The last Brown drowned in his ancestry.

Flies landing on a lake of molten rubies, vultures eyeing what once was breathing; graceful even decapitated, George's body lay on the red soil. The grass that should grow as bloody as his ties would be the only reminder of a once-living family. For even princesses forget. The curse that marks them is human; they all die to live in memory. So, why were the dead wailing? Calling her name, begging for salvation? They were asking for her spirit, the immortal blood filling her flimsy flesh. She would sing justice, breathe enlightenment. She would spread her golden wings to shelter the world. At least that was what she had thought. But where was now the power to live? The power to shelter and decide? An army of bloody ants was crawling up her arm.

I will make you better than me, my dear heiress. You just have to listen carefully and be a good girl; it doesn’t matter who has to drown. And, did you know, there are quite a few people capable of swimming with the likes of you and me? So, drown the hatchlings, dear, or I will do it for you. You know I can. And then you will rule the world like we have always wanted. You can do that, can’t you?

Diane?

Diane.

Diane!

With a shiver, Diane woke up from a short, yet tiring dream upon hearing her name being called. Before her stood Kyla, patiently waiting for a sign of her breathing.

"Yes, Kyla?" the princess asked and checked her posture. She was sitting on a velvet chair in one of the many salons that now belonged to no one. George Brown was too young to bear a family, too old to keep a friend; the boy of twenty-four winters was buried alone.

"I can’t find her," Diane’s vice-commander informed her. “She was in Fiona’s house half an hour ago. I can’t believe her.”

Diane put her head in her hands. “Well, I guess I only told her not to be late. I never mentioned actually showing up.”

“A beginner’s mistake,” Kyla replied with a smile. “Should we go then?”

Diane stood up. Kyla waited in the room a moment longer than her commander and listened to the eerie silence accompanied by the ticking of a small, golden clock that accumulated dust on the fireplace. There were landscapes all over the walls, yet the room felt stuffy and the window too small. There was once a map spread on the floor, but that was a lifetime ago.

The door creaked as Kyla closed it. “Wait for me,” she called after Diane who was covering the hallway with black silk. The princess played with the rings on her fingers and looked at Kyla through the weeping veil that only came up to her nose. “Don’t you think it would be better to go together?”

“Sure,” the princess replied.

Kyla put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “You don’t look very good.”

“I wonder why,” Diane replied.

“We don’t have to do it right away.”

“Yes, we do.”

“You could get some rest first.”

“I already have.”

“You were unconscious.”

“That’s rest.”

Kyla stopped Diane by pulling her back. “The world won’t crumble if you take some time to process everything. It’s not like the issues are trivial.”

“It’s already crumbling,” Diane simply stated. “I have to get out of my head.”

Diane went on confidently walking through the long hallway. She felt chilly air sneak inside through the invisible cracks in the wooden window frames and longed for a sun that didn’t only blind. The walls that surrounded her were the color of wine or rust and so tall they entrapped her on all sides. But she didn’t have any more time to think of death, though such thoughts seemed imposed on her. She heard Kyla’s sigh disturb the commoners on the paintings and almost apologized on her behalf.

“What is it?” Diane asked, filled with nervousness that made her skin itch.

“I just don’t understand you sometimes.”

“There is nothing to understand. The sooner I find out the truth the sooner I will decide what do to with it.”

Kyla narrowed her eyebrows to mask fear. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I am sick of being fed false ideals. If what Clara Heal is doing is not something I can stand behind…”

Kyla grabbed Diane’s upper arm again and forced her to stop and turn around. “You’re not planning to go against Her, are you?”

Diane smiled. “We’ll find out shortly.”

“You can’t be serious! Do you not remember how that went last time?”

“Actually,” Diane replied, taking Kyla’s hand off her upper arm, “I forgot.”

“For the love of the king, Diane!”

Diane continued walking, then abruptly turned around with rage in her eyes. “I was told that they would leave the ones I love alone as long as I “behaved” and “listen well”. I did everything they asked me to do, and now two of my friends are dead! I was also told that Demons were my worst enemies, that annihilating them was my duty, and then I find out that the very person who ordered that annihilation is the one who created them! Modeled on our very own Clara Heal! And no one, including you, thought that that piece of information was relevant to me!”

Kyla sighed. “I told you we are under an oath.”

“Ah, yes! The Headquarters! How could I forget that they also conspired against me by making sure that none of my teammates would be able to tell me the truth!” Once she stopped yelling, Diane took a deep breath, her voice still echoing through the hallway.

“Timidus will tell you.”

“What?”

Kyla came a few steps closer and whispered. “He knows but is not under the oath. He left around the same time as Fiona Roswell.”

“Does she know?”

