Chapter 26 - Bonus : A White Knight

"In the end, the brave white knight saves his princess from the monster, and they live happily ever after."

Delicate hands closed the book after the hazel eyes woman finished telling the story. She smiled at her daughter who was looking at her with a sparkle in the identical hazel eyes.

"Yay!" The red-haired child beamed. Short ponytail waved around as she jumped in her place, dancing with no care in the world.

"The white knight is so cool!" Rune ran to her mother, trying to peak at the book cover of the white knight.

The wavy blonde hair woman ruffled her daughter's red hair. "One day, you will have a white knight to save you too, little princess."

"But mom, I want to be the white knight and save the prince!" Little Rune whined. She brought her little feet around, demonstrating swordplay as she puffed her chest.

The mother chuckled. She stood up from her chair and walked over to Rune gracefully. "Alright, sweetie. But to do that, you have to learn how to defend yourself first before protecting your prince, okay?"

The woman lowered herself to Rune's level and locked their eyes together. "The world out there is dangerous. A white knight needs to be protected too."

The blonde woman hugged her daughter and put her mouth besides her left ear. "And the one who will protect you is me and your father." She whispered softly, hand stroking the back of the girl's head.

"I will always be here for you, princess." She promised and tightened their hug.

Rune returned the hug and buried her face to her mother's stomach. "Not a princess." The girl mumbled.

"Alright, my little white knight. Now go to sleep, you have school tomorrow." The mother continued.

"M'kay."

The six-year-old girl went to bed that night. Dreaming of becoming a white knight and saving a prince from a big bad monster.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

"Hey! That's not a good thing to do to a friend!" Rune let out her high-pitched voice as she stood in front of a bruised boy, shielding him from the blond boy who caused the bruises.

"Ew, I'm not his friend." Little Aster spat, crossing his hands over his chest. "That loser doesn't have any friends, anyway."

"Right, guys?" Aster looked back to a bunch of crowds who were watching. The crowd cheered Aster up right after, sneering at the black-haired boy on the ground.

Rune looked over to Axel who was looking at the ground with wan blue eyes. She faced Aster again with a frown and puffed her chest like that white knight in her favorite book.

"Well, I can be his friend then!" She took another step toward Aster and shoved him to the ground. Aster was startled at the sudden movement and widened his green eyes.

"You are just a big bad monster," She continued before helping Axel get up from the ground. She gave one last belittled look to Aster and brought Axel close to her.

"Let's go, friend. You don't want that monster to be your friend anyway."

The pair walked away from the whispering crowd with Rune's puffed chest and Axel's wavering eyes. Aster's lips curled inwards when he watched them disappearing from his sight.

Rune brought Axel to the nursery office. She opened the door for him as the red ponytail girl let the boy wobbly walk to a bed. She helped him to sit on top of the high bed and went looking for a nurse.

She frowned when she did not find a single person in the room. Her hazel eyes caught the side of a first aid kit on top of a cupboard and smiled.

The girl tried to take the first aid kit, tiptoeing as she reached out her hand farther. She gritted her teeth when her hand brushed the thing but still could not grab it.

She huffed away and quickly looked around. A chair was appearing in her vision and little Rune quickly ran to it.

Axel peaked his head from the curtain that was covering his bed and watched Rune with a child-like wonder in his blue eyes. He saw Rune struggle as she dragged the chair to the cupboard.

She made sure the chair was in the right place before climbing to it and stood proudly on top of the chair. After taking the first aid kit in her little hand, she stumbly walked over to Axel.

"Why didn't you fight back?" The girl asked with her eyes locked on Axel's bruised knee. She patched him messily after rubbing the alcohol, trying to imitate a nurse.

"My brother told me to not fight anyone without a mask." The boy answered with a quiet voice. His head tilted back slightly, making his gaze follow down his nose.

Curious hazel eyes caught the blue ones as she tilted her head to the left. "A mask?"

Axel nodded. He winced a little when Rune tried to rub alcohol to his bruised cheek.

"That's weird." She voiced her thoughts out loud after breaking their gaze at each other.

