~ Sanctuary ~

Chapter 10

I whipped around to see Cassidy hunched over, clutching her stomach, and looking up and among all of us. I could see through her mask, and her face seemed calm, yet her eyes read panic and possibly pain. And that's what scared me. Because never in my life have I seen true panic in someone's eyes before.
"What's going on, what's wrong Cass," I said suspiciously. This can't be happening now, we've just gotten over the wall, we can't have another problem come in the way.
"She seems to be shutting down, this was one of my fears," said Max from behind her. My ears perked up and I whipped my gaze to him.
"What do you mean," I said breathily, with a more angry undertone than I would've liked to have. My chest and throat were tight and I could feel a sensation of crying come upon me. I was scared of what they might admit.
"When we crossed the border, even though the vaccines had spread to us within the confines of our captor, the outside world doesn't have that luxury, and those vaccines might have expired since I loaded them such a long time ago," they said sincerely. No, this can't be happening. No fucking way. Tears pricked the back of my eyes as Cassidy was still holding herself on her knees, standing to make sure she didn't collapse.
"Max, what are you saying," I said, tears about to come out in a waterfall typhoon as I looked between them and Cassidy.
"It means she's dying Charlie, and we're all dying slowly too," Felix said from behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder and saying it in a low and whispery voice. There it was. The news I never imagined to receive. The tears started flowing out as if a dam had just been let go. It would've been flooding cities and towns for a whole decade I bet.
I ran over to Cassidy, and right as I did, she seemed to lose control of balance and fall right into my arms as I gently lowered her to the ground quickly and sat with her, with her head in my lap and my hands around her head.
"God, we've come this far and now this," I sobbed pitifully. "Why're we dying?" I screeched. Everyone seemed to flinch but immediately look among one another. I felt Max's towering presence behind me as I looked down at Cassidy who seemed nearly lifeless but I could still feel her heart beating and her chest heaving as she breathed.
"I think because we killed Gordon himself, who ran this operation, the Sanctuary was the place where we couldn't get sick, because here we are, slowly dying from the diseases on the outside perimeters. He didn't want to let his inventions go, so he found a way to keep them alive and away from anyone who might steal or take advantage of them," Max said. I could tell he was trying to be sympathetic and also trying to prove a point to me, to try and make me feel better, but it just would not stop the sobbing. It wouldn't stop any feeling I was having right at that moment.
My voice carried gently across the valley, as I stared down at my comrade I only met a couple weeks ago. And even though I haven't known her long, I know we had a connection in some way, shape or form. Cassidy's arm slowly rose, and reached for one of mine, and I gave it to her, letting her hold my arm and squeeze it.
"It's going to be okay Charlie, maybe we just weren't meant for freedom at all," she said, forcing a smile through her tone.
"No don't say that, of course we were, we came this far, we just didn't think about the sickness and cautions that come with it, at least I didn't," I continued to sob, having a bit of chuckling inflection on my voice to try and make myself feel better in some way, but to no avail. I know I wanted to try and keep it together for Cassidy, but if she's dying and isn't sobbing by now, she's accepted it at this point.
"Please, don't beat yourself up over it. You should understand that we were stopped when we tried to go against Gordon without you all for a reason. Maybe it was to prove a point, you were just willing to take a leap of faith," she said, smiling. The twinge of pain I felt in my heart as she said that was unimaginable. I felt tears just dripping down my face and pooling within my mask, so much so that some of my tears were dripping out of my mask and making an absolute mess. But I didn't care. I knew this was my true blood sister, dying right in front of me. What was I to do, sit there like a rock and just hold her with no semblance of emotions whatsoever? Fuck that.
"I'm going to because I made a mental promise to myself that I'd grant you all a better life than the one you've been living, including myself," I whined. Cassidy didn't answer, even though I knew she was still conscious. Madelyn walked up behind me and joined me at my side, getting on her knees to be at my level.
She looked at me, her piercing purple eyes staring into my soul with big and vulnerable pupils staring back at me. Her soul spoke to me, telling me it was okay, but I just wasn't accepting the comfort. I'm losing my sister right in my arms, and I can't do anything to stop or slow the process. I just wish I had her for longer.
I felt my eyes starting to burn, as I looked up to Madelyn and wailed, I felt my heart emerging from my body, and feeling it pound with sadness and mourning. Cassidy just kept breathing, and I figured she was trying to relish in her last breaths on this world. Madelyn leaned down and rested her forehead against Cassidy's body, and I saw Madelyn's body start to heave and twitch.
