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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 0:19:37 GMT -5
Sully nodded grimly and stepped forward. "It's all right, Zander," he said in his thick brogue. "I need to do this, too. I need to get it over with. Whatever is going to happen... I can't stand here and keep waiting for it to happen. Just promise me... if anything happens to me, you'll take care of Ashura."
He took a deep breath and drew his wand. "All right, Gretchen. Let's do this. For what it's worth... I'm sorry for your pain, but I am not sorry I killed Buck. He was attacking a child. I did what I had to do to save the boy. He couldn't have been more than 12 years old."
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Post by Gretchen Thomas on Dec 22, 2008 10:42:32 GMT -5
Gretchen narrowed her eyes as her lip curled up in a furious sneer. "I'm going to enjoy killing you," she said, her voice rumbling deep in her throat, like a growl. "You think you have a right to be so self-righteous. There were other ways you could have stopped him. Did you even think that there was a person inside there? Someone that might be missed? No... back then, you didn't think about any of that, did you?"
She moved her wand away from Sully and aimed it instead at the tree next to him. Somehow, the killing curse seemed too god for him. She wanted him to feel pain. "Diffindo!" she shouted, and the tree cracked and began to topple over towards him.
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Post by Ashura Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:00:02 GMT -5
Ashura wasn't sure what to think, other than she didn't want her brother hurt. He had came to save her, which made her feel happy, but at the moment, she was worried. She thought about running over to Zander's side, but she wasn't sure if Gretchen would do something to her or not so she just stayed in her place.
She didn't know what the word diffindo meant, but she saw the tree cracked. Sully wasn't really looking and Ashura started to run in between them and pushed him out of the way before the tree hit her.
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:11:29 GMT -5
Sully barely had time to process what happened as he hit the forest floor with a loud grunt.He lay on his back for a moment, dazed, blinking up at Zander and Rochelle. Was he dead? Was he dying? No... he wasn't dead... and it didn't hurt enough to be dying. He took a breath, then slowly sat up.
That was when he noticed the fallen tree.... and the small, delicate body underneath it. "Ashura!" he cried, getting to his feet instantly and running to her. "Can you hear me, lass?"
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Post by Ashura Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:20:35 GMT -5
It hurt to breathe. Ashura breathed slowly underneath the tree. Sully was safe, even if for another moment and that made her happy. She was still because it also hurt to move. The tree had pinned her to the ground and all Ashura knew was she was hurting.
"Y-yeah," she got out. Her eyes were open and looked up to Sully.
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:30:20 GMT -5
Sully knelt down next to her, staring in shock. A sinking feeling was in the pit of his stomach as he noticed blood seeping from underneath the mat of dark hair spread out on the ground. The tree was crushing her, and she must have hit her head on a rock as she fell.
"I'm here, lass," he said softly. "I'll get this tree off of you." He took out his wand and tried to perform a levitating charm to lift the tree off of her. But it was too much for just one person, and the tree shuddered but didn't move. "Zander!" he called, looking over his shoulder. "I need a little help here!"
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Post by Zander Smith on Dec 22, 2008 11:33:06 GMT -5
Zander nodded and stepped forward. "Of course," he said, pointing his wand at the tree. Together the two of them levitated the tree upwards and away from Ashura.
He shot a glare at Gretchen, then looked back at Sully and Ashura. If Ashura died, it would be Zander's turn to get revenge for the killing of one of his pack members.
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Post by Ashura Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:41:22 GMT -5
As Sully attempted to move the tree on his own, it hurt even more, but she let out a slow breath as Zander helped. With the tree gone, Ashura still was hurting. She was scared to move still. She knew that something was coming from her head, but she didn't know what.
Breathing seemed to hurt a little more and she tried to keep her breathing slow and light. "Sully," she said quietly. Her vision was becoming blurry. "I-it hurts."
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:47:45 GMT -5
Sully's eyes were filled with tears as he looked down at his little sister. "She needs a healer!" he shouted almost desperately. He held her hand against his cheek, stroking it lightly. "I know, lass. You're going to be just fine. We'll take you to get some help... we're not far from the school... Madam Pomfrey can help... Just stay with me, OK? We have so much to catch up on... so many things you don't remember. Remember how you used to call me Mattie?"
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Post by Ashura Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 11:53:29 GMT -5
"N-no," said Ashura. "Don't move me cause it hurts to." She didn't know what was happening, but she felt like she was slowly disappearing. Her voice was starting to become a little raspy like because it hurt to breathe.
She vaguely remembered calling him Mattie, but it hurt to even think now. Ashura felt tears start to fall from her eyes everything she did caused pain. "Yes," she got out. She was quiet for a moment. "I love you M-mattie," Ashura said remembering that he told her of that word once before.
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Post by Dawn Meade on Dec 22, 2008 12:04:45 GMT -5
Tears were streaming down Dawn's face. She barely knew the girl... she vaguely remembered now meeting her before. Her head didn't hurt so much now as she remembered talking to Ashura at the camp, while she was tied to the tree. She had gone to help her, she remembered it now.
