Two Worlds Collide

A.N. This contains more swearing than most of my stories, and mentions of rape, torture and murder (something else is compared to these, so nothing too gory). Readers be warned.

Christina

I can't say what I expected when I met Xavier Verde and the rest of his family in Brisbane, Australia, where we'd agreed to meet during the December holidays. I guess I expected to see someone powerful, someone whose mere presence could cause what had never happened in six hundred years of recorded history.

I'd seen him before (and still had a crush on him from then, Minerva kill me now) so I have no idea why I was surprised to see a regular teenager my age sitting at the table for us kids.

Xavier and I were supposed to meet, as the two most magically powerful of our families. The meeting in a hotel function room was supposed to be uneventful, just a simple meet-and-greet and dinner.

It wasn't.

We sat along two long tables, kids at one table, adults at the other. Xavier and I sat across from each other at the end of the kids table.

Amy, Uncle Percy's and Aunt Julia's thirteen-year-old daughter who by some fluke didn't have the ability, was typing something on her iPhone next to me the whole dinner. She'd recently become hooked on writing, and since that Julia girl - Xavier's younger cousin, not Aunt Julia - sitting opposite her was doing the same, one hand buried in her German Shepherd's fur and the other hand using her phone, I let it slide.

I could feel a weird kind of magic from her, though. After becoming a Master, I'd become more sensitive to the different kinds of magic that some people had. All Artists used the same magic, but Amy's magic was different. Similar to the Artists', but not the same. Probably because of the Verdes. They had different magic – weaker, but still reasonably powerful; I'd sensed that the moment I walked in. That's probably why.

Here's the thing: The Verde's magic is linked to books, texts, as the source of their magic was a plot of land that brought characters out of their stories.

Our magic was linked to art, meaning that whatever art we completed came to life. Mix those two together in a girl and leave it dormant for thirteen years because no magic activated it, and you get a recipe for disaster.

How I found this out? Amy leaned back in her chair with a smile and declared her work finished near the end of the dinner.

Next thing I know I have Jonathan Rhys Meyers-lookalike/King Henry VIII from The Tudors TV series demanding to know where the (insert choice 1500s swear word) he was.

I was so dead.

Everyone in my family stared at me in disbelief for a few seconds. The German Shepherd started barking until Julia silenced it with a hand gesture. Finally my cousin Gareth, the poor soul that got dragged into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with me spoke up. "Christina, what the holy Minerva did you do?!"

"Nothing!" I protested. "I swear, I kept my mind clear and everything!"

"I think that was me…" Amy said in a small voice, looking at her phone. The thing was now completely blank.

"Would someone please explain?!" Henry VIII demanded.

I ignored Amy, stood and curtsied to the King. "Your Majesty, my family has had the ability to draw so realistically that if completed their drawings come to life for centuries. It is an inherited ability. Evidently some idiot went and completed a drawing of you. I will send you back to your own time and place. Now is the year of our Lord two thousand and sixteen, if you wish to know."

He looked surprised for a second, then glared at me suspiciously. "Witchcraft."

I sighed. "Do you want to be back in England in your own time or not? Unfortunately, the spell we use drags the caster along as well, so you will be stuck with me for a while until someone draws a portrait of me and brings me back, but as time between two worlds are generally separate, I have no idea how long it will be.

"In the meantime I swear that I will not harm you or anyone except in self-defense, but I also need you to swear that you will not have me arrested or harmed so long as I do not use my ability to hurt."

Henry VIII didn't let up on his glare, but he nodded. "I swear on my honor that I will not have you harmed if you do not use your magic to hurt."

"Christina, you are not doing this. The last time you did you nearly died and our secret was exposed," Mum said. "I'll do it."

"Mum, you know you can't do the spell anymore, and I'm not going into the practical warzone that the Valley of Peace was. No Oogway annoying every other kung-fu master there is. I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

Mum opened her mouth to reply but I gave her a Look. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. Besides, I survived the Valley of Peace. Worst case scenario, I get in a fight and I come back with a couple of bruises."

Mum visibly deflated and nodded.

I dug one of my copies of the spell from my skirt pocket.

