World of Advent Chapter Sixteen
Author's Note: Sorry if you guys wanted the big reveal in this chapter, but some things need to be addressed first. As such, we will discover the fate of Chaos in that forest post Cataclysm. As always I greatly appreciate reviews—thanks BlackandCrimsonDreamer for reviewing. You and Milo have been a great source of support.
It was dark. Dark and cold. Chaos shivered as he gripped the sides of the blanket draped over his body. A blanket? Chaos's murky head thought before ringing with the simple effort of thought. Chaos lay his head back down, trying to make sense of the situation. Above him, rough log pillars intersected, a slight breeze running through the gaps in the wooden walls. A cabin. Why am inside a cabin?
Try as he might, the ringing in his head became an ear wrenching migraine, consuming what little state of consciousness he had left. And in his sleep, his dreams explored what Chaos sought hardest to forget.
"Sanctum?" A younger Chaos gripped the side of his bed, pulling himself to his feet. "Are you there?" The bed was empty; she must have left sometime during the night to avoid Light's suspicion, Chaos reasoned. Still, worry gnawed at the corners of his mind as he stepped outside, still seeing no sign of his lover.
Chaos pulled on a jacket, making the trip to Light's room. After knocking on the door, it opened a minute later. A bleary eyed Light yawned, fully clothed. It looked as if he had been outside not long before.
"Hey Chaos," Light said. "Where's Sanctum? I wanted to see if she'd be up for a bit of sparring, but she wasn't in her room. You wouldn't happen to know where she is would you?"
"No," Chaos said uncomfortably, thinking of the night prior, how they had spent it together. "I thought she might have been visiting you."
"No way," Light said. "You're the one she sees first nowadays. You are her boyfriend after all." His face grew serious. "You two didn't get into a fight, did you?"
"Of course not," Chaos said. "She must have left to pick up some food or something. Rent's due soon; she's probably just taking care of that."
"Without a note?" Light asked, surprised. "That's unlike her. She always lets us know where she's going." It had been a security measure put in place by Sanctum herself—she thought it safest if they knew where each other were at all times.
"Maybe she did leave one," Chaos said. "I'll check."
The two of them made their way to Chaos's room, where Chaos saw something that didn't quite catch his eye before. A small slip of paper, pinned down by a paperweight flitted in the draft created by the door's opening.
"Here we go," Chaos said. He picked it up, relieved. At least he'd know what she was doing. Already, he was making plans to join her. It was dangerous for an Advent to be out alone in these times. But as he read the handwritten note, it only brought more confusion. Hastily written, the words "I'm Sorry" were scrawled in Sanctum's messy handwriting.
Chaos's mind reeled. What did this mean? Thoughts of last night's events whirled in his mind, with them, her ominous words.
"Would you still love me if I were gone?"
Chaos clenched the note in his fist, crumpling the fresh paper.
"What's wrong," Light asked worriedly, noticing his friend's sudden look of shock.
"She can't have," Chaos muttered. "Why would…" Chaos quickly stuffed the note in his pocket and vaulted himself over the ledge leading to the outdoors, a desperate prayer that his suspicions were not correct on his lips. With a strangled cry, Light was soon on his heels, asking what was wrong.
There was a nearby village, Chaos knew. The only sign of civilization nearby. If she had truly left, she would have stopped for supplies first. It was only one of many scenarios, but the one his desperate mind reasoned would lead him to Sanctum first.
"Rael!" Chaos yelled out to a nearby shopkeeper. "Have you seen Sanctum?"
"Ah, Chaos," Rael said smoothly. "Have you lost her?"
"Just answer the question." Chaos glared at the oily shopkeeper with narrowed eyes. "Did she stop by here or not?"
"A young lady's whereabouts are not my concern," Rael protested quickly, clutching a small bag of coins at his waist. "Do not bother me with your silly lover's quarrel."
"She told you to say that," Chaos said, aghast. "Where is she? Where was she heading?"
"I don't know!" Rael said, terrified as Chaos wrought chaotic energy into their plane of existence. "She threatened me, then bribed me not to tell you. She's gone. That foolish girl wouldn't even let me see where she was headed after robbing me of my best rations."
At this point, a panting Light had caught up to them. "What's going on," he wheezed. "Is Sanctum here or not?"
"She's not here," Chaos said, a horrible sinking feeling permeating his heart. He looked all around them, but no sign of the red headed girl could be seen. Just forestry for miles in any direction. Even the other shopkeepers couldn't give him any clues as to where she was headed. Chaos's world had come to an abrupt halt, panic quickly winning over reason.
Why had she gone?!
