New World [Complete]

Chapter Seventeen: Broken Bonds

Raygel’s POV

After a few minutes of rejoicing, people started to calm down. Everyone, including Seto and Lizzie, seemed to already know these newcomers and were happy to have them here. Their trust was enough to help me relax my guard a bit. For a moment, I’d been rethinking my decision to give them shelter for the night.

“We’ll have to build more rooms, won’t we?” Kitty complained. She had made her way over to me after greeting everyone. 

“Yep,” I answered. She grinned teasingly. “How are you doing?” I asked after a moment of silence. Her playful grinned faded as she shrugged.

“I’m okay.” She lied, refusing to meet my eyes. I waited patiently and she sighed in defeat. “Lizzie told me.” I stiffened.

“About what?” I questioned.

“You guys were fighting, right? It’s my fault that you can’t go after your friends.” Kitty explained softly.

“It’s not your fault!” I instantly objected. “This is my responsibility, not yours!” I snapped my mouth shut, realization dawning as I comprehended what I’d just said.

“Why?!” Kitty challenged, turning to me. “Why do feel like it’s your responsibility?” I noticed a few people glance over at us. Kitty’s voice rose in volume. “You always try to protect me! You always blame yourself for my mistakes! You’ve lost your memory, but you haven’t changed!” Her last words rang into silence as everyone in the room focused on us. I could feel the wisps of memory, begging to be recognized, slip frustratingly out of reach.

“Kitty…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Kitty glared at me, eyes glinting with anger at mistakes I couldn’t even remember. Her fists were clenched at her sides as her body silently shook. Once again, I desperately wished I could remember. Maybe then I could understand her and her anger. But that was the heart of the issue. I couldn’t remember her, or anything else. If I could, Herobrine wouldn’t be after me and Kitty would never have gotten hurt. I was the core of the issue, even if she couldn’t see it. Everything bad that had happened was my fault. I was at my breaking point, unable to handle the stress.

My quiet words were like shouts in the tense silence. “I’m sorry. I know this is all my fault. I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

“No! Are you even listening to me? You’ve never listened to anything I said!” She screamed. I flinched, eyes locked to the wood beneath my feet.

“Hey!” Lizzie stepped forward to intervene, but Kitty pushed her away. I could see shocked faces, unidentifiably blurred by the tears beginning to well in my eyes.

“What do you want from me?” I exploded, desperation clinging to each word I spoke. My voice was quiet, but the meaning was all too clear. I’d dragged everyone into this mess and almost gotten my sister killed! “Don’t you think I’ve tried to remember? Don’t you think I wish that we weren’t in this situation? I wish that Herobrine hadn’t taken my memories and wasn’t trying to kill me! I wish that I’d never gotten you into this and let you get hurt! I wish that I could stop anyone else from getting hurt and that you would all just leave me alone! Nothing you or I can do will change anything!”

A shocked silence followed my outburst. Silent tears rolled down my face as I turned and walked away. I strode into the night. I heard hesitant footsteps behind me and broke into a run, dodging around trees. My heartbeat exploded in my ears. I ran for what felt like forever, until my legs finally gave out and I collapsed to the ground. I was a mess of regrets and anger. I didn’t care about the dangers of the night around me at the moment. Secretly, I wished that I could just disappear along with my problems.

The silence of the night surrounded me eerily. Eventually, my breathing and heartbeat slowed to an almost normal rate. The darkness muffled my thoughts like a sleepy daze. My eyes started to drift shut and I swayed. Tears started to dry on my scarlet cheeks as confusion flooded me. What was wrong with me? I forced my eyes to stay open and tried to steady myself. I shook my head in a vain attempt to clear it.

Let yourself drift away. Sleep. A voice whispered in my mind. It wasn’t Notch. That was my last thought as a sea of gray fog washed me away to unconsciousness. I was too far gone to react when I was swept into someone’s arms and carried away like a gentle breeze.

Mystery POV

A thick silence followed Raygel’s last words before she disappeared into the night. Kitty spun away and stormed into her bedroom, the door slamming loudly behind her. I took a few hesitant steps after Raygel, but she was gone. My eyes were drawn to Mitch, who was obviously confused. Raygel probably hadn’t told him everything that was going on.  I wished he would notice me, but it was impossible when he didn’t know my name. I was distracted as I felt a distinct presence, although it wasn’t close.

“We have to go after her!” Jacob exclaimed suddenly, starting towards the door and snapping my attention back to reality. There was a determined glint in his eyes, as if he thought that he could make up for his past mistakes.

“There’s no point.” Lizzie sniffed, “She’s gone.” Jacob paused, indecision and doubt flickering across his face.

“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Mitch demanded.

“Short version: Raygel’s been cursed by Herobrine because she knows ‘his secret’ and he took away her memory so he could figure out how she discovered it. Notch and pretty much everyone in this room are trying to help her. I guess Herobrine wants to kill her, but I don’t know. He tried to kill her last time we met, but I’ve been told that he wants her alive for something.” Ethan explained.

“You say that like it’s a minor problem,” Mason commented, rolling his eyes. He used his scorn as a shield against confusion and fear. Mason’s comment was basically ignored.

“Wait! Last time? You’ve encountered Herobrine before?” Mitch exclaimed.

“That would explain why she said we had Herobrine to thank for all the mobs that attacked us when we met her…” Ian noted.

“Raygel and Kitty fought Herobrine and chased him off, but no one was able to help.” Jacob confessed. He clenched his fists at his sides, shaking slightly. “Kitty almost died.”

Still looking shocked, Jerome spoke slowly, “Where is Raygel now? Isn’t she in danger from Herobrine?” Voicing the thoughts we were all thinking, Jerome’s words earned a long silence. Raygel was gone.

“Even if we did find her, there’s nothing we could do.” Lizzie announced. “It would be better if we tried to focus on things we can change. I’ll go talk to Kitty.” There was bitterness in her voice as she spoke. She turned away and followed Kitty, quietly opening and closing the door. Seto followed her, but left the door open. I crept closer, pausing to listen in.

“Raygel’s gone. I felt Herobrine. Either she’s dead or he has her. We need to get help.” Seto informed Lizzie quietly.

“What do you want to do?” She asked, her voice hushed.

“We have to regroup with the others,” He replied. Who were the others?

“How?” She hissed. “Wait. You can’t go. I know what you’re thinking. I’ll go.” She suggested quickly.

“But-” He started to protest, but she cut him off.

“I won’t be gone long. I’ll leave in the morning. Take care of Kitty while I’m gone.” Just like that, Lizzie ended the conservation. I backed away as I heard her footsteps approaching the door. Should I follow Lizzie? She couldn’t just leave by herself. She could get hurt. If I was going to follow her, I shouldn’t reveal my presence. That would mean that I’ll have to wait through the night to make sure she didn’t leave without my knowledge. After grabbing my pack, I settled down to wait on top of a tree, watching the front doorway carefully.

A/N: Ah… drama, we all love it, right? At least I’m not being too violent in this chapter :) Sorry for the recent lack of updates, but you know life only gets in the way when you're trying to write :P  Anyway, did anyone get the Naruto reference in the title?