A Final Farewell

"Dove, I have a question, It's very important ok?" a deep voice said behind her.

Deea turned from her small doodle in the dirt to be greeted by Kubo, who gave a sad smile, he placed his large hand on her head and gently rubbed it.

"Do you remember what I told you about fighting and killing? You have to have a reason behind it, kid. It's difficult to come up with one while being a gladium but it's kinda like a road map, it's to figure out where you want to go or who you want to be in the future. I have one and so does Nali."

Deea tilted her head and looked down at the dirt she had been scribbling in earlier. "I dunno, you and Nali said we'd get outta here soon anyway so I don't need one."

Kubo laughed, then began coughing roughly into his hand. "That's fine and dandy Dove, but you need a goal too and to not just rely on us."

"She's just a child Kubo, don't force difficult things on her yet, she will decide when she is older and free." Nali's annoyed voice came from the other cell across from them.

Kubo groaned and crossed his arms. "What happens if we aren't around and she's gotta go on her own. She needs a drive behind her actions, Nali."

Deea looked between her two guardians as they argued back and forth, confused why a drive or dream was so important.

"How good did it feel, when you tore them apart? When you devoured your enemies and ripped everyone who opposed you to shreds." A soft voice echoed behind her.

Deea jerked around to find only emptiness, the voices were gone and an eerie silence fell around her. The prison faded to a lake shrouded in fog, and Deea stood atop the water.

"You have bathed in the blood of so many, do you regret it, or cherish it? What is your drive, beast? What are you fighting for?" the voice continued, slowly morphing into her own and grew in volume.

"S-shut hut up, you don't know anythin!"

"Why do you exist? What is your purpose?" her voice continued.

"What?" Deea asked, looking around her for anything other than emptiness.

"Are you a monster, a weapon, or a person?"

"I dont-"

"You killed them, you killed everyone pitted against you, out of fear, out of hate, out of want, who knows, but you will continue to kill, it's in your blood." A shadow formed in front of her in the fog, a long serpent body stretched and disturbed the misty atmosphere, a horned head swiveled towards her direction.

"No!"

"You are the Red Eyed Demon, you exist to fight and kill, that is all you are and all you will ever be." The creature stalked around her slowly in the fog, it's on long limbs crouching low and its head never leaving her.

"No, I- I dont know, I-please I dont want too!"

"That's what your mind says, yet you refuse to admit the truth to yourself aloud, your body knows what it is, yet your mind is foolish. Embrace the truth Deea embrace your nature." it charged quickly, pouncing in the air with a loud ear piercing roar.

"No!" Deea startled awake, grabbing at whatever was around her to ground her thoughts. Her vision slowly cleared, revealing familiar scenery to the young warrior, metal bars. Deea growled while looking around her, the cell was dark, but thankfully not damp. She shivered roughly, moving to rub her arms, instead of her armor she felt thick fur cloth. On top of the sleeves were large metal cuffs with thick chains. These chains led to a metal circle hitched to the back wall.

Deea looked herself over, a thick, dark furred shirt now covering her torso followed by double layered pants. Surprisingly, she did not feel as cold as she was before. "Huh, these are surprisingly nice. Wait, why would they give me these nice clothes, we are enemies right, what happened and how did I get here? Ugh, crud I feel like I got hit by a wyvern, then trampled on by a herd of horses. Did I black out again?"

A loud clunk came from Deea's left, making her turn her head; she glared at a guard in thick, fur armor walking towards her with a dark scowl. Deea met his glare with her single eye making sure to keep him in eyesight.

He stood in front of her cell door and crossed his arms. "Heh, it's a bit of a surprise to know you took out so many of us, even our chief, when you are so small and frail looking."

Deea snickered, showing her fangs. "Well, y'all made it pretty easy with your sorry excuse for an army and leader."

The man growled and slammed his fist into the bars making them dent slightly. "Big talk for someone who ended up behind bars of said weaklings." He sneered.

Deea lifted a brow, her smile still present. "Thats just luck, if I hadn't been sick and the dumb princess hadn't begged me to spare your sorry skins. I would have clobbered ya all without a thought."

