"You- Everytime I feel even a tiny bit sorry for you, when I think fine it's a terrible situation but I'm okay, I can make it I can do it and you go ahead and pull something else- Goddess I'm-" Akia takes a second and practiced breathing exercises her mother had taught her and April as children. Close your eyes, take deep breaths and count till 30.

A lady must be able to maintain her temper she said . It was usually very effective on April but apparently not on Akia.

She screams in frustration.

"I HATE YOU TOO. I HATE YOUR STUPID FACE, I HATE YOUR VOICE, I HATE YOUR SCENT, I HATE THAT YOU'RE KING, I HATE THAT I HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU. I hate you too. But the difference between the two of us is that even though I hate you I would never purposely do anything to hurt you. I can't sit down and eat knowing that you're sitting here alone in the dark feeling sorry for yourself. My hate for you is so much different than yours because I still want you to thrive. I still want you to sit on your throne and lead your kingdom. I want you to be better Octavius, I want you to be the kind of person that I couldn't possibly hate. I'm stuck here like you said but it doesn't mean here can't be somewhere that I'd love to be." Akia ranted, her idealism and optimism getting the best of her even if her first moments of pure anger.

"What?"

"I want to start over." Akia said standing up to her feet. She puts her hands in front of her and hopes she doesn't trip on anything as she goes looking for the king. She walks for a while in silence before her hand brushed against something. She rubs her palm on the soft feeling of the thing.

"Stop touching me." The king said and Akia retrieves her hand before feeling around and finding a spot somewhere besides him to sit in the darkness.

"How'd you two meet?" Akia asked,

"I don't want to talk about it." The king said annoyance very evident in his tone.

"When did you first realize you loved her?" Akia asked a different question.

"You do register the fact that I tried to kill you yesterday and the day before that. You should be able to discern the fact that I don't want you around me." The king said and Akia pouts in the darkness.

"That's true but I know that deep down inside your heart you don't want me to die." Akia said "it's obvious that you could kill me at a snap of your fingers but you don't because you not only don't want to but you also know you can't."

"So go ahead and Choke me all you want."

Akia laid back on the grass underneath them.

"I've always known her, I suppose. She was picked to be one of my wives long before any one of us could form sentences. She was unique from the start with red hair and those sun drops on her cheek, always the quiet one, poise and polite to the very end. the other girls were always trying so hard to get along with me. Agreed with me about everything no matter what and They were always giving me their food and drinks and smiling. goddess they smiled so much, I guess I liked that her smile, which I only saw directed towards my mother was reserved just for special occasions.

She also never shared her food, not with me or anyone else. When I turned 13 it was time to make the decision. Who I was going to marry between the 5 of them. My father the classless bastard always wondered why I even had to choose. He wanted me to keep them all. My mother on the other hand was very adamant on there being only one wife so the queen's throne was never considered a consultation prize for being my favorite wife. She wanted the seat to hold authority that was given to the most qualified candidate not just whoever's tits had grow in first. Those were her words. Back then I wasn't really focused on marriage, so I didn't make a choice. My father upon hearing my lack of interest decided to choose for me."

Akia listens intently as the king speaks

"It was only when someone other than Marilyn was chosen when I realized I wanted no body else. I remember her shocked face, the regret and shame that came after the announcement. The bottomless sadness in her eyes and the quivering of her lip. I wanted to protest then, say I wanted someone else but I couldn't bring myself to go against my father. Not in the presence of the King's men anyway."

"I went hunting one day with my guards, I'd Just taken down my first bear and one of the guards recommended that I take it to my future wife's home in order to honor her. I wanted to seem responsible in my father's eyes so I decided to do so. On our way we passed by Marilyn's family cottage. It was a tiny old looking home and I saw servants wondering about and I thought it'd be polite to go in and greet everyone that was in.

I knew it was a summer home they hardly visited but assumed servants were there for a reason. It was really just an excuse to see her. We went to the door, knocked and was received by a butler. He greeted me and make sure everyone greeted me. I asked him where the owners were and he said they weren't present nor were they coming back anytime soon.

It was then that I heard a loud bell ringing from the upper level of the home. I asked what it was but the butler seemed too rattled for it to be an innocent occurrence. I climbed up the stairs to a room that was chained up. My suspicion just continued to rise from there.

I demanded that the door be opened and it was either they opened the door or died so there wasn't much of a protest. I saw her for the first time, the real her. Her ankle was chained to the bed and she was on the floor in practically rags. her red hair was a big mess, dark circles rippled under her eyes and sunken in cheeks with the palest driest lips.

She was reading a book about proper conversation etiquette. She had been so shocked to see me. She had been ringing the bell so a servant could bring her a bucket so she could ease herself. I was so taken back by her condition. So shocked because this Marilyn, looked undead, nothing like my fiery haired, bright eyed fiancé to be."

