The story isn't over yet

Chapter Twelve: Five Years Later...

Five years of hiding had gone by. Selena's kids had grown up just as fast as the years had gone by. Ellie was now twelve, the twins were ten, Adam was eight, and Baby Elita was six. Selena hated that most of Elita's childhood had been spent in a cave, bereaved of the life outside. She doesn't even know what the yellow sun and the blue skies look like. And Adam can barely remember it.

He had only been alive for a few months before being shut back in the place he grew up in for three years and continued to stay in even after death. Not that Selena knew that nor did Adam remember. Ellie, Skylinks, and Darksteal just wanted all of this to be over and leave this life behind them. But even Selena was losing hope that everything would pass. Paul has been close to Pippa over the years but has found no form of plan that Pippa has made.

And to make things worse, some of the spies that Selena had been sending out are slowly getting caught and killed or hurt. And, just as promised, Selena had been reporting everything to Optimus about everything that was happening. He had an army and the Spacebridges open ready for Selena to give the word to come back to Earth. But Selena kept telling him not to come as they weren't ready.

But who knows when they would be. Everyone knew that they couldn't keep hiding for another five years but what other plan did they have? They've only barely gotten this far. But, right now, there was another death to add to the people who have passed on. Selena has been using a preservation spell to keep the dead fresh so their relatives can give them a proper burial when things get back to normal.

Now she has another one to do. Paul brought the man in, explaining what had happened. Piro ushered him and the idea man into another room while Selena grabbed her staff to cast the spell. She had cast the spell so much that it wasn't hard to cast anymore. She just wished that she never had to use it. After casting the spell, she asked Vincent if he had any family. There was none but there was a girlfriend and her father.

She told Piro or Maddie to break the news to the two before leaving the room. Selena was never the one who broke the news to the families or loved ones. It wasn't her thing. And she didn't want to use the pain of losing Adam to sympathize with people. It's just like when Selena told Maddie that she didn't want to bond through grief. Selena went back to her balcony to look over the few people who were in the main room. Maddie soon joined her and sat opposite her. 

"Will you ever tell the people their loved ones have died?" Maddie asked

"No, because it's not what I do," Selena said, "Not even when I killed people for a living."

"You're still pushing people away. Stop it."

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't do people."

"Because you force people away from you. Let people in. Talk to people. It will do you good."

"No one will listen. I'm the villain, Maddie. And I always will be. No one forgives me for what I did in the past. I only got out of going to jail because I told the government that I would rebuild this stupid Island. And clearly, it wasn't worth it because it's in ruins again."

"We can rebuild and repopulate again. You did it once, you can do it again."

"Maddie, it was only finished recently because things that were happening in my life delayed the process. And I had to study the spell carefully."

"How did you re-build the island so fast anyway?"

"Well, part of the spell requires a small model of the building you want to create. So I had to make a mini model of every building that was on the island to the smallest detail and then use my spell to build it. I had Vincent search for weeks for the blueprints of the buildings so I could make the models. But then Paul kept giving me orphaned kids to distract me. The rest of the details don't matter."

Maddie only nodded. Selena suggested to Maddie that she should tell the girlfriend and father about the recent death. Maddie nodded again and left Selena alone. She looked down again to see Paul in the corner near the balcony. He was sitting on some rock that was sticking out of the wall. He was devastated to see another death in the ranks. The numbers are slowly decreasing with every death. But this was like any other day. Every day was the same. 

'Another day, another week, another month, another year, another day, another night until it's day again,' Paul said out loud, 'The sun is fled, I go to bed and scratch a line on the wall. Another day, where nothing changes at all. And everyday shuffles by like the day before. On its way to the blackest of skies and every day a little death comes and paces the floor and a little bit more of me dies.'

'Another day, another week, another month, another year, another night I spend alone until it's day again. Our little star has moved away and all the world is a blur. I only see I am not me without him,' Selena said thinking of Knockout who she hasn't heard from in years. 

'Every day a little death, for every day I die,' Paul and Selena said, 'Every day a little death and still, I know not why.'

The victim's girlfriend and father came into the now empty room to discuss the disappearance of the man. They hadn't heard the news yet. 

'He will come back,' she said hopeful

'Perhaps but still...' her father tried to get her to think of the worst

'He will return to me. Another prayer.'

'You've got to live for today.'

'I will live when we're together again. Every day I will pray until then, Amen.'

'And every day another prayer will bring him close to me and every night our little star we will share,' Selena sang to herself, 'Then one day when I open my eyes, he will be standing right over there. One day.'

'Another day,' Paul said as Maddie approached the two.

'There's something I must say. They wanted to protect you,' Maddie started

'Another year.'

'They wish there was a way they could make it untrue.'

'Another day.'

'I heard the news today. I feel the worst has happened.'

'Another year.'

'An accident occurred; Edmond Dantes is dead.'

'Another year.'

'Dead and gone.'

'Rest in peace may flight of angels sing him to his rest,' Piro spoke up

'Let me hold and help to heal you,' Maddie and Piro told the two

The four started overlapping the same line until they ended with: 'Every day a little death.'