4.4 | Trigger ✓

10 | возвращение на родину

THIS IS THE FINAL CHAPTER OF TRIGGER.

(Don't forget to read the author's note at the end of the chapter.)

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в о з в р а щ е н и е   н а   р о д и н у

( homecoming )

"HERE'S HOW YOU rewrite a story."

Dakota paused, glancing down at her notes. Her loopy penmanship was readable but the sentences seemed to blur, the words distorting into a huge mess that seemed impossible to decipher. It didn't matter, though. It'd taken her so many rewrites that she practically had the message ingrained in her mind by now. So she took a deep breath and pushed the notes beneath the shelf of the podium, before bracing her arms on the top, meeting the gazes of her audience steadily.

"You start with a fresh perspective. You're still the protagonist, this new story's yours, but you're looking at the old story from a different angle now. That person who starred in your old story, that person you were – that person is but mere fragments of the story you're going to create. Never underestimate the importance of those fragments. All your monsters, all your ghosts, all your nightmares – "

His metal hand wrapped around her throat.

" – they're still going to be there. They're still going to feature in your new story. They're still going to haunt you." She continued quietly, filing away the memory that sprang to her mind for later. "But that's okay. A story needs antagonists. It needs you, the protagonist, to battle the antagonists. It needs multiple battles, multiple failures – "

His dark figure standing on the roof ready to run.

" – multiple victories. It needs you to invest every inch of emotion that you possess – all your happiness, sadness, anger, peace, frustration, patience – all of it and so much more, to create a multi-faceted protagonist that people will want to root for. It needs you to acknowledge your fears, it needs you to be courageous enough to want to fight those fears, and it needs determination for the long, exhausting journey that you're about to embark on – "

His terrified eyes after waking up from a nightmare.

" – but most of all – it just needs you." Dakota paused again, letting her words linger in the soft silence and letting her eyes linger on each one of her patients. There were so many of them. Scared, resigned, sad, tired. It should've felt overwhelming but somehow, the need to help them drowned out everything else.

The need to love him drowned out everything else.

The thought branded itself across her mind, but she was distracted when a movement at the back of the room caught her eye. She glanced over at the door, looking curiously at the two people who'd just stepped in. Sam's presence wasn't unexpected; he had, after all, been the one to assign her this batch of patients and the one who'd talked her into conducting a mass session in the first place.

The infamous Scott Lang, however, was a surprise. He was looking around with blatant interest and he grinned widely when he saw her standing at the podium. Dakota shot a brief smile their way and turned back to her audience.