by SunnyJustice » Sun Aug 20, 2017 5:05 am
Myrtle threw his hands in the air with a laugh. Of course he looked like a strange insect, and he was gonna act like one too! He began dancing around, waving his arms and giggling. He absolutely loved to make a fool of himself and then hug unsuspecting neighbors who stopped and stared. He was as good as a flytrap plant, except no biting because biting was mean. So basically a flytrap plant that hugged flies and let them go.
He couldn't wait to read all about weird Hesenian things. On the island, things were pretty normal. Apparently there was a lot of cool stuff on the Mainland that he would never expect. Well Myrtle had a big imagination, like once he dreamed about a hot pink dragon that jumped around like a prancing deer to create flower meadows everywhere, and he asked the dragon to grant his wish of eating pie with all his besties. Which was Grace, and... well everyone who wasn't mean could join them too, of course! He wasn't one of those people who said "you can't sit with us" and kicked out people from his group. Myrtle didn't even think those types of meanies existed. He had only heard about them in stories.
"Momdine probably packed my stuff already!" Myrtle exclaimed, grabbing Grace's wrist and starting to sprint with his tiny little minnow legs. "Hurry, let's get there before she finishes without me!"
He purposely kicked up sand as he ran across the beach. Myrtle loved to play in the sand, and he never wore shoes, because he loved how the grains tickled between his toes. By the time he reached Ondine's hut though, she was just carrying the last suitcase outside. The small pink one.
"Thanks mom!" Myrtle said and lunged at the General in a hug. He felt Ondine awkwardly pat him on the back, then push him away. He laughed and sat down in the sand, not caring if he got sand in his shorts.
"I'm gonna fetch the other girls and our rafts. I'll be back soon, so be ready to leave at any time." Ondine petted both teenagers' heads, then walked away while chuckling quietly to herself.
Myrtle loved her like a mom. She always took care of him and reminded him to go to bed, even when he was super hyped up on wildberries. He opened up the suitcase to check that everything was there. Sure enough, Momdine had thought of everything, including his favorite stuffed bunny. He zipped it back up and looked at Grace with a huge smile on his face.
"Can you read me something from one of those books now? Pretty please with a coconut on top, but a small one so it doesn't crush the rest of the please sundae?" Myrtle begged and gave her his best puppy-dog eyes.
---
Zelkova was still in an awful mood from the earlier accidents and incidents. She had just calmed down, and she wouldn't tolerate any more stupidity from teenagers murdering each other. If there was one more idiotic scene involving some kid stabbing another while screaming nonsense, Zelkova would personally appear to the living and give them a real nightmare that Agatha couldn't compare to.
... No? She wouldn't actually do that. She was just so angry that she would threaten to.
It did make her feel better though, that this teenager wasn't pushing her away. In fact, Mallory seemed to be accepting the hug. Zelkova gently took the young werewolf into her arms, cradling her as she would a small child.
"Shh. You will be safe with me," Zelkova whispered. She easily stood up with Mallory still in her arms, and left the room, entering the familiar darkness she often visited. The reaper carried the girl down the staircase only she could access. Even if Zelkova was still angry, she wouldn't take out her rage on the teenager. Mallory wasn't quite innocent, but at least she tried to do the right thing.
"I'm sorry for what happened. Is there anyone specific you want to see again?" Zelkova asked. Most newly deceased people wanted to reunite with their loved ones, and she found few exceptions. It was touching to see them see their father, their daughter, their husband, for the first time in a decade. Zelkova didn't like to be the bad guy. It wasn't her who chose who lived or died. She just wanted to ease people's transition from one life to the next.
Azuline would have felt bad for her rude joke about unruly assassins, but hey, Amelia had laughed it off. This girl was a pretty fun buddy. Azuline didn't like to be taken too seriously all the time. She liked to look awesome while fighting, but she didn't want people to think she was some high-and-mighty jerk butt either.
She let out a whoop when Amelia mentioned how she murdered her father. This girl seemed nice, so the dad was probably an actual high-and-mighty jerk butt. "What did your dad do? If he's down here and he's jerk enough, we can get some good revenge on him after we beat up these idiots."
"... And therefore, the square root of... I FORGET THE LESSON BECAUSE OF YOU BRATS!" The teacher's voice rose to a scream. "NOW GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM BEFORE I PLUCK YOUR HEADS OFF YOUR SHOULDERS!!!"
