Non Omnes Moriemur, Chapter Three

            A quick glance out of the castle window told Eclipse that twenty-four hours had definitely not passed since he had put Lilith to sleep. A quick look back at Lilith told him that this had been a horrible idea from the start. No, words couldn’t possibly describe how truly stupid the idea had ever been at any point in time.

            She was still screaming, flailing around searching for something, anything to ease her suffering. The same wings as before; one beautiful white-feathered angel wing, and one tattered, torn, black bat wing; sprouted from her back, fluttering madly as the memories flooded her once innocent mind. Eclipse felt helpless as he watched her, not even caring as she tossed tables and books, knocked things from shelves and fell to the floor, shattering. What could he even do? He was the cause of this. He had opened the book. He had given her back the memories that were driving her mad now.

            The screaming stopped.

            He looked at her, and she looked at him. The eyes that stared back reminded him all too well of the little girl, the keeper of the book.

            Madness.

            Lilith’s scythe was in her hand now, having retrieved it from the cabinet it had been laid against.

            “Lilith, I..” He couldn’t push the words out as she walked towards him.

            She smiled as she came close, five feet away from where he stood at a loss for words.

            “You…?” She prodded, in a voice that Eclipse had never heard before, yet recognized as Lilith’s. It was a blend of the Lilith he had come to know over time, but also the Lilith he had just let loose from that book.

            “I…” It seemed as if his vocal cords had frozen in his chest.

            Before he knew what had happened she had swung her scythe.

            Eclipse stumbled back into the wall, clutching his chest. Blood seeped between his fingers as he gazed up at the girl whose scythe was now dripping with blood. She was advancing on him, sauntering toward where he was pressed against the wall.

            “Don’t worry Master Eclipse…all I want…” She took his hand and removed it from the wound. It wasn’t fatal; no, it wasn’t very deep at all. But the blood still flowed crimson. She pressed her other hand into the life liquid and brought it up to her cheek, some of it smearing into her hair and dripping down her face. “…is to feel.” Eclipse looked away from her, trying to forget who it was pressing him against this wall. He felt her tongue slide across the wound, sending shiver through him.

            What had he done to the girl? It was too much, and yet he couldn’t bear to shove her away. Despite the bleeding wound on his chest he had no wish, nor intention, to hurt her.

            “Why won’t you look at me, Master Eclipse?” The voice was pleading, as though on the verge of tears. “Please look at me?”

            “Lilith…” He couldn’t bring himself to say any more, do any more. He could only press himself harder against the wall and berate himself.

            Cold metal against his neck opened his eyes.

            “Look at me.” This voice was colder, purely the voice from the night she was practicing.

            He did. Slowly and apprehensively, but he did. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed in a tight frown.

            “What the hell is going on it here!?”

            The door had been flung open to reveal Chisoku, holding an unopened bottle of wine and looking very irritated. “…”

            Lilith’s eyes widened, and she stayed still for a moment. Suddenly though, something seemed to click, and she yanked her scythe away from Eclipse’s throat and bolted for the door. She shoved past Chisoku, tears flowing again down her cheeks as she took off down the hallway.

            Chisoku couldn’t seem to decide whether he should chase after her or see to the injured looking necromancer. After a moment’s consideration, he picked the latter.

            “What is into her? I knew she was nutty, but seriously, what the hell?” He sat Eclipse down and looked at the wound. “I’ve never seen such a superficial wound bleed so damn much.” A quick rummage around the room found the needed bandages to wrap it up for the time being. “Would you tell me what’s going on and stop looking so damn gloomy!” Chisoku, fed up with Eclipse’s silence, gave him a good face-smack.

            “It’s…my fault…” He jumped up, nearly knocking Chisoku over meanwhile.

            “Hey! Idiot, what was that for?”

            “I have to stop her! She knows how to destroy herself now. If she breaks that gem, she’s dead.” Without waiting for Chisoku to register what he’d said, Eclipse ran from the room.

            “She…what..?” He uncorked the wine with his teeth and wearily took a drink. “I guess I should follow after though…before she puts any more holes in my castle.”

            Eclipse couldn’t recall the last time he’d run so much and so far. He was suddenly even more grateful for Lilith’s insistence on getting him that second coffee earlier, else he was unlikely to have had the energy to. He checked every room and every corridor on the way, getting more and more frantic with every empty room. If she killed herself he would never be able to forgive himself.

            Just when he began to expect he would be too late, he reached the highest tower in the castle, seemingly the only place left that she could possibly be.

            “Lilith!” He panted.

            She turned around, holding the green gem in her left hand, the scythe in the other.

            “Master…Eclipse…I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

            He leaned in the open door frame as she approached him, shaking like a leaf in autumn. “Here….let me…” She placed a hand gently on his chest where the bandages were and closed her eyes. Her palm began to glow, and he could feel the wound healing underneath her touch. “Now I can go.” She nodded, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. His blood still marred her otherwise pale, thin face, still having not been washed off by her crying. She stepped backwards, still facing him and placed the gem on the floor in the middle of the tower room.

            The scythe raised into the air.

            “Lilith, no!”

            With what felt like the last bit of energy inside of him, Eclipse threw himself out of the doorway and into her.

