Part One - Cryptic Gifts lead to Unexpected Meetings
Happy Birthday S!!! As promised no-one dies. I swear. Part 1/2
The bouquet arrived on a Friday. Wrapped in black crepe paper, tied with two ribbons; one gold, the other silver, the blue flowers were waiting on the doorstep of Ella’s apartment when the spies arrived. Alex was immediately wary, expecting some kind of trap and he tried to catch Ella’s wrist but she’s already lifted the vase. Nothing explodes.
He’s still considering calling in a bomb squad when Ella whispers something. “Forget-me-nots” she repeats, fingers reaching for the fragile blossoms. “They’re my favourites”
“What are those?” Alex is looking at the black items sticking out between the flowers and Ella draws one out and very nearly drops the vase.
“It’s a magpie feather” she says voice wavering and scrabbles to get the door open, hands balancing the vase carefully. As soon as they’re inside she’s put the vase on the center of the table and lays the feather next to it. “There’s an old rhyme about magpies, a couple versions of it actually” she explains, running her fingers over the feather. “One for sorrow”
She draws the rest of the feathers from the bouquet, fingers trembling. Seven feathers lie on the table in front of her. “There’s only one version that stops at seven,” she says.
Alex watches her touch each one gently. “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a funeral, four for birth, five for heaven, six for hell, seven for the devil, his own self” She repeats, then runs a hand across her eyes. “Is someone seriously trying to threaten me? Again?”
Alex puts he hands on her shoulders and digs his fingers in as Ella sighs. “If they are they have to go through me. “ She’s still glaring at the bouquet.
“The ribbons.” She touches them lightly. “It’s not the seven magpies, it’s number the number seven.”
She grabs the feathers again, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to remember what a boy had recited to her all those years ago. “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven” She opens her eyes and the next words come out as rush. “Seven for a secret never to be told”
Alex doesn’t understand the significance of this clearly because Ella’s gone incredibly pale. “I’m going to be sick” she warns and dashes out the room.
“What the hell does that mean?” He shouts following her into their bedroom.
She’s tearing through her jewelry box, ripping out the hidden lining and revealing the silver chain underneath, complete with green veined leaf hanging off it. It’s a bracelet Alex hasn’t seen her wear since the café. Since the day she nearly died Alex shivered to see any reminder of that day. It had carried Leo’s tracker, Alex remembered that much. “He gave it to me that. He gave it to me the day we saw the magpies, the day he told me the secret. He was the only one who knew that song, he was the only one”
“Who?” Alex asks, he’s never seen this look on Ella’s face, one that says this should be impossible and he’s still clearly missing something. “Ella who are you talking about, Leo Bennet?” He can’t help but feel guilty when he thinks of the young agent whose body he’d pulled from the wreckage of the café ten months ago.
“Not Leo” She says, fingers clenched around the bracelet. “Morgan”
Morgan Oliver, Ella’s former partner, Leo’s lover, the man Andrevich killed. Ella slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. “Morgan gave this to me one day in the park, it must be about three years ago now. It was the day he told me he was in love with Leo. Which was ridiculous because Leo told me the same thing only two days earlier, in the same fucking park. Those dorks, Morgan was so nervous, I don’t think I’d ever seen him like that before. He was watching the birds, and he only told me when I’d sworn on about a thousand things that I wouldn’t tell anyone. He only agreed when he saw the magpies.”
She shook her head and Alex could see the gears turning. “He was the only one who’d understand that reference. The only one, I never even told Luke what happened that day. I told no-one and the only person Morgan could’ve told was Leo but he wouldn’t have. It’s a secret never to be told. We swore, it was between us” She stormed back to the entrance and ripped the wrapping away from the vase. “There has to be another clue.” She flipped the vase around and held it out to Alex triumphantly.
There was a date and time engraved in the glass. September 30. Noon. Two days away. Shit. He knew how she was going to answer the question before he asked it. “What are you going to do?”
“Obviously I’m going to the park” Damn it, there it was.
“Ella - be logical about this! Whoever’s doing this can’t be a friend of yours, we don’t have friends remember?”
“Oh I know they’re no friend of mine, whoever they were they were spying on Morgan and me and I’m going to stab them until they tell me why. Because if someone was watching us – if there was someone following him – why didn’t they save him?” Alex wrapped a loose arm around her shoulders and brought her into a hug.
*****
The next day there was a card waiting against her door. Ella ripped open the envelope and glared at the card.
“Motherfucker” She cursed. Inside there’s just the word noon. Another invite then.
Alex raised an eyebrow, she thrust the card at him and he looked at the simple picture again feeling at loss “I don’t get what’s so terrible about a bunch of boats”
“The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh” Ella sings at him “On the last day of September” She slammed the card down on the table. “Leo had this nervous tick, he used to sing when he was anxious. The day he told me he loved Morgan, in that fucking park, he kept singing that stupid nursery rhyme, we just watched the boats going by for an hour before he ran out of other topics of conversation and told me what was really on his mind.” She turned to him, hands clenching into fists. “They were watching us then as well. Whoever this asshole is, they were stalking at least me, if not Morgan and Leo and they were close enough to hear that. That was private, that was ours. Did they think I wasn’t angry enough when it was just Morgan? Did they really think I needed another reason to kill them?” She stormed out of the room, likely to sharpen a dagger again
In a strange way Alex almost felt sorry for this idiot. Because whoever they are, they’ve enraged Ella Badeau and enraging Ella is never a safe thing to do. Her friends are her family and using them to mess with her is beyond cruel. Whoever this is had better have a good reason for using deadmen’s words to summon her, because otherwise Alex is going to help her ram that dagger into their heart.
*****
“I’m coming with you” Alex said, pulling his dark jacket on.
The look on her face was something Alex only saw rarely, surprised gratitude, “You’d do that for me?”
“Ella” He put a hand on both sides over her face. “I’d do anything for you”
“Sap” She said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss him.
“Only for you,” She stepped away, shrugging on her own jacket and slipping one last knife into her boot.
“You say that, but you’d do the same for Parker and Nik.”
“That makes me sound like I get around” He laughed.
“Well with a face like that . . .” Ella let her sentence dangle. “I’m serious though, you sure you want to come? Could get a little bloody”
“I’m never going to let you walk into an obvious trap without being there to watch your six”
“How did I ever find someone like you?’ She said wistfully.
“You went rogue and stole my keys while bugging the secretary of state” He kissed her forehead. “Now let’s get this bastard.”
******
The park was surprisingly busy for the cold and windy weather, but Alex suspected Londoners must be rather used to it. Ella stalked over to a bench, the one she’d sat on all those years ago with Leo and then Morgan. She looked out at the Thames, as always busy with traffic as Alex surveyed their surroundings. Not a particularly good place for an ambush, the bench was exposed, there wouldn’t be a way to approach without Ella seeing them. Whoever this was wasn’t counting on surprise then. There was a steady stream of people passing in front of them, some with dogs, others pushing prams, a few joggers with their earphones in.
At 11:55 Ella stood, and threw her coffee cup into the bin next to the bench and turned back to him. “I hate the waiting” she complained.
“Oh I know that Ellie” The voice came from behind Ella and both Alex and Ella froze. He’d never heard anyone, not even Luke call her Ellie before, but the nickname clearly held a fair bit of significance because Ella had turned deathly pale and her hands were shaking. Slowly, as if it were an accidental movement, Alex placed a hand on his gun, tucked under his jacket, he couldn’t see who was behind her.
“This isn’t real” Ella growled and whirled around to face the man who stood there. Alex could see him now, tall, curly brown hair and a sharp angular face. He had never met this man before, but he knew who it was.
“It’s real Ellie”
“No it’s not, because you would never,” She spat the word. “You would never do this to me, you wouldn’t”
“I’m sorr-“ He was cut off by Ella’s slap. Alex winced, she could throw a mean punch.
“You have to be a fake! You aren’t him! He wouldn’t do this to me, Morgan wouldn’t fucking do this to me”
She went to take another slap, and as if used to sparring with her, the man, Morgan Oliver, grabbed her wrist before it could connect. “It’s me, I’m real Ellie” He caught the other wrist before it could hit him “Stop hitting me, let me explain.”
“Let go of me right now and explain why you think wearing a deadman’s face is going to make me any less inclined to kill you”
He dropped her arms and Ella’s hand immediately flew to the dagger in her sleeve. “Because I’m not wearing his face, it’s really me, I swear to God I’m Morgan Oliver. Ella please sit down, I can explain everything” She didn’t move. “Oh for fuck’s sake. You’re name is Ella Badeau, you’re a Leo, you hate roses but you love forget me nots. You stole Luke’s wallet the first time you met him. You told me on day one to ditch the t-shirt. You only take sugar in your tea when you’re sick. I’m Morgan Oliver and you’re my best friend and I can explain. “
Ella leapt at him then, and he caught her easily, lifting her off the ground as she clung to him. “Morgan” She breathed and hugged him tighter. He looked at Alex over her shoulder as he tightened his grip, Alex could see the tears in his eyes. The man looked incredibly relieved to be holding her again and Alex could relate to that. Time away from Ella was always hard for him, but he had only known her a year, Morgan had spent half a decade with her by his side and now to go so long without her must have been killing him.
“So you brought the American?” He eventually said, releasing her slowly.
“Alex, Morgan. Morgan, Alexander Brenin” She introduced quickly. “But I get the feeling you already know that and so I’m going to ask this once Morgan, and only once because I swear to fucking God if you lie to me, I’ll stab you.”
“And don’t I believe it. I’m not even meant to be talking to you. But I couldn’t keep going like this, watching you mourn me. I listened to them and look what happened to Leo” his voice cracked. “He’s dead because of me Ellie, I got him killed. He loved me and I got him killed, I can’t let that happen to you, you need to know that I love you, that I’m alive.”
“Who has you? Who would stop you from talking to me?”
“Who else?” Alex tensed expecting the next name that fell from his lips to start another international war. Andrevich was locked up, Ella hadn’t killed him, but if it turned out he’d had a hand in keeping Morgan from her, Alex had a strong feeling that fact was about to change. Another enemy? An older one that they’d crossed before? “I’ve been with Six the whole time. Benjamin had a plan”
“I’m sorry but you’ve been with MI-6 this whole time?” Alex demanded. Ella was as Ella started on tirade of swearwords, slipping into French as a passing mother glared at them.
“Benjamin outranks all of us, including Ros, he ordered me to remain under MI-6 care, I couldn’t leave without going AWOL. Faking my death was supposed to protect me, from Andrevich, Benjamin seemed to think the hospital wasn’t safe anymore.”
“He was right. Leo was getting threats” Ella admitted, she had never told Alex everything that had happened when she talked to Leo, the dead were allowed their secrets she said.”
Morgan winced. “I didn’t know. Ella you have to believe me I didn’t know what he would do”
She chewed on her bottom lip, a sign she was considering her next words. “Wasn’t it obvious? Exactly what would you have done if the situation was reversed?”
“I’d have done anything for Leo” he snapped. And Ella’s grim smile was response enough. “I thought he’d go to you, I never though he’d do something as stupid as try and take on Andrevich himself.”
