Does This Darkness Have A Name?
Copyright WillowSuzzaGleeeee
A/N: Another bolt of insanity and emotional wreckage of revenge, love, friendship, loss, remorse, and evilness closer to the end. I want to thank all the amazing readers and reviewers of this story; your reviews always give me inspiration to continue this story of damaged mermaids and a darkness that surrounds them. I could never have guessed I'd reach the 100+ reviewer mark, and especially could never believe you would improve my writing so much, and help me make this story so much more wonderful, with a very special direction for disaster. So…enjoy…and review me away.
Rikki's POV:
The room was filled with unbearable evil. Lewis was lying on the floor, a soul now gone. Cleo was sobbing, all her hope of happiness gone. Emma at the wall, her glow of promise very much gone. Bella, in the midst of the chaos, sanity gone. Charlotte, all innocence gone, and evil reeking. And then there was me. Imperfect damaged broken me, having everything I've ever known completely gone.
When the doors banged open of the spa, and my Prince Of Misunderstood Darkness came in with my Mistaken Light Who Drove Me To Have Scars, I almost believed I could be saved. It was Zane and Will, walking in on the mess. I wanted to hide; I couldn't let them see me like this. But, Zane already had.
I watched how his eyes steamed from relief to complete dread and horror. He eyes me, and then abruptly to Lewis's lifeless nude body on the floor. And suddenly, I was numb and I needed to hide away from his eyes that screamed that there was something wrong with me. I close my eyes… It was all in my head, and even though the ropes has been untied; they were still suffocating me, so much, for these moments, I just wished I could die.
But, then, I knew, that as Rikki Chadwick, I had to keep fighting. I open my eyes to unveil a whole new image of happenings. Still a sobbing Cleo. Still an edgy Emma. Still a lost Bella. Still an evil Charlotte, but now… Now, Zane and Will held up two guns; Will's aimed at Charlotte, Zane's aimed at the evil men floating around the room, now still very much floating around me. What were Zane and Will planning to do? Were they going to kill Charlotte and the other evils? Was that a bad plan?
"Free the girls safely to us, and we won't have to shoot you." Zane says, threat entering his voice with no hiding of his rage. I'm surprised when the evil…rapists around me start loosening their grip on me, and Charlotte's eyes go panicked. Even though they had a knife, bondage equipment, and a jellifying of blood power…They didn't have a gun? Then I realize… This wasn't in Charlotte and Bella's plan, neither was Lewis dying, I realize as numb tears erupt in all of us.
Will's a disarray of emotions as he focuses on the Bella behind Charlotte; veiling herself away, and the forced Emma against the wall. He edges the gun closer to Charlotte, "I want you to leave the girls alone, and get out right now. You're not going to hurt anyone else."
Zane adds, "So tell your evil bastards to get the fuck away so we won't have to murder you in the most painful slow death possible." He's full of rage, and frightening… I know he's trying to save me, but he wouldn't really kill someone…would he? Would I? Doesn't he realize that I've never wanted to be saved? I thought that I would never need a hero… I promised myself, in fact.
Charlotte's a mess; Lewis's unexpected…end has touched and shocked her. All her horrific actions…maybe even Charlotte wasn't aware of how evil she really was. She stares at both Zane and Will, dead coldness in the eyes… Bella now sits on the floor, hiding her insane mind into her knees…too ashamed? She's ashamed of how Will might see her, that's just it. I want to screech. This disaster was never meant to happen.
"Release Emma." Comes Charlotte's first slow agreement. The bastards remove their grip on Em, and she awkwardly stands behind Will, with an expression that is never supposed to appear on her face. Fear. Bloody fear…and this causes Zane to get even more angry. Meanwhile, Cleo's still a sobbing wreck. I want to comfort her, but there is absolutely no way how to tell her any of this will ever be okay…because it won't.
"Now get those bastards off of Rikki before I have to slaughter them all myself." Zane spits. He's doing it for show… It's his rage coming out to play, but I can't pretend I'm not uncomfortable by it. I want to sob into his arms, and I want to push Zane away… How can I want those two things at the same time?
