A/N I was going to make you all wait a week before I updated, but I can't contain my joy at all my reviews, so I'm updating. Thank you everyone. Dragon Shadows, Jon didn't really get stabbed in th eback. It was a metaphor.
Chapter Twenty-five: Avenged
Darkness greeted her when she opened her eyes. They fluttered open hesitantly and when she saw only darkness, she closed them again. She wanted to rest a while longer. Fatigue pulled at her and she allowed it to suck her into the current and lull her to sleep.
But soon her eyes were open again. And this time, she saw color. Lots of color, swirling around her in vivid streaks. She reached out a hand to catch them, wanting to possess them and own them, but they eluded her.
"Novellee," she heard a voice call softly and she turned. Something about the name was familiar. It seemed almost as if she belonged to the name. But she would figure it out later.
Standing before her, part of the colors but separate, was a man. He was a very beautiful man and she felt love towards him. His face was open and smiling, an innocent smile. A lock of brown hair fell over his green eyes and she lifted her hand in a long forgotten habit to push it away.
"Where am I?" she heard a voice say and realized it was her own. But she couldn't bring herself to care. The colors were calling to her and she wanted to drift into them, become them.
"You are between, Novellee, and I'm here to take you back." The man's voice was lovely also. She was drawn to it, almost like she recognized it and she wanted to hear it again.
"Back to the colors?" she asked, her voice far away to her ears. Some how, the most important thing was to become apart of the colors.
"No, Novellee, back to the world."
The words broke the spell that held her and she remembered it all, everything that had ever happened in her life. And she felt a sob reach out and grab her. She wanted to be a color, she didn't want to go back to the world.
"No, I don't want to go back!" she screamed. "I don't want to be there. You're not there and I don't want to live without you!"
She was weeping now, feeling the tears on her face. She had forgotten that she could even cry, it had been so long since she had. Her shoulders shook with the force of her sobs as she fell to her knees. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and leaned her head on a surface she couldn't see.
She felt him come to her and kneel before her. His hand slowly stroked her hair and he murmured to her until she calmed.
"Novellee, you have to go. I wanted so badly to see you. That's why I became a God. I wanted to be able to see you again. But I couldn't hold you or touch as I can now. I would never be real to you as I am now.
"When you killed Morrison and finished your mission, I was freed from my duties and when you die I will see you again. But now is not your time. You have to go back to the living. Your destiny is great and I can't cut it short for my own selfish reasons. I'll take you back now Novellee. Come, my sister, it is time."
He reached out to take her in his arms to carry her back. She shook her head and got to her feet. She didn't want to go back, didn't want to have to live with out him.
"No!" she whispered it and the determination was strong. "I won't go back!" She turned and ran.
Misiki knew that he would have trouble with his sister. She was always such a stubborn girl. He would have to show her what she would miss if she didn't go back. It was the only way.
Novellee ran and ran until she thought she would die. She gave a laugh of derision. She was dead!
She stopped abruptly. Misiki stood in front of her smiling that smile of his, filling her heart with love that she knew she would always feel for him and would always miss when he was gone. He spoke, his voice the dream that she remembered.
"I once gave you visions. Visions of blood and violence and despair. Now I give visions of the future and this I know will come true if you trust me and allow me to take you back."
She gasped as the vision over took her and it warmed her heart. She basked in the love it emitted forth and she knew that she could have it if she wanted it. And she did, she wanted it badly. But she belonged to her hatred and to her brother's memories and she would never be able to give them up.
Misiki watched her face and knew what she was thinking, what she was feeling. Was she so devoted to him that she would give up her own happiness for him? Was that even possible?
He knew for her that it was. She was fully willing to give up her life for him. His love for her was immeasurable at that moment. And for that he knew that he had to release her from all her ties to him.
"Novellee," his voice was clear, but something in it alerted her. She looked deeply into his eyes and knew that what he was about to say was very important.
"I release you from all your ties to me. You are no longer held to your oath to avenge me. Besides, you killed the man who killed me so consider me thoroughly avenged," he was glad when he saw her smile. "I forgive you of your life of violence. I realize that you did it for me, to obtain your goal, and for that I can understand and forgive. I free you of your sins against the world Novellee. You were simply fulfilling everyone's destiny when you did as you had too. For that you are washed free of any blood that stains you hands.
