Prologue

A girl came sprinting down the dark, shaking, collapsing hallway with her long blonde hair flying behind her. Her brown eyes were not only filled with tears. They showed worry, anger… hurt. Bits of the roof fell from above as the castle began to cave in. She tenderly held a small bundle in her arms. It cried loudly as her tears dropped on it. The girl looked down at it with sympathy and sadness as she comforted it.

"Shush little one." She said quietly. "Soon, we should be out of this nightmare."

Unknown to her a young man flew swiftly behind her. On his face was a look of pure determination. He yelled out to the girl.

"Daphne! Daphne!" He yelled loudly.

Upon hearing her name, Daphne halted in her fleeing and turned in confusion. When she saw who it was she back around in a huff. The man growled and sped up his pursuit. Within seconds he caught up to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder which she immediately shrugged off. The man frowned, surprised at her unusual coldness.

"What do you want Valtor?" Daphne asked frostily.

Valtor sighed. "I've come to try and convince you, come with me. I'll take you somewhere safe, away from this devastation."

The look Daphne gave Valtor would have sent him six feet under if looks could kill. "Valtor, even if I did want to be safe, I wouldn't go with you!" Daphne informed him. "I am the Princess of Domino; I can't leave my people or my planet. Besides I must get the Dragon Flame to safety so it doesn't fall into the likes of you."

"Daphne you are throwing your life away!" Valtor yelled at her.

"It wouldn't matter, you destroyed everything I loved." Daphne spat. Her tone grew quieter. "My home, my planet, my family and you… you broke my heart."

The bundle started to cry again but it went unnoticed by the two young adults. Valtor spoke again but quieter this time.

"Daphne, you have a chance to leave this destruction, you have a chance to live. Please, I'm begging. Don't waste it." Valtor pleaded.

"Well you should have thought of that before you betrayed me." Daphne told him softly.

The little remains of Valtor's anger left him as he stared at the distraught princess before him. He continued to listen to her soft rant.

"You know I always fooled myself that, you loved me; that you cared for me," The tears streamed down her face. Daphne tirade became softer. "All that time we spent together; all the memories I had of us together; I truly thought I meant something to you, I believed we had something special, I assumed we…"

Daphne's voice trailed off as her emotions began to overwhelm her. Soundless tears racked her chest as she shook unable to do anything else. She clutched her bundle closer to her chest. Valtor felt the guilt hard. He stepped closer to her discreetly without her noticing.

"What?" Valtor inquired lowly.

Daphne glanced back up at him. "I had assumed I meant more to you than power and domination. I often wished we could have gotten together somehow." Daphne looked back down. "But now that would, could never happen."

Valtor's body tensed. More guilt ate away at his heart. Valtor's hands turned into fists as he gazed at his one love's miserable features. She began to walk away. Valtor bit his lip in effort to steel his tears. He stepped quickly after her. He grabbed her arm, she turned.

"Daphne, stop. I do love you, honestly-"

"You're a little too late Valtor." Daphne said bitterly.

None of them spoke only the baby's constant crying echoed through the air. The words that Daphne had spoken had hit Valtor with on full impact. They had cut through him like a knife, slicing straight to his heart. He watched silently as she comforted the crying child maternally.

"Hush, young one." Daphne cooed gently. She began to rock her gently.

Valtor tried changing the subject. "May I hold her?"

Daphne shot him a calculating look, but carefully handed him the infant. Valtor gazed down at it. It was a baby girl. He allowed her red curls to wrap around his fingers. She gazed up at his face with bright, innocent cyan eyes; her stubby arms grabbed one of his stray locks and began playing with it with pleasure. Daphne giggled at the sight while Valtor gave a small smile.

"What is her name?" Valtor asked.

Immediately Daphne sobered. "My parents didn't get the chance to name her, my father never even got to meet her."

Silence took over once more. Daphne came forward to tickle her. The young child gave out a small laugh.

"You're good with her." Valtor remarked quietly. He held the baby back out to Daphne, who took her.

"So are you." Daphne replied. She paused then chuckled. "I dubbed her Serena. From the time I first found out she was a girl in the womb."

"Why?" Valtor asked curiously.

"I just liked the name." Daphne said with a smile. The smile vanished quickly and was replaced with a frown. "We could've had this."

"I know and believe me, I did more than anything." Valtor said sullenly.

"I fail to believe you." Daphne said. "If you did, then why do all of this?"

Daphne gestured to the falling debris about her. Valtor bowed his head. How could he explain this?

"I-" Valtor started.

He was cut off by an insistent cackling. They heard the Ancestral Witches approach. Daphne's eyes widen and Valtor's harden. The look of fear was all he needed. Valtor suddenly became stoic. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Run as fast as you can." Valtor told her. "Run far, run fast. Don't let them catch you."

"But Valtor-" Daphne started. Her sentence was cut off.

Instead she was met with a passionate kiss. His lips smashed again her with a foreseen urgency. Hungrily he nibbled her lips. Daphne was careful to keep distance between them as not to squeeze the baby between them. She savoured the soft citrus taste of his lips and that strange ashen smell that was always on him, considering this was probably the last time she would see him. Their eyes closed as they savoured in the ecstasy. To Daphne it felt like an eternity since their lips had touched until Valtor broke the kiss and for the first time, she saw fear in his eyes.

"Remember, I will always love you." Valtor told her. "Now go!"

"I'll always love you too Valtor." Daphne said quickly before running off again.

Valtor gazed after her with sadness. He only hoped she would be alright. He wiped away a stray tear and disappeared into a black smoke.

AN: To those of you who read this when it was first published I am very sorry. What was uploaded was draft on my computer. This was the only thing that was supposed to be here. Once again, my apologies for any confusion.

Arctica Ice