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𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒in Sage Rowan's life that she wished she could do over. Like when she had gotten sloppy and was caught by the Peacekeepers for being past the fence and had gotten flogged for it. That wasn't entirely her fault as some newbies fresh out of the academy had gotten lost and were patrolling at the wrong perimeter. But still, if she hadn't stayed out there longer than she should've tracking that deer, she could have avoided them and she wouldn't have to carry the reminder of that day with her everywhere.
Or when she was nine years old and had been kicked out of the only home she has ever known, she had stolen from a boy only a year older than her who was in charge of the money and was beaten by his father for losing it. At least, that is what Sage had assumed, given the boy's face was beaten pretty badly the next day. Sage had been desperate then, mostly for new boots as hers had literally fallen apart and she could no longer wear them. Hunting bearfoot was not ideal. She remembers seeing him the next day, and hating herself for being the cause of his father's wrath.
Then there is the day she had come home to discover her mother waiting for her with a knife in her grasp. Sage always wondered if she hadn't left that day. If she had been with her mother the whole day, would she have been more prepared? Could she have stopped her? She could have jumped on her before she brought the knife to her neck, and found some way to pry it out of her hands, some way to prevent it. Instead, she was frozen in front of the door, stunned to the point she had forgotten how to breathe properly as her mother told her she wasn't a good enough reason to live.
Yes, there are moments in Sage's life she wished she could do over. But never- never in all her short fifteen years on this Earth- does she wish more than anything she could do over this particular moment.
It was as if time had slowed. One minute, she was mulling over her first ever kill, the next her entire life was over. She could still hear that gasp- the gasp of her failure. And when she turned to see the one person she swore to protect with her life, literally, impaled from behind, everything inside of her just stopped. The overthinking, the planning, the determination, the fight... it was all taken from her in just one move.
A look of horror fell upon her face as the long sword was retracted from her friend's flesh, too which Lorcan looked up at her with wide, frightened eyes before trying to take a step to her but fell to his knees, revealing the monster that stood behind him. The disheveled look of Chance Henderson appeared before her, thigh bleeding from where she had stabbed him and his black winter hat was now missing, revealing his messy, discombobulated chestnut hair.
When the two District partners locked eyes, many emotions were spread before them. But before Chance could even move a muscle, a loud, fierce cry rippled from the fifteen year old's pale lips that it scared whatever birds were hanging in the trees above. "NO!"
