\[Serenity’s POV\]
I sit with Maverick outside of Uncle William’s room, listening quietly to what is being said inside. Although I don’t necessarily think it is such a good idea to overwhelm Aunt Elise with her backstory, I can’t help but hope that maybe, somehow, it will bring her memories back to her. But even if those returned, what would come of Eleanor’s memories before Aunt Elise awoke? Would they somehow be there, or was the Eleanor of the past be gone forever?
“What is it?” Maverick asks me, snapping me out of my head. “You’ve got a pretty big crease between your brows.”
“I was just thinking,” I say quietly. “What it must feel like to be devoid of everything.”
The words leave me before I even realize what I’m saying and to whom, and when I realize what I’m doing, my eyes widen, and I snap my gaze to Maverick, only to find that he is giving me a gentle look.
“I’m sorry,” I hiss, feeling like I just shoved my foot into my mouth. “I didn’t…”
“It’s fine,” he assures me, his large hand wrapping around mine. “It isn’t as bad as you think.”
Not as bad as I think. How could it not be worse than I could think? It had to be terrifying to not know who you were or where you came from. I couldn’t even begin to imagine that.
“Listen to me,” Maverick says now, gently touching my cheek. “Whatever is going through that head of yours is wrong.”
“Is it though?” I ask, unable to remain silent. “I’m sure your head was a dark place because there was nothing there.”
“But there was,” he counters. “And I’m sure that it was there for all the others as well.”
Frowning, I take in what he is saying while trying to determine what exactly it was he was trying to get me to understand.
“Your light kept that darkness away.” He chuckles, kissing my nose. “How could there possibly be any darkness when you’re here beside us shining so brightly that sometimes it feels like you are the sun itself?”
Eyes widening, I feel a blush beginning to creep up my neck and to my cheeks, but before I can say anything more, the door to Uncle William’s room opens and the man himself appears.
“I thought I sensed some rats.” He says, eyeing Maverick and me. “Care to explain what you’re doing here?”
“I was worried.” I blurt out, scrambling to my feet and peeking past him to find Aunt Elise laying in bed with the blanket wrapped tightly around her. “How is she? Is she going to be okay?”
“Give her time.” Uncle William tells me, peeking over his shoulder. “She has been through a lot and needs time to process.”
“Right.” I whisper, feeling my heart break for not only my aunt but even Eleanor. “And after that, what are we going to do?”
“What do you mean?” Uncle William asks, frowning.
“About Aunt Elise,” I respond. “Or rather, Eleanor... What about her family? I’m certain that they’re worried about her, wondering where she has been. Shouldn’t we…”
“No,” he says quietly, a look of pity crossing his features. “That’s impossible now.”
“Impossible.” I repeat, confusion rushing through me. “What do you mean it is impossible? Even if she is Aunt Elise, she is also Eleanor, and she has a whole other pack and family who…”
“Don’t care what happens to her.” Uncle William says sadly.
At his words, my heart squeezes painfully as I realize what it is that he is saying. Eleanor’s family didn’t care what happened to her. Was this because of not only hers but even my own defiance when they tried to get her to return home, or was there something more that we were missing?
“They haven’t attempted to try to contact me once since she went missing.” Uncle William continues when I don’t speak. “And there hasn’t been a single search party sent out to find her. I think that makes it more than clear that they’ve cut all ties with her.”
“Poor Eleanor,” I murmur. “I wonder how she would feel to know that this was happening.”
“Who says she is still there to care about it?” Uncle William counters.
Once again, I feel my heart squeeze as I can’t help but wonder if Eleanor disappeared forever when Aunt Elise awakened. Or was she somewhere in the same body sleeping peacefully?
“When this ends, we should really try to learn more about Aunt Elise’s situation.” I sigh.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling that at some point both souls would start to fight for the same body, and when that happened, we had no way of knowing who would be the victor. And honestly, it wasn’t fair to Eleanor that she would lose her chance at living when she was still so young.
“I agree,” Uncle William says, his voice dripping with sadness. “But until then, we should simply focus on ending everything that is happening now.”
“Right,” I agree, feeling my adrenaline beginning to pump. “Have we come up with a solid decision on when we will be making our move?”
“We have,” he confirms. “In three days' time we will be heading into battle.”
“Then we should make sure to take advantage of the days we have remaining, because once they’re gone we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow.”
“You’re speaking like you plan on dying.” Uncle William points out, placing a hand on the top of my head so he can ruffle my head. “You can’t go into battle with that kind of mindset.”
“I’m not,” I huff as he pulls his hand away. “I’m just speaking realistically.”
“And if you keep speaking like that, I’m not going to let you go anywhere.” Maverick warns, his voice icy. “I’ll lock you away until the battle is finished.”
As he speaks, a laugh escapes Uncle William, but even that doesn’t fully convince me that he is okay.
“Go on, you two.” He sighs. “Take advantage of the free time that you have while you have it.”
“What about you?” I ask, eyeing him. “What are you planning on doing?”
“I’ve got something that I need to take care of.” He responds seriously. “But I’ll be back before it is time to leave.”
Nodding, I stare at my uncle, wishing that I could read his mind and know what it was that he was planning, but he was so damn good at keeping a poker face that I couldn’t get anything.
“He’s a grown man,” Maverick reminds me, catching onto my chain of thought. “We’ll leave you to it,” he continues, turning his attention to Uncle William. “And we’ll see you again on the battle field.”