Cost of the Crown (UNREVISED VERSION)

Lilac

"I knew this would happen..." Cedric sighed as he scanned the halls. He looked at his traumatized sister then he decided to carry her. "You have to understand... It was my life against his..."

Maria remained silent as she was being carried by her brother. He took her to the garden, where she planted her flowers. It seems that she took care of the flowers really well.

"Maria... You know that I can't live having that man's blood in my conscience, you also know that I would rather get blood on my hands than to ever risk your life." He continued.

He felt her tears dripping on his arm. He doesn't know what he's going to do... He felt crawling up his feet, when he looked, it was thorns.

"What the..." He tried moving but the more he moved, the quicker the thorns crawled up his legs. Soon enough he was getting cut.

"Maria..." He told his sister before throwing her to the side, "Don't weep for me."

He threw her sister to a leaf pile as he could feel the thorns penetrating through his skin. He tried cutting the leaves with the knives he kept but nothing would kill it. Roses started blooming and glowing like Maria's eyes, he looked at his sister as the thorns crawl their way up his hips.

"Maria!" He called for his sister who was laying on the leaf pile.

Maria looked at Cedric with her vibrant red eyes. Her eyes gave out a blank stre as she saw her brother being devoured by the thorns.

"And tonight, my flowers feast... A royal feast." Maria said in a different voice, much like she was possessed.

"Stop this! Maria, I know you can stop this." Cedric ordered.

"I don't take orders from you... You are not my king..." She continued with a sinister smile.

"You are no sister of mine." Cedric glared as the thorns crawl up his neck. "I won't give the crown to you."

Maria's eyes turn brown and she saw his brother devoured by thorns. She took a deep breath then the thorns open up revealing her brother, unconscious and full of wounds.

"Cedric!" Maria shouted. She ran towards her brother, the thorns made way for her with every step she took.

"What a sad sight..." A voice in her head said.

"Bring him back!" Maria shouted at the voice in her head.

"What if I don't want to?" The voice threatened.

Maria trembled as she thought of what she could do inside her head.

"Tell you what... Make this deal with me?" The voice said.

"What deal?" Maria thought.

"I could leave your brother alone if you give me contol over your abilities... Especially the flowers, I kinda admire them."

"Uh..." Maria thought into it as she was inside her void with only the voice living inside her.

"So... We have a deal?" The voice asked.

"Deal!" She shouted in her head then the voice took form into a young girl like her. She had yellow clothing, bright yellow eyes and raven hair. She was beautiful.

"Elise Cephas is what you can call me... I am the voice in the void you created, and I control your abilities." Elise smiled.

Cedric opened his eyes as he questioned himself of what happened, when he got out of the thorns with cuts and wounds over his body, he suddenly collapsed and Maria was shaken.

"Brother?" She called. She got no response from the king, she didn't know what to do and she was panicking as Elise enjoyed the view from Maria's head.

"Maria?" A lady called.

She looked to the door and saw Lady Clara with a worried face. She was in distraught seeing a lot of things in one day.

"I can explain!" Maria told Clara as she sat beside Cedric.

"What happened?!" She asked the little girl as she felt her eyes welling up with tears. She saw the crown inside the thorns and she takes it.

"We went to his room then we were attacked... He unfortunately accidentally killed someone in an act of defense. Then he took me here where everything became insane!" Maria explained as briefly as possible, she did not want to remember anything from that night.

"I failed..." Clara cried. She held the king in her arms and hugged him tight, she could still feel his hesrtbeat but she wasn't sure if Cedric could hold on longer. "I told your mother that no harm comes to you both and/or the kingdom... I guess... I wasn't good enough..."

"I'm sorry... He defended me and for that I am grateful... I don't know how to repay him for it." Maria stood up then she went into the castle.

"I raised you as my own... Why did you have to suffer such fate?" Clara asked.

"Cedric... Wake up..." Queen Victorina's soothing voice woke up Cedric from his slumber. He was inside his room, alone with his mother.

"Mom?" Cedric asked. "Am I dead?"

"You're still silly as ever... I would never let you die without a successor. Though it is getting quite lonely here, only having your father by my side... Even in some cases, I am alone. As much as I want you with me, your sister needs you." She explained.

"If I am alive, then why am I here?" He asked.

"You are as fragile as lilac, you are my glass that embodies your sister's love for you." Victorina told him. "You are transparent... You never lie to your sister and you are open to her, you love her enough to not leave her. She's the only treasure that you have left in that finite world, your time will come when you will finally feel my hugs again. Just remember that I am here watching you."

Cedric sat up from the bed he was laying on to hug his mother. Though still can't feel anything, he tried to imgine how real it was.

"You must go..."