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“Hey, guard! The fuck is this!I was told there would be no one in this ward, especially not a fairy-Hey I’m talking to you! Answer me!”
“Relax boy she won't be here long, She only won today because she got lucky. They jumped her in the fairy pit-hell, she might not be alive come morning” the guard spits out just as the bloodied figure that was unceremoniously tossed onto the ground in the cell next to his wheezes out a rattling cough.
The poor bastard won't make it to the next hour, Sky thinks, seeing how the shoulders of the girl rattle as she desperately tries to breathe.
His mind goes blank as the figure moves, red hair spilling around her as she coughs blood. But it's not her red hair or even those cobalt blue eyes that, despite being surrounded by bruises, shine still bright, rather it's a damn serene smile that she has as she laughs-laughs!-as she wheezes out:
“..If only I could be so lucky.”
That was then, three months ago, at the start of the games, where he was sure the tournament would be easy and he’d come out on top.
Now he’s sure he has to die. That or to kill the love of his life.
“It should be easy enough,” the voice of the commentator is booming outside on the speakers, somehow still crystal clear to Sky and not deafened by the roars of the crowd, “this fairy is not even half his size, this certainly is not the sport we wanted to see, the crowd wanted action, a challenge.”
Another chirpy commenter insists “now the question is how's he going to kill her, because it will say a lot about him…”
They make it sound so easy.
Just kill her.
“-A snap of her delicate neck will be merciful, but is that kindness or weakness? A blade through her heart is definitely more of the legacy of famous Alfeans and should be simple enough.”
It should be simple enough. That's the problem.
Lord knows he’s killed far better opponents in the last few months with far less of an opportunity. Why should she be any different or- hell, any more challenging for the specialist who’s killed five competitors without so much of a scratch on him.
Sick thing is he used to be proud of that fact, Sky thinks as he stalks toward the other side of his cell, stopping short at the sight of his old uniform – sporting that cross blade crest – tossed on the pallet that masquerades as a bed.
How proud had he been then.
When he’d volunteered for the Solarian Games he’d had to fight fifteen other specialists just to be allowed to compete as Alfea’s champion.
He’d trained for this opportunity, for this moment, since he’d been seven when Sky knocked down a boy who had called him a whore’s son and been told by a sneering teacher “What more can one expect from a victor’s son? And one as brutal as your father too.”
His father who was one of the most memorable victors of the game, a man favored by the Queen herself and upheld as the picture of the perfect specialist.
His father who had never once visited him in all of Sky’s twenty three years of life. His father, who Sky had wanted nothing more than to beat. No matter the cost.
“There is more to life than war, Sky.”
Saul’s words rise unbidden in his memory and Sky can’t help but jerk away, stomping to the other side of his cell, his feet causing dust to rise as he tries to outrun the memory of Saul Silva, his headmaster, mentor and true father if he was honest.
But there is nowhere to go in this ten by ten cage, and even with his eyes open he can see the way Saul had looked, so much older than he remembered and, for the first time, so afraid as he’d come to Sky the night before he was to leave for Solaria.
“Please…don't do this. Let me help you, you don't want this.”
Oh, but he had wanted this, Sky recalls bitterly, and his gut burns as he remembers the way he’d scoffed at the man who’d raised him, and turned his back on him.
He should have listened, he should have paused, but the scent of finally, finally having his father’s attention had encaptured him and when Saul had pushed-
“Sky, please, I'm just worried about you, son”
- Sky had lashed out.
“I am not your fucking son! And this is fucking pointless, you’re just worried that I will outshine you. And end up like some pathetic headmaster”
Shame and rage burst through him and he slams his fist against the iron wall that separates his cell to the one next, making it ring out.
His hand stings, but not as badly as his honor as he braces and attempts to catch his breath. His biggest regret till meeting her, was that fight.
Back when he only had one goal, back when life had seemed so simple and easy. He had been so damn sure of his path when he’d arrived at Solaria, Sky exhales bitterly as he leans his brow against the cool rusted metal and grasps at them tightly, relishing in the feeling. He’d win the games, become a victor, prove to his father how much better of a man he was and then he’d go back and make things right with Silva.
So simple. So easy.
The first sign of things being not as they seemed had been when they’d assigned him his mentor.
Riven had been the victor of the games the summer before and somehow he’d already washed down to the lowest task a victor could do, which was to mentor other contestants.
