Lightning Strikes

19

Sorry about being AWOL, just didn't have time. But I swear I'll make it up! Double update today, and then expect the last chapter to come out sometime next week! Writing might feel a bit rushed, sorry. Don't worry, I have been working on something, just not on this story. 

I have this bad habit of jumping to my next story before finishing the last one (not actually that bad this time, lol), so expect my next work to come out sometime soon. It will be fanfic, not this fandom tho. Piper will be a major character. (Hopefully) I'll have it out by the end of the month. Enjoy!

Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide (it's not that dark, promise, it's more comedic/wholesome idk)

"You have to understand that Carter's a great guy, really," Jaz explained. "He was a good king, too. A very peace-loving one. And I'd have to say that his hatred of war was the first reason for the demise of Egyptian society."

Aru nodded, listening intently. They were on the right street now, but she really wanted to know how Zia, who had seemed so innocent at times, had done this to Carter.

"Zia was also a great girl," Jaz admitted grudgingly. "We were never on the best of terms, what with me flirting with Carter and all. But Zia is probably one of the most talented magicians we've had in the House of Life. Zia really had everything to become the next Hatshepsut: a love for power, lofty ambitions, et cetera. She was intelligent, although more than slightly hotheaded."

A dreamy look appeared on Jaz's face as she recalled old events. "When we found out about the existence of the Greeks, we got locked in a world of diplomacy. Zia, being a natural at negotiations, worked with them. But in the process, we found out about the Romans as well.

"We never had the best of relationships with them, you know? Their leaders were just not that willing to trade. The Greeks didn't have anything to offer us, but the Romans? They had power. A lot of it. We want to either be in control of them or trade with them.

"Then those Roman idiots, who were drunk as fuck, mind you, found one of our recruits alone. They were at a bar, and, well, things happened. And Zia, I think she saw this tragedy as an opportunity. She attacked the Romans.

"The war was always ours to win. The Romans had been hit hard by previous wars, and we had recovered much quicker than they had. We were just better off. The Romans didn't know where to go or what to do when we laid siege. But Carter couldn't control them from Brooklyn or Egypt, so he sent Zia to California.

"I don't know exactly what happened in California, but the war didn't go as planned. The sieges were dragging on, ending with some kind of truce which was invariably broken by Zia. Monsters and demons attacked both camps to the point of mutual withdrawal. But then, you came.

"I'm told that Zia launched a final assault. But when she realized that she couldn't do anything to touch them with you and your sister locked in a fight, she bid for peace, knowing exactly what would happen. She was the hand that hammered those nails through Hazel Levesque, like Longinus stabbing the holy lance through the side of Jesus.

"She was a murderer, Aru! She came back from every campaign more brutal, more ruthless. And she wasn't convinced of Carter's faithfulness. She assumed that I had seduced him. She wanted me out.

"This has been around the fifth time that the council has called me up for judgment. And each time, I see Carter and Walt sitting there helpless as their girlfriends lay me down on a bed of nails, telling me to submit to their will. Four times Carter and Walt saved me at the last moment, letting my fate dangle over my head like the sword of Damocles, held by nothing but a horsehair. And today, those two girls took a knife to the hair, and all the so-called pharaoh could do was push it away, landing by my side. And so here I am, lamenting to you two as my fate once again lies in another's hands. But what will you do, Aru? Will you take the knife to it? Or will you tie it to that sapling, so that it may take new roots?"