--Scarlett--

I watched as our dragon spirits used their power to reveal a door under the stone in the wall. The outline faintly glowed and opened for us by sliding out of the wall. I looked at Bailey and Adrian, looking to see how they felt based off of their expressions. Bailey looked rather confused while Adrian seemed as if he was on the edge of running away and calling for mommy. I wanted to comfort him, but I knew now wasn't the time for that. We had to march on; go forward. I took a deep breath and prepared to step through the entrance.

"Wait!"

Luc's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned around to face him. "What is it?" I asked.

He scratched his head and looked at me sheepishly. "You've still got your..." He gestured vaguely to his neck. "...Right?"

I nodded as my hand instinctively flew to the chain around my neck and pulled out the pendant that I wore, a heart formed by two wings. Inside were the names of Luc's relatives, including his mother's and now mine. Luc had given it to me as a present when he had told me that he wanted me to be his mate. I don't know why, but I felt like I needed to keep it on me at all times. Maybe Luc felt the same way. Perhaps there was some sort of sacred importance to the locket that he wasn't telling me about.

Luc looked at me and nodded. He gave me a hug and then placed a kiss on my cheek. He then rested his head on my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

"Be safe, okay?"

I smiled as I held him at arm's length. "Me? Safe? I can't promise you that, but I will come back alive if that's what you want."

"You'd better." Luc said with a smirk. "After all, not only do I want you here, but the rest of us need a strong leader to complete this quest."

Bailey scoffed and placed her hands on her hips as she turned around to face the both of us. "Oh, glad to know that everyone cares about Scarlett, but no one cares if her cool big sister dies."

"Honestly, I want Adrian to come back alive as well, cuz he's my bro." He put his arm around Adrian for emphasis and smirked. "But with you...hmm, do I really want you to come back? Usually having your girlfriend's older sister around is a bad thing."

Bailey laughed and adjusted her ponytail. "Well, you'd be missing out. I give out free candy when I'm feeling nice."

Luc shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Well...in that case I guess you're okay."

I shook my head. "Come on guys, we're burning daylight."

"There's no daylight down here. We're in the subway system." Madia shot back.

"You know what I mean!"  I beckoned Bailey and Adrian to stand by me. I then walked back to Luc again and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Alright." He kissed my forehead. "Don't try to take on more than you can handle."

"I'll be fine."  I told him, looking him in the eyes. "Don't worry."

"Don't think you're leaving without saying goodbye to me!"  I was suddenly tackled from the side by Madia, who was grinning happily. I watched as she pushed Luc out of the way and then placed her hands on my shoulders, looking me intensely in the eyes.

"If there's a weird looking monster out there that you have to fight, tear out one of it's teeth and give it to me."

I laughed and hugged her. "Alright, Maddie."

She placed her hands on her hips and frowned. "You call me Maddie again, I will snap your neck."

There was a bit of silence before we laughed together. As we said our last and final goodbyes, the three of us walked into the door. Watching as the torches on either side of the entrance lit up, a tunnel was revealed, wide enough to fit four people shoulder to shoulder. Soon, other torches along the wall of the tunnel began to light up. I had a bad feeling about this, but I chose to ignore it. Of course this wasn't going to be easy, or comfortable for that matter. I took a deep breath and continued to walk for another foot down the tunnel.

I felt the ground rumble shortly after. I looked behind me to see the entrance to the tunnel was now blocked by several plumes of fire. Adrian whimpered as he hid behind Bailey's back.

"Scarlett!" Luc's voice called out to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I called back. "The fire doesn't seem to be spreading. It's just staying like it is."

"It's the same over here." Madia's voice informed me.

"Hold on. I'm gonna try something." Luc warned. I heard a loud crackle of electricity and watched as the fire absorbed a brilliant white light. Luc gave an irritated sigh of frustration.

"I'll try." Came Madia's voice.  Yet again, the fire absorbed the large ball of black shadow.

"What is going on here?!" Adrian exclaimed, his violet eyes wild as he pulled on the ends of his hair.

"I'm guessing it's not going to go away until we find the artifact." Bailey noted.

