So… this is going to be the last chap! And it's a very long one, so prepare, and grab a bag of crisps! (Or carrots if you want to do the healthy thing! ^^)
When I looked back to the reviews I noticed it seems like everybody expects it's going to end well for everyone…. We'll see if you're right or not…
Chapter 15: Righteousness
Dante
"Boltflare…" As soon as I had whispered the words a little flame appeared in my hand. I analyzed my situation. It was pretty desperate. I was still alive, but that was pretty much it. I had used Armorbrand just in time not to be swept away by the explosion, but I now was buried, with shield and all, underneath tons of broken stone.
Great, I'm buried alive…
Dying of thirst and starvation didn't seem very inviting to me. Then I realized the amount of oxygen here was limited, so I would suffocate within a few hours.
Zhalia… Michael, Lok, Sophie…
I had no clue what had happened to them. I prayed they had managed to safe themselves, somehow. They just had to.
Dammit I've got to get out of here!
I needed to know whether they were still alive or not. Maybe they were wounded or buried just like me. If they were they needed my help, now.
But I'm stuck... How on earth am I goanna get out of here?
I couldn't call off the shield, if I did I would be smashed immediately. All my other powers were useless as well, and I didn't have any titans, Klaus took them all… Except one!
I wanted to smack myself, how could I've forgotten that I had put Metagolem in my shoe at Zhalia's place? I blamed it on the lack of oxygen down here, and quickly pulled the amulet out of my shoe. I thanked my lucky stars I always think forward, this amulet was going to save my life. At least I hoped so. I figured that if I invoked Metagolem two things could happen. One: He'll crush me. Two: He'll break the shield and the layer of stone above it and I'll be able to get out of here. Since it didn't really have I choice I decided to risk it.
"Metagolem!"
A string of yellow light appeared. It grew larger and larger until the shield shattered. I pulled myself against the ground as the light blew away the stone above me with the sound of a second explosion. I felt small pieces of rock fall on top of me but couldn't do anything but lay still until it was over.
When a deep silence fell, and I tilted my head. I couched, there was dust everywhere. As the dust burned off, I got on my feet. I smiled relieved when I saw I was standing in the middle of a crater, with Metagolem standing next to me.
He asked me telepathically whether I was alright, and I nodded. You've done a hell of a job Metagolem, thanks.
After I had wiped the dust off my coat, I climbed my way out of the crater. The devastation of the room was even greater than I'd thought. I ignored the voice in my head that said that the chances that the others hadn't survived were high.
I turned myself to Metagolem. "Metagolem, help me search for survivors."
I started moving pieces of Rock, while calling my friends' names. Just when I was starting to loose courage, I heard a feint voice.
"Dante?"
"Michael?" I made my way through the chaos into the direction of brother's voice. I saw him lying on the ground, his skin covered with small burning wounds and his right leg stuck underneath what seemed to be a piece of the ceiling.
I crouched down next to him. He was panting and sweating, obviously in a lot of pain.
"Don't worry, I'm goanna free you…" I said, and tried to move the big piece of stone off his leg. He screamed of pain.
Suddenly Metagolem's big hand appeared. He tilted the stone off Michael effortless. I felt a wave of nausea when I saw how horrible his leg looked. It was barely recognizable as a leg any more. Another moan of pain escaped Michael's throat.
"Keep still Michael, I'll try to heal you…" Everfight could be used on others than yourself, but it was extremely hard and would never have as much effect as when you'd do it yourself. "Michael, you have to help me with this, you think can you do that?"
Michael nodded.
"Everfight!" I said, as I held my hands above the wounded leg. I saw Michael's lips forming the word as well.
A bright golden light appeared. When the light faded away again I saw the wound had closed. His leg looked like a leg again, and not some bloody ripped thing from a horror movie. But it still hadn't healed fully. Michael sat up, visibly still in pain.
"How do you feel? Can you stand?" I asked.
