Chapter Text
It had been several years since I graduated from Hogwarts. I couldn’t tell you exactly how many; mundane things like numbers don’t matter to me. Ravenclaw, high enough marks—I didn’t try to stand out. And I only keep in touch with one of my school friends, but enough about me.
The Psiioniic came into my room, crossing the expanse of polished gray stone to my morning nook, where I sat at the vanity, already in my nightgown. He gently pulled the braid out from between my fingers and untied the ribbon, beginning to brush it out. I watched him work in the mirror. He didn’t have any horns or those awful pointed ears, but I let him keep the eyes. It was only sometimes unsettling, and I didn’t want him to be fully human. “Will you be going home tonight?” I asked him.
I’d given the Signless’s whole rebellion a hive on my land (yes, I own property on Alternia. Most of my time between Hogwarts and now had been spent traveling.) And I only employed the Psiioniic because he was my favorite. He didn’t have much to do now that the Signless was safe. “I was going to. Would you like me to stay here?”
“No. Go home. Have fun. I’ll be fine until the morning.”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“No.” I reached back and pulled his hand away from its work, letting my kiss linger on his thumb. There were other people in my employ who were probably better suited to this sort of work, but his abilities made him a fabulous hairdresser. “I’m sure the Signless has some exciting news he wants to share with you. And I can have Molly help me if I need to dress before you arrive.”
“Alright.” And his eyes glittered in the mirror, rebraiding my hair while keeping his hand in mine. Once he’d tied off the ribbon, he bid me good night and headed down to the stairs. I stood from the vanity and reached for my shawl, getting comfortable by the fire.
Then Rose knocked on the door with the tea cart and a hot pot of Talk-To-Me. Levi joined me soon after. We always shared a cup as his day got started and mine wound to a close. He poured two cups, adding two scoops of sugar and a dash of cream to mine. He took his black. I pulled my bare feet onto the couch next to me and took the cup he offered. My favorite Royal Albert. White with a gold rim and little bouquets at points around the circle. I took a sip as Levi took his seat, and the magic was already affecting us. “I found a mirror in one of those empty rooms. D’you want me to move it? It’s fancy, like it wants to be seen.”
“Certainly. Put it in my study first. I don’t want other people hurt by it if it’s bad magic.”
“What if you’re hurt by it?”
I smiled. “You of all people should know, the risk is part of the fun.”
“Fair enough.” He sipped at his tea. “Did you see what Jack and Tucker built in the great hall?”
“No. What did they build?”
“It must have been Tucker’s idea. They turned the staircase into an ice slide with a jump that launches you into the hot tub. It’s a recipe for temperature shock. I just wonder who’s going to succumb first.”
“Oh, come now. I’m sure the slide isn’t long enough to lower their core body temperature. It’s the complete submergence in hot water that I’m concerned about. But they’re both older than you’d think. I’m sure they’ll discover the flaws and either fix them or count the experiment a failure.”
“What about you? Are you…”
But tonight I went to the intercom, called down to the kitchen, and canceled the standing order for tea. I didn’t want this comfortable quiet to be broken. “Would you like me to make something else instead? A sleep aid? Or a Cheery Cherry Pie?” Chuck asked.
“Perhaps a pot of non-magic tea. Do we have any rooibos left?”
“Plenty. Rose’ll be up as soon as it’s ready.”
“Thank you, Chuck.” I severed the connection and stood debating for a minute. I liked the quiet, but I’d also like some company. Unfortunate that the Psiinoiic had gone home. Molly was always good when I was feeling like this, but Shiro was also free, and I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Luka lately. Eventually it came down to that Dad vibe, and I pressed the button for the guard’s chambers.
“Yes, m’lady?”
“Shiro, will you please join me for a cup of tea? Just as friends. Unless you had other plans for your evening.”
“My plans can wait. I’ll be up in three minutes.”
I had to smile. It was so like Shiro to have travel times around the castle memorized to the minute. “Thank you, Shiro.”
True to his word, there was a knock on my door precisely three minutes later. “M’lady? You asked to see me?”
I opened the door with a wave of my hand from where I stood on the balcony. I found wandless magic to be easier once I understood the weave of chaos. Shiro came in and quietly shut the door behind him before coming to join me. The landscape today was an empty expanse of desert. The sun had set, and the purple clouds were accented with bolts of blue and white lightning. It was the perfect temperature, and the air was filled with the scent of rain. I closed my eyes and let my head drop just a little bit. It was really nothing more than not looking up, but Shiro noticed anyway. “Is everything ok?”
I sidestepped closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “Now it is.”
He didn’t sound convinced. “Are you sure? Why isn’t Levi here?”
“I don’t want to force him to talk about meaningless things. He’s the kind of person who needs to be discussing actual problems, but we don’t have those here.” A shape moved in the distance, Asra on his hay beast.
“If I might point out a trend, m’lady, I don’t think anyone here is cut out to talk about meaningless things. Except maybe Hideyoshi.”
“And Hideyoshi is a child. The only things I can talk about with him are meaningless.”
“Do you want to talk about meaningless things?”