I was about to start reading it, when Xavier Verde suddenly stood up. "I'm coming as well. Bar one of your older cousins coming, you won't have any kind of legal standing otherwise. We're related, if you stretch the definition a bit, and by the laws of that time I'm a man. And since Amy claims responsibility, it is us Verde's fault as well."

I hated to admit it, but he was right. I looked around at my cousins and uncles. Dad wasn't around because he'd gotten a case of the 'flu. No-one volunteered. Cowards.

"Alright, just don't start go screaming for your mum if something goes wrong," I warned. Okay, do not freak out when saying this, you are now officially on Quest Mode: "Grab onto my wrist."

He grabbed my wrist and I started on the spell.

A… wait a second, isn't that mist supposed to be gold, not silver? I didn't dare stop, though. The last time I stopped a spell and restarted it when the gold mist already surrounded us, I actually passed out immediately after I completed the spell, and stayed unconscious until someone tried dragging me across a magic border meant to keep mortals like me out, head-first. Not fun.

Finally the silver mist lifted... And we stood in front of the whole freaking court.

Holy freaking Minerva.

Alright, I can handle wearing ancient Chinese court dress and makeup for two months, I can handle Tudor court dress for a while, I thought. Not.

I had been shunted into Kathryn Howard's court, Xavier into Henry VIII's. The King reasoned out that it'd be a lot easier to handle a single wizard in his own court than a witch and a wizard. Better to get Xavier under his thumb then focus on me.

Besides, I was a just a girl. What's the worst I could do?

Kathryn Howard wasn't extremely pretty, but she was young, just a few years older than I was, which apparently made up for being the single silliest being I'd ever met. She was nice, but only interested in clothes and jewellery, and was barely able to read and write.

To be fair, she probably didn't really get the chance to learn, and if I was the wife of a self-centered temperamental sick king old enough to be my grandfather, I'd be the same.

It still didn't stop it from being slightly annoying.

My thoughts were cut off by Mary, the maid assigned to me, pulling the laces on my kirtle in.

A kirtle was basically just the Renaissance Wonderbra, made out of a stiff bodice and skirt, worn over a chemise and a petticoat, and under a silk velvet gown with a ridiculously low-cut neckline and train so the Renaissance Wonderbra could do its job and give any males over the age of twelve a hard time concentrating.

Then after that were the sleeves which were also made out of silk velvet, and a silk belt thing that went around my waist. Then I had to wear a very stiff, heavy hood, which was pretty stupid considering that my hair was actually shorter than some of the men's.

The whole thing ended up weighing close to a kilogram. Not fun to move around in and even less to get dressed in. And the stupid part was I'd actually drawn the blasted dress, using a lady-in-waiting's gown as a template and changing a few details here and there, like the size, the colour, et cetera.

I was in a pretty bad mood by the time I was able to meet Xavier in the gardens. I'd asked him to meet me in the gardens in two hours, before we got dragged off in different directions to change into something a bit more appropriate for that supposed time period.

Xavier wasn't in the best mood either when I saw him leaning against a wall, which made me smirk. I wasn't the only one suffering.

"You never warned me about this," he said sulkily.

"What?" I demanded. Alright, maybe that was uncalled for, but still…

"This. The weird clothes, how freaking formal everyone talks, everything," he replied, glaring at me.

Oh, so the brat can't handle this. "I'm so sorry that I thought you'd have thought before coming along."

He stood up straight. "A little warning would've been nice!"

"You live on a plot of land where story characters are routinely dragged out of their stories! I figured you'd realize that it'd be different here, blockhead!"

"How was I supposed to know?!"

"Oh, I don't know, thinking?!" Holy Minerva, I really was angry if that was the best I could think of. "I never asked you to come! I would be perfectly fine on my own!"

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have come! Maybe this whole business with you Artists is just a waste of time! I don't see why we bothered, it's just a couple of your boys suddenly becoming good at drawing!"

"A couple?! Try a couple dozen, you brat! Everyone. You. Met. And believe me, you would be bothered if the result of the boys randomly getting the ability out of nowhere results in your four-year-old niece getting sent into danger!"

"So what? I had two attempts on my life by the age of five, just for my magic!"

By now we were nearly nose-to-nose, yelling at each other. That kid was so lucky I was still drained from the spell and was too tired to cast anything: I probably would have cursed the brat.

