The Queen's Shadow

Battle of Minds

~~~Apollos

"Orm, what are you doing here?" I asked her almost baffled that she was even here. 'I finished talking to Mother, she will not be participating in the battle.' I was somehow happy that she released that weight off my chest. "I need your help." The words came out of me quickly, I didn't expect them to come out. She then said, 'With?'

I took time to explain it to her, it felt like it was forever but I said everything that happened only minutes ago. She rubs her chin as she says, 'It's a quagmire of a position.' I can't believe I heard her admit that it would be. It's also a decision that must be made and cannot be ignored. I look down, defeated. I take a deep sigh as I then sigh, "Damned if I do, damned if I don't," She then puts her hand on her shoulder and says, 'Brother, you don't have to make that hard choice by yourself if you don't want to. I can make it for you if you want me to,'

I begin to clench my hands so tightly that blood begins to come out of them. 'You don't have to make that choice by yourself, you don't have to make it when others can handle it,' I then look at her and say, "No, I don't think I'll need you to decide that," She nods as she says, 'If you need me to make that choice whether in the heat of battle or before the battle starts, just let me know,' It's then that I see men walking behind her, men covered in white, slowly making their way out of the shadows and out of the snow.

"You brought all of these people with you?" I say with a curious face. She smiles and says, 'I'm not the first princess for nothing. I told you, brother, Mother left. That did not mean I would not be here,' I smile, grateful for the first time in a while that I have someone here to help me. 'I'll allow you to meditate on everything that's happened, Apollos, and good luck. Whatever conclusion you come to, I will support,' With that, she turns back around, heading back into the barracks.

They all went back to the barracks, I could see at least 200 men. It was then that I saw Priscilla, she was wearing a white fur coat. She wore a school uniform with a white shirt, blue dress, and snow boots. Her hair was done in pigtails and she's smiling at me. 'I know vampires don't feel cold, brother but don't you think you should dress appropriately?' she says with a smiling face. I looked at my hands and realized that even though I wasn't frost-bitten, I had been outside in the cold for an extended time. Snow started forming all over me, I started cracking my body as I unstuck myself from the snow.

One thing I do think that I'll miss is that I never get cold. Being cold teaches you to appreciate being in the warmth, being in the cold teaches you how to respect the heat. It took me back to when I was fighting in the war and how we all had to stay close to be warm. I walk back into the base and turn on a hot shower, I see Anastasia and Nadia sitting in my room. She couldn't stand sleeping by herself and her mother wanted someone watching while she comforts her daughter.

What could I do? Tell her no? Her daughter hasn't warmed up to me and she doesn't know me yet but she knows I'm with her mother and she knows I'm here to protect her and her mother. I wonder how she's going to react when she realizes she's going to have a half-brother, I think to myself. I find myself nervous at the thought of having another child especially since I've had three of them ripped away from me so easily. It's then that I find myself, wondering why I wanted to save her. Then I realized that I lost everything and saving people was still natural to me. Some part of me still wanted to save these people even though the chance was slim.

I still wanted to do the right thing so something prompted me to do something I wouldn't ever do. I went to talk to Orm, and she nodded and heard my plea. It was a plea, it wasn't anything more than that. She then rubbed her chin as she said, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' I looked at her and I said, "Honestly, no but I'm doing it anyway. Some part of Hans has to know I'm alive. Everything I've done over the past few days will help to make him believe I'm alive. If not, he's not as smart as I think he is,"