Shadows are eternal (re-write)

Feyre

Twelve years had passed since that night. The night that Astraea walked out of the door never to be seen by us again. The days that had led up to it haunted me in my dreams even now. The signs we all failed to see. She had been subdued and withdrawn rather than her usual sarcastic,carefree and outgoing ways. It had all began when she had received a letter from an unknown source. She had never told us what the contents of the letter said but three days later she had vanished without a word.
Twelve years had passed and in all that time there had been no word of her. As the years had passed we had all had doubts about whether she was even still alive.The thought terrified me but I never dwelled on it for long. Especially now with war approaching.

War with Hybern was fast approaching and the Night court was preparing to meet with the mortal queens. We had already acquired the first half of the Book of Breathings from the Summer court but we now required the second. Our job was to somehow convince the mortal queens to hand over their half of the book. It was times like these that I wished Astraea was here with her charisma and charm to convince the queens. She was always good at convincing people. But she wasn't here....

I always tried to forget the things that haunted me though my dreams. Amarantha taunting me as I killed those innocent Faeries, the middengard wyrm, the attor but the worst of all memories.... The last words Astraea had spoken to me on the day she had vanished. The hidden meaning behind her words that I hadn't recognised until it was too late. We had been growing concerned as Astraea had become more and more withdrawn but that day she had seemed to be her normal self. All grins and sarcastic comments. We were all fooled. We didn't see that it was just an act. Later that day she had claimed she was going into town to run some errands. It was a little strange but nothing she hadn't done before. Before she had left she had pulled me aside. She had taken off her necklace and placed it around my neck.
"If ever you are alone or afraid, then grasp this and remember that no matter what I will never truly leave you little sister." She had said to me. In my childish naivety I had not realised that it wasn't just a casual gift. It had been her way of saying goodbye. Before she stood and walked out of the door for the last time, she pressed a kiss to my forehead and whispered, "I love you"

That has been the last time that anyone had ever seen Astraea. For months we had searched until the day our mother died and the loss of our fortune that followed. She was no where to be found. Astraea was gone and none of us knew if she would ever be coming back...