1st place winner in Rewind The Classics.
Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Thornecia, things got red-stained.
Completed | 31.06.2020
#1 in rewindtheclassics | 07.09.2020
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P a r t I
S o p h i a
His tailcoat shoulder is an unnatural burgundy, not from any expensive dye, I notice with maddening dread, but from blood and wine. Lying on the floor, he coughs up more of both, staining more of the already ruined coat. He clutches his chest, his face contorted in pain. Pieces of the wine glass lay scattered a feet away from him.
I stagger towards him. "Papa!" I scream, my breath jagged as if I were the one who was dying.
My knees hit the floor as I slump down beside him, unsure what to do. My hands shake as I try to navigate them to do something, anything. But before I can make sense of what to do, he coughs up again, staining my jeans. Then, he goes tranquil.
I stop breathing for a while. Everything blurs into contained sobs, useless mind racking and blood. So much blood.
Nothing about this makes sense. Duke Felix was nobody's enemy. A good man, by most people's standards. A good father by mine. The best, really.
After minutes or hours, I don't know, I give myself a chance to put my shaking arms around his cold body. I weep. And weep. And weep.
I was late. I should have been here. If only I had come a little earlier, I could have prevented this. I should have been here. I should have been here. I should have been here.
Something erupts from me, a scream or a sob.
My adoptive father, my Papa.
"I'll avenge you," I whisper into his chest, my body still trembling but my voice steel, "I promise."
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P a r t II
~ t w o y e a r s l a t e r ~
S o p h i a
Rosa • 2:14 am Tomorrow night. At the ball.
Black Cloud is a bedtime story. Not the Cinderella kind. The kind that gets people to haul their asses to bed, children and grownups alike. Some don't believe in the story of the assassin. Or perhaps they do and don't care. They are the ones who meander into the streets of Urbe de Dios at night.
I pocket my phone after reading my adoptive sister's message and follow him. From one area to another, he roams about. Anyone else would have passed him off to be drunken walking, but even with the darkness pooling around me, I know he is trying to lose anyone on his trail. Good.
