Sorry for the length! No more stuff in this chapter, promise :) (Unless you guys like it ofc ;) XD) Short thing, review! :)
Chapter Nine
Return
(Notes: AU, mild OOC)
Karigan woke with a groan. Her whole body felt stiff, but some part of her felt immense joy. She shook her head and then remembered her dream. Before she could even think about it though a lady bustled in. An Eletian lady that is.
"You're awake!" She almost sang. "This is good, you need to regain your strength so y-"
"How long was I asleep for?" Karigan asked, cutting off the lady from her speed talk.
"Asleep? You were unconscious for three days," She cooed coming over to check Karigan's temperature.
"Where's Lhean?" Karigan asked trying to sit up.
The Eletian looked away for a moment. She wrung her hands together and looked at Karigan.
"He..he's not dead is he?" She whispered feeling the tears in her eyes.
The Eletian sighed. "He's not dead...he's just not recovering as well as we wish he could...there is not much to do besides wait..."
Karigan put her fists to her eyes and swallowed. "I want to see him."
"Galadheon...you have just awoken...and by the looks of it you are in no state to walk about."
"You do not understand..." Karigan rasped out.
The Eletian woman nodded. A thin line for her lips. She lifted Karigan under the arm to support most of the rider's weight. Pain shot through Karigan as her feet touched the floor. So much had happened... Something very strange had also happened...with the king...or was that all a dream? She shook her head, she would think more on it later...She needed to go see Lhean.
When they arrived at his room the Eletian left Karigan with Lhean for a while after a lot of persuasion. Karigan sat beside the bed staring at the face of the one person who had helped her through everything.
"Lhean...I don't know if you could hear me...but thank you, for everything. None of this would have happened had it not been for you...Just please...please get better soon. We need to get back to our own dimension anyway, and I will not leave you here," Karigan sobbed placing her hand on his. She couldn't lose another friend.
And it would be all her fault...again.
Karigan lay on her bed looking up into the dark night. She had spent most of the day in Lhean's room talking to him although she doubted he could hear. It was night out and the kind Eletian who had helped her had ordered her to get sleep. But Karigan's eyes would not close. Too much was going on in her head. Foremost the battle with Mornhavon...It seemed too easy somehow...
"He shouldn't have died that quickly," she murmured to herself.
Zachary came into her mind. She had the strangest of urges to feel him against her for the entire day, yet she knew not why. Her mind dwelled on him when she remembered something...
She remembered him kissing her...all over. She felt the blush rise to her cheeks as she realized what kind of dream that was. But he had said something else... that it wasn't a dream. But what else could it be? He and she would never be together in that way...though she wished it.
Then it came back... "look for my mark."
Instinctively Karigan's hand flew to her neck and she remembered startlingly the sweet way his lips had felt on her neck...she almost moaned out loud. She stood up immediately regretting it as pain shot through her entire being. She looked around fumbling in the darkness, surely there must be a mirror somewhere around here... She groaned. Her head felt like it was splitting open... slowly, slowly splitting open.
It is not over dear...
Karigan gripped her heart as she did not hear but feel the dark evil voice within her. She breathed in and out raggedly. Telling herself it certainly was not Mornhavon.
"Please no," she whimpered. When there was no response she played it off as her imagination...but was it really?
Karigan lay in bed and shut her eyes tightly. "Go to sleep," she whispered scared to death.
When Karigan woke the first thing she remembered was the voice. But it had not returned since so she dismissed it hesitantly. The second thing was her dream of Zachary. She had hunted down the Eletian woman whose name she found out was Muramite and asked her for a mirror.
Karigan held the mirror in her hand unsure of what to expect. She lifted it to her neck and the mirror would have fallen if not for her fumbling with it after her grip was lost. There it was...a deep red spot on her neck. She swallowed. There was no way on Earth...it must just have been from the battle...she had gotten numerous scars. But why did this one tingle pleasantly each time she ran her hand over it?
Karigan bit her lip. She shook her head. The events were just wearing her down. She had...strange dreams and even stranger wounds, but she would live...
"Muramite, I want to go see the rest of the Eletians," Karigan asked when the Eletian came to check on her.
Muramite took Karigan through the throne room still littered with rubble here and there but looking a lot better than it was before. There were hundreds of Eletians...a small number compared to what was there before, Karigan thought sadly.
Every one she saw smiled kindly at her, she was not sure if she should have felt proud or suspicious that the Eletians looked so kindly upon her.
