As the time continued to roll on, though, neither Alison nor JPG nor any of their other allies were able to make any progress against the Sorceress. Or at least, they were unable to make any direct progress, but all their hard work was not in vain. Instead, they continued to work together in secrecy to try and unravel as many of the Sorceress' plots now as they could so that when the nine heroes finally arrived, most of the work would already be done.
Sireen continued to guard the grounds and search for secrets outdoors and she used some of her magic to help the others hide easier. Sampson acted as a link between her and all those inside the mansion. And the kitchen itself became a favorite place for meetings because, for some reason, the large oven in the Gingerbread Woman's kitchen led outside. No one was quite sure what this design was for, except maybe for airing out the oven after a meat pie was done baking, but it did make for a very quick, easy meeting place, especially now that the Gingerbread Woman was such a heavy sleeper. Alison continued to eavesdrop on her father and everyone else in the estate in case someone revealed that they knew info on the Sorceress. JPG, meanwhile, built all kinds of little machines to help them spy and keep in contact safely.
The only person in this secret alliance unable to do much was Riley, but this was hardly her fault. And Alison and JPG had since agreed to keep her secret from everyone else in the mansion, including Sireen and Sampson. Part of the reason they kept Riley secret was because they were trying to protect Sireen and Sampson. In case the Sorceress ever came to learn that Alison and JPG were friends with Riley, only they would be punished for it. What's more, Riley had personally requested confidentiality. It was for the same reason JPG and Alison never told Sireen or Sampson: safety. But even though Riley was unable to directly contribute, she kept Alison and JPG motivated and they, in return, kept Sireen and Sampson motivated. So every single person in that secret alliance was needed somewhere, and all of them played their parts as best they could.
Admittedly, though, it was hard to play such a big role with so little help. Every single member of this little alliance had, at least once, expressed desire in finding new members. Sadly, it didn't seem like anyone else in the mansion was trustworthy enough. The vampires were definitely out and neither JPG nor Sampson would ever trust their bosses and neither Sireen nor Riley had anyone else to vouch for. That left a bunch of servants, some morally gray spider-women, the werewolves (which received a hard 'no' from Alison) and the two armies, though Alison also gave a 'no' to that. Like the spider-women, both of them were very morally gray. Alison was sure she'd never trust Cash as far as she could throw him and even Arlyn, of the Dark Army, didn't seem like someone she wanted to trust with a Sorceress rebellion. Honorable as he was, from what Alison understood, he was on the Sorceress' side of the fight. Alison wasn't going to try and recruit him. (Sireen backed Alison up on this choice, having met both armies serval times due to the fact that all of them lived outside. Sireen didn't like either army anymore than Alison did, finding Cash to be hideously aggressive and Arlyn to be far too shady, literally and figuratively, to make a trustworthy friend).
At most, the little secret alliance received help from some of Sireen's fairy friends, or some of the gentler, friendlier magical beings that lived in the mansion, but even they had their limits. They weren't really helping Alison or her alliance because they believed that it was for the greater good, they only helped because the help was requested of them. If anything, they were more of a neutral party and, as helpful as that was, Alison still preferred to keep the bigger secrets within a circle that seriously wanted the Sorceress gone as opposed to a group who was more neutral about her. She wasn't willing to risk any slip in confidentiality just because they wanted a few extra hands. So the group remained tiny, but their motivations were strong and the occasional help from the neutral parties was just fine as it was.
But then at last, Alison was granted another piece of the mansion's crazy puzzle. This time, it came from Riley, and according to her, it was the final piece of the puzzle, though for some reason, she wasn't willing to talk about it when JPG was around...
"And then King TomTom said to Queen Lucie-lot, 'I think you're pretty... but the duke is twice as much so!'" JPG exclaimed, finishing a mini play in which some of her scrap metal animals had been involved in a parodied and dramatized love triangle of epic proportion. It was a very scandalous love story indeed, though the fact that scrap animals were the characters made it more of a comedy than anything. But the stories were real! They were inspired off of some of the tales Alison had told JPG about the vampire court and Alison caught onto this and watched JPG's play unfold.
