"Wake up you're wanted next door" The two rebels watching over Sakura shook her body.

Yet she didn't budge. Instead, she tossed and turned feeling the hay she was lying on scratch against her back causing itchiness to crawl along her skin like little insects as she purred in her slumber.

Grumbling amongst themselves the two rebels lost their patience and instead yanked both her arms up dragging her to meet Mazon in the next room.

Being forced out of her beauty sleep etched a frown on Sakura's delicate features inking pudgy bags to hang underneath her eyes whilst the straw she had slept on had been imprinted on one of her cheeks.

Dust dampened the small room making her nose tingle once they opened the door. Candle light swished in the stale air casting shadows onto the large table, chairs and some kitchen utensils in the far end of the place. Its specks sank into the mould gnawing the corners of the walls.

The only true piece of radiance would have to be the moonlight drifting through the smashed window to sketch white silhouettes along the people gathered around the table.

Her steps creaked against the wooden floor leaving behind grimy footsteps to be embedded along the ground but they were accompanied by another set of footprints until the face of the man filtered through the darkness of the room.

"I owe ya a debt of gratitude for your assistance to my recovery" Mazon held her hand with a strong yet warm shake.

"I-It's no problem at all" Sakura smiled weakly.

"Aye, no need to be shy" he pulled her into a side hug patting her back with a sturdy hand as he let out a deep chuckle rippling from the very back of his throat.

"You'll have to forgive me lass but I didn't catch your name"

"I-I'm Jemisha, it's very lovely to meet you"

"Likewise" He nodded. "I suppose its bout' time to introduce you to the other folks before the hour ceases"

"Why are we running out of time?"

"I have to go retrieve our leader"

Sakura cowered her hands on her chest, quickly dashing her vision to the side before quivering her lips to speak.

"B-But you just recovered, you should rest and besides I-I thought I was only staying for the night? Is it necessary that I meet everyone else?" she gulped, feigning her innocence.

Mazon halted jutting his chin forward only for it to be patted down by his large finger as he dwelled on his thoughts.

"Well, if anythin' I would like for ya to tarry with us a little longer, we can make good use of your craft"

"B-But how would Aya feel about this?"

"Aye, I'm aware of her concerns but I also know she'd do anythin' to defend her rebels and I'd reckon if ya wanted to slay me you would have done it by now" he chuckled darkly as his body bobbed softly.

The irony in his words only caused Sakura to roll back and forth on the balls of her feet to contain her outer façade yet inwardly she savoured on his pathetic statement.

Patience is a virtue as they say and if she wanted to kill him she wouldn't do it in an instant, no, Sakura was much more cunning when it came to issues such as these so much so that she was the personification of a lion prowling for her prey.

Her fangs were like that of the beasts large canines dripping with saliva as her taste buds craved for her next meal, her sultry words and laughter might contrast to that of a lions intense roars but both held the same power to pierce into their victims heart incising fear into their aching bodies before devouring every shred of confidence they once held whilst her elliptical orbs oozed with venom pinning on the target waiting to pounce with one big strike.

Mazon brought her towards the table where others were seated at busily drinking tea. The only person she recognised was the woman known as Haímen who previously spoken to Mikah.

"This is Karma, Haímen..." she zoned out of the other rebels he began to list out and simply smiled as a gesture of greeting.

Abruptly, a tall and muscular appearing rebel slammed the door open storming over to Mazon before whispering roughly into his ear as he gestured towards the door. Harsh chanting from the crowds outside ruptured into the room reverberating off the walls of the shabby household.

Mazon nodded rubbing the ends of his beard ordering the rebel to gather the crowd up for a speech.

"There's a ruckus outside, I need to go speak to everyone" he exhaled walking out of the building in long strides.

Those who were sitting at the table rose from their seats and followed in his steps.

Sakura watched from the misty stained window as Mazon stood up on a wooden crate speaking to the herd of rebels with his deep-toned voice.

His words of Aya's imprisonment bellowed through the air causing shrieks and gasps amongst the multitude of people and even sparked a series of goosebumps down Sakura's arms but not in the manner of shock like the others but in excitement as she bit her lips attempting to contain a smirk brewing on her mouth.

