"No!" I cried out in anguish, tripping over my own feet and scraping my knees on the rough floor. I was up a second later, ignoring the stinging pain there.
However, someone else was springing towards Apollo and Greta.
I watched as Prenjaw jumped up from where he had been slumped on the opposite wall. He ran forward swiftly, but I could tell something was wrong - blood poured from a wound on his head, and his steps were slightly crooked. Nonetheless, silver flashed in the dim light as he unsheathed two knives from out of nowhere.
He pulled Apollo from Greta's grasp roughly, and my heart pounded as I watched him hit the floor hard, his beautiful face frozen in shock and horror. However, Prenjaw didn't stop to check on him; silver darted through the air, and suddenly the air was rent with Greta's piercing screams. Her taloned hands fell and hit the floor with wet thuds, and blood spurted from her mutated arms in high arcs.
"You fiend!" She shrieked, pushing Prenjaw back and crawling on his chest. Her stubby arms waved wildly in his face, and the mongool turned his head away in disgust as her blood spouted on his face.
"Roan!"
I looked back just in time to see Roan and Lucas sprinting past me, Roan's hands already alight in flame. Greta heard them coming and looked back - Lucas had his hands out, his mouth parting to utter a chant, but she was faster. Her bloody arm pointed toward him, and he abruptly stopped in his tracks, his limbs beginning to twitch morbidly. Roan hesitated, looking at him uncertainly.
"Don't try, witch pup." Greta snarled, her face twisted in rage and agony. Prenjaw was squirming under her, but she was holding him down somehow.
Roan threw a ball of fire, reminding me starkly of a baseball pitcher. Greta waved her arm, and the ball came streaming back - it hit Roan in the face, but he didn't seem perturbed at all. He sent another ball of fire, and this time, Greta wasn't prepared.
Her talons went up in flames with a slick hiss, and the pale witch began to thrash and scream in fresh pain. Prenjaw kicked her off of him, looking down at her, his face murderous.
"Stab her in the heart!" Lucas choked out, his limbs still twitching disjointedly.
Prenjaw didn't need telling twice. His knife came up and down in a graceful arc, landing hilt deep in Greta's thin chest. Her torso froze in the air mid spasm, and her face contorted with shock. After a long, agonizing moment, she began to seize up, her mutated arms banging on the floor over and over, and then suddenly, her whole body erupted into flames before disappearing into thin air a moment later.
The stillness afterwards was heavy and unbearable.
"Apollo." I breathed, stumbling over to him.
He hadn't moved since Prenjaw had torn him away from Greta; his face was staring at the spot where she had been a moment earlier, the only remnants of the witch remaining was the black blood spattered on the floor. Apollo looked pale and anxious, his eyes wide and shocked.
"Hey." I fell to my knees beside him, guiding his head down to my lap. "Apollo, I'm here, love, I'm here."
Apollo seemed to snap out of it. He looked up at me with sombre eyes. "Lilah, get away from me."
My heart stopped. "What?"
His face twisted with sorrow for a moment, and then it was smooth again. "I don't want to get you sick, love."
"Oh, Apollo." Behind me, Roan was helping Lucas up, and Prenjaw was watching from the floor with his sad, light green eyes. "You know I could never leave you." I said hoarsely, my hand touching his face with trembling fingers.
"Lilah... "
"Don't try to make me." To my immense shame, tears started to spill from my eyes. "I can't leave you, Apollo, it would break my heart."
Apollo squeezed his eyes shut, his face anguished. The silence in the room echoed as my chest hitched with my tears.
He rose a hand to cover mine on his face. "Lilah, I don't know what to do." He whispered. "This wasn't supposed to happen - I'm afraid, I'm so afraid."
"Don't be." I smiled weakly down at him. "I'll be with you until the end, I promise."
"That doesn't make me feel better." He bit his lip.
My whole body was shaking now. "It makes me, though! I'll never leave you, Apollo."
"There has to be something we can do..." Roan said helplessly from behind me, and Lucas shushed him quietly.
"There is, actually." Apollo spoke up. His hand was blazing hot on mine. "Lucas?"
I looked back to see the witch look up at his name. "Apollo?"
"Are you strong enough?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"Hayane and Prenjaw." Apollo told him. "You need to take them somewhere they can be treated. Greta... she did a number on them." His voice shook a little, and I wondered at the back of my mind what had happened before I had arrived. "Jericho should be somewhere around here, he can help you."
Lucas nodded, his face sad as he looked at me and Apollo. "Of course."
