I was trying to complete two chapters at the same time, but, as usual, I fail!
Disclaimer: Why am I still even doing these?
)0~~~~~~~~~~0(
Chapter Ten
Truth Rising
Screams, shouts, and roars filled the room.
All at once, the entire Hall burst into chaos. My mother's cry, Blunder's shocked gasp as he released me, Toothless's outraged roar, and all the Vikings and dragons on the island exploding with the unbelievably loud shock and anger of what had just happened.
But I could hear none of it. All I had seen so clearly had become a nameless hall full of slow-motion echos and blurrs in a split second. And all that fear and anger I had just felt moments ago had burst into an unbearable crushing sensation in my chest.
I could understand nothing, believe nothing, change nothing.
I could not focus nor see.
I trembled where I stood, too frozen and electricuted by the shock of the events playing over and over and over again in my mind's eye.
My best friend had killed my father.
I had killed my own father.
I should never had helped that boy. Ever. What had I done?
My eyes wandered around the hall, taking in the blurs as every single one of them frantically raced around the hall, some rushed for the exit, others rushed for each other, all in slow-motion.
My eyes caught on to a still shape in the center of it all. The only thing not daring to move. My eyes focused, and immediately I saw the jet-black hair, and even through all the commotion and dim torch-lighting, I could see the burning blue of his eyes.
Everything around us slowly took focus as I stared at him, his eyes slowly met mine, and we stared at each other. Green vs. Blue. Love vs. Hate. Light vs. Darkness. Guilt vs. Vengeance. Loyalty vs. Betrayal.
My stare turned into a sharp glare as my breathing deepened in fury.
He saw it. I know he saw it.
He turned his back to me and made his way toward the door, taking long strides.
Fueled with rage, I ran after him, doing my best to navigate my way through the berserk crowd.
He soon reached the door, and exited without looking back. I was in his pursuit, nearly running as the brisk night air pinched my skin.
He was walking incredibly fast, and my vision was still incredibly blurred, so he was pretty much all I could see. I tripped and stumbled over nameless things around me, trying to reach him. My foot caught on an empty cart, and I fell face-first into the road, but I didn't realise it until I slammed onto the ground.
I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes. I swallowed hard. My vision finally somewhat returned in the dark of the night. I pushed myself off the dirt and rock of the old road beneath me with a new-found determination. I took off running, with that spark from Glimmer's lightning hot in my blood. The fire that usually remained dormant in my heart pumped through my viens, unlike any adrenaline I had ever had before I acquried Glimmer. No, it was not adrenaline. It was pure bravery.
He had just reached the beach before I caught up to him. The sun, surprisingly, had just barely started to rise, so I could just make out a hint of light blue over the horizon.
"ZEPHYR!" I screamed as loud as I could, "I trusted you!"
He stopped, his back still facing me. I slowed. Then, as I got close enough to him, he swiveled around on his heel and back-handed me across the face with all his force. I was knocked to the ground instantly. The speed I was going added to the force I hit the ground at and I rolled a foot or two. I came to a stop on my back, and I propped my self up on my elbow, and my opposite hand went to my cheek. The stinging made my eyes water. I looked up at Zephyr, shocked. He was panting heavily, with a pained look on his face.
"Stay away, Less." he said between pants. "I don't want to hurt you."
I felt my face screw up in confusion.
"You don't want to hurt me? You just smacked across the face!" I said, standing. "You killed my father." I said, in a much more hallow tone. He should've known that this was unforgivable, if he didn't already.
He stood there, looking defeated, then advanced and punched me in the cheek. I grunted and hit the ground. The pain brought my eyes to water once again, but I refused to let him get away with his crime. I pushed myself off the ground again, and he extended his fist to my face. Over and over, he would hit me, in the stomach or face or head, it didn't seem to matter much, and I would fall, then get right back up again and take another hit. After about the twelth hit to my face, I fell, and I knew I couldn't get up again too much longer.
But I stood anyway, knees wobbly, legs shaking, breaths shallow, everywhere, aching.
Zephyr was breathing heavily again. After throwing relentless hit after hit, his knuckles were coated in a thin layer of blood. Strangly enough, I was a bit surprised to find it was mine. But it was true, there was a thick gash in the middle of my forehead, and I could feel the blood seeping down onto my brow. He must've been hitting a lot harder than I thought, I didn't really feel the gash open in the first place. My left cheek was split open, too. That one, I had felt.
"Less, why are you doing this?" he asked, with pain and confusion leaking into his voice.
I tried to steady my breath before I said, "Because. I trusted you. You betrayed me. Your father really was a revenge-driven monster. I guess that just runs in the family."
Zephyr's features turned angry and stiff, "Don't talk about my father like that!" he threatened.
"Or what? You'll kill me? Hit me some more?" I asked, now the defeat and pain welled up in my voice, and it began to break every now and again. "Go ahead. I'm done. I wont fight. The only thing inside me that said something was worth fighting for died when you stabbed my father in the heart. All for revenge. You were just running on blind faith, you never questioned him, never disobeyed him, never gave him any reason to abandon you. But he did anyway. And you still love him and believe in him and he's your hero and you'd do anything for him without even blinking an eye. But he's gone now. And he won't ever come back. But you've forfilled your father's legacy. You got your revenge. At least now you have something. Because once you've brought that kind of misery and terror and pain to people, you loose everything."