“Some of it. But she was not there when… changes were made. If he is really still working for the Headquarters, then he knows.”

“What changes?” Kyla just looked at her. “I’m sorry. Thank you,” Diane whispered. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They were silent until they reached a massive oak door on the second floor; in front of it stood two of Diane’s subordinates. As she was about to walk into the room one of them asked: "Are you certain it was her, captain?"

"What do you think, Sky?" Diane paused to answer. “The door in Nowhere hasn’t been used before. Narrows down the choice, doesn’t it?”

The girl with very short black hair pleadingly looked at her commander. "I can't believe it! She would never do anything to harm you!"

“Are you certain?” Diane asked and looked at Sky with eyes trapped in the past. “Would you bet your life on it?”

If it were any other day, Sky would have laughed off Diane’s intensity as pride, but that day the princess seemed too distant to bow to. “Whatever do you mean, captain?”

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After giving her girls a fake smile, Diane walked in, followed by the three of them. Inside were Lila and two other Ravens. They all greeted Diane and sat around that circular table that Diane never wanted to see again. She stopped before the chair where George used to sit, closed her eyes, pushed it aside, and faced “her girls”.

“Hello,” Diane greeted them. “I hope you are feeling alright.”

“Where's Kiara?” Julia, a shapeshifter with dyed orange hair asked.

“I don’t know,” Diane replied. “She will show up eventually.”

“She’s always like this,” Sky commented and looked at Diane suggestively. “I really hope she gets punished next time.”

“Sure. But I have to kill off the moles first.”

There was commotion; they could all feel that nothing good would come out of that meeting. Questions and protests were flying around, but Diane just took the weeping weil off her head and, without taking off her rings, came close to Lila. “Stand up,” was the only things she said. Then the room went quiet.

“Yes, captain,” Lila replied, her insides suddenly shaking.

In a second, Diane’s fist collided with Kyla's cheek. She fell, the other Ravens all jumping up in protest. “Sit down,” warned Kyla who was standing in front of the closed door.

“What's wrong with you?!” Sky yelled.

Kyla took out her bow and pointed it towards the magic-less human who was the only one still standing. “I think I told you to sit down, Sky.”

Lila was still on the floor, her head spinning. Diane pulled her by the collar and made sure her rings left a few more dents in Kyla's skin; blood splashed on her new black dress but she couldn’t see it. She kept picturing George’s dead body missing different limbs, with holes of different sizes all around. Then she remembered how Jeremy taught her how to hold a sword when she was young. She must have been around six, since her powers manifested around that time. It was a painful time.

And what time wasn't painful?

She let Lila fall back down; she was choking on her own blood, spitting it around Diane’s shoes. “So,” Diane said calmly, “this is how it’s gonna go: I ask a question, you answer. You don’t answer, I cut off a finger. Once I run out of fingers… well, I’ll think about it then.” The room was completely silent; hearts were beating, but not loudly enough for sound to escape the Raven uniforms.

“Please,” Lila pleaded.

Diane smirked. “Not this time. Question number one: during the ball, as well as five years ago, you used your powers to open a portal for the Demon army to come to Painron?”

“That’s nonsense! There must be other people with a similar ability…”

“Shut up, Julia,” Kyla warned, extremely bored.

“Yes,” Lila confessed; she had known Diane long enough to notice variations in her fake expressions. It was not a threat this time around. She had to tell the truth. “I did it! It was an order from the Headquarters! What else was I supposed to do?!”

Diane completely ignored her pleas. She was choking on the air she was inhaling, her face taking turns between pure white and red. “Question number two: the reason why the rest of the squad was so late was not because they were held back but because you kept my request from them, as ordered by the Headquarters?”

“Yes.”

“Lila!” Julia yelled.

“One more strike, Julia,” commented Kyla.

Diane just kept nodding. “Alright. See? Not that difficult. Now, let’s move on to something I don’t know. Question number three: who else was in on it?”

Silence took charge of the room once again. The Ravens all glanced at each other, ready to restrain a teammate should anyone try to escape, though, with Kyla so bored, they would never attempt anything similar.

“No one,” Lila replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Diane nodded again; each time her chin touched her chest it was harder to bring it back up. “Good. We'll check when Kiara comes. If you lied…”

“I didn’t. It was just me. They needed a way for the Demons to come here and it was easier to threaten me than to find another person with a similar ability. If such a person exists, of course.” She talked with a lisp due to her lips being swollen beyond recognition.

“You said you couldn’t open a portal to Carcer because you didn’t know where exactly it was,” Diane reminded her, her words tripping on one another.

Lila smiled cynically. “They wanted a way to go in and out without me. They couldn’t find the map and they figured you could.”