She was crying too.
I wanted to put my hand on her and hold her somehow, but I didn't know what else to do. I just wanted to keep holding Cassidy as we both sat over her slowly passing body and soul inside it. I looked up and around at the other groups, and they were all looking among one another. And I could feel my mouth gaping open, searching for a wail to generate, a plea of some sort, but none came.
The Hunters were shaking the hands of the Scavengers, their doppelgangers especially. And it seemed after each embrace or handshake, or meaningful thing said to the Scavengers, they started decomposing too. And the Bodyguards seemed to be comforting their dogs that accompanied them, since they knew it was time.
Banner went first, and Blake just had to kneel to his knees as Banner slowly lowered himself to the ground, clutching his body as Blake was still in really bad shape. He seemed very sullen as he sat there, staring at Banner as his soul slowly started to pass and the skin that was visible on him was decomposing after every five seconds.
Finn was next, and Felix helped him to the ground, but stood over him out of respect. He didn't kneel or go near or close to Finn, mostly because of the fight and how neither of them are similar in personality, but they still share some of the same builds and construction. But nonetheless, even though Felix was scarred from the fight he had alongside Finn, and there was some tension, I knew at that moment, Felix could forgive Finn. Because there wasn't anything that could've been done other than forgive, and let the eventuality of death run its course.
Fraser was next, as Flynn shook his hand and fist bumped him. Fraser's sickness didn't set in immediately with him seemingly, so Flynn did him a favor and held his back and held one arm, before lowering him far enough to rest on the ground comfortably. I saw Flynn seem to talk, but I couldn't hear anything over my own wails coming from my throat over Cassidy.
Then finally, Gunner. Griffin and Seth both held his arms and laid him down slowly similar to how Flynn lowered Fraser, despite only being one person to lower him. And Griffin and Seth seemed to have a deep respect for Gunner. More Griffin than Seth, but I could tell Seth eventually warmed up to him.
I looked back down at Cassidy, who was still breathing steadily, but I tried to let my mind think she could push through and live, until I heard a silent cry come from Blake. I looked over and he was gently sobbing over Banner, who laid still. I felt my heart pump like it's never done before. I felt for my team who was losing comrades that they'd been fighting alongside for. And even though it wasn't for too long, it still will leave an impact on them.
Then, right after that, Finn stopped his breathing pattern. Felix kneeled down and put his hand gently on Finn's chest, before standing back up and walking over to Blake, who was weeping over Banner's body.
Finally, Fraser took his last breath, and Flynn patted his body silently and respectfully, before leaving his side to come to mine and put one of his hands on my shoulder, and the other on Cassidy's body, showing mutual respect for her just as he did for the others. I turned back and looked down at Cassidy, tears still clouding my vision roughly.
"Please, don't just leave us like this," I cried breathily.
"I'm never going to be far away from you Charlie, plus, you'll probably follow us shortly behind anyway," she chuckled, coughing a slight bit. I ducked out of the way as she heaved her chest in a coughing fit. "Just remember," she began again, reaching upward toward me with her hand and resting it on my chest, despite her hand being upside down on me, "I'm always right here," she said, before she put her hand and pointed to my forehead, "and here."
Those words began to well up inside my throat, as I felt the pain almost erupt from my body, but I held it in. And right as I thought I had her just for a bit longer, she took a deep but struggling breath, and exhaled.
And with that, it was done.
She was gone.
She is gone.
I felt my soul leave my body, the emptiness filling the void that was once my wails of desperation, before coming back seconds after, and I let out a cry that could leave anyone deaf for years to come. It erupted across the plains, kicking up dust the longer I held the wail. It was like the sound waves caused air to move differently, and as if the sound waves were some sort of unspoken weapon against the ground. But the only power behind said weapon was my grief. You could even call me a banshee because of how shrill it sounded. And within a couple seconds, Blake and Felix had made their way over to me, followed by Griffin and Seth, to join me, Madelyn and Flynn beside Cass's body. All of the people besides the Scavengers knew about my shriek, and how I don't use it often, but they were used to it after a while.
As soon as my wail had been drawn out of the dark depths of my body, I relaxed. I didn't realize Seth positioned themselves behind me, and once my muscles untensed from the amount of strength in my body I used for that wail, they caught me easily as I fell backward against them. I looked at Blake and Felix, then Flynn right next to them, and they looked among one another in concern, but sullen concern. There's nothing that could've been done about the situation of all of us slowly dying in time, and all we could really do was wait. And that's what was killing me.
