"You deceptive witch!" Han's open hand collided stiffly against her cheek and she whimpered; the blow powerful enough to send her crumbling to the floor like an unbalanced sandcastle.
"Did you really think you could fool me with such a childish ploy!?"
Namine clutched a hand weakly to the sore spot on the side of her face. It had been so hard to even take a few steps, the exertion alone left her breathless. Her heart was still racing, arms still shaking, but a swelling sense of victory was filling her spirit so full to bursting she didn't mind at all.
She gulped down a fresh mouthful of air and tipped her eyes, shimmering, towards the man looming over her.
"Perhaps not. But if I gave her enough time, that's all that matters."
His face twisted in fury as she spoke and she barely had enough time to finish before he was already storming off.
Namine didn't have the energy to chase him. Barely mustering enough to slump against the wall, she felt the cold stone against her sore cheek and sighed. It hurt when he struck her, but it had been so long since she had felt anything that she almost didn't mind. The marble was so refreshingly chilled, the wind a brief whisper through her hair.
She was part of the world again, instead of trapped behind enclosed panes of glass in a world where nightmarish screams and shadows splashed themselves across her vision whenever she tried to turn away. Not a mirage or an illusion. No longer a ghost.
Real.
She never remembered reality to be so...calm. Quiet.
Soon, the only images twisting around her imagination would be those she conjured up while reading from the storybooks of the library.
She huddled into the corner and relaxed into her self-made safe space, finally feeling her rapid pulse slow. In her heart she knew Kairi was going to save him, and then all would be made right again.
How wonderful would it be, to have everyone together, relaxing in the garden over a lazy afternoon? Once she recovered enough, she resolved herself to try drawing it just as she hoped.
Still exhausted, her body forced her into an early slumber all alone, leaning against the empty hallway wall. Namine was willing to go, as her dreams were now of nothing but hope.
Her hair was lightly tickling his nose so he pushed himself closer. Mostly only because he could, but if he was being completely honest it was also because she had such a nice floral scent all he wanted to do was breathe it in. He couldn't quite decide if it was more like roses or raspberry, but either way it was just the right mix of tart and sweet. If he thought about it...really thought about it, he could almost recognize a vague sense of soreness and pain lingering in his limbs, but it was so muted that it didn't even matter any more. Now everything felt so refreshing and peaceful, he didn't ever want to let go of her again.
She was warm, soft, and pretty much every good thing that ever existed, ever.
And more importantly, she was finally back. Every last fragmented piece had finally aligned, just the way he knew her to be. That thought alone was more comforting than anything. Maybe it was just all the compounded relief, but he honestly felt like all he wanted to do now was crash into a deep sleep, holding her tight. No way he would ever have a bad dream again, feeling her heart fluttering against his.
"Sora…?"
Just hearing her calling out his name made his whole throat clench, every part of him shivering in nervous anticipation. So much so, that he almost didn't register that she was trying to ask him something and it took him a moment to find his voice again.
"Y-yeah?"
"It's him again..."
Not quite sure who she was referring to and not exactly looking forward to seeing the answer, he swallowed back a groan and glanced over in the direction she was now focused on. Standing at the other side of the courtyard, hands clenched, face locked in a ferocious scowl was that self important puffin of a Duke who liked throwing cakes onto his carpet when he was ranting on and on about how evil he was.
Perfect timing, like always.
He felt Kairi squeeze him more tightly in response to the sight. Maybe it was a bit of the wrong response, but Sora couldn't help smiling, realizing exactly what that guy was able to see. It was kind of satisfying.
Take that you arrogant windbag. Told ya she cared about me!
Thankfully, Beatrix was still waiting around at the base of the scaffold and moved quickly to intercept Hans should he actually manage to recover from his stupor to take any steps forward.
She took no pause before aggressively spitting out her question. "Where is she?"
Hans' stony expression hardened even further and he grimaced, his eyes still locked in the center of the courtyard. Chilly cold like a surge of bitter winter air, his voice hissed out slowly.
"I commend you for a very clever ploy. The betrayal was an intense surprise. It took me quite a while to realize exactly what was wrong with that little body double, but she was unfortunately unable to replicate that fiery spirit of yours."
The icy atmosphere filled the air even more and Beatrix drew her sword in one swift motion. "If you did anything to her, I will never forgive you for it."
He shrugged. "Were you going to forgive me anyway? I had no reason to hurt the girl, however, so you can stop threatening me with that."
"Where is she!?"
"How should I know? Back where I left her, I suppose. Weak thing could barely even walk anyway."
Beatrix tore off through the courtyard, shoving knights out of the way in her rush. Sora had no idea who they were talking about, but assumed it must have something to do with Namine to have her acting so rashly. He felt the hairs on his arms bristling. If that was the case, she had better be alright.
There was also something...unhinged about the way Hans was acting. As if he had given up on every false image he had been struggling to maintain. To be honest, Sora knew he probably wasn't in much of a condition to fight this guy at the moment either, so if things got seriously bad it would be, well...bad.
Right. No weapon either. They had confiscated that. And with the onslaught of imaginary daggers being currently slung at him from Hans' eyes, he could only hope they stayed imaginary. Unfortunately at that moment, piling into the courtyard were several uniformed guards that Sora didn't recognize.
Seriously? He brought goons? This guy was starting to get so textbook villain it was ridiculous. All he needed now was some kind of twirly mustache to complete the image. Or a beard.
Sora tried to picture either on the enraged face below and accidentally smiled a bit at how goofy either would look. Which, given the circumstances, probably wasn't the reaction that Hans was expecting.
"Wipe that gloat off your face this instant, you imbecile! It's over!"
"I wasn't gloating, I was just..." Sora cut himself off, realizing he probably shouldn't explain he was actually trying to see if their adversary below looked good with facial hair. "Never mind."
"I know you're thick but how you can possibly smile in the face of inevitable doom is insanity. Just look at what you've done!" Hans gestured furiously over to Kairi, still pressed up against him. "I can't believe you've done this, Princess. You saved your precious little fool, congratulations. And what did it cost? Everything! Perhaps everyone else is too stunned to speak, but someone needs to teach selfish children like you a lesson."
He grandly smacked himself in the chest, rattling the various pins and ornaments of his accomplishments decorating his uniform. "No matter what you want to believe, the laws are still the laws. I am still destined to take control of this mess and now I see I must rule with an iron fist."
Glancing down at the Duke, Riku sighed before offering Sora a slight smirk. "He's almost just as persistent as you."
