the white rose
Rio found herself at the bottom of the cliff. She wasn’t harmed, not physically, at least. She sat up, wiping the dirt off her hands as she looked up.
“Agatha!”
There was no response, not that she expected one. Rio wiped away her tears with her shaky hands before entering her void.
“Come on, Agatha! You have to be close by!” She croaked as she closed her eyes, trying to sense her beloved witch’s soul.
Hundreds of thousands of souls appeared in her void, but none of them was the one she was looking for. She knew she wasn’t dead, she couldn’t have been. Rio hadn’t been summoned to collect her. Agatha had to be alive. Yet there were too many souls, far more than Rio could sort through in time.
Rio pulled away, knocking on her head. “Think, think, think!”
She sat down on the ground, burying her face in her knees as she tried to think of a quicker way to find Agatha. A tear streamed down her face. “I can’t feel you.”
She sat there for what felt like an eternity, trying to find a way to find Agatha.
She paused, looking up.
There was no chance, right?
She tried to track down every soul with a white rose, finally getting to the one she was looking for. Her hair was messed up, her nose was bleeding, and her face was bruised, but it was the same ocean-blue eyes Rio knew all too well.
–
Rio appeared in the base in the Kingdom of France where they were holding Agatha, hidden in plain sight. She counted 4 guards in the room, probably more outside.
Agatha chuckled dryly. “Y’all don’t have heating, I suppose?”
One of the guards narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Then can I get like a coat or something—“
The guard punched her, making her groan. Rio ran over, trying to heal Agatha’s broken nose.
“That’s a hell of a punch.” Agatha spit out blood.
“I only hire the best.” A man said as he walked in, two more guards by his side. He, unlike the soldiers in camouflage uniforms, wore an expensive-looking fur coat. He walked over to Agatha, picking the white rose and crushing it. Rio winced. “Hell of a healing spell. They’re supposed to wear off here.”
Agatha narrowed her eyes momentarily before realizing what was going on and smirking. “I only use the best.”
Rio blushed.
“Don’t try using any others, though. We have every rune you could possibly imagine.”
“Oh, I already know. Cute accent, by the way. I see we’re in favor of leaning towards the stereotypes here.”
The man sighed as he shook his head. “Putain, vous avez pris la mauvaise! Je sais pas pourquoi je vous tolère, en fait.” The man exhaled. “So. Let’s get down to business, shall we? I have a few questions.”
“So do I. What do you want from me?”
“Normally, I’d be interested in your powers, but I see you’ve acquired a shiny new toy.”
Rio went to untie Agatha’s binds, but she motioned for her to stop. Rio reluctantly let go of the binds.
“She’s not my toy, you know.”
Rio tilted her head.
“Then enlighten me. Who is she?”
Agatha scoffed. “You’re hunting her, and you don’t even know who she is?”
“I know she’s there whenever someone dies.”
Rio paused. Her hand clutched at her chest.
It couldn’t be her, could it?
She couldn’t have been the target.
It couldn’t have been all her fault.
A ringing sounded in her ears.
“And that’s it?”
“I also know she’s very powerful. We could use that to our advantage.”
“And what makes you think she’d let her use her like that? Or that you can handle all that power?”
“We can certainly try.”
Agatha started laughing. “Honey, you have no idea who you’re dealing with. Sweetheart?”
The man lifted an eyebrow as Rio shook herself back to reality.
Rio put on a wide smile, walking up behind the man and revealing herself in her true form. “Boo.”
She touched his shoulder, sending him flying across the room.
“C’est elle!”
“Attrapez-la!”
The guards fired at her, but she didn’t even try to run from the bullets. Rio flicked her hand, tying vines around their ankles. When they were all tied up, she ran to Agatha, hugging her.
When they pulled apart, Agatha turned to the guards. “Adieu, motherfu—“
Rio tunneled them back before Agatha could finish, but a bullet followed them, piercing Agatha’s chest.