Hospital Wings | ✔

• Twelve •

Charmaine squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself. Any minute now, she'd be done for. Any minute now, she'd be propelled up to the highest point of the stratosphere and dropped so far that she would never be able to use her wings to save herself.

Terrified, she waited, but nothing came. She forced her eyes back open, allowing herself to look up at the raging face of her captor. All at once, the strong legs released their grip on Charmaine and proceeded to stomp towards Irene, who was still lying motionless on the grass.

"What have you done?" shrieked Vera. Irene didn't move.

"Get out," said Charmaine suddenly. Every eye turned to look at her, including Vera's skeptical one.

"What did you say?"

"Get out!" Charmaine's voice got louder. "You shouldn't be here! You cruel, evil, selfish...monarch..." She sputtered as she searched for the right words to say.

"You listen to me, Charmaine," growled Vera. "You are the one who doesn't belong here. The mistake. So how about you get out."

They glared at each other for a moment. Then—

"Fine."

"What's that?"

"Fine. I'm leaving. But I'm taking Irene with me. Farewell, everyone. Farewell, mother." As soon as she said the last word, her leg flew to her mouth in dismay. What had she done?

Vera's defeated look turned to triumph once again. "Mother, you say?"

Charmaine grabbed her her mother's leg. "Quick, let's get away!" She cried.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mocked Vera. "Either you leave your mother here to be killed, or you die yourself!"

Charmaine chuckled. "It's not like you can fly, Your Highness," she retorted, hovering just above the ground.

Charmaine's face fell as the leader struck her mother's wing with a heavy blow. Lucina let out a cry of pain as she plunged to the ground below.

"Mom!" Charmaine cried, darting to her side. She tried to lift Lucina, but she shook her head.

"Quickly, Charmaine, save yourself."

"I'm not leaving you," Charmaine insisted tearfully.

"You'd be better off listening to her, rather than doing the typical 'I'll never leave you' thing," laughed Vera, "or else you'll die, too!" The evil laugh that followed this statement reminded Charmaine of the villains in the cartoons she had watched as a child.

Suddenly, Irene got back to her feet. Only the small butterflies noticed her silent ascent from her position on the grass. The leader remained facing Charmaine and Lucina.

"Irene," whispered Charmaine in her mind, quickly adjusting the frequency so that Vera couldn't hear. "Get that large leaf next to you, and quietly, lift my mom onto it. I will distract the leader. Then, run."

The nurse nodded, following the girl's orders. Charmaine suddenly rose from the ground, hovering above Vera's head. "I'm leaving," she taunted. "Here's your last chance to stop me. Better take it, 'cuz I won't be seeing you again."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a leaf being pushed under her disabled mother. A moment later the nurse ran off.

"Hey!" Yelled Vera, angry at herself for becoming distracted. She attempted to fly, but her wing was still damaged by the nurse's blow.

Charmaine ascended, following the nurse as fast as she could. Many of the other butterflies followed, cheering.

"Where do I go?" Charmaine heard Irene wonder as she ran.

Charmaine bit her lip. Where were they supposed to go? There was no home to come running to anymore. The forest, of course, wasn't safe with Vera residing there.

A minute later they paused in the valley near the outskirts of her town. It was ruined. She had known it would be like this ever since the night of the earthquake, yet everything looks eerier in broad daylight. Especially what's been lost.

"There is nowhere to go," thought Charmaine.