Newfear

Barbara's lips parted slowly, as if trying to comprehend the nightmare before her. Her eyes blinked involuntarily, as if resisting the reality of what she was seeing.

Then… she whispered, her voice fragile, like someone trying to wake from a heavy dream.

Barbara: "What are you doing…?"

But Aqua didn't look up at her. He kept staring at the ground, where the blood of the fallen mixed with the shadows of the palace where there was no road left to turn back.

Then, in a voice devoid of emotion... one that was not a request, but an inevitable fate... he whispered.

Aqua: "Step aside... Barbara."

There was no threat in his voice, no anger, only certainty. Certainty that the person standing before him now... no longer had a place in his path.

Barbara did not move.

She remained there, frozen between what she had to do and what she could not. Her hand was still near the hilt of her sword, yet she did not draw it. She was not just a guard, not merely an obstacle in his way... she was something else. Something that blood could not wash away, something that sorrow could not erase.

But Aqua no longer looked at her as he once did. He saw her now as a truth that had to be erased, as an obstacle that had to be removed. His emotions did not matter here; there was no place for weakness.

Aqua: "Step aside, Barbara."

He repeated, his voice colder, as if the words themselves landed on her chest like falling stones. But this time, when she answered, her voice was not a whisper... it was trembling, laced with a fear she had not expected, with a disappointment she never thought she would feel.

Barbara: "Why...?"

It was a simple question… so simple it did not deserve an answer, and yet, at the same time, it was too heavy to be left without one. Why? Why was he here, drenched in blood, on his way to the king?

But did she truly want to know the answer? Or was she searching for something else... for remnants of the person she had known, for proof... no matter how small... that he had not completely become what she feared.

It was not just "why"... it was a silent plea, a desperate attempt to hold onto a truth that was slipping through her fingers.

But Aqua did not answer. At last, he raised his head, and his eyes were… empty. No, not entirely empty... there was something harsher than emptiness in them. There was awareness. Awareness that he no longer belonged to this world as he once had.

He took a step forward. Barbara did not move.

Barbara: "You killed them... didn't you?"

She whispered the words, but her voice did not shake with fear... it was heavy with a truth she did not want to face. Her eyes were fixed on the blood dripping from his clothes, watching as if searching for an explanation, for a justification… for a lie she could believe.

Barbara: "Tell me you didn't."

But silence was harsher than any confession. It was raw, stripped of excuses, leaving no room for doubt or deception.

Her hand was on the hilt of her sword, yet she did not draw it. Not yet. This was not a battle between killer and victim, nor between warrior and warrior... it was something deeper, older, and far more painful. It was a battle between two people who had once stood side by side, who had once seen the world through the same eyes, only to walk separate paths they were never meant to take.

And now... they met again, not as allies, but as living proof that the past was dead, and that what remained... was nothing but a shadow haunting them both.

Aqua did not step back, did not hesitate, as though he was crossing an invisible line between a past that could never return and a future from which there was no turning back.

Barbara felt something break inside her. Perhaps it was hope, perhaps it was the person she had known, perhaps it was the trust she had never realized she had in him.

She took a trembling breath, then, at last, whispered in a voice so fragile she barely managed to speak.

Barbara: "So... will you kill me too?"

The silence between them was like a sword hanging in the air, yet it had not fallen.

Aqua lifted his gaze toward her, as if seeing her for the first time... or perhaps, for the last. His eyes were a stormy sea, yet the surface remained calm, concealing something unfathomable beneath. It was not anger, nor coldness, nor even regret. It was something more savage... and more human at the same time.

Barbara felt her heart tighten, as if the air around her had become heavier, crueler. It was not fear that froze her, but realization... the realization that she no longer knew who stood before her. Or worse… that she knew him too well, yet could no longer deny it.

The silence between them was not merely the absence of words; it was a hidden battlefield, a war between what should have been and what had become. She watched as he clenched his sword, not in preparation for an attack, but as if drawing balance from it... balance he could not find within himself. His eyes carried a suppressed pain, a struggle between the mission he had come for… and something deeper, something he could not even admit to himself.

And finally, in a low voice, barely breaking the silence, he said:

Aqua: "Don't make me do this."

