When I opened my eyes and saw that I was surrounded white once again, I knew this time I was dead.

The dread I felt was unimaginable. I had failed, after I'd promised so many people that I would succeed. But once I had finally been face-to-face with the threat, there was no way I stood a chance. One touch, and it was all over.

As my vision became to clear and I became more aware of my surroundings, I could feel the hand soothing my hair back, brushing my hair out of my face. I felt the person shift slightly, just enough to move my head that was laying in their lap. And once I could finally make sense of what was going on and who I was with, all I could do was stare at her for a moment before I finally found my voice.

"Mom..."

She was looking at me with sad eyes, saying nothing to me. But I didn't need her to confirm that she was in fact my mother, as she looked so much like me it was almost as if I was looking in a mirror.

"I'm dead, aren't I?"

My mother shook her head. "Not yet."

Forcing myself to sit up, I rubbed at my eyes, almost afraid to stop because I was scared she would disappear if I did. But when she was still there once I opened my eyes again, I knew this wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

I was overcome by emotion then, my throat tightening and my eyes filling with tears when I fully realized just who was sitting in front of me, so close and within arm's reach.

"What am I doing here?" I had to ask. "Where... is here?"

"It's... the place between life and death," she explained rather slowly, as if she was trying to think of the right way of speaking to me. "It's where you decide to move on with me or go back to your life."

It took me a moment to process what she had said, but soon my tears were overflowing and rolling down my cheeks. I could finally be with her, after all of these years of wanting and wishing?

My mother smiled at me, bringing me into her arms. I clung to her, just like a child would cling to their mother, never wanting her to let go of me. Finally, after years and years of suffering and wanting nothing more than to just be with her, I finally had my chance.

"You have more than just a mother, you know," someone new suddenly cut in with a clear of their throat, causing me to push away from my mother to look at who I thought it was.

Staring up at the same eyes I saw in the mirror every single day, my father grinned down at me with the same grin I was told I had myself. Not even knowing what to do with myself, I scrambled to get up off the ground and ran at him, slamming into his chest as we wrapped our arms around each other.

He kissed the top of my head as my mother came up behind me, joining the hug as she wrapped her arms around me again. I had no idea how long we stood there for, but it felt like forever while at the same time feeling like no time at all. I never wanted to move from that spot, but we all knew that wasn't possible.

I was the one to break the hug, knowing that neither of them would be the ones to do it since it was obvious that they knew how long I had been waiting for this moment. But we all knew we couldn't just stand like that forever, no matter how much I wished we could.

I took this moment to study them. They were young, the same age they had been when they had died, which wasn't even ten years older than me. It wasn't like I had expected them to age, but seeing them this young in real life rather than pictures, it was like a punch in the gut as a reminder of how much of their lives they had lost because of Damien Black.

I really did look most like my mother, with the same hair and face shape. But while she had brown eyes, I had the same blue eyes that my father had.8

I wiped my eyes, trying to force myself to stop crying. "Is it true that I get to be with you now?"

My parents shared a look, and I already knew the look was not one I liked.

"I'm sorry to break this to you, honey, but you're not coming with us," my father informed me matter-of-factly, and his tone almost would have made it funny if he wasn't telling me that I couldn't stay with them. "It's not your time just yet."

"But... he beat me." My throat felt dry at my admission; I was embarrassed at my failure after I had said so many times that I was going to defeat Damien Black for my parents. "He's killed me once already. What's stopping him from doing the same exact thing once I come back?"

My dad smirked at me, shrugging as if the answers were obvious, "Why, you'll have my power, of course."

I blinked. "What?"

"My matter absorption powers," he continued, still as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "You take my powers and use them to kick Damien's lily ass."

"Matter... absorption?"

I'd never paid attention to what powers my parents had had, and I realized then that that had been stupid of me since I had absolutely no idea what my father was talking about. I'd assumed that at least one of them had telekinesis, since I had to inherit it somewhere, but I never even thought about what the other parent would have in that case.