To conceal her happiness she tightened her features into a droopy pout shaking her head from side to side to blend in with the anguish of the others from afar.

Mazon also informed the wide-eyed and trembling crowd of his plans to become the Aya's deputy leader whilst she was away. This not only caused Sakura's brows to shoot up but also perched a hitch in her breaths.

Ideas rapidly ran through her mind of all the things she could do.

She had created numerous potions and antidotes back on the mountain for her pleasure so the possibilities were endless. All she needed now was the utensils to commence her plan of biological warfare.

She spun around in order to step over to the kitchen side of the room but instead caught the doey eyes of the girl known as Karma staring at her.

"Y-You scared me"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to"

"W-Why aren't you out there with the others?"

"I prefer to be indoors, it's less chaotic" a sheet of sweat glossed over her porcelain skin.

Sakura's vision absorbed the girl's small stature, long white hair shadowing over her almond-shaped eyes with bangs and her black inky iris' seeping through the wisps of hair.

The girl reminded Sakura of a gazelle harmless and frail in which she took a great liking to. She would be the perfect tool for her plan.

"It's so noisy out there, I wish there was something I could do to calm the situation down I feel so helpless"

Karma nodded fiddling with an odd looking bracelet attached to her petite wrist as she looked down upon it.

Sakura tilted her neck looking over her shoulder at the half-empty teacups. "Maybe I can make some tea for everyone...the cups don't look too full"

"I can help if you want?"

Karma stroked her bracelet prompting it to split into an array of coloured stone balls rising in the air to spin about like orbits bouncing off each other.

With one snap of her fingers, they drifted towards the kitchen utensils setting the teacups aligned ready to sprinkle the herbs allowing them to infuse in the water.

Stale air stole Sakura's breaths and wrung her lungs clean of all forms of oxygen as she jumped back realising that this girl wasn't so innocent and weak as she had previously thought so.

"W-Wait what are you doing?"

"Using my magic you said you wanted help"

"I'm not too fond of things like that...they bring back bad memories" Sakura let out a soft breath resting her cheek on her curled up palm as she sifted her dulled gaze to meet the ground.

"Oh, I sorry" her stone balls returned to form back into the bracelet.

"It's fine I'd just prefer to make them naturally, it's something I learnt from my mother even though we weren't that close its all I really remember of her" Sakura rubbed the side of her arm stepping over to the teacups adding dashes of herbs to them.

"That's alright, I never truly felt a bond with my parents either" Karma smiled tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, relating to the parent similarities Sakura had toyed with.

Another trait Sakura learnt from her mother was never to put her faith in a stranger.

"Do you mind handing them to the rest of the people out there, I'm afraid I would get lost in such a big crowd I still don't really know my way around here"

"That's quite alright"

"Oops, I'm so sorry" As Sakura handed her the remaining herbs one of them had slipped from her hand causing Karma to lean down in order to pick it up. Whilst this was happening it gave Sakura enough time to discreetly slip in her invisible venom into the kettle just before Karma got up.

"It's ok" Karma reassured her with a simple nod before making her way towards the kettle to turn it on.

Once the kettle whistled and bubbled steam to circulate in the air Sakura and Karma poured the hot water into the teacups, catching the whiff of earthy scents emanating from the floral designed mugs.

Sakura watched as Karma slipped into the maze of people. Taking full advantage of her power Karma generated numerous amounts of teacups to float around her before resting in the palms of people.

Sakura felt her pulse ripple with a quick rhythm watching Mazon step down from the wooden crates reaching out for a drink that Karma handed him.

Once he had gulped it down she felt a sense of relief wash over her features in the form of a wide grin. Immediately Mazon collapsed gripping the voices of the crowd.

More followed in the same suit, enveloping their arms around their stomachs or clutching to their raggedy clothes before hunching over dropping to the cobblestoned ground.

To feign much suspicion she didn't poison everyone, some were left to drown in their heavy screams worrying about what was happening with their loved ones until their throats became scratchy and dry.

She swarmed through the crowd attempting hauling Mazon's body up the large crate. She dug her shoes into the crevices of the wooden crate to climb up until she reached the top and allowed his trembling body to rest upon the boxes.

