The figure stiffened in the night, its steps slowed to a stop at the sound of Luca's voice. The light from the street lamp washed over her sparkling body, her limbs encased in the same jagged layer of crystallized ice that enshrouded the room. Luca took a tentative step toward her, but a second glint of light from the dark corner caught his eye as he moved forward.
His mouth went dry as he identified the shine that reflected off the gun in the trembling hands of a terrorized man. Gemma was equal distance between Luca and the unidentified man in the corner. Luca had never seen a gun in real life, but he knew how quickly it could devastate a scene.
Luca cleared his throat, in his best attempt to keep his voice firm, but gentle. He forced his eyes off the gun and back to her. "Gemma, look at me."
A moment of silence passed.
"Gem-"
"Go home, Luca."
Her voice cracked. The dull monotone reflected her soul, which had shattered like ice on asphalt.
Luca took another tentative step forward. "We are both going home, together."
"That's not my home," she whispered, the temperature in the room plummeted another ten degrees. "I don't have a home, I don't have anything. He took my everything from me."
Luca's eyes shot back to the man as he backed into the wall and cocked his weapon. The adrenaline allowed him to ignite his palms despite the frigid frost, transforming the entire room into a magnificent kaleidoscope as the light reflected off the angles of the ice. The man's eyes went wide as they made direct eye contact with Luca's. The smell of urine filled the room.
"Do not try me," Luca warned. The man's adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed roughly, giving Luca a nod to indicate he understood. Luca refused to take his eyes off him this time. "Gemma, you have us, Haruhi, Beka, Madison, even Greyson. They're all waiting for you at home."
Gemma shook her head, choking back a sob. "I should have killed him when I had the chance."
"It will not bring her back, listen to me," Luca pleaded. "You will go to prison, not American prison, not Oasi prison, but Concord prison. You can not even begin to imagine the horrors of Concord Prison.
"It doesn't matter."
Luca let out an incredulous laugh. "Are you kidding me? Do you think I would have risked my reputation, the safety of my entire nation if this didn't matter? You matter, Gemma," Luca was yelling at this point. His indignation manifested into a vibrant heat that began to melt the surrounding area. "You matter to me, and you for fucking sure matter to Daniel who was ready to tear open the portal himself to get to you."
"Then where is he?" Gemma asked, turning her head to look at him for the first time.
As she turned, Luca could practically hear Haruhi's voice in the back of his head, you need to anticipate your opponent's moves and adjust your own accordingly. He watched the muscles in the man's arm ripple in slow motion as they contracted to pull the trigger. The metallic crackle of the bullet pierced the air a fraction of a millisecond before Luca combusted it, sending firey shrapnel in all directions.
The man let out a surprised shout, bringing his arms up instinctively to protect his face and dropping the gun in the process. A stray bullet ricocheted into the wall as the gun his the ground.
In an instant, a glacier of ice rose with Gemma's hand and propelled forward with a robust thrust of her arm. The slab of ice hit the man in the chest, pinning him to the wall. The ice moved beneath her feet, closing the distance as her hand clasped around his throat, her eyes filled with enmity.
"You idiot," Luca seethed at the man who started hysterically sobbing his apologies. "You are not the only person who has lost someone you love, Gemma. I know. I have lost my everything. I know the hopelessness, the feeling like you will never wake up and be happy again - or that you can not wake up happy again because it would be unfair."
"Shut up." The tears froze as they fell from her cheeks.
"I miss my mother every day. I miss my sister every goddamn day, but their memory lives through me. Is this the legacy you want to leave behind in your mother's memory?"
A lifetime seemed to pass before Gemma reluctantly loosened her grip. "No, it's not."
"My mother was kind and adventurous," Luca said. "Tell me about yours."
"Nana was sarcastic and stubborn."
"Sounds a lot like someone I know."
A hysterical laugh escaped Gemma's lips. "She gave everything for me."
"Then give everything for her," Luca said, walking forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Graduate, have a family of your own, be happy, and make her proud." He paused. "Gemma, he's not worth it."
Her body trembled with his touch, shoulders sagging with reluctant admission. She allowed him to immerse her in a warm embrace, weeping into his chest as the ice around them melted into water. The man collapsed to the ground from his icy prison. He promptly crawled to a run down the stairs. Luca let out the biggest sigh of relief, pressing a placating kiss against the top of her head, leading her down the stairs.
The pair was greeted with bright flashing lights of cop cars, all manned by the brigade - with exactly one minute to spare.