The Shape Of Things To Come

[Groagaldr]

Hellfire — The Catacombs

This was a special part of the underground beneath Hellfire, where hard packed dirt and rough hewn stone was replaced with highly polished black marble and brush finished metal. Very near the control room was a sacred crypt, where they kept the ones they loved. Rebekah Hallbjörn spent a lot of time down here, enough that people joked she should just move her bedroom down here. They didn’t get it. They just thought she was the weird morbid girl, way too obsessed with the macabre.

Beck lounged back against Teddy, her giant undead polar bear pet, her tablet in her lap but forgotten. She ran her fingers through his fur. She could still remember the day she’d raised him, though it was years ago now. Her Uncle AJ and her Aunt Ash had taken her to the Bronx Zoo. Of all the exhibits, the bears had been her favorite. She could spend hours watching them, and she would’ve, but some stupid teen boy had thrown a jar of peanut butter over the glass, and sniggered while a curious bear ate it eagerly.

An eight year old Rebekah had been traumatized to watch the bear in its death throes. Her Uncle had insisted it was just frolicking, but she knew. She turned to the boy who had poisoned it with a hot temper. He was twice her size but she lunged at him fearlessly. Her Aunt and Uncle had laughed as they pulled her away, but Beck had just sobbed, so hard she couldn’t even talk. They took her home after that, because every time they let her go she ran back to the polar bear exhibit and stared at the bear. He wasn’t sleeping, like they said.

It was late that night, after she was supposed to be in bed, that she stared out the window until he came pawing at it. She had tried to keep him a secret, but how do you hide a 1500 lb polar bear in Hellfire Mansion? If she’d been older and smarter she would’ve had him ‘delivered’ as if he were a taxidermy statue, there were plenty of those around. When they found her playing with him in the courtyard, her Uncle had gone all wolf and tried to attack Teddy.

Stop it, you’re ruining him! She had screamed, and before she knew it half the Inner Circle was there, trying to debate what to do with him. Everything they said was dumb and she had to keep explaining it all. He wouldn’t hurt her, or any of them, he was her pet. He couldn’t go back to the Zoo, and he didn’t need food, because he was dead. He was dead and he was hers now, and if they tried to take him away, it wouldn’t work. Teddy would just run away from them and come back.

They tried to put him to sleep with the stuff they used on the neptunes, but how many times did she have to tell them he was dead? She made Teddy sit and lie down and roll over and shake and finally the adults all ran out of ideas. Uncle Jack stitched up the tears in his fur that Uncle AJ had made as a wolf. Uncle Jack and Aunt Heidi helped build a den for him down in the Aqua Ring. And she had gotten to keep her dead Teddy, but he had to stay down in the catacombs. He wasn’t the first thing she’d raised, he was just the first of her zombies that actually had a personality.

She was sixteen now, and she could raise a lot more, multiple animals at a time, humans too. But there were limits. Too much damage to a set of remains, and the parts couldn’t make a whole. Or if there was damage to the brain stem, the body would just convulse uselessly. So she couldn’t raise her Daddy, who was a collection of ashes in an urn. Nor could she reach her Mom, who was stuck in a hardened metal form.

She stared at the statue a lot. It was beautiful, in a darkly torturous way. Try as she might, she couldn’t raise her mother from the titanium prison she was in. It was Logan’s dad’s fault. Cameron King had killed her own dad and made her mom turn to metal. At least her mom had gotten even. It really sucked being an orphan, but she was still the Red Princess of Hellfire, and that was pretty awesome.

She got up and walked over to her mother’s statue, taking hold of a cold titanium shoulder. She knew her mom was in there. She could sense her spirit. Sometimes she thought her mother was calling her, trying to tell her something. She tried again to raise her, just like every day since she’d thought of trying. She tried extra hard, gritting her teeth with the effort. Nothing happened, like always.

 

[Apostle]

The Good Room - Greenpoint - Brooklyn

The BPM began to rise. The neon lights of The Good Room flickered chaotically across the dance floor as his hands were meticulously on the turn tables, his Mac Book screen illuminating his skin as his hauntingly blue eyes darted back and forth between screens. Most 16 year olds would not be allowed into warehouse dance parties in Brooklyn, let alone book a gig, but most sixteen year olds weren't Logan King. He looked out at the crowd, smirking as the bodies writhed together with his beat. He felt like a God of the dancefloor. They sped up and slowed down according to his desires, gave into their passions and their derelictions under cover of the crowd. This was where people really lived - where HE felt alive, though that was in large part also due to the mass amounts of esctacy and cocaine coursing through his veins.

It was everything The Hellfire Mansion was not. That place was a fucking museum of pain and death and destruction ever since his parents murdered each other. He had heard the stories of what Hellfire used to be, of the fun they used to have, of The Blackout Parties where everyone got wasted and fucked each other silly. This was not the place he had grown up in.

Girl: [loudly] "Are YOU REALLY controlling that thing?!"

He looked at the girl - some no name from his prep school he had snuck into the club event he was headlining, something he had gotten the same way he got everything - money. Lots of fucking money. The bass was vibrating the entire warehouse as Logan smirked, grabbing the girl by the hand and propping her up on the table, spreading her legs, allowing her sex to feel his orchestra. Her face looked confused but excited, one of Logan's favorite expressions on members of the opposite sex. Setting his board up on autopilot for a few moment's, as his free hand slid in between her dress, never breaking eye contact. He was no telepath, but his eyes were often enough to enthrall anyone. He leaned into her ear, kissing her ear lobe, his headphones around his neck, his white hair caked in sweat.

[whispering] "Do you want to fly?"

The girl nodded nervously as Logan's free hand switched back to the turn table, having the song reach it's PEAK as the crowd went wild. He kissed her neck as the hand between her legs began to feel her wetness, as she welcomed him inside. This was living. This was POWER. This is what his siblings should have been out doing, what EVERYONE in Hellfire should have been doing. Instead, his sister Beck was more resolved to play with dead animals in the catacombs and who knows what Carolina was up to. He slipped the headphones onto the girl's head as he pressed further, watching her writhe with pleasure, lost in his song.

MC: "DJ APOSTLE IN THE BUILDING!!!!"

Logan laughed, watching the young woman intensly climax as the song ended, a strong bassline leading into the next intro. The girl slid off the table, her face dewy with sweat. She put the headphones back on his head and gave him that lingering smile that every girl in highschool gave a guy who made her cum - hope that it would be something more. It wouldn't be.

Woman: "You're amazing."

"I know. Get us a drink. I'm off in twenty."

And when he got home he wanted to make sure he was drunk, on top of everything else. One of his favorite things to do was watch the desperation in his Aunt's face whenever he came home, at whatever hour he came home. She felt like a failure. And she was. They couldn't control him. Nobody could control him. Not Zach. Not Erika. Not his fucking sisters. He was the only one at home who was truly living the tenets of Hellfire - POWER - WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. And he'd crush anyone who got in the way of that. But first - he had to finish his set.

 

[Persuasion]

The Aqua Ring

Carolina King [wearing this, but in white] slumped into the Aqua Ring, and circled her arms around Heidi's shoulders, resting her head in the crook of her adoptive mother's neck. It was comforting, even at 23.

"How was everybody today? Did they behave?"

She was talking about the creatures swimming in the tanks around them. Carolina produced a piece of paper from her pocket, handing it to Heidi after giving her a kiss on the cheek and releasing her.

"I re-designed the layout of the tank in your suite during class."

