Within Darkness

Chapter Seven: Haze

"I know what — what Dark Brings do to people who are alone and scared. It doesn't have to — to be like this. Let me help, Lucia."

The words rang in the air between them, and even as the pressure from Lucia's foot increased, Elie refused to back down. Go and Rosa had become self-obsessed jerks after being exposed to what she now understood to be fairly low level Dark Brings; how much worse could the effects be for someone who had been exposed to a Sinclaire for over ten years?! Lucia had been the perfect target for something that evil, and Elie was certain that if she could just…reach him, she could help.

But Lucia wasn't going to make that easy.

His boot disappeared from her back, but he didn't give her a chance to try and roll away. Harsh fingers appeared in her hair, yanking her head and torso up. The purple light from the Dark Bring flickered between them for a second as he regarded her with wild golden eyes, teeth gnashed in a terrifying snarl. "And what the fuck do you know about Dark Bring, hm?" he asked, voice rough and mocking. "What could you possibly understand, Elie?" He accentuated the question with a rough shake, fingers curling tighter into her hair. Elie hissed in pain, but she didn't cower away.

"I've s-seen it," she gasped, shakily reaching up to grab at his wrist. Lucia didn't stop her, didn't even look down as her fingers curled around the ornate gold and purple band there. "The Sinclaire is j-just controlling you, Lucia, please! Please just let us h-help you," she begged. The pain from his grip on her hair was making her head hurt, and Elie clenched her eyes shut around the swell of pain. She heard him inhale, but before he could yell at her further, another alarm blared around them.

"What now?" he spat, dragging her along with him towards the door.

Behind her closed eyes, Elie saw the cell he had kept her in before, all sharp angles and unforgiving manacles. She felt the stale air on her skin, pain radiating out from her wrists and ankles. Elie gasped, forcing her eyes open in time to watch as a group of soldiers in purple-clad gear came running by, each of them holding what looked like some sort of firearm. Lucia had not released her hair, but she could see his chest heaving as he listened to a report from one of his higher ranked soldiers.

Another rescue attempt. Elie chewed on her lip, wishing they had waited just another day. She needed more time to get through to him! Lucia sent the soldier off and then turned down the hall opposite the direction everyone was running, and she didn't fight him, not wanting her hair to be ripped painfully free from her head. "Lucia, I-I know you think you don't have a-a choice," she started, but her voice cut off as a painful shock was sent down from her necklace. Elie gasped, body slumping slightly from the force of it, but Lucia didn't even stop. His grip on her hair was unnaturally strong, unrelenting even as she lost the strength to keep up.

In her mind again, she was back down in the dungeon, that horrible unnatural darkness all around her. Elie whimpered, trying to push the thought away and focus on the purple carpet beneath her, but it wouldn't go away. Something sharp was digging into her back, her feet were completely numb, she could hardly stand, let alone walk! "L-Lucia," she gasped, but he ignored her.

It was as if the strength had been completely sapped out of her body, leaving her mind to fill in the gaps. Sometimes the hallways were purple, sometimes they were red. Sometimes it was Lucia dragging her, other times she would open her eyes and see nothing at all. Had that shock finally snapped something within her? Elie reached up and weakly shoved against Lucia's hand, feeling pins and needles in her palms where she made contact. From behind them, she could hear the sounds of some sort of battle, but she couldn't make out any specific voices, and even if she could, Elie knew she didn't have the strength to turn back.

Ahead of her, Lucia was grumbling something she couldn't quite make out. She thought he was speaking to the Sinclaire again, but his mouth wasn't moving.

"We need to move her, sir."

Elie closed her eyes. They were moving her already. It was too late. She hadn't reached him in time.

"If we move her, we have to start all over!"

She opened her eyes, but all she could see was the purple haze again. It surrounded her, taking away the pain from her head and the phantom injuries she knew couldn't be real, and Elie tried to fall blissfully into its embrace once more. Maybe this was all just a strange dream. Of course Lucia would never show such weakness in front of her! Yes, it must just be her delusions. It was so hard to pick between what was real and what was her mind trying to make sense of a horrible situation.

This time, however, one pain remained. A weight against her collarbones, a burning at the base of her throat. Elie tried to reach up to see what it was, but her hands just twitched uselessly.

"I understand that, but that may be our best option right now. She's…fighting it, somehow, sir."

The voices sounded so close, but she couldn't find who was speaking. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw one place, but when her eyes were open, she saw another. That had to be the real one. Elie tried to force her eyes to stay open, but the purple haze was making her so tired…

A crash sounded somewhere close, but Lucia didn't even flinch. He just kept dragging her, face obscured by his hair and the ever glowing purple light from the Dark Bring. Elie had no idea where he was taking her, where he was even going. It was just one endless hallway after the next, purple decorations repeating to make it seem less desolate. When she closed her eyes, however, she saw two faces leaning over her, both of them familiar but neither of them what she wanted to see. Why did her mind torture her like this?

