The Prophecy (The Guardians) (19 page)

“Wait, no, that can’t be right.
 
When I left Rampart Manor you had no memory of me, of us.
 
Hell, when I left you were fantasizing over Uri.” Gabe insisted.

“Oh please, Uri?
 
Anyone with any common sense would have known that wasn’t going to last.
 
Like I could ever fall in love with someone like Uri.” Sophie scoffed as she shuttered.
 
“Actually, that’s quite gross, he’s like my brother.”

“No, if you remembered, someone would have told me.” Gabe argued.

“Let me get this straight, you left in the middle of the night, not telling anyone, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
 
Then we are attacked, one of your supposed best friends is killed, yet you don’t return to ensure your other so called friends are alright?
 
Yes, I think that about sums it up.
 
And you wonder why people didn’t run out to tell you I got my memory back.”
 
Sophie’s words dripped with venom.

“I didn’t know Rampart had been attacked.”

“You didn’t know, because you didn’t care to know.”

“Sophie, I loved you.
 
Why wouldn’t you have come after me?

“After the attack, the night you abandoned us, we fled, spread out all over the planet.
 
Dina watched over me, in my condition I wasn’t able to fight.
 
Had you been there, maybe Raimie wouldn’t have had to die.” Sophie explained.

“I left because I couldn’t watch you love someone else.” Gabe defended.

“You gave up so easily,” Sophie said coolly.
 
Gabe didn’t know how to respond, questioning himself and his choices all those years ago.
 
“Eventually we ended up at Iron Gate; it was only a matter of months before my memories started returning.
 
The effects of the wipe fading.”

Gabe didn’t know if he should feel regret for leaving or anger that she wanted to keep the truth from him.
 
“Why Sophie?
 
Why wouldn’t you let Dina send someone for me?” Gabe pleaded.

“You didn’t think I was worth sticking around for.
 
You didn’t think your friends needed you.
 
I got to watch Dina go through her grief over Raimie, not you.
 
Just when I started remembering things, she got really bad; it was like she had a death wish or something.”

“What happened?”

“You don’t get to ask those questions, Gabe.
 
You lost that privilege when you left us.”

“Fine, you hate me.
 
What’s the point of all this then?” Gabe had enough of the blame; he wanted to be anywhere but there.

“Don’t you get it?
 
I want you to know what you walked away from.” Sophie snarled.

“So this entire conversation is just to make me feel terrible.
 
Mission accomplished, I’ve been miserable for five years, Sophie!” Gabe shouted.

“Then why was it so easy for you to leave?”

Rushing forward towards her, infuriated by her flippant disregard for the relationship they had, Gabe cried, “You think leaving was easy?
 
You can’t be serious!
 
That was the first time in my life I had people who seemed to care about me.
 
Leaving Rampart meant leaving the only place that ever felt like home.
 
I was in hell while I was gone.”

“Oh yeah, Gabe.
 
Being with all of those women must have been just torturous on you.” Sophie’s words cut sharply.

“How did you—?” Gabe started, surprised by the confrontation, a rush of shame flooding over him.

“Just because I wouldn’t let anyone tell you I regained my memories, didn’t mean I wasn’t keeping tabs on you.
 
Dina told me about the charm enchantment in case I changed my mind and decided to tell you my memories came back.
 
You see, I couldn’t simply turn my feelings off as easily as you.”

“Sophie, you have got to be kidding me with this shit, right?
 
Why do you think I was with those women?
 
I was trying to forget about us, what we had.”

“So that’s what Rachel is?
 
A way to forget about me?” Sophie’s tone shifted, a sliver of optimism and hope in her voice.

“No, it’s not like that with her.
 
You have to understand, it wasn’t easy to put you behind me, but there came a time I had to move on.
 
What about you?
 
I thought you were supposed to be married to Peter.”

“Oh please, he was a complete and total snooze fest.
 
There was no way I could actually go through with it.
 
Had I married him, I think I would have died from boredom.” Sophie dismissed Gabe’s suggestion as if it were absurd.

“I see,” Gabe stated, hesitating, still unable to figure out what Sophie wanted from the conversation.
 
Why was she sharing all of this with him?
 
It didn’t matter anymore, he was over her, he was with Rachel now.

“That’s all you have to say?
 
Don’t you get it, Gabe?
 
Of course not, I can’t even believe it myself, that I would still want you after everything we’ve been through.
 
All these years of holding it in, not telling you, it’s too much.
 
I miss everything about you, even the things that infuriate me, and I want you back.” Sophie confided.

Gabe’s head spun at her statement, he wanted to scream in anger and sweep her up into an embrace at the same time.
 
He had wanted to hear Sophie say those words for so long; it had been all he thought about for years.
 
Now that she was here, telling him what he had so deeply desired, it brought him a sense of satisfaction, yet at the same time he kept seeing Rachel in his mind, lying on that cot, helpless, waiting for him.
 
Rachel loved him, it was a certainty he had no doubt of, like the idea he needed air to breath, they needed each other.
 

“What am I supposed to say to that, Sophie?
 
It was your choice to keep this from me, all these years, there’s no going back.
 
Look, I have to go, Rachel might wake up.” Gabe fired off; frustrated Sophie had even revealed that her memories had returned.

“Ha!
 
Don’t make me laugh.” Sophie barked.

Gabe took a step back, his face flushed red in anger.
 
“We haven’t seen each other in a very long time; I would be careful what you say next.”

“Oh yeah?
 
Is that right?”

