The Witch Princess bent over and picked up on of her books that lied on her floor. She held it in her hands and looked at it for a moment before looking away from it as she placed it on one of the shelves in her shack. After what had happened the previous night she had become saddened by all the memories of her past that had flooded into her head and was cleaning up her room to try and cope with them.
She had just placed another book on the shelf when the door opened and Jack stormed in, fuming with rage.
"You!" He shouted angrily as he marched up to her.
She ignored his anger and looked at him with her sad expression still on. "What do you want Jack?"
"Don't try to play stupid! I know it was you!" He shouted.
"What are you talking about?" She asked still unaffected by his rage.
"You know what I'm talking about! Why'd you attack Keira?" He asked.
"I didn't attack her; you of all people should know how I left her alone last night." She told him calmly.
"You must think I'm pretty stupid to think that was your only attempt to hurt her last night." He said.
"I didn't do anything; I don't know what you're talking about Jack." She said.
Furious with how she refused to admit to her actions Jack grabbed the Witch Princess and shoved her against the wall.
"Is that why I found her almost dead by the Goddess pond this morning?" He asked angrily as he held onto her.
"Jack I don't know what you talking about!" She told him fearfully.
"Why did you try to kill her?" He asked.
"I didn't!" She told him.
"I know your lying! There's no reason I should trust what you say! You're a witch for Goddess sake! You're supposed to lie and hate, that's all you do! All this time you've been trying to hurt Keira and she's never done anything to you!" He said as he tightened his grip on her.
"You think she's done nothing to hurt me? You think I'm doing this because it's the only thing I know how to do?" She asked becoming more upset than frightened by him.
"She didn't do anything to you! Don't you understand that yet?" He asked.
"You don't think she's done anything to hurt me?" She asked.
He stared at her angrily. "No! I know she didn't do anything to you!"
She tried to fight off tears. "Jack, She… she…"
"Out with it!" He shouted.
"She took my fiancé away from me!" She told him painfully.
"W-what?" He asked in a surprised tone as he lightened his grip on her.
"I remember that day perfectly Jack… The day the most important thing in the whole world to me was taken away…" She told him.
"What?" He asked again as he released her.
"I wasn't always so evil Jack." She told him as she walked over to the table and rested her hand on it. "There was a time when someone could actually make me feel happy."
He remained silent.
"My fiancé, I remember what happened with him well. I found him out in the forest near my old house weak and exhausted so I decided to do something nice for once and took him in and cared for him. I tried my best to hide my powers from him as I nursed him back to health but one day I slipped up and ended up accidently using them in front of him and the whole town. I thought he was going to join the angry mob that began to surround me afterwards but instead he stood by my side and defended me. He didn't care that I was a witch and had a past of tormenting people because he knew me better than that. He became my only friend in the world and we both cared for each so much when he proposed to me I actually felt true happiness. A few days before our wedding we were attending a festival in the town just outside of Keira's castle and then that's when it happened. She saw the two of us standing in front of the crowd and walked up to us, that infamous beautiful smile on her face. She talked to us with that enchanting and captivating voice of hers and my husband to be showed her such kindness that she asked if he wanted to dance with her and before I could even say anything he accepted her invitation. I thought that it would be a simple dance and nothing more but I couldn't have been more wrong. I'll never forget that day that I stood there alone up at the altar in tears heartbroken at how he had abandoned me there after everything he had done. A day later I received a letter from him telling me about how he had left me so he could try and get married to Keira after he believed she loved him back. And that's when I felt that strong sense of hate inside of me again. Over the next few days my appearance began to drastically change from all the hate I felt until I looked how I do now and I began to think of how to get back at Keira for what she had done to me. Simply killing her seemed too merciful for what she had done so I did something far worse to her. I stole that precious voice of hers that she had used to steal my fiancé and sent her to a random spot below the surface of her kingdom where I thought she had never return. Word that she was missing traveled quickly throughout and kingdom and soon found its way to my former fiancé who then came to me and begged that I take him back, knowing that I was the one who had sent her away. I could see the regret he felt from his actions and the love he still had for me in his eyes but I was just so heartbroken and angry that I attacked him and he ran away. I just wasn't in control anymore, deep down I truly wanted to forgive him and make him a part of my life again but I just wasn't able to act on those feelings. When you found Keira I at first began to regret my actions concerning her but as I began to remember how happy I was before I met her I felt that hatred for her return to me. It was only last night when I saw how much far you would go to protect her from any harm and I realized she was just like me. She was alone without anyone except for that one special person who would care for her no matter what but unlike my fiancé I knew that you would always be by her side. That's why I didn't do anything last night Jack, I'm done with hurting her. I'm just done." She told him.
