"I think this is it right here?" Xavier said as the car came to a stop. I looked around at the dark wooded area around us before taking in the gated community in front of us. The dark fence had pointed facing the sky like some arrows prepared to shoot at intruders. The only light near us came from two lamp posts on either side of the fence.

This place belonged to Queen's family and if they were angels like we originally thought, I would have heavily questioned this. The mansion in front of us was covered in vines cracking through the stone walls. If Mario didn't tell me she was here, I would've thought this place was abandoned. "This place is kind of fitting," Xavier joked. "Since you call her Princess and everything...this place almost makes you feel like some chivalrous knight about to go save her. You kn-"

"Shut up." I opened the car door but before I could exit, he grabbed my arm. "What?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"I am." The feeling from earlier was completely gone and I was back to my usual energy level. Almost immediately after getting into the car, my powers were back and I was just fine. One could imagine my frustration at not being able to create a portal in the middle of the freeway.

Getting my power back however...didn't feel good at all. In fact, it was more alarming than being stripped of them. Them returning meant that Queen wasn't intentionally taking it, and she was now vulnerable to whatever situation she had gotten herself into. I would've rather walked into this unknown place weak and unarmed knowing that she had my abilities- even if it was her doing it all on purpose.

Xavier moved to open his door and I stepped him. "Don't come with me. I need you to drive away and if I don't text you in fifteen minutes, come back with an army." If I were to be taken down, it'd have to be by something strong and an army would be needed.

"Fifteen minutes?" He asked.

"Fifteen minutes."

He nodded in response before pulling back out of the driveway. I looked around the dark dirt road and dead trees before walking towards the shut gate. A keypad lay on the bars that would presumably open it and I shook my head. I was horrible at codes. I couldn't even remember my own passwords for anything- I had people for shit like this.

I snapped my fingers and I was on the other side, the gate now behind me and nothing blocking me from the path to the house. I marched towards it, my eyes on the front door as it burst open. I stopped in my tracks as men in robes stormed down the steps.

"Never pick up her damn call again."

"They are both going to Hell?"

"Are we just going to leave Mark's body down there?"

Their conversation flowed and not a single person in the group noticed me standing in front of them. They were so caught up in their conversation...if one of them looked up and paid attention, they all could've possibly escaped unscathed.

I rushed to the man in the front of the group and snapped his neck before looking around at everyone else. "Now that I have your attention..." With a mixed reaction of gasps and screams, they looked up at me in shock. "I have a question. If you all don't mind answering..."

"You just killed him!" The short man in the group screamed as he moved to the body.

"If you move I'll kill you."

He immediately halted his movements and stood up straight. "God bless his soul." He shook his head at his dead friend.

"Y-you're..." another man started as he raised a shaky finger at me.

"There is no time for introductions," I said. "Where is Queen?"

"The Queen?" Another man asked?

"Not the Queen," I said. "Queen."

"Queen of Eden?"

"Yes," I answered. "Wait no, not the actual Queen, but her daughter Queen."

"The Princess?" The shorter man offered.

"Not Xyla."

"Princess Queen?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Sure. Her. Where is she?"

"That's quite a riddle, isn't it?" One of the men asked. They all burst into laughter at his question and my irritation bubbled. "If she were to be Queen it'd be Queen Queen, wouldn't it?" he joked. I pulled the gun from my waistband and shot him directly in the head. The blood splattered on the faces of the shorter man and the bearded ones behind him. They were frozen in fear as their mid laughter faces stared up at me.

"He was a real funny guy," I said, putting my gun away, "but there is a time and place and person for all that bullshit. This is not the time nor place and I am far from the person he needs to show his comedic skills off to. Maybe God will laugh at that garbage." I sighed. "Is she inside?"

They both nodded, still paralyzed to their spots in fear and I nodded. "You were never here...and neither was I. In fact- this place doesn't exist. Got it?" They nodded in unison once again.

"Have a goodnight, gentlemen." When they made no move to leave, I leaned toward them. "I have a feeling that I'm going to come out of that house very angry at the both of you. You both have a head-start so if I were you...I'd run. Now."

At my words, they began sprinting towards the gate and scoffed, turning on my heel and making my way towards the door. The entryway was completely dark and empty. I couldn't see anyone as I walked inside. The sound of crying made me stop my steps to listen more clearly until I made out a familiar voice. "I'm so sorry," I heard Queen cry.

"Queenie?"

I walked towards the sound of their voices until I made it to a large door in the corridor. I rushed down the dark steps, being careful not to make much noise. When I reached the bottom, I froze as I saw Queen on the floor with her mother in her arms. "It's me," Queen whispered.

"I-I saved you?" Her mother stuttered. It was then that I noticed the knife plunged into her stomach and the blood staining the floor.