I sighed, and my thoughts returned to the letter I’d received this afternoon. I could ignore it, talk about meaningless things, and let the haters break themselves against my walls. Or, I could turn it into an adventure. Almost everyone in my household would jump at the chance to do something. “Is life too boring when it’s peaceful?”
“I don’t think so. Some of my favorite memories are just standing in the kitchen laughing at something… someone said.”
“True. I’m just worried that things have gotten stale. No one is brave enough to attack me anymore, and the ones who are don’t want to. Perhaps I should stir up some trouble on purpose.”
Another traveler stirred the dust on the horizon: Bumblebee, out for a drive.
“You have the power to do that, m’lady.”
I did. I had the power to do anything I wanted. But with the volatile mix of characters that lived in my castle, surely the most exciting thing I could do would be to indulge them. In that evening that never was, Jack Frost and Tucker had created quite an adventure for themselves, and as Shiro and I stood watching Bumblebee race the ghost of Knockout, an explosion rumbled through the castle from Medic’s lab. I didn’t need to start a war. There was plenty of fun to be had right here.
I could sense Shiro’s apprehension, and I stopped leaning against him. The Psiioniic had some too. Even Chuck had been more reserved than I would have liked. You have the power to do that, m’lady. He knew. He knew that I could wave my hand and tear his insides out through his ears. He knew that he only existed because I allowed him to exist. He’d seen what I’d done to my least favorite characters. Or at least, what I would have done if my least favorite characters had been allowed to exist in this world. That was why there was no conflict here. Because I was all-powerful, and I didn’t want the people I didn’t want. And if Shiro failed to please me, if he became a sad boy like Runaan, he would share his fate.
A tiny smile pulled at my lips. Shiro had taken a silent half-step backwards. It was more than apprehension now. He was afraid. I was a capricious deity. Capable of blessing and cursing at the slightest change in the wind. He was right to be afraid.
My smile faded. I didn’t want to be feared. Not then. Not like that. I wanted my subjects to respect me, but I also wanted them to trust me. I wanted them to feel safe. I could have turned to Shiro then and commanded him to feel safe. He would have complied. I could have erased his fear as easily as erasing chalk. But I didn’t want to control him that far. It was important that my subjects have free will. I wanted them to choose to love me. I wanted to know that they valued me. I also wanted to be loved.
I turned away from Shiro, heading back inside. “It’s alright. ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ There’s nothing you can do to save me from this. Even if I write a story where I am powerless, I am still writing the story. Nothing will happen that I don’t want to happen. There is no force working against me, so I am bored.”
Shiro’s fear dissipated. I could still cause him to die in agony, but now he believed that I wouldn’t. “You could allow someone into your world for you to fight against. Even if you controlled them too, surely it would ease your pain for a while.”
“Yes. I think I will admit a villain into this world. I think they will seek to harm you.” I reached out, setting a hand on the sturdy post of my canopy bed to steady me. My imagination was already running wild, making my good boys scream in pain. “I think... I think I will have to be the hero this time.”
Then I felt Shiro’s hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure?”
Was I sure? Very few subjects of mine weren’t the hero type. Almost everyone would try to save me if I turned the tables. I could let a villain in and write a story where I needed to be rescued. But no, that arc could be a sequel after I’d earned the loyalty of my castle’s residents. “Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”
Shiro’s fear lifted its head. “Should I warn the others then?”
I sighed. “You can. There won’t be any way to stop it, though.”
His fear shook itself, changing its coat to become Resolve. “Very well, m’lady. I trust you.”
I turned around to catch his arm. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Shiro.” My eyes filled with tears as I thought about the words I was saying. “If I could give your pain a better purpose, I would. But the truth of the matter is that I’m doing this just because I’m bored.”
His other hand came up so he held both my shoulders. “M’lady, you are an immortal being of infinite power. It is nearly impossible for you to not be bored. And second, when you are bored, you are depressed. It weighs on all of us to see you so despondent. I trust that you will save us, and we will recover. So, if all’s well that ends well, and if our pain gives you purpose, then it is worth it. We may be toys for your amusement, but it’s clear that you truly love us. So, write the story where we suffer. We know that you will not break us.”
The third tear finished rolling down my cheek, and I looked up into his honest eyes. Then I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you, Shiro. I will miss you while you’re away. And I promise that I will rescue you before your hope is truly gone.”
“My hope will never be gone.”
A shadow of my evil smirk came back as I broke our embrace. “Careful. You don’t know what I have planned.”
He laughed, but I knew that his fear was still there. “Goodnight, m’lady. I trust that tomorrow morning at least will be peaceful?”
“Yes. I don’t know when the villain will come yet, but the morning is safe. I hope you’ll be able to sleep well.”
Shiro only bowed and left the room. I truly did hope that he’d be able to sleep. It is a terrible thing to know that the future is dark. But I crossed to my desk and went over my list of villains. In the evening that never was, Levi had mentioned a mirror. I knew that he had discovered the mirror in this timeline too and that he had already placed it in my study. In fact, I knew everything about that mirror, including who was trapped within it. That being could play the part of my villain very well, but I would need to give him a reason to hurt my Good Boys. So I began designing a problem that only their suffering could solve.