Hi everyone, SK here!

First: I hope you all had a joyous Christmas and holiday season (even if you don't celebrate), despite 2020 being 2020.  I posted a fair amount of unreleased drawings for this book in the latest chapter of my random book as a gift.. so if you haven't taken a peak already, go check it out~!

As promised, lots of important stuff happening this chapter AND next chapter.  First, let's start things off with an unexpected appearance.  I hope you enjoy~!

!!! WARNINGS: Bad Language

Leaf

I'm not going to school today.  

I didn't go yesterday.

I don't intend on going today.

On Monday, after our club meeting, we tried contacting Valerie to find out why she got called down to the office and had to leave early.  Our whacky friends had made their way over to my house to play video games with Red and I.  Her phone always went to voicemail.  Then, the next morning when I check her house to walk to school I get a shock... her house is empty.  No one is there, not her dad, not her.

I know exactly what happened.  That bastard took Valerie away to Arceus knows where, and now they're gone.  My best friend is gone.  

I can't go back there.  I can't go back to school, to the place where that girl, that amazing girl, was able to blossom and be her true self with her best friends.  I can't go back to school, the place where her true home and family were.  

Our group chat, the one that the ten of us normally use, is as dead as... I can't even think it.  None of us know how to talk to each other.  None of us know how to move forward.

Yesterday I spent curled up alone in my bed, crying.  My mom couldn't come in, Red certainly tried his hardest though.  I need to be alone.  

My muscles ache slightly as I stand up and open the window.  The morning light shines into my bedroom, too bright and too warm for me to face at the moment.  The tears come up again.  Of course, I don't know that she is dead, but when both her and her abusive father disappear out of nowhere one can only assume.

Sometimes I thought about the last words that Valerie said to us, the one where she confessed that fairies are real and that her parents are fairies.  With her death is the death of that knowledge, and I hate, I hate myself for being so selfish as to think about that instead of my best friend not being on this earth anymore.

She wasn't even eighteen yet.

I'm not even eighteen yet.

How am I supposed to process the death of my best friend?

My phone dings and I see a text pop up from Red.  

"Leafy, I'm going to come see you today whether you like it or not.  I want to be there for you.  I want to hug you.  I love you. <3"

I smile to myself despite everything.  I have definitely lucked-out in the boyfriend department.  I also look around my room, my room that is now disgusting with dirty plates and glasses that I used yesterday and used tissues littered across the floor.

"Meet me at Sacri Parc.  I don't want you to see my messy room and right now I don't feel like cleaning it."  I know that Red won't judge it, but I don't think he'll appreciate it either.

"K, I'm leaving now Darling," he says.  I send him a simple "K :)" back and get dressed, trying not to think about how much that smiley hurt to type.  It's so hard.  

I just want Valerie to come back, hug me, and promise that things are going to be okay.

I just want things to go back to the way they were.

Valerie

About an hour later I'm still thinking about the exchange that occurred between me and my new set of parents.

"Okay first before we leave I really need to apologize to both of you," I tell them earnestly with my heart beating a million times per minute.  "What I said yesterday was uncalled for and downright cruel to both of you, and I feel really bad about it.  I hope you can forgive me.  I promise it won't happen again."

"You were just frustrated because of your magic," laments Heliux.  

Layra perks up.  "We know you didn't mean them," she adds.  "You were angry and you were just speaking out.  You're forgiven."

"We could never stay mad at you for long," Heliux murmurs a moment later.  Layra nods her head back to him.

Why are they so kind to me, when I've behaved so mean to them?  

Maybe they should have a spot in my life after all?

"We're nearing the castle," calls out Heliux.  "It will only take about five more minutes."

"Is Her Majesty nice?" I ask, feeling a little nervous when I think about this meeting that I can no longer avoid.

"Very," emphasizes Layra.  "You'll like her I'm sure, and more importantly she'll be able to properly answer any questions that you may have for her."  

"That's good," I mutter under my breath.  "Hey, can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course," Heliux answers almost immediately.  "What is on your mind?"

"What is this?"  My own bluntness surprises me.

The Dark Minister turns her head back to me, the expression on her face clearly radiating shock and a small amount of wariness.  "What do you mean?"

"This."  I gesture to the three of us.  "This relationship."

Heliux turns back to me, looking at me evenly.  "What do you want it to be?"

I pause, thinking about his question.  What do I want this relationship to be?  "I don't know," I answer truthfully.  "I don't know, not yet at least.  I need some time to think about it, if that's okay."