“He did come to me” Ella had one hand against her throat now, fingering the chain of the necklace that hung there. “He came to me and I couldn’t save him either. I was there, Leo saved me Morgan. He saved me and he died. He didn’t think he had anything left to live for.”
Morgan looked devastated, like he’d rather she’d slapped him again. “He had all of you, he should have – he shouldn’t have thought”
“He thought we’d never love him again after he betrayed us”
“Of course he did! You drilled that sense of loyalty into his head!” Morgan’s voice was raising now and Alex could tell Ella was getting angrier too.
“Don’t you dare pin this on me!” She shouted back. “Not when you faked your death, when you left us all to deal with that on our own. I’d been rogue for months at that point and Luke turned up and tried to drag me back. He knew I was about to break, but I stayed because I thought I was avenging you. I left them, when I knew they needed me because I was trying to be loyal to you. I spent months on the run, I got shot at, blown up, thrown into frozen water, I –“ she took a deep breath before continuing, “I was a fucking honey trap for the man I thought murdered you. And you stand there and talk to me about loyalty?!”
Morgan had seemingly realized the error of his ways because he’d paled further and further with each word out of Ella’s mouth, visibly flinching when she mentioned what had happened in the club. “I’m so sorry, please believe me I never thought this would happen, I woke up and Benjamin told me you’d gone rogue. I had no clue what was happening and then Leo was missing and then he was dead. Believe me Ellie no-one told me, I would have been with you in heartbeat. I would have done anything”
“Why has it taken months for you to contact me then?”
Morgan sighed and collapsed on the bench and buried his face in his hands. “Because I was scared of this okay?” He demanded.
“Scared of what? Of me?” Ella was incredulous.
“I knew you’d blame me for Leo’s death, but believe me Ella there’s nothing you can say that I haven’t already thought. I know it was my fault, I know he’s dead because of me, the man I loved is dead and I may as well have killed him, it’s my fault he was forced to betray his country and his family. It’s my fault he didn’t think he had anything to live for, it’s all my fault –“
“Stop!” Ella shouted. “Morgan please stop. It isn’t your fault Leo died, it’s mine. I was there that day, I should have been faster, I should have saved him.”
“It’s my fault actually” Alex chimed in, “I didn’t realize I was betraying Ella’s location to her enemies trying to find her.
“Alex no! It isn’t on you, I’ve told you that what happened to me isn’t your fault.”
“She’s right, this is still on me” Morgan added. Ella turned back on him.
“This is getting us nowhere!” Alex said before they could continue this circular debate.
“Alright” Ella sighed and rubbed a hand against her forehead. “Leaving aside the whole Benjamin situation, about which we are going to be talking a lot. Why did you reach out to me?”
“I missed you. It wasn’t worth it anymore, I needed to see you at least once even if you hated me forever, which I wouldn’t blame you for, I just need to see you and make sure you were alright myself. I didn’t think you’d believe a letter and I didn’t just want to show up on your doorstep, because without this many witnesses I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t stab me before you knew I was real.
Ella smirked. “I considered my chances anyway,” Morgan laughed.
“I figured you’d remember the last time we came here, all those magpies and our stupid argument about which version of the rhyme was right. I just remembered how happy you were that day and I thought, maybe that would be enough incentive to get you to come and meet me.”
Ella smiled at him. “It was a good day.” She agreed. “I didn’t realize Leo had ever told you”
“Told me what?” Morgan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“About our trip here” She clarified.
Now Morgan looked incredibly lost. “When did you come here with Leo?”
“About two days before we did, why do you look so surprised? How else would you know to send the card?”
“What card?” Morgan demanded. Now all three of them were confused, Alex’s hand returned to the gun.
“The second invite, the one you sent the next day, the one you sent to remind me to come”
“Ellie,” Morgan’s words were carefully measured. “I never sent a second invite.”
“That’s because I sent it.” The person standing beside the bench was not one any of them had expected. It wasn’t Benjamin standing there with an all-knowing look, it wasn’t Adam Vaughn with a cocky smile, it wasn’t even Anna. “Sorry I’m late. I really thought I was dreaming when I got here” Leo Bennett said, running a hand through his dark hair.
Nanowrimo 2k15 Day 1 - Mickey Jones is my baby and I will write his POV even if it kills me.
When he first meets Ella Badeau, Mickey is 15 and she renders him speechless. Ella’s got her leather jacket wrapped around the shoulders of his cousin who’s been missing for six months and she’s got a protective glint in her eyes that makes Mickey fear for her enemies. He doesn’t know how she found Anna, and there’re blood stains on Ella’s knuckles and Anna is shaking. There’s more important things to be considered right now. He lets them in silently. The blonde stranger opens her mouth and a British accents spills over her lips, “Get her something warm to drink. She probably needs food too” Anna whispers something Mickey doesn’t catch but he sees the way Ella softens and draws Anna close, arm wrapping tight around her shoulders. “Yes, sweetheart. He’s real.” She says and Mickey freezes, fingers wrapped around a mug in the cupboard.
Anna is staring at him like she can’t believe he exists, and at this blonde like she’s a goddess. Mickey’s halfway to calling her one himself so he doesn’t blame her for that part. “Can I hug you?” He asks because everything he knows about trauma patients is to not startle them. Anna looks like she’s going to burst into tears so Ella gently pushes her in Mickey’s arms and the lanky teenager wraps his arms around her tightly. They’d told him to assume she was dead, having her in his arms is impossible. He doesn’t want to let go. The blonde clears her throat, and thrusts two steaming mugs towards the cousins.
“Sit” she commands, and Mickey leads them to the nearest couch. He doesn’t resist the urge and curls against his cousin’s side, he needs to hear her heartbeat right now. He needs the proof. The blonde is pulling various objects out of her bag. Mickey tries his best not to flinch at the sheer amount of weapons among them. She passes a dagger and a card to Anna. “Call this number whenever you need. I’ll be there” She turns to Mickey, “She’s going to need to see someone”
“Ella I’m okay” Anna speaks for the first time and brings a smile to both their faces. “I’ll be okay” she amends.
“You’ll be amazing” Ella corrects, smiling. Mickey thinks she might actually be an angel. But angels generally don’t carry pistols in their backpacks. “The dagger’s just for your own safety, every girl needs a weapon”
“I was thinking more like a Taser” Anna says and Mickey wonders where the cousin who loved horses went. He’s a little terrified of this one, who gets brought home by bloodstained friends and who’s too comfortable with weapons.
“Whatever suits you” Ella shrugs. And then she’s off. Passing him her number as she goes, “Call when you need my help, your cousin’s been an ally to me. That makes you one of my people now. So if you need let me know”
And then she’s gone into the night. When his parents get back from their weekend away and find him and Anna in the middle of Mario Cart battle, he leaves their British Guardian angel out of it.
It’s two months before he sees Ella again. He knows Anna’s been talking to her over the phone. His cousin is smiling more and more every day now and Mickey feels like maybe one day they could be normal again.
So while he’s on a school trip to Washington DC of course he gets involved in the largest hostage taking of the year. They’re mid-tour of the Smithsonian when men in dark suits and balaclavas carrying very large guns appear. His classmates panic and run, Mickey uses the chaos to slip out a door and runs up a stairwell till he’s in a quiet carpeted hallway and there’s no unlocked doors. With his luck that’s the moment two of the goons step out and spot him at once. He’s about to say hello to whatever comes after when a blonde blur comes charging out of the door beside him. Knives go flying past him and Ella Badeau tackles the largest guy to the ground. Mickey has never been so absolutely terrified in his life.
“Hey Mick!” She says, pistol-whipping the other guy with his own gun. “How’s school going?” She’s just as casual in the way she raises off the ground, dusts off her dark pants and wraps an arm around his shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” He manages
“I was on duty protecting the ambassador and his family,” She explains, gesturing to the frightened couple standing in the doorway, there’s a little girl behind them, she’s looking at Ella like she might be a goddess. Mickey thinks that might be a common reaction. “Sir, this man is one of our nations greatest allies, he must be protected along with your family,” She explains to the man in the grey suit.
The ambassador clearly thinks Mickey’s a little too young for that but Ella’s confidence is convincing. Ella touches her ear and Mickey sees the comm piece, thank god she’s working with someone official this time because when they get downstairs the rest of the gunmen are restrained, his classmates all unscathed and Ella’s managed to extract the name of who hired them to steal the hope diamond. The DC police arrive as Ella’s sitting him on a bench and pressing coffee into his hands. He wonders vaguely if he should worry about how hot drinks seem to be her answer to everything. Ella screams at the cops. The ambassador interrupts her when she switches in anger to French, taking over only slightly more diplomatically by calling them incompetent in more ways than Mickey can even process.
Ella’s fury at the cops delayed arrival is nothing compared to her fury at his teachers, for letting a teenage boy be left alone during a hostage taking. He tries to point out that he was the one who ran off. Ella shuts him up with a hand over his mouth. Mickey stays quiet, he knows how many knives she’s wearing. He’s exhausted so he curls his knees up and lays his head on her knee. She calms at the contact, and her fingers and combing through his hair, fair gentler than her voice.
“Who even are you?” his teacher demands.
“She’s my cousin” Mickey answers before Ella says something else and he can tell she’s shocked that he considers her family, her hand freezes in his hair, and maybe he’s overstepped the line.
“I’m his family” She hisses at them, and curls her fingers tight. Ella Badeau is a fucking Valkyrie if you’d ask Mickey Jones.
Mickey’s 16 and Ella’s the first person he tells he might be gay. She tells him she’s honoured that he trusts her like this, and Mickey thinks he can see tears in her eyes, she claims it’s a bad connection. Mickey knows it’s not when she tells him how proud she is, and a tear leaks out. He doesn’t say anything. The warrior goddess is proud of him. Ella’s approval is all he needs right now, to make things real. To make everything okay.
Mickey turns 17, he has his first boyfriend, he gets an incredibly sharp dagger lying on his bed one afternoon as well and there’s no prize for guessing who that’s from. Anna gets him a book on coding and Mickey loves the cousins who are basically his sisters, and the way that they’re training him. His first boyfriend thinks it’s hot that Mickey speaks French when he’s stressed, he assumes like many do that it’s romantic endearments slipping off his tongue. Mickey’s French is fouler than a sailor’s. It would be of course, since Ella’s the one teaching it to him over Skype.
His first boyfriend also thinks it’s hot that Mickey’s got pure lean muscle under his shirt from training with Anna at the guy. What his first boyfriend hates is that Mickey hates kissing him. It’s not that he doesn’t love him, well as much as any 17 year-old loves anyone, Mickey loves him. But when they’re getting hot and heavy, when he reaches under Mickey’s shirt, Mickey feels so uncomfortable that the whole thing ends very awkwardly and messily. Mickey’s first boyfriend accuses him of not being attracted to him and Mickey doesn’t have the right words to explain how he feels. Mickey’s first boyfriend calls him a freak and Mickey calls Ella.