"What about me?" Roan asked softly.
"I need you." Apollo suddenly shuddered, and I saw with horror that a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on his brow. Was the disease really that fast on vampires. "I need you to help me get home."
I looked down at him in surprise. "To BC?"
Apollo shook his head, smiling up at my with as much strength as he could muster. I smoothed his hair away from his face.
"No, love. To Greece."
---
The air was warm and sweet smelling when the elvish vortex tossed us out of its windy grip. I stumbled a little upon landing, but Roan was more sure-footed than I was, even with Apollo on his back. Giant, vibrant green trees looked down at us as I hurried over to them; a bird screeched from somewhere in the branches, and the sun was hidden in the sky by spotty white clouds that looked like cotton balls.
"Apollo?" I looked at him anxiously. His hair was messy and disheveled from the wind in the vortex, and his face was as pale as snow. At the sound of my voice, he opened his eyes weakly - his green eyes were glassy, and my heart clenched at the sight of them.
"Roan, give him to me."
"I can carry him." Roan adjust Apollo on his back with a little hop. In the depths of his collar, Bono's huge eyes looked out at me silently. "Plus, we don't know if you're resistant or not to this disease - "
"No, you're going to wait for me here." I told him shortly, holding my arms out. "Give him to me."
"What?" Roan looked at me in surprise. "I'll go with you, Lilah, it's fine - "
"No it's not." My eyes were bright with tears again, but I held them back fiercely. "I... I need to say goodbye, Roan. Please."
His gorgeous face was pained as he looked at me, but after a moment, he lowered himself slowly. "Up you go, Polly Boy."
Apollo slid off his back obediently, slowly. He stood straight, his cloak wrapped around him like a blanket, but I could tell he was struggling not to sway. I hurried over, and crouched in front of him. Silently, he climbed onto my back - he was lighter than I thought he would be. His familiar, blazing heat made it feel like I was carrying the sun.
"Thank you, Roan." Apollo said softly.
Roan ran a hand through his hair uncomfortably, looking at Apollo from the corner of his eyes. "For what?"
"For taking care of Lilah." Apollo replied quietly. "I will never be able to thank you enough."
Roan took a deep breath, his beautiful eyes looking up at the sky and blinking rapidly. When he looked back at Apollo, he was a fraction more composed. "No problem, Apollo." He hesitated. "I... I wish I could do more for you, and I'm sorry I can't."
"Peace, Roan." Apollo sounded like he was smiling. "You've done more than you know."
Roan nodded, biting his lip, and looked at me. His eyes were agonized. "I'll be... I'll be here, Lilah. I'll wait as long as I need to."
"Thank you." I told him, smiling as bravely as I could.
From the anguished look on his face, my attempt didn't fool him.
As I began to walk away, Apollo spoke again. "Goodbye, Roan Ryker."
"Goodbye, Apollo Ambrosia." I looked back to see Roan watching us go, his eyes bright with emotion. "I hope to meet you in the next life."
"I as well." Apollo said, but his voice was soft and weak, and Roan probably wasn't able to hear him.
After a few moments of me carrying him, his head leaned on my shoulder, and I listened to his shallow breathing. I paused for a moment, struggling to calm my beating heart. This was starting to be too much; Apollo was going to die, and I couldn't accept it, not just yet. How had this happened? How had I let this happen?
"Lilah?"
"Yes?" I answered too fast.
His hand reached up slowly, and a pale finger pointed slightly to the right. "There's a path there, if you look hard enough. My mother spent several days when I was young finding flat stones to create it."
I nodded and headed over, readjusting my grip on Apollo's legs. My eyes searched the ground closely; after a few moments, I spotted what I was looking for - an oblong, flat stone was half hidden by moss and weeds. A few meters ahead of it, another stone lay almost obstructed by nature. It was very clear that nobody had walked this path in many, many years.
I began to follow it, my chest aching as I held back the sobs that were aching to tear from my throat. Apollo's weight on my back was so real and jarring - it was always him carrying me, always him protecting me and taking me to safety. And now that things were reversed, I wanted desperately for things to go back to how they were supposed to be. I would give anything at all to be in Apollo's place, for the death sentence to be on me, not him. When I'd fallen in love with him all those months ago, I'd never once thought that the paradise I'd stumbled into would be torn away from me - Apollo was so perfect and invincible, and I thought nothing could threaten him.
And now here we were, travelling to a place where he could die in peace.
