Intertwine

84 - Hopefully Not Perish In The Process

TW - Extreme violence and sexual assault

ROARA

"What the hell have you done this time?" 

I rolled over to see Gaea standing above me, dark hair pin straight as before, blue eyes just as soul piercing. 

I groaned. I was in complete agony.

"This place gives us a moment. As before time doesn't pass here, but you can't stay here for long. It also won't stop the pain you're in. You've been stabbed five times."

"Yeah." I moaned. "I know. I was there." I staggered to my feet. My T-shirt and shorts were soaked in blood, but no more was coming out of me.

"You'll begin to bleed out again once you return to your reality." My mother explained. 

"Right." I sighed. "So I'm going to die?"

Gaea shrugged. "Maybe. I can't see into the future."

"Am I going to die?" I asked again, slightly more forcefully this time.

"My child, I really don't know. The number of near death experiences you've had recently, well quite frankly I've lost count." She passed me a mug of tea from nowhere. "You look thirsty."

I drained the cup and passed it back to her. It vanished into thin air as soon as it touched her fingers. 

"How can I help you?" She asked, sitting down, her green dress flowing around her knees.

I decided to remain standing, despite the pain. "I'd really like to kill the guy who's got me under mind control and then also hopefully not perish in the process. If that's at all possible."  

My mother shrugged. "I'm not a miracle worker."

"You literally just made a mug vanish, I don't know what else I would call you."

Gaea laughed. "My dear, that is simple magic. What you are asking for is a miracle. This man has the power to remove your abilities, and I can't grant them back to you. You still have them, they're just inaccessible to you."

I sighed, and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Look, I'm okay dying if it means he can't hurt my friends, but I think he'll do that even if I die. It feels like my best bet is to kill him as soon as possible." 

My mother shrugged again. "That's probably accurate. You die, he'll work out another plan to destroy you friends. You survive, he uses you to do the same thing. Both scenarios he gets his way but in one of them you have the possibility of stopping him and also, as you so eloquently put it, hopefully will not perish."

I sat, unable to remain standing any longer. "What do I do?" I asked. 

"I cannot tell you."

"But-"

"I can't. You will have to do this on your own. If you die, you die, I can't change that. Find a way." She smiled. "There is always a way."

The world began to blur.

"Mother!" I called. But it was too late. 

I could feel the weight of the sword in my hand, the blood oozing out of me. I focused my vision. I was back in my bedroom. And then time started again.

I swung wildly, and my sword struck flesh and bone. Simon cried out as I pulled my sword blade out of his shoulder. I'd hacked at the end of the joint, and if I had been a little to the left and a lot deeper his arm would have certainly come off. I realised I didn't have the strength or the concentration to be able to hit a moving target.