Cursing, Chaos allowed the full extent of his oversol to take over. Soon, he was in the skies, scanning the roads and nearby paths. But where the roads ran, all were empty. The thick foliage of the trees prevented him from seeing anything other than a vast landscape of green beauty that, on any other time, would have awed him.
"Get down!" Light called out to him. "Do you want Templar on our backs? You've completely blown our cover."
"She's gone," Chaos said stupidly, as if in a daze. "We have to find her."
Light had a look of shock on his face. "But why? Why would she just leave us?"
"I don't know," Chaos said hopelessly.
"She'll come back," Light murmured. "She has to." But his words lacked conviction all the same. We have to go," he said with more urgency. "Templar will be on its way in minutes. If we don't get out of here, we'll be killed."
These words seemed to calm Chaos down. "You're right," he said. "We have to go."
"Rael." Chaos turned to the shopkeeper. "Give me whatever lasts and your best satchel. We're leaving."
"Money?" Rael said on impulse, a statement that withered out as Chaos fastened a look of cold fury at the shopkeeper who had let Sanctum leave unnoticed. With a curse, Rael slowly started packing a large bag with food and other necessary supplies.
"Hurry up," Chaos spat. "They'll be here any minute."
"And when they do," Rael said, "I'll be sure to tell them what nasty thieves you lot are. I am never selling to an Advent again. It's bad business. It's—"
Rael never finished the sentence, mostly due to a hard chop to the neck delivered by Light. "That way he won't be able to tell them where we've gone," Light said. "Hopefully he can be used as a distraction."
Chaos nodded in agreement. "Torch the place. With any luck, they'll be drawn here like moths to a flame. By the time they put out the fire, we'll be long gone."
Light nodded, tossing a firebomb inside just after dragging Rael's body to a safe reach. To their great luck, not one of the shopkeepers nearby tried to stop them, fearing for their safety and that if their wares.
Several months would pass since that scene. Templar had given them constant chase, something that kept Chaos's mind off the loss of Sanctum. Nights, however, held a different story. HE would find himself staying up late at night, replaying that scene in which he last saw Sanctum, wondering if there was any way things could have gone differently.
Light was a constant source of strength and support. Having recovered from Sanctum's abrupt departure quicker than that of his friend, Light designated himself in charge while Chaos was still incapable of doing so. Where Chaos seemed incapable of using his powers, having sunk deep into a depression, he fought for them, made the decisions that saved their lives. When Templar managed to catch up to them, he would always outsmart them, allowing them to escape once more.
For this period of time, life seemed to have left Chaos in varying degrees. Some days, he seemed almost normal to Light. Others, sometimes as soon as the morning after a lucid day, Chaos would drift towards a pattern of self-destruction, refusing to eat or sleep. At its worst, Light drugged his friend to sleep, forcing cool water down his unconscious friend's throat.
It was on one of Chaos's better days that he decided to take a walk. Light favored this idea, it being the first in a long time that was truly Chaos's own, not merely a repetition of Light's suggestion. Towards the sea Chaos walked, its savage allure swaying the discordant song of the sickness that consumed his will.
Sadness turned to anger as the rocking waves gave no words of comfort to his frayed state of mind. "I have been ill," Chaos thought aloud. It was the first in a very long time that he could think about Sanctum and not long to see her face nor her long red hair. His fists clenched as anger burned away the sorrow.
"You said we would always be there for each other!" Chaos roared. "You told me you would be my will to live… What do I do now, Sanctum?" The sea gave no answer, but its violent waves soothed the raw edges of his soul. Chaos closed his eyes. He thought of Cara, his favorite sibling, who constantly wrote him prior to Sanctum's betrayal. He thought of Light, how his friend had become closer than a brother to him, always there for him, even at his worst. And last of all, he thought of the world Sanctum devoted her life to protecting. He thought of the seas crashing against the shore, in all its desolate beauty.
"This will be my will to live," Chaos said quietly. The sound of the pounding waters masked his words to any near him, but they were not for those within range. "This is a world worth living in. Even if you aren't here to share it with me. And this is a world worth fighting for."
When he returned to camp, a new resolution having replaced the deadness of his eyes. Light noticed the difference immediately. "You're back!"
"So it would seem," Chaos said dryly.
"You don't know how glad I am to hear those words," Light said, clasping his find on the shoulder. "The mighty Chaos has finally returned.
"Yes," Chaos said with the slightest of smiles. "I'm back."
Chaos opened his eyes, a feeling of detached peace enveloping him. At his bedside, a girl with violet eyes that matched his own stared at him.
"HE'S AWAKE!" the girl shrieked. "Dad! Dad! Come in! He's awake!"
And then walked in one of the last people Chaos expected to see ever again.
His father, Bass.