Zoan was exhausted. Thankfully, he didn’t lose any of his limbs from that fight. The whole area had been cleared, and the mist he had formed with his smoke had almost disappeared completely.
Armstrong and Eldor’s sandy forms lay not too far from him. But Zoan was in a little critical condition. Armstrong had gotten him in a fierce blow, destroying his internal organs that were slowly healing.
Zoan sat there, vomiting blood with his red eyes filled with anguish and pain as he hoped to finish healing as soon as possible so he could go and join the others. The Kingdom was under attack, it is as his duty to protect it... but here he was standing between life and death.
Another huge worry of his was the female witch that had accompanied Armstrong and Eldor... though he couldn’t feel the aura of her presence anymore meaning she had either left or was a master of concealing herself.
The light footsteps that caught his attention alerted every part of him, and he moved swiftly without a single thought of his wound, ready to strike his opponent. He ignored the pain in his chest and went directly for the kill when those familiar red strands dancing with the wind caught his eyes.
And he Stopped. His heartbeat quickened, and his body came to life again.
She was barefooted and wore that hoodie cap on her head. Zoan struggled to move closer to her, hardly noticing the changes around her as he was too overjoyed and filled with emotions.
When he was close enough, he stared. Words failed him. What had happened to her? Her skin looked sick, pale, and grey. Her eyes were cold and empty, and the ghastly grey dress she was wearing was torn in different places. Even her hair had lost its voluminousity.
"Coal?" He breathed, hands trembling as he reached out to touch her face.
Aletta gave him a once over, then grabbed his hands swiftly before he could touch her. Her skin was burning. Much hotter than he remembered. How could someone look so pale but burn at the same time?
"And we meet again," Aletta said, then suddenly palmed him hard on the forehead, the sheer force of her actions sending him almost spiraling down the road.
His weak body rolled on the floor, and he fought to get back on his feet. His eyes were on her, and she was already walking toward him. Confusion etched his face. What had happened to her?
Her looks were different, and so were her actions.
"Coal, what happened?" He asked fervently when she got to him. Zoan squeezed on both her shoulders, eyes pleading with her. Why did she suddenly attack him? At first, he had been afraid she was one of the unhealthy witches and vampires attacking everyone with lifeless eyes, but...
"Say something. Talk to me. What happened? Why are you back?"
"It shouldn’t have been you!" She uttered lowly.
"Aletta?" Zoan paused when he noticed the grass around them was immediately drying out fast. He fought to understand whether it was his doing, but it couldn’t be as he was too weak. But then again, Aletta couldn’t be responsible. She was a fairy. Her tear could fix up anything that has lost its color and warmth, not take it away.
Aletta looked into his eyes, "I’m here to take back what is mine,"
And fear filled his heart. What had happened to her? She said something about becoming human before she left. Does this have something to do with it?
"Let’s talk, hm? What is...,"
But she didn’t let him finish. Thick branches suddenly sprouted from the ground and wrapped around him, holding him in place tightly as Aletta covered the little space between them. Zoan tried to speak, but something was suddenly clogging up his throat, preventing him from saying a word.
He watched as she stood on the tip of her toes, and leaned in to press her lips to his. The Prince felt petrified at that spot as he could feel her sucking out some form of energy from his body, and taking it into hers.
He knew he should have fought back. That he would have stopped the process simply by doing that, but the images flooding his head prevented him from moving a muscle. Whatever she was doing to him was making him see and hear things that weren’t in his memories.
Her... memories.
And there she was, Lying on the cold ground inside a dungeon. She was wearing the exact same clothes she had on the day she left him, and her small body was sprawled on the floor with dried blood all over her face.
In another memory, she had both hands on the bar of the dungeon and was pleading with someone. There were tears in her eyes, and the person on the other side was wiping them away even though they wouldn’t stop falling.
"You shouldn’t have left! Why are you talking like this?! What makes you think you can turn human?! If you keep on saying that, your punishment will go on forever." It was a male fairy, and both of them looked so alike...
"You have to help me. He’s waiting... please, Azrel," Aletta was crying her heart out.
"You’ve been in here for more than twenty years! And your sentence will end very soon. If they hear you talking about him still and wanting to be human, they will not hesitate to kill you!" The male fairy was whispering.
The scene changed, and there was Aletta and the male witch, Azrel walking through what looked like a cave. They were both badly wounded and were only able to walk because they were supporting each other’s steps.
Not too far from them sat what resembled the most beautiful garden of flowers, and sitting in the middle was an exquisite bloomed white flower. Both of them smiled like they had found what they were looking for.
The scene changed again and this time the garden of flowers seemed to be floating in thin air. Aletta was crying with the lifeless male fairy in her arms. The white flower behind her had grown dry, and its petals were falling off one by one.
Aletta’s cries filled the space. She wasn’t putting on her cape, and her entire back was bare. Her wings were gone.
She felt...normal. She was human.
Till she changed. Her demeanor changed.
"I was cursed! With these hands! I always had to wear gloves! I fought to stay away! I...," Aletta squeezed her eyes shut, tears running down her eyes and onto Azrel’s pale face. But the tears did nothing. Azrel was gone.
When she opened her eyes, it was like she knew what she had to do. What looked like she had turned into human took a sharp turn, and new wings burst forth from her back. Unlike the light and colorful patterns she had before, these ones were longer and were dark and gave off a ghast energy.
"The Person you yearned for has always had what you badly needed. While you kept your distance from the ones you loved because of your curse, the cure has always been with him. You found the curse, and he found the cure. And like a moth to the flame, you were drawn to him, like he was your only salvation. Your cause to find a way to be with him now has you knowing the truth... but you ended up losing a part of yourself along the way. Now you’ve been completely cast out of your home, and your new powers born from the despair you felt may, or may not take you far. There’s always a price to pay for tasting what is forbidden."
Zoan was gobsmacked. His emotions were everywhere. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Special Vampires were born special, but he had been born average. These smoke powers of him only came in when he wandered into where he wasn’t supposed to. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Could this mean that his powers were the cure to her curse? If that was it, then he would gladly let her take them to free herself from always hiding away and being scared of herself. Gladly. He would.
When Aletta pulled back, she didn’t seem any different. She didn’t complete the process, and so all the smoke immediately surged back into Zoan’s body.
The branches holding him down fell back, and his eyes shook as he looked into hers. Her eyes were watery.
"No, it’s not like this." She shook her head at herself, "It’s... not like that. It makes no sense! How can I be the curse, and you be the cure but... your smoke takes the life out of everything while my tear brings things back to the way they are?"
Her watery tears ran down her face and touched the ground. And just like what happened the last time in her room when he had sent her all those flowers and his smoke had killed them all, the grasses around them resurrected and the Field turned into a sparkling green forest of nature. The air around them smelt so nice.
Nothing made sense anymore. Yet, it made sense.
She was carrying a curse, yet she could cure.
Zoan was carrying the cure, yet...he could curse.
"I don’t understand anymore..." Aletta whispered to him, her body swaying before she slumped to the ground beneath her.
"What’s there to understand except that it was meant to be?" Zoan was next to her immediately and held her hand.
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