Though she was supposed to be in her second year as an MBA student at Columbia, not designing aquariums. She sank down into an industrial-looking metal chair.

"Maybe I should forget school and just come work here with you and Jack."

Of course, that wasn't actually an option. She was Cameron King's daughter, after all. King Enterprises was her legacy, and she meant to make it soar. But what better teacher did she need than her father? He had been a genius, and studying his tactics - which she had done feverishly since she was eight - was all the education she really needed. But if Carolina was going to prove herself, as she had had to, time and time again, she had to be the best, and the best had an MBA from Columbia.

"I talked to abuelo today. He said he might come up to visit again next month."

Her grandfather was allowing her to do more with overseeing the running of the distillery, though she had hired someone to manage the place in Colima for her grandfather. He was too old for the day to day - but don't tell him that. After her mother died, he had had to go back to running the place himself, but Carolina knew her mother would have wanted him to enjoy his old age, so she did what she could. And the distillery was as much her legacy as King Enterprises, and she had resolved to give both the attention they deserved.

"Pawns were talking in the Great Hall when I came in - Rebekah's in the dungeons with that dead bear again. Ashley needs to send her to boarding school asap."

 

[Avalanche]

If he had to be dead, he was grateful to be chained to The Hellfire Mansion. The accommodations were fantastic, he could sleep in whatever room he wanted, and ghost sex was on another level. The only thing he missed was cocaine, but he found that a well manifested apparition every now and then was just as good as a bump or two. Well kind of.

He had spent the last decade watching with bemusement as The American Inner Circle imploded in on itself. The drama, the passion, the violence. It was one hell of a show. But it had made him miss his mortal life. This would have been the perfect time for Hellfire Europe to stake it's claim, absorb the club, kill the invalids and move forward. Unfortunately, none of the counterparts he had in Europe that were still alive had decided to remove the thumbs from their assholes and make a move. Though the arrival of Zachary Armani shortly after his once beloved queen's death was promising. But he knew it was more out of duty to Haleigh than it was for his own court. He should have never been made king and if Brienne Shaw would have ever returned to the mansion he would have told her as much.

Archer spent much of his time haunting the halls of Hellfire, hanging out with the other many spirits that roamed the catacombs, becoming a bit of a King of the Undead, but secretly, he was always looking for ways to return to the flesh, and The White Queen's tomes had proven very informative. And then Rebekah came into his life. Eyes of a deer, skin of porcelain. Oh yeah, and she could raise the dead with a single thought. She was one of the only members of The Inner Circle who could see him, let alone communicate with him. She saw him when she was three years old. Which at first, Archer didn't pay much attention to. Many children could see ghosts, things from the other side, but most of them lost the ability as their parents formed reality around them. Not Rebekah. She was his meal ticket, so he made sure treat her with care.

He had given her a ribbon for her hair on the first day of school, a large bed left in the catacombs for Teddy to lounge on when his den seemed too small. He listened to her very insignificant problems and made sure that she was taken care of in whatever way he could. Even if that meant spooking Logan in the shower, or possessing the furniture in The Red Parlour. And so he appeared to her, like he did every night, this time with a single rose in his mouth in a cheeky fashion with a smile, before putting the rose next to the statue of Haleigh.

"And how is my favorite girl in Hellfire doing this evening? You seem lost in thought."

 

[Pathfinder]

Her heart was heavy, as it was most days now. Sitting on the floor of The White Tower - a holy sanctuary she had created for herself after the deaths of her brother and sister-in-law. The Hellfire Mansion existed within a pocket like dimension. While the outside was very real - the inside was far larger than what could ever be contained within the restrictions of it's shell. It was endless. When space was needed, it was provided. And Erika needed it. It was a place of power for Erika, enchanted by her magicks, and protected by her power. Entry was limited and with good reason.

White pillar candles were spread out against the space as well as outlining the incredibly large glowing emblem of her power in the center of the tower, seemingly painted against the cold wooden floor planks. The White Queen sat in the center of the moon, in a meditative position, her hands palm up, as a gentle breeze swept through the space from nowhere.

"Goddess, give me strength..."

She had delivered both Logan and Rebekah, acting as Haleigh's midwife, and it had not been easy. The "twins" had been so powerful, so much stronger than Haleigh could bare. More than Erika could bare. Rebekah's first act in this world had been breathing life back into her dead mother as she laid in bed, bleeding out. The flex of power was so great that it left her too weak to save her brother, Logan who was not breathing. Erika cradled him her arms and did what anyone else would have done in her situation - she called out for help. And she got it. Erika may have been a descendant of Hecate, but she was a daughter of the moon, a daughter of Selene. Her blessing had given her the strength to return to Hellfire, and her act of saving Persephone from Archer Fairchild had garnered her favor. Selene saved her nephew, but more than that, she marked him as her son. His white hair and haunting eyes were no accident.

"Forgive me for failing them..."

And then "the event" happened. Cameron murdered Alek, Haleigh went after Cameron and everyone involved died, inlcuding Elena, leaving Cameron a mass of nothing on the astral plane, and Haleigh trapped as a statue, unable to shunt her consciouness into a new body. And Erika was left to pick up the pieces. She tried - so hard to help them. To raise them. But it was too much for her. She needed help. The babies were a bit easier - but Carolina. She was older. She had so many questions about her parents and where they were and why she couldn't be with them. And she loved her father so much. It was painful to be around her. And as the newly coronated White Queen, she had tasked her new Knight with the task of raising Carolina, fully supporting her relationship with Jack in a public way. She knew it was not an easy task for Heidi, but Erika also knew that there was nobody else alive who was as loyal to Cameron as Heidi had been. If ANYBODY could keep the image of Carolina's father alive, it was her. Before long, Erika realized that she could not raise Rebekah in the way she needed. She had been a love child, one that had hurt so many people in Hellfire, and Erika didn't want her to suffer because of that. Her father was The Red King, she belonged on The Red Court - to be raised by people who knew her father. Convincing Ashley and AJ to do it was a surprisingly easier task than she had anticipated. This had left her with sole guardianship of Logan. Something she wasn't ready for. So she made a call, and six hours later Zachary Armani was in Hellfire New York, ready to rule as The White King, and promising to help her guide these children safely into adulthood.

"And I have led them astray..."

She was searching for peace, for a bolt of power to help get her through what she was going through. Having Zach around made her so much less anxious, but realizing that she was in love with him had basically negated that. She had taken on The White Court as Queen and was raising a child that she was certain would be Sorcerer Supreme, and she was still too scared of telling him how she felt, despite him being the world's greatest empath, only Daniel Reed left to give him a run for his money. Still, Erika could not entertain anything like that. Not anymore. Her niece and nephew had been left alone in this world - ripe for the picking. She couldn't think about anything else but keeping them safe and trying to keep them from becoming complete fucking psychopaths, and she was failing with Logan.

He was like the amalgam (+100 points to Gryffindor) of all three of the King siblings. He was cocky like Cameron, as vicious as Alison, and as rebellious as she had been. From the day he was born he had her number and never hesitated to let her know. His power was on the level of a far older person, even at a young age. There were things he could do at five that people in their thirties never could do with their magick, and for the most part, she supported, until he started killing witches. In the Summer of 2024, Erika had gotten rid of the bodies of four witches that Logan had killed. He was addicted to power. To excess. And it wouldn't be long before he was too powerful for Erika to deal with. Unbeknownst to Logan, his aunt had bound his powers that year, and had his mind wiped by Brenda Castle so that he never remembered such things. Erika wanted a normal life for her now son. But he was his parent's child. Just full of absolute lust. Hunger. If he went down the wrong path, it could very well be the start of the end of the world, and Erika would not allow it. And she needed to be there before her mother did. If Kelly King got a hold on Logan, she would use him to destroy all of them. And right on cue a voice echoed throughout the tower main room.

