Chapter 21: Nightmares
"Robin, please!"
"This isn't you!"
` "Fight it!"
"Dad, stop!"
And then a vision; blood on his hands, and the cause just before him. Looking up, he saw a young girl who looked a lot like Cordelia, but much younger, with shorter hair, and standing in front of a giant portal, her hand outstretched to someone beyond his vision. The scene was more shocking with the addition of a spear, impaling the young girl through the abdomen. A scream from deep within the portal came tearing through Robin like knives and he saw another girl, with what looked like strikingly familiar white hair, was being pulled through the portal and screaming out, "MORGAN!"
What he could only assume was his own voice rang out clearly in dark, maniacal laughter as the dream faded away.
All the surrounding voices, and that haunting vision, came rushing into Robin's mind as he bolted out of his bed and onto his feet screaming, truly panicking, and in a cold sweat. He felt a searing pain on the back of his right hand and grasped it tightly with the other. Squinting through his pain, he could have swore that he saw the burning mark look as if it was writhing and faintly glowing. Almost as soon as the pain began, it quickly faded, but Robin remained panting, clutching onto his searing appendage. Motion in his peripheral to the left caught his attention, and he turned to see Cordelia, leaning on her arm in bed, as she was roused out of her slumber.
"Robin, what's wrong?" Cordelia mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her tired eyes. She looked closer to see her fiance in his state of shock and scooted closer, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder. "You look like death! Is everything okay?"
Robin took a deep breath and turned to face Cordelia with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm fine… just a nightmare, I guess."
But Cordelia didn't return the smile, and instead moved her hands down to his, holding them close to her heart. "You may be a great strategist, Robin, but you can't lie to me," she quietly spoke, her head down, with a slight chuckle at her own words.
Robin felt a genuine,small smile spread across his face at hearing the caring words from his fiance. "I can't explain it. Just a number of jumbled voices, and then… two girls I've never seen. One of them was killed, I think… and it was by my own hand. I wasn't watching, like a spectator in an audience. It was me. I saw myself doing it, but had no control."
Cordelia pondered on this troubling scenario for a minute and stared down at the hands she was holding, looking more intently at the dark purple mark on his hand. "Do you… think it may have been a memory from your past?"
"I don't know. I hope not, I hope for Naga's sake that isn't who I used to be. The person in that vision was sociopathic. I could feel that he wanted nothing but death and bloodshed." Robin started shaking again as the dream began to resurface in his memory.
Cordelia pulled him close and ran her hands through his hair, softly combing it to reassure him. "From what you've told me, I'm sure that isn't you. You are not, nor will you ever be that person in your dream. You are a good and loving man, Robin. I know the man I fell in love with. What you saw might just be a dark fear of who you think you might have been."
Robin reached his hand up to hold onto Cordelia's and rested his head on her shoulder. "Whatever I did in the past, I'm 100% sure that I didn't do enough to deserve you. I love you, my Dove."
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Inigo knew that he saw another portal open along with his, so whoever came through has to be close. Inigo, just emerging, immediately heard sobbing coming from behind a bush and saw Severa, clutching onto a bloodied rag as if her life depended on it. "Severa! Thank the gods you made it through. I feared the worst, that maybe you and Morgan wanted to be the last ones through."
Severa only cried harder as she clutched the cloth tighter. Inigo was worried, and crept closer to his friend. "What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned. As soon as he got closer, he noticed the familiar purple trimming on the bloodied cloak. Soon realizing that only one member of their group had attire like that, a grim realization hit him. Only one, very pressing question came to his mind. "Where's Morgan?"
A/N: And we are back. Sorry about that. I may or may not have gotten distracted by getting into some new series, and a change in work, along with a bit of writer's block. Sorry again.