Prevail and Rise

6 - The Tale Of Bert. Oh, Sorry, Is This The Wrong Time To Tell A Sob Story? 😶

Aiden was glad for his best friend. Like, really glad.

When Brynne had made her appearance with the other chefs, it had interrupted a very... awkward conversation with King Haru from the Frinesha Kingdom... about marriage decorations.

Aiden was pretty sure the wedding was in a year. The only reason that Arundha... sorry, Aru, was here at the castle was for them two to get to know each other before the whole wedding thing.

Brynne and the other chefs walked in, holding a bunch of dishes. Aiden saw Aru fighting to hold back a grin, Mini right next her. They were talking like old friends. Mini burst out laughing, Aru doing the same af-

Wait-

What was that on her wrist?

Aiden had seen it earlier, but it was a normal bracelet. Now, it was crackling with electricity, dimming and brightening.

This was not normal. And Aiden was going to find out exactly what was going on here.

~~~~~

Turns out, not only did Brynne and Mini work at the Castle, but Sheela and Nikita did too. Everyone from Aru's old friend group was living and working in the castle, other than Aru and Kara.

Such betrayal.

"So, you're telling me, all four of you, left me in Nottingham, and you all, are working at the castle, living your own lives, not wasting a second thought on me?" Aru said, waving a glass of mango lassi at Brynne, Mini, Nikita and Sheela. "Well, when you say it like that..." Brynne said. Sheela raised her hand "I had visions about you,".

"Okay, look, what matters now, you're here now, but it doesn't seem like you're happy about it," Mini said, sharing a quick glance with Brynne.

Aru felt uneasy. "I mean, not right now, but it has to happen someday... believe it or not, I just got out of a relationship," Aru said. "Really?" All four of them leaned in, whether subtly or not at all. Sheela had a neutral face, probably because she already knew, Nikita had a wide eyed face, Brynne looked like she was probably thinking 'Blackmail time' , and Mini looked like she was about to list all the disease that you could get from kissing.

Aru bit a piece of Kaju Bhurfi off. "This is really good Brynne," Aru said, covering her mouth because it was full. "Thanks, I'll tell Harrison you said that. He'll freak. You're the talk of the kitchen. Future queen, all that stuff." Brynne said. "Everyone's talking about you," Sheela said. Nikita backed up it up, saying "You're all the other seamstresses could talk about for a whole day! And they gossip about everything at the speed of light!". "Same here with the Royal Guard," Mini said.

Aru's heartbeat quickened. This is for the greater good. We're not bad or evil. We're doing this to end their tyranny, Aru thought again. "You okay, Shah?" Brynne asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," Aru said, snapping out of it. "I saw you with the same ghost face at the beginning. Are you sure you're okay?" Mini said, her "doctor tone" on. "Yeah, uh, just, you know, pressure," Aru said, eating a slice of cake.

"Tell us about your 'relationship'," Nikita said.

"Well, originally, he was a cover up story for school," Aru started, leaning in.

"Every time I took long leaves from school with Dad, as an excuse I'd say, 'I got Mono from kissing my boyfriend, Bert,'"

Brynne was already laughing. "You-you had a-a boy-boyfriend named B-Bert!" She wheezed. "Shut up! Let me tell the whole story!" Aru said, fighting back a grin "So anyway, you all know Poppy,"

"The selfish brat who no one likes except herself? Pretty hard to forget," Mini said.

"Totally agree, but that's not the point right now," Aru said.

"Anyway, Poppy, she comes up to me, all snobby, one day in school, and her goons, Arielle and Burton are right behind her, and she's all like 'I don't believe you have a boyfriend' and I'm like 'I do too' she's like 'do not' and I'm like 'do too' and she's like 'do not' and I'm like 'D2' and she's like 'R2' and then she's like 'oh my gosh Shah!' and all that, and then I'm like 'too bad' and she's like, trying to be cool, and she says, 'prove it' and you guys know I'm a pushover say I say, 'sure'."

"This is the moment when you know something terrible is going to happen," A voice says from behind Aru. Kara comes and sits down next to them. "Shush! I'm telling them the Tale of Bert!" Aru scolded. "Is this really the time to tell them about your supposed sob story?" Kara said, motioning around. "That... makes sense. I'll tell you guys later." Aru said. "Come on, Kara!" Nikita complained.

Sheela's eye's widened suddenly, and she shot out of her seat, drawing out a dagger from her dress. An alarm rang out a second later, half the room standing up, drawing weapons from their holsters and hiding places. Mini, Brynne, and Nikita were standing up too. Nikita had plants floating up beside her, Mini had pulled Dee Dee out, and Brynne had pulled Gogo from its choker state around her neck. They all were in fighting stances.

Aru put a hand on Vajra, and saw Kara do the same with Sunny. "What's going on?" Aru whispered at Mini. "Ambush on the castle! Get your weapons out!" Mini hissed at the sisters.

Aru glanced at Kara, who nodded at Aru. The sisters pulled out their celestial weapons, transforming them into weapons.

Vajra crackled in Aru's hands, ready to electrocute anyone. Kara stepped closer to her sister. "Show of strength and trust. Relax. This is a set-up" She whispered.

Wha-

The doors burst open, revealing... Sleeper Soldiers?

The uniforms were unmistakable, but the insignia on the sleeve... it was a crescent moon, with a cloud in front of it.

That was mostly right, except the actual insignia had a grey shadow, with yellow sparks, which symbolled the Sleeper's shadow powers, mixed with Kara's and Aru's celestial weapons' sparks.

Aru looked at Kara, who smirked. The gears turned in her head. Then, it clicked.

"Are you kidding me!" Aru grumbled under her breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes! Double update, accomplished!

I feel like I need to do double updates more often, to get me motivated. So, congratulations, you get double updates from now on!

~V