Sequel: Lament

Soliloquy

twenty.

To be entirely truthful, my escape plan wasn't exactly original. In fact, it was the same escape plan I'd read about a dozen times in those fanciful novels I read as a younger child. They were full of terrible villains (usually with bushy moustaches) trying to corrupt innocent young girls. The young girls always escaped in the end though - by climbing out the window. It had taken far longer than I would have liked, but I was able to push the window up enough so that I could get through. Then I'd simply taken the linens off my bed, rolled them up and tied them together.

I'd become stuck soon after, trying to figure out what to tie the linens to. Eventually I decided to tie it to the closest poster of my bed. It made it so there was quite a ways I had to jump once I'd reached the end of the linens. Assuming they didn't rip or tear or break with me on them. I wasn't exactly trustworthy of the ideas I'd gotten from the penny novels. They were, well, novels.

It was late by the time I'd finally figured out my exact plan which turned out to be not very exact. The house, which had been thumping around all day was eerily silent and made me more than a little nervous. It took some time to tell myself that I could do this - that I was capable of it and that I should do it. By the time I was convinced that this was a good idea (even though I didn't know what I was to do once I found Alphonse) the clock in my room struck eleven times. The lateness of the hour gave me a good push and I was out the window without another look backwards.

I clung to the linen rope I'd made and cursed myself as I inched my way down. I had only so much time and I couldn't push away my fear of falling. Why and when I had thought this was a good idea? I should have just picked the lock in my door...of course I had no idea how to do that. I could have just smashed my door open but something that didn't feel very..nice. I knew that it was crazy, but when I had thought about smashing the door, I just felt like that would not be a very good idea. Besides I didn't have anything heavy in my room besides a chamber pot.

And I was not about to throw my chamber pot at my door.

Finally I jumped from the linens to the ground. The earth was still soft, which helped my landing a little, but I still felt the sting in my ankles. There was really no time to waste on that, though. I knew I did not have much time. Instead, I went around the house. It was dark now, very dark, but the moon - a full moon - was out and shining over the grounds. At any moment I feared that it would turn blood red and I would hear screams. I heard nothing, saw nothing, though. Instead, I re-entered the house. The foyer was dark. Creeping quietly, I made my way down the North Wing as quickly and as lightly as I could. The hall was only dimly lit. There was no sign of life, nothing. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. I could not turn back now, though. I came to Alphonse's door and pushed it open...

...Only to realize I shouldn't have wasted my time. His room was completley bare. The linens were entirely stripped from his bed and white sheets had been placed over all the furniture. Except one thing. In the corner, I saw Alphonse's violin out...sitting by itself. Slowly, I went to it, not caring how much time I was wasting. I picked up the violin and a numb feeling went through me. This is it, I thought. This is the end. Of everything. Biting my lower lip, I tried not to cry. I turned and surveyed the entire room...bare...empty...but I knew. This morning, this had been the morning that I'd woken up in Alphonse's arms. It had been real.

If I left now, maybe I could pass it off as some insane dream. But I'd always know the truth, and I'd always feel bare and empty, just like this room. But what could I do?

Something quite extraordinary happened then. The door to the room opened and in walked Jeannette. Surprised, she dropped white violin case she'd been carrying. Picking it up, I could see that her face had gone entirely red. "Excuse me miss, I'm supposed to pick up that case...this is you know, a uh, guest bedroom..."

"Come off it, Jeannette," I said with a snort, "we all know what this room is for." Then I straightened myself up and channeled every bit of Wren Morgenstern I could. Even if she was an evil witch. She still was ten times more frightening than I was. "Now, I need to know where they've taken Alphonse. Please tell me."

For a moment, Jeannette stared at me. "You're joking, right?" she asked. I shook my head no. She attempted a smile. "I can't tell you. Mr. Wainwright said he'd fire us if any of us tried to help you. I have no idea what he was so worried about, though. It's just some child whose been sickly all his little blip of a life."

