Charlie,
"Hey yourself," his voice was just as defiant and confident as ever. It was like everything he said was a rebellion in itself. It was as if, just through a few simple sentences, his voice was calling out for the bad kid in you to act up.
As if telling you to come to the dark side. And it seemed so enticing.
But that was just Chester.
He was what the videos they showed you in school told you to ignore, claiming that a person like that will only get you in trouble. At the end of the movie of course, you learned a lesson, started hanging out with respectable members of the community instead, and the bad person got in trouble.
I had never thought that I would relate my life to the school videos our teachers put on thinking we would enjoy watching it, but now I could. If we were one of those educational videos, I would be the confused teenager (as if that took a lot of convincing to believe). Aiden would be the great friend I shouldn't have to question picking who was trying to keep me out of trouble, and Chester was the guy trying to convince me to cut class.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked, giving my grin as an approval that I didn't take his smirk as an insult, and he sat down beside me on the ground, leaning back to the tree. He didn't address my question right away, but he didn't look like he was thinking it over either. He was just thinking. He was just breathing, his hands running through his hair, and I was a bit shocked.
His hair was always done just right with gel making it stick up, and he never bothered with it. You never caught him changing it or playing with it. His hair was left alone by everyone.
Now it was messed up. It was clumping together. His hands had gel on them.
This struck me as odd, and I couldn't get over it. I just kept looking as if trying to find something that would make sense of what almost felt like a character failing.
His mind seemed to be turned back on, and his eyes drifted down to me. His mind seemed to be thinking finally of the question. But he didn't look like there had been a delay. It seemed as though, in his mind, I had just asked the question.
"Looking for you actually," he continued to look down at me, his confidence still oozing. Something felt different about it though.
As if he had just won a game. As if he had just outsmarted someone. As if he had just gotten something he had always wanted.
"Looking for me?" I asked, my eyes searching him as I tried to identify what felt so wrong right now, "Why?"
"I want to talk."
"You want to talk?" I laughed slightly.
"Not like that. I'm not breaking up with you or anything," he rolled his eyes, nudging me, "We should talk though."
"About what?" I looked at him, shifting to be able to look at him better.
"Me," he smirked, "You don't know anything about me, you know. You don't even know my name!"
"Yes, I do. Your name is Chester."
"No, it isn't," he laughed, "Well, it kind of is. But not my full name."
"Chester Raven?" I smiled hopefully, nudging him.
He rolled his eyes.
"You don't know my first name. Now, do you want another guess or should I just go on and tell you?" Chester crossed his arms, looking at me playfully. He never seemed to take anything really seriously.
In just about every sense, he was the complete opposite of Aiden. They looked completely different. They acted completely different. They had different personalities. Even the way they spoke seemed different. They pronounced things differently. They were just…
Different.
So different that it was almost funny.
It was strange that I would have liked them both when they were polar opposites, especially considering Chester had never been my type. Nor was Aiden, but he was closer. Chester was the opposite, the drop of poison I wouldn't have dared touch before.
"Tell me, and stop being such a jerk about it," I crossed my arms.
"Maybe I should keep it to myself if that is your attitude," he teased, and I nudged him.
"Tell me."
"Fine, fine, you ready?"
I glared at him, making it pretty obvious that I was ready to finally hear his name.
Chest got closer to where I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and his dark eyes were lit with an exuberance that I hadn't seen in him before. It was like he was on a power high that couldn't be stopped, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable. I knew that there was something wrong with this, and I just couldn't place it, which was starting to scare me.
This is wrong, played over and over again.
I wasn't sure if it was bad or good. Innocent or diabolical. But there is something different. Something, with lack of a better word, very, very wrong.
"Rockchester," he whispered so soft that it was almost lost in the wind.
Maybe I would have laughed at the name, asked why on earth he had been named that. Maybe I would have just shaken my head, but, adding in just how wrong this was, a shudder ran through me as I began to pull away from him.
And that was when it happened.
