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.

Anika let her hands slip away, looking up at Elliot as though he had just ripped her insides out himself. "Then I can't be with you." She breathed tearfully. 

Deacon chuckled once again, having never thought about how things looked on the other side of the mirror. "What was so nightmarish about that? He should have watched where he was going..."

"Anika, use your head. If we go back they are going to fight over you. It's never going to stop. At some point, like it or not, they will kill me. I want to get to them first. No matter what I have to do. Why can't you see that?" Elliot pressed.

"A giant shadow suddenly towering over a tiny one. Then yelling and shaking. And don't forget begging and squealing." Victoria pointed out. "To a girl who was told by her grandmother she was crazy for even molentioning things like that what would you think?"

Anika took a step back, shaking her head. "Don't you see? It's very simple." she whispered. "I'm the one who needs to be gotten rid of. I'm the one who needs to stop hurting the people I care about."

"She has a wonderful imagination." Deacon mused. "I really gave you nightmares?"

"Ani..." Elliot stepped close to her, pulling her hands into his. "You are worthy of so much...don't ever think you are hurting anyone. This is their fault not yours. You are beautiful and perfect and I love you. You have no idea how much."

"I think it was more the joy pills than anything else. Deacon...what happened to my grandmother? I remember the night she was pulled into the mirror. I grabbed for her hand but she stabbed me in the arm with a knife she had." She paused, showing him the scar. "Did you do that to her? I remember the voice. Someone saying, the twisting of the thread comes with a cost."

"But I'm not." Anika insisted, a fat tear beginning to roll down her cheek. "I'm not even a person! I'm just this... This thing that causes everyone misery! What if you don't love me? What if you just think you do because my magic makes you think that?"

"Your grandmother did use forbidden magic." Deacon pointed out after a very long pause. "She created life from nothing, she disrupted the balance. She knew there could be no light without dark, and no life without death, of a sort."

"I can't believe you're listening to that...." Elliot wouldn't even get to finish what he was saying. The arrow slammed into the back of his head and came out of his mouth. 
The one eyed hunter sat on the branch about them looking rather pleased with himself. "Damn golbins," He snarled. "The bastards are everywhere." 

"You didn't answer my question." Victoria pointed out, not sure she was going to like his answer. She turned in his arms to look into his eyes, worried with what she would see there.

Anika screamed, her face covered with her lover's blood. The young woman couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened, and as such her magic suddenly exploded without control, the tree the hunter was sat in suddenly setting alight with bright violet flames.

"Would the answer really change anything?" Deacon asked seriously. "It wouldn't bring her back."

The hunter had no chance. By the time he realized what was happening, he was already dead.
"Seems I was wrong about the boy." Arthurian muttered, glancing at Samantha. "Have my men bring the girl back here and find the crystal yourself. She's as useless as you are." 

Victoria didn't answer and Deacon no longer had to. She knew what she needed to. She got out of the water and headed back into the other room, pulling on his shirt and sitting on the edge of the bed. This was more than she could take. He'd killed her mother and taken her grandmother and he wouldn't even given her a reason.

Samantha wasn't looking at Arthurian, and didn't answer right away. That was a power she herself had never been able to find. The flames had come from nothing, and gone just as suddenly. Again the hooded mystic was suffering the green eyed monster. "And then what? You think you have any leverage over her now without her previous goblin lover?"

Deacon sighed heavily and simply lay there in the half full bathtub. He didn't want Victoria knowing the truth. He didn't want her to live with the Darkness in her life.

The king hadn't thought of this. For a while he rubbed at his forehead, sighing heavily. "I'll think of something, you worthless being. For now do as I have commanded." He growled. "You are ruining my lovely silence with your very presence. I hate you." 

"Give her back to my son in the human realm. Raglan can care for her there. He will marry her off to a fool and the Darkness won't touch her. At least do something worthy of a king." Amelia appeared in the mirror over the sink, looking haggard. "Anika has released power even I didn't know she had...things will get ugly when the Darkness figures out she is strong. He will get Victoria because she is the way to break the girl. You must listen."

