Up and Down

Silver and Gold

She turns the choker in her hands.

The metal snakes have wound themselves together once more and she follows the twisting coils round and round. Letting herself get lost in the spiralling scales and the play of warm firelight on its intricate surface.

It's easier than thinking. Than feeling. Than remembering what was done to her... and what she had done in return.

But she cannot not think, it seems. Her mind never stops questioning, wondering, searching, reaching for answers.

And right now... it is a nagging sensation of wrongness. An inconsistency that bothers her, though she can't quite...

Something is off about this artefact.

Not because of its wretched history. Not because of what it allowed Orceus to do to her.

How exactly does it work?

And why...

Why is it lighter than it should be?

Silence is Golden... but is it, really? Her fingers stop turning the choker over and over, tightening on the coiling metal.

Anna reaches down. The coarse rocky sand underfoot is full of larger stones, and she easily finds one with a flat edge.

"What are you doing?" Sebastian looks down at her, concern etched into his dear, worried features. She shakes her head.

Too much to think about. Too much to feel. Throat too raw from screaming.

She rubs the stone edge against the gold.

After a few determined swipes, surface yields and scratches, peeling off. Not solid gold, just as she suspected. Burnished gold foil over another metal.

Precious silver shines with a pearly lustre, gleaming pale and cold even in the warm light of the fire they lit on the beach. And she had seen plenty of it during her fifth year to recognise its special sheen at a glance... and so does Sebastian.

"Goblin silver?"

The pieces of the puzzle snap into place.

The same magic allowed Isidora to create the Repositories. The secret was lost to time because the wizards wouldn't think it was a goblin creation.

They wouldn't even consider the possibility of it.

A part of her wants to melt the accursed thing down in the blue flames of Diabolica but... it isn't hers to destroy.

It belongs to the people who made it... as is their tradition.

"Guess it wasn't that golden," she murmurs, her voice hoarse and scratchy.

Sebastian's hand is rubbing soothing circles on her back and she leans into his chest with a sigh and he wraps his arms around her protectively, resting his chin on top of her head.

Ominis makes no move to join them, guilt wrought in his every feature. He looks haggard, exhausted, hurt and broken.

Slowly, she reaches out to take his hand. His knuckles are red and raw, and it gives her some clue as to what he did... though clearly, there was more to it.

But whatever he did, it saved her.

Sebastian takes Ominis' other hand, just as battered and they sit in silence, listening to the soothing sounds of the sea for a long, long while.

"I release you both from your promises."

"Ominis?..."

"I have no right to hold you to them. Not after I tortured Marvolo to get the answer. Not after using Diabolica flames to tear apart Orceus. I am no saint, I am just as bad as my family. Worse, in some respects. A fratricide is not something even Marvolo and Orceus have done."