｡･:*:･ﾟ★,"I don't like him being in danger, I think you understand the feeling."*:･ﾟ☆

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,"What you are, Aisha, is petty."*:･ﾟ☆

Stella

This is the most stressful situation I have ever been in, in my entire life.

This is hell. I have died, been punished for my sins and gone to hell. But I'm not telling anyone that because I'm the fucking princess, next in line for the throne and all of these are looking at me for orders. Mercifully they are all skilled and well trained but I'm apparently the only one with pure healing magic so I keep getting sent the-

The male screams beneath my glowing hands and I flinch back, trying not to look at the twisted sight of burned flesh, charred blood and missing limbs.

"Hold him down." I ordered. "I've nearly got the last of the shrapnel."

Helios I want to be sick. The air barrier to stop the smell of rotting and burned flesh doesn't change the fact I can see it. That I can feel layers of skin peeling off whenever I touch. I work as quickly as I can, using tweezers, magic and a scalpel to pick out the largest pieces of metal. We don't have time to do a perfect job.

"Alright, I've got it." I state calmly. "Take him to Terra to be wrapped."

I don't know what I would do without Terra. She's got the burn care covered, putting on salve, wrapping the wound and hydrating the body. She's a one woman army in her section.

"Beatrix." I call, voice raised but never a shout. Healers don't shout and there's no running here, not even to save a patient since we have to prioritise. I haven't dared to look over at the black tags yet. I knew people from the village, I had friends there and all of these people are my citizens. I can't bear to see their faces.

"What do you need?" Beatrix asks as she helps be clear of the makeshift surgery table I'm working at.

"The green tag villagers are getting antsy, some are getting upset and pent up magic..." I trail off and Beatrix nods in understanding. We can't afford runaway magic today. "We need more salve, bandages, Hygieia potions and we need to set up beds."

"I'll get them to help. Idle hands do Oizys work." Beatrix states. "I'll inform Irene."

Beatrix hesitates, eyes flickering as she stares at me. There's an emotion in her eyes that I don't- well I do recognise it. I swallow heavily, giving her a tight smile before striding away. I need a break. I deserve a fucking break.

I need a break, i need to see Brandon and Aisha and Musa and Terra and this all needs to be some fucked up dream.

"Stella?" I look up at the sound of Musa's voice. I don't remember the walk to outshed but here I stand. Aisha and Musa are in one cage thing and Brandon is in another. "Are you okay? You feel... off."

"No I'm not alright." I snap and then turn away with a frustrated sigh. Great. I forgot they're kind of the enemy right now. "What the hell were the three of you thinking."

"Hey, don't group me with them." Brandon calls out in irritation as he glares at my roomates. "I was trying to stop Bloom from hurting you."

"Hurting me?" I demand in disbelief. "When has Bloom ever threatened to hurt anybody?"

"Well she did today." he snarls. "When she threatened to tell everyone that you killed Ricki if you didn't give Beatrix a vial of some sort of purple liquid."

"What did you just say." I whisper in pure horror. "What vial."

"It was left on your bedside table-"

"Enough." I interrupt, raising a hand to silence him. "You can't actually give me any useful information anyways. What we're the two of you doing?"

"What are you, our interrogator?" Aisha demands with a mocking look and I see Musa hide her smile.

"What I am is the heir to the throne." I whisper quietly, my words echoing through the room as I allow a flicker of my power to reach my eyes. "War is to be declared after today's battle. I have just come from the makeshift med room where I pulled shrapnel from man who had half his face burned off. His skin just slid straight off his body when I touched it."

"What you are, Aisha, is petty." I snarl. "You would risk letting out a zealot, mass murderer when we have a war on our hands for what?"

Silence.

"Well." I snap. "I'm listening."

"What changed your mind?" Aisha demands. "I though you believed Bloom and I when we said that Octavia was trying to start a war-"

"Be quiet." I state and look to Musa, at the guilt in her eyes. She never believed Bloom. She's friends with Tavi in fact. "What do you have to say?"

"Bloom wanted answers about her family." Musa confesses and closes her eyes as she gathers her thoughts. "That's understandable so I agreed to help her. When things became clear from the reports and photos we found of the faculty and rosalind that they had covered up a war crime..."

She hesitates, looking to Aisha who gives her a commanding glare but Musa turns away.

"I knew Octavia had no part in the actual crime but it is her job to continue covering it up under the Queen's orders. So I thought it would be best just to tell you about Asterdell-"

"And let me believe that Bloom had traced her own history through legal secure methods as we have in place, and not that she had in fact been building a helios-damn-conspiracy-theory."

"You're the only one who could get her off campus to see where she was born." Musa pleads. "She was grieving, I could feel it. I thought it would be closure for her... not that she would-"

"Take an artefact?"

"I didn't take anything." I whip around at the sound of Bloom's voice, the fire fairy quickly strides forward, desperation clear in her movements as she looks to the floor instead of at us.

