T W E N T Y - S I X
Dark Knight
TIME PASSED SLOWLY. However, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, at this point.
I was reduced to a shivering mess after what felt like an hour after I had last seen or heard Lucifer. It wasn't that my surroundings were cold or freezing. In fact, the more time that passed and the closer I was to the end of my five days grace, the less I could feel. The reason why I was shivering was that I could hear Lola's voice at the back of my mind.
Her taunts and her laughter were ringing in my head like a large church bell. Each minute that went by was one in which she could use to giggle about my misery. She was here again, her presence not in the material world yet her voice loud enough in my mind that it overpowered my own.
"Poor miserable Addison," she snickered mockingly. "If only she was free."
"Shut up." I pressed my palms against my ears even though I know fully well that she was speaking from inside my head, hence blocking my ears would do nothing to serve me.
"Where's your prince now, Addy?" I could picture Lola's toothy grin. "Where is Dimitri when you truly need him? I showed you an illusion but here we are now seeing the truth. Isn't it funny how the line between those two kept blurring?"
The second she said the word 'blur', the world before me started to do so. My vision was beginning to grow hazy, head starting to feel a little light as I swayed in my spot on the ground. I forced my eyes closed, opening them only after a few seconds in hopes that it would improve my sight but nothing worked. My head felt like it was filled with helium gas, making me fly high into the clouds with delirium.
I feared that the fifth day was starting to chime in. Without a working watch nor the sun at my side, I did not know what time it was. The sun was still in the bright azure sky, from what I could see through the minimal window. It seemed to be at the position of noon, one that was brightly blazing like nothing else mattered.
Groaning, I held onto my hand before laying down on the ground. My body was too weak to move, muscles barely even responding to my commands. Even if it hadn't been too late, the second to final sunset was already beginning without a doubt.
Perhaps at that point, the heavens had pitied me. I could hear a scuffle going on beyond the walls of my jail cell. Men and women alike were screaming, a battle cry echoing through the air as the sound of weapons clashing rang through the halls.
Two guards were positioned right by the entrance to my jail cell a couple of feet away. Even they dropped like flies when a cloudy black wisp enveloped their heads.
The ground beneath me was starting to chill. Since it was natural soil, I could see the small plants freeze up, frost cornering each leaf before it shriveled and died. When I breathed out, my breath was a white mist, further proving that the temperature had indeed decreased drastically over the last few seconds. Even my hands which had been on the ground was starting to turn blue in color, the chill nipping at my fingertips where frost had decidedly etched itself onto me.
When the last cry blared, followed by the thud of a body, I pushed myself as best as I could into an upright sitting position. I crawled, hands pulling the rest of my body forward closer towards the bars of the cell, attempting to peer out.
Silence filled the room before a single footstep resonated into the room where I was kept. I could hear the crunch of the thin layer of ice with each step the person took and that thought brought me back towards the days of the boathouse where the four horsemen had been my enemies.
A single polished black leather shoe stepped in, followed by another before I looked up to see a well-dressed man that wore a scowl on his face. His black hair was not combed neatly even though he dressed smartly. With calculating eyes that scanned the entirety of the room, Fabian's dark irises only stopped when they rested on my crouched wimpled figure right at the other end from where he stood.
He paused, seemingly in shock and I fought to keep my eyes open. For a split second, he allowed himself the smallest of smiles before he quickly made his way over. Two hands clutched tightly onto the bars of the cell that locked me in, Fabian tugged at it forcefully, ripping the doorway right off its hinges before he flung it carelessly across the room.
In less than two steps, the dark knight was crouched right beside me, a hand reaching below my knees and the other supporting my neck before he lifted me off the ground.
"You found me," I breathed out lightly, too weak to speak in my usual speaking volume. "I didn't expect you to come."
Yet, Fabian heard me well and clear. The corners of his lips twitched.
"I can't let you die yet. Dimitri will have me killed if that happened," he responded.
Turning around, Fabian easily carried me out of the room. I dared myself to look at the path behind us, noticing all the dead bodies that were left shriveled like a dehydrated plant, left strewn all over the grounds of the new angel camp. Some of the angels had eyes wide open even after death but some died peacefully, their eyes shut and lips slightly shaped into a smile.
I thought the latter more creepy but at least that meant that they were not truly on either Lucius's or Lucifer's side of the war. They just wanted to be free and now they were.
"Are they..." I trailed off, eyes still glued to the dead bodies.
"All dead," Fabian confirmed with a nod. "I tried to make it quicker than usual. Especially for those who did not support the crazed lunatic."
When I did not notice the familiar head of platinum blond, I did not know whether to be relieved or frightened. "Where is Lucifer?" I asked, trying my best to glance around. Yet, my lack of strength was proving to be an obstacle.
"He must have left, fled to Heaven to prepare for the final battle. Wilhelm mentioned that he might bring his troops back to Hell today. Your fifth day is approaching and sunset is soon upon us. Let's just hope that Dimitri and your little friend had been quick enough in finding the ingredients needed to save you from entering another fit."
