Kingdoms

27

{Ari}

"Am I seeing things or is the Ari Miller siting at a bar torn in pieces?" Ivory sits down next to me, "That such a me thing to do."
"It's sparkling water." I say
"Of course, no matter how screwed up your life is you still refuse to drink."
"What are you doing here? Passing out in a bathroom was a regular occurrence for you last year and I thought you were trying to avoid that." I say
"This is cranberry juice." She says, "So what's up?"
"Remember about a year ago when you had just broken up with Allison and I told you to stop drowning yourself in self-pity?"
"You told me to get off my ass and do something productive." She says
"And you told me that if Alex and I broke up I'd fall apart into a million pieces." I say, "You were wrong."
"How the hell was a wrong?" She asks
"It's a lot more than a million." I say, "I always thought we'd be forever, we were "the power couple" or whatever you called us, she has saved my life so many times I've lost count."
"You're first love is never gonna last forever." She says
"But I wanted it to so badly." Tears run down my cheeks, "I wanted to have a happy life with her so desperately that I poured everything I had into us, I should've seen this coming."
"It's hard, but it always gets better." She says, "The sun always comes back up." I sigh.
"If it helps, she's a bigger mess than you are." She says
"That does not help." I say
"I'm not really the advice giver," She says, "That's kinda your job."
"That's helpful." I get up.
"Where are you going?" She appears next to me.
"I'm doing what I always do." I say, "Burry myself in work until I forget what's wrong."
"That's not really a healthy solution." She says
"It's healthier than yours." I say
"So I'm trying to help you and all you do is talk about all of my bad decisions?" She says, "I know they were bad, but all of that started because I was in the same situation you're in now."
"I didn't ask for help." I say
"You never ask for help!"
"Because I don't need it." I say sternly
"Really? I could've sworn you needed help when we were younger and you were terrified of anyone touching you because you were afraid they'd hurt you. We had a sleepover almost every night at my house because you didn't want to go home." She says, "I'm pretty sure you needed help when you kept all your emotions bottled up until everyone was asleep and you let it all out on yourself."
"Ivory-"
"Remember that night I found you? We both cried and you told me I was the closest thing to a family you ever had, we were sisters." She says, "So sorry for worrying about you, but I'm not letting you bottle everything up until you're numb again." I stare at her for a second.
"You had a sister and you pushed her away." I say, "I was just her replacement." She stops and looks up at me.
"You'll never replace Lucy." She keeps walking, "Have fun bottling up your emotions."

{Ursa}

"That doesn't look good." Shelby says
"Really? I didn't notice." I say, "I can barely even move my arm."
"There's nothing you can do?" Lauren asks
"If there was I would've done it my now." I say
"So the Source is the only way to get rid of it?"
"Unless I want to get rid of my Phantom powers." I say, "But it's too late for that."
"Um... Ursa!" Skye calls, "You need to calm Alex down."
"So they actually broke up this time." Greta sighs.
"Well, I have to go save a forest." I sigh

Alex screams, flames burst out of the ground.
"Are you done yet?" I ask. She swings her sword at a tree and sets it on fire.
"Ok, maybe I shouldn't trust you with a sword when you're upset." I say. Flames surround me.
"Ok, so I'm not really comfortable around fire so could you maybe just put this out?" I back up. The fire goes out.
"Uh, Skye sent me down here because she heard Alex scream and she knows you don't do well with fire." Callum says
"Yeah, stay back." I say, "Ari bottles up her emotions and Alex let's them all out." Alex screams again.
"Is the forest gonna be alright?" He asks
"As long as the she makes sure the fire doesn't..." The flames get closer to me, "They're spreading."
"I can put them out." Callum says
"Please do." I back up against a tree. He waves his hand and the fire goes out.
"So how long until she calms down?" He asks
"She never fully calms down," I say, "We just need to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone." The fire bursts up again.
"Ok, another thing we can do is chain her to a tree." I say, "Still very fire-y but less dangerous." I wave my hand and chains form around her, tethering her to the nearest tree.
"Can you put the fire out now?" He waves his hand and the fire goes out.
"So where's Ari?" Callum asks.
"With Ivory," I say, "Or blocking herself off and burring herself in work. Ari and Alex balance each other out."
"Oh yeah, Greta called them the chaotic duo."
"Yeah, Alex and Ari are basically exact opposites." I say, "Plus Alex is an actual devil so you're probably gonna see that."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, she has horns and everything. You didn't know?"
"Uh... no?" Alex screams again and Callum puts out the fire.
"Are you don't yet?" I ask. She nods, "Finally." I wave my hand and the chains disappear.
"Callum, you can go back up." I say, "Tell Skye we'll be up in a sec."
"Ok." He disappears
"You good or are you gonna cry?"
"I'm not gonna cry." She says, "I'm just not good yet either."
"Reasonable."
"You can go, I'll be up soon."
"Ok but if you burn the forest down you're in a lot of trouble." I say
"Ok mom." She jokes. I teleport back upstairs.