The man huffed, straightening up and glaring daggers. "You're lucky then, if not for the chief's daughters begging, we would have left your corpse for the wolves. Count your lucky stars, ya piece of crap." He kicked the bars and moved to lean against the Left side of the wall outside her cell.

Deea spat at him and glared. "Did he mean Felicia or Flora? Why'd they want to help me? I hurt them, their dad and their people. Flora probably hates my guts even more now. Where did they put the others anyway, and why am I the only one here when there's tons of cells beside me. All I really can do right now is sit and wait right? Or I could bend these bars, kill the guard, get the heck out of here, and be free of all this crap. No, I can't leave Elise or Jakob, those two have stayed loyal, for now at least."

Deea settled for a while and days moved by slowly, she was given a piece of bread and water daily but anything she asked was ignored. Deea simply looked through her barred window as the sun rose and set, wondering what became of her friends. Her back ached and her butt grew sore from just sitting on the cold floor. "Must've gotten soft by being away from the arena so long."

Deea rolled her shoulders and poppe her neck, she rose from her sitting position and paced around. "I need to get out of here, sitting in this stupid cell is drivin me crazy!" Deea growled and shook her head, Her blood was boiling and her body refused to sit still any longer.

"Oi, how long are ya going to keep me here! I'm bored, hurry up and decide what you're gonna to do with me!"

Another set of boots came down the hall towards them, a woman in thick fur and thick black hair appeared. She did not even look at Deea and nodded to the guard. "The chief wants the girl brought to him."

The guard nodded and entered the cell, he undid the circular chain link locked to the wall. He then looked to Deea, motioning for her to go, she rose and walked, following the woman down the hall.

The wooden door slowly opened and a cold wind greeted her harshly, forcing her eye closed. They walked in thick snow, causing her to trip and stumble. Deea squinted her eye and glanced around making sure everything was seen. A new blanket of new snow covered the ground, boxes and supplies were gathered among the stone houses around the village. villagers stopped and stared as she passed, some with fear, others with hate, and some with curiosity.

Deea was dragged into a large, wooden hut. A huge bonfire roared in the center and wooden logs surrounded it, multiple colorful flags hung from the roof.

Standing before the fire stood the ice tribe chief, his muscular arms were crossed as he glared at her. The male guard kicked the inside of Deea's knee forcing her to kneel.

"You should feel grateful that my daughter's are so attached to you. I wanted your head, no, I wanted to make you choke on your own blood and be eaten alive by beasts. You come here, hurt my people and nearly kill my daughters, yet they ask that I spare you." he growled with clenched fists.

Deea grimaced. "When did I do that? Oh, I frekin blacked out. Crud, I went crazy again and nearly lost my frei- lost them. I hope I didn't hurt them too badly. How am I supposed to explain to them that I don't know what happened? I remember things getting blurred, I was getting hurt and losing it. Ugh, I thought I'd gotten better at controllin em."

"Well! Are you going to say anything for your actions! Or are you going to let me actually hang you to freeze and be eaten by the wildlife!" Kilma yelled.

Deea grimaced. "Didn't mean to take it that far if I'm honest." She was then punched harshly in the back of her head.

"You will respect our chief, maggot! You get no pity here!" The guard hissed, placing his foot on her back and pushing her down.

"Didn't mean to take it that far? What the heck do you think is too far, because you gave one of my daughters a concussion and slit the other's throat! Not to mention the cuts and bruises on top of that!" The chief stalked towards Deea, grabbed her short hair and lifted her head.

Deea grunted in pain. "I did that? Must've been during the blackout, that explains the dreams."

"Father, that's enough!" A raspy voice ordered.

Everyone looked up to see Flora entering the building. "We won the day so there should be no more violence! We can send the Nohrians home and leave! We need to find a new home! Away from those who wish to oppress us!"

"Flora, you should be resting, and you know we can't leave, this has been our home for centuries! This place is our birthright! It is them who should leave!" he yelled, jerking Deea's head to the right.

"Maybe we should send them a message then, we can send her back in pieces!" The guard added while he laughed and kicked Deea again.

Deea fell face first and groaned. "You deserved that jerk." her mind hissed.

