Help was coming, they had promised. Who wouldn't believe the promise made to by the brightest minds of the time to the richest families of the time? It had been long enough now that the original citizens of Rapture now had young adult grandchildren. The city had been built just for them. Their lavish playground, or so they liked to believe. It was many years now since anything had been truly 'lavish', it was only as the joy now made them see it; glorious and delightfully decadent.

Some families considered themselves better than others, and rightly so. Few had the money and the power, while the many lived in squalor. One of these families were the Jansen's. The eldest son had two beautiful daughters, who in the society they had left would no doubt have been attendees of many parties and balls, all for the purpose of finding a husband. As it stood, the youngest girl seemed the most adept at wearing her mask. By day she was the spoiled little princess she was supposed to be, making fun of the lower classes and generally being a horrible person. But as night fell and her joy pill began to wear off... She often thought of life outside her parent's massive apartment, of life in the 'workers' levels of the city. Anika Jansen would fall asleep troubled by the things her imagination thought up. It was this particular night that she had finally plucked up the courage to slip out of her parent's home, though of course she would stand out a mile in her expensive clothing and perfect make up.

"Maybe you don't know many people." Anika replied with a sly little smirk.

"Just because I was fated to marry your sister does not mean I was happy about it." The king pointed out. "She was shrill, and rather hard work, from what I saw."

"I know enough." Elliot muttered, poking his tongue out at her. "I know who the king tell me to know. Like you. I was watching you for a while. Your grandmother was threatening me for years before your father knew I was hanging around. He didn't know what I was though."

Victoria couldn't help but laugh at this. "Yeah. But everyone loves Anika. They give her everything her heart desires. Our grandmother said she was the important one. The queen. Our father bend over backwards to please her. I was always an after thought. My instructions were to care for my sister and to find myself a husband would wasn't stupid." She laughed soflty.

"You were watching me for years?" Anika asked, seeming rather sad that she had never known this. "I wish you had said something... It would have been nice to have a friend, especially one my grandmother didn't approve of."

"They did everything with the endgame in mind." The king pointed out. "They loved you because they wanted to, they only cared for Anika because it would give them riches they couldn't even dream of once she was collected."

Elliot laughed at this. "You didn't think much of your grandmother, did you?" He asked. His voice took on a serious tone. "Did you know much about her? Like where she came from?"

"You promised to pay them?" Victoria asked sadly. For some reason this made her feel even more worthless. "What we're they asking for?"

"Grandmother clearly only wanted me for what I could get her." Anika snorted rather bitterly. "To the outside it looked like she cared a great deal for me, but I always knew... Victoria was the apple of her eye."

"I didn't offer, they demanded it." The king corrected, again sounding rather sad. "Once your sister was born with the eyes she had, I was made very much aware by the mystics that I was to make certain she was eventually brought here. Your family refused unless I... supplemented them accordingly."

"Why do you say that?" Elliot asked, frowning at her. He felt there was something she wasn't telling him, things that perhaps even she didn't know.

"The eyes?" Victoria asked. "You mean the violet ones my grandmother enchanted her with? She was born with the most lovely green eyes you've ever seen and...my father was so upset. He started yelling at my grandmother to switch it."

Anika shrugged and picked at a leaf that hand fluttered down onto her skirt. "It isn't hard to tell when someone doesn't love you." She breathed.

"What?" This seemed to disturb the king most of all. "Your grandmother changed Anika's eyes after she was born?" He breathed, feeling like such a blind fool. How had the mystics not known?

"Your grandmother wouldn't have risked so much if she didn't care for you." Elliot said gently. "She died for the two of you. You must know that."

Victoria shrugged. "I remember my father demanding that she change fate but I didn't understand why. Or how. After a few years it began to sound silly to me and I gave up on the idea of the idea of magic altogether. I don't know why they were trying to change things. Grandmother knew ypu. She must have known you weren't going to hurt Anika."

"There's duty, and there's love. What she felt for me was not love." Anika responded, having felt this way for a very long time.

"Silly child..." The king suddenly smiled, then reached out and gently stroked Victoria's cheek. "It wasn't her fate they were so worried about." He breathed, believing he knew the truth. "It sounds like they twisted fate to force Anika into being my bride, do you not wonder why?"

"Are you so sure?" Elliot asked sadly. "Maybe she wanted better for you than what became of your sister."

"They wanted better for Anika." Victoria told him. "They always told me I was the worthless one. There's little to wonder about. Is there?"

"Victoria only had a miserable life because of me." Anika replied. "I was so selfish... Always trying to sneak out after dark, wanting to see the world. All that time Victoria was forced to keep me under control."

"They thought they were saving you from the fate of marrying me." The king replied. He suddenly started to laugh. "It would seem they never counted on your devious nature."

Elliot laughed softly. "You were hard to keep up with. I must give your sister credit for knowing how to find you. I often lost you." He admitted.

"I was trying to protect her. There's nothing devious about that." Victoria said, misunderstanding his laughter.

"You watched me that often?" Anika asked, her wide violet eyes looking up at her newfound friend. "You should have said 'Hi', once in a while." She remarked with a carefree smile.

This only caused the king to laugh again. "It was devious of you to fool a king, my love." He breathed, reaching out to touch Victoria's hair lightly. "Does it make me wicked to tell you... I am glad?"

"I was forbidden to." Elliot said, unable to resist leaning close to her. When she smiled like that his insides did. summersaults. "You were supposed to be my queen." He breathed, his lips brushing hers. 

