SAVE THE SONGS FOR IANITE'S AND STEFAN'S POV

THIGHTROPES - FOR STEFAN'S POV

SANS SOUSI - FOR IANITE'S POV

I'll put them at the beginning of the POVs for your reading convenience.

Claire POV-

On the large scheme of things, the past two days hadn't been the worst of her life, but they had been...challenging nonetheless.

Fist off, was the constant guilt of seeing Dianite in a pleasant mood, so convinced they were in love and happy to be.

She was a snake, a horrible excuse of a human for playing with his heart this way.

Since her arrival, he had made it his mission to make the place more suited for her, thinking she would live there forever by his side.

He had even used some spell that required such dark magic, she felt its summons from across the castle. The only reason for that spell had been to bring bedsheets, food, and simple nothings just to make her more comfortable. Though Jordan suspected that the items hadn't exactly been bought but stolen, she could not complain.

But that wasn't all.

He began sleeping, though he stated that sleep wasn't so much of a necessity as it was to mortals, but it was pleasant, plus it regenerated and strengthened magic. The only reason he began doing it wasn't because of the 'benefits', it was because SHE was sleeping.

It was still odd to feel another body that didn't belong to one of her friends right next to her in the mornings. It almost gave her a heart attack to see a glimpse of red skin beside her as the darkness of the nether rolled by one morning.

There was that, and Dianite had taken the time off his busy world-conquering schedule to be there for every meal with her, in which time he went on and on about their rule, their future plans...THEIR future.

It was during those meals that she had to fight not to throw up every bit of food she forced down her throat, despite how great it tasted.

She had become so accustomed to simple meals like a first year college student.

Having big and filling meals was a bit of a shock that sometimes reminded her of home, or even eating breakfast with her friends back in the overworld. Now it was just her and Dianite though. Hell knew where everyone else ate their meals.

But the times she truly had to use every ounce of strength to keep her bile at bay was when she stared at the shiny new throne perched next to Dianite's. A smaller twin to the one belonging to the lord of the nether, but equally as present and vibrant, edged with gold trims and cold stone.

Already on her second day, and Jordan wasn't so sure she would be able to continue her façade for much longer.

Jordan, like the great champion of Ianite she was, watched servants burn before her, watched soldiers be tortured by her "lover's" hands, and worst of all, she watched villagers perish by his hands...and her own, during training.

The only thing keeping her from thinking she truly was the monster she was pretending to be was her goal.

Get the heart and get out.

She had five more days to complete that goal. Five days to get close enough to Dargon in an attempt to take it from wherever the dragon was hiding it.

That would be the true hardship of this mission.

Of course, it would be much easier if she didn't have people breathing down her neck every second of every day.

The members of Dianite's personal council had been around her like bees around a hive. Specially Furia, though she took special care to avoid him.

She thought they could be friends once, but as usual, her naive ways betrayed her then.

Jordan wasn't sure what kind of relationship they should have in this little game of hers. Having him as a friend would be unrealistic given his betrayal, having him as an enemy would hurt her image as a member of the nether, and having him as anything other than that would make Dianite furious, murderous even.

Having him killed COULD be useful, that had been her goal once after all. To kill Furia in order to prevent the death of any of the pirates.

But now, she couldn't stomach it.

When Jordan looked at Furia, she saw hope, kindness, a stained lab coat, pained and tired eyes...she saw...home.

Stefan. The boy from her world. A light in the dark she held on too.

They were almost like twins, it shocked her so much that upon arriving she almost lost her composure thinking Furia was Stefan.

Now a days, she focused on the lava armor, the cold distant eyes, and the qualities that made Furia worthy of the title of Dianite's champion.

A title they now shared, to his eternal discontent it seemed.

At least that was a good excuse to keep him from talking to her.

Now, sitting on her freezing throne, Jordan played with the lapels of her pitch black dress to keep form fidgeting in her seat like a child.

