* EMBER ELLIOT ELYSIAN *

"You have clouds in your eyes," was the first thing Erin said when she first saw me.

I was lying down on the grass, my small body being brushed by it, my eyes set on the cloudless skies when I felt a shadow on my face. Changing the direction of my eyes, I noticed a figure standing behind my head, her amber eyes looking at me with fascination, and not with disgust like my father, or with the fear of death, like my mother. Her eyes were bored at mine, blinking, and blinking, her head tilted, a small bruise on her forehead.

I jolted up, almost crashing my head against hers when she dodged me, standing in a side, a look of confusion and curiosity dancing in her facial features.

Panic rose within me when I realised that I wasn't in my disguise, that I had ran away from home, sick of my wigs, sick of my eye colours being changed, sick of my father not batting an eye at me unless I looked like him, sick of my mother looking at me as if death was standing right behind me, with a spear in its hand, about to chop my head off unless I was in my disguise. I was sick of it all.

"Don't tell anyone what you just saw, or my father will have your head," I told her cautiously, waiting for a response.

She laughed, and that only meant she didn't know who I was and I didn't blame her for that. I made very  few public appearances. The last time I had made one was when Ira was having a sword battle with a neighboring kingdom, and since it was a big event, it was required for all of father's sons to be present at the spectation. My father had tossed me in a corner, ordered me to utter no words and wait until Ira was done.

I decided to take advantage of that situation.

She didn't know the consequences of what she just saw. She just saw my father's biggest weakness, his biggest hurdle, his biggest regret and if she were to tell that to anyone, the kingdom would fall apart, or worse, if she told that to an ally of my father, her and her entire family would be hanged before the gates of Elisora Palace.

And I couldn't let anyone else die for knowing my identity again.

"What's your name?" I asked, dodging my previous threat away.

"Amber," my eyebrows rose seeing the similarities between our names. "Yours?"

I said the name given by my father, the one I loathed, just to sound inconspicuous. "Elliot."

The next question rolled off my tongue before I could even inspect it properly but then again, who could blame me for that? My father had told me that the likes of me were loathed, disgusting and ungraceful. He had told me that people were afraid of Ezèrian, that they wanted us dead, so when Amber laughed at me, looked at me with anything but fear, I couldn't help but ask it.

"Are you not afraid of me, Amber? Do you not want to throw rocks at me? Wish me dead?"

She chuckled slightly, making me even more confused. "Because you are an Ezerian? The 'most monstrous beings the gods have ever created'?" she said the last part in a mocking manner.

I couldn't help but laugh at the poor imitation of the elder' opinions on the Ezerian. "Yes, for that,"

She shook her head vigorously. "I think it's stupid. Only a slow witted person will think that the Ezèrian are the bad Power Holders when they can't even utilise their powers!" she sounded genuinely upset as she said that. "They keep going on and on about the Ezèrian being monstrous when I have never seen any of them hurting anyone."

"Are you calling all of Elysia slow witted?" I smiled, somewhat relieved and shocked to hear that my life mattered, that I actually meant something, even if it was just a stranger.

"Will I get hanged for that?" She grinned, a look of amusement flickering in her eyes, and not even a speck of fear.

"Only if I were a prince and I report that to the king," I shrugged, enjoying this.

"Well, that's sad because the king loathes the Ezerian and it will be you who gets hanged before me."

I laughed this time, loudly, because what was this?  Who was this girl talking so freely without the fear of being hurt by me? Who was this girl joking around with me, as if we had known each other for years, why was she not running away from me, or reporting me, or not telling me to go and die, or tell me how loathing I was?  Why was she not cursing at me?

Why was she laughing with me?

Erin was still standing, her lips on mine, moving slowly, reaching the corners of my lips, and all I could think about was how standing like that must have uncomfortable for her -- her hands placed on the sides, leaned towards me, head tilted, all while I was still sitting in the capsule.

So, I placed my hand on her waist, spreading my legs slightly and gently placing her on my lap, while she continued exploring my lips, smiling when I kissed her in the same way she kissed me: reaching the corners of her lips, going slow when I moved deeper, and smiling when I held her cheek as gently as her lips fluttered against mine.

I frowned, as if not being able to take enough of her, as I cupped her cheeks, deepening the kiss, scared that this moment would fade away, just like how she faded away every time I tried to reach her, how time would curse us again and send us worlds apart.

So I held her more, kissed her more, felt the heat of her cheek against my palm and wondered if she could hear the way my heart shuddered against its home, how it had never beat that fast, not when I was in the brink of death, not when my brother placed his sword beneath my chin, not when I almost embraced death while escaping from the palace when I was a child, not when Vivianne held a dagger to my throat -- it had never done this before.

I wondered what she must be thinking about right now: was she loving this as much as I was? Was she also wanting this moment to last as long as time existed? Was she also thinking if this was real or not?  Was her head also spinning like mine? Was her body was also wanting more and more?

