The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

A Princess's Goodbye

Setting: part 2 of A Queen Forged Out of Lost Love
Inspiration: a request to continue a previous Oneshot, but this time about Tella/the after math with Scarlett

Red and gold tears fell silently down Scarlett's face. She turned away from the mirror and tried to ignore the colour of her tears because they were one more thing that reminded her of what she had lost.

Julian.

Love.

Mortality.

Tella.

And the worst part was, Tella wouldn't even learn what had become of her from Scarlett, it would be from someone else; most likely Julian. The boy who could no longer feel love for her. She could no longer feel love for him, or her little sister who loved her all too fiercely. It was a shame, really, how someone with such a pure heart could so easily turn into a monster.

She hadn't noticed it until now, but there was a letter atop her dresser, and she curiously picked up the brittle parchment with her fingers.

Meet me in the observatory tower two hours past midnight. Use the tunnels to your advantage. Tell no one.

The letter was not signed, and Scarlett knew better than to hope it was Julian or Tella, knowing it wasn't either of their handwriting. Her eyes darted to the clock that hung on her wall and realized it was eleven currently. Her first thought was to be cautious of the letter and its demands, but she had no need. Scarlett didn't have much left to lose.

There were still three hours until she was supposed to meet the mysterious person behind the letter, and tunnels which she had barely explored were still available to her. Scarlett pulled the book she remembered unlocked the tunnel entrance and set off to take her mind off of things. She remembered how her sister was intrigued by the tunnels, and her distrust towards her during Tella's first Caraval.

Scarlett smiled bitterly and couldn't help but let her mind drift off to think about how this all happened. She couldn't blame Tella, or even Legend, for her mother's mistakes. Her hand reached to drag along the rough stone walls of the tunnels and stopped abruptly when her mind came to a conclusion.

This was Scarlett's fault.

Without Scarlett, her mother would never have had to try to kill the Fallen Star. Gavriel would never have killed her mother, and he most definitely would not have hurt her Julian the way he did.

She felt sick. She wanted to drain all of the magical blood from her body until she was nothing more than a normal, human, mortal girl.

There was a clatter, more of a bang, and Scarlett startled. Had Gavriel caught her? Was it someone else? Perhaps another Fate?

Scarlett tapped into her magic and tried to find the colour of the intruder's emotions. As she turned a corner, the wind was knocked out of her.

Blonde curls and a clumsy expression stood in front of her, and was rushing to put an old relic back together.

"Donatella?"

Tella's eyes flashed to her sister's, and Scarlett wanted to scream at her to run. "Scar! You're okay!"

Okay? Scarlett was far from okay.

Tella launched herself at Scarlett, arms wrapping around her fiercely. "God's teeth, I was so worried. Legend and I saw the note Julian left and came immediately, but we couldn't find you guys without alerting the Fates' attention. Speaking of Julian, where is he... Scar, what's the matter? You're acting all weird and stiff. You usually give the best hugs."