EP.173|I'm Sorry I Was Such A Burden...

"Ben...! Ben! Benjamin Beastly!" Operetta shook him violently, causing the animalistic to wake up.

"What do you want Operetta..." Ben turned towards her "wait, if your in here...oh shit, Hunter gonna murder me!"

Ben shot up "I don't wanna die!" Operetta sighed and shook her head, "idiot."

"They came here willingly, idiot." Karma chuckled as her and Freddie continued to heal him. "What's the last thing you remember?" Freddie asked. Ben rubbed his temples, trying to remember, suddenly, images of Mal's smiling face flashed before his eyes.

"Mal...I-I saw her..." Ben muttered enough for them to hear him.

"You saw Mal? How?" Amaura questioned. "After what Briar calls "playtime with the beast king", I was really weak, I knocked out, and then when I woke up, Mal was there..." Ben felt his heart flutter, remembering back to his lovely wife.

"Honey, wake up, come on, the lady with hood said I only have a few minutes with you." Mal's voice made Ben open his eyes.

"Malena...I've-" but before he could finish Mal kissed his lips. "I've missed you too." Mal softly brushed stands of his hazelnut hair back.

"How are you here?" Ben asked, staring into her green eyes. "I don't know exactly, but I'm just so glad to see you." Mal chuckled.

"Where are you?" Ben sat up, him and Mal sitting across each other in the lotus position.

"Some stupid box made up of holy magi." she sighed, shaking her head "all I know is that Araden's put me there and that's it."

"He's honestly getting on my nerves." Mal added. Ben held her hand in his, noticing when his wife flinched. He looked down to see the burn marks on her arms.

"What happened?" Ben whimpered ever so slightly. "I was trying to punch my way out of the box," Mal chuckled nervously "I forgot it was made out of Holy Magi."

Ben laughed slightly, placing a trail of kisses along her arm.

"I wish I could find you..." Ben muttered, pulling her into his warm embrace. Mal sighed delightly, melting into his arms.

"I wish I could be with you too." Mal muttered into her shoulder. Ben back up from the hug momentarily to kiss her lips, "I've been away from you for too long..." his kissed trailed down to her neck.

"I miss your touch," his kisses danced along his mark "your smell," he licked over it, Mel gasped, pleasure taking over her body "your taste."

"Ben...!" Mal threw her head back, the beast king just smirked, "did you miss me?"

"Oh gods, shut up and keep kissing me!" Mal replied, as Ben placed laid her down on a fluffy cloud, staring into her beautiful eyes.

"Nuh uh, you never answered my question," he leaned in, biting her earlobe "how much did you miss me?"

"And I said touch me." She growled, her body growing cold. "Answer the question." Ben's words rolled off his tongue.

"Yes! Okay! Yes I miss you! I missed the hell out of you! Now please, touch me!" Mal begged. Ben smirked, his hands ran up and down Mal's body, making her purr like a kitten.

"Gods and goddesses," Ben kissed atop her breast "you're beautiful Mal."

Mal blushed, his words sounded so loving and sentimental "you...you really think I'm beautiful..."

"Of course, Mal," Ben gazed into her emerald green eyes "you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, you're spunky, rebellious, bad but in a good way, and my gods, Malena, have you seen your body! It's hotter than Jasper's lava!"
Mal chuckled, tears brimming her eyes "I never had anyone say such beautiful words to me before."

"Well that's because you've never been with someone like me before." Ben flashed her his goofy smile. "I'm one of a kind, Mal."

Mal laughed once more "that you are Ben, that you are."

The two shared yet another kiss, deciding that it didn't matter how the other got here, all that mattered to them was taking advantage of the rare peace they had in their adventurous life.

For they didn't know the dangers ahead, the tears that would shed down the other's face, the countless lives that would be lost.

But, if they could just get one moment of peace, one moment to express their love for eachother, one moment to just being in the other's embrace.

That, my friends, is all that mattered.

"But what I don't understand is why in the world you, Freddie and Operetta, come here willingly? I didn't need you saving me." Ben muttered.

"Oh really?" Operetta glared at him "last time I checked, we came to this goddamn realm to save you! We went to those 4 islands, and now TWO realms, to help you find the grail!"

"I never asked for your help Operetta! You didn't have to go along with me! I wouldn't have been fine on my own without you." Ben stood up, facing the ice magi user.

"You of all people shouldn't be here anyway."
Operetta's glare hardered "what do you mean by that?"

"Operetta, you're 6 months pregnant! What makes you think you had the power to jump from island to island, fighting off monster while not only protecting yourself and Hunter, but a child!" Ben stated, getting closer to her face.

"If you ask me, you should have stayed on the Demonic Islands."

"YOU ASSHOLE!!!" Operetta slapped him with all her might, tears streaming down her face.

It was at this moment, Ben knew he fucked up "Operetta...wait-"
"NO! You're right! Maybe I should have stayed on the Demonic Islands! Maybe I should have never kept this baby! Maybe I should have left the VKs, and Hunter, and my life that I've grown so adapted to, a long time ago!" Operetta put on her jacket.

"Operetta, wait, if you walk out, your not just leaving me and the VKs, you're Hunter." Ben noticed her halt in movement when he mentioned her loving demon "imagine what will happen when he finds out that the woman he loves is gone. Forever."

Operetta sighed, "how's it gonna look when the woman he loves is gone because of his best friend?" she looked at Freddie, Ben, Amura, and Karma.

"Operetta...big sis...you're not gonna leave us...right?" Freddie whimpered, her best friend was just steps away from leaving, if she was gone, Freddie would surely break.

Operetta walked up to Freddie, stroking her hair lovingly, "don't leave us big sis! Please don't leave us!" Freddie sobbed into Operetta's chest.