I could not think of a reply. We just stood and glared at each other. Holy Minerva, this kid was spoiled. I hadn't wanted him along, and now he was complaining about the whole mess.

Now why had I ever fancied him in the first place? Not for his personality, that's for sure.

"If this is how it's going to be, I think we're best going solo," I hissed.

"Agreed," Xavier hissed back.

We turned and left at the same time.

"-His Majesty gave me this beautiful new robe, bought from some heathen country, and it has the most lovely flowers on it."

How and why I was here, I wasn't sure. I did know that I was bored out of my skull.

Kathryn Howard was showing off some new thing Henry VIII had bought for her. I really couldn't care less about fashion, so I was just pretending to pay attention and look interested while she prattled on.

"Lady Christina, I believe you are from that region? Perhaps you would be able to identify where the dress came from?" Lady Katherine Tylney asked. She was another one of Kathryn Howard's ladies, and a lot smarter than most of them, luckily, so I didn't go insane too soon. Unfortunately she too was convinced that Singapore was in China.

I reached for the robe. It really was beautiful, pink silk edged with white and gold and with silver and yellow magnolias embroidered on it.

I felt a pang of nostalgia. This was similar to what I had worn on my trip to ancient China. The only difference was that mine was red and had peonies rather than magnolias.

"China," I said.

Rather embarrassingly I couldn't quite keep the nostalgia out of my voice, and Lady Katherine Tylney picked up on it.

This ended up with me explaining the whole shenanigan in China, and Kathryn Howard insisting that I have the robe, because well, I'm not entirely sure, but it had something to do with it reminding me of home or something. Needless to say, I had long since given up explaining where Singapore was on the map.

Xavier and I hadn't spoken for two weeks now, probably for the better. Both of us being magic-users, we'd probably hex or even curse each other if we got in a fight.

"Lady Christina?"

"Huh?" I asked, shaking myself out of my thoughts. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"I asked what you thought of Sir Xavier? He is quite handsome, is he not?" Kathryn Howard asked, blushing and giggling.

"He is handsome," I said carefully. It was true, the brat was hot. It was times like this where my policy of not letting myself crush on anyone while not in my own world was seriously tested. "But considering we are one argument away from a fight, I can't say much about his personality."

Kathryn and her ladies glanced at each other and giggled. "So you admit that he is handsome!"

I did not like where this was going. But I nodded anyway.

Probably not my best idea.

Kathryn Howard shared this with Henry VIII, who got it in his head that since Xavier and I both admitted to thinking the other was physically attractive (Ha! I did have a reason to hate my dress!), he should play Cupid and set us up on a very public date by having us sit across from each other at the next banquet so we could get to know each other.

This was after I managed to explain that Xavier and I were one disagreement away from an crossing swords.

Genius.

So here I was, desperately resisting the urge to summon my weapons and demand a fight. Judging by the look on his face he was trying not to as well.

"You know what, forget this. Duel me," I snapped, standing up and summoning my sword and wand. "Obviously we're both one step away from killing each other, so may as well get it over with."

Xavier stood as well, his eyes blazing. "If you haven't noticed, Christina, I'm unarmed. Give me a damn sword and I'll do it."

A few of the ladies gasped at the curse word. Did I care? Nope.

"What kind?" I asked.

"Sabre. Mine deflected magic, though I don't expect you'll give me that courtesy."

I glanced at Henry VIII, automatically creating the requested sword and trying not to scratch myself because of the itchy feeling it gave me. Who knew magic-repelling weapons made me itch? "Let's take this outside."

Xavier looked at the high table and nodded. "Jousting field."

I handed him the sword and ran for the field, a good portion of the courtiers coming along to watch. I was so lucky I got to keep my combat boots and specs.

Xavier reached the field first and was waiting for me when I got there.

"Finally. I was going to die of old age," he sneered, stepping into what I recognized as a fighting stance. "To first hit, either with a spell or a sword."

I glared at him but nodded, using my wand to change my gown into my regular clothes, and got into my standard dueling stance – slightly crouched, left side to the opponent, sword in right hand and wand in left hand.

"Would someone do the honours?" Xavier called.

One of the men stepped forward and held up his hand.

We waited.

