Song: Secret Love Song (II)
by Little Mix
(Happy pride month bbys <3)
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Kyle's POV (Going to be a very long chapter!)
I stand in front of the mirror with a frown on my face. The outfit I'm wearing is one of my favorites, since it's the most expensive thing I own. There's sky blue trousers that stop at my ankles, a matching blazer and a soft white shirt that's smooth to the touch. My shoes are an inky black and they don't have a single scuff, probably because I've only ever worn them once.
I'm supposed to be looking forward to making peace with the new person in the ship, but I can't stop thinking about what happened yesterday. The memories that flooded back to me because of nothing but a silly argument.
'You look nice.'
Rogelio says, stepping behind me so that I can see him in the mirror. He has a similar outfit to mine, only his is black, not blue, but he has bow tie left untied around his neck that matches what I'm wearing.
"As do you."
I say with a smile. He ties my own black bow tie and I can't help but smile at the final result. I look... good. I offer to tie his but he shakes his head.
'I saw Catra wear it open before, I think it's cool.'
He says. I shove him playfully and roll my eyes. He copies everything Catra does, but I don't blame him honestly.
I sigh and look over at the clock on the dresser. 7:20pm.
"It's nearly time."
I say. My voice cracks with anxiety. I'm not one for formal gatherings, and I'm definitely not one for fighting. I know we're supposed to be positive going in here, but after fighting a war I've lost trust in a lot of people. I'm going in preparing for the absolute worst.
Rogelio nods and takes both of our staffs that we got as soldiers into a carrier strap on his back and I laugh a little.
"Is that allowed?"
He shrugs.
'If the princesses have their powers, then we have to be ready, too.'
We both smile for what feels like hours, but was actually only seconds. I walk out into the living room and peek out of the window, biting my lip subconsciously. The sky is getting dark, which means that everybody will be picking up soon. I pick up the rusty key from the windowsill and flip it over in my hand. We only lock the door from the outside when we leave at night, and that's very rare.
I notice some silhouettes on top of the hill where the ship is. The ship itself must be on the other side, because we can't see it from here.
"There's some people up there already. Should we go?"
I ask. Rogelio peeks out the window over my head and sighs.
'Yeah, we should.'
We open the door and try not to choke on the hot sandy air blown into our faces. My fingers fumble when I try to lock the door with the stupid old key and I get so frustrated Rogelio has to take over so that I don't break it. I notice the shadows on the hill are waving towards us, and I don't even know who it is but I wave back.
The walk to the peak is long and draining. With the heat hanging in the air and the sand slowing us down everything is harder than expected. I start to see some one, probably whoever was waving, and feel somewhat relieved when I see Catra and Adora smiling at us.
They run over to us and Catra compliments Rogelio's bow tie while I internally cringe.
"Hey, Kyle. You okay?"
Adora asks. I smile and nod, not ready to explain anything yet. I want to talk to her, but I also want to see this ship, so I look around to find it. It doesn't take long at all before it comes into focus, huge, possibly even bigger in width than the castle of Bright Moon itself, with a silver metal body and some kind of exterior decoration made from crystals embedded into it. It's a wonder we couldn't see it from our window because of how massive it is. Adora smiles.
"Nice, huh?"
She asks. I nod and turn back to Rogelio to show him, but he's already standing next to me admiring the view. Catra lets out a sigh and props her elbow up onto Adora's shoulder.
"I like the way you two are matching. It's cute."
She says, her eyes staying focused on the ship. We mumble some embarrassed 'thanks' and I'm personally delighted and relieved when I hear more voices from people trudging up the hill to meet us.
"Hey guys! Wow, blue really is your colour, Kyle!"
Scorpia says, running towards us. I go red and smile at her. After a couple of minutes everybody else gets here, and we all linger around, glancing at the ship from time to time.
"Well, let's go."
Mermista says, looping her arm around Sea-Hawk's. Everybody agrees and we make our way to the large square in the ship that looks like a door. It's so big that there's probably a whole dance hall inside and we can't even see it yet. I notice Bow has is bow and arrows on his back and let out a sigh of relief. I notice also that Adora has a golden cuff around her wrist, which means she has the sword.
We all came prepared.
Adora knocks on the ship and we wait for what feels like ages before a loud grating sound rings out over the hill, and the door grinds open slowly. When it finally comes down to touch the ground, we can see lights of all colours reflecting off crystals and filling what looks like a corridor with bright light. The walls inside have a white marble-like texture, and the floor is a light grey colour.
