Chapter forty~ “This is how you kill her.”
“NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED IN THE STADIUM!” Shrieked the man hovering over the cage, shouting into his microphone, but you could hardy hear him over the crowd’s uproar. They all sounded confused, but wanting to get their voice in the action.
Everything was still blurry and every time I was near to clear again, it would spin wildly and I’d almost fall completely to the floor.
“What are you going to do lover boy?” Leo laughed wickedly and the memories of looking into his eyes faded and I almost forgot why I loved him. This was Leo… I didn’t like this Leo. I squinted my eyes in a desperate attempt to see what was happening, but my eyes failed me and my head felt heavy.
“This.” Replied Eelii in a flat tone, opening his wings out and flying upwards, and then back down, in an attack. I saw the blurred silhouettes in an unclear mess, blending into one another. I heard the clanging of the swords though, I heard those noises dreadfully clear.
My head felt too heavy to comprehend anything and I found myself lying side-wards on the floor. I felt my mind slip away, but I clung onto with every inch of strength I had in me. Not now! Not now!
In my internal struggle, I heard a laugh. A dreadful, sanity-shattering laugh.
Thif’s figure leant over me menacingly, laughing in delight. It seems he had entered the stadium along with Eelii. That seemed fair, a person to help us each. But it wasn’t really fair. How could you compare Eelii to Thif, the king himself, and how could even count me, the mindless struggling little half-fairy still as a contestant.
I didn’t even have wings!
“Eelii-!” I managed to croak out in my fear. I was relying on Eelii now, my life was in hands. Part of me felt it was unfair to put something like this onto him, but he was my only choice right now.
The crowd had now silenced their cries of defiance and were watching with intent stares at the scene. The king himself was in the arena, which was something worth being quite for. Let’s all just watch his amazingness trample all over poor defenceless Vi, why don’t we?
“Watch out!” Came from behind me, and then I saw Eelii’s bold blue hair fly into the large figure towering over me. He was taking on Thif.
Thif stumbled backwards before drawing his sword. My eyes began to take in more layers of definition now and I could tell the difference between the ground and the sky.
I wobbled to my feet, determined not to let Eelii face this alone.
From behind, arms grabbed my neck. The black armour stealing the air from my throat told me it was Leo. I struggled, but ended up making him hold me tighter. It was wrong for me to feel butterflies in my stomach because of our closeness but I couldn’t help it.
When Eelii was thrown to the ground and his fragile body was approached by Thif I regained the strength I needed to fight again. Seeing him get hurt was something that ignited the flame inside of me.
I escaped Leo’s grasp easy enough, he wasn’t really trying that hard. I ran over to Thif and Eelii, struggling to keep myself upright. Thif noticed me coming. I heard Leo coming from behind me.
I ran straight to Eelii, standing in Thif’s way and putting my arms out to tell him there was no way he’d be getting past.
“I was meant to be the one protecting you.” Eelii coughed from the floor and I let a smile overtake my face. Even in a situation like this he made me smile. And that was a pretty big accomplishment.
Thif laughed then, walking forwards, putting Leo in his own shadow.
“Look at you.” He snarled, and then turned to the audience. “Is that what Myllic fights with?!” He shouted to them, throwing his arms up alike me but for a different reason. While he was soaking up all the cheers from his kingdom I bent down to Eelii, took his sword and went for Thif’s back.
Leo stepped in the way, seeing my attack. When Thif turned around he looked a little stunned at the little fight. “Next time watch your back.” Leo snapped at his father. I was taken aback by the harshness towards his own blood, but I took it to my advantage.
Me and Leo matched swords, looking at each other through the gap. It was then that I didn’t see Thif swing the sword at me from my side. I turned to block it a little late but still avoided a major injury. Thif and his son attacked me like a team, giving me hardly any time between the two swords. I was outdoing myself, trying to protect my body from two people, two very skilled people, at once.
I let out a cry as Thif’s sword hit my stomach, completely cracking the armour there, the pain spiralled all the way to my feet. Leo’s sword was the next to hit, it hit my shoulder. The one he had hit before and this time I really couldn’t handle it.
I fell to my knees again, at the mercy of the two attackers.
Eelii flew in from above, standing over me. We were obviously taking it in turns to play the hero. He had my sword, and was fending off Leo, who was obviously distracting him from the real scene.
The real attacker, Thif, smiled with success and followed the pair fighting, raising his sword to damage Eelii’s un-armoured body.
I jumped up immediately, throwing myself in the way. The sword hit the arm I covered my face with and it ripped my metal glove off, making Eelii turn around and realise what was happening. Leo took Eelii’s distraction to his advantage and threw the sword at his side.