Diane waited for her mind to swallow all those truths. It was never easy for her to admit she had been played. “Why did you do it?” Diane asked softly, as if all the rage had vanished when she remembered the word threaten.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice.”

“But you are not repenting.”

“I did nothing wrong.”

“Do you only repent when you are wrong?”

Lila chuckled. “You never change. It’s amazing. You know absolutely nothing yet act like you are on top of the world.” Lila looked straight into Diane’s eyes. “I hate you. I’ve hated you from the moment I met you because, unlike these brainless idiots, I see who you truly are.”

Diane smiled. “Oh? And who is that?”

“A selfish bitch who's about to sacrifize the fate of the world for the second time because she pities herself too much.”

Diane was taken aback. She had heard numerous insults throughout the years yet none of them hit her as hard as that one. Probably because she knew it was true. If she were to find out that Clara did want peace, would she follow her so blindly again? Would she kill thousands to save millions? Was that justified? Would it make her a good person? A hero? A queen? Or would she forever be the disobedient princess who cared about no one other than herself?

Lila turned her head to the side. “You can glare all you want. If you kill me, the Headquarters will punish you.”

“Want to test that?”

“Diane,” Kyla called out, just to make sure Diane was still present and not only replying out of habit. “We have a deal.”

Diane breathed out and moved back to where George used to sit. “Of course. I don’t kill rats.” Then she looked down and Lila. “What are you waiting for? You are free to go.”

“Just like that?” a Flamer named Sarah protested. “Shouldn’t you ask her why they gave her that order.”

“She is under an oath. She would never break it because it would give the Headquarters a reason to kill her,” Diane explained. Lila was still lying on the floor. “I told you to go. Or would you prefer a countdown? As far as I remember, and I don’t remember much, you are good at running under pressure.”

Lila pressed her lips together, stood up and staggered towards the door. Kyla moved to let her open it herself. She turned around once more, looked at Diane, and said, “You will get what’s coming for you, Diane. No villain is left unpunished.”

“As we can see.”

The door closed with a bang. The room felt empty due to an unoccupied seat. Kyla carefully approached Diane and stood behind her. “Do you want me to open the window?”

A desperate look in bloody red eyes flashed before Diane’s mind. “No. It’s cold outside.”

“I can’t believe this,” Sky let out. “We were friends! For years.”

“We were teammates,” Sarah corrected her.

“Even worse! How could she do this? We swore we would always be by Diane’s side.”

“But we didn’t take an oath,” Sarah replied. “I guess we should have. Maybe then she would have stayed.”

“We don’t need people like that,” Anne, a girl with long black hair and blue eyes said. “What do we do now, captain?”

Then the door burst open and Kiara walked with a dozen bags filled with pastries. She scanned the room and laughed out loud. “Look at all of you! The funeral was this morning, you know!”

Diane grabbed Kyla’s arm and forced her to stay in her place. “I told you not to be late.”

“Sorry. I’ve never seen so many types of bread before. Do you think Thomas used to work there?” Diane just looked at here. “They’re all clear, by the way. Lila was the only one.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Diane asked once Kiara had taken Lila’s seat.

“Why should I? It’s more fun this way.” Then she turned to Sky and gave her a nasty look. “I don’t appreciate it when you think of me like that.”

“Then get out of my head.”

“I would if I could.”

“I am leaving for Painron tomorrow morning,” Diane announced. “I would like you all of you, except Kyla, to stay a bit longer and monitor the other squad. The Headquarters sent them so I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to do something to Fiona Roswell.”

“Well, she did steal the map and run away,” Anne commented. “Why should we protect her?”

“Because she is Thomas’s mother. I’ve worked too hard to have him by my side. I will not risk losing him.”

“When you go see Timidus,” Kiara advised, a lot calmer and grounded then she was a minute ago, “don’t forget to tell him that the Fool is on your side.”

“Why?”

“Because the Judge and the Priest are on Hers. He has to weigh out his options and you have to be more appealing. You are the only one capable of finding the Shadow and the Swan. He has to think that you have the ability of making them stand by your side.”

Diane put her head in her hands. “There is another issue here: only feel that when I meet them for the first time. If I’ve met them before I lost my memories…”

“We’ll think about it if it comes to that. For now, just go to Painron. It will help take your mind off everything.”

“You’re right, Kyla,” Diane said and stood up. “Thank you all for coming. I know you had to go against the Headquarters. I would promise to protect you but…”

Julia smiled. “We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.”

Diane smiled back. “That you can.”

She could tell by the smells and colors that the clock would tick no more; the time had come, cruelly and irrevocably. In the void that the past had created hid the key to her life and death. A slip of an ancient finger left her with the anger to rule the world and the knowledge to make them kneel; and the time had finally come for her to unleash it. Only not as She had planned.