Chester began to morph before my very eyes. He got taller. Older. Maybe about twenty. His eyes that had once been so dark that it was like staring into an abyss was changing. They were turning into a black and white marble. His black spiky hair was changing. What had been black, gelled up hair was turning into an open, flickering flame.
"I never really liked my name. Decided to be called Chester instead," his grin was wicked, but I didn't find it enticing now… "But you know my mom."
"I've never met your mom," I began to move away, pulling myself away by my palms and slowly moving towards one of the shrubs.
"No, no, you haven't, have you? I forget. I mean, afterall, you have known of my mom since you were basically born, and you've seen her since she was seven," he shrugged, "But I've been thinking about it, and, since I am sure the little spell I cast over you to get that teenage crush going you've got for me," Chester poked my arm playfully, "has worked its magic, I want to be a good boy and introduce you to my mother."
He grinned, standing up, and he held out his hand.
"Come on, Honey. Let's go introduce you to the 'folks," his voice was mocking. I was just a stupid teenage girl to him, and what did I have to go against that? I had proved it to him. To everyone. To myself...
Panic was rising up in my chest, and I scrambled to get away, my legs picking me up and starting to carry me away. But I couldn't go fast enough. I knew I couldn't. I was too panicked. Too shocked. Too hurt. I was too afraid to even scream.
I was running as fast as I could, but he managed to catch up to me as if I was just a toddler waddling around.
"Honey," he smiled, holding out his arms and pulling me back, wrapping his arms around my waist. His body heat was hot, almost burning me. His grasp was tight, and his jaw was fixed in a fake pout as he rested it on the top of my head, "Don't be nervous. Mom will love you. She's wanted to meet you for a very, very long time."
"How can you do this?!" I yelled, my voice carrying through the estate. Through the garden that had once been my haven. I was thrashing about, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. Trying to kick him, hit him, bite him. Anything.
"Gods, do you have any idea how easy it was?" he laughed, spinning me around to look at me, and his stone eyes looked back at me with less of a comical view. It wasn't just a joke anymore. Now he was getting serious, and the fire in his hair was flickering higher and brighter, "Everyone was questioning everything! Everything but the suspicious guy who showed up in a place where you got kidnapped!"
His laugh reminded me of something I had heard as a little kid when I was watching movies with my dad before my mom got home. I would curl up in his arms, and he would stroke my hair as we watched whatever kid movie I picked while Noah was at soccer practice. Safe and secure in his arms, I would observe the evil villain trying to hurt the hero. Their laughs were just a joke. The danger was far away, and I was just an observer.
And here I was.
I understood for the first time why the strong hero of my favorite movies had been scared instead of laughing at how ridiculous the "evil laugh" was. The movies guaranteed a victory, but the hero didn't know that. This seemed like it was the end. But I didn't have the promise of the possible sequel deal after this.
"You spent more time questioning perfect boy than me! I knew the way out of the tunnels even! But you just took maybe a second to think about it! Then you let me come along with you! Gods, you made it so easy," he looked down at me, shaking his head, "Nobody can protect you now… And you won't end it. You know you can't. You're just a little girl," his finger traced along my jawline, "The little granddaughter of Poseidon and Athena. You've been watched out for every step of the way…"
"I am not a little child! I can-!" I had been trying to get him to keep talking, to avoid screaming or yelling. I wanted to stall, but I was losing grip. My thrashing was getting more violent. I was starting to kick. I was crying harder.
"Can what?" his laugh was louder, "I've won! Now, shhh," he kissed the top of my head, making me cringe, "We've got to hurry. Mother has waited so very long to meet you."
And then his arms wrapped around me tighter again, hoisting me over his shoulder, and he faced his palm towards the ground. Slowly, a portal was openning. My time was slipping short. I hit his back. I kicked his chest. I did everything I could think of, but he didn't even seem to notice.
AHHHHHHHHH! My scream pierced the night air, one after the other. Again and again. Louder and louder. I almost wondered if all of Bel-Air could hear me.
