Chapter Twelve- God save the Eyes that Dim Tonight

/ Bring me to life

(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)

Bring me to life /

They say when you kill another individual your entire outlook on life will change. They never said how or in what way it will; only that it will change and once done, you can never go back to the innocence of before it happened. That child-like innocence will be forever lost along with that particular outlook on life.

When his mom had been killed in the car accident, it had changed a little. The world became a little greyer, the light a little darker, the wind a little colder. But it was still the same world. His innocence had been shaken but wasn't destroyed. .

Before Rita had appeared, he believed he would never be placed in the position of killing another being, would never have to go through the trauma of seeing someone's life slip because of your actions.

Of course, Rita did happen.

Everything he was secure in was now gone and his life was forever changed.

He distantly watched as Adrianna's eyes seemed to glaze over with shock and triumph in the lavender depths as her head tilted back on his shoulder. The hand that been stretched out to the button that would activate the planet destroyer now hung limply at her side.

Warmth.

Her head covered where his hand was pressed tightly to the back of her neck, the Tanto still grasped firmly in hand. The Wolf Ninjetti could feel as her still warm blood spilled from the wound, over his hand to drip on to the floor below.

Will gazed into her eyes for any signs of life but he knew she was gone.

She was dead and he was the cause for it.

He had taken someone else's life. Bile began to rise in his throat, the instinct to turn and vomit almost overpowering.

"NOOO!!"

Startled, he looked up.

Standing on the higher floor was a boy of around the age of seventeen. From where he stood, Will could see the bright white hair and furious, grieving grey eyes. The eyes widened in fear as he saw that the Sentinel Commander was looking at him. The figure turned and fled through the open doors.

Will withdrew the Tanto from Adrianna's corpse, sliding it back into its sheath. Searching fast, he picked up his Katanas and the detonator. Entering the hallway, he didn't see the teenager any more. Pushing the thought of the boy to the back of his mind, Will headed for the stairs, running two steps at a time. His body was still in pain but it was nothing compared to the growing chasm in his soul, the numbness that was settling in his spirit.

He ran.

His legs began to burn from the ascent upward at such a fast pace.

He has just killed a living being without thought. His steps sounded in the halls of the first story. Flipping open the detonator, he pressed the button.

Three stories beneath him, the resounding boom sounded, the palace shaking.

WILL! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!

Dayleen? Even to his mind, he sounded dazed and confused.

Thank god, you're alright. We've been worried sick about you.

Is everyone okay?

Now we are. For some reason, all of the palace guards have stopped fighting. It's weird.

Make sure you keep an eye on them. If it's a trick, I don't want us to be caught off guard. I'm coming over right now. Will continued to run, refusing to stop even though his legs burned.

Will entered the ruined hallway. Bodies littered the floor where the rebels and palace guards had fallen. The rebels were herding the confused guards to a spot against the wall, making sure all available weapons were taken from them. The Sentinels stood by, Mark leaning on Joseph and Ryan. Will could see the Mustang and Squirrel Ninjetti were rather pale.

"Is it over?" Will asked them, watching as another group of guards appeared, hands behind their head.

Aragon and Felid appeared at Will's side. "It is over. Felid, make sure all of the guards are placed in a secure area where they won't be able to escape or rebel. And send word to the camp that we have succeeded." His second in command smiled then ran to the nearest messenger.

"I need to check the rest of my team back at the ship. Once we are rested and sorted, we will come back to provide assistance." Will slid his Katanas back, gazing at the rebel leader.

"Of course. Perhaps later we can get together at another meeting." Will began to head to where Dayleen and the rest were. "Commander?" Will looked back at Aragon. "Perhaps, I was wrong about the Sentinels. You have helped us accomplish a goal that has eluded us for so long. I am grateful."

"We came to see that your people live free. We can only hope everything will work out well." Will bowed slightly then left.

Dayleen?

We made it out alive. Some of us have spectacular bruises.

Teleport back to the ship. I want Mark checked out as soon as possible.

That's for sure. Dayleen frowned. Will, what happened to Adrianna? She didn't appear.

I'll tell you guys later at the briefing with Dulcea.

Okay.

Will shook his head, eyes drifting to Rebekkah. Her shoulders where slumped, body weary of the fighting. Same with Mark and Toni. He couldn't see their faces as he told them not to de-morph until they were back on the ship. Will's hand moved to the bloody Tanto still sheathed. He would have to make sure it was cleaned later so no one would see the blood on it.

(VvVvVvVvV)

Rebekkah eased Mark on to the med-table with help from Toni who hovered by like a worried mother. "Does it still hurt, Mark?"

"Just not as bad as before." Mark winced as Beck prodded the area.

