Hi everyone!
That's me, I'm back!
This chapter is longer than usual, maybe because I was sick last week and just couldn't finish the chapter and post it! So now I'm back and it's the vacations so I'll have more time to write!
I'm excited about this chapter because I really liked writing it, I hope you'll like it and be surprised by what's coming.
The credits for the song are:
- Demons by Imagine Dragons
- I wonder by Kellie Pickler
- Nightmares by Ed Sheeran
It was dark and steamy. The world was made of a black thick smoke. From where she was standing, the battlefield looked like a children game with little models moving around. Jets of red paint came from their bodies when they hit each other. It looked like a macabre spectacle for deranged souls. And she watched it with an alarmed fascination. She was not psychopathic enough to rejoice in watching death and fights from up here, as an insane deity would do.
"This is your deed."
Behind her was standing a tall man. He was blue-skinned, dark eyes and dark-haired. He had long black locks of silky hair. The color of his skin didn't shock her. It was usual. Half the men dying at the foot of her cliff were blue or pink.
"How can this be my deed, Raal-Sha? I never asked for a thing."
"You didn't. Dok-Tor did. We have a very high notion of word-given. He didn't honor his word, Ska-Aï. You pay."
Her blue skin was covered in symbols. It was creepy enough not remembering who and why they had done that. She was supposed to be the one ending the war. She was supposed to be the final sacrifice, because of him. But she couldn't. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. She closed her eyes when Raal-Sha pushed her forward to the cliff, to her end. Why her? She didn't gaze down to the battlefield and the ground she would end on, after her fall. She felt nothing anymore below her feet. Air wiped her face and her brown hair was pulled back by the wind. The end.
They could have found her in her bathroom, trying to erase the black ink from her skin which was absolutely human-like. They could have seen the scared and angry tears threatening to roll on her cheeks. Why was this happening to her? Because her friends had wanted to help her in the first place? Because she had tried to make it right, to save Mike Peterson from Ian Quinn and Centipede? This was not her fault!
When the days are cold
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold
When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale
I wanna hide the truth
I wanna shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide
No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come
When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
At the curtain's call
It's the last of all
When the lights fade out
All the sinners crawl
So they dug your grave
And the masquerade
Will come calling out
At the mess you made
Don't wanna let you down
But I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don't wanna hide the truth
They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go
Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how
The little girl was playing with toys in one of the rooms of the palace. She was bored to death by the lack of excitement of the whole activity. Because when she wanted to make her dolls fight, she made too much noise and she was scolded by the maid watching her. She looked in the blue eyes of the doll. It was a gift from her father, but he hadn't brought it himself. He never came. The doll was pale and blonde, with plaits and a blue dress, just like the one the girl was wearing today. But Torunn prefered the strong and smooth silver armor of her mother to the soft and fluffy sweet dresses the maid wore.
"I'm bored."
She pouted. She heard the sigh of the maid behind her She knew the woman didn't like being bothered when she was reading. But she was supposed to take care of her, and was failing.
"Stay calm…"
"But I'm bored!"
"You're a little girl of 3 years old. How can you be bored by dolls?"
The girl crossed her arms and frowned. That wasn't fair. She resumed fidgeting with the toy for a moment before the door opened slowly. She turned to see who was coming, and if the person was going to save her from that boredom. A tall woman in shiny armor entered the room. Her face lit up with a smile when she saw the child watching her.
"Mommy!"
"Hey, baby…"
Torunn jumped into her mother's arm, giggling in joy. It had been days since she had last seen her.
"How are you?"
"I was bored and then, you came and I'm not bored anymore!"
She squealed in excitement. Sif laughed. God, that girl was amazing.
"I missed you…"
"Me too, mommy! I asked when you were coming but nobody told me…"
She pouted. But her mother was here now, and everything was ok, and she was not bored anymore and she was happy, and the maid and the doll were both forgotten. Sif played with her, smiled with her and never seemed annoyed when she wanted her dolls to fight. She just shook her head and smiled fondly at her. And Torunn was happy.
Her hand stroke softly the burning forehead and sweaty blonde locks of her daughter. She had been dreaming and muttering 'mommy' a couple of times, in a heart-breaking manner. It was the scientist who had called her in the cell, even if she didn't want to go at first. But the way he had made her understand her daughter needed her… She just couldn't get away this time. She had to be there.