Sora wanted to give him a little smack for that one, but that would require him to release Kairi's shoulder with one of his hands to do so and he definitely didn't want to do that. He could feel the way she was shaking against him, heart racing despite her face trying to remain steady. The last thing he wanted was to take away any sense of a safe shelter she was seeking.
Kairi gulped down some fresh air and lifted her chin up to face him. To his surprise, she brightened into a pure smile as soft as light streaming through the boughs of a tree, and then reached up to remove his hands off her shoulders herself. He complied, confused, and even a little sad at the sudden lack of her warmth under his fingers.
Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer before she spun to face the Duke who was still slowly ascending the stairs towards them all.
What was once so sweet an expression quickly morphed into the calmest anger he had ever seen. It was like she was holding back all the fury of a stormy sea behind her, the waves at her back billowing and seething with power and rage. All of it reflected in her eyes.
"What do you know of my destiny!?"
It halted Hans in his tracks immediately.
She had such a fire to her that Sora couldn't help but stand in awe, frozen himself. She was beautiful. Absolutely breathtakingly so. And while her father seemed to be too occupied wallowing in his own despair to notice, he didn't want to look away for one second.
"Do you even know why Sora is so important to me?"
Hans rolled his eyes and took one more step up towards her. "Does it even matter?"
"More than you will ever realize."
And while she was still talking to Hans, her beautiful gaze returned back to him. The roaring tide of her furor immediately calmed, her voice once more gentle and comforting. She was so in control, her emotions so powerful and inspiring he nearly forgot to breathe for a moment. And she was looking at him with such fondness it was making his knees weak.
"Sora has risked everything because he wanted me to be able to write my own destiny and be myself."
Like it was on a switch, she focused again back at Hans, the storm once more heading straight for him. "And starting today I am going to follow a destiny that only I decide! Not what anyone else tells me!"
The Duke balked. "What you decide? What makes you think you have a choice?"
Sora opened his mouth to help defend her, but there wasn't any need. She already had it more than covered.
"What makes you think you have any power over me? I want to make myself extraordinarily clear: I will never. Ever. Marry you."
Wow.
Her voice was clear, defiant, and without the slightest whisper of indecision. Her assertiveness making her personality shine. And...just wow. She was really something.
Sora gulped, trying to stay focused and not let his thoughts slip into anything too inappropriate. It was actually harder than he expected. While it was the absolute worst time in the world for it, he couldn't deny how unbelievably attractive she was right then and there.
Unfortunately, Hans didn't seem to think having a voice was a desirable trait in the least, and his face was turning a deeply infuriated shade of crimson.
"You useless girl. You've thrown your whole kingdom away and now without your powers you are nothing but a worthless headstrong brat. Everyone is thinking it!" He flung his arms out towards the silent courtyard, still cluttered with speechless knights gaping at the scene.
"What you need is a strong hand to beat that rebellious streak of yours down. And now that I can, I won't hesitate."
That does it!
Unable to keep silent any longer after that type of remark, Sora glared at him, furious. All his previous joviality nothing but a memory.
"Don't you dare touch her."
He scoffed. "Why does it matter? She's already soiled her one redeeming quality of purity on an idiot like you."
"What!? She's got way more than one-"
Riku stepped out in front of him, shaking his head. "Relax. A guy like him isn't worth getting worked up over. All he's done is just told everyone what a pathetic excuse of a man he is. If he honestly believes a woman thinking for herself makes her useless then he has a lot more than just growing up to do."
Sora couldn't stop the huge grin from spreading across his face. Riku could be so cutthroat it was awesome. Leaning to look past his friend, he noticed that Hans' face was now starting to turn a kind of purpley color.
He wondered how many other hues they could get out of him before the day was over.
"Hurl abuse at me if you like, but it doesn't change the truth! Her purity is all that was important and she's tossed it aside just to have some shameful tryst with an orphan peasant boy."
Riku practically snarled. "The only thing shameful here is you. Who are you to judge anyone's worth based on birthright alone?"
"I don't care what you think! You are a traitor to the Gardens and the throne!"
"Everyone stop it!" Kairi's commanding voice once more rang out, and everything fell to silence.
She nodded briefly over towards the two knights next to her, mouthing a silent thank you before turning again to address the allegations being slung at her like mud.
"Not that it should even matter, but I want to establish something, at least." She marched over towards the prison warden, still standing in shock on the other side of the platform and snatched his water pouch from off the clip of his belt. The warden stuttered and blinked at the action, not sure why she was borrowing his canteen of all things.
Spinning back around on her heel, in one smooth motion she untwisted the cap of the pouch and poured the contents down onto her open palm. It took no time at all for the gentle trickle of water to light up and sparkle as it poured over her fingers. The bright stream shimmered, tumbling to the ground like falling silk.
"Sora has not stolen a thing from me. He has only made my light stronger."
And for the third time, Hans' face changed color. Or rather, drained completely of it.
"I-impossible...you can still..." His befuddlement didn't last long, and rage soon consumed him again. "Regardless! We still have a contract! I passed your test already! It has been writ and marked with the royal seal so I will still be-"
Kairi cut him off. "If I recall, the request and condition for my hand that I established at the ceremony was for the completion of an Adventurer's Trial. That you must finish a task that I deemed valuable. My initial request was to free my trapped memories. Then, when this was debated, I offered a secondary trial. But I never withdrew my primary request. You, Hans, were who I reluctantly awarded as completing my secondary task, but you most definitely were not the one who passed the first. As such, I consider the contract you speak of utterly void."
"You can't do that!" Hans spit in her direction, thankfully falling short. Wild-eyed, he spun to face Ienzo who was watching from the balcony with a distantly curious look on his face.
While he didn't seem emotionally involved, his face looked as intrigued as an average theater-goer staring contemplatively at the latest drama being performed on stage.
"Surely this isn't allowed!? It isn't true! I passed the test!"
Ienzo shrugged, held up a finger for silence and slowly ruffled through some pages of a massive tome.
"From what I can see...she is indeed correct in her recollection. As it is written in the records, she refused to withdraw her initial plea, and offered a secondary alternative."
Sora tried not to cheer out loud.
"However..." Ienzo continued, his eyes scanning the page intensely. "In the matter of the engagement contract being void...unfortunately the Duke is correct. It cannot be altered without express permission from the King."
That's...not good.
Hans smirked, but Kairi didn't look any less resolved.
"I don't care what it says. I refuse to do it. Father! Surely you don't agree with him? For once can't you at least see that maybe the rules are wrong!?"
