"So, your quote on quote plan is to just… kill Medusa?" Soul questions.
"Essentially, yes," His brother responds. "Blackstar here has informed me that the rest of the guard force can easily take on the rest of the assassins, lock them up somewhere… you know. Medusa on the other hand is a different story. If we dont want something like this happening again in the near future, we need to finish her. She has a strong will, unlike those other assassins. If we leave her she can easily bring together more people and start from square one."
"Can't we just find a way to capture her? She committed a war crime, is that not grounds to have her jailed? If we kill her, we're just doing exactly what our kingdom has always stood for."
With a stony cold expression, Wes scoffs. He rolled his eyes, folded his arms across his chest, and leaned in closer to Soul.
"By doing that, we'd be leaving Eibon to deal with her. She is essentially your mess. She was only driven this crazy because of the torture she endured in Cinder, on your behalf, no mind you. We have to be the ones to finish the job, show that we as new leaders will not stand for the heinous acts she'd committed tonight. If we were to capture her and bring her back to Cinder before our kingdom has basically turned on itself, we will get nowhere. Sometimes you have to make a tough decision for the right reasons."
Soul stares up at his brother in shock.
"I don't want more blood on our hands, but we all can agree that it's for the right reasons. She will never stop until we put an end to her."
On either side of his brother, both Kid and Ragnarok nod.
"I tried talking her down," Ragnarok starts, rubbing at his wrists nervously. "When she caught word that you were here- which i never meant for her to find out- she went ballistic and insisted we take this time to strike. I tried to tell her that it wasn't worth it, that life could move on from just you. She was so damn fixated," Ragnarok shakes his head, taking in a broken breath. "I don't know what they did to her, but she hasn't been the same in years. She thinks that killing you will be the end goal of her misery and its fucked. You saw her- she's willing to do whatever she needs to do to get what she wants now."
"When she came back the first time after going after you, they did some fucked up shit to her," Kid tacks on, "tortured her- killed her family- I don't understand why. They took it all out on her. She has nothing left to lose now and that's where we fall short. We have a kingdom we need to save- thousands of people still counting on us- and whatever you have left here. She's sick in the head and that's not something we can fix anymore."
Soul nods absentmindedly.
"What's the plan from here, then?"
"Now that we're all situated and well-armed, we need to go back to the castle and find Medusa and hope to God that these people from Eibon can hold their own. We're going to have one hell of a mess to clean once this is all done," Wes responds, motioning to the wall beside him where a fair amount of swords and armor lay. "If there's been any casualties, especially those of royal blood, it is on our hands."
"My hands," Soul finds himself reemphasizing. "All the blame lies in my hands."
With a raised eyebrow, Wes huffs. "Glad to know you're self-aware, at least," He murmured, bending at the waist to pull a sword into his hands. "Let's get a move on, we wasted enough time waiting for you tonight."
In sync, Wes, Kid, and Ragnarok make it back down the hallway, already armed and ready for a fight.
Guilt swims in Soul's gut as he turns to Blackstar who stands steadily at his side.
"Go," says Blackstar with no particular emotion, "Go find her and set things right, okay?"
All the resolve he'd been holding together shatters.
Its messy- armor clanking together at awkward angles as Soul pulls Blackstar to his chest. He feels a sob tearing it's way up his chest as he drops his cheek against his friend's shoulder.
"You were one of the greatest friends I've ever had," He wept, his voice shaky. "Thank you for everything. Make sure Kilik knows that I appreciated you two more than you'd ever know."
A hand cards through his hair messily. It's soothing and comforting- but almost intimate. He cant tell which goodbye was harder now.
"Dont fucking thank me, you idiot," Blackstar whispered into his ear, tightening his hold on him as he did. "You were the best best friend I could have ever asked for, even if you drove me crazy."
Soul finds himself pulling away, tears swarming his eyes as he looks to his friend. He knows if he stays a second longer he'll find himself staying. He'll go barreling back into the bedroom with Blackstar's hand in his and gather Maka into his arms, pretending that none of this had ever happened.
He can't do it.
"Take care of her, okay?" He motioned to the closed bedroom door, shaking. "Don't let anything happen to her."
Through his blurry vision, he can still make out the way Blackstar smiles up at him. "I won't let anything happen to her, I promise."
He nods. He doesn't bother to say goodbye as he turns on his heel and takes a shaky step down the hallway. He doesnt think he can bear hearing the words of goodbye spoken, but even then, he stills when he feels Blackstar throw himself at his back, wrapping his arms around his chest shakily.
"I love you, Soul," he utters just loud enough for it to barely be audible. "Goodbye."
Before he can even react, the bedroom door behind him is shutting with a slam.
He's left wondering what the hell that was about and if he should have said goodbye in return.
He's breaking out into a sprint toward the castle- down the all familiar trails he'd been following every morning for the past month to Maka. He'd gotten so used to trodding down the gravel paths with the sun barely just peeking up over the horizon, bathing in the silence of being alone as his heart raced at just the thought of seeing his Princess.
