Archived:The Death of a Duchess/Part V

==Part V: Once a Prodigy, Always a Prodigy==
===Legend===
A glowing green wisp passes Anneline, directing her towards a certain path. A voice. A voice saying, "This way..." coaxes her there.
"Hello, Anneline. It's nice to finally meet you. How's my sister?" A somewhat mysterious voice echoed throughout the cave. And standing in front of her, is a stranger. A stranger by the name of Marcus.
His smile fades into a scowl. "I said how's my sister!" he yelled.
"You know her, you know her you liar! Now how is she?!"
"You talked to her before you came here, you know her you liar!"
Marcus narrowed his eyes, glaring at her with a powerful ferocity. "Silence," he ordered, his voice ringing out, bouncing out along the walls. The cave shook, rocks fell. "You, are at my mercy. And I don't like killing my guests."
He studied Anneline for a second and smiled. "You're interesting, you might actually have another use besides yelling stupid remarks at me."
He raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a long list of murders, and I definitely don't remember a Scarlett."
"....I-It's..." he started, "You, really don't want to know...."
He sighed, "See, it's those... those sterotypes that everyone makes, that makes life so difficult. You're not stupid, you're not stupid if you try not to be, and you can be talented if you take the time to find yourself. Following... them hasn't done anything for you all these years, has it? And look, just being away from them for a few days, you found someone who adored you no matter what. I'd help you, and I'm sure Persephone would have too, but... You know... Time travel isn't possible yet, not even here." Marcus cracked his knuckles and looked at the roof, "It's Max. The murderer, it's Max."
Marcus rasied an eyebrow and glanced at Selene. "You're late Nightluck."
He smiled, partly amused at the conversation. "Max... has a dark past with royalty, more in general, Earth royalty. She's an Earth Elemental herself. And Scarlett was one of her, quote and quote, 'enemies'."
"Unfortunately, yes. Without Brianna or Jack, Max can go on to kill any royalty she wants and not get caught. As a school guardian, she can access the Ancestral Records room in the school basement and remove any records of the murder. And before you ask, Jack and Brianna are descendants of a past Omnia member. That's why they're so special," he continued. "Right now she has Jack hidden somewhere in the school catacombs, and as we speak she's going after Brianna so I suggest we quit chatting and go find her before the worse happens."
"I have to warn you, the catacombs are a dangerous place, I'd know personally, I've been there before while I was alive. And Max is even more deadly, she'll stop at nothing to complete her scheme, she'll go as far as unnecessary killing, she's not a force to underestimate."
The plot has finally been revealed, and the key is so close in range. To unlock the second gate, go find the Prodigy to get to the third gate, and unto the final one.
Continue to Part V: Prodigy
===Prodigy===
With a flame in one hand, and a knife in the other one, Marcus forged onward, the two duchesses close behind him. Suddenly he stopped and turned to face them. "She knows were coming... There's serpents at the next corner."
He let out a hush sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, a whole lot better then waiting for a Winter serpent to come eat us alive. Well eat you, I'm already dead."
"Ooh, that hurt Princess. Yeah I have powers. Unless Selene has a better plan, I think this is are only chance."
"I've been down here for several weeks, and I'm fine. Maybe it has something to do with your cells. They're live so they get affected by the enviorment... Unlike me."
"Yeah, anyway, not the point. Let's put your plan into action, 'right?"
The snow white serpents hissed and turned their scaly heads to stare at Anneline. "Who daresss... to challenge usss..?" one hissed.
"And they're talking serpents... nice," Marcus whispered dryly.
"Do you not know the tale... of the serpentsss.. child?"
"You lie! Foolish child, you shall now perish!" The serpents prepared to strike, showing their swiftness. 
"Don't move Anneline! I reconginzed these serpents. They're not Winter serpents. They're the Elder Serpents. They guard the other entrance to the school's treasury." 
Marcus stepped out, "Hey... Um, you haven't happen to see the way to the catacombs have you?"
The serpents looked at him, finally one spoke, "Dead. Dead elemental. No threat."
"Uh... You're welcome?" he murmured.