Azuline didn't even flinch, she just grinned and started walking towards the door. "Time to have some fun..."
---
Acacia looked down at the unconscious boy in her arms. Hopefully the desert night was not too cold for him. After her 'death', the spearwoman remembered feeling an overwhelming cold. She had never been warm afterwards, not even during the fire of Ravineside Academy. Acacia had gone to extinguish the blaze, charging into the midst of the fire. The flames burned but gave no warmth, and they had not harmed her much. She was already ash, held together in this form by her unbroken resolve to make amends.
Peregrine and Vaxas were talking about powers. The commander's reflexes, as he said, gave him better chances of escaping death. Acacia thought about her own power. She hadn't exactly escaped death, nor had she returned to life like a phoenix. Gone was her heartbeat, the constant steady pulse of hopeful determination in her veins. Her beating heart was what made her Acacia. And now it was gone, but she could keenly hear the heartbeats of everyone around her.
The spearwoman chuckled- but it wasn't funny.
Peregrine seemed to tense up at the sound, and drew closer to Vaxas. Acacia shook her head at herself. Nineteen years struggling along this way without a heartbeat; sometimes she found herself slowly losing sight of her goal. To do enough good deeds and earn herself a few minutes with her father in Celestial Tower, to apologize before she went to her punishment far below.
She tried not to think of her friends. Janice, Camilla, Blair, Katharine, Lanette... She tried not to think of her brother Alder, and especially not Sam Brie. Thinking of them reminded her that she could never see them again. For all everyone knew, Acacia Adamson died nineteen years ago. She could not reveal herself and let anyone deem her a hero.
She had murdered an innocent. Her own father.
"Well I still think it's pretty cool," Peregrine said to Vaxas, quieter this time. "Hey, is that your camp up ahead? I can't tell, I've never been there."
Acacia couldn't even make out anything in the distance. Her eyesight had always been horrible, and nowadays everything was tinted red and dark. But she would need to be careful if they were approaching Camilla's army. At least Camilla wasn't Blair, who would undoubtedly scream Acacia's presence for all Hesenia to hear. The redheaded archer had always been one of the more reasonable of her friends.
---
Gavotte nodded silently in agreement. He was relieved Jen had noticed the burn without him pointing it out himself; he would feel bad to draw attention to his injury. It would make him feel like he was accusing Jen, which he did not want to do. He followed Jen to see Rowan, who was behind the argumentative looking tall pair.
Gavotte noticed the blind healer visibly flinch upon turning his head towards the wound. How much of this could Rowan see? Gavotte sometimes wondered what the world was like in his eyes.
"Of course I will help," Said Rowan, placing his warm hands on Gavotte's shoulder. The pain and heat of the burn quickly faded, replaced by the healer's familiar warmth.
"Thank you," Gavotte told him politely. He wasn't sure what to say, and he certainly wasn't comfortable explaining what happened. Jen wouldn't hurt him on purpose.
Rowan cast his sightless eyes down at the ground. "I'm sorry I wasn't there earlier. It has been so stressful with all this fighting, I've just been overwhelmed. Is there anything else you need?"
---
Clotilda groaned in mock annoyance at the lovey dovey speech. She secretly loved it, but she pretended like she hated it. What she did love though, was that he actually wanted to hear more of her ranting. Oh she loved complaining about how much she hated people.
"My brother and your sister are taking the place I was meant for," Clove growled as she leaned back on the chair. She was going to be here for a while. "I was supposed to be Queen, and I actually died saving people. How was I supposed to know I wouldn't come back? I thought I was a phoenix for sure.
"Oh and don't forget those fools, Andy Unwomanly and Jade Whatever. I can't stand people who stand around and don't help people who are getting killed. Then there's Gavotte, clearly in an abusive relationship. Jennifer didn't even apologize for burning him. Then again, Mallory didn't apologize for killing my brother just to take out her own anger. Another abusive relationship. I wish your brother had punched her. Then there's Xia, who I am never going to forgive for those ridiculous words unless she comes to me and begs me for mercy herself." Clove was on a roll.
