Star Fairy Chronicles III

Chapter 18

The Finale

Part II: The Divine

"I must say, you sure are persistent," Helena snarked, "As was your friend Rosie, who tried to strike me down not long before you showed up. That was rather foolish of her." Callus's eyebrows lowered with anger.

"Where is she?!" he asked harshly.

"Well, since you want her back so badly, I'll give her back," Helena replied. She then snapped her fingers, causing Rosie to appear out of nowhere. The red-haired soldier panted as her body lay on the ground, struggling to get up.

"I'm... s-sorry," she said weakly, "I couldn't stop her." Callus rushed over to her and helped her up, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

"That's right, go back to your husband," Helena mocked.

"Are you all right?" Callus asked Rosie.

"Much better now that you're here," Rosie replied, making an effort to smile "But I feel exhausted, like my life force has been drained from me." Callus walked with Rosie over to the wall and rested with her. Helena looked back at Blue and the others, touching the tips of her fingers on her upper arms in a back and forth pattern.

"I've been looking forward to the day that I finally meet Cosmos," she said with a fearful sense of joy, "Oh how joyous today will be." Celios lowered her eyebrows and pointed her staff at Helena.

"Glad that you had something to look forward to," she said sarcastically, "Now, we can go about this meeting two ways. Either give up your control of the multiverse, or we can take it back by force."

"It seems you're already on the way for the latter option, sieging my castle and killing my Black Hole Fairies," Helena boasted, "Perhaps maybe you should reconsider and join me. With the goddess of time on my side, we would be unstoppable. And Cosmos, who gave birth to this multiverse, and is s-surely the rightful ruler."

"That's not what Cosmos intended for this world," Percy replied, "She wanted the people to live their lives however they desired, not under the rule of a multi-versal dictator."

"My son, of all people, you would surely know how it feels to be bound by rules and regulations," Helena pleaded with a sweet voice, "How would you like to be in charge of this whole multiverse? You could be the prince of a elegant and beautiful queen."

Percy's eyes dilated as he heard these words. He contemplated life as a ruler. At first, he felt it would be good for him as a nice change of pace from how his life used to be. But then, he remembered how his life used to be; forced to be perfect in every way, only feeling emotions that were positive and serving under the praetorium with a corrupt leader. Being the one to force this onto others would feel awful, not just for the people, but for himself. A tear streamed down his face as he took a step forward.

"Don't do this, Mother," he said, "Please don't go down this path." He then lent his hand out to her. Helena's eyes widened as vague memories of her former lover flowed back through her mind.

"Come with us," he continued, "Come with me. Let's live peacefully, away from all of this royalty nonsense. Don't you think I should spend the rest of my time with a loving mother... like you?"

Helena's wicked smile faded as she glanced at her son. His stance mirrored that of Linus when he first asked her to join him many, many years ago. Her eyes began to water, a sensation that had been devoid for centuries. She slowly reach out her hand to him, but then stopped. Her frown steadily relapsed back to that wicked smile as she wiped away the fake tears from her eyes. Her body then began to shake as laughs escaped her body, however these were not laughs of joy.