"I got back home and told my father that I wanted to marry her. My father said that he'd already made the decision and he couldn't go back on his words. I went into panic mode. I tried a tantrum, he just laughed at me. I tried publicly humiliating the family of the woman he'd chosen but they wanted to be royalty so they weren't going to Budge no matter what I said."

"Back then I spent all my free time with her, had her moved into the spare chambers of the old palace.

One night I decided to go through the more barbaric means of consolidating my choice. I had a priestess marry us and I took her virtue there with witnesses as well. When my father found out, he was beyond furious. It was the first time he'd ever hit me in my life and it made my heart race giving me a feeling of euphoria. My mother told me that the first time I stood up against my father was when my siren was awaken because he'd been holding it dormant for my own safety and apposing him like that broke my own protection against the hunger that comes with being a siren. Anyways we were already married and there was nothing aside from death that could separate us."

"Marilyn told me that her parents locked her away to keep her motivated on marrying me. She said that she'd been imprisoned like that since she was 5 when we first met. I moved to have them punished but she protested. She was grateful to them because she thought that their plan had worked. I thought they had just brainwashed her but I didn't want to go against her wishes so early into our marriage especially not about something so important."

Akia remained silent until he finished.

"What did you two used to do today before the war?"

"We'd catch fairies here, dance, anything we wanted to do."

"Fairies?!" Akia was shocked to hear it.

"Yes. They were friendlier before the war and they used to come to me before my witch and siren side were fully awaken. I caught one a year after and it bit me and gave me yellow fever. But they're still around here somewhere."

"They never left you." Akia said and the king looks over to her.

"They're not here for me. I'm not one of their kind."

"They haven't left you, they might be afraid of you but they are still here watching over you." Akia said and the king almost laughs. It's such a childish assumption.

"They're not here for me. This is their home."

"All these years if they thought you were going to be a danger they would've left but they didn't because you're apart of them. What they considered as home."

"I guess it's easier to think like that."

The king said.

"That's how you stay alive. Life gets pretty bleak when you don't think the earth is here for you." Akia said emptily.

"You can go back home Akialine. The queen doesn't need her guards anymore."

"Really?!" Akia asked and the king doesn't reply for a couple minutes and she thinks she misheard.

"You can go home and have the baby there. I'll come get him when the time is right. " the king said and Akia's mind is blown. She doesn't even want to think about the fact that the king thinks that she'll just hand over her son.

"What about the throne?" Akia asked and the king's eyes began glowing green. It's the first time Akia can spot him in the darkness.

"No." The king said and Akia doesn't want to fight him on it, not when he's in this condition anyway.

-

Akia looks up at her family house, a huge smile on her face as she's greeted by servants.

"Welcome home Akia-"

"Hi Akia"

"Akia you're back!"

She meets every greeting with enthusiasm as she's led to the house.

There are about 10 guards following her.

5 behind her on each side of her body.

Opollo The siren is besides her in their female form.

They're not allowed to leave her side until their bond subsides.

Akia is excited when she smells the strong scent of warm vanilla and honey the moment she entered her home.

She walks over to her mother's library. Her reading nook where the woman usually stayed reading through her collection of books.

"Mama?" Akia asked entering the empty room. She walks in picking up a thick leather bind book on the floor.

She examines the book, flipping it open to see if there were any sketches just be to met with hideous drawing of grotesque acts.

Her heart starts races as she continues flipping. There was a detailed drawing of a woman laying down with her chest cut out of her body. A stone, bright yellow was laying besides her misplaced chest.

"Akialine?" Lady Kenya said and Akia drops the book as a disgusting chill ran through her.

"Ma' what kind of book is that?" Akia asked pointing at the book before her mother engulfed her in her arms.

Akia then takes notes of her mother's foul smell. She pulls away from the woman to see that she had aged drastically. Her grey eyes had turned icy. Her cheek bones were unhealthily protruding under her almost gray skin.

"Mother.. mother are you ill again?" Akia asked, fear for her mother evident in her voice.

"I thought you were dead." The woman said and Akia notices that the slurring in her words she looks at her mouth and sees dirty teeth. Some of her teeth had cracked others fallen.

"Mother? What happened to you?"

"Where the Stone?!" The woman suddenly asked looking Akia over frantically.

"Stone? You know about the Stone." Akia turns for her inspection still utterly confused.

"Ma? What's going on?" Akia asked.

"Where's the Stone?" The woman asked once more.

"I gave it away." Akia said and doesn't expect the harsh slap that comes next.

"You stupid girl! You've killed us all."

Notes: it's technically still Monday so...