Tired and breathless, I scanned for a large tree to hide behind, when suddenly Sora appears from nowhere, she pushes me to the ground with force and straddled me.
Her plumb frame pinning me to the legacy ground. She looked at me with pure hatred. "You killed my cousin ". "What ?" I looked at her confused trying to comprehend her accusation.
Before I could fully understand what she meant. A heavy rock smashed my face. I was about to let out a scream, when another painful stroke hit my face, then another and another.
Blood splattered everywhere, my mouth tasting blood. " You killed Akemi.... Wear her face in hell" she continues to smash my face in blind rage.
The world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of agony and confusion. Each blow from the rock blurred the edges of Bella's vision, painting the forest floor in shades of crimson.
The metallic tang of blood filled her mouth, mixing with the dust kicked up by Sora's frantic assault.
"Die! Die! Die!" Sora screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria as she continued raining blows down on Bella's face.
Between strikes, Sora's breathing came in ragged gasps, her eyes wild with grief and rage. "My poor cousin... If only we killed you earlier! .... You will pay for what you did" she continues her smashing.
As Sora raised the rock again to smash Bella's face for the nintheened time, a sound of blade against flesh was heard. A wet gagging followed before Sora fell sideways to the ground, them silence.
Bella couldn't see her savior, as blood clouded her eyes , mouth and ears. Her savior didn't speak. I knelt in front of her and removes his scarf.
He pulled her to his chest and uses the cloth and placed it over her face to at least soak up some blood. Bella trembling hand made their way to his upper wrist , where she felt a familiar scar .
"Matthias?" She managed to utter the familiar name through a missing front teeth, the realization striking her worse than the rock.
The man paused before letting out a pained chuckle "In the flesh.... I told you , the next time we meet... I will be different. Didn't I?" He asked, not expecting an answer.
He eyes lands on a near by river . "Still scared of water" he smiled despite the bleeding at his side. Bella painfully sways her head. "Lies" he winced playfully.
Without another word, he rose and picks her securely in his arms. He strode towards the river , towards the agony in his body. A twig secretly claimed a bloodied piece of a simple clothing near the river bank.
Immediately Bella felt the cold river water , she instinctively holds his arm tighter. " No need to fear, I am here" was Matthias response .
The river was a big deep but thanks to his overly tall frame, he could walk across it. Both Bella's blood and his dripped into the water painting it red.
He almost got carried away , when he lost his footing, not he held fast as he raised Bella higher, only half her cloth getting wet.
Matthias's grip on Bella tightened as the current threatened to sweep them both downstream. His injured side throbbed from the exertion, but he ignored it, focusing entirely on keeping them both upright in the knee-deep water.
"There now, see? Not so bad," he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his voice steady for her sake. Water lapped against his thighs as he carefully navigated the rocky riverbed, one arm supporting Bella securely against his chest.
Matthias moved cautiously towards the far bank scanning the surrounding area for any sign of pursuit.
Once they reached solid ground again, he gently set Bella down near a cluster grass and sank beside her. His own breathing came in labored pants as he leaned back against the grass.
He turned to look at her ruined face, now half covered with his blood soaked scarf. "It may be difficult, but don't let them change who you are" he muttered, his breath becoming more shallow.
He chuckled one last time, even though he was aware that she couldn't see him . "Thank you for everything", he winced.
"Live for us both. Okay". With that he gave his final bow to life, before passing the veil to the other side.
"No !!!". Bella whimpered, unable to bawl. She stretched her unsteady hand to the direction, his voice came from just a moment ago.
Her weak hand felt his cold calloused hand. She interwined her fingers with his as tight as she could. Bella laid like that for a few moments, until eventually , she herself fell into the cold embrace of nothingness.