Charlotte hiccups. "Rikki…may now be released." I gasp, and their grubby hands are off me. No more evil prints smothering me. But…when I look down at myself; ripped dress, bruises covering my body, scars screaming lying whore… I know evil has had it's lasting effect. I, without a thought, run to Zane. And suddenly, he's holding me as I close my eyes, and I don't care about not being strong anymore… I just to want Charlotte and Bella to know how it's like to be ruined. In Zane's arms, my hand slithers out… It's aimed at the certain lost girl who crafted liar and whore into my skin. I need my own vengeance… I deserve it.
The room gets a vibe of steaming up, and I know the fire is about to erupt…until suddenly, Zane grabs my hand; a gentle touch, and kisses me on my forehead, with only a whisper of, "We're gonna fix this hurt without hurting them, okay, princess?"
Princess? Since when am I a princess…? With a faint smile, and resting closed eyes, I nod. We still need Cleo to be 'released' from her stance of crying on the floor…
"Now Cleo." Will spats, but I know his mind must be wandering to the fairytale land Bella and him used to live. I know Will doesn't want to believe that's all gone. Guys who fall in love with mermaids have a tendency of wanting to save the mermaids as well…which causes problems for stubborn ridiculous mermaids… A mermaid like I was. Now, I'll never be the same.
"No." Comes Charlotte's crooked voice. "I don't even know if your preppy little guns there have bullets in them…" She has gained some strength, but from where? The evil men surround her, and start pondering this possibility… Zane, please have some bullets in those guns.
"You want proof, bitch?" Zane replies, and before Charlotte can muster a response, there is a sheer gunshot aimed at the top of the opposite wall… There are definitely bullets in the guns. But, no one knows but me that Zane won't use the bullets to hurt anyone, not even evil…
Charlotte gasps. Her game is starting to get twisted into what she didn't believe it would be. Cleo is not saying a word, still eyes on Lewis. Denial, anger, sadness, horror all combined in her beautiful once innocent brown eyes. Emma nears her, hand out to hold…
"Come on, Cleo. We're gonna survive this; Everything's going to…" Emma never finishes, but Cleo does.
"Everything's going to be okay! Lewis is dead, and everything's going to be okay! NO… It's never going to be okay or right again because he's gone! You, Rikki, Will, Zane, hell even Bella, might survive this…but I'll always be dead in my world. Without Lewis, there's…"
"There is a point!" I cry, shocked by my shriek. "Lewis would have wanted you to go on living life, being the Cleo we all adored… The last words," before I can go on to say they were that he loved Cleo, Charlotte screeches.
"The last words mean nothing! Nothing. Cleo is staying with me, and I'll decide what torture she'll need to endure for the rest of her life for making me lose Lewis. This is all her fault… Everything is because of Cleo, and now I will enjoy my revenge." Charlotte sneers, now having every evil dream insight back again. She kicks Bella's hiding sobbing form on the floor…
"Bella! Show the pathetic lovers of the mermaids that their little guns are nothing compared to our wrath." Bella's head lifts, and she looks at the ground…away from Will's eyes, judgment, hatred, and lost love.
"She's right." Bella slurs. "Our wrath will always beat you all." Her voice is timid yet icy…knowing darkness of different worlds.
And, then, Will has a breakdown. "No, Bella! You don't have a wrath with her! You can't! You were in love with me! That can't just change… You couldn't have been pretending… Why the fuck are you doing this to us?" Will starts suffering massive deep breaths. "To me? Why would you do this to me?" And with that, he shakes his head in utter horror, and lifts his gun, aimed at Charlotte. Everyone's eyes are stolen to the act, and how so quickly, the bullet with it's ring soars the air…right into…Charlotte's half brother…
He flails to the ground. A dead monster. I can't help but smile, and then shiver. I then proceed to hide my own head away into Zane's chest and his aroma of misunderstood danger. Maybe, in a few moments, this can all be over.
When I peer back at the scene, Charlotte is terror in a red-headed evil girl form. "Bella, do away with their guns." Bella raises her hand, a queen of power… Don't hurt my true love. Please don't hurt my true love.