Noah,
My arms were draped around Kate, holding her as tight as I could without fearing that I was hurting her. She was nuzzled up into my grasp, latching onto the body heat she said she wanted because she was freezing. Her wet hair was partially in my face, letting me smell the green-tea scented, organic shampoo my mother filled the house with after seeing it in a magazine with J-Lo saying she swore by it. I moved my lips to her shoulder, her skin covered by one of my old tee shirts, and I kissed it softly, smiling.
I do have to admit that I did picture having Kate in my bed, fresh from the shower, and wearing my clothes a lot more than I would like to hone up to. But absolutely nothing had prepared me for what it actually felt like to have Kate all to myself.
She was mine.
She wasn't sleeping in my room for some weird reason. She wasn't just sleeping in my arms because she was cold. She wasn't just wearing my clothes because she didn't have anything else to wear.
"Are you just going to keep kissing me forever?" Kate laughed softly, making me grin even wider.
"For the rest," I planted another kiss on her shoulder, "of your," I kissed where her shoulders met her neck, "Life," I kissed her cheek.
"I love you," she said softly, smiling wider than I had ever seen her smile before. Well, except for today.
I had never seen her this happy by any means ever before, and I had known her almost her entire life. I had seen her through everything. And she had never, not even once, looked remotely this happy. Not even when she was a little kid at Christmas.
I tightened my grip on her, resting my head on her shoulder.
"I love you even more, Katherine," I smiled.
Kate rolled her eyes at her name. No one ever called her Katherine except for her mother, who used to always smooth her hair and say, "You're perfect the way you are, Katherine. Now go run and play with Sam and Noah," if Kate was upset. I suddenly wanted that to be me, to be the one stroking her hair and telling her that she was perfect and for her to get over what was making her upset.
Kate closed her eyes, curling up against me, and I was beginning to drift into sleep.
AHHHHHHHHH!
The shock hit me full force, and I fumbled about, ending up hitting the ground with a loud thud as I rolled out of the bed. Kate sat up straight, looking at me and then to hear the noise.
I heard it again.
Only now I knew it.
"Charlie," I said softly and quickly, and I jumped up, scrambling to get my sword and run down the hall. I didn't think to call out to anyone. I just ran. I ran faster and faster. I could hear feet pound behind me. Other people coming. But I just focused on running faster. On getting there sooner. On helping my baby sister.
I got to the garden, weaving through the maze of exotic trees, fragrant flowers, and neutral tones. I could hear her getting away. I needed to get there faster for gods' sake!
I stumbled, almost falling into the large portal opened where JoJo's bamboo stalks had once been growing to create more privacy.
"Noah," I felt someone's arms wrap around me, and I looked down to see Kate with her eyes watering.
"C-Charlie isn't in her room," she said softly, but we had already both known that…
People were getting here. Sam. Swift. Aiden.
And no Chester.
I could hear my mother calling out, asking what on earth was happening, but I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about Charlie.
"Sam, Swift, Aiden, you're with me. Kate, stay here. Stay with my mom," I looked at her, warning her not to fight back, but now was not the time to declare her independence. She was hurt. She knew it. She could only slow us down.
And, anyway, if this didn't go well…
Well, I wouldn't lose both of them tonight.
Swift, Sam, and Aiden were already getting into the portal, Aiden leading the way.
"I love you," I whispered, kissing the top of Kate's head as my eyes watered.
"I love you," she nodded softly, a small tear slipping down her cheek as she realized that the moment had come.
It was happening. The fear we had felt since the day we had first held little Charlie was coming to pass, and it wasn't turning out well, just as we had feared.
I pulled away, a tear already sliding down my cheek as I climbed into the portal, and I hurried towards everyone else. We were running faster than I ever knew we could, but it still didn't feel like it was enough.
Aiden was sprinting. His feet pounded on the stone, no matter the fact he was even barefoot. He was going to find my sister, so was I. I struggled to keep up with him as we chased through the halls, following the sound of my sister.
And then I saw her.