Kilma hummed, while Deea slowly tried to get back up into a sitting position. The young girl's heart pumped loudly as she saw the blue haired maid. Instead of her normal maid outfit, she wore a plain short sleeved dress that was dark blue with white symbols covering it. She had bandages wrapped around her arms and hands and some peeking out of her sleeves. Deea knew there were bandages underneath her clothing, however, Deea mainly focused on the thick bandage around her neck. Flora's blue hair was down from its braid and wildly fanned around her shoulders.

Deea looked to the floor in shame, surprised Flora stood up for her. after what had happened a few days ago.

"For the last time, we will not leave our homeland! Our ancestors fought greater foes than these pathetic Nohrians and you did not see them cower from sniveling children!" Kilma growled.

"Nohr will continue to send armies, bigger and more powerful ones than the last! If we stay here we will perish! We are not soldiers, we are a tribe! We barely won this time and it was a small party, and the only reason we won was because this group was not a trained army. Father don't you see, Nohr is testing us and we barely survived the scouts!" Flora argued back.

Kilma growled and paced around, he did not argue back. Flora watched her father pace while biting her lip to keep herself silent.

Deea watched the exchange with an annoyed look.

"Dang, it must take forever for this old man to decide anythin. Flora's got a point, why live in a place you'd be attacked at? Especially if there's a big kingdom demandin things from ya, kinda stupid if ya ask me."

Kilma stopped pacing and looked into the roaring fire at the center of the room. "You have a point my daughter, however, this land is sacred to our people. Leaving means defeat, and if we did leave where would we go?" He sighed , and slouched slightly.

Flora opened her mouth, then closed it, her lips pursed in thought.

Deea groaned and shifted her position on the ground to get more comfortable. "Are they gonna kill me or bore me to death? Jeez, what good is bringin me here if they're just gonna argue and talk to each other?"

"Oi, are we doing punishments or having a meeting?" Deea blurted out without thinking. All eyes turned to Deea, who sniffled and shivered lightly.

"Who gave you permission to speak?" The guard yelled while moving to slam his foot on her back again.

Deea rolled away and hopped to her feet, easily breaking the chain and rolling her shoulders. "That's better, and I don't need permission to speak. It's my voice and I can use it whenever I want too."

"You little!" The guard moved to stop her, however Flora raised a hand to stop them.

"Don't, she is much stronger than she looks, and we are in no state to fight her. Lady Deea, please try to behave yourself for just a few more minutes." Flora groaned. "Unless you want to continue where we left off?" Flora challenged, tensing.

Deea moved towards the large fire and warmed herself up. "Right now all I wanna do is get off this stupid, cold mountain. I don't feel like fightin in this cold or against you."

Flora lifted a brow to her former mistress but kept silent. Kilma watched Deea carefully as she stood near the flames.

"Father, just think about it. You don't have to decide right now, but moving is still an option that we should keep in mind." Flora continued her previous argument with her father.

"I'll...think about it Flora but I won't promise anything, understand?" Kilma placed his calloused hand on Flora's shoulder, pulling her close to him while resting his forehead on hers. They stood still for a moment with their eyes closed, then the ice chief turned to Deea. "I have heard a lot of things about you, Nohrian dog. Felicia speaks highly of you, as does Flora,. I must admit I'm curious as well, but I don't trust you in the slightest, and my daughters have warned me of your strange abilities. I have seen them first hand myself, however, know that if you try anything you are surrounded by our finest warriors, even now." With that the ice chief left. Leaving Deea and Flora alone in tense silence.

Deea turned around to warm her back while looking around the building. She could sense the other ice trib warriors hiding in the shadows near the sides of the building. "They're not gonna let me off easy huh? They have the whole building surrounded inside and out."

Both girls stayed silent, Deea looked anywhere besides Flora's eyes, choosing to listen to the crackling fire.

"I was surprised." Flora suddenly spoke.

"The way you fought, you were going to kill us if you had not succumbed to your wounds and illness weren't you?"

"You were gonna do the same to me." Deea replied back.

"We were defending our home." Flora glared.

"I was defendin myself and my allies." Deea growled back.

They both glared at each other until Flora frowned and looked away while crossing her arms.

