Chapter 115: - Whispers and Wonders: A Choice of Endings Tale
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A/N: Apologizes for this chapter being late. I was having some problems with my computer.
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The bodies of the Dorrows groaned and shifted, pain filled gasps for air left their lungs as they struggled to stand themselves up. Mr. Dorrow was the first to reach some solid ground, rushing over to his wife on his knees, keeping her body huddled close to him.
This action of course didn't cause much happiness to arise within Voln, who immediately drew his knife from his belt, anger strewn across his face. If he had taken even a handful of steps, he would have been on top of them already, spilling blood across the ground beneath him.
But Cain's voice kept him steady, kept him silent, and kept him still.
"This choice lies with you, Voln. But I want you to think very carefully on this."
Lia's hand was already on the hilt of her sword, careful to keep her eyes on Voln, especially on the dagger he had just drawn, in case anything got too out of hand.
Beside her, Saul shifted, his eyes passing between Voln and Mr. Dorrow, some lingering sadness filled his eyes, as if he knew some long distant past that Lia did not.
"If you choose to kill these people, get the revenge you so desperately seek, you will have achieved everything you want. But…"
Cain's eyes lingered on both the Dorrows for several moments before his next words left his mouth.
"...only one has to die today. Blood should not spill his own blood."
Voln looked to the huddled body of his mother, lying face first in Clark's chest, her eyes, though unseen, were red with tears. Tears that had been spilled because of his words.
Lia's emotions were running amuck, even though her anger had taken hold of her, reasoning and logic was now rooting itself deep within her mind, causing a war between them. A war she did not need going on in her mind right now.
Of all the times, now could not have been worse.
'Cain, what are yo undoing? What do you think you're going to achieve in doing this?'
Cain barely gave her a side glance, his eyes lingering on hers for a moment, before turning back to the scene in front him.
'Your own anger once took hold did it not?'
'What? What are you talking about, this is about Voln-'
'Is it?'
Cain's face remained stoic, showing not one emotion passing behind his unwavering gaze.
'Your own anger took hold of you Lia. You became drowned in the same emotions that Voln did, and look how he turned out. A man - a slave to his anger and his rage. Do you want to end up like that?'
'N..No, but-'
'Then let this story take its course. Voln is drowning, and he's far too deep in the murky waters of his emotions for me to pull him out. Believe me, I've already tried.'
He took a step forward snapping Voln out of his trance upon seeing his mother, as Cain took hold of the situation once more.
'He will drown soon, and so will you if you don't learn from this lesson. Release your anger, in any way you can.'
"Chose Voln. I will only let one die today, and it need not be the one you've shared a home with for your whole life. But one must be chosen."
Voln's eyes passed between Clark and Samantha, his frown only deepening as he failed to come to terms with what was sitting right in front of him.
His will. His chance. His goals. All of them were right there for the taking.
All he had to do was take a step forward and spill blood.
To kill his innocence.
His mind rushed, his heart beat like a drum against the walls of its cage, his eyes wide with anger. In one split second decision, he found himself reaching forward, grasping the shirt of Clark in his hands as his mother screamed at him.
"Don't Voln! Please!"
"Shut up!"
Voln frown spread across his face as he laid his eyes on the blank and emotionless face of Clark. No, it wasn't emotionless. It was…
…acceptance.
"You've taken so much from me, all my life. And now I get to take everything from you."
He held the dagger to Clark's neck, a trickle of blood sliding down his neck, though his eyes hardly finished at the sight.
"I'm going to make this hurt Clark. And you're going to sit here and take it like a man!"
"That's fine."
Voln stopped, his movements hindered by Clark's words that seemed to bind his arms together like invisible chains.
"What?"
"You can kill me, Voln. I don't care - gods know I deserve it all for what I've done to you. I took your father, I took your mother, I took everything from you and I had the gall to pretend that it was all worth nothing in my eyes."
His words were full of regrets, and Lia had to force her eyes not to look away from the scene, even as she felt those around her do the same.