Slung over his shoulder as he tried to run through the caves, twisting and turning. Her face was drenched in tears. Her fists were hitting his back. She was screaming so loud I didn't think her voice could last much longer.
"Noah! Help me! Please!"
I will never forget those four words.
I will never forget the way they came out of her mouth, a last plea. A desperate hope. I will never forget that look in her eyes as she caught site of me, fading hope that was diminishing fast. I will never forget the way that I wanted to fulfill those four words so bad.
And I will never, ever forget the way that I couldn't.
The boy was slowing down, the weight of Charlie keeping him from outrunning us, and I noticed that there was a dead end coming up soon, a marble wall that would mark the end of this cave.
The sudden promise of success made my legs move faster, my feet pound down harder, and my desperation rise.
The boy reached the wall, and he glanced back at us, putting his palm against the wall.
I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Chester. An older Chester. With flaming hair. And eyes made out of stone. And the most evil look on his face that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Just like always, he looked at life like it was a stupid mistake he could sneer at.
We were the joke. We were the idiots that deserved his sarcasm. Because we had trusted him….
I felt so stupid for trusting him, and I felt an almost crushing guilt. I let him come with us. I let him be here. I endangered my little sister. I could be the reason she died tonight…
"Aww, you were just so close. Shame. Better luck next time," he shook his head as the wall began to become another portal he slipped into.
But we were close enough to get in before it completely closed. I ran faster than I ever had or ever knew I could. My blood was pumping. My feet were moving. My legs were pushing me harder and harder. I was going to do this. I was going to save my little sister. I was going to make up for endangering her by trusting him. I was going to do what I always did, protect my baby sister.
And then it happened.
My foot stepped uneasily on an uneven part of the stone, and that was it.
I was flat on my stomach, hitting the right side of my face and landing with a sickening thud that echoed through the cave, replaying my horror again and again..
I scrambled to get up, but it was too late. The portal was closing right as Aiden was jumping through it.
I was too late… I had failed. I had failed Charlie. I had failed my baby sister. She had wanted me to protect her. She had begged me for help. And I hadn't been able to do it.
I began to beat on the marble wall, hoping the portal would open, but it wouldn't.
It didn't matter all of the talks I had gotten that Charlie was all grown up. She wasn't! She was my little sister! She needed me, and I failed.
The guilt, the pain, the confusion, the shock was hitting me all at once, and I slid down to the ground, rocking my now bruised body as I cried for her.
I-I couldn't protect her. I couldn't help her. For the first time in her entire life, I wasn't there to help her…
Charlie,
I was too upset to cry. I was too scared to scream. I was too defeated to even notice it. I was too panicked to be frantic.
I had lost. We had lost. All of these years, and we had lost. All of that training, and I had failed the basic necessity that I had been taught to survive. Watch who you trust.
I fell for the charm of the mysterious bad boy and spent more time questioning whether I wanted the bad boy or the good guy than I did questioning what made him so bad in the first place. His spell had worked on me, and I was just putty in his hands. I had proven myself to be the pathetic teenage girl that I had sworn to myself I was not. After years of thinking I had too much Athena in me to ever be blinded by my affection for a boy, I had done it, and I was going to pay the price for it.
In the stories my dad would tell, this was the moment of triumph. It was the moment where the hero proved himself and won the battle. He defeated the odds and he walked away with honor and the best trophy, his life.
But I didn't feel like a hero. I was unarmed. I had no way of beating someone, and I was so ashamed. So embarrassed. So horrified by how stupid I had been. My mind couldn't think of anything but thrashing around and maybe being able to deliver a few hits or a bite or two to Chester.
My tears had dried as Chester put me back on my feet, holding my hands with a firm grip as he lead me through the cave.
It was large and high and dank and damp. Water dripped on the stones. An intricate home had been forged of it. There were rooms off of each other leading to make it something my mother would have probably made notes of to invent for her lavish customers who wanted their homes featured on "Amazing Homes" with their outlandish ideas.
