AN: It seems that this chapter didn't turn out very well. I tried writing it in 5 different ways, but this one exceeded the rest. I hope it's good enough The next one will be better, I promise. As for your reviews: 72:D :D :D We're on a roll! Thank you!

Elmer's Girl

Chapter Ten

The place was dark, too dark for my liking. I have been in dark places before but those dark places were always at some time penetrated with a light source, a flashlight for instance.

I could move my body freely, so that was no problem. My legs obeyed me and moved towards one of the dark walls. Outstretching my hands, I walked blindly until I felt the rough exterior that was the wall. I ran my hands over the surface of what I knew was the opposite wall. Brick. They were made of dark brick.

It had to be night, the last thing I remembered was that Jesse had taken me home, laid me down on my bed, kissed me goodnight then left. I had closed my eyes, expecting no such dreams since Ophelia's weird spell-casting act, and then fallen – into this place.

Real. It was real, somehow this one was different to the other. Moving away from the wall I made my way back to the centre of the large, shadowy room. Or, at least, what I thought was the centre.

I closed my eyes, it was as dark as the room when they were open. Perhaps with my eyes closed I could figure out something – make up a plan. Because I most certainly know I would not dream myself to such a place.

Why I started to feel around was beyond me. Yet I did. I stood in the darkness, making sure I was all there – kind of like I was afraid that something had happened to parts of me. Like dematerialization, there was always the fear that you had left your body in another dimension and you were just the spirit of the person you once were.

Head. Neck. Shoulders. Upper arms. Elbows. Lower arms. Wrists. Hands… Chest. Breasts. Upper stomach. Lower stomach –

'Woah.' My eyes widened in surprise. I was left running my hands over my lower stomach – the womb. It was huge! It seemed that in this world, this different reality, that I was well into my pregnancy.

My hands clutched the silk that was around me. Holding it, I wished for a light source. Any light source. Just so I could see what I was doing.

I didn't realize the pendant was around my neck until it lit up with it's white light. I took it off my neck and held it tightly in my hand, so the light was brightening the room and I could see good – but not too brightly as to blind me.

I was wearing the same, silver gown that I had worn last night. But I had sworn, sworn that before Jesse had put me to bed so gently, he had changed me into my pyjamas. It did not matter, not in this place. I had to figure out a way to get out of here…

But still. The silver gown seemed to fit me perfectly despite the sudden weight I had gained due to the large bulge in my stomach. It was slightly weird, maybe someone had expanded it or maybe it was just by the magic Ophelia or the Pendant in my hand used.

I don't know why I said it, but I did. In a desperate whisper, I spoke to no one particular. 'Arce. Please come.' Who was Arce? I did not know. But I found out a moment later when a man, no… boy, he could have only been my age. 18 years old.

This boy, Arce, stood on the other side of what seemed to be a prison cell. It sure did, looking around at it now, seem that the place was where people would be locked up. When I turned back to the boy, I finally looked at him properly, with the pulsing light of the pendant giving light to me so both of us could see.

I looked him up and down. He was slightly taller than me, about 6'0 at least. Pretty tall for someone at his age. Slightly low cheekbones gave his face the teenage effect. I knew, however, that they would soon arise and he would look as a proud adult. His skin tone was pale, much more pale than mine and dark eyes – black, stared me up and down as I did to him.

When he spoke, his voice was breathless. Urgent. As if something had happened. 'Susannah.' Sorrow laced through the tone of his voice. The grid of metal that was the prison cell had large squares, large enough, at least, for his hand to slip through and grasp mine. 'They've sped up the process of your pregnancy…' He trailed off. I looked down at my stomach.

My voice was a whisper. 'I know.' Tears welled up in my eyes. It felt as if I didn't have any control over what I was doing. This was all too weird. As if I were two people. This person who knew about this sudden pregnancy process was the other woman inside of me. I was the one who didn't know squat about this boy, Arce, and of all things, Jesse. So I asked: 'Where is Jesse?'

'Hector?' Arce looked a little confused. 'I do not know.' He looked around, as if afraid that someone would see him. Then he squeezed my hand tighter, his dark blue hair was faintly windswept from the vents above them.

Arce's voice changed. 'Susannah. You don't have much time…' Dread filled me, but I didn't ask how much time I had. It seemed as if I knew it already. Or, at least, this other person inside of me – the one with the overlarge stomach and knowledge of Arce – did.

'Goodbye.' I called after him as he turned to leave. He shook his head, smiling slightly. Then turned around, walked back the couple of steps he had taken and touched my head lightly.

'No, Susannah. Goodnight.' Then it all went black again.

