The Luna's Second Chance

Isabeau's POV

My eyes forced open as a wet feeling engulfed me. I saw the guards standing in front of me, staring at me as if I was the most disgusting thing they had ever seen.

Two of the guards seized me and dragged my damaged body out of the dungeon. I was taken to the training grounds where every single member of the Pack was already gathered, eagerly waiting for my execution.

At this point, I'm half conscious, barely holding onto life but I could hear the people swearing at and hurling insults at me. Some even spat on me while the guards dragged me to the gallows that had been constructed at the center of the training grounds.

I could see my parents in the crowd. My mother was crying while my father tried to console her. He looked at me and I could see the sadness in his eyes, he probably couldn't afford to break down because of mum.

I finally saw Alaric sitting on a throne they had prepared for him. Leocadia was also sitting right next to him. She had washed off her makeup and ruffled her hair, she was dressed in all black and was wailing like there was no tomorrow. Pity.

Seeing her acting almost made me laugh but I couldn't, even breathing in my current condition is a struggle.

Alaric stared at me coldly and when our eyes met, he looked away. There was no remorse in his eyes, no pity, nothing.

They forced me up the platform and held me up since I couldn't stand, while they wrapped the noose around my neck.

"Isabeau Isolde Winthrop, you're being put to death today for all your evil actions towards the Pack. You misused your position as Luna and plotted treason. You cheated on me, your Alpha, killed our child, abused your sister and eventually tried to kill her after finding out about her pregnancy. You are a shame to this Pack and we'll pray that someone like you will never be born again." Alaric declared and the crowd chanted in support.

All the while, I looked at each and everyone in the crowd who were supporting my death. I had gone out of my way to help most of them in any way I could. I took my position as Luna seriously and usually visited the Pack house to see if the Pack members needed anything. I always wanted to help, wanted to keep everyone happy, everyone except myself apparently. And now they had all turned their backs against me. How sad.

I'll capture each and every one of their faces and engrave it into my memory.

"Do you have any last words?" Alaric suddenly asked again.

I have nothing to say to them and even if I did, I can't speak. Leo had stripped me of that privilege.

"How can she have anything to say? An evil spawn like her is probably too ashamed to speak. Nothing good would be able to come out of her mouth anyway." A woman from the crowd spoke and the edges of my lips twisted in a small smile.

How ironic it is. The name of this woman is Dinah, I remember her very well.

On one of my regular visits to the Pack house, I found out her child was very sick with a rare disease which could only be cured with medicine made from a rare plant which grew far from the borders of our Pack, close to the Lycan Kingdom's territory.

Most of the other Pack members said it wasn't worth the risk and told her to focus on having another child since that child would die soon but she was greatly distressed since she had been unable to have another child since she had him.

I felt her pain and took it upon myself to host an exploration party to go in search of the medicinal plant.

I went as well and we retrieved the plant. The doctor used it to make medicine and it was administered to the child. I went to see the boy everyday for two weeks until I was sure that he was fully restored back to health. Dinah had thanked me at that time and swore she would always be loyal to me but here she was, hurling insults at me.

I finally understand how selfish the world is, people only appreciate you when they need you and toss you to the side when you become useless to them.

If only I had devoted my time into making myself better, I might have caught up on the plots brewing all around me.

"Very well then. May Selene accept your soul." He said and the guard pushed the lever, opening the trapdoor beneath me and sweeping the ground off my feet as they finally let go of my body and I found myself hanging from a height, the noose instantly tightening painfully around my neck.

I heard a sickening crack as my neck broke, severing my head from the rest of my body. My body seemed to go into shock and in that short moment before death, the events culminating to my end flashed before my eyes. How unfortunate it is, to be told all your mistakes just before you die.....

*****

The head of the guards had just finished his daily lashing, cursed at and spat on me before he left.

My body shook with pure fear when I heard the dungeon door rattle again just a few minutes later. I wished he would just end it since I was tired of suffering.

I heard footsteps, the unmistakable sound of heels as someone approached me.

I blinked repeatedly in an attempt to clear my vision. Still limp on the floor, I gazed at the feet of the person approaching and realized that she was wearing my shoes.

All my lost hope suddenly returned as I quickly realized who it was. With great difficulty, I managed to gather what strength I have left and sat up, finally coming face to face with my very own twin sister, Leocadia.

My eyes widened in shock as I realized that she was wearing my wedding dress, the same dress I had worn during my mating ceremony.

