Chapter 2

It had been a week, only a week, since Flora had become queen of Linphea. And since then, she had tried to turn the job down at least five more times. She still couldn't comprehend how anyone would just give her the throne just because she and her team took down a tyrant. Queen by conquest seemed like such an old-fashioned thing. At one point, she brought up at her first council meeting yesterday. But they just pulled out a tome of Linphea's laws and customs. There was an entire section on how one, with no royal blood, could obtain the throne. These men and women, who had met her for the first time, had no qualms about letting her run the show. There wasn't a single person who showed any disdain for her. Yeah, Linpheans were generally affable people. But still.

And even though it had only been a week, Flora was drowning with work. There were too many things to learn, and to do, and to undo, and too many people's names to remember. This morning she had spent 2 hours trying to learn the names of everyone who would be at her coronation, which was to be held in two weeks, whether she liked it or not. The palace itself was always chaotic. People still didn't know what to do, and she still gave no orders to anyone. What the hell was going to say anyway. She had no idea what she was doing. In truth, she relied a lot on her rebels -she could no longer call them that, she realized. They were great at figuring things out. If it weren't for them and Helia, she would have gone mad. Helia, whom she vented to every night, listened attentively to her. He wouldn't say useless things like "It will be okay" and "Don't worry." He would just listen and run his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep. Then she had to wake up and be a queen all over again. Today wouldn't be any different. She just had one more thing to do and by the evening she would finally have some time to herself. She just had to get through this last meeting. This awkward, dreadful meeting with her old friends, from her old life.

She had bailed on them twice now. She knew exactly why they wanted to see her, what kind of questions they would ask, and through all this queen stuff, she didn't have the energy or patience to have any type of conversation with her old friends. They had been loitering around the palace all week. She would sometimes run into one of them, but was it awkward at best. She would say hi and then rush off to whatever needed her attention. But she was beginning to feel bad. They had, after all, fought for her kingdom. Bloom even healed her at one point, apparently. She couldn't really remember. She at least owed this to them.

As she neared the study they were meeting at, she could her them arguing loudly. She stopped by the door to listen. All was definitely not well in their circle. They were so into their argument that they didn't even notice when she pushed the door opened. She stood awhile and then spoke. Leaning on the door frame, arms crossed, she said "Oh, no. Please continue. I would love to see how this argument ends."

They all stared at her, mouth agape, unblinking. She saw the way they scanned her stance, her expression, her clothes. Thankfully, Meg went shopping and got her clothes she was comfortable in. She was already tired of queen dresses. She opted for tight black jeans, a sleeveless black top that showed off just enough of her toned midriff, and high-heeled black boots-truth be told, she did miss wearing high heels. She had a black jacket as well but she lost it somewhere between trying to figure the palace finances and hiding from Parys. Every time he found her, it just meant more work.
"Wow…" said Riven, and then Brandon promptly smacked him upside the head.
"Ow, man, what the hell?!" he huffed as he rubbed his head.
Flora sought out Helia's gaze, his presence a grounding force. She told him that if he wasn't there, there was no way she was gonna show up. He winked at her, and she gave him a small smile.
"Right then, firstly, thank you all for your help in our cause. My team and I are very grateful" she started, sounding too stiff for even her own liking, "But, I'm sure you all have questions, so shall we get on with it?"
No one spoke for quite a while; they just stared.
"Okayyyy, since no one has anything to say, I'm gonna go."
And then she turned to leave.

"No, wait!" Dammit.