"But what if we don't ever find the artifact?" Adrian began to panic. "Then we're gonna be stuck here forever. We're going to die here without anybody ever knowing!"

"Hey, I channeled the power of a legendary dragon god and got rid of a head general of Kali's army. I'm not going to let us die here." I said, smiling to portray a false sense of confidence. "We'll get through this."

"Yeah." Madia's voice charmed on the other side.

"If anyone can get through this, it's Scarlett." Luc said. "I've got absolute faith in her."

I felt my chest puff up with pride, a more convincing smile spreading across my lips. Yep. That was my boyfriend. Dependable as always. I took a deep breath and looked at my friends, a new determination coming to life within me.

"Come on, guys. Let's go."

With that, we all began to walk in silence, the only sound being our footsteps echoing in the cave. The lack of conversation gave me an opportunity to spend some quality time alone with my thoughts. Of course, instead of encouraging thoughts coming to my head, doubts began to fill my mind. What would happen once we acquired the Phoenix Feathers--if we even could find them that was. Would Kali break her promise of leaving us alone and come after all of us again? Would this journey even be worth it? Did I even stand a chance against a force like Kali? I grit my teeth. Why did all of this have to be so rough?

"Hey, little sis, you okay?"

I looked to my left to see Bailey regarding me with a look of concern. I looked at her and some part of me still couldn't grasp that she was my sister. She was so cool. She seemed like a very strong person that was confident in who she was. How was I supposed to be a reliable leader when she was much more qualified for the job than I was?

"Hello? Earth to Miss Scarlett?" Bailey asked, waving her hand in front of my face to try and get my attention. I furrowed my eyebrows and grabbed her hand and moved it out of my face, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah?"

She grinned and poked my nose. "You were totally spacing out, dear. It was my job to reel you back into reality." She made the motion of reeling a fishing rod and then laughed at her own joke.

I nervously chuckled and took my hair out of my ponytail, gathering it all back and tying it again. "Thanks for that, I guess.'

"You're welcome." Bailey put her hands in the pockets of her bell bottom jeans and blew a lock of her frizzy orange hair out of her face. "I suppose you won't mind if you and I do some catching up, huh?"

I shrugged. "Not at all. I mean, there's no time like the present."

"That's the attitude I like to hear!" She looked at me with a genuine interest and a smile. "So, tell me something. What is it exactly that you like to do in your spare time?"

I shrugged. "Well, I like to write, make music, read--"

Bailey gasped and grinned as wide as a Cheshire Cat. "Yes! Books! Oh, my favorite thing in the world! What kind of genre do you tend to lean towards?"

"I mean," I tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear and cocked my head back in thought. "I like all kinds of books, but I have a special affinity for fantasy."

"Alright. Good start." She nodded and stretched her neck to each side; I could hear every individual bone crack. "Are there any favorites that you have in particular?"

I thought for a bit. "Well, ever since the fourth grade, my favorite series has never changed. It's always been Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

Bailey gasped. "Oh, I love that series!"

I smiled and chuckled a bit. "Yeah. To be honest, I always kinda looked up to him. Despite being given this power that he never asked for, he still fought for what he believed in, even when he was scared. His friends meant more to him than anything else, so much so that he would help them without a second thought, even when his life was at stake. He also rejected becoming a god to be with them." I looked at Bailey. "That's the kind of leader I aim to be, one that puts her friends before everything. One that doesn't blame her hardships on the lot she's been given in life. One like Percy Jackson."

Bailey grinned and placed her arm around my shoulder. "You wanna know something, little sis?"

"Hmm?"

She chuckled and ruffled up my hair a bit. "I have no doubt that that's the kind of leader you'll be."

My eyes widened as I looked at her. "Really?"

She nodded. "Of course. I believe in you. You can do anything you put your mind to. Don't ever let anyone tell you different."

I felt my smile slowly grow into a grin. So this is what it felt like to have an older sister. She was caring, sincere and supportive. I wondered what it would have been like growing up with her. I might have had less trouble making friends and might have even had the courage to attend public school again. But if she grew up with me, would I have ever gone to Eternal and met all of my friends? Would I have treasured Luc as much? Would I think as highly as I did of everybody right now? I had to stop thinking about this. I couldn't focus on what might have been and needed to focus on what was happening to me right now.