[female voice]: "Now really, dear. Don't you think this is all a bit.... basic?"

Erika touched the ground and jumped upright, alarmed at the thought of somebody being able to penetrate her fortress like this, until a pair of cobalt blue eyes met hers. The eyes of her mother.

Kelly: "Come on now, give mother a kiss...We need to talk."

 

[Talisman]

She cried for three days straight when she found out that Cameron was dead at the hands of his miserable wife. She had locked herself in a penthouse in the Cassadine Yacht and was not receiving visitors. Not even Stavros could console her. Her favorite child was dead. Kelly was a realist, her other two children were duds. Cameron was an angel. And he had been SNATCHED from this plane at the hands of Diana's daughter. He was her most prized possession. Her reason for living. He was the future of Hellfire, of a new World Order and his stupid petulant wife had taken his destiny from him. In between sobbing uncontrollably, Kelly began to realize that she would only feel justice in her son's death if she destroyed Hellfire from the ground up. The King's had been embarrassed enough in the last decade and Kelly was prepared to show them that there was a reason this old bitch was still around.

Stavros: "To chrysó mou" (my golden one). Your tears..they are like acid on my skin. How can I help you through this? I love you."

Her heart fluttered. People could say whatever the fuck they wanted about her marriage. She knew most people would think it was a political ploy, but it really wasn't. She loved Stavros Cassadine. She had wanted to be his wife her entire life. If she would have just been left to pursue her happiness, she would have been with him instead of her children's father. Last she had heard, Jonathon King was living in West Covina, CA working in some horribly depressing "lab" with a barren wife who liked to gamble. But that was none of her business. Stavros straddled over her as his golden Zeus pendant, the sexiest thing about him, dangled from his neck. Kelly ran her fingers over it mindlessly as she looked at her husband.

"I can't let this go unpunished, íroa mou (my hero)."

She moved her hand from the gold chain to his hairy chest, dark black and peppered with silver, his scent so masculine and safe.

Stavros: "No, you cannot. My wife would never suffer such foolishness. These children only learn the hard way. It never changes. They never change."

"My son is dead Stavros...he's gone. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Stavros took Kelly into his arms, her back pressed against his chest as his scruff grazed over her neck, filling her with immense passion, as he whispered into her ear, nibbling as he spoke.

Stavros: "Then make them pay, my Queen."

A decade later

Kelly found herself back in The Hellfire Mansion, quite easily she might add. Security seemed to be so much greater yet so much less effective. It was a numbers game, though Kelly didn't need to break in. She could shimmer in any place she damn well pleased, she basically owned the place. The White Tower was a nice edition, and Kelly could feel the power radiating off of it. Erika had certainly garnered some power for herself, but she was in no way stronger than her mother. Kelly easily breached the veil of protection, listening in on her daughter's devotion.

Erika was exasperated. Exhausted. Spent. She had taken on way too much. Just to prove that she could. To who? Her brother? He was dead. She should have been thinking of revenge.

"Now, really dear. Don't you think this is all a bit...basic?"

Kelly loathed nature witches. She loved lavender as much as the next girl but she wasn't going to create a personality around it. It was the twenty first century. We could clone people. It was going to take more to impress her.

"Come now, give mother a kiss...We need to talk."

Erika: "What in the ever loving fuck are you doing here, Kelly?"

Kelly laughed.

"Well aren't we full of piss?! I thought you were meditating."

Kelly sat down on one of the plus and feathery couches, as she pulled her black driving gloves off one by one in a delicate manner.

"I've decided to end this cold war between us, Erika. But I'm not about to save your ass before you eat a bit of crow."

[leaning in coldly]

"My son died on your watch. I sent you to Hellfire to look after him, to protect him from that bitch. And then he dies. You don't even tell me. You don't even let me a part of the funeral. You buried my son and you didn't let me say goodbye. Tell me why I shouldn't slap you right in your face?!"

 

[Pathfinder]

Erika had not seen or spoke to her mother for ten years. And it was ten years too soon. The White Queen had been doing this for too long on her own, she had no room for a mother anymore. Especially not Kelly.

Kelly: "Come now, give mother a kiss...We need to talk."

The gall of her mother was endless. Erika snarled at her.

"What in the ever loving fuck are you doing here, Kelly?"

Kelly: "Well aren't we full of piss?! I thought you were meditating..."

It was clear her mother was not leaving, and if Erika was honest, enough of her family members had died. She wasn't about to continue this twisted cycle of abuse. As her mother sat so did she, crossing her legs at the knee, dangling her foot mindlessly, annoyed and angered at her mother's presence.

Kelly: "I've decided to end this cold war between us, Erika. But I'm not about to save your ass before you eat a bit of crow."

"Lucky for you, I'm an excellent baker, bitch. And don't even think you can come into this place like you own it. You're a relic."

Kelly: "My son died on your watch. I sent you to Hellfire to look after him, to protect him from that bitch. And then he dies. You don't even tell me. You don't even let me a part of the funeral. You buried my son and you didn't let me say goodbye. Tell me why I shouldn't slap you right in your face?!"

Her mother's words hit her like a freight train. They enraged her. Not once had Kelly reached out to her. Not once had she asked about the children, asked if Erika needed help. No, she stowed away with Stavros on his yacht and ignored her family completely. And now she was appearing after all this time? As if she had the right!? Erika rose to her feet.

"Get bent, bitch. I don't owe you a goddamn thing. You have Omni Sight, remember? You can see whatever the hell you want. It's not my fault you were, like ALWAYS, too focused on your work and your husband that you failed to even notice he was gone. I invited you. I'm not a monster! Now tell me why you're here or I won't hesitate to kill you. They've never met their grandmother, it won't be hard to HIDE from them."

 

[Fathom]

Hellfire -- The White Knight’s Quarters

Carolina enveloped Heidi in comfort, and the White Knight reached to rub her arms affectionately. Sixteen years and the girl had gone from seven to twenty-three. She was as close to a daughter as Heidi would ever have, though now she’d become more an adult. That was good too, as Heidi enjoyed their maturing friendship. In some ways Carolina would always be that girl with the mermaid Barbie, but in other ways she had grown a tremendous amount.

Carolina: How was everybody today? Did they behave?

“Well I say they’re behaving, but your uncle Jack might disagree.”

She said, and Jack looked up from his clipboard reproachfully. Carolina handed Heidi a piece of paper, a sketch of her room, redesigned.

“I love it! I swear you can read minds. I’ve been thinking of redecorating lately.”

She replied, and then Carolina spoke of quitting school and coming to work with Heidi and Jack instead. Heidi brightened immediately.

“Oh yes, of course you can Princess! There’s even a new position available, since that one intern slipped into the Neptune tank and got herself eaten this morning!”

Jack: Carolina, I strongly advise that you finish your studies first.

He started sternly, and then he softened a bit.

Jack: After you graduate, you’re more than welcome to help out here. For now I will interview new interns, perhaps if I hire someone less attractive, they will be less accident prone.

He suggested, looking pointedly at Heidi, who tried to play innocent.

“I can’t help it if the little bimbo can’t walk across a wet floor.”

