Chapter Text
After Bona Sforza left the carriage, Romy didn’t want to tell Laurence and Julius about their “final mission.” She wanted nothing more than to finish her journey to Bari, to find her children, to lead a normal life. She couldn’t shake the sensation that a confrontation with this demon might prove costly. What if she and Laurence never returned to their children? It would be better not to tell Laurence at all.
As the wheels churned and the carriage lurched down the mired road to Bari, Romy lost all appetite.
Laurence seemed to detect that Romy was feeling amiss, and he let Julius drive the carriage.
Cooped up alone with him, unable to avoid his scrutinizing gaze, Romy finally confessed what Bona Sforza had confided in her.
“Do you think it’s true? The darkness that Mercutio warned of?”
Laurence listened tensely, absorbing all she had said and carefully selecting his reply, his lips pursed, he answered “You know it is. You know what I have to do…..”
“What? Laurence, no!”
Why did he always think that he could shield her from perils by leaving her out of all difficult situations?
“Romy! Please!” Laurence motioned with his hands. “You were never supposed to be there when we faced Escalus. You should be with the children now……..At least one of us has to make it home.”
The way he said that, Romy’s heart sank. The carriage lurched and she felt she might heave. She fell into his arms sobbing and yet she was angry with him. He tried to hold her close but she pushed away from his shoulder.
“I’m coming with you,” She sat back defiantly. “You know that even if you leave me in Bari, I’ll come following after you in secret. I want our children to know their father. I will make sure you come home.”
“Romy…..” Laurence shook his head. ***Koff**** “Julius and I can handle it. You know we can…..”
“This isn’t the same. In all likelihood they know we’ll be coming.” Romy was adamant in her resolve.
“What do you mean Romy?” Laurence was now truly perplexed.
“Don’t you think it is suspicious that you were implicated twice on false charges in Verona? Someone assassinated the emissary and meant to blame it on you, in revenge for what happened to Escalus…..Or perhaps to prevent your intervention in their future plans.” Romy finally felt she was beginning to understand. Eris…..goddess of chaos……the demons are her servants. They feed on war….. and they have declared enmity against me since I was Helen and she……. Cassandra!
Perhaps her visions were all connected……In each lifetime, she had one enemy masquerading under different faces. This was it…..she would confront this demon, and then be ripped from this life and tossed into another one………even if she survived, she had no idea who she would become.
They arrived in the Vatican and requested an audience with the Pope. Julius made it appear that they were there to plead the case for Laurence’s innocence, that their family might return in peace to Verona.
They could only hope that the true culprit would reveal himself. Rather than use Romy as bait, this time it was Laurence.
Romy stood a few feet away from Julius as he conversed with a clergyman.
“I cannot help you if you won’t tell me where Master Laurence is!”
“How can I reveal him if he will be arrested and brought to a phony trial?”
“What is going on here?” The torch light flickered and was it Romy’s imagination, or did the air grow cold?
She stood hidden behind a statue of Judas Thaddaeus, the patron saint of lost causes.
She clutched the rosary Laurence had given her and muttered a silent prayer, too afraid to breathe.
Carefully, Romy peered from the shadow to see the man who spoke. A man in rich red robes which furled behind him, strode confidently across the floor.
“There is no need for such reservations, Master Julius. Signore Laurence may stay in my home, as my guest.”
Julius floundered for a reply. “I did not expect such generosity from His Holiness…..”
Romy could since the slightest edge of sarcasm in Julius voice, tinted with reservation and distrust. Was this man, in fact the demon that sought to entrap them?
“Of course, Signore Laurence is the adopted son of a well respected Bishop. We all must know he is innocent of these charges levied against him.”
Romy grew more wary. She could feel a presence reaching out, as if groping for her and probing the darkness, searching.
The man in red turned and looked directly at her. She felt perceived if not seen……
“I wonder…..I wonder if Laurence is here now…….just beyond sight…”
That was it! They mustn’t go as guests to his house……. He wanted to catch Laurence here and now.
