Royal Hearts Entwined

TEN

"Damien?" Cleo's voice was soft but laced with concern. He blinked rapidly, his eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden brightness. It took him a second to realize he was back—everything was exactly as it had been. Nothing had moved. Nothing had changed.

"My bad... What happened?" he muttered, rubbing his face, trying to shake the strange fog from his mind.

"We should be asking you that," Red snapped, eyes scanning him like he'd suddenly grown two heads. "You blacked out for a second, looked completely out of it. What's wrong with you?"

Damien's hands were still shaking, and his head throbbed as he tried to piece together what King had shown him. His words came out tangled and unsure. "It's... uh... I—I've seen something... I... we—" He trailed off, his thoughts swirling too fast to catch. "We need to talk."

Red raised an eyebrow, not buying his vague explanation for a second. "Okay... about what?" She folded her arms across her chest, already skeptical.

Cleo leaned in closer, her worry deepening. "Damien, are you okay? You're not making sense."

Damien clenched his fists, struggling to form a coherent thought. "I... I don't know how to explain it. King... he... he took me, showed me things. But... I came back and it's all the same... like I wasn't even gone. But... it's not the same. Not really. We're... we're missing something. We're doing this all wrong."

"Who's King?" Cleo mumbled, pushing the thought to the back of her mind for now.

Red stared at him like he'd completely lost it. "You're rambling. You sound crazy."

Cleo exchanged a worried glance with Red, then placed a tentative hand on Damien's arm. "What do you mean? What did you see?"

Damien's breathing quickened, the pressure building in his chest. "It's... Bridget—she's not the problem. I mean, she is, but not... not like we think. We keep pushing her, we're making her worse. We... we're going to turn her into the Queen of Hearts."

Red narrowed her eyes. "You're telling me we're responsible for her going full psycho? That's insane."

"Yes. No. Yes and no," Damien said as he paced, the images King had shown him flashing through his mind.

"Damien, you have to help us understand. Slow down," Cleo said, trying to ease him but he refused to sit down. "We've been here before—once, twice, maybe thousands of times, trying to fix Bridget. We try to stop her from turning evil, and we mess everything up each time."

"You've lost it," Red said, rolling her eyes. "It's impossible."

Damien shook his head in frustration. "It's not impossible! I've seen it. I've seen everything we've done and everything that could happen to our parents. Only one outcome is good."

"So you're saying we've done this before?" Cleo asked, her confusion deepening.

"And now you're feeding into his delusion. He's insane," Red interjected.

"I'm not insane!" Damien snapped, his voice trembling with intensity. "I've seen it, Red."

Cleo, her face pale with concern, stepped closer to Damien. "But how... how do we stop it? If this has happened before, how do we change it?"

Red threw her hands up in frustration. "This is crazy. While you two are discussing theories and shit, I'll be figuring out how to save our moms and get out of this place." Red stood up, ignoring Cleo's protests, and slammed the door behind her, leaving Damien and Cleo alone.

Damien felt a mix of panic and relief as Red stormed out, the door slamming behind her. He stood in the middle of the room, feeling the weight of Cleo's worried gaze on him. The air was thick with tension, the silence almost oppressive after Red's angry departure.

Cleo took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as she faced Damien. "Okay, Damien. You need to explain this to me, but you need to do it clearly. Start from the beginning."

"Alright," Damien said, trying to steady his voice. "Every time we've tried to stop Bridget from becoming the Queen of Hearts, we've made things worse. It's like we're stuck in this cycle, and no matter what we do, it just seems to escalate."

Cleo nodded slowly, her brow furrowing as she processed what Damien was saying. "So you're saying that every time we try to fix things, we end up making Bridget's situation worse? How does that even make sense? The prank is the thing that Bridget says affected her."

"But what if it's part of something way bigger?" Damien said, his frustration evident. "Sure, the prank could have been a key factor in turning Bridget into the Queen of Hearts, but there has to be something more going on."

"Like what?" Cleo asked, her confusion evident.

"I don't know," Damien admitted, his voice tinged with desperation. "It's like we're being manipulated into making the same mistakes over and over again. Every time we try to fix things, we end up playing right into a trap."

Cleo's eyes widened slightly as she considered Damien's words. "You're saying there's some kind of manipulation at play here? That someone—or something—is leading us in the wrong direction on purpose?"

"Exactly," Damien said, feeling a flicker of hope as Cleo began to understand. "There's a pattern. Each time we try to fix things, we're pushed into making decisions that end up escalating Bridget's situation. It's like we're being guided towards failure."

Cleo's face turned thoughtful. "So if there's manipulation involved, it's possible that someone wants Bridget to become the Queen of Hearts. But who would benefit from that?"

"What if it's not just about Bridget becoming the Queen of Hearts? What if it's about all our moms?" Damien suggested, his voice growing more urgent.

Cleo's confusion was palpable. "What? That doesn't make sense."

"No, but think about it," Damien said, his frustration giving way to clarity. "Our moms were practically soulmates at this time. If someone wanted to break them apart, it would leave each of them vulnerable. We're not just talking about Bridget here; we're talking about causing chaos and suffering for all of them."

"Why?" Cleo asked, her eyes narrowing as the pieces began to connect. "Maybe because they have something of value. Maybe someone wants to exploit that."

Before Damien could respond, Red burst back into the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her face was pale, her breath coming in shaky gasps. She looked as if she had just witnessed something deeply disturbing It was so unusual for Red that it sent chills down the teens spines as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I—I found something," she stammered, her voice trembling with fear and barely contained panic.

A/n- Who do we think is behind this? Drop your answers in the comments.