Joel slowly opens his eyes, finding himself placed in his bed. Besides him, an unfilled half as his wife has disappeared, he sighs before pushing himself off his bed, wiping his eyes then making sure to look king like.
He throws the purple cloak around his armour as he looks into the mirror, the gemstones encrusted in his armour glistening in the light.
The king of Stratos picks up the long belt he had placed on his floor and tightens it around his waist until he sits nicely, walking over to his wall where he plucks his purple tinted sword off the wall and slides it into it's sheath.
He takes a breath before walking to his door, moving his hand towards the handle just before the door opens in front of him. Finding Lizzie standing on the other end.
"Wow, Lizzie, you look beautiful." Joel smiles, his eyes drifting all around the large pink dress she's wearing, the ends of it trailing across the floor behind her for what looks like miles.
"Thank you, my love, now everyone is waiting for you in the throne room. There's a lot of news." Lizzie cups his cheek in her hand before swiflty turning around and grabbing his hand.
He laughs as she drags him down the long winding stairs from their bedroom, apologising as they run past people casually climbing the stairs, the two of them giggling as they nearly trip and fall.
Eventually, they find themselves at the door of the throne room, the two of them holding their knees as they try to regain the energy they had just used, still laughing as they look at each other.
"Save the fun for after will you, things are about to get serious." Martyn says, walking up behind the two of them, waiting for the two of them to regain their maturity before opening the doors of the throne room.
Joel walks in with Lizzie by his side, looking around at the unusually dull people sitting around the table, that is until he places his eyes on the head of the table, finding a familiar face, one he had nearly forgotten turning around to look at him.
The smile drops off his face as he recognises Hbomb, remembering the reason he's at the head of the table and not Oli, "Glad you could make it." He walks up towards Hbomb, a tear shining in his eye as he holds out his hand to Hbomb, who reluctantly grabs it.
"Nearly didn't make it." He looks up to Joel, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and sadness, Joel could swear he heard a tone of guilt in his voice.
"But you did, and one of us didn't, we're sorry for your loss." Joel softly says, pulling his hand away as he sits down on his throne.
"That's exactly why we're all here, we need to talk about the ambush now." Martyn says as Jimmy closes and locks the door to the room.
"There's six of us in this room, which means only six people will ever know what we say, and we all trust each other, right?" Zedaph asks, looking at the other five as they nod.
"Of course, you're my council, and you Hbomb, Oli trusted you with his life, which means you have all of our trust." Joel says, placing his hand on Hbomb's shoulder as the other closes his eyes.
"Thank you, i wish i could've saved him." He replies, looking down at the ground, slightly shaking his head.
"What exactly is so secret about what we're speaking about anyway?" Lizzie asks, looking at all of them, a slight chuckle leaving Martyn.
"It was an ambush, Lizzie, the enemy had at least two days notice of when we Hbomb and Oli were leaving for Stratos and they got there in time to not only plan but execute an ambush, causing severe damages to our men." Jimmy slams his hands on the table, knowing the only reason that could be.
"What are you getting at Jimmy? Do you think we have a traitor?" Joel asks, tilting his head, the idea of a traitor making his blood boil.
"It's the only way, Joel, someone high up has betrayed us." Zedaph sighs, looking at the anger brewing on Joel's face.
"But how do we know it was someone high up? What if it was one of the random men in the convoy." Lizzie asks, trying to find any reason that no one she trusts could betray them.
"None of the men knew about the convoy two days before. Only around seven higher ups had any clue about the transport, and five of them are now dead." Hbomb shakes his head again, seeing the unease and anger placed on everyone's faces.
"So the chances are they're dead, it wasn't Hbomb, and if it comes to it, we'll kill the other one, problem solved." Joel shrugs his shoulders, walking toward the door of the throne room.
"Who said it wasn't Hbomb?" Martyn quietly asks, watching as everyone turns their heads to him, along with Joel, who stops in his tracks.
"It wasn't, i promise, I would've given my life to save Oli. I had no idea about the ambush." Hbomb pleads, his eyes darting around the room to the ten eyes placed on him.
"We believe you, Martyn is just too busy being Martyn and causing trouble." Lizzie laughs a little before the bell outside can be heard ringing.
Everyone in the room turns their eyes towards the large glass window, looking outside to see a parade of horses walking towards the gates of Stratos.
"They're here!" Joel shouts before turning around to leave the room, Jimmy following closely behind him.
"Someone certainly is." Martyn mutters before following along, the three of them decending down the stairs of the castle.
