Truth
When Emerald opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Storm. And after that, that's all she saw. Her heart soared at seeing him alive, his eyes alight with life again. The pain of losing her soulmate had all but diminished completely and tears flooded her eyes. She sat up, for Storm was holding her bridal style in his lap—he was sitting on a sofa—and threw her arms around him, marveling at how warm he felt, hearing him breathing again. It was something wonderful.
Storm's arm slowly came around Emerald's form, holding her tightly to him, relieved that she'd woken up. For a moment there, he thought they'd been too late, that he'd officially lost her. Every hour that went by before this moment had been agony, literally and metaphorically.
Though, as Jonathan had said, she was stable in his presence, she was fading. Every hour that had gone by, more and more of her would fade. Through the bond, Storm could feel it breaking, like rope, each strand unwinding before snapping. And with each snap, more pain filled Storm. An eternal ache filled his chest, making it harder to breathe, and he suddenly felt horrible for dying—though not of his choice—because this was what Emerald had gone through. She had lived with this pain full force all because he thought he was keeping her safe. Turns out, he'd just been making things worse.
Emerald finally pulled back, but not all the way, to look at Storm. Tears filled her eyes and some had already spilled down her face. She caressed Storm's face, it feeling almost too good to be true.
"I missed you," she whispered through her tears. Storm reached up with his free hand to wipe them away.
"I missed you, too," he whispered softly back. They embraced again, before Emerald pulled back and slipped off his lap and stood. She stopped short, though, when she noticed there were other people in the room. Other people that she recognized and knew for a fact couldn't be dead. Which made her extremely confused.
She looked back at Storm. "What's going on?" she questioned, all the tears drying from her eyes almost immediately.
Storm's heart twisted painfully in his chest. It was time to face the very thing he was terrified of facing. He stood up and took Emerald's hands into his, turning her to face him, ignoring the others in the room for now.
"I need to tell you something," Storm started quietly. Emerald looked at him searchingly before turning to look at the others, Lucas and Valerie. She ripped her hands out of Storm's and took a few steps away from him and the other two.
"I don't… I don't understand." she muttered mostly to herself, he head bowed, concentrating on a spot on the floor, her mind racing. The last thing she remembered was searing pain and then, well, nothing. Nothing, until she'd woken up here with Storm. She thought for sure she'd died and been taken to Storm in heaven, or wherever you went, but… this clearly wasn't heaven if Lucas and Valerie were there. Unless… they'd died too—
Emerald's head snapped up suddenly and she looked at Storm with keen green eyes.
"You're a vampire," she noticed in a whisper. "So… you're not dead. You… didn't die?"
"Not exactly," Storm answered. "I-I did die… but I came back as the vampire I was before. I'm still a lamia vampire. I wasn't turned."
"I don't understand," Emerald said again, shaking her head, eyebrows furrowing. This was becoming too much. This just raised more questions!
"…maybe I should start from the beginning." Storm suggested softly, his stomach in knots, his heart hammering against his ribcage.
The nightmare had started the night Storm had proposed to Emerald.
Storm was standing at the altar, dressed handsomely in a pitch black tux and a pristine white button down underneath. Sky stood next to him as his Best Man, Carter stood on the opposite side as Emerald's Maid of Honor. In the audience were Storm's father and his girlfriend-turned-fiancée.
It was a small wedding.
But that was fine by Emerald and Storm. It wasn't extravagant by any means, but it was cozy and anyone who mattered to the two were there… it was hard to find someone you trusted fully nowadays, especially with both their pasts.
The music started to play and Storm looked down the small aisle with baited breath and when Emerald appeared in her simple, but beautiful—she was always beautiful in his eyes—white gown, his heart stopped. A smile spread across his face that could've lit up the whole world. Emerald returned his smile as she walked down the aisle gracefully, the small bouquet of flowers between her hands. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, the rest flowing down her back in large, curled ringlets. And there was a jeweled comb sitting where her ponytail started, accenting her eyes.
When she got within a few feet of the altar Storm held out his hand to her and as she was reaching up to take the sky suddenly darkened wickedly. Storm's heart lurched in his chest and he frantically looked around. Sky, Carter, Storm's father, and his father's fiancée had disappeared. He looked down as the ground started to shake beneath him. A crack split the earth between him and Emerald.
Storm quickly looked back up to see that Emerald had her hand still reached out but her expression had changed from that of pure happiness to fear and… sadness, it looked like. Heart jumping in his chest, Storm quickly lunged forward, reaching out for her hand, but just as he did this the ground beneath Emerald crumbled. She began to fall, Storm grasping nothing but air.