This particular play was based off an incident that had occurred way back when Alison was still relatively new to vampire life. She could remember one male vampire rejecting Vera for another male vampire, so Vera had retaliated by taking her rejector's sister as a lover instead. It had been very scandalous at the time, but Dorian let it slide just because trying to right the wrongs would've done more harm than good in the long run. It was funny for Alison to watch the event being played out using scrap metal animals (though of course, the names had been changed. No vampire would've kept a name like TomTom or Lucie-lot).
"That was very good!" Riley clapped politely at the end of the play, laughing a little. The laughter was a beautiful sound that made both of her visitors smile, but one more so than the other. In fact, she was grinning so hard that her companion had to warn her.
"Smile any harder and your face is going to break!" Alison whispered to JPG as she packed away the little scrap animals.
"She's worth it!" JPG replied dreamily and Alison never let the young inventor live that down.
But then, right before that particular visit came to a close, while JPG was packing up her little toys and trinkets, Riley gestured for Alison.
"Yes Riley?" Alison asked, smiling gently at her friend, but Riley shushed her quickly before pantomiming a message.
"Come back later, alone, I have something I need to tell you," and Alison, at once, put on an entirely blank expression before nodding back a silent agreement. The purpose of her putting on the blank expression had been her way of communicating that she understood that Riley was swearing her to secrecy, and not even JPG was supposed to know what was happening. Alison understood all too well the intricacy of secrecy and had no issue in swearing her silence, even hiding her emotions away again to prove it. Riley gave her a weak smile before nodding, bidding her to go now with JPG. She knew Alison would keep her word and be back soon enough...
An hour and a half later, Alison was back, standing expressionless and motionless in front of Riley. JPG was in bed, ignorant to all of this.
"Ok, Riley, what did you want to tell me?" Alison asked at once. Riley suddenly looked uncertain and ashamed, reluctant to confess.
"Promise me you'll never tell JPG and that you won't hate me for it?" the girl pleaded, a truly wounded look in her eye.
"I promise," Alison replied seriously.
"Swear it!" Riley replied, vehement.
"I swear it," Alison replied. "On my sacred and royal honor as a vampire princess," she even raised her right hand and extended her fangs. This was customary when making solemn oaths or deals in the vampire world. This was because the gesture was symbolic of someone promising not only upon their vampire selves (the extended fangs) but also upon their past, human selves (the raised right hand). It was supposed to show seriousness, both identities swearing the oath together. But Riley didn't see it that way...
"That's not good enough!" she challenged, narrowing her eyes and becoming just as serious as Alison, if not more so. "Your word as a vampire princess means nothing because you hold that title in contempt!" and Alison, despite feeling a sting of indignation at Riley's accusation, couldn't help but agree. She nodded, lowering her hand and retracting her fangs.
"Very well," she said. "Then I swear upon my loyalty to you and JPG and all of our other allies against the Sorceress. I will never tell anyone what you will tell now," she amended her vow. She made no gesture this time, but Riley finally seemed satisfied.
"Good. Your word is good," she whispered. "Being the protector you are, I know you'd rather die than betray the people you love and the cause you fight for..." as Riley spoke these words, Alison nodded her confirmation, eyes hardening even more, as though silently challenging the world itself to try and make her break that oath.
"The loyalty of a vampire is deep and deep-seeded," Alison said, thinking back to the night she first met JPG, when she had been thinking about her own loyalty to her father despite how little they cared for each other. "And once it is given, it is very hard to retract."
"And what would Dorian say about that?" Riley asked gently, the barest of smirks on her pale face. She had heard, from JPG, about how Alison would talk about wanting to overthrow him.
"I didn't give him my loyalty," Alison replied calmly. "He took it from me the night he turned me. But think, if a vampire's loyalty is so strong when it is forcibly taken, such as is my case with Dorian, how much stronger, then, is the loyalty of a vampire when it is freely given?" Alison tilted her head, eyes sparkling passionately as she thought about JPG, Riley, all of their other allies and the cause they were fighting for.
