/THIRD PERSON POV/
There were several things the Alpha disliked. She disliked people chewing with their mouths opened, the heat of summer, the color purple and pink—she thought they were childish, uncomfortable clothes, unnecessary and prolonged conversation, fetid scent and slow people.
And then, there were several other things she despised with all the fibers inside her. She hated loud, obnoxious noises, noisy people and packed rooms, people invading her privacy, and the unsafety and uncertainty of the people she cared about.
The two suspicious men were basically crossing the dangerous lines of two of her most hated situations. They were inside her territory, looking as incredulous as ever standing in front of Jennie's apartment building—and had managed to knock on it thrice. Second, they were basically threatening Jennie's safety and Lisa was so not going to tolerate that. She didn't have the word tolerate in her dictionary whenever it came to this shit.
So, be left with no choice but to protect, Lisa growled and charged at full-speed.
The two men, who were now as panicked as ever, snapped their heads towards the sound of Lisa's boots echoing against the pavement. They were much too late to even think about running away, because now that the Alpha had seen them, they knew better than to be left alive and well.
They had no choice but to fight for their lives.
Lisa leaped forward and swung her left foot to step on the redhead's chest only to kick his chin upward with her left foot. She landed on the ground after doing a whole backflip, while the redhead was already on the ground a few steps away with his jaw probably misplaced.
The brunette gulped in panic and even though cowered in fear and hesitation, he tried his luck and punched Lisa square in the cheekbones, then kicked Lisa's lower stomach. When Lisa ducked down, he kneed Lisa's face until she stumbled back a few steps.
He immediately felt good about himself, knowing he had just struck three combos on the Alpha, and both his confidence and adrenaline increased.
Lisa smirked with a bleeding cut on her lower lip and a scratch on her left cheekbone.
She had been among people like him ever since she was a teenager, she knew how their mind worked. He would absolutely felt high on overconfidence that he'd decrease his awareness of his surroundings. Lisa hadn't let him kick and beat her for nothing, she knew what she was doing, and she was definitely winning the game the brunette had started.
She swiped her thumb over the cut on her lip and sucked it in her mouth, tasting her own blood with her eyes directly focused on him. She smiled, a smile that you would see on a psychopath's face when they're about to torture someone, and walked calmly towards him—making sure every of her step was counted.
He grunted impatiently and approached Lisa. He—stupidly, repeated his moves. He aimed his fist on her face only for her to dodge it easily. She then grabbed his wrist and shoulder to twist his hand one-eighty degrees until he, along with his bones, screamed in pain.
She kicked the back of his ankle, making him fell flat on the ground with a loud thud. Like the pain she had given him wasn't close to enough, Lisa kicked his ribs with such force that she could even hear the bones cracking. He, again, screamed in fear and pain. She growled angrily, her ears were strained with his ugly-ass screech.
To shut him up, she pulled, bent her leg upward until one hundred and thirty-five degrees in the air, only to smash it down his face—completely shutting his mouth, crushed his nose along with his skull and brain. She let go of his wrist she was still holding, slamming it to the pavement below. She looked up to find the redhead was now staring at his friend in absolute fear, thinking that it was best if he ran away right at that second.
"Don't you fucking dare run away," Lisa hissed with her lowest voice possible, glaring at him with hooded eyes as she stepped on the brunette's corpse to made her way towards him.
Because if you fucking run away, I'll kill you even before you reach the end of the street.
One thing Lisa also loathed was disrespect. If he even thought about running away from her, that's the last second he'd be able to see the world anymore. He barged, trespassed her territory only to run the fuck away once she showed up and defend? Hell to the fucking no, that was the most humiliating and disrespecting thing someone could do to her, running away like she wasn't even worth a fight. At least if someone had been brave enough to trespass her domain, she would be much more pleased if it was someone who actually knew how to fight and overcome his fears to see—and fight—her face to face.
The redhead's eyes glanced momentarily to his friend lying lifelessly on the pavement before his hand reached something on the side of his pants. Something flashed across his eyes, possibly revenge and hatred, then he grunted while pulling out a pocket knife and clicked it open.
Lisa held back an eye roll, he better be good at handling the knife—it was her go-to weaponry and the idea of using that against her was just plain dumb and useless. But he seemed confident though, so perhaps he knew nothing about Lisa and her favorite equipment.
And Lisa was more than glad to show him.