Axel fidgeted with the edge of his clothes and looked at his own feet. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to be weird."

Realizing she said something wrong, Rune quickly flinched away, frantically waving her hand in front of Axel. "No, no! Not a bad weird, but a good weird!"

Her mouth formed an awkward smile while still trying to justify her words. "It makes you like some kind of a hero when fighting with a mask. Like- like Spider-man!"

Axel finally looked up to her with glimmering blue eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed with a fixed smile on her pretty face. Axel shyly looked down again with a little smile.

Rune stared at him who was covered up with messy bandages with a proud face. As she fixed her gaze at him, a thought came into her mind, making her face brighten.

"Oh, I know," she put both of her hands on Axel's shoulder as she made him face her. "You can be my prince!"

Axel blinked, his face suddenly went red at the mention of him being a prince. "W-what?"

"Mmm-hmm. You'll be my prince so I can be your white knight while protecting you from that ugly blond monster!" Rune exclaimed loudly, some of her red hair went loose to her face as she excitedly explained.

She bowed down to him, putting her right hand on her left chest. "I will always be at your service, your highness."

A friendship bloomed that day. The trees outside the window watched a white knight and a prince smiling at each other. The girl told a story of a white knight and a princess with excitement, picturing both of them to be in their position.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

She was only ten when she heard the devastating scream from his father. She stumbled as she went down the stairs from her bedroom, running to the kitchen with a fast beaten heart.

There was a pool of blood in front of her feet when she arrived in the kitchen. Her eyes twitched as she saw the red liquid, slowly reaching to her bare feet. Her heartbeat fastened and her ears started ringing.

The young girl looked up slowly to find her mother lying in her father's hand who was wailing and wailing. The corner of her vision slowly became white as she froze in her place.

Why did he scream? Why did he cry? Why did mother have a big hole in her stomach? Why did she close her eyes? Why- why?

Why did father mourn?

Rune's inner corner of her eyebrows started angling up. The corner of her mouth unwillingly drew downwards. Her eyes slowly started to become bloodshot as her lips trembled.

She dropped down on her knees to the pool of red. Her body began to shake when the girl's eyes became all blurry. A short intake of breath followed her lips as a tear finally came out of her sorrowful hazel eyes.

Everything was happening in a blur. The world was spinning around her, there was a siren, a gunshot, and a scream.

Oh wait, was she the one who was screaming?

And then a blanket was wrapped around her as she got carried away by someone. She fell into endless hiccups, curling herself as if she could finally wake up from a really bad nightmare.

Rune finally managed to look up to the person who was holding her. She caught the identical red hair and the bloodshot hazel eyes. Her father was crying with her as he held her tight, tears flowing down with no sound coming out of his throat.

Her eyes caught the dried blood on both of the president's hands. Her breath calmed for a second as her eyebrows drew together. She suddenly felt a lump building up in her throat when she noticed how his father was unharmed unlike-

Unlike-

She tried to pull away from the man, rapidly breathing while making restless movements, wriggling in his grip.

"You were supposed to be her white knight! Why didn't you save her?!" She screamed and tears came out even more from her angry eyes.

The man kept his grip on her, still hugging his daughter tightly. "I was never a white knight, kiddo. I tried and I failed. I'm sorry." He choked on his words, still managing to be strong aside from his overflowing tears.

Rune gripped her hand, punching his father's chest frantically. "But she said you are her white knight! She is the princess! She is supposed to be saved!"

The president fell on his knees with Rune in his hand. He looked up to his daughter's grieving eyes and said "your mother was wrong."

Rune widened her teary eyes. "She is never wrong! She was- she-" The girl choked and wailed, she tried to speak more but no words came out of her mouth.

She did not realize she just finished the three stages of grieves that day. She was denying, angry, and bargaining. Though Rune did not know if she ever passed the fourth one. But she would like to believe she always did.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

It had been four years since the death of Rune's mother. The criminal who stabbed her was given a death sentence.

She watched the criminal's death. Looking at him with eyes full of contained rage and hatred. Deep down, she wished she could be the one who killed him.

