Episode 11: Forgiveness
I'm sorry...
We stood in the middle of the clearing, unmoving. I looked down at the knight, his red eyes still staring in the same place as before. He didn't utter a sound.
His grip around his golden blade loosened, eyes reverted back to their normal amber as they faded into a dark orange. He fell back slowly, his cape flowing silently in the wind.
I remained where I was, my arms fixated to where they were, along with the sword they held. The hilt was still pointed downward, the blade resting on my shoulder. Still in the same position it was in when it had left a dent in his mask.
Clang.
My hands released their hold on the metal, allowing it to fall from my fingers and onto the cold floor. The ringing of the falling sword echoed throughout the clearing. A soft breeze swept through the opening, wiping away the long strands of black hair that had fallen down on my face, revealing two pained eyes.
"I'm sorry... But I couldn't do it." I whispered to him.
Drip... Drip...
Drip..
Three drops of red fell onto his mask, followed by others that fell onto the ground next to him. The clouds above finally parting, shedding light on our darkened figures. I looked up at sky, finding it slightly funny that I hadn't notice them during the battle. I forced a smile and looked down at my fallen mentor.
"You... always hit your target... don't you, Meta Knight."
I locked my hand around Galaxia's handle, streams of blood oozing down it's blade. I cringed in pain as I removed it from my abdomen and dropped to the floor as well. It fell with a clink as it landed on top of my discarded blade. Blood flowed down my lips.
My knees buckled, my now numbed body finally giving itself over to gravity as I too fell. I was too weak to register any pain now. I watched as everything around me began to dim, consumed by mist. I sighed heavily.
In the distance I could see my comrades, who were beginning to stir and awaken. One in particular got up and looked around, noticing the destruction around him. He looked around desperately for something or someone. He froze when his wide eyes fell on me. I could see him running, despite his injuries, calling out someone's name. A name I could no longer hear. Behind him, the others shared the same stunned expression. Giving up to the darkness that clouded my vision, I smiled, allowing everything to go fade.
Thank goodness your all okay... Was all I could remember thinking before everything went black.
He began to stir, stopping at the sharp pain in his left temple. He opened his eyes and stared into a brightly lit room, under white florescent lights. He moved slightly and noticed he was laying in a white bed. He sat up.
"Your awake!" Cried an excited voice beside him. He turned around and found a pink haired child sitting in a chair beside him. He looked at her, slightly stunned by what he saw.
Her clothes were filthier than they usually were and she was now covered in bandages. She had one large, uncovered bruise on her arm with many scrapes as well. Yet she still had the strength to smile. He looked away from her, taking a better look at his surrounding.
They were in a pure white room, everything from the floor to the walls the bright, pure color. There were lines and lines of cabinets alone the walls across from him but there were no windows. He took a minute to think to himself before finally coming to a conclusion.
I'm in the medical ward, but why... What has happened.
"Nia." He hesitated, unsure on how to ask. "What happened."
He looked back to the child as he placed one gloved hand on the side of his head. He nearly flinched in surprise when he felt a large dent at the side of it. The girl didn't reply at first, her expression as mixture of sadness and fear. She held her breath as he awaited a response. She finally looked up at him, tears treating to overflow as she spoke.
"You hurt everyone." She whispered, looking at the bruises on her arm before continuing. "You hurt all of us, but... you hurt Jessica more." She sniffled, fighting back tears. At that moment, everything seemed to click within his mind.
What have I done?
"How is she?" He choked out, fearful of what answer he would receive. He gripped the white sheets covering his feet tightly. The girl looked down at the floor, allowing one sorrowful tear fall.
"Bad." She replied, looking away from the knight's gaze. He looked at his hands, horrified by what they had done under the demon's control. His breath caught at the sight of his beloved sword,Galaxia, on the bedside stand beside him. It had been cleaned, and was now shining brightly under the florescent lights as if it had not committed any of those shameful actions. Almost as if it were stating it's innocence.
He jumped to his feel and hopped off the bed, heading for the door. Nia stop him. She put her back towards the door and faced him.
"No, your hurt." she argued, not sure on what to do. He assessed the situation calmly. He need to see the others, but he did not want to hurt the girls feelings.
"I'm alright." he assured her. She put on a stern face.
"No," She replied flatly. He stared at her for a moment, devising a plan.