"Well-spoken," Riley almost seemed to congratulate Alison like she'd passed a test, but then all that ancient wisdom seemed to sap out of the frightened young girl and that was all that remained: a frightened young girl.
"I will tell you now," she muttered, having to force herself to speak each and every word individually. "I will tell you now that which I didn't tell JPG earlier, and what you cannot ever tell her either... Are you ready for the final piece of the puzzle?" Riley paused, looking terrified.
"I am," Alison was totally calm, voice steady as she spoke those two simple words. Riley took a deep breath before confessing.
"I am the Sorceress..." For a moment, there was only silence, Riley hanging her head in shame while Alison tried to understand what Riley said.
"You are the Sorceress," Alison said at last, repeating it slowly. Her voice was totally flat and expressionless. It gave Riley no clue as to how Alison was taking the news.
"I am," the girl tried her hardest to match Alison's calm, level tone.
"What does this mean?" the vampire asked. Even when asking a question, Alison's tone remained totally unreadable. This perfect level of emotionlessness terrified Riley because she really wanted to know how Alison was taking this confession, but Alison was so good at keeping her emotions hidden that Riley didn't know at all what was going on in the vampire's head. Shoving her personal fears aside, however, Riley answered.
Centuries ago, the Sorceress had just been a normal woman. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of the normal world was her ambition for evil. It was beyond that of any normal person's and the proof of that came in the form of one of her most daring, desperate, diabolical bids ever. She finally reached a point where she dared to pray to the Cursed God for help in her quest for power and evil. The God had actually answered, shocking as that was, but he said that until she came truly evil, until she sacrificed every last little bit of goodness and love within her heart, she would never be worthy of his blessings.
In response, the Sorceress had promised to do whatever it took to remove her inner goodness, just so that she would be worthy of the Cursed God's gifts. The Cursed God heard the sincerity in the Sorceress' voice and accepted her offer. The Sorceress had to split herself in half, literally purging the goodness right out of her very being. She would keep the evil that remained and then she would be worthy of the Cursed God's help. The Sorceress, hungry for power, did exactly as she was told. That was the night Riley had been "born". When the Sorceress completed the ritual to remove the goodness from her body, that goodness manifested into Riley. The evil that remained became the woman that Alison knew all too well... But then, to ensure that her goodness remained under her control, but still far away from her, the Sorceress did to Riley that which she did to everything she possessed. She locked Riley away, keeping her close, but distant, and hidden all the while so that no one would ever know.
"So I am half of the Sorceress," Riley admitted ashamedly. "And I know that I am the only thing that could possibly defeat her. If we are the same person, I know her weakness. I can defeat her because I am the other half of her..." Riley broke off, sounding disgusted with herself.
"But you are the good half of her," Alison replied, finally understanding why Riley had been so bent on keeping this secret, especially from JPG.
"But the Sorceress nonetheless," Riley argued, so Alison bowed her head respectfully.
"The Sorceress nonetheless," she echoed, her own promise echoing in the air with that statement.
Riley heard the submissive tone in Alison's voice and she exhaled in relief, shoulders slumping as she relaxed. Although Riley did not know the true nature of the relationship between Alison and JPG, she already knew that she far preferred if Alison knew the truth about her split identity than JPG. This was because, as Alison had long-since guessed, Riley was in love with JPG. She wasn't sure when or where these feelings began, all she knew was that there came a day when seeing JPG made Riley feel warm and fuzzy inside. JPG made her smile too big and laugh too hard and she always loved seeing JPG's cute little face. Riley couldn't really explain it in words, not having the vocabulary to do so, but she knew that she wanted to hug and kiss JPG and be with her always.
