Reverse Villainess

Nova's Nightmare.

Aurora failed to wake Nova up. That was embarrassing. She was sure she had done it right. She touched Nova's chest, approximately where her heart is, and then summoned her light magic to it. Her magic was working normally. Light came from her hand, and she felt the warmth. But nothing happened. Nova was still unconscious.

She tried again several times, but still, nothing happened. Her magic didn't have any effect. That confused her. Maybe the problem was not in her heart? Aurora then tried the same thing on Nova's head, but it was the same. Nothing happened. Even as a last resort, Aurora decided to use her light magic on Nova's entire body, but it was all meaningless. Her magic had no effect.

In the end, she could only admit defeat and tell the prince, who was staring at her full of hope, that she couldn't do it. The disappointed expression on Casper's face felt like physical damage to her. But nothing else could be done. She apologized and left the room.

In the empty corridors, she stared at her own hand. "Why isn't it working?" Aurora wondered.

"Because I put myself in that condition on purpose, stupid," Nova said.

Aurora jumped in surprise, looking around. She was sure she had just heard Nova's voice, yet there was nobody around.

"What...?" Aurora said in confusion.

Nova laughed. "You won't find me like that. I'm not talking to you using a physical body."

Aurora gulped. Again. She didn't hear wrong, Nova did talk to her. But not using a physical body, she said? So... she was inside her head or something?

"What's going on...?" Aurora asked. "How can you talk to me like this? Are you a ghost...?"

"You wish," Nova snorted. "Obviously I'm not dead yet. That time near the pond, I found out that the plan wasn't working. The monster got defeated, the second prince failed, James lost to Finnick, nothing was working out. So I decided to make myself unconscious."

"Why...?" Aurora asked.

"They won't execute me if I'm unconscious, right?" Nova said.

Well, that's true, Aurora thought to herself. That's pretty cunning of her. But then again, that's actually mean...

"So you're running away," Aurora said.

"Yes," Nova said, irritated. "What? Want to mock me?"

"Not really," Aurora said. She felt like teasing her a little, but that might not be a good idea to do with someone who's not your friend. So instead, Aurora asked, "But why can you talk to me like this?"

"When I stabbed you," Nova said, "I injected my darkness magic into you. It's mostly disappeared now that you're cleansing it using your light magic. But not completely. I'm using the remaining darkness inside your heart to make this connection. Pretty neat, huh?"