Breathe

Clove froze as Nia hugged her, and she could feel Nia crying as well, it made her feel uncomfortable, because surely Nia had mistaken her for someone else, and yet, with all of this, deep down Clove felt some sort of familiarity right now, and she did not know why.

"Oh my lady, I missed you so much, I missed you so much" said Nia in sobs as Clove felt like there was something she was missing, something that she should have remembered in this moment, but she did not know what.

"I thought you were gone, but you are back" said Nia as she cried, she just felt so overwhelmed right now, she was right there when Clove had died, she had watched her die right there on the ground, and yet here she was.

Nia did not know how this was possible, and neither did she care, she was just so happy that Clove was back, alive and well.

Clove just let Nia cry out all her boarded up emotions, and even though she was confused she did not say anything at all.

"Do you feel better now Nia?" asked Clove as Nia nodded and she sniffed and stopped hugging Clove.

"Alright, now Nia, I am sorry to say, but I think that you mistook me for someone else, I am not your lady" said Clove.

"But you are my lady you are" said Nia as she was crying again, but this time they were tears of Joy.

"But… how are you so sure that I am your lady?" asked Clove as this made no sense to her.

"You are my lady, you are her, you look like you, you sound like you, you are you" said Nia with a smile.

"Nia, you are confusing me, really, I am not her, I am Sage and not her" said Clove as she wondered what made Nia mistake her for her lady, after all, she had referred to her as Sage before, what had changed now?

"Wait a minute Nia, you said that I look like your lady?" asked Clove as Nia nodded.

"And you only realize that now?" asked Clove.

"My lady, look" said Nia as she brought out a little piece of glass and she handed it to Clove as Clove looked at her reflection in the mirror as she gasped and touched her face.

She looked like herself, her blonde hair was back, and her face had changed back, Clove was sure that the changing spell casted on her had washed off when she was pushed into the river.

And then It dawned on her that Nia had seen her like this and had confused her lady, and it was not a coincidence, Nia told her that she was sure that she was who she said she was.

"And you think that I look like your lady?" asked Clove as she was honestly confused, she had never seen Azazel's wife before for her to compare their looks.

"My lady you cannot remember me??"asked Nia in confusion as Clove shook her head.

"If you cannot remember me, or anything else for that matter, then it either means that you lost your memories or you forgot them" said Nia to out loud as she was thinking to herself.

"Lost my memories?" asked Clove as Nia nodded and Clove did not know what to think.

"But that impossible, I remember all my memories, Nia are you sure that you have not mistaken me for someone else?" asked Clove as Nia shook her head.

"No my lady, I am sure that you are you, how can I prove it to you?" asked Nia as she was thinking and Clove just watched her.

"Aha, my lady, when you were little, your favourite hairstyle were pigtails, because they reminded you of the little cute pigs that you had on your farm with your parents, and you believed that they were cute, and you also loved pigtails because they were the easiest hairstyle you could do in mere minutes" said Nia as Clove gasped and she looked at Nia in horror, she could not have known that about her if she had not told her herself.

"You do know me…" said Clove in horror as she could not believe this, that was very personal information about her that no one else even knew, the only way Nia would have known this would be if she told her about it, which in this case Clove was starting to believe that she did.

"Yes my lady, you told me that and much more, you told me that as a child, all you wanted to do was to help your parents, and that led you to even try selling your toys but they found out and stopped you, and told you not to worry, because the duty of a parent is to provide for their child, and not the other way around" said Nia as with all of her words, she caused Clove to doubt herself even more.

"No, this cannot be happening, I can not be your lady" said Clove as she needed a moment to think and then it hit her.

"*Gasp* If I am your lady, then does that not make me Azazel's wife?" asked Clove with wide eyes and Nia nodded as Clove felt her legs give way and she fell to the ground as Nia rushed to her.

"No way, this cannot be happening, this is all a dream, just a very horrible dream that you have to wake up from Clove" said Clove to herself as she felt herself hyperventilating as Nia tried to calm her down, she felt like her whole life was a lie right now, a very horrible lie.

"My lady, breathe, please breathe" said Nia as Clove nodded and she tried to breathe.

"This cannot be happening to me right now" said Clove.

"I can't be Azazel's wife, Azazel is the enemy!" said Clove as she sounded like she was reassuring herself more than anyone else.

"I can't be that stupid to fall in love with the enemy right?? Right??" asked Clove while looking at Nia who could see that she was struggling right now.

"My lady, please calm down, I know that this is a lot to take in" said Nia as Clove laughed.

"No, this is bizarre, for all good lovely things, this must be a lie, if I am truly Azazel's wife, then that means I have a child, it is impossible I have never had a child in my entire life, this has to be a mistake" said Clove as she felt like her entire life was a lie right now.

"My lady, I understand your situation, but everything I said is the truth, you truly are my lady, and Azazel's wife" said Nia as Clove looked at her and burst into tears.

"But how can that be possible, I have never met him before in my entire life, I am a member of the cauldron, in the division solely dedicated to stopping him, how can all this be true, please tell me that you are lying Nia, please I beg you" said Clove as she cried and Nia hugged her.

"Oh there, there my lady, I know that this is hard for you, and you have lots of time to process everything" said Nia as she hugged the crying Clove.