"Fuck, how long has she been down here?" Musica grumbled, his hands reaching up for something. Elie shook her head weakly, refusing to fall for another trick. She wasn't being rescued, she was being dragged down a purple hallway by a man with shockingly purple eyes. Musica wasn't here, he wasn't breaking the manacles binding her arms in place.

Another person shuffled in the room, standing near the door with its blinding light. "We can ask her later," Shuda said curtly. "Haru and Let's distraction won't last forever, we need to get her out of here."

Calloused hands reached around her, pulling her off of the hard ground. Elie shook her head again, trying desperately to hold onto the purple hallway. If she could just focus on reality, then the dream would eventually give up. It'd dissipate, and she'd be free. Well. Relatively free. Musica hoisted her into his arms gingerly, and she felt something soft press against her skin as he moved. A blanket? Elie couldn't tell, struggling to cling to reality. There was no blanket, there was only Lucia's firm grasp on her hair and the soft purple carpet beneath her.

Frantic to hold onto what she knew to be true, Elie reached out and grabbed Lucia's arm, causing him to halt. "I want to help," she croaked out, voice weaker than it should be. "Please."

He turned back towards her with a curious look in his eyes before a wicked grin took its place. "Of course you do," he purred, releasing her hair slightly. Elie breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't dare close her eyes again. Yes, this was real. She was with Lucia. She was going to help him. "Stay with me, Elie," he whispered. "I need you."

Without thinking about it, Elie nodded. She had to stay, because she had to help him. She had to break the Dark Bring's hold on him and then Haru would never have to fight him again. She could save everything before it ever got to the point of no return. Lucia smiled again, reaching out to gently caress her cheek. "That's right, Elie," he said softly. "Only you can save me. And then we can finally be together, just as we were meant to be."

Meant to be?

Elie watched him, the words feeling…wrong. When was she meant to be with him? "I love you, Elie," he whispered. "I've always loved you."

No, that was…that was wrong. She was sure it was wrong. It had to be wrong. Elie stared at him, purple haze from the Dark Bring shimmering at the edge of her vision. "You're…you're lying," she whispered, trying to pull away from him. Lucia's smile faltered slightly, and she tried to push herself away. The purple shimmered more, trying to cloud over her vision, but Elie clenched her eyes shut, washing it away. It made her head swim, to go from one to the other so rapidly, but Elie didn't know what else to do. Lucia loving her…no, that couldn't be reality. Something wasn't right.

"Just hang on, Elie," Musica was saying softly, coming to a stop at the edge of the hallway. Elie felt tears building in her eyes, wishing everything could just stop. She turned her head towards his chest, pressing her forehead against his shirt and clenching her eyes shut as tightly as she could manage to banish this taunting delusion.

For a second, everything just…vanished. Like a dream come true. And then the hallway burst back into life before her eyes, Lucia clinging to her arms with frantic golden eyes. "Help me," he gasped. "Elie, please, you're the only one who can help me." Elie watched him, tears burning her cheeks. Had she…reached him, somehow? With shaking hands, she reached up and cupped his face, heart thundering nervously in her chest. Yes, she…she must have. Lucia leaned into the touch, gripping her shoulders tightly.

"I'm here," she breathed. The purple haze was receding, the pain and everything else going with it. Elie smiled. Yes, they had sat here, and she begged him to let her help and he listened. He listened because he was, at his core, just a scared boy locked away in a cell. She knew what that was like now.

But there was…something else. A buzzing in the back of her head, refusing to disappear with the rest of the delusions. Elie felt her smile falter a little, eyes fixated on the Dark Bring around his chest. He was…still wearing it. How could she trust that he really wanted her help if he was still wearing it? That was always the first step. You had to remove them from it, and then keep them away from it so the effects could wear off. Elie reached forward, but when her fingertips should have hit the cold surface of the Dark Bring, they seemed to pass right through it.

She yanked her hand back from the touch, feeling the world tilt slightly. Why did that happen? Elie looked down at her hand, finding the few fingertips stained purple as if she had just dipped them into paint. "What…"

"Fuck! Start again!"

Her vision exploded in another haze of purple, ears ringing painfully. Elie clenched her eyes shut around it, curling into herself a little. She didn't know what was real anymore, didn't know what to trust. Images and voices were overlapping one another painfully, blending into a single, horrible cacophony of noise until Elie was screaming for it all to stop. For a second, it seemed to crescendo around her, and then everything went silent. She took shaky breaths, nervously opening her eyes.

In front of her, Lucia was kneeling with an arm extended towards her, mouth agape in a soundless scream. For a second, Elie wasn't sure what she was seeing, but then a black blade twisted slightly in his chest, scarlet blood dripping onto the purple carpets. Haru stood behind him, that awful black sword once again crawling up his arm as he cruelly drew the blade out with a horrifying squelch. Elie could only watch in horror as his body fell limply forward, a strangled noise coming from her lips.