DEATH OF ANCIENT ALEGIONPHOST

1

It who is the offspring of spirit and ultimate holy creator will serve as a protector to the sovereign of Alegion.

2

The astute messenger will stand by the sovereign as will the slayer of darkness, the minister of awakening will use the power of mediation to aid the man of honorable intentions in creating the resistance against the Ancient Alegionphost myths.

3

Preface to the clash between radian and shadow clans, the sovereign of Alegion will corrupt the smallest of the shadow clan.

4

Once the smallest fails, the sovereign will use the Ancient Alegion power with aids from a child in white and the radian clan will defeat the Ancient Alegionphost myths…

Amen.

-(§)-

'Hello?' The voice was soft, not yet fully awakened. He was tired, I could tell, and although it did not show in his voice, he was a little peeved at me calling so late.

The receiver felt hot against my ear as I breathed into the phone, 'Jesse… it's – er – Susannah.' My voice held no confidence, I felt weak – very weak.

'Susannah?' Jesse sounded surprised, obviously wondering why I had decided to call so late. There was a rustle, Jesse was sitting up. I had been in his apartment so many times that I recognized the way he slept, woke up and answered the phone while at dark hours.

'Yeah.' That was all I could reply with, as I said before – I had no confidence. Resting my head against the wall behind me was the best support I could give myself, an annoying piece of hair kept fluttering into my face. I growled and pushed it away.

'What's wrong, Querida?' Jesse was slightly worried for me now, I don't know whether it was from my lack of loquaciousness or the growling, but he was both puzzled and concerned. I could confirm these emotions in his voice.

'I'm sorry I called you so late, it's just – Ophelia's away and I need someone to talk to…' The tone of my voice, I was ashamed to say, had adapted a squeaky tenor. I gripped the receiver tightly, as if it were my only hope of survival.

Jesse was more perplexed than concerned, 'Ophelia?' I forgot – Jesse didn't know who Ophelia was. I had forgotten to tell him about the woman that was now one of my best friends.

So I just replied shortly; 'She's… um… A friend of mine.' Good one Suze, you're so graceful in speaking issues. Jesse didn't seemed to notice my dull-to-squeaky tenor. If he did, he did not decide to speak of it.

'Oh?' Came the reply. I shut my eyes for an evanescent second, as if that would somehow help with the sleepiness that wanted to consume me, I knew, in ten seconds flat. I had to tell Jesse about the dreams… it was concerning him, as the father, after all.

'Yeah.' Today seemed to be titled: The day Susannah cannot manage to say long, descriptive sentences. Oh the horror, I thought gravely, how would I be able to tell him about the dreams if I can't say anything more than a stupid "Yeah."

'What did you want to talk about, Susannah? And why can it not wait until the morning?' Persisting at this time of night/very early morning, was something I could understand. Jesse wanted to cut right to the chase. In a way, so did i. I wanted to get this over with; Maybe telling Jesse about the dreams would make them go away, I thought assuringly. To my surprise, this thought worked.

A newfound confidence swelled in me. I had a motive to continue talking. 'I'm having dreams.' And yet… I still can't say a more descriptive sentence than: "I'm having dreams." I could have at least said, "I'm having nightmares," or "I'm having visions of near-death experiences about me and my unborn child." No use chastising myself over it now.

Jesse was a little amused at this. I think he thought I was playing around with him. I could feel his sudden small smile. I, however, was not smiling. Especially since, when he replied with 'Dreams, Susannah?' the voice definitely seemed amused.

This did not perish the confidence in me though. I started to speak, 'Yes. Dreams. T-There horrible.' Shamefully, my voice cracked on the "there." I hadn't expected that. Panic welled inside of me like a balloon – slowly expanding and consuming me: the air around it.

'What about, Susannah?' Man, I thought, was Jesse perhaps the one who was pregnant here? A side-effect of pregnancy, I knew, was moodiness. Jesse had changed back to concerned.

'Well…' I kept the phone securely on my ear by placing my head on my left shoulder. Then I wrapped my hands around my knees, which I bought up to my still-flat stomach. 'A lot of things.' I fumbled around with the dormant pendant that hung around my neck. Once it felt my touch, it immediately came to life. The light of it no longer blinded or surprised me.

'Specifically?' This was said kindly, in a Jesse way, not impatiently. I smiled at how accepting and patient Jesse really was. I was so lucky to have a boyfriend like him.

