The Tale of Azure - Book I: Shades of Green and Blue

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Death of Myrtle Elizabeth Warren

A/N: The title says it all...

Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter", Eris and "Kuroshitsuji". I only own my OC's.

Warnings: sexual harassment (one day, I will kill off this character -.- )

She had no idea why her body was trembling, nor why she felt like she was inside of a sauna. Taking a sharp breath, Azure rose from the hospital bed and touched her face, frowning as she felt the cool, familiar moisture. Tears. But why? And why was she in the Hospital Wing?

"Ashlane," McGonagall said coolly. "Madam Burnett specifically ordered you to rest. It would do you no good if you were to suffer from another narcolepsy crisis."

"A narcolepsy crisis?" She asked more to herself than to the Prefect. "But did you see Myrtle?"

"I was on my patrol duty when she passed by me," McGonagall replied. "She was crying. I called her and she ignored me. When I mentioned your name – which usually lulls her – she simply said she wanted to be left alone in her bathroom. She told me that she needed no one. I tried to reach out to her when she pointed her wand at and hit me with a Stupefy. But that look in her eyes...was vacant, without Soul."

Her eyes widened in alarm at McGonagall's description, her head throbbing with pain as memories came back to her: she and Myrtle being Petrified by Riddle, Myrtle's body being mistreated by Lestrange and Avery, Avery's malicious grin as he went to find Hornby, Riddle remorselessly looking at her and whispering that what she feared the most, what had caused her to have night terrors, was going to happen tonight.

Quickly grabbing her wand, she left the Wing as fast as she could. Finding the special passage that led straight to the second floor, she drew out her wand once she reached her destination, taking in the scene in front of her: the unnerving smirk on Riddle's face, an angry-looking, teary-eyed Myrtle stepping out of her stall and demanding harshly for him to go away, her hand gripping her glasses...

He grabbed Myrtle's forearm, holding her in place, as he spoke to her. Myrtle remained unresponsive.

Clutching her wand even tighter, Azure ran inside the bathroom, finding herself repelled by a magic barrier that began at the doorstep of the dim-illuminated space. Her fists desperately knocked against the barrier, but to no avail; the bloody thing's magic was too advanced for her.

She had Dagan ready to point at the wall, a spell to blast it on her lips when someone caught her hand harshly, twisting it behind her back. Wincing in pain, she dropped the piece of wood automatically.

"We can't have none of that, Ashlane," a male voice close to her ear chided lowly, fresh breath fanning the nape of her neck as another hand touched her shoulder before she felt his arm cut off her air supply. "My Lord made you a promise...that you would watch the Mudblood's death."

"Avery," she wheezed as she attempted to make him release the hold on her neck unsuccessfully. "Hornby....you did something to her and he did it to Myrtle as well. Otherwise, she would not be here."

"Five points for quick reasoning," he sneered back. "But tonight you will be just a spectator because we don't need brave knights to rescue damsels in distress. Well, your Mudblood damsel is not much to look at. The plainest face I've ever seen."

Azure's mismatched eyes flared with anger at the insult. "S...shut up! You and the rest of the twit's Knights cannot understand what is caring for someone...or what love truly means!"

The chokehold she had been put in was now on the verge of blocking her vocal cords.

"I did say to be careful with the way you address your betters. Honestly, I have no idea why he insists on keeping you alive. I would not care if the Basilisk took care of you too, despite the fact you are a Pure-blood," he continued, his other hand releasing hers and snaking around her waist teasingly. She gritted her teeth and kicked herself for this vulnerable position. "But he wants you to suffer and if you get an easy death, it will not be as fun as it is for him so...keep your eyes peeled..." He nibbled at her ear, his fingertip tracing her cheek. "And bear witness to what happens to those around you, Blood-traitor."

And, reluctantly, she did as she felt him lessen the pressure on her throat. She saw the top of the sinks floating above, one of them on the centre – that had never worked – had become a passageway opening in the wall next to the sink, revealing a dark hole where a giant serpent could fit in.

Her eyes widened with terror as the ancient creature crawled its way out and bowed before its "Master".

The epithet of "King of Snakes" did this creature justice; with an enormous body and a mouth full of poisonous teeth, the Basilisk was one of the most dangerous creatures that walked the earth. Its only weakness was the rooster's crow, which explained the attack on the school's coops.

"MYRTLE!" She cried as Myrtle looked in its direction and her body fell to the ground. The Basilisk returned to its lair as per Riddle's command.

Released from the chokehold, Azure ran through the previous magic barrier, falling on her knees next to the younger girl's body whose horrified expression befitted someone who had been scared to death, one hand clutching onto her glasses. The rigidness of Myrtle's limbs cemented the fact that she was no longer alive.

"No, please no. It's a dream. It's not real." Sobbing, she touched the petite's face, two fingers on her neck as she hopefully waited to feel the faintest pulse. "No..."

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"Aura Seers...such sensitive, self-sacrificing and empathetic creatures," Eris remarked with a laugh, red eyes focused on the orb that depicted the witch and her beloved, her face showing nothing more than grief and pain, delicious grief that reached the Goddess of Strife's realm of Chaos itself.

This Soul would never be able to find rest; it would never cross over the River Styx. She would remain a Ghost, a spiritual imprint of a former human. How tragically ironic that, one thousand years ago, the same thing happened. Humans are such pitiful creatures. They never learn no matter how many times they make the same mistakes.

Swirling her drink, she began thinking of a certain night years ago: the previous Aura Seer sacrificing her life for her "King", the horror in his eyes as her body fell on the street...

Eris may be a pagan Goddess, but she had grown fond of Christian celebrations when they ended up in tragedy. Altair's early Christmas gift had been perfect.

"See what has become of your great-niece, Gwenllian Cordelia," she said out loud before sipping her ambrosia. "Let us watch as she fares against my new champion, now that the one she cherishes above all is no longer in her plane of reality...shall we?"

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