Calamity Falls | Wattys 2019

LIII

Screams of pain and horror emitted from the closed cell door. Muffled weeping and begging ensued.

Reinard leaned against the wall, face angled to the floor and eyes closed. Leopold stared at the door with wide eyes and a rigid back.

Finally, things quieted down. The doorknob clicked. The door creaked open slowly. Calamity walked out with a blank face. Blood covered her from head to toe. Phoenix stood close behind her to make sure she wouldn't collapse.

Calamity stopped in front of Reinard who looked at her expectantly. "He was a radical attacking without permission from the king. He is worthless to us. He knows nothing."

Leopold watched his mate begin trudging up the stairs halfheartedly. He scanned her carefully. Her fists were clenched and shaking. Her eyes held a deep anger. He lagged after Calamity and Phoenix slowly.

When Leopold arrived at her bedroom he heard a crash from inside. He tried to rush inside, but Phoenix held out his hand.

He looked sadly into Leo's eyes. "Give her a few minutes."

An angry scream sounded from behind the door followed by another crash.

"I can't leave her like that. I have to go try to help her. She's just tiring herself out more," Leopold decided before barging into the hurricane that was Calamity's room.

He found a huddled heap of a woman that could take out thousands of demon hordes in the center of the chaos. He approached cautiously, wary of her lashing out. "Calamity..." he called, reaching out to touch her.

She flinched away. "Don't touch me!" She screamed, standing and stumbling away. Her wide eyes rapidly scanned the remains of her room before settling on her bloodied skin. "I need a shower. I'm so dirty." She shuffled to the bathroom. "Dirty," she muttered in disgust.

Calamity didn't even bother closing the door. She simply walked into the shower and turned on the scalding water, clothes and all. She banged her fist on the shower wall.

Leopold scrambled into the bathroom and opened the shower curtain to see Calamity mumbling gibberish about how dirty she was. He grabbed her wrist and turned her to face him.

"No!" She screeched. "You can't be dirty too." A low sob came from her throat. No tears spilled out, not that one could tell with the shower spraying down on her. She snatched a bar of soap and scrubbed Leopold's hands before trying to clean her clothed body.

Leopold grabbed her shoulders to stop her movements. He made her look in his eyes.

She just stared. She couldn't think of anything else to do.

Leopold reached for the hem of her shirt and slipped off the soaked material gingerly.

Tears brimmed in Calamity's eyes. "You were a target," she whispered. "I was supposed to kill you, but I went to Reinard first. He was my first target. If I had gone to you first, I would have killed you, mate or not. I didn't care then, but Reinard got through to me. He made me realize that I didn't want to be my father's puppet. By that point, I had already killed so many people at his behest. I used his training to get answers from traitors and prisoners. I would've killed you too. You could be dead right now because of me."

Leopold understood why she was upset, not fully. He could never fully comprehend the full scope of pain she had inflicted and endured.

But none of it mattered. He probably would've let her kill him if they had met then. He loved her too much. He could never care about the wrongs of her past.

Leopold held Calamity's face and pressed his lips against hers gently. He pulled away to look her in the eyes. She understood. None of it mattered to him. Only she mattered.