High School Diaries (A Throne of Glass Fanfiction)

Chapter 47

Chaol thought he had seen many difficult and gruesome things in life, investigating cases with his father. But seeing his one friend lying dead in front of him and another one becoming completely unhinged was gut- wrenchingly devastating.

The way that Aelin had flung herself on Perrington, the memory would be permanently etched on his mind. The way she had punched him, the smack echoing in the room, the cloth tied around Perrington's mouth turning red and that she would have continued, if Aedion and Rowan had not dragged her away to another room to calm down. The trace of her guttural, primal screams still painted the room.

Lorcan removed the cloth on Perrington's mouth, who coughed up blood and 2 of his teeth. One punch. Aelin had that much aggression behind that one punch. God knows what she would have done if she was not stopped. Not that Perrington didn't deserve it. He deserved far, far worse. But they needed him alive for now.

Chaol glanced at Dorian. A chill went down his spine.

What Aelin did had definitely left an impact in the room. In Dorian's eyes, where he would have expected grief for Kaltain, there was rage. Not the fiery type like Aelin but more cool, icy kind of rage. It was an effort to tear his eyes away from the distant look in his boyfriend's eyes or from Kaltain's limp body to hear Elide and Aedion's words as they told everyone what had happened, completing the map of seemingly unconnected events of fate and the masterminds knitting and controlling the web that connected all of them.

He followed Dorian's gaze, to Perrington, who was awake and listening to every single word that was being spoken in this room, even his expression changing from the new details he heard or perhaps that a bunch of high school students had figured it all out. No one cared that Perrington was listening. It was clear as much.

He was not making it out of here alive.

Chaol's throat went dry. As much as he hated Perrington and wanted him dead, the thought of actually killing him repulsed him. And it hit him with utter horror that he and Dorian may very well be the only people here with no blood of another person on their hands.

"So, what do we do about Arobynn and Maeve?" Aelin's voice startled him out of the train of his thoughts. She was leaning against the door frame, with Rowan on the other side. Her face was impassive, with absolutely no emotion at all. No usual swagger, no residual aggression towards Perrington, no grief for Kaltain. Absolutely nothing. As if the myriad of emotions had converged and left a blank canvas of emptiness behind.

"Kill them."

"Not so easily. Not after everything they have done." Not after everything they had snatched away from every single person in this room, directly or indirectly.

"They don't know that you all caught them." Dorian jutted his chin towards the tied up men. "Use it to your benefit." There was a silence in the air and Chaol felt Dorian slipping away from him, merging into the aura of the room with others, leaving Chaol utterly alone.

"The bad influence is getting to you, pretty boy." Fenrys murmured, Dorian just nodding in acknowledgement. "What about them?" He pointed at Perrington and Vernon.

"Let's just get as much information we can get out of them and kill them." Aedion said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Wait, what?" Chaol said out loud, followed by Dorian who was standing upright now.

"What what?" Lorcan scratched the back of his head, looking completely done with them.

"My father is in prison for false charges. I need Perrington to be alive to get him out." Dorian walked up to Lorcan, staring right up at him.

"He got out once, he can get out again. I am not risking anyone else here getting killed. Your friend there is what he is capable of doing." Lorcan spat right back in his face.

"I lost my friend and I am not ready to lose my dad yet."

"He is right." Rowan stepped in between them. "Even if we force him to record a confession or anything, it won't be enough to get his father out." Lorcan scoffed but Rowan continued. "But if we hand him over to the police now, he could get out again and none of us would be able to even think about being free from Maeve and Arobynn. Your father's hearing is in two weeks, he won't get a bail until then anyway. So I promise to keep him alive until then if you don't blabber anything to the Sheriff yet."

Dorian looked at Rowan, then at Aelin and finally at Chaol. His gaze was locked with Chaol when Dorian said, "Okay."

***

Rowan hated feeling this way. Even though his fingers were completely intertwined with Aelin's, she felt so far away, so out of his reach, as they buried Kaltain in the same nameless graveyard where Sam was.

"Fireheart?" Aelin didn't say anything, her fingers just tightened impossibly, her nails digging into his knuckles painfully, but he squeezed back. Knowing she needed strength. She needed courage to stand up and face herself, after she felt that she had let another person down. So he squeezed her hand, trying to transfer as much comfort and warmth he could through their connected palms, as Aedion placed an unmarked stone on which Aelin had scratched 'In the loving memory of Kaltain Rompier: Beloved Friend.'

They placed flowers on it, a pink rose for friendship, a peony for healing a hydrangea for perseverance, a gladiola for strength of character and few white carnations for remembrance. The flowers were handpicked by Chaol from the flower shop nearby. Chaol didn't seem as devastated as Aelin and Dorian but Rowan knew, from the way he looked, from the delicacy with which he picked each flower that Chaol was too busy worrying about others that he hadn't processed Kaltain's death yet. Aelin and Aedion on the other hand, kept few stones, like she had done for Sam.

Chaol had told him about Kaltain being an orphan when Aedion asked about her family on the drive here, Rowan regretted it. He regretted every second of judging Kaltain as the attention seeking, trying too hard girl, Even in the weeks of finding her, he was doing it for Aelin and out of sympathy for Kaltain. But when Elide had narrated the horrors Kaltain had endured and still jumped to save her, Rowan regretted every judgement he had made about her and not being able to save her. No one deserved this.

And so for his fireheart, Lyria, Sam, Kaltain and all of his friends, he kept a bird's foot trefoil on Kaltain's grave, symbolizing revenge. He would avenge all of them.

Rowan and Aedion walked some distance, giving Aelin, Chaol and Dorian some alone time to mourn their friend. Elide had wanted to come too, but Lorcan said it would be too dangerous for her to be seen. So Elide, Lorcan, Lysandra, Fenrys and Gavriel stayed back. One by one, all three made their way towards them. The last one was Aelin, her eyes rimmed red.

"Aelin?" Aedion whispered, hands digging into his arms. Rowan knew he hated seeing his cousin go through so much and not being able to do anything. Finally, they had a chance. It was funny how none of them were surprised that it was Maeve and Arobynn behind all this, trying to ruin all of their lives even more. His fireheart looked up, her eyes meeting each one of them.

"Now, what?" Aedion asked. Aelin

"Now, let's rattle the stars."

***

I'm sorry if the chapter feels rushed, it's like a filler. The past few weeks have not really been easy academically, emotionally or physically. I am not really satisfied with this chapter so I may edit it later, but I just wanted to update today anyhow. I try to reply to most comments but I haven't been able to check Wattpad all this time. I hope you guys are dealing better with what all is happening around the world. It is a very dark time for all of us as humans and we really need to hold on to what makes us humans in the first place: humanity. #BlackLivesMatter