She focused on the soft fabric between her fingers in order to avoid the fifty pairs of eyes staring right at her, or at the god beside her who held on to her other hand.

Their linked hands resining upon the right arm rest of his throne, his hand held on to hers firmly as he stroked his thumb along her skin.

Jordan decided to continue focusing on her dress as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, while keeping her face void of emotions.

Just 20 more minutes till the meeting was over.

Less than a quarter hour of listening and being stared at left.

That was until the room went quiet and Jordan snapped out of her thoughts, all eyes were on her, expectant.

Crap, they were expecting her to say something.

Jordan turned to her right, where Dianite sat.

"Yes?" She said, trying not to shake with fear or embarrassment

"Champion Furia asked if you would be willing to fight against the champions in this upcoming war" Dianite said.

Jordan slowly turned ( slowly, to not break her neck because of the dumb crown above her head) towards Furia, who stood not five feet below her at the edge of the dais.

Oh...he was testing her it seemed.

Jordan looked him in the eye, getting the image of Stefan out of her head, and shrugged.

"They were my friends. I won't lie, it would make me rather uncomfortable to do so." Jordan said, standing up and walking towards Furia

"Despite that fact, should they get in our way I will disable them effectively as is my duty as champion and lady of Dianite" once she reached him, she walked around him, like a predator assessing its prey with all the time in the world "All the friends I've made have proven unreliable. So Furia, as far as willingness goes, yes I am willing. Despite my friendship, I will fight them, maybe even as a way to get them back for all they've done"

Once she went around him once, she turned back and walked to her throne, where Dianite sat, smiling like a wild animal, clearly pleased.

Oh yes, she played it well. But Furia had hit a nerve in her. Fighting her friends was a painful thought. He had seen that friendship firsthand, knew she would never fight them.

But he hadn't been there for her 'downfall'. That was her best card, playing on that argument that supposivedly changed her view on her god and friends. No one could argue against something they hadn't seen.

Jordan (1) Furia (0)

Jordan sat back on her very uncomfortable throne, held on to Dianite's hand once again, and stared at the subjects before her, trying her best not to show the panic that coursed through her veins.

********

Stefan POV-

"I brought sandwiches!" Echoed a high pitched female voice across the room.

Stefan finished fastening a few wires before plugging them in to the main interface he had been working on. Once the power from the input flowed to the main output and all lights were green, he had a mental happy dance as he began to crawl out of the mess of metal and pipes all around him.

Once out, he took a moment to breathe in some air, which seemed richer and cleaner than the stuffy air he had subjected himself to for the past 20 minutes.

He straightened his lab coat, now stained with oily fingerprints, and began to look for a head with chocolate brown hair. Sure enough, Adelina was by the desk on the other side of the room, handing a sandwich to her brother and Thomas.

Then, with a hop in her step, she ran over to Stefan and handed him a neatly folded brown paper bag with both hands.

"Turkey with tomatoes, lettuce, and an in-human amount of ketchup" she said

He gave her a pat on the head and gestured for her to sit.

"You know, you should be heading home after school instead of coming here with food" he said, taking a seat across form her.

She shrugged off her teal colored backpack, took out a dark blue notebook and pen and set them on her lap, where they would likely be ignored for hours until her brother reprimanded her.

"You'd starve if I didn't" she joked

She wasn't wrong, he would most likely forget to eat.

Inside was the promised sandwich along with a cold Coke, his undeclared favorite soda.

Once he opened his, Claire's sister threw her own soda at him, without a need for explanation, he opened hers and handed it back.

"So, how is the mad scientist science going? Bring anything back to life yet?" The young girl joked, taking out her own food and stuffed her mouth with manners that would make his mother faint.

"It just so happens you've come at a time when I've achieved something greater. The interface has been accepted and the energy flow between all the systems has been fixed. In just a matter of minutes the atomic realignment will begin and...."

He was cut off by the girl winning "You should just like Claire! In English please!"

Stefan smiled at Adelina.

