Elemental Kingdom

"I'll be back as soon as possible," Deliah said fervently, and used some of the water to begin gently dabbing and cleaning Snow's wounds. "It'll all be okay."

She didn't look at her or move, she just stared at the wall opposite her.

((We can probs skip a few months now if you like? When they all return.))

((yeah sure, do you want to post first?))

((Sorry, I had to reread what was going on real quick lol))

A few months after Delilah had left to follow Nathan's signs, they returned. Nathan was missing an ear, and had a curious, black twisting scar on his throat. He looked jaded, and extremely angry. Delilah was limping after him, her previously long hair hacked short to her jaw, and carrying Ethan close to her chest.

Blaze was missing.

At the entrance, Nathan planted his feet shoulder width apart and shouted, voice sharp and filled with authority, "Show me the usurper who stole my family's throne!"

The man who was now the hand of the king walked out to them. "Oh please, you left the kingdom in ruin, but if you wish to see our most esteemed highness, come with me." He led them into the throne room, where the King was sat in the throne, watching as another man used torture methods on Snow who was whimpering and cowering in pain.

Ethan clung to her.

Nathan followed them in passively, Delilah close behind. Without a word, he lifted his hand, and the scar briefly pulsed. The man torturing Snow was abruptly frozen, from the inside out.

When the pain stopped, Snow was dragged away so quick that she didn't even have time to stand, and she yelped as the dragging opened up old wounds.

Ethan whimpered at seeing Snow.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Nathan asked the man in the throne. His voice was soft, but deadly. Frost was already creeping in through all corners of the room, despite how large it was. Whatever he'd done while he was gone, his power was clearly amplified.

Ethan whimpered, burying his head in his Auntie's chest.

"I have many things to say." The King told him. "Mainly get the fuck out of my kingdom, weakling." He snarled at him.

"Hey now, it's okay," Delilah murmured, rocking him gently. "You're doing so good."

Nathan exhaled, and his breath came out in a cloud, the room was already so cold.

"I'm sorry. That was the wrong answer."

"Like I care." He snarled, before he looked to Snow. "Kill the beast, send her to be with her mistress in hell." He ordered and a guard walked to Snow, brandishing his sword, Snow was too weak to take him on and she was in too much pain to move out of the way, she just prayed that she could see Blaze and not let Ethan see. "Then destroy the elf casket." He snarled, sitting back in his throne.

Ethan kept his head buried in Delilah's chest. "Mumma..." He whispered.

"She's gonna be fine," Delilah murmured. "Your father will make sure of that."

Nathan twitched his arm up and suddenly there was a wall of ice separating Snow from the rest of the room, the top of it crackling as it collided with the ceiling.

"Keep trying Nathan, you can't save your little family, not from me." The King snarled at him, the ground suddenly giving way below Delilah and Ethan.

"Daddy!" Ethan shouted as he saw the ground given under his aunt's feet.

Before they could fall far, something caught them, and it was Snow. Using her own power over the ice elements, she had gotten through Nathan's wall, and shifted human. She was still lying on the ground and obviously in much pain, but one of her hands were outstretched. What had caught them was a strong form of ice and it lifted them back onto solid ground before a guard suddenly pushed her onto her back and drove his sword under her ribs.

"Snow!" Ethan shouted, and the guard was suddenly hit by a boulder. Ethan had developed a power over the Earth since he had been away but at the moment it only worked in anger.

"Delilah, take Snow and Ethan out of here for now," Nathan said calmly, completely unperturbed. The mark on his neck was starting to glow slightly, little flecks of frost growing on his skin.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Delilah muttered, shifting Ethan tighter in her arms and kneeling and murmuring an apology, pressing a burning hot hand to Snow's wound in order to cauterise and seal it.

Snow didn't have the strength to fight off the pain, and Ethan helped his aunt to drag Snow out of the room.

"You've lost Nathan." The man snarled. "No.spirits to protect you now, no.wife to love you, it's only a matter of time before your son leaves you too."

"I'm not the one losing his cool," Nathan replied quietly. "I have a lot more at my disposal than you seem to think I have."

"Sure you are." He rolled his eyes.

"I'll let you in on a little something," Nathan said. "When my son left this castle, he left with one other. Do you think I found Ethan just wandering around, alone?"

"We need to get out before everything goes to shit," Delilah muttered under her breath, guiding the other two down hallways. "It's about to get as hot as anything in here."

Ethan followed, and he kept an eye on Snow, she was barely conscious.
____

"If you had a spirit, that spirit would be here."

"The central hall is the oldest part of this castle and I'm pretty sure it's going to be most after today," Delilah muttered anxiously, taking twisting corners that led them deeper and further down.

---

Nathan smiled then, slightly.

"Who's to say he isn't already? A spirit doesn't have to have form like you and me, if he doesn't want to."

Before he had even finished speaking, Blaze was suddenly there between one second and the next. He barely looked human, his skin the colour of ash and his eyes like burning coals. The stones beneath his feet were warping from the heat emanating from him.

The man was obviously scared at seeing Blaze, but he was acting brave in front of the subjects. "The fact that you still can't fight your own battles is pretty pathetic."
_______

"What about mumma?" Ethan asked, following his aunt.

"I'm wise wise enough to pick which battles I can or cannot win by myself. You won't live long enough to ever be able to make that distinction."

Blaze took a step forward, hand stretching out to his side. One of the stones under his foot cracked and crumbled.

---

"If we're lucky she'll thaw," Delilah murmured, making sure Snow could keep up. "But she's deep enough in the castle that if Blaze can't control himself she'll be fine."

Snow kept up easily enough.

Ethan nodded.
_____

"She's already dead," The king sneered at Blaze, he somehow knew about Snow and his relationship.

Delilah stopped in the middle of a hallway and kicked over a rug, showing a trapdoor.

"Down here, down here," she muttered, tugging at her collar nervously.

---

"You think I'm blind? Deaf? Dumb?" Blaze asked, his voice rough. "Petty lies won't help you now."