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's lower lip trembled, but she didn't break just yet. "It doesn't matter what you did, you can't take him away from me." She told her captor, even offering him an infuriatingly blissful smile.

The small boy suddenly scurried away like a rat as the king swept by. "What happened?" He breathed, kneeling befire his wife to remove his cloak and wrap it around her shaking shoulders.

The man slapped her. "Did you hear what I said, Fae? I killed your lover? All these people think he ate your human partner and I knew all along. Not to mention I know so much more. I know your mother. And your grandmother. I know that I'm going to kill your father and the goblin king and I'm going to make your sister watch." He hissed, shaking her again. 

At the gentle voice Victoria tried harder to get herself under control. She took deeper breaths and pulled the cloak tighter around herself. She couldn't let anyone see her cry, least of all the king.

Anika could taste blood in her mouth and slowly turned her face back to the man who had struck her though, he would see one of her violet eyes only through a veil of dark hair. "My mother is dead, my grandmother doesn't care, and my father is useless. But by all means try, even if it will be somewhat disappointing for you." She hissed, spitting her blood on his shoes.

The king reached out, cool fingers gently stroking Victoria's smooth cheek. "You don't have to be brave." He breathed. "As Queen, you could order anyone who saw you cry put to death." He teased.

The man grabbed a handful of her hair and threw her against the wall. "Your mother is very much alive, girl. Unlike your little goblin boy. And your father...I know he is weak. It won't be hard to break him. Or you." 

Victoria laughed, peering up at him through strands of her silken black hair. "I am not the queen you want, sir." She said softly. "Don't kill for me."

Anika had quickly realised this man thought she was her sister, which only gave her more strength to continue the charade. She thought Victoria would be happy with the goblin king. "You have never seen my world... You have no idea how far I bend before I break!" She told him firmly.

"You think you know everything, don't you... little one?" The king breathed, leaning down and kissing the top of Victoria's head lightly.

"I'm going to give you one chance to contact your grandmother." The man snarled. "I want my mother here for this. I want her to see what I do to the children of fate. Especially the child of the prophecy." He yanked her to her feet. "I'm going to make you suffer, Victoria. Just you wait."

Victoria broke then, burying her face in her hands and sobbing softly. She couldn't help it. She felt like she had failed everyone.  She couldn't handle that.

Anika was having trouble keeping her thoughts together. The young woman was stumbling as the man dragged her to her feet now. "What did I ever do to you?"! She demanded, trying not to be too concerned with him calling her grandmother 'mother'.

The king pulled Victoria close, then lifted her up into his arms as he gracefully rose back to his feet. He didn't say anything more as he gently carried her to his own bedroom now, rather than the one they had spent the night in.

"You were born!" He roared. 
"Arthurian! That's enough!" The little elf shouted at him. Robin was glaring at her father, shaking her head. "This isn't going to fix anything. Not yet. Wait until she contacts grandmother..."

Victoria cried until she fell into an exhausted slumber, never even realizing that she was being watched closely  by her grandmother.

Anika was looking back and forth between the both of them, then simply shaking her head. "I can't contact anyone! I don't know how.. And my grandmother is the last person I would reach out to anyway!"

The king had held Victoria until she finally fell asleep. Even now, he was still in the room, making sure his bride was warm enough, and then simply sitting by her bedside and reading stories from the world she had been calling home.

"Figure it out or I will kill your sister." Arthurian snarled at her. "I will tear her apart while you watch. Do you understand?"

"You fool. Do you know what you've done?" Amelia hissed, glaring at him through the glass. "You might as well kill them yourself."

"You'll never get to her." Anika replied confidently. "She is under the protection of the king, which I'm sure you know." The young woman's head was spinning, trying to keep herself from thinking about Elliott, along with keeping her sister safe at the cost of her own life.

The king finished reading the paragraph he was on before he even glanced up. "You mean how did I realise what you had done, old woman?"

"The goblin king is weak. He will break. Just like you. I'm not worried about a thing." Arthurian laughed. "Contact your grandmother or see what I will do to Anika. Try me."

"You know nothing, you fool. You're a monster. Let me out of this mirror and give her back to me. You will break her. You break everything you touch." Amelia insisted.

The real Anika actually laughed quietly, finding it amusing to hear someone talking about her. "He loves her, he would start war for her, if it came to that. Are you so willing to say the same?"

"Give which one back?" The king asked coolly, even daring to more or less ignore Amelia by returning his gaze to his book.

"I love nothing but death. I'm willing to let the world burn to make sure everyone else loves it too." Arthurian snarled, giving her a shake. "If you help me by pissing off the king then so be it." 

"I care nothing for the little one." The elder woman snapped. "Send Victoria home. She is not your fate. She is not the one with the violet eyes. Remember the prophecy?"

Anika was still smiling as Arthurian shook her. "Then if I am to die, so be it. I wont contact her."

"Ah, the little one? Did you even name her? Or was that something you let Victoria do?" The king asked, the irritated sound to Amelia's voice pleasing him immensely.

Arthurian let out a howl and threw her at one of his guards. "Take her to the dungeon and lock her in. We're going to contact their king and start a war."

"Why would Victoria do that when she is Gallen's child?" Amelia stammered.

