Two days.
Forty eight hours.
2,880 minutes.
The time ticks by, slow, dragging, painfully.
When this all began, I was no one. I was just a weird girl who no one understood.
I was a simple human living with a strange family, hiding my secret visions from the world. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday, other times it feels like it was a lifetime ago. I was just Rose then. I hated it. I wanted more, wanted to be more, see more, I just wanted more.
If I'd only known what more was, maybe I'd have chosen to stay home. Live out what was left of my life without the fear, the pain, the weight of my people's lives...I could have just been Rose. I could be at home right this minute. Maybe I'd be out for a ride on Kingsly, or maybe me, Mom, Dad, Octavia, and Logan would all be sitting around the dining room table, laughing at how Octavia overcooked the pastries.
Wouldn't that have been easier?
Not knowing already what was coming?
We could have lived out the rest of our lives in the false happiness of our little bubble we lived in. Maybe the Doctor's plan wouldn't have involved any of us. Maybe Logan would be safe right now, Dalton would be ok...The end of the world could have crept up and taken us all within a blink.
But that's not what happened.
I wanted more.
That's what I got.
More than I can handle.
More than I ever wanted.
More...
The funny thing is I still want more.
More time.
The one thing we've got no more of.
172,800 seconds ago I saw our end.
2,880 minutes ago I had to come to terms with it. I had to accept what is true, and I had to bring the truth to the others. I had to crush the hopes of everyone I have left that mean anything to me. I had to be the dreaded bearer of bad news.
Sorry guys, doesn't matter what we do. We won't win. We will die.
Forty eight hours ago I had to go in front of my people. I had to tell the truth. What's left anyway? When you're face to face with the end, might as well go out as an honest person, right?
Apparently so.
Two days ago, after making a desperate message to all of my people, and Caster's too, my people stepped up, the same way I'd had too. They've seen too much. The attacks have gotten worse and more frequent. It wasn't hard for them to believe that this was finally the real thing. The invincible lives of the undead, are in fact not so invincible. In fact, they're fragile these days. Hundreds of thousands have come to back us, which I knew they would. Dad had been right. Casters are outraged by what's happened here, but we all know there isn't anything to do about it now. No one wants to go out as a coward, so together we all stand.
History will never remember me.
I'll be the queen that won't be remembered, and maybe that's not so bad. Who really wants to be known as the queen who ushered in the end of times?
But it's not just me that no one will know about.
No one will know of the strong Prince who went against his people and his father's wishes in the name of true love. No one will remember the scared human girl who against all odds not only managed to survive this world, but managed to win the heart of that prince. No one will remember the loveable man who filled his spot so that love could conquer all. No one will remember the man who stood up to love a child that wasn't his. No one will remember the woman who dared to love this human man despite the obstacles in their way. No one will be left to recall the young hand of the King who started out as nothing more than an orphaned blood slave that through strength of heart managed to pull himself up and reach the highest position possible and take the heart of a queen.
We will all be erased.
Gone, like we never even lived.
I've cried every tear I've got left in me. Now I will be as I was in my vision. I push my blankets back for the last time, and I stand, shoulders squared and chin lifted high. I know it's an act. But it's one that the people need to see from me.
The knock on my door solidifies my charade and I force a smile.
"Come in." I call and Pedro shifts into the room, a clothing bag slung over one arm and a large makeup kit in his other hand. "We're really going to do this?" I ask him, already knowing the answer.
He sighs, laying the things out and comes to hug me. "My child, you will let me have this one last joy and you will pretend to enjoy it." He chuckles. "Don't forget, you promised." He pulls back and taps me on the nose. "Now go sit."
I bite my lip as I slink across the room to sit in front of the makeshift vanity that is really just a wooden desk with a bathroom mirror propped on top. "Do your magic." I tell him, smiling up at him in the reflection.
Pedro actually manages to hum a happy little tune as he makes dramatic brush strokes across my eye lids and paints on my lips. I look down at the desk while he spins his agile hands through my hair, braiding up the top half into a crown on top of my head and then he fans out the rest in large curls over my shoulders.
"Go get dressed before you look." He directs me and I do so without complaint.
The smile on my lips is genuine when I unzip the clothing back. "I half expected a full black diamond gown from you." I admit with a small laugh.
"Don't think the idea didn't tempt me." He sighs. "I thought this would be a little more functional and better suits the...occasion."
The occasion being our deaths.
I dress quickly, then walk back to the mirror. "I look..."
"Like a warrior." He finishes for me with a proud smile, his own back straight and eyes locked forward to watch me in the mirror.
He's right.