All eyes locked on the still forlornly slumped figure of the king on his throne. Weakly, he clutched at the edge, his shaking fingers wrapping around the armrest like it was the only sturdy thing for him to cling to.
He slumped to the left, then sagged to the right like an unstable sack of potatoes someone had tried to balance upright but gave up half way, threw their hands in the air and said 'close enough'.
Sora wasn't sure how much hope he should have for the King to be reasonable, considering how hard-headed he had been about everything related to Kairi in the past, but he couldn't help but have that sliver of optimism inside.
"Your mother always told me the same. She said you were capable of so much more than the traditions had laid out for you. But I was...afraid."
His shivering face lifted itself up from his chest, and Sora was shocked to see genuine tears streaking across it.
"I thought if you were allowed to follow that spirited heart of yours that it would only lead you to the same ruin as her. I only ever implemented the rules so harshly after that because I never wanted you to be as lambasted as her memory. I pushed my own beloved daughter away, watched her grow from afar, all because I thought it would protect her."
Straightening on his throne ever so slightly, he gestured for Ienzo to hand him the previously signed writ in question. He glared at it for a moment, before lifting it up to display to everyone in the courtyard below.
"It seems those efforts were all folly. This decree is only a reminder of how misguided I've been."
The King's eyes bore straight into him, but Sora dared not look away, not even for a second.
"Despite my efforts she instead chooses a boy so utterly defiant to the law that he would dare call me a...Ienzo, what was it that he shouted back at me on the day we began the engagement proceedings?"
Ienzo sighed heavily. "He called you a sour pickle, sire."
"Indeed."
Cringing, Sora vaguely recalled doing that. But it was for a good reason! Kairi had been really upset and her father wasn't listening to her at all...
"It was my first exposure to a rebellious and defiant streak that he has repeated time and time again, even as it took him directly to the gallows. Never in my life have I seen such absolute loyalty."
Wait...was that...a compliment?
"Following her heart, my daughter has not been greeted with scorn and disdain as I had feared, but has been welcomed with devotion and respect. It is obvious that I was mistaken. I cannot possibly repair the damage that has been done, but I will not impose my error any further."
In his very first act of defiance of his own rules, with vigorous rage, the King ripped the ceremonial writ to pieces.
"To the Galbadian Duke who wished to become King, kindly leave my daughter alone. Your presence is no longer welcome."
But he wasn't yet done. He reached up and similarly tore the royal crown from off his head, clenching it with shaking hands. Sora wasn't sure how delicate the thing was, and was actually a little concerned it would be crushed beneath his trembling grip.
"Kairi. You have grown into everything you need to be. May my last act as King be something worthy of being a father."
He extended his arm and without a moment of hesitation released the very symbol of his power. It clattered to the ground, the sound of metal upon stone echoing down to the courtyard below.
It bounced, clanged, rattled, and fell quiet.
Tears streaked down Kairi's face as she focused up at the face that had brought her so much abject terror for so many years. And while everyone else was staring horrified at the empty place on the King's head, she was absolutely glowing.
"Y-you called me..."
"With this, I abdicate my power. When you choose to take up the crown for yourself, my daughter, I look forward to seeing what future you bring."
With shaking hands, Namine nervously lifted up her sketch paper for everyone else to see. "It isn't very good, but..."
It was her first drawing that she could really claim as her own. The first one that wasn't scrawled by fever dreams, with the nightmares pulling her hand across the page.
Kairi leaned forward to get a closer look. It was a bit childish, certainly, but every shaky streak of color breaking free from the lines had a spirit to it that almost made the smiling faces of the figures depicted somehow even more genuine.
"I love it." Even though it was just a rough sketch of them all sitting under a tree by the sunflower field, it made her feel calm just looking at it. "It's a new beginning."
It was subtle, but she definitely felt Sora's hand giving her own a slight squeeze as she spoke.
Riku nodded his approval silently, and relaxed back into his chair, looking quite comfortable against the cushions. While Sora also seemed just as happy to see her artwork, there was a twinge of regret still lingering behind his eyes.
"Namine...I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your drawings." He gave Kairi's hand another soft pulse. "I...I'm really sorry it took so long to help you and I can't thank you eno-"
"It's all in the past now." Namine lowered her art back down to the table and lightly prodded one of her pastels, rolling it back and forth across the tabletop. "Besides, I can't remember any of it even if I try. It's like I've been asleep this whole time. And if I close my eyes..."
She followed through with the action, contemplating her next words in silence.
"In the darkness I vaguely remember the feelings. Like it was all nothing but a dream. At the very least I remember that you, Sora, were like a spot of sunshine among that emptiness. So please don't apologize."
He gaped a little at her words before once more retrieving his relieved smile from where it had been hiding.
"You're right. We are all here, so let's make something great out of the future."
"Um...speaking of everyone..." Kairi interjected, glancing about the small room. The walls that were once littered with horrific drawings had been triumphantly all torn down, leaving nothing but shreds behind, still pinned up under the small silver tacks once fastening them up. But there was no sign of the former general, or the mysteriously magical woman who had helped set their memories right.
"Are Ellone and Beatrix-"
"Oh!" Anticipating her question, her cousin gestured gracefully back down the hallway towards one of the adjacent rooms. "Yes, they are both back there. Ellone still needs her rest, but also has been trying to eat a little something every few hours to get her strength back."
Sora sprung up out of his chair, his concern obviously trumping his previous relief. In doing so, he unconsciously released Kairi's hand from his grasp and she felt a sorrowful pang at the sudden cold emptiness his departure left behind.
"Is she going to be alright?" Sora rushed over to anxiously peek around the corner into the room as long as he was able before Beatrix shooed him away from the doorway. In her hand was clenched a dirtied bowl of soup, picked clean.
"Deep in slumber now, but considering her condition it is no surprise. Just leave her be for now."
"R-right..."
Sora shuffled backwards to allow the general to pass, giving a short worried glance back at the shut door next to him before following her to the main room.
Beatrix turned a pointed look over towards the tired group gathered at the table. "And speaking of resting..."
Everyone had been through quite an ordeal, and it was starting to show as the evening hours grew later. There was also still so much that hadn't yet been resolved. Despite the excited hum of change in the air, the adrenaline was starting to wear thin. Namine first relented to the suggestion with a nod.
"I know everything is still up in chaos. There are plenty of rooms in this wing, so if any of you would like to stay here please feel free."
Namine placed her hands on the table to steady herself as she tried to rise up to her feet. Beatrix rushed over to help, but she was rejected with a stern shake of the blond's head.
