Incineration [I]

The Witch Herself

I gasp. Butch immediately drops down next to Kate, his eyes wide with horror.

"Kate..." He manages in a choked voice.

He pulls the knife from her stomach, and she cries out in pain. Amelia sits down next to him, her practical instincts kicking in. She closes her eyes.

"We need something to staunch the blood flow. Damien, go tear off some of the curtain."

Trevor obeys, tearing through the curtain as if it were a sheet of paper. I watch his muscles flex absentmindedly. He takes the swath of black curtain and hands it to Amelia.

"You guys leave. I think I can take care of her."

Kate opens her mouth to speak, but coughs up blood instead.

"I-" She manages. "I tried, daddy..." She says in a whisper. "I tried..."

Butch's eyes are pooling with tears.

"Kate, what do you mean?"

"The lady...with the black dress...I cut her...she didn't die..." She whispers, closing her eyes.

"She means my mother." I say tersely, heading to the window.

I push away the shred curtain and glare out into the open. I see her, crawling towards her volcano; on the bridge she had built from the castle to Regina et Wrǣppu. For what, I'm not exactly sure, but whatever her purpose is, it can't be good.

Amelia's sigh of despair is the next thing I hear.

"She's worse off than I thought. I might need help carrying her out."

Butch readily volunteers, and I hear Trevor say something like,

"I'll go make a stretcher..."

But my thoughts are focused elsewhere. I stare angrily out the window. She's not dead yet. And I can't let her go unpunished. With this being the only thought in my mind, I jump out of the window. The thought crosses my mind that I might be falling to my death. I can't fly! If I land on the bridge I'll break my neck. My only hope to survive is that Trevor will catch me...but he doesn't.

I land on my leg awkwardly, and grit my teeth to keep from screaming. I'm sure I heard something snap. Nevertheless, I regain what little composure I have left, and start to crawl after my mother. Inch by agonizing inch, I follow her with only one thought on my mind: making that horrible woman pay for all the lives she has taken. But the pain in my leg is agonizing; it's taking everything I have to keep going, dragging my useless leg behind me. Finally I just can't take it anymore, I collapse in pain. The ground is starting to fade out, but I see a flash of black in my peripheral vision as Trevor walks toward me. Or at least, I think it's Trevor...I'm in too much pain to think about it.

"Sophia..." He says, lifting me up.

My head rests against his chest; I feel each powerful stroke of his wings.

"Don't worry." He says, "I won't let her get away."

He soars to the volcano, which the Queen has reached by now. We land. The Queen is leaning against one of the large boulders that surround the place. She has ripped off a large portion of her dress in order to suppress the blood flowing from a deep gash in her leg.

"Ah." She says. "Your dragon boyfriend. I was hoping he'd come."

She jerks violently, and her hand releases a black cloud of energy that hits Trevor in the chest, causing him to fly backwards and let go of me. He crashes into a boulder, and blood flows from a wound in his head.

"Trevor!" I scream, but he doesn't answer.

The Queen clucks her tongue in mock sympathy.

"Poor boy. Well, he was a social outcast anyway. You couldn't have picked a better person to die on your behalf."

She looks over at him, smiling.

"If only the boy had listened to his father...he wouldn't be in the position he's in now."

She slowly walks toward me, a silver dagger in her hand.

"Are you going to kill me?" I ask defiantly. "Add one more to the list of lives you've taken?"

She smiles, in a way that is both kind and cruel.

"No, no. Killing you would be much too... painless. I think instead I'll give you scars."

She smiles and lashes out at my left eye. I scream in pain. Blood gushes out from the wound.

"You see...killing people has become very dull. So you're my first test to see if I can kill someone emotionally as well as physically. So I'll give you scars, to remind you of how you were sent to save everyone..."

She slashes across my eye again, leaving two jagged line bleeding wet, sticky blood, making it impossible to see anything out of that side. She leans in close, breathing the smell of my blood, taking in my pain.

"And how...you failed."

I choke back tears. Surely this was it...she would toy with me for a while, but soon enough, I was going to die. Maybe I should just accept it. But for some reason, I can't. I can't accept the fact that we lost. That I failed.

And then a flash of green confirms my deepest fears. My brother has come to save me.

"Will, don't! She's got a-"

But I am too late. A cry of pain pierces the night and my brother crumples to the ground, his severed leg falling with him. He stumbles a few steps backwards, eyes wide with fear.

"You deserve to burn in hell with all the inferior, you Cryosian monster!" She screams.

All time stops, as the Queen pushes William over the edge of the volcano.

"No!" I scream, but nothing can change the fact that my only brother is gone. William is dead.

All the rage begins boiling up inside me.

"How could you?" I demand. "He was your only son! How could you?"

"You demons were never my children. Least of all him." She spits.

"You deserve to die." I say.

And with all my rage, I pull a knife from my belt and swing at her with one final attack, my knife slicing through her side. She screams and doubles over in pain.

Yes...I think in my mind slowly. Someone finally struck her back.

It should be a victorious thought, but I can feel my life slowly bleeding out of me, and I know this is the end. I didn't win.

And suddenly, the dark sky fills up with a bright light.

I'm going to be with my father now... I think.

But the light is so blinding I have to look away. Before I do, I see Amelia, flying on golden wings of splendor. I look away, but apparently the Queen doesn't, for I hear her screams of agony and look up seconds later to see her body plummeting over the edge of the volcano.

Amelia lands, the golden wings disappear, and I wonder if I ever saw them at all of if I was only imagining them.