"Ugh… better… I- I think I can stand…" He said with hoarse voice, as he tried to stand up. I saw he couldn't do it by himself, so I put his arm around my shoulder and pulled him up.
"T- the others…?"
"Haven't found them yet…" I said, and a felt a flash of pain in my heart. No, they're not dead, they can't be…
Suddenly I heard the sound of moving stones. I immediately turned myself in the direction of the sound, and saw a big human- like figure appearing from out of the shadows. Well, human… the figure looked more like something out of a nightmare; half- burned and blooded, more zombie than man. With shock a realized it was one of Klaus mutated suits. Don't those freaks ever die?
I realized they probably didn't.
"Great, j-just fucking great…" Michael moaned as more zombie- suits appeared. "Dante… we- we've got to get out of here…"
"But Zhalia…"
"N- no time… for that…got to go now… maybe they're-" He couldn't finish his sentence because of a cough, but I understood what he had wanted to say. Maybe they've escaped on their own, maybe they're gone already…
I made up my mind and looked around, searching for a way to get out of here, as the zombie- suits came closer. I spotted the big metal door that lead to the stairway. The door was still intact but the wall wasn't.
"Metagolem, stop those suits!"
Metagolem's enormous foot tried to smash the suits. I didn't want see how it ended, and I had no time for that either, getting Michael safe was the most important thing now. I dragged him through the battlefield of stone, trying to spare his injured leg as much as possible.
"Dragonfist!" My fist broke easily through the weakened wall, making a hole big enough for me and Michael to fit through. To my great relieve the stairway was still whole as well, and we slowly climbed it. With every step Michael hissed of pain.
"Hold on brother, we're almost there…" I said. In the back of my mind I wondered what 'there' was, and who or what we would encounter at that place.
Sometime earlier
Zhalia
"I am going to enjoy this…" Klaus said murderously. He reminded me of a snake, vile and poisonous. "It's almost a pity you're already in such a bad condition; it's not really a challenge now." He grinned.
I hated to admit it but he was right. I could barely stand on my legs. I was tired, thirst burned in my throat like fire and my body was bruised and weakened by Klaus' torturing, the fight with the suits and the explosion. It was pure hate and adrenaline that kept me upright. That, and the desire to find the answer to the question that had been possessing my mind for months now.
"Where is my brother?"
Klaus smiled. "Isn't that obvious? He's dead."
"But…" It couldn't be. It just couldn't all have been for nothing. Dante... I kidnapped him for nothing, he died for nothing. Nothing but my on desperation fed figments. How could I've been so stupid? I should have known every word that leaves Klaus' mouth is a sick, twisted lie.
"You've lied to me!"
"O dear, what a surprise." I hadn't thought I could hate him more than I did already but I was wrong.
Tears of hate and grief welled up in my eyes but I blinked them away. I wasn't going cry in front of Klaus, that pleasure I begrudged him.
"Ho- how did he die?" I asked with a trembling voice. I had to know before I died myself.
Klaus' smile turned into a frown. I realized my brother's death wasn't something he had wanted. "He died when he was ten, during one of my experiments. You see, he wasn't a seeker, unlike you, and I wanted to know whether I could change that or not… The answer turned out to be no." I saw in his eyes he was hurt by his own failure and I couldn't help but laugh, though it wasn't funny at all. Actually nothing had ever been less funny, but still I laughed, partly because I knew it was making Klaus furious, partly because it was either laughing or crying.
"Don't you dare laughing at me!" Klaus growled. "You, who is at my mercy."
A weird remark since he didn't know any mercy.
"Augerfrost!" He said, as his hand glowed up icy blue.
I reacted immediately. "Touchram!"
Our spells hit each other midway, but Klaus' spell was stronger and hit me anyway. I managed to keep standing, and threw another spell at him. He blocked it simply, and barely a second later something hard and cold hit my chest with so much power that I crushed into the wall. I felt a fierce twinge of pain in the back of my head and for a moment I saw little dancing white dots.
