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The Archivist’s Oath || Alastor x Reader, Chapter 7

Synopsis: You discover a new friend and the pieces are put in motion.

A GABRIEL NOTE: WARNING, THIS IS CANON AND WAS GIVEN TO ME BY GOD ( @sparrowrye ). She had some problems with the internet; we tried posting on her account but couldn't for some odd reason, so sorry for the late posting and different place. I hope you all enjoy the chapter (I certainly did, muahahaha)

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The woman, by the name of Rosie, arrived shortly after my conversation with Alastor. I had remained rooted to my spot in the corner of the living room, unwilling to go anywhere near him as we waited.

She was tall and thin, and her pale skin contrasted her black eyes. Her white hair was pinned in a tight bun but allowed a few curls to poke around her cheeks. She wore a flowy maroon dress with black accents on the side. A black belt cinched her waist and the dress continued over her chest and down her arms. Clearly she also enjoyed the shades of red like Alastor.

I wondered if he forced his people to wear colors of red. I certainly wouldn't let him put me in those awful colors.

"Pleasure to finally meet you, dearie," she greeted with a polite handshake. Her fingers felt boney. "Alastor hasn't stopped talking about you since he came back. We owe a lot to you for keeping our lovely cactus alive."

Rosie's wide smile and cheery attitude coaxed a nervous smile on my face. "Cactus?" I asked.

"A rather bothersome plant in this region," Alastor said as he came to stand beside the woman. "My dear, this is Rosie. The most darling, delightful, and dangerous woman in the whole city." He then introduced me, placing a red hand on my shoulder despite my effort to avoid it.

Rosie clapped her hands together. "Everyone is very excited to have an Archivist again. You're the hottest news of the century."

Great, I thought grimly. How many other Archivists would learn that one of their own is in Pentagram City?

"Come come, we have much to discuss and a lot of work to do." Rosie gently pulled at my borrowed clothes.

"I will leave you to it." Alastor bowed his head to her, casted a small smile in my direction, then swiftly left the tower.

Rosie watched and waited for a moment, then turned to me again. "Now, dear, I want you to be honest with me..." Her tone grew very serious as she said, "I'm sure you've seen a lot and had some pretty tough conversations. But I can see something happening behind those pretty eyes of yours." She paused, letting the silence weigh on the seriousness of her question. "Are you okay?"

The question caught me completely off guard and my own reaction to it, as well. My mouth tried to form words, moving around but letting out not a single word or syllable. Tears suddenly crawled in my eyes and dripped down my face. I touched at my wet cheeks, utterly stunned at whatever reaction I was having.

"Oh you poor thing." Rosie gently pulled me into a hug and I instantly reciprocated it. It had been so long since I last hugged anyone—since I was last hugged by someone. If I kept my eyes closed I could imagine my mother squeezing me and planting a kiss on my head.

My temple felt like it might explode from trying to keep my cries silent. My fingers grabbed at the soft fabric of the woman's dress. How had she known? Was it a magic thing? A woman thing? Did she have children of her own?

She eventually pulled me away and I hurriedly tried to wipe away my tears, avoiding a look at her shoulder that was damp from my tears.

"Come sweetheart, let's get you a warm bath, some fresh clothes, and hot food. It'll cheer you up." She put her hands politely under my chin and gave me a gentle smile. "And you can tell me all about what has happened to you. Alastor may be a friend but I'm not blind to his antics. Who do you think keeps the men in line around here? Us women do."

That last part brought a smile to my face.

She giggled at my reaction and took me to the bathroom on the second floor where I met Niffty. Rosie confirmed that she was the housemaid, always eager to clean anything and everything for a pretty penny or unique bug. The bathroom was lined with stone tiles and the ground was at a slant leading to a drain at the center.

"Undress while I start the bath," Rosie instructed. With a twist of a handle, hot water steamed out of a pipe from the ceiling. It touched the bottom of the bath and began to fill the tub with steaming hot water. My mouth dropped open at the contraption.

I wiped my nose on the back of my hand before Rosie gently pulled off the white long sleeve. I wasn't overly comfortable at being bare in front of someone strange but she was acting as if this was a daily occurrence for her. Perhaps it was.