"I don't think you wanna see this, m'lady," Flynn said empathetically. And my heart burned. It hurt, because they were wanting to go out of my sight so I didn't have to see them pass.
"No, no no, please stay, I can handle seeing you go, it's okay," I said, panicking and practically begging them to stay. I didn't want to let them go. Flynn nodded to himself before nodding to the other two, and they joined with Griffin and Seth at their sides, with Madelyn gently holding my hands and on her knees in front of me as I laid back against Seth and Griffin's hold.
"I'm sorry I couldn't bring you any further, I just wanted to give you all a better future than the one that was planned out for us by Layne," I whimpered. My voice no longer had function, and I saw Blake tap and nod at Felix, which he responded with a nod. Blake took one of my hands from Madelyn's grasp and kissed it gently, before laying himself down on his back. He kisses my hand only in extreme situations or when he's worried or anything, and I knew that was his signal of saying goodbye, and he couldn't muster to do it with his voice.
One down, five more to go. Not including me. Will I even survive?
I sat my head up a slight bit and looked around near us. The Bodyguards went and sat next to their dogs and next to each other not too far from us. I felt for them, but I had no strength to get up and comfort them. Because I was mourning the loss of my sister, and slowly but surely, every single one of the others who were passing right next to me. The pain in my heart was unbelievable.
Felix looked at Flynn, nodded, and finally laid himself down next to Blake, taking Blake's slowly decomposing body and holding him as Felix laid down with Blake in his arms. A true brother and soldier with concern for his family. And since Blake was in pain to begin with, Felix holding him is a respectful and symbolistic way to show the brotherly bond.
"I think it's time for me to turn to dust, Charles," Flynn said hoarsely, coughing a bit as he spoke. I started feeling more tears drip out of my eyes, despite the feeling of dryness coming from my tear ducts. I tore away one of my hands from Madelyn, and he grabbed it and brought it up to his mask, putting my palm against his cheek. "Memento Mori, my dear sister," he said hoarsely. He closed his eyes and pressed my palm more heavily against the side of his mask, before crawling over to join Felix and Blake's resting place.
I heard a cough come from behind me, and it was Seth. His coughing was heaving, but yet, Griffin and Madelyn didn't budge. I looked back to see Seth laying down, not moving.
"Griffin, that's your brother, how.." I said, trailing off mid sentence. I was shocked that he wasn't erupting in tears.
"The floodwall isn't necessarily there anymore, after losing Max once, it was hard to make me cry again," he muttered, looking behind him. I followed his gaze as best as I could, and saw Max, now as the Puppet, laying on the ground immobile.
Another one down. Multiple down in fact. Holy fuck.
"I know this is a weird ask," I said dryly, almost as if all the mucus and liquid had drained from my system. "But can I see both of you? I just wanna have some sort of recognition of your all's faces if we all pass together."
Griffin and Madelyn looked at one another and nodded, before Madelyn let go of my hands and put them resting between her thighs as she sat back on her legs.
"Who do you want to go first?" she asked politely and sweetly. Her voice rang so pleasantly, and I looked between the two of them and took a minute, before I realized I didn't have much time to delay on who goes first. So I just had to choose and go with it.
"You, Griffin," I said, forcing a smile, and forcing myself to sit up and watch him take off his mask. Griffin made sure I was sitting upright and securely, and was supported enough for him to let go of me for a brief moment, before reaching up for his mask to take it off.
The masks we had were heads, and we had to unlatch certain parts of them to take them off from the back. It was a challenge, but it was made to be that way, since we rarely ever, pretty much never, took them off in the first place. It was always dangerous to possibly take them off because of the toxic air in our environment, and those masks are what kept us alive. He fumbled with that latch for a minute, which I'm not surprised by. His mask is way more ancient than ours by far.
He finally got the latch and slowly started taking the mask off, and as the mask came upward, his hair fell down and out of the mask near his neck and face. His hair was a beautiful color red, more of a ginger red, with a smidge of unnatural red in it, but obviously not dyed, but still pretty. It was cut in a shaggy trim, but close fitting to his head and neck. It's almost as if he had a mullet mohawk, and it was stately and dignified.
His face was then revealed, and as expected, charming and chiseled for the win with looks. I guess a lot of good looking soldiers died in the process of or died before the war and were used to make us. I briefly questioned in my mind why our hair never grew, and then I realized Gordon probably didn't care whether our hair grew or not, so I waved the thought off.