I gasped for breath when a hand pulled me up and pinned me to the wall. The pressure on my throat made me feel light in my head.
"Is this all there is?" The words sounded vague and far away. Even though Klaus' face was wrapped in shadows, it was close enough for me to see every detail of it, even the merciless hate and anger that was burning in his dark brown eyes.
Klaus
"Is this all there is?" I asked with a slightly disappointed voice. It was such a shame she was so weak, because I knew what she was capable of. After all I had trained her myself, every move, every spell…
"What a shame it has to end this way…" With my right hand against her throat I kept her pinned against the wall, while my left hand gently stroke the midnight- blue hair out of her face. Her eyes were closed and she was heavily gasping for oxygen. Her nails were scratching my hand but I barely felt it. For a brief moment I got lost in my memories.
"Such a waste…"
I could end it now but that would be no fun at all. I released grip on her throat and pushed her to right harshly. With a cry she fell on the ground.
"Fight back!"
She threw me a glance filled with hate and tried to stand up.
"Too slow…" I whispered, and walked towards her. "Augerfrost!" I fired the spell to her legs from very close. She screamed in pain, and I knew I had probably broken them.
"Poisonburn..." I used my self- invented pain spell. A new cry of pain escaped her throat.
"What did you say…?" I asked, grinning evilly, when I heard her mumble something.
"I… said… fuck… you…" She whispered, almost inaudible.
I laughed. "Your insults can't hurt me…"
I said the spell a few more times until she didn't even had the power to scream any more. I saw she was almost losing conscious, so I grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet again. I dragged her towards the window.
"Farewell Zhalia…" I said. "I'm sorry it had to end this way."
Her dead, expressionless brown eyes looked me straight in the eye. "No you're not…" She whispered with a hoarse voice, and she smiled a little bitter laugh.
Matter a fact I really am… With that one last thought in my mind, I threw her against the window. The thin glass broke and fell through it, soundless, apart from the soft clanging sound of breaking glass.
A soft evening breeze blew through the broken windows. It's a beautiful night… I thought, as I walked towards the windows. I looked up at the sky. Countless starts were shining, as well as the almost full moon. When I looked down, I saw the body of the woman who I once considered as my daughter slowly sink to the bottom of the pool. She looked peaceful, her eyes were closed and her skin almost seemed to glow in the light of the pool lamps. I tried to feel no emotion but failed.
Zhalia
The world was nothing but pain. I knew it would be over soon so I closed my eyes and waited. When I felt a hand dragging me up from the floor again, I opened my eyes. The world was turning and blinking. Waves of pain, dizziness and nausea gushed through my body, but I forced myself to remain conscious. I looked at Klaus' face one last time but couldn't get my vision clear. His head was just a pale oval shape and his eyes black holes.
"Farewell Zhalia…" I thought I heard him speak but I could just as well be hearing voices in my head. "I'm sorry it had to end this way."
"No you're not… " My own voice scared me, it was a weird rough sound. I felt the odd urge to laugh again.
A new wave of pain was followed by the unrealistic feeling of something warm and wet surrounding me. Water…
I realized I should swim to the surface, but I couldn't. The force that was pulling me down was stronger than the strength I had left in my limbs. Perhaps I didn't even want to swim to surface, and face pain, loss and regret again. I had nothing to live for any more and dying felt even better than I had imagined. It didn't feel like cold hands were strangling you, but like warm loving arms, pulling you softly down into the forgetfulness. I saw bright light before my eyes and my mind was cloudless and empty. I was happy.
Dante
When we finally got upstairs the sweat was dripping down my spine. I pushed the already half opened door open with my back, and entered a shady room. My heart dropped when I saw Klaus standing at the end of the room, in front of big windows. Michael, who had never met Klaus, made a sound that was best to define as some crossing between a gasp for breath and a 'holy shit'.
