Alexander awoke to the smell of fruit and chocolate.
A quiet hum was in the background, along with the creaking of a rocking chair.
His head was filled with a heavy fog, his memories jumbled.
The last thing he remembered was riding in a carriage with Hinata and Elizabeth.
Everything else was just… noise.
"Ah, my head."
Alexander grumbled, sitting up.
He looked around to see his hotel room, with Karl cutting apples in a rocking chair.
"Karl?" Alexander called in surprise, "What are you doing in here?"
Karl looked up with a tired smile.
"Just checking in on you, you're the last person to wake up from the… incident."
"Incident?" Alexander repeated.
"Oh you know, just the entire team being knocked on their ass in an oh so humiliating fashion, Sir Alexander."
Alexander turned to see Jules sitting in bed beside him, eating sliced apples with a scowl.
"Uh, what?"
Karl handed Alexander a plate of sliced apples, "The masked empress beat us all."
Alexander hesitantly took the plate.
"W-we lost?"
"It was the most unceremonious end to a season imaginable, especially with how you went out."
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
"Me?"
"You fainted the moment she touched you."
"Bullshit," Alexander called, "I don't remember much but I guarantee you, nothing can make me faint."
Jules chuckled.
"Your delusions are sweet, Sir Alexander."
"I'm not delusional!"
"It's true," Karl said, his voice gentle. "She took you in her arms, exchanged a few words, and then you passed out."
Jules sighed with a teasing grin, "You certainly looked cozy in her embrace, traitor."
Alexander's cheeks burned with shame and confusion.
"I am not a traitor, you guys were just seeing things."
The boys chuckled.
"What happened after the game anyway?"
Karl put a finger on his chin, "Well, after she won the first round… our team wasn't in any shape to fight another."
Alexander frowned, "welp."
"Don't look so down, Sir Alexander, there's always next year."
Alexander chuckled nervously.
"Yeah… about that…"
Before he could finish, the door clicked open.
Elizabeth rushed through to his bedside, "Alex, you're awake!"
She took his hand, pressing it against her pale cheek.
"Hinata said you fainted from exhaustion and stress. Are you okay?"
Alexander smiled, reaching to pull her into bed.
"Yeah I'm fine, just… well my pride is a little bruised."
Elizabeth giggled softly, pushing herself into his embrace.
"Better your pride than you."
Jules rolled his eyes.
"And here comes Lady Snow, stealing all the attention."
He grumbled, crossing his arms as he slid out of bed.
Alexander chuckled, before examining Elizabeth closely.
He hadn't thought about it before, but Elizabeth really was white as snow.
From her complexion to her hair.
Freaky.
Elizabeth smiled, "Something wrong, my love?"
Alexander shook his head, brushing a thumb across her snowy eyebrow.
"No, it's just… you're really beautiful."
Elizabeth's cheeks flushed a delicate pink.
"You're just saying that because you feel guilty for making me worry."
"Maybe, it doesn't change the fact though."
Karl quietly slipped out of his chair.
"That's my cue to leave."
Jules was opening the door.
"Already ahead of you."
The two boys exited the room, leaving the couple to enjoy each other's presence.
Elizabeth rested her head on Alexander's chest, closing her eyes.
Seconds passed.
"Hey…"
"Hm?"
"Did I really faint in front of the masked empress?"
Elizabeth smiled gently.
But there was a flicker in her eyes.
She tightened her grip on his hand.
"You were exhausted, Alex. You collapsed before she reached the final flag."
She spoke softly, soothing the back of his hand with her thumb.
"I think it was too much to handle, being back home, our plans, her monstrous attacks…"
Alexander sighed.
He did feel a little overwhelmed by things as of late.
Maybe the masked empress was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
Still, for him to have no clear memory of the event… it unnerved him.
"I still feel weird, I've passed out from exhaustion before and it didn't feel like that."
He recalled his time on the demon continent.
Elizabeth's expression didn't change, but her grip tightened.
"Fatigue works in strange ways, what matters now is that you're okay."
She leaned in, planting a kiss on his cheek, "Besides, now with the games out of the way, our future can truly begin."
Alexander sighed deeply, closing his eyes.
There was so much he had riding on that match.
His reputation.
His plans with the masked empress.
And a final hurrah with his friends.
And now he lost it all.
But… he was strangely okay with it.
After all, he still had Elizabeth.
— — —
Punch after punch after punch…
Marcia assaulted the sand-filled bag with the fury of a thousand blows.
It rocked back and forth, creaking and squeaking.
Clara watched for a short distance, holding her head down.
Marcia's knuckles were raw, but she didn't stop.
She couldn't.
Alexander had been right there.
And he didn't even recognize her, and how could he?
He had been stripped of his dignity to feed a growing lie.
And she could do nothing to stop it.
Her assault continued.
Each strike—a futile attempt to punch away the pain of failure.
"M, please."
Clara's voice was a timid plea from the corner of the training room, "You're going to hurt yourself."
Marcia ignored her.
The leather groaned with each impact, the heavy bag swinging on its chain until finally it broke.
She had torn a hole in its side.
Sand began pouring out, spilling onto the floor.
Marcia stood motionlessly, her chest heaving with ragged breaths.
Clara took a hesitant step forward.
"M… are you okay?
No response.
Clara took another step forward, reaching her hands toward Maria's mask.
Her fingers curled around its edges, pulling it away.
The mask came off.
And beneath was a face of tragic beauty.
One side was perfect.
With a sharp jawline and one clear blue eye.
But the other side was a patchwork of discolored and scarred skin.
A burn mark stretched from her temple and disappeared down her neck.
And her eye… was a clouded white.
Marcia didn't say a word, she simply crumpled to her knees.
Her shoulders shook as a choked sob escaped her lips.
Tears streamed from her one good eye.
Her hands fell to her sides.
"He didn't recognize me," she whispered.
Her voice cracked with a pain that reached deep into her being. "He looked right at me, and said I was dead."
Clara rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around her trembling form.
She didn't say anything.
The undefeated champion of Stuttgart, the legendary masked empress, wept.
After a long while the tears subsided into quiet breaths.
Marcia gently pushed Clara away as she rose to her feet, wiping away her tears.
Her expression was no longer a reflection of her sadness, but determination.
The beginning of a cold resolve.
"They want me to be the enemy, a dead fragment of a story rewritten…"
M took her mask from Clara, before equipping it.
"…fine, I'll be their villain, I'll burn their narrative to the ground, and retrieve Alex from the ashes."