The Beginning

Leonardo didn’t dare move a muscle.

Anne was gone, Marceline was gone, Benedict was gone, Javier was gone, Adam was gone, Aiden and Tyler were nowhere to be seen, Fleur was gone, Lyna and Theodore were standing together for some reason.

But none of that mattered to him. Truthfully speaking, he didn’t care about anybody else as much as he cared for Arthur.

Arthur.

The boy he grew up with.

The boy he thought of as a brother.

The boy who had betrayed him.

The boy standing next to the dozens of Camellia guards right in front of him.

Time had frozen for the two, as they blocked out all other noises, staring at each other in agony.

Leonardo’s sword clattered to the ground.

Jafar turned around to the guards standing behind him, whispering something, after which, they all left the cave. Nobody tried to fight them. Arthur stayed, his vision still fixated on Leonardo.

Jafar turned around to face Lyna and Theodore, stepping forward with a smirk.

“Jafar—“, Lyna whispered, Theodore turned to face the girl, ready to attack.

“Yes, love?”

Lyna staggered backwards, her sword dropping to the ground with a clatter, she looked at him in disbelief.

“You said you loved me”, Lyna mumbled to Jafar.

“That I do”, Jafar chuckled.

Lyna shook her head constantly, falling to her knees as she covered her ears with her hands.

Jafar kneeled down, “Why is the human boy with you?”

Lyna stared at the ground, “You lied to me.”

Jafar smiled, standing up, “The Camellia have won.”

Theodore gritted his teeth, sprinting to the brown-skinned enemy, his sword millimetres away from Jafar’s neck.

Jafar gave a wide grin to the blonde boy as if the weapon aimed at his neck was no threat.

Jafar gripped the knife in his hand, rushing behind Theodore in what felt like less than a second.

“Boring”, he dug the knife right into Theodore’s back.

Jade stared at the scene unfold, trying to stand but her legs gave up. She cursed at herself for being so weak as she continued to sob.

Leonardo ignored everything, his eyes still fixated on Arthur as were Arthur’s.

Lyna stared up at this, looking at Jafar, “You—“

Theodore fell to the ground as he felt the life drain from his eyes, Jafar standing back with an unamused look on his face, “Boring”, he repeated.

Lyna crawled towards Theodore, mouth wide open.

Theodore coughed up blood, looking at Lyna above him, “I hate you”

Lyna’s breath was shaky, “Wha— what?…”

Theodore sobbed as his blood spread across the floor, “I hate you, Lyna.”

Lyna shook the boy as his eyes slowly closed.

Lyna cursed at herself constantly, burying her head into Theodore’s chest, crying.

Jafar stepped towards Arthur, “What are you still doing here, boy?”

Arthur ignored him.

“You’ve been staring at the human for quite some time. Still haven’t got rid of him?”

Arthur ignored him again.

“I’m talking to you.”

Arthur ignored him once more.

“Useless.”

Jafar walked up to Leonardo, raising a brow as Leonardo looked back at him. Jafar prepared to attack.

“Please—“

Jafar turned around, looking at Arthur, the boy who had just spoken.

“What?”

“Please don’t kill him.”

“Ha—. Why should I not?”

“Please”

Arthur’s tears fell to the floor as he plead.

“Please kill me”, Leonardo’s voice echoed throughout the cave.

Jafar turned back, holding in a laugh, “What?”

Arthur stared at Leonardo in shock, “Why?”

Leonardo spoke, “You betrayed me.”

Arthur staggered backwards, “Leo— we can live together. Just the two of us. I did this for you, all of this was for you.”

Leonardo shook his head, “Why would I want to live if I have to live with the likes of you?!”

Arthur was shocked, “I love you, Leo—“

“I hate you.”

Arthur fell to the ground as if those words had affected him greatly.

Jafar looked bored.

Leonardo looked down at his sword, picking it up.

Jade stared at him in horror, “Leo, don’t—“

He brought it to his head.

Arthur stared.

