The Youngest Ro'meave/Minecraft Diaries Fanfiction/

Chapter Five

(1 month later)

Annie's POV

Darkness fills the world around me.

Where was I?

I didn't know.

Then, there was a flash of white light and a picture fades into my vision.

The clearing fades in. Just the sight of it caused the feeling of tears to brim my eyes. It looked exactly the same as that day. The red and orange leafs scattering the trees and the grass beneath my feet. The weather was still clear, just like that day. Everything looked too pretty for what happened that day. It didn't make sense. How could something so terrible be surrounded by the prettiest things?

I found myself standing in the middle of the clearing, watching everything unfold. I tried to move or to speak at the very least, but no sound was able to escape from my mouth and my body was frozen in place. Vylad was standing there.

He was looking at me.

His eyes showed disappointment.

I tried to speak again, my mouth moving to form words, but no sound emerged.

That was when I noticed, he was holding his hand over the stab wound on his stomach. He looked so pale and lifeless. There was a small streak of blood from the corner of his mouth and his shirt is soaked with blood from the middle of torso down. I wanted to sob just seeing him like this.

"Why didn't you listen to me, Annie?"

My stomach does a backflip as I started to feel like I'm crying, but then again nothing happens.

"This is YOUR fault."

I want to shake my head. I want to scream. I try to, but nothing happens.

He continues to stare at me. His words repeating over and over again.

This is YOUR fault. This is YOUR fault. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!

I continue to struggle to scream and cry or to move at the least. I needed it to stop. I knew it was my fault. All of it. Every memory I had of him worked into the front of my mind, it felt like my thoughts were drowning me, dragging me deeper and deeper into my mind. 

It kept going before... it stopped.

----

I screamed in terror before tears started to roll down my cheeks. I gasped for air and opened my eyes wide as I trembled. Garroth, whose room was right across from mine, darted into my room. He ran so fast he almost ran right into the door as he opened it. I noticed that he had his sword in his hand.

He was always overprotective of me, but since what had happened his overprotectiveness grew. I guess I understood, but then again I didn't. Why would he protect me? I'm the reason Vylad was dead. No one should be protecting me.

"What happened!" He asked with a worried look on his face mixed with sleepiness as he must have just woke up as I started screaming.

I couldn't form words in my current state as he placed his sword on the ground by the door, sat beside me and pulled me onto his lap and into his arms, holding me as he ran his hand through my hair to comfort me and calm me down.

"Did you have another nightmare An?" he asked softly and quietly, seeming to have calmed down from the panic state he was in moments earlier.

I nod, still feeling too weak to form words as I swallow hard and take more gasps of air.

"Same as always?" he asked again pulling me closer.

"Y-yeah," I finally said, wiping the tears away from my cheeks.

"I know it's hard, but I promise it will get better," Garroth replied.

"I-It was all my fault Garroth. H-he died because I didn't do what he asked me to do," I said as I start to cry once more.

Garroth hugged me tight and said, "Hey, listen to me. It was not your fault. It was the monster who did this who is at blame. Not you. You didn't know how dangerous he was. How were you supposed to? You made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes," he said.

"I made a mistake that cost Vylad his life! I should have ran to go get help! If I had done what he had told me the-"I cried before being interrupted.

"That wouldn't have changed anything Annie. If you weren't there, who knows what would've happened, " Garroth said as he pulled me away from his chest and held my shoulders so I could look at him.

"M-maybe it w-would've h-helped. I-I mean, getting someone who was better skilled t-than me c-could've saved him," I replied as I sniffled.

"Annie, you're amazing at archery, and Vylad was amazing at handling a sword, there is no doubt about that, but you both were against a Shadow Knight. Shadow knights have supernatural strength. There was no way that you could've held your own without any other help or abilities of your own. What you did was to protect each other in the only ways you could," he said wiping the tears from my cheek. I winced as his finger hit the still healing gash on my right cheek.

It drew a bit of blood so he grabbed a tissue from the table beside the bed and dabbed the area with it, quickly stopping the bleeding. Once he does that, he held my chin with his hand as he shifted my head to the side so he can see it clearly. His eyes studied it for a moment before he spoke.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, examining the gash.

The gash still had a few stitches visible but was almost healed up. It had been really deep and according to father, they had to sedate me because of the state of panic I was in so they could fix the wound. Father also told me it would almost one hundred percent leave a scar which didn't bother me because it wasn't that nice to look at, but because whenever I would look in a mirror I would have to remember what I did.

I nodded eventually after coming out of my train of thought.

He stayed silent for a few moments before he let go of me and stood up.

"You should try and fall back asleep. I promise, everything will be okay eventually, even if it doesn't seem like they will now." He smiled as he tussled my hair and turned to leave, picking up his sword by the door before I stop him.

"Garroth?"

"Yes Annie?" he asked stopping and turning around at my door.

"W-will you be here if I have another nightmare?"

"Of course," he replied, smiling at me sympathetically.

I smiled and nodded before I laid back down and he left, closing my door behind him.

I closed my eyes and hoped that I could get some sleep, and not have any more terrible nightmares.