Victors were never relegated to anything but specialists and royal guards, unless they were unable to serve. When he’d found out who his mentor was Sky had expected a horrific injury perhaps, something awful that had benched him from serving inside the castle; but the moment the idiotic victor who was not much older than himself had stumbled in looking pissed off at the word and reeking of booze and weed Sky had decided he wanted nothing to do with the man.
It hadn’t been until his fourth match when he’d seen how the other mentors had been flocking around their fighters, he had started to suspect that the intoxication was more for show than fact that Sky had finally snapped.
“ Are you going to mentor at all?” Riven for his part had looked utterly unimpressed.
“You need me to teach you how not to die? Because if you really do just lay down and let them make it quick, it's too late in the game and you can spare yourself some pain.”
Sky hadn't been able to help the snort of laughter. He liked Riven then because he’d stayed out of Sky’s way.
He didn't need any help.
He was favored to win. The chosen warrior, picked from Alfea, one of the youngest the arena had ever seen, cutting through the enemy during these summer of festivities with ease. His father looked more and more pissed with each win as he stood by Luna’s side, hand on his sword looking down his nose at his only son.
He could have won it all.
If it hadn’t been for the fire fairy they’d tossed in the cell next to him after the third game.
His eyes can’t help, but travel beyond the barriers that are keeping him to the empty cot on the other side, where they’d dumped her battered and bloody body a few weeks ago. Twelve weeks to be exact, twelve weeks that felt like a lifetime ago.
It had taken a lifetime for Sky to be ready to win the games, but it had taken a week for him to fall for her. Not that he’d seen it happening, considering how badly they've locked horns
He can hear his heartbeat rushing in his ear and the vibrating ricochet of his final fatal blow he’s delivered was still gripping his arm as he stumbled back into the cell.
He’s riding the warrior high that follows any battle but yet the instant he steps into the cell and sees her- Bloom sitting on her own bunk, back pressed against the cold damp brick, looking at him through the bars with the most pitiful look. And it's like he’s been dunked into a bucket of ice water. He’s not sure what he’s expecting, but considering that for the last two days she did nothing but ignore him and the three before that she just slept like the dead, her judgment ladened gaze irks him enough that he goads.
“You're sad to see me alive then, fairy?”
He should clean up, take time to see the nurse. His right rib is throbbing badly but not as badly as the way her gaze needles him. He’s just had a victory against one of the most formidable opponents, an entire arena on its feet cheering for him and yet he could only care about what was on her mind.
“Did they steal your voice, red?
“Once they’ve been kidnapped and forced to fight for their lives, most people are not exactly in the chatty mood.
“Kidnapped” he echoes the word, puzzled and also surprised. He’s not sure what he’d expected when he’d entered this rusty cell, but this wasn't it. “This is a chance a lot of people would die for!” Sky’s not sure why he’s suddenly so invested but he is. Maybe it's the lack of social interaction or the need to talk to someone besides Riven, but he finds himself actually caring about what the fairy has to say. Not that he thinks she has any great chance at the games, but still, she could maybe not die tomorrow.
She lets out a sarcastic laugh “A chance? Maybe for you specialists who crave bloodbaths, but I didn’t choose this. I didn’t volunteer. I was taken from my home and forced to fight for entertainment, because there are no more fire fairies left in Solaria!”
Now it’s Sky’s turn to laugh “What, you think we join the games just to kill each other?”
“Certainly looks like it with how much you smile after you kill.”
He shook his head “You can act above it all, as much as you want but at the end of the day we are both breathing because we did what we had to do. Your hands are just as bloodied as mine.”
“Shut up! There are a thousand differences between me and you. I never sold my soul for glory like you so obviously have!”
“You think I do this for glory? You think I give a rat's ass about the title or the honor. Some may feel that way, sure, but for most of us, winning the games means respect, financial stability and a respectable job so I can provide for my family, when without it we’d never get that.”
She laughs and its most unsettling because its an honest to god laugh and yet he finds no humor in it “Oh I needed that, you grade A fool, you actually think you’ll have a life after this that isn’t servitude to the fucking psycho we call queen” Her voice is now dripping in compassion and his nails are digging into his palm so badly he can feel it sting.
“Well at least I’m trying to have a life after this. I might have not seen you fight, Red, but I hear you’ve basically given up, winning by pure luck.”
