Fan Fiction ❯ Illusia ❯ Terran - A Love Found ( Chapter 43 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serenitychan13 
Chapter 12: Pain
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): / Suspense / Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Action / Angst / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.25.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 172 | Status: Completed
Chapter 12: Pain
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): / Suspense / Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Action / Angst / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.25.2004 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 172 | Status: Completed
Chapter 12
I stopped dead in my tracks. I had never heard my brother talk to anyone like that and I never thought I would hear him talk that way to a woman. I understood what he was saying, but I wasn’t going to let him make her cry. I touched his shoulder and stepped in front of him.
“I can take it from here…”
His face was still pale and his eye was still that stormy dark green, but he stepped aside. Illusia looked like she was in shock. I couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. The color was gone from her face.
“Illusia? I’m sorry about -”
She shook her head and interrupted.
“No… He’s right,” she said softly, looking down. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“It’s alright… I understand. You’re just tense. Anybody can start rushing into things when they’re worried or nervous.”
“My mother…” she said in a voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear her. “I just can’t help thinking about the worst that could happen… What if we’re too late?”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She looked like her heart was breaking.
“Oh, honey…”
Slowly, trying not to startle her, I eased my arms around her and held her close. I tried not to show the pain that from moving my shoulder. I was starting to sway a little, but I had to keep going; there was no way I could slow her down now.
“I can’t promise you that everything is going to turn out good… But I can promise that I’ll be with you all the way.”
“I’m still scared,” she said quietly.
“And that’s perfectly alright… It’s natural to be scared when you have something this big in front of you…”
“But-” she started out, but I cut her off.
“Shh… It’s alright… We all just need to calm down. We’re not going to accomplish anything by panicking.”
“You’re right,” she said softly. “I have to keep calm… for Mother…”
There was a log on the side of the path that was fairly wide and didn’t appear to be too badly rotten, so I guided her over to it, brushed the snow off it, and sat with her. This was definitely going to be hard. I knew that we could very well be too late. But I couldn’t let her know.
She was sitting silently, staring at the Detection Crystal in her hand. It was still glowing red and pointing off to the southeast. Her hands were shaking badly. She wanted more than anything to go after Sawyer and get the Fire Gem back. I could see the grief and anger in her eyes just as clearly as I could in my brother’s. It felt horrible to know that nothing I said could really comfort her. I was so lost in thought that I barely noticed my brother coming to join us.
“Princess,” he said quietly, down on one knee in front of her. “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you… You’re a lot stronger than you look, I’ll give you that. And… if you’ll have it, I’ll help you all I can.”
“Thank you,” she said, almost inaudible again. “I need all the help I can get…”
“You really are amazing,” he said, smiling charmingly at her. “I don’t know many girls who can fight like you can. Hell, you fight better than he does!”
Illusia giggled a little. I glared at Koura. He might tease me all the time but this was going just a bit too far… Honestly… Trying to flirt with the girl he knows I love…
Oh well, he’s probably right… about my fighting, that is…
“Can we switch the subject back to what matters?”
“See?” said Koura teasingly. “He’s jealous…”
Illusia looked at me, then at Koura and burst out laughing. I smacked a hand to my forehead and waited for it to blow over. Inside, however, I was grateful to him for making her smile.
“Alright, alright. Now let’s try and get something done…”
Koura rolled his right eye at me and stood up, leaning against another tree. Illusia wiped tears of laughter out of her eyes and leaned against my shoulder, still giggling softly. I just had to smile as I wrapped one arm around her, trying to keep my bad shoulder as still as I could. Since no one knew what tomorrow would bring, it was just as well that she got to laugh now.
“Illusia, I know where you want to go, but if we go that way… We don’t know what might happen…”
“We can still get to the river!” she said excitedly. “Diamondsea showed me another way after a fire cleared out some of the forest down that way!”
She jumped up and was about to take off back up the path we had just come down; needless to say, she got nowhere fast with that. Koura caught her arm and directed her right back to the log. She glared at him, her eyes flashing silver again.
“No really!” she continued. “I know where I’m going! There’s a path that cuts around the back of here. There’s a couple of places that are still kind of blackened, but for the most part it’s safe.”
