
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/8208157.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      my_own
  Character:
      Mirabelle, Venus, Evelyn, Neko_-_Character, Marie, Singe, Nebula, Violet,
      Azura, Adam, Ronan, Amilia
  Additional Tags:
      OC, O.C._-_Freeform, Evelyn_-_Freeform, neko, nebula_-_Freeform, Violet_-
      Freeform, Azura_-_Freeform, Adam_-_Freeform, Ronan_-_Freeform, Amilia_-
      Freeform
  Series:
      Part 1 of Book_of_Contention
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-10-04 Chapters: 2/? Words: 4851
****** Hope of a Utopia; Book of Venus ******
by NeyaSaintClaire
Summary
     Venus the Queen of one of the many kingdoms that were originally part
     of the United Kingdom. She was an old Battle Mage for hire. Now she
     has been pulled away from her kingdom and is in search for a so-
     called "Utopia". And Azura wants to resurrect an old friend of
     Evelyn. Evelyn is a mysterious demon-like girl who brings everyone
     together.
***** Waters of Hope *****
She sighed, not knowing what else to do. Her head pounded too many meetings
according to her. She pushed back her dark purple hair. But who could blame
her, the sound of people who spout their problems to a monarch who frankly
doesn’t even care, isn’t such a fun job? Though they make it out to be easy,
it’s actually extremely draining. So, of course, there was a sharp rap on the
door. She looked up her eyes seemingly soulless, but this time, it wasn’t a
peasant talking about how their sheep disappeared overnight. But when in
reality there it is grazing on their pastures. It was a guard who had a helmet
covering the face. Though there was a shadow and she could see the eyes, they
were almost frightened.
“What’s wrong?” She questioned urgently. Her heart beat quickened the moment
she saw him, only her personal guards entered her room and this man was in the
garb of a common guard, who guard the castle and the city surrounding it. She
rose to her feet, making cautious steps towards the guard.
“We don’t know, there is something deathly wrong with the animals. The horses
have been killed and the cattle have all fallen ill,” said the guard in a
worried tone. Of course, now she knew that the guard was a man. But it made her
frightened to hear the trembling in his voice.
“Take me to the field that the horses lay dead in,” she demanded in a clearly
steady voice. He nodded, she left the room, she almost went unnoticed by her
guards, they didn’t pay much attention to what was happening around them. They
weren’t very good guards, but she could handle herself. The King didn’t have
any heirs to the throne, he left the entire kingdom to her. A woman who was a
bodyguard in a sense, she was a battle mage that worked for the most amount of
gold they could provide her. Though this time he just kept upping the price for
her to stay. Though soon after that, they were hunting in the King’s Woods.
They were attacked by a thing that had a body of a lion, a tail of a scorpion,
and the head of a beastly man, a manticore.
“Queen Venus, where are you going?” Asked one of the private guards. He looked
at her with an almost surprised look, she didn’t leave that room until the
people that lined all left. Which was late into the night. Everyone wanted to
talk to the peasant queen, as she was called in other countries.
“There might be a new epidemic in my kingdom,” Venus told the man. She looked
over at him with a very tense look resting on her face. They moved quickly
towards the field, where the horses lay dead.
 