“I mean it, Sophie, she’s the woman I love and she’s going to become my wife.”

“There is no way she will ever be your wife.” Sophie informed her long lost love.

“Oh really?
 
Care to enlighten me as to why not?” Gabe asked over as his shoulder as he walked towards the entryway.
 
Stopping and turning, he paused for a moment to hear her answer.
 
He waited impatiently.

“Because, now that you know I remember us, you won’t be able to marry her.” Sophie revealed at last.

Without hesitation, Gabe answered, “I’m really glad you remembered who you are, even if that is some crazy manipulative bitch, but I got over you a long time ago.
 
Sorry to disappoint.
 
I’m going to check on Rachel now.”

With great intensity Gabe turned on his heels and rushed out of the room, Sophie calling out behind him.
 
“We’ll see Gabe, we’ll see.”

A fog rolled in across the grounds, like a heavy, pillowy, blanket, concealing the faces of the people milling around outside.
 
Gabe preferred it this way; it was easier not to look at all the sad, pathetic faces of the individuals who had been displaced by this war.

It didn’t help that Gabe had delusions that everyone recognized him.
 
He was sure the whispers he heard as he passed the strangers were about him.
 
The paranoia began after the harsh conversation he had shared with Sophie.
 
Gabe kept imagining everyone staring at him, thinking things like,
“There goes the coward of Rampart,”
or
“And he was supposed to be the chosen one?
 
What a disappointment.”
 
In the fog his face was hidden and the imaginary voices quieted.

Rounding the corner, entering the great hall, Gabe slowed only for a moment.
 
His thoughts were now consumed with Sophie’s words from the day before.
 
He had dreamed about her remembering their love since leaving Rampart, imagined how he would feel, how he would react.
 
Now that the day had arrived, the one thing he had wanted to happen more than any other, did not stir the emotions he had always envisioned.

It’s been years since we were separated
, Gabe thought,
and she’s the one who chose to leave me in darkness.
 
What does she expect from me?
 
How could I ever be with a woman who could do that to me?
 
She knew I was in pain, she didn’t care.

Gabe’s thought shifted to Rachel.
 
She loved him, she made him want to be a better man, to be worthy of her.
 
He couldn’t imagine her ever wanting to hurt him like Sophie had.

Gabe strolled to the end of the long row, where he caught sight of Uri standing, talking to someone.
 
Quickening his pace, Gabe closed in on Uri’s position and as he did, Rachel came into view.
 
She was sitting up and talking, his heart ached.
 
All he wanted to do was scoop her up into an embrace.
 
“Rachel.” Gabe called out.

Spinning around on the cot, her chestnut hair flaring out around her face, Rachel stopped to catch a glimpse of Gabe as he neared.
 
He watched as her eyes lit up, her face beaming with joy after catching sight of him.
 
In that moment, he want to run to her, tell her everything, all the things Sophie had told him, the way it made him feel tied in knots.
 
After confessing everything, he would lay his head in her lap while she made it all drift away with the delicate twisting of her fingertips in his hair; but he couldn’t, he couldn’t imagine the pain it might bring her.
 
Instead, he simply smiled, coming to rest at her side, perched on one knee.

“Oh, Gabe,” Rachel squealed, throwing her arms around his neck.
 
“I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m sorry, Rachel, I wanted to be here when you woke up.”
 
Gabe offered.

“It’s ok,” Gabe found comfort in Rachel’s voice; she exuded warmth and goodness, one of the many things that drew him to her.
 
“Uri was nice enough to hang out with me while you were gone.
 
Oh, and I met Dina.
 
She is exactly as you described her, well—“

“Save for the hair?
 
Yeah, that was a surprise for me, too.”
 
Gabe replied.

“She is absolutely delightful.” Rachel smiled.

“I’m glad you like her, I kind of thought the two of you would hit it off.” Gabe added.

“Did you talk to Michael?” Uri asked with a grin, clearly pleased with himself and the mischief he caused with the mention of the wedding.

Gabe glared up at his friend.
 
He wanted to throttle him for bringing up the engagement in front of his old mentor and worse, in front of Sophie.
 
Refusing to give him any satisfaction, he responded, “Yeah, went great.”

Gabe’s flat and short response puzzled Rachel.
 
“Uri said Michael wanted to talk to you about us.
 
I don’t understand, what would he want to talk about that concerned us?”

Gabe sighed, still unable to shake the conversation he had with Sophie.
 
“Umm, well, he wanted to talk about a few different things, actually.
 
The council has decided the safest course of action for us would be staying on the move for a little while.”

“Wait, what?
 
I thought they wanted us here; that we would be safer here, surrounded by everyone.
 
Right?”
 
There was a panic to Rachel’s voice that set Gabe on edge.
 
She was always so calm and collected; it unsettled him to see her rattled.

“I promise, my love, there is nothing to worry about; Michael and the elders are right.
 
He’s going to send Uri and Haim along.
 
Between the three of us, you will be the most highly protected woman in the world.
 
How’s that feel?” Gabe reassured his bride to be.

“You think this is what’s best?” Rachel asked, peering into Gabe’s eyes, seeking his honesty.

Gabe stared into her oversized, beautiful brown eyes.
 
He didn’t want to tell her that her chances were slim if she were protected by him alone, or about the doubt Michael expressed in his abilities.
 
Instead he wanted to know she believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would be safe.
 
“I do.
 
Oh, and I have some other good news.
 
Michael has offered to let us have the wedding here, before we leave.”