Koura leaned back on the tree, tilting his head up and staring into the branches.
“Haven’t we been through this already?” he asked tiredly.
“Hold on, I think she’s right… There was another path that she missed when she turned to come down here and then she ran into you…”
“The only major concern for you two is a mountain lion,” Illusia said lightly. “But she knows me, so I don’t think we really have anything to worry about.”
Koura stared at her for a second.
“Did you just say mountain lion?” he asked, sounding like he was choking.
“Yes,” she replied brightly. “What? Is there a problem?”
He facefaulted.
Illusia looked at him, then at me, obviously confused.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked, pointing at Koura, who was trying to pick himself up and regain his dignity.
“I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time…”
Koura glared at me.
“What’s wrong,” he growled. “Is that she is saying we should get to wherever the hell we’re going by going through an area where there is a f*cking mountain lion!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Illusia asked calmly.
“Illusia, honey, not everyone is as relaxed around large predators as you are.”
“Well I know Ginny,” she said brightly. “She wouldn’t -”
Koura interrupted.
“Wait,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Ginny? The thing has a name?”
“Wouldn’t hurt anybody,” she finished.
Koura gave me a pained look. I tried to reason with Illusia.
“Are you sure there isn’t another way?”
She looked off into the trees for a while, thinking.
“Well, there’s this way… But it’s not exactly the safest way to go,” she said, trying to go over the options in her head. “And there’s the way that would probably wind up with a run-in with Ginny. Frankly, I’m more comfortable going with Ginny. At least we’re less likely to be attacked.”
“Unless that f*cking devil cat -” Koura began, before Illusia jumped up, her knife in hand and her eyes bright silver.
“You can stop that right now or I’ll -” she growled.
Since both of them seemed to have totally forgotten me, I just stood up quietly, ignoring the shooting pain in my shoulder, and took hold of her wrist.
“You’ll sit down and put that away.”
She sat back down on the log and slipped her knife back into its sheath, glaring at Koura. He just glared right back. I joined Illusia on the log, my good shoulder towards her, and pulled her in close to my side.
“Anyway, it’s getting dark. There’s no way we could get around a mountain lion at night. Even if she knows you, that’s no guarantee of anything. You know how cats are.”
“I just want to get to my mother before he does,” she said softly, resting her head on my shoulder.
“What’s she talking about?” asked Koura, plainly confused. “Does she mean that psycho in a black trench coat? He came tearing through here about two days ago. That guy was crazed… I didn’t want to have anything to do with him…”
“So we are too late,” said Illusia, tears choking her voice. “My mother… I’ll never see her again…”
I could feel her shaking, trying to keep her grief hidden.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “If I had known…”
“It’s alright,” she said, her voice almost inaudible. “There’s no way you could have…”
She never finished. She burst into tears as she trailed off. Gently, I shifted her around so she could cry on my shoulder, not caring about the pain. There was nothing I could say that could make her feel any better. I hated not being able to comfort her. I just held her close and stroked her back.
Koura came over and sat silently beside us, concern clearly visible on his face. After a while, he looked at me and asked:
“Is she going to be alright?”
I looked down at her, watching her shake and listening to her sobs. Over and over she was saying ‘Mama… I’m so sorry Mama. I could have… I should have done better.’ I looked back at my brother. My voice came out sounding very tired.
“I’m not sure… She’s been hit with so much in such a short amount of time that I honestly don’t know…”
“What’s happened to her?” he asked, sounding worried. “Can you tell me?”
“Watched her grandfather die… Found out about what she has to do, that her family is slowly going to be taken from her… Betrayed by someone she really cared about… Now it’s likely that…”
“About her mother?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
I nodded. Koura propped his chin on his fist and stared out at the sunset. I followed his gaze to see a blood-red sun sinking into the western horizon. It was so beautiful, but it seemed mournful somehow… I was hoping for a miracle, but I knew it couldn’t happen.
Illusia’s crying gradually stopped and I looked down to find that she had cried herself to sleep. Gently, I shifted to cradle her in my arms as I had so many times. Her hand tightened into a fist in the fabric of my shirt. I kissed her tenderly and settled back against a tree growing up behind the log. I was in for a long night; there was no way I could get any sleep with my shoulder in its present condition. Looking down on her tear-streaked face, I wondered why things had worked out this way.
