Pain of Loss

Previous Chapter - Demolition Fight

She landed on crooked ground, seeing only what the light from the door above illuminated. Despite this, she still saw Kat laying on the floor just at the edge of the light, moaning in pain. Fiona rushed to her side and rolled her over, seeing her arm had completely bled through her makeshift bandage. "Hey sis." She said in a somewhat woozy tone. "What are you doing here?" She regained her senses quickly however, rolling out of Fiona's arms to scan over the dim room. "Where's mom?"

The sound of coughing could be heard as the two turned over to see who it was, showing some of the light shining down as it was revealed to be Sabriel, lying down on the ground with her hand covering her stomach. Blood was slowly dripping from the knife wound as she tried to hold it tightly so it didn't leak out any worse. The wound didn't look so big, but she felt it had hit a vital organ that was slowly killing her from the inside out. All she could do was look up at the sky as she waited for her imitate death.

Fiona looked at shock with what was right in front of her, never once did she ever see her mother look like this: battered, beaten, and down for the count. Somewhere in her mind, she knew she was suppose to be happy, but in her heart, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her mother. "Kat, are you okay?" She said helping her sister up.

"I'm fine sis." She said shortly, brushing her hair behind her ear before clutching her injured arm. "Go back to the doorway, I'll deal with this." Kat took another step towards Sabriel, waiting for her to strike back at any moment. "Come on mom, get up." She looked at the knife buried in Sabriel's gut, now dyed red from the blood running over it, and began to feel apprehensive. "We're not done yet."

"Unfortunatly, you got me pretty good. Judging from the depth of the wound, I don't have much time...." She said couging as a bit of blood came out of her mouth, making both her daughters flinch, especially Kat, as Fiona limped closer to them.

"Yeah, sure you do..." Kat said nervously. "You aren't getting off that easy, not after everything you've done." Fiona couldn't tell who she was trying to convince more, herself or their mother. Another tremor shook the room, and something fell from one of the shelves above, landing on Fiona's head. She stumbled from the blow, causing Kat to catch her as what ever it was that hit her skidded over to where Sabriel lay.

Sabriel looked down at what was right next to her, a book that looked like it had not been touched in ages. Sabriel saw some light shine on it as she realized what it was, "Good Night Wolf...." She said loud enough for Kat to hear. She remembered that name, it was a story that her mother read to her every time she was ever upset when she was younger, something she never found after her mother left. She walked towards her as her sister looked at her confusion, wondering what it was she was looking at.

Kat caught herself, freezing in place only a few meters from where Sabriel lay. She took another look at the book, recognising it as hers even through the years worth of dust and damage, before glairing back at her mother. "This is another stupid trick, isn't it?" She half laughed, thinking she had nearly fallen for it. "I'm not falling for it mom, so give up the act."

Fiona passed the book to Kat, who simply scoffed at it, looking back at Sabriel, "Open it and you'll know the truth" She said as she coughed a bit more.

"Like hell!" Kat screamed, swatting the book away. "It's just another trick isn't it? get us caught up in some curse like you had on June." She took another step forwards, standing only Feet from Sabriel now. "You lost the fight, so now you're desperate!" She took a moment to calm herself as the room shook again. "Just give up. You're under arrest mom."

Sabriel chucked as she looked at Kat, "It's funny, after all the time I spent here, it took me dying to finally realize that all I did, was for nothing" She said looking at Kat as there were tears in her eyes, "Whether you believe me or not, I've regretted everything that I did to you and Fiona, and my punishment will be that of a rightly deserved death..." She said looking back up as her body slowly started to feel colder and colder until she closed her eyes, dying on that very spot.