A/n: Here comes that unabashed fluff I warned you about a few chapters back. Fluff is a good thing. ^_^
Emerald sighed, stretching out her tired legs and watching Bardic. It had been a week, and all they had done for that week was to sit around and wait for Rella to come out of her coma. Ruby had told Bardic the other day that it sometimes helped coma victims to wake up if they were talked to, and, of course, Bardic had then spent almost all of his waking hours sitting next to Rella, constantly running his mouth.
He loves her, Emerald thought. I wonder if he even realizes it--or if she does?
Ah, well. He's a good man, and I'm pretty sure she cares about him just as much. He'd be good therapy for her...assuming she ever wakes up again.
"He might as well talk to a wall for all the response he gets," she said to Ruby conversationally.
Ruby sighed, also watching the talkative Bard. "I know. But he thinks maybe it will help...and who knows, maybe it will."
Emerald shook her head. You're too optimistic, friend. She didn't say as much, though; if the others thought that Bardic running his mouth for hours was likely to help Rella out of her coma, she wasn't going to shatter their hopes.
Then again, maybe she'll wake up just to get him to shut up...
Bardic sat next to Rella, holding her hand in his and talking. He wasn't really sure what he was saying, but he was saying something, and that was what counted. Ruby thought talking to her might help her wake up, and although Emerald seemed doubtful, if there was any chance it would help, he'd do it.
Her hand was cold, too cold. If it hadn't been for the slow rise and fall of her chest underneath the blanket, he might have thought she was...
Best not to even think about that one, Bardic.
He closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wander...yet somehow, they kept turning back to Rella. Please wake up, Rella, he thought, hoping that maybe some of his despair would creep into his voice and help her come around. After all, you never know--she is an empath now.
He started to rub her hand, trying to warm the icy cold fingers. I suppose the faeries think it's a lost cause. They think she's never going to wake up again, that I'm just wasting my time. But I don't care if I am wasting my time. I'll talk till the end of time if I have to.
Please, Rella, please wake up. Just wake up, please. Open your eyes, smile at me, and laugh at us all for how funny we look, all worried and concerned. At least make some noise. Please...
Please just don't...don't die on me now, Rella. You're tough, you can make it through this. You survived six years at Rhianna's and being raped by a Prince, dammit, you can survive this too! Please...wake up...
She was floating in darkness, darkness that surrounded her, threatening to overwhelm her. Part of her welcomed it, accepted it, for it was far better than going back to what she vaguely thought of as dreams, even knowing they were memories. She didn't want to accept that they were memories, didn't want to accept that she had been raped and left to die by the Prince of her country who she was supposed to marry.
And yet part of her persisted in shoving away the darkness, knowing that to fully accept it would end everything. It would put an end to her pain, but it would also put an end to everything else...and then she'd never get to see her friends every again, never get to see Bardic again...
With the thought of Bardic came a mental image, as clear as if it were one of her memory-dreams, an image of Bardic, standing over her dead body with bowed head, weeping silently. No! she yelled mentally, rebelling against the image. I won't...I don't want...
Don't want what, Rella? the part of her that rebelled against the darkness asked herself tauntingly. Don't want Bardic to cry, don't want him to be sad, or hurt? That's why you broadcasted your memories like that, wasn't it, to keep Bardic from being hurt?
If you don't want him to be hurt, dammit, wake up. The man loves you, and if you go and die on him now it'll break his heart.
I can't wake up! she yelled at the other half of her self. I can't get out from the dreams long enough to do enough, or if I do, it's always the darkness! Why don't you just leave me alone and let me die?!
Any other time, she would have thought she was going insane, talking to herself. Yet here...herself answered.
Get serious, Rella! They're not dreams, they're memories, and you know it. Face it: you got raped by some asshole Prince who thinks he can do anything to anyone he likes, and get away with it, because he's always gotten away with it before. You know you're not the first woman he's raped. You survived not only rape but six damn years of being a slave to a sorceress, and now you're going to let a stupid coma kill you, and not even fight back?!
Fine, you can die if you want to, I won't stop you. But if you give a damn about Bardic, wake up, tell the man how you feel about him, and get him and the faeries to help you go kick that bastard's ass and keep him from raping any more women.
Suddenly Rella felt awfully alone, despite the fact that she had been talking to herself the entire time. Looking around at the darkness, she tried not to cry. She had told herself to wake up, and she had no idea how to do so. It was awfully tempting just to give in and let the darkness carry her away...
A strand of a thought came floating to her, not quite as clear as her dreams--memories--but still plainly audible. Bardic's voice: "Please just don't...don't die on me now, Rella. You're tough, you can make it through this. You survived six years at Rhianna's and being raped by a Prince, dammit, you can survive this too! Please...wake up..."
Although she had no body and no way to move in this strange floating darkness, she reached out for his voice impulsively. Bardic's right, and the other me is right. I've survived a lot worse than this, and I'm gonna make it out of this. Don't worry, Bardic, I won't die on you. I'm coming...
Rella's eyes flew open, and she sat straight up.
The faeries gasped, climbing to their feet and staring. Bardic blinked, staring at her. "Rella...?" he whispered, afraid maybe he had fallen asleep, and was dreaming.
She looked at him and smiled, and it made her face more lovely than ever it had been before, although no doubt it was somewhat amplified by his pure unadulterated joy at seeing her awake and alive. "Bardic," she whispered, and reached for him.