It turns out she’s still in town, having placed the knife herself instead of using one of the misfit crew of orphans she seems to run in every city. She’s at his place in less than 20 minutes, through his window and holding him in arms in less than 60 seconds. She runs her fingers through his hair and comforts him. Mickey loves her as much as he’s ever loved anyone. She tells him about being ace, and how there’s nothing at all wrong with him. That he’s still her baby cousin. That he’s perfect. That she will always love him.
His first boyfriend’s car is found absolutely destroyed that night. The boy, trembling with fear apologizes to Mickey the following day, his eyes wide, like he sees something menacing hiding in the shadows behind Mickey. Like there’s a blonde devil hiding behind every corner waiting to kill him.
Ella Badeau is the reason Mickey joins the CIA. He likes to help people, like Ella’s helped him and all those others. He wants to be like her. He’s very much aware of that. Ella Badeau is his hero. He wants to be her sort of spy.
Mickey meets Alexander Brenin and Richard Parker early in his career, Parker’s grouchy but Mickey grows on people fast and he can tell the older agent likes him. Alex treats him like a baby brother from day one.
He’s running traces on every single codename he knows Ella’s ever used. He’s hacked into more than six countries’ security networks to make sure his cousin is okay. Ella goes rogue and Mickey can’t breathe when he sees the footage. He knows at once, in his heart of heart’s that Ella is the furthest thing from a traitor. Loyalty, as she’d once told him, is the most important thing in the world to her. And she’d never betray Luke and Ros, she’d never leave Morgan and Leo. She loved her country. She’d never betray them.
He’s not surprised to find Anna in his apartment that night. She’s going to go to war with Ella he knows it. He’d be there with them, if they’d ever allowed him to do that. He gets into an argument about it with Anna. He wants to fight, he owes Ella his life and he wants to help. Anna just smiles sadly at him. “I’ll call you soon I promise. I’ll keep her safe.”
Anna leaves him alone and Mickey feels like he can’t breathe. His apartment is suffocating with its quiet. He needs noise, people. Something that isn’t this quiet, this lack of knowing.
He doesn’t particularly like clubs. They’re full of people looking for sex but he can lose himself in the noise. Most people leave him alone when he tells them to. This one won’t leave. He won’t let go of Mickey’s arm and he’s seconds away from stabbing the guy with the dagger he always carries in his back pocket. “Look I don’t want to go with you” He’s warning the man.
That’s when someone else’s hands are there and pushing them apart. There’s a dark hair, thin figure between them, and he looks absolutely furious. “I think you should back off,” The guy advises and Mickey’s never seen anyone so beautiful.
“What business is it of yours?” The asshole asks.
The guy smiles and it’s all teeth, no warmth. “I think if you’re going to continue to ignore what my boyfriend politely asks you to do, then it’s my business” Mickey gasps in shock.
“He never mentioned a boyfriend”
“He shouldn’t have had to.” Mickey feels a rush of affection for this stranger. “You should have backed off when he fucking asked” And fuck that’s kind of hot, Mickey thinks as the guys pulls himself up to his full height, glittery eyes cold.
The asshole slinks off and the gorgeous man turns to him “I guess I should be thanking you?” he says, not everyone is that nice.
“I didn’t do it for thanks” The guy’s eyes flick up and down. Of course he could want the same thing the asshole wanted. Most people do. Mickey doesn’t trust strangers who aren’t Ella Badeau.
Mickey’s smile slips off his face “I’m sorry I’m not interes-“
“I didn’t mean it like that.” The guy looks annoyed at himself and Mickey knows his confusion is showing on his face. “I did it because it was the right thing to do, people shouldn’t just-“ he screws his face up like he doesn’t even like saying this. “If they’re not interested you need to back the fuck off”
Mickey likes this guy, “I’m Mickey” he introduces himself.
“Nik.” The handsome man, Nik’s smile is blinding. “So do you come here often?”
Mickey laughs. “No, I suppose that kind of showed”
The man grins like the devil himself would, and Mickey thinks of the dangerous looks he’s seen in Ella’s eyes so many times. “Welcome to the dark side handsome” he blushes at once.
“I’m not interested in any-“ He really doesn’t want Nik to get the wrong idea, he seems so nice. But then again so do so many people. “I mean I don’t like-“
“Sex” Nik’s still smiling. “I do. It’s no big deal” And Mickey feels such a surge of affection for this man, it shocks him. “Can I buy you a drink? No strings attached. I promise”
There’s something very calming about Nik and Mickey loves it. He agrees to the first drink. And to the second and the third and the cup of coffee that he gets offered at Nik’s apartment. Nik’s telling him hilarious stories and Mickey feels the world of spies, and double agents and all the danger Ella’s in (and now Anna) fall away. He can breathe. Nik’s arm is around his waist and he can breathe.
He falls asleep in a stranger’s bed for the first time in his life. When he wakes up he nearly reaches for his knife before he sees Nik leaning against the door holding coffee. “It’s alright handsome” the other man soothes and Mickey relaxes.
He ends up wearing Nik’s shirt to work and gets complimented on it by Alex. He blushes the same shade as the shirt but Alex doesn’t seem to notice.
He sends Anna a dossier of all the CIA agents that would probably react best to Ella’s status, as in shoot second and actually listen first. Brenin and Parker are at the top of his list.
Morgan Oliver dies two months after he starts dating Nik. The med student hugs him close and doesn’t pry. Nik’s good about not prying when Mickey needs his privacy. Mickey thinks sometimes that he’s in love.
It’s been four months and Alex has him tracking the number of some enemy he keeps running into. Mickey can’t help but feel a prickling at his neck while he does it. Nik wants him to meet his brother. It’s funny, he’s never seen Nik so nervous about something. The man moves with confidence in every stride but he seems scared about Mickey meeting the fabled Alexander. Mickey had originally thought it was about his gender, that Nik’s family weren’t as understanding as Ella and Anna.
Nik laughs when he tells him that. “My brother’s known about me from day one. No he can just be intense about people who date me. He’s protective and I don’t want him to scare you off handsome” Mickey wants to laugh at that because if Nik thinks his brother is going to be a challenge, Ella and Anna are going to be hell. So they set a date for dinner at Nik’s place with his brother.
Mickey’s already sleeping there every single night, being at home with the silence, with no word from his cousin is killing him. Nik is warmth, and light and Nik loves him. Mickey sleeps there every night for three weeks.
When he finally manages to get a hit on the number Alex gave him he’s excited. If he gets all this finished he can go home to Nik, he can get ready for the most important dinner of his life. Alex is already out the door with Mickey providing directions in his ear when Parker gets to his desk.
“What’s going on?” The older agent asks.
“We got a hit on that number” Mickey’s kind of proud, after all they’ve been waiting weeks for this.
“You found Ella?” Parker demands, pulling his headset on.
Mickey’s blood runs cold. “Wait Ella?” he asks, because god no this can’t be happening, it can’t be her. He can’t lead them to her. Please not her, he’s begging whatever exists, please not his guardian angel.
He hears Alex’s phone ring and then Ella’s voice is coming over his comm and he can’t breathe. He’s going into shock because Ella screams “The CIA is compromised” and he’s closing every hole he can find. He’ll bring their whole castle down, there’s something in there. He’s got to protect her. His eyes keep drifting back to the security feed where Ella stands, thinner than ever and is that Leo Bennett? His superior’s grabbed Mickey’s comm and he’s ordering Alex to shoot. Mickey’s fingers are flying across the keys.
He finds the bug the same minute, the drone opens fire on the café. Mickey screams. Or he tries to the sound gets tangled in his throat because everything on his screens is fire. Alex is thrown backwards by the explosion, but he’s on his feet again seconds later shouting something. Mickey doesn’t need to read his lips, the same word is on his tongue. He’s screaming for Ella Badeau the same as Mickey is.
Mickey doesn’t even bother giving an explanation when he leaves. He’s destroyed the bug, and all traces of it and sent something after wherever it came from that’ll fry their servers to kingdom come. He heads back to his apartment where Anna’s waiting, she wraps her arms around him just like when they were kids and just holds him while he sobs.
He calls Nik not long after that. He can’t meet Nik’s brother today. As it turns out Nik’s brother is in hospital, accident, his boyfriend says and Mickey understands the need to be with family. Nik doesn’t deserve someone who’d get their own family killed. He can’t see Nik right now, he can’t see the guy that cares for him. That treats him so gently, with such love. Mickey can’t really handle that right now.
He got Ella killed. He traced her. He didn’t notice a bug in his own system. He got her killed. Anna tries to tell him that it’s not his fault. He can’t hear that. It’s his fault. She’s dead and it’s all his fault. He eventually cries himself to sleep in Anna’s arms, she’s crying too. It’s the first time he’s seen her cry since the night Ella brought her home. He wishes he was sixteen again. That Ella was still a warrior goddess that no-one could touch. He couldn’t have killed a warrior goddess.
The next day Nik’s number flashes across his screen. He’s a little surprised, he’d assumed Nik would be with Alexander for the next few days, why would anyone want to talk to Mickey after all?
“This is a surprise” He greets his boyfriend. “I-“
“Mick?” The voice is rough. It sounds tired and Mickey feels all the air leave his lungs.
It isn’t possible. It isn’t possible. But there’s only one person in the world who calls him Mick. “Ella?!” He cries and he hears Anna throw the magazine aside and dash across the room.
“Ella?” She sounds as hopeful as he feels. They can’t trust this hope, what if she’s isn’t really back? What if even Ella Badeau can’t survive what Mickey did? What if even she can’t survive his betrayal?
Clearly it is Ella because the next words out of Anna’s mouth are “Ella Badeau tell me where you are right this second. I’m coming, we’re coming” Mickey has his jacket on before Anna’s finished talking. He throws her the keys to his car, she’s a better driver than he is under stress. It takes them a very tense half hour to cross town. They’re debating why Ella wouldn’t have come directly to them. Anna insists it has to do with this agent that’s been helping her, someone she’s referring to as CIA pretty boy. Mickey just wants to know how she’s alive.
If he’d been thinking about it, he should have realized when Nik’s number came up on his phone. But that thought got lost under the importance of the fact that Ella’s alive. They enter a building that Mickey has a key to, if he’d thought about it but Anna takes a different route and he can’t think of anything other than his blonde Valkyrie of a cousin.
Anna slams her palm against the door and the sounds of chatter on the other side die. The man who opens the door is not at all what Mickey was expecting. Because there is Nik. And this isn’t his apartment. There is Nik looking at Mickey like he’s grown a second head. “The fuck?” and yeah that sums up how Mickey feels.
Anna is ignoring all this “Where is she?” she demands and storms into the apartment. Mickey’s still staring at Nik, he can’t break their eye-contact. Nik’s doing that thing where he assesses people, he definitely knows Mickey hasn’t slept in a long time, that he’s been crying, that he can’t understand at all what Nik’s doing here.
“Don’t you dare do that again!” He hears his cousin shout and it all comes flouding back. Ella.
