This Game We Play~ Act I:2 -- The Sacrificial Pawn
A/N: A House of M AU. This is growing in ways I hadn’t expected >.>;;;
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This Game We Play
Act I ~ The Opening
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Previous Parts:
~ A Sicilian Defense~
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Part II
The Sacrificial Pawn . . .
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“William?”
The youngest prince of the House of Magnus remained silent, curled in his bed, watching the breeze play with the drapes shrouding the open balcony doors. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows across the room, tinting everything with hues of pink and orange.
Familiar footsteps, a poised and elegant stride of clicking heels across the marble floor, approached his bedside. The clinking of silverware and the scent of hot food revealed his visitor’s intent.
“Thank you Aunt Lorna, but I’m not very hungry …”
“Then I will leave it here, for when you do get hungry, alright?”
Will remained curled on his side under the silken sheets of his grand canopied bed, refusing to turn even when his Aunt’s gentle fingers smoothed over the curve of his shoulder, and soft lips pressed a kiss into his hair.
“I’m so sorry, my little Will,” she sighed, petting him gently, “But you know that Father has a good and just reason for everything that he does … You cannot stay locked in your rooms forever. You will have to face him eventually. If you make him come to you, you will not be able to turn away the King.”
“Forgive me if I don’t want to hear him justify selling his own grandson off into the harem of some Alien sovereign simply to appease their appetite for conquest.”
“It is not that simple, William. He would never sell you, child! Do not make such insidious insinuations of your King and Grandfather!”
“Upon reaching my majority, not only am I expected to leave Genosha, but the whole of Earth to live with this skrull on his Throneworld- how many light years away?!” Will sat up suddenly, incensed once more at the very thought, “How exactly does that not constitute selling me off, Aunt Lorna!”
“And why do you think they are even waiting until your majority, William? Their intent was to whisk you away now. Father nigh started another conflict just to buy that much more time.”
Lorna’s tone turned sharp, making William cringe, fingers curling tight in his sheets. She leaned in, meeting his eyes, something dire and serious in them as she lowered her voice.
“Your betrothed is not favored in his homeworld, William. There are many who would not see him crowned Emperor and there are yet four years until your eighteenth birthday. The Skrull prince will not likely live to see it,” her hand caressed his cheek, “Be thankful for your Grandfather’s clever maneuvering.”
The breath stilled in his lungs, cold apprehension running through his veins. He schooled his expression as best as he could into something neutral as his grandfather’s machinations sunk in.
“Do not lay here wallowing in a misery that will not come to pass, my little Will.”
She kissed his forehead, fingers rearranging his ever wild hair before tapping on the covered tray in silent instruction as she left him to his thoughts. Silence swallowed the room once more.
The curtains surrounding his canopy rustled with a sudden unexpected breeze, the silverware at his bedside clanking loudly as his brother hummed in delight over the spoils.
“Are you going to eat this, or am I?”
William’s stomach churned with nervous disgust as the sweet aromas drifted towards him, “You may eat it.”
“Will,” Thomas said around a mouthful, his weight made the bed dip the next instant, “You have to eat something. Take the cherries, I don’t like him.”
Thomas loved them, but Will knew better than to contradict him directly, “No, please- I’m too nauseated, it will be a waste.”
“What are you still so worried about? Didn’t you listen to a word Aunt Lorna said? You’re not going anywhere. As if I would let some reptile drag you off into space. Will, you are incredibly stupidsometimes-”
“Thomas, don’t you understand? You are the one who can’t see past the end of his nose- sometimes, I wonder if you just choose not to! Grandfather is-” William paused, wrapping his arms around himself against the sudden chill that ran up his spine. His voice was hushed when he continued. “It’s like he’s playing a constant game of chess … And we- every single one of us- are just his pawns. That’s … D-Doesn’t that frighten you at all?”
Will looked up at his brother- the only person he ever felt he could fully trust in the House of Magnus with his true unfiltered thoughts and emotions- honest, pleading, afraid. Thomas frowned at him, mouth tight and stern, searching his gaze for a long moment.
“Sometimes,” he murmured, letting his hand find his twin’s, “But this is how the game goes, Will. We learn to play by his rules … until we can make our own.”
William drew his legs up to his chest, settling his cheek against the soft material covering his knees and studied the folds of his sheets to avoid his brother’s gaze.
“I don’t like this … It’s cruel- to both of us …”
“God, Will! Don’t tell me you’re already entertaining sympathies for that reptile! You’re too soft!”
“And you’re too harsh,” Will countered, eyes narrow with annoyance, “Will you … come with me to see Grandfather at least?”
He hated speaking to his grandfather alone- hated seeing the silent disapproval in his eyes.
“You are such a damned baby,” the older twin rolled his eyes.
“Tommy~”
“Yes, yes, fine- But eat something. We don’t want you fainting again like some frail little girl. You’re lizard might take offens-”
“Shut up, Thomas!!” William slung a pillow towards his face, but Thomas had already vacated the spot, his laughter echoing down the hall.
