Dying of the Light

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Note: Major character death. Takes place in willjaymusic 's Slugterran Saviours universe but is not canon

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When Alana had woken up that first day where everything had gone downhill, she'd been apprehensive. Nightmares had plagued her dreams. But she was still determined to carry on and enjoy one of the rare times of peace the Shane Gang was experiencing with their new guest from the Eastern Caverns. Things had been tense given her history with Junjie, but she was willing to befriend the Eastern champion.

She had gone for a walk around Wild Spores, then watched Kord and Pronto (and eventually Junjie) play their slug racing game. She'd been happy. It was a good start to the day.

Then the Elementals started to be ghouled. She felt the immense dark energy plaguing the very heart of Slugterra, and was constantly fighting with herself to keep that darkness from infecting her and turning her against her friends. Leo had been doing his best to keep her grounded, but no amount of love could change the havoc the ghouled Elementals were wreaking on Alana's mind and body.

And she feels it now, eating away at her as her friends were fighting a final battle against Ataro, desperately trying to heal the three ghouled Elementals in Ataro's possession. Alana leans up against a mushroom tree in a clearing, away from the slugfire, trying desperately to catch her breath. Chills run up her spine, and she fails to think about what warmth once felt like.

She's useless in the fight, unable to think enough to plan out a shot, let alone hit a target.

She watches as Leo and Eli desperately fight Ataro's new host. Leo occasionally glances over at Alana, seeing her with now paled skin and red-streaked hair, but he doesn't rush to her aid, no matter how much he wants to.

Alana decides that she needs to get out of sight until she recovers her strength, because her eyelids are drooping and every one of her muscles is aching, and knows that deep down she won't do any good in this fight. It would be better to stay out of the way and not risk distracting any of the capable slingers.

Just as she pushes off against the mushroom tree she's been leaning again, aiming to retreat farther into the jungle, she hears a bellow from the Shanes fighting Ataro.

"DOC!"

She looks up and her eyes widen as she sees a velocimorphed Ataro grappling with Doc, the Energy Elemental, growling and releasing a flash of black and red light.

Tears form in her eyes and she sways as Doc is ghouled, and she feels darkness like she's never felt before.

The stabbing dark energy is like fire, infecting her entire body and draining away whatever strength she had left. She feels it pulling away her life force, and the best chance at defeating Ataro falls into protoform. The energy Elemental is now a ghoul, growling and twitching, and Alana's body is trying to connect to light energy that simply isn't there.

Eli cries out and runs his hands through his hair as his beloved healer barks and snarls at him. Leo furiously begins to approach Ataro, but something in the corner of his eye makes him stop.

He turns and sees his love swaying on her feet, then dropping to her knees.

The cold, dark energy, having done its job in eradicating the light, leaves Alana. She feels blank and numb and hollow inside, like she's just an empty shell. She had been neutralized. What was it like, to be warm? To feel? She can't remember now. Her head feels fuzzy and her vision spins.

She falls to the ground, her breathing shallow, as Leo sprints over and drops down beside her. Tears are in his eyes, and Alana wants to feel sad, but she can't. She can't do anything.

All she can think is that this is a horrible way to die, feeling like a ghost. She feels her own body shutting down, losing feeling in all her limbs and finally finding herself unable to breathe. She can feel her own heartbeat now, growing weaker and weaker as she is pulled away from the living world. Her connection to the light energy has been severed, and after so long of living in coexistence with it, her body doesn't know how to function without the light.

As her vision finally goes black, as she is finally released from the torment that is feeling absolutely nothing, the last thing she hears is the cruel laugh of Ataro, and the desperate cries of Leo Shane as he tried to keep her with him.

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this sat in my drafts for three years ope

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