This is so wrong… She shouldn’t have to experience this… It’s killing her…
I stopped dead in my tracks. I had never heard my brother talk to anyone like that and I never thought I would hear him talk that way to a woman. I understood what he was saying, but I wasn’t going to let him make her cry. I touched his shoulder and stepped in front of him.
“I can take it from here…”
His face was still pale and his eye was still that stormy dark green, but he stepped aside. Illusia looked like she was in shock. I couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. The color was gone from her face.
“Illusia? I’m sorry about -”
She shook her head and interrupted.
“No… He’s right,” she said softly, looking down. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“It’s alright… I understand. You’re just tense. Anybody can start rushing into things when they’re worried or nervous.”
“My mother…” she said in a voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear her. “I just can’t help thinking about the worst that could happen… What if we’re too late?”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She looked like her heart was breaking.
“Oh, honey…”
Slowly, trying not to startle her, I eased my arms around her and held her close. I tried not to show the pain that from moving my shoulder. I was starting to sway a little, but I had to keep going; there was no way I could slow her down now.
“I can’t promise you that everything is going to turn out good… But I can promise that I’ll be with you all the way.”
“I’m still scared,” she said quietly.
“And that’s perfectly alright… It’s natural to be scared when you have something this big in front of you…”
“But-” she started out, but I cut her off.
“Shh… It’s alright… We all just need to calm down. We’re not going to accomplish anything by panicking.”
“You’re right,” she said softly. “I have to keep calm… for Mother…”
There was a log on the side of the path that was fairly wide and didn’t appear to be too badly rotten, so I guided her over to it, brushed the snow off it, and sat with her. This was definitely going to be hard. I knew that we could very well be too late. But I couldn’t let her know.
She was sitting silently, staring at the Detection Crystal in her hand. It was still glowing red and pointing off to the southeast. Her hands were shaking badly. She wanted more than anything to go after Sawyer and get the Fire Gem back. I could see the grief and anger in her eyes just as clearly as I could in my brother’s. It felt horrible to know that nothing I said could really comfort her. I was so lost in thought that I barely noticed my brother coming to join us.
“Princess,” he said quietly, down on one knee in front of her. “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you… You’re a lot stronger than you look, I’ll give you that. And… if you’ll have it, I’ll help you all I can.”
“Thank you,” she said, almost inaudible again. “I need all the help I can get…”
“You really are amazing,” he said, smiling charmingly at her. “I don’t know many girls who can fight like you can. Hell, you fight better than he does!”
Illusia giggled a little. I glared at Koura. He might tease me all the time but this was going just a bit too far… Honestly… Trying to flirt with the girl he knows I love…
Oh well, he’s probably right… about my fighting, that is…
“Can we switch the subject back to what matters?”
“See?” said Koura teasingly. “He’s jealous…”
Illusia looked at me, then at Koura and burst out laughing. I smacked a hand to my forehead and waited for it to blow over. Inside, however, I was grateful to him for making her smile.
“Alright, alright. Now let’s try and get something done…”
Koura rolled his right eye at me and stood up, leaning against another tree. Illusia wiped tears of laughter out of her eyes and leaned against my shoulder, still giggling softly. I just had to smile as I wrapped one arm around her, trying to keep my bad shoulder as still as I could. Since no one knew what tomorrow would bring, it was just as well that she got to laugh now.
“Illusia, I know where you want to go, but if we go that way… We don’t know what might happen…”
“We can still get to the river!” she said excitedly. “Diamondsea showed me another way after a fire cleared out some of the forest down that way!”
She jumped up and was about to take off back up the path we had just come down; needless to say, she got nowhere fast with that. Koura caught her arm and directed her right back to the log. She glared at him, her eyes flashing silver again.
“No really!” she continued. “I know where I’m going! There’s a path that cuts around the back of here. There’s a couple of places that are still kind of blackened, but for the most part it’s safe.”
Koura leaned back on the tree, tilting his head up and staring into the branches.
“Haven’t we been through this already?” he asked tiredly.