"I took everything from you. You can take everything I have away from me just…"
His eyes passed over his wife, Samantha, and at once Voln's frown returned to him even before Clark's next words left his mouth.
"...don't hurt her."
"And why should I?"
"Because all she wanted was to take care of you. I'm the one who hurt you, using her. She's done nothing."
"Don't lie to me!"
Voln shook Clark violently, even though the height difference between the two wasn't that great, Clark didn't bother to stand up, only letting his feet hang loosely on the ground.
"I'm not lying, Voln. When your father got sick, your mother knew he would die, but rather than just watch him die and watch your family spiral down into grief and despair, she came to me, in order to secure a future for you. I changed her into the woman she is now."
Samantha didn't like hearing what Clark was saying, even though she saw his tactic of shifting all the blame to herself, she just couldn't let him. She loved him too much.
"Stop it Clark! You to Voln! I've had enough of this, just…just let him go, and we can all go our separate ways."
Her eyes were still red with tears, but she held a firm resolve within them.
"Don't kill him. Please…"
However, this only served to fuel the flames of Voln's anger, dragging him deeper into the waters of his emotions.
"He killed my father, your husband! Yet you have the gall to protect him!"
"I-"
"Why?! Why protect him knowing what he's done?!"
Samantha just put her head into her hands and started sobbing, her cires drowned out by the sounds of Volns rage.
"Answer me! Don't just sit there, answer me!"
In his anger, now directed towards his mother, Voln threw Clark to the side, his body stumbling against the ground. Years of living in the woods had given the man some much needed muscle.
"You left us! You left me alone in that house, all alone to take care of my dying father! How could you? How could you do that to us - just leave us like that?!"
Samantha's only response was the tears that poured from her eyes like rivers flooded with rain.
"Did we mean that little to you?! Were we really something you could just throw away, replace us with your fancy ball gowns and expensive makeup?!"
"N-No…Voln, please…I-I don't…don't make me remember it…."
Her voice came out in choked sobs, pitiful sobs that would have made anyone go to her side and protect her, berating Voln for talking that way. But not one person moved, nor did their faces change.
She deserved this much.
So they let the scene take its course.
"Don't make you remember it? Why? Does it make you feel guilty? Does it remind you of all the awful things you did to us? You left my father on his deathbed, and you left me with his dead body for days!"
"I…hick*...I th-thought you - you wouldn't…want to see me. Hick*..please Voln -"
"Don't lie to me! I hate you!"
Voln's eyes widened in anger, and before he could stop himself, his hand gripped hard against the hilt of his dagger. Raising it above his head, he prepared himself to bring it down on his mothers head.
"I hate you!"
Time seemed to slow for a moment, as Lia watched the blade cut through the air so fast it left wisps behind its trail of motion. But the blade never left Voln's shoulder, as she felt her heartbeat quicken.
"....[Drifting Winds]."
She turned her eyes to Cain, her face forming an empty frown. Not one of anger, nor one of grief and sadness. Just an empty frown.
'Blood should not spill blood.'
His eyes didn't leave Samantha's body, Voln's figure still looming over her as Clark reached out to stop him from where he had been thrown. Even though Cain didn't appear to be unaffected by the skill, his words were still vivid in Lia's mind, as if he had asked her a question before, a question she had missed far too easily.
An order.
'...I know.'
-Clang!
The blade that had once been soaring through the air, splitting apart the space between Voln and Samantha, now flew through the air, clashing to the ground as sparks flashed between Voln and Lia.
"Lia!"
Her sword was already pointing at Voln's neck even as she heard Rian call out to her, surprised but more worried by her actions. Voln however, just stared at her with eyes wide with anger.
"You…"
His voice was practically seething with rage, every word edged and dipped in a bat of anger. Though Voln tried to form words however, he failed in saying anything but one.
"...why?"
"Blood does not spill blood."
She quotes Cain, who she could feel him smiling behind her. Voln however, turned to face Cain with a frown.
"This wasn't part of the deal!"
'Deal?'