Jade crawled towards him, “Leo—“

Slice.

His head fell onto the ground, right next to Arthur’s feet, blood splattering everywhere.

The room was filled with Jafar’s laughter. Jafar wiped his eyes, looking at the remaining people one by one, “Sorry— sorry. This is too amusing.”

“You—“, Jade grunted.

Jafar ignored her, turning to face Lyna, “I won’t kill you.”

Lyna let go of Theodore’s body, looking up at him.

“I won’t kill you and I know you don’t have the guts to kill yourself.”

“Why—“

“I won’t kill you because I want you to live with carrying the burden of betraying your family and killing your closest friends.”

“Why—“, she repeated.

“Because I hate you, Lyna.”

Lyna stared at Theodore’s body, “I didn’t kill hi—“

“Yes you did.”

Lyna shook her head, “I didn’t—“

Jafar turned around, Jade wasn’t there anymore.

The man sighed, unbothered to go find her.

Arthur held Leonardo’s head in his hand as he sat on the floor, still processing everything.

Lyna gripped Theodore’s body in her arms.

“This is just the beginning. We’ll take over the whole country after this, and then the entire world.” Jafar smirked, exiting the the cave, leaving Arthur and Lyna.

———

Jade ran.

She kept running for hours on end. Her legs felt like giving up.

She couldn’t do anything at the cave but the least she could do was to stay truthful to the promise she had made to Adam.

The insufferable guilt she felt, watching all of her loved ones pass away and not being able to do anything, she just had Aiyla and Mary left.

Mary.

The girl she loved.

Despite being covered in bruises and splinters from tripping over too much in the vast forest, she kept running until she reached home.

The Orphanage she loved so much was right in front of her. If only she knew how to express herself back then, to express her love for everybody there. She hated herself for it.

She entered, it was awfully quiet.

She rushed to the boys’ dormitory, nobody inside.

She then looked inside the girls’ dormitory.

The Camellia had reached before she had, they’d done their damage and left.

Her breathing slowed down. She felt as if she were going to collapse. She had broken her promise so quickly.

There, right in front of her, was Aiyla curled up in Mary’s arms as the two of them laid on the wooden floor, froth sitting in their mouths.

“Aiyla, Mary—“, Jade fell to the ground, her legs had finally given up.

She sat there, holding onto their bodies as she wailed, everything had been taken from her. There was nothing left for her to live for.

———

“She’s crazy—“

“A madwoman, really.”

“I heard it’s called schizophrenia”

“What’d she say?”

“She kept talking to herself as if she were talking to people called Theodore and Fleur.”

“What’d she say?”

“She kept saying she was sorry.”

“She’s mad.”

It was the Year 1709, Lyna was sent to live in a hospital for mentally disabled citizens. She had become the talk of the town, everybody was talking about how crazy she was.

She couldn’t tolerate the noise.

She wanted to leave.

It was all her fault.

She wants to see Theodore and Fleur again.

“What is she doing?!”

“Is that a woman on top of the building?”

“Call somebody!”

“Get help!”

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“I’ll be with you soon, Theo, Fleur.”

And then, she jumped.

———

It was the Year 1715, Jade had become the new owner of the Orphanage.

“Miss Jade, could you tell us the story again?”

Jade looked down at the child, giving a warm smile, “Of Mary and Adam?”

The child nodded.

“Alright—“

“—Once upon a time, there was a handsome Prince named Adam. Adam had become quite fond of a neighbouring countries’ princess named Mary so he—“

And so, Jade continued.

Her story had a happy ending.

But the original story was a tragedy.

It was only a matter of time until the Camellia would finalise their plans to take over the country and the story would just repeat itself, with different victims this time.

———

The morning after the attack on the Camellia’s hideout, Arthur walked towards the edge of the cliff, staring down at the river below. It was very far down, nobody could survive the impact.

“The humans treated me kindly.”

He began.

“Especially you—“

The boy said, stepping off the cliff, his arms raised and a smile on his face.

“—Leonardo.”