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jane-fucking-seymour · 4 years

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Legend of the Six has now been updated!

Chapter 23: Daughter of Shadow

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When we are little, we are taught that the darkness is scary.

Children hide from it under the comforts of pillows and blankets, men shield themselves from it with torches and lanterns, and the general public escape it through dreams and sleep. From the day we are born to the day we die, we are told to fear the Dark, and the creatures that live amongst it. It’s personified as the unknown, as the wicked, as the evil. The Dark, many claim, cannot be trusted, nor can it be utilized without misfortune.

The many, to Anne Boleyn, are considered fools.

Ever since she was a little girl - even with the scary stories of the Darkness being evil and Light being good - Anne Boleyn constantly sought for a second opinion. It’s not that she didn’t trust the stories; far from it, as she had seen what the dark could do. But she’s also seen it do wonders: it hides her from an ambush when she’s younger, it reveals foolish enemies positions that don’t know how to control their shadows, and it is a comfort, still, when late at night. After all, Anne argues, the darkness is the reason why we are in awe of the stars. That’s got to count for something, right?

As she continued down this path of Darkness, she came to befriend it in a unique way. Shadows would race to her to say hello, like old friends. The Darkness often wrapped around her like a cloak, a better shield than the ones the finest blacksmiths of the Realm could make. She extended a hand to the dark and found that it not only accepted, but embraced her as their own. And she was happier for it.

Of course, her friendship didn’t go unnoticed; it’s what started the rumors in court to begin with. Many in the court would talk ill of her friends, of the comforts she held that were so unique and against the grain that people thought it scary. She was shunned by many in the courts - all afraid of this girl that could control the darkness, calling her a Servant to it, a thrall. To many, Anne was cursed, and her regency should never had seen the light of day.

Unluckily for them (and, eventually, for her), Henry wasn’t afraid of the dark either.

Anne came to understand this as she was on the run from a particularly unyielding suitor. She hid in the shadows, in the garden, waiting for the man to pass. He hadn’t seen her, and in his drunken stupor, had started calling for her quite loudly. This resulted in unwanted attention. Anne had chuckled as the man was immediately yelled at by the King himself, thoroughly embarrassed and berated in the middle of the night by such an important figure in the Realm. She expected the guy to turn tail and run, which he did.

What she DIDNT expect was for the King himself to suddenly turn and face her. Her, hidden by the darkness that she knew so well.

He looked curious, as if struggling to see her, but seeing her all the same. He called for her to appear, to not be afraid. He wasn’t afraid of the dark either, he said. He knew she wasn’t either. Perhaps they could make a habit of finding each other in the shadows in the night, perhaps they could chat about their experiences with the Dark, perhaps they could be friends.

It didn’t take too long for Anne to realize he meant something a little more than just friends.

The marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII was going rather swimmingly, at least according to anyone that looked: Catherine had just saved the world from evildoers in the South, and Henry had applauded his wife’s work. The Realm rejoiced in such a decisive victory over the enemy that day, and had even strengthened their allyship with Holbein in the process; a two for one victory that the history books were to celebrate for centuries, if all had gone to plan.

But, as Anne would later find out in their midnight rendezvous, he thought he could do more. His wife was, of course, a formidable person in battle, but the Darkness isn’t that scary. It got a bad reputation because of the Blessed that defeated the enemies in the South, he said. Why couldn’t his wife see that the darkness wasn’t something to banish, but to wield?

To Anne, this made perfect sense because of the darkness that she knew, the darkness she assumed they were talking about. It resulted in resentment towards the (at the time, current) queen, especially when Henry finally gave her the chance to be the Blessed Aragon’s lady in waiting not too long afterwards. Anne didn’t see then that it was a way to groom her for the throne; instead, she simply thought he wanted someone in his corner, someone that understood the Dark for what it really was.

And she played right into his hands perfectly.

At least, for a while.

It was later, when Catherine was “killed,” when she saw Jane Seymour enter the picture, that Anne realized that maybe he wasn’t a friend of the dark like she thought he was.

For one, he never was able to hide well, not from anyone. The darkness that was easy to sink into when she was alone or with Maggie or even with Catherine and Maria was not as such when he was around; it was like the Darkness rebuked him, didn’t want him near it. Didn’t claim him as their own the way that they had claimed Anne all those years ago. In her want to be queen and in her want to have someone that understood her, she ignored it; there was just something about Henry that made her want to ignore what she thought she knew. He had that way about him, a way that made her want to believe in what he said.

So when he told her to go on the road that fateful day, she had no idea what was coming.

Maria hadn’t been acting any different than usual, for example, and it was in the middle of the day when it happened. Anne was completely unsuspecting until just before the ambush occurred; at that point, her shadow gave her away. For a while, it was the shadows that was her most trusted ally as she hid, refusing to be found until she absolutely had to.

She survived because of the Shadows. They had given her so much. But now, it seems, they were asking something of her.

Who was she to refuse?

So she sits, in front of the woman, head bowed respectfully. The woman smiles softly at the girl in front of her, as if greeting an old friend. Anne suspects she knows more about Anne than she lets on, but it’s disrespectful to ask.

“I see that you’re ready now,” she says. “To become my champion.” She nods, standing up. “It’ll be a tough road ahead of you, if you choose to embrace my gifts.”

“You have given me so much, my lady,” Anne says quietly, respectfully. “I am but an agent of your will.”

The woman looks over at Maggie, who is still bowing with her head down. She gently lifts the girl’s head up with a soft grin.

“You won’t be needed here,” the woman says, “but I won’t deny you the opportunity to observe the trial. No, you’ve done just as much as her, and I like you almost as much, but she is the Champion for a reason.”

Maggie doesnt dare look the woman in the eye, instead nodding respectfully. “I am in awe of your graciousness, my lady,” she says, a bit of a tremble in her voice. She’s a bit nervous.

The woman smiles and offers Maggie her hand. Maggie takes it. “You may look me in the eye, you know,” the woman says. “We’re all friends here.”

Maggie does so after a moment, and she’s a bit calmer now. This doesn’t feel as formal as she thought it was going to be, but then again, the Shadows have always been somewhat misleading.

The woman turns back to Anne, who hasn’t moved from her spot. “My Champion,” she says, sitting down in front of Anne. “You will start your Trial immediately. Should you pass, you shall become my Keeper. Should you fail… well, the outcome depends on how you do that.” She shrugs, a hand wistfully circling in the air, forming some sort of bowl with smoking black substance in it. “Drink. And you shall begin.”

Anne nods, looking back at Maggie with a smile. “I’ll be back.”

Maggie nods, still a bit nervous. “I know you will.”

And with that, Anne takes the bowl and drinks it down.

It doesn’t taste like a lot of anything, but the texture of it is vile to say the least; it feels like something is fighting to go down into her stomach, as if it had a mind of its own. She winces at the feeling, squeezing her eyes shut as the bowl, too, dissolves into the substance and enters her.

She steadies herself, feeling how the substance affects her. Her hands, now empty, fall to her sides, and she focuses. She can feel everything else falling away, can feel herself sinking deeper and deeper and deeper…

… until she’s nowhere at all.

She’s floating in nothing.

It’s dark, and it’s comfortable. She opens her eyes and sees nothing. She floats aimlessly, like in a calm river of sorts, and smiles softly; this was nice. Not really what she expected, if she was being honest, but she’ll take what she can get.

Just as she thinks that, however, she immediately feels herself drop. Now, she’s freefalling into nothing. It’s nothing too terrible, but there seems to be something… darker… just below her now. She yelps, tenses, gets ready for the impact-

-but it never comes. Instead, she’s standing still, on the darker darkness.

She looks around, curious about what’s happening.

“Hello?” she asks. She doesn’t hear anything - no echo, no voice returning her call. It’s getting a bit cold, too, as she walks further and further into this new darkness. The shadows from before, when she was floating, were what she was comfortable with. This… was not.

Not bad, just different, and incredibly unsettling when she wasn’t used to it.

She continues through, unseeing, and she wonders if she’s missed something, if she’s already lost the trial. There’s no real purpose to this at the moment, she realizes, and she thinks maybe she needs to do something. Maybe she’s waiting on herself.

With a deep breath, she stops walking, extending a hand above her. She closes her eyes, takes another big breath, and summons the darkness she knows so well.

Usually, it would result in the room getting darker… but that’s not the case. Not now. Her darkness is brighter than this darkness, and the comfort she’s felt for over two decades returns to her. And now, with a smile, she listens to her goddess:

“Your trial begins now, oh contested Champion. I hope you are prepared.”

Anne nods, feeling herself being tugged away and pulled impossibly fast to an impossibly far distance in the shadows - lightyears away from where she was, but also right next door. She eventually stops where she is, and her eyes adjust to the light in front of her.

She’s got solid ground below her. She’s in a hallway. It’s dark and cold and wet. It’s clear that the only light in this area has been the blue torches that dimly illuminate the area. She’s not sure where she is, but she knows she needs to continue.

She moves forward steadily, but as she does, she starts to hear things - a voice?

“Hello?”

Not her goddess’, either.

Her hand goes to her side, where her trusted daggers would be, but they are not there now. She instead moves to the side, using her shadows to protect and cloak herself as she pushes forward. She hears the voice again, this time coming from the end of the hallway.

Someone’s here. Someone that’s definitely real.

She turns into the room, warily at first, but then she realizes who it is and raises and eyebrow.

“Catherine?!?”

Catherine is indeed there, looking around, very confused. When she spots Anne, though, she instantly rushes over to her.

“What’s going on?” Catherine asks, frowning. “I was just headed into the town we were headed into before you left and… and now I’m here.”

“You were Claimed for a time,” says a voice, one that isn’t either of theirs. “You have been Unclaimed. But now you’re Claimed again.”

Catherine seems to recognize the voice, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “In what way?”

“The Light knows what is happening,” says the voice, reassuring in tone. “And they know why you’re here. They know I won’t keep you any longer than necessary, and they know you won’t be harmed.”

Catherine seems to relax a bit then, but she’s still a bit confused. “I don’t know why I’m here, though.”

“You’re… well, I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Anne mumbles, a bit embarrassed. “But you’re my guide.”

Catherine blinks. “Your what?”

“In the Trials of the Shadows,” Anne explains, “we get a person that can’t be seen by the Trial, but the Chosen can see and interact with them. Someone that we have a strong connection with. Someone that’s important in our life story. Someone that the Woman chooses.”

“And… she chose me?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“We both did, it’s kind of a mutual agreement decision sort of thing,” Anne replies. “Well, most of the time. It’s my soul choosing who it is, and the Woman consenting to manifest it- it’s a long story. Not enough time, if we want to get out of here before the Festival in a few weeks.” Anne sighs, a hand running through her hair. “What you need to know is that I need someone to guide me, to help me through the tough road ahead.” She doesn’t dare look Catherine in the eye for the next part. “It seems that both myself and my mistress are in agreement that if anyone can get me through this, it’s you.”

Catherine smiles. “Well, seeing as I’ve nothing better to do-”

But the jokes stop, suddenly, as the room around them changes.

They’re suddenly in a chamber, one that’s familiar and not at the same time. It’s clearly night, but the moon is not the moon; it’s moreso a ball of energy, as if it was made of arcanic magick rather than a celestial body.

Anne moves into the room a bit more, observing quietly.

“Isn’t this the castle?” Catherine asks quietly, looking out the nearby window. It’s a town made of shadows, but a familiar town nonetheless. “This is Henry’s castle in the Capitol… but I don’t know this room.”

Anne frowns. “Me either, at least, not yet,” she looks around and tilts her head, looking down at the nearby desk. She looks at the papers, picking some up and looking through them, just in time for Catherine to meet her there.

“Anything?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“Just notes about certain military movements and plans,” Anne says, continuing to look through. “These look to be from my time as queen, or at least near that time-”

They both look up, however, when they hear someone unlocking the door.

“They can’t see me, but-” Catherine starts, though Anne is already ahead of her. She instantly moves to the shadows, hiding herself. Catherine simply watches as the door opens. She cringes a bit - the person is covered with shadow, their true form unable to be seen.

They walk towards the desk, looking through papers before eventually picking up a blank one and writing on it. They continue to write, and Anne gets a better look at the paper. She narrows her eyes and, while avoiding detection, moves towards the back of the room, farthest from the door.

Just as she does, another person enters the room - this time, Catherine gasps.

“Maria!”

Maria can’t hear her, of course, and the scene continues without interruption.

Maria stands in front of the shadowed figure, bowing slightly.

Both Anne and Catherine wince when the shadowed figure starts talking - their voice is cloaked in a thousand others, distorted and underwater and barely even hearable yet blaring all at once.

Maria, however, doesn’t seem to have an issue hearing them, resulting in a one-way conversation that Catherine and Anne can hear.

“Of course, I understand,” Maria says with a nod. She looks down at the paper that is handed to her, studying it carefully. Maria sets her jaw a bit before she nods slowly. There’s a moment before she tenses, looking up at the shadowy figure, clearly angry.

“I have not forgotten the promise I made,” Maria growls. “Not to her. Catherine shall not have died in vain.”

The confliction on Maria’s face makes Catherine’s heart break.

Maria nods, salutes, and leaves the room. As soon as the door closes, the shadowy figure suddenly snaps their attention straight to Anne.

Anne’s gasp is only for a moment, as the figure rushes her, and suddenly she’s consumed by it.

“Anne!” Catherine yells, but the world is turning again, and despite her concern, another scene is playing out.

Anne, barely on her feet, moves to hide again, but… something’s changed. Something’s starting. Anne is more tense as the next scene happens, this time with the shadowy figure and a eerie green light.