"Hopefully, we're not the first to arrive. I don't want to be here with no allies." Hypno lets out a nervous laugh as he holds a tight grip on the handle of his sword.
"It's beautiful, i always read about it, but it's even more incredible in person." Scar's eyes light up as he looks up at the towering castle over the large and bright city.
"If only the people did it any justice." Mumbo chuckles as Hypno smirks at them, the two of them vividly remembering the countless battles they had behind those walls.
Stress rides up in between them, being the queen of the Mushroom Forrest she's the one Joel is really after.
Grian finds himself next to Scar, the two of them sharing bright smiles as they wait for the gates to open in front of them.
"I'm glad i get to be here with you, finally somewhere safe." Grian nudges Scar on the arm, receiving a nod in response.
"Im not sure anywhere is safe, Grian, not anymore." Scar shakes his head, noticing something shooting up into the sky beyond the gates.
Grian looks up at it. It almost looks like a man, wings spread out wide, and allowing them to gain an unprecedented amount of speed.
If that's what someone with wings could be like, he hopes he's like them one day, with the ability to shoot up into the sky like it's nothing or float down safely.
The man floats to the ground in front of them, his large yellow wings creating wind currents as he lands on his feet before them.
"Jimmy Solidarity, what a pleasure." Hypno winks to him with a smirk on his face, Mumbo grinning at the same time.
"Save the fake niceties. None of you are here to be friends, and you're the first to arrive, i hope your travels were safe and swift." He bows before turning around.
"My home burned to bring us here. It better be worth it." Stress scoffs, starting to follow behind Jimmy.
"Do you think your wings will grow that big, Grian?" Scar asks, looking kver to Grian, who seems to be mesmerised by the other bird-like mutant.
"I hope so, and as beautiful too." He smiles over to Scar, looking back at his slowly growing wings.
"You're beautiful already, Grian, don't worry." Scar chuckles before riding off, leaving Grian with a flushed face as he follows behind.
"So is the assasination tomorrow or today? Do i have time to write letters to my family, or are we skipping that part?" Mumbo asks Jimmy, actively trying to annoy him.
"If i know anything about Stratos, it'll be the second we step foot into the throne room like last time, won't it." Hypno responds, seeing Jimmy shake his head in annoyance in front of them.
"Boys, stop, we get it. You don't like him, but for now, he's our ally, and we're the guests here show some respect." Stress sighs, watching as the two roll their eyes.
After a minute of riding, the gates begin to open in front of them, two large stone structures dividing as the road of Stratos appears before them.
One thing stands out, in the middle of the pathway, Lizzie is standing, her bright pink dress waving in the wind as she watches the arrivals slowly make their way into the city.
"Beautiful, the only person with a heart here im pretty sure." Mumbo smiles, looking directly at her.
"I always wanted to meet the queen of Stratos, i heard so much about her. I've been desperate!" Grian's eyes widen as he speeds up, Scar laughing and following behind.
"I wonder why she's here." Stress questions, slowly riding up towards the smiling woman.
"I had no idea she'd be here either if it makes you feel any better, My sister doesn't tend to announce her plans, ever." Jimmy laughs as he walks up towards her, asking why she's here.
"I wanted to see the boys, im sure they don't want to deal with the dirty work the important people have to deal with." She chuckles, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Those boys, although being kids, have been through more than both of us combined, don't judge so fast Lizzie, they could be valuable in the throne room." He replies, looking back at the two giggling boys talking to each other.
"Not now, not today. They need a break, time to live before they get dragged into this war." She shakes her head, pushing past him with a smile on her face towards Stress.
"So you must be the Queen of the Mushroom forrest, im sorry for your loss, and i must say you're more beautiful than anyone here had told me." Lizzie keeps her bright smile as she bows to Stress.
"Thank you, and the same to you, many people speak of your beauty, but in person, you outshine anything they've ever said." Stress smiles too, bowing back.
"They've got the Crastle men with them. You told me they have three thousand. I asked my men, and they counted one, and where even is Ren?" Joel scoffs, looking over to Martyn, who shrugs his shoulders.
"Great answer, Martyn, stay here. Everyone here wants you dead, and for good reason." Joel places his hand on Martyn's chest, blocking him from going any further as he walks up to them.
"Here comes the backstabber himself." Hypno chuckles as he watches Joel walk up to them.
"Welcome to Stratos friends, and if you don't mind me asking, where is your king, or the rest of your men?" Joel walks in front of Stress, straight up to Hypno.
