Chapter 14- Wandering Dreams
Tears are powerful; they are as ugly as they are pretty. The thought of them could have you smiling or cowering in fear. They can be a sharp and cunning weapon or a comforting blanket. They bring love and they bring hate. They pull you together or break you apart. They are confusing, unexpected, and most importantly real.
Tears mirror emotions; they bring out the truth inside someone. They can mean many things and can take the shape of any emotion. Anger can bring on tears of frustration, happiness can bring on tears of joy, anxiety can bring on tears of distress and sadness… Sadness can bring on tears of pure hate, fear, depression, grief, longing, confusion; sadness and tears seem to go hand in hand.
All Aliana could think about was what had happened that afternoon. She knew she hadn't said anything wrong; it was just Draco being an ass. But she couldn't help but feel the power of her words and the grief she held for being behind them. It seemed as though every simple act of cruelty came back to haunt her after the incident at Beauxbatons. She just couldn't imagine hurting someone like everyone had been hurt then. It was all too much for her to comprehend.
The whole reason for her innocent "goody two shoes" attitude was definitely powered by that night. Every scream and crash she had heard pounded at her heart. The pain they had felt she seemed to have felt as well. She just couldn't imagine impressing that pain onto someone else. She felt everyone, including her, had endured enough and it was time that the hurtfulness was put to an end. So as simple as her words had been they still continued to pull her into uneasiness. And Draco's response didn't help either.
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After a long and dreadfully boring potions class, Draco, Aliana and Pansy walked together through the dungeons making their way to lunch. The noisy first and second years struggled to push through the crowds while a few of the seventh year Slytherins threw hexes their way. The sight of rainbow haired kids seemed to set off a cheerful mood in the castle. Everywhere students and teachers, alike, seemed positively happy considering it was the first day back to classes.
Up ahead there seemed to be a disturbance so the three quickly rushed to see what was happening. Missing the actual action they walked in on the Golden Trio setting things right. Harry was helping a young boy by fixing his nosebleed while Ron was rushing to the Hospital Wing with another. Hermione on the other hand was carefully lecturing a few fifth years on what is and what isn't appropriate to do at school. Her prefect badge seemed to be shining even brighter today.
"They're nothing but a bunch of suck ups. They're bringing a bad image towards their Gryffindor name. That's the reason the Griffindorks get picked on all of the time. It's because of those three, who go around with their bloody noses in the air, helping the Mudblood's when they fall down," Draco's voice dripped with disgust as he watched Granger lecturing the fifth years.
"Oh, because your so much better than them, Draco," Aliana rolled her eyes at his arrogance.
"Bloody hell, are you trying to tell me I'm not better than a kid with a lighting bolt on his forehead, a Mudblood and the red headed Weasley kid who lives in a fricken' bin?"
"My God, Draco! Get off your high horse and listen to yourself. You sound like an arrogant, pigheaded jerk who doesn't listen to a thing anybody tells him. Maybe if you actually tried to be nice, once in a while you'd have some actual friends who didn't just follow you around because they are scared of you. "
"When are you gonna pull that bloody stick out of your ass, Moxley?"
The scene seemed to pause as the realization of what had just been said sank in. Pansy's own face glowed both in admiration and disgust at what had transpired between the two, while Aliana and Draco had similar looks of shock and anger thrown on their faces.
"Shit, Alli I…" Draco's own voice was at a loss for words as Aliana started off down the hallway. "Wait, don't go."
His hand slid around her wrist forcing her to turn around and face him. More likely for him to face her as her eyes contained a look of hurt, and even more of anger, that it powered even Draco to want to look away. He no longer saw the girl who had been crying in his arms only days before but rather someone much tougher. Her exterior portrayed a girl who had gone through something like this too many times to let it get to her anymore. She had given up on him, because he had started to give up on her.
"Look, Alli…"
"Go fuck yourself, Draco," and with that she walked away.
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The tears that still continued to fall down her face slowly ceased as her uneasiness was pushed to the back of her mind. Her eyelids became fluttery and eventually drifted closed. As she slid into a night of sleep her breathing became steady and her mind wandered into a montage of dreams.
She was floating through hallways and classrooms watching the chaos below. The castle was dark with night but filled with dread as the bodies moved in random clumps below. Bright flashes of red, white and green illuminated the grounds and entrance way as the attacker slowly made its way into the building. Those on the ground either ran in fear or fought with disdain. Their battle was easily lost as the creature strode with a purpose, a purpose only it knew.
The noise grew steadily louder as the students and teachers of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic fled and fought with more and more fear. Both shots and shouts were fired as the young wizards and witches moved along the school hoping to find a missing friend or the missing stranger. The long red billowing hair of the evil woman was long gone while the imminent sense of power she held remained behind, hanging over those who remained.