Another person arrives - a magick practitioner in the castle, Catherine assumes - and speaks:

“Once we have someone to accept the terms, necromancy will be firmly in our war arsenal,” he says, looking down at a paper. “We’ve managed to connect the dots on this fairly quickly, thanks to the research at the Heart. And because of that, we may be able to control corrupted Light and Shadows easily enough in a few years.”

“They what-?” Catherine asks, but suddenly Anne is once again attacked by a shadow, once again forced to absorb it. “Anne!” Catherine yells, moving over to the girl as she falls to her knees.

Anne is gasping for air, but is clearly furious. “I can feel it,” she growls out. “The frustration, the anger, the power… it’s all here.” She holds up her hand. “This is how it would feel. To go unchecked. To be consumed… by the rage… of the past…”

Catherine frowns. “But that’s not what the Darkness is, is it? It’s not rage, it’s not power. It’s something else, isn’t it?” It’s something Catherine doesn’t totally understand, but she gets this much; it’s very similar to her own understanding of the Light.

Anne growls out, looking down at her hands as they burn with darkness. She feels it crawling around her skin, no longer the comfortable calm that she’s used to, but with newfound purpose. Anger. Betrayal. All of it. It’s feeding into her emotions, into her magicks.

Catherine sees the trial for what it really is, just in time for the scene to change again.

They’re in a room, and now Maria is back. Catherine ignores her feelings for the time being as she hears the conversation.

“It’s done,” Maria says bitterly. “She’s dead.”

The shadowed figure turns around, says things they don’t understand, and Maria nods.

“I’ll be sure to keep this in mind,” she says quietly. “For the Realm.”

Again, the shadow figure snaps her attention to Anne… but this time, Catherine steps in, quickly shielding Anne from the figure.

Catherine yelps as she absorbs it instead… but now, her Light seems to overpower it.

For now.

“Anne,” Catherine says, a bit winded by the event. Anne, for her part, is glaring at Maria, but Catherine breaks the line of sight. “Anne. Remember. This is a trial. What are all of these things doing to you?”

“They’re…” Anne growls a bit. “They’re making me angry. Angrier than I’ve ever felt.”

“Okay, and why would they want to do that? What is happening with the Darkness you’re feeling?”

Anne focuses on it, only for a moment, before her thoughts immediately go to the Maria in front of her. She’s right there, for the taking, easily killed at this angle…

“Anne, answer me.”

She looks back at Catherine. “It’s not actually Darkness,” Anne growls out. “It’s not comforting. This energy, it enhances your darkest thoughts. Your fears. Your anger-”

Anne tries to pulse towards Maria, but Catherine quickly stops it.

“Anne, focus.” Catherine says. “You can’t let this overtake you. Focus on me: why are they showing you these things? What’s the goal?”

“To make me angry,” Anne growls, struggling in Catherine’s grasp. Maria’s so close, she could almost touch her.

“Is that all?” Catherine asks, raising an eyebrow. She’s struggling to keep Anne at bay, but she’ll do it for as long as it takes to help her.

“What the fuck do you mean, is that all, it’s-!” she starts, but then her eyes go wide. “Oh. Oh, shit, oh-”

“What?” Catherine asks, clearly confused, but then the shadowed figure appears again. Anne immediately turns her attention to it, quick to suddenly pull Catherine behind her with some unseen shadows, and instantly moves to grab the shadowed figure.

Anne narrows her eyes as the shadowed figure whips their head around to face Anne, but Anne shakes her head.

“Not this time,” she says, smirking. “It was a distraction. You were always good at those. And you’re here, because you’re my weakness. You’re the reason I can’t move on, you’re the reason I can’t grow. You, and what you stand for to me.”

She grabs a torch nearby, and this time throws it at the shadowed figure.

The shadows retreated from the form, and the true terror appeared.

Her hair as blonde as before, blue piercing eyes now tinted with green energy as the new staff she wielded resulted in a pulsing energy that made Anne want to run. She looks on with wide eyes as the woman, over and over again, summons monstrosities, clearly attempting to overrun Anne right then and there.

Anne practically growls.

“Jane fucking Seymour.”

The figure in question certainly looked like the Keeper of Necromancy, but with one distinct difference - her eyes were not normal, but instead pulsing with darkness, with eerie energy that Anne had to look away from at the moment. She shivers at the coldness that’s so apparent she can feel it, but then a warm hand holds on her shoulder and she looks up at Catherine.

“This is the trial, then.” Catherine says, so matter-of-factly that it helps calm Anne somewhat. Anne looks up, managing to overcome her own fear of the corruption before her, and nods. Catherine nods back. “Go on, then.”

Anne moves away, towards the corruption, taking a deep breath as she does so. She suddenly pulses forward, moving past the shadowy monstrosities and immediately to Jane, but the girl dodges so fast that Anne can’t react to the counterattack. Suddenly, Anne has a knife through her stomach, though it quickly dissolves into shadows as she’s released. She falls to the floor, huffing in pain, as she practically growls at Jane, who backs up and readies herself for another onslaught.

“Direct attacks won’t work,” Catherine says.

“You think I don’t know that?” Anne asks, right as she pulses forward again. This time, instead of straight on attack Jane, she uses the shadows to dissolve into cover…

… or at least, she thought she did, right before Jane plucks her out of the darkness and once again stabs her with a dagger that fades into shadows.

Anne yelps again, and this time, she falls to her knees. She holds her abdomen, coughing up blood, before she looks down at the wound. It’s festering with corrupted darkness.

And that gives her an idea.

“What else do you have?” Catherine asks, at the woman’s side as Anne shakily stands up. Anne seems to be focused, so Catherine steps aside. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t think you can take another one of those stabs.”

“Don’t worry,” Anne says. “I won’t need another chance.”

She pulses forward, straight on. Catherine’s heart drops; did Anne suddenly forget this was what she did at first?

Jane readies her dagger, and just as she thrusts it into Anne… it suddenly stops. It all stops. All the monsters, all the magicks Jane conjured. They all just… stop.

Catherine looks over to find that Anne’s eyes are not her own - they’re filled with darkness. At first, Catherine thought the girl had lost, that she was corrupted like Jane’s magicks, but when Anne suddenly thrust her hand into the sky and Jane immediately did the same thing, Catherine realized what was happening.

Of course, Catherine thought, feeling a little stupid for not realizing it before. She can control shadows!

Indeed, Anne was now controlling Jane’s movements, Jane’s actions, all of it. The darkness around them was no long being passive in the fight; Anne was forcing it to move with her, at her command, and Jane was powerless to stop it.

This, Catherine realized, was the true power of a Keeper of the Shadows. This was the potential of the Queen of Shadows.

Anne immediately pulses backwards, but Jane still can’t move. Anne lifts her hands - Jane doesn't follow this time, Anne’s holding her in place - and Anne suddenly has chains connected to Jane’s wrists. The end of the chains are in Anne’s hands, and she smirks as she suddenly slams them into the ground, making Jane fall as well. Keeping the chains in one hand, Anne uses her other one to command the shadows to clear out the monsters around them, wiping them into oblivion, before focusing back on the Jane in front of her.

With a final wince, Anne takes the energy that she could feel around the wound and harnesses it herself. Instead of it infecting her body, she now controlled it as she formed it into a spear and threw it back at Jane, cracking her heart and thrusting them all into pale moonlight that blinded the area for a second.

The corrupted dark gives way to pale moonlight, and that Jane is on her knees. She looks up and her eyes are her own.

Anne’s blade pulses with the warm type of darkness that Anne is familiar with.

Anne looks down at the girl, and Jane looks up. She’s crying, eyes wide at the blade. She doesn’t say anything, however, as she bows her head.

“What is this?” Anne asks, but she keeps her gaze on Jane.

Catherine looks around. “Looks like the forests near the castle in the Capitol, honestly,” Catherine says. “I recognize this clearing. The bridge to the courtyard is only a few yards away.”

“And why is she giving herself over to me?” Anne asks, her hand tightening on her blade as her body stiffens.

Silence. Then, Catherine:

“I think you’ve a choice to make, Keeper of the Shadows.”

Anne continues her focus on the neck. She continues to remember. She continues to feel.

And she raises the blade and thrusts it down, hitting her mark.

Instead of a scream, or a head rolling, the figure immediately bursts into darkness, fading into the darkness around it. There’s suddenly a stronger darkness - a Void of sorts - and Catherine and Anne are pulled into it. The darkness is suffocating for Catherine, whose light suddenly is snuffed out, but Anne seems to revel in it, like it’s a cool refreshing drink.

When she opens her eyes again, however, she finds the Woman and Maggie standing over her.

Maggie smiles, but she’s clearly scared. “Annie?”

Anne takes a deep breath, then smiles. “I’m ok. We’re all ok.” She looks up at the Woman. “Was that satisfactory, my lady?”

“Just about what I expected,” the Woman replies. “But I think you’re ready regardless.”

Anne stands and, just as she goes to bow again, the Woman puts her hand on Anne’s heart and mind. Suddenly, Anne can feel a cool yet warm sensation coming from the hands that pressed against her, and her eyes faded into darkness for a moment before they returned to normal. She takes a deep breath and, suddenly, she feels more alive than ever.

When the Woman steps back, Anne instinctually puts a hand on her heart and head, just before she summons a shadow dagger in her hands.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Anne says. She then takes a deep breath and focuses on the energy; it forms into a darkened fireball of sorts, then a gauntlet, then an arrow. She smirks as she then puts the energy into her other hand, back into the dagger, and takes a step back into the shadows. She completely disappears then; not even Maggie could sense her.

She ends up behind the Woman, who doesn’t seem surprised to see her, but smiles. “I trust your new arsenal is to your satisfaction, my champion and my Keeper of Shadows?”

Anne’s eyes go wide at the title and she smiles widely, but she immediately shows respect, bowing deeply. “Thank you, Mistress.”

The Woman nods. “Pray you continue to do my will, though you are not bound to it. That’s not how I operate, unlike some others.”

That got Anne thinking. “Where did Catherine go?”

“The Blessed? She’s back in her body. She had some issues with a Fae, but I saved her.” The Woman smiles. “She helped my Champion in her trial, I saved her from being stolen away by the Fae. I consider us even - well, myself and her Goddess.”

Anne nods. “I’ll be sure to tell them to be careful moving forward. Thank you, my Mistress.” She looks back over at Maggie, who nods. “We need to go. The place where they are, it’s a Fae Lands. They’re going to need all the help they can get.”

Maggie nods. “After you.”

They rush off.

#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #six fanfic #six ff #sixff #sixfiction #sixfanfic #sixfanfiction #six the musical fanfic

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jane-fucking-seymour · 4 years

Text

Slip of the Tongue

Jane Seymour could not stop blushing.

She noticed the error as soon as she said it; a mixup of words that she managed to mess up in the worst way possible. She knew it was heard when Catherine, of all people, laughed loudly during Joan’s solo, and the others gave her smiles, but nothing really came of it.

Still, that didn’t stop her from wanting to fall in a hole and hide for a bit.

Despite those feelings, she finished the song with grace, made an elegant speech about donations being taken in the back, and closed out the show per normal. She rushed to the dressing room, red as a tomato, and got dressed rather quickly.

It was not, however, quick enough to run from her own daughter.

“Jane, did I hear you right when you-“ Kat started, but then she saw the embarsssed look on Jane’s face. “Oh!”

Before Jane can say anything, though, she’s hugged tightly by her daughter.

“It was cute! I know you didn’t mean it,” Kat says. “Awww, Mum, don’t be sad!”

“I’m not sad,” Jane says with a chuckle. “Just a bit embarsssed. I’m kind of afraid of stage door now, what if someone-“

“You want us to make WHAT for Joan???”

Jane groaned and Kat giggled when Anne came flying into the room, Cathy and Catherine close behind. Jane hid in Kat’s shoulder. She’s growing redder by the minute.

“Aw, it’s alright Janey,” Anna says, now poking her head in. “Just a slip of the tongue. Honestly it’s not the worst mess up that’s happened on stage.”

Anne smirks. “Yeah, that one swing said Beheaded instead of Divorced and Catherine said Oliviers when we were here in London.”

Catherine rolls her eyes at that.

Jane sighs. “Just embarrassing-! Oh! I didn’t apologize to Joan-“

“It’s totally fine,” Joan replies; she and the other ladies have arrived. “I didn’t even register it, Bessie told me.”

“It was funny!” Bessie said in her defense. “And it was really cute. I swear, no one thinks you actually meant it, and people aren’t mad or anything.”

Jane chuckles. “I’ll just have to watch myself a bit closer from now on, hm?” She asks Kat, fixing the girl’s hair.

Kat smiles. “So is that a yes to stage door?”

Jane frowns, but Catherine puts a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll be with you all the way, like always.”

Jane watches everyone for a moment before she nods. The crowd of queens and ladies dispersed, leaving Kat to hug her mother tightly before getting ready to go out to the adoring fans.

#six musical #six the musical #six fanfic #six fanfiction #six ff #sixff #sixfic #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #katherine howard #jane seymour #anna of cleves #catherine of aragon #catherine parr #bessie liw #bessie #joan liw #joan

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

By Definition...

A bonus one for @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts because this has been a meme between us for a bit. We’re even in UK friendly timezones for this release! Go team!

“So,” Jane says, pinching the bridge of her nose. She’s surely going to have a migraine later. “Tell me again, Lady Catherine Parr, how this happened.”

Catherine looks a bit sheepish as she shrinks under the judgmental gaze of Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour. Catherine looks a bit more amused than Jane at the moment, though that’s not a consolation by any means.

Cathy runs a hand down her face, looking up and wincing as soon as she meets Jane’s icy gaze.

“Okay, so, let me start out by saying, I completely did not know what I had agreed to.”