Heidi said defensively. Thankfully Carolina changed the subject to her grandfather visiting.

“Splendid, I’ll have the staff refresh his room, just let me know when. We’ll have to take him to that Mexican restaurant your mother loved. Speaking of restaurants, I made reservations for us tonight at that Hibachi place off Fifth. Jack has to work late, so it’ll be just us girls.”

She said. Carolina relayed some rumors from the pawns, and Heidi frowned and shook her head.

“Oh Ash will never. I was once so sure she’d like to be rid of Alek’s child as soon as feasible, but remarkably she grew attached. You know I told everyone we should make Undead Ted disappear years ago. I could’ve sunk him to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, we could’ve told her he went to the North Pole to be with Santa. Get the girl a dog, dead or alive, but we shouldn’t have let her keep a bloody polar bear!”

Jack: But it’s a fascinating study. Eight years since resurrection, and he only improves with age. Beck seems to have synergized the TO virus with his cellular structure entirely. If we could only figure out how she did it...

 

[Groagaldr]

Hellfire — The Catacombs

She gave up trying with her mother, and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Just when she started to feel lonely, an old friend appeared, with a rose. Beck turned about as red as her jacket when he called her his favorite.

“Arch! Stop, you’re making me blush.”

She took the rose and smelled it with a coy smile. Most of the boys her age were jerks. Archer wasn’t, though, he was always nice to her. And so handsome! Older men were definitely better.

“O-M-Gee, Arch! You’ll never believe what happened today. I was making out with Carter Bowie at lunch, and he tried to put his hand up my shirt, so I told him I wasn’t ready just like Ash said I could, but then he dumped me, the little twerp!”

She stamped her foot and then continued.

“And you know what?! That’s fine, he was just awful anyway. But then he went and told everyone that I gave him head under the bleachers — which is just NOT true — but that bitch Britney kept calling me dick-breath in Science Lab!”

She was getting angry again just talking about it, but her scowl twisted into an evil smirk.

“So right when she cut open her frog I raised it and made it leap into her shirt, and she freaked and her stupid fake friends did too, and they had been laughing at her dumb jokes so I raised all the frogs, and they started attacking the whole clique, and I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair, but then the teacher gave me Saturday detention! Like how rude, what just cuz I couldn’t stop laughing?! Those girls shrieked like banshees! It’s so unfair. High school sucks, the end.”

She finished, reclining back against Teddy again. She gave the heavy sigh of teenage angst.

“I’m not supposed to use my powers at school. How mad do you think Ash is going to be when she finds out?”

She asked him anxiously, and then she was remembering something else.

“Oh! So I think we should try to use one of the White Queen’s spells to banish the soul from the host body before we try to attach you this time. After everyone falls asleep, if you keep a lookout I’ll sneak into her suite and snap some pics of her dark spell pages.”

 

[Persuasion]

The Aqua Ring

Carolina found her adoptive parents exactly where she'd expected, in the Aqua Ring. She asked after the animals that lived their, and their day.

Heidi: “Well I say they’re behaving, but your uncle Jack might disagree.”

Jack made a face at her, which made Carolina smile. She handed Heidi a schematic for an updated aquarium in her suite. Since she was a child with her first fish tank, she had loved designing the little scenes for the fish, and then later plans for larger tanks. In another life she might have chosen that for her career. But as it was, there were expectations for her she couldn't shirk.

Heidi: “I love it! I swear you can read minds. I’ve been thinking of redecorating lately.”

No, she couldn't read minds. Oftentimes, it was a sore spot for her. Both her parents had been incredibly strong telepaths. A fact that had been hidden from her until just before their deaths. It had suddenly made sense why mami could always tell if she was fibbing...

But Carolina had not inherited that from them. Sometimes she wondered if they had cultivated her powers from the time she was born if she would have developed it. As it stood, she had only inherited a variation of her father's empathic power, and even that was driven more by pheromones than her mind. Could she make people do what she wanted? Yes. But no nearly to the degree her mother had been able to. It rankled her.

Carolina was tired from class, and bored with having to go. She suggested without being truly serious that perhaps she should give up and just work at the Aqua Ring. Carolina instantly felt bad because clearly Heidi loved that idea.

Heidi: “Oh yes, of course you can Princess! There’s even a new position available, since that one intern slipped into the Neptune tank and got herself eaten this morning!”

Even though she had raised her from seven years old, and Carolina considered her her second mother, Heidi still called her Princess. Which had developed a strange comfort to it over the years.

It was not that Carolina wouldn't have loved to work alongside Heidi and Jack here. If her parents hadn't died, that's probably what she would have done with her life. She loved it here, with the aquatic animals. The Neptunes and the eels.

Jack: Carolina, I strongly advise that you finish your studies first.

Always the Bishop. But he couldn't fool her with his "dad" voice, and she smiled at him and walked over to where he stood, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Jack: After you graduate, you’re more than welcome to help out here. For now I will interview new interns, perhaps if I hire someone less attractive, they will be less accident prone.

Heidi: “I can’t help it if the little bimbo can’t walk across a wet floor.”

Carolina laughed good naturedly. The idea that Uncle Jack would ever look at anyone other than Heidi was ridiculous, so her jealousy was adorable.

Carolina mentioned that her grandfather was planning a visit soon, which made her happy because she missed him terribly. He, of course, wanted her to come back to Colima when she finished school. She couldn't make him understand that this was where her home was now, and where she needed to be. For her father.

Heidi: “Splendid, I’ll have the staff refresh his room, just let me know when. We’ll have to take him to that Mexican restaurant your mother loved. Speaking of restaurants, I made reservations for us tonight at that Hibachi place off Fifth. Jack has to work late, so it’ll be just us girls.”

"Uh, oh, Jack, we might pick up a couple of hot hibachi cooks, look out!"

She grinned at him. She really was excited to go out just her and Heidi, though. Then she had to pass on the hot topic around the mansion: Rebekah was playing with that creepy bear again. She suggested that Ashley should send her away to school.

Heidi: “Oh Ash will never. I was once so sure she’d like to be rid of Alek’s child as soon as feasible, but remarkably she grew attached. You know I told everyone we should make Undead Ted disappear years ago. I could’ve sunk him to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, we could’ve told her he went to the North Pole to be with Santa. Get the girl a dog, dead or alive, but we shouldn’t have let her keep a bloody polar bear!”

"Only on the Red Court."

She glanced at Jack.

"Sorry, Uncle Jack."

Jack: But it’s a fascinating study. Eight years since resurrection, and he only improves with age. Beck seems to have synergized the TO virus with his cellular structure entirely. If we could only figure out how she did it...

"Imagine if you did it with whales..."

 

[Black Widow]

Hellfire -- The Catacombs

Haleigh tried to smash that crown right into her husband’s smug face, but her hand just passed through him. He slipped from the grip she had on his throat as if he were made of air, or she was. She tried to throw the crown at him but it evaporated, and that was when she realized they had jumped from the bright and sunny White Corridor to the dark underground passages of the The Catacombs.

“What did you do?!”

She snapped angrily. He tried to play innocent but she wasn’t buying it.

“Have you lost your fucking mind? I am so over this bullshit. I’m convening a council and moving to have you dethroned. And before you laugh you’d better reflect on how poorly your little I’m the King of Hellfire, fall in line soliloquy is gonna land with the other Regents. You’ll be lucky if they talk me out of executing you, at this point.”

She wasn’t getting her usual surveillance feed, so she tried reconnecting, to no avail.