Zane is the first victim… He staggers to place me down on the ground… His hand; blood is being jellied underneath the surface. She has to stop. Please stop… I mentally beg. Then Zane drops his gun with losses of breath. Finally, his face is not put forth in menacing pain but in Zane's normal eyes that stare at me, and then proceed to spring me up upon the ground back into his arms… I sway, and then whisper to tell him; "I can stand for the moment…"
And then the same action happens to Will. His jellied blood squirming around inside his hand… A thundering drop of a weapon. Will, though, is shocked and horrified by Bella's wicked actions. He wishes not to be afraid, but he is… Just like all of us.
Bella then grabs the guns with her insanitized hands, and continues staring long and hard at the complex ground. She's ashamed, and I'm glad. Horrifically glad.
"Now…that this is settled," Charlotte grinds her teeth, fighting for control of the game we had a mini-advance in. But, if only we knew, the game had just begun. There was far more wicked pain to endure, and it was waiting for us. "You…may leave." Charlotte says, a raspy statement vibrating through the air. "But…Cleo will stay here, and she will pay."
Cleo, still on the floor, next to Lewis, doesn't move at all. Zane, Will, Emma, and I don't either. And then Bella screeches, "You heard her! Just get out! Do you want to die!" And with that, Charlotte takes one gun and aims it at us. "Leave or on the count of three…" And then the counting starts.
One. We stare at Cleo with gasps and cries, willing her to move and stay at the same time.
Two. We start scurrying to the spa's exit.
Three. We try to leave this disaster all behind with one door slam.
And, for those moments, I am free. So is Zane. And Will. And Emma. A new sense of survival pulses through me.
There's silence as we all stare at each other, each wondering what type of possible evil could lie within our souls. Will murdered someone, a monster, but still a…person. His eyes are red, stretched in anxiety, freaked to an atrocious extent, wondering if he could possess the evil that was reached to kill another human being. A human monster, really… So he shouldn't look so pained…right?
Or was that just as evil?
"I…I killed…someone. Did I?" Will asks, a baffle as his face. "How could I?" Shame takes hold of him, and all I wish to do is assure him that Charlotte's dick of a brother deserved it. Sometimes, all you can do to fight evil is pair it with an equal evil. Fight fire with fire… Sometimes, that's the only choice.
"Look, mate, he deserved it. And… with all the hell they've caused, it was practically self-defense." Zane replies, and I smile. This alternate universe of hell and revenge has drove Zane and Will together in a moment where they don't loathe each other. How beautiful.
"Doesn't matter. I…killed someone. That's always going to stay with me, with us all..." Will spouts eerily. A silence nestles itself upon our circle of magic.
I realize Zane and I are holding hands so tightly, when a shock erupts as an event. Emma steps closer to Will, and holds his hand. Her quiet voice saying, "You were angry and scared, and…in the end, you were protecting us all. We can't change that now and shouldn't want to."
I glance at Zane, and nod, never loosing my newly developed sad eyes. Sad eyes that hold pain… How I wish the pain would disappear. I have a feeling it'll hover for a while.
Soon enough, Zane has taken off his leather jacket and offered it around my cold fragile damaged arms. I swiftly take it, smile long at him, and wrap it around to cover my torn broken dress. Ours hands are still clutching each other tightly, almost as one.
"Where…Where did you guys find the guns…and where is Drake…Lewis's mate…?" Emma asks quietly. We're still in a mess of an escape, needing so many more answers and heroes.
Will, still in a daze as he holds Emma's hand, doesn't respond. But, Zane does.
"There was a half-crazy gun collector staying in the hotel. He told us to take them and stop whatever evil people had taken over this place. And, um, Lewis's old friend, uh, he decided to hide and lock himself away… Saying that none of this had anything to do with him. And, well, he was right, so we went off to save the amazing mermaids who find far too much trouble," Zane smirks for a moment, then whispers, "I love you, my destined-for-trouble mermaid."
