Bryn's POV
I woke up and got out of bed. My bare feet hit the cold wooden floors of my bedroom and sent a chill up my legs.
I slipped my feet into my house shoes and tied my robe tighter around my waist. I walked to the window and wiped the frost off with my sleeve. Lightstone was covered in a blanket of snow, and snow was still falling.
I heard a tap at the door and the butler, Adolf, walked in carrying a tray of food. "Good morning, Miss Elric. Your mother and father are at the High Court this morning. They have told me to make sure that you do not go outside in the snow for any reason."
I sighed, "Oh, Adolf. Will my father really ever know that I went outside? If he is at the High Court, he'll be there all day. What will an hour or so in the snow hurt?"
"I'm sorry, miss. But if your father found out, it would be my head. It would be better to just stay inside. We wouldn't want you to become ill on your birthday, now would we?" Adolf's eyes twinkled. It seemed he was always the only one who ever remembered my birthday.
Occasionally, civilians from the city would bring gifts to the castle walls and leave them for me, but the guards would always scare them away. It was as if my father didn't want people to remember my birthday.
Adolf pulled the cover off of the tray of food, "As you requested, 16 miniature pancakes."
"Thank you, Adolf. I'm pleased you remembered."
"Miss, if I may add, last year you didn't eat all 15 I had made for you, are you sure you'll eat all 16 this year?"
I sat on my bed and tapped the spot next to me, "Here, sit with me, Adolf. Share some breakfast with me."
Adolf shook his hands in front of him, "Oh, no, Miss Elric. I wouldn't want to eat the Princess' breakfast."
I lowered my eyes, "Adolf, please, just eat with me. After all, it's my gift, and what I want to do with it is my choice. I choose to have you eat with me."
Adolf smiled and sat next to me, "Thank you, Miss Elric. You are too kind."
"Call me Bryn. No need for formalities."
We shared the breakfast and I asked Adolf to tell me about the snow and what it was like playing in it. He avoided my question by telling me it was time for him to put away my dish.
Adolf left my bedroom and I shut the door behind him, and locked it. I needed to change into my formal wear.
I stripped and looked at myself in the mirror. I turned and looked at my backside. I had a cute butt. I pulled on my red formal dress and slipped my feet into a pair of black high heels. My hair was a mess, but I would have Yana fix it for me.
I used the intercom on the wall and buzzed in Yana. She came into my room and helped me fix my hair.
When it was done, she looked at me in the mirror, "Such a beautiful young lady you have grown up to be, Princess. I can remember when you were a small child. You always got lost in the castle, you could never remember your way around. I would always have to come looking for you. Haha, I remember one time, I found you in the kitchen, stuck inside a barrel of mead. Luckily you didn't drink any."
I smiled. I never knew that I had been stuck in a barrel of mead. I didn't remember that story. Maybe that's why I hate the smell of mead now that I'm older.
I walked with Yana to the Grand Hall and took my seat in my throne. My mother and father's thrones sat empty. They truly had missed their only daughter's birthday.
A group of priestesses from the Sun Church entered the Hall, said their blessings, and took a seat at the end of the long table.
A Royal Guard approached from my left and whispered, "Miss Elric, since your father is out, you are in charge. A group of teenagers have just broken into a business and stole a large portion of their gold. What should we do?"
I zoned out, "What? About what?"
I heard Nico shout, "The fiends! What do we do about the fiends!? There's too many of them!"
I grabbed my bow, "We fight! Rain is still asleep and we're not leaving without him! Fight until he wakes up!"
I turned and sprinted up the stairs. I ran into the bedroom and shot my arrow out of the house. It hit a fiend holding a Plasma Caster in the throat and killed him instantly.
I readied another arrow and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a rocket flying towards me. It hit the wall and sent me flying back. The debris fell on me and I felt glass pelt my breasts and arms.
I flinched.
When I opened my eyes, I was laying on a table in a different building. The smell of cooking meat drifted in from the other room.
I stood and let my feet hit the cold, hard floor. With every muscle I could use, I forced myself to limp to the doorway where I saw Rain, Nico, Petra and Marc sitting around a fire, eating.
Rain was the first to see me, and his eyes lit up. He ran over and gave me a tight hug. I hugged back and felt his strong back quiver as he fought back tears. He pulled back a bit, and kissed my cheek, "Don't scare me like that."
He let me lean on him, and he helped me limp over to where he was sitting. We sat down and I rested my head against his shoulder. He handed me a water bottle and some of his food.
I felt loved again.