“You scrambled my powers, Cameron? That’s real fucking brave of you.”

When he tried to insist he hadn’t done that either, she rolled her eyes. The control room was right around the corner, she could get her bearings there and send out the message the old fashioned way. She hated interrupting her Sister Queen’s vacations, but this could not be left to fester. Elena hadn’t been here a full day, and the effect she was having on Cameron was toxic already.

Haleigh moved past Cameron without so much as a glance, though if she could’ve shoulder-checked him to the floor she would have. She knew these passages like the back of her hand, and moved quickly, not caring that Cameron was following her. As they turned a corner they could hear a girl’s voice, faint and unfamiliar. By the time they passed the room where she was, Haleigh was too curious too keep heading for the control room.

Girl: I was making out with Carter Bowie at lunch, and he tried to put his hand up my shirt, so I told him I wasn’t ready just like Ash said I could, but then he dumped me, the little twerp!

“Who the fuck are you, and how the fuck did you get down here? Who are you even talking to, and is that a fucking polar bear??”

She drilled off the questions as soon as she spotted the back of the girl in the red jacket. But the girl didn’t even turn to look at Haleigh, she just completely ignored her arrival and kept telling her story, which left Haleigh to assume she was talking to the statue in front of her. Haleigh crossed the tomb to confront the oblivious teenager, but as she neared and saw the statue she slowed up. She was looking at a statue of herself, made of solid metal. And the girl... she looked like....

“My daughter....”

Haleigh breathed, when the girl finished her story about raising dead frogs in science class to attack the mean girls. She was blown away, as she watched her daughter lay back onto the neck of the bear, wondering aloud if Ash was going to be mad at her, which didn’t make any sense either.

“No, precious. At least she better not be, or I’ll kick her ass. You were clearly defending yourself. And you wait until I tell your dad about that Carter boy. Alek’s gonna beat that little perve to a fine purée.”

But the girl still didn’t acknowledge Haleigh, which was immensely frustrating.

“Why can’t she hear or see me, Cameron?”

Girl: Oh! So I think we should try to use one of the White Queen’s spells to banish the soul from the host body before we try to attach you this time. After everyone falls asleep, if you keep a lookout I’ll sneak into her suite and snap some pics of her dark spell pages.

Haleigh turned to Cameron with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t do spells, Stud. What, I’m a statue and your sister is the White Queen now? What kind of hellacious future did you bring us to? This isn’t fucking funny.”

 

[Orion]

Hellfire - The White Queen’s Suite

The drive back from Hell’s Kitchen was frustrating. Not finding Logan at his usual haunts was vexing enough, but then to fight traffic all the way across to the East Side was maddening. At least he had time to think, although he didn’t come up with any solutions. Logan was so much like his mother had been at this age, willful and wild. Zach was getting the salt and pepper look in his hair and beard from the boy’s antics.

It seemed like just yesterday that Logan had been an infant in Erika’s arms. Zach hadn’t been in Europe much longer than a month when he got the call that had irrevocably changed his life. He had rushed back to help calm and console his friends, and they had exhausted all options as a group before they gave up trying to fix what happened and just settled into adapting.

It had been the hardest thing in the world to tell Brienne he wasn’t coming back, but he couldn’t leave Erika to raise Logan by herself. Ash and AJ were caring for Rebekah, Heidi and Jack for Carolina. But Erika had lost her brother and her King and Queen and in a single hectic day become a Queen herself and an adoptive mother.

Despite the misunderstanding that had driven him from Erika in the first place, he couldn’t just jet away again. It wasn’t just Erika’s pain he stayed to alleviate either. He had cared too much for Haleigh to ignore the needs of her son. So he gave up the European Black Kingship for the American White one. Ash had been right when she said this was his home, too.

Sixteen years had passed and the grief was much less poignant now, but he could tell the kids were getting restless. Logan was acting out more and more, and Beck had her moments too. But Zach mostly let Ash and AJ worry about Rebekah, unless they asked for his help. His responsibility was helping Erika with Logan.

He tossed his keys to the valet and walked through the mansion to the Queen’s suite, letting himself in as usual. He started talking loudly before he even saw Erika.

“Did Logan get home while I was out? He knows what his curfew is. And if he’s been drinking again I think you should hex him with a weeklong hangover.”

What was quite unusual was the company his Queen had. Zach didn’t bother to hide his surprise.

“Mrs King-Cassadine, how lovely to see you again after so long. My my, whatever anti-aging spell you’re using is quite effective. You look younger than I remember.”

 

[Valkyrie]

The Catacombs

They could all go fuck themselves.

It had been years and years, and still the underlings from the other courts talked about Rebekah spending time in the crypt, and the polar bear. The RED court knew better, and also knew that the other courts were just jealous that THEY didn't have someone who could frickin' raise the dead. And not like, The Walking Dead raise the dead, either. Though that might be pretty fucking awesome to do sometime. Maybe for the Halloween party.

The others didn't understand the way Ashley did. She knew from experience what dead souls were like, how it felt to be able to see them. She was proud to have this link with Rebekah, but she felt for the girl as well, because for her it was so much more. Because she could bring them back, where Ashley could only send them on. It was too much for a young girl to have to deal with.

Especially one who already had to deal with not having her mother and father with her. Ashley knew about that too. What it was like to grow up without her own mother. But at least she had had her father. Rebekah had neither, and Ashley could only hope that she had done a better job being Rebekah's mother than the trail of women her own father had given the job to.

She loved Rebekah as her own child. And she had, even before Alek and Haleigh had been killed. From that first day when she had held the baby in her arms. The pact she'd made with Alek no longer had mattered, because Ashley could feel that this baby girl was her heir. She knew Alek had wanted his child to have the happy childhood he hadn't had, and Ashley had taken up that mantle for him after his death. And as she grew, Ashley saw the marvelous queen she would make. The best of Alek and Haleigh, but also of her and Savage. Ashley endeavored to teach her everything she knew. So she would have a long and protected reign, prepared for anything that could come. Because this was her daughter, and she was smart and strong and beautiful.

So all those people who said Rebekah was weird? Yeah, they could go fuck themselves.

"Rebekah? Are you down here baby?"

She entered the crypt. Seeing Haleigh there, in twisted metal. It still made her sad. She had brought a candle with her, and now she set it at the foot of the statue that wasn't really a statue, in remembrance. She turned and saw Rebekah, leaning against the bear. So much her father's daughter. She noticed the red rose in her hand.

"Are the roses blooming in the garden? I could have some cut and put in your room if you'd like?"

She gave her a small smile, noticing that something was off, even more than usual when she was visiting her parents.

"Is everything okay, baby girl? I got a call from your headmaster today..."

 

[Neptune]

Hellfire -- The Aqua Ring, Mezzanine Level

Carolina joined them on the upper deck, bringing Heidi a drawing of something which the White Knight loved. Jack, as usual, was a silent observer, but he had to speak up sternly when Carolina suggested she quit school, which Heidi enthusiastically supported. Heidi was wont to spoil the girl they’d adopted as their own, so it fell to Jack to be stern.

“Carolina, I strongly advise that you finish your studies first.”

He said, and she came over to kiss his cheek. He softened then, promising that when she graduated she could help out around here. And he didn’t want her to think the loss of the intern was a problem, so he assured her he’d find one soon. Maybe an unattractive one, though, he said as he gave Heidi a look.

