She takes a deep breath, willing herself to stop before she completely loses it. A green ring surrounds Cloud before she snaps out of Trinity and into the throne room moments later. Both Summer and her father sit on the thrones, rulers for the day. It’s more like they’re babysitting the country, but it’s of no matter. “Cloud?” Starlight questions, straightening in his chair. “What are you doing here?”

“What happened?” Summer questions, comprehension hitting her that something must be terribly wrong if Cloud left early. Cloud glares at Summer, the electricity in it palpable. Summer glares back, a branding rivaling Blaze’s. Cloud turns her attention to her father’s glazed over, cyan eyes.

“There is an attack on Trinity,” she announces. Summer’s eyes widen, hostility forgotten. “They’ve already taken the citadel and the city hall burns as we speak. It appears to be led by a now former soldier. Mother sent me to inform you.” 

“Trinity?” He asks, mostly to himself. Starlight’s eyes clear, and he stands. His hands glow sky blue, summoning some sort of staff. Topped with a crescent moon blade, it’s reminiscent of a warped naginata. “Stay here,” he demands as his children stare, a hair away from gawking. He descends the steps, gliding toward Cloud. “I’m going to go help your mother.” That’s the most he’s said to her in months. She nods, more bewildered at his sudden shift than actually taking orders from him. “I’ll grab some help on my way out,” he informs before waltzing out of the room. Cloud and Summer stare at the door, shocked.

“That man hasn’t fought in years,” Summer voices. “How is he going to be of any use?"

“I’m not sure,” Cloud responds. “I just did what Mother said.” And just like that, the confusion is knocked off its feet and bitterness returns in its place. She can’t find it within herself to truly blame Summer, but she was still a jerk, and she hasn’t done anything to make amends. It’s just been festering this entire time. Cloud can explain Summer's actions, sure, but that doesn’t make them justified. She swivels on her heel and marches up to the throne, taking her mother’s seat beside Summer, who sits in her father’s. 

“So, what happened?” Summer asks, leaning against her hand, elbow propped on the armrest.

“I already said,” Cloud replies, curt.

“Aw, c’mon, grace me with the details,” she smirks. “How many were there? D’you think it’ll be over quickly? We both know nobody stands a chance against Mother, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be over immediately. Nothing this big ever happens! It’s exciting!”

“Somewhere between a battalion and a regiment. No,” she responds flatly, drawing her sword to fiddle with it and avoid looking at Summer. Two birds, one stone. Summer pouts. She watches Cloud tilt her blade to see it catch the light from the windows, gleaming.

“You’ve been a bitch for a few weeks now,” Summer remarks.

“Astute observation,” Cloud commends.

“Is this your teenage rebellion?” She questions. Cloud almost gives and chuckles at the realization that it quite literally is. “You did declare your hatred of Mother, for whatever reason, but I don’t recall you claiming to hate me.” Cloud’s not looking, so she can’t see the genuine dread in Summer’s face at the concept of that.

“I don’t hate you,” Cloud confirms. “You have to earn that, and while you are an ill-mannered, obnoxious chit, that doesn’t warrant my hatred.”

Though there’s relief in her expression, her voice is flat in reply, “Gee, that’s reassuring, thanks.” Cloud sighs, spinning the sword to face its point down. She rests it against the edge of the throne’s seat, between her knees. Trousers are nice. Leaning against her hands, clasped around the saber’s grip, she turns to Summer. 

“You know why I’m angry with you, right?” Cloud asks. There’s no way she doesn’t. Summer’s childish pout furthers as she hides her mouth behind her hand. Is that shame or stubbornness? “Here, I’ll start. I never intended to imply that I had it worse than you in general, and I’m sorry it came off that way. It’s just frustrating seeing you get to scowl like that all the time and not get struck across the face for it, not that it’d be warranted. I’m not upset that you emote; I’m upset that I’m not allowed to. It’s always turned into such a big deal and I-” Cloud sighs again, much sharper this time. She turns her face forward again, tears threatening to spill for gods knows why. She whispers to hide it, “I guess after a while, I just stopped. If it was going to be treated like a big deal, I wanted it to actually be a big deal.” Summer decides not to comment on her almost crying. For real, she’s such a crybaby. Any time she talks about her emotions, they escape in physical form. That’s probably why it’s so rare for her to do so. What she’s saying makes sense, her emotions have always seemed too big for her. “And,” she adds, “I’ve hated Blaze for a while. That’s not new, it just took a long time to admit.”

“I don’t understand how you can hate her,” Summer huffs, quietly staying beneath the detection of the soldiers lining the hall. 

