A big long chapter for being so patient with me :) N.B. a lot of the dialogue is in French (because Maddie is French), hope it isn't too confusing.

Chapter 19

Luc sounded so broken, so raw, and even though I wasn't in his head, I could tell the depth of his emotion. The way Maddie was staring at Luc, well, not even staring; more just looking... this was not the girl Luc described. Maddie was happy, feisty, smart, funny, but this girl was... not. She looked almost as cold and hard as her grandfather. The feisty auburn-haired, dark-eyed, cheeky-smiled girl from Luc's memory was unrecognisable in the woman before me.

"Maddie, s'il te plait..." Luc's voice caught in his throat and he couldn't finish.

Suddenly, the pains that had been pushed to the back of my mind made themselves known and I held in a groan as my body began screaming at me, the knocks and bruises from Marcus adding to the withdrawal I was already experiencing. Luc wasn't in any better shape; after all, he was the one who had been punched in the face and kicked in the stomach. But he was fighting against it, his teeth gritted as he stared at Maddie, waiting for her to say something, anything.

He was barely holding himself up, so I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, keeping him upright. It probably didn't do that much, since I was weak and injured as well, but if it didn't provide physical support, hopefully it would provide mental support. Luc made no acknowledgement of my support, but I felt his body relax very slightly.

"Maddie?" he said, a little stronger this time. He spoke in French, pleading with her to say something, do something, but she remained, motionless and expressionless.

"Maddie? I know you can hear me, why aren't you talking? Why have you become his puppet? You swore to yourself and me you wouldn't," he continued, still in French.

I was having to concentrate to understand everything he said, since I couldn't fall back on Luc to interpret for me. Something about that should have worried me, but I couldn't think about it then; there were more important matters to attend to.

"Maddie. Come on, you're not like this. What did he do to you?" Luc asked fiercely, glaring at her blank face. "Yell at me, call me a moron and an idiot like you used to and like I deserve for abandoning you. Don't just stare at me like you don't know me, like... him. You're more than this, where did that fiery girl I knew go? Come on, scream at me, attack me for leaving you to face grandpère all alone when I was selfish and ran. Do something!"

I sat there quietly. What had he done to her? She seemed almost empty, like some part of her was missing... wait, some part of her?
"Maddie?" I began tentatively. She said nothing, just turned her blank gaze to me. I cleared my throat nervously; frankly, she was scary. "Maddie... what happened to Jacob?"

For the briefest second, I saw a flash of emotion in her eyes- pain. I hated myself for doing this to her, but that tiny piece of humanity showed that maybe, just maybe, the Maddie Luc knew was still in there.

"Maddie, is he really... dead? Because you survived, and your grandfather survived, so he might have-"

"Don't."

The first words I heard her speak were cold and hard, just like her face had been, but I was getting somewhere.

Meeting Luc's eyes, I saw he didn't want me to do this. But it was the only way to get to her, and Luc could see that in my eyes, along with the pain that I was sharing at bringing up probably the worst moment of her life and rubbing it in her face. But what other option was there? She was in there, and it seemed she would only be brought out by her Significant.

Luc rested a hand on my arm gently, telling me, with that simple gesture, that he had to at least try the kind way. I didn't think it would work, but I realised we had to try before resorting to that option, so I nodded, letting him continue.

"Maddie," he began slowly, earnestly. "I didn't know him, Jacob, but I have to tell you; I saw you almost every time you met with him. You looked so happy with him, and I didn't even realise you weren't imprinted for a long time," he smiled, shaking his head.

"You always met on the lock bridge, and I would go there, just for a minute in case you ever saw me. I was a coward, you see," he explained. "I knew I couldn't face you after what I did to you. But I always cared, even though it looked like I didn't, and, despite me, you were strong enough to find your happiness in the midst of the darkness that was our family.

"So I'm sorry. I hope, even if you can never forgive me, you can at least understand. And I don't expect your forgiveness anyway... I'm not sure I could forgive me if I was you. So I can understand you hating me right now, but I want, no I need you to show me you weren't broken by him, by either of them. Please Maddie?"

Nothing. Her gaze was on Luc, but she stared with the same dead eyes as before. I glanced at Luc, my face saying what my mouth couldn't; that it wouldn't work. He gave me a sad nod, closing his eyes in pain as he gave me the go-ahead.

"Maddie, Jacob's dead," I began as harshly as I could, although my heart was breaking for her. I could almost comprehend the pain she must have felt, since I had believed Luc was dead for several minutes. But he hadn't been, so I could never truly understand the depths of that pain, and I hoped I would never have to.