Both of them are quick to respond.  "Of course," Layra answers, her voice smooth like a stream of melted chocolate.  "Take however much time you need.  We'll both respect whatever you decide."  Heliux nods, affirming the other fairy's statement.

Silence once again ensues, but after a few minutes I find myself speaking out again.  "I guess it's going to be weird having one and a half sets of parents," I say jokingly.  Half, I think, because my other mom isn't coming back.

However, when the Ministers exchange a glance between them, I feel a bit wary.  "What?" I ask them.  "What is it?"

"Your other father, he..." Heliux trails away.

Just get to the point already.  "He?"

Layra looks at me and just says it.  "He died yesterday."

I can't have heard her right.  "He... what?"

"He died," Heliux reiterates.  "I'm so sorry."

"It's..." my voice fades away as I think about it.  That man is dead.  Dead and gone.  The man who raised me is gone, and I feel nothing.  I don't feel sad, I don't feel like a weight has been lifted.  I just feel... empty.  I never felt anything toward him in the first place.  Maybe that's why I feel nothing, because there's nothing left to feel.

I do find it strange though that he died hours after I became a fairy.  Very strange.

"It's okay," I say when I realize that I left Heliux hanging.  "How do you know?"

The two look at each other again.  "Our Elements tell us," Heliux says simply, sounding a little rushed.  I instantly am suspicious of both of them; I haven't known this man that long, but I know that he loves to over-explain things.  Him speaking in simple sentences doesn't add up.

I wonder if I can... I focus my powers and feel my eyes start to burn.  Luckily by now both of them have turned around, so they can't see my eyes glowing.  I begin to pick up on some of their thoughts.

"You should really let me talk, you can't lie," comes a thought said in what is clearly Layra's voice.  Oh, so they're telepathically talking to each other now?  

"Why should we not tell her?  We will have to eventually."  That's Heliux.

"If we tell her that we killed him, it'll scare her.  She already-"

"You killed him!?" I exclaim, both from shock and... okay, just shock.  They killed that man!?  I hate him to my very core, but they still straight-out murdered him!?

We emerge into a clearing, and I can't even appreciate the beauty of the castle that stands in front of us because I'm staring at these two who just killed my old father.  "You were listening," Layra murmurs, swearing under her breath.  Both of them slowly turn around, guilt radiating in their every movement.

"We didn't want to scare you," Heliux starts, but I'm not having it.

"Yes, I heard that," I spit.  I don't know why I'm so angry, I never liked that man in the first place and the fact that he's gone doesn't make anything worse, but there's some sense of betrayal that I'm feeling and I can't understand why.  Maybe it's because they crossed a line, or that they kept it a secret?  "That doesn't answer why."

"He hurt you," Layra says, her voice as cold as ice.  She might've been right, the way she's speaking almost scares me a little bit.  "He deserved it."

"That doesn't justify-"

"If he hurt you, his supposed daughter, it would be a lot easier for him, mentally at least, to hurt others, including those you held close," Heliux explains logically.  "While it was for you, it was also for the job of ridding the world of a criminal."

"I..." dammit, I can't fight his logic.  "I... that doesn't mean..."  Goddammit get your words together before you talk.  "So you both just go around killing criminals?"  Even though technically he never really went to jail for his crimes, but I guess that doesn't matter.

"If they need to pay, we give them what they deserve," Heliux tells me, a strange sense of calmness in his tone.  Why are they both so comfortable talking about this?  "Layra and I have done it before."

I'm about to respond to whatever that was- they kill people!?- when a new voice breaks in.  "Am I interrupting something?"  The three of us turn to see a dark-haired girl with turquoise streaks throughout it.  Her blue eyes blink at us, and the way her hands are gripping the door tells of her anxiety.  

Layra blinks at the new girl, looking confused for a few seconds before what ever it is hits her.  "Sylkie.  You changed your hair."

She did?  I glance at her, watching the girl- Sylkie- fidget.  "Yes," she says sounding a little flustered.  "These are my final days and I wanted to do something cool."

Her final days?  Who even is she?

Layra's eyes soften as she looks back at the dark-haired girl.  "You should've changed it sooner.  It looks nice on you."

She responds to Layra's compliment with an airy laugh.  "Why thank you."  She turns her head toward me, appearing flustered again.  "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself.  My name's Sylkie, and I'm the Spirit Soldier of Life.  You must be Valerie, correct?"

Okay now it's my turn to be flustered.  "How did you know my name?" I ask her.  Also, what are Spirit Soldiers?

"You're Alara's successor, of course she knows who you are."  Sylkie then swings the heavy door wide open, a long creaking sound unleashing as the door moves.  "Valerie, come in."