"We know of the pathway spirit, but at what cost shall you receive this knowledge?" the serpents replied finally.
"C-Cost?"
One of the serpents studied her, but none of them said anything. They glided along the floor, swiftfully, and gracefully and surrounded Selene. "You are of the wealthy, are thou not? There is no such thing as a low cost, all costs are high, maybe not now, but later. If you suggest on taking the "lowest" cost... Someone must contribute half of their soul. Only the living, as the dead, there souls are all they have left."
Thunder echoed throughout the cave, which just turned out to be the snakes' laughs of amusement. "A sixth of a soul? Oh the poor children of this age! What have they been teaching them?"
"Sacrifices, sacrifices. And to answer your previous question, half a soul, is half of your memory, and a part of your personality."
One serpent glided towards her. "You are not brave child, but you are worthy. If this is all... We must have one more request."
"The crown of the kingdoms."
Marcus yawned as he listened to the conversation. "What the f*ck have you been learning for the past six/five years?" he spoke up. "In the time of Ancient Elementrium, there was one ruler before the elements split up into kingdoms. All direct royalty's crowns are based off of it, but the original is kept in the school's treasury."
"One, you should know that because they review it in History in 5th Year, and Two, it's a test obviously."
The serpents didn't give her a second glance. "No one is testing your patience child, it is a test like the deadman said. You are the one testing yourself, only the good proceed, the wicked shall perish. Now before you attack me, I dare say you take it easy on the tail, all the fighting is doing is taking a toll on my spine."
"I am testing your willingness."
Marcus groaned and faceplamed, "We're going to be here all damn day. It's a f*cking test, I think we've both said this. The Elder Serpents don't need the damn crown for anything, if they wanted it, they'd get it. It's a test of willingness, of intelligence, and self strength. It's not that hard!"
"Then you may want to find your loved one first, the archangel Max shall soon kill him," the other one finally spoke. "Edward, let collection go, and let them pass, Max is a dangerous force, even we know this," they spoke again.
"Because this world depends on Max's destruction, we let you pass on the terms earlier before. There shall be no test, time is ticking," Apparently, Edward, said.
Both serpents slithered towards Anneline, and began to circle her, towering up. Simultaneously, the started to glow a dull blue. "With the power of thou forefathers, and thy wisdom of our founders, it is done," they whispered. The light perished into darkness, and the serpents disappeared.
"Hey, look, the path!" Marcus shouted, pointing in the direction the golden doors had once been. "Come on! Let's go, let's go!"
Despite how far tthe others could be behind him right now, Marcus kept running ahead. "I see something, some type of light!" He shouted.
"Whatever it is, it has to be linked to Jack, or maybe it is. I'm going to check, you stay here and think of a plan." Just before he disappeared into the cave wall, he gave them a look. "I know you can do it, you're not dumb, you're not dependant on that bitch you called a leader, just for now, and maybe for the rest of your life, be the hero you know you've always wanted to be," he told them, then dispanded.
At this moment, Marcus returned, looking horrified in a way that signaled everything was going downhill. Very downhill. "That's Jack alright... But... He looks... Different... More violent, and definitely more powerful."
"That's the thing... I don't know what to do. He's... He's not normal. And I don't think it's Max this time."
"I dunno, maybe he sensed it and went into total rage mode. Whatever it is, we need to get rid of it, before he shoves a prickly vine up someone's ass. Namely not me," he replied. 
Marcus snickered a little, "This... Is not... the time for-" before he burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry, anyway. You have a plan or something?"
"So... You're plan is to make the Prodigy, fall asleep and hope he'll wake up in time to face of Max?"
"No, it's just like the prophecy."
Our Legend is long gone
Our Prodigy is overtaken
Our Champion is lost
And the Chancellor proclaims death
One shall perish
One shall fall
They will rise until the coming day
Marcus shuddered as he replied, almost instantly knowing what Selene meant. "Thank goodness. Anyway, there is no such thing as a "Max". She's a person Selene. Yes, she's an Angel Spirit, and one of the School Guardians, but there's a way to destroy people, that even their souls can't come back from."
