Like a lightning bolt, I vaguely saw a flicker of silver, but the movement was too quick to be sure of and it took a mere blink for the light to vanish. The human matched my dread and surprise with his eyes grossly enlarged and his breath fading, while mine quickened.
There was nothing I could have done.
As great as my reflexes were, his bested mine and I watched as the human's spirit left his body and he sunk to the floor, becoming nothing more than a sack of meat. I watched as the blood crawled its way towards me on the tarmac, where I remained kneeling. If I had not gotten used to the sight, then I might have recoiled once upon a time.
'Nah tele nahi ddu.'
Ignorant mongrel, my ears heard. Which must have been cause for the human's death I suppose, by a person without right to pass the sentence.
The ground shook again, the building's wavering with sheets of glass descending like a waterfall. It was almost musical, save for the screaming both near and afar, making me wonder, if Nuada was here, what had he unleashed onto the city with power enough to shake its entirety?
"Nimue!"
He snatched my wrists and hauled me from the floor. I couldn't understand why, but for that wet touch on my ankles, where my ripped skirts clung to my flesh having been stained by the human's blood.
I laughed almost manically, "you worry for my finery, but you better concern yourself with these!"
My hands uncurled and spread rigidly, knowing there was much more responsibility of death behind them, that could not be washed away or discarded. Invisible to the eye but a heavy burden all the same.
Nuada sneered at my proclaim, "our ancient ways would have seen him die for far less. He lay his unworthy hands on you and had the audacity to perceive you with disgust. A woman whose race is woven into the very fabric of this world."
Sharply I tugged myself free, unable to stand the burning coals of his eyes, which were hot with total belief in the words he spoke. Spoilt children were easier to handle. This was utter madness. This was without honour. Ruthless killing, which made me think he were becoming like the mechanical army he wished to awaken.
The screaming continued to echo to where we stood, alone on a street that would have been abuzz with life. I couldn't remember the last time besides my return to Balor, where I had been outside without fear of detection from any humans. If Nuada were not here and it had been silent, it would have been an appreciative peacefulness that I would have taken away and hold dear, after today.
"he is the result of a species that should never have been given the chance to evolve. My father used to tell stories of their beginnings. How our kind laughed at these beings who could scarcely make a coherent sound. Little more than animals without beauty. We treated them as vermin back then, but alas even rats have a fatal bite if left alone."
Then we should be ashamed of ourselves, I thought. We had indeed been graced by an ancient divinity under Aiglin, purified and empowered by the father tree's light. However, that was a very long time ago. Could we still claim to be better than others?
Has the enlightenment of elves not been cleansed away as decades rolled on without contact with Aiglin?
Perhaps we are more similar to the humans than what Nuada would like to admit. For I have certainly heard stories of the race he calls monsters, being somewhat similar to him in his methods of dealing with people he deemed unworthy.
Elimination by mass murder.
There is no justification for it.
And as my hands have been stained with innocent blood due to his deeds, I will not have him do the same onto my people or sully my brother's name in using his death as one of the reasons for his actions.
"I never would have guessed from my upbringing, that his attitude would sway so easily. Or yours for that matter."
He stood shadowing the fresh corpse. His hair curtaining the side of his face which would have been visible to me. It didn't matter though, I stared at him still, listening and resisting the urge to lunge at him for his mentioning of Balor. The grief of his loss was raw and despite knowing he intended to be delivered into the afterlife by his son, the anger I felt was profound. Different to abandonment, different to our reunion and different towards his master plan.
It rose the question in me, of what would I have done to my brother's killers, when he was taken from me.
The same or worse to what I did to the thing that killed the professor?
Hellboy impaled him on spikes, yet it moved. I am the one who struck a match and watched him burn. Screeching in that demented way and I didn't so much as flinch.
My lances, it was almost like they had a heart I could feel beating on my legs.
'take us and strike him down,' they pleaded.
I dropped my arms wanting to reach for the hilts, 'I kill him and all the pain disappears…'
It was perfect and for the good of all and best yet myself, if only to relieve me of the cause of all the tragedy I have suffered. He was distracted, I am sure that I will succeed…
My body felt light all of a sudden and I actually smiled at the prospect of Nuada being dead. Delirious of the thought that I could return to my friends and life will carry on as it should.
Then it hit me with more impact than if a giant had beaten me.
This trail of thought; it was mimicking Nuada's…
For the first time, I was actually standing in his shoes and our mentality's matched, like that time he held me when my brother's butchered body was brought before me. That darkness which subsided to the worst case of mourning I had experienced, after the loss of Nuada that is, but not even then had it returned bordering on such evil thoughts.
I looked at Nuada again and I saw perfectly why he wanted to do this, understood it, had breathed it and been allured by it.
His yellow complexion, the black of his eyes…
My hands were shaking with the same unhealthy complexion and a tear rolled down with eyes that were blackened by shadow, save for the fire that burned in my irises.
This is not us. Either of us.
We have become slaves to darkness born of our own emotions.
What saved me from succumbing to it when Corvin died, was Nuada holding me and our bond.
I survived this long without him, through love of others and I wondered how my prince could have abandoned ours those many years ago, yet I had done the same. When I first left the BPRD, to my handmaiden, In the troll market to wink, now with him.
"really Nimue, why so silen-"
…How pitiful I must have looked. Like a blind woman who has existed cursed by memory of sight and damning it for cruelty, yet if only she had just lowered her hands. The night was still upon us, but I looked at him as though he were the sun, perhaps even the divine light of Aiglin himself.
My legs took shaken steps as if they have never walked before. But then, somewhere deep inside of me, there was a feeling of rebirth, if only I could reach the trigger.
The next smile I made was pure and genuine and I watched Nuada frown in confused hopefulness that it could possibly be aimed at him.
"Nuada!" I whimpered, arms outstretched.
The moment felt like it went on for hours between my stumbling towards him, while he ran at me.
All I wanted was to be in his arms again. That was my sole desire and as I finally gained my wish, something beyond my control erupted.
That light, the sun; whatever it was. We basked at the centre now, locked in each other's embrace, with my head in the crook of his neck, as Nuada's bent around mine. His scent filled my lungs and I knew there was nothing that was more alluring, he being created as the other half of my soul and as I opened my tearful eyes, I noticed that we were surrounded by images from the past.
He must have seen it to and we both pulled back enough that we could witness them together.
Then I realised they were our memories intertwining together, those that were separate leading to those that we share and coming around full circle again with this moment.
I was warm all of a sudden. More alert and my thoughts a lot more coherent and my heart wasn't a stone lying in my chest. I felt whole again; and I could feel the same in Nuada, just not as potently.
"our bond, its healed," he muttered.
My hands were white as snow and the shadows receded, however I reached up and traced Nuada's cheek bone, where some darkness still remained. He was too far gone for this to have been enough. There was still more he had to confront, than myself.
But my forgiveness was a starting point; as was my willingness to do as I promised Balor.
I pressed my head against his, "I love you, Nuada; and I will save you."
It might not have been the outcome he expected, but I used this as a distraction to run a leg under his and knock him down, using my newfound strength to make a quick getaway and I think he allowed me this one escape.
Besides, the crown piece wasn't in my possession right now in any case.
A fact we were both conscious of.
