Hi y'all!
So I've finished another chapter and here it is! Only 4 to go now!
Hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading and please, comment!
love, winter
Black Swan*
All characters are taken from The Tribe series. Nothing is mine; I just made up the storyline and the dialogues. Nothing would be possible without the wonderful masterminds behind The Tribe.
* The event that is a surprise (to the observer); has a major impact; after the first recorded instance of the event, it is rationalized by hindsight as if it could have been expected.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The army tried to knock down the door of the museum that was the only thing separating them from the win. It proved to be more difficult than it looked.
Jack didn't bother helping. He was walking in the crowd, trying to find Dal. Alice had told him he was here, somewhere, but after looking for what seemed forever, Jack was getting more and more confused.
Finally, he went straight to Lex.
"Have you seen Dal anywhere?"
Lex looked at him, puzzled.
"I've been fighting here since the start of the attack," he said. "Dal didn't come with me; he stayed at the main base."
"No," shook his head Jack, "Alice told me he wasn't there."
"Then she must have overlooked him. I saw him go in the base myself."
"And you're sure he didn't come here later?"
"Do I look like I have time to sit around chatting? I am sure he did come here."
"Then where is he?" asked Jack
"I'm sure he'll turn up," reassured him Lex. The more minutes passed the less he believed in his own words. Dal's arrival was way overdue. Lex joined Jack in search of the crowd but he too had no luck.
He remembered that Ebony had told him they emptied the whole main base. He walked up to her.
"Hey, Ebony!" he exclaimed. "You sure you haven't seen Dal anywhere?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. The whole building was empty, we checked. I told you. Why are you asking again?"
"We can't find Dal," Lex sighed. "No one saw him since before the battle, when he went back in."
"Maybe he went back to the mall?"
"Well, in that case he would have to exit the building first, right?"
May was standing nearby and couldn't help but overhear. Suddenly she remembered.
"Wait," she exclaimed. "I saw some blood in there while I was walking through the building!"
Lex turned to her in disbelief. Blood? A terrible thought appeared in his mind and it sent creeps down his spine. It couldn't be, he kept repeating to himself, trying to remain calm. What proof did he have, after all?
Yet it made sense; awful, devastating sense.
"I didn't think much of it. It was under the half broken window. I figured one of the guards tried to get away and cut himself doing it," continued May, realizing she should have checked.
"Didn't think much of it?!" yelled Jack. "Damn! It could have been Dal's blood!"
"There was no body anywhere…"
"He could have gotten hurt and crawled somewhere to hide! He might need help!" said Jack.
Lex and Jack ran back to the main base to search for Dal; or, as Lex feared, his body. Less than half an hour later they returned with a dreaded conformation.
Dal was dead.
It overshadowed their recent success. It killed the optimism and no one cared much about penetrating the building anymore. The Mallrats cried, embracing each other and the day soon turned into night.
Lex tried to understand what had happened. Was it The Guardian or one of the guards that discovered Dal's true identity? He remembered how confident and brave Dal was before going back in, returning to the building that ended up taking his life. Not a trace of fear could be found in his voice, his face. He should not have let him go back. He had no reason to. Dal fulfilled his mission, he found out about this base. Without him they would have never found this place and they could have never won. Dal paid the highest price for this success.
Lex felt responsible although he knew he had had no way of knowing. His feelings for Tai San overwhelmed him, distracting him from thinking straight, focusing on what was happening. Had he been honest with himself, people around him, he might have not been so blind.
He searched for Tai San with his eyes. She distanced herself from the group, sitting on the floor and seemed to be in deep thoughts. She was beautiful as always and suddenly Lex saw no reason to wait any longer.
He always knew how fragile life in their world was but never thought much about. Everyday life was complicated enough; he didn't want to depress it even more with illusions of death. When Zandra died he regretted not saying billions things. Now, with Dal's passing, he finally realized there was no point in waiting for the perfect moment. There was no such thing. A moment was just that, a a moment, some indeed more pleasant than the others, but perfection did not exist.
Moreover, every moment was perfect comparing to death.
He got up and walked straight to Tai San. He didn't look around, trying to find himself an excuse.
She seemed startled when he appeared in front of her.
"Yes?"
"Tai San, I need to tell you something," he said and took a deep breath. She was looking at him with her eyes wide open. Her face was a good mask; Lex would have never guessed she knew what he was about to tell her.
"Yes?"
He sat down, facing her.
"See I… I don't expect you to say feel the same, I don't expect anything at all. I just want you to know … in case something goes wrong … Tai San … I love you."
Tai San's heart trebled like a blade of grass when greeting by a warm breeze. These words were what she had been wishing to hear for so long now. She thought he would never say them, never understood all her attempts to help him. It was music for her ears and she was left speechless, like so many people before and after her when their dreams come true.
"Ok ... so, I said it," Lex sighed and smiled. "Now you know."
Only when he started walking away Tai San woke from the trance she had fallen into. She got on her feet and ran after him.
"Actually …" she said as he turned back to her. She stepped closer to him. "Actually I think I love you too, Lex."
He looked at her, unsure of what to do or what to say.
"I have loved you for a while now, Lex," she added.
He had to repeat her words in his mind to understand.
"Why didn't you say something?" he asked, confused.
She shrugged.
"Why didn't you?"
It was all so weird and disarraying. Hours ago Lex could never imagine this moment happening, ever. He had had a shield around him and now he let go of it. He let his emotions spread their wings and float in the wind of love. It was so all so new and innocent for him. It made him so happy, so calm, tamed and free at the same time; he wondered if he wasn't actually dreaming and this were just chemicals taking him for a wild ride.
Usually so confident Lex now found himself to be insecure and vulnerable. Strangely, he didn't even mind.
"That's your cue to kiss her!" KC's scream came from the distance.
And right there, in the middle of grief, sadness and pointless violence a new love sprouted.
Bray ran the entire way to the city. He could not get there fast enough and it seemed like the journey was taking forever.
He wondered the entire way how his tribe was doing. Did the attack go well and was the war already done? Did something go wrong again and he was running straight back into the even harsher regime? Whatever was happening, Bray was felt more ready than ever for the confrontation with The Guardian.
As he entered the city, it seemed as calm as ever. There were no noises indicating fighting was still happening. He planned to go straight to the museum, expecting to find Lex and others there.
He never made it there.
He was only a few streets away from his destination when Abberay suddenly jumped in front of him. He stopped, surprised. He didn't even know she was still in the city. He thought she had gone back to the Gaians, her home. If she stayed, he wondered why she wasn't with Pride, her leader.
Her face was collected and determination reflecting from it was deafening. She didn't give him a chance to ask anything.
"I know where he is," she said.
To Be Continued.
Broughttoyouby:::winter.