Days passed and it was getting harder for her. She could feel the heavy weight on her shoulders as everyone put so many expectations on her.

The daughter of the president of this country. The one who would probably be the next president. The perfect, happy, and smart girl. She was the first lady now that mother had-

Anyway, she just finished kicking Aster's ass after he tried to mock Axel in front of the school gate when they were about to go home.

Despite being the president's daughter, she always refused to get picked up with a fancy car and some bodyguards. There was a reason that she learned a bunch of martial arts anyway.

She's a white knight. She could protect herself.

After saying goodbye to her best friend, the 14-year-old walked down the street, humming to herself, and failed to notice the person who was following her along the way.

The sun was following the red hair girl as the person behind him did the same thing. Rune was still oblivious about the said person and continued her way down the shortcut to her home.

The street she took was empty and the breeze around her was what she thought was the only thing that accompanied her. She realized how wrong she was when she looked at one of the building's windows.

She watched her reflection passing the street with someone on her tail. The person was as quiet as a mouse. She quickly looked forward and diverted her gaze, sharpening her ears to listen to the person's footsteps.

She kept walking and found how the person was walking at the same pace as her. She stopped and noticed how the person quickly stopped too, almost making her miss the sound of the last footstep.

She walked again, with more speed this time. She kept increasing her speed again before finally running. The wind went against her, making her hair tie fell down, revealing beautiful wavy red hair.

She took a sharp u-turn, startling the person right when her eyes met with each other. She fixed her gaze on the road behind the person and quickly ran in a flash. Rune somersaulted to the air, flipping right above the person's head before landing at the road behind the stalker.

Rune quickly ran with all her might to the way that brought her to the school again, trying to hide between the crowd and seeking help from over there.

Show a scene where Rune was Axel's white knight and then where it turned the other way around.

Imagine how surprised she was when she met with Axel in this empty street, running to her wild-eyed and running out of breath.

"What are you doing in here?!" Rune yelled, quickly grabbing her best friend's hand and bringing him with her.

"You left your homework!" Axel tried to catch up with her pace with bug-eyed full of confusion.

"Rune, why are we running? Why are we running?!" The black-haired who did not know what to do demanded an answer as he ran alongside her.

"Someone's following-"

Rune suddenly got thrown to the brick wall beside her, widening her eyes at Axel who was the one that actually did that to her. She crashed onto her back, making a white searing pain shot through her neck.

The person that was following her was aiming to stab her chest. Instead, Axel was the one who got stabbed in his right shoulder, grimacing at the wound as he held it with his hand while lying on the ground.

Rune felt the air was suffocating her as she watched Axel bleeding. The scene where her mother was bleeding flashed before her eyes. The blood was oozing down to the ground, everything was red- it was-

She trembled as she went to Axel, stumbling to help the boy. Right when she arrived to help him, the boy suddenly went limp on the ground.

No, wait. She was supposed to protect him, this was not supposed to happen. Why was it happening? Why-

"No, wait- no, no, please- please help him, I-" Rune did not realize she was already crying as she begged for help from the person who tried to stab her.

The person looked at her from behind a mask that covered the whole face. After considering what should be done to this situation, the person brought out a gun to her head.

"First lady, you know the term 'an eye for an eye', right?" The masked person stated, putting a finger over the trigger readily. "I'll help him in exchange for your life."

With trembling hands, Rune closed her eyes. She would protect the prince, that's what a white knight would do. She just hoped that they would at least have a happy ending.

Maybe this story was supposed to be sad.

She braced herself and accepted her fate. She would at least meet her mom after this. Nodding slightly, she finally agreed to the person's term.

"Alright." Said the person. Rune could hear the person's smirk at her even with her eyes closed. "Be thankful that I'm making this quick."

A loud gunshot rang in the air.

The red-haired girl frowned when she did not feel anything. She slowly opened her eyes to see the person's bleeding from a hole in his head. She shrieked a little and quickly darted away when the person fell forward, face-first to the ground.