“I can explain- “ no he can’t, what’s Nik doing here? Is he one of Ella’s people? Since when? Is he a spy? If he’s a spy Mickey’s going to kill himself. That’s the sort of thing he should be able to notice. “I just” He can see Anna wrapped around Ella. “I need to-“ he feels sixteen again, scared he was going to die and needing to touch Ella. She’s always made the world stop spinning she can make things better. She’s alive and he needs to prove to her that he’d never betray her. “I need to” he looks at her and she looks exhausted and bruised but she’s alive.
He doesn’t know if she’s ever been more beautiful. She doesn’t seem to realize that Nik’s froze like as statue as she runs across the room to get to him. She takes Mickey’s face in both hands. “It’s okay” she says and his knees buckle. Nik reaches for him, the automatic desire to provide comfort that he’s used so many times in the past. Mickey start’s whispering the apologies and Nik freezes. Ella’s running her hands through his hair, like she did the day he came out, like she did when he thought he was going to die in a hostage taking. She’s there and she’s so real and Mickey can’t even breathe. She’s murmuring to him too “I’m here, I’m alright” she repeats it and Mickey feels her heart beat against his skin.
“I thought I killed you,” he confesses. Across the room Anna opens her mouth to argue, Parker, and when the fuck did Parker get here? Parker looks wretched and Nik looks like he’s going to cry. His boyfriend is reaching for him and while he doesn’t yet understand Nik’s role in all this and he’s pretty sure Nik doesn’t know his, he’s glad that his boyfriend is the sort who’d still try to comfort him after that confession.
Ella starts to giggle. That’s a new one on him. He’s seen her laughing, he’s seen her smiling, crying even. He’s never heard Ella Badeau giggle. “As if you could ever manage it, I’m so out of your league” she teases and that’s the Ella Badeau who was his hero. That’s the woman he’d die for. He gives a relieved laugh and tries to pull away. Ella drags him to the couch and settles them where she can see the door and still stroke his hair.
His cousin is talking to Parker as if they’ve met before. Mickey’s still whispering apologies and Ella’s still accepting them without hesitation. Nik is standing in the kitchen, chatting away on the phone. But Mickey can sense the tension rolling off him. Who is Nikolas Young? And Mickey honestly wants to kill the jealous part of his brain that demands to know who Nik’s on the phone to.
Maybe it’s his brother Alexander. Alexander? Oh shit. Alexander Brenin is Nikolas’s younger brother. Oh fucking shit. This is going to start an international war between Ella and Alex.
He’s just realized this when Alex himself arrives. He looks quite surprised to see Mickey and Anna there. Anna looks much less surprised though, he’s piecing together just how well his cousins know Parker and Alex at this point. Ros and Luke follow Alex through the door and Mickey has clearly lost the capability for surprise at this point.
He slinks away from the reunions to approach Nik in the kitchen. “Can I help?” Nik glares at him in response and maybe he deserves it. “I’m sorry.” He confesses honestly “I didn’t know you were that Nikolas”
“So you know my brother?” If Nik stirs any harder they’re all going to lose their dinner.
“I’m his quartermaster”
Nik puts the spoon down. “Jones?” Clearly he’s in the same situation Mickey’s in, too many names and now too few people attached to them. “Mickey Jones. Why the fuck didn’t I think of it?”
“I’m sorry I never told you I worked at the CIA. I was trying to protect you” he steps closer, he really needs to know that they can survive this. Nik is best part of his life and Mickey really doesn’t want to lose him. He also doesn’t want to know what kind of fight would break out if Ella tried to defend his honour this time.
“I understand” Nik says and Mickey wonders if it’s just one of those generic things people say. He bumps their hips together as he reaches for the plates. Mickey grins wide and bright, and Nik returns it. There’s still home. “There you go handsome!” he says as he passes the plate and Mickey sees Anna’s choked laugh.
“I take it if I hear any of this you’ll have to kill me, so I’m leaving.” Nik announces when everyone is fed. “Alex make sure she doesn’t damage those ribs” Several people chastise Ella for not telling them but Mickey’s watching Nik. “Ella darling, make sure you eat.” His eyes come to rest on Mickey like he’s asking permission to address him here. These are his colleagues and his family, they’ll find out eventually he gives a subtle nod. “Parker” he drops a wink at Mickey that everyone else interprets as addressed to the agent beside him. “Call me!” Nik’s eyes don’t leave Mickey’s. He nods again.
Can I stay with you tonight? He texts Nik under the table.
Of fucking course you idiot is the response he receives. Yeah they’re going to be alright.
They got married on a Friday. On a cliff top, with the waves crashing against the rocks below, Alex swore what he thought was obvious to the impossible woman who would hold his heart forever. She admitted that the impossible had happened and Ella Badeau had fallen in love.
Alex, Parker and Nik arrived early in the morning, the white chairs were already set against the bright green grass and the sun had just risen over the white cliff.
There were more people at than Alex expected at the wedding. Of course the familiar faces were there, Ros looked resplendent as a bride’s maid and Luke was wearing a crisp navy suit in the same colour. His duties as Maid of Honour however took him away from the setting up. Nik, Mickey and Parker as groomsmen were ushering people to their seats when Alex arrived. His brother was locked in conversation with their elderly relatives and Alex could hear the word boyfriend being repeated frequently. He watched as Mickey was dragged over to be introduced to a Great-Aunt and stepped in to take over the ushering duties.
“Are there assigned seats?” An unfamiliar voice asked him. He turned to meet a brunette who looked oddly recognizable.
“Only for family” Alex told her, “Are you family?” Ella had never mentioned inviting her family, and given her track record with them he wasn’t surprised. Her real family were with her already, Luke and Ros hadn’t left her side in the last week.
The woman laughed. “No, I’m Amelia Palmer”
“The heiress?” Alex asked incredulously. He remembered all those months ago, Ella introducing herself at an arms deal under that name, he’d never imagined he’d come face to face with the real one.
“One and the same” She removed her sunglasses and sized him up. “You must be the groom” He nodded. “Didn’t you ever wonder were Ella got her funding from?”
He raised his eyebrows at the notoriously reclusive millionaire. “E saved me once from a kidnapping attempt, I repaid her for it” She shrugged as if helping renegade spies was a routine event. “Congratulations by the way” She told him and took a seat on the far side.
Parker grabbed his arm “It’s time to get in position” He informed him as Mickey and Nik quickly seated the last few guests.
Standing at the alter and waiting for Ella Badeau was one of the scariest moments of Alexander Brenin’s life. Nik’s calming presense at his side and Parker and Mickey’s grins were reassuring though and Alex tried to keep calm and resisted the urge to turn around before the music started.
The first chord however had him whirling around to see Anna and Ros carrying bouquets of red flowers down the aisle. And then she came, dressed in woven starlight. The dress shimmered with crystals in the bodice, waves of soft lace falling around her and a drop-shaped blood red ruby hanging at her neck. And Alex felt his mind go blank as he looked at her face and found that familiar, loving smirk playing at her lips.
“Speak now or forever hold your peace” Ella smirked up at him and Alex smiled back.
“You’re going down you bitch” a man’s voice broke the calm and the bridal party whirled to see a man half way up the aisle, gun leveled directly at Ella.
Alex panicked, Ella wasn’t wearing a vest and the man’s gun was pointing at her heart. He went to reach for the gun in his jacket and he could hear Parker doing the same behind him. He was about to throw himself in front of Ella when he realized she’d dropped her bouquet, the red flowers scattered to the floor and Ella was holding a handgun. He wasn’t actually sure if he’d ever loved her more than that. Because of course Ella Badeau was hiding a gun in her bouquet but that didn’t mean she’d be able to avoid getting hit.
The man was still shouting “You’ll pay for you did to Andrevich, you think you can get away with this? I’ll fuckin kil-“ He was cut off with a resounding crack and he crumpled to the ground.
Behind him, pistol flipped around in his hand and dressed in an immaculate suit was Adam Vaughn. “Dude rule one: Don’t monologue” he slid his gun back into his waistband and looked up to see Alex and Parker still had theirs leveled at him.
Ella on the other hand was laughing. “I didn’t know you could make it”
“I couldn’t miss your wedding doll”
“Did you invite an arms dealer to our wedding?”
“Well he’s a mercenary but he’s not that bad a guy”
“Good to see you again Brenin”
“Likewise I suppose”
“Do you have many more criminal friends?” He whispered and he heard Luke stifle a laugh behind them.
“You know who she is right?” Ros whispered to him, passing Ella a new bouquet as Luke swept away the crushed petals of the first. He knew who Ella Badeau was, she was the love of his life and she’d just said ‘I do’.
Robin Hood AU? I have feelings about this legend, and those fucking dickheads that England had for kings.
The woman was draped in the same dark green of the trees around them as she leant against the old oak tree. She pushed away the blond who came to try to pull her upright. She placed the white stone carefully on the freshly turned earth and drew her hood up once more. And then, well then, she went to war.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
It was halfway through the welcome banquet when Lord Alexander Brenin decided to ask about the outlaw he’d heard so many whispers about. “Who is this thief in the woods?”
“You’re taking over his old fiefdom actually” The Sheriff said conversationally, chewing on a chicken leg.
Alex choked on his wine. “Robin Hood’s a noble man?” Why no-one had thought that was pertinent knowledge before was beyond him.
“He was Robert Lord of Locksley but he forfeited that right. But he was once a noble, now he’s an outlaw.” The Sherriff smirked a little. “He was even engaged to Lady Ellanor” The dark haired woman at the end of the table stiffened and Alex saw her subtly lift one hand to her throat and touch the chain there.
“He was just a boy then” She replied, voice soft as if coming from some far away place, her hand still at her neck almost in a choking hold she repeated in a whisper “He was just a boy” and Alexander couldn’t help but feel that there was far more to this story and that Lady Ellanor had a history with Robin Hood that went far beyond a childhood engagement.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
He didn’t get to see exactly what that chain carried until several nights later when the Sherriff threw a celebration for the new Lord of Locksley. It wasn’t even intentional but as Ellanor danced, hands in the air and hair flying, with the first smile that he’d ever seen on her face, the necklace slipped free of the bodice of her dress and fell into it’s true place on proud display above her heart. The silver glinted in the firelight and the lion on the locket roared. The Lady caught his stare and all trace of pleasure fell from her face, her hands lifted to her throat again and she hurriedly hid the necklace once more.
She moved slowly across the gathering, the townsfolk seemed to recognize her and several stopped her for a quick word, a little girl tangled herself in Ellanor’s skirts but the Lady barely noticed the muddy streaks on the soft dress. And Alexander wondered if that was born out of love for the child or from the knowledge that she could afford dozens more. “Congratulations Lord Brenin” She greeted him with a stiff courtly smile, far from the genuine on seen before and bowed her head as little as was socially acceptable.
“My thanks kind lady.”
“I must apologize, milord I must be leaving now”
“Do you not stay at the castle?”
“No, I go back to my home”
“It is already dark, surely it would be better to wait till morning. The woods are treacherous in the day let alone the night”
“I thank you for your concern, I do not travel in the woods by day or by night, the outlaws” She shuddered. “I ride along the road back to Knighton it is not that far.”
