◆️The Last Geishas Chapter Fourteen◆️

As Mavis and Noah were sleeping, Mavis looked at Noah’s face and sighed. “He looks so childish when he sleeps.” Mavis thought as she ran his fingers through his hair. “Mavis… mmm…” Noah said in his sleep.

“I wonder what he's dreaming about.” Mavis wondered.

In Noah’s dream

“Noah!” Mavis’s voice sounded so sexy. She was yelling his name… wanting more of him… stretched out beneath him sweating and panting. Her breast bouncing as be intruded. “Noa… Noah… pl… ease… don't stop.” Her body trembled as he sunk his teeth into her, marking her, making her his.

Back in reality!

“Noah! Are you just going to lay there and mop for no reason? I've been trying to wake you up for the past 30 minutes.”

Noah looked up to find his bubbly pink haired fairy geisha who was standing over him with that cute pout face she made when he was doing something wrong.

He buried his face into his arms as he looked away from the beautiful geisha before him. Oh how he wished he could sink his teeth into that.

“Come on! We have to get going. Pixie wants us all in the tactician room in 30 minutes.” Mavis warned him as he looked at Mavis.

“Why does she have to be so cute!” Noah thought as he grabbed Mavis’s wrist and pulled the down towards him. “N-No-Noah.” Mavis stammered as Noah smelled her pink hair.

“You smell good.” Noah smiled as he buried his face in her hair. “Noah, we don't have time for that. Come on.” Mavis smiled as she rolled out of bed.

30 minutes later

“Sorry were late.” Mavis apologized. “Anyways, I was exploring the castle last night and I found this. Apparently the last geishas are actually able to contact us from the spirit using this device.” Pixie explained as she turned on the giant montor and the last geishas came up. “Hey! We kinda need your guys help.” Seika requested.

“With what?” Elinor asked. “I’m glad you asked Elinor. We technically aren’t suppose to tell you this yet but we kinda have to… so anyways Elinor is really the only one who can see the past so anyways, if you touch the amethyst it should activate your mind reading.” Tamara explained as Elinor walked over to the amethyst in the middle of the room.

She was about to touch it but she stopped. “Here goes nothing.” Once Elinor touched the amethyst it caused her eyes to glow white.

N O  O N E  P O V

The dungeon was a miserable place. Light was scarce and flickered from the torches bolted to the stone walls. Foul-smelling water dripped inside from the moat circling from the palace above. Large rats chased each other across the floor searching for food.

It was just after midnight, and all as quiet except for the occasional rustle of a chain. Through the heavy silence a single set of footsteps echoed throughout the halls as someone climbed down the spiral staircase into the dungeon.

A young woman emerged down the steps dressed in head-to-toe in a long amethyst cloak. But the most interesting item on her was the thing she was holding in her arms.

A baby girl.

With every step she took, her pace became slower and slower, and her heart beat faster and faster.

The prisoners were arranged according to crime. The deeper she walked into the dungeon, the crueler and more dangerous the criminals became.

Her sights were set on the cell at the very end of the hall, where a prisoner of special interest was being watched by a large private guard.

Only one person could give her the answer she needed, and that person was on the other side of the prison bars ahead.

“I wish to see her,” the cloaked woman said to the guard.

“No one is allowed to see her,” the guard said, almost amused by the request. “I’m on strict orders from the royal family.”

The woman lowered her hood and revealed her face. Her skin was as pale as snow, her hair was as dark as coal, and her eyes were as green as a forest. Her beauty was known throughout the land, and her story was known even beyond that.

“Your Majesty, please forgive me!” the stunned guard apologized. He quickly bent into an overly pronounced bow. “I wasn’t expecting anyone from the palace.”

“No apology necessary,” she said. “But please do not speak of my presence here tonight.”

“Of course,” the guard said, nodding.
The woman faced the bars, waiting for them to be raised, but the guard hesitated.

“Are you sure you want to go in there, Your Highness? Especially with the young princess with you?” the guard asked. “There’s no telling what she’s capable of.”

“I must see her. She deserves to see the at least once.” the woman answered

The guard began turning a large, circular lever, and the bars of the cell rose. The woman took a deep breath and continued past them.
She journeyed through a longer, darker hallway where a series of bars and barriers were raised and then lowered after she walked past them.

Finally, she reached the end of the hall, the last set of bars was raised, and she stepped into the cell.
The prisoner was a woman. She sat on a stool in the center of the cell and stared up at a small window.
The prisoner waited a few moments before acknowledging the visitor behind her.

It was the first visitor she had ever had, and she knew who it was without looking; there was only one person it could be.

“Hello, Anastasia.” The prisoner greeted softly.

“Hello, Stepmother.” Anastasia replied with a nervous quiver. “I hope you are well.”

Although Anastasia had rehearsed exactly what she wanted to say, she was now finding it nearly impossible to speak.

“I heard that you and your little friends are the queen now,” her stepmother said.
“It’s true,” said Anastasia. “I’ve inherited the throne as my father intended.”

“So, to what do I owe this honor? Have you come to watch me wither away?” her stepmother said. There was such authority and power to her voice; it was known to make the strongest of men melt like ice.

“On the contrary,” Snow White said. She then brought out her little baby girl.

“Stepmother, this is Elinor. My daughter.” Anastasia introduced as she brought down Elinor to her Stepmother’s eye level.

“She looks just like you. But she has Damon’s eyes.” Her stepmother observed.

