Betty Fly didn't sit on her High's throne.

Her desire to embrace Lena stood tall. Her pale hand rested on the throne's armrest, yet she didn't own the blue chair.

No Lena Majestic.

No Zoey All.

No Clementine Tome.

Like her mentee, Betty had an older sister. The Watcher hadn't seen Clementine in years. Eleven years.

It was the fifth of March.

Ten years had gone by since that incident on planet Still. Betty's beautiful High had lost her eyesight, and her irises and her pupils had turned pale gray. Her Saves had vanished.

Lena couldn't fly. She couldn't heal wounds.

Even though Lena clung to bitter doubt, her Watcher did not. Betty hadn't seen a vision of a flying Lena with green eyes. But that didn't mean the girl's condition would shroud her life forever.

She, Lena, had made herself a throne room. Betty stood in it, aware there was a possibility Lena would move her throne to her new home.

Lilly Majestic had turned Lena into her fifth child.

Zoey had updated Betty. The Watcher had learned what had happened, and then Zoey had left. Planet Soy. She had decided to go there.

The door to the throne room opened.

"If you're a Freeman, you made a big mistake by coming here!" Betty said.

"I'm not a Freeman!" Hailey said. Betty faced the girl. She had tried murdering Lena, but they had become sisters. "And I'm sorry! I'm sorry for what I tried to do yesterday!"

Betty didn't give a response. Hailey continued walking toward her. When Hailey was close enough, she put a hand on Betty's arm.

"I'm sorry," Hailey said.

"Hailey, did you kill Lena?" Betty said.

"We're on good terms again," Hailey said. "I didn't kill Lena, but people did die. Two of them. Anyway, Lena is here. She's with my mother and Nick. They're in the hall."

Two people. Dead.

But Betty's need to embrace Lena overwhelmed her desire to ask Hailey about the two deaths. People had died. But Lena, Lilly, and Nick weren't those people.

Lena was alive.

Good.

Hailey didn't move her hand away from Betty's arm.

"I'm sorry," the girl said. "Okay?"

"I forgive you," Betty said. "But I don't want to think about what I would do if you really did kill Lena. Maybe I would want to avenge her, Hailey."

Hailey moved her hand. She took a step away, then fiddled with her fingers.

A boy entered the huge room, tall and clad in black. The light glowed against his blond hair. He made the trip to the spot beside Hailey.

Nick Majestic, Betty assumed.

"I'm Nick Majestic," Nick said. "Your mentee is a cruel ruler, Betty."

"She's your High," Betty said.

"She slapped me."

Nick wasn't the first person Lena had hurt. He wouldn't be the last, Betty didn't doubt. Regardless, Lena would never kill her Watcher.

The girl herself stepped into the room, her hands roaming the space in front of her.

Betty's pulse quickened.

The crown Lena wore was blue. Like its wearer, it was glorious. The headwear belonged on the High's head.

Lilly Majestic moved beside Lena. She didn't hold a syringe filled with Vamp.

"Come to me, Lena!" Betty said. "Your Watcher is here!"

When Lena was ten feet in front of Betty, the woman inspected the girl. No blood. If any of the Majestics had hurt Lena, Betty didn't know it.

"I'm right here," Betty said.

Lena came to a stop in front of her.

"Just look at me," said Betty's wonderful High. "Look at my greatness, Betty. The crown I'm wearing belonged to Theo Majestic. My second father. My new mother gave it to me as a gift."

"You look like a proper High," Betty said. She moved onto her knees, then bowed her head. "I'm kneeling for you."

"Rise."

Betty rose.

"You're my most loyal subject, Betty," Lena said. "You truly are better than all the others."

Her hands found Betty's cheeks. Lena gave her a kiss on the lips. Then she embraced her Watcher, and Betty hugged her back.

Lilly and Hailey smiled. Nick scoffed.

After the embrace ended, Betty said, "Welcome back, Lena."

"Ine Rain couldn't make it," Lena said. "I gave him the death he deserved. He and his friend Maggie Up are dead, because the girl saw the future. She saw a vision of Zoey attacking Cape Majestic with a dagger. He goes by Jake Wayne now. Ine was going by the name Peter Wayne. I had to kill that Watcher."