"Kale is a useless brown-noser, like those teachers' pets I hated in elementary school. Timpani isn't even doing anything, she just stands there pretending to look tough. And Mayne's always hugging all the jerks, like he's got a death wish or something. I swear Timpani's gonna end up more abusive than Jen and Mal put together. Rowan is too cowardly to do his job, and... Lily's okay I guess, but she murdered innocent people in the past so actally no." She wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
"Regina and Darius suck for obvious reasons, but I haven't even mentioned the others. Ivana is pathetic and passive aggressive, always giving hypocritical attitude to my mother. Not that I even get along with mom. She has the blood of innocent children on her hands, you know. I don't even know how to feel about her sometimes." Clove threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "And right now, the state of her is just pathetic. Sorcha showed up and started acting like the leader to a bunch of new people. Vivien, Celeste, and Fern are completely useless, apart from the occasional attempt to keep up morale. It rarely works anyway. Waverly? He does pretty much nothing at all. I hate him more than the other three."
She decided to focus on the others. "The Generals are taking too long, and people are getting killed because they won't move fast enough. All Janice does is make her soldiers spar between themselves, and she has no strategy. Camilla is the opposite, but all she does is plan. She's all talk and no fight. She was supposed to be smart, but she sent her completely empathy-lacking commander on a mission to retrieve some useless boy messengers. Blair is the worst, that horrible screamer who called me a city rat. She is a complete idiot. Lanette's army isn't an army, it's a bunch of friends who are too busy hugging to get violent. Katharine's soldiers can't even focus once they break formation, and Agatha is all about causing chaos. Their strategy is useless. Ondine's people are dancers! Her best soldier is a tiny sixteen year old. I don't know how they expect to take their 'artistic combat' into real combat. And I don't even need to bring up Acacia. Her psychology doesn't even make sense, and just watching her gives me a headache. Obviously the thing about zombies eating brains is because she doesn't even have a disgracing brain."
Clotilda wasn't done of course, and she just kept talking.
"My father could have done much, much more. I don't care what 'plan' he had, but I'm pretty sure it failed. The triplets aren't doing their job properly, while Albina and Conlan aren't even trying. Juniper married yet another woman with anger problems; in fact, I'm pretty sure Vulcana has a thousand times worse anger than Agatha. General Ada won't even come out of the Underworld to destroy Agatha. I know that Ada would destroy Hesenia even worse if she wanted to, but here's the thing! She clearly doesn't want to. Ugh... and Evan just sits there being useless. I can't stand Livius for very obvious reasons, and Zelkova isn't doing anything about the constant deaths. The Timekeeper downstairs, all he does is cry. Pretty soon Hesenia will run out of electricity because Adam is helpless. And don't forget King Alastair. Since he's switching his own loyalty, now his few followers are turning against him. And what does he do? He goes to talk with people who obviously hate him, and want to kill him."
She thought she was finally done, but no. One more. "And finally, worst of all, there's me. I'm stuck here and I could be down there, saving the world and kicking Agatha's scrawny old lady butt. But no! I had to make a stupid choice and waste my life killing some worthless assassin, and I didn't get to come back from it. And now all I can do is whine about how much I hate everybody, instead of actually slapping some sense into them."
Grumbling, she crawled into Jonah's arms and decided to just stay there with her face buried into his chest. "Hmph. I'm not coming out."
---
Timpani was glad those two were finally reunited. Something felt different now. With Amber and Cilan standing side-by-side, life seemed to be returning to the Sanctuary. The darkened sky seemed a bit brighter than before, and she doubted it was just her imagination.
Mayne was first to greet them, and Timpani stood right beside him. She was surprised that people told freakin stories about her or whatever.
"Nice to meet you too, Soare." She smiled as warmly as she could, trying to not look intimidating. She probably failed, but oh well. Timpani didn't care too much about the way she looked. It was true she was made of scrap metal, and there was no hiding that. Vulcana's daughter was not winning no beauty pageants. But she did make an excellent guard who looked her part, a hundred and one percent. Bad math probably, but Timpani hated math, so screw it.
Now, Timpani wasn't all that good with social skills or reading. Once Amber left, Timpani decided she needed to catch up. There was obviously a lot she didn't know.
"So this Amber girl. Tell me more," She asked Mayne. Timpani wanted to trust that kid, but she had to check first. Apparently that girl was pretty popular in Hesenia or something.
Darius's crooked smirk turned into a genuine smile. Regina returned his feelings, didn't she? With any other girl having a crush on him, Darius would get all arrogant. The others were just accessories who would hang on his arm and make him look tough when he fought off other dudes. But not Regina, the destined Queen of Hesenia. Other girls, Darius called them 'his' and he didn't care how many there were. Regina? He was hers, and nobody else could compare to her. Darius would even lay down his life for the blonde haired beauty who starred in all his daydreams.