"You know how Damien has power absorption?" my dad asked, and I only nodded so that he would continue to explain. "He can take people's powers just by touching them, skin to skin. My power is matter absorption, which means whenever I touch something, I can turn my body into that same material."

I felt like a horrible daughter for completely glossing over what my parents' powers had been. I'd always assumed that one of them had telekinesis, and then maybe the other would have just been flying, which is why I was able to do both. But I'd been completely wrong this whole time.

"But... I don't know how to take someone's powers," I mumbled, ashamed.

"Here," my mother smiled, holding out her hand, palm up. My father followed suit. "Place your hands in ours and try to focus. Damien once said it's much easier than it seems. You just have to want it, focus, and then you have it."

I did as my mother said, placing my hands on theirs. I closed my eyes, trying to focus, though I didn't know what to focus on. I needed to want it, and I definitely did if this meant I was going to be able to defeat Damien. I wanted these powers more than anything if it meant that.

A tingling, vibrating feeling tickled at my fingertips, slowly making its way up my hands and through my arms until my entire body was full of it. Once it went through my entire body, the sensation suddenly stopped after maybe fifteen seconds, leaving me standing there holding my parents' hands.

"See?" my mother grinned, clasping onto my hand with both of hers and squeezing it. "You did it. I knew you could do it."

"Now, if you kept going, you would have killed us," my father informed me, grinning as if that was something to laugh about. "But we're already dead, so you're cool."

My mother hit him in the stomach, but he didn't even flinch. Seeing them interact with each other made my heart hurt. I'd always thought about what I was missing out on with them individually, but never what I would have been missing out on watching the two of them just be with each other. I really had robbed of these moments my entire life.

"The point of your power isn't to kill people, though you do have that ability." My mother placed her hands on my shoulders as she spoke to me. "You'll never have to worry about losing control or going overboard. You make the decision to continue if you want to. If not, the process stops automatically."

"You guys seem to know a lot about this Ender stuff," I couldn't help but point out.

My father shrugged. "You've had the birthmark ever since you were a baby," he explained. "We knew we were going to have to teach you about it, so we did as much research as we could in order to be able to do that one day."

But that day never came, and I grew up never knowing I was even a superhuman, let alone a special one. And if Hank and Nay had their way, I never would have found out at all.

My mother frowned at me, as if she were reading my mind. "Your mentors were trying to keep you safe, Violet. If an Ender isn't taught from a young age how to control their powers and what exactly these powers are, it's better off if they don't know about these powers at all. Or at least minimally."

While I could understand that, I couldn't help but disagree. If I had knew about all of the powers that I possessed, things could have been very different. If I had known that I could take powers, or kill people by just touching them, things would have been a lot different now.

"When you take someone's powers, once the process is complete, it's like a force is telling you to back off, and you'll automatically stop because there isn't anything left to take," my father continued as he brushed my hair out of my face. "If you decide to continue after that, that's when you take someone's lifeforce."

I couldn't imagine when I would ever want to do that, outside of protecting people that I cared about. Even then, it wasn't something that I would have wanted to do. The time that I had killed Malicius, even though it had been an accident, still haunted me to that very day.

"You should go now," my mother advised. "You shouldn't stay here too long. You don't want to keep them waiting."

"Hey!" a new voice suddenly called out, snapping the three of us out of our emotional embrace. "Don't just send her off before we have the chance to see her, too!"

When I turned to see who had spoken, I was met with a man with dark brown hair and familiar green eyes as he smirked a smirk that I knew all too well, the same style and demeanor I had come to love on someone else emanating from him.

Just by his looks I knew that this was Dex's dad, but he only confirmed it when he said, "I want to meet my future daughter-in-law."

I only gaped at him, unable to even think of what to say in response to this.

