"We leave her with you guys for a couple of hours and she tries to commit suicide!"

"You don't know what sort of hell has happened to her, so you have no right to start judging the seven of us about what just occurred!"

"In my eyes seems like you guys aren't even fit to be in her life."

"No one wants your opinion hunter. Respect those who are clearly higher than you on the authority rank."

The area round me became silent, creepily too quiet. The voices were so familiar, yet I couldn't attach faces or names to them. It felt like a foggy gaze in a way. I knew they were there, but still couldn't reach out and grab their attention. Like I was a ghost. Where was I?

"A couple of damn hours. Just that long."

"Stop saying that."

"Just because I stop bringing it up doesn't mean the past will be changed."

"If we knew what she was going to do, we would have prevented it, alright."

"Then why didn't you?" The anger expressed behind that simple question was undeniable. This person, whoever they were, were clearly frustrated by the fact that I did what I did. Or were they even talking about me? I'm not sure. There was a hint of self-blame in his tone. I recognized the pain behind every word. He wasn't focused on 'them' or 'you'. He was more staring at himself and asking why he wasn't there in the first place.

"She's too unstable right now. Her actions are completely unpredictable."

"She's perfectly fine actually." This person tried to convince himself that his words were true. The entire room felt the wish for it to be real. But it wasn't. Whoever 'she' is, she was destroying herself. And they all agreed on it.

"Are you sure? Did you not just see her slice the throat of a man who's been on the run for over a decade? She made sure he felt a ton of pain."

"Okay, maybe she's not in the best place. That doesn't mean she'd try to end her life like that."

"That's the thing. I don't think she is. I think she was mentally trying to prove to herself that she was human. That she was alive."

"That she was still worth it?"                                 

"Yes."

"What would drive someone to do something like that?"

"Her entire world has crashed and burned in the matter of days. She went searching for the simple and honest truth, and what she got in return was it on a plate and an entire buffet behind her. Picture it like this, no matter what we wish we knew or hoped we knew, it's nothing compared to what actually is going on in her mind. Hunter boy over here may feel the same pain and joy she did upon finding out about the six of you BEASTs. Yes, there is one side that you can relate to. But just because you can relate to just a part of the ache, doesn't mean you fully understand." Finally, words of wisdom and facts to back up his sentences.

"Why doesn't she just talk it out with someone?" What if no one is there to listen? What if no one is there to hold me as I break down? What if I get left behind again? What if I just got forgotten? What if I'm just put aside like a rag doll only brought out when needed? What if no one cared enough to stay?

"Would you?"

"Yes......... Okay, no." A simple sigh changed the entire atmosphere.

"And why not?" A rhetorical question. None the less, it did provide a way for the others to open their eyes and minds to reality.

"Because I'd be too scared about the future." The future isn't something we can predict. It's not something we can see in the stars. But do people really have the ability to control their future? Or is it all already set in stone? So many questions. And so little time.

"Precisely."

"She's handling too much on her own. And she won't talk to anyone about it."

I drifted off into an even deeper sleep after that final sentence. Even in my dreams, I felt someone's presence beside me the whole time. I could feel their warmth at my side, their hand holding onto mine, their love seeping into my heart. I was immersed in it all.  My own heart began to feel lighter. All of the anguish and sorrow present in my soul melted away with every passing second. The past is the past. What I should focus on is changing my own future. Forget the whole belief that others control our endings. That's the wrong belief. I am me. And my fate is my own.

And with that, I awoke in my room. I tried to get up quickly, but too many different sections of my body ached. I noticed bandages around my left wrist, right hand, right thigh, and left shoulder-neck area. Trying my best not to focus on the pain, I got up with one slow and steady movement. As I looked around me, it hit me. No one else was here. I was... alone.

Before I left the safety of my bedroom, I grabbed a hold of the journal on my book shelf. Rumaging through it, I pulled out the one letter I needed to read the most. Tablo. Iwalked downstairs to go to the kitchen for a cup of water. Passing by the grand hall, one could easily overhear the screams and yells coming from within. Through a simple crack in the door, I listened as best I could.

"Tell us everything, Father."

"This is not the time or the place..." The weary and unstable voice of the King himself echoed in the nearly empty large corridor.

"Then when? When were you planning on telling us?"

"Telling them what, Tablo?" The voice of a woman called out.

"Nothing, nothing."

"So she's nothing now?" An angry voice growled under his breath. The tension of the room just rose with every passing second. It seemed like no one could escape it, not even the King. He had to confess to everything. No other choice was available.

"She?"

"Please, can you leave Jenny? I have some explaining to do."

"No, Mother is not going anywhere."

"You tell everyone in this room the truth."

"You state every fact that you've withheld all these years."

"Boys! Boys! Stop this madness. You are not supposed to treat your Father this way!" Someone's elderly voice begged.

"We respect him still. We love him still. This anger is sure to pass like the sun across the sky every day. But this... this pain that Sophia bears in her heart at this moment, this is all because of you!"