The hand dropped and I fired off a Disarming spell at Xavier. Well, I had to check just how good he was.

He deflected it with his sword... right back at me.

My wand flew out of my hand. If I'd been just a split-second slower in raising my sword, I would've been dead.

I quickly realized that landing a hit on him was going to be impossible, even using every technique I could think of. He avoided my attacks like he was born doing it, using moves, blocks and parries that I weren't even sure existed. More than once his attacks were just too fast for me to block, and I had to jump or dodge out of the way before I lost a limb.

There was no way I could win a sword fight with him. He was just too good. If I wanted to win, I had to get back my wand. Plus, there was the fact that if I got too close to his sword I wanted to scratch myself. I needed a ranged weapon.

I blocked, shoving him away as hard as I could, and lunged for my wand.

Well, it wasn't enough. I just managed to throw myself out the way before I got hit and created a shield already strapped around my left arm, taking the next hit on the shield.

Alright, my sword was a two-handed sword and I really needed both hands to swing the thing, but hey, I panicked, and I really needed some way of not getting hit. Not a lot was better than a shield if you weren't fast enough to constantly dodge or keep blocking with your sword.

I did a quick mental estimate. If I tried to surprise him and grab my wand, I'd still need time to aim and say the spell, and I'd be dead by then. Plan B. I dropped my shield, created a giant snowball and threw it in his face, then tackled him when he was distracted and blinded. By the time he realized what happened, I was straddling his waist, using my legs to pin his arms to his sides, my sword at his throat. "Yield."

He glared, but nodded slightly. "I yield."

Some joker wolf-whistled and I realized exactly where we were and what I was doing. I scrambled off Xavier as fast as possible.

After the duel, while Xavier and I weren't exactly friends, we did make a point of meeting up every chance we had, talking, arguing, and occasionally dueling each other. Usually it was at night, mostly because that was when we both had free time.

This went on for a few months, long enough for Xavier and me to relax a bit. The Tudor court was peaceful, why should we worry? We were stuck here, so we may as well enjoy it.

I should have known the peace wouldn't last. I had been in far too many royal courts, I should have seen it coming.

Kathryn Howard was an idiot. Frankly that's what she was. She slept with Thomas Culpepper and got caught.

Yeah. Ever heard the saying the bigger they are the harder they fall?

A Queen falling, that's truly epic. She won't fall on her own, no, anyone associated with her will fall with her.

It was just my luck that I got caught in the trap as well.

I was sitting in one corner, watching Kathryn Howard and the rest of her ladies dance and practicing a few spells myself when a group of men burst in. With lances that looked like they really should be used to chop heads off.

My kneejerk reaction was to summon my sword and wand, jumping up into a fighting stance with a spell on my lips, before I recognized the livery - just another word for uniforms - as the one all of the palace guards wore.

All the palace guards were under the command of Henry VIII.

They immediately positioned themselves at strategic points around the room. Not strategic points to defend, but strategic points to control a group of people if they got unruly. I also got a slightly itchy feeling as one of the guards came close to me. The same I'd gotten when I was handling Xavier's sword.

We were so dead.

"Sergeant, what is this?" Despite the fact that she was the single shallowest person I knew, I had to give Kathryn Howard points for guts. If I hadn't been on so many adventures I'd have been shaking right then. As is I was fighting the urge to Stupefy the guards and get the holy Minerva out of there.

"My lady, you are confined to your apartments, with only Lady Rochford to attend you, and Lady Christina is to surrender her weapons and remain in her quarters with Sir Xavier for as long as it pleases the King," the man I guessed was in charge of the guards, well, ordered.

I was definitely less likely to have a lance aimed at my head if I went along, so I handed over my wand and sword and quietly went with the three burliest guards there to my rooms. Needless to say I had to grab my own wrists so tightly my knuckles turned white to stop myself from scratching like a maniac.

Xavier was already waiting there, standing in the parlour and drumming his fingers nervously on the table. His sabre, which he'd been wearing for the past few weeks, had apparently been confiscated as well. At least I wouldn't have to keep grabbing my wrists.

I was pushed into the room.

"There are guards stationed just beyond the door, armed with magic-repelling weapons," one of the guards who had escorted me there informed.

With that, the door was shut.

