Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Darkest Part of a Shadow - Chapter Seventy

Arva dropped to her knees as fast as she could to catch Cassius as he fell, the already battered Commander clutching his bleeding side. Arva's hands trembled, but she didn't scream. She was completely stunned, confused. She quickly pressed her hand against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding, but the bullet had gone straight through, and Cassius was bleeding out of his back as well. Blood was already coming from his mouth as he choked, wincing in pain as she tried to do something, anything, to help keep him alive. She was so focused on Cassius that the second shot caught her completely by surprise again, and she turned her head just in time to see the Prime Minister's body hit the ground. Her mind was racing, her instincts to act kicking in, but when it became obvious she hadn't the experience or materials to do anything for the wounded Commander, a single thought dominated her mind.

"Why?" Arva looked at Marcus, who stood with the gun still raised. She waited for the Captain to reply, but his expression was devoid of emotion. He said nothing at first, merely holding up the pistol before releasing the magazine into his waiting hand.

"This was always the plan," Marcus said somberly, as if trying to convince himself. He turned the clip so its opening was visible to them, and it was empty.

"When I loaded this weapon I put four bullets into it." He explained, "one for each member of the Administration."

"You planned to shoot your own brother?" Arva's voice trembled with anger.

"We're not brothers," Marcus said. "Not by blood, certainly not by spirit."

"How... can you say that?" Cassius coughed up more blood as he fought through the agony to speak, "I trusted you. I believed in what you said, I risked everything for you... how is that not a brother?"

"You risked nothing." Marcus said coldly, "you went along with things because I assured you a position of power."

"That's not true...!" Cassius heaved, curling onto himself as the injury grew worse.

"Don't talk!" Arva said, "just hold on, I'm going to get my suit-"

"No..." Cassius placed a bloody hand on her arm, then looked back to Marcus, "I did everything you asked... followed you blindly... I risked my life and family..."

"And for that I am truly grateful," Marcus said, "but I cannot overlook the fact that you were, ultimately, part of the problem. You are human, after all."

"And what about you!?" Cassius lurched, Arva trying to keep pressure on his wound, "you're just as much a part of this family! Even the Wilhelms were in the Administration once. We took you in when no one else would, when your father-!"

"Fathers." Marcus sighed. "Fathers, leaders, men of power. It's because of their folly that I'm even here. Hatred is a festering pus that infects a wound, but first you must be cut."

"I don't..." More blood came from Cassius's mouth, and Arva could do nothing to stop it. Cassius's breathing began to soften, his eyes began to flutter closed. "I don't hate you..."

"Nor I you." Marcus closed his eyes, "you may not have been my brother, but I can at least say with complete truth that you were a friend."

"I guess..." Cassius gurgled, trying desperately to speak his last words through the bubbling blood in his mouth, a weak but steady smile crept across his mouth. "That'll have... to..." Arva watched as the bubbling stopped in his mouth, and while his eyes didn't close, they slowly lost their shine. She carefully pulled her trembling, blood-soaked hands away from him as she realized the man had just died in her arms.

Arva felt her heart squeeze. She hadn't known Cassius well, only that he was Marcus' brother and that, like him, he treated her and her family with respect humans rarely did. Yet as she tried so desperately to save him, cradling him as the last moments of his life drew to a close, she felt she knew him intimately. It took so long to process. The gun, the bullets, the exact number needed to kill all the members of the Administration. The same gun she had held.