"Well, there's at least one thing we have in common." Samantha replied with a saccharine sweet smile. "Get your little princess yourself, I have a crystal to find."

Deacon snorted, casting only the slightest of glances to the mirror. "If she's as pure as they say she is, the darkness will consume your little Anika for himself. I have no care if he does that."

"You are worthless." Arthur murmured, pulling himself out of his throne. Every year since he'd begged the Goblin king to change him, he'd become more distorted and twisted. His body was racked with pain almost all the time now. It was hard for him to make the simple movements that most people took for granted. 
It took him half the day to reach Anika and discover what had become of the boy. He muttered something about it serving him right before he scooped up the tiny woman and put her on his horse. They would travel as far as they could back to his home before the darkness settled over them.

"It's not her that I am concerned with. It's the young woman in there that I tried so hard to keep from you. You really think I used my own magic to make that girl? No. I took hers. Why do you think she feels such a strong connection? Because Anika belongs to her. She is her magic. When the Darkness corrupts Anika, he will do the same to your wife." Amelia pressed, her voice high pitched with fear.

Anika screamed almost the entire time. Several times she had managed to wriggle free and sprint back in the direction they had come, only for Arthurian to easily scoop her up once more.

Samantha could hear the screaming from even where she was in the heart of the forest. The blonde mystic had shed her cloak now there was no one here to hide from, and was gently caring for the crystals that grew here. No one else would come this deep, but then everyone else feared the Darkness, Samantha didn't.

This did bother Deacon, even if it didn't show. "Then perhaps I should have the girl killed? If there is no magic to corrupt, then Victoria is not in danger."

By the time he'd made camp Arthurian was exhausted. He had managed to tie the poor girl to a tree and sat across from her as he built a fire. For once he'd left the cloak lying on the ground nearby. It was dark enough he didn't believe that anyone would be able to see him. 

"If you did that, my sweet girl would die too. I left her with a little bit of the magic...how do you think the roses bloomed when she was in your garden?" Amelia said softly, glancing toward the door when she heard the bed shift. "They are connected by the magic still present. A thread if you will. Sever it and they will both die."

Anika watched Arthurian with hate in her eyes. She blamed him for Elliot's death. It was simply too much of a coincidence to her that he found her not long after her lover was stolen from her. Though her arms were pulled behind her and bound around the tree, it didn't stop Anika from continuing to try and struggle free.

"You're saying I have to keep that pathetic creature alive, if I want to spend my life with Victoria?" Deacon growled, finally getting up out of the tub, not in the least bit embarrassed that Amerlia could see him.

"You're only hurting yourself." Arthurian said after a long moment. He'd fished out his own bow and arrows and turned to the dark forest. Like Samantha, he wasn't afraid of the Darkness. He couldn't see it. There was no point in being afraid of something he couldn't see. "You keep rubbing those ropes and you're going to bleed. Then some beast is going to smell it. Not very smart little one." 

Amelia narrowed her eyes at him but nodded. "I should let Darkness take her just to spite you. This is all your fault. If you had left the book alone like I told you, the bastard would still be sleeping. There would be no need for the creature because Arthurian would have risen up and taken over the four kingdoms. Including yours. His daughter, my granddaughter, would be married to a good man. Not a goblin monster like you."

"Maybe that's exactly what I want, monster." Anika spat hatefully.

"And maybe Victoria didn't want any of that." Deacon replied as he reached for a towel. "I imagine not a single one of you ever believed her capable of making her own choices. Why should she be punished with the non-life you force don her, all because things didn't go how you wanted them?"

"Suit yourself." The king said with a shrug. "I'm going hunting. I haven't eaten in a few days and I'm hungry." He passed her, purposefully tapping her with his bow. "You know pouting over a dead worm isn't going to bring it back." 

"She doesn't love you, you know. The roses that bloomed when the girls arrived are dying. Your people are becoming more like monsters than functioning beings. Poor Deacon. You're going to lose and because of your selfishness, so will I."