That was why Riley didn't want JPG to know the truth. The idea of JPG hating her for her secret scared her far worse than the idea of Alison hating her for that same reason. And that was because, as much as Riley trusted Alison, ever since she began to fall in love with JPG, Riley's affection for Alison had decreased. She trusted Alison, but she did not like her, perceiving the vampire to be a rival of hers over JPG's affections. Even if Alison denied having any feelings for JPG, the simple fact that she still got to spend more time with JPG than Riley did was enough to ignite a flame of envy within the young woman's heart. She did not like Alison because Alison had something she wanted: JPG. But at the same time, Riley knew enough about Alison's character to know that if anyone was safe enough to trust with such a big secret, it was Alison.
Alison was wise beyond her years and an expert secret-keeper. Much as Riley hated to admit it, Alison was the best person to tell the truth to. Alison would know what to do with the information, and she'd also know how to keep it hidden until she needed it. Riley knew Alison would be more likely to keep calm and collected with this kind of news on her mind than anyone else would. And it was news that just had to be shared! Unpleasant as this was, Riley could feel it in her bones that at least one other good person needed to know, even if she wasn't sure why. Somehow, a small part of her knew that this secret had to be told. That was where Alison came in. And Riley knew with a certainty even stronger than the glass that held her that Alison would make good on her vow to keep this secret. She'd already proven how good she was at taking dark secrets and controlling her emotions when she managed to reveal nothing to Riley about how she felt, hearing that Riley was literally 50% of the Sorceress.
Although Riley did not know the true nature of the relationship between Alison and JPG, she had a feeling that it wasn't as strong as Alison's relationship with her own sense of self and morality. Though Alison might've adored JPG above all else, Alison's relationship with herself was one she held at a much higher and deeper level than her relationship with JPG. After all, the person you knew best was always yourself! And close as Alison might've been with JPG, there were still monumental differences between the two of them. The largest and most dividing was the fact that Alison was a vampire and had been old enough to be JPG's great-great-great grandmother. Alison's relationship to herself was at least five times older than her relationship with JPG and that was how Riley knew Alison would follow her own moral code and sense of duty above any affection she felt for JPG, platonic or romantic.
In short, Riley knew that Alison's relationship with her own sense of morals, honor, loyalty, trust and secrecy were stronger than her relationship with JPG. That Riley greatly respected and admired. She found herself both confounded and inspired by it. It made her a bit uneasy to think about how beholden Alison was to her own beliefs but, at the same time, there was something really noble and heroic about her reckless and endless sense of honor. And it was understandable, given Alison's less-than-stellar past. Surely, in all her centuries of being alive, Alison had come to realize that the only person whom she could really trust at the end of the day was herself. It would explain why she was so strict with herself. She was all she had at the end of the day. It made her seem a bit inhuman to Riley (beyond the fact that she literally was inhuman) because no human Riley had ever met (though that count only included herself and JPG) was ever that morally disciplined or strict, but it was a really useful trait for someone to have, especially in a time like this.
So, with the secret out, Riley was ready to send Alison away. Or at least, she was almost ready. But there was still actually one more thing she had to tell Alison first. This one was a bit cheerier than her last confession.
"I think I know how I can escape this box," she murmured and Alison was on the alert at once.
"Tell me," she demanded, but her voice remained soft, strong and steady. That kind of iron resolve was what made Riley so confident that she had made a good decision to trust Alison with her secret. Just hearing Alison's firm, steady voice made Riley relax even further. Heaven knew that if she'd said these same words to JPG, JPG would've started freaking out (in a good way) and it would've made Riley really stressed. As eerie and uncanny as Alison's self-control was, it was also very calming and reassuring and it was just what they needed right now. JPG, love her soul, was just too hyper for some secrets. But not Alison, Alison could handle anything.
"The Sorceress sealed me into this box using these things she called Leviathan Seals," Riley explained. "There are three, hidden around the estate, each holding a magical spell that holds this box shut. Until you can find and destroy those Seals, I will remain trapped here..." Riley pressed a hand to the glass with a sad expression while Alison only looked back, calm and controlled.