He put his mask down next to him and I studied his face. He had a hint of freckles, and wasn't extremely tan, but not starkly pale either. His cheeks seemed sullen and had a lack of nutrients, but it suited his bodybuild well. HIs hair adjusted itself with the wind, and even though it didn't move much, it still waved in the breeze every so often.
"You really are a sight to behold, Griffin," I said with a grin on my face, still a bit of pain within my soul, but the feeling of being able to see the faces of my two dearest friends was bittersweet.
"Why thanks, Charlie," he said gratefully. I turned to Madelyn and she'd reached out for my hand, so I let her take it again.
"Your turn, darling," I said comfortingly, rubbing her hand with one of mine. My heart still aches from everything that had happened just in the past couple minutes or so. But nothing could quench my curiosity for how truly beautiful Madelyn, as a creature, would be. Because I knew she'd be as beautiful as a sunset over an ocean would be. Or at least how I'd imagine it to be.
And she exceeded far beyond my expectations.
She fumbled with the latch that was on the back of her mask, and it was still difficult to get off without a helping hand, but she managed. She slowly lifted it and her hair fell from the depths of the mask quickly. Her hair was straight, flowy, and platinum blonde, and its length went down to her waist. If she'd been in military attire, she'd have to tie it into a very high ponytail to keep the hair out of the way, along with slicking it down using hair gel.
As her mask continued to rise off her face, her physicality in her visage was breathtaking.
Her face was perfectly chiseled and constructed, and because I'd seen her tattoos before, her skin was very very pale. But in her cheeks and cheekbones, there was a bit of a rosy tone to them, as well as the tip of her nose. Almost as if she was in a snowstorm. Her hands were delicate as she took off her black, fighting gloves and set the mask down at her side, her hair blowing in the wind gently.
I couldn't explain more of a beautiful creature in all my life. And she left me speechless with how beautiful and incredibly awe striking she was.
As her hair waved in the breeze much easier than Griffin's had, she looked up at me. There were plain black freckles on her face, and us cyborgs, we don't believe in makeup, and never wear it because nobody sees most of our face through the mask anyway. So those black freckles? They were real. And they perfected her look. Her lips looked like they were swollen for the same reason her cheeks and nose looked prettily frostbitten, and they were as pink as the swells of her face were.
Then I got to her eyes. Along with her eyelashes being black, her eyes were a pretty and pronounced pastel purple, and they were absolutely astonishing. The pastel purple also had dark purple laced within the pastel purple, giving it depth and extra color. Of course I knew her eyes were purple, but because of the light color of her eyes, her pupils were also pronounced and huge, almost as if she had just taken eyedrops. But I'm sure that even with the lighting, it would've been like that. She just had naturally big pupils. And they were captivating and compelling.
"You are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on, Madelyn," I said meaningfully. She smiled, and I swear if I wasn't her sister, I would've leaned in and kissed her right there. Anyone would've. Because she was, by far, the most beautiful woman alive, if she wasn't a cyborg. Her smile was as precious as a puppy begging for its toy back. I couldn't get enough of what she looked like.
"Thank you, Charlie," she said sincerely. "Now it's your turn," she explained, a smile dawning her face again like a natural sunrise in the early morning. I hesitated before reaching up behind my head and laying my fingers on the latch.
I pulled on the latch and I felt the mechanics within the head that keeps it altogether and secure. It released quickly, giving me access to lift it off. I never explained what I looked like to you, because I didn't think it mattered, but I think it matters now. At least for this kind of context. Because I didn't think it mattered then.
I have natural strawberry blonde hair, and it's always in a high ponytail to keep the hair out of my face through the mask, and so it's just naturally out of the way and no stray hairs come back out of nowhere. And even though it's not common for any human, let alone cyborg to have dark and ocean-like eyes, I was born with them. You could explain them as little pockets of galaxies within a soul, or the window to the soul, or whatever you call them. I just had to either do with the ocean or the sky, depending on what compliment you wanted to grant me. I also had a naturally gifted jawline, and all my muscles in my body are natural as well. Of course I have to work to maintain it, but that's what I'd been doing for the time that I've been alive, especially as a cyborg. Because if I was a human, a real human, before I was turned into this, then I don't remember a lick of it.
