︵ . . CHAPTER FIVE❜ ━━━━ ₍ 🥀 ₎
a queen . .
"Tommy, you are to never speak with that woman again."
The blonde boy found himself glaring at the words that fell from Wilbur's mouth. He looked at him dead in the eye with arms folded at chest level. "What do you know about her?"
"What do you know about her?" Wilbur returned Tommy's own question back at him. "You can't trust a person you just met!"
"She gave me this compass for a reason, Wilbur. She's help! We can trust her, I just know it!" Tommy retorted, shoving the compass at Wilbur's face.
"Just because she might be an accomplice of Technoblade and that she helped you that one night doesn't mean she'll come to save you again, Tommy." Wilbur let out a scoff, kissing his teeth in agitation.
"You're scared—you're always looking for someone to depend on. Like Sadie, like me."
Tommy felt tears prick against the brim of his eyes at the moment. His words cut deep into his skin and bones. He couldn't believe what had become of Wilbur. The older brother figure he had always looked upon to.
With his heart on the floor, the blonde boy brushed past the tall man and left abruptly, tightly grasping the compass he held in hand.
A flicker of remorse had found its way in Wilbur's eyes but it quickly hardened. He knew Tommy would never understand. He's a child and he has yet to learn. Although it did worry him a bit.
Wilbur was aware who the poor boy will run to.
𓆸
It was new day once again.
Fortunately, it was daytime, which meant there were less creatures to deal with. Tommy had learnt from his mistake and brought a weapon this time, which was also the weapon he received from Dream yesterday, along with a letter, after Technoblade told him and Wilbur what he knew about Rexha.
Words from the letter resurfaced on his mind as he walked towards the direction of where the compass was leading him to.
Schlatt is no Wilbur.
The soft beam of sunlight peaked through the swaying branches of the tall trees. The sound of birds and the wind harmonized into a gentle crescendo in his ear as he continued to make way deep in the forest. The sense of light and warmth enkindled him with a little beacon of hope.
Dream was right, at least in one thing. Schlatt was nothing like Wilbur but that was until now.
After for what seemed like hours of walking, Tommy had finally reached the place that his compass was pointing to. His pupils dilated at the sight, causing him to stumble backwards and nearly lose his footing. The compass had lead him to what appeared to be a sanctuary built from stone, along with dark and crimson oaks. It was beautiful yet ominous, considering the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere.
Tommy was certain that he knew the forest well enough but that was until this place came to be.
Since when was this here? Could he have made it to the outskirts of Exousia, the long-forgotten kingdom?
"You actually came."
The blonde boy was startled by a female voice that emerged out of nowhere. He turned his gaze left and right in an attempt to locate the source, but a hand grabbed his shoulder before he could further react. Tommy turned around and locked gazes with a pair of crimson eyes he recognized.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"
He swatted her hand away from his shoulder, slightly fuming. "Where did you come from!? Don't scare me like that!"
The woman shrugged her shoulders in mere response. "It's not my fault you're a scaredy cat."
She straightened her back and folded her arms, her gaze moving from head to toe on the blonde boy. The sight of dirt and soot on his clothes, as well as bags under his eyes, made her face curl up in disgust. "You look like you went to hell and back."
"Maybe it's because I did?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.
Her face faltered into a phlegmatic look at his response. "Real funny."
She removed the hood from her head and threw her the silky fabric of her cloak behind her shoulders, displaying her long, ebony hair, which was coiled in soft natural curls. Tommy also counted a few rose petals in her hair, which looked like particles of snow on a winter day. Staring intently made him also notice how her skin was pale in complexion.
"Quit staring and follow me." Rexha snapped her fingers in front of Tommy's eyes.
Tommy flinched as he followed the woman deeper into the sanctuary. His nostrils were flooded with the aroma of flower and ashes. He was awestruck by the old bookshelves, brewing stand, and antique paintings that adorned the place, as well as the one object that always appeared to be associated with the woman.
There were roses, along with bushes and vines, all over the place.
"I don't really eat so this is all I have. Better be grateful than to eat nothing." Tommy turned around to see Rexha, who was suddenly holding a bowl of sweet berries along with a small glass of milk. "You can sit over there."
"Um, thanks." Tommy awkwardly received the food she handed over before taking a seat on the chair made out of a dark oak.
Silence washed over the two as Rexha settled down along with Tommy, sitting across him.
"So, what brings you here?"