“Yeah,” Jane says, “that was pretty clear by now.”

“We just want to know what happened, Cath,” Catherine says, “so it doesn’t happen again. Kitty’s clearly not going to sleep tonight because of it.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry-” Parr starts, but Seymour puts a hand up to stop her.

“Just, tell us. From the start. Exactly what happened.”

So, with a deep breath, Cathy starts exactly that.

It had started at the grocery store.

Cathy had volunteered to do the grocery shopping this time around, and Katherine had been required to go with. The girl had originally been quite cross to be going at all, but after Cathy persuaded her, she reluctantly agreed.

They had been in the shop for maybe five minutes before Katherine asked about some boxes of chocolates.

“No, Kitty,” Cathy said, looking at the ingredients of a certain pasta sauce. “You know what your mum says. Only one box of chocolate.”

Katherine frowns, but begrudgingly puts the box away.

After a few bagged ingredients, Katherine wanders back to the candy aisle and tries to sneak in two.

“Hey! No you don’t!” Cathy says, instantly taking the boxes out of the cart. “Only one box!”

Katherine pouts, but walks off, semi-defeated for the moment. Cathy scowls but continues the shopping list.

At the last item found, Cathy decides to take a pit stop towards the book section.

“Are we going home soon?” Katherine asks, clearly bored. “I wanna go home.”

“We’re almost done, Kat,” Cathy says, looking at one book, then another. “Let me just figure out which one I want to grab, then we’ll be good. Go get your box of chocolate while we’re waiting, I promise I’ll be done soon.”

“You said that five minutes ago, but alright,” Katherine complains, walking off.

It takes Cathy another twenty minutes to decide which book she should get.

Katherine is gone that entire time.

Cathy is still reading from one of the back covers, three books still in hand, when Katherine all but skips back to the cart.

“I’ve got my thing,” Katherine says, smiling brightly. “Let’s go!”

“Alright, I’m going-” Cathy starts, putting two books away. She’s about to put the book into the cart when she stops dead in her tracks.

She looks.

She blinks.

She looks at Katherine.

She looks down at the cart.

“What’s that?”

“One box of chocolate,” Katherine replies nonchalantly.

Cathy narrows her eyes. “No it isn’t.”

“But it is!” Katherine nods. “How can you not say it is? It’s chocolates in one box.”

“I-” Cathy starts, but in all honestly, technically, the girl is right. That’s one box of chocolates, as permitted.

Katherine knows this. Katherine also knows that Cathy is a stickler for words and their meanings.

Meaning, Cathy can’t say no in good conscience.

“... which is how we ended up here,” Cathy explains, head hanging in shame.

Jane gives her such an incredulous look. “That’s not a box of chocolates.”

“It was, technically.”

“But it wasn’t- you know what we meant!”

“But it wasn’t specified!” Cathy exclaims. She points to the issue at hand: a large, bulk box, filled with 20 regular-sized chocolate bars. “How was I supposed to know she was going to ask the shopkeep for the bulk box of it?!?”

“You’ve got to admit, Jane,” Catherine says, “it was rather clever-”

“And it’s spoiled her dinner and, probably, the next fifteen of them!” Jane says, sighing as she leans against the counter. She shakes her head. “How many?”

Cathy tilts her head. “How many what?”

“How many did she eat?”

“Before you got home-?”

“YES, before I got home, good lord, Cathy!”

Catherine Parr hesitates, but the glare from Jane makes her answer.

“... ten.”

“Ten what?”

“Ten boxes.”

“Lady Catherine Parr-”

They’re intrrupted, however, by a one Katherine Howard zooming past them, Anne Boleyn, Maggie and Joan barely keeping up.

“She’s bouncing off the walls still, and it’s way past her bedtime,” Jane says with a sigh. “The girl’s sure to crash soon, thankfully, but tomorrow, you’ll both have a lesson in what a box means, and you’re both in trouble for putting one over the rest of us.”

“But Jane, you’ve got admit, that’s literally one box, how am I supposed to dissuade her from thinking cleverly like that-?” Cathy starts, but when Jane steps towards her, Catherine steps in.

“Alright, alright, we get it, Jane, I’ll take care of Cathy from now on,” she says calmly. “Go help the others with Katherine, okay, love?”

Jane grumbles about something under her breath - growling to herself about the meaning of words and how is she so smart yet so stupid and the like - as she follows the rest through the house to try to catch the sugar-high’ed Katherine bouncing off the walls (not literally... anymore).

Catherine raises an amused eyebrow at Cathy. “You know, you really need to learn some common sense, love.”

“I just! I didn’t want to punish her for thinking out of the box, that’s all!” Cathy says, standing when Catherine offers her a hand. Catherine chuckles as they head upstairs, leaving the chaos that is Katherine to the others. “You’ve got to admit, Catherine, that was clever of her. Problem solving like no other.”

“She’s learning from all of us - she has your wit and Anne’s mischievous streak,” Catherine quips. “It’s no wonder she’s as good at that as she is, but what I’m saying is... maybe think critically before you do that. Give her a second box to reward her, not 20.”

Cathy sighs. “Yeah, you’re right,” she agrees. “I’m sorry, Catherine.”

“It’s alright,” she says with a smile. “But you owe Jane an apology - and the others, I imagine. Even poor Maria’s been roped into trying to calm the girl down.”

Cathy winces when they hear a crash downstairs. “I’ll make it up to them, I promise.”

“I know, love,” Catherine says, leading Cathy to her room. “But for now, try to get some sleep, alright? I’m sure Maria will be up to say goodnight as well.” She tucks the girl in, kissing the top of her head. “Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight, Catalina.”

Catherine gently closes the door behind her.

When she turns around, she sees a very tired Bessie and Anne moving into the hallway.

“Everything turn out alright?” Catherine asks softly.

Anne nods. “She crashed, we’re good now,” she says, slightly out of breath. “Let’s make sure that never happens again, yeah?”

“How’s Cathy?” Anna asks. “I’m a bit cross at her, but I don’t think she deserved the yelling Jane gave her.”

“She’ll be fine, she’s learned from this, I think,” Catherine says with a nod. “We’ll be alright. Go get some rest, girls, we’ve got a show tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” Anne says.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Anna promises. They retire to their respective rooms soon after.

Catherine takes a pit stop into her room to get ready for bed; by the time that happens, the ladies have taken their leave, saying goodnight to everyone, and Jane seems to have retired to her room. Catherine knocks on the door softly and, when allowed, walks in.

A soft smile on her face grows as she sees Katherine curled up to Jane, fast asleep.

Jane gives Catherine a small smile. “She’ll be out for the night, I think.” A pause, before she continues. “She’s quite brilliant, even if she’s a bit of a brat sometimes.”

“Katherine Howard is never a brat,” Catalina replies with a smile. “A babey, yes, but never a brat.”

“She can absolutely use the babey part to be a brat, though, you can’t deny it,” Jane says, rolling her eyes fondly. “She uses it to her advantage, clearly.”

Catherine chuckles as she gently smoothes out Katherine’s hair. “Clever girl,” she comments. “Reminds me of Mary, a little bit.”

“Oh?” Seymour asks, looking up at Aragon.

The first queen nods. “She was just as clever, always trying to find ways around the rules I made her. She’d get away with it sometimes, too, just because of how brilliant some of her loopholes were,” Catherine says with a chuckle. Then, softer: “What I wouldn’t give for a time like that again.”

They’re silent for a moment, save for Katherine’s soft, steady breathing.

Jane perks up again.

“She really is learning from all of us, isn’t she?” Jane asks quietly. “She’s really being raised by all of us.”

“You can see it, can’t you?” Catherine asks. “Cathy’s wit, your gentleness, my confidence, Anna’s kindness, Anne’s mischievousness... together, it’s a brilliant combination.” she says somewhat proudly, watching the girl. “She can take over the world at this rate.”

“And yet, she’s using her brilliance to swindle us out of chocolates,” Jane quips. It earns a laugh from both of the mums.

“She’ll be just fine, Jane,” Catherine says. “We’ll teach her some common sense, make sure she understands why it’s a bad idea to have so much sugar.”

“I think she realized it towards the end, right before she crashed,” Jane explains, “but can’t hurt to make sure she knows.”

Catherine smiles. “Goodnight, Jane.” she kisses the girl’s forehead.

“Goodnight, Catherine.”

As Catherine leaves the room and heads back into her own, she can’t help but remember the times Mary had managed to get away with something, or broke the rules in a unique way, or had been so clever that Catherine couldn’t help but agree to let her off with a warning. It had been simpler, peaceful times, before things got out of hand.

She misses it, yes, but she also hopes that it never ends for Jane and Katherine.

Maybe they could have the happy ending Mary and Catherine could not.

With a small chuckle and a prayer for her daughter, Catherine soon joins the others in sleep, a soft smile on her face.

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

We Switched Up the Flow and We Changed the Prefix

Final part of regen fic.

It’s been three days.

Three days, and no sign of them.

Anne Boleyn.

Katherine Howard.

Catherine Parr.

All gone.

Those that remained are taking it very, very differently.

Catherine had gone quiet, silently moving about the house. Anna barely left her room except when absolutely necessary. Maria stayed close to her queen, as did Bessie and Joan.

The ones that were hit the hardest were Maggie and Jane.

Maggie had barely managed to get out of bed recently; if it wasn’t for Maria and Bessie, she’d not get out at all. Jane, meanwhile, had completely shut down, refusing to talk to anyone and basically icing everyone out.

It was tough on all of them, especially when they were required to perform.

For almost the full week, none of them did stage door.

It was the fifth day when Catherine of Aragon decided to do something about it.

“Alright,” Catherine says, standing up. “I’m going out for the day. You’re all coming with.”

Jane immediately got up and left the room without any discussion. That was expected.

“I don’t really want to-” Maggie starts, but Maria’s already pulled her up.

“I’m going to stay with Jane,” Joan says respectfully.

“I think Bessie and I will as well,” Anna asks, looking over at Bessie, who nodded in agreement.

Catherine sighed.

“Fine. Maria and Maggie are required, though.”

“Hey-!” Maggie starts, but Maria’s already gotten the girl’s coat. With a sigh, Maggie puts it on.

“Don’t go too far, just in case, okay?” Anna asks.

Catherine nods. “Call us if something happens.” She looks upstairs, where the door had just slammed shut. “Bad or good.”

Joan nods, and the trio of Maggie Maria and Catherine head out for the day.

It was a terrible idea at first.

Maria had hoped that the sunshine - one of the few sunny days in London - would help them, would bring some positive energy, but it just wasn’t the case. It was almost comical, how sad Maggie was while the sun was shining brightly on her. No matter what Catherine did, it wouldn’t help; Maggie was just in a rut, one that she couldn’t save the girl from.

“I appreciate the thought,” Maggie says gently as she sits on a bench next to Maria. “But this is what happens when we lose our queens. We... shut down.” Maggie motions to Maria. “Happens to her when you leave.”

Catherine frowns, kneeling in front of the girl. “Is there anything - anything - that I can do to help?”

Maggie makes a face, thinks about it, then looks up slightly hopefully.

“... can you get me Anne’s favorite drink?”

Catherine chuckles. “Of course, love. Maria, do you want anything?”

“No, no, I’m staying with the little one here,” Maria says, smiling gently at Maggie. Maggie smiles back; a first in about a week. “We’ll be alright.”

Catherine nods, moving towards the nearby coffee shop. There’s so much on her mind right now: she knew it took a while, but this long? Were they okay? Were they in trouble? What if something happened, could things have gone that bad? Were they all together? What if-

“Excuse me, miss?”

Catherine blinks, recognizing the voice...

... of the barista, who is trying to get her to order.

She sighs, orders, then stands to the side. Cathy and Anne promised that they’d be back soon, but who’s to say they come back at all? All of this was just assumptions, things they could only guess at. What if that had been it? What if they were three now-

Oh, her order is up. Okay.

She takes the cups and goes towards the patio of the shop, still distracted by her worries, the stuff she doesn’t want to admit she’s terrified of. What if they’re gone? What if this was it? What if they never come back-

She’s stopped now, however, by banging into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry-” she starts, but as soon as she hears the voice, she freezes.

“Always steppin’ on my toes, aren’t you, Catalina?”

Catherine of Aragon has never heard that voice before, but it’s one she recognizes immediately.

The cup drops from her hands and, before it even touches the ground, the first queen is embracing the second.

Anne Boleyn definitely looks different, but it’s a good change; one that Catherine, even while hugging the girl tightly, knows already.

“I missed you,” Catherine says against Anne’s shoulder.

“I missed you, too,” Anne admits, smiling into Catherine’s embrace. “It’s alright, love. I told you, remember?”

Anne leans back with a bright smile and nods her head in the direction of the door. At that exact moment, Catherine can hear Maria scream in excitement.

“I promised I’d get them home, didn’t I?”

It takes a moment, but Catherine instantly perks up, drinks forgotten, and she takes Anne’s hand and rushes outside.

There, right in front of her, is Maria hugging someone Catherine should not recognize... but instantly does.

“Catherine!”

Cathy Parr turns around, smiling gently at her mum.

There’s a moment where Aragon just takes her in: the new look, the new hair, the new eyes- well, no, not new eyes. Not really. They’re searching, inquisitive... they’re Catherine Parr to a tee.

“You’re taller,” Catherine says with a smile.

“I am,” Cathy says, slowly starting to close the gap between them. “Finally, Jane’ll be the shortest out of any of us.”

“Sounds good to me, at least,” Catherine says with a chuckle. Then, with a nod, she opens her arms. “Get in here, love. I’ve missed you.”

Cathy, laughing, runs to her mum to give her a hug.

