My Inner Demons S2 Continued

Father

~With Ava, in Pierce's house~

          Everyone, including Appolline, was gathered around the table, looking at the handmade wooden map depicting Daemos. It was carved up into six major kingdoms: Kane, Asch's kingdom, Questrillya, Crallyka, Vrtiki, Scheuti, and Zamadyia.
          "Let's make one thing clear. War doesn't thrive or start with just one kingdom. Every kingdom contributed to this prolonged war." Asch said.
          "Except Zamadyia." Leif pointed out, his finger tapping the southern kingdom.
          "Yes, Zamadyia has stayed mostly neutral in The War, but that alone has made them enemies." Pierce agreed.
          "We need to go to the source of The War then: the monarchs." Ava added.
          "Which isn't as easy as it sounds. All the kingdoms have beef with each other, and they won't be keen on ending The War when there is no clear winner." Noi said sadly, rubbing his arms.
          "Especially Asch's father. Even if one kingdom agreed to end The War, that doesn't necessarily stop other kingdoms from invading." Rhys said, rubbing his temples in frustration.
          "Okay... but... talking to the monarchs is a good start, right?" Ava asked slowly.
          "We can't just waltz into the Six Kingdoms and ask to talk to their leaders! We'd be imprisoned immediately- all of Asch's knights are recognizable." Appolline scoffed.
"The best course of action would be to have official ambassadors sent to the kingdoms on behalf of my father. The only problem will be getting him to agree." Asch mused.
Nobody pitched any new ideas, and the room was grew quiet.
"What if you were king, Asch?" Ava asked softly into the silence.
Asch's face hardened, "Being king... it's only for those with the strongest spirits. Trust me, it breaks you, the weight of the crown. Besides, in order to be the king of Kane, it's tradition to kill any present usurpers. That means Raul, and I couldn't harm my brother."
          "Well... I-" Ava started, but was interrupted by a messenger running into the house.
          "Lord Pierce! Prince Asch!" The messenger gasped, out of breath, "Someone... someone is outside the gates... asking for... you."
          "Ugh, tell them we're busy here." Asch rolled his eyes, about to turn away.
          "They said to tell you their name was Raul!"
          Everyone froze.
          Then they ran like hell.
          "Why would Raul be here? How did he even know we were here?" Ava panted, sprinting alongside Asch.
          "I'm not sure. I- I don't know! I don't know." Asch said, not out of breath despite all the running.
          By the time the seven of them- the knights, Ava, and Appolline- got to the gates, a large crowd had gathered and were whispering and pointing at Raul. Next to Raul was an elegant, lithe woman, with a mass of curly blonde hair and wide black eyes. It was not until Ava looked closer, however, that she recognized the lady.
Ava gasped, her face paling, "Queen Melodie?!"

~~~

"Hello, my dear." Queen Melodie smiled sadly at Ava, her beautiful face hidden behind dry, crusted blood.
"Raul!" Asch cried, running to his brother and embracing him tightly, his eyes clamped shut, "I thought you were dead. There've been reports of Father being mad, and I thought he- I thought-"
"Now now. It would take more than a physco dad to kill me." Raul hugged Asch back affectionately, clearly relieved, before his face darkened, "But the reports are true. Father has gone crazy. He prowls the halls, trying to catch young servant girls unaware, and he doesn't sleep. His fire magic is out of control and he ignites at the smallest trigger. Asch, he was always a little out of it, but this is crazy even for him."
"And I think I might know why." Melodie stepped forward.
Asch's eyebrows furrowed, "Um... you're my aunt, right? Sorry, I just never saw you around the palace."
          Melodie's face turned sorrow, "When the time is right, my boy, we will talk informally. However, we must now focus."
          Queen Melodie turned toward the rest of the group, her face hardening, "I grew up in the palace, but twenty years ago, I was imprisoned. Ava and I managed to escape, but I lost you all as we were running from Brac- er, King Brackon."
She cleared her throat, "Anyways, to stay alive I hid in secret passageways. Raul found me and together we spied on the king and Lady Bish."
Ava gasped, "Lady Bish? Did she have two male humans with her? One of them has glasses and gray hair, and the other one has blue eyes and blonde h-"
"No, I did not see them." Melodie said, "I did learn something interesting. Very interesting. Lady Bish is using Lord Tramy to push King Bracken off the rails and make finding Ava his sole obsession. At first, I thought 'why now?'. Why did Lady Bish suddenly gain an interest in human experimentation, specifically on Ava? And why was Lord Tramy suddenly fully committed to helping Lady Bish?"
Queen Melodie paused for dramatic effect, and Ava wanted to throttle her, until finally the queen took a deep breath and continued.
"I took to spying on her- I was the one who showed Raul all the secret passages he knew about, you know. Anyways, I would spy on Bish, and Raul spied on Tramy. That's when we overheard some particular interesting conversations, but..."
"But what?" Leif huffed impatiently.
Melodie shook her head, "Our discoveries should not be thrown around in casual conversation. Nor in front of a crowd."
"Are you kidding me?" Pierce growled.
"Fine! But I'm not leaving Ava- she might need emotional support. When we were on Earth I could always hear her crying into her pillow-" Noi started.
"OK I WAS WATCHING VIOLET EVERGARDEN AND ALSO THAT'S NOT THE POINT." Ava shouted.
"No, it's not." Rhys agreed, turning back towards Melodie, "So what is, ma'am?"
Melodie sighed and looked around, surveying the crowd that had gathered to see the commotion. With a deep breath, she splayed her hands out, and they began to... sparkle?
"Woah. Um. What's happening?" Ava asked.
Nobody had an answer. They all watched as Melodie drew her sparkly hands toward her heart, and with a dramatic flourish flared them back out. Suddenly, as if the world was a camera, everything was tinted blue. The crowd had disappeared and it was just Ava, Melodie, and the knights.
"What the fu-?" Ava started, looking around in bewilderment.
"What the Funyuns? How did you do that? What's your power?" Leif demanded. Ava looked at him, shocked by his human reference.
"I have the power of dimensions. I can create my own personal dimension and can bring other people in it with me. The downside is you can only stay here for a couple days before it kicks you out."
Ava mentally ran through the powers she knew people had; fire, ice, strength, teleportation, healing, dimensions... what else?
          "... and that's when we overheard Lady Bish and Lord Tramy talking about... stuff." Raul finished, making Ava snap back to attention.
          "What? What did you learn?" Ava asked eagerly. It felt like she was finally getting some good information about where she stood in this mess.
          Melodie looked at hesitantly, "Ava... your fathers aren't your biological ones."
          Ava snorted, "Well, they can't exactly reproduce together. Which one of them?"
          Melodie shook her head, "Neither of them. You were adopted."
          The world tilted. Ava squeezed her eyelids closed. It made sense. Of course, Ava had wondered if she was adopted plenty of times, but actually hearing it was different.
          "Ava. Ava!" Hands roughly shook her shoulders, snapping her out of her daze.
          Ava opened her eyes to see Asch bent down at eye level with her, his smoldering eyes brimming with worry.
          "We wondered why they were talking about you." Raul said softly, "We found out who your real parents were too."
          Ava's stomach did a million flips and she took a deep breath. However, nothing could prepare her for what Raul said next.
          "Your mother was a captive human on Daemos. Your father was Lord Tramy."
          The last thing Ava heard was one of her boys shouting before she crumpled to the floor and the world went black.