"I can do it."
Her arms were shaking with exertion, her legs trembling just the same. It took her a while and obvious effort to straighten, but she eventually managed. Namine's face was flushed with joy at the simple action and Kairi couldn't help but feel fluttering pride in her cousin and everything she had managed to struggle through.
So proud that she couldn't help it, and rushed to give her cousin a quick embrace. Kairi still only had a handful of hugs to compare it to, but Namine was certainly different. Her body felt so thin and frail that it was tear-wrenching. All she wanted to do was donate some warmth, even for a moment. Given time, she knew it would all be okay. With Beatrix to help her, that was almost assured.
"Tomorrow, let's go out into the flower fields. Just like in your picture."
Sighing into the hug, she could feel her cousin nodding against her shoulder.
"I would really like that."
And soon thereafter, the room was down to just three. Riku looked like he was nearly about to nod off in his chair, which was sweet in its own way. She had never really seen him look tired before, or let much of his guard down, really. It was as if he was finally feeling comfortable enough now around her to shed those last few walls of formality he had built around himself.
She glanced back over at Sora who was anxiously tapping the tip of his boot against the floor and shifting around as if he wasn't quite sure if he should stand, sit, stay where he was, or go back over to her.
But one thing was quite clear.
"Everything is going to be different now, isn't it?"
Riku scoffed a bit from the chair, leaning his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "That's an understatement. It's strange being able to drop all these pretenses that have been practically hammered into our heads since forever."
"Pretenses? You mean taboo things like this?"
She rushed over and gave him a quick little squeeze around the arm and he nearly choked in surprise, wobbling in the chair.
That definitely wasn't going to get old fast.
Finally recovering, Riku rolled his eyes and sighed, trying not to smile at her impulsiveness. "Yes, that."
Beaming, Sora continued tapping his toe on the floor anxiously. "So, uh...I guess I already got my hug earlier, huh?"
Still riding high on excitement, Kairi stuck her tongue out at him and giggled. "Trust me, I've barely even gotten started with you."
He immediately flushed and started to fidget with his sleeve as if now he couldn't figure out where to even put his arms. "Y-you haven't...w-what, uh...what were you planning, then?"
Groaning, Riku covered his eyes with his hand. "Seriously?"
Lifting himself up out of the chair, he strode over to give Sora a hearty thump on the shoulder and cast a cautionary eyebrow raise at Kairi as well. "You two better watch it. Am I going to have to babysit you both constantly from here on out?"
"Maybe just a little..." Still giggling, she lightly pranced over close to Sora's stammering form and reached up to finally brush her fingers through those bouncy spikes of hair. They were just as flouncy as she thought they would be. She gave them another flick and couldn't stop smiling. Oh, so satisfying.
Sora, meanwhile, looked as if his mind was spluttering on and off like a fire about to fizzle out completely. He kept trying to formulate a sentence but was tripping himself up every time, only managing a constant, goofy smile amid his jabbering. From only his words, or lack thereof, she wouldn't have been able to understand much, but the look of his face matched with his ever deepening blushing told a very different story.
He definitely liked it.
"Ugh..." Riku coughed and spun to face the other direction. "Any more of this and I swear I'm out of here."
Paying his words little heed, she relaxed forward against Sora, resting her arms up over his shoulders. The feel of him against her skin tickled slightly and she soaked the sensation up eagerly.
"There is still so much I want to ask. I want to know everything."
Sora's eyes were absolutely locked on hers and he nodded back to her as if mesmerized. "Y-yeah, of course."
It was wonderful not to hear Riku protest about her curiosity, either. Still excited at the very notion of learning all the secrets that had been long kept from her, she practically skipped as she grabbed both of her knights by the hands and dragged them back towards the back balcony overlooking the flower fields.
She had no idea what time it was now but it was late enough in the evening that the cicadas had long since quieted down and the stars and moon shown at them with such brilliance that they almost illuminated the shadows of the sunflowers lightly swaying in the summer breeze. As dry as the grass was now from the lack of rain, she lead them over to the greenest patch of it and dropped right down onto her back to stare at the sky above, urging them to lay next to her.
Sora flopped himself down without pause, but Riku resisted slightly, glancing back over towards the room they had just come from.
"Look, I appreciate the invitation but I feel like the two of you have a lot more you need to square away with each other that doesn't involve me. So I think I'm going to-"
One look at her pouting face and he cut himself off, sighing. "You'll be up all night trying to learn it all now. Don't be in such a hurry; you have time."
The pat on her shoulder he gave her was surprisingly much weightier than she anticipated and she nearly tipped off balance from it. There was some serious strength behind those arms of his and she almost started to feel bad now for all the times he had playfully knocked Sora around without nearly as much restraint. It must have hurt!
But the thought also made her realize that Riku was finally starting to treat her the way she had always wanted to be: just like anyone else. Like a friend. The thought alone made keeping a guilt-inducing frown on her face impossible. Being able to experience such a brotherly gesture was...touching.
"You're trying to escape, aren't you?"
Chuckling, he gestured to the drawing room with his thumb. "Nah. If you need me I'll be back there."
He then gave Sora a thin smirk. "And you. Behave. If I hear anything suspicious… you'd better get ready to start running."
Sora groaned and flopped onto the crunchy grass. "You're awful."
Ignoring his friend's irritation, he gave Kairi a playful wink. "Keep an eye on him. If he starts getting too fresh just give me a shout."
"Stooop..." Trying to cover up his rapidly reddening face, Sora slapped his hands over his eyes.
As he wandered back to the room, Riku offered a lazy wave and one final warning, mixed in with his laughter. "Be good!"
In an attempt to make the bundle of embarrassment next to her feel a little better, she brushed at his hair once more, gently tugging at the tips of a few spikes. From under his hands, despite his protesting, she could see a pleased smile peeking out.
"Sora, you didn't mind staying up a bit more to talk, did you? If you're too tired..."
"Of course not!" He shook his head back and forth rapidly, his unruly hair glancing against her arm and it lightly tickled, eliciting a soft giggle from her as she tried to bat it away.
With his face now uncovered, she saw quite a mischievous grin now focused up at her. "You know, I just had a thought."
"Hmm?"
"I bet you're still really ticklish."
He was up to something alright, but she willingly waltzed right into it. She curled the edge of her lips into a slightly coy, knowing smirk.
"Oh? I wouldn't know..."
"Guess we'll have to find out."
