It's Over

As night draws near, Atem and Mana sneak inside the castle. They avoided being seen by the servants and bypassed the guards. They made it to the door that Persona was in, but the three fairies that took care of Persona were in the room with her. 

Atem and Mana both knew that the fairies wouldn't allow Atem to get anywhere near Persona. Atem was about to put a spell on them in order to get to Persona, but Mana grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Allow me." Mana says with a smirk before quietly walking to the door and knocking on it.

The door opened and the three pixies looked at Mana in confusion. They do not know that Mana was the same raven that was with Atem 16 years ago when he cursed Persona. 

"Excuse me, I heard news about the Princess's curse!" Mana says in a grave tone.

"Yes..." Anzu says with a heavy heart. Kisara rubs Anzu's shoulders to give her comfort.

"I know someone who is her true love!" The pixies flicked their heads up to Mana with widened eyes. "Follow me, and I'll take you to him. Come! Hurry!"

Mana ran in a different direction and the fairies followed in a hurry, leaving the door open. This was the chance Atem needed. Atem comes out of hiding and enters the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

He walks closer to her hesitantly as he looks upon what he has done. 

"I will not ask for your forgiveness because what I have done to you is unforgivable." He gently holds Persona's hand as if it might shatter at his touch. "I was so lost in hatred and revenge. My sweet Persona, you stole what was left of my heart. And now I might have lost you forever."

Atem can feel the tears forming in his eyes as he lowered his body to Persona's level. 

"Please, wake up. I promise that no harm will come to you as I live. And not a day shall pass that I don't make sure you always smile."

Atem softly kisses Persona on the lips as a tear falls down his face. After a few seconds of no response, Atem turned around to leave, but stopped when he heard a voice he longed to hear.

"Atem..."

He turns around to see Persona fully awake. She is still lying down, but her eyes are open and hold life. 

"Hello, Persona."

Tears flowed down Atem's cheeks as Persona smiled. She sat up to hug Atem and he returned the embrace. Persona kissed away his tears and looks him in the eyes.

"I love you, Atem."

Atem smiled. "And I love you, sweet Persona."

They both kissed each other romantically for a long time until Mana came back. She locked the fairies in a random empty room somewhere in the castle. She warmly smiled when she saw Persona and Atem embrace each other.

Atem told Persona about his former friendship with Stephan and how his former friend betrayed him. Persona sympathized with Atem, and the three of them made the attempt to flee the castle. 

"I'm sorry." Persona whispered loud enough for Atem to hear. 

He looked at her, wondering what she was apologizing for. 

"For what my father did to you, and I'm also sorry for slapping you."

Atem smiled and rubbed Persona's shoulders soothingly. 

"Don't worry, I deserved that."

His smile faded.

"And as for what Stefan did, I'm no longer angry, but I can't forgive him. I won't be fueled by anger and vengeance for my entire life. I would rather spend it being with you."

"Are we going back to the Moors?"

Atem kisses Persona lovingly and smiled at her when they pulled away. "If that is what you wish."

They continue their way out of the castle. Suddenly, an iron net drops on Atem and traps him. Atem cried out in pain as the iron burned his skin. Persona and Mane tried to save him, but the castle guards overpowered both of them. Atem turns Mana into a dragon, and she lifts the net off Atem and manages to fight off the guards. Atem told Persona to run away so that she doesn't get hurt from the skirmish, but she didn't want to rum. No matter how dangerous it was, she wanted to look for something that would stop the guards, and eventually her father, before they killed Atem. A sword, a shield, anything would be helpful at this moment. Persona accidentally enters the wings room and finds two wings. Each of them were sealed in separate boxes ,one of them were Maleficent's and the other were Atem's. 

Mana continues to attack the guards, but she eventually got chained up by the guards. Atem is surrounded by the guards with large iron shields as Stefan comes in adorned in iron armor. He has a iron sword around his waist and he is holding an iron chain.

Stefan whips the chain around and uses it to smash Atem against the Iron shields a few times. He then grabs Atem by the neck and throws him harshly against the iron shields one more time. Atem groans in pain  as he struggles to get up. His vision was a bit blurry due to the excruciating pain he was feeling and he was coughing up blood. The guards thunder rhythmically as Stefan took off his iron helmet and stood before his men in triumph. Stefan ordered his men to stop the rhythm, then he looked down at Atem in a low mocking tone.

"How does it feel, hmm? To be a fairy creature without wings...in a world where you don't belong!?" He taunts. He kicks Atem in the stomach, making groan in pain. 

Stefan continues to taunt and brutally beat Atem until he had multiple bruises and was coughing up more blood. Blood was flowing from a cut that was on his head. Atem entire body was throbbing from the unbearable pain and he truly believed that he was going to die and never get to see Persona again. After Stefan pulls out his sword, he prepares to finish Atem off, but just before he can impale him, Atem's wings reattached themselves to him after Persona frees them. With his wings back, Atem regained his strength and was able to fly. He frees Mana and the both of them easily took down Stefan's guards. Now, only the treacherous king is left standing. 

Atem easily overpowers Stefan and carries him onto one of the castle's towers. Just as he is on the verge of killing Stefan, he decides to spare him. After all, he was Persona's father and Atem didn't want to take away the only family she had. 

"It's over." Atem says sternly as he walks away. 

However, Stefan refuses defeat and jumps on him. The two fall from the tower, but Atem manages to become airborne while Stefan falls to his death. Atem lowered himself to the ground and stares at the dead body of the man that used to be his friend, wishing that things didn't turn out this way.

To Be Continued...