A/N: yay!e chapter ten! honestly, im surprised that i made it this far with the fic. still working on making my chapters longer, though im afraid that its not working to well. if anyone has ideas dor things ro put in my story, please let me knew, either through P.M or review. thanks for reading!
Oh my. i hadnt realised that Jack would actually be CURIOUS about what i said. normally when i say something cryptic like that , people leave it alone. normally i feel relief/sadness when they do that, but i just got used to the noncaringness.
the last thing that i would have ever expected was for someone to ask how i ended up how i was. "Err... Oh hey, would you look at that!" i exclaimed. i was surprised that all the Guardians looked, but wasted no time running out of the room as quickly as i possibly could. i wasnt stupid enough to try and escape; all i wanted ro do was find somewhere to sort out my thoughts.
i ran for what seemed to be the longest time; but thats probably only because i kept tripping over the dress that i was wearing. Yeah, yeah i said DRESS. i was sent into exile so soon after i had died, so i never had a chance get something that was easier to move around in. Remember, i died as a southern girl in the civil war. of course i would be wearing a dress.
if i am being honest, its not that bad. the dress is a steriotypical southern bele dress , except for the fact that it is all black with purple ribbon and lace. the thing was worn beyond beleif though; i mean, there were holes and tears everywhere. the bottom was completely frayed and unraveling. The sleeves were in pretty much the same condirion, with tears, holes and dried blood all over them. The whole dress was a disaster; it looked exatly like the sleeves did.
yeah, i was a mess. after a while i stopped running when i came to an abandoned area of the workshop. it loked like it had been used and cherished a long time ago, but was now an abandoned shell of what it had been. sawdust covered the floor and poofed up in little clouds wherever i stepped; covering me and my already worn dress in it. the walls were pure wood in most places, but here and there i could see patches of long forgotren and ill taken care of paint sparsely distributed among the walls.
there were some splintered boards scattered around the ainchent room, along with broken tables, shatered glass and the remains of long forgotten toys, some still unfinished; dropped by whoever had been making them and doomed to lie, forgotten in the ruins of this section of the workshop.
it was actually really sad ro see. the whole area permeated an air of sorrow that was more profound than anything i had ever felt before. something horribe had happened there, once upon a time. some great disaster or tragedy that was worthy of the haunting air that lived in this part of the workshop. something that the residents no doubt still cried about in the nights where sadness and memories drifted through the halls like smoke and fog.
The air seemed to slide down in my throat, going into my heart instead of my lungs; making me recall all the things that had happened to me once upon a time. all the things that had happened to me recently, and all the memories that i had locked in the back of my mind, breaking through the vault doors to unleash the flood.
one memory in particular came to me. "Come on Ari. Just a couple of steps and youll be alright. i promise." As i hesitated to move, Nix added kindly "Come on; dont tell methat you dont believe in me any more?"
Ten year old me gasped in horror at the though. "No! No! No! i still believe! i promise! im just scared! if i go back; Uncle Marcus will hurt me! i know that he will!"
Nix got an angry look on her face and said darkly "No he wont. He wont ever touch you again. Your mama is coming to take you back to Viksburg again. And i will make surethat uncle Marcus will never see the light of day again." Ten year old me shuddered at the thought. "Nix?" she called in a small voice.
"Yes Ari?" Nix awnsered kindly. Ten year old Ari tok a shaky breath and asked "Are you going to do the thing with the dark? the one where he gets the nightmares?"
Nix smiled darkly. "dont worry about that sweetheart. just know that Marcus wont ever bother anyome again." then she held out her hand,and Ari took it withought a second thought. After all, Nix always made the bad things stop with tha dark. Ari never had to be afraid of the dark.
Four weeks later, ten year old Ari stood at her Uncle Marcuses funeral. The letter had said that he had died from choking on sand. Ari held her daddys hand and wondered how Uncle Marcus had managed to eat sand. Her mamma had said that uncle had been a smart man, but no smaet person would eat sand.
Ari didnt cry at the funeral. she was glad that Uncle Marcus was gone, Because that meant that he couldnt hurt her any more. She was a little sad though. ahe didnt think that it was good that he had died. it made mamma and daddy sad.
Nix ccame out from the shadows of a tree and crouched down next to Ari. "Whats wrong Ari? are you sad that your uncle died?" Ari nodded her head. "he was mean." she sniffled "but its sad that a person died for being mean. it would have been ok if he gpt a time out though.'
Nix shook her head at the little girl and smiled softly when she asked "You disnt kill him...right?" Nix lied easily as she said "No. i just gave him a time out sweet heart, just a time out." The child was so nieave. it was sweet. Yea, Nix protected the girl, Yes, Nix was attached to her. But Nix was also darkness herself; and darkness did not change her ways for just one child.
i gasped in shock as the memorie ended. How had my memory somehow given i sight into the thoughts of Nix? It seemed impossible. i was reeling enough from just that alone, when something else ocvured to me. Nix, m,y child hood hero and protector, jad murdered my uncle in the dead of night.
That shocked me more than anything ever could have. I had replaced Nix in exile, because i believed that she was a hero, a savior to children, someone who would protect people who were unable to pritect themselves. but by doing that, had i simply let a coldblooded killer continue on in her death row, going along un punished?
The thought was just too much for me to process, so i did the only thijng that seemed reasonable to do at the time. I sat down on the sawdust coverd floor, put my head in my hands in cried.
A/N: wow, i think this is the longest chapter that i have ever done! i hope that everyone likes it! thanks to everyone who reads reviews or faves/ follows! you guys are all awesome!