Chapter Twenty Two: The Realization

A new dawn breaks over the Underworld. Where Victoria has not slept in days. She, along with the help of Santara, have gathered around 30 thousand troops. She has been patiently waiting for Shawn's return but she has heard nothing from him and has settled on leaving this night for the March. The troops are more than loyal. Though many wished to not join, not wanting to see another war again. And refusing to parcipate due to the history of it. Victoria wasn't surprised by this and in some ways, she could not blame them for not wanting to be involved. This was essentially a suicide mission. One that they would most likely not come back from.

" Shawn. You had better show your ass up today" Victoria says to herself. She was trying to be patient out of respect but her blood was still boiling.

Santara enters the room to check on Victoria . " Vickie. Perhaps you need to sleep before we March. You need as much rest as you can get. I know you are going to tell me no.. but I have to insist this time. "

She had been insisting this for days but Victoria had always declined. " You are not going to leave me alone about this..are you. ? Victoria cracks a smile at Santara shaking her head no. " Fine. But I need to be woken up a few hours before. If you think you can handle the final preparations then I will trust in you and rest ".

Santara agrees this and Victoria stretches and makes her way to her bedroom and climbed onto the bed and immediatly passed out.

Of course Santara was worried about her. Victoria had been pushing herself extremely hard and over stressing about every single little thing. The least she could do, was take away some of the responsibility and finish up the organization. Victoria was a natural born leader but even leaders need sleep. Which Santara found funny in a way. One of their leaders is sleeping too much whilst the other is in desperate need of it. She wanted to help though. Anything to help lessen the burden.

As she does so, making sure to take careful note of the inventory and all of their supplies and have the foremans double check it, when Shawn walks up beside her. " I see that Victoria has delegated you to the hard job" he calls as he stops, watching her tedious checking of the items.

To which Santara chuckles as she checks off another thing on the paper in front of her. " Well for your information. I took this on. Victoria needs to rest. We have to March tonight and I have to get everything ready. Suuuuper fun "

She sarcastically answers as she checks off another thing on the list.

" Well I needed to talk with her about that actually. I have to go back home and won't be able to make it back here for the next several days" Shawn explains which Santara rolls her eyes.

" Yeah. That's just like you, isn't it? Always missing out on the fun. Well, if you'd like, I can give her the message when she wakes up " she offers casually as she continues down the line, checking things off the list.

" The main thing she needs to know is that the war is not needed. It was a misunderstanding. Queen Aurora had every intention of sending troops to help aid Gabriel. And she didn't find out about the shape Gabriel was in until the day Victoria left to confront her. The guards were obeying the orders of Kara presumably. "

Santara places the paper down and turns to him. " Well what about the marriage with the Vampires and the unification shit? " She asks, not expecting him to have an answer for that. " Well, from what we understand. Kara is under some sort of spells influence. We can't determine wether its a vampiric charm or something else. And I don't have the time to investigate it right now. But the point is, it was a misunderstanding. There is no need for war" he answers and turns to her.

" Please make sure she gets the message. I am putting my trust in you. " though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was dead serious about it. This would save so many lives.

" Fine, I will let her know. But you know she isn't going to be happy about it. She wants blood. Specifically Kara's"

Shawn crosses his arms and leans against one of the tables with some flowers on it. The flowers immediatly begin to welt and die. " Yeah. I know. She has alot hatred for her. And if they want to solve that between them. That that is on them. But there is no need for others to lose their lives in the process" and Santara nods. " You are right. I will let her know. Good luck with whatever..it is..that you do " She smiles politely and Shawn answers simply with a nod and dissapears.

Meanwhile, Aurora is preparing the city and stationing the guards at all their posts. She had been doing the best she can to ensure the safety of the people. It was at this point, that Aurora made her way to her throne and sat down and began sobbing.

She had to let it out. The stress and anger and this was the best way that she could. She didn't know how she would be able defend against a seige the likes of which the Lycans would provide. They had never actually attacked before so this was not the same threat that the Vampires posed.

" Why do you cry? " a curious little voice calls out from behind the throne making Aurora jump up from the chair just in time to see a tiny little green figure walk around the side and smile and wave " What...who are you?" She asks not being sure why this little creature had not flead when he had the chance. " Me Gooblin" He waddles his happy little self to Aurora and hugs her leg tightly which Aurora at first tried to resist but after few seconds, felt an overwhelming sense of positivity come over before he let's go. " Did..you do that?" She asks that Goblin answers with a happy nod.

" You are momma to Kara. Kara is good. Gooblin help Kara. Gooblin help you too" He smiles as Aurora kneels down so that they can meet eye to eye. " You know my Kara? I'm glad to see she is making such good friends like you. But I'll be honest with you Goob..you probably need to leave. We are about to get sieged. A war is coming and most of your kind had already left. I don't want you getting hurt" but Gooblin shakes his head no.