Swiping away the thin sheet of sweat glistening on her forehead she sighed popping one of her potions open. Its acidic fume shot up her nose so in order to block it out she pinched it pouring its remains into Mazon's mouth.

Yelling at the top of her lungs brought about to no attention as it faltered through the loud crowd. That was until she noticed a bell in the corner of her eyes.

She obtained it shaking it fast enough so that it clang in the air fastened the people's lips.

Everyone stared at Mazon fluttering his lids open as his head rolled to face the crowd. Although he sucked in a sharp breath wincing slightly Sakura was aware it was just his body reacting to the 'cure'.

He muttered a gentle thank you to which Sakura nodded opening her mouth to speak.

"There's something wrong with the tea you've been given, it appears as if it's been poisoned" she bent down taking a sniff of the mug that Mazon had drunk out of.

"I can see traces of magic in it" Faces shifted towards Karma, all shadowed in furrowed brows creasing anger into their foreheads whilst their fists hardened at their sides.

In return, Karma kept her head down balancing on the balls of her feet as she rocked back and forth awkwardly with the stares of the people burning into her sallow skin.

"I-I'm sure it was just an accident Karma" Sakura gulped with a weary smile but she knew it was no accident at all. The powder she added was useless unless it reacted with some type of magic and since Karma had used her powers to juggle the multiple teacups it burst into action leaving Sakura to be somewhat innocent in her own eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to do it I-"

In comparison to Sakura's well behaved and mannered royal guards, the rebels were much more difficult to handle in regards to obedience and noise.

Shouting alone wouldn't do it only forms of intimidation would work but since she couldn't expose herself as Sakura and their leader Aya had been captured she had to pause for a moment as she felt that thought creep upon her mind.

It swelled the tip of jealousy in her heart, tingling her taste buds at the sudden desire of yearning for that style of that form of authority but she didn't allow her emotion to reach to its cusp and instead she rang the bell again until her hand went numb.

"Stop your leader is waking up" she rung the bell again, her throat becoming raspy with all the shouting she was brewing out of her dry lungs.

Staring at Mazon's face she noticed a few key details. It had become paler drained of all forms of colour and it also lacked the elasticity it once held as she dipped her fingers onto his cheek feeling it sink in and leave a dent on the side of his face.

Along with that, there was a sense of coldness rooted in his body emanating in his eyes which had frozen into glass orbs and his lips which had distorted into a pale blue hue

It appeared as if her 'antidote' had already begun to take its intended effect.

"I-I need you to take control for now" he clung his hand around her wrist, his nails digging into her skin but in a robotic touch as his words came out in a monotone voice with everyone listening.

"A-Are you sure? But I can't control all these people? How are you supposed to get Aya back in this condition?"

His lips loosened to speak but his head slumped back and he went silent.

Her plan had worked.

"The antidote seems to be working but in order for your leader to make a full recovery he needs rest, so that means we will have to postpone saving Aya for now"

Murmuring stirred in the crowd until it rose in sound morphing into deep chants of protest at Sakura's words.

"It doesn't mean we won't save her...but you need to have more faith in her, she will probably manage to get out herself, as for now, I would like for you to help me get Mazon to bed and to treat the sick"

The room stunk of rotten meat to which Sakura crinkled her nose at. However it was no surprise that the smell would arise with the decaying bodies clogging up the room.

Sweat stuck to the individual's bodies, their steps were wobbly stumbling from side to side to either collapse on one another with the pain shooting up their bodies or they resorted to clutching onto anything they could hold such as a wall or one of the rebels attempting to inject them with more of the 'antidote'.

They were some exceptions with those who couldn't handle the pain at all and just gave up rolling upon the ground with their tears leaving wet streaks across the wooden floors.

Sakura felt her skin crawl seeing how bloodshot and bulged their eyes had become with rashes sprawled all over their skin in red patchy spots and she almost yelped as Haímen spurted out a bloody vomit.

Although blood was her favourite delicacy she wouldn't stoop so low as to feed off of a poisoned type especially one that came from rebels.

