Thank you, everyone for the reviews! Here's the concluding chapter most of you wanted. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
Short review replies:
NiekaWow – Thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
mozzi-girl (Molly) – I enjoyed writing those parts immensely. /grin
Guest – Here you go!
maltara101 (Tori) –How can I leave it at that and not close up loopholes? I hope this chapter fixes things with the Maltara overload, or so I hope.
bugreid – He finds out now and does much more! Enjoy this chapter.
A longer review reply for Really (no, I'm not biased one bit):
Welcome, welcome to my kingdom where I surprise my subjects with horrible writing! On a more serious note, I wanted to bring across the idea that Natara desperately wanted to fix whatever she had done wrong before. She was so delirious at that point of time that she almost believed a time machine would solve her problems. I could have written it more subtly but the title would then become irrelevant. I understand certain outstanding stories have seemingly unrelated titles though. Thank you for your time!
Love this, please? I'm going on a longer hiatus after this because of school and planning for NaNoWriMo 2012.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cause of Death and its affiliated characters.
xxxxx xxxxx
How long had she been alone that day?
Natara simply could not comprehend how she could wait for a single phone call from him for over twelve hours. It seemed like an eternity; the time she passed by herself was too slow.
Loneliness was the punishment for the mistakes she had made. It was too heavy to bear – her room felt oppressive and she wanted to run out into the streets but the events of the day had already burnt out whatever little was left of her energy.
If only she could hear his voice. If only she could feel his warmth. If only he could come over and fall asleep by her side…
Sleep. Sleep. Tomorrow will be better. Head throbbing, Natara climbed into bed and closed her eyes.
"Ring, ring. Ring, ring."
She jerked up and wildly grabbed at the receiver on the bedside table. For some reason, she knew it was him. It took her a few tries before she finally grasped the receiver and held it to her lips.
"Hello?" She made sure to keep her tone measured.
"Nat? It's Mal. I'm at your doorstep now. Let me in, will you?"
Her lips stretched into a smile. "Roger that." She bounded up to the door and opened it. Make no mistake, it was Malachi Fallon, covered in snow and smiling lightly at her.
Right there and then, she pulled him into a tight hug and started sobbing into his shirt. He came back for her. That was all that mattered.
Mal grimaced. That was not the response he was expecting. "There, there." He patted her back somewhat awkwardly. "Let go already. I… can't… breathe…"
Natara finally detached herself from him and pulled him into the living room. She gestured at the sofa and swiped at her eyes. "Sit all you want."
"Have this." Mal pushed a bag into Natara's arms. "They don't fit in my closet. You don't have to return my clothes. On a serious note, running out on Oscar on your big day was rather reckless of you. What happened?"
Natara related how she got scared of the wedding, how 'someone' told her she could always say no and her life-changing epiphany that she did not want to get married to Oscar at all. Then she turned away. "You weren't there to make things better."
"I'm sorry but I just had to be tricked into helping my father again!" Mal yelped.
Mal and Natara spent the wee hours of the morning discussing Jacob Fallon and his exploits, and making jokes at Oscar's expense. The latter was suggested by Mal in a surprisingly successful attempt to cheer Natara up.
"How many people does it take to normalise Oscar Santos, Natara?"
"I don't know, Mal. How many people does it take?"
"Three! Two to restrain his arms and legs and one to prick his over-inflated ego with a needle! Seriously though, his ego suffocates me. On the contrary, I'm not like that." Mal wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, shut it," Natara playfully punched his arm. Oh, but I already know, Mal. And I already know you'll be the world's best boyfriend.
They collapsed over each other, chortling. Then Mal noticed the clock on the wall.
"It's five. In the morning! What do you say to me going back now and coming to pick you up later?" He straightened himself out. "We can't skip on Anders."
"I have better ideas." Natara tugged at his arm and led him into her bedroom. She pulled out a sitting chair and shoved him onto it.
"No point going home if you're just going to come back later. You might just as well sleep here." She flopped down onto her bed and shut her eyes.
Natara vaguely recalled Mal tugging a blanket over her before kissing her on the forehead, saying something like "Good night. Don't forget I love you."
Even then, she did not sleep well in the next two hours.
The ground beneath her feet was moving, letting her get closer to him every second.
She was on a train headed to a forgotten city to look for her one true love.
The cold in the train stung her. She rubbed her hands together, desperately trying to keep warm as she watched the raindrops outside the compartment's window go drip, drip, drip.
The loneliness she experienced both physically and mentally drained her. She was the only one in her train compartment, maybe even the only one in the whole train. Even if there were other people in other compartments, they were complete strangers to her, unable to bring her any comfort.
This will be over soon, she told herself. I will find you. She eagerly waited for the time she could alight from the train.
It was a few hours before she found herself in a street. The complete strangers from the train journey now revealed themselves to be clothed in black from head to toe; she could not see their faces at all. The street was narrow with brick walls on either side, so it was surprising there was plenty of space for people to move about. Oriental lamps hung on the ceiling overhead.