                                       -
 
She stretched out, her eyes getting used to the midnight, moonlight. The moon
seemed to smile at her as she moved across the streets. Her dark cinnamon
colored hair hid beneath a long flowing cloak. She took each step with a
purpose, she knew what she was going to do that night. With every step, she
drew closer to whatever awaited her at the location she was walking ever closer
to. Her eyes seemed to gleam, they did not seem to have a color, though they
did seem to gleam in the blue light. She crossed her arms, the night was cold.
That's when her skin began to crawl, the hairs on her neck stood on end, she
turned on her heel. A smile almost crossed her lips. For some reason, she could
help but smile. She almost had a perfect body and she was in a sense of the
word, beautiful. That's when she could hear the footsteps of someone coming
towards her. She pulled her hood down, slowly. She had pale skin and sharp
features.
"Hello?" she said with a worried, but the voice that was like silk. He stepped
into the half-light. She could see his lips, his arms were crossed and he was
wearing a finely tailored suit. "Who are you?" She questioned again. All she
could hear was his slow breathing. She had begun to stare into the darkness.
Trying to make out what his face looked like.
“Mirabelle,” breathed the man. He spoke the words as if it hurt himself as if
she gave him so much pain that he couldn’t hide it anymore. This made her feel
uneasy, she wasn’t often cornered in a town square, by who seems to be
familiar. That’s when he stepped into the light, it illuminated the so familiar
face to her, it was a man from the town over. His eyes bloodshot and her heart
dropped to the pit of her stomach. Her eyes made contact with his. He was
covered in blood, though she didn’t know why she knew that he was coming after
her for some reason.
“Hello, um… Why are you here?” She questioned as she tried to find a possible
escape route to the situation she was in. Though it sounded fairly idiotic she
couldn’t just turn around and run the other way. There was a row of buildings
and no way out from that way. She could try to make it into one, but sadly she
felt that was little to none, no one was up at this ungodly hour and he seemed
to know that. He was following his gaze, making sure that she could do what he
expected her to, and that was run. The silence between the two was deafening.
“Oh, just a midnight stroll. It’s so nice when all you can hear is the sound of
the night predators, isn’t it?” He hissed. She didn’t understand still. Though
her heart seemed like it was going to beat out of her chest, she didn’t show
what she was thinking on her face. It continued to be straight, unwilling to
give into fright.
“I don’t understand, you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?” She
asked her voice no longer shaking. “It’s not safe at night. As you said there
are night predators, and don’t you have a wife to get back to?” He began to
shake his head, when she spoke about his wife, he was whispering all the while.
Though all of what he was saying didn’t make any sense. He closed his eyes, and
she moved quietly towards her destination and slipped into an alleyway far way
from the man who seemed to be insane. She started into a sprint, Maribelle kept
on pushing herself harder and harder towards the house just down the alley and
take a right. She sprinted to the doorway. She began to pound on the door,
wanting to get in right away. The door opened an elderly woman stood in the
doorway, she looked confused. But soon after she laid eyes on Maribelle, the
surprise faded, she was ushered inside.
The warmth washed over her like the waves. It was heated by the fire lit and
crackling and moving freely. The woman closed the door, not caring who could
hear that she was. Though she might have if she knew about the man, the man who
seemed to chase her because soon thereafter they could hear footsteps passed
the doorway. A yell and something dropping to the ground, another yell,
Maribelle looked up. The elderly woman closed everything up, knowing that is
was long past curfew.
 
                                       -
 
The nice cool air of the night brushed against her bare skin. She was running
from the people who dressed her up in a sleeveless dress and paraded her
through the town as a tamed wolf woman, a tamed animal to put on display. They
treat their cattle better than that, and they are slaughtered for their
consumption. She wasn’t like them, in fact, she was nothing like it was like
the men and woman to call themselves civilized. They are not civilized, they
are worse than the animals that they kill for their food. They take too much
the woods around had begun to dwindle in numbers of prey for the wolves and
other predatory animals that wander, trying to find food their families.
There was growl from behind her, she looked back and saw the wolf that she
called, sister. “Meine Schwester lauded ins, Wald!” She yelled at her sister.
The red wolf ran on before her. Though she couldn’t go that far that fast she
was faster than the men who were following her. There was a loud snap, and one
of the heels that they put on her feet, she winced. In all of her life, she had
never felt something so uncomfortable than when she was stuffed in a dress that
was so heavy and these shoes that raised higher, even though she was taller
than most men. She clawed at the dress’ skirt, soon she cut half of the heavy
skirt. She grabbed the other heel and snapped off the other heel.
She smiled as everything was lighter than she expected. Her long strides proved
her to be faster, soon she reached the heart of the forest. Her eyes made
contact with her sister, but something was wrong. Suddenly she noticed that she
was caught in a game of predator and prey. Her sister finally caught a
different smell than what she usually did. They had sprayed with her perfume,
though it did make her sneeze.
 
