Chapter 2 The Sentiment Has No Value Here
Chadwick ~
"I'm going away," Mass spoke dressed in the same clothes he saw him in last. Were there more spider lilies in his hair now?
"We could have been happy and you threw it all away." His head was turned away but his expression looked sad. More spider lilies fell from his hair, quickly replaced by new ones.
"Because of your weakness," His face turned to him, expression bordering on anger.
"I will die,"
Chadwick jolted awake.
"It was that dream again." Chadwick sat up on his desk properly and rubbed at the bags under his eyes.
"I could use some more coffee." He half muttered and half remarked.
Six years.
It's been six years since everything happened.
The next days after his engagement Mass had been absent from school, something he initially ignored due to the attention the engagement got.
Though Headmistress Rosenberg implied that she knew something, certainly enough to know that Mass had accepted an online copy of his certificate of graduation, she insisted he disappeared from her reach.
He'd questioned the Viatrix family about Mass's whereabouts, initially believing they had followed through on the threats to sell him off.
But, beneath their rage that they couldn't cash in on their investment, they were just as in the dark as he was.
Mass Viatrix had completely disappeared.
"Sir I regret to inform you that we received a report that six of the high ranking prisoners escaped."
"What?!" He spilled his coffee."Why wasn't i notified?! Is there anything good this week?!"
He groaned at the idea of dealing with the press, especially now that six of the strongest got loose. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.
'Somehow, someone must have freed them.' he thought. But was anyone strong enough for that?
No one who would want them free, certainly.
He thought about Mass who had the most magical potential at the academy.
But... He hadn't managed to finish school.
He dropped out after he got engaged and disappeared.
If he were to use his magic for such purpose, that would label him a Dark Artifice User and would mean he'd be under watch of the government.
As an omega, Mass hated the spotlight.
He would never.
He could put it aside for now. War criminal Zenobia, the self proclaimed Dark Lord was coming here soon. He should focus on making her 'welcome', she was a rebellious omega after all.
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Zenobia ~
'There are three known constants of this world,' Zenobia thinks sitting in her cell.
'The grass is itchy. The sky is blue. And I was a Dark Lord.'
'Of course, depending on who you asked and how' She straightens and squares her shoulders. 'Some would argue that she still was.'
She held her breath and prepared to march forward, paraded around the city yet again.
Laszlo took great pride in the fact that he was the one who put a stop to her. Defeating her in the sword fight the Dark Lord had underestimated him in.
To celebrate this, he chained her up in heavy gold chains, set her in front of the parade and grinned proudly as onlookers watched.
Unnecessary salt in the wound.
He was a fake hero that way. The picture of kindness. But that was it. A picture.
Surface level illusion and nothing more.
Though she couldn't blame him really. He had been the hero, defeating her, banishing the Dark Lord from her body and restoring her free will.
It is of course her own bad luck that the people who she'd terrorized as the dark Lord weren't forgiving or sympathetic to her story about being puppeted in her own body.
She tuned out most of the parade, hiding her gloom at being present by just going through the motions. What brought her back to reality was someone speaking to her.
"I think I was brought here to stop you, maybe," the teenager explains.
"Congratulations you're exactly 29 days late," she grits out bitterly and shifts under the slightly disappointed stare. He turned to Laszlo.
"I'm Noah Hemisphere member of the Hemisphere clan. I claim rights to this prisoner of war,"
"Hemisphere" Laszlo uttered in a sort of flabbergasted way. With good reason, the Hemisphere family is very powerful and influential. If they were getting involved...
A portal opening ended her train of thought. Appearing through it directly on the path of the procession was a young man and a silver white bat.
"So we meet again, Zenobia. Want to be free of this as well?"
She almost lost her breath, she hadn't asked for a savior but here one was. One she knew was genuine about helping.
He'd sensed her pain, being trapped in her own body while someone else ran around using her face, her hands, and her feet to commit war crimes.
He gave her that silver of power she needed to preserve her own life -she didn't want to die yet for things she hadn't done.
Now he was here again, saving her a second time, all as though meeting at a coffee shop.
"Hang on-! I'm not the Dark Lord!" She insisted. She shook his arm lightly.
"You're getting arrested for no reason if you're devoted followers -" she tries to plead.
The Hemisphere teen jolted. "D-dont go with them!"
"We're not followers. I'm helping you because it benefits me," he assured. Zenobia wanted to ask what that meant but couldn't. Not when her freedom was right in front of her.
" It appears the Spectre of the Dark Lord is kept elsewhere, Master," a voice intoned.
The boy clad in black, who helped her back then nods as if he anticipated this. "A pity, that means it's likely somewhere more secure. "
"As for Laszlo... We don't need to kill him today," he assured. It was all Zenobia could do not to voice her surprise.
His voice drops to a hush, as if sharing a secret.
"Laszlo has many things he'd rather the public not know," his eyes are angry and promising pain. "Another disappointing alpha who abused his power."
An oddly fierce expression for someone who was maybe the same age as her. It's not like she could talk. Her body has been host to the Dark Lord for close to a decade. There were probably many facial expressions that looked off on her.
She swallowed. "I-I want to escape this. Even if it's selfish,"
"Selfish is what I work best with," the barrier disappeared, summoning a volley of dark red arrows.
"Then it's time to leave," her twice Savior announced. With a wave of his hand he summoned a magic circle that became a glowing purple portal.
They fell through, the platinum white bat following them.
The bat appeared through the portal first, transforming and catching the falling form of Mass first, then Zenobia.
"Thank you Mr..."
The unnamed apparent shape shifter almost smiled as if he found something funny.
"You're speaking to my closest companion, Archfiend Hecate Inkblaze."
"And you are-?" Zenobia asked. She felt underdressed in her dirty plain grey prisoner garb standing next to the two men, both seemingly alphas to her senses. Perhaps a masking spell that has lifted upon the change in location. They certainly didn't have any scent when they appeared before the crowd.
"My full name is Massachusetts Inkblaze. You can just call me Mass," he greeted looking up from a map. With his hood down he looked different, older, than she remembered. Even though his expression stayed gentle his eyes blazed with determination. An absolute want of something, and it didn't seem sexual in any way.
She stepped forward, trying to steel herself from the excitement of her escape. Then she caught a glimpse of six familiar silhouettes standing in a sort of makeshift forest.
They were in a barrier to get adjusted to their surroundings, and for good reason given the ripped apart straightjackets each of them wore.
Was one of them a floating electronic screen?
"The misfit prisoners! But how- I mean why?" She questioned.
"Naturally I'm in the business of creating a new world for omegas," Mass handed the map to the Archfiend.
"Same as you were," he replied evenly.
"Because you're one?" She asked nervously.
"Because I was one," he said making direct eye contact with her.