Emma’s Spam Account

“You girls head off- I’m gonna go outside, catch my breath, get some cool, fresh air.” I sighed panting with my hands clasped on my knees, bent over, my mascara dripping slightly because that’s what you get when you’re preforming for 3 hours. 

I  took a massive swig of water, being the lead singer and all kinda hurt my throat. 

Radiant was sat at her dressing table, clenching and unclenching her fingers to try and get feeling back in them after playing guitar too hard. 

“You ok?”  I walked over to check out her fingers, 

“I can handle it. Not the worst that’s happened to us before, huh?”

“I didn’t ask if you could handle it, I asked if you were ok.” I took out some plasters. Radiant was still getting used to Earth healing methods. 

I wrapped her fingers gently, after applying cream on them. 

“Where’s Glimmer?”

“Bathroom. Stripping out of the costume.” I totally understood where she was coming from. These costumes were great and comfy but after a while they got sweaty and nasty from wearing in the show. 

“Anyways, I’m gonna get some air.” The moment I stepped outside, my amulet started pulsing. Someone needed help… 

There was no point going after the others- if someone needed help I could handle it alone. We were at our concert so the worst that could happen was a little kid losing their mum. 

I mean, that’s what I thought until I heard the pounding of feet against a rubbish bin. 

“Stupid, do gooding princesses!” He said princesses as if it were a slur. 

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. Did I seriously have to help this guy? Cato? As in, THAT Cato? The evil dude working for SNOW and trying to steal our magical jewellery? THAT guy? 

But if I helped him, I’d get a gem for my crown…and that meant I was one step closer to saving my kingdom, my family… 

But that didn’t stop my groaning into my palms- the best alternative to screaming in frustration into a pillow. 

“Who’s there!?” 

Shit, he’d heard. 

I stepped out, hands glowing with magic. 

“Listen-…” one hand gripped my pendant, “You know the drill. The amulet glows, it means someone needs help. It glowed around you. So now I’m obligated to help you.” 

Why was he standing like that? Like he was ready for a physical fight? 

And why had he been kicking trash cans in frustration instead of blowing them up with his magic. 

“What are you even doing here? Where’s Clove?” 

“Snow banished us.” He snarled, slumping against the wall, “Said we weren’t getting the job done fast enough and replaced us. Took our magic too. Clove is…no idea where the hell she is.” 

I stepped forwards tentatively. Without his magic, he was harmless. Well, he was clearly muscular and much bigger than me but without his magic, would he really risk a fight? 

“Hey…we’re going to help you, ok?” I sat beside him. He was still wearing his ridiculous outfit. 

“How did you even get magic?” i was curious. I hardly knew about him and Clove. Were they raised with Snow? Did he take their kingdom and train them from childhood? Did they meet a similar fate to my  own kingdom? 

“I was royalty once. Heir to the throne. Snow came. I was only 8? Clove was 5. Our parents were allies to Snow but- this wasn’t part of the deal. We weren’t meant to be involved. We were trained as children. If we help him, our kingdom is freed. Not that you’d care. All you princesses care about is-.”

“We’d help. I care.”

“What?” He seemed frozen. Still. 

“We’ll find Clove for you. Get your magic back.” 

I gave him a small smile which he hesitantly returned. 

“I don’t need your help.” He scoffed, turning away after that moment of vulnerability.

“Ok…well we want to help anyways.”

“We WHAT?!” Radiant shrieked indignantly when I’d come in to tell them. Glimmer dropped her hair dryer.

“Radiant! It’s not-.”

“It’s not what?” She crossed her arms over her chest, “Fraternising with the enemy? How long has this been going on for?! I knew when you said his name in your sleep it seemed suspicious but you’re blatantly trying to help him now!”

“You said my name in your sleep?”

“Shut up.” I glared before turning back to face Radiant, “Listen, I’m not ‘fraternising’. Like I said, he needs help and we’re going to help him. Helping him gives us an oracle gem, which brings us a step closer to stopping Snow. And if you had let me finish, you’d know that he’s lost his powers.” A scoff left my lips, 

“Now, let’s patch you up and you can tell us what happened?” 

All three of us transformed anyways- just in case we were met with threat and it was a trap. Though I’m not sure him holding my hips and tugging me to stand between his legs was part of treatment. I was just trying to put plasters on him. 

“Now, what happened exactly?”

“Well you princesses are on 15 oracle gems. Meaning that me and Clove have failed 15 times. 14 times too many. We were banished here to earth, powerless.” His eyes had darkened and a scowl had found its way onto his face. 