Deea sniffled. "Don't put the blame on me, Ice Princess. I thought you two were my friends and I could trust you. I believed for a short moment that I had found another family, and I promised this time I wasn't going to screw it up. You and Felicia have helped and taught me so many things at the castle. Those few times we stayed up late and talked about random crud or had small, uh what were they called, bru- brunch?-brunches I think. Was that all a part of your plan, to lure us here, kill us, and then leave with your family?" Deea growled looking away.

"I'm not the only one to blame for what happened, You always talk about leaving and being free, but you never do it! You could've left so many times but you continue to stay, I'm starting to think you like being a slave to Nohr!" Flora shot back.

Deea sniffled and shrugged. "Shut up, I'm bidin my time. Speaking of which, what did you do with the others?"

Flora frowned and relaxed a bit. "After some talking and bargaining he let them go, they are helping the villagers heal and rebuild. You needed something more restricted, though I wonder how long it would hold you, and don't pretend you didn't hear my previous question."

"Huh, glad you think I'm such a threat, and maybe I don't feel like leavin yet."

A heavy silence fell between them, but Deea still felt the pressure to continue the conversation.

"Look, I uh, I didn't mean to take it that far durin the fight, and I'm not lying. Sometimes I get, well, crud, how do I say this? I black out when I fight sometimes, It happens a lot and I hate it. Livin out here is way different than In the arena, in there I just ate, fought, and slept. No thinking, planning, choices, I just did whatever I was told."

Flora stared at Deea silently, Deea shuffled under the gaze, Looking anywhere but Flora's eyes.

"You, just go with whatever others say? That's what you've been doing all this time? What was your plan coming here then?"

Deea continued to look into the fire. "I don't know, my original plan was to get stronger and leave. I didn't know I would be used for conquering or that mad king's plans!"

"You're an idiot, the king wants nothing more than the world under him. You had plenty of opportunities to run, so why haven't you? Honestly, I really do wonder why you haven't just gone yet."

Deea moved to sit on one of the large logs, Flora slowly followed behind. Deea traced one of the many sigils engraved in her skin and face. "The king's got control over me. I don't know it's reach but it hurts like hell and he can use it whenever he wants. On top of that, I have no knowledge of the outside world. I'd manage somehow since I'm special, but, I don't know."

Flora scoffed. "You've said that far too many times. You need to make your choice Deea, no more I don't knows, what do you even plan on doing next anyway? Or are you just too scared to make a choice?"

Deea flinched and looked Flora in the eyes "I ain't a chicken! Wait, Y-You'd let me go?"

Flora shrugged. "I wouldn't mind looking the other way. I owe you for taking care of my sister and not killing us outright."

Deea bit her lip, and huffed. "I said I was sorry.."

The door opened and a guard stomped in. "The chief has ordered for the prisoner to be returned to her cell."

"Like to see you try." Deea challenged with a fanged grin.

Flora shoved her elbow harshly into Deea's stomach, causing the smaller girl to nearly fall backwards off the log and cradle her stomach. "What the-"

"Ignore her, you are relieved of your position for now, I'll guard her for today."

The guard looked like he wanted to argue, but Flora beat him to it with a firm look. Deea was confused as to why the Princess would want to keep her around, but decided against asking.

The guard threw up his hands in confusion then with a frustrated sigh, left the two girls alone.

Flora suddenly clapped her hands. "Well, since you have no plans or idea what you want to do. I suppose you want to see your friends right?"

Deea nodded dumbly. "Oh and also Felicia, is she- is she ok?"

Flora's grin fell and her hands clasped tightly. "She's stable, and in a coma for wounds is hard enough, but the more complex parts of the body take much more time and well, it's a lot harder. My throat is still weak and healing, and it's nearly been a week. If I talk too much, my voice dies and my vocal cords ache. The mind is a mystery, so it takes much more time to heal."

Deea's heart fell. "Dang, I- I'm sorry Flora. I didn't mean to, well I mean-"

Flora huffed, rising to her feet and quickly wiping the tears out of the corner of her eyes. "Don't think this makes us allies, I can't forgive what you did to my people and family, yet. I know you had your own reasons, I just need time to come to terms with what happened."

