Asylum

A New Day

Alex Severo

I barely even saw the fatal flash of lightning before Lana absorbed it all, but I still felt the shaking in my heart as she tumbled to the ground. Ditching Elwood, I sprinted to her, running the fastest I've ever run but still feeling too slow. The muddy ground seemed to try and swallow my footsteps, the slick grass trying to make me fall. The rain suddenly became torrential, like waves violently crashing into me as if to prevent any effort I put into getting to Lana.

An eternity later, I'm finally with her, gently laying her head in my lap as I check her pulse. In the distance, Elwood and Elektra watch with emotionless pupils, totally unfazed by the chain of events. Elektra, who has been back and forth with Lana for years. Elwood, his own daughter. How can both of them be so placid? They've known her far longer than I have, yet, I'm the only one who is in tears and not knowing what to do with myself.

There's the slightest hint of a heartbeat, which gives me hope. "Can you hear me?" I whisper, brushing back the loose strands of black hair from her damp face. Her lip, slightly parted, move as if to say something. "We're going to get you somewhere safe, okay? Nobody is dying today."

Voice drier than the desert and quieter than a mouse, she says, "It's too late."

"No," I negate, furious that she would give up so easily. "No, it's not. Don't say something so ridiculous like that." Craning my head, I shout for the only person who can fix this. "Kya!" I scream. Sarah and Leo watch with ghastly expressions, unsure of what to do with themselves. "Kya, you did this! You fixed Elektra and she did this! Now you have to fix it."

But Kya lays unresponsive to my demands, body limp and propped against Ren, who uses his jacket to shield her from the rain. "She's out cold, Cerberus," Ren tells me. "There's nothing she can do."

"Then wake her up!" I screech, voice ragged and desperate.

"No offense," Ren growls, voice obviously about to offend me. "But even if she wasn't unconscious, why would we save the Reaper? She's been trying to kill us for weeks."

"She's not the Reaper," I explain. "She's still a girl; a human, no different from us. So wake her up. Give her some of your power. Kya would have wanted to save her."

Contemplatively, Ren looks down at Kya, undoubtedly wondering if she really would revive the Reaper. "Kya always surprises us," he says. "I can never be totally sure about what goes on in her mind. But, this once, I think I can confidently say that Kya wouldn't be changing Reaper's fate tonight."

Grimacing, I snarl, "Then you have as much a hand in Lana's death if she dies as Elektra does."

"Then so be it," Ren dismisses.

"It's okay," Lana croaks, shakily reaching over and clasping one of my hands in both of hers. "I always liked the curve of your fingers." Delicately, her finger runs along their sides, outlining every disfigure and unnatural crook. A content smile warms her face, which is becoming dangerously pale. "I'm happy."

For her sake, I manage a smile, as weak as it may be. "How can you be happy?"

"I always feared my death when there was nothing else to think about. I didn't know if my killer would be a relative of one of my victims, or my own father. At one point, I wondered if I'd be the one ending myself." Chortled and strained, she laughs, but ends up in a wheeze. "But I'm glad it ends like this."

My smile falters and I shake my head, leaning down and touching my forehead to hers. Unnervingly, she is extremely cold. "I wish it didn't have to end at all."