Betty looked at the floor.

"You had to do it, right?" she said.

"If I hadn't killed Peter and Maggie, they would've tried to kill Zoey," Lena said. "They probably would've tried to kill me, too. They probably would've tried to do the same to these Majestics."

Lilly. Hailey. Nick.

Lilly had formed an assassination plot. She had tried making her daughter kill Lena, and the woman had failed. Hailey hadn't succeeded in murdering the greatest High.

Hailey. She had sliced Lena's arm, and she would've assassinated the girl if Zoey hadn't interfered.

Nick. He didn't like Lena.

Despite what the three Majestics had done, they were on Betty's side. And her Lena had joined their family.

"I was there," Lilly said. "Lena didn't have a choice."

"And my sister Anne is a member of the Lock Tannis Church," Nick said. "She's a fool for being part of that cult, but my mother plans on getting her out of it. So do I."

Hailey had told Betty about Anne.

The youngest Majestic. Her own Watcher had stolen her. Thanks to Zoey, Betty knew Anne's Watcher was named Summer. She had married the Lock Tannis Church's founder.

Bane Sinister.

"Nova is on Earth," Hailey said. "She's in California. Her name is Sabrina Sam now. She and Jake are together. Also, Nova has a son. A Freeman son. He's a baby. His name is Ben."

Lilly smiled.

Nick shook his head.

"He's a Freeman," he said.

"Which means you're the uncle of a Freeman, Nick," Lilly said. "I don't care what Ben is. I'll be a good grandmother to him, and I'll be a good mother to Nova. I have to see her again."

Lena put her hand on Lilly's arm.

"Your son isn't as smart as I am, Mother," the girl said. "I will be a wonderful aunt to Ben."

Nick shook his head.

"You don't mean that, you blind tyrant," he said. "You're just saying that to get on Mother's good side. You don't care about Freemans, and you don't even like most of your own people."

"Stop it, Nick," Lilly said. "You're not Betty. You can't read Lena's mind. It's impossible for you to know how she feels about your nephew."

Nick grimaced. He took a step away from his mother, as if she held her Freeman grandson.

"Lena is a Majestic," Hailey said. "Ben is her nephew. Nick, you're not even a Freeman, but you refuse to hug your own mother. You can't act as if you're better than a Freeman you've never met."

Lilly smiled. So did Betty.

"That's a good girl," Lilly said. "You're very wise, Hailey."

"Nova can't know the truth," Lena said. "Betty, we can't let Nova and Jake find out what I did. They might try to kill me. Peter was Jake's Watcher. Maggie was his friend. If we meet Nova and Jake, we're not going to tell them about Maggie's vision, either. Zoey can't know about it. If we accept what Maggie saw as the truth, that would be dangerous. It would get people killed. It would get Zoey killed."

Betty had failed Boone Windsore and his first wife, Lauren. The Watcher hadn't saved them. Death had taken the two Windsores. It wouldn't snatch their daughter, not while Betty lived.

Lilly nodded.

"Not everything is always what it seems to be," she said. "We don't even know if that was really Zoey and Jake in the vision."

"A vision that Maggie supposedly had," Hailey said.

"Whether she had the vision or not, we will protect Zoey," Lena said. "She's my sister. She never tried to assassinate me. Betty, you know Zoey. You know that she's a good person. And you know that she doesn't deserve to die because a foolish girl had a foolish vision. Peter thought that Zoey would become like Boris. He thought that she would become someone who is going to destroy good Soynites. That won't happen."

Lena knew when to kill others to protect her loved ones. The girl had lived with Peter for a few months. Betty had done the same. But the man had made his plan to murder Zoey obvious, and Lena had taken his life. She had killed Peter.

Betty would've done the same.

"You protected your sister," the Watcher said. "That's all that matters. Ine and Maggie were dangerous people, and they had to die. You did what you had to. I'm proud of you, my High."

"So am I," Lilly said. "You did what needed to be done, and all of us know that. You put yourself in danger to keep Zoey safe. I saw you do it. It's impossible for me to look at you without seeing a hero."

