Crystal Kingdoms • Book 1 Of The Crystal Trilogy | ✔️

-| 28 / guilt |-

Crystal buried her face in her hands and started sobbing. Phoebe and Scott were frozen.

"I swear, I didn't mean to! I was aiming for his shoulder but he attacked Phoebe and I panicked and missed!", the princess cried.

"She's crying, what do I do?", Scott muttered at his sister.

"Go comfort her.", Phoebe replied.

"How do I do that?", he asked again, even more confused this time.

"Start with a hug!"

"You're kidding me.", he shook his head.

"Nope. It's your choice...", Phoebe wanted to give him a sly smirk, but all that came out was a shrug. If someone like Crystal could kill someone, that meant that anyone could and that didn't really make the world seem like a better place. It actually made it seem like a worse place than it really was and Phoebe wasn't in the mood for that.

Scott grumbled, but sat down next to Crystal. She didn't seem to notice, so Scott turned to look at his sister again. She nodded slowly, urging him to do what she'd told him.

He gulped and patted Crystal's shoulder. "Hey, princess?", he started. She looked up, still sobbing. "Alright, come here...", he hugged her. Scott couldn't see Phoebe, but he could clearly imagine her smug smirk.

Phoebe, on the other hand, could practically feel the awkwardness. She facepalmed and shook her head. Scott really wanted to give her the middle finger, but Crystal started sobbing in his shoulder so he decided to comfort her first.

He patted her back, trying to be comforting or whatever. He wasn't good at this whole emotions thing, so he didn't really know what he was doing and if he was doing it right.

"I'm not going to tell you to stop crying. That never helps. Just let it all out.", he told her quietly. He didn't know if she'd heard him, but she did start sobbing harder.

Phoebe started pacing around nervously. She had to admit to herself that she didn't just get Scott to make Crystal feel better, but she also wanted to distract him from the fact that their friend had just killed a person and that they'd be the number one suspects for it. Everyone had seen the fight and chase break out between them and the guy with the tattoo.

They'd be on the run anyway. Scott's fear was coming true. The only way to get out of this was if Scott actually delivered on his infamous mission and Phoebe couldn't just make him do that, especially after she'd told him to take care of himself and do what was best for him. Besides, Crystal was a good person. She might have made a mistake, which happened by accident, but she didn't deserve to be betrayed like that.

Phoebe tried to forget that this whole idea even crossed her mind. She felt guilty about coming up with it. She'd never push her brother into doing something like this, even if it was his idea in the first place. And, of course, under no circumstance would she betray Crystal. She'd taken a liking into the redhead.

The sound of footsteps made them all freeze. Crystal and Scott both turned to look towards the source of the sound, while still holding onto each other. Phoebe clenched her fists, readying herself to fight in case someone decided to give them away.

Two different voices, one of them familiar, were approaching hurriedly. When one of the two women turned to look in the alley, Phoebe lunged at her tackling her to the ground.

"Gah!", she screamed.

"Violet?", Scott asked in confusion.

"Ouch...", she groaned. The other woman was a stranger to them, though she really looked like Crystal. She must have been the woman Phoebe had described earlier.