Rune looked behind her to find a guy with a gun in his white-gloved hand. He was wearing all white we a white cap covering his hair. The achingly familiar blue eyes stared at her in worry as he lowered his gun.

Realizing who it was, Rune took a step back. "Y-you!" She pointed at him in horror still trying to create a distance with him.

"Don't come any close or I will punch you!" She ventured over, stumbling to her own feet, and almost fell backward.

As if the time had turned slow, the mute murderer slid behind her and quickly caught her with a gentle hand. He looked at her with two beautiful concerned eyes. The sun behind him was blinding, shining proudly in front of the murderer's body.

Rune blinked wildly at him before stomping her foot to the criminal's and making him let go of her. The mute murderer raised both of his hands in peace and slowly stepped back. He threw a book to Rune that she quickly caught timidly.

The girl looked at the book for a second suspiciously. Rune noticed that it was her homework with a messily written note on top of it.

"Your friend is in the nursery office at your school." She mumbled to herself while reading the messy handwriting.

She would say that it was almost identical to Axel's if not for how messy it was.

She quickly snapped her neck toward the mute murderer again just to find that he was already gone.

Panicking, she did not have time to think about it before running to the school with a heaving chest. When she arrived in the nursery office she would see Axel go breathless as if he was running too with a bleeding shoulder that was still not bandaged yet.

Just like that day when they were a little, she bandaged him thoroughly.

That day, the criminal she always despised became a white knight for her. She never got to know why he would help her.

She did not even know why she called him a white knight.

Maybe it's the white clothes.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

"Hi, mom." Rune walked under the almost fading sun. She put a bucket of flowers on her mother's grave before crouching and sitting beside the grave.

"Today was... something." The girl began, crescent moon shape eyes formed as she smiled at her late mom. "I was sure that I would meet you earlier. I thought I was going to die."

"You know," She paused, hands caressing the body of the grave gracefully before stopping at the heart of it. "I'm always wondering. Whether you are a white knight or a princess."

"It seems like you are both." Rune sighed, locking her eyes to her mother's beautiful grave. "Because you are too perfect to just be one of them."

She diverted her gaze to the sky, looking at it with two longing eyes. "No wonder why heaven wanted you back."

There was a beat of silence as she let the wind brush her face, swaying the red ponytail around. "Today, someone bad prevent me from meeting you."

"He was dressed in white. Like a knight under the sun, shooting with his gun as he saved me."

"I felt like I was a princess at that time. He held me with gentleness as if I would break any time when I was about to fall."

She looked back at the grave again. "But mom, I can't be both, can I? I can't be a princess and a white knight like you."

"I am nowhere near your level." She sighed, mouth forming a sad smile before turning into a determined one.

"So that mute murderer can't be my white knight too." She added, clenching her fists together.

"He will always be a monster anyway. It doesn't matter if he helps the white knight or saves the princess."

She remembered how he looked at her with concerned eyes that hit too close to home. She brushed the thoughts away by remembering how many people that he killed already.

"A monster is a monster."

The breeze watched in sorrow as Rune spat the words. The sky went dark a little at her words as if the world knew something she did not.

"Anyway, I need to go." She chuckled a little before standing up and brushing the dust on her clothes. "I have a prince to protect, you know the drill."

She looked back once more at the grave. "I hope you're proud of me."

Rune finally walked away. Axel was waiting for her in front of the gate with a bandage over his shoulder, fidgeting in his place as he picked through his nails. Apparently, the wound was not too deep, Axel told her that he fainted because he was in shock.

Silly him, almost making her heart jump out of its place.

The red ponytail girl took a deep breath, wiped her little tears away, and put on her best smile. She needed to be a white knight now, her prince needed her to be there for him.

The sad atmosphere was easily masked by her beaming smile when she held out her hand for Axel. Axel's worried face relaxed when he saw the state of his best friend, knowing that Rune was okay.

Sometimes, in the middle of the soundless night where no one could see her, when the moon was by itself, and the city had gone dark, she would still wonder if the mute murderer was her white knight or her monster.

One day she would find out, maybe.