Chapter 43: ~ Our Blood: Part 2 ~
"Can't you slow down?" Winter begged in between deep breaths. "My body is still small, I can't run as fast as you."
Their feet hit the cold marble floor as they ran. The sounds of their breathing and their hurried steps echoed through the corridors. The pair dashed down the hallways, making their way to the King's office.
Winter's breathing was laboured and her legs were tired from trying to match Ezekiel's pace. Ezekiel slowed his strides, attempting to match Winter's run. It was more of a jog, but he didn't want her to collapse from exhaustion.
"Hah," She let out a breath in response. "Just like the old days when we were running away to the apple tree. Remember?"
"This really isn't the time to be joking," He replied with a frown, scanning the corridors as they went. "There's no one here either. Just where is everybody?"
"Can we stop for just one second?" She asked, collapsing to her knees. Winter hunched her chest over, desperately drawing in air in order to catch her breath.
"His Majesty's study isn't much further," He told her, gently patting her back. At least, he thought it wasn't much further. Both him and Winter still didn't know their way around the palace well.
Winter nodded, her hands still clutching her heavy chest. "I wonder where my brothers are. I know Lysander is at the Acadameia, but I'm not sure about the other two."
Ezekiel didn't reply.
Winter, who was still in the process of controlling her breathing, glanced up at him from where she collapsed on the floor. Ezekiel's face was distorted with a look of shock as he stared at something behind her. Before she could ask what was wrong, he drew his sword from its sheath without looking away from where his eyes were glued.
Winter turned. "A-Aiden?"
Everything- from the tip of his blade to the ends of his golden curls- was dripping in blood. His eyes, which normally shone with warmness and affection, looked utterly and completely empty.
"Hey!" She called out to him in a panicked voice. "What, what happened to you!?"
She staggered on her feet as she got up, attempting to regain her balance. Before she could reach her brother, Winter felt the firm grip of Ezekiel's hand on her wrist. Unlike his normally gentle but strong hold, this one felt aggressive. If he wanted to, he could probably snap her wrist in two with this amount of strength.
"What?" She asked, trying to shake Ezekiel's hand off. "Let go of me. Can't you see Aiden's hurt? Are you out of your mind!?"
Ezekiel's grip didn't waver even the slightest. Instead, he opened his mouth and spoke to her in a tone she had never heard before: "Winter, that's not Prince Aiden's blood."
Blood. There was so much blood.
"No," Winter said, barely moving a muscle in her face. "That's impossible."
Winter felt lightning crackle through her veins like she had been suddenly electrocuted. Time slowed down as the sound of Ezekiel's voice calling her name faded away into the background. The only thing she could hear was the rapid beating of her heart.
The girl collapsed against the floor, hugging her knees into her chest that ached with an immeasurable amount of pain. Badump. Badump. Badump. The sound of her heart beating was so loud. She covered her ears desperately in an attempt to drown the sound out.
Ezekiel screamed at her with desperate calls, but Winter had gone into a state of shock upon seeing her twin brother coated in other peoples' blood. Amidst the chaos and his desperate screams, there was the sound of a metal blade slicing through the air.
~***~
Alexion read through the plans for the drought that had been presented by the council. He sighed, leaning back in his chair and glancing at the clock on his father's desk. Its faint ticking and the slight flickering of the fireplace made it seem as if they were the only things alive inside the room. Despite this, several councilmen were gathered by his father to finish some work.
'Winter and Aiden should have some free time now, right?'
Alexion frowned, thinking about how he'd much rather be playing with his little siblings instead of working. The King, who was busy signing documents, glanced up at his son's forlorn expression.
"What is it now?" He asked him.
Alexion clicked his tongue. "I just find it unfair how you didn't invite me to have tea with you and Winter."
The swift movement of Caderyn's quill came to a stop. The councilmen and the King's aide, who were busy working on their own documents, pretended to be disinterested in the conversation. They opened their ears to listen, but their eyes remained downcast.
"I don't see why it upsets you," He said coldly, resuming his writing. "After all, you both had tea many times without inviting anyone else."
"Even so," Alexion protested, flinging the council's proposal onto the table as if it was insignificant. "It wouldn't have hurt you to invite-"
The King's office doors swung open with a loud thud. The councilmen, who were listening in on the conversation, jumped in their seats at the loud sound.
