Outside of the Lamada castle, chaos broke loose. Once the Lamardian guards had seen Firestar and Darkmoon inside the throne room, Sinergy had sent squads of his soldiers outside, knowing that if there were two infiltrators in his castle, there was more of them.
Seeing the wagons still sitting out in the open, raised an eyebrow, so the guards proceeded to check it out. Inside of the cart, the Cadars had heard the approaching footsteps of the guards and got into position. As soon as the back door of the cart opened up, all the Cadars charged out, knocking the guard who had peered in, down.
BlackHawk was fought by his older brother's side and started to make their way to the castle's entrance, but every time they would get an inch closer, more Lamardians would appear. Grevis stabbed a nearby guard and his body hit the ground with a thud. "We need to get inside the castle, but it's too heavily guarded." "Agreed," replied BlackHawk ducking just in time to miss a swipe at his head. Since it was close combat, BlackHawk could not rely on his crossbow to finish the job, so his sword would have to do.
The guard cried out in pain as his sword found a weak spot in the man's armor. The man fell to the floor, his body added to the already growing pile of corpses. BlackHawk looked around seeing Lamardians, Cadars, and Guardians alike all fighting for a cause.
Blocking a blow to his abdomen, BlackHawk's sword fell out of his hand a clattered as it hit the cobblestone, right behind the Lamardian. Taking a calculated risk, Blackhawk dropped to the floor and rolled through the man's open legs. Once on the other side, he snatched his sword up and ran the man through without hesitation. After a second he pulled his sword out, and let the man fall to the ground. Then an idea hit him, "I have a plan, but I'll need a distraction," BlackHawk said as he stabbed the man his brother was struggling with. "Will that do," Grevis replied pointing.
Looking in the direction he was pointing, BlackHawk's eyes widened and his lips curled into a smile. "That will work."
Meanwhile, inside the castle, another duo was putting up quite a fight, but Sinergy and his soldiers were putting up an equally impressive fight. Firestar had turned into so many animals, he had lost count. Currently, he was a black panther, using its speed and strength to catch guards and bite them until they stopped moving.
Firestar cried out in pain as an arrow pierced his hide. He turned around to see Sinergy, still in the throne room, with a crossbow in his hands. Forgetting for a second that he could manipulate time, Firestar took a deep breath and used his powers. The pain disappeared as the arrow was removed from his skin and placed back into Sinergy's bow, leaving no marks in his fur as if it had never been there in the first place. Knowing he had only a few seconds left, Firestar braced himself as everything started moving forward again.
As soon as Firestar knew that time was back to normal, he transformed himself into a human and grabbed the arrow out of the air, a smile appearing on his face.
Sinergy is not going to win, thought Firestar.
Confused by Firestar catching his arrow, Sinergy loaded another arrow and let it fly, but not before Firestar had transformed himself into a cheetah and ran so fast that the arrow embedded itself into a wooden frame on the wall. Outraged, Sinergy fired more arrows, but each one missed its mark and would either stick in the wall of fall to the floor harmlessly.
Seeing that Aqua was gagging on water, telling him that she could no longer hold her breath, Firestar knew he had to rescue Aqua not, for she only had a couple more seconds to live. Taking a quick breath, Firestar jumped over the balcony and landed on the first floor. Guards shot arrows and rushed at him, but everyone stopped what they were doing when the throne room suddenly began to shake uncontrollably. The doors of the throne room burst open revealing a stampede of all sorts of animals with Stota running at the head of the so-called herd.
Stota full of rage and hatred that had built up over the years, charged at Sinergy. Dropping his crossbow and pulling out a sword, Sinergy fended off Stota's attacks. Stota started with some small jabs, but they were quickly blocked by Sinergy as if he was doing it in slow motion. Enraged, Stota's blows became faster until it was a sort of frenzy.
Behind the two men, the battle was becoming heated. The animals that were once in the stampede now fought the Lamardian guards inside the throne room. Animal and human cries echoed in the large room all most to the point where it was deafening, but the men fighting did not care for they were locked in a power battle.
"I know what you did that day," said Stota referring to the day his wife and unborn child were killed. "And what is that?" Sinergy grimaced as Stota's barely pierced his right shoulder causing blood to stream down his arm.
"You were the one behind the attack that day. And you were the one who killed my wife and future child," Stota took another calculated swing at him, but Sinergy had anticipated his move and had ducked just in time the blade missing his head by mere inches.
A smile made its way onto Sinergy's face as the truth finally came out. "And what are you going to do about it? Kill me? That will not bring them back from the dead now will it?" Said Sinergy as he took another swipe at Stota. Stota stopped him with his own sword and for a minute the two blades pressed against each other, each man using their strength to get the swords close enough to stab the other. As the power struggle continued, Stota quipped back, "No, it won't. But it can't hurt."
Blinded by anger and sidestepping a second too slow, Sinergy's sword made contact with Stota's right thigh. Stota nearly screamed as he fell to the floor, dropping his weapon along the way. Sinergy loomed above him and soaked in this moment of victory. "Why don't you go join the rest of your family," and with that, he stabbed Stota once more in the gut.
Sinergy pulled his sword out of Stota and turned back to the battle at hand, but once his back was turned, Stota used his last bit of strength to pick up his sword and impaled Sinergy.
