Bows, Apples, & Roses

~ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎 ~

Once again, Jacks had left her. She should be used to his disappearing act by now, but it was still just as annoying as the first time he had left in the carriage.

Ariaellis had changed into the dress Jacks gave her and was lacing up her boots to leave wherever he'd left her, and find Danté.

After accidentally never meeting him in the Temple District she had felt an extra pang of guilt, adding to her already detrimental pile, and was determined to find him. She truly believed he could help her win, if he was not Legend already, so keeping him close was better then not.

Aria was just about to walk out the door when a flash of light caught her eye from the balcony windows.

She turned around and opened the glass doors, stepping out onto the balcony. It was fully nightime now and she could see all the stars dotting the dark sky. Aria looked over the gardens beneath her and saw the flash of light had come from some street vendors farther off selling candles that exploded into shimmers and sparkles.

Before turning away, she stopped and studied the stars for a bit, recognizing a few constellations, when she felt as if she was forgetting something- or maybe, remembering something.

Flashes of a memory were cracking in her mind and she struggled to remember...

A night similar to this one, but much colder, danced in her head.

The moon was crescent shaped and the night clear; perfect for stargazing. Snow dusted every surface and sparkled where the moon shone on it. It looked like sugar and icing as Aria walked through the forest. Her frosty cloak dragged through the powder and small puffs of her breath were visible. She was holding a paper in her hand, a letter maybe, and nervously rolling one edge then smoothing it.

A clearing surrounded by trees was up ahead, completely empty of any form of life except a person was sitting in the middle of it. They were just as white and perfect as the snow, a halo of light seemed to glow off of them, the crescent moon shining down, and Aria might've thought they were an angel or snow nymph, but she knew who they really were.

And they were the complete opposite.

A monster.

The memory began to fade, as it always did just as that person came into view, and Arias eyes watered at the fact she could never seem to remember. It was torture to feel so much and yet know so little.

In that moment, Ariaellis hated herself for begging the witch to make her forget.

She wasn't sure why these memories were getting dragged up again, maybe it was the visit to the Star Temple and that one crack in the ice kept spreading, or it simply was because she was back in Valenda, where all these things happened. Either way, she hated it.

She hated reliving the memories,

she hated the fact she did those things in the past,

she even hated Jacks for knowing so much about her, being so frustratingly familiar and important, and using her to get to Legend.

She hated him too because she wasn't even sure she'd be able to find him, yes maybe Legend was Danté but where was he now? How can she possibly win Caraval, convince or threaten Legend to make her human, if he even could, and still go on with her life after knowing everything about her past she was now remembering?

She hurt, hurt, hurt. And hated, hated, hated.

And that's when she found herself falling over the edge of the four-story balcony.