"Let's go."
Adora says quietly. She takes Catra's hand and steps hesitantly into the ship. We all follow with light steps, almost afraid that if we tread too hard we could crack the pristine floor. I move closer to Rogelio and wrap my fingers around his when the door lifts itself up and clicks shut while I feel jitters in my stomach.
"Welcome, friends of Adora."
A female voice says from an unknown source. If Entrapta were here, maybe she would be able to figure out where it's coming from. The voice travels throughout the corridor and bounces back to us like an echo. I feel Rogelio's grip on my hand tighten.
"Please make your way down the corridor to the left, where you'll find the ballroom. I am ever so excited for your visit!"
The woman sounds cheery, which is somewhat assuring, but I don't feel fully safe yet. We all move in a group to the left and towards a large set of pearly white double doors. Adora leads us as usual, but I can tell she's nervous too. The doors swing open and I can't do anything but stare with my mouth slightly open in awe.
There's a large hall, huge actually, with a tall ceiling and decorative crystal lamps and ornaments strung along the blindingly white walls. The floor is grey, much like the corridor, and the smell of chocolate and punch is potent in the air. I notice there's some movement going on and my eyes widen even further when i see them. There's some kind of waiters in the hall, tall and slim, made from transparent pink and orange rock. They have no face, except for eyes, which appear to be moving in accordance to what they're thinking.
None of us move until another set of doors opposite us open and a small woman with pale blue skin and a head of long white hair sashays out, a white fur shawl draped around her shoulders that contrasts nicely with her black dress. She wears a friendly smile, but anybody could hide behind a mask like that. I do it all the time.
"Oh, aren't you dashing!"
The woman says, opening her arms wide and clicking her way over to Bow. He smiles politely and she winks at him which makes us all uncomfortable.
"All of you are welcome here. Please, don't be shy! Dance away!"
This sounds more like a command than an offer. Adora turns to us all and nods as if to say 'Go on', so we make our way further into the beautiful room. The woman leads Catra and Adora to a table at the back of the room and they sit down, presumably to talk about what her deal is.
The rest of us move off into the hall and linger awkwardly in a group, forming a sort of weird huddle without realising. Sea-Hawk looks over his shoulder towards Catra and Adora and then turns back to the group with a concerned expression.
"We have to be prepared to fight. There's something... off about this place."
We nod to each other in agreement and Perfuma opens her mouth to add something, but she's interrupted when one of the glass waiters taps her on the shoulder. It points to where the woman who owns the ship is standing and so we all turn to face her.
The golden bangles she has slung on her arms clink together as she raises her arms out towards us. Behind her, Catra and Adora share a nervous look.
"Didn't you hear me? Dance away!"
This time her message sounds much more threatening, and out of instinct I grab Rogelio's hand. Whenever i'm scared, one thing is always true- he'll be there for me.
I can see out of the corner of my eye that the others have started to dance with each other. I guess nobody wants to go against what this lady says. Scorpia shoots me a nervous look and so I wrap my arms around Ro's neck without hesitation. He puts his hands on my waist and we start to move in sync with the music that's being played from somewhere, presumably a speaker of some kind. The sound of a violin rings out through the hall, followed by some piano and an eery voice that sings with the rhythm.
"This is really weird."
I say quietly. Rogelio nods and looks around at the others, who look equally as freaked out.
'Let's just talk to pass the time.'
I nod and try not to look at Catra and Adora, ago are talking to the woman with serious expressions.
"So... you're tall."
I say. Rogelio laughs and nods.
'You're small.'
I see one of the shiny waiter things looking at me and I quickly flit my eyes away from it and back to Rogelio.
"I'm no good at this. I can't dance."
I mutter. Ro nods to his left and I follow the nod to Glimmer and Bow, who are standing on each other's toes repeatedly and smacking into Perfuma and Scorpia. Frosta had to stay home because she's too young to put at risk, but I can almost hear her telling them to stop.
The music speeds up but nobody dancing does. We just stay spinning in pointless and tedious circles, locked in embraces that do nothing but put us at a disadvantage in the case of a fight.
'Any flashbacks today?'
Rogelio asks. I shake my head and smile at the floor.
"No, not today. I think I got it all out of my system yesterday."
