"Come on Del, open wide for papa." Brian was encouraging Delilah - who was sitting in a green high chair that had the design of a star on it - to eat her poridge when Lilac and Alex walked in, carrying their siblings, who had both awoken. Lilac had asked Baron if he wanted to have dinner as well, but he had decided to stay back instead. At the table, there was Lucy chewing on some beef, Marc silently scolding Charlie about table manners, Dan helping Rosaline with her maths homework and Brian trying to feed Delilah. Brian was sitting on a wheelchair; Lilac had been told that he was crippled during in the battle in the Nether (Which was now called Juscaria, ruled by Adrien) whilst Steve died in Alex's arms. There had been a funeral - not just for Steve, but for all of Lucy's former comrades - where the founded bodies of the deseased were burnt and sent out to sea. Out of everybody, Brian, Alex and Notch seemed to grieved the most for Steve's death.
"But Steve is the son of two Gods," Lilac had argued as she had comforted her brother's empty weeping, "He can come back like Brian had."
Arulin shook his head sadly as he had responded to her, "Steve was a mortal. When he dies, he dies."
Red-faced, Delilah used the palm of her hand to knock the spoon out of Brian's hand, spilling porridge onto the red carpet floor. Brian sighed, defeated, as Delilah cooed and giggled hysterically.
Lilac placed Charlotte on her high chair, a pink wooden thing with a teddy bear encarved onto it. Meanwhile, Alex gave Caine to Lucy since Caine's spine hadn't yet developed as quickly as Delilah or Charlotte. Lucy took Caine carefully, pulling a peculiar face which was clearly meant to make Caine laugh (which it didn't) as she sat him up so he was resting happily on her chest. Pulling the white porcelain bowl of porridge towards herself, Lucy picked the silver spoon.
"Where's Aunt Aria?" Rosaline suddenly inquired, inclining her head towards the empty chair between Lucy and Dan. Lucy suddenly froze as Rosaline added, "and don't tell me that she went to a faraway place on holiday. I've grown out of that gulliable phase."
"She's... very very ill..." Lucy finally uttered, putting the spoon of porridge into Caine's mouth. Hanahaki disease, Lilac remembered as she poked at her food. She could tell that everybody else was thinking the same thing, althought nothing was said. Aria had caught the disease when Askel died; over the past year, it only began to got worse, starting with the occasionaly stomach aches and then the sudden difficulty of breathing and then -
"Anyways," Lucy digressed, eyeing Rosaline's maths homework, "seventy two times fifty one is four thousand five hundred and sixty seven."
"Thanks nana!" Rosaline smiled as she scribbled down Lucy's answer. Getting back to feeding Caine, Lucy smirked downwards.
"Gullible."
Walking down the corridoor, Alex held the plate of food in his hands, trying to remember which room was Aria's. Every fortnight, Aria had to move to a differnt room and the only person who knew which room she was at a time was the head maid. Therefore, it was always difficult to bring Aria her dinner, let alone convince her to swallow it. Alex looked down at the plate of food; half a sausage, a ping pong sized ball of mash with a spit of gravy poured over it. Sometimes Alex worried about Aria, she was eating less everyday. Eventually, she would waste away in front of him, just like-
Turning the corner, Alex heard a sudden rack of coughing followed by the sickening cacophony of throwing up. There she is, Alex thought as he came to a door. It was a white door, its frame painted gold to match the round golden handle which gleamed, recently polished. The door was slightly chipped and scratched but although it looked old, it was oddly beautiful. Alex rapt his finger on the door, the sound echoing in the corridoor. "Aunt Aria!" Alex called through the crack of the door, "I've brought your dinner."
Alex was greeted with a fit of coughs mixed with words that sounded like, "Go away!"
"I heard 'come in Alex, my favourite nephew'!" Alex turned the handle and opened the door to the room.
The room was dimmly lit by a lamp on the dresser. The floor was a grey carpet that had some lint in them. It appeared the walls were red like the colour of blood, a grand bed was placed at the far corner of it, a white veil placed over it. The white blankets were twisted and turned, like the sleeper had been having terrible nightmares, whereas the red pillows had been thrown carelessly onto the floor. A window next to the bed had the pale curtains pulled back to allow Alex to see that it was twilight. On the window were a stack of five green books placed haphazardly, a small brown teddy bear lying on its side and one of the red pillows from the bed.