Taking a good look at her, everything she was wearing belonged to me. But that was the least of my problems at the moment as I considered her my last hope.

I crawled towards her and held out my hand, hoping she would help me.

She smiled but didn't make a move.

"Leo." I called out hoarsely, my throat as dry as bricks.

She seemed to hesitate but finally approached me and helped me up. She helped me to a corner of the dungeon, placing my back to rest on the wall for support.

"I'm sorry Isa, that you're having to go through all this." She apologized and I saw tears gathering in her eyes which instantly made me anxious despite the pain I was feeling.

I hate to see her cry more than anything.

I stretched out my hand and caressed her cheek gently.

"Please don't cry, Leo and don't apologize, none of this is your fault. I'm just unfortunate, cursed with this ill fate." I tried to comfort her and she managed a small smile.

"I tried to talk to the Alpha, I really did but he wouldn't listen. He's not listening to anyone and he even threatened to have me banished from the Pack if I tried to intervene. I'm sorry sis, I really am, I've failed you." She said as a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Stop it Leo, you know how seeing you cry makes me feel. I know that you tried your best but it's really out of our hands if that's how fate wants it. I just want you to promise me that you won't be sad for too long and that you'll live your best life after I'm gone." I requested.

"I promise that I'll live each day to the fullest after you're gone." She said, and something about her tone sounded sinister.

I waved it off, thinking that the fear of death was beginning to mess with my senses.

"Sis, I have something to share with you. It's good news and I know that now's a bad time but I'll never be able to tell you again after today and I've waited so long just to reveal this." She said, instantly piquing my interest.

She said she wasn't able to convince Alaric to stop my execution so what could possibly count as good news at a time like this?

"Don't keep me waiting and spit it out already." I urged, trying to pull on a smile.

"I'm pregnant, Isa. You're going to be an aunt." She revealed and my jaw dropped in shock.

Despite that being the last thing I expected to hear, I couldn't hold back my happiness.

But my joy was instantly cut short when reality hit me again. I'll die today and that means I'll never get to see or hold my nephew or niece despite how much I love babies and have wanted a child for so long.

Once again, fate had played another cruel joke on me. But I won't display my sadness since it'll make Leo worried. She's pregnant so she only needs to be happy till she gives birth.

"Congratulations Leo! I'm so happy for you. You're going to have a little baby running around soon." I congratulated with a smile, biting on my lip to hold back my tears.

"Thanks sis, I was really nervous after finding out but seeing you this happy brings joy to me." She said with a smile.

"Don't mind me asking but who's child is it? You're not mated yet and you don't have any boyfriend that I know of so who's the lucky father?" I questioned.

"He's actually someone you know very well, someone close to the both of us." She replied evasively.

"Stop speaking in riddles and just tell me already. Who's the lucky man who was able to capture the heart of my beautiful sister?" I asked with a small smile.

"Well, if you must know, the father of my child is Alpha Alaric, your husband." She finally dropped the bombshell.

Isabeau's POV

I broke into a hard laugh, one that made my body shake and somehow turned to a cough at the end.

I looked at Leo and saw that she wasn't laughing like I expected her to. Why isn't she laughing?

"Why aren't you laughing?" I voiced out my thoughts in nearly a whisper.

"Well, because it's not funny. I don't care how you take it but it's the truth, the father of my child is indeed your husband." She replied seriously and something within me snapped at that moment.

"Why? How.....How could you do such a thing to me, Leo? Please tell me you're lying, tell me you don't really have an affair with my husband." I pleaded with her, fresh tears starting to fall down my cheeks.

"Fine, I don't have an affair with the Alpha, everything I just told you was a lie." She said and I sighed in relief.

But all of a sudden, a shrill laughter rang through the dungeon, sending chills down my spine. What is going on?

"Is that really what you wanted to hear? I'm sorry to burst your bubble, dear sister but your wish can't be fulfilled.

I'm indeed carrying the heir of this Pack in my womb, something you've tried and failed at miserably. You should be thanking me." She said with a grotesque smile.

"Leocadia!" I called sternly and received a sharp slap to the face, one that caused my head to snap sideways.

"Don't you dare ever utter my name from your filthy mouth ever again. Besides, I'm not done talking. Since this is the last time we'll ever be seeing each other, I might as well tell you the entire truth. The last favor I can do for you is at least tell you the mistakes you made in life before sending you to the grave." She said and I gazed at her with teary eyes.

