Pride-Niklaus's Point of View
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"Stop thinking about the mountain!" Scarlet's voice rang out in a frantic cry, panic lacing each word. She slammed the bathroom door open with a force that made it rattle against the frame, her movements erratic and filled with urgency. She was visibly unwell, her usually glowing complexion now sickly pale, a sickly pallor spreading across her skin that contrasted sharply with her normal beauty. It was clear from the way her breath hitched and the wild look in her eyes that something was deeply wrong. She was still breathtaking, still impossibly beautiful, but her disheveled state made it all too obvious that something had unhinged her.
"Stop," she murmured to herself, the words coming out broken, as if trying to block out something only she could see. Her hands instinctively moved to cover her ears, as if she could physically shut out whatever haunted her thoughts. At this moment, she was completely oblivious to our presence, lost in her own internal chaos. There was no way she would have acted this way if she knew we were standing right there. "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop," she repeated over and over, the panic intensifying with every word. "You are safe."
What the hell is she going on about?
"Stop," she whispered again, her voice strained, the words escaping like a tortured sigh. Her entire body was trembling, visibly worn down by whatever mental struggle she was enduring. "Forget the mountain."
The mountain? What mountain? Was she speaking in some kind of metaphor? Had she gone on some trip to a mountain recently? Why was this affecting her so much? What was it that had her so scared? Was it something from her past, or was it a new fear she couldn't shake?
"Stop," her voice barely audible this time, as if she was trying to calm herself down, to reason with herself, to find a way out of the madness twisting her mind. She paused, her breath coming in short, uneven gasps as she finished washing her mouth, standing shakily on her feet. But the unease was still there, hanging thick in the air around her, and it wasn't just physical exhaustion—it was something deeper. After a long moment of standing still, her body seemed to freeze, as if a sudden realization had hit her all at once. Her face, which had been a mask of distress, turned completely blank, utterly cold. She had finally noticed us, felt our presence. "Shite," she muttered to herself, her voice low, but with an edge of frustration cutting through.
Before she could turn and make her exit, I acted swiftly. My spatial magic surged to life, canceling out her own, rendering her momentarily stuck in place. She let out a deep string of curses, sounding almost like they were coming from the depths of her soul, all frustration and raw emotion. Her movements faltered as she turned to face me, her eyes now locking onto mine with such intensity that it was as if the air around us crackled with the force of it. The panic, the fear, the distress that had consumed her moments ago—vanished, replaced with a blinding fury, burning hot and fierce in her gaze.
"Pride-Niklaus," she spat my name, her voice dripping with venom. I couldn't help the smirk that tugged at the corner of my lips. There was something about the fire in her eyes that made my blood rush, the defiance in her posture drawing me in, and I reveled in it.
"Stop messing with me!" she snapped, the sharpness of her voice carrying with it a challenge I could feel deep in my bones.
I arched a brow, savoring the way she tried to stand her ground despite the obvious difference in height between us. I was a full 2.07 meters tall—almost towering over her. And right now, she wasn't even wearing heels, just a pair of simple heelless boots, which only made the height difference more pronounced. It was something I knew she absolutely hated, and the sight of her seething under my gaze was more than enough to feed my enjoyment. I loved it. I loved how much it irked her.
"It's you who invaded my space, Scarlet," I drawled, my voice smooth and mocking as I looked down at her, letting every word hit its mark. "I was here first, with my friends, minding my own business. And then you come barging in like you own the place." My words lingered in the air between us, dripping with the satisfaction of seeing her riled up. "And then, just when things start to get interesting, you try to run off like that. That's rude, don't you think?" I let a dark grin spread across my face, watching her eyes flash with something dangerous, like a predator ready to strike.
Her expression twisted into one of pure bitterness. "Must be 'cause your bitch of a mother murdered mine before she could properly educate me," she hissed, the venom in her words cutting like a knife.
I clenched my jaw, anger bubbling up from deep within, but I forced myself to keep it under control. "You have no right to speak of my mother like that," I growled, my voice low and dangerous. "It wasn't my mother who killed your parents, Scarlet. It was that damn Dragon Queen who murdered my father, not her. My mother simply followed the law—life for life. It's the way of the world. It's how things are meant to be."
Her eyes widened in disbelief, her fury growing more intense, and then she bared her fangs, a sight that was both terrifying and beautiful in its ferocity. "You weren't there, were you?" she spat, stepping closer to me, her body radiating rage with every step. "Your words mean nothing, Pride-Niklaus. My mother was only protecting her mate. She had every right to do so. Your bitch of a mother didn't care about that. She waited until my mother was alone and vulnerable—then she killed her." She was right in front of me now, her eyes locked on mine, and I could feel the fire between us, the raw emotion tearing through the air. My friends stood silently behind me, giving me space but silently backing me up.
"And don't you dare try to tell me what it was like," she added, her voice a low growl, "because you didn't lose anyone the way we did. You didn't know what it felt like to watch everything you loved be taken from you, just like that."
Her words were like a slap across the face, and they stung more than I was willing to admit. I could feel the bitterness, the grief, the raw pain in her voice, but I wouldn't let her see how much it had affected me. Instead, I met her anger with my own, stepping forward, matching her fire with a coldness that made the tension between us even sharper.
"Your words mean nothing to me," I snapped back, my voice heavy with contempt. "You think you're the only one who's lost someone? You act like the world revolves around your pain, Scarlet. Me and Vain, we lost our father too. Don't you dare forget that. So maybe it's time you opened your eyes and realized the world doesn't circle around you, because it sure as hell doesn't."
We stood there, inches apart, the air between us thick with the fury and unresolved emotions that neither of us was willing to back down from. The world around us seemed to fade into the background as we locked eyes, neither of us willing to blink first. Our pain, our anger, it was all hanging there, unresolved, waiting for something—anything—to shift. And in that moment, it was clear: we weren't just fighting over our parents. We were fighting something deeper, something darker, something that neither of us fully understood.
But whatever it was, it was pulling us into a conflict neither of us could escape.