The two quickly drop to their knees and dig their hands into the sand beneath them, Reine wincing in pain at the temperature of it. She pulls her hands against her chest instinctively, and Parish's head snaps to look at her.

"Wrap your cloak around your hands," Jimin says in a rushed but gentle voice, his hands moving quickly to dig into the desert floor. "It'll protect you from getting burned. Dig like your life depends on it... because it does."

She quickly does as he suggests, making sure her skin is protected before rejoining Jimin's attempts to dig to the box's location.

As the two get a decent-sized hole forming in the sand between them, the ground rumbles and he freezes for a moment, his wide eyes locking onto her as her heart leaps in her throat.

"Keep digging," Jimin says, standing and loading an arrow into his bow. "Don't stop digging, no matter what. Get to the box. My arrows can't pierce its skin but I'll do my best to hold it off."

"Jimin, be careful."

The words slip from Reine's mouth before she can stop them, but she doesn't regret that they were spoken.

He glances over at her for a moment, his eyes meeting hers as he nods and sends a small, reassuring smile towards her.

Reine nods back as she moves as quickly as she can, panting as sweat pours down her face. Her muscles tire out quickly from the lack of hydration and proper sleep, but she continues to push herself, determined to reach the box - no matter how deeply it is buried.

She knows that like she is forced to be strong without her best friend and her parents, she needs to find this box.

She has no choice but to find it.

Jimin stands guard, keeping his loaded bow raised as he stands beside Reine, his eyes sharp as he watches every direction for any sign of movement. He pulls his mask over his face, his eyes taking on an intensity Reine has never seen in them.

"I can sense it, strongly. It's here, but it's so massive that I can't tell exactly where it is."

Reine's heart pounds in her chest as she continues to dig, knowing things are about to take a turn for the worst, and she doesn't know who will show up first: Jimin's brother or the monster of Chaleuse.

Her internal question is quickly answered when Jimin yelps and is suddenly thrown into the air as a massive snake tail emerges from the depths of the sand and tosses him into the air like he weighs nothing.

He hits the ground with a loud thud, sand exploding around him from the impact. He groans loudly before yelling for Reine to keep digging as the basilisk unearths itself and comes into view.

"Don't look into its eyes!" he yells as he stands and takes off running back toward where Reine and the basilisk are.

It immediately turns toward her and the box, but she keeps digging, doing her best to keep her gaze away from its eyes.

Before the snake can get to her, Jimin runs straight into it with all of his strength, throwing it off balance as the two tumble to the side away from her as she digs desperately, not caring when the cloak falls away from her hands. She can feel the heat of the sand burning into her skin, but she knows there isn't any time to stop and wrap her hands again.

Reine yells out in fear and frustration when she continues to be met with nothing but sand. While she is frantically digging, she risks glancing over her shoulder to see Jimin being thrown around like a ragdoll by the basilisk. Every time he lands in the sand, he stands, doing his best to keep the attention away from Reine as he lets the creature throw him around like a chew toy.

She's not sure of his stamina or if he can even survive against this thing, so she presses further, determined not to give up hope that the box is buried where Jimin is sure it is. She knows that he can't beat this thing on his own; his weapon is useless against piercing its skin and at this point, he is only using himself as bait to lure it away from Reine so she can find the box.

Reine's eyes widen as Jimin gets thrown past her, and when he doesn't get back up this time, she realizes he's been knocked out. Her heart pounds even harder in her chest, almost to the point where she can't catch her breath.

Reine realizes tears are falling from her eyes when she feels them sliding down her cheeks, realizing she is now being left unprotected against a monster she can't even look at, much less defend herself against.

She knows she has to make a choice: she has to run for her life or she has to keep digging in hopes that the box she is looking for is beneath her fingertips.

She remembers running from the dragon in the forest; she remembers how she nearly died running away from something that she was not equipped to go against.

After taking a deep, steadying breath and glancing at Jimin's unmoving form for a split second, she digs her hands into the sand again, knowing that their chances will be much better with a second person fighting against this thing. She also realizes the chances of her outrunning it is slim to none and Jimin did tell her to keep digging, no matter what. She is determined to do something right this time. She has to trust that she is doing the right thing by doing what he told her. She has to trust that he will wake in time to keep her alive, since she knows at this moment, she is not able to keep herself alive without his help.

