𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

꧁꧂

It was like a flash.

Anger surged through (Y/N) so quickly and so violently that she sought out any enemy she could find lurking in the shadows, grateful to have something to take her anger out on. While she wasn't close to her roommate at all—she didn't even know his name—he had been alive and well.

Now, he was gone.

As she raised her sword again and again, as she then brought it down again and again, her mind was a blank blur. After having seen death, after having inflicted it not even a few hours earlier, she found it completely disparaging how said death could be so cruelly inflicted—it made her want to not stop until every single person who caused her roommate's death paid. Inhaling deeply, she whirled around with almost a snarl when a stick broke behind her.

Aadon stood there with his arms raised, a defensive position, his sword hanging loosely from his dark, blood-stained fingers.

"Aadon..." she whispered, her shoulders loosening at the familiar face as she stumbled toward him until they were no more than a few feet apart. "You're... alive... thank God..."

Furrowing his brows, Aadon then glanced over her shoulder towards the charred body behind her, his expression dawning with understanding. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he then slowly led her away from the corpse of her roommate along with the corpses of the men she had slaughtered. There was so much blood staining her hands and clothes that Aadon honestly thought she herself was bleeding, his dark eyes lit with unknown emotions from the situation before him.

"I... tried to find Danny, Claude, and Zaahir to assist them, but I couldn't find them," Aadon then uttered softly as he finally stopped, his hand on her shoulder dropping back down to his side. "The only people I found were enemies—I was able to stop some, but others were able to get away. There were also servants trying to extinguish the fire, some who ran away into the woods... and then the ones who were already dead."

(Y/N) continued to stay silent.

"I haven't seen any of the royal family, so I'm hoping that means they were escorted to safety," he continued with a heavy sigh. "What about the Prince? I don't see him, so is he..."

She shook her head.

"He isn't dead," Aadon stated, his expression twitching from her silent confirmation.

Silence, still.

    (Y/N) let her eyes travel to the ground, hyper aware of how emotional she was being, and how she had let that show in front of Aadon. True, she had just seen someone innocent die in front of her, but in that world, men weren't supposed to show emotion, men weren't supposed to be weak, and men weren't supposed to be like women.

She grit her teeth.

    She hated how gender determined how people should act and feel, along with how society made people feel ashamed if they differed from the norm. But she couldn't do anything about it. The world needed more time. Turning away from Aadon so he wouldn't be able to see her face anymore, she also made sure to survey the scene so she could calculate her next move. Her eyes roved the courtyard: plants were burning and stone statutes were toppled, the fences broken while bodies and blood were everywhere.

No matter where she looked, all she saw was death and destruction.

"Aadon," she spoke up, having gathered herself enough to speak with confidence without her voice wavering. "We need to find the royal family. No matter if we are just servants, we need to keep our monarchs safe. It's clear you are adept with a sword, as am I, meaning we should clear out any enemies that we can whilst also making sure to capture those who we can make talk."

    "I agree," Aadon nodded. "This wasn't just an attack on Carmella, but an attack on the entire kingdom. I won't stand for that. We need to find and ensure the safety of the royal family, and then work from the inside out to eradicate any other sort of threat against the King."

Motioning for (Y/N) to follow him, Aadon moved away from the servant quarters to follow the route back to the first main building, knowing the medical wing was there and the most likely place where the King and the rest of his family would be. The first half of the building was on fire, many servants streaming in and out with buckets of water, each with soot and fear painting their expressions.

    They didn't talk to them as they passed.

    Didn't even look at them.

    As Aadon and (Y/N) rammed in a door that was locked shut, they moved quickly up and down the winding stairs, the doctor's wing being set deep within the building. They ran into many enemies, some having to die since the pair wasn't able to get a good hit at them to knock them out, knowing they'd have to take hostages so the Prince and generals could interrogate them later. When finally slamming the door open to the doctor's office, having scoured the wing with no sign of the King, they were immediately met with guns and swords pointed directly toward their hearts.

    "Aadon?" A voice spoke, the dim lighting making their face hard to see. "And... (M/N)?"

    "Wait, Claude?" She squinted her eyes.

    "God," he laughed in disbelief as he stepped into the light, his blue eyes crinkling in relief before giving both Aadon and (Y/N) brief hugs. "Wow... you guys look horrible."

"It's good to see you too," (Y/n) groaned. "More importantly, is His Majesty—"

"He's alive," a different voice answered, (Y/N) turning to spot Adrian sitting on one of the cots with his shirt off to display the fresh bandages wrapped around his side and upper torso, his amber eyes cutting into her form with that same intensity as always. "As am I. (M/N)(L/N)... it's good to see that you too have made it out safely. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, I likely wouldn't be here."

"Thank you... Your Highness," (Y/N)'s expression softened as she gave a low bow of her head.

Adrian returned the sentiment.

꧁꧂