I noticed then that Vince was right behind him, looking just as young as they did even though he had only died hours before. I was happy that at least he was able to live some of his life before joining his best friends.

"Hi, Violet." Vince greeted me with a smile and a wave. "Long time no see."

I could only smile sadly, waving back at him weakly. "Yeah. I guess."

"So if you guys are giving her your powers for this fight, why can't we as well?" Andy questioned, patting his hand down on top of my head and ruffling my hair slightly as he spoke with his teammates, and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he had been able to hear everything that we had said in this strange, void-like place. "She'll need as much as she can get, won't she?"

My parents shared a look again, but then both seemed to agree that Andy was right. And I wasn't about to complain about having more ammunition backing me up during this fight.

Reaching out their hands just like my parents had, I clutched onto them, closing my eyes and focusing on absorbing their powers. The same tickling sensation in my fingertips returned, the feeling moving up my hands and my arms as I took their powers from them, my entire body feeling light and fuzzy before suddenly stopping once it was done.

"Please tell Aiden that I'm sorry and that I love him," Vince requested once I took my hand away. "And that I know he's going to do amazing things for our family and for the world."

"I will," I promised, not knowing if Aiden would want to hear this from me, though I wasn't going to let that stop me from telling him anyway since Vince had requested it.

"And take care of Dex, will you?" Andy requested as well, and while there was a teasing tone in his voice, I knew he meant it seriously as well. "He really likes you."

I nodded, smiling slightly. "I'd hope so."

"Hope so?" my mother squawked, practically pushing Andy out of the way to join the conversation. "He better feel a lot more than just like. How else are we going to officially be family?"

My face burned at the thought. "Mom."

"It's my job to embarrass you, honey," my mother grinned, grabbing and squeezing my hands. "And it's your job to give me grandkids."

"Hey, she's still a baby herself," my dad called out, making his way closer with Vince by his side.

I put my hands up in defense. "And I have no idea if Dex feels more for me than just like."

My mother stared at me flatly. "You're kidding me."

Andy laughed with a shake of his head. "You're really just like your mother," he informed me, and I couldn't help but swell with pride. "Not only are you clueless, but then you'll refuse your feelings even if it kills you until there's no denying it anymore."

I guess it was pretty useless if I tried to deny my feelings for Dex to our dead parents, considering they obviously knew everything about us. But that didn't mean admitting my feelings was any less awkward.

"Are you saying it's a bad thing that she's just like me?" I could hear my mother ask behind us, a threatening tone evident in her voice. I turned to see her shaking her fist at her teammate. "I'll end you!"

Andy shrugged. "We're already dead."

It made me happy to know that they had each other up here, wherever "here" even was. I'd spent my entire life feeling so lonely, and now that I had friends and people I cared about by my side, I was happy to know that my parents did as well. It made me feel even less lonely.

My dad placed his hand on my head, shuffling my hair. "Now, it's time for you to go," he said, and as much as I hated the sound of that, I knew he was right. "It's time for you to finish what we started."

He was right. This was my purpose; this was what I was made to do. My parents died fighting for what they knew was right, and now it was my turn. But this time, I wasn't going to die. I was going to avenge them.

I felt a huge wave of emotion crash right into my chest. This was the moment I'd wanted my entire life, at least since I was four. To finally be able to see my parents again, to touch them and hug them like they were still there. I finally got what I had always wanted, but it had to end so soon.

My mother seemed to understand exactly how I was feeling, because she smiled sadly as she stroked my cheek. "We'll always be with you."

Andy and Vince backed away, knowing that this was a moment that only needed to be shared between parents and their daughter. I wished that Dex would have had this opportunity to see his father, or that Aiden would have the opportunity to say goodbye to his dad. But I guess I had no idea what the future held.

"We believe in you," my mother assured.

"We know what you're capable of," my father added.

"Amazing things," my mother agreed.

My father smiled. "Revolutionary things."

My mother nodded. "But you're going to have to go back to do them."

