Chapter 28
XxX Two days later, Venice, Italy XxX
When I wake, I'm drowned in sweat while it's cool in the room, my blankets are lying on the floor and my heart is beating fast in my chest. I'm oanting air and look at the ceiling.
I slowly get out of bed, another nightmare, this was the third time this night, i look at the clock, half three four, too early for the sun to rise, and too early to get out and dress up.
I sneek into the kitchen and open the fridge, grab the cocoa, and make some hot cocoa. I don't like milk, for some reason I hate it, I like everything that has milk in it, but not 100% milk, wierd but... well, I am weird, aren't we all?
I sit on the sideboard, drinking my hot cocoa and looking at the darkness, I close my eyes but almost burst out screaming when I feel something on my arm, I slap my hand against the thing and turn on the lights, to see a big black spider crawling away, I hold back a scream while I'm trying to kill it with my foot but can't hold back a yelp when I stamp on it and fall down on the ground, slipping because of the spider that's now under Dante's slipper, which I was wearing, I growl and feel sick while lying on the ground, there's a slpashed big spider under the slipper and I slipped because of that, landing on the floor into the dirt.
'Zhalia?' asks a tired voice then, I wave at him from behind the little wall and see him raise his eyebrow 'Why are you lying on the floor?'.
'I had a nightmare again, so got out of bed to drink some hot cocoa to make me tired, then while I was drinking it a spider attacked me and I slapped it on the ground, I wanted to kill it so I killed it with your slipper and then I slipped because if it's remain ups...' I answer, and slowly stand up, I turn on the light and almost vomit when I see the dirty streak of Spider-left-overs.
'That's gross...' I feel my stomach turn again, I can hold back the meal I ate a few hours ago and feel Dante's hand on my shoulder, but then quick moving to his other hand.
'It's on your back...' he starts.
'I... you don't have a short for me, do you?' I ask softly, swallowing a scream.
'I'll... get something, uhm... clean that for me in the meantime' then he's gone, I clean it with much disgust and when I'm done, I bind my hair together and slowly take off my own shirt, I look at my back in the mirror and sight when I see there's spider left-over on my but, upper leg and shoulder, I growl when I see a... I think it's a leg, in my hair and slowly walk out of the kitchen.
'I'm taking a shower first' I tell Dante when I meet him in the hall.
'Zhalia... you want to sleep in my bed?' he asks, worried about my nightmares.
'No, that's OK, you need your sleep too' I nod at him but feel a hand grab my wrist.
'Zhalia, you know I'll never put myself in the first place, you need your sleep more than I do, you haven't slept last night, after we arrived late in the night and you didn't have any more sleep than an half-hour sleep in the plane' he looks at me.
'I don't want to be a bargain...' I answer, looking at him.
'Trust me, you're not' he leads me to his own room and shows me his own bathroom. When I've taken a quick shower, I put on a tank-top Dante gave me and look at how it covers everything perfectly, I turn off the lights and slowly walk to Dante's bed, I slip again and growls when I hear Dante chuckle.
'A spider again?'.
'No, It's a... I think it's a... Cell phone? Why... did you… why is it lying on the floor?' I ask, slowly climbing into the bed, Dante turned on a light on the night stand and looks at the phone.
'That's odd, I lost that one an half year ago...' he raises one eyebrow and lays it on his night stand 'Well, thanks for finding it'.
'It was my pleasure' I answer sarcastically and hear him chuckle when he turns off the lights, I crawl into the bed and feel Dante's body heat, warm me up.
'You're warm...' I softly tell him, like it's important.
'Are you cold?' he asks me, his hand seeking for my shoulder but grabbing my face, I chuckle softly and grab his hand with mine.
'No I'm not...' I answer and close my eyes, it feels nice to lay next to Dante, I know he would do the same for Lok and Sophie if they had nightmares like me, but somewhere, I just want to think this is special and that it means something... I yawn and soon fall back into a darkness of dreams.
Darkness... everywhere I look is Darkness, I can't see my hands before my eyes, it's all around me.
'Hallo?' I ask, not knowing where I am or what I'm doing here, the ground underneath my feet is cold and there are bumps everywhere, like wooden poles, wood that's rotting, it smells like crap...
'Hallo?' I ask again, to hear nothing 'Dante?' I ask in a lower, shaking voice 'Is somebody there?' I feel my voice getting softer and more scared, shaking 'Somebody?'.
I starts to walk, with my hands in front of me, when I feel the cloth of a raincoat I smile, my hands go from his arms to his shoulders to his head, it's cold but I feel the hair under my fingers.
'Dante... I thought I was alone'.
