"How's your head?"
Ah, by Ignas, the land of the dead must be really noisy.
This annoying voice followed her here too?
It was a task to move but she couldn't stay still even if she tried. The uneven surface she found herself to be laid upon wasn't comfortable at all.
"Careful." The voice seemed loud, in fact, every movement seemed too loud for banging ears and aching head.
She sat up, holding her head, as she moved slowly.
"Stop talking," she said between pressed lips, as she tried to prepare herself for whatever it was she would find when she would open her eyes.
"That doesn't sound like a 'Thank you' to me "
The voice said back to her, annoyed and frustrated.
She would recognize that voice anywhere.
So Alaris had died too?
For how much he used to boast about his powers, she didn't expect that he would die by his own flames or if she were to go according to his story, flames from the dragon he was attached to.
Different feelings crossed through her veins and the way she could feel her heart racing, almost tricked her into believing that she was still alive.
She knew she wasn't.
There was no way she had survived that.
How long had she been dead?
Eli!
By Ignas, Eli!
How was he? How had he taken the news of her death?
How long had she been dead?!
The questions ranged in her mind and the pang crossed through her head again, her grip on either side of her head tightened. She sucked in a sharp breath, and goosebumps pebbled on her skin as a chill hit her.
Ah! By Ignas, Once again, that almost made her think she was alive.
How delusional.
Her mind was tricking her. Was this how it felt to be dead?
Maybe this was the in-between.
"You are not dead. I saved you."
Her ranging mind stilled to her stop and the words she wanted to say felt too much that it burned her throat. She felt numb from the emotions that seized her. She wondered how but too much thinking promised a headache that she couldn't afford right now, so she decided to do the thinking later.
"Hmmm." She hummed, resting her back against the rocky surface while she kept her eyes closed. "Next time, find somewhere smoother. This is so uncomfortable."
A scoff.
"You are the most stupid creature I have ever met."
"I don't care if you think I'm stupid because I tried to save someone, Bride Thief. Your opinions do not matter to me."
"My opinions are facts! You are stupid, Nightshade."
His voice seemed unsteady.
He must be pacing back and forth.
Belladonna kept her eyes closed still. It would be a pain to open them, besides even if she did open them, she would be staring at emptiness.
The pain wasn't worth it.
"Stupid?" It was her turn to scoff. "You are the one to judge that? If you were so smart, you wouldn't be trapped here in the first place, and you wouldn't be in need of me. So, mind your tongue."
"You should mind your swollen forehead."
Belladonna bit the inside of her cheek.
The implied mockery hit her in waves.
Why was he so annoying?! She wanted to go back already! She has had enough of this madness.
"I want to go back. I'm fed up with this."
"I haven't heard my 'thank you' yet I want it."
"Thank you! There! Now take me back."
"You are so ungrateful."
Her blood boiled at her and with strength she didn't even know she possessed, her eyelids fluttered open.
Her heart skipped a beat when she realized they were at the mouth of an open cave, a small distance away from the edge of a cliff. She could smell the wetness of the dew and from here, it looked like she was closer to the sky than she was to the ground.
The sky was still dark and the stars seemed fewer. The moon was now, nowhere to be found.
"Stubborn." Alaris' voice snapped her back to the present, drawing her attention back in front of her.
Like she thought - emptiness.
Her eyes followed his movement as she assumed it in her head, becoming angrier and angrier as he spoke.
"Annoying! Reckless! You piss me off. You make me furious! Why are you like this?"
Belladonna would have rolled her eyes if it wasn't already painful enough to keep them open.
"What is it now?"
"You make me so mad!"
Belladonna scoffed. He was being dramatic.
That was strange though. Whatever it was, it was none of her business.
"I want to wake up---"
"How could you do that to me?"
That was the quietest Belladonna had ever heard him.
It did something to her.
"I didn't do anything to you." She answered after a pregnant pause. "So please, stop being angry."
When he spoke this time, it didn't sound like he was pacing around any longer, he sounded like he was moving towards her.
His rage was now more silent, his frustration obvious, his struggle evident.
"Stop being angry? Does this feel like a joke to you? Do you have any idea how terrifying that was?" He paused. His voice lower when he spoke again.
Closer, like he was right in front of her.
"Do you have any idea how scared I was?"
Her anger evaporated slowly, her gaze fixed in front of her like she could see him - it felt like it. Her mind was quiet, and his words were all she could hear.
"I---"
"You were drowning, fighting for your life and all I could do was shout your name. You were slipping right through my arms at every try. I was so useless."
Belladonna stiffened, feeling his presence around her hair, making her realize that her scarf was missing. She must have lost it at sea.
The presence must be the breeze.
After all, it was pretty windy.
"It drove me crazy when I searched for a body to possess and I was too weak to do that. It was different from the first time when I was too angry to possess a person. This time, I was weak. Useless."
She could feel the presence around her hair again, hovering over her hand.
It must be her mind and the wind, of course.
"I couldn't hold you, Nightshade. I thought you would die. Twice tonight, I thought I would lose you and it would be all my fault because I couldn't protect you."
"But you saved me. How?"
"I found a way to hold you. I can't even remember how."
"Seems you are finding solutions to your lack of form problem then. I want my thank you for being an inspiration to such a solution." She chuckled.
Even when things weren't funny, it was always easy to find a reason to smile around him.
"I'm so sorry for being late. Twice."
The feeling that buzzed in her veins was strange.
"Don't do that to me again, Nightshade. Don't scare me like that again."
She needed him to shut up, so she could think.
Belladonna shrugged, suppressing whatever feeling was trying to overwhelm her.
It was probably because she almost died, that was why she was feeling this way.
"I'm sure you would have fared well with another key of freedom." The implications of her words didn't dawn on her until she was done saying them.
She didn't want that.
"Another?"
Belladonna smirked, her lips parted to produce a teasing insult that never made it through her lips.
"There's only you, Nightshade."
Just like that, a new problem arose for Belladonna.
Her heart skipped a beat, for the Bride Thief.