"I will do my best," she vowed. And Riley knew it was true.
"Thank you, Alison, thank you," she murmured, then she slowly sank down in her box until she was sitting on the floor again, signifying an end to their private talk. Alison understood this, bade Riley goodnight, then left without another sound. Riley watched her go motionlessly.
In the back of her mind, Riley's previous jealousy of Alison about JPG began to fade a little. Tonight's talk had confirmed to Riley that, as much as Alison loved JPG, she loved her personal moral code more. That made Riley happy, twisted as it was to say this. Knowing that Alison was not as close to JPG as she had initially thought, some of Riley's gloom and irritation vanished. She no longer disliked Alison quite as much.
What's more, by trusting Alison with something that not even JPG knew, Riley had effectively forged a special bond with Alison to match the special bond she had with JPG. Now, she had pretty much forced herself to love both of them equally (though in different senses of the word of course) because now both JPG and Alison had one special part of Riley to themselves. In a weird way, they were all on even footing again.
Meanwhile, as Alison returned to the mansion, she turned Riley's confession over and over in her head. Though it was tempting to tell JPG, Alison was intent upon keeping her word to Riley about confidentiality. All Alison needed to do was think about her oath to Riley and then her own sense of honor, loyalty and trust would override her temptation to tell the secret. It was just like Riley had thought. Alison would not betray a friend or break a promise, even for someone she loved as dearly and deeply as JPG.
But even though Alison would never tell anyone about Riley directly, she still decided to leave one single clue behind. That way, if she died before Riley could be freed, or if she personally failed to find and destroy the Leviathan Seals, then someone else could come along and finish the job for her. She already had a hunch that the future heroes would somehow play a role in freeing Riley, so now all Alison had to do was leave a clue for them to find so that they could find Riley.
Eventually, Alison settled upon hiding her clue in a dollhouse, strange and silly as that seemed. She managed to find one in what might've once been a nursery for the mansion, but as no babies lived here, the dollhouse had not been touched in centuries. Alison took the dollhouse back to her own master bedroom and she hid several paper dolls inside. One doll, which looked just like Riley, was placed inside of a glass box that Alison added into the dollhouse. Snugged up against that replica Riley was a letter, written in Alison's hand, but using Riley's words. It read:
"My name is Riley and I am the child that the Sorceress once was. The child that was hurt and sealed away so that she might become a monster. I am her link to the Cursed God's magic she wields. If you free me from my prison, the Sorceress will be stripped of her power. Please save me. I just want to go outside and play like all the other girls."
"Maybe I cannot tell anyone your secret, but you can," Alison murmured as she sealed the letter into the dollhouse. Every word on it had been something that Riley, herself, had said, at one time or another. By this somewhat twisted logic, Alison was not technically telling anyone Riley's secret, she was just making it as though they were overhearing the conversation, even though the conversation was long over. But even if one tried to argue that this loophole was just Alison breaking her vow, she rationalized that this clue was really more intended for a future hero who did not know Riley. She had already placed a spell on the dollhouse, courtesy of Sireen, that would prevent anyone currently living in the mansion (read: JPG) from opening it. That way, at least that part of Alison's vow would remain true and JPG would still never know about Riley's secret.
Alison's mind, though, Riley's secret was nothing to be ashamed of. Sure, the Sorceress was evil, but that wasn't Riley's fault. And Riley shouldn't be punished for it. Besides, Alison knew from personal experience that being a monster didn't make one a monster. If that were true, she would be no different than Dorian or any of the rest of his court, but Alison couldn't have been anymore different if she tried. And just because the Sorceress was evil didn't make Riley that way. She was her own separate person even though they came from the same original form. What's more, Riley was supposed to represent the goodness and love within the Sorceress. If that were so, Riley ought to have been proud of her secret because it meant she was inherently more good than the average person who still had evil residing within their soul. But it was not Alison's secret to tell, so she respected Riley's command and never uttered another word on the topic. The dollhouse remained by her bedside, unseen by anyone but her.