"And we have a Potterhead among us. The surprises just keep coming," he muttered.
"Yeah, just don't get killed. Trust me, being dead is not fun. Next thing you know, you're being charged of murder."
"Well then go! Max is about to murder someone!"
"No," he replied. "Stay here, Anneline can handle it."
The walls shook, and rocks crumbled from the ceiling, a roar emerged farther down the tunnel. Sounding somewhat a lot like, "You little-"
Max spotted Anneline first and smiled maliciously. "Oh look, your girlfriend's come to save you. Every Percy Jackson needs a sidekick, right?" she yelled.
Meanwhile, Jack was fuming, vines covered the walls and were slowly creeping towards Max. "Shut the hell up you fucked up bitch!"
"Oh calm down Princess Perfect. I think you've run out of lies to tell," Max yelled back. Jack this opportunity to attack. Vines crawled up Max's legs and pulled her down to a kneel as they began to cover her. "Screw y-" the rest of her sentence was cut off by the vines.
Marcus rasied an eyebrow, "I don't think so..."
Jack stared at her coldly. "Why did you do it Anneline?! Why would you...?"
Marcus stifled a laugh, "Wait what?"
He stared at her for a second, and then slapped her. "You're an idiot Anneline, I swear one of these days you'll be the death of me," he said. He then kissed her cheek, "By the way, sorry. Just... angry."
"I love you too," he whispered. "Come on, let's get the others before Max breaks out of the vines."
Caught in the moment, Marcus kissed back, trying to figure what was happening and how it happened.
They arrived back to their hiding place to see Selene and Marcus kissing. Jack stared at them with a loof of unbelief.
"Yeah.... You think we should separate them?" He asked.
Marcus placed a hand on her waist, pulling Selene closer.
"Uh... If it includes Selene, I don't think it's ending anytime soon."
Marcus pulled back, his face red. "It.. I... Not.. Argh, you know what? Let's go and pretend this never happened. Alright?"
You've found the Prodigy, the second piece to the key. Now follow the pathway to receive the final piece, and end Max once and for all.
Continue to Part V: Champion
===Champion===
"And I can slap you again," he whispered back, not turning to look at her however.
He took her hand in his own, "I won't."
Jack then noticed the necklace and to which he said, "Didn't think you'd keep it."
"Wasn't really convinced you were the ungreatful type anyway. I'm just surprised. Don't you have like millions of those?"
"Oh..." he responded, dumbfounded.
"Yeah. We're in the school catacombs, so you must have passed the Elder Serpents which means we entered the Mayrion Cavern, so we must be heading to the Champion's Convenant. Brianna must be there, she's the supposed "champion"."
"Yeah..."
Meanwhile, Marcus's face was somewhat still a bit red, and he was more quiet then earlier.
"Oh, what it was like to sleep," Marcus groaned, listening to Anneline's yawn. "The thing about souls is, they can't eat, or drink, or sleep. It's just... argh."
Marcus glared at Anneline, "Because you can sleep. Unlike some people, so if you don't mind, please shut the hell up."
"Oh shut up."
He rolled his eyes and walked ahead. "Where the hell is this Champion's Convenant, I want you to leave as soon as possible before I loose it and kill you myself."
"Believe me, I'm not," he whispered to himself.
"So, how much farther Jack?" Marcus asked. 
"About 60 or so more meters."
"Who was that?" Jack whispered, noticing Anneline put away her phone.
"With what happened earlier, I don't think that's physcially possible anymore."
He gave her a questioning look as they continued to walk. "I'm talking about the soul transfer. Why did you automatically assume that?"
He gave her a weird look and face foward, his face blank.
"It will be, as soon as we get rid of Max, everything will be fine."
"You never make any sense sometimes."
He smiled, "Another reason why I love you."
Marcus furrowed his eyebrows, refusing to look at Selene. After awhile he finally settled to ask, "Why did you kiss me back there?"
"That doesn't work with me. Answer the question Selene. My question."
