CLANG!

My eyes flew open, and I sat up with a gasp. Immediately, shocks of pain shot up my body. I sat frozen for a second, trying to remember what happened and why I was in so much pain when a flood of memories broke in.

Clutching my head, I wobbled up. How long was I out? Where were Justin and the others? Was the fight over?

Another clang! echoed through the air, and I turned towards the loud sound coming from behind a tower. Before I could limp over to see what was going on, two figures suddenly jumped out from the shadows of the tower.

I gasped when I realized it was Justin and Guren. Although I tried to distinguish who was who between the two, I came to the realization I couldn't.

The two of them moved so in sync, so fast I thought they were one person. Every time Guren would attack, Justin countered it perfectly as if he had foreseen it and vice versa.

It was clear they knew each other's fighting style well. There was no doubt about it that this wasn't their first time fighting against each other.

I'd always thought of the possibility of them sharing a past...but it was clear as day to me now that they did.

I flinched as I watched Justin hop onto a tall stall. As soon as his feet touched the roof, he back flipped off. Stunned, I watched him fly through the air—his perfect figure turning and twisting as freely as a bird—before spinning straight towards Guren.

Guren quickly turned the hilt of his blade upside right before Justin clashed swords with him midair. Guren stumbled back, almost toppling over by the weight and power Justin was forcing upon him. Suddenly, Justin twisted in midair and managed to give a good kick to Guren's face. While he jumped away neatly, Guren turned over and crumbled to the ground.

Justin didn't miss a beat and quickly raced over before knocking Guren out. I winced at the sound of bones cracking; I could hear it from all the way here.

My eyes darted back to Justin; he seemed extremely tired, and there was blood splattered on his face. Just like me, his clothes were tattered, and I could see cuts and wounds that trailed all the way down to his legs.

Justin suddenly collapsed to his knees, using his sword to help him stay upright. He took a step towards Guren but wobbled towards the ground, too tired to move anymore. Breathing hard, his tired eyes surveyed the scene before stopping on me.

Justin immediately jumped back to his feet, eyes wide and body tensed with alarm. He started towards me but immediately crumpled to the floor. Terror flared up within me, chasing away any type of tiredness and pain I was feeling.

Forcing my feet to move, I ran over to Justin who was still lying against the ground. When I reached him, I collapsed next to him and flipped him over to his back. Justin's tired eyes met mines, and he suddenly gave me a handsome smile. I touched his shoulder and felt his body relax immediately.

"You look horrible," I muttered.

Justin chuckled and rose a teasing eyebrow at me. "Take a look at yourself."

His hand rose up and touched my cheek. Although his warm hand grazed my cuts, they didn't seem to hurt as bad anymore. Justin's smirk quickly turned into a frown. "Were you crying blood or something?"

"Yeah," I said. "Didn't you feel my earthquake?"

"Oh, I felt it alright," Justin snorted, letting his hand drop. "So I'm assuming that's your Guang then, yes?"

"What?" I asked, resisting my urge to take his hand and slap it on my cheek again.

Before Justin could respond, he suddenly coughed. His body violently shook with every cough, and on his last cough, blood sputtered out from his mouth.

I gasped. "What the—"

But then my eyes caught it. Justin's lower abdomen. I snatched his clothes and pulled it up, revealing a huge sword wound that was flowing a continuous stream of blood.

The feeling to gag was suddenly stronger than ever as I turned my eyes towards Justin's sweaty and pale face.

No. I couldn't be distracted now.

Quickly shaking my surprise away, I tore the lower part of my dress off and pressed the clothing against Justin's wound. Catherine's previous lessons about giving first aid when she wasn't around was really coming in handy now; but before I could even take a breath, the cloth was already soaked with blood.

Whimpering, I tore another piece of my dress and pressed it against Justin's wound. "Please, please...please be okay, Justin."

"Hah," I looked up from his wound, surprised to see Justin smiling at me. "That hurts, Princess. Do you have to press that hard?"

I gasped. "Justin, hang in there—"

"It's just a small wound," Justin waved his hand dismissively. "I'm not dying, gosh—"

"It is not just a small wound!" I yelled. Justin tried to speak again, but suddenly went into a coughing fit instead. I watched in alarm as blood dribbled out from his mouth.

"Ahh shit," Justin wiped his hand against his mouth. " That doesn't look good—stop crying, you idiot."

