Nocturne

☼ Chapter Thirty-Nine ~ Aurora ☼

She was too late, too late, always too late. Her opponents went scattering across the vast room with a burst of desperate strength tearing through her and she ran to Nocturne, her feet pounding to the rhythm of their shared heartbeats.

But she was too late.

The world froze.

A body fell to the floor, her arms outstretched and blood dripping from the deep tear across her chest.

Someone was screaming.

Arun stepped back, his gaze darting to his target and back to his weapon, again and again, stopped in his tracks for a moment. Brown hair drifted across the stone.

"E-Emmie?" Nocturne whispered.

"Emmie!" Aurora cried.

"Emmie." Arun said, his voice flat as the stone beneath their feet.

Aurora crouched next to the dying girl. She felt numb, like there was nothing left inside of her to mourn, as if the tears she wanted to shed fell backwards into her. Emmie's hand was still warm as she clenched it.

Nocturne reached out, leaning over the girl, her dark eyes flitting from side to side, as if searching for something inside of her. "You'll be okay. You'll be okay. It'll all be okay. Please. Emmie." Her voice was so broken and raw it threatened to shatter Aurora's fragile composure.

Emmie blinked slowly. She opened her mouth but the only thing that came out was a dribble of blood. Nocturne tried putting pressure on the wound, but the blood continued to flow unabated. Tears were running down her cheeks. "Emmie- I- I'm sorry."

Emmie shook her head weakly. "No...It's not... Not-" her sentence was broken off with a spasm and an outbreak of coughing. Aurora bet she could guess what it was though.

They all knew there was nothing they could do. The blade had sunk deep into Emmie's abdomen and torn violently out the side. She was already dying.

Her eyes were growing more faded by the moment. "No, Emmie! Stay here! Stay! Please!" Aurora hadn't seen Nocturne this agitated in many years. She wasn't sure what to do. This wasn't about them anymore.

Emmie sighed and a droplet of blood dribbled from the side of her mouth. By the time it hit the ground, she was dead.

Aurora stood, whirling around, her sword leaping into her hand from where she'd dropped it and pointing itself directly at Arun's throat. He barely seemed to notice. "Emery..."

Aurora paused. Emery?

"You cared about her." came a voice from behind her. Nocturne's voice, but cold. Empty. Broken.

Arun nodded, a slight moment, Chrysos still pricking the skin of his throat.

"And yet you killed her."

This statement seemed to revive the man, anger bursting in him. He stepped back, away from Aurora's outstretched blade. "I didn't want to! She- she got in the way, that's all. It's all her own fault!"

Nocturne flashed forwards like a streak of dark lightning, invisible yet deadly.

"This is what happens in war. Innocent people get hurt. Don't you dare blame it on them for being in your way."

Aurora stepped forwards, laying a tentative hand on Nocturne's shoulder. "Nocturne..." she murmured, trying to be soothing. She could feel the tension in Nocturne's muscles through all the layers of blood, clothes, and skin. Gathering all the shreds of relaxation she could find within herself- which, admittedly, wasn't much- Aurora tried to push calm into Nocturne through their bond, through her touch, through their hearts that were beating as one.

At first, she thought it worked. Then Arun spoke again, his voice an angry growl. "I was doing the right thing. I was fighting for the purity of our people and our freedom from yours."

Nocturne's rage was visible. Not merely in the tightness of her features or the clenching of her hands, but in the silver cloud that was freeing itself from the decorations and structures and coalescing into sharp needles that framed Nocturne's upper body like a peacock's tail.

"Uh- Noct-"

Nocturne didn't even look at Aurora. "Don't 'Noct' me, Aurora. I'm surprised you aren't already jumping on this piece of disgusting vermin yourself."

Arun, for the first time, looked afraid. More that afraid, he was terrified. He backed away until he couldn't back away any longer, and Nocturne followed, slinking like a jaguar on the hunt.

"Please, don't hurt me! It wasn't my fault! I didn't mean to!"

"Nocturne." Aurora wan't used to being the calming one in any sort of situation. That was Nocturne's job. She didn't understand.

What would Nocturne do?

"Nocturne," she said, more firmly, yet gentle as she could manage. "Nocturne, look at me."

Nocturne's head turned reluctantly. "What?"

Aurora stared into Nocturne's eyes, tears still streaming from them. They rose in her as well, her sorrow and guilt merging with her adelfés psychés. "Who is Emmie to him? I know you loved Emmie, but this is extreme even for you. Please, tell me what's wrong."

Nocturne's eyes were wide. She laughed, a bitter, cold sound, devoid of any emotion.

"Didn't you notice? Aurora..."

Aurora could see the traitor-king out of the corner of her vision. He was listening, his posture gone from frightened to resigned. Resigned and bitter.

"Emmie was Arun's daughter."