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“I know what you must be thinking of me, William.”
The king spoke with a calm gravity that broke no argument. Will felt like a very young child again, sitting in the large wing chair facing his grandfather’s intricately carved desk. Thomas’ foot tapped against the floor so fast it hummed. The king had not summoned him, but neither did he turn him away when he filed into the study after his brother, firm and resolute, eyeing his grandfather with something like a challenge.
“I had hoped to keep you both far from the reaches of this agreement. Indeed, I had thought the matter would be closed long ago. Do you remember the last conflict we had with the Skrull empire?”
“When Genosha was first founded, they invaded Earth, intending to conquer-”
“And the lizards found themselves outmatched and outwitted,” Thomas interrupted his brother, “They turned tail and went home.”
“And the treaty?” the King prompted.
“It was a trade agreement. The Skrull would supply us with deep space ore in exchange for nitrogen fixants for their less fertile provinces …” William paused, brow furrowing with suspicion, “What else did you promise them in return, Grandfather?”
Thomas’ foot stopped its infernal tapping.
“We did defeat the initial task force sent in to conquer the Earth- however, the Skrull do not give in to defeat so easily. They would have returned, with more troops, wave after wave- until they would overrun us. Alliance was the only option, you see- at least until a more permanentsolution could be found.”
“An alliance?” Thomas scoffed, “You mean a political marriage- Grandfather those things aren’t even our species!”
“Yes, but that matters little for a race of shapeshifters. An alliance of that nature would guarantee my cooperation. Dorrek VII saw it as a way to subdue me.”
“But you did not?” William frowned at his grandfather, knowing the answer before he asked the question.
“The Skrull empire is full of feuding factions vying for power. Dorrek VII did not long survive the signing of our treaty. When his mate R’Klll named herself Empress, she agreed to a few amendments. Those amendments bought us time, but I’m afraid that time is up, and R’Klll is determined to stake her claim in the House of Magnus.”
“Grandfather,” William tried to keep the glare from forming and failed, “Why would they choose a Prince-”
“And not a princess?” Magnus leaned over his desk with a sigh, fingers steepled in front of him, “R’Klll’s heir shows no interest in females. She is hoping to slake his desires before choosing him a true bride with which to produce the next heir.”
William stood so abruptly his chair would have toppled over if not for his brother’s quick hand. His nails dug deep into the skin of his palms, blue light crackling over his knuckles.
“Then I’m to be pawned off as some alien’s temporary concubine!” William shook with indignant fury, and-
Hurt.
It pierced through him and made his eyes prickle with moisture he refused to let show. The black sheep- he heard the whispers behind his back often. He saw the disappoint dampen the light in his Grandfather’s eyes every time his power fizzled out, or acted up; every time he failed to exercise the control his family treasured so much. The way his smile would become pinched when William would bumble through all the physical tasks his brother finished with speed and ease. He wondered often if the only reason his failures were tolerated as much as they were, was due to mother’s intercession. Wanda, everyone knew, was his favorite child. While he-
“Do not use that tone with me, William,” Magnus barked sharply, “That will not happen. I would not let that kind of shame stain my house-”
“No, you wouldn’t- would you? Not when I’ve stained it enough with my incompetence,” William set his jaw, clenching his teeth tightly, though he could not stop the tremble in his hands as he spat, “You have never been so obvious in your favoritism, Grandfather.”
“William-”
“Will-” Thomas’ hand was on his shoulder before he even felt his brother get up, but he shook it off angrily as he rushed from the room.
The ornate doors exiting the King’s study groaned on their hinges as he burst through them, desperate to leave the suffocating ire he felt behind, blind to where he was headed so long as it was away from here. He rounded the corner only to crash solidly into another hard body for the second time in a single day.
“Ow, ah-”
“Oomph-”
Large clawed hands caught his arms, keeping him from toppling backwards onto the stone floor. William couldn’t believe his luck as his bleary eyes locked unto a familiar blue gaze. The skrull’s chuckle was warm and sincere, and it only added kindle to the fire of his rage.
“Should I get used to this kind of greeting, my prince?” But Dorrek’s smile wilted quickly, morphing into a frown of concern upon noticing his flushed face and shiny eyes, “Are you alright-”
“Just keep away from me!”
Dorrek could only watch in stunned surprise as William’s face twisted with disgust. The younger prince shoved him away with a surprising amount of force, disappearing down the gilded corridor without a second glance back.
Something clipped his shoulder hard- enough to make him lose his balance and stumble forward. When he righted himself, Dorrek stared into familiar features in all the wrong colors, a thin mouth set into a disapproving frown, a long nose flared and sneering, severe green eyes glaring with unmasked hatred.
The elder twin prince of the House of Magnus.
He stared back coolly, standing tall, refusing to show weakness. Just as suddenly as the prince appeared, he was gone, the tapestries lining the wall rustling in his wake.
Dorrek stood alone in corridor, hands clenching at his sides, staring hard at nothing.
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Part III: Giuoco Piano …
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A/N: All characters named are canonical- if obscure. ^.~