Madelyn seemed to take interest in what I looked like, so much so that she took her hands and cradled my face, looking deep into my eyes before planting a loving kiss on my forehead. She backed off again, and I held out my arms. I didn't want her to let me go.
And what do you know, she's also a pretty cryer too. As soon as I'd reached my hands out, a single tear ran down her cheek, as she pulled herself closer to me, with her hands on my face. What followed was expected, slow but eventual tears from me because this was the last time I'd ever see her or Griffin for that matter. They both mattered so much to me. I felt my face turn up in bittersweet sadness and happiness laced together, and I couldn't help but hold onto Madelyn's face for dear life as she held mine.
I pulled away from Madelyn, and turned to Griffin, gathering as much strength as I could muster, to leap into his lap and into his arms. He wrapped his arms quickly around me, just holding me in a tight embrace that was meant to mean something.
"God, this sucks," I muttered with a light chuckle, before I felt Griffin falter beneath me.
I immediately leapt up off of him and sat back down near him as he started to waver in his posture while sitting up. He started holding his arm, like he was in some sort of pain, but his face seemed to be yielding no emotion.
"What's it feel like," I heard Madelyn ask him quiveringly.
"It just feels like my stomach acid's turning to dust or solid, I can't tell which it is, it's making my throat dry out a lot," he said. As he spoke, his voice seemed to turn more and more hoarse, the more words came out of his mouth. I reached my hand up to his shoulder and unfastened his shoulder pads so there wasn't a bunch of weight on him. And then I started rubbing his shoulder.
"Well, we're here with you, we're not going nowhere," I reassured him, choking back my sobs. This seemed to work, but Griffin noticed, looking at me with wide puppy eyes. I didn't respond to it, so he nodded and leaned his head back. I shifted my hand down to his back, slowly letting him lay against the dusty ground of the desert. I climbed over him to his other side, posting just like Madelyn was but mirrored and on the other side of Griffin, and keeping a hand on him at all times.
"At least we made it over the wall, right," he breathily said, coughing quickly after. His cough was dry, with no moisture to be found within it. I felt my chest heave, but I kept manually fighting back even more sobs, but trying to control my breathing so as to not let any noises, whimpers, or sobs of any kind slip out. It's like I was fighting my own body at that point. Because it was showing things I didn't want to be shown at that moment.
"Yeah, we did," Madelyn said with a confident smile. Her smile seemed to falter only a slight bit, but I tried to take no notice. I looked at Griffin, and his face seemed to be wincing in pain.
"Is there anything we can do to help with the pain," I asked him. He shook his head and didn't respond, and all I could do was nod. There wasn't anything I could say to him or do for him at that moment. And I think I wasn't the only one who was realizing that. "Is it really that painful?" I choked out, somehow.
He gulped, seemingly preparing to speak again. "No, it's just an unusual feeling within me, I can't even describe it. It just feels bad, because I know I'm dying, but it's not extremely painful. It's probably why the rest of them didn't make too much of a deal out of it," he shrugged forcefully. At least it isn't too painful for them, that's always good.
Seeing him like this was making me feel like he was in pain, but surprisingly, it hasn't hit me yet. He was taking this like a champ. I know my time will come, I guess it's just waiting for him to pass first. But I think it's because all the pain I was enduring earlier, all the grief, I'd finally reached the stage of acceptance.
I was past bargaining at this point, there was nothing we could do about the situation, anger had already flown through me like denial did, so I think depression is setting in, followed by acceptance shortly after.
"You know, I figured something like this was going to happen," he chuckled. It made a crooked smile crawl onto my face as I heard his forced and minimized laugh. His laugh made me smile real wide anytime I heard it, even if it was a forced laugh to try and keep me calm. "But I didn't want to discourage you by saying anything, simply because your dedication was so surprising and convincing, that I didn't want to deter you from it," he added, getting cut off by a couple of coughs. That made me smile even bigger.
"God, but why didn't you tell me your suspicions? I probably would've thought about it but it wouldn't have deterred me," I reassured him, whining at this point. I was sad that he didn't warn me. At least I would've considered his words while continuing the mission we had set at stake.
"Because, I didn't know how much of my words would affect you in any way, so I wanted to play it safe and not say anything, and it would've gotten us to this same circumstance either way," he explained through forced speaking. Honestly, he may be right. He didn't know whether I'd automatically trust his words and take them into heavy consideration, therefore deterring me from the mission at hand. And he's right. I probably would've strayed from the plan and accepted defeat, and continued life as it were. Although, his effect of death seemed to be getting to him, so I just held onto his arm and didn't expect him to speak any longer.