Lisa briefly glanced around to check the surroundings and smirked lightly when she found it empty and deserted. She refocused her eyes to the redhead who had now taken several steps forward. She tilted her head right and left in a second which made loud crackling noises.
A groan of adrenaline erupted from her stomach, vibrating on her bones and ended up being a low growl. Her humanly side still hadn't forgotten her primary purpose here, to check up on Jennie and pacify her—asking for forgiveness. But then, as usual, her Alpha side had always won whenever it came to control. She had no choice but to obey the enraged animal inside her.
She was brought back to earth when she heard the redhead approaching her quickly, and she emptied her mind off of any other else than one prominent point.
Kill him.
He was first to attack, his right hand which was occupied by the knife swung to aim on Lisa's face, but she pulled back to dodge it. He turned around and back-kicked Lisa on her upper body, which effectively hit her triceps hardly. Yet, she didn't even budge. She stood her ground, the hit only made her angrier.
That stupid rookie, not even using the knife properly.
The redhead attacked again, now with three continuous jabs aiming for Lisa's body—mostly her head and neck. On the last hit, Lisa blocked his hand with her right wrist and punched his face with her left one.
He growled angrily, gone was the fear that earlier had occupied him. He now used his feet, kicking Lisa as though she was a punch-bag and he was an angry, heartbroken senior student. Of course, Lisa didn't let any of those touch her. She took several steps back in rhyme with his momentum, which meant he was completely kicking the air.
"Stop running away, you fucking bitch," He growled angrily, throwing away the knife that he couldn't even find useful. Lisa briefly glanced at the knife, tempted to pick it up and slice him--but decided otherwise instead. She didn't need anything else than her bare hands and body to kill him.
"Fine," Lisa scoffed, now approaching him.
Lisa had been observing his fight pattern earlier to find his weak spots, his repetitive strategy, and of course, she figured all of them out. He was bad on his right leg, it couldn't kick as hard as the left one—the same with his hands. His left was way more advanced than the right one. She just had to keep attacking him on his right side, until he became overwhelmed and then, she could finally give the final blow.
Easy.
When she was on a beneficial distance, she started giving him merciless attacks. Kick, kick, block, duck, punch, turn around, kick, upward jab, another punch. Lisa was barely panting, while he was already having blood running down from his nose.
"What are you even doing here?" Lisa asked, letting him gaining his balance only to receive other hits from her.
"None of your fuckin—"
Lisa kicked his face with the sole of her shoes, making him fell down instantly on the ground.
"Answer or I'll fucking kill you,"
He laughed bitterly. "You're going to kill me either way,"
"That's true," Lisa watched as he got up back on his feet. "But you can choose the less painful way."
He grunted.
"Fuck off," He spat blood on the ground before posing in a fight stance once more.
"Fine, you chose it yourself," Lisa smiled crookedly before rolling up the sleeves of her shirt.
Lisa didn't know yet what ability he had, was it humanoid manipulation? Mind reading? Electricity? Telekinesis? Or animal transformation? She had no idea because he hadn't been showing any signs of it ever since their first encounter. She just knew it wasn't elemental manipulation, because he would've been a lot more powerful and aware if he had the ability. He would've become an equal opponent to her, which he wasn't even close to at the moment.
She brushed it off and started giving him endless and excruciating shots to every inch of his body, forcing him backward and off guard. Then when she felt like she had wasted too much time on him, she grabbed him by the collar when he was about to fall down. She dragged him close to her face, sniffling the metal scent of blood stinging into her nostrils.
"Who sent you?" Lisa hissed.
He only stared at her with animosity.
"Answer me, Hoseok,"
Lisa remembered him from the one visit she had on the Western embassy years ago, he looked different, more muscular and built, but he still smelled the same and Lisa had never had any problem with her memory.
"You're going to find out in a while," He grinned, showing his bleeding gum and bloodied teeth.
Lisa lost her patience, and she furiously slammed him onto the pavement—crushing and killing him in an instant. Soon enough, his corpse turned into ashes and was carried away by the swift wind.
What the hell did he mean by that? Were Jungkook and the woman behind all this? Were they planning on another ambush? If so, then Jennie was no longer safe here. She needed to escort her to safety as soon as possible, even if it meant she had to explain all of these starting from scratch, then she wouldn't think twice.
Jennie's safety was her top priority, she couldn't risk that. Not when she's alive and breathing.
Slightly panting, she turned around to knock on Jennie's door only to find the latter was already standing on the doorway, frozen.