I didn't want to draw attention to it if she was unbothered so I let her help me undress the rest. Fortunately, her questions distracted me as she helped me into the hot water.

She asked about the bunker, asked about the forest, asked about the communities in my region, and asked about my family. I revealed only my mother, opting to leave out my grandmother and brother for the sake of withholding information. She used a tough sponge to scrub away the years of mud, sweat, and build up. Her nails painfully scratched my scalp when she worked on my hair. She had a comb that she repeatedly tried to pull through the knots.

The conversation took a more somber turn when she asked about the time I spent with Alastor. I gave short, curt answers and nothing more. She read the cues and switched the topic around to talking about the city.

Pentagram City started as nothing more than a large community hiding away in the safety of a ravine. Storms were deadly in this region and the rock faces saved them from high winds, pockets of lightning, and dust storms. Rosie said there was a lot more history between that time and when Lucifer took over, but it was lost to the sands of time. She remembered the 'turning of tides' when the community turned from just that—a community—and into a city. Districts were formalized and trade deals were made between them.

The current districts were as followed: agriculture, technology, entertainment, military, and magic.

Alastor was Lord of the Magic District and Rosie the Lady of Agriculture. She and Alastor met as children before the districts were made. They were good friends until their fathers became the first leaders of their district. Years later, when her father passed, she became the first female leader of a district.

I had to stuff down my extreme interest in learning more about the city's history. I shouldn't care. I wanted to leave anyways.

Rosie let me dry myself off while she grabbed some things. She returned with a small bag and sat me on the edges of the bath. She combed through my hair again, silently noticing the way I closed my eyes at the more comfortable sensation.

She moved to my nails next. She had a metal stick with a small hook at the end. It pulled out a shockingly large amount of dirt from under my fingernails. Then she used a flat item and rubbed it against the tips of my nails. I watched as the white on my nails grew smaller and smaller.

She used her hook on my footclaws to get pieces of dirt that had been stuck in the grooves of the bone. Luckily she left that more sensitive part of my body alone and didn't try to file down my claws. Her next task was trimming my hair, claiming that removing the dead-ends would make it more healthy. So long as she wasn't cutting it all off, I didn't mind.

Once she was done, she brushed through it once more. When I opened my eyes again, I found my hair completely dry. She winked at me and put her tools away. I followed her out of the bathroom, still holding the towel around my chest, and up another set of stairs to a different room. This one seemed like the top most room of the entire tower.

The stairs we came up on were on the far side of the room with a railing to prevent any missteps. A beautifully carved desk sat under a round window, sunlight beaming through the glass and warming the small room. To the left of the desk was a bed built into the wall. My eyes immediately recognized my grandmother's quilt folded at the foot of it.

A small fireplace sat on the same wall and stacks of books covered the rest of the room. All my books were put in crates, but I could tell there were a lot missing. Where was the rest of it?

Rosie pulled me into the center of the room then went to the wall opposite of the round window. I finally noticed a closet behind the book stacks as she walked back with a couple different fabrics in hand. She first gave me fresh, white undergarments. The material was soft and far more supportive than what I was used to—than what was handed down through generations.

"I suppose you don't take well to dresses?" Rosie asked as she laid the clothes on the bed.

"I uh...we never really needed them."

"Then we'll start with something you're comfortable with."

The first piece of clothing was a black half skirt, half pant. The pants were sewn to the skirt that covered the whole thing. The pants cinched at my shins and a leather belt hugged my waist to keep them from falling down. There were strange patterns and symbols etched in different shades of red at the bottom.

The second piece was a loose, maroon long sleeve. The edges hugged my sleeves and waist. The collar was a small, narrow V-neck that had little black ropes that could loosen or tighten it. She topped it off with a small clip to hold my hair out of my face.

"What do you think?" She pulled me over to the closet and opened the door, revealing a mirror hanging on the inside. I had never seen a mirror that big and the person that stared back at me was someone I didn't recognize. I rubbed the soft material between my fingers, unable to fork any words. I was stuck between shock and politeness.