She turned to see Bloom walking toward her. She hoped this wasn't another hug coming. She kind of regretted apologizing to Bloom. But the words were out before she knew it. She hoped Bloom wasn't expecting another apology. Flora took a step back, and Bloom paused.
"Why?" she said, her tone soft. Flora knew exactly what she meant but still asked, "To what are you referring?"
Bloom's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Why did you leave?" she asked, her voice now rising. "Why did you let us believe you were dead? Why didn't you come back? Why are you behaving like this?"
Flora had no decent answer to any of these questions. Yeah, she could lie, and save their friendship, but she didn't even know if she still wanted to be friends with any of them. So, she just told them the truth.
"Okay, so I'm behaving like this because this is who I am now," she started, ticking Bloom's questions on her fingers, "I didn't come back because I didn't want to." She saw everyone's expression change as she said that, but decided to ignore it. "And, I let you believe I was dead because I wanted you to stop looking for me."
Yes, she conveniently left out one question. She hoped none of them noticed.
"Why did you leave?"
Dammit!
This time it was Layla who spoke. Layla, with whom she was closest. Layla, who looked like she might cry. Flora briefly flicked her gaze to Helia. This whole time he never asked her that question.
"Okay, I left because I wanted to, because I needed to. That's it. No dramatic soul-searching reasons. I just wanted to leave. So, I did."
When no one said anything, she continued, "Look, I'm sorry I don't have some magical, forgivable story to tell you guys, but…' she trailed off when she saw tears roll down Layla's face. Flora wanted to scream. Being around her former life made her realize just how much she had actually changed. The old her would have run to comfort Layla. Now, she just felt awkward and uncomfortable.
"Oh, my stars, what happened to you?" This time it was Stella who spoke, "and when did you get so…so…harsh?"
"Yeah, rebellions will do that to a person," she replied sharply.
"So, you survive the death of your whole entire family, remain a nice person, then you ditch your friends, come here, and turn into whatever this is?" Stella said this in one breathe, then started to cry.
Great, another one.
"Okay, we're done here," said Flora, she couldn't take it anymore. She needed to go. She couldn't coddle their feelings like they expected her to.
"No, no we are not," said Bloom angrily, slight flames surrounded her clenched fist.
"First, put your fire away," said Flora, the authority in her voice made everyone halt, "second, I'm not obligated to listen to you anymore."
Musa snorted, "Who are you and what happen to our soft, nice, innocent friend?"
Flora could feel her blood pressure rising. She had really had enough. But before she could speak, Bloom lashed out.
"We looked for you. For two whole years we looked for you, and you didn't even want to be found! We cried and cried and cried for you! You put us through hell and this is the reunion we get?" Bloom roughly wiped away her tears and went on, "Even after all that, we risked our lives and fought for your planet! I even healed you! You know, I used to secretly hope that you were alive. And now that you are, I wish you really did die!"

A heaviness filled the room. Flora didn't know what to say without making things worse. So, she just shrugged her shoulders (she didn't know why), and left without a word.

Helia watched Flora carefully. There were a couple of times when he thought she might slap someone. This Flora clearly had no patience for emotional outbursts. He knew that this would be tough for her, but he did hope that, even though she was different now, she would patch things up with the ol' gang. But all his hopes for that went out the door when she did. And then Bloom turned to him in a fury.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us she was like this? You should have said something!" she said, her voice high with anger.
But before Helia could string a response together, Riven opened his mouth.
"What did you lot expect? Did you not see her beat up Krystal? Obviously, she'd be different. Even her clothes gave away that much."
"So, what you're on her side now? Let me remind you that you almost attacked her after the battle," Musa said, crossing her arms, looking very annoyed.
"I'm not taking sides. And yeah, I was mad at her at first, but I thought it over, and came to the conclusion that what she did is pretty cool"
"I think," Brandon said with a playful smirk, "someone's got a little crush. Helia, watch him."
"What? No! Helia, no! I'm just saying that taking down a psycho queen without magic is very impressive. So is leading a rebellion, then becoming queen overnight."
"Yeah, he's in love," Brandon said.

At this Musa stormed out. Followed by the rest of the girls. Stella, who was the last to leave, smacked Riven upside the head as she walked by.

"Guys, what was that…" said Timmy after the girls, and all the tension, left the room.
"Yeah, we could barely get in a word sideways" Nabu concurred, "I definitely did not expect that."
"What should we do?" Sky asked, running a hand through his blonde locks.
"Nuh-uh, no way am I getting involved in that," Riven exclaimed, shaking his head roughly.
"Dude, you already involved yourself by announcing your love for Flora," said Brandon, a huge grin covering his face, "Helia, seriously though, watch him."
"Wait," Timmy stopped, the conversation, "Aren't you with Musa?
"They broke up yesterday Tim, keep up," answered Brandon.
"It's just so hard," Timmy muttered to himself.
Helia smile to himself as he watched his friends. He didn't realize until now, but he missed them. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Jaryn.
"Okay," he said as he stood up, "let's go get a drink."
"Where are we gonna get drinks in this palace?" asked Sky.
"I know a guy."

