No More Pain For This Villain.

340  Snatch away

In his office, Stormborne sat gazing out the window, his expression contemplative. There was much on his mind, thoughts swirling about the recent events and the cryptic orders he had received.

"And you have done your part I guess," Falco's voice broke the silence, leaning casually against a nearby bookshelf. He had been traveling extensively throughout the Hestia Empire on his father's errands.

"I have," Stormborne replied quietly, hesitant to voice the questions that weighed heavily on him.

"If there's something, then say it. I'm not as uptight as my father," Falco added, his demeanor relaxed compared to his father, Falkor.

Stormborne hesitated, then finally spoke. "What's happening?"

For the past two years, Stormborne had been entrusted with the care of a human child, Adam Stales, with orders that had recently intensified. There were also mysterious creature attacks and Falkor's directive to watch over the ruins of Ellora.

"Maximilian, there's going to be war," Falco stated solemnly, meeting Stormborne's gaze directly. It was time for the pawns to understand the game being played.

"A war planned by the gods themselves, using us as their pawns. Adam Stales is leading them towards victory," Falco explained.

"And this Ren kid? Is he another pawn?" Stormborne inquired, trying to grasp the extent of their roles in this unfolding conflict.

"Don't worry about him... just don't let him slip away," Falco replied cryptically, stepping into a spatial rift and disappearing. Before he vanished, he glanced back. "I'll be taking Adam and his friends on a detour to the ruins. He needs to acquire his weapon and blessings before Azra's chosen one does."

Left alone, Stormborne stood stunned. Questions flooded his mind. Would dragons be involved in this war? Why was Adam receiving blessings? And most perplexingly, what role did Azra play in all of this? Wasn't Azra supposed to be dead?

It was all overwhelming for Stormborne, a creature ancient by mortal standards but feeling bewildered by the weight of history unfolding before him.

"Haa, gods and their tactics," Stormborne sighed, slumping into his chair. He had managed to prevent Ren's parents from taking him out of the Imperial Academy, but for how long? Was he supposed to keep the boy locked up or simply keep an eye on him?

"Ugh, I also have to raise a barrier," he muttered to himself. According to Falkor, Stormborne should raise a barrier around Solstice to protect the city.

***

On the same academy grounds, in a room sat a girl who looked like a broken doll. She lay there lifelessly, staring at her palms. Mary had been like this for a while, and even Elsa seemed to be getting annoyed but kept calm because Mary was her best friend.

Mary's eyes reflected no emotion. Her hair was a mess, and she hadn't picked up her sword in four days.

"Umm, Mary," Elsa called from the lower bed and was met with a hum from Mary. "What's happening?" she asked.

Mary didn't answer. Until yesterday, she had at least talked with Elsa, but since the morning, she hadn't said a single word or left the room to eat anything.

"Are you still worried about what Adam said?" Elsa recalled the incident that happened a few days ago, which had shocked her. Mary and Raven had dueled, and Mary had badly injured Raven.

After that, Adam had brought Mary to apologize to Raven. The apology was somewhat accepted, but Mary? She had been like the walking dead ever since.

Adam had scolded Mary a bit, and Elsa thought it might be the reason behind the sudden change in her behavior.

"Mary, you can't keep doing this to yourself," Elsa said gently, trying to coax her friend back to reality. "Adam was just upset. He didn't mean to hurt you."

Mary finally looked at Elsa, her eyes dull. "It's not just Adam," she whispered. "It's everything. I hurt Raven. I could have... I don't know what's wrong with me."

Elsa moved to sit beside her on the bed, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You made a mistake, but you're not a monster. We're all here for you. You just need to forgive yourself."

Mary leaned into Elsa's embrace, tightly. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Am I ugly?" For some reason, Mary just asked a very irrelevant question out of nowhere. What did her looks have to do with this?

"Oh hell no! You're beautiful!" Elsa immediately switched positions, now with Mary's head on her lap. "You are gorgeous and cool and stunning—" Elsa kept throwing out any kind of praise that she could think of for Mary.

"Adam would never think of you as ugly!" she said, and in that moment, Mary's eyes dimmed a bit.

"Yeah, Adam..." she muttered. In reality, her mind was not set on Adam—she didn't even remember what he said when he supposedly 'scolded' her.

Mary was stuck on Ruu. With each passing day where she couldn't get a single sighting of her childhood best friend, her heart felt more and more uneasy.

It was like the whole world was shifting at a pace that she couldn't keep up with.

And after Gambit, it seemed like there wasn't a single time Ren and Mary interacted. Even before that, when Ren came to the academy, Mary chased him away thinking he might cause her problems.

But he never did, not a single word on his own for the last year—he's growing on his own, leaving Mary behind.

Mary, on the other hand, was lost. She always saw herself as the one more stable mentally between the two of them, but here it seemed like she couldn't understand her own feelings.

It's like everything is going wrong. Wasn't Ren supposed to chase her? He's not doing that... Wasn't he supposed to put her at the top of his priorities? He doesn't seem to care.

"Hey, Elsa," Mary called her. "How'd you feel if Isolde stole Adam away from you? Even before you confessed... like, what if he fell in love with her over you?"

Elsa blinked, taken aback by the question. "Isolde? I don't think she'd do that. And Adam..." She paused, considering her words carefully. "If he fell in love with her over me, then I guess it wasn't meant to be. But it would hurt. A lot."

"That's it? You'll let it happen?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, if he loves her over me, then I can't be the one to try and break it," Elsa said, though even she wasn't sure if this would be her actual reaction if things did reach that point.

Currently, they were all aware of the fact that they loved Adam, but none of them had tried to even confess to him.

Mary paused as she turned her face away from Elsa. "Wouldn't you just wanna snatch him away and keep him to yourself?" she muttered, way lower than what Elsa could hear.

bring me some salt! this witch ----!!!!!!!

Satan03