“There is another reason why I am here. I’ve come to understand.”

“To understand what?” her stepmother asked harshly.

“Why…” Anastasia hesitated. “Why you did what you did.”

And with this finally said, Anastasia felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. She had finally asked the question that had been so strongly on her mind. Half of the challenge was over.

“There are many things about this world that you don’t understand,” the stepmother said, and turned to look at her stepdaughter.

It was the first time in a long time that Anastasia had seen her stepmother’s face.

It was the face of a woman who had once possessed beauty without flaw, and the face of a woman who had once been queen. Now, the woman sitting before her was just a prisoner whose looks had faded into a permanent, sorrowful scowl.

“That may be,” Anastasia started. “But can you blame me for trying to find some sort of reason behind your actions?”

The recent years of Anastasia’s life had become the most scandalous of the kingdom’s royal history.

Everyone knew the story of the fair princess who’d taken refuge diamond mines while hiding from her jealous stepmother.

Everyone knew of the infamous poisoned gems and the dashing prince who had saved Anastasia from a false death.

The story was simple, but the aftermath was not. Even with a new marriage and a monarchy to occupy her time,

Anastasia found herself constantly wondering if the theories of her stepmother’s vanity were true.

Something inside the new queen refused to believe that someone could be so malicious.

“Do you know what they’re calling you out there?” Anastasia asked. “Outside these prison walls the world refers to you as the Scarlet Despair.”

Anastasia was astonished by how little her stepmother cared, but Anastasia needed her to care.

She needed to know there was some humanity left in her. She need to know if she died she could leave Elinor in her hands.

“They wanted to execute you after they discovered your crimes against me!

The whole kingdom wanted you dead!” Anastasia’s voice faded to a faint whisper as she fought off the emotions building up inside her.

“But I wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t…

“Am I supposed to thank you for sparing me?” the Scarlet Despair asked. “If you expect someone to fall at your feet and express gratitude, you’ve come to the wrong cell.”

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for myself,” Anastasia said. “Like it or not, you are the only mother I have ever known. I refuse to believe that you are the soulless monster the rest of the world claims you to be. Whether it’s true or not, I believe there is a heart deep down inside of you.”

Tears rolled down Anastasia’s pale face. She had promised herself she would stay strong, but she had lost control of her emotions once she was in her stepmother’s presence.

“Then I’m afraid you’re wrong,” the Scarlet Despair said. “The only soul I’ve ever had died a long time ago, and the only heart you’ll find in my possession is a heart of stone.”

The Scarlet Despair did indeed have a heart of stone, but not inside her. A rock in the shape and size of a human heart was on a small table in the corner of the cell. It was the only item the Scarlet Despair had been permitted to keep when she was arrested.

Scarlet Despair recognized the stone from her childhood. It had always been very precious to her stepmother, and the Scarlet Despair had never let it out of her sight. Scarlet Despair had never been allowed to touch it or hold it, but nothing was stopping her now.

She walked across the cell, picked it up, and curiously stared down at it. It brought back so many memories. All the neglect and sadness her stepmother had caused her as a child rushed through her.

“All my life I only wanted one thing,” Anastasia said. “Your love. When I was a girl, I used to spend hours hiding in the palace just hoping you would notice I was missing, but you never did. You spent your days in your chambers with your mirrors and your skin creams and this stone. You spent more time with strangers with anti-aging methods than you did with your own daughter. But why?”

The Evil Queen did not answer.

“You tried to kill me and my friends four times, three of which you attempted yourself,” Anastasia said, shaking her head in disbelief.

“When you dressed as an old woman and came to me at the diamond mines, I knew it was you. I knew you were dangerous, but I kept letting you in. I kept hoping that you would change. I let you harm me.”

Anastasia had never confessed this to anyone, and she couldn’t help but bury her face in the palms of her hands and cry after saying it.

“You think you know heartbreak?” the Scarlet Despair said so sharply that it startled her stepdaughter.

“You know nothing of pain. You never received affection from me, but from the moment you were born you were loved by the whole kingdom. Others, however, are not so fortunate. Others, Snow White, sometimes have the only loves they’ve ever known taken from them.”

Anastasia didn’t know what to say. What love was she referring to?
“Are you speaking of my father?” Anastasia asked.

The Evil Queen closed her eyes and shook her head. “Naïveté is such a privileged trait,” she said. “Believe it or not, Anastasia, I had my own life before I came into yours.”

Anastasia grew quiet and slightly ashamed. Of course she knew her stepmother had had a life prior to marrying her father, but she had never considered what it had consisted of. Her stepmother had always been such a private person, Anastasia never had reason to.

“Where is my mirror?” the Evil Queen demanded.

“Destroyed,” Anastasia told her.

The evil queen started laughed. “What's so funny?” Anastasia asked. “You have no idea what you just released.” the Scarlet Despair answered.

“It'll be here in 17 years.” her stepmother told her. “If it comes I'll be ready to fight it.” Anastasia warned her. “It's not coming for you. It's coming for the young princesses.” The Scarlet Despair smirked as the change started to full with red mist.

Once the mist disappear the Scarlet Despair was gone. But there was a note.

17 years and counting. I'll be back for them, whether you like it or not.

As the memories stopped Elinor came back to reality but collapsed to the floor luckily Liam caught her.

“Elinor are you okay?” Liam asked. “Yeah… just so much to take in… but something is wrong with that world now. I can feel it.” Elinor answered as she started to shake a little.