Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth. I know, sucks huh?
The Labyrinth's Chosen
Chapter 35
"What?!" Angel very nearly screamed.
"What made you think I wanted to win?" Triana asked Angel with a shrug.
Angel shook her head like a wet dog. "Suit yourself." She said still a bit miffed.
"Angelina is declared winner of this fight." The High Queen stated clearly.
Brendan looked extremely relieved, as did his parents. However, Angel was troubled by this seemingly random turn of events. Why would she give up the chance to be queen? She went to sit down along the side of the arena thinking.
The little faery that was holding her sapphire bracelet hesitantly came near to her looking like he didn't want to disturb her. Noticing him after a few moments, she motioned for him to come closer.
"Thank you so much for looking after that bracelet for me, Young One." She gave him a bright smile. He smiled back at her and handed the bracelet back. Angel slipped it back on gratefully; she had felt naked without it. Immediately thoughts from Brendan rained down upon her.
She smiled to herself. He was freaking out. He really did not want anything bad to happen to her. The good thing is the one battle she was truly dreading was over. She couldn't relax yet though, who knew who she would be up against next. Watching the other girls battle it out would only worsen her anxiety but hopefully no one noticed that she the slightest bit worried.
Asline watched Angel from the corner of her eyes with a very unflattering frown on her face. She had been so sure that Princess Triana would make short work of this awful brat that seemed to come out of nowhere to become heir of the most powerful throne in her world.
Just the thought of it sent shivers of rage down her spine.
This was Asline's only chance to become the queen of anything! She would never be queen in Vulturnus. It wasn't the power she craved, not really. She fancied herself being the most beautiful queen and having the most handsome king to be married to. Brendan was indeed a prize to be had. Every single woman (and many who were not) wished to have the attention of the elusive Goblin Prince.
Her thoughts drifted as she thought about what her life could be like. She almost didn't hear her name being called.
"Princess Asline of Vulturnus please come forward."
Asline came back to herself with a jolt.
It was beneath her to answer the man who had called her name so she rose gracefully and went to stand opposite of some poor girl who looked more than slightly afraid of facing the princess of Vulturnus.
Asline gave her a predatory grin, 'it's too late to back out now little fly.' She thought to herself.
"Weapons only." The man was saying.
"Begin."
This sword had been given to her by her mother and from there she had no idea about the history of it and she hadn't been interested in it when her mother had tried to explain it to her.
She hefted it up experimentally and took a sharp swing at the girl in front of her. This was the first time she noticed what kind of weapon the girl was using. A mace.
"What a useless weapon you have you little fly!" she told the girl cruelly as she swung an arc towards the girls head.
The small girl used the chain like a staff as she blocked the stroke. She held against the blow for a second and then tried her best to push Asline's sword away from herself. A condescending smile came over Asline's face. She watched as the girl before her breathed heavily and stared at her as if gauging her next move.
Asline saw an opening almost immediately, the girl had no idea how to use the weapon she had chosen.
"I will be Queen my dear." She yelled as she made to swing at the girl's left side. Abruptly she turned and pulled the mace out of the girls' hands and aimed the point of her sword at her exposed neck.
It was over.
"That's not fair." The girl whispered softly.
"Not a very wise thing to say while I have a sword pointed at your throat dear. Be a good girl and take your loss quietly."
"Princess Asline has won this battle!" the announcer shouted. The elves and fae from Vulturnus went wild.
"Princess Asline, please go take a seat near the other victors please." Asked a small fairy.
"Of course." And without as much as a 'thank you' she went and sat next to the solitary Angelina.
"Did you see that princess?" she asked the heiress.
"What else was there to watch?" Angel asked in a bored tone.
"I will defeat you and become queen. Brendan feels nothing for you and we will be so happy together once we are married."
"If you think you are going to unnerve me, you are sadly mistaken."
Asline glared at her angrily as if her plan had failed. Then she apparently decided to change tactics.