She replied that she couldn’t help it if ‘the bimbo’ couldn’t walk on a wet floor, but the mezzanine level was suspended high above the tanks, easily fifty feet in the air and much too high to be accidentally wet. On top of that, the parts of the floor that were glass weren’t anywhere near the edge of the deck, which was made of metal grating and had railing to prevent falling in. So this ‘slipped and fell in’ story was quite far fetched, and everybody knew it. Carolina saw through it immediately and laughed.

Jack went back to work as the women talked. He walked over onto the metal grating near the edge and leaned over a large tub that had been wheeled over. In it were several big tuna fish from the livestock tank. Jack worked a chain around the tail of one and used a mechanical hoist to lift it out and hang it over the railing above the Neptune ring. He was going to use the winch to lower it down but one of the sharks leapt out of the water and snatched the fish off the chain greedily. Jack wasn’t really surprised, he just reeled the chain back in and started to attach another fish as Heidi told Carolina they’d be going out to dinner without him.

Carolina: Uh, oh, Jack, we might pick up a couple of hot hibachi cooks, look out!

Jack glanced over at Carolina, the corners of his mouth threatening to lift up into a smile. When he saw Carolina’s glee he actually did give in to a small smile. For Jack it might as well have been an ear-to-ear grin. The next topic of discussion was Rebekah and Teddy. Heidi and Carolina both disapproved, but Jack saw immense scientific value in it.

Heidi: Get the girl a dog, dead or alive, but we shouldn’t have let her keep a bloody polar bear!

Carolina: Only on the Red Court. Sorry, Uncle Jack.

“Fair statement. My King is actually a wolf and my Queen has wings. And our Rook carries on with that woman with the tail....”

He shrugged, no offense taken, and then he entered the discussion on Teddy.

“But it’s a fascinating study. Eight years since resurrection, and he only improves with age. Beck seems to have synergized the TO virus with his cellular structure entirely. If we could only figure out how she did it...”

Carolina: Imagine if you did it with whales...

“The possibilities are endless.”

He agreed, with what amounted to excitement, for him at least.

“At any rate she’s still just a girl, still learning her powers really, and she was never as disciplined as you, my dear. Perhaps when she’s older I’ll be able to cultivate her interest in science.”

Heidi: Don’t hold your breath darling, it might be a while. Carolina, are you hungry now? I need to stop by the control room on the way out and check on the mansion. If the White Queen thinks I flaked out on my Knightly duties she’ll have a fit.”

 

[Persuasion]

The Aqua Ring, Mezzanine Level

As in most situations, Uncle Jack was unfazed, even when Carolina made a comment about the Red Court.

Jack: “Fair statement. My King is actually a wolf and my Queen has wings. And our Rook carries on with that woman with the tail....”

"Her eyes are amazing. I once offered to do her makeup, but she just glared at me."

She and Jack had a moment then, mulling over the possibilities for applying Beck's powers with their sea creatures.

Jack: “At any rate she’s still just a girl, still learning her powers really, and she was never as disciplined as you, my dear. Perhaps when she’s older I’ll be able to cultivate her interest in science.”

Carolina was at once flattered at Jack's compliment, and jealous that Beck might get to be a scientist like him and Heidi. She gave him a half smile.

"Perhaps."

If she ever left the catacombs, that is.

Heidi: Don’t hold your breath darling, it might be a while. Carolina, are you hungry now? I need to stop by the control room on the way out and check on the mansion. If the White Queen thinks I flaked out on my Knightly duties she’ll have a fit.”

Carolina pursed her lips.

"They should have made you Queen instead."

There was certainly love lost on Carolina's part between her and her aunt. That Erika had chosen to raise Logan, but not her, still hurt after 16 years. Though she wouldn't trade Heidi and Jack for anyone but her own parents, she still felt terribly unwanted whenever Erika was mentioned.

"I am hungry though."

She went over to Jack and gave him a hug.

"Don't work too hard Uncle Jack."

She followed Heidi out of the lab.

"We should bring him something. You know he'll forget to eat."

 

[Prophet]

It made sense. The only person equipped to destroy him was his wife. And the skill was mutual. She was throttling his throat, declaring herself Black Widow and about to bludgeon him with his own crown. It was poetic. And in a few more seconds he would gain enough focus to unleash a telekinetic bomb blast that would have destroyed them both, along with The White Corridor. It would be a cold day in Hellfire before he let her outlive him. Especially if his death would be at her hands. But he never got to. For a moment he felt a charge of kinetic and magickal energy as the bright white waves of energy to began to flicker around Haleigh's neck.

"The Crystal Cage?!"

It had been an heirloom passed down to The King Children like a silver rattle. How had she gotten it? Erika? Kelly?! Was his family pulling one on him? Trying to destroy him? Take his son for their own? In an mad RUSH of energy he felt himself shunted into the Astral Plane before he blacked out completely. And then everything stopped. His wife's hands moved through him as they found themselves in the catacombs. Odd, but Cameron definitely appreciated the well timed save. She threw the crown at him but it too moved through him and dissappeared. He immediately knew he was without his power.

Haleigh: "What did you do?!"

"ME!? You just tried to fucking kill me!"

Haleigh: "Have you lost your fucking mind? I am so over this bullshit. I'm convening a council and moving to have you dethroned. And before you laugh you'd better reflect on how poorly your little I'm the King of Hellfire, fall in line soliloquy is gonna land with the other Regents. You'll be lucky if they talk e out of executing you, at this point."

He had come in a little hot, but he meant what he said. Cameron worked hard to get where he was. They could call him the golden boy all they wanted, but it wasn't his fault he wasn't as much of a fuck up as the rest of them up until the last few days.

"I'd be careful what you say, before they throw us BOTH out of here. If i'm out, you're the next big shiny thing to hate. Especially carrying two King's heirs in your uterus. Much as you hate me, my fucking up is keeping you safe. So maybe cool it on the attempted murder and change your tone."

She rolled her eyes and moved through them, apparently not really realizing that they were not in the actual catacombs of Hellfire, at least not theirs. This was different and Cameron didn't need to be a telepath to feel it. A benefit of being a telepath was that it made one fairly astute, even with out their powers. He chased after his wife. As they rounded the corner he could hear a female voice.

Girl: "I was making out with Carter Bowie at lunch, and he tried to put his hand up my shirt, so I told him I wasn't ready just like Ash said I could, but then he dumped me, the little twerp!"

It sound like Haleigh as a kid and as he surveyed her closer, he began to see resemblance of somebody else.

Haleigh: "Who the fuck are you, and how the fuck did you get down here? Who are you even talking to, and is that a fucking polar bear?"

It was. An undead polar bear. It was definitely Alek's daughter, and for a moment Cameron wondered if the bear was actually The Red King, victim of some horrible curse.

"Haleigh."

It hurt to look at her, despite her absolute beauty. Thankfully the girl didn't seem to hear or notice either of them. He watched in real time as Haleigh put the pieces together.

Haleigh: "My daughter..."

And she was right.

"Something tell's me we're not in Kansas, anymore."

Cameron eyed the scene in front of him up and down.

"And I think she's talking to a ghost. Before I shut my magick off, I used to see them all the time down here. Spoiler alert, ghosts that live here are not the best role models."

Her stories were wild, all but confirming that she was Haleigh's daughter. She had a mixture of Haleigh and Alek's wild eyes and their edgy hair. She was beautiful, so incredibly beautiful. To see this different side of Haleigh and to watch her look at her daughter absolutely bewildered, it swelled his heart, despite him trying to choke the feeling down. She had just tried to kill him, it was going to take more than an INKLING of maternal instinct before he forgave her.