We've already gotten this far, and he was willing to shut his mouth about a possible danger, until the minute of said danger comes into play with the plan I'd been executing and mapping out for months. Everyone was so invested in the success that I painted for them, but it led to a dead end with only a couple victories along the way.
God, what have I done...this is all my fault...
I shook myself out of deep thought as Griffin's breathing started to slow. His eyes seemed to be fluttering and nearing slumber, and that's where his death was going to take him. I sighed, because I knew I had to stay strong enough until he passed, at the very least, and then accepted defeat and could crumple into Madelyn's comfort. She always knew how to keep me calm, level my emotions easier. Of course it's not good to rely on someone else for your problems, but if I didn't vent it to someone, it wouldn't have been good for me. That's probably why I grew so close to her, because she knew near every damn thing about me.
"You can let go now, it's okay, we'll be okay," I assured him. His chest started to relax against the ground, as the sunset slowly started to go down. I could tell he was starting to accept defeat himself, and slip into the void of death. And after about five minutes of pure silence, with me and Madelyn holding our breath, and each others' hands, with one of each of our hands on Griffin, he arrived at his deathbed.
One breath. Two breaths. Gone.
He was gone.
I let go of him immediately once the realization of his passing hit me. I couldn't stand to be near him any longer, let alone touching his lifeless body. Madelyn seemed to be the same. We both stood up shakily, and started walking more toward the wall we'd just come from. We needed something to lean against instead of each other, just for pure comfort alone. As we got about halfway there, I started to feel my eyelids and my whole body gain more weight than it should. But I didn't feel tired, or was I starting to feel it?
Feelings blurred in my mind, I wasn't sure what my body was trying to tell me, and it made my stomach grow with anxiety. Or was anxiety really the thing in my stomach that's making me feel strange?
"Hold on Madelyn," I warned, and Madelyn stopped in her tracks and immediately came to my aid. "I can't walk any longer, I think I'm going down next," I tried to croak out. Thankfully Madelyn heard me and clutched onto my elbow, and slowly lowered me down to the ground. I looked up and ahead of me as I laid on the ground and looked at the mountainous wall we were trying to get back to. I was no longer looking at the pretty sunset behind us, and just looking at the place that kept us hidden and captive for so long.
Well, I guess karma hits hard. If you shoot too far for your dream, and it doesn't go anywhere, it wasn't a goal or aspiration. It was just simply a daydream that crawled into reality from the depths of the imagination. It tried to fabricate itself, but retreated the second you got only a sliver of it to remain in reality.
Wow, I guess when you're passing away, there's a lot to think about as you fade away.
As I came more into reality of what was going on around me, I realized I was on my stomach. I was no longer standing, so I took one of my hands and pushed it against the ground and upward to roll myself over. Madelyn, who was kneeling down next to me, kept one hand on me at all times. I gazed at her for a moment, before looking up at the sky and just gazing upward now that I was on my back and more comfortable.
It's like an array of visions, memories, flashed by my eyes in a whirl of colors.
When we were just outside the factory, when we met each other, when we met Madelyn, and there we formed a whole group, a family.
The Hunters and I venturing to salvages to get new parts every week or so to turn them into the Doctor, that way we'd get our vials of agony that we needed.
When we went to the community pub to get a cold drink to start our morning and we crossed paths with the Veterans, and started our mission with them in tow.
When we were having the face off with the Scavengers, then finally convinced them to help us in our plan.
When we were being intimidated by the Toymakers in their office, and had to meet with Layne face to face.
Flashes of the first and painful battle commenced, with the Experiments darting every which way, and seeing Madelyn being taken away by her carbon copy.
Flashes of Morgan's office and blueprints in his basement, and interrogating the brothers to get information out of them.
When we had to fight the Experiments to finally get inside the factory and to Gordon, who was the Con Man.
When we finally fought him, and saved Madelyn.
Right as Madelyn's name entered my brain, all of the memory flashes stopped. I remembered she was right there, and I was missing my last moments with her. I knew that it was helpless to try and stop whatever's deteriorating me, but what I could do was relish in these last moments, rather than reflect over what's happened in the past. Because I couldn't just be reviewing what happened in the past and expect to last long enough to also have last moments with Madelyn right here at my side.