Every step I took on the marble floor was leading me to my death, and I hung my head.
"Mother, I want you to meet a girl!" Chester called out, his voice full of humor. He found this funny.
It was funny to him that he had won so very easily. There was really no fight. I was just a little girl after all.
I knew this room so well. It had haunted my dreams from the time I was seven years old until now. The day that I would reach it had been dreaded but had finally arrived. Every detail of it was already committed to my memory before I even took a step inside.
And there she was.
Exactly how I knew she would be.
Tall and slender with olive skin that seemed to radiate. One eye was olive green, and the color was calming despite the evil glare they were creating. The other was a dark, chestnut brown. There was a wicked grin painted across her thick, red lips that I recognized from Chester's own face. A sweeping black gown hung on her body like it was made for her, dark cobwebs and little rocks forming a swirling design that seemed to spell out death and deceit on her dress. She stood beside a marble sacrificial altar, a dagger waiting in her hand for the blood to be spilled.
"Should I get out the baby pictures?" her laugh echoed through the chamber, a sound I never want to hear again.
"Why are you doing this?" I found my words, looking at her as Chester held me back. I was trying to pull free, but, just like his eyes, his grip seemed to be made out of stone.
"That is a very good question, my darling. You see, it is nothing personal. It is all because of your grandparents, Darling. I chose Athena over Poseidon to be the patron of Athens, you see…" she sauntered over to me, a little fake pout on her lips as she stroked my jaw line, "Your grandfather just lost it. Banished me to the underworld in a cave with a river of water leading me back."
Her hand dropped to her side, her jaw tightening.
"I was almost out, but he knew I'd stop to eat. I was trapped here! Forever! After all I did for your grandmother, she didn't even help! She was too selfish! I knew I had to get even, and 'The Daughter of the Sea and Mind' would be the way. Killing you will make them blame each other. Poseidon for putting me here and Athena not for saving me!" she laughed, her grin wide, "There'll be chaos! A war of the gods, which'll only help my Pluto. He's prepared. He gave me this all," she moved around to the home of stone, "The army! Everything! My beautiful little Rockhester."
She stroked his cheek before turning back to me, her grin evil and her eyes wild with wickedness. She was so thrilled by it. It was a high she had waited so long for, and she was going to savor every painful minute of it.
"This, too, you see," she held up the dagger, her fingers running over the golden blade, "It is a special dagger. It'll kill you forever. Only works once. Nothing can bring you back once you die from this. It was so hard to get this thing, so I have to get it right. Otherwise, it'll be a big ole mess," she faked a pout, "Can you help me out, Darling? Be perfectly still as I kill you. No screams either if you don't mind. I have such a headache.
Chester began to pull me towards the altar, shoving me down to strap me up so I couldn't fight back when I was killed. Olympia began to walk away, fixing her cascading black curls so she could look her absolute best as she killed me.
"Chester, please," I pleaded, but it wasn't going to work.
"Sorry, Honey. No can do," he shook his head, a laugh painted on his lips, and he kissed my cheek, "Mother was just so excited to see you. I am so glad this went well."
I kicked his chest, and he landed with a thud as I jumped up. But he was already back by the time I was running, pushing me down to the hard marble altar with a loud and painful thud. I could feel a bruise forming, and I wasn't sure if I had broken something or not. As he pulled himself off of me, he put his grip on my wrists, holding me down.
"Let's get these out of the way," he took out a sword as black as night, and he was sitting on my legs to keep me from kicking.
And then it happened.
My angel popped up, striking Chester with a rock.
Aiden had always looked like an angel, and he did even more now with his wings popping up out of his neck, making him look even more intimidating. He had never looked so absolutely perfect to me as he did right then.
Never before in my life had I ever been so happy that a guy came to my rescue.
Chester's grip on my wrist went limp as he fell on me, and
I shoved him off of me, scrambling to get up. But falling with his weight on me had made me slower.I was just getting up and moving away towards a display of swords, all so tempting and beautiful. And all so very helpful. But Chester was getting up and Aiden looked at me, holding onto his sword.