"I, among almost the lot of Eletians here, were brought by you. We owe you everything Galadheon," Muramite told her as they passed.
"It was an honour," Karigan murmured shyly to which the Eletian simply nodded. "How have I gotten better so quickly?"
"The salve," Muramite answered. Karigan nodded. Of course, the salve was a miracle worker.
"And what of this wound? Why did it not go away yet?" Karigan asked as she touched the mark on her neck.
Muramite chuckled. "I know not much about your race, but that does look much like a love bite to me Galadheon."
Karigan blushed a thousand shades of red. "Do you know how to return to my own dimension?"
"That I do not know Galadheon...maybe the half prince will shed some light on it."
Karigan wondered absently how the Eletians worked so well despite the fall of the king. She asked this.
"We need not mourn King Santanara, but celebrate his life. The day we discovered his body we mourned through the night, but after that we Eletians trudge along and do not carry the burden of grief upon our backs. It will only make us weaker."
Karigan nodded, disagreeing with what she heard though not saying it.
The following days were hectic. Although she was still extremely sore she tried to help out here and there with the rubble. It made no sense to just sit and wait for Lhean to awaken; she had to make some use of herself. Muramite was vehement when she told her not to do any heavy work and the stern look in the Eletian's eyes were enough to just go and lay back in bed in fright of her temper. The beautiful glass decoration which was destroyed was grieved by the Eletians but they looked to brighter things saying that since the prophecy played out, it was time to present a new one as their ceiling.
It brought light to Karigan's heart to be around them. They were not intimidating here as they were in Sacoridia. They seemed more comfortable, more hospitable. She was even surprised to see a few Eletian children. They had supposedly hidden during the battle, she was both happy and relieved that they had survived the ordeal. Even though they were her age, or even older probably, she couldn't help but fall in love with the cherub like children. Everything in Eletia was perfect. Subtract the structural damage and the dead... Karigan shook her head. She decided to go see Lhean again.
When she entered his room she glanced down at his form. He looked so peaceful, so ethereal. The leant forward and stroked his brow as a mother would do her son. Suddenly his eyes blinked open. Karigan made a startled noise and jumped back before rushing once again to his side.
"Lhean!" she cried joyously. He looked at her groggily. "Muramite!" She called.
The Eletia rushed in and gasped at Lhean, going toward him and feeling his skin. "You feel normal already."
"Karigan," he whispered. "We...we need to get back," he croaked.
Muramite whispered that she was going to get some salve before she left the two.
"When you have recovered," she said strongly placing her hand on his.
"No! Now!" he sat up, wincing slightly. She made to him but he pushed her hands away. "I received a message from the gods."
To anyone this would have sounded ridiculous, but Lhean for one was Eletian, and two, Karigan had spoken to the gods herself at one point in time. "What, what did they say?"
"If we do not hurry back to our time soon...we will be stuck here," Karigan gasped in shock.
"W-we don't even know how to get back!"
"Do you remember the mirror mask, he said a heart for remembrance..."
"Yes but what does that mean?" Karigan asked.
"I know, hold your brooch," he whispered. Karigan furrowed her brows but held onto her brooch regardless. "I am sorry," he whispered.
"Wh-" Karigan's question was cut off with a startled gasp. Pain ripped through her as Lhean stuck the knife deep between her ribs, slicing into her tissue. A scream of pain broke free from her lips when she noticed that the world around her was changing to white. Either it was really working, whatever it was, or she was just blacking out, the more probable answer.
Karigan felt wooden floors against her back. She gasped for breath but each time she did a sliver of pain shot through her like a lightning bolt.
"Karigan!" An all too familiar voice cried. In her pained state though she heard nothing more as blackness overtook her.
Zachary cried out in pain as he took in the form before him. He was readying for the journey into Blackveil when she appeared beaten and bloody on his floor. He rushed to her and cradled his bleeding love in his arms, his heart ripping in two. He called helplessly to the others, his own voice sounding a million miles away. All he knew was that his love was dying, he had to save her. And even when they tried to pull her free from his arms he fought them. Damn them for thinking they could take her from him again. He would carry her himself to the mending wing. Hot salty tears poured down his face.
"Kari...Kari," he whispered over and over again.
Feedback as always :) Sorry for any errors, just wrote this up didn't have much time to check over, just wanted to get it out to you :) Thanks for the reviews and the adds! :)