"What I mean was that the machine is almost working" he clarified.

The girl jumped from the small chair and screamed so loud it shook him, almost at the expense of his sandwich.

"Really!? Thats great!" She said

The other guys in the room suddenly made their way over, one stoic as always, and the other shaking with pent up energy.

"Adelina, it's impolite to scream" her brother said as he stood next to her, fixing her crazy hair and straightening her green and white uniform.

"Why all the screaming? Did Stefan find a way to make your light up Sketchers shoot lasers?!" Tom said to Claire's sister, hope beaming in his childish eyes.

"I've told you before, that's illegal Tom" Stefan sighed

"Even better yet! The machine might work soon!" Adelina said, pushing her brother aside and jumping up and down with Tom.

Just like her sister.

"It seems that those scientist from Harvard that came yesterday managed to make this machine work after all" Mason stated

Stefan let out an emotionless laugh before going back to his food. Once a bite was digested, he cleared his throat.

"No. Those fools only slowed me down, it took me all night to clean up the mess they created and fix their mistakes. What you see before you has no input from them" he said, not bothering to be polite anymore.

Adelina laughed.

"So! What's next?" She asked

"I place Ianite's sample in the machine and I should get a reading on the location of the End. Once thats done, I'll activate the machine and the connection will begin to form" Stefan said

Adelina went back to her sandwich, her expression was unimpressed.

"Yes but how long till Claire's back? She's so behind on Game of Thrones, that girl better make it back quick before the last season starts" she said

Seriously!? That was her concern?

"Once she is back, you will not spend days locked in your room watching that television nonsense! She'll be getting a stern talking to that will last a lifetime!" Said a familiar voice by the main door. Claire's mother.

She came in, kissed her son ( who didn't fight her at all surprisingly, but also didn't smile either), scolded Adelina on her unhealthy food choices, kissed Stefan on the cheek with such motherly affection he was slowly used to, and wiped ketchup off Tom's cheek with her thumb and saliva before settling down and staring at the machine before them.

"Mother, I thought you'd be at the bakery all day?" Mason asked, perching on the arm of the couch like some sort of protective hawk.

She patted his leg kindly before wiping flour off her light pink blouse.

"I closed early today, came to check on my two favorite boys" she said sweetly, and something about that statement made Stefan's cheeks flame a bit. His own mother had never cared to check up on him, much less claim him as a favorite in her life.

"Would Stefan stand above or below Mason's raking in favoritism?" Tom asked jokingly

Lily swatted her arm dissmissingly "Nonsense boy, I love them both equally"

"Mother! I am your son!" Mason whined, the most childish expression Stefan had ever seen him make.

Adelina took a tool from the table behind her and began playing with it as she said "Yes bro, but Stefan is her soon to be son-in-law. That takes preference"

Stefan's face lit up in flames all the way to his ears as he turned around from the crowd and began fussing over some random controls.

"Adelina don't be ridiculous! Seriously mother, why have you come? Its troublesome for you to drive alone when so many eyes are watching, could be dangerous" Mason said, thankfully chaining the subject.

"Don't you go questioning the woman who gave birth to you boy! I came because I felt like coming" Lily said.

"It's her motherly seventh sense I bet" Adelina whispered, rolling her eyes.

Stefan tried his best not to laugh at that comment right as he turned on the monitor before him to Claire's stream.

She was walking the halls of the nether castle by herself, lightly grazing the wall with her fingertips, her mind seemingly somewhere else.

Jordan seemed a bit out of comfort in her night-black gown whose skirts flowed behind her like a veil of shadows. The small diamonds sown into the dress' top portion glimmered against the light of the candelabras above her like stars. Her hair, woven into an intricate set of braids, held on to a silver crown with black gems he couldn't identify. The rouge on her lips was the only color she wore.

Despite the dark appearance, she looked breathtaking.

Not that she didn't look good at all times! But it suited her. Stefan was sure Jordan could wear anything and still be more beautiful that anything else in the world.

