CHAPTER-11
lorelei's point of view.
LORELEI BLACK FELL AGAINST THE FLOOR WITH A THUD. The sound of laughter echoed through the halls as a twelve year old Lorelei pushed herself off the floor, completely embarrassed, yet another day of being bullied for simply existing, it was at times like these that Lorelei Black wished to not exist, this situation wasn't much different to the one they had right now — Lorelei was on the ground, bleeding out as the other surrounded her, she gave one last look towards Belladonna who was gone with a flash, the others surrounded her, screaming out her name — she thinks she can see Sam's silhouette on the floor beside her — she tried to get up, to make sure he was ok, to make sure someone else didn't just get hurt because of her, but alas the darkness had other plans, digging it's claws into Lorelei's hand and pulling her in, offering her the empty promises of peace and serenity.
The next time Lorelei opens her eyes she doesn't recognize where she is, everything feels so blurry and bright for the first few seconds, but then her eyes adjust and she realizes she's made it — she's there. She looks around, her eyes scanning the place for any signs of them. Of her. Of him.
"El?" she hears a voice say, her eyes well up almost immediately, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth and she crumbles to the floor, the brunette rushes to her side without wasting a second, pulling her into his side, "Merlin, El!" he hugged her so close to his chest, and Lorelei didn't let go, she just stayed there wordlessly, letting him kiss the top of her head, "You're not supposed to be here..."
"Forget about that!" said El, she refused to let him go as she grabbed his arms, pulling apart just enough to get a good look at him, he looked just as if he did that day, in his competition uniform, his hair still ruffled from when Lorelei had messed it up, the chocolate stain on his shirt because Birdie had tried to force a whole slice of cake in him as a source of luck, it felt wrong, to see him like this when he got to see her look older, mature.
He grabbed her face, as if he was scared if he let go she would disappear, "Lorelei, look at me, you can't be here, it's not fair to you."
Lorelei's cheeks were stained with tears, and so were his, "It wasn't fair to you either..." she said, and she meant it with every ounce of her being. Lorelei was never letting go.
"It wasn't fair, you're right," Cedric wiped her tears away, "But it was time, it's not time for you, El, you have to go, if you don't—"
"I'm not leaving!" Lorelei yelled out, shaking her head furiously, "I'm not leaving you alone! Not again!"
Cedric heaved a sigh, "I tried, I really tried — I hope you'll do better," Lorelei turned around, confused as to who he was talking to when she saw her.
Neveah Ross smiled at her daughter, "Hi, kiddo," Lorelei looked at Cedric and then at her Mum, getting up instantly to pull her into a hug, both of them almost toppling over because of the impact, "I miss you like crazy."
"I miss you too," Lorelei said as she let her mother go, "I— I never thought I'd see you again, both of you, I mean— I thought I lost you forever, I—"
"Silly girl, everything in this universe finds its way back to you, in whatever shape or form may it be," Neveah said, pulling her daughter into another hug, breathing her in and letting her fingers run through her hair, "But love, this isn't your time, you don't belong here—"
"Why don't I belong here, Mum?" Lorelei asked, her voice filled with anger, "I died, I died just like you did and now I can stay here with you forever, I can be with you two here — free of everything that holds me down, all of the constant noise in my head, the war..."
"El, you're not freeing yourself from those troubles," Cedric joined the two, Lorelei looked up at him — tears heavy on her lashes, "You're simply leaving them behind, all that hurt you carry will be someone else's, people that you love will share your pain that you left behind, I watched it happen with you, and with my parents and with everyone I loved...and it feels like the absolute worse, knowing that there's nothing you can do to save them from it."
"But...why can't I be selfish?" Lorelei asked, "I realize how insensitive it is of me to say this, but would it truly be so bad if I chose myself over others...this place, it offers me peace, it offers me you, both of you, if my suffering ends here, then why shouldn't I choose to stay?"
"Darling, your suffering, hard as it may be, it is only yours to be bear, just like every emotion you have felt in your life — it is there for a reason, as of right now, I assume you feel this weight on your chest, but with time it will get lighter — you cannot let yourself miss out on the love, the affection, the happiness you are supposed to have because you cannot bear the hurt," Neveah said, she pulled her daughter even closer, "When you stay here, you cheat yourself out of a wonderful future, El, I won't lie to you — there will be moments where you regret this, you will want to come back to us, but when you make it past that, you will realize that everything you did, everything you went through, it was all worth it because now you have what you fought for."
"And we will always be here," Cedric reassured her, taking as much of her in as he could, dreading the goodbye just as much as she did, "It's kind of the concept of 'eternal peace', you know." he said with a shrug, "So, go, live the life you fought for, live the life you continue fighting for — and when you're done, come back to us, and tell us all about it."
Lorelei feels a strong wind blowing her away, she looks up to see a yellow light shining through, the wind pushes her once — as if it was urging her to take a look, and so she did, she saw Birdie there — her eyes red, her aunt, her cousin, her uncle, George, everyone, she saw everyone there — and her mom was right, she had left her pain behind that pulled them down. With one last push she fell into the deep pits of darkness, this time the promise of peace much more believable than before.
i'm so not happy with the way this story is turning out, i think that's why i've been having trouble writing it these days? idk just feels like it's bad no matter what i do so 😭 maybe i'm just over fanfiction now or like hp fanfiction cause of jk rowling but you know i don't wanna leave anything unfinished so i'll definitely be finishing up this fic, that is if anyone's reading this