helena has never made it easy for max, not as a son and certainly not as her heir. born on the day she was crowned, he has always been both a symbol of her legacy and the shadow of her end. she resents him for it, quietly, always has. not because she doesn’t love him, but because loving him means accepting that one day he will take everything she has spent her life holding up.
for her to finally accept he is ready, not just to rule but to carry what she never could say aloud, is the closest thing to grace she has ever given him.
she doesn’t step down. she doesn’t abdicate. she simply sees him.
and for max, after a lifetime of falling short, that is finally enough.
[Anchor]: Tonight, questions mount over whether Queen Helena will follow the example of other countries’ monarchs and step aside for her heir
[Commentator 1]: It’s been months, and the palace has yet to formally address Queen Helena’s public stumble at Prince Henry’s memorial — an incident that sparked immediate concern and has continued to fuel speculation across the nation.
[Commentator 2]: Abdication in Monaca is virtually unprecedented. To relinquish the Crown, even voluntarily, would feel like a failure of the very principles she was raised to uphold. For Helena, service is lifelong and stepping down may be seen, internally, as abandoning that legacy.
[Anchor]: Meanwhile, Crown Prince Maximilian has quietly assumed several of Queen Helena’s duties in recent months. While no official transition has been announced, his growing role has led many to see this as the beginning of a silent shift in power.
- - -
[Maximilian]: You’ve never made it easy to talk to you.
[Helena]: It was never meant to be easy.
[Maximilian]: No, it wasn’t. You were always stronger than everyone in the room. But sometimes I needed a mother, not a monarch.
[Helena]: You think I didn’t love you?
[Maximilian]: I think you did. I just think you had a very hard way of showing it.
[Helena]: I love you. Fiercely.
[Helena]: But I loved you like someone bracing for war. Always preparing you. Always testing you.
[Maximilian]: I spent most of my life thinking I disappointed you.
[Helena]: You did. When you betrayed your vows to Margot, I was furious.
[Helena]: But what matters more—what I never said— Is that I was proud when you stayed. When you repaired what you broke. That takes more strength than I ever gave you credit for.
[Helena]: You remind me so much of me… and I punished you for it.
[Maximilian]: You leaned on Henry. Never on me.
[Helena]: Because Henry was the only person I didn’t have to be strong for.
[Helena]: And I didn’t want you to see how much of this life had cost me.
[Maximilian]: You should’ve let me in.
[Helena]: I didn’t know how.
[Helena]: But I see the man you’ve become. You are a father, a husband, a leader… And I am proud of you.
[Maximilian]: Then let me carry this now. You’ve done enough. I'm ready.
[Helena]: You are ready. But I’m still here. And I will be—until my very last breath.
[Helena]: The Crown is not a burden I’ll ever pass early.
[Helena]: But when the time comes… it will be yours. And I will go knowing it’s in the right hands.
"What about your eyes?" Remus had hissed as they'd made their way down the hillside. Sirius had glanced at him in silent question, still stony-faced and looking mildly irritated to have his attention pulled during their approach. "Do you not think they'll immediately suspect something nefarious when you show up glowing purple like the most obvious neon sign in the world? And I'll guess mine don't look much different."
Sirius' gaze raked over him before he looked forward again. "They can't see it," he'd supplied cryptically. Remus had opened his mouth to demand a better answer, but Sirius had continued before he could form the words. "You can only see it because of the extra magic I placed inside you. To them, we look normal. Nothing is going to tip them off so long as you do as you're meant and keep that mouth of yours shut tight. Don't speak. Don't say a word. Don't even think. Voldemort uses Legilimency just as Dumbledore does, and I'll never be fool enough to think he hasn't mastered it nearly as well. Just think about something innocuous. Or how infatuated you are with me. That'll work too."
"Prick," Remus had muttered.
"Yes, I know you'd like that, but now's not the time, Remus." Sirius had looked so smug in that moment, Remus had wanted to knock him off his feet.
Now, the smugness is gone, haughty indifference taking its place as easily as water seeping through the smallest of cracks. They stand inside a loose semi-circle of masked individuals, Voldemort at the helm, dark eyes critiquing them. Remus tries his best to keep his mind clear, to look as aloof as Sirius. He knows the other man had likely been joking, mostly, but he's finding focusing on him is helping.
He looks almost cocky, like they're not currently in one of the most dangerous, life-threatening situations they could find themselves trapped in. Sirius stares back at Voldemort with that easy sort of grace he's so attuned to, coming almost naturally to him, like nothing can possibly faze him. Like nothing, not even death, can touch him. Remus thinks it's inherently stupid, but he can't stop himself from marveling in the face of it.
"I must admit, I was surprised when you finally agreed to this meeting," comes the cold voice from in front of them. Sirius never so much as twitches. "Especially after hearing news of a similar meeting with Dumbledore some months ago."
Sirius produces a smile just as cold and unnerving as the voice. Remus refrains from shuddering under its icy weight.
"He was being nosy," says Sirius crisply. "Insufferable old fool, just as he's always been. My meeting with him means nothing to you, no more than this meeting means to him."
"Have you finally decided to join us?" inquires Voldemort, gesturing with a bony hand around him. "Your family will be pleased."