"I was sent out with a third of our army to aid the Mushroom forrest, i assure you the others will arrive shortly, let's not make this like last time, there's more than six of us now." Hypno steps towards him, looking down on him with a smirk on his face.
"Don't be absurd, i would never do that, i have a kingdom to protect. I can't say anything for you, though." He laughs before turning around and walking away.
Hypno's face turns to one of rage. He tries to step forward before Mumbo appears in front of him, "He's doing exactly what we were doing to Jimmy, except you're actually taking the bait." He pushes Hypno back with a smirk on his face.
"If we're done being children, I'd like to take you to where you'll be staying. Hypno and Mumbo, please go with Joel and Jimmy, and can your men go with Martyn, please. Stress, Scar, and Grian come with me." Lizzie sighs as she looks to her husband, as petty as ever.
"Alright, you heard her, you know where to go." Stress says, turning around to her men, watching as they begin to dissipate in different directions.
"Glad the three of you aren't out for our blood." Lizzie laughs as Scar, Grian, and Stress follow behind them.
"We have much more quarrels with Dogwarts than we do with you. We have no reason to fight you." Stress smiles, making sure Grian and Scar are following closely behind them.
"In the last couple weeks, you two boys have become well known throughout the realm, i can't imagine how much of a shock it came to you both." Lizzie holds a door open for them, a side entrance to the castle as she smiles at them entering.
"It wasn't by choice and not something i wanted." Grian softly mutters, finding himself nervous in front of not one but two queens.
"I can imagine, it's certainly tough when you become important, especially when it's for the wrong reasons, like both of you." She replies, walking behind them as they ascend more spiralling stairs.
"I guess so, i wish all of this was just over, though." Scar says, smiling down at Lizzie as he walks in front.
"Me too, that's why you're all here, to help finally end all of this war." She holds onto their backs, finding themselves at the top of the stairwell.
"Can i ask a question? Why are we not with the others? In the throne room, i mean." Grian turns around towards Lizzie, watching as her smile slightly fades.
"I simply thought it would be better to have you situated first. The three of us can rest while the others do the important stuff, don't you want to rest?" She answers, opening a door in front of them to show a room with three massive beds and anything they could want.
"Three of you, am i needed elsewhere," Stress asks as the two of them watch the boys start to explore the room.
"Actually, yes, you're required down in the throne room shortly. Sorry for not telling you earlier. I'll l have an escort bring you there in a few minutes." Lizzie smiles to her, watching as she nods.
"Scar, this bed is so comfortable come lie down!" Grian shouts as he rolls in one of the beds, Scar finding his way next to him and flopping down onto the bed.
"Oh wow, it is. It's the best. I could stay here forever!" He laughs, looking over to Grian, who giggles back at him.
Martyn walks into the throne room, closing the door behind him as he sees Hypno and Mumbo standing at the side of the table closest to the door, in case of any need to escape.
"It's funny seeing you scared." He chuckles as he walks past the two of them towards his seat.
"Long time no see friends." Zedaph stands up, trying to shake their hand as they ignore him.
"You too, Zedaph, you too." They don't even look at him, their eyes fixated on the king, who's smirking while sat on the throne.
"Why are we here?" Mumbo asks, not breaking eye contact with the overly confident man positioned on the throne, ignoring the bells in the background.
"You're here to help plan, we have a war to win, so if you could stop the bickering, it would be fantastic." Jimmy snaps his fingers in front of Joel's face, snapping him out of it.
"Something we agree on." Hypno diverts his eyes to Jimmy, who nods to him happily.
"I have a plan. We fulfil our army and then walk straight to Dogwarts and kill them all, including the usurper." Martyn shrugs his shoulders.
"Good luck with that, i defended those walls half my life, and nobody got in or out unless i chose so." Mumbo shakes his head at the stupidity of Martyn's idea.
"Well, one person got in, and that person started this entire war." Joel scoffs, seeing the disgust on Mumbo's face.
"Oh come on, that had nothing to do with me. The man who designed the wall was paid to design it with a flaw, a small passage way leading in and out!" Mumbo shouts with his hands down on the table.
"I don't care. You clearly didn't know how to defend your wall or your castle, for that matter, i should have you killed right here!" Joel shouts, sitting up, Martyn pulling out his sword as the other two do the same.
"Just like last time then, assasinating us in your own throne room, like you did to your own king." Hypno holds his sword steady, anger plastered on his face as he points it towards Martyn.
"Jesus, can you all at least try to get along it's beyond a-" Jimmy says before the door swings open behind him, all of them looking back as two guards walk in to each side of it.
