Gentle Eyes of Evil

Chapter 28: A Magic Little Room

With the coronation out of the way, each sibling of the royal family was finally able to relax. Well, all except for Luna. He paced about his room, with his coronation suit being crumpled up in a pile on the floor beside his recently fallen mirror. The thud of the mirror on his wooden bed frame had alerted Jace, who had butterflies of his own. His butterflies felt angry, like each one of them was a boiling blood vessel just waiting to pop.

The boy practically stormed his way into Luna's room once he heard the thud, he grabbed the handle and slammed his shoulder against it to ensure its opening. Luna froze as he heard the door burst open, his head shot up to face his brother with afraid eyes. Jace slammed the door behind him and approached Luna with broad shoulders and a stride in each step.

He placed his hands on Luna's shoulders before he spoke in a low, cold tone. His eyes, however, were laced with concern. "What the hell's going on with you?" He asked. Luna's body tensed up at his touch. He didn't quite know how to process what Jace was doing, and almost looked concerned for him in return. "What do you mean?...It's nothing." He eventually replied in a quiet, sombre tone. "Don't play with me, Luna. Don't fucking play with me. You've been acting weird all day, at the coronation, and now with your damn mirror. I'm your brother for Satan's sake, tell me what's going on!" He demanded with a slight break now in his voice.

Luna softened his gaze, yet his body remained tense. He sighed quietly and looked at Jace. "This isn't the only thing on your mind...is it?" He asked gently. Jace took a minute, he glanced down to his hands and realised his nails were gripping onto the thin fabric of Luna's night clothes. He loosened his grip and took a deep breath, Jace looked almost afraid of his own strength. He shook his head slowly. "That isn't what matters right now...you are what matters to me. Please just...just let me help." Jace muttered to him quietly as his head fell to face the floor.

Luna's face curled to a soft smile as he watched Jace's head lower. He took the boy's chin in his hand and lifted his head once more. "Hey, look at me...you're alright, okay? Nothing can hurt you, nothing's coming for either of us, you have nothing to feel guilty for. You're safe, Jace." Luna assured him in a lullaby-like tone of voice. Jace seemed more worried now than angry as his expression calmed down, his pupils expanded a little to just above their usual size.

"But...what about-" He began, then felt the smooth touch of Luna's thumb on his lips. "Shhh." Luna whispered. "Don't worry about me. Don't worry about anything else. Just hush, and things will work themselves out." Finally, the corners of Jace's mouth began to rise. "There's no winning with you, is there?" He mumbled from under the hold of his younger brother's thumb with a chuckle. "Not when I'm the more mature one." Luna replied with a smug face, his thumb slowly moved from Jace's lips. His hand then travelled up the side of Jace's face to hold his cheek for just a moment. "You do promise you'll tell me what's bothering you...right?" Jace asked.

Luna nodded slowly. "Of course I will." Behind Luna's calm smile, it felt like every butterfly in his stomach was being laced with active dynamite that could go off at any second. He leaned in and kissed Jace on the forehead. "Well?" Jace questioned as Luna removed his hold on his face. "Well what?" Luna repeated with a raised eyebrow. Jace rolled his eyes. "What is it that's bothering you?" Luna chuckled calmly and looked into Jace's eyes, he lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "I'll tell you once I know myself."

Jace sighed with a grin and folded his arms. "Fine...and thank you, Luna." He then gave Luna a more genuine smile. "Anytime, Jace." Luna nodded to him affirmatively. As Jace turned on his heel to leave. Boom. Off went the first butterfly. Then the next. Then another. In a chain reaction, every butterfly in Luna's stomach erupted into a mushroom-cloud of pure dread. His vision blurred as he caught himself on the bed-post to stop from passing out onto the carpeted floor.

As Luna tuned back into the room, and the doubles in his vision returned to singles, he looked up to find that Jace had gone. In his place, just the echoing sound of his bare feet dashing across a wooden floor. In his confusion, Luna's final sense returned. He couldn't even make out every other sound over the top of one. The blood-curdling screams of his mother.

The feeling of his nerves shot back through Luna's body, he found himself physically back in the room. He dragged his almost lifeless legs as fast as he could, but it was like trying to pull a pair of legs that had been drowned in cement. He ripped his hand off the wooden post, the once smooth and pristine surface now stained with the markings of his nails. Despite the pounding of his newly-single vision, Luna gave his head a light yet purposeful shake.