They hug as tightly as they can for a few moments before Catherine sighs in relief; a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

Meanwhile, another reunion was happening, as Maria spots Anne first and taps Maggie on the shoulder. Maggie, sluggishly, turns to look... and then gasps.

“You’re back!”

She tries to reach for Anne, but ends up tripping as she does so; her body isn’t used to such sudden movements at the moment. Anne is quick to reach her to help.

“It’s alright, Maggie,” Anne says gently. “I’m here, I promise.”

Maggie looks up... and Anne is sympathetic; the girl’s crying.

“Oh, love, I missed you so much,” Anne says, moving to hug her lady in waiting as gently as she can. She tightens the embrace, however, when Maggie latches onto her with all her strength.

“I missed you so much,” Maggie mumbles.

“I missed you too, love, but it’s alright. We’re back. We should be okay for a while.” Anne says with a gentle kiss to the girl’s forehead, wiping away the tears.

Maria sits back and watches everyone before she hugs Cathy again.

“If you two are back, then does that mean Kitty is as well?” Catherine asks, tilting her head as she brings Cathy as close as she can. Maria and Maggie hook their arms around both of Anne’s - one on each side of her - and the five continue down the path, headed home.

“She went on ahead,” Cathy explained. “We came to find you... plus, she might need some time.”

“We shouldn’t keep away for long, though,” Maria suggests. “Jane’s... not been herself lately.”

“No, it’s more like she was herself more than ever,” Maggie says. “... from my experience, at least.”

“We’ll say hello as soon as we get in,” Anne decides. “Come on, then.”

Meanwhile, back at the house, the youngest queen has finally worked up the courage to knock on the door.

The person that answers is Bessie, who immediately brings Katherine inside.

“Anna! Joan!” she yells, quick to hug the girl tightly but staying out of the way for when Anna and Joan arrive.

It takes half a moment for them to rush forward, yelling in delighted surprise before they both move to embrace the youngest queen.

“Look at you!” Anna says, keeping a close eye on the girl to check for any injuries or anything bad. “You’re blonde!”

“I know, I know, it’s incredible, right?” Katherine asks, chuckling. “I quite like this. Feels like I’ve been in it before, you know? Even though I’ve only had one body... kind of.”

Anna nods. “Feels familiar to me, too, but I absolutely LOVE it, babes.” Anna holds the girl close. “We missed you. So much.”

“I know, but I’m here now,” Katherine says with a nod and a smile and a kiss to Anna’s cheek. “We’re all back. They’ll be home shortly, I imagine, so-”

“Hang on, lemme in!” Joan says, and Katherine laughs as she’s embraced by the lady in waiting. Joan hugs her so tightly that Katherine almost can’t breathe (almost).

“How’s mum?” Katherine asks, looking around the room. No sign of her, that’s not good.

Anna, Bessie and Joan look at each other.

“She’s... not been well,” Joan says quietly.

“Well,” Katherine says, moving towards the stairs. “Let me see if I can do anything about that, then.”

Joan moves with her and, gently, opens the door. Jane Seymour is laying on her bed, back to the door.

“I told you, Joan,” Jane says, and Katherine winces at the coldness of the tone. “I said no visitors-”

“I’ll come back later, then?” Katherine asks in a very teasing tone.

Jane seemingly freezes on the bed, and Kat can swear she’s stopped breathing, before she slowly but surely turns around.

“... Katherine?”

Katherine smiled brightly as she moved past Joan, looking Jane right in the eye. She played with the tips of her blonde hair a bit nervously as she knelt down in front of her mum.

“You and I look the part now, mum,” Katherine said with a bright smile.

Jane instantly perks up, showing more signs of life than she has in days. She’s instantly off the bed and hugs her girl as tightly as she can.

Her sobs are the loudest thing in the room for a few minutes. Katherine tries to keep her upright, but eventually falls back against the bed from the force of Jane’s cries.

“It’s alright, mum, I’m here, I’m good, you’ll see,” Katherine says, gently rubbing up and down her mum’s back.

“I was so scared that-” Jane starts, but Katherine gently shushes her.

“I know. But we made it, we’re alright,” Katherine says quietly. Jane eventually has the strength to pull back, taking her girl in.

It’s new, but it’s familiar, and it’s right.

“Did it hurt?” Jane asks; for some reason, it’s the first thought she has.

Katherine’s grin goes wider, and she shakes her head.

“No, it was okay. I was lost for a few minutes, but Anne found me,” Katherine says with a nod. “Then we found Cathy.”

Speaking of them, the rest from the park have arrived, immediately crowding the room as they see the warmth and light return to Jane, almost like magic.

“And we all came home,” Anne continues with a smile. “Just like I promised, alright?”

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

Remembering What Once Was and the Struggles that Came With It

It came in waves.

At first, Jane was simply getting breakfast ready for the others - Ladies in Waiting included - when she felt a dull pain in her stomach for a moment.

She stopped, considering, before she simply continued on again, assuming it was just something she ate the night before.

But then, it happened again.

This time, more painfully.

And she remembers.

[[MORE]]

Her first death had been drawn out.

At least, that’s what she believes; she hadn’t actually died for a few days after the illness took root, but it sure had felt like it, with people talking as if she already was and being so weak she couldn’t do a damn thing. The only thing she had known was pain, and it was a hopeless affair.

Remembering that pain made her almost wish she could have died in a quicker fashion, though that she would never confess out loud.

She’s brought out of her thoughts by another spark of pain, this time making her drop the plate. It shatters to the floor as she falls to her knees.

“Jane?”

Catherine Parr was touching her shoulders, kneeling down with her. When did she get here?

“What’s wrong?”

Jane gasps for air, slinking down onto the ground.

“I’m feeling it again,” Jane says simply. “I can feel it, just like how it was back then.”

She looks down at her stomach, a vision overtaking her: she’s at her death bed, she’s begging to see Edward, no one will listen - no one’s heard her, it seems - but she wants to see Eddie one last time, please, just once-

She’s brought back to the present by another flash of pain. She’s in her bed now, she didn’t know she had moved.

“Eddie...” Jane mumbles, a hand reaching out to nothing. She’s sweating, clearly unwell.

“What’s happened to her?” Asks a voice. The word ‘Anna’ comes to mind. “None of us have this happen when it comes around.”

“It’s got to be something else,” Cathy says. “We should take her to hospital.”

“What if the games changed with the new regenerations?” Another voice - an Anne. “What if...”

“No,” Catherine replies - a Catherine, at least. “It hasn’t. We’ll be alright, she’ll be fine.”

“We don’t have much time.”

Jane stops at that voice; it somewhat brings her back to reality. She looks around then, trying to find the person in question, when she settles on a blonde with pink tips.

Her daughter.

“Katherine...” Jane mumbles.

Kat takes the hand that’s reached out and looks kindly down at her mum.

“Hey. We’re going to take you to hospital, you’re going to get better and we’ll go to your favorite restaurant tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Jane can barely understand what she’s said, but then Katherine looks back at the others.

“Anna, can you pack some clothes for Jane? Cathy, grab the car. Anne, pack snacks. And Catherine, I’ll need some help moving her and figuring out which hospital to go to.”

“Of course,” Catherine says. Then, with a nod, they all get to work, splitting up to accomplish their assigned tasks.

“I’ll call the ladies as well,” Anna says. “They’ll be useful here.”

“Thanks, Anna,” Katherine says, smiling at her before looking Jane over.

Jane smiles at her girl - her brave, wonderful girl - before her eyes start to flutter close. Despite the pleas from Catherine and Katherine, they close completely.

She’s in darkness.

She sees him - her little Eddie, her boy king, the one that was left alone with that... that monster.

He turned out well enough, from what she’s read, but it hurts that she only knows him as Edward the King, not Edward her son; what was his favorite foods? What did he like to do? What did he do when he was scared? Tired? Happy? What would he have called her - mum, or mama, or mother, or something else?

She doesn’t know.

She’ll never know.

She’s lost her chance.

Henry, of course, is on the forefront of her mind as well. He did so much evil and caused so much pain for the others, and she would love to say that he never once did that to her, but... he did. A lot. She’s just too embarrassed and scared to admit it. She wished she had the freedom the others had - the courage to call him out on it.

But she doesn’t.

So she won’t.

Until the day she dies.

Jane Seymour is pretty sure she won’t be dying today - she’s pretty sure the queens have this, that they can take care of her and help her while she’s ill. But her anxiety threatens to overcome her and she can barely comprehend the moving lights and it’s really as if she’s not in her body, but spectating. Observing. Not in control.

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’s felt that way.

Meanwhile, everyone has gotten their things together. Maria and Maggie help Catherine and Katherine bring Jane into the car, Katherine staying right next to her mother as Joan joins her. The others figure out where they’re headed and Anna’s called ahead to make sure they knew they were arriving with an unconscious woman before they sped off, Catherine driving.

They get there in record time, speed laws be damned.

She’s rushed in immediately, no one allowed to bring her.

So they wait.

The queens and the ladies all wait.

Jane can feel herself floating.

She doesn’t see a white light or anything; shes comfortable, without pain, in her current condition.

It’s far nicer than before.

She’s assumed they’ve given her something that is either helping with whatever is wrong or helping with the pain; she doesn’t care.

She would have been far happier to die like this, back then.

Without the pain that came with it.

She goes through the memories again - how Henry had shown up, but not nearly as much as he should have. How he never came with Edward. How Joan talked to her, not about her, not as if she was already dead.

How things have changed since then.

Joan is just about the same; maybe a bit more outspoken, but that happens with the new times. No, she’s got a family now: eight sisters, one daughter, always there for her. It’s a family she didn’t expect to have, one she thought was closed to her the day she took the throne, but they’ve all embraced her, flaws and all.

The death they keep celebrating is important. But so is the new life it led to.

She’s pondering that as she feels the pull; she’s headed back, she knows this.

But before she does, it seems that the universe has a little gift for her.

She looks up and, suddenly, a boy is there. Doesn’t look a day over 13, if that.

She knows him.

Of course she does.

“Hello, love.”

She outstretches her arms and, happily, her boy comes rushing towards her. His laughter is angelic.

“Are you doing well, Eddie?”

He nods, pointing away, to where three others are. Two women and one girl. She knows who they are, she’s glad they’ve banded together like their mothers have.

“Alright,” Jane says with a nod. “I have to go, but take care of each other, alright?”

He nods, hugging her tighter, and things start to fade to white. Before it does, though, he smiles widely at her.

“I love you, Mum.”

And it all goes to light.

When it fades, she’s gone from one of her children to the other.

Katherine Howard watches her closely, worridley, but she smiles when Jane reaches to cup her cheek.

“Hello, love,” Jane says quietly. She winces at a soft dull pain. “What’s happened?”

“You had an infection,” Katherine explains. “They had to do some stuff, but they said you’ll be fine in a day or so.”

Jane nods, patting her side, and Katherine curls on up as requested.

Cathy steps forward then. “Welcome back,” she says with a nod and a smile.

“Really scared us there, Janey,” Anne says with a grin.

“We’re glad you’re okay,” Anna finishes.

“How are you feeling?” Catherine asks, looking her over.

“I’m alright,” Jane says quietly. “Better than before. Modern medicine to thank, yeah?” When the others nod or agree, she continues. “I saw them. All of them.”

“Who?” Katherine asks, but Anna knows.

“The kids, I take it?” Anna replies. Jane nods.

“They’re all together. They look out for each other,” Jane says. “Mae included.” She looks at Cathy for that. “They took after their mums, it seems.”

Katherine curls up to Jane a bit more and Jane chuckles at the feeling.

“There’s no place I’d rather be but here, love, I promise.”

Katherine smiles at her. “I love you, Mum.”

“I love you too,” Jane replies, a gentle kiss on top of Kat’s head. “I love you all.”

Later, they would more somberly remember what this day was about, and what it meant for Jane, but right now, they were changing their tune: they were celebrating their lives, old and new.

For the moment, it’s enough.

#jane seymour #katherine howard #six the musical #six fanfic #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #anne boleyn #catherine of aragon #anna of cleves #catherine parr #six ff #sixff

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jane-fucking-seymour · 4 years

Note

ANNE!! WHAT DID CATHERINE SAY???

“I’m leaving the show.”

Anne brushes past Maggie, who is standing with her head lowered. Anne must have told her this before, because Maggie doesn’t even try to fight.

Immediately; though, Kat is at her side.

“What do you mean? Who got to you? What the hell is going on?”

Anne says nothing as she packs up quickly before rushing towards the door...

... and straight into Anna.

Anna narrows her eyes at the woman who refuses to meet hers.

“What’s gotten into you?” Anna asks.

Anne pushes past her.

They all follow as, again, the car arrives.

Anne gets in before Jane can chase after her.

It all feels so familiar.

“Take care of Maggie and Kat while I’m gone, okay?”

“Lady Anne Boleyn, you get over here right-“ Jane starts, but the car takes off.

And Maggie is left back in the hallway, alone.

She takes a deep breath and simply goes to where Maria was. She curls up to the girl and closes her eyes.

Cathy watches from the windowsill, eyes wide, before she slams her hand down on the bed next to her.

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

Twists and Turns

Happy birthday to @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts! Just for her, I’m writing total fluff for her favorite person from Six King Henry VIII Katherine Howard. This takes place before the regen. This is fluff and not angst at all. And because it’s her birthday, we’re releasing this in UK friendly timezone!! Hell yeah!

Are you ready? Here we go!��

“No, no, absolutely not.”

Katherine Howard pouted to the best of her ability as she faced Catherine Parr herself, who was very unamused by Katherine’s suggestion.