She had no idea what he would be doing in a place like this. Nevertheless, she walked ahead, hoping she would find a clue to his exact whereabouts.
"Hey!"
His voice! His voice! She quickly whipped her head to its source. Then she grew numb. Her mind was screaming but she could not get anything out. It was in hysterics, something uncharacteristic for her.
There was no one there.
"But –"
"Ding, dong. Ding, dong. Ding, dong!"
The incessant ringing of the doorbell woke her at around eight. Too jumpy to consider what might happen next, she stumbled out the bedroom and answered the door.
God bless her, it was a very displeased Oscar Santos. Before words could work their way out her mouth, a rough hand struck her on her cheek.
"How could you do that to us, Natara? How am I supposed to account to everyone we know?"
That was the last thing she had expected to hear from him. To think he only cared about his reputation! She let him have it.
"Oscar Santos, you shameless jerk! Thinking only of yourself like that! You think people won't stare at me today? You think they won't ask me why I ditched you, don't you? I'm going to be the subject of negative conversation just like you, Oscar. What makes you think I have nothing to worry about?"
"It's your fault you're going to get all that trash. You were the one who caused this mess! I don't deserve the flak, though!"
"What in Hades is going on here?" Mal had been woken up by the pair's bickering. He stood next to Natara, his ocean blue eyes boring into Oscar's dark brown ones.
"Look who's here! It's Fallon, your knight in shining armour. Of course! You chose to escape responsibility so you could continue sleeping around with other guys. He was supposed to be righteous, too! Shame on you, you whore -" Next thing he knew, Mal had him in a headlock and was crushing the air out of him.
Jesus! Natara knew a lot of men opened their mouths without remembering to think first, but Oscar had turned insensitivity into a goddamn art form. She stood by, waiting for that to play out.
"Always blaming someone else! That's why I hate your guts! You say Natara caused the mess you're in and then you accuse her of sleeping around! Have you ever done some reflections, Santos? You don't understand her enough. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to marry you anymore. I'll bet she already realised this a long time ago!"
There was a pregnant silence as Oscar gasped for air and struggled to come up with a retort. He did not have the strength to fight Mal; he was too dizzy with anger to try.
"Let him go. He's turning blue," Natara muttered bitterly. Mal hurriedly released Oscar from his vice grip and smirked as the latter massaged his neck vigorously. "Well, Oscar, showtime's over." She gripped the doorknob tightly. "Now get away from me!" She slammed the door in Oscar's face and then slumped against it.
"Why does he care what the world thinks?" She grimaced. "Damn, he sure has strength when he hits people."
"He cares what the world thinks because they worship him," Mal mumbled. "Nat?"
"Yes?"
He leant in and grinned. "If I kiss you where it's sore, will it make you feel better?"
She let herself get lost in the deep, dark ocean of his eyes for a moment, before closing the gap with a light peck on his lips. "Yes, it will, Malachi. Don't forget I love you too."
It took the pair almost two years to gather their feelings, a few moments to get them out successfully and a few days to come clean with their relationship. Time flew by in a blur and yet another two years passed.
Once again, her mother and her sister had left the preparation room. Once again, she was alone. She could not help but let a sense of déjà vu overwhelm her.
Two years ago in this chapel. Two years ago in this dress and heels. The modifications are nice. Mal sure likes the corset design. Efforts won't go to waste this time around. No one's running away from anything anymore. Is Oscar coming today? Find out later. Don't tense up now. Nothing will go wrong. No one will judge. Everyone has known about us for, what, four years already. Relax. Relax. Oscar surely won't rush in and yell 'I object.' He's already moved on like me. Can't help but feel like the events of two years back will repeat today though…
Like two years before, Blaise opened the door. "Not going to run away, are you?" She smirked.
"I don't see the point in running away from a place I've returned to." Natara smiled lightly.
"Snarky! I like that. Stay that way, darling!"
A bell rang; it was time for the real wedding. Natara walked out to resounding applause like the other time. Oscar's here with his new girlfriend. They're actually happy together. Good for them! Then she was standing at the altar with a different man. Mal Fallon looked even better than Oscar did. She felt his eyes travel down her modified corset gown and tried not to feel fluttery all over.
She actually listened to the minister rambling on and the blessings the pair received. When the time came for her to do so, she said "I do". There: she has spoken the words. There was no turning back.
She did not need a time machine already. 'Two years later' had brought her back to the same place with a different dress, a different man and a different mindset.
Natara Mansingh Williams would never regret marrying Malachi Charles Fallon on that snowy winter's day.
xxxxx xxxxx
One thing I would like to clarify is the dream sequence. You, the reader, can interpret it as Natara never getting Mal back (which turns out to be false) or never getting Oscar back (in which case this is true). The phrase 'one true love' should have enlightened you though. Initially I wrote it solely about Mal, but I realised reading 'him' as Oscar worked too, so I thought it could go both ways.
Please don't be ambiguous about your thoughts if you do review! It will be very much appreciated.
See you around, folks! It was a blast writing this piece and I hope to write more after school is out.