*IRA*

It's been three days since I handed Kora over to the guards, and I've finally mustered up the courage to go and talk to her. But, as I walked through the cold mountain air, I wondered if I had made a dreadful mistake. It was to late regardless, as two of the palace guards had caught up to me and where escorting me into the Mountain Palace.

We walked through the halls, my horse tied up at the stables. The floor was lined with red carpeting, with new tables and plants. 

But the scorch marks where still there, and my sensitive elf nose picked up the faint trace of burning bodies. I shudder at the memory, and continue walking as we make our way towards a spiraling staircase. It goes down and down, the sunlight vanishing and being replaced by fire. Finally, we stop.

There's a long hallway, lined on either side with cells. As the guards escort me past them, I can hear the prisoners stirring, and strong smell of fear. It's overpowering, how much there is, and I take a deep breath of air to stop from triggering my past-sight. The air is musty and stale, and doesn't calm my nerves as well as I'd like it to. 

Finally, we arrive at Kora's cell. It's like all the others that I've managed to get a glimpse of; bare, with only a bed and desk. My heart leaps into my throat when I see her.

Kora.

I can't see her face, but I can tell from her body language that she knows exactly who's here. Her tail tip is flicking, her ears lowered but not flattened. She's not scared. The Dyekin is furious, and at me. 

"Leave us, please." I say, a slight tremble in my voice at the thought of facing my former friend alone, but knowing what has to be done. "But Mrs-"

"It's them, and please." I turn to the two guards, looking for the one who spoke. "Ah. My apologies." He says as the other elbows him in the ribs. I cast a grateful glance at the other guard, who tilts their head to me. "We should leave them alone. Come one, Vis. We'll be right around the corner if anything happens." With that, the two walked off, and I turned back to Kora.

I stumble back when I realize Kora has moved, and is standing right at the bars. I can see her whole face, from her bared canines to her murderous yellow eyes. I take a couple steps back. "Good move, Smokey." She says, and I flinch at the insult to Firestarters. "If you were a step closer, I'd have strangled you there and then." I tremble slightly at her words. With Kora, you always knew if she was bluffing or not, and right now, she wasn't. "You w-wouldn't. The guards are right over there, and-"

"And what? There'd be about a second for me to grab your throat, and about a nanosecond for you to scream, which nobody would hear. The only ones that would would be the prisoners, and I'm sure they wouldn't say anything. After all, one less Firestarter to deal with." She looks me dead in eyes, no emotion on her face as she says how she'd choke me to death. I suddenly understand why Ero and Cadin wouldn't come with me, none of us would have been prepared. "I just w-wanted to know....why?" I ask the question that everybody had been asking at the camp, after I had gained control of my vocal cords again. Kora looks at me, then moves to the back of the cell. "Why....? Ira, they killed Aro! The king gave the order to kill Aro!" I sigh at the words. "Aro would have died eventually, Kora. You need to get over it, and now look! You'll get the help you need, Kora." I say, a small smile on my face. 

"Their planning my execution." She says, anger in her voice. My eyes widen, and I frown and stare at the dirty shirt on her back. "T-their going to...? But they said that nothing bad was going to happen! They said that we have saved everyone, and that we were heroes!" At this, Kora laughs. It goes from a quiet chuckle to a full on cackle. "You wanna know something, Ira? Some of us don't get to be heroes." She turns to me, her eyes narrowed. 

"Some of us are the villains of a story, did you know that?" She slowly walks towards me, tail flicking back and forth. She's all grace and deadliness, just like a leopard stalking it's prey. I take a involuntary step back. "Some us, have to suffer to get what we want. Aro was like a father to me, like the father I never had. My parents left me in the snow to die. My kind was treated like monsters, hunted down. ." She takes a gulp of air. 

"They mislead you. People always die, the villain always dies in stories. Everybody is never saved. And you know kills them? The hero. Every. Single. Time." Kora stares me in the eyes. I look over her face, seeing the freckles across her face and scar across her nose from a training session long ago.

"Leave." With that single word from my former friend, I turn on my heel and leave, taking ragged breaths. I don't feel safe, not even when I reach my camp and flop into my cot. Ero tries to talk to me about Kora, while Cadin keeps his distance. I'm grateful to Cadin, but don't have the energy to talk about my encounture. All I know is that that burning hatred, the hatred that burned ten times hotter than my hottest flames, was going to haunt me in my dreams. Because in that moment, I didn't want to be the hero anymore.

(Anddddddddddddddddddddd that's a wrap!

I hoped you enjoyed this short story. I'm going to write the full version later, I promise.

I got shivers down my spine will writing this lol)