I sank into one of the chairs and checked that no-one other than Xavier was there.

Clear.

"Any idea how they got hold of magic-repelling weapons?" Xavier asked. "I can't have been the only one who felt it."

"No. The only magic-repelling weapon I ever made was your sabre, and they can't have had it that long," I said, confused. Then paused. "Wait, just how long have they had it?"

"They took it literally five minutes ago." Xavier came over and sat down across from me. "There's no way they could've melted it down that quickly. And I wouldn't have felt the effects. They aren't made using the kind of magic I use."

"So either this is the world's most elaborate hoax, or someone else figured out how to make magic-proof weapons. This is probably a hoax." I added the last part quickly. There was no way there could be another magic-user in the Tudor court. Look what happened to the last one accused of it.

Xavier raised an eyebrow but continued, looking progressively sicker as he said it. "We're under arrest. Kathryn Howard's been arrested as well, right? We're being arrested for helping her. Dereham got grabbed right in front of me. We need a plan."

"Xavier, man, you alright?" I really did not need a hysterical boy on my hands.

He nodded, taking a few deep breaths. "Got paper and something to write with?"

I summoned a few sheets of foolscap paper and two pens. "Let's get to work. I assume the charges will be helping Kathryn Howard."

"We have to admit that we were meeting up at night, whenever they couldn't find us," Xavier said immediately. "That's the first thing they'll use. They'll say we were helping Kathryn and Culpepper meet up."

I sighed. "But if we admit to meeting each other at night, we can just as easily be accused of adultery, and that isn't much better than helping the Queen commit treason."

Xavier was quiet for a few seconds. When he finally spoke, he sounded a bit like he was in a trance, not completely there in the room. "No. We can't be accused of adultery. Not if we claim…"

He looked at me and flushed a bit. "We can't be accused of adultery if we claim to be engaged anyway. I know a bit about laws from this era; if we claim precontract, basically having promised in the sight of God to marry each other, by the laws here anything between us isn't adultery, because we're married in the eyes of the church."

"But aren't we, well, a bit young?" I asked.

Xavier rolled his eyes. "Christina. Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII's grandma, was married and gave birth to his dad at the age of thirteen. Compared to her we're ancient. I could have been married at age fourteen and you at age twelve in this time."

"True." I'd forgotten that fact. "Alright, so we're engaged to be married, and we wanted to um, do that, so that's why we kept sneaking away at night. As a result we can't have been helping them because we were busy with something else."

He wrote down, 'Precontract - proof that we're innocent' and put a tick next to it. "Hold it. I've an idea. You haven't got any objections to possibly lying to religious authority here, do you?"

I shrugged. "I've met two different gods, Aslan and Dionysus. Besides, all religious authorities here work for Henry VIII who is possibly trying to have me executed. Basically, no, I don't have any objections."

"Then say that we've been meeting up in secret, but it's been purely as friends."

I nodded, relieved that I didn't have to pretend to be in love or something. Or even lie for that matter. "Okay. Two options. How's Veritaserum sound to you? Truth Serum; it forces you to tell the truth."

Xavier shrugged. "If it works. You sure they'll believe us?"

"They can test it out on someone else," I pointed out. "Plus, I can swear on my magic. That oath forces me to fulfill it. If I break it, I'm disowned, my story recorded in the family records, everything I ever created turns to dust, then my own magic kills me. I hear tell that after that the magic goes to the nearest Artist, but nobody's broken any magic oaths so we don't know for sure."

He shuddered. "I should think not. And I thought swearing on the Styx was bad. Who the Hades came up with that?"

"One of my ancestors. Four options, then. Swearing on whatever is valuable to us, Veritaserum, being interrogated by whatever religious authority Henry VIII decides to throw at us, and that last desperado move which will never be used except in a life-or-death situation."

He laughed at the last part. "Yeah. I don't want to get hitched that fast. Anything else we can be accused of?"

"None that I know of."

"I'm all for winging it if it comes to that."

"Same."

I clenched and unclenched my fists in my lap, trying to keep my stress levels under control.

Xavier sat next to me. Apparently, us being two of the youngest in the Tudor court meant that we were interrogated together. Cowing us both in submission would be easy supposedly.

The door creaked open behind me. I barely stopped myself from summoning my wand.

