Ten years pass.

I can now walk relatively okay, though I do fall often and I can mostly communicate through Feyspeak nowadays. I can fly really well too which is neat!

Today is a special day. I get to leave the castle for the first time today! I'm wearing a super cute blood red gothic lolita style dress today that mom gave me. She said that grandma likes dresses like that a lot. And I have to say, I agree with granny's sense of style. It does look really cute! The skirt spins really well too! Even mama is dressed very differently today. She is wearing a deep blue dress so long it drags on the floor behind her with very long sleeves that hang down from her wrists with a smaller version of papa's crown on her head.

A bit tense, mama holds my hand tightly as we get to the front gate of the castle, "Just to be clear, I will say it one more time. Your grandma is a very strict person. Try not to offend her, also even if she does insult me or you, try to stay calm. Let's keep this visit as short as possible by being as boring as possible. If she asks you any questions, just be as vague as possible. Also no flying, okay?"

I answer her with a grin while swaying back and forth, "Okay!"

Mama then looks at me with a doubting but heartfelt look that just screams 'Oh my sweet summer child…' and lets out a sigh, "Let's just hope everything will be fine…"

Dalan then announces, "Your majesty, your escort is here."

Taking a deep breath, mama orders, "Open the gate."

The giant front door opens and we come upon a huge white marble staircase leading down towards a huge snow covered courtyard. There are stables to the left of us with big wolves inside and a large open gate in the distance. From it, a black cloud is slowly approaching us.

"Is that our carriage, mama?"

"Yes."

The black cloud then stops in front of the stairs and part of the fog starts to extend towards us until completely engulfing us. At first, I can not see anything but then my eyes slowly adapt and I am able to see clearly again. It's like we're in a hallway of darkness leading to a black carriage drawn by horses made of shadows. Stepping out of the carriage, is what I assume is a man in a fancy yellow suit. His entire face is featureless and completely black, just like his hands. It is only when he moves his head that you can see some of his features in profile, he seems to have a normal human face.

Stepping closer towards the base of the stairs, he stops and bows, "The Unseelie greet the Queen of Winter and the Crownprincess. May light forever bring balance to the darkness."

Mama responds, "Winter welcomes you. May darkness forever bring balance to the light."

The man then gets up and walks up the stairs, the closer he gets and the longer I look at him, the easier it becomes to make out his facial features. He looks like a handsome young man with curly hair.

Stretching out his arms as he approaches, he says in a happy tone, "How are ya big sis? Doing well in the frosty castle?"

Mama answers bluntly, "Quite."

He then kneels down on a step and gets on eye level with me, "Hi there~ I'm your uncle Theodor but you can call me uncle Theo if you want~"

A bit suspicious of him, due to my past experience with daddy's siblings and mama's cold greeting, I curtsy and answer, "Greetings Prince Theodor."

Slumping over a little in disappointment, he pokes my cheek and sighs, "Maaaan~ I didn't know that the stick up Ellaine's butt was inheritable. Come on~ Call me uncle Theo~"

Slapping his hand away, Mama interrupts, "We're here to see mother. Not play house with you."

He gets up, stretches loudly and playfully answers, "I guess you missed her quite a lot~"

Mama narrows her eyes, "I certainly missed her more than I did you."

There is some silence between them before he holds his arm out and mama locks arms with him as we go downstairs.

I wonder what their relationship is like…Seems complicated. Mama didn't seem to be much of a fan of gra-

Suddenly feeling myself getting tripped, I start to fall down the stairs and automatically begin to float right before hitting my head on the stairs.

"Heh, so she can float. Fascinating~"

Mama then quickly picks me up and hugs me tightly, "Are you okay, my little snowflake?"

"Yeah…It felt like I tripped over something…"

"Yes…" mama clenches her teeth as she looks at uncle, "It sure did seem like she tripped over something."

He shrugs with a grin on his face, "This castle is quite cold, perhaps she just slipped on some ice. Kids that age sure are clumsy after all~"

Giving me a kiss, mama tells me, "Stay close to me for now. If something like this happens again, we're leaving."

"Okay…"

We then enter the carriage together with uncle. The inside is quite big and decorated in deep red and black colors. It has a similar layout to ElBEEzabeth's carriage with a bar and some couches in the foyer and some more rooms in the back. The servants are all wearing blue uniforms in the same color as mama and there is a constant weird…Squeeking? No, maybe tweeting noise, going on. It sounds like short bursts of high pitched noise.

"What's that sound mama?"

"It's the servants. They are bat Faunites and use the noise to see in the dark."

I cog my head, "Is it really that dark in here?"

Mama chuckles, "Yes, it is complete darkness. There is not a single ray of light penetrating this carriage."

"Then how do we see?"

"We are a form of dark Elementals. Darkness is as much us, as we are it. It makes only sense for us to be able to see through it."

