Rey's Heart

CHAPTER 16

"He is gasping for air." Eli said in between breathes, they were all standing at a close distance watching close everything that was going on, Renix blocking each of their moves. 

"She may kill him, then what?"

"You are really making me angry." Renix faced him.

"She won't kill him, but there is no telling what she may do to him." Anxious she locked eyes with Ellen for a brief moment and then she looked past her to Halsey.

"Make sure they won't move an inch!"

She ordered and walked away.

"All this time, I've been stuck here because of you!" Rey tightened her right hand angrily.

"Tell me why?" She said.

"Let go of him or else he is just going to die on you!" Renix stood beside her and when she didn't bother looking at her. 

"Do it now." She said firmly her voice echoing with concern. Rey released her hold on him and as they both stood in silence watching Eyken's breathing go back to normal they both knew they wanted the same thing. Answers. 

"Talk, now!" They said in unison.

"Your state, Octus Nova? It considers time travellers as outcasts, they are not welcomed there, it's bad enough that I am not from your state Rey, there was no way finding out about what I could do was going to be welcomed with smiles." He stared at her hard, there was so much tension going on around them even Renix herself noticed.

"What else?" Rey asked him.

"Huh?"

"What else can you do? I know that you can create shields, so what else?"

"N-nothing." He walked to her but she took a step back. "I swear to you." He added.

"You can tell when anyone is lying to you, so read me or just look inside me and see that am telling you the truth."

"I can see that, I just don't get why."

"Did something go wrong, before you brought her here?" Renix who was silent, watching them interact, asked.

"Yes," Eyken answered her.

"What?" Both Rey and Renix asked.

"I-." He hesitated a little.

"It's hard to tell you, to explain what happened."

"I know that I died." Rey revealed.

"Wait, hold on, what do you mean?" Shocked Renix asked, her eyes engulfed with a mixture of horror and utter shock. 

"My memory, there were some things I couldn't recall when I got here, I still don't and there could only be one explanation, that I died." Rey explained and Renix's heart sunk, in confusion and hurt.

"But you know that." She faced Eyken.

"Yes I do, am sorry if I can't tell you exactly what happened but...I'll take you through it all, I'll let you see for yourself when all this is done."

"We can settle for that for now, can't we Rey?" Renix asked firmly, it was the only question she could come up with anyway to try and help the two. 

"Yes, I didn't mean to, to hurt you mean, am really sorry." Rey agreed apologising to him. 

"I deserve it." Eyken forced a smile. 

"There is something else I haven't told you." Rey revealed and they looked at her stunned wondering what could top them finding out that the prophecy came true or about Eyken's revelation. 

"About a week ago something happened, the first day of that week tell me how you felt at exactly five hours to midnight." She said turning to Renix. 

"How? I mean." Renix took in a deep breath. "Like someone had cut my heart into half, for an hour it was like something was being ripped out of my soul, the same happened to mum, your mom and even to all our distant relatives, why?"

"Because that was me, I am the reason it happened, the link that connects us all broke because of the darkness that continues to rise inside me, I don't know how to fix it, but I swear to you, I will." She verified and Renix who was still in a confused and shocked state could only nod her head.

"Even if it's the last thing I need to do."

"Do you feel it? The darkness I mean." Concerned Eyken asked her, thankfully getting her undivided attention.

"I do." Rey answered him.

"Does it hurt?" Renix took a turn.

"It does, it's always like my heart is being ripped out, that if I don't let it take control it piles up and consumes me from inside." Rey explained to the two, there was nothing but honesty in her explanation, she was afraid, she was afraid of what she could do if she couldn't control it and she wanted them to be alert, to be aware of just how bad it could get.

"Damn you grandma!" Renix stamped her feet on the ground in anger.

"She could have done better." Rey agreed with her, they all knew that if it weren't for the curse the generations of the Vasten reigning Kings and Queens had been cursed with, their lives would be plain and simple but for centuries Arillia Ulyss, the first Vasten Queen after ten long decades of Kings knew, she knew everything that came with power, she had seen kingdoms fall at the hands of the very leaders who had sworn to do nothing but deliver justice and so to protect the line of every ruler, of everyone who would take upon the throne of Octus Nova, she had cursed them all and although her daughter and her granddaughter had not entirely been affected by it, someone else did, the one who would fall in the line of two curses, the one with the purest heart, Rey.

Rey wandered off later on that day close to 7pm and she found herself standing right in front of the last place she was expecting and as she pushed open the door her mind battled with unending questions about the main reason why she was there, whether or not the answers she was seeking for were right there but before she could even contemplate whether or not it was a good idea she was standing right where she had been the last time, memories flashing down in her like an uncontrollable wave.

"I now know what you meant grandmother, when you told he is the only one who can help me, that I shouldn't hate him for it, for what he did but that's not easy now, is it?"

She muttered trying to control her breathing.

"I wish I could undo everything that happened that day then it would never go down in history that I took any human life, that I wasn't strong enough to control the outcome in my fit of rage." She said slowly and as she paced back and forth anxiously she felt it again, that dark energy as it flowed through her entire body forcing her to stand still.

