Chapter 58: The Queen of Hearts
The voice belonged to the very person that her captain was trying to protect her from...Kora, the Queen of Hearts herself and she was standing only a few feet behind her. She didn't dare turn around. She had run away from this woman and here she was...why?
"I must say that you make for a rather lovely blonde but I do believe the color of spilt blood would suit you better, wouldn't you agree...I know that pirate of yours prefers those gorgeous crimson locks and I don't blame him." Kora commented, making the blonde's body fill with dread and fear.
How did...how did she know...spilt blood… that was how Killian had described her hair. How did she know...about that, about them, about her? Why did the Queen of Hearts know her name?
"You don't have to be afraid, Artz." The woman stated softly.
"Says the woman that deliberately made my captain watch as she murdered every man, woman, and child in the encampment, making him watch the light fade from each of their eyes. You are a fucking bitch." Artz ground out, the heat in her body overriding her sense of self preservation.
"A necessary evil that yielded the desired result." The witch replied evenly.
"The result...was pissing me off. You may be stronger and more skilled than me right now…" The blonde started only for the Queen of Hearts to interrupt her.
"I am inferior to you, Artz." She spoke shocking the blonde.
This actually made her turn around, wondering what the hell was going on in that woman's brain...only for her vision to spin and she fell to the ground, landing on her left side and making her cry out in pain. Shit! She had forgotten that Snow had skewered her with an arrow.
The blonde clutched her left side as a hot, sticky substance began to coat her fingers. The heartless one was by her side in an instant, kneeling beside her and forcing her to lie back. She kept her hands over the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood, but Kora pulled her hands away and the moment she touched her injury, it made the blonde cry out in pain.
"Who did this to you? Who injured you? Tell me." The witch demanded a fair amount of emotion in her voice.
"What do you care? You don't have a heart. You ripped it out so it wouldn't….so it wouldn't get in the way of your own damn ambition. Why the fuck would you give a damn about me?" Artz snapped trying to move away.
Kora stopped her movement but then she felt something wet fall on her face. What? She heard the Queen of Hearts take a shuddering breath...was she crying? Why would Kora be crying?
"I do care and I know that what I'm about to say is not going to make any sense at all. My first born...she was hollowed out by a parasitic creature. Her soul had been completely devoured but she was still alive. Empty but still carried the potential energy of a life yet to be lived." Kora explained, thoroughly confusing her.
"What does that have to do with me?" Artz asked her breath coming in short bursts.
"Everything. She was killed so that her essence could be merged into you. All the days she should have had...they became yours and with it, we were granted another chance." The witch answered her voice choking with emotion, "Her potential energy, it was given to you so you could live once more. As for my heart, I only have half of it...the other half was given to save another, but I do care for you, Artz. I care for you so much...so much that I'm willing to commit cold blooded murder, just to make you stronger."
"I don't understand. You killed those people to make me stronger, but you made my captain watch, you killed our friends...You killed Rem right in front of him. You say you care, that you actually have half of your heart? How could you do it? How could you kill them if you cared? How could you do that to him? You knew! You knew how much it would hurt him! You knew that she was special to him and you killed her anyways!
And now you start rambling about your first born which was Zelena and she's not dead. Then some stupid made up bullshit about parasitic creatures and the potential energy from a life never lived. Just...what the hell?!" Artz yelled getting up on her knees while clutching her side, backing away from the insane woman.
"I did what I had to...to keep someone I loved alive and I'm not the only one to make a sacrifice. You have lost so much more than you realize. We have tried so many times and failed every time. We have tried so hard...but everything had to be undone.
Every life that had been altered, every heart that had been touched, every destiny that was rewritten...all the good and wonderful things...we had to destroy it all." Kora responded, so much anguish and pain in her voice.
"Why?" The blonde asked heart aching painfully with every word the witch had been saying.
She didn't understand why Kora's words were hitting her so deeply nor did she understand why they rang true. What the hell was going on? What the hell happened? A strong feeling of dread gripped her heart...that fucked up mind trip...she knew that they were memories...what if...oh God...what have they done to her?