“Bloom.” She gets up, grabbing the bars of her cell and looking at him in the eyes “My name is Bloom. You think you’re fighting for survival? For family? Even if you win, even if you're not saddled with being more than a glorified puppet for her royal highness…Whoever you're doing this for is still not going to see you any differently than a cold blooded murderer. I at least will die with a clear conscience.” He glares at her but she raises her chin before he can respond “Look me in the eye and tell me you think I'm wrong.”
“You need to do it quickly. And don't think about her, matter of fact don't think about anything” Riven’s words are sharp and firm and Sky jerks as he turns to find his mentor at the door of his prison.
He should have heard Riven’s approach. It's a fact that's not lost on his mentor as he frowns at Sky, his eyes taking him in.
“Listen to me. No heroics. No rescue. Do you get that?” Sky’s never seen Riven so serious. The man looked half drunk or high or both most of the time.
Then again it wasn’t everyday when Sky had such a monumental choice to make either. A choice that would change everything.
“Hey stop it” Riven snaps “don't think, just do what you’ve been trained to do.”
He fusses about Sky, moving him as he starts strapping the armbands and Sky can only stare.
“You have to stop thinking” Riven barks, ignoring the order and protocols as if his anger can somehow rattle Sky into seeing sense.
“That easy huh? I’m supposed to kill her just like that?” He almost doesn't recognize his own voice and is just as surprised as Riven is to hear the layers of choked up emotion that it’s caked in.
“EAS-easy?” Riven’s shout snaps Sky back from the memory and he looks up at his friend “You think any of this has been easy? For anyone here?” Riven’s voice dips quickly from the shout it starts at “If you wanted easy you should have listened to me that first day, but even that wasn't easy, was it?” And Sky knows it's true.
From the moment Sky stepped out of his fourth match victorious and asked about the result of the fairy match, Riven had had only one piece of advice for him: Do not get attached.
And Sky had listened, he hadn’t gotten attached. He’d only fallen in love. A fact that he can clearly see his mentor was aware about,
“You knew…”
“Of course I knew! What sort of imbecile do you think I am?!”
“ You need to fight for real now Bloom.” Sky says on the morning of Bloom’s last fight before the semifinal.
“And what exactly do you think I’ve been doing these last few fights?” had been her sarcastic response.
“You’ve been descending yourself. You need to fight back! Two accidents and one self sacrifice, that is the only reason you’re not dead! You need to-”
“I won't! You can’t make-They can’t make me!”
“Are you that deranged fairy? Do you get that death is permanent?”
“Careful Sky, you sound like you actually care.”
“And would that be a bad thing?” the words slip out befor he can stop them. He shouldnt be advising her, he most definitely shouldnt be
“Sky, don’t do this. You can’t.”
“You need to make it out of here. We need to-”
“We? Sky, there’s only one winner! Do you actually believe we can both survive this? Are you truly this stupid?”
“There’s got to be a way, Bloom.”
“Of course I knew!” Riven whisper shouts, he’s barely contained and an aimless ball of indignation and rage, he pauses peeking at the end of each halfway “Do you have any idea how hard it's been to spin this in a positive way? To not let the world think that you are a brute or worse some lovesick fool and that she is not some temptress of Hell bent on ruining you? Who do you think helped get her the necessary aid when she came down with that fever or who alerted Flora about what the guards had planned?”
Riven’s grip is bruising and despite still looking stoic and blank he clearly is furious. When Sky says nothing, only stares Riven shakes him hard
“Listen to me. They will hurt her. In ways that are far worse than death, trust me here, just please believe me I’ve tried to find-” and he falters, rubbing his hand over his face.
“Find what?” Sky prompts urgently only to be met with no answer “Riven find what?” but he says nothing, only glares toward the gate that leads to the arena.
On one of the many nights between each weekly battle as they’d laid in their own cell and listened to the festivities, both too tired to even eat the slime they called dinner, Sky realizes finally that nothing good actually came out of the games. It was nothing but entertainment, like Bloom had said. It was nothing but a three month celebration of so much senseless death.
“Sky…”
“Yeah?”
“Who are you fighting for?”
The question takes him by surprise and it takes all his strength to sit up and look at her “My father…”
“Your dad?” She frowns, sitting up too “Andreas?”
“No.” He says strongly, shaking his head, “Andreas’s not real father. Saul Silva is. The man who raised me, taught me everything I knew… I was fighting to give him a better life, to make him proud. But he didn’t want me to come here. He begged me not to.”
“Once you finish this and win-”
“When I win?” The concept seems so strange to him now. Despite having started as the favored contestant to win, even if he did have the ability to do so. Winning now felt sour. Winning meant Bloom would have to die.