My eyes are ringed with expert black eyeliner, deep smoky color on my lids making my eyes look fierce and my lips are painted a dramatic deep crimson red. The makeup with my jet black skinny jeans, scuffed up black combat boots, and tight leather jacket definitely makes me look ready for a battle. One that granted, I won't be of much help for, but the look still works.
I spin to Pedro, wrapping him in a hug around the neck and he kisses my cheek gently, careful not to mess up his handiwork. "Thank you." I whisper, my voice thick.
He nods into me. "Anything for my queen."
I know the hollow feeling inside of me haunts him too. I take his hand and squeeze once. "Let's go."
We meet up with all of the others in the dining hall, but no one eats.
Instead, we link hands around the table.
My mom on one side of me, my dad on the other, Pedro and Mathew, Fallon, Lance, Nathaniel, Victoria, Malcom, and Octavia. These people are my family. A family no one will remember, but being remembered isn't nearly as important as living and loving in the moment. So that's what we are doing.
"I love you." My dad says to me, and I say it back to him, before turning to my mom and saying the same to her. On we go, around the table.
I love you echoes around us and I know I was lucky to have been a part of this family.
We promised no goodbyes.
All together we move out, the time has finally come.
The van ride takes about an hour before we arrive at the meet up spot agreed upon. There was no point in hiding our plan. The Casters and Doctor know that we are coming. That part was evident even in the vision as both of our sides were lined up. They won't attack us here. They have no reason to. They know the same as us that they have the upper hand. They'll be waiting for us.
The mood is somber as my family exits the van into the huge clearing a couple of miles away from Castrum that is filled as far as the eye can see with vampires and Casters alike. All ready to go and fight for their lives. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and step out into the crowd.
I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't the harsh silence.
I can hear the echo of my boots in the dry leaves as I walk out behind my family.
Some bow to Pedro, others to my Dad, but I notice I'm not getting any type of reaction.
I shake it off, reminding myself it doesn't really matter.
"Thank you all for coming." I say loudly. "I know each of you is here for your own reasons, but I am grateful just the same to have you all here to support our kingdom in our biggest time of need in all of our history. Tonight, we make history again. A history that may be forgotten just as soon as it happens, but I know one thing. I take this image of you all," I look across the dark clearing, anger and determination on the faces of my people. "I take it with me into this fight and I am proud. Whatever happens from here out, I am proud to have stood with you."
With that, I turn, my mom kisses my cheek once. "You are the greatest thing I ever did." She whispers and then steps back, releasing my dad's hand as he comes forward to flank my right, while Pedro stands firmly at my left. Together we walk forward, on towards Castrum.
Behind me the others fall into line.
With nothing else to keep my heart from jackhammering out of my chest or my brain being overtaken with panic, I count the steps. The footfall of my people echo behind me in a large unison.
12,000 steps and I can see Castrum materializing in the distance, the fire long since gone, not even a hint of the smell of smoke left in the soft breeze that blows.
200 more steps and I can see them.
We outnumber them by the thousands but what matters is that where they have two hundred Casters, we have seventy five. And that just isn't enough to make the fight even.
I try hard not to let my eyes stray over to the large glorious fountain to my right.
Ironic that essentially my mom's life really began right there at the edge of that fountain, and it is there that mine will end.
Ahead of us, their army lies in wait, hard eyes watching us move carefully, on guard for any surprises we might try to throw their way.
In the front of their line is Elenora, her lips raised into a snarl, her eyes narrowed. She's enjoying this. While I know that the Doctor is totally screwed up, but I can empathize with him in ways. He'd made decisions in the beginning that many of us would have made when faced with a vampire threat. He didn't know that there were good ones too. And he's been put through more than anyone else would probably be able to live with, while he is quite literally forced to live with it. Elenora though, I think she's just evil.
I look away from her as we all come to a stop, a couple yards separating me and the Doctor. His beady black eyes move up from the ground to meet mine. Then he shakes his head slowly. "This is what must be. It is the only way."
"That can't be true." I press.
Elenora laughs, high and shrill, making my army behind me tense. "Oh, you poor little fool." She smiles, touching her hand to her chin. "This is the only way." She echoes the Doctor. "This world can't continue to exist with these monster walking the earth. They deserve death, slow and painful. But we can give them something better. Something they don't deserve."
I sigh, shaking my head. She still believes the lies the Doctor has fed her. She actually thinks she's eradicating the world of the vampire species. Instead she's an accessory to ending the world as a whole.
"You still haven't told her the truth?" I ask the Doctor, and he doesn't move or give anything away.
"I do wish things were different." He tells me instead. "I think you know that."
I do. I think he is acting out of desperation and pain. Pain that's been eating away at any piece of humanity he had left for who even knows how many years now.
