The Book of Gemma VOL. 2

12: WHERE HAVE THE YEARS GONE

He shows me the past ten years, how when Aries brought my body back from the sun I laid there lifeless in his arms. My eyes drained of my soul, my skull melted with patches of clumped hair, my skin.. Oh god it's covered in burns leaving me disfigured. Deecon holds my body on the ground, screaming at me to wake up. I could hear his heart shattering as he yelled at everyone to back away from my body, to not touch me, to not tell him I am gone.

All of my friends and family dressed in suits and gowns as they lay me to rest in this tomb. The population of Darus lining the streets as they mourn the loss of their leader Gemma Knox. Deecon alone for months in our room, screaming to the heavens that it's not fair. Aries helped him get his footing into my plan again. Sky Valley buildings being destroyed as they build the new training grounds. Training everyday until his knuckles bleed to make sure he could protect any threat to the planets. Lower Valley thriving as new celebrations of the merge have been going smoothly. Vyx sent a few Starzithians to frighten them and Deecon sent back their heads. Albi meeting someone and fathering his first daughter.. With Akira.

He shows me everything I have missed... I was right.. I was dead. A small spec of my consciousness in the galaxy fighting to get back to him. The stars in my body battling in the night sky above him, piece by piece putting me back together.

It wasn't my judgment day.. It was every sin and good deed refilling the bottle until I was whole enough to be brought back.

I open my eyes to Deecon.. The real Deecon. The love I thought I lost forever.

"It's... over? ...no more nightmares? No more dreams? No afterlife? I'm.. alive?"

I jump from the coffin and throw myself at him, sending us both crashing to the hard ground. My arms tighten around the back of his neck as he tightens around my lower back.

"My Deecon! My stars! I came back to you!" I squeal into his ear. His laugh echoed against the rock walls. "My Gem!"

He places kisses all over any part of me he can reach.

I hear a knock at the door and see Aries leaning up against it. He clears his throat, "So it truly is you?"

I leap off of Deecon and throw myself into Aries' chest, wrapping my arms around his lower half as he towers over me.

"Even before your death, you've never given me a hug." He teases. I grip harder, "Then I shall give you one everyday to make up for our lost time."

He strokes the back of my head finally accepting this embrace. "Have you looked in a mirror yet?" His question came out fearful for my reaction.

"Because of the horrid gown you laid me in?"

I giggle then frown slightly as Aries looks at Deecon in suspense. What has happened to my image to make him fearful if I were to look in a mirror?

I slink out the doorway and run to my back door as they call after me. I sprint up the stairs to my bathroom and take in what they were afraid of.

My left eye... it's swallowed in darkness, not a trace of pink shines through. It was like an 8 ball was pushed into my eye socket. I could see fine through it, better even. I could see a faint line of colors around people when their emotions spiked.

I raise my hand to pull down my bottom lid and my attention is snatched to my arm.

I never fully took in the amount of ink on it, there were too many swirls of the amount of my kills that from my wrist up was solid black. I look at my chest and pull my gown off my upper half. A solid black line from the base of my neck travels all the way down the middle of my body. Black swirls licking the underside of my jawline, my entire left half of my body was coated in ink.