Daughter of Death

XX

Hallez felt a wave of disbelief, despair, and numbness at the same time, which was the best way she could describe it.

Barely moments ago, she had thought she was going to die. And she had accepted it. Accepted that both of them were going to die.

If there had been a miracle to save them, it should have saved them both.

Why just her?

Somehow, this concept just made her despairing feeling a whole lot worse. She couldn't help but feel guilt; Why did she survive, but not the woman? Why and how did she survive?

The crash site around her was a mess, to put it simply. The air was thick with black smoke, and fire blazed in a circle around her. Hallez's ears were ringing from the explosion earlier. She laid in the middle of the crash site, on hard, hot rock and bits of metal. Her physical body was numb, but she knew she must've suffered at least some injuries.

She couldn't see much with the smoke, but it didn't matter. Her head was pounding, and when she tried to move from her odd position on the ground, she just...couldn't.

Hallez could not remember much from what happened next. Her mind had been too preoccupied with a question:

Why had the woman died, but not her? It wasn't just a question of how, though she did wonder about that too.

Her death was Hal's fault, and she hadn't even known the woman's name.

†††

The next thing Hallez knew, Travis' and Lavi's faces were above her, looking concerned, only minutes later. Well, Lavi looked concerned. Travis looked concerned and a little angry.

Lavi was muttering something under her breath, her hand on Hallez's forehead, where it felt soothingly cool. She remembered that Apollo was also the god of healing.

Hallez held a hand up to Lavi's, pulling it away weakly.

Travis spoke before Lavi could. "Hallez!" He grabbed her by the shoulders, firmly but gently, and shook her the slightest bit. "Hallez, can you hear me? Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded weakly, though in that particular case, her definition of alright was simply living and breathing. A black cloud of smoke obscured the sun overhead, and the air smelled of, well, smoke. Hallez didn't feel much pain—that or she was just numb from the shock. Her mind was clouded on how she was out of the wreckage, but she remembered the crash plenty clearly.

Travis' expression relaxed, then immediately turned more angry. "Listen—no, Lavi, I need to give this lecture—listen, Hallez: You cannot go into situations like this alone, alright? You cannot leap into action on your own, without involving us, or not telling us beforehand. We are your contubernium! Contuberniums stick together. To Erebus with the prophecy—whether you are leading us or not, your plans, starting from now on, need to include us. You infiltrated the fortress by yourself and you wore yourself out completely. You did...whatever you did, and you almost..."

It was like his words were stuck in his throat. "Listen, you can't do this whole quest alone. We can help Hallez, and we're going to, like it or not. Gods help me, we've only known you for a day, but in that day you have very thoroughly become our friend, so like it or not, we're going to help you from now on. We're going to help you even if we have to die while doing so, because we're friends. Don't be stubborn about it, please."

Hallez was surprised, stung, and a little guilty. Combined with Minerva's scolding, Travis' lecture really hit her.

She looked away guiltily. She would be lying if she said she didn't want to be stubborn about it. The way Travis phrased it... After seeing the dead woman, she did not want someone else to die on her behalf.