Was this really the little sister I loved with my entire heart and had always cared for? She suddenly seemed like a different person, a nasty one.

"First and foremost, I'm the reason why the Alpha hates you so much. In fact, all the problems you've ever faced in this wretched little life of yours was engineered by me.

I've always hated you. You were the perfect daughter, beautiful, smart, strong with a mighty wolf while I was the weak, frail, wolfless and utterly useless twin, a failed copy of you. You got everything you always wanted while I was shunned.

I loved Keith but you were the one who got to marry him. You went on to be the Luna of this Pack while I was forgotten." She said and I could sense the hurt in her voice.

My maternal instincts once again overpowered my good sense of judgment.

"No, Leo. It was never like that, our parents loved us equally." I tried to comfort her.

"Silence! Only I will speak and you'll listen." She warned.

"I'm the reason for your downfall, Isa. You should never forget that. I caused the problems in your marriage, I made you lose your child and destroyed your womb." The words she said left me in a daze. My brain tried to process everything but it was ripping my heart apart.

Her revelations kept hitting me like bullets till I could no longer ignore them.

"You monster! Why? Why did you kill my child?! You had a problem with me, I was the one who was in your way so why didn't you get revenge on me? Why did you kill my child? My innocent child did nothing to you and you couldn't let him or her be born into this world. You're supposed to be my sister, why did you do this to me?" I raged in between tears, my breath seizing as I tried to speak without choking on my tears.

She only laughed at me, once the proud Luna of this Pack, I had somehow turned into this pitiful sight.

"You're such a waste of space I can't even pity you. You're going to be executed in two hours and I'm pretty sure you don't even know the reason why. Well let me tell you. I made the Alpha think you killed his child on purpose and just to sweeten the deal, I planted fake evidence in your room and made it seem like you were having an affair with the Lycan King and as such was plotting treason. That's the reason you're going to be disgraced and publicly executed, Isabeau.

You were nothing but a puppet dancing to my tunes this whole time. This has always been my story and you're not a part of it.

How does it feel to be the loser? How do you feel after finding out the truth that I stole your happiness away from you and I'm the reason for your unfortunate end. How does it feel?" She jeered.

"You bitch! Do you think I'll let you get away with any of this? I only ever loved you and you did such terrible things to me but there's one mistake you made. You made a huge mistake by revealing everything to me before my death. Do you really think I'll keep quiet after everything I've just found out?

I may be executed but I'll reveal your truth to everyone. You may have succeeded in turning a great number of people against me but I know there are still a few people who believe in me.

I'm sure our parents will investigate after I tell everyone the truth today. So that even if I die, you'll go down with me because you'll be punished for all your crimes." I screamed at her, nearly out of breath.

My heart was constricting in pain and it was getting harder to breathe.

Leo broke into a cackle that resounded around the dungeon. Had she finally lost it?

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. How I pity you, even with everything I've told you, you're still as stupid as a brick. You greatly underestimate me and it pains me. Do you really think I would disclose all my evil deeds to you if I didn't have a plan to counter it? Do you really think I'll just sit back and let you expose me? Even if everyone hates you, they're bound to take interest in your words if you reveal everything I just told you." She said and suddenly brought out pincers and walked menacingly towards me.

My eyes widened in horror as I crawled backwards, my back hitting the wall sooner than I expected. I had never been so afraid in my life, now knowing what she's capable of, I don't even know what to expect.

"What.....What are you going to do with that?" I stuttered.

"Gosh, this look of fear in your eyes, it's so sexy on you. The smell of your fear is so appetizing, I can't get enough.

Well you see, you can only tell the truth if you can talk, right? So I'm going to cancel out the possibility by cutting off your tongue." She said in a sultry voice.

I begged and pleaded but it all fell on deaf ears. She went on to cut off my tongue and there was very little I could do. I just laid there, bleeding out. I thought for sure that I would die at that moment but there's no escaping it now. Death is at my door and it's more terrifying than I could have imagined.

Isabeau's POV

I became paralyzed, hanging low from the noose.

Tears poured down my cheeks and I gasped for breath as the lack of oxygen was making my lungs burn.

My vision was getting blurrier as I began to lose touch with reality. It was slow and agonizing. The faint sound of clapping and cheering was all I could hear as my life slowly slipped away from me.

