The Forbidden Heiress At The All Male Alpha Academy

Chapter 239: Home, again

The girl’s breath hitched.

Theo’s knees nearly gave out, and she fell on one leg. Looking down, only then did she realise that one leg was completely gone.

It had vanished.

"I don’t remember who I am," She confessed, "I don’t remember my life properly. I don’t remember the people fighting for me. But I know this..."

She placed a hand over her own chest, where her soul once was, "Pain is loud, and it screams. It demands to be heard. But love is stubborn, so it whispers and it waits."

The girl’s shoulders began to shake, "You think love is enough?" she asked brokenly.

"No," Theo said honestly, "But I believe that it’s a beginning."

The child’s composure shattered, and she lunged forward suddenly and buried her face into Theo’s chest.

Theo gasped as their bodies collided. Like a touch she couldn’t resist, Theo hugged her back tightly and they clung to each other desperately.

For a moment, the void went utterly still.

When Theo tried to pull back, the girl didn’t let go. Instead, her fingers tightened in the fabric of Theo’s fading form as if she were the one afraid of disappearing.

"You think you understand me," The girl whispered against her chest, "You think a few kind words can undo centuries of hatred?"

"I don’t want to undo you," Theo said softly, "I want you to stop hurting."

Outside, on the battlefield, the demon faltered mid-strike.

A strike that had been meant to cleave through bone scraped instead against stone, and her dark eyes flickered.

"She’s still listening," Theo breathed.

"She doesn’t listen. She devours."

"She is you."

"No," The child snapped, "She is what I became."

"And you’re still here."

The words landed like a stone dropped into deep water, and the girl’s grip loosened around Theo completely.

"I buried myself like you said," She whispered, her eyes sad and distant, "I had to. If I stayed soft, I would have died."

Theo cupped her face gently, "You did die," she told her straight up, "Just not the way you think."

The darkness around them trembled violently.

Outside, the demon staggered again as memories surged in her head without permission.

Hands clutching another.

Seraphina - with her long blonde hair as a human, smiling back at her as they laughed together.

Warm bread shared in secret.

The demon snarled and slammed her palm against her own head as if to physically crush the images, "No," She growled to the battlefield, "I killed that weakness."

But the weakness was standing under a spotlight.

And she was crying.

The girl looked up at Theo, eyes wide, "I can feel her fighting me," She whispered.

"She’s probably afraid," Theo replied.

"Of you?"

"No," Theo said gently, "Of losing the only thing that kept her standing."

The little girl bit her lips hard, "If I...if I let go of this rage...," Another tear slipped out, "What would be left, then?"

Theo placed the girl’s hand over her own chest again, "Peace," she said. "And peace is not empty."

The girl closed her eyes.

Outside, the demon’s claws sank into the earth as a scream ripped from her lungs. The pain that came from the surging memories and barrelling emotions it came with was overwhelming for her.

Zevon’s blade hovered inches from her throat as he stared in confusion and hope.

Zeke felt it too.

Inside the void, the child pulled away from Theo slowly, "I hated them," She said hoarsely, "I hated the wolves. I hated the world. I hated myself for surviving it, and I mostly hated the fact that I was killed by my own best friend," She paused, "But...I gave her no other choice. She had to kill me...to stop me,"

Theo did not interrupt.

"I told myself revenge was justice," The girl continued. "I told myself power was healing," Her shoulders began to shake again, "But it never stopped burning."

"Rage feels strong," Theo’s eyes softened, "But it’s heavy, and you’ve been carrying it alone for too long."

"I don’t want to carry it anymore." The girl said, looking down at her scraped, dirty hands.

Outside, the demon screamed in denial again, "You are mine!" She roared into nothingness, "You are my foundation!"

Inside, the girl flinched at the sound of her own monstrous voice.

Theo stepped closer and touched her face, "You don’t belong to her. She belongs to you,"

The child blinked.

"You were the beginning," Theo said, "Without you, there is no demon,"

The girl’s breath stuttered.

"And if I stop?" she asked.

Theo smiled warmly, "Then she stops."

The spotlight flickered, and the girl closed her eyes tightly.

Outside, the demon clutched her chest as more cracks of blinding silver light began to thread across her skin. With Seraphina still fighting and now her foundation shaking, there was not much she could do.

"No," She hissed instead, "I chose this. I chose him. I chose power."

Inside, the girl’s tears fell freely, and Theo watched as something shifted in the child’s posture. The trembling that had taken over her whole system slowly eased, and the frantic anger softened into exhaustion.

"I didn’t deserve what happened," The girl said.

"No," Theo replied.

"I didn’t deserve to lose everything."

"No."

"I didn’t deserve to become a monster just to survive."

"No." Something dropped out of Theo’s eyes.

The girl opened her eyes then, and they were clear.

Clearer than anything Theo had ever seen.

"I forgive them," she said, her voice breaking, "Not because they deserve it. But because I deserve to stop burning, and hurting,"

The void around them started to crack and outside, the demon shrieked as her power imploded inward again.

The memories, the feeling, they were all too much.

She clawed at her own chest as if to rip the sensations out, "I reject this!" She screamed.

But the rejection was weaker than the acceptance happening inside.

In the void, the girl turned to Theo one last time.

Then, she stepped forward and hugged Theo again.

This time, the hug was nothing desperate.

It was so gentle and soft.

"I was so tired," She whispered into Theo’s ear.

"I know," Theo said, holding her close.

Outside, the demon’s form began to fracture, not from an external blow, but from within. The rage that had fueled her for centuries had no anchor anymore.

"I feel so much better," The girl sighed tremendously, like she was releasing centuries of bitterness and pain, "I feel so light,"

Theo clutched her even tighter, "You’re beginning to find your peace,"

She sighed again, "Thank you, Theodora Blackthorn,"

"I’m also eternally grateful, Theodora...Hallowell,"

Theo didn’t know how she knew the girl’s name...she just did.

"It’s weird, how you made me feel so much better," The girl said.

"Well...," Theo smiled against her shoulders, "You were corrupted, and my blood resists corruption so...,"

The girl laughed.

Theo smiled.

Again, she didn’t know how she remembered that, but she didn’t doubt it for a second.

Then, the girl pulled back and they held each other’s gaze for a second.

Turning around, the little girl stepped out of the flickering spotlight and into the endless darkness, "I release her," She whispered, "And I release myself."

Outside, the demon froze as her eyes widened in terror. The bond tethering her to her origin snapped - the soul of hers that consumed Theo’s body broke off, and the cracks in her skin spread like wildfire.

Silver light poured out of her even more.

"No!!!! No!!!!" she screamed maniacally, reaching for something that was no longer there.

Inside the void, the girl’s body began to dissolve into soft particles of silver.

She looked relieved.

"Live," She told Theo gently.

Theo’s breath caught.

"Live the way I couldn’t."

The last of the child’s tears evaporated into light,

"And don’t let anyone ever convince you either, that disappearing is the only way to escape your pain,"

Theo reached for her, but her hands passed through light now.

"Goodbye, Theodora,"

Then she was gone.

She was gone like a candle finally allowed to rest.

Outside, the demon’s scream cut off abruptly and her body disintegrated into ash and light simultaneously, the rage sustaining her collapsing in on itself.

The battlefield fell silent.

And from the collapsing remnants of darkness, something surged back toward its rightful place.

Inside the void, Theo gasped as warmth flooded her chest, and her soul reignited like a star reclaiming its sky.

The transparency in her skin faded, and weight returned to her limbs.

Her soul was home again.

Instantly, the void shattered around her.

And so was she.

Home again.