I start inside, but pause when I realize the Ministers aren't following me in.  "You're not coming?"

They both shake their heads.  "We just bring you here to keep you safe.  Her Majesty is going to train and educate you, not us," Heliux explains.  "You'll see us when you return to the Colony later on in the day."

Ah, right.  I guess I will.  "Okay, see you both then," I tell them pleasantly.  They both give me a little wave and start to walk away while I follow Sylkie inside this very aesthetic castle.  I say aesthetic because it's made of glass and it has a very nice magical sparkle underneath the sunlight.  A thud rings in the air as the door shuts behind us, its own weight aiding in the process.

"You're not the Queen, right?" I confirm with Sylkie.  She doesn't have wings, but I can't be- wait.  She doesn't have wings.  Why doesn't she have wings!?

"I told you that I'm the Spirit Soldier of Life, didn't I?" she points out, and I want to slap myself because how dumb can I be?

"I'm so sorry," I sputter out, hoping I didn't just ruin my first impression of myself.

"It's alright," she assures me with a small chuckle.  "Besides, I don't even have wings, see?"

"Why don't you?" I ask her, curious.  

She shrugs her shoulders, her hair bobbing back and forth as she walks forward.  "I'm a Spirit Soldier, and we don't get Initiated the way fairies do.  I'm basically a magical human, if you can believe it."

I smile at her, but she doesn't see it because she's facing the opposite direction.  "With all of the strange things I've seen during the past few days, you bet I can believe it."

She lets out an airy laugh as she turns back to face me.  "I suppose you can," she muses.  "Hang on, I'm going to go fetch the other Spirit Soldiers.  Alara should be- oh, hi Alara."

Breath hitching I turn around and sure enough there's a fairy standing behind me with rose-coloured eyes and pale blonde hair.  I'm frozen in place, unsure whether I need to bow or perform some other action to recognize her royal status.

Her Majesty seems to notice my anxiety spike and gives me a reassuring smile.  "You don't have to bow, Valerie.  It's a pleasure to meet you."  She extends out a hand.

I take it and return her gesture.  "Same here..."

She seems to notice what I'm missing.  "Just call me Alara.  No need for formalness here.  If anything, I should be the one who needs to be calling you 'Your Majesty' now," she says jokingly.

Heliux did something similar yesterday.  "I'm not the Queen yet though," I point out, taking my hand back.  "You still are."

"I suppose," she muses.  "I suppose so.  But you will be getting crowned by the end of the week."

I gulp.  If her words were an attempt to make me not nervous or stressed or anxious, she definitely failed.  "How will I be getting crowned exactly?"  I feel that that's a necessary question.

She turns back to me.  "Come with me, I'll show you where the first test takes place."

Her Majesty starts to walk to the right, but I hesitate.  "Shouldn't we wait for Sylkie to come back?"  I didn't even notice her leave in the first place, and I feel a little bad for ignoring her when Her Majesty first came.

"She'll bring all of the Soldiers and wait in the foyer," Her Majesty explains kindly but forcibly.  "I should show you where you're going to take your test and all."

"Alright," I agree eagerly, probably more from my own curiosity than my fear of not complying with a person with royal status.  

The two of us travel down the hallway into a deeper part of the castle.  We climb down some spiraling stairs, the lights dimming the further we go down.  There's a certain point we hit where glass turns into stone, which only helps to make the place more ominous and dark.  Her Majesty forms a glowing ball of magenta light in her hands to help illuminate our path.  Eventually, we stop under a stone arch, which is the entrance to a small cavern.  A small torch, unlit of course, sits upon a stone basin that sits in the middle of the cavern.  It's pretty small and dark, the only light is coming from Alara's light ball.

"This is where the first test takes place," she begins to say.

"FIRST test?" I emphasize.  "How many are there?"  I think Heliux said something about this number, but I can't remember it now and I need a break from thinking about him and Layra.

"Only two," Her Majesty assures me.  "The first test is where you claim the nine Queen's Elements: Air, Earth, Lightness, Darkness, Life, Warmth, Storm, Cold, and Time.  That's the order that you claim then at least.  You will go through each of the stages where you will need to pass that torch off to my Spirit Soldier in the stage."  She points to the torch that is currently empty of flames.  "You can then exit the stage after you leave someone within the stage to become the next Spirit Soldier of that Element.  Once you leave you will find the Element waiting for you; claim it, grab the next torch and continue through the stages until you reach the end."

I have so many questions.  "What happens when I reach the end?"  I figure that I'll start with the most important one.  "Also, are the stages difficult to pass?"

