(A/N): It is here! The second-to-last chapter! I won't ramble here so you could read it. The song here is called "My Destiny" by Trish Thuy Trang. It's really, really pretty (and a little sad), but I still encourage people to listen to it. A link is in my profile, as always ;).
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter 26
Voices and images gradually filled the darkness, the endless darkness that was beginning to make me fear it instead of embrace it. Voices. Angry voices that never seemed to cease came in waves and waves. My head hurt – it was one of those times when you felt so sick and that everything was receding from you. Everything was so far away even if I could see them crystalline clear. There was Mother screaming at me, making angry faces at me that I had never seen her do; there was Father, yelling at me for being an idiot; there was Edward, looking at me with hatred before turning his back on me and walking away.
I had no idea what was happening in my mind. I did not know what I did to deserve all this anguish. It made me feel so hopeless and weak. The last image of Edward turning away from me tore my heart apart. I sank to my knees, crying and sobbing. Everything seemed so far away. Any attempt to move closer would make them recede even further away from me. I watched, my head about to burst with fear and loneliness, as everything slowly diminished and disappeared into the returning darkness. Dread and fright taking over all of my senses, and I screamed. I screamed and screamed until I felt myself being lifted away from that dreadful place and landing somewhere where everything felt more real.
My breathing was quick and shallow, my throat hurt from such abuse as screaming shrilly. The first real emotion, if you could call it that, was coldness. Wherever I was, the coldness was bone-chilling, causing me to give an involuntary shudder. When I tried to move my arms, I felt shackles around them – long and heavy shackles that made me unable to move my arms because of its sheer weight. I realized that I was sitting against a cold stone wall, which was as well since I could not possibly stand up with all the weights of the shackles and chains.
Opening my eyes, I took in my surroundings while moving myself to a more comfortable position, rattling the metal chains a little. Everything was dark around me. So dark, in fact, that I could see no difference between opening and closing my eyes. I could not even see my hands even when I took the effort to bring them in front of my face.
"Where am I?" I whispered to the darkness, hoping to bring myself comfort. However, my voice just seemed lost and confused and seemed to break the brittle silence. Gathering my courage, I sang softly to keep myself company.
Moonlight high above the trees
such a peaceful night it is.
By myself I'm sitting here
the memories are clear
of love I never could reveal.
There's a gentle swaying breeze
while my eyes are filled with tears.
All the things you couldn't see
the love that I still feel
I never thought you'd ever leave.
Of course, he never left me…but the loneliness and the fear I felt in me were even more hurtful than otherwise…so I believed…
Silently through all the years
my heart aches 'cause you're not here.
Took for granted you'd be there
I never showed I cared
and now you're only in my dreams.
All the time could never heal
what I've lost and what I feel.
You were taken far away
and now it's just too late
and fate has sealed my destiny.
Edward. He was the only one I thought of – not Mother nor Father; just Edward. He was my love, my other half, my life. I mentally scoffed at how much like a lovesick puppy I sounded, even though part of me admitted that I was a lovesick puppy.
Sadness cuts my heart so deep.
What a life it could've been!
By myself in disbelief
With misery and grief
this never was supposed to be.
Twilight glimmers in the stream.
Soon another day begins.
Wishing you were here with me
to share new memories
and all the secrets that I keep.
Edward. Please continue to live on and be safe! Don't do anything stupid. Nothing would hurt more than I already feel if you did something to yourself! I wished now that he could read my mind from wherever he was at the moment or that I could somehow pass the message to him. Silent tears fell from my eyes. I remembered the last time I cried, when he was there to comfort me and hold me.
Silently through all the years
my heart aches 'cause you're not here
Took for granted you'd be there
I never showed I cared
and now you're only in my dreams
All the time could never heal
What I've lost and what I feel
You were taken far away
and now it's just too late
and fate has sealed my destiny
As the last notes of the song trailed off, I broke into sobs and cried, not bothering to wipe away my tears because that would just remind me too much.
"Bella? Is that you?" a familiar voice called, disbelief apparent. I stopped in mid-sob and turned, frantically searching for the owner of that voice, but to no avail. The place was too dark.