Someone suddenly steps forward with a simpering laugh, the mask covering their face being removed. A woman that looks remarkably like Sirius, same dark hair and crystalline eyes, pale skin, and narrowed features, stares back at them. The only true differences Remus can see is a more manic expression coating her face.
"Dear cousin," she says sweetly, a bite in her voice, menacing and sharp, "I was beginning to doubt you."
Sirius' expression doesn't change, but Remus sees something flash through his eyes, the purple only he can view flaring darker for a moment. After a silent span of time, one corner of his mouth quirks upwards.
"Bellatrix," he offers, nearly dismissively. "Good to see that madness is still holding strong. How're those voices in your head? Still insufferably loud? Do they sound like my mother?"
The woman – Bellatrix – frowns, her nose twisting a little, her dislike shining through. "You always were exceedingly good at backing yourself into the most troublesome of corners, darling Sirius," she murmurs. Then her tone turns to nearly a coo as she leans forward on the balls of her feet. "The only voice I hear inside my head is that of your precious little brother screaming as he died." A smile spreads over her face, sharp and feral, saliva nearly pouring from her stretched lips.
Sirius' expression still doesn't shift or alter, but Remus can feel, more than see, the tensing of his shoulders. He's not mentioned his brother often, acting as though he doesn't care, but Remus can see it now, what he keeps hidden away from all prying eyes. That undeniable bond of siblings, no matter the strain.
"Regulus ran away," counters Sirius, tone still even, smooth, not matching the fire building in his lilac-tinted eyes. "Disappeared into the night with little more than a word."
"Did he?" asks Bellatrix coyly. Sirius continues to stare at her and she abruptly begins to laugh, head throwing backwards, chest heaving from the mighty force hitting her lungs. If Sirius' laugh is chilling, hers is like being engulfed inside an avalanche of ice, no way to move, no air left to breathe. "Regulus is scattered in pieces all over Russia. You'll never find them all," she cries in pure delight, eyes flashing with sinister light.
Sirius' wand is drawn before Remus can blink or track it, blue light soaring across the open space. Bellatrix is thrown off her feet as it strikes her, the woman not anticipating it either, Sirius too quick in his movements and reactions. She flies backwards, hitting into a wall of Death Eaters, knocking several of them to the ground with the impact. Sirius doesn't wait, turning on his heel, wand raised and pointed directly at Voldemort.
"Now, Remus!" he roars suddenly, jolting Remus from his startled haze.
Remus has so many questions he'd never thought to ask until now. Mainly, what about the others? They're surrounded. There's no way Voldemort's followers will allow their Dark Lord to be attacked without retaliating. But Remus can't begin to ask now, Sirius already throwing out a spell as his eyes deepen in their purple hue, two balls of curiously tinted fire burning through the setting night. The others are jumping into action quickly, beginning to converge on them, wands also raised even as Voldemort draws his own and deflects the curse easily.
"Do you really think you can win this, Sirius?" hisses Voldemort, throwing his own spell that Sirius dodges with practiced grace, like he's done nothing but this his entire life. Remus wonders if maybe he has, so many different facets to the man by his side that he thinks he's never truly seen until now.
Spells fly their way that Remus tries his best to deflect, Sirius having eyes for no one but Voldemort. But as Remus sees him begin to form another curse, death looming in his nightmarish gaze as he stares back at Sirius, his blood runs cold, and he reacts before he can think twice about what he's doing.
"Expulso!" he shouts, whipping his wand furiously in his hand. Voldemort bats it away like a pesky, irritating fly, but Remus hardly notices, something intriguing happening around him with the usage of the spell. Dazzling purple light expands from him and Sirius, doming around them at first before it begins to shrink, morphing to fit their forms like the tightest fitting of shields. The spells thrown from the surrounding Death Eaters bounce off them like they're coated in titanium.
Sirius turns to him, grin spreading broadly, expression practically elated. Remus has never seen anything like it, the complete shift over the other man, the brightness taking him over so suddenly it leaves him reeling from its crash. But then Sirius is angling back towards Voldemort, his wand flicking violently again, throwing curse after curse, never relenting, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, utterly focused on his task. Remus spares him one last fleeting glance before he's joining in as well, smothering Voldemort in their unstoppable onslaught.
The normally terrifying man is screaming in rage as he attempts futilely to thwart their efforts, and they're just reaching a good stride, knocking him back, tiring him out, when a deafening level of pops sound around them, like firecrackers sparking in an enclosed space. Remus whips around, spying shadows forming out of the mist that's steadily crept from the trees of the forest like looming castles springing up from nowhere.
More flashes of colored light begin flying around them, at them. Remus hears a sickening scream of his name that sounds far too much like Lily, and he finally understands. The Order has arrived. His heart hammers faster in his chest.
"Alright then~" And with that, Ryuko would tease slightly by giving the other woman simply a peck on the lips, pulling back while wearing a cheeky smirk. If she wanted more, then she'll have to come and get more.
So literally the only three I need left are the purple, white, and the oh so ever hard to find, orange sherbet kids alpacasso in 16cm. Is anyone here selling any of these, or would they know where I can find them? I believe KawaiiPlushLove has a purple one, or at least they did.
