Darkness Falls: Chapter 18: Lovelorn Lovers Lost Part Two

The light seemed to pour into every crevice in the circular room, blinding all occupants. Hissing and screaming, Malice tried to outrun the light, tried to find somewhere to hide, but it wasn't fast enough. It couldn't evade the inevitable and as soon as a stray beam touched it, it disappeared in a burst of oily black smoke.

Coughing and choking, Caroline fell to her knees, the uneven surface on the room digging into her knees. A strange feeling washed over her, like someone touching her body and taking something awful away from her. She wanted to cry out but everything suddenly seemed too much: The nightmares, the deaths, everything that she had just gone. Letting out a small groan, she collapsed completely onto the ground, sprawled out in an undignified heap.

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His eyes slowly getting used to everything, Zero stared intently at the center of the room. Something had happened there and, though he tried to ignore it, he knew that something bad was about to happen. Not necessarily bad though, just… unpleasant?

Opening his mouth to call out to someone, anyone, Zero hissed and swore at the pain that cut through his jaw. Grabbing hold of the spike, he pulled and with a sickening sucking and crunching noise, the offending object was free and flying through the air. Black blood ran down the side of his face, dripping slowly into his mouth. Spitting it out, he fought back the urge to vomit.

The light slowly faded to a faint glow that illuminated the entire room. Caroline was on the floor, most likely unconscious. There was no sign of any of the other ghosts. Including, except…

"Zero."

Afraid to look, Zero froze, staring at Caroline. That was Iris' voice. He didn't want to see her, didn't want to have to face her. Not after what he had done. He never tried to do anything wrong, but everything turned out that way. He had killed her. Iris. And he had almost killed Caroline.

"Zero, look at me. I don't have much time."

Resigning himself to his fate, Zero turned. And gasped.

Iris was standing at the entrance to some tunnel, at some gate. Twin poles rose on either side of her and from them ropes came down, tied to her wrists. At the bottom were more ropes, attached to her ankles. And the worse was the rope tied around her neck, the end of it dangling down, touching the ground. "Iris!"

She smiled wanly, strands of brown hair falling forward into her face. Automatically she tried to reach up to move the hair but the ropes prevented her from doing so. "Hello Zero. I… huh. This is different, isn't it?" Her rainbow-colored dress began to fade, a long white kimono taking its place. "I bet you never thought you'd ever see me again." 

"Iris…" It seemed to be the only thing he could say. Taking a few clumsy steps towards her, Zero reached out to touch her, but his hand met only air. "Iris?"

She sighed. "I'm not alive. I'm dead Zero. You know that, you killed me. I just… I don't have much time left. You need to get X, Alia, and Caroline out of here. This place isn't safe anymore and you four can't die. You have to rebuild, and you have to remember."

"Iris-"

"Kirie can't do it any longer, and I needed to take over for her. I just wanted to say goodbye… and I wanted to tell you that I love you. And that I don't blame you for what you did. I was wrong for attacking you. You only did what you had to."

Zero could only stare, shocked. "No… Iris-"

"Don't you see?" Tears streamed down her face. "Malice came to me then. I was vulnerable and he told me to kill you, to avenge my brother through violence. I was wrong Zero! Please, forgive me!"

"… I forgive you…"

Turning, he ran and fled.

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There was a throbbing pain in his head. That's all X could think about as he slowly came to, eyes opening and staring up into the filmy grey. Sitting up, he groaned and placed a hand on his head. "Where am I? What happened?"

"X?" Looking up, X searched for the sound of the voice. It had sounded like… there! Pulling himself to his feet, he limped over to Alia.

"Yeah, it's me." Holding his hand out X helped the blond woman to her feet. "Are you okay? That's one nasty looking cut." Gently he ran his finger across her forehead, drawing back when she shuddered at the contact.

"I'm fine. Just terribly confused. I feel like something important just happened but I can't remember any of it. I don't know where I am… X…" Alia hugged him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm confused. And I'm scared."

"You don't have time to be either! Move it or die!"

Startled, both X and Alia jumped and turned to see Zero and Caroline running towards them. Zero with half of his face missing and Caroline limping, a trail of blood left on the ground wherever she put her right foot. "Holy sweet mother Mary, what happened to you?"

Both of them exchanged a look. "… You don't… remember?"

X frowned and gently pried Alia off of him. "No. I don't remember and neither does Alia. We're not going anywhere unt-"

The entire room, entire building began to shake. Caught off guard X toppled over backwards, slamming into Alia's leg and causing her to fall on top of him. Vaguely he noticed how Zero and Caroline managed to stay standing, holding onto each other. "Look, we don't have time! This place is going to be destroyed and we can't be in it when that happens! Iris can't hold it off for much longer!"

Something about that statement made sense but really, it didn't. It couldn't. How was Iris doing anything? She was dead, wasn't she? Helping Alia up again, X followed Caroline and Zero out of the building.

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The sky was bright and cheery when they got outside, something that surprised Alia. It seemed to her that they had spent a long long time down there – shouldn't it be night already? Or maybe night had come, maybe darkness had fallen, but now it was being lifted again. Daybreak.

Something had been taken from her. A memory. X swore that he had been unconscious the entire time, which was why he didn't remember anything, but Alia knew better. Caroline and Zero did too, judging from their expressions, but they didn't say anything.

Something had happened in there. In that place. Something that she knew she needed to remember, and she would remember it when the time came. But until then she needed to forget and heal.

Darkness fell, and now darkness was lifted.