Jun Hanson.
Five years of friendship. Five long years of being best friends. Five years of being roommates. Five years gone.
I've been knowing of our rift for a couple weeks now, especially when we parted Glasswood after we got our assignments and when she taunted Kit about his feelings for me at his grandparents' place, but this makes it final. She's chosen her path and I've chosen mine. She's with Scarlett.
I wipe my tears and apologize to Patrick for leaving him alone for the moment. Then as I feel like it's the world against me, I ask my ex-best friend, "You couldn't find love with the prince, so you went to the princess, is that it?"
Jun wearing Kit's face grows serious. A look to Scarlett and then the facade falls. When I meet eyes with the one I trusted for years, my heart breaks again and again. How could jealousy of all things really break us apart?
Sneering, Jun points her finger at me. "You pretend as if you haven't been seducing the prince for months now, slowly winding him around your finger."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You've always wanted more in life and the opportunity came to you and you took it." My hands shake as I try to decode her words. Does she really think that I'm using Kit for power? What a load of shit.
My eyes wander to Scarlett and of course she has a grin plastered onto her face. How long did she know Jun was there to spy on her? When we were at the Erros Estate? Before? After? The whole fucking time? My mind wanders back to when Jun and Scarlett were talking in the hallways when we got our assignments and how ominous the situation all felt. And that's also the moment I truly understood the jealousy Jun was feeling the entire time. Scarlett's known about this the entire time. Using my friend's jealousy to drive a wedge between us.
She's known this whole time.
Since the Blue Moon Festival when she called me the center of chaos. She's been slowly feeding everyone rumors to go against me, to use me as the scapegoat. Making me out to be the epitome of greed and lies. Did she also suspect Kit to fall in love with me as well? To make it seem like I've been using him for his powers to get power? Did she know that even when we were suspecting her that Kit would still be hesitant to call her out on it because that's just the kind of man he is?
My eyes glance to the King, his eyes slowly starting to understand that scope of Scarlett's plan like I am. That his assassination attempt was planned all along. To get him here at Glasswood, to get Kit here as well. But Scarlett underestimated my love for Kit, underestimated his love for me, and the lengths that I would go to protect him. If Louis has done what I've asked, Kit should be long gone and far, far away.
Scarlett once asked me to persuade Kit on taking her side. All those weeks ago she knew it would come down to this. But she did not expect Kit to not be by my side right now. Instead she improvised and got Jun to do her bidding to torture me.
All this bloodshed for just a little bit more power in her lexicon. She was already next in line for the throne, all she had to do was wait for the King's death to start her reign in terror but yet she couldn't wait to kill hundreds of people without even batting an eye.
Again, I look to the King. Do I have enough time to get up there and get rid of his bonds? If he's under her spell, can I even help him at this point and how can I even do it? There's so many what ifs that I can't decipher how to solve any of them.
Turning back to Jun, I shrug my shoulders. "I have never been your enemy, Jun Hanson," I say quietly. "And the fact that you cannot see that makes you a fool."
Her hands twitch as if letting me know that if she had different powers, she would have already attacked me by now. But instead she has to look to Scarlett for help in which the bitch actually obliges. "As Queen of Alytha," Scarlett says, "I order Freya Ellis to die."
"You are no queen," I sneer. "You will never be one."
Scarlett laughs and glances to her father. "Oh. Right. I forgot to deal with you." Without hesitation, Scarlett uses her ice powers to send a shard of ice through her father's chest, shock written all over his face.
As he collapses, I use the temporary distraction to throw an attack at Scarlett, my fire hot and angry. Her guard is a moment too late to catch the entire attack and Scarlett's face gets a rude awakening to my wrath. As she screams while my flame melts her flesh, I throw out my water powers at Jun to blast her back, her stumbling into a wave of people.
Shock radiates amongst the crowd - or at least the ones that are mentally here - as I've publicly announced that I have more than my Inferno powers. But I don't let anyone dwell on that as I greet every attack on me with my own, switching back and forth with my fire and water. With so much adrenaline in my veins fueling every bit of my anger, I no longer feel like I'm close to burning out, though I do admit I can feel it in the darkest corners of my mind.
