It would be too easy to join the fight and help rid the world of those who sought to destroy what the world needed and the humans understood so little of. And fight I did, only with those who got in my way. Many of the men that fell at my hands were taken off guard by my mere appearance. A vicious animal is what their eyes said to me. Not in a hateful way, but fearful. They feared me.
I searched the chaos for signs of Jiren, finding instead, Serid. His eyes met mine. An emotion too much for me to control took over. I realized, if what Marren said was right, I would kill Naloud for sure if I harmed Serid. But he didn’t deserve to live after what he did to my daughter. He killed himself along with her. A fact he would become aware of when she took her final breath.
I approached him slowly. He didn’t back down. When I was inches from his face, he still didn’t flinch. I kicked him to the ground and held my sword to his throat.
“I don’t suppose you want to hear my side of the story, do you?” Serid asked with his hands in the air.
“No excuse is going to save my daughter.” I lunged at him. He swung his leg behind me, hitting me square behind my knees. I fell to the ground. He scurried to his feet then kicked my sword from my hand.
“What do you mean save her?”
For a moment, confusion gnawed at me with the amount of questioning in his voice. He seemed lost and confused, as if he wasn’t sure of what he had done.
I climbed to my feet, determined to rip him to pieces if need be. “She barely clings to life because of you! She loved you! You were supposed to be her heart song!”
I swung at him with so much force that I continued spinning as he rolled to avoid my attack.
“Wait, that wasn’t the plan,” he said then stopped my next swing by catching my hand. “Jiren tricked us all,” he continued.
“Ha! And how can I trust you are not him?” I retorted.
He moved my hand to his chest where pounding drummed beneath his ribs. “I have a heart.”
His words were even, but the look in his eyes held terrible sadness. I realized he loved her too. If he was Naloud’s heart song, they were both going to die because of Jiren. Not him.
I pulled my hand away. “Go to her. See what you can do to bring her back.”
He didn’t hesitate in running to her. I wanted to glance behind me to make sure he made it okay, but a strange flapping filled my ears. Like a flag in a raging wind. I shifted my gaze around and then up in time to see a figure in a red cloak fall to the ground in front of me.
“You should have left well enough alone, girl,” Jiren said as he stepped toward me with a sword in hand. I eyed mine lying on the ground still. Behind him.
“It won’t be so easy to defeat me this time!” I dodged around him, rolling on the ground to pick up my sword, and then shifted to my feet as my sword clanked against his.
He spoke no retorts, choosing instead to attack me with all his strength.
Marren. I’m fighting Jiren. Now! We need to do it now!
Jiren’s hood to his cloak fell back, revealing his ethereal form.
“I’m glad you decided to face me yourself. Makes defeating you all the sweeter!” I said and attacked harder.
He swung his sword hard enough to disarm me then held the point of his blade to my throat, nicking the skin with a piercing kiss. A smile formed on Jiren’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he spat his words Marren showed up, knocking him to the ground. Marren took Jiren’s sword and threw it across the courtyard.
Lernn appeared behind Jiren. “Do it now, Relena!”
I quickly ran up to Jiren and shoved my hand deep into his chest. A shocking pain surged up my arm. I shoved harder until I went through Jiren and into Lernn’s chest, grabbing ahold of his heart. I pulled it back through, leaving it inside Jiren.
“I bind you to this heart, Jiren,” I said as his eyes grew wide with alarm and changed into, not the green he had in the human form I met him in, but the soft jade green of Lernn’s. Slowly, Jiren’s form faltered and flickered as he became absorbed by the heart. A sizzling sound came from his body as it dissipated. Soon, all that remained was a slowly dying heart and a pile of robes and cloak once belonging to Jiren.
Lernn’s body laid on the ground with a peacefulness in his eyes I’d never known anyone to have in death. I bent down and lowered his lids. “Goodbye, dear friend.”
I started to cry. I thought revenge would feel good. Instead, I was filled with emptiness and loneliness. Marren picked the heart up from the ground, using a cloth to wrap it in. His eyes met mine and held them for a moment. No words were exchanged, just a long silence that fell upon the world that night.
“Mom?”
My head snapped to the side. Naloud stood behind me, staring at me sitting on my knees. Beside her stood Serid, holding her hand.
“Naloud,” my voice cracked as more tears stung my eyes, and my throat swelled. I removed myself from the ground and took my daughter into my arms.
“Mom, you have to let me go. I can’t breathe!”
I pulled away and examined her. Not a mark was on her. I turned to Serid, “How did you—”