Hugging them as tightly as I could, I felt tears prick the back of my eyes. I wasn't going to let myself cry, not right then. Even with everything I'd been through just in that day alone, I wasn't going to let myself cry.

"I love you," I declared, choking up.

My parents squeezed me back just as tightly as my father replied, "And we love you. More than you could ever know."

This would be the last time I would ever see my parents until I really did die, and there was no way for me to know when that may have been. They weren't going to be there for my wedding day, or when I had kids, or any of the other milestones that they should have been there for. They weren't going to be there, but I had to fight for what they left behind. I had to fight for my life.

I sniffed, wiping at my eyes. "Okay... I'm ready."

They smiled down at me, each with a hand on either of my shoulders. This was just as difficult for them as it was for me, but they weren't about to make it seem that way. They wanted to be strong for me, just like I wanted to be strong for them.

My mother seemed to remember something suddenly, gasping before she said, "Oh, yeah. Tell Damien I'd never love him even if he were the last man on earth."

I couldn't help but laugh through my tears. "I'll make sure to do that."

Hugging them for the last time I would ever be able to, I could feel myself begin to lose consciousness once again, as if everything was fading out around me. I didn't fall or collapse, but eventually found my body pressed up against a cold, hard surface that I soon realized was the ground I'd had the life choked out of me before.

As I slowly came back to reality, familiar voices began to fade in and out as I tried to focus.

"Now what am I going to do next?" I could hear Damien think out loud, and I could just imagine him rubbing his chin as my eyes began to flutter open. "Who should I kill next?"

I could hear Dex grunting and groaning, and I assumed he was trying his hardest to push the rock crushing his leg off of him as best he could without his powers. But even if he somehow did get out, there was nothing he was going to be able to do with a broken leg.

As my senses returned to me, I felt the hard, cold metal of the floor I was sprawled on underneath my fingertips. I focused entirely on the feel of it, and what I would imagine my dad would have done when his powers first developed. It made me wonder how different I'd be if I'd inherited my father's powers rather than my mother's.

"I think it's only appropriate that I kill you next," Damien continued, and I could only assume he meant Dex since Dex was the only one that seemed to be conscious. I could feel myself tense; I didn't have a lot of time.

"You think I'm scared?" I heard Dex challenge, and while he in fact did not so und scared, he did sound broken, like he'd completely given up. "Do your worst, you old loser. Nothing's going to change the fact that Violet's mom didn't want you."

I heard flesh connect with flesh, Dex grunting at the initial impact but laughing right afterwards. He didn't care if he died now. I had to get up before he got himself killed just by running his moth off.

Slowly, I felt the cold metal slowly make its way from the base of my fingertips and up my hand and arm. Damien was too busy celebrating his own victory to notice, saying something about killing Dex and then the rest of my friends right after.

My eyes opened just as I felt my entire body enveloped in metal, my skin and insides transforming with it to match the weight and density of the metal I was absorbing. I had no idea what I looked like, but from the parts of my body that I could see, it was like I blended into the floor entirely.

To anyone else, I was the same heavy, dense material, but to me, I felt absolutely no different than I regularly did.

Damien's back was to me, as he was saying whatever he was saying to Dex, who was the only conscious one in the entire room. Slowly but surely, I pushed myself up off the ground as quietly as I could. Dex, who could see me past Damien, stared at me in shock. Damien was too focused on whatever he was saying to even notice Dex's demeanor change.

"Hey!" I shouted, snapping Damien out of his "Are you done with your little stereotypical villain's speech or can we finish what we started?"

Damien stared at me as if I was a ghost, as if my mom and dad were standing there instead of me. And even though that wasn't the case, I could still feel them, as if they were right behind me, ready to fight alongside me.

"That's not possible..." Damien stared at me, a look of utter shock on his face. "You don't have your father's powers! You have your mother's!"

