He Who Controls the Flame (001 fanfic)

Chapter Thirty Eight- The Best Moments

Alice was screaming.

All Seven could do was watch as her body was encapsulated with flames and she fell to the ground. She spasmed and shrieked and he felt his entire body freeze.

What was happening?

Did Juliette do that to her?

Were they winning?

Questions flooded his mind and he strained against the vines holding him hostage. He had been trapped for at least fifteen minutes, but it had felt like half an eternity. Knowing his friends just downstairs were struggling, and Juliette was fighting some mind-battle without him while he did nothing...it was like torture. He was helpless. Utterly helpless.

Alice's screams suddenly stopped and the silence was overwhelming, deafening almost. She fell to the ground with a loud thump and at the same moment, the vines holding him went slack. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

Sweat burned his eyes as he looked at Alice, who was twitching on the ground, reaching a hand out as if to reach for him. Nope, never mind, she was reaching for the gun she had left on the ground.

"Oh fuck no," Seven said, scrambling to his feet. He marched forward and kicked the gun away from her. It skittered across the ground and he watched with satisfaction as it flew out the doorway and thudded down the stairs.

She made a groaning noise and he looked down at her, weaponless now, and felt something like pity tug at him.

She looked pale, scorch marks on her cheeks and neck. Her hair looked ragged, plastered to her forehead and neck. Her clothes were burnt as well, ripped in some places, covered in ash. She looked...definitely worse for wear. Broken. She looked broken.

"Tell me," Seven said, cocking his head down at her. "Did my precious girlfriend do this to you?" She made a noncommittal noise and he laughed, shoving his hands into his pockets. He laughed so hard he had to hunch over.

"You lost, didn't you?" he asked once the fit had faded. "She kicked your ass on your home turf, huh?" She made another grunting noise and Seven crouched down in front of her.

"I bet Peter didn't even help. Whatever hold you had on him failed, didn't it? It was a stupid plan, though. You knew those two could never be apart. Their love could set the world on fire, it practically already has. Did you really think you could keep them apart?"

"Stop," Alice grounded out, coughing. The cough sounded wet and ragged and Seven glanced down at her lips to see they were dotted with crimson.

"You're not going to last long," Seven said, his voice sobering. "I shouldn't even give you this, God knows you don't deserve it, but do you have any last words?"

She laughed, a soft, weak noise. "You always were a softie."

"Yeah," he said softly, reaching over to brush her hair away from her face. "Did that make it easier to take advantage of me?"

She blinked up at him with big, blue eyes. "Yeah," she repeated. He nodded, licking at his dry lips.

"Was any of it real?"

She coughed again. "Maybe not real but...but you did make me wonder if it was worth it."

He felt like someone had taken a cheese grater to his heart. "If what was worth it?"

She swallowed, a dribble of blood going down her chin. "Losing you to destroy the world. I tried imagining a world where you could be by my side, one where I didn't have to kill you. I wanted you to be my king." She smiled sadly. "But you'd never join me, would you?"