From the edge of David's camp, Jester watched Jordan's camp through his binoculars and almost dropped them once he saw Adelaide. Like most people, he'd heard the stories about her – she'd become infamous throughout London as the coward who abandoned her people but this would've been the first time he would've actually seen her.

But the reason why he almost dropped them was because he had been informed that Adelaide had been killed but there she was, alive and well and seemingly the leader of South London crew.

Double shit.

Holding onto the binoculars tighter, Jester quickly made his way through the camp and towards The Dorchester Hotel – David's new main base of operations. Running into the hotel, he immediately sprinted towards David's room only to halt when the door opened.

Instead of it being David like Jester expected it to be; a girl with dark chest level hair stumbled out, the door closing behind her as she almost drunkenly rested against the wall beside the door, completely breathless. Her lipstick and hair were a mess and judging by the state of her clothes – or lack thereof – it was fairly obvious what she was doing in his room.

"Dorothy, you know you're not allowed in there." Jester folded his arms over his chest, trying to keep his eyes away from the girl's bare skin and on her face.

The girl – Dorothy – rolled her eyes, wiping around her mouth with her finger before placing it in her mouth, smirking as she walked slowly towards Jester, her legs wobbling a little. "It's 'Your Majesty' to you, Jester."

Jester kept his feet in place, glaring at Dorothy as she walked towards him. "Sleeping with the King doesn't make you a queen, it doesn't work that way."

Dorothy laughed, pushing past Jester. "You're just jealous because I got to do it before you could, Pan-Head."

After watching Dorothy walk down the hall, Jester finally entered David's room, finding him sitting at his desk with a small glass of whiskey beside him. His shirt was open and in a complete state of disarray, like Dorothy, his hair was a mess and it was once again obvious what had been going on.

Jester swallowed hard, placing the binoculars down on the desk, the sound causing David to look at Jester and quickly move to button up his shirt and try to go into professional mode rather than be a boy who had probably just had the best few hours of his life.

David cleared his throat, moving his chair closer towards his desk. "Ah, Jester, have South London crew arrived?"

"Yes, sir, they've arrived just like you said they would."

David nodded once, his hands flat on the desk. "Who's the leader of the South London crew? Is it that bastard what's-his-name... DogNut?"

Jester shook his head, carefully thinking his next words. "Think of someone worse... think of the only person worse than DogNut. The one who wants revenge for what we did... to her."

David paused for a moment, looking down at his desk before looking back up to Jester, his head shaking. "No... I thought we killed her, I was informed that she had been killed."

"It seems we might have killed the wrong person…"

David gripped his desk, trying to calm himself. "If Adelaide is still alive and the leader of the biggest group in the whole of the city, we need her on our side… bring her in."

~#~

Back at Jordan's camp, the group in front of Adelaide had grown, and even some of the older kids had slowly began to come over. Even after all the time she'd been away, Adelaide still had the power to completely enthral everyone around her with her stories – a skill that never really left her.

As she was speaking, she quickly noticed older kids hanging around at the back of the group of children. She could tell that they were in charge just by looking at them; she guessed that they were the infamous Holloway Crew – the best fighters in North London. She would've said the whole of London, but she knew that although they were good; they were nowhere near as good as South London Crew.

She watched a couple of them walk towards her, mentally preparing herself for formal introductions – something she despised doing. She would've always be introduced the same way; Commander Adelaide of South London, formally North London but left after the death of her friend.

He was more than a friend, he was everything to me. My life, my happiness, the only person who mattered in this world.

"Commander Adelaide of South London Crew?" A voice from behind Adelaide spoke up, causing the scene to freeze completely and turn towards whoever spoke up.

Adelaide's eyes narrowed as she slowly turned around to face whoever said her name, her gaze hardening as she saw who it was. "Fuck you want, Shit-Face?"

"King David is requesting you." Jester almost stuttered out, his eyes wearily looking between Adelaide and her guards. Seeing Adelaide from afar was unnerving enough, but actually being face to face with her was enough to make even the most fearless fighters tremble.