"Uh!" She winced in pain clutching her head with both of her hands, it was too much that day, she could feel it fighting to come off of her, pushing its way out and for the first time since experiencing it, it hurt like never before, it was as if it was burning her from inside, her heart was being torchered in the worst way possible.

"E-Eyken, I need you right now." Panting she exclaimed in pain. "Eyken..." He wrapped his hands around her with the last call.

"How are you feeling?" Eyken asked Rey, this was after almost half an hour of excruciating pain, they sat against the wall, right across the open door.

"I'll cope." She answered simply adjusting herself in his embrace.

"Thank you for coming." She looked up to see a worried face as he stared down at her.

"I'll always do." He said, stroking her left cheek with his left hand, and she knew it was nothing short of a statement or an answer, it was a promise. That was the very first time he had come to her rescue and maybe he had done so countless times earlier on back home, she knew that she just didn't have enough energy for all that explanation and so she chose to let that be a conversation for another day.

"I know." With no exact words to say to him, She said the only thing her lips could form.

"We should get going, it's getting dark." He said, totally ruining the moment.

"Lets stay, let's be here away from everything and everyone for the night." She offered quietly. 

"Okay." He smiled mischievously. 

"It's not that, I just want us to be alone for a while." She said.

"Oh," He sighed pretending to be hurt, for a little while they stared into each other's eyes, it was like they could see their own souls through them and as Eyken planted a soft kiss on her forehead, he held her a little closer than he had been.

"Are my eyes brown or red?" She asked him, seeing him tense up.

"Reddish-brown."

"Do I scare you?"

"What-No! Of course not, you would never, I trust you with my life, that goes beyond any questions."

"Even after what I did today?" She asked him and even without having to try and read what he would say to her, she was scared, she was scared of what his answer could be, she was scared of what it could mean.

"Yes even after that." He answered simply.

"I love you." She said it was the only good thing she could say, well that and the fact that she kissed him deep, slightly biting his lower lip.

"So much." She added and kissed him again this time much harder, out of breath she smiled in between the kiss, they had both missed each other but more than caring to admit she had missed how he always tasted, his lips were always sweet, like he always had on something real tasty in his mouth. 

"I love you too, so much." He took his turn by breaking it off.

"There is something you should know." Well, if she totally wasn't paying attention that got her.

"Yeah?"

"They know, back home I mean, everyone knows you've been here all this time."

"You told them?" She asked, that totally didn't come as a shock to her and she knew why.

"No." He shook his head.

"Mom?"

"She didn't either." He confirmed and she sighed in relief, atleast she did one good thing with her. 

"The day your mother got into contact with you, someone was listening in."

"Yeah, I know that. Vee told me." She said, remembering Vee's exact words that day.

"So yes, someone listened but they passed that information saying that you ran away and that you were being held captive here." He explained.

"That's not!" Rey shuddered at the thought of what he meant.

"Did you find out who it was?" 

"No, even your aunt was unsuccessful but she was able to encrypt all the monitors from your mom's quotas."

"Are they going to be okay?" Rey asked him, referring to her mom and her aunt.

"They will be, I made sure of that."

"Whose in charge of the Palace?"

"Veah." He answered her, Veah was one of their chief advisors of the kingdom, she stood in as one of their secret valors, a title given secretly to her by the Queen, although five years older than her, Rey had always been in the same class as her, they had even had a friendly match once and it's only by her words that Rey still showed her respect, "You are good, I'll give you that, too bad we both are." She had a smile as they both held out their swords in peace form. 

"That's a good choice, she sent you, didn't she?" 

"She did."

"So what's the problem, I can tell that there is something else."

"Octus Nova people are coming for war, they have someone in charge, some of them are following some one's orders and you know how they get."

"That I do,"

"We can get home and prevent what's to come."

"Yeah, but there won't be stopping them from invading this earth, this part of this earth already has so much going on an invasion will wipe them all out. 

"You'll have to choose sides."

"I know, trust me I do."

"And you need to be prepared."

"Let's not think about any of that for now please, she lay close to his chest.

"There's only too much my head can handle." She said softly.

"It's alright." He looked at her intently, her eyes still hadn't changed.

"Rey." He called out her name just as she was about to bury her head in chest.

"Mhhh." She really was tired, he thought smiling at her answer, she couldn't even look at him yet.

"You need to be prepared, extra prepared. You need to gain full control of your powers. You need to fully trust yourself with them as soon as possible and..." He paused for a while. "And am offering myself to you, you'll have to use me for that, even if something bad happens Renix will heal me." He finished up his statement and she didn't move, she didn't do anything, not even gesture to him that she understood his statement. For a while he looked at her face, still buried in his chest, unmoved. He wondered if she had heard him at all but Rey knew exactly what he meant.

Eyken was offering to be her target practice, he was sacrificing his life for her, he was willing to bet his life on her not only for her own good but for everyone else's and she wanted to let him know that his sacrifice wouldn't be worth it but it would be, she had to know how to balance her new found powers, she had to get them under control because just as he had confirmed, just as she had warned Halsey a while back, there was a war coming and she knew it would not only need her skills for but the powers she couldn't even understand their own meaning.

A/N