The Lamplighter - From Now Until Forever
At the same time, Clark was staring up at the guesthouse through the crack in the barnyard walls. Those were the times when he thought about his home the most. When he was just a youth, the only place he could call home was the place where his sister stood waiting for him. The times he was in at that moment were the times that he wished he was still able to open the door, bringing something for his little sister and watching her run at him and hug him, welcoming him home.
As he watched through the cracks, he could feel the light leaking out of the windows from the guesthouse. She was so close to him, yet he couldn't go to her. He had gotten so used to loneliness for his entire life, but that night was the first time that he wanted someone else beside him. He wanted to see her more than anything.
Just then, a shadowy figure appeared in front of him, standing behind the bars. At first, he thought it was another guard coming in to harass him, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see a female figure.
"Clark... Look at me." Victoria demanded.
"You know I can't see you. It would only be polite if you told me which twin you were."
"I know you can't see me, but look at me! I'm crying."
"Oh no..." Clark sympathized sarcastically. He knew it was Victoria, and it was the least of his matters what would happen to her.
"Clark! That girl that you met eight years ago, that girl was me!"
Clark's eyes widened. He could hear the metal bars, scraping across the floor and the footsteps that followed soon after. Then, he felt someone working at the handcuffs behind him, eventually breaking them apart.
"Clark... Back then, I thought that I was the one that was meant for you, but now the person that's meant for you is Vivien."
"Why are you doing this...?"
"She still doesn't know that you've killed her father. Go to her and tell her in person. She needs to hear it from you of all people."
Clark stood up, and looked at Victoria's dark figure on the floor. Though draped in shadows, he looked at her in the eye. He could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes that he hadn't seen eight years ago. She was afraid inside, but when she spoke, she never went back on her word. Clark took a few steps backwards and soon broke into a run.
He didn't care if he caught attention; he knew he was going to sooner or later. All that was on his mind was to find Vivien. Moving along the shadows on the walls, he escaped from the barn and crept into the entrance of the guesthouse, knowing everyone was still asleep. The rooms were dark inside, but Clark managed to find his way to the light upstairs.
Vivien was rubbing her eyes, finding her way to the restroom when she saw Clark. At first, she thought it was an illusion in the darkness, but once he showed his face to her, she couldn't believe her eyes.
She clasped her hand over her mouth, "Who... are you?"
"Vivien... I'm sorry for deserting you."
"Clark? Why are you here? How did you-why did you come?"
Clark took her by the arm, and pulled her towards the fire escape, "Hurry, we don't have much time."
Vivien was completely clueless. For a moment, she thought it all could've been a dream, but she felt the coldness of the wind when Clark pulled her down the fire escape.
"Clark where are you taking me? What's going on?"
He didn't answer her. He honestly didn't know what to do, but the one thing he knew to do was to hold onto Vivien's arm as tightly as he can, never letting go.
"I'm sorry father... I hope you'll forgive me for how I betrayed you..." Victoria could hear the security guards soon break into the barn, holding lanterns to find their way through the barn.
"Victoria?!" Peter yelled once he got to Clark's cell, "What the hell are you doing here?!"
Victoria kept her silence.
Peter was enraged. He slapped her, "Do you have any respect for your deceased father?! What good is it to let his killer out on the loose? What a rotten daughter he had to even think of betraying her father. I don't have any time to deal with you..."
Peter threw the lamp down onto the floor and ordered the other two guards to stop searching the barn and search for Clark throughout the estate.
"Clark what is all of this? I thought you were leaving." Vivien asked as Clark pulled her with him.
"I had to see you again..." Clark said within breaths.
"I can't believe you came back... How did you find out that I was here?"
Clark pulled himself away from her to look at Vivien in the eye, "Vivien... I was the one that killed your father."
Vivien nearly tripped when she heard Clark tell her that. She didn't hear him clearly, but she thought it would be too painful to ask him to clarify himself. Immediately, she tried to sort out reasons in her head. Why would Clark have killed her father? Did he know at the time? Maybe he was forced to, or maybe it was an accident. There was no way that Clark could have killed her father on purpose. Vivien knew Clark wasn't an evil person. She believed that he was a good person deep inside, no matter what he tried to tell her.
Vivien's white nightgown flapped in the wind like wings as she and Clark tore through the winter evening. Clark didn't know where to run to; he just wanted to find a place where he could stay with Vivien for only a little bit longer.
Finally, Clark brought Vivien behind the guesthouse into one of the gardens. There were no windows on that side of the wall, so he took her there, hoping no one would find them there. Immediately, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body to his.
For the several seconds they could afford to take, all Vivien could feel was the rapid beating of Clark's heart. The both of them stayed close to each other, trying to grasp the desperate air that surrounded them.