Aliana floated along the scene even more as she followed the escapee down hallways towards the Transfiguration wing. Here even more spells were launched at the innocent bystanders who were merely helping friends escape the ever growing massacre. As they fell to her power the red haired goddess let out a satanic laugh that chilled even Aliana in her nightmarish dream.
Once again, she followed the woman through a random course, seemingly leading to nowhere. Suddenly, however, she was met with a set of bright blue eyes. These eyes pulsed with fear; they emanated such a strong signal of terror that Aliana felt her own eyes burn with the realization that she was causing that fear. She was even more stunned by the reoccurring cackle of laughter. This time, however, the sound was coming from her own mouth.
She had suddenly switched positions and had become the terrible monster that was terrorizing the place. When this realization hit her, Aliana grasped around her new red curls desperately trying to pull herself from this maniacal body. Tears streamed down her face and her breath caught in her throat as she pulled and ripped on her cloak trying to get away. But the body kept laughing and pulled her along the hallway, away from the little girl.
As Aliana screamed frantically inside the body, it emerged in a swift gurgling of laughter. Every action she tried to control was overtaken by the confident woman dragging along her conscience as she relayed her power of the school. Aliana felt her own emotions begin to mix with the woman and she started to feel the glee spreading throughout her mind. Every spell she fired and step she took seemed to become more right and easier. The effect of this transformation terrified Aliana to no end, but it also gave her comfort. She was comforted in the fact that she now knew she was not alone.
The frustration that had previously filled her conscious was released as the power overwhelmed her. She began to laugh with the woman producing an even more satanic voice. She felt herself becoming one with her and felt the rage alongside her. Aliana had become filled with fanatical urges and feelings as she and the woman wreaked havoc among the hallways.
As they approached the North Tower, however, the feeling began to fade as a steady wind fell among the scene. The soft lump before her transformed from the unmistakable horror to a sweetly dreaming couple.
She was now floating above a bedroom in the early hours of the morning. All enraged feelings from before had lifted and she felt a calming serenity flow over her. Once again her conscience was one and not joined by another. She could act of her own accord and simply enjoy the sweet moment.
She inspected the scene and found the room to be quite familiar. The people and bed were so comfortable, only she couldn't place a reason as to why. As soon as she became interested in her whereabouts she floated into a body once more. This time, however, the opposing conscience was calm and overwhelmed by sweet memories of the previous night. She was clearly open to the inviting presence in her head and allowed her to explore the man next to her as eagerly as she could.
His soft lips were what Aliana noticed first. They puckered slightly as she was tracing them with her eyes. Every ounce of the girl she had entered yearned for those lips and Aliana began to feel that yearning too. As the two became closer together their thoughts started transforming into one. This transformation also altered the feelings they both held and the scene around them was suddenly awoken.
The icy blue eyes of the man lying next to them drifted open and narrowed into a sweet smile as he bent down to kiss their forehead. A quick flash of bliss floated through them as his hand traced the soft contours of the girl's face. Everything about him was all they wanted. His body, his face, his confidence, was all so appealing. The two girls couldn't even fathom containing all of those qualities themselves. So they rested on merely lying next to one of the most perfect pictures they could have imagined.
Suddenly a realization hit Aliana. The sweet man lying next to the girl's body was Draco. Draco, Draco, this dream of him brought gloom unto the conscience of the girl. That gloom was quickly pushed away, however, because this girl was happy. This girl couldn't imagine the pain of or the hurt that the woman in her previous dream had felt. This girl, this Aliana, was better. But she shouldn't be.
She could feel herself floating away from the body now. She was once again on her own, being pulled into a vast blanket of darkness. Aliana could feel something on the nape of her neck. A soft and steady wind was hovering there. She could feel pressure along her legs now too and above her waist she felt an uncomfortable tingling. She could feel herself becoming claustrophobic as something closed in on her. A hand covered her mouth from behind and muffled her screaming.
As she shot up in bed she realized that the hand covering her mouth was her own and that she had been moving throughout the night as she now lay at the far end of her bed. Even her curtains that had been pulled tightly around it had been opened slightly to reveal the nightmare she had visited.
She righted her position and tried to escape the contemplation nagging at her. All Aliana wanted was to fall back into a peaceful slumber that, if she was lucky, would produce much sweeter dreams than the ones she had just awoken from. Her wish to succumb to the tranquility of sleep overcame her desire to escape the nightmares awaiting her and she fell back into another deep slumber.
Now, Aliana finds herself once again floating above a familiar scene. She is quick to recognize this scene and is careful not to act as rash as she had before. She carefully analyzed a slight girl, which she quickly recognized as herself, from a safe distance. This was one scene that she desperately did not want to jump into her other body. Aliana couldn't fathom re-feeling the emotions that led her every decision during that time in her life. She had been so vulnerable, so caught up in a boy that her whole life seemed to revolve around him.