I looked down at my hands, clenching and unclenching my fist to make sure this was actually real. The pale skin I was usually met with was now a silvery metal, and no longer looked like skin at all. I could move like normal, but to anyone else, I felt like cold, hard metal. With no skin visible, it meant there was no way Damien could steal my powers again.

"Just another reason for you to hate my dad," I merely shrugged, a lazy smile adorning my face. "You couldn't steal his girlfriend or his powers."

Just like I thought it would be, this was enough to throw Damien into a rage. Screaming, he ran at me, but I was easily able to jump out of the way since this was what I had been expecting, causing him to go stumbling as he tried to slow his speed. I used this opportunity to swing my leg back as hard as I could, slamming into his back and sending him flying.

I covered my smile with my hand, not wanting him to see that I was laughing at him. As much fun as it was making him angry, I knew I could go too far very easily.

I used this opportunity to go to Dex, knowing he was no longer strong enough to remove the rock that was crushing his leg. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when I placed a finger over my lips and winked at him.

Damien was back up on his feet, a little more cautious now that he could no longer steal my powers or my life anymore. He thought he had won, and it was clear he did not have an immediate back up plan if his initial plan failed.

"You think I'm scared just because you've awakened some dormant power?" he snapped, rubbing at the dirt on his cheek as he slowly made his way closer. "I'm not scared of anything! There's no way you're stronger than me!"

I didn't care about him seeing me laugh now as I bent over and picked up the giant rock with one hand, holding it over my head with no issue at all. Dex stared up at me, completely flabbergasted at the fact that I suddenly had the same ability as him. This by itself almost would have been funny if we weren't in the situation we were in right then.

I lifted my free hand and engulfed it in flames, just like I had seen Aiden to hundreds of times.

Damien gaped at me, his eyes so wide I thought they'd fall out of his head. "Andy..." he murmured, in complete shock. "And Vince?"

I shrugged, having no difficulties even though I had a giant rock resting on my palm above my head while I did so. I definitely could've gotten used to this.

Without a second thought, I threw the rock right at him, though he was easily able to dodge it even in his shocked state, which I had been expecting. It wasn't supposed to be as much of a weapon as it was a prop to show him just what I was capable of now. And also freeing Dex was kind of a priority of mine, too.

Seeing Damien caught so off guard, so utterly shocked, filled me with a new sense of hope and encouragement. He had spent over a year studying my every move, knowing what I was capable of and what he would be up against when it was finally time for us to face each other and fight. But now, even though he knew the powers that I now had, he had no idea what my fighting style was, or how I planned to use these powers. And with my father's matter absorption, there was nothing he could do to stop me.

"You might have my teammates' powers," Damien began, and I could see ice beginning to form against his fingertips as he wiggled his fingers, "but don't forget that I have your teammates' powers as well!"

As he tossed several icicles at me, I moved to dodge but wasn't fast enough. Surprisingly, they bounced off me like pebbles on a windshield.

Lena's ice power was useless against me in this state.

He couldn't use Dex's invisibility to get an upper hand, even though I wouldn't have been as scared of that as I would have been before since I knew now he couldn't take my powers. He had Dex's strength, but so did I. He had Aiden's ability to control the elements, but so did I. He had my telekinesis, but thanks to my mother, so did I. The only think he had that I didn't was Nick's flexibility, but he had yet to even try to use that, and...

As if he was able to read my mind and knew what I was just about to think, he took off, moving so quick I could hardly see him. He ran around me, quicker and quicker until I started to feel dizzy. And in that same moment, he moved so fast around me that all the oxygen was suddenly gone, leaving me choking for air.

Collapsing onto the floor, I thought of my options. I knew I couldn't use Aiden's fire, since no oxygen meant no flame. I didn't know how water or earth would react in that environment, or if they would even help me in the first place. Earth, however...