"Goddess Selene please hear my prayer. Give me a second chance at life to make my enemies pay, to get that which is rightfully mine but this time, please make me the Villainess......." I prayed internally as everything suddenly faded to black.

*****

"Isa! Isa! Isa!"

I gasped as I rose up swiftly, my vision blurring due to the force and the tears in my eyes. I'm crying? Am I dead?

I touched my neck severally, trying to figure out if the noose was still around it.

"What is wrong with you? First you were crying in your sleep and now you're acting funny."

I know that voice. It's the voice of my twin sister, no, my mortal enemy. I turned to face her and instinctively moved backwards in fear. She looked at me strangely, her hands akimbo as she stood beside my bed.

Wait. My bed? This looks like my room at my parents' house. Where am I? What am I doing here? Wasn't I being hanged a moment ago?

"Sweetie, are you alright? Do you want me to call the doctor?" My mother asked and I turned my attention to her. She was sitting beside me on the bed and she had a worried expression on her face. What the hell is going on here?

"It's probably the ton of sugar she ate before going to training. It must be messing with her brain." Leo said with a chuckle and my mother glared at her.

"Do you think now is the time for jokes, young lady?" My mother berated her.

"Sorry, I was just kidding." She said and I started getting deja vu.

Why do I feel like I've experienced this before?

"Mum, what's going on?" I turned to her for answers.

"You don't have to stress dear, everything will be fine. You went to training with the others and you accidentally got hurt and passed out but you're fine now. The doctor says it was just a small fall and you mainly passed out due to malnutrition.

Working hard is good but you have to eat well too. You shouldn't only think about impressing others, try to take care of yourself as well." My mother said and I instantly realized what was going on.

This particular scene had happened before when I was 17. I had been training with some other warriors and got a little distracted so my sparring partner took advantage and threw me to the floor.

Mum was so worried and Leo was acting nonchalant as usual. Everything has happened before.

It all happened five years ago, precisely five years before my........death.

If I remember vividly, Dad will walk in any second now.

As if on cue, my father walked into the room with a worried expression.

"I see you're awake. Are you OK?" He asked and I simply nodded, my brain going hard at work to figure what the hell could be going on.

I'm supposed to be dead so how am I here, five years in the past, reliving the same moment? Could this be a dream? Perhaps this is due to my transition to the afterlife.

I pinched myself hard, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It hurt but I realized that I'm still in my room, my family staring at me like I had gone nuts. I might have, none of this is making any sense.

"It seems you're not well, just to be sure, I'll call the doctor to come check up on you." My father said and left the room.

"Calm down Isabeau, it's alright." Aello, my wolf said and I stilled, surprised but excited to hear her voice. They had taken her away from me, I thought I had lost her.

"Aello! I'm so happy you're still here with me. What would I do without you?" I asked, trying hard to hold back the tears that were gathering in my eyes.

"You'd probably be a weak and insignificant human but the feeling is mutual. You must calm down Isa, everything is fine, at least for now. Thanks to the goddess that my memories were restored.

What's happening is simple. While dying, you made a last wish to the goddess which was sincere and thus, she granted it. She saw the great injustice that had been done against us so she gave us a second chance to fix everything. She rewrote time for us and brought the both of us back five years earlier but was merciful enough to keep our memories." Aello explained.

"So what you're saying is....."

"Yes, we only have five years before our death, that is, if we still make the same foolish mistakes as last time." She answered the question on my mind.

"So you mean this isn't a dream, I am alive and I'm 17 again. History is going to repeat itself if I don't do something about it." I repeated, still unable to believe it.

"Exactly."

"With the knowledge I have of the future, it should be easy to avoid my death. I know every move that Leo will make even before she makes them so it'll be easy to counter them. She made a huge mistake by telling me my errors and now I'll learn from my past mistakes." I spoke confidently and took a deep breath.

"It's not going to be as easy as it seems. There's a flip side to this. In case you might not realize, messing with time has serious consequences so we'll have to be careful as everything in this present might not play out as it did in our last life. One silly mistake could be the end of us.

Selene gave me a warning, to make sure that we're very careful because if we die in this life in five years time, she will consider us as ungrateful and our soul will be made to wander around in agony for eternity." She revealed and a chill ran down my spine. This is more serious than I could have expected.

I must be scrupulous and make sure to avoid my doom flags at all costs.

I have to be very careful about the changes that may be made to this reality and act cautiously.

I have five years to figure out how to avoid my gruesome end and get the happy ending that I deserve!