Pretty much what happened this month:
Me: I'm gonna push myself a little and update soon! Besides, I got most of the chapter thought out!
College: How' bout no?

Outside, above the Ghosts' Pit, despite the storm and the cold, an owl was flying through the forest, gripping tightly inside his talons a letter.

Flying in the rain wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but if he was being honest, he had flied through worse conditions than this. The problem was that he didn't exactly know where his destination was. Those lands were pretty distant and any form of civilization there, was just some small villages, that usually didn't even exist on maps. That meant that he'd have to keep flying, for heaven knows how long...

Or maybe not.

A place full of wreckage with a single house standing, that also had smoke coming out of the chimney along with the faint scent of soup...

Yep, there they were.

The bird started descending, moving towards one of the windows of the ground floor. He was prepared to land on the windowsill, but since the window was broken he flew right into it and landed on the arm of his master.

A young woman dressed in brown with a sword strapped across her back. Her hair was short and dark and her eyes hazel. She smiled at the owl, before taking the letter he was holding.

"Hey, guys. We got another letter from your parents." She said and turned to her three comrades.

One of them was a bald and bulky dark-skinned man with black eyes and black facial hair, lounging on the couch half-asleep. His outfit was red and he was also wearing a necklace and an earing in his left ear, both of which were gold.

The other man had brown eyes and hair and a goatee. He was dressed in brown pants, a white shirt and a black vest, and he was sitting next to him reading a book.

The third was a young woman, a few years younger than her, with short brown hair and big green eyes. She was wearing a purple dress and she was sitting by the fireplace, with a little chameleon sitting on her shoulder.

"Let me guess. They want us to get back to Corona?" The second girl asked with a somber look, without turning away from the fireplace.

"Yeah... But this one seems a little more urgent. It says that if we don't all go back on our own, they'll send the cavalry to fetch us." She said, worry creeping in her words.

"Eh. Won't be the first time those guys will come after us. Right, Eugene?" The dark-skinned man asked his friend non-chalantly.

The other man, Eugene, lowered the book to reply. "Well, Lance, there's a difference between being chased for a kitchen raid and being forced to return to the kingdom. If we refuse, we're basically fugitives."

"You know it hurts to say, but mister bookworm here is right." She said with a sigh, before a smug grin appeared on her face, to which Eugene answered with an annoyed look and Lance with a chuckle.

"Would you guys knock it off already? This joke got tiring ages ago." He grumbled, turning from one smug look to the next.

"Yeah. We kind of have bigger problems than your poor reading taste." The woman commented again, increasing Eugene's annoyance and Lance's laughter.

The first lowered the book again, looking like his face was turning red. "For your information, Cassandra, The Flynn Ryder books are classics, and so full of nuance that they can be appreciated by anyone that has even the slightest hint of what you call reading taste. Which I'm willing to bet, you don't even have."

The three kept going on for a while, but the girl by the fireplace wasn't listening. She was too lost in her thoughts to partake in the conversation or to get her companions to focus on the issue.

If they were playing the cavalry card, they were really serious about returning to Corona. But they had yet to find anything they were searching for. And judging by what had happened there, things were getting worse. A lot worse...

"Raps? Rapunzel?" Cassandra's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "What do you think?"

Rapunzel turned to see all eyes fixed on her, waiting for a decision. Her decision. But was it really her place to make that decision? She may have been the princess, but she wasn't exactly the leader of this quest. And the person that actually kind of was... still hadn't come out of that room.

"I... think that we should all decide that. Going back may be the safest choice, but if our assumptions about this place are true, then we have to be close to something." Rapunzel said, turning her face upstairs as she finished.

"So, I guess now we have to ask weirdo too?" Cassandra asked, crossing her arms and suppressing an eyeroll.

"She has been up there for a while now, hasn't she?" Lance said, looking up with a concerned expression, which quickly changed to a suave one. "You know? I think someone should go up there and check on her. Possibly cheer her up. Give her a shoulder to cry on-"

"Easy there, buddy." Eugene stopped his friend before he could move more than two steps away from the couch.

"Lance, I think it's better I go." The brunette said with a smile, already moving to go upstairs.

"Oh, sure. After all, you're closer." Lance chuckled and fell back on the couch. "Tell her I'll be up if she needs me."

