Nan! Nan! Nan, can you hear me?

No response.

I clawed at my eyes, praying that my vision would come back soon when something hard suddenly smacked me in the side of my face, and I was thrown to the side. I gasped, realizing Catherine had escaped from under me and heard the sound of her feet pounding away from me.

"Catherine!" I screamed desperately, my nails digging into the muddy ground. "Catherine, come back!"

I heard Justin's yell, and soon a mixture of the three voices were screaming over each other. 

A deep, dark fear crept into me; I'd never experienced this unknown feeling before. 

The world was black. Pitch black. I couldn't see. 

My breath caught in my throat.

Was I going to be like this forever? Was I going to be blind for the rest of my life? 

I'm scared.

I'm scared.

I—

"Princess, what are you doing?!"

I flinched at the sound of Justin's voice.

"Help me out—hey—!"

Nan! Nan, please, please, please—please help me...help me...HELP ME!

Suddenly, a shock ripped through my head, and I fell to the ground on my side with a resounding cry. Rain pelted on my face as my eyes began to burn like crazy. As soon as the burning began, the feeling of ants crawling up behind my eyelids and their pincers poking my eyeballs started.

If I could've cried, I would've; the feeling was so uncomfortable and painful, I thought I would black out. But then I blinked, and my vision slowly began to come back. I gasped for breath, wondering what had happened, but I was too happy to muse about it.

That happiness was short-lived. Another yell echoed behind me, and I stumbled up to my feet. The three of them had rolled farther away from me, and I could see Justin's shadow trying to separate the two of them.

I ran towards them and tackled Tristan, who was trying to get to Catherine who was pinned down by Justin. As soon as I got him on the ground, I grabbed his arm and snapped his elbow upwards.

A nasty crack echoed through the air, and I looked into Tristan's eyes with bated breath, hoping that would snap him awake like it did for me. But it didn't even faze Tristan. His dull eyes that were wandering around suddenly zeroed in on me and flinched.

I could see my bright red eyes reflect against his and felt my throat dry out; my eyes looked exactly like Nan's except this time, the white part of my eyes had turned black.

"Ugh!" Tristan's cry broke me out of my daze, and I glanced down to see him clutching his hair. He looked as if he was in extreme pain, and for a second, a familiar light entered his eyes. He gasped and suddenly grasped my shoulders, yanking me down till our faces were only inches apart. "Kill...no...I have to kill—no—I—"

Though the sound of pounding rain was thunderous, I could hear Catherine's screams pierce the air. At the same time, Tristan began to scream as well and let go of me to tear his hands through his hair. I prepared to use my Guang to snap him unconscious, but a string of fear stopped me.

"Tristan!" I screamed. "What's wrong? Tristan!"

I don't get it. What was going on?

Why were the two of them suddenly screaming about killing? I thought they were being controlled by their muscles so what was this? They were acting like brainwashed zombies—

Tristan suddenly let out a loud roar. "My head—my head—hurts!"

In one swift moment, he drew his sword from his sheath and aimed it straight at his head. Instinctively, I grabbed the blade of the sword, yelping in pain as it cut the palm of my friend. I shook, using both hands to stop the blade from piercing him when his legs flipped up, and I was thrown off him.

Before I could get up, Tristan was already looming over me with his sword in the air. Swinging down, the blade cut through my shoulder blade and pinned me to the ground. My pained scream disappeared in the drumming of the rain.

The rain falling on my face mixed with the tears streaming from my eyes, and for a second, all I could see was black again. After I took a couple deep breaths, I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself before yanking the sword out as fast as I could.

I threw the weapon to the side, and the rain quickly washed away the fresh blood from the blade. Clutching my shoulder, I glanced up wearily to see Justin with his hands outstretched running towards Tristan who had a dagger to his throat.

Then, everything happened in a blink of an eye.

As soon as Justin was in arm's reach, Tristan leaned forward and flicked his hand up. I saw blood fly into the air, and Justin stop. A cry stuck in my throat as I watched Justin stumble back. When he fell back on the ground, I realized Tristan had only nicked one of his eyes and let out a relieved sob.