"Get. The. Sword."
He didn't need to say it. I already knew, and I nodded my thanks as I kept running towards it.
"Gods, why can't you just give up on your little girlfriend? Don't you know the bad guy wins!?" Chester grabbed a sword, getting up and aiming for Aiden's head, but he was already prepared. Aiden's sword hit back, causing a loud clash between the two.
"Oh, but I finally get to kick your ass," Aiden pushed on the blade, and it began. Kicks. Hits. Slashes. Swords clashing against each other. Both refusing to give up.
My instincts to fight were kicking in, and I stood up, moving towards the sword propped up on the wall as a decoration. My anger towards Chester was rising through me, and I couldn't focus on anything but how good it would feel to see his blood on my sword.
I had forgotten about the woman who had been trying to kill me since I was seven years old. Right now, she didn't matter to me. She wasn't even in my mind. Keeping Aiden alive mattered to me. Killing Chester mattered to me. Walking out of here alive mattered to me.
I felt a new feeling surge through me as I felt like I could actually get through this alive. I could win. All hope wasn't lost just yet. Maybe I could be like the stories my parents had told me.
"Where do you think you're going?!" I felt something hard push me against the wall, the weight of Olympia thrown against me, "I'm not done with you yet!"
Her voice was a growl in my ear, and tears slid down my eyes as I brought up the sword to Olympia's neck, swiping at it. She stumbled back, and I watched in horror as her skin sliced open just to show a granite interior. She put her hand to her skin on her neck, and she pouted.
"Well, now I have to get this redone!" she tried to seem annoyed, but I could see the victory in her eyes.
She reached for her own sword, the dagger in the other hand, "Your daddy must have taught you something. Prove it."
I took a better grip of the sword, and I watched her carefully before delivering a swift kick to her torso and a swipe of my blade at her leg. The dress and the skin split, and she wavered a bit. But nothing too major. Nothing that was enough.
"Aww. You tried," she laughed, enjoying this too much to fake a pout. No more sarcasm.
Sliding the golden and cursed dagger into a specially made pocket of her dress, she got a firm grip on the sword and let her eyes ran over me, assessing what she could do. How much pain she could cause to me to get even for the wrong made years ago.
Before I could even get my sword ready, she was already swiping at my arm, and I hissed in pain as I countered, my blood pouring down my arm and to the stone. Sparks flew from our blades, a firework show between the four of us. I could hear hisses off pain, grunts, and victorious sighs.
I had cut her dress up, exposing more and more granite. Her skin was sliced, and she should have been bleeding or at least been in pain. But every cut seemed to give her more energy, more satisfaction.
I let out a piercing scream as her blade stabbed my leg, and I tumbled back, my sword slipping out of my hands.
As I hurried to get it, Olympia's foot calmly placed itself on the blade, sliding it away from both of us. She looked down at me, her hair tumbling around her. Her skin was cut up everywhere, exposing granite, and her eyes were mad with power.
"Let's be done with this, my darling," she took out the golden, cursed blade, lowering herself to kill me.
I thought back to the story that was the reason I would be killed right here. The wrong that had been committed. The mistake that had been made. The anger that had been brewing.
The story…
There was a river.
Water.
There was water here.
I called upon my Poseidon blood, and I summoned the water towards me. And my grandfather did the only thing he could right now to protect me from the mistake he had made so long ago. He gave me the energy and the will to live that gave me the strength to call on the little water left after so many years.
It hit Olympia across the face, pulling her off of me and making the dagger slide out of her hands and to the cave floor. I spun around, scrambling for the golden dagger, and I looked around as she began to rise, pebbles beginning to fall around her gently. She was a little misshapen now. Some skin was gone, and it hung off her awkwardly.
"You're still trapped! I'm still going to kill you!" she yelled, the venom in her voice hitting me hard as she slowly walked towards me, "You've still lost."
She was right.
I was going to die tonight. I couldn't beat her.
