Royal Blood

Chapter 20 Farewell

It was the morning after the ball, the group was excited to go home and had their bags packed and ready to go.
Serina and Milo were still at the sleeping quarters, Milo still trying to calm Serina down about coming to a new world.
Kris did not come down for breakfast, too sad at the thought of Amber and his new friends leaving. They put him in charge of running the kingdom with the council of twelve for after they left. Even though it was an honor, Kris didn't want to do it, but he accepted anyway.
Jake, Luna, Zane, and Dennis excitedly chattered amongst themselves at breakfast. They were finally going home.
Amber stayed quiet, deep in thought and barely responding as she played with her food.
"Hey Amber you okay?" Luna asked, noticing Amber's strange behavior. Amber snapped out of her thoughts for a second, "Huh? Yeah I'm fine."
"Anything on your mind?" Luna asked.
"I have to make a decision. A big one at that." Amber quickly slid out of her seat running upstairs to the bedrooms, her food half eaten.
"That's weird." Jake said, "I wonder what's up?"

Amber stood in front of Kris' door, wondering if she should knock or not.
She knocked on the door a few times. Silence. "Kris?"
"Amber?" She heard.
"Yeah, can I come in?"
"Uhhh, sure."
Amber opened the door and there was Kris, who just sat up and started fixing his hair, "Sorry. I've just kinda woken up." He lied. He'd been there for hours, mentally preparing himself to say goodbye to his friends.
"Ah don't worry. I just wanted to hang out." She sat down on the bed next to him, "So... we're leaving today."
Kris sighed, "yeah. I know." He lied back down, there wasn't enough energy for him to sit up.
Amber lied down too and turned to face Kris, "I'm going to miss this place. Even with all the terrors and heels and stuff."
Kris chuckled, "I'm going to miss you guys." A hint of sadness in his voice.
Kris moved closer and pulled Amber into a hug, "I'm going to miss you the most, Amber." He whispered.
Amber was surprised at first but slowly wrapped her arms around his torso, "I'll miss you too, Kris."

Jake, Luna, and Zane looked excitedly at each other as the portal opened. They were finally going home, a place they missed ever so dearly.
Serina was scared, but she felt calm once Milo took her hand in his. A world without magic. She could barely imagine what it would be like there.
"Ready guys?" Jake asked as they all held each other's hands.
But Amber did not share the excitement the others had.
Amber looked at Kris who was smiling at them. But she could see his pain and sadness. She could tell he didn't want them to leave. And she didn't want to leave either.
"Wait." Amber pulled her hand out of Luna's, "I'm staying."
They all looked at her in surprise. Even Kris was taken back at her sudden decision.
"Why Amber? Don't you want to go home?" Zane asked.
"Where we're going, where you're telling me is home, is not home. At least not for me. In this entire journey, not once did I want to go back. In my entire life, not once did I feel like that place was home. I know it sounds cliche,  but I never belonged there. I never will belong there. I have nothing going for me there. I have no future there. I'll be lucky if I land some minimum wage job at a restaurant when I'm older or end up in Trupin hall. If I go back, I'll be going back into a prison. It is a cage I can't go back to living in. You all have families, people that care about you, people that miss you. I don't have that there..." Amber fell silent as she tried to take a deep breath, holding back her tears.
Jake put a hand on her shoulder, "But we'll miss you Amber. This group would be incomplete without you."
Amber shook her head, "You guys will do fine without me." She said, her voice shaking,  "No one will notice my disappearance. I'll just be another runaway orphan. We're not worth their time to look for. Besides, here I have people who care about me as much as you guys do... and I have people I care about too." She said looking at Kris, "I have a better chance at a good life here. Go. Live your lives. Be with the people that care about you. You can always visit me here."
Kris stared at Amber, "Are you sure you want to stay Amber? You'll leaving behind a lot by staying here."
She nodded and spoke in a soft voice, "Yes. I want to stay. You're the one person that would be the the hardest for me to leave. I would give up everything I have in that world to stay here. It's impossible for me to leave you, Kris."
Kris' heart skipped a beat. He was a reason she was staying. He could barely contain how he felt at this moment. He was on the verge of bursting into tears of happiness.
The three watched the touching moment, looking at each other and nodded, their eyes beginning to moisten. They accepted Amber's choice to stay.
"Well then guys." Luna said, breaking the silence and wiping away any oncoming tears. "I guess we should go home now."
The boys nodded, "Goodbye Amber, Kris. Hopefully we see you again soon." Jake said, smiling.
"We'll miss you guys." Zane said.
"Thanks guys." Amber turned to them and smiled, "Don't take too long to visit."
They laughed at hugged each other goodbye. The four then held each other's hands. They started out practically hating each other, and now they were the closest friends.
"Time to go home." They waved at Amber and Kris as they disappeared into the portal, finally going home.

"I wonder how long we've been gone?" Jake asked.
"Not sure but everything looks the same around here." Luna said.
"Well I guess I'll see you guys at school then." Zane sighed.
"Ya know we can always hang out Zane." Jake chuckled.
"Oh yeah."
"Oo guess who's phone just got service!" Luna cheered. "Wait that's weird. My phone says it's the day we left here, to save Milo."
"Lu, uh I mean Luna try calling Sam?" Dennis suggested.
"Oh Sam I missed him." She said dialing the phone. "Hello! Sam!"
"You sound as if you haven't seen me in weeks." He chuckled from the other line. "Where have you been, haven't seen you since the party, it's been a few hours, you should get home before Miss Nolan finds out."
"Kay!" She quickly said hanging up.
"Guys literally no time has passed since we left how is this remotely possible."
"Maybe it's like in Narnia and time freezes here?" Jake suggested.
"Uh not quite, I think I might have done it on accident." Zane admitted.
"Accidentally?" Luna questioned.
"Well I have frozen time before and I guess when we were leaving I was afraid of missing something so I guess I froze it for a while hehe."
"This would of shocked me a few weeks ago but now it seems normal." Milo chuckled placing his arm around Serina.
"Wait Milo where will I stay?" Serina asked worriedly.
"Well with us of course."
"What?" Both Jake and Serina said surprised.
"But the master of the house?"
"Um we don't have titles like that here." He chuckled at how cute she was, "I'll teach you some slang, and he won't even notice. That is if someone doesn't blow it first."
"I won't, I won't." Dennis complied.
"Ya know we may not have families of our own but I think we just made one." Luna sighed.
"Guess we'll see each other tomorrow at school then." Zane said.
"I graduated last year, don't worry." Milo muted to Serina.
"See you tomorrow," Jake said
They all began to walk their separate ways when Jake turned back, calling Zane and Luna.
"Hey uh thanks for coming along on this roller coaster. If it weren't for you guys I would be brother less and I don't know what I'd do.
"No thank you Jake I speak for myself and not sure about Zane, but in a way you guys saved me, I made a real family, and had fun even though I almost died a bunch." Luna laughed.
"My thoughts exactly." Zane chucked.
"Oh and don't forget Max needs a surprise party, Amber told me to remind you." Jake chuckled.
"Never thought id say this but I miss Amber."
"Ya know she has that effect on people."  The three hugged, sighed, and separated once more.
***
Kris tossed and turned in his new bed as his dreams disturbed his sleep.
A black bound tome fluttered in his sight. Locked with an ancient spell. Golden inscriptions all over the cover . As he leans closer a laced heeled boot steps on it and  an old women pale as snow picked it up and laughed maniacally as she turns back the hands of time and is now a beautiful young woman.
He sat upright sweat dripping down everywhere heart beating fast as he catches his breath
"Milo? You ok?"