Victoria's stomach did a flip when he called her his love. She was sure he didn't mean it but she could pretend. "Why would you be glad? You and I have been at each others throats since we met." She pointed out.

"And now I am not? Can I not simply be... yours?" Anika breathed, kissing the cool lips that brushed her own.

"Is that not what makes it fun?" The king asked with a grin. "You challenge me, lovely... no one has ever done that before."

Elliot pulled her into his lap, deepening the kiss before he thought better of it. Hed wanted Anika since she'd first put her hand in his. Her role as his queen be damned.

Victoria was going to question that when the grizzled old woman came in with breakfast, grinning openly as she saw what her queen was wearing. She poured a mud like drink and handed it to the young woman with a nod. "For the baby." She said loudly.

Anika could feel the butterflies flapping away in her stomach each time Elliott kissed her. She may have been young and inexperienced, but that didn't means he didn't know what she wanted. The dark haired woman had let her fingers slide from Elliott's own dark hair only to slowly slide them under the edge of his shirt.

The king wrinkled his nose slightly, though eh should have known they wouldn't wait long to speak of babies; all the women in his castle wanted nothing more than the pitter patter of tiny feet through the stone hallways.

Elliot forgot himself, his magic fading away to once again reveal his green skin and horns. He was so concerned with the young woman he was laying on the ground beneath him, he forgot that she didn't care much for his true form. 

Beside him, Victoria was doing the same thing. She wanted nothing to do with children. She'd spent her life raising her sister. For the moment that was enough. 
"You will drink this!" The old woman demanded, holding out the cup to her. "Your majesty. You know that this is important to our race. Make her."

Anika's had removed Elliott's shirt completely by the time he had laid her on the cool grass by their campfire. The young woman's dark hair was fanned out beneath her and she was smiling again, gently stroking Elliott's horns now they had again been revealed.

The king scowled at the woman and pushed the mug back to her. "The queen does not need to worry herself with anything right now."

"Sorry." Elliot whispered, thinking she was worried about them. Try as he might he could not change his form. He was far too lost in the moment. He bent his head to kiss the woman who was soon to become his lover, worshiping the smooth valley between her breasts.

"You are going to regret that, sire." The old woman muttered, shaking her head. She narrowed her eyes at Victoria, making it clear that she knew something the others didn't. "The mystics were firm about what she should be drinking the morning after the wedding. With the roses so full of blossoms...I would hate for things to fall apart, your majesty."

Anika closed her eyes and breathed Elliott's name, his lips much cooler than her own heated flesh. The change in his appearance didn't bother her, in fact Anika was still touching the horns lightly.

The king continued to scowl at the old woman. "One day wont change anything." He huffed, trying hard not to give in through simple fear. Though he hid it well, the king did indeed fear the fall of his people if he strayed from the prophecy.

The mystics wouldn't know how to handle this one. Outside the king, goblins were not supposed to become lovers. Especially to humans. It seemed others were disgusted by them. At least...that's what they'd been told. Elliot and the king were the last of their kind and unless the queen gave birth there would be no more. 

"Our people will see that her eyes aren't right." The old woman snapped. "They will see that you are lying to them, sire."

It was too late now. The mystics couldn't change the fact that the king was not the only goblin now with a human lover. In all actuality, by their reasoning, Elliott should be the king. After all... His lover is the one with the violet eyes...
None of this was something Anika was thinking of as she lay in the tangle of her new lover's arms.

"They will see what I wish them to." The king snapped, the woman being forced from the room by unseen hands. The second he and Victoria were alone he simply sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands; the crone was right. What had he done?

Elliot slept deeply for the first time since he was young. With Anika in his arms he felt like he could take on the world. Nothing mattered now except her. 

Victoria knew she'd ruined everything. She didn't have to ask. She didn't dare try and comfort the king seeing as she was the cause of his anguish.

Anika was sleeping rather peacefully too, tucked against her goblin and oblivious to the massive change they had just made to his world.

"I'm afraid I must ask something of you..." The king finally breathed after some moment's of collecting his thoughts, and they were darker than they had ever been. "Until I can fix what we have done... You must conceal your eyes from the rest of the castle."

"Get up!" Anika would wake to a group of cloaked men shouting at her. She would find herself alone and Elliot chained  and gagged behind a horse. 

"No. I am leaving to find my sister." Victoria knew the kings smile was momentary and too good to be true. "You can'take conceal what isn't here."

The violet eyes that were causing much concern for the king were wide as she stared up at her aggressors. "I-I haven't done anything wrong!" She stammered.

"If you leave this place alone, you will come to harm." The king warned. "Please, wont you let me fix this? Besides... You were the one to send your sister away, all a part of your devious plan, remember?"

"Arthur, she's okay!" One of the men shouted. "We're you bitten?" The one speaking carried a cross bow and kept it aimed at Elliot.

"Don't threaten me." Victoria hissed. "You are not my king. And if my grandmother ran from you, there was reason for it. You won't get your hands on my sister. My plans aren't as devious as you seem to think."

Anika was looking up at the man with confusion. "Bitten by what?" She whispered.

"How much do you think you actually know about your grandmother?" The king asked thinly.

"A goblin. We saw it trying to eat you. We saved your life." The man bragged. "That's what the forest guardians do. We save people from monsters like this one. "

"More than you do." Victoria said firmly. "She didn't run away from me."