She's The Enemy (GxG)

(P2) Chapter 2- What The Heart Can't Feel

"Stop!" I yell, walking into the weapons room where I see my brother, Adrien, Naidia, Casper and the rest of my army preparing for war. Everyone in the tent turns to me, "Who authorised this?" I say, my voice stern and unwavering.

"I did." My brother steps out from the crowd, latching our gazes. We study each other for a second until I flit my gaze from his to my army.

"Put the weapons down. We are not here to fight," I address them.

"But ma'am, I don't mean to challenge orders but..."

"That sounds like you are challenging orders, Francis..." I interrupt, glaring at him. He nods slowly and backs down, "Right, I need a blockade, around the whole Court. The main order- I need to see The Keeper of the Guard- regarding his daughter, Emeile." I get nods from all the men and women surrounding me and Adrien speaks out amongst the crowd,

"If we can't use weapons, how will we hold the blockade?" I nod to him to show the relevance of the question and explain my idea.

"No one dies. If someone crosses the border- take them hostage. They are much weaker than us, it shouldn't be a problem for two or more men." I glance around the room, silently beckoning for any more questions. 

Silence.

"Okay... let's get going people, before they get here and remember, we fight- for peace and for our kingdom." A chorus of the words 'for peace and for our kingdom' erupt throughout the room and the army begins to lead out one- by- one.

Archer nears me as they do so, taking the chance to whisper in my ear,

"What are you doing, sister?" I glare at him and clench my fists.

"I'm leading my Court, Archer," I say stiffly and walk away without letting him speak another word. I prepare to saddle a horse and ride up to the blockade line. I'm not going to let my army fight alone. Archer is glancing over at me as I climb steadily onto the horse and trail Adrien's horse to the line.

"For the record... I think you're doing the right thing," Adrien says slowly, moving his horse so it is parallel with mine.

"So, do I..." I say, smiling a little for the first time in a week.

"Hey..." He nudges me softly, "She's a nice girl... I like her. Knows what she wants..." I nod slowly, the thought of her tugging endlessly at my nerves.

I can feel the tears pulling at my eyes, begging to be set free but I must not show weakness in front of my people. Even though, the thought of her chained and trapped within iron bars, makes my heart crack further every second, I know that I have to keep it together. My father had always told me; you have to give people a reason for following you- you must show them that in such hard times, you are able to stay calm and make rational decisions.

And those rational decisions are the ones that save lives. So, I lead this blockade with a heavy heart because, without Emilie's grip around it, it feels like nothing but a stone in my chest. It's strange really, it's strange that we associate adoration with the heart when really all our heart does is pump the blood around our bodies. Because, in fact, the place where we feel every and any emotion is in our brain, yet, have you ever heard anyone say, I love you with all of my brain? No, you haven't, I think it's because the idea of an unconscious organ being able to feel shows the raw emotional tie between two people. Like when your heart clenches at the sight of someone- friend, best friend, lover, whatever. Your heart is programmed to beat faster during two things, a need for oxygen and as a sign of danger and yet, every second I'm with her it beats ten times a minute. She isn't dangerous and I don't need oxygen so it must be something else- right? Something like...

Love.

It's such a precious word. One that should be spoken rarely at the risk of it losing its true meaning. My own father only recited 5 times to me in my life. He used to say; I do love you very much, but see if I say that too much... then it becomes a thing of habit rather than the sacred vow that it is. So, then you will cherish the few moments that I use the word dearly for the rest of your life and will always remember the love I felt towards you... I wonder now if he was correct in this thinking. Yes, I cherish each and every moment, but I only wish there were more. I wish I had more memory of my father's love.

"He'd be proud of you..." Adrien murmurs, pulling me from the sea of thought I had been drowning in. I turn to him watching his eyes turn into a perfect picture of sorrow.

"I love you..." I whisper into the air, "Thank you, Adrien." He smiles softly and it quickly turns into his signature smirk,

"I love you too." He looks like he wants to add some stupid retort, but he knows how much those few words mean to me, especially since I'd never said them to him before. After my father had explained to me how fragile the word truly was, I had been scared to recite it to anyone other than him- and even that I had done only a few times. I wish so deeply that I had let him know how much he truly had meant to me. Adrien reaches over a hand to steady mine on the reins, "We will get through this..." I nod at him in appreciation as we reach the blockade line. The pressure of his hand on mine releases as he moves his horse aside so I may address my people,

"I know many of you here are not allied with the no-death law I have set upon what is to happen today and that you are here only to protect your mates and children. Well... this will never stop unless peace is declared, the human race- they may not be strong, but they are persistent. They have hope. And so, must we. We must hope for a better world- A world in which a fight like this is not even a possibility and the only way that we can do that is to begin this peace right here- now," The Faeries before me all nod in collective understanding, "For peace..." I begin and the chant is answered by the newly fuelled spirts of dozens,

'For our kingdom...!'

A/N

I'll be honest I really don't like this chapter and have been working on it for a while now... maybe it's just me but I feel like it's too rushed... I guess I'll just have to have another go at it during editing... Anyway, hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave some feedback and have a lovely day x