SHADOW KNIGHT'S REVENGE: A Minecraft Diaries Fan-Fiction

Chapter XXVII: Murderer's Mistakes

"I... still don't understand what happened."

"It's obvious, Laurance. By the looks of it, an imp attacked her."

"I didn't expect them to be this dangerous, Travis!"

"Well, now you know. Jeez, it's a miracle she even survived."

"Barely."

"Hey, it's not my fault she went out looking for you."

"I... ugh. Is--Is she going to survive?"

"I'm not a doctor. I'm just trying to take control of the damage."

"We should've gotten Asmund to help."

"It doesn't matter! Who cares about Asmund?"

"Sorry, I just... I don't know."

"It's fine. Hold on--I think she's waking up!"

"Is she? Arabella?"

Arabella's eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, she didn't know where she was. Then everything started aching again as the room fell into focus. She at some sort of village house, possibly in the Enki Warrior Tribe's village, and Travis and Laurance seemed to be looking over her. Travis was holding a gauze of bandage.

"What's... what's going on?" asked Arabella weakly before she looked at herself. There were bandages all over her, particularly a large one around the area where she was stabbed. It looked like blood had already soaked through it. Her hand immediately reached the agonising area on her head which was also wrapped with bloody bandage.

"Arabella, you're awake!" Laurance grinned. Seeing him like that was a painkiller for Arabella.

"Well," started Travis, "I was hoping you'd be knocked out for a little longer. This one's going to hurt a lot."

"What is...?" Arabella trailed off before she looked at her left leg. It was bent at a weird angle.

Yep, it was definitely broken.

"Brace yourself." Travis was about to return the leg to its original position. "On three, two, one..."

Arabella involuntarily clutched Laurance's hand when Travis twisted her leg. After the pain dissipated Arabella opened her eyes to see her broken leg less broken. Travis started putting a makeshift cast around it.

Arabella started to feel dizzy. It was probably because of the blood loss. "What... happened?"

Travis summed it up in one word: "Imps."

"Oh."

Laurance bit his lip. "Arabella, exactly what happened?"

"I'm not so sure myself," she admitted. "After you ran off, I ventured into the woods to look for you, but I found an imp instead. I tried to run back to the hideout, but the imp caught up and attacked, and, well, now we're here."

No one was responding, so Arabella decided to bring up a question. "U--Umm, where's everybody else?"

"Aphmau went to find the Demon Warlock, and Aaron went after her," explained Travis. "Katelyn was, uh, also attacked by imps but not as brutally as you."

"You could've sugarcoated it," muttered Laurance under his breath, but Travis didn't hear him.

He shrugged. "Here are makeshift crutches for you for obvious reasons. I'm going to go downstairs to see Asmund."

"Gee, thanks," muttered Arabella dully as Travis left.

Laurance sat beside the bed Arabella was lying on, and they were both together in silence. After a while, Laurance decided to break it. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better, I guess." Arabella really wasn't feeling much. The pain had reduced itself to a dull ache.

Laurance looked down at his lap. "About earlier, I'm sorry."

Arabella tried to shake her head, but it hurt. "No, you were right. It... it was my fault. I shouldn't have done any of that."

The awkward silence returned. Arabella stared at the ceiling blankly. Laurance was absentmindedly twiddling his thumbs.

"Say, uh," started Laurance again, "did the imp look like someone you know?"

Arabella bit her lip, her gaze still focused on the wooden ceiling. "Yeah."

"Who?"

This time, she shut her eyes. "The imp looked like you."

Laurance's face fell.

"It looked so real, it was scary," continued Arabella. "In fact, I wouldn't have even approached it in the first place if it didn't take your appearance. That's... that's why I was attacked in the first place. It was a trick. A trick that nearly got me killed."

Arabella blinked her eyes open again. "Actually, the imp changed its appearance later on. The worst part was that I recognised him."

Laurance's eyes widened. "Do you mean--"

"Caspian." Arabella's eyes began to water, so she shut them again. "The same green eyes, the same, scary look of anger and betrayal on his face. I--I almost thought he was real, coming back to take revenge, but he deserved it. He deserved to die for being a..." Arabella trailed off. "He didn't... he shouldn't have... I shouldn't have... oh, Irene, what have I done?"

Had Caspian really deserved to die? Was he willingly a Shadow Knight, or had he been controlled by the Shadow Lord just how she had been? Was he just another innocent life that vanished because of Arabella?

"Arabella, you shouldn't be thinking about any of this," said Laurance quickly. "What happened is done and past. None of it was your fault. You can't keep blaming yourself for these simple mistakes!"

"These mistakes get people killed, Laurance," said Arabella, her voice breaking, "My stupid mistakes get dozens killed! It's my fault. I'm a murderer. I should be the one dead, not those innocent people."

"Don't say that," whispered Laurance. "Please, don't ever say that."

Arabella's eyes were glittering with tears, but she somehow managed to not let them spill. If she did, she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop.

Laurance bit his lip. "You should get some rest. I'm going downstairs; maybe search for Aphmau. Please, try and get some sleep."

Laurance reluctantly got up from his seat and left the room. Arabella tried to take his advice. She shut her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

The tears leaked out silently.

~•~

A/N: Double update, woop! Maybe I am going to do the speed update. Eh, we'll see.

I don't have much to say, since I already said them in the earlier chapter, so bye.

--(Gr)ace