Celestial Princess

Chapter 22

Sapphire looked out the room and curled herself in the comfort of the blanket. Everything weighed on her shoulders. "I don't know what I am doing." She whispers to herself, throwing the blanket over her face. Elena knocks on the door and enters before Sapphire can say anything. "Sapphire?" Elena sits at the end of the bed and pats Sapphire's leg.

"It's time to get up?" Sapphire groans.

"It is." Elena felt as if there was a lump in her throat. She didn't want to let Sapphire go.

Sapphire slowly sits up and looks at the curtains as if she could see the view. "It's beautiful." She states.

Elena looks over to meet Sapphire's perspective and tilts her head. "The curtains?"

Sapphire let out a short laugh. "No, what's beyond them. It's a matter of..." Sapphire walks over to the curtains and opens them wide. "What is beyond? Remembering such a sight even though it's covered by darkness."

"Oh?" Elena said short and confused.

Sapphire shook her head and started to laugh while Elena looked at her worried. Worried that with each laughter Sapphire was scared and confused. But she had to hide it even if it made her seem insane. Elena started to understand Sapphire even better. "Sapphire," Elena said calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder. With Elena's touch, Sapphire stopped laughing and a tear strolled down her cheek. "Sapphire." Sapphire turned around, burying her face into Elena's shoulder.

"I am going to miss you." Sapphire muffled.

Elena took in a breath and nodded slightly to herself. Stay strong. She urged herself. "I- Don't take too long." She wanted to say something else but she couldn't bring herself to it. Elena thought for a moment and sighed. "Promise me you will make it back."

Sapphire pulled herself away and put her hands on Elena's arms. "You-" Her voice croaked and she shook her head. "I cannot make such a promise."

"Why not?"

"Because, Elena."

"Because why?" Elena's face turned red with every inch of rage inside boiling through her body.

"Because there is no certainty of the plan. It can change any second we are out there-"

"You, Sapphire Evans, will make it back to me. And if you die, I will resurrect you to kill you myself. And it will be an extremely painful and slow death. Do you understand me?" Sapphire didn't say anything, she gave up. Sapphire's hand fell to her sides and she stood up straight. Sapphire walked to the door and opened it then motioned her hands for Elena to leave. Elena made her leave without looking back still boiling with rage. Sapphire sighed and slowly shut the door, pressing her right hand on the door.

"I'm sorry." She whispered as her knees started to feel weak. "I am sorry that I am leaving you. But you will be fine." You need your own life... To love and be free. You need a life not filled with being behind someone, in the shadows. To love someone other than me. To love yourself. I know we haven't known each other for very long but... I cannot give you what you need. You need to figure out how to make yourself happy. And to find someone that will make you happy. The thoughts swirled around Sapphire's head. And she slid down the door, pressing her head above her hand on the door. It's so much pressure. She sighed. A lot of people are looking for me to succeed. And before now, I have felt too dependent and too much like a damsel in distress. I need to find a way to be efficient by myself. So Grayson shouldn't go... But if I push him away, he will fight back. As time passed, Sapphire had a mix of emotions pass and stir. Then she came to the conclusion she couldn't stop Grayson from coming. And she would have to learn to be powerful on her own even with company- She just had to learn not to rely so much on others. Sapphire reached for the clothing bag on the desk labeled "D tier Witch." She opened the bag to a black fitted plain gown with a slit in the right leg. Below the waist was fairly wavy, which was good for movement. Above the slit on the right leg was a hex pin, making it look like that was holding it all together even though it was perfectly fine. Sapphire guessed it was just decoration, something to flatter the dress since it was so plain. There was also a fairly plain necklace that looped the hanger the dress was hanging on. The necklace was a black stone with a silver loop hooking onto the silver chain. On the bottom of the bag were black combat books that were her size with some fishnet stockings. Sapphire nodded and brought the assembly out of the bag and onto the bed. She examined it all for a moment and walked to the bathroom. She sighed as she went underneath the sink for some hair dye. She inhaled deeply. "A deep red." She mocked the wording and looked at the mirror. Elena had brought some hair dye in the night with some green contacts to somewhat change her appearance.

***

Sapphire dyed her hair and put on her black attire. After a while of staring at herself and not recognizing who she was, she went to meet everyone in the elven throne room. They were all ready and looked over to Sapphire. "You are late," Oliver states.

"No wonder she's late." Dean scoffed; "You can hardly recognize her."

"She's supposed to blend in," Elena states.

Grayson mustered a cough and nudged Dean. "Right, we have made even more adjustments to the mission." Dean's face almost seemed pale.

"Adjustments?" Sapphire asked calmly.

"Obviously we had discussed... in order to blend in you must take any side quests they give you. Act fearless and reckless- Without being too over the top. You must excel at being the best even if you are a- now D-Tier. But don't exceed too much, it would arouse suspicion. And we do not want that. Most of all you have to abandon your morals at times, even if you hate it." Sapphire gulped and nodded. "We need you to climb to the top and gain trust. Take precautions though, we need you to be smart."

Elena rushed past Dean. "They need to head out, the horses are ready." Elena turns to Sapphire as Dean and Oliver rush off. "There are a few bags of food and water. There are no personal belongings to go along- we need the both of you to be outcasts and strays." Elena looks at Grayson who slowly adjusted to be beside Sapphire. "You are Grey." She looked back at Sapphire. "You are Sage." She laughed. "Short and simple. Elena looked back at Grey. "Your water powers must be limited. I know you can make the water super cold and you basically created the ice as its own element. But that would give you away since you are the only ice Witch." They nodded at each other in understanding. Then she looked back at Sapphire. "I have watched and examined with your brothers. I know you have worked really hard on fusing your powers with each summon. But your best one is Archer. You must be an Archer." During training, Oliver worked with Sapphire on a theory that she could use to an extent; her summons powers without summoning. It was straining work but to show she was a D-Tier Witch, she'd have to somewhat master this without fully mastering. Sapphire hated this technique. She got the hang of Archer's barely. But Assassin's was way too complicated for her to grasp. Assassin ended up laughing at how badly she failed. Of course, she was an amazing sorceress so any element was out of the question. Steward was also complicated for her to muster; she could only focus on one target to protect but when it came to multiple it all crumbled. So Archer it was, which meant Sapphire had to be tactical and take height, covering Grayson's back. Sapphire didn't mind, but she wished she could be more.

"Why can't I just be a firewitch?" Fire was her weakest Element, while water was her strongest.

"You know why," Elena said bluntly, putting her hands on her hips. "I need you to be an Archer." She let a slight giggle. "You are exceptionally bad at it." Then straightened her face back to being serious. "You will get better, but I need you to not be comfortable. This will also help you train your magic better. Focus on what you aren't very good at and succeed in it. That way, the rest of your magic comes naturally." Sapphire sighed.

"Alright. Sage and Grey..." Dean barged in and stopped in his tracks while he had them in sight. "Time to go."