70: You've changed

"So let me get this straight, Sebastian's psychotic bitch of a mother is alive and once again planning the ultimate end of the world?" Demetri said, now well enough to be on his own two feet. He was, however, still not yet strong enough to take on his wolf form, and so we walked for most of the journey with Sebastian and I occasionally taking it upon ourselves to carry him forward. But we were not at our strongest either, as it seemed our journey to hell had taken a lot of our strength and energy and to be quite frank, Demetri was not the lightest werewolf on Earth.
"Hey, watch your mouth. Only Phoenix and I can call my mother a bitch. You, however, are very much prohibited." Sebastian said, and then shoved Demetri in the shoulder. Demetri snickered and rolled his eyes at Sebastian, before asking, "Do we have an idea who Katherine could be?"
"Katherine Chase." To my surprise, Sebastian had said it at the exact same time that I did. It seemed we both had the exact same idea.
Demetri looked between the both of us and then nodded. "Okay, I can see where you two are coming from... but don't you think that's a little obvious? I'm no genius, but if I were Katherine Dragovic, I would choose to be someone unsuspecting. Someone close, but not too close. After all, she is a very cunning, backstabbing little bi-”
“-Or Katherine could be hiding in plain sight.” Sebastian retorted.
I could see an argument brewing within the stormy blue eyes of both Sebastian and Demetri and decided it would be safer for us all if I interjected. “Nonetheless, we should be cautious around everyone. Now that we know that Katherine is actually alive, we can look out for her mistakes and her slip ups. Maybe Demetri is right, maybe she isn’t Katherine Chase, but we can’t take any risks.” I said.
Sebastian looked towards Demetri, and they held a stern gaze for a moment before turning their attention back towards me and nodding.

By the time we made it back to the palace- Demetri and I made it passed the notorious guarded gate all thanks to Liam and Xavier who managed to sneak us through an opening they’d created in between one or two of the glass shards of the gate- the entire sky was covered in its usual sheeting of dull grey clouds, and by the subtle warmth in the air caressing against my skin, I could tell that it was well past morning . The first person I met when I entered the doors to the palace, besides Erwin who’d disappeared a moment after he welcomed Sebastian and I, was Alice. She was overjoyed to see me, which was clear by her near-death inducing, lung crushing hug.
“Oh my Goddess! I thought you were dead Phoenix… where have you been!” She yelled. She obviously expected a coherent answer, but instead received the following:
“…C-can’t… r-reathe… c-can’t reathe!”
“Alice, I think you’re suffocating her.” Demetri said with a slight sense of urgency in his voice.
Alice gasped and let me go immediately before apologising profusely. I, on the other hand, was gasping for air and trying to recover from the near-death experience.
“I guess I’ve been a little concerned.” Her eyes then wandered towards Sebastian, and she scowled deeply. “I thought he ate you.”
At first her statement sounded normal, until I began to truly process what she had just said. “I’m sorry what?”
“You know… ate you. You were gone for a long time and whenever I asked Sebastian where you’d gone… well every time anyone asked Sebastian where you were, he’d say you were sick which, now that I think about it, it sounds pretty unbelievable. I mean you never get sick…”
Eventually she began rambling on and on about how she’d eventually gotten to the conclusion that I’d been devoured by Sebastian. In all honesty, I lost track about halfway through her ramble and Demetri and Sebastian began their own little quarrel in the background while I was subjected to staring at Alice, occasionally blinking, and sometimes throwing in a nod here and there, just so she thought I was actually paying attention. Once she’d completed her ramble, she took a deep breath, smiled and then asked, “So where were you, seriously?”
It was at this point that Xavier and Liam walked in hand-in-hand until they saw Alice and immediately dropped their joined hands.
She pointed towards them and sighed, “And for Goddess sake, everyone knows that you two are a thing by now.”
I chuckled, raised my hand and then beckoned Demetri, Liam, Xavier and Sebastian to come closer. Once each and every one of them were by my side I smiled at Alice who stood in front of us beyond confused. “Actually Alice… *we’re* a thing.”
She gaped for a moment and stared at the five of us in absolute shock for a moment or so before drawing a breath and blinking a few times.
“Y-you’re kidding me, right? You’re telling me that you are in a relationship with all *four* of these men?”
I looked towards my left and right, glancing at the faces of all of my lovers and chuckled before nodding. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. I’d like to officially introduce myself to you, Alice. My name is Phoenix Ackerman, and once upon a time Diana Dragović, and these pain in the asses right next to me, they are my four… well mates, to put it simply.”
I was about to go on further when Sebastian stopped me saying, “Are you sure you want to trust her with your secret. After all, there are only a handful of people we can trust.”
I shook my head at him and said, “I know who I should and should not trust, and I trust her.” Then I turned my attention back towards Alice who continued to gaze at the four of us in confusion and astonishment. I smiled, walked up to her, took her hands in mine and stared up into her eyes. She stared right back into my golden irises, and slowly her green orbs widened, and she gasped. “Y-you’ve changed.”
“I have yes. Now, let me tell you a story…” I looked back towards the others, smiled and said, “…our story.”
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Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!