Barely, just barely with the lightest touch, he walked his fingers up the side of her arm and she shivered, feeling the light giggle-inducing prickles spread across her skin until they became too unbearable to stand. Squirming, she was torn between wanting to escape the feeling lightly assaulting her, and not wanting to pull away from his touch.
Biting down her her lower lip, she twisted a bit to try and lessen the sensation but eventually couldn't choke down her laughter any longer.
"You'd better stop. I can call Riku over any time you know."
"Uh-huh. But you won't."
There he was, being Mr. Snarky now. He was right, though.
Still not letting up on his playful touches, she finally folded into a submission of giggles, snuggling into his chest with a contented sigh. And what were once tickling motions turned into gentle comforting strokes up and down the backs of her arms.
Having him there was so indescribably wonderful.
"Um, one thing I really need to know...how did you get out of that awful sewer after we were separated? In my memory I s-saw...if I didn't know you made it out I would have sworn you were a-already..."
Despite it being so long ago, the memory was still so fresh to her, and she felt tears slightly welling in the corners of her eyes. Kairi lifted herself up so she could properly wipe away at them with shaking fingers.
Sitting up himself, Sora reached out to her with a comforting hug. He held her close and she refused to resist in the slightest, letting his warmth wash over her.
"Hey, don't worry! It all worked out, right? Though...I couldn't have made it out of there if you hadn't helped me. Your light gave me a lot of strength and hope even when there wasn't much else left. Oh, and my cat friend helped me out too."
She pulled back slightly to stare at him. "Cat...friend?"
His expression made it obvious he wasn't joking. He gave her a serious nod back.
"Yeah. I was still stuck in that dumb cage thing but I made friends with a stray cat after he ended up stuck down there too. We kept each other warm in the dark. Helped each other look out for angry rats together and he would sometimes sneak me a bit of food and stuff. That was before Riku's dad actually found me in-"
"Wait, you don't think..." A very strange thought just occurred to her and she furrowed her brow intensely. "Sora, what did your cat friend look like?"
"Dark gray with this one ear that was kinda bent to the-"
She cut him off again, her heart pounding. "With one foot more black than the others?"
He pondered this for a moment, trying to remember. "I...guess so? It was kinda dark, so I never really got a good look at him. Besides, I lost track of him aft-"
Bursting into sudden laughter, she smacked him on the shoulder. "You are serious, aren't you!?"
Sora blinked back, rubbing lightly at the place she had bopped him, baffled. "Y-yeah, why?"
"Don't you realize what that means? This whole time I should have just listened to my grumpy old cat! I knew there was a reason he liked you!"
To think, that the ever persnickety Doc Berlioz, destroyer of carpets and harbinger of nightmares for every maid in the castle, had actually not only been a friend of Sora's, but a reason he survived such an ordeal as a child. If only pets could talk. It certainly explained all those times he had given the feline playful scritches and received not a single wayward claw in exchange.
Kairi slapped her own forehead, sighing out an exhausted laugh. "Unbelievable. You knew my cat before me."
The situation finally clicked in his head and he gaped back. "Wait, really? It's the same cat? How do you know that?"
"Berlioz was a stray that wandered in after Darkfall. He had an injured ear with a slight bend to it that he's mostly grown out of now but was much more obvious when he was younger. So the description matches. Plus, that little prissy cat is always angry at anyone he doesn't know and you were able to walk straight up to him and scoop him up without thinking about it. How else could you explain that?"
Sora hummed a bit in thought before nodding. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Grinning now, he stretched satisfactorily towards the sky. "Well that makes me happy knowing he ended up in such good care. After all those years I spent looking around for him, turns out he was with you the whole time. Maybe..." His smile broadened. "Maybe he was helping me out. Keeping an eye on you for me."
"Oh, stop it. That's too much. I was the one babying him the whole time."
She twirled a bit of her hair around her finger suddenly feeling quite guilty for all the extra treats and poor behavior she hadn't bothered correcting over the years. Certainly not a good display of model cat parenting.
"Sorry I spoiled him."
For some reason Sora found her statement inordinately funny, even though she was trying to apologize. At least he wasn't angry about it.
She slumped her head forward and flicked at the grass around her ankles.
"It is a bit ridiculous though. All I know just keeps getting turned on its head. It's like everything around me is a lie."
"Hey, don't say that!" Sora reached for her and after brief hesitation, pushed a few strands of her bangs across her forehead so he could stare into her eyes more clearly.
"I'm real, aren't I?"
The little touches of warmth from the ends of his fingertips on her face elicited such a pounding thumping in her heart that she felt like nothing more than an instrument that he was so easily able to make sing with only the slightest effort. She had always thought her heart was far more complicated than that, but perhaps it really wasn't. Not to him, at least.
Her forehead, from her ear tips to her lobes, the nape of her neck: so many places she had never felt the intimate touch of anyone's skin against hers that she yearned to finally experience, and he was wordlessly offering. As he traced his fingers across her, she shivered in the absolute pleasure of it all. His presence was undeniable.
"More than anything."
She only wanted him closer, and the light caresses of his hand were teasing her unbearably. Unable to wait any longer, she wiggled closer towards his chest and nuzzled herself into the soft crook of his neck. She felt him gulp and shiver, clearly also affected by her presence. It was a little empowering to think that she could make someone so strong suddenly flounder just as he had been doing to her.
She loved it.
Before she could relish her position too much, she felt his strong grip pulling her in and her breath was left behind. She heard him humming happily and, as if acting on sheer impulse, she felt him lean back just enough to press his lips against her forehead.
But he didn't linger. As suddenly as it had happened, he once more seized her shoulders to draw her back into the same tight embrace from before.
Eyes widening, she trembled against him. Her mind raced as it tried to process what had passed in just the last moment.
"D-did you—was that a kiss?"
"H-hu...ah..." As if only just realizing what he had done, Sora panicked and relaxed his grip on her shoulders. "I w-wasn't thinking! I'm sorry I dunno why I just-"
"Could you...do it again?" Her voice quivered, barely a whisper. "Please?"
His face lit up like she had uttered some magical password. Gently reaching out to lift her chin, he grinned and planted yet one more kiss on the side of her cheek, just next to her ear. Unlike before, he lingered slightly longer, his breath hot against her skin.
A steadily growing pulse began to beat stronger and stronger within her, warming her from her core outwards. A passionate heat that flickered all the way to the furthest ends of her fingertips. She wanted more.
"Sora…"
While he hadn't changed much since he was young, there was something...markedly different now than the childish pecks on the cheek they had experienced before. It was the same action, but more profound. Like the real meaning behind the gesture finally made more sense than it used to.