Marcus opened his mouth to speak, before snapping it shut into a thin line. Finally moments later he decided to speak with the words, "I-I like you Selene, you're fierce and independent in a way that can't be explained. I have to admit, back before... you know.... I wouldn't have minded hitting on you, but now it feels... I don't know, weird. Maybe because I'm dead and we're trying to save the Elemental world as we know it from some crazy angel spirit. Or maybe it was the kiss. I don't know. My point is if this ever happens again, which I doubt it will, I won't hesitate. Now that I've got that out, let's focus on the quest thing, alright?"
He blinked perplexingly. "I'm going to pretend I understood what that meant."
He nodded his heahead smiling a little. "You're just so cute, when you look calm like that."
He chuckled at Selene's response. "I'm glad I'm the first."
Jack glanced ahead, "That's the gate. To the Covenant."
Jack rushed foward, eager to get to the gate. Marcus didn't even bother to speed up as he could get there before them due to the new abilities being a spirit gave him.
Jack gave the lock a quick glance a'nd shook his head. "Enchanted. It wouldn't work."
Marcus looked at them funny, and stifled a laugh. "What do you mean it's locked?" He started towards the right. "Follow me, that's a fool's door. There's hundreds of them down here."
"Well I'm sorry, I have to get close to the actual door before I can tell it's a fool's door, and you all ran over here like mad people so," Marcus replied sarcastically.
Jack didn't say anything, but he did roll his eyes.
Marcus headed in front of Anneline making them the the right. "Have you guys ever heard of compass? You should buy one. It might help your sense of direction."
"Compasses don't work in the Catacombs," Jack replied bluntly.
"Who said?"
Jack shrugged. "Teachers, Books, other truthful resources."
"I'd be hurt, if thode resources were actually true. It's just things they tell students to keep them out of here. They convince them you'll get lost because nothing works down here, but this place is actually quite logical."
"I like you and all Selene, but I will not deny the fact you still get on my nerves sometimes," Jack muttered, falling back to walk next to Anneline.
This time Marcus didn't reply, holding back a sarcastic remark.
Jack stared at her questioningly, "Are you okay Annie?"
He laughed and shook his head, "You're so weird sometimes."
"Good, 'cause when you're happy, I'm happy," Jack replied.
Marcus noticed Selene's gaze and gave her a questioning look. 
He shrugged as his first response to her question."Nothing. Nothing, I'm just not feeling the best right now," he lied.
"Hey, you okay?" Jack asked, helping her up. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not having it," he murmured. "We need to stop, Anneline's hurt."
"It's a few minutes Annie, I'm sure she'll be fine," he assured her. "Sit down and let me look at your foot."
Jack nodded agreeing with the plan. "Go, hurry up and make up for lost time. And if you find anything I can use as a make shift crutch, bring it back to me."
Marcus yawned, watching them. "I wish I could sleeeeep," he muttered.
"Is this jogging thing just an excuse to hold my hand?' He questioned her, as they headed for the real entrance to the Champion's Convenant.
Jack mumbled a "Yeah?" partially distracted as he checked her foot.
"Hm, it's gold.... I sense a Harry Potter reference... Its a lion? Because Gryffindor's animal is lion?" he suggested.
"Spirits can't sweat, so I know your lying. Aw, why'd you let go?" He whined.
"No plays guessing games with me twice, because they say it's no fun. Honestly, I find it funny," he replied, tracing around her foot. Where his fingers glided vines sprang up, wrapping itself around Anneline's ankle.
"Yeah, I got that. I can't wait to see it. And also, when did you get the time to buy a pendant?" He questioned.
TIMESKIP
"We should probably catch up to the others. I can use some vines to support you for awhile, but my energy will drain quickly from the lack of food I've had," Jack informed Anneline, hobbling alongside her.
"That's not very likely. What would we find down here to eat?" He sighed.
He furrowed his eyebrows, "What color are they?"
"Poisonous. That was very likely anyway. We are underground, resources have probably gone bad by now."
"Probably centuries," he snorted. "No one's been here for decades."
Jack laughed alongside her, enjoying the small moment they had to themselves before they face the enemy ahead.
===The Chancellor===
Category:TDD