I wanted to scream and cry. She was wasting my time. I turned my chin up. "That child happens to be my fiance." What a strange statement, even if it was true. Jeannette lifted an eyebrow. I knew she did not believe me. I took a deep breath. "Listen, if you show me where they've taken him...I will bring you to London with me. As my true ladies maid. I was thinking about hiring a french maid, you know, since they're all the rage these days, but I'll take you if you help me."

The offer was too tempting for Jeannette to resist. She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She started out of the room. I put the violin down and followed her. Suddenly she stopped and turned to look at me. "Is he truly your fiance?" she asked. With a swallow, I nodded. Jeannette smiled a tiny smile. "Well fancy that," she said quietly. I said nothing and followed her out the North Wing and through the foyer. She was taking us down the way to the ballroom but she passed it. I had never been in this part of the manor before. Jeannette opened a door then. There was a long rickety looking flight of stairs downwards. "Well, there you go," she told me.

"You're not going to trap me down here, are you?" I asked, looking at her.

My companion sighed. "No," she said sounding resigned. "It does not matter to me whether he lives or dies, but it obviously matters to you. And if you hire me as your true ladies maid, then it means I'm under your employ, and Mr. Wainwright won't be able to fire me. There really is no point."

I nodded. "Thank you." With that, I started down the stairs, going as quitely as I could. It was dark down here, but there was a light at the end of the stairs that helped me see. As I went further and further into the reaches of the basement, I felt my entire body getting colder and colder. This was not the same feeling as before, when I'd felt alone in Alphonse's empty room. This was an eerie, ominous feeling. What was I about to do? I was no hero, I had no sword, no pistol, nothing. I was but a young child.

No. I was a lady. And ladies did all they could to protect their husbands. Or in my case, future husbands. I would do all I could, and I would do it with grace and poise. So, following the light, I swallowed my fear and held my head high. For some reason, I had a fleeting image of Joan of Arc, as she went into battle. Well, I was Joan of Arc to Alphonse's France. I just wasn't a complete loony. When I got to the floor, I saw that it was stone, as were the walls. My slippered feet made more noise than I could risk, so I took off my shoes and dashed quietly down the hall. Sconces were eerily lit. Some of the flames were green, some were blue. I remembered what Prince had said...about how Ennis Morgenstern loved pyrotechnics and used different chemicals to make the different colors. I shivered.

I was coming to an antechamber. I could see bright orange lights coming from it. Fear, sickening and maddening, wormed its way around my stomach, up to my throat, down to my legs, which became harder and harder to move. An odd shuffling sound was coming from the small room and from my position I could see a door beyond. There must definitely be a larger room beyond that. Maybe that was where Alphonse was...but as I looked around the corner to the smaller room, something strange caught my eye.

"Alphonse!" I whispered, rushing forward. Alphonse lay on the strangest looking wooden board I'd ever seen, and he was tethered down by what looked like large leather belts. Next to him stood a large grandfather clock that was ticking very quietly. He looked at me and for a moment there was complete and utter happiness in his eyes and then suddenly and quite drastically, they changed.

He was struggling quite madly now but I went to him and touched him to make sure he was real. "No, no, no, Faerie, you must leave, you must get out of here, no, you cannot stay, go, please go," he moaned.

"Are you mad?" I screamed in a whisper. "I've been locked in my room all day trying to figure out how to get out and you only have-" I looked at the clock, "thirty minutes to get out of here before Wren comes back and takes you!" I went directly to the leather belts and started undoing them. "Oh god, is she here now? Will she come try and take your soul from Niflheim?" I asked.

Alphonse continued to struggle and somehow managed to catch my hand within his own. He gave me a tug that didn't pull me very far. I looked at him. His eyes were wild. "Faerie," he said very seriously now, "you cannot stay here. You have to go. You are in grave danger, if they find you here...oh god, what have I done? No, you cannot stay, go. From this house. Go to the carriage, leave at once. Never look back. Do not call the constable or anything. Just go. Go back to London, go home, Faerie, please, run now."

"No!" My voice was too loud. Alphonse winced. "I cannot go without you. You are my home! Alphonse, please," I could feel more tears, "we can beat this curse, we can break it, we can fly away from here, please, just come with me,"

His hand gripped onto mine and he pulled me closer to him. "Don't you understand, Faerie?! There is no curse."

