A/N: So it's been a while. Sorry. And now that I've uploaded this, I'm off to continue to the next chapter of Vision of Arendelle and Epoch… Before anyone complains – a story that I've been following was updated in August after four years. So yeah.
I'm back at uni… This was supposed to be up in October if you can believe that. I've had 2 three thousand word essays due in December and 1 three thousand word essay due in January; a short documentary due in last year and a short fiction film due in a two weeks. Three other essays later this year… I went to Showmasters comic con in London last year. Stuff and life happened.
Considering getting a twitter for this account, so I could put my updates and things on there instead of putting up loads of authors notes.
I now know where I'm going with this mostly; I'm just stuck on what to do with the Trix and how to write them? (So how do you guys see the Trix? Pierce, I know you said that you saw them as strong, independent characters).
All of the herbs mentioned are believed to help with protection in Wicca (although cumin is to be burned with frankincense for protection) aside from hyssop, which is the most widely used purification herb and associated with serpents and dragons, can be burned as an incense to call on dragon energy (I saw that on a website and I couldn't resist adding it in). For the crystals, Amber was used extensively by Romans as a form of protection apparently, Adventurine is a general protection crystal. Black Obsidian, Celestite and Black Onyx are used for protection from negativity and negative energies, Eye Agate is protection from Evil, Malachite is protection while flying and garnet is protection while travelling.
I'm going to edit the previous chapters (and it feels like I've written this break up scene a million times) and I'll change this note when I have. Feel free to go back and re-read them!
The Iron Queen is a historical reference – wonder if anyone will get it. Song for this chapter: Everybody wants to rule the world – Lorde cover.
'Oblivion: Noun.
The state of forgetting or of being oblivious.'
'Cromulent: Noun.
Appearing legitimate but actually being spurious.'
'Cuz baby now we got bad blood,
You used to be mad love.
Now we got problems,
And I don't think we can solve them.
You made a really deep cut,
And baby now we got bad blood.'
Bad Blood by Taylor Swift
Lord Darkar lounged on his throne; his legs over the arm, as he surveyed the man in front of him.
"Why now?" He asked, glowering.
The man was kneeling in front of the throne, his head bent low.
"My lord, I was unaware that you were a-alive. If I'd have known-" He attempted to reason with Darkar in a silky voice until he was cut off.
"No. Nope. I got you out of the Omega Dimension; I sent the Trix come and break you out. I just wanted to see if you would tell the truth but it seems you're incapable."
"N-no, I'm not, my lord."
"You're still lying." He pointed out. "I never figured you were a compulsive liar but who knows how those damn witches raised you."
"M-my lord, when I was trapped in the ice; I felt the Dragon Fla-"
Dear Phoenix, Valtor do you ever stop talking?
He held up a hand and Valtor closed his mouth mid-word.
"Relax, Valtor. I have it all under-control." He sighed and swung his legs round onto the floor. "Follow me."
Valtor bowed his head at the order and followed Darkar out of the throne room, to the war room.
Somebody was screaming. No, two somebodies… Wait. Countless screams rang through the air. There was fire – a lot of it, licking at the grass and trees. An black inferno engulfed the pink stone building. Thick black smoke filled the air. The images were clear but foggy at the same time. The faces of bloodied bodies lying in the school quad were hard to make out. There were armies fighting in the distance. A feeling of horrified foreboding and electrically charged dread made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, the skin on the back of his neck prickled.
Then with a sudden yell, Gabriel bolted up. The book he had been reading fell off of his face and onto the floor of his apartment with a soft thump. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. Why did his visions always have to be so disorientating?
The room was spinning even with his eyes closed, his head banging, ears roaring and he was violently retching. Fuck.
Then ever so slowly (too slowly) the roaring stopped. He glanced at the clock. Was that half one or five past six?
"-are attacking again. Some new information regarded the Trix's current pattern of attack and security measures have been released. We are now being informed that Chief Constable Yves has just arrived on the scene." A news reporter saying in a rather monotone voice despite the attack.
He stood up, his legs were heavy and his neck hurt, his back clicked at he stumbled towards his herb cabinet. At least there was nobody else here, he probably looked drunk. Inside the cupboard were rows and rows of dark stone bowls. His eyes struggled to focus on the words he had written on them in black sharpie. The words swam.