It wasn't until Justin told me I was crying until I had tears pearling in the corner of my eyes. Rubbing them away furiously, I tore another piece of my dress and held it against his wound, praying the stream of blood would slow down soon.

"Hmmm," Justin hummed lowly. "This isn't quite that bad. You're giving me more attention than usual."

I whirled my head from his wound to Justin and snapped, "Shut up, you stupid demon and focus on not dying."

Justin let out a short laughter before wincing a little from the pain of his wound. I leaned into Justin's face to make sure he wasn't hallucinating because he was cracking these jokes at such a horrible time. Justin opened his eyes and stared back at me before breaking into another smile. "Your eyes, Princess—"

I quickly looked away. "I know. They're red—"

Justin frowned. "Why are you looking away? Red suits you."

I looked back at him, my face deadpan, and Justin raised an eyebrow before smiling at me with an amused expression. I clicked my tongue and huffed. "Alright, alright. Stop running your mouth now. If you die on me, I will come hunt you in the afterlife and drag you back."

"Aww man," Justin chuckled weakly. "That means I won't be able to get a hug today then."

"What?"

"Don't tell me you forgot already," Justin frowned.

"You idiot," I hissed. "Stop saying stupid things and save your breath."

"I want a hug though..."

I could not believe how much of a kid he was being when he was literally on the verge of bleeding to death. I glared at him. "Justin, I'll give you as many hugs you want. Just shut up and survive so that I can give you them."

"Hah..." Justin wheezed. "You promised..."

"Guys!"

I looked up to see Tristan running towards us. He took one look at Justin and stopped. Flinging down to his knees, he touched Justin's shoulder before looking up at me. "Is he...?"

I looked at Justin and realized he looked quite dead with his pale face, closed eyes and bloody, still body. I sighed in annoyance, knowing Justin was purposely trying to play dead to mess with Tristan. Tristan looked quite devastated as he clung onto Justin's cloak. "Justin! Justin! Come back! Justin!"

"He's not—" I tried to say but Tristan's moans were too loud for me to be heard.

"Oh Justin!" Tristan sobbed. " You can't do this to us! We still need to go back to Elder and tell her all our stories—"

I sighed and gave a slight push against Justin's wound. Justin reacted and winced as discreetly as possible, but Tristan noticed and abruptly stopped crying. Tristan looked at me in alarm before realizing what Justin was trying to do.

Without warning, Tristan slapped his hand across Justin's forehead. Justin burst out in laughter and kept saying "ow" over and over again every two seconds into laughing.

"I thought you were dead!" Tristan yelled, quickly dabbing his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry," Justin chuckled. "Ouch..."

"You're so damn immature," I muttered before turning towards Tristan. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a horse just ran over me," Tristan rubbed his neck, wincing as he glanced at Justin's wound. "But you guys seemed to handle everything pretty well. Except this guy right here...and..."

Tristan took a glance at me before looking over his shoulder at the split ground and group of fallen soldiers before shaking his head. "We'll deal with all that later."

I tore another strip of my dress. "Is Rezin—?"

"I already got the bird to send a message back to the gang," he nodded. "I don't know how Rezin is exactly going to get in but I'm sure he will find a way. Catherine's gonna flip once she sees Justin."

"How are the others?" I asked. "They're safe right? And what was with Rezin and you in the beginning?"

"They're safe," Tristan nodded. "Or else Rezin would've warned me. And to answer your second question, Rezin was able to snatch the key from one of the guards. That's how we managed to unlock the cage."

I nodded my head in approval as I started to tear another piece of my dress when Tristan grabbed my hand. He shook his head and tore a piece of his shirt before handing it to me.

"I can rip my own but thanks," I said, taking the piece of clothing from him.

"It's not that..." I followed Tristan's eyes to my legs which were now exposed openly. My dress was torn in so many different ways and times that it barely covered my upper thigh. Tristan pointed towards my cloak and motioned for me to tie it closer to my body so that it would cover my legs.

"Whoops," I muttered.

"Well, what do we do now?" Tristan said, looking away. "We can't just leave this mess in the middle of the town."

"Leave it to Gray," Justin wheezed. "They know how to deal with things like this."

I shushed Justin. "You're getting really pale. Conserve as much energy as possible."