" Gooblin Stay. Gooblin help. Goodblin clean " Gooblin waddles around the room, picking up the pieces of rubble from the column and making them dissapear the moment he touches them.

" Well...I guess..you can stay.." Aurora smiles. She loves his spirit. It makes her happy which is something she desperately needs right now. Despite the fact she could've cleaned up up mess herself with her own magic.. " Thank you Goob " Aurora shows her appreciation as he picked up and cleaned the last piece of the rubble.

The day passes rather quickly, and back at the Lycan Kingdom, Santara is shaking Victoria to wake her up. " Sis come on, I've gotta talk to you. Shawn says it's really freaking important"

Victoria takes a while to wake up but once she does she rolls herself out of bed and tries to collect herself and asks what it is that shawn told her.

Santara Proceeded to explain everything that Shawn had told her, Word-for-word.

It took a few moments before Victoria could properly react but once she could " Okay..so no war" Victoria is slightly relieved at this but at the same time is upset.

" For Now.." Santara chimes in.

" Sis..the points you made with the Council were good ones. And misunderstandings or not, we still haven't been treated with the respect that we deserve. We have been used and rarely thanks for anything that we have ever done for Queen Aurora. Yet, regardless of intention, our king still suffers. He has not made any progress at all. And whilst it was a misunderstanding"

Santara crosses her arms and continues" And Unless I'm going blind, do you see any help around here? Do you see anyone from Queen Auroras Kingdom helping? Because I know I sure don't. They now know for sure what condition he is in and yet still here we are, awaiting help and receiving nothing. And maybe it's just my opinion but I don't entirely think that they want to help.. And also, supposedly, the entire reason that the aid never showed up, was because Kara gave an order for that. One that Aurora never even gave. Which means that Kara herself wishes Harm to our King" Santaras rant does resonate with Victoria a little.

" Kara will always be a thorn in my side no matter what. And whilst I hate her with an absolute Passion, she's important to Gabriel. So no matter how bad I want to hurt her and no matter how much I threaten her..I could never kill her.." Victoria confesses though feeling weak and vulnerable for doing so.

" That takes some serious strength Sis. But would she do the same for you? Would she not kill you if she could, to have him to herself? I'm not trying to be a devils Advocate or anything here. But I do feel as though you would not receive the same treatment that you would give to her. And I don't think that's fair. Yes there are traditions that we have and yes you are in love with him. But that's not the only reason that you two should even be together" Santara smiles.

" You two are made for each other. I think every since day one, everyone could see it. And yes, the choice still falls on him...But this girl, wether she is afflicted by a spell or not. There is something about her that I don't trust. She rolls around with Vampires. She thinks she is somehow the most important thing in Gabriel's life. She is just so..arrogant. She was only ever important because protecting her was his task and she has read far to much into it." Victoria agreed with all of these things but still, she hesitated.

" As I said, it would hurt him. And I refuse to be a part of the hurt that he already had placed on him. I refused to be another scar for him. And I'm not gonna go against his wishes. No matter how difficult that is for me because at the end of the day it's not about me, it's about him. And it's always been about him" Victoria walks over and picks a comb up off the counter and begins to run it through her hair.

" Well I want to fight her. I want to break her. I want her to suffer. And even if Gabriel is our King. His Job of protecting her is over. Which means that if she would die now..it wouldn't be a big deal." Santara barked which made Victoria laugh under her breath.

" Yeah well. You go on and take that risk Sis. I'm not disobeying Gabriel anymore than I already have" Victoria looks into the mirror as she hits a knot in her hair " OW OW OW" She screams as Santara seems lost in thought. " Okay fine. I will" She answers.

" You will? You will what? " Victoria continue to try and remove the knot but is having no luck. " I am going to go fight here. Someone needs to put her in her place. Maybe even kill her." Santara begins to salivate at the thought of tasting Kara's flesh.

This makes Victoria stop combing, leaving the comb stuck in her hair as she places her hands on Santara's shoulders. " Don't do it. It's a mistake..seriously " this offends Santara though. " You don't think I can take her?" To which Victoria shakes her head no " that is not what I said Sannie. What I am trying to say is that this. All of this, all it is ever going to do is start something that we don't need right now. We just narily avoided a war".

" A war we would've won dammit" Santara fires back. " I'm sorry but this shit is ridiculous. I'm a grown adult and I can kick whose ever ass I wanna kick. I know you don't want to disobey Gabriel but we both know he would be better off without her in his life. We would be doing him a favor" Victoria always knew her Sisters temper was volatile. But this was going to lead to trouble no matter how she looked at it.. it would be completely unprovoked and that would resort in repercussions. Santara goes to walk away.

" Stop Sannie...I am ordering you to stop.." The tone of Victoria's voice changed to a more serious and deeper tone. Completely different from the playful one from earlier.

Santara doesn't look back though. " You are not the Queen" she answers, making Victoria gasp, and then she proceeds to walk off.

