No no no
Please wake up.
This has to be a dream!
Azalea struggled against the shackles that chained her limbs to the wall. She couldn't break them. She tried. Her head was too emotionally messed up at the moment.
Control yourself.
Please. Control your emotions.
But it didn't work. She slumped and resided to distressed sobs.
Marina kicked her in the face. Azalea heard her jaw crack.
"Shut up", she snapped.
Marina forcefully snatched her little sister's face in her hand.
"After all these years", she sneered, "You're still a pathetic crybaby."
Azalea tried to see something in her sister's jade eyes. Anything from old Marina.
But her eyes were cold and sinister.
Marina let go of Azalea and paced away.
Azalea's body shook violently. She already was covered in large bruises and cuts. However, none of those could compare to the wounds of the mental breakdown she was having.
All those times I heard her voice call out to me, telling me to come home... I always thought it was Ferin messing with me. But it was actually her. Alive ...
Azalea flinched away when her sister crouched in front if her again. Marina's fingers ran through Azalea's ponytail as she clicked her tongue.
"Your hair grew out", she said plainly, "I don't like it."
In a flash, Marina whipped her blade through the air. Azalea screeched, but was overly relieved when Marina put it back in the sheath.
Azalea's ponytail fell to the floor. Her now short hair stopped right below her ear, the ends a choppy mess.
Marina sat cross-legged in front of her, grinning.
"Little sis, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment. You, utterly defenseless. Tormented like the abomination you are."
Quicker than she could see, Marina pulled out her dagger and drove it into Azalea's arm. Azalea screamed in pain, then sprawled back when Marina struck her across the face.
"I said shut up", Marina hissed. She looked down condecendingly on her, "You are the reason I am like this! I'm not human because of you!"
Azalea sobbed in pain, biting her lip to the point where it bled to keep herself from crying out.
"Awe, don't cry little Azalea ", Marina purred.
Ferin slowly stood up from his seat across the room.
He grabbed Azalea by the throat and looked her in the eye.
"You are weak", he said, talking to her as if she were a filthy bug, "Too weak to be in my bloodline. I will be the strongest."
He slammed her head against the metal floor.
Azalea's world spun around. She could barely breathe or think straight. She felt her mind, her sanity, slipping into the vastness of agony and emotion.
She moaned, unable to will herself to move.
Ferin chuckled, turning his back and walking away.
Marina was dragging her dagger along Azalea's arm, singing to her as if she was singing a lullaby. She grinned maniacally as the blood slowly trickled from Azalea's arm.
"You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You leave me happy when skies are grey..."
Azalea was floating on the line between reality and insanity.
The two worlds faded in and out, blending in with each other.
Is this what it's like to be dying?
To slowly waste away?
I'm sorry everyone.
Azalea opened her eyes to a cloudy grey sky.
She sat up.
Nothing was wrong.
She was okay.
She gasped in awe when she saw her hands.
They were a smooth, caramel tan. No druid-installed bands. No chains.
Her hair was the original jet black it was before.
Slowly she stood up, marveling at her ability to walk. She didn't float.
Azalea grinned at the ocean, relishing in the scent of the breeze that mingled with the fragrance of the pine trees behind her.
She recognized the cliff in the distance, jutting off into the coast.
It's Oregon....
But how?
She looked down at her clothes. Green t-shirt, jeans, worn black sneakers.
The outfit from her last day on Earth.
She stared out into the ocean, watching the low clouds pass by over the rolling waves.
She remembered coming to that rocky beach with Marina when they were kids.
When everything was normal.
"Am I dreaming?...", she wondered aloud.
"No you aren't ", a clear voice said.
Azalea spun around.
A woman sat on the edge of the treeline, smiling warmly at her.
The same smile that Azalea knew her entire childhood. Those wide hazel eyes....
Azalea instantly burst into sobs, running frantically to the woman.
"Mommy!", she cried, like a child. She had only been eleven or twelve when her mother was taken from her.
Mrs Korraine wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter. Azalea sobbed into her mother's shoulder, her mother shedding tears too.
"Hey baby girl", Mrs Korraine whispered softly, stroking Azalea's black hair.
"Mommy I missed you s-so much!", Azalea cried, choking on her tears. She didn't care if she looked like a child, this was her mother.
"Why are you crying, Azalea?"
"Because you were gone! You hated me! I'm sorry for everything, you never would've died if it weren't for me!"
Mrs Korraine looked her daughter in the eye, gently brushing away the tears trickling down her cheeks.
"It's okay Azalea. I was wrong to be upset with you. But now we're together again. And then one day soon, Marina will join us. Then we can be a family again."
Azalea's eyes widened in realization.
"Am I-?"
"Yes. You are. But now you're here with me, where it's safe."
Azalea turned from her mother staring uncertainly out into the ocean.
"You're home, Azalea."