"Edward? Is that you? Where are you?" Try as I might, I could not prevent the happy smile that was crawling on my lips. I could laugh and burst with delight if I could…but I couldn't, so I tried to keep still.
"If my judgment is not clouded, I'd say somewhere about a hundred paces in front of you. Are you alright?" His voice was full of anxiety and concern…and relief?
"I'm alright, now that you're here. I'm tied my chains that are too heavy for me to move around easily though. Are you alright?" I wanted to laugh – I wanted to laugh loud and clear and shout to the world that I was not alone – that Edward was still here with me.
"Yes, though my situation is not much better. The chains on me are completely made of reinforced iron and thick as a cow's thigh bone, if I may say so myself. I've tried for ages, but I have not managed to even weaken it." He sighed in defeat although I detected a hint of a smile and badly suppressed delight in his voice.
"Well, considering that it's Victoria who's holding you captive, she must have some way to make sure that you'll stay captive," I answered, also with a sigh.
"Are you sure you are okay? Victoria was feeding you some sort of potion that was labeled 'Dark Dreams' before dragging me away to this place where I could not even see my hands. And then, I heard you screaming, and there was nothing I could do…" His voice broke as if he was trying hard not to cry or recall those memories. "That was the worst moment of my life – knowing that I could help you, but I can't. I think I sunk into despair until your singing slowly brought me out of that…"
"Hush, don't cry. I'm okay, and you're okay. That's all it matters, right?" I paused. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he answered, but he said no more, letting the quiet take over.
We sat in the deafening silence for an immeasurable amount of time. I broke it first. "You know what is terrifyingly sad for me? I don't get to choose how I die. If I have a say in this matter at all, I would choose how I die, where, and…maybe…for whom. That would be much better than…say…tripping over a rock and just happened to land in a trap designed to kill bears and lions."
I heard a sharp intake of breath at the far end. "Don't say that! Have you no care for what I would feel if you die?! Have you no inhibitions to being pessimistic?" I winced at how hurt and angry the sweet voice sounded.
"I have hopes, yes. My only hope is to be free from this curse and have my own say in these matters. It would be freedom beyond relief, you know." I sighed softly, shaking my head. Like that's going to happen. "Edward, promise me that you'd continue to live on as if nothing has happened…should something befall on me and I could no longer be beside you."
"No." So simply said, yet so powerful.
He made a sound, as if he was going to say more, when a faraway door opened, creaking on its old hinges, and then shut with a boom. A small light was brought into my view – a faint torch accompanying a person who was faintly glowing purple. Instinctively, I knew it was Victoria. As she came closer, the quiet clink of her boots against the floor could be heard growing louder. When she stood about twenty paces to the right, she started to slow.
"Well, well, isn't this nice. The two lovers are having their last chat and expressing some final wishes." Edward growled at the comment.
"Don't you dare touch her," Edward threatened in a voice deep and commanding. Though it sent shivers down my spine, Victoria merely waved it away.
"You are in no position to say that." She waved an arm and several hundred candles lighted at the same time, illuminating the entire dungeon, and causing me to shut my eyes in the sudden light.
When my eyes adjusted to the blinding light, I took in my surroundings. Victoria, in all her evil glory, was standing in the middle of the gigantic room that looked to be one of the haunted grand ballrooms. Blood was hideously splattered in various random places and several skeletons of long-dead people lay strewn about. The air seemed to have suddenly grown colder.
However, as he had predicted, Edward was about a hundred paces directly in front of me, tied with chains thick enough to bind a hundred cows down at once; only ending in a small cuffs where his hands and legs were bound. Tears prickled into my eyes at the sight of him.
"Enjoy your last view of her. I am being very courteous to you. She won't be the same again," Victoria sneered, releasing an evil laugh that made my ears hurt and my head spin.