Stumbling up, I wobbled between my two unsteady feet, my head practically pounding from the pain.

Although Tristan was acting as if he wasn't conscious or aware of his surroundings, he was smart in his moves. He immobilized my dominant arm and tricked Justin into coming close to him so that he could get him to lower his guard.

Gnashing my teeth, I ran towards Tristan, panting hard as he advanced on a struggling Catherine whose legs were sticking out in odd directions. The dagger gleamed cruelly as Tristan rose the weapon above his head again.

No...

I pushed myself to run harder, but I wasn't even near Justin yet.

Catherine screamed and thrashed her arms impatiently, trying to get to her feet.

No, no, no...

Tristan stepped forward and leaned back. All of a sudden, his body went rigid. Very slowly, his head turned over his shoulders, and a horrified expression crossed his face. I couldn't tell if he was crying or if it was just the rain, but his lips suddenly moved.

The rain was loud. Too loud. But I read the words on his lips clearly.

Then, his face went slack and his eyes dulled. He turned back towards Catherine with a tense stance and lunged down.

"NO—"

BAM!

At that moment, the world stopped. The ceaseless rain, roaring its way down to the Earth, suddenly went silent. Even the blazing pain that scorched my shoulder disappeared.

I was suddenly on my knees, staring blankly at the still body on the ground. Justin's arm, outstretched in the air, fell limply down to the empty sheath at his side. Catherine's cries barely reached my ears as she tried to push Tristan off her.

But the sword, impaled right in the middle of Tristan's head, stood proud and strong in the heavy curtain of rain. 

Badump. Badump.

"Ah..." I flinched, yanking my hands off the ground as a river of blood trailed down towards me. Trembling, I glanced down at the palm of my hands. I didn't know whether it was my blood or Tristan's blood, but I furiously slammed my hands down on the mud and began to rub the stain away.

The pain in my shoulder exploded, and I stopped cold.

"Tristan..."

I squeezed my eyes shut as Justin's hollow whisper rang loud and clear in my ears.

"Tristan...TRISTAN!"

All of a sudden, the deafening sound of the pouring rain, the wet, numb feeling of my shivering body, the smell of the dirt, the stickiness of the blood on my hands, all of it slammed my senses open.

I opened my eyes slowly and watched Justin stumbling towards Tristan's fallen body. He collapsed on his knees and flipped Tristan over. Gently caressing Tristan's face, Justin let out a nervous laugh. "Tristan...c'mon man. W—wait—stop...we can still help you—we can—"

I twitched.

Tristan. 

Tristan. 

Tristan.

Justin seized Tristan's shoulders and began to violently shake him. "Tristan!" Justin screamed. A stream of tears were flowing down his face as he helplessly held on to the body. "Tristan, please! You bastard, wake up!"

My ears were painfully throbbing from the silence in the air.

Say something. You need to respond. You need to respond back to Justin.

Justin gritted his teeth and began compressing against Tristan's chest. "Please, Tristan! I'm begging you, don't die on me! Help! Yuri, please!"

Yuri? I glanced wearily at Justin's shaking body and squeezed my eyes shut. We were both going crazy.

I need...to help. I need...

"I'm sorry." I stopped and looked back at Justin's defeated state, hovering over Tristan as if protecting him from the rain. "I'm sorry...I didn't know what to do...I had to..."

As I listened to the cracks in his broken voice, a cold feeling seeped through my numb body. My fingers curled into the wet ground as I pushed myself up.

No. 

No, no, no. 

Not this again. We don't need to go through this pain. The person who started all this needs to. 

Yes...

I turned on my heel and stumbled towards the forest. Yes, them. I need to see them. I need to hold them accountable. I needed to...

Kill them.

My breaths deepened, and my nails dug into the palms of my hands.

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

With every repeat in my head, my feet moved faster. I didn't know where I was headed to, yet I walked with so much confidence as if I knew exactly where they were.

When I spotted a large clearing in front of me, the rain had greatly ceased. I noticed I was walking out of the thick of the trees and was heading towards a small cliff. Then, I saw them huddled to a corner.