“Yeah, when you win. And if the Queen had no say, what would you want to do?”
The question makes him squirm more. “I’d fight so no one else’d have to participate in the games.”
“Forever the hero, huh?” Bloom rolls her eyes “Stop being selfless, what would you do for you?”
He takes a deep breath “I’d tell Silva I’m sorry. But that's not gonna happen. I’m not going to win, you are.”
She sighs “I can’t win, Sky. Even if I wanted to. Even if I fought too. A fairy hasn’t won in years. The game is rigged that way.”
“I can make sure you do-”
“What's the point? I win a life of misery under Luna? At least you’ll have a bit of freedom. I won’t. I’m not letting you kill yourself to save me. I don’t want you to.”
“Bloom-”
“I cant kill you Sky! I wont!”
“Sometimes death is mercy… Let's say you both live, do you think for a moment Luna will take lightly to being humiliated this way?… Have you seen how the queen treats her slaves? Her staff? The other victors? Hell-her own daughter?
It's nothing in particular really in his tone. And truth is Sky has come to learn that the reason Riven is at the station he is at is because he had protected the crown princess from her own mother, but as his mentor fusses with the straps of his vest his mind races
“You know what it's like to be in this position… don't you?” but Riven’s mouth is clamped shut. Still Sky’s mind flips through those he’s met here, trying to find out if it's possible for Riven to have been functioning while going through the same turmoil when the worry coursing through Sky makes him ache for the grave. Stella and Flora spring easily to mind but Riven has always been just as brash, ever as aloof, always except… Except the time the Queen sent Sky a token via her slave girl, Musa…
“Maybe it would be easier if I lost tomorrow…”
“Don't say that! Don't you dare throw the fight, Bloom! Do you hear me?” he’d railed against the bars separating them, grasping at her hand and tugging at her until she was flushed against him, the metal spirals digging between them
“...I just, I don't want to have you live with the guilt of-”
“Nothing will happen Bloom-”
“Sky please just-” he’d captured her lips in a searing kiss then, silencing them if only for a moment
“You have to live Bloom, if not for me then for everyone who’s rooting for you now. You living means a strike against Luna. Means a step towards freedom. You heard what Flora said, fairies all over the otherworld will be on your side.”
“I don’t care… All I want is you there.”
“If you could save her Riv, would you?”
“Flora is a big girl, she was the victor for a reason” Riven rattles off.
“I'm not talking about Flora...”
And for the first time since they’ve met, Riven is not just quiet but actually afraid.
There is so much Sky wants to say because he knows exactly what it feels like to be terrified, not for yourself, but for someone who is walking out there in constant danger, someone who is his heart.
“Riven….”
There is so much he wishes he could share, but suddenly Riven is squeezing his arm and the momentary look of warning that flashes in his eyes is enough for Sky to remember that Luna has eyes and ears everywhere and so he changes his mind. And for a moment they stand there, the two of the most formative warriors of their time, utterly helpless.
“There is no point in wishing when there's no hope” Riven mutters at last.
There wasn’t hope. At least not a few days ago.
“Everyone’s buzzing Sky. And I need to know, I need your word that if it comes to it you will make sure you win.”
“..I can’t promise you that, princess.”
“Sky stop! Stop with the formalities, Stop this madness. You have to kill her, these are the rules-This is how Solaria works” he’s says nothing to the Stella, his face remaining stonelike “If you want, Sky… if you can’t do it, I will-I can get people to-” Before she can finish, he is up and yanking at her, his hand wrapping around her throat as a warning.
“If you hurt her, if she dies, I will burn this place to the ground and I won't rest until everyone in it is nothing but ash.”
“...That’s treason, Sky!”
“That is the truth Stella. Test me on it.” He lets her go. Turning around and hearing her heels click against the stone ground as she walks away.
He had been sure his fate was set on dying for her. Until he got a glimpse of hope.
He’s been on pins all morning, listening to any noise indicating a coming and going. The moment Riven tells him Bloom won the fairy semifinal, Sky crumbles to the floor and finally breathes since she had been taken to the arena. But then Riven tells him they had taken her to another cell and would be there until the final the next day and Sky is overcome with fear again. Because he wouldn’t be able to tell her how much he loved her.
Hours pass and before he realizes is night time and a theres a small girl approaching his cell, wearing solarian clothes and her hair up in a ponytail, and she’s carrying a basket.
“A gift from the Queen.”