"Huh…"

Pretending to cough, uncle says, "Dirty mutant."

Tugging at mama's sleeve I whisper to her, "What does mutant mean?"

She hugs me closely and answers, "I'll tell you when you're older, okay?"

"Okay…"

The following ride is pretty awkward, no one talks, the servants only serve uncle and we don't even have a view outside the carriage. It feels a lot more like an uncomfortable waiting room than a whimsical ride… I'm sure ElBEEzabeth and mommy would make it fun though…

"Hey mama."

"Yes?"

"When is nanny coming back from vacation?"

"I don't know, my little snowflake."

"..."

"Mama I'm bored."

"Then how about you take a little nap~"

"I'm not tired though…"

Mama chuckles, "Don't worry, dreams and sleep are something your mama is very~ good with. So just make yourself comfortable, I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Okay!"

Making myself cozy, mama puts her hand over my eyes, when she takes it off again we are suddenly standing in front of a gothic looking black castle on top of a hill. The entry gate has two monstrous looking bat statues brandishing swords towards the entrance as if they're about to behead you at any moment.

When uncle moves up to it, the gates open, revealing a long colorfully decorated hallway with a tiled floor behind it.

Grinning at mom, he says, "I hope you remember the code."

Hugging me tightly, mama whispers, "Hold on tight, okay?"

"Okay?"

Mama then jumps from tile to tile in almost a dance like fashion until suddenly one of the tiles sinks in and uncle shouts, "Oh my~ Seems I forgot to tell you that the code changed~"

Multiple spears then shoot out the ground that mama expertly dodges. Running towards the end of the hallway now, more and more tiles sink in causing axes to swing down from the ceiling, arrows to shoot at us, explosions to appear and shadowy tendrils to lash out at us. Mama is awesome though, she dodges the axes with ease, catches the arrows with her tendrils, throws them at the hallway tendrils stunning them, then using them as cover from the explosions before kicking the door in and entering a big foyer with a grand staircase. The walls are covered in old timey flower wallpaper and portraits of people that look like silhouettes wearing colorful clothing.

Looking down from the balcony of the grand staircase are children of differing ages, wearing old timey colorful clothing like me. They are completely black, just like uncle.

Bowing their heads, they say in unison, "Welcome back, aunt."

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Putting her hand over Elleanor's face, she falls asleep and Ellaine answers, "Your parents must have informed you that I dislike killing children. They are correct but let me clarify one thing, I'm a lot less merciful with my daughter present. You won't gain any affection from fighting me. Turn around, only death awaits you if you press on."

Looking at each other, the oldest one, a boy who in human years looks to be about twelve answers, "In that case, we shall let you pass."

"A wise decision…"

Stolen story; please report.

Making way, the kids let Ellaine pass then attack her with one combined tendril of darkness from the back, which she easily dodges.

She lets out a sigh, "Too predictable."

The dodged tendril then splits up into 12 smaller ones. One for each child present and attacks Ellaine from all angles but right before they are about to connect, they instead fly right past her and stab into the kids' heads instead.

Standing over their dead bodies, Ellaine says, "The combined attack was smart because it's harder to overpower but splitting up was foolish against someone more experienced."

Looking towards the ceiling, she tells the bat Beastkin hanging from it, "Clean this mess up before it starts to smell."

Flying down, they bow and answer, "As you wish."

Stepping further inside, blood thirsty eyes are all pointed at her by children smart enough not to attack her but stupid enough to think they can get the final blow if someone else attacks her first.

A pouch filled with weed of anguish now explodes next to Ellaine, causing her to cough heavily while trying to shield Elleanor from the dust as two adult women and a man attack her.

"Seems you've grown slow outside, El-"

Ellaine pulls a bit of jewelry off, when it breaks, rays of light shoot out from her causing the children and adults to vanish into nothingness. Catching her breath and gently patting Elleanor's back to help her cough out the weed of anguish, she waits until the light surrounding her disappears and continues further into the castle leaving only the clothes of those that were there before behind.

The closer she gets to the throneroom, the more elaborately decorated everything becomes with only the finest cloths, vases, carpets, paintings and statues adorning the way.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When mama takes her hand off my face, we're suddenly standing in front of a giant red door inside an intricate hallway. Looking around, mama looks to be covered in ink stains and my throat feels a bit sore.

"Where are we mama?"

"In front of the throneroom. Remember what your mama told you, okay Sammy?"

I nod.

Two servants then open the doors for us and inside an overly colorful room full of flowers, a pitchblack woman with an ornate red dress awaits us, sitting on a throne with an empty one next to her. From the features I can make out, she looks quite similar to mama, though she is considerably taller than her. She must be at least seven feet tall. Walking up to the little lavender colored staircase, mama curtseys and says, "Winter greets the Unseelie Queen. May darkness forever bring balance to the light."

