(Ophelia)
***
Vaguely controlled by Aries' hands and words, a flicker of light began to surround me before it fizzled out.
In place of its crackling, timepieces then clicked incessantly, and I looked to the one above me. The hands spun out of control as if the device's constituent parts wanted to come undone from the rod in the center. As someone sighed, the gears made an obnoxious grinding noise like the grating of metal against teeth.
The chanting stopped.
"All I managed to do was fuck up the clocks." Aries' voice was already weak and exasperated. "I dunno if this is gonna work."
Roslynn patted her quite roughly on the back to the point the deep sound echoed off the walls. "Try again. We still have some time."
King Dakota flicked a wrist without a word.
*You must be fun at banquets.*
The hymn resumed, the light growing brighter than it did previously, but it did not even last a minute before it dissipated into nothing. It was bright pink and much like an evening sunset, flowing like a gradient from an inner hot tone to a nearly white glow on the outside.
Aries got upset and stomped, which caused the colors to return. They fixed her mood momentarily until they faded once more.
Frowning and frustrated, she then shouted her mantra at rapid speeds, turning desperate for a radiant response. The words grew faster and louder until the syllables were incoherent, and King Dakota grunted as the magic flowed out of him in invisible bursts. Roslynn remained much quieter despite the fact she bore more of the burden than her father.
The erratic words morphed into erratic motions. Hands twisted and knuckles cracked as limbs flew around like particles in a blizzard. Stomping filled the hall again, and the chants were interlaced with curses, incomplete and reaching for something that had not yet been fulfilled.
"Fuck!" Aries slammed her hands against the stone floor while kneeling, yelping in pain upon the impact.
"Fucking hell! This isn't working at all!"
Met with her own incompetence, she crumbled on the spot.
She almost lost control of the magic while the lights turned on and off as if they were faulty. The clocks spun so far out of time that gears and springs launched from them, hitting the blank areas of the floor.
Watching her miniature domain dismantle itself in a destructive and beautiful meteor shower, she was immobilized. Yet the epicenter still belonged to her.
Roslynn ran up to hug her. "Calm down. You're going to tear this place apart."
King Dakota mumbled, "She always gets like this when she knows she can't do something."
*So what? She's trying so much harder than you.*
Aries had begun to slow her breathing, but it grew quicker when she heard that comment.
Roslynn rubbed the junction between her wing and back, which must have released a drug in Aries' brain as she closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply and nodded, not needing words to convey her determination to complete her incantation.
The princess moved away from her and placed herself by a shelf of antiques to distance herself from any stray spells.
Koharu glanced over at me with a disturbed face, skin oddly pale.
"Do you think she'll be able to do it?" she whispered, grasping my right arm.
I touched her with my opposite hand but did not answer her.
The truth was: No, I didn't think she could do it. In terms of power, she was no Leo or Sinclair, even though she tried twice as hard as the former with his playful antics. She was too uncontrolled, but nothing I could do would calm her. We hardly knew each other. I sensed that the pressure of unfamiliarity hindered her true potential.
Every moment of wasted, flung magic sunk my hopes even further until they reached below my feet and hardened in the stiff rock. It seemed Koharu and I were destined to be stuck here forever.
*I suppose that isn't too bad if I'm here with her, but…*
I used my left hand to squeeze her right one for comfort. I stepped so that we somewhat faced each other, giving her an earnest and pleading look.
*The future is a futureless place for us.*
Aries glanced at our troubled expressions.
"I'm going to keep trying, okay?" Her tone sounded unsure as she gulped and forced a smile.
"Please do. You'll be fine," Koharu said to her with a sweet grin that made me want to snatch up those lips for a kiss.
I doubted that was what my girlfriend really thought. She must have been so conflicted—so pained—to see the chance of a return dwindling before her eyes after finally coming around to the idea. She lost those diamonds in her irises and replaced them with cold, opaque fear.
The longer we sat there between the shaky lights, the more the probability of seeing the Galaxy Kingdom again declined like the slope of a mountain.
Aries grinned and raised her arms once more. The tune of the foreign poetry filled the air.
As I listened to her make endless attempts on a loop, I was so damn nervous and so damn scared. I shook to the bone, awaiting the final judgment of time as to how we would spend our exile.
*Please let us find a way out of here. I don't want to abandon everything and everyone I've come to know, so—*
"Lia, don't do that. You'll make it bleed."
Koharu reached up, placing a finger on my lip, and she reminded me to stop clamping down on it and incising the membrane with my front teeth. I assumed it turned pinker than usual while she locked her eyes on it with a hungry look like she thought that *she* should be the one to nibble at it.
The glance was fleeting as she shifted up to my eyes and rolled the thumb down my chin.