Petra's POV
Bryn sat next to Rain, and he shared his food with her. Something seemed different about Rain. We were all happy to see Bryn was ok, but I had never seen a joy in his eyes like that. Not even when we were living relatively carefree in Lightstone did I such a happiness in his eyes.
But his smile was contagious. I started smiling like an idiot, and Nico laughed and did too. Even Marc had a slight grin on his face.
We all shared a moment of silence, yet I somehow knew we all thought of Draco in that moment. Sadness came across Nico's face.
Marc looked over at me, emotionless as always, then let his head hang and said, "Our loved ones will pass on. We're all going to die one day. Someone will always care about you, and someone will always miss you when you're gone. But I know that our loved ones, yours and mine, will always be there. Maybe not physically, but spiritually and mentally. Call me insane, but I can still hear my sister's laugh. I believe in a life after death, not sure what its like, but there can't just be nothing. We can't just die and that be the end of it. There's a life out there that the dead are reborn into. If I focus hard enough, I can feel my sister. I know she's no longer on this planet, but I know she's always with me."
Nico took and deep breath, I could hear the tears in his throat, "Draco is watching over us. I know he is...heh, he's...he's probably laughing right now at the stupid smiles on our faces."
Bryn looked sad and Rain held her hand, "Draco would have liked you."
A slight smile came across Bryn's face.
Marc wiped tears off his face and looked down at his feet, "Ya know, this is nice. Granted, we all almost died and the fiends are probably still looking for us, but this moment, sitting around a fire, connecting. It's nice."
Nico went and sat next to Marc and put his hand on his shoulder, "Couldn't agree more. Look, Marc, when you first showed up, I didn't like you. I didn't trust you. But now, I've seen you fight. You could have killed us at anytime, and you haven't. Lets just put all the shit behind us. A new beginning."
Marc smiled, the first real smile I had ever seen from him, and he stuck his hand out for Nico to shake, "I'd like that."
The two shook hands and tapped their water bottles together. Nico laughed, "Cheers."
We sat around laughing and talking for a while.
It started raining hard outside and water was dripping through cracks in the roof.
While we were talking, Nico stood and walked towards a hallway that led to an exit. A banging was coming from the door.
We all stopped talking and listened. I could hear a woman's voice, "Ahh. It won't open. It's locked, I think. Or barricaded. Either way, we're not getting in this way."
There was one final bang at the door then the voice faded. I ran the other door and heard footsteps trudging through mud and water. Then the banging at that door started. This door wasn't barricaded as well, only a filing cabinet kept it shut.
I back up and grabbed my pistol. Nico stood by my side with his aimed at the door also.
Marc helped Rain carry Bryn to a different room.
The filing cabinet slid slightly across the floor and the door opened barely wide enough for a hand to reach through.
I couldn't tell if it was fiends or just a group of random people, but I could hear other voices too.
Then the door pushed opened and a woman with lime green hair stepped inside. She saw us and froze, yet her face showed no fear.
She had a bad wound on her eye and forehead, but didn't seem to be suffering.
She wore the uniform of a fiend.
She took a step forward, "Look. We don't have any weapons. We were just looking for a place to stay since it started raining. We'll leave, ok? We've had a rough few days and I'm tired of getting shot at."
Nico stepped forward, "We?"
The woman pointed at the door, "I have three more friends out there. All unarmed. It's just us four."
I pointed my gun towards the door, "Have them come in. Don't try anything stupid."
The woman nodded, "Vera, Renee, Cyan, come in. Hands up."
Three women walked in, all with their hands up. They were unarmed.
A woman with short black hair and a red streak in her bangs looked up at me with wide eyes, "Petra?"
I studied her features. It felt like my eyes were playing tricks on me, "Clara!?"
The woman with green hair looked at Clara with a shocked expression, "What? You know her? And why did she call you Clara?"
Nico lowered his gun, "You four look cold. Come in. I think we still have food left."
Clara lowered her hands and ran over to give me a hug. She had a long scar down the left side of her face.
She turned and smiled at the other three women, who had their hands down now, but still looked confused. "It's a long story. If you trust me, you'll come and talk with us. I'll explain everything."
The woman with green hair looked angry, "Fine. This better not have all been a trap, V...Clara."
We all sat down near the fire and Clara ran a hand through her hair. "It's kind of a long story..."
The woman with green hair but into a piece of meat that Nico handed her, "Tell us."