"I'm glad you're here." A tempting thought passed through her head and she couldn't help but smile. "And now that I think about it, I never gave you a reward for saving me."
He leaned back a little, clearly confused. "Reward? Where's that coming from? I don't need a-"
Shushing him quickly by pressing a finger over his mouth she gave him a playful wink. "It's how the faerie tales are supposed to go. You completed the special task requested by the princess. So you get to choose a reward and I'll give it, no matter what."
She released her finger with another tiny coy smile, hoping he would understand and read between the lines. Furrowing his brow for a moment, he contemplated her words with a slightly puzzled look before finally speaking up.
"I thought you didn't like traditions."
"Y-yes, well..." She couldn't quite tell if he simply wasn't getting what she was trying to imply or if he was just trying to be playful with her. Did he really need her to come right out and say it? "Just this once it's okay."
"But didn't I already decide? You didn't forget your promise to come rainbow hunting with me, did you?" He grinned back at her and she honestly still couldn't tell his motives. Was this boy trying to play hard to get?
"Of course I didn't forget that. So...um, in that case you get two rewards, then."
He hummed a bit and tipped his head to the side, still smiling. "I don't think that's how it works."
"Since when did you start caring about what the rules have to say, hmm?" Leaning as close as she could, she gazed up at him, hoping her eyes could do the talking for her. She fluttered them sweetly.
"What is the one thing your heart wants right now?"
She accented each word slowly, making sure he could feel her breath on him. Slight cracks started to form in his carefree demeanor, as she saw color start to rise back up into his face.
He swallowed.
"I-I uh..."
"Please? Be honest..." She giggled, making sure to accidentally brush her fingers against his in the grass. If he had been trying to tease her earlier, she was going to make sure to dish it back to him tenfold.
He was definitely trembling, his gaze trapped under her spell despite the rapid flushing of his cheeks.
"K-Kairi..."
It still felt wonderful to hear him use her name. And this time the almost winded way it tumbled from his lips only made her heart flutter even more.
"Mm?"
She could feel his hand gripping the side of her shoulder. His thumb began tracing tiny circles along the sensitive inner skin of it, lightly tickling her again and her whole body hummed. "I really want to say, but..."
Oh? Was her little rule breaker getting cold feet now? That certainly wouldn't do.
"But what?"
He sighed and rubbed at the side of his neck with a half-hidden smile. "Well...I'm really not looking forward to having Riku chase me down with a bucket of water or something."
It would be adorable if his delay wasn't teasing her something horrible.
"But that's what I've been trying to tell you! I'm offering you a special reward. No one could possibly complain about that. And if they do give you a hard time..."
She lowered her voice to barely a whisper, and leaned in close to his ear, letting her lower lip just barely brush against it. "I'll just have to kiss it all better."
He gulped again and she pulled back to where he could see her. Tauntingly moistening her lips, then giving them a tender bite, she was doing everything in her power to weaken him.
And it was clearly working. She could feel his breathing, still warm and sweet against her, start to quicken.
"If you keep this up I'm not sure I can hold back any more."
"Then don't-"
Kairi had once heard of a legend of a flower so rare that it would only bloom under the light of the moon, in the presence of love so sweet it could coax the petals out from their slumber. Pondering it, she always wondered how such a thing, if it existed, could have evaded confirmation for so long and still remain only a legend.
Now she seemed quite sure of the answer. The simple truth was, anyone meeting the right conditions to see such a bloom would simply be far too distracted to ever even notice it was there.
She cuddled up against his shoulder, loving the weight of his arms around her back as she lay across him.
"To think...this was supposed to be my wedding night. I'm glad I can spend it with much better company instead."
Chuckling in response, he gave a playful shrug back at her. "You mean that firefly over there? I agree, he's good company. Great dancer."
Ugh, such eye-roll inducing banter. He had a knack for that. And even though he was snarky sometimes it was a nice complement to his unending sweetness. She bopped him on the nose.
"You goof."
She wanted nothing more than to keep talking. To have time freeze still for them to finish all that they needed to say. But as the hour grew later, her vision began to drowsily blur. She did her best to stifle a yawn. Surely soon they would have to head back inside. Say goodnight. Separate.
Such a horrible notion.
"I can't help but remember all the nights we used to spend like this. Sleeping on the ground, looking up at the stars." She snuggled back down to the little space into his neck that she found to be so utterly comfortable earlier, wanting to delay their inevitable parting.
"I don't want you to leave me ever again. Not even for one night. Can we just stay like this? Fall asleep right here?"
To her relief, he didn't argue at all. He clutched her close and laughed in that wonderful cheery way she had grown to love.
"I think...I'd like that too."
Like a lazy butterfly, she fluttered in and out of the realm of dreams, her only anchor to reality was the steady thumping beat of his heart under her ear. Whenever the sound of it escaped her, she clutched for him, mumbling in barely discernible phrases for him to remain close by her side, no matter what.
As the embrace of sleep pulled her in, with his warmth all around her, she heard his voice softly whispering in her ear.
"I'm staying right here. I promise."
Morning came with a thick rolling fog, and heavy overcast that obscured the dawn sun as it peaked beyond the distant horizon. While the evening had been so wonderful, the morning felt strangely ominous. Kairi glanced up at the heavy cloud cover and shivered, trying to suppress the feeling of dread that was sweeping over her. What could it possibly be that had made her so uneasy? Just to reassure herself, she snuggled back down against Sora as he continued to doze.
"Mmnnuning?" He tried mumbling something in his barely conscious slumber but the meaning wasn't entirely clear.
While she wanted to give him an answer she wasn't sure what to say. So instead, she gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.
He grinned, eyes still closed, and uttered more sweet nothingness in his stupor. How was he so impossibly cute all the time? She was a little glad he was still asleep because it allowed her to stare all she wanted without having to properly explain herself.
"Finally awake?"
She nearly yelped but managed to catch herself at the last moment, clamping a hand down over her mouth. Embarrassment washed over her, particularly as she realized she had no idea how long Riku had been leaning up against the wall watching. He really had a frustrating tendency to sneak up on her.
"Good morning..."
He tipped his head. "And presumably was a good night for you two, I take it."
"You're...not upset?" She asked hopefully, keeping her eyes downcast and bracing herself for the answer. At least it didn't look like he had brought any buckets with him.
"Depends."
Uh-oh.
He crossed his arms. "Are you happy?"
"Yes, of course I-"
"Then, no."
She relaxed back with a sigh. It was like he enjoyed getting her worked up just as much as he liked sneaking.
