In Darkness and Light - A Justice League AU

Introduction

{Warning: This chapter deals with gore and death. Viewer discretion advised.}

The crescent moon hung in the sky, partial moonlight beaming down. Deep below the calm ocean lay the great underwater city of Atlantis. It was a cool night in Atlantis, a perfect time to be out and about. Especially now with tension having died down ever since Suizul and the traitors were taken cared of. A new King and Queen--King Goldwath and Queen Lazuli--took control of the throne and steered the Kingdom back on the right path. Peace and prosperity was coming back to Atlantis at long last.

Or so it seemed.

Aquamarine was making her way through the city to visit an old friend of hers that she had not seen in years. Once the former ruler of Atlantis as Queen under the reign of their former King, her husband Ultramine, she was now spending her time in retirement to enjoy the simple moments in life. She had just kissed her husband goodbye (and goodnight just in case she made it back too late and found Ultramine already slumbering the night away) and headed out into the city. She could feel her legs already burning from the simple walk. Aquamarine had to pause to breathe; she was and considered herself a rather sturdy individual, but because she hardly ever moved during her time as Queen, her muscles and bones were getting as frail as an elder's. Though she could consider herself an elder since she was already in her 50s. She pulled through as much as she could and continued onward.

Her neck fur began to prickle in uneasiness as she felt a presence nearby. Not just any presence, but a presence of magic. She paused, turned her head around to check, but no one was following her. Suspicious, she slowly advanced again, waiting for a chance to hear something and catch it before it disappeared. Nothing happened though, and her neck fur began to smooth out, so she figured the threat had gone away.

She stopped again, paws firm on the ground.

"I know you're here, witch," Aquamarine called out. "Don't think you could surprise me because I have magic, and I can detect those with magic. Reveal yourself. Now."

There was silence for a while, before a feminine voice spoke out.

"Queen Aquamarine. Should have known this aura from miles away. Although you're not one of Prince Ragol's cursed descendants, you carry the same variant of the chaos that once plagued Atlantis."

Aquamarine's heart pounded.

"You're mistaken; only royalty possess the strong chaos magic that Ragol possessed. Us normal citizens and peasants carry just normal magic. Or fake dark magic."

Out from the darkness, a figure appeared. Aquamarine whirled around to meet the creature head on. The creature was taller than her, almost around Orro's height when she had met her husband's mother the Queen. Though definitely the creature was some inches shorter than Orro. The creature was coated reddish-brown with black legs, a black muzzle and a golden orange tail. Her eyes were a normal brown color and she had long eyelashes. She wore a satchel on her waist, and most notable of all, she sported a huge scar running from her forehead to her left cheek.

The creature, a maned wolf Aquamarine came to realize, bent her head down to level with the former Queen, a grin erupting.

"But didn't you know that Ragol spread his cursed genes when he abandoned his role as Prince of Atlantis to marry that lowlife peasant girl Conni?" the creature said smoothly. "Did you know he had children with her?"

"I do, but I still have no connection to the Royal Family by blood," Aquamarine answered. "I came simply from peasants."

"Peasants who dealt with sorcerers to obtain magic."

Before Aquamarine could retaliate, she paused, blinking. True, she thought herself as she recalled her and her sister's mother, Rallah, having magic. She herself was a peasant, just like their father, who somehow possessed magic, which she passed down to her and Hathleya. However, ever since receiving the injury over her right eye when Aquamarine was 6 years old and Hathleya was 9, that magic seemed to fade as she never recalled seeing her perform magic afterwards.

"Your mother," the witch continued, "possessed magic just as any royal would. Rallah wasn't born with it; she went to sorcerers to deal with them and gain powers to be stronger and defend herself. That's just how peasants are. I was one myself once."

Aquamarine perked up her ears. "How do you know-"

"Rallah?" The maned wolf blinked. "I have connections... As a fellow sorceress myself... We know who deals with us. Anyway... You're not who I am looking for. Your daughter, however, she is who I seek, for she is a mixture of royalty and peasantry. And she is just what the Prophecy foretold."