"Yes," Queen sobbed. I hated seeing her like this. In all the time I've known her, she had never looked so broken.

Heal her, I told myself. I could still hear a faint heartbeat from her mother and I knew if I just...walked over...I could save her. All she needed was my blood and this would all be forgotten, right?

Wrong.

She'd be alive, but what would Queen feel? Whatever happened here tonight...Queen was the victim. She'd have to live with memories of this night and how her own mother tried to harm her. I more than anyone knew what it felt like to have a parent do that to you and it doesn't go away. It scars you. I couldn't...and I wouldn't have her go through that.

The only person I had any intentions of healing tonight would be Queen. By any means necessary.

I slowly disappeared into the shadows as her mother's heartbeat faded away by the second. "I love you," I heard her weakly whisper to Queen. There it was again...love. If she loved her daughter, this would've never happened here. Again the word was being used to excuse causing insurmountable pain to someone. Love, wouldn't be enough to make Queen forget about all the pain of tonight- the pain I could feel radiating off of her.

Action would.

I couldn't give her love, but action was something I could do.

Her mother's heartbeat completely faded away and I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the wall as Queen sobbed. That sound was fucking gut-wrenching when it came from her. I knew for most people, grief such as this one could wound them forever, but if I had anything to do with it, tonight would be the last time she cried for the woman.

She didn't deserve her tears.

I emerged from the shadow, being sure to make my footsteps loud enough to get her attention. "Queen?" I called out. She looked up at me, tears streaming down her beautiful face as she looked around speechless. Another sob wracked her body and I rushed towards her, pulling her away from her mother and into my arms.

She buried her face into my chest as she clung to me and I tightened my hold on her. I missed her more than I cared to admit and although this was the absolute worst place for us to meet again...I needed to be here. "I-"

"Shhh." I rubbed her back, laying a kiss on the top of her head. She probably thought I needed an explanation of what happened here when that was far from the truth. She didn't need to explain herself. As far as I was concerned, she was innocent. "Nothing happened," I said. "You didn't do anything, okay? Trust me."

She turned to her mom in my hold. "But-"

I cupped her cheeks, directing her face towards mine. "Stop looking at her. Look at me," I commanded. She followed, tears falling as she looked into my eyes. "Do you trust me?" I asked. She nodded, sucking in a shaky breath and I wiped her tears away. "Then trust me when I say that nothing happened here. Your mother is fine."

"You sound insane." She sobbed. Fair enough. I was trying to convince her of this when her mother's dead body was on the floor next to us. As crazy as I sounded to her though, I needed her to believe it. That would make twisting her reality a little bit easier. I just needed her to be open to the idea.

She moved her head to glance at her mother once again, but I held her firmly. "Hey, keep your eyes on me, okay?" I instructed her. "You had a bad dream and you were sleep walking all the way down here. Your mother went out to get groceries, but she is completely fine."

My eyes willed her to believe my words despite the reality in front of us. I couldn't exactly compel her into believing me, but this would have to do for now. Most people were inclined to believe things they wanted to anyway.

I pulled her into my hold once again and she wrapped her arms around me. I lowered my lips to her head, keeping my head on the body. I snapped my fingers as quietly as I could and the room was surrounded in darkness. Slowly, I thought of the appearance of the room if it were free of the things here tonight. I didn't know how long I could hold it and show Queen, but all I needed was a few seconds.

When I was satisfied with the image I painted in the room, I let Queen go. "There's nothing here, Princess."

Her eyes drifted around the room as she moved away from me and I gritted my teeth, ignoring the pain in my head from keeping the illusion up. "H-how..." she whispered weakly, her eyes searching the room. She buried her hands into her hair as she closed her eyes and I sighed. I didn't want her to think she was crazy, but as of right now, I had no other choice.

"It wasn't real, Queen."

"I'm going insane," she whispered.

"Not insane," I assured her. "You just had a bad dream."

Her hand dropped slowly as she looked around the room once again. "My mom is okay?"

"She's just fine," I said. "Do you want me to call her?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Please."

"Okay," I whispered. I pulled out my phone and dialed a number as I glanced up at her. "She's good, alright?"

She gave me a small smile and nodded. "Okay." There we go. "How did you get here?"

Sorry, Princess.

"Somnum," I said, pressing my fingers against her forehead. Her eyes fluttered shut and I reached my arms out to catch her before her head could hit the floor. I let out a tired breath as I dropped the illusion around us. My eyes landed on her mother's body once again and I held Queen protectively. Ghosts were very real and they lingered around their bodies before they passed on. A cool air completely surrounding Queen was evidence enough that her mother hadn't let go.

