"I think quite often there are things that can be far worse than death."
-Xamdú
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Ake could hardly move after he felt a piercing pain go through his chest. As he tried to rise from the bed that night, Ake fell to the ground with a thud causing his hair to sprawl into his face. He swallowed dryly and grabbed onto the side of the bed to lift himself back up. Something was very wrong and it made his mind race for what it could be. In the end, he just hoped for Karos' safety and fast return to his arms and nothing else.
He hugged himself tight at the thought he was suppressing making its way to the forefront of his mind. It wracked his mind and sent chills down his spine. He said he would give everything to be with him, but Ake never it imagined it to be his true self. If it was true, he would never be able to become who he truly was again. He would be stuck in this form. Ake bit down on his lip and muscled down a sob. How could he ever be king when he could not even become what he truly was? The bitterness of the thought was eating him alive.
"Ake!" Fariel rushed in and grabbed him from off the bed. "We must get away from here quickly!"
Before Ake could take another step, he fell to his knees causing Fariel to whip his head around and eye him.
"What is the matter with you?"
"I do not know," Ake's voice shook as he spoke.
"You were just fine the other day. You had enough energy to tackle me to the ground! Where did it all go?" Fariel hoisted him up to his feet and leaned him against his shoulders.
"Has something happened to Karos?" Ake breathed.
"No, let us focus on getting out of here, first. We can go into detail later."
Ake pushed away from Fariel causing him to hit the floor of the hallway.
"What happened? I will not go anywhere with you until you tell me!"
"Ake, now is not the time!"
"Is he okay? You must tell me." Ake's voice was breaking along with his heart. He heard a couple thuds on the roof followed by screeches and talons scratching against the tiles.
"Get up!" Fariel tugged him forward and took them in the opposite direction of the noise. Griffins fell through the roof followed by a dragon. Its black blood dripped down onto Fariel's face as it was just inches away from hitting him. "We need to go now!"
The dragon rose and let out a roar as more griffins came and filled the halls. More dragons fell through the roofs crushing the griffins as they did. As soon as they reached outside, Ake saw nothing but fire and the burning bodies of gwasas scattered across the ground. Them being here only meant the battle Karos had gone out to fight had been lost. Ake's eyes filled with tears at the very thought. Was that the reason for the pain in his chest?
"Ake, we cannot stop here. We must go!" Ake tugged away from him as he shook his head.
"No, I will not go anywhere. Not without Karos. I cannot leave him. I should have never let him leave me here." He should have never let him leave. He should have told him everything that had been in his heart that day. Ake muscled down the vile taste of regret and wiped at his eyes. He should have kissed him and told him goodbye. Now, he was afraid he may not ever be able to do either of those things again.
"You are weaker than before. What can you do?" Fariel screamed.
Fariel snatched his arm and dragged him closer to himself until he had a good handle on him. Ake decided he would go along with him until he was able to muster up enough strength of his own. There were far worse things in life than death and he was reeling from one of those things already. Still, he had Karos. He had him, and that was all that mattered.
They ran away from the building as it started its collapse to the ground causing dirt and to rise from the impact. Fariel covered his body with his just as a column came tumbling down on top of them. The dust caused him to cough and look around to see where he was at and what was going on around him. Everything was screeching in his ears causing him to groan and try to get from under him. As soon as he was free, Ake tugged Fariel's unconscious body from underneath the rubble.
Ake assessed his surroundings checking for anything that could be used as a weapon. He turned Fariel's body around once he saw gwasas lurking around. He had no time. Fariel was smart. He would have brought some form of protection. Under his shirt, Ake pulled out a sheath stashed away along the side of his leg.
The gwasas stopped and turned around once they had gotten a good whiff of them. They looked at one another speaking in some other tongue Ake was not familiar with instead of attacking. Ake did not waste the moment. He rose from the ground with the help of the sheath. One gwasa lunged for his sword arm, but Ake quickly took out the sword, ducked, and sliced through its belly. He jabbed the other one with the hilt of his sword just before lodging it through its neck.