She smiles thinly, her expression just barely shown by the light.  "It wouldn't be a hard test if the stages weren't difficult, no?"  I pause.  How exactly is one supposed to respond to that?  "And as for what happens when you reach the end, you will summon your new Elements to light the final torch and summon your new Spirit Soldiers from the stages you left them at."

"So that's all of the first test?" I confirm.  When she nods, I continue with my follow-up question.  "What's the second test then?"

Her Majesty lets out a sigh, and already I feel an incoming sense of dread.  Why do I feel that it's going to be worse than the first test somehow?  "You have to cause eternal suffering to someone you hold dear," she forces out.  "In other words, you have to hurt someone you love."

I become distraught.  "W-Why?"  My voice breaks a little as I begin to stutter from the shock.  "Why would that be a test to become Queen?"

"There are two tests, one to test your physical strength, and one to test your emotional strength."  It sounds like even Her Majesty doesn't like talking about these tests, which says something to me as she's the one who went through them herself.  I catch her expression souring in a magenta hue.  After a pause, she shakes her head and begins to walk away from the space.  "Come, let's go back upstairs."

"Is there a Spirit Soldier for each Element?" I toss the question as we return in the direction from which we came.

Her Majesty nods, the back of her head bobbing up and down.  "Yes, why?"

"Just wondering."  I lower my voice.  "How am I supposed to find nine Spirit Soldiers," my words come out in some sort of jumbled mumble.

"I'm sure you have people that you hold close," she reasons.  I curse myself mentally as I quickly realize that she must've heard me just now.  "Do you have anybody you trust enough to fill these positions?"

I don't have to think for very long when it comes to figuring out people that I trust completely.  "I have some friends," I tell her.  "But they're all so young, just like me, and I want them to live their lives and fulfill their dreams."

"How old are they?"

"Around eighteen."

She whips her head around.  "You're not twenty?"

I shake my head back at the Queen.  "No, I'm about to turn eighteen myself."

"My my," she muses, clearly shocked at my age.  She, like me, must've thought that I was going to get my two extra years at living a human life.  "I'm so sorry, Valerie."

"Don't be," I assure her rapidly.  "The situation wasn't in my control."

Her Majesty doesn't say anything else, but I assume that's because we reach the ground floor once again.  I hadn't even noticed the gradual brightening of my surroundings, or the change of stone to glass.  We start down the hallway and meet up with a decent-sized group of people back in the main foyer.

"Everyone, this is Valerie, the next Queen," Her Majesty introduces, gesturing for me to step forward and say something.

I do so awkwardly, giving the strangers- except Sylkie of course- a small smile as I do a little wave.  "It's nice to meet you all."  

The Spirit Soldiers are very kind and quick to introduce themselves.  There's the soulful Reza, the spirited Kya, the bold Star, the tranquil Mlm, the bright Sylkie, the quiet Hiro, the loud Brooklyn, and the calm Lunaria.  However, when I do a count, I notice that there is in fact a Spirit Soldier who's missing.

"Excuse me, but is there a missing Spirit Soldier?" I question them.  Star and Brooklyn eye each other, but it isn't them who answer my question.

Kya does.  "The Time Soldier is on an important mission right now, so unfortunately he can't be with us today," she says slowly, clearly choosing her words carefully. 

"That's alright," I say, trying to be cheerful.  "Do you know when I'll be able to meet him?"

"You'll be able to meet him before you go through his stage on the test; his mission is over now so he should return in time," Her Majesty reassures me.  I jump; to be honest when the Spirit Soldiers were introducing themselves, I slowly but surely forgot about her presence.  She chuckles a little at my reaction, then wades through the group of eight.

"So I'm sure you're wondering what you're going to be doing here today," Her Majesty begins.  "To start things off, we're going to visit what I call the Globe of Time.  Second, I'm going to teach you some spells that only a Queen can know.  Third- actually, first," she corrects herself, picking up a long silver staff that was just resting on a nearby wall, "I need to explain to you what this is."  She holds it out to me and I take it into my hands, the metal feeling cool and smooth against my skin.  It has a peculiar shine to it, as in it doesn't quite sparkle but it still manages to catch the light.  At the top of the staff sits a pink gemstone that is slowly rotating inside between two bases.  It's just floating there; I look at it in slight awe.

"That is the Sapphire Staff," Her Majesty explains to me.  "Fairies have Necklaces to hold their Souls, but Queens and Kings have this Staff.  The sapphire in the center here," she points to it with her left pointer finger, "changes colour to reflect the soul of the owner.  This also helps Queens and Kings to control their powers as it proves very difficult to be able to control nine, in your case eleven, Elements.  You will get to claim this Staff as your own once you complete both of the tests."  Not wanting to break such a precious artifact, I quickly hand the Sapphire Staff back to her.  She accepts it, gripping it firmly with her right hand.  

