Mare

Legends are slippery little things. For the glory that coats them hides the pain, suffering, and death that spun them

Song: Be With Me

"Mare." Cal murmurs, reaching out towards me. I flinch away. Sparks run down my arms, twisting around my aching fingers. I let the sparks fade away for him, so that he won't get sparked. I step back, putting as much distance between us as I can manage.

"When I was a girl, I used to sit on the riverbank and watch as the royal court headed south to the capital," I look up to him, meeting those golden eyes. "Your flags blew in the wind, even when there was no breeze. I thought that showed the difference between the Reds and the Silvers. That you all could make the impossible happen. When I got older, I saw a windweaver underneath the canopies of the lead boat. They directed the winds towards the flags and what I realized is that there is no great divide. Only power." I call to the wall of lightning behind him, making it erupt as webs split off from it. Cal scrambles forward, every spark missing him. I frown as I feel myself direct the bolts away from him. I shouldn't want him to live. I should want him dead. Gone. It would make everything easier.

Elara's whispers sweep over me, bringing a wave of pain, Love is weakness.

"I know that's not what you believe. Mare's still in there," he inches closer to me, "She's just buried by grief. Let me help you." Everything he touches dies, the voices echo. There's nothing left of you for him to save. Maybe that's true. But that doesn't mean I couldn't let him try. There are pieces of me still. Sometimes it's just too dark to see them. But I'm there. I could be there. There with nothing but the voices I can't quite place. Cal doesn't deserve that.

"You wouldn't be able to survive fixing me, Cal." I turn away from him, turning to look at the throne. It pulses with promise, with destiny. Jon promised me this. Promised that I would rise and rule them all.

"When Julian told us what you did to House Marandus," Cal says, "I didn't believe him. I'm not even sure I do now. Did you do it?" I look back at him. Judgement doesn't burn from him, just embers of something. Something dark and lonely.

"I learned much from your brother when I was his prisoner. If you must remove someone, you get on with it."

"Samson did terrible things to you. I don't blame you for what you did to him, I would have done worse. But, his family...you want a world of equality. But Mare, you can't expect anyone to be loyal to you if you don't ever show mercy."

I blink at him. Julian liked that word. That little word I wish I could scrub out of his mouth. "Mercy only allows your enemies the chance to rise against you."

"Mercy-"

"Lightning has no mercy, Cal," I yell. "It's unforgiving, uncontrollable."

"It doesn't have to be that way." He walks to me, crossing the abyss that divides us in a few, short strides. His warmth consumes me as he stands there, inches away from my face. I open my arms to him, letting him hold me again. I've missed him. More than he should ever know.

"Long live Tiberias the Seventh," I murmur against him. He pulls back at the name. He's always hated it. It's his tether to his old life, the last piece of thread claiming him as the Silver Prince he can never truly break away from. "When the houses rebelled and murdered the Princes of Piedmont, even tried doing the same to me, Maven interrogated them all. They each died saying those words. You don't believe in prophecies, but I do. I was destined to save the Reds from their oppressors. I want children to grow up in a kinder world than we did."

"But at what cost?"

"It doesn't matter. I will go as far as it takes." There will never again be a Silver king upon this throne, a voice says. My voice. The rest are quiet now. They always are around him. Always so quiet. Maybe there can be another Silver king. A just one. One who wants the same as me. One who loves me as I love him.

"What about everyone else?" Cal pauses. His voice is watery, and cool. Like my home after a fresh rain. I loved those rains. But he smells of fire. Did the Stilts smell like fire as it choked on ash? "What happens when someone doesn't want to be a part of it? When they choose to go against you?"

"Then they'll be removed," I find his eyes, staring into the hard amber. I'll defy it all for the boy behind them. "Be with me, Cal. Build this world with me. We could do it together. Rule together." His eyes soften, taking one hand to my cheek. He traces my jawbone, fingers shaking slightly.

"I love you, Mare." His lips find mine, burning with heat. He'll defy it all with me. Like we always were meant to do. Strange Jon never mentioned this. He always said I would be alone. Maybe I already am. Atleast up here in my haunted head I am. No, I have Cal. I have everything I need right here, underneath my weary hands. We can heal, together. I won't ever be alone again.

A sharp pain digs into me. I suck in a sharp breath as I break from the kiss. I look frantically up at him at the pain and I feel myself stumble into him. Cal holds me up, keeping me on my feet like he always has. There's something different with how he holds me now. He holds onto me just a little too tight, as if he's afraid I'll leave him if he let's go. His eyes dart down me and back up. Slowly, I look down too.

A hilt of a dagger protrudes from my chest, shimmering alarmingly up at me. My hand jerks to it, and it comes back soaked in blood. Everything swirls as I fall with Cal. My breath escapes me, coming shallow and fast. I look up into his eyes. He's crying. Cal doesn't cry.

My lightning wall has collapsed into nothing, and on the other side of where it once stood I see Julian staring at me. It's almost as if he can't move himself the way he rocks from foot to foot, like trying to take a step but never going though with it. He looks over at something and I follow his eyes. Wren Skonos stares at me, the one woman who could save me from this fate. She's dead, metal sticking out of her chest like one of those pincushions Mom always had when she needed to mend the holes in our socks. He looks back at me, eyes finding my own. He was always a sad man, but not like this.

I look away, turning my head towards Cal. With my bloody hand, I reach for his face. He did this to me. He did this... I cough wretchedly, tasting nothing but my own blood. I'm drowning in red. The ceiling above Cal has begun to fuzz, but his face stays sharp. I stare up into his eyes, hearing the last rasps of my storm outside as it dies with me.

I hold onto Cal's warmth. It centers me, keeping me right here in his arms. His hot tears sting my face. I feel someone fall onto the floor next to me. Julian's there. I hope he sees everything stuck in the back of my throat. All the thousands of words still unspoken between us. I would have liked to have told him everything.

I can see the red burst of dawn reach through the window. It fills my vision with scarlet. The scarlet spots, turning to black. The voices fade with it, turning into distant echoes. Funny how they leave me when I need them most. His warmth is the last thing I feel. The last thing before it all fades away into nothing at all.