“I know. She provides everything I need to survive, but Summer, a mother is more than that,” she attempts to explain. “You don’t know what she used to be like. She used to be so… warm. You’d never think she was that bloodstained warrior from the stories. Now, I can’t see her as anything else. It feels like she’s dead, and I’ve been in denial this whole time.” Cloud dusts her fingers against the saber’s blade. She smiles dejectedly, “After all, she’d hired Tulip as my lady in waiting. That alone served as proof that my caring mother couldn’t be all gone. Tulip provided what had been lost.” Cloud tenses, eyebrows knitting together. “But then she took her away.” Always the most beautiful flowers picked first, indeed. All that's left is the weed that had been sucking the life out of her, left to wither away. “She didn’t deserve that.” But I did, goes left unsaid.

“What changed?” Summer wonders. Cloud turns her head to her, tilted. “When did Mother change?" Cloud’s eyes darken.

“Around the time we adopted you,” she says, doing her best to keep any accusatory tone from her voice. It’s a point of reference without correlation. “When I was sick.”

“Oh,” Summer says. There isn’t much to say. 

“I don’t know why, exactly,” Cloud continues. “I’ve never had the nerve to ask. Maybe it's better if I don't know the reason.” Still, she can’t help but blame herself. It must have had something to do with her. Ever since she was sick, Blaze has treated any flaw as a weakness. Maybe she just never wants to see Cloud like that again. Maybe, in her twisted mind, her parenting style is entirely justified, and she truly thinks this treatment will make Cloud stronger. Maybe if Cloud had been stronger somehow… It’s stupid to think like this. She can’t travel back in time. “Anyway. I’m sorry for projecting that all onto you. I never meant to claim your life wasn’t hard.” Summer looks nice and relaxed now that Cloud’s anger isn’t directed at her. Let’s change that. She hisses, “However, I’d still like an apology. Once upon a time, I was a spoiled little princess, but those days are far from the present.”

“Yeah, yeah, what I said was uncalled for.” Summer rolls her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said what I did, especially since it put you in a position where you couldn’t really argue back.” She glares out the window. “I'm only gonna say this once, so listen up: I was wrong. I’m not gonna get as touchy-feely about it as you did, though.” Cloud smiles to herself. That’s about as much as she expected to get from Summer. “You can hit me if you want, if it’ll make you feel better.” Cloud surveys Summer for a moment, long enough for Summer’s eyes to slide back over to her. When they do, she whips her hand across the side of Summer’s head. “OW, hey!” She snaps. 

“You said I could hit you,” she states.

“Yeah, but that was hard!”

“Be happy it didn’t have the weight of my vambraces behind it,” Cloud retorts. “You can hit me, too, if you want-” Summer’s fist socks into the side of her unarmored arm. It doesn’t hurt. She suppresses a smile. “Oi! I didn’t punch you.” 

“Yeah, but you’ve got muscles and stuff from swinging those metal sticks around! A smack from you is like getting bludgeoned by a rock!”

“Oh, thank you,” Cloud replies politely, feeling her bicep. “I guess that’s fair.”

“I hate you.”

“Yeah, you, too,” she responds, leaning back into the throne. A much lighter silence fills the throne room, a rarity these days. Cloud’s mind drifts back to Gushiken and the others. He seemed confident, even though he’s old enough to remember how Blaze is in combat. He knows what he’s in for, but she still hopes he’s okay. She wonders if the papers will cover this, or if it’ll be swept under the rug. Even if they cover it, it’s not like it’ll be entirely truthful. 

“So, how are you doing?” Summer asks, hushed. “With the whole Tulip thing. I guess you two were closer than I thought.” She has no idea.

“It’s okay, I know how dense you are-”

Summer bristles, “-You’re the dense one. Aside from signals of potential danger, you can’t read people for shit unless you know them well enough.” She forces herself to settle back down. “Whatever, it was a serious question.” Cloud pauses uncomfortably. She’s been trying not to think about it; whenever she does, the everyday exhaustion plummets to dangerous levels.

“I’m… grieving,” Cloud replies, returning her second hand to hold her sword’s hilt. Her thumb runs along the textured, black fabric. “She was very dear to me.” And I’m going to avenge her, she adds for herself. She has to. Cloud couldn’t save her, but she can continue Tulip’s work, make it into her own. It’s something she wants to do, needs to do. 

“I didn’t know,” Summer utters.

“That was the goal,” Cloud replies. “In the end, the one person I didn’t want to know ended up noticing.” Cloud just thought that when she did, she’d use her as leverage: a threat always in her pocket to get Cloud to easily comply. Cloud never expected this, or she would’ve kept her distance. You'd think she would have learned after everything with Summer, back when they were kids. Despite the emotional chat earlier, Cloud still considers herself withdrawn from Summer. It took a few years, but Blaze doesn’t threaten her safety anymore. No, it’s… maybe it’s better like this. Being solitary. That way, Cloud won’t get anyone hurt again. “You wanted to hear about the attack?” She asks Summer. Summer lights up and nods. A lot of royal ceremonies include storytelling at some point, Cloud’s gotten pretty good at it. She begins her tale, straightening herself upon the throne.