"Good, love," she said melodically, somewhere between cocky and nervous.
Behind her, the light shone repeatedly, giving me more false hope. Koharu's body had a warm color when we were enveloped in its hues, but it left neutral tones in its wake that turned ominous. The jaunty pattern of grays, blacks, browns, and whites that superseded the pinks became something of a bad omen every time it returned to my vision as Aries shouted without taking a single breath.
She violently swatted at the air as the chants continued, and flesh slammed against the walls.
"Fuck!" she shouted. "This isn't working at all. Gee, I knew I was useless at magic, but this…"
King Dakota raised his arm, viewing a watch that miraculously had not spun out of control.
*Is he withholding some of his power for that?*
"You have five minutes."
Terror streaked across Aries' eyes until she blinked and let annoyance replace that emotion. "Yes, yes! I know! Stop pressuring me!"
She made another attempt to recite the spell, and the stones surrounding Koharu and I swirled in the air like a tornado. They crept up to the ceiling as if by stairs, spinning until they slammed against the top and proceeded to descend like raindrops. Giving me the impression they were chunks of hail descending from the sky, they almost hit my head.
*I'd prefer to not get more injuries. Mine have only been gone for a few minutes.*
The light flickered on and off—on and off—until the stones cluttered the ground. Though it shone brighter than during any time before and for longer, the pink glow ceased to exist once more.
I only saw traces of bodies beyond it, indiscernible in their features save for their heights. When their faces came back into focus, a look of relief painted Aries, and she immediately made another attempt.
*She's going to burn out…*
I wasn't sure how, but the last part of her spell suddenly became understandable as she repeated it.
"When the moon moves once more, bring the universe into alignment—a cannon to shoot back into the past. The stars shall send you back to where you belong. They know what's best for you."
A distinct exhale ended the mantra as Aries was practically breathless.
She shook her head, and she started from square one by rehashing, "To the sky, please—"
Rubbing hands all over her face as Roslynn's expression twisted into one of concern, Aries choked.
"Please… Please bring down your magic and…"
She shook her head and crashed to the ground with a sob, visibly weakened. "I can't fucking do this. I can't—"
"Time's up," King Dakota said offhandedly as he fiddled with his watch. "I'm calling security."
*Do you have the heart to shut the fuck up and wait a minute? Look at her!*
I swallowed and bit my lip again. Without condemning me for it this time, Koharu mirrored my expression.
Aries flung her arms with a huff, glancing towards the ceiling with tired eyes.
"I couldn't do it," she whispered, clearly sobbing by the shakiness of her voice. "I'm so sorry for being weak and useless at this kind of thing."
"Aries," Roslynn whispered to her when she dashed over, "it's not your fault. That was like asking a kid to wrestle a professional fighter."
The fairy threw her fists around as Roslynn backed away, falling apart in the middle of the room. I wondered why she took it so personally, but it was better not to ask.
"But there's no one else to even try!" Aries exclaimed.
I didn't think I reacted much to the news besides a sinking of my soul, but Koharu wiped my face. I watched the glimmering fingers assume a position by her side as she dried them on her pants.
"Don't cry," she cooed. "I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry for stalling so much and being unsure of myself."
My head shook from side to side.
It was never her I was truly upset with beyond a few sparks after she lied to me. In place of the anger was only fear because I considered the horror of never returning.
*By now, what's the difference?*
I subconsciously took issue with the fact I was living in a world in which I didn't really exist. I was some "had been" and not a person of the time. Even the peasants and low-wage workers were *someone*, even if that meant they were a string of letters and numbers to the castle.
For all they cared, they existed. They would continue to do so as they were immortalized in store receipts and periodicals, even as their fingerprints were wiped from the surfaces.
They *belonged*.
Koharu and I? We were figments of the imagination—maniacs of history who wound up in the wrong place until we were erased except in stories. One day, we were figures of history, and the next moment, we were devoid of all identity that could not be remembered—a fickle prospect in itself.
Almost every person wanted to leave their mark somewhere. It was why authors wrote, artists crafted, and politicians spoke—that humanistic ego that even the most humble of people could not avoid. A great fear to many—without them even realizing it—was having hardly or never *existed* in the sense of recorded history.
I thought if book characters could exist in the minds of many, why couldn't we when we were real?
*It's selfish in a sense but also rightful to think that way.*
Koharu reached her hand up again to clean the tears, but I grabbed the palm of it before she touched me. I slid my fingers between hers, searching for warmth and comfort when my heart turned cold.
Trembling, I said, "It's not your fault. I told you this. If you really want to make it up to me, keep your hand locked with mine. We have nobody else anymore."
My heart rate picked up.
"We're going back to that damn cell. We aren't *anyone* anymore."