It was impossible for Lena to see Lilly, but the girl's hero status hadn't fled.

"You know the truth, Mother," Lena said. "I am a hero. Don't forget that."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"If you're such a hero, why did you hurt Hailey after she called your eyes beautiful?" Hero said. Lena's eyes stayed unhidden. "That doesn't sound very heroic."

Round sunglasses didn't conceal Lena's eyes. They weren't with her, just like her white cane.

"Leave her alone, Nick," Hailey said.

"Mother, say something to your son," Lena said. "Scold him, specifically."

Nick crossed his muscular arms, smirked.

"Even if she does, she won't get me to like you," Nick said. "Mother. Betty. The two of you know how she is. You know what she did. Since when did tyrants become heroes?"

"Lena isn't a tyrant," Betty said. "She saved Zoey."

Lilly put her hand on Nick's shoulder. He frowned. Then the boy took a big step away. He acted as if Lilly weren't the woman who had spent many minutes raising him.

"Lena is my fifth child, Nick," Lilly said. "She's your sister, son. You might hate me forever, but Lena will be mine. Forever."

"I'm just waiting for the day when a Freeman kills her," Nick said.

He looked away.

"That won't happen, hopefully," Hailey said.

She stood underneath the blue ceiling. It was part of the room where she had tried to kill Lena. Hailey had lost her intention to end the girl's life, it seemed.

"I don't want to see my children trying to kill each other," Lilly said. She made eye contact with Nick. She looked at Lena. "There has to be a future where all five of my kids love each other. Just like siblings should. I want to see that happen. I need to see it. If just hatred comes into this family, that would make us only a little bit better than the Freemans. It would make us only a little bit better than Lock Tannis."

Nick moved his hands into his pockets.

"You mean that Soynite Anne worships," he said. "I'm going to save her."

"We will save her," Lilly said. She put a hand on Lena's back, kissed her pale cheek. "I lost a daughter, and I gained one. But the one I lost needs to be rescued."

Lena didn't sit on her throne. The royal eyes couldn't see the chair, but it was there.

Betty hadn't sat on it. Lilly had. She had occupied the blue seat, and she had brutalized Lena. The attack had erupted into existence yesterday.

Because of the sweet Zoey, Hailey hadn't succeeded in making death take Lena.

Great.

The best High lived.

"I want to be alone with my Watcher," Lena said. "Anyone who isn't Betty, leave the room. Now."

As if being in the same room with Lena were almost as bad as being stabbed, Nick took quick steps toward the open door.

Hailey followed him.

Lilly touched Lena's arm. Theo's wife moved toward the open door.

When the three blond Majestics were gone, Betty said, "Did they hurt you?"

The door stayed closed. Lilly had shut it.

"Nick did," Lena said. "It was because I slapped him. He deserved it, though. The fool refused to kneel for me. Nick's mother loves me, but not the boy himself. He will, though."

Betty smiled.

"Yes, he will," she said. Despite knowing Lena couldn't see, Betty gestured to the throne. "Your throne is still here. If you want to, you can sit on it. You deserve to."

"I know," Lena said.

Betty kissed her on the lips.

"Your father would be proud of you," the Watcher said. "Your mother would be, too. The Windsores. They really did love you."

"I loved them," Lena said.

Lena's first father, Boone Windsore, had lost his life inside the throne room. At least his daughter had survived. Zoey had lived through the attack, too.

Lena sat on the blue chair, her throne.

"I love you, Lena," Betty said. "Your new brother doesn't, but I do. I'm sorry he hurt you."

"At least I'm not him," Lena said.

"You're better than him."

"I love you, too, by the way," Lena said. She extended her hand. Betty held it. "Lilly has been good to me. But I'm not going to forget the woman who had been like a mother to me for years. I never will. Also, what happened on Still was awful. I was blinded, and I lost my Saves. But you gained all of them."

Betty shook her head.

Ten years ago, an unfair exchange had occurred on planet Still.