"Fine." he muttered, retreating towards the bed again. She looked at him in surprise, amazed she had won the argument. Seeing him hope back on the mattress, the girl relaxed and returned to her place beside the bed. She had only just sat down when the knight darted past her and through the doorway.
"Mety!" she yelled in disbelief, pounding on the metal doors that had closed behind him.
He sped down the halls, keeping an open ear out for the humans, where ever they may be. He needed to talk to them, he need answers. More importantly, he needed to speak with Jessica. And worse of all, he had broken a sacred promise to himself.
"Frederik, calm down!" he heard a voice shout from nearby. He stopped and listened. He wanted to know what they were arguing about.
"How do you want me to calm down! When she's all battered up like that. She hasn't even woken up yet!" He wailed. Guilt began to swell up in Meta Knight, he felt at fault for what happened. Could he really face them now, after all the damage he caused.
"Shut up! She's our friend too, don't you think we're all suffering, seeing her like that? Yet your the only one acting like a child." There was silence.
Whoosh.
The door slid open, revealing Meta Knight at the doorway. They all looked at him in shock and terror, but soon returned to their previous pained expressions. All except Frederik, who watched the knight from the corner of the room in hate. He lunged forward but Hardwin and Kayla reached out and stopped him.
"Let go of me!" He hissed at them. They pulled him back, maintaining their grip on his shoulders.
"It's not his fault!" They yelled in his ear, he struggled to get free. "We know your mad and you want to make whoever did this to her pay, but IT WASN'T HIS FAULT!" They continued, pushing him to his knees. He hunched over, pounding his fist into the metal floor in anger as they released him.
"How are you feeling Meta Knight." Amberlin asked calmly. Her calmness dumbfounded him, how could she be so sure it was him and not Betrayal. He was still digesting the information Nia had been so kind as to share with him.
"Well." His answer blankly. "What happened?" They exchanged a worried glance and thought carefully for a moment before responding.
"How much do you already know?" He looked at Kayla, asking himself what she meant by 'already know' but nodded.
"I have no recollection of what occurred this afternoon. Nia told me I had injured each and everyone of you. Especially... Jessica." He forced himself to say her name. The others noticed.
"All that's true... after you saved Jessica from Betrayal, you got possessed in her place. You attacked her and took us all out like we were nothing. You even got Nia when she jumped into the fight to try and stop you." Natalie stopped talking and fell silent, trying to recall what happened next. She shook her head in frustration.
"We don't really know what happened next but when we woke up, both of you were out-cold. Jessica was..." She trailed off. She didn't have to say anything else, they all knew he had already come to the same conclusion.
"It was like one of those horror video games... Where you best friend turns out to be the final boss." They all looked down, staring at Frederik. He remained where he sat on the floor but hugged his knees. He still showed signs of anger but he had a least calmed down slightly.
"And Betrayal?" They gave another uncertain glance before answering again.
"No one knows. We found a machine in another room that's suppose to check for any foreign pathogens or entities in a person's body, and when we used it on you, it turned up blank." Amberlin said, getting a confirmation from Kayla. "I guess he got away."
He narrowed his eyes behind the mask, that seemed almost impossible to believe.
Betrayal is a monster who doesn't simply disappear, no matter the situation.
He let the thought simmer a bit before dropping it, returning to another question he wanted to ask.
"Where is she?" Frederik looked up from the floor and stared at him coldly, then to the door behind. Kayla sighed and walked towards the keypad next to it.
"She's in here." She said as the door opened. Everyone followed her inside.
She laid in the white bed, her face pale from the loss of blood. A casted left arm resting on her bandaged chest and abdomen. Beside her was a tray with a large water bowl, filled with used medical tools and bloody bandages. She was breathing heavily.
The knight looked at her, eyes stopping at the red that had soaked through the tight wrap around her belly. He stiffened, recognizing the wound instantly.
He looked at his own hand in disgust, unknown to the others from behind the mask. The situation brought back many long forgotten and buried memories. Among them was the memory of when she was taken into intensive care right after her first battle with a monster, a demon cobra that had somehow found it's way into her school. He remembered how close he had almost came too late to save her from it's deadly fangs.
They remained silent until Amberlin walked past them and began to check if anything needed to be changed.