It was not a threat, nor a plea. It was a brutal, barren truth, like a sword hovering above them both, ready to fall.

But Barbara did not step back, nor did she rage. Instead… she smiled, that sorrowful, fragile smile, carrying a disappointment far greater than anger. The smile of someone who had realized that every road had led them here, and that there was no escape… from the end.

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her lips quivered, and she bit down on them in a desperate attempt to hold back the storm raging inside her. But her gaze did not leave him… searching for something, anything, that could explain what he had become.

Then…

Aqua: "He killed my father…"

Aqua spoke, his voice low, quiet, yet carrying within it all the fury, all the sorrow, all the devastation he had never allowed himself to acknowledge before. It was not merely a statement… it was a sentence, a truth carved into his soul, the chains that bound him, that forced him forward on this path.

Her eyes widened, as if the world had stopped around her.

She stood there, silent, stunned, as the air around her seemed to lose all weight. Her gaze remained locked onto his, not with calm reassurance, but with the eerie stillness of an impending storm.

Then… her body trembled. It was not just a shiver but a tremor shaking her to the core, as if the truth she had heard was unraveling her from the inside out. She tried to breathe, but the air was thick, suffocating… heavy with fear and betrayal.

Her fingers gripped the hilt of her sword, not to strike, but as if searching for something to hold onto amidst the whirlwind of emotions she could no longer control. Her hands trembled violently, and she shook her head desperately, whispering, her voice breaking.

Barbara: " Aqua … please don't do this… please come back… please… please don't… please…"

She repeated it as though trying to rewrite reality, as if words alone could pull him back from the abyss… but she knew. She knew the Aqua she had known was no longer there.

The tears she had fought so hard to suppress finally fell, hot and searing, staining her cheeks as her body crumbled under the weight of a truth too cruel to bear... the realization that the divide between them was no longer a mere disagreement, but an endless chasm.

Her words were a hand reaching out through the darkness, trying to grasp him before he fell entirely. But the darkness had already consumed him.

He stood there, his gaze fixed upon her, cold as a distant horizon, unreachable. There was no anger, no sorrow… only emptiness, as if whatever feelings he had once carried had withered away.

But she could not stop. She could not let him fall deeper.

She stepped toward him, though her legs barely held her, though her trembling betrayed her, though her mind screamed that he was no longer the person she had known. But she ignored it all.

Barbara: "Please, Aqua…"

Her voice was barely a whisper, woven with broken breaths, laced with tears she could no longer contain.

Barbara: "Don't do this… don't lose yourself to this path… I'll be by your side, I promise…"

Her promises were genuine, but they both knew they were no longer enough.

Aqua lowered his gaze for a moment, as if a part of him still hesitated… then, when he lifted his eyes once more, she saw the end she had feared.

Quietly, in a voice like a cold wind slipping through cracks in the walls, he spoke.

Aqua: "It's too late, Barbara."

Aqua stood before her, with only their tense breaths separating them. His deep blue eyes, like the ocean, stared into hers, which trembled between shock, fear, and desperation. There was no light in his gaze... nothing but an irreversible decision.

Barbara did not move. She did not step back. She couldn't even breathe properly.

He didn't need to say anything. The blood dripping from him told the whole story in silence.

Finally, Aqua moved... a slow step, then another. He passed her quietly…

She could hear his footsteps, their echoes reverberating through the long corridor as if he were slowly retreating from her life entirely.

She wanted to do something… anything… but her body refused to obey, as if she had turned into a fragile statue on the verge of breaking.

The corridor was long… but it felt endless.

The air was still, as if the entire palace was holding its breath, silently watching his heavy steps move forward. The blood clinging to his clothes dripped onto the marble floor, leaving a trail behind, as if the ground itself was trying to absorb what had happened.

Then, in the midst of that silence, a sharp sound rang out…

A faint metallic screech, as if the air itself had been sliced in half.

His steps halted, but not because of the sword being drawn from its sheath. It was because of the voice that carried an unspoken plea… and a pain left unacknowledged.

Barbara: "Stop."

Her voice was steady, but not strong... it carried an inaudible tremor, a weakness hiding behind a mask of resolve.

Her hand shook, but the sword remained firm in her grip, pointed at him as she turned. Her eyes now held more than pain… they held a decision as well.

