Chasing Shadows: An Alice In Borderlands Fanfic (Completed)

Chapter 18: Death Is Not the End But...

"She's mine."

We both turned toward the door, shock on our faces. Niragi had a handgun aimed at my husband. Karube instinctively pushed me behind him. "She's my wife," he replied, sounding more calm than he felt by the way he trembled.

"You were dead. I helped her. I claimed her."

"Niragi," I intervened. "Please. Just put the gun down, okay? Let's talk."

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm going to shoot him, and you're coming with me." Steel glinted in his eyes.

"We aren't in Borderland, anymore! Doing that will get you arrested. Don't be a fool. Just put down the gun."

Niragi seemed to be thinking about it, but then that steel glint turned crazy. His lips peeled back in a savage grin.

Without a thought, I pushed Karube out of the way. The gun went off.

When I was in elementary school, my best friend and I got into a fight. She threw a heavy dictionary at me, knocking the breath from my lungs. It hurt so bad I couldn't breath for several minutes.

That's what this felt like. The impact of the slug in my chest felt like that book hitting me. When I looked down at myself, crimson bloomed across my shirt. Looking back at Niragi, who wore a shocked look on his face, all I could ask was, "Why?" before collapsing on the floor.

Karube sprang into action, his face twisted in rage. He wrestled the gun from Niragi. Once unarmed, Niragi bolted for the door, Karube after him. Another shot rang out. Niragi made it to the door and disappeared through it.

With the threat gone, Karube rushed to my side and cradled me in his arms. I couldn't breath. A heavy weight sat on my chest. I whispered his name and coughed, spewing blood across his shirt.

"Shh. It'll be okay. I'm going to call an ambulance."

I shook my head. "It's too late...for that." Why was speaking suddenly so hard? I reached in my pocket. I was dying. "Take this," I said and pointed my gaze at my right hand, limply closed around something. I didn't even have the strength to lift my hand toward him. I barely had the strength to hold the tiny object.

Karube followed my gaze. I opened my hand to reveal the black coin I'd received in Borderland. I had to force every word out as I spoke to him. "There's another me in Borderland. The me you were meant to be with. This will get you in. The portal...it's in the alley by Yamamoto Bakery. You can't miss it."

He took the coin, but his eyes never left mine. Tears glistened amongst those beautiful stars. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

I managed a brief smile. "It's okay. We weren't meant to be together this way." My words were barely a whisper. "Go after her. Go get the me you were meant to be with."

With a final breath, everything in my body relaxed. I went limp in his arms. Darkness overcame me. I exhaled one last time...and I died.

***

Death is a strange thing. I found myself in a black, empty room. On a far wall were two windows. One was dark. The other showed Karube running through Tokyo. He reached the alley with the portal and slid to a stop, in awe of what loomed before him.

The portal shimmered with purples and pinks as I remembered it. As he approached, the center turned an ominous black. I wasn't sure how I could see it without the coin, but maybe the dead could see things like this. Things the living could not.

Karube walked past a dumpster and paused, peeking behind it. He disappeared for a moment before returning to my view with a rifle in his hands. Niragi's rifle.

Without another thought, he stepped through the portal, leaving the alley empty behind him.

The scene in the window switched, but something else caught my attention. A presence somewhere.

I felt him. Karube. My Karube. The one who died in the first game in Borderland. He was here somewhere. Maybe even as close as a room away.

I had to find him, so I left the windowed room in search of him. As I went through a door I hadn't noticed before, I took one last look at the bright window. It showed the final game room with a cast of familiar characters, including myself.

***

I need to find Karube, so I'm going to hand the story over to this other me. The one who left Karube behind in Tokyo. I guess you could call her Jen 2.0. I'll let her tell you what happens next in this weird, wild story.

And I'll see you again.