Haleigh: "No, precious. At least she better not be, or I'll kick her ass. You were clearly defending yourself. And you wait until I tell your dad about that Carter boy. Alek's gonna beat that little perve to a fine puree."

"Wait, why does she care what "Aunt Ashley" thinks. What kind of hell dimension is this that Ashley is "Aunt Ashley" to you and Alek's love child?"

Haleigh didn't seem to hear.

Haleigh: "I don't do spells, Stud. What, I'm a statue and your sister is the White Queen now? What kind of hellacious future did you bring us to? This isn't fucking funny."

She was so scared, and as angry as he was, the thing he was so mad about initially was his wife being scared of him. Because she was the strongest woman he knew. She had never been a scared woman. Nervous, but never scared. He hated seeing it, he hated having caused it in her. He gripped her on the either side of each shoulder. He tried to be a bit softer without pushing the limit.

"I know it sounds crazy...but..."

His left hand reached down and touched Haleigh's stomach, it had been the first time really since she became pregnant, and it was as if the energy between his hand and her stomach was kinetic. It felt so warm. So natural.

"I think this was our son. Before you tried to ki--when we were back at the mansion, before I blacked out I could feel myself going through the astral plane..and I remember seeing the timestream around me. And the crystal cage. I....I think our son is trying to show us something...and I don't think we're getting back until we figure out what that is...I think...we're just supposed to watch."

Ashley: "Rebekah? Are you down here baby?"

The Red Queen laid a candle down by the statue.

Ashley: "Is everything okay, baby girl? I got a call from your headmaster today..."

He put two and two together.

"So Ashley is raising your daughter, who's name is Rebekah...and I think...you're dead. The fact that my sister is Queen doesn't bode well for me either."

 

[Avalanche]

Beck: "Arch! Stop, you're making me blush."

She still took the rose and gave a coy smile as he smirked at her. Talking to Beck was not unlike speaking with Brienne Shaw, if Brienne Shaw's parents had loved her. She was a teenage girl, so vapid and yet surpisingly deep at times, and plus she could raise the dead, so whatever the bloody hell she had to say Archer was going to listen to.

Beck: "O-M-Gee, Arch! You'll never believe what happened today. I was making out with Carter Bowie at lunch..."

Archer suddenly manifested himself onto a lounging chair, in a nightgown painting his toe nails. Sometimes being a ghost was fun, and even though he was planning on tricking the girl into giving him a body so that he could ravage her care dependents on a global scale, he did find himself wanting to make her laugh, if only because she was the most lively person he'd had a conversation with in years. Most of the ghosts around here were always shooting their own wads every chance they got. Turning into monster tarantulas, or no eyed gimp monsters every second. It was nice to have a civilized conversation with somebody, even if it was about teenage boys.

"Carter Bowie? That bloody ponce again?! I thought we were done with him?!"

He shifted back into his black suit as he crossed his leg over his knee, his fingers at the corner of his eye, listening intently to the girl.

Beck: "And he tried to put his hand up my shirt, so I told him I wasn't ready just like Ash said I could, but then he dumped me, the little twerp."

Archer snarled.

"I'll kill him."

Beck: "And you know what?! That's fine, he was just awful anyway. But then he went and told everyone that I gave him head under the bleachers -- which is just NOT true -- but that bitch Britney kept calling me dick-breath in Science Lab."

"If there's one thing i've learned living in America, it's that ALL Britney's are trouble. Even the famous ones."

Beck: “So right when she cut open her frog I raised it and made it leap into her shirt, and she freaked and her stupid fake friends did too, and they had been laughing at her dumb jokes so I raised all the frogs, and they started attacking the whole clique, and I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair, but then the teacher gave me Saturday detention! Like how rude, what just cuz I couldn’t stop laughing?! Those girls shrieked like banshees! It’s so unfair. High school sucks, the end.”

Archer laughed lowdly himself as he brushed a bit of hair away from her face, pinching her nose for a second.

"High school DOES suck, it's why I never went. Well that and I never had any parents to make sure I did."

Beck: "I'm not supposed to use my powers at school. How mad do you think Ash is going to be when she finds out?"

"The Harbringer of Joy Sucking herself? Oh I wager she'll be rightly boffed."

Beck: "Oh! So I think we should try to use one of the White Queen's spells to banish the soul from the host body before we try to attach you this time. After everyone falls asleep, if you keep a lookout I'll sneak into her suite and snap some pics of her dark spell pages."

"There's my girl. Do you have another potential host body lined up? I've hid the failed experiments in deep in the catacombs, so we're covered there. I mean, I know we aren't likely to find somebody as devestatingly handsome as I am, but I think we should at least try, it's only right."

Ashley: "Rebekah? Are you down here baby?"

Archer groaned, throwing his hand back in a fainting exasperated display of sarcasm.

"Ugh, the Succubus of Suck herself."

Ashley: "Is everything okay, baby girl? I got a call from your headmaster today..."

Archer cocked an unamused eyebrow at The Red Queen. She'd lost all her fun. Just absolutely drained herself to raise this kid, which on the one hand Archer appreciated, on the other he never understood. She was the bastard child of Alek and Haleigh, and now Ashley was left to raise it. Always picking up Alek's mess. They should have killed him when they had the chance, but no, Ashley wouldn't let Cameron pull the trigger.

"Oh god here it comes. Look, Bex. Be honest, but don't let her make you feel bad. You can't let the world shit on you and not do anything. What's the whole bloody point of Hellfire, anyway?"

 

[Talisman]

Erika: "Get bent, bitch. I don't owe you a goddamn thing. You have Omni Sight, remember? You can see whatever the hell you want. It's not my fault you were, like ALWAYS, too focused on your work and your husband that you failed to even notice he was gone. I invited you. I'm not a monster! Now tell me why you're here or I won't hesitate to kill you. They've never met their grandmother, it won't be hard to HIDE from them."

Kelly's cobalt blue eyes gave a sadistically calm smile to her daughter. Erika's venom made her both proud and sad. It was clear that Erika really thought that she was doing some great act of service in running The White Court, of raising Kelly's grandson. She wasn't. What she was doing was trying to keep Kelly from Logan, and Talisman had let that go on long enough. Besides, she really didn't care about any of that. Kelly blamed herself for this entire thing. If she hadn't been so greedy, if she hadn't wanted MysTech so badly, her son would have been alive. She never should have made that deal with Haleigh. She knew it was a mistake but she was blinded by fear. She had survived the rebellion, but she refused to ignored. She wanted to prove so badly she was a power player that she gave her son's destiny to Haleigh, thinking she could trust her, but knowing she would bring this all to ruin. Her son's death would not be in vein. ALL of them would pay in good time.

"So you know I'm here for the child. I have to admit Erika, it's rather ballsy of you to try and conceal a future Sorcerer Supreme from me. As if you could. As if you have the power to."

Her black high heel boots began to click across the wooden floor as she made her way closer to Erika.

"Logan requires guidance. More than you or that king of yours can give. I may have been distant, but as you know, there is nothing I don't see, my dear."

[moving closer]

"You're stressed out. At your wits end. Logan is nowhere NEAR the level of mastery he should be. It's as if he doesn't use his powers at all."

She manifested a glass of hemlock, an almost compulsory act, taking a long sip. Her black matte coffin nails tapping against the flute as she sipped.

"I'm here because I think it's time I met my grandson, before you completely bury The King legacy next to Cameron."