“Master Julius, it isn’t safe here…….. I feel as though we are being watched…..” The red robed clergyman took a single step forward and tapped the ground with his staff. The corridor echoed and reverberated as the symbolic scepter struck against the marble and Romy felt strangely dizzy. Pigeons scuttled up from where they nestled in the arches above stained glass perches. Romy tensed with bated breath.
“Signore Laurence is not here, Your Grace……” Julius looked pale and stepped backward. “I will take my leave and inform him.” Julius turned his back to the red robed man and strode out, careful not to look in Romy’s direction.
“Follow him,” Romy heard the man murmer, and two guards trailed just behind Julius.
“I wonder,” the man stared at the statue and half turned.
“Your Grace! The Holy Relics have arrived! His Holiness has instructed you to keep them safe before the Presentation at Mass!”
A thoroughly excited courier entered the room followed by a contingent of soldiers, reminiscent of the Knights Templar……
“Are you certain then? You have it?”
“Yes, your Grace! The Fragment of the True Cross and the cup of the Last Supper!”
“Is that so?” The man in red lost all interest in whatever lurked in the shadows just beyond his sight.
“To think after all this time, that such powerful relics would be found in our lifetime! Think of all the people who would be healed!”
“You think that healing and eternal life should be granted to the masses without scrutiny?” The man in red furled around, almost snarling. “Cast not pearls before swine, they would throng upon the relics and destroy the object of their desire, squabbling over it.”
The genuinely excited worshipper paused aghast, taken aback by the icy chill in the supposed holy man’s voice.
“You have done your duty,” The red robed man nodded quickly and then motioned to the guards who quickly surround him, binding his hands behind him and lifting him off his feet. “Take him away. Cut off his tongue and his hands, that he may tell no one the true location of the Holy Cross…..”
The guardsmen grimly nodded and tapped the sword hilt swinging from his belt. Metal spurs clanked as the dragged the bound man from the cathedral.
“But……I’m a servant of God! I’ve done nothing wrong!” The man wailed as they gagged him.
“Seems to me it would be simpler to slit his throat than to make him a crippled mute. Fewer questions about dead men.” The second guard mumbled to the first.
There was a shrill scream of terror and then all fell eerily silent and the corridor darkened as the men departed from the hall with their torches.
They dare to execute him on Holy ground? Romy shuddered. She hoped that Laurence and Julius would double back soon. Now was there only chance.
Certain that she was left alone, she darted from her post behind Judas Thaddeus, nodding back at the statue almost thankfully, she darted up the stairs. If Laurence’s knowledge was correct, there should be a passage for the choir behind the balcony…..one that lead to the Holy Man’s chambers.
The guards were no trouble for Julius. With his fencing skills, a few quick parries, and a dodge, he was behind them and knocked the first out firmly with the hilt of his blade. The second, Laurence sprang from the shadows with a rag dipped in sedative. A quick gag, a muffled cough, and the guardsmen slumped to the floor near his companion.
“You see, the difference between my method and yours is that mine shall awake with all his faculties intact……” Laurence motioned at Julius who had knocked his victim senseless.
“Well, if it’s a matter of life and death, I’ve been merciful enough…..” Julius tugged at Laurence’s sleeve. “Hurry, he’s onto Romy!”
Romy made it to the chamber before his grace. She could hear their footsteps in the corridor, and she frantically looked for a place to hide. She threw herself behind a tapestry and hoped that her feet were not visible behind the furniture. She pressed herself flat into the recess in the wall, hoping not to leave any form in the fabric.
The contingent placed two boxes upon an altar and bowed before leaving the chamber.
The red clad figure placed his hat aside and opened the first box to reveal a silver chalice……
“A quaint piece,” He smiled. “what a treasure, if I weren’t already the immortal damned……..” He set the chalice down with a clang upon his table and with a reserved caution, opened the second box.