Violet was hovering over an immobile Aslan, exchanging hurried words with him. When I walked towards them, Violet noticed my appearance and gasped, springing away. She tried to run towards the trees, but I flared open my eyes, and two cracks! echoed through the air.

Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she fell with a cry of pain. Ignoring her, I walked straight towards Aslan and seized him by the neck. He scratched and gripped my arm with his left hand but froze when I pulled him to the edge of the cliff.

"W—Wait, Sakura—" Aslan panted. "Please don't kill me—I won't tell the king anything—I'll let you go—"

A strange sense of deja vu passed through me as I stared at his shaking figure. Tilting my head, I let out a dry laugh.

Aslan gasped. "Ah...please, Sakura...please don't kill me..."

"Fuck," I sighed, clutching my head. "My head hurts. It hurts so much."

"Ack—" Aslan coughed. I glanced up at him wearily to see tears streaming down his face.

"What the..." I muttered. "Why are you crying? I'm the one who should be crying right now, don't you think so?" Aslan wheezed; I frowned and tightened my grip. "Hey Aslan, you wanna know something interesting?"

"W—What?" he gulped.

"I just remembered. The first time I killed somebody, it was also like this," I smiled. "We were at a cliff, and I killed him."

Aslan's skin turned a tone whiter. "W—W—Wait! I promise you—I won't—"

"But you know, you're the first person I've actually wanted to kill. I've always hated carrying the burden of knowing that I killed or even hurt somebody, but..." I stared at Aslan's shaking eyes. "I don't think I will regret it this time."

Aslan's eyes widened, and his hands lit on fire. For a few seconds, he desperately dug his nails into my skin, trying to burn me, but I couldn't feel a thing. Soon enough, the rain falling extinguished his flames, and he froze.

"S—Sakura—"

"Hey," I cut him off and pulled him towards me until our faces were only centimeters apart. "You wanna know how he died in the end?"

Without waiting for his answer, I pushed him backwards. Aslan outstretched his arm towards me, trying to grab on to me and swiped helplessly at the air. Then, he fell backwards and disappeared over the cliff.

I stared at the misty bottom for a second before turning on my heel and advancing on Violet. She was shaking violently as I approached her and flinched when I bent down to her eye level.

I could see my glowing red eyes reflect in her large purple ones. She suddenly lunged forward and grabbed my arm. A second passed, and she looked up at me hopefully only to blanch in horror when she realized nothing happened.

I rose my hand and slapped her across the face before seizing her by the throat. Slamming her head down to the ground, I demanded, "What did you do to Tristan and Catherine? Why were they acting the way they did?"

"C—Can't b—breathe!" she clawed at my hand. I loosened my hold a little, and she quickly answered, "M—Mind! I can control one's mind if I touch them. I made it so that the two of them would grow more desperate if they weren't able to kill the black-haired boy or each other."

I tried to make the connections from the past to see if she was telling the truth, but I could barely think straight. I wrapped my hand tighter around Violet's neck, and she began to choke again.

"Then how was I able to snap out of your spell? Even when I broke her arm, she couldn't come back," I said. "Yet it worked for me."

"Y—You're a R—Royal!" she croaked. "O—Our p—powers only go so f—far with you."

"Liar. How did Justin not get affected, then?"

"I don't know!"

I heaved a heavy sigh. 

"W—W—Wait! Spare me—p—please—" she wheezed.

I stopped. Getting up, I got off Violet and offered her a hand. A trail of drool was sliding down the corner of her lip as she stared up at me in shock. Quickly snapping out of her daze, she grabbed my hand and pulled herself into a sitting position.

"T—Thank you—" she gasped. "I—I'm so sorry! I—I—I'll go reverse their minds—everything was Aslan's plan—it wasn't mines—"

I grinned. "Is that so?"

Her eyes widened. "Y—Yes!"

"Alright, I believe you," I nodded.

Her mouth moved wordlessly before she suddenly bowed her head. "Thank you so much for having mercy!"

I sighed and pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Now, how'd you jump to that conclusion?"

She froze. Slowly, she sat up. "H—Huh?"

"When did I say I wasn't going to kill you?" I rose an eyebrow.