"The membrane is still holding. I'll give you a little painkiller. It should keep the pain at bay until we get back to Dulcea."

"Why don't you just knock me out?" Mark groaned flopping back with a sigh.

"That can be arranged." Toni pulled a chair over, sitting down at Mark's side. "I'll keep you company. Though, one little remark about you-know-what, I will leave your ass here."

Beck chuckled. "Already keeping him in line?"

"I have to. Otherwise he'll grow a big head." The girls laughed as the wounded man gave another groan.

(VvVvVvVvV)

Closing the door, Will demorphed, keeping the Blades on his back. Stepping inside the bathroom, he turned on the water. Unsheathing the Tanto, he ran it under the water, watching the blood swirled around the basin until it finally disappeared into the pipe. But in his mind's eye, Adrianna's blood still stained the blade, taunting him about the deed he had done.

Suddenly, he couldn't take in air, his throat constricting with emotion. Falling to his knees, he grasped at the edge of the sink, head bowed.

He had just killed a person. A living breathing individual without a single thought.

Was he worthy of being the Sentinel Commander?

Was he still worthy of being Rebekkah's boyfriend?

(VvVvVvVvV)

Rebekkah watched as the families and the now freed guards were finally reunited after years of service. Many of the rebels had believed the guards were faking their condition so they wouldn't be punished by Rebekkah had take n a couple of them up to Reckoning for a check up. The test results had revealed that all of them had been under a spell. The only good thing was that none of them knew what had happened during their time under the spell.

The Sentinel of Love watched as a small girl around eight years old, dressed in a cleaning girl's clothing rush toward a ragged young couple who were crying controllably.

Jessie sat down next to Beck, her face covered in smudges of dirt and grime. Beck turned to her. "Imagine having your child taken from you one day and not being able to know what happened to him or her for three years? I don't think I would have been able to survive that. I would have gone after the bastards that took them."

"I feel the same way, Beck. But at least all of them now have a future." A cry from the crowd brought their attention back to the reunions. One of the boys was now on the ground shaking his head from side to side as what looked like an elderly person bending over them with tears in his eyes. From the wisps of the yells and screams fluttering toward them, the two Sentinels guessed the boy had been told of his parents' deaths under Adrianna's hand.

"This sucks." Jessie muttered, her eyes shifting to look at the ground beneath her feet. "Stupid witch. Why couldn't she have died in childbirth?"

"Things don't go we want them to. How's the work on the water mill?"

"Going pretty fast as the rebels are helping to build it. Like I know how to engineer a working water mill to pump water from the swamps, clean them, and run it to the empty reservoir in the middle of the city. Thank god, the aqueducts are reasonably intact."

"When are the engineers from the sister planet going to come?"

"Right now, they are asking volunteers who will then be trained for a week in leadership and rehabilitation of a stricken community. So maybe next week, they'll be here,

"So they have a chance." Jessie nodded. Rebekkah leaned back, watching the crowed once more.

(VvVvVvVvV)

Aragon watched the young Commander as he watched the rebels slowly pulling the bodies in the mass graveyard out one by one to be identified, prepared for burial, and buried. Even though he was a hundred yards from the edge of the mass grave, Aragon could still smell the distinct stench of decaying flesh.

Araya was quiet.

Too quiet.

Something had happened to him during the battle and he had a guess at what had happened to make him so. Sighing mentally, the rebel leader walked up to the Sentinel Commander. "Thank you for helping us."

"Your welcome." Araya didn't shift his eyes, still watching the men who were now pulling out the body of young child.

"When I was young, I had the life I wanted; a smart loving wife who's beauty surpassed many, three daughters and a son, a home, and my own land. At that time, life couldn't have been better." Araya's eyes landed on him, questioning the point of this conversation. Aragon ignored him. "But then one day, Adrianna destroyed that when she came and took my soon from me. I vowed to bring me son back to my family. One of the rebels came to me saying they would help me achieve it if I joined them. We all did, hoping to get Damien from her. For a year, we lived among the rebel bases, searching for any sign or news of my young son. Then we learned he had been killed for his disobedience. My wife fell into depression. One day, all of our daughters were killed when one of the bases came under attack. My wife soon died after that, the grief too much for her. I on the other hand, lived."

"But it was not life in the purest sense of the word. No, it was rather a dark version of life as I only lived to take as many of the guards' lives as possible, killing as many as I could when I fought. I had lost the will to live but yet, I refused to die. When the leader was killed, I took his position because of what I had become. I was no longer that man who was filled with happiness and love. I was now a rebel who was filled with vengeance and hatred for Adrianna. There many times when I thought I was slicing her throat open. The joy I felt even from imagining it."

Finally, Araya spoke. "And there's a point to this?"

