Divided Attention

Chapter 14: Betrayal

The biggest change that I noticed about us entering the Fairy Kingdom was the sun.

The farther we got and the closer we got to it, the more the sun and the sky changed to a gold. It made the place look mystical, and, unlike other places, the sun didn't seem to be too hot or too cold. It was the perfect temperature for probably everyone in the kingdom. I was trying my best to keep my guard up, but with the warmth and the welcoming feeling of that sun, it was hard to attempt that.

My mind was racing more than ever now. If even a bird rose up from the forest below, I would stare at it as if it were going to attack us at any second. On top of it, my mind was going on and off from being at ease because of the sun or being alert every single second. It was starting to give me a headache, and I was glad that there wasn’t any rain to make me go into my rain form.

Kitty, after a while, seemed to notice my awkward movements and turned back to me. She had a frown on her face, and I didn’t notice that she had turned to me until she had said anything.

“Mizu?”

My head swerved to her, my eyes wide from looking at another bird who had flown past us. “Huh?”

She sighed and managed to turn around on Maki to face me. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we made it off of that island. Are you alright?”

I tried to put on a brave smile, but unlike the other times, it wavered. Noticing that the smile thing wasn’t going to work, I sighed and looked down at my hands. One of them was completely bloody, only slightly and sloppily wiped off with another cloth. The other one was clean and pristine, like none of the thing that had happened actually happened. I was looking at both the lie and the truth, and both of them were looking back at me.

“…No,” I finally told her. “No I’m not.”

She took my hands in hers, not even caring if she got anymore blood on her. That was another thing that made me happy that she had come along with me on this. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, or get them even dirtier. But she sighed, keeping my hands in a firm grip.

“What are you feeling right now Mizu?”

I licked my lips nervously before answering. “I’m scared.”

“About?”

“Think about it Kitty. I’m on the entirely other side of the continent in a place that people that I’m supposed to hate come from. On top of it, those people that I’m supposed to hate are wired to hate me back. And, on top of it, all of the things in my dreams are making me uneasy about what might happen. I’m just… scared. I’m really scared Kitty.”

I wouldn’t meet her eyes, because I knew that they would be filled with hurt. Her grip tightened on my hands, and I squeezed hers. I heard her sigh, and I could see her head pointing down, like she too was looking at our hands.

“I guess I can understand that. I would be too. Actually, I am scared. Maybe not as much as you but… This is my first time going home since a year ago. I’m just wondering how my father will react to me actually coming home.”

“And you’re a princess now too. Those guards said that the Fairy King was assassinated right?”

I could see her nod slightly. “I don’t want to be called a princess. I don’t want to be royalty. I just want to stay out in the world. Now, for sure, I’ll go back to that fancy room that smells too much of jasmine, and the food that’s a little too good. I don’t want it.”

My head rose up, and I saw that she was indeed looking at our hands. I frowned. “Then why did you agree to let me turn you in?”

“Like you, I had a dream. Actually, a series of dreams. There was always a man with blue hair and a dragon with me, and I knew that they were important. And I keep having flashes of the Fairy Kingdom and me going back to my room. They were definitely important, as well as connected. And then I met you in the Human Kingdom cells, and I knew that I had to do something. I don’t know who I kept getting the dreams from, but they were someone who wanted me to help you. So I’m doing this for both you and that mysterious person who is able to send dreams.”