*Hecate*

Quin had me pinned to a wall and he looked pretty pissed.

Um...let me rewind a bit. About half an hour ago, we had a big hug fest. Everyone was super duper excited when they found out that Savannah was actually a traitor. They were pretty mad at me, though.

I kept trying to explain that if anyone besides me and Savannah new about it, the Black Hands might loose the trust the little capture developeded between the two of them. That meant I couldn't tell anyone, no matter what.

Twenty minutes ago, I had Savannah go through what she found out. That's pretty important. Let's listen to that.

---

"At first," Savannah started, "they planned on sending me off to some remote neighborhood where they'd keep me under constant watch and keep silencers on me, so fun right? And we were on our way to suberban hell when the driver got a call and turned around. I asked what was going on, but he just said, 'Silence, dark magician,' in this really monotone voice.

"And then we were back at Black Hand's HQ and I was standing in front of the most influential humans alive. Don't remember his name though. There was this French guy, see, from France and all that francy pancy stuff. Now this is the weird part. He could use magic?"

Quin raised an eyebrow. "And that's weird because..."

"Oh, right, sorry. I guess you can't really have a cliffhanging moment without a cliff to hang off of. He could use magic but he wasn't a magician." It looked like just about everyone wanted to stop her, but she just kept going. "It's like one of your relics, Majesty. He had this weird book that..."

"Savannah?" I asked. "What?"

Her voice was meek when she replied. "It steals magic from dead magicians."

The room was quiet for a moment, but me, being the relic loving explorer that I was, asked, "Only dead?"

"I think so. See, the big man with the Black Hands hired him to hunt you and they gave him me to help. He wasn't going to kill me or anything, but he sure hated me. But what bothers me is that they actually hired this guy to hunt you. I mean, he uses magic."

"France has a bit of a different policy with magicians. See, they're allowed to live there...as pets. They're the footstools of the government and have about as much influence as your pet Pomeranian. You can literally buy and sell them there."

"You would know," Savannah said. "You were born there."

I chose to ignore the fact that she just dropped one of the many parts of my past I would've liked to keep secret and asked, "How'd you escape?"

"Mm. We were in Rochester, right, cause that's where I told him you'd be."

I smiled. "You led him right into one of my traps."

"Traps?" Quin asked.

"I have little traps set up all around the North Continent in case something like that ever happens."

"Yeah," Savannah continued, "and then I ran to here. A patrol got me and I've just been under a sleep spell for a while."

---

And that brings us back to now. Quin asked me if I could talk with him about something, then led me through the maze of halls and now I was pinned against a wall. Well, not necessarily pinned, more like he was so close that I might as well have been.

"Why didn't you escape?" He asked, his voice dark.

"Hmm?"

A fist came up and punched the wall besides my head.

"You heard me, Hecate. Why didn't you escape when you were surrounded?"

"There was-"

"Don't pull that bullshit on me. I know you, okay, and I know there's always a way out for you. So, I'll ask you again. Why didn't you escape?"

"It was early, I-"

"No."

"There wasn't any-"

"No."

"I couldn't-"

"No! I can think of five ways you could've escaped and I'm not even a magician. It's like you-you planned on dying and-" His eyes widened before focusing back on me. "You planned on dying, didn't you?"

---

*Quin*

She looked away. For the first time, she actually looked ashamed to be having a conversation with me

"You actually planned on dying?" Oh, that lit a whole new level of pissed in me. "Why?"

She shook her head.

"What? Did-did the queen get tired of her reign? Did you get bored? Or do you plan on telling me your life is actually so bad that you planned on killing yourself?"

"I wasn't going to kill myself... You guys were."

"You were supposed to be a martyr," I realized. "What the hell do you think your death would've done for anyone, huh? You think they'd all be happy with you dead? Do you understand how many people put their faith in you?"

"Too many!" She yelled. "Too gods damned many!" Magic attacked me, pushing me against the wall on the other side of the hall. "I have a target on my back, Quintin, get it? There are millions of people who dedicated their lived to hunting me down! You should know, you used to be one of them. And did you ever stop and think about how many people you were hurting to get to me? For fucks sake, you tortured my closest friend with that fucking cattle prod! All. To get. To me.

"Thousands of magicians flock to me on nearly a weekly basis and the only option I really had for protecting them was to start a war I've been trying to avoid from the beginning because it will be a slaughter that won't only shake the Continents but it will shake the world. But do you know what would've happened if I disappeared?"

"They would've been terrified!" I yelled, the magic still pinning me against the wall. "There would be no beacon, no light for them, nothing but what you left behind because you will be dead!"

"Yes, they would've been terrified and scared because that's what they needed! They needed to feel fear. I am a light that gives them hope and bravery and they are dying because they are so fucking brave and they want to fight, but they can't okay! We can't fight because when we fight we slaughter and we are slaughtered. We are a dying people and we still want to fight and if we fight we will die and they will die.

"If I die, my people will hide and they will run and they will not come out because the strongest person, their light and their beacon fell and they will have nothing but what I left behind! My sanctuaries, highly protected and spread across the country where they can live and hide in peace, but so long as I live they will be in danger because they will feel brave!"

Her magic died with the light in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice quiet now. "I shouldn't have yelled and I especially shouldn't have yelled. I-"

I hugged her. My arms tightly holding her to me. She didn't so much as move away.

"If you died," I said, "They wouldn't have had you. All the people in that camp would be dead and they would be bringing in the next rotation. Niquie and Wynnie and Jason and Savannah...none of them could happily be smiling right now, because they wouldn't have you. Heather would be working her ass off in a job that was slowly driving her to become her parents. Michael would still be Hatchet and he never would've met Jacin and he might be dead if they found out he was a magician. And I would've never met you." I was quiet for a second. "You don't die for your friends, you live for them."

She stayed like that for a few seconds before slipping out of my grip and scurrying down the hall, away from me. "Don't quote Fairy Tale to me, asshat!" She yelled when she was out of sight.

I sat, dejected.

"She really likes you, huh?" Savannah said from where she was sitting from behind me.

I jumped. "Where the hell did you come from?"

She smiled a cat like smile. "I was curious about whether or not you guys were really with her Majesty or not, but now I know you are. And you're completely head over heels for her, aren't you?"

"Is it that easy to-"

"Yes. But you managed to pick one of the hardest people to fall in love with. She doesn't really want to fall in love."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Because everyone she loves ends up dying or leaving her."

I turned to look at Savannah. "What?"

"Hmm. I told you more than I should've already but...Not like she gonna tell you, so listen up. Her life has been complete shit and it's been hard and she hates herself sometimes which is why she really needs someone to love but is too scared to, get it? But, for some reason, she really likes you and I mean really likes you. Don't ask me why, its beyond my wildest dreams. But she needs you."

We sat in silence for a minutes before I felt a small burning sensation singing at my cheek. "What the hell, Inferni?"

"Consider it my revenge for the torture, kay? And it's Savannah to you, future brother in law. Nice Fairy Tail quote, by the way."

"The- Oh god, I'm so sorry about the-"

"Eh, I already got my revenge."

She stood and began stalking away when I spoke up.

"I can see why Hecate likes you so much."

She turned back to me, a smirk on her lips. "Just for that, pretty boy, I'll give you some advice. Try calling her-"