"Yes, Commander." Aragon's eyes bored straight at him. "I know you killed her. That is the reason why she did not show up doing the battle. Do not deny it."

"I don't."

"Do not deny that you killed her in the defense of these people." Aragon gestured to the rebels, to the ones who were building the water mill, to the children huddled together across the courtyard. "It is for them you took her life. You did not so just because you could. You did it because you had to."

"What is the difference? I still killed her. The end result is the same."

Aragon shook his head. "You are so focused on the deed itself that you have forgotten the why. And that is the difference between you and me, Commander. Whereas I would have don it, I would have done so in pleasure, in pure vengeance for what she has pulled me and my family through. But you on the other hand, did so for the need of others. The end result would have the same but the drive to do so are complete opposites of each other."

Araya shifted his eyes toward the grave again. He had still not been swayed. "Commander, you continue thinking this way, you will be destroyed completely. I know because I went through it. And when you have been broken, you will leave your comrades and mate open to attack." Aragon walked away.

Araya only glared after him. He turned back to the bodies still being taken out. He didn't see when Aragon turned back to look at him. No did he hear what the rebel leader said.

"May God save the eyes that dim tonight."

(VvVvVvVvV)

The Sentinels appeared on Dead Reckoning, tired, hungry, and wanting to forget the past three days. They had stayed helping to make the guards didn't rebel or that the hard work would have gone to waste. Romaine's governments had been told also the fall of Adrianna's reign; that no more would the people of Bremen live under fear. Food had been rationed out until new farms were made and the harvest planted. There was only one thing left to do.

Destroy the ship still drifting in space; Adrianna's only physical legacy.

"Gabriel, Ryan, bring Reckoning's weapons to bear. Fire when ready." Will softly ordered.

"Bringing weapons to bear. Target locked. Firing." The booms from the cannons and laser arrays lit up the surrounding space. Explosions ripped through the dark hull, tearing the ship apart. Reckoning continued to fire on the blackened remains until they were small enough to burn up in the atmosphere of Romaine.

"KEYA, report."

"Sensors have detected nothing out of the ordinary, Commander. The battle ship has been destroyed." The AI said, her hologram gazing at them.

"We can go back to Phaedos then." Will sat down in his seat. "Kayla."

"Gotcha." Kayla checked to see everything was working with the hyperspace engines. Seeing nothing, she initiated the jump. The star field distorted as the ship and her crew entered hyperspace.

(VvVvVvVvV)

Rebekkah knocked on Will's door. Ever since they had left that god-forbidden planet, Will had looked himself away in his quarters, refusing to come out. Now that the others were asleep, Beck gathered her courage to talk to him. Stuffing the feelings of warning down, she opened the door.

The light from the hallway spilled into the pitch black room. Tension was thick in here, almost like a physical presence. "Will?"

"What do you want?" His voice seemed to drift from every part of the room. But the thing that hit Beck especially hard was the fact that it sounded just like the voice he used when they first meet; distant, ice-cold.

"I want to talk to you."

"About what exactly?"

"The reason why you're staying away from the rest of us." Beck was still trying to find him as the light didn't reach all the way across the room.

"I don't want to talk about it." Something shifted right in front of her on the other side of the bed. She stepped closer and finally saw him sitting on the floor, face turned toward the open window.

"Yes it is. The others are worried about you, Will. You can't be this distant toward them. We all need each other to get through his mission. Joseph and Jessie aren't talking as much nor are they smiling much. You have to talk to them."

"How can you expect me to talk to them when I can't even help myself." Will said, still refusing to look at her.

"What's eating you?" Beck reached out to touch him. She quickly withdrew her hand when she saw him flinch at her touch. "Tell me, Will."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because then you'll all hate me for what I had to do." The certainty in his voice worried her. What had happened during the battle? It had to be bad to make him shut down so quickly.

"No, I won't, Will. Tell me."

"Just leave me alone."

"Will-"

"Just fucking leave me ALONE!" Will screamed, jumping to his feet. Startled, Beck fell backward, hitting her back against the post of the bed. Hurt, she stood up. She tried again to talk to him. "I don't want to talk about it, Rebekkah. Just because you're my girlfriend doesn't mean you get special privileges into my fucking life! GET OUT!" The words cut right into the Sentinel of Love. Crying openly, she left.

Chest heaving, Will looked after her, staring at the closed door. At least she was safe from him. If he was going to fall, he didn't want to take her or any of the other Sentinels down with him.

Spyridon- Here's the next chapter of EV. Just for those who read Guardians in the Night, that story has been completed. I'm still working on the basis for Immortal Evanescence so you'll have to look out for that one. Just a hint. Chapter 14 of EV is going to be good. :D