Saber: the name shot into her mind as her conscience jumped into that of the girl's. Oh, how this girl wanted him. She wanted to touch him, to hold him, to love him. And, oh, how Aliana wanted to scream at her, tell her to run, tell her what a mistake she was making. But she couldn't because this was the past. She would have to live in this dream and travel down this path into the woods even though she knew of the horrors that staggered ahead.
As Saber laced his fingers with hers she felt that unexpected jolt in her heart; those familiar jolts that only he could cause. Who could forget a feeling like that? Saber had quite the effect on her then and she hated feeling those effects all over. One bad relationship was enough.
The scene shifted again but this time Aliana stayed linked with the girl's body. She now looked out upon a scene she had so desperately wished to forget. She had spent hours on end revisiting this haunting memory finding flaw after flaw; there were so many things she should have done differently. She should have run, she should have hid, she should have done everything possible to make herself invisible. But she hadn't. It was as simple as that, she had not done a thing. She had just stood there and watched the scene go down; she watched her life begin to fall apart.
They were in the kitchen; the kitchen for goodness sake. His body, oh God his body, was as tight and toned as ever. His muscles gleamed under a slight sweat glistening over them. Every inch of him was just perfect, except, maybe, the fact that his legs were wrapped around an equally gorgeous girl.
Both, Aliana's were screaming in their mind. They wanted to scream and cry, to run and hide. They wanted to have never been here in the first place. But they were, and neither of them could force their bodies to move out of the room. Instead they stood there in awe of the scene progressing before them.
The two bodies in front of them, the ones moving in absolute synchronization, moved as though they hadn't sensed Aliana come in the room. Both of the girls knew that they ought to move, while they still could, but neither could bring themselves to do it. They let the realization wash over them as Saber moved even more intimately with the girl. Her name, her name was Raine. She was slender and amazingly beautiful. She was the stereotypical French girl. Her cropped short ebony hair was placed perfectly, even with Sabers hands running through it. She was short and skinny and yet her breasts were perfectly big and round. She was soft, not toned and remarkably graceful. She was a gorgeous seventeen year old French girl and she was having sex with Aliana's boyfriend.
Once again the scene morphed into an even worse situation. These dreams that Aliana was reliving were becoming more terrible and devastating with each switch. Apart from her dream of Draco she was reliving the most horrifying moments of her life. She was caught up in every incident that had brought her down to where she was now. These were the times that pulled on her confidence and ripped apart her emotions. Everything she had cared about was lost in these terrifying dreams. She was done with going through it all again. Over and over she willed her conscience to wake her up but over and over she was unsuccessful.
Aliana's point of view was limited as her body could not be moved. She was curled up in the corner of the room, held back by a sticking spell that held her in place; that kept her out of harms way. Her brother, Kyler, had forced her into this position where she was unable to help.
Even in this dream state the picture of her brother was welcoming. He had a matching appearance to her own, although his body was far more athletic. They were close; they were so unlike brother and sister. Their relationship was more of best friends than siblings. He had been protective, in some ways he was way too overprotective. It was this characteristic that had gotten him killed.
The scene before her had begun to get tense. Both Saber and her brother moved and spoke honestly but far too threateningly. As much as Aliana hated to admit it, she didn't want either of them to get hurt. Yes, Saber had cheated, and she hated him for that, but part of her still loved him.
The action happened far too fast and before she knew it Kyler was lying on the ground. His body was raked with convulsions and she couldn't do a thing about it. She was stuck against the wall forced to watch the person who she loved most writhe to his death. As his body slowed and finally ceased all motion she felt the spell lift off of her and before she even reached his body she knew he was already gone.
The last thing she saw before her dream lifted off into a blank state was the look on Saber's confident face. It was then that she made her decision; she was past the point where anyone could change her mind.
A/N: Okay, it feels like it has been years since I last posted a chapter. And I know it has been far too long. But the good news is that Christmas Break is finally here and I have absolutely no homework or dance for the next two weeks!! Yay, I finally have some time to write. So after the Christmas queue is past everyone should be expecting a more reasonable waiting period between chapters because I should be able to catch up and even get ahead in the next few weeks. So, the story… This is the chapter where Aliana and Draco's relationship is starting to be put towards the back. I would love to know what you think of my dream portrayal, because it was absolutely necessary for the story to continue. I'm hoping that even though there has been huge amounts of time in between posts that you can still connect the mentions of Saber from before because they are important in linking together the significance of his character. Any questions, comments, critiques, or guesses on what may happen in the future are greatly appreciated. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!