Child of the Moon.

~Chapter Twenty-Seven~

It hadn't been long before Hector and Adira were separated. Soon, crowds of people were running past the siblings. Some of them whom Hector knew from his time spent in Corona had grabbed the warrior and began to frantically pull him towards the Coronan palace. Evidently, something very important had been going on, and the Dark Kingdom siblings needed to see it at once.

The crowd had gotten increasingly angry as Hector drew closer to the hole in the palace wall. There had been people screaming, others crying, some even appeared to be trying to attack whoever was in the middle of the circle of people. Despite Hector's abnormal height, he couldn't get a good look at anything going on in the center of the circle. But above all the noise and confusion, he could hear Eugene's commanding voice.

"PEACE! Cassandra is dead!"

After that, everything had been a blur.

The crowd had dispersed, and Hector had been whisked away by who he could only assume were healers, becoming completely separated from Adira. He was completely unharmed, as had everyone else been, so he didn't have to wait long to be released.

It was then that Hector had rushed off to find Eugene. He spent nearly two hours roaming the grounds of the palace and into the city. All around him hundreds of people were constantly running around, looking for their own loved ones. Some people were even starting to clear the city of rubble. The murmuring of a thousand voices surrounded him. He couldn't make out much of what they said, but they all seemed to want answers. No one had any idea how Zhan Tiri had been defeated, how Cassandra had died, where the Moonstone and the black rocks were, or how they hadn't been killed by the Decay Incantation. There was so much they didn't know, so they all were anxiously looking for answers.

After those two long hours, Hector had suddenly heard someone running towards him, calling his name. He had turned around just in time to have Eugene run straight into him, embracing him tightly. He cried into his friend's shoulder while also laughing at the same time. Hector had returned the embrace, and the two spent a long time wrapped up in each other's arms.

When they finally let go of each other, Hector had immediately started asking questions. Eugene assured his friend that all would be answered, but he had to come with him right then and there. He and Rapunzel had apparently already found King Edmund, Adira, Lance, Varian, Quirin, and a woman named Elizabeth. They just needed Hector to join their meeting so that questions could be answered, and plans could be made.

Hector had followed Eugene silently up to the top of one of the only remaining towers on the palace. It was evidently the tower where Rapunzel's chambers were. Once there, a woman had come running over to Hector and threw her arms around him. The warrior was startled and alarmed by this. Who was this woman? Was this Elizabeth? If so, why was she hugging him? It was only when the woman pulled away so he could see her face that he knew who she was.

Rapunzel took Hector by the arm and led him over to the table where the others were sitting. She had been dressed in leather armor, was covered in many cuts and bruises, and, most shockingly, her hair was cut. Rapunzel's hair was now shorter than Hector's, the tips resting just below her chin. Not only that, but her hair was also brown instead of blonde.

After everyone was settled, Eugene had taken his girlfriend's hand, and the princess began to tell of how she had defeated Zhan Tiri.

Hector learned that after he had been impaled on the searing golden rock (Everyone had showered praises on Hector for his bravery when they learned that part of the story), Rapunzel had been freed from her gold rock cage when Zhan Tiri fell into the palace after Hector had stabbed her in the eye. The impact of her fall combined with her power granted by the Moonstone and the Sundrop had shattered the cage, nearly crushing Rapunzel in the process. But being freed might not have helped at all if it hadn't been for Cassandra.