“I shall send some of my men with you”
“That is hardly necessary I can –“
“My Lady Badeau?” A blond youth from the town stepped up beside them, clearly having been listening, he’d been introduced earlier as the carpenter’s son. “I shall ride with you if you wish”
“Perfect!” Ellanor smiled at the commoner “Luke is training to be a guard, he’ll defend my honour” The young carpenter hid a smile.
“Of course my lady”
“Goodnight Lord Brenin. Welcome to Locksley” She mounted her horse with no assistance and led it out of the square without a look back. At the edge of town, Luke and Ellanor broke into a gallop and Alexander watched as she disappeared into the darkness.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
It was the fashion among the court ladies to wear ribbons on their sleeves to hold them down and keep them from getting dirty. The higher status you were, the higher the quality, the brighter the colour. He’d seen ladies with ones as red as blood, yellow as sunflowers and made of the softest silk. Lady Ellanor was very much one of the richer ladies at court, and she kept with the fashions. Her hair was braided in the latest style, just as her namesake the King’s mother would wear. Yet her ribbons were another of the things that intrigued him about the Lady of Knighton. Hers were made of fine silk and they were as black as the night sky and he had yet to see her without them. The other ladies too pride in showing the variety they owned, Ellanor’s were always the same black ones. Her dresses changed with the fashions, her hair was decorated with elaborate jewels, her rings spoke of their cost and yet her ribbons never changed. They were even starting to fray at the ends yet every time he saw her with the same black ones laced up her arms. He added it to his growing list of things that intrigued him about Lady Ellanor.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
The first time he met Robin Hood, he was alone in the forest when without a sound a figure swung from the trees to land in front of him. His horse reared back and Alexander was flung into the bushes. When he rose, shaking leaves out of his hair and reaching for his sword he saw Robin Hood’s men appearing from the shadows. One was grabbing the reigns of his horse and another already riffling through his saddlebags. He swung wildly at their leader while his bow was still hanging on his back, Robin Hood parried with a blade he hadn’t even seen. The two fell into a duel, Robin’s long sword twisting through the air so fast Alex was fighting to keep up. He managed to catch Robin on the inside of the right wrist and the glittering sword fell to the forest floor. There was a growl from one of Hood’s men but before anyone else could step in to defend the outlaw, Robin had the bow in front of him, arrow notched and eyes glaring through the green mask. “Your money if you please Lord Locksley” He spat the name coldly and Alex wondered if it was out of jealousy.
“Why should I give you anything outlaw?” Robin pulled the string back, lip curling into a sneer.
One of Hood’s men laughed, a youth with wild hair in a red mask who barely looked old enough for the stubble on his cheeks, “I would do what he says, Lord Brenin” The title sounded sarcastic on his lips and Alex glared.
Robin kicked his wrist sending Alex’s sword flying and when he went to reach for it planted one booted foot on his chest and drew the string back, “Your money. I shall not ask again”
Alexander defenseless, pulled his purse from his belt and threw it at the youth who caught it deftly. The former Lord of Locksley stepped off him and the rest of his band disappeared into the shade. Robin kept the bow on him until he reached the edge of the clearing. “Thank you for your donation”
-------> ------> -------> ------>
He returned to the castle in shame, only to be woken early the next morning for the midsummer tournament. He sat down stiffly next to Lady Ellanor, bruises from the fight groaning in the process. She was watching the event with rapt attention while her deft hands cut at the apple in her hands. Her sleeves were as ever decorated with the black ribbons but to Alex’s shock something was staining them. “Are you okay?” He asked, reaching for her right wrist. She yanked it away, seeing the blood in surprise and then stiffly smiled.
“I must have cut myself” She answered and showed him her left palm which bore a thin cut across it, “Must be more careful with knives” she told him and Alex got that feeling again that she was keeping something from him.
All concerns about the blood on her sleeves disappeared as an arrow thudded into the arch above their heads and Ellanor dropped her apple in surprise as Alex went at once to cover her. “Stay where you are!” A commanding voice ordered and the nobles all turned to see Robin Hood’s men standing at the entrance to the courtyard. Alex looked for the guards and found them slumped against the wall.
The one who had spoken was wearing the signature Hood, yet his red mask showed as he approached the dais. When they’d fought hood had wore one as green as his hood and but Alexander had bigger things to be concerned with as Hood stopped in front of him. “Ladies” he gave them a flirtatious smile his eyes resting on Ellanor and Alex tried to put his body between them. A movement that didn’t pass unnoticed, keen eyes found his and narrowed “Your jewels if you please” His gang were walking around the gathered nobles collecting rings and necklaces and pouches heavy with coin. Alex had to wonder how they knew about the event it had only been announced yesterday, they couldn’t have known that that every noble in the fiefdom would be here. Yet here was Robin Hood, standing in the middle of the yard wearing his signature garb, ready for them.
He handed over his pouch of gold without complaint, the ring on his finger meant nothing to him and he handed it over. After all winter was coming and the poor needed Hood’s help as much as he was loath to admit it. Hood smirked at him and then took Ellanor’s hands and raised them to his lips pressing the gentlest kiss against her skin. “My lady” He whispered, and she gave the outlaw a small smile.
“Robin” Her voice shook slightly on the name and Alex could see Hood’s hands squeeze hers. As he watched he saw all the tender concern in her eyes vanish “How the mighty fall” she glared at the Hooded Man and to Alex’s confusion got a sad smile in return. She stripped off her rings, her jeweled dagger, and the bracelet Guy had given her not a week ago and threw the silver into Hood’s bag.
“We thank you for your donation” Hood bowed to her theatrically and continued on to the next aristocrat. She passed him her rings, and her necklace. “And the hair pieces” Hood snapped, no longer in the playful tone he used with Ellanor and took the jeweled comb. From what Alex could see, the outlaws didn’t miss a single gem or piece of gold or silver, they even took the sheriff’s fork and yet at Ellanor’s neck hung that same silver chain. Her locket was untouched by the outlaws and Alex realized with clarity what he’d suspected for a while. Ellanor and Robin’s past was far from over.
“Where’s your bitch Marian?” The Sheriff called at the outlaw and Ellanor bristled beside him. With anger or jealousy, Alexander wasn’t sure but her eyes were slicing the Sheriff apart as Robin leveled an arrow at him.
“Don’t you ever call her like that again!” He threatened, voice as cold as ice. Ellanor leant back in her seat, reclining like a queen, hands curling over the edge of the arm rests and Alex saw Robin glance at her. Was he looking for forgiveness? Permission? The look clearly meant something and if he wasn’t watching her he would have missed the very slight nod she gave. Robin stowed the arrow, gave them another dramatic bow “Till next time!” With one last lingering look at Ellanor, which the lady ignored, the outlaw fled. She flipped her hair over one shoulder, and raised her hand to touch the necklace again. Her eyes remained fixed on the ground in front of the dais and Alex bent down next to her.
“Are you alright lady Badeau?” he asked softly.
She looked up at him “I’m hardly injured milord Brenin”
“You must have been scared –“
She fixed him with a glare, “if you think Robin Hood scares me Alexander you have no idea of who I am.” She rose up, skirts falling to the ground as she strode off through the same archway the Sheriff and Guy had sent men running through.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
Running into Hood for the third time in three days wasn’t a coincidence. He needed to talk to the outlaw. He had seen how the Sheriff was taxing the lands that now belonged to him, he’d seen how the villagers were receiving none of the crops they farmed, he knew what Hood was doing for them.
Still when the figure dropped out of the trees, he drew his sword at once and two fell into a fierce duel. As the outlaw ducked one swing something came loose under his hood. And Alexander drew back at the glittering piece. Because Robin Hood was wearing a locket, one he’d seen before. One that hung around Ellanor Badeau’s neck at all times, and everything clicked into place. He froze mid blow because he wasn’t fighting a criminal he was fighting a lady of court. A lady of court who promptly kicked him between the legs and put a dagger to his throat. “And I thought Robin Hood preferred arrows Lady Ellanor” he managed to hiss.
She dropped him in shock and at once two bows had arrows trained on his heart as two of Robin Hood’s men fell in beside her. “Shall I kill him?” The curly haired blond asked and Alexander recognized him as the one who had spoken in the square.
“Wait you’re Robin Hood?” He asked the man wearing a red mask. The man narrowed his eyes at him, arrow pointed at Alex’s throat.
“He dies at your word my lady”
Ellanor ripped back her hood, and slid the mask up into her hair. “No, I want to talk to him” They both obeyed her at once, lowering their weapons although neither shouldered their bow. The blond still holding the arrow against the bow stepped back but stayed right behind Ellanor.
“Don’t trust him he’s a noble”
“Like she isn’t” Alex mumbled.
“You know nothing!” the other hooded figure hissed.
“We should kill him,” The blond said.
“I agree with him,” The still hooded figure agreed.
“Thank you my love,” the blond grinned flirtatiously and Alexander saw the small smile the hooded person figure gave. And Alex realized she was a woman.
“Are you Marian?” He asked. Both of the outlaws glared at him and the blond grumbled something about killing him.
Ellanor shoved her dagger back into his sheath angrily. “Enough!” She commanded. “I’m taking him to Robin”
“Is that a good idea? He’s the Lord of Locksley. Who knows what he’ll do”
Ellanor looked him up and down. “He’s here to help, he came to see Robin. Didn’t you Alexander?”
“I’ve seen what the Sheriff is doing, I’ve seen how the people live he has to be stopped. Robin Hood seems to be the only person capable of doing that”
Ellanor chuckled. “Don’t speak too soon” She pulled her hood back up, “Come on Lord Brenin, while there’s still light” On a signal from the lady, the other two members of the gang started leading his horse away. He followed her through the trees as she walked confidently.
“How long have you been a part of his gang? Have you been a traitor all along?”
She scoffed. “I am not a traitor,” She continued through the woods in silence.
She stopped without warning in front of a large oak tree. Alex stepped up beside her. There was no sign of anyone else in the clearing and he looked around. “Where is he?”
Ellanor raised a hand to her locket and sank to her knees by the base of the tree beside a smooth white stone. “He’s here,” she whispered. Her dark hair hung loose over her shoulders as she bent down. She brushed the stone softly. “He’s here”
Alexander realized then what it all meant. The locket, the whispered “He was just a boy”, the black ribbons on her sleeve and the hatred that he had only seen flashes of. “How did he die?”
“Infected wound from one of the Sheriff’s arrows” She shook her head and looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I always thought I would lose him in the Holy Land, when he came back I thought he was safe, I had him back” Her fingers clenched around the locket. “He came home to me. He came home for me. And I let him leave me again. I should have protected him. I had a chance, but I said it was better if I stayed at the castle, if I could help him from the inside.”
She figured the soft leather mask hanging around her neck, “He made me pretend to be Maid Marian when I was with them, so I’d be safe” She laughed. “I wasn’t the one who needed to be kept safe. He was”
“I wasn’t there. He got hurt and I wasn’t there. He needed me. He could have lived if I had cleaned the wound properly. But I got there too late, by the time he realized it was serious I couldn’t save him. I loved him and I couldn’t save him” The roaring lion on her chest was decorated with teardrops now.
