Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Eliza’s POV*

Andy woke me up screaming like a banshee! I sat up, instinctively looking for an enemy, only to see nothing. Andy was wailing in the most heart-wrenching way, and it intensified, getting louder. He curled in on himself, shaking.

Just as I summoned enough awareness to realize that there was no external threat, that Andy was having a nightmare, and reached for his shoulder, Andy woke himself up with the force of his cries. He sat up next to me and started sobbing deeply and powerfully. I took him in my arms and held him tightly, saying nothing. He clung to me, his wings drooping.

I don't really know how long Andy wept, or how long he held on to me, so tightly that afterwards I thought it was probably a good thing I processed discomfort so differently from most Fae. Eventually, I felt his fingers moving slowly through my hair, his other hand loosening just enough to caress my back. Minutes later, Andy turned his face so he could kiss the side of my neck, then rested his head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." I just shook my head and kept stroking his back gently. He had nothing to be sorry about. I could think of a few things he could be having bad dreams about.

Andy sighed. "I didn't... The nightmares had tapered off recently; I didn't think they would be an issue. We can sleep separately in the future-"

"-Andy?" He grunted, sounding worried. "You don't have to… But, often, recurrent nightmares about something are related to that thing bothering you. If you think it would help to talk about anything, ever, I am always here."

Andy's whole body trembled against me, and he held me a little tighter. "You may not always be here, Eliza. All I know is now, that you're here right now. I have to try and remember the good times we've had forever, because any second, you could be gone, taken from me, and all I will have are memories.” Andy shuddered against me as a little sob escaped. “I'll never get to make any new memories, Eliza! Just-" Andy was starting to sound panicked.

"-Shh, Andy, you're right, all you can ever know is the present. But that doesn't mean you should throw away the possibilities the future holds just because of fear. You can’t let fear have that kind of power over you. You’re strong, Andy, and you can fight it. I love you and I'm here, okay? Shhhh..." I rubbed Andy's back and I felt him start to cry again, silently, into my shoulder.

I figured Andy had probably been dreaming of Juliet. Though I could be wrong, he had also lost his father very tragically. I wasn’t sure about his mother. He had isolated himself so effectively, at this point, he had ensured he had almost no one. I would have to drag Andy out of his dark hole, whether he liked it or not. People cared for him. It wasn’t just me or those harlots after his tight, little ass. He would learn that soon enough.

After a time, Andy eventually calmed; holding me wordlessly. I felt him press a tiny kiss against my neck. “I love you, Eliza.” I felt his face contracting against my shoulder and wondered what he was ruminating on to cause so much facial contortion. Andy eventually sat up and wiggled around to sitting across from me. He scowled, looking almost apologetic. "I have dreams. About the raid three years ago."

Andy proceeded to tell me the story of how the trolls had famously almost made off with the Soul of the Forest in a raid of unprecedented size and organization, the likes of which no Forest Fae alive had ever seen. Apparently, he had vivid nightmares recalling his part of that Night, including Juliet's tragic and apparently exceptionally gristly death. It was heartbreaking. Andy always woke up when she died, but he went on to tell me what happened afterwards.

Andrew, unthinking, had apparently screamed bloody murder in grief, and dumped the Soul of the Forest into Juliet's pooled blood, in clear view of allies and enemies alike. Of course, presumably, the trolls had all been aware of the ruse with the lone, abnormal troll, with its great strength and incantations. When Juliet had slain him, they had enacted a back-up plan.

That was how I discovered the first of several deeds that made Andy a hero among the Wild Ones. Andy, on a broken leg, saw a squadron of trolls coming for the Soul. In his anguish, he apparently went absolutely insane, thinking they were coming to violate Juliet’s body. As a fortunate afterthought, he had also picked up the Soul and put it in his vest pocket before going into some sort of blood haze.

Andy, apparently, didn't remember any of fighting the trolls. He remembered coming-to in the Healers Tent, and telling David he would kill him if he didn't release him so he could mourn Juliet properly until she was buried. After getting out of four sets of manacles, (twice by breaking fingers, and once by strangling Tom to unconsciousness), Alice had told David to let Andy go if he agreed to come back after Juliet was in the ground. Patti had made him give his word.

