Hey everybody, and welcome back to Running for Life!
As usual, I'd like to thank the reviewers! Many thanks all around to Brenne, crashingthroughtime, readwithcats, AFandomLostInTheEcho, Guest, OverlyObsessed223, FMAlover32, queenlaur, Guest, Guest, Viny, Guest, TheNobodyHasArrived, Serami Nefera, BooksAreMedicine, Randomly Talented, WickedInk, and scarletnight72! Now, I didn't respond to any reviews individually because this time around, I want to say the same thing to pretty much all of you, and here it is: I love making you guys freak out! XD
Welp! Now that that's done, let's get on with this kind-of-short-but-many-much-explaining-filled chapter!
Chapter 15: Reunion and Reveal
Jack wasn't sure if Jamie was still in the room. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had last blinked. He wasn't sure if the girl in front of him was truly who she seemed to be. He wasn't sure of anything.
"L-Livi?" he dared to stammer, for once completely disregarding the feeble shaking of his soft voice.
In the eternity it took Olivia to open her mouth and answer, Jack managed to carry out yet another of his increasingly-frequent internal arguments.
C-Could she really be…? the optimistic side of him asked tentatively.
Don't be ridiculous, Jack, his rationality shot back. She's dead. They're all dead. You don't have a family, remember?
But you never actually saw her die! She only got captured! She could have escaped!
Whatever. Just don't get your hopes up, you hear me?
Alright…
However, with Olivia's next words came the confirmation that his optimistic side was correct for once, as well as an intense wave of all of the emotions he thought he had lost long ago.
"Y-Yes…" she whispered, eyes filling with tears. Though she didn't move from her kneeling position on the floor, she reached out and touched his leg as though to reassure herself that the boy she saw was truly there, and not a cruel mirage of sorts. The moment her fingertips brushed his knee, Jack broke.
He fell to his knees before her, and, for the first time in six years, the boy of winter drew his little sister close to him in an embrace.
But all was not as it should be. After all, Olivia wasn't supposed to have brown hair. She wasn't supposed to have chestnut eyes or rosy cheeks. She wasn't supposed to be warm. She wasn't supposed to be human.
Jack was the first to pull away, holding her shoulders at arm's length as he studied her appearance, a slight frown on his face. "Livi, what...what happened to you?" he asked softly. His voice trembled at how surreal it all was. Is this really happening? he silently asked himself.
Olivia looked bewildered. Her eyes trained on the boy's brown bangs, she said, "Y-You mean they never got you...?"
"No, I-" Jack paused, thinking over her words for a moment. "Who is...'they'?" he finally asked, dark eyebrows furrowing in his confusion.
"What's going on here!?" Jamie suddenly cut in before Olivia could answer, hands held out in front of him.
Jack's breath audibly hitched as he stiffened, staring over at the younger boy. I completely forgot he was here, the sprite thought frantically. What is he going to think? He already can see that Livi and I know each other, so what'll he...? I mean, I know he's only a child, but what if he tells everyone else and they figure out that I'm a-? Suddenly, if possible, his face went even paler than usual. No...what if they figure out that she's a snow sprite? Or at least...that she's supposed to be...
"Is...no one going to answer?" Jamie asked hesitantly, visibly squirming in the long, thick silence. His chestnut eyes flickered back and forth between them in a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
The boy of winter opened his mouth to speak, but the brunette girl beside him beat him to it. "Jamie..." she said softly, her voice the strongest it had been thus far. "This...this is my brother, Jack..."
Jamie's eyes widened considerably. "Your...brother is a Guardian?" he breathed, awe clear in his voice. Before Jack could step in and irritably correct him, the younger boy spoke again. "Wait...I thought you said he was dead?"
Jack blinked in surprise. "You knew about me?" he asked before he could stop himself. He was answered with a slight nod from a still-staring Jamie.
"I...did mention you a bit when I first came here..." Olivia mumbled, a small amount of blush coloring her cheeks-red, Jack noted, not blue. She still looked about to cry, but was controlling herself remarkably well considering the circumstances. "A-And Jamie...he's clearly not dead, right Jack?"
"Right..." Jack murmured absently unwilling to remove his hand from Olivia's shoulder, lest he look away and turn back to see that she had vanished. I...I've found my sister... he thought, still unable to fully grasp the occurring events. A-And I can't...and I can't lose her again...
A long moment of silence must have passed, for Jamie now shifted uncomfortably where he stood. "I'll um...I'll just...stand...out in the hallway, to uh...you know, let you two...catch up..." he mumbled awkwardly. That being said, he gave a short nod to the siblings, then quickly backed out of the room, closing the door behind him as he went.
Jack couldn't help but feel grateful. The moment the door shut entirely, he pulled Olivia close to him once more, fighting back the tears that stung the corners of his crystal blue eyes. Despite his usual aversion to physical contact, brother embraced sister for a long time, both content to ignore the questions on the tips of their tongues for now if they could only be together for the first time in over half a decade.
Finally, however, it was time for answers.
The first to pull away was once again Jack. Not once letting go of her shoulders, he studied his sister's tear-filled brown eyes-eyes that had been blue the last time he'd seen them. The boy frowned as he realized that Olivia's irises bore no snowflake pattern; unless she had some sort of magical disguise about her, she was undoubtedly human. "...what happened?" he quietly asked at last.
He immediately regretted the question, as Olivia's suddenly downcast eyes and slight trembles caused him a pain that was close to physical, but did not withdraw his question. Jack knew that keeping whatever she had gone through to herself would only cause her more pain in the long run. He could vouch for that, though something stopped him from personally ever wanting to share.
