What Lies Beyond: Chapter 48



“No...” she remarked, unable to believe her eyes. “It was here. It was definitely here.”
Could she have taken one more turn without remembering it? She tried to force herself to recall all the sights she had seen already, but they all blended together. “I must have come from one of these directions”, she thought. With no other option, she just chose one and kept walking. She walked for quite a time, and the sun was getting lower in the sky now, but still there was no sign of the shooting water and she definitely didn't recognize some of the plants she was seeing now.
“I must have chosen the wrong one”, she thought, turning around. Her feet were really sore now, but she told herself that it would all be okay if she could just get back to that square where the paths met. She found her way back to the place where the tall leafy plants had been and kept going. The sky was growing dark, so she tried to hurry as best she could. She wasn't even paying any attention to her surroundings anymore, they no longer mattered. She just had to get to the end of this path...
She finally came to the end, and still there was no sign of the giant water spout. The path just split in two again, and she was sure she hadn't been here before. She fell to her knees in the dirt, her eyes full of tears.
“It's all over”, she sobbed, hopelessly. “I'm going to be stuck here forever. I'll never see anyone again. Why? Why does this have to happen to me?”

As she sat there in the dirt, she recalled the final words Corsair had spoken to her:
“We tried everything, and there's so much that's still beyond us. As things are now, we'll never find Lapse. Even the captain of the Black Ship doesn't know how to find her. It's just a matter of time before the rest of us get lost too...”
“I'm sorry, Corsair”, she sobbed, quietly, “you just wanted to help me, but it's too late. There's nothing anyone can do.” She wanted to cry out for him, but someone might hear her.
“What a fool I've been!” she suddenly realized. What difference did it make if the strangers found out about her and she was thrown in the water, anything was better than being trapped here. “Lapse!” she cried out, as loud as she could. “Pack! Corsair! Anybody! Please help me! I'm lost!”
She shouted until her voice was hoarse, but there was no response, and it was just getting darker.
Somehow, she forced herself to her feet. “I just have to find someone. Anyone. As long as the sun is still up, the stranger must still be here!”
She chose one of the paths and dragged herself along it, periodically calling for help, though she was losing her voice and the volume was less and less each time. She was exhausted, but she had to keep going, the sun was almost down now.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of running water. “It's here!” She gasped, hoarsely, “I made it!” It was quite dark now, so she couldn't see very far ahead of herself, but she followed the sound. She was almost there.

Then she took the next step and her foot slipped out from under her. She instinctively reached down to stop her fall, but there was nothing there, as though the ground had disappeared beneath her feet. She toppled forward over the edge and suddenly she was falling, flailing helplessly as she plunged through the darkness. Her arm struck something hard and twisted in a direction it wasn't meant to go, and the entire left side of her body exploded in pain. She screamed, but with her throat being so sore barely anything came out, and a moment later her mouth filled with water as she plunged into it with a giant splash. Panic swept over her as she tried to determine which way was up and push herself towards it, but her left arm wouldn't work, and her tired legs had no strength left to kick. She was sinking. She frantically pulled herself towards the surface as best she could with her right arm, but it wasn't enough, she was still going down. The light above slipped farther and farther away as she sank into the cold, dark depths of the sea.
“This is it”, she thought, resigned to her fate. “This is the end.” She reached up towards the surface one last time in vain. “Corsair...”
She closed her eyes, and in her mind she was back on her ship with her friends. They were all laughing together, just as it was supposed to be. Corsair was there, and she buried her face in his chest as he wrapped his paws around her. Slowly their voices faded away, leaving only the sounds of the waves softly crashing against her ship, and then silence.

---

“Is this it, then? Is this how it ends?”
He raised his head. It was very nearly dark
“I thought you understood”, said a deep voice. “I thought you knew what your priorities were. Perhaps I was wrong.”
Pack turned around and was shocked at what he saw. “You! How did-”
“Does it matter?” the dark-skinned man asked, cutting him off.
“No. No, it doesn't”, he said, sadly. “I've lost her again.”
“We're still here”, the captain of the Black Ship replied. “There's still time.”
“She hates me. I could hear it in her voice. She was so hurt and upset. She'll never come back.”
The dark-skinned man motioned towards the sky. “When the sun sets, those who remain will be trapped here, never to return.”
“Maybe that's for the best. Just leave me, I'm done.”
“And what about her? Would you leave her to suffer this fate again? Do you think she deserves it?”
“Lapse...” He thought of her hiding, curled up in a ball, as the darkness enveloped her for the last time.
“It's your choice”, he said, starting to walk away, “but choose wisely. The wrong choice will haunt you for the rest of your days.”
Pack rose to his feet. “Will you help me find her?”