He crouched down beside her “I had to bury him.” Her voice was cold. “I had to bury him and I couldn’t even mourn. The only reason the Sheriff hasn’t made me marry Guy so they could have my lands is that Robin made it clear he would kill them if they touched me. He was protecting me. I had to smile at them, I had to pretend I was afraid of the woods and that I hated Robin Hood” She stroked the stone with loving fingers.
“I am Robin Hood.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I was always meant to take his name after all”
“How long has it been?”
“He died six months ago, I’ve led the gang since, Luke puts in the public appearances though, they’d notice if I was never around when Hood is. We have to stop the Sheriff, we have to stop Prince John. Will you help us?”
“How?”
“You’re Lord of Locksley, they trust you with a lot more than they would ever trust a woman. You can be part of the Sheriff’s councils, you can help us stop him”
-------> ------> -------> ------>
Ellanor Badeau was always meant to take Robin of Locksley’s name and she did, just not in marriage but in the woods, in the shadows of green. She became Robin Hood because England needed its hero and she wasn’t going to let his dream die with him. She buried her love deep in the woods, under an oak tree in the dappled light of Sherwood Forest that he’d loved so dearly. The day Robert of Locksley died, Maid Marian died. Because the woman who had fought at Robin Hood’s side was no more. She donned the lichen green hood and pulled her mask up high. Robin Hood didn’t die with Robert of Locksley because Ellanor Badeau was prepared to do anything. That much was clear.
Ellanor was a force to be reckoned with and the gang of outlaws who considered her as their leader were just as dangerous. The people of Locksley reached for her hands as she walked among them, either as the one in lichen green or as the lady of court. She was the betrothed of the liege lord they’d loved and they loved her well. She took care of any who came to her and she watched the Sheriff with hatred in her eyes. Alexander had to marvel at her fearlessness.
He was sitting at their camp in the woods when Luke came running in. “Carriage on the western path. Sounds heavy” Ella smiled and donned her mask, the bow finding it’s way into her hands. She raced into the trees the others at her heels.
When they stepped out in front of the carriage, the horses screeched to a halt and the guards drew their swords. “Your money or your honour!” Luke screamed, one thing he’d learnt about the outlaws was their reluctance to take a life. In a fight, to save their lives they would but they wouldn’t kill an unarmed man.
“Lucien?” An incredulous voice came from within the carriage and a man stepped out dressed in the finest clothes Alexander had ever seen. And Luke dropped his bow, Ella looked at him in astonishment.
That was until Luke fell into the lowest bow he’d ever seen from the man who had no respect for authority. “Your majesty” And King Richard stepped forward to take his hand and the outlaw looked shame faced.
“Where is Robin?” He asked in heavily accented English.
“Il est mort” (He is dead) Ella tore off her mask, and pulled the locket from her neck holding it out to the king.
“Ma belle dame. Vous êtes Ellanor” (My beautiful lady, you’re Ellanor) The king kissed her and as she rose from a curtsey, pressing the jewelled locket into her hand. “J’ai donné ça à un ami. Il l’a donné à sa amour. C’est pour vous” (I gave that to a friend, he gave it to his love. It’s for you). He wiped a tear from her cheek, and turned to the rest of them. “Mais qu’est-que c’est passé en Angleterre?” (But what has happened in England?)
“Beaucoup, mon roi” (A lot, my king) Luke replied and launched into an explanation of all that had passed since he and Robin had returned from the Holy Land two years ago.
-------> ------> -------> ------>
The destruction of the Sheriff was in the end, quite short. It went like this. Alexander cornered him in the hall as most of other nobles left following a council meeting, leaving only those most loyal to the Sheriff and demanded answers as to his unfair taxation policy and the execution of several peasants for crimes that were not under English law punishable by death. When the Sheriff answered “For the king”
Alex had sneered, this was the perfect question. “Which king?”
“King John obviously.” And with those words the Sheriff had doomed himself because Ella let the curtain drop and revealed, not only Robin Hood’s entire gang, but also King Richard in all his finery.
“Robin Hood!” The Sheriff shouted, clearly having not recognized the King as quickly. “Kill him!”
Ella tore off her mask, and drew her sword stalking forward. “You can’t do that. Robin Hood’s been dead for almost a year. I’ve been dead inside since he went to fight the Saracen king. “ Richard actually looked slightly ashamed of himself.
She looked to her king, who nodded once and Ellanor went to war looking like any soldier would. She attacked the Sheriff, viciously. Alexander and her gang dealt with the rest of the Sheriff’s men. Richard settled himself on the throne hands curling around the armrests. “You killed him!” She shouted, swinging wildly at the Sheriff. “You took him from me” She slashed upwards. “You kept me from him!”
She was going to kill him. There was no doubt in Alexander’s mind that she would do it. He knew the anger she felt, he knew what he felt was nothing on the scale of her loss. He’d taken her first love from her. She could never forgive that. And Ella was fiercely protective of her people too, the ones who were always meant to be hers as well, those in Locksley who considered her their leader already. Alexander wasn’t going to stop her from doing it either. While part of him didn’t really want her to kill someone but he knew what this meant to her. What Robin had meant to her.
Alex didn’t see the blow in the end, he heard Luke’s scream and the Sheriff’s triumphant shout. Ella had one hand on her stomach, dark red blood soaking her shirt. She was on the floor, the other hand on her leg.
He grabbed Ella by the hair and pulled her face close. “Knew I could beat Robin Hood’s stupid bitch”
Ella laughed and spat in his face. She twisted her hair free, and stabbed upward with the dagger she’d pulled from her boot. “Robin Hood just beat you, you evil son of a bitch”
Alexander ran to her side as she pushed the Sheriff’s body off her. “Alexan-“ She grabbed him to steady herself, falling into his arms when her legs gave way beneath her. “I protected them,” She whispered to him. “He needed me to protect them”
“It’s okay, they’re safe now. Thanks to you” He combed her hair softly, pressing a light kiss to her head. “Just be strong, help is coming”
“It’s alright. He loved me.” She reached for the necklace. “He broke my heart,” she sobbed, “He never knew I forgave him, he died thinking I didn’t love him.” She reached to touch his face “He broke my heart but I think you could have fixed it”
Alex pressed their foreheads together. He could have loved her too. He almost did. Ellanor stopped breathing and someone screamed on the other side of the room. A girl, Ros, a member of Hood’s gang since his return to England two years before, was being held by Luke as she tried to reach Ella. She was clutching at the necklace that marked her as part of the gang, Luke was shaking, tears on both their faces as their second leader died.
Lord Alexander buried the lady Ellanor, in the woods. In a lichen green hood that belonged to her first love, beside the grave of a lord who’d died too young.
So i know it isn’t May anymore, but I’m sorry on the night I was meant to post this I had a little meltdown and after that thinking about writing was very stressful.
Mickey hated a lot of things. He hated his step sisters. He hated his step father. He hated his mother for marrying him. He hated the arrogant crown Prince. He hated his life.
But Mickey Jones had the soul of a Romantic, tortured sure, dark as pitch but burning with a fiery passion. He loved his cousin, wished often that he could fly away to London and join her and Ella in their sundrenched flat. He loved Ella too, the woman who’d decided she was his honorary older sister within minutes of meeting him.
So he was ecstatic when Ella and Anna announced they were returning to Ireland and to him. He was far from thrilled when he found out it was to attend the ball his step sisters wouldn’t shut up about. Apparently Ella, streetwise conartist that she was had found a new lover, one with more titles than Mickey could remember. Mickey had no idea what on Earth could have attracted Ella to someone so closely associated with the Royals that they were attending this masquerade.
They’d arrived in the dead of night, without his step father’s knowledge, taking up residence in town. The day of the ball dawned clear and loud as his step sister’s screeching tore him from sleep.
“Mickey!” he groaned. “Fix my hair!”
“No!” Her sister shrieked “Mine first, I’m more the Prince’s type. He’ll like me more” shallow and airheaded that was the Prince’s type for once she wasn’t wrong.
Mickey smirked to himself as he helped them get ready, their incessant chatting was amusing to listen to. “I’ll see you at the masquerade” he fairwelled them.
Both stopped, hair pieces swaying as they spun around. “You’re not going” they cackled. “Oh how embarrassing, you can’t appear at the ball. You weren’t invited. You’ll bring shame to the family. Besides the Prince is looking for love, you are certainly not what he’s looking for.“
Mickey resisted the urge to glare at them. He was definitely not looking for match like the Prince. He watched them leave still laughing wildly at the idea of the Prince and Mickey in the same room. He dressed in his black suit, received last week with a card bearing only the letter E. It was a beautiful suit, and even Mickey would admit he looked handsome in it. He didn’t bother styling his hair, knowing how Anna would undoubtedly greet him.
Sure enough when the pounding at the door came and the two women clad in evening dresses had hugged him close, Anna immediately ruffled his hair and Ella pinched his cheek. "When did you get so handsome baby cos? Anna asked.
"Come people for you to meet.” Ella dragged him towards a limo parked at the end of the driveway. Clearly Ella’s taste had gotten a touch fancier. He slid the dark blue mask over his eyes. Ella approached the limo red lips curling under matching mask at the sight of the tall man leaning against it.
“Mick meet Alex.” She gestured between the two. “Alex Mick” and the tall man offered Mickey his hand.
“She talks about you a lot”
“She’s told me nothing about you” Mickey challenged, Ella was his sister in all but blood and he didn’t know this Alex. No-one messed with his family though. To his surprise the man next to Alex laughed loudly clapping his hands together.
Dressed immaculately in a dark blue suit the exact colour of Mickey’s mask, with artfully styled hair and wicked grinning eyes under a black sparkling mask, the other man was looking Mickey up and down with interest. “You’re right Ella he’ll definitely make our lives more interesting. Alex watch out if you mess with her you’ve got quite a line of defenders to fight. First and foremost the lady Ella of course”. He added grinning at her. “I’m Nik, glad to finally meet you Mickey”
Mickey followed Anna into the car. She was clearly comfortable around this pair so that meant Mickey could trust them. Ella settled herself under Alex’s arm and grabbed Mickey’s arm and pulled him next to her. The one in the blue suit sat opposite him, eyes never leaving him.
The car trip passed quickly as Mickey filled his sister and cousin in on the latest at his house of horrors. Nik would interrupt occasionally with a question and Alex laughed at his jokes. When he mentioned that his step sisters and stepfather were actually attending the gala tonight.
Nik’s eyes finally left Mickey and his intensity focused on Alex. “Who the fuck got invited to this stupid thing?”
“I’m sorry big bro” Alex did really look apologetic. “All the locals got invited automatically and yes you do have to attend this.”
Nik huffed, folding his arms. “One condition”
Alex looked over in interest. “Otherwise you’ll make my life a living hell”
Nik’s grin was devious. “Obviously” Alex gestured for him to continue. “Mickey stays with me. I need someone with an actual brain to talk to.”