I sighed and scratched my wrist that had suddenly begun to itch. Was it of guilt? Anxiety? I had no clue.

We would have kept walking if it wasn't for the sudden split in the middle of the path. There were six other paths, each lit by a flame that was a different color of the rainbow. In the middle of the forked path was a skeleton standing with its arms folded over its chest and a piece of paper in its mouth, rolled up neatly and tied closed with a piece of red thread. I gingerly walked over to the skeleton and pulled the small scrolled paper out of its mouth. I untied the thread and unrolled the paper. I felt my heart drop as I realized it was all written in Vistra.

"Adrian," I called, waving the small piece of paper in front of me. "Do you think you could possibly translate this?"

He nodded and walked over to me, gently taking the paper from my hand and scanning over it carefully. After a bit he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Here lies six paths, five will lead to an end of no return, and the other to what you seek. Leave one of your party behind granted you make the right choice."

"Well, how are we supposed to know what path to choose? That's a one in six chance!" Bailey exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips.

I nodded. "That may be, but there's got to be a way to find the right path. Is there anything else written there?"

Adrian looked back at the paper. "The strongest fire can even burn while doused in water. Take the path of the flame that burns despite its weakness."

"That makes absolutely no sense." Bailey pointed out.

"A fire that burns in water?" I thought for a moment. This had to be some sort of trick question.

An image suddenly flashed back into my head of one of my online podcast lessons that I had watched about five months ago. The woman explaining the lesson was talking about elements that exploded in water.

"Potassium, the third element listed in the family of alkali metals is so reactive that it explodes into a distinct light purple flame as soon as it hits water."

I looked at the colored flames around me. The one farthest to the left was indeed a lilac-colored flame. I smiled. There was my answer.

"It's that one." I said, pointing to my path of choice.

Adrian gave me an anxious look. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Absolutely."

Bailey looked at me suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"You took chemistry, right?"

She gave me a small nod and a curious look, as if to ask why I was asking such a ridiculous question.

"Well think back to the lessons you took in chemistry." I told her, placing a hand on my hip. "You remember the alkali metals, right? You remember what they all have in common? They all burst into a lilac colored flame when they come into contact with water. So there you have it, a flame that burns in water."

Before they could talk back, I walked into the tunnel. I was confident enough in my decision. After a short while, I heard footsteps echoing behind me. Having faith in myself had paid off. I smiled even wider as I saw the end of the tunnel come into view. There was a small crevice in the wall with a plaque that read in English, "One must stay here."

"Why does one of us need to be left behind?" I asked.

Bailey shrugged. "Maybe to weed out the one we're more confident in to complete the trial."

"Alright, I can see that, but who do we leave behind?" I followed up.

Adrian brushed off the sign. "It doesn't say anything else that might give us a clue to help make the decision."

"Well, that's--"

"I'll stay." Adrian offered.

I shook my head. "You can't expect me to just leave you here."

"This is the trial for the Fire artifact." He pointed out. "I'm a Mind type user. It only makes sense that the both of you continue in my place."

"But-"

"I'll be fine, Scarlett. I promise."

I bit my lip. I didn't really want to leave Adrian behind, but he seemed rather calm, like he'd be able to handle whatever came his way. I took a deep breath and walked ahead to the next fork in the path. Looking back, I couldn't see Adrian anymore. I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat and came to the middle of where the next path branched off, this time into four separate tunnels.

Each of them had english words cruelly scratched into their sides; Father, Mother, Child and Maid. Like the previous tunnel, there was a skeleton in the middle with a piece of paper rolled up in its mouth. I gingerly removed the small note from its mouth and unrolled it.

"There was a man in this very town who was wed to his loving wife and blessed with a beautiful child. He was the most gentle soul that anyone had come across. His wife was an artist that loved to paint. He was an orthopedist. Both of them were arrested for the crimes committed by the Iris Underground. The child was then sent to live with a woman who had been hired as their maid. She was mysteriously killed and dismembered like the crimes that had occurred before. The child lie next to her, strangled to death with his favorite toy. Who was the one that really committed the crimes?"

