𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨. sting eucliffe

14 | victory

[ July 7th, X791 ]

The raven hair girl fell at the ground before large clock that was displayed in front of her. 

She was on her knees, bangs slightly covering her now exhausted eyes while her arms were outstretched towards the sky. 

Her magic energy was entirely depleted and she could hardly even breath without feeling the sting of pain and tiredness that was overtaking her now brittle body. And then, with all the strength she could muster, the girl looked up, scarlet eyes ablaze when she noticed that the clocks hand's hardly moved. 

"One... minute?" she gasped out loud. With all the sadness and frustration she could manage to speak out, the desperation of her actions showing as she pleaded to rewind time by only one damn minute. Her life was only worth one minute. 

And so Ultear was going to cry. Cry because she couldn't save anyone and her sacrifice was useless. What good was one minute going to do?

♛♛♛

And then, as slowly as the moment played out in front of Ariana's eyes, it rewinded. Time slowed and the very same dragon claw that impaled Sting withdrew, and almost unnaturally his body was thrown back to where he stood.

Ariana could see time warping yet her mind remained the same. Still, her body moved against her will and she already knew what her motions were supposed to be. Shock was evident on both her and Stings faces, their emotions clearly painted on their features. Ariana could see the blonds face in front of her relieve itself of the unbearable pain he'd just faced and then contort into the same confusion she was feeling.

Then, slowly, time settled and they were in the same positions almost an exact minute they were in the past.

Ariana could see the dragons claw coming down at her and almost by reflex, she did the same thing before. Her hands whipped up another water barrier that the dragon had just torn through. She mentally cursed herself for being so stupid and doing the same thing that got Sting killed but there was essentially no other option; her magic power was depleted enough and she couldn't cast Liquid Body without solidifying on the dragons claw and dying herself, and there was no time to dodge the attack.

All she could do yet again was cast a water circle around herself. Though, this time, she knew exactly where the dragon would make contact and to that point, she focused all her magic power, making it the hardest to break through.

As if on cue, the dragon hit the spot on her barrier and slammed against the water. Ariana could visibly see the dragon struggling to shatter her magic and from the corner of her eye, she could already see Sting making his way towards her.

Though, there was a slight hesitation to his step.

They both knew what would happen if he came to her. They both saw his death and knew that time was replaying itself before their very eyes and this was their chance to correct it. Still, Stings body couldn't help but gravitate towards Ariana. It was either him or her dying, and for whatever reason, he threw his life willingly away for the blonde. He knew why and it was made painfully clear for Ariana why he did it too; Sting was utterly in love with her and to watch her die in front of him wasn't even an option.

But realizing that, Ariana felt the same for Sting. It had only taken watching him die for her to realize she loved him. She loved him enough to do what she knew was reckless and stupid but she acted on such impulse it couldn't be stopped.

A small section of her barrier liquified and shot towards Sting, who was now a few meters away from her.

The water formed around his body and held him back from her, almost throwing him as far away as possible. She watched him with her azure eyes, small tears forming at the corners. She knew what was coming now but a small smile still made its way on her lips and a saddened expression could be seen through the  barrier as Sting was pushed further and further away from her.