Ella and Alex turned to him in sync eyebrows raised in question. “Sure” he agreed, blush rising in his cheeks. Nik beamed at him.
When they arrived they were stopped at the door waiting for the usher to announce them. Mickey wasn’t sure why given it was a masquerade but he waited patiently with Nik. Anna was announced first and glided into the ballroom. Then Ella and Alex looped arms, “The Lady Ella Badeau and his lordship Alexander Brenin”
What.
The.
Fuck.
Alexander Brenin was the king’s ward. And more importantly the Prince’s closest friend. Alex and Prince Nikolas were supposed to be as close as brothers.
Oh. Shit.
Mickey turned to the man beside him. Nik smiled and took his hand.“His highness the crown Prince Nikolas first of his name, accompanied by his lordship Michael Jones.”
“Let’s get this over with” Nik pulled him into the room to everyone looking at them. They’d made it to the dance floor and the music started before his step sisters reached them.
“Your highness, Mickey must have been dying to introduce us to you. Obviously you’re meaning to pick one of us and not our simple brother”
“Mick’s far from simple, I reckon he’s the most interesting person I’ve met in a long time.”
“And you’re not my sisters” they gasped in shock.
“Mickey doesn’t mean it, we’re very close”
“ I mean it” Mickey felt Nik stroke a reassuring thumb over their joined hands. He heard Ella’s heels behind him. "You two have never been anything that even resembles kind to me” he smirked, leaning against Nik’s shoulder. “I think my actual sister has something to say to you”
He pulled Nik towards the dancers. Passing Ella who was cracking her knuckles menacingly. “Give then hell” she smirked “But they have to be home by midnight”
“What about you? You have the same curfew?” The Prince asked settling his arms around Mickey’s neck.
Again short scene, because I just wanted them happy
Morgan was cursed to sleep forevermore, because true love doesn’t exist and there’s no hope for him.
His father had tried everything, inviting every princess in the land to try and break it with True Love’s kiss. Not a single one of them had worked and the King was starting to despair. That was when the Princess Ella turned up with her adopted brother in tow.
Her adopted brother who felt drawn to the sleeping prince. “This must be so awkward for you” He told the sleeping man, “You don’t get a say in this and I apologize for that” Ella had guided the King away leaving him alone with Morgan. She wasn’t going to kiss the prince herself, she was happily engaged. But she knew that he had been dreaming of the prince for months. Something was connecting them and she was insistng he kiss the prince.
He pressed his lips very softly against Morgan’s. Nothing happened. Fuck. This was bad. Leo didn’t know what to do next. “Sorry” He murmured.
Someone grabbed his wrist. “Sorry for what?” the awoken prince asked. “Also who are you? And what happened to me?”
Sorry it’s a short scene again, I had a hard time coming up with inspiration for Ella as Snow White
Alex wasn’t expecting the knife to his throat. Not many people threatened the crown prince after all. “Turn slowly, put your sword down” A low voice threatened and Alex dropped the sword, he still had a dagger in his boot. He was surprised to come face to face with an entire gang of people. First and foremost was the face he’d seen on countless wanted posters. Ella Badeau. And her army of seven “dwarves”. The team had gotten the name since they’d been arrested for the smallest of crimes and they’d gone to war against the Queen for it. They were nothing to Ella, the former princess who’d turned rebel in the woods.
“Ella Badeau?” He whispered.
She smirked and withdrew her knife, bowing mockingly. “At your service, your majesty”
Alex decided in that second what he’d do, he saw the challenge in her eyes and he was going to answer it. “Your royal highness” He bowed low. “Princess Ella”
She genuinely smiled at that. “No-one’s called me that in a while” One of her men scoffed, a tall brunette with curly hair, who watched Ella with protective eyes. “Interested in taking down the evil queen?” She asked. “Prove you’re on the right side and not just Charming”
Here we go again. Ummmm have you seen Syfy’s Alice? (Go watch it it’s all on YouTube) this is basically an abbreviated version of that. It’s kind of just a scene though sorry
Alex had fallen through a mirror, he was quite literally through the looking glass. Well that was unexpected. He wasn’t really sure if he was dreaming or what was happening, because this couldn’t be real, he couldn’t be in a box flying through the air. He’d picked open the lock, oh boy that was a mistake. He’d gone crashing into the waves far below. Thankfully when he pulled himself out he was in a city of some kind. That he could handle. Cities were familiar, only this one was dilapidated, ruins covered in strange vines and definitely one he hadn’t been in before.
He stumbled across another person finally and even though the stench coming off him was enough to make his stomach turn he approached him. “Could you please help me? I need to get back to New York”
“You’re not from here, I don’t want nothing to do with you” He tried to rush away from Alex.
“Please! I’ll pay you!”
That made the ratty man turn back. “I’ll take you to someone”
The tramp didn’t answer any of the dozens of questions he asked, although he faltered when Alex mentioned his name, as they approached a crowded store bearing the neon sign Tea Shop. Ratty pulled him through the people battering for bottles of shining liquids and into a different space. The room seemed to be an office and someone was sitting draped over a chair, purple heels dangling in the air. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
“No thank you,” Alex’s manners kicked in automatically, his mother’s years of training had clearly stuck with him. “Who are you?”
“A friend, I hope” She swung her legs down and rose, Alex took in her deep red dress and golden top hat. She leveled him with a calculating look. “I run this fine establishment” She gestured around her, back towards the noise of the supposed tea shop. “How’d you get here?”
“I broke the lock on the flying thing and fell as you can see.” The woman looked him up and down, noting his drenched clothes and smirked. “Look where am I?”
She grinned. “Wonderland”
“That’s a story in a children’s book”
She stepped around her desk, heels clicking against the floor and she bared her teeth in what should have been a smile but looked far too sinister “Does this look like a children’s story to you?” Alex shook his head and she approached him talking all the while. “It’s changed a lot since then, yes that was real, you lot don’t know how to find us and so you tell yourselves we don’t exist and I like it that way, we all do.”
“He’s Alice” The ratty man interrupted. “tell him who you are”
“I’m Alex” He corrected and the woman laughed.
“They don’t live that long, even if he carries something of Alice of Legend in his eyes” She reached out to touch his face. “Last time a human called Alice came here she brought down the whole house of cards. Made an impression.”
“I still want to get paid!” Ratty interrupted and the woman sighed and dropped her hand from his face.
“I’m not for sale!” Alex protested.
But the woman had already produced a vial of liquid from some unseen pocket. “This is filled to the brim with human excitement, drained from a hundred souls, one drop is enough to blow your mind” The man had already snatched it from her and was running away as she dismissed him.
“How the hell do you mean drained?”
She actually looked apologetic. “How did you get here?”
“I followed a man in a suit with a white rabbit on his lapel, he was taking children off the street.”
She sighed heavily. “The white rabbit is an organization that’s been vanishing people from your world to ours for centuries. To use in the casino” She pulled a face. “No, not use, they keep them alive and well and somewhat happy.”
“How do I get to this casino?” Alex’s mind was already racing with ways to save these prisoners.
“No way, you don’t. Way too dangerous” She approached him again. “I know people, who know people, it’s a privlage of running a tea shop”
“Apparently you don’t use money” The woman pulled a face, circling him. “So why would you help me?”
“Do I need a reason to help a handsome man in a seethrough shirt?” Alex turned to her in shock. “I see you don’t trust me” She huffed. “I am genuinely hurt! Do you know why they call me Hatter?”
“Because you wear a hat?” Alex tried.
She glared at him “Because I’m always around when they pass the hat” Something glimmered in her eyes and Alex wondered how old she was, if this Hatter was the same Hatter that would have aided the original Alice. “I’m always there, aiding others and looking at you right now, there’s nothing I want to do more than return you to your little world of children’s stories”
“Why should you go against the casino? Why would you risk it?”
“What it is it shouldn’t be” the Hatter replied cryptically. Well great he was stuck with an ally that talked in riddles straight from the pages of a kid’s book. As long as the Hatter stayed clear of raven’s and writing desks Alex would be fine with this day getting curiouser and curiouser.
This one requires knowledge of the 1986 movie Labyrinth staring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.
Alex was only doing Sarah a favour so of course it ended in disaster.
He was babysitting Toby so his friend could go to a poetry slam with a friend on a vague sort-of date. The ten year old was almost old enough to look after himself, but here Alex was conversing with the child instead of going out with his friends. All was going well until bed time.
The boy absolutely refused until he was given a story, and not just any story, he was requesting a story that apparently his sister told him every time. It was about a labyrinth and goblins and Toby told it all to him with a seriousness on his face that ill-suited the young boy. “And then she said the words”
“What words?” Toby looked incredibly worried now.
“She doesn’t like saying the words, she says they’re dangerous”
“I’m here nothing’s going to happen, they’re just words”
“I wish the goblins would come and take you away” He uttered doubtfully.
“See there’s nothing to be-”
The window crashed open and lightning flashed and a lithe figure rose up from the floor, glitter clouding around her. “Well, well, well, looks like you were wrong.” She grinned, eyes flashing “Words have power,” She twirled a glittering ball around her fingers. “I have power”
“Who the fuck are you?” Alex stepped between her and Toby.
“Why I’m the honourary goblin queen?”
“Honourary?” Alex asked then his brain caught up with the rest of the sentence. “Goblin queen?”
“What happened to Jareth?” Toby leaned around Alex.
The Goblin Queen dropped the crystal ball, letting it disappear into thin air and her entire demeanour changed. In its place a shining dagger appeared and Alex pushed Toby further behind him. “What. Do. You. Know. About. Him?” She was radiating defensiveness and each word dripped with almost lethal danger. “Where am I? Whose house is this? I know your face, I’ve seen your face, I’ve seen you but where?” She turned around conjuring another ball, this one had something in it, and Alex felt himself leaning forward to see it. A baby flickered in the image, red striped onesie and smile clear. When he looked back up she had look of horror on her face.
“Why have you brought me here?! You seek to bring further ruin on my house? Haven’t you destroyed enough?” She looked ethereal with the storm blocking her hair wild and magic
Toby looked like he was going to cry, and Alex was incredibly confused. “Was that you in the crystal?” He whispered.
“You could see that?” She turned her attention on him. He shrugged. “hmmm, there is something about you. But there’s something about this house too, magic lingers here,” she brushed a hand over the mirror. “It lives here” She looked at them both. “Time to go” Alex grabbed for Toby and before he could blink they were standing on a hilltop looking over vine covered maze.
The Goblin Queen’s dress was blowing in the wind and she looked even less human now. “Normally I would make you run the labyrinth but instead I do not trust your family.”
“It was real?” Toby asked her, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that magic seemed to be real. “Sarah’s story, the labyrinth”
“And you can see the destruction left by your sister’s raid” She waved a hand another crystal appeared. “She’ll be home soon, she’ll have no choice to come and face me. Now you, what are you?”
“Um Alex” he supplied unhelpfully.
“You’re not fully human are you?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“There’s something in your eyes” She shrugged.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Ella, temporary guardian of the labyrinth in the absense of its king”
Alex realized she was younger than he’d first thought although he wasn’t entirely sure how aging rules applied to goblins. “So you’re a goblin?”
