>>5274746No no no, it can’t end like this. You can’t let it end like this. Amara, Gina, Rath…everyone. They’re depending on you.
You try to scream, but it’s a soundless agony that overtakes your entire body. You’re standing. You’re burning up. You’re on your knees. You failed them. You’re on the ground. It’s all over. It’s a blur, and you’re dying all the while.
Tick.
Tock.
You’re running out of time.
Every second. Every minute.
You’ve failed them. There’s still so much to do. Your vision warps and swims as your lungs scream for air that won’t come. Stick to the plan. You have to live. So they can live. So they can be happy. Stick to the plan.
The plan.
There was no plan.
You’re just winging it.
Would they hate you if they found out?
Maybe they know. Maybe they hate you. You’re letting them down. You’re dying.
Then they die. Amara. Gina. Rath. Dorian Julia Francine November Jackie Ivey NeradaJerahaRosaQuinnAceKeaneTinkerTailorandsosososososomany
It’s all-
“Hey, HEY!”
“Look at me!”
“Fucking LOOK at me, okay!?”
Your eyes struggle to focus, your body reeling as you’re hauled upright to stare at your own miserable reflection.
Sam’s face. Your face.
Both.
Neither.
“Look at me, look at this body.”
You try to gasp out that you don’t understand what she’s trying to do. You can’t think straight.
Your vision’s swimming, you-
“Do what I do, okay?! Don’t close your eyes, just look at my eyes, or visor, or what what-the-fuck-ever! Breathe with me, okay? In! IN!” She orders, the chestplate of her frame rising and falling with every false breath. You feel something crack in your chest, like piano wire about to snap.
“Then out, got it? We’re gonna do this again, as many times as it takes, okay? In…out. Don’t stop!”
You try.
In. Out.
In. Out.
In.
In.
…
There’s a cup of tea in your hands. You don’t know where it came from. Julia? Probably. You sniff, and after you swallow the last remnants of your tears the vague scent of oolong triggers something in your mind.
Julia.
So kind.
So thoughtful.
You channel her more than she’ll ever know.
You’re sitting with your back against one of the countless rusted shacks that make up a town in which you fought simpler battles, staring out at the rolling fields of flaxen hair before you. Roaches? Dogs? They were both at once, you think. Amalgams, when it was just the three of you. Gina, Isabelle, and…
…West was there, too. Fighting alongside you, a lifetime ago.
Movement in the corner of your right eye makes you turn your head, and it’s just about the hardest thing you’ve ever done with how your body feels right now. Sam’s chrome form glistens in the Crucible’s profane light, her shawl…
She’s naked.
You look down to find it’s draped over your knees, and when you look to the left with tremendous effort, you see them.
The ones who make it all worth it.
(Continued)
