Chapter 111

**LUCIANA'S POV**

“There is a cure?” I asked, my face piercing into Sheba's skin, asking for answers. 

She darted her gaze at me but sighed and took it away. 

I knew she wasn't ready to give me a response as I wondered what the cure was. If there was a cure, then the next thing that should be done was go out there and take it to save Arielle, who looked like the pains she was feeling were unbearable, just like Sheba had said. 

My eyes went to Arielle who was on the bed, her eyes closing and opening as she gulped from time to time. It looked like she was trying to bear the pain as much as she could. 

With Damon holding on to her hand so tightly, and he is also tightening her hand which was locked with his. She was trying to survive, with the blade in her obviously drying her blood and wanting to turn her into ashes and make her disappear forever. 

The sight of it all was hard to bear. 

I didn't know when a drop of tear fell from my eyes again. I sniffled back, trying to hold back my tears. 

I was trying to act strong, Arielle was too. Nobody was crying in there, so why should I?  

The soft sound of me sniffling made her gaze turn to me, she smiled, a faint smile which made my chest tighten as I saw it. She was losing everything she always had in her.

Her lively face, her smooth skin which was becoming darker as the time went by, her smile which looked like it had been replaced with a sad one. 

I always loved to see that smile and never got tired of having to smile back at her. Arielle was a gem, one I don't want to lose. 

The sword was a life sucker, a blood sucker, and I cursed whosoever it is that did these things. Then it was whoever it is that found those things and couldn't destroy them, leaving them to destroy the world. 

“Hey Cub” Arielle said, the faint smile plastered on her face, she squinted her eyes in pain as she talked. 

I moved closer to her with every step I took appearing to be heavy. I got to her and held her hand in the other hand as I knelt on the level of the bed. 

Tears threatened to stream down my face with nothing to control them, it felt like I could see the pain clearer as I got to her. It felt like the signs of fear, pain and concern etched in her face could only be noticed more as I was too close. 

“Cub” she called again, her voice appearing like it was becoming more difficult to talk. 

“I'm here” I muttered, not wanting my shaky voice to be easily noticed. 

“Why are you in tears, do I look like I'm dying for you?” She asked, trying so hard to make her voice not to flinch, trying so hard to be the Arielle everyone has always known. 

“You aren't, of course, you can't,” I said, smiling so genuinely. 

It looked like I was given some ray of hope because she said it herself, that she didn't look like someone who was dying. 

“So why the tears? You know, that's what makes them bully you, what makes everyone want to get rid of you, what makes them think little about you and treat you as trash, you are just weak! And always acting like one” she said, appearing to be scolding me. 

The ray of hope had disappeared at once and everywhere became dark again. To me, what she said right now wanted to make me dash out of the room and cry my eyes out. 

It sounded like she was giving her last words, scolding me to be able to remember that I had to be strong, that she wouldn't be able to defend me when she's gone. I sobbed silently, taking my gaze away from her, not wanting her to see the tears. 

Arielle is dying and it can't be true. But Duncan had just said something about a cure and none of them were willing to talk about it to me.  

“Stop talking! You are draining too much energy. Save energy for me, okay?” Duncan said, his eyes teary as he said those words. 

Arielle smiled, nodding her head as I stood, leaving the edge of her bed. 

“Duncan….” She called slowly. 

“Do you think I can make it?” Arielle asked, obviously afraid of dying. 

No matter how strong she must have thought she was, no matter how matured and smart she must have been, no matter how gutsy and powerful she must have been. Right at that moment, she was scared of dying. That alone was enough to make me cry. 

“Don't say a word, Arielle, just keep enduring, trust me, you will be okay”, Duncan said. He was also trying to maintain the position of the supreme Alpha as he was trying not to act weak in front of me and Sheba, even with his lover on a bed, bedridden and on the verge of dying. 

Arielle chuckled as Duncan said those words and nodded her head, wanting to believe and trust him just as he had said. 

“I'm feeling sleepy,” she said as she closed her eyes.  But hell! I knew she was getting no sleep, not by the way she was squinting her eyes and trying to suppress the pain. She wouldn't even be able to sleep because of the pain. 

They didn't try drugs because it was obvious it wouldn't work. 

I could feed my eyes no more, I wanted to cry, and I had to. 

I walked out of the room gently trying not to be the weak Luciana Arielle had told me not to be. It was weird, but for once, I really wanted to obey and did what she told me to without much thought. 

I closed the door behind me and the tears which I had been holding back all came flooding like piles of rivers.

My voice was becoming louder as I walked away from the door, not wanting to hear Arielle consoling me when she was the one who had to be consoled. 

I stopped feeling the presence of someone and as I looked up at him, all I wanted to do was run into his embrace and cry my eyes out, which I did. 

I hugged him, crying as much as I wanted to. 

It was Jeremy! But I didn't care.