Lia glanced over her shoulder at Cain, who shrugged.
"I promised you, Voln, that you would get a chance to exact your anger, but for a price. This is that price."
Voln looked to Lia, realizing his mistake in not having dealt with her first and allowing her to get this close to him. He knew he couldn't let his anger reign him down like before, so he fought the logical sense of his mind and forced it to comply.
"After everything…you know what they've done. You know what I've been through, so why?!"
Lia shrugged, the tip of her blade still lingering on Voln's neck.
"I guess Winslow's words struck a chord in me. You've spent five years of your life chasing one goal, and that was to kill them, to get revenge on the man who killed your father. But, if you kill either of them - even one - your reasoning for living will be gone.
"What sh*t are you spewing! This is my reasoning! I've spent too long to give up now, or have you standing in my way!"
Lia didn't move, keeping her sword trained on his neck.
"You and I both know that you've wanted to hang from one of these trees. You've wanted that fate for a long time."
"You-"
"I don't care if you've spent five years hunting them or a hundred. The fire doesn't burn out simply because you've stopped feeding it wood. The embers still remain, and if they do, a new fire can just as easily start as the old one. You have to pour over the water, create the steam, and kill the fire that will burn you from the inside."
"And what do you know about that? I've lived with this hatred in my heart for years, yet you come here and act as though we're the same!"
"Because I am!"
Lia's words cut through the air, silencing everyone, even Voln, at the tone in her voice.
"I've spent my life hating myself everyday for not being something someone expected of me. So much so, that I never took the time to be myself. I spent my whole life trying to be someone I'm not, just so that I could be loved."
Voln remained silent, Lia's words were indeed striking a chord in him, but the fire of rage had not yet been cooled.
"But after everything -"
"But after everything, then what? Will you just hang from one of these trees like the dead bodies that used to decorate the forest? Will you live peacefully in the mountains with Malkova, alone and unwanted by anyone but one another?"
"Yes-"
"Then learn to quell the fire inside you. Otherwise it will burn even the friendliest of hands."
Voln looked to Malkova who watched him with sad eyes, longing eyes as if she was begging him to take her hand and run away with her.
"Don't be the man these people have made you become. Don't be Voln Dorrow any longer! Be the man your father raised you to be. Voln Green is still there…"
Voln's eyes passed between his mother's crying figure and the ashamed look of Clark. His anger was subsiding, and where he once saw horrid figures of people he thought he knew, instead he saw sorting pitiful.
Something pathetic.
Lia's blade tensed up for a second before she dropped it to her side, sighing with a calm and empty expression.
"The choice is still yours, Voln. But please, don't let these people control you even in the end."
Lia sheathed her blade, her eyes passing over Voln before she turned to Cain with a frown.
'We will talk about that deal later.'
He smiled, but said nothing as she looked back towards Voln, whose eyes were plastered on the floor. They were close, close enough that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to.
Voln felt the heat in his chest die down, replaced by a cold and lonely feeling, the red color that covered his thoughts now turned a cool and cold gray.
He saw no more blood in his mind. Only himself.
He felt no more anger. Only pain.
He felt the tears flowing down his cheeks even before he could stop them, his knees weak as he fell to the ground, Lia's arms around him, catching him and holding him close in her arms.
Voln felt the tears flow like rivers of rain. He felt the sadness seep in, replacing the anger that burned him.
Even before he could stop himself, his mouth opened, and the sobbing began.
Cain watched him with calm eyes, a small smile on his face.
'Release your anger in any way you can…even if it is sadness you chose to quell it with.'
'You knew he would choose this path, didn't you?'
'You give me too much credit Lia. This was his decision, and you showed him the way.'
'This was your plan all along wasn't it?'
Cain didn't answer Lia for several seconds, the pain filled sobs of Voln's voice echoing in his ears.
Finally, he turned to look down the trail, towards the rising sun in the distance.
The golden rays painted his face in a brilliant golden light.
He sighed, taking it all in.
'Perhaps.'
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