aurelia_savage
|• Queens deserve their own thrones •|

Growling under his breath, he crept through the forest. A dull ache still pulsing through his right arm from the time the Hunter had slashed at him. It took him forever to find out where he was, he was sure he was lost. He resided near a lake, allowing himself to clean his wound and have a drink of water when he desired. There were various berry bushes that permitted him to nurture himself. He found an abandoned hut a few days ago. When he climbed the nearest hill, the sight brought pleasure to his heart, it made his eyes water. Home. He could see Prime from the hill, the shadowy etched buildings in the distance.

He set forth the next day towards Prime. The back of his head hurt from the lack of sleep and food, also from anger. He was hours away, he felt it, the change in ambiance, the change in surroundings. He forced his feet to carry on walking even though they felt numb. One more day. He bit on his quivering lips till they bled. The sweet taste of blood at the tip of his tongue, it made him cower. He hiked up another steep hill before taking a break. Exasperated with himself and his weak and feeble limbs, he pushed himself off the grass and continued walking.

A crunch of leaves stopped him in his track. It wasn't him, it was someone else, or something. Maybe it was The Hunter. He knew what it looked like, he knew that her weakness was in her eyes. Those colourless blank eyes. Empty pools of her soul, a void that needed filling. A broken heart that was never mended. It hurt every time he saw her face shimmer in his dreams. The sharpness of her jawline, the smoothness of her slightly pale skin and blushed cheeks. The redness of her soft, bloody lips. She was beautiful in simple words, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Something told him he could fall in love with her; if only she wasn't the Hunter. If only she hadn't taken everything away from him.

In the darkest depths of his mind, something told him he knew her. In her heart played the sound of his name and in his, was hers.

He stopped his laborious breaths, surveying the surrounding. "It's you." Someone gasped from his left. He squinted to see who it was. A small shadow grew closer to him.

"Wes?" He grinned to himself as he rapidly limped towards Wes.

"Bruh! It's great to have you back!" Wes ran towards him and strangled him in a tight hug. "We thought you were dead."

"I nearly was." He bitterly laughed. "Missed ya, mate." His words held so much power, no one would have understood their worth as much as him. His heart ached to see the familiar faces of his friends.

Wes pulled away and said. "Come one, man. Let's get you home."

He smiled and let a tear fall. Home.

—

"I..." Lyra rubbed her fingers over her temple. "I don't know what to say. We lost another one of us and it's all my fault." Silence reigned as Lyra contemplated what would have happened to Lincoln if he was in Adam's place. "From now on, the warriors, will not go on patrol duty, only I will," Lyra announced. Murmurs erupted through the hall. Juniper, Lincoln, Anier, and Dianne tried to speak, but Lyra got there first. "That's my final word." She heaved a sigh and continued, "The good news is that I think I've managed to work out the coordinates of the first cave. I'm not sure yet, I'll have to double-check by taking some people with me. I have a list of suitable candidates—"

The doors sprung to reveal an excited Wes.

"Look who I found!" He shrieked before moving aside to show a teenage boy with grey eyes and blonde hair.

Lyra found herself entranced by the complexity in his eyes. The green within the grey, the black on the outer edges circling the white. He walked towards the centre as Juniper ran up to him and crushed him in a hug, Justin and others following suit. The smile on his lips was the widest Lyra had ever seen. His pearly white teeth on display. His eyes roamed through the crowd of familiar faces, all happy and astounded by his appearance. Lyra noticed a dry bloody patch on his arm, he must have been wounded.

The survivor.

Lyra remembered footsteps beside the corpse of Aneesa, it must've been him. She walked towards him, to inspect his wound. Finally, his grey eyes fell on Lyra, a shock of fear set his orbs ablaze. Lyra stopped dead in her tracks, too scared to approach him.

"You!" he screamed, "You're the Hunter!" He tried to pounce at her but River and Justin held him back.

Juniper asked, confused. "Lyra? Are you okay, Jude? That's Lyra."

"Yes, Lyra was the woman I loved, the one whose name was the beat of my heart. The one I lost, the one I never found. That is a monster. Trust me Juniper!" He begged. "She's a monster!"

Tears welled in Lyra's eyes, blurring her vision. Jude's words were harsher than the sharpest sword. She felt betrayed as if the world had turned against her. She heard gasps of some and grunts of others, it hurt her to think some of them believed what Jude had said. Jude, the name had a ring to it, as it belonged to her lips, yet was not hers. The tears fell even though she tried to hold them in. Lyra turned around and stormed out through the back doors. She felt alone, once again.

—

"Lyra?" Lincoln could hear her sobs, her tears of pain. He found her sobs suffocating like it was engulfing him whole. "Lyra?" He reached under the table and balanced himself next to her. "You okay, Ly?"

She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "Y-y-yes." A torrent of tears gushed out again. "N-n-no."

"You can tell me anything Ly, I won't tell anyone. Not a soul. What's wrong?"

She handed him a piece of paper. The first few words highlighted in green.

Patient 1A: Lyra Zwane (affirmed dissociative identity disorder - unconscious form)

Perplexed, Lincoln glanced at Lyra.

"I'm I-i-ill Linc, I'm m-m-mentally ill. I have an identity disorder. I knew this the day I opened the door, b-but I thought it wasn't important. T-turns out it was. I think he's r-right, I am the H-H-Hunt-t-ter." She forced her gaze to find his. All she saw was a void of pity, no fear or shock.

"You knew," Lyra whispered more to herself.

Lincoln nodded. "Ly, it's not you. It's the monster hidden within you. We all have monsters inside us, some which are shown, some which are hidden." He wiped the tears from her cheeks. Lincoln had found the monster within him when his dagger pierced into the living body of Isaac.

Lyra found it hard to believe. "I killed your sister."

"You killed no one, Ly, it was the Hunter, not you. Don't blame yourself. The day I found out, I vowed to keep you safe, safe from committing crimes you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself for. I promised to protect Lyra, not the Hunter. I know how to stop it, I won't let it win."

"Bu—"

He slipped a finger to her soft lips. "No, Ly, we keep this between us, for I will be your shattered half, not the Hunter." Lyra hugged him and cried into his neck.

Regardless of what Lincoln said, how could she have forgiven herself for what she had done?

I am the Hunter.

I am the hunted.

I am just a shattered half.

But I am not one.

Just the fragment of half.

I am the Hunter.

—

This is where I've been dying to reach! Everything that happened through this story, all came to one intention, the proof of the innate monsters in us.

Thoughts?

I have too many to write XD