“We’re not giving a damn quid to that capitalistic mouse that has stolen so many tales from the public domain and has completely monopolized an industry to within an inch of it’s life-”

“Come on, Cathy!” Katherine whines. “I’ve heard Disneyland Paris is great this time of year-”

“We’re not supporting Walt Disney!” Catherine replies. “No way.”

Catherine perks up then. “I think what Cathy is trying to say,” she says, moving over to Katherine. “Is that she’d like to go to another place that’s not Disney.”

Katherine pouts. “Disney.”

Cathy crosses her arms across her chest. “No.”

“Disney.”

“No.”

“Disney!”

“NO!”

“DISNEY-!”

“Okay, alright!” Jane says, stepping in between the two. “Enough, you two!” She looks at Catherine. “We won’t go to Disney-” she starts, but then looks over at Katherine. “But we’ll go to whatever other amusement park you’d like, Kitty.”

Katherine huffs, leaning back as she thinks... and then smiles.

“Okay, I’ve got just the place!”

When they arrive, both Katherine Howard and Anne Boleyn are the most excited.

“Thorpe has the best roller coasters,” Anne says with a bright smile. “The fastest one in all of the UK - or, er, whatever they’re calling it for Fight Nights. Not entirely sure what it’s called right now, but I’m sure we’ll find it.”

“We’ll go on that one last!” Katherine says with a big smile. She’s practically bouncing in her seat as they pull into the car park. “But we need to go on The Swarm, too. It seems cool!”

“Do you want to go on the scary rides with me, Jane?” Anna asks, tilting her head curiously. When Jane nods, Anna smiles brightly. “Brilliant!”

“Nemesis Inferno seems cool,” Cathy remarks. “I’d bet one of the Ladies would want to go on with me.”

They all get out of the car and, with a bright smile, Katherine all but drags Anna towards the entrance.

“Hang on, hang on! You need your tickets!” Jane says, rushing after them. “And remember, we’re meeting up at the main gate for lunch!”

Katherine’s almost out of sight, but thankfully a familiar face stops her in her tracks.

“Joan!”

Sure enough, Joan is there, smiling brightly at the youngest queen as the other three Ladies in Waiting stand at her side.

“Hello, love,” Joan says with a smile, looking behind Katherine as the other queens catch up. “Good morning, everyone. I hope the drive went well?”

“Maggie!” Anne says, rushing over to her lady. “You, me, Bessie, Anna, Samurai.”

“You’re on!” Maggie says, quick to grab the offered tickets from Jane and rushing off into the park. Bessie smiles as she offers an arm to Anna, the two rushing towards where Anne and Maggie were headed.

Catherine, Maria and Cathy decide to head towards Amity Beach, leaving only Katherine, Joan and Jane.

“Where’d you like to go, love?” Jane asks with a smile.

Katherine walks towards the map, tilting her head in thought as she looks it over.

“Hmm... do you want to just go walk around first?” Katherine asks, looking over at other two. “This is all a bit... overwhelming, to be honest.”

Jane smiles and gently takes Kat’s hand.

“Of course, love. We’ll do whatever you’d like.”

Jane gently pulls Katherine closer, smiling brightly as she wraps an arm around Katherine’s. “Come on now, we’ve got a few hours to go before we all meet up again.”

The trio walk around the park, starting off with the Walking Dead rides. Katherine tilts her head as she takes it all in, makes a small face as she walks past.

Jane chuckles. “Apparently people really love that show, eh?”

“It’s weird, but I guess I see the appeal,” Katherine says with a smile. “Their version of the walking dead is a bit more... dramatic, than reality, isn’t it? None of us look like that.”

Jane chuckles at that before they wander down the path, taking in everything. Katherine stays as close as she can, Joan right behind them.

“How’re you feeling, Kitty?” Jane asks. “It’s a lot of people, for sure.”

“Yeah,” Katherine agrees, looking around a bit uncertain. “But I’m pretty fine at the moment. Besides, I have you and Joan here, so...” Kat shrugs. “I’ll be fine.”

Joan smiles at that, but the trio wander on down the path until they hit the Screamplexx Cinema. Katherine frowns at that before looking back at Jane.

“Next time we do one of these,” Kat says, “we’ll do it not during October. Fright Night is cool and all, but... dunno about an entire theme part dedicated to it.”

Joan chuckles, pointing away. “I think the others are having fun, at least.”

Jane and Kat look at where Joan is pointing... and Jane gasps. Katherine excitedly waves.

“Look at that!” Kat says, smiling widely. Sure enough, it’s Anna, Anne, Maggie and Bessie on the Blair Witch ride. They’re screaming, naturally, but they look like they’re doing well enough.

“That should be a place we can get their photo from, if memory serves,” Joan says with a big smile. “Let’s see if we can find a good one of ‘em, shall we?”

As they walk towards the photos booth, Katherine suddenly takes off. Jane’s about to rush after her until she realizes who’s approaching: Catherine, Cathy and Maria.

“I thought you all were headed to the beach part?” Katherine asks, arm instantly linked around Maria’s.

“We did, but it was boring,” Cathy explains. “So we figured we’d wander around, try to find you lot.”

Maria, Joan and Kat head towards the photo booth while Jane, Cathy and Catherine lag behind a bit.

“How’s she doing?” Catherine asks, looking over at Jane.

“Quite well, better than expected in all honesty,” Jane explains. “I didn’t expect her to be this okay with everything.”

“She seems to be just fine,” Cathy says with a nod. “Honestly, I had forgotten the park does the whole horror theme this time of year, I probably would have said yes to that blasted mouse had I remembered.”

“Yeah, well,” Jane says, watching as Anne and Anna pull Katherine away. Kat looks back at Jane for permission, and when she nods, follows with excitement. “She’ll be fine, as long as-”

But then, Joan and Maria walk back.

"Saw.”

Jane blinks.

“What?”

“They’re going on Saw.”

“What?!?”

Jane all but sprints away, the others following close behind.

Just as Jane’s about to catch up with the three queens, they’re cut off to her by the line starting.

So, naturally, she follows.

Jane pushes past a few people, saying her group was right in front, when she gets to them.

“Kitty, what’re you doing?” Jane asks nervously.

Katherine looks over and smiles. “We’re gonna try the ride!”

“It’s based off that movie, isn’t it?” Jane asks, walking with them as the ride gets closer and closer.

“It is, but no one’s supposed to jump out at you or anything,” Kat replies. “Besides, apparently that’s only the first, like, minute or so of the ride. It’ll be a bunch of cheesy horror tropes, I saw it online.”

Anne raises an eyebrow. “You previewed all the rides?”

“Wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into when you dragged me on,” Kat replies with a smirk, right before she looked over at Jane. “I’ll be fine, mum, I promise.”

Jane looks at Katherine, then at the others, and with a nod, she moves backwards.

“Alright, well... Catherine, Cathy, Joan, Maria and I will be-”

But then, Jane bumps into someone behind her.

And that’s when she realizes she’s a bit boxed into the line.

Katherine realizes this and smirks.

“Oh, no, mum,” she says, gently pulling Jane close. “I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”

Outside of the ride, the group that hadn’t gone is trying to figure out where Jane was.

“I haven’t seen her exit anywhere,” Joan observes, frowning.

Maria looks around. “Maybe she went to the exit?”

“We can just call her-” Catherine starts, but they’re interrupted by Cathy’s laughter. “What?”

Cathy points to the ride.

Sure enough, it’s Jane.

In the front row of the ride.

Holding onto Katherine for dear life.

“It’s alright, mum, look!” Katherine says, pointing at the familiar faces in the crowd. “We’re not even that high up!”

“Yet,” Jane mumbles, a bit scared as she holds onto Katherine’s hand. Kat chuckles, looking over at the others for a moment before she closes her eyes in fright. She says another prayer.

They continue to ascend.

“This is probably going to be the most entertaining ride of our trip,” Anne quips from right behind them, laughing with Maggie. Bessie and Anna also laugh as they continue towards the top. “Remember there’s cameras near the end, Janey-”

“Oh, shut it, Boleyn!” Jane yells, clearly panicked. She lets out a yell when she realizes they’re at the top. “If you let go of my hand, Katherine Howard, I swear-”

“I’ve got you, mum,” Katherine promises, looking over the edge with excitement.

They’re just at the top now...

... high in the sky...

and the scream that Jane lets out as they tip over the edge is the loudest any of them have heard her scream before, stage quips included.

They all scream in excitement as they almost head straight down, through the loops and turns of the ride, eventually coming to a stop.

Katherine laughs as Jane flips off Jigsaw at the very end of the ride, just as they come to a halt.

“See?” Katherine quips as they get to a stop. “Not that bad, was it?”

Jane huffs, helping Kat off. “It was fun after the scary bit at the front,” Jane explains, linked arms with Katherine once again. “Did you like it, love?”

“Yeah!” Katherine says. “It was a total rush.”

“I can only imagine what Janey’s face was during the ride,” Anna teases, earning a glare from Seymour herself. “Poor girl probably almost had a heart attack.”

As soon as they walk out of the ride, the others are there to meet them, save for Anne and Maggie, who said they’d meed them in a moment.

“How in the world did you convince Jane to get on that?” Catherine asks, following the group away from the ride.

“They didn’t,” Jane mumbles. “I got trapped there when I went to go after Katherine.”

“She was very brave,” Katherine teased, earning a roll of the eyes from Jane. She’s smiling, though, since Katherine was so amused by it.

“I think that’s my share of frights for the day, though,” Jane says. “Whatever you lot do now, you’re on your own.”

“I’ll be more than happy to take Jane’s place in that,” Joan quips, smiling at her mistress.

Anne and Maggie arrive just then, and Jane knows immediately that something is up by the look in Anne’s eye.

“What did you two do?” Jane asks, raising an eyebrow. “Do we need to leave the park?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Anne says nonchalantly, practically strutting over to Katherine and Jane. “Just, uh... picked up a souvenir.”

Jane’s eyes go wide and Katherine squeals in delight when Anne shows what she has.

“Oh, that’s going up on the fridge!”

Sure enough, it’s a magnet of all of them on the ride, Jane’s terrified gaze clear as they descended down the first slope. Katherine and the others look like they’re having the time of their lives, though, and it makes Jane smile.

“You win this one, Boleyn,” Jane says, pulling Katherine a bit closer to herself. “But no more!”

“I’ve got blackmail for years now, Seymour, don’t need another one, thanks,” Anne quips, smiling at the others.

Katherine giggles as they all head off to lunch. The rest of the day goes as normal, and by the time they all head back to the car - an hour or so after dark, thanks to the majority of the group not wanting to do anything at night when it became more packed and a bit more scary - everyone’s exhausted.

“We’ll meet you guys back home,” Joan says, watching as Maria gets in shotgun of the lady’s car. Maggie is half asleep on Bessie’s shoulder as they pack it in.

“Right, text us when you get there, please,” Jane says as everyone heads in. Catherine would be driving with Anne as her shotgun copilot, leaving the rest of the group to filter inside. With final goodbyes and goodnights for the day, the queens all head inside the car.

Katherine, naturally, is with Jane in the back while Cathy and Anna sit in the middle row.

“Will you two be alright staying up?” Jane asks. “I can drive or sit shotgun if you’d like.”

“Nah, Catalina and I got this,” Anne says. “I’ve got a bunch of caffeine if we need it, but it’s only an hour drive or so with this traffic.”

Jane nods, chuckling quietly when Katherine nuzzles into her shoulder.

“Are you tired, love?” Jane asks quietly, keeping the girl close. When Katherine nods, Jane is sure to put a blanket over the girl’s shoulders, smiling when Kat smiles. “I’m sure you’re tired after all those rides.”

“Mhmm,” Katherine says. “Thanks for coming onto the Saw one, by the way.”

Jane chuckles. “It was a lot of fun, but honestly rides aren’t exactly my cup of tea.” She smoothes out Katherine’s hair as they start to get moving. The low drone of the radio and Jane’s heartbeat are already doing their jobs, slowly lulling the youngest queen into a nice, quiet rest.

“You’re the best,” Katherine mumbles. “Thank you.”

“I love you, Kit,” Jane says quietly.

Katherine smiles, taking in the day. It was exciting, sure, but what really made it special was being able to hang out with her family all day. She couldn’t imagine anyone else she’d rather spend the day with.

“I love you too, mum.”

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Note

what are the queens dreaming about?

Catherine of Aragon is saving her daughter.

She sees the burnings, the screams of the innocent, everything her daughter is supposed to do. She sees Mary moving towards a dark, dark path. This time, however, Catherine is able to take her hand, to lead her into the light. She’ll enjoy this as best she can, knowing the horrors of reality will be the true wake up call the next morning.

Anne Boleyn is dreaming about Elizabeth.

She’s taken her girl to the park just down the street from the flat, enjoying the laughter she hears from her girl as she goes on the slide for her first time. She smiles a bit wider when she sees Mary and Edward and Mae join in. She forgets, just for the night, that she ever had that damned blade to her neck.

Jane Seymour is reading to her children.

Her dreams include Katherine now - they have since a year ago. She loves reading to them, giving them pointers on their work, reading the stories Katherine and Edward have been working on. Sometimes, the stories make as much sense as Edward being there. Other times, they’re her own work trying to sort itself out through her unconscious mind.

Anna of Cleves is on a hunt.

She’s back in Germany, back with her dogs, back to her “normal” life. She sees Katherine distracting her best hound, but that’s quite alright. Soon, Anna will recall the dogs and bring Katherine back to Anna’s own home, back to Germany, back to Anna’s family, a safe place beyond the hell that was England.

Katherine Howard is not dreaming at all.

It’s better than the alternative.

Catherine Parr is writing.

