The Sad Ending

The Sad Ending
Emilia’s POV

As soon as Aaron was down, Brian turned the rifle to us. “Get back.” He demanded, nudging the rifle in the air from us to the room and then back, holding it threateningly to Sebastian's face.
“I can’t,” Sebastian challenged. He remained on the spot he was, and he held me to his chest firmer. I bit back on the agony torturing my body, the intense pain about to split me up from the inside, and I mumbled whimpers. “You have gotten the document, which I believe now announces you as the beneficiary to my throne and empire. You have gotten all you want, so why don't you just let us go and leave us the hell alone?” Sebastian snarled at him.
My eyes were shutting close slowly, my eyelids closing like a curtain over my vision, which was blurred a bit now. Yet, I saw clearly the cynical grin that split Brian’s face and the twinkle that lit up his eyes. Whatever the bastard wants doesn't end with the throne; he lied to me that he doesn't want it. He wanted more. Now I understood why Mother said he was evil. He was worse, far worse than Aaron could ever be. He was a devil.
He nudged the gun closer to us, jerking from my face to Sebastian's menacingly. “I have not gotten all I want from both of you yet, and until I get it or something near, then both of you are not getting away.”
“And what do you want? Isn't my throne enough?” Sebastian snarled, tension rippling his muscles around me. I glanced up to see thick veins weaving like rope around his neck.
Brian gave us another grin, his hands never moving away from the trigger.
“I didn't do all this…” He moved the gun briefly from us, gesturing into the room with it, to Aaron and Harrietta’s corpse and the guards around the room. “...plan all this for years and use my brother and his wife as my pawn for just some cheap throne. Sure, I want the throne, but I also want more. I want your hypnotism powers, and I want her book, the one with which she travels through different worlds. That is the only way to make me super powerful. Think of all I could do with all that power. I won't just be able to travel through worlds; I will be able to have people do my bidding.”
“My powers aren’t something I can give out. It is something built in me, just like my madness.” Sebastian yelled. “So just let us go, or better yet, let her go and get her to a doctor. She is losing blood already. Can't you see that she is going to die, Brian? Your sister is going to die.”
Brian made us chuckle sadly, licking his lips gently. “She might have told you, but she isn't my sister. She is a stranger from another world inhabiting a body that isn't hers here.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So I could care less what happens to her; if she gives me the book, she lives, and if she doesn’t, she doesn’t, and I can as well kill her myself.”
I had to let him know I didn't have the book. The look in his eyes said he meant every word he said. The firmness in his muscles as he held the rifle at us said he wouldn't have hesitated to shoot us down if he could. Now that I look at him, I realize the deal he made with me was all a sham. He had always been interested in the book all along.
I cleared my throat, trying to keep back my pain from my voice. She tried to speak, but she sounded weak, because she was weak, terribly weak, every part of her feeling like a burden to her. “And I don't have the book, Brian.” I said. My words came out slow and with difficulty, but I managed to have myself heard. “I lost it when I left the last time. I was transported back here by the portal guardian of some sort; I didn't use the book to…”
“Then you find me the guardian or the book. One of the two will suffice, and then I will take you to a doctor. After you are treated and well, I will return both of you here until I find a way to steal Sebastian's powers for myself. How does that work?” He made us another sad grin, his eyes moving from me to Sebastian.
But Sebastian said nothing. Even before I looked up, I felt it, his arms relaxing a little around me. His eyes were blank again, staring at nothing but empty space. His lips parted, about to launch into another meaningless mumble.
Brian sighed, releasing his aim on the gun, and dropping back to stand fully erect. He nudged his jaw at Nathan and then at me. A silent communication passed between them as they traded stares and Nathan marched fast for us.
I tried to move, grunting and grinding my teeth hard against each other as I tried to lift my hand up to touch Sebastian and bring him back to sanity, but my hands just wouldn't respond to my fervent call for mobility; they were as heavy as sacks of lead around me. I just couldn't move them; I collapsed back against his chest, just as Nathan reached for me.