Rapunzel shook her head with a smile as she was ascending, but upon reaching the door her smile disappeared, and a hesitant frown took its place.

It was as if she just now realized the weight of the news she'd have to deliver once she opened that door. But the one she was worried about, wasn't herself. Instictively, her eyes drifted away and fell on her chameleon, who was quick to give her a reasuring glance and a soft squeak. That little guy always knew how to help her.

After returning him a small smile, she knocked on the door, but there was no response. So she opened it and walked quietly inside, finding a tall white-haired woman sitting cross-legged on the floor while cleaning a giant black sword. Her back turned on the princess and next to her was left untouched a small bowl with soup.

"Adira?"

The moment she heard her name, she interrupted her task and placed the sword back in the sheath across her back. "Yes, princess?" She asked without standing up, or even turning to face her.

Rapunzel pushed some of her hair behind her ear before she continued, her eyes drifting between Adira and the floor. "Are you... You need to come down for a moment. We have-"

"You got a letter from your parents and the King to return to Corona. I heard you." She interrupted, a rather unexpected calmness in her voice. "If short-hair is correct about the warning they gave you, then you and your friends should do as they ask and go back."

"And you?"

Adira gave nothing but a silent sigh as a reply. And Rapunzel's face fell. She opened her mouth to speak, but Adira was quicker.

"I'll carry on alone. Especially now, that I've seen what happened here, I can't go back. And I know I can't ask you to risk yourselves any more for my sake."

"But they want us all back, you included. And besides-" The brunette suddenly stopped, feeling as though she was somehow crossing a line. A very obvious, very painful line.

Adira herself seemed to have felt it too, as she tensed a little. "Besides what?" The tone of her voice didn't change, but it was laced with a nearly unnoticeable bitterness.

Rapunzel wasn't sure if she could bring herself to finish that sentence. Mainly because she knew neither how to say it nor how Adira would react. She did seem surprisingly calm about it, but everyone has their limits. And Rapunzel didn't want to push the woman through hers...

For a few seconds, that felt like an eternity, the only sound that was heard was the rain from outside, hitting viciously the windows, making Adira's blood boil.

That night... That last night... It was raining then too.

...!

A thunder tore the sky and it all flashed through her eyes.

The soldiers. The fire. The screams... Her hand trembling. The blood on their faces. The moment they should have said their last goodbye...

As quickly as they came, they faded with the thunder's light. And there she was again. In the present. Which truth be told, was about just as grim as the past.

Still though...

"If that was true then none of us would be here now. They're still alive, wherever they are. And I'm going to find them, no matter what. That's what I told your father back then. And that's what I'm telling you now." She said, looking outside the window, her eyes glistening with determination.

But she soon turned away from it, noticing the princess' presence beside her.

"And I can't do anything to change your mind?" She asked.

"Would anyone be able to change yours, if the people outside this room were in their place?" The warrior asked back and the princess looked at the floor, knowing the answer very well. "I believe we should get some sleep. We've got a long way to go tomorrow."

"All right. Goodnight." Rapunzel said, and went outside, before giving her one last sad glance.

Once alone, Adira brought out a small piece of paper. Pretty old and a little tattered. So simple yet so special. A drawing of two boys and a girl standing together. It wasn't exactly a child's drawing, but you wouldn't say that it was a peak form of art. It was just what it was.

Three children. Three siblings. Standing by each other with smiles on their faces, ready for anything.

And it was funny. How this old thing could carry this much power, that it was making her see, or even remember, something that wasn't even there. Perhaps that was what its creator was going for. Showing not what used to be, but rather what should have been.

And even if it wasn't that... maybe she could indeed remember. Maybe what she was looking at, was something that was real. And she had just forgotten about it...

Had it really been that long... since then?

With a long sigh, she ran her hand through her face, drowning the need to yell.

"The things I go through for you, you idiot..." She muttered under her breath, before looking outside again. "I still got killing rights though. So please... stay alive."

Hey everyone. So, I know I promised I'd update soon, and I really really tried to keep that promise, but... well, you read what happened. The coming month is also about to be... a lot from what I see, so I really don't know when exactly I'll have time, but I'll do my best. See you later and please stay safe! And please leave a review. :)