He pulled out a clump of basil before the word came into focus and he realised that was the wrong one. Instead Gabriel took out the bowl of Aloe, Amber, Angelica Root, Asafetida, Blessed Thistle, Bramble Leaf, Cloves, Comfrey Leaf and Mullein. There was a bowl of cumin but he was lacking frankincense right now, so he just left that on the shelf. Note to self: buy some more frankincense… Also give Bloom some Hyssop.
He went through his crystal cabinet, past the whole crystals towards the bags of crystal shards at the back. He pulled out Amber, Black Obsidian, Black Onyx, Eye Agate, Celestite and Adventurine.
His thoughts began to wonder as, with a heavy sigh, he started to work. Maybe he should start making these (with malachite and garnet) and sell them to Faragonda if she was planning to keep sending students into Shadowhaunt. Hey, if people were going to view him as satanic for it, he might as well make some money out of it… Well, satanic wasn't the right word for this dimension but his brain was foggy and he really, really wanted to go back to sleep but he had a shift starting in almost two hours. Wonderful.
Bloom felt her eyes begin to slip shut. The lecture was so boring, the voice started to become less and less focused, slowly until it slipped over her. Classes and exams seemed so alien, foreign and … out of place, given everything that had happened. Then her thoughts began to wander. That sadness last night… Just remembering it choked her up. Soul-devouring, suffocating sadness. There was no way it could have been Faragonda's. No way. There was no way she would be regretting killing her parents… Could there?
Then she shouldn't have done it!
The sadness dissolved into rage. Red hot, pounding in her veins. It became a rush of fiery energy, a gathering of blinding light and darkest desires in a scorching hurricane. Who said Faragonda could play god? What or who gave her the fucking right to take away someone's life? The right to manipulate her and pull her strings like a little puppet?
The bell rang and she almost jumped a foot into the air.
Her fingers tingled with black energy and fire, a nor'easter building up as she gathered up her notepad (with no notes, just the date scribbled in the corner... Oops). Threads and energy as black as the Shadowhaunt caves flooded through her, making her heart pound and her rage increase. It wound her tight.
She headed out of the classroom, among the shuffling crowd; feeling her heart in her throat. Then it vanished immediately as someone ran into her, throwing her to the floor. Books and notepads flew everywhere. Cackling giggles filled the air, causing her cheeks to burn with shame.
'Someone ran into you… Teenage girls have a fucked sense of humour, don't you think?'
'Christian?'
Her eyes quickly scanned the hall as she gathered her books. He wasn't here – not even in haunting-ghosty form.
'Just in your head, my dear.'
'How long have you been in there?'
'You really want to know?'
'… I'm not sure…'
Then a snuffling meet her ears. She whipped round. Ninfa's eyes were red-rimmed with crying, her bottom lips trembled. Again?
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked lowly as she helped the young girl gather her books. Ninfa looked at her, her eyes almost looking through her; judging her. Then her mouth slightly moved, barely forming words.
"What?" She asked.
Ninfa's hands shook, her lips trembled and her eyes shone too bright, despite how red-rimmed they were. She looked as though she didn't have any tears left to cry.
"M-my mom… S-she died in the T-Trix attack." Her eyes filled with tears. "T-the most recent one."
Bloom hugged her. She could feel Ninfa's heart pounding, erratic and violent.
'I'm sorry. So so sorry, Ninfa. You shouldn't have to suffer.'
"I want her back." She sobbed into Bloom's shoulder. "I-I killed her. She wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."
Bloom rubbed her back… What would the two of them do for the holidays? They had no family left.
"It will be okay." She told the girl hollowly. "It'll be okay."
Christian turned away from the window, the stars shining down through the glass, to run his finger along the leather spines of the books on the shelves. Voices were talking on other side of the locked door.
The woman sighed and entered her office, closing the door behind her.
Tactical exposure… But it's not as though she knew what he really looked like so she wouldn't be able to put one and one together until it's too late.
"And here I thought headmistresses did fuck all. Silly me." He said with a smile, turning towards the entrance.
"Who are you?!" She demanded, summoning a ball of dark energy. Really?
"And why would I tell you that?"
She threw the swirling red orb at him. Sighing, Christian held out his hand to catch it and absorbed the energy. He tried not to grimace – dark magic had a bitter aftertaste, not as nice as light magic.
Griffin's eyes widened.
"Who are you?" She repeated in a lower, almost-frightened tone.
"That's not important." He replied, waving the question off carelessly as he turned towards her. "Sit."
