𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 {𝕍𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟 𝕩 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣}

-Chapter Twenty-Three- The Loneliest

/you're still the oxygen i breathe/ i see your face when i close my eyes/ it's torturous/ tonight is gonna be the loneliest/

-the loneliest, måneskin

Six months.

Y/n had been on her own for six months.

And she was... not doing well.

She had been roaming the wilderness, stopping briefly in towns, but never staying in one place for more than a few days, and always staying close to the Corona walls.

Food was easy to find. Y/n remembered her botany lessons, and she knew which plants were and were not safe to eat.

She stole where she could, too. Nothing too bad- she was still trying to stay hidden, after all- but if a couple caravans woke up missing their bread, it certainly wasn't Y/n's problem.

And she'd gained... a bit of a reputation.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

About a month into hiding, there had been an accident. A horse and carriage had come speeding down the road, and unfortunately, the line of black rocks was far too close for comfort.

One thing led to another. Y/n tried to dodge out of the way of the carriage, and one of the amber compounds in her coat had come dislodged.

The sphere had fallen to the ground as Y/n rolled out of the way. The second it hit the black rocks, it burst upwards in a terrible spire of translucent rage.

The carriage was fine. None of the people inside were harmed. The horse, however...

Well. At least it wasn't as bad as Quirin. A person encased in (f/c) amber on the side of the road probably wouldn't have gone over well.

Still, rumors had spread. Suddenly, it wasn't a horse, but it was a team of horses. No, said some, it was an entire carriage. Of course not, argued others, it was a person. The rumors grew and grew, until suddenly everyone knew about the girl in the black coat, the one with a golden streak in her hair who could encase armies of people in amber with a snap of her fingers.

Obviously, none of these were true. But it made getting around unnoticed... just a tad bit harder.

And, of course she still had no idea how she was going to get Varian out. Or get her throne back, for that matter.

She was starting to lose hope.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Now, Y/n strolled along the path of black rocks that led past Corona's borders, traveling in the opposite direction that the rocks seemed to have pointed Rapunzel, hair streak glowing in the bright sunlight.

She would head back to where Corona's wall had fallen, maybe stop at a town along the way for some extra supplies.

The months spent on her own had made Y/n more prepared, and more resourceful. After the incident with the amber, she had managed to acquire a full tool belt, where she stored her remaining spheres, along with a few other useful tools. Y/n had picked up some general compounds wherever she could, and the multicolored vials were neatly tucked into the belt's pockets, ready to be pulled out whenever it was necessary.

Her boots clicked along the obsidian rocks as she continued walking. Y/n's wardrobe hadn't changed since she had fled- although she obviously washed it as often as she could. She might be on the run, but she wasn't an animal.