After a few seconds of confusion, a large figure begins to walk towards the room, a red cloak dragging across the ground as Hypno and Mumbo's smirks grow tenfold.
Martyn puts his sword away and slumps back in his chair, Joel following along as he bashes his back into the backrest of his throne, watching the man enter the room.
"Sorry im late. Did i miss anything important?" The dog like man smirks as he walks in between Hypno and Mumbo, who sheathe their swords.
A few others follow behind him, specifically Keralis, Impulse, and Bdubs, finding themselves to be outnumbering Joel in his own throne room.
"Glad to see everyone arrived safely. Soon, we can actually discuss a plan. We're just waiting for one more person to come downstairs." Jimmy smiles, and a few seconds later, Stress enters the room, Hbomb following close behind.
"Im sorry for your loss Joel, i heard about the ambush." Ren nods his head towards him, confusing him at the politeness.
"Three kings and one queen in this room, and sixteen of the most important people in realm all gathered to fight one common enemy, this is a moment that will go in the history books, this is a fight we have to win, or an evil man rules over the entire realm with nobody to stop him, so tell me, how do we break through those walls?" Joel sits up, looking around the room as he asks the question.
"There's only one way, and i don't like it." Keralis shakes his head as he thinks of the only way to break in.
"Well, spit it out?" Martyn scoffs, looking over to him.
"You don't break through the wall. You break the wall, the only way we march an army through a wall," Keralis stops his sentence as Bdubs finishes it, "Is if there's no wall." He looks over to Keralis, who seems visibly upset.
"Can't we just sneak under it? What if they never even know we're coming." Stress asks, looking around at everyone considering if it would work.
"If only we had someone who specialises in digging holes." Python mutters to himself as everyone drifts their eyes to Impulse.
"I have five hundred men, at most, that's not enough to dig a tunnel big enough to march an army this size into Dogwarts undetected." He shakes his head, trying to laugh off the idea.
"What about both? We don't have to march the army into Dogwarts, just enough men to open the gates or even destroy part of the wall." Ren questions.
"How are we supposed to destroy the wall so easily anyway? There's no way it'll fall without hours, even days of work." Mumbo is unconvinced. This plan is almost a suicide.
"Flame of the void, it can tear through stone like its nothing." Martyn mumbles, looking at Hypno, who laughs at him.
"Martyn, it's called flame of the void. Only Xisuma knows how to make it, and he's on the other side. No one here knows how to, and we don't have any access to it." They laugh before Impulse stops them.
"Not quite, I've seen the effects of jt, Stratos has it." He places his hand on Zedaph's shoulder.
"Xisuma taught me how to make it while we held him as prisoner. It was used in the Siege of the dwarvern keep and we have plenty of it made. Would it break the wall?" Zedaph asks, looking back to Keralis.
"Instantaneously, if placed in the right position and if there's enough of it, the wall would scorch, leaving nothing behind." He answers, knowing one way or another his wall is going to fall.
"One we're inside the walls, the battle is straightforward, he bought his army, they'll surrender the second we break through and we can take Dogwarts back, simple as that." Joel nods his head as the others seem unnerved.
"It's Cub. It'll never be that easy. Let's face it. He'll have as many cards up his sleeve as possible, traps, tricks, whatever he can think of, this fight won't be won as easily as that." Ren shakes his head, striking worry into everyone into the room.
"It doesn't matter. We owe everyone who died to bring all of us here to try, friends, family, and men you didn't even know the name of. We have to try, now or never." Hbomb says with his head in his hands, the memory of watching his closest friend bleeding out in front of him staining him.
"For those who didn't make it, and for those who will." Joel nods his head as the others do the same.
"We all lost someone close to us in this war, and most of them were killed by someone in this room, but there is one true enemy, and he stole my home, and broke the trust of all of us, now we break him." Ren walks over to Joel, pulling a familiar white dagger out of his belt.
"How did you end up with this." Joel laughs as he holds out his hand.
"I'll have you know it was used to kill another king, the king of the dwarves, the true king." Impulse smiles softly as Ren places it in Joel's hand.
He holds it in his hand for a moment, scanning the room as he considers if the dagger should even belong to him, eventually finding a smile on his face as he hands it back to Ren, "By any luck, it'll be you who kills that disgrace of a man who sits on your throne, use it." He nods his head to Ren.
"I'll try my best." Ren smiles back at him.
"Alright, it's late, and we have a big day tomorrow. All of you will be brung to where you'll be sleeping, get a good sleep." Joel waves them away as he looks to Jimmy.