I take out a couple of Scarlett's guards that look as if they're still students here or maybe they're just like Henry and just got promoted. Either way, they underestimated me and I'm tired of pretending that I lack the power or skill to take every one of them down.
Power surges through me but I'm careful not to let too much go at once thanks to all the lessons I've had with Patrick. Even thinking about my friend, who is lying cold on the ground a few feet away, fuels another surge, taking out a couple of another soldiers.
A scream off to the side distracts me enough that I get a searing pain on my side, a different kind of pain that reminds me of a battle I had not too long ago. Cursing, I glance at my shirt to see frost licking up my shirt, ice burning my skin underneath. "Bitch!" Scarlett screams as she launches another ice attack in my direction but I immediately block it with a wall of flame.
Scarlett hops off the dais, her full attention and wrath on me. When she steps on Patrick's lifeless body, I nearly kill her right there and then but she's a talented Frost. I think back to my one-on-one with the Ice Queen and how her attacks are very similar to the Crown Princess. Of course they are, I think as I block another attack. The Queen would have trained her own daughter.
But I'm not the same person I was before when I fought with the Queen. I'm a new person, I'm a new Freya.
And I'm fucking pissed.
Not caring about burnout, I push myself to the limits. I need her gone, I need to end this tonight. Otherwise she'll target Kit again and again and I won't let that happen. Not to the man I love. She's already taken my friend to the grave, another with an act of betrayal. I will not let her get to Kit.
Screams start echoing throughout the gym. I spare one glance around to see my fire is starting to spread. Scarlett's soldiers try their hardest to put the fire out but I just as easily replace it again and again. Bodies start to flee for their lives regardless if they're under control or not, that's how hot I've been burning.
"Scarlett!" someone screams behind me. The Princess doesn't listen to the person and instead launches another round of ice, temporarily blinding me. Ice shards are flung at my head and while I block some, a lot hit their mark. As I feel my powers try to burn away the ice that has latched onto my cheeks, another flare of pain hits me as an icicle hits the center of my thigh. As I crumble to the ground, some of the adrenaline is fading and I feel every bit of burnout. I gasp for air while simultaneously holding back a scream as pain in my leg and side are starting to cripple my senses.
Vision blurring, I glance up to see Scarlett again through the smoke before she angrily lets go another attack. I have enough time to move slightly to the side but with my body wanting to conform to burnout, I only have time to make her miss its mark but not entirely. Her ice hits just below my right collarbone, pain nearly making me unconscious.
Screaming a guttural scream, I've never felt so much pain in my life.
So this is it, I think as smoke blinds me. This is how I die.
"We have to go!" a figure shouts. Across from me, two blurry people collide with one another, one dragging away the other. "Scarlett! Leave her or else we'll both die!"
The one I assume is the Princess cries out in frustration but eventually scurries away from the gym with the other person holding her up.
I lost. Even giving my everything, I still lost.
I cry as my whole body now wants to shut down. Using my limited energy left, I diminish the flames around me. As much as I want Glasswood to burn down, I need people to find the King's and Patrick's bodies so they can get their proper burials. The room - which is still immensely hot - becomes a bit too silent for my taste.
But then I hear wheezing off to the side. My eyes eventually find the source. Fuck.
White hot pain flares in my body as I make my way towards the dais, where the King is barely hanging onto life. His chest rises and falls slowly but his eyes still meet mine as I reach him. The ice that struck him missed his heart but from what I feel in my side, the ice is spreading and will reach his heart any moment from now.
I collapse next to him in exhaustion. "I'm sorry," I gravely say, knowing both our times are limited. I couldn't stop Scarlett. I failed.
Without warning, the King reaches for my hand and his powers flow through me in a wave. A bit of energy hits me as his earth powers find their new home, blossoming in my heart. "Victoria? Otto?" the King coughs.
I glance around the room. I'm surprised to see that the Ice Queen isn't by his side, nor was she by Scarlett's side. "Your son is safe. I don't know about your wife."
He nods as if that's a good enough answer. "I..." He gulps for one more breath but then just like Patrick, his eyes lose the light in them, losing their life, and I witness the King's death.
Though the King's powers have given me a bit of energy, I lost the will to keep going. I glance back to Patrick and whisper, "I let you down. I'm sorry."
With tears in my eyes, I finally welcome oblivion, absolutely no more fight left to give.