I can't help try a giggle, even if our situation is much too tragic to think about laughing. But it feels good to know that, just for a moment, through all the tragedies, there is love. "Good thing your mermaid falls in love with misunderstood troubled mortals… I love you too." I say, and the freedom of love burns inside of me. Love. Love, who knew it could spring its truth upon us in the craziest of times?
It is then that I realize we need to save Cleo. She's still in the madness. Who could ponder the possibilities of darkness that will engulf her in Charlotte's insanity?
"Cleo. We have to go back for Cleo." I say suddenly as it dawns of me. "We can't leave without saving her. Charlotte's going to torture her and ruin her, and we…we have to do something!" I shriek, now full of riveted fury and fear.
"I know, sweetie. We're gonna call 911." Zane tries to calm me. 911. Right. Wait, why hadn't anyone called 911 before? Where was any and all justice available to us? I gulp, as Zane takes out his phone and dials the three numbers that scream for help…
Then, he frowns. And another part of me dies as I'm filled with dread.
"No signal." Zane reports, as his eyes turn stoic.
"Bella and Charlotte were crafting this plan way longer than any of us knew about." Emma says with a shattering effect. "They've probably blocked this whole area's signal. I'd be surprised if they didn't have more than one plan Bs."
I stare at Emma intently. "How do you know this?"
Emma bites her lip. "Because look outside." I turn to meet a window that peers outside to an image of many hotel guests surrounding a gate of solid jelly. How…? But, then it hits me. Bella used her power of solidifying her jelly to craft together this gate. Terror fills my void of now broken dreams.
"Well…maybe I can boil it…destroy the…prison gate." I offer, full of the first jolt of hope I have found. I can destroy the magical gate, find some help; police, save Cleo… It might be okay.
. . .
It wasn't okay. The plan failed. My boiling and burning power could not destroy Bella's gate of unbreakable magic. I could only burn ice. And these prison walls were not fire or ice, but something terribly worse…Evil.
. . .
"What about Bella?" Will asks.
We are in a new suite. I am a damage sitting on the couch, close to Zane, near his warmth that I pray will keep us safe. Will is sitting at the table meant for devouring room service, his eyes still numb and frantic all at the same time. Meanwhile, Emma is pacing. I wonder what her baby's thinking.
"What about her?" Emma's voice quivers as she stops her paces. "She's gone, Will. Right…Rikki?" Emma looks over at me. I still sense pity, but I let it go. For once.
I nod, my eyes hollow. I consider my answer, but then feel the scars carved into my arm, marking me for life, still hidden by Zane's leather jacket. Because of her. "Yeah, Will. I'm sorry…but she's gone off the deep end and gone dancing with the devil. There's no Bella that you fell in love with. It was all a lie."
Will struggles to hide his sniffle, as I stare to the ground. In a better place, in a better future, how will this tragedy of lost souls affect us? Will we all be damaged for eternity, traumatized by an inexplicable darkness? Or will we rise above these tragedies and find a will to make it through the day, fighting for our old happy selves to come back? Will we be names on a survivor list, or on the death list that will forever haunt the world?
Emma sighs, and sits down, next to Will. I stare at both of them, knowing they're hiding an attraction… Or is it just that dark times bring people together? No, I see it in the way they comfort each others sorrows. Holding hands, like Zane and I. Lewis is gone. Who will hold Cleo's hand?
"There's only one way to save Cleo." Emma concludes, after intense staring matches with the windows, still images of hotel guests crying and falling forlorn as they realize they're trapped. Just like we all have our demons trapped inside our minds.
Zane, Will, and I straighten up. We do all know Cleo is the innocent sweet one. The one we all never want to let down. I wonder if she's still mad at me…for being in secret contact with Charlotte first… I wish to believe otherwise, but could I have prevented this all? Zane's kiss on my cheek coaxes me, but my mind still wonders at the question.
"The only way possible is to break Bella. And, we know there's only one person here who can do that." Eyes frantically seize in on Will. I know Emma's right. Will is the only key to any form of a happy sane girl Bella used to be…a real one, at that.