"No it wasn't! He did it because he loved her!" The elder's voice screamed. She broke down into tears. Holding back the flow as best she could, she took a few steps farther away from the door.

"Who would leave the one they loved?!"

"I left her because it was the only way to make sure that she'd live!" The King exclaimed out to the world. I poked open the door as slightly as I could. Just enough to see with one eye through the small opening. He was on his knees, with his head lowered, crying. He had been holding back the feelings for so long. "None of you could ever understand. The feelings you bear for Sophia is identical to what I bear for her mother."

The Queen was astonished. She took a step back from her husband. Mrs. Moon rushed to the King's side, patting him on his back as best she could to calm him down. Their perfect family lifestyle was cracking and falling apart right before their eyes.

"I have loved her since the first moment I saw her. We were both three years old when I laid my eyes on her for the very first time. It was like a ray of sunshine entered my heart, because I wanted to be by her side from them on. And to be the one to wed her from the beginning, that pleased me even more. In my mind, I couldn't grow older fast enough. I just wanted to be with her that badly. It was all going along so beautifully, until my grandfather decided that it would be best to exterminate the entire lineage of the Kingdom of Akore rather than merge have our kingdoms into one. I protested so much against it. I caused havoc in the palace when I found out. How old was I? I don't even remember. Maybe I was six or seven? What sort of young child would do something so insane like break down parts of their home in anger? I did. I did because I knew what he meant. He was going to kill them all. He was going to murder the one person I loved the most. My grandfather called for me to be locked away in the dungeons weeks before he executed it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't escape. Salt water and hot oil was repeatedly used on me to teach me a lesson, that grandfather knows best.

"But I had to keep trying. No matter how much pain I felt, I couldn't give up. I had to warn them, warn her, protect them, save her of all people. But what could I possibly have done to help her? Nothing. And that's what I did. Nothing. My grandfather called for my release the following morning of the Bloody Valentine. He ordered for their deaths on the day where most people proclaim their love for each other. I was too powerless to do something to have helped her. I was too weak to help the one person my heart yearned for the most. I became a cold figure after that. I didn't know how to laugh or smile. And when my grandfather died, I didn't feel satisfied. On his death bed, he apologized to me. He told me that it was a mistake to do something so horrific to a family as old as our own. He begged for my forgiveness. But how could he ask for my love when he tore my heart to pieces? I turned away from him. I hoped that he felt the same amount of pain that I did when I woke up that morning to the news that her entire family was gone. I didn't speak a word. I didn't feel pain. Even if I was the one to murder my own grandfather, it was nothing to me. He was just begging for forgiveness because he knew that he wasn't worth anything to anyone anymore. And I killed him. I murdered him by beheading and burning his body. By the time my own father realized it, it was too late. The deed had been done. And my father was the new King.

"Do you know what it's like to lose the person you love? I felt like... watching myself expire over the years. I had no intention to marry, to fall in love with anyone else, to even look at my own reflection, in fear that I'd be reminded of her. Every corner I turned, I saw her there. Every voice that lingered in my mind was hers. I was coldhearted and silent for over a decade. All until I bumped into a blonde girl with short hair one day. She walked ever so gracefully into the kingdom, like it meant nothing to her. She pulled me aside and at that moment, I realized who she was. Her eyes screamed it all to me. No matter what color she may have dyed her hair, or whatever clothes she wore. It was the way she looked at me that gave her away. It was my Aurora. It felt like a dream after that. She kept telling me how my quiet demeanor was the polar opposite of who I was when we were younger. But she knew just what to do to make me laugh or smile just like I did years ago. She told me of her struggles after what happened. No matter how much pain she went through, no matter how many tragedies came knocking at her door, she had her arms open and welcomed it with a smile. That's what I loved about her the most. She reminded me how our choices control our future, not everyone else's. There were a few theories in her mind as to who had committed the Blood Valentine murders.

"But I never gathered the courage to tell her it was because of my family. I couldn't bear to see her face if I were to whisper that I couldn't help her when she needed me the most. Would she have forgiven me? Or would she have told me it was alright? Would she have told me that she loved me still? Or would she have yelled that I was nothing but a traitor? I wanted to beg for her forgiveness. I wanted her to know what I felt. I was going to. Until I got news that a kingdom across the oceans ordered for her death. They recognized who she was and were training their own special breed of vampires to be assassins. How do I protect her from that? We weren't even full fledged vampires. How am I supposed to show her just how much I care about her if she wasn't going to even see the light of day? That same morning, when I received the horrific news, I asked for her hand in marriage. I was going to turn her into the most powerful vampire around. And then I was going to let her go.

