Chapter Text
Megii launched through the capital, hurrying their way toward the castle’s doors. Following an urgent letter from Vivia on the queens behalf, they immediately began toward the castle.
After accepting the offer into the Queen’s Trusted Service (QTS for short), they didn’t think they’d see any sort of action this quick.
Maybe the Queen discovered a village in need and they needed Megii to come to its aid. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for a village to be lacking, especially with this crop of dragon riders.
They thought of Aj and Drift, of how they were reluctant to even glance towards their villages. However Aj has been going to her village as of late, maybe she’s finally turned over a new leaf?
Yeah, no.
Aj was probably creating a brewery or simply going there to smoke. It wasn’t in the woman to simply turn over a new leaf, for the better that is.
Megii arrived at the castle doors, which were wide open. They started forward to find an empty throne, which you’d think would be occupied since the queen sent for them.
They walked forward, albeit timidly, to better gather the surrounding room. It was eerily quiet, entirely not how a castle should be. The letter for them was marked urgent, so shouldn’t there be some action in the castle?
Megii took another step forward and called out, “Hello? The queen sent for me, is there anyone her- OH MY GOD”
Vivia point blank appeared right in front of Megii’s face, the former at least had the decency to look ashamed.
“Oh I am so sorry- I didn’t mean to frighten you…”
“You didn’t scare me Vivi it’s okay!” Megii quickly brushed themselves down and relaxed out of their defensive posture they were startled into.
The ‘defensive posture’ was really them jumping several feet into the air and landing into a crouch of sorts.
Megii cleared their throat, “Anyways, what’s the situation? The letter made it seem like this was an urgent matter.”
At this, Vivia straightened up and put her arms behind her back, immediately adopting a ‘leader’ persona. She sported a blank expression, though her eyes seemed to hold another emotion Megii couldn’t decipher.
“Yes, the Queen has requested your presence for this urgent matter. Since you were the first person asked to join the QTS, she felt it appropriate you be the one to oversee this matter.”
Megii felt an array of emotions all at once. Confusion, as they still didn’t know what was going on. Elation, as the Queen personally entrusted them to this matter. Suspicion, since this entire thing was weird and why was Vivi looking at them like that-
Their mouth finally caught up to their brain and Megii spoke, “Oh! Well I’m honored that Her Majesty chose me for this. Yet Vivi, what am I doing here exactly?”
Vivia nodded once and gestured to follow her. She abruptly turned and walked a few paces before turning left.
Megii all but jogged to quickly catch up to their friend turned captain. As they continued walking, Megii took this chance to ponder about their current position.
Why exactly were they here? Vivia didn’t really go into detail so naturally they were still a little lost.
Why only them? It didn’t make sense that only they were asked along to the castle. What about the others?
Megii didn’t get a chance to keep inside their head as Vivia abruptly stopped in front of them. They finally got a chance to survey the room around them, but their stomach dropped as it snapped into their mind.
This was the exact room where they and Amber saw May, not May, be executed. The room itself felt too clean, too pristine, as if waiting for its next bloody claim.
That felt like so long ago, but simultaneously felt all too recent. How could they even forget about the crown executing another person in place of someone sinister?
Megii’s hand started to feel sweaty and they felt jittery all at once. They tried not to let their true emotions show as they walked further into the room.
As the pair walked further in, they saw the Queen sitting on a throne closer to the back of the room, flanked on either side by a guard. The Queen stood as she saw them approach, bowing her head in greeting.
Vivia was the first to drop to one knee, bowing her head in respect. Megii quickly followed, although they were a little less graceful in getting to the floor.
“You both may rise. Thank you for coming quickly noble dragon rider.”
The Queen towered over them, a less than ideal expression graced her face. Her hands were held behind her back as she addressed them.
“You must be wondering why I’ve asked Captain Vivia to summon you today,” she looked toward Megii with a pointed look, “you see, there has been, a revelation of sorts.”
Megii, now more confused than before, looked from the Queen to Vivia and back.
“A revelation? Of what kind Your Highness?”
The Queen looked across the room toward the main window, which over looked the capital. By squinting, the academy was just visible over the horizon line.
She returned her sights back to Megii, taking a deep breath before speaking once more.
“Our Royal Guard has discovered one of the rebels operating in your dragon academy.”
Megii’s eyes widened an astronomical amount. After everything with the bandits, the spies, and the shield towers near crumbling, they forgot about the possibility of rebels being in the academy.
There was that whole thing with the rebels blackmailing Aj into poisoning the school, but that was an open and shut case. Surely Osteon or the Professor found someone lurking in the walls, right?