CC and Ronnie had found out foolish Village women were trying to gain favor with Andy, and consequently at risk of being hurt or killed. They took turns trying to keep them away for a while so that there wouldn't be any further loss of life.

Andy didn’t describe burying Juliet, but he told me that he had kept his word to the Healers, though that had been the last time he had been to their tent for himself until his concussion. Ultimately, Andy's leg had been such a wreck, to save it, Alice had needed to do blood magic. An overall unattractive prospect, but Andy had abused his limb terribly; it was verging on gangrene. Apparently CC, Ronnie, Ashley (Purdy, who was not an Officer at that time, just a Dusk Watchman), Nikki (Sixx, then First Officer of the Dusk Watch, who had taken a shine to Andy) and a dozen-odd others, all volunteered to have blood let, but even that had proven insufficient.

So Alice, Dani, Ash (Costello, the Conjurer, then a very new initiate), and Andy walked out past the walls to find dying trolls that remained on the battlefield. What happened was not a mercy killing or euthanasia by any means. Dani and Ash would hack their left leg off at the correct site as Andy held them down. If they survived long enough, Alice would tear their soul out through the bleeding stump. It had taken 38 troll souls to knit Andy’s bones, muscle, nerves, tendon, and ligaments back together. Alice and Dani had whipped up an infused compress to help Andy’s skin heal, and forced him to keep it on for several hours. Apparently a side-effect of blood magic was mild flatulence for two to three days, not something I really would have anticipated.

Much later, Andy had learned that, during the period he didn’t remember, he had held back and ultimately single-handedly killed 12 troll Juggernauts, their equivalent of elite soldiers. All while defending the Soul, according to others. Andy, of course, had only really cared for Juliet. CC told him he suspects Andy self-induced a rage something akin to what the Berserkers do, but more extreme, as Berserkers don’t experience memory loss.

Andy had heard all of this second-hand, but apparently, Siouxsie (the First Officer of the Dawn Watch), Big Pete, Fronz (a Dawn Watchman), and William (a Berserker and the tattoo artist whose shop we had seen) had been four of the first to Andy's aid. As ranking officer, Siouxsie had ordered Andy to transfer the Soul to her and that Andy allow Pete to take him to a Healer. Naturally, Andy had tried to kill Pete for trying to separate him from Juliet's body, and started ranting about love and vows.

Apparently, Pete had taken no offense, but wasted no time knocking Andy unconscious. Siouxsie had taken the Soul back to the Shrine, a more defensible location. Enemy forces had begun to withdraw around that point, revealing their primary strategy to have been blitzkrieg distractions with tactical extraction. Pete had made an effort to respect Andy’s wishes by carrying both Andy and Juliet’s messy corpse, together, through the fray, like a sack of copiously bleeding potatoes.

It warmed my heart to think of the massive hybrid, willing to carry Juliet’s body, as well as an unconscious Andy, through a war-zone, so that they wouldn’t be separated, even in death. “Did you ever thank Pete?”

Andy shook his head. “For weeks I was mad at him, that he had knocked me out and taken me away from battle. I felt like I had promised Juliet I would protect the Soul, yet I had failed right away-“

I scoffed “-No you didn’t! The battle was over; your leg was broken! Surely-“

“-I see that now. I wasn’t rational then.” I snorted. Andy itched at the base of his right antler, irritated, and ran his hand through his hair.

A little ring-necked snake caught my eye as it made its way across the floor of room. They were one of my favorites; I hoped it escaped the kitties’ notice. I turned my attention back to Andy. “It’s not too late to thank him now, you know.”

Andy smiled warmly. “Perhaps I shall, but not tonight. I have plans.They most definitely do not include going to the walls to thank Big Pete for knocking me unconscious.” We both laughed.

Notes

check out the videos i took the other day when i went to see Nightwish at Showbox SODO in Seattle on 3/7/16 (and get this, they apparently had the flu!):

Nightwish play 'The Siren'
Nightwish play 'My Walden'

neither are great videos visually, but the sound is alright, which is the important part! ;O) my hat is off to everyone, but especially to Floor for nailing the vocal parts of songs originally written for a vocalist with a different comfort zone, and apparently when she was coming down with the flu! as Marco said- Floor doesn't cut the cheese, she cuts the throats! i had never seen Nightwish before, and i was very impressed by all the bands present.