She, slowly and hesitantly, walked to the chair at her desk as Darkar's finger twisted his ring with boredom. Why was she so slow?!
"Sit down." He snapped, unleashing a bolt of magic – a blast of swirling Shadows and deadly sins – that shoved her into the seat and tied her to it. Her eyes widened even further as she recognised the darkness of the magic. Had she ever met anyone who used magic darker than witch magic?
"What do you want?" She demanded but her voice was shaky. There was fear in her eyes. His smile widened.
"I know about the gaps in your memories." He told her bluntly.
"I-I don't k-know what-"
"I can restore them."
"W-what?"
He repeated his statement, twisting his ring round his finger again.
"That's impossible. I've tried everything." She breathed.
"No, not impossible. You can tell that I have darker magic than you, I can do more than you." Christian corrected her, stepping closer to her. "I wonder what those memories hold. What's in them that could be so bad that you lost them? Any ideas?"
Griffin swallowed and shook her head. "I don't know."
He stared deep into her eyes, slowly caressing the side of her face the way one would do to a delicate doll as his lips twitched into a smirk.
"No?" He asked softly. "Not one idea? Not even an inkling?"
Something in the back of his head felt very familiar all of a sudden and his smirk widened.
"Hello brother." He said, his eyes not leaving the headmistress' face. Gabriel was stood in the doorway, looking worse for wear. Still bruised? Oh, wait. He wasn't sorry.
"Christian… What are you doing here?" His brother's voice met his ears.
"I think the better question would be what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be rescuing a cat from a tree?"
"Very funny." Gabriel sighed. "I'm keeping an eye on you."
Griffin looked lost and confused (so child-like) as she followed the conversion.
Christian sighed, his face closing off and becoming business-like. "I'm done here so we can leave. Here."
He held out a stoppered vial containing a pale violet potion on her desk. "This will restore your memories… If you want to, of course."
Then, without blinking, he strode over to Gabriel and put a hand on his shoulder. They disappeared into the shadows, leaving a freed but confused and dazed Griffin staring at the potion.
Bloom looked quickly over her reflection again. Her hair still looked like some kind of untameable monster but she thought it looked slightly calmer. She'd put on her new pair of jeans. They looked okay and the baggy t-shirt looked… Okay… So she looked okay, right?
She bit her bottom lip. Why was she so worried? He'd seen her look a lot worse then she currently did.
Her phone lit up with a text. 'Ready to go?'
'Yeah.' She replied quickly. 'I'll meet you near the school gates.'
Bloom grabbed her bag and headed out of the room. She had almost made it until-
"Well, someone's all dressed up." Stella.
"Hey." She blushed.
"Going out?" The blonde pushed.
"Kinda. B-but just with a friend." She rushed out. "G-Gabriel."
Then she mentally slapped herself. Gabriel?! Really? She couldn't have picked someone better?!
Stella raised an eyebrow.
"A-and I'm late." She invented. "Bye."
Bloom ran from the room, down the corridor and stairs towards the entrance hall. Her phone lit up again. Someone's impatient.
She checked it. Sky.
She didn't even bother opening the text and escaped the school (thank you for throwing a hissy fit about whatever, Amaryl).
Her phone lit up again. Still Sky. She still ignored it.
Christian was waiting near the trees on the other side of the gates, almost completely hidden in the shadows.
Her phone rang and she wasn't surprised to see Sky's name when she checked the ID. She tapped 'ignore'.
"Hey." She greeted Christian, feeling her cheeks warm up.
"Hi. You look nice. Like your hair."
"Thanks." She mumbled, looking at the ground. At least, she was until they were transported into Shadowhaunt. As they landed, her lungs felt too tight to catch a breath, black tinged the corner of the roaring fire of the solar. Then she dimly realised that it was her own eyesight and not the fire itself. Her head spun slightly as the world slowly righted itself.
"Still not used to that?" He asked, his arms wrapped around her as she sluggishly realised that she'd almost fainted.
"No." She mumbled into her hair as she tried to stand on shaking legs and ended up collapsing into one of the plushy chairs.
"Must be all of the light magic that you've been surrounded by and now Shadows; it's like putting your hand under freezing water and then putting it into boiling water, I imagine. Doesn't matter if you have a natural affinity towards dark magic, the sudden difference can mess with your head."