"She lost a lot of blood," She announced while checking her pulse. She looked at the tray next to her. "We treated her the best we could but we aren't exactly doctors." Her expression fell. "Which is why we should get her to a real one." She finished, turning back to the rest. "Meta Knight?"
They looked at him, hopeful he would agree and he did. "Her life is more important to us than anything else." He nodded. The others smiled in relief.
"Then it's decided." Kayla smiled sadly, just as Nia walked in. "We'll move out as soon as possible." Nia looked at her questioningly. "Don't worry I'll fill you in later." She whispered to the child as they began to exit.
"So... we're just going to let all of that fighting and hard work go for nothing?" A voice called from behind them. They froze, too stunned to turn around. All except Meta Knight, who had already turned to meet her.
"Jessica." He breathed in amazement.
I looked at the florescent lights above, too angry to look at him directly. I wasn't going to let everything go to waste that easily.
"Your a fool if you think my life is more valuable than the well being of the universe." I could sense his shock at my words but I didn't care. "I'm not going." I uttered coldly. A severe pain in my stomach acted up in protest of my decision but I didn't regret it.
"But you need help an-"
"No." I interrupted Frederik. He tried to argue again when Kayla came up from behind and placed a calming hand on his good shoulder.
"Come on, we should let these two talk before we do anything." She advised, practically dragging him out of the room along with the others until only Meta Knight remained. I heard him move from the doorway to a nearby stool.
"Jessica, you have to-"
"No need," I tilled my head to look at him. "The wound stopped bleeding a while ago." He looked at me in confusion. "I know your a knight, a person who is suppose to protect all he can, but putting the life of such an insignificant human above all others is a mistake in my book. While your busy looking for a doctor, hundreds are dying." He took that into silent deliberation, trying to think of an answer that could satisfy me.
"Then this is where we part." I raised an eyebrow at his answer.
"This again?" He looked at me. "I don't remember it working out for you the last time you tried to pull that one on me. I mean I'm already on the ship and I don't think I'm going to be stepping off any time soon." He fell silent.
"Look, I know you made a promise to yourself to make sure I don't get hurt because of your mistakes. And just like last time 'It's not your fault.' And besides, I nearly died back there with expert doctors present. Don't you think I would have been dead by now if my injuries really were that bad?" Silence.
"Meta Knight..." I placed a playful hand on his head. "You got to stop letting things like this get to you. Like I said before, none of anything that's happened is your fault." I was getting the feeling I was being ignored.
I winced in pain as I tried to sit up but stopped when a hand pushed me back down. I sighed and closed my eyes. "Fine you win. I'll rest for a while, besides it shouldn't be long until I'm back to full strength."
"You act as if you have merely sprained something rather than been dealt a fatal wound." He spoke, eyeing the red bandages around my stomach.
"I find it funny you've forgotten that ever since that monster incident back home, injuries that should normally take weeks to heal from only last a day or two for me." I still wasn't sure what the heck happened back then but at this point I don't need to know, though I kind of wish I did.
I smiled slightly when he finally gave me his "I give up" sigh and jumped off the stool. I didn't want to have to go through another hour long debate with him like last time.
"Get some rest." he called back exhaustively.
"Hey Meta Knight!" He turned around at his name. "Hm?" he answered. I flashed another playful smile.
"Sorry about the dent." I could feel him smile at that as he turned away and left. I looked back up at the ceiling.
I'm glad I was at least able to ease some of your guilt... Since I'm partly to blame for most of it.
"Betrayal has failed us." spoke a voice from the shadows. Nightmare not bothering to turn around, simply continued to stare out the window behind his throne and to his nearly complete 'kingdom' below. He snorted at the news.
"Those humans are more of a nuisance than I thought. Managing to defeat one of my strongest beasts." He thought for a moment. "Especially that human girl. But no matter." He continued.
"Shall we send another monster?" He turned slightly, to look at his servant as he answered.
"No... For you see." Turning back to the window, smiling. "I've got a better idea."
Oh wow am I dumb, three days and I NOW just realize I forgot to make my note to my readers. Well I have good news and some bad news. Good news, I'm updating more frequently, bad news is that I'm slacking on my homework :/
Hope you guys enjoy the Episode and leave a review in the little box below. I'd love to hear what you guys think of my story; your lovey reviews give me the inspiration to continue writing even on my darkest day. See you all soon! Bye!
P.S: Character Bio's now available in my profile.