ᴅᴇx ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴꜱ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ 「 ˢᵒʳᵘʸ 」

1 || the nightmare

Six years. It had been six long years since Sophie talked to people other than the Black Swan members, Exillium students, and her mother. On her request she was forgotten, no one talked about her anymore—or nothing more than whispers of conspiracy theories that the Council immediately shut down. She was honestly tired though, stars, she got the second chance she wanted and she didn't know if she was using it wisely.

Every day she woke up at the same time, she trained, then she went to school. Sophie had a schedule that she stuck to, but she wanted more. More than small missions, more than schedules, more than getting her ass handed to her by the Neverseen. She wanted what her storybook heroes had, adventure, real love. She put being the Moonlark before everything, which was likely why she was really bad with romance and friends.

She tried so hard, and it wasn't that she lacked looks. She knew now that she was gorgeous—she wasn't the self loathing twelve year old anymore, she liked her body, liked herself. But you can't possibly have love and be a symbol—a tool—at the same time.

She must have dozed off there a bit because she didn't see when Linh walked up, "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" She smiled at her best friend, she had won that title by not leaving Sophie at her first mess up and not being fake. "Nothing, it's fine." Her friend pursed her lips, clearly knowing there was more to it than that.

"I'm serious, Linh, I'm fine." Linh sat across from her and gave her that 'sure' look, Sophie ignored that and went back to looking out the window. It was really pretty today at Alluveterre, But it's always like that, she thought. "It's the nightmare again, isn't it?" Proving how you can read minds without being a telepath. She was about to deny it when Linh stopped her.

"Before you say anything, just know that I know you, Moon. You haven't slept in days," She shook her head and Linh laughed, "Our walls are super thin, so I hear everything." Sophie paused for a moment looking at her best friend in horror. When Linh caught on she gasped and blushed, like really hard. Her whole face just turned a scarlet color.

"Oh, gods, no. Stars, get your head damned out of the damn gutter!" She mocks being wounded, "I wear headphones whenever my brother goes into your room—do you think I wanna hear you banging each other?" It was Sophie's turn to wear the famous Foster blush, "Linh!" She hissed.

"It's the truth! I really don't want to hear my best friend and my brother doing it. But I do hear you tossing and turning in the night. And I sure as hell know for a fact that it's not because of the bed." Sophie looked away, but Linh already knew it was the truth. She bit her lip and continued to look out the window, leaving her body to be in her mind.

It was pitch black as she walked down this never ending hallway. She kept walking forward until she hit something solid, bingo, it was a door. She turned the knob and screamed. Dead, the word was everywhere. Written in a red substance in big bloody letters was a message that she knew had to be left for her, 'We should have killed you, a dead girl walking. Dead. Dead. DEAD.'

She took a step back and tripped, she looked down to see a corpse. She did a crab walk backwards, her hands touching something cold and firm—another corpse. She let out a blood curdling scream. She knew the people around her, her family, her friends, all dead. She didn't have to see the Neverseen member across the room to know that this was her fault.

They've been trying to recruit her for months, the same old threats every time—join or we'll hurt your family bull shit. They did it this time, Oralie's dead, a gaping slash through her throat, her eyes still open. Forkle, sword through his chest. Kenric, burning with Eternalia. Linh, drowned. Tam, a slave. She screamed louder.

"This all could have been avoided," Said a males voice she knew all too well, the man touched her shoulder and turned her to face him, Gethan. "But no, you had it your way. Sorry about your mother though, I think I'll be guilty about that. The others though, tough shit for them, they'll go in shallow graves—right next to yours."