Where It Went Wrong, A Red Queen Fanfiction: Completed

Chapter 20

"You're not in trouble, Xena. Yet I must know, under what circumstances were you injured in? I should know for further references and protection of the troops that we take with us."

Xena bites her lip, but nods firmly. "I think it would purely be easiest if I showed you the memories. If I am just wanting to transfer a memory, then it shouldn't cause you much more pain than a couple pins and needles."

Before I know it; the King of Norta, some of the most trusted Silver nobles, Bronx, Cameron, Kilorn, and I are seated in a circle, scattered around the table. Holding hands, almost like one of the programs that I watched when I was younger with a storyteller.

Only this time, the whole situation is much more grave.

As I hold hands with Maven, Xena sits on his right. I'm sure that any other girl her age would be perturbed by being this close to the boy King of Norta. But Xena being Xena and what she's already been through, she doesn't seem to care in the slightest. After all, her brother is on her other side.

To my strange satisfaction, I can see that Marcus and Evangeline are seated together. With their hands clasped together. Although it appears that they are trying to squeeze the other's fingers to death, it still make me wonder.

"Alright," Xena says, checking that everyone is linked in some way. Her eyes flit over Kilorn's for a moment, and then she turns to wink at me. I return the gesture hesitantly. After all, she is just a bit younger than you. She's not as mature as the others think that she is. "Just a fair warning, I've only done this once before. And, I suppose, not with a group as large as this one. Bronx told me that it hurts a little, so I guess if you don't like that - you shouldn't be here."

Nobody seems to object, and she nods. "You can go ahead, Xena. When you're ready." Maven says. His eyes stare at the wall in front of him, devoid of emotion.

After a quick intake of breath, she's already closed her eyes. I follow suite, and tension fills the air as we await the memory.

It seizes each of us in an instant, and I can feel a prick of pain in my hands. The pain spreads momentarily around my body, and then it disappears.

I stand amongst the fighting soldiers, yet they all seem oblivious to my presence. Each of the fighters glares passionately for something, though I'm not sure why some of them are fighting. If I looked hard enough, I would probably be able to see myself fighting along my comrades.

Yet my attention is brought in front of me, where I see the two siblings of the Scarlet Guard together. Two men circle the pair. Xena eyes them with a certain recognition. Bronx, on the other hand, appears completely oblivious as to who the men are.

One sports strangely sharpened teeth, which only accentuates his eerie grin."We remember you, girl with the gloves," states the toothy man, making Xena pale. Bronx furrows his brows. "Stay away from us," he orders.

He looks slightly out of place using his power, but he uses it all the same. The pair stay back, but this cannot stop their taunts. "Are you carrying out with our plan, the deal we made?" The other man, whose eyes appear to be completely dead, are tilted with disinterest. 

The scene cuts, and I'm confused as to what they're talking about. What awaits in front of me seems a little fuzzier, and I infer that this was a little while ago. Xena looks slightly younger, and she is on her own. Except for two very familiar Lakeland men.

"We know all about your power, little girl. Surely you know that it would be very powerful, and that in turn could make you better. Nobody would know about your brother or parents. You would be ever powerful, second to royalty. Not just here, trying to help a rebel group that is despised by royalty."

"I have no desire to desert, so I don't know why you're trying to talk about this to me. I adore my brother and parents, and I would never turn my back on the group that rescued me. They took my brother and I to a better place."

"There would be an award, you know," the sharp toothed man says. "A medal. Perhaps if you fail to comply to our wishes, something would happen to your brother. We know exactly where he is. The honours?"

The other man opens his eyes slightly wider, then shuts them. "Her brother is reading in one of the rooms."

"How would you like it if we killed him? Or one of your allies, perhaps? Surely they wouldn't like you then. You could do it in secret at first, and they'd never know. We'll honour your choice. Perhaps you won't even be bothered for a while, so long as you give us your word."

Young Xena looks terrified, and she nods. The scene flits back to the one from before, and I notice how the men look almost the same, though Xena looks distinctly worried. I've never seen her look this way, as if these men can control her.

"Are you following through, then?" Toothy man asks, and Xena freezes. Bronx just looks on, a look of awe covering his face. Underneath his breath, I think I can hear him murmur, "just like in a book."

All it takes is a slight hesitation. Bronx's face contorts into an expression of understanding, and he braces himself. 

But it is too late. 

The man with the strange eyes charges for Xena's brother, brandishing some type of contraption that I've never seen the likes of before. He tackles Bronx, and slams down a small silvery box. Jumping out of the way, the man evades what happens next. The small box opens up, and strange mechanized arms spread out like tentacles, surrounding him in seconds.

Everything is going blurry around me, and I turn to see that the two men have attacked Xena. One pins down her arms so that she can't take her gloves off. The other has a knife, and holds it to her throat. In his other hand, a second is pressed to her exposed wrist.

The scene around me begins to fade as Xena beings to lose consciousness, but I can still see what happens next. The men cackle together and jump away, but not before they take the box with them. "Try and save her now," the toothy man snarls, and disappears with the flick of the wrist.

The last thing that I hear is Bronx crying out in anguish and terror. Then, he starts shouting, "how dare you? Naïve of you to think that she'll die."

Her brother crouches over her, and presses his thumb over Xena's cut on her throat. "You'll be okay," he begins weakly, but then clears his throat. "You'll be okay, I'll make sure of it." Her body convulses, and then the whole scenes gets fuzzier, so much so that I cannot see a thing.

I jolt back into reality as Xena finishes the memories, and her face is red. There is a sheen of sweat that covers her forehead, but I'm more interested in her expression. She looks defeated. As she drops her hand, I finally get a glimpse at the vicious cut that still hasn't fully healed on her wrist. She has been hiding it from the world ever since the incident.

She quickly sits down in her seat where we had all been seated before. Wordlessly - Silvers, Reds and newbloods alike - we all follow suite, eager to discuss what has just happened.

Suddenly, everything begins to fall into place. Maven and I exchange a look of pure confusion, but most of the Silvers are unreadable. One or two look furious, but I am most intrigued to see Bronx's face. He looks absolutely shocked, eyes widened. Suddenly, they narrow, and he voices my exact thoughts - and probably the thoughts that everyone is having in the room.

"Xena, you betrayed us? You betrayed us and the Scarlet Guard?"

Author's note:

Attached is Tearin' Up My Heart by NSYNC. I think it really describes Mare's relationships with Cal and Maven at the moment. ;) Thank you all so much for reading, I can't believe that this story has 2K views!!

- Inkpen_Scroll