Zach: [loudly] "Did Logan get home while I was out? He knows what his curfew is. And if he's been drinking again I think you should hex him with a weeklong hangover."

He rounded the corner and their eyes met. She could sense his surprise.

"Still got it."

Zach: "Mrs. King-Cassadine how lovely to see you again after so long. My my, whatever anti-aging spell you're using is quite effective. You look younger than I remember."

Kelly laughed.

"My goddess, you are precious Zach. See Erika? That is how you greet your mother...Though.."

She looked back at Zach.

"Next time don't attribute my natural and enduring beauty to my magick. Some of us were just born this way."

She got a bit of pervase pleasure in arriving at the time that she did.

"I was just telling my daughter that I think it's time for me to meet my grandson. He's out----drinking? You said?"

 

[Groagaldr]

Hellfire — The Catacombs

Rebekah started to tell Archer what happened at school today, and he morphed into a nightgown and started painting his toenails, which made her giggle for a couple of seconds before continuing her story. He listened and empathized with her. Even HE thought it was funny. He had a wonderful sense of humor, and he was so nice, and devilishly handsome too. Why did she have to have a crush on a dead guy? She sighed heavily, and then reminded him she wasn’t supposed to use her ‘gifts’ at school, and asked if he thought her Aunt Ashley would be mad.

Arch: The Harbinger of Joy Sucking herself? Oh I wager she’ll be rightly boffed.

“Aw, come on, are you still upset that she snubbed you for wearing that red jacket at breakfast that one time? I told you, we’re very serious about our color code here, it was all just a big misunderstanding, Arch, I promise.”

She reassured him, and then she remembered to tell him her idea for getting him into a body. They’d tried before, unsuccessfully. Arch mentioned hiding the bodies down in the catacombs.

“Oooh, do you think maybe we should be tossing them into the Aqua Ring? That’s a good way to get rid of the evidence.”

Arch: I mean, I know we aren't likely to find somebody as devestatingly handsome as I am, but I think we should at least try, it's only right.

“I’ll do my best, you know I won’t stick you in some nerdy AV club boy’s body. Although, the geeks are the easiest to lure. No, no, I’ll find you someone attractive. Maybe I need to sneak into that club Logan goes to and try to find someone old enough to drink. But I’m gonna need to talk to that pawn who does the fake I.D.s first....”

Ash: Rebekah? Are you down here baby?

Arch: Ugh, the Succubus of Suck herself.

“Shush, you know she’s the coolest Queen. You might as well pick one to get along with.”

His other choices were Erika and Ava, and that wasn’t happening. He had told her all about how awful they’d been when he came to visit, the Black Queen especially. The Black Queen was not friendly. In fact she was quite scary, and the whole Black Court was standoffish. They isolated themselves from the rest of the club and only showed up for official events. Nobody ever went to the Black Wing, not if they wanted to be seen again.

Her Aunt Ashley came in, her aunt who could more aptly be described as her mom than anything else. For a girl who was orphaned as an infant, she really actually lucked out in the adoptive parents roulette. Ash and AJ were the coolest parents in Hellfire, at least in Rebekah’s eyes. AJ seemed wild to everyone else, but he was always nice to her. And Ash was the only person on earth that actually believed Beck saw ghosts.

Everyone else had just called them her invisible friends, but Ashley understood because she helped spirits to the afterlife. Beck wanted to be just like her when she grew up, a beautiful Queen that everyone loved and admired. None of the pawns would call her the weird crypt girl behind her back when she became Queen.

Ash: Are the roses blooming in the garden? I could have some cut and put in your room if you'd like?

“Sure, I guess.”

Beck replied with a shrug. She might as well have servants put flowers in her room. The Gods all knew she wasn’t going to get any bouquets from the boys at school. Ash asked her if anything was wrong, saying that she got a call from the headmaster. Rebekah looked up with alarm.

“I can explain everything!”

She started quickly, and then she launched into the whole story again, about how Carter dumped her because she wouldn’t let him touch her boobs, and then he told the whole school lies about her, plus it got worse, because Britney was an even bigger bitch than usual, but also Beck admitted she might’ve used her powers just a teensy bit to get even. And to top it all off, the teacher was super unfair and gave her detention just for laughing at the mean girls for freaking out that the frogs were jumping on them. She sighed all over again.

“Can’t I just drop out of high school? The other kids are awful and the teachers are all boring. We could have tutors come to the mansion and teach me the rest. Why do I even need a stupid diploma?”

 

[Valkyrie]

The Catacombs

Ashley called out for Rebekah as she entered the crypt. She left a candle burning in front of Haleigh's "memorial", and then saw her daughter, holding a rose and looking beautiful as ever. She offered to have some more roses cut from the garden so Rebekah could have them for her room. She responded in typical teenage fashion, which didn't faze Ashley in the slightest.

Beck: “Sure, I guess.”

Ashley came and sat on the floor across from Rebekah. She was concerned, because the girl looked more upset than usual. Ashley reached out and brushed some hair from her face, asking if everything was okay, and mentioning the call she'd received from the headmaster.

Beck: “I can explain everything!”

And then came a tornado of words. Ashley interjected every now and again. When she mentioned the boy at school who dumped her:

"That little shit! Do you want Uncle Savage to kill him? Because he will."

And at the part where the girl was spreading rumors:

"The bitch! A well-timed cheating scandal will fix her. Or maybe I could melt her implants..."

Ashley gave Rebekah a stern look when she talked about using her powers at school...while simultaneously trying not to laugh. It's exactly what she would have done. Well, if it had been her, the frogs probably would have eaten the girls faces off, but to each her own. And then we got to detention, and Rebekah sighed deeply.

Ashley opened her arms.

"My poor darling, what a terrible day you've had."

Beck: “Can’t I just drop out of high school? The other kids are awful and the teachers are all boring. We could have tutors come to the mansion and teach me the rest. Why do I even need a stupid diploma?”

Ashley sighed, and stroked Rebekah's hair.

"Well, first of all, I'll talk to the teacher about the detention. I mean, if they are so incompetent as to have students cutting into the live frogs instead of the dead ones, they should just be happy to even have a job."

Ashley leaned back and found Rebekah's face so she could give her a wink.

"As for school in general...you know I would love to have you here at the mansion all day. But you have to remember that one day you will be Queen. And all these kids at school...you'll be able to crush them under your spiked heel."

She smiled.

"Do you know why I don't want you using your powers at school? Well, first off because it's a really frickin' good school and I don't want you to get kicked out but secondly: sometimes as Queen you will need to solve problems without using your powers. Your father was really good at that. He would have wanted you to learn how to interact with other people - even the fucking bitches."

With Alek, probably even moreso with the fucking bitches...

Ashley sighed.

"He was the great diplomat of our Court, and I was the general. But you? You can be both. You won't need a king."

She looked into Rebekah's face, studying it to see if any of this had registered.

"Now. Would you like to have dinner with Uncle Savage and me? We're having McDonald's!"

Ashley's eyes lit up.

"Well, actually, I think AJ is having a steak made for him...so you could have that too, if you're tired of McDonald's."

But who could ever be tired of McDonald's? There were so many choices!

Ashley tickled Rebekah's ribs.

"You can get an apple pie AND a milkshake..."

Ashley stood up, holding out her hand to help Rebekah up as well.

"And after dinner, you can come with me to examine the Red Guardsmen, and we can pick one out to command to drive you to school for the rest of the year. See how Carter Bowie likes that, the little punk."