Just Always be Waiting for Me; Book 5 In The "Love is Weakness" Series

A Total, Deranged, Maniac

It took everything she had to reenter the carnage filled court. It didn't even resemble a room anymore. 

Shards of glass, and puddles of water lined the cracked checkboard floors. Fragments of splintered wood, fallen pillars, metal poles and pipes hung from the ceiling, the walls, some discarded in the rubble. 

The Knight's and guards still petrified in an immobile state, littered the room. Some with raised swords, others with wounds that once dripped with blood, were now frozen in time. 

"Devante!" Raven called to the Knight.

Devante had wrapped Hartley in his arms, and sat with her on the ground. She was struggling to process the news of who her father was, and that he was now gone forever. The Knave looked into Raven's direction, upon her call.

"Get her out of here." Raven instructed, calmly.

Devante began to raise Hartley to her feet.

"No! You do not give orders in my Kingdom, Pixie!" The Queen of Hearts argued.

Raven's face remained emotionless, and she refused to respond to the insane Monarch's ranting. 

"Go." Raven pressed, to Devante.

The Queen of Hearts skulked toward Raven, with aggression and menace in her eyes.

Raven chuckled to herself, raising her hand that now emitted small sparks of lightning. It was a simple warning, that the Queen would be no match for her.  

Garnet's eyes widened, realizing that the  collar was no more, and she began to panic,

"Hartley!" She cried to her daughter.

Hartley raised her head and turned to look at the Queen's oddly pleading expression.

"You don't belong out there. You belong in Wonderland with your people."

Hartley scoffed,
"To live in the dungeon for my crimes?"

"Let us make a new deal." Garnet purposed. "Once the ceremony is complete..."

"No chance." Hartley interrupted, quickly dismissing the Queen. She turned to walk towards the oak doors.

"Don't... don't leave me...!" Cried the Queen of Hearts, before lowering her head shamefully.

Hartley found herself seething with rage at the Queen's demand. 

"It's true. It's completely true!" Hartley gasped, in realization. "You're fucking insane! And not like just a little unhinged, or Wonderland weird. But, a total, deranged, maniac!" 

"That may be true. But it is no reason to abandon the one who made you!" Her mother replied.

"Do I...look like him, mother?" Hartley demanded, through angry tears.

The Queen's intense gaze began to falter.

"I do, don't I?" Hartley surmised. "And, Carlos...reminds you of my father too, somehow. That's why you're pushing so hard for us to stay."

"You're even more detestable than we ever knew!" Devante gasped, angerly. "You banished your daughter's father, but kept her as a...keepsake?"

"That's why you punished me, and tormented me. Especially when I came close to friendship and love." Hartley cried. "You were getting back at him, through me. I was being made to pay for his sins!"

"It is truly sad, dearest niece. She hates you, and she loves you, because when she looks upon you, she only sees your father." Pearl expressed. 

Hartley's emotions rose within her. She uncoiled herself from Devante's supportive hold, and lept forward. A high pitched scream erupted from her throat, her hands raised in front of her, beaming with raging red energy. Neither Queen expected this, and neither were able to avoid the powerful blasts. 

As the White Queen faltered, her hold on Peter and the frozen Knights, was released.  

Peter flew in a beeline towards his daughter. Raven shot a stream of lightning directly at Peter without success, as he had shielded himself from the blast with a flick of his wrist. The Pixie twisted into a high roundhouse kick, which Pan was unable to avoid. It was enough to disorient him. Raven began to run, uncertain of her next move. 

The oak doors opened violently, revealing the concerned VKs and AKs, who'd been startled into terror by Hartley's scream. 

The Queen of Hearts stumbled back to her feet, and once again, transformed into the Jub Jub bird.

Mal was ready for a rematch and almost immediately became the dragon. 

"No! Mal! Stop!" Ben cried, fearing for her already injured state.

But it was too late, she had already taken flight. 

The Jub Jub bird embraced the dragon with it's blade-sharp talons, close to punching the dragons hide, Mal snaked her way out of the giant birds grasp, only to make herself vulnerable to the stabbing of the Queen's relentless beak. Narrowly avoiding Mal's eye, her beak sliced the flesh just beneath it. Mal writhed and wretched away from the sharp pinch, the bird taking advantage and dive bombing the faltering dragon, knocking her violently to the ground. 

Ben stood, staring in horror, as his fiance' connected with the torn-up floor. Then he realized the Jub Jub bird was continuing to advance on Mal, despite her inability to fight back. 

The Queen wasn't content with beating the dragon, she was trying to kill her.

Ben shouted in desperation, for help,
"Hartley!" 

Hartley understood immediately, and took no time in blasting her mother. Devante and Jay fighting back the Knights, that were working to protect their Queen.

Carlos, Doug, and Evie were searching frantically for Raven, as she was no longer in sight, following her brief altercation with Pan. They had been struggling however, as they also found themselves in the throws of battle with the remaining members of the Queen's guard.

Hartley's attack on the Jub Jub Bird had catapulted it across the room, and the Queen was no longer able to keep this form, returning to her humanoid state.

Before the Queen was even able to completely lift her head, she was overcome with shock. The Queen was in a vulnerable position, and was now face to face with a snarling, monstrous...beast.

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