Bailey looked at me in absolute disbelief. "Who expects us to get something like this right? There's absolutely no evidence to lead us to believe that any one of them was the criminal."

I bit my lip. I wanted to agree with her. There was absolutely no way to pinpoint anyone. I wanted to burn the piece of paper and tear my hair out, but there was a small voice inside of me that encouraged me to think for a bit. I looked over the note one last time and began to ponder over each of the words carefully.

It obviously couldn't have been the maid if she had been dismembered like the Iris Underground crimes. It was impossible for someone to do that to themselves. Assuming the parents were in prison or being held for questioning, they couldn't have done it either. With that all out of the way, that only left one option.

"The child." I said finally.

Bailey raised her eyebrow and looked me up and down. "Uh...how did you come to that decision?"

"It just...makes sense. And something about it feels right." I answered.

Bailey scoffed. "Okay, little sister, you may have gotten us through in the last part, but instinct doesn't make everything right."

I smirked and crossed my arms. "You're forgetting one important thing: instinct is what drives Fire magic."

Bailey frowned. "You're putting a really high gamble on using your gut alone to get us through this. Besides, we don't even know what happens if we get this wrong. We could die for all we know."

"But that's the point. I mean, we won't get anywhere if we don't at least try." I took a deep breath and began to head towards the third path. "You can stay here or follow me. Either way, only one of us needs to grab the artifact in the end."

After her jaw dropping and her eyes nearly popping out of her head, she sighed and followed me. "On the name of the Holy Eternal Flame, if we die, I'm gonna kill you."

I laughed. "How can you kill me if the both of us are already dead?"

She growled. "I don't know, but I swear to God I will find a way."

As we continued to walk, everything around us seemed to be just fine. There wasn't any traps and the tunnel didn't suddenly light on fire, so that was a good sign. Before we knew it, there was another halfway point marked in the tunnel. This time, the plaque was written in English, like our challenge had been.

"Leave another behind. Let the one who deals with the fear of love step forward."

Bailey looked at me immediately. Her green eyes were focused on mine, a knowing look shining within them.

"What?" I asked after a few moments.

"Well, the only one here with a significant other is you, and I've never necessarily been scared of love, so I don't think it's referring to me."

I felt butterflies of anxiety begin to flutter within my stomach. I inhaled and noticed how hard it was getting to breathe. No. I wasn't going to let this happen now. I had a task that needed to be completed. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright."

Bailey smiled and wrapped her arms around me in a hug, lightly punching my shoulder afterwards. "Good luck, little sis."

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Bailey." I laughed nervously and took another deep breath to calm myself down.

Bailey chuckled and brushed some dirt off my shoulder before shooing me off. "Come on, kid. You've got some feathers to pluck. Don't keep us all waiting."

I nodded, and with newfound determination, I dashed ahead at full speed. As weird as it felt to be traveling without any friends, I knew it wouldn't be too long until I was back with them once again. Each step I took filled me with the most interesting combination of anxiety and excitement. With each step I knew I was getting closer and closer to my goal.

When the tunnel came to an end, I stood in a hollowed out cave with little inside of it except for a small shrine with two torches, the colors of the flames changing in the blink of an eye. I looked around for another plaque or something to explain what I should be doing, but there was nothing like that around.

"What am I supposed to do?" I muttered to myself. "Do I just walk up to the thing and grab it?"

I looked at the shrine, then cautiously walked up to it. Hanging from it was a beautiful pendant with five golden feathers hanging from a red orb, the face of a bird carved inside of it. It had obviously been skillfully crafted. I felt a spark of interest rise within me.

Before I consciously knew what I was doing, my hand clasped around the pendant and the world around me vanished.

* * *

The scenery around me began to melt away until I woke up. I looked at my surroundings. The shrine was gone and replaced by my dorm room back at Eternal. I was all alone until the door opened. I felt a wave of relief come over me. It was Luc. Maybe he could help me out in this strange situation. I nearly tackled him in a hug before I saw the expression on his face.