Lisa felt her heart stopped beating for a moment.
"Jen..." Lisa called softly, her voice was hoarse from all the growls and grunts she produced earlier.
Jennie stared at her with her cat-like eyes who were displaying no emotions at all. Lisa took several steps forward until they were on eye level, Lisa standing one staircase lower than Jennie. Lisa took Jennie's hand in hers while maintaining her eyes to stay fixed on the brunette.
Cold, both her hand and eyes.
"I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier, Jen," Lisa sighed, rubbing Jennie's hand with her thumb softly. "Forgive me?"
Jennie didn't respond nor move.
It was weird.
Jennie's hand was colder than ever, her eyes weren't glimmering with the usual devotion Lisa found within them—well, Lisa shouldn't have found that weird, because she had reasonably broken the brunette's heart when she left earlier. And her body, it was stiff as fuck, she barely even moved.
Did I hurt her that much?
Finally, Lisa took a step forward until they were both standing on the same level, Jennie's head automatically tilted up several degrees to look into Lisa's face.
"Baby, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking straight earlier, and—"
"You need to leave," Jennie said.
Shivers ran up Lisa's spine at Jennie's ice crystal tone.
"What?"
"You need to leave," Jennie replayed, now gritting through her teeth. She wrenched her hand away from Lisa's reach and stepped backward.
"Jen, please," Lisa sighed and stalked forward, her heart shattering gradually but deep down, she felt like she deserved it. The pain, she deserved it.
Suddenly, something flashed in Jennie's face. It was animosity, extreme hatred and Lisa frowned when she saw it. Did Jennie hate her because of earlier? Or did Jennie saw what she had done in front of her apartment? If so, why didn't Jennie has any sign of fear written on her face?
Lisa then did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She grabbed Jennie's waist to pull her forward and kissed her lips gently. The kiss didn't last for more than three seconds before Jennie abruptly shoved Lisa's chest away from her. Lisa stumbled back a few steps, and she, again, frowned.
Something isn't right, Lisa thought to herself.
"Don't you hear me? Leave," Jennie growled as she had never done before. Lisa tried to reach for Jennie's hand but the latter slapped her cheek until it burned and stung with sudden pain. The Alpha inside her growled again, but she managed to hold it back. She's not going to go all savage in front of Jennie, and especially on Jennie herself.
But the Alpha didn't growl because of the sudden slap, she knew she deserved it. It was something else that was bugging her. Jennie had acted differently, and it worried her. Her brain told her that it was caused by her stupid choice to leave, or Jennie did see her little fight with Hoseok earlier.
But her guts told her otherwise. And man, her guts were never wrong. Not even once.
She stared into Jennie's eyes and noticed that the latter's catlike eyes were now a darker shade of brown. No longer the honey-like brown eyes, but now a dark chocolate shade of brown.
It was almost enough to make her decide her next steps, she needed one more assurance.
"Okay, I'll leave," Lisa stepped forward to plant one last kiss on Jennie's forehead before turning away with a more fixated and sure heart of her postulate inside her brain.
Jennie didn't smell like strawberry and vanilla.
After two steps away from the brunette, Lisa took a sudden turn and punched Jennie square in the jaw, making the latter stumbled out of balance. Lisa grunted and kicked Jennie's chest and the brunette fell to the ground immediately.
Jennie fell onto the ground, but Lisa wasn't satisfied. If it was Jennie, she should've fainted right away. Her strength wasn't a joke to a normal human such as Jennie, she wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Lisa, what—" Jennie coughed blood.
It wasn't red.
"I fucking knew it," Lisa growled before choking Jennie's neck and dragged her toward the nearest wall present, slamming her forcefully until the ornaments hanging on the wall vibrated lightly.
She landed another punch on Jennie's stomach with her free hand, making the latter spitting blood onto her face. Green blood.
"You're too stupid to think you can fool me," Lisa growled again, she was beyond infuriated this time.
Turned out, had she assumed, the two earlier were just guarding and covering up, not planning on going inside the apartment. While this one (or perhaps more, but she hoped not) fucker already went inside first.
The bastard had the fucking audacity to barge inside Jennie's apartment and disguised themselves as Jennie to fool the Alpha. Lisa just hoped they hadn't done anything to Jennie, because if they had, Lisa would go beyond savage. It was beyond tolerable, forgivable.