Tears streamed down my face silently as I walked. Sunlight filtered through the tree branches high above us, and I saw that the forest Apollo had grown up in was no less beautiful than the forest that was our home now. Vibrant splashes of wild flowers sprang up in the green landscape here and there, and I could see a little Apollo, his arms and legs chubby with baby fat as he picked some flowers for his mother. I could see Astera, his beautiful twin, leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk, her laughter echoing through the forest like music.
And sitting in the sunlight, where her children could never go, Callidora would be dwelling on the bright dreams she had for her children's futures. I wished I could have met her; I was sure she was just as beautiful as Astera, with Apollo's kind heart and gentle touch.
"I never returned here." Apollo spoke abruptly. "Not once, not since I left all those years ago. Being here feels like a dream."
"Why did you come back then?" I asked, hating that my voice wavered.
He paused before he spoke, probably thinking over his answer. "This place... it used to be for dreaming and learning, a place that I loved dearly. But since that fateful day when I was fifteen..." Apollo paused again. "My home turned into a marker for dying things, Lilah. My mother wasn't the only thing that died here; Astera did as well. She used to be so bright and happy, and the girl she used to be bled out on the floor along with my mother. My dreams, as well - I was so full of dreams for my future, and then they were smashed into pieces. So many things died here, Lilah."
There was a long silence after that as I followed the path. I didn't know what to say to that; from what Apollo was implying, he wanted this place specifically because of the tragedy that had happened here. He wanted to die where so many other things had died.
"Look, up ahead."
I followed his pointing finger. There, barely visible through the trees, a small cottage sat nestled in a nook in the mountain side. It looked overgrown with nature; ivy crept up the wooden walls, and weeds sprung from what used to be flowerbeds along the stone path. The windows were shuttered shut, and something forlorn echoed in my chest at the sight of it.
"I've seen this before." I whispered.
"You have?" Apollo sounded surprised.
I didn't answer him, my eyes scanning our surroundings. If my vision was accurate...
My eyes landed on a ivy covered boulder that marked a spot several yards from the house. The dirt there was covered with vegetation, and I wouldn't have been able to know what was there if I hadn't seen what Astera had buried there.
"Your mother?" I asked Apollo, nodding at it.
He nodded. "You saw that in your vision, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Apollo paused. "I wish I'd been there to see it." He sounded forlorn. I thought back to what he had told me a long time ago; he'd gone looking for his father, and when he returned, Astera had already buried Callidora.
I adjusted him on my back. "Where do you want to go?"
"Into the house, love."
I took a deep breath, and strode up to the cottage. The door was wooden too, and in remarkably good shape. I pushed it open gingerly; it swung inwards silently, and sunlight poured in to illuminate an empty, musty space.
"There." Apollo pointed. "There are sweet grass mats there."
I set him down carefully, leaning him against the wall. My heart panged again at the sight of his face; his skin was shiny with sweat, and his eyes were too bright. He looked back at me steadily, and I hurried away hastily to avoid the laser path of his gaze.
The mats were covered with a thick layer of dust, so I picked them up and shook them out, coughing at the cloud of dust that rose up from my movement. I laid them down and hurried back to Apollo, guiding him down on the grass mats.
"Hold on." I hurried around the room, throwing open the shutters to let the light and the air into the room. Once the light poured in, the room looked much better; I saw that there was a solitary door leading somewhere else in the cottage, but for once I didn't feel like exploring. I hurried over to Apollo, who had stretched out spread eagle on the mats.
"There's a skylight up there." He nodded up. I looked up to see that a string was hanging down from the ceiling. "My mother used to poke it open on hot nights using a broom. Do you mind if you open it for me?"
"Of course not." I looked around quickly, but whatever broom Callidora had used had disappeared long ago. "I'll be right back." I told Apollo, running back outside. A second later, I returned with the longest branch that I could find, and began jabbing at the square in the ceiling.
With a creak, it swung outward, letting down a stream of dirt. A square of sunlight hit the floor a few metres beside Apollo, and he looked up at the square of the sky above him with a weak smile on his face.
His eyes moved to meet mine. "Come here." He told me softly. "Stop your crying, love."
I tossed the branch away and crawled to his side, nestling my head on his shoulder. His hand reached to rest lightly on my back, and I closed my eyes at his touch. We were silent for a long time; Apollo looked up at the sky, and I tried not to think about when he would leave me.
"What are you thinking about?" Apollo whispered.
I didn't answer right away. "I'm thinking I would've liked to come here, under different circumstances."