"There's nothing he can hurt you with," I urged, "so why are you with him? You're supposed to be strong, not some weak coward who would help the man who abused you kidnap your own cousin. What happened to you? What would Jacob say about your behaviour if he was here right now? I bet he'd be disgusted at you," I continued, hating myself with every word. But her face... she clenched her jaw; I saw it move ever so slightly. It was working.

"Is it worth it? He died saving you from your grandpère, and you're throwing that all away for... what? What could possibly make you work with the man that killed your Significant? Maddie, the man you call grandfather murdered your soul mate." There was definitely a flash of anger this time, but I wasn't sure who it was directed at; me, for talking about her love in that way, or at her grandpère, for killing Jacob. Nevertheless, I continued.

"He's dead, he's not coming back," I said harshly, trying to hide my compassion behind a mask, "and you honour his memory by following his orders like a mindless, brainwashed... wait," I realised. "Have you... did you... are you brainwashed by his ability? Did he finally get to you? Or did you just give up?" I asked softly.

Finally, she cracked. With an ominous bang, she shut the thick iron door, her back to us, and stayed that way for a few seconds, hand against the door, head slightly bowed. Then, she turned around. Her eyes were full, not of pain or even anger, like I expected, but of despair. Her face was so hopeless that my heart went out to her and I immediately felt even worse about the things I had said.

"Maddie, I- I'm so sor-" I croaked, but Maddie cut me off.

"He has him," she said, simply, her voice filled with the most indescribable pain. It made me wince to hear the sound of her voice, so raw and most of all... broken. She was broken.

"Who-" I began, but was cut off a second time.

"He has him," she whispered. Her lip trembled as she steeled herself, her fists clenched and her eyes filled with tears.

"Jacob."

My heart felt like it stopped. Maddie's Significant was alive too. I knew I shouldn't have been so surprised; after all, both Maddie and her grandfather had managed to survive, I had just assumed he was dead because of the way Luc had described Maddie's scream...

And now I understood why she had to do what Luc's grandpère had told her to; he would hurt Jacob if she didn't. If it was me instead of Maddie, I would have done the same thing. I knew that a Significant was more important than anything else in the world; I completely understood her decision to choose Jacob over family, friends, everything, and I couldn't judge her.

She was leaning against the door, staring into space, her shaking hands clenched tightly into fists. But her expression was different to before; before, she had given up, but now, she was trying to fight her emotions back, to be strong, like the Maddie Luc had described to me.

Despite the pain I knew it would cause me, I began to get to my feet, because I knew that her emotional pain was infinitely more than my physical pain. Biting back a groan, I pulled my shaky feet under me and slowly got up, taking a few deep breaths to avoid being sick. When I reached Maddie, I leaned against the door beside her and put my arm gently around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry for what I said," I began.

"No, don't be. I think it was what I needed to stop me from falling all the way; from becoming that mask I put on every day," she replied softly, giving me a brief, but sad, smile.

"How?" Luc asked softly. They were the first words I had heard from him in a long while. I knew he was asking how it happened; how Maddie had found herself back in grandpère's clutches.

Maddie took a deep breath and began, but not with the night she imprinted, where I expected her to start. "You know how after the funeral, he became cold and hard. Eventually started using his abilities on us all; he fooled everyone into doing his every bidding, doing terrible things that I couldn't imagine being able to live with at the time. Now, I know exactly how they feel..."

She trailed off darkly, her eyes going distant with some memory or other. I recognised it from Luc, who occasionally wore the same expression when he was reliving a memory from the streets or his time with the monster who was his grandfather.

Tears streamed unchecked down her eerily calm face, but she hardly seemed to notice as she took a deep breath and continued in a flat voice. "Except I saw through it, and so did you. Why, I don't know, but it was a lonely existence, knowing the adults couldn't help us.

"I was the stupid one; I stood up to him every chance I got, and every. Single. Time, I was punished for it." She brushed her damp cheek subconsciously, where I could see a faint scar across her cheekbone. I felt sick.

"Eventually I decided to stop resisting, to stop standing up to him since it never made any difference, but every single time, I still found myself opposing him." She shook her head. "Luc, you were the only one who could stop me doing something even stupider, but when you started to drift away I got so scared of what I might try to do. And the way I dealt with that was to resist him even more." She sighed, shaking her head. The light revealed a faded bruise right underneath her eye, as well as several more scars. "So by the time you left, I was a mess. I found myself wishing I had accepted your offer to come with you; you were right, grandpère was... is irredeemable, and so was everyone else, as long as he was still around and they were under his control." Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked furiously, and the stream seemed to slow down slightly.

