Chapter Ten: The Final Stretch

The road is more quiet than ever. It is now broad day and Gabriel has yet to say a single word since the encounter with Santara despite Kara's coaxing. There are so many things she has been debating saying but has held herself back. She knows what this really means. Not only will he never get to see his parents again, and not only will he ever have to leave but he will more than likely be mad at her for this. That was Kara's worst fear.

" Gabriel..please talk to me" Kara pleads with him. " I know that there is not much I can say that will be able to take away the pain you are feeling inside of yourself right now. But, I'm here if you want to talk about it. " Kara's offer feels completely empty. She is almost certain he won't take her up on it and so she continues, not being able to stop herself any longer. " Just know that I'm here" she adds.

" You know what this means, don't you Kara" Gabriel finally answers and Kara immediatly turns to him. " This means that when I take you home. I am going to have to leave. I have to return to my people. I have to take my place and do what I can to fix and help my people " Kara Sighs and looks down. " I know. I understand" Kara knew this moment would come. It was something she feared but right now, all that mattered was Gabriel to her. This was something she had been trying to prepare herself for but it didn't hurt any less.

" That can't be the worst thing going through your head right now Gabe" She takes a deep breath. " I want you to know that..even though you are going to have to leave. I am going to miss you. But for right now..we can't worry about that. We have to try and enjoy the time that we do have together" Kara nudges his shoulder. " And besides that, you won't have to deal with me anymore so on some level that has to be a relief" She jokes as she stares back at the road in front of them. Gabriel doesn't laugh though.

" I'm going to miss you too Kara. And we will see one another again someday. Who knows, maybe you will be Queen by then " he is trying his best to put Kara at ease though he is feeling an immense amount of dread inside. Kara Sighs and falls back against the back of the seat. " I don't even know what goes into being a Queen. But I'm probably going to fail at it" She laughs. " When I was little. I use to want to be a princess...for all of about 3 days before I realized that was lame. Sounds like way to much work and politics. I wanted to be something cool..like an intergalactic space assassin or something. That always sounded so bad ass to me " this actually made Gabriel chuckle a little. " An assassin huh? You really think you could handle that? "

This made Kara lean back foward " Hey now, I kicked your little friend right in the face so yes. I think I could be " She snaps back at him with the confidence of knowing she made him chuckle for the first time since the encounter. " Yes, well kicking someone and being an assassin are two different things" He looks over to her, noticing her beautiful smile which always made him feel warm inside, even now, despite the pain he was feeling. " WELL MAYBE I would be the first to do it. Ya never know. " Kara shrugs and crosses her arms cockily. " You are so weird "He laughs as Kara shoves him a little. " Whatever, you have no idea what I am capable of Mister" She fires back but just like his old self, he immediatly retorts " I don't think YOU know what you are capable of. But your cockiness is cute" a gentle silence fell between them. ' Did he just call me cute?' Kara said to herself.

This was the first time he had complimented her in this way and she felt so mushy in that small moment. Why did he make her feel this way? Why did he make her feel so...good. Kara tries her best to snap back to reality by shaking off the thoughts. " So who is Santara to you..if you don't mind me asking? " Kara tries to ask as politely as possible though she still has reservations about Santara. That and she knew she wanted to change the subject. And showing that to Gabriel could possibly make him close right back up.

" Santara was more of a friend to Victoria than she was to me. But we still got along at the time. I'm assuming they are still pretty close. I wouldn't say I know all that much about her except for the fact that her parents died not too long before she found her way to our kingdom. And because Victoria took a liking to her, Santata was taken in by Victotoria's parents. She always came off a little too playful to me"

This means that on some level, they are friends to some degree in Kara's opinion. And whilst they might have not been close, she was practically a sister to Victoria and that means Victoria will probably be the first to hear about Gabriel's return. And this fact was slowly beginning to eat inside of Kara. Though she couldn't entire place the reason why. This girl was a part of history. Both of them were. And this was something that Kara knew she couldn't have him. At least not that much History.

" How close are we..to the Kingdom I mean " Kara Sighs as she looks off the road and stares into nothingness. She didn't want to get lost in her thoughts but she couldn't help it.

" In about a day or so if we don't stop" he answers. " Which if you don't mind, I'd prefer that we don't" Gabriel's voice has changed back to a more serious tone. One that Kara knew wasn't worth fighting against anymore. She was slowly giving up hope and was beginning to accept that things were not going to change. No matter what she did.

" I'm fine with that" She mumbles back which ques Gabriel to snap the reigns and pick up speed down the road.

They travel at full speed for the remainder of the day, not really talking too much. Both minds, preoccupied with thoughts of what would happen when they finally did arrive. It doesn't too long before the grassland surrounding them starts to slowly fade away, and they begin seeing a beautiful golden sparkly sand. To Kara, it looked similar to a desert but something felt off to her.

" Where are we? " Kara asks as she takes in the view with interest. " We are entering the land of the Witches" He explains as the sky begins to change to a bright pink color which makes the sand sparkle even more. " This is your homeland Kara" Gabriel adds as they continue making their way through the desert on a very small pathway that had changed from the road the moment they entered this land. " Its...magical" Kara says in shock and awe of the beautiful landscape. As she takes the gorgeous sight in, she searches deep inside herself in hopes that this place feels any type of familiar to her though she finds herself coming back with nothing except blanks.

