Is Love Really Forever?
By: LadyNightSky
A/N: This is a pretty important chapter, kinda like a flashback. READ AND REVIEW x) Oh, and thankies for the lovely reviews you guys left me last chapter. This chapter is like being there when Layla was killed; roughly seven years before the last chapter…just a beforehand warning mathingy.
Disclaimer: Me and you / Setting in a honeymoon / If I woke up next to you / If I woke up next to you / Me and you.
Dedication: zodiac dragonHatori, because she was the first to read it xD and one.foot.out.the.door because I can leave cliffies too. Sorta O.o AHAHAHA. Never mind.
Chapter Nine: Avior…or Layla?
January 17, 2001
Layla bopped the ball first with her head, then her knee, then back onto her head, grinning like a maniac. Avior leant casually on the low stone wall surrounding the crisp, grass-covered soccer field and laughed at Layla's antics. The day was overcast and gray, angry storm clouds hovering in the distance but not yet close enough for the girls to have to rush inside the palace. The wind whipped Avior's long blonde hair around her head, and she half-heartedly tried to brush it back, but, as per usual, it didn't give her a thought and continued to do what it liked.
She had missed Layla immensely when she'd gone away to Alfea, and was happy to have her back. There was something a bit different about her though…something Avior couldn't quite pin down. It was a kind of aura that shrouded Layla's every step, a happiness that she'd never had about her before.
Avior guessed it was a boy that made Layla light up like that.
It was a logical conclusion; Layla was the heir to a wealthy realm, and there was little she didn't have at her fingertips. Except, of course, a boyfriend. Well, at least that was how it was before she'd gone off to the fairy school. Only a boy could have made Layla shine where the finest clothes and palaces money could buy didn't. And Avior was very, very jealous.
She'd never had a boyfriend, and she and Layla had decided long ago that they didn't need boys. Layla, however, seemed to have forgotten the silent agreement that they would always have each other and wouldn't have to depend on the opposite sex.
Avior sighed. She should be happy for Layla. What was wrong with her?!?
"AVIOR!!!!" howled Layla. Avior jumped up, startled, as Layla waved a hand frantically in front of her face. "You there, girl?"
Laughing, Avior nodded. "Here, highness."
Wrinkling her nose at 'highness', Layla announced that she was going to the palace to get a drink, and ran off the field, chocolate curls flapping about as the wind whipping across the moor became increasingly stronger.
A few minutes after Layla had gone, Avior started to grow worried for herself. The sky was getting unnaturally dark, and the wind was cutting across her skin now, frozen droplets of water smattering the downy gray grass.
Uneasily, she stopped kicking around the ball, and glanced over her shoulder, the darkness making her paranoid. Terrible things had happened in this part of the realm before…she'd heard rumors, stories…
A terrible shudder ran through the ground, shaking Avior onto her butt.
Now she was scared. Leaping onto her feet and grabbing her ball, she started to race in the direction of the palace, running as fast as she could. She ran and ran, but somehow couldn't reach the end of the field.
Panting heavily, she continued on, eyes wild with fright, her mind betraying her and creating monsters where there were none.
"Avior…"
The whisper floated out after her like a curse, its smoky tendrils ensnaring her, freezing her muscles till she couldn't move but for the motion of her eyes, darting here and there in their hysteria.
A hand gently landed on her shoulder, and Avior opened her mouth in a terrible scream, but no sound came out. Her flesh prickled, cold sweat pouring down her face.
The hand gently pulled her backwards, faster and faster, until the gray forest spun and blurred.
Finally everything faded into a velvety darkness. Avior's panic drained away so fast, the still-functioning part of her brain protested weakly.
Something's wrong, she thought sleepily. She tried to lift a hand to her hand, but there was no limb there. Surprised, her mind became more alert, and the fright returned, bile creeping up her throat.
She was still in motion. Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted from her spine, and her body was slammed into something extremely hard and rough. Pain blasted through her veins, concentrating on her head. She tried to yell, scream, call for help. But nothing came out.
She registered more pain, a grunt, then three sharp cracks.
And then nothing.
The girl walked slowly down the still, frozen field of grass. A heavy, icy breeze ruffled her chocolate brown hair, and swept across her tan skin. A salty tear fell down her face, dripping slowly onto her snow-white dress. She walked and walked, past the field and into the forest, delving deeper and deeper into the crowd of looming, forbidding dark pines and firs. Finally, she stopped at a small clearing, and gazed down at the body of a blonde girl clutching a soccer ball, her pale face upturned, her frozen lips parted in a silent, eternal scream. Blood had seeped from ghastly holes in her forehead, and had hardened into brown stains on her ivory skin.
The brown-haired girl knelt down beside the corpse, and held her hands above the still body. Chanting in an ancient language and weaving her hands in intricate motions, the girl cast a spell. Slowly, the blonde hair of the corpse darkened and lengthened, curling into thick masses. The skin darkened too, becoming tan, and the body slimmed and grew.
Layla stood up, her work done. Brushing dirt and bracken from her knees, she gazed down once more at her old friend, now transformed. After a few moments, she turned her back on the body, and melted into the craggy woods, throwing a blood-red cloak over her white dress, and pulling up the hood well over her face.
A/N: OMG! Was Layla murdered? Was Avior murdered? What exactly went down on Tides that day? Is Layla…evil? WHY IS THIS FIC SO CONFUSING? Well, I don't know. Yet. Or do I? xD You tell me in a review what you think :) Promise these and many other questions will be answered. Feel free to flame me if you think I've killed Layal's personality :O