Undeserved Mercy

Ayana's mouth went dry as Annalise strode to Linius, seeming to be none the worse for wear. There were no injuries anywhere that she could see- not even a scratch- but for a long, pale cut that ran down the side of Annalise's neck. Her hair was longer, going past her waist, and her eyes... they were the same misty violet as before, but they had an emotion in them that Ayana had rarely seen take residence: anger. Her entire countenance was darkened with it.
The pendant Annalise normally wore, of the star, was clutched in her left hand. “Who did this to you?” she asked, helping Linius stand and lean against a wall.
“Carmen,” he choked.
“Not the bullet,” she scoffed. “That was fairly obvious.”
“Please... it hurts. Heal.”
“It's still in you. That's why you're not dead.” Annalise carefully found the bullet hole and touched it, wincing as if it hurt her, not Linius. She murmured the word for healing, Linius placing his hand on top of hers and repeating it. There was a glow, and it closed quickly. Ayana recognized this as a method of using magic known as the Conduit, in which someone directed their magic through another being. Annalise had used Linius’s magic to heal him. Why not her own?
Annalise then swept her hand away and tried to get the blood off of her fingers, rubbing them against the skirt of her dress. Once it was gone, she breathed a sigh of relief and carefully inspected the skin, and Ayana noticed small burns where the blood had been.
Burning blood…
“Esilanna.”
Annalise turned, just realizing Oleander was in the room. Her mood seemed to get even worse, which Ayana felt was dangerous- not for her, but for Linius and Oleander. “Regus.” And she bowed, though she was scowling. Ayana felt it was a bow of formality and tradition, not of respect. There was little respect for Oleander in those eyes. At least, not respect in the way Ayana understood it. Fear for him, and acknowledgement of his power… but no respect as a person.
“My sister, Esi. Where is she? You know. I can tell.”
“Is that it?” She seemed relieved, and slightly scared. Ayana wracked her mind for the word regus, which she was sure she had heard before. It was Latin, a favored language of the Victura, she knew, and it meant... king. Why had Annalise- Esilanna? She had no clue what to call her anymore- called Oleander 'king?'
Annalise walked to him and freed him, then whispered. Ayana strained to hear her words, quiet and subdued, but the snatches that she heard, she could not understand. Oleander nodded. “Ayana. I see you are in good hands now. I'm going to follow Esi's instructions and find my sister.” He gave a quick bow to the girl, which further confused Ayana. If he was called king, why was he bowing to her? Then he was out the door. Annalise watched him go, unsure of what to do, and then sighed.
“You're dead!” Linius gasped, shattering the newly-formed silence. “I saw it fall. So did she-” he pointed to Ayana- “and the valkyrie. We all saw you die. There is no way your body could have survived that, even if you'd fled to the Gate, and I can tell this is the same one. You don't have any of that Gate-taint on you. I know it!”
Annalise held up the pendant. “Amazing how ancient enchantments can be easily overlooked by magical detectors. This was a gift that I received years ago, and I hadn't realized it at the time, but it has a powerful protection spell engrained into its very being. Because the magic type is so old, it was unrecognizable. In fact, neither I nor the person who gave it to me knew about it. Needless to say, this enchantment works, and it transported me to a sixteenth-century farm house. Who would have guessed?”
Ayana could tell she was lying, or at least omitting the truth, but she didn't push it, only staring numbly. She felt strangely empty. Shouldn't she be overjoyed at this reunion?
Annalise leaned over. “Ayana,” she whispered. “Linius didn't get all of it to you, but some of it made it. It's only a little, but it's there. I bet you can feel it. The anger, the hate... it's not you. Push it out.”
Ayana closed her eyes, and she realized she did feel it, in overwhelming waves. Anger at the world, and a despising spirit so strong it made her dizzy. On top of that, she knew it was only a meager fraction of the full thing. No wonder Linius was mad. Just this tiny bit was too powerful. She couldn't fight it. “I can't,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can.” Annalise smiled and put her hands together, and flapped them. Ayana giggled. When she'd first become Annalise's apprentice at six- six!- Annalise would do it for her, saying, “Ayana's going to fly those wizards by!” It became an inside joke between them, and when Ayana sat through long meetings about things that absolutely nobody cared about, Annalise would glance over, equally bored, and flap her hands. The first time they'd done it, Ayana had burst into laughter, and the Circle cleared their throats, rankled. Annalise started laughing at the disbelieving faces of the members, and then they had to call a five-minute adjournment so that everyone could “clear their heads.” Annalise hadn’t been chastised, since she was the Chief Sorceress, but Ayana had been summoned for it. Annalise had watched the chastisement, and then raised her hands above the lecturer’s head and repeated the motion, her own equivalent of the bunny ears. This had to be the real Annalise, not some sort of phantom or imitation. No fake would know that.
She was happy. I'm... happy. Ayana felt no relief, only the same pure happiness she'd felt when Annalise had first come to her birthday party, surprising everyone that the Chief Sorceress would bother going to a little kid’s celebration, then striding to her parents and saying, “I'd like your daughter to be my apprentice.” It was the same happiness she'd discovered when she completed her first spell.
The anger was gone.
“Good job,” Annalise praised. “I'm proud.” She drew Ayana into a quick hug.
Linius's jaw dropped. “You defeated the Hating Fire with a hand motion?!”
“No,” Annalise replied, “and I doubt you'll ever understand how exactly we did it, even if I spent the next ten years of my life explaining it to you.”
“Annalise, you have to understand how it works. I wasn't myself when I...”
“I know,” she replied, “but you blame too much on it.”
“You have every right to kill me.”
“Yes, I do,” she agreed, standing and looming over him. “That doesn't mean I have to.”
Linius frowned. “What?” He clearly hadn’t expected it.
“I can't take your life. I can't decide who lives and who dies. That's not our role, and it never will be. If I killed you for trying to erase one existence, I'd have to kill someone who succeeded in taking many, and I can't.”
“You're forgiving me?”
“No.” Her tone was flat and cold. “I'm letting you live, Linius, but don't you ever delude yourself into thinking it is forgiveness. Remember that.”

