cascade | kotlc

29. Choices No One Wants to Make

 What had she done?

King Dimitar had fled after seeing Fintan. The Council was in chaos, grabbing the Frissyn supply and dousing the stage, and yet everyone had noticed what she had done.

She bit back a sob as she fled the rooftop, hurdling off the other edge and down to the streets, avoiding all attention as she ducked behind into a small alleyway. She sank behind a marble statue and cried.

Everyone had seen what she'd done. She was no better than the Neverseen they were trying to vanquish.

Blood would be spilled in their struggle for victory. She just wasn't ready to accept it.

Tears soaked her tunic as she convulsed in pain, something flickering through her mind. She felt her strength dissipating away as memories flashed, cracks appearing in them as they shattered.

No. No, no, no!

She desperately thought of her friends, and her happiest moments, with Biana and Keefe and Fitz and Sophie. But they morphed into scenes in Alluveterre, where they were standing around her, encircling her, calling her a monster as she bent down, gasping for breath.

He was bleeding, and you still shot him, six more times. You've almost killed him. How could you ever do that, you mutant-

Silveny. She tried to think of Silveny, but the alicorn didn't respond as they flew across the ocean to the Black Swan's hideout. Keefe and Sophie heckled her from behind, punching her and calling her dangerous. Calling her unnatural as she emerged from the cave, having taken the vial.

Monster. Who would want to spend time with you? You killed him, you unthinking monster. Noboby wants to be with you. Get out!

June hung from the cliff, the rocks above crumbling as Keefe and Sophie stepped over her, their faces angry and filled with rage.

You killed him. Now you deserve to die too.

Sophie bent down, as if offering her a hand, and June reached out. Keefe slapped her hand away and Sophie pulled out Glistensteel, and June plummeted down to the ocean, closing her eyes.

Get out. No one wants to be with you anymore, you worthless piece of trash. Why would anyone want to?

More cracks and shattering as the scene blurred and sharpened, fissures spreading throughout everyone's faces. Silveny neighed and whinnied, her magnificent wings fracturing as chinks of black shot through, engulfing her, filling her with darkness, swallowing her mind.

Take me. I don't deserve them. Take me, before anything worse happens to me. I don't deserve to be here. Get me out.

"June?" someone whispered, and light shed through, glistening brightly as someone helped her up. "June! Stay with me. What's happening?"

"Let's take her," the other voice said. "We can't leave her here."

You can. I'm worthless. I'm a monster.

"June, stay with me. Lots of people care about you, June, and they won't have it any other way."

Lights flickered, sprawling in the distance, color breaking through as the shining walls of Eternalia came back into focus. Two faces appeared before her, and the last June remembered was a strand of delicate green, before sinking into the pitch black again.

"Where's Fitz or Sophie?" someone muttered. "Shit, have they left already? Where have they gone?"

Without me. They don't want me.

"Stay with us. Can you contact Forkle?"

"I'll try. I don't know."

He won't want me. He'll ignore you. Leave, before anything happens because of me, please.