She must be,  because she only continued doing what she was, her hands on my neck, gently rubbing it with her thumb, sending shivers throughout my body. I pulled her closer, my hands placed on her waist now, my head tilted, eyebrows frowned, as a strand of her hair came between her nose, tickling my cheeks. I instantly laughed, pulling us apart, and for the first time after thirteen years, I felt my heart being full of everything it ever wanted.

I thought my heart got what it wanted when I cancelled my wedding, when I declared my true identity to the world, when I exposed my father, but nothing could ever come as close to this moment, when the moonlight bathed her features: her lips that I just kissed, her flushed cheeks, her amber eyes that glistened the same way it did thirteen years ago.

She smiled, placing her hands on both of my shoulders, her fingers grazing my neck again, and I realised she knew what she was doing to me. "Am I heavy?" she had that look in her face, a smirk, a witty smile, a grin, or whatever it was, it was driving my mind crazy.

I swallowed, looking straight into her eyes. "No," I said, and she smirked even more. "Not at all. I actually prefer this."

Now she laughed, her head set back, that strand of hair still between her nose. "You're fumbling,"

I tilted my head in a side, bringing my hand over and tucking that auburn strand of hair behind her ears, my fingers grazing the lobe of her ear. "Am I?" I watched as the smile vanished from her face, now replaced with reddened ears and eyes looking anywhere but at me.

"You're as red as a tomato. Even your neck is red," She said, rolling her eyes.

"And you're not?" I raised an eyebrow, watching her smile again, making me realise it was impossible to think straight in front of her. Did she know that she did more than just make my neck and cheeks go red? That she could be my very end and I wouldn't even mind that? That as she was sitting on my lap, her hands on my shoulders, my body was trying its best to not melt right then and there?

"The Ferris Wheel is slowing down. It will stop now," she said, slowly standing up, the capsule slowing down as it reached the bottom. All the warmth that she was holding against me left and the Ferris Wheel soon came to a halt, making me raise my self and follow her.

We were far away from the Ferris Wheel, away from all kinds of rides, walking at a huge pathway, at the end of the park. Erin and I were walking side by side, her and my hands closer than it was when we walked together before, her warm fingers grazing mine. I took them, and locked our fingers together. She didn't look at me, and neither did I, as we continued walking together, the cool breeze brushing against us gently.

"What do you call this stuff in Elysia? kissing and holding hands?" She asked, looking straight ahead.

"Courting," I replied, not understanding where this conversation was heading towards but then she asked the question that stopped my world.

"Would you like to court me then, Ember?"

I stopped in my tracks, now looking at her, the pupils of her eyes dilating, her hands still secured in mine as I felt my own hands slowly loosening the grip.

Court her? I would like to marry her now.

But of course I didn't say that.

"I know you won't ask me 'cause I forgot my memories and all, and you don't wanna rush things out and you must be still feeling guilty for what happened, so I'm asking you," she stepped closer, watching me intently. "Court me, Ember."

I paused, not knowing what to say but then I thought, and thought and finally said what I had been wanting to say for the longest time.

"I was made to love you, Erin," I finally said. "I don't want to recreate Elysia because I want to create harmony among all the Power Holders. Sure, it will free my friends, but that thought would have never entered my mind if it wasn't for you. I want to do it because you. . .  you once told me I can do it. I fight for myself because you said I can. I go against my father because you told me the whole world could go against me, but you would fight the world for me."

I swallowed, my heart shaking. "Whatever I am, and whatever I can do, it's for you, and because of you," I didn't realise when my voice also started to shake. "I'm not so strong that I could've handled my own father's desire of wanting me dead without someone else's want of me being alive.  And that was you.  Always you."

"So, when you tell me to court you, I don't know how to say yes without telling you how my very thread of existence has been hung by the memories I share with you, how you were the first person to ever accept me as who I am, without wanting me dead, how you wished to be with me even before this," I finished, and for a second there was no sound in the world— only my hushed breaths and her gentle look towards me.

"Ember," she brought out her hands, wrapping them around my body, her head resting on the crook of my neck. "I'm sorry I forgot you. I wish I remembered something. Even a speck."

"That's alright," I mumbled, my hands wrapped around her waist. "You're here now."

"I am," she broke free of the embrace, cupping my cheek gently, brushing her thumb against it. "And I still mean everything I said back then."

I nodded, because I didn't know what else to say. Erin had all of my heart, and I didn't mind it. She had had it since the last thirteen years and never once thought of giving it back to me, and as shameless as it sounded, I was fine with that. It never belonged to me anyway.

"It won't make a difference whether I answer your question or not, because everything with you is a yes, no second thought," I said, and she smiled, and I tried my best to not fall on my knees.

"We are dating then!" She exclaimed and I shrugged, because I didn't know what that meant, but I knew it meant we were going to be together.

"Yes, we are," I bobbed my head, waiting for an explanation of that word but received none. "Whatever that means."

***

AMBER AND EMBER DATING ERA LES GOOOOO