"She's right," Tristan said worriedly, looking back at Justin. "Your wound doesn't look like it will stop bleeding anytime soon, buddy. We need Catherine right now."

As if Catherine had heard us, we suddenly heard her yelling at us from afar. She was flanked by Gray, Jake, and Yuri whose worried faces wash over with relief when they realized we were still alive. Once they reached us, Catherine immediately got to work without questioning anything.

"What happened?" Gray looked pained when he saw Justin. Yuri looked the same way too, his forehead crinkled in distraught.

"He'll be fine," I weakly tried, even though I didn't entirely believe myself either. Instead, I waited for Catherine to turn towards us and tell us that he was going to be alright but she kept on working without another word.

"What the—" Gray gasped. I looked up to see what had caused Gray's shock and realized he was staring right at me. I was about to ask him what was wrong when I realized—

"Oh right," I said. "Yeah, I'm a Royal Demon. Sorry. Forgot to tell you."

Gray's mouth moved soundlessly as he weakly pointed at me; Jake also seemed mildly surprised and stared at me. Yuri, on the other hand, looked nostalgic for some reason and stared at me with a look of sadness.

I glanced weirdly at Yuri and asked, "Hey—"

"Let's get him inside the hideout," Catherine interrupted. "I need to set him down in a better environment with my tools."

Gray snapped out of his shock and nodded. "Tristan and Yuri. You guys stay behind and tie up everyone. There's a bunch of ropes in the materials they carried with them. Make sure to work efficiently. I already have some of my men blocking off the roads to this one. The word about the royals coming into town already spread through town so that should also buy you some more time while the townspeople are hiding in their homes."

Gray heaved Justin up into his arms, and I realized in horror that Justin was really unconscious this time. Catherine started to make a fuss but was quickly shushed by Gray as he told her that this was the fastest way to get to the hideout.

It seemed like we were moving much too slowly. Every time I looked at Justin, I felt like another knife pierced through my heart. Right when we turned the corner towards the alley of the hideout, we bumped into an unpleasant surprise.

"Ahhh," Gray slowly set Justin down. "It seems like there are still some wandering mice around town."

I pulled Catherine behind me as I grabbed out my bloody blade. There were about five to ten soldiers that were in front of us. Catherine whimpered from behind me. "I thought we were finished with them!"

"Some probably are just coming back from patrolling a bigger radius of town," I gritted my teeth.

"Halt!" a soldier stepped forward. "State your name and—"

He stopped when he laid his eyes on mine. Immediately, he took out his sword and pointed at me. The rest followed suit and pointed their weapons at me. Gray cursed underneath his breath and flipped a blade out.

I was painfully aware that unlike myself and Justin who couldn't be killed, Guren most likely gave orders to kill if anyone else stood in the way. Not only that, but we were down one fighter.

And I couldn't go in and just fight when I had to protect Catherine and Justin. Gray suddenly stepped in front of me and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, you bums. Come at me!"

With that, Gray launched himself at them with a delighted laugh. In just a second, he managed to take down two at the same time without even taking a glance at them while he dealt with his third victim.

Jake followed after him, taking a much slower pace, but still managing by himself.

We're screwed if they get hurt. I couldn't fight and protect Catherine at the same time, but...

I looked down at my hand. I could try doing that again...

There were about five soldiers left to deal with, and although Gray looked a little bit tired, Jake looked ready to take on more of Guren's men. Suddenly, a movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I saw Jade's head pop around the corner and followed her worried eyes which were watching her son fight.

I kept my eyes on her, anxious of the possibility that she could run out any second and get hurt, but she stayed in the alley. The fight was in between me and Jade, so even if she ran out, I wouldn't be able to reach her. Out of the blue, Catherine suddenly made a distressed noise behind me.

Turning around, I realized she was running low on supplies—and Justin's bleeding was more severe than before. His forehead was beaded with sweat, and his face looked as pale as the moon. I forgot about the match and directed all my attention towards Justin.

"Why is he bleeding even more?" I shaikly asked, wiping his bangs back from his sweaty forehead.

"The wound seems to be deeper than I thought it was," Catherine panted, working fast. She applied a gauze with some ointment on it and pressed it against his wound. "Oh gosh. This is pretty bad."

"What?" I blanched. " B—but—"

All of sudden, a scream pierced through the air. I whirled around to see a little girl run out of the alley and towards the fight.

Petal.

