THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED! PLEASE REEAD OR RE_READ OR WHATEVER :P
Dreaming of Reality chapter 13
The week had gone by slowly. Sebastian had not left Lealia side since they had lost her. Orana had come to welcome him each morning with a cup of tea and fresh baked bread. He would stay all day, holding her hand, telling her stories of his prince days. He watched her, reacting to his voice as it reached her in her dreams. Her eyes moved softly as she slept, but he could feel her mind fading. Her aurora grew weaker with each passing second that her mind stayed trapped.
Anders has been by a few times, checking on her progress, seeing if anything could be done to improve her state. But he found nothing and that just pushed Sebastian farther down the hole.
"Lea…" he brushed her fallen hair from her face. She looked troubled. "Lea… please come back to us."
"Se… bastian…" she mumbled as he spoke to her.
His eyes widen at the sound of his name. it was barely a whisper but it gave him back the hope he had been losing.
He cupped her face in his hand and leaned closer to her. "I am here. I will not leave you." he stroked her face softly. "Just please come back."
Lealia lay in her bed, confused as ever. The hospital was bustling. Nurses and doctors hurried past the window to her room, frantic some of them. curiosity overwhelmed her, but she didn't move. She just laid there watching and waiting. Her mind was a cloud. Bits and pieces faded in and out as she tried to organize her thoughts and memories. Nothing was whole to her. She focused on her home in London. Remembering her father and mother. Her brother and sister. But even those memories seemed incomplete to her. she couldn't remember how her and her siblings played as their mother moved around the house. She couldn't even remember what her father did as a living. Slowly more and more things faded. High school, her time at the university, Carver's death. It was all fading into a black hole in her mind, replaced by clips and pieces she didn't really recognize.
"Come back to us…" she heard the whispers in her mind. She knew the voice. It was Sebastian. But how could he be here? He wasn't real. Was he?
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on his faces. His light blue eyes, his deep auburn hair. When she had first woken in his world he had remind her so much of Damien. But she had been wrong. They were nothing alike. While Damien is blunt and realistic, Sebastian is more understanding and hopeful. He puts faith in what he cannot see. There was a time Damien had done such a thing to. Both of them had gone to church every week, read the bible and prayed. But after everything that happened to them…
When he fell off the wagon she felt it was her duty to follow. She still believes in her maker. Stills prays to him in the dead of night, still goes to the church when she has the moment free. But Damien, he lost it all. After his family's death, he lost all hope. Lealia couldn't bear it. She didn't like the change it made in him.
There was a knock on the door. She opened her eyes and turned to find Damien standing in the door way, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"May I come in?"
She nodded and straightened herself up reaching up to grab the flowers.
"About yesterday…" he said and she let the flowers drop to her lap before she could even smell their scent.
"Look – I,"
He shook his head and cut her off. "What is going on with you?"
Lifting her head, she starred at him, wide-eyed.
"What are you on about?"
"You've changed the last few weeks. Acting more on your own, doing as you see right. That stunt with Isabella was the finale. You can't go on like this. You're going to get yourself hurt, in ways I wont be able to protect you from."
"I don't need your protection."
"Yes you do." He dropped his head and reached for her hand. "Ever since your mother died-"
She snatched her hand away. "Don't you dare."
"What am I supposed to do, Lea? Watch you change before my eyes. I can't keep on-"
"You are one to talk. Ever since the incident with your family, you've done nothing but change!" she smacked the flowers from her lap.
Damien looked at her. Anger filled his features. "Is the change so bad when I have finally realized what this world is capable of? We have lost everyone, Lealia. EVERYONE!" Lea cringed as his voice rose in volume. "They are dead and we are here!" his gaze softened as he reached for her hand. She couldn't help the twitch that escaped when their skin connected. "We only have eachother now. And that's all we need."
Lea looked at her lover and fear tore at her heart. "No." she spoke softly. "It's not."
He dropped her hand and moved from the bed, his sadness not escaping her eyes. He looked to her one last time slamming the door open and leaving the room.
She watched him walk around the corner just as he had yesterday. She let the frustration sit with her, the only sound reaching her ears being the sound of the machine as it monitored her heart. Finally she looked over the edge of the bed. Slowly she swung her legs over and bent down to retrieve the bouquet she had thrown. She removed a flower and brought it to her nose. The sweet scent filled her lungs, leaving a familiar nostalgia she couldn't place. She started at the flower, trying so hard to place its exotic petals and leaves. White with a splash of red in the middle. It had looked so familiar to her and yet, her mind still felt clouded and lost as she looked at the plant.
"And how are we feeling today?" her doctor walked in and smiled down at her.
Lea kept starring at her flower even as the doctor moved closer to her, waiting for a response.
"I am not sure." Lea answered, trying so very hard to put this piece of her puzzle together. She had seen this flower before.
Lothering. They grew in Lothering.
Her mind spoke, fading almost before she could catch the words.
"Lothering…" she whispered as she turned the flower about between her fingers.
"You are stronger then you seem, Hawke. "
Hawke? The only people that had addressed her as such had been…
The scene before her changed. She no longer lay in the bed, needles and machine around her. Instead she stood in a forest, trees of different kinds stood tall blocking out the sun. plants and greenery covered the ground. Looking down, she immediately recognized her leathers. Reaching behind her, she could feel the hilt of her daggers.
"What in Andraste's-?"
"You are in the fade." She turned around to face a young woman. Her long black hair fell over her bare shoulders. Her robes, red and black, stood strong against her pale skin. In her hands stood a staff. She moved closer and out of reflex Lea drew her blades and took stance.
The witch laughed. "My, my aren't we cautious." She placed the staff down beside her and held up her hands. "I wish you no harm. I am merely here to offer you… an escape." The witch smiled.
Lea narrowed her eyes and glared at her. "An escape from what?" she spat at her.
Her smile grew. "From life." She lowered her hands and stepped forward. "You have been through quiet the ordeal. So much for one refugee. Losing first your father, then your brother." She named the first people she had those many years ago. "Your sister has been whisked away from you, plagued with a duty that keeps her as such." Her smile grew sly. "And your mother. Lost at the hands of the thing you feared most in life."
"What are you talking about?" but just as she spoke the words her mind exploded with flash and scenes of what she spoke. The ogre that took Carver away from them. The blight that now coursed through her veins. And her mother. Her dear sweet mother, suffering at the hands of a madman and his blighted magic. It was too much at once. She fell to the ground from the pain of it, clasping her head as the pain hit her with each memory.
"What have you done?" she asked gasping as she regained herself.
"I, My dear, have offered you a means of escape. An alternate reality where, even though such things have happened, they are simpler to cope with."
"You … you fucked with my head!"
The witches laughter rang through the forest. "Silly girl. Did you not have all that you wanted in this new reality. Friends who you care for and care for you. Contact with the sister you wish to see… Marriage with the man you crave for."
Her mind shifted to thought of Damien and Sebastian. So similar and yet so different. "If you have tried so hard to give me this, why is it falling apart? Why are my realities mixing?"
"Because, Young one, there can only be one. And you must choose."
A/N Ok so idk what went on in this chapter really lol I just wrote whatever came to my head and I figured a little plot twist was good. People already figured that Lea would have to make a choice. So let me ask you this, what reality would you guys choose? Obviously both have their own faults but both also have their own pros. Any ideas? Also who is this witch?
R&R I love hearing from you guys and please let me know what you guys think of the chapter and the way the story is going. I would hate to mess this up with my randomness XD PM or Review I'm not scared to have opinionated people comment :P constructive criticism ;)