Her Fear, His Obsession

She had won the first battle, but it was a long way to winning the war.

As they made their way down the hall, Viraj felt more and more anger radiating from Luca's aura. He had had a difficult past with the darkness and its growing strength today made it so much worse for Luca. It had taken Luca's mother and sister years ago and through the past 5 years, Viraj saw the man who was once his best friend turn into a ruthless king, a man who barely was a shadow of the gentle giant everyone else had known before. But that was the darkness- it took the best of everyone and left the worst. For most of the slaves, that was fear, but for many, including Viraj and Luca, it was their humanity, their souls. Both of them knew that there was a chance this would happen when they took on the task of fighting the darkness so they had set up fail-safes with the remaining humanity they had.

A man appeared, panting frantically, fear struck on his face. Luca leapt to his feet as only news of Alia could give this slave reason to break basic protocol. "What's happened to Alia?" Luca demanded.

"Your Majesty, the Queen has fainted," he replied , trembling.

Ignoring everyone else, Luca rushed over to his bedroom. He was welcomed by Liam and the doctor at the door. After demanding a reason, Luca was astonished to hear that Alia had passed out likely from exhaustion and dehydration.

"I want every slave in here put to death," Luca said in a low voice. It wasn't low enough and Alia heard him. She knew that this was the time for her to fight her fear and stand up for everyone.

"No." Luca heard a small voice from behind him. He spun around, who dared to question his command. His eyes settled on Alia, who was holding the hands of two of the women he just sentenced to death.

Moving towards Alia, he snapped to the women, who tried to pull back but Alia held on even tighter. "My love, what's wrong?" He purred, as if talking to a child.

"You can't kill Sunny and Lily, or anyone else. They're people."

Luca stopped in his tracks, who the hell were Sunny and Lily? And since when were slaves people? They were meant to serve his Queen and she was more worried about them than herself.

"Who are Sunny and Lily, love?" Luca said, moving closer and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sunny and Lily," Alia gestured to the two women standing beside her.

"I didn't realize all the slaves had names. Liam?" Luca retorted, his eyes narrowing at the two women and Liam. Liam was damn lucky enough himself that he had a decent name. No other slave needed one. How had they been so bold to give themselves names.

Liam stepped up, the uneasiness seeping out of every pore on his body. He kneeled and bowed his head. "Your Highness, the Queen wished for everyone to have names. We apologize for our folly, my King."

Luca waved his hand, "If the Queen wants you to have names, then you will have them. Just don't forget your places." Turning back to Alia, he walked over and threateningly whispered, "Now, my Queen, you passed out from exhaustion. Would you care to tell me why you aren't resting when you should be?"

Alia shrugged. Luca was growing frustrated but he already knew; yelling at Alia wasn't going to work, it never did. "If you don't tell me, Alia, then I have to punish the only culprits I can..." He intentionally left the threat hanging in the air.

Alia panicked. "No wait, wait! I can't sleep without music. I have used my headphones and phone for the past 10 years to sleep," she rushed out. Luca was dumbstruck. She wasn't sleeping because she didn't have music? Here he was, throwing the world at her feet but he couldn't even take care of the one thing she needed to sleep.

But he could now. So he did. Turning to the two guards at the door, he ordered, "You two are to..."

"Jay and Oliver."

"What, my love?"

"Their names are Jay and Oliver. See, we all have name tags." Alia said, pointing to hers and then Sunny and Lily's name tags.

"Ok, Jay and Oliver," Luca gritted out in between his teeth. "Find me slaves who can sing. They are to sing for my Queen all night, every night." Turning back to Alia, he clasped her hands, "Is that adequate, my heart?"

Alia whispered back, "Can't I just use my phone?"

Luca shook his head, there was no need for his Queen to have such things. The slaves should be adequate entertainment and company for her. "You have no need, my love," he gently spoke as he stroked her cheek.

Alia's face was crestfallen. Not only did she need the music but even her mostly unusable phone had social media. She might be able to get some help to leave.

Luca's heart broke as he heard her whimper out a please. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair, and debated the options. He knew of the risks of giving her the phone but he also swore that he would give her anything within the castle walls. Taking a deep breath in, he decided. He turned to Liam, "Get the music from her phone and put it on an iPod. That and her headphones should be given to her before tonight."

He turned back to see a small smile on Alia's face. He had made his Queen happy, this would decrease the chances she got involved in the punishment of the slaves. He nodded to Viraj who was standing near the door.

"All of you should have already gone to the dungeons!" Viraj boomed out as he stepped forward from the door.

All the men and women that Alia had so kindly names earlier today moved towards the door. They knew how bad they had messed up but at least they got to spend their last few hours of life with an identity, enjoying the company of their Queen. Hopefully she would bring change to the Dark King's life. It was a weird notion- even though they were set to die, they all remembered the King in his early days and that was the King they all loved and sought in the man that was King today. Perhaps the Queen would be the one to bring it forward, Chandni prayed.

Alia leapt out of the bed, running behind the group. Luca tried to stop her but she was ready, twisting so that she was out of his reach. Barely making out of the doorway before running into Oliver who was the last of the group, she fell to the floor with a satisfying thud. Oliver spun around, followed by the rest of the group. Seeing Alia on the floor, clutching her head, they all raced to her as Oliver began stuttering out an apology for being in her way.

Just as Lily and Jay were helping Alia stand, Luca walked out the door, his eyes flashing as he saw Alia's hand in Jay's. Moving to separate the two, he was shocked to see her hand tighten its grip on Jay's who was now fighting to remove his hand from hers, the panic clear in Jay's eyes. Luca felt his anger bubble up, "Alia, let go of his hand." He said as calmly as he could, trying to contain it with the little constraint he had left.

She shook her head, tightening her grasp of Lily's and Jay's hands.

"Alia. Love. Let. Go. Now."

"Only if you promise that no one gets hurt." She replied. Somehow, she felt more bold today than she had ever felt in her life before. She knew it could get her killed but she wasn't backing down. Not today.

"Slaves, leave this instant!" Luca boomed to the group that had surrounded Alia. He saw the man and woman Alia was holding on try to leave her hands but her grasp only tightened which made his anger grow. He reached to try and rip Alia from her grasps but her left hand, which held Lily's was not fully healed and no sooner had Luca reached to snatch her hand, that Alia cried out in pain. Looking down, Luca saw the bandage turn bright red and he knew that he had harmed her again.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Luca cried out. Alia began sobbing and he felt that whatever little progress he had made was lost. "Love, are you okay?" Luca asked, worriedly.

Alia knew this was her chance as she saw the group continue down the hall, with Lily and Jay still at her side, trying to free themselves without harming her. "Please," she whimpered, doing her best to sound as pathetic as she could.

Her plan worked as she saw Luca's face morph into defeat before he called out, "Stop!" The group stilled and Lily and Jay stopped squirming. "You all will be given one last chance, at your Queen's insistence. Do not mistake this laxity for anything other than a one- time pardon. Is that understood?"

The group bowed in unison, then moved to kneel before their Queen, who was standing there smiling in victory. She had won the first battle, but it was a long way to winning the war.