Ake fell to the grounded and breathed in shallow breaths from exhaustion. His strength had truly left him, but not all of it. He would have to make use of what was left. Ake looked up to the sky seeing fires lighting up the night sky. Griffins were falling from the skies left and right causing Ake's eyes to widen. With so few dragons here, he thought they had been overrun, but no. Those dragons were from Bahnasa. His father had listened to him. Eria would find him soon enough. He would just have to stay put here for a little longer. He checked for Fariel's pulse and it was strong. One less thing he had to worry about. All he needed to do was find Karos warm and breathing. It was all he wished for.
"Ake... " Fariel murmured as he put an arm to his head. "You must leave me here and go."
"I cannot."
"You are a prince."
"And you are Karos' friend. I cannot leave you here and face Karos after." Fariel sighed and rubbed his head and down to his lower back where the column hit. "Eria will be here soon enough. I will leave you with her and then I will go and find Karos."
Fariel dragged a hand across his face before nodding. "Do what pleases you. I had enough of you."
Ake fought to stay woke as the night wore on. Fariel tried to stand through the pain of his injured leg. He would not be able to make it far. However, Fariel was in much better shape than he was. If only Eria would come sooner. Ake was growing anxious. He watched Fariel pace around with a small dagger in hand waiting for any gwasas or griffins to appear, but none did.
"Something is strange," Fariel whispered.
"My father had sent us reinforcements... "
Fariel breathed deeply and shook his head. "Eunalians. They are here. I smell them."
Ake turned to look at Fariel just as a griffin came from behind the rubble and clawed at him. He fell down to the ground in surprise before rising and backing up towards Fariel. Another came from behind them forcing them both to the middle. Their long beaks shined under the moonlight. One ruffled it's feathers and circled around them like prey. Ake could hear their talons sinking into the dirt with each step causing his heart to pound out of his chest. Its tail swished around like a whip causing Ake to push Fariel down before it could lop off his head. He grabbed Fariel's wrist and rushed out towards the opening ,but another griffin stood in their way.
"So this is how I will die."
"Hush!" hissed Ake.
One let out a screech followed by a cry. It fell to the ground along with the other two causing Ake to look around and see Nanamus standing by with a blade drenched in black blood.
"If you would have helped us in the beginning, none of this would have happened," his sweet voice said as he smiled.
"Nanamus... " Ake murmured. Fariel pushed passed him and searched around behind him looking for someone, but Ake had not the heart to tell him. He swallowed dryly and looked away from him. Now was not the time.
"Where is Karos?" Gretcha came running and pushed Ake to the ground. "Where is he?" she screamed.
"I do not know. I will find him."
"Oraanu, he would be here. He had been the one to send you word, yes?" Fariel asked.
"Oraanu... no... He is not with us, "Nanamus said.
"He is dead," Gretcha said. "He must be if he had not returned. He told me to deliver a message and I had. And now Karos—" she pressed her hands to her eyes and sobbed. "And he will be too soon."
Ake rose and looked at the girl with scorn in his eyes for even saying such a thing aloud. He was his, not hers. And he was not dead. He was not. His throat tightened at the thought. Now that someone was here, he could leave. Karos would come from the east, so that was where he had to go.
He took off ignoring the pain going through his body. It filled with adrenaline and gave him the much-needed energy to push through. There were bodies burning and torn to pieces all around the city. Some were human; some were griffins. As he pushed further, the sounds of the dragon's roars echoed off into the distance causing Ake to only move faster. Although it looked like they had it under control, Ake just wanted to find Karos as soon as possible. He did not trust his father or Rakkaus or anyone, for the matter. They all wanted him dead.