Meagan ran straight home after Mariale and Frida promised to tend to Carmen. She'd stopped glowing altogether, which she hoped was a sign that her body was no longer temporary. As she ran, hair flying behind her and breathing hard, Meagan knew her mother had explaining to do. Her sword bumped against her leg, still sporting its new, red shade.
The enemy soldiers were gone, vanished. Meagan still kept an eye out for them, incredulous that a force could disappear so easily. There was an eerie, echoing feeling in the air, like the still, stagnate atmosphere in a mortuary. Ridiculous, Meagan thought, but she still felt a tingle running up and down her spine. A couple more blocks down showed the fate of at least some of the invaders. They were lying still and limp, silver scars flashing on their cheeks. Meagan instinctively brought her hand to her face, probing the skin. Intact. Was it a message? She thought so, but whoever the message was for, it wasn’t her.
She gave a little jump when she felt hearts beating, and not just her own. Somehow, she felt the rhythm of the hearts in the Gate or those bound to it, and it didn't scare her. Just as her synchronization with Jemma seemed so beautifully natural, so did this strange medley of pounding hearts.
Feeling the heartbeats of the soldiers made them seem less evil. They were scared; Meagan could tell by the high, fast beat. They were lost in their own personal world inside a Gate. She recalled her first crossing into the Dream World, when Jemma had said, “We're getting desperate,” and Meagan understood. Those soldiers were from that world, and they'd escaped. They were facing the possibility of returning, just a hair’s breadth away from passing out of the Gate’s limbo and back to their collapsing world.
It scared them to death.
Meagan put a hand on her chest, surprised she could discern so much, and it occurred to her, for the first time, just how much she'd changed in the span of a couple of hours. Her wings beat slowly and lethargically, not enough to lift her, as she wondered how her mother would react. She'd have questions, naturally.
Well, Meagan had questions too.
She quickened her pace, not slowing until she reached the door to her home. Never had normal wood seemed so beautiful and grand to her. It even rivaled the masonry of the elves, in her opinion. Meagan stood in front of it, relief washing over her as if she'd stepped into a waterfall. When she'd left earlier, she'd made a promise, and now she was fulfilling it. Golden, orange light washed behind her as the dawn came.
We have to stop him before dawn. Otherwise, we’re screwed. Well, no one was dead, and that sunrise was the most glorious Meagan had seen in a long time. Warmth spread across her back, and with the day break, Meagan walked in. “Mom? I'm home.”
Her mother flew out of the kitchen, wrapping Meagan into a hug. Once she pulled away, she stroked Meagan's left wing gently, and gazed into her eyes. “You look like your grandmother with your eyes purple like this.”
“Mm.”
Jenni wafted out of the living room like a ghost, and she gave a faint smile. Meagan smiled back, but something about Jenni troubled her. Perhaps it was her eyes, with dark and wide pupils, or maybe it was the strange way Jenni was sizing her up. “You're taller,” Jenni said.
So that was it. After all this time, of course Meagan had grown. Jenni was surprised? That must have explained the strange look.
Must have, Jemma said sarcastically.
Shut up, Meagan snapped. The acute link with Jemma that she'd gained at the Gate was welcome, but Jemma should learn to mind her own business.
Come on. I thought you liked me.
Don't make fun of my sister.
OUR sister, Jemma corrected.
I have trouble thinking of you as part of me.
Funny, I also can't believe a weakling valkyrie is my mirror image.
Ignoring the comment, Meagan said aloud to Jenni, “Yeah, I've grown.”
“An inch, at least,” their mother remarked.
