Dark Dreams, Bright Nightmares

Chapter 33

Slowly, I raised to my feet, the tear streaks on my face forgotten. Anger ran through my veins as I saw Jinsei, laying there on the ground.
Christopher. He had done this. He had caused all of this. He just couldn’t stop ruining lives. And he wouldn’t stop, because he was so driven by the desire to gain power that he didn’t care about anyone or anything. With steps that resembled my anger, I summoned my wings. It was as hard as it had been before and it took me a little while, but sure enough, I was up in the sky soon. It didn’t take long to find Christopher. He was the only lion in this whole fight.
I landed close to him, only now realizing the nerves that had begun to come back to me as my wings disappeared. Did anyone even notice it?
Christopher turned around, sniffing the air. I don’t think I can ever get used to the whole smelling-good-thing. He growled at me before shifting back.
‘Finally, you get that fight you wanted.’
‘Well, am I lucky.’
Christopher bared his teeth at me and my sarcastic tone, which looked ridiculous since he was in his human-form. He charged at me first. He was better at fighting than I thought he was, but after all, he was the prince –I mean, king?– of his country. He was supposed to be good.
It annoyed the hell out of me.
Christopher was also a dirty fighter. He kept involving the people around us, making his men attack me, or taking down unsuspecting fighters from my side. It angered me so much that he could just try and take a life like that, so easily.
I had to lead him away from here.
When he lunged for me with his knife, I was barely able to get out of the way, but I got to punch him in the face, which satisfied me just the tiniest bit.
Christopher stood there for a second, clearly surprised. He raised his hand to touch his cheek, cringing ever so slightly. His eyes darkened in anger.
Uh oh…
I turned around quickly, darting towards the forest.
‘Louise!’ Christopher roared, sounding everything like the lion he was. I could hear his thundering footsteps as he chased after me, away from the others. With this much running after so much fighting, I realized my condition really wasn’t trained enough for it.
My legs felt like lead as I kept pushing them to go forward. My breath came out in wheezing huffs, trying to keep up with everything, but failing miserably. I didn’t know how long I was able to run like this, but I had to keep up. I could hear the footsteps behind me, signaling me that he was hot on my heels.  I was surrounded my many trees, with thick bushes scattered between them, making it impossible for me to stray from the path and find refuge in the oh so familiar forest. Faintly, I remembered this path from somewhere. I was sure I’d seen it before, but I didn’t know from what. Adrenaline cursed through my veins, fueling me enough to keep me running instead of thinking.
And then I heard him. Tony. He was calling my name, searching me, calling for me to come to him. I was trying to lead Christopher áwáy from Tony and the others, that wouldn’t work if he came after me.
So I continued running, ignoring his calls for me to come to him. I looked around frantically, looking for somewhere I could go. A small path between the trees caught my eyes. It was a split second decision, but I bolted for it anyway.
I don’t think that was a good choice.
The path lead to another clearing. I stopped in my tracks, a few steps after I entered the clearing. It hit me like a ton of bricks, where I had seen this before. My dream.
It was coming true.
Was I going to die here?
My breath caught in my throat as I looked around the clearing, comparing it with the ones from my dreams. It was a perfect match. Funny, how those dreams could be that detailed. But that meant Tony was the one that would help me, but fail, and Christopher would kill me.
‘There you are, I was just going to ask you to come out, come out wherever you are.’
I turned around with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights kind of look. It’s not every day that you realize today is the day you’ll die. But then something Jinsei had once told me came to mind.
I don't see them as nightmares. They're dreams that predict the future if you continue your way of living like this. And sometimes, your future is just a little darker. But you can change the future, you know?
That’s right, I can change the future.
Leave it to me to trip over some tiny branch, just when I’d decided that. Christopher smirked at me. My eyes already went to his hand, finding what I had expected to find: the knife.
‘Finally, I get to take my revenge.’
I frowned at Christopher in confusion. Him, taking revenge on me? What for? ‘W-what? Why would you… If you want to blame someone for what happened, it’s you.’ I didn’t know where this bravery came from, since he was quite intimidating, looming over me. ‘It’s your fault Jinsei died, Star died, my parents died, innocent people died because of you, Christopher, and your stupid quest for power.’
‘If it wasn’t for you, Star would have still been alive!’ Did Christopher just loose his cool? I knew Star and Christopher had been together for a little while, but Christopher really loved her.
