Primal

Chapter Twenty-Four

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Chapter Twenty-Four

 

It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone. ~John Steinbeck

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Aeron stood frozen, hesitant to make any move in fear that it would bring about the end of Noor’s life. In face, not a single person moved, even Tilly frozen in place. Her nails extended, causing soft indents to form on the skin. Gentle beads of blood rose from the white surface, and Noor’s face twisted into one of agony. Nothing he could do could put her in a safe situation, but if he continued to stand frozen there was no chance for Noor to escape. Tilly wasn’t happy, living off in the town with Zander. She got rid of Zander, and now she was going to get rid of Noor. She was insane. If he had never saved her…if he had just let that little girl in the woods die like she was supposed to…No. Nothing would have changed anything. If he had never saved the young Tilly so many years ago, he never would have met Noor in the first place. Though her life would have been spared, both of them would have been deprived of whatever they shared.

Tilly was breathing heavily, her claws digging into Noor’s skin, every few seconds her claws growing a little bit longer. “It’s all Aeron’s fault, you know that right little bird?” Tilly hissed, her toothy grin inches away from Noor’s face. “He left you because you were weak. Zander left you because you were weak. I mean, Zander isn’t here anymore of course. You’ll join him soon. The point here is this…no one will ever stay by your poor little side.” Her words only made Noor’s face worse to look at, the pain now hurting at an emotional level as well as physical. “Your sister. What was her name? Yuna?” Tilly let a primitive laugh escape her throat, and she could be described as nothing less than insane at that point in time. “You killed her too! You killed her! You killed…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, as out of the corner of her eye she saw Aeron lunging at her small body.

Noor was thrown against a tree with all of Tilly’s strength, and Aeron knew that she meant to kill. A huge snapping sound rang out through the clearing, and Aeron could not tell if it was the tree bark breaking or Noor’s bones. Either way, the sound only brought a new ferocity to his every one of his movements that did not exist previously. He grabbed Tilly by her throat, dangling her in the air with both hands. Her shaking body shook her bag, and eventually it fell off of her shoulder. A golden band rolled out, falling onto the ground with a small clang, it’s clean metals shining against the brown dirt. His eye only left her face for one brief moment to check on Noor, who was lying limply in a pile at the base of the tree. He couldn’t tell if she was still alive or if she had died, but her body hadn’t began to disintegrate into dust. She had to be alive. Tilly’s frantic kicking began to lose its strength, her muscles growing slack between his hands. When she ceased to move, he let her body fall to the ground with a thud. His foot stepped on her face, showing her a final sign of disregard before running to Noor’s side. As he moved away, he made a point to pick up the golden band from the ground.

She began to stir as he approached, her pained eyes looking up at him in embarrassment. “I was just trying to…” She started, but gave up on trying to explain herself. They both knew what she was trying to do, and they both knew that her attempts at helping had only made things worse. “Maybe Tilly was right. I’m too weak.” She whispered, struggling to stand to her feet. He reached his hand out towards her, and she took it after a brief moment of thought. Even then she looked ashamed to need his help, her eyes looking over his shoulder at the pile of mixed red shades behind him.

“I’m starting to get the impression that you are uncomfortable with me helping you up.” Aeron said, pulling her limp body to her unsteady feet slowly. He wrapped her right arm around his shoulders, his own hooking around her waist to try to steady her as they walked forward and away from the clearing. She couldn’t argue against his actions. Both of them knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand without his help. Aeron was just happy to be able to touch her body with his fingers once more. He could smell her again, the smell he once feared filling him with nothing but love.

 

“You know, when I get the feeling back into my arms, I’m going to hit you.” She responded with a laugh, a distant glimmer returning to her eyes. He might have been imagining it, but he could see a gentle version of the way she had once looked at Zander hiding behind her gaze. It brought a tender smile to his face. Though he said nothing in response, he nodded along. She was just as he remembered, if not more elegant and alluring. A chuckle formed in the back of his throat, and a single note escaped before he forced himself to become serious once more. There was no time to laugh. He had to get her away from Tilly’s limp form and to a place where he could heal her wounds. There was no way to tell how much damage had been done to her both on an external and internal level.

 

They walked in silence, their footsteps molding together to form one steady beat. He just kept moving them towards the sound of rushing water, and eventually they were on a ledge. She only had a few feathers left dangling on the skeleton, a sad excuse to have ever been called wings at all. When they reached the ledge, Noor looked down sadly. They both knew this location from their dreams, and a solemn atmosphere filled the distance between them. As they gazed down upon the waters below, frozen flakes began to fall onto their skin from the skies above.  The wind picked up and feathers began to follow with the breeze, the gusts taking away the rest of her pride until there was only a single feather left. They stood beside one another in silence, waiting for what they knew was going to happen.

That feather would soon fall.