Her mouth was open in a scream, but no sound came out as she fell, swallowed up by the blackness beneath.
Storm stumbled back, chest heaving, hurting, burning with pain. A baritone, omniscient voice rang through his head, piercing his eardrums. He let out a pained yelp, his kneels buckling, both hands coming to cover his ears. But it was like the voice wasn't outside of him, it was inside his head.
It was a warning, repeating over and over again, until his brain felt like it was going to burst: He must stay away from Emerald if she is to stay safe and alive.
The pain and the voice consumed him until that's all he could hear, all he could feel, and it never reached its peak, it just kept going and going and going—
A few days later, Storm was heading back to the Marriott from his work when a girl intercepted him right before he got to a crosswalk.
She smiled politely.
"Hello, Storm," she greeted in a neutral tone.
Storm looked at the girl for a moment trying to remember if they'd ever met before. And if they hadn't, how she'd known his name….
"I'm Valerie, remember? I came in to the shop a few days ago?" the girl finally said, realizing that he'd forgotten her.
Storm furrowed his eyebrows, thinking harder, but nothing was coming. His brain was too foggy. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't remember you." The crosswalk light turned to the little white man and Storm pointed to it. "Listen, I'm kind of in a hurry," He started, edging his way around her as he spoke, "so if you ever stop by the shop again, I guess I'll see you." He turned and was about to set foot on the crosswalk but halted at her next words.
"I know about the nightmare, Storm." she called, staying exactly where she'd been standing. "I can help you, if you'd like." she continued as Storm slowly turned to face her.
"Who told you that?" Storm questioned, staying where he was, not moving an inch toward her. Behind him the red hand had reappeared and cars zipped past.
He hadn't told anyone about his nightmare and had been keeping Emerald at a distance, making sure nothing slipped through the chord. How did this girl, someone he'd met once, and not even for that long, know about it?
Valerie tinkled a laugh.
"Don't look so suspicious Storm, I'm only here to help you. That is, if you want my help." she said lightly, still with that pleasant smile on her face.
Storm approached her, stopping a few inches away. "Who told you that?" he asked again slowly and in a measured tone.
Valerie visibly swallowed and her smile twitched, but she kept up the façade.
"I'll tell you, but first you have to agree to let me help." she said softly, but firmly. "Obviously I'm not a werewolf or a vampire, the only thing left? A witch. A witch who can and is willing to help you make sure your nightmare doesn't come true."
Storm stared back at her, unamused by all of this, his eyes dark, the bags underneath them making them look darker.
Valerie sighed, her smile finally dropping a mask of irritation taking its place. "All right, when we met I noticed how troubled you looked. I… may or may not have taken some DNA sample from you without your permission and messed around a bit with my magic to see what was upsetting you." she said.
Too rehearsed. Storm thought. He was tired, but he could catch a bad liar from a mile away.
Storm snorted and smirked. "You're a terrible liar. Tell me how you knew about my nightmares and who you're working for or we're going to have a serious problem."
Valerie glanced around at all the people crowding the street. "All right," she started in a low voice. "Can we at least do it somewhere more… private?"
Storm thought about this quickly before giving in and spinning around to go wait at the crosswalk. Valerie followed, smiling to herself. Mission accomplished.
Storm would soon find out that Valerie had been sent by Thierry, who knew of Emerald's… gift that would help change the tides of the war. He hadn't specifically known about Storm's nightmares, but had been monitoring him (not Emerald because she was far too observant for her own good… paranoid was a better word) for a time now and when his workers had reported the lack of sleep that Storm seemed to be getting, he sent a witch to investigate more. What Valerie had said wasn't entirely true, this whole offering her help hadn't been out of the goodness of her heart, Thierry had sent her, but the rest, she swore was true.
Storm still didn't know how much he could trust her, and he knew of Emerald and Thierry's rocky past, spanning even before Emerald had even become involved with the Night World—her father, Jonathan, had killed some of Thierry's workers way back when, and only a few years ago, he'd kidnapped Thierry and Quinn's soulmates; Emerald had helped because she'd turned evil, for the lack of better words.
Storm had met Thierry before and he seemed like a pretty rational vampire. He was Lord of the Night World, and he'd been alive since the dawn of man, he knew is way around this world and things worked. Still… Storm was always on guard, having dealt with Emerald's father, Emerald herself, and with the end of the world nearing. You could never be too careful with anyone. The only reason he cautiously went along with what Valerie proposed was because he didn't want Emerald to get hurt… or worse.
The plan she proposed wasn't appealing in the slightest: breaking all ties with Emerald, as the dream had told him to do. Even going so far as to hook up with Valerie. It felt all wrong, and the nightmare hadn't stopped coming to him, even after the steps they'd taken.
