It was happening. It was finally happening.
It was the time of the Great War, where the elves were at war with the Black Wings. The young queen of Elluel was young elf by the name of Mercedes which the boys nicknamed ‘Madam Mercedes’. Phillius, an elder of the town, was helping the queen into her armor and gently clicking each plate into place. Mercedes looked a bit nervous, not really believing the time had finally come.
The door of her Royal Quarters creaked open and Mercedes’s twin brother, Mekay, normally just called Kay by her sister and friends, stepped into the room. Mercedes smiled an anxious smile and Kay returned it. Both of them had never really been in a true battle before and hoped all went well. Instead of armor, Kay was wearing a button up black shirt with a tall collar rimed with gold. Mercedes was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and a white miniskirt beneath her gold and white armor plates. The armor was heavy and she wished she could’ve worn something like Kay was wearing.
“So,” Kay said, trying his best to push the anxiety out of his voice but not really succeeding. “It’s finally happening.” Mercedes smiled as Phillius finished clasping the last of the armor into place and stepping back to admire her handiwork. She bowed as she said: “We are done here, your highness. We must join the others outside.” Then, she stood up and walked out of the house, Kay and Mercedes trailing meekly behind.
Mercedes swallowed hard as a warrior in white and blue armor handed her two crossbows, her main weapon in combat. In the town of Elluel
Kay walked over to Mercedes and slapped a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ready, Mercedes?” Mercedes nodded, though that wasn’t actually the truth. She was really nervous and if you looked close enough, we could actually see her shaking as she gripped her crossbows tightly. Kay was no better, but he forced himself to be brave for her sister’s sake and anyway, nobody could shoot right with a quivering hand.
The twins watched as hundreds of hundreds of white and blue dressed warriors stomped through the town, heading for the Black Wing army up ahead that was assembling quickly. Phillius stepped in the middle of it. “Your majesties,” she began. “It is time to assemble.”
Kay nodded but Mercedes just stared ahead woodenly. Could she really do this? Would they win? She turned to Kay for comfort, and he smiled, unsure. That wasn’t really helping, but she swallowed hard and forced all her anxiety into a small little ball in her mind. Then she took a deep breath and nodded. Phillius returned the nod and the three headed towards the huge army of elf warriors that were quickly assembling. Suddenly, a call from behind froze them in their tracks: “Madam!! Madam Mercedes!!”
Mercedes turned around and saw a little human girl about five heading towards her, her blonde pigtails flying. She was clutching a gold pin in her hand and was running towards Mercedes, out of breath. “Mercedes,” she panted and lifted the gold pin up to her face. “This…this will be a symbol of home. So no matter how far you are from home, you will still have a piece of it.”
Mercedes took a good look at the little pin. It was a small piece of gold, carved to look like a Cherry Blossom, the symbol of Elluel. The gold cherry blossom was attached to a silver keychain, and Mercedes smiled as she took it from the little girl, who was smiling broadly. “I….I hope you all will win, Madam Mercedes. Do your best, okay? Win for me.”
“Okay,” Mercedes said, ruffling the girl’s hair, still clutching the little gold Blossom in her other hand. “Thank you, Orchid.” Orchid smiled, uncertainly, and ran off to join another crowd of young elves. Mercedes watched her every move. She worried for her, Orchid. She was the only human in this Elf town, and she wondered if she felt left out. She wondered whether she and the other children will be okay.
“Are we ready?” Phillius’s voice shook Mercedes out of her trance. She nodded and grabbed Kay’s outstretched hand. Kay gave her a reassuring squeeze of a hand as they walked towards the sunset, where the elves assembled, just waiting for their queen and their prince to join them. Mercedes’s thumb moved across the smooth gold of the Cherry blossom, and already she ached for home. She wanted this to be all over.
And suddenly, it was happening; the clashing of weapons, the overhead whiz as an arrow zoomed over head. The twins stood in the middle of the chaos, unsure what to do, until a Black Wing lunged forward and got an arrow through his head. The Black Wing slumped onto the ground, dead, and Mercedes turned to her brother, who was just lowering his bow.
“I can’t believe you just killed someone,” Mercedes said, aghast. Kay shrugged and said there can’t be a war without deaths. “C’mon Merce, we gotta kill some people for the sake of Elluel. Have you already forgotten the promise to that little girl?”
Mercedes piped up at the sound of her name. Win for me, Orchid’s voice whispered into her ear. Kay was right. There was no such thing as a war without deaths. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, filled her crossbows with the magical arrows that never run out, and began shooting. She was an ace at shooting; to everyone, it just looked like she was shooting at random, but in fact, she was aiming at the Black Wings and pulling the triggers, all at lightning speed. But even at her speed, she never missed a Black Wing and never once hit an elf.
Kay was just as good. She could use his bow as a close combat weapon by swinging it around and stabbing his foes with the tip of the bow, which he always used magic to make it sharp. When he used it as a normal bow, shooting and all, he didn’t shoot one, not two, but at least five arrows at once. Then, the arrows would split and become ten, and the best thing about the arrows is that they blow up. Like Mercedes, he shot at lightning speed and never hit an elf.
Soon, the Black Wings started to retreat, group by group. Soon, they all retreated and the crowd of Elves cheered, even the ones that were being treated to first aid. The twins didn’t get a scratch on themselves but were sweating profusely. Kay smiled at his sister. “Looks like all worked out after all.”