It didn't take long for more and more people to wobble into the room taking up more of the floor space and mats which were used for the patient's to lie down on.

Karma attempted to help but was shrugged away.

Still refusing to drop her measly attempts of aid she brought around a jug of water for some but again was shoved into the side only to receive harsh slanderous words in her face. She bit her lips pinching her eyes as she receded into the corner.

She was pathetic in Sakura's eyes and was the perfect scapegoat to blame any deaths upon her.

"Jemisha?"

"Y-Yes"

"We'd like for you to sign a document" one of the rebels handing her a sheet of paper.

"S-Sorry but what's this for?"

"In the case that these antidotes don't work, you'll have to pay for the consequences"

"H-How exactly?"

"With your life" he gave her a deadpanned expression.

"Isn't that a bit drastic?" she gulped.

He sucked his teeth shoving the sheet into her chest forcing her to sign it.

She chuckled awkwardly signing her name on the sheet, knowing that they still didn't fully trust her.

Yet at the same time, it shocked her to see the rebels working with documents. It seems as if they had some civilisation to them.

The rebels nodded his head slipping out of the door. Sakura followed behind at a good distance at which she was able to watch his every step without being caught.

She moved lightly and swiftly until he reached a different household a little isolated from the other wooden beamed houses. He opened the door disappearing into the darkness only to return empty-handed.

Sakura assumed it was a house filled with documents and she nearly giggled feeling her blood temperature rise enabling sweat to seep out of her palms and her heart thrum rapidly against her rib cage ready to unravel the various secrets hidden within its chambers.

As he began to walk out she stitched her fingers into his pocket sliding his keys out. Once she dipped in she tucked herself inside keeping to the corners of the walls to prevent herself from being caught.

There were many keys bundled on the keychain but there was one specific one shaped differently from the rest.

It was smaller almost completely hidden if Sakura hadn't had shaken it in her palm. Gazing around the room there was only a small wooden office table and a few wooden cabinets behind.

She twisted the smallest key into each cabinet none of them worked until the last one popped open. She instantly pounced her fingers on the sheets flicking through them until something caught her glimpse.

Skimming over its title she instead looked at the date and it correlated to around the time of the murder of her parents.

The file she read was the layout of Aya's plan.

She scrolled her eyes down to see a list on the sheet that was highlighted in larger words. Contained in the list were basic goals that the rebels wished to acquire such as new weaponry, collecting royal hostages and also a peculiar plan involving Lezebella and brainwashing but since she died they couldn't fulfil that idea.

Reading further down Sakura noticed that some note taking had occurred during this strategizing document for the rebellion. She yawned at the useless words of information until she reached the very end of it noticing that Karma was the only one of them that didn't agree with Lezebella being used for their brainwashing plan.

She was just about to put the sheets down until Karma opened the doors.

"Jemisha?" she called searching around the room.

"I-I was just returning a document I had to sign" Sakura lied through her teeth quickly flashing Karma the sheet of paper before placing it back in the cabinet.

"It's ok"

"How did you know I would be in here?"

"I could just sense it..." she spoke slowly which caused a ripple effect of goosebumps to bolt up Sakura's arms as she raised a brow at the eerie girl.

"D-Did you need me for something?"

"I wanted to inform you that more of the rebels have....passed away the antidote doesn't seem to be working"

"They need lots of it in a short amount of time or the treatment will fail to work" Sakura smiled knowing full well that the more intake of the 'antidote' the quicker it would work to wither away the body's organs into shut down mode killing them all. "Would you mind telling them that while I finish up in here?"

"I-I'm a bit too scared to, everyone is still upset with me for causing this"

"They are only upset because their leader is gone, she was their only hope after all and without her, the rebellion can't succeed don't blame yourself for what happened as I said it was only just an accident"

"B-But I don't think everyone else sees it that way, they won't even let me get near the sick" Karma rubbed her arm looking away to the side.

"I hope they didn't try to hurt you, did they?" Sakura drew closer to her examining her arm as it held the soft shade of purple imprinted on it like a bruised fruit.

"It was only a light shove, it was my fault for getting in their way when they were trying to do their jobs"

"I don't think this was just an accident"

Karma bit her lips playing with the fray hairs of her bangs.