The hairs on the back of her neck stand as she hears a heavy dragging sound, and she holds her breath as she can feel the basilisk's presence behind her. She's not sure if it can see her or not; she read that though the gaze of a basilisk is deadly, its eyesight is not exceptional. It relies on its other senses to get to its prey.

She knows that the basilisk is well aware of Jimin and his scent, but maybe she has a chance to stay undetected if the basilisk stays focused on him, who needs to hold it off for a few more moments until Reine can find his brother's box. She hopes that the basilisk is so focused on finishing him off for bothering it so much, that she can get to the box before it can get to him.

As her fingertips touch something solid, however, she is thrown from the hole she had been digging and she screams as she flies through the air, landing a few hundred feet from it.

Her vision blurs as she lands in a heap in the sand, losing her ability to breathe as the wind is knocked from her lungs. As much as she tries to fight against it, darkness engulfs her until she can only feel herself drifting away.

Claire brushed through Reine's hair as the two sat in the Princess's bedroom. They were sitting together silently as Claire untangled Reine's curls, and Reine bit her lip as she stared at her friend through the mirror.

"I hate this," Reine said quietly.

Claire didn't meet Reine's gaze. "Me too."

Reine sighed, turning to fully face Claire. "Please talk to me. You're always here for me when I need a friend. You always put a smile on my face when I would prefer to do nothing other than cry. Please, tell me why you have been so upset these past few days. For once, let me be there for you as your friend."

"Your Majesty, it's highly inappropriate for me to speak to you so informally about my private affairs," Claire shook her head, tilting her gaze so she didn't look into Reine's eyes. "I should remember my place here, and that is not a role of royalty."

"Claire," Reine gasped, placing her hands on either side of her friend's face, forcing her to look at her. "Since when have I ever made you feel your behavior towards me is inappropriate? You are my best friend, and I have always given you permission to speak and act freely when you are with me. You are my equal, as far as I am concerned."

"Not everyone agrees with that statement, Your Majesty," Claire said in a whispered tone, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears as she stared at Reine.

Anger flashed across Reine's eyes. "Who told you such a thing? Who disrespected my dearest friend and made these tears shed from your beautiful eyes?"

"It is not appropriate for me to say," Claire said, but Reine refused to give up, anger running through her veins as she wiped her friend's tears away.

"Who said it, Claire?"

"Your father."

In a matter of seconds, Reine was storming through the palace as she hunted her father, knowing she would find him in the library, planning or reading.

"How dare you?" Reine said as soon as she met her father's gaze as she let the library's door slam shut behind her. "You belittled my dearest friend because of her status?"

Her father sighed, running a hand over his face as he gestured for his daughter to come sit in the armchair next to him. She was determined to hear why he would do something so heartless to someone Reine cared so deeply for, so she stomped over and sat in the chair, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew her parents could be cruel to those deemed below them, but she had never witnessed such discrimination this closely before.

"I am, of course, thankful for all Miss Claire has done for you over the years," he explained, "but she was becoming too comfortable in this lifestyle you wrapped her in. She is not of royal blood, and she should not be given special treatment in any way, shape or form. We cannot trust anyone but our family and our allies to be this close, and she is not one of those. We cannot trust that she is not out to learn family secrets and weaknesses to take to the villagers who rebel against us. We must be careful, and that girl needs to stay in the place she was put into: nothing more than a servant."

Reine stood, glaring at her father and feeling anger towards him for the first time in her life. Before that moment, she had only overheard some questionable conversations, but she had never seen their depravity up close.

"Claire has not only been by my side since I was a small child, father," Reine said in a dangerously low voice. "She has dried my tears. She has wrapped her arms around me when I could not stop shaking with fear of not being enough for you."

Her father opened his mouth to speak, but Reine held up her hand to stop him.

"I love you, father. You know I do, but I also love Claire. Do not make me choose between the two of you."

The King sighed, glancing at the book in his hands.

"I was reading our favorite," he gestured to his lap. "I remember when you used to be small enough to sit in my lap while I read it to you."

Reine slowly sat back, her stiff muscles slowly relaxing as she saw the look on her father's face.