"Hmm." Apollo ignored the ultimatum in my voice. "Yes, I probably should have brought you here before. You understand why I didn't though, don't you?"
"This is the place where many things died."
"Yes, but it's also the setting of the nightmare my life was before I found you." Apollo's lips touched my hair, and I shuddered. "My life was so painful and dark before I met you, and that darkness began at this place. I couldn't bring you, my ray of light, somewhere that was so painful for me. It was a juxtaposition that I couldn't bear."
I didn't answer him, breathing in his scent of the forest.
"There are so many memories here." Apollo murmured, going on. "Astera and I slept here, during the day, and I would wake up to see that the sunlight sneaking in past the shutters was a deep red as the sun set. And then my mother would come in, bringing us berries and fish and sometimes wild boar, and we would be so excited."
"Your childhood sounds so happy." I said quietly.
"Yes." Apollo laughed lightly. "My mother didn't build that trap door up there until we were six; she thought we would like to look at the sky, since we were indoors most of the time. Astera got bored of looking up there relatively quickly, but I could lie beneath her for hours, looking up at the sky and never moving until the sunlight got too close. I used to wait for birds to fly by, just so I could watch their flight."
I tried to imagine Apollo as a six year old, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the sky with huge eyes.
"When I was about eight, there was this bird that used to come at noon every day." Apollo's voice was smiling. "He would circle up there, right above my line of sight, for an hour. I always wondered what kind of bird he was, but he was always too far up for me to identify properly. I liked to think he was watching over me."
I opened my eyes. Dust motes danced in the sunlight that came through the sky light, and it was such a peaceful sight.
"Maybe he was." I whispered.
"Maybe." Apollo mused. After a moment, he seemed to remember me; his arm tightened around me, and his chin touched my head as he craned his head to look at me. "Are you still crying, Lilah?"
"No." But I pressed my eyes to his chest, and my tears immediately soaked through his cloak.
Apollo sighed. His hand reached up and gently guided my chin upwards until he could meet my eyes; his green irises were so beautiful and tender, and looking at them just broke my heart even more. It was his eyes that I'd fallen in love with first, and it was the sight of those beautiful, emerald eyes that reminded me that he was leaving.
"I'm so scared, Apollo." I whispered hoarsely, and even though he'd asked me to stop, fresh tears welled up in my eyes. "I don't want you to leave me."
Apollo closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them again. His face was still and sad, and his hand reached up to cup my cheek gently. "Lilah, can you listen to me?"
"Yes, yes, of course."
"I need you to be strong, love." His lips trembled. "I need you to be strong, because I'm about to lose my head, love. I never once thought that I had to fear death, and now here I am, about to walk into Death's embrace. I don't want to leave you either, but I don't want our last moments together to be ones of sorrow and tears."
"I don't know if I can do that." I cried. "You were always the strong one, Apollo, I don't know what I'm going to do once I'm alone again - "
"Don't." Apollo's hold on me suddenly tightened, and he squeezed his eyes shut tight. A single tear slipped from under his long eyelashes. "Please don't speak of being alone, love, because that's what I fear the most about my death. I can't be with you anymore, I can't watch over you, and I'm terrified at that prospect." A gasp spilt from his lips, and his chest shook under my cheek. "I promised you I would never leave you, and I'm breaking that promise and I hate myself for it, and I'm so afraid because I can't bear the thought of leaving you alone in this crude world."
I began to cry in earnest, and he held me even closer.
"Lilah Winters." He whispered, his voice trembling. "I'm so afraid to die."
We held each other as we both cried, and we didn't speak again for a long time. What felt like hours passed, and I watched as the square of sunlight inched its way closer to Apollo and I. Couldn't we just stay like this, forever?
"I'm sorry, Lilah." Apollo said softly, breaking the silence.
"For what?" I whispered back.
"That I'll never be able to do the things I always dreamed for you." Apollo whispered. "I wanted to ask you to marry me behind that secret waterfall, where I first started to realize I loved you. I wanted to give you a white wedding, and invite all our friends to come watch. I wanted to give you little children, if you wanted them and if it was somehow possible. I wanted to pass centuries with you, and love you as much as I could for every second of it. And now, all those things are being stolen from you, from me, and I hate fate for it."
"It doesn't matter." I told him fiercely, leaning up on my elbow so that I could look down at his face. "You were always enough for me, Apollo - you'll always be enough for me!"
His breath hitched in his throat, and his eyes opened to look at me in anguish. "And you will always be enough for me, my love." He touched my lips gently, and I kissed his fingers tenderly.