Lisa didn't think twice before killing the manipulator right in the spot, burning her heart with her palm planted on her chest. Her fire burned the skin, dispersing until it reached the palpitating organ.
As soon as the body went lifeless, Lisa went right onto Jennie's cold, dark bedroom. She didn't wait long enough to see the real form of the manipulator which should've been seen as soon as they're dead.
Greeted by the familiar scent of strawberry and vanilla, she exhaled in relief when she found Jennie laying on her bed, fast asleep. But the latter's condition was earlier disrupted when she heard her bedroom door opened abruptly. She looked up to find Lisa walking, approaching her.
"Lis—"
"Jesus Christ, thank God you're okay," Lisa immediately engulfed Jennie in a hug while the latter was frozen in the spot. Jennie had trouble to recognize if it was her dream or reality. She still felt like floating over the clouds of her what-ifs and the sea of her tears.
When Lisa pulled back, she didn't give Jennie any time to breathe before ranting.
"Baby, I'm so so sorry for hurting you earlier. I wasn't in the right state of mind, I had a lot to think about. Still, it wasn't an excuse to act like a whole jerk to you, but will you forgive me? I promise I won't hide anything from now on, Jen, I'll—"
"Lisa—"
"—tell you everything ever since the start and I'll answer every one of your questions—"
"Li—"
"—so, please, forgive me—"
"Lisa!" Jennie exclaimed and the blonde stopped right in her track. Jennie, with the dim lighting of the moonlight shining through her window, noticed that Lisa's face was stained with liquid she didn't know what yet.
She just hoped those weren't blood, even though she was pretty sure those were.
"Yeah?"
Jennie traced her hand across Lisa's face and gasped. "You're bleeding," Jennie stated, now her eyes searched on other parts of Lisa's body. She found Lisa's top three buttons were unbuttoned, showing her chest and cleavage exposedly. Her light grey shirt was stained with some other darker grey colors, which meant the spots were wet.
"I know," Lisa clenched her jaw. "Come with me, you're not safe here."
"I—what?"
Lisa offered Jennie a hand to help her got up from the bed. "I'll explain everything later, come with me,"
Jennie, despite her heart still ached by Lisa's actions earlier, grabbed Lisa's hand and followed the blonde. Yet when their skins touched, Jennie no longer felt lost, alone, cold. She felt home, and she could finally ease her heartache by the presence of the only individual that could ever be the poison and also the cure for her disease, her heartache.
"Put this on," Lisa gave Jennie her yellow hoodie that the latter had already claimed her own. Instantly, Jennie put the hoodie on then grabbed Lisa's hand again.
"Do you have a back door?"
"Yeah, this way," Jennie mumbled after clearing her throat, trying to find her voice back.
Lisa quickly locked the entrance door first before joining Jennie into a door in the back of the kitchen that she had never noticed before. Jennie opened it and glanced at Lisa cautiously, nervously.
"Jen, this might be the craziest shit you're going to experience. But I need you to trust me, I'll protect you," Lisa cupped Jennie's face and pressed their foreheads together.
"Wh—what are you talking about?" the brunette's eyebrows joined in confusion as she clasped her hands on top of Lisa's, leaning her face to the blonde's palm.
Lisa breathed calmly as she stared into Jennie's eyes. "Just trust me, okay?"
Jennie scanned Lisa's eyes and found the exact three words and more that she'd been longing to hear from the blonde.
I love you, Jen.
You're safe with me.
Trust me?
Jennie then exhaled nervously, yet managed to nod firmly.
"I trust you,"
I love you too, Lalisa.
And I'll never doubt you.
Making sure Lisa got the message too, Jennie leaned in to kiss Lisa's nose and smiled lightly after. Lisa's serious countenance crumbled down slowly as she kissed the in-between of Jennie's eyebrows in return, then gently guided Jennie outside the door.
Lisa locked the door from the outside and gave the key to the owner of the apartment. Jennie frowned, "We're going somewhere?"
"Yeah, to safety," Lisa mumbled, still having her hand on the small of Jennie's back.
"Why are we here? Where's your car?"
"Never needed it in the first place," Lisa mumbled again before she swooped Jennie up from her feet. Her right arm supported Jennie's upper body on her back while her left one carried her legs. Jennie squealed and her hands instantly went to wrap themselves around Lisa's neck as Lisa basically carried her bridal style.
