The city was eerily quiet when Mella and Wesley arrived, with the sun setting below the clouds and behind the mountains on the other side of Ryn. It had taken most of the day to reach Ryn, which had been the smudge Mella had seen a couple days before. The blizzard raged on, keeping them trapped in one place during the day previous until it blew itself out earlier that morning.
"Wesley, how many people did you take from here at the solstice?" she whispered. Dawn's hoof beats echoed off the buildings, the only thing to break the silence.
"At least half of them. For some reason my parent's only wanted the water elementals that were seventeen. But this is still weird...unless..." Wesley trailed off.
"Unless what?" Mella asked, but another voice cut Wesley off before he could start to answer.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because the others are scared that the royal brats will come back to take them too, so they hide all day."
Mella knew that voice. She searched around until she saw somebody half-hidden in shadow. Mella slid off the horse and walked closer. The person chose not to move.
"Dilan?" The person stepped out of the shadows, revealing blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and a goofy grin. Mella ran up and hugged him.
"Hey Princess." Dilan hugged her back. "You alright? You vanished after the festival and then soldiers appeared. We thought you got caught."
"I was caught, but I escaped. I went back to Berna afterwards and started heading this way." Dilan was no longer paying attention. His eyes had hardened and were glaring icily at something behind her. His hand was pointing, his finger shaking in anger. Mella turned to see Wesley had dismounted, leading his horse and was walking closer. At least, he had been until huge amounts of snow had melted and refrozen around him, almost to the middle of his chest.
"Why is Roxas here?" he demanded, still pointing. "What are you doing with the prince that tore Ryn apart?"
"I would explain myself, but breathing's rather difficult at the moment." Wesley muttered before falling silent. He was getting paler as the ice kept climbing. His hands were frozen solid, and it didn't look like he could free himself.
"Dilan, stop! He's on our side. Wesley's the reason why I could escape."
An inkling of understanding dawned in Dilan's eyes. "Escape?"
"Yeah, escape. I told you five seconds ago, I was caught at the festival. Let him go." Mella pleaded.
Dilan looked he was just going to ignore her and rid the world of the disgraced prince right there. A month had changed things for him, Mella could see that. She stepped closer.
"Dil, if I didn't trust him, or I thought he was lying, he wouldn't be anywhere near me." she said softly. "Let him go. Please."
Dilan sighed, and let his hand drop. Immediately the ice, which had reached Wesley's neck, started melting. As soon as the prince was free, Dilan crossed his arms. "Start talking, Roxas."
"It's Wesley. Roxas is my middle name. And we need to talk with Kai. Preferably without my cousins around."
"What makes you think I know who Kai is, Wesley?" Dilan said stubbornly.
Wesley rolled his eyes. "I've been here before, Dilan." Dilan stiffened at the sound of his name. "We knew who would be with Mella before we came at the solstice. You and Kai, not to mention your brother and my cousin, are inseparable. Just help us out here."
"Please." Mella added to the end, silently telling Wesley to do the same.
"Please." Wesley said.
"Fine. You've made your point, without explaining crap, may I add. Your cousins aren't even here, Highness. Either your mother or your sister summoned them to Ulma." Dilan started walking off. "Come on. Spill."
Wesley explained everything as they strode through Ryn, his voice and the clopping of hooves the only things breaking the silence. They reached the tall building where Mella had stayed while she had lived in Ryn.
"You believe all that, Mella?" Dilan asked after Wesley finished.
"Yeah, I do. It all makes sense to me." Mella hoped that Dilan would understand. They needed his help right now.
"Alright...I'll go with it. You'll have to convince Kai and Kev, too. That goes without saying, really. Clear?"
"Crystal." Wesley shot back coolly.
Things looked like they were going to become hostile again, but Mella intervened.
"Guys, knock it off. Dilan, we've been traveling for three days. We're cold, and tired. Can we please go see the others?"
Dilan nodded and opened the doors. The ground floor had been remade to look like how it had been before Nadai's festival. The fire-lily Mella had left on the banister was still there.
"We couldn't move it. It's stuck to the banister. Even when we melted the ice to rearrange everything back to normal, it stayed with it." Dilan explained as they climbed the stairs. Mella had absolutely no idea why the flower had done that. It had just been spur-of-the-moment. The lily glowed bright pink as Mella passed it.
Four flights of stairs later, the trio stopped on the landing. Dilan stuck his head into the room beyond. "Guys, we have company."
"Please don't let it be that one girl you're always talking with. She never shuts up."
"Then why don't you two get along?" someone said drily.
"Shut up, Kai."
Dilan pulled his head out of the room, his face slightly pink. "Come on in."
Mella walked into the room (which happened to be the one she had stayed in; the view from the window was the same) to cries of surprise, right before she was almost knocked over by tackle hugs.
"Guys...can't breathe." she gasped. They let her go, both Kai and Kev grinning ear to ear.
"We thought you got caught. Where have you been?" Kai asked, slightly worried.
"I actually was caught. I'll explain in a minute, but first you need to meet my travel buddy." Wesley snorted with laughter from the landing. He hadn't come in with Mella.
"Who else is with you, Princess?" Kev asked curiously.
"You'll see. Just...don't freak out, okay?" The two nodded slowly and looked over at Dilan, who shot a look back that said, "just go with it."
Mella pulled Wesley into the room. Kai's happiness and Kev's smile vanished in an instant.
"Don't freak out!" Mella said hurriedly. "Pass judgment after you hear him out." She nodded at Wesley as he told their tale again.
The two boys were silent as it sank in.
"It makes sense. I mean, your hair is black right now, and it was red at the festival." Kai finally said.