The woman slightly raises her hand from her arm rest and answers in a voice that sounds like a slightly deeper version of mama's, "The Unseelie greet the queen of Winter. May light forever bring balance to the darkness."

Getting up from her throne, the woman gracefully walks towards us, towering over us when she stops.

"So this is the precious daughter, huh? She looks skinny. Are you not feeding her?"

"I assure you she gets more food at Almenor's castle than she would at this place."

The woman then picks me up and carries me up to her face looking me straight in my eyes, "Hmm…She does look like you but she has his eyes and coloration. How old are you?"

Oh! It begins! The interrogation mama warned me about, let's keep it vague~

"That's surprisingly hard to answer."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Many reasons."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Yes I can."

"..."

"..."

Grinning a little, she asks, "And what do you want to be called?"

"Depends on the situation."

"Do you love your mother?"

"Who knows."

"You don't sound too sure."

"Perhaps."

"In that case, you surely wouldn't mind living with me instead of your mother."

"I…No. I want to live with mama."

Her grin widening, she hugs me close to her with my back pointed towards her so I can look at mama.

"So your mother is precious to you~ I see."

Black tendrils then sprout from beneath mama, which she tries to dodge but ultimately fails, getting tied up by them, with her mouth being sealed over by them and pushed towards a wall. Still in shock, I feel myself picked up by my hair and thrown down the stairs. I'm barely able to make myself float before hitting the ground.

Grandma then gets up from her chair, pulls out a spear and points it at mama, "Now, show me grandchild. How will you protect what's precious to you!?"

Tears flow down my face.

"No…It's happening again. Mama…Mama!"

"Crying won't help you, if you wish to save what's precious to you, you must fig-"

Flashes of past trauma flow past my inner eye as my body envelops in shadow, "Mama…Mama! MAMA!!! GIVE HER BACK!!!"

Shadows manifest in front of me. I can see the Redcap, Boss, The Angel and the Knight forming.

"KILL HER!!! FREE MAMA!!!"

Grandma grins widely, "Oho~ Familiars made from darkness. Quite the advanced skill," she spins her spear, "Though at your age, they are still quite weak."

The knights spear and hers then clash but neither of them yield, she looks surprised, "Marvelous, this strength and sturdyness…"

She kicks behind her, making the Redcap that snuck up on her slam against the wall, "Let's see how much these things can endure~"

Suddenly hearing the White Queen's voice in my head, she says, "I recommend you stop here, Elleanor. She is not actively fighting you, she is trying to gauge your potential. The more you show her your powers the mo-"

Her words suddenly break off as I hear another voice in my head, it sounds like a little boy, "You want to kill her, don't you?"

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seemingly enjoying herself, the Unseelie Queen expertly dodges and blocks the Knight, Boss and the Redcap, not realizing that everytime her spear clashes with one of them it turns more and more brittle. It is then that the angel opens its mouth in a grotesque way and in wet sounding mushy words begins to pray, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord,..."

The Unseelie Queen raises an eyebrow, "A religious incantation? That might work for intimidation but the effect won't take place. If you are lucky, nothing will happen," she does a backflip, dodging both the Redcap targeting her legs as well as Boss and the Knight trying to stab at her with their spears, "But if you are unlucky, the deity will hear, take offense and retaliate, so I rec-"

Shivering, twitching and slowly melting, the angel continues, "Strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints and powerful in the holy authority of our human father Adam, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil," the flesh of the angel has now melted off, leaving only a flying skeleton in its place as a golden hue emanates from its head and a dripping black halo appears on top of it. With it, four black crosses covered in a weak golden hue materialize behind it and fly toward the Unseelie Queen, blocking them with her spear, it breaks and they nearly pierce her body before she suddenly disappears and reappears behind the summoned angle, smashing it into pieces with a hammer made of shadow.

Narrowing her eyes at Elleanor, she says, "It was faint but there was definitely Order energy present, how di-"

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boy's voice continues, "You want to kill her and free your mother, don't you!? Make her disappear forever!? All you need to do is want for it! Follow your desire and-"

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Letting out a blood curdling scream as a mix of dark waves and icy winds emanate from her, Elleanor seems visibly in pain when she cries out for her mother. Bending over in agony, blood resembling a snowy night drips down from Elleanor's head as a curved, pink horn grows out of it and a pink tail slithers out from her back. A pillar of flame then bursts forth, in which only her clothes burn into flame while her body seems entirely resistant to it.

Dashing away from it, the Unseelie Queen frees her daughter, "That's true hellfire, Ellaine! Since when has she been corrupted!?"

Absolutely furious, Ellaine answers, "This is why I told you to not test her!!! Didn't I say you absolutely mustn't test her!?"

