One Night In No Man's Land

XXI

"Have you found her!" Revion yelled.

It had been hours since Elise had disappeared. No one had seen so much as a glimpse of her at all.

He couldn't find her and it was driving him mad. He had been searching the castle all day. Her scent was everywhere and it had been incredibly misleading until it had all faded away and he had lost all traces of her.

He was a wolf not a hound. His sense of smell was only advanced the point that he could pick up on the scent of food better when it was right in front of him.

"My King one of the trackers found the queen!"

"Where? Where is she?" He asked desperate.

Revion felt his body shaking. He was terrified. Had something happened to Elise? Had she been hurt? Was.... was she dead.

"Take me to her immediately!" Revion demanded, having no time for 'please's and 'thank you's whilst his mate was potentially in danger.

He should have known better than to have taken Chandler and Justin's stupid advice to give her space. He was her mate. He needed to be there by her side. She needed him.

The wolf nodded and began running with the king in hot pursuit.

When they stopped he found Elise curled up in the grass, sobbing her eyes out.

"Your highness, she refused to leave," the man whispered to him.

"I understand you are excused. Please go call off the search."

The man nodded and ran away.

Revion slowly lowered himself behind his mate and began to gently stroke her.

"G-go away," she said.

Her voice was strained and hiccuping. He could hear her pain and suffering. She was barely holding on to herself. He could see that she was in total emotional distress.

"Its just me Elise, your mate," he said.

"I know. Please go away."

Elise waited for silence. She waited for him to go. She wanted to hear his footsteps treading the grass as he left her but she heard nothing but tender soothing whispers. He gently ran a hand through her hair and whispered in her ear.

"Elise you don't have to do this all alone."

"I-I do. It was my fault. If I had never ruined her life."

"Do you honestly think she would have made a good Luna?" Revion asked her.

Elise nodded with firm belief.

"Honestly I don't. She had no sense of responsibility or respect for others of lower ranks. She was nothing but a tyrant."

"Revion have some respect!" Elise exclaimed sitting up horrified.

"I'm telling the truth. She sent you into the forest knowing you would likely die! You trusted her and she abused that trust. A Luna, a queen, is a leader and a leader is someone who has respect for others and whom others can trust."

"I can't be trusted. I-I let her die."

"She brought it upon herself Elise. Did you provoke her? Did you challenge her to a fight or insult her? No you did not. Anna and Stella were interrogated. They believe you did nothing wrong. You defended yourself and you have no idea how proud I am that you did so. You can't shift yet you were brave enough to go against her."

"I had no choice. She came right at me," Elise muttered.

"You had a choice. You could have either laid there and died or you could have fought back. René sealed her fate when she declared a fight to the death. She paid the price of her actions."

"I never wanted her to die though. Things didn't have to be so extreme. I-I just wanted everyone to be happy together."

"You and I both know that's not how the world works."

"But I wanted it to. She didn't have to do what she did. I wanted to give her another chance. I wanted her to live. I wanted you to live as well. Why could there not have been another way?"

"There could have been one if René was that kind of person. It's not your fault that things had to get so dark and horrible."

"But it is. I caused it. Going into the forest—"

"You met me. You saved me Elise and made me the happiest man ever. You went into the forest because she told you to. You didn't want to defy her and she knew that. She abused your respect, trust and admiration of her. She hurt you not the other way around. You have nothing to feel sorry for. I know it hurts right now. Death is a scary and very sad thing but eventually when time passes you'll understand that you did nothing wrong."

"I could have grabbed her. We were on the ledge. She came at me. I could have saved her."

"Do you honestly think that Elise?" He asked.

"Well y—" Her fragile and unstable voice responded in a gentle tearful whisper.

"Could you have grabbed a girl in midair, held her whilst she was attacking you and fighting and have not fallen to your death with her. If anything she would have used you as a landing pillow and you would have died and she would have gotten out scathed if the impact didn't kill her as well. If that had happened... I would be asleep again but it would instead be forever. I would never have woken up at all. Elise you did everything you could for René."

"No I did not. If I had only—" She responded, determined to put herself down further into her deepening pit of misery.

"If I were you I probably would have killed René the moment I saw her after everything she did to you in the forest. Thanks to you Stella and Anna reconsidered their actions. They could have killed you as well. You were injured once you and René finished fighting well it would have been easy for either of them to kill you. They chose not to. They had a change of heart."

"Even if that is all true. Even if René's death was a mistake I did bad things before it. I choked Stella and I stabbed René in her shoulder. I caused pain."

"Why are you still fighting me? It's as if you want me to tell you that you are guilty when I know you are not. You did some questionable things but who wouldn't. You had to do something to survive didn't you? I know you are not a person who loves to harm others. You hate seeing others in pain."

"But I feel so bad about it. I want to stop the pain in my chest. I want it to go away. I don't like it. It hurts. I-I...." She fought back, barely holding her breaking heart together as guilt and insanity worked harder and harder at weaving themselves into her fragile and sensitive soul.

"Its okay Elise. You can cry if you want to. I will not judge you. You've had a really long day. I don't know why I even expected you to be fine. You are hurt and I understand that. I'm not going to stop you from expressing your emotions, as long as you don't blame yourself or hurt yourself. That's what I will stop. We can look into ways for you to cope with your sadness. I can tell it is already too much for you to handle on your own."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it," she whispered clenching onto him for support.

                    
A/N

Thank you for all your support

Quick question:

1.If you had powers what would you want them to be?

2. What do you think your powers would be if you actually had powers?

(1. Control ice or electricity and flight.)

(2. Something related to writing and drawing so probably a power where whatever I write and/or draw appears)

Have an amazing day or night! I love you all so much.