A.N. Finally! Chapter 10!
Chapter 10
Gilbert
The rain didn't seem to stop that night. It was like the forest felt the despair and tried to shield us from the rest of the world. Francis knelt at what was left of Arthur, not crying but simply staring. He didn't have to cry, the rain was enough. Elizabeta and I stood under a tree to keep dry and watched. There wasn't much else we could do.
Elizabeta walked quietly beside Francis and knelt down, not even noticing the rain that soaked her. She pulled a small decorated box that Natalia had given her before we left. I didn't know why she gave it to us but I didn't dare question her.
Elizabeta started putting the ashes into the box as best as she could. Francis didn't even react to her presence until she touched his shoulder. He looked up at her then at the box in her hands.
"I'm sorry... but this is all I have to carry him in..." Elizabeta whispered apologetically.
She handed him the box and he clutched it to his chest muttering something that I couldn't hear. Elizabeta wrapped her arms around him and that's when he finally broke down.
Francis screamed in despair as he sagged into Elizabeta. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, Francis' screams eventually fading into choked sobs then silence. I stared on, knowing that was all I could do. Again, I had let someone die without doing anything to stop it.
Elizabeta muttered something to Francis and he nodded. They both stood up, Elizabeta nodded her head in my direction telling me it was time to go. Francis still clutched the box to his chest as if it was the only precious thing left in the world.
"Where are we going now?" I asked Elizabeta after we had walked for a few minutes.
"Francis said we have to go to the faerie realm." Elizabeta explained. "He also said that he had to tell Alfred."
"Who's Alfred?"
Elizabeta looked down, refusing to meet my gaze. "Arthur's son..."
Great another family that I broke apart because I'm fricking useless!
"It's not your fault, you know." Elizabeta said reading my mind. "I was there too but I chose to stand back and watch. But now, it's over and we have to move on. Francis needs us to be strong right now."
Silence fell between us as we both lost ourselves in our thoughts. For the first time in my life, someone told me that it wasn't my fault. I felt tears start to form and my throat close up. I never had a shoulder to cry on. I glanced at Elizabeta, she didn't look sad, only resigned. I felt like I would be able to cry in front of her and she would comfort me like she did with Francis. She didn't accuse him of being weak... it was like she understood. The more I got to know Elizabeta the more I felt like she understood every aspect of this world, including the happiness and sorrow that came with it.
"Thank you Elizabeta." I said, feeling myself getting red.
"For what?" she asked.
"For telling me what I always needed to hear..." I hesitated then took a deep breath. "and for not asking about why I left my family, though I guess you know now."
"I knew that is was a jagged wound that you kept close to your heart. It wasn't my place to ask." She looked at me and smiled. "But when you are ready to talk... I'll listen."
"We're here." Francis muttered his first words since we started for the faerie realms.
Elizabeta and I stopped and stared. In front of us was a simple door. There was nothing special about it except for the fact that is was in the middle of the freaking forest!
I opened my mouth to say something when Elizabeta put her hand on my arm distracting me. She shook her head and pointed to Francis. He had not moved to open the door. His back was rigid and I noticed him swipe at his eyes before taking a deep breath. He held the box that contained Arthur to his chest.
Francis turned to us and gave us a sad smile. "Are you ready?"
"It doesn't matter if we are." Elizabeta stated bluntly.
Francis chuckled. "You are right about that. So without further ado... welcome to the faerie realm."
And so... we opened the door to our uncertain future.
Elizabeta
Everything was different in this world. The colors, the sounds... all of them seemed to make everything from our world dull and dreary. We were still in a forest but this one was certainly different than the last one. The trees moved as if on their own, pulling up their roots and moving to a different location.
Gilbert went to jump over a tree root when it moved up a couple of inches to catch his foot. He went sprawling on the ground glaring at the tree. it seemed to laugh at him, if a tree could laugh.
"What the hell?!" Gilbert snapped.
"Careful, the nymphs that live in the trees like to trip up anyone they come across." Francis explained as he gracefully jumped over a root.
"Show off..." Gilbert muttered under his breath.
I helped him up and we continued on, Gilbert now on high alert for moving tree roots.