"Nia, I refuse to believe this, it makes no sense, if this is true, then how come I do not remember anything about him, or about supposedly being his wife?" asked Clove.

"My lady, I know that nothing I say right now can prove to you that I am speaking the truth, but I have some things to show you as proof" said Nia.

"And what are they?" asked Clove with a sniff.

"Come on, let's go to your room my lady" said Nia as Clove sniffed.

…

"Here my lady, these are some things that can make you remember" said Nia as Clove was siting on the bed in her room as she looked at Nia who gestured for her to go on as Clove sighed and hesitated, wondering if she would see something that she did not want to know.

Nia just kept silent as she did not pressure Clove at all and she waited for her to take her time as Clove unwrapped the cloth and she saw a frame that had a picture of her smiling and Azazel was beside her looking as cold as ever.

"This proves nothing, this picture could have easily been forged" said Clove as she looked at Nia who shook her head.

"I assure you my lady, I am not lying to you, I would never do that, if you need proof you can touch me and sense my heart, I wish you no harm" replied Nia as Clove sniffed and her eyes were still red from her earlier crying.

"You know about that as well?" asked Clove.

"Yes my lady, you told me about it" replied Nia as Clove sighed, she had to have really trusted Nia in the past for her to tell her about her powers.

Clove said nothing as she picked up a crystal shard and she played it as she saw an image of herself talking, and she seemed to be addressing Nia, and asking her to do some things for her.

Clove stopped the recording from playing as she took deep breath and she sighed trying to take this all in as she closed her eyes.

Nothing could explain how horrible she felt right now, she felt like her entire life was a lie, the life that she had was seemingly a fake one, and worst of all, she had just found out that somehow she was the former dead wife of the worst man in the entire realm.

"My lady are you alright?" asked Nia as Clove opened her eyes.

"Tell me Nia, what happened to me?" asked Clove.

"You… you were killed my lady" replied Nia.

"By who?" asked Clove.

"By Selene… she tried to cover up and make it seem like Annie did it, but we all knew that It was her" said Nia.

"Surely I should have known that she would, why did I not try to stop It from happening?" asked Clove.

"You had hoped that your death would change everything, but it sadly did not, Azazel went ahead with all his plans and here we are…" said Nia as Clove just looked at her while thinking, she would be lying if she said that this did not affect her, she felt lied and betrayed to right now, and the mere thought of having a child with Azazel churned her stomach.

"And what about… my… the child, the daughter that I had with Azazel, where is she now?" asked Clove.

"I do not know my lady, she was never close to you or Azazel, she did not support his plans, so she joined the High Council's side" said Nia.

"Wait a minute, if this is all really true, then how come Azazel does not seem to recognize his own wife?" asked Clove as she still had an ounce of doubt.

"My lady, after what happened in the Plain of Kadama, Azazel was left seriously ill, he was sick on the verge of death, and that warranted Selene to do something to save him, we do not know what it is that she did, but all we knew was that the next day, Azazel was alright and back to full strength with Selene sticking to him like glue, he had almost no recollection of what happened previously before he fell ill, and worst of all, he forgot you" said Nia as Clove was thinking,

She still felt like this was a lie, but she knew that it would be stupid for her to ignore all of this.

Meanwhile Nia was quiet as she just let Clove process everything. Clove was thinking, Azazel did not remember her, and neither did she remember him, so why then was he so interested in her that he would even save her? She was still sure that maybe he knew she was a spy and he wanted to kill her.

"My lady do you still not believe me?" asked Nia as Clove sighed.

"Nia, this is a lot to take in, it's like I had a past life that I didn't even know about, I would be lying if I said that I understood and believed everything you are telling me" replied Clove.

"Well maybe it would help if you could recover your memories" said Nia and Clove sighed.

"Nia, I want to see my grave, where was I buried?" asked Clove as Nia looked at her in surprised.

"You were buried in Kadama my lady" replied Nia.

"Can you take me there Nia? I want to see for myself" said Clove as Nia looked hesitant.

"Nia I beg you, please take me there, you are the only one that I can ask" said Clove as Nia sighed.

"Alright my lady, I can take you there, but not right now, that would have to be tomorrow" said Nia and Clove sighed, tomorrow was too far for her, but she had no other choice.

"Alright thank you Nia" replied Clove.

"You are welcome my lady, please try to rest, I have to go now before Selene comes looking for me" said Nia as Clove nodded, she understood that Nia had to go, and she even wanted to be alone.

"Rest well" said Nia with a smile as she left and Clove doubted if she would be able to, her mind was racing with all the new information that she had gathered today.

…

Clove sighed as she got out of bed, it was late and she could not sleep, she felt so overwhelmed right now.

Clove looked at her reflection in the mirror, she had casted the changing spell on herself just in case she ran into Selene.

Clove could not sleep at all, so she opened the door and left her room as she walked into the cold, empty camp where everyone was already asleep.

She decided to go on a walk to clear her mind, she felt like her whole world was crumbling.

Clove was deep in her thoughts that she did not notice a pair of dark, cold blue eyes watching her.

Clove stopped walking when she realized that it was dangerous for her to be walking alone at night, so she just stood there.

"What are you doing out here, it is dangerous to be out here alone" came a cold voice as Clove looked at him as she sighed internally.