He nods at my response and says something, but I notice a waiter standing behind him and have to stare at it. We spin around and Ro stares at it, too.
"What is it doing?"
I whisper. He shrugs, his eyes still trained on it's face.
'I think you should be ready to grab the staff.'
He says quietly. I nod and rest my head on his chest so that we're hugging, making it easier to move my hands to one of the metal rods on his back. I feel sick to my stomach when I see that there's a waiter beside every pair on the floor. But somebody's missing... no, two people are missing...
"Where are Catra and Adora?"
I hiss into Rogelio's ear. I feel him stiffen and that's when I know something is wrong. I don't even have to think before I pull the staff from his back and point it at the waiter's neck. Everybody breaks apart and looks at me like I'm insane, but I know what I'm doing.
"Where are they? What's that woman going to do with them?"
I ask. I'm not sure where this surge of confidence came from, but I think it could be linked to the flashbacks I keep getting. Unfortunately any sign of danger, no matter how big or small, sends me into fight mode. In this situation it could be useful.
The lights flicker and the room goes dim, the waiters now the only thing providing light with their soft glow that radiates from their abdomens. I hear the sound of Bow sliding an arrow from it's sheath at the other side of the hall.
The waiter grabs my staff and throws it to the ground, creating a loud clanging noise for everyone to hear, then it sticks a cold, pointed finger to my neck and lifts my chin up to face it. I srunch my nose up in a twisted scowl, but it only tilts it's head at me. Rogelio attempts to grab it but another crystalised waiter grabs him by the arms and restrains him.
"What a pity."
It says. It's the woman's voice, only more broken and static. Then the one holding my chin up speaks, too, as if it was speaking all along.
"You two love each other. As the saying goes... till death do we part."
A deafening crash somewhere in the room tells us somebody's thrown the first punch. I duck and Rogelio breaks free and smashes his staff into the waiter's glass arm, shattering it off onto the floor. Shards of glass stick into my face but I don't have time to take them out.
"Find the doors! That's where she took them!"
Perfuma shouts. We all run in the direction of the large doors that the woman came through, stumbling through the darkness and hitting the waiters that plunge at us from all directions.
I see a flash of pink and expect Glimmer to teleport but nothing happens, so she resorts to running over and swinging the door open, allowing a wave of white light to flood into the hall again. We rush through the doors and halt to a stop when we meet Catra and Adora, standing with the woman between them. They look unharmed, but Adora is mouthing something. You'd think after years of making out what Rogelio is saying I would be able to read her lips, but I can't.
"Oh, what's this? We were coming back, you know."
The woman sings. I gulp and try to focus on what Adora is saying.
'Run'
Perfuma balls her hands into fists and a green glow envelops them as she glares at the woman, but nothing else happens. Why are the princesses' powers not working?
"What's happening? Why did they attack us?"
She asks. Her voice cracks and hints of anger can be heard. The woman looks confused.
Adora mouths 'run' again and stares into my eyes, making me feel like I could vomit on the spot with how nervous I am. My face stings where the glass cut me, but that's not important. I see another glass waiter coming up behind Catra and go to warn her, but instead she screams out to us all with a strangled and hoarse cry;
"RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!"
We're all pushed out into the hall again and the doors slam shut. I can still hear Catra on the other side screaming for us to leave.
"Do we go? Do we save them?"
Mermista asks. We all look around desperately for an answer but we eventually come to an unspoken agreement. We have to get out of here. We can plan to save them later.
We run back towards the door we came on through, hopping over the shards of glass and crystals that litter the floor as we do so. The crunches of the delicate material under our shoes fill my ears and threaten to trigger a flashback, but I don't let it happen.
Sweat is pumping from my forehead and I can feel my heart beating in my mouth as we near the exit. When we get out, without having to say anything we all grab onto each other and Glimmer teleports us away.
I feel something cold and hard under my head. My eyes flutter open slowly, and they take a while to adjust to the light of the castle that we've teleported back to. Groans ring out around me and I sit up to see everybody who escaped on the floor too.
Glimmer is the only one standing, and her eyes are glossy.
"It was a trap."
She says, a tear rolling down her cheek and falling to the floor. Then the reality of what just happened settles in.
"It was all a trap."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
That took me a while to write lol, It's my first time writing an action packed scene so I hope it was okay at the least... Let me know what you think!
-Rose 💗
Published: 6/06/2020