Burning Souls (F.T Sequel)

Thirty-Five

A/N: A shorter but more meaningful one ;-)

-xoxo, Sophia

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I run out of the tent with the sole intent on finding Jay. The pebbles crunch under my feet as I speed down the path, narrowing my eyes to block out the rising sun's soft glare. Everything's completely silent as if no one dares to breathe or make a sound from the inside of their tents. It's the pending reality of the approximate ritual that hangs over our heads grimly. I pause and close my eyes, letting my hearing take in Nature's life all around. Birds sing soft songs. Drops of melting ice fall from branches as early spring begins to take winter's place. Then, I hear it. The distinct sound of rocks splashing against smooth water. I rush through the thick foliage, away from the clearing, slapping away at the branches and leaves that incessantly fall in front of my face. Then I break free from the forest's thick barrier, nearly tripping as my feet land on the softer ground. The familiar lake where I bathed with Hunter stretches out before me, peace hanging over it and smoothing out the glistening water. I shift my line of sight until my eyes land on a blurred figure, bent down on one knee by the edge of the lake. Jay throws his arm back and then brings it forwards again expertly as his finger uncurl. The flat stone skips over the water eight times before drowning. I'm at his side in a quick second, casually settling myself down next to him on the ground. I lean back on my hands, staring out at the calm landscape. "Eight," I say, my voice laced with approval, "I've never gotten further than four. Actually, that's a lie. I think maybe three, or was it two times-"

"Emma." Jay turns his head to look at me and his chocolate-colored eyes blend into my golden ones. His jaw is set in a fine line, one that reminds me a lot of Hunter's signature expression. Jay's eyes briefly flicked downwards and then he looks back at the water, a somber expression marring his face. I know what he caught sight of; my new Mark. "Don't try to be civil with me. I don't deserve it."

Despite my roaring instinct to keep hating him, a deeply buried part of me begins to resurface, yearning for some polite conversation with the young boy I met two years ago. But as I scan his hard face, I know that too much brutality has stolen away that purity since a long time ago already. My heart clenches as air fills my lungs. I will my muscles to relax and I let out a deep sigh. "I don't want this to end like this. Us, I mean."

"Why are you preoccupied about that right now? Shouldn't you be worrying about the ritual?"

"That's my point," I reply pointedly, although sadness lingers beneath my tone. "After the ritual, the Shadow will have latched onto my soul. I won't be the same. Hell, I might not even be me anymore. I don't want our last words to each other to be those of hatred."

A long moment passes as we both let our gazes linger on the lake and the looming trees beyond. The sun is nearing halfway up its travel to its peek, painting the sky in soft colours of pink and marigold. A baby blue undertone serves as a brilliant backdrop for cushiony clouds, and they migrate lazily as a light breeze blows across. "I wanted to, you know," Jay says softly, his voice drifting out like a trembling caress over the smooth water. I turn my head towards him.

"What?"

He focuses his eyes on me, and the lightest hint of a smile gives them light again. "All that time ago - two years right? God," he shakes his head in calm disbelief. "It doesn't seem that long gone."

Already the dread of what I know he's about to say coils in my stomach. I can see that he senses my suffocating emotion by the way that the corners of his lips drop. "I wanted to die for you in Liam's lab. None of it was your fault, Em. I want you to let all of that guilt go."

I drop my head as tears well up in my eyes. Then, frantically, I begin to shake my head, hands shaking in my line of sight. My lip wobbles as pain laces around my heart when Jay's elegant hand comes to cover mine. "If not for yourself, then at least do it for me. As a repayment, of sorts. Let the guilt go Em. For me."

All at once the tears tumble from my eyes with the pressure of a fast-flowing waterfall, raining down my cheeks with nothing to stop them. The neckline of my shirt dampens with tears. In the next second, Jay's strong body leans in towards mine. Then, his arms encircle me as he crushes me against him, letting my head tremble against his shoulder and my unstoppable sadness staining his shirt. "Its all my fault Emma," he begins in a heart-wrenched voice, "If I hadn't bumped into you in that hall, all those years ago, or come to sit next to you in that classroom, none of this would have ever happened. You wouldn't be giving up your soul for the salvage of the world that was never to be your burden, to begin with. I'm so, so, so-"

"Don't you dare," I cut him off with a sob, "Don't you dare apologise for something that was out of your control. My mind did this to me. My curse is what's brought us here."

There's a heavy silence that settles onto our shoulders, but then it becomes a transparent veil, shielding yet encasing us in this sleeping world. Jay is still holding me in an impossibly kind, comforting embrace when footsteps crunch over the branches in the surrounding forest. "Emma?" The footsteps atop short when the voice that I immediately place as Hunter's flow over my proximity to Jay. There is nothing further said, and Jay doesn't let go of me. I feel Hunter walk towards us, and shockingly, there is no rage emanating from him. Instead, a pained resignation to the harsh inevitable has settled onto him. I feel his body come to sit beside me, and then his strong hand grasps my hand that isn't clutching Jay's shirt desperately. We sit like that, the three individuals whose fates happened to become entwined in the most unfathomable way possible. And yet, the love that flowed through all of us was the same. Their's of brothers, mine of completion. My broken Past and my stolen Future, thrown into the chaotic whirlwind of my Present.