Naryssa's Choice (The Fate and Destiny Chronicles Vol. 3)

Promises and Confrontations

I recall for a moment I wondered if I had been wrong to come and find him.

He'd been through so much already, lost so much. Yet here I was, a painful reminder of everything and the reason why, ready to pull him back into hell. It was not lost on me that my path, once my sisters now my own, would be just as daunting as it had been for her. I had been wondering that very thing as he spoke once more. "Something like that" he said to me, "So why are you here? How do you know who I am?" he asked as his eyes seemed to scan over my face focusing on the obviously fresh mark on my face over the left of my eye. His searchful gaze made me feel almost exposed somehow as I looked away, suddenly unsure of how to explain. "I came to find you..." I began but trailed off nervously as I took a deep breath. Could I really ask him to help me? After all he'd already endured? It felt wrong somehow.

"What the hell could you possibly be looking for me for? Did Caspian tell you about me or something?" He demanded in confusion and annoyance at the lack of explanation. I bit my lip, thinking for a moment about the best way to go about this. Then I realized maybe it wasn't something I needed to explain. Perhaps it would be better explained by someone he knew and trusted, explained by her. "I'm going to grab something from my bag in the room..." I explained to him slowly. "Don't throw the knife" I said jokingly as I met his stare, which made him smile slightly. I went into the room and picked up the worn journals that I had read not so long ago for the first time. I knew it would be tough for him to read my sister's journal but it was the best way to explain what was happening and I thought maybe it might give him some closure. Give him the goodbye he had been robbed of. "Just...read this and find me when you're done..." I told him as I held it out towards him while I walked across the living room to him.

He looked at me still confused but I could tell he recognized the journal as grief also filled his features, probably having seen it lying around when Annabelle was writing it. I just walked out the front door to let him read it all in peace. This was between them. This was something he had to do alone. I recall that I sat outside in the cool air for quite some time before finally he had come outside and sat on the grassy ground beside me in silence. I didn't look at him as he did, I just kept my gaze on the clouds in the blue sky above us. We sat together in silence for a while, I am not sure how much time passed as we sat in our silence but eventually, he finally spoke to me. "I'll help you" he told me quietly. "You...You really don't have to, Darren" I said softly, "I can't ask you to..." I began to explain but he interrupted me. "No, I need to do this" He told me, "I made a promise, I promised her until the end so if this isn't over, I need to see it through to the end. I'm meant to." He told me persistently. He sounded sure of himself but I could hear the pain in his voice as he must have been remembering the vow, he made to Annabelle so many years ago now.

I had to blink away the tears in my eyes as I felt an overwhelming amount of empathy for the familiar stranger from the past. I barely knew him yet it felt as if I had known him for months. "It's just not fair to ask you to stand by me" I whispered as I finally looked over at him. When I looked over, I saw he was shaking his head as he let out a humorless laugh, noticing his eyes were red from crying. "I don't think either of us have a choice...Not really" he said softly. "You may be right..." I said with a sad sigh as I looked down at my hands as I fidgeted with a blade of grass. "So, you know my name, what's yours?" He asked and after a moment I realized I never actually introduced myself to him. "It's Naryssa, but my friends call me Nyssa" I told him with a small smile.

"Well Nyssa, we're in this together" he said looking back at me with an equally sad smile. "Together, until the very end..." I promised him as I looked into his sad forest green eyes which shone with a sincerity that captivated me. "Til the very end..." He promised me with a crooked grin and fell back into a tense silence. The silence full of promise rang louder and felt heavier than I can even explain as we sat there accepting the path we'd started on together. When I realized that I would have to continue my sister's path of destiny I thought I would have to do it alone but I found that I wasn't alone whether I liked it or not. Darren would stand beside me because of his promise and Caspian would stand beside me because he cared about me. It's sad and yet kind of funny to me, as I think about it now, that the people who had once stood beside her would now be the people willing to stand with me whether I wanted them to or not. I guess in some small ways history would repeat itself no matter what.