Deea's shoulders hunched and she shrank away from Flora. "Im- I get that."

Both girls awkwardly kept their silence, Deea stared into the fire while Flora rubbed her arm rhythmically.

Flora took Deea's hand and yanked her up. "C'mon let's go see Felicia and the others." she dragged Deea outside, a cold chill filled her as she stumbled around in the snow.

They made their way towards a smaller, stone building with a nice stone chimney. Once Flora opened the door Deea was greeted by rows of wooden beds with multiple people resting on them. The men and women all went silent at the appearance of the young gladium. Deea grimaced and looked to the floor as she felt eyes bore into her, Flora tugged on her arm and Deea followed with noresitance.

"Deea!" A voice broke through the silence and Deea was crushed into a tight hug, while stumbling to a halt.

Deea's vision was blocked by blonde, golden hair and a small set of arms latched onto her back. "Elise, what the heck are you doin here?"

A small giggle shook both bodies, and the youngest princess of Nohr released Deea.

"I've been helping heal everyone after the fight, I'm pretty good with a staff I'll have you know!" she lifted a hand and balled it into a fist with a wide grin on her bright face.

Flora smiled warmly at the young girl, then out of the corner of her eye, Deea saw a silver haired man pouring something for one of the wounded men.

"Ah there's Jakob, good to see he's still kicking."

Elise noticed Deea looking and turned to where she was looking. Her smile grew, and she waved an arm. "Jakob! Look who's here!"

The man's head jerked up, and seeing his mistress all but dropped the pitcher he was holding. He finished pouring and quickly made his way over. He bowed low and stiffly and remained in that position.

"It is good to see you well Lady Deea."

Deea laughed awkwardly. "Yeah uh, good to see ya too Jakob, glad you're alright."

Elise laughed and turned back to Deea with a wide grin. "Arthur and Effie are helping around too, but I don't know where at the moment. Why are you two here anyway?"

"We wanted to visit Felicia." Flora simply said.

The mood immediately darkened and Elise shuffled awkwardly. "Ah, she's this way c'mon."

They made their way over to a wite curtain near the end of the building, Elise pulled it back to reveal Felicia laying limply on a bed, white bandages were wrapped around her head and her hair was shaved. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically and she seemed almost asleep.

Deea sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of her pale friend, she stood rigid still as she listened to the even breaths of her former maid.

"I did this to her, to them, Stupid idiot, you always destroy what you touch."

"She's healing nicely, slowly but surely she should be fine, but we won't know the full extent of her head injury until she wakes up." Elise explained quietly.

Deea bit down on her lip and clenched her hands, her eyes never leaving Felicia.

"Lady Elise is quite skilled in healing. Thanks to her, my sister and I are recovering much faster and better than normal. All we can do is wait and pray." Flora added while standing beside the bed and gently running her hand along her sister's face.

Deea felt her eye sting but blinked rapidly to chase it away. "I'm sorry, I'm so frekin sorry.."

After they had finished, they bid Elise and Jakob farewell and Flora dragged her all around the village. She explained how they survived in the cold temperatures and Little sustenance. How they did not need as much food as other people and used every piece of their catch for more than just food.

After a few days, Deea and the other Nohrians helped the village as best they could. The plan on their return was saying that the ice tribe was destroyed, and the mission a success. Then the ice tribe would secretly leave and find a new home far from tyranny.

The Princess happily agreed, and while the tension was still high, a strange, delicate, peace was among them.

A Few days later;

"So, what is this again?" Deea asked for the fifth time with her mouth and face slathered in a sweet, creamy treat. Flora rolled her eyes as she continued stitching a shirt back together.

They currently sat on a set of boxes pressed against the wall of the infirmary building. Deea had agreed to use her talents to assist the ice tribe in their effort to move. Although they had not been able to do much thanks to the many storms that had pledged the mountains.

"It's called Ice Cream, and stop stuffing your face before you hurt yourself."

"Tch, how the heck am I gonna hurt myself eating somethin so soft?"

"Wait for it..."

"Ah! What the heck!" Deea nearly dropped her ice cream as she grabbed at her head and scratched her scalp wildly. Flora stifled a laugh.

