8

It was late. The sun had sunk behind the mountains hours ago and only the moon and the stars lit up the sky. It was far too late for anybody to be up, especially for someone who had to fight in the big finally tomorrow. Yet, Saya couldn't sleep. After having tossed and turned in bed for hours, she finally got sick of it. Instead of wasting her time in bed, she decided to get out, put on a jacket over her pyjamas and go for a walk outside.

Breathing in the cool night-air was a huge difference from the feeling of the scorching sun on her skin that afternoon. She smiled at the twinkling stars above her, and started walking into the direction of the cliffs. The view from there must be beautiful in the dark.

Everything looked different at night. The darkness created shadows and shapes that made everything look beautifully eerie. It was the kind of creepiness you either loved, or hid away from. Saya could not get enough of it. At home, these walks are what kept her going. It's what kept her alive. Even on the bad days. Even on her worst.

She was in no hurry and her pace was low. When she finally got to the cliffs and could see the view of the valley underneath, she was stupefied by what she saw. She could only stare, her mouth open in awe. The lights of hundreds of lampposts of dozens of villages were visible in the dark, like little clusters of fireflies in a deep, dark forest. The mountains hung behind them, seemingly in thin air, casting their ominous shadow over the unknowing houses, so far under them.

She just wanted to take a seat on the dried out grass, when she heard something. At first, she told herself she was imagining things, but then she heard it again. Someone was… crying? That was weird. She hadn't seen a single living soul on her way here.

She walked towards the sound. It came from the other side of the shrubs, a little further away from the edge. When she came closer, she could look just over the bushes.

"Wynn?" she yelled out a little too loud.

Wynn, sitting crossed-legged behind the bushes, looked her straight in the eyes, like she had seen Saya coming from the start. The weather might have been nice, her face only showed thunder. If looks could kill, Saya would've been dead by now.

Wynn took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears of her face with the back of her hand.

"Of course it's you. I should've known it was gonna be you. It always you." She said to Saya, who was awkwardly standing on the other side of the bushes.

"Do you, eehm, do you mind if I join you?" Saya asked, not really sure what to do.

"Well… Sure," Wynn answered, as she moved up a bit, making room for Saya to sit next to her.

Saya sat down, and for a few minutes it was quiet. The chirping of the crickets and buzzing of other insects around them in the high grass seemed to have gotten three times as loud in a few minutes time.

Finally, Wynn broke the silence.

"What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"I couldn't sleep, I went for a walk," Saya answered. "But I could ask you the same question. What are you doing here?"

"Same reason. I couldn't sleep."

"Is something wrong?"

Wynn tilted her head and thought about the question for a while. "I'm just not feeling great. That's it."

"Why not?"

"Can you stop with all the questions?" Wynn said, abruptly raising her voice.

"Sorry, sorry I'll stop."

It fell quiet again. Saya could see something was wrong, but she didn't want to ask anymore. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"It's just," Wynn suddenly started. "You're not the only one who is struggling, okay?"

Saya didn't dare say a thing.

"I get it, you and your poor kingdom need all the help and sympathy you get. You are allowed to complain, you are allowed to be dissatisfied. Yet, there are other people with problems, you know? There are others who need help and sympathy."

"I'm sorry if I did anything… I didn't mean to hurt you?" Saya said doubtfully.

"No, no it's not that you did anything. I just… I just can't… I can't…"

Saya lightly placed her hand on wynn's shoulder. "You can't what?"

Wynn closed her eyes, pushing the tears over her cheeks. She clenched her fists, and tried to take breaths in order to calm herself down. It wasn't really working, and eventually she gave up.

"I can't do it anymore," She spit out. "I can't do it anymore, can't do this anymore. It's all just a game of pretend. I'm not… This. I'm not my father. Yet here I am, acting for him. Lying for him. All for his reputation. All for this competition."

"I don't know what you mean."