Aquamarine's ears flattened. "What do you seek from my daughter?" she growled out.

The long legged creature began to circle Aquamarine, eyes fixated on her. "Let's just say... We have past beef I need to settle once and for all. She may not know it, but her descendants know it, and thanks to an old friend, I can easily strip away what magic Lazuli has to leave her defenseless." She lifted a paw. "But first. I have to strip whatever remains of you first before I can deal with your family."

"I won't let you!"

Aquamarine pinched her teeth on the creature's paw pad, which caused her to grunt in pain and shake her off. Knowing she was far too out matched to take on this tower of a creature, Aquamarine ran as fast as she could. She didn't get far though, for she felt her limbs become heavy as boulders. She was surrounded by a blocking dark red aura, trapped. Her left eye began to stab uncontrollably as she was forced to turn around while the creature approached her. Aquamarine was tense, her body stuck as she trembled and hissed through her teeth.

"Did you ever wonder how your mother lost her ability to use magic?" the creature asked. "And do you know how to harm or kill someone of magic?"

Aquamarine didn't answer, just scowling and chattering her teeth.

"That scar on her face," she pointed to her own as well, "this scar on my face. This is how magic is dispelled from someone. But for me, however, I've taken much more magic than any royal. More than Ragol. What I'm doing to you, this is weak compared to my true powers."

A red and golden aura emerged from the creature's eyes. The former Queen's pain grew more unbearable. This pain. That magic-

She reached for Aquamarine's eye. "Let me show you."

Without warning, the long legged creature dug her claws into Aquamarine's left eye, her other paw grasped tightly on her throat to prevent her from screaming. Warm blood escaped from her body, pulsating and splattering on the ground. It became harder to breathe, the dark barely lit ocean above her getting darker. She felt her body weaken not from the blood loss, but from the ripping of her left eye. The last of the tendons that held her eye to her socket ripped, and she fell back to the ground in a pool of her own blood.

She groaned and wheezed, too weak to move. She tried to use magic, to no avail.

This witch... Feels familiar- she thought. She heard stories like this as a child, stories similar to this creature. Way too similar.... Her remaining eye nearly jumped out of its own socket. She shakily reached out a paw. I have to warn the others about her... Warn...

"Oh look at you. A former Queen, once so regal, so powerful. Now reduced to nothing but a lowly peasant, bleeding and dying." The creature stopped her, meeting her eye to eye. She juggled Aquamarine's eye in her paws, grinning. "You don't have any more magic; I took the one source that provided you with such. That's how you take away magic."

"I won't...let you get them...Bea...," Aquamarine breathed out weakly.

"Aw, you do know me," she said ominously. "That's so sweet~ I feel honored they continued telling my 'tale.' Granted, they were all lies. I know you're not going to tell anyone of me though."
In one final swoop, the creature bend down to grab Aquamarine's neck and twist it till she heard a sickly snap. The witch saw her life already gone as her body fell motionless on the ground. The maned wolf tsk'ed with her tongue.

"A shame indeed."

***

"Beatrix. Report."

"First target eliminated. Queen Aquamarine is no more."

"Good. One less problem to deal with. Have you found her daughter?"

"Not yet. But I know I am close."

"Well keep on searching. Remember. Only the Eye of the Princess can restore the Third Eye and bring chaos magic back into balance."

"Oh trust me. That day shall soon be upon us once I can restore what was taken from me. What was taken from us as well, of course... Rest assured, we will be victorious. I will be victorious."

"You know, you're my first ever client to actually succeed with their plans. Color me surprised. To think I despised you all those years ago when you approached me asking for magic to get your revenge on King Thardelok. But how you destroyed their family....and you're doing it again... As I said, color me surprised."

"Yeah yeah whatever. I gotta go, Matosh. I have a mission to carry out. I don't have time for you to continue yapping your trap."

"Bossy much. You never change."

"Beatrix out."

Beep.


{To be continued...}