Madelyn was looking down at me, in yearning. I knew she felt horrible for what was happening, despite it not hitting her yet physically. Her hair blew gently in the near-absent wind, making her silky hair look more liquid than anything. There was no noise to the wind, and it made the air and atmosphere peaceful. She could've been floating in water and her hair would've done the same thing. And it would've been the same amount of peacefulness, because water would just have the gentle lapping of the water's surface above us.
I could just imagine me slowly sinking to the bottom of a pool, or a body of water, with Madelyn reaching for me or holding me as we floated within the waters' depths. And I would still be content. I'd be with her, in my last moments. I'd be with her.
"We did it, darling," I forced, forcing a smile on my face, finally letting my voice emerge from my body to speak out to her. Her hands went to the sides of my face, and she leaned down, connecting our foreheads and noses together, and I felt my heart spark a little. It didn't make the feeling in my stomach and lower torso feel any less weird, but it helped distract me. That spark was enough for me to focus on her.
I knew this was my sister, and I relished in it. The fact that she's my sister, and she always will be was what brought me pride. She valued me like I valued her. I didn't care what was happening to me now, just as long as she was okay.
If she survives this, let me visit her through her dreams. Please. God, let me visit her.
The prayers shot through my brain as I sat there with her in complete silence, with the occasional hiccup of sobs coming through mine or her mouth.
She's a good soul, so even though she most likely won't survive this, just let her live and well if she does. And let me visit her when I can.
"You did good," she started to sob. She held back her sadness and tears well, and was able to talk easily, but the tone of her voice revealed she was about to cry. And I didn't want her to, no, not right now. I'd rather her let me go in a happy mood, not a mournful one. I just want her to be happy. That's all I want.
"Thank you, darling, so did you," I complimented and responded to her. That caused a pained smile to spread across her face. She leaned down and just kept her face close to me. And I appreciated it greatly.
I never knew I could have such a bond with this one of a kind cyborg. Cyborgs were originally built to not have connections, emotions, but if one was built without those things, it would hinder its skill and precision in fighting, as well as its natural logic. So the fact we were blessed with emotions like these is a miracle. And I'm thankful for the con man actually considering the thought of giving us those things. He wouldn't have been as successful at making life without them.
As I sat there, remembering the first time I ever met her. How timid she was at the beginning. But she's grown since then. She's grown with confidence, and even though she's dependent on me sometimes, she's still her own person. And I'm proud of her for finding her own. I'm not exactly sure if it was because of my influence or not, but I'd like to take a bit of pride knowing I was there to witness it, even if I wasn't directly involved with it.
"What do you remember from the factory, like what happened, in detail this time," I ask, practically pleading. I wanted something to talk about for her so my impending death slowly approaching me wouldn't plague her at that moment. This seemed to knock her senses back in, and she looked like she started to think. Of course she still wanted to be concerned about me and I didn't judge her for that, but still. I wanted my death to not be as impending as it was.
"Well for starters, even though he took me from my family, he was very detailed in his plans and I'd heard everything. Of course there was no emotion exchanged between him and any of his creations, not even me, even when he exerted interest in me at the Toymakers office before he snatched me from you all," she started. That's not surprising. That man had to be on his deathbed before he was able to start feeling any emotion. But I will say, it was a nice acting facade that he put on his cyborg to make it more intimidating with an uneasy undertone.
"But even when he explained everything, I still knew he was trying to keep me safe. Mackenzie came stumbling in after the fight, wailing in pain, and he just comforted her, assuring her that she'd receive my parts, which albeit was a bit scary to hear, and feel all better," she continued. That sent a chill down my spine.
Just the thought of this monstrous creature trampling in as Madelyn's strapped down or trapped within a cage, whining about pain or something like that. And the fact that the Con Man actually showed sympathy to the creature. That, I didn't expect. Given that Madelyn just said that he never exchanged emotions between him or any of his creations.
"Was Mackenzie actually capable of feeling pain and emotion," I asked, tilting my head a slight bit in wonder.
"She seemed to be the only one, besides Max, that had any sort of function of emotion, the rest of them seemed to be clean slates," she shrugged.
Huh, interesting.
I winced as I felt a sharp pain ripple through my spine, but I just gritted my teeth, hiding it from Madelyn. Thank god she didn't notice it. But it knocked me back into the realization that I was dying. Griffin said it was painless, or not too painful, but he could've easily been lying.
But the fact that all cyborgs ended up being required to be built with pain sensors, makes sense. Of course at first, you think it'll be better for someone to not have pain sensors, hence feeling no pain. But if you didn't feel any pain, you wouldn't know your vital organs or functions are failing you. And that's what was happening to me. Right now. So it's a good fucking thing that I'm feeling it.