I heard the soft clink of her boots against the floor as they made their way toward me. I kept my face emotionless and cold, looking only at the floor and occasionally peeking at my engagement ring. The thought that only hours ago, I was safe in that secluded cave with Edward, brought a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. I breathed in deeply to keep strong. I must keep strong. I must…
And a pair of purple boots suddenly appeared in my view. "Look at me, girl!" Victoria commanded. When I remained stone-still, her boots flashed, revealing three-inch-high stiletto heels. I felt her eyes upon me as she moved the heel over to my hand, placing it on the bone connecting my index finger and my wrist. "Look at me!" she commanded again. I merely turned my head to the side, preparing myself for the pain. I did not have to wait for long. The next moment, her heel dug into my hand until I had to bite my lip to stop myself from screaming out. Blood pounded to my head, and I smelled the blood from my bitten lips slowly meandering its way down my chin.
I peeked at Edward through the pain – the excruciating pain – and saw what I had no wish to see. Small purple creatures with big ears were all around him, covering his mouth and kept him from moving, but they also forced his eyes on me. I quickly closed my eyes, trying to breathe deeply against the pain from my hand. There were two deafening snaps as I suddenly knew that both bones that connected my index and middle fingers to my wrist were snapped in half, if not worse. I nearly blacked out from the pain that was pounding and hammering on my head.
And still, Victoria continued on, commanding me too look at her. Soon, I believed that I had left of my right hand was a bloody mess of broken bones, torn skin, blood vessels, and nerves that precariously held my hand together. The pain from my hand numbed me from any further pain on that side, though it had not prepared me for the same torture to my other hand. When the first bone broke, I screamed in shock and surprise as well as the pain coming from another set of nerves that had yet to be numbed.
When Victoria had a small break, I opened my eyes again and immediately looked towards Edward. He was slumped against the wall on the other side, and still in the same treatment. I searched his face for signs of emotion, but I could not see enough of his features to make a good judgment. His eyes, however, were filled with pain, hate, love, and fear. His eyes were coal black, but there was no mistaking the fear that was flashing now and then through his eyes.
I was completely numb. It felt just like six months ago with James, except this pain was worse. I decided that I would gladly take his way of all the bones breaking at once than Victoria's breaking each bone individually. As she took the pains to crack my leg bones, I felt myself gradually loosing control. The numbness was taking over everything until I could not feel the pain anymore. I could no longer control the screams of pain and agony as each bone was broken. The control gradually dimmed until, like before, I was in the blessed state of only just hearing and no longer feeling.
My mind was more detached than before, and I almost smiled to myself in amusement as I saw how hard a time Victoria was having breaking my leg bones. I knew they were cracking, yet they weren't breaking as some of the thinner bones were doing. My vision was starting to blur. My blood was beginning to pool about me and I found myself mildly surprised at the fact that I was still conscious.
Just as I was about to loose all hope and test to see if I could try drifting away, the hall brightened once…twice…thrice…before dimming until I could barely make out the figure of Edward, held down and tightened by the creatures, his eyes shaking with anger, grief, fear, and glazed over in what seemed to be shock. Three columns of smoke – faerie smoke – that disappeared to reveal Fauna, Flora, and Periwinkle (A/n: I know that it should be Meriweather, but due to a mistake earlier, I have to keep constant :)).
Victoria cursed under her breath before straightening, muttering a simple spell to dispel my blood that had soaked into her purple robe. I briefly wondered how much blood do I have left within me….
"We, by the order of the Faerie Royalty, hereby command thee to stop and receive thy command from Their Majesties for thy punishment to revoke an approved curse and take the matters into thy own hands, thereby breaking Faerie Code Number 50892," said Flora, holding a piece of shinning golden parchment. "'Victoria is then stripped of all her Faerie status and reduced to a state, magic bound, where she could not harm even a fly, bee, ant; which implies that she cannot harm anything, no matter living, once living, will be living, or never lived.' You may thank Their Majesties," she continued.
The situation made me want to laugh. It seemed so totally absurd that this should come now.
Victoria, however, was having none of it. She made as if to escape, but the three faerie messengers were against her. They raised their wands at the same time, pointing at the same unknown spot as what looked to be sparkling light essence slowly leaked from Victoria's body, joining a gradually increasing ball of light as Victoria's body grew dimmer and dimmer until she no longer shined so splendidly.
