Water splatters around her, up to her knees. The more she walks the more she sinks. It’s been too long. Two hundred and ten seconds. Two hundred and eleven. Princess Irene is dead. There’s no way she held her breath that long without drowning already. Still, she needs to be sure before abandoning her in the swamp.

It’s hard to look for her in silence. She can’t yell, so she uses her hands to try to feel something underwater. The Explorers are gone, as far as she knows, but they are ruthless, there’s no way they left without finishing the job.

The animals churn. There must be a colony of bats close. She imagines the dark caves sheltering more than just bats. Even as a shadow, as nature’s nightmares, she’s scared of what The Fright Swamp harbors deep into its roots.

The yellow dust reflects on the water, and it’s her only source of light.

“Irene?” she murmurs, but even she recognizes that’s impossible for the princess to hear her that way. She grabs a stick, using it to hit things underwater, like a blind person trying to find their path, but a body instead.

Two hundred thirty seconds.

She hits a body, and immediately grabs it with both hands, like a rag doll. She can’t see much but she’s sure it’s the princess, so she gets her out of the water and into the ground.

She’s not breathing.

Seulgi tries mouth-to-mouth first, then CPR. It’s so rare to try to save a life when she’s so used to taking them. She loses track of time and doesn’t know how long she’s been giving her CPR, but it works, because the princess cough, and Seulgi immediately pushes her onto her side, making sure she gets all the water out of her system.

The princess vomits once, twice, until she stops, heaving, choking. She manages to regulate her breathing, but her voice is raspy when she speaks again.

“,” she murmurs, taking the hand offered by Seulgi to help her to her feet. “I must be immortal at this point.”

Seulgi laughs, but then remembers where she’s at, cutting it short.

“The good part is that you are dead, again, for a second time. If we keep a low profile, this should work to our advantage.”

“Being a damsel in distress is not as fun as old fairy tales say,”

Irene is covered from head to toe in mud and duckweed, it sticks to her hair and clothes and some parts of her face. It reminds Seulgi of a character from some comics she found on the black market. It cost her a lot of money to get the first edition, the last in the lands if she were to believe the merchant. The Swamp Thing. Irene looked like him, but far more delicate, smaller.

“Why didn’t you use your powers?”

Irene knew she was going to have to answer that sooner or later, but she hoped it was later.

“I don’t enjoy killing people,” the lie comes easily, knowing well Seulgi is helping her because she’s useful, but she will stop being useful if she discovers the truth. “And I was caught off guard.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s you or them.”

“I just… they are just following orders. They are innocent people in some way.” She supports all her weight in Seulgi, feeling safe in her arms for now. “My power is torture. I used it once and it was enough. I prefer to die with a clean consciousness.”

“You can use it for self-defense, princess. Don’t go all the way, just a little pain to get them off your back. Promise me next time you’ll use it.”

Seulgi looks at her sideways, taking in her damaged appearance. She may be older than Seulgi, but at that moment she looks like a girl.

“Promise me, Irene.” Seulgi insists, stopping to clean off the duckweed falling from the princess’ hair to her eyes.

“I’ll try,”

“That’s my girl,” she smiles. She hopes the confidence in her voice and her choice of words makes her feel better like she is a friend and not an assassin that needs something from her, even though she is. “Let’s get you to clear water. There’s a stream outside of Gohan in the high part. After that, you can make a decision.”

•••

Winterland, Candystop, Butterpond river.

The closest royal palace is northeast of Cotton City. Since they can’t build an army there, so out and close to the border where they will be expecting it, they start walking back to Cotton City just half an hour after Wendy left. Jimin doesn’t want to talk to Minjeong. She hates her now, and it’s so strong that it only reaffirms what she discovered today. That she’s bound for life to the queen because there’s no way in hell she’s ever gonna stop hating her.

The sun is setting on the horizon when they get to the city, but instead of going north, Winter guides her straight into Butterpond river. The oily, yellow river it’s not that abundant or wide, it’s more like a canal instead. It still flows fast, so Jimin doesn’t understand how is Winter inside it up to the chest without the river dragging her away.

“What are you waiting for?” She says, scrunching up her face in disgust at the butter on her skin.

“I’m a little confused here,” Jimin says, reaching for the hand Winter is offering her. “Isn’t Frozen Palace in the opposite direction?”

Jimin can’t see her but Winter rolls her eyes.

“There’s an old portal inside the river, somewhere around this area,”

“Isn’t that… dangerous? A portal with direct access to the palace in a very accessible place like this?”

Butter gets inside her underwear, and now she understands Winter’s expression from before. It’s sticky and makes them look like french fries.

“No one in her right mind would swim here.” She murmurs, still looking for something in the water. “Besides, I’m not a complete moron. It’s only accessible by me and my companions.”

“Are you sure this is necessary?”

“A-ffirmative,” Winter murmurs, walking along the river. Jimin follows, her feet touching the river bed. Winter opens to say something again, but she gets dragged underwater.