Anika was rather compliant as she was lead to the dungeon. In her head she was trying to make sense of what was happening. So far it felt like she was trapped inside one of the well read books in her bedroom bookcase.

The king let Amelia's question hang in the air for some time before he looked up at her again. "Then there is more than one father?" He finally asked.

In the cell beside hers a man was roaring in anger. It wasn't hard to tell just how furious he was. "Let me see her!" He screamed. His voice hoarse and barely audible.

"Gallen is my son you fool. You met him. Called him a coward even. Remember that?" Amelia asked bitterly.

Anika jumped when she heard the other voice, wondering if her voice would grow so hoarse before they finally killed like they said they would. The young woman rubbed at her arms in the damp cell, wondering why this strange land seemed so much colder in general than her own home had been. "It wont help." She finally whispered. "They're planning for war up there."

The king pretended to think for a moment, then simply returned to reading his book. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell." He replied rather flippantly. "But you only said Victoria was Gallen's child. You always seem to avoid all talk of who Anika is, or even who her mother was. Odd, don't you think?"

"I know. It's all because of her. They want the queen. She's supposed to be the queen..." the voice answered hoarsely.

"I don't owe you answers, Deacon. You stoke my youngest son and turned him into a monster. Now you are trying to steal my granddaughter. You deserve nothing but pain." Amelia hissed.

That certainly had Anika's attention. "Who is?" She breathed. Though she couldn't see through the inky darkness, the young woman had been learning the hard way not to be too trusting of late.

"Oh, I'm not trying to do anything." The king purred. "It would seem I already have her." He added, finally setting his book down to gesture to the slender form lying in his bed. "As for your son... I did nothing he didn't ask of me."

"Her name is Ani...my mate...tell me you've seen her. Raven hair....Lilac eyes...lily white skin...." Elliot's voice was filled with desperation and pain. "Is she all right?"

"You lie. Arthurian never would have asked to be made a monster! A goblin no less...how did you do it? And...you told her your name didn't you? You bounded her to you! You fool! She is not your fate! I made sure of it. You will die now and so will she!" Amelia shouted, her voice getting louder by the second.

"Eli?" Anika's slender fingers curled around the bars that divided their cells, the lilac eyes he had described trying to see him through the darkness. "Is it really you?" She breathed, afraid to hope too much.

Again, the king simply smiled. "She was always mine, you were the one who attempted to change her fate, who put her in danger." He replied. "And I'll say ti again, Gallen asked it of me. He begged for power, for the desire to stay in his home when you wanted to drag him to the human world."

Elliot stepped forward into the light, showing her just how close he'd come to a true death. One of his horns had been ripped almost completely off and hung pitifully on the side of his head. One of his eyes was swollen shut and there was a deep dark red stain on the belly of his shirt. "Ani..." He breathed, using the bars to keep himself standing. "Beloved..."

"You forget they were twin boys. Gallen may have the one to beg but he was not the one to receive your terrible gift. It was Arthurian and he hates you bad enough to start a war." Amelia told him darkly. Deacon, I won't stop trying to get Victoria out of this. Her fate is still not intertwined with yours. Even in this prison you placed me in, I will pull her away from you even if I must involve Death himself."

"Oh Eli... They told me you were dead." Anika breathed, reaching a hand through the bars to touch his cheek gently. As she did this, a warmth would pass between them, and some of the pain Elliott felt would fade slightly.

"Go ahead. You think Death wants anything to do with you after the stunt you pulled?" The king replied, now stroking Victoria's hair as she slumbered. "No mystic should ever have offspring, is that not the rule? Not one of you should pass any of your power onto an innocent. Your kind are chosen, not bred."

"They were so sure I had hurt you." Elliot said softly, sagging with relief against the bars. "Then their king told me he was going to kill you. All to start a war. I should never have let your sister trade places. I should have just left you there...to save you..."

"I fell in love. I deserve love just like you did." Amelia whispered, her head against the glass the she could no longer pass through. "Please, Deacon...Give her to me. You will destroy her and you know it. Let her go."

"I would have been miserable." Anika breathed, still stroking Elliott's cheek lightly. "To be married to him... but in love with you."

"And what about the other child?" The king asked, smiling when he saw such defeat in Amelia's eyes. "You would 'sacrifice' her?"

"But you would be safe." Elliot said softly. "At least I could touch you by accident whenever I felt like it."

Amalie didn't answer, making it clear she would do just that. "Give Victoria back to me. You can keep the one fated to you. The one you deserve..."

"Is an accidental touch really enough?" Anika asked sadly. "I couldn't live that lie, Eli... That is what would kill me, not him."

The king was clearly going to do nothing of the sort. "The little runt you tried to palm off on me is gone. I have a bounty for those eyes of hers, but nothing more."

"I suppose it's nothing to worry about." Elliot said with a shaky voice. "They believe you to be your sister. They are using you to start a war. We will never get near enough to touch again. Im sorry I proved myself to be so weak and stupid.I don't blame you for being ashamed. "

Amelia's lips twitched and then she began to smile. "Good luck with that. Seeing as the creature is one solid  piece...those who try will die horribly for it." Once again she turned her gaze to Victoria. "She will never love you. No matter what you do, even getting her with child will not warm her heart to you. You will never be loved by anyone. Not even tricking a mystic into changing your fate will change that.."