Title: Right kind of wrong – Final Chapter Part 1
Author: kreia03
Rating: M
Warnings: Some swear words.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skins. I just wish I do. I seriously need a genie.
Summary: A promise will always be a promise.
A/N: Not beta'd so mistakes are purely mine. Thanks for all the comments! They really do keep me going!
"You promised me you'll come back to me alive."
A heartbreaking cry filled the cold, damp air as she burst into a well tears.
"You told me you'll be alright."
Relentless tears shedding in between breathless weeps, struggling for air, fighting for herself to hold it all together.
"You promised, you promised."
As Emily clutched the leather jacket tightly in her hands, her knuckles turning white from gripping, she poured her heart out, every last piece of it. The mangled hole searing her chest with unbearable pain, the fresh wound stinging as the jacket's scent filled her senses, reminding her of the blonde that once had been in her life, changing everything, once had been in her life but would always be a part of it.
"You promised."
"I did."
She could feel herself freezing, her whole body tensing at the sound of that utterly familiar voice now suddenly humming in her ears. Yet, she was afraid to turn around, too afraid to disappoint herself and find out that she was only seeing and imagining things, conjuring images from her head that she was supposed to be forgetting to stop herself from further hurting. She was afraid to find out that she had finally lost it, seeing the blonde she loved in every corner her eyes had fell upon, hearing her voice when it truly was just the whispering wind. But there was this sudden urge abruptly rising in her chest, an urge telling her to turn her head around, for the briefest moment possible, just check things out. Falling into an internal battle, she shut her eyes tight, deciding whether she would take a look and prove that she had finally given in into insanity, or, just stay rooted in her place so that at least she could tell herself that she could still manage to hold it together.
"I never break any promise because I rarely make one."
She caught her breath, her heart frantically hammering as the words rung in her ears. The voice was just too real for it to be a product of her own imagination, or maybe she could just remember it that clearly. She slowly stood up, tired of all the thinking she had been doing. If she did have lost her mind completely, she just would need to see for herself. Slowly turning around, with her eyes closed tight, she took a deep breath before batting them open, surreptitiously praying that her head wasn't just playing tricks on her.
And then she saw it. Her mouth hanging open, her brown eyes wide with shock, surprise and disbelief.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
Standing right before her, a fair amount of steps away, rocking back and forth in her heels with a playful smirk on her red lips.
"Naomi."
O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O+O
Her memory had never done enough justice, Emily was damn sure of it. She thought she had taken it all in, remembered everything perfectly. But the Naomi standing right in front of her looked far better than she had imagined, albeit a little different. Which brought her to the question, why was she looking that way, with wounds and bruises all over her beautiful face, her pale skin looking even paler? She was pretty sure she had never seen Naomi in such state, or maybe this was how she had imagined Naomi would look like after the incident, given the fact that she never saw her lying inside the casket for it was never opened. Something she was pretty thankful of for she knew that it could be the last straw, sending her over the edge.
Emily watched as Naomi took a step towards her, her own feet taking an incognizant step back. Eventually, Naomi stopped, rocking back to her heels and heaving a sigh, trying to figure out a way on how to explain certain things to the bewildered red head.
She blew her breath out as she bit her lip, her pristine blue eyes searching for Emily's brown ones as she started to speak. "You're not going crazy." She paused, waiting for any reaction from the red head, afraid to send her running away. "I'm alive, Em." She took another small step forward, relieved that Emily had not taken a step backwards. "I'm real."
Emily tipped her head upwards as she licked and bit her lip. This was all too real, too real for her to be imagining things. As she brought her gaze down, she found her eyes locking with Naomi's blue ones, getting lost in them just like before, just like every time. She unwillingly broke away, fixing her gaze down the grass, scared that it would all be too much for her when Naomi disappears from her eyes. She could feel her walking towards her, yet she did nothing but to stay rooted in her place like something was holding her there, something was telling her not to walk away.
Naomi breathed in deep, carefully reaching towards Emily, lifting her chin up so she could meet her eyes once more. "It's really me Emily. I'm alive, although not that well, but I'm alive-" She paused, catching a lock of Emily's hair and tucking it in. "-and breathing."