“To fear something so small……” He used a utensil to lift the small wooden fragment, afraid to touch it directly.
All at once the room was filled with incense and chanting. Romy recognized the voice. Laurence! She peered from behind the curtain, fumbling with a bottle of holy oil.
“I knew you would come!” The man’s eyes went wild and gleamed unnaturally, truly possessed. “I will cast your cross into the fire!”
And then to Romy’s horror, he tossed the small wooden fragment, scarcely a splinter into the hearth.
The fire leaped up and roared! Romy had hoped that the Holy Relic could not be burned by normal fire, but she couldn’t take that chance. She darted from the shadows and used coal rake to pull the burning, charred fragment out onto the floor. The piece was smoldering and she used corner of the floor rug to stamp it out.
“You!” The demon howled and threw himself at her, just as Escalus had done. He hit her with such force that the holy oil rolled away from her. His hand clasped over Romy’s hand, seared against the fragment of the True Cross.
“Did you think I would leave myself unprotected? After what you did to Escalus?” The demon dragged her to the center of the room and began drawing a mysterious circle. He shrieked a chant of his own louder over Laurence, if the chant was weakening him at all, Romy couldn’t tell.
Romy caught the glint of a silver dagger lifted high above her, and her memory flashed back to Bellona and Tybalt. Her limbs went limp.
Where was Julius? She heared the clatter of swords in the hall and she knew that he could never reach her in time…….
“Laurence…….!” She rasped, barely able to breath as the demon clutched at her throat. Demon though he was, he was still flesh and blood, or at least, so was the victim he inhabited.
As the Demon plunged the knife down toward her neck, Romy caught his hand, looped in Laurence’s rosary.
“Think again!” With the other hand, she plunged the sharp end of the smoldering cross fragment into his neck.
A plume of smoke enveloped them, a howl of rage and anguish, Laurence’s chanting intensified, and all fell quiet in the hall.
When the smoke receded and Laurence paused his chanting, the clergyman sat gagging and gasping on the floor. His eyes held no demonic glint now.
In abject terror, he looked at Romy tearfully. “You saved me!” He grabbed her by the wrist, and tried to pull her up.
Romy pulled back, still frightened if this should be a ruse. The man, now in his own right and well mind, dropped her hand and the dagger he had held instantly.
“Forgive me, forgive me….forgive me,” he blubbered almost incessantly. He clutched at the fragment of the cross and pulled it from his neck, setting it delicately upon its velvet lined case. He braced himself against the table, and then stumbled and fell.
Laurence rushed to attend him. “You don’t know what it’s like………you don’t know what it’s like to be a powerless visitor in your own body……” He crumpled helplessly and wept.
So that was it then….they had cast out the demon. Not the way that they planned then…..Romy now wondered if it had been possible to save Prince Escalus from the demon who used him as a host. When the clergyman was awake, she wanted to ask him…….
She couldn’t rise from the floor, the remnants of the strange circle glowed eerily around her….. Her vision blurred, and the last thing she saw was the chalice upon the table, strangely familiar…….
Was she possessed? Who was this other her? Was she leaving again?
She startled forward with a cry, and was there in her old room at her grandfather’s………Her vision blurred with fresh tears and she launched a fist against the lectern.
Not again! “Laurence!” She cried. “Hope…….Hope…..” she sobbed…….
She lay there, face buried in her quilt a long time, salty tears staining her pillow.
She didn’t know how long she lay there like that. She didn’t even know who she was anymore.
After a time, there was a mild rap upon the door.
For some reason, she expected an elderly man’s voice, but this voice was that of a stranger, a young man, yet somehow familiar.
“Are you all right?”
The voice came from the other side. When she didn’t answer there were two footsteps away, then a pause. The person at the door turned the knob and cracked the door hesitantly.
***koff****
She sat up slightly in her elbows, peering at figure by the door.
“Laurence?” She asked.