"No. no." Brandon snaps, rising to his feet and shaking the bars of his cage. "You stay away from Stella."

"I- I." Bloom stutters in confusion, glancing between us all pleadingly. "I don't know what's going on."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Aisha demands.

"Yeah I second that." I snap. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I spoke with Dowling." Bloom begins hesitantly. "She explained what happened at Asterdell, that Rosalind had been lying to be and some of it made sense. Not all of it. I don't trust Dowling that much but I know that neither of them are telling me the full truth."

"But Terra went and spoke to you, she saw you at the stone circle." I state.

"Because I was upset!" Bloom cries, tears welling in her eyes. "I wanted to use up some of my magic so I thought I could pour it into the Stone Circle and reinforce the barrier. I thought it might be useful should the Burned One's make their way over here.

And then Terra showed up and I didn't get a chance to explain before another fairy was there. I don't know who but they attacked Terra, knocked her out and then I passed out when they threw me against a tree."

Being hidden in the foliage explains why Riven didn't see her, and he had other things on his mind to explain not scenting her presence either.

"But the artefact?" Musa questions and Bloom shakes her head.

"I didn't know what it was. There was a chest full of old things, it must have been enchanted with protection charms because it was untouched. I've been reading some of the books and journals hidden there by the witches-"

"Witches?" I snap. Fuck, Bloom decends from one of the witch clans?"

"I- yeah. That's what it said."

She hesitates, something dark flickering across her face.

"I think Dowling or Rosalind was covering something up at Asterdell." Bloom begins.

"You mean mass murder?"

"No." Bloom shakes her head Aisha. "I mean... did you see them the vials, the microscopes-"

I frown as Bloom turns her pleading gaze on Brandon and I. I shift closer to his side, holding his hand through the bars as we both look at each other in question. Yeah, we saw it too. I just didn't think it was relevant.

"Am I the only one confused right now." 

"I think they were experimenting on something there." Bloom whispers and I exhale sharply. Beatrix and Octavia. They weren't the first. "The books were mostly about magic history, of skills we had lost to time. The different wings fairies used to have, lost magic of shadows and stars, speculation on Dumaris having the ability to shift into animals-"

"You think she was trying to bring it all back." I whisper in horror. "I knew she was a zealot but I thought it was about Burned Ones."

"They were mentioned as well." Bloom whispers. "As soldiers. Some referred to them as the great failures."

"Rosalind cannot escape." I snap, shaking slightly. "I'm going to get you all out of here and you are we are going to tell Irene everything-"

"What about the battle?" Musa questions as I use my magic to break the doors open to Brandon's cage. They resist and pull, having clearly been enchanted to restricted use of magic. "She's needed here, we can't take her away from her post."

"Not to mention she's pregnant and if the stuff I read about shape-shifters is true then Rosalind is going to want her." Bloom adds on as she too struggles against the magic restrictions on the locks and bars.

The doors snap open with a bang and Brandon steps out, embracing me in a tight hug and I grip onto him like a lifeline. This is all too much. But my sister is dealing with the battle, it's only fair that I handle Rosalind for her.

"I was so worried about you." he whispers and I smile.

Brandon smiles down at me as he pulls back, cupping my cheeks as the girls awkwardly talk to give us a sense of privacy. I smile up at him adoringly, leaning up to press a soft kiss to his lips.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Octavia

"I'm going to kill you." I snarl at Sky through my tears.

He's propped up against a chunk of stone building, pale skin and sweaty brow. Sky forces a smile but I can see the pain hidden unskillfully behind his eyes.

"There shall be a queue no doubt." Andreas huffs as he and Silva come back with arms full of supplies. "How's he looking?"

"Infection chance is at a hundred percent. Someone dropped him into mud and guts."

"...Sorry." Silva winces, crouching down on Sky's left. "Drink this, it'll help with the pain."

"No Hygieia potions?" I murmur, trying to hide my worry.

"They've been used up on those in critical condition." Andreas states. "Besides, now we have a reason to send you back to Beatrix and Irene."

Sky rolls his eyes but winces as I begin cleaning off the worst of the blood and mud.

"This works out pretty well for a plan, though." Sky states and I share a look with Andreas. "Riven said he managed to get the ground works set up for us."

"I still think it's stupid not to share what the actual plan is." Andreas grumbles but takes my place to begin wrapping Sky's wounds up with. "But if it works then we might have taken out a few problems in one."

"Still won't get rid of Rosalind though." Sky points out and I worry at my lip.

"No, but it will keep her busy when she escapes." Silva answers as he looks over at the approaching trucks. "For now, tell your mother I apologise for getting you damaged and that I swear I only left you unsupervised for 5 minutes."

Sky rolls his eyes and I fight down a little grin. The sinking feeling in my stomach hasn't gone away yet, that fear of losing him refusing to go away. But that's a problem to face once this is over.