Aiden hardly ever used any of his powers other than fire, with him claiming that it was the coolest and scariest of his powers, which gave him the appearance that he was cool and powerful. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but think he was wasting the rest of his powers for no reason when they were just as useful as well.

Throwing my hand up, the ground below us shifted, causing a large chunk right in Damien's path to move much higher than the rest of the floor. Moving too fast, he was unable to dodge it and went flying up into the air, smashing into the ceiling at full speed before slamming back down onto the ground.

He didn't move for a second, but I knew that winning wasn't going to be that easy, not after he had taken me down so easily before. And just as I thought, he sprung up as quickly as he could, stumbling ever so slightly once he was finally back up on his feet.

He moved to punch me, but I was able to move quick enough that the blow that was meant for my face now instead hit my shoulder. While usually this would have been extremely painful with Dex's superstrength, it simply felt like someone was merely shoving me out of the way instead of actually hitting me. I knew for Damien, on the other hand, it had been painful due to his reaction of jerking his now bloody knuckles back. This only seemed to anger him more.

This didn't stop him from punching and kicking me as much as he could, and while I still blocked and dodged to the best of my abilities, I knew that it didn't even matter since my body was nearly invincible now. He continued to throw punches and kicks, and I did as well, every blow that I ended up landed only slowing Damien down more and more.

He knew that I had taken martial arts lessons as a kid, so he was aware that I knew how to fight and defend myself when I needed to, even if it had been years since I'd actually taken any lessons. But even with that being the case, he couldn't have anticipated the extra strength I now possessed thanks to my father and Andy.

Not only was he being hit with super strength, but pure metal on top of that. The combination of the heavy metal along with my super strength caused blows that were much too strong for Damien's body to handle, and while it was very obvious to both of us that this was the case, he wasn't about to give up. He would never admit that I had the upper hand now. He would never let it seem like he was not the one in charge.

Speeding toward me again, he suddenly wrapped his hand around my throat, squeezing down as hard as he could much like he had done to me before. And while this did make it much harder to breathe, it was more uncomfortable than it was life threatening. He may had been strong, even stronger with Dex's super strength, but he wasn't strong enough to crush metal with only one hand, especially after the beating he had taken from me.

"Don't forget I've killed all of the people whose powers you possess on my own!" he growled, grabbing me by the throat and shaking me as hard as he could. "Killing one little girl with all of these powers will be even easier!"

"Little girl?" I grinned, tugging at his hand as he squeezed down tighter. "You underestimate me. You underestimate your teammates."

I wasn't about to let him try to strangle me again. Though the memory was fuzzy and almost felt like I dream, I recalled the last time I had been in this position, though it was the opposite, and I didn't even hesitate in kicking up, knocking him square in the jaw just like Dex had done to me.

He flew back, smashing into the ground with a hard thud. He was bloodied and bruised, struggling to get up and continue with this fight. I knew this was it. It was now or never, before he somehow came up with another plan or decide to escape so that we would have to fight again at some other time. I wasn't about to allow that.

Dashing over to him, I pounced, the extra weight the metal gave me causing him to cough out blood as soon as I made impact, the red liquid splattering all over my metallic face. Not letting this deter me, I smashed my fist into his face.

"It's over," I declared, now placing my hand against his throat, though not putting enough pressure to cause any real damage. "You lost."

"You wouldn't kill your friend, would you?" he asked, a twisted grin adorning his face before he quickly took this opportunity to transform back into the redheaded girl I had seen every day for over a year, the same girl I considered a friend. "The Violet I know and love would never do that."

Hearing her voice, that same soft and innocent voice I had grown so accustomed to, speaking to me like this caused me to pause, my hand stopping in midair as I reached out for her. This girl had been so sweet and kind, and would have never hurt a fly. This girl did not exist.

"You're not my friend."

Without wasting a second more, I clamped my uncovered hand down against her jaw, my fingers spreading across her cheek as I focused intently on finally ending this. Kristie screamed as she flailed underneath me, the sound almost causing me to stop until I reminded myself that Kristie wasn't real. I wasn't hurting the girl I'd thought of as a friend.

