Blind in the Desert

"Ben! Ben!"

Milena stared up at the ledge, hoping, praying that the obnoxious soldier was going to jump over, following the old man he'd sent flying towards her, but she knew it was too late. The thick, oily cloud was beginning to ooze over the rock, dripping onto the ground in front of them, its polluting vapours twisting through the air, growing fingers to reach out and grab them.

Walter began to pull on her arm, holding his wounded hand against his chest, the one he'd broken in the fall. "Princess, it's too late. He's gone. We have to move."

Nodding, she let him lead her away.

"You let him die."

She shivered, the voice penetrating her very being, pulling at her guilt. Why did she leave him behind? Why did she let herself listen to him?

"You let us take him. But you're glad, are you not?"

"Milena, don't listen to it. It's not your fault!" her mentor shouted as he drew his sword, ready to defend himself against the shadows that were appearing from the black sludge that was devouring the landscape.

"You wished him pain. You wished him undone, unthreaded, unliving."

Her hammer crashed through them, the smoke floating away as the last of the creatures vanished, and the voice fell silent. What it had said had been wrong; there was no way she would wish harm upon her friends. Or would she?

She remembered how she had felt earlier, ready to spill his guts for what he was doing to Walter. Did she really want this?

"Milena please!" her mentor began to pull on her arm again, "We have to go before it's too late."

It was all her fault. Ben was gone because of her. He was dead because she'd wished it. It was all her fault!

"Milena!"

She followed his direction, not really caring where she was going. She didn't deserve his help. She was worthless; a heartless wretch who should never become queen. She was nothing, and the voices knew it, whispering to her about her failures. First Elliot, then Major Swift, and now Ben.

"A great wave of darkness will cover your land." The voice said, even as more of its children emerged. She only killed them to please Walter now, for Walter. If anyone deserved to get out of this alive out of the two of them, it was him. "They will come for your king. Who would sit upon the throne of Albion?"

"Don't listen!" the knight said, turning to face her before looking out into the darkness. "You'll never take us! Never!"

The voice laughed. "You are fragile things. You and your kind dissolve so easily."

If only she could dissolve. If only she could disintegrate like the beings she destroyed. If only…

"They're gone." Walter sighed, but he kept his sword out, ready for the next opponent.

Before he could say anything, Milena charged on ahead, up the sloap towards the next set of pillars, jutting out in the distance.

"But you too wish for the black void."

"Yes…" she gasped, letting her hammer droop in her hands, "please…"

"You tire of your travels, your burdens, the cries of the helpless, the cries of your dead."

More of the shadows disintegrated under her Will, the power flowing through her not willing to give up, still holding on to the life it gave her, giving her hope that all was not lost, that Ben was alive. Yes, he had to be! That stubborn bastard would never let something like this get the best of him! Not in a million years!

"You too will be swallowed."

Gritting her teeth together, she drew her riffle, firing it at every target she saw, silently thanking Avo that the powder had finally dried out.

"You feel us! You feed us!"

She aimed her gun at the last one. "Yeah? Well eat this."

The voice fell silent as the last of the shadows evaporated. Was this the last step? Were they nearly out? Was Ben waiting for them around the next bend? Quickly, she followed Tyson up the rest of the slope, Walter not far behind to the next exit.

There was something at the other end of the dark room, but she wasn't close enough to see it. Jumping down from her perch, Milena approached the dark mass, stepping closer and closer, until…

"Ben!"

His name. He heard his name, and the sweet sound of Milena's voice. But that would mean that she was close. No! She had to get away! She had to leave before the darkness took her. She was too important to so many to be lost now! He tried to shout, to tell her to leave him, but he couldn't; it was in his mouth, his throat, his lungs. He could barely breath, its sticky mass holding him in place, letting him open his eyes, taunting him with the sight of the princess, hands over her mouth in shock.

"Oh Ben!" she exclaimed, reaching out to touch him, but pulling her hand back before she could become infected by this disease.

"You see how she cannot bare to touch you. How she will not free you." The voice said, deep within the confines of his mind. Nothing was his any more. The darkness had taken it all. "She will abandon you, just like she did before. You are nothing but dirt on her shoes."

He tried to retaliate to it, but it just pressed down harder into his mind, delving into his memories, tearing through them and leaving them scattered in the wind. The day he got his first gun, the deaths of his brothers, Jason and Quentin, along with the disappearance of his other sibling, William, and the passing of his parents. His various jobs after flashed through his mind, his adventures, the freight ship, and finally, Major Swift. No mater how personal the memories were, the darkness flicked through them as if he were an open book.

"What happens to this piece of flesh when darkness touches its soul?"

It dug deeper, scraping through everything he was, everything he had been, everything he could be. It searched through him, until it reached his eyes. He tried to scream, to cry out as he felt it take them, one by one, the light fading until he was left in total darkness, in a void of nothingness.

