Kingdom of Life and Death (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 23: Nightmares [part 2]

When you think of what a nightmare might be, you would think of something that frightens you, that terrifies you, that makes everything around you disappear.

If I could have thought of a word to describe that moment, I would have said nightmare, but I would have been wrong.

It wasn't a nightmare, it was much worse, because it wouldn't end when I opened my eyes, it would go on regardless and it wouldn't change.

Rayn was dead.

That would never change.

We would never see him again, hear him, laugh at his jokes, hold his hands, hug him as tight as possible.

I would never hear him call me sister again.

He had died because of someone, a traitor. Someone had told our enemies of our plans, to lead our troops straight into the wolf's den.

I couldn't help but feel what my soul mate felt, the hatred, the anger, the sadness and the grief.

And most of that anger was directed directly at my sister.

My sister who sought my help, while the love of my life tried to blame her for something I myself had suspected she had done, something I was truly still suspicious about.

Could she be the traitor?

If she was, she clearly wasn't consciously, because I couldn't bear it if she was.

Perhaps there was another explanation.

'Laia?' she kept insisting as my mind could only fill with questions. 'Say something,' she demanded. She was my big sister, but that didn't mean she couldn't be doing this.

'Mena... you were imprisoned in that castle for a long time, is it possible that maybe they played with your mind without you realising?'

Her eyes filled with such a sadness that I thought she might never see me again like she used to.

'You think it was me? I wouldn't know...' she said with the same surprise her body showed.

'Of course you're not Mena,' Galaga interjected.

'She wasn't the only one who was taken prisoner,' Caelus commented, his voice full of fury.

'Are you talking about me pirate?' Galaga, my First Commander, who stood between Caelus and his girlfriend, looked at me with the same suspicion as my older sister. 'Do you believe this Gaia?' she asked me at last.

'I don't know, I don't know what to think. All I know is that we made a terrible mistake and that's why we lost...'

My voice was filled with the pain my heart felt, as it invaded my throat and wouldn't let me continue.

'What do you want to do now? Lock us both up until you're sure we're not your enemies?' Galaga questioned me with her head held high, without any doubt or fear.

My sister lowered her gaze, as if hiding something, which only made my head scream louder than my heart.

She is the traitor.

And if she was, what would I do with that? Would I leave her locked up as Galaga proposed? Could I do that to my own sister?

'No, I could not do that.'

'You must do something,' Caelus insisted. I understood, I totally understood, but I couldn't think of something as drastic as that until I was absolutely sure it was my sister who was to blame, or Galaga. No, I just couldn't.

'The others are coming back, they want to know what we'll do now,' Polar stood before us, his gaze completely lost, as if he wasn't in his body perhaps so he wouldn't have to feel the pain of losing his brother.