At the centre of the room, Aria was kneeling on the floor, hugging a red pillow to her stomach. Her face was twisted in agony, her silver whitening hair covering it. She was wearing a white nightgown that looked like a dress, although it draped over her like a potato sack. She groaned in torturous pain as her free hand covered her mouth, clearly trying to hide the fact that she was vommiting blood.
And flowers.
The flowers today were yellow primroses, stained red with the colour of blood. Everyday, the type of flower had changed, first it was daisys, then daffodills and then roses. Once, she had thrown up red spider lillies or on other occasions, withered leaves. When it had begun, it had been a single petal - a daisy Alex recalled. At the time, only Brian appeared to be truly worried. "Steve..." he had uttered under his breath.
Instantly, Alex moved towards Aria, holding her thin, delicate frame. She felt like a doll in Alex's arms. A doll that was sweating uncontrollably. Without a word, Alex helped Aria raise to her feet. She straightened, stumbled slightly and then stopped before she willed her legs to follow Alex, who gently placed her on her bed. "Thank you..." She mummered as Alex lifted her feet off the ground and placed them onto the bed.
"Yes, indeed, thank you cousin." A monotoned voice said behind Alex which made him jump in his skin. He turned to see Gerald, his black and white hair reaching his shoulders and his eyes were solemn. He was wearing a black jumper that had holes in the sleeves and gray jogger's bottoms that had mud stained on it. His shoes, which were generally white trainers, were painted brown with mud.
Alex glanced over Gerald's shoulder and saw that the window was wide open. "I did not hear you come in." He said.
"You're growing deaf old man." There was no hint of humour in Gerald's voice, nor did his face twitch so Alex couldn't tell if he was joking or being malicious.
"Where were you anyways?" Alex asked looking back at Aria. She had fallen asleep.
"Hunting." Without an expression, Gerald held up a clearly dead bird up to Alex's viewpoint. Alex pulled back in revulsion. The thing was clearly a dove, or it used to be a dove. Except, its red eyes showed no light of life and its stomach had been torn to ribbons, its guts spilling out of the hole like an infestation of red worms. Gerald was holding the creature by its pink talons and clearly didn't understand why Alex had finched back. "What the hell?" Alex cried, looking at Gerald with a look of disgust and surprise, "That's disgusting!"
"You're so weak hearted," Gerald sighed, "sometimes, I hardly believe you're a king."
"Shut up." Alex chuckled as he punched Gerald playfully on the arm. But to be honest, some part of Gerald's statement stung. He was trying his best.
Aria's body curled up as she was captured by a fit of coughing. Gerald's mask of disintrest broke, replaced by a worried expression as he pushed past Alex to hold Aria in his arms. "Mother, are you alright?" He asked as Aria nodded her head weakly. Gerald sighed, relieved, yet Alex could see the tension still resting on his shoulders. Alex moved closer to Aria and clasped her hand in his. Her fingers were calloused like a warrior's and Alex felt the prickling sensation of power underneather her fingertips. "Aria," Alex begun, his voice lowering into a serious one. Aria turned her head towards him, "Please, why won't you accept the surgery?"
"Becuase she doesn't want to forget him." Gerald had answered for her, "She would rather die than forget the feeling of love for him."
Alex felt a hot rage in his veins as he retorted, "Aria, Askel didn't love you. He never loved you. You shouldn't care about someone who doesn't care about you."
"You don't know anything." Aria's voice was low yet harsh as she lifted herself up, "You don't know the way he smiled at me. You don't know the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at me. You know nothing of the nights we spent alone together. You. Don't. Know. Anything. About. Us!" Aria's voice had risen to a shrill,her eyes blazing and veil around the bed came undone and was struggling against the sudden gust of wind. Alex was taken aback, unsure on what to do or say, but Gerald, with panther-like grace, held out his straightened hand and swiped it down on his mother's neck. Instantly, Aria crumpled back down onto the bed. Alex stared horrified at Aria's limp body, shouting, "Gerald, what the actual fuck?!"
"That was the only way I know how to calm her."
"SHE IS YOUR MOTHER. YOUR VERY SICK MOTHER!"
