Espeon- Day of Reckoning

'What have I done?'

Oh God. Only now has he realised what he said, what he did, who he let go. He surely was a human, his mind had blocked out the enormity of his actions. The pain that he now feels.

'I let her go. I let the girl I had trekked miles for, slip away. What kind of decent being does that? How... how could I say goodbye?'

He was speaking to himself, but I think he wanted a sympathetic ear nearby; I was going to stay anyway. I had no other plans of what to do with myself now.

'What do I do now? How do I live now?'

Had I been human, I may have shaken sense into him. Not being harsh, but she was dead. What could he have done? This was why the dead should be dead. If he had said goodbye to her corpse, there would have been more absolution, more definitive actions involved, but now. He was left doubting. Tor was the one to blame for this, I was sure.

'Oh God Hannah, I'm so sorry.'

The only thing was, the more he felt bad for letting her go, the worse I felt about killing her initially. Not that I wasn't feeling bad, there was no way to escape that guilt, but to witness firsthand the effects my actions had, it was unbearable.

'It was an accident. Don't feel guilty.'

Those words echoed back at me, but if Aiden felt bad for simply saying 'goodbye' I have to feel a thousand times worse for murdering a human. This would be the point my life was based around, forgetting everything else that had happened. All those seemed like a blur now anyway.

'Espeon?'

Tor called to me, bringing to my attention the fact that we had come full circle, we had reached the entrance to our wood. A lone figure stood outside, waiting. Lyle.

Who was he waiting for? I didn't want to think it was me. I had made my feelings clear; I didn't want to be any more blatant towards him.

'Whoa Aiden, you alright?'

He took a few steps towards Aiden, before he spotted me watching him carefully. Biting his lip, he deliberately turned his attention back to Aiden, offering a hand in support. Aiden crumpled to the ground, letting his guilt crush him down.

'I let her go Lyle, she... she left.'

Of course, I was unsure what Aiden had told Lyle about this whole situation. I tried to sneak into the undergrowth of the wood, be rid of this situation, but I heard Lyle call out.

'Willow, wait.'

Why was I needed now? Had I caused enough pain? Enough torture? Besides I had no way of explaining this long story out to him, not that it wasn't complicated enough in human speak anyway.

'Willow, please, reconsider. I know I acted stupidly before, I know. But please, if not for me, then for Aiden.'

My focus swivelled to the pile that was Aiden. I couldn't leave him like that. But I couldn't stay with them either. This wasn't as simple as Lyle thought it was.

'We don't need her.'

Those few coherent words passed Aiden's lips and hit me, stinging with the venom loaded within them. Even Lyle was taken aback by the hatred in them. Aiden turned his attention to me, glaring, his dark eyes perfectly fixed on me. Nervously, I took a step back but he seemed determined to not let me leave.

'You going to leave now? What? Leaving someone in pain again? Is that just what you do?'

The familiar sting hit me again. I had felt this few times during our trip, he had seemed to have locked it away and coped better with it as he grew to know me, but now. Seeing her had brought it back. He was against me now. And I couldn't bear it. I didn't have to be here now. I didn't have to take this abuse. I could get back to my life now. I could leave this behind.

I shot a last glance at them, the two people I had been through so much with, those who I had grown to know and like, then dashed back into the bushes, determined to put as much distance between them and I. But none of this place seemed familiar now, it was all alien, new, not the place I had remembered it as. My memories were intact, I could remember all the times I had wandered around here before, but it was different now.

'I guess that trip's had more of an effect on you than you realised.'

I turned to see Tor's omnipotent face staring straight at me, his eyes as wondering as mine as he looked over me.

'You're different. That trip was meant to be a learning experience, but you've grown a lot more than I had expected.'

'What am I meant to do now? I don't think I can just settle back here.'

'Maybe you're not meant to. Nothing stopped you from leaving before, but you stayed anyway. You're still young Espeon, but you can make your own choices now.'

He could be a friend at times. When he wanted to be, he could take the role of soothsayer, of tutor, of the omnipresent being that flowed through these woods. But, most of the time, he was the obnoxious fox that took pleasure out of torturing others. Me as a prime example.

'How am I meant to know what choices are right for me?'

'I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.'

I stared at him blankly, unamused and unsatisfied by his answer, until he rolled his eyes at me.

'Think about it Espeon, I am not going to tell you what to do. You would only rebel against it. Besides, you've already made up your mind anyway.'

He smiled at me; his daily wisdom departed, and then walked off, a ghostly image fading away. Had I decided already? Did I know what to do? No. But I would always have a place here and right now, the undecided seemed more exciting, if not the rougher path. But that option would be gone soon. I would have to act fast.

Never before had I ran like my life, my future, depended on it. Never before had my heart, although aching with the hurried beats, spurred me on. The trees blended into a swirl of green, my eyes only focused ahead. Soon the endless line of foliage opened up, into the long stretch of fields beyond. I scanned the area quickly, but no one was around.

Where were they?

Had they gone already?

How long had I been?

Where were they?

My breaths were frantic, my heart beating rapidly but now I was panicking. I had missed my chance. I had missed them. I had-

'-Rupt'

The familiar bellow sounded behind me, close enough to shock me, but all I could do was smile. I still had a chance.

Eeek, this was made in two parts, and I still don't like it after updating it. I guess I'm trying to find a suitable end to this story, although that seems impossible. ANYWAY, felt like posting before I left on holiday where I'll be able to organise my ideas into a few chapters, maybe.

Thank you

MoonLynx