There's a flash of light then and I get thrown back on the wooden ground, flames are all around the big dark room, and now lighting it up. I look at the ground and scream when I notice it are bones and rotten bodies. I look at Dante and see him look back at me, his body falling limp on the ground, I crawl to him and turn him on his back, two empty eyes look at me, I start to cry and pray I hold him against me while I see how the ghosts of my death family are walking towards me, I see Sophie and Lok run towards me, fear in their eyes, then they get killed but fire burning them. I scream, cry and pray.
I try to believe Dante's not death, I try any spell I know to give his life back, to give him my life, but it doesn't make any difference.
I soon see his ghost walking towards me, I smile but the professor appears behind him and points his ring at Dante, a dark energy grabs Dante's ghost and he gets sucked into the darkness, I scream his name and then the bodies start to live again, l they're crawling towards me, grabbing my ankles and pushing me on the ground, Dante's body is no more flesh, only a skeleton with empty eyes, auburn hair and clothes. I scream while the grinning teeth are moving, the bones are cracking, I scream and cry.
Till something warm hugs me from everywhere, I first think it's fire but then notice everything getting blurry.
I wake screaming and kicking, I hear Dante's voice and feel his arms around me, a light is turned on and I'm sweating, my throat is sore from screaming and I'm cold and cold sweat is sticking my hair onto my face.
I slowly calm down while I hear Dante's voice in my ear, I stare at the wall, trying to catch my breath. I'm shivering and still feel the cold bones of the dead people on my legs, around my waist, and when I close my eyes I see Dante's death skull in my mind, the death eyes and the grin.
'Shhh... It's all good now, it was just a nightmare...' whispers Dante in my ear, softly moving me back under the blankets, my back turned to him while he's caressing my upper arm and still whispering soft words.
'Dante...' I whisper with shaking and raw voice.
'Yes?' he asks gently.
'You're not going to die... right?'.
'I wasn't planning to'.
'Yes... right' I swallow and close my eyes.
'Sweet dreams...' he whispers and soon I fall asleep, with the feeling of Dante caressing my upper arm.
XxX few days later, Ethiopia XxX
After we meet with Addo and got at his home town. We're trying to figure out about the mission while eating dinner. After dinner I do the dishes and soon hear someone enter the kitchen.
'Need a hand?' asks Dante.
'It's not much...' I answer.
'I insist' he answers, taking the towel and drying the stuff I just washed.
'Dante I...' I start but then stop.
'What?'.
'I'm sorry for the last nights, I'm keeping you awake with my screaming and nightmares...' I sight.
'It's nothing. It always sounds like you're or very scared, or you're getting killed...'.
'I... It's mostly about you guys, getting killed, or about death people, my family or strangers who're following me... and every dream, I see a new way of you guys dying, a few nights ago you were already death while Sophie and Lok were getting burned alive, or yesterday when we were swimming and you got ripped apart by a shark, or three days ago when you got tortured by Klaus while I was looking at how you slowly died in of the most horrible tortured ways, while Lok was getting cooked alive, and Sophie was... well getting shot by Poisonfang till I saw her bones through her flesh, while she was chained up against the wall'.
'Really? What kind of torture? How did I die?'.
'Getting hit by a whip, cut with a knife, shot by spells, burned with flames and hot metal, Klaus poisoned you and I saw how he ripped your skin of your flesh using hot steal to rip it part from your body... I saw your fingers get broken, your eyelids get pinned with needles, you tongue cut out, your teeth kicked out, I saw many things...' A shiver runs down my spine when I think about it 'So much blood...'.
'Sounds... like a very... interesting dream' ends Dante.
'Interesting? It was horrible! And one that wasn't even the worst'.
'Really? What was the worst?'.
'The one I couldn't control myself and killed you...' I answer softly, stopping with the dishes.
'Zhalia...' he starts, laying a hand on my shoulder.
'I know it was just a dream, but... it felt so real. I feel guilty'.
'You have no reason for that, I'm still alive, and you can control yourself, I know it'.
'Thanks Dante, if only I could believe you'.
XxX
The next morning when I wake, it's early in the morning, I take a bath in Addo's little bathroom and put on some sun cream, all over my body.
When I come downstairs I hear Addo making breakfast, I sit down on a chair, greet him and put on my knee high boots.
'I heard you were up early this morning' he walks towards me.
'Well, yes... I'm having nightmares lately, and I don't know how to stop it'.
'Nightmares are created by your biggest fear' he points out.
'Yes...' I whisper.
'What is it about?' he asks, lying his hand on my shoulder.
'It's about my friends, I think my biggest fear is to lose them'.
'Your friends seem quite strong, you shouldn't worry too much'.
'I know...' I answer softly and stand up, I walk to the kitchen and start making breakfast. This night I didn't have a nightmare as always, no. This time it was about me and Dante, I confessed him about my feelings and he dumped me... I sight and look out of the window, the sun is rising and I notice the whole town is already awake.
'Addo... why is everybody up so early?' I ask.