I watched, frozen as Jade chased after her daughter. "Petal! Come back this—"

She tripped over her shoes in a hurry and fell on her face. That snapped me out of my daze. Leaving a dagger behind for Catherine, I whisked out a spare dagger and ran towards Petal who was dangerously close to the fight.

I don't know how Petal managed to get that close, but I had other things to worry about now.

"Gray! Jake!" I screamed, trying to run faster. "Petal! Petal, go back!"

She didn't listen to me but stopped running. She slowed down into a slow walk instead and cautiously watched the fight. I watched her eyes follow one person: Jake.

A soldier suddenly walked into my path, blocking my view of Petal. I gritted my teeth and ran even faster. He rose his sword but before he could begin his swing, I jumped into the air and threw my dagger at his hand.

A painful scream echoed through the air as the soldier dropped his sword to the ground. Still midair, I turned and swung my heel into the back of his neck. We both dropped to the ground at the same time with a thud. Bending down, I ripped the dagger from his hand and looked up, trying to find Petal.

I saw Jake notice his little sister slowly walking towards him. I saw the fear in his eyes explode and watched as he kicked a soldier away from his path and run towards his sister. I saw Petal's eyes widen as she watched her brother come towards her in a hurry.

She took a step back, but Jake was close and grabbed Petal into his arms. The relief in my heart lasted barely a second because before Jake could even take a step forward, an arrow found its way into his shoulder.

Jake roared out in pain and dropped to his knees. Petal fell back, clearly stunned.

"Gray!" I screamed. He had finished off his last opponent before turning around with a crazed smile. I pointed ahead; when he turned around and realized what was going on, his smile immediately fell off.

Suddenly, two shadows dropped from the sky. They landed right next to Petal and Jake; one of them took Petal into his arms and pointed a dagger against her neck. "Don't move or I'll kill her!"

"Stop—!" Jake's plea was cut off as the other man pointed his arrow and bow at his neck.

"PETAL!" Jade screamed from the ground. "JAKE! GET OUT—"

"Quiet!" the soldier holding Petal snapped. "Or I'm slicing her neck!"

We all painfully froze in our tracks. Jade muffled her cries, silent tears pouring down her cheek. The soldier lifted his blade from Petal and pointed at me. "You. Drop your weapons and come here. Hands up."

I stepped forward slowly, letting my dagger slip out from my hand. The clang against the ground was painstakingly loud in the midst of the tense silence. Closing my eyes, I tried to call for the similar gut feeling, but nothing happened.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to call for it again, but I felt emptiness.

"Hey!"

My eyes flashed open. The soldier holding Petal pointed his shaking dagger at me. "Don't you dare try to pull any demon shit!"

My heart dropped; why couldn't I recall back my power? What was wrong? If I could just call it back, I could save everyone right now—

Suddenly, a yell came from behind us. My blood froze as I whirled around to see Tristan and Yuri coming towards us.

"Hey! You guys! We finished tying—"

"HALT!" the soldier holding Petal screamed at Tristan. "Do not come any nearer!"

Petal suddenly began crying and tried escaping from the soldier's grasp. I could see the irritation begin to build up as he tried to prevent Petal from escaping. "Hold still—"

"Their reinforcements are coming," the man with the bow and arrow growled. "We got to hurry! We can't hold them off—"

"NO!"

Jake took one hard kick at the man and lunged towards Petal.

Time seemed to slow down.

The soldier holding Petal backed up as Jake drew closer to them. The man with the bow and arrow drew his bow again and aimed it right at Jake's head.

I pulled my arm back, a fallen sword I had picked from the ground tight in my hand right next to my ear. Steeling my nerves, I threw the sword hard. Just then, the man had released his arrow. The blade turned round and round till it connected with the arrow, slicing it in half.

Gray followed quickly behind, throwing a dagger towards the man with the bow and arrow. The tip found its way into the man's neck, and he collapsed to the ground without another word.

The soldier holding Petal screamed when he saw his comrade fall. He raised his sword into the air. The glinting of the sword flashed in the sunlight brightly as the blade turned.

"Wait..." I whispered. "WAIT!"

"NO!"

Splat. 

~~~~~

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lol idk what to say so! here's a table of happy emotions :D

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :)) if you did, don't forget to hit the star and comment below your thoughts! I love reading them <<33

Until next Sunday bbs!