The Dark Side #1

Epilogue

It's been a month now. No sign of her. She's not with Rhazien. She didn't go back to the city. No one's seen her since before the encounter at the castle. She just... vanished.

"I do not know why you bothered me with this information, Xavier," Rhazien sighs, holding a hand to his forehead. "She is worried about her brother; she could have gone anywhere. If you know her half as well as you think you do, you know she will return soon."

"It has been a month since we went to the Empire looking for Kai," Xavier argues, pacing the floor of Rhazien's house. "Where could she have gone? She is probably lost, and does not know where she is."

"Or she is exactly where she needs to be," Rhazien corrects, pursing his lips. "I think you are overreacting about the whole situation, Xavier. Let her come to you when she is ready. Her brother slipped right out of her hands; surely you must know how hard this is for her to deal with."

"Yeah, I know," he sighs, "but I just-"

"You want to make sure she is okay, I know," Rhazien murmurs, clapping Xavier on the shoulder. "But you are not dead, so that has to mean something. Right?"

Xavier hesitates, but he knows Rhazien is right. So he says his goodbyes and he sets off away from the city again. He doesn't really know what he's expecting to find out here; it's not like he's just going to stumble upon her one day. But he just has a feeling he shouldn't be sitting down, waiting for nothing. He has to do something about it.

Half an hour passes in Xavier's journey through the forest when his foot gets snagged on a pulled up tree root, that makes him curse. As he pulls himself up and brushes the dirt off his pants, he looks around and frowns at his surroundings. He's in a clearing with a river running to the west, and there are multiple dead bodies lying in front of him. They aren't fresh, either; they've been there a while now. As he leans forward to observe the bodies, he finds one with a stab wound in his eye and a few others with stab wounds in their chests. He also sees a body that's thrust into a tree to his right, with a branch sticking through his chest. How come no one has stumbled upon these yet? They'd have to have been out here for ages now. What happened here?

He pushes on nonetheless. This doesn't mean anything; the angels are just really bad at keeping track of their guards.

Finally, he makes it to a small village that looks almost abandoned. There are little stalls with food and clothes posted around a small clearing surrounded by trees, and he can just see through the wood to find a heap of tents crowded around each other. He sighs in exhaustion, turning around and heading back the way he came. This is ridiculous. What, was he just expecting Cecily to be wherever he walked? Maybe Rhazien was right; she just needs time.

So he walks through the trees and tries to track his way back towards the city. As the sky gets darker, however, torchlight is much easier to see, which is how he found a cave a little ways up a shrouded hill to his right. This made Xavier frown, however, because the people from that village were all around those tents. So who would be hiding out in a cave?

"Hello?" Xavier calls hesitantly, craning his neck up to try and get a better glimpse of the cave as he makes his way up. "Is someone-?" But he's cut off short when he sees a body sleeping in the back of the cave, with a long plait of blue hair draped over their back. And his heart clenches in his chest as he leaps forward and drops to his knees beside her, trying to lift her up. She starts groaning, and Xavier doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. Instead of deciding, he quickly pulls some water out of his bag and tries to get her to drink it. She gets some down before she starts coughing and then her eyes flutter open.

"Cecily, oh my god," he breathes, taking her face in his hands to make sure she isn't hurt. There is dirt and blood all over her skin and clothes, and she looks exhausted. Sick, even. "Hey, are you okay? Where the hell have you been?"

"Kai," she mumbles, her eyebrows creasing together as she tries to get a bearing of where she is. "My... my brother. He- they took him." Suddenly, her eyes flash open and she looks alarmed. "We have to find him," she exclaims. "I saw him! He is okay, but he needs me! If we go now, we might be able to pick up their trail-"

"Cecily, are you okay?" Xavier interrupts, trying to control himself. She pauses, looking him in the eyes.

"Yes, I am okay," she replies finally, nodding slightly. But before she can open her mouth to say another word, Xavier brings her face closer to his and he plants his lips on hers, out of pure instinct. Her eyes widen in surprise, but for a moment, no one pulls away.

And then the moment ends.

"We- we need to find Rhazien," she announces finally, pulling back to stand up rather shakily, pulling her bag tighter over her shoulder. "I have a plan and I need his help."

Xavier looks up at her for a second with a dumbfounded expression on his face, and she looks back at him before pursing her lips.

"Are you coming or not?" she presses, raising an eyebrow.

He just sags his shoulders and sighs.