Aqua stopped. He didn't turn immediately. He simply remained silent, as if giving her one last chance to back down.

But she didn't.

Slowly, Aqua turned to look at her… at her hand clutching the sword's hilt, despite her trembling fingers. At her stance, which tried to appear steady, though her body barely held itself together. At her eyes, filled with a desperate determination… but he saw deeper than that.

He saw fear.

He saw denial.

He saw the hope that hadn't yet died… but was barely breathing.

He let out a quiet sigh and looked at the sword raised before him. Then, in a voice as cold as wind passing through the cracks in a wall, he spoke.

Aqua: "That's enough, Barbara."

He saw her press her lips together as if holding onto her words, but her eyes widened for a moment, as if those words struck harder than a blade. The pain reflected in them, as if she was fighting the truth… yet she did not lower her sword.

Barbara: "Don't say that."

She whispered the words in a voice drowning in sorrow, as if trying to grasp for breaths lost in the crowd of pain. But despite everything, she raised her sword higher, as if trying to protect him… or perhaps protect herself from the fate creeping toward them. The sword in her hand felt like the last thread connecting her to the world she once knew, to the life they once shared. As if she was pulling him back from the edge of the abyss... but his feet had stepped off that edge long ago.

Aqua didn't answer. But his gaze spoke louder than words. It was the gaze of someone who saw nothing but the end he had chosen, someone who had let go of everything else for it. Then, without another word, he turned away and stepped forward.

In that moment, Barbara whispered, as if the words were the last thing she could say before she broke.

Barbara: "So… am I going to lose you too?"

Aqua froze for a moment, as if those words had struck something deep within him... something he thought had left his heart long ago. He turned back to her and spoke in a quiet voice, carrying a suffering that seemed to rise from within him.

Aqua: "You lost me a long time ago, Barbara…"

But before he could finish his sentence, something caught his eye... a sudden movement in the corner of his vision.

A man, hiding behind the farthest pillar, bow drawn. The arrow, aimed precisely at its target, glimmered in the dim light, racing against time itself.

Aqua's heart plummeted. A suffocating tightness filled his chest. No time. No chance. Nowhere to hide.

His hand shot out instinctively as he shouted.

Aqua: "Barbara! Watch out!!"

But his voice was swallowed by the cold air, lost in time. It was too late.

The arrow was released.

The harsh sound of its flight was as silent as death itself, as if the world had frozen in place.

Time slowed. Slowed to a crawl, as if the entire universe had halted to witness this moment of devastation.

The arrow pierced Barbara's neck like a shadow passing through the air.

And then, blood burst into the air, splattering onto Aqua in a crimson spray.

The blood shimmered as it scattered, slow and surreal... a harrowing scene filling the space, spilling the life that had once flowed through her veins in mere seconds. It was like a tragic wind, spreading through the air, drowning everything in chaos.

Aqua stood frozen, like a lost specter, his eyes locked in vacant horror.

The blood continued to splatter onto him, but even that seemed slow, each drop landing on his face, his hands, his heart... as if every drop was the beginning of his own collapse. His heartbeat pounded in vain, out of rhythm, out of sense.

As Barbara fell, everything stopped.

It was as if time itself had paused in this decisive moment.

Her body crumpled, her head falling to the side, as if life had chosen to abandon her, weary from all the struggle, leaving silence in its place.

Blood seeped from her neck, flowing down her body, carrying with it memories that were now vanishing into the void.

Her eyes... those eyes that once held laughter and hope... were now closed, seeing nothing but the abyss swallowing everything.

Aqua couldn't comprehend it.

Her blood covered his hands, his face, his soul.

He looked at her, his eyes widening in horror, as if she had never belonged to this world... as if she were only a dream lost in the corners of time.

He ran to her, his legs barely carrying him, as if every step toward her was heavier than the last. He reached her and caught her fragile body, his trembling hands trying to pull her back to life.

Aqua: "Barbara!, no! Don't go! Don't leave me!!... please don't, Barbara!!"

Barbara gasped for breath, her face pale, her eyes filled with terror and disbelief.

Blood seeped slowly from her neck, pooling around her, an eternal message of sorrow in the final moments of her life.

Her lips trembled, barely able to move.