                                       -
 
“Evelyn you are hereby accused of using witchcraft and trickery. Now you will
await trial, if you found guilty you will be burned at sunrise four days from
this hour,” said a man. Who called himself a “White Witch”, even if it
contradicted what they called being just. Though they were guilty of the same
crime that she was going to be murdered for. Their warped sense of justice
seemed to infect their brain, though she wouldn’t be put on trial by their
logic. She could see what would happen four nights from now and she wasn’t
about to die. Not until she met who she was supposed to and complete what she
was meant to do.
“I don’t suggest that,” she stated as a matter a fact.  
“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked about to reach for her.
“Did I misspeak? Or maybe it was something I said that made you act in such a
way,” she said in a monotone voice. He looked at her, she seemed almost
harmless, but none the less she had this blank expression.
“No, but you will come with me. It is simply the law, we have guards if you
don’t come with us peacefully.” He told her. Her eyes scanned the guards,
almost like she was sizing them up.
“It won’t work,” she said still in that flat monotone voice. He looked at her
like she was absolutely out of her mind.
“You are Evelyn, aren’t you?” He asked he was beginning to doubt himself at
this point. She seemed more like mentally unstable than a witch. She couldn’t
possibly take down four full grown well off men. But this entire situation was
just simply insane.
“Yes, I am in fact, Evelyn.” She said now staring at him with that blank look.
“But I don’t see why it’s any use to you.” He looked at her again, feeling his
heart pound against his ribcage.
“Guards, she will be going with us. Can you escort her to the cart?” He asked,
almost like he was pleading for them to save him from the situation he stood
in.
“Fine, it’s your own deaths, it’s not on my hands,” she said. She almost seemed
to flick out of that tone, but it was just for a second. To a point that it
made him feel even more uneasy. In her other voice, it was cold and angry, like
ice. She looked straight into his eyes. “You're bothering me. Now fly, fly, fly
away.” She added in that monotone voice. She raised her hand up towards him.
Her face straight, and in a second there was a crack and he fell to the ground.
His neck snapped, she stood there staring at the guards with an almost bored
look in her eye.
“What are you?” Asked one of them.  
“I am everything that you think you see in the dark, while you lay awake. While
you stare at your ceiling, your wife next to you, so if you don’t mind I would
like to get back to my normal schedule,” she told them in that voice. “I have
to go to Germany.” She walked passed the men who seemed dumbfounded, she turned
on her heel looking at one of the men.
“W-what d-do y-you w-want?” Asked the man.
“Oh, and you will die in three days time. I suggest you get your affairs in
order,” she said staring blankly into his eyes. “Now isn’t that something new.
I haven’t seen that reaction before. I find you funny, you are like a bug that
is dying of thirst and that is about a foot from the water. It’s a comedy to
me… I guess.” She walked down the road towards the city. Though nobody knew
when she came to the town of Salem. But she didn’t seem to mind being accused
of being a witch, she seemed to know what was about to happen before it even
did. To everyone in town, she was a very strange girl.
 
                                       -
 
A small girl wandered around a graveyard touching each gravestone. She was
humming a familiar, but at the same time unfamiliar song, it was on the edge of
everyone’s collective memory, it was like an old nursery rhyme that no one can
never remember. She sat down in front of an ornate gravestone. She had a smile
on her face, though it wasn’t childlike in nature, it was more sinister. She
sat there looking at the scrubbed name, though she could almost make out the
very ornate style name. The man who laid dead six feet under the ground. Though
he was decaying, but she didn’t care, she could work with just the skeleton.
She’s had less to work with than what was provided for her at this moment in
time.
She touched the gravestone, she relived the moment of his death. He died of a
large gunshot wound in the middle of his chest. She began to dig down to the
casket underneath the Earth. His hand twitched as she dug down deeper towards
him. “Azura,” he croaked in a hoarse, hushed tone.
“Adam,” she said with tears running down her cheeks. Though she was only ten
she was strong and happy. Her eyes staring blankly at the coffin that almost
stared her down. She moved to the side opening the coffin, soon she was staring
her brother in the eyes.
 