She managed a weak chuckle. "Got that right. Any idea on how to make it go away fast? Don't want that to happen in a fight."
"I can only suggest using dark magic more or carrying around something with dark energy. Your ring cancels out the dark signal so there wouldn't be any harm in it unless you get caught." He frowned.
"I've been thinking." She said faintly. "What am I going to do for summer holidays? There's nobody left on Earth for me. I know it's stupid for me to think about."
"No, it's not. You'd be homeless for a few months, I think that could be a problem." He replied, sitting down next to her. Hesitantly, she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Not just me. This girl at school, Ninfa, her mom died in the Trix attacks. She doesn't have anywhere to go either." She bit her lip.
"You have money, you know. All of Oritel and Marion's money and wealth, blah, blah, blah would have gone to you and Daphne because they did technically go through the legal process of adopting you, even if people's memories were changed. But Daphne's a spirit, what's she going to do with money? So it's all yours." He told her.
"Might rent two hotel rooms for the summer." She mused.
"Sounds like a plan." He commented, moving to run hand through her fiery hair and then ran a finger across her cheekbone. So delicate… So full of life. A lingering fury so powerful it was almost living, just waiting to be unleashed.
"I can't wait for summer. I won't be near Faragonda or the winx for a few months; I might actually be able to breath." She thought out loud. "Am I alright to spend the night here?"
"Of course." He answered. "Why wouldn't you be?"
When Lord Darkar awoke, his eyes drifted to the girl laying opposite him. The red curls spread across the black silk like ribbons of fire. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep, so innocent with her freckles and smooth skin… So smooth, it made his jaw ache. It made him crave the sweet taste of blood; magic-filled, emotion-filled blood. So much power.
As his eyes flicked back to Bloom's sleeping form, he pondered on the next phase of his plan. Should he tell her about Enchantix? What would have Faragonda's plan have been regarding that particular transformation?
Giving that it was required to graduate from Alfea, it would be interesting to see. But there was more than one way to skin a cat. It seems Faragonda had forgotten the other ways that transformations could be gained – instead she stuck to the modern but weaker methods. As he thought and plotted, he gently ran his finger across her cheek.
'Yes,' he thought as he studied her peaceful face and his thoughts went towards the ancient legend of Elliana, the goddess of life and the original queen of Shadowhaunt, a powerful warrior. Elliana had been known as the Iron Queen of Shadowhaunt. Right now, Bloom reminded him of the legend. Peaceful but powerful, like a sleeping dragon; all coiled up and ready to spring. 'Definitely an iron queen.'
'I think I've lost my retinas.' Bloom thought as the transport spell dropped her from the darkness of Shadowhaunt into the bright daylight of Magix. Oww. Her destination was Red Fountain. She sent Sky a quick text, asking him to meet her outside.
A few moments later, he appeared.
"Hi. Hi. H-how are you?"
"I'm okay. Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you." She took a deep breath and started.
"I know. I have too. Okay, please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say any of that. Really! Okay, I didn't mean it. I swear." He rambled. "I'm sorry."
"Oh." Bloom nervously began to intertwine her hands. "Well, that makes this a bit harder for me. A-and I'm sorry to say it. Really, i-it's just I feel like things are different between us. I need some breathing space, to get over what happened this year and with what happened to my parents. Everything just feels like it's crushing me."
"What do you mean? What happened to your parents?" He asked, his blue eyes wide like a child.
"T-they're dead." She breathed and even just saying it made her feel like she couldn't breathe at all.
"Don't leave us!" Vanessa screamed, her eyes shell-shocked as her hands clawed for the door.
"We'll never forgive you!" Mike yelled.
That wasn't what they would have said. Shut up brain.
"Are you okay?" Sky asked.
It was on the tip of her tongue. 'Do I look okay? Have you looked at me? Sky, how long has it been since you really looked at me?'
Did he even see that she had cut her hair? Had changed how she dressed? Did he even see that she was in pain?
She swallowed the lump in her throat as he put his hand in hers. "I'd like to think I'm doing okay, given everything that's happened… I know that you believe what you just said. A-about being sorry, I mean. But I also think that you believed what you said before and I honestly think that you're holding it against me. Like I said, I just want to breathe. I need to breathe, Sky. You and your parents… You're making it hard to breathe; there's so much pressure. I know you said that you wouldn't let me go so I'm going to let you go. I'm sorry, Sky. Really, I am… But, please, try to understand."