“There were a few individuals that were under suspicion, and thus placed under the watch of the Guard. After a sweep of all the dragon rider villages, we found one with a secret tunnel in construction under the main well.”
Megii’s heart plummeted, they took a small step back as they processed the information. A student working with the rebels? After everything they had done to the students? To Pyro and Maddy?
They looked up at the Queen with a slight quiver in their voice, “A student? Are you sure it wasn’t a rebel operating under the guise of framing a student?”
Shaking her head the Queen spoke, “That’s what we initially thought as well, but we surveyed the village over a period of time. We discovered that the student was indeed going into the tunnels with another individual. We have yet to discover the identity of the other.”
Vivia placed a hand on Megii’s shoulder, offering sympathy through gesture. She stepped away and proceeded to a room hidden in the far wall. Megii tried looking past the Queen to follow Vivi but the Queen stepped directly in front of her.
Megii grew more concerned if that were possible, and they were one second from running tail back toward the academy. They leaned back, away from the Queen and settled into a stiff posture.
“Your Majesty, why exactly am I here today?”
The Queen sighed and brought a hand to her face, showing a bit of frustration, and began to speak, “Megii, this rebel is currently in our possession. We have interrogated them, we have showed them grace, and we have showed them our relentlessness. However, they have not given up any information pertaining to the rebels, or their accomplices.”
Megii began putting the pieces together in their head, dread growing at the mere thought. The Queen brought them, alone, to the room where a previous execution took place. She told them they had captured a rebel, and that they hadn’t given anything up. Anything that could be useful to the kingdom.
Oh god.
The Queen was going to ask them to-
“Oh Vivia, could you please bring our, company, to us please?” The Queen stepped aside as Vivia all but dragged a person toward the pair.
The student rebel was dropped in front of the Queen and Megii. They had a black sack placed over their head, and Megii could hear their muffled growls from beyond the cloth. They were given a plain shirt and pants for cover. Yet, the fabrics were torn to shreds as well as covered in grime. Their hands and feet were bound by chains, after looking closer, the metal was visibly digging into skin, leaving marks that would be sure to scar.
Megii flinched away and rubbed their forearms, the sight triggering a memory they had no wish to relive.
Was the rebel tortured? Surely the kingdom wouldn’t be that desperate to find out rebel information. Right?
Megii watched as the Queen grabbed the sack and pulled it straight off. Their heart plummeted as the rebel adjusted to the light, looking at the Queen and Vivia with tangible hatred.
The rebel thrashed in their restraints as they turned their head toward Megii’s direction. They stopped thrashing as they locked eyes. The former’s eyes were filled with raw emotion. The hatred was still there, but Megii could see bewilderment and something less intense rise to match it.
“…Megii?”
“Aj?”
The rebel and the Queen’s most trusted guard held an intense staring match. Megii couldn’t catch their breath, Aj was working for the rebels this entire time? Was the poison blackmail a ruse this entire time? Aj couldn’t believe Magpie had sold themselves out, to the CROWN of all things.
“Ma-Megii? You’ve sold your soul to work for the Queen?? Of ALL people, you joined her?” Aj’s demeanor grew hostile, and if it weren’t for the restraints, they surely would have decked Megii by now.
“Me? What about you, Aj? You’re working for the rebels?? After they made you poison the school and kidnapped academy students??” Megii felt anger at being lied to, was Aj truthful about anything? Did she lie all those times they confided in each other, telling secrets one after another?
Aj drew in a breath and chucked mirthlessly, “The whole ‘me being blackmailed’ was a sham, Smart One. I did it willingly and lied to the Professor, very convincingly I might add. The whole ‘reading minds’ thing was no match for me.” Even from the floor and looking mangled, she still managed to get under Megii’s skin.
Vivia stepped forward and placed herself behind Aj, grabbing her wrists and dragging her backwards a few paces.
“Get your hands off me or I’ll put you in the ground faster than you can blink!” Aj shouted at the guard but ultimately did little to work.
The Queen stepped in front of Megii, blocking the view of the rebel thrashing in the corner. The monarch pulled a sheath from her pocket and placed it into Megii’s hands. The latter looked up at the Queen with a questioning and fearful glance.
“You’ve demonstrated your will, your loyalty to us. You’ve fought for this kingdom, you’ve bled for this kingdom. Are you willing to kill for this kingdom?”
In the sheath was a dagger, crested with the symbol of the kingdom. Megii looked into its reflective surface and saw themselves in the metal. Their eyes were wide and fearful. The hand carrying the knife was shaking intensely, unable to process what the Queen had asked of them.
“Strike down this rebel scum. Prove your loyalty to the kingdom and its people.” To me.