"I would give them all up if doing so would cure you," Betty said. "That's the truth. You don't deserve to be this way, blind and Saveless. I want you to see again. And I want to see you fly. The last time I saw you do that was such a long time ago. If you could see, and if you had your Saves, the others would respect you more. They would be more willing to do what you want them to do. You're the greatest High, Lena. Even now."

Jake. Reese. Aris. Path. Kara.

Those Highs hadn't spoken to Betty as much as Lena had. Kara hadn't talked to the Watcher. She never had. But she had been a baby eleven years ago.

Lena had killed Jake's Watcher. She had done it to protect her sister Zoey.

Out of the six Highs, Lena was the best one.

Betty released her hand.

"I will gladly kneel for you," the Watcher said. "No matter what time it is. No matter where we are. I know other Soynites gave you trouble, and some of them even wanted to kill you. Not me, though. Even if you weren't my High, I wouldn't want to murder you. I held you when you were a baby. You had no Saves back then, and that's your reality again. But you're going to get your powers back, and your vision will return. Planet Still will see you as worthy. I know I already do."

The light bathed Lena as she remained on her throne. Orange hair. Pale skin. Gray eyes, unseeing ones.

High Lena Majestic.

No matter how blind she was, her greatness was extreme. She was worthy.

"Planet Still will never see me as worthy," Lena said. "You believe that I'll see again, and I think that's a stupid thing to do. I'm special. And I'm great. But no matter how great I am, no matter how great I become, I'll never be worthy to Still. I'll never see myself ever again."

"You will," Betty said. "And you'll see me again. You'll see Zoey, Hailey, and so many others. You'll be able to fly again, too. Do you remember that? You used to be able to fly so fast. I couldn't keep up with you."

Lena grinned. Then she stopped.

"And now you're the one who can fly," she said.

The ability to fly. Yes, that was one of Betty's powers. Lena had no Saves, no powers that could help her.

"You're the one who deserves that power," Betty said. "Not me."

Power.

Betty had it. She had much power, but that hadn't stopped Lilly from injecting her with Vamp. The Watcher had become unconscious, and she had been that way while an assassination attempt raged.

"I couldn't protect you yesterday," Betty said. "But whoever you want me to kill, I'll kill them. I will do it with pleasure. All you have to do is command me to do it. Some people have refused to view you as the great High that you are, but not me. I'm not one of those people."

"Hailey tried to kill me yesterday," Lena said. "And her mother wanted it to happen. You want to kill them, right? You want to kill my new family?"

"No."

Betty took a deep breath. She shook her head.

"I want you to be okay," she said. "I need you to know that I'll do whatever I have to do to protect you. That's all. I love my High."

Betty kneeled beside the throne, and she placed her hand on top of Lena's.

"When Hailey was trying to kill you, I should've been there," Betty said. "If you're not comfortable around the Majestics, I'll take you from them. It's not like they can kill me. You hated the Majestics, and now you're one of them."

"I hated them yesterday," Lena said. "Yesterday, Betty. I'm fine. Okay? Hailey likes me again, and my new mother loves me. She gave me this wonderful crown. Then she kneeled for me. I've been wanting to be part of a family again, and I can't deny it. I had to give the Majestics a chance. I had to let them have me."

Lena had lived with Betty for eleven years. The girl had gone to reside with the Majestics, and her younger sister had left the space station earlier.

"I don't think Hailey or Lilly will hurt you," Betty said. "Nick, though..."

"I put Vamp into him," Lena said. "Don't worry about me, Betty. I can handle Nick, and I can handle everything else that comes my way."

"If you don't think you can, you could come back here," Betty said. She gestured to the blue walls surrounding them. "This place will always be your home. Zoey is always welcome here, too. She bid farewell to me. She went to Soy."

Lena wore a small smile.

"She saved my life," she said. "Of course I had to save hers. I couldn't let Peter or Maggie kill my sweet sister. I killed them. I laughed and smiled after I did it, but I don't regret killing them. A great ruler knows when a subject of theirs should be executed. But I wasn't just being a great ruler when I got rid of Peter and Maggie. I was being a great sister."

Hailey had prepared to bury a dagger into Lena's heart, and Zoey had slit the thirteen-year-old's throat.

