A Court Of Fire And Pain

From a different perspective

Wow two chapters in one day 🤩 sure they're a bit short but still, I haven't done that in ages. Be happy I didn't leave you on that last chapter for a month.

Chapter 41 Aelin:
We were checking every door, but we still couldn't find them. Annoyingly enough we couldn't sense anything through the doors, so we had to actually check them.
And then we finally got it right.
"Mom!"
"Lyria! Nehemiah! Thank god you're okay!"
We rushed to them and tried to get their restraints off. It took a few minutes, but we managed. Then Rowan and I brought them into a hug.
It had been too long. Way too long. I wished we could stay like that forever, but we had to go.
I took Lyria's hand and pulled her along with me. Once we got outside we had to locate Addison and the others, who had been out under Orcus' spell.
We found them staring at the edge of the gates. I went up and slapped Aedion on the face. That seemed to work, so I slapped the rest too.
Obviously there was a lot of yelling. And then hugs. And then things started to get serious.
"Aedion look out!"
Someone came up behind him, with a sword. So our armies couldn't hold them all off. Yay.
He whirled around, but didn't manage to hit the attacker. Instead he froze.
"Father?"
What.
As impossible as it was, Gavriel was standing there.
He looked only at Aedion. "Hey."
"What? How are you alive? How are you here? We saw your body!"
He narrowed his eyes. "I'm here no thanks to you. You could have stopped me from going down there, you could have saved me. But you didn't."
"You didn't let me!"
"No. You were just scared. You were weak! Everything that happened to me is because of you."
He was shaking now. "No! That's not true!"
"Isn't it?"
It was now that I could see his blade inching closer and closer to Aedion's flesh. "Move!"
I jumped at him, and tackled him to the ground. Then I stabbed my knife through his chest. But he didn't die.
"Now look at what you did."
Ok what the fuck.
I don't know what was happening, but that thing wasn't Gavriel.
I shit my hand out and covered him in flames. That seemed to do the trick, and the body fell to the ground. When I looked it over, it was no longer Gavriel.
That's when it clicked.
"GUYS!"
Everyone turned to me.
"I figured out what they were doing to those bodies. I have two theories. Either the Wyrdmarks turn them into specific people that will impact our judgment, or they choose someone when faced with us. So if you see someone who shouldn't be here, kill them."
Feyre paled. "So that's what was happening. Those poor people. They needed them alive until the last second to preserve the bodies."
Lorcan growled. "This is so fucking messed up. If they're already dead there's only a few ways to stop them."
Rhysand nodded. "Fire, as Aelin used, and decapitation usually works too."
And so our fight began.
I was faced with my parents, my maids, my assasination victims, everyone who I felt I had done wrong.
And then something different.
"Celaena!"
I whirled around, ready to cut their head off, but my grip slackened.
"Sam?"
He wasn't real. This was fake. He was dead. "You're not real. You're dead."
He put his hands up in defense. "Woah! Calm down. I get why you'd wish that. I mean you have a whole family now, I would mess things up. But I'm here Celaena."
No. Nononononono.
I stood frozen, until his head suddenly toppled off of his body.
Lorcan stepped over it. "It's not real Aelin. Snap out of it."
Right. It was then I finally realized I wasn't holding on to Lyria. When had I even let go? Oh shit.
I frantically looked around. She was so small while everyone here was an adult.
But for some reason they were parting around her. That's the only reason I saw her. All the bodies were letting her through.
Then I saw why.
She was walking right to Orcus, who had a sword ready in his hand.
"LYRIA NO! LOOK OUT!"
And then the sword came down in what I instantly knew was a lethal hit.
Everything seemed to fade away.
The only thing I could hear was Fenrys' heartbreaking scream from across the battlefield.