Chapter 35: Liam’s POV

I'm back >:)

I'm excited for this one! We're at the beginning of the end now, pals. I cant wait! Anway, enjoy!!

This chapter is dedicated to my best friend and (platonic) wife captain--multifandom
Happy anniversary, dear!

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

"W-what? You're lying." I say it confidently, but even so I can feel the fear returning, the hope that had burst to life just minutes before, slowly dying.

"You see, that's why you're here. With the Queen dead, that makes you King. But if you were to be here instead of there, well…New Eladea would crumble, wouldn't it? With no leader, no protection and no hope they won't even last a week. So as long as you're here, that's one less enemy I have to worry about once this world war inevitably starts."

"No. No, no, no, no." I stumble backwards, slamming into the stone wall. "It's not true."

"Oh it is. That little flower in your pocket? It's useless. You failed, Emmerson. Your kingdom has fallen and your people will die. What a pity."

"No! You lie! You treacherous, psychopathic, heartless, witch of a human! You will pay!" Kate cries from her cell, shaking the door on its hinges.

"Oh I doubt that. In just doing what needs to be done to keep my people alive. Unlike some people. Anyways, there's information you have that I want. And you're going to give it to me, Emmerson. I promise you that."

I can't take it anymore. I can't take any of this anymore.

"Goodbye for now!" She calls before strutting off the way she came. The door to my cell is unlocked and her two bodyguards step in, their faces stoic and unchanging.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

They get nothing out of me. I don't know how long they punch and kick and scream, but I say nothing. I feel nothing. There isn't a single thing they could do to me that would be worse than the pain in my heart.

Now I sit alone in the dark, dingy cell of mine. I listen silently to the sounds of rage coming from the cell across from mine. Kate had banged on the door to her cell and screamed my name as they beat me for so long it felt empty without the noise. Now she seemed to be blowing off steam by punching at the stone walls. She shouldn't be doing that, she can hurt herself. I should tell her. I need to stop her. But I can't. I can't force myself to speak.

Tasting blood on my tongue I close my eyes, hoping to drown out the sound of Kate's rage. It works a little, but it's instead replaced by even worse images. Images of her. Her small smirk that she reserved only for me. The pride in her eyes whenever I did something right. That exasperated yet slightly amused glint in her green eyes whenever I pulled a prank on her. The sadness that always creeped on to her face when she thought no one was looking.

It hurts. It hurts too bad.

Talking with her for hours in the window sill of her room. Sitting in the courtyard and making up stories about passing strangers' lives. Losing at the occasional wrestle or fight. Long nights spent doing paperwork with no one's company but our own. Laughing with everyone after dark on that hill we used to gather to tell stories every once and a while.

Oh goddesses…I'll never do any of that again.

I fling my eyes open, the images too painful. Too painful.

My sister…Sage is…dead.

Death. Such an incomprehensible thing shoved into five meaningless letters.

It takes me a moment to register that tears have been flowing from my eyes. And once I do, the flood gates open. I pull my knees to my chest as heaving sobs wrack my body. My hair falls out of its tie and covers my face.

And there, shivering in the cold, blood and grime coating my face, with tears streaking down my cheeks and dirt caked over my whole body, a boy grieves his big sister.

Never in my 20 years of life had I ever felt so young. So helpless. So tired.

I scream. At least I think I do. An agonized, furious, vengeful scream that expresses all the pain I feel. I take a breath. And I scream again. I scream out of rage towards Ivar, the man who took Sage from me. I scream again, at the world this time, for making it so dam difficult to make it here. And finally I scream once more at the goddesses, for giving me this twisted fate to follow.

Eventually, my tears dry, and my throat closes on itself. My body forces itself to cry no more. My voice is hoarse and throbs in pain, but I don't care. I don't care about anything really.

"Liam," I hear Reid whisper gently from the cell next to mine, and the sound has never been sweeter. "You tried. She knows that." It's all he says. It's all he needs to say, because any more and I might start dry sobbing, and any less I might scream in rage again.

"Liam?' It's Kate this time. I look through the bars of my door to see her standing at hers, concern displayed on her face. Never has her voice ever been this kind. "We'll get out of here. I promise you that. We'll get out of here and we'll make Ivar pay."

I feel myself choking on another sob.

"I just want to go home…" My voice cracks and shakes. It sounds so empty. "I don't want to fight…I just want to go home and bury my big sister. My Ace…" my throat closes up and burns with unshed sorrow.

I can't do this anymore. I just can't do it. I'm sorry Goddesses, but I'm done with this fight. There's no point if Sage isn't fighting it next to me. I'm done.

I feel myself sinking lower against the stone walls. I close my eyes, trying desperately to distract myself from the pain. It's utterly unbearable. I find myself thinking back to times past, to how she looked before she was poisoned. What was the last thing I said to her? I gave her a hug and looked her in the eyes and said “You did it Ace! You ended a war that hadn't even started. I'm so proud of you.” And she had looked right back at me, her green eyes a mirror of my own and said, “Thank you, Muffin. That means a lot. Now go create some mischief, you deserve that much for being forced to be all diplomatic all day.” And we had parted ways. That was it. No goodbye, no heartfelt confessions of love, no reminiscing, no warning of the horrible events to follow just hours later. She was ripped from me so fast I didnt even see it coming.

