Forbidden: Afterglow

Chapter 28

-NINFA'S P.O.V-

    I had no choice but call Joel in. He's the only one who could help bring her back to me. There were times when in her cage she would go fully insane and I think.. I think I pushed her there again.
    But..but I promised. And now.. now I'm here holding her while she sleeps.
   She stirs in her sleep and I feel.. something hot and wet touch my arm. Fear over takes me as I watch a rip from her heart down to her waist.
    I enter her dream quickly. I be the hero and say what I need to, have to. As he turns ash, I leave her dream and quickly get up.
"Elder..."
"You called?" He pops up behind me.
"I need... I need Joel. I need Joel. I need him to bring a lot of medical things."
"What the hell happened?"
"Lucifer attacked her in her dream. Maybe he wasn't as fake as we thought. I don't know. Her body is still weak from her depression. I need help or she won't heal and she will slip into a coma."
"I'll be right back, Ninfa. It will be okay.."
    I run to the bathroom and gather a lot of things. Mainly things to keep the bleeding down for a little while.
"I can't do survey on the bed. She needs to be on the table or something. I want to know what the hell happened."
    I clear off our table in the living area of our room. He moves her carefully over.
"After you left, we sort of worked it out. She saw me. She let me hold her. We had things figured out. And she went to sleep. Then started bleeding. I went in and Lucifer was attacking her."
"Wait.. how?"
"I don't think he was as fake as we thought."
"Then she must have been right. He had some control over your anger. He had to have or this wouldn't have been possible."
    My heart races. Hurts. He's right... I was mad but... but I wasn't that mad.. I wasn't mad enough to cause harm..
"I killed him. He won't be coming back. I killed him. Or the eco of him. She's free if him, she just needs help."
    He nods. We get to work on Valerie. Having to stitch together her insides. I heal what I can but it's not enough. The Elder heals what he can but it's not enough.
     A loud knock on the door makes me jump. I didn't realize the time.
"Shit.."
"I'll take care of them, Ninfa. You two do what you have to."
    The Elder leaves. Joel and I get back to work. Hours. We've been at this for hours. The amount of blood loss is insane. Any normal human would have died.
"How did you fix things exactly?"
"There really was no way to fix it. I'm always going to be paying for this. Always. I will always hate myself for doing this. But she made me promise I'd never do that again. Never get mad or hurt her."
"So what are you going to do?"
     It.. it hurts... but.. but.. "I..I won't touch her unless given permission. She's so scared of me. And this hurts me more than anything. But.. if it makes her feel better.."
"But he had to have gotten into you. Both of you. Made her not listen. Made you get mad."
"But.. but I wasn't even that mad, Joel. I wasn't even that mad."
"Exactly, Ninfa."
    I sigh. "She wouldn't believe it, even if it is true."
"But I know you. Both of you. I know you would NEVER hurt her."
     Silence goes on as we continue the surgery. Hours pass into the Sunday. And we finally have her stitched fully. All wounds closed and everything pieced together again.
    Her heartbeat regulates to normal. Joel helps me clean off the bed and stuff while I give her a small bath to clean up. As soon as she's covered up, Joel takes her back to the bed.
"Clean yourself up, Ninfa. It will be okay."
"Will you watch over her?"
"Yeah. I won't leave."
     I run off to the shower. Though I clean myself, I can't stop watching her blood pour down from me and down the drain. So much blood. So much blood.
    Getting out, I dress fast and get ready fast. Even though my wife is down, I still need to take care of our kids. My heart still torn to shreds but I can still love them.
    Walking back into our room, Joel sighs. His hand in Valerie's tightly. I've never.. never seen him so worried.
"I didn't think an eco of him would find her again. After she built this place. After she completed so much and made everyone happy before herself. I didn't think it would ever reach her."
"You say it as if you knew it was there."
"I was his right hand man for hundreds of years. Behind his back I helped her in anyway I could. But in front of his back, I had to help him be the horrible monster he was. He had secrets. I had no doubt that somewhere he would have hidden an eco of himself."
"If I tell her all that has happened, she won't believe me. And it doesn't make me feel any better knowing he had something to do with it. It was still me. It was still me."
"I'm going to tell her. I should have told her about the possible eco."
"But it was me, Joel. It was me.. it.. it was me.." I burst into more tears.
    He pulls me close to him. "It's okay. It will be okay, Ninfa. I'll tell her. I'll take the blame because it's not your fault."
    I sigh heavily. Jason's crying from the other room sends me running. "I'm sorry, Joel."
"I understand."
    I close our door behind me and blink into Jason's room. I pick him up and blink downstairs. Not expecting a full kitchen.
"Ma. Where were you?" Finnley says.
"What happened?" Dakota questions.
"I made them eat. They tried to get me to talk but I thought it would be best if you said what need a to be said or not." The Elder says.