"It's not like I killed her. She'll wake up." Alex shook his head, exasperated as he put his head in his hands, muttering, "I swear to God you're going to accidently kill her one day..." Turning towards the door, Alex added, "Oh,and make sure she actually eats her food this time. Im getting tired of worrying about her all the time." As Alex stepped out of the door, he could hear Gerald murmur something under his breath.
"Me too."
And then she was dancing with him, gliding gracefully under the moonlight of a black and white chessboard of a ground. He was wearing a black suit, which brought out the white of his hair and his easy charming smile. She was wearing a white dress made of silk, satin and lace; whenever she twirled, the lace would twirl with her and she was trapped in a mini hurricane. Smiling, Aria looked up at Askel, at those wide blue eyes that sparkled everytime he saw her. Not the facade that she put up in front of everyone to maintain morale. The real her. The her that was beautifully torn and damaged. With him, she was happy.
But then Aria began to feel a sudden weight placed over her arms. Looking down, she saw that her arms were binded by rusty silver chains which had red spider lillies intertwined with the links. Suddenly, she felt less free and graceful as the chains grew like moss on her. She felt clumsy and weak but most of all she felt lethargic. She was tripping up, she couldn't remember the next steps to the dance that appeared to be no specific dance at all and then her feet were plodding uselessly next to Askel's graceful steps as the chains on her legs grew and grew. She looked up at Askel desperately-
Askel did not seem to notice. He smiled, but it was not the smile Aria had fallen in love with. With languorous delicate energy, Askel shifted the dance into a ballroom dance, the faint sound of a violin playing in the background. He pulled her across the endless dance floor, but as she tripped and stumbled, it looked more like she was being dragged. Fear struck a chord in Aria's heart. "Askel, stop it!" She begged but her voice sounded muffled, like she was underwater or had been gagged. The violin music, on the other hand, began to play louder and faster, making Askel's footsteps faster and more difficult to follow. When the violin had reached a crescendo, Askel dipped Aria, his arms wrapped safely behind her back.
But when she was pulled back up, she was horrified by the face she was greated by. Jeanette. She was wearing a dress that was exactly like her's but it was as black as the darkness around them. But Aria had also become Askel in his pure white suit, smiling that smile at Jeanette the way he smiled at her. Like he loved her. Behind them, in the distance, there was Lilac playing the violin in black uniform, a dull expression in her face. Aria was casted back to that heart shattering day - Askel drugged and dragged across a checkers dance floor whilst Aria was forced to watch.
Jeanette looked young and rosy, her blonde hair short and her purple eyes full of love. They were dancing on a field full of corpses, Jeanette's black high heels delicately stepping over them as she danced. The faces of the corpses were familliar to her - her blonde haired little sister still pregnant with her eldest child, the small happy boy who had been her son, the brown hair of the person who was her mother and the blank white hair of the person who was her father. And, as Askel accidently kicked the corpse aside, her. Her corpse had a look of batrayal on her face, twisted in agony as flowers, red and white, bloomed in the wound on her chest. She had been stabbed to death, right where her heart was, multiple times. She screamed but the scream was soundless.
Askel's smiling face began to crack and fall away. Underneath, he was pale white with sickness, whiter than his suit and hair. His blue eyes had tears in them and his face was twisted in agony. His pale blue lips trembled and blood was dripping down the corners of his mouth as he uttered, "Somebody, please... help me..."
The corpse of Aria at Askel's feet suddenly sprang to life, sitting up and reaching for Askel. "Don't worry Askel!" Aria reassured, feeling the weight of the flowers and chains on her body, "I've got you, I'll save you, I promise." But then Jeanette dragged Askel's limp body away from her and they were back on the chessboard floor, without her. Aria tried to drag herself towards the dance floor desperately as she reached out. "Askel!" She cried out but her voice was muffled so she screamed, "ASKEL! PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW HER!"
But she went unheard as Jeanette dipped Askel. They looked stunning together, their beautiful bodies fitting perfectly together. Meanacingly, Jeanette's purple eyes locked onto Aria's as she locked lips with Askel.
And then Jeanette's shadows retraced from her dress and covered the couple from Aria's view as she screamed, calling out for the only person she loved and desired.
And finally the couple were trapped in the eternal dance of death and darkness.