Clara sighed, "Ok. My real name is Clara Reise, not Vera Ruiz. I'm from Lightstone like I said, but I'm the daughter of the High Judge. I ran away from home a long time ago, and became a thief. I found my friends here, Petra, and Nico, and others. But one day they went out to look for supplies and left me to protect our hideout. A group of fiends showed up, trashed the place, set it on fire and stole all of our stuff. I felt like it was my fault. I was weak and too afraid to fight them so I hid. I felt like it was my job to get our supplies back, so I joined the fiends. All I've been trying to do this whole time is get our supplies back. I didn't want anything like this to happen. Aurora, you almost lost an eye because of me. Other people have died. All because I wanted to play hero."
Aurora, the green haired woman, looked shocked, "Clara...I...we, me and Fynn, and an old group of people we hunted with...we were the ones that set that house on fire. We took the supplies. This is all our fault..."
Nico looked pissed, so did Clara. Clara stood and shouted, "I almost died so many times! Because you took our stuff! You lived at the Citadel, you had all the supplies you could ever want! Why did you take ours! Why'd you set the house on fire!? Why!?"
Aurora stood up and shouted, "I'm fucking sorry, ok!? I was with Fynn at that time! We were fucking lovers! I did whatever I could to make him happy and if that meant burning an old house in the middle of the forest, then I was happy to do it! But ya know what!? I'm glad I did that! I'm glad we stole you supplies because you grew up! A few months ago you were too scared to attack us, now look at you! You've killed people, and you're standing up for yourself! You're strong, Clara! I gave you the opportunity to learn how to survive!"
Clara was furious now, "You...!"
"She's right." Nico walked forward and held Clara in his arms, "You learned to survive on your own. You became a different person. You dyed your hair, you changed your name. You knew what you were doing. You became a killer. You did what you had to to survive and yeah, you didn't get our supplies back yet. That's fine. We managed, and you found yourself. I'd rather have you alive and well, and a hardcore killer, than just another dead body on the side of the road because you tried to steal supplies from the fiends."
Aurora sat back down, "You have a good friend there, Clara. Listen to him. I'm not mad that you lied to us, and you shouldn't be mad that I did something stupid out of love for some jerk. You're my friend, Clara's my friend, Vera's my friend. I don't care. We're friends. We survived together. Cyan and Renee, they survived with us. We're friends. And you have your friends. Friends let friends do what they think is right, so do what you think is right. Stay with your friends, or come with us. Either way, we're friends."
Clara looked sad, "I don't want to leave anyone. Why can't you just stay here? Strength in numbers."
Nico shook his head, "No. Clara, you're our friend. They're not. They're fiends. And I am grateful that they helped you survive, but fiends were the ones that killed Draco. It wouldn't work with them staying here with us. We'd clash, and no matter how you look at it, some of your friends would end up dead."
Clara looked at Nico and I, then at Aurora and her other friends. I hadn't seen her this sad since Draco died.
"Aurora, I'm sorry. I have to stay here. I've known them since I was a kid. It wouldn't be right to leave them and go with you just to steal your supplies."
Aurora smiled at us, "I respect that. I always liked you Clara. You knew your intentions from the start and you always knew the consequences of your choices. We're still friends, it's not like we'll come hunt you down to kill you. We'll be on our way. I hope you survive any shitty encounters you come across. And hey, you're a fiend. Other fiends will see that and not mess with you or your friends. Use that to your advantage."
Aurora walked over to Clara and gave her a big hug, then the two other women did as well.
Aurora walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "We're fiends. There's thousands of us out in the wastes. Meeting one asshole who thinks he's the best doesn't make us all bad. We're just different. It's all a matter of perspective. From our eyes we're doing good, we're serving Violetta like we should. From others I imagine we're a bunch of tripped out slavers with a taste for blood. It just depends how to look at us."
I whispered back, "Fiends killed my friends brother and have tried to kill us many times. Most fiends are tripped out slavers with a taste for blood. But I can see that you're different. You helped my best friend, and that's what matters. Promise me you won't be the fiend that kills me one day."
Aurora back up and started to walk away, then over her shoulder said, "As long as you don't throw the first punch." There was a twinkle in her eye when she said that.
Clara said her final goodbyes and then Nico surprised us all, he gave them three of our guns. "Here. You were unarmed. I don't know what you were thinking, but you need guns to survive. Just hope you don't come back with an army to finish us off."
Aurora smiled, "I'm not like that. Clara is a good kid. Keep her alive. If you ever have problems with a fiend, tell them you know Aurora. They'll leave you alone, probably."
"Thanks."
The trio turned and walked out. Nico shut and blocked the door behind them.
Clara sat down and cried. I sat with her and comforted her, "Hey now, it's ok. We're here now."
"I know. These are tears of happiness. I never thought I'd see any of you again." She looked up at me and smiled.
