fic requested by hopper-hopkins: Mia's before and after thoughts on the CC
All done. And only slightly very a little bit late.
522 AE
“You have a soul.”
“I know.”
The look on Maxwell’s face as he turned away made Mia feel almost guilty - for a moment. But there was also a certain petty pleasure baiting him, enough to quash any regrets she had in doing so.
“I have a Seer’s amulet; did you think I’d never ask?”
If he was frustrated, angry, hurt... well, good. Her life may have gotten a little more complicated recently, but it had still been relatively simple up until now. This morning, the most she had expected from the day had been a good lunch, and now...
In this room, right now, there was Admiral Thorne - an actual admiral! - of the Silver Star, the woman who ran practically all of the Imperial navy. Mia had never even seen her before. There was the House Light paladin... Haven?... and Ember, both of whom she knew to be both competent and accomplished in their respective fields, but both of whom she’d only ever really met once. She barely knew them at all. There was Twitch the Chaos mage, and Rabbit. One corrupt, the other a leprechaun... not exactly traits that screamed trustworthiness.
Maxwell was the only one she really knew.
Thought she had known.
That particular betrayal was less than an hour old, and hurt just as much as it had when she’d first learned of it. I trusted you. Maddox help me, I trusted you. How long was it before you decided to lay my life bare in front of these people? Was my trust worth so little that you could break it without regret?
The admiral stepped in, saving the situation from degenerating any further. Mia let her, too concerned with her next question.
And who in the hells am I going to trust now?
524 AE
The citadel was, in a word, intimidating. Built of dull grey granite, no ornate carvings, no ornamentation or anything that was not specifically designed with one job in mind - to keep the secrets of House Dark. A pair of dark-cloaked acolytes stood guard at the entrance, but they were hardly needed; if the inhabitants did not want someone to enter, then no-one would.
Mia sat cross-legged in the shadows of a low wall, just out of sight. That’s what you think.
Ember had gone into the town for food. Neither of them had been inclined to leave their vigil outside the citadel, but someone had had to go and Mia had refused to budge. Every so often, she touched the crystal, and checked on the health of the man inside - the reason that either of them were there at all.
It had only been through Ember’s reasoned and extensive argument that the citadel had not had its impenetrability tested already. House Dark was a necessary evil, as some called it, and Mia knew it did a difficult and thankless job for the sake of the Empire as a whole. This did not, however, mean she trusted them in the slightest, particularly not with the safety of Samuel Haven at stake.
He’s one of ours, she told the guards, almost hoping they could hear her somehow. As far as I’m concerned, that makes him as good as family. She paused. Fine, better than family. Just give me an excuse, one damn excuse, and I’ll raze that pile of rocks to the ground. So help me, the only way this place won’t be erased from existence will be if I show you what an eternity of suffering really is. You like the shadows so much? I will make so that for hundred - a thousand - years hence, your fate will be whispered by mothers in dark places to frighten their children.
The threat wasn’t as impotent as it sounded. If anyone knew the extent of her powers, it wasn’t Mia, and if there was anything that would test that knowledge it was something dire happening to any member of the little crystal club she had been unceremoniously dumped into almost two years ago. The only people in the world she counted as both trustworthy and friends were in it - an irony that was not lost on her, given how she had been introduced to it.
Forgiveness had been a long time in coming, but it had been well-earned. She had none left to spare for House Dark and their flunkies if they chose to test it.
She checked the crystal again.
One excuse. Just one excuse.