~Candice~
My arm burned like nothing I had ever felt before. “Talon, get me up…” I said softly.
“No, you need to stay down.” He said firmly and felt my forehead.
“Snow needs you.” I said.
“I promised to stay and tend to you. And that’s what I’m going to do. You need to learn not to be so hasty Candice.” He sighed. “It looks like Snow got most of the poison out thankfully. Sleep.” I shook my head. “Quit being so stubborn.” He tucked some hair behind my ear. “I’ll have to hurt you if you don’t listen.” He said, but with a small smile.
“Yeah, right…” I felt my eye lids getting heavy and I gave into sleep, hoping I would wake up soon.
~*~
I woke up again, and glanced around. I didn’t see Talon, so I stood up, but as soon as I made noise, he came back into the room. “And what do you think you’re doing?” He asked coming over and touching my forehead and examining my cut on my arm.
“I’m going to help Snow.” I said. “He’s still gone isn’t he? How long have I been sleeping?” I asked.
“About an hour and a half. And yeah, he’s still gone.” I winced when he bandaged my arm up again but looked at him.
“Then lets go.”
“You aren’t going. It’s way too dangerous. Besides, you’re a target. It would be stupid of you to go and for me to allow it.”
“Then we will be stupid together, because I’m not going to just sit around.” I said. “A-And that’s final!” I added. Talon shook his head and sighed.
“This is no time to argue, fine, come on. But you need to listen to me and do exactly as I say and stay close to me.” He scooped me up and spread his wings and took off suddenly and left through my balcony. I grabbed a hold of him and nodded.
“Fine. Deal.” I muttered.
“Are you sure you can handle taking orders from me?” Talon asked. I looked up at him and puffed my cheeks.
“I’m here aren’t I? Looks like you were taking orders from me.” I said sassily. He just chuckled.
“Alright. You know, you mean a lot to Snow.” He said seriously.
“Do, you hate that?” I asked slowly. This probably wasn’t the best place to have this conversation as we were soaring above the treetops, but I decided to take my chances.
“I don’t hate it. But it’s just hard for me to see.” He explained.
“You’re protective of him. It’s what best friends do. And I respect that. I wasn’t trying to barge in and take him for myself, it just happened that he, I don’t know, it just happened it was him.” I said vaguely.
“Whatever you say Candice. Just promise me that if you see him in his wild state, you won’t hate him.”
“I don’t think I ever could. He’s been there for me since the start. He’s a good soul, no matter what.” I said. Talon smiled sadly.
“Good.” He was able to fly into a different castles courtyard. It was dark, and bleak. Like a wasteland that felt evil and lonely.
“What is this place?”
“Azar’s castle. Before Snow was at our castle, this is the one he served under. He is ruthless and cruel, and used snow’s hate and fury to his advantage.” Talon said and looked around. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s good isn’t it?” I asked. Talon locked eyes with me, wearing a look I had never seen on his face before.
“No. It isn’t.” He said quietly and looked at his hands. “Stay close to me.” He pulled me to his side and kept an arm around me as we snuck through dark passages and dimly lit corridors until we came to two large doors on the lowest level. He opened the right side as quietly as he could and I peeked in. Immediately the smell of blood filled my head and my eyes widened. “Oh no…” Talon whispered. Lining the walls were cells, and I saw everyone locked up but they were all in the corners, crouched and as low to the ground as they could get. In the center of this dungeon room were piles, and piles of bodies coated in blood. The stone floor was coated in blood that shown when the torch flames flickered, and in the center of all the carnage was a blood soaked Snow standing still, his hair short to his neck.
“Snow!” I cried out and ran toward him.
“Candice no!” Talon yelled and I heard him coming up behind me. He yanked me back and threw me behind him, and then gasped. Snow was now in front of us, with his hand through Talon’s abdomen. His eyes were hazed over, a cold, neutral look on his face. I looked at Talon in horror as Snow pulled his arm back and Talon fell to the floor. I slid over to him and pulled off a few layers of my kimono and pressed it to his wound.
“Talon, i-it’s ok…you’re alright…” I whispered. Snow didn’t move, he just stared at us, as if he was looking through us. This was the Snow I had been warned about. This was what happened when he lost control.
“You have to be slow, no sudden movements…get out Candice, he’s gone.” Talon whispered. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Snow. It couldn’t be true. I knew he was still in there, he had to be. I carefully stood up.
“Snow…” I said softly. He looked at me. Just looked. “Snow please wake up…come on, we still have things to do, what are you doing?” I looked down and took a deep breath and held back tears. I saw his hands twitch, blood dripping from his nails. I took a few slow steps closer and looked up at him. I reached up and caressed his cheek. “Oh Snow, you’re going to need another bath now…” I blinked and felt tears slip quickly down my face. His face didn’t change, but a tear slowly slid down his cheek. I knew that he was there, he just needed an extra push to regain control. So I leaned up and softly kissed him, putting both of my hands on his cheeks. He took in a breath and I felt his arms curl around me and his lips press into mine more. I pulled back slightly and saw his eyes had returned to their brilliant blue. “You’re back…now, help Talon, please…” I asked as calmly as I could. His eyes widened and he was right at Talon’s side.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” He said. I looked at the bodies and saw some had leather pouches and I pawed through them until I found green liquid in a bottle.
“Green is healing right?” I asked. That’s what green usually meant anyway.
“Yes…but…” Talon started to say before I came over to him.
“Here!” I said.
“I’m a fast healer…its ok…” He smiled a little. “I’ve already st-” I silenced him by shoving the open end tin his mouth, making him drink it.
“I don’t care this will make it even faster.” I said.
“C-Candy, isn’t that a bit much?” Snow stuttered and I shook my head and gently hugged Talon.
“No, I’m just happy he’s alright.” I said. Talon chuckled.
“It will take a lot more than that to kill me.” He said.
“Well excuse me for being concerned.” I smiled. Talon looked up at Snow.
“Get Candice out of here before Azar finds us.”
“B-But…” Snow stuttered.
“Talon can handle this, he will get them out. Please, just get me out of here.” I looked up at him and took his hand. “Please?”