The best thing I could do was not die by her hands. I refused to let her kill me.
I brought the dagger towards me, positioning right above my heart, and Olympia grinned as she watched me.
I gasped for breath as I sobbed harder, and I began to swing my dagger around, too afraid to do it. I was too much of a coward. I couldn't win. I couldn't lose. I couldn't even give myself the satisfaction of dying on my own terms.
And then I heard a piercing scream full of desperation.
But it wasn't from me.
It was from Olympia as her eyes widened in horror, and my hand just kept going, not understanding the significance of it until I felt the dagger lodge itself into something. Into someone.
It began to disintegrate in my hands, leaving gold dust that looked like something that a little girl would have sprinkled on herself as she got dressed to be a princess for Halloween It was so pretty, so innocent for something so dastardly and so horrific. The irony was almost laughable.
A sharp gasp was taken in behind me, and I spun around to see him there, his eyes widened.
His face was so shocked. It lacked the grin it was known for. It lacked the humor in his stone eyes. It lacked the confidence that always seemed to ooze out of him. It lacked the triumphant attitude that he had won.
Because he hadn't.
His blood gushed out of the hole left by the dagger, staining the golden blade before it disintegrated and mixed with his blood. The fire of his hair began to flicker, and he was falling to the ground, his hands raised to his neck as if in attempt to stop the bleeding. But it was too late.
The stone was stained with his crimson blood that had once pumped through him, keeping alive his sinister and deceitful presence.
Chester.
I had just killed Chester.
"No!" Olympia's scream was high pitched, morning her son and herself as she was consumed with fire and taken away forever.
I had won.
The words seemed meaningless as I looked at his lifeless body.
I began to shake as I looked to my hands, the red of his blood washing away the innocence they had once had.
"Shhh," I felt two arms wrap around me, holding me close, and I was squeezed as tight as I could be. It was Aiden, his arms holding me close as he stroked my hair, "It's alright. I know it isn't now. But it will be."
I suddenly realized that he had killed before, and I had, too. Our youthful innocence was tainted by the obituaries that would never happen. This death would never leave this chamber. It was ours to carry.
I could feel his salty tears on me, and my tears added to the stains of tonight on his shirt.
"I killed him. I killed Chester."
"It is okay, I promise. I promise," he whispered into my neck.
There were so many things to say. So many apologies and thanks needed. But none of them came to me. We just stood there in silence, comforted by one another.
I reached up to wipe my eyes, and I noticed new blood on my hands. I moved away, and I gasped.
His torso was bleeding out, and my eyes flew to Aiden.
"Aiden, you're hurt. We need to-"
I was cut off by the portal opening and everyone rushing towards us. There was such commotion, hugging, crying, questioning, that I lost sight of Aiden.
I was wrapped up in Noah's arms, listening to his apologizes, and I tried to fight my way away from him to see how Aiden was.
And then Swift's piercing scream hit my ears, and I forced myself out of Noah's arms, pushing past Sam to see Swift kneeled by a body.
Aiden's body.
I gasped, falling to my knees.
"No, no," I sobbed, shaking him, "No!"
He couldn't die because of me!
He couldn't!
I loved him.
Well.
DID ANY OF YOU SEE THIS COMING!?
I have been waiting to do this for so long, and I forever making this absolutely perfect for you all. I even tried to put myself in a frantic state of mind as I wrote things to show how they felt. Action is not my forte, though I have tried. But emotions are. And I think I captured that.
By the way, this is far from over!
Well, I rewrote some of the fight. One review from Meow killed me as she told me that I needed to write something where a girl didn't need a guy to protect her. I wanted to just ignore it, but, well... I spent a very long time thinking about this as I wrote it, trying to make everything perfect, and I was proud. And Meow ruined it to be honest.
I do want Charlie to be stronger, but I did want the moment where she feels that desperation. That she wants to die on her own terms. I am not very good with action, and I did want their to be a sense of "I've Lost." But I do hope you like this version more.