His eyebrows were knitted together and furrowed. There was a disgusted scowl on his face and his arms were folded across his chest as he regarded me with a condescending stare. Guilt began to well up in my throat. The worst part was I didn't even know what I had done wrong. I felt my cheeks and ears begin to burn hotly. I felt like a kid that got called down to the principal's office that was about to receive a harsh scolding.

"I can't believe you." He finally spat.

The harshness in his voice surprised me. I had never seen Luc like this before. I wanted to run and hide somewhere. I must have done something super bad to deserve this.

"Why? What did I do?" My voice broke after saying those four simple words, showing how vulnerable I really was.

He scoffed and proceeded to look me up and down like I was some dead animal that he had just found on the side of the street, his face filled with contempt and disgust. "What did you do? The more accurate question is what didn't you do?"

A sinking feeling began to grow in my chest. "Luc, what are you talking about?"

He rolled his eyes. "Wow, you really are an idiot, aren't you? Let me spell it all out for you." He got close, only inches from my face. His anger radiated off of him in waves. Every word he spoke dripped with hate. "Why did I ever fall in love with you? It was quite literally the worst mistake of my life and the biggest waste of my time."

My heart shattered into a billion pieces right then and there. I couldn't believe that he had said that, much less directly to my face. My throat and mouth suddenly became very dry as I felt the beginnings of tears forming in my eyes.

"Luc?" My voice was shaking uncontrollably now. "What are you talking about?"

He laughed in a cruel and sadistic manner, an evil smile spreading across his lips. "You know, for someone who graduated high school early, you're pretty stupid, aren't you? Let me tell it to you straight since you can't figure it out yourself. You are absolutely annoying. God, you have to be the loudest human being I have ever met, getting way too excited or way too offended over everything. Like, Jesus Christ, do you have an off switch? Sometimes it would do you good to shut the hell up once in awhile."

"Luc..."

"Ugh, even the way you're being so whiny right now is pathetic. On top of all of that, you're not even that attractive. I mean, have you ever heard of a brush? Your hair could use one. And honestly, I've had girls with better bodies throw themselves at me. Yours is disgusting."

Tears were streaming down my face. "How could you...?"

He chuckled. "How could I? How about how couldn't I, along with everyone else? Did you seriously buy into that whole 'dragons know when they're in love' bull crap? Hell, I just made that up so you wouldn't run back to your mom. The only reason any of us want you around is because your power is valuable to us. Honestly, I just wish it came in a better package." He gave a sinister laugh. "Did you honestly think I ever cared? Oh, please. I could do without your, "Oh, I'm an angsty teenager and my life sucks because people are scary and I have absolutely no self confidence whatsoever so I decide to be an introvert and shut the world out' drama."

I was choking on my sobs now. The sinking feeling within me had grown and now felt like someone had literally ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it mercilessly. I looked up at him, trying to retain some dignity by not running away. "So all those times you told me that you loved me...those were all lies?"

"Oh, now she gets it! Congratulations, dumbass, you've just earned yourself a gold star for realizing the cruel truth of reality. Good job!"

The sarcasm I had once loved was now being spat cruelly in my face, adding insult to injury. He laughed and smirked maliciously.

"Come on, even if I did love you or whatever, I probably would have gotten sick by now of waiting for you to make up your damned mind on how you feel."

Something clicked within me at that moment. I had never told Luc that I had trouble about saying I loved him. In that moment, I started mentally reliving all of the great times we had together. Luc didn't have a single malicious bone in his body. He never would have said anything like that. Besides, he couldn't have faked what happened during the night in my dorm room.

No. This wasn't my Luc. Luc was loyal to a fault. He found joy in helping people and did whatever he could to help those that were hurting. This cruel, hateful person was not my boyfriend.

I grit my teeth and stared at the imposter in front of me. "Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"

He smirked and chuckled. "Sweetie, what are you talking about?"

I pointed at him and got close enough so I could poke him in the chest. "There's proof right there. Luc never calls me 'sweetie'. He always calls me 'princess'." I reached over my shoulder and pulled out Blazewing from its sheath, pointing the five foot long great sword at my boyfriend's doppelganger. "Now I'll ask you one more time nicely; who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"

Luc's face smiled back at me as he threw up his hands. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag, huh?" 