It was interesting to hear her side of the story; Luc had always been and always would be self-depreciating, and he admired Maddie for standing up to grandpère, but she was giving the reverse argument- the other side of the coin. Maddie continued, with more expression and more flow now she was into her story.

"The first time I met Jacob, it was late. I had gone to look at the family locks, to try and clear my mind; at least that was what I told myself I was doing. I stood on the edge of the bridge for hours, trying to find that courage that I had in overabundance in front of grandpère. I was about to finally win the battle and do what I had been gathering my tattered courage to do, when some guy approached me asking if I was alright. I smiled, told him I was fine, and left. I realised that I wouldn't be able to get that close to despair again, that close to ending it all.

"I went back every day, at first unsure of why I was returning to the place I had nearly given up at, but as I saw the same guy every day, same time, same place, I slowly realised that it was him who had given me the hope I needed to carry on. So eventually, I went and spoke to him, thanking him for asking if I was okay, and after that I would sneak out of bed to meet him. Eventually, I realised that I was falling in love with him, but I didn't even think about imprinting or the fact he could be my Significant; he was my tether to normality, he took me away from the horror that was my life, so I had told him nothing about Ace stuff, only that I had a bad home situation.

"I was so happy despite my situation, but grandpère could tell and it made him mad that I was happy and he wasn't. So I guess he followed me one day. And it just happened to be the day Jacob surprised me with the lock, he said it would help make us a new start. It was the worst rain in years and we were both soaked through, but we didn't care."

Maddie smiled, the first time she had done so properly. Even though her eyes were red and she was still crying without stopping, it was beautiful, a truly contagious smile that you couldn't help but reciprocate. It was my first glimpse of the old Maddie, the girl who Luc had known, who he had loved more than a cousin; as a sister.

"We locked it on together, and we imprinted right as the lock clicked. Jacob's face..." she shook her head, still smiling. "It was completely shocked, but he just blinked a few times, frowning, shook his head, then shrugged and kissed me." The smile slowly slid into a grim expression as she remembered the events that followed.

"Unfortunately, we were rudely interrupted. Jacob recognised from my face that grandpère was the one who-" the words stuck in her throat and she gasped for breath a few times, her hands shaking again and the tears spilling out again.

"You don't have to say it, I know what happened," I said gently, and she nodded gratefully, taking one last deep breath to steady herself.

"I woke up at the estuary; Jacob had given me CPR. It was strangely ironic how I had thought he was dead, yet I was the one who nearly died," she chuckled, a glimpse of the old Maddie surfacing and disappearing again. "We lived on the run for a few weeks, knowing that if we had survived, grandpère might well have done and would certainly be looking for us, now that he knew we were imprinted.

"Then he found us. I think he probably 'persuaded' someone with a tracking ability to find us. I was on my own; despite his age, grandpère was quickly overpowering me and was dragging me off until Jacob came in. He rushed to attack grandpère, but as soon as he put his hands on him, he became so still and he just dropped to the floor. I went to check, to see if he really was... dead, but as soon as I touched him, he woke up. Before either of us realised what had just happened, grandpère had knocked Jacob out and was holding a knife to his throat. I couldn't stop him, not when he could kill my Significant at any second, and he was mad enough to do it as well. It was a few days before I realised what had happened, what our abilities were."

I slowly realised. "You bring things to life?" I whispered in awe.

Maddie nodded. "And Jacob kills things. The ultimate curse for both of us." She gave a pained smile, finally reaching up to wipe her tears off her cheeks. I was astounded. That was the most powerful ability I had ever heard of, and Luc hadn't even mentioned it when he was telling me about all the abilities that Aces could do.

"Of course, grandpère was smart enough to keep Jacob locked up so he would have no chance of touching him, and to keep me in line. Surprisingly, I was more useful to him, because he needed me to resurrect Marcus and Sikes. I don't know who else he's planning on bringing back, but you can be sure he'll have them. And that's pretty much it...

"Although, there was one thing I could never understand. Well, actually two things; firstly, why are we, along with our Significants, the only people who could resist grandpère? And second, why did I imprint in the first place? All the imprints had been taken away then, even for the Jacobsons, so why were we the only exception? "
Exception... why did sound so familiar? The words echoed in my head. Maddie's face, tears streaming down her cheeks, the imprint... the exception, weeping...

I gasped. "Luc!" He was looking at me with the same understanding, but Maddie was just looking confused.

"What did you just realise? What is it?"

"The one who weeps, and her exception," I breathed. Could it be...?

"What are you...? Wait, are you talking about the prophesy grandpère was babbling on about? I thought that was just something he made up..."

