Fractured Soul

Chapter 8: Strange Dreams

Iron gates. Long, dark corridors, lined with cell doors. A burning chain around her right wrist.

She didn't know how long she was left in that cell. There were no windows, no way to track the passing of time. They gave her barely any food or water. Her shoulder was in constant agony. She never slept, at least she couldn’t tell. Darkness prevailed over everything.

What felt like a lifetime had passed before two guards finally came back to get her. The freed her from her chain, but she could not stand. The guards dragged her through the corridors, up through the castle, and into a chamber where they left her lying on the ground.

"One of you, get her."

She looked around blearily. Being in the dark for so long had made her virtually blind and even the candles flickering throughout the room hurt her eyes.

The shapes of the people were blurry, but she could tell one of them was moving towards her. She felt hands lifting her again. It was a boy, for he whispered a word and the pain in her shoulder faded out a little and her vision cleared.

The boy holding her up was the one who attacked the temple, except his hair had changed from blood-red to deep black. His twin was in the corner. Her hair had changed too, it was no longer red either, it was a ghostly white. Someone new moved in to block her view of the girl. She looked up to see their face…

"Mella? Mella, wake up."

Mella opened her eyes. She was still sitting at the table where she had fallen asleep last night, waiting for Myra to come back. Her arm had gone numb from sleeping on it. Myra was standing next to her, a blanket wrapped around her like a shawl, her eyes worried.

"What happened?" Mella mumbled. She sat up, and a blanket that was thrown on top of her slid to the floor. Mella picked it up and threw it around her shoulders. She was freezing.

"You were shouting in your sleep. Bad dream?" Myra asked.

"I don't know…I was in a castle, and I saw two people for sure -- a black haired boy and a white haired girl, and then I woke up."

Mella saw something in Myra's eyes, something almost like fear, and the worry deepening, but it was gone in an instant.

"Well, that doesn't matter anymore. Why don't you go get cleaned up and we'll have breakfast? I'll be giving you lessons today."

"Okay." Mella got up and went into the room where she had woken up the first day. She didn't ask why Myra was giving her lessons today; Rei probably just needed a break. Or it could be my passing out…

As if it was some sort of trigger, pain flashed through her head and Mella was pulled back into the dream she had…

Someone new moved in to block her view of the girl. She looked up to see their face. The woman looked like the boy with the cruel features of the girl. A large silver crown with a purple gem sat atop her raven tresses. Her red eyes narrowed.

"For an elementalist, you don't look like much. Rin, come get her from your brother and put here over there." It was if she was nothing more than an object to her. "Roxas, where's your father? He's supposed to be here."

"He was finding the spell book for the ritual, to make sure he got it right. I'll go get him, mother." Mother? Roxas handed her off to Rin, and she heard him walk out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Rin dragged her, none too gently, away from her mother-whom she assumed was Queen Ursula-to a different spot in the room and chained her wrist again. Immediately it started to burn again. What's doing this? She wondered. And what did she call me?

The queen walked over to her and knelt down next to her, her green skirts rustling.

"What's your name, girl?" she asked.

The girl spoke, but the only part she heard was "Mella."

The door opened, and the queen rose. Roxas had returned, trailing behind a stately man with a kind face, betrayed by cruel eyes.

She struggled to sit up. Finally achieving this, she looked at where she was. Rin had chained her in a pentagram of foreign words linking together. They weren't in any form of Ivayan, Rhynish, or any magical language she knew. The chain keeping her there was even stranger. It looked like iron, but it seemed to suck away the light reflecting onto it. What are they planning?!

"Let's get this over with. I don’t want to be here all night." The king walked over to a chain hanging near the wall and the ceiling opened above her. She looked up to see the stars and the corner of the new moon.

The royal family had moved, and they had all started chanting. At first, for a while, nothing happened. But as the moon moved closer to her, the words started glowing a sickly violet.

It grew closer to midnight, and they were still going. She had long since given up on trying to get rid of the chain, it burned even worse when she touched it.

A clock tower somewhere started to chime the hour. Their chanting grew faster and faster. The moon moved the last few inches and the words flared black.

The girl screamed. She was being ripped apart. The pain grew worse and worse. And the last thing she saw was the boy, Roxas, silently crying, and she fell into darkness.

Mella's own eyes flew open. She had fallen on the floor in Frey's old room. The headache was gone as soon as it had appeared, but the memory was left behind.

What was that? And why was the boy sad?

The memory had cleared up nothing. It felt like useless information. Mella decided to ignore it. It was pointless, she thought as she shakily stood up, but why did it feel so important?

((This chapter was actually meant to be chapter 9, because the original chapter eight felt completely pointless. But i'm not you guys. If you want to read it, just  go to the story: 'Fractured Soul: Deleted Content' and find the chapter called "Fake Chapter 8." As always, vote, comment, and keep reading. Thanks!♪))