"I refuse to allow you to wallow in guilt and say that you allowed me to free you of this. So, therefore, I am making these things an order, and you hereby have no choice in the matter.
"You will return to your body and to your life. You will tell Burdock how you really feel and if he will have you, you will marry him and live a happy life. In three years, you are to return to Serinda and take your place on the throne in honor of me. You will cease the stupid tradition of not saying my name, also. I want you to be free about me, I want people to know who I was and who you made me. I command you to do so and you will."
Novellee stood silently, shocked by what her brother had just said. He had basically given her a new life, one that she could be happy in, one that she belonged in. It overwhelmed her.
Misiki wrapped his sister in his arms and held her tight as she shivered with her shock. "And I hear by command you that you will cry, whenever you feel like it. It's not natural for you to keep it all bottled up inside."
As if on command the dam broke and tears came pouring out. She clung to her brother, holding him to her as tight as she could. She sobbed against his shoulder knowing this was goodbye, but not forever.
"I will miss you, my brother," she whispered through her tears. The colors were fading now and she was alone with her brother in the darkness.
"But I will see you again. You and Burdock will join me in the afterlife and we will be apart of the colors. Then I will finally be able to meet the man who captured you heart."
Novellee smiled, a smile that was serene and lovely and true. And she let go.
Burdock sat in the temple before Novellee's prone figure. For the ceremony of death that was given to every knight she had been dressed in a beautiful white dress. It was lacy and made of the finest material.
She looked lovely and pale. And dead.
Burdock buried his head in his hands. He loved her so much and she was gone from him. He hadn't eaten in the week since she had died. He knew it wasn't healthy, but he couldn't bring himself to eat. It felt like he was cheating on her by living when she was dead.
Gods he wished it had been him that had died. He knew it was selfish, but she had been so much stronger then him. She would have been able to live without him. She hadn't even loved him. At least, not like he had loved her.
All he wanted was the pain to go away. She had been his light, his breath, his soul! And she was gone. What was he to do? How could he survive? Everything hurt without her. It hurt to breath, to feel. And he was supposed to recover from this?
And he could only imagine how Bennie was feeling. They had been best friends for years. She had saved Bennie's life, given him something to build his life off of.
And she was gone.
She had been such a beautiful person, inside and out. She had spread kindness around like a plague, even if she hadn't always acted kind outwardly. She had saved countless lives, and that more then made up for the ones that she had taken.
And she was gone.
She had saved Tortall and the king, the entire royal family. She had become a knight that would surpass everyone. She was the, quite frankly in his opinion, a Goddess and he would give anything to have her back, just for a few minutes to tell her how he felt.
A sob broke the silence and he threw himself on her, burying his face in her stomach, sobbing out his grief. How was he supposed to live without her?
He let his thoughts go and simply wept out his heartache.
Hours later, as he lay with his head resting on her, he became aware of someone stroking the hair of his sweaty face. He looked up to see Novellee, her gray eyes looking at him, smiling at him.
"Novellee?" he whispered in disbelief. "Is it really you?"
She giggled. Sweet God's she giggled. He closed his eyes and shook his head, knowing that when they opened she would be gone, prayed she would be gone, not letting himself hope she wouldn't be.
"Would you like me to pinch you too, love?" she asked on another giggle. He opened his eyes and nodded. She happily obliged, reaching out and pinching the fleshy part of his upper arm. He yelped. It was real. She really was here.
"You're alive," he breathed, his voice quivering on the words. She nodded slowly, looking deeply into his eyes, searching.
"And I'm here to stay. Misiki..." she faltered. It was the first time she had said his name in years, but somehow, it didn't offend her to hear it. "My brother, that is, released me and allowed me back to earth. He gave me a second chance, Burdock. And I'm going to take it. I love you, Burdock."
Her whispered words were like water to a dieing man. He wrapped her in his arms, holding her close and kissing her hair. She was real and she loved him. What would people think when they saw her alive after the ceremony had ended not but three hours ago? But none of that mattered at the moment. She was alive and they would be together forever. "I love you, too, Novellee."
"Well, I guess we had better get married then, don't you think?" On a laugh, he kissed him and knew that everything would be all right.
"Of course Novellee. And then we'll move to Serinda and we can become king and queen. How does that sound?" he asked as he pulled away so he could see her face, but keep her in his arms.
"Wonder full," she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder, knowing that she was finally home. Then she laughed. "Won't Alanna just be tickled that I'm back?"