Eleven years ago, Zoey had been a five-year-old and she had clung to Misty's dress while hiding behind her. The girl had become a killer. A savior.

Betty thought about Theo Majestic, Lena's second father.

Like the other former Highs, Theo had gained the power of immortality as a teenager. Like Lock Tannis, Boris Endman, Don Ascend, Ray Fire, and Tale Wick, he had shut off his immortality. They had done that so they could visibly age into men.

For most of their lives, and during the invasion, Theo, Don, Ray, and Tale had looked like twenty-year-old men. They had decided to turn their immortality back on.

Lock had been banished from Soy as a teenager.

Boris Endman.

White-haired and wrinkled, he was a former High who looked like an ancient man, which he was.

Boris had ruled a planet. He had fought Theo after the invasion. He had died. He was Zoey's grandfather.

"I noticed that you call Reese Nova now," Betty said. "Is it finally over?"

"Is what finally over?" Lena said.

"Your hatred for your fellow High," the Watcher said. "Your hatred for your sister Reese."

She moved her hand away from Lena's, stood. The High didn't leave her seat. She was beautiful, as usual.

"I hate Nick now," Lena said.

Betty nodded. "You graduated from hating Reese, and now you hate her brother."

Lena shut her blind eyes.

"I hate my brother," she said. The girl opened her eyes. "And since we're discussing siblings, I might as well ask you about Zoey. You said that she bid farewell to you."

"She kissed my cheek," Betty said. "Then she thanked me for being good to her."

Zoey had gone to the planet she had been born on. Misty had kidnapped her there sixteen years ago. Not long ago, the woman had advised Zoey to find her birth parents.

"That sounds like something Zoey would do," Lena said. "She really is sweet."

Meeting Zoey had been an honor. She carried the right to be safe. Wherever she was, she deserved to be fine. Even though she wore no crown, Zoey was great. Like her younger sister.

Lena's crown was blue, her eyes gray. Her throne room was part of Betty's home.

Would Lena move her throne to her latest home?

"Zoey will stay sweet," Lena said. "And if she does kill Jake, I'm pretty sure she'll have a good reason for doing it. I had a good reason for killing Peter and Maggie. Does that make me a horrible person?"

Peter and Maggie could've killed Lena, but the High had assaulted them anyway. She had risked her life to keep Zoey safe. Lena loved a good girl.

Betty's precious High was a hero.

"You're my High," Betty said. "You're one of the six Highs. No matter what people say about you, you will never be horrible. Everyone else doesn't know you as well as I do. You're better than all the others in this universe, and I know that as much as you do. You're better than I am."

"I know," Lena said. She tapped her pale fingers against the armrest's hard blue. "I'm going to take my throne to my new home. I'll make myself a new throne room."

Betty frowned. Thanks to Lena's blindness, she couldn't see the woman's face. She couldn't see the discomfort displayed on Betty's face.

"You really have settled into your new home," Betty said. "I miss when it was just the two of us."

The Watcher and the girl had lived together, keeping each other as their only companions. Lena hadn't been able to hurt any good Soynites back then.

Hailey had arrived.

She had brought conflict. She had even ended one, a conflict Freemans had started while Betty was away. The girl had broken her no-killing rule.

Then, after her mother's return, Hailey had tried assassinating Lena.

The girls had become sisters.

"Hailey showed up," Lena said. "She turned this household into one with three people. But I know what you did, Betty. You warned her. You wanted her to leave, because you knew what I was going to do to her. Isn't that right?"

Before the assassination attempt, Lena had shot pain into Hailey's life. Betty had given Theo's daughter a warning.

Hailey wasn't a person who had learned what it was like to have a cane striking her leg. Because of Lena.

"You hurt good people," Betty said. "Other Soynites would discover that and view you as a horrible tyrant. Nick already does. Not me, though. I let you hurt Hailey, ultimately. I'm your most loyal subject. You said so yourself."

"My word is law," Lena said. "It's also the truth."

Betty looked at the closed door. She didn't see Hailey, Lilly, or Nick.