"Dammit. He's probably long gone by now. Move for fuck sake, move!" He cried, however his calls fell onto that of his own deaf ears. Finally, Luna pushed off of his left foot and forced his body into a fast-paced walking motion. He stumbled his way down the hall as his feet picked up with every step, finally he ended up in a comfortable running rhythm. Luna found his heart was sinking lower and lower as he followed the screams, it felt so low he worried he might just trip over it.

As Sophie's room came into sight, Luna found himself unable to focus on the doorway, or even the walls surrounding it. Everything blurred into one colour, silver. Luna's eyes locked onto the shine of Jace's chestplate as the light bounced off it, he gripped onto the doorway of the room to catch himself. His grip was so hard that his nails almost went through the wood and touched one another.

His head hung low as his mouth remained open, he had no choice but to breathe through it as his nose couldn't take in enough oxygen to keep him standing. Luna's ears still rang with a painful screech, like a soldier just seconds after an explosion. As the man dragged his head up with a lung-piercing breath, he finally saw what was going on.

What Luna saw was nothing short of a bloodbath. Behind the almost pure white shine of Jace's armour, laid a tiny, bloodied, not-moving, body. Luna's eye widened, the heart pupil within it began to vibrate at a worrying rate. His body froze in place, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. His eye forced itself to move, to remain open, to not become like the other. Not here, at least. Not now.

His eye followed up from the infant's body, along the strung-out umbilical cord, which was still attached to the insides of its mother. A mother, of which, laid in a pool of her own blood. And insides, of which, weren't so inside anymore. Her intestines laid not too far away from the infant's body. Her forehead was splattered with blood, a blunt force wound had been indented on the left side. Fresh blood ran down her face. A single droplet fell from her chin, and froze. The pulsing of Luna's panicking heart. The muffled yelling of his distressed older brother. The ringing in his ears. Everything. Stopped. Then suddenly...

Smash. Like a glass pane breaking from a baseball. Luna's pupil shattered within his eye. Each of the 5 pieces flew off in a different direction. However they also froze in place, with all 5 pieces still being visible within the eye. He closed it for just a second to register the pain. When he found himself able to see again, it was as if the darkness in his mind became real. A physical surrounding that he could feel. The darkness felt cold.

Luna found himself alone with the corpses. The mix of emotions within him swirled together, they formed something much more violent than a storm. A flaming tornado. It flew around inside his stomach, and knocked every other feeling, sense, and thought, off balance. Those that weren't knocked by the wind, got burned by the aftermath. Some even got flung into the abyss, and became nothing at all.

Amongst the howling of the tornado in his stomach, Luna's head was thinking a thousand thoughts, and simultaneously nothing at all. Yet, despite the chaos, the bloodshed, the rapid pounding of his exhausted heart, one memory came back to him. One moment. One sentence.

"Maybe if I'm quick I can save it from being raised by you." The phrase echoed through the darkness, yet Luna hadn't uttered a word. The voice wasn't his, either. It was calm, soothing, ethereal, and almost motherly in nature. The sentence shortened, and bounced from the shadows into his ears. The voice that spoke it grew less calm, and carried with it a demonic undertone. "...save it from being raised by you." Again, it shortened. Again. The voice grew angry, every word was spoken slower. "...save it from...." Shorter. Again. A blood curdling shriek shot through Luna's veins, freezing the blood within them. "SAVE IT!"

Luna drew in a sharp breath from his agape mouth. His lungs ached with the lack of oxygen. His blood ignited into streams of fire, melting away the icy chill of the voice. The only sound to grace his ears now, was the sound of his own laboured breaths. They were as clear as a calm river.

But, like all calm rivers, this feeling was short lived and soon became engulfed by a violent, unforgiving ocean. He closed his eye tightly, and forced it open again. Now, though, only the corpse of his abuser rested before him. The umbilical cord had been severed.

Luna became frantic, he quickly snapped his neck to his left side in order to see behind him. The grand hallway of the palace met his eye. But, as did a trail of crimson blood on the black marble. Without much thought behind it, Luna grabbed hold of the door handle and dashed out the room. He felt sick, and like he was having a heart attack. His desperately thumping heart was the only sound in his ears now. The ringing had gone silent, and he couldn't break away from the pain long enough to think.

The violent slam of the door echoed down the hall as he pushed himself on. Each step felt like agony. His head thrashed with un-processed information. His body and mind felt like they were in two different worlds, each one clawed desperately at his consciousness. Both left open wounds, yet neither got what they needed.

He followed the trail of blood all the way to a magical room. A kind of magic that exists among human society. A room that made Luna's tidal waves of anxiety slow down, and begin their descent back to that calm stream. A magic little room, known as the infirmary.