"Livi," he urged softly, amazed that his brotherly instincts had still remained intact over the years. "Please."
Olivia murmured something under her breath, self-consciously pulling her fingers through her chestnut-colored hair-hair that should have been a snowy white. Jack, saying nothing, gently squeezed her shoulder and waited for her to summon forth the courage to respond.
What could have left her this shaken up, even after six years? the boy wondered, suppressing a shiver. Then, for what must have been the hundredth time, I can't believe she's alive. I can't believe she's here. I can't believe I've found her.
After a long moment of thick silence, the girl lifted her head to look her brother run the eye at last. The words she spoke were a mere hushed whisper, but they still succeeded in making the young sprite's blood run even colder than usual.
"'Twas…'twas the Nightmare King..."
()()()()
"I-I've never actually told anyone this, but...six years ago...he was the one who...who captured me and the other kids from the village…"
"But I thought-"
"That humans did it…?"
"Well...yes. They were the ones who started the fire…"
"Yes, but...the N-Nightmare King was there too...a-and the woman I saw here, O-Onyx…"
"Where did they take you!?"
"..."
"...Liv, I'm sorry-"
"N-No, don't be, I...I think I need to talk about it…"
"Alright…"
"I-I don't know where they took us, because we were blindfolded and all...but it was someplace dark a-and evil, and…"
"...and…?"
"And they...did things to us, Jack…! I don't know what, but...some of the others went first, and...I could hear their screams and…agh!'
"Shh...Livi 'tis okay...you...you can stop if you want…"
"N-No! You deserve to know...the kids that went first, they...I don't think they made it…"
"What…?"
"Some kind of...experiment was done on them, and...w-we didn't hear from them again, and...Jack I knew them, I…"
"Olivia, please, you don't have to keep-"
"I-I'm okay, really...just...let me finish…"
"...okay."
"O-Once they had gone through some of the others they got to me...I found out what they were trying to do, and...I was the f-first success…"
"Wait, they were trying to-?"
"T-Turn all of the snow sprite kids human, yes…"
"What? Why would they want to…?
"I-I don't know, but...I think they also wanted t-to kill all of the adults…"
"Wait, why…? What did we do to attract the attention of the Nightmare Army!? And if they were just going to kill the adults, why would they bother going through the trouble to turn the children!?"
"I don't know what we did! I-I don't know why they wanted us gone! B-But...I saw humans there...wherever we were taken...and I-I don't think they knew they were helping the Nightmares...I-I mean, O-Onyx looks human...maybe she even is...but I-I guess they knew that humans wouldn't help if murdering children was involved…"
"Even if instead experimenting on children was involved!?"
"I-I don't understand either, but...maybe they thought they were doing something good…? Sigh, I don't kn-know…"
"Sigh...Livi, how...how old were the children? That...died?"
"A-All of them were older than seven...I th-think the method doesn't work unless you're really young...and I think they knew that already, but...th-they kept trying anyway…"
"So that's why that man let me run off without much of a fight..."
"Y-Yeah...but...Jack…?"
"Yes, Livi…?"
"How did you...you know...escape…? I-It was hot, and O-Onyx was there, and th-the humans c-called us demons and tried to kill the grown-ups…"
"..."
"...Jack?"
"Honestly, Liv, I...I don't know. I just remember running away from a woman...this Onyx person, probably...and then hearing a...a voice...then white light...then nothing. I woke up in...in the remains of the village to Zephyr whinnying. I found out later that I had a scar across my chest, but I don't know how I got it…"
"Oh...okay...wait, so that horse outside...that's Zephyr? I thought I recognized him! But I mean...it had been so long, so…"
"Yeah...Livi, I just...I can't believe you're alive…"
"A-And I can't believe you're alive...I thought you would've been killed in the fire, but...you're here. Jack, I...I missed you so much…"
"And I missed you…Olivia, did you ever see the Nightmare King…?"
"No, only Onyx...but w-whenever she was alone in the room with us, she m-made sure to remind us who she was working for…"
"Oh...and...how long were you there for?"
"..."
"Livi, tell me."
"T-Two years…"
"O-Oh my-"
"Jack no, 't-tis okay now. I'm out, I'm alright, and...you're here…"
"Liv, 'tis not okay...what happened during the other four years?"
"I-I was made a servant for um, for rich families...I'd be moved around a lot...and I'd never really talk, e-even when they were yelling at me...th-then last month I was offered to Laura and...and she said she wanted to adopt me instead...nothing's been made official, but...she's at least kinder than the others…"
"I'm so sorry…"
"F-For what…?
"For not being there...I didn't know for sure that you were dead; I could have looked for you, I could have been there for you...I could've done something...instead I just ran."
"'Tis not your fault...p-please don't ever think it was your fault, Jack…"
"..."
"Jack…"
()()()()
Jack was silent for a long time, millions of thoughts rushing through his head at speeds that made it impossible for him to grasp and focus on just one. He stared at the floor as his regrets piled up and threatened to drown him. If only I had been there, he thought mournfully. Everything would have been different.
Before he could look back up at his sister to speak, the invisible tips of his ears twitched as the door opened behind him. Without looking back, Jack figured that one or more of the Guardians had come to check on them. I wonder if Jamie told them that Olivia's my sister. 'Tis clear enough that we know each other at least, but...I just wonder how they'll react.
Sure enough, North's voice sounded from behind him. "Jack...Jamie has, ah, told us interesting thing. Is it true…?"
Taking a deep breath, Jack got to his feet. With one sweeping motion, his cloak swirling slightly around him, the sprite turned to face the Guardian.
With that, we are done for now, and I'll see you guys next week for Chapter 16!
Until then, Sapphire316, out.