"I'm sorry, I have to Freddie, but please, protect Hunter from himself. I'm more than sure he'll go insane after he hears what happened. He has power he doesn't even know how to control it." Operetta went into her bag and pulled out a small remote with a single red button.

She handed it to Freddie "a couple years ago, Brazzan placed a power stabilizer in Hunter on the back of his neck to control the amount of power Hunter can use. This remote will automatically send a message to Hunter's brain to calm down."

"What's the message?" Freddie tilted her head. "Brazzan says that it's the one thing that calms him down." Operetta replied, Freddie chuckled, she already knew her answer.

"You I'm guessing." Freddie smiled up at her, fresh tears brimming her eyes. "But, now, since I'm leaving, I want you to have the button." Operetta placed her hand over Freddie.

"Please, protect him from himself."

Freddie began to cry again as she nodded, accepting her bestfriend's plea "you'll be back...right, you're gonna come back? Right?"

"I don't-" she stopped when her eyes locked with Freddie's lavender tear filled eyes. Her maternal instincts kicked in and sighed "I'll be back, I promise, I just need to think things over."

Freddie hugged her tightly, her tears stained Operetta's blouse, restricting the ice magi users movement "don't die..."

"I won't, now, I gotta go." Operetta smiled softly she felt Freddie's arms release around her.

After saying her goodbyes to Karma and Amaura, Operetta and Ben locked eyes once more "anything else you want to say before I leave?"

"I'm sorry..." the king muttered, his head hanging low.

As much as she wanted to say it was okay, she knew Ben would never learn his lesson with a few consequences.

"Maybe you should learn to watch your mouth." Operetta snarled, walking towards the exit, standing there momentarily "also, it's not only me being mad you should worry about, you know all towell Hunter might murder you."
Ben shivered, the thought of Hunter's anger being released on him shook him to his very core.

"And Ben," she locked eyes with him again "I'm sorry I was such a burden to you."

She waited until after she left the tent to let her tears fall, staining the dirt below her feet.

"It's always so sad to see a cherry blossom cry." a familiar voice said.

Her body froze, the one man all 10 VKs were gunning for was there, he made the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge.

"What do you want?" Operetta clenched her fist. "Nothing my darling, I just need a little favor." Araden walked towards her, Operetta gulped with each step he took.

"You VKs," his fingers traced along her arms "you have no idea the power you hold inside those tiny little human bodies."
Araden could feel the magic flowing through her veins, it was cold, but in a good way. It was that type of cold that would heal a burn, or cool you down on a hot summer day.

"I don't have time for this Araden." Operetta slipped away from his touch, walking off only for Araden to keep following her.

"I want you to join me," Arden stood in front of her "what do you say?"
Operetta looked at the demon's extended hand, a part of her wanted to stab him for all the pain he caused millions of people.

But a different part of her secretly wanted to join him, she looked down at her stomach "if you join, I promise protection for you and the tiny human."

Operetta stood silent, still debating it over, she sighed, she knew what she had to do.

She extended her hands, locking it with Araden's

"Operetta!" a different familiar voice scolded, Operetta imetaility drew her hand away. "I'm sorry Miss..." Operetta muttered, she didn't even know who this lady was but she knew doing something like this in front of her was more than enough reason to say sorry.

"You?! Again!" Araden glared at the woman behind Operetta, "I'm sick and tired of you always interfering!"

He was referring to the lady behind Operetta, who constantly seemed to be one step ahead of him.

She had beautiful golden honey skin, white hair with black streaks, plump semi pink lips. She couldn't see the woman's eyes because the hood shielded them.

She seemed to become a recurring character...

"Why hello to you too, Araden" the woman greeted, flashing him a cunning smile. "Now, I know you remember the rules we agreed on," she pulled Operetta in close, away from the demon's reach "don't you?"

"I don't you remember that I don't give a fudge about your rules." Araden reminded her.

Inside the demon's head, Lucifer heard the woman's voice, causing him to jerk towards the screen he was forced to sit in front of all day long.

His eyes lit up with both shock and happiness, "no way..."

"Hey Operetta," the woman whispered, Operetta lifted her chin out of his, "you trust me right?"

Operetta hesitated for a moment, she just had this calming aura surrounding her that made Operetta feel like she was wrapped in a warm hug.

"Yeah...I trust you." Operetta nodded, the woman smiled, "good, now, I'm giving you exactly one minute to get Ben and Freddie."
"What about Karma and Amura?" Swan asked. "They already know what to do. They'll be fine." she assured the.

"I don't even know you name...so why the hell do I trust you so much." Operetta muttered the last part.

She looked down at Operetta eye to see the faint outline of a light blue snowflake mark on her right eye.

She still doesn't know it's there... the woman reminisced "if you must have a name for me, call me Healer, alright?"

Operetta nodded, hugging Healer tightly as if she was saying goodbye to an old friend, surprising brother herself and Healer.

Healer hugged her back before sending Operetta on her way "you only get one minute, alright, my little snowflake?"

Operetta, who was semi-shocked to her someone call her "little snowflake", smiled involuntarily. Something about that nickname made Operetta feel like she was well cared for. She rushed inside to grab Freddie and Ben.

"We gotta go." she said, not providing any context. "Go? What about the camp?" Ben questioned. "Healer said that Karma and Amaura know what to do." Operetta replied, looked back at Karma and Amura.

"Go, this is all apart of the plan." Amaura winked. A large white portal appeared in front of the tiro. "You only have a minute, GO!" Karma pushed the three into the portal.

Till this very day, the VKs all agree that the white portal, lead to a deeper understanding of just how important they really are.

~AN~

Hellooo!!!! I'm sorry updates been slow, I've caught up on work so I'll be writing a lot more, plus, I was kinda sad because of personal shiz.

But I'm feeling better and hopefully will update soon!