Linda shrieked in horror as Amy staggered sideways against the force of the blow, landing harshly on her other side with a choked sound of pain. As Shintaro slid to a panicked stop, everyone else halted where they were and turned their eyes toward Amy. Linda's shrill scream rose above the shelves, bouncing back against the ceiling and ringing in Shintaro's ears. Shintaro inhaled sharply but couldn't breathe out again, his lungs freezing in his chest as he stared down at Amy. 

Linda abruptly scrambled upright, slamming her mouth closed over her wail and darting across the floor on her hands and knees toward her fallen friend. Tears were already streaking down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking with the attempt to hold back her sobs. 

Shintaro could only watch as Linda crouched beside Amy, her hands hovering over the Dark blade that was sticking out of her body. There wasn't much blood, but the weapon was large enough that Shintaro knew he could do nothing to save her. It had definitely broken through several ribs and possibly even a few vital organs.

"No, no, no no no!!" Linda rambled frantically, her voice trembling and thick with emotion. "Amy, you idiot! Why would you do that?! Why would you... Oh, no no no!" Her voice broke, and she shut her mouth again against her sobs. 

Shintaro exhaled and inhaled again, straining to force his lungs to begin working properly. In, out. In, out. When he could see past the black corners of his vision, he shoved himself forward and knelt hurriedly by Linda's side, holding back tears of his own.

Linda, seeing that he was there, pivoted and fell against his side, burying her face into his shoulder. She finally let her sobs break free, her body trembling against Shintaro as he lifted his hands to pull her against his chest. She made no attempt to return his embrace, simply slumped against him in anguish. 

"Stop, stop it," Amy's strained voice commanded sternly from below them, and Shintaro lifted his head to find her scowling at both of them. Her teeth were clenched in pain, her eyebrows drawn together and her breaths quick. "Stop crying like that, Linda." 

Linda jerked away from Shintaro, spinning on her knees toward Amy again. She scooted closer to Amy's head and leaned forward slightly, letting her hands rest beside Amy's cheek. "You shouldn't have done that," she scolded in a shaky voice. "I could have-" 

"No, you couldn't have," Amy said shortly through her teeth, her gaze flicking across Shintaro before settling on Linda's face. "You- You wouldn't have ... seen it coming. He.. made sure of- of that." She ground her teeth together harshly as a wave of pain seemed to wash over her. 

Shintaro's hands twitched, longing to quickly force the Dark shard to disappear and to heal the wound; but he knew that his healing would do nothing. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to feel the pain that Amy was undoubtedly suffering - it was that he knew his healing wouldn't save her. 

"You said..." Linda started shakily, but trailed off into a choked whimper. "Amy, you said that you wouldn't come out with even a scratch. You said- You said you'd be fine. You-" She cut off again, gasping against a jolting sob. 

"Yeah, I did say that," Amy said, her voice thick with pain. She chuckled slightly for a moment, but the movement made her grimace and stop abruptly. "But I did say... I did say that if I were- to go down, I wouldn't go down... without doing some damage." She grinned shortly, before grimacing again. 

"I shouldn't have let you come along," Linda sobbed, pressing her hands against her face and ignoring the pain it must have brought to her wound. "I should have forced you to stay home. You should have stayed with Rachel. You wouldn't be-" 

"That's not true," Amy countered in a matter-of-fact tone, and Shintaro's tears almost spilled over at how she could be so lighthearted while she was dying. "You all would have... come back to my house, even- even if I had stayed there. I would have- been dragged into it... anyway." 

Linda's hands lifted to the sides of her head, where she clutched her hair tightly. "I hate this, I hate this, why did this- This isn't fair, it isn't!!" 

Amy made an attempt at a shrug, but it didn't work out very well and caused her to hiss through her teeth. After she took a deep, strained breath, she lifted her gaze back to Linda. "Life's not fair sometimes. You've just got to accept it." 

"I'm sorry," Shintaro heard himself whisper, drawing Linda and Amy's attention to him. Linda looked ready to explode from tormented anger, while Amy's eyes were curious, pitying (why was she pitying him? He wasn't the one doomed to die.), and expectant. 

"Why are you sorry?" Amy asked through a strained, shaky breath. "This isn't... your fault." 

"I wasn't fast enough," he said lowly, dropping his eyes away from her. "If I had only teleported Linda out of the way, this wouldn't have happened. Therefore, I am sorry. I'm sorry that... there's nothing I can do." 

Though Shintaro was sure Linda had already known this, she broke down into another round of strangled sobs. 

Amy smiled faintly up at him, her eyes full of gentle forgiveness and soft pity. "I already figured that there was nothing you can do. It's alright, Shintaro. Please don't feel bad, either of you. Or I will come back from the dead and slap some sense into all of you," she added with a laugh, and this time she didn't wince. 

Shintaro figured that she was probably in shock, which was why she was laughing and making jokes. Her brain probably wasn't comprehending the terror of death. 

Still, he felt a soft smile tug at the corner of his lips, yet tears pooled in his eyes and a shiver raced down his spine. 

Linda dropped her hands away from her head, slowly resting one of them on Amy's cheek. Her thumb circled around one of Amy's freckles, and Shintaro saw a tear splash onto Linda's hand. Then another landed on Amy's other cheek.

