The Last Ruby Rose

Chapter 23, 1970 : Cold Sunshine

Alcina would have lied, if she had said that she was not frightened by the screams outside the castle. But she waited patiently for her lover to return. 

When Miranda's final scream reached the halls of the castle Alcina was not able to sit still any longer. She stood and got outside. No webs were preventing her from doing so. Right behind her was Heisenberg, his hammer on his shoulders, prepared to fight. 

When they got outside they were greeted by a horrific sight, which even let Alcina gasp for air. Arachne stood in the middle of thousands of spider threads, shining like sharp blades. They were surrounding her like a wall for protection. She wore a beautiful dress, seemingly weaved out of blonde, dark shining hair. It suited her perfectly. In her right hand she held Miranda's short haired head. Her body was laying headless in front of her with lots of spiders on it. A giant white spider with red marks on her body was next to Arachne. Her eyes glowed red as Arachne fed her with

... Was that honey? 

Arane was the first one to notice that they were not alone anymore. Alcina got goosebumps when the spider startet to speak, to speak like a woman with a dark, calm voice. "The lady and her brother.", the spider said before she went on, drinking the honey. Arachne turned around, looking like she did normally within seconds. Her golden hair danced around her in the wind, the wound on her back was still bleeding. With an innocent smile she held up Miranda's head. 

Miranda's eyes had rolled back, her mouth was opened to an awful scream, blood came out of her eyes and nose and out of what once was her neck. It had been no clean stroke. It looked like something had bitten off her head, which must have been really, really cruel and painful. She had suffered in her last minutes. "I told you.", Arachne started and looked at Alcina, "I told you she would lose her head, if she dared to touch you again. Furthermore, she did touch our daughter." The shine in her eyes was cold and sinister. "And for you Karl Heisenberg. I am glad to inform you that you are free." 

Heisenberg smiled. "You' ve found yourself a good wife, sis",he said with a big grin in Alcinas direction before taking his head off and bowing to Arachne. "Long may the life queen."

~oOo~

After that Alcina and her daughters searched for Saiya in the Village, while Heisenberg and Arachne searched in the surrounding areas. Arachne was not able to sense her child and this led to her getting more and more panicked. "I cannot sense her. Where is she?!", she cried. It was barely believable that this woman cruelly murdered the superior of the village not even an hour ago. 

The sun sent cold light over the hills when Arane came into sight. The giant spider made Heisenberg back away a bit. "I will never get used to her.", he whispered as Arane came near. To their surprise she had a little baby wrapped in spider webs on her back. "Saiya!" Arachne ran towards her, carefully taking the baby off her back. "She was sleeping in a little hut near the forest.", the spider explained with little clicking sounds while Arachne looked for injuries. She was alright, luckily. "Thank you, Arane." If spiders could smile, Arane now would have done. "Just make sure my children and I get more honey.", she said before turning away and crawling into the forest nearby, disappearing in the darkness. 

"A talking spider? And I thought Moureu was a freak",Heisenberg claimed. Arachne laughed and brushed with one finger over her daughter's cheek. "She is no real spider. Arane is a spirit. The spirit of dreams, to be precise. Every one of us sisters has a spirit. My bigger sister Valentia has a spirit named Valea. It's an owl, the spirit of time", she explained in a soft voice, not looking up from her daughter. "I see." Heisenberg watched her and Saiya for a bit before he patted her shoulder and said: "Come on, let's go back to the castle. I will bring you there and the go off to my factory."