I looked for the signs that showed how upset he was, like I remembered from my dream. They were all there. His fisted hands, distraught look, disheveled hair, slight red eyes and clenched jaw.
‘You loved her.’ It was a statement, not a question.
‘I did,’ Christopher confirmed in a whisper, and my heart broke a little at how lost he looked. His eyes then focused on me, the helplessness replaced by anger. ‘Star would’ve still been here if it hadn’t been for you. You took her from me. You’ll pay for that.’
My eyes widened when he took his long strides towards me. I had been too distracted to think about getting away. Because I knew what was going to happen, I was able to stop crawling backwards just in time to not get hit in the shoulder with a knife. As it did in my most recent dream. I guess the closer you got to the event, the more accurate the dream got. Right?
But unlike the previous dream, Christopher didn’t even get the chance to sit down on top of me before Tony tackled him to the ground. I guess the talking took up that spot.
But I remembered to actually get up this time, although I couldn’t mingle in the fight. The two boys rolled over the ground, tired grunts, pained whimpers, and soft growls filled the air. You could feel the tension between the underlying animals, both trying to show who was stronger. Christopher had probably practiced this a lot more, and I hadn’t seen him fight that much today. Tony was already exhausted because he had actually had to defend himself before, and with Christopher being a lion-shifter, the latter eventually got the upper hand. Before I could interfere, his fist collided with Tony’s face. I think Tony was a magnet to getting knocked unconscious. Maybe he’d even end up with a concussion.
Christopher slowly stood up, his eyes settling on my defensive stance. He made this “tsk”-noise, shaking his head with an amused smile.
‘Really? I can’t seem to get it in that not-so-pretty little head of yours, but, seriously. You can’t w-’
I moved fast, not losing any time on this nonsense any longer. Christopher’s eyes widened in surprise, and maybe even a little anxiety. That made an involuntary smile appear on my lips. He blocked my first attack towards him, unfortunately.
Christopher was a lót stronger than I hoped he was. This wasn’t easy. But I think I bruised his leg, which was nice.
‘What happened to “I would never hurt you”?’ I asked when Christopher had managed to throw me on the ground – again.
‘Come on Louise, that wasn’t the first thing I lied about.’ I could already see it coming: he sauntered closer with a threatening attitude, ready to keep me on the ground. What was he going to do? Choke me? I mean, the knife wa-
The knife.
‘Face it,’ Christopher continued, his light eyes showing me a crazy look, and wearing a smirk on his face that I had seen a thousand times. I really hated his cockiness. ‘No man can beat me.’
He lowered himself onto me, the moment I found the knife. I had been feeling around the ground for it. ‘Then you’re lucky I’m not a man,’ I sat up suddenly, ‘I’m a soul seeker.’ Christopher leaned back with a surprised look, but not before I cut his cheek. He hissed out in pain, raising his hand to touch his cheek. He looked down at his hand, blood sticking on his fingers. When he looked up again, my fist was already close to his face. A curse word rolled over his lips as he tried to evade the attack. He sat up on his knees, blocking my arm and grabbing my wrists, pinning them above my head, the knife still in my clenched hands. I kneed him between the legs to get him off of me, and he fell to the side with a grunt. I scrambled from the ground quickly, my eyes temporarily going to Tony, who was blinking rapidly, seeming in a dazzled state.
When I attacked again, Christopher was a little more prepared. The knife somehow ended up in his hand as he turned me with my back against his chest, whispering something about a last dance. All my struggled stopped when I felt the knife against my throat, just as Tony –lying on his stomach– looked up at us. Our eyes locked, his clouded with dread. I swallowed, feeling the dangerous pressure of the knife on my throat. I heard the word “no” come from Tony as Christopher pulled the knife back, ready to strike me.
From then on, everything moved in a flash. I managed to loosen Christopher’s grip on me by pinching some spot in his leg that I had learned from Rose, even though it didn’t paralyze his leg –I didn’t know enough and hadn’t practiced that much. He stumbled back a bit. I moved after him, and suddenly, the knife was in between us, buried in Christopher’s chest. How it had gotten in that position, I had no idea.
His eyes widened as he whimpered, dropping on his knees, next to me. My eyes had widened too, and I quickly wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders to keep him from falling over, slowly guiding us to the ground.
Jinsei, Star, mom, dad… They had all been killed. And now I had taken Christopher’s life. I hadn’t meant to, I really hadn’t, but in the end, I was the same as all the others that had taken a life.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered, rocking him back and forth, leaning over him. ‘I-I didn’t…’ My hand shook violently as it hovered above the knife. I knew I couldn’t remove it, because that would only make him bleed more.
‘There’s more…’ Christopher pulled a pained face, ‘…to you than I thought.’ He closed his eyes for a second, before taking my hand in his. ‘You never cease to amaze me…’
I wiped some of his hair out of his face, looking in the grey eyes that somehow managed to show so many emotions. I had once looked into these eyes with admiration.
‘I never thought you’d die in my arms,’ I whispered to him, watching the unsteady rising and falling of his chest.
There were no words of goodbye between us, no last-minute “I forgive you”-s. His chest just suddenly stopped rising. His eyes never opened back up.
I carefully laid his head down on the grass and stood up, watching the little red light hover above his face. This soul only needed the flick of a wrist and it rose towards the sky. A cold wind passed me, making me shiver. Turning away from him, I ran to Tony, who seemed a little dazed, but conscious.
‘Hey,’ I smiled slightly, kneeled next to him, when his eyes locked with mine.
‘Hi,’ He smiled back, then put his hand on his head. ‘Ah man, I got knocked out again huh? I don’t remember everything.’ I nodded, whispering a “yeah”. ‘What did I miss?’ I motioned behind me, and that’s when Tony’s eyes fell on Christopher’s unmoving body. ‘Is he…’
‘Yeah,’ I whispered again, looking to the grass. ‘I hadn’t… I didn’t mean to…’
‘I know.’ Tony wrapped his arms around me, and I immediately buried my face in his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry this happened. I’m a lousy hero.’
With a shaky voice, I managed to chuckle. ‘No, you’re not, you did save me, and then I saved you.’ Suddenly, the images of the fight that was probably still raging on came to mind. I jumped from my position with widened eyes. ‘The fight! We have to stop it!’
‘How?’ Tony, with a little help from my part, stood up.
I closed my eyes, focusing on my wings. A pang of tiredness rang through my body, and just by thinking about what I was planning, my body protested.
I pushed through all the barriers I had seemed to have created, concentrating as best as I could.
‘Louise?’ Tony whispered, uncertain. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m going to take Christopher…’s body. Hopefully, when everyone sees him, they will stop the fight.’
‘I think King Jonathan has already found Queen Falicia and persuaded her to make her troops stop.’
I nodded at Tony as we walked to Christopher’s body. ‘Okay. Then, King Benjamin, King Matthew and Queen Katherine. And we should give him a proper funeral too.’ Tony nodded back at me.
I closed my eyes again, concentrating on summoning my wings. With the thought of the funeral for all the fallen in mind, and how I had to give Christopher one too, I felt something soft stroke my bare arms. I heard Tony’s breath hitch as the unfamiliar, tingly feeling spread throughout my back.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a huge shadow on the ground, at which I frowned. That was not the shadow I had seen last time I had summoned my wings.
‘Your wings…’ Tony muttered, staring wide eyed over my shoulder. I followed his look and gasped. My wings weren’t the semi-transparent pixie wings anymore. They were like Jinsei’s, the angel wings. His were black, because of his hair, I guessed, because mine were white. Tony gently caressed them, seemingly in awe. ‘They’re beautiful.’
After a few more seconds of being completely flabbergasted, Tony and I manned up. He helped me get a good grip on Christopher. It was a little awkward, and eventually Tony decided we should remove the knife. He kept it with him as I wrapped my arms around Christopher’s torso, my arms under his and over his chest. And let me tell you, he was heavy.
In the end, I was happy I had gotten these wings. They caught more wind, so I ascended more quickly than I would have with the other wings.
I reached the spot where people were still fighting quite soon, with Éomer running below me through the forest.
We stopped a little before the fight, where no one could see us yet. Not everyone could know about soul seekers, so I asked Tony is he could help me carry Christopher. As soon as we appeared in people’s sight, people stared in astonishment. Most stopped fighting and started murmuring instead.
We went towards the middle of the group, who first stepped aside for us to pass, then followed us with wide eyes. With grim looks on our faces, we carefully laid Christopher down. King Matthew had soon pushed his way through the crowd, Queen Katherine following close after.
‘What have you done?’ He demanded. Queen Katherine, like many others, just stared at the unmoving body in front of me. I had already kneeled beside him again, his head in my lap.
Christopher had wanted something from me when we were dating, even after, and was stabbed to death. Even though he had given me just the tiniest bit more confidence.
Jinsei had wanted something from me when we were dating, and he too was stabbed to death. He had taught me a lot too, and gave me a lot of fun things to remember.
Both of them hadn’t really wanted to be with me for me, even though in the end, they had truly cared about me, even though their hearts belonged to someone else. I cared about them too, but my heart also belonged to someone different. Both boys had died in my arms, so similar to each other in their last moments. Only now did I realize the other similarities: dark hair, light eyes, tall and strong built.
My eyes went to Tony, who kneeled down next to me. His hair and eyes were the other way around: light hair, dark eyes. Would the third time be the charm?
I was thrown back into the now by a muffled cry from Queen Katherine, who kneeled down on the other side of Christopher.
‘I didn’t mean to, it just…’ I whispered, unsure of what to tell them. Christopher was like their nephew.
‘You should probably know something about him,’ I looked to the side to see King Jonathan slowly trudging forward, his arm wrapped tightly around Queen Falicia’s waist. As soon as they stopped walking, Queen Falicia leaned a little closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. King Jonathan shot an adoring smile her way and kissed the top of her head, before turning back to the scrutinizing gazes of King Matthew and Queen Katherine.
As Tony pulled me closer to him, King Jonathan explained to the two kings and the queen what had happened, with Queen Falicia filling in the gaps of her side of the story. About how Christopher had made sure King Jonathan was taken to his cells and then blackmailed Queen Falicia so Halielle supported him. King Benjamin, the king from Jivehrei, frowned as he listened.
‘So, Chesaré didn’t attack first…?’ He asked, a little unsure, shooting glances at King Matthew and Queen Katherine. Perhaps, they had told him that, which Christopher had made his father tell the king and queen? Tony squeezed my hand, which he had taken a little after King Jonathan had started explaining, as I shook my head.
‘He wanted Chesaré under his control.’ I said softly.
After everything was cleared up, with the short version, everyone helped the wounded to safe territory to be treated, and the fallen for a funeral. We still had to decide when that would be, we still had to talk about a lot of things. Basteon didn’t have a ruler anymore. A shy boy that had a bruise forming around his eye had stepped up and told us that King Eric had passed away.
I stayed a little after most people had taken everyone away, unshed tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I watched the multiple little orbs of light, just floating around.
Souls.
Whenever I moved my hand, I could see them slowly move along. Besides, I was sure I could see them moving closer to me. I held out my hand, catching one soul that floated above my hand. I slowly moved my other hand closer, moving the back of one finger over it as if I would stroke it. I couldn’t feel it.
‘Louise?’ Two arms snaked around my waist, a chin gently placed on my shoulder. I leaned my head back slightly, relaxing against Tony’s warm body.
‘I’ll be right there. There are so many souls here…’ Tony remained silent when I lifted my hand, directing the soul and a few others, close to me, towards the sky to set them free.
It took me a while to give the souls the attention they deserved and set them free, but I was content with the result: the peace the souls had hopefully found.
When I had let out one last shaky breath, I walked back into Tony’s arms. With our arms around each other’s waist, my cheek on his shoulder and his against my head, we took a moment to appreciate the fact that we were okay.
We broke apart when I felt the soft touch of a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me to find Flame, Ice, Rose and Roy. Tony and Roy tackled each other first, while Rose pulled me closer. It had been her hand, after all. I ended with Flame, after which Ice slung his arm around my neck and I linked arms with Flame, before I turned to everyone with a smile on my face. It was great to be together again, and I couldn’t believe I could finally say what I was about to say.
‘Let’s go home.’

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Hey guys! Yay, back to Chesaré! (That rhymed! :D  )
So close to the ending... Such an emotional moment!
Okay so let's be honest for a sec, who thought Jinsei was the one in Louise's dreams? (the killing one :P )
Finally, weekend's here again! So excited, I'm going to London with school on Monday :D
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
-XXX- RainbowRose8