There was a gate nearby burning from dragon fire looking like hell's gate itself. Still, Ake trekked forward and looked around for any sight of Karos. There was nothing but a massive clearing in the front. Some of the grass had burned causing patches to form in the melting snow. He walked out in the open seeing someone come out in the distance. It had to be him. It had to be. Ake ran towards him before his legs could give out and stopped once he noticed he was bleeding profusely from his side.
"Karos!"
Karos looked up at him full of shock and horror, but he ignored him and pressed forward.
An arrow shot through the dark grazing Ake's cheek. He touched his cheek and looked around just as another arrow whizzed by and barely missed him.
"Ake, leave!" Karos shouted.
Ake would not. No, not ever again. He would never leave him and he would not ever let Karos leave him again. Karos pushed him down just as a sword flung through the air.
"Karos, enough of this!" he heard Analia's voice say. She grabbed him by his shoulder and rolled him away before pointing a sword to Ake's neck.
"You should be dead!" she screamed causing Ake's eyes to widen with confusion before it dawned on him. His gem...
Ake grabbed the sword before she could press down further and bent the metal in the opposite direction causing her to throw the sword away. As she reached for another, Ake kicked her off of him and turned on his stomach to get up. He heard someone being tackled to the ground and her struggling.
"Stop this, Analia. Please," Ake heard him beg. Ake was confused. Why was she doing this?
It was not long before he was able to rise again, growing tired by the effort. If it is a fight she wanted, it was a fight he was going to give her. There were angry tears amassing in his eyes as he clenched his fists back and forth. She pressed Karos to the ground causing Ake to throw her away from him. There was a lot of blood, but with proper bandaging, he would be fine.
"Ake, please, leave her be."
Ake knew she was a dear friend to him, but that gem was precious to him. It was his very living heart as a dragon and she—" Tears ran down his cheeks. She had given him a fate worse than death to any dragon. Karos tried to rise from the ground, but Ake pushed him back down.
He breathed deeply, composing himself, as she ran towards him. He was weak, but she was human. He ducked as she went for his head and grabbed her leg from underneath her causing her to fall to the ground. As soon as he was about to twist it and rip it off, Karos pushed him to the ground and grabbed Analia's arms. He wrapped a rope around her wrists, but she turned on her stomach and kicked him.
Karos lurched back, but he rose holding his side just as she did. "Analia, please," he begged one last time, but she did not listen. Ake would do what he was refusing and rip her head clear off.
As she ran towards him again, Karos stopped her. Ake could not see with what. His nerves were shaking and his face was hot. Gods, he was tired but the desire to have blood for what she had done to him was even greater.
Blood came pouring from her mouth, after a moment causing Ake's eyes to widen. He saw the tears streaming down Karos' face and the sob he was holding back in his eyes. His lips quivered and his hands shook, but he continued to hold her as if he was hugging her.
"This was for you... "
"No," Karos said as he sniffed, "all this was for you. For Andel."
"In the end... I meant nothing to you..." she croaked.
Karos let out a shaky sigh as more tears came flooding down his face. It ached his heart to see him this way and distraught over a person such as her. She had given him a silent death, and yet he was—
"You meant much to me," Karos said. His voice was breaking. "Ever since we were very young. You know this."
"... But not everything... "
"No," Karos sobbed, "not everything."
Ake could do nothing but look on in silence with bitter, hot tears coating his own cheeks. How could she have done this to him? How? How? Ake fell to his knees and clung on to the left side of his chest where his gem had once laid and tightened his hands around it so hard he felt his own blood oozing from his grasp. He could not feel a thing. It was lost to him. It was gone. He sunk his face into the dirt as he let out cries full of rage.
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[A/N]
:( Ake, Karos.... I don't know which one to comfort first.
Leave me your thoughts down in the comments.
Though this isn't the last chapter.... I want to thank all you guys for reading, commenting, and voting on this up to this point. It has been a very long journey since starting this story and I'm so happy I had funny, thoughtful, and insightful readers like you guys. ❤️😭😭😭❤️