Meanwhile, Kara is now flying over the Underworld. She is overlooking everything And getting to see it from a completely different perspective for the first time. She can't believe how far she's travelled across this land, on foot. It almost seemed unbelievable. She remembers Her travels with Gabriel across the land and how long it totook. So badly, she wished she could return to those days.

Though it had taken some time, She had finally managed to work out a spell that would allow her to fly, which was a little rough around the edges but It does seem to be working rather nicely." At least I'm not falling anymore" Kara laughs, joking to herself though she may have developed an aversion to sand dunes for a while.

As she soars through the green skies, she thinks back on Gabriel. She can't believe all the things that he went through. And she needs to see him. As soon as possible. But first she must return home and let her mother know that everything is okay. " God..mom must be worried sick " Kara feels awful for lying to people for so long especially the people that are the closest to her. But she had to. She had to get as close to the vampires as possible so when Pierce showed up it offered her the perfect opportunity. But she needed it to be convincing as possible.

She knew that he was trying to cast something on her so she just simply played along. She's not entirely sure why it didn't work on her, but at the end of the day she tended to assume that it was mainly because she was a witch. But if it had worked, she what would she have done then? Could she have broken free from it at all?

She remembers at her birthday party, how frozen everyone was As Jack killed them. They were in a trancelike state and she couldn't help but feel this had something to do with the Vampiric magic. Sending to people into a frozen, almost mentally vacant state.

But unfortunately, apparently the lie got out of control. Because now, Gabriel truly believes that she chose Pierce over him. Which couldn't be any farther from the truth. He is probably feeling Realitively close to what she was feeling back when she first met Victoria, Kara assumes. Betrayed and abandoned. But it seemed much worse based off of what Jack was talking about. He did his best to exaggerate and make it seem a lot worse than what it actually was.

Kara reached up her hand in front of her face, and saw the giant gash on it. She still cannot entirely believe that she went along with that period but her hand has been burning every since. She is assuming that it has something to do with the vampire blood but she's not entirely sure. She's never actually had a wound this large on her before. She figures that she can bring it up to her Mother when she gets back and have her take a look at it. She truly hopes there are no adverse effects from it. Vampiric blood was technically in her now and this unsettle Kara.

Kara, closes her hand and hopes with all her might, that she can get back before the war starts. Maybe she can find a way to diffuse it. Maybe she can find a way to apologise to her mother but most importantly to Gabriel.

Who, at this point, probably wants nothing to do with her. Victoria was the one who saved him after all. She was the one that was there for him while Kara was pulling off her scheme. If anything, this scheme has probably pushed Gabriel closer to Victoria. And if that is the case, then she will have to accept it.

This was a cost that she knew she may have to pay. Though she had really hope she wouldn't have to pay it. She had just never imagined that it would get so bad. As Kara looks down on the world below her, she can see hundreds of thousands of different creatures roaming around seeming to head in the opposite direction of her mother's castle.

" They must be flinging from the war. Which is probably the smartest option" Kara thinks to herself.

It shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours before she will arrive back at the Kingdom which is a weird change for her. Getting one place to the other in this world is next to impossible without a daytime limit or a week time limit. But now, the possibilities are almost endless. The ability to travel this quickly would mean she wouldn't have a repeat of what happened before. Whenever Gabriel would need her. She would be there for him. She would be the first one there.

She remembers riding on the back of Gabriel, and while at times it could be a bit uncomfortable she really does miss it. She misses being able to be close with him. She misses being able to feel his heart beat, which could tell her what he was feeling at that moment. He didn't really exactly like to communicate all that much but she found ways around being able to figure him out. She had too. She watched him, and learned some of the general quicks he had. Which was really just a way she could compete with Victoria. Who was also a Lycan and probably could tell where he was and what he was feeling just by his scent.

Though she's still working at her own feelings for him. She looks deep inside of herself and has been doing so for the past few few months. Especially after spending so much time with Pierce. If there was one thing she learned, Pierce could never match up to Gabriel. But then again no one could. Which explains the reason why Victoria holds on to him so closely. She knows what she has and and Kara can't help but jealous of that. Still though, she felt things for him.

Things that were stronger than any other emotion that she could possibly carry within her. She was in love with him. That was it. This was the first time she was able to admit this to herself but she definitely was.. All of this time, all the time that is passed by, all she could ever think about was him. How was he doing? What was he doing? Was he thinking of her too? She wondered all these things all the time.

Though, She's not entirely sure that she'd be able to ever admit it to him. Especially not after everything that happened to him because of her. But she wasn't gonna feel sorry for herself. She made this better now she has to lay in it. No matter how lonely that bed may be.

The one thing she does know for sure is that she will never be able to find another Gabriel. She will never be able to find anyone whether it was on Earth or whether it is in the Underworld That could even come close to matching him even on his worst day.. She was in love with him. And even though she wanted to be independent, she still needed him. She still needed his protection. But not from the physical world, but from herself.