"B-but how." She stuttered, muttering incoherent words as she failed to form and articulate what she had been meaning to ask. "You w-were."
Naomi caught the red head glancing at the gravestone planted on the ground, figuring out what Emily wanted to ask. "It was Freddie's idea."
"Huh?" Naomi could not miss the baffled expression appearing on Emily's face.
The blonde took another deep breath, preparing herself for what seemed like a long and grueling explanation she needed to tell to finally clear things up. "The funeral was a fake Em."
"No it wasn't. I-I was there." Emily disagreed.
"It was. The whole funeral was staged."
"B-but the wake, a-and the casket."
"The casket was empty. That's why it was never opened."
"The priest, he-"
"He isn't a real priest either." Naomi paused, pressing her lips in a tight line. "I had to fake my death Emily, or rather, Jade's death."
"Why?" The red head barely whispered as the sudden turn of things confused her even more. Alright, maybe she wasn't really imagining things, maybe Naomi was really alive. She could feel a spark of hope surging within her body, but it was being overtaken by the confusion that was dawning over her.
"I did it for us. I figured, if I wanted us to be together, I can't live in lies anymore. I need to fix my life. So I asked for Freddie's help. It was all his idea, from the empty casket to the fake funeral. He made it look like that it was Jade who died, so I could live my own life, I could live as the real me, as Naomi." The blonde hesitated, gauging Emily's reactions. She took the red head's silence as an encouragement to continue. "Freddie's idea was genius. Faking my death and then tampering with all the records I had, which was pretty easy because most of them were forged and I never gave my real name or signed with it. All the records were changed and went under the name Jade Raymond. He also had all the pictures under that profile modified, so it would have no resemblance with me, at all. That explains why the name carved in that stone was not my real name, and why there were no pictures displayed during the wake."
"Freddie knew all about it?"
"Yes." Naomi nodded. "And Chief Inspector Reid. She wiped out all the records that could risk my real identity. She's even having all the Marshal Service staff debriefed today, informing them regarding what happened and the course of action she took."
A sudden surge of anger and betrayal rushed in, rising above Emily's chest. She felt her eyes stinging with tears as they mirrored a feeling of deceit and disbelief in them. "They knew about it and you didn't tell me?" She hissed.
"I-I wanted to tell you Em, believe me I do." Naomi stammered, fear hinted in her voice as she felt Emily's rising anger. "But I had to hide it from everybody."
Emily threw the blonde an incredulous glare. "Including me?"
"Especially you!" Naomi fervently answered, worry building up inside her when she felt Emily's body starting to shake.
"You had me thinking you were dead for two fucking weeks!" Emily blurted out, her tears streaming down her cheeks. She wiped them irately, not wanting to show any sign of weakness. "Do you even have any idea how much that fucking hurt? How it nearly killed me?" She screamed, shoving the blonde out of her way as she tried to walk away.
"Emily, wait!" Naomi cried out, catching the red head by her wrist. "I wanted to tell you, I swear." She whispered, turning Emily around to face her.
"But you didn't! Instead you led me into thinking that you were fucking dead, that I was never going to see you again! It hurt so much, did you know that? I blamed myself every fucking day for what happened. I woke up every night from the nightmares that I couldn't chase away! I-I couldn't even speak or think about your name because it hurt me so much every time I tried!"
The blonde let go of Emily's wrist as she watched her burst into tears. She gently pulled her closer, enclosing her into a warm, tight embrace while whispering to her ear. "I'm sorry Em. I'm sorry."
"Let me go." The red head retorted, between her muffled sobs as she cried in Naomi's chest, her hands balling into fists, pummeling through the blonde's chest as she struggled weakly, attempting to pull away from Naomi's hold.
In turn, Naomi held Emily tighter, her hands circling around the red head while she took every beating Emily was throwing, took it bravely like she deserved every bit of it.
"How could you?"
"I'm sorry Emily. I'm really sorry." Naomi replied, her own voice almost cracking down. She could feel her own tears stinging, but pushed them back, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "I did it for us, please understand that. Please." She pleaded, breathing a small sigh of relief when she felt Emily's hands scrunching her top instead.
They both sunk to the ground as Emily's knees finally gave away, sitting there for hours with Naomi constantly comforting the red head until she fell asleep from crying.