Madelyn sat there with me as the sun continued to go down. My body was slowly giving up on me, but still stayed with it so Madelyn wouldn't be alone. But as I felt my breath hitch ever so slightly, I knew my time had come.
"Okay, seems like this'll be the last time I lay eyes on you in this form, darling," I croaked. I heard a strained sob emerge from Madelyn, and I just clutched her hand tighter. "That doesn't mean you won't see me again, Mads, you know that," I cried weakly. She sniffled, and let the tears fall gently past her rosy cheeks.
Seeing her like this was unbearable, but it was happening. I'm just hoping that if she survives beyond all odds, she'll be okay.
Her facial structure glowed in the sunset as my vision started to fade, and as it started to fade, I remembered the one last thing I wanted to tell her, and also the fact that I had my eyes on the most beautiful creature in this whole world, in my eyes, as I faded into a permanent slumber.
"See you on the other side, darling," I forced out. I took one last breath and exhaled, and my hearing, my vision, and my body quieted. As if my soul turned to dust within the time I took to inhale and exhale. And my soul was set free.
Free.

My heart started pounding as I felt Charlie take her last breath. And my chest heaved as I realized she laid still. My body remained stiff, as my body and soul felt like it was being shattered like a mirror with a nail and hammer. That's seven years of bad luck. The color of life drained from her face over the course of a minute, and her facial muscles relaxed. The pain had escaped her.
But it didn't escape me.
"No," I wailed pathetically. I knew that if anyone was there, they'd run to my aid if they had any semblance of feeling within their body. But the pain ravaged through my bones and throat like a riptide.
Charlie could scream and sing across valleys and miles upon miles, but this beat her by a longshot. I wish I could've said that I couldn't come close to her piercing and, if I didn't know any better, I'd dare near call it just a horrific scream for help and savior.
She was gone.
I felt my chest heave as I kept wailing, pleading, hoping someone was out there, and that could hear me. Could come to my rescue.
But here I was, all alone.
No one but me left to pass.
Surely I wouldn't outlive everyone else.
That would be too painful, too punishing for me. And also, their souls would be stuck to me like glue.
My cry erupted from my chest and throat, and it slowly grew more hoarse the more dust and particles that flew into my throat and mouth, and wailing out that I chose to do. It dried up my lips and throat, and of course I'd be able to swallow and get rid of the dryness, but it was no use. Anytime I wanted to stop crying, I couldn't. There was nothing stopping the barrage of cries that erupted from my body.
My heart was as if it was being ripped into little pieces as it was pumping, and the pulmonary arteries and veins were still pumping blood, trying to reach the heart to give me life. Yet deep down, I knew it was functioning just fine. It just felt like each heartstring was breaking with every cry I howled out.
Of course my heartache chose to affect the rest of my body.
My collarbones, diaphragm, forearms, thighs and stomach all felt ache, just from the crying and the fact that I lost the person who was closest to me.
My sister. My rock.
God, just take my consciousness from my body by force. I don't want to sit here mourning my sister when my soul could easily be with her. I wish someone could just knock me out permanently with a hammer, and give me permanent sedatives so I'd never wake again.
I felt my body start to get tired, and even though I didn't want to lay down, I wanted to stay and sit up while holding Charlie's lifeless hand, but I didn't have enough strength to.
With a seemingly heavy heart, even though I'm sure it weighed the same amount before everything went downhill since the escape, I let go of Charlie's hand after a bit of hesitation, and relaxed back onto my back. I didn't want to let go of her, but I knew I had to. There's nothing I could technically hold onto when it now is nothing but a lifeless corpse. Because Charlie's soul is no longer within that body. Hopefully she finds another body in another universe or future or world that suits her just as well as this one did, maybe even better than this one. I didn't feel anything but heartache, and I just let that feeling overcome me like a tsunami of water entered my body. I let my eyes slowly close, letting the darkness consume my vision. And the darkness, oddly enough, didn't feel scary. It felt safe and normal. Normal.
As I lay there, the darkness then turned into a flash of a bunch of my memories through my mind, nothing stopping them. But they traveled so quick, it was like a swish of colors in my vision. Eventually, those colors melded with darkness and black, like my visions and memories were painted with ink on a canvas painting of rainbow colors.
Maybe my time will come.
Maybe.