Then, turning around, I looked around at the room again. It was covered in wood planks and little bits of my home had been strategically placed.

"Feels like a dream," I said softly. What I really wanted to say was nightmare. I looked at myself in the mirror and felt...wrong. I turned my gaze away and grabbed my own arms.

"Dearie, what's the matter?" Rosie asked so gently, so carefully, as she closed the closet. I felt the tears building again and had to cover my mouth. "Sweetheart, what's happened? What else is there?"

I didn't want to trust her. I didn't want to tell her. I didn't want to be anywhere near her. And yet, when she touched me with a gentle hand and caring tone, I couldn't help but think of my grandmother, like she was possessing this woman to help me.

I fell to my knees and curled inward on myself. Rosie put her long arms around me and let me cry in the bend of her arm. Her fingers moved in circle on my back—exactly how my grandmother used to do it—and whispered that everything would be alright.

"How do I even make sense of this?" I mumbled into my hand. "It's all gone. It's all...I've lost it all. My family, my home, my freedom. I've lost it all."

"Oh sweet thing, you haven't lost it all. You still have that clever mind and that fighting spirit. Archivists are strategic people, are they not?" Her words were taking over my mind and distracting me. "Your people are known for turning the worst things around. Hell, you know how bad Humanity's shortcomings are but you've been finding ways to keep it alive."

I was quiet for a moment as I processed her words. Niffty appeared out of the blue with a box of tissues and Rosie handed one to me.

"I just...I thought...I thought I was doing the right thing," I admitted. "I couldn't just let him die in front of my door and not do anything. I thought I was doing a good job at preventing him from knowing where my bunker was and still heal him but...clearly I didn't."

"It wasn't your fault, dear." Those simple words dared to lift a generations worth of guilt off my chest, but reality pushed it right back down. "Once he knew what area you were in, he wasn't going to stop until he found you."

"I should've just let him die," I said firmly, not caring for the look on her face. "I should've covered his body with branches and let him bleed out. But I was stupid enough to heal a dangerous stranger bleeding at my feet."

"You saw a man in need and you helped. That's not a weakness, dear."

"Sure feels like it."

"Come here." She helped me to my feet then sat me on the bed. She pulled the chair from the desk over and sat across from me. "Alastor may know how to charm his way through just about anything and make you believe in him wholeheartedly. But that doesn't mean your trust in him was misplaced."

"He's the Radio Demon. I've listened to his broadcasts for five years. He's a ruthless leader and I'm just his tool."

Rosie sighed then took my hands. "Alastor may be complicated and a bit cynical at times—trust me, I know. I've known him since he was a boy. But...he's drawn to you for more than just your knowledge. He's bound by his duty to the city but that doesn't mean he sees you as just a tool. Just like you're bound by that oath of yours."

She patted my hands then sat back in the chair. I looked at the unfamiliar clothing over my legs. "I...I don't trust him. Not after he tricked me like he did. Not when he's asking me to just forget my oath."

"Well, sounds like you two need to talk more. Your expectations of each other are a little different than you might think." After a moment she added, "And don't hesitate to ask for me. I'm here for you, dear, even if it's just an ear to listen. Understand?"

I nodded mutely.

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Deep in the heart of the city, in the protection of the stone walls of the palace, a meeting was taking place to determine the fate of everyone's lives. The room was far underground and closed off to the rest of the world.

A round table sat in the middle with a map spread out in the center of it. Sitting at the edges of the table, each in their respective chairs and adorned in their colors, were the Lords and Ladies of each district. Lucifer, the king of Pentagram City, sat at the head of the table with his daughter beside him.

Rosie was the last to enter. She expertly avoided the lanterns hanging on the ceiling from being naturally tall. She sat in her brown and green chair beside Alastor. She gave him a knowing look and he growled softly, ignoring the look that referred to the woman in his tower.

"Now that we're all here, it's time to discuss the elephant in the room," Lucifer began. He didn't look as small as he actually was when he sat in a chair level with the rest of the leaders. "We have our first living Archivist who holds ancient knowledge that may save our city."