But the elves missed out on something; the Black Wings never go down without a fight. They were sore losers. After some time of cheering, a black Shadow engulfed the world in darkness. A screech was heard as a giant zeppelin, painted black with the Logo of the Black Wings, started to drop bombs onto the earth. Screams filled the air as many elves ran to avoid getting hit. An impact of a bomb shattered the earth into a million pieces and blew a huge crater into the earth. The impact of the blow shot the twins forward and ripped Kay from Mercedes’s grasp.
“Kay!!” Mercedes screamed in terror. Suddenly she landed onto the rocky floor with a huge bump. Her head hit a jagged rock that rose through a crack in the plain and the world blackened. Mercedes stared ahead at the sky as silver flashes flew across the edges of her vision. Numbness spread through her body as the world was snuffed out.
********
When Mercedes woke up, every joint in her body ached, but worked. She got up, much to her effort, and to her horror, she saw no elves around her, fainted or conscious or anything. She was alone. She must have been shot forward with such force she got separated from the rest. Her head ached unbearably as the impact of the jagged rock still throbbed at the back of her head. Suddenly, an image of Kay being torn from her grasp filled her mind and she got up hastily.
“Kay!!” she yelled into the horizon. No answer. Kay was nowhere in sight. Mercedes ran, and ran, shouting his name, until he saw him; lying in a pool of his own blood, half a leg blown to bits, was Kay. Mercedes gagged; it wasn’t a pleasant sight, but she ran towards him anyway.
“Kay!!” she choked, refusing to face reality. “Kay, please, wake up!! Wake up!!” Kay’s eyes fluttered open and he stared at his sister’s pale face. He managed a grin. “Hey there, Merce. Don’t look very good, do I?”
“Don’t worry,” Mercedes said, rubbing away her tears. “The elves will come, and they’ll fix you up!! I swear.” Kay shook his head, suddenly serious. “No, Merce. You’re no fool. You know this is beyond anyone’s capability, even Astilda.” He shifted his weight. “Guess this is it.”
“No, no, no,” Mercedes choked, tears streaming from her face. “You’ll be alright. Astilda has handled worse, she’ll help you, she’ll – ”
“No, Mercedes,” Kay said. “I – I can’t even feel any pain anymore. Take over the throne while I’m gone, okay?” Mercedes shook her head, still believing people would be able to help her brother. She refused to let him die. Kay’s hands wrapped themselves around his sister’s, Mercedes’s warm, his icy cold. Mercedes then knew; it was too late. He was going to die.
Kay smiled at her wearily. “I – I just wanted to tell you…” he said, his eyes fluttering close. “Y – you were the best sister ever. I…I love you.” And with that, Kay’s hand grew limp, his eyes closed, and his heart stopped. Mercedes stared at her dead brother, appalled. “No,” she said, choking. “No! Kay, stopped pretending!! Wake up already!! Honestly, how many times have you pretended to be dead!!”
When her brother didn’t move, tears streamed down her cheeks. Suddenly she didn’t care if the Black Wing’s won, didn’t care about her town. She just wanted to feel her brother’s warmth, his sweet smile, her reassuring voice. Mercedes squeezed his ice cold hand. “You – you’re pretending,” she choked as the truth sunk in. “You’re pretending, you’re pretending….”
She let out a strangled choke. “Kay, wake up,” she sobbed. “Its….its your turn to put the star on top of the Christmas tree….you promised a bicycle for my birthday….” Her brother didn’t move. He couldn’t hear her, couldn’t feel her warmth; he was gone. “Kay, please stop pretending…..you…you were the best brother ever….I…I love you too…”
All time seemed to stop as Mercedes glanced down at her brother’s pale face, how he had died with a smile. She choked. “Did you hear me? I said I love you!! I love you, Mekay!! Didn’t you say you loved me? If you love me, why would you die?”
Mercedes brushed her hand over her brother’s icy cheek. By now, tears were streaming like waterfalls down her face. She couldn’t say anymore; anything she said would be covered by the sound of her chokes, her wails. “Kay!!” she screamed to no one at all. A flock of birds got freaked out by her scream and took flight. “Kay, Kay!!” She choked and buried her head in his chest.
She looked down at her brother’s face. “you – you’ll come back, won’t you?” she sobbed, and put his hand onto the ground. She brushed her brother’s long blonde bangs out of his face. “You love me….I love you….you definitely won’t leave me, right? You’ll come back.”
She stood up and looked down at her brother. She had never seen him so much at peace before. She wiped away her tears and forced a smile. “I’ll wait for you,” she knelt down and pushed the gold Cherry blossom into her brother’s limp hand. “I’ll wait for you. Don’t worry.”
She got onto her hands and knees and kissed her brother’s forehead. “I’ll wait for you, Kay. I’ll wait for you till I die.” She picked up her brother’s hands and crossed them over his chest. “I’ll wait.” She said, stood up, and with one more glance at her brother, took off towards the sunrise.
*******
Back in Elluel, the elders were frantic. “Good grief,” Astilda, the elder of magic, said with concern in her voice as more elves were carted away in stretchers. “Nobody? Nobody has found her highness and her brother?” Phillius shook her head, deep in thought. Suddenly, a shout rang out from the forest of Elluel
And indeed, it was Mercedes. Alone. Judging from her red eyes, she had been crying for awhile. Phillius swallowed hard. She could put one and one together. Something told her she wasn’t crying out of joy to be found. It was something much, much more.
“Your highness,” Phllius said, kneeling down to be level with the queen’s face. “Are you alright? How about you hang the star on the Elluel Christmas tree? That always cheers you up.”
Mercedes looked into Phillius eyes and smiled slightly, then looked up into the azure sky as the puffy white clouds drifted slowly by. “No,” she said softly. “it’s his turn.”
