I'm putting my hopes on Blizzard and here it is.
Tales of the Fae: The Ascent of Thane
The hulking monstosity clad in the desecrated carcass of the deceased eunuch, an axe stuck in his back, turned to face the dark skinned woman dressed only in an emerald studded bra and matching hip scarf, clear blue eyes burning in a scaled reptilian face. With a roar that shook the small chamber the beast's hideous features smoothened into the face and body of a handsome man as a pair of identical girls peered from behind his nude body.
"As promised Occultist." The man snarled as the two girls ran out from behind him and embraced the woman, "Your daughters returned to you and the man responsible sent to the afterlife." The former beast man continued as a stone hand rose from the floor and presented him a set of armoured trousers and a blue tunic. "Now hold your end of the deal, where is my Nightingale, where is the Princess Valarie?"
"I will tell you nothing Thane, mightiest of the Northern Nobles." The Occultist hissed as a third girl appeared and was forced to stand back to back with her sisters before her mother drew a knife from the work bench. "And now I seal your loves fate forever." She screeched as she stabbed the blade into her hand and sprinkled the blood over her children. Rushing forward Thane caught a glimpse of Valarie trapped within the circle before smashing into the group and separateing the girls only to see the vision of his love vanish. Reaching for his axe Thane turned and held the blade against his own neck. With a cry of panic the Occultist dropped her knife and fell to her knees. "Please Thane do not do this, my love for you is truer then what the Princess will ever feel about you."
"If that were true you will dismiss the Fae you had me gather for whatever ritual you just performed and tell me where I can find Princess Valarie." Thane announced as he kept his hand steady to prevent the freezing cold steel of his own axe from cutting through his neck. With a wave of her hand the Occultist shooed her children away, their forms collapsing into pools of light before slithering into the darkest corners of the chamber. "Now speak." Thane ordered as he removed the axe from his neck.
"The Princess is being kept in the Baron's audience chamber but take care, her love for you if any no longer exists." The Occultist stated. "She has been accepted by the Morigan as a priestess initiate. If she kills a single person she will be lost, a member of the fae until the breaking of magic itself. My magics would have bypassed this if not for your intervention."
"And the Baron is responsible for this?" Thane growled, "First my father then my Nightingale. He will pay for taking those who I care about."
"Use caution, the Baron is not in control of his actions. The history you learnt from your sister is a falsehood. I care little for the princess but your safety is most important to me." The Occultist stated as he body erupted into smoke. "Remember the warnings I gave you Prince Donahue, Thane of the North." With a gentle gust of wind the Occultist was gone leaving Thane alone. Picking up his axe Thane strode out the door before heading up the stairs towards his love and the throne that was rightfully his.
**
The huge oak doors froze and shattered into wood chips as Thane removed his axe from the former obstacle before striding into the room flanked by marble column and the statues of kings and queens of the kingdom past. Sitting at the end of the room was his uncle, the Baron Uric Zola, his routand body covered in purple robes, his face ending in thick jowls that crept over his eyes. As disgusting as the man in the throne was Thane felt a twang of sorrow for the man forced to be a mockery of his beloved brother. Beside him stood the Princess Valarie her blonde hair now streaked with human blood, her robes replaced by a necklace of human skulls and blue symbols carved into her flesh. Gone was the kindness and modesty she had once possessed now replaced with a deadly predatory lust.
"Thane Lord Protector of the Prince Donahue, I have long awaited this meeting." The Baron wheezed from his ill fitting throne.
"Enough Lady Karla." Thane boomed, "I know the truth about your puppet. Now show yourself!"
"As you wish." The Baron purred in a feminine voice as a pale hand emerged from his stomach before a feminine figure pulled herself free. With long white hair and pointed ears the woman standing before Thane was different from the woman who had been a friend and confident mere days before. Dressed in a red bra and thong, the later holding a pair of holsted sacrifical daggers, the woman stretched now free of her human shell before shooting a look at Valarie.
"So this is your real face." Thane spat "What of the woman that came to me in the northern woods?"
"A shell like our former uncle." Karla stated. "The Morigan showed me my true form, that I was destined to be one of her witch elves just like your dear love is destined to become one of my banshees."
"Release her." Thane growled as he saw Karla draw her daggers.
"After what you did to the Knights of the Thunderbolt I knew that you could only be one person. Only an heir of Gill can command them Prince Donahue." Karla stated, "From their I knew that I had to utilise your weaknesses; your integrity, your friends and this woman. Thanks to my magics you know stand before me ready for your death."
"You forget that I looked into the Weird Sister's Cauldron and saw my fate, I die as an old man not as a homecommhomecoming at his sisters hand." Thane snarled, "This day is my ascension and the day where all the six kingdoms are free of the Morigan's influence and her Fae servants."
"Others would disagree." Karla purred as Thane turned to block the mace swung at his skull by the man dressed in a white hood, tunic and trousers. "What did you see in the cauldron Montague?"
"Me standing over Thane's broken and bloody body." The mace-man snarled as he punched Thane in the face knocking him back a few steps towards Karla. Turning the Witch Elf clucked her fingers causing Valarie to twitch before grabbing a long handled scythe from the floor beautiful dawn pink wings spreading from her back as she leapt into action. Wincing Thane ignored her and blocked Montague's follow up attack only to see his axe shatter under the force of the blow. "Without the Hatchet of the Spring Frost your nothing!" Montague bellowed as Thane ducked under a swipe from Valarie's scythe.
"There is more then just Fae Magic." Thane announced as a jet of freezing water shot out of his hand knocking Montague's mace away before slamming an ice covered fist through the handle of Valarie's scythe, the sheer coldness shattering the handle. "My travels took me to the land of the North Men and there after slaying a horde of Orkney Trows that had abducted Swanwhite, the fair queen of the Arctic, I was taught their ice magics by their relieved that elders." As he finished Valerie took a deep breath and released an ear splitting scream that caused Thane to drop to his knees and add his scream of pain to the dread chorus
"North Magic or not Thane, you can't change fate." Montague snorted as he slammed his reclaimed mace into Thane's chest. With a grunt he slammed the weapon down again and again, each blow shattering muscles and splintering bone. From behind him Valarie stood and watched her face turning from an evil smirk to a look of pain. Deep inside something strained against the Morigan's seductive whisperings of power and freedom. Something that loved both Prince Montague for his kindness and Thane for his bravery and now knew that she no longer needed to chose between the two. As this feeling surged through her body the cold claws of the Morigan fought back forcing the feelings deep inside as she picked down the cut down scythe and got ready to strike.
"Then what?" A woman's voice asked.
"That's as far as Donnie got." A second woman announced as the sound of a book shutting rung around the chamber before causing the image to fade. "Its a shame because he got so far." A woman dressed in a blue SHIELD jumpsuit stated.
"So how does this become a real book?" The massive blue figure asked as he carried a pair of fifty kilogram fuel pumps on each shoulder to the pickup truck parked outside the prefab shelter.
"It can't Orka." The Indian woman dressed in gold armour stated. "It wasn't finished. Still," She purred as she took the notebook away from Victoria Hand and added it to a pile of boxed equipment, "I'll try and give it an ending. Donnie deserved that much at least." She added before heading outside and incinerating the book. "Or maybe it will be the story that's never told."
(This piece is set between Marvel Mayhem: Thunderbolts #19A and X-Men/Thunderbolts #1)
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