The Real Villian

Year: 4055; Day: 282

{Song of the chapter: Not Afraid Anymore - Halsey}

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Time was out.

"I don't care," I lashed at Heye Jaylo, the
Authority guard standing in front of me. "Find a way to find them."

Lake sat in the background, mutely observing the conversation. My chest was rising and falling, with every breath came frustration. I thought I could've trusted Javi and Cassi to be on their own-- but I didn't. Not with Greon searching for them. It was going to be a race, between him and I, to see who could find them first. And if he won, they would die.

The weight of the situation was greater than Heye could even begin to comprehend.

"Queen, I understand you need these prisoners back, but on their own they'll die anyways," said Heye.

Irritability flared my senses. "You don't understand," I muttered through a clenched jaw. My fists were tightening against the arms of my chair.

She leaned in and put her palms on my desk. "Then explain it to me, Your Highness."

Cocking my head slightly, I met her gaze in a fit of fire. "I can't."

"Then don't fuss about how I couldn't possibly understand!"

"You shouldn just do what I say," I snapped at her. "No matter what the cause."

Her steel eyes were pinning me down. She was at least twenty years my senior, which made the whole ordeal oddly represent a mother scolding her child.

"You have nobody, Nova," she said, inching closer. "You need me to keep you on your feet, attatched to the ground."

My hands flew into the air, dramatically gesturing towards Lake. "There's someone! I have him! And if you follow my demands, I'll have other people too. I don't plan on killing the fugitives; I... know them."

Confusion crossed her face. "What do you mean? You must dispose of all fugitives, it's Earth Law."

"Well," I mumbled, "laws were made to be broken."

"That's not true at all!"

"It's true in my book."

Her mouth fell slightly. Shaking her head, she leaned back and removed her hands from my desk. "You're insane," she said in absolute aghast. "Absolutely physco."

Not giving her the pleasure of my voice any longer, I threw my pointer finger towards the door. Quite docilily, she turned towards the door and drifted out of the room-- only after muttering some unearthly words under her breath.

"The rigor doesn't suit you, sweetheart."

I shot out a breath of air as my eyes drifted to a gramlet. "Well," I mumbled flatly, "neither does being Queen, but look where we are."

"Being Queen was your choice," said Lake.

With a quirk of my left eyebrow, I raised my eyes to meet his. "It was what I had to do."

"Really?" He arose from the couch, his eyes still fixated on me. With slow steps forward, he whispered, "Really?"

No. "Yes."

He stepped closer until he was a mere foot away. Vivid green eyes pierced me. "So you're trying to tell me," he murmered, "you just had to be Queen? You had to betray me, and betray our original plan? Really? Really?"

"Yes, that's what I'm trying to tell you," I said to him, my words bordering on desperate. As much as I had tried to put more gusto into my voice, it came out weak, frail.