Waiting for Spring - Part I

Chapter Twenty-Two

"No, April. Mira cast an illusion. You just experienced an illusion of your own death. It was necessary to keep us alive." Theron's tone contained a slight hint of regret. It was almost saddening to hear it. April looked down.

"Why? What happened to Darnell? Where is Mira? I don't understand."

"She teleported me and herself away."

Theron avoided the first question a bit too obviously and April tried to meet his gaze. A single tear trickled down her cheek. All the answers she need were in the face of the scarred man opposite of her. She started to cry again, her feelings just streamed out uncontrolled. Theron stood up and took a few steps towards the girl and lifted her from the snowy ground. His hands were strong. She embraced him, still weeping. For a moment they stood in the middle of nowhere, together, under a starlit sky. It was a serene but still heart-breaking moment.

Theron did his best to comfort April, but in the end there was nothing he could say that would make things better. Darnell had died in the battle. It had been a sudden turn of events, unpredicted and sorrowful, to say the least. She felt as if she would miss him, yet she knew that he had only been in her life for a couple of days.

"I am sorry, April. I wish there was something that we could have done," Theron comforted the girl in his arms. April only continued sobbing, grasping even harder at his back.

"Everyone dies, everyone just dies. What's the point?" she snivelled and dried some tears from her cheek. Theron did not answer, for surely it was partly true. Why him? It should have been me, I already died.

"You could have done something, why didn't you? You and Mira!" April hit Theron in the chest with a clenched fist. "Anything." An even harder punch hit the leather straps on the man's chest. "You could have done something..."

More tears ran alongside April's cheeks and she let her head slowly fall into Theron's bare hands. She felt forlorn, as if all feelings slowly sank into a deep ocean only to get caught in a violent whirlpool and never come back.

"We need to press on, April," Theron whispered.

I don't want to walk anymore. I'm tired of walking, just let me be. Let me weep and let me sleep.

"We need to rest and go on. Luther and his soldiers will be here on the morrow, and we will find a way to solve this," he continued. April just sobbed and held the man's leather in a firm grip.

"But it won't? It won't!" She looked up with bleary eyes, her cheeks all wet from tears. "When this ends we all just end up fighting over something else won't we?" she managed to say through her constant snivelling. Theron looked down at the blonde woman in his arms. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"You are right, April. You are right. But we cannot give up. Sometimes we must see the small things that we want to keep close, for they guide us when all hope are gone. I do this for you, April, and I do it for Ashley and for Mira. Because you all deserve something better. I need you to be strong; I cannot do this alone." Theron kept a calm tone, sincere as always however. April dried a tear with her palm and stared with blank eyes at the man.

"I... I can't... I'm not made for this. I know how to pick berries; I know how to hunt animals. I know how to make herb tea and how to comb my hair. I was not made to fight. This isn't me. I... I can't help you, I am sorry."

"One does not need to handle a sword to win a battle," Theron said and April gave him a puzzled look. "I need you, for when the soldiers arrive, they will not accept my help. I believe you can convince them," he continued to explain and when April tried to ask him about it he simply hushed her and told her not to think about. "I believe you will know what to do when the time comes."