"So much has changed," Betty said. "I never expected that you would become a Majestic. Lilly really is a good woman. She adopted a girl who hurt her daughter."

"I tried to kill her daughter, too," Lena said. She smiled, then touched her crown. "I failed."

Hailey. Like Lena, her last name was Majestic. The first Soynite, Hase Majestic, had created that surname.

Before Lena was a Majestic, she had been a Fly. The girl had been a Windsore before that.

Freemans had spread destruction and chaos across Soy, and Boone had carried Lena while it happened. Betty had been called Marina back then.

Lauren Windsore had already been dead as Boone carried his only biological child.

Lena's mother had done a great thing by bringing her daughter into the universe. The woman had been pregnant with the High when Betty met her, and her baby had grown into a beautiful sixteen-year-old, one with royal authority. She also had love for her Watcher.

"Thankfully," Betty said. "If you would've killed Hailey, she wouldn't be your sister now. That crown wouldn't be on your head, either. Lilly would've hated you if you had killed Hailey."

Hailey was in the safety of Betty's space station. There were no enemies in the hall outside the throne room, and no one in the home wanted to kill Hailey.

"I know," Lena said. "But she doesn't hate me right now."

"I'm very sure that I never have," Betty said. "I'll never hate you. And what you did to Ine Rain, what you did to Peter, it had to be done. You needed to kill him."

"If he had kept his mouth shut, I wouldn't have been able to do it," Lena said. "The murders worked out in my favor. I wanted to kill Peter before I killed Maggie, because I knew Peter was a better fighter than she was. That's what happened. I brought Peter down. I killed him, and then I did the same to Maggie. It was fun."

The crown Lena wore reflected the light in the room. Betty placed her finger on the blue headwear, which was hard against her skin.

Betty ran a hand through Lena's hair. The Watcher smirked.

"My High is clever," she said. "You did the right thing. Peter and Maggie wanted to kill Zoey, and you stopped them before they could. You protected your sister. I would've done the same for Clementine."

During a time of peace, Zoey had bid farewell to Lena. While Soy's invasion raged, Betty hadn't been able to hug her sister.

"When the invasion was happening, I had a duty to do," Betty said. "My parents were dead. I knew that much. But I didn't know if Clementine was safe, and I didn't have the time to find out. I had to go to you. I needed to help you and your parents survive. They wanted you to become a High, and that meant I had to leave Soy with you. Your parents couldn't come with us. I wish they had been able to, and I also wish your mother survived the invasion. You saw what happened to her."

"At least I didn't see what happened to my father," Lena said. "Being blind has its perks."

Betty patted her shoulder. "Not being able to see is a terrible thing. A real horror."

Lena pointed her useless eyes at the floor.

"Just like losing your father," she said. "I should know."

Betty stepped to the spot in front of Lena. She held the High's hands, which were pale like hers. It wasn't the first time the two had held hands.

"I'm here for you," Betty said.

Planet Still had taken Lena's eyesight and her Saves, but her Watcher hadn't left her. Betty was close to the girl.

Lena shut her eyes, and she shook her head.

"There's only one Freeman I don't want to kill," she said. Her eyes opened. "But all of the others, the ones who oppose me, they're going to die. Eventually. But I want to kill them. There are people alive who don't deserve to be. Lock Tannis. Nick. And so many others. My birth father wasn't like any of them, though."

Lena moved her hands away from Betty's. She stood. The girl moved past her Watcher.

"I need her," Lena said.

"Who?" the Watcher asked.

"Mother!"

A few seconds passed. The door opened, and Lilly stepped into the room. She headed toward her sightless daughter.

Betty had been alive longer than Lena had, but the girl was a High and the Watcher wasn't. And Lena wasn't her daughter.

What a shame.

When Lilly was in front of Lena, the woman said, "What is it, baby?"

Lena didn't hurl disrespect, shout, or scowl. She moved her hands in front of her. They found Lilly. Lena embraced her. The woman, her mother, hugged her back.

As Lena and Lilly shared a sweet moment, Betty stood. A loyal Watcher. A woman with all the Saves.

Betty saw Lena. She saw the greatest High.