Parallels- an MCSM AU [COMPLETED]

FORTY-FOUR - The Drawbacks of Holding On

oh hello there

weren't expecting to see me, huh? thought the story had ended for good?

ha. oops. guess not.

i suppose this is as good a time as any to say it- APRIL fucking FOOLS

:]

yes yes i know i'm terrible, now do you want the real chapter 44 or not??

also the beautiful art was made by my amazing platonic soulmate actually_star !! thank u thank u 

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"It's time to die, Jess."

Essa backed away from me and made an upward flicking motion with her free hand, prompting more of those black tendrils to shoot out of the ground. They started wrapping quickly around me, spiraling up my body and reaching gradually towards my neck. I knew- just knew -that I was about to go the same way as Giselle, dropped into the void without a second thought.

I will never be more glad that I had allies.

Jacek landed silently, jumping back onto the main island after he'd been knocked away. Essa started to turn, but I reached forward and grabbed ahold of the front of her shirt. The black shadow tendrils restricted my movement somewhat, but I jerked my head upwards, slamming the top of my head into her face.

She screeched in pain, stumbling backwards and clutching at her nose. Her hand came away bloody, and she gave me a truly murderous look.

But Jace attacked before she had a chance to do anything. He moved almost as fast as Essa had earlier, lunging forward to drive his sword into her side.

She heard him at the last second, and dodged with an exclamation of shock. But his attack made her lose focus for a crucial moment, and the shadowy tendrils surrounding me disintegrated.

I didn't waste a second, darting away and reclaiming my sword from where it had fallen. Essa whirled away from Jace, clearly aiming to go after me again, but she suddenly froze. Her whole body went still, except her darting eyes. "Wh-what-"

I glanced back to see Julia's Admin eyes lit up again, still on the ground as she reached a shaking hand towards Essa. Her face was tense with pain, but she seemed determined not to let go. "Jess, go! K-kill Reuben; we'll hold h-her off!" she panted, clearly focusing all her energy on containing Essa.

I hesitated for a moment too long, and Julia screamed "GO!" at me. Jacek stepped forward, between me and Essa. "This is our last chance. Make it count!"

This time, I didn't waste a second. I leaped onto the closest island, setting my sights on the fragment where Reuben was. I was beyond relieved to see the Aiden of my timeline had won the fight, and didn't look any worse for wear after disarming the other version of him. Essa's Aiden was sitting on the unstable ground, clutching at his knee as though he'd been hurt.

Well, serves him right, I thought briefly, jumping to the next fragment. This was another with an unfamiliar gate, though I only caught a faint glimpse before moving on. The Prime there was a pale, black-haired woman who looked alarmingly like Essa, curled on the ground as she tried to stem the blood flowing from a wound in her side. I felt a pang of aching sympathy, wishing briefly that I could go through and help her. But there was too much to be dealt with here, first.

I heard Essa scream shrilly from behind me, but didn't look back, leaping frantically from island to island. Hopefully Jace and Julia could deal with her for just a moment longer.