He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a comfortingly warm and tight embrace. Her arms flew up behind his neck, pulling him close, and she snuggled her head right underneath his chin, resting on his chest. For a moment, all he did was sit there and hold her, filled with joy at his knowledge that she was alive.
That was when Rella tilted her head back and kissed him.
Stunned, he just sat there, perfectly still as her lips eased over his gently and they parted. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back slightly and tried to get a good look at him, but then he kissed her.
Easing his lips over hers softly, almost hesitantly, he heard applause coming from the direction of the faeries. Blushing, he ended the kiss abruptly, both of them letting go of each other awkwardly.
"Aw, we were enjoying the show!" Emerald protested, grinning from ear to ear. Ruby's smile wasn't quite as large, but they both looked as though they approved heartily.
I suppose that's a good thing, he thought, looking back at Rella.
She was blushing almost as bright a red as he thought he was, and glaring indignantly at the faeries. "Well, if you wouldn't have applauded, you wouldn't have stopped the show," she retorted smartly, making Bardic grin again in relief. This was the Rella he knew, the person she had been before she was raped...the person he had fallen in love with.
Rella looked back up at him, grinned, and kissed him again. This time he took more of an active interest in the proceedings, and when they parted, Rella was looking slightly dazed.
Bardic knew he was probably grinning like a fool, but couldn't have cared less at the moment. Rella was out of her coma, alive, back to her normal self, and kissing him, and that was all that mattered for now.
Rella smiled softly up at Bardic, and then, seeing the silly grin on his face, burst out into laughter. "All right, I can't look that funny," he told her, mock-offended. All she did was nod, and when she finally caught her breath, she looked up at him and told him quite solemnly, "Yes, you can."
Bardic smiled at her and got this look on his face like he might be about to kiss her again, but the faeries chose that inopportune moment to interrupt again.
"I hate to interrupt you two lovebirds again," Emerald started, "but--"
Suddenly her own voice came floating into her head, and she remembered what she had...well, said to herself, back there, when she was in a coma. "Wake up, tell the man how you feel about him, and get him and the faeries to help you go kick that bastard's ass and keep him from raping any more women."
Well, she was awake, and she was pretty sure Bardic knew how she felt about him.
"Hey," she interrupted, looking at the two faeries. "I...sort of have an idea."
"Yes?" Emerald asked, looking at her curiously.
"Well...it's more like a plan, really. Well, sort of. But anyway...I'm asking you guys"--she looked up at Bardic--"all three of you guys if you'll help me. Help me...well, I guess help me get revenge on the Prince."
Emerald grinned ruthlessly. "Rella, do you know how long Ruby and I have been waiting for you to say that?"
"I mean, it's not just revenge, though," she said, doing her best to explain. "I mean...I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first woman he raped. I'm not real sure how I know, but I do. And I want to stop him. I don't want anyone else to go through what I did."
She couldn't suppress a shiver, and held on to Bardic a little more tightly. His arm tightened around her, holding her even closer, as though he was never going to let her go.
And isn't it odd, how I can react so negatively when to the Prince when he kisses me very intensely, and yet react so positively when Bardic kisses me and barely even brushes my lips?
"Emerald and I will be more than glad to help you, Rella," Ruby informed her, standing up. "And I think that between the four of us we can find a way to both make his life a living hell and keep him from ever raping anyone else."
"I know one way we can keep him from raping anyone else," Emerald said, grinning. "It'd cause an awful lot of pain for him, too, and he'd have such a lovely singing voice afterwards!"
"Remind me never to make you mad," Bardic told Emerald solemnly.
"I take it you'll be helping us out too?" Ruby asked Bardic.
"Of course I will," he said firmly, kissing Rella gently on the forehead. "I'm helping whether you want me to or not."
Rella smiled in relief, glad that everyone had agreed so enthusiastically to her plan. "Well then, what exactly are we going to do?"
"Well, there's any number of secret passages inside the castle walls," Ruby said, sounding thoughtful. "We could maybe convince him there were ghosts in the castle, ghosts that were out to get him."
Emerald grinned. "We could even make him think that you died and are coming back to haunt him."
"I know a thief that might help us," Rella said, frowning in thought. Then she grinned. "He could steal some of the Prince's stuff, help us out in our ghost scheme. And I could talk to his horse and help him escape, or get him to bolt or buck off the Prince while he's riding."
"I could go to the castle and play for a while there; they always welcome Bards. While I'm there, I could play some songs, make him think I know what he did," Bardic put in. Then he grinned, and started counting songs on his fingers. "There's 'The Ballad of Aerowyn,' where the Lady Aerowyn was raped by her Uncle, and she goes off with her lover to get revenge on him, and succeeds. Or there's 'Sorceress's Hunt,' about a Prince liked to find pretty young country girls he could take advantage of, but then one day he raped the wrong person--she was a sorceress in disguise, and she used her powers to hurt him pretty bad. Or--"
"We get the picture," Emerald said impatiently. "So are we going along with the ghost-and-overly-knowing-Bard scheme, then?"
"I guess so," Rella said, shrugging. Squinting up through the trees, she saw the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon. "Say...do you think we should go ahead and start today? I mean, it's a bit late for Bardic to show up at the castle, but we can go ahead and start convincing the Prince that the castle has ghosts now. After all, ghosts are supposed to only come out at night."
"Unless they're afraid of the dark," Ruby added. Seeing the two humans staring at her, she smiled at them. "What?"