Of course Klaus heard it and turned around immediately. For a moment he looked at me like I was a ghost, but he recovered quickly.
"Who would have thought that… Dante Vale, don't you ever die?"
"Not if I can help it." I answered. "Touchram!" I fired a spell at him, while still holding Michael.
"Shadowspeed!" Klaus evaded the attack and jumped next to us. "Poisonfang!"
Though I knew it would hurt him, I pushed Michael aside and let the spell hit me.
"Venomhand." Klaus slowly walked towards me, his hands glowing green. "I want this to be over as soon as-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Freelancer somehow appeared behind him, and stabbed him in his back. It happened so fast and yet so slow. Shocked I watched how Klaus fell on his knees, gasping for breath as blood dripped out of his mouth.
Just when I wondered what the hell had happened, I saw Lok, who was holding his Freelancer amulet, and Sophie standing in the doorway. The happiness I felt when I realized they were unharmed disappeared immediately when I noticed Zhalia wasn't with them.
"W- where's Zhalia?" I asked, my voice trembling for I reason I didn't know and didn't wanted to know either.
Lok's face darkened and he looked to the broken windows, the sudden fearful expression in his eyes said more than thousandth words. My mind needed less than a second to figure what had happened. I jumped up, ran to the windows and jumped down into the pool without hesitation.
I swam towards the shadow at the bottom of the pool that was Zhalia, and brought her to the surface as fast as I could. I swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out of it with Zhalia in my arms. The air was freezing cold and my body was shivering, but I couldn't care less, as laid Zhalia down on the tiles. Her eyes were closed and her lips were turning blue, but I refused to think of what that could mean. She just couldn't be dead.
"Zhalia? Zhalia please talk to me!"
I held my trembling hand against her neck, trying to feel a heartbeat. But I couldn't feel a thing. I desperately tried to remember the rules for emergency procedures, but my mind was frozen, shrouded in tears, just as my eyes.
Calm down Dante, it's not too late, just do something!
I started to give her a heartmassage, alternated with mouth- to- mouth.
28, 29, 30- please Zhalia, please breath…
I didn't know how long I had been doing this but it felt like ages, and my fear that it wasn't enough was growing by the second. I could only think of one thing left to do.
I put my hands on her chest. "Everfight!"
A bright golden light spread from my fingertips through her body. Come on, come on…
"Everfight!" I let all the energy I had left flow to her body, until my head became light and the pressure unbearable. As the golden light fading away, I pressed my lips against hers, forcing her to breath.
When I slowly pulled back she suddenly gasped for breath.
"Zhalia…?"
I saw her fingers moving and I grabbed her hand. Something warm and moist rolled down my cheek. I could now see her breathing, I could feel her heart beating. Somewhere far away sounded the voices of Lok and Sophie, but their words didn't got through to me.
"Zhalia, oh thank god…"
Even though she was still unconscious I embraced her, and I didn't ever wanted to let her go.
Zhalia
"Doctor, how is she?"
"Not very well, her left leg is broken at several places, her ribs bruised, she has a light concession of the brain and also high fever."
"But she'll get better, right?"
"Yes, she'll probably fully recover, just like your brother."
I didn't know whether the two voices in my head were real or not. The edge between dream and real life was vague. Sometimes I would hear Klaus' voice, sometimes Dante's, and sometimes unfamiliar voices, belonging to people had never met or just couldn't remember.
Sometimes I could swear I felt somebody holding my hand or stroking my face, but frustrating thing was that whenever I tried to speak or move nothing happened. I couldn't even open my eyes, every time I tried I instantly floated back into the soft darkness.
A melodious high sound woke me up from another dream. It's a bird…
Instead of darkness I saw a bright red light in front of my eyes, and I felt something warm on my face. Sun…
I opened my eyes, and found myself looking at a big white surface. A ceiling…
I realized I was lying in a bed, with a respiratory mask and a drip in my arm. I'm in a hospital…? How on earth did I end up here?