"No." Luc spoke again, looking up at me with hope in his eyes. "The prophesies were written by the previous Visionary. I'm pretty sure we're the first part, but no-one knew who the second part was about. They and the one who weeps, along with her exception, will rid the land of the evil that was cut back, but not destroyed, by the Visionary."
"You don't think..." Maddie's face was filled with scepticism. "You don't think it could be me and Jacob?"

"It makes sense," I reasoned. "The other prophesy talks about a sacrifice. If, before the rising of the new sun, the one who weeps makes her sacrifice, then the eclipse will never come to pass. Maybe you jumping into the river was your sacrifice..."

"Maybe... just maybe you could be right about us being the one who weeps and the exception. But," Maddie shook her head, "not the second part. It was no sacrifice I made; I didn't want to go on living, there was nothing to sacrifice my life for since I already thought Jacob was dead, so I don't think I've made 'my sacrifice', assuming I am this 'one who weeps'."

I frowned. Maddie was right; it wasn't really a sacrifice that she made. But that didn't mean she wasn't the one that the prophesy spoke about.

"Okay, so you haven't made your sacrifice. But your grandpère said that the 'new sun' was Maggie." I spoke my thoughts out loud, to try and get them to make sense, to understand. "So that means your sacrifice wasn't made before the rising of the new sun, therefore... the eclipse," I realised. I looked at Maddie and Luc, who were both looking confused now. "The eclipse," I said again, waiting for them to get it. They just looked at me with the same expression. "It's this. This is the eclipse. Maddie didn't make her 'sacrifice', so the eclipse happened. Remember the council, on the first day?" I spoke to Luc excitedly. "They were all conspiring; I bet your grandpère got into their heads and messed with them, telling them that Maggie was bad," I explained.

Maddie and Luc's faces slowly lit up with understanding, their eyes becoming worried. "So what's going to happen at the Reunification?" Maddie asked in fear.

"We have to warn them," Luc said suddenly, struggling to get up. But he collapsed on the floor with a groan, his leg giving out from under him. His pain rebounded across our link to me, causing me to gasp in pain along with him.

Maddie looked between us, Luc lying on the floor with his eyes tightly shut in pain and me, barely keeping upright and clutching my stomach with a pale face. "You're in withdrawal, but you've been touching each other. What happened?" she asked worriedly, helping me down to Luc's side, where I touched his face, still hoping it might work. There was still nothing, but Luc grabbed my hand, keeping it there.
"I hoped you might know that," I said, glancing up at Maddie briefly.

"No, I'm pretty sure they didn't give you anything except the knockout drug," she replied, looking at me in worry. In our eyes was what we both knew; Luc would be able to survive very long without proper medical attention, and I knew I wouldn't last much longer.

"Maddie, where are we?" Luc asked with his eyes still shut in pain, but his voice still coming out relatively calm.

"We're still in London," she replied. "I don't know the city well enough to tell you, but I know it's not that far from the palace."

"Do you know how to get to the palace from here?" I asked urgently.

"Yes, probably," she replied hesitantly, "but I can't help you. If you escape, grandpère will know it was me and he'll..." she choked, not finishing, but I knew the end of that sentence. He'll hurt Jacob.

"Okay, so we need to rescue Jacob then," I replied simply, taking a deep breath to steady my stomach. What I wouldn't give for a painkiller, or even better, Luc. Both Maddie and Luc stared at me incredulously. "Well, he must be relatively close as you need his touch and grandpère still needs you alive, so he must let you see him every so often, right?" Maddie nodded, and I took a deep breath. "So, let's find him, spring him, and get to the palace to warn everyone and to see if something can be done about grandpère's meddling."

Maddie and Luc nodded slowly, but Maddie looked troubled. "Anna, I don't think we can do this by just stopping him. Grandpère is a monster and he won't ever stop. I'm sorry but... I think there is only one option for him." I nodded solemnly, realising her meaning.

"Grandpère is too dangerous to live," Luc agreed grimly.

I looked between the two of them, thinking about the misery they had endured under his tyranny, and realised I agreed with them.

"We have to kill him."

So I got really stuck in the middle of this chapter, but once Maddie got talking, I couldn't stop! Sorry for it being so dark, it's just the nature of the back-story, things will get happier soon, I promise! (But only in a few chapters, sorry...)

I'm hoping to update in two weeks, as long as work doesn't pile up and my writer's block doesn't return. A very rough guestimate at 5 (possibly more) chapters left (plus an epilogue which I have had written since I started, basically), depending on various things that I won't go into right now because I don't want to tell you my ideas...

Until next time :)