He must have been staring for a while like a love sick fool because Lily laughed next to him and waved a hand in his line of sight.

"We lost him mom. As soon as sis pops up, he won't hear or see anything but her" Adelina said from behind him "Once, I put gummy worms on his face without him noticing because sis was training on the screen. I love it when he loses it!"

"I am in full possession of my faculties thank you very much" Stefan said "I was just focusing on some controls of the machine is all"

Lily laughed again and patted him on the back.

"How do you think she's holding up?" Her mother asked

Honestly, Stefan had turned off the streams temporarily just so he wouldn't panic. Ever since Jordan went into the nether, it gave him a heart attack. It took him a while to realize what her plan was, and he couldn't help but want to get her out of there despite her good intentions.

Stefan saw Tom and Tucker in the vents, he knew she did it to save them.

But seeing her with that monster, seeing her forced to be someone she's not.... It broke his heart.

"Hey, Sparkles!" The monitor suddenly blasted with the voice of his double.

Oh no. Furia was running down the hallway towards Claire.

Run. He wanted to yell at her to run, but she stood still.

For a moment there was hesitation in her eyes, they softened into a kind of longing. Something she had done often when Furia was around.

He must have looked confused because Lily grabbed his hand and gave him one of her sweet smiles.

"She hesitates because she sees you. Thats the same way she looked at you the day you talked you know."

That theory alone almost made him lose it. There was no way she would ever look at him that way.

The others made their way over to the main monitor to see what the commotion was about.

"Look! Its you! Wow, Claire looks like a dark goddess!" Adelina said

Her mother scolded her for the comment alone.

"Furia, if you're here to pick a fight over the champion status you'd do well to remember I am not just a champion" Claire said calmly, her face now void of all feelings.

"Snap" Adelina whispered next to Stefan.

"It just so happens that's not my issue. I was just wondering what you were doing all alone" Furia said, blocking Claire from walking forward

"Well, Lord Dianite is at a meeting and won't be free till supper, I though I'd stretch my legs after being seated for so long" Claire said, hands fisting on the skirts of her dress.

Furia smiled, as if he knew something she didn't and was playing around.

"Well, in that case...would you do me the honor of spending your time with me?" His double asked

Claire seemed hesitant, calculating.

"So you can lock me up? So you can pretend to be my friend? I'd rather spend it alone or with the most horrible creatures this world has to offer." she said coldly, turning back the way she came. Furia got in her way once again.

"I told you I never pretended to be your friend. What do you say Lady Jordan? Forgive and forget?" Furia said, and for a second it seemed like she might forgive him, that is until her Johansen genes kicked in...

"I'm neither Jesus nor do I have Alzheimer's. In case you didn't get that, it's a no" she said and her sister fell on the floor choking on laugher and drying her tears.

"Claire! Oh that girl!" Her mother said, rubbing her temples.

"So what are you here for then? To get revenge on me?" Furia asked

"I don't like the term revenge, returning the favor sounds nicer don't you think?" Claire asked sweetly

"Is that it then?" He asked

"Revenge is not in my plans, you'll destroy yourself all on your own. I'm here because I love Dianite, because I don't belong anywhere else, haven't you been listening?" She asked calmly but Stefan could tell she was fighting to remain calm.

"Of course you love him, I suppose that means you don't hate me as well? Both VERY probably scenarios it seems" Furia said, sarcasm flowing out of his mouth.

"I DON'T hate you, I'm just not particularly excited about your existence at the moment"

"You guys really are sisters. What went wrong with you Mason?" Tom asked the stoic Johansen who didn't bother to answer.

"You can be a real pain little doe. What are the pits of hell gonna do with someone like you I wonder?" Furia said, leaning in closer to play with a loose strand of her curly brown hair.

Stefan though Claire would attack, she certainly knew enough skills to fight her way out.

Maybe it was because she wagered he might be better or faster, but she didn't move one inch.