She blanched and began to shake again. "N—No—please—"

"I just figured with this disgusting blood of ours, we should kill each other the Royal way, hm?" I smiled. "Take advantage of our power, isn't that right?"

Crack!

Violet shrieked in agony as she grabbed her right arm.

Crack!

Her left arm.

Crack!

Her spine.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Every one of her ten fingers.

"Just kill me!" she screamed. "Just kill me already—"

I placed my foot onto her face and slammed her head to the ground. "Do you think you have the right to die the easy way out? You're going to suffer. I'm going to tear you limb by limb—"

"Hey!"

Wearily, I glanced up to see Yuri standing in front of us. He was shaking as badly as Violet was with his eyes wide with terror. Yuri took a step towards me. "Miss, please...that's enough..."

"You..." I stared at him. "Where were you?"

Yuri flinched. The two of us stared at each other for a long second before Violet let out a whimper again, and I realized she was still under my foot. I lifted my foot off her and bent down towards her. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Hey," I tapped her dirt-streaked face. "I'll give you a chance to get out of here alive."

Violet's eyes flashed open, and although she was shaking in fear, a glimmer of hope gleamed in her eyes. I placed my chin in the palm of my hand and grinned. "There's only one right answer to this question so you better answer carefully, alright?"

"Y—Yes," she breathed.

"With that power of yours," I pointed a lazy finger at her. "Can you bring someone back from the dead?"

The light in Violet's eyes vanished. Standing back up, I dusted my dress off and smiled down at her. "Well, unfortunately, that was the wrong answer."

Violet's hoarse wail filled the air again as the sound of bones cracking accompanied it. I waited until all of the useless bones were cracked before hovering over her face. Her watered eyes stared up at me with a blurry glaze.

"Never did I ever expect that a day would come when I enjoyed killing someone," I sighed. "I guess there's a first for everything."

"M—Monster..." she whispered.

"You can still speak?" I laughed. "Impressive. Well, it takes one to know one, don't you think?"

"I—"

I narrowed my eyes, and Violet's body jerked upward. I watched her chest rise one more time before it stilled. "I told you to answer carefully."

Staring at Violet's still face, I felt nothing but emptiness. 

Standing up, I began to walk back into the forest. Yuri called after me, but I didn't respond to him as I brushed past trees and bushes.

As I walked through the forest, a branch caught in my dress. I tried to move forward, but it persistently held me back. I sighed and placed my face in my hands.

I really...really...

A loud crack ripped through the air, and suddenly, the ground began to tremble. I glanced up just in time to see a tree, whose roots were completely lifted up from the ground, fall to the ground. Realizing it was the tree where the branch had come from, I stared blankly as the fallen tree fall on top of other trees.

Easily being the biggest and heaviest one, it made others fall with it, and suddenly, the forest seemed to be falling apart. The ground shook like it was an earthquake. I felt a hand wrap around my arm and turned to see Yuri yelling at me with a worried expression on his face.

I couldn't hear him over the sound of the falling trees and stared blankly at him. His face contorted into a pained expression, and he suddenly flung his arms around my neck. I could feel his beating heart against mines and closed my eyes.

This felt strangely familiar...

A stinging sensation pricked my eyes, and my body began to convulse. Without even looking, I knew blood was starting to fall from my eyes. 

"Miss! Miss, you have to—"

Yuri's words faded as I collapsed to the ground, hacking up blood.

"Help me."

You liar.

Just days ago, you told me all the things you wanted to do.

Didn't you want to travel the world? Don't you need to go back to Elder and tell her thank you one more time? Then why are you leaving everyone behind? How are you going to do all that if you're not here?

Why did those have to be your last words, Tristan?

~~~~~

Ahhhhh, I've been so excited to edit this chapter! I'm sorry I couldn't upload last week; I had a lot of work, and honestly, I wasn't in the right condition to write the way I needed to for this chapter. I really tried to invoke some emotions out of this, but because of how limited my writing skills are, I still feel unsatisfied with the way I wrote this. 

But anywho, if you guys enjoyed, please comment below your thoughts and hit the star!

I'll see you guys next Sunday :))