She then uses it to gesture above us.  "See those torches up there?" she asks.  I turn my head up to glance at the nine torches all circling around an empty throne, each lit up with a different-coloured stone in their bases and snow-white flames.  When I notice that she's waiting for a response, I nod.  "Those torches, as long as flames burst from them, show how the Queen's Elements are safe and alive.  When I pass on the Elements to you, the flames will all go out.  Then, as you traverse throughout the test, the bases will begin to light up again.  Once you have summoned your Spirit Soldiers for the first time, the flames will come to life once more."

"That's interesting," I muse.  Fairy magic surely is astounding at times.  Her Majesty then gestures for me to follow her and I do, along with the rest of the Spirit Soldiers.

As we walk, I begin to make a horrifying conclusion: in order for me to become Queen with a new set of Spirit Soldiers, all of these people have to die.  I shiver as I think about what Sylkie said earlier, about these days being her last.  I'm the one that's causing their deaths, and yet they don't seem to show any sense of remorse toward me, no sense of hate; they simply treat me with kindness as if I'm about to do them the biggest favour in the world.  "This is a weird question," I say, because the thought has just come to my mind, "but are you guys all older than a thousand years old?"

"Oh, definitely," answers Star.  "We're almost as immortal as Mr. Gr- your parents.  Heliux and Layra.  You get the gist- we're basically immortal, except we die when the Staff gets passed on from ruler to ruler.  We can't die of any other causes."  Star sounds almost proud when she says that, as if she was the one to cause that immortality.

"You might be wondering what we're here for, since we aren't fairies," Reza jokes.  

I let out a chuckle.  "I'll admit, at first I was starting to wonder that."

"Our job is basically to protect Alara here and her Elements," Brooklyn tells me, her dark hair swaying back and forth as she walks.  "Although we may not be able to use regular fairy magic, we can do magic with the Elements that we were given when Alara took her tests.  We're basically a protection force, and we don't need wings to do it," she finishes, ending off on a lighter note.  I do have to say I appreciate both Brooklyn and Star for their ability to lighten a situation.

The ten of us travel down some hallways and make some turns- we pass a large variety of rooms but Her Majesty promises me that she'll give me a tour later- until we come across a fairly open room with high, domed ceilings.  There's a large, flat podium in the center, so flat it almost looks like a giant coffee table, and above it a giant orb floats and slowly rotates around its invisible axis.  "Is that-"

"The Globe of Time," Her Majesty finishes for me.  "You can use it to perform many spells; I've heard that the very first Queen, Gardenia was her name, used it to turn back time once.  I haven't had to do that myself," she tells me when she notices me giving her a look.

"It looks magnificent," I say, putting my hands up against the surface.  The only way I can describe it is as compressible glass, or glass you can mold with your hands.  It feels strange, yet oddly satisfying at the same time.  "Alara, you're going to teach me how to use this?"

Her Majesty nods.  "For now, we'll do a simple spell; memories.  You have someone press their head against the glass and then touch the Staff to the Globe.  You will be able to see one giant orb of memories form, and you can see the person's entire past.  Would you like to see?"

"Yes please," I tell her because wouldn't that be awesome?  I press my head against the wobbly surface and I feel the glass ripple against my face as Her Majesty presses the Staff to it.  I begin to see some coloured lights and step back to see... wait.

There's not one giant ball there, it's not like she said.  There's nine.  One of them I can recognize as my life, but the other eight have no meaning to me at all.  I turn to the Queen, and that's when I see it; guilt.  She looks guilty.  She messed up- she knows something about me that I don't.

"Tell me," my voice sounding hoarse.  Why do the fairies always love to keep secrets from me?  Why can't people just fucking tell me things instead of keeping stuff from me?  Why am I not allowed to know?

She stares at me as the Spirit Soldiers nervous dart their eyes between me, her, and the memories shown in the Globe.  "You're almost five centuries old, Valerie; you were born almost five centuries ago.  Those eight other orbs are all of the past lives you've lived."

Whew now that was a lot to process.  If you have any questions, pop 'em here:

Anyway that's it, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  Lots of things seem to be going wrong for Valerie right now huh.. maybe that could be leading up to something? :3

For now, you'll have to wait and see.  Catch y'all next chapter! :)

P.S. Go back to chapter 11 for a hint on what Val just discovered...