Shintaro slowly looked up, taking a deep breath. Abby was kneeling on Amy's other side, her left hand intertwined with Amy's fingers and tears flowing freely down her face. Rachel was on her knees behind her, her arms wrapped around Abby's shoulders and tears rolling swiftly down her cheeks. Gabriel was on Rachel's left side, one hand on her shoulder and the other clenched into a fist against his mouth. Falte was on Abby's right side, both hands clamped over his mouth and his shoulders trembling. Nanami was right beside him, covering her face and sobbing into her hands. Ruby, Moon, and Zeke were standing silently behind Linda and Shintaro, a tear rolling down Ruby's cheek - and even the shine of shocked sadness glistening in Ezekiel's eyes. Ozai was standing by Amy's feet, one hand pressed against his mouth and the other clenched into a fist at his side. Even Thorn was hovering near the group of friends, still in the beast form and frowning faintly. Kai was standing back the farthest, a few feet away from Falte and Nanami with his eyes trained on Amy's face. All of the Darks were looking their direction, but Shintaro didn't care to look at their expressions - except for Cynthia, whose eyes were full of pity.

"I swear, you depressed people," Amy said firmly, snapping Shintaro's attention back to her. "I get that you're upset now... But if you all get all sad over this in the future, one of you slap whoever it is." She was hardly talking with any strain anymore, her gaze sailing over all of her friends and even Thorn. 

Linda's hand brushed away a thick lock of orange hair from Amy's forehead. She took a shaky breath through her mouth, then smiled faintly. "Okay, Amy. We won't. Promise." 

"Great," Amy whispered, her body slowly beginning to relax and the soft smile remaining on her face. Shintaro braced himself for the coming truth that Amy was leaving, that she wouldn't come back. 

Closing her multicolored eyes, Amy breathed a sigh through her nose. "That's great." 

Silence. 

Linda drew her hands back to herself and buried her face into them, quietly dissolving into tears. Shintaro couldn't look away from the peaceful smile that was stuck on Amy's face, his heart hammering and his mind racing. 

Suddenly, Linda shoved herself to her feet, nearly knocking Shintaro with her head as she rose. As Shintaro tilted his head back to look up at her, she whirled around with almost an animal-like growl. She began walking forward, her head listed only slightly to the side so she could see who she was heading toward. Her steps were firm and confident, her hands clenched angrily at her sides. 

With a jolt, Shintaro realized she was walking straight for Brethren, who was watching her with a smirk on his mouth and a glint in his eyes. His hands were planted on his hips, his head tipped sideways and his eyes following Linda's every move. 

Shintaro launched himself to his feet, darting toward Linda to intercept her. Just before he met her, however, his feet planted themselves to the floor without his consent. He jerked to a stop, nearly losing his balance as his feet remained rooted to the floor below him. 

"Don't interfere, Shintaro," Linda said smoothly over her shoulder, her tears and wavering voice gone. She sounded perfectly calm, like a wave of tranquility had washed over her; but Shintaro knew on the inside, she was seething. 

Shintaro tried to move his legs, to run forward, to stop her - but Linda had him held firm in her telekinesis. "Linda, let me go right now!" he yelled after her, but she ignored him and halted just two feet in front of Brethren. 

She tilted her head back to look up at him, and although Shintaro couldn't see her expression, he knew she was glaring freakishly at The Dark Lord. "You're going to pay for that, Brethren. It's not going to be pretty." 

Brethren grinned toothily down at her, his expression unwavering. "Go ahead, Linda. It would be most amusing to watch you attempt to sway my mind." He shifted his weight to his other foot, raising his eyebrows expectantly at her. 

Linda barked a short, mocking laugh at him. "I'm not stupid, glitch. Entering your head is like a suicide mission, and besides, I don't think you have much of a brain for me to explore anyway." 

Brethren's smile didn't falter, but his eyebrows shot up with amusement. 

Shintaro began to panic, fighting to break free of Linda's hold on him. She was making a bad decision by even talking like that to The Dark Lord, let alone insulting him freely. She seemed to hold no fear, and although Shintaro knew that wasn't true, he knew that she would fear him when Brethren finally got angry at her. 

"Linda, don't be stupid," Thorn warned cautiously, and Shintaro turned his head to find Thorn posed to pounce if it was needed. The shadowy wings behind him were unfurled halfway, his hands were hovering in front of him, and his knees were bent slightly. 

"I just said that I wasn't stupid," Linda shot over her shoulder, her tranquil masquerade vanishing for a moment. Her blue eye locked on Thorn and narrowed with the warning to shut up, and then she turned back to Brethren. 

"What are you going to do then, little mind-reader?" Brethren asked curiously, tilting his head to one side with a genuinely curious grin. 

Not even bothering to hide her anger anymore, Linda backed up a few jolting steps, both arms raising slightly to cover her torso. With an angry, prolonged yell, she ran forward one step, leaned back, raised her leg, spun around, pushed off the floor with her other foot, and raised her right leg higher. 

After a few moments of sailing through the air, her foot collided with Brethren's face.

~

I AM SORRY.

I chose Amy because I knew that some people out of my readers would like her. Because she's hilarious and beautiful and cunning and stubborn and lovable and relatable. 

For a while, I didn't know how I was going to pick. 

But I knew it had to be Amy.

Soon, I had the plan on how she was going to die.

And this was it. 

I'm sorry, Linda, for killing your best friend. 

I'm sorry, Amy, for leaving you with such a fate. 

But you died protecting what you love.

Thank you guys for reading!!

I love you (and Amy!!)!!

P3ac3!!!~~~