The Twins • Book One • Wattys2017

Chapter 22- The Shouts

Ivy turns around and walks back up the stairs while Saber goes back down to the kitchen. Ivy places me gently back on my bed, not uttering a peep, and Saber soon walks in with a glass of water and two pain pills.

"Thank you both. Now, please don't disturb me, I need to get some more sleep." Saber leans down and kisses my cheek, and walks out after Ivy. I sigh, and quickly fall back into my dreamless bliss.

End of Flashback

"Nia, look! We're back at your village! This place looks so cool, I can't wait to explore! Can I go now?" Ivy exclaims, jumping up and down in excitement. Wolf laughs and puts his hands on her shoulders, calming her down enough that she stops bouncing.

"Let's show you where our house is first, then you can explore as much as you want." Uncle Alaric says, chuckling with Aunt Meredith.

"Fine." Ivy sighs, but continues to chatter non-stop as we head to my childhood home. When we get to the end of the road, I look up at Saber.

"Saber, please let me down, I want to try and walk again." My knee has been steadily healing, since all supernaturals heal a bit quicker than humans. I can now kind of walk, even though it's more like a limp.

"Okay, but I'll stay close by in case you fall. You're healing well, I don't want you to fall and set your recovery back further." Saber gently puts me on my own two feet, making sure I'm steadily standing, before removing his hands from my sides. Once he does, I miss his touch, but dismiss the feeling quickly. I know we are connection mates and all, but I don't need him to be touching me constantly. That's ridiculous.

I take hesitant steps forward, and I soon have a normal pace going, only slightly limping.

"Hey Saber, want to visit Mom Kate and Dad Travis?" I ask with a smirk. When we were little, like now, we were inseparable, and would always be sleeping at his house or mine, never in separate houses. So, his house was home to me as much as my actual house was, and it was the same with Saber. So, we decided to call both of our parents Mom and Dad, but add their names at the end.

"Yes, of course!" He smiles back at me, relishing in the sweet memories. We start to walk down the road to his house, and we wave bye behind us and shout at the same time

"Bye Dad Alaric and Mom Meredith!" which then causes us to dissolve into childish giggles, making my still bruised ribs hurt. It's still great to laugh and have little sweet moments to look back on though.

When we get to his house very soon after, we walk in and a horrible metallic scent floods my nostrils.

"No." I murmur, my hand to my chest as we slowly walk into the living room to see the devastation. Blood is spattered everywhere, and there's a lot, like the death was dragged out. Slowly.

The stench of death hangs in the air and I see the mutilated bodies of Travis and Kate. I choke back a sob, hyperventilating and fighting to breathe. Their bodies look like mine did before I healed, absolutely torn into shreds, barely any skin. This must have happened yesterday or the day before. It was... recent.

Saber is silent and simply standing there, looking at the destroyed bodies of his parents. I sink down to the floor, tears streaming down my face. They were like parents to me. I can't believe I will never be teased by Travis again, I'll never hear him and Alaric laugh together, I'll never see Kate and Meredith gossiping and giggling as they watch the younger ones...

Oh no. Not the kids.

I run upstairs to their rooms, and see a similar sight in Tigerlily's room. Clint and Tigerlily are - were - twins, and were very close. Clint probably heard what was going on downstairs and rushed in here to try and protect his sister. They were both 9. Just 9. Leona, being the oldest out of the three at 14, must have tried to save them. But, their little bodies are ripped to shreds. Blood is absolutely everywhere. I can't even smell their scents anymore, not over the stench of fear, blood and death.

This had to have been the Dark Hounds, nothing but claws can make these jagged marks that are even worse than mine.

"No. Not them, no! Not children! Not my little siblings... my parents... no." I hear Saber exclaim in shock behind me, and I turn to look at him. He's kneeling on the floor, tears streaming freely out of his eyes. "She killed them!" He howls, banging his fist against the floor.

"Saber, please calm down, and come with me." I say softly, fighting back the emotional floodgate I really want to let loose. I need to be strong for Saber right now though, so the best I can allow is silent tears racing down my cheeks. Saber looks up at me, looking like he's about to explode. Grabbing his hands, I pull him up so he is standing and we walk out of the house into the forest surrounding the village. I take him to our hill, the one that we were on the morning this all started.

Once we are on top of the hill, I bring Saber into a massive hug and let the emotions flow, sobbing into his shirt. He screams in pain, turning it into a mournful roar. I add my own voice to it. They were all beautiful souls, and didn't deserve to die so horribly like they did. I only hope that wherever they are now, they are happy.

Saber's POV

My family is dead. I saw all of their bodies, yet it's so unbelievable. The thought of anyone being so cruel and heartless honestly scares me. The Queen caused the death of not just my parents, but three children, my younger siblings. I know Nia understands my pain, because they were like her parents and siblings too. I can barely think straight, all I can do is draw comfort from my connection mate as I hold her tightly in my arms, and release my pain.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:

Oh my. I don't know how that affected you guys but it was so hard to write. I'm sorry, but it was planned, I knew it was coming geez... that was hard to write. I honestly started crying, which proves I get very emotionally invested into things I really enjoy, such as reading and writing. I'm sorry if I caused any tears, but gotta do what you gotta do.

Question:
So, who wants to kill the witch with a capital B Cora with me?

I wish I could painfully and slowly tear out her heart and show her how black, rotten and tiny it is before the light leaves her eyes. Yeah whatever, disturbing, I know, don't really care right now, depressed over the deaths that I wrote. I GET TOO EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO EVERYTHING I LIKE GEEZ.

~Cat Queen