Folke ♥︎|| Folkelore

♥︎ 1 ♥︎

"I'm going to Scle," I announce, strolling into the throne room. Neither of my parents gives me a response, so I continue, "She's out there, alive and suffering I know it." Tears spring to my eyes, but I blink them back. "I can find her. I've been in her situation before."

"Your situation was different," Father huffs, the emotions pulsing through my Regalia filling the air with a sickly grey glow. They've been like that since Gaia was reported missing. They say my life turned around. "You allowed yourself to be wooed by a mortal boy that made you feel special. You were tricked. Gaia was not."

"How do we- how do we know?! Did Gaia tell you?" I shout, motioning with my hand towards the general direction of Aero. "She could've been tricked just as much as I was."

Mother chooses this as a good time to interject, "Gaia was not interacting with anyone besides her usual."

"Kingston had become one of my usual."

"None of us liked him though," Father grumbles. Mother shoots him a look, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder.

"Maybe the person who kidnapped Gaia did a better job of it than Kingston did. How do we know if we don't look for her?" I duck my chin, grinding my teeth together. They don't understand. I need to go. I need this closure. Tears are coursing down my cheeks by now, and I duck my head to hide the emotions written all over my face. I've never been good at hiding my power.

"It's not your responsibility, and besides even if it was you can't go to Scle alone. You'd end up just like Gaia," Mother says flippantly. Still, it gives me an idea.

"What if I took Apollo?" The idea bursts from me before I can think it through, and I bite my lip the second it's out. "Forget I said that-"

Mother shakes her head, her eyes twinkling. Not a good sign. "You would take your betrothed?"

"I- I could," I sigh. "Or I could take someone who's more... trained! Someone who's trained for this kind of thing. Like- like Bastien! Yes, Bastien could take me."

Father makes a noise of disagreement. "Bastien is not currently available."

"What? Where is he?"

"He's off," Father puffs, waving his hand around. "Doing who knows what."

"Well then, not Bastien but there must be someone else that is more equipped for something like this."

"Equipped for what?" A low voice that makes my stomach drop asks from behind me. I slowly spin to face the one man that makes my Regalia go crazy with emotions. So many emotions. Apollo Gonesse of the Court of Flare, my betrothed, grins at me and sends me a quick wink. "I'm not interrupting anything, I hope."

I shouldn't be surprised anymore, with him randomly arriving in hopes that I'll stop pushing off our inevitable wedding. We were meant to be wed the night of my eighteenth birthday, but I pleaded with my parents to wait until I was more prepared. They agreed, assuming I meant a few weeks. It's been years.

"Apollo, it's so good to see you," Mother gushes, moving to greet him with a kiss on each cheek. "We weren't expecting you until tomorrow."

Tomorrow? No one told me he was even supposed to be here!

"Things cleared up at home, I hope me being here isn't a problem?" His eyebrows raise in a look of worry.

Mother chuckles, patting his face like he's a child. "You're always welcome anytime, you should know that by now."

I barely hold in a snort. He's known all along, but that's never motivated him to visit. Or write. He looks back at me almost as if he knows where my thoughts have turned. I paste a plastic smile on my lips, hoping he didn't see my scowl.