Tu Es Ma Lumière

28 - Nightmare

The adrenaline, the fear, the singular lick of sweat that rolled down his back in a delicate tear, the burn in his chest and lungs. His legs moved rapidly, faster and faster with every leap. The thin vines cut at his neck and face, making it sting as the sweat poured from his brow to the cuts. By now, his shirt was mangled, but he couldn't stop running. It was behind him. So, so close. He couldn't stop.

But he could. He could when he reached an impasse. An odd, circular area in the woods with all the trees, thorns and bushes pushed down. He hunched over to catch his breath, but what he saw beneath him was a large spot of blood. He frowned in confusion, looking at another. Like a childhood fairy tale with a horrid twist, he followed the drops of blood until he saw another impasse.

He gasped at the sight before him. It was his mother, her body limp and cold. Her skin was pale, an ashy, chalky white, her hazel eyes still open. Dead and empty, an empty vial of poison in her hands. He knelt to her, but she did not respond when her son called out her name.

He looked past his mother, saw all of his siblings, their necks snapped and irreparable. Their mouths open, spilling out blood. He gasped out his grief, spluttering out their names in a tear choked voice.

But then he saw his brother, an arrow to the chest, laying several feet away, still maintaining the delicate circle. Next to him, Kenna, then little baby Amia. Both had arrows sticking out of them. His stomach rolled, and he stumbled over to him, but he was a little too late to save them.

Following the horrid circle, he cried out as if the sight was a physical blow. He dropped to his knees to bundle his wife's dead body to him. Her skirts were covered in blood, two tiny, limp babies in her arms.  His hands trembled, tenderly stroking her hair from her forehead and face. So beautiful, so gone.

He moved his hands down, down to the two limp babies borne too young to live. He stroked their little backs, covering them up, before holding them and their mother closer to him again. He sobbed aloud, his tears mixed with the blood that he was now covered with. He tenderly lay them down, crawling over to his little children. Cold and limp, bruises in the shapes of hand-marks on their small necks.

The King's stomach rolled and he dry heaved, clutching the bodies of Jean, James, Anne and young Francis close to him. He choked on his rapid sobs, reaching over to hold Mary and the twins to him. He cried loudly, it felt like he was sobbing forever. His heart bled into his chest, torn apart into nothing but bloody remains. He glanced over, saw Lola laying close by, a dagger sticking out of her bodice. He sniffled, holding the bodies of the ones he loved the most closer to him.

It was back. Behind him. Mocking. Taunting and belittling. He cried, payed it no mind, allowed his words to enter his soul.

"The house of Valois will be gone." he hissed into his ear. Francis lay them down, suddenly filled with fire. He made chase to the phantom, intent on harming him, but no matter how fast, far or hard he ran at him, the phantom was just a little too far away.

He stumbled back to the circle, his stomach empty and his body covered in sweat, blood and tears. He held his abdomen, dragging his legs over to Lola. He gripped the blade and pulled it out of her body, glancing over at his wife and dead children, before plunging the dagger into his heart.

Francis gasped loudly, shooting up in bed. His body was slick with sweat, bare chest heaving as he took in rapid gasps of air. He broke into tears again, burying his face into his hands to suffer again. His body trembled like a leaf blowing in the winter's breeze.

A moan caught his attention. His blonde head snapped down to the sound, saw his wife. Alive, pregnant, well. She was breathing, so he quickly gathered her enlarging body and brought it to his arms, crying into her warm shoulder.

Mary, not knowing what was wrong, or what could have upset her husband, when she awoke, looked around aimlessly for a few moments, before coming to her senses. She brought her arms around his sweaty skin, shushed him as much as possible. She cooed into his ear, ran her fingers through his curls, kissed at his face.

"Shh, it's alright." she whispered, rubbing her eyes, trying to get her mind to work after being so suddenly awoken from her slumber. She held him close to her, rocked him back and forth until his cries slowed into simple sniffles. He buried his face into the warm crook of her neck, listening to the sound of her pulse and feeling her breath against his neck and hair. "What happened?" she asked.

"D-don't make me speak of it." he choked, or more like begged. It stunned her. Francis was never one to beg. "Please." he did beg now.

"Shh, alright. Alright." she coaxed. "Bad dream?" the Queen of France asked, feeling her unborn children within her kick and turn in response to their fathers' distress. She placed his hand upon her enormous bump. He sniffled, paused, but nodded, probably focusing on breathing and listening to her pulse, feeling his unborn children in her womb.

"Okay." she nodded. "That's okay, it wasn't real. It was just a dream. It's gone now, it's just me and you, okay?" she asked, feeling like she was talking to one of their children rather than her husband, but that was okay. The man needed comfort, so she'd give it to him. He sniffled and nodded, starting to pull away. Mary pulled him right back.

"I-I have to see the children." he stated.

"No, they're sleeping right now. You can see them in the morning." she stated, before starting to coax him to lay back down. He ended up laying upon her breast, listening to her heartbeat. Mary gently stroked his hair, awaiting for the moment he fell back into his dreams. Once his breathing steadied, the Queen looked down at her King, wiped the tears from his cheeks, before pressing a kiss to his cheek. He was safe now, and that was all that mattered.

~~

Heyy!

Feedback please! Let a girl know what you all thought of this little oneshot! Also, your girl has an announcement to make. I'm going to be deleting the Frary fix its I've been writing for the last little while, but I'm not gonna be getting rid of them. I'm going to make another oneshot book to place them into. The reason for this is one, they're kinda clogging up my published bits, and two, I think it'll reach you guys sooner if it's in it's own little entity. Sometimes, it took you all days to see the fix its and it was killing my impatience having to wait for feedback. So, once again, I'm not deleting them, I'm just republishing them so it's easier for all of you guys and me. It should be up today, as well as another fix it that I thought of last night. So, happy reading!

Love,

me

:).