School of Good and Evil II

Chapter 49

I can hear Clarissa screaming in terror behind my back as I start running. I feel as if I'm running on empty, and I can see the bodies of the two women collapsing unbearably slowly side by side.

- NOOOO! Fuck no! I scream.

Sophie and Tedros reach them before me and Tedros grabs Bastian before dragging him backwards. I reach out for him and feel his bones crack one by one under the pressure of my will.

- Stop it! Ava! Shouts Agatha. He must be judged! You can't kill him!

- Lesso! Ava quick! Sophie adds.

I look down at the bloodied body of the woman I love. My my knees give out as my gaze meets that of Leonie, lying next to her on the floor.

- No! No fucking way. Leonora .. . Leonie . .. FUCK THAT ! SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING! I scream.

Sophie shakes her head gently, as if there's nothing she can do. The redhead's hand closes gently over mine.

- Ava? Ava?

I calm down as best I can to listen to her. My hand presses the wound on her belly but the blood is flowing at an alarming rate beneath her. In my eyes glisten with the tears I'm holding back, but I smile to reassure her.

- It's going to be all right, Ava.

I laugh slightly:

- Are you serious? It's my job to reassure you, not your's. I gasp.

She smiles but her eyes close. I take her face in my free hand.

- Leonora! Stay with me! Leonora!

She opens her eyes again but I can see she's not quite conscious. I press even harder against her wound.

- Ava? Ava, it's Leonie. ..

Sophie gestures to the dean, who has just withdrawn the blade from her body and let it fall from her trembling hand. Her lips turn red, then blue, and her skin turns pale.

- Put pressure on her wound! SOPHIE MOVE YOU ! PRESS ON HER WOUND! I cry out in panic as she doesn't react.

She starts to move but I know it's hopeless, there's no way she'd survive a wound like that. I take Leonie's hand, which is lying almost dead on the floor. She smiles at me. Tears burns my eyes but I refuse to let them go. No. They won't die. I refuse.

- I'm sorry, Ava.. . Lesso bellows, her eyes half closed.

I lean over to hear her better, my face a few millimetres from hers. One hand still uselessly pressing on her wound the other holding Leonie's.

- Why are you sorry? It's not your fault.. .

- I know it isn't. But you deserve better than me. She said weakly, pointing at Leo with her chin.

I shake my head and a tear rolls down my cheek.

- No, Leonora. No. It's you I love.

- You're my once upon a time Ava. She whispers with a faint smile.

I kiss her gently and can barely feel her respond. My body starts to tremble. So does hers. Her eyes close and I feel one last breath escape her lips, hitting my cheek with indescribable violence. I feel myself collapsing, a painful vice breack my chest. I'm suffocating.

- No, Leonora! Please don't do this to me! Stay with me!

My tears run endlessly down my face, I can barely breathe. I feel like I'm being crushed, like I'm going to die here, suffocating with love for her. Leonie's hand weakly presses mine as I collapse against Lesso's lifeless body. I rest my forehead against her chest in the hope of feeling her heartbeat, but something makes me raise my head sharply. A cough catches me and I struggle to catch my breath, sliding my fingers into the redhead's jacket. I feel the warm glass under my fingers and the cork. I suddenly pull out the vial containing Raiponse's tear and raise it between the two women.

- Fucking hell! Leonora, stay with me! You're not going to die! Leonora!

Deep down I know it's certainly too late, but I can't suppress the wave of hope that has found its way into me. Leonie's hand gently releases mine and I turn my head towards her. She smiles softly at me, but in her eyes there is already a dead veil.

- Shit. .. No, Leo. Fuck no!

I'm crying harder. I can't do this. If I save Leonora I'm condemning Leonie. But I can't live without Lesso. I cannot. My hands are shaking.

- I'm sorry, Leonie. I'll have to take her back. I gasp.

But I know I can't do that. I just can't. It would kill her. But I can't lose Leonora, I'll die. I just can't. I fucking can't! My hand shakes as my gaze moves from the fainting blonde to the pale, inert face of the one I love.

- No.. . I'm the one who's sorry. Leo murmurs.

I watch her cough horribly as blood beads from her lips.

- I won't let you kill me.

She rips the vial from my hands, her finger lights up and the vial shatters. The drop falls. At once painfully slow and far too fast.