"That's why, if you eat something cold too quickly your body has a bad reaction to it"

"You coulda warned me!"

"I did, idiot"

"What are you two doing? You better not be getting into another fight" Felicia warned as she neared the two.

"We leave you both for two seconds and you're already trying to wrestle?" Elise added pouting.

"Deea just experienced her first brain freeze, I tried to warn her, but she refused to listen to me"

"And you just love to annoy me, don't ya."

Felicia laughed and slowly sat down beside her sibling. She handed Flora her own ice cream and began eating her own. Elise sat beside Deea and hummed happily as she ate.

"At least you two aren't at each other's neck anymore"

"Wanna bet?" Deea challenged.

"I think I've had enough fighting to last me a lifetime la- uh, Deea" Flora quickly corrected herself.

Deea huffed "suit yerself."

They all sat in silence, happily eating their treat, Felicia's hair was growing back slowly and besides having to use a cane for now to get around, was healing well. Flora's wounds were pretty much healed as well, and the woman had already been working hard in the move. They were merely ready, everything already aboard the large ships and most of the village already down on the docks. For now it was only Deea, the ice twins, their father, the princess and her retainers, and a few warriors.

Suddenly the peaceful moment was disturbed by a loud scream of pain. Everyone was up and arms, running towards the sound, a Nohrian army gathered before the outskirts of the village and a dead warrior laid in the snow. Flora stood before her sister protectively while Deea glared, before the army was a heavily armored man with a horned helmet.

"I have been sent to check and see if the princess has succeeded, and I see she has not." he lowered the tip of his spear to the snow. You all will come with me to Nohr.

"Try me, I'll send you all back as ice cubes!" Kimla roared back, his soldiers drew their weapons in reply.

Deea growled, her hand twitched near her blade but she hesitated. Elise stepped forward and lifted her hand.

"Plese, the mission was a success, I'm fine and the ice trib is not our enemy. I'll return home and settle things with my father."

The general lowered his head and slowly lifted his spear skyward. "Kill the ice savages but don't harm the princess."

The men all howled and charged weapons clashed and men fell on both sides. Deea drew her own blade as a soldier neared Felicia, easily cutting him down with a horizontal slash.

Flora looked at them while ending a knight with a slash. "Take Felicia to safety!"

"No, you and your family need to get out of here! I'll hold em here!" Deea roared and broke a knight's spear in two then stabbed the enemy before her. She ducked under a sword and slashed her clawed hand at the thigh of the attacking soldier, easily slicing the metal and meeting flesh. The man cried out and fell to his knees and Deea pulled her sword from the previous soldier and jumped up with a sideways slash, removing his head from his shoulders. A fierce strom began around the battle, blinding everyone in white and cold wind.

"Retreat! Get to the docks!" Kilma yelled. Everyone turned to run except Deea who stood in their way.

Suddenly a sharp pain burned in Deeas bones, causing her to yelp and drop to her knees.

"Not now!" she growled trying to force her limbs to move, only for the pressure and pain to increase.

Another scream echoed through the mountains, Deea weakly turned to see something burning. A human figure outlined the flames, as it writhed and convulsed harshly.

"Flora no!" Felicia cried pushing against her father to get to her sibling.

"Hahahaha! This is what happens when you defy Nohr! Submit you savages!" the leader cried manically.

Deea's blood burned and tears built in her eye, the pressure in her head felt like her eye would pop from the socket, and a high pitched screech was all she could hear. Though her eye never left Flora, "I-i have to help Flora, she's dying! "

"C-c'mon, get...up!" deea growled to herself while slowly rising, she used her sword to hole her weight. Once she sluggishly stood, she all but threw herself at Flora. Staggering and ramming herself into Flora's chest and slamming her to the snow below. Deea then grabbed Flora and rolled weakly in the snow trying to quench the flames. She heard Flora whimper below her and take in ragged breaths.

Deeas vision was quickly fading, as she tried to steady her own breathing. "PLease be alive, please don't be dead! She thought warely. Her vision darkened around the edges, she felt the ground shake beneath her and voices echoed in the wind. Deea took one last shallow breath, then allowed the darkness to win.