"Wha-?" That was all I could say. Everything seemed to go slow for a moment. My senses dulled, I could hardly see, I couldn't hear...Alphonse became a blur. I didn't understand and something inside me told me I didn't want to understand. It was like my father's letter. Oh, that seemed like ages ago but what I wouldn't give to be back there now! But what did it matter? Then finally, things started to go again at normal speed and I looked to Alphonse, my head spinning. "No, I don't comprehend...what do you mean there is no curse? You cannot mean that, then why are you here? I don't understand..."

Then, I heard a voice behind me. "Hello, Fae." Turning around, I saw Charles standing there, with us. Alphonse struggled again but Charles simply looked at him and he went rigid. I stared at Alphonse. He was looking at me - he looked so frightened, but I couldn't tell if it was fear for himself or fear for me. My eyes darted to Charles and I saw as the entire Morgenstern family started to file out from the door. They were all wearing dark red capes with hoods, but I could see all of their faces. Prince stood at the front, face looking gaunt. "It seems that Alphonse has told you, so now you know. And yet, you don't understand. This is all right. You need not understand anything. At least, not right now..." I finally saw it, there. At Charles side. He held a knife, a long, silver knife in his hand. My stomach turned and I wanted to throw up. I didn't, though, and just went to shield myself with Alphonse.

"Tell me what's going on," I said, covering Alphonse with my body. "Tell me what's going on or I won't move."

Alphonse struggled again and I felt his hand with mine. "It doesn't matter," he whispered. "He means to kill you as well."

I turned my face. "As well?" Alphonse merely nodded. I looked to Charles, who was smiling. He did not look as if he was about to say anything to me that would be of use at all. He was just waiting. Waiting for midnight. Waiting for when Alphonse would be eighteen. But why?

"Please." I tried to keep desperation out of my voice as much as I could. "Just tell me why."

There was movement then. From behind Prince, Wren pushed her self through. She lowered her hood, causing Charles to glare at her. She tilted her chin up indignantly. How useless I was, I could never do it at the same magnitude as she. I would always be a lousy imitation. "Everything that you have been told...everything that you know about the nature of the relationship between the Wainwrights and the Morgensterns...is a lie." My mouth seemed to have gone rigid. I could find no words to respond. "It has been because of an oath one of our ancestors put on our families. It was to keep anyone from finding out what really was happening the night of the Blood Moon. I tried to hint as much as I could, but it was difficult. I could not speak of it, until now."

"Wren-" said Charles warningly.

Wren glared at him. "She has a right to know why she is going to die tonight." The words made me feel cold. "It was said that our ancestor, Nathaniel Morgenstern, the discoverer of the Philosopher's Stone, had found the secret of life." She took a deep breath. "In fact, it is quite the opposite. He discovered the secret of death. The fact that it was not, as everyone had thought, a place of eternal fire or eternal paradise. Instead, it was a frozen wasteland. It mattered quite little to him, though. He had found that death was a true place and realized that he could now go into death and bring the souls of the dead back to human bodies." Wren smiled then. "He did not, as the legend goes, however, run away with his knowledge once he had created something for the Wainwrights. In fact...it was because of the Wainwrights that there even is a Philosopher's...'Stone'."

I tried to concentrate of the feeling of Alphonse's hand in mine. It was warm and I put my thumb on his wrist, listening to the pulse of his heartbeat. It was slow, but steady. "What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Nathaniel Morgenstern found something quite interesting. The Philosopher's 'Stone', which, at that time was just a simple chemical, reacted well with blood." Wren smiled maliciously at this. "But not just any blood," she continued, "he had a few different samples and for some reason, the only blood that the chemical reacted with was the blood of the Wainwright lineage. And even rarer, the special property in the Wainwright blood that could create the Philosopher's Stone only occured in every third generation."

Everything seemed to be falling into place. "No," I heard myself say, but my voice was hoarse, "you cannot mean-"

Wren walked closer and put a hand on Alphonse's bare foot. "Yes," she said softly. She looked at me, her eyes dark. "Alphonse Wainwright is the Philosopher's Stone."