“Winter?” Jimin tries to reach for her, but she doesn’t feel a body. She plunges into the water, but it’s difficult to see anything besides the yellow color.

The butter is cold and her eyes burn, not used to the substance. An ice block hits her in the forehead, sending her spiraling to the bottom. She realizes then that there’s no bottom anymore, no river bed. Winter must be at the bottom, so she lets the river flow drag her down, hoping she’ll find her there.

A hand grabs her own, and she’s scared just for a second. The hand yanks her down, her shoulder protesting. Then, usual nausea caused by the portals overcomes her senses for a few seconds, before finally emerging on the other side, inside the greenhouse of the Frozen Palace. It’s the worst place to be while wet because now she’s freezing.

The Frozen Palace is the only habitable place on the big glacial zone shared by three of the four lands. The building is not completely made of ice as one would think. Most columns are made of quartz to secure the structure of the building against attacks. The walls and roof are made of ice, though, and Jimin thinks it’s too dangerous of a place to be.

Winter seems to read her mind because she answers Jimin’s doubts right away.

“It’s not common ice, of course. It’s reinforced so it won’t melt or fall off.” She guides her out of the greenhouse and into the palace. “At least that’s what they told me. I don’t expect this to hold if war comes, though.”

Contrary to White Palace, Frozen Palace’s halls have a guard in each one. The first one seems surprised, correcting his posture quickly. He has a distressed look on his face while he bows.

“Your Majesty,” he murmurs, still with his head down. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

Winter makes a signal with her hand, and the guard raises his head, standing out of the way.

“I didn’t know either.” She says, so soft that Jimin would think she cares for the man, but the guard trembles in what she would guess to be fear. The contrast is so weird that Jimin wonders if she’s just damaged as Winter is. “How’s everything in the Black Hole?”

He seems to calm himself, not trembling so much as before when he replies.

“As always, Your Majesty.” He says, changing his weight from one foot to the other. “Ready.”

“Tell Minjeong II to seal the palace. No one goes in or out until I’m done.” She walks past him, and Jimin slips behind her. “And to meet me there, please.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

Winter doesn’t say goodbye and Jimin can see the guard is glad she’s gone. She’s definitely biased because that was Minjeong being kind.

They pass multiple halls, all painted and decorated in black and red, the walls of ice and quartz and black marble casting a shadow over them, even if it’s still early in the day. It’s beautiful yet frightening. It’s also hard to grasp that her conclusion will be there. All the paths and decisions she made took her there, her, an oracle, her power worth nothing when she can’t prevent her destiny.

They turn around a column getting to the end of the hall to a black wall. Minjeong touches it briefly with her fingertips, drawing an invisible figure on it resembling a star. The block of marble moves in, reforming itself and creating a hole big enough for them to pass through, resembling a door.

“After you,” Mijeong says, taking a step back to let her in.

The place is super cold, she’s dripping butter all over the marble and she slips once or twice along the way. The stairs are made of ice, and Jimin is surprised she didn’t fall off to her death. But still, she feels claustrophobic.

This is the last place she will see. It was always gonna end up like that. It would have been better if she never found out about the Blood Pact, she would have felt way better knowing it was her decision, not something her mother chose for her again, it would have been easier to pretend her mother loved her.

Minjeong was right, after all. She would have protected her if Seulgi had never come up in the picture. She would have felt the twisted love of Minjeong and would have been enough.

“I’m sorry,” Minjeong murmurs almost as if she doesn’t want her to hear her. Her usual cold mask falls just a little, enough for Jimin to see what it’s really behind. Pain. Regret.

But she knows her now, their time together long enough to understand her at some level. She’s too greedy, too manipulative, and too power-hungry. She needs the win, she needs the war, and needs her throne more than she needs Jimin. But that doesn’t mean she can’t love her at the same time.

They are just outside of the cells, so close and far away at the same time from the people she will hurt, and she will kill and will turn into ashes.

Minjeong turns around and her hand reaches Jimin. Her first instinct is to flinch away, but she fights against it. Minjeong grabs her hand, and she lets her pull her. She lets her because she wants to feel alive again, to have a good memory before her death.

Minjeong is warm to the touch, a strong contrast with the icy place, it soothes her nerves. Fleeting moments where the Queen of Winterland, the ruthless, genocidal, sociopathic ruler, touches her like she’s made of glass are worth treasuring.

She pulls her until they are chest to chest, and Jimin lets her. She’s not sure who closes the distance first, but she feels her anger melt away when Minjeong kisses her. It’s slow and soft, nothing like their first time that rainy day, just days ago. It’s like kissing a different person but with the same taste. She loves it. She loves her.

She loves Minjeong. She can’t deny it anymore. It’s probably too fast, and too messy. She barely knows her and what she knows it’s not good. But she can’t deny the pull of attraction she’s felt for the girl from the first time she saw her.

She is her destiny, after all. One she didn’t see coming.

She does remember a time when she used to have visions about a faceless girl, with short hair and round eyes, but it’s fuzzy, she never thought anything of it until now.

Jimin kisses her back, as softly as she can, holding her clo