"Lili, what are—"
But then, Lisa shut Jennie up with her lips. They both closed their eyes, savoring the heartwarming feeling of their lips joined together. They had missed it so much that they automatically moaned in delight against each other's mouth. Lisa gently ran her tongue along Jennie's lower lip before pulling back.
"Close your eyes and hold me tight," Lisa said as she kissed Jennie's forehead, letting her lips lingered there for a while. Jennie responded by snuggling closer, held the blonde tighter and planted a kiss on Lisa's jawline.
"Where are we going?" Jennie looked up to Lisa, though the blonde was too busy checking out the dark alley surrounding them.
"To my estate,"
It was the last Jennie had heard from Lisa before everything around her went to nothing but a blur.
—
/JENNIE/
The night was weird from the start.
From the weird guys in dark clothes, Lisa's unusual temper, me crying myself to sleep, and now the sight of Lisa in a messed up light grey shirt—which was already stained by wet spots. Her face—it was still beautiful and charming, but now looked more dangerous and sharp.
There were several scratches on her cheekbones and jawline, a cut on her lip (that made me taste a little blood while kissing her), and sweat damping her forehead, sticking her bangs into them like a tattoo.
Lisa who had always looked elegant and classy, clean and perfect, now looked a lot more like a motorcycle gangster who looks for fights toward her own satisfaction. If I wasn't so damn concerned and scared for her condition, I would've dragged her to bed and beg her to fuck me instead.
Call me crazy, but seeing Lisa at this state; breathing heavily, her neck arteries emerging tensely below her skin, her jaw clenched tightly, and her daring eyes staring right into mine, were much more than enough to make me wet in the spot.
It was until Lisa carried me bridal style, kissed my lips slowly and sensually, that I started to worry about everything else. With her kiss, I was finally fully awakened from the sleep I'd been in. My brain started to function properly again, spotting the void holes of the night one by one.
What was she doing here?
Why was she beaten up?
Was she involved in a fight with someone?
Did those weird guys do this?
Was she in trouble?
Wait, were we in trouble?
Jesus Christ, what was happening?!
"Where are we going?"
"To my estate," Lisa answered as she pulled me closer to her chest, clutching my shoulders and legs tighter. I was about to ask when everything went spiraling, windy, cold, and blurry.
One second, I was in Lisa's arms in the alley behind my apartment.
The next seconds, I was not.
Everything went beyond my eyesight. All I could decipher was streaks of color and lights as I felt cold wind continuously slapping my face, messing up by already disordered hair. I buried my face in the crook of Lisa's neck, which unexpectedly took a whole lot of effort. I felt like the atoms inside me were all scrambled and out of place, I could no longer feel my body anymore. For a second, I thought my skin was going to be torn apart by the overwhelming tautness.
What the hell was happening?
After what felt like barely five seconds, Lisa halted and I gasped for air. I coughed repeatedly to Lisa's bare neck, my throat felt dry and cold as if I hadn't drunk for the last twenty-four hours. I clutched Lisa's neck and shoulders tightly, holding for dear life as I felt my body weakened.
"Baby?"
I ignored the deep and soothing voice—my favorite voice in the whole world, trying to focus on the uneasiness and strange feeling of my throat.
"Jen, are you okay?"
"W-water," I croaked out weakly before falling into another continuous loop of coughing again. Lisa said nothing but moved her limbs somewhere else. The dark surroundings eventually faded as I was brought inside a warmer and brighter place. I couldn't open my eyes yet for they still felt too dry.
My ears caught several footsteps coming closer with shuffling of what sounded like clothes as my coughs subsided slowly.
"Ma'am, do you need help?" a baritone voice spoke up, his tone polite but sharp. He sounded like he was alerted but not being able to show it in front of Lisa. Was he one of her staffs? Had we arrived on her estate? This fast?
"No—yeah, tell Amanda to bring a glass of water and soup to my room," Lisa said lowly, her voice vibrated through her bones and penetrated my ear instead of circulating through the air.
"Right away, Ma'am,"
I felt Lisa walked away once more, still holding me in her arms as she took the stairs for a while. I kind of felt bad for her, carrying me to this place, because I wasn't exactly light. I knew she was muscular and strong and all, but she must've felt tired, too. Not like she had any superpowers or herculean strength.
Right?
I heard a door clicked opened as I was welcomed in another room. The aura and situation were different already. It was so much warmer, and it smelled a whole lot like Lisa; mint, and rain. The lighting was also not as bright as the previous room, and in short, it was perfect.