                                       -
 
“Where are we? I want you to hurry up,” he told the coachman who stared at the
dirt road.
“I can not, we are nearing the town. So please stay there, my king,” he told
him in a plain voice as if he had told him a million times. He was already
bored of his own king. Soon they stopped into the town. Though it seemed
questionable devoid of people. “Now we are here, get out please, my king.” He
added.
He jumped out of his carriage and smiling that dumb, forgetful smile that was
worn by jesters and other people who make you laugh. Though he did find it rude
that none of the villagers came out and greeted their King, the highest station
there was. So he reached the town square and what met his eyes when he entered
was the most horrid thing he had ever encountered. A sixteen-year-old girl sat
hunched over  a bloody dead body of a child. She turned, her face covered in
hot sticky blood, in her hands, she held the child’s heart in her hands, a
large chunk bit out of it. A smile crossed her face as she stared into his
eyes. He was frightened like a child who had a terrible nightmare and who ran
for his mother. She stood up slowly her eyes still locked on him. She let the
heart drop out of her hands. “Hallo,” she whispered, almost inaudible.
He stared at her almost bewildered. He stepped back, she drew closer and closer
to him. He continued to step farther and farther away from her, not daring to
lose her gaze. She had begun to run, closer and closer, she was faster than he
was and she almost tackled him. She dug her fingernails into his neck, blood
dripping down his neck from the wounds that were caused by her. She retracted
her hand when she was hit by a torch that was thrown at her by the coach. She
cocked her head to the side like she was made out of circuits, with nuts and
bolts. She grabbed the torch up, it was hot, but it wasn’t unbearable. She took
it, pressing the torch to his face, her eyes widened as his skin began to
blister and to get a reddish color. She stared him down, she was curious as she
watched the life leaves his eyes. She had begun to laugh, and she threw the
torch aside, standing up.
Soon she was stood in the middle of a large blood spatter. The guard’s bodies
laid around her as she stood with a very deranged smile plastered on her face.
“Good job,” said Evelyn. Almost a look of disbelief in her eyes, though the
rest of her face was still like stone. “Don’t think of attacking me, I know you
understand me. I think I’ll call you Singe, that seems very fitting.” She
lunged for her, grabbing at some part of her clothing. Evelyn grabbed her arm
and flung her backward. She made a clicking sound with her tongue as if she was
disappointed in her behavior.
 