"Thank you."
    He bows and leaves.
"So what happened?" Finnley asks.
"Your mother and I got into a big fight. She got really upset and started to shut me out because she thought I didn't find her attractive after Jason." I look down at him. I take the bottle Charley hands me and feed Jason.
"She thought I didn't love her anymore."
"It's.. It's not true, is it?"
"No, Finnley. I love your mother more than anything. You guys and her are my sole purpose for living, for being happy. I love her."
"What else happened?"
"I got angry."
"But you never get mad at mom." Finnley counters.
"I got angry. I made the biggest mistake I have ever made. I hurt her. I pushed and pinned her to the wall just so she would listen."
    Finnley is in shock. Much like Dakota was. Zack and Charley are nothing less than as shocked.
"She got scared of me. Is.. She is scared of me. She thought I was Lucifer. Kept talking to herself, or him. She didn't see me anymore, she saw him."
"No...No.." Dakota says. "Why? Why? Why did she see him? After all this time."
"It was my rage." I sigh. "Joel helped me get to her. Tell her I wasn't him. And we kind of worked things out. She went to sleep in my arms. I couldn't sleep, I can't. And blood.." I pause... I sigh again. "Lucifer attacked her in her sleep."
"That doesn't make sense. A dream wouldn't hurt her. It never has before." Dakota says.
"I believe that Lucifer left an eco. He affected Valerie with it, making her upset and not listening to Ninfa. And then made Ninfa mad at Valerie and take it too far." Joel walks in. Before I ask if Valerie's okay, he simply nods to me.
"That's so messed up." Finnley says.
"We were surgically helping your mother all day and most of the night. Her mental state would not have allowed her to heal instantly. I'm honest here.." he sighs. "She is scared and fragile. Lucifer took a big strike and tried to rip apart every happy thing she has. I don't know how successful he was. I just know that she is going to need some time, love and support. I will tell her of the eco because I should have a long time ago."
"What do you mean?" Finnley asks.
"It is no secret of who I was to your mother before we became friends, brother and sister. I always tried to protect her, even if I helped hurt her. I knew some of Lucifer's secrets and knew it was possible for him to leave an eco. I should have told her, maybe it wouldn't have caught up with her."
"Oh.."
"Everything will be okay. Eventually."
"Is she going to be okay medically?"
"She should, yeah. I also healed what little bits I could. It wasn't a lot but it was some. Now we just have to wait for her to wake."
    ....in hopes she doesn't hate me. In hopes she understands. In hopes of a lot of things that I'm really hopeless about.
"Misty guards her now. I don't know how long she will be out but I would like if someone tell me. I need to be the one to explain it all to her."
"Why not ma?" Finnley asks.
"Because if I had warned her, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"Do you agree, ma?" Dakota speaks.
"It was me... it was physically me that hurt her. Even if this is true, it was me. The one person who swore to never do so. It's always going to feel like my fault. Even if this gets us back to normal, I'm always going to hate myself for it."
"But it wasn't your fault. Even I see that. And I hated myself because Dakota got hurt a few weeks ago. It's not your fault, Ninfa."
"I can't say I feel the same, Charley. We will work it out though, don't we always?"
    They all agree with me. I rock Jason to sleep. It's already late in the evening.
"Think everyone should head off to bed. You guys have school tomorrow." Joel says.
"You guys?"
"Yes. You kids. Zack, you're taking over my class. Dakota, Charley, you'll take over Ninfa's."
"Okay." Zack says.
"Anything to help." Dakota says immediately. Charley nods in agreement.
    They head off to bed. Joel takes me and Jason upstairs. He grabs the cradle and sets it up in our room.
"You don't have to.."
"Accept the help, Ninfa. I'm not going to make you do this alone. You have 4 kids and a little extra. You can accept my help."
"O..Okay. What about your kids though?"
"Sam is with his boyfriend and Clair is with her girlfriend. Luke understands. I'm not leaving until she wakes up, Ninfa."
    A week ago, I was surprised that Clair was gay. But. Now it makes sense. But I'm glad Joel is here for me.
   I lay Jason down and he sleeps. I crawl into bed and lay next to Valerie, gently wrapping my arms around her. Joel lays down on the couch, which I try not to laugh to.
"You could sleep on the bed, idiot."
"Nooo. You did the nasty there."
"We haven't been sexual in like 3 months. Sheets, pillows and everything have been changed a few times since then. It's fine if you sleep in the bed."
    He sighs. After a second, he gets up and climbs into the bed with us. On one side of her and I on the other. With Misty laying behind me.
"When do you think she will wake?"
"I don't know. But I'm not leaving until she does."
"Clothes and hygiene might be an issue for you then."
"Pft. I'm magical. I got it covered. Now sleep. You need it. What are you even running?"
"I haven't slept since the 4 in the morning thing. So. 3 and a half days?"
"So. 2 hours in 4 days. Jeez. Sleep "
"If she wakes?"
"I'll wake you.."
    To his words, I fall asleep.