This time, he's not alone, and the sun is not up. The moon is now hanging above them hauntingly and all he could hear around himself were ragged breaths and the stomping of feet.
When they burst through the castle, the hallways are filled with fleeing guests and broken bodies. There's the sound of clashing swords- the sound of a yelp- people screaming as they cram themselves into the hallway.
The four of them struggle to push past the moving crowd, all of whom look up at him like a ghost. He ignores it- holds his head high as he trudges through them toward the ballroom.
WHen they finally make it, they're greeted by the Eibon guards who hold their swords dangerously close to their faces accusingly. Amongst those guards, Soul can pick out four familiar faces, all of whom look at him with a mixture of fear and betrayal.
Ox is standing tall amongst his men, stepping forward with his sword pointed toward them shakingly. Stein is whipping around, eyes widening as his gaze settles on them. Kilik is amongst them, his hand wrapped around Kim who is also armed.
They're all covered in blood, but not of their own.
"Don't tell me you're here to fight, too?" Ox spits out, waving his sword high. Blood is splattered across his right cheek- pure fear sprawled across his face as his eyes flicker from Ragnarok to him.
Stein is there, pressing a hand to Ox Ford's chest calmingly.
"I told you to run."
"I'm done running," Soul answers, his eyes flickering from the lines of guards in front of him to the now quiet and still ballroom. "I'm facing this head-on- I'm going to fix all of this."
"How can we trust you now!" Ox roars out loudly, his free hand waving about. "Was this your plan all along? To plan an attack on Eibon on Cinder's behalf?"
"No," He answers quickly, his voice firm, "No, I never meant for this to happen. I saw myself as an Eibon citizen-"
"Where is her highness?" Ox cuts in, eyes flickering around the crowd. "What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything," Soul bites back, "She's with Blackstar."
Ox pushes back against Stein's grip. "You're lying, aren't you? This is all your fault- you did this!"
Fire burns in Souls chest.
It was all his fault, Ox was right. If he'd just been tougher then instead of running, he would be in Cinder, taking the throne from his parents. None of this would have ever happened. No one would be getting hurt on his behalf.
"I never wanted this to happen!" He shouts back with the same force Ox had been using. "I came here to get away from them too, okay? If I wanted to hurt you guys, I could have done it long ago! I could have hurt Maka long ago, and I swear to God, I would never hurt her, do you understand?"
This time, Stein drops his hand as Ox pushes against him. "You just expect me to believe you after you lied this whole time about why you were? We all saw you leave with her- you and your fellow Cinder scum, so what did you do to her?"
Soul's nostrils flare as he takes a deep breath, anger and adrenaline mixing hot in his system.
"I didn't do shit to her!"
"And I should believe that because? You know the reputation you've held here- the reputation you've held as a Prince. You attacked your own guard? What's to say you wouldn't take her highness out too if she were to get in your way, too? Isn't that what you're known for, Prince Solomon?"
He feels someone pulling him back, but he pushes against their force and steps up closer to Ox.
"I wouldn't hurt her."
"Oh, and why is that?" There's a crazed look to Ox's eyes as he steps up into his face, the smell of blood protruding from him. "Have you changed as a person or something? Finally gained some morals?"
"No- that's not-"
"What?"
"I never meant to hurt anyone-"
"Yeah? And her highness? You surely didn't hurt her too, right?"
"I didn't-"
This time, Ox steps so close that it has Soul stumbling back. "Give me one reason right now that would prove to me you wouldn't have hurt her."
Desperation creeps up his throat.
"I care about her-"
"Surely, you cared about a lot of things, like running away?"
"We were friends-"
"You were friends with your guard too, right?"
"I-"
"Stop giving me lame excuses! Just be honest with me, make this easier on everyone, Solomon, what happened-"
"I love her!" He booms, silencing the hallway.
Tension rises in the air as Soul and Ox stare one another down- thick enough to cut through with a sword. Soul cant help the way his chest heaves- can't help the tears that starts pouring down his cheeks at the cold truth that had finally left his lips.
Ox steps back, confusion lacing his face.
"I love her, I wouldn't dare hurt her like that-" Soul stumbles over his words, broken breaths leaving his lips. "She's the only reason I'm standing here right now to fix things, okay? I want to be a better person for her. I want to fix all of this- I have people depending on me now- I have her depending on me now, and I cant keep fucking up."
The moment the words stumble out of his mouth, he feels like falling to the ground and sobbing. His body shakes as he curls his hands into fists. Maybe he hadn't realized it before, but he was right, wasn't he? Maka made him want to be a better person.
With a heavy breath and tears streaming steadily down his cheeks, he raised a finger accusingly to Ox.
"So instead of grilling me on my intentions, you should tell me if that witch who orchestrated all of this is still here so we can finish her off, clean our mess, and leave."