Tears fill my eyes once more and I don't even have the energy to stop them. They flow freely, and I feel myself picking at the back of my hand, a habit I thought I had stopped a long time ago. I miss her. I miss her, I miss her, I miss her.

And now there won't even be a kingdom to return to. They'll all be slaughtered and it’s all my fault. V, Ren, Elric, Terrona, they'll all be killed. The children, the elderly, the wounded. They stand no chance. And it's all. My. Fault.

I blink and my breath is torn out of me. Instead of a dark, smelly cell, I'm sprawled on the floor of a vast white landscape. It burns my eyes, and suddenly the cold vanishes from my body. I let out a breath and breathe in surprisingly warm air. I gather myself for a moment before heaving myself into a standing position. My legs are wobbly, but they hold.

I look behind me and floating there in all its glory is the Fate of Prophecy herself, The Teller.

“Hello, Liam Emmerson.” I look up at her continually changing appearance and I feel anger bubbling in the pit of my stomach,

“You knew! You knew she wouldn't make it yet you still sent me all the way out here! You made me and my friends suffer day after day, dragging ourselves to this hellscape to find a cure for my dead sister and you knew!” I point an accusatory finger in the Fates direction.

“Careful, mortal. Do not forget whose presence you are in.” The deity warns. It’s then I remember that with a single thought I could be smited into dust. Less than that actually. I slowly lower my finger.

“Sorry…this doesnt change the fact that you still sent us on a suicide mission for no reason.” The anger fades away but some frustration still remains, snuffing out the sadness for the time being.

“Everything has a reason for happening, Liam. You would do well to remember that. But, for the matter of your ‘dead’ sister, I am here to say you have been lied to.”

“W-what?”

“Her Majesty Lives.”

Three words that hold such immense power. Such incomprehensible meaning. Sage is alive. Sage is alive! The words snuff out any lingering frustration and the sadness that had been beneath it fades away. My wibbly legs give out and I sink to the smooth, mirror-like ground. I cover my mouth to stifle a sob of pure relief that creeps up my throat, tears of joy filling my eyes.

“The queen you talked to previously was ill informed. Most of the world is. The rumors have gotten out of control. Poisoned has turned into stabbed, and coma has turned into dead. The world believes that Sage Emmerson died weeks ago. But she still breaths, albeit barely.”

“I have to get back to her! I have to get the flower to the physician so she can make the cure. I can save her!” I spring to my feet, hope reigniting my limbs.

“You must be swift, Young Prince. She is fading fast. The Queen has less than a day.”

“But…it took us weeks, months, to get here. There’s….there’s no way.” Immediately I feel the previous despair seeping into my bones.

“You don't need to worry about that, Liam. Just focus on getting out of your cell and everything will fall into place. Me and my fellow Fates have had council with the Goddesses. We haven't done much to help you achieve your goal, and I have seen that the only way this will work is if we right that wrong. Even if it requires a little divine intervention.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Go, Prince of New Eladea. Your people need you.”

With a gasp, freezing air is forced into my lungs. I cough, shivers running up and down my spine. I look down at my hands to see them almost blue in color, and shaking extremely violently, though I can't feel them.

“Liam!” I hear Kate's voice calling to me. I look up and see her eyes full of concern and I had never been so grateful that I get to see them every single day. Then I hear the sounds of commotion happening just out the hall. “Are you ok? You looked like you passed out.” I stand, moving towards the door and tilting my head to try and look down the corridor.

“I'm fine. Better than fine, actually. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. What’s going on?” I ask her, running a hand through my now-loose hair.

“I think Amber started a fire somewhere in the palace. Not sure if she’s escaped or not. What happened? You're acting strange.” She answers, her nose looking almost blue and her head shaking with her shivering, though other than that she looks as perfect as ever.

“Sage is alive.” I say, catching her eye. Her eyebrows shoot up in shock, and I don't give her time to react. “Amber has given us a good distraction. This may be our only chance out. Have either of you seen anything we can use?” I continue, inspecting the door.

“Um i- no. There's nothing.” Reid stumbles along, obviously reeling over my revelation.

“Well maybe we can-” Just as I'm about to reach through the bars of my cell, the door swings open. I stand there for a moment in shock before The Tellers' words come back to me. “Even if it requires a little divine intervention.”

“Was that always open?” Kate asks with a blank look on her face.

“Nope!” I laugh before stepping out into the hallway. I jump as the other twos’ cells swing open too and they hesitantly step out.

Thank you goddesses. Thank you so much. I silently pray for a moment.

I look down the hall to see smoke drifting around the corner, followed by sounds of yelling and a distant dragon call. “Welp, I know what way we’re going.” I comment before walking towards the direction of chaos.

