CHAPTER FOUR

Arelle stood at the gates of the village with the rest of nightmare's gang and a few knights. there didn't seem to be any suspicious activity among the villagers but cross still told error to maintain the cloak around them. arelle glanced at him and he nodded. she signaled the rest of them to move forward. though the cloak was up, they crouched and moved swiftly hiding behind bushes and carts...in case of any magical interference. their plan was to catch the villagers by surprise...in order to prevent any one from escaping. error used his strings to bind the first few villagers...only to have them raise an alarm. the others jumped out of their hiding places and started to round up the villagers who had started to ran away.

rounding them up wasn't difficult...but cross had a little bit of trouble in finding dream, nightmare's brother.

FLASHBACK

"Dream is there...somewhere... I need you to go and find him...and bring him back. this world doesn't need another war." he remembered nightmare saying as he walked out of his room.

END

"where is he?" cross groaned out loud as he looked around, trying to sense any overwhelming positivity from those that had been bound. meanwhile, Arelle got to work, secretly freeing some of the villagers and leading them to safety. "Hey you, stop there!" she heard one of the knights yell and hurried to the scene. she saw a little boy, of about 6 years, running towards her,at full speed, with the rest of the knights hot on his heels. seeing him reminded her of the situation she was put in 10 years ago...the fateful day when everything she knew had crumbled to dust in just a few minutes. "Arelle what are standing there for? catch him!" horror called out to her and she gripped the handle of her sword tighter. she drew it out of its scabbard as she stepped forward...and let the boy run past her. she stood in front of them and blocked their path. "What?!" cross exclaimed as they stopped in their tracks."Arelle... what are you... do you know the meaning of what you're doing?"

"Yes..." she said as she took a fighting stance and prepared herself for a fight. "I'm saving lives."

"So you have chosen to go against your king" 

"he is not my king!" she cried out as she ran forward and began her assault.

"So be it."he muttered as he met her first attack with a glowing red blade of his own. the battle did not take long to end as cross defeated her with ease. he sent the rest to go look for the kid while he and error took her back to the castle...as a prisoner.

they presented her to nightmare who in turn told them to summon all of the servants at the throne room. her sentence would be a public display and lesson to the rest of them, showing them exactly what happens to those that went against nightmare.

"I can't believe this is happening again. seems like it's going to be the Keran incident all over again."one of the maids said and Hilda, the head cook, winced as the memory of her lost twin came back to her. she stretched her neck to catch a glimpse of arelle's kneeling form. she didn't know the convicted girl much but she gave her all of her sympathy as she left the throne room to the kitchen. she had to think of what to cook for dinner that evening.

nightmare's gaze intensified as arelle lifted her head to glare at him. error leaned in and whispered something in his ear. "hmmm..."he hummed as his eye narrowed and he switched his gaze from her to cross.

"You are accused of assisting the enemy's escape...what do you have to say in your defense?" cross asked her and she chuckled. "If saving lives is worthy of a death sentence then i would gladly die." she said darkly as she lowered her head.

killer sneered as he checked the sharpness of horror's axe. he had been chosen to carry out the execution...if any. After its edge drew a bit of blood from his finger, he grinned and leaned back...waiting for the judgement to be passed.

"killing you would be quite a waste...you have shown a lot of potential and courage. so...i'll let you choose. Death...or...becoming my right hand man" collective gasps were heard all around and killer's grin vanished. 'what did nightmare say again?' he asked himself as he exchanged glances with cross who was just as confused as he was. 

"I would rather die..." everyone turned to look at arelle.

"I'll give you three days to think about my proposition." then everyone turned to look at nightmare.

"I would still rather die."they turned back to look at her

"Don't make such hasty decisions. I'll be waiting for your final answer." nightmare said and left the room while arelle yelled, "I said I choose death you bastard!". he chuckled softly in the hallway after he was joined by error. " well that was quite the display." he told nightmare as he walked right beside him, a scowl on his face.

"yes it was."nightmare grinned." And if she continues to refuse?"don't worry, I'm pretty sure she'll change her mind." nightmare said and continued his walk down the hallway. "You'll make sure of it, won't you...sister?" Error muttered and a soft chuckle filled the hallway...a chuckle the king of negativity couldn't hear. meanwhile, arelle was sent to the dungeons. she was pushed into an empty cell, roughly, by horror. he grinned as she winced and pushed herself away from the bars, to the wall. he gave a small laugh before leaving. Arelle sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "mom..."she muttered as she reached down her shirt and pulled out a vial of glowing blue liquid attached to the string around her neck. "I'm sorry i couldn't save them... I couldn't even try...and now your legacy...will be totally forgotten." she wiped away the tears streaming down her face and pushed the vial back down her shirt as she heard footsteps.

 "Arelle...you there?" she heard a familiar voice say and stood up. "Zoie! what are you doing here? you could get punished for this." she scolded her friend as she gripped the bars of the cell. "Well... i could have said the same for you. Idiot, what were you thinking when you let them go?"

"I had to try and save someone..."

"Idiot! now who's going to save you. even i know that you'll choose to die instead spending an eternity serving him directly."

"You're right about me not wanting to fight for that...monster."

"oh come on... he's not that bad."

"he gave his men orders to level millions, if not thousands, of worlds..."

"Yeah, and my world was also part of those that ceased to exist...but at least i'm alive not dead."

"how can you say that when he probably killed all your friends and family..."

"i had no friends...no family...where i came from it was kill or be killed. Some way, some how, i was able to survive without doing either. i...i wouldn't have been able to live that way...it was driving me nuts, arelle, it really was."

"Zoie..."

"i watched my people die... killed by their own...i promised myself that i would never let something like that happen again, if i can help it... and here you are with a choice. arelle please, if not for yourself then do it for me. please arelle, accept his proposal...i just...i can't watch one of my friends die again."

"I..."

"listen to zoie, arelle. she knows what's best for you at the moment." they turned to face the newcomer, cross. arelle groaned at his intrusion and zoie sighed.

"Why...the...hell...did you speak? don't even say a word! i had almost gotten through to her before you decided to stick your f*cking nose into our business! I swear to nightmare, if she is executed after the three days, I will f*ck you up the next time you get injured." she yelled at him and cross was taken aback. she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out of there while cross tried to reason with her. 

Arelle sighed and went back to her sitting position, placing her head on her knees. "Well...well... seems like your friends really want you to live." her head shot up as she heard another voice echoing of the walls. "Who..." "Oh sweetie don't bother trying to find me. I'm just like a shadow, you see." the voice said again with a laugh.

"What do you want?!"

"What they all want. for you... to live" with that arelle felt her vision fading as she was plunged into total darkness. she fell to her knees, almost lifeless, as a figure formed behind her. "It's showtime." it said as it smiled wildly.