Rebellion (After the Haunted FF)

Chapter 28

Late, but better than nothing. :b I had really bad writers block most of the time when I was supposed to working on this, but I think most of it came out okay.
The picture up above was made by Note_Block5. All of the thanks to you, and happy birthday my dear friend (although it will probably be the next day when you read this)!
____________________________________________

Grayson's point of view-

Time felt frozen. The world felt distant and almost as if nothing was going on around me. Everything just seemed to stop in that moment when he grew completely still. The sounds going on around me became distant as I lost focus on my surroundings, my eyes remaining locked the corpse in my arms. The stench of death filled the battle field, but the same aroma had yet to rise from the lifeless body I held closely. His unbreathing body was still warm, but growing cold ever so slowly. I continued to have trouble wrapping my head around everything that was going on.

  "L-Luke?" I choked out, a piece of my mind trying to convince myself that he would open his eyes, but I knew all too well that he would never do so again.

My tears streamed down my cheeks, the liquid burning my cheeks more than they already burned, almost steaming against my pale skin. All I did was stare blankly at Luke's dead body, disbelief continuing to rattle through my being. For a moment, I was forgetting to breathe, adding to the pain in my chest and the water in my eyes. I clawed at his body as I sobbed, choking as my throat closed up and my shaking limbs began to ache and lock in place.
Another one of my tears fell onto his pale face, rolling down with the rest of them. His blood was seeping onto my lap as his body rested motionless on top of it. The blood was getting underneath my fingernails and coated my fingers and palms. Some of the red stained his hat but I retracted it to keep it from being stained in red any more than it already had been.

"C'mon, b-buddy... Wake up!" I tried shaking him, but to no avail. His condition did not change. I did not really expect it too.

I choked as I tried to get oxygen into my lungs, my sorrowful tears streaming down.
I should not be crying for this. I should not care about him. I should not care that he's dead. He got my family killed and turned me in as a criminal! He put me through so much agony that I could go as far as to call it torment. I have wanted him gone for so long, but... he died to save me. After he betrayed me, I never thought he'd ever do anything like that.
I'm not supposed to care, but I do! I do care that he's dead! And I'm not finding pleasure in it like I thought I would. All I feel is anguish and hatred and rage.
After everything we've been through all these years, he was finally gone. Sure, I loathed him with my entire being just days ago but now... I don't think he was that bad. Yeah, what he did in the past was awful and unjustifiable, but he changed for the better. He gave up his life for us... I guess I could not make myself hate him anymore. I had to stop trying to convince myself that I had no place for him in my friendships.

"It doesn't matter if I die. I deserved death long ago." I heard his voice in my head, the memories of him saying that to me actually managed to cause my eyes to tear up more as I sobbed harder.

For a moment I looked down at the ground where his severed hand laid. I tried not to gag, but my crying took it's toll. My gaze settled on the hat in my grasp, the snow drifting down and getting stuck on the soft, yarn material. I couldn't help but rub my thumb against it to try and feel more of its texture, but my fingers were becoming numb from the freezing cold.
My eyes once again rested on his body, dead but a smile on his stiff face. Ha... At least he died happy. At least he was able to have the closure that we had become friends again. A weak chuckle left from my throat. Friends? It's been along time since I could stand calling him that.
I do not forgive him. I can't forgive him but... I could at least try to ease some of this hatred in my heart that I wish I did not have; try to give myself some peace of mind with my family's death. I sniffed and choked, my tears continuing to fill my eyes and drift down my cheeks. No. I will not get my peace of mind until they tyrant is killed in the most painful way possible!
My fist clenched, my hatred and rage beginning to overcome me and drown out every other sense in my being. I screamed into the sky, my sorrow and fury mixing and overflowing until I could no longer contain myself. My trembling hand slowly reached out, grasping the handle to my sword that I had dropped mere minutes ago. My teeth gritted against each other, and the yearning for retribution burned furiously in my heart.
In my other hand, I held onto the little penguin hat until my fingernails hurt my palm even from behind the yarn and my glove. Out of the corner of my eye, I glared with a vicious growl rising in my throat as my eyes rested on Drake and that b***ard royal as they both drew each other's blood.
My body was weak and every part of me seemed to scream for rest, but I had grown used to those cries long ago. The noises around me began to grow louder, but I mainly focused on the sounds coming from Drake and the emperor. I watched with my tear filled eyes as my best friend was able to slash wounds onto the emperor's exposed skin, with a fury raging on in his own teary eyes. The conflict was not one sided; the emperor striking and injuring the hybrid even more than the hybrid was hurting the king. Drake's entire body was drenched in his own blood and every time they got some distance between each other, Drake's body never stood still.
I could see that he was brandishing his blade, too blinded with rage to care about where he struck or to care about where the emperor struck him. He did not even seem to acknowledge the pain. In fact, his gaze was not just filled with fury and hatred, but of something that sent a shiver down my spine. He had that familiar look of insanity in his face and seemed to find immense pleasure in inflicting pain on his opponent. I would find pleasure in hurting that mother f**ker too...
Once again my eyes rested on the hat in my hand. My blood ran cold and my chest ached from my thumping heart. I sniffed up mucus and closed my sore eyes as I slowly put the hat into my satchel. If Luke wanted me to keep it, then so be it. Despite that it will bring a mixture of overwhelming, distasteful memories...it will bring back some good ones too. Like the rings I am still in possession of from the day Clara and I were wed, Luke's hat will be another reminder of what I'm fighting for; of what I'm fighting to avenge.
When my eyes opened again, they rested on my friend's bleeding corpse, and the pool of blood around the body and myself. I gently set Luke's body onto the snow covered and frosted grass, slowly standing on my wobbly legs. My eyes could not rip away from him, my vision blurred by tears.
It was so hard to believe that after everything that we have been through together for literally as far back as I can remember, that the day had finally come where our long, complicated friend-enemy relationship came to an end. Well, it had already came to an end long ago but now it truly was over and had no chance of resurrection. I miss those good times we had together. I miss those times when he were almost like family. I'll try to forget the bad times and...focus on the good.
I will avenge him...I will avenge Clara... I will avenge R.J, and I will protect everyone who I have left on this earth! I am not afraid of death. The only thing I fear is not being there for my friends and not being there for Drake when he needs me. No matter what, as long as I live, I will not let anyone take my family from me again! My friends are my family, and I refuse to lose anyone else I care about! Today...this conflict ends!