A Ring of Misfortune and A Black Wilting Lotus

Regretful Smiles

He holds his breath as the door swings open. An oddly bubbly looking witch answers.

"Did you leave something...?" Her words trail off as her eyes look up a tad bit more than before. "King Phantom," she greets.

"Spirit..." His words trail off and regret settles in. He takes a breath to say something but is quickly cut off.

"Did you come for the fate of the ring?" She ponders. His brows furrow till the realization hits. She's here for the ring.

He clears his voice with a cough but it ends up just sounding like a pathetic laugh. Again the quiet settles and he sighs. "No. I thought you could still use another day to rest. I mean, I'm clearly not helping with that but um..." He stutters and stumbles over his words like a fourteen year old talking to his crush who just so happened to be an egotistical popular girl, and for some reason he has a feeling Spirit would not enjoy learning that tidbit of information. As the phantom king scans the room for something to comment on, the slightly hidden but curious child behind Spirit gives him an idea. "I was actually wondering if Kit could do a tarot reading for me."

At the mention of the request the little cat-ish creature pops out from behind, already with cards in hand. The mother raises a brow but allows him in none-the-less.

"So what's your question? And remember, it has to be within the twenty four hour range." Spirit instructs.

"Can Kit do readings of the past? Like seeing past events. And how far back?" At the question the child pops up happily and displays a single finger in the air. "One what?" Phantom asks.

"One year. She has a broader range when it comes to the past. It's almost to the point where she can see a clear image. And if she tries to go a little further, she can show a blurry image. However you have to be very specific. The more specific the clearer the image." The witch explains. As she finishes, Kit places the deck on the ground and spreads the cards out face down. "Give her either a date or month."

"December first of last year." His voice wavers with excitement, his eyes shimmer as Spirit instructs him to pick the number of cards Kit instructs. And so he does. The child flips over each card one at a time and each card plays a different scene of that day. From bike riding to eating at Nasty Burgers, it seemed like a regular day, but to him it was a perfect day. Until it wasn't.

The last two cards glow a misty black color. The first of the two cards show images of yelling, crying, screaming, whatever you wanted to call it, it was an argument. The card turns into a cold blue color as it ends with a hug. The second card plays a happy scene, first starting with the two gazing at each other lovingly. The card begins with the color red but as a hand comes into the shot that red turns to black, and Phantom can barely keep himself from looking away. His previous smile becomes a frown as the blurry image of a woman falling plays. The man in the image catches her and begins to run, but Phantom knows that it was already too late. The moment the hand was shown, she was dead.

"Thank you," he barely suppresses a whimper, not even willing to look at the witch.

"Phantom?" Her voice is apologetic. She wonders if she should comfort him but before she's able to he stands up.

"I apologize for earlier. I'll be talking to Diastra for telling you to go there. It was a problem with her, not with you. Her, not you." He repeats the last line and stifles to leave. Taking a deep breath he smiles on impulse and takes a step to leave.

The king stops in front of the door at the questioning of the witch, "Why did you want to see that date? It was eight months ago and then you fake a smile. I hope you know that witches can tell when an intention is falsified, because that was the fakest thing I've ever seen. And I've worn vampire teeth before."

"Good to know I shouldn't question your choice in fashion. I don't understand why it matters what the date means to me." His tone becomes sharp and haphazardly again.

A stern closed mouth frowns pierces the witch's cheeks and she releases a sigh. "I didn't want to bring this up, but... That woman was wearing the Ring of Rage. I'm guessing the man was you. If what happened back then has anything to do with why you want to see the ring's fate, even if you aren't sure, then I suggest you get your shit together. Your intention is based on your emotions and feelings. If it's even slightly wavering, the spell won't work." She gives him a warning glare and Phantom looks down in shame.

"I'll be fixing the rift you caused tomorrow. If you really need more time then I'll stay a few more days, but I expect an answer by the weekend." Her words lay flat and the silence plagues them. The phantom nods his understanding then leaves.

As the door closes behind him, she sighs and rewatches the scenes on the cards. Under her breath she whispers something and the images strengthen. Now perfectly clear, she watches the smiles on their faces. It was something that she doesn't even remember from her last relationship. A sight that was once one in a million was something that really didn't even exist.

"Gregor," she softly growls as her eyes watch each card. She doesn't know what compelled that idiot to give the love of his life the object of her death, but they didn't deserve that.

Kit finally puts away the last card and as she does a frown appears on her face. "When will you tell him?" The cat-like creature asks.

"When he stops being an idiot and faces the realization that he's probably stuck with that thing. But who am I to stop the man from double checking the validity of the ring's acceptance." She shrugs with a grim laugh and stands up.

The troll looks at her confused then rephrases her question. "When will you tell him your name?"

The witch ponders. Her fist rests on her chin in thought. "I'll tell him when he's ready, aka when he stops treating me as he has been, aka probably never. So how about you tell me what's for lunch?" She ends with a smirk and the child rolls her eyes but complies, starting up a new shuffle.

Author: VALERIE!!!!! Yay! More backstories!!!! Also, Kit can talk. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to talk or not at first but I decide to let her talk a little bit. This story will go more into Danny's grief over Valerie and Sam's ex, but for now this is all you've got. I want to give you guys a fair warning though, expect this story to be unfinished. I haven't added anything to the actual story in like 2 weeks and am currently working on a completely different one so.... Have fun! And please don't kill me. :<