Amelia, Ch 236- Lily
"What the hell do you mean, marriage?" Sabah demanded.
Well, that's about how I expected this to go.
"It's a political thing, only," I insisted.
"Political?" she sounded more than a little skeptical. "You're going to marry a prince. Couldn't they just, I dunno, adopt you? That's a thing they can do, isn't it? You shouldn't have to marry anyone."
At least she's not too angry. I reached over and pulled her hands together, clasping them in mine.
"Doesn't work that way," I answered. "The royalty in Japan is patriarchal. Even if I were adopted, I'd lose the status pretty much as soon as I got married to anyone who wasn't part of the royal family. Besides, well, you know my family history. I'm not interested in having even more parents."
"But getting married to someone you've never even met?" she grumbled. "That's so much better."
"It's a marriage in name only," I insisted. "I won't be expected to do anything. It's not like I want to have a husband. I won't be in the succession path, so they won't expect me to produce an heir or anything. All I'd have to do is show up on parades every so often. "
"Do you even know who this guy is?" she asked.
"Not really," I admitted. "The Emperor was very clear that his nephew knew and accepted this whole arrangement. He'll never try to touch me, he'll never get in the way of..." I hesitated for just a heartbeat. For as long as Sabah and I had been together, we still weren't officially anything more than friends and coworkers who happened to have sex a lot.
As opposed to our bosses, who are engaged and don't even kiss. I finally settled on a word. "Anything. As long as I don't object to him having lovers of his own. I don't have a problem with that."
"Can't you just, well, not?" she argued weakly. "They should be happy with what we're offering. A new, safe, place to live. A fresh start. A chance to rebuild. Why do you even need to be a part of their royal family?"
"It isn't just that they're being asked to abandon their homeland for a new, better one, Sabah," I sighed, sitting down on her couch, and bringing her to sit next to me. "They're being asked to give up their autonomy as a people. Their rights to govern their own county. Allowing outsiders to dictate the future of their country. They can't just do that without assurances that they can give to their people. That they'll be treated well. Being able to point to one of Pantheon's royalty and say 'she's one of us, too' will do that."
"And you're not already one of them?" she sighed.
"No," I answered. "I was born in the States. To them, I'm only a little different than any other westerner."
"By that standard, wouldn't anyone be able to marry in?" she asked.
"Probably not," I replied. "Besides, who else would it be? Our fearless leaders are too busy being very publicly engaged. And other than them, only us Endslayers are really famous and liked enough to be accepted. With me, at least they get someone who looks like them. Besides, can you imagine the freakout if we tried to marry off the cute little barely teenager to some guy in Japan? "
She smiled, trying to meet me halfway on the humor. We both ignored the other option.
Her. Sabah made it abundantly clear that she would never get married under any circumstance, and I was okay with that. I didn't really want to, either, though I wasn't so opposed as Sabah was. If anything, that was part of the appeal here. I'd make my parents happy, there would be no obligations to my not-real-husband. Really, it was perfect. But Sabah didn't see it that way.
"You want this, don't you?" she asked. Accused, really.
"Maybe there was a time when I imagined being a princess," I admitted, shrugging a little. "Wait, is this about how I used to have a boyfriend? Trust me, I'm gay. Maybe it took me a little while to figure it out, but believe me. I'm not into guys."
"It just makes me feel uncomfortable," she argued.
"We need them, Sabah," I tried a different kind of appeal. "And they need us. This is my homeland and my heritage we're talking about here. This is a way for me to help them. Wouldn't you help yours, if there was a way?"
"My heritage would arrest us just for kissing," she informed me bitterly. "More fucking obligations and expectations and demands. This isn't any different."
I guess it's not. "I'll see if Lisa can come up with another idea," I offered halfheartedly. I considered arguing more, but there wasn't any point in it.
She pulled me into an embrace and kissed me softly. "Thank you," she murmured as her power started to work its way through my clothes.
I woke up slowly.
When was it that I stopped getting surprised by waking up in my armor? I sat up and sucked on the straw built into the armor. It no longer had a taste to me. I got to my feet and relieved myself in the armor. That didn't bother me anymore, either. It did at first, but after a while I just sorta stopped caring. If anything, it was more sanitary than removing the armor enough to go to the bathroom in a corner of temporal prison. That, and all the people around me. True, they were outside the bubble and probably wouldn't realize it if I had. No one had gone very far since I had last gotten tired enough to sleep. Only a stream of energy blasts from Legend traveled quickly enough for me to notice.
I started firing as rapidly as my power would let me. I managed to work out a pattern, one I had a lot of practice with, starting at the left and working my way right. The bolts rushed after the fucker. I'd kill him and all the others.
Sabah was right. They should be grateful that I want to be part of their royal family. I shouldn't need to marry into anything. If I was one of the world's favorite people after killing one of these fuckers, what would they think after I kill a second? Or a third?
Leviathan, especially. Kill that fucker and Japan would just make me the Emperor, and I could marry whoever the fuck I pleased after that. Yeah. That's the fucking key right there.
I activated the music player. Then turned it off again.
Over two thousand songs and I'm sick of every fucking one of them.
I miss you, Sabah. First thing I'm doing when I get out of here? I'll tell you how much I love you. Wait, no, that's the third thing. First two are brushing my teeth and having an actual bath.
....
Arms feel wrong. Cold. Heavy.
"Atropos?" a woman's voice asked.
A voice? I'm not in the bubble!
"Did... did I get him?" I asked, slurring the words some. It had been so long since I tried to speak that my mouth had trouble making the sounds correctly.
Please tell me I got him. Tell me I didn't break first.
"You did more damage than anyone," she answered softly. "But... I'm sorry. This one's built differently than the others."
I opened my eyes to the unusually dim light of Pantheon's base. I'd gotten so accustomed to the glare of open sunlight in Khonsu's power. I looked a the woman. She was pretty, in a mousy sort of way. She had what my mom called a 'well travelled' face. I'd seen her before, but I couldn't quite remember from where. Then I glanced across the rest of her body. The blue, white and gold body armor gave it away. Rapture. Right, she was there during the fight.
Dammit. "I never had a chance of killing it, did I?" I couldn't help myself, I started to cry.
I stayed in there for so long. Alone. I could see the world outside and I chose to stay trapped in there. It didn't even work.
"It doesn't seem like it," she answered, her voice was smooth, understanding. "You did a lot of damage, slowed him down. Because of your effort, I'm sure thousands were spared being killed by Khonsu. You're a hero, in every meaning of the word."
Khonsu?
Oh, they must have named it. "Where's Sabah?" I asked.
"The other room," she answered. "We need to talk some before you can have guests."
"I want to see her now," I growled, sitting up. Only to find I was held down by something.
What? No. "Let me up!"
"We have to make sure you're okay first," she kept her voice calm. I reached out with my power, and got nothing. Everything on or around me is alive. I can't use my power on anything.
"I'm fine," I insisted. "I just need to see my girlfriend. Let me fucking up!"
"Please, just be patient a little longer," she asked. "You've been without human contact for a long time. That has unpredictable effects on people. You could put yourself in danger."
"Don't give a fuck," I insisted.
"You could put her in danger," she added. "With your powers, you might even kill her on accident."
I started crying again. "I just want to see my girlfriend."
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A/N- Poor Lily.