Her hand, weak and shaking, clutched Aqua's shoulder in a desperate attempt to hold on, while her heart screamed in fear.

She raised her dimming eyes to him, her vision fading into shadows.

And in a voice quivering with exhaustion, she whispered.

Barbara: "I… I'm scared…"

The words came out with difficulty, as if pulling something heavy and painful from the depths of her soul.

She didn't want to leave.

She didn't want to leave him alone in this world.

With every word, more blood spilled, covering her sight, stealing away the last glimpses of life before they disappeared.

Aqua, voice shaking: "Barbara… I'm… sorry… I'm so sorry…"

His words bled as his heart bled.

Tears dripped onto her face, mixing with the crimson staining her pale cheeks.

And in the final moment, a faint, fragile smile formed on her lips... weak, but real.

Barbara, in a whisper: "Y-You're here… That's enough."

Her smile was like a ray of light in the darkness, carrying hope even in the face of death.

She struggled to take another breath, her voice nearly lost in the encroaching silence.

And then, in a final whisper, she uttered the words that would haunt him forever.

Barbara: "I love you…"

And in that moment, Aqua felt the ground collapse beneath him.

He had lost more than just a life.

He had lost a part of himself.

And at that moment, Aqua felt as if the ground beneath him had collapsed, as if he had lost more than just a life. He felt that a part of himself, a fragment of his soul, had been torn away. Her voice had faded into silence, her eyes had closed forever. Her cold body lay in his arms, and time was slipping away, while he remained powerless to stop this eternal farewell.

The weight of her body pressed against his heart more than anything else, and the moment of her death was, for him, the moment of his own destruction. Aqua no longer knew who he was or where he was supposed to go, but he knew that, in this moment, he had lost everything.

He was witnessing Barbara's fall before him, hearing the silent explosion of his own heart. Her blood stained him, marking him with her presence, as if branding him as a part of this tragedy.

His body was paralyzed. Frozen in place, as though he could not escape from this nightmare that was unfolding into a terrifying reality. Barbara lay before him, life slipping away from her, while he remained powerless to do anything. His eyes fixated on her—the girl who had always been the force that kept his world in motion. Barbara, now, was nothing but blood on his hands—a fragment of the life he had tried to save from chaos, yet he himself was now drowning in it.

He looked at Barbara, pleading for something... anything that could stop the destruction tearing through him. But there was nothing. Only emptiness. Only a memory crumbling into ashes within his heart, trapping him between the moment he lost everything and the one in which he realized the truth was inescapable.

He was imprisoned within the ruins that time had created.

In the midst of the dreadful silence that hung over the place, as Aqua staggered between his tears and his shattered memories, the sound of heavy footsteps broke through the stillness. Slow, deliberate steps, each one resonating with the fear that was beginning to coil around Aqua's heart.

Then, from the darkness, Nithor Rakalion emerged. His features were pale, his eyes cold and indifferent to what was happening before him, as if Barbara's death was nothing more than a side act in his evening's entertainment.

With chilling composure, he tossed his bow aside, the sound it made echoing like a mockery of the scene before him. His gaze shifted toward Aqua, his expression unreadable.

Nithor: "Oh... how touching."

He spoke with a cold, cruel smile.

Nithor: "Anyway… this is good. Now we can take our time."

Aqua trembled, his eyes refusing to leave Barbara's lifeless form on the ground. Her blood stained his hands, seeped into his heart as if carving wounds that would never heal. Slowly, he lifted his head, his gaze drowning in shock and pain.

Aqua slowly lifted his head, as if the weight of the moment had paralyzed his movements. His breaths were heavy, as if the very air itself had betrayed him, and his heart beat with an endless pain.

Everything around him was still, as though time had stopped to acknowledge his tragedy, or perhaps to mock him, as if loss itself were laughing at his weakness.

And when his eyes finally rose, the truth was before him...

Nithor Rakalion.

He stood there, in the shadows of nothingness, unmoving, silently watching him. His cold, harsh eyes reflected no remorse or pity, but something deeper... something like inevitability, as if everything had been preordained, as if the entire world conspired against him in this moment.

In the void left by the tragedy, Aqua felt everything collapse within him, but in that collapse, he found himself for the first time.

His soul stood before a battle not of his body, but of his soul.