Adelaide rolled her eyes, forcing herself to get up, cringing a little at her tense muscles. "I'll do introductions when I get back, but for now; Twat-Face here wants me to see King Ass-Hat."

"I like her already," a boy with dark and close-cropped hair muttered into the ear of a girl next to him, her dark eyes focused on Adelaide as she nodded. Both of them knew the stories of the infamous Adelaide; half their crew knew her as the coward who left her own people, while the other half knew her as the commander of death.

Adelaide stretched out her muscles and cracked her knuckles, emitting an uncomfortably loud series of cracks, causing a few of the younger kids to cringe a little. "Alright, guys, time to go."

Jester shook his head, taking a step towards Adelaide and stood between her and her guards. "No, no guards or anyone else – just you."

Adelaide's eyes narrowed again, her arms folding over her chest as she took a step towards Jester. "No, no, this isn't a negotiation. They come with me or I'm not going. They have strict orders to protect me at all costs and they will follow those orders, no matter what. If David wanted to see me that badly, he'll have to deal with my guards as well."

Knowing how dangerous Adelaide and her guards were, Jester didn't protest any further and allowed Adelaide to bring her guards with her. He was worried how David would react after finding out that Adelaide had brought guards with her – thinking that David would probably have them removed. But then he'd probably have his head removed as a result.

In the end, Adelaide's guards waited outside the door to David's room while Adelaide went in alone, her hand never quite leaving her sword. One wrong move on David's part and his head would be on the floor quicker than he can say "I'm sorry".

"Adelaide, you're looking as lovely as always," David smiled in Adelaide's direction, a hand reaching out towards her.

Adelaide rolled her eyes, her arms folding over her chest. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Twat-Face. If you called me here to suck your dick, you're both shit outta luck. You're about a year too late for that crap. Now, why did you really want to see me? Because I'm guessing that fawning over me wasn't on the plan."

David looked at his hand for a second before dropping it, awkwardly placing it back by his side. "Yes well, I called you here to ask if you wanted to join my side – I believe we can help each other out."

Adelaide remained quiet for a few moments, almost thinking over his offer, her eyes narrowing a little before answering. "No."

David frowned, taking a single step towards Adelaide. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean 'no', do you want to hear it in German? Nein! I do not want to join your side, David."

David's eyebrows raised a little as he took more steps towards Adelaide. "If I remember correctly; they cast you out. They don't accept you as one of their own anymore, but if you join my side, we will accept you."

Adelaide shook her head, also taking a few steps towards David, keeping her arms folded across her chest. "Clearly, you haven't heard the stories correctly; I left at my own accord. They didn't cast me out, I left and now they see me as a traitor. There's a difference."

Their faces were inches apart from each other now, and David could feel Adelaide's hot breath on his face. Properly looking at her, he could really see how much she had changed over the year since he'd last seen her. The dark circles under her eyes and various cuts and scars that littered her face made her appear to be almost a completely different person than the original girl who had slapped him across the face.

She was still pretty, though.

Well, not as pretty as Dorothy but still pretty all the same.

David tried to cup Adelaide's face but before he had the chance to touch her, she grabbed his arm and forced him to the floor, a foot on his chest to hold him down. "If you dare try to touch me or even look at me in that way again, I will not hesitate to send a team of warriors to your room and you will not just be killed, your head will be removed and used as a drinking cup, your blood will be taken and used as war paint and the remainder of your cold, lifeless body will be used as bait for the Revenant. Do I make myself clear?"

David didn't say a word as he nodded his head; for the first time in what seemed like forever, he actually feared for his life.

"I'll see myself out." Adelaide removed her foot off his chest and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "Next time I see that prick, I swear to god I'll kill him," she muttered under her breath as she walked down the hallway.

Note

Adelaide is so done with David's crap by this point; her hatred for him only grows. I will write about what David and Jester did to Adelaide in a future chapter – all will be revealed soon.

The addition of the Dorothy character may or may not be made clear in another chapter – or another story; we may never know which. We're not going to talk about that scene, okay? It happened and we will never talk about it again. Although we can talk about pan-head.

Until next time;

Lorna.