"Ah. The eyes are gone forever!"

"No!"

Milena! Run!

He tried to speak, to whisper, but the darkness still had him in its grasp. He tried to struggle but it only held him tighter, squeezing the life out of him.

Suddenly, the pressure vanished, and he felt himself land on the floor, his face pressed against the cold stone. He could feel it twisting away, leaving him alone in the night.

"The dark guardian shall come and protect us. And all that is flesh and light shall die."

What could that mean? Was that why it left?

"Walter! Help Ben!" the princess cried as the sound of stones scraping filled his ears. Was that the guardian? Avo, he felt so helpless!

Slowly, he pushed himself up onto his elbows, and then his hands, blinking to try and see if he could regain his sight, but to no avail. The creature had left him to suffer in the dark.

Ben could feel a warm, familiar hand on his back and tried to turn to see who it was out of habit before he could stop himself, and then it sunk in. He was never going to see again. He was never going to fight, never see the sights he'd wished to see since he was a kid, never become that adventurer he wanted to be. He was going to end up like all those poor blind bastards, in a poor house sitting uselessly in a dark corner, or a workhouse until the day they died.

"Ben?" came Walter's voice, "Ben, are you all right?"

He shook his head. "It… it took my eyes. I can't see!" he hit the ground with his fist, "I can't…" An explosion shook the room, and he could feel the old man's weight leaning on him. "Milena?"

"She's fine. She just blew some of those things to smithereens."

He nodded. "What's going on?"

"Well, some of those bloody shadows started attacking a while ago, and then they started fighting using the statues we saw earlier," Walter explained, "though I've got to say that they're a lot easier to hit going by how well our princess is doing."

Ben sniggered. If the old man was joking around, it meant they had good odds of getting out of this alive.

The ground shook again and his head exploded in a burst of pain, causing him to shout out as the last of the darkness left him, gripping at his skull with both hands. It was over quickly, but there was a quiet ringing in his ears where his eardrums popped from the explosions.

"This land is ours. Darkness shall spread across the world."

"Avo, I wish that thing would just shut up!" he exclaimed as the sound of light footsteps approached them. He flinched slightly when the princess touched his face, but he let her guide it.

"Ben…" she said, her soft voice soothing his fears, "your… your eyes…"

He gave her a grim smile, "Don't you worry about it love. We've gotta get moving. Don't want to have come this far only to get caught out by… this." He began to pull himself off of the floor, getting up onto one knee before he felt his legs beginning to buckle, his muscles too weak from his ordeal to hold his weight. Luckily, he felt Milena catch him, swinging his arm over her shoulders, keeping him upright.

"We have to go," she said, her sweet voice tainted by the fear that they were all feeling, "Walter, lead the way."

Blind! How could he be blind? This cocky arrogant bastard couldn't be blind! No. If he'd survived the darkness, then he could get his sight back, and there was no mistaking it.

Wrapping her arm around his waist, Milena started to follow her mentor down the steps. When he put his hand out, she could feel her stomach tighten. He looked so helpless, only a shadow of who he was not ten minutes before.

"Come on, come on! We're almost there!" Walter cried as light spilled into the corridor; glorious golden sunlight.

"There?" Ben asked as he took several more cautious steps forwards, his grip on her arm tightening.

"Outside," she replied, barely able to hide her excitement, "we're almost through."

She quickened her pace, the prospect of leaving this damned place behind too great for her to ignore, the captain at her side stumbling to keep up, but the smile on his face told her no to slow down.

As soon as the wind hit their faces, they let out a sigh. They were out! They were free!

"Did we do it? Are we out?" Ben asked, turning his face in her general direction.

She opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, Walter came down to meet them. "It's a desert. At least two miles until the fist sign of civilisation." Her heart fell, hopes dashed for the rest she whole-heartedly needed, but what had she expected? That someone happened to live right next door to a crazed, land hungry shadow monster?

"You'd better go on ahead. Tell them we're out here."

"Princess…" the blinded man tried to say, his grip going firm.

"No. I'm not leaving you behind, so don't even try to convince me," she turned to the knight who was obviously contemplating the same thing, "We all stand a better chance of surviving if you find them."

For a moment, neither of them said anything, they just stared at each other, but then Walter barked out a laugh, smiling. "You always were stubborn." He turned and began to walk off. "Don't you die on me, all right?"

Ben laughed back, "We wouldn't give you the satisfaction."

As the old man disappeared into the distance, Milena began to lead the captain up the hill, noticing the steps protruding from the sand. "Careful. There's steps up ahead."

"Thanks for the warning," he replied, lifting his feet higher as he stepped. When his foot landed on the first, his body jolted with the shock and he groaned, but he continued on, trying to get as much distance between them and the thing that blinded him as possible.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the top of the stairs.