Sora moaned slightly at the noise and shifted, rolling a bit onto his side and reaching lazily out, only stopping when he bumped into her. She let him wrest control over her own arm which he eagerly cuddled close to his body. Even though it seemed to be a conscious action, judging from his breathing he was still quite deeply asleep.
Not hiding his smirk in the slightest, Riku turned to head back inside. "Either way, wake that lump up and let's get some breakfast. It's probably going to be a busy day."
"Wait, um...I wanted to ask. This morning, do you also feel..."
"Feel what?"
"...uneasy?"
He tipped his head towards the heavy cloud cover for a moment, pondering. "Yeah. But we can discuss it later."
It took a bit of effort for her to rouse Sora from his slumber and regain control of her own arm, but the moment he was awake enough to realize he had stolen it from her he released it in a panic, apologizing.
"It's okay. If it gives you nice dreams I'll lend it any time."
Sora sighed and itched at the back of his head, embarrassed but clearly happy. "Well...I dunno if it's because of that, but I definitely had the best sleep I've had in a long time."
"Mm-hmm..."
She knew that breakfast was waiting, but maybe it would be okay to hold out just a tiny bit longer. Kairi wasn't quite ready to let this moment pass.
When the two of them finally made it back into the drawing room, everyone, including Ellone, were already seated at the table munching on a few simple breakfast offerings. Kairi tried to greet the sorceress, but she was staring absolutely transfixed out the window and seemed unaware of anyone's presence. She felt a twinge of bashfulness realizing that she might have been able to see her and Sora giving each other their morning...greetings.
"She's been like that since dawn, quietly talking to herself. Something about seeds sprouting." Beatrix's response was concise like always, and also made no mention of anything being particularly out of the ordinary. Or maybe the former general had just decided to file the whole situation away in her 'not my business' folder.
While Ellone was looking much better than when they had first met, Kairi was still concerned at her overly gaunt appearance. It would take time for her to heal, naturally, but it was still painful to see.
Sora also gave Namine a warm morning greeting, not looking the least bit anxious that anyone had been spying on the two of them outside or possibly gossiping about what had happened last night. Cheerily, he went over to the window next to Ellone's chair.
"What are you looking at?"
The fog made it quite hard to see too far, but he tried to squint out into it anyway. Kairi expected that he would eventually give up and come to join everyone else at the table, but after a minute when he didn't show signs of coming over she glanced back to see what was wrong.
"...Sora?"
"I think something...kinda human-shaped is out there."
Riku reacted first, joining his friend at the window, sweeping the curtain to the side to get a better look.
"He's right. Looks like whoever it is is walking this way."
Feeling the dread in the pit of her stomach grow heavier, Kairi slowly rose from her seat to go check herself. Steadily, details in the figure in the distance began to fill in. It was definitely male, dressed in a castle knight uniform but that was all she could make out before she heard Sora exclaim next to her.
"Oh!" To her absolute surprise, Sora suddenly burst into a wide smile and charged towards the door. "I don't believe it! He's gonna be so excited when I tell him!"
She rushed after him, grabbing for his hand before he could dart off into the foggy garden beyond. "Wait a minute! Who-"
"It's okay! He's a friend of mine."
That didn't tell her too much. Sora was friends with just about everyone. But taking his word for it, she released his hand and let him run towards the figure slowly approaching from the garden.
The closer he walked, the more details in his face she could discern. Something was vaguely familiar about the scowling face set under the dirtied blond hair. She must have seen him somewhere before, but couldn't place where.
However, something confused and alarmed her even more than not knowing where she had met him. There was a growing sense of impending dread that seemed attached to the blond's shoulders. Like a parasite, clinging to his back. The closer he strode to her, the more she wanted to back away. Every fiber of her being wanted to scream out for Sora to stay away from him. She clung to the edge of the door frame, watching.
Her voice nervously squeaked in her throat and she swallowed.
Calm down. They're friends. ...right?
"Seifer!"
Sora raced over, but his friend didn't even change his pace as he continued his slow steady march towards the room. In fact, he barely even seemed to register he was there at all. Seifer was only staring hypnotically at the doorway. Towards her.
It wasn't until Sora stepped right in front of him to block his way that the other knight finally flicked his eyes over in his direction and huffed.
"Hey, so I dunno what you are here for but there's actually something really important I need to tell you. It's abo-"
"Move."
Sora laughed, somehow not bothered by the markedly unfriendly remarks directed towards him. "Yeah? Well good morning to you too!"
"Shut up."
The raw aggressiveness in his voice made Sora falter slightly. "Er, I would, but this is important. While you were gone on leave a lot of stuff happened, and..."
Seifer's face twisted in irritation and he shoved him forcefully out of the way to continue on towards the door. Possibly realizing that droning out a whole soliloquy in the garden first thing in the morning wasn't going to work, Sora decided just to shout out after him.
"It's about your sister! Ellone is alive."
Wait, what?
She knew Ellone had a brother, but she had no idea he was a knight. Let alone someone Sora actually knew.
Just like her, Seifer immediately froze still. "What did you just say?"
"She's...Ellone is here. She's right in there and-"
Stomping his foot into the grass, Seifer snapped his head to glare directly back at him. "And you expect me to believe that? Honestly?"
Sora pointed over towards the window where Ellone could still be seen staring out from the other side. "I know it sounds kind of impossible, but go look for yourself."
Starting his forward march again, Seifer approached the door and Kairi scrambled to get out of the way, feeling an intense urge to vomit. She hadn't felt this sick since her day terrors, but surely she should be long past those now. Everything felt heavy and light at the same time.
Worried, Sora walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It was a welcome anchor.
"What's wrong?"
Wordlessly, she just shook her head and kept her eyes fixated on Seifer who was now staring intensely at the sorceress by the window. Not sure what else to do, Sora gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she cuddled up against his arm, trembling slightly.
Something had her really spooked. Maybe she was just nervous for Ellone's sake? She honestly didn't know what was going on within her heart right now.
She didn't know much about this other knight or his history, and she had no idea how much he had missed of the previous days events, but at the very least she expected him to have a few questions.
What she didn't expect was for Seifer to burst into laughter, doubling over, gasping for air.
While it could have been in his personality to do such a thing, judging by the stunned reactions of everyone else in the room, she figured that wasn't very likely.
Beatrix was also starting to look increasingly uncomfortable herself, and shifted over to stand closer to Namine, who was blinking in confusion over a bowl of porridge.
Ellone wasn't even reacting to her long lost brother. She kept staring out the window, eyes wide.