Bloom's eyes began to burn with unshed tears. She blinked them away, let go of his hand and walked away from him. Then she heard his sobs.
It half-broke her heart and half-hardened it. He didn't deserve that but he even really look at her anymore? He hadn't been able to see that she was in pain, had believed all of that shit about her… Had she done the right thing?
Instead of heading back to Shadowhaunt, she took a detour into the forest and finally shed her tears. After what felt like forever, she finally screamed, in a thicker part of the woods, where nobody could hear her.
Gabriel was instantly regretting his decision, as he stepped down the familiar halls of the Shadowhaunt castle. In his head, he saw he and Rosario running down the halls, laughing as they played hide and seek. He saw fourteen year old Christian stalking down the hall, covered in blood splatters as servants running out of the way to avoid him.
He paused for a moment to recollect himself. He swallowed and shook his head. He shouldn't have come back here… On the other hand, maybe he should have. Everyone has to face their demons at some point. He found the room he was looking for. The War Room.
There were voices chattering behind the door. As he stepped closer, gripping the ornate stone door handle, he recognised two of them… Oh, wonderful. This is going to be fun.
He pushed the door open and it banged against the wall. It bounced back and almost closed on him. 'Way to make an entrance, Gabriel!' He thought to himself, trying not to blush.
The three witches glowered at him, Valtor looked surprised and his brother… Well, his brother's face was blank.
"What? Bad timing?" He asked.
Valtor shrugged. "Where have you been?"
"Busy."
The wizard stared at him.
"Oh, are we letting everyone in on the plan now?" One of the witches – the tall blonde one – questioned in a self-righteous tone that made his fingers twitch.
Gabriel stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He walked up to his brother.
"Who were you expecting?"
"Not you." He replied. "If I recall, you said that you'd never come back."
"Things change."
"Indeed they do."
The two of them stared at each other, the seconds ticking by, until finally Christian sighed at him.
"What do you want, Gabriel?"
"Didn't I ask you that exact same question a few days ago?" He replied, pulling a book out of his bag. It had a dark leather case, plain but obviously expensive, crinkled aged pages and bound by faintly glowing string. It still had a rather thick layer of dust on it from where he'd hidden it.
As his brother leaned back over the sprawling map and his notepad (just a list of names that meant nothing to him), he dropped the book down with a loud thump.
Christian paused in his writing and looked up at his younger brother. "Why are you bringing me that?"
"Because it's you were looking for… That's why you came to my apartment the other week. You," he emphasised the word, bending down and leaning on the cold stone table, "were looking for this. You didn't come to threaten me at all."
His brother's mouth stretched into that oh-so-annoying smirk and familiar smirk.
"And why would I wanted that?" He snorted, laying his pen down and intertwining his fingers.
Gabriel shrugged. "Maybe you wanted to do some posthumous bonding, but then again, this is you so I thought maybe not… Then I remembered. This is the only one you don't have. So there must have been more to it. So go ahead – read it. I have. But guess what? It says nothing about the Ultimate Power or the Dragon Flame. There's nothing of interest in there; just goes on and on about thing he did on a daily basis."
"I'm not surprised." His brother sighed. "The man wasn't interested in any of that stuff, as he?"
"We're not mentioned. Not even once." He let that hang in the air between them.
Christian didn't even blink.
"Sorry, that it won't be any help to Diabolical Plan Part Deux… Or would it be The Diabolical Plan: The Threequel now?"
Christian's smirk turned into a half grimace half 'I'm-thinking-of-many-ways- to kill-you-right-now' smile as he moved the journal to the side.
"You know," he continued, "I could help you."
"You?" His brother questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you rescue animals in your spare time? You know nurse them back to health and that pious crap that you do? Seriously though, wouldn't that be too against nature? Wouldn't want that especially since your type of magic is technically nature magic."
There it was. He just had to bring that up.
Gabriel sighed and stood up straight. "I just want you out of my hair and I think me helping you would minimalise the causalities."
"And that's what matters most to you." Christian said before he studied him for a moment, narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. "What are you doing, Gabriel? Huh? What's your angle on this?"
"You spend too much time with certain people; not everybody wants something in return. The only thing I want is you out of my hair and the less people that get hurt the better. That's it. Think about it."
His brother smirked, grabbed his pen and returned to his notepad. "Why would I trust you?"
