City in the Clouds

Chapter 20

Another pic of Crystal

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Chapter 20

(*Tyler's POV*)

I hugged Raine tightly.

Ever since we had been re-united all those years ago I'd wanted to tell her the truth; that she really wasn't all alone in the world. That I was her half-brother. But now she knew, now she remembered me.

I felt her body shaking as she sobbed in my arms. "Why? Tyler. Why did you leave me? You promised me after we first found each other, all those years ago, that you would never leave me!"

I sighed. She was right; after I'd discovered she was my half-sister who had been exiled, only because she was my father's bastard child, and I had promised to never let her go. But after all of these years I had broken my promise and abandoned her for Amy.

"I'm sorry Raine." I whispered.

She released me and smiled. "It's fine. It doesn't really matter." She wiped the tears from her face. "I want to know what happened after the wedding. What happened to all of us."

"Just watch." I instructed as the scenery changed to the inside of a castle. "This illusion I've created can show you some of your memories that I sealed away."

The scene shifted to a dimly lit stone room. In the center of the room sat an older version of myself, head in his hands his shoulders shaking slightly.

Suddenly the doors burst open and an older version of Raine with longer hair strode into the room. I lifted up my head to look at her, my eyes were red.

'Raine... I couldn't-... Now-... It's all my faul-"

The 'other Raine' slapped me hard across the face. "Don't you dare go blaming this on yourself! There was no way you could stop something like that!"

"There was! I should have known that there was a traitor amongst us!"

"Have you found them yet?"

"No, whoever it was hid themselves well."

I watched  Raine rest a hand comfortingly on my shoulder. "Now is not the time to worry about that. This is a period of mourning."

"I can't live like this."

"All is not lost brother, I have been consulting Lady Helena of the Oak. Have you met her? She is one of the newest court members. She's so promising that we already expect she will someday join the ranks of the elders. She told me there is a way for us all to be reunited again, she swears by it."

"What are you talking about?"

"The reincarnation cycle! All faeries enter a cycle of reincarnation after they die. If we enter it now we should come up on the other end around the same time! We can all be reunited again!"

"You mean you want all of us to commit suicide? That's insane."

"No that's not it! It won't kill us, our memories of this life and everything else will remain."

"Raine, I still have a kingdom to run. As much as I want to I can't abandon my duties!"

"Selion's almost perfected her Phoenix fire potion. She could stay back while we go through the cycle!"

"And leave her all alone? She's our cousin for crying out loud!"

 "What about her husband? He is more than capable of running both kingdoms! We'll bring her with us!"

"Raine, you're being unreasonable! I have my responsibilities as King! I need to keep the fire faeries safe and Selion has the air faeries to worry about!"

A dark look crossed Raine's face. "It's not safe for any of us here, brother. This is a way to keep us all from being murdered in our beds!"

"No. I can't allow us to go through with this."

"So you're over her already?"

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what are you saying Tyler? That you'd rather be murdered by some psychopath than see her again? Because that's what it sounds like to me!"

I turned away from her, "This conversation is over." I said stiffly. "Leave... NOW!"

Raine looked down, a guilty expression on her face. "I'm sorry. If you change your mind, let me know. We only have three days to decide."

The illusion around us faded and I became aware of the boat around us bobbing up and down over the waves.

"What happened to us after that?"

"You were right. It wasn't long after our conversation that that Selion was murdered. So you, Stephan and I prepared to enter the portal into the reincarnation cycle. But before we entered it you were shot with an arrow, and killed. Stephan and I dragged your body through the portal and here we are now. I kept those memories from you because I thought that remembering your own death would be too haunting. I only wanted you to live a happy and normal life."

Tears had welled up in her eyes and I could tell she was angry. "HAPPY? You expected me to be happy growing up without a family all over again! Growing up without you?"

"Raine, listen. I only did it-"

"To protect me right?" She sneered. "That's just like you too! Always thinking about what's best for people without asking them first... That's why she's dead you know." She whispered quietly.

"Shut up. You have no righ-"

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!!!" She screamed, "Tyler, have you ever wondered why the hell we all call you an idiot? It's not because of your intelligence- let's face it, your the smartest person on this planet. It's because you have no regard for other's feelings. You don't think, you just act... exactly like an idiot does."

She took several deep breaths before staring me straight in the eyes. "You have no one to blame for what has happened but yourself."

Then Raine left. I stood there, alone, with my guilt eating away a hole in my stomach. Everything she'd said had been true. I'd made so many mistakes in the past. That's why I'd agreed to go with Amy on this quest; it gave me a chance to fix everything.

All I had to do was allow Amy to lead me to my kingdom in the clouds.