Shattered (The Academy)

Chapter 38: Happy Ever Afters.

Sang's point of view.

I move the my piece on the board and take down her queen.
"And I win" I smile.
"You do?"
When I look up, I see a reflection of myself, a mirror that looks back at me. But her eyes.
She is not me.
"I took down your queen"
"And yet, you are still here. You haven't won"
I try to look my surroundings, but everywhere but her becomes a blurry stain.
"Where am I?"
"Don't worry, Sang. We are inside"
"Inside where?"
"Our mind"
"That's... that's impossible"
"Really?" One of her, my, eyebrows lift up "Tell me, then, how do you know how to play chess?"
Looking down at the board, I feel confused. When did I learn? How do I know?
"What is happening?" I ask her "Who are you?"
"I'm Jojo. We've met before, remember?"
"You are... the smart one, right?"
She kind of smiles.
"Oh, I am smart, but more than that. While Elizabeth is the protector I am the crisis handler. And I'm here to handle"
I shake my head in confussion.
"What does that mean?"
"Think, Sang. What do you remember?"
She plays with the pieces while she looks at me, and the memories start to come alive.
Smoke. Heat. Pain. Sky.
A boy.
"Did I... Did I have an accident?"
"You remember. What else?"
I close my eyes, but I can only remember feelings and noises.
"I'm not sure"
"That's okay. They will come back to you when you go back. Eventually"
"But, where are we? What do you mean in our minds?"
She reaches out abd touches my head with a finger.
"I brought you to a safe place. I'm here to help, as I always do. And I have to ask you: What do you want?"
"What?"
"You heard me. What do you want? What is it that I'll make it happen?"
Looking at the pieces in the board, I ask myself. What do I want? Where do I go from here?
"I want to save myself"
Jojo liftes an eyebrow.
"Are you aware of what you're asking? You'll be on your own"
"But maybe... maybe it's the way it was ment to be"
Jojo looks at me in the eyes for a moment then nods.
"It's a long way"
"I am a walker"
She almost smiles.
"Then, I'll have to go. Are you aware you could die?"
"I could die with you too. I have to do this on my own"
She nods then stands.
"I hope you're ready"
"I am"
Then, we fade to black.

Victor's point of view.

The vending machine lets the crackers fall down with a soft noise.
No one is going to eat then. Either way, I am under command and I have to obey. Dr. Green says we can't stay awake if we don't eat. So I take them and go to the small waiting area outside Sang's room. North and Gabriel are inside, taking care of her. The nurse kicked the rest of us out so we are in silence here. Waiting.
I leave the packets of crackers and leave it on the table in the middle. None of us reach out.
"Any news?" I ask my brothers. They shake their head and Mr. Blackbourne looses his tie and moments after, he takes it out.
He is as distroyed as we are.
I'm so tired.
Footsteps echo throgh the hall and when I look back, is late: Eleazar Rossum is being punched by Mr. Blackbourne.
"Holy...!"Silas exclams before noticing who is the one beaten up.
Rossum doesn't even stands up for himself. He looks like he came for it. And maybe, he did.
"You have guts to come here" Mr. Blackbourne hisses at his face. Some nurses and doctors gather together, alarmed.
He is ready to kill.
"I don't know what I was thinking" Rossum cries from the ground. Nathan stands next to out leader and clenches his fists. Silas holds tight into his chair
Is the moment Gabriel and North decide to come and see about the mess outside the room.
North starts to hurry towards the man he probably most hates when Dr. Green appears to get in the way.
"Not here" He says to all of us "Not now"
He tries to make Mr. Blackbourne let go of Rossum, but how could he?
"Owen, security will surely cone soon and you will be kept from coming here"
At first, nothing. Then he starts to let go of Eleazar a little bit more until he is straightening his sleeves and shaking off the imaginary dust.
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Green. Do you have any news about Miss Sorenson?"
"No, Owen. I'm sorry"
"Fuck no!" North tries to get a hold of the damage's responsible, but they both don't allow him. Silas even finds strenght enough inside to follow orders and try to calm him down.
Me? Fire is burning my soul until my veins is lava and my scent sulfur.
I have never felt so much, not even for my parents. Who does he think he is? To dare show his face around here?
"What are you doing here?" Nathan hisses at Eleazar, who doesn't think to defend himself any time soon.
"What I did... What I did... It wasn't right. It wasn't the right thing to do"
"No shit" Gabriel says "I thought Raven had you, mother fucker!"
"I ran. It wasn't their fault"
"You will only see her over my dead body" Silas steps towards him and stares hard. If looks could kill, he'd be a class A murderer.
"I..."

"This is all your fault!" Luke yells for the very first time. I hold him arm so he doesn't get out of control and do something he might regret later.
Or something he won't regret but bring consecuences.
Should I let him run free? No, no. Maybe not.
"I need to see her" He whispers, and that's the drop that made us drown. I let go of Luke, but our worries wasn't him at all. Noise explodes around you all at once and fury fill us. I have to choose to remind myself I am pacifist, and maybe that's the hardest thing to do.
I don't want to be this way. Not like George, and even when I love them more than my soul, not like my brothers. I don't wanna be this person, I don't wanna have to remember myself to be better, not to fall on my knees to violence. I don't want to become a man I can't even look at.
Father.
I breathe hard and try to distance myself from the noise. Entering to Sang's room to clear my mind, I'm stunned to see the image in front of me. She is standing looking over the window with her hospital gown. She looks over at me, and I know this is not a movie or a story. There will not be forgiveness for us, and there will not be a happy ever after.
This is real life. And happy ever afters are rare to find, and hard to keep even when you fight for them. You have to be a fighter.
We need to become fighters, not for the mission or for that program, but for Sang. For the girl standing in front of me, the girl we learned to love, the one who looks at me over her shoulders with something I hadn't seen before when she looked at me: Nothingness. Clean and pure emptiness.
She looks at me as if I was another furniture; Her eyes don't find me even when she's looking at them. She sees through me.