"So what would you do if you become the Queen of the Labyrinth?" Asline asked in what one would normally consider an offhand comment.
"Give all the goblins a bath." She said in that same bored tone.
"What?!" Asline asked disgusted.
For the first time Angel looked Asline in the eyes and said, "Ok, you do realize that you are going to be the queen of a bunch of smelly goblins and a great big maze that people get lost in and never make it out of. It will be pretty lonely so unless you have a whole lot of children or if you get on good speaking terms with Brendan after this you might get by."
Asline looked shocked and angry and she opened her mouth to say something back and closed it abruptly. Then she turned and looked at the ground below her biting the side of her lip.
'She realizes that I am right.' Angel thought to herself.
'What is she saying to you?' Brendan asked through their link.
'I think I made her understand something just now. Asline is someone who feels the need to be seen. No one would visit her very often if she lived as queen in the Labyrinth.'
'That is true. Perhaps that is something you should consider as well.'
'I wont' be in the Labyrinth all of the time after we get married and neither will you. I will have to manage all of the kingdoms including the Labyrinth.'
'That is true.' He said then he was strangely quiet.
'Don't think I am going to make it do you?' she asked.
He said nothing at all which in turn said volumes to her.
She chuckled out loud and said to no one in particular in a hard voice, "I'm too angry to lose."
Asline heard and looked as if she was seeing her for the first time.
"You will lose face in front of your people if you don't learn fae soon princess." Asline sneered in fae, thinking Angel didn't understand.
"Whatever you said wasn't directed at me was it?" Angel asked in mock ignorance.
"No, I was just reciting a good luck charm."
"Tell me something Asline." Angel started.
"That's princess Asline to you, stupid…" Asline started in fae.
"Are you in love with him?"
"Who?"
"Prince Brendan."
"No, of course not, I just went to be Queen."
"So you are willing to sacrifice your possibility of true love to order goblins around for the rest of your life?"
"I don't see what this has to do with anything." Asline said a bit unsteadily.
"It has to do with everything, particularly today. You see, I found out who killed my mother last night and this morning I realized that I was not responsible for her death and that I for once after so many years of suffering deserve a little spark of happiness. I do love Brendan and because of that and because of my new found innocence and my need of revenge makes today the day that I am invincible." She said in a low tone, yet she knew that Asline had heard every word. For the second time since Angel ran into Asline in that hallway she saw fear in the other girl's eyes.
"Who would dare kill Sarah the Great?" Asline whispered to herself in fae.
Angel ignored her, she had a pretty good feeling that she would give away important information during their match.
Angel and a princess named Caras were to battle next, a magic only battle.
Angel's first blast of wind knocked the woman unconscious and left her the victor. She went to sit back down. Asline's battle was a little longer. The princess Penelope got a few good hits in with her magic before she succumbed to Asline's wind magic.
And once that was finished Asline sat back down next to Angel, they were the only two victors left. The last battle had finally come and they were set to fight each other next. From all over the stadium all eyes were on them and Asline drank in the attention. Angelina was focused on remembering the recent battles that Asline had fought. Looking for weaknesses in her memory and trying to think of situations and scenarios that she would have to use her sword or her magic.
High Queen Lysithea stood gracefully from where she was sitting and drew the attention from the crowd. "I want to take this opportunity to thank every last princess who fought in this marriage tournament. It is not easy to fight your peers and friends but hopefully you have made deeper more meaningful connections than you would have otherwise. I have enjoyed the time I have spent with you and I am positive each of you will make lovely brides for some lucky man one day. We will take a break for a half hour before we begin the last battle. Thank you!"
Angel and Asline didn't even look at each other. They both stood up and walked to their respective families Asline to hers and Angel towards the High Queen. She would not go anywhere near her father, she couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't rip his heart out.
"Why are we taking a break Miotha, I could have finished it."