We looked into each other's eyes for a long moment, but the moment broke when he turned his head away suddenly to cough. The sound struck me with paralyzing fear - the sickness was still moving as we lay here in each other's arms, and it was unrelenting.
"Apollo?" I smoothed his hair frantically away from his flushed skin. "What can I do, tell me what to do!"
He coughed several times and looked back at me, his face starting to look tired. "Lilah, you know what to do." He told me gently.
I froze. "I do?"
Apollo nodded. His hand stroked the length of my cheek, his eyes heartbroken. "You need to leave me here, my love."
I stared at him in horror. "Apollo, no - "
"Lilah, yes." He said firmly. "I'm going to die, but that doesn't mean you have to as well. I won't have us being the tragic lovers that died together, love. I won't forgive myself if you die because of me - you need to go before I make you sick."
I shook my head violently. "Apollo, please don't make me go - "
"Lilah." His eyes were bright again with tears. "Lilah, please. Do this for me, love. Let me protect you one last time."
My face contorted with grief, and I sprawled across his chest, a sob rising up in my throat. "This is agony!"
"I know, love, I know." Apollo's hand touched my head lightly. "And I'm so sorry, but you know I'm right. You have to leave me here."
I looked up at him, so many emotions flying across my face as I looked at his beautiful face. I loved the perfect lines of his marble face, I loved the soft curve of his perfect lips; I loved how his dark brown hair always fell silkily into his eyes, and how his wrist looked when he swept the strands out of the way; I loved his beautiful, green eyes that were so wise and kind and loving and fair, and how when he looked at me he knew how to tell me how much he loved me with one look.
I loved everything about him; how could I leave him here to die alone?
But I knew he would never let me stay with him. He was so selfless and pure; even in dying he was thinking of me. I was nothing like him - I was selfish and childish and illogical, and it was for that reason that I always listened to him without question. Apollo always knew with a blink of an eye, what was the best thing to do, and that hadn't changed, not even now.
I took a shaky breathe. "I will always love you, Apollo."
He smiled weakly at my words. "I will always love you too, Lilah. Can you promise me you'll never forget that?"
"I promise." I kissed him tenderly on his lips, and he hesitated for a moment, probably still afraid of infecting me, but then his lips were desperate as he kissed me back. I pulled away to look at him again. "But I won't promise something silly, like that I'll learn to love again or something equally stupid. I'll never be able to do that."
He laughed through his tears. "I wasn't going to make you promise that. However, if that situation arises - "
"Shut up." I told him, leaning down to kiss him again. I tried to communicate everything I couldn't put into words through that kiss - that he was my saviour, my rock, that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. That everything in my life had turned inside out and would never be the same since he'd entered it, and that nothing would ever be the same now that he was leaving me.
"Go now." Apollo pulled away. "Go now, my sweet one."
I smoothed his hair away once more, looking down at him and drinking in every detail of the man I loved. He looked back steadily, his eyes scanning me as he did the same thing.
After a moment, I pulled away with agonizing slowness, feeling every fiber in my body protest the thought of leaving him. My tears wouldn't stop. I walked to the door, my heart breaking a little more with every step. In the doorway, I looked back.
Apollo was looking back at me, his beautiful eyes watching me as I left. As our eyes met, he smiled encouragingly at me, even as the tears came.
"Goodbye, Apollo." I whispered.
He touched his fingers to his lips, and blew a kiss to me gently. I held a hand out, catching it and touching my own fingers to my lips.
Apollo took a deep, shaky breath. "Until we meet again, my Lilah."
And then I was closing the door between us, and then the wood hid my love from my sight.
I leaned my back against the door, staring out at the trees as my chest heaved in anguish. My love was dying behind this door, I told myself. My eyes found the boulder that marked Callidora's grave; she had died more than a hundred years ago, and now Apollo was coming to meet her, in the same place that she had slipped away. I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop that hysterical sobs that threatened to burst from my lips - he would be able to hear me, and the sound of my pain would only hurt him more.
I turned my head, planting a shaky kiss on the doorway. And then I was running as fast as I could, leaving Apollo Ambrosia, the only man I had ever loved, behind to die.
Alone.
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Just as a side note, I was listening to "Oblivion" and "Laughter Lines" by Bastille the entire time I was writing this. Those songs just work so perfectly with this chapter, and I was bawling like a baby the entire time I wrote. This is by far the saddest chapter I'd ever had to write in my life ):