Ripping at the little exposed flesh I had on my hand with her nails, there was nothing that could be done once I was the one taking from her. As this continued, she slowly began to morph back into her true form, revealing Damien as he clung onto life. By this point, I hadn't even realized that I myself was back to normal as well, no longer covered in metal. But I wouldn't have cared even if I had noticed, as he was much to weak now to try to steal my powers or my life away from me again.

He was saying something to me, rasping some kind of angry threat that I couldn't hear with his dying voice. I had no idea what he was trying to say to me, but it didn't matter anymore.

"Oh, yeah. My mother said she'd never love you even if you were the last man on earth."

The howl that escaped his throat then was enough evidence to me that this was exactly the last words he needed to hear. The evil in his eyes had been present there this entire time, staring daggers at me until there was nothing left in them and he was nothing but an empty shell of a person, eyes as lifeless as his heart had been.

As soon as Damien died, it was as if everything stopped. With nothing left to drain, my hand dropped, as if it had been pushed away. I sat there, staring at my hands and at Damien's lifeless body, afraid that he would jump up at any moment. I couldn't trust this calmness that I felt.

The sound of wailing snapped me out of my trance, and I looked up to see Lena throw herself over Nick's body, sobbing as she clung onto his chest for dear life. I looked over at Aiden and Anthony, and by the looks on their faces, I knew exactly what had happened.

Out of all of their powers, Damien had never used Nick's. Because he had died, whether it be from Damien draining his life away or from the way he had been thrown. At that point, I didn't want to know which was the answer.

I had no idea when my friends had woken up, but I could only imagine it must have been during the fight. I wasn't angry that they did nothing to help me, because there was nothing they could have done except be killed without their powers. I was happy that they had stayed out of it. And as awful as it was to say, I was glad Dex had broken his leg and was physically unable to move, because if he hadn't been, I knew he would have tried to help me even without his powers. And there was no way that would have ended well.

I couldn't even look at Dex. I couldn't even think of anything else than the dead man I was straddling now, and the girl he had pretended to be for so long. Someone I had trust, someone I had come to care for, had never been more than someone who was trying to kill me.

And I started to cry.

I didn't even mean to, at first. Tears began to slip down my cheeks when I didn't even think I had to cry. I felt so broken and empty that they just began to fall without me even having to move my face. They just kept coming until eventually, the realization of everything finally hit me and I began to sob.

No one came to try to comfort me. I didn't want them to. Lena continued to sob over her dead friend's body, Anthony's crouched down beside her with her hand on her shoulder. Aiden sat there in the same spot he had been thrown, slumped over and staring off into space, as if he was in a trance. I couldn't even imagine what he was thinking or what he was feeling. If I was having this reaction, it was only a matter of time before he did as well, whether it be in private or in front of us.

Even without looking at him, I knew Dex wanted to come to me, but there was no possible way for him to do that with his leg shattered like it was. Even with the superhuman advanced healing, there was no way that wasn't going to take several weeks to heal.

I just kept crying. I cried for my parents, and Andy and Vince, who never got to live the lives they should have with their children. I cried for Rebecca, who had lost so much time with her son to keep him safe, only to be killed when they finally reunited in order to hurt someone else. And I cried for the Kristie; the Kristie I thought I knew. Which was the most embarrassing of them all.

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I've graduated college so I hope I now have more time to write and attempt on publishing things for real! It seems like just yesterday I started Wattpad, but it's been a little over ten years. I uploaded Hey There, Delilah, my oldest book on my profile, on January 1st, 2011. That's now a decade ago. I... I hate time I want it to stop

I listened to the song I attached while I wrote this. It just feels right to go with the fight scene. If you haven't played Mystic Messenger, which the song is from, I highly recommend it. It's my favorite game of all time.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3