Royal AU: Yellow Jessamine

Deadheading

He widened his eyes when she shoved the bottle of antidote into his mouth to drink, taking its effect as soon as he swallowed it given that she made sure he wouldn't spit it. However, he felt like his throat was intensively burning due to having consumed the concentrated antidote and after they both had fallen onto the floor he started coughing and choking. Now fully snapped out of the hypnosis he looked down at Flora, having noticed her coughing and breathing heavily, mostly worrying about the blood that was quickly spreading over the pavement "Flo-..ra" he managed to mutter, although sounding as if he wasn't getting any air. He coughed more frequently and gripped onto Flora, having noticed that she was stabbed and laying her down on her back instead. Now seeing where she was wounded he panicked and quickly took off his scarf to cover it and slow down the bleeding, although he still kept wheezing and feeling his throat burn

Caroline was frozen by the sight of him actually managing to snap out of the hypnosis, widening her eyes and slowly backing away as she know this time she couldn't do anything to protect herself. She didn't hesitate to turn around and head for the back exit, wanting to escape without being seen.
As it was the two of them alone in the throne room, Flora kept bleeding profusely and her breaths sounded like they barely let in or out any amount of air as blood kept flowing down her mouth instead or coming up in coughs. Everything looked foggy to her but she managed to realize that the antidote had worked on the man, making her smile weakly at him. Her abdomen moved a little more slowly with each breath but she managed to briefly turn her head towards him as she felt the prince setting the scarf around her wound, staring at him tiredly for a moment and slowly trying to reach a hand to his cheek. "My...Sky..." she managed to mumble under her breath, although she couldn't even reach his cheek as her hand fell back onto the floor, into her blood which was now soaking all of her clothes. She kept the smile on her face for a few more seconds until her eyes seemed to become dull and empty, even the color of her power leaving them, as her smile faded into a blank expression with blood still dripping down her chin. After that, even her abdomen stopped moving and her body no longer felt as comfortably warm as usual. Her head tilted a little to the side as well as she stared into nothing, falling into complete silence while even the base of her hair by then was wet with blood. Yet in her palm, she still loosely held the empty glass bottle while the rest of her body went completely limp.

The prince kept putting pressure on her wound as she was bleeding, his heart racing from the whole situation as well as enduring the burning sensation in his throat. He faced her, hearing her mumble her last words and seeing that she was trying to reach her hand to his face before it fell back onto the floor. He widened his eyes at that and noticed that her expression became plain and dull as well as not feeling her breathing anymore "No-..no no no please-...." He could barely speak, his voice sounding hoarse from the antidote as he kept panicking and trying to desperately keep her alive though her usual warmth faded by now. "Please—.." he gripped tightly onto his scarf, still pressing against her wound as he began having a blurry vision "Flora...Please, wake up—" he kept begging her, now his voice completely giving up as no sound could be no longer heard coming from his mouth. He was stained in her blood that ended up on the floor and his hands, his tears dripping onto the pavement as the prince silently cried next to Flora's lifeless body

Even her heartbeat seemed to have slowly completely faded, her body remaining still. It wasn't long until some commotion could be heard along with Caroline loudly complaining. "No! Let me go!" She shouted. From the doors of the throne room appeared Das and Michael along with several guards, some coming from the back finally caught Caroline. It took the rest a moment to realize the situation and everyone froze at the sight of the queen being dead. Das and Michael wasted no time, quickly hurrying over and kneeling next to Skylar. "Sky! What happened? Are you alright??" Michael asked quickly, glancing down in horror at Flora for a moment but trying to avoid the sight as he quickly faced the man. Meanwhile, Das was staring right at her body in silence and disbelief, setting his finger on her neck and checking if there was any sign of life at all.

Still, in tears, he looked up when he'd hear the commotion through the door, facing the people that stood at the door before Das and Michael hurried to them. When Michael asked whether he was alright and what happened he attempted to speak but held his throat in pain and shook his head unable to speak or make a sound. Instead, he tried to sign him that he ended up stabbing Flora for some reason, pointing to the little glass bottle before pointing to his throat afterward to let him know that the substance caused him to become hoarse.

Michael quickly understood and set a hand on his back, looking down at his belt and reaching for a leather water container he opened it and briefly brought it to Sky's lips "Here, drink as much as you need" he said, turning to Das while Sky was distracted and lip syncing something while nodding at Flora, probably asking him if he felt anything. Das looked back at Michael and furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head briefly to say he felt nothing but trying to not let himself be seen by Sky. At one point he decisively stood up and spoke strictly "We must bring her to the Pink Kingdom immediately. Let's hurry" Das ordered at the rest, not confirming whether she was dead or alive to avoid panic. As soon as Sky was done drinking, Michael put the container away and didn't hesitate to take his cape off to wrap it around Flora gently, then picked her up with extreme care although blood kept still dripping the moment she was raised. "Help me get her to the carriage immediately!" Michael shouted as he ran out. Das meanwhile turned to Caroline and gestured with his hand "And bring her to the Purple kingdoms prisons. She will be dealt with later once we reached her family" he said before he helped Sky up carefully, setting a hand on his back. "Easy there...Easy." Das mumbled, actually being understanding with him and supporting him.

Having brought the container to his lip he didn't hesitate to drink the water, shutting his eyes since swallowing itself felt painful. Once he was done he let Michael take his container back as he huffed briefly and coughed for a moment, briefly watching the prince take Flora away. Being helped up by Das he faced him still tearing up as he attempted to speak again, mouthing with quiet sounds "I'm- so...sorry" he apologized

"Young man, none of this was your fault," Das said, setting a hand on his shoulder and for once speaking more softly and calmly to him "You were just trying to do the right thing. It's not your fault if someone took advantage of you for that, alright?" He said, tightening his shoulder a little as if to give support "Do you want me to call your sister? I don't think you should come along for now, it might be too much to handle" he suggested, getting in front of him and fixing his clothes a little, looking at the blood sadly "Just... don't cry, Skylar" he said, sounding as if he too had a knot in his throat, glancing up at him with compassion "Don't cry. It's Flora...... she doesn't give up so easily. You know that, right?" He said, trying to comfort him for now.
He nodded to his question and accepted to stay in his kingdom rather than come along. The prince slightly heard him having a knot in his throat and listened to his words, wiping his tears away with the clean side of his sleeve. He look back at him, still with teary eyes yet trying to hold them back and nodding at what he said. "Of course-.. I'll try to" It sounded like him whispering "... I'll come back-...once I'm ready" he kept trying to speak although struggling.

Das stared at him and slowly nodded, accepting his choice. "The doors of the castle are always open for you." He said, looking behind his shoulders for a moment and sighing softly, now wanting to leave to go check on what was happening with Flora meanwhile. "As for now, have a break for yourself. That which is gone for good... She'll never bother you again, I can promise that." He said, letting go of his shoulder "I'll be seeing you Skylar... Stay strong." he said as he bowed briefly and turned around, heading for his horse and then quickly riding away to catch up with the others. Meanwhile, Sky's scarf had fallen from Flora while she was taken away, simply laying on the floor in the puddle of blood.

He nodded to everything he said, feeling briefly comforted and relieved knowing he didn't have to deal with Caroline anymore "Thank you-.. for everything" he muttered as he bowed as well and watched them leave the throne room eventually. Once they were out he glanced down at his blood-soaked scarf on the floor, exhaling shakily and hovering down to pick it up.