Gift of the Goddess

Chapter 68 - Feathers in the sea

I sniffled and rubbed the tears from my eyes.

"Does that mean they got away safe?" I asked.

Lux sat up in bed and looked over to me and nodded. "Yeah, Alexis and Val are at the hospital. A few scrapes and bruises, but they're okay."

"Thank goodness.." Zack sighed.

"Hey, does this mean Icarus got out?" I asked.

"Oh, right." She set her phone down and looked away from us.

"Lux, what happened?"

"We won didn't we?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, we blew that bastard's head off!"

Those words felt foreign coming out my mouth, my heart raced as Jormungand's face came into my mind. Even if he is dead, I still hate thinking about him. I looked up and even Lux looked a little surprised.

"You did, but the Goddess made a deal with Icarus. That in exchange for Zack's life, they'd take Icarus's."

A shiver ran down my spine.

"He did what?" Zack spat out.

"No, he.." I stopped and looked over to Zack, whose eyes were wide open.

I looked back to the ground and just stared at the wood. This is my fault.

'Icarus had a plan to defeat Jormungand all by himself'

That's what the Goddess said. We were the ones holding him back. Because of my leadership and horrible planning. Icarus gave up everything for us.

"Nobody asked him to do that! I made the deal! I was ready to die!" Zack roared.

"Jack tried to stop him, but the goddess shut him out. Then the next thing we know, your body appeared next to Stryders." Lux mumbled.

"This is a load of crap!" Zack roared and punched the floor. "Why me!? What the hell did he go and do something like that for!?"

"Lux, where's Jack?" I asked as I stood up.

"He wanted to be alone when he saw Zack's body appear. Something broke in his eyes. Then he just flew away..." Lux mumbled.

"Lux, do you know where Leo and Elo are?"

"Not a clue, they went to go talk somewhere I think. It was just me and Donum who brought you two back."

I nodded.

"We should go see the girls. Make sure Alexis is okay, and ask her about the people who abducted her and Alexis."

"What? At a time like this!? Shouldn't we be searching for Jack? Or trying to square up with the goddesses!?"

"We need to prioritize the mission." I balled my fists. "We can't let our emotions cloud what needs to get done. Making sure the girls are safe, and seeing if Alexis is willing to talk about what happened is the most important thing."

"So we're just gonna leave beta-Leo alone with Leo!?"

"When you were, when you were dead. Elo came back and helped us. Whatever Leo did reached him. I have faith in Leo."

"I'll drive us." Lux perked up and hurried over to the door.

I turned to it and something snatched my collar. I looked back and saw Zack glaring at me. I grabbed his wrist firmly and stared back

Into his eyes.

"Are you trying to tell me to continue on like nothing just happened? Like you didn't just tell me someone gave up their future for me?"