Counting down the days until you see that I'm eternally yours...

Chapter 9 | Cryptic Warnings

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You woke the next morning, a dull headache greeting you. Groaning, you rubbed your head and forced open your eyes, instantly noticing the sunlight dancing around you. It was captivating, watching the speckles of dust floating gracefully, weaving in and out of the sun beams, or perhaps things just seemed so much more mysterious now having been introduced to ideas and notions from a magical world...
Magic, elves, goblins, fairies, other worlds-everything was real, it was all possible. Things which you had only ever read in manga or seen in movies seemed to be happening to you right now and it was alarming, but not as alarming as the reality of it all. You had been chosen to be Queen, you had been chosen and apparently there was nothing you could do about it. Up until now, you had fought the idea as much as you could, but now, you were not so sure you had it in you to keep fighting.
JR had run you down; he had worn his heart on his sleeve, left himself vulnerable in front of you by revealing his deepest, darkest fears and somehow, that had pulled at your heart strings, making it difficult for you to resist. You were weak in front of him now, alarmingly so. Even so, your emotions were still very much conflicted. Was this just pity or did you actually have feelings for him? It was somehow becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what was real and what was not, yet somehow whenever you were with him, you felt safe, you felt at ease. Maybe you were just refusing to accept the truth, or maybe you did not feel ready for it just yet, whatever the truth may be....then suddenly in that moment, it dawned upon you; you had offered to help JR, but to what extent were you willing to do so?
You rose from where you had been sat and approached the window in front of you. Events began to slowly flood back into your mind. As you stared out of the window, you found yourself breaking out from the hypnotic state in which you had been in. You could see the greying, cloudless sky in front of you and just below you, evergreen tree tops, stretching on for as far as your eyes could see. Where were you right now? The last thing you remembered vividly was hovering above the lake, wrapped in JR's arms. Had you fallen asleep like that and then had you been carried-here? Question after question tumbled in your mind and you were so absorbed in your thoughts that you did not hear the door open.
"The view is breath taking, is it not?" you heard a gentle, familiar voice ask you.
"JR..." you heard yourself whisper, your heart immediately beginning to pound hard against your chest. "H-how did-where are we?" you managed to coherently ask, after the initial stammer.
"We are safe here," JR said as he approached you, not entirely answering your question. "Did you sleep well, despite the nightmare?"
"The nightmare..." you repeated, frowning a little.
"The fairies in your dreams, do you remember them?" You thought hard and an image flashed in your mind of a dainty, pink fairy, as small as a butterfly.
"Yes...I do..." you replied, feeling very confused.
"Fairies like that live in your world as well as mine and even here, they serve the Elven Royalty of Aranthi," JR began. "The ones in your world sensed my presence and came to me last night after you had fallen asleep in my arms," at that, he blushed a little, as did you.
"It would seem that in your world, the fairies inhabit the woods and forests, having forged a mutual friendship with the trees. Neither are friends of the goblins, which is why the goblins will not venture this way. Fighting against them is a hazardous endeavour for anyone. Although they are much more ruthless, even the goblins are smart enough to know not to antagonise forces out of their control. Essentially, the forest provided us with shelter, with the aid of the fairies last night. They had created this tree house a long time ago in anticipation for our arrival..." JR trailed off, noticing your perplexed look.
"Fairies? There are fairies, here?" you could not wrap your mind around anything JR was telling you and it was beginning to make you feel anxious and nauseous. You groaned, edging back to the safety of the bed you had been asleep in. Before you had even reached it though, you felt JR's warm arms fling themselves around you, holding you tightly.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, burying his head in your shoulder. "There is a lot which you do not know about and I am trying to help, I really am, but maybe...maybe I'm just doing it wrong..." he sighed in defeat and you felt a pang of guilt. It was true. He was trying to explain things but it was all so alien to you that every new piece of information he revealed to you served only to confuse you further.
"I know you're trying, but this is really a lot for me to take in," you gently tried explaining to him, resisting the urge to touch his head and comfort him.
"Tell me what to do...tell me how I can make this easier for you..." he asked wearily. "I do not know what else to do..." his grip tightened and your heart sank.
"I don't know..." was your reply. You instantly regretted it the moment you said it, but it was an honest answer.
You felt as lost as he did at this point, yet somehow you still had the choice to walk away from all this. JR did not have that choice. The only choice he had was to fight until the very end and here he was, trying to do exactly that, but his strength was fading substantially. There was something about him which seemed to have diminished since the first time you had met him and you could not place what it was. Perhaps it was his energy, his strength, his warming smile...something was missing and it was frustrating you now trying to deduce what that was. In the end, you had no choice but to ask him, "JR, last night I told you I would help you, so-is there anything I can do, right now?"
There was no response straight away, nor did you expect there to be one, but after a while, you heard him whisper to you, "Can we stay like this, just for a little while longer, please?" It was such a simple request and seeing as you were both already stood there, pressed against one another, it did not require much more effort, so you complied.
"Okay," you replied, touching his arm gently in reassurance. "Okay, and then afterwards, we will try to figure this all out so it's less confusing for both of us." He lifted his head from your shoulder and looked at you with teary eyes.
"Thank you," he earnestly whispered, closing the gap between you before gently kissing you on your forehead. "Thank you, for trying..."

In that moment, there was a vivid, green glow which entered the open window. Your eyes followed the spherical light as it flew in circles around the room before gently landing in JR's open hands. Eyes wide, you watched as the glow unfurled itself and revealed a tiny fairy, her gaze sharp and expression determined. She bowed in respect before standing again, her tiny little hands tightly clenched by her side.
"Your Majesty," she began. "It is time."