"I know Angelina but I think it would be beneficial to everyone to have a bit of a break before we finish this up. Everything is going to change after this last battle, let's not rush it darling."
Angelina nodded her head in understanding, Lysithea was absolutely right. She can't rush destiny.
But the half and hour came and went quickly and the last battle was being announced before Angelina knew it. She said a brief prayer to God for safe keeping and thankfulness for being able to come this far considering her many obstacles.
Simultaneously, Asline and Angel made their way to the center of the ring and waited for the referee to start. They eyed each other without blinking. It was the moment of truth, the moment that they had both been exchanging harsh words over ever since they met. There was dead silence in the audience, everyone knew the rivalry that had gone on between the two girls.
Angel had not bothered to take off the sapphire bracelet but Brendan said nothing via her mind link, she had the feeling he wanted to say something but he couldn't bring himself to say anything at such a tense moment in time.
"Princess Angelina of Cian Aglaia champion of the Labyrinth and Princess Asline champion of Vulturnus this is the last battle. You may use your weapons or you may use magic, whichever you desire. Winner will be determined by total knockout or death. Please do your best not to cause the death of the other. Winner will be the betrothed of Prince Brendan of the Labyrinth heir of the throne of that realm. I must impose one last rule upon the Princess Asline, if you kill Angelina purposefully you will be held accountable as she is the last remaining heir to the High Throne." High Queen Lysithea said out loud.
That wrenched Asline out of the eye deadlocking with Angel.
"That's not fair!"
"Then you do not have to compete. She is all I have left and I will not leave the throne to anyone else!"
"Fine." She mumbled angrily. "You don't have anything sarcastic to say?"
Angelina wasn't bothered by the other girl's anger. She settled herself in a good starting position before asking, "Should I have something to say?"
"Are you ready?" the High Queen asked.
Both princesses' nodded slightly to indicate that they were.
"Begin."
Asline immediately threw a wall of wind against Angel but she simply stuck her sword out as if she was splitting air in half and the wind rushed past her on both sides not even moving a single hair on her head.
Angel ran at her sword at her side and began to take a seriously fast swing at Asline's left side. The girl narrowly avoided it and ran swiftly to get a little bit of distance between the two of them. A large bout of wind in the shape of a hand lunged at Angelina not unlike the one Asline had sent against her when the first met. Angel evaded it easily and began taking moisture out of the air without any attention being drawn to her hand. She hefted the sword into her left hand and threw the water ball backed with the power of the wind directly at Asline.
It was a direct hit in the stomach and Asline was thrown back several feet and landed painfully on her back. Abruptly, the air around Angel solidified and she began to be deprived of air. She concentrated and pulled her on her own magic to shatter the air ball she was in.
Asline was back on her feet and again and they were once again glaring at each other trying to figure out what the other would do.
Magic didn't seem to be working that well at the moment.
With a battle scream Asline lunged towards Angel with her sword stretched out before her. Angelina countered with her own sword and backed up to get a better look to see if she could get an opening. She took a quick step in with an arc towards the Vulturnus princess's stomach. Asline twisted away just barely and backed away from her almost blindly.
Angel was about to take a few steps forward when she felt and odd feeling from the wind coming from the direction of Cian Aglaia. It was only a moment's hesitation but it cost her. Asline threw a rope of wind around her winding around like a snake on a pole. It snapped Angel back to the battle but it wasn't something that could keep her for long she had just playing with Asline up until this point.
Asline was a good ten feet away and Angel was about to shrug off the ropelike wind when she felt a sharp yet dull pain spreading through her mid section. She looked down and realized she was bleeding. It looked like a pocket of air shot through her left side and she saw the black edges around her wound and knew who did it. Abruptly, she threw a dome around Asline and threw another simultaneously around her father up in the stands. Quickly, she began filling the both up with water.
Immediately they both began to struggle beating their hands against the sides of the spheres they were trapped in.
"Angelina, what is the meaning of this?!" the High Queen asked.