"I am sorry," he said in a quiet voice. "With so many rebel groups forming against us, I became too on edge and I pointed the finger at everyone who is not in my immediate circle. I will find Miss Claire tomorrow and issue a formal apology to her for my behavior."

Reine nodded, her gaze moving to glance at the words in the book. "Thank you."

Reine jolts awake as she feels the ground rumbling beneath her, tears falling down her cheeks. She doesn't know if she is crying from the pain of the basilisk throwing her, or if the pain of the memory ripping through her subconscious mind has opened a wound in her heart she forgot she had.

The ground rumbles beneath her again, and she shakes her head to clear her mind from the pain and the memories, willing herself to focus only on the present danger coming straight towards her.

She looks toward the snake with wild, terrified eyes, being careful not to look into its gaze as it quickly closes the gap between the two.

She scrambles to get up so she can run back to the hole, scolding herself for getting so close without succeeding. She runs at an angle, trying to avoid the basilisk now actively chasing her as she tries to circle back to the hole she was digging, but the basilisk is much faster than her, and in a matter of seconds, the scaly creature is right on top of her, ready to crush her as easily as if she were a sheet of paper.

She realizes she isn't fast enough to get away from this beast, and she also has nothing to defend herself, so she puts her arms over her head, her mind blank as she realizes this may be the end of her journey.

She silently apologizes to Genevieve, hoping she can be forgiven for leaving her people without a ruler. She also says her apologies to her parents, promising to find them wherever they are when she gets there.

As she expects to feel every bone in her body breaking, the basilisk shrieks and Reine opens her eyes, looking as blood rains down the snake's skin, pooling between her and the beast.

She sees two arrows, one sticking out of each eye as the snake shrieks and viciously shakes its head to try to dislodge the weapons from its eyes.

She looks over and sees Jimin still holding his bow, his eyes fiery with anger as he runs toward her and puts himself between the two.

"Go!" he yells, helping her and shoving her back towards the hole she was digging. "It won't take long for it to get over the shock!"

Reine doesn't say anything, deciding to run as fast as her legs can carry her, getting herself back to the hole. Nothing else matters in this moment: not the memory she had of Claire and her father, not the burns on her hands or the pain in her entire body... all that matters is that Jimin saved her life again and now it is her turn to save his.

She groans in frustration when she sees that the basilisk managed to pull a lot of the sand back into the hole in the effort to throw her away from it, so she digs back in, ignoring the searing pain in both of her hands as she moves even faster than she did earlier, glancing occasionally to check on Jimin.

She sees him loading another arrow, standing a safe distance away from the basilisk as it continues to flail around in pain.

She grits her teeth and ignores the exhaustion threatening to take over her as she pulls every ounce of determination within herself to reach the box.

Jimin yells out loud and Reine glances to see the basilisk heading straight towards her, moving even more quickly than before. He runs after it, using his strength to jump onto the snake and climbing until he reaches its head, and he takes a hold of each of the arrows and digs them deeper into its eye sockets, causing the snake to screech again and writhe around in an effort to get him off of it.

She keeps going, knowing if she stops moving her hands for even a second, this thing could knock Jimin out again and get to her in a matter of seconds.

She yells out in relief as her hands feel the solid frame of the box and she uses what little strength she has left to pull, unearthing it from the sand that was still on top of it.

Reine plops it next to the hole, scrambling to get out of it herself as she blows the sand off of the top.

The material of the box is the same as the first, the bronze shining brilliantly underneath the relentless sun. She sees a smirking man on top of a horse, holding a greatsword in the air over his head with a look of victory on his face as he sits above his enemies. Reine's eyes move to the top of the box, where she reads the words out loud.

"The Horseman of War."

Another yell from Jimin causes Reine's wild eyes to glance at him, who has been thrown from the snake's head when it finally gets its bearings back.

"Open it!" he screams as the basilisk wastes no time in moving towards her again, its sole purpose of protecting the box from being opened propelling it into a speed Reine has never experienced before.

"Don't," a whisper carries through the slight breeze that blows a few strands of Reine's hair. Her eyes widen and she looks around, seeing nobody around her. She ignores it, realizing she is being affected by the exhaustion and dehydration to the point of hearing things.

Her hands move to the box, pulling the lid and falling back as red smoke floods out of it, forming in a thick cloud around her and the now opened box.