There was blood.
So much blood.
Some were hers, others were of her friends, and even more from strangers.
Too much blood.
It all started when Aphmau went off to find Zoey and her sons without telling anyone. Laurance panicked, and when Arabella tried to calm him down, things started going sour.
They always seemed to be arguing. That's all they ever did. Argue, argue, argue. Apologise and make up for a day, then start arguing again.
Until it happened one too many times.
Although it seemed like a normal argument, when Arabella isolated herself to regain her mental calm, bandits approached. Lots of bandits.
It wasn't until her own hands were covered with their blood that she realised what had happened.
Horrified, she never told anyone. And that started to haunt her.
Whenever she looked in the mirror, her eyes were red. She would blink. They'd go back to one green and one blue.
That wasn't the only blood she had spilled.
When they all had finally caught Michi, Laurance and Aphmau almost had a moment. Almost.
Arabella convinced herself it didn't matter.
Until she accidentally mauled Michi.
This time, there was no cleaning up the evidence when the witnesses were two of her closest friends.
It took a while to explain to them it wasn't her fault.
There were more... accidents.
The guy that tried attacking Isabell? Dead. Ivan's host that they were trying to save? Dead. Some friendly travellers who tried to help them when they were lost? All dead.
Every murder drove Arabella closer and closer to insanity.
She started to often twitch. She became hypersensitive to sudden movements. It seemed as if her reflexes and first instinct were to attack. Hell, she nearly chopped off Travis's head a couple of times by accident.
Ever since Vylad came into the picture, he'd been trying to help Laurance and Arabella out. While that calmed down Laurance, it only made Arabella more dangerous.
It came to a point where Vylad had to be hospitalised because of her.
That was the final straw for their crew. Arabella had to be restrained at most, if not all times. She fought back. She fought back hard. Even if it was all in vain, she kept struggling to break free.
But it wasn't the restraints she was fighting.
She was fighting against herself.
She was becoming afraid of herself.
Afraid of tipping over the breaking point.
Afraid she'd snap.
Snap and kill every living thing in her path until every step she takes becomes a mass grave and rivers run red with blood and--
She would become what the Shadow Lord wanted her to become from the very beginning.
She would lose herself and become a soulless husk whose only purpose was to kill.
Arabella hadn't seen a living person in two months since she was kept in isolation, but one day, Laurance came to visit. Surprisingly enough, Arabella wasn't thrashing around him. Her threats were hollow and weak. She even became too quiet.
Laurance tried to ask her what was going on. He tried to help. But Arabella was beyond help. She was trying to warn him not to get too close, or else he'd get hurt.
But when Laurance left, disappointed, his words still haunted Arabella to this day.
"You're not Arabella anymore."
A n d s o t h e f r a g i l e t w i g s n a p p e d .
Despite her prison being reinforced with iron bars and magicks, it was overcome by sheer madness.
Sheer madness led to her solid red eyes.
Eyes of someone who was far from innocent.
Eyes of a murderer.
Eyes of a Shadow Knight.
Arabella didn't remember how she even managed to get out of there.
All she knew was that she had been sent somewhere desolate and away from the Phoenix Alliance's village.
But she followed Laurance back to that place, and she interrupted a battle against the Tu'la region around Irene's ruins.
Nobody expected this.
Nobody was pleased.
Everyone was in pure shock and horror.
With Arabella's arrival, there were too many magicks in one area.
Too many magicks imploded at once.
Before they even knew it, they were back.
Back at that very spot Arabella saved Laurance from his death.
Back at that very spot she had died.
Back at Irene's Dimension.
Garroth was there and so was Zane. Good was lingering, evil waited.
Aphmau was there. So was Laurance, along with Katelyn and Aaron. And so was Arabella.
She didn't remember what happened next. There was a lot of clashing, clattering, shrill screams and yells. And blood.
Too much blood.
A l l h e r b l o o d .
Arabella only remembered what happened next.
The Tu'la region was defeated.
The Shadow Knights' threat was gone.
Zane was dead.
Garroth was back.
Everyone was happy.
And Arabella was dying.
~•~
A/N: one last chapter left.
--baz