When we finally made it out of the forest, we were instantly greeted with a castle hidden in ivy. Instead of looking run down like most buildings would, the castle looked like it was a part of nature and not a foreign object.
"Here we are..." Francis whispered almost to himself, his hands tightening around the box.
"Hey man it will be alright! We're right behind you! After we get settled we'll go drinking together!" Gilbert said throwing his arm around Francis' shoulders.
Francis smiled. "How well can you hold your liquor?"
Gilbert smirked. "That sounds like a challenge!"
"I will see if Antonio can come!" Francis laughed. "You haven't seen drinking till you've seen Toni!"
The two walked into the castle while I rolled my eyes behind their backs.
The moment I stepped into the castle, I knew for sure that we were not in the real world anymore. The light was soft, coming from an unknown source. Elegant furniture was placed at random and the walls appeared to be solid pale rock. The fabrics were all silks and velvets; deep reds and royal purples with gold accents.
A man with long brown hair thrown into a pony tail entered the room and without looking up from the book he was reading, greeted us with a small wave. He sat on one of the many couches and finally looked up.
"Alfred is in his room." He said simply to Francis.
Francis nodded solemnly and turned to us. "This is Yao. I will leave you in his care until I can return." He then placed the box containing Arthur into my hands. "Take care of this for me."
Francis walked across the room and moved a tapestry aside to reveal a door. He took a deep breath and disappeared through it.
"Is Francis going to be all right?" I asked walking up and taking a seat next to Yao.
Yao looked up at me then at the door Francis had just went into and sighed. "I have no clue. We all knew that there was a possibility of Arthur dying... except for Alfred. Arthur thought it would be best to keep it a secret."
"How did you know that there was a possibility that Arthur was going to die? If you knew this then why did you let him come for us?" Gilbert asked noticeably forcing back pent up anger.
"We didn't know for sure if it was going to happen!" Yao shot back. "The future isn't set in stone! It changes all the time! If we were so worried about dying we wouldn't even leave the faerie realm!"
"Stop it both of you!" I snapped. "Now is not the time to be arguing."
Yao and Gilbert looked guilty as they both looked down at their shoes. The room was filled with silence only to be broken by a door quietly being opened and shut. I turned around and saw Francis, his head pressed against the door and shoulders shaking slightly.
He turned around to face us looking a little worn down but I could see the effort it took him to keep his emotions in check.
"Didn't take it well, did he?" Yao asked with a sympathetic look on his face.
Francis simply shook his head and sat on the couch beside Gilbert. "I didn't have to tell him anything. He could sense that Arthur didn't come into the faerie realm when I did..."
Gilbert sighed and put his arm around Francis. "Well the only thing to do now is to leave him be and drink with some friends!"
I frowned at Gilbert. "Do you really think that now is the time?"
"Its always time for awesome beer!" Gilbert replied as he pulled Francis up. "It is guaranteed to lift up anyone's spirits!"
This made Francis laugh softly as he led Gilbert to the next room. "If you think that your 'awesome' beer is anything compared to what we have here then you are sadly mistaken."
"Aiyaa... I should probably go and make sure they don't drink too much."Yao said as he slowly stood up and stretched. "You can explore the house if you want. Just don't go through too many doors and you shouldn't get lost."
"O...okay." I stuttered, though it was unnecessary because Yao had already left.
I looked around the room and realized that there were doors all around the circular room. I walked to the nearest one and opened it. On the other side was a meadow that seemed to never end and I could see faint mountains in the distance. The sun beat down even though when we had arrived in the faerie realm it had been rainy. Something beckoned me to forget everything and walk through the door. I shook the feeling off and closed the door.
Definitely not that one...
I spent the afternoon moving around the room opening and closing doors. Some seemed to appear and reappear at random. They always seemed to beckon me with impossible dreams or promises. It was so strange that I never stepped though the doors.
I sighed and sat on the floor after what seemed to be my hundredth door. I closed my eyes and massaged my temples.
What is with this place?
I felt something stir in my chest. It was such a weird feeling, like I had to go to someone. I opened my eyes and jerked back. Right in front of me was a door like the one in the middle of the forest. It was placed in the middle of the room with no wall supporting it.