“Hold on, I think she’s right… There was another path that she missed when she turned to come down here and then she ran into you…”
“The only major concern for you two is a mountain lion,” Illusia said lightly. “But she knows me, so I don’t think we really have anything to worry about.”
Koura stared at her for a second.
“Did you just say mountain lion?” he asked, sounding like he was choking.
“Yes,” she replied brightly. “What? Is there a problem?”
He facefaulted.
Illusia looked at him, then at me, obviously confused.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked, pointing at Koura, who was trying to pick himself up and regain his dignity.
“I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time…”
Koura glared at me.
“What’s wrong,” he growled. “Is that she is saying we should get to wherever the hell we’re going by going through an area where there is a f*cking mountain lion!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Illusia asked calmly.
“Illusia, honey, not everyone is as relaxed around large predators as you are.”
“Well I know Ginny,” she said brightly. “She wouldn’t -”
Koura interrupted.
“Wait,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Ginny? The thing has a name?”
“Wouldn’t hurt anybody,” she finished.
Koura gave me a pained look. I tried to reason with Illusia.
“Are you sure there isn’t another way?”
She looked off into the trees for a while, thinking.
“Well, there’s this way… But it’s not exactly the safest way to go,” she said, trying to go over the options in her head. “And there’s the way that would probably wind up with a run-in with Ginny. Frankly, I’m more comfortable going with Ginny. At least we’re less likely to be attacked.”
“Unless that f*cking devil cat -” Koura began, before Illusia jumped up, her knife in hand and her eyes bright silver.
“You can stop that right now or I’ll -” she growled.
Since both of them seemed to have totally forgotten me, I just stood up quietly, ignoring the shooting pain in my shoulder, and took hold of her wrist.
“You’ll sit down and put that away.”
She sat back down on the log and slipped her knife back into its sheath, glaring at Koura. He just glared right back. I joined Illusia on the log, my good shoulder towards her, and pulled her in close to my side.
“Anyway, it’s getting dark. There’s no way we could get around a mountain lion at night. Even if she knows you, that’s no guarantee of anything. You know how cats are.”
“I just want to get to my mother before he does,” she said softly, resting her head on my shoulder.
“What’s she talking about?” asked Koura, plainly confused. “Does she mean that psycho in a black trench coat? He came tearing through here about two days ago. That guy was crazed… I didn’t want to have anything to do with him…”
“So we are too late,” said Illusia, tears choking her voice. “My mother… I’ll never see her again…”
I could feel her shaking, trying to keep her grief hidden.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “If I had known…”
“It’s alright,” she said, her voice almost inaudible. “There’s no way you could have…”
She never finished. She burst into tears as she trailed off. Gently, I shifted her around so she could cry on my shoulder, not caring about the pain. There was nothing I could say that could make her feel any better. I hated not being able to comfort her. I just held her close and stroked her back.
Koura came over and sat silently beside us, concern clearly visible on his face. After a while, he looked at me and asked:
“Is she going to be alright?”
I looked down at her, watching her shake and listening to her sobs. Over and over she was saying ‘Mama… I’m so sorry Mama. I could have… I should have done better.’ I looked back at my brother. My voice came out sounding very tired.
“I’m not sure… She’s been hit with so much in such a short amount of time that I honestly don’t know…”
“What’s happened to her?” he asked, sounding worried. “Can you tell me?”
“Watched her grandfather die… Found out about what she has to do, that her family is slowly going to be taken from her… Betrayed by someone she really cared about… Now it’s likely that…”
“About her mother?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
I nodded. Koura propped his chin on his fist and stared out at the sunset. I followed his gaze to see a blood-red sun sinking into the western horizon. It was so beautiful, but it seemed mournful somehow… I was hoping for a miracle, but I knew it couldn’t happen.
Illusia’s crying gradually stopped and I looked down to find that she had cried herself to sleep. Gently, I shifted to cradle her in my arms as I had so many times. Her hand tightened into a fist in the fabric of my shirt. I kissed her tenderly and settled back against a tree growing up behind the log. I was in for a long night; there was no way I could get any sleep with my shoulder in its present condition. Looking down on her tear-streaked face, I wondered why things had worked out this way.
This is so wrong… She shouldn’t have to experience this… It’s killing her…