"This wound is not from her, it's from him."
Asline's sphere had filled up and now oxygen was gone and the girl looked around frantically expecting to be let out.
"Only one more moment Asline, then I can let you out." Angel whispered painfully, she was loosing too much blood and would pass out soon herself. Sure enough the girl went limp in the sphere and Angel looked towards the High Queen.
Lysithea nodded quickly and Angel let Asline loose who fell into an ungraceful heap in the middle of the arena.
Angelina fell to the ground promptly her body finally just growing too heavy for her legs. She crawled on her hands and knees to lie beside Asline to check her breathing. The other girl had coughed up a bit of water but was otherwise doing fine now.
Lysithea, Hestia, Jareth and Brendan were surrounding her on their hands and knees.
"I thought Asline had decided to try to kill you anyway." Jareth said his voice shaking.
"She is bleeding pretty badly." Lysithea said worriedly, she probed with her magic and began trying to knit the cells and blood vessels together so that she could get the bleeding to stop.
"Mom?" Angelina was saying her eyes beginning to get unfocused.
She was trying to sit up now. "Mom!" she yelled sharply.
The monarchs growing alarmed forced her to lie down. "Jareth," she whispered brokenly, "Please hold my hand, and maybe you can see her too."
Jareth sucked in a painfully breath and held her hand. He looked over to where Angelina was looking knowing he would see nothing and was completely astonished to see Sarah standing before him in a beautiful white dress.
Angelina had tears in her eyes. It came from the pain mostly, but she struggled to stop crying if only to see her mother clearly. But then memories began to play through her mind.
"I must be dying, I see my life coming and going before my eyes." She whispered.
Brendan cried out beside her and held her other hand tightly.
"Yes, you are rather close to death right now, my love." Sarah said sadly.
"Are you here to take me with you? I don't have to make the journey by myself do I? Or will I be punished for what I have done to you?" Angel asked desperately.
Sarah had a puzzled look on her face. "Punished?" she asked, "Punished for what?"
"For agreeing to let you go to the mental institution and not paying more attention to you, I have felt guilty about that for so long. Do you forgive me for that?"
"Angel, these things you did in my best interest. And you were very young but yes, I forgive you. But you must not die."
"Why not?" Jareth asked quietly.
"Jareth." Sarah spoke softly, "I wasn't aware that you could actually see me."
"This will be the last time." He stated bitterly.
"I know and I am sorry for that." She came and knelt next to them. "I should have had the nerve to tell you that I would not abide your rules but that I did love you no matter how arrogant you seemed to me at the time. I dreamt of you so often after that, I should have called for you. I was just afraid that you wouldn't answer."
Jareth face contorted in pain, "I should have told you that I loved you as well. I am sorry that I made such foolish demands of you. Do you forgive me?"
"There is nothing to forgive. Brendan?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, Sarah the Great."
"Please take care of my daughter. I want the two of you to take care of each other and your people. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes."
"Then I will grant you one last boon although destiny cannot be changed at this point in time you can at least be prepared. Although Angel will not die she will be out of commission for a great while, and Cian Aglaia is even as we speak being taken over by the Dark Queen. Angel must go back there, she will be protected as she sleeps but you have to take her there quickly. Lysithea will know what to do."
Brendan, Jareth and Angel looked stunned.
"Please know that my love is with you always and please keep me in your hearts."
"Wait! Don't leave! Don't you want to know who your murderer was?" Angel screamed.
"I know who it was my dear, and I forgive him too." And with that Sarah the Great was gone.
Angel wept bitterly into Brendan's side as he looked at his father helplessly.
"What do we do, father?" he whispered fearfully.
"I don't know son….. I don't know."
AN: I know, I am really sorry, I hurt my back really bad and got a new job right after that, ad so I just now feeling comfortable enough to sit for a long while and type things out. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. I realized that in order to tell the full story I see in my head, I may need to start writing longer chapters. Thanks for all your support.
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