“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Thirty-Three
“What have you done?”
Falcon coughed out blood, and Faye had to close her eyes to prevent herself from seeing Krad’s pained expression. Because no matter how much she tried to be rational, she believed that Krad was in there, somewhere, just waiting for a chance to resurface.
She didn’t want to kill him, but if worse comes to worst, she had no other option. Because what was at stake was bigger than the two of them. Lives of hundreds rested on her shoulders. If she couldn’t get her happily ever after, at least she would hand them theirs.
She would have to betray Krad.
She pushed the knife deeper into his chest, twisting it so that Falcon could feel the excruciating pain.
She pushed him away, and he fell on his back. He was panting; he was pale. She hovered over him, tears trickling down her dirty face. “Go back to your body, please."
His shirt was stained crimson, and it was quickly spreading.
"Falcon, please. He’s useless now. He’s dying. You wouldn’t want to die with him, right?”
“You. . . you planned this from the start.”
Faye pulled the knife out from his chest. She disgustedly threw the knife away. “Please. Falcon, I beg you. Let me meet him. Leave him.”
“And then what?” he sputtered. “You probably have. . . your minions watching over my body, and hand me to Kreuz Creed. . .”
“No. A mind reader will escort you out, but you’re escaping with Richard.”
His gray eyes hardened. “That boy . . . “
“Loves you so much,” she tenderly smiled, “So don’t hurt him more than necessary. Leave. You’ve done much more than make my father pay. You’ve made hundreds of innocent people suffer. You’ve made parents lose their kids, and children lose their families. You’ve done enough damage. You had your revenge. I hope your family and friends will now rest in peace.”
He raised his hand and wrapped his fingers around her throat.
“I just have to kill you, and it will be over.”
Stubborn old man.
“Go ahead,” she said, “and make my father hurt, but you’ll hurt your son as well.”
He froze. She stared at the dreadful hatred in his eyes.
“I am as important to Gneiss as Trisha is to you. Will you let your son undergo the same hell that you experienced? And it will be worse, to be forced to kill me with his own hands.”
Something shifted in his eyes, and Faye knew he understood. Falcon was a man who felt too much, had been driven to insanity by the pain, but once, he had been an agent of Creed. He had been friends with Kreuz, have known some of the people killed in battle. He had a wife and children he cherished with all his heart.
He was a villain, but he was also human who has wants, feelings, and dreams. When he lost his loved ones, he fell down the pit, turned his back on his values and took the wrong path up.
“I’ve been terrible, haven’t I?”
“Very.”
But she couldn’t hate him. He had done ugly deeds, had caused deaths to her friends, but it wasn’t too late to correct it. Lives lost would never return, but those who survived could keep on living. They would rise above this hurdle. They would have to forgive him, because if they don’t, it would just become a cycle of death.
Maybe Falcon just needed someone to give him a second chance.
“I have a secret to tell you,” she said as she watched the gray in his eyes gradually fade into the blue of the summer skies. “Cecilia loved you, and until the end, believed in you.”
Falcon smiled.
“Thank you. . . and tell Krad I’m sorry.”
"Tell him yourself."
His eyes closed.
His eyes opened.
Blue.
Krad was back, but there was no room to rejoice. He writhed in pain as he coughed out more blood.
She squeezed his arm as she moved on to the next part of the plan. This was the riskiest part. Her heart would break if she ran out of time. If Krad ran out of time.
“Rael! Falcon’s gone! Where are you?”
Krad’s fingers caressed her tear-stained cheeks. Her heart clenched as a beautiful smile blossomed on her face. He’s back. He’s back and they would finally get their happily ever after.
However, just as his finger reached her lips, his hand fell. Krad went completely still.
“Rael! Rael!” she screamed into the earphones attached to her collar. She touched his pulse and it was nonexistent. “Hurry! He might not make it!”
Ivan had hacked the servers and linked all of them into his laptop. His fingers flew over the keys to disrupt the intelligence between organizations, inputting false intel in them so that their movements would be halted in the confusion.
It was like a strategic play station game. If he was classier, he would have offered chess, but nah. Unless it would be Harry Potter chess. Well, that was an all together different matter.
Only this was no game.
This was real life.
And he was moving around real people, who had no second lives if they were killed in action.
Arashi was guarding outside the room for any Light members that might appear. He had been squinting at the windows for some time now. “Ivan,” he called out. “Can you check into the satellites?”
“What? Why? I’m busy. I can’t spare – “
“There are flocks of birds flying.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ll be worried if fishes start walking.”
“Ivan!”
“What do you expect? We disturbed the forest. We are in a middle of battle and – “
Arashi’s voice became icy. “Not away from us, dimwit. They’re headed here. . . away from something.”
