I cried in this chapter. I really did
Also don't expect an update this week because my school's production of Fame starts and I'm in it.
There are some other languages spoken in here but I put translations beside the sentences.
WARNINGS: Character death, and maybe some feels, I don't know
Chapter 32: Peace
Rapunzel's POV
Without bandages or anything to clean the injuries, there was little I could do to treat North. The only means of healing or escape was sleep. He was lying on a makeshift bead on his stomach with a pillow made of my cloak. He had been asleep for a long time. He had slept through the day and into night, his breathing heavy and shallow all at once. Throughout his slumber, he had held tight to the gold bracelet. As I sat vigil by his side, I wondered why it was so important to him. It couldn't have been from a mere lust and love for gold; I had never thought him to be such a man. It had to be something else.
North groaned in his sleep and wearily opened his eyes. I shuffled closer to him, taking a stray hair out of his face.
"How are you feeling?" I whispered, not wanting to wake Jack and Hendry on the other side of the cell. North sighed wearily and shifted a little.
"It doesn't hurt as much anymore." He said weakly, closing his eyes and coughing a little. I checked his back. The bleeding had stopped a long time ago but I had kept the fabric on them in hope I could prevent them from getting infected. The hand with the bracelet moved slightly, sparking my curiosity again. But it never came to light as North spoke, "Rapunzel, listen carefully," He placed his hand over mine and looked me in the eye; the sun was slowly peeking through window, "I told them about Heather but not in the way you think. I told them Heather is Aileen." I gasped lightly at his confession,
"You what?" I asked dumbstruck.
"I convinced them that Heather was their nuisance." He closed his eyes, a tear running down his cheek,
"But they'll execute you."
"They would've done that even if I didn't tell them." He looked at the door, "I can imagine them deciding right now how they're going to end me." He gave my hand a light squeeze, "Rapunzel, if they question you and your involvement is uncovered, you must say that Heather is Aileen."
"But Heather-"
"She escaped. I know she did. I wouldn't have said her name if she didn't stand a chance of escape." He let go of my hand and closed his eyes and started talking again, to himself or me, I didn't know, "They'll put me in a different cell and tell my fate there. You'll see… you'll see." The next hour was silent. I continued my vigil as Jack and Hendry woke up to start another day of boredom. It must've been around 8 in the morning when the guards returned. As usual, they said nothing and moved to grab North. They pushed me aside and kicked him awake. As one lifted him up, the other guard ripped the fabric off of North's came, causing him to cry out. I tried to fight back at the guards but they easily pushed me off, throwing me to the hard floor.
I got up as they pulled him out the door and I saw North looking at me. He looked scared. I ran to the door, thinking I could slip out but it slammed shut. I hit the door and slid down the harsh wood and began to cry lightly for North
Little did I know that that was the last time I ever saw him.
Third Person POV
North sat quietly staring at his hands, trying to lessen the boredom and loneliness. He had been moved to his own cell. It was smaller than the previous one but cleaner with a slab of wood that remotely resembled a bed. There was a single barred window that looked out into the village center, where something was being built.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, finally coming to terms with the news he had just heard.
He had had no company since the guards left, except for an elderly priest how had come to tell him his fate.
He was going to be executed the next morning by the hangman's noose.
Third Person POV
The gallows stood lonely in the village center. As the last parts were added and fixed onto it, people slowly began to gather around it. The elderly to obnoxious little boys were ecstatic to see the execution of the notorious bandit. As the crowd slowly grew larger, two figures appeared from a lonely alleyway.