"Have I been gone that long?" I coughed, scrunching my eyebrows when an unexplainable searing pain tore through my head.
Fabian did not answer at first. From the corner of my eye, I could see him purse his lips, eyes darting to look anywhere but me. We were already far into the forest, the ruins of the angel camp behind us. With how the sun rested upon the highs of my cheek, I couldn't help but sigh in relief. How wonderful it was to be able to see the light of day so clearly.
The smaller things in life truly weren't appreciated until the direst of moments where everything was lost.
After long hesitation, Fabian sighed. He finally spared me a glance, his narrow dark eyes filled with what seemed to be pity and a little more of something I could not put into words.
"Long enough," was all he said. In fact, he muttered it so softly that I might have even missed it if it hadn't been for the fact that I was so closely positioned to him.
With his words hanging in the air, I could see his eyes glaze over, staring off far into the distance. I sighed, breathing out deeply before resting my head against Fabian's hard chest. My eyelids felt too heavy, the entire piece of skin seemingly dragged down due to a weight at the tip of my eyelashes though I knew it to be false.
It didn't take long for me to doze off, succumbing to the sweet lull of sleep with Fabian's rhythmic footsteps serving as the background noise.
-----
I had not even noticed when we arrived at the rendezvous point. I had only begun to stir awake when I realized a new set of voices overpowering Fabian's practically non-existent one. Blinking my eyes open, it took me a few seconds to adjust to the sudden bright light that entered my field of vision.
"What did you do with her?" I could hear Dimitri's voice in the background and it was only after I glanced at my surroundings had I noticed him standing right in front of us, Minnie by his side.
"Relax, brother, she simply fell asleep. I brought her back in one piece, didn't I?" Sarcasm leaked heavily from his tone as he spoke. I could feel his hands shifting under me and that was when I decided to make it known that I was very much awake again.
"I'm still here, you know." Slowly, I stirred from my position, careful not to move so much that I would drop to the ground. "I'm not dead yet. Not that easily."
"Yeah," Fabian snorted, "that's a given since you're actually already dead."
"Shut up, Fabian." Minnie chastised, but the smile dancing on her lips betrayed her serious tone. "That's mean."
"He's always mean." I joined in with the laughter as Fabian gently set me down on the ground.
When my feet touched the ground again, I could feel my blood rushing through my veins and into my limbs, inducing the pins-and-needles feeling. I groaned at the sensation, rubbing my legs with one hand while the other was tossed over Dimitri's shoulder when he took a step forward to support me.
"Have you gotten all the ingredients?" Fabian asked, his chin tilting upwards so that he could eye the sky. "The sun was about to set when I had left Hell. You will have to brew the potion quickly."
"Yeah, we have it." Patting a small knitted back, Dimitri grinned. "We'll have to build a fire. Did you bring the flask I told you to?"
With a roll of his eyes, Fabian reached behind him. It was then had I noticed a small brown satchel that was slung across his shoulders. Pulling a glass flask from the bag, he handed it over to Dimitri breezily.
"What would you do without me?" I thought I saw him smirk playfully.
Dimitri merely grinned, taking hold of the flask before waving a hand.
"Come on. We will have to make camp for a while. The potion takes a few good minutes to brew over the fire. We can't risk staying out in the open in case there are more of Lucifer's angels guarding these lands."
"I made sure to kill every last one of them." Fabian wrinkled his nose. However, he still followed along as Dimitri led the way. The latter had his hand wrapped around my waist to hold me up, the other holding the flask.
"Prevention is always better than having a cure," Dimitri simply replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You cannot prevent everything bad from happening. That's not how life works, brother." Fabian wore a small frown, his eyes darting over to glance at me for a second. I knew then what he meant. They had not prevented my death, hence we had to try and cure it now.
"Good thing I'm not life then." Smirking Dimitri's eyes glittered with mischief. "I am the spirit of death. Hence I am made to defy those rules."
I couldn't help but laugh at his words, shoulders quaking up and down as I wiped a stray tear away. If it was Dimitri's purpose to make the situation lighter than it had been, or just simply to make someone laugh, he had succeeded. When I looked up at him, I could see the silver of his irises dancing with good humor and other hidden emotions; all joyous, it seemed.
The weight on my shoulders was immediately lifted and though the past could never be erased, the memories of my short amount of time alone and afraid in Lucifer's prison was soon thrown to the back of my mind.
[A/N]:
We are so near the ending already. For those who have read the finale on Radish Fiction, you'll know that the ending is a hell of a ride.
Don't forget to read the update on [Lucius] that I posted earlier this week! I am planning for yet another fantastic showdown for that book too and I can't wait to share it with you all. Since the book is a mere introduction, it will not be very long. I'm estimating around 10+ chapters in total.
Hope you enjoyed.
xx aurora