TAKE TWO, kotlc

Chapter 43- Arella

Arella woke up in a forest. Her head hurt like it'd been stomped on by a wooly mammoth, and her limbs were so sore, they were shaking. Everything was quiet. She couldn't remember anything. Was this death? If it was, maybe dying wasn't so bad. Maybe...

Tell my father I said hello.

The empty sentence brought back a whirlwind of memories. A kingdom. A castle. A prisoner. A dagger...

Her eyes snapped open fast enough to make her wince. Sprawled in the same clearing was her twin sister, her mother, Braelynn, and her... sister-in-law?

A shaky groan echoed from somewhere and the four sat up equally groggy. Arella felt like she'd been sleeping for years.

"Where are we?" Braelynn asked, rubbing her eyes. She blinked when she saw her, and the same flood of realizations seemed to come back just as Arella's had.

But instead of lunging for Arella... she crawled over to Jocelyn.

"I told you I'd see you soon," Jocelyn told her, wrapping her arms around the Phaser. "Just because I died in the future, doesn't mean we can't change it in the past- and the past is now the present, I suppose."

Arella's body felt a lot smaller. It had just occurred to her that she was the one who'd killed Jocelyn- she was the one who had turned the Lost Cities into a dictatorship and ordered her best friend to be killed.... And that they were all probably about to attack her...

The awkward silence was like an anchor, sending everything crashing back down to reality. Surely nothing she could say could make up for what she'd done.

"I know this is going to sound really stupid," Arella mumbled, proud of her voice for not shaking. "But I'm sorry. I get it if you have to.... To... imprison me. Or kill me. Because now you know what I was destined to do in the future."

Arella waited for them to punch her. Or scream at her. Or maybe just hail the Council.

But instead, Jocelyn cracked a tiny smile. "I believe you mean that. I've dedicated my entire life- although that's not very long -to studying everything about time and fate. And I've learned that knowing your future changes it very much so."

Arella blinked, unable to bring herself to meet the others' eyes. "Does that mean... I'm not in trouble?"

Jocelyn's face fell. "I... I don't think I can decide that by myself."

Arella groaned. "Another Tribunal? Are you going to inform the Council?"

"No... I'm part of the Black Swan. I was the leak in the Neverseen- I've told them already." Jocelyn pointed to Braelynn, Oralia, and Sophie. "But I'm also part of the Collective. I've been helping you guys all along. And... what I said by the fact that I can't decide by myself... the Collective may still want to see you just so this doesn't happen again."

"Oh." It wasn't as bad...

"I will personally vouch for you," Jocelyn added. "And of course.... Nobody can punish you for something that hasn't happened yet, can they?"