She’s not asleep, she’s very much awake. The thoughts and ideas and theories will not let her rest. She writes like she’s running out of time - or, more accurately, like she had ran out of time before, but was miraculously given an extension. She won’t make that mistake again.

#jane seymour #katherine howard #six the musical #anne boleyn #six fanfic #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #catherine of aragon #anna of cleves #catherine parr #six fic #sixfic #sixff #sixfiction

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

“She just needs some time, Anna-”

“She doesn’t have that much time, Jane. She needs help, this is the fifth one this week and it’s only Monday!”

Anna glared at the blonde with such strength that Jane had to look away, instead choosing to gaze at the girl asleep on the bed. Katherine was out like a light once again after the worst panic attack yet - the third one of the day. Jane tiredly ran a hand through her hair, trying to figure out what had happened this time - one moment, Katherine was fine, talking about this new song she loved, then the next, she was on the floor, barely breathing and in some other world that neither Anna nor Jane could reach.

The road to recovery for Katherine had stalled about two months after she originally started therapy. She hadn’t found anyone she was willing to share everything with - for the most part, the therapists couldn’t relate to a 15th century teenager turned Queen. The final straw had been when one of the therapists had said he could help her, but then forcibly admitted her into a psychiatric hospital instead. He had said she was a “danger to society” with her “delusions of violence, including beheadings” and since no one was on Katherine’s medical records as a guardian or someone who could legally contest him, Katherine was in hospital for two days, until Anna could be put on as her emergency contact and authorized caretaker.

Katherine refused to see another therapist after that.

That was five months ago, and since then a few things have happened: one, she and Jane have become closer than ever, rivaling her relationship with Anna; and two, Katherine’s mental health was rapidly deteriorating.

Nothing the other queens tried prevented the attacks, nor the nightmares that plagued the youngest queen each night. They had begged the girl to reconsider therapy, but the scare from the last time was just too much for her to overcome. So she had suffered, and suffered often, with the trauma of the past life.

It took a toll on the others as well.

At first, Anne had tried helping Katherine, but it was soon discovered that Katherine’s panic attacks helped to trigger panic attacks of Anne herself. Having reported that to her own therapist, Anne had to come to the very difficult conclusion that, in order to save her own sanity, she wouldn’t be the main person to come to her cousin’s aide. Catherine and Cathy kept their distance, which wasn’t overly surprising since neither of them were very close to the girl in the past life. They were always there to assist, of course, but the main handling of Katherine was left to Jane and Anna.

Jane and Anna had two very different ways of helping Katherine. Anna took a more active approach, providing resources and trying to prevent the trauma from haunting her oldest friend, while Jane took a more reactive approach of cleaning up the chaos and helping Katherine with the aftermath. They both thought they were helping Kat and could live in relative harmony, despite constantly disapproving of each other’s actions.

“You’re only going to make it worse,” Jane chastised gently one night after Katherine had gone to bed.

“She needs to learn how to handle these things,” Anna presses. “She needs professional help, Jane. Some medicine, even. Something that can help her process what she went through-”

“We can handle this as a family,” Jane presses even more, shaking her head. “We don’t need some outsider trying to figure her out, asking her all these questions that they might not ever understand.”

“They can help,” Anna presses. “I know they can. Professionals are professionals for a reason, Jane.”

“And is that why the last one sent her to an asylum?” Jane snaps, narrowing her eyes. “They don’t understand us, Anna. They never will.”

“Anne’s had wonderful progress with her therapist,” Anna says. “If we can find one for her, we can find one for Katherine-”

“No,” Jane says, shaking her head. “She’ll be fine without one. They’ll never get it.”

Now, however, it felt like it had been Jane who misunderstood.

She looked back at Katherine resting, brow furrowed. She then returns her attention back to Anna, who looks as serious as she’s ever been in this new life.

That makes sense, Jane thinks, since Katherine’s life might literally be at stake here.

“I’m just saying,” Anna says. “We should ask her again. She’s already had the work week’s fill of panic attacks. They don’t seem to be stopping, it’s only getting worse.” She stands up. “I’m going to get some air. Do you want anything?”

“Some tea would be nice,” Jane admits, and Anna smiles shortly and nods, looking at Kat once more before walking out of the room. Jane, at first, watches where Anna just was, right up until she senses movement coming from the bed.

When she turns, Katherine is looking right at her.

“She’s right.”

“Kitty, hey,” Jane says, a gentle hand in Katherine’s as she smiles at the girl. “How’re you feeling?”

“Not good,” Kat admits. “And I haven’t been. For a while.”

Jane frowns at that, but Kat continues.

“I don’t wanna go to an asylum again,” Katherine starts. “But... I don’t want to live like this. Feels like I’ll end up in there again if this keeps up, I don’t know how much more I can take.”

Silence. Then, Kat again:

“I think... I think I want to try again.”

Jane tilts her head. “Really?”

Kat nods. “Yeah. To help you all, to help me... a lot of reasons. And maybe what Anna’s been saying is right, maybe there is someone out there that’ll help me.”

Jane’s gaze turns cold.

“These people don’t understand us, Katherine,” she says rather bitterly. “I doubt they ever will-”

Katherine interrupts. “But we won’t know that until we try, right?”

Jane frowns. “I guess not.”

Another beat, but this time the silence is filled by Katherine sitting up in the bed, a hand to her head for a moment before she continues.

“I trust Anna more than anyone in this life,” she says quietly. “And if she thinks I can get help, if she thinks I can... move on, from before... I want to try.”

Jane looks the girl over carefully before she smiles and nods, taking her hand.

“Alright, love. When Anna comes back, let’s figure out what we want to do.”

A few things happened on that fateful day - one, Katherine finally restarted her journey to recovery; two, Jane and Anna grew closer; and three, Jane and Katherine’s family-esque relationship was born.

A few weeks later, after countless interviews, Parr’s historian friend would find someone who was exactly what Katherine was looking for in a therapist. Though it would be long and hard, Katherine had finally started down the path to healing.

#six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six fanfic #six fanfiction #sixfic #sixfiction #sixff #six the musical #katherine howard #jane seymour #anna of cleves

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

It’s the End of the Show, of the Historemix

Part 4 of 5 of the regeneration arc. The last show is starting right now IRL.

Katherine, Jane, Anna, Joan and Bessie all arrive downstairs with little fanfare, everyone sitting on the couches. For today, at least, Catherine’s big leather chair is vacated by the queen; Catherine sits next to Parr on one of the big couches, Maria right next to her. Joan and Bessie sat on Catherine’s chair together while Katherine, Anna and Jane sat close on the opposite couch. Anne and Maggie were left to their own devices, sitting on pillows on the floor right at Kat’s feet.

“This is it, then,” Cathy says quietly.

“Is this what it feels like?” Katherine asks. “Right before it-”

“It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” Anne asks with a gentle smile. “But it’s... nice. To a degree.”

Katherine nods. “Yeah. It is.”

Silence.

More silence.

Even more silence.

Then, Catherine of Aragon speaks:

“When you all get back, what do you want for dinner?”

They all look at her, and Catherine looks a bit awkward, but Katherine is grateful for such a normal question.

“I want chicken pot pie, to be honest,” Katherine says.

“Weird way to say fish and chips, Kitty,” Anne quips.

“I’m surprised neither of you said ice cream,” Cathy observes, holding Catherine a bit more as she nuzzles into the other woman’s hold.

Katherine and Anne look shocked.

“We can do that?!?”

“No, no, absolutely not,” Jane says. Then, at the puppy dog eyes from both Katherine and Anne: “I don’t care, you’re having a healthy dinner when you’ve come back!”

“We’ll make extra portions, though,” Anna says with a grin. “But I agree with Jane, healthy dinner it is. And thanks, Cathy, for even suggesting it to them when they clearly didn’t think about that.”

“What am I here for if not to sow a little chaos now and then?” Cathy quips with a wink, making everyone else laugh.

The group falls into silence.

Then, Catherine:

“Oh, I almost forgot,” she says, looking over at Maria. “You all will be staying with us until they come back, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Maria nods.

Cathy sighs in relief. “Good. I didn’t want you all alone after this.”

“Maggie’ll take my room, right?” Anne asks. When Maggie nods, Anne smiles. “Good. That’s why I cleaned it earlier.”

“Oh, how thoughtful,” Maggie teases, laughing when Anne rolls her eyes.

“And Joan and Bessie will take mine or something?” Katherine asks. “However you all want to figure it out.”

“We’ll get a daybed, probably, and put it somewhere,” Joan thinks, looking over at Bessie. “Probably something like that.”

“Yeah, that sounds good enough for me,” Bessie agrees.

“It’ll be just fine,” Jane says quietly, holding onto Kat some more. “We’ll all be fine.”

“Exactly, babes,” Anne says with a smile. “We’re gonna be okay.”

Silence.

More silence.

And then:

“Ah, damn, I was hoping it was me first.”

They all look over at Anne, who looks over at Cathy. There, before their eyes, Catherine is dissolving into light.

“I...” Cathy starts, but then she looks up at Catherine, smiling as she holds onto her tighter. “I love you all,” Cathy says. “We’ll see you all soon.”

She smiles one last time before she’s completely dissolved into light, Catherine of Aragon now holding onto thin air.

Anne stands up then, going to the center of the room; as she walks, she, too, starts to glow.

“Alright then, I’ll make sure she’s safe,” Anne says. “Kitty, too, when she’s ready.” Anne winks in Jane and Anna’s direction before she looks back at Maggie; she refuses to look at anyone else now, wanting her lady to be the last person she sees. “I’ll get them home, promise.”

She, too, dissolves into light.

There’s silence for a moment, but it’s almost deafening for Katherine. It’s going to happen, she knows, and it’ll happen soon-

“Kitty?”

She’s going to fade away, just like the other two, it’s going to happen and she can’t stop it-

“Katherine.”

- and if she tries, it’ll hurt, they said, but how can she let herself just go when she doesn’t even know what letting go feels like-

“Kat!”

Katherine looks up and realizes she’s hit the floor in her panic, eyes wide as she looks up at the people who have been trying to call for her. Anna and Jane are holding onto her, soft smiles on their faces. They’re glowing, somewhat-

- oh. Wait. They aren’t.

She is.

It doesn’t feel nice, but it doesn’t feel bad, either. It feels weird. How Anne and Cathy were able to disappear with such grace is something Katherine will not understand, not in this life, anyways.

“It’s alright, love,” Jane says gently. “Just let go.”

“They’ll be waiting for you,” Anna promises. “They’ll be right there beside you, wherever you end up.”

Katherine nods, looking around at the ladies in waiting and at Catherine, who has joined her fellow queens on the floor to comfort the girl on her first regeneration. Katherine looks down at her hands and they’re translucent, body glowing even more.

“You’ll be alright,” Catherine promises.

“It’ll be fine,” Jane supports.

“We’ll see you soon,” Anna says.

Katherine smiles at them, tries to say something, but she’s fading fast.

“Take care of each other.”

And then, suddenly, in a brilliant flash, she’s gone.

Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour and Anna of Cleves all looked at each other. Maggie, holding onto Bessie, turns away from the sight while Maria and Joan hold hands.

The queens stand and, all at once, pull each other into a weird yet comfortable three-woman embrace. Tears have started and they won’t stop for a while.

Six, for the moment, had become three.

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jane-fucking-seymour · 4 years

Note

Oh bugger is Maria ok???

Maria is deathly pale.

She’s laying in Catherine’s bed, shaking and feverish. Cathy, very quietly, is tending to her. Cathy hasn’t said a word to anyone since Catherine left, completely shutting down.

Katherine, against better judgement, walks up to Cathy and puts down some snacks.

Cathy hasn’t stopped looking at Maria.

“These might help,” Kat says with a smile.

Cathy does not look at her. She continues to look at Maria, not even acknowledging Kat.

Kat frowns, but pushes forward.

“You know, I think we might be able to find her?” Kat half-says, half-asks. Silence. “Maria’s gonna be okay, Cathy.” Nothing. “When we find her-“

“When we find her,” Cathy says, voice low and broken. “Is not a thing, Katherine. If she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be found.”

Kat frowns. “You can’t give up.”

Cathy snaps her gaze to Kat. “Don’t you DARE tell me that I’ve given up.”

When Kat flinches, however, Cathy softens.

“I’m sorry. I just... I’m scared, Kit.” She looks back at Maria. “I don’t know what she’s thinking. But I don’t think Catherine had a plan. I think she got scared and now Maria’s paying the price.”

Katherine tilts her head before she sits next to Cathy, pulling her into a hug.

“What is Catherine thinking?” Cathy asks as she burrows her head into Kat’s shoulder. “What could they possibly have threatened her with that we couldn’t have faced together?”

Katherine holds onto the girl tightly as Cathy cries. They’re so distracted that she doesn’t spot Anne leaning against the door, watching them.

She’s just about to leave when, suddenly, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She frowns; it’s Catherine.

She turns away, answering the phone as she walks into her room.

#ask the queens #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical ff #sixfic #six fanfic #six fanfiction #six ff #sixff

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

All My Love, Catherine.

The start of regeneration! Part 1 of 5.

Cathy Parr was ready.

Well, as ready as she could ever be, given the circumstances. She had done this before, though, and that was at least a small comfort: she knew what to expect. She knew what was going to happen (or, at least, had a very general idea) and she could work with that.

It was the fear of the unknown that would have sent her spiraling, but today, it’s just... calm. Peaceful, even.

She sits at her desk, finishing up one last writing, when she hears a disapproving, soft tone come from the doorway.

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you spend today at your desk.”

Cathy doesn’t even need to look up to know she won’t win this argument.

Catherine Parr chuckles as she nods, saving her work for what feels like the final time before putting her laptop away.