Zephyr stood there, and it was still so dark I couldn't see the look in his eyes. I could just see the blue outline of his irises.
"Just tell me why." I whispered, trying as hard as I could not to let the tears flow down my cheeks and into my wounds and drip to the ground below me. "Why you would want to kill someone for the father who never cared enough to give you so much as a 'Hey, son, how ya doing? I'm alive! I'm well!'?"
I could see Zephyr's jaw set. "Why should I?"
"Because I saved your life. You owe me that much."
Zephyr's lower lip dawn was breaking, and a sliver of gold could be seen over the sea. The light allowed me to view the glass in Zephyr's placid-like eyes.
"Because ever since the last time I ever saw him, I dreamed of the day he would come back home. And I promised myself that when he did come back, I would've done something to make him proud. I trained, studied, worked so hard to become what he wanted me to be. Then your father told me he'd been dead since before I could walk and..." he trailed off, turning his head away and biting his lip. "I felt a horrible crushing in my chest, and all I could feel was pain and anger. Like it was my fault. Then, I just had this uncontrolable urge to avenge my hero. To avenge my father."
He broke off with a whimper, and I realised just how similar we were. I actually understood what he was feeling when he killed my father. It was the anger and the pain that took a hold of him. But that did not mean he deserved to be forgiven.
"It's still murder. It's still unforgivable." I said, in a brave, strong, steady tone of voice.
"I know. And I never asked for your forgiveness." He turned back to me, the anger obvious in his rising voice.
I narrowed my eyes into a glare. "Then come at me." I dared him.
I held my ground as he pulled out the knife he had threatened me with when we first met. The same knife, I realised, that he had killed my dad with. Lovely irony, I suppose.
He advanced on me a bit slower than he did before, taking tromping, large, long strides to reach me. Then he swung out his fist and knocked me to the ground again. My legs shook even harder as I pushed myself to my feet again. He hit me. I fell. Repeat. Once again, he hit me, and I fell. I strained, but I couldn't get up any longer. Giving up, I lay down on the beach, the sand hard and cold, it's temperature seeping through my clothes and chilling my skin. Tired and fading away, my vision about to be overcome by the black dots swimming in my sight.
Zephyr pinned down my legs with his knees and held my arms down at my sides, although it was a waste of energy. I wasn't going anywhere. I could barely breathe anyway. If he didn't kill me now, my body would do it for him.
I blinked a few times, trying to see. I saw the glint of the knife against the dawn. I felt the cold sting of the metal against my neck. Like the first time I had saw him. The black dots swarmed over me, and I tried once again to blink them away. No use. I closed my eyes and awaited my death. The next time I opened them, I would see my father, my grandmother, all the others I have loved and let down. I welcomed the opportunity, no matter how much it may hurt. If I stayed, I surely faced a much worse fate.
I'm sorry, Mom. I whispered in my mind, I love you, Glimmer. You're the best brother ever, Blunder. Goodbye, Grandpa. You're a great teacher, Gobber. You were always there for us, Toothless. I'll finally get to hear your voice, Grandma. I'm coming home, Dad.
Tears overflowed my eyes, pushing through my closed eyelids, awkwardly crawling across the skin of my cheeks and temples, since I was laying on my back. It was taking forever. If Zephyr didn't end me now, I would be taken by nature, and where's the fun in that?
The blade pressed harder against my throat, and I held my breath for the inveitable. I could feel Zephyr's hot breath against my face, and feel his closeness as he leaned over and listen and watch closely as I died.
I felt a pressure on my lips, and my eyes snapped open, no matter how impossible it seemed moments ago.
Zephyr had kissed me.
My first kiss had been to the boy who betrayed me. The boy who killed my father.
Before I could react, he pushed off the ground, releasing me from underneath him. He turned and ran off before I could even move.
)0~~~~~~~~~~0(
YAY! IT'S DONE!
Sorry it's so short, and it's been so long, I've been BUSY! But it's the last week of actual school, next week we just have a walking field trip to Mitchell Canyon outside our school, Tuesday we have 8th grade continuation, and Wednesday we have yearbook signing for the half day. YAAAAAAYYYYYY!
I'll just bore you with my schedule now;). Tomorrow, for 3rd period advanced Chinese, we have a food day and watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice, then Health class, in which we watch a pregnancy video, complete with a birth scene, and then lunch, then Social Studies, in which we have a Civil War food day, where we bring in food from the Civil War, and watch National Treasure 2. So basically, 2 Nicolas Cage movies, and a lot of eating and puking (from the health video). Hurray...
Oh, and just to people who care about dresses, I'm going to Rue21 and Claire's on Sunday to pick out my Continuation dress. I'm hoping for an innocent, beautiful white sundress, with black cork heel shoes, either that or flats (white or gray), and a black, white or gray choker necklace, or just my blue and silver pendant necklace. Tell me what you think!
Please let me know what you think please! FOUR PLANNED CHAPTERS LEFT! Love!:)