I placed my hand on the door knob, a shock going through my entire body. I took a deep breath and opened the door. On the other side was a clearing in the middle of a forest. A soft breeze lazily moved the branches of the trees making the sunlight flicker. I smiled, suddenly feeling many emotions all mixed together; it was such a strange feeling.
A single willow tree stood in the middle of the clearing. It was like a string was pulling me towards it and I didn't object. I looked up into its branches feeling a smile creep across my face. I lay under the tree and closed my eyes against the flickering sunlight. My mind wandered to everything that had happened over the past few months. So much had changed. Roderich and Vlad were dead, I had met Gilbert; left the only family I had behind, learned that I had a part to play in some story and was now in the faerie realm. I could feel tears slide down my cheeks. Under this tree, I finally felt like I could mourn the loss of my family and friends. The pain that I felt didn't hurt. It just left me feeling empty.
What is this feeling?
I searched my mind for the words to describe what I felt but could only come up with one word...lonely.
I feel so... alone...
Tears continued to slide down my face but I was now comforted by the tree's presence. I don't know why, but I felt like it was trying to shield me away from all the hurt and the loneliness that I was feeling. I finally opened my eyes and brushed away the tears, feeling the familiar nothingness fall back into place.
A few hours later, I found myself back in the castle. After a few tries I found the door that would lead me to where the others were. I learned that if I thought of where I wanted to go, a door would appear to take me there.
The door that appeared before me led to a long dark hallway. Not really knowing where else to go, I decided to let the hallway take me to wherever it led.
After a while, I could hear laughter and the clinking of glasses in the distance and I knew that I had found them. I opened the door to see Gilbert and Francis standing on one of the many tables that scattered the room. They seemed to be dancing to music only they could hear.
"SPARKLE PARTY!" Gilbert yelled as Francis threw sparkles that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Aiyaa..." Yao muttered under his breath as he sat at a table in the corner with another man.
He had mocha colored skin and deep sea green eyes. His muscles were well defined and his brown hair was expertly tousled. But the feature that stood out the most was his smile. It was like seeing the first hint of light in the early morning. He looked up and beckoned me over to the table.
"Hello senorita!" He said as he pulled out a chair for me.
"You must be Antonio." I returned his smile. It was hard not to, his smile was contagious.
Something crashed behind me making us all jump and look back. Gilbert was lying on the floor by my feet while Francis laughed.
Gilbert smiled up at me and winked. "Well hello beautiful! Have you come to join my sparkle party?"
I could feel my face heating up and something fluttered in my chest.
Oh no...Not again...
I could feel my blood freeze in my veins. The last time that I had felt something like this Roderich had died. I looked at Gilbert who was now on his feet and laughing good naturedly with Antonio. No, I couldn't let that happen to him.
"We seem to have a problem..." Francis sighed. "We are out of drinks..."
"Then I declare this awesome party over!" Gilbert said as he sat in the chair across from me.
"Yes, we have much to discuss tomorrow. Good night my beautiful flowers!" Francis said as he left the room with a flourish and a final wave of sparkles. Antonio and Yao left us with directions to our rooms and went to catch up with Francis.
Now alone with Gilbert, I couldn't seem to meet his eyes, though I could feel his gaze on me. I sighed just to break the silence.
I started to stand up. "Well I better-"
"I wonder..." Gilbert whispered aloud.
I finally met his gaze. "What?"
Gilbert shook his head and tried to hide his grin. Obviously, he was still drunk. "I just wonder..." he paused and the silence was almost deafening. "What does the world look like to you?"
He looked up at me and I could see that even though he was drunk, Gilbert was being completely serious. I stood up and made my way to the door. For some reason, I didn't know how to answer him.
Before I could open the door and escape Gilbert spoke up, "Elizabeta!"
I paused, hand resting on the door knob. I took a deep breath before speaking. "What is it?"
There was another deafening silence and I thought that Gilbert had passed out when in a soft voice that I almost didn't catch he said the words that terrified me the most.
"I love you... "
I opened the door and left without looking back, not knowing what would happen if I did.
A.N. It feels like such a long time since I last posted a chapter! Sorry guys, life has a way of moving forward without you! Please review!