Charles came to us now. "That is all you need to know, I think. We have only a quarter of an hour left and I'd like to make all the necessary preprations-"

"No," I said sternly. I looked at Wren and then at the rest of her family, who were staring at us intently. Prince looked the most distraught, the most nervous. "What have the Morgensterns got to do with this then? Why are you here? What is your burden?" For some reason, my hand went to Wren's and I touched her fingers softly. "Why did you want me to try and make Alphonse want to live?" I asked.

She opened her mouth to talk, but Prince started instead. "Because we are the ones who have been charged with going into Niflheim and retrieving the souls. That has been the way it has been since the beginning. It is dangerous though, and usually we never return. A living soul can easily be trapped in Niflheim, while the dead soul floats easily out if it has help. This is why we wanted you to help us. We foolishly thought that maybe if Alphonse wanted to live he would put up a fight against Charles..."

Startled, I looked at Charles. "You are going to kill him?" I asked. For some strange reason, I had thought it was going to be Wren or Prince or...anyone but him. "Your own son? Your only light?" I asked, quoting him.

Charles nodded, oddly calm. "Of course. I'm going to take his blood. And then I am going to kill you. And then Prince will go and fetch Fiona's soul from Niflheim and put it into your body." He smiled then and at that moment, a flame flickered bright. I saw madness in his eyes and it truly made my skin crawl. "Don't you see? It will be us together, forever. You, beautiful Fae, with your mother's soul...mine...all mine..."

Suddenly, Alphonse flared to life, kicking and writhing in his bindings. "You bastard!" he screamed. "All you said was that if she came and tried to save me, you'd kill her too! You goddamn bloody bastard! How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!"

And then, Charles faltered. He looked normal for a moment and he looked hurt. For some reason, for some mad reason, I lunged at him then and I felt myself grab the knife from him. I took the knife and slashed the bindings on Alphonse as Charles fumbled...he almost looked as if he didn't know where he was or what he was doing. Wren looked surprised, but helped me tear the bindings apart. "Get away from here," she said. "Go, go!" I grabbed Alphonse's wrist and watched as the madness took over Charles once again. He started after us but Wren and Prince held him back. It didn't look like they were going to last long, though, Charles was getting through. I tried not to think about that, as I pulled Alphonse up the stairs.

"Where's Lily?" I panted as we pounded up the stairs, my shoes somewhere forgotten in the basement. Alphonse shook his head no. He didn't know. Oh god, where was she? I could not think about that right now. My mind focused on getting outside. If we got outside, then we were safe. We rushed through the strangely dark and empty manor. No one was here. No one was around. Hadn't they heard any of this commotion? Where was everyone? Not important. The door was in front of us. That was important. My chest was aching but we could not stop. My hand was on the doorknob and then we were outside. The blue moon lit a path. Where would we go? We ran along the moor, hand in hand. And then. And then.

The entire moor turned blood red. Alphonse stopped immedietly and clutched his chest. He staggered forward. A scream erupted. I looked to Alphonse. His mouth was not moving. More screaming, it would not stop. I looked around. There were footsteps behind us, someone was coming. Oh dear god, I prayed, please let it be Wren or Prince or anyone but Charles. Then, for some reason, my head turned to the right. I saw the large rock where Alphonse and I had spent that glorious morning together. And on top of it, I saw a woman. She was starch white with long, long, white hair. And she was the one screaming. For one moment she stopped and our eyes met. Then she looked away and continued to scream. My face turned to Alphonse. He was writhing like mad. "It is...the blood..." he spat out, "I will...be okay..." His words did not entirely reach me, however, for at that moment, Charles had reached us.

"This ends now," he said calmly, quietly. From his pants pocket he took out a pistol that gleamed in the red moonlight. The next moment seemed to happend to slow and too fast all at the same time. There was a blur of color, a shot and a scream much different than the ones coming from the White Woman.

I looked down to where I was still holding onto Alphonse. His wide eyes were blinking at me. And on top of him lay his mother, her white dressed covered in dark red blood.
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