"You smell like you haven't bathed in a few days too." Anika snarled, her grief making her somewhat unpredictable in that moment.

"I never assumed she would love me, Amelia." Deacon replied sadly as he headed to the door. "Only that she would tolerate me."

"Years." Arthurian corrected her. Oddly enough, he gave her an almost charming smile. "I haven't even thought about that. What an odd thing to say, child." He chuckled, his skin once again changing color for a brief moment. 

"Tolerating isn't going to keep your people or you from going feral. What happens then? You will try to kill her." Amelia's voice once again took on the desperate tone. "Let her go, Deacon. I can pull her through and send her home. Let her go before it's too late."

"I was being polite." Anika replied, able to feel that the rope had indeed tore at the soft skin of her wrists now.

"She's stronger than you give her credit for." Deacon reminded Amelia. "Perhaps this is the chance she needs to prove that."

"Your blood has a lovely smell." Arthurian purred as he disappeared into the trees.
Anika wasn't alone for long. The Darkness came, seating himself beside her. "I can give him back." He breathed, his words no more than a whisper in her ear. "All I require is a kiss..." 

"If you love her, let her go." Amelia said and once again the mirror was clear. 
Victoria had fallen asleep, curled in a ball at the foot of the bed. Though she'd been trying to figure out who her husband had been speaking to, she couldn't seem to keep her eyes open.

Anika's heard turned so quickly that she was nose to nose with the owner of the voice that had been whispering in her ear. "I'd rather you just end me so I can be where he is now." The small woman whispered.

Deacon sighed heavily, fearing that he was beginning to believe that Amelia was right. He gently lifted Victoria up and re-positioned her up on the the fluffy pillows at the top of his bed.

The creature turned his head from side to side, as if trying to process her words. "Oh I can't do that. But I can bring him back. Wouldn't you rather have him with you than suffering as he is now?" He asked a slow smile passing over his lips. "All I ask in exchange is a kiss. That's not hard. Now is it?" 

Victoria woke with a start near dawn, surprised to find that they'd returned to the goblin kingdom during the night. She was ashamed to admit that she was more than a little disappointed at this. It didn't help when one of the goblin women rushed into the room with a steaming hot drink. In some strange language she began insisting that the young woman drink it, all but yelling at her.

Anika frowned, thinking it an odd request. "A kiss, for a soul?" She asked in confusion.

Deacon had been sleeping fully clothed next to his wife after returning her here. He was already wailing his protest at the noise the woman was making.

The Darkness continued to smile, his bright red eyes half closed and crinkled at the edges. "Sure. If you'd like to call it that. Do we have a deal, lovely?" He was still nose to nose with her, his ice cold hands resting on her knees. "You can have him back. That's what I said. Just a kiss in return. So very simple...." 

Victoria cringed when the two began yelling in the language she didn't understand. She was quick to slide off the bed and make a bee line for the closet. Meanwhile the woman rounded the bed, shaking the glass at the king, continuing to shout.

"Just one kiss?" Anika asked again, a little hope returning to her violet eyes.

"She is not having my child, not yet anyway!" The king was shouting. "Will you take that foul smelling liquid and leave!"

"There." Arthurian dropped a large deer in front of Anika and the Darkness disappeared. "Do something with this. Magic or something to make it edible. I haven't dressed a beast since I was a prince." 

"She needs this. It is a concoction the mystics came up with to help her fall in love with you!" The elderly woman shouted back. "The infant brew will have to wait!"

Anika looked the poor creature over rather disdainfully, then simply shook her head. "I'm a vegetarian." She informed him simply. "I wont have any part in the slaughter and devouring of an animal carcass."

This faltered Deacon somewhat, though he was soon shooing her away again. "I wont keep a woman a slave with magic!"

"You are worthless, girl." Arthurian said as he lumbered over to the deer and dragged it back with him. "Typical mystic. Broken."

"This is necessary!" The old woman squealed as she was forced out. "Curse you, king!" 
"What is this?" Victoria asked, coming out only when the woman was gone.