In Belladonna's mind, she could see Eli painting with a smile on his face. Then in the next second, she could hear him reading to her, then that memory faded away and the memory that took over was of Alaris saving her as he had done in the Village of Nakunriver.
Then an image of a room formed in her mind. The open doors slammed shut and the windows did the same, and the voices faded away.
Her eyes snapped open and she coughed out water. She could feel the water on her body, sweeping over her then retreating. Alaris was looking down at her with a ball of flames in his hand, his chest rising and falling and his facial features filled with worry.
Suddenly, she remembered everything. Once again, she was angry but this time, it was different.
She stood up, putting distance between them, as she took a couple of steps along the beach before she held her knees and screamed.
Alaris didn't go after her, instead, he stood up and allowed his eyes to do the following.
“You!” She turned to him, while the sound of her scream still echoed around them. “You make me angry. You made me do this! I don't want to ever see you again.” She snapped her gaze away from him, and then looked down at her trembling hands.
Why had she done that? She thought most of the brides had found peace. She thought they wouldn't have the power to manipulate her emotions like that. The ones that remained in her head were mostly those who wanted Eli dead. Could that be the reason her actions were so destructive? Because the ones in her head now wanted only destruction and death? Or could it be that their presence was corrupting her soul too?
She had given in to the destruction way too easily, she hadn't fought it. As if a part of her had been content with it.
“No.” She whispered to herself, before her hands slipped through her wet hair and she grabbed the strands to the point that it ached.
She might be angry at Alaris but she was mad at herself even more.
“This cursed power, by Ignas, take it from me!”
Silence fell between them, the only thing breaking it being Belladonna's rough breathing.
“Take me back.” She commanded when she finally had some control over her emotions. When he didn't respond, she turned back to him. “Take me back!”
“How dare you?”
“What?”
“How dare you, Nightshade?! How dare you put your life at risk like that?! Do you know how scared I was?! How dare you try to steal you from me?!”
“I am not yours—”
“You are, Nightshade!” Blue flames laced his fingers, and he ran a hand through his hair in frustration, as the sound of the crashing waves filled the air. “You are the only one I have here. I know that my presence angers you but if I am not in your space, where else would I be?”
“Anywhere else!”
“There is nowhere else, there is just you! Without you is nothing. Loneliness!” He paused, and it felt like the distance between them was fading away. “I am alone.”
“Alaris.” It was a faint whisper, like she was looking at things from his perspective for the very first time.
“So, I’m sorry. Sorry about the kiss and those many things that build your annoyance towards me. Forgive me already.” His voice sounded a little broken. “The air feels heavy when you fight me.”
It was time for another silence. His gaze was fixed on her as she stared at him unblinkingly.
Then she laughed and his heart went cold, the flames in his hands burned lower, the light fading into the night.
She was laughing? What was he? A clown?!
“What? What is so funny? Why are you laughing?!”
“Why are you yelling?!”
“Why are you laughing?”
She shrugged, gesturing to him. “You didn't die.”
Without a second thought, he dropped to the floor, giving a dying display. She ran to him, laughing.
“Don't be dramatic now.”
When she got to him as he played dead, she slapped her hand against his chest and he laughed, while the water swept the sand beneath them.
"This won't happen again." He sat up, his hand holding his chest where she had hit him and his eyes fixed on Belladonna who was kneeling next to him with a smile on her face.
"Why? Because next time you might actually die?"
"Maybe." He shrugged, like he was certain of it.
She laughed once again, and he let his hands wander too far, as he tucked some wet strands of her curls behind her ear. Some drops of water trickled down his hand to her face.
She smacked his hand away with a hiss.
“Ouch!” He chuckled. "Is that it then? You forgive me?”
She smacked her lips. "Just this once. Next time, I won't be so kind.”
He nodded. “This once is enough.”
It was time to take her back. When he stood up though, Belladonna noticed that his wings were injured.
He tried to assure her that she had nothing to worry about and wings only took some moments longer to heal than the rest of the body.
“Once I am back in my Realm, I will attain my fullest abilities, and things like this would be trivial.”
However, her worry was valid and he would have to take care of his wings first before he could fly them back.
So, he flew them to the nearest place that had his first aid treatment.
His home.
It was a cave, some distance away from a village.
He rolled a boulder away from the mouth of the cave and they stepped in, then he pulled the boulder back, sealing them within.
This was his real home. The old house he and his mother used to live in, in this Realm was just a cover-up. This was where they really lived.
Everything was still the way he had left them, hidden away. He pulled out a sack filled with different bottles and pieces of cloth from a corner of the cave room.
Then he sat on a stone-carve stool to begin his first aid treatment as best as he could, but Belladonna came with a small calabash of water and offered to help.
“I can do this myself, you don't have to worry.”
“I’m worried about making it time for dinner, not about you. Let me help you.”
He stopped protesting and she helped him.
The sound of the trickling water as she cleaned his wound put him at ease and the tension in his shoulders dissipated.
It felt like home.