Nocturne

☼ Chapter Twenty-Six ~ Aurora ☼

It hurt.

She hadn't had time to summon her sword to block the blow, and the blade had sliced through her chest.

She cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, pressing her hands against the wound.

There was a scream- long, anguished. Aurora felt she should recognize it, but her mind was fuzzy and muddled by pain. It was filled with such agony. Aurora wished she could do something to ease its pain.

The world wasn't focusing. She had the distant sense that she should be worried, but she wasn't. She just didn't have the energy to worry.

Why worry?

Someone was injured? Yes, that was it. But who?

Oh yes... she'd been stabbed. Why though?

Blood killing.

That was it.

"Blood killing... blood curse... something... Sol... angry... pain...Nocturne..."

Pain fled with consciousness.

Coolness.

White.

Black.

Worried voices.

A hand in hers.

The smell of burning flesh.

Oblivion.

Warmth.

Shadows.

Light.

Weeping.

A head, resting on her chest.

Pain.

Fading...

She woke for the last time in darkness.

Her mind was muffled, wrapped in cotton, empty of all but one word, one name.

"Nocturne?" she mumbled.

"Yes?" asked a voice, thick with tears and tight with worry. "Aurora?"

"W-what happened?"

"You... saved Prince Aelius."

"Did... they... kill...?"

The voice- Nocturne- stifled a sob. "No. Everyone's okay now. Thanks to you."

Aurora managed a weak smile.

"...Good..."

Nocturne's purple eyes and pale cheeks were glistening with tears. Her hand was wrapped around Aurora's like a lifeline for both of them. Her lips were parted slightly, as if she was trying to find words- or keep them locked in.

Aurora grasped tighter onto Nocturne's hand.

She might die, she realized now. And if she did...

I love you, was what she wanted to say.

"Kiss me," was what she managed to gasp out.

Nocturne's eyes went wide, and she feared she'd made a mistake. But no, she needed... she needed her to know.

Nocturne closed her eyes, blinking away tears. She leaned down, and pressed a gentle kiss to Aurora's lips.

"I love you," she whispered back, and another tear slid down her cheek.

Aurora smiled, and sank back into the warm embrace of nothingness.