“Just wanted to put in my last thoughts,” Cathy says quietly. “Just in case-”

“You’re coming back, Catherine,” Maria says, using the full name tactic to stress the importance of the statement. She’s been at her mistress’ side for the past few days, per Cathy’s request. “You always do. We always do. You’ll have plenty of time to write then.”

Cathy nods, but Catherine knows better.

“You think you won’t be able to?”

“I think I won’t be able to like this again,” Cathy explains, moving over to where the two were at her door. “We’re the same, but we change. Bit by bit, we always change when we regenerate.”

“Well,” Catherine says, pulling her girl into herself as she wraps an arm around Cathy’s shoulders, “I don’t think you’ll be changing so much that you’ll forget how to write. It’s sort of your thing, babes.”

Cathy chuckles at that, moving with the duo downstairs. She notices that the others aren’t there, which sends a quick burst of panic through her before Maria explains.

“They’re in their rooms, they haven’t gone yet,” Maria says softly. “They’ll be down in a few minutes. They just... wanted to have some alone time, that’s all.”

“Kinda like what we’re doing, eh?” Cathy asks, which Maria nods.

Silence. Cathy is in between Maria and Catherine, all of them on the couch, all of them as close as they can be.

Catherine always knows what to say to help Cathy, and this time isn’t different.

“This isn’t the end, you know,” Catherine says. “You’ll be back. You’ll be bringing Anne, which isn’t ideal,” she earns a chuckle from Parr at that before she continues, “but you, Anne and Katherine will be back. And we’ll celebrate and continue on like normal.”

“Like a new normal,” Cathy says gently. “A new sort of dynamic between all of us.” Cathy runs a hand through her hair. “Before, we all had to find our way back separately. I dunno how - or if this even works - but I’ve been... praying, that we’ll all end up in the same place when we come back. I don’t want them alone.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Catherine says. “I’m sure Kitty will appreciate it, for sure. Anne would as well.”

More silence. Then, Cathy:

“I wrote something for you two.”

“Expected nothin’ less, to be honest,” Maria quips, earning quiet chuckles from the other two before Cathy continues.

She takes out two envelopes. One is trimmed with gold, the other has drumsticks on it. They take their respective parchments with soft smiles.

“Don’t read it until I’m gone,” Cathy instructs. Then, to Catherine: “Yours has a few important things in it as well. Passwords to computers, different accounts, that sorta thing. I just... if something happens, then I want to be ready for it-”

“Nothing will happen, love,” Catherine says, pulling the girl into another hug. “Nothing will happen. You’ll go away for a bit, maybe take a nice nap for once wherever you go, and you’ll be back and we’ll be fine. It’ll all be okay.”

Cathy nods, but she pulls away.

“But, if it doesn’t, if something happens... I want you to be able to get to everything. You too, Maria,” she looks at the lady before looking back at Catherine. “I trust you two the most out of anyone. And I know you’ll look after it.”

Maria and Catherine look at each other before they look back at Cathy.

“We will,” Maria says gently. “I promise, you’ll be alright, but if you’re not... we’ll keep everything safe for you.”

“There’s a folder on my computer,” Cathy continues. “It’s got everything I’ve written in it. It’s free to share, to publish to-” she gets choked up, tears starting, “to send to anyone and everyone. I want to make noise, Catherine, I can’t disappear here, I can’t-!!”

Catalina pulls Catherine into a hug as she breaks down.

Catherine holds onto her like a lifeline, as if letting go would start the regeneration process automatically.

“I’m so scared, mum,” Cathy says through tears. She reaches to Maria and Maria takes her hand, the other hand on her back. “I hate this. I absolutely hate this.”

“I know, love, I know,” Catherine says, but Parr continues.

“I’ll make sure Anne and Katherine are okay, but... I’ll miss this. I’ll miss both of you, I’ll miss being your goddaughter and-”

She’s interrupted when a gentle hand tips her chin up so she’s looking Catherine right in the eye.

“Catherine Parr, you listen to me right now.” Catherine says. “You’re not just suddenly being dropped as my goddaughter, you’re not going to change so completely that we don’t recognize you. You’ll be back, and we’ll pick up wherever we left off and go from there.” Catherine smiles at the girl before kissing her forehead, then pressing their foreheads together so Catherine is as close to her girl as she can be.

“You won’t fade away, you’ll come back, and we’ll celebrate. You’re my goddaughter, no matter what. Not even five million different regenerations can stop me from loving you.”

Cathy breaks down harder after that, collapsing into her godmum and lady in waiting, soft whispers of comfort and hope and affection coming from the three. Maria and Catherine keep their eyes on Cathy, not daring to look at each other for fear of breaking down as well.

There will be time for that later.

It takes a few minutes, but Cathy Parr has calmed down.

“... okay.” She says quietly, leaning back on the chair. She wipes the last of her tears. “Alright. I... okay.”

Maria and Catherine nod, before Cathy stands up.

“We should get Anne,” Cathy says. “I’m sure Katherine and Jane need some extra time, considering it’s her first time.

Catherine and Maria nods, standing up as well.

“We’ll do this together,” Catherine promises. “Just like always.”

Cathy smiles and nods, taking Catherine and Maria’s hands.

“Always.”

#regen #regen part 1 #catherine parr #six the musical #catherine of aragon #maria #maria liw #liw #six fanfiction #six fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six ff #sixff #sixfiction #sixfanfic #sixfanfiction

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jane-fucking-seymour · 5 years

Text

Deal with the Devil, Part 3

The final part of the main story, but there’s a few more fics upcoming. More on that later.

AO3 Link Right Here!

Maria, Joan, and Bessie have no idea what Maggie’s doing in the kitchen.

With the secret out, Maggie had become more overt with her potions preparations, which actually seemed to make her happier than ever. All of the burners on the stove were active, boiling a few multi-colored concoctions that Maggie refused to say its contents - “It’s a secret! And by secret, I mean you probably don’t want to know because you might have to drink it later, ha” - and various different types of vials are laid out on the counter.

“So all of this will help us defeat Henry?” Maria asks, raising an eyebrow as she copies down another symbol on to the paper she was writing on. For preparations, Maggie led the Ladies in Waiting in sigil making and helping her create potions while the queens talked strategy.

“Sigils can do a lot of things,” Maggie explained with a smile. “They can banish, cleanse, corrupt, empower, contain... a few other things. They’re also called seals for a reason.” she holds up one of Maria’s finished sigils. “This will help us contain, banish and cleanse the darkness.”

“And you said we just... throw it... onto Cathy or Jane when we see them?” Bessie asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, we’ll need to find their weak point, but that’s on me and my preparations after this. We don’t have time to attune everyone to magicks, so that’ll be on me and Anne.” Maggie looks over at Joan’s sigil and quickly corrects a line before going back to her potions. “For the most part, we just need you all there for when Jane and Cathy are back. We need you all to get them back to safety so we can take on Henry and save Katherine.”

“Makes sense to me,” Maria says with a shrug. “What other stuff can we do? And after this is over, are you gonna teach us more of this?”

Maggie absolutely is excited at the question.

“Do you... do you want to learn?!? Oh, I’d love that! It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper pupil- here, we can start now! Did you know that a lot of potions can be made into teas? Like gingeroot and lemon can combine with...”

She goes on and on and on, and Catherine can’t help but smile at the girl’s enthusiasm. She can see Anne out of the corner of her eye smiling at her lady in waiting as well.

“She really loves this stuff, she’s been dying to share it with the other ladies for ages,” Anne says with a smile. “With her as their teacher, they could probably learn advanced potions and sigils in no time flat.”

Anna chuckles at that. “Glad someone’s having fun,” she says, though she looks back at Anne. “But we should get back to business.”

Anne sighs and nods.

“Of course. But I’m afraid a lot of your jobs will be to recover the lost. The rest I’ll try to use my Radiant energy for.”

“Radiant?” Catherine asks, raising an eyebrow.

“There’s a certain type of light-based magick that I’ve learned,” Anne replies. “I think that’s our best bet to repel the darkness.” She looks over at Aragon, giving her a gentle smile. “If it helps, Aragon... the magicks are called Blessed Magicks. They’re given by the goddess.”

Aragon frowns. “Goddess?”

Anne nods. “And only people who have the purest of intentions and want to help can even conjure it up. If you don’t have the purest of intentions at heart, it will burn you instead- or worse, abandon you altogether.”

Aragon is listening very closely.

Anne continues.

“Way back when - farther back than our previous life - there were warriors who wielded the light against the darkness. They were called the Blessed. Nowadays, though, that magick is available to everyone.”

Aragon nods.

“I promise,” Anne says gently, putting a hand on Aragon’s shoulder. “It’ll save us. I know it.”

A beat.

“... and if it doesn’t, well, that’s what the sigils are for. Could just do it the old-fashioned way, get him to hit into a sigil and trap him in a pocket universe, but that seems far less likely.”

“Why is it less likely?” Anna asks.

“Because there’s no way I can do that alone. I’d need someone else to help with the setting that up when Henry is around and I...” she sighs. “The plan is for you lot to never have to worry about Henry at all. You save the three queens, I take care of him.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“It is, but this is my fight. He became far more aggressive when he learned I was a witch.” she sighs. “This is my responsibility.”

“But we’re Six,” Anna presses, not caring how cliche it sounds. “We do this together, or not at all.”

“We’ll be together,” Anne replies, “but have different roles. If things go well, you lot will be safe and sound by the time I hit Henry and, possibly, Katherine. Actually, definitely Katherine, now that I’m thinking about it. He’ll likely keep her close.”

Catherine looks warily at Anne’s hands. “And you can control that, right? So it doesn’t hurt anyone else?”

Anne raises an eyebrow. “I’ve had decades of practice-”

“But you said it yourself, you didn’t use your powers a lot,” Catherine replies. “How can we be sure?”

Anne sighs.

“Do you trust me, Catherine of Aragon?”

She wants to say something, she really does, but Catherine of Aragon doesn’t really know what to do. So, she simply nods again.

“I trust you, Anne,” she says softly. “It’s just... it’s a lot to put my head around.”

“I know,” Anne replies sympathetically. “But we’ll get through this, and hopefully I’ll never have to really use these blasted magicks ever again.” A pause before she smirks. “At least, not the combat magicks. Anna already asked if I could make her taller so she could mess with Parr.”

Aragon chuckles, rolling her eyes at that, before she settles. “We’ll follow your lead, then,” Aragon decides. “Whatever you need-”

She’s cut off, though, by a tight hug from Anne.

“Thank you,” Anne says.

Aragon hugs back.

A moment later, the ladies in waiting arrive.

“We’re ready... just, uh, someone’s gonna have a really bad time doing dishes later, sorry,” Maggie says slightly apologetically.

“Alright, ladies, get ready. We’re headed to the Tower for the livestream, then we’re disrupting the livestream, then we’re taking down a champion of a god.” Anne smirks at the rest of them.

“Sound like a plan?”

The others nod in agreement.

A few hours later, they’re exactly where they need to be.

Catherine of Aragon walks around the tower, towards the area where this so-called “big announcement” was supposed to be taking place. It’s the exact place where the stage was when Anne was executed, she notes, and she can’t help but notice Anne tensing when she realizes it.

“The idiot’s got a flare for the dramatics still, I’ll give him that,” Anne mumbles. She looks at the screens that are on either side of the stage. “That’ll probably go live when the stream goes live. Anything yet, Joan?”

Joan shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“Alright.” Anne nods, moving towards the back. They’re now hidding in a corridor in the outer wall, away from the majority of prying eyes; based on what Anne’s seen, they should be safe here. “Maggie, can you set it up-?”

Just as she starts that, however, the screens flicker on.

Joan’s eyes go wide as the livestream starts on her phone. “It’s starting!”

They all look towards the stage.

Katherine is standing there, looking completely ill. She’s shaking as she stands, eyes glassed over.

Anne glares before she simply stands up.

“Alright. That’s it. Maggie, we’re going with your plan.”

“Really?!?” she says, perking up considerably. “Oh, okay!”

She suddenly rushes away from the Ladies in Waiting, digging into her bag as she does so. Maggie takes out a piece of chalk and writes on the ground, adding a few symbols and the like to a circle she’s created.

A sigil, Maria realizes. She’s making a sigil.

When she’s done, Maggie steps back to admire her handiwork for a moment, then she adds a few things to the outside of the circle - offerings of lavender, sage, a candle, something Maria doesn’t recognize - before she steps back completely.

“Whatever you’re doing, do it quick,” Maria says, looking up. “They’re about to start.”

Anne nods, stepping inside the circle without delay. She extends her hands, closing her eyes before she starts writing in the air; once again, blue magicks trail from her fingertips, forming multiple shapes in the air, until she jabs her hand through the writing.

It somehow sparks an electric current to run through her arms. With a grimace, Anne steadies herself before she quickly shoots a bolt of lightning into the air, hand remaining raised to the sky.

At first, nothing happens.

But then, quickly, the sky clouds up.

Anne, with a smirk, brings her hand down.

The heavens open and it starts to downpour, lightning striking all around the area. Katherine’s eyes slowly close and she falls backwards, landing unceremoniously onto the ground. She disappears into shadows as the rest of the crowd scatters in panic.

The feed is cut.

Henry collects Katherine, just in time to spot Anne from the crowd.

He, Jane and Cathy leave, Howard in tow.

Anne smirks.

“Let’s go.”

They move together.

Anne and Maggie are rushing forward, Anne still have lightning crackling around her arms. Joan and Maria are second up, then Anna and Catherine, then Bessie. They enter the Tower of London in all the chaos. They all look around, trying to find any indication that Katherine was nearby, but the hallways are empty.

“How do we even know if they’re here?” Maria asks, walking a bit farther than the others down the hall.