I slowly tried to open my eyes, squinting at the light dominating my eyesight. After probably a few seconds, I could finally open my eyes maximumly. Then, my jaw dropped at the sight.
The first view I landed my eyes on was Lisa's jaw and tense neck, but the thing above her was what caught my prompt attention.
The ceiling was painted by a mural of what looked like Roman Gods and tales. Right from start to end, there was no such empty spot above me, the ceiling was full of beautifully drawn murals of... war and fights below the sky.
Lisa laid me down in bed, then sat down beside me with her fingers still tangled with mine.
I averted my sight somewhere else—everywhere else I could land my eyes on.
The room was probably the same size or even bigger than my apartment floor. The king-sized, sickeningly comfortable bed I was laying on was placed right in the middle, an endless rich maroon carpet with golden aortae covered the whole floor. Across me was a LED TV right in the middle with two gigantic bookshelves which took up the rest of the space on the wall.
The left side of the room was occupied by a set of sofa and coffee table, a wooden chair and desk with papers and a laptop sitting on top of it. Behind them was a large window with a view of the dark sky, on its right and left hung the curtain with the same shade of maroon as the carpet. On my right was the entrance door which was bigger than I had assumed. On the wall on my right was a double wooden door which probably led to the bathroom.
"Jen?"
I was brought back to earth by her voice. I stared at her and melted at the sight for a moment before I realized something I should've done earlier.
She was bleeding, I had been right. But... the blood wasn't red. Her blood wasn't red.
How could her blood be green?!
My eyes automatically scanned her whole being as my heart tried its best not to beat exaggeratedly.
As far as I could remember, she had several scratches along her jaw and cheekbones. But now, they were gone, though the wet spots on her shirt remained there. Her jaw clenched when she realized I was observing her, she looked the tensest I'd ever seen her.
"Is there anything you want to ask me?" Lisa's voice called out softly despite her tenseness, her thumb caressing my hand.
"Is there anything you've been hiding from me?"
Lisa sighed and looked away while biting her lip. She hesitated for a while before answering, "Yes,"
That one dream I had a while ago flashed in my mind out of nowhere. Could it be...
"I might have fire burning inside me,"
"What is it, Lili?" I asked, gulping the uncertainty settling on the depth of my larynx.
"This is going to be crazy and unbelievable, Jen," Lisa took a deep breath again.
Before she could explain, three knocks were heard from the door. Lisa got up and unlocked the door to reveal a maid holding a tray with a glass of water and a bowl on top of it. Lisa thanked her, taking the tray with one hand and locking the door with the other, then made her way towards me. She placed the tray on the bedside table on my right, then helped me sit up to drink. As soon as the water ran down my throat, I couldn't stop. I was beyond thirsty.
After the glass was empty, I sighed in relief. Lisa put down the glass and stared at me, waiting.
"So, what is it?" I spoke up.
I tried to remain as calm as possible, not wanting to panic over everything even before Lisa spilled the truth all over me. I sensed her seriousness was not something I could take lightly, I had never seen her this tense and nervous, not even when she had to do the public speaking she hated. It was something bigger than I had assumed, and I needed my head to be as clear as possible.
"Do you know the cartoon The Legend of Aang?"
"What?" I frowned, half-smiling, stifling back a snort.
"Just—have you ever seen it?"
"Yeah, back when I was in elementary school. Why?"
"This sounds so fucking juvenile, but the thing that Aang does, such as controlling the air around him, then Katara with her water-bending, Zuko with his fire-bending and Toph with her earth-bending, I can do those too," Lisa explained all with one breath which left her breathing escalated after that.
I stayed mute, trying to take in and process the information Lisa had just given me.
"So... you're saying you can do elemental manipulation?" I asked.
My heart palpitated rapidly, my brain playing that one scenario of dream over and over again. I felt my skin was covered by goosebumps, anticipating for Lisa's answer.
"Yeah," Lisa breathed. "I can control the four main elements, in short."
"Show me," I challenged, repeating the same sentence I had spoken out in that dream as adrenaline and curiosity flowed over me. I watched as Lisa opened her palm. Then a glitch of fire sparkled on top of it, before eventually growing into a whole flame sitting on top of her pale palm.
Her eyes stared at me, reflecting back the flame sitting on top of her opened hand.
"Wake me up," I whispered distractedly as I stared unmovingly at the dancing flames in fear.
Please, tell me this is just a dream.