“Andrew….” The voice replied. She pulled herself together and sat up on the bed, arms folded. She closed the book on the lectern with a soft thud.
“You’ve been reading a long time. Are you ok? What were you reading?”
So many questions at once. Who was Andrew and why did he care?
“I--- I’m sorry….” She stammered softly, uncertain how to answer. She had left her heart and soul with her children in Bari. If she opened her book on the lectern again, would it return her once more? The lectern had only ever returned her when the story was finished, and never to the same world twice. Strange, when she first entered Marie’s world, all she could think of at first, was returning home. Now she didn’t even care about this world anymore.
“It’s all right,” Andrew answered, not seemingly bothered by his own intrusiveness. “You must’ve mistaken me for someone else, someone important to you……” He looked at her quizzically.
Why should she apologize to him? What was he here for?
“I didn’t expect you to try to read all the books at once…….” Andrew sat on the trunk near the bed, but careful not to encroach further upon her space.
She stared at his eyes for a moment. The lectern glowed, and Andrew saw it too but wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“What is this?” She asked him suspiciously.
“I’ve worked for your grandfather for awhile now,” ***koff****. “That lectern is made from what remains of the silver chalice……It’s just wood, but the edges are gilded…….The silver chalice granted immortality to anyone foolish enough to drink from it…….enough wars had been fought over it…… We had to melt it down……. Little did we know, that whatever we made from the remaining smelt, would be enchanted….. And now, rather than making you immortal, it lets you peer into your past lives, and remember……who you are……..”
She almost choked on his words. All this time wondering who she was…….Marie…..Gina…..Elizabeth…..Christine…….Romy …….Caroline………Helen!
She had been……she was……each of these……..It had always been her.
“When I relive my past, does it change it?” She croaked hoarsely.
Andrew shrugged lightly. “Does it change it for you?”
She felt a sudden surge of awkwardness. The friends that had been with her in each lifetime……had always been the same…….she turned red…….
Fersen or Lafayette? Light or Kahir? Vitto or Davis? Paris or Achilles? Julius or Laurence………..
Had she always chosen the same?
As if knowing her thoughts, Andrew coughed again and shook his head in a way that made her certain he was Laurence. “You should trust your intuition. You always chose the same……”
“And then Charlotte? Gabrielle? Bellona? Meg? Were they always the same?” She dug her nails into her palm, thinking just how much her friend had suffered for her. She had given her all, in every lifetime.
“When a soul is truly self-sacrificing, they ascend, they aren’t reincarnated anymore…” Laurence, now Andrew answered softly.
“Who was she really?” she just had to know.
“Don’t you know? She showed you over and over again who she was. She was your truest friend…..I dare say, perhaps more selflessly so than I……”
“She was with you in the beginning, as Artemis…….You see the silver chalice would grant immortality to a mortal, but also make a goddess……..mortal as you and me…….. She chose to be with you in the rebellion against Zeus and to accompany you in each lifetime, pledged to protect you from Eris……..She was, too good for this world, and she attained a level of spiritual being incapable of the so called gods comprehension……”
“She sacrificed so much……I wronged her……I wasn’t worthy of her friendship…….” Fresh tears stung more now with understanding than did her tears of confusion.
“You are, and always have been, worthy of such love and devotion……I promised I’d always be with you….This life is what we make of it……..where we are going does not have to be framed by where we’ve been…….but it does seem to help, doesn’t it?” He did his characteristic **Koff*** and shrugged a little, hoping she would forgive him for exposing her to the lectern. He did all this…..to make her remember……. She couldn’t hate him for that……If it had been the other way around, and had she discovered the lectern first and recovered her soul’s identity, her first longing would be for her partner in all the worlds to remember his true nature as well. He looked nervous, his eyes searching hers, as if almost in disbelief and apprehension that she might reject him. She took his hand……and squeezed slightly.
“Then let’s make this life a good one!”
She pulled him to his feet, and finally her world complete, they headed downstairs to supper.