Guardians of the Light (Book 3: Retribution)

Chapter 2

Lillian stood in the center of Ronin's untouched apartment. Everything was exactly how he had left it the very last time he had been in here. Discarded take out boxes and a half pot of coffee lay on the small apartment kitchen counter, Ronin must have been interrupted or in a hurry. Scatter clothing on the floor of the bedroom along with an unmade bed. A small chuckle escaped her lips at the memory of when they had first moved in together how disorganized and messy Ronin's habits were compared to Lillian's organized and clean ways. They had definitely had their fair share of disagreements and fights about it during the early stages of their relationship. Of course the two of them had worked on it and with Lillian's help Ronin had changed his ways during the rest of their relationship.

The memory brought up so much emotion that Lillian found herself spilling fresh tears down her face, she quickly wiped them away before focusing on looking around more. It seemed since Lillian's untimely death all those years ago Ronin had returned to his old ways without her there in his life. She silently glanced through his different assortment of books, dvd's and cd's he had collected in the years since her death. Lillian stopped however when she came across a picture of the two of them together. She remembered the day it was taken so clearly that it seemed only yesterday that they were both so happy and carefree, not a worry about what their lives were going to become.

All the closed off emotions she had desperately been trying to hide came pouring out even as she tried to control them, it was no use fighting it anymore. Tears spilled down her face, splashing onto the clear glass of the photo frame, blurring the happy picture of them. Lillian clutched the photo to her chest, loud sobbing escaping from her lips, she just let it all go, this was the only way she could start her journey to becoming whole again. Deep emotions rolled through her, so intense that Lillian fell to her knees then slid to the floor, curling up into a ball on the hardwood floor of Ronin's apartment.

The photo frame stuck to Lillian's chest as she held onto it for dear life, the eerie silence throughout the apartment was broken by her outcries of painful emotions. Uncontrollable tears and sobbing came from Lillian for what felt like hours, never leaving the floor even as her body grew sore and tired from shaking and finally mentally exhaustion must have set in because eventually Lillian passed out at some point. She wasn't sure when but she heard the door handle of the apartment door being opened, the door swinging open and a soft voice calling out her name. She didn't care who it was, if it was someone who meant harm towards her, Lillian didn't care if they came to take her life she would be reunited with the one she loved that way.

It didn't register in her mind that it was Sara and James who entered the apartment. James and Sara gently helped Lillian onto the couch so she could rest peacefully. One of them slowly took the picture frame and put it back up on the shelf Lillian had originally taken it off from. Several hours must have passed by, different flashbacks of past memories flooded Lilian's mind both sad and happy until her mind shifted to that moment in time when she plunged her knife into The Darkness thus freeing the man she loved of the unholy creature who had claimed his soul but it had come with grave consequences, Ronin had also died that day at her hands.

Lillian woke up with a start, sitting up quickly from where she was laying on the couch, breathing heavily trying to slow down her breathing and heartbeat that was racing in her chest. She wanted to scream out in anger but thought better of it when she spotted Sara and James sitting also in the living room. Now she understood how Ronin had felt all these years since he killed her in the past, she could feel the same pain and burden he must have felt and she was sure he was plagued with the same nightmares, replaying over and over again with no end in sight. James and Sara didn't seem to notice Lilian had awoken so she laid her body back down on the couch as she listened to them speak, James started talking loud, Sara shushed him stating, "Lower your voice Lillian's still sleeping and we don't need to wake her".