" Don't worry. The odds that you would remember all this is pretty slim. But maybe some memories will come back the closer we are to the castle. It shouldn't be too long now" he leans foward and readjust himself in the seat. " I love this place...if it's this beautiful here..I can't wait to see the castle " She snickers excitedly. Perhaps a little too excited but only doing so to make Gabriel feel less bad about leaving her behind. " Hm.." Gabriel whips the reins again and they continue along the pathway.

The closer they get to the castle though, Kara becomes more and more concerned. " Gabe..you might be going a little too fast" She warns as she notices the entire carriage rattling beneath them though he does not heed her warnings and continues whipping the reins. " Seriously Gabe..please slow down" Kara nudges him, which he completely ignores and whips again. " Kara places her hand on his arm at this point. " I SAID STOP GABE " her tone now raised which makes Gabriel tighten the reigns.

However, due to the speed at which they are traveling, the Carriage begins to shake and rattle violently and begins breaking beneath them. Both Kara and Gabe go flying as the carriage breaks off and their transport carries on down the road.

Kara manages to look up and see that Gabriel has landed on the opposite side of the path and whilst she tries to stand..she cannot. She is almost sure she has managed to break something after the crash and she cannot see Gabriel moving. " GABE!! " She screams out to him but there is no response. " Fuck" she exclaims as she begins trying her best, slowly but surely to crawl across the road to Gabe. After a while, she manages to finally reach him and sees that he has just been knocked unconscious.

" WAKE THE FUCK UP" She reaches up and slaps him across the face as hard as she can muster which snaps him awake and he sits up, seeing Kara on the ground beside him. " What the hell did you do that for? " Kara groans as she tries to situate herself to a seated position. " You told me to stop so I stopped" he coughs as he sits up as well. " No. What the hell is seriously wrong with you. You were going fast on purpose" She knew something was wrong and she wanted him to admit. She needed him to admit it. " I wanted to get you back home" he wipes the sand from his face and stares down between his legs at the ground with his arms resting on his knees. " You know. You keep saying you are doing all of this shit for me. To get me back home. But you never had to fulfill the promise. You just want to get home. I'm basically nothing but a task to you" She was filled with so much anger, she could have died. He could have died due to his negligence. " Of course I want to get home. I fucking miss my home. I didn't realize that was such a fucking problem" he snaps at her which Kara refused to take anymore. " Now you listen here you fucking asshole. It's not a problem that you want to return home. I know you want to return home. But we both know it's more than that. You are rushing me home because you want to be rid of me. And that is fucking fine with me. Go back to Santara and Victoria and whoever" Kara shouts at Gabriel who turns his attention to her. " Is that what your angry is about? You think im going home to spend my life with them because somehow they are more important to me than you? " He questions which leaves Kara speechless. " Well have you ever fucking considered the fact that you practically know nothing about my people? We sacrifice everything to help each other and my people are fucking suffering right now. So excuse me for wanting to get home and help my people! But no, this isn't about them, is it? No. This is about you. This about you feeling like you are losing the one single fucking friend you have. And you are so fucking selfish that it eats at you. That I would leave you and not give up shit to stay around you. Well too fucking bad Kara. I have to return home. I have to fill the duties my parents left behind just like you have to be there with your mother. Now why don't you get off your high horse, get the hell over yourself and fucking think about anything other than yourself for five fucking seconds" he screams back. He had never taken this tone with her and whilst a few days ago, she probably wouldn't have fought back. Today, was a different day. " You think I haven't thought about other people than myself? Of course I have you dumbass. Hell, I blame myself for the shit that happened to Margerat. I blame myself for the shit that happened to you. I blame myself for you getting hurt and almost dying. And for your fucking information, i blame myself for your parents death. But I can't fucking change any of it. I can't fix the shit that has happened from me just existing. And yet all the people I've people lost, the home I left behind, somehow means fucking nothing to me in comparison to the guilt I feel that I can't bring your parents back! " Kara takes a few breathes " And this isn't me feeling sorry for myself. This is me stating how I feel and I'm sorry that is so fucking inconvinencing for you. And I am sorry for everything thinking that you saw me as something more than some stupid selfish girl. Excuse me for thinking you saw me as a friend" Kara's throat hurts but yet she continues as Gabriel looks on " And for your information. While the last several days has been fucking hell for me. It has been some of the best days of my life. Because it was spent with you. Someone I truly fucking care about. Someone I put far beyond myself. Someone that I want to beg and plead to stay with me but won't because I know the responsibilities you have. And I know you have people to get back to. And I could never be that selfish despite what you think. I could never ask you to give up everything for me. Despite what my parents did. Despite what your people did. I am not them. And I'd never fucking ask that" Kara looks away from and tries to stand up but feels a sharp pain in her ribs and falls back down, screaming in pain. Gabriel then proceeds to stand up and reach down and pick Kara up in his arms, not even remotely looking down at her. " Let's get you home" he says in a cold, numb tone and proceeds to begin walking towards the kingdom.

It takes several hours but they finally reach the castle's outer walls. Gabriel is exhausted and has not spoken another word to Kara and she has given him the same treatment. The white and pink peal castle walls stand tall and proud. Untouched by time itself Despite being ancient. " This is it" he finally informs it. " You are home"