She rolls her eyes, "How was I supposed to know that was the reason?"

Elleanor now lifts her hands out of the fire, "Saṃjiva."

Claws of iron that burn her skin and make her scream out in agony now form around her hands as iron spears materialize behind her, getting heated up by the hellfire pillar before shooting towards the Unseelie Queen.

Ripping her clothes off, the Unseelie Queen reveals an arsenal of weaponry along with armor beneath it, "Great worm, gnaw through space at my will. Lesser Holes."

Portals now open in front of the spears causing them to redirect at each other clinging together in a loud ear grating sound as Elaine chants, "Crushed between walls, a room so strong it can not be escaped. Crush!"

An invisible force now presses the spears together, compiling them slowly into a ball shape, accompanied by more ear ringing noise. Seeing the spears not working, Elleanor now charges out of the pillar towards the Queen, swinging her iron claws at her while she easily dodges, "So, what are we going to do with the kid? Killing her would just spread the corruption."

"Why is murdering your own family always the first fucking thing you think about, mother!?"

She shrugs as she dodges more attacks, "It is a quick and simple solution to make you stronger."

"It won't work this time! We need to somehow calm her down again!"

Naked crying shadowy women now materialize beneath the Queen's leg holding it in place and slowly crawling up it while screaming, "Help me!" in English.

As the Queen is momentarily stuck in place, Elleanor utters, "Kālasūtra" causing little imp like creatures made of fire, carrying axes of iron, to run out of the fire pillar and attack the queen alongside Elleanor.

Using her superior control over darkness, the Queen forces the apparitions at her leg to let go and together with her daughter, strikes down the imps with ease while continuously dodging Elleanor's ever more fierce attacks.

Using the blunt side of her spear, the Queen stabs Elleanor in the belly, forcing her to tumble backwards, "She is opening the eight gates, Ellaine. The more time we waste, the harder it will get to peacefully subdue her."

"In that case, let us combine our strength and tie her-"

Ellaine's familiar, a butler of the White Queen, appears on her shoulder, "That's not going to work."

Clenching her teeth together, Elaine answers, "I have told you and your damn Queen to-"

He whispers into her ears, "She can save her. Do you really wish to risk the Chaos corruption spreading further?"

Clenching her fist, she answers, "Fine. What do we need to do?"

Listening to the butler, Ellaine sends a shadowy bat over to her mother to convey the message, "Elleanor is consumed by hatred. For her to calm down enough so I can take back control, she needs to think she killed her Highness."

Letting out a tisk, the Queen sighs, "A combo attack, huh!? I guess that could work!"

Taking out a little ball from her pouch, the Queen throws it to the ground causing a short flash of light to appear that temporarily blinds Elleanor for just a second.

In her confusion, she chants, "Saṃghāta." and from the pillar of hellfire demonic looking creatures, at least 10ft in height with various different animal heads, come charging forth wielding axes of hot iron.

Fighting them off together, Ellaine yells, "Are you ready!?"

"Of course!"

Ellaine then trips all the demonic creatures with her tendrils while her mother chants, "Using the power of darkness vested in me by th-"

Boss who has been hiding in the corner now stabs through her back, right through the heart, followed by the redcap tearing away her legs and the knight stabbing her throat. Unable to move, the Queen looks down in horror as Elleanor jumps on top of her, eviscerating the last of her body with her iron claws as the darkness around her fades and rays of sunlight come through the window, which she barely dodges.

Watching the Queen's corpse dissipate into nothingness from the sunlight, Elleanor seems almost stunned. As if she is unsure what to do as her minions halt and she just stares at the place her grandmother vanished from while breathing heavily.

Ellaine now slowly approaches her, "Elleanor, my little snowflake, it's alright. It's over now. I'm okay."

Still breathing heavily, Elleanor now looks at her mother and growls.

Getting a little closer, Ellaine kneels down on the ground and opens her arms for a hug, "Come here, my little snowflake."

Elleanor's growling grows larger, her body getting ready to pounce but then, her hair turns white and her eyes red.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly seeing a pink soul in front of me, I hear mama, "I'm okay, my little snowflake. Come here, I'll give you a hug."

"Ma…Ma?"

"Yes, my little snowflake. I'm okay. It's over now, come here."

The little boy's voice rings in my head, "You only destroyed a decoy, the re-"

His voice is suddenly cut off as the White Queen says, "You've done well, Elleanor. But it's time to rest now. Your mama and you are safe."

"Mama…Safe?"

Slowly inching closer, mama answers, "Of course I am. You look tired, let's go to bed."

Tears flowing down my face, I run towards mama, "Mama safe!?"

She nods, "Of course I am."

Feeling mama's hug around me, I break down, scream and cry, "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Mama gently consoles me, "Shhh~ It's alright. Everything is okay again."

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