Sirens. Smoke. Screams. They fill the stagnant air that surrounded her. "Mommy? D-Daddy?" A small voice crept from the darkness. It was just a child, barely five years of age. She crawled out of the fallen rubble, lucky to have remained mostly unscathed. Small sobs escape her throat as she stumbled through the darkness trying to look for something...someone...
There. Tattered and bloody ivory colored cloth lie across the limp body of a once beautiful woman. "MOMMY!!" A shrill scream cut through the silence. She rushed next to the woman. Trembling uncontrollably, the child collapsed to her knees both hands on her mother's chest gripping the torn fabric. She began violently shaking her.
"MOMMY! MOMMY WAKE UP!....w-we"
"We have to find daddy..." Her voice trailed off. The silence was deafening. Tears ran rampantly down her cheeks, her eyes full of pain and sorrow. "Mommy" she softly whispered resting her head on the woman nesting close to her cold body. Her sobbing drowned out by the sounds of the chaos in the distance. She slowly reached up to the woman's neck grasping on to a locket, gently removing it.
She sat up putting it on. Sniffling and wiping away her tears she leaned over and pressed a longing kiss on her mother's forehead. "I'm sorry mommy...I- I have to take this back, I hope you understand...I'm gonna go find daddy now b-but I'll come back". The words strangled by her attempts to choke back her tears. Until...*rubble falling* she jumped in terror, immediately shivering. 'No' she thought "the bad guys..." She barley managed to whisper. But then...
"Sweetie!?" A weak but familiar voice called out to her. "DADDY!!?" she yelled recognizing the voice. She scrambled up to her feet as fast as her body would allow. Running in the direction of the voice she spots a familiar yellow and orange cloaked figure from the corner of her eye. She immediately turns to spot her father struggling to stand. His back to her. She ran over to help him "Daddy are you ok!?"
Trying to pull him up she notices something protruding from his torso. Metal. He had been impaled by some sort of beam that must have fallen when the building they were in collapsed. "A-are you hurt daddy" she asked almost blankly. She couldn't remove her eyes from the horrid sight before her. Blood drenching his hero suit, the stench of iron, his weakend pale face, blood in the corners of his mouth.
He coughed a bit, blood spurting out, some landing upon her face. He collapsed back down. He did his best to sit with his back against a wall and scooped her up and held her close weeping. "I love you princess" he sobbed into her soft strawberry scented hair. "Mommy loves you too okay" he coughed even more as he struggled to speak.
"Daddy..." Her tiny hands cupped his face making him look up at her face. She wore a weary sad smile.
"I know that silly, I love you guys too!" she cheeped. Hesitant she asked asked him "D-Daddy can we go home now?" At first his face was shocked but slowly softened. He stroked her hair, burning the image of her face into his mind. "No. I'm sorry honey. We can't...and neither can you. Listen..." He sat up realizing he had begun to slouch. Gripping her shoulders he strongly spoke to her.
"Mommy and I can't go with you okay. But I want you to always remember that we'll always be with you" the small child cocked her head to side not able to make sense of what was just said. "Princess...you have to run...alone" she jolted in his grasp "NO!!" She shouted, she had begun to shake once again, crying in agony. "NO DADDY! I WONT YOU AND MOMMY HAVE TO COME T-"
He cut her off "NO!" his grip tightened on her shoulders almost causing her to wince in pain. "dammit" he said under his breath begining to cry once again. "Promise me! Promise you'll run and not look back! Do you understand me!" he shook her enough to jolt her out of the state of shock she had settled into. "Look" his tone softened ever so slightly, he began to cough even more, choking on the blood.
'Shit I don't have much time' he gazed over at his wife laying lifeless in her own blood. A chill ran down his spine 'i love you' he thought 'i'm so sorry...Rachel' turning his attention back to their child, he planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. Suddenly the building began to shake and more rubble cascaded from above. "SWEETIE YOU NEED TO GO OKAY" He pleaded
"Don't worry I'll help mommy" he glanced at his wife again. A pit formed in his stomach. Looking back at his daughter, fear flooded her face. "It's okay, I'll be right here and mommy too" he tapped her chest over her heart.
"O-okay...you promise" she croaked "Yes. I promise. Forever." He held back the flood of tears that urged to escape his eyes. He knew he had to stay strong for her. He let her down and she straighten her dress out. He pulled himself up from his spot and gripped the metal still protruding from his body. He winced as he wrenched it free from himself and tossed it aside.
Blood now flooded the gaping wound. He covered it immediately to shield his daughters eyes from the sight. He use his free hand to pat her head. "Now go." He pointed towards a crater in the wall that flooded with light. She reached up, and he bent over allowing her to kiss his cheek for the last time. Turning to run away in the distance towards the only viable exit hole, she held up an arm to wipe away her burning tears.
She knew she'd never see them again but she kept running.
"Rachel" he spoke softly as he lowered his body next to hers. Crying turned into loud uncontrollable sobs as he clutched onto his dead wife "I COULDN'T SAVE US OH GOD IM SORRY IM SO SORRY MY LOVE" his screaming lost to world. His body violently shook as he coughed up large amounts of blood "ugh" he groaned looking down at the amount of blood he had lost, watching as it mixed with his wive's.
He gazed at her lovingly and kissed her lips.
'i will be seeing you soon dear' he laid back down on the cold cement pulling his wives lifeless body into an embrace. He slowly closed his eyes "she's going to make it out alive, the other pro heros will find her. She'll be safe...and one day...hopefully she'll be okay' and with that his life drained away. Finally the last of the building that remained collapsed, burying the couple.