                                       -
 
“Parles-tu français?” She asked almost expecting him to say no to her. She was
multilingual. She didn't want to cause a ruckus but he didn't seem the type to
stray much from English-speaking norm in her country at this point. She was
taught from birth how to speak French and then from the second grade to speak
English. She was very good at speaking English though  she didn't know if she's
if he spoke such other languages like German or something like Japanese. there
were many people from many other countries who came to her Pub. Though she
didn't seem to mind the new meat, they gave her more generous tips and things
like that. Thus she didn’t mind that he walked into her pub.
“No, do you speak English?” He questioned. She nodded accepting that he was of
course from England or Ireland, it was fair to assume one or the other at this
point. “That’s great, I would like something that’s good. It doesn’t matter
what, just something I can eat.”
“Of course, I know just the thing,” she told him in the plain voice, a smile on
her face. She didn’t get that request often, once maybe twice a year. She
walked back to the kitchen and told the cook that it was his choice and he
handed her a plate. She walked over to him setting it down in front of her. Her
steps clicked along back to the kitchen.
“Wait,” he said grabbing her arm. “I would like you to come with me.” She was
shaking, it was crowded Pub, though if she was forced out of there no one would
notice. She wasn’t the kind of person to cause a scene, so no matter what would
happen he would be in complete control. Though she was well versed in the magic
of the mind. She stared into his eyes.
“Let go of me,” she told him, strictly as if she were his mother, telling him
off. Her eyes searching every inch of his face. “I suggest you let go of my
arm.”
“Permettez,” says a well-dressed woman. “Voici pour vous.” She added yelling at
the owner.
“Ah oui. Madame Marie, te voici,” she said speaking quickly. “Merci, Madame. Je
ne sais pas ce que je ferais sans toi. Il an essayé de me saisir.” Her voice
began to quicken, she was urgent. The man standing right next to them, she was
talking quicker than he could understand. He knew little of the French
language, though he did know some, but he wouldn’t be able to translate in his
head if they talked that fast. The woman almost took offense to what he stood
for, though she had never met him. The woman’s eyes looked back at her.
“Êtes-vous sûr? Il ressemble à un lâche. Un paysan presque, Madame Amilia,” she
asked almost like she was doubting that man that stood next to her.
“S'il vous plaît, pouvez-vous me croire?” Amilia said quickly.
“Très bien, très been,” she told them. She raised an eyebrow, staring at the
man. She nodded and drew the sword that she was holding. She started into his
eyes. Her look was enough for him to stop whatever scenario that he was running
in his mind.
 
                                       -
 
“That’s just wonderful,” Venus exclaimed in a sarcastic and fairly annoyed
tone. Her eyes staring at the dead horses that laid there, their eyes staring
at the sky. She almost felt sick to her stomach, her silver eyes started to
water from the smell that emulated from them. She crossed her arms, clueless
about what was happening. She stared as a woman and a younger girl stumbled out
of the forest. They looked poor to the untrained eye, but it was, in fact, a
ruse. Though she was trained and she could tell.
“Venus, there seem to be people below inspecting the horses,” said one of her
personal guards and she began to think about how idiotic they were.
“You! There!” She called out looking down on them. One of them looked up almost
like she had seen something as bright as the sun. The other kept her head down,
though she could see her red hair poking out from the hood. She got no response
and she was getting angry, people listened to her even when she was a peasant.
Why aren’t you looking at me?! She thought angrily as she watched them. Don’t
you know that you're trespassing? Venus started down the hill and towards the
people who looked over a gray appaloosa.
“Hello,” she whispered, “my name is Evelyn and this is my associate Singe.”
“You do know that you are trespassing on royal land, right?” She asked cooling
herself down.
“Yes, in fact, I do,” she answered. “But none the less I would like to talk to
you about these dead horses. You see I do have a cure for such an ailment.” She
added as if she was sweet talking her. She raised her eyebrow.
“Grab them,” Venus told her guards. “How do I know you didn’t cause it?”
“You trust me?”
“That is the extraordinarily thick-headed person that I have come into contact
with,” Venus told her shaking her head. Her eyes scanning her like she was a
machine, trying to figure out what was off in her outfit. That’s when her eyes
landed on the necklace. It was a choker and a charm swung from the piece of
fabric, it was a skull. She searched the other woman and she saw the paw print
hanging from her neck. She instinctively touched her two needles hanging in an
X, her eyes widened when her blood suddenly run cold. Like she was doused in
cold water.
 