"Jen..."
I felt my body slowly shook as the distant memory ran over me.
It came crashing down like a wave of tsunami, drowning me deep within the darkest memory I'd fought through hell to forget.
Please, anything but this. I can't bear the pain, not anymore. Please.
My breathing escalated quickly, I so felt like fainting. I was so tired of all the things I thought I would never experience all in one night. From those weird guys, Lisa's unexpectable outburst, Lisa appearing in my apartment all bloody and beaten up, to this.
Then I started panting.
I started gasping for breath.
My chest tightened, nausea had taken over my consciousness, my head spinning around in infinite circles.
Fuck, Jennie, breathe.
The room no longer felt expansive, I felt like the walls were slowly approaching me, proceeding to squeeze me to death. The room didn't feel as warm and as perfect as before, the air was now chilly and it froze my lungs until they were unable to work properly anymore.
Breathe, Jennie.
Please, breathe!
"Jen? Hey, baby, are you okay?"
Lisa was right beside me, as I could feel her hand gripping me tightly. But I was losing her, her voice sounded distant, her face was blurry. I was losing myself, too, for I could no longer feel my body.
"Baby, look at me," Lisa cupped my face with her warm hand, the other one still holding my fingers. She tilted me to face her, but it only made the situation worse.
Jennie, breathe!
In her eyes, I could no longer see the warmth I'd always favored. I'd always adored and loved.
All I could see was fire, flame dancing evilly on top of the lives it had taken. All I could see was the same shade of red and orange that had taken my loved's life away from me. All I could see was the raging monster who knew no mercy.
Destroyement.
Burn.
I felt tears burning, stinging in my eyes, a few droplets already made their way down my cheeks.
No, no, no.
Breathe, Jennie, breathe!
Hell.
All I could see was hell, an infinite flame burning my skin and eating me alive, abducting my soul away and selling it to the demon. Not a single drop of water, all I could see was red while my ears could only receive screams and hollers which my heart couldn't bare anymore.
Don't go back there, Lisa would never hurt you that way!
I cried, cried, and cried.
I shook violently, losing the transcendent control over my own neurons and organs. I lost my mind, surrendering to the pain that was crushing me from every side possible.
God, please, make this stop!
My whole body continued to shake as the panic attack destroyed me from the inside.
"Jen, it's me. Please, baby," Lisa hissed pleadingly, trying to pull me back to consciousness, to safety, her arms.
God, her arms. I needed her to hold me and tell me everything's alright. That she loved me, she would never hurt me in any way possible, that she would never ever leave my side. I needed her to hold me and not let go, not now or in any parallel point that existed in the name of Time.
Save me, Lisa, please.
I wanted her to reach out for me, to help me, but I couldn't. Apart from the fact that I wasn't able to move at all, I was once again drowned in a mess of a mind.
How could I trust her not to destroy everything I had left, when her blood was lava and her flesh was flame?
How could I trust her, when she, along with the fire that raged within her, was the one who took the life of the man I loved most away?
Could I trust her?
You said you trusted her.
Should I trust her?
You love her!
I loved him, too. But he left me, he gave up on me. He left me with broken pieces of his promises to keep me safe and staying by my side no matter what happened. He left, and I was broken beyond repair.
How would I know Lisa wouldn't do the same?
The air I breathe lost its way somewhere in between my respiratory system. I gradually lost control of my body as I fell into a cold, endless pitch of darkness of unconsciousness, all alone. In the back of my still conscious mind, I heard my own voice speaking out of sorrow and uncertainty...feeling lost and hopeless even more than formerly.
Would you leave me too, Lisa?
I could no longer see anything, my five senses did not function properly anymore. In fact, I wasn't feeling anything at all, I was numb but broken. I was silent but hollering inside.
You promised not to leave me, ever. Would you break that promise, Lili?
I felt like I was drowning in deep water, an anchor continued to pull me lower and lower, deeper and deeper into hopelessness and fear. Fear of being alone, fear of broken promises, fear of having to fight my most hideous nightmare of all.
Fear of having to relive the same horrible reality twice, of losing someone I loved with my whole heart and soul, someone I cherished and trusted with every ounce of atom present in my body.
Would you go to war and abandon me all ruptured and shattered on my own, too?
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A/N:
thank you for 38K reads and for being patient and lovely readers !! you know i love you <3
and oh, how i love cliffhangers 🤩
get this chapter to 110 votes for me? <3