The future that we write together

Don't Do it

A/N: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. Please tell me what do you think in the comments!

@when_she_talked This is not now, but I hope it came soon enough:)

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Shirayuki all but ran. She no more cared for the waterfall of blood erupting from her stomach, though it astonished her how much blood she could lose and still remain alive, much less conscious.

She could feel Zen's eyes glued to her back. Earlier he had insisted to carry her, but she had snapped at him and took off on her own.

She felt bad - horrible really - but if he had carried her, her additional weight would've surly slowed him down and they could not afford to lose a second. Liliana's life was on the line.

"I'm fine," She said, hoping to ease his mind a little.

It wasn't a complete lie, she long since lost any feeling in her lower half so pain wasn't really a problem, now if only she could say the same thing about her headache.

"You should've stayed back with Mitsuhide and Kiki, Mistress," Obi said, eyes glancing down at the trail of blood increasing with her every step.

"And spend the rest of the night with that lunatic, no thank you,"

If anything she felt horrible they had to leave Kiki and Mitsuhide to the joyous task of delivering Dirus to Yukitopia's Knights.

Actually, she felt horrible for a lot of things at the moment, not all of which were caused by her injury, not her physical one at least.

Soon, lights sparkled through the thick mane of leaves and Shirayuki could glimpse the outer gates of the palace.

When she finally stepped out of the range of the forest, her heart sank to her knees and she almost fainted; Liliana was there, alright, kneeling before a seemingly unconscious knight, but she wasn't alone. Standing behind her was that man's son.

She almost laughed at the horrifying revelation of his identity. Almost.

Aron was holding his sword high above his head, ready to cut hers off.

Shirayuki knew she could not make it in time, she was much too far and much too weak to cross the distance in time. Her legs gave out and as she sank into the dirt, her mouth ripped open and she screamed with every last drop of power her throat could muster.

Shirayuki could see Liliana jerk up at her scream, but instead of alerting her to the danger behind her, it served to distract her further more as she frantically searched for the source of the bloodcurdling sound.

No use, her conscious was slipping away, she was going to die and Liliana was to follow suit.

Hot tears gathered in her eyes as her mouth formed in a silent 'No', she wanted to scream again, but could not find any remaining energy to do so.

A flash of black shot by her so fast, Shirayuki's tears dried instantly. Liliana screamed but it was Zen's voice. The world started to swirl, there was a loud thud as her body slammed to the dirt, then someone was tugging her up and shaking her and screaming her name, and screaming, and screaming and were those apples falling from the sky?

Shirayuki managed a faint chuckle before everything went absolutely still and she was sucked into an endless black void.

*

Night was climbing up her 'top ten most hated words'. She no longer waited for sunset anxiously, praying the stars would litter the sky sooner, darkness would fall faster, and quiet would slide over them earlier so she could suspend her endless royal duties and get a few hours of much needed sleep. No, now the darkening wisps of blue brought her nothing but sadness and heartbreak.

Her feet slammed down the tiled floor so heavily, one would think her heels were made of pure iron. Her back was hunched over, her hands were clutched together, and her tired eyes were starting towards a path of mistiness.

She became to absolutely hate crossing that hallway at the end of each day, but she had to; it was the only one leading to her room.

'Four, three, two...' She thought, counting each step. 'one.'

Stuffed whispers made their way to her ears and she flinched. She stopped at a large white door that was identical to her own. Gulping, she creaked the door open and peered inside. She sighed.

There he was, sitting at her side, clutching her hand like it was his life line, eyes nearly unblinking. It had been that way for the past week. He never left her, never budged from his seat, and never lifted his eyes from her deathly pale face. He was as still as mountain, literally, and it was starting to seriously concern her, scare her even.

"Shirayuki," He whispered, his voice was horas and dry, but his lips tugged up into a faint smile as her name left his lips. Liliana was sure the shattering sound was caused by her heart. That would explain the consuming pain there.

"Won't you wake up already? It's been what? A week already?" He leaned down to kiss her forehead.

Liliana bit her lips. Her uncle betrayed them, Aron, her trusted aide betrayed them, betrayed her, it didn't break her but it came pretty close to - it was all thanks to Obi that she was still alive, had he not shot to her rescue with blinding speed and caught Aron off guard, she would've surely been rendered to a headless corpse.

It had been a horrible, dreadful week, but nothing, absolutely nothing, felt worse and more heartbreaking than this.

Zen spoke again, "Don't do it, Shirayuki," His smile wavered and his voice broke a little. "Don't leave me to a place where I can't follow you,"

Liliana was so proud she could hold it long enough to reach her room before breaking down in sobs.

*

An urgent feeling awoke her in the middle of the night. She shot out of bed, not even bothering to put something over her nightgown, she rushed out of the room and down the hall.

When she stood before the white door again, there was unintelligible sound coming from the room.

Liliana took a deep breath, placing both hands on the cold wooden surface, pushing it completely open.

Air stuck midway to her lungs.

Zen's chair was empty. He was kneeling beside Shirayuki, holding her hand in both of his. A little too desperately.

Liliana's legs gave out and she stumbled down.

Zen's shoulders shook violently. He was sobbing.

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LOVE: INSPIRING LIGHT.