"This is a dream isn't it." Vivien said, "There's no way that this isn't a dream. You're not really here with me right now Clark, are you..."
Clark didn't answer her. All he could do was hold her tighter.
"Did you really kill my father? If you didn't, please tell me. I don't know why you'd try and tell me something like that if you hadn't, but please tell me the truth. If what you say really is the truth, then I'll forgive you."
"It's the truth."
Vivien closed her eyes shut to let the tears fall from her eyelashes. She knew it was the truth all along, but she still had hope that it was false. 'Trying to avoid the truth was useless,' she told herself. "Well then, I forgive you. I may not ever understand why you did such a horrible thing, but I forgive you. I know you didn't do it to hurt me."
Clark pulled himself apart from Vivien to look at her in the eye, "I was hired to kill your father by one of my clients. It's fate that has been so cruel to me to make you of the same blood that is on my hands."
"You have to get out of here. Don't worry about me. They're coming after you aren't they? We have to hurry."
In the dim moonlight that seeped out over their heads, Clark looked at Vivien's sparkling eyes. They were the same, beautiful eyes that he's always seen in her. She was such a strong woman inside to forgive him for such a crime. There wasn't a hint in her eyes that showed hesitation.
Clark could hear the security guards coming closer, yelling, running, and closing in to where they were hiding. He had to outrun and outwit each of the security guards, who each had a great amount of speed with them. He needed every valuable second that he could get.
"Let's go." He exclaimed, taking Vivien's arm once again.
He ran behind the house and through the garden, managing to throw off the guards that were chasing him. With Vivien struggling to keep up behind him, he jumped down from the guesthouse to the empty area behind the barn. He got down first, and helped Vivien down behind him. Hiding behind the wall, he used it as a shield. He got out his gun and aimed it at the area that he knew the guards would come running.
The guards had split up. One was running out to the front of the yard, and the other was running towards him. Hiding beneath the hair of the grass, he set the gun to the guard.
"Vivien. Cover your ears."
After Vivien put her hands over her ears, Clark pulled the trigger. Shooting him directly in the head, his skull popped open and blood burst out of his head and splattered into the grass. It appeared even brighter with the light of the moon, shining against the greenness of the grass.
Everything was so overwhelming for Vivien, but she tried her hardest to hide her shock; she didn't want to hinder Clark.
"There's an exit behind the stable. It was where my mother used to let out the horses before she went horseback riding. If we can get through there, we can get into the forest and we'll escape. There's another town on the other side. It's small, but we'll make it."
Without any further delay, Clark grabbed Vivien's arm and took off towards the place Vivien told him about,
Just then, Peter heard a gunshot from the garden of the guesthouse. Him and the last remaining security guard rushed to the area to find their comrade lying in the grass.
"He had to have been here. He couldn't have gotten far." The security guard observed.
"I don't care where he went. Just catch him and get him dead!"
"What about you?" Clark concerned as he was nearing the stable, "Aren't you going to stay here? If they see you with me, they'll know that you aided me to escape. Your sister is waiting for you back there. You need to go back."
"No! I'm coming with you!"
"What?"
"I don't care, I'll leave this place. I'll go with you wherever you go. If you say that you'll travel from city to city, then I'll do the same. I'll make sure that you'll never have to be alone again. I promise I won't be a bother. I'll be there when you wake up, when you leave, when you come back, and next to you when you sleep. I'll be the one that you need with you for the rest of your life."
Clark felt a strange feeling burrow up inside his chest. For the first time in his life, he felt whole. It was something that he was missing his entire life, but it was finally found. It was a happiness that he never experienced before. As Clark stared at the path ahead of him, he felt like his entire body could do anything.
Clark tightened his grip, making sure he would never let go of Vivien's arm, "Let's go." He could feel his legs running quicker as he made his way to the gates behind the barn. The emptiness in his heart was becoming filled up again. He was no longer alone again. Like magic, the snow around him grew brighter and the air grew warmer.
But then, he froze.
Vivien abruptly stopped behind him, "Clark what's the matter?"
He turned around and faced her. With a hint of sadness in his voice, he whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't fulfill that dream you had of me."
"...what? C'mon let's go, we're almost there. We're so close!"
With his last amount of energy, he hugged her, embracing her as tight as he could so that he would never let go, "I love you Vivien."
After he whispered those sweet words into her ear, a gunshot was heard. She could feel his arms loosen as his body dropped to the floor.
Vivien felt as if the bullet had gone through her own heart. She turned around and saw one of the security guards with his gun pointed at her.
The guard raised his gun once more, but Peter stopped him.
"Don't shoot... have enough decency to let the girl have her last moments."