Will takes a deep breath. "What do you want me to do? Cause I'll do anything to help…save Cleo from the evil of all evils…" Hope is lifted into my spirit, which scares me. But as Emma, Will, Zane, and I develop the plan more and more… I get more and more sure that it will work. Sure we will save Cleo. Sure we will destroy anything remaining in the evil lost girl titled Isabella Hartley.
. . .
My eyes fell to a slumber. It was so easy to just flutter your eyelids into temporary peace of no thoughts, no worries, and no fears… Floating… I'm in the air, being lifted. Where am I? Fresh air…
I open my eyes. Zane's holding me as we explore the balcony of this once-high-end suite. What happened? My mind aggravates to remember. We had escaped Charlotte, developed…the plan. Yes, the plan. Zane said I should rest… Emma and Will went off to save Cleo. Everything…everything would possibly be okay, right?
"Zaney," I blush furiously at myself as I realize what I just called him. "I mean, Zane, put me down." I giggle, and Zane sets me on my feet as I look around with sleepy eyes. I glance at him. "I thought you were afraid of heights."
"I still am, princess." Zane replies. Tomato-filled blushes control me. "But, I think we've gone through enough of our fears to get past that, and it's always fun to reenact our almost-first kiss. Before my Dad came in to be a second-degree bastard."
I laugh, as I take his hand and travel near to the edge of the balcony, loving how his eyes focus on me, and not the long way down. "Actually, Zane, our first kiss was on Mako, when I totally blew you away with my fiery moonstruck kiss."
"Ah, how could I forget…? That hell of a kiss…" Zane smirks, with a chuckle. "I think waking up to see a burnt grass fire ring around me was a bit much…"
"What can a mermaid say? The guy she hates becomes very desirable on a full moon… So desirable she creates a fire ring." I say, and laughs of happiness engulf us.
"I'd love one of those take-me-away-to-hot-fire-land kisses again, Rikki." Zane comments, and I completely forget all about our differences and everything that could possibly go wrong, and only focus on the right.
"Oh, really?" I shriek, and blow him away with a new series of fiery kisses. It's passionate, yet giving, gentle. Strange to believe the Gold Coast's legendary bad boy could be such a hero when no one was looking…
After our kisses, I sigh. "Do you think Will and Emma will be alright? Do you think our plan will work? Do you think…Do you think we'll survive this?" I ask, as suddenly all the fear radiates back into me again.
Zane kisses my forehead, and plops me upon his lap, holding me close. It feels so good to need someone and having him need you just the same. This thought terrifies me, and gives me happiness all at once.
"Will and Emma will be fine, Rikki. They're strong just like you, and if the plan doesn't work, nothing will. Because at the end of the day, we'll know we did our best to save Cleo, even trying to save Lewis. Even Bella's…lost soul." I nod, sadly. I will never let Zane go. I wonder how one idiotic girl's misplaced lips could have possibly made me thought all was ruined. Love was so much more…sometimes; all you needed was a tragedy to realize what love actually was. Lewis had love for Cleo, just like Cleo had love for Lewis...once upon a fairytale. And we had to do our best to make sure our love doesn't become a tragedy…like theirs.
"And, princess, we're survivors. We always survive." I fade into this statement, because it's true, isn't it? No matter what bad events of tragedies or losses swallow up happiness in life, I make an oath to myself that I will keep Zane and I's love alive. And I know he's done the same. And just having love alive, makes us survivors.
I look at him, take in his brown eyes of understanding of hurt and mellowing of love, his tousled dark hair, his adorable smirk, his body, and suddenly I want it. I want him to take away the hurt, take away the damage that has been done, make me less fragile, give me back some control that I've lost.
I take his lips in, kiss deeper and deeper, until my hands reach to remove his shirt. I want it gone, as with his pants, boxers, and all the space between us. I want it gone as with my hurt. So I look up at him and whisper, "Zane, I want to make love with you."
For some reason, tears harvest in my eyes, but all I'm filled with is love and desire, and a tingle of fear…off in the distance, that will disappear by the end of this. I know it.
