Orchid Chapter 9 - All the Dawn Deserves
#9 of Orchid Volume 1
[Liz on Top of the World - Pride and Prejudice (2005)] -
Lazaro
I trekked up the mountain, with nothing but the full moon's light as my guidance as I stepped through the slope. The aching of my legs begged me to stop, the weight of my mind's lack of sleep dragged my entire body down. But I went on, I couldn't lose Orchid. At least not now.
I reached the mountain's peak, and I panted for breath.
The flower was nowhere to be seen. The skies... were getting brighter. I fell to my knees and swiped the sweat from my forehead. My heart only sunk deeper the brighter, the bluer the skies went.
I was too late, dawn's first twilight had already come. In the end, I didn't deserve Orchid.
"You are too late." The Goddess appeared right beside me. "In the end, you failed the trial I gave you."
I stood up to my feet and faced her, a glare from her alone could kill a man and traumatize another, but still I faced her. I knew what I was fighting for. "Give me more time, I'll find the flower you wanted me to find."
She shook her head. "What, you want me to give you an entire day? You are not even on the right mountain. I am willing to believe you cannot find the flower given a million days, let alone one."
"Then why the hell would you only give me one?" I raised my voice against her, getting bolder and bolder by the second.
"You think Orchid deserves less?"
"I-" But I was stunned speechless. I couldn't think of anything else to say to her. It was either that I agree and prove to the both of us that I don't deserve him, or that I disagree, and acknowledge that the trial given to me was right.
"Mother, that is enough." Orchid appeared out from the greenery, an equally cross look on his face. "You have given him impossibility, and he has done his best. That is more than enough for me."
But she merely scoffed, "I gave him a trial to let him prove his worth, did I not? Now that he has failed, it is only fair he shall receive the consequences."
"No!" He stepped up to get between us. "That is not fair. Not fair at all!"
"Orchid, stop." I held his shoulder and moved him out of the way. The hurt in my heart worsened, the more the both of us tried so futilely to save us from being apart. There was no stopping the Goddess from getting what she wanted.
"No, no. Lazaro." He looked at me, his eyes moist against the rising sun as he hugged me tight. "I can convince Mother. We can still be together."
Sobs escaped my breath, his spindly arms desperate to never let me go. "I love you, Orchid." I held his chin, our gazes locked together for what could be one last time.
"Mother, please!" He no longer hugged me, but his one hand still grasped mine tight. "In all the years I have lived, I never asked for much. Never have I rebelled and always have I listened to you. Please," his voice broke down, "let me have Lazaro. I... I will do anything you ask of me. Just let me have him."
The Goddess was still at his request, and there was only silence as Orchid awaited her words. The flower on her head waivered, and as the yellow sunlight fell down upon her face, she sighed, closed her eyes.
"Orchid, you have grown so much already." Her voice, a tearful whisper.
She let out one hand, and a flower soon appeared on it. The same one on her and Orchid's head. She held it in between her fingers, and with slow, anticipating steps, walked over to us.
And handed me the flower.
"Take care of my son for me," she whispered to my ear. After that, she was gone, all but a whisper of the wind.
I looked at Orchid, he in turn looked at me. Silence once again filled us, but I was the first to break it. "What just happened?"
"You paid the price of my Mother."