She let out an agonizing screech of pain as she raised her wand. The trickle of light leaking from Victoria's body stopped as it was diverted into a small spinning ball that was spinning faster and growing brighter by the moment. Distracted by the spinning ball, I had not noticed that Victoria's magic had ceased to reinforce the shackles so that they were now thin, rusty and useless. Edward had broken free of the shackles, now that the creatures trapping him disappeared, and came running to me.
Time seemed to slow until I could see every step Edward took running towards me although he was, in reality, running lightning fast. Victoria's small ball of magic shaped itself into the darkest dagger I had ever seen. Edward was half way across the room when the faerie's head suddenly turned to stare at me with the reddest eyes I had ever seen. I watched as the dagger lost its connection to her and began to make its way towards Edward. In my head, I barely registered Victoria's ending speech: "They have to die!"
Edward, however, seemed oblivious to the fact that there was a deadly dagger pointing right at him. He dropped by my side, sobbing tearlessly as I tried to warn him of his danger. As the dagger approached closer and closer, I felt an amazing burst of energy and control. Determination filled my mind, keeping all the pain at bay as I moved to protect Edward. I had moved with such force that I slammed Edward into the wall. A split second later, I felt the dagger pierce my stomach and lodged there. It quickly disappeared, leaving another hole in me from which my stomach acid was leaking through. I swore softly before collapsing into Edward's arms, his mouth open in shock – pure shock. Fear and a thousand other emotions fled across his dark eyes, but none was as prominent as shock.
"I…g-got…my wish," I gasped. "I…c-c-choose…the way…I die." Edward was shaking his head no, as if suddenly realizing what had happened. "It's…not your…fault." I tried to smile at him. "I…l-l-love…y-you." My breathing hitched as I gritted my teeth against the pain in my stomach, which was beginning to burn.
"I love you, too, Bella. Please, don't leave me…don't leave me. I can't be alone. Don't leave me…" Edward murmured over and over again, kissing me softly on my forehead – the only part of me not bloodied by cuts and broken bones.
We were in our own world. We never heard Victoria's string of eloquent curses as the last of her powers were leeched away and she crumpled into a heap. There was no one but Edward and me, staring into each other's eyes. Until…I started to hear my heart slow and everything starting to black out.
"Be…safe," I gasped. And then, only then, everything turned dark.
Hmm...I kind of like how it turned out. There were some gruesome parts to this chapter which made me very sad and reluctant to write it...but I think it has a sort of nice touch...but maybe I'm just hallucinating. And, before you ask, I just wanted to say that Edward was completely oblivious to the dagger until Bella moved in front of him to take it herself. Everything wiped from his mind except Bella, he could no longer think straight - a little 'stupid' on his part...and he felt immense guilt. As to why Bella block it...she was afraid that it could kill him. After all, Victoria did say that 'they have to die' and the dagger was magical instead of your regular steel/iron weapons...and since she wants Edward to be safe, she took it for him...
I'm kinda sorry for another cliffy, though...but I have a 'deal'/bribe for you: I'm pretty much finished with the ending chapter (it's in a final editing stage), and since it is the ending chapter, I'll be really greedy for once. The most reviews I've gotten for one chapter was 27. I want to break that. Encouragements, speculations on what would happen, or constructive criticism are welcomed with a cookie :). You can also say what you'd prefer the ending to be: a traditional fairy-tale/fable ending, good or bad (and there are several bad fairytale/fable endings that I know of)...or a not-so-traditional one.
So...here's the real bribe: I will post the last chapter on or before 9pm Central Time on
Monday June 11, 2007 if I have more than 27 reviews
Wednesday June 13, 2007 if I have between 20 and 27 reviews (inclusive)
Thursday June 14, 2007 if I have between 14 and 19 reviews (inclusive)
Friday June 15, 2007 if I have less than 14 reviews.
There you have it...:D. Please forgive me for being this greedy. I do like to hear from you as much as possible regarding this chapter and the next.
Also, Bella's hairstyle and engagement ring from the previous chapter is posted in my profile (under the link Sleeping Beauty). You are welcome to browse through them, if you wish. They may, however, contain some pictures/songs for the next chapter...so here's your possible spoiler warning. ;)
--Cathy
P.S. The last chapter will be posted on Monday June 11! You did it! lol