"Remind me why we need a historian to 'save our city'?" The woman who spoke, Velvette, was filing her nails from her criss-cross position on the chair. She was the co-leader to the Entertainment District. Her co-leader who sat beside her, Valentino, seemed just as bored with this. Their chairs were decorated in flags of red and pinks.

"Because the Old World was more advanced than us," Vox answered her. He sat on Velvette's other arm. He was technically a co-leader as well but his main priority was his Technology District. His flag was an electrifying blue just like his claws.

"But they died off," Velvette flapped her hands out in a shrug, not bothering to make eye contact with anyone.

"They made some amazing things before they did," Vox replied. "All the electricity in your District? Came from them. All the pipes and steam engines for bathhouses and factories? That's from them too. And any rumor you hear about some mysterious, massive invention is probably also true."

"Which is why we believe her Archives might have the answers." Lucifer drew their attention back. "But we have to decide where her efforts need to go first."

"Am I ever gonna see this Archivist? Or does Alastor get her all to himself?" Vox asked, looking pointedly at the Magic Lord.

"Until she's adjusted and cooperative, she'll remain with me," Alastor returned cooly.

"The people's well being should come first," Rosie kickstarted the debate. "So we should focus on securing our resources."

Vox, naturally, argued first. "Old tech should be prioritized. We can revolutionize how we manage and maintain our resources."

"Our people are dying of starvation above all else," Rosie countered. "Our crops are always struggling as much as our livestock. I've heard stories about manmade greenhouses that can grow food without soil."

"What about our borders?" Carmilla voiced. She carried professionalism and power in every room she walked in. She was the Lady of Military, her colors a bright white and dark black. "The White Angels keep pushing through and sneaking around the edges. We believe they're using Old World weapons and it would be helpful to know how to combat those. Otherwise they'll get through and tear our city apart."

"I don't really think the people are itching for another speech about rationing and defense tactics," Velvette remarked. "All this doom and gloom is making people want to join your district less and less."

Carmilla narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to make a remark but Alastor beat her to it, "While it's charming to see you so concerned about morale, we need to keep our priorities straight and the threats as real as possible. People want truth and solutions."

"Like you old wizard?"

Alastor was unfazed by the bite. "You seem to forget that my district has been solving everyone's little problems for years now. Wood and oil are saved for warming homes and cooking meals instead of wasted on lanterns and bathhouses."

"The stability of the city is paramount," Lucifer added himself. "Our ravine is crumbling and that landslide last season is only the beginning. Alastor's people are already stretched thin and they can't keep reinforcing our walls forever. The storms will reach us soon and we'll be worse off than before."

"But we can't ignore the needs of the people either." His daughter, whose hair was as blond as his, put her hand on his arm. "Maybe we can find a way to address all these issues together. We don't know what knowledge the Archivist has or how fast she can decode them."

"We don't have time for her to decode them all," Vox argued, arms crossed like the two beside him. "The longer we wait to discover Old tech, the more we fall behind. They were advanced because of their technology."

"We all want what's best for the city," Rosie said gently and professionally. Alastor could see her underlying impatience from the way she held her hands on her lap. "So maybe we can find a compromise that satisfies everyone. Charlie's right, we don't know what kind of knowledge the girl has."

"Maybe we can do a little of each," Charlie offered, "You know, have her decode bits about agriculture, bits about old tech, things like that?"

There was silence among the leaders. No one had any arguments.

Lucifer met Alastor's eyes. "Do you think she can do that?"

Alastor straightened a fraction more. "I have no doubt. I'll make sure she knows what's at stake."

"Very well. I trust you'll see those texts translated. I want weekly updates sent to all of us."

There was a reluctant nod of agreement, each leader mentally preparing their secret agenda and the challenges it would present. The decision made was setting the stage for the city's future, the risks and challenges hiding just beneath the surface.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Happy Holidays!! Big thanks to @jgabriel1920 for posting this chapter for me. I am on vacation and the wifi doesn’t allow me to access Tumblr for some reason.

My A03 curse is getting worse. I am very very sick and couldn’t write anything special for the holidays, but I hope everyone is enjoying it!

@sirens-and-moonflowers

@papas-ghoulette

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