Dark Night (Gone plot ending)

[Amaranth]

Amaranth's eyes narrowed at the sudden light. It hurt. She averted her watering eyes, keeping to the dark which had become familiar.
Well, she knew this person, all right, but who-
Oh.
Him.
That woman had told her about him, and about them. She knew she was a bit confused, but she did remember things. Her family had sold her. Her mother had brought her to a very nasty place, pushed her away, taken money, and left. She had said she would come back. She had said. But she hadn't ever come back.
Promises, then, were meaningless. They were just words.
Don't worry, she had said. I'll be back. I promise. I love you.
All those words were lies.
That woman had said that this man had wanted to get rid of her, too. The woman hadn't honestly been very kind, but she had said that, again, and again, and again, and eventually it had dawned on her that it might be true.
But it was just words. Maybe this- no, those were just words, too.
What should she do?
She was in pain; her head was bleeding, the tips of her ears had been chopped off, and she was covered in multiple bruises and cuts. And she was pretty sure that one of her ribs was broken. But that didn't matter, because her little one was alive. She had been told that the little one was useless and would be killed, but she hadn't been..,
So... What should she do?
Sonya stared worriedly between her parents. Hostility and confusion from her mother, and... well, a mess of other things from her father. She wasn't sure whose side she was supposed to be on. Most babies, having been separated from their mothers for such a long period of time, would not have recognized her.
Sonya, however, was a very special little baby. Further than that, we shall not go.

There was a lot of shouting behind them.
That it was audible was a problem, because the rooms were sound-proof.
Thistlen glanced back, and broke into a run.

[Jeni]

Zeth made the light a little dimmer, though things were still clearly seen in the dark room. He still couldn't believe it. She was here, standing in front of him. Even though that girl had told him she was dead. He had never really come to grips with the fact that she was dead, he never chose to actually believe or admit to it. But it made him miserable all the same.
But now, it was still hard to believe she was alive. Although he definately didn't doubt it. The empty hole in his heart seemed to dissappear and he was so greatful that she had returned. She looked a bit battered and bruised, but those would heal.
"Oh Amaranth..." Zeth said quietly, unsure of what to say due to the rush of strong emotion. "She said you were dead. But you're alive. I was so miserable without you. I've missed you dearly for almost 10 months..." He told her, wanting to rush over and hug her, but she was holding Sonya so he withheld the urge to do so. Instead he stood there, a few feet away, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Navek also looked behind them, getting nervous about all the shouting and comotion. And, following Thistlen's lead, he broke into a fast run after her, hoping to put as much distance between them and the shouting as possible.

[Amaranth]

Amaranth hadn't caught what he said. A lot of... words. And sniffling.
It wasn't important.
What was important was that he was far too close to her and her little one. At this range, he would definitely be a threat.
"Stay away!" she snapped. She still wasn't positive about who he was, but no one was getting near her. There was a window, but she wasn't sure if she could reach it, and she couldn't fly away...

A few yards behind them, there was a snarl, and a pale yellow glow.
"Oh no..." Thistlen muttered. "She's using the Wisp on us!"

[Jeni]

Zeth blinked. "What?" He said, suddenly very confused. "Amaranth, it's me, Zeth, your husband. Don't you remember?" He asked, wondering just what the hell had happened to her.

Navek frowned. "Do you know how to avoid it?" He asked her. He really had no idea, he wasn't familiar with any Collective spirits, and he didn't really wish to be.

[Amaranth]

"It possesses animals!" Thistlen hissed. "I don't know how to avoid it- it could be anything!"

Come to think of it, she remembered something about that. Oh, right, that was who he was. But it couldn't be him, because they'd said that he didn't want her any more.
Sony whimpered. She was officially going to cry if someone didn't make everyone happy again, because the conflicting emotions in her head were driving her crazy.
Amaranth looked down at her. Ssssh, little one, she said- it would be unintelligible to Zeth, since it was a completely different language, but Sonya understood it, wiggled slightly, and then whimpered again, refusing to comply.

[Jeni]

"Shit." Navek said, glancing over his shoulder again. Stupid thing. Well, better to keep running. Maybe they could outrun it. Slim chance.

Zeth was utterly confused. Not to mention a bit devastated.
She didn't seem to remember who he was or what they had before she left. She must have been told some crazy story, or been brainwashed or something of the sort.
And Zeth wasn't really sure how to fix it.
"Amaranth, what happened? Do you remember anything?" Well she obviously remembered something, seeing as she was being protective of her daughter. Yet he didn't have a more intelligent question to ask at the moment.
"It's alright, Sonya." He said quietly, trying to reassure her, he couldn't do much else.

