The Six

Chapter Forty Two- Awakening

Floating. The sensation was calming, warming, loving. But there was something missing. The white ribbons that had been her constant companion since she could remember were missing. In their place a flickering white energy that ebbed and flowed to the rhythm of her heart beat.

Her heart beat. Its steady thrum sounding in her head telling her she was alive. She had survived. But she had fallen, was she mistaken in her interpretation in the prophecy? She had not thought to take it so literally. A nagging tick at the back of her mind told her that she had been right all along. One of them had fallen, one of them was dead. And it was not her.

She was aware of a cool breeze floating over her in waves, but she was not cold. A gentle hum of noise grew louder, voices talking in hushed tones not wanting to wake her. But she was waking. The flickering of her eyelids sending the room into silence, the pressure of someone holding her hand and soft murmurs in her ear finally pulling her from her sleep.

The bright light of the two suns suspended high in the sky forcing her to close her eyes, blinking until they adjusted. Eboni looked around. She was laid in her bed, Kas sat on one side holding her hand and Bren on the other. They both smiled when they saw her looking. But Eboni knew that they were not smiles of happiness. They were smiles of sorrow.

"Who?" She whispered. Her throat dry and ragged from not being used, for how long she did not know.

Kas looked over to Bren, who was stood by a bowl of water, collecting it in a goblet for her.

"Not now. You have just woken up. You need to get your strength back." Bren mumbled, handing her the goblet.

Eboni accepted it reluctantly, her eyes narrowing harshly at her brother. Chugging the water down quickly to sooth her throat she discarded the goblet beside her.

"Tell me, Bren." She forced as much strength into her voice as she could muster.

"I will go and get the others" Kas said, releasing her hand with a final squeeze before disappearing out of the door.

"I was so worried. I thought that I would lose you too." Bren collapsed to his knees next to her bed, cradling his head in one hand while seeking out her hand with his other.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked. In her past experiences of using up all of her available energy, she had only ever been out for one or two days. She looked closer at her friend and brother. His hand was shaking in her own, hair matted and skin pale and dull.

"Bren?" She asked him again, gasping quietly as he looked up and met her gaze. There were black circles underneath his eyes, ones that only ever appear due to prolonged lack of sleep, and his eyes- usually vibrant and happy- held within them the most innate sadness she had ever seen.

"Two weeks." His answer was short and lacked emotion, as though he was afraid of showing any sadness around her.

Sitting up, Eboni silently wrapped her arms around him. Holding him. Comforting him.

"Why? Why did you do it? You knew what was going to happen. Why?" He whispered, his breath tickling her neck followed by the wet drops of silent tears.

"We were all dead if I didn't. I was ready, I would have given my life for all of yours's- I tried." She whispered back.

She heard voices on the stairs nearing her room. This was it. She would learn in a matter of seconds who had survived and who had died. Her heart lurched and thudded in her chest as Kas walked in, heading straight for her side.

Iasa entered first, going to sit beside Bren who was wiping away his tears before she saw them. Kimi and the Commander entered together, Kimi giving her an empty smile and hug before sitting at the edge of her bed, the Commander nodding hello, holding his usual steely gaze as he stood behind her. Arianna poked her head around the door, coming in and sitting on the edge of her bed, observing her from head to toe checking to see if she was ok.