“They have to be, he wouldn’t dare leave them on their own,” Anne presses. She is about to turn to the others until she spots someone approaching Maria.

“Maria!” Catherine yells, quick to move forward, but it’s too late.

Maria yelps as she is suddenly grabbed, a blade held to her throat.

Maria tries to struggle, but her attacker holds firm. Catherine’s eyes widen.

“Cathy?”

Sure enough, Catherine Parr was standing behind Maria. The girl was shaking, eyes fully black as she pulls Maria with her down the hall.

“If you want her alive,” Parr growls out, “you’ll stay out of our way.” She glares at Anne. “You especially, witch.”

Anne narrows her eyes.

“Maggie, be ready.”

“Of course,” Maggie replies, moving behind Joan as she rustles about in her bag. “Be safe.”

Anne closes her eyes for a moment, channeling her energy...

... and then suddenly, Maria is on the floor next to Catherine of Aragon and both Parr and Anne are locked in close combat.

Parr snarls at Anne, narrowing her eyes as the tendrils of darkness that are coming from her try to thrash out. Anne winces as one hits her cheek, but she keeps going, keeps fighting.

“Catherine!” Aragon yells, “Please!”

Parr throws Anne off of her and snarls again, this time getting down on all fours before she propels herself towards her godmother, attempting to take the fight to the non-magickal one, but again, Anne manages to counter with lightning-fast speeds.

“Damn you!” Cathy yelled, quick to turn back to Anne.

Anne holds her own.

“Do you see where, Maggie?” Anne asks as she continues to fight the girl in front of her. “Come on, Cathy, need you awake now-”

“The back of her head! It’s right there!” Maggie says, quick to pull out two potions. One, she passes to Maria to drink. The other, she throws directly at the ground in front of Anne and Cathy.

Cathy yelps and stumbles backwards, trying not to get hit by the bottle, which makes her completely caught off guard for Maggie to rush forward and put some sort of paper on the back of her head. Parr yelps, then gasps, then slowly sinks to the floor as the darkness leaves her.

“Cathy?” Catherine asks, quick to grab the girl. “Catherine?”

“She’ll be okay in a moment,” Anne promises. “It needs some time to settle.” She looks over at the others. “Maria, Catherine, and Bessie, stay here. Anna, Maggie, Joan, and I will go take the fight to Seymour.”

“Are we safe here?” Maria asks, having drank the potion. She seems better already. “Are you honestly sure?”

“If you head outside - where there’s natural sunlight - you’ll be okay,” Maggie says. “IT can’t get to you or Parr there.”

Catherine of Aragon nods. “We’ll head outside, but girls...” she looks directly at Anne for this. “Be safe.”

Anne keeps her gaze for a moment before she nods, moving away.

They rush into the hallways that seem to twist and turn and take forever to go down.

“This isn’t normal,” Anna observes.

Joan nods. “This place wasn’t nearly as big.”

“It’s the magicks,” Maggie says with a sigh. “He’s bewitched this place. We may not even technically be in the Tower anymore, just connected to it through different universes.”

Anne shakes her head with a sigh before she suddenly stops. She smirks.

“Finally, it’s about damned time you showed yourself.”

Darkness starts to form around the women, creating a little dome around them.

“Don’t touch the dark,” Anne says, getting into a ready stance. She holds up a flame with a smirk. “He got to you a bit more than Cathy, didn’t he, Jane?”

Sure enough, out of the shadows, Jane Seymour makes her grand entrance.

“Parr wasn’t a willing subject,” Jane replies, voice cold as ice; so cold that it made the others shiver.

Anne raised an eyebrow. “And you were?”

“To protect them, yes.”

“Of course. Let’s get this over with, yeah?”

The darkness starts to move in, but Anne is able to fend it off slightly with her flames and light. When Jane extends a hand, the darkness surges, but Anne quickly ignites the flame into Radiant energy - a type of light energy - and it helps fend off the darkness.

Jane tilts her head. “So unwilling to die, eh, Boleyn? I thought you learned the last time-”

“Oh, my god, can you just tell me where the hell her weakspot is, Maggie?” she asks, head tilting back towards the others as she continues to hold the Radiant magic like a shield against Jane’s abilities. “She’s getting real annoying-”

“Got it!”

That’s exactly what Maggie said as she suddenly appeared from behind Jane. Maggie, having drank a potion herself, had faded into the background and snuck up on the third queen, finding the weak spot in order to save her. Jane tried to spin back around to find her, but unfortunately was too slow; instead, Maggie put the seal on Jane’s neck, causing her to collapse and the darkness to subside.

“Guess we dodged a bullet there, eh, Mags?” Anne asks with a smile. “That would have been bad.”

“Well, we’ve got the two down,” Joan says, walking over to kneel next to her mistress. She puts Jane’s head in her lap. “What next?”

“Now, we’ve got the boss battle,” Anne explains. “You lot stay here.”

“What? No!” Maggie yells, eyes wide, but Anne shakes her head.

“You know as well as I do there’s little chance to escape this place alive, let alone in the right dimension, if we��re in the room when Henry falls,” Anne says gently. “I’ll get Katherine out safe. But I can’t risk any of you going with me. And besides, Mags, you’re the only one that knows the way back. You gotta get the others to safety.”

Anne smiles brightly at the scared lady in waiting, kissing her forehead.

“I’ll be fine.”

“No, we’ll be fine.”

Anne looks over to find Anna stepping up to her. “I’m not letting you do this alone, Boleyn. Magick or no magick, you need backup. You’ve been tag-teaming with Maggie here, and without her... this could go really bad. I can get Katherine while you fight him, and we can end his tirade.”

Anne considers it.

“You... you may not be able to come back. I might be able to only pick one of us. This could be a death mission.”

“But would it or would it not increase Katherine’s chances of surviving?”

“It would.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Anne sighs but nods, looking back at Maggie. “I trust you and Joan are able to get out of here. Meet up with the others. Explain what’s happened. And... tell them I’m sorry.”

Anna nods. “We’ll see them soon.”

“Wait!” Maggie says, moving to Anna. She gives her something - a paper? No, Anna realizes, it’s a sigil. “You’ll know when to use it.”

Anna, with a soft nod, smiles. “Make sure everyone’s good, but especially Bessie, alright?”

With that, Anne and Anna rush away, leaving the third queen in the hands of two ladies in waiting.

They get to the top of an impossibly tall staircase just in time to see the door open. It’s quiet up in this tower - wherever they are - and it causes Anne to pause.

“Last chance, Anna,” Anne says. “You can find your way back from here, you still have time-”

“Enough of this,” Anna replies. “We’re going.”

Anne, with a nod, pushes forward.

Katherine Howard was in the center of the room, body levitating in the air. She’s wearing exactly what she wore back then - back when she died. She’s still got that lifeless, mid-panic-attack look on her face, gasping for air as her eyes are blown wide.

To Anna, she’s just floating.

But to Anne, all she can see is a veil of darkness surrounding her cousin.

“Gods protect me,” she mumbles; as close to a prayer as she’ll get.

She walks inside, Anna close behind her. They reach Katherine.

The door closes immediately.

Boleyn expected that.

Darkness pulses towards her but she’s quick to turn and ward herself, protecting herself and Cleves from the attacks. Anne stands in front of Anna and Katherine, defending them as much as she is herself.

When she sees the darkness walking towards her, she cringes; it’s a gelatinous, hideous creature, half-beast and half-man.

“What even is that?” Anna asks, eyes wide.

But Anne already knows.

“You really have gone far deeper than you ever should have, Henry.”

He roars - an unnatural sound, a completely demonic sound - as he grows in size, gelatinous blob that he currently is, and attacks. He swipes at Anne, but she blocks it and Anna dodges. He continues his animalistic rampage, screaming and charging and clawing towards the other two women.

Anne gets a few good hits on him with holy fire, but she fears it won’t be enough.

“Anna, take Katherine when you can!” Anne calls, quick to make sure the girl did what she was told. Unfortunately, it was a moment too late, and now Henry had an opening.

He quickly pounces on top of her, catching her off guard, and she falls to the ground. The darkness surrounds them.

Anne’s eyes go wide and she feebily tries to move, but it’s no use; she’s been bested. She’s lost-

- or, at least, she would have, if Anna of Cleves hadn’t just pummeled the massive black blob with a nearby chair.

With strength Anna didn’t realize she truly had, she whacks the thing off of Anne and sends it sprawling towards the sigil on the wall - the sigil Maggie gave to Anna. As soon as Henry hits it, the sigil activates, a blinding light engulfing the room.

When the light fades, Henry is successfully vanquished.

Anne looks over at Anna, eyes wide.

“That... Anna of Cleves, you legend!”

Anna laughs, offering Anne a hand. “That worked, right?”

“That was brilliant!” Anne says, so incredibly hyped at the turn of events. “You might have just saved us all, babes.”

“Just another Tuesday, I suppose,” Cleves replies with a wink as Anne takes her hand to stand up. “Though I guess saving you lot from a demon rather than Jane’s wrath is a bit more notable.” Anna looks behind Boleyn. “Now I think Kitty needs your help.”

Anne looked over and instantly rushes to the girl; she’s still barely breathing, eyes wide, seemingly frozen in a mid-panic attack scenario. With a gentle prayer, her hands glow and she lays them on Katherine’s forehead.

Color returns to Katherine’s face as she suddenly gasps to life, body spasming as she finally intakes the air needed. Anna is quick to move over to hold onto her oldest friend as Anne works her maigck to heal her up a bit.

“What’s-?” Kat asks; she feels like she’s surfacing after being in water for ages.

“It’s alright, Kit,” Anne says gently. “You’re alright.”

“Mum,” Kat says. “And... oh, god, Anna, I-”

“It’s alright, it wasn’t you,” Anna says gently. “There’s a lot of things to explain. We can do that later. What matters right now is getting everyone back home and safe.”

Katherine looks down at her clothes and frowns. “I’ve... I didn’t change into these.”

“You didn’t, that’s correct,” Anne says, nodding at Anna. Cleves picks the girl up with a smile as Anne continues. “Again, lots to explain. I’ll do that later. For now, Kit, just rest.”

Katherine quickly obliges.

The door they opened to enter the room doesn’t lead to the same winding hallway that was once there; instead, it’s directly outside, right to the others.

Cathy is leaning against Maria’s shoulder as Catherine looks her over. Joan and Maggie, meanwhile, tend to Jane’s scratches.

Bessie had been guarding the door, but sighs in relief when she sees her mistress and the other two queens arrive.

“I take it everything’s been sorted?” Bessie asks.

“As much as it can be,” Anna replies with a nod. “We... kind of don’t know what’s happened, but he’s gone now, banished with that sigil you gave me, Maggie.”

“Oh! That’s my best work yet,” she says with a smile. “He’ll not be back for centuries, and when he does return, I imagine his patron will have a very, very long discussion on him about obliging terms of a contract.”

Katherine looks around and gasps when she sees the state Jane and Cathy are in.

Jane, just barely managing to get up, smiles. “Hello, Kat,” she says quietly, moving over to the girl. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks for saving us, everyone,” Cathy says, not daring to leave her godmother’s grasp. “That darkness... it was so scary.”

“It’s alright now, love,” Catherine says gently. “We’re okay.”

Jane kisses Katherine’s forehead, smiling when Kat smiles back. She looks over at Anna and mouths a quick ‘thank you’ before looking over at Anne.

“What’s next, now? Is there anything we can do?”

“Probably no, not that I know of, anyways,” Anne replies. “Maggie and I will work with some mages around the area to monitor the Tower, make sure it isn’t doing anything wonky. But beyond that, we just... go on with our normal lives.”

“Can we do that when we know about you now?” Maria asks, raising an eyebrow. “About both of you?” she nods at Maggie.

Maggie and Anne look at each other for a moment before Anne gently wraps an arm around Maggie’s shoulders. “I guess we can be a bit more covert with our practicing now, eh?” Anne says with a smile. “Finally, I don’t have to wait until all of you are out to telekenetically steal cookies from Jane and blame it on Kat.”

“What?” Jane asks.

“What?” Kat asks.

“That’s personal gain, she wouldn’t dare,” Maggie assures them. Then, with a moment and a look. “Right?”

“Look, the point is,” Anne says, changing the subject entirely, “we’re all okay, and I think I can help make our lives better with this. It’s actually... really, really nice, being able to use my powers. I don’t want to go full-on witch or anything, but... for little stuff, I wouldn’t mind using it, you know?” Anne looks over at Catherine. “If that’s alright with you, anyways.”

Catherine tilts her head in thought for a moment before she nods. “I don’t really... I don’t know what to think about it,” she admits. “But I’m willing to learn more and give it a try. I just...” she sighs, moving over to Anne now. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel comfortable with us to tell us sooner.”

“Oh, no, that wasn’t the issue, the issue was that you could have became targets if you had known,” Anne replies honestly. “Really, Catherine, it wasn’t about trusting you lot. I trust you with my life. It was for your safety.”

Catherine frowns at that. “Well... I hope you know that we’ve got each other’s back, regardless of that.” She smiles and pulls Anne in for a hug. “We love you, Anne, we want to see you happy and safe.”

Anne chuckles. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing for you lot, too.”

There’s a moment before Anne breaks away.

“Alright, everyone. We go home, I cook up dinner, and we hang out. Thank the goddess it’s our off day, I dunno how any of us could possibly do a show after this.”

Anna smiles as she picks up Katherine in a piggy back ride while Jane happily moves with Bessie and Joan. Maggie is happily chatting away with Maria while Catherine and Cathy discuss what happened.

A big, happy family, all fully aware of her abilities and not giving a damn.

Yeah, Anne thought, she could get used to this.

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