"I can fill you in about the Capital," He said in a low voice once they entered the forest. Of course he would start with some useless information, or even things that made him look like a good guy. Oh, Darius knew he was a bad boy, but he would be a hero for Regina and Regina only.
"Alastair's gone soft. He's close to retiring, or else getting assassinated. Won't survive long in the trap he dug for himself." Darius knew it was almost time for them to take over. Regina must know she was meant to be Queen, too. It was obvious she was the most suited for a leadership position out of everyone. Amber and Cilan were just pathetic, whiny children whose bloodlines gave them some stupid advantage. Darius didn't believe in that stupidity. He had blood from the legends too, and he was sure most people preferred Albina over Solara. At least the ice elemental spoke for herself, and didn't enforce twisted standards of 'justice' by killing innocent people with her bare hands.
His parents hated Solara, but Darius hated her for his own reasons. He wasn't a useless follower of the people who gave birth to him. His mother Meadow was a helpless crybaby who clearly put up the 'damsel-in-distress' act out of laziness. She never had a job, and just stayed home all day. Darius had no respect for her, or his father. Payne was arrogant and his wife only existed to feed his enormous ego. Darius knew he was arrogant too, but at least he acted on his own accord. All Payne did was show off and pretend like he was the best. He did nothing of significance. Darius constantly fought with his father, ego clashing against ego. The day he won his first fight against Payne was the day he was kicked out of the house. His stupid dad had no room for anyone stronger than him.
What a fool. You couldn't improve yourself by only hanging out with weaklings. That was why Darius hated those freaks in the Sanctuary, and he even hated most of the girls he flirted with. Like that Ivana. Just like her weakling father, she depended on her electricity power to fight. If Darius could get close to either of them, he could easily take them down. He couldn't see himself actually dating some useless brat like Ivana or Amber. They would just stay at home and cook all day, unlike Regina who would actually rule the world alongside him. Cilan had bad taste. Then again, he was incompetent too.
I guess incompetent boys like incompetent girls, Darius thought arrogantly.
Now they were probably out of earshot. "Alastair wanted me to take down those idiots in Clock Tower, but how stupid is that? I'd be cutting off Hesenia's electricity. I left, so I guess I'm a traitor. No problem. Alastair's done for, and I know exactly who's gonna take his place."
Darius smiled his shark smile, but it reached his eyes this time.
---
Waverly was relieved people were agreeing with him. He had a deep respect for all his companions, like Fern, who was making a valiant effort to lighten the situation with friendly conversation. Waverly would say he considered them friends, but that wasn't true. He considered them all his family. Even though he wasn't much of a fighter, he would still protect them in any way he could.
He listened intently to Sorcha's explanation of the army. It sounded tough, and he knew he would probably not survive. He hated combat and would rather everyone get along. Even with a ruthless opponent, Waverly would still feel horrible hitting them back. He just wasn't a fighter.
But that was okay, right? Not everyone had to be a warrior.
"I have a lot of respect for anyone with the courage to join an army," Waverly said. His voice was much steadier than before, and he realized just how much safer he felt with everyone sticking together. He only jumped a little when Amber reappeared with a boy in tow. Waverly immediately recognized the Prince.
Cilan didn't look the way Waverly expected him to. He pictured a tall, fearless young man with the same stern features and broad shoulders as his mother. This boy looked ready to break into tears at any moment. Waverly gently took Ivana from the Queen's arms. He had a feeling Cilan would want to hug his mother, and he was right.
Cilan could swear, not bursting into tears right now was one of the most difficult struggles of his life. It was hard to even look directly at Amber right now. He managed to maintain his smile as Amber greeted Mayne and Timpani, but once she led him into the forest, he couldn't help but shed a few tears. He was just silent the whole time. If he spoke, he would probably break down. He had so many emotions that he couldn't even name them all.
Despite wanting to ask Amber a million questions, he couldn't even get a single word out. When they reached the clearing, that was when he really did lose it. He climbed into his mother's arms and cried into her shirt, uncontrollable sobs that made him struggle for breath. Cilan had wanted to show he could be mature. He wanted Solara to deem him ready to raise the sun once again. He had planned a reunion with his mother, but what he envisioned did not look like this. Cilan couldn't do anything but sob helplessly in the Queen's embrace as she held him.
"Are there any more?" He heard the redhead boy ask. "Sorcha and I can take the others up ahead if you want to stay here with..."