"Right, up you get." Andreas mutter as he and Silva pull Sky up and prop him up between them. "Don't get faint on us now."

"Ha ha." But Sky has indeed gone pale and I flutter around the trio in worry as they slowly stumble towards the nearest range rover. "Octa... please stop fussing."

His fathers snort, "Good luck winning that battle Sky." Silva mumbles and Andreas shoots me an amused look that dies down at the sight of my glare. I move ahead, pulling open the truck door. The interior reeks of death and my face pales at the thought. Sky is following after all those people who are destined to die. "I'll be fine. Irene and Bea will take good care of me."

"You better be." I snarl as rage begins to build as my shock wears off. "Riven doesn't know you're hurt yet, I have time to get him on my side."

"Side?" Sky questions as Silva slides into the car first to help pull Sky onto one of the interior benches against the sides of th truck. "How are there sides to this?"

"I believe, dear son." Andreas drawls as he picks up Sky's legs and places them gently on the cushioned seat. "That the sides are, 'we are going to smother you to death with kindness' and 'I am going to lovingly nurse you back to health so I can kill you myself'"

Sky blinks hazily at his father's words and my stomach plummets. He's lost too much blood. Andreas must think the same because seconds later I'm pressing a hasty kiss to Sky's forehead and then suddenly I'm waving off the car.

"He'll be okay." Silva states and we all know it's to reassure himself and not us. "He's strong and the next steps of the plan will keep him distracted."

"I don't like him being in danger, I think you understand the feeling."

"I wish I didn't, but I do." Silva watches the chaos unfold around us in quiet contemplation. "To see your mate in danger is a different kind of pain. Seeing your child go off to fight a war... it's almost too much to bear. Many shied away from their mates during the last war for that very reason. The fear of losing those they love was too great for them."

Silva shares a look with Andreas that I pretend not to see. Sky's mother may have not been Drea's mate but from what both Andreas shared with me and what Sky told Riv and I after his conversation with his father I've gathered that it was fear that caused Andreas' breakdown. That he was so scared of hurting his mate that he ended up nearly killing her.

I walk away, allowing the two a moment to talk as I stick my hands into my pockets and think of what's to come next. I can see the Solarian troops coming down the hill, followed by dusk light. Good timing. I don't fancy fighting the last of the burned ones as we are. Half a thought has the shadows reporting to Sky and Riven that the Solarians are here, and that I miss them both greatly and can't wait to have Pizza night Friday in a few days time.

It's hard to rationalise what has happened with what could have happened. Sky was barely scratched, it went deep and he'll be down for a while but he'll live. But we're fighting a war. The next time he might not be so lucky.

"Octavia."

"Lykos." I greet emotionlessly, he's not worth the bother to waste energy on. "We've cleared the village of survivors, I'd like to do one last sweep before the next wave gets to us."

"How many men have we got?"

How are we looking?

24 confirmed dead from our troops, 5 missing, 18 injured and 123 specialists remaining now that they've allowed the rest of the second and first years to join. We carted them back when the trucks came back from dropping off the injured.

"123 specialists left." I state. "The first years are guarding Alfea and doing the supply runs."

"I've got 100 with me. We had to send the other 200 with us to the Erakylon mountains. The sightings have increased and Luna wants to get trenches and a line set up before they can join the Alfea burned ones."

"So on the grand scheme of things..." I trail off in question.

"Alfea is nearly clear of all Burned Ones in the caves. My men and I went directly to the caves and cleared out the nests, I've got lots of test subjects and reports for your Beatrix to go through in the Lab. We've left a watch there in case we missed any but there should only be maybe 50-60 of them left."

I let out a low whistle as fear shudders down my spine.

"That's practically two small armies with their strength. Did you get my message about the Cave Goblins?"

Lykos sighs, pauses and quickly indicates to one of his men and the trucks with them are quickly unloaded in their entirety.

"I'm taking a hunting party out to deal with them. 50 non-soldiers but I can guarantee you they are trained more brutal than-"

"Who are they from?" I demand, brows narrowed as I try to look past him to the trucks that haven't entered the village limits.

"They're from the Zoúnkla allásson ambassador. He sent his strongest shifters."

"You'll be in good hands with the jungle shifters. I imagine the tigers and panthers are eager to put the little wolf in his place." I snigger and Lykos chuckles at my words before turning to me with a solemn look that has me straightening up.

"I don't like how things have gotten between us. We were once as close as siblings and siblings do fight but we have gone on too long with this petty feud and that is my fault." I arch a brow at the general. "I apologise for all the shit I've said Tavi. I was out of line on many occasions but I won't apologise for the political arguments, I argued for my people not because I had a problem with you personally."

"Kill those Goblins General and I'll think about considering your apology."

A/N: What are your Rosalind theories? Who's helping her?