One was a grown woman. She wore a simple white choli and lehenga and a sari trimmed in bold red over it. Covering her neatly done bun was a white dupatta, also trimmed in bold red. She wore no jewelry, except for the small maang tikka on her forehead. Her henna decorated hand held tight to the hand of a young girl, who was no older than 6. She wore a purple Langa Voni with a thin gold trim and two small bangles on her wrists. While no one had ever seen these two figures before, they were completely ignored by any by-passers
Still a distance away, they stopped. The woman placed the girl in front of her and placed her elegant hands upon the child's shoulders
"Jaham pita hai? (Where is father?)" The child asked as she looked up at the woman. The woman looked down at the child with her green eyes,
"Vaha jaldi hi yaham ho ja'ega.(He'll be here soon)" The woman replied, turning a longing gaze at the castle, seeking the barred window that caged the one her eyes yearned to see, "Bahuta jalda. (Very soon)" The woman closed her eyes and began to sing, still ignored by the growing crowds. She had a beautiful voice but it was one filled with yearning and sorrow.
Nikolasa suno na (Nicholas, please listen)
Tum bin paoon kaise chaiyn (How can I be in peace without you?)
Tarsoo tumhiko din raiyn (I yearn for you the entire day and night)
Chhod ke apne Kaashi-Mathura (Please leave your Kaashi and Mathura)
Aake baso more nain (And dwell in my eyes)
Tum bin paoon kaise chaiyn (How can I be in peace without you?)
Nikolasa tarsoo tumhiko din raiyn (Nicholas, I yearn for you the entire day and night)
Ik pal ujiaara aaye (One moment it's life is full of life)
Ik pal andhyaara chhaye (The next very moment it's dark)
Mann kyun na ghabraaye (Why should I be frightened?)
Kaise na ghabraaye (Why should I be frightened?)
Mann jo koi doraaha apni rahon mein paaye (If my heart is confused in front of a crossroad)
Kaun dishaa jaaye (Which path to take)
Tum bin kaun samjhaaye (Who else but you can guide?)
Tum bin kaun samjhaaye (Who else but you can guide?)
She continued to sing, her voice carried by a soft breeze towards the castle. As it reached the castle, no one could hear the magical voice it carried. No one except North. He walked to the window and grabbed the bars when he heard the sound wafting in. He looked out, barely noticing the gallows, and scanned the crowd for the one who was singing. He squinted his eyes when he saw the two mysterious figures dressed in white standing by the gallows but he looked away when the door opened behind him. There stood three guards, one holding chains and another a clean white shirt.
"Put this on!" The guard ordered as he threw the shirt to North. He clumsily caught it. He looked out the window but the two figures were gone. When he had put it on, the other guard came and put the chains on his wrists, the metal digging into his skin.
They pushed him down the halls of the dungeons and out into the village center. He cringed at the sudden brightness and the loudness of the crowd. They roared as he appeared, shouting insults at him and throwing food at him. With a smug smile of pride, the guards grabbed the bandit by his arms and began to drag him towards the gallows. North looked frantically around the crowd until he spotted the two figures again. He stared at them, trying to see the faces that seemed so familiar under the white veils.
The sudden shove of the guards distracted him. He found himself staring at the stairs that led up to the noose. He looked up at the rope, just dangling there. He slowly walked up the stairs, the guard that waited for him pulling him along and placing him upon the trapdoor. The hangman put the noose around his neck and pulled it a little too tight. North gasped lightly but the hangman just chuckled.
A judge silenced the crowd and began to read the charges against him. Most of them were lies. Murder, theft, arson, rape, treason… Lies. North looked around the crowd and saw the lifted platform on which his persecutors stood. William, Cináed and all the other puppets were standing there to watch him die. He looked out to the crowd, one last time, to try to find the two figures but he couldn't find them; it was like they disappeared into thin air.
As he looked down at the bracelet in his palm, the crowd began to chant. They wanted to see him dead. North turned his gaze back to the nobles and smiled. He would have his fun with them one last time.
"You want the money?" He yelled, "You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you'll just have to find it!" The nobles' eyes widened and the crowd began to grow restless at the knowledge of vast wealth to be found. North smiled at the sight and was so distracted he didn't hear the lever. The last thing he comprehends is the floor disappearing beneath him and then… nothing.