[Amaranth]

Thistlen abruptly stopped. "You go ahead," she called to Navek. "Just make sure everyone got to the Guild- I'll deal with the Wisp, and then I'll catch up."
Well, that wasn't a lie, really, just a promise she wasn't sure she could keep. Shit. She had no idea how to 'deal with' the Wisp.

Sonya looked around, opened her mouth, and wailed as only babies can.
Amaranth winced- the sound hurt her ears.
Glancing at Zeth, she sat down, putting the baby in her lap. Sssh, sssh, it's all right, it's fine, do not worry, it's fine. Sssh.
Sonya faltered for a moment, and then continued screeching. Unsure of what else to do to quiet her, Amaranth stroked the pudgy little hand, and, eventually, Sonya stopped crying. Of course, she didn't feel any better, but at least no one was angry now.

[Jeni]

Navek skidded to a halt and looked at Thistlen uncertainly. "I can't just leave you behind." He said, not wanting to leave her to deal with the Whisp alone. He wasn't even sure what it was capable of. And he really didn't want to leave her, if she got sent back to the Collective, after everything she had done...

Zeth really didn't know what to do. What could he do? He winced slightly at Sonya's wailing, he didn't want to see her in any sort of pain. But he couldn't do anything to stop it. Amaranth had already snapped at him for getting to close, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her. He had no idea what had happened in the past ten months, and he didn't want to do anything to make it worse. What could he say? He had to think of something, instead of standing there silently, feeling happy and confused and sad all at once.

[Amaranth]

"Just go," Thistlen snapped at him.

Sonya had gone back to staring between the two.
After a long silence, Amaranth said, "Is it true?" He should know exactly what she was talking about, she reasoned, because she was asking about what he had or hadn't done.

[Jeni]

"And if I don't?" Navek challenged. Why the hell he was arguing with her was unknown to him. Normally he'd do anything to get out of something strenuous or work involved. Maybe he was just to stubborn for his own good. Who knows. Navek was odd.

"Is what true?" Zeth asked, thinking about her question. Well, he'd go right ahead and answer the question with anything he had. "Is it true the I love you more than anything in this world (though don't think that he didn't love Sonya equally as well, they both meant the world to him)? Yes. Is it true that not a day has gone by since you left that I haven't thought about you or wanted to come back? Yes. Is it true that when you left my heart broke, but I understood and accepted it, and waited for the day you'd return? Yes. Is it true that when I heard you were dead my heart broke again and I could never accept it? Yes. And, is it true that when I saw you here, right now, for the first time in ten months after being thought dead that I was happier than I eve have been? Yes." That might not have answered her actually question, but, since he didn't specifically know what she was talking about, that was currently his answer.

[Amaranth]

"I'll... I'll kick you!" Thistlen was not accustomed to being on the giving end of threats.

Amaranth stared at him.
All right, so he was crazy. Well. Since not a single one of those completely random questions that he had come up with had been her question, she decided that it really wasn't true. Maybe. He didn't look like he was lying. But you couldn't trust anyone, no matter how much they claimed to care for you, could you?
But... she wanted to trust him so badly. If only she didn't feel so dreadful, she would be able to think more clearly.
Well, she couldn't exactly fight him in this state, so it was probably better to trust him.
She stood, taking Sonya (who had found Squishy from somewhere and was now, well, squishing her) along, and walked over to him, peering up at his face- she was tall, but he was still slightly taller than she.

[Fear]

Calyx snuggled up against her gently, making sure he wasn't applying any pressure on her body. He kissed her neck lightly and smiled. He couldn't think of anything to say that would describe how happy he was she was back.

[Amaranth]

Ceredin sighed.
It was going to take her forever to heal.
The logical choice would be to go to a Healer, but Ceredin disliked magic in most of its forms, since it reminded her too much of science, which, in her view, helped no one.
Healers were completely out of the question.
"I- wait. I'm sure I was going to say something." As it turned out, she forgot.

[Fear]

Calyx smiled. He was already planning to slip her healing potions. "He'd done it before when she'd broken a limb or gotten a nasty gash and so on.

[Amaranth]

After a few minutes of wondering just what it was she was going to say, Ceredin gave up.
"Oh well. If it's important, I'll remember later..."