Cai Finley Aies Hall May 1st, 20XX

As soon as I recognized what Mei was planning to do, I took off towards her. Raging at her carelessness as I did so.

To try to flood with magic was a technique only to be done when the difference between your capacity and theirs was large enough. and while I didn't know the exact capacity of the woman she was fighting I knew it was large enough to have put her in such a state.

Even if she somehow managed to succeed without killing herself, the explosion that would occur would be more than enough to deal the final blow.

But even as I sped towards her I didn't have a definitive plan in place. Was I going to help her? To stop her? I was sure that I had to get to her fast.

At first, I ran at top speed but soon realized the ridiculousness of it and leaped into flight.

The readings of the spell were strange but I knew wasn’t anything that could put me in danger. The magic let out from the spell felt like a few discordant notes in a symphony. Uncomfortable to listen too but not enough to ruin the whole piece.

I got close enough to the site and saw who Mei was fighting for the first time. A tall stocky woman with great semblance to Mei, it wasn’t enough to call them twins even as a joke but enough to confirm that they were related in one way or the other.

The magic around the other woman began to frenzy around her like someone had poured water into hot oil and an explosion was imminent yet Mei made no indication of moving.

It was pretty clear that she was planning on taking the hit.

Without thinking I threw myself at Mei, tackling her out of the way of the impact. There wasn’t any time to make a complete bubble and soften the fall so I instead focused on strengthening the layers on the shield, making sure that the only thing she would get hurt from was the fall.

Even though I had completely taken her by surprise she managed to maneuver me around herself in such a way that we landed in a very awkward position, with myself on top of her, nearly completely free of harm and herself with scrapes and bruises all around her arms and face. She had tightly wrapped her arms around me to take most of the damage even as we had rolled through the graveled floor.

As soon as we had come to a stop I quickly pushed myself up, releasing my head from the death grip she had used to push it into her chest in her attempt to keep me safe.

I looked her over some more, trying to at least make sure that the only injuries she had sustained were from the fight earlier, rather than her attempting to protect me as I had tried to save her.

Similarly, she stared up at me with intense eyes, full of questions and emotion, probably because she had just killed that woman, and opened her mouth. Once, then twice.

The question she finally settled on though, was.

“Your highness…. Are you an idiot?”

I quickly realized how it must look, with me holding myself over her even though I had already caught my breath and the probably questionable expression on my face.

I pushed myself away and sat down across from her.

“What? And didn’t we say you weren’t going to call me your highness anymore?”

I added a petulant whine in my tone as a weak attempt to divert her attention from earlier, but she paid no heed to it and got up, pulling me up to my feet just as quickly.

She began to circle me, checking for any injuries and muttering all the while.

“No, even an idiot wouldn’t have done what you did. Idiots do things because they don’t know any better, you do which means that your actions went right past idiocy and right into recklessness.”

I cut in, realizing that she was only speaking so harshly because she was in a rough place but also not wanting to take such insults onto my person.

“Mei! What’s wrong? Why-“

I was promptly cut off.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! Your highness do you realize that you threw yourself in the middle of a fight that even I was having difficulty with? Do you not value your life to such an extent or is it because you couldn’t comprehend exactly the danger you were in!?”

I scowled, unhappy at being scolded for just trying to save my fiancée. But she wasn’t even done and kept going, volume and pitch rising by the minute as if the more she thought about it the angrier she got.

“ Has Esmerelda taught you nothing about who you are? What you’re worth?! Look, I understand what you wanted to do and am even grateful. If you hadn’t jumped in I was looking at at least a few months of bed rest but I want you to promise me right now that you will never even think of putting yourself in danger like that again. If I get hurt it's fine. I'll heal and even if I die then you can find someone else to marry but if you get hurt that essentially means the end of the Fairy queendom do you understand me? It's not just about you!”

Now it was my turn to get angry, emotions and adrenaline running high.

“ MEI!”

Even I winced at the sheer volume of my voice but I didn’t lower it since I needed her to understand my sincerity. I wasn’t that dumb fool Finn who couldn’t recognize a crush if it walked up to him and slapped him in the face, I could recognize my feelings as they were. Having the subject of those feelings say such things was nothing short of irritating.

“What do you mean if you die I'll find someone else? That's just not going to happen, so you'd better not go and throw yourself into danger because you think it doesn't matter. Even if I step back from personal gain for a moment I still don't think you understand how important you are to the ‘fairy queendom’ that you seem to value more than your own life! Do you realize that if you died you would only be leaving a civil war on my hands?! The Ruan family is the best in line to become the next royal family so to speak. Any other clan would just leave to much of a power vacuum in its place OR would be too weak to defend the royal family itself! If not for my sake or even for your own then for the sake of the Queendom value your life a bit more.”

I spat out each word as I got angrier and angrier as well, even going as far as to detail the exact political climate of the queendom…which the foolish prince Cai wasn’t supposed to be aware of. I realized the full extent of my mistake and tried to withdraw into myself, laughing sheepishly and ruffling my already tangled hair.

“ I- I mean. That’s what Esmarelda said. I'm not sure exactly what it means but its bad right?”

I pushed out one more awkward chuckle and cast my gaze downwards, not wanting to meet her eyes.

" Sorry... I didn't mean to yell at you."

Her eyes bore into my soul as she debated whether to pursue it but the rustling of leaves and shouts of the army that had finally found us reverbed from the distance.

She took off her coat in a single motion, leaving herself in a hardly presentable state and wrapped it around me.

“You’re a male and not to mention my fiancee. You can’t be seen as you are. Besides-”

She stopped and shot me a teasing smile that distinctively made me both uncomfortable and happy that she had switched back to somewhat normal from her previous nihilistic state.

“Since I now have to consider ‘your sake’ as well as your ‘personal gain’ I especially can’t let that happen. Remember that no matter what anyone says, you found me shortly after the bombings happened... was anyone else with you?”

I let myself get wrapped up like a child and dazedly answered her, suddenly feeling incredibly tired.

" Ah.. that useless guy... Linus. was with me but I left him behind when I tried to save you."

She paused and looked at me with a complicated expression.

" You two met?"

I considered lying but the truth would be out soon enough anyway, there wouldn't have been much of a point.

" Yeah, I was with him when the attacks started happening as well."

Once again she gave me that same complicated expression but didn't say anything. She instead chose to guide me into a small pit to the side of the platform and tarping it with yet another large sheet of fabric from her clothing.

I hurriedly closed my eyes, not wanting to see anything I wasn't supposed to.

Well, not that I didn't want to, I was still a guy after all but there was a time and place for everything and then wasn't it.

"Stay here and pretend that you fell asleep. I'll come up with something."

Exhaustion washed over me in waves as I nodded to her plan. Once she drew the tarp close and pinned it down with some decent sized stones I fell asleep to the sound of her wings flapping away.