"And right there is your problem. Not everyone is like you or your little minions… No offence." He added on glancing at the trio of witches, who had watched the entire exchange with interest. Valtor just looked bored, as though this entire thing was beneath him. "If history is any indication, only one of us is the liar." Gabriel smiled briefly.
Her energy wasted but no less enraged, Bloom stepped back into the solar at Shadowhaunt. The furniture was just sat there… Like nothing had happened. A lot had happened and nothing could change the fact that everything was different now. The room seemed so unfamiliar and out of place yet somehow familiar. It didn't matter though. Even the very idea of the furniture in the solar being there, completely untouched since the last time she had been in this room, bothered her for reasons she couldn't place. It made her skin itch with frustration and annoyance.
Fire burned through her veins, exploding in her hands.
In her fury, she summoned more power. Not just through her anger but with the thoughts of revenge and hatred. Powered by darkness, the flames roared hotter and deadlier then before. She swallowed the furniture up in an inferno. One of the chairs burned to ash and Bloom felt herself become giddy as the thick shadows in the room moved and whispered, caressing her ears.
Then abruptly, she pulled the fire back into her palms and dissipated it. She hadn't done as much damage as she thought she would have. The room must have some form of protection. But surveying the scorched walls and the ash pile, a giggle slipped from her lips before she could stop it.
"Nice." Christian's voice came from nowhere and she jumped, her heart pounding a million miles a minute. "Relax, it's just me."
She took deep breaths to steady herself and ungracefully collapsed onto the sofa behind her. Christian walked towards her, his eyes looking over the damaged walls and sat down opposite her. Unlike her, he was very graceful.
"I've been doing some research in the archives and I have a bit of theory. Want to hear it?"
She raised an eyebrow. He wasn't angry about the room? If it had have been Icy, he most likely would have ripped her head off.
"Um… Sure." She replied.
"I think each element has it's own creation from the Dragon Fire. Like Fire and Air created the Solar Wand. The Fire and Earth created animals and people and Fire Water created the Water Stars… Which I believe that I need to explain to you… But I'm not sure where the Shadow Phoenix fits into the myths. What did he create? Was the Phoenix born evil? No… Nobody is born evil but nearly all of the myths and legends are lost. Burnt way back when we were forced into here."
Lord Christian Darkar took a swig of blood and whisky from the crystal tumbler in his hand as he surveyed the damage Bloom had done.
'Not bad. Powerful but she could be so much more.'
He waved his hand and dark, swirling shadows fixed the room. He smiled to himself as he took another swig. It was time to start planning a trip to Obsidian, then.
Meanwhile Headmistress Griffin sat at her desk, the just-finished reports stacked off to one side, as she found herself picking up the bunch of keys on her desk. She selected one particular key – a small one – and unlocked the middle drawer of her desk. She pulled it open to reveal the potion that the mysterious man had given her. She picked it up and held it up to the light, studying it. It looked innocent enough… But so did poisons.
His magic had been darker then dark; delicious and intoxicating. So powerful but somehow familiar… How had he known about her problem?
A bigger question; could she trust him? Was this the answer to her problems? Did she even want an answer to her problems? What if there was a reason that she forgot those particular things?
Bloom looked through the thick tomes that Lord Darkar had let her borrow. She read and reread them, feeling the dark magic seep out of the words, as she casually twisted the delicately ornate ring on her finger.
Gabriel felt as though there was poison running through his veins. Silhouettes, walls and fires blurred together. The poison felt red, felt blood red and deadly as it flowed through him. A voice echoed through his head, seemingly creating words in the poison – dripping crimson…
"It seems that in your anger…. You killed him…"
"… You killed him…."
"…. You killed him…."
"In your anger…. You…. Killed…. Him…."
Over and over again until it was ringing in his ears. Then he jolted up, out of his nightmare. There was no poison… Never any poison… But he had killed him… And he had never been able to get rid of the guilt. Almost two decades worth… Sometimes he felt like he couldn't live with himself; other times, there was no regrets….
"It seems that in your anger…. You killed him…"
Ninfa's phone rang, cutting through the silence and making her jump. Which then caused a few books to spring off of the shelves. It continued to ring for a few times, sharp and harsh.
She swallowed, her fingers shaking. She didn't bother to check the ID; she knew who it would be. Ninfa closed her eyes.
"H-hello?" She answered, her voice weak and trembling.
The familiar voice replied simply and it shook her to her core.
"I need you to do something for me."