"We really did it. Maybe we can win." Jimmy walks up to him, a bright smile on his face as he brings Joel into a hug.
"Maybe we can, I'd be happy to finally win this war." Joel smiles back at him before pushing him away, "I don't do hugs Jimmy."
Martyn walks behind Hbomb as he sees him running away, spotting him dropping something in the shape of a coin as he does so.
"Hbomb, you dropped something!" Martyn tries to shout, the other not hearing him before darting down the stairs.
Martyn can't help but pick up the shining coin, finding it to be pure gold with an unusually familiar emgraving in it. He can't seem to place where he's seen it before.
"What do you have there?" Mumbo asks, walking up behind him.
"Hbomb just dropped this, i feel like i recognise it, do you?" Martyn asks curiously, tossing the coin over to Mumbo, who carefully examines it before he pulls a coin from his pocket, comparing it with the other.
"It's Cub's coin." He mutters as his eyes widen, Martyn's doing the same after a couple moments of confusion.
They both look at each other before pulling out their swords and running down the stairs. Hbomb had descended down.
Lizzie smiles at the two boys fast asleep on the same bed, peacefully sleeping as the sunlight slowly fades from the night sky.
Shortly after there's a knock at the door, then only a couple seconds another, she quickly walks towards the door where she is met with a short man seemingly only a couple years older than the boys, nearly bouncing with excitement or maybe nerves.
"Can i come in? Is Scar here?" He asks quickly, trying to peek through Lizzie, who's blocking the door.
"Depends why you want to see him?" She questions, a smile placed on her face as she questions him.
"I'm his brother, please. i need to see him." Bdubs bursts past her as she steps away from the door, spotting the back of a boy he hadn't seen in years, a back with a wing spanning over it from the boy next to him.
He quietly walks up towards Scar, slightly nudging him to try to wake him, the younger turning around to face him as his eyes slowly open.
"Scar, Scar, wake up." Bdubs whispers as the other wipes his eyes slowly, eventually locking his eyes on the boy towering over him.
"Bdubs, is that you, Bdubs?" He quietly says before jumping up, finally noticing who it is above him.
"Bdubs!" He shouts, jumping out of his bed and wrapping his arms around the shorter, tears coming to his eyes.
"Scar! it's me! It's been so long!" Bdubs shouts, making sure to hug him tightly, the shouting having woken Grian up from behind them.
"I haven't seen you since you were banished, Scar. i missed you so much." Bdubs let's out a tear as he looks up to his younger brother, this being the happiest moment of his life.
"Mom said this would happen. She told me we'd meet again, I missed you, Bdubs." Scar sobs before pulling Bdubs into another hug.
"You saw mom?" Bdubs asks softly as he pulls away from the hug.
"I stayed with her at the blackstone Tower. She talked about you all the time, about how much she missed you." Scar smiles down at him, Bdubs smiling back.
"Then come on, i have to go see her come on!" Bdubs grabs him by the arm and tries to drag him out of the room, the other not moving.
"What's wrong?" Bdubs asks as he turns around to see Grian's hand intertwined with Scar's own and the taller looking to the ground.
"What's wrong, Scar?" Bdubs walks back, worry flowing through him as he sees the dread on Scar's own face.
"She passed. After i left, she drank something to kill her. She did it on purpose, to finally be rid of her pain." He sobs, looking over at Bdubs, who places himself down on the bed opposite them.
"Oh, okay, at least she did it because she wanted to.". He tries to keep his tears in, the idea that he could have seen her again making him happier than ever, only for it to be ripped apart again.
"Bdubs, we have each other now. We're together again, forever, i promise." Scar sits down on the bed next to him, wrapping one of his arms around the other who starts to sob.
"Yeah.." Bdubs mumbles, not fully believing him.
"And Grian's here too. The three of us will never be apart again." Scar smiles as Grian sits on the other side of him.
"I love you, Scar. I'll never leave you again, I'll always fight for you, I'll do anything for you." Bdubs looks up to him, feeling more than guilt for allowing him to be banished just to save his own name.
"I know, Bdubs, i love you too." Scar lets tears run down his cheek as he looks down at his long-lost brother, finally being reunited with one of the final remaining members of his family, and for what he knows, the final remaining member of his family.
End of chapter 19: 4783.
LONGEST CHAPTER EVER
All im saying is i forgot to keep an eye on the word count. This one might be bad because i completely zoned out. im so sorry
HOPE YOU ENJOYED <3