Nico sat on the other side of her and leaned over to kiss her forehead and hold her close to his chest, "Don't you ever leave us for so long ever again."
Clara smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it."
Clara's POV
I couldn't believe it. I had found my friends, and Aurora and the others survived. Everyone won.
I looked around the campfire. Only Nico and Petra were here. I was excited to see them, but where were Bryn and Rain?
I had to ask.
"What happened to Rain and Bryn?"
A knot formed in my stomach as I waited for the bad news.
Petra walked over and pointed to a room, "In there. Bryn has been injured and when a group of fiends showed up outside, we got her out of the immediate line of fire. They're alive."
I let out a lungful of air and walked into the other room.
Bryn laid on a couch next to Rain. A guy with white hair sat on a table and grabbed a pistol when I walked in.
Rain looked over at me, and reached for a gun then stopped, "Clara? Is that you?"
I smiled and pushed my hair out of my face, "In the flesh."
Bryn sat up and looked at me. She had cuts and bruises all over her arms and face. She flinched when she sat up all the way, "Clara...how is this...what?"
The guy with white hair put his gun down and walked over to me and shook my hand, "I'm Marc. I guess I kinda...took your spot."
There was something cold about his eyes. "I'm Clara. I'm sure there's room for all of us."
Bryn stood and limped over to me and gave me the tightest hug I've ever gotten, "Clara. How did you find us?"
"Luck. Pure luck."
Rain hugged me next. He pulled away and ran his fingers through my hair, "So uh, how did this happen?"
I laughed, "I dyed it. I wanted to fully commit to the fiend look. I changed my name to Vera too."
He looked impressed, "And the scar?"
I ran my finger along the scar, "Just some prick who wanted to mess with my friends and I. He's still out there. I don't know what he's doing, but I know he'll probably try to finish the job when he sees me again."
Nico and Petra walked in. Nico put his arm around my shoulder, "And if that prick shows his face again, he won't live to tell the tale."
"I'm not worried about fighting him with you guys. I'm worried about Aurora and the others fighting him. He could have killed us last time, but he didn't."
Petra nodded, "Well he won't hurt you again."
I smiled. I felt safe again. No more running, no more fighting. At least, for now.
I took a seat next to Nico. He had his arm around my shoulder and kissed my cheek, "I'm not letting you leave my side again."
Petra went and grabbed her backpack, "Here, have a water bottle. You're probably thirsty."
As she pulled the bottle out, a small metallic device fell and hit the ground. She looked down at it, "Oh, I completely forgot about this. I found it on one of our supply runs, but it wasn't charged so I never used it. It's solar powered."
Rain pointed at the main room, "Put it outside on the roof. It'll charge up in the morning when the sun comes out and we'll be able to use when we wake up. Wonder what could be on it."
Petra walked out and returned a few minutes later. She sat by herself across from Marc.
I didn't know who Marc was, but the others seemed to trust him, so I guess he was a good guy. He seemed strange though. He had a cold look in his eyes and wasn't very social. If I wasn't looking directly at him, I wouldn't have even noticed he was there.
He's probably had a rough life, and I know better than to ask about it, so I let it be.
We stayed up talking the next few hours. Petra and Bryn fell asleep first. Rain and Marc fell asleep a few minutes later.
It was just me and Nico now.
He reached down and grabbed my hand, "I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"No, like I really missed you. I didn't realize until you were gone that I cared about you more than I thought I did." He looked sad.
"What do you mean?"
He looked down, "I knew I cared about you. We've known each other for years. But when you left, I realized that...well I like you."
"Like me? Like..like me, like me?"
He kissed my hand, "Like you, like you. I was thinking about it one day. We're fugitives. We'll never be able to go back to Lightstone. I don't know how long it'll be until we find a new kingdom to live in, but we're probably gunna know each other for a long time. It's pretty inevitable that eventually we'll end up having feelings for each other. Might as well make it official, ya know?"
I wasn't going to lie. I had once thought about Nico like he was thinking of me now. I saw him as my future boyfriend, maybe even husband, if we survived that long.
But after a few months of him not picking up on signs, I just kinda lost the feelings and went back to just trying to survive and not worrying about relationships.
But now that he admits that he cares about me more than just as a friend, it's different.
I gave him a hug, "So...are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?"
He smiled, "I guess. I've never asked a girl to be my girlfriend before, I don't really know what I'm doing."
I kissed him on the cheek, "You're doing fine. We'll tell everyone in the morning."
He laid back and I rested my head on his chest, "Yeah. It's nice to have you back."
I shut my eyes and listened to his rhythmic heartbeat, "It's good to be back."