New Beginnings

Confessions

Fire looked up at the castle, it felt so much more intimidating now. She glanced over at Phantom before sighing and landing in front of it, her legs begging her to run. Telling friends was one thing, but telling a king was another.

The wolf girl took a deep breath, her eyes hardening. They couldn't do anything she hadn't been through before. If it came down to ending her, well...she'd put up a damn good fight before she just let it happen.

"Are you sure you want to do this Fire?" Phantom asked. "My father had quite the reaction when Danny was explained; I'm not sure how he would react to you."

To be perfectly honest, both of them would've liked Danny to be here, but with his death day coming up, Danny really wasn't in the mood to go, and they had respected that. He had been going through nightmares and ghost pains, so they all figured that having Danny here right now probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway.

She grinned crookedly at him, "I'll be fine Royalty. I'm no stranger to fighting or having to run." Her ears went down, "If this goes sour, you'll know if I die."

The hybrid didn't look at him as she continued, "There will be a crack in all the things I made for you. It'll still be around and it won't break beyond that, but there will be a crack." That wasn't the whole truth, but it would do for now.

Phantom sighed, "Okay, I'll try not to get in the way if it comes down to that. If it does though, I'll say I'm sorry in advance for anything my father might do."

Fire laughed bitterly, "Please, I got all of these scars for a bunch of different reasons." She nudged him with her shoulder as the doors opened for them, "Besides, that's only a fraction of what happened. Your dad probably couldn't think of anything new."

They walked into the familiar great hall and as before, they were greeted by Queen Âme. The queen gave them a big smile, ready to go up and hug them before noticing how nervous the two were, "Fire, it's great that you've decided to visit but..." she winkled her brow, "is something wrong? You both seem tense..."

The wolf hybrid's ears were pinned to her head as she stood tall, like a soldier, "I'm here to tell you about where I came from." There was a sense of foreboding and dread in those words that hung heavy in the air.

Âme bit her lip, glancing around before schooling her face into an uncaring expression, a look that Fire recognized from when Phantom put on his princely act, "I see...well then, judging from how you are presenting yourself, this seems to be a private affair. I'll take you to the King's study.

Fire nodded as the queen lead them out. All was silent as they walked through the halls, setting the wolf's nerves on edge.

The queen stopped and opened a chestnut door to their right. The room it opened up to was decent sized, about the same as the tea room. A big desk made from warm dark wood with neatly stacked papers lining it was near the back. Book shelves lined the other walls so she couldn't tell what color they were. The rest was a light red color, the floor matching the desk in color. Near the middle of the room, there were a few comfortable looking chairs gathered around a rectangular table. It was warm in this room, but not unbearably so. It was obvious that the queen and Phantom would have a problem after a while though.

Spiritus looked up from his paperwork and looked genuinely surprised when he seen his wife standing there, "Âme? You don't normally like coming here, why-" he paused seeing Phantom and Fire over her shoulder, "ah, I see now. Welcome Fire."

"Spiritus, Fire has something she wishes to talk to us about," Âme said as she briskly walked in with the teens right behind her.

"Is that so? Well then," the king nodded towards the chairs, "please, have a seat."