Someone I didn't recognize walked into the room. A scribe, two guards armed with what I recognized were magic-repelling weapons and another man carrying a long, flat, narrow chest followed. I felt a slightly prickly, itchy feeling all over when the box came near me.

Xavier grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be reassuring or what.

"Let me ask you some questions about events since you have arrived in court."

I took a deep, calming breath, trying to force down my instinct to get out of there by whatever means necessary. I wished I wasn't seated. The mystery man was still standing, which gave him a height advantage. Any psychology student could tell you that this put him in a position of power.

Xavier wasn't much better than me - I could tell by how sweaty his palms were - but he did a good job of hiding it.

"Do you know what I'm talking about?"

I shook my head. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Xavier do the same.

The mystery man walked over and sat down. I mentally heaved a sigh of relief. "There's no need to be afraid, Lady Christina, Sir Xavier. No harm will come to you so long as you tell me the truth, are we clear?"

Blast. We hadn't hid it quite as well as we hoped. "Yes."

"I understand that you are witches, Sir Xavier, Lady Christina?"

"We prefer the term wizards, Sir, but yes, I am capable of performing magic, though I am magically very weak," Xavier said.

"Yes," I said carefully. "A student."

"Have you ever, by any means, aided the Queen in arranging meetings with men other than the King?" There's the question.

"No," Xavier and I said in unison.

"Then where were you on all those nights where neither the Queen, Lady Rochford, or you could be found?"

"We were seeing each other to talk, whenever we could arrange it," Xavier said.

"Why would you wish to speak so often if not three months ago you were dueling each other in the jousting field?"

"We are the representatives of two large families of witches and wizards. We have both had problems caused by the other family, and we had only just met. It is natural to argue and for hostilities to escalate into an outright duel," Xavier explained. "After that, with the hostilities out of the way we agreed to work together to see what could be done for both our families. We dueled frequently, but continued to speak."

He signaled the man carrying the chest forward and the chest was laid on the table between us. Back to grabbing my wrists again.

He opened the chest, revealing Xavier's sabre and my wand inside. Figured. "I am prepared to return you your weapons if you will answer all my questions truthfully. I am extremely good at telling when a person is lying. Do you agree to these terms?"

I nodded. After a brief hesitation Xavier nodded as well.

The questioning continued.

"I understand that the Queen has given you, Lady Christina, a fine silk robe imported from the Far East. Why would she give you such a gift?"

What did that have to do with this? "I was asked to tell her where it was from, and I told her that it was from China. At her request I told her of an adventure I had there and she felt that I would be homesick, so she gave me the robe."

"She did not ask your silence on anything?"

"She did not," I answered.

"I believe that your home country, Singapore, is not anywhere in China. Why would you feel homesick for a place that is not your own country?" Crap. That's why.

"I made friends there, but I did not really miss China. I said that I was from Singapore, and tried to explain where it was, but they kept forgetting so I gave up explaining."

"Have you ever used your magic to injure since coming to this court?"

"Yes. During Xavier's and my duels. Sir, I do not see what this has to do with anything."

He smirked. "The King claims that there was an agreement that so long as you did not use your magic to harm, he would not have you arrested for witchcraft."

Holy freaking Minerva. I forgot.

Xavier spoke up. "And I attempted to injure her as well. It is in the context of a duel, and against someone that had a magic-repelling weapon besides, so surely that can be excused?"

"It will be noted. Finally, as you have said earlier, you have been meeting secretly at night. Care to elaborate?"

I nudged Xavier's knee under the table. You talk.

"It was the only time both of us were free from duties. I can swear on the River Styx that nothing happened between us. If I am lying it will kill me instantly."

"Swear." Okay, that was too easy. Something was wrong.

"I, Xavier William Verde, swear on the River Styx that nothing inappropriate happened between Christina Seah Jing Yi and I." Thunder boomed outside as he said it. Weird. Magic or the Greek gods weren't supposed to exist here, so why did that happen?

But this was a fanfiction… I mentally prayed to every single god or goddess I could think of that this kept completely to canon.

We waited in silence for a few seconds. "D'you need me to swear as well?" I asked finally, breaking the silence.

The man nodded.

