A Second Tyranny

A Spark of Hope

PEARCE

Pearce's eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply, startled by the nightmares. Sweat coated his forehead, neck, and shoulders. His whole body was trembling. It took a minute before his gasps calmed down and his senses returned. He was sitting on a thick branch of a tree in the bone forest, leaning against its trunk. He was supposed to be on guard duty for the second half of the night, keeping an eye on the Lost Ones, but he must have fallen asleep somehow.

Before he knew it, he was sliding sideways from the branch, on the verge of falling. His hand quickly gripped a thinner, smaller branch above him on his right, steadying himself.

"Bad dream?" Pearce heard Anna calling. He looked in her direction. Anna was sitting near the top of a bone tree to his left, about the same level of height as he sat. She was looking at him with concern. Pearce glanced over at Byron, who slept on another tree in front of his and Anna's, snoring.

"It wasn't pleasant, to say the least. The One and the Wizard King haunts me in my sleep once in a while, even in their death. It's as if I've never truly got rid of them," Pearce replied, feeling irritated that Anna had caught him in agitation. "What's keeping you awake, Anna?" He asked her, "Are you too frightened to sleep because of the Lost Ones?" Pearce couldn't keep track of how long it had been since Anna arrived to the Shadowland, but he was aware of the restlessness she went through every night. "Or is it because of the night when Hans unexpectedly overthrew your sister and took her kingdom?"

He studied Anna attentively. Tears welled in her eyes and one of them rolled down her cheek. "Maybe it's both," Anna disclosed after a moment, "How can I sleep soundly when I'm spending every minute, every second, of my life worrying about what could possibly have befallen Elsa? I thought she would come and rescue me, but I'm not so sure about that anymore."

Every couple of hours or so, Anna would ramble about how loving, caring, kind, and protective her older sister was, how she would never abandon the only family she had left, and how she would be the saviour of them all. Pearce had heard more than enough of it, and he sure as hell was not going to hear it now. He knew he couldn't help Anna or make things better for her even if he wanted to, no matter how much sorrow she was in; and there was only so much that Byron could do to console her.

"Would you like some chocolate? Its sweetness might make you feel better," suggested Pearce. He knew how much Anna loved chocolates.

"No, I'm fine," she said glumly, to his disappointment.

"How about some sandwiches?" he offered.

Anna told him, "I'm not hungry, Pearce, but thanks."

He couldn't think of anything else that could make her forget about the distress.

Anna said, "When you spotted Byron lying there, looking forlorn, on the hillside, you helped him. When I was surrounded by a swirling mass of Lost Ones, you saved me. You created food and water for us with your magic when we needed them, and you protected us from being feasted upon by the Lost. You managed to keep Byron and I alive."

"I did," Pearce nodded.

"Why?" Anna asked, "Why did you carry on helping us to survive when you know that we are trapped here and that there is no hope? You could've just left Byron and me to die."

He confessed, "I did all that because I was lonely. I was utterly and terribly alone my entire life, and I didn't want to die of loneliness. I have taken countless lives and done terrible things. I deserved nothing more than to die. But when I plummeted down into that Portal, who would've thought that I would live? I had the chance to help you and Byron, to finally do something good for once in my short and miserable life, so I took it."