'It's all very new and quite weird.' I explained, then it suddenly was blurted out. I told him of the dreams I had had, the one's about my child and myself dying in the hands of three shadows. I still did not know exactly who these shadows were, I didn't even know their names. I told him about Ophelia, the dress but for some reason, I didn't tell him of the pendant or of the spell Ophelia had cast on me. Neither did I tell him about the chat we both had.

'And that is the part of it I understand. But tonight, I had another dream… it was much more real than the others. I can't explain it perfectly –' I looked at the piece of paper I had recorded the information I had learnt on. 'But I will read you what I know. Mind you, Jesse, it will be very confusing. I'm having a hard time believing it all myself.'

I took a deep breath.

'She who is the offspring of spirit and ultimate holy creator will serve as a protector to the sovereign of Alegion.' I paused, then went to the second part of the prophecy that Arce had told me. Some of it made sense, like Alegion and who the "holy creator" was. Other than that, I was as confused as I would have been before I knew of any of this.

Yet, I continued. 'The astute messenger will stand by the sovereign as will the slayer of darkness, the minister of awakening will use the power of mediation to aid the man of honorable intentions in creating the resistance against the Ancient Alegionphost myths.'

Honorable intentions? That must be Jesse. I felt a little better, knowing this fact. But it still scared me that somehow him and I were involved in all of this mess.

Jesse was breathing quite hard into the phone. 'Susannah. Do not think of this uncaring or that I think anything you are saying is unimportant. The prospect or even thought of you or – perish the thought – our child being harmed is too horrifying for me to imagine. Yet. I think a portion of this is due to the stress you have on your back. And this new information…'

He sounded strained. 'Maybe I am just jumping to conclusions because I can't understand it. Come to my place at 8 o' clock and then we could go into detail about what has happened. It may be hard for you to retell again, but it is three in the morning, Querida, and I am not fully alert. Neither are you.'

I understood. Not taken aback at all, I replied with a sigh. 'I understand perfectly Jesse. I'm having trouble keeping myself awake. Thank you so much for listening to my long, garbled explanation.' I managed to smile, which was a dumb thing to do, considering that I was on the phone.

He didn't question about it further like I thought he would have done, but then he adapted a new tone with me. Careful. He was being careful. 'Susannah, how are you?' I blinked. What?

'Uh… Fine. I think that Vodka I had last night doesn't agree with me… Oh shit…' Dread filled my body again. 'I only just realized!' I really had only just remembered. You don't drink alcohol when your pregnant or it will harm your child. I covered my mouth in horror. I didn't want anything to happen to my baby, three shadows or alcohol… Both would just break me if they effected my baby. No. Our baby. Jesse's and my baby.

Jesse let out a small laugh. 'Oh Querida, you did not drink Vodka, in fact, you had no alcohol that night.' What? I remembered asking and drinking Vodka… I didn't get it. 'I replaced your drink with Pepsi whilst you were not looking.' My whole body suddenly felt relieved. Oh. My. God.

'Jesse. You are an angel. Thank you so so much!' I squealed over the phone. I meant every word, I was so relieved at the fact that Jesse did that, that I forgot mainly about the reason I had called.

Jesse and I started having laughing fits when we both yawned at the same time. I knew the conclusion of this call was approaching. So I was not surprised when Jesse said;

'I am sorry I cannot support you in any better way, mi amor, but as you were saying – you are having trouble staying awake and that is the same for myself at the moment. I love you very much Susannah, and I hope no harm comes to you. We will talk more in the morning when both of us feel more alert.'

I nodded, another dumb thing to do whilst your over the phone. 'I love you more than anything, Jesse.'

'Lunch date?' at that small question, I couldn't help but grin.

'Lunch date.' I repeated, mine being a statement/confirmation of Jesse's original question.

I could practically feel Jesse's tired but contented grin. 'Buenos Noches, Querida… or should I say Buenos Días, Querida. Due to it is almost morning.' I laughed at that. I really laughed. I felt very well, opposing to what I felt when I first called Jesse, still in initial shock.

'Bye Jesse. Love you.'

'And I, you Susannah.' Then he hung up.

I hung up myself and without further ado, rested my head back onto the pillows, put the phone on my desk next to my bed, pulled the covers to my neck and fell into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

Jesse had once again cured my problems.

Or so I thought…

AN: I feel like shit leaving you guys with a cliffhanger like that. But I didn't know how to end it… really, I didn't. And who is Arce really? Oh… wait… you guys know that. I should have asked: Can Susannah trust Arce? And what is with all these freaky prophecies? Only time shall tell… or only I shall tell.

But I am EVIL. So I shall make you wait… Bwahehehehehehe (gotta let the tradition live on O).

-Elmer's Girl

P.S: Review? Please? Lmao.