---

“...Then if there are no objections, I will now pronounce you man and-”
“I object!” said a strong, confident voice.
Lapse immediately swivelled around to see who it was. It was a blonde-haired woman in a red dress whom she didn't recognize. “I know these two, and their hearts belong to other people”, she proclaimed confidently, pressing one curled hand against her face. The entire crowd fell silent, and she walked over to Lapse and sat down beside her. “You know this isn't right”, she told her.
For a moment, the entire situation felt strangely familiar, though it passed quickly. “Maybe it is”, she replied. “Perhaps all I can do is watch others be happy.”
“Does someone love you?” the woman asked.
“...no”, Lapse's voice trembled weakly.
“Is that really what your heart tells you?”
She closed her eyes and thought back over her most precious memories. She remembered dancing for him as he watched her every move, enchanted by her. She remembered when he had agreed to come with her in the morning, and when they had seen the sunset together. And most of all, she remembered the intimacy they shared, the passion of their lovemaking, and the look in his eyes afterwards. “I love you”, he said, holding her body tightly against his own and tenderly caressing her. “I love you too”. She could still feel his heartbeat next to hers. It couldn't have been a lie, not like that. There was definitely something real between them, but still she felt afraid.
“Why can't I accept it?”, she asked, still frightened. “I know he loves me, why do I still doubt him so readily?”
The woman put her hand on Lapse's shoulder. “It's because you're listening to your head. Your head doesn't know love. It knows fear, pain, loneliness, pride, and stubbornness, but not love. Sometimes you just have to ignore your head and listen to what your heart tells you. When it tells you that you love someone and they love you back, that's all that matters.”
With some trepidation, she managed to stand up and face them.
“I love you, Pack”, she said. “And I know you love me. I'm sorry. I won't doubt it any more. Let's all just go home.”
As she finished those words, Pack, Sister, and the crowd all faded away, leaving only a dark, empty pavilion covered in flower petals.
“What? What happened?”
“Not everything is as it seems in a place like this. Come on, we've got to find the others.”
“I feel that we've... met before.” Lapse said as they hurried out of the empty pavilion.
“Perhaps we have. I feel like we have quite a bit in common, but if we ever want to meet again, we've got to get going now, the sun is already beginning to go down.”

---

“Where are you going?”, a woman asked, trying her best to keep up.
“I thought I heard something!” the stranger said, briefly pausing to peer over the railing. “There's someone down there!”
“Hey, what are you, crazy?!” She reached out to stop him, but he had already hopped over the railing and was sliding down the side of the ravine. All she could do was watch in dismay as he dove from the bank into the water.
It was terribly cold, and it was almost pitch black under the water's surface. The water stung his eyes and blurred his vision as he searched frantically for the person he had spotted, but it was no use, he could barely see his own hands in front of his face. Not knowing what else to do, he tried to close his eyes and stay motionless to see if he could hear them instead.
At first, all he could hear was the dull rumble of the flowing water above. He shut his eyes harder and tried to block out all other sights and sounds. As he did so, a strange vision passed through his mind, full of smiling people who he felt he hadn't seen in a very long time. “I'm beginning to lose consciousness”, he realized, “I have to go up for air”.
But then he heard a small voice. “Corsair...”, it said. He reached out towards it, and his hand clasped an outstretched arm. “Don't worry”, he thought, “I've got you, everything's going to be all right.”
Unfortunately, they had sunk quite far down now, the light above them had all but faded away. “I've just got to get to the surface”, the stranger told himself, as he put all of his remaining strength into pulling himself and the girl upwards, back towards the world of the living.

---

“Hurry up!” the dark-skinned man yelled to Pack, “it's all starting to fade away!”
Pack turned around. Indeed, the end of the path they had just taken had already faded to blackness and disappeared from view, and it was slowly creeping up towards them.
“But what if she's back there?” he asked, scouring the surroundings frantically as they disappeared from view.
“It won't do her any good for you to get stuck out here”, the captain of the Black Ship insisted, “you've just got to trust in her and keep moving!”
Pack hurried after him as best he could, he wasn't used to all this running. They reached a split in the path in the darkness and the other man rounded it immediately. “This way!” he shouted, as the darkness closed in from the other sides. Pack just barely managed to keep up with him, the encroaching darkness nipping at his heels.
“At least we know we're going the right way!” he huffed, but his companion did not bother to respond.

---

“No!” Lapse cried sadly. “It's all disappearing!” She plucked a flower and held it to her face, but it faded away right before her eyes. “Come back!” she pleaded.
“We've got to go”, the other woman said, putting her hand on her shoulder, “there's no more time”.
“But it wasn't supposed to be like this!” she protested, almost in tears. “I never got to show this place to him, and who knows if I'll ever be able to come here again!”
“The most important thing is that you get back safely”, she said, kindly. “As long as you're together, you can make new memories, right?”
She nodded and wiped her eyes. “Let's go. We have to find everyone and get back home again.”
This time it was Lay who struggled to keep up. As they hurried down the path, they passed by a giant square with a pool of still water in the middle, but neither of them paid much attention to it.

