Work Text:
Alice cut off Lukrasta’s head, and it seemed the world held its breath.
What we didn’t know at the time was that Lukrasta had desired Talkus’s power for himself, the power that had once been the Fiend’s, and had already begun to use his magic to drain his power.
As Alice stood over his body, a black cloud emerged from it and seemed to leap toward her.
“Alice!” I cried out.
It went down her throat as she thrashed around.
I ran to her, “Alice! Can you hear me!”
Alice became still and slowly looked at me with a smirk, “Never felt better, I have.”
I felt great danger, and my senses told me to get away from Alice quickly, but as I looked into her deep… deep brown eyes, I felt an overwhelming calm come over me as Alice slinked her arms around me.
“Been pushed around too long, we have. But Talkus’s power is mine now. Free everyone in the world with it, we will.
I felt no alarm at her words.
“Now, no more nasty thoughts of leaving.”
I felt a shiver go into my very soul as Alice used her new power to erase any idea of rebelling against her. It felt purifying.
I looked at her and smiled, “What shall we do now, my love?” I asked her.
She smiled back, “Get stronger, we do.”
Our first stop was on the island of Moan. Alice used her power to turn us into shadows and took us to the power buried there, and took it all for herself.
Then we entered the Dark and destroyed the old god Pan for daring to separate us, and Alice took his power too. One by one, we slew the old gods, and Alice took their power for her own.
Grimalkin and Thorne tried to “free” us, but we subdued them, and Alice opened their eyes as she did mine.
Once the last old god was destroyed, we returned to Pendle in the County.
One by one, the witches of Pendle came to join us, some willingly but most through Alice’s use of her power.
When Halloween next came, all the witches joined their power with Alice’s, and she used her power to give a small portion of her power to every man, woman and child in the County. In that instant, every single one of them became a witch or mage.
Overnight, everything had changed. Now, everyone had the power of the Dark and were loyal to Alice, our new Queen.
I rode the horse through the city, everyone either wearing pointed shoes or going barefoot like the Mouldheels, the streets policed by witches with weapons and filed teeth inspired by Grimalkin. It had been many months since I had been here. I had just returned from our newest conquest.
Ever since that glorious day when Alice had gifted the Dark to the people of the County, we had fought to share this gift with the rest of the world.
Once enough people from a Country had been given the gift. We would have the strength to empower Alice enough to share the Dark with everyone else from that country, which in turn would allow us to turn our attention to the next country.
As I arrived at the marketplace, I noticed they were in the middle of an execution. I didn’t know what the man had done, but if Alice had allowed it, then he must have been guilty.
When the man had been beheaded, the crowd rushed forward to harvest his bones and organs for spells.
I approached our home.
Alice had used her earth witch powers to grow a giant tree into the shape of a fortress larger than any castle I had ever seen.
I passed through the gates and handed my horse to a stable hand.
I found Alice sitting on her throne, wearing a high collar and a dress fit for the Queen she is.
When she saw me, she got up and walked to me, and when we reached each other, we kissed long and deeply.
“How are you, my husband? Missed you, I have,” She said as she stroked the scratches on my arm, which had reappeared the day she had freed me from my weakness, “Very well, now that I’m back with you.”
We were interrupted by a baby's cry.
Alice smiled. I’m not the only one who missed you.”
We walked toward the cries from our daughter’s room.
Tilda was in her cot, showing how she earned her nickname, Tilda the Terrible.
Alice picked her up to see what she wanted, and I thought about how good it would be when the whole world would be under Alice’s rule, and I wouldn't have to spend so much time away from my family.