Third Person POV
North woke up to the calm sound of birds and the gentle touch of a light breeze through his hair. The grass underneath him tickled and poked at his exposed arms, making the Cossack sit up. He was in the middle of a large field, overlooking pine forests in all directions. The sky was filled in its entirety with pink clouds but no sun, despite it being bright in the meadow. He looked up when two songbirds flew overhead and hovered in front of him in order to play with each other. He chuckled as they flew away into the distance, still singing brightly.
The giggle of a child distracted him.
He looked to the edge of the forest and spotted a little girl with tanned skin running around the meadow and leaning down to collect flowers. He stood up, thinking and praying with all his heart it was who he thought she was. The girl looked up and stared at him for a moment before dropping the flowers and running to him,
"Papa!" She screamed. With tears in his eyes, North started running too. Once down the hill, he collapsed to his knees, his legs feeling weak from the overwhelming emotion. He spread his arms out wide and his daughter ran into them. He embraced her tightly, tears of joy seeping into her sattai. He let out another sob at the realization that this was real. His daughter was in his arms.
"Moya doch' (my daughter)" He whispered. He let go of her in order to get a good look at her. She was the same as he remembered. She was every bit her mother; same face, same nose, same hair, same eye shape but she had his blue eyes.
"Papa, why are you crying?" She asked as her little hands wiped away his tears. North chuckled and cupped her little face in his very large hands,
"Because I'm so happy." He smiled and she smiled back, throwing her arms around his neck again,
"I missed you so much." She whispered. North placed a kiss by her temple,
"I missed you too."
"Nicholas?" A familiar voice said quietly. North looked up and froze at what he saw. There, at the edge of the forest, stood his wife, as beautiful, as graceful, as elegant as he remembered her. She stared at him with her large green eyes, her hand holding tight to the bold red trim of her dupatta the way she always did. Both adults stood still, just staring at each other
"Paro!" He called out as he began to run, his tears of joy coming again. He saw her begin to cry too and moving faster at him, her dupatta falling from her head onto the grass. North began to run faster; this wasn't another nightmare where he could never reach her, this wasn't another nightmare where he heard her cries and he could never comfort her. He would reach his wife.
Paro slowed down her run and opened her mouth to say something but couldn't as North smashed his lips onto hers, pouring all the love, longing and desire into it. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, her graceful hand running through his luscious brown locks. She took a gasp of breath as he pulled her closer, tasting his tears on her lips.
North gasped lightly as he pulled away from the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers, reminding himself again that this was real. He felt his wife's warm hands wrap around his wrists,
"I waited a long time for this." She whispered. North chuckled lightly from joy. He looked at her and caught sight of her red bindi, the dot placing a seed of doubt,
"You shouldn't be here." He whispered, "The samsara..." Paro placed her fingers over his lips,
"I begged Krishna to stop mine." She replied, placing her hands on his cheeks, wiping away the remnants of tears, "I couldn't let you come to nothing and I couldn't leave our daughter alone." Paro looked at the little girl, sitting in the grass and smiling brightly. Paro held out her hand to her daughter and the little girl ran to it but didn't take it. She looked to her mother then to her father and held her hands up to the male. North laughed and picked his daughter up, giving her a kiss on her cheek. Paro had recovered her lost dupatta, the long fabric neatly folded in her hands. She smiled and clasped her husband's free hand. With a gentle pull, she began to lead her family to the place where they could spend the rest of eternity in peace.
I love Paro and North together so much. One of my OTPs. I posted Paro's outfit on my DA account, so please check that out.
So… much… research… The Indian culture is very complex. Took me a while to understand what each piece of clothing was called. You can find all of them on Wikipedia, if any of you want to know what they look like.
You should know that I don't speak Hindi or Russian and that I used Google Translate to find the speaking bits, so feel free to correct me. The song that was sung was Man Mohana from Bollywood's Jodhaa Akbar (very beautiful movie). I did change the text slightly because in the original text, she's singing to Krishna. I didn't really understand the Kaashi-Mathura part so I just left it in there.
Review, favorite, follow.