"You may not have...accepted it. Your daughter is mine just as I'm hers. I'm going to take care of her and although you don't deserve my word, I'm going to give it to you. I promise she'll be happy and although she won't be living the righteous life you wanted her to, she'll want for nothing and she will live every single day doing whatever the fuck she wants to do," I said, meaning every word. "You're leaving her in safe hands, Zara."

After a few moments, the coolness faded away and I let out a deep sigh. "You couldn't kill anyone else, Princess?" I moved a hair out of her face.

How the hell was I going to manage to fix this one? I'd made plenty of people disappear before, but this was the Queen of a city in Heaven. My father would go ballistic if he knew. As hard as it was to think of a way out of this shit, I'd find a way.

For her.

꧁꧂

"Are you sure you'd like to go through with this, your highness?" The dark-cloaked warlock asked as he held a hand over Queen's forehead. If only she knew that as she slept, her face free of worried creases...I'd be scheming. It was for her though...I'd hope she wouldn't be mad if she did know.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"And you are aware for this to work she needs to believe that her mother is truly alive deep down?" He questioned as he stood up. He raised a thick white brow at me as his wrinkled face searched mine and I nodded.

"I took care of that," I said. "As far as she's concerned her mother is at the store."

"Hmm," he hummed. "Her mind is particularly resistant to being toyed with. Do you know why? For a woman so young, it's quite strange to see all the locks on her memory."

"Locks?" I crossed my arms, leaning off the wall. "Like someone has been fucking with her memory?"

"Yes and it seems to be frequent," he mumbled.

Strange. "Does that mean you can't erase her memory?"

"It means exactly that," he said. "But the mind is a flexible thing and even though I can't take away her memories, I can give her new ones."

"What do you mean by that?"

"What if her mother returns from the store?" He questioned.

"I'm not following," I said. "She died a couple of days ago so that's not a possibility."

"Is there a bathroom here, your highness?"

"Is now really the time?" I muttered, rolling my eyes. "It's down the hall on your left." I pointed to Queen's bedroom door and he walked out. With him gone, I sat at Queen's side and took her hand into mine. For the past two days, she had been in this exact comatose state until I cleaned up all the bodies in the vicinity and figured out a way to get the both of us out of this mess.

I never thought I'd find myself desperate enough to turn to the Grand-warlock Tyris Vansonn for help. He'd already been kicked out of almost all the realms for his use of magic. He had no boundaries...I suppose that's why I needed him. Invasive magic such as memory wipes or toying with someone's head was strictly forbidden in all the realms- he was the only one insane enough to do it. Which was why I reached out to him. He said he would do it no questions asked and then and only then would I be informed of what he wanted in return.

I looked at Queen and studied her soft features. With all the bans and restrictions on invasive magic, I wondered who was the one fucking with her head. It had to be someone way stronger than Tyris considering he couldn't even touch it. It was alarming to think about, but I'd have to let it go. Whoever it was, would have to get through me if they wanted to lay a hand on her head...or any other part of her.

"I'm back," I heard a woman's voice say. My head snapped towards the door and my eyes widened as I saw Queen's mother standing there. "I found these clothes in her bedroom."

Her bed-...

"Tyris?" I asked in shock. "How?"

"You're not the only person who can make people see things," he said. "I just happen to be better at maintaining it."

"That's crazy," I whispered, "but what are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to appear to her as her mother," he said. "That way she can write off whatever else happened as a dream. Anything else you'd like me to do, you can let me know."

His plan made sense...it supported the story I told Queen inside the basement- if she'd even remember that. I suppose if she thought it was a dream...that wouldn't even matter. As good as it sounded, it wasn't enough. He couldn't pretend to be her mom forever.

"Well," I started, looking down at Queen. "If that's the case, I'd like her to be left with a good memory of her mother. I want Queen Zara to be a distant memory for everyone after this. She wasn't able to say goodbye herself...but you can do it for her, right?"

"I can."

"Then that's what I want for her. Give Queen the full day tomorrow with her mother and then have Zara call her family and let them know she's going away. Say that she wants to live her life away from here or some bullshit. I don't care as long as they know she'll never be returning."

"Yes, your Highness." He nodded.

"What do you want from me in return?" I asked.

"Well, the money," he replied, moving Zara's hair over her shoulders, "along with permission to return to Juva and Hell whenever I please."

I scoffed. "What makes you think I can do that?"

"I think that if you want this to go off successfully...you'll do anything to make it happen," he said. "A new identity would be a good start, don't you think?"

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. "I'll take care of it, but you cannot be causing trouble like before."

"I've learned my lesson." He sighed. "I'd just like to meet my grandchildren and live whatever remains of my life with my family."

"I'll handle it," I promised. "Just do what I asked."

"It's a deal."