Moonstruck

| Chapter XXIII |

They were finally here. Kairi looked up at the castle as her men charged at the door, creating a big bang. She looks over at Envy pitifully.

The poor girl hasn't slept in the past 4 days.

Eye bags and cheeks stained with tears and the most exhausted expression on her face, but she still wants to fight. Fight for Taylanie and Sam. She sighs. She can only imagine what state she'll be in after she finds out. Kairi looks ahead again, and sees the castle doors open, flooding with the enemy's men. Kairi purses her lips knowingly. There are too many of them.

They are going to lose this battle.

She thinks, until she hears horses behind her. Not only Kairi turned her head, but the entire army of men turned as they saw—not one— but three humungous contraptions, and the many horses and carriages. One of the carriages stop, and two women step out. Kairi's breath catches in her throat.

Her wife.

She hurriedly hops off her horse and jogs over to her, enveloping her into a hug as she shorter giggles. "What in heavens name are you doing here? I locked you in- I told you to st-"

"Did you honestly think you were gonna get rid of me?" Makai giggles, pulling her King's head out of her neck and holding her cheeks, pressing their foreheads together. Tears run down kairi's face, dripping onto Makai's cheeks. "I can't believe you actually thought you were gonna win this war without some help." She giggles, letting her face go—not without a quick peck— and turns to...her sister. Kairi's stomach instantly drops as she sees Queen Frizz looking evilly back at her. "Y'know, if you told me earlier that you guys were in a war, I would've brought five catapults!" Frizz smiles, walking up to the couple.

Frizz looks directly at Kairi, her piercing gaze more intimidating than any man. "And you have a heap of explaining to do." She scowls, but then curls her lip into a smile once again. "But for now, tell your knights to scatter away from the castle." She smiles, cupping her hands together. Kairi nods quickly, holding her wife's hand as she calls out. "Fall Back!" She yells, and her army quickly runs back to her, confused but obedient. She looks at Frizz, and Frizz smiles as Vianna's men comes running after them.

She raises her right hand, holding two fingers up. "Ready..." She yells. The catapult, that were despicably HUGE, pull the holder back. "RELEASE!" She yells, and the bolder flies toward the castle and demolishes the mid section of the castle. Screams ring through the air—most likely from townspeople who just witnessed the destruction—and the men go still.

Keljamt's knights take this opportunity and start killing those who are distracted, and Envy snaps up, practically jumping off her horse. "King Kairi!" She yells, practically falling face first. "ITS TAYLANIE!" She yells, and all three royals snap their heads to wherever she's running to. And from afar, she sees her daughter- her precious daughter- crawling on the floor towards them. With...

With one leg missing.

"TAYLANIE!" Makai screams, running toward her, trailing slightly behind the Knight. Queen Frizz stayed still, understandably. But her eyes trained focused on her sister and niece. She rose her hand again. "Ready..." Kairi got off her horse as well. She couldn't just sit and watch her daughter crawl on the floor with a wound that big. "LANIE!" She yelled, running towards the three. As she ran, she heard frizz shouting "RELEASE!" And a big bang afterward. She slides onto her knees as she finally gets next to her daughter.

"Momma... Mom- Sam- She's still in there!" She cried. Makai looked up, sprinted to her sister, shouting for her to cease the catapult. Envy looked up. "I'll stay with her- You can go look for Sam, Tanna and Jade." Envy said, almost scared she sounded demanding toward the king. But Kairi nodded, running toward the direction Taylanie crawled from.

By time she got to the building or area Taylanie came from, half the building was demolished. The hole that Kairi could only assume her daughter came from, was still in tact. Kicking out excess debris from the hole, Kairi crawled through, and saw Tanna laying down on the ground, rubble and dirt sticking to her unconscious body, along with the Queen of Vianna and a few guards. But no Samantha to be seen. Kairi could leave Tanna here, considering her betrayal, but she didn't have the heart to just let her die like this. Not this young.

Not like him.

Kairi sighed and hoisted her small body up, accidentally ripping the end of her dress in the process, due to part of it being under a large piece of rubble. As she picked Tanna's body up, she noted that she was still warm. Still alive. She sat her outside of the hole, resting her upon a bit of crumbled rock, and walked back into the demolished mess, ignoring the bloodstains from the cell her daughter was assumably kept in. As she started walking out of the jailhouse area, she looked at the remainder of the mid-section of the castle. A giant bolder lay in the middle, while crumbling rock and corpses surrounding it. Carefully, Kairi walked on the rubble, quietly thankful she was wearing boots. She'd gotten about next to the rock and then, she saw him.

Among the corpses of Vianna's knights, She saw a single Keljamtian Uniform. Kairi turns her head, knowing that was her favorite Head Knight. Reluctantly, she steps over the body, and begins traveling around the large bolder. As she arrives behind the bolder, She sees the duo.

The King and Queen. Elyza clinging to Huxon, presumably crying, while the King looked among his and her army, fighting for their lives. Then he looked at kairi, to which she frowned. "King Huxon, it's pleasure to see you again." Kairi greeted. Huxon frowns. "A pleasure?" Kairi responds with her fingers sliding against the fabric of her blade.  "After what you've done to my daughters, it would be nothing but a pleasure to finally send you back to hell." Kairi deadpans sinisterly. She pulled out her sword, hoisting it in front of her. The King pulls Elyza off of him. "King Kairi," He draws his sword. "I'll be sure to have you accompany me."

And Swords begin clashing. Kairi has the advantage, even on rubble. Her graceful movements were practiced and perfected, and she, clearly, was to be the victor of this battle.

But then, right as Kairi's about to pierce her sword directly through Huxon's stomach, Finalizing the duel, Elyza grabs Kairi from behind.

And holds up her knife.

"Keep your filthy hands off of my husband-!" She screeched, Pushing her hand downward.

...

Everything felt as if it was in slow-motion.

Was this it?

Was this the way Kairi, King of Keljamt, Was to fall?

Abandoning her wife, Kid(s), and Kingdom?

Kairi almost goes limp before the knife could strike.

She lost.

She had been prepared to accept defeat beforehand, but the fact still remains.

She lost.

A brown hand pulls Elyza's head backward, sliding from her forehead to her hair, yanking her downward as another hand stabs her directly in the abdomen. "Let's keep your hands off of mine first, hm?" Kairi's wife hushed, punctuating her sentence with another quick stab to the jaw. Quickly, Kairi takes this opportunity and swings her sword, slicing halfway into Huxon's neck.

Kairi turns around, sweat making her bangs stick to her forehead. "You saved my life." Kairi breathed out. Queen Makai shrugs with a nervous smile, dragging the bleeding Queen by the hair as she falls limp. "As I always do." Kairi let's put a relived laugh. "Always?" The shorter woman leans her head onto the King's shoulder. "Well, waking you up on time, doing your Kingly work for you when your tired, getting you off when your tired-" Kairi blushes with a loud laugh and The Queen giggles with her, giving the taller a quick peck on the cheek.

The moment is inturrupted by a pained groan, coming from the injured. Kairi looks down at the former Queen. "Your keeping her alive?" Kairi questions, looking up at her wife. Makai nods with a perky smile. "Yes! She has much explaining to do...doesn't she?" She trails off, gripping the woman's hair tighter. The woman only responds with a whine.