Victoria could hear the gunshot from outside of the barn. A tear rolled down her cheek, falling for the life that she had killed.
Clark, lying on the floor, could feel his life flashing in front of him. His sister shot through the head, the 14-year old girl he killed, and when his most important person entered his life.
"Clark, you can't die on me... This isn't how it's supposed to end."
"Why does my last memory of you have to be of your crying face? I wanted to take you out again after we escaped. I wanted to buy you ice cream again in exchange for you to sing your beautiful voice to me again... I wanted to hear it again so badly."
"This can't be happening. You aren't supposed to die."
"Vivien..." He spoke in a quiet voice, "In all my life as a sniper, I taught myself to never get emotional. I knew that if I ever got emotional, I would end up getting killed. A sniper is only a job for a cold-blooded killer. I'm sorry I couldn't have been better to you. Let's not say goodbye to each other, it'll make it too sad. Let's say goodbye as if we were going to see each other again. Let's say goodbye as if I was going to see you in a little while, with two cones of ice cream in my hand."
Vivien held onto his hand and squeezed it, "...I'll see you again Clark..."
Clark smiled one last time before he breathed his final breath, "...until we meet again."
A/N: Omg... geez, I'm still in this... SHOCK after watching the end of Gundam SEED... I'm sure all of u who have watched it... oh man, it was so... exhilarating. I think Wing and SEED are REALLY really tied... SEED had more depth and meaning than Wing, I believe... but okay, this has nothing to do with the story... but YEAH, I'm so... dead right now, that I'm being so lazy with my revision. I know this was the final chapter, but oh man Gundam SEED was just too good... WELL, another story going by... I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it (I finished it in two weeks hahah, but it was fun). I really tried to make it as best as I could, but I really have to admit it wasn't my best, but I'm glad you all liked it (oh man.. hopefully u all did)
Cindy Moon - Once again, you cut your wrists to read my stuff ^^, you're always my support. I was planning on two more shoujos after this, but so many things happened that it's changing my mind. Hopefully, I'll get out the action/adventure story that I was planning. I guarantee u, it'll be 10 times better than FA.
Mint - Hahah, yes.. I hope you enjoyed reading this. *sigh* I swear, 99% of my readers probably think I'm female, and maybe even some still think I am after reading this because they were so thoroughly convinced -_-. But oh well, such is life. Well, thanks for sticking with me!
Azndreamer1788 - Wow... you've been reading so much Fanfiction that you can pretty much predict every single thing that's gonna happen huh...? Almost everything that you said in ur reviews were amazingly and shockingly correct. I didn't' wanna say anything, because it would spoil, but yeah... Hahah, I hope my storylines are still unpredictable for u o_o. Well, thanks for reading.
Fox Dance - Hey! TT_TT after reading your story, I feel almost humiliated to have u read mine. Because since you're such a good writer, and reading my story... which isn't really too great, u might find SO many things wrong with it =_=. But nevertheless, thanks for stopping by to review. If you never reviewed, I would've NEVER knew ur story existed (well maybe one way or another) _ . Thanks for reading.
Idesel - Dude, you've stuck with my stories since like... the beginning. Hahah, after you sat through the entire All of Us Within without getting impatient or bored, I knew u'd stay for practically anything. WELL, good news, I might go back to magic since... I've been SO inspired lately. However, I already have like 9 chapters of my next shoujo written out, so u know... I'll be updating that (sorry, u have to wait a little longer). It'll be quick though, so u know. *sigh* I should make a tribute to u or something since u're such a faithful reader lol. Well, thanks for reading.
Flamehail - How did you ever discover this story... weird. Well, THANKS so much for showing me what was bad with my writing. I hope you know that it REALLY helped out a lot. Thanks so much for the help.
A/N: WELL... yes, right after I update this, I'm going to be updating Hands... which is my other story. It MAY seem long to you (it's about 15+ chapters) but it'll go by quickly since my writing rate is so quick. I'M ON A WRITING FRENZY! The only thing that's stopping me is schoolwork... (namely chemistry) but after that, I'll finish in no time. For those of you who read Forever Blue (I don't even think any of you had... except for Aznistic, who will be reading this a year after I'm typing this at the moment) but yeah, it's supposed to be a sequel... or kindof, not really. About Saki's younger sister, Tomiko, and her little.. circumstances in life. The one AFTER, I'm debating... I might go to flat out comedy, or flat out action/adventure... I'm still debating... I might even do both. Or I might just type out the first chapter of each, and see which one gains more fans (u see, I'm shallow... I'm all out solely for the reviews...) but okay. Wow, I'll be surprised to know if ANY of you actually read this entire a/n since I'm just rambling on and on, but okay. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the lamplighter!