Hey guys! This is my first fanfic! I love Red Queen and wanted to share my enthusiasm with other readers like you. Some of the first chapters are very similar to the end of Red Queen because I needed to start off with the ending. Anything in bold is from Red Queen and is credited to Victoria Aveyard. Some will also sound similar. The characters all belong to Victoria Aveyard. Feel free to give some feedback on your ideas. Thanks for reading!

Picking up on Page 260 of Red Queen.

"Elara, you have to get Maven out of here," I tell her. "Don't worry about me, just keep him safe."

"Oh, don't you fret, little lightning girl," she sneers. "I don't think about you at all. I'm doing this for me and my son only."

Maven finally has the courage to speak up to his mother..

"Mother, why are you doing this?" He sounds close to tears.

"For you Maven, for us. With your father and brother gone, you are free to rule! You will be king just like you've always wanted. You will no longer be the shadow."

"I DID want to be king, at one time. I've found a greater cause, a greater purpose." He meets my eyes with his sparking blue eyes and I see he means it. While helping the Scarlet Guard and being with me he no longer felt like a shadow.

"You'll change your mind. You're still blinded by that red rat." She spits looking at me.

"That's why I'm going through with this and you WILL be king. My son WILL BE KING!"

"CAPTAIN TYROS!" Cal roars, still able to speak. Elara has not taken that from him yet. But no one comes running. No one can hear us. "EVANGELINE! PTOLEMUS, SOMEONE HELP!"

Elara ignores Cal turning back to Maven.

"My boy did you not realize I knew everything. I've known everything from the beginning. I've been in your little mind and you haven't even noticed."

"Then why did you let it happen?"

She scoffs "To weaken the king and his pitiful kingdom."

"CAPTAIN TYROS!" Cal yells again

"I'm not listening to this any longer." Elara says turning to Cal and The king.

Cal panics, his eyes growing wide,"What are you doing?"

Beneath him, the kings face darkens,"Isn't it obvious?"

Those times she looked through my memories, she didn't care that he was in my memories. She didn't care that he was a part of this. She just wants the rest of us to go down for her and her son to rise to the top.

"All these ideas Maven had, you slipped into his mind and put them there!" I yell catching on

"You gave him the idea for the targets because they were YOUR enemies. You gave him the idea to push me to Cal even though you knew he would never choose me. You made us all believe all of this!"

She laughs,"It's not my fault everyone was stupid enough to fall for it. I can't believe they even let a whisper queen on the throne. But here I am and here I will be with my son who deserves this crown more than either of you fools!" She glares between Tiberias and Cal.

"You both put him in the shadows. He was always second to Cal. Now I have doomed all of you and the Scarlet Guard."

She rounds on me,"You foolish little girl. Your idiocy almost caused my ruin. Using your own Guard in the escape. Causing all the outages. Do you really think I missed your tracks?"

Numb I shake my head, "You let me do it. You knew all about it all."

"Of course, how do you think you've come this far. I had to protect you from anyone with enough sense to see the signs. You are red and you are doomed to fail."

She shakes her head and turns back to her plan and claps her hands.

"Alright, let's get this over with. "

Tiberias looks at Maven still in chains beside me, "Maven, you are my son and I love you. Nothing will change that. Not even her and what she is about to do." He cast a glance at Elara.

"Dearest, I'm not doing anything. But your beloved boy," she says slapping Cal. "The perfect heir" she slaps harder this time," Coriane's son," this slap draws blood,splitting his lip. "I cannot speak for him"

"Mother," Maven says shaking," please don't do this." He must know what she's thinking. "If you love me. Don't do this."

"Maven, I'm doing this because I loved you when they didn't. You'll thank me later. "

Nothing prepares me for what comes next. What Elara makes her puppets do. Cal's hand shakes, reaching forward,pushed along by her will. He tries to resist, struggling with every ounce of strength he has, but it's no use. This is a battle he does not know how to fight.