"Your Majesty," Etrix called out with a panicked expression from the doorway. "It's an emergency."
Caderyn tilted his head at the sudden disturbance. "Speak."
"Someone invaded the servants' corridors and killed them all. The halls were unusually empty, so I went to investigate and found their bodies completely made away with. Your Majesty, they were destroyed beyond recognition. There were far too many bodies to count."
It was only then that Caderyn noticed Etrix's steps left bloody footprints on the ground behind him. He rose from his seat with a cold expression. "I need a status report."
"I sent word to the tower. I told them to proceed to the palace and inform the palace knights," Etrix said as he glanced around the room with a panicked expression. "Where's Winter? Is she not here?"
Alexion's face twisted with an unreadable expression as he spoke: "What do you mean? Isn't she in her room?"
"No, no," Etrix replied, shaking his head side to side. "She and Ezekiel were running towards the study the last time I saw them. I used to servants' corridors to make my way here, I thought they would've already arrived."
At his words, the King's office was thrown into complete chaos.
~***~
Ezekiel received the blow of the blood-soaked blade with the flat part of his sword. He parried, desperately trying to reason with Aiden, but the boy dripping in blood flung his weapon without yielding. Ezekiel stepped backwards, skillfully slapping Aiden's blade aside.
Ezekiel swung his blade swiftly, but Aiden's movements were perfunctory and automaton-like. It was almost as if the boy's body was being controlled like a puppet by its strings. Much to Ezekiel's surprise, Aiden's first swing wasn't aimed at him. Aiden was trying to kill Winter.
If he hurt the Prince, Ezekiel would be charged with attempted murder of a Royal. The best he could do was defend the Princess.
"Stop!" Winter screamed out desperately as the pupils of her eyes shook violently with fear. The child rocked back and forth, nails forcibly digging into the skin around her ears.
"Winter," Ezekiel called out to her as he blocked Aiden's blade. "Winter, get up and run! Call for help!"
Winter shook her head violently, her eyes mimicking the emptiness that swarmed in Aiden's irises. She drew in shaky breaths, unable to process the situation. Her brother. Her other half. Her reason for breathing. The sight of him coated in blood haunted her mind. She shut her eyes, desperately searching for an image of something else.
Even if she wanted to run, her body was completely frozen. Would she even run if she could? If Aiden raised a blade to her throat would she run away and hide, or would she offer him her throat openly?
"This isn't real," She said with trembling lips, rocking back and forth as she covered her ears. "This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real. No. No. No."
Ezekiel's movements hesitated for one second at the sound of Winter's cries. In that one second he lost focus, Aiden's blade came down in a robotic manner. Ezekiel fell to the ground, dazed by a blow to his head.
The Prince staggered backwards, dropping the sword as he did. It hit the marble floor with a thud, the blood coating it splattered upon impact.
"My head," Aiden grumbled, grabbing his blood-soaked face with two hands as she collapsed on his knees. "It hurts so bad, Winny."
Winny. In Winter's head- when she could no longer heard any sound but the overwhelming beating of her own heart- the one voice that reached her was his. She crawled, dragging herself against the floor, towards her brother.
Winter wrapped her weak arms around him, the familiar warmth of his body mixed with the uncomfortable feeling of wet blood. She held him tightly, wishing she could take the pain away. Even if it killed her.
She cried out as Aiden's hand neared her neck and his palms pressed firmly against her throat. Winter's tears began to fall as she let out ragged breaths through her closing esophagus. Her heart, once quickly beating, began to slow in tempo as her lungs burned with pain. If he wanted to kill her, then she wouldn't stop him. Her life was his anyways.
She stared into his lifeless eyes as he choked her, hoping he wouldn't remember her death as something painful. Winter's hands fell loose at her sides as the last ounce of energy she had escaped her. How unfair. How terribly unfair. The Princess didn't want to die. The Princess wanted to live. Despite this, she believed she was going to die. Right here and right now.
As the edges of her vision grew hazy, she felt her chest swell with emotion. It was cold. It was so cold. The feeling shot out from her heart, crawling over her fingertips and even the top of her ears. Winter's mouth fell open as a strangled scream left her mouth.
Aiden's hands fell limp as an icicle shot straight through his chest.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone