I've been a little busy so im sorry this one took longer than normal to update. Anyways, enjoy and review!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
~ Awakening ~
A silver orb, dimly lit, floats with more fullness than it did the previous night. The clouds hover high above a sleeping civilization, occasionally covering its queen of silver like a misty veil. A small object glitters in this night, riding on the air towards a large estate. It settles on the windowsill of an open window, soundless and unnoticed by the sleeping maiden who occupies the room beyond. The curtains flutter slightly and then fall still as the door clicks open and then closes with minimized noise.
Kai approaches the bed where the sleeping girl lies. Having been caring for her the past twenty four hours, he pulls up a nearby chair and sits down to rest a little. As he closes his eyes, he thinks back to the words of the one named Ventus. Just as he had said, Lux's wounds were recovering at a remarkable speed. Relieved by the fact that this means she would be alright, he drifts off into a timeless dimension.
In a twilight world normally skew to reality, a large ash tree stands amidst a lake clearer than crystal of infinite depth. Its roots, thick and adamant in appearance seem to stretch to the bottom while its branches, equally great and sturdy seem to reach forever into the sky. Lux lays asleep against this worldly tree on the surface of the lake, knowing nothing of the elven figure walking on the waters of the lake towards her. When the elven figure is close enough, she bends down and stretches her hand towards Lux to stroke her face. The sky changes to a bright tone of azure as she does this.
Lux wakes up to the gentle touch and slowly opens her eyes. She squints a little as her eyes meet her bright surroundings and eventually come to focus on a face identical to that of her own.
"E…Elfe?" Lux mutters.
The elf nods. Lux then sits up and rubs the sleep from her eyes. She looks around and eventually ends up staring at the bottomless lake she is sitting on.
"Where am I?" she asks Elfe.
"You are in your own dream again." Elfe replies.
"Dream?" Lux turns to Elfe. "So am I sleeping?"
"Not quite." Elfe answers her. "But this time, you should stay for a bit."
"Why?" Lux asks her. "What about Kai? I wasn't able to get to him…"
Elfe gently strokes Lux again. "You were."
"I…was?" Lux looks down at the lake again. "Was I…? I don't remember it…I was at the park…"
Elfe watches the uncertain girl for a while until she got up from her seat on the lake.
"I want to see Kai." she says before she ran towards the shore.
Elfe watches her do so and walks to the shore too. Once there, Lux looks around. The ash tree and the lake seem to have vanished and is replaced by a lively, emerald glade. Familiar petals of pink and white dance among themselves in the fragrant air. They spiral up towards the clouds that seem to wind into the heavens. Frightened by the sudden change in scenery, Lux takes a step back only to bump into someone of about her own size. She turns around to meet Elfe.
"Like I said, it's better if you stay here." Elfe says to her.
"But-"
"You need to heal." Elfe tells her.
"Heal?"
"It means to get better."
"To get better?"
Elfe nods. "Once you're better you can return to the real world and you will see Kai again."
"Really?" Lux asks her.
Elfe nods and extends a hand towards Lux. "I will help you pass your time here."
Lux stares at her hand for a moment before reaching out to it.
...
As Lux takes Elfe's hand, a pale creature stands still above a tall skyscraper like a stone gargoyle, gazing at everything in the city below. He turns in a direction and looks coldly into something in the distance there. However, a soft sound recalls his attention.
"Lok," greets a cloaked youth.
"No sign of him?" Lok asks without looking at the youth.
"No." Zane responds.
"I see." Lok mouths. "Zane."
"Yes?"
"Tell Wyvynn we will be returning in the morning." Lok tells him. "I must rid us of a certain weakling."
Zane watches him for a moment before asking, "Did something happen with Lux?"
The pale creature spreads his wing and glances at Zane from the corner of his eye.
...
Elfe pokes into a bush to find Lux there.
"You found me!" Lux exclaims.
Elfe smiles back.
"Ok, it's your turn to hide now," Lux tells her as she sits down on the soft grass and covers her eyes with her hands.
Elfe quickly runs off towards a nearby grove of trees to hide as Lux began to count.
"…7…8…9…10…11…" Lux counts on in the quiet setting. "…16…17…18…19…20!"
Lux uncovers her eyes and looks around. As her eyes search for her elven companion, they discover in the distance a large, familiar lake. She takes some steps towards it.
"It's the same lake...as before…" Lux mutters softly to herself.
She walks closer to it and gazes into it again. This time, the vision in the lake shows her sleeping self bandaged around the head and arms, dressed in a shirt and tucked in nicely. Beside her is a two toned blue haired boy, fast asleep on the chair with his head leaned back.
"Kai!" Lux cries with delight.
As she watches him, she sees the shadow of a small object from the window of the room move. Unsure of what it was, she leans closer to get a better look only to slip and fall into the lake.
Lux wakes up with a start. She bolts up from the bed and turns in the direction of the window to see the curtains flutter and nothing else there. She wonders if it had been a bird but a sharp pain in her side interrupts her thoughts and forces her to let out a soft yelp.
The yelp wakes Kai and causes him to jerk his attention towards Lux. Unable to see her properly in the dark, he gets up from the chair and turns on the nearest light to see that she is sitting up and clutching her side as if in pain and remembers that as the location of one of her more major wounds. Kai immediately rushes to her side.
"Lux!" he calls her. "Are you alright?"
Lux turns to him.
"Kai…it's you…" she says weakly but gladly, extending her free hand to touch his cheek. "I wanted…to see…you…"
"Yeah, its me. I'm right here." he tells her, taking her hand in his. He then turns to the wound she is clutching, "Does it hurt?"
Lux nods, her eyes tearful from the pain in her side. "It hurts a lot…"
Kai let's go of her hand and gently pulls her other hand from the wound to examine it. However, before he even lifted her shirt, he notices a large crimson stain. He then glances at her hand to see some red stains on there too. Suspecting that her wound might have reopened, he lifts her shirt up slightly to take off the bandages around her stomach. His suspicions are confirmed when a gash at her side becomes visible under the lamp's light.
Kai turns back to Lux to see her wide-eyed and speechless as some crimson fluid oozes out from the gash at her side. He strokes her hair gently and smiles to her to try to alleviate her of her fear.
"You'll be ok." he tries to assure her. "I promise."
Lux turns from her wound to him, still quite scared and with tears in her eyes. Kai glances at her wound again and then back to Lux. He pushes her down gently onto the bed. As he does, he could feel her grow tense probably from the pain of moving the reopened wound. He strokes her hair again.
"I'll be right back, ok?" he tells her before turning to go.
She nods slightly but looks to him as if not wanting him to leave her side. Seeing this, Kai turns back to her.
"I'm just going to go get some bandages for you, so stay here and wait for me…" he tries to reassure her. "…ok?"
Lux nods reluctantly and watches him go.
...
Eventually, five minutes have ticked by. Lux has done exactly as Kai had told her – stay and wait. She turns from the door to the small clock on the bedside table and watches as the second hand continues to move. Hoping Kai would be back soon, she turns back to the door and waits for it to open again. However another five minutes pass but it does not open.
The words of the one winged tormentor then flashes through Lux's mind. Responding with fear to them, Lux tries to push herself up on her arms without realizing that by doing so she would hurt her wound again. As she tries to get up from the bed and stand, the same sharp pain as before shoots through her body and causes her to cry out and collapse onto the floor in a loud thump.
After having finally found the bandages at a place he did not expect it to be, Kai returns to Lux's room to try to rebandage her wound. As he nears her door, he hears a scream and a loud thump coming from inside the room. Fearing something might have happened, he runs to her door and bursts inside to find the injured girl collapsed onto the floor. He hurries to her and pulls her into his arms as gently as he could. As he brushes a stray strand of hair from her face, her eyes open slowly to greet his.
"Lux, what happened?" Kai asks her.
"You're back…" she says softly. "Welcome…back…I was waiting…for you"
Kai takes a quick look around the room to see that nothing seems to be out of place except for the bed sheets which seem to have been dragged onto the floor. In some ways that relieved him since it means it was not likely that anyone else had been in the room. He turns back to Lux to see that she has relaxed in his arms and closed her eyes.
'Did she try to get out of bed?' Kai asks in his mind.
Nonetheless he begins to rebandage her wound.
'Hang in there, Lux…'
When Kai is finished reapplying Lux's bandages, he carries her onto the bed and tucks her in. He takes a seat on the chair near the bed afterwards and watches her for a while. Thinking that she will be alright now, Kai leans back on the chair ready to sleep. Just as he was about to doze off, however, he feels a gentle hand place itself on top of his own. Kai opens his eyes and sits up again, turning to the hand's owner.
"Kai?" Lux breathes out.
"Yeah?" Kai responds.
"I'm glad…"
"Huh?"
"That you're here." she goes on. "Lok…he said he would never let me see you again."
Kai's eyes widen. 'Wait…Could it be…?'
"That's why I was scared earlier…" Lux closes her eyes but holds onto Kai's hand. "I was scared you wouldn't come back."
Kai holds her hand with both of his. Concerned for Lux but angry with Lok all at once, he remains silent, diverting his gaze from her.
"Kai?" Lux calls to him barely above a whisper, "Is something wrong?"
Kai turns back to her to meet her inquiring eyes.
"You're holding my hand very tightly." she points out.
"No, it's nothing." Kai tells her, loosening his grip on her hand. "Don't worry."
"Ok" she answers him with a gentle smile, closing her eyes again.
"By the way, Lux…"
Lux opens her eyes and turns to him to show that she is listening.
"Is Lok the one who did this to you?" Kai asks her.
"Did…?"
"Is he the one who hurt you?" Kai rephrases.
Lux nods, turning to the ceiling. "He said he would make the people who are after me go away…but it wasn't true."
Kai watches her for a moment.
"When I found out and tried to go, he hurt me…" Lux continues, her eyes swelling with tears again. "I'm scared of him…"
"You don't have to be…" Kai tells her.
Lux turns back to him.
"'Cause I won't let him hurt you again." Kai finishes.
"Really?" Lux asks with a hopeful expression.
Kai nods.
"I promise," he vows. "I promise I'll protect you."
Lux responds with a smile and closes her eyes to go to sleep as Kai remains by her side, holding onto her hand. Somewhere outside, the silhouette of a youth clad in a long coat and sitting on the branches of a tall tree, gazing upwards at something is illuminated by the silver light of the moon. The breeze seems to be playing with his light blond hair but he does not seem to care. He stretches out a hand as if to catch or grab ahold of something in the air. As he observes the iridescent particles floating by him, a smile forms on his lips.
...
Elsewhere, a pair of iridescent eyes belonging to a one winged, silver haired youth standing atop a skyscraper observes the same iridescent particles but with a much different expression. He turns away from them shortly and extends a hand outward as a small glittering object flies his way. He catches that object with ease and returns his angry gaze to the city below him.