'It's not early for us, it's too warm outside in the afternoon to work hard, so everybody wakes up early in the morning and does their job, in the afternoon, we sleep, we wake in the evening, have dinner, spend time with our friends and family, throw a party and around midnight or later, we sleep again. It's very normal' he smiles softly, I see he doesn't look very tired, that's probably because he too has this rhythm.
'Morning, Addo, Zhalia' greets Lok, walking in without a shirt, Sophie follows looking at the boy with raised eyebrow.
'Good morning' she smiles at us for a moment, but then continues looking at Lok.
'Sophie, want to do my back?' he asks, Sophie rolls her eyes and walks towards him.
'Do I have to do your back too? Sophie?' he asks then.
'No, I did it myself' she answers, a little annoyed.
'Just asking' he answers a little too innocent, which makes me grin.
I walk with the breakfast to the living room, we sit down and wait for Dante to arrive, we don't have to wait long, because when I place down the last plate, he joins us.
XxX
After breakfast, the whole room smells like the sun cream, I grin when I see Sophie trying to do her face without a mirror, a white strip over her forehead. Lok wipes it away and they start to laugh.
'Need some help?' asks Dante then, from behind.
'Not really, I've done myself already this morning' I nod at him and he smiles gently, putting the tube in his backpack.
XxX
After the fight against the people off the town, we get into the car and drive away.
'Thanks to me, you got out save' says Lok proudly, looking at Sophie.
'That's me, a real damsel in distress, without you... who knows? I might have had to get rid of four man instead of three' she grins at him and we all chuckle, then Dante turns around and looks at me.
'It's nice to see you haven't lost your edge' he lays his hand on my chin to make me look at him 'Though I think you got a scratch or two' I smile at him and he turns back, still holding my chin 'What's next, Addo?'.
'Take a look behind us, you'll see what is next'.
We all turn around, which makes me lose Dante's grip on my chin, on that moment a car drives against our car.
'I already don't like this mission' says Addo, worried about his life and ours.
'Don't worry my friend, just keep driving'.
'Here they come' I warn them when the car drives next to us and then bumps into us again, we all gasp air, Sophie landing on Lok's shot and Lok hitting the window with his head, Dante holds onto the chair to not do the same as Lok, and I moan when I get thrown off to Sophie, I feel my head hurt slightly but shake it and it disappears.
'This is my brother's car!' yells Addo then.
'We need to shake them somehow, any turn offs of ahead?' asks Dante.
'There is nothing, a short mile up ahead there is Deterco Bridge'.
'A bridge? Say no more. Lok, Zhalia, show time' he nods at us, we nod back, open the window and get out, I hold onto the roof and Lok does the same.
'Brisdlebond!' yells Lok.
'Darkfog!' I help him. We see how the car crashes, but this will only slow them down.
We climb back in and Dante praises us without work, I smile softly and lay my hands on my shot.
'... is your friend Dante going to be OK?' asks Addo after Dante climbed up to the roof.
'Are you kidding?' I ask with a grin 'He lives for this stuff' We enter the bridge and see the suits drive fast after us, Dante sues Metagolum to collapse the bridge and they fall down into the water, when he is back in the car I see him seeking eye contact through the mirror. I smile and nod, as a silent "Good Job!".
He smiles back and after a while we come by the dessert.
We get out and walk further.
XxX At least three or more hours later, walking through the dessert XxX
I sight, we're already walking so long, I feel my head hurt like hell, and that's because of the heat. I feel a wind blow onto my skin and sight in relieve, it's not very cold, but better than the heat, I wipe away the sweat from my forehead and see a rock a bit further away, the shadow is big enough for all of us to take a break.
I look at the others, Sophie's also looking tired, Lok is wiping away the sweat form his forehead, while Dante is trying to figure out how much further it is, Addo seems quite normal, maybe a little bit warmer, but nothing new.
'We can take a break up there, there's a stone with a big shadow' I point at the rock and we all head to the thing, I sit down against the stone, panting and sweating, great, now I know how a soufflé is feeling, or an apple pie...
'Dante... are we almost there?' asks Sophie then.
'Like I said earlier, it might be another couple of miles' answers the man.
'Great, after that couple of miles, we're toast!' I have no energy to say something better, but I think they understand it, they all do, and they all feel the same way.
'At least... we... get closer, in feeling each other' growls Lok.
'Very funny, I guess we all feel like an apple pie' I answer, and lay down in the sand, I have no intention to lay my head on Dante's shoulder, knowing he will be warm too, we're all hot, everything is hot. The dessert is not my place... for someone who is born in The Netherlands, and has lived on the street in the snow, this was too hot, sure, I like warm weather like almost everybody does, but this is out of league.
'Do you hear that too?' asks Sophie then.
'What?' asks Lok.