Helia had led them to the gardens where Jaryn and the rest of the guys were waiting for them. And as requested, there were bottles a plenty.
"Hey, guys," Jaryn called them over to where he had set up chairs and tables. Mason and Renn were stringing up lights in the trees and in the flower bushes. "We thought we should have a 'yay for defeating a tyrant' party," Jaryn said smiling broadly.
"Yeah, the girls will be down soon too. Why didn't we think of this before?" said Connor as he set down a box of glasses that he had found in the kitchens.
Helia had expected a simple drink with his friend-old and new-but this was much better. Soon, everyone had a drink in their hand, all of them listening to the story of how Helia had found Flora. Even as he spoke it, it sounded unbelievable. After all that time, he found himself in rebel forces, with Flora, of all people, as their leader. It was something out of a novel.
"Why didn't you go after her today?" asked Riven, after Helia ended his story.
"That's what you're most curious about?" said Sky, rolling his eyes.
"I just wanna know why you didn't follow her."
"She doesn't need me to placate her. if she wants to talk, she'll talk," was Helia reply. There was a time where he would have just run after her, but he knew she needed space, knew that if he followed her out of that study, she would brush him off, say that she was fine. So, he would wait for her to talk to him if she needed to.
"She certainly is a whole knew person. Seeing her fight like that made me a little dizzy," said Timmy as he sniffed his whiskey.
"Scarlet is one of the best fighters I have ever seen," said Mason, "Oh look, there they are."

They guys turned to where Mason looked. The girls were walking toward them, Meg dragging Flora by the arm.
"Sorry we're late, we had to find this one" she said. Flora just rolled her eyes, and accepted a glass from Helia. She knocked back the gold liquid like water.
"What are you…," mused Nabu. Even Helia looked awestruck. Flora just shrugged as she found a seat next to him.
"Should we call the other girls… your friends from before, Scar?" asked Kala, her pink hair her catching the light prettily.
"NO." All heads turned to Riven. "They just gonna be all emotional and probably gonna argue with everyone. So, no."
"Okay then…" Kala then drifted away to a table filled with snacks.
"So," started Flora, pouring her second drink, "catch me up. What's everyone been up to?"
"I can sum that up real quick," said Brandon, standing up. He cleared his throat and began.
"Sky and Bloom are king and queen, Tecna is a game designer, Timmy is an engineer, Nabu is still a prince, Layla is filling in for her sick father," he took a breath and went on. "Musa, the singer, and Riven, the Red Fountain teacher, broke up yesterday, and Stella and I are waiting for her father's permission so we can get married."
As he sat down, Riven pulled his chair from under him. Brandon landed with a thump on the grass.
"What the hell!?" he barked at Riven as everyone laughed as he rubbed his behind.
"That's for telling everyone Musa and I broke up!"

Flora smiled as they argued. Apparently, Musa and Riven were an on and off thing, and currently they were off because Riven didn't like Musa's latest album. As she listened to the rest of the conversation, she suddenly felt like someone was watching her from behind. She turned to the palace behind her, its lights glowing as the night set in. She turned back to the table, trying to shake the feeling off. She turned again toward the palace. She couldn't explain it, but the palace was indeed watching her. She was sure of it. Maybe she was losing her mind, but sometimes, she could swear that the palace walls were whispering to her. It freaked her out. That's why, every night, she crawled into Helia's bed. When he was around, it was easier to ignore the presence of the palace. It was his hand now on her arm, as he asked if he was okay. She nodded, turning her attention back to the revelry before her. She swallowed another drink and aimed for the next one. Maybe she just needed some drinks to sooth her nerves. Yeah, that's what it was, the stress and anxiety of being a new queen was making her hear things and feel things.
That was definitely it.
Definitely.

As the new queen drank and laughed with her friends, the palace watched, its glowing eyes hungry for fresh blood.