"It's all fake, Saya! It's all a scam, a game of pretend. You said it yourself, actually. You called the games 'Minos' Labyrinth'. That's exactly what it is. I was supposed to win from the start. The prizemoney was always supposed to go to me, to my kingdom. In other words, the money was never supposed to leave this kingdom. This entire tournament is just a scam to keep the other kingdoms in their places while discretely killing off their best soldiers, their best fighters. I was always supposed to make it to the finale, and now I did. I couldn't say no to it, he would have found someone else to do it, and with a bit of luck, he would have killed me for it. He doesn't love me, so better clean up the useless ones to make room for the winners, right?"

She let out a little sarcastic laugh.

Saya took it in. She was strangely calm, hearing all this. She couldn't say she was too surprised. She had known something like this might have been happening in the background, but she couldn't have guessed Wynn was involved. Not in this way.

"Why am I even telling you all this?" Wynn yelled out all of a sudden, and she tore herself away from the hand on her shoulder. Saya put her hand right back, and Wynn did not make an effort to pull away again.

"Wynn, I'm sorry I didn't see this before. I should have noticed something. You've really been going through a lot, haven't you?"

"It doesn't matter, really. No one noticed, so don't blame yourself." Wynn started to calm down a bit, and even managed to smile a little at her. "I guess I'm glad I told someone."

She move a little closer to Saya and, to Saya's shock, rested her head down on Saya's shoulder. Saya froze for a second, but relaxed pretty quickly. For a while, they sat like this, In complete silence. Saya didn't mind at all. Wynn's heartbeat quickly returned to a normal tempo.

Wynn, still with slightly shaky breath, said after a while, "There is only one problem."

"What?"

"I will have to kill you in the finale now."

"Oh."

Saya didn't like being remembered of this unpleasant fact. Wynn didn't seem to like it either.

"I forgot about that part for a second," Saya said, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Wynn said. She lifted her head up and sat up straight to look Saya in the eyes.

Saya's empty shoulder suddenly felt cold.

Wynn continued, "My father isn't going to like it if I let you go. Killing you is… not a great option either."

"Well I agree with that one," Saya said. She couldn't suppress a laugh, and Wynn laughed too.

"I understand that, but what else can we do? He wants to see blood flow one way or another"

Saya had already though of something, but she hesitated to tell Wynn about it. She wasn't entirely sure how she would react, but she decided she had no other option.

"Well, maybe I have an idea."

Wynn looked straight at her with those big deep brown eyes of hers. "What?"

"What if the blood that flows isn't ours."

"Then whose is it?"

She looked at Saya and Saya looked back, a meaningful look in her eyes.

"Ooh that way."

Wynn turned her eyes away for a second, before bringing them back to Saya.

"Alright. Let's do it," she said.

"Really?"

"It's our only option. Besides that, It is something I have wanted to do for a while. At least now I have a good excuse," This time it was Wynn who put a hand on Saya's shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"One hundred percent."

A silence fell once again, but this one was different. This one was pleasant, where no words had to be spoken for it to feel comfortable and safe.

Saya could once again not stop herself from staring. How could such teared up eyes be so beautiful. How could such messy hair fall so beautifully around someone's face. How could someone have a skin that looked this soft, but so strong at the same time. Wynn wasn't weak, she was strong. Saya knew not many people had ever seen her in such vulnerable state. Then, Saya was suddenly hit by a memory.

"I remember., " She said, half under her breath.

"What do you mean?"

"The first night here, I was almost late to my first fight because I had had a dream. I didn't remember it then, but I do now."

"What was it?"

The last of Saya's doubt disappeared, and finally, she did what she now knew she had wanted to do for a while.

She bent closer to her, and brushed away a strand of Wynn's hair. She moved even closer, until she could feel Wynn's warm breath on her own lips. She closed her eyes, and for fraction of a second she froze, as the tiniest bit of doubt ran through her head. As quickly as I had come over her, she brushed it away.

And then, their lips touched.