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(𝙰𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎...)

𝙻𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 : 𝙷𝚘𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕
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"Was she okay?" Blaze asked Mavis as he saw her coming towards his way.

"You know she isn't good with words and expressions..." Mavis sighed.

"I know. It must be extremely hard, as there is little she could do here."

"Say Blaze... Why's this happening with us? We were so happy till yesterday. Now... How am I supposed to really feel? Confused? Conflicted? Sad? Numb? Angry? Relieved? Guilty? Normal? I feel like whatever I may do, there's just no right thing to do." Mavis broke down before Blaze. Things were exhausting for her and her already low patience was slipping away.

"You know... I can't really say that I understand how you feel. But, you'll have to stay strong. If not for others, you'll have to do it for the kids and yourself. Our family needs us Mavis..." It broke his heart to see his love suffering but, he couldn't do anything to help. After all, it was the battle of powers and spirits, something out of his reach...

★¸.•☆•.¸★ ........................ ★⡀.•☆•.★

"You'll try? How?" Luna asked Sylvie in a frustrated voice. What she hated the most was false hope and Sylvie right now, was doing exactly that.

For her, false hopes were meaningless. She was once given a false hope that her family was best. They loved each other. But, the reality was far from it. The family, whole of it, was killed in a single night because of just one person. Someone raising her hopes based on lies... It was a bad feeling. The factual or rational basis of the hope was already weak and unsound.

"I don't know how bu..."

"But what? You know I hate it right? False hope." Luna snapped before Sylvie could finish what she was trying to say.

"Okay fine! Even if it's a false hope, it's still better than having nothing to cling onto!"

"NO. Absolutely not. Giving false hope means stringing a person along and in a way, manipulating them into believing there could be a possibility of something they're looking forward to. This makes them waste their time and energy over something that might never happen. It is cruel to give false hope. And you aren't cruel..." Luna softened her voice after realizing Sylvie must be in pain too.

"You know what? False hope isn't too bad when there's even a slight percentage of making things better. I clung onto the false hope of finding my family someday. Didn't I?"

"You did. But, it wasn't right to do so. What of I never had gone there? What if Mavis hadn't told me the whereabouts of Sanctuary? Then what? Listen Sylvie, when there is no hope, people might be disheartened but life for them will be clearer. They might be upset for a while but then they would get up, they'll have to get up, dust themselves off and move right on with life. So, be a better person and tell the truth. Say that it's impossible for me to stand up again."

"No. I refuse to believe that."

"Sylvie..." Luna started again.

"If I know something is false as a matter of fact, then it will not be called a hope. What element of a hope do I have remaining given that it has already been proven to be false? For something known or proven, there is no need to talk about hope. Hope is a future concept. It is like a projection, so I can't label it as true or false; but we can wait for the outcome. False hope is a concept of the past or things already happened. For a hope that I made in the past, now turning out as a matter of fact to be false, I can call it a false hope only after the fact. This isn't the case here. Is it?" Sylvie argued.

"No. False hope is the worst kind of lie told. Whether we tell ourselves this lie, or someone else does makes no difference. If you survived on it, it wasn't the best thing to do. The truth, no matter how bad is at least something you can work with. It's real. A lie isn't, and because it's not real, then there's nothing to go from, nothing real to stand on. There's no foundation. False hope only results in the added sense of betrayal when the inevidible truth creeps in and the very reality you wanted to avoid is still there and has to be dealt with. False helps sets you back. Nothing more."

"Are you saying, all those years that I survived, caged like an animal, was..." Sylvie stopped. Words couldn't formulate in her mind. Her mouth refused to say what was burning inside her heart. Luna was talking about betrayals but here, it was Sylvie who was feeling most betrayed.

"Sy..."

"I don't want to hear it. It's no false hope. I... I'll cure it, no matter what." Saying so, Sylvie kneeled down in front of Luna and placed her left hand on her knee.

The feelings of betrayal and hopelessness overpowered Sylvie's heart and suddenly she could feel her chest burning. It was the same like before... The power of Blue Flames was back. The powers always worked with prices. Give and take. It was an easy deal. The powers would give her flames, let her heal small organ losses and let her peak into recent past. And in return, it'd burn away her insides without wounds. The fire created by Sylvie used to burn her, just like now.

Slowly, the air around her hands turned blue. The colour kept getting darker. There it was. Bluish white flames started emerging out of her hands covering Luna's whole feet. Her chest burned. Along with the whole body. The pain was so incredibly intense that Sylvie didn't even have the capacity or presence of mind, to think. Her entire existence had become nothing but a fiery, excruciatingly painful experience.

It was something like when we touch a hot kettle or had some boiling water spilt on our hands. Now imagine it spreading all over your body and magnify that pain a 1000 times. Imagine it lasting for 15 seconds whilst you're simultaneously suffocating and unable to scream. That was what being burnt felt like. It drove her completely insane and hysterical within seconds. It was the worst pain imaginable. But, she couldn't back up. She had to do it. For her family. For herself. For Luna. For Rhys. And for Valerie.

She was to after all...

Slowly, the bluish flames vanished along with the smoke. Sylvie had previously closed her eyes to minimize the pain. She opened her eyes after the flames subsided completely and there it was. Luna was already standing on her feet.

"You... You did it." She spoke softly.

"I..." Sylvie wanted to scream with happiness. She wanted to say that she did it. She could now cure Rhys too but, the pain inside her body was too much to bear. She could feel herself surrendering towards it. Sylvie's whole body gave up and she crashed down on the hospital floor. Exhausted.

"You actually did it. I can't believe you got your powers back. Wait... If yours are back, why isn't mine..." Luna's voice suddenly changed it's tone and not in a good way.

"What..." What did she mean? Sylvie wanted to ask. There were no answers and Luna should know that.

"Your powers... Why are they back? That's unfair. Don't you think so?" Luna stopped circling the room and bent herself to come face-to-face with the lying Sylvie.

"I..." The words became harder to phrase. Not because of the pain but, because of the possible meaning behind Luna's words.

Suddenly, Sylvie's mind went blank. Luna said a spirit attacked her. But, Luna wasn't that good with black magic and stuff or she wouldn't have let Rhys go the Sanctuary in the very first place. And the Call of Night was a powerful spirit who won't let her victims stay alive until a higher spiritual energy comes for the rescue.

"Yo..."

"Yes me. It was me all along." Luna stretched her hands and pulled out Sylvie's necklace, the same which she had given herself.

"Since my powers aren't back... Give me yours." Saying so, Luna placed the crystal on Sylvie's left eye. Wherever it touched, it burnt her skin. Sylvie wanted to scream. The pain was overbearing. Her eyes started to bleed. The bluish green crystal started changing it's colour. It was now turning golden, Luna's signature colour. She was extracting Sylvie's powers. Was this the end for her?

"Leave Vie." Out of nowhere, Valerie's small frame came running towards Luna. Valerie grabbed Luna's leg, repeatedly asking her to leave her Vie.

"Valerie!" Luna turned around and pulled Valerie's hand away with force. Suddenly, Luna's eyes widened. Whatever it was, Luna wasn't going to stay there anymore. Bending again, she hurriedly pulled away the stones and dashed away from the room.

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Number of words : 1643
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Author' Note :-

Few hours left only. And so many words to finish. Let's get going rather than writing Author's Note.

So, Luna was the snake all along? Why? And who was the one who's presence made her leave?

Till the next time. Take care.