She had been so close. Just one more day, that was all she needed. Elie screamed, eyes clenching shut as the world around her dissolved once more into a purple haze before the darkness took her once more.

Haru stabbed him. Even as she rested, Elie was acutely aware of that fact, the image of him standing there with that wretched Ten Powers form haunting her rest. There were others, of course, but they were fleeting when compared to that…horrible image. How could he do that? Surely she had not been gone long enough for him to have changed so drastically?

Truthfully, her heart hurt. Whether that was because Lucia was stabbed or because Haru had been the one stabbing him she wasn't sure.

When she slowly came to, Elie found herself in a soft bed, wrapped in warm blankets. She turned her head, expecting there to be something hard or sharp, but there was just the pillow and the familiar hum of an airship. Elie forced her eyes open and then quickly lifted a hand to shield them from the bright lights that met her. As she blinked to adjust more, she noticed a thick wrapping around her wrist. With a frown, she twisted her arm to see the extent of the injury and winced slightly as pain shot up her elbow and shoulder. Her entire body felt…heavy. As if she had just been laying here for weeks. The thought was frightening, and she sluggishly pushed the blanket off to try and get to her feet.

Pain immediately met her, and Elie whined a little. Everything felt sore on top of the heaviness, and she tried to piece together what she could remember. There had been the dungeon, then Reina's old room… Elie clenched her eyes shut, seeing flashes of a purple lined hallway and red carpets, Lucia's eyes shimmering between gold and purple. The more she tried to think about it, the worse it became, and before she could stop herself, she retched over the side of the bed and into a waiting bucket. Elie coughed a few times as bile came up, bowing her head and fighting back the urge to vomit again.

"O-oh! Miss Elie, you're awake."

Elie flinched at the voice, not recognizing it. She tried to push herself up more, but her arms had started to shake, making it difficult to move quickly. Footsteps sounded as the person approached, and a gentle hand eased her back onto the bed. Elie frowned up at her, certain she had never seen anyone with hair such a shade of cerulean. But when she tried to speak, her voice came out rough and cracked, causing her to cough more.

Without hesitating, the woman offered her a small glass of water, which Elie took gratefully. "Don't drink too fast," she warned, but Elie couldn't help it. The second it touched her lips, she gulped it down as if she afraid the water would be the last she'd ever had. The girl frowned as she watched, but when Elie had finished and shakily held it out for more, she didn't argue. Elie drank that glass a little slower, closing her eyes to savor it. When she was finished with it, she shook her head and reached to put it on the nightstand. The girl caught it and placed it for her before smoothing out the front of her frilly dress. "My name's Belnika," she introduced. "I am…a friend of Haru Glory. He asked me to look after you, since I am also proficient in healing magic."

A friend of… "H-Haru?" Elie asked. "Where…"

Belnika held a hand up. "I'll let the others know you're awake, but you shouldn't be up and moving yet," she explained. "You…just need more time to heal, Miss Elie."

With that, the girl was gone. Elie stared after her, head spinning again. She was a friend of Haru's, she had been helping her…heal. Heal from what? Nervously, she lifted her arms in the air and found that both wrists had the same thick bandaging on them, dark bruises poking out from beneath them. But that…she hadn't been locked away in the dungeon for a few days, that wasn't right. Elie forced herself to sit up more, ignoring the tendrils of pain that followed and throwing the blankets off herself with a gasp.

Someone had changed her into a pair of her pajama's, shorts short enough to see a mess of bruises and scraps all down her legs. Her knees were the worst, a sickening shade of purple and black that barely looked healed. Further down, she saw the same set of bandages around her ankles, realizing after a second that the protrusion around her ankle was just…her anklebone.

Elie sucked in a deep breath, fingers nervously poking at her sides. She had always been thin, but not so thin that she could feel the bones so clearly. Growing frantic, she felt other parts of her body, finding the same sickly thinness. What the hell had happened to her?!

Ignoring Belnika's warning, she clambered out of bed, closing her eyes against the dizziness that followed her. She couldn't move very quickly, no, but she was not totally immobile. With some care, Elie moved slowly across the room towards where Belnika had left from, glancing up and down the corridor to see what she could hear. Voices were coming from the right, so she went that way, determined to find her friends and figure out what exactly she was missing. As she walked, one hand steadied herself on the nearest wall, taking a small break at the end of the hallway. Elie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but all she could see was Haru, standing over Lucia…

Tears pricked her eyes. Something horrible had happened. She was going to figure out what.

Author's Note: HELLO I'M ALIVE. I don't have any good excuses other than life got ridiculously busy between moving, new jobs, newer jobs, and a whole mess of other things, but I am so so sorry that this has just been...sitting here. Unfinished.

I also lost all my notes for this a few years ago which definitely didn't help.

Anyways! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write. It's meant to be very discordant and confusing, so hopefully that came off well and not just...rambling. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will try my hardest to get the last two chapters up in the next few months!