"You should be careful, next time it could be more than just a light shove"

"You think they would...hurt me?"

"People react out of control when tragedies strike they can't control their emotions and you don't want to be a punching bag for their anger and anguish especially after what happened with the tea...it doesn't seem very safe around here for you"

"I-I don't know what to do I have no-where else to go"

"You aren't cut out for this lifestyle...not everyone is meant to fight and that's ok all you need to do is stay safe you can still support her in a peaceful way" Sakura took out the previous document again showing Karma for a brief moment before placing it back into the cabinet.

"How?"

"Free yourself from all of this before you get seriously hurt"

"B-But I don't know where to go" her breaths unravelled into chunky hitches.

"Anywhere will do...anywhere far away from here where they can't find you...you might not be able to fight but at least you can still agree with her ways at a distance"

Karma paused for a moment looking down at her feet.

"You don't have a lot of time before they start wondering where you've gone I'll make sure to inform them that you have decided you no longer want to take part in this rebellion"

Karma nodded and with that, she was about to leave until Sakura called her back.

"Wait I think it would be better if you told Aya your goodbyes instead of me" Sakura handed her a piece of paper and pen.

Micah's POV

Although Aya had already been cursed, Mikah was still aware that Sakura was hiding amongst them but he was too busy trying to retrieve his student back to worry about the Queen that was until he saw the position that Aya was in with someone he didn't recognise.

Anger throbbed into his veins poking out of his temple as he attempted to relax his tensed shoulders to try and relive the stress from building up in him, he then took long strides towards the blonde male leaning over Aya.

Placing a hand over his chest he exhaled with grace shutting his eyes for just a moment allowing himself to clear his mind before yanking the guy off her, taking hold of Aya's hand.

But the blonde fought back snatching Aya's arm in his grip.

"Where do you think you're taking my raven to?" Yoku whistled.

"Pardon me?-" He threw a punch at Mikah's jaw causing him to stumble backwards but it didn't halt Mikah from picking himself back up to knock an uppercut into his Yoku's chest.

"I'm surrounded by idiots" Aya ripped the two boys apart both hands on yanking on their hair as they stood either side of her.

"I've been searching everywhere for you and this is how you repay me" Mikah sighed trying to hold back the bitterness seeping from his tone.

"Stalker much" Yoku scoffed shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Quit it, we don't have time for this" Aya seethed shoving the two boys forward only for her to step forth and pace ahead of them. "We need to retreat back to the underworld"

"What the fuck is going on here?" Aya's orbs dilated slightly as her breath hitched catching the horrific sight of dead bodies piled on top of each other.

She stormed closer to it, her shoulders slumped and her face dropped slowly taking in the decaying faces of Mazen, Haímen and many others of her rebels withered into a sorry pit.

But if her body language and facial expression was an indication of sadness she quickly tucked it away and instead replaced it with anger flourishing through her fingertips as she put a grip on her sword piercing her glare upon Sakura who stood wearily behind the pile.

"Y-You're people have been poisoned...I-I tried to save them but they didn't make"

"You're about to join them you caused all of this" Aya unsheathed her sword in one swift motion and without a seconds thought she sliced her sword causing it to swish in the air and cut through Sakura's arm.

"I-It wasn't me I swear in fact I'm the one trying to save them it was Karma that poisoned them" Sakura flinched holding onto her bleeding arm, she hadn't expected Aya's sword to hurt so much, things would have been different if she was back in her normal pureblood Vampire state she would have been freed of the stinging and burning sensation of the blade.

"You must be demented to think I'll believe that" Aya swished her sword at Sakura but this time Sakura fell crawling backwards on the ground to try and avoid the quick jolts and stabs of Aya's sword.

"Karma wouldn't harm a fly let alone human beings" Mikah crouched down gently stroking his hand on Haímen's pale face, his eyes welling with the light touch of tears but with an abrupt cough he rose again rubbing a hand down his chin.

"Y-You can never trust a witch...you do know what they did to my people" Sakura breathed heavily, easily playing her role as an elf in the hopes that Mazon had already made Aya aware of the history of his people.