It isn't hard to find Amber. After we find the armory Kate takes down the two guards with ease, commenting that she needed to “burn off some steam.” She found her sword and we took a couple fur coats, wrapping them around ourselves before heading down a set of steps. Taking a few turns in a narrow, winding corridor we found ourselves in a larger room. It must have been three stories tall, and as big as at least four houses out together. In the middle of the room was Amber, all four of her limbs tied tight to the walls with thick chains, a metal muzzle clamped tight around her snout. A couple other metal rings are fitted tight, too tight around her wings, rendering her unable to open them. Ropes are connected between her legs, making it impossible to take a step, with a few others keeping down her tail and one around her neck which made it hard for her to raise her head.

She was trying to snap at a shaky-looking knight, fire blazing out of her nostrils in anger. Fires were burning around the room, along with bodies of hopefully unconscious knights and their weapons. She turns to us, her cat-like pupils nothing but slits in a sea of orange. Her ears are pinned flat against her head and she looks as if she’s going to breathe fire on us, but she stops when we make eye contact and her ears shoot up.

“Liam!” Her voice fills my head.

“We’re getting you out of her.” I say confidently, picking up a knife from the floor and moving to the first rope I found.

“You!” Kate points her sword at the terrified knight. “Open the muzzle and the other metal restraints. Or you might end up like one of your little friends here.” Her eyes are dark and threatening, and Amber breathes a spurt of fire to punctuate her point. Reid takes to helping me with the ropes as Kate supervises the man as he releases the things we can't cut with a knife.

After the man is done, Kate lets him go. He skitters out of the room and she turns to us. We get the final rope off Amber's tail and she sighs in relief, stretching her limbs. I gasp when I see the cuts along her back and snout where the metal had bit into her skin.

“It’s fine. They're just shallow cuts, barely even hurt.” She says. I furrow my eyebrows but say nothing.

“Do you know how to get out of here? Other than the human-sized tunnel.” Reid asks, stroking her neck.

“There's a hole right above us. It’s covered by some sort of blanket.” She says. We all look up and I realize that if I squint hard enough the ceiling directly above us looks almost like fabric.

“Then I say we bust out of here.” I say with a smirk, two of my friends giving me a smirk and the third offering a soft smile.

So that's how we ended up exploding out of the ground in a shower of snow and fabric and fire. We took the guards so off guard that half of them didn't even try to stop us. The other half had such pitiful attempts that they didn't even come close to actually hurting us. The fire was just for show. Amber’s idea, of course.

I put my hand on the flower in my pocket, caressing the soft petals. Soon.

“So I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think we can get back in time, Liam.” Amber comments when the palace is but a speck on the snowy horizon.

“Yeah, it took us a couple months to get down here. And you say Sage is alive now, but I doubt she will be when we arrive. And traveling by dragon is like the fastest form of travel there is. Even if we never stop, which is  physically impossible, it would still take weeks. We don't have that kind of time.” Kate says cautiously.

“Who are you? The Kate I know would pass out from saying all of that at once.” I mutter, and promptly get slapped on the back of the head for it. I throw a smirk over my shoulder at her just in time to see her roll her eyes. “But seriously. You guys just need to trust me. We’ll make it.” We have to.

“Even if it requires a little divine intervention.” The Teller had said. If there was ever a time for it, it would be now. You said you need to make it right, so make it right. Help us. Please.

“Woah, Amber, since when can you fly this fast?” Reid comments from behind me. I blink and look down to see the ground flying by twice as fast as usual.

“I-I don't know.” She says. “I'm flying how I usually do but- holy crap I'm going fast.” I laugh in relief. They're helping. They're really helping.

With every passing second she gains speed, streaking across the sky with speed I haven't experienced since I lived on The Other Side. Yet even still we go faster and faster until me and the other two can no longer sit upright on Amber's back and we lay our stomachs forward. I grip so tight onto one of Amber;’s horns that my knuckles go white, yet I still feel myself slipping. My skin feels like it's being pulled back from my face and my clothes get snatched around my body.

We fly across the sky with such speed we must look like nothing but a blur to those on the ground. We go so fast I no longer know if we’re still in Napolis or if we’re even above land. Ive never experienced such g-forces and I feel myself slipping, both from Amber;’s back and into unconsciousness. Yet a strength I didn't know I have in me takes over and my grip grows more sure, my eyelids getting less heavy. Eventually, after what seems like eternity, when it seems like life outside of Amber’s back never even existed, we start slowing. Over the next minute Amber returns back to her normal flying speed. It takes a few minutes for me and the others to recover before we sit up. I'm a little disoriented for a bit, but I look on the horizon and spot a familiar-looking mountain. We’re back in New Eladea. A journey that previously took us months took us mere minutes.

Then I spot a light radiating from the forest in the otherwise gloomy and dark day. I sigh in relief. Sage’s people, my people live. My grip on Amber tightens for a moment and I take a deep breath as Amber angles her wings towards the camp. I'm going to see this through, even if it kills me. Which, considering how close Derynas Castle is, might be more probable than I think.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《
Word count: 3341

What did you think? What do you think will happen? Any predictions for how it’ll all end? I love to hear from you guys! Thank you for all the comments!

Cya next week!