Storm had wanted to abandon the plan, but Valerie had convinced him to stick to it, because "it was the only way that Emerald was going to be safe." And that was the only reason that Storm had gone through all those sleepless nights, waking up covered in sweat and breathing hard from his nightmare; all those dates with Valerie, trying to convince Emerald he'd moved on when in fact, his heart longed for her; all those potions to turn him into a human as well as to mute the connection with Emerald; watching Emerald fall in love with someone else… it had all been for her.
Emerald jumped up from where they'd taken a seat on the sofa again and glared at Storm, tears of hurt stinging her eyes. Valerie and Lucas had left to give them some privacy, so it was just the two of them in the room, in a mansion, in one of the Thierry's safe havens.
"What?" she gasped, her chest heaving. "So the breakup and the dating Valerie, our lost connection, it was all a lie?" she asked, her voice shaking and wavering.
Storm stood too and tried to take a step toward her, a comforting hand outstretched, but she pulled back, still glaring at him, betrayal written all over her features.
"You have to understand, Emerald, I was doing it to protect you. I was afraid of that dream coming true. I was afraid I'd lose you!" Storm said quickly.
"You lied to me. After you promised—you promised—no more lies! You promised no more secrets! And then you go and do… this!" Emerald hissed, more tears welling up in her eyes. Storm tried again to put a comforting hand on her shoulder but she slapped it away and snapped, "Don't touch me!" Storm took a step back, swallowing hard. Pain flashed across his face but she didn't care. She felt like she'd just been stabbed in the back, straight through the heart by her soulmate. "How could you?"
"I wanted to tell you! I did, but they said—" Storm started.
"They? You mean Thierry's people?" Emerald interrupted.
"They said that it would be too dangerous if I told you. They said that you would get hurt—" His voice broke and he stopped.
"Oh, and look how well that turned out!" Emerald retorted. "The reason we promised each other never to lie again was so that this wouldn't happen! We promised that no matter what, we'd be there for each other, we'd work through our troubles and our struggles together." Emerald paused and took a few deep, gasping breaths, trying to calm herself. When she did a few moments later, she continued in a softer, but just as hurt voice, "No matter the circumstance. And you broke that sacred promise."
"I didn't want to lose you!" Storm shouted, trying to make her understand, but he could feel her slipping through his fingers like sand, one of his worst nightmares coming true.
Emerald looked back at him solemnly before stating in a whisper, "You already have." With that she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Storm standing there stunned and heartbroken. She had wanted to stay and ask him about how she was alive after what Jonathan had done to her, but that would be another conversation for a later time, and maybe not even with Storm, maybe with someone else who'd helped with it.
The only thing that was on Emerald's mind when she left, the only thing she couldn't understand, was what Lucas was doing here. He had to be involved in this elaborate scheme to have ended up in one of Thierry's save havens. As much of a saint that everyone believed Thierry to be, he wouldn't have have picked some random kid off the street to shelter. Emerald knew Thierry, knew him more than she would've liked, and she knew that he did things with a purpose. Especially with the end of the world so close, every move had to be calculated and precise or he'd lose this war, and he couldn't have that. This world had turned into a chess board to him, with Emerald and her loved ones as pawns, it seemed.
With that on her mind, she went to find Lucas.
"Did you lie, too?" Emerald asked quietly, making Lucas jump a mile, cuss, and drop his book. He'd been lying on the sofa in his room, reading. Emerald had snuck up on him kind of on purpose, but hadn't meant to startle him so much. She could hear his heart pound in his chest and he was gasping like he'd just been holding his breath.
He straightened himself into a sitting position and picked up the book, setting it down on the coffee table before addressing Emerald. She was standing near the balcony doors, partly in shadow, which unnerved Lucas more than he liked to admit.
"Jesus, Emerald, you gave me a heart attack," he complained, putting a hand to his heart, still slightly gasping. "Did you come in through the balcony? How did you know where—?"
"Did you?" she asked, ignoring Lucas's questions and slowly stepping out of the shadows but staying near where she was standing. Her face was blank and devoid of emotion.
Lucas stood and cautiously walked up to her until they were inches apart.
"When we first met, at the restaurant, I liked you. Just as a person. You were hard-working and sweet. That's why when you came back, I vouched for you to the manager. You deserved it." Lucas started quietly, thinking it better to just get everything out in the open. He was done lying to her. "One of Lord Thierry's workers approached me a little after your… breakup, and told me about the Night World. Told me that I now had a role to play in all of this—"
"And you just went along, not considering how I'd feel about being used." Emerald spat, her mask dropping slightly, anger coming through.
