Keira's eyes remained fixated on the center of the Goddess's pond as she began to slowly rise to her feet, almost has if she was stuck in a trance. Everything around her seemed to become still. Even the sound of the guards searching throughout the forest for her began to go silent, becoming replaced by her subconscious beckoning for her to enter the water.

"It's your only option… You have no choice…" It told her.

She took a look back at the opening in the trees leading out towards her kingdom.

"I'm sorry Mother… Father…" She whispered. "Your way of life just isn't for me…"

Closing her eyes to prevent the tears forming in them from falling, she turned back towards the pond.

"This is it…"

Taking one final breath of air as the wind flew by she reopened her eyes and took her first step into the water. Returning to her trance like state, everything around her seemed to fade to white as she continued to walk towards her goal. Despite knowing what was to happen when she reached her destination she felt surprisingly calm. Her heart beat at a steady pace and her mind seemed to only be fixated on finally reaching that dream of becoming free. It was within her reach and she was determined to let nothing stop her. That was until she reached the drop off.

Unknown to her, the area surrounding the center of the pond dropped off to much deeper levels than she had planned for. Upon reaching this area of the water her lead foot went straight down into the depths, taking her with her. The surprise of this caused her to gasp for air which instead allowed a large supply of water to enter her lungs. She quickly placed her hands around her neck and began to choke allowing her to sink even further. It was then when the reality of the situation began to set in. The belief that her suicide would free her began to fade and became replaced with her new fear of death. She had to return to the surface of the water, even if it meant a life depression. Though weak, she attempted to swim back up to the glimmering light above her only to find she refused to budge. Quickly peering down she saw that her left leg had become tangled in plant life below, preventing her from leaving.

"No!" She attempted to shout only to have another wave of water to rush into her system, weakening her even more.

Knowing it would take too long to remove her leg from its snare; she looked back up and tried once more to swim back up. No luck. She clenched her eyes shut and began to cry, her tears joining the water that surrounded her. Her thoughts shifted to Jack. She shouldn't have ran from him despite his unforeseen anger. Anything he could have done would have been better than the fate she was no forced to endure. Even a life with Edwin seemed better.

Reopening her eyes, she looked back up at the light above and watched as it faded to black.

"…"

"… Keira!..."

"…Keira! Wake up!..."

"…"

"Keria!"

The next thing she knew, Keira suddenly felt a large gust of air enter her. She leaned forward a little and coughed up the remaining water in her system before falling back into what felt like someone's arms. It pulled her close to its body.

"Thank Goddess…" A familiar voice whispered. "You're safe… You're okay…"

She let out a moan causing her savior to pull her back.

"J-Jack…?" She asked as she attempted to identify the figure she saw before her as she slightly opened her eyes.

Her vision was blurry but she could still make out the figure as it nodded.

She tilted her head to the side and faintly made out the area around the pond. "H-how…?"

"I chased after you a little bit after I scared you off…" He answered sounding disappointed with himself. "I knew you would be here…"

She looked as if she was going to speak but instead she took a few more deep breaths.

"What were you thinking?" He asked.

Her current condition didn't prevent her from looking down at the ground, ashamed of her actions. "I… I didn't know what to do Jack… I didn't want to live if it meaning doing so with Edwin…"

Instead of yelling at her like she expected, Jack instead pulled her closer to him again. "I'm sorry I yelled Keira." He began. "It was foolish of me. It's just… Edwin told me that he would hurt you if I tried to help you escape the marriage… I wanted to protect you."

Keira closed her eyes. She had almost let her belief that he no longer cared about her killer her.

He pulled her away again. "We have to leave here Keira."

Her eyes opened wider than last time. "What?"

"It's not safe here." He replied. "If… if you really want to escape you're life… we have to leave this kingdom. I don't know where we'll go but we'll find someplace where we can be safe. I promise."

Her eyes began to wander around as her vision became clearer. He was right. She knew that to leave her life of royalty she also had to leave her home behind.

"Alright." She finally answered.

Carefully, Jack lifted her up in his arms bridal style and began to head into the forest.

"You can rest up at my place tonight." He told her. "We'll leave tomorrow."

Keira nodded her head against his chest to tell him that she understood. They had to leave as soon as they could now, knowing the guards would be increasing their search efforts with her missing. Suddenly she remembered something.

"Before we go Jack," She began in a tired voice. "I have to say goodbye."

"What?" He asked as he continued to walk.

"There's…" Her eyes began to flutter shut. "There's someone… I need to say goodbye to..."

A/N: Oh yes, it's going to get finished, it being this story. If you haven't noticed I went back and heavily revised chapter one. Expect all other chapters to receive the same treatment as this gets closer to completion.