            They toppled heavily to the floor, the scythe clattering loudly beside them.

            “E….Eclipse…? Huu…I can barely breathe…”

            “…G…good….” A sniffle was muffled by her hair, which his face was buried in. What the hell was wrong with him? The answer seemed pointless to ask, because either way he was crying, clinging tight to Lilith despite the fact that she had already expressed discomfort and inability to properly breathe with him on top of her, let alone him squeezing her.

            Chisoku, who had been following rather slowly behind Eclipse, entered in an almost immediately turned around to leave. Whatever the hell had happened, this was definitely not his business. Not that it wasn’t a juicy little tidbit…wait, that sounded like something Dreymeil would think. “AUGH!” He stomped back down the stairwell, resolving to confront Eclipse about the mess later.

            Back inside the room, Lilith stared blankly up at the ceiling as she listened to the soft sobs. Her thoughts had finally stopped racing. She felt fractured, as though two personalities were fighting for dominance in her head. No matter how hard she tried, she could not figure out which one was even real, and which one was a fake. Part of her wanting the empty, miserable Lilith to be the fake, as anyone would…but the Lilith she had became recently was only possible with the locking away of the other.

            “E…clipse…?” She muttered softly.

            “I’m so sorry…”

            “No…huu…” She reached up with her free arm to pat his head. “Don’t be sorry.”

            “This is my fault...”

            “You can’t change or control what happened.”

            “But I made you remember. I made you feel so empty and lost.”

            “Huu…no, you made me happy.”

            “How did this make you happy?”

            “Maybe not this, but before…you gave me somewhere to belong. You taught me and helped me.”

            “But…”

            “You made me happy, Eclipse…” She closed her eyes and let out a weary sigh. He could feel her relax beneath him, and he jolted upright.

            “Lilith! Lilith, you can’t…” He pulled her to him and shook her, desperately trying to wake her up. She couldn’t be dead…she wasn’t injured that he could see, and she had sounded physically okay only seconds ago so why…

            He heard her exhale, lightly, but it was a breathe indicative of life nonetheless.

            “Hah.” He let out one short, sarcastic laugh. The sleeping potion must have taken effect again. He felt stupid.

            “Chisoku…I know you’re there.”

            “…Whaddya want?”

            “I’m out of energy…I need you to carry Lilith for me.”

            Chisoku grumbled but opened the door, though not before muttering lazy lich.

            Eclipse pushed himself from the floor wearily and collected the gem and scythe. He would be putting both items safely away to avoid further scares. It was very unbecoming of him to be crying like a child on the floor on top of his student, after all.

            As a precautionary measure after they had reached her room and laid her in bed, Eclipse gave her another day’s dose of the sleeping liquid. At Eclipse’s chagrin, but Chisoku’s insistence, they also shackled one of her ankles solidly to the bed. If she had managed to wake up from it once, who was to say he couldn’t again? Unlikely as it was, he couldn’t convince Chisoku otherwise.

            The two conversed in his study for a while, Eclipse explaining everything to Chisoku (which proved more difficult than he had anticipated), until Chisoku finally decided to leave it be for the moment. He needed to consider the consequences of having the girl in the castle anymore, now that she had moved on from wall-holes to attempted murder-suicide. Before any further conversation was had they resolved to wait until Lilith woke again, in order to afford her some obviously needed rest after the day’s events.

            Once Chisoku left, Eclipse went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some coffee before he passed out himself.

            He was pouring out some coffee beans to grind when he noticed something attached to the bag. Upon pulling it off and examining it, it appeared to be a note left by Lilith at some point in time. It read:

                                                Master Eclipse, if you’re reading this it means I didn’t make your coffee for you today. I’m sorry! I’ll do                                    better next time, so please don’t be mad! 

                                                                                     Love,

                                                                                          Lilith

            Eclipse dropped the coffee bag, sending beans all over the counter and floor. He wanted to go right back upstairs and ask her where she had gotten the stupid idea that he would ever be mad at her for not making his coffee, and why she had been so worried about it that she deemed it necessary to leave him a note.

            And yet…he now perfectly understood. She had said it herself when he had agreed to teach her he had given her somewhere to belong. To him it hadn’t been a big deal; it was a burden if anything. But to her? She had found a place of refuge, and she had wanted to make sure that she didn’t lose it. The same night as the first flashback episode he had even told her how much she wanted Chisoku to approve of her. She wanted to fit in, be good, be wanted.

            Everything had been okay, but now he’d screwed up.

            By the time the coffee had finished brewing, Eclipse was so low on energy that even the mug felt heavy in his hands. He didn’t bother cleaning up the beans. Instead he went directly up to Lilith’s room.

            He sat at the edge of her bed, watching that peaceful expression again. At least that hadn’t changed.

            The coffee was gone in little time, and he sat the mug on the floor. He looked at the window to discover that it was fairly late now, and the moon was high in the sky. He should probably go to his own room and sleep…

            But it didn’t feel right to leave.

            So as to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings, he made himself comfortable sitting by the bed, leaning against it so that his head was cushioned by the mattress.

            Had he not been so exhausted he would have likely been unable to find sleep for some time in such a position, but tonight he found it quickly.