Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 45 - Tough Decisions

With a battle cry and ran toward him before quickly rolling on the ground and cutting the strings attached to his legs. The strings disappeared in a cloud of mist. Cath smiled victoriously and ran toward him to cut the strings at his arms. 

But she stopped as another set of steel ropes appeared at his limbs. 

"You are a clever girl aren't you?" Mariah said from above, anger clear in her voice.

"It'll take more than silly games to stop me," Cath said fiercely. 

Suddenly the ropes at Jest's arms and legs disappeared. Jest ran over to Cath, "Are you hurt?" He asked, tears in his eyes. 

Cath nodded and hugged him tightly, "I'm fine."

"Fine, since you're not a fan of my games, I'll give you a choice." Mariah said.

Suddenly Alice, Hatta, Penelope, and Calum all dropped from the ceiling, each one attached like puppets in the same way Jest was. And then suddenly Jest was a puppet again and pulled beside the others. 

"You can either stay here and give me every heart you've had and ever will have and crown me the queen of your kingdom where I will destroy the Black and White kingdoms and let your friends go free, or I kill your friends and family, let you go, without any heart and make sure you never grow a new one and eventually take over all the kingdoms nonetheless. Either way you lose, by the way." She said nonchalantly. 

"Go Cath, she'll kill you if you stay much longer and you need to end this war. Besides, there's no way she'd be able to make sure you never grew a new heart." Callum protested. 

"Are you so sure about that? Do you think I've just been studying Cath's heart growth all these years for nothing? Do you think that after almost 10 years I wouldn't have discovered a way for her heart to stop growing? You insult me, Your Highness!" Mariah said mockingly.

"This is cheating!" Jest screamed at Mariah. 

"Even I'm mad, mother, and I wouldn't ever do such a thing," Hatta said, tears rolling down his face. 

"Cheating or no, madness or no, these are her options," Mariah said angrily. 

Cath's chest throbbed hard and painfully as she debated her choices. 

"Alright, I'll stay and give you my hearts. But I want to say goodbye to my friends." Cath said, tears welling in her eyes. 

Mariah sighed, "Very well." She said annoyed.

Cath walked over to Penelope first. "Thank you, Penelope Peter, for all of this. For giving me hope and helping me find Jest." She said bowing her head to Penelope. 

Penelope sobbed, "Please know that I never intended for you to get hurt, I just wanted to make things right." She said strained. 

Cath nodded, "I know. And I'm so grateful. Please take care." She said before moving on to Alice. 

Alice smiled at Cath. Cath smiled back. "Alice, I'll be honest. You are annoying, stubborn, air-headed, and mad. But you have helped a very important friend of mine by taking on half of his burden." She said nodding to Hatta, "But most of all you've stayed loyal to me through the very end and I'm very grateful for your help. Please continue to watch over my friend for he needs someone who is just as mad as he is." 

Alice nodded, "I will. Even though you wanted me whipped before all this started." She said with a giggle. 

Cath laughed back awkwardly, "Yeah, sorry about that." She said before moving on to Hatta. 

She smiled sadly at her old friend. "Oh, Hatta. I wish I could say that this wasn't your fault, but sadly it is your fault that we're here. The way you helped your mother, the whole pumpkin seed fiasco. Almost all of this is because of you. But one thing I've learned on this journey is that the past is not what matters. Your past choices and actions won't change anything. It's what you do with your future. Even though you caused this, you've worked so hard to fix everything to the best of your ability. Mad or not, you are a hero of sorts." 

Hatta tipped his top hat at her, "Glad to be of service." He said smiling widely. 

Cath shook her head smiling and moved on to Callum. Before she could get a word out, he spoke first. "Say what you will Catherine, but this isn't goodbye. You think we're going to give up on you? You have two kingdoms to run now and I won't stop until-"

"Callum, stop. I'll be fine. The kingdoms will be fine." She insisted.

"No they won't. Only you and your heart can end this war and stop this mass destruction. Without you there is no hope. I will not give up on our kingdoms." He said as tears pricked his eyes. 

Cath smiled at his passion and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Neither will I." She said softly. 

Callum frown at her as she patted his cheek and moved on to Jest.

Tears rolled down his face slowly, "I love you Cath." Was all he said. 

Cath took his face in her hands and kissed him slowly. The kind of kiss two people would share if they had the time. 

She pulled away. "I know Jest. I love you too." 

And with one quick movement, she shoved her nails into his chest and pulled his heart out.