"Sprouting seeds, roots running deep...corruption lingers, no longer asleep..."
What was going on this morning? The air was saturated with ominous heaviness, like before a storm. A thick layer of silence, cut through with the sound of twisted howling laughter, bouncing off the walls. Everyone watched, stunned, as the knight worked himself up so hysterically he was almost in tears.
When he had finally recovered enough, Seifer smacked his hand down hard on the table nearby. "What a joke."
Still mostly speechless, Sora tried his best to respond. "It's not a-"
Seifer's mood immediately snapped. Snarling, the knight grabbed for the end of a nearby empty chair and ripped it backwards, sending it clattering to the floor.
"That thing is not my sister."
Kairi gasped, clamping her one free hand down over her mouth. The other she kept clutching onto Sora's arm, petrified. Similar astonishment swept though everyone else in the room.
It made sense for Seifer to be confused, even doubtful, but to say something so...hurtful, so cruel. She shook, desperately suppressing the urge to shout back.
Sora took the initiative, his voice barely a croak. "Y-you...you can't mean that. She's been through so much and I know it's hard to see but surely your heart can recognize her? Maybe just try talking to her."
His kind suggestion was met with a cold stare. Then, Kairi watched the knight's eyes slowly shift down and to the left, settling on her for a moment before twitching back to Sora.
"Do you remember what I told you? My purpose is to defend true justice, no matter who I must fight. No matter what I must do. I won't let anything get in my way. Not anything."
There was something different and purely frightening in the rage that burned in his expression as he focused down on their clasped hands. "And I see you are just as careless as I predicted."
"A-about this..." Sora dipped his head towards her, lifting their hands up a bit sheepishly. "If you give us a chance to explain, we can fill you in on all the details. But the Gardens are gonna be oka-"
"I seriously doubt that." There was a dark shadow in his smile, that reminded her a bit of the scheming expression she had seen all the time with Hans.
Sora tipped his head to the side, baffled. "Huh? What do you...are you okay? What's gotten into you?"
"Oh, I'm fine." He cracked his knuckles and sneered, turning his attention back to her and taking a few steps forward. "Whatever is for the greater good. That's what you told me. Do you still stand by that?"
It took Kairi a moment to realize he was addressing her. "I, well...of course it is good to try and help as many people as possible, so-"
"Even if the greater good means someone has to die?"
It felt like a trick question. Kairi whinged on her answer, feeling the air grow heavier around her as he took yet another step.
She wanted to hide. She wanted to run.
...No.
She wasn't a pathetic girl anymore who was going to cower in the corner while others defended her. Even if it was dangerous, she wasn't going to flee from anything any more.
With a deep breath, she released Sora's arm, and took her own set of prideful steps towards the knight staring her down with a death glare.
"If I can save someone I will do whatever it takes, even if I must put my own life on the line to do so. I can't say much for hypothetical situations, but I know where my morals stand."
Seifer's smile was dark. Twisted. "Wonderful. I was hoping you would say that."
Like the bursting of a balloon all the air was suddenly expelled from her lungs. She couldn't even scream as she crashed to the floor, not even sure what had hit her. Kairi tried to sit back up, but a surge of pain ripped through her.
It felt like her blood itself was burning. What had he done to her?
All she saw was him raise his arm and then...pain. The room melted around her as she struggled to breathe. She could vaguely hear commotion, and one voice in particular calling out to her.
"So...ra..."
She searched for him, but he was lost in the haze. Too many colors danced around in her vision, so many lights that made the world swim. In the back of her mind she could see it. She could see herself floating at the bottom of the pool of the temple. Why there of all places?
It felt like water was rushing into her lungs, drowning her.
Help.
It hurts.
Something kept pulling her down, below the surface, down, down, deep into a wide cavern filled with darkness that pulsed with malice, screeching at the sight of her. It quivered and clawed at her, digging into her body and ripping through, leaving nothing left.
She felt it all.
Stop, please...
In the back of her mind a voice, dark and full of hatred mockingly taunted her, calling her name, blocking her ears from everything else. It was a creeping thought intrusively peering into her brain, burrowing down into her despite her pleas.
'Together, we must be. I am you and you are me.'
Stop...leave me alone...
'Reconnect it. Reconnect me. Reconnect us.'
She writhed on the floor, unable to control her body. Something thick, almost sticky coiled its way around her, lifting her limp and prone body up into the air. Like a snake, it constricted and she choked, struggling to refocus her eyes. The first thing she saw was Seifer, sneering up at her and something that looked horrifyingly like a pool of blood beneath him.
Whose blood was it?
"W...wh..." As much as she tried to ask where everyone was, she couldn't speak. Her tongue was thick and heavy in her mouth.
Kairi tried to crane her neck to the side, struggling to at least locate them with her eyes. She had to know if they were unhurt, but she could barely move. An inky black vine was growing out of the knight's hand, holding her aloft and trapped in the air.
"There are so many liars out there in the world. So many selfish people who only care about whatever and whoever they can use for their own gain. That's all this farce of a kingdom was built upon. Lies. Deceit. Greed." The vines squeezed her more tightly and she moaned, unfamiliar with such pain.
"What would really help everyone would be for every last one of those vermin to be eradicated. To raze their entire fake world to ash. To start over anew. And now not only are you the rat's queen but you've all but volunteered for the job."
Another tightening pulse of the vine left her crying out once more in agony. Not only was the physical pain intense, the hot burning feeling in her blood continued unabated.
"Can't you feel it calling you? It's time you gave back what you owe. Just consider me an overdue debt collector."
These vines...they were just like the ones in her memory. Just like the plants that had sprouted from those spiny black seeds. Why...how?
"This kingdom is nothing but lies, and I am ready for my true destiny. To bring true justice back to the world. Long live the queen."
His sneering face was all she could see. The only thing in focus in her steadily blackening vision.
"I'm sure you understand. It is for the greater good."
She weakly gasped, struggling. "S-stop this...please..."
His cold voice was the last thing she could hear before everything faded into darkness.
"It can't be stopped. It has already begun."
A/N: Happy Holidays! I had a very busy last month with lots of exams and such, but now that I am on vacation I was finally able to get my notes in order and finish this. Next chapter is already on the way and the story should be all wrapped up and finished soon. If everything goes according to plan there should be two chapters remaining.
As always, I truly appreciate those who have stuck around with me. Seeing comments, even short ones, always makes me feel like it was all worthwhile.
I know I have a lot to improve on, but I'll keep on trying.
-A. Moth