His image began to ripple and transform into that of a female figure in a black hoodie and matching sweatpants. She removed her hood, and I was shocked to find my own face staring back at me. Granted, her hair and eye color was slightly darker than mine and she wore bright red eyeshadow. Her left eye was also covered in a white bandage and her nails were painted jet black.

I looked at her with a mix of intrigue and discomfort. "Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked, speaking in my own voice. "I'm you. More accurately, I'm a collection of all your insecurities, doubts, and everything you hate about yourself." She flipped her hair and pulled out a sword that had been sheathed on her back. It looked just like Blazewing, but with the colors inverted. She smirked and pointed the blade at me. "I'm the trial you have to face."

She suddenly charged at me, giving me only a split second to react by blocking her blow with Blazewing, using my strength to throw her off. That wasn't enough to stop her, though. She just got back up and jumped, trying to attack me from above. I sidestepped her attack, but she had managed to hit me in between my shoulderblades despite that. I fell down to the floor, leaving her another opening to attack. I lifted my sword to counter each of her strikes, managing to get onto my knees. I then slid under the opening between her legs and used the momentum to get back up to my feet. Of course, I had to continue blocking her onslaught of attacks.

"Think about it." Evil me started, each clang of her sword against mine creating sparks in the air. "Since when has anyone actually liked us?" I grunted as she tried to body check me, just managing to create a shield of Mind magic to protect me.

"Back in the second grade, everyone blamed us for the death of the class pet when it was Tyler Jameson who had overfed the rabbit." She swung at me again, and I ducked under the arc in which her sword flew. "And then in fifth grade, we were officially renamed Inferno Head for the rest of the school year, and got expelled when a group of kids set the curtains in the auditorium on fire." She threw a punch at me, which I blocked with my own hand. "But the last straw as what happened with Miles..."

"Don't you dare!" I snapped, bringing my fist up in an attempt to break her nose. She grabbed my hand before I could make contact, twisting my wrist with a smirk as I writhed in pain.

"Oh, what, you mean your first love? You and him used to do everything together. We were inseparable. No one could break us apart. No one else mattered as long as we had each other. It was only natural that when he asked us out, we said yes."

"Shut up!" I screamed, reaching for her neck after she freed me from her death grip. She just smiled and with inhuman speed, threw me against the wall and clamped her hand around my neck instead.

"Everything went great. We were so lovey-dovey that we made everyone around us sick. Nobody bat an eye at us until Miles started getting popular. Then Tara came into the picture. She caught his attention and Miles forgot we even existed!" She smirked and drove her fist into my stomach with enough force that it caused me to cough up blood. The metallic taste filled my mouth.

"He left you for something better!" She yelled, letting my limp body drop to the floor. I made another stupid decision by trying to crawl forward to grab Blazewing, that had skittered to the floor. Anti me smiled and kicked me again in the stomach, sending another wave of pain through my body. "And that's why you never trusted boys after that. That was the last straw. That's when you started homeschooling. You locked yourself in your room and filled your life with your studies so you wouldn't socialize and hurt yourself again! That's why you can't tell Luc that you love him! That's why you can't get close to anyone!"

I spit some more blood out of my mouth and looked up at her face. She was right. I was pathetic. I could act like I was strong if the situation called for it, but in reality, I was the type to cry when anything hurt. Just because of one relationship gone wrong, I had completely given up on trying to find love again. Even when I did get back on my feet, I couldn't move on from the pain in my past. Even though I loved Luc, I couldn't tell him.

What was wrong with me? What kind of dragon princess was I? Here I was about to get killed by myself, and I couldn't do anything about it.

Well, at least Luc would be better off without me.

She's literally the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Luc's words echoed in my head. That was right.

I plan on spending the rest of my life with her.

I got up to my knees, a new determination flowing through me.

You're absolutely perfect for me in every way, shape and form.

That's right. Luc had seen the worst parts of me, and he'd ran to help me. Luc didn't care about how messed up I was. He was always there for me, and nothing would ever change that. My past didn't matter; my entire future was with Luc.