She pushes the basket through the food gap in the bars and waits for him to look at it.
There’s fresh fruits, a bottle of an energetic drink, a shirt with the solarian crown shield and a note saying “Good luck, Sky. A spot for you awaits next to Andreas as my personal guard”
He pushes it to the side and scoffs, looking up at the girl just as her eyes go from brown to purple.
“You’re Luna's little mind slave, right? Get out of my-”
“You really do care about her then?” The girl answers, eyes turning back to brown.
“Why do you care?”
She takes a step closer and whispers “I can help you.”
“Can I see her? Can you get me to her?”
“No, but I might have an offer that could be your way out. Both of you.”
She takes a key from her pocket and unlocks the cage, speaking louder this time “You need that arm checked out before the final. Come, Warrior.”
She turns then, and without a second thought he follows.
In the early hours of dawn, before Riven stopped by, Sky had had one moment where he wondered if he was doing the right thing.
Wondering if a plan and a deal are the right way to go.
Wondered if the safest route wasn't making sure Bloom killed him, ensuring her victory and her life in one go.
Now, like gears falling into place something settles in Sky. This wouldn’t be just for him and Bloom. It wasn’t just their freedom on the line. With an exhale, alerting Riven just as the light in the hallway turns red, the horn calling to battle sounds out, and the crowd roars in anticipation, Sky moves closer, grabbing the lapels of Riven’s jacket and whispering.
“Riven, do me a favor?”
“Anything” is Riven’s instantaneous response though his gaze is alert and worried.
“Take Flora and deliver a message to Saul Silva for me. Personally. Right now.”
The heavy gate leading into the arena rumbles and starts to open.
“Sky-wha-”
“Trust me Riven… Please” he hopes Riven gets it, hopes this is the right move, hopes it will all be over soon “Take Flora and leave, now. Tell Silva…Tell him I'm sorry and to not believe anything until he’s seen it with his own eyes.''
Not waiting for a response he walks into the sun then, heat blazing down and the crowd roaring deafeningly. He lifts his hand up to protect his vision from the light and the arena comes into view.
The ground beneath Sky’s feet shakes as the audience leaps to its feet as he makes it to the podium designated for him. It’s unbearably hot as the scorching sun beats down upon them from its highest position in the sky. The gust of wind that ripples through the arena causes a small dust devil to spring to life and forces his eyes closed.
Amidst the torrent of noise and confusion though, he hears the unmistakable sound of Iron gates being opened and he manages to open his eyes just enough to see Bloom.Proud, unbent, she stands but for a moment in the shade of the doorway and Sky finds himself lost in her gaze. She’s here, she’s survived the night and her eyes are hard but at peace. And as she takes her first step into the sun, the wind tugs at her hair and makes the strands dance as though they are flames burning wildly about her.
A low base of drums slowly rises up, echoing measuredly, deafening the crowd and the wind in tandem with each step she takes towards him his mind flashes to the instances they’d shared.
But looking into her clear blue eyes now, as she steps onto the podium across from him, Sky knows deep down that Bloom had no doubt at some point the night before thought of the same plan despite his protest and for a brief moment his heart freezes with the fear of what if that still is her plan.
He takes a half step forward unbidden and only manages to stop himself as the action breaks the trance he’d fallen under. The sound of the crowd cuts through his reprieve as the audience repeats over and over again “Kill the fairy! Kill the fairy!”
It would be a perfect ending if he dies and she lives.
As though reading his mind, Bloom’s brows come together in a frown and he can all but hear her voice threatening him in his ear to not even think of doing anything stupid.
Despite the moment, and what lays ahead of them, Sky nearly smiled.
That’s the thing about Bloom, he thinks, they are standing at the gallows and yet she makes him smile.
The announcer began blasting some more ceremonial music, songs that for so long Sky used to associate with strength and valor and now feels nothing but anger at the charade he’s been forced to endure.
The visiting Andros Royal family enters looking ever disapproving, sitting next to where the Queen and the Princess were.
Luna gets up and one of her fairy slaves step forward, twisting her hand and manipulating the air to enhance the Queen's voice.
“Citizen’s, I welcome you to the long awaited finale of the twenty seventh Solarian Games.”
The crowd cheers with vigor and for a moment Sky wanders how it had seemed so normal to him just a few months ago.
“And I bid a special welcome to King Teredor of Andros and his noble family, for finally gracing us at these games.