“You look so healthy!” Meagan continued. “You worried me a lot. Where have you been all this time?”
“Don't remember,” Jenni mumbled.
Yeah, right, Jemma snorted.
Will you SHUT UP?! Meagan mentally shouted.
“Jenni came straight home when she saw the soldiers. I tried calling the police station to say she's turned up, but no calls were being accepted. Then I tried Carmen, but there was no answer.”
“Oh.”
“I'm going to bed,” Jenni declared, yawning. As she closed the door to the hall, she winked at her older sister. Then the door closed, and the sound of small feet running up stairs resounded through the house. Silence fell, and Meagan was left alone with her mother.
“In our family...” Meagan began, “there was a Victura, wasn't there?”
Mrs. Pronozuk nodded. “We are descended from both Victura and Valkyries, both your father's line and mine.”
“Mariale said something about sensing, and essences. I've experienced a bit of it myself. How come, if we're Victuran, I detect only valkyrie off of you?”
Mrs. Pronozuk's eyes widened. “Mariale... as in Mariale Belladonna Regina… the queen?”
“What? She said she was a royal scientist...” Meagan replied in shock. These Victura were nothing but mysteries within mysteries. Queen?
“She was. The king, Oleander, too. They were an eccentric couple. They liked experimenting. In any case, that leads to Ascella. She was the daughter of a count. She was also part valkyrie- her mother was one- and is your ancestor. To make a long story short, Meagan, we are both fully valkyrie and fully Victuran. Half-breeds do not exist. One does not have one essence of two assimilated races; rather, one has two and can switch between them both at will and subconsciously, which is how our family has hidden itself for so long and so well. The essence-switching has several effects on the body, most notably the color of the iris and certain appendages such as wings- both a Victuran and Valkyrie trait- as well as the ability to perform magic. I lied to you earlier when I helped you study- I was able to use magic, but not in the valkyrie essence.”
“Victurans have wings?” Meagan asked, retaining that part of the information the best.
“Not all, but certainly some, had wings; it was considered a privilege. The princess Cattallus had a pair, if I'm not mistaken. They were violet. I like yours better. White suits you. Anyway... we taught you and Jenni to be valkyries and hoped your Victuran sides would never shine through, but unfortunately, yours did.”
“If everyone was taught to be valkryies, then how come you know all of this?”
“Isn't it fairly obvious?” Karen Pronozuk replied. “Ascella Surrexit Addiscentis Karen is me.”

I didn't think Megan and her family were hybrids. I also didn't think her mom would be a princess! Yay for development chapters!

A user of this : Yay for dev indeed! I need to write some chapter where Mariale and Meagan's mom meet... if you recall, Mariale originally mistook Meagan for her mother.

Dragonlord Stephi : Yeah, I was wondering about that. Should be interesting, or she just looks like her mom.

Dragonlord Stephi : Man this is some story you've developed . And Lunius STILL isn't dead ? I'd kill him due to my lack of sympathy for ones who kill alot . Yeah he WAS sorta controlled by an evil and sadistic urge to hate and destroy but if Ayana could fight it then he should be able too .. I mean he IS like OVER 9000 !!!! times stronger than her but I guess it all comes down to if you can control your soul better than your body And Mean's fmaily is Victuran / Valkyire . That explains it .. so when Ebonny made the deal with Meagan .. she like just Switched her from her Valkiyre side to her Victuran side right ? 

Mr. Zed : Yes, Ebbony pretty much just switched it. She didn't see it coming, but if you remember, Mariale asked, "Are you sure you're really a Valkyrie?" so she probably wasn't as surprised.

As for Ayana beating it, well... it's still sort of there, just slightly defeated. It'll come back.

Thanks for the compliment!