As I got up to my feet, I noticed Anti-Scarlett running towards me at full speed. I wasn't going to let her get me this time. I grabbed her around the neck and put her in a headlock. I then flipped her over onto the floor, holding her down with all of my body weight. She didn't matter. Nothing did. All that mattered was that I believed in myself.

And with that, I broke her neck.

*                    *                    *

"Scarlett? Scarlett? Scar, please wake up."

I opened my eyes, seeing Luc just above me with a concerned expression painted on his face. His arms were grasping my shoulders firmly, not enough to hurt me, but enough to see that he was obviously worried and scared. I wondered how long he had been trying to wake me up.

"Wha-What happened?" I asked.

"Well, about an hour ago, Adrian appeared here, then Bailey did shortly after. You've been here for the past thirty minutes laying unconscious." Madia explained, giving a nervous chuckle. I noticed that despite her smile, she had obviously been worried about me as well.

"Wait a second..." I looked down at my body to see if any of the injuries I had sustained in my fight were still there. Miraculously, it seemed as if they had all disappeared. No bruises, no scratches. Nothing.  I was perfectly okay. I looked down at my left hand to see that it was clenched tightly around something. Unfurling my fingers, I couldn't help but smile as I saw the Phoenix Feathers in the palm of my hand. I had actually passed the test!

"You did it!" Bailey breathed. She looked at me with that 'I'm proud of you, little sis' expression that I had only found before in movies.

"You passed, chica!" Madia exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down with the largest grin I had ever seen.

"I knew she could do it." Luc said, smiling in the way that always made my heart melt. He extended his hand and I took it as he helped me up to my feet.

I took the time to really look at his face. I never realized how defined his jawline was, or how high his cheekbones were. I then took note of the golden tips at the end of his hair. Never before had another person seemed so perfect to me.

"Scar?" Luc asked, looking me up and down. "Are you okay?"

I knew what I had to do. Without warning, I handed the Phoenix Feathers over to Bailey and stood in front of Luc, my heart beating like a bass drum as I realized what I was preparing myself to do. I cupped Luc's face in my hands and smiled. After taking a deep breath, I began to speak.

"You know, I've never felt better." I felt hesitation rise within me, but I ignored it and continued. "I really should have done this earlier."

Before he could ask what I meant, I leaned in and closed the gap between the two of us, my lips planting on top of his. My heart was now beating faster than any music I had ever listened to in my life. My soul felt like it had been covered in kerosene then thrown into a forest fire. As for my stomach, well 'butterflies' didn't exactly cover how I felt. It was as if every animal on earth had gone wild and simultaneously started to stampede. I wanted more of it, but I knew this was neither the time nor the place.

Once I had separated from him, his eyes stared back at me in disbelief, a little whimsical smile on his lips. I wasn't done yet, either. I took another deep breath and spoke again.

"Luc, I'm so glad to have met someone as amazing as you to be in my life and by my side. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to say something so simple, but I..." I smiled and took his hands in mine, staring into his eyes as I took a leap of faith. "I love you." I laughed. "I love you so much, and all this time I was afraid to say it, but now I realize there was never a reason to be. So I'll say it one more time, I love you, Lucian D'Ange."

There was silence all around me. No one said anything. Not a single sound came from Luc's mouth, either. After a while, he beamed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest and cradling my head. He leaned in and kissed me, a chuckle building up in his throat. He proceeded to kiss my forehead, cheeks, nose and finally my lips again before he placed his forehead on top of mine and looked me in the eyes.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words." He leaned in and whispered into my ear. "I love you, too, Scarlett Kaida; my princess."

There was a collective 'awe' from our trio of friends. Never had I ever felt so complete, so alive, so secure ever before in all my life. I knew where I belonged and that I was there to stay.

Little did I know that this sweet moment would be threatened by an imminent danger hanging over our heads.

Hey! I'm sorry it's been too long. Blame my British boyfriend for being attractive, British and adorable...But anywho I plan to get back on the updating train again (yes, Kiera means it this time). Also, I'm writing a story, Royal Rebellion, that features the characters you know and love and their kids! Yes, Luc and Scarlett have kids in the future. Wanna learn more? Check it out! I may or may not be doing a collab to create it...

Signing off, Kiera Savage