"No, it's not like that," Lucas objected. "I said no at first. I did consider how you would be affected. But then they explained to me how Lord Thierry was going to make the new millennia one where Night Worlders and humans would be at peace. He told me that you were the key component in doing so and to keep you safe I… needed to… deceive you."
"Did he also tell you that this key component would kill me?" Emerald shot back, more anger coming through.
Lucas paused and Emerald's heart dropped. Despite all of this, she'd fallen for him, which only made the pain that much worse.
"…yes." Lucas finally whispered, his eyes pained.
Emerald looked up at him disbelievingly, tears pooling in her eyes, despite her having wanted to come in and go out without showing any emotion. All that had been thrown out the window as soon as Emerald had been reminded of just how much she'd fallen for Lucas. She took a step away from him, not believing what she was hearing. He'd gone along with the plan, even though he'd known if was going to kill her?
"Emerald, listen, I-I did love you. I still do." He took a step forward. "At the beginning, my heart wasn't in it, I admit it. But the more I got to know you, the more I fell for you. All those things exchanged between us, all those kisses, they didn't mean nothing." He took another step forward and started to caress her face, but she turned her head and pushed his hand away, taking another step back. More tears glistened in her eyes but none had fallen.
"It was because of this I was going to convince Lord Thierry there had to be another way to get this… whatever it is, from you without killing you." Lucas went on.
Emerald's head snapped back to him, her eyes as hard and as cold as ice.
"You lied to me before, why should I believe you now?" she hissed dangerously.
"Emerald—" Lucas started, reaching out again.
She held up her hand and turned her head away again. "You touch me again and I will kill you." She warned, looking at him through the corners of her eyes, her eyes flashing silver for a moment.
Lucas swallowed hard and took a few steps back. They looked at each other for another long moment, Lucas's eyes sorrowful and pained, Emerald's cold and infused with anger. Then, Lucas blinked and she was gone—silent and quick like the darkness of night—the balcony door left open.
Storm warily took a seat next to Emerald on the bench she was currently situated on. It was outside one of the mansions, overlooking a beautiful courtyard with a fountain. She was sitting with one foot on the bench, her leg pulled up her chest, the other leg hanging over the side, hair over one shoulder, and arms loosely hugging her leg to her. Her eyes were focused on the fountain, but distant, foggy.
It'd been a few days since they last spoke, she'd had time to think about what he'd told her and think about what all had happened, to cool down and get her thoughts organized. Storm thought he'd try again, thought he wasn't sure himself what exactly it was he was "trying again."
He sat there for a moment, awkwardly, trying to think of what to say to break her out of her trance that wouldn't make her leave before he could at least attempt to explain his reasoning. When he finally came up with something and opened his mouth to say it, Emerald spoke first.
"What do you want?" she asked. Her tone wasn't neutral, but it wasn't cold or angry either, so it was hard to tell what she was feeling.
"To talk," Storm answered quietly.
She paused before looking over at him. "What about?"
"Listen, I know that you're upset with me, because I did lie to you, and I can understand that, but—" Storm broke off when Emerald chuckled humourlessly and turned to look back at the fountain. Storm took a breath before saying, "I… I missed something."
Emerald turned to look back at him. "I'm not upset that you lied to me, Storm." she told him. "I'm upset because from now on, I won't be able to trust you anymore." She looked at him a moment longer before getting up and going back inside.
Okay, so a few days wait, but that's better than months, right? I hope this makes sort of sense to you…? The story has kind of turned into a puzzle that you're going to have to piece together as we go along. This is just another piece. If you have any trouble once the story is complete, feel free to PM me and I will be happy to explain the timeline and plot.
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed. I'll try to update as soon as I can—this is where it gets exciting… for me anyway—so stay tuned!
Also, I'd like to give credit to a Sailor Moon plot point for this idea. It's kind of cheesy, but I rolled with it because I'd (accidentally) committed to it as soon as I came up with the "super special power" Emerald has. But, yes, I based it off a certain Sailor Moon plot point.
Last thing before I bid you adieu, I have accidentally—I know, so many accidents with this story!—made Thierry the antagonist. I don't know how or when he became that way, but he kind of has. I know why though, and it's because everyone has a "dark side" in them and in stressful situations that side can come out. Thierry isn't a perfect angel, and I really like showing characters who are portrayed as perfect angels to be just as damaged and dark as other characters, because it makes them a little more three dimensional… I like to think. I hope you're all okay with that, and I'm telling you this now because his darker side will be showing up very, very soon.
Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight