Broken Marionette

Chapter 9

".....I-I'm *cough* sorry.... fo-for lying... *cough* all this time..." darkness now consuming me once again. Just like that time.

Claude POV*

This starting to really annoy me, I can't even focus on these paper because of that stupid dream I had. I know how pathetic. The ruthless and cold blooded Emperor of the Obelian is having trouble doing day to day tasks due to a dream. However the problem is that, this isn't the first time I had such a dream before. The last time I had such a dream was when I first met my daughter. The dream, though was more like a vision, was about a girl. She looked very much like Athanasia, but she she looked a lot like....myself. It was very weird. It caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up and caused goosebumps to spread all over my arms. Her Straight blonde hair ,that came all the way to the heels of her feet, covered majority of her face. But I could still see her sharp, cold Jeweled eyes. They didn't hold a single emotion in them, it was as if she was a living corpse.

The girl was laying on the floor, curled herself into a small ball. It was then, that I noticed all the scars and bruises littered across her legs and arms. There even a few cigarette burns as well as needle marks all over her. A vibrant deep red bruise on her pale cheek. All she was wearing a scruffy, filthy brown rag that came up to her knees. Her feet where bare. Usually I wouldn't care about people in such conditions but for some reason it broke my heart. I wanted to run up and check on her. Heal her if I could. But I couldn't, I was glued to my spot.

Then a round man, who face was blurred, walked up to her, a whip in hand. Without a word he began to whip her with zero mercy. The girl however didn't make a sound apart from the occasional whimpers but apart from that she remained silent and still. Accepting the brutal abuse. I wanted to scream. Yell at the abuser. Yell at the girl to fight back. But I couldn't it was as if I had also not only lost movement in my body but also my voice. Then the girl's eyes looked directly at me. Her emotionless eyes starting into my soul as if trying to figure out who I am. A few seconds later, a twisted and crazed smile made it's way onto her face. A bad feeling began to settle in my stomach. Then the hunched up girl burst out into a crazed laughter. I just stared at her, confused. Why was she suddenly laughing. What the hell is going on?

"Do you see this? Do you see all the pain and suffering I am forced to go through? This all because of you. Every single scar, every single burn, bruise on my body is all. Entirely. Your. Fault. Father." her voice holding some much pain and anger in it. Then the dream ended. What did she mean by it's my fault. And why did she call me father? So many questions circulated my mind, questions that I would never find the answer too.

I soon after forget about that weird dream, but it still occasionally resurfaced it's self in my mind. For next few years I never had dream like that ever again, that was until last night. This time it was different. The girl looked older, she was in better condition than she was when I saw her in the last dream. She was dressed in clean clothes, clothes that were more on the masculine side then the feminine. She looked a lot more like my self, her face was slightly more mature. She also didn't look as skinny as last time.

I was glad for a second, she seemed to have gotten herself out of that horrible place and is now living a better life. But it was short lived, as not even a second later the girl began to cough up an alarming amount of blood. Staining the white blouse she was wearing. Her scared and calloused hand being brought up to her mouth, catching the next cough in her hand. This time and even larger amount of blood was coughed up. Just like last time, I was glued to the spot, my voice again gone. All I could do as watch. Which infuriated me oddly enough. I don't even know this girl, for all I know she could just be a hallucination. One of the drawbacks of using black magic.