He fell to the floor with drops of blood starting to seep through his shirt like assassins deployed on secret missions. I let out a cry and dropped to his side without a second thought.
He smiled up at me and I turned my attention to his wound. My hands touched the clothes covering the major damage and I really admit I had no idea what to do. His clothes felt rough on my numb fingers.
“Stop it!” Leo shouted, louder than I’d heard him shout before. He looked really angry now. “Stop caring for him!” He threw me to the ground and I saw Thif watch in delight from the corner of my eye. “You should care for me!”
“Well, you should care for me!” I snapped back, just as loud, angry at his jealousy. If he really wanted me to love him he’d stop being harsh and threatening to kill everyone!
“I do!” He shouted back, throwing my sword at me in anger. I covered my face with my arms and the sword rebounded onto the floor. I ignored the pain jumping around in my arms and stared at Leo. I pulled myself up from the floor and threw Eelii’s sword at him in anger too.
“Why didn’t you kill me when I wanted to be killed then?!” I stomped forwards. Eelii clambered to sit up behind Leo, watching me like if he didn’t his life would end. The sorrow in his eyes made me look back to Leo, with a new found anger.
“I wanted to kill you because it was fair, not because you gave up!” He replied, walking forward’s alike me. I guess it was a valid point.
“Well kill me now then!” I screeched, bending down to pick up the sword he’d thrown at me to hand to him. I didn’t know what I was doing.
“But this isn’t fair you’re letting me—”
“I haven’t given up yet.” I said through gritted teeth and handing him the sword. What was I doing? I was telling him to kill me! I’d already established that couldn’t happen! I couldn’t leave Eelii here!
Love was making me do stupid things now…
Leo took the sword unsurely and then looked up to me, the anger gone again.
I let the love I was holding back flood into my eyes now; I let it all out through the golden circles. I hoped he could see it.
“I can’t.” He whispered, dropping the sword lightly now. Looking into my eyes the same way I was looking into his.
I heard a little whimper from Eelii but I ignored it. I didn’t love Eelii, and that was the truth, as bad as it seemed. I loved Leo.
I drew myself closer to him, and he did the same.
“YOU IDIOT.” Thif remarked from behind me, giving me no time to react before his hands were dragging me away from his son.
“I can’t help it!” Leo whined, running after me and Thif. I was struggling in his muscly arms, but it was useless. “I don’t know how to kill her, I just can’t!”
Thif dropped me to the floor before dragging me up by my neck. No matter how hard I struggled, or how much anger I put into it, Thif would always be stronger than me. He was dangling me just above the ground so my toes were just about brushing against the floor. My hands went into scratching his fingers that had wrapped themselves around my neck.
I let out a straggled noise and a whimper as Leo stood by his dad, pulling at his arms like a little kid. But Thif was stronger than both of us. Leo gave no effect on his dad.
“Stop dad!” He shouted, running back to get the sword he’d dropped earlier, but before he could return, Thif was laughing and the light was being drained from my eyes.
“This is how you kill her.” He said loudly, letting go of my hands, but the wind wrapped around my neck securely. I still dangled above the floor like a dead pig in the window of a butchers shop. His hands hovered over my heart.
That’s when the light exploded in the stadium. The light being emitted from my chest.
And I felt it. I felt the light being dragged from my soul. I felt the life being sucked away from me as I tried to cling onto it with every last breath I had. And I didn’t have many.
The crowds were on their feet, they were shouting, they were all throwing themselves at the cage, they were all yelling and screaming. My name. They were saying my name.
“NO!” Leo and Eelii chorused and in my last sights I saw the pair running towards me and Thif. Thif was laughing and the light was gone. The light of my eyes was wasted into the arena and the life I’d been so reckless with was gone.
And then there was darkness. All the pain I’d barely noticed was there until now had faded away. All the love that had been soaked up in my heart had fled. All the anger had gone with it. Everything was just… gone.
And despite how much I hated myself for it, I liked it. I liked the darkness. I liked the nothingness. I liked having no weight on my shoulders, or some conflict going on my heart, or the fear being there. I liked the feeling of… nothing.
And that’s what I had become. Nothing. And that’s what I would stay.
Forever.
(A/N: I NEED TO MAKE THIS CLEAR; THE STORY IS NOT OVER. I will be updating this story tommorow as well, I'm on a roll, you see. A little hint for you though, the next chapter is a big reveal chapter. Eeek, Anna/Vi's story is nearing it's end and I can't believe it:'D~ THANKS FOR READING!)