I sat up, despite my heavily protesting limbs, and examined my surroundings. It didn't look like a regular hospital room. The walls were had a soft, almost orange- like yellow color and the floor was made of cozy wood. In front of the windows were green curtains with a sunflower pattern. The room was so happy and warm it almost brought a smile on my face.
Suddenly I a thought crossed my mind. But… I died, this can't be real, it doesn't make any sense…
I had to get out of here. I pulled the needle out of my arm and put off the mask. Breathing by myself hurt my throat a little bit, but I furthermore I felt good. I slowly got out of the bed, and stood up. I noticed I was wearing a white girly night- gown that was absolutely not my style. What the hell happened to my clothes?
I wanted to walk but after barely one step a paralyzing pain shot through my left leg. I swallowed the pain, and moved slowly towards the door, leaning on my right leg as much as possible. When I had finally reached the door pillar I had to stop and rest for a few minutes. It annoyed the hell out of me that moving was so hard. It felt like my mind was trapped in my body.
Suddenly I heard voices, and I knew I had to act quickly. Well, as quickly as I possibly could in my condition. I crossed the hallway and randomly opened a white door at the right. It led to a stairwell, and didn't know whether to be happy or not with that. It was a good thing because it would probably lead to a way out, but a bad thing because descending would be slow and painful.
I had no other choice but to half- crawl down the stairs. After what felt like ages, I had reached the bottom of the stairs. There were two creamy white wooden doors, one right in front of me, and one at the left. I chose the one at left, and opened it. To my surprise it led to a place that appeared to be a garden.
I followed a path made of little multicolored brownish bricks pass trees and bushes with blossoming flowers, until I reached a small field of grass. Not for the first the first time that day I started to wonder if I was in heaven or something like that after all.
When I looked to the right I saw somebody lying in the grass, reading a book. I recognized the person immediately but my senses had to be messing with me, because it couldn't possibly be… "D- dante?"
Dante
"D- dante?"
When I heard the velvet voice that I hadn't heard for such a long time saying my name, I first thought I was hearing voices in my head again. But when I turned my head, and saw Zhalia standing barely a few meters away from me, I knew it was real, though she looked supernaturally beautiful. She looked like an angel, wearing a short white dress, her caramel skin glowing in the sunlight.
"Zhalia!"
In no time I had my arms around her.
"But- but you were dead…" I heard her whisper.
"Almost, but not as close as you… God, I'm so happy you woke up I was- I was afraid you'd never wake up again…"
She moved her head from my shoulder and looked me in the eye. Her eyes were more beautiful, and had even more different shades of brown, than I could remember.
"Where are we?"
"This is the Foundation hospital, we brought you and Michael here after…
"- After I almost died… yes I think I remember… I almost died but you saved me, right?"
I smiled, and softly wiped the silent tears that were streaming down her face away.
"It's the least thing I could do after you saved me from Defoe that one day… but even if all of that hadn't happened, I would have still saved you, because…"
"- because you know I would have done the same for you, because I love you." She finished my sentence again.
I couldn't help but smile. "That isn't exactly what I wanted to say… I wanted to say that, even though technically we haven't known each other for a very long time, I love you. I would never let you die and-"
Before I could finish my sentence, she put her arms around my neck and caught my lips in a kiss. First the kiss was soft and gentle, then more and more passionate, but without any rush. Because for the first time there was no need for rushing, there was no threatening danger and no secrets any more. We had all the time of the world.
-
Jeej, happy ending! :D
I hope it was good enough… I hate ending stories, it's so hard…
You know, I actually really wanted to let Zhalia die, but eventually I just couldn't do it xD
Anyway, I hope everybody liked it, and the whole story in general of course ^^ Let me know by leaving me one last sweet (or not sweet if I utterly disappointed you with this last chap) review!
xoxo