“No, no I’m fae” She grinned, teeth sharp “something with a little more bite.” She leaned towards Toby, “Now Prince Toby, are you ready to return to the palace?”
“Where’s Jareth?” Her smile vanished.
“It isn’t good, come with me, you too changeling Alex”
She grabbed both their hands and they were suddenly in a palace, gothic windows casting long streaks of light across the large hall. She walked at a brisk pace, such that even Alex had to hurry to keep up. She came to a halt without warning, head turned to hear a far off sound. “Wait she’s here”
“You’re fucking right I am” Sarah’s voice came from behind them and Alex turned to see his friend looking furious, dressed in a pillowy shirt and carrying a sword. There was a collection of creatures that Alex didn’t even want to begin to think about it.
“Champion” The Goblin Queen spat. “You were quicker than I expected”
“Who are you?” She was next to Alex now, one hand on Toby’s shoulder.
“She’s the goblin queen apparently” And the something very odd happened, Sarah actually flinched and Ella narrowed her eyes.
“What the hell did you do to Jareth?”
The storm crackled outside “What did I do? I’m the only one protecting him!” Alex was starting to feel seriously out of the loop and he somewhat felt that Sarah was missing something as well.
“What does he need protection for? The Goblin King seems plenty powerful to me.”
“After what you did, he needs protection from all sides”
Sarah’s knuckles went white and concern laced her next words. “What happened?”
The Goblin Queen watched her warily. “You mean to say you do not know?”
“Know what?” Sarah was on the defensive now.
“My brother’s kingdom lies dying, his life is in the balance because of you” The fairy shrieked and Sarah blanched. Her brother, oh god, Alex could understand the fury on her face and if this was about family he didn’t even want to consider what lengths a fae might go to.
“The labyrinth?” Sarah focused on a different part of Ella’s admission.
“Falling to ruin because of you, champion”
“Show me”
Ella led them through the palace, Sarah whispering reassurances to her brother and Alex strode beside the Queen sensing his friend didn’t have time for him right now. “What did you mean changeling?”
“You’re at least part fae, if you were human you would have panicked the second you set foot here, you didn’t even blink at the goblins. You are not entirely human Alexander”
They arrived at an ornate door and Ella knocked softly, “Jareth, it’s me, I’ve brought you visitors”
“Sweet sister I don’t have the energy”
Ella pushed the door open and stepped inside, Alex went to follow her but Sarah had swept pass him, Toby in her wake. “Jareth” She breathed and Alex stepped in to see a large four poster bed with a thin man lying in it. His face turned to utter shock at the sight of Sarah.
“Precious”
And Alex watched as his friend moved across the room without hesitation, settling on the edge of the bed one hand reaching for the Goblin King. “What happened?”
“After you left, the labyrinth started crumbling without it’s champion, I couldn’t do anything, threats from the other kingdoms, there was nothing I could do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that my leaving would hurt the labyrinth”
“I have no power over you” He whispered bitterly.”I failed my people” Ella started and Alex laid a restraining hand on her arm and was somewhat surprised when she didn’t throw him off at once. “You have to leave, take Ella and go.”
“What do you mean?” The Goblin Queen snapped, fingers clenching around Alex’s. “I won’t leave you”
“You have to survive this. I won’t let you die for me”
“No-one is dying!”
“Mab is coming” Ella gasped. “I can’t defeat her” Jareth sighed. “Please”
“No.” Toby had them all turning to him, Jareth’s eyes warm with recognition. “You’re the Goblin King, you gave the champion special powers, Sarah defeated your labyrinth. Your sister must have magic. Can’t we fight them together?”
“He’s right” Sarah murmered. “Since I got here, I can feel the labyrinth, it’s like it’s an extension of my body. I think I can control it, use the labyrinth to fight back.”
Jareth smiled at her. “You’d go to war with me?”
“I’d go to war for my friends, and from what legends exist in our world Queen Mab is not a fair ruler.”
“Certainly not where’s the fun in that” a cruel voice spoke and they whirled to find a new figure in the doorway. Jareth conjured robes with one hand as Sarah pulled him out of bed with the other. They fell into a ragged line, Toby pulled behind them and the Ella and Alex side by side, Sarah and Jareth a united front. Then without warning the fighting started, magic flashed from both sides and Alex didn’t know who’d throw the first spell.
Sarah was wielding a sword with more expertise than he’d expected and he saw her move to the window and the rumbling of stones got louder. “She’s destroying Mab’s army!” Ella breathed, passing Alex a pair of daggers.
“The Labyrinth does not recognize you as it’s Ruler Mab, it already has its King and its champion” Sarah’s voice was imperial and cold, so unlike the warm friend he’d always known. “You come here with your steel and wood and try to hurt us. But you forget something, the labyrinth runs on iron, and you fae, that’s your weakness.” She twisted a hand and from outside screams came and Mab shuddered.
“What have you done?”
“They’re wounded, not dead yet, if you leave now. My labyrinth won’t hurt those who attack its people more than is necessary.”
“Its king is weak”
“Its King is protected” Ella hissed, “by his blood and yours”
Now Queen Mab looked entirely lost. “My blood does not protect him” she shrieked.
“Oh but it does” Ella laughed now and Jareth seemed to realize what she was talking about as he smiled sinisterly. “Don’t you recognize him” She gestured at Alex with an almost sad look on her face. “Your changeling son” Mab gasped and Alex felt his blood run cold. “I saw you in his eyes as soon as I met him. I don’t know how you could have done it. Leave a child among the humans and expect the fae not find his way home. You waited far too long, he’s been called back to the Underland, he’s a citizen of the labyrinth and he fights for his King.”
Mab tried to reach for him but Alex twisted the blades with agility he didn’t know he had and knocked Mab to her knees. One cold sword against her neck he looked up at the others. He couldn’t kill anyone, he wasn’t capable of that but Mab didn’t know that. “What would you like done my King?” He kept his eyes on Jareth.
“Send her home” The Goblin King’s smile was a cruel thing. “She’ll not get the satifaction of a hero’s death. Her people will know she failed” He threw the crystal with surprising force and the fae queen disappeared in a cloud of glitter. “Now sister I’m expecting quite an explanation as to how the Williams siblings and their friend” he looked Alex up and down “arrived here”
“How are you not tired?” Ella demanded glaring at Violet.
The other girl scoffed, “You really are drunk aren’t you?” Violet’s power was much more subtle than Ella’s, but oh so much more useful in situations such as these.
“Maybe” She laughed. “I wish I didn’t have to sleep too”
“It’s not that I don’t need to sleep. It’s that I don’t. Like ever” She dodged as a blade was aimed well above her.
“Well then Miss I-never-sleep what do you want to do tonight?”
“Get drunk with the Brotherhood and see how’s leader is more obsessed with the other”
“I’m not having another night of Charles vs Erik on who’s more in denial. Let’s have a power vs. power night with them instead.
And that’s how Ella and Violet ended up with the Brotherhood’s actual brother Nik and Alex in a mutant bar.
Ella was absentmindedly flipping one of her daggers, Nik had taken to changing his features every few mintues as he spotted a new face. Alex was flicking electricity off his nails and Violet was rather amused in general.
For two sides that were meant to hate each other they spent rather a lot of time together when their leaders decided to team up and when the humans decreed new laws.
Together in battle, Xavier’s students and the Brotherhood were truly a force to be reckoned with. Ella and Alex were deadly, back to back, daggers flying from one side and balls of energy from the other. Nik was flitting over the field, guns in hand, appearance shifting to those of his opponents. Violet was perched in a tree, calling shots and arranging their force. The humans never really stood a chance against them.
Getting out of the capitol was the worst night of her life. They needed to get to district 13, she knew it, she had to get to the Mockingjay. Someone had to film this, someone had to show the world what was happening.
Getting to her crew hadn’t been too difficult so it was understandable that everything went to hell as they tried to leave. Alex took a bullet for her, to the heart. The mockingjay was more than this, the rebellion was more than any of them, at least that’s she told herself. Repeating it under her breath, a mantra.
Katniss Everdeen was a child who’d been through horrors and here she was asking her to do it all again. This rebellion was asking too much of all of them. It asked a trauma survivor to go to war and it asked her to live without Alex. Both seemed impossible and yet here they were. And every breath tasted like ash in her mouth, the world was grey and even her faith in the Mockingjay couldn’t bring light to Cressida’s world.
I heard y’all like Pacific Rim so yeah this happened
The day Ella Badeau met Alexander Brenin she despised him. It's the same for him and their rivalry is legendary at the academy. People still only speak in a hushed whisper of the end of year quiz in '33. All witnesses swear they were only milliseconds apart on their buzzers. Some say that the duo called each other the exact same insult in Mandarin and French at the exact same moment. No one wants to admit what went down at the tie breaker.
Everyone whispers about their duels though. The way the pair could block an attacl from the other before it came. They were pretty much even in terms of wins although, Ella was faster but Alex was bigger and stronger.
Not a single other student was surprised that they ended up being drift compatible. It came as a nasty shock to them though, that is before their first Kaiju kill.
Alex loved Quidditch, it was his favourite feeling in the world, flying through the air at top speed. The exhilaration that came with each win and the roar of his house in support. It was in the middle of the game that he saw the commotion in the stands. Ravenclaw were losing but suddenly winning didn’t matter because he saw the familiar mop of black hair and he heard the harsh words being screamed at his brother.
He was diving through the air at breaknek speeds pulling to a halt in front of the stands when someone beat him there. A flying mass of blonde hair and a Slytherin scarf were the first glimpse he got of her. The other student was clutching a bleeding nose before she pulled the wand from her robes and had it in his brother’s attacker’s face before Alex could even blink. “You say that again fuck-wad and I’ll jinx you into oblivion” Sparks were actually flying from her wand tip and she looked absolutely murderous.
Alex dismounted and tried to push through the gathering crowd. Another Hufflepuff boy had an arm around Nik’s shoulder’s but the Slytherin girl, who Alex now recognized as their seeker and fifth year prefect Ella Badeau. Nik hadn’t spotted him yet “Ella leave it” Nik was trying to calm her reaching for her.
Alex tried to step between the slytherin and his brother, she whirled on him. “back off” she growled, grabbing Nik’s hand and started leading his brother away. She was rather intimidating and Alex would have taken a step back if that wasn’t his brother. “Nik -” She turned her glare on him at full force.
“Alex what are you doing here?” Nik one hand twisted in hers, the other reaching for Alex.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, aren’t you in the middle of a game?”
“Go on Brenin, go win this thing” Ella told him. “We’ll talk revenge on those jackasses later” The other student still holding his nose actually whimpered and Alex decided he rather liked her.
He had seen her twice before, she had stared coming to the store about a month earlier. And she was always browsing the science fiction and fantasy section. He was always stocking shelves.
The first time they talked was her asking him to grab a book from the top shelf. The second it was him revealing that he’d hidden a copy of the latest Neil Gaiman for her behind a stack of books.
The third time, she recommended him a book. The fourth he returned the favour and so it continued.
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