The Prince Speaks: Babylon Palace

It was around late last night--way after Voldemort's visit--as I was watching the stars, waiting for Keily's hope--which had not appeared again after that one time--when I was approached by Lord Vader himself, comm unit on hand. He had told me that Kyxiel had called and was sounding incredibly distressed about something and refused to tell him what and wanted to take to me as soon as possible. She had even insulted the former Dark Lord of the Sith until he relented and went out in search of me. I took the offered comm, not knowing what I would hear from the other end.

"--and a sorry excuse for a pair of legs!"

I snorted and spoke into the comm. "As much as I enjoy hearing you insult various parts of Lord Vader body, Kyxiel, you are to be advised that you are speaking to me."

"Snape?" I almost winced at the volume she was using. What was wrong with the girl? "Snape! You can't believe what's happening up here--where are you? Are you still at Kenya's?"

"Yes, I am," I replied calmly. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You remember the dark cloud in the sky that appeared a bit during or after Keily's heart broke?" she asked. I told her that I did indeed remember as it was a hard thing to forget and it was still hanging over our heads like an evil omen. "Well...it's gone now..."

My eyebrows--or the place where my eyebrows should be--shot up. The dark cloud was gone? Had it dissipated finally? I conveyed this question to the Nobody, but before I could hear an answer some owls began to swoop in from out of nowhere, bearing several envelopes in their claws. Some flew into the barn and the house, while one let its contents fall from their clutches into our hands before flying off to who knew where. I looked mine over, trying to discern if it was hexed or not, but found out it wasn't after taking my wand out and doing a few cursory scanning spells.

I opened the letter and was very alarmed by what I found on the parchment inside.

Snape,

You are cordially invited to attend a celebration marking the completion of my most humble of residences as well as my rebirth into this world. I am sure your schedule leaves you (as well as the rest of the Terran Resistance) with precious little free time, but I do hope that you are somehow able to attend, as a number of unique festivities have already been arranged. A courtesy shuttle has been provided for your convenience. It will arrive at 1 pm on the 20th of March at the destination of your choosing.

Sincerely,

Emperor Dantius Palpatine of Babylon Palace

I did the only reasonable thing I could at the moment--I swore colorfully under my breath. An out of character thing, to be sure, but I don't think the Starflights would appreciate my menacing the goats out of anger. I checked with Vader and found that he too received a similar invitation and so did several others when we went to check with them later on. Kyxiel's increased volume over the comm broke me out of my reverie and I finally answered her as she began to yell about my questionable heritage.

I swear, Keily had never been this bad. I Kyxiel for being a Nobody.

"Calm down, Kyxiel...please. Just calmly tell me what you wanted me to know about the darkness."

"It's a friggin' palace...at least...I think it's a palace...I don't know...just get over to Montreal and have a look for yourself! This is my Other's work, I know it!"

Giving Vader an apologetic look as well as his comm back, I apparated out of there with a promise of returning to brief everyone.

--------------

"You've seen it, then?"

I looked up from my seat in the corner of the barn, seeing Keily's translucent form a bit of a ways from me. She took a seat at the foot of the bed of one of Luke's Tuskan students, looking over them with something akin to a mix of sadness and....maternal tenderness?

"Was that what you were worried about?" I asked, remembering the night she had appeared as well as the large structure I had seen whn I apparated to Montreal.

She nodded. "Yes, among other things," she replied, turning to look away from the padawan learner and towards me. She gestured towards the invitation in my hand--an invitation that many others (Vader, Kenya, Luke, Rose, Megatron to name a few) had received. Was it a trap? I didn't know. "I've seen him," she told me, eyes reflecting a haunted emotion. "I'm scared."

"How do we save them? Do you know?" I asked, wanting to know if Keily knew. If she kept them alive somehow, shouldn't she know how to rescue their souls as well? Kenya and Vader were banking on Garrett Skywalker, but if she knew of another way...I was disappointed with a shake of her head, but what did I expect? Not even dead men knew everything. I winced as I had inadvertedly hought of Keily as dead. She must have picked up on it somehow as she smiled kindly at me.

"I'm sorry," she said.

'I'm sorry.' It was all she could say--what we all manged to say these last few months. I've heard it more in that span of time then all of my years at Hogwarts, teaching dunderheads who didn't know wormwood from loosestrife. Somehow, hearing her say it made my blood blood and I had the inexplicable urge to hex something. But I kept myself in check, folding the sleeves of my robe as I always did when I crossed my arms.

"What do you think should be our course of action?" I asked, wanting her ideas on the situation. She just smiled at me.

"I'm Hope, not Reason," she told me, with her hands on her hips. "But...I would go to see what was really going on...possibly armed, too, if I can. No sense in refusing a dark lord's invitation you know...even one as blatant as this."

"And how about your heart? Yourself? How am I to bring you back together?" I asked, wondering what would the answer be.

I saw her begin to fade away again--was she getting weaker? I wasn't sure. But this meeting was much shorter than the last.

"Piecing back together a broken heart...is no easy business...for I am quite sure that the shards have embedded themselves deep within the hearts of certain individuals...who these individuals are...I cannot be certain...but they shall be easy enough to find."

"How?"

"Ask the Witch. Yuuko will give you a way, I'm sure. I am very certain that things will turn out alright. Trust me."

And she was gone again, before I could even say, "I do."