“Hey, c’mon. We can fix this. We always do.” 

There were flecks of red glitter on his palm from where he’d held my waist. “Bug. Please?” He pouted, chin on my lower chest, giving me puppy eyes. Radiant coughed, unimpressed. But I’d always been the weakest of us three so I sighed and gave a reluctant nod. 

“Well, we have Clove to find. Glimmer?” Glimmer summoned a golden crystal in her hand to act as a kind of compass to find her, “if she’s nearby, we’ll find her.” 

Stomping rumbled from outside. For fucks sake. Not a single moment of peace. 

When I caught myself saying my spells, I did have to take a moment to remind myself I was a 19 year old woman in a red sparkly dress yelling ‘crysta collidum’ at a ….what even was it? We were immediately summoned to the arena Glimmer had constructed for us, so that we didn’t damage civilians. The monster seemed to be of Clove’s creation- it seemed like her usual flair. 

“Give me back my brother.” Shouted the girl who was currently flying above us, fists clenched, which paused the monster’s assault on us,

“We didn’t *take* him. He’s a friend. He was looking for you! He wanted help!” I  tried to explain, 

“Oh bullshit. He’s either captured or fraternising.” 

“Why does everyone think we’re fraternising?” He whispered under his breath, 

“No idea.” I shot back, gripping my red crystal sword. 

“See! There!” Clove pointed accusingly, “He must’ve landed here on purpose I know it! Oh Snow’s gonna-.”

“Snow doesn’t have any power anymore.” 

“Oh doesn’t he?” She smirked. As if she knew something he didn’t.

While the group was distracted, pondering, she took that opportunity to hit Radiant and Glimmer with crystals- forcing their ankles to be trapped to the ground and their hands to be trapped in hard, green gemstone. 

“Radiant! Glimmer!” I ran across to try and help them. 

“Judith-.” A hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back so hard I collided with him. A shimmer of green passed me. I would’ve been hit square in the chest. He’d saved me. Maybe he wasnt such a dick. They’d be able to free themselves. No point getting myself captured in the process. 

“Thanks-.” I pulled away, brushing off my hands and getting into fighting stance, 

“Ok- do you know any of me and the other princess’ moves?”

“Naturally.” 

“Ok- so I’m going to need you to cover me so we can execute formation A14.” It was Judith’s idea to nominate all the different moves a letter and number. It was good for an unpredictable element. But if Cato and Clove knew she’d have to remember to change the orders. Again. 

“Yes ma’am.”

He knew Clove wouldn’t hit him. She would *usually* but not when he was the target she needed. She wasn’t that careless. So even without magic he was an effective cover. Effective enough that Judith was able to launch him into the air with crystals, distracting both clove and the monster enough that she could shoot crystals into the monsters eyes and hit Clove. Cato, still midair, managed to catch her and usually, his own magic would have made him nearly invulnerable to fall damage from heights like that- but since he’d lost his magic I created a crystal slide of sorts  

The  monster dissolved into gloop at her feet as Clove was carried by Cato, her form limp. 

“Sorry-.” I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly- she was only unconscious but still. 

“Judith?” 

“Yes?”

“If you were to…to retake the throne and become Princess again-,” he bowed deeply, “It would be an honour to fight by your side.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Well- I wouldn’t be able to betray Snow. Or Clove for that matter. But if you’re ever in a time of need and the princesses aren’t up for it, you know who to call.”

“Thanks…I mean it, seriously. As long as it’s not a ploy to stab me in the back.” 

“Course not. I’m a lot of things but I’m not the kind of guy who likes sooner someone. Credit is due where credit is due.” 

That’s how we got the best stage hand ever. He phrased it under the guise of ‘stakeouts’ or ‘fact finding missions’. The only fact he found was the fact he liked the smoothie’s at Nathaniel’s place. 

“Looking good, ladies.” He gave a mocking bow, “You’re on in 10.” 

“Perfect.” I came out of the dressing room, leaning over the vanity a little to do my stage makeup. I could’ve sworn he did a double take but that’s just delusion. 

And whenever I wanted to go on a top secret mission, he’d be right by my side, with his powers back now because he’d somewhat lied to Gramorr about the events that had transpired that day. It became less about owing one another and more about wanting to spend time with eachother. I didn’t want to fight him. Then again, seeing him on the battlefield was always a delight. Despite the fact we’d gotten closer, he never held back, and that’s what I liked about him. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt it if you told me he was trying harder than ever to get me. Though I knew for certain he wouldn’t exactly know what to do if he caught me.