"Why? Why would I let her go? I couldn't look at her anymore. I was living a lie. I'd rather live knowing that I had her heart than live knowing that I broke and crushed hers. I'd rather live every day for the rest of my life in prison, strapped to the walls, being oiled, beaten, stabbed, injured, maimed, everything. I'd rather go through that hell than know that she hated me. I... I didn't want to hear those words from her. I didn't want her to stop loving me. I convinced her the following day to let me turn her. She laughed at me, telling me that this all seemed like a dream to her. It was all like a fantasy in her mind. I told her to imagine just how glorious our wedding was going to be. I whispered how perfect our lives would be now that we were together. And then... it happened. And her power was born.

"I spent the rest of the day holding her in my arms, as we just reminisced on everything. Her words linger in my mind all the time. I kept telling her that I loved her. And that she should never question or forget it. I should've told her then. I should've confessed to everything. But I didn't. The fear. The fear of the worst just kept eating away at me. I just... I really didn't want to hear the words "I hate you" from her. The next day, I began ignoring her. I grew distant as quickly as I could. I refused to see her. I refused to let her in my room. I refused to be near her. I remember one moment distinctly. She had knocked on my bedroom door ever so gently. And called for me several times. We both knew I was listening intently. And yet, she didn't force herself into the room. She asked why I was acting so strange. And if I had a change of heart. I remember pressing my body against the door. I stared at the ceiling in the hopes that it would hold back my tears. Who knew loving someone could hurt so much? She begged for me to open my door and to talk it out with her. I couldn't. I knew that the only way she'd live her life fully was if I'm not in it with her. She can go underground again, then the bounty on her head would disappear, and she'd be able to have a family of her own. I knew just as long as I was royalty, she'd be in danger. She called out for me once more before the fated words.

"I told her ever so simply to leave because I no longer loved her. Oh, how could my words be so far from the truth. And she left. I stared out my window, staring at her rush out of the palace in tears. Seeing her cry... it broke my own ten thousand more times. I still yearned for her. I still wanted to be by her side. I wanted to be the reason for her smile and for her laughter. The following day, I woke up with regret. I had a plan. I'd give up the crown. I'd stop our lineage on royalty. I'd give up the world for her. I secretly arranged for the family island house to be mine alone. No one suspected a thing. I was going to confess everything to her. I was going to beg for her forgiveness for sure. I was going to get on my knees and profess my love, my pain, my ache. I was going to wrap my arms around her and ensure that it was all going to be alright. I wanted to apologize for my harsh ways, for my grandfather's choices, for my selfish choices. I was going to present her with the option to go away with me to that island. We'd be by ourselves. We'd be far from any wars. We'd be living life as we wanted. Together.

"But I was stupid. And too late. She'd already fallen for Sophia's father. I no longer held a place in her heart. And it was no longer mine to guard and protect. So I watched, I watched from a safe distance to ensure that she was happy. And she was. I didn't hear anything from her for years. Until I got a letter in the courier. She told me of what was happening to her. How the Professor used her for his experiments. And how she had a daughter named Sophia. She was scared. And she didn't know where else to go. I wanted to rush to her side. I wanted to help her. She told me that if anything ever happened to her and Sophia's father, that she wanted me to look after you. There wasn't any other person in the world she trusted. Even when I broke her heart, she still trusted me. So I launched a full scale search for the Professor. The amount of hunters on his trail quadrupled that day. She didn't leave behind any hints or clues to her whereabouts. But I was going to find her. Even after all those years, I still loved her. I wasn't going to let her down or die. She wasn't going to leave me again.

"My heart crashed once more when I smelled her scent in the village. I woke up in the middle of the night and rushed outside. But I was too late. She was already gone. I called out for her. But no response. What was she doing in our kingdom? And right in front of me was a basket. Inside, I felt the heartbeat of a baby girl. And she was the spitting image of her mother. The beautiful girl was packaged so warmly in her blankets. I wanted to keep her. But... but how do I explain to her that I loved her mother... Once again, to save her, I brought her to a family I knew would love her. I parted ways with the one thing that reminded me of my first love because I love them both so much."

The King still had his head lowered. His tears were basically compiling into a pool under him. His sons stared at him with disbelief. This was a side of their father they never witnessed before. The Queen was so stoic. She tried to absorb the information. No matter what her husband may say, she still loved him. She understood that Aurora, my mother, will always have a place in his heart. She knew that she could never amount to my mother. The King loved them differently. The King sure did love the Queen, but no matter how much that love may be, Princess Aurora of the Akore Kingdom will always be ahead. It was no race. It was no competition. It was a fact.

Once you fall in love with someone—head over heels, heart is going crazy, get butterflies in your stomach—sort of love, you don't really ever forget. And over three decades, the King surely never forgot.

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OH I'M SO HAPPY SOME OF YOU ARE STILL AROUND TO SAY THAT YOU MISSED ME SOOO AHFDKSJFHAKDJ <3 

I'M GOING TO HUG YOU ALL LOOK. WILL YOU ACCEPT MY HUG. (>^O^)>

fhadjfhas; i've really missed you guys. i just i love writing so much. and ugh. i'm so happy. i can't. 

i hope you guys loved this chapter. 

it clears things up I hope. :d

tell me what you think below~!!!