~~
Trinity
~~
I gripped the bloody, dripping head in my left hand. The face that was frozen on it was filled with awe and fear. Even in the end, he couldn't accept what was happening to him. He never did accept that I was better than him.
But, it wasn't worth my time to think about it too much. What I needed to do now was get home. I had to get out of this shadow land filled with gray, gray and more gray. The only relief in the color I saw was the bloody mess that was Edmond. Looking at that gooey puddle that used to be a person made my stomach roil again. I had seen way too many disgusting sights today and my stomach just couldn't handle it.
"I need to get home." I said to myself out loud. Once those words were spoken, once the eerie quiet of the clearing was broken, it was like the illusion of this place was destroyed. The air around me became blurry, like I was trying to look at something through a thick hazy fog.
I didn't move, didn't take a step, but I once again felt like I was moving somewhere. Air rushed past my face and I could feel the dropping of my stomach that meant I was travelling at a high rate of speed. This feeling was disorienting and disconcerting, but also a little exciting. It reminded me of how I felt when I travelled on a vortex of wind.
Once the wind began to die down and the sensation of moving was ebbing away I could finally see color returning around me. I had kept my eyes open this time. I had seen everything that had happened, which didn't amount to much. The scene around me never changed but I felt like I was moving. All that happened was the color began to slowly return to the images that I saw. And once the color was back, the people and carnage was back as well.
"Trinity!" I heard Reece's voice as he shouted my name. It took me less than half a second to turn to face him but he had already reached me and wrapped his arms around me with a crushing force. I was enveloped in his warmth, his strength, his love. He was there to protect me once again. And his relief at seeing me was palpable. Goddess, but I had missed him in that short time that I was away from him.
"Reece." I said his name in a sigh as I buried my face against his naked chest. That was when I realized he was standing there, holding me with absolutely no clothes on. "Reece!" I exclaimed as I looked around us. "Why are you naked?"
"What? I shifted, that's why." He looked confused to hear my outburst.
"Geez Muttley, why didn't you get dressed."
"Because I don't have clothes with me." He said it so matter-of-factly that I could literally hear the 'well duh' in his tone. I just looked at him with a piercing gaze as I conjured clothes around him. They were simple, a pair of black jeans and a dark green t-shirt.
"There, now you're not naked." I smiled with relief as I felt the jealousy start to ebb away.
"What, no underwear?" He whispered into my ear as he leaned forward. I flushed crimson red as he asked me that.
"I can't believe I forgot that part." I smacked my empty hand against my forehead. "I remembered my own when I shifted back."
"Don't worry, I don't mind going commando for just a little while." He whispered and winked at me.
"Oh stop it Copper, you're nothing but a hound dog." I wanted to laugh.
"If I'm Copper, does that make you the fox?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, he was so unaffected by anything that it was kind of refreshing right now.
"Ahem." I heard someone clear their voice, breaking into our little reverie. "Sorry to interrupt, but-." Noah trailed off as he looked away sheepishly.
"Noah." I said his name with a tone filled with relief.
"I'm so glad to see you're safe Trinity." He wrapped one arm around me embarrassedly as I stepped toward him, Reece still had his hand resting on my left shoulder making the whole thing a little awkward.
"Not to bring up unpleasantries." Reece spoke as he looked down at my hand. "But what the fuck is that?" His shock was clear on his face and in his voice as he spoke.
"Oh, I almost forgot." I smiled as I held it up. "Say hello to Edmond."
"Edmond?" Reece and Noah both exhaled his name like they had been punched in the gut, confusion was written all over their faces, and just a slight amount of fear. What, were they afraid of me?
"Trinity, what happened?" Noah asked me with an awe filled voice.
"I killed him, that's all you need to know for now. We can discuss the rest later when we're back home."
"Are you alright?" Reece asked me as he began to look me over. He ran his hands up and down my arms and felt all over my back. He was clearly worried that I was hiding some kind of injury from him.
"I'm fine. He didn't hurt me at all."
"He didn't?" Noah looked perplexed.
"No, I didn't give him the chance." I smiled at him. "By the way, Noah, why are you here? Weren't you at a different battlefield?"
"When the creatures disappeared we all decided to meet up here. I was the closest so I arrived first. The others will be here soon."
"The creatures disappeared?" That was news to me.
"Yes, just a few minutes before you came back all the monsters, dead and mostly dead, all of them just seemed to turn to ashes and blew away like dust on the wind. I hoped that meant that you had won, that you had killed Edmond, and I'm so glad I was right."
"He won't bother us ever again." I smiled at Reece as I cupped his face in my hand. "He's truly gone now." I was happy to reassure him of that, I would happily reassure any of them of that fact.
"Dude, is that a head?" I heard Shane's voice as the others started to arrive. "Is that Edmond's head?" He added as he looked closer. "Can I kick a field goal with it?" The laughter in his voice was so free and fun that it was making me feel better. But I felt like I was forgetting something.
I watched as the others started to arrive. David came after Shane, his face was smeared with dirt and his clothes were splattered with blood, but he seemed to be alright. Carter came next. Thank the Goddess he looked fine, he didn't seem to be hurt at all. This was starting to look like a great ending. Everything had turned out just fine.
Then I watched as Dietrich came back next, a lost expression on his face as he looked all around the clearing. He looked lonely. He was probably looking for Shawn.
It was with that thought that it finally hit me. I finally remember what had been nagging at the back of my memory. What it was I had forgotten.
"Shawn!" I yelled his name and took off running. With just a slight second thought I turned my head and threw Edmond's head. "Here, David, catch."
"What the hell. Eww, that's fucking gross. Don't throw severed heads at people. That's just common courtesy." I heard his stream of complaints in the back of my mind but they weren't important right now.
"Trinity, where are you going?" Reece took off after me.
"Shawn is hurt." I yelled back. "I saw it before I was taken to the shadow land. I have to go and make sure he is alright." I was panicked now. How could I have forgotten about that? How could I have forgotten Shawn. He was such a good friend, he was almost more like family to me than a friend. How could I have forgotten that he had been hurt so badly.
"Did you say Shawn was hurt?" Dietrich's head snapped up as he began to follow me. "Mein Liebhaber." Dietrich's world seemed to have been destroyed in that moment.
"We have to hurry." I urged them on.
"How do you know? How do you know that he is hurt?" Dietrich seemed to be hoping for a way to prove that I was wrong.
"I saw it. I saw that he was attacked by the spider freaks before I was taken by Edmond."
"Oh Mein Gott, Oh my Goddess, please let him be ok." There was so much pain in Dietrich's voice.
"I will make certain of it, Dietrich. I refuse to lose anyone else. But we need to hurry." I didn't know why the feeling of urgency was so strong, but it was there and it was egging me on. "We've got to get to him." My voice held an edge that I couldn't quite describe. "We're coming Shawn, just hang in there."