When his hand closes around the gilded sword, pulling it from the sheath at his father's waist, the last piece of the puzzle slips into place. Tears course down his face, steaming against burning hot skin.

I look to see Maven trembling and biting his lip as his face looks the same.

"It's not you" Tiberias says, his eyes on Cal's wretched face. "I know it's not you son. This is not your fault. "

The sword rises in the air, shaking in Cal's trembling fingers. The blade is ceremonial at best, but the edge gleams, sharp as a razor.

I try to reach for my lighting, but nothing comes. I realize Arven is still standing there, clearly loyal to the queen. Keeping me and Maven from using our abilities.

"Please" is all Cal can say, forcing out the words. "Please."

I feel tears gather in my own eyes

for what Cal is about to do unwillingly. And for what Maven has to watch his mother do.

Now Maven is thrashing against his handcuffs. "Mother!! Don't you dare! Stop! I don't want this!"

There is no regret in Elara's eyes and no remorse. This moment has been coming for a long time. When the sword flashes, arching through air and flesh and bone, she doesn't blink.

The king'a corpse lands with a thud, his head rolling to a stop a few feet away. Silver blood splashes across the floor in a mirrored puddle, lapping at Cal's toes. He drops the sword, letting it clang against stone, before falling to his knees, his head in his hands.

He lets out an unearthly sound of anguish clawing his hands through his hair. The crown clatters across the floor, circling in blood, until it stops at Elara'a feet.

Maven is ghostly pale and in a state of shock with his tears in slow motion on his face.

When Elara screams, wailing and thrashing over the Kings body, I almost laugh aloud at the absurdity of it all. Has she changed her mind? Has she lost it entirely?

The I hear the click of cameras switching on, coming back to life.

"You killed him!" Elara wails pointing at Cal. "You killed your father!" She covers her face to hide a smirk. "You killed your father for the crown and framed your brother as being involved with the Scarlet Guard!"

Cal is in shock and doesn't understand, but I do. Everyone will see this and believe it. No one will follow Cal anymore.

"Run Cal!" I scream, trying to snap him back to life. "You have to run!"

Arven has let me go and I feel my electricity surging through my veins. Maven snaps out of it shaking his head to clear his brain. His mother just killed his father.

I just know we have to run.

I look to Maven. We make eye contact and he mouths. "Go"

In a rage he melts his restraints and sets the room ablaze.

Elara looks shocked and I use her being distracted to try to get Cal to run. He won't move so I give him a little shock and scream,"RUN!"

He gets to his feet quickly and almost slips in a pool of blood.

Elara snaps out of it and I expect her to come after us but she continues acting all distraught for the cameras.

Maven sets a wall of fire between us and him and his mother trying to protect us. "Run!" He mouths.

I hesitate. I don't want to leave him. But then his mother wouldn't hurt him.

I drag Cal along. We both have tears falling down our faces but his are now hot angry tears that I expect to boil on his face as they steam. I'm not even sure where we're going.

Feet pound behind us, the familiar sound of boots. Officers, sentinels, soldiers, they're all chasing, coming for us. The king killer and the one who deceived him and his innocent brother.

We run into the banquet hall and Cal blast long tables out of our way with a strong fire. Then the fire alarm is triggered dousing us in water that steams on Cal's skin.

Then the far end of the banquet hall darkens with gray and black uniforms. There's nowhere to run. We have to fight.

My lightning blazes begging to be set free.

"No" Cal'a voice is hollow, broken. He lowers his own hands, letting the flames disappear. "We can't win this. We have to depend on Maven now."

I look around. We are trapped.

They close in on us. Hundreds of silvers ready to kill us.

They've seen the story Elara wanted them to believe and they do. These are Cal's own soldiers turning on him.

One captain steps forward, keeping his gun surprisingly strapped to his side.

"Submit to arrest," he says hands shaking at his once future King.

Cal locks eyes with his old friend and nods. "We submit to arrest, Captain Tyros."

I want to run. I must run. But I don't. I can't. Cal looks like I feel but worse. His wounds are soul deep.