I take a half step forward, my shoulders firm and my head high, my voice pleads though. "Please." I say. "Please, let me help you. You don't have to do this. There has to be something we can do. Somehow there has to be a way to give you the peace you want without doing this. This isn't what your family would have wanted."
His expression hardens, deep wrinkles furrowing into his forehead. "You think I haven't tried it all?" He shouts. "You think this is my first attempt? My first plan?" He screams, his voice cracking and echoing angrily. "This isn't how I want to be reunited with my girls, and my boy, but this is what I have to do."
I take another step forward, the warriors on either side tensing up, like a bunch of coiled springs ready to jump into action. Thunder rumbles in the distance and a flicker of lighting illuminates the silhouette of Castrum de Petra where it lies before me. The city entrance mostly burned away. The last little bit of my heart breaks. I want to turn around and hold my Mom and Dad. I want to be in their arms right now, but that isn't what we decided on.
We are going out with a fight.
"Please!" I say with the slightest of a shake in my voice as I'm internally saying goodbye to it all. The ones I love, Castrum, the life I thought I'd have. "You could end this all."
He shakes his head once, not a second of thought. "I implore you for being able to gather more allies for your cause and in another life maybe I'd even admire your courage and strength. But right now, all I want is to finally end it. Every. Last. Thing."
"Please!" I yell again, knowing it won't help and knowing what happens next.
Both sides lunge for the attack and the sounds of bone splitting and battle cries fill my ears. The Doctor and I are lost in the middle of the fray. It's different than watching it from the outside in my vision. Inside of it, it's beyond terrifying. I fight the urge to scream as I'm knocked to my hands and knees from two men fighting beside me.
Everything is dark and everywhere I turn all I see is bodies, dead ones, live ones, fighting ones, I'm surrounded by bodies. The air is hot and dirt and dust from the gravel fill my mouth. Someone grabs me from behind and I'm jerked back up to my feet. I glance back to see Lance right before a Caster locks eyes on him and he goes tumbling to the ground at my feet.
That same bloody nosed Caster locks eyes on me, but a hand lands on my shoulder. "She's mine." Elenora's sickly high voice fills my heart with dread. I jerk away, but she pulls me back.
The Doctor's voice calls out over the crowd. "Let him go!"
I know who he means and what's coming so I quickly throwback my elbow and it cracks Elenora in the nose, throwing her off balance long enough for me to run to the right just before I see a flash of blonde hair and Logan attacks her.
A hand digs into my side, pulling me forward and I'm met with the Doctor. Anything I do I just run into someone else. The air has started to smell like blood and my empty stomach lurches and I dry heave as I'm drug backwards towards the fountain.
"Please." I shout. "Please don't do this!"
"I'm sorry," He says so low I'm not positive it was real. "I never wanted this to be my life. I only ever wanted to protect life, not end it, but sometimes we don't get to choose our fates. This is mine. I have to get out of here."
My legs smack against the fountains edge and he pushes me down easily, holding me by the neck just above the water. "I love my family too, please stop this. It isn't too late."
"Sadly it is." He sighs.
I take a deep breath, ready for my head to hit the water, but instead my ears are assaulted by a strange horn like noise. Everything seems to stop all at once, the strange sound pulling everyone's attention.
The Doctor lets me go. "We shall see what happens now." He says cryptically, turning his head in the same direction everyone else seems to be looking.
I push away from the fountain and stand on wobbly legs.
I scan for my family but I don't see anyone. I only see angry Casters trying to use their powers but it seems that it isn't working. "What's happening?" I whisper.
The Doctor's shoulders shake a little. "This plan always had two outcomes..."
I turn and run into my Dad. "Daddy," I sag into his grip around me. "What's going on?"
His face is smeared in blood and his eyes dance over the crowds in a frenzy. "I don't know, but it's happening again. I'm weak, muted." He says in a rush. "Have you seen your mother?"
I understand his shakiness now. "No." I admit, turning to scan the crowd again.
Everyone is still looking to the East and finally my weak eyes see why.
"Is that...horses?" I ask the familiar thumping sounds of their hooves finally reaching my ears. Glowing lights, pink, blue, green, purple appear in the distant darkness. "What...?"
"Rose, look there." Dad points to the left of the little lights that seem to be converging on us as they spread out, the sounds of the horses getting closer and closer. I follow the end of his finger, squinting into the darkness until I see him.
"I knew it." I whisper to myself, my heart triple speed jumping into my throat, tears pouring from my eyes.
"You were right." Dad nods beside me. "I think he just hand delivered the Hail Marry we needed."
"God, I hope so."