Luna’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes and Princess Stella shifts in her seat next to the Andros family, clearly unsettled. And from the way the king and Royal family glare at Queen Luna it was quite justifiable.
“Nevertheless we are here now on the cusp of great steps to a brighter future for both of our kingdoms. Let the final game commence!”
Another one of Luna’s fairy slaves step forward, moving her hands and making the arena’s floor shift and variety of weapons spring up from the earth and present themselves to the champions.
A horn blazes and the podiums lifting Sky and Bloom get back to ground level.
They look at eachother, sharing a glance that said a thousand swords.
While Sky runs to the closest sword and shield, Bloom creates a flame ball and throws it his way, missing by an inch. The audience roars with its approval
Another and it hits him just as he lifts up the shield.
He grabs a dagger and flings it at her and Bloom blasts it to the side, running to grab a shield for herself.
But suddenly the ground shakes beneath their feet and it takes everything in Sky to not fall to his knees. There is a brightness and a boom and a couple of guards are thrown to the side by an explosion a few meters away from them.
The earth of the arena has not fully settled when gasps ripple through the crowd and Sky turns just in time to see the queen fade and then blink out from existence in front of him.
“Where's the Queen?” A guard yells.
“It was an illusion- a trick!” Princess Aisha gets up, pointing her finger at the empty throne.
Another explosion blasts on the other side of the arena, hitting a couple of guards.
“Run!” A man in the crowd yells.
“The Queen rigged this stadium to Blow!” Another one says.
The stadium erupts into screams and chaos and Sky has but a moment to tackle Bloom before there’s a bright light, and the arena erupts into flames around them.
“Your plan is to blow it all up and to frame your mother” Princess Aisha asks her, voice a long drawl “Whilst me and my family are in the stadium?”
Stella’s serene face shows a grimace before she nods “I am, but I assure you that you will have a clear path out and that the explosions will not reach the stands immediately. Besides I’ll be with you so can trust-”
“Trust you? You're betraying your own mother! Why would I ever trust you?” Aisha scoffs.
“Because she’s bringing you into the fold” Musa snaps at them, surprising both princesses and Sky, who had never heard the girl truly speak. “Because we’ve endured Queen Luna’s madness for far too long and this is the chance to do something about it. To gain back our freedom and our lives. You can trust her because we have everything to lose here“ Musa gestures towards herself and the two other Solarians “And we’re all willing to risk it to end this cycle of blood shed.”
Aisha is taken back for a moment before she turns back to Stella “How will you ensure the flames progress at the speed you want? I highly doubt you’ve been able to smuggle that much explosive in that arena considering how much it's crawling with soldiers.”
“We won't have to smuggle anything, the first explosion is set up… The rest will be handled” Stella glances at Sky and it had been then that Sky had realized it had indeed all been arranged. Somehow in the last few weeks an alliance had been created between a princess, a slave and a sacrifice. Aisha and him were just added at the last second.
“I want a peaceful country for my people, you must understand that, princess” Stella plead her case “all I ask is for your support when I take over. I can only truly take my mother down with an ally. ”
Aisha looks anything but happy as she stares down Stella. Finally though, she nods “I will aid your cause and keep all this to myself, but one sign of betrayal and I won’t hold back my father from declaring war. And should you not succeed-
“-this meeting never happened. I give you my word! All I ask is for you to learn this escape route and to not hesitate to leave once you see the mayhem start.”
There is a beat when the Andros princess doesn't reach for the scrap of paper in Stella’s hand and Sky is sure that it will all be for nothing. But the whole room feels lighter when she does and he’s finally able to ask.
“So, what do you need from me?”
“Make sure to put on a show. Distract the audience. And when the first explosion blasts make sure you’re by her side so she can do what she needs without worrying about you.”
“Are you ready?” he asks as if she has a choice as if there is an option to turn back. Without hesitation though, Bloom's palm presses against the floor and the flames come alive towering higher and higher around them as further explosions sound off in the stand.
The whole place will be nothing but rubble and if they’ve timed it correctly no one but the monsters will perish.
T hose monsters are Guards who were just following orders , a voice taunts in his mind but Sky pushes that voice back hard.
Because that voice isn’t real, Sky justifies, Blooms real and all that matters.
As the world burned around them they clung together so tightly not even a grain of ash could land between them.
“Sky…”
“Let it burn,” He muttered the words onto her lips and she whispered, eyes bright orange as she held up the dome protecting them from the wild flames.
“I got you.”
🔥 The End🔥