"I, Christina Seah Jing Yi, swear on the River Styx that I have never done anything against the law that I know of since coming to court, bar using my magic with intent to hurt in the context of a duel."

Thunder boomed outside.

I was still alive.

The man pushed the box towards us. "That will be all. You may reclaim your weapons."

Of course, we still ended up on trial, conveniently done in the Tower of London.

Xavier's sword had been left outside and my wand as well, and close to a dozen guards armed with what I now thought of as 'Itchy Weapons', but it didn't bother me too much. We'd done nothing wrong. This was probably just a show trial. Henry VIII loved drama, everyone at court knew that, so this was likely just an oversized means of getting it, right?

I wish.

I nearly had a heart attack when the list of charges didn't include helping Kathryn Howard, but witchcraft, lying to the King and attacking a nobleman. Xavier.

I had no defense. Nada.

Wait a second, why was there a woman in the stands? Women weren't allowed in, other than the accused. And why the holy Minerva did I feel some other kind of magic unless - oh no.

This really was a show trial. It was a show trial to get me convicted and most likely executed. And another magic-user was working against me.

No, no, no, this could not be happening, there was no way there would be another, the TV series never-

I cursed my memory. This wasn't the TV series. This was a fanfiction. Canon was irrelevant. That's why I wasn't there post-series or as a background character, but in the middle of the series and spent so much time with Kathryn Howard, killing canon just by being there.

But because there wasn't any canon, anything could happen. Magic duels could take place. There would be thunder every time someone swore on the Styx. Holy Minerva, Katherine Tylney was there, and the name Tylney barely even came up on the website!

"Anything to say in your defense?" the official in charge of this mess sneered, for lack of a better word.

Well, I was desperate. "There is another witch here. In this courtroom."

The whole room laughed. Laughed. "Of course she is a witch! But unlike you the daughter of Artemis serves His Majesty the King."

Said daughter of - wait, wasn't she supposed to be a virgin goddess? - smirked at me, and I finally got a good look at her.

Holy Minerva. She was impossibly pretty, and while normally I wouldn't notice historical inaccuracies in clothing, I was pretty sure a neon pink dress that otherwise looked like it was straight off an episode of Merlin didn't belong in this time period.

And was that a lightning bolt scar? And now that I thought of it why did I feel Greek mythology and Harry Potter magic here of all places unless - oh holy Minerva.

I was up against a freaking Mary Sue. And my own cousin's creation, to boot.

I had long since lost count of how many times I'd cursed the Fates for being such sadistic jerks.

"You are found guilty of treason, witchcraft, and assault. I sentence you to death by hanging."

I was dead. Not yet literally, but soon.

Two guards escorted me to the exit of the room, Itchy Weapons pointed at my throat and at my back. I didn't notice that we'd stopped after a few steps, or that we'd stopped in front of the Mary Sue (how I didn't notice the obscenely bright neon pink dress I have no idea), mostly because I was trying to find some way out of this.

The logical, calm part of me managed to force the hysterical, get-me-out-of-here-I'm-gonna-die side into submission and decided that if worst came to worst and I couldn't get out of there, I could always just use magic to -

Agony ripped through my body and I screamed, my legs buckling under me. It felt like someone was tearing my muscles off my bones!

The pain died down almost immediately, and I was left completely limp and gasping for air, held by the guards who to their credit somehow managed to catch me before I collapsed.

I was still in pain, only slightly less than before. It was like every single injury and every single ache I'd ever gotten had decided to come back with a vengeance, from cramped drawing hands to slash wounds to broken ribs. The harsh taste of iron, blood, was in my mouth and I spat it out.

I could practically feel the triumph radiating off the Mary Sue, along with a weird combination of Greek mythology magic, Harry Potter magic and… holy Minerva.

She was responsible.

"Just so you don't get any ideas, I took the liberty of stripping you of your magic," she said, sadistically happy.

Holy Minerva, no. No, no, no, this could not be possible, it wasn't supposed to be possible, magic was written into my genes and I needed it so much it was the only way I could survive this mess if I didn't have it I'd die it was impossible to just take it like that it had to be please she had to be lying no she was lying it was impossible to strip me of my magic without killing me but why did I feel different, like something was missing and why did it hurt so much…

2: Xavier