                                       -
 
“Le, kekkōdesu. Watashi wa mushiro naidarouga, tazunete kurete arigatō!” She
said with a wide smile. Though she could tell that the man she was talking to
couldn’t get the message.
“Mā, jikai.” The large man accepted. “Migi, Hisako?” She shook her head worried
about him. She walked down the cobblestone road her eyes staring at everything
but said road. She fell down after tripping on a root from a nearby tree. She
picked herself up, she dusted off of her white dress. She walked down the
already long and winding road to the forest that laid just beyond the city’s
limits.
It was a dark and mysterious place full of animals, that would love to have you
for their lunch. As she walked down the now dimly lit path she could hear the
noises of woodland creatures stalking her every move. She hummed and she felt
like she had heard this story before. She pulled the book out of her bag, it
was written in English, “The Brother’s Grimm” was scrawled across the cover in
gold ink. Her favorite fairytale book and she flipped to Little Red Riding
Hood. A story about a girl in the forest going to her grandmother’s house.
Though she knew there were no wolves that lived in Japan, she still felt a
little scared. She had read over those stories so much the spine of the book
was broken and cracked. That’s when she smiled, her face getting a little rosy
as she got deeper and deeper into the forest.
She twirled along the path like she was a flower in the wind. A smile rested on
her face, she spun and danced making it ever so closer to the harbor on the
other side of the dark forest. She stopped when she heard the sea in the
distance, she rummaged through her bag, she pulled the black cloak and pulled
it over her body. She quickly rushed to the edge of the forest.
“Dakara, ima wa tsugi no yō ni narimasu.” She breathed as she stared at the
glistening sea.
 
                                       -

She hummed as she danced around her lonely house. She was dancing to the old
Beatles records, though they did skip from the overuse, she walked up the
stairs to her large house. She giggled as she put a book with a glossy cover on
the shelf. Her eyes passed the window, the ocean was visible, but just before
that, there were large tall buildings that sunk below her. Everything seemed
too small in this town, though she knew that it would be just her.
***** The Great Mage *****
Chapter Summary
     The Dust of Snow:
     The way a crow,
     Shook down on me,
     The dust of snow,
     From the Hemlock Tree,
     Has given my heart,
     A change of mood,
     And a saved some part,
     Of a day I had rued.
     -Robert Frost
Her heels tapped on the marble floors. She looked up at the large archways,
thinking about what would happen to her now. That's when she could hear her
heartbeat in her chest, what if she was pulling her in for something that was a
fruitless adventure that was for her own gain. Her eyes staring blankly into
the space in front of her. She drew closer, the distress in her
usually toneless voice was weird, even for Evelyn. Her heart beat faster as her
mind made up possibilities. Each one worse than the last she had thought
through, the situation seemed to make her move faster and faster. That's when
she burst out into a run, and she slide into a locked door, slamming into one
of the guards, they both fall over. "What is your name?" The guard demanded of
her. 
"Tara," she said in her Scottish accent. It rolled off her tongue effortlessly.
He looked up at her with a surprised expression and he unlocked the door. He
let her in the door and she saw Evelyn sitting there, she was in no danger and
no one was getting hurt. She began to get angry at him. She folded her arms,
she was already angry about being there, but she wasn't even hurt. Tara walked
into the room, she grabbed Evelyn up by the neck. 
"How are you, Tara?" Evelyn asked in her monotone voice, just like usual. She
was acting like she didn't even call her here, to basically the other half of
the world. 
"Do not get me wrong, I am happy that you are alive, oh, I am." She said
raising her higher. "I don't appreciate you lying to me, I though you were
injured or even worse." 
"Now, when I have I ever done that to you, I can't die," she dismissed with a
flick of her hand. Though her voice didn't change, her attitude did. 
"Well, the next time you drag me across the content, I will kill you," Tara
told her angrily. She let her hand fall, she smiled. 
The tapping of Venus’s fingers was made loud by the sound-repelling walls. It
almost echoed, she stared at them.
“Is this her?” Venus inquired getting more and more annoyed by the second.
Evelyn nodded and smirked.
“The best, as I promised.”
“I sincerely hope that you are, otherwise I will have to put you on trial and I
warn you that the judge doesn’t like you very much.”
“Now, now, now, is this any way to talk to someone who is your kingdom’s
savior?”
“If she saves us, she will be the savior, not your dumbass.”
“A queen shouldn’t say something of such things,” Evelyn said in her tone of
voice.
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