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The cold void of death was not a quiet sleep. It was a endless, suffocating darkness where time had no meaning, where my thoughts drifted like ash in a windless room. I didn't know how long I had been dead.
Seconds?
Years?
Centuries?
All I knew was the ache of absence, the bitter regret of things left unsaid to the one person who held my entire world in her hands.
Then, out of nowhere, the darkness fractured.
A sudden, violent pull yanked me through space. I gasped, clutching at my chest as my heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird, rebooting my frozen body with a painful shock.
When the blinding glow finally faded, my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, and my breath caught in my throat.
Standing right in front of me, bathed in the gentle daylight, was Red.
I thought I was dreaming.
I thought my mind, dying or insane, was playing one last cruel trick on me before plunging me back into the abyss. But no—the vivid red of her dress, the sharp, fiery intensity in her eyes, the familiar posture of supreme confidence—it was really her!
How long had it been since I last saw her? How long had I been rotting in the dark while she moved on?
Red Dress Girl: (holding her head high) Yes! Look at me, Noob! I'm a queen now!
Her voice was dripping with newfound pride, resonant and commanding, echoing off the stone walls of the nearby courtyard. A queen. Of course she was. She was born to rule, born to conquer, born to burn down anything that stood in her way. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, I wanted to fall to my knees and worship the ground she walked on.
Behind her stood Bacon, clutching a glowing staff, breathing heavily as if the spell had drained every drop of his strength. But before I could take another step toward Red, before I could throw my arms around her and tell her everything I had suffered in the dark, the air around us turned ice-cold.
The glow of the spawn point didn't fade—it corrupted. It shifted into an erratic, sickening purple hue, crackling with dark, unholy energy. The magic Bacon had tapped into wasn't a clean, divine gift; it was tethered directly to Red's violent, bloody past. As the magic surged to pull me back into existence, it dragged her sins right along behind me.
The ground groaned. The shimmering mist thickened, and one by one, phantom shapes materialized on the grass.
I froze, terror gripping my heart as the ghostly silhouettes solidified into flesh and blood.
Victim Girl.Blue Boy.
Lavender.
Sia.
Sia's Minions.
Crybaby.
Every single victim Red had ever slain, every soul she had poisoned, electrocuted, or shot in her relentless march toward power—they were all standing there. Their eyes burned with the vivid, agonized memories of their demises.
Lavender took a step forward, her eyes darting in sheer shock before turning hard as flint.
Lavender: (horrified, looking around) Wait... why are they back?!
She looked at Red, then at me, connecting the dots in a split second. The Queen had tried to save her favorite ally, but in doing so, she had unsealed the graveyard of her past. Red’s face paled for a fraction of a second, realizing she was caught in a lethal pickle, surrounded by enemies who had every reason to tear her apart limb from limb.
Lavender: (pointing sharply at me,) Grab him!
Before I could react, Blue Boy lunged forward. His hands locked around my arms with brutal strength, pinning me instantly. I thrashed and kicked, screaming Red's name, but he held me in a vise-like grip.
Sia stepped up, her eyes blazing with vengeance, remembering the agony of the electric current Red had sent through her bath. She hoisted a massive, heavy metal boombox over her shoulder, her muscles straining as she aimed directly at the Queen.
Sia: (screaming with rage) Take this!
Sia hurled the heavy boombox with lethal precision. It cut through the air, heavy and merciless. Red barely had time to raise her arms in defense before the metal struck her straight against the temple with a sickening thud.
Red Dress Girl: (gasping in pain) Ahhh!
She reeled back and collapsed onto the grass, completely unconscious, her red dress fanning out around her like a pool of fresh blood.
"Red! No! RED!"
Lavender: (urgently shouting to the group) Let's go! We need to run before she wakes up!
Blue Boy hauled me over his shoulder like a sack of grain. I kicked, screamed, bit, and clawed, but it was no use. As they dragged me away into the thick, dark canopy of the woods toward a nearby village, my eyes stayed glued to Red’s limp, motionless body on the ground until the trees swallowed her from my sight.