"W-witch Princess, I… I had no idea." He said.
She remained silent.
He looked at her still surprised. "It's just that when I found Keira this morning I just thought that it was you who hurt her since…"
"It's ok Jack, I understand how you could think that it was me." She told him truthfully. "It's not that uncommon for me to take the blame for something, especially after what I had done to her already."
He looked at her with a sense of disappointment in himself after the way he had just treated her. "I'm sorry for both your loss and blaming you. But if you didn't attack her who did?"
"I don't know Jack; I don't even know what's wrong." She said.
"I found Keira's headband and notebook by the turtle pond this morning and the whole town found her over by the Goddess pond later. She was attacked by somebody and left for dead there." He explained.
"Where is she now?" She asked sounding concerned.
"I left her in Hardy's care while I came over here. Seeing as you weren't the one who did it I guess I should get back to her and see if she's going to make it." He told her upsetting himself
"You probably should." She told him quietly.
He nodded his head and went over to the door and began to open it.
"Treat her right." The Witch Princess began stopping him. "Don't let her be alone or think you don't care about her. She's been alone for a long time; it means a lot that she could find a friend like you in the world up here."
"Thank you." Jack said to her before turning back to the door. "And sorry."
After he shut the door the Witch Princess walked over to one of the shelves and removed one of her oldest books. She dusted it off the cover revealing the title "Our Memories." Slowly she sat down in one of her chairs and began to read.
As Jack walked back to Hardy's he noticed Nami leaving the Inn with her backpack on and walked over to her.
"Hey Nami." He said as he walked up to her.
"Jack." She said sounding a little startled as she faced him. "What do you want?"
"I was just getting back from talking with the Witch Princess." He told her.
"So did she admit to attacking Keira?" She asked.
"No, she said that she was done trying to hurt her after last night and didn't do and I had no choice but to believe her." He said.
"So do you know who attacked Keira then?" She asked a bit nervously.
"No, I was just on my way to see how she was doing though, want to come with?" He asked.
"I can't." She said rather fast. "I'm going up to Mineral Town for a while and have to get going soon."
"Alright, when will you be back?" He asked.
"I don't know, but I'll be sure to come and visit you when I come back. Well bye." She told him before walking away rather fast.
"I wonder what her rush is." He said to himself before continuing his walk over to Hardy's.
When he entered the house Hardy was busy washing his hands by the sink and once he was finished he walked over to him.
"Hello Jack." Hardy greeted.
"Hardy, how's she doing?" Jack asked rather concerned.
"As you know she was in pretty bad condition when you brought her here. Hopefully after what I've done she should be able to get better" Hardy told him causing a sense of worry to form on Jack's face.
"Hopefully?" Jack exclaimed.
"She was in near critical condition Jack. She had lost quite a bit of blood and suffered from a lot of physical strikes and what appear to be a few hits from what I'm guessing was a pretty strong stick. Not to mention she was thrown and dragged around for awhile. Her right arm might be broken but I won't know until Doctor Trent arrives and examines it himself. The chance of her surviving seems to be pretty likely though." Hardy explained.
Feeling a little relieved Jack walked over to the bed where Keira lied. Her cuts had been cleaned and bandaged with one wrapped around her head much like her headband. She had a couple of them stitched up and her right arm had been placed in sling cast. She was still asleep as he pulled up a seat and sat beside her.
"I'll leave you two alone." Hardy said as he stepped out.
Jack began to feel relaxed as he watched as the bed sheets slowly rose and fell with each one of Keira's slow breaths. He removed his rucksack and dug through it and pulled out her notebook. Sighing, he opened it and began to read.
A/N: What a sympathetic twist right? Sorry for the huge text wall thing but it was pretty necessary to get this chapters main point across. R&R