Sinergy landed on the ground next to Stota, both men struggling to hold on as reality started to slip from their fingertips. Stota looked at the ceiling above him as his vision started to get cloudy at the edges. As he lied there, Stota thought about why he had killed Sinergy. It wasn't just for revenge, it went way deeper than that. He had killed Sinergy so that Aqua could live and go about her life, not needing to look over her shoulder. But Stota also killed him so that Aqua would have a better life. One she deserved. One he could not provide for her.
He had spent all his life hating her, mostly because of her parents, but deep down, he loved her. And now as if all his wrong deeds could be undone, at least he would die a hero and he saved the one person that he loved. That is if she was still alive.
Seeing that their king was dead and many of their friends and colleagues were either dead or were going to be, the Lamardian soldiers dropped their weapons, as a sign of surrender. Firestar and the remaining Guardians escorted the guards toward the entrance of the dungeon where they were placed until further notice.
With Sinergy and the Lamardians taken care of, BlackHawk raced over to the tank an unmoving Aqua occupied. Knowing he could not shatter the glass, for fear of hurting Aqua, he needed to get the lid off and get her out. He used one of his metal arrows to pry the glass lid off and threw it to the side, shattering it in the process.
With the lid removed, BlackHawk used his strength to lift her out of the water tank and gently set her on the ground. After laying her on the ground, he started the chest compressions as he performed CPR. When the compressions started he would blow air into her lungs for two breaths then repeat. Compressions. Two breaths. Repeat. Compressions. Two breaths. Repeat. He must have done this at least ten times before finally giving up. BlackHawk gingerly rested her back on his lap so he could look at her face one more time.
Meanwhile, Firestar had taken the last of the Lamardian guards who had surrendered and had locked them up in the dungeon below. Once he came back into the throne room and saw BlackHawk holding Aqua's body, the smile he had was instantly wiped from his face.
As Firestar entered the room, Darkmoon put a hand on his chest stopping him in his tracks. "Let them have their moment." Darkmoon did not need his powers to know the thoughts that were going through his mind.
BlackHawk moves a lock of Aqua's hair out of her face and tucks it behind her ear. Tears threaten to fall as he says goodbye to Aqua.
"Please Aqua, come back to me," BlackHawk said no louder than a whisper. "You have taught me so much about forgiveness, sacrifice, and... love. You mean so much to me. I can't bear to lose you because I-I love you."
BlackHawk didn't know how long it had been before Darkmoon and Firestar had approached him. It could have been a few minutes or a few hours. All he knew was that the one woman he had ever loved was dead. And all for what? Greed.
Sadness turned to anger as BlackHawk remembered how Aqua had gone to rescue him all by herself, without any backup and into a castle full of trained soldiers. He remembered the last time he saw her alive. She was fighting Sinergy and his guards in the throne room, trying to use her powers when water had fallen on him. And... BlackHawk knew what he had to do.
First BlackHawk took off the special cuffs that Sinergy had been using to block Aqua's powers. Then he picked Aqua up bridal style and approached the tank which was still full of the water that had been meant to drown her. Was he really going to do this?
Firestar saw that BlackHawk was approaching the glass box once again and started to step in that direction to stop him, but Darkmoon stopped him once again. "Watch," was all he said as if he knew what was going to happen.
BlackHawk neared the opening and delicately set Aqua in the water. At first, nothing began to happen, but slowly Aqua's body began to glow. As Aqua started to glow brighter and brighter, BlackHawk stepped back preparing for what was about to happen. As if she could not get any brighter, she did to the point where everyone in the room had to cover their eyes to not become blind.
The sound of shattering glass caused BlackHawk to uncover his eyes. What he saw left him at a loss for words. Aqua was alive and standing right in front of him. No blood seeped out of the holes that used to occupy her body, but now her skin was back to its flawless self.
After recovering from the shock BlackHawk ran to her and enveloped her in a hug. "I thought I lost you," he whispered in her ear. "You can't get rid of me that easily," Aqua replied which caused BlackHawk to laugh. BlackHawk was about to say something, but Aqua stopped him. "I guess I have a lot to clean up," said Aqua knowing what responsible lied ahead of her as queen.
"Don't worry you'll make a great queen, just like your parents."
"Thank you, BlackHawk. For everything," and with that she leaned in gave him a kiss on his lips, completely oblivious to his confession earlier. It was short but sweet, almost as if she was promising him something.
"I love you," said BlackHawk as their kiss ended. Finally, he had done it, he had told her how he felt.
"I love you too," replied Aqua.
And with that, the couple and all their friends began to rebuild the Lamada kingdom to its former glory.
Later, after the kingdom had been cleaned up and the townspeople had been given the food and clothing they had been deprived all the year Sinergy had been in power, BlackHawk and Aqua had managed to sneak out for a little alone time.
The couple approached the hill that overlooked the kingdom, just as the sun began to set. Once at the top, Aqua and BlackHawk stopped, taking in the beauty of the landscape. "Your parents would be so proud," said BlackHawk. A smile appeared on Aqua face imagining what her parents would say. "I couldn't have done it without you."
"Yes, ytou could have."
"Oh shut up and kiss me," ordered Aqua.
"Yes your majesty," BlackHawk said and did a bow. Then he leaned in and kissed her. When their kiss ended, they looked out at the vast world that lied before them. BlackHawk grabbed Aqua's hand and intertwined hers with his.
All though no words were spoken, it was as if everything was said. They both knew their next adventure was right around the corner and they could not wait to do it together.