The hours that followed were a blur of terror, noise, and heartbreak.
They took me to the sanctuary of a cathedral in a quiet, isolated village. They were talking about peace. They were talking about healing and moving on.
But I couldn't care less about their peace. Then, the heavy oak doors of the cathedral burst open with a deafening crash.
I gasped. Standing in the doorway was Red, flanked by dozens of heavily armed royal guards with leveled pitchforks. She had found us. She had tracked us down.
Panic erupted inside the cathedral. Victim Girl, who had chosen a terrible hiding spot near the altar, was the first to be seized. A guard dragged her out, slamming a sharp steel pitchfork directly against her throat.
Victim Girl: (crying out) Please! No!
One by one, the others emerged from the shadows to save her, only to find themselves completely surrounded by a wall of steel and fire.
Desperate, cornered, and seeing no way out, Blue Boy grabbed me from behind, wrapping a heavy arm around my neck and pulling me tightly against his chest. He pulled a sharp weapon, holding it right to my head.
Blue Boy: (roaring at the Queen) Let them go, or I rip his head off!
The Queen stopped in her tracks. Her guards froze. The entire cathedral fell into a suffocating, deathly silence.
"Get off me! Red, look out!"
Sia: (sneering, her grip tight) Drop your weapon, Queen! Drop it, or he dies right here!
Red didn't hesitate. She threw her royal dagger to the floor. She stepped forward, putting herself completely at their mercy, offering her life in exchange for mine. I couldn't stand watching it. I couldn't stand watching Red—my unstoppable, fierce, terrifying Red—sacrifice her life for my safety.
"No! Red, don't! Don't do it for me! Fight them!"
Crybaby: NO MORE GAMES!
Without warning, Crybaby drove her weapon forward.
Time slowed down to a crawl. I saw the flash of metal. I saw Red step in front of the blow. I saw the blade pierce her chest.
She looked at me, her eyes wide with shock, before the light inside them flickered and went completely dark. Her body went limp, collapsing heavily onto the cold stone floor of the cathedral.
Red died right in front of my eyes.
My heart stopped.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
I screamed and screamed until my lungs burned with fire. I thrashed against the guards, but I couldn't do anything about her death. They still had the pitchfork pressed tightly at my neck, pinning me in place, forcing me to stare at her motionless, bleeding form on the floor.
Not when I haven’t told her—
Come back.
Please. Come back to me.
Don't leave me alone in this dark world again. Please, Red... please...
Then, a warm, golden radiance filled the cathedral.
Around Red's neck, the magic necklace she wore began to pulse with an ancient, radiant power. The deep wound on her chest closed up as the enchanted jewel overflowed with light, surging through her body, forcing life back into her cold heart.
Red took a sharp, sudden breath, her chest heaving as her eyes snapped open.
The royal guards, realizing the tide had turned, surged forward with renewed fury. They overwhelmed Sia and Crybaby, disarming them, binding their hands in heavy iron chains, and dragging them kicking and screaming off toward the castle dungeons.
The cathedral cleared out, leaving only the two of us in the quiet, shattered sanctuary.
Red slowly sat up, resting her back against the wooden pew, wiping a trace of blood from her lip. I broke free from the remaining guards and fell to my knees beside her.
I thought I lost you just then...
I pulled her into my arms, burying my face in her shoulder, feeling the steady, beautiful rise and fall of her chest. I clutched her hand with all the strength left in my body, lacing my fingers through hers, refusing to let go even if the world burned around us.
Red looked up at me. The harshness in her eyes melted away, replaced by a soft, rare gentleness. She closed her eyes as she smiled at me, as if my fierce, desperate devotion was the thing that surprised her the most out of everything we had survived.
I held her close, feeling her warmth against the autumn chill, knowing deep in my soul that I don't know what I would’ve done if she didn't exist then.