Rexha propped her elbow on her leg, face leaning against her knuckles. "I really didn't expect you to come to me so soon. It must be of importance, I assume?"
Tommy looked up at her as he hungrily munched a handful of berries. "I received a letter from Dream yesterday."
Interested, she raised a brow at him. "Oh, really now?"
"Here." Tommy shoveled for the paper in his pockets, as soon as he got it, he handed it over to her. "Read the letter."
Rexha straightened the piece of paper and furrowed her brows.
𓆸
Tommy, I knew this time would probably come.
For a kingdom that rules with kindness and not with might. No weapons, no armor, just a group of people.
Schlatt does not follow these same principles.
Schlatt wants weapons, Schlatt wants power. Schlatt wants to expand out into Oneiros' lands.
Schlatt wants to abolish the walls in order to take more and more land.
Schlatt is no Wilbur.
I don't know if peace can be maintaned between our two nations with Schlatt at the helm.
Last time I tried to take a stand on behalf of Oneiros, I was touted as the villain. This time, I can't involve myself.
Schlatt is technically a democratically elected leader, and I can't overthrow him.
If you need my help, I am here, but it must be from the shadows. I can't be caught breaking the peace treaty. Even though the people I made it with are no longer involved.
I have trusted you with my most prized weapon, which was used to kill you by Schlatt on the day before the election. Only fitting it be used on him in retaliation.
Also armor that I was going to trade to Skeppy for your disc.
For now, farewell from the shadows. Be safe.
— Big D
𓆸
"He's not on your side. Just because this man lavished you with a gift or two, doesn't mean he will actually help. Do you know what he is? A coward."
Rexha belted out a chuckle in amusement, a smile twitching on her lips. "A coward who is afraid to have a tyrant like Schlatt take all the power for himself."
"Schlatt administration, together with Oneiros. What a nuisance."
Tommy blinked, silently pondering the woman's familiarity with Schlatt. She seemed to know him a little too well, just as she knows Dream, based on the way she addressed him.
There were many things that remain mysterious and unknown about Rexha. Dream never mentioned her back then, nor was she made known to the broader public until two years later.
Curiosity got the best of him.
"Say, Rexha."
Her name sounded so foreign to him. It just didn't fit right. "How do you know Schlatt?"
The bruenette narrowed her eyes at the name that the boy had specifically brought up.
"He is one of the people whom I have unfinished business with."
Rexha straightened up her posture, retrieving her hand back to her side, eyes never breaking contact with Tommy's. "Schlatt is the reason I got Arsonist as one of my names."
"You've met him, before?" Tommy was in shock.
"Before the son of a gun found his way to L'manberg, he used to be the former ruler of a kingdom known as Krios. It was a great country. It once had glory and power." Rexha stood up from seat and retrieved the empty bowl that Tommy had eaten from. "But even with all that in his hands, it was never enough. He wanted more. He always wanted more."
She then proceeded to dispose the wooden bowl as Tommy downed the beverage he received earlier along with the sweet berries.
"He settled an agreement with the former queen. He wanted allegiance with Exousia, to gain more power and to expand his land because it was on the brink of crumbling under his rule. And so, she gave him that but Schlatt was greedy. That alone was not enough for him. He ought of her as a useless pawn to his chessboard after she refused to give him even more power that he longed for." Rexha turned around to face Tommy, a smile rosing from her lips. "Do you know what he did?"
Tommy's mouth ran dry. He watched as those crimson eyes flashed a whirlwind of intense emotions resembling rage and despair.
"He killed my mother."
The blonde boy became deafeningly quiet at that exact moment. He never would have thought someone like Schlatt could be a murderer.
"So, I took the crown and with that, as the rightful queen, I sent my kingdom—the kingdom he was so obsessed with into flames." Her eyes relished the memory of bright red flames and ashes that flooded the dark horizon.
"It was never meant to be."
His mind instantly lingered at the image of Eret as he felt a wave of deja vu wash over his body at Rexha's words. "Exousia had already fallen the day my mother died. The only reason it ever stood still was because of her and I'm not her."
And, it was exactly what Tommy had thought.
"I am don't need a throne to sit on, a kingdom nor an army. I am capable of raising a war with the castle in my bones and coronet in my heart alone. I cower before no man."
She was a indeed queen.
︵ . . 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦 ❜
what you know about rolling down in the deep when your brain goes numb you can call that mental freeze when these people talk too much put that sh!t in slow motion yeah
i am okay btw i just needed a break !! i just lost motivation for like a while <3