The girl tensed and Sif felt the dream had changed to its more horror-carrying counterpart. Her eyes rolled behind her eyelids, a shudder shook her body from head to toe. A moan, soft and painful, escaped her lips.
"Sshh, baby…It's over…"
Sometimes I think about you
Wonder if you're out there somewhere thinking bout me
And would you even recognize
The woman that your little girl has grown up to be
Cause I look in the mirror and all I see
Are your brown eyes looking back at me
They're the only thing you ever gave to me at all
Oh, I hear the weather's nice in California
There's sunny skies as far I can see
If you ever come back home to Carolina
I wonder what you'd say to me
I think about how it ain't fair
That you weren't there to braid my hair
Like mothers do
You weren't around to cheer me on
Help me dress for my high school prom
Like mothers do
Did you think I didn't need you here
To hold my hand
To dry my tears
Did you even miss me through the years at all
Forgiveness is such a simple word
But it's so hard to do when you've been hurt
Oh, I hear the weather's nice in California
And just in case you're wondering about me
From now on I won't be in Carolina
Your little girl is off
Your little girl is off
Your little girl is off to Tennessee
One on her right. Gunshot. One on her left. Gunshot. One just in the middle. Gunshot. One on her right. Gunshot. One on her left. Gunshot. Almost point blank this time. She was starting to lose it altogether. Stay calm, May. Keep your cool. It was his voice ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath. Don't think. She had to get them out of here. Kill the others. Finish the mission. Save them. Save him. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, on the floor, on her gun and on her hands, on her hair and on her face. The blood of her enemies mixed up with her own. They had made blood flow, she had done it too. It was payback for the treatment they had given all of them.
She recharged the gun, pulled the trigger, killed a man. Not thinking about his family or friends was easier now. She couldn't think about all the families of all the men she had just killed. She had to stay focused on the mission. Get them out.
She entered the cell. It was dark but big, and it was fortunate, because they were twenty. She hadn't seen them in days. Or what had felt like days. Maybe it was just hours. Maybe it was months. She had been kept in another room, alone. Maybe because she was a woman. She didn't know. She didn't want to know. She just had to get them out. They all looked up at her. And their features tensed.
She felt somebody move behind her, from the door she had just passed; She felt the barrel of a gun, the enemy's gun pressed against the back of her head. Stay calm, May. She took a deep breath.
"Oh no, darling… Don't try to make them escape…"
The man spoke with a thick accent. It was now sure he was from the team of terrorists that had kidnapped them. She recognized the voice, its rusty sound.
"I am not your darling."
She hissed back. She felt him change his position, move towards her. It was exactly what she needed. She threw her leg back in a powerful kick. Her foot landed in his knee. The sound of bone hitting bone resounded and the man fell to the ground. There were two gunshots. One pierced through her arm, making her cry out in pain. The other went through his head and made him go limp on the floor, like a puppet.
She bit her lip to fight the pain, drew blood, winced. All the others were passing each other a knife she had given them, cutting of their bounds, ropes. She ripped a piece of fabric in the dead man's shirt, used it to put around her wound. It was bleeding, but not as much as it would have if he had hit an artery or a principal vein. Her face had remained expressionless.
"Everybody move."
She ordered in a dark and cold voice, taking the lead. She had to guide them to the weaponry to take arms, or they should take them off the floor. She decided for the second option. The way to the exit was long enough without a detour.
They moved quickly. That's what she liked when she rescued professionals. They moved quickly and weren't taking silly decisions every minute. They made it out with almost no problems. They just had a little bit of fight to have against some remaining soldiers, but it was almost nothing.
The sun was hot. It was the middle of the day. The relief everybody felt was huge. They were out. Nobody was waiting for them. They were alive. She looked back at her little group. She looked again. Somebody was missing. He was missing.
"Where's Coulson?"
"He was taken by the soldiers not long before you came in. We thought he was already out."
"He isn't."
She recharged her gun, took a second one from an ally, checked the number of bullets remaining. Almost full. She took a deep breath and started to walk.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going back in."
"Don't, you're gonna die."
