Time to Be Known

-== Inside of Alexa's Mind Palace ==- It is a beautiful library if not for all the red lighting that washes out the text of the tome lined shelves. She can't say here, no. Alexa has bought valuable time for the outside world to save her while she saves her mind from an intense pain that causes the walls the shake and the light to become worse than a hangover and an occular migraine. Of course there is one additional pain to speak of.
"Everyone looks gone, Alexa," says the voice of a Devil. Fair skin. Black horns. Coalfire red eyes set into a void of black. He sits at a reading table with a book open, flipping page after page. "Did everyone else disappear, or just you," he asks. Page flip. He doesn't look up from the book, face turning into a wry grin and recollection of ancient words.
Alexa looks around, her world getting smaller and then sees Gig. Of course Gig is here. She wants to be angry, but she has to use all of her energy focusing on the room she is. "I'm giving them time. This is all I can do ." Her voice appears calm, but there is a minute waver giving away the amount of energy this action is taking.
A hand motions to the chair on the other side of the reading desk. "Is it?" Gig asks, tongue as silver as ever.
Her eyes dart to Gig "I hope you're not suggesting a deal. The Raven Queen already has a claim on me, and typically dealing with multiple God's or Devil's lands you in a worse spot."
"It's been known to happen," Gig states as a clear observation, "haven't you already played on two or more teams to accomplish what you had to." He flips another page. "Unless of course, you are at peace with this." A rumble of the library, "Sure as hell doesn't sound like it."
Alexa looks around at the room. For a moment Syn's image flashes in front of her, next to Gig. She can only think of the direction Syn would go if she died. How the world would be impacted. "How do I even know you could save me?"
Gig looks up from the book. Eyes of intrigue and hellfire. A burning star in an abyss of black ink. "How do you know I can't," he asks, "any evidence to suggest it, mm? Any deals I haven't made good on. No?"
She can feel her brain getting tired, the strain is starting to bring stabs of pain into the conversation. "What do you want from me?"
"Now we are asking the right questions," Gig replies as his eyes go to the book again. Its one Alexa is not familiar with. Something in her own mind palace she couldn't see before. "But what I want is what you want, Alexa. I want you to be noticed."
Alexa stares at the book. It is something that shouldn't be here, it unsettles her that she doesn't recognize it. "And this benefits you how?"
There is a chuckle that sounds almost jovial, "Why does something have to benefit me to want to do it." Gig flips a page. "Its more interesting this way." His eyes slide up from the book like a wolf finding its first hart of the night, "Chaos."
The room rumbles around her, the red glowing stronger. Alexa knows this may be her only choice. She looks at Gig's glowing red eyes, the ones that burrow into her mind. "Okay. Please help me."
A finger raises from his hand. "Ah, you know better than that, you sly little bauble." Gig's finger points down onto the table, scraping along the wood like a knife against it, "You have to say it right."
The words don't want to come out of her mouth. She takes a moment to try to reassess the situation, find a way out. Nothing. Time is out. Nothing in her library can preserve her mind any longer. "Fine. I'm ready to make a deal Gig."
"Excellent," Gig states as he snaps his fingers. Everything in the room becomes suspended in time. "Now we can talk more freely. Devil-Client confidentiality. Wonderful clause in Devil Law." It isnt. "Have you ever considered why the Raven Queen favors you?" His hand settles down on the book he was reading. The book Alexa didn't know was there.
Alexa can breathe a little easier, her mind starting to clear. "Right place, right time. There was a soul trade in Avernus, and I tend to see things others don't."
Gig motions his hand from side to side to accent the words, "Not wrong." His eyes don't leave Alexa's, however, "Think harder. What makes you unique?"
Alexa racks her brain trying to think of what he's referencing. "I can influence people? I'm a Candle?"
"Go back further. Deeper," Gig leans in, "What makes for a good spy? A good investment. Its not what you are. Its what you are not."
Alexa's brow furrows, "I'm invisible when I need to be. Unwanted. Able to gather information when noone thinks I'm there or listening." The words seem logical, but they still sting as she says them
"Isnt it ironic," the Devil says as he leans back, "the thing you want the most is also the thing that destroys your value as a spy. The thing you place above all else. Duty." Gig looks at the book once more, closing it. It reads as follows in elegant elvish font: A Dark Summer Secret by Queen Titania.
Reading the title, Alexa can't hold back her curiosity. "We're in my mind, but I don't recognize that book. I know everything in here. What is it?"
Gig taps the cover of the book, "Of course, it isn't your memory. Wouldn't make sense for you to know of it." There is a wry grin on his face, "Makes you curious though, doesn't it? Whats in it? Ever go to deliver a package and think 'I want to see what it is I am delivering'?" Duty forbids, of course.
"Of course, but I wouldn't look. People lose jobs or lives over a decision like that."
"Starting to piece the puzzle together, then, detective?" Gig asks, "Why does the Raven Queen favor you?"
"Because I'll do my duty without exposing her secrets. Unseen." Alexa states plainly, worried for what Gig is leading to
Gig taps the book once. Twice. "Her secrets? Or someone else's that the Lady of Memories happened to pick up like a magpie in a bauble pile?"
Alexa looks at the title again. "The Summer Queen."
"You are a courier, Alexa," the Devil states, "the best kind of vault. One so dutiful it would never look at the contents. One so unseen no one would find it." And now he has put the curiosity inside of Alexa and the duty to make herself known. Alexa's world just got a lot more dangerous.
Alexa looks to Gig. "You want me to look into the packages, don't you?"
"Do YOU want to look into the packages, Alexa," Gig turns the question. Also ironic that its a Devil that noticed her and wants to know what she wants.
She stares at the book, fighting her desires, but something about Gig's presence makes her say the truth. "Yes. I need to know what.... Why."
Crashing happens as the time freeze snaps out. "Then find it and read it," Gig suggests, "we will be in touch. Its time you wake up." He starts to laugh as the room begins to flood with blood that gushes like a broken dam from every open section of the bookshelves.
Alexa tries to rush to the book, but with the blood comes the pain. She can't stay there anymore. She is swimming in the blood, trying to stay floating long enough. Long enough for what she doesn't know.