After that, although Riley's story was a secret that never left her mind, Alison managed to keep it tucked away in the very back corners of her brain so that she could use the rest of her head to continue to plot and plan. With JPG, Sireen, Sampson and Riley all at her side, Alison continued to make plans to overthrow the Sorceress and, in time, she added her father's name to the list as well. It became her plan to take Dorian's crown in order to boost her own political power and to make it safer and easier for herself and her allies to fight the Sorceress.
Specifically, she planned upon overthrowing him and then forcing the vampires to fight for her cause instead. This would make it easier for everyone else to resist the Sorceress too. Alison would be able to raise up an army of her own with her new allies acting as "lieutenants" in their own way. Then, she would be able to take in the future nine heroes and ensure that they would not be harmed. And Alison had an outline of whom to look for because Sireen had received another prophetic dream. They would be nine young adults, each from the year 2017, and they would go by titles one might've seen in Alison's age (for example "Novelist", "Railroad Tycoon", "Saloon Girl", "Mystic", etc.) Sireen had seen blurry visions of them all, their faces flickering across tarot cards. It wasn't much information, but it gave Alison a cue as to who she was looking for. Dorian's parties always consisted of guests dressing up in Victorian outfits, but thanks to Sireen's dream, Alison knew exactly who to look for.
And as treacherous as it was for Alison to try and overthrow her father, as treacherous as it was for her to try and use these guests to help her save the mansion by freeing Riley and killing the Sorceress, it still did not go against Alison's character to do so. A vampire's loyalty was immeasurably strong and enduring, even when forcibly taken and especially when willingly given. Alison's loyalty, thanks to Sireen's prophecies, had shifted once more, and this time, it rested with the future nine. It meant nothing for her to usurp Dorian's throne because he didn't have any of her loyalty left. Sure, she still attended his parties, but that was only to eavesdrop on the Sorceress. Alison's true loyalties lay elsewhere and she knew already that killing him would not cause her any distress at all (a far cry from how she had started off).
Because her loyalty now lay with the future nine, even though she had yet to meet them, she knew she would do anything to keep them safe and help them on their quest to save the mansion. And if any of the nine heroes were to ask why she was like this, why she cared for them so deeply and why she was so willing to go against her own vampiric family. If any of them were to ask for her motivations at all, she would answer with her allies in her mind. She would respond while thinking about JPG, Sampson, Sireen, Riley and her own empathy and peace of mind. If they asked her why, she would say: "I'm doing this for them."
AN: So this wraps it up. This isn't the last chapter, but it shows you how Alison and her allies work until the YouTubers arrive. I know I messed with canon again, by giving Alison all this foreknowledge about Riley and her importance, but I figure that this won't mess with canon too much simply because she still doesn't know about the Crown of Oblivion.
(It's my theory that Riley knows about the crown, but because she saw it destroyed and has no idea the Sorceress has been collecting the gems via her lieutenants, it doesn't occur to her to tell Alison about it. Instead, she thinks only to tell Alison about how she, as the other half of the Sorceress, can help save the day. She doesn't even think about the crown because it doesn't occur to her).
Then to explain why Alison doesn't bring up Riley's story sooner, let's just say that Liza showing off the journal with the story about the Crown of Oblivion makes her think, "Oh! If we can defeat the Sorceress like this, Riley doesn't have to out herself as being the other half of the Sorceress!" hence why Alison never mentions Riley to the YouTubers and focuses only on the Crown.
Also, I've written it that the master bedroom that the YouTubers find Riley's dollhouse in is Alison's bedroom (which I referenced once way back in the "Kira and Haruko" chapter). And although Alison is the one who puts the dollhouse and note in the master bedroom, my headcanon is that, later, all the notes the YouTubers find, explaining to them how to save Riley come from Riley herself. I'll explain how this is so in the next chapter.
Also also, Riley and JPG are in love while Alison is a semi-third wheel that Riley is jealous of, LOL. What can I say?
But anyway, onto the final chapter...