"She wasn't a witch she was an immortal" Aya kissed her teeth slashing a piece of Sakura's pink hair to shreds.

"E-Either way she was aware on how to use magic and sadly she didn't use it for the welfare of those around her...she's no longer here anyways...after she poisoned your people she ran away like a coward"

"The more you talk the more it makes me want to gut you"

"I-I know you don't believe my words but she left a note describing how she felt" Sakura handed her the sheet. "A-All I wanted was a place to stay why would I ruin it by murdering innocent lives? I've already lost my home it isn't my desire to lose this one too"

Aya jabbed her sword into the note sliding it off her blade until it reached her palms. She narrowed her eyes moving her head from side to side to read every word Karma had said.

"I am deeply sorry for all the trouble I have caused it wasn't my intent to hurt so many people...I swear to you it was an accident... I don't think it's best for me to stay here I'll only be more of an inconvenience if I did...please take care.

Aya sucked her teeth, crumbling the sheet and tossed it to the side before cursing out loud.

Footsteps crunched on the ground in two's, three's, four's, escalating in numbers as they advanced faster and louder with harsher steps.

"I'm sorry but if you want to stay safe you'll have to trust me please...or you'll just get captured again by the Queen's army"

"We don't leave the dead behind...they won't rot away like this" Aya placed her sword back in its cover making her way towards the deceased bodies.

"You'll be dead if we don't hurry...please...I know a place where they won't find us" Sakura dusted herself off standing up.

Mikah and Yoku attempted to drag Aya away but she pushed them off pausing for a moment to embrace her dead comrades one final time before sprinting away with quick speed.

Sadly not too far into their journey Sakura's army swarmed in on the surrounding them from all corners.

A smirk kissed the cheeks of Sakura's face knowing that her army had finally followed her instructions wisely. But to Sakura's surprise rebels burst out amongst the crowd swimming through the people to fight back.

However, everything in her plan had succeeded.

It was now time for her to do what she had always desired to do. To have the head of Aya Kamishiro placed on her mantelpiece or perhaps next to where the young rebel's father laid.

Either way, she would take her life.

Inching her hand on Aya's sword she licked her wet lips already bubbling with saliva, her heartbeat vibrating a soft flare of goosebumps to flutter along her skin, her pulse throbbed hard enough to ripple beads of sweat onto her forehead.

She veiled her eyes shut preparing to glide her delicate finger on its sharp touch but instead got a jolt of fear up her spine as she stumbled back hearing an eerie voice of none other than Exavier Kamishiro.

"Princess are you sure about that?"

Sakura's temples pounded and her vision became a haze but the voice pressed onward pulsing into her brain with the same smooth velvet tone she always remembered.

"Trying to kill my own daughter with my blade that's pretty low coming from you but I guess you're used to being on your knees" he chuckled darkly causing Sakura to scream gaining people's attention in the thick chaos.

"What the hell-?" Aya's eyes widened looking at Sakura's hands clasp on her head as she shook it back and forth.

Sweat spilt down her face as she continuously chanted the same words of "It's not real, It's not real, it's not real" over and over again until they picked up in sound morphing into deranged screams once she collapsed onto her knees.

Yuko stroked his chin for a moment tilting his head to the side before snapping his fingers breaking himself free from thought as he figured out what he was going to say.

"Sakura Miki, I knew you looked familiar"

"What?!" Aya sharpened her glare upon Yuko and Sakura.

"Did you get a new hairstyle? You look a little different can't say I like it though pink makes you look sweet" Yuko leaned closer to Sakura twirling a lock of her pink hair in his finger until it unravelled its shade back to her normal brunette hues. "You aren't that innocent babe just look at your track record"

Once his fingers traced down Sakura's arm her whole disguise dwindling from her body until she was back to her old self.

"Anyways thanks for summoning me he winked at her" Yoku playfully saluted her resting his elbow on Aya's shoulder.

"Your Highness" Sakura's guards flooded her as Aya attempted to break through but Sakura quickly popped one of her own potions open and sprinkled it on herself before dissolving into the night dust.

Copyright © 2018 by LickerFish

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