"We'll go with it, but no funny business."
Mella half-grinned. "Funny business is your guys' department, last time I checked."
The three water elementals grinned at that. "Fair point. But what happened to you, Princess? You said you got caught." Kev was curious.
"Gwen sold me out. I got sent to Ulma, learned a bit of magic, used as the princess's punching bag, and escaped with the help of Wesley about a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago."
"Gwen did that? She wouldn't. She cared about you, about all of us!" Kev protested.
"She did. I wouldn't lie about something like this. Alex was in on it too. She gave me up to try and get all the wayward elementals passes to go back home. Rin lied. I'm surprised she let you stay."
"We were too old to be taken. I'm nineteen, like Kev, and Dilan turned eighteen at the solstice. We still have restrictions on us here, though." Kai pushed his sleeves back. Elemental cuffs encircled his slim wrists. Kev revealed he had them too.
"I can fix that." Wesley stepped cautiously towards Kai. Within moments the cuffs popped off. He moved to Kev and did the same.
"Thanks." Kev grunted, rubbing his wrists.
"Dilan, weren't you cooking?" Kai asked his friend.
Dilan face palmed. "Crap. Yeah, I'll be back in a few. You guys staying?"
Mella nodded. "We don't travel at night. Too risky to get lost."
"True. Alrighty then." He half-ran from the room to save whatever it was he was making for food.
"Where are you two heading? It sounds like you aren't staying for long." Kai asked, gesturing to the chairs before sitting down himself.
"We're leaving Rhydona. It's too dangerous for us to stay anywhere where the king and queen can get us." Wesley explained.
Mella just stayed silent and looked around her old bedroom as the guys talked. It had been redone since the last time she had seen it. Everything had been rearranged, walls had been added, and nothing was quite the same. It was like the twins had wanted to erase the fact Mella had ever been there.
At least the view hasn't changed. The window and the balcony outside looked out onto the starry sky, half-hidden by clouds. There weren't many lights on in the buildings that could be seen.
"Mella?" She finally realized that Kai was talking to her.
"Sorry. Didn't catch that."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "You must be really out of it. I've been trying to get your attention for about five minutes."
"You said you escaped a week and a half ago, but you're only been on the move for three days. Where'd the rest of the time go?" Kev asked.
Mella looked over at Wesley. "You can fill them in. I want to go to the roof right now."
"Mella, it's dark. What could you--"Kev started, but Wesley waved him off.
"Go ahead. I'll keep playing storyteller."
Mella stood and headed out the door. She wasn't in the mood to answer questions she had already answered before, even if it was for her friends. She just wanted her space.
The roof had almost a half a foot of snow covering everything. She shoved the powder out of her path and stared out across the lake, towards the mountains and the forest. Even at night when most of the details were obscured by shadow, the view was breathtaking. Mella came up to the roof a lot with the guys while she had stayed in Ryn, usually just to clear her head or hang out. Now, she didn't know what she was doing, with anything.
Mella heard the door open and shut behind her, followed by the crunching of snow.
"Headache?" Kai asked quietly.
Mella shook her head. "I just needed some space, that's all." Mella brushed off a bench and sat down. "So much has changed."
"You got that right." Kai held out a steaming bowl and a spoon. "Here. Dil wanted to come up here, but I figured you didn't want your ear talked off."
"Thanks." Mella took the bowl and started eating. After a few minutes Kai broke the silence.
"Wesley wouldn't really talk about Berna. He said 'it's not my story to tell' or something like that. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Using my words against me now. Heh." Mella set the bowl down next to her. "I wasn't really awake for a lot that happened in Berna. I got hurt leaving Ulma, and Rin had cast a burn-out spell on me, so I wasn't getting better either. I had practically no magic." Mella traced patterns idly in the snow. She didn't really want to tell Kai what Wesley had told her. It would be safer, but still.
Kai noticed her hesitation. He sat down on the edge of the roof. "Mella, anything you tell me stays with me. You know that."
Mella took a shaky breath and nodded. "I know who I am now, or who I was at least. Wesley told me when I woke up in Berna."
Kai motioned for her to go on. "And?"
"And he told me I was the elementalist, and what had happened to me. I'm just a fragment now."
"You're-how?" Kai asked incredulously. Mella shook her head. She wasn't going to remember any more of that nightmare. She needed to finish her story before she completely lost her nerve.
"The spell was finally about to wear off, but Rin had marched on Berna. We couldn't escape. Myra hid Wesley and me in the training room below her house. That was the last time I saw her." Tears blurred Mella's vision, and they came out in a torrent before she could stop him. She hadn't cried when Rei had told them the news. She had just been numb, unbelieving. Mella didn't want it to be true.
Now Mella was finally accepting it.
Kai was next to her in an instant. He didn't say anything, he just hugged her. Mella needed a rock right now, so that's what he would be.
"I can't really say anything about that to make you feel better, Mel. I just know that you're going to get through it. You always do. You've gone through more than anyone should have to."
"It's my fault, all of this." she sobbed. "If I hadn't shown up, Myra would still be alive, and all those people would still be here."
"No, the king and queen are at fault, not you. Don't give yourself all this guilt. If they hadn't been the fat headed, greedy idiots that they are, none of this would have happened. But we can't help that now. We just have to find a way to fix it." Kai squeezed her shoulder. "They'll pay for what they've done, believe me."
Mella wiped away the last of her tears. "How can you possibly know that?"
Kai smiled, and helped her stand. "Because I know you. You're the elementalist, and one of the few people to beat Alex, one of the best fighters of Rhydona. And when the time comes, you're going to give them hell."