The End of Innocence: Book 3 of the Kinstone series
Chapter 52: Resolve

Minutes before the call.

I breathe a sorrowful sigh. We had indeed arrived to a blood-filled scene. Abagail laid dying on the ground, blood pouring out from her wound, with Aria standing over her, trying to save the maid’s life. Our arrival sent a shockwave into the invading teenagers, with many fleeing upon seeing myself and the others. The battle’s end came swiftly soon after.

I only wish that I had foreseen the surprise betrayal by Marron. Her words stung deeply but again…why choose that moment?

I knew Aria had once harbored hatred towards me after her departure. She felt alone and listless for a period. It still wasn’t time for our meeting, but she craved for it, wanting desperately to have someone to turn to. But she soon let go of her hatred as time moved on.

She wanted to be with Marron because at the time, Marron gave her a place to come and be away from everything, to be but a girl. With her sister gone, she lost that place…a home to go to. It stung both Marron and I to watch from afar until it was the proper time.

She had even spoken of such during the Winter Festival that year, lamenting on much terribly she missed being with the child. She was hurt by the premature recall order, even watched from a distance all of her burgeoning adventures and pain experienced from her duel.

That was when she began making Aria her outfits, wishing to contribute in some fashion, a bit of happiness for her sister. Even apart, the bonds of sisterhood had grown deep between them. This made their reunion all the more special.

I had thought her jealousy and resentment had relented as time went on, and with her return to Texas, the pain would have faded away into nothing. But…why now? This still made no sense.

I continue my slow trudge towards Aria’s room, the final stop of the nightly trek. A cold aura exuded from her room, feeling it even over twenty paces down the hallway. Even in my disheveled and worried state, I knew from wince it came. I near the door and gently pull down on the latch,pushing the door open.

The room was dark, far darker than it should ever be. The silence was deafening. The sounds of pencils scribbling on paper, beeps and chimes of games played on the laptop, of people laughing on the television, the gentle musings of the music box, or the clipping of plastic parts, none could be heard. The room felt lifeless and cold without its owner.

I step over to the desk Aria has come to refer to as “Study”. Books rest upon the table, a few open, with a notebook and pencil resting beside it. Aria had apparently been working on transcribing notes the day I left for England. I run my fingers on the assorted books which lined the shelf above it, coming up short upon one.

Resting beside them was a picture of her and Marron. I had once thought of destroying it, but…chose not to. No matter the reason, no matter the circumstances, the two of them are sisters. I had even laid plans for the worst of situations, plans which remained unchanged, even after all that has happened. It is a mystery as to why I haven’t.

The sounds of heavy breathing rasp and echo in the deepening abyss. I gaze over to the bed, glimpsing a massive dark mass of fur, rising and falling in steady rhythm.

Quietly I step towards the bed, lying down onto it. My nightly companion softly raises his head and stares at me with his deep ice-blue eyes. Both were filled the same worry and loneliness that I share.

No words are spoken between us, no gestures of note, just the simple acknowledgment of the other’s presence. He then lowers his head onto the bed, letting out a heavy remorseful sigh.

During the course of the last week, Fenris had traversed nearly the entire state and beyond in search of his bonded girl. Each night the wolf would return unsuccessful, and come to rest in her room, wishing to envelope himself in her scent.

His heart aches with longing to be with her once more. She is in many ways like a daughter to him as well, while at the same time acting as her companion and confidant. He bears a father’s worry, a truth and trait I have long come to rely upon since they bonded.

I drag her nine-tailed fox plush into my chest and hold it. It still strongly bares her scent. My hand feebly strokes its head. Tears soon begin to well up in my eyes, feeling them rolling down the bridge of my nose.

A lump grows within my throat, as the tears flowed ever more. The bulwark holding back my sadness for the past week finally burst.

I let out a sad and lonely cry. I wanted my little girl home, to hold her tightly in my arms once more, to hear her gentle loving laugh, to see her hair flying through the air. I wanted to have her curled up into my side, to feel her warm and tender breath upon my chest.

I open my eyes, staring towards the other side of the bed. For the briefest of moments I imagined her lying beside me. But in the cold, harsh truth of reality, the image of my daughter seemed to fade away as if made of dust. My heart felt torn to shreds.

I close my eyes once more, feeling the tears rolling over my nose and cheeks.

She has to be out there somewhere. Someplace they haven’t searched. No…I haven’t searched.

I feel my hand gripping the top of her bed, clenching it tightly between my fingers. I have been hiding away for too long. I should’ve been out there alongside the others, searching for her. To replace both of them and bring them back. I need answers from Marron, and she must atone for what she has done.

I open my eyes once more, now with purpose and desire; purpose to replace my daughter and the desire to bring her home.

I dried the tears from my eyes, my skin feeling raw from them. I let go of her doll and roll myself off of her bed, landing on the floor beneath me.

The bed then creaks as Fenris rose as well, possibly sensing my call to action, and leaps off. The wolf shook his body and stretched. The sounds of his joints popping echo in the dark of the room.

“Are you finally prepared to search for her?” He asks, rounding the bed, heading for the door.

His question stung directly into my heart. I have been a fool this entire time, allowing my fears and grief take hold of me, weighing me down like shackles, wrapped tightly around my heart. But now those chains are broken, no longer shall I stay hidden on the dark; no more will I merely let others do what I should have been doing from the start.

I turn to the wolf, giving him a nod, “I will replace her.”

His tails swish, bobbing his head.

I start for the door. My clothes began to glow, fading away like specks of sand. My body soon was enveloped in new materials, as a skirt exploded from my waist and wrapped around it. A hood covers my head, feeling a cape drape over my shoulders. Boots run up my legs until just below my waist.

My body becomes tight and pressed as the outfit formed over it and my neck. My hands clench tightly, now adorned with gloves.

My battle regalia, a relic from a war I fought in centuries ago and during a handful of missions for the Court. But now I wear it to replace my daughter.

I take one last glance at her room, eyeing every detail still hidden away by the darkness. It shall be filled by my girl once more. I nod and turn for the door, hearing Fenris trotting beside me as we headed down the hallway.