Twenty-Eight
The merge between the Dreamers and Dreammares was rough.
Not a minute was spared and everyone was either in recovery or training and making sure all of the measures were in place. Dreamers hesitated to work with the Dreammares and it showed in every possible way. Arguments broke out but there was always an Official nearby to diffuse them.
Scarlett didn’t leave her mother’s side and helped her oversee the training. She, herself, wasn’t fully trained and needed all the hours she could get in. Scarlett and Cher hadn’t been to Earth since Roger’s quickly thrown together funeral. Their human bodies would be weakening the longer they stayed away but they couldn’t waste any time there. Ever Realm was at the top of their priority.
Her mother was with the Officials going over possible attacks while Scarlett removed herself from the meeting. She hadn’t been able to check on Chad and needed to see that he was doing well. She headed to the lower levels where the medical rooms were stationed. Few Dreamers were injured since their wounds healed quickly with the help of their bracelets. Chad’s, on the other hand, was taking longer since they were recent but Scarlett knew the real wounds would be the ones in his mind.
Scarlett entered the medical station and stopped a woman that held a clipboard. At the sight of Scarlett, her eyes widened and her cheeks lifted.
“Oh Ms. Blackdall, how may I help you?”
“I’m looking for Chad, he was one of the recent Dreamers brought in with a gash across his abdomen.”
The woman squinted her eyes in thought before lifting her clipboard and gesturing toward the back of the room. “Yes, he’s on the last table and is recovering well, I suspect he should be good to leave tomorrow.”
Relief entered Scarlett’s veins as she nodded thankfully. She turned to leave when the woman placed a hand on her arm.
“Miss, before you go, I must warn you he hasn’t said a word since he’s been brought in. He…” The woman’s eyes saddened as she glanced towards Chad’s area. “He is showing signs as one would if they’ve lost their partner. When that happens, it can be very difficult to get them to open up and respond.”
The woman offered Scarlett a small tilt of her lips before continuing on her way. Scarlett returned her attention to Chad’s curtained bed and made her way toward him.
She waited a second before she pulled the curtain aside. Chad was on a small bed shirtless and his armor rested on the chair beside him. A clean white bandage wrapped where his wound had been and his skin had regained most of its color. His eyes were closed but snapped open at the sound of Scarlett.
What the woman said repeated in Scarlett’s mind as she saw his blank eyes. Void of any emotion, she still felt them penetrating as ever. He observed every inch of Scarlett as she slowly approached and sat on the chair beside his armor.
“Hey.” Scarlett softly spoke as she bit her lip. In the little time she’s known Chad, it hurt her seeing him in this state.
“What happened to her?” Chad croaked out as he kept his eyes trained on Scarlett. She winced and tightened her fists until her nails dug into her palms.
“She was found out Chad…” Scarlett trailed off as she hesitated to tell him the fate of his partner.
“What, Scarlett?” He pushed out despite how dry his throat was. He needed to know.
“She was sentenced to the Nether Realms.”
Scarlett saw the remaining piece in Chad, collapse through his eyes. Tears dropped one by one and he tried to stop them. He was breaking and Scarlett felt herself bending to do the same. She bit the inside of her cheek and failed to hold back the dam that desperately wanted to be released.
Scarlett cried as the pain from the loss of her sister finally hit her. She got up as Chad widened his arms. Being careful with his wound, Scarlett let herself cry into his shoulder.
“How could she do this?” Scarlett choked as sadness tore at her chest. Anguish clung onto their every cell, breath, heartbeat, and thought. It thickened like ash in their lungs and slowly drowned them.
Chad’s body shook as he let go of it all. He cried in Scarlett’s arms as he remembered the pain of knowing his partner was gone. He felt her sever the connection. Discard it like it was nothing. She left him with nothing but a black hole that was sucking everything around it.
Their cries quieted and Scarlett pulled away to grab the chair and bring it closer. Sitting right up against the edge of the bed, she leaned her head on Chad’s arm.
He clasped her hand and squeezed it before taking a breath.
“I’d just gotten back from the battle…” Chad started and Scarlett muscles locked. “I heard the news and knew Jenna must’ve known by now. I asked around and they told me she fled as soon as she found out.”
Chad let out a dry laugh. “I knew that she’d run back to her yellow dome and try to lock herself away from everyone… I thought I knew her so well. I went to her home and I guess she hadn’t heard me. She was talking to herself and that’s when I found out…”
Chad stopped and sucked in a breath. Scarlett could predict what happened next. “You don’t have to continue.”
“No, I want too.” He shook his head. “I remember I’d frozen at the mention of her deal with the Dark Realm. It wasn’t until she turned around and saw me that I snapped out of it. I confronted her and we argued. She got defensive Scarlett, I knew then she’d lost it, I just didn’t know how much.”
Scarlett’s heart pounded as she heard about her sister.
“I didn’t see the blade pulled from behind until I was within distance… She ran and left me alone. I didn’t get far and I could hardly wrap it up before I passed out. From then on, things are blurry and the next thing I remember is you.”
Scarlett didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. Their intertwined hands said enough…
∞
Scarlett entered the meeting beside her mother. The Officials stood around a circular table as no chairs were present. It wasn’t a sit down matter.
Cher took her place at the head of the table with Scarlett to her right. They’d been the last ones to arrive and the doors were shut behind them. She sharply nodded at the Officials and they bowed their heads.
“Let’s begin.”
Official Alich started it off. “Training has been heavy underway and everyone is progressing as planned.”
“The Dreamers and Dreammares?” Cher asked.
“They’ve got along as to be expected. Arguments have occurred but it’s lessening.”
Cher hummed at the good news, however, now it was time for the real reason they were there.
Official Alich continued. “Ma’am, silence has befallen the Dark Realm and we haven’t spotted any Nightmares. We fear something is coming. It’s only a matter of when and what.”
“We still have nothing on who their new king is except for his name,” spoke out Official Grant.
Scarlett came to find that he was the most disliked but was on the council for his smarts. He knew strategies of war that others didn’t. He was older than her parents with his graying black hair and mustard armor. His brown eyes always shone harshly as he looked down on others. Needless to say, he was the least humble and compassionate of them all.