Velvet

Every inch of her was trembling. Or was it the world? Maybe it was the world that was trembling. After more than a year of sleep, her legs refused to work properly and propelled her unevenly through the halls. Upstairs; into walls. The stronghold had been completely abandoned.

What am I doing? She asked, even as she reached the third floor and leaned heavily against the wall, trying to pull air into her lungs as they turned to stone and refused to breathe. 

There were cracks etched through the floor and they threatened to draw her in if she lost her balance.  

With a thundering crack, a door near the other side of the wall flew out of its place and narrowly missed her. It splintered above her head and a rain of wood littered her hair. There was a strangled roar and two shapes tumbled out after it. Four pairs of hands scrabbled to grab the dagger spinning across the floor. Towards her.

Velvet didn't let herself think. She reached down and grabbed it.

Then there was silence. They could see her.

She felt tears threaten her eyes as she saw him. How could one person change so much in less than two years? His sandy hair was soaked with perspiration and hung low over his black eyes. Black. Empty and full all at once. There were two where there should have been only one. The wrong of the two was the one.

"Sarai . . ."

She didn't have the chance to say anything else. The second figure, a stout ginger lunged for her with alarming speed. He grabbed the dagger and held it against her throat.

"Come any closer," he snarled at Sarai. "Come one step closer and I'll slit her throat. Do you want to be the one who kills your precious Velvet?"

Sarai was a statue of stone staring at her with a muddled mix of shock, horror, and anguish twisting his features.

"You didn't die."

He was speaking to her. Her heart clenched.

"I didn't."

"We're so sorry." Blood ran down the side of his face just as tears washed down her cheeks.

"I know," she cried softly. "I know. Neither of you did anything wrong. You don't have to be angry with yourselves anymore."

He was crying too, the tears running red down his cheeks where they mingled with the blood. "We would have saved you," he choked out. "We would have done anything to save you. You saved us, so many times, and we never . . ." He pulled in a gasping sob and covered his eyes with his hands. 

"You don't have to save me." She tried to reach out a hand towards him, but the dagger blade against her throat stilled her. "You don't have to be my savior."

"I do. I've hurt both of you."

"I love you all the same," Velvet whispered. "I love you both. That never changed."

"Enough talking." The man holding her pressed the blade harder against her neck. She felt it every time she swallowed; every time she breathed. When Sarai moved forward, she closed her eyes, thinking that within moments she would be drowning in her own blood. Instead, she gasped, and so did her captor as Sarai dropped to his knees before her and pressed his head against the ground by her feet.

There was laughing. She felt it vibrate through the man's body and into hers like a grotesque purr. She felt it and she shuddered because it was not laughter. It wasn't laughter, it was scorn. Scorn and hatred.

"Excellent job. You've tamed the beast! No leash needed. I should have woken you up long ago."

He relaxed and dropped the arm holding the dagger, but kept the other one wrapped firmly around her waist. "Can he do tricks now too? Tell him to roll over. No? Alright then, I will. Roll over!"

Sarai didn't move.

The man chortled and reached down to pat him on the head. "You've lost this battle, dog," he grinned. "Now be a good boy and obey your master." 

"Shut up!" Velvet couldn't take it anymore. Why was he still bowing? Why did he lay where he was and take the humiliation? She slid down into a crouch, holding her hands over her ears. "They've endured enough! Leave them alone, please!"

Then she was drenched in blood. It was hot, nearly scalding. Hot, thick, and red.

When she lifted her head, she saw the man splayed out against the wall, staring down at the dark bloom spreading over his chest.

Sarai's hands were black with that blood. Living blood. And then it was all red. Everything.

The man jumped at Sarai and stabbed the dagger into his chest, twisting it with desperate fury even as he bled to death on top of him; and if Velvet screamed no one heard it. She pushed the monster away, wrenching the dagger from the sandy hair boy's chest and throwing it to the opposite side of the room.

Her fingers clenched over his wound, but the blood poured over her knuckles and his face was whiter than sunbleached bone. He took her face in his hands and brought her head down to touch his.

"Forgive me." 

She clutched at his hands and willed him to stay alive; willed him to take her life; willed anything to happen that would keep him alive.

"You don't need to leave," she took his hands and pressed them to her mouth. They tasted of blood. "I came back, I don't want to be alone."

"When I'm gone he can live again. Velvet, I can bring Sadhi back." 

His eyes were black, but they were beautiful. They were dead but they were alive. "You want Sadhi back."

"I want both of you," she whispered. "I want both of you."

"When I die, take our body somewhere safe. When he comes back, tell him-- tell him to forgive me."

Then he was leaving. He was leaving with his blood and she couldn't stop him, just as she couldn't stop it from pouring out of his body and washing the ground in red.

"I forgive you," she cried over and over again. "I forgive you."

She stayed with his body until it was cold. Then the thunder began again, and she gathered him into her arms. In death, he was as delicate and light as a bird. Amidst crumbling rubble, she carried him away. Far away. She would save him one last time. She would do anything if it meant she could save him.

Deathbringer

The sight of the Grandeur and the RainWing army lifted his heart out of its pit of ashes. There were hundreds of people gathered outside the crumbling stronghold. More than half of them needed to be imprisoned.

"So, you're alive." He almost missed the glimpse of relief that flashed across the old Queen's aged face, but not quite.

"Disappointed?" he joked.

"Hmmph." She glanced around at the masses of people, and the monster structure before them.

"You'll fill me in later I'll hope."

"Yes."

"In the meantime-" she flicked her hand to the army behind her to snag their wandering attention-"who needs to be exterminated?"

Before he could answer, there was a deafening roar, and the stronghold collapsed.

Deathbringer coughed, peering through the cloud of dust and debris. Something sick in his stomach.

"Thunder," he spoke to the woman behind him. She held a black silk handkerchief to her nose.

"Thunder, Glory's not out here, is she?"

She avoided his eyes.

"Thunder, where is she?"

Her lack of an answer was his answer.

Grandeur glanced between them. "What-"

He dove towards the mountain of rubble. He was weightless and he was tied down with boulders. He wanted to collapse and he wanted to overturn every stone. Logic told him she was dead. Everything told him she was dead. But she wasn't dead. She wouldn't be dead until he saw her dead with his own eyes, and even then she wouldn't be dead until he had done everything humanly possible to bring her back.

That was when he saw the glass; and the moment he saw the glass, he saw her. She lay amongst shattered and glittering remnants of whatever it was before; green eyes closed; chest rising and falling with deep breaths.

He almost collapsed with relief. But then it wasn't relief, because why was she sleeping?

"She's not dead, but she'll never wake up again."

He recognized the woman who stepped into view. He recognized her and his skin prickled with something terrible.

"Libra."

Completely Unedited and full of mistakes; please forgive me.
 One more chapter to go!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOO (and then of course some extra's because why not)

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