Milena gasped at the sight before her; rocks and sand dunes as far as the eye could see, dust clouds polluting the air. The only signs of life were Walter's disappearing footprints and what looked like an enormous statue. That must have been where Walter was heading.

"What? What is it?" Ben asked, getting worried at her reaction.

She sighed. "It's going to be a long journey."

"Didn't expect it not to be," the captain replied, "I mean, who would want to live next to a place like that?"

Sniggering, the princess continued onwards, helping him down the steps. She was glad he hadn't lost his sense of humour. Sure, it could be annoying at times, but it kept her sane. It kept them all sane.

They continued in silence, a step at a time, until they reached a ledge.

"I'm going to let go of you for a moment. Can you wait here?" she asked, slipping his arm from around her neck.

"It's not like I could go anywhere love," he replied, flashing her one of his grins.

She nodded, "I'll be back in ten seconds." Once she reached the edge, she leaned over to look at how far down it was. "Shit."

"What? Milena?"

"There's a twenty five foot drop."

Neither of them spoke for a moment, both taking in the situation, trying to see a way past it, until…

"You could make it."

Milena turned to face her friend who had collapsed to his knee. "Ben… I…"

"I'm only weighing you down, you have to go."

"Ben, please…"

"If you don't go, you might not…"

"I'm not leaving you!"

He sighed. "But what else can you do?"

His words struck home. What could she do? She had no rope to lower him, and he couldn't jump himself, his legs would break. But what…?

She blinked.

Yes, she could do that. It might work. No! It would work. It had to.

She walked back to Ben's side and put a hand on his shoulder, making him turn his head towards her.

"Princess?"

"I'm sorry Ben," she breathed, "I can't leave you behind."

Taking one deep breath, she heaved him over her shoulders and jumped over the ledge.

Milena's shoulder dug into his stomach as they hit the ground, winding him momentarily. He couldn't believe she did that. It was true that he didn't want to die, but he'd seen too many good men die because one couldn't let go, and he wasn't about to let the last hope of Albion die because of him.

He felt his feet touch the floor, his arm once again around the princess' shoulders, and he let his weight drag him down.

Eventually, Ben realised that they were moving, the sand giving way under his feet, flying into his unprotected face. They were alive.

"Th… thank you…" he said weakly, "for not leaving me behind."

"Like I said, I won't let you go."

He smiled. Walter was right. She really was stubborn.

For the next hour, they travelled in relative silence, and he could feel himself getting steadily weaker and weaker. The wind had picked up, and just when he though it couldn't get any worse, he heard the thing he hoped he'd never hear again.

"He left you. He's gone. He's abandoned you to save himself."

"No!" he cried, covering his ears, falling to the ground, "It can't be back. It can't!"

"He abandoned you, and now the children will take you."

He was vaguely aware of the sounds of fighting, but he wasn't sure if it was real. Milena. Where was she? Had she gone against her word and left him? Would she do that? No! That was the darkness talking! She had to be there. "Milena!"

"Ben! Don't you listen to it. It's lying!" she replied, pulling on his arm again, heaving him to his feet. "Come on, we have to get through this."

They began to make their way forwards again, over the next dune, but they were continually bombarded by the shadow's tricks, slowing them down until they came to a stand still, too exhausted to go any further.

"The light in your eyes offends us."

"No! Milena, look at me. Don't let it take you."

"Let it go out!"

"Ben? Ben I… I can't… I can't…"

He held her to him, keeping her tight against him, trying to protect her with his body. "Leave her alone!" Suddenly, he felt its cold fingers take hold, pushing all the warmth of consciousness away. "Leave her… stop…"

He saw his brother's death flash before his eyes, Swift's execution… no, murder outside of the palace, every man he'd slain, every friend he'd lost, all their faces passing before his eyes. He saw Milena, her body still and lifeless in his arms, he saw the fall of Albion, the darkness annihilating everything in its path, every form of life, destroying all that he knew, all that he held precious to him. He saw how the soldiers held them back, but only for so long. With their numbers so depleted from the rebels, it just wasn't enough to hold it back.

He saw how Logan had fought against the darkness once before, but had been rescued by the people who lived here, how he'd had to make the decisions to protect the nation, even though it meant he became a tyrant. He saw how they were destroying any hope they had to survive…

… And then he saw nothing.

AN - Duh duh duh! I can't believe how quickly I wrote this one! I must have been going at the speed of light or something! Wow! Two of the longest chapters I've ever written in as many days? What's wrong with me?

Anywho, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, as it was one of the parts I was looking forward to. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

Yet again, no promises as to when the next chapter gets uploaded, and, again, I'm sorry I haven't paid much attention to my other stories lately, but I've gotten a bit too involved in this one for now!

Until next time!