But there was something else... a faded memory trying to come into view. She gripped on to Rochelle and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to remember it.
She could almost see it... a moonlit night... two girls alone by the edge of the woods.... something coming towards them....
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 12:11:36 GMT -5
Sully let out a choked sob. "Then we'll send for help..." he said, knowing it was hopeless. Still, he needed to clutch at whatever desperate hope he had left. "I can't lose you now... I just got you back..."
When she said she loved him, something in him broke. "No, Ashura... you can't go... don't say goodbye now." He wanted to hold her to him, to give him whatever strength he had, but he didn't want to hurt her more just by moving her. So he squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. "I love you, too, lass... don't give up now..."
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Post by Ashura Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 12:20:21 GMT -5
Ashura knew that nothing was going to help her. She didn't want to leave him or see him so upset, but she couldn't help it. She was hanging on, but she was slipping.
She weakly squeezed his hand although it hurt. "I-I can't. It hurts too much Mattie." Ashura took in her last few breaths in slowly. "I love you," she repeated again before slowly letting out the breath she took in. After that, she wasn't breathing anymore and the color in her eyes had become dull and lifeless.
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 22, 2008 12:25:03 GMT -5
"No!" Sully cried as her hand went limp in his. He put his hand to her hand. "Wake up, lass... don't go!"
He bent down and tried to breathe life back into her, as he had once watched a muggle do for another. But it was hopeless... she was gone. Finally, he gave up and pulled her lifeless body into his arms, cradling her and sobbing against her blood-soaked hair.
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Post by Dawn Meade on Dec 22, 2008 15:24:29 GMT -5
Seeing the man Rochelle loved cradling Ashura in his arms sparked yet another long-ago memory. She saw the same man, with shorter hair and a clean-shaven face, holding the mangled body of a woman and crying.
And suddenly, it all fell into place. It was like that one scene, that one moment, was all she needed to make everything clear. Her head didn't even hurt anymore. She remembered everything. Grabbing Rochelle's arm, she looked at her friend, her eyes wide with comprehension. "I remember!" she cried.
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Post by Rochelle Parnell on Dec 22, 2008 15:31:20 GMT -5
Rochelle watched Sully hold on to Ashura. She wanted to go over to him, but she knew that might not be best at the moment. Glancing over to Dawn, she seemed to be in thought and Rochelle was relieved that Dawn wasn't going to be feeling bad while she did think.
Her eyes widened slightly as Dawn grabbed her arm unexpectedly. She looked at her curiously. "What do you remember Dawn?"
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Post by Dawn Meade on Dec 22, 2008 15:47:50 GMT -5
"Everything!" Dawn said excitedly. For the first time in a very long time, her eyes and her mind were clear. She no longer looked like the fragile, dreamy girl, but like the strong, caring, confident young girl she had once been.
"Ashura and I were friends, a long time ago," she said. "Back when we went to the big school on the other side of the forest. One night we wandered too far into the woods and we couldn't get back before the full moon rose. And then we heard someone coming. We ran as fast as we could, but I tripped and fell over a fallen branch. And then this... thing... came out of the trees... it was a werewolf. Black and gray, with pale blue eyes... just like Buck. And he came towards me and I screamed. He started attacking me... biting and slashing..."
Tears filled her eyes at the memory, but she didn't stop. "Ashura came back for me. She tried to help me... he bit her, too, and she fell back and wouldn't wake up. There was a noise or something... and he ran away... leaving me there, slashed and bleeding. I blacked out. Then... the next morning... I woke up on the edge of the woods. Ashura was gone and I was all alone... still bleeding... and then I saw Buck. He came to me and carried me to the building with the people dressed in white. He said I went through a terrible trauma and I shouldn't remember it. They took me away... and they did things... They tried to lock me away... but Buck broke me out again once I was well enough to leave. He tried to teach me how to be a werewolf... and one night, he took me out hunting under the full moon. There was a woman... she was blonde and very pretty... she was walking through the forest. I didn't want to attack her, but Buck lunged for her and attacked her... he was so violent...."
She shuddered. "I came back to the scene the next day... I wanted to send someone to get help for her, but it was too late. But then a man came... your Matt... and he was holding her, just like he's holding Ashura now, and he was crying. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry I didn't stop Buck... but I ran away instead. I told Buck about it later and he said I shouldn't tell anyone about it... and he said some words... and my head hurt... and I couldn't remember anymore."
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Post by Matthew "Sully" Sullivan on Dec 23, 2008 11:46:30 GMT -5
Everyone had turned to stare at Dawn as she spoke with increasing volume and clarity. Even Sully, still holding Ashura, was transfixed by Dawn's stunning tale.
This small girl, sick and weakened by maltreatment and botched memory charms, had been holding in some enormous secrets that even she hadn't known she had. And just a little love and caring and some healing treatment from Madam Pomfrey had freed her memory from the recesses of her mind.
"So you're saying... that Buck was the one who bit Ashura... and killed my fiancee, Jessica?" he repeated, stunned.
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