Turning tides

Amelia's words sent trembles down Perses. Amelia herself was not a frightening figure, and arguably, she had been nothing but affectionate towards Perses. But it didn't matter. The darkness of the throne room and his time there, it had irreversibly changed him. 

Despite this, once Amelia had turned to leave, he followed behind with no hesitation. It was pure logic that dictated this decision. The harrowing booming beneath his feet simply drove him towards the safest place around, by Amelia's side. 

"Do you, do you know what that noise is?"

As Perses kept pace, Amelia smiled, warmed by his attention. Though the severity of her attitude was evident in her strides, she shrugged her shoulders amusedly. 

"Don't know? Does it matter? It's probably just a big fiend, so let's just leave while we can. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy this journey a lot, hehe."

With a cheerful grin, she looked to her side at Asteria, who lagged behind and asked. 

"It was this way, right?"

Asteria appeared equally shaken by the tremours of the ground and had taken a little longer to begin moving. She hid her fear well, but it was blatant how fragile she really was. However, walking beside Amelia would make anyone appear that way. 

"Amelia, you don't remember? Yes, it's this way. What would you do without me?"

Further agitated by Amelia's words, Perses did not miss Asteria's efforts to rush after the pair joining beside them. As they approached the ocean, Amelia didn't stop talking. Excited, she continued to ask Perses many things. All of them were ridiculous. It was painfully clear she was only attempting to alleviate their fears as the quaking ground failed to cease.

As they approached, Asteria remained mostly silent, and Perses only responded to Amelia with brief answers as he was occupied discussing with the devil girl inside his mind. 

'These tremours, Machia said something was approaching the kingdom. First it was an army, but now this. Any ideas what it is?

'Hmm, nah, not really.'

'Enlightening as usual' Perses sighed at the lazy response of the devil, causing Amelia to tilt her head curiously at him.

'Are you sure you have no idea? Come on, what was the point of wandering around all that time if you're too stupid to remember anything?

'I'm not stupid! It's your friend, who attacked you twice now that has all the secrets. It's your fault you didn't ask him, so why should I know?'

Frowning at the devil girl's cruel words, Perses did his best to block out the yelling and name-calling in his head as he turned to speak to the quiet Asteria.

"Anyway, where's this boat of yours? I don't see it anywhere."

As the trio approached the ocean, Perses inhaled deeply, regretting his words. 

"The fuck is that?"

Amelia laughed sheepishly as she looked away whilst Asteria stared daggers towards Perses. A lone wooden board sat on the sand. It stretched wide enough that it could fit multiple people, and its craftsmanship did not appear flimsy. But there was not even a sail present. It was basically a big plank of wood.

"This is a raft, idiot! What were you expecting? I built this thing in a week for us, so don't you dare complain!"

Amelia tried to lighten the argument, raising her arms and putting herself between Perses and Asteria. 

"That's right, I helped too, but you did a really, really great job since I left Asteria. I can see that, so please don't be mad."

Rather than reduce Asteria's annoyance, she only fanned the flames as she stared coldly at Amelia. 

"You left me halfway through."

Amelia backed away in surrender whilst Asteria stared accusingly.

"Sorry, but uh, you know how it is, I couldn't wait any longer. I needed to go save Perses."

Relieving Amelia of her gaze, she turned to stare at the ocean. Perses sent an apologetic glance to Amelia as he eyed the 'raft'. 

"I remember Machia telling me how boats work and how they had been abandoned for a long time. That the ocean was too dangerous for something like a sailboat... So I was wondering where... is the sail. 

Asteria turned her anxious gaze away from the ocean as she looked at him with surprise. 

"Oh, that's what you were worried about. I'm impressed you know what a sail is. I guess you do know some things. Well, you see, we have Amelia, so we don't need one... Wait, did you say M-"

"Huh, what do you mean we have Amelia."

Perses turned to share a bewildered gaze with Amelia. Noticing his attention, she smiled and waved back. Asteria nodded her head at Perse's shock knowingly. 

"Yes, I was just as confused. That idiot over there said we don't need one. She said she'll push us herself."

Perse's bemused gaze switched to one of distrust as Amelia blinked, confused. 

'Yeah, I'm not getting on that.'

Distracting him, the devil girl spoke inside his head with abject refusal. Perses sighed. It seemed things were getting complicated. 

'Well... tough.'

Doing his best to block out the taunts and protests from the devil girl, he walked over towards the beached raft and sat on it stubbornly. He sent a look of challenge towards Amelia, who quickly grasped his intent. Nonchalantly, she approached, bent down and lifted the raft into the air with ease. 

Perses looked at her, impressed. He'd had his doubts whether she was strong enough to lift both him and the raft. But unsurprisingly, she did it with ease. But that awe did not fade. More than anything, he was shocked that he hadn't fallen through the thing. 

"Impressed, right? I made it as sturdy as can be with the tools the army left behind. A little bit of salvaging and ingenuity went a long way. Plus, Amelia did the heavy lifting.

Amelia hid behind her hand. She was a little too pleased with her praise, even carrying the raft with a single hand. Perses couldn't help but feel sorry for her as Asteria looked up at Perses smugly. 

"I am impressed. This thing really might work. I admit it. I was wrong."

Asteria blinked, startled by his words. 

"Hoh, you're actually a pretty open-minded guy, Perses. I take back what I said earlier. I hope we can get along. 

As she spoke, she climbed aboard the raft, not encumbering Amelia even a little. As she sat down opposite Perses, she noticed how small it really was. As Perses and Asteria shared awkward glances, they turned towards Amelia at the same time. 

"Yeah, I changed my mind.

"We'll have to make it bigger. This is really awkward."

Amelia laughed sheepishly, but her face suddenly darkened, almost dropping the raft entirely. Turning her head fiercely, she looked towards the distant Kingdom with tense emerald eyes. 

From atop the raft, Perses followed her gaze, staring incessantly. For just a brief moment, a mere instance, he thought he saw the visage of the castle burst open. A strange idea popped into his head as he tried to strengthen his eyes, but nothing seemed to happen.

Suddenly, shadows burst into the sky.