“Come here, Emilia,” he muttered, and he took me gently from Sebastian’s arms while he stood frozen, staring into space and mumbling nonsense. Headmaid Alice wanted to struggle with him, but she eventually stopped, drawing back when a guard near to us steered his gun for her.
I resumed the struggle against Nathan, squirming and writhing as much as I could. But I was too weak to do much. I couldn't even move my fingers to claw at him or punch him.
Nathan was throwing me onto his chest when suddenly, Sebastian screamed “No” behind me; his loud voice almost tore down my eardrum.
Somehow he’d snapped out of his madness himself; somehow, me being taken from his arms had triggered him back to reality. “You cannot take her.” He yelled again, and the next thing I saw was his fist flying fast over me to slam hard against Nathan's face. Nathan cried out painfully, his head swept fast to the side. He staggered back, feet tumbling about unsteadily with me in his arms.
Sebastian claimed me from his hands before I could fall, throwing me back onto his chest. Brian nudged his rifle at us, but Sebastian threw me in the air high whilst still holding tight to me, and he whipped my weak, weary legs at Brian very hard, knocking the rifle from his hand.
My legs colliding against Brian sent another wave of sharp pain screaming through my body fast to my brain, and it felt like I had just gone more numb than I was, as unimaginable pain rippled from my brain again to the rest of my body. I couldn't keep it back now; I cried out in pain, my throat burning hot.
Sebastian looked down at me just as Brian stumbled over the settee behind him, and his lips stretched in a warm smile. “I am sorry for that, wife,” he said. He leaned low then and kissed my forehead. Then in one swift, fast movement, he charged out of the house with me, running with me into the night.
The silvery glow of the moonlight burned through my eyes as he ran fast with me for one of the carriages parked on the street ahead of us. I could hear Headmaid Alice's boots beating into the cobblestones behind us.
I smiled up at him as he ran with me, while I bounced against his broad chest, my ears picking up his fast, racy heartbeat, feeling the determination beating through to my ears. Perhaps, we could beat this sad ending. If we were able to escape Brian, then everything was over. Then we could be together forever. We might not have the palace, but we…
Gunshots cracked behind us, tearing roughly into the quiet of the night, splitting my thoughts. Then I heard it loud and clear, before the sharp cry of agony could be consumed by another sporadic round of gunshots that swallowed the night again—headmaid Alice. I started against Sebastian's arms, a sudden chill claiming my spine. The chill grew colder, spilling into my veins as I heard a loud thud behind us as she fell hard onto the cobblestones.
“Alice.” Sebastian screamed at the top of his voice. He spun us around to see her. We had barely gotten a brief look at her on the ground, blood pouring from her, making a small pool around her lifeless, unmoving body, when Sebastian staggered with me in his arms, as if forcefully swept back by something. Another sharp groan echoed from his lips, his legs growing unsteady under him, unable to support us, and he kept staggering on the spot, kept groaning in pain. Still, the gunshots kept up around us, swallowing up the night.
“Sebastian,” I screamed, snapping my eyes up to look at him, knowing he was hit too. My whole body was consumed by the cold tremors drilling through me. I willed every bit of strength in me into my arms, lifting it slowly to touch him and check if he was alright. Check if we could still beat this curse.
“Sebast—” I was screaming again, my hand reaching to touch his face. But the rest of the scream died fast in my throat, as a sharp, fast, and painful force drilled its way into my neck, tearing off my windpipe and my throat. There was a sharp gurgling sound around me as blood gushed out of my throat like a tap let loose, spraying around me, and with each second I felt weaker and weaker, felt death pulling me into its cold embrace.
I thought we could beat this sad ending if we tried; I thought we could change fate if we were eager enough. I thought the world would let us live if we fought very hard to stay, but I guess I was wrong. There was no rewriting fate. We were stuck with the script.
My eyes closed shut fast, and I submitted to the cold hands of death as it pulled me fast to his abyss, a warm empty darkness wrapping around me.