'That noise, like a big car... a truck is heading our way' she looks at us. I slowly stand up and look over the stone to the other side 'it's worse than a truck... Sandstorm!' I yell, they get up to see the same thing and soon we're in the middle of a sandstorm.
We walk further, and after maybe another half hour, we're lost.
I try to stay close to Dante and Addo, I also try to keep a look at the teens, but it's too much for me, I tripped twice, Sophie did five times and Lok three. Dante and Addo didn't, but I know it won't last long until they too collapse.
When I trip again, I stay on the ground, the sand is everywhere, in my nose, my eyes and my mouth, I cough to breathe normal, I breathe as less as possible but the sand is still everywhere. I feel an arm around my back and a hand grabbing my upper arm, I don't want to move or walk, just to stay here and wait till this storm is over. But Dante isn't planning to leave me, so he helps me standing up and I hold my scarf in front of my face, I feel he's using a spell to give me more energy and cure my lungs. I look at him, into his amber eyes and see only worry.
After a while I noticed Dante was getting more tired by leading and helping me, so I told him I was alright and with walking in the back I was trying to keep going.
'Addo! How long do these things last' asks Dante then, Sophie collapses, and is helped up by Lok.
'Sometimes an hour, sometimes a week' answers Addo, Great, just great, what if we're getting lost in the dessert, with not much food or water, because of this sandstorm?
Then Dante orders us to stay low and get down, I let myself fall on the ground, just in time, three energy spells hit the ground behind us, flying directly over me.
Somewhere in the fight against three suits and a few titans, I get hit by Augerfrost, I couldn't see the spell in time because of the sand. I fly through the air, into Addo and hit then the ground, my head hurt badly, I feel dizzy and ready to puke. My ribs protest when Addo grabs me and leads me away, I run as far as I can till I fall on my knees again and Addo has to help me walk, everything is turning and I feel I have at least two or three broken ribs because of the Augerfrost, also a bad headache, which is probably caused by the hit on the ground, my back is bruised and my elbows are slightly bruised too.
Somehow we've trailed off, while trying to find the others, the sandstorm calmed down and we walked in the heat again, the sun burning on my skin.
I'm fighting to stay conscious, but fall on the ground, I'm tired and my body protests against every move, we see three people a little further away and I hope we found them, Addo lays me in the shadow of a rock and I moan when I sit back, I look at Addo, to see what happens, with the suits around it can be someone else then my team.
I sight, we have no water anymore, we're both tired and me being in a bad state makes me not able to protect Addo nor myself.
I hear Rassimov's voice and gasp air, I know he isn't going to let me live if I don't do anything, I start to cover myself up, dress myself to another woman, put on some sunglasses so I hope he won't recognize me. Just in time because Rassimov just walks in front of me.
'What's this? Who are you?'.
'Just a tourist sir, we got lost in a sandstorm and I tripped and fell of a... how do you say? ... sand mountain? I probably have a few broken ribs' I answer with a thick German accent.
'Right, you two, carry her with us' he points at two suits and I try to stay steady as I'm walking alone but soon feel my body give up and fall on the ground.
'Stand up!' yells Rassimov roughly.
'I can't...' I answer, my accent a bit less thick. I feel two arms lift me up and give a yelp when he lays me over his shoulder, my ribs protest very hard and I feel a feel tears run down my cheeks.
XxX After a while XxX
We reach the professor, I feel how they drop me in the sand and moan in pain when I hit the ground, I feel Addo quick next to me but push him away. Two other suits bind our hands together and push us on our knees.
'No matter, we've stumbled on a pair of keep able guides' The Professor passes us, but turns around 'You are guides aren't you? Working for the Huntik foundation, until you unfortunate separation?'.
'No. We don't know this Dante Vale' answers Addo, if my hands weren't bound together, I would have slapped my forehead, really hard, while I'm still having this headache.
'Odd, I don't remember mentioning his name'.
Addo gasps and I roll my eyes, quit playing big and ugly!
'I have an idea, why don't we make this easier with everyone involved?' he raises his hand and his ring starts to glow a red energy.
I gasp air and back away, I know I'm still wearing the spell headcage, but what if it has weakened?
He grins and soon Addo is under his spell 'Well, that leaves just you, young lady' then the red energy starts to surround me, I feel something evil in me awake and I start screaming loudly, I've never screamed this hard, but I hope Dante will hear it, wherever he is, and find us in time, find me in time.
TBC
Dun Dum Dum Dummmmmmmm!
Well, everybody knows how it's going to end, but anyway, Review to read what happens next!
Hey guys, I also notice this is already the 28th chapter, we're already with Episode 22, that means, we're going to have four chapters, maybe five and if you want, I want to write Bonus Chapter!
And of course, if you're all into this story, Season 2 is coming soon, that means, I want to write the second season from Zhalia's Point of view too. If you guys agree of course. So tell me what you think!