"I don't care."
"But the extraction team will be here soon. He will not blame you if you leave."
"But I will blame myself. I am not leaving someone behind. If I had done that, you would not be here."
She entered the building. Now it was almost deserted. but she knew that somewhere, Coulson was detained. And if they had done anything to him, they would pay. She walked over the corpses, over the floods of blood and the remaining weapons. She took another charger, for back-up. She didn't know what was waiting for her. She couldn't believe the others wanted to leave him there, and were prepared to do so that easily.
She found them after minutes of search that felt like hours. They were in the basements. That was the moment it was going to be hard-core. Going down the stairs, she was an easy threat, but she had neither the time nor the gear to pull up a fancier entrance. She sighed. On three. One. Two. Three.
The doors burst open, giving her the surprise effect she needed to jump half way through the stairs. He was there, tied up on a chair, cut and blood was streaming down his recent wounds. Torture. She saw red. The soldiers looked at her and shot. She shot too. A dozen of times. She killed them. She killed them all.
She rushed at his feet to untie him. He looked up at her. She didn't smile at him. She didn't look at him. She helped him get up. Her arm was hurting like crazy but she didn't care. He was safe. Her team was safe. Nothing could happen now.
"Melinda, you ok?"
She nodded, wincing. They made their way through the maze of the place, she had to shoot twice again. He tensed each time, but she get them out. She was broken up. But she get them out. She didn't know the cost yet.
She shot out of her meditative phase. She didn't want those memories to come back. But they did. As they hadn't stopped to do for the last few years since it all happened. Since Bahrain and the mission that had changed her life. In many ways. She still had the scar on her arm. Today, she couldn't believe how she had been able to do all of that with that wound and the blood loss. Somebody on their team had died back there. The only woman. Melinda May.
They tell me you can only dream when you fell asleep
But now I'm working to achieve and sleep's the only thing that I never see
And I vowed that my breathing will never cease
To the retrieve then I can't let them be
I won't let 'em leave and I had the same feeling since 17
But I wasn't ready then like when a lemon's green,
Now I'm in the magazines almost every week,
Cause I'm getting heat like in Tenerife,
Right now it's better than it's never been
Never fade like a plant that's evergreen
So I hope to my heart, but my self doubts are getting me,
Afraid for my cross, getting dump for the day and I'm getting weak,
Cause I'm new, I'm that boy that starts it.
They chase dreams together like a slumber party,
And now I'm on my own, even though I'm smooth sailing
I'm scared to sing, cause my nightmare is fading.
When the darkness creeps in,
I feel my nightmares watching me.
And when my dreams are sleeping,
I feel my nightmares watching me.
Oh, oh, oh!
I feel my nightmares watching me.
You better wake up cause I am making moves,
And even when I'm dozing I'm breaking rooms,
I'm only hitting the sack when I'm training,
Too busy trying to keep up with the latest snooze.
Made my bed and that's where I'm heading,
I fly straight with the best man I embed 'em
Married to the game was a quiet wedding, then I had to fight to get her
Now I'm taking control of my inception, cause they try to hit misses with my direction,
See they better marry donna cause when I strike, strike,
Not even Maradonna is gonna cry, I'm awake at night,
The haters know where the family lives,
Tell me what I catch, but you're playing knock door ginger.
Just gonna lose a lot more, than I need it.
They say sleep is the cousin of death,
But I aint hearin' that shit 'cause I am deaf
Gang signs I'm N/A reading.
I'm a CEO, man you suckers are next.
I fell asleep on myself, woke up in reality,
And daydream about losing my sanity.
I've been rhyming forever got a blind flow.
So I can see an off note with my eyes closed.
But to achieve the dreams you can't doze off cos your dream a sleep
I ain't nodding off but I'm nodding to the beat.
I be shocking in my sheets, when I should have been asleep.
See, all the dreams I'm fonder,
You placed me in the team insomnia
Now, I'm Mr hard worker,
In my nightmares I'm Mr can't turn up,
And I missed my chance worst luck,
Trying to hit women like Mr Ike Turner
Yeah, but I walked from dat isht, now they gotta put me to rest on my mattress
Thanks for reading!
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Until next time,
The Queen of Heart