Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.
My Version of Burned
Chapter 1
Stark's POV
"Stark...?"
I turned my weeping eyes to look at Zoey, sure that I had imagined her beautiful voice.
But I hadn't.
She was still in the exact same position but the only difference this time was that her beautiful hazel eyes were blinking slowly at me.
"Z-z-zoey?" I stuttered. I had to be dreaming; this couldn't be real. I held her; I had held her in my arms and felt the life slip away from her. This couldn't be happening.
"Wait for me." The corners of her mouth turned up and she closed her eyes once again, except this time she looked at peace with herself.
"Zoey!" I shouted, finally coming to my senses and running towards her. What had I done to deserve this? To deserve having the love of my life die in the first place, let alone her coming back and basically teasing me. Giving me one last look into those gorgeous eyes before she...
"I'm not giving up on you, beautiful." I promised confidently and quietly, sitting crossed legged and pulling her onto my lap to hold her tightly, "Never again. It's you and me against the world baby, no-one else matters; just you and me."
For hours I whispered sweet assurances into her cold ear. I whispered and whispered until every little thing on my mind was out in the open.
By the time I was silent, I was also numb. Closed-off.
I picked up my Zoey and calmly walked to her room in reticence. Once we reached the destination, I laid her on the cotton sheets and knelt besides her bed.
Help.
Sending up a pray, a plea to Nyx, I waited. I don't have any idea how long I waited for but it was a lengthy time, I'll tell you that.
Now I knew that I didn't pray nearly as much as I should have but it wasn't until now that I realised how much I had taken for granted. How good my life was, how much goodness my goddess had given me and I hardly thanked her. She brought Zoey into my life and I assumed that she would always be there, Zoey and Nyx, because I had pledged my life to both of them. Nyx was my goddess and Zoey acted like my goddess.
All of a sudden my phone started vibrating noisily in my pocket. Digging it out, I answered the call.
"Hello?" I croaked out, only now realising how badly I felt.
"Stark! Where the hell are you and where is Zoey? Darius and I went back to find you but you weren't there so we called Damien and the twins but you weren't with them either! Where on earth are you?" I winced at the unexpected loudness coming from my phone. I couldn't deal with Aphrodite right now. Zoey was the important one here. This moment, right now, was about her. My Queen.
"Stark? Answer me!" I didn't realise that I hadn't hung up on Aphrodite until her high-pitched screech came through my phone speaker.
"Leave me alone, all of you just leave me alone." I gritted my teeth, "I need to think and I can't do that unless I'm by myself." Lies.
I hung up as the another wet tear slid down my cheek.
Of course I was lying. I couldn't think by myself, I could barely breathe by myself. I needed her. So, so badly.
"Nyx," I murmured, tilting my head slightly upwards and grasping Zoey's hand with mine, "I know I've done a lot of bad things, I know that I don't deserve anything I have and I'm sorry I took it all for granted but answer me something. Why do bad things happen to good people?"
I chuckled painfully at the cliché question.
"Zoey was good, she is good. She's funny, sweet, caring, weird, beautiful, friendly, welcoming and most of all, she loves you. So why can't you save her? You've done it so many times before, just do it once more. For me? For everyone in the world who needs her to help them. If you don't do this then take me instead. Swap our places so that she can save the world and live a full and happy life. Please."
This was one of those times when I seriously wished that begging always worked.
I turned my attention to Zoey and stared longingly at her tattoo-less face which made her look so much younger and unable to cope with all of this than before.
"Zoey, just give me a sign that you're going to be okay. Squeeze my hand? That's not too hard, is it baby? And then you can wake up and I will never ever hurt you again. All you have to do is open those beautiful big eyes and I will be there with you every single step of the way."
I waited.
Nothing,
Days could have gone by during the time I just sat there and held her, but I knew it hadn't been that long. I understood that as each second passed by, more pain filled my emotionless body until I had no concept of time whatsoever.
There was a loud thump on the door and I was no longer alone. All of my, our friends poured into the room and surrounded me, us.
"Is she..."
"Wake up..."
"...you leave us, Z!"
"Zoey?"
"Priestess?"
Damien, Erin, Shaunee, Aphrodite and Darius crowded around the single bed where we were laying and all spoke one at a time.
"She's gone." Aphrodite stated, her face as empty and emotionless as I felt.
"She can't be..." Damien's voice wobbled in the middle of the sentence and he grabbed both of the twin's hands for support.
"She's gone." Darius repeated Aphrodite and sounded just as detached as his girlfriend did, "We should go."
My head buried itself into Zoey's neck as everyone left and I just held her once again. I could hold her for eternity. She was my eternity and I was nothing without her.
She was my everything.
Everything slowly faded away as I fell into a dreamless sleep.
I was numb. Everything was over. I felt...better? I felt better knowing that I wasn't living alone on earth without my reason for existence.
And then I woke up.
Pain re-filled me but not enough for me to actually feel anything.
I wondered how long it would take for me to die if I just laid here. At least I would be with her.
My beauty.
My love.
My goddess.
My Queen.
My Zoey.
A/N: I know that I was gonna update everyday but the first couple of chapters are quite confusing with the alerts etc. etc. so I obvs uploaded chapter 1 now and then I might update no. 2 just after midnight or tomorrow morning, idk yet.
My chapter 1 has changed a lot from the original because I got quite a few critical reviews that I didn't make the beginning with Zoey unconscious long enough so I've attempted to make it longer. Do not fret, Zoey is not gonna die cos that would just ruin the entire story and they'd be no point in writing it. This story is a Stark and Zoey love story so it's not gonna be like the original Burned where Zoey is in the Otherworld for the majority of it so I promise you that she will be back soon. I seriously hope you are enjoying the improvements and please, I beg of you, review?
Favourite line? /lydia xox