“What? Wait, let me just put down this server. . .”
Suddenly, everything blacked out. The screens, the monitors, the lights, everything.
The ground shook.
Earthquake.
“Fuck,” he muttered as the ceiling cracked and the floor underneath him gave way to fine lines. He jumped away from the electrical wires and outlets and tucked his laptop under his arms. “Outside, now!”
“But Faye – “
“Fuck.”
The two of them ran and hoped that the building wouldn’t collapse until they were out. With fingers crossed, they made it to the main office and found Rael, Faye and Krad under a table. The ground was still shaking.
“Out, out, out!” Arashi was shouting. “The foundation of this building is bad!”
He seized the injured blonde and carried him on his back. They managed to leave just in time. There was a delay because Faye insisted that they help herd the Light out as well. But Faye was just being Faye. She even tended to some of the casualties.
Rael was exhausted. With the last of his strength, he painstakingly managed to close the hole in Krad’s chest. About the massive blood loss, there was nothing more he could do.
It’s all up to Krad’s own health whether he would fully recover or not.
“Go to sleep,” Ivan told him. “I’ll watch over you.”
He wouldn't protest to that.
“Thanks.” He drifted to sleep at once.
Arashi’s hands kept twitching as he warily scanned the area. They were in the open field near the edge of the island. The Light hadn’t recognized them yet, but they were surrounded.
Their position? Extremely dangerous.
“Arashi. Do we have more bandages – “ Faye was saying, but he abruptly cut her off.
“We can’t stay here any longer.”
“What?”
“With the magnitude of the earthquake, I have no qualms that we will have a tsunami in less than half an hour. A wave at least fifteen meters tall,” he spoke, his voice trembling as he watched the sea retreat from the shores. “With the barriers broken, it will completely wipe the whole island out.”
Faye’s eyes widened considerably.
“The Command has two submarines left, but we have to hurry – “
“No,” she said firmly, already aware of his suggestion. “We are not leaving these men alone.”
Ivan and Arashi looked at her like she totally lost it.
She continued in a louder voice, so that everybody could hear her. “Their leader is missing, and there’s no more reason to fight. We must all work together and survive.”
When no one spoke or contested, she started firing orders.
“Ivan, contact dad and tell him what happened. Announce to the whole island that the war has ended and that a tsunami is headed this way.”
“Arashi get a number of men here and scavenge whatever supplies and food you can find.”
“You,” she pointed to another man, “count the heads of the survivors and divide them via their expertise and Gifts. We need to be efficient. Make smaller teams and make sure there is a tracker in each of them.”
“And you, help me with the injured,” she told a woman holding a roll of gauze. She studied everyone’s faces. “If there are any strategists here, please come forward!”
“Who are you to boss us around?” the man lying by her feet snarled at her.
She rolled her eyes at him as she pressed a hand over his broken arm.
“I’m leading you, not bossing around. Now, get on to your tasks! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be fish food, thank you very much.”
When everyone started moving, Arashi discreetly pulled her away.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked, his lips a thin line of disapproval. “These are our enemies.”
“They are people too, Arashi,” she replied. She was breathing hard, like suddenly, air was deflating from her lungs.
“Two submarines will not fit everyone, and if we travel in such a large group, we won’t reach there in time.”
She kept her face blank.
“We will make this work,” she said, adamant.
“Be reasonable. Be realistic. You can’t save everyone. It’s impossible.”
“But – “
A third voice joined their hushed conversation.
“It’s not impossible.”
Their heads turned, and they saw Falcon, Richard and Atom running towards them. It was Atom who spoke.
“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed. “Shouldn’t you be – “
“These are my men, and I am responsible for their lives,” Falcon answered, and that earned him a grin from her. He looked around, and saw smiles from the faces of the members who heard him. It was a refreshing feeling.
Richard pushed Atom to her. “Isn’t this better?”
“Yup,” she smiled back. Definitely better. “So, what’s the plan?”
“This island is one giant warship,” Richard explained, sharing a glance with his father. “We simply have to make it move.”
Arashi cut him off. “We used up the energy reserves for that, all eight hundred thousand megawatts. The island will not move. It’s impossible.”
Falcon raised a condescending brow.
“What are we? Decoration? That’s why you have two electricity users here, niño. Extra batteries.”
Wow. It brings me good vibes. =) Sorry if things seemed rushed. Is the pace okay? Did you find any problems? I’ll get back to this once I’m done with the entire story.
Thoughts? Comments?
P.S. I’ll be posting the details for the BE Fan Fiction Contest! Are you excited? I am! The EPILOGUE will be posted some time next week. Daily uploads did a number to my head. I just need to let my brain rest for a while.