---

Once again a strange blurry vision appeared before his eyes. He saw someone leaning over him, a saddened look on her furry face. He reached out towards her and touched her face with his paw...
A hand grasped his own, tightly, snapping him back to reality. “What were you thinking?”, she snapped, and for a moment he was sure she was going to hit him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack, jumping off like that! You're not young any more, you have to stop throwing yourself into things head first all the time!”
“I'm sorry, darling”, he said, finding his voice a bit weak, “but I couldn't just stand by and let her drown. At least I've always got you to watch my back, right?”
She let go of his hand and a tear streamed down her cheek. She closed her green eyes as he caressed the side of her face. “How is she?”
“See for yourself”, she said. “I did all I could, but she's not in good shape.”
“That's assuming I can get up.” He said, struggling to rise to a sitting position.
“You can”, she said, rolling her eyes. “I've known you for too long to think something like this would slow you down.”
With some difficulty, the stranger picked himself up and turned to face the girl. She was a tiny thing, with long black hair that had been dirtied by her fall. Her arm was broken and bleeding, even though his love had tried to wrap it with a makeshift sling it would need more attention. Her eyes were still closed and her skin was terribly pale from her ordeal. He gently picked her head up in his arms. She did seem to be breathing faintly, at least.
Suddenly, a man's voice called to him from far away. “Is everything all right?”
“Thank goodness”, said a second man, “someone else is still here!”
“No, this girl needs help!”, he called back. They hurried over.
“Oh no”, said a portly man with short hair as he leaned in towards her, “this is terrible!”
“I hear them!”, a woman called out, from somewhere else. Two more people rushed over to join them.
“Sister...”, said one of the women, who also had long black hair, “I'm so sorry...”
“Your friends have come for you”, he said to the girl, shaking her very gently. “Please wake up.”
Slowly she raised her eyelids a little, barely revealing the kind blue eyes underneath.
“Corsair...” she said weakly, looking up at him. “I'm so glad... I always knew you'd come for me...”
He almost dropped her as he heard her words and realized that he was looking not at the face of a human, but rather a spotted tortoiseshell cat. “How...?” he muttered in disbelief, as he ran his fingers over her damaged paw.
“Oh great, now you've done it”, said one of the others, and he turned to see a scrawny black cat with his paw on his forehead. They were all cats. There was a grey one, a white one, and a brown one as well.
“Look, Corsair”, said the spotted cat. “We're all together, now. The fighting is over. Please come back to us.”
“Come back?” he said, bewildered. The darkness had closed in all around them, so only a small clearing and the lake was left.
“I know it's been a long time”, the cat said, “but please, you must remember us.” A giant, wooden ship with white sails came into view over the lake, even though there was no way it could have sailed there. “Let's go home, Corsair.”
“I don't know what you mean”, the stranger said. “My home is not on any ship.” The darkness was right around them now, and everything was starting to get hazy.

Sister looked into his eyes. They were dark, the eyes of a stranger, not the bright, enthusiastic eyes of the friend she had known. She thought back to the last time she had seen his eyes, just before he had left, but they hadn't been right then, either. The last time she had seen that sparkle in his eyes was after they found Steven. He had been so excited to learn about the strangers, and the world beyond their own. In that moment, it finally became clear to her, after so long.
“On board that ship,” she told him, “lies the greatest adventure anyone could ever have. There's a whole different world out there, unlike anything you've ever known. Don't you want to see it?”
“Another world?” he wondered aloud, casting his gaze over to the ship. For just a moment, she caught a glimpse of a pair of inquisitive brown eyes.
“There's not much time left for me”, she said, “the darkness is closing in, and the ship will leave soon, leaving me behind. I can't make it back on my own...”
He paused a moment, then slowly raised to his feet, carrying the girl in his arms. “Where are you going?” his love asked, concerned.
“To see this other world”, he said, turning back towards her. “Somehow, I feel like it's calling to me. Will you stay by my side?”
“Always”, she said, falling in beside him and helping him carry the girl.
The others hurried on ahead, and someone threw down a rope ladder from the deck of the ship.
“Boss! You made it!”, he said, as the others began to climb up the ladder.
As the two of them reached the ship, his love turned to face him. “Thanks for everything”, he said to her, and she leaned in and kissed him. He nodded to her, and she climbed up the ladder as well, so only he and the girl in his arms were left.
He turned and took one last look back at the now empty space where the garden had been.
“One story ends...”, he said, to no one in particular, as he lifted the girl over his shoulder and put his paw on the ladder.


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