Zane smiles that smirk, then his eyes widen in recognition of what I'm saying. "Now?" He asks. I nod, steady myself closer and closer to him. He whispers, "Are you sure, Rikki?"
"Yes." I smile at the word. I'm saying yes, and I have my own power and choice in it. And with that, Zane smirks his smile, and I shed his leather jacket, as I claw into his shirt…removing it, gone. Now, on to his, very, very excited pants. I giggle, but suddenly at a cursed moment, he stiffens.
"Rikki…Don't move." Zane states. I stop breathing, frozen in place. His eyes burn fear and hatred like no other. I turn around, to be face to face with ten or so devils. Devils as human beings…who ruined, hurt, destroyed pieces of me. They're back, they're smiling, and they're absolutely evil.
Zane takes my hand, and places me behind him…the only way to protect me. But dread fills me, because I know the rationality. We're outnumbered by evil sadistic pain-lovers.
"You can't hurt us." I say, willing myself to believe it as I lift my hand, feeling faith in my power. The monsters just laugh. Cackles of evil, pain… Tears erupt as flashbacks occur. I blink rapidly, trying to make it all stop… How they hurt me… Please. Make. It. Stop.
"I promise you, whore, we can hurt you. You know how we can hurt you, and I bet deep inside, you're begging for more. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been trying to seduce lover-boy, here." Sobs tumble out of me, as I wish to scream and for someone to hear. But I can't. It won't help. What if the monsters were right? No! No… I hate them… They're twisting it all around, fucking with my mind… My hand freezes up. I can't think. All I see is Zane yelling, sounds of many curse words, punches being thrown, and…
Bam. Break. Crash.
One of the monsters has punched Zane into the ends of the balcony… Falling. My true love is falling with a scream. No! Sobs, too many sobs. He's plummeting to the ground. Hit. I stare. I already see blood start from Zane's cracked head. Somebody, help him! He can't die! He can't die on me; he swore we would be survivors. This can't happen… Please, no…
All my nightmares have come true and there's nothing more to fear.
I open my hand out flat, and start balling it into the fist that holds power, fire, vengeance… They will pay. They can't… kill? They can't kill Zane! Zane's not dead…Is he? Cries escape me. They should pay but they don't. Soon enough, the monster who pushed Zane off into hell's fallings reveals a knife. Before a reaction takes hold of me, the knife has swiped the tops…tops of my fingers. No power. I'm left with no control. My other hand's budding fist…Tops of fingers are gone as well. Pain, seared with a numbness of the blood rushing gravitates it's pulse inside of me.
Things blur into dizziness. Monsters' hands are grabbing me, pulling me against my will into my own hell, taking me somewhere… I'm screaming. But either no one hears, no one cares, or no one can do anything about it as my breathing starts slowing. The monsters have placed me in a box. They're placing the top on. I fight to shove it off… I'm too weak, and losing substance from my hands. I can't be too weak! I have to get out of here and save Zane…right? But I can't. I relatively calm myself as I realize there are holes so I can breathe…but my sobs continue.
"Quiet, you fiery whore. No one but us is ever going to see you again, so you better get used to being treated like the dirty whore you are." The box moves rapidly; I'm peaking out, and see that somehow we have left the hotel, and found an exit through the solid jelly gates. We keep moving, until I realize I'm placed in a car… A car that will take me somewhere I'm told no one but monsters will ever see me again.
A/N: :D Woohoo! Finished the chapter at approximately 3:50 am on Saturday morning! Now, that is what you call dedication…or just a writer being lazy the whole entire week and racing to get it finished in one crazy night. Or, you just call it a writer being disturbed enough to write this chapter at all, but either way; you should review about whatever fancies your mind (HOPEFULLY relating to the story…but hey, sometimes we just need to ramble)! Thanks again for all your lovely support, and special disturbed writers' kisses go out to all of you! (Especially if you're a fellow disturbed writer, yourself). Also, happy early Valentine's Day to all of you, and if your so unwanted to be alone, just be grateful that your true love hasn't had his testicles cut off or fell of a balcony (and is afraid of heights!) xoxo. -Suzza
