Loveless/ a POWERLESS fanfiction story

Chapter 27: Blair

I hear nothing but my own scream.

I stroke her cheek, but there's no warmth.

Her face—pale as the first snow, her hair tangled, her lips colorless and still. Sadie. The brightest thing in my life. She's gone.

I clutch her hand, squeezing it with trembling fingers as if I can wake her. As if this is just a nightmare, and if I want it badly enough, she'll open her eyes again.

Someone tries to pull me away, but I fight back, emitting something close to an animalistic growl.

"No!" I hiss.

Arms encircle me, holding me tight. Strong hands lift me from the ground, restraining me. I hear someone calling me, whispering my name, but their voice drowns in the whirlpool of my pain. I lash out, pounding my fists against their shoulders.

I'm turned around, my cheek pressed firmly against a solid shoulder. A hand rests on the back of my head, hesitantly smoothing my hair. For a moment, I anchor myself in that sensation, forcing my mind to focus on it.

"Miss Archer," a voice murmurs near my ear. "Miss Archer... Blair."

Brian. His voice cuts through the deafening noise in my head.

It's him.

Suddenly, the last of my strength drains away along with the tears burning my eyes, and I collapse in his arms. I can't fight anymore.

He holds me as though afraid I'll shatter if he lets go. My head falls against his shoulder, and I feel the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric. It's a strange, almost infuriating sensation—warmth, when everything inside me is frozen. This warmth is irritating. This warmth is frightening. Because there is life in him. And she's not.

But I cling to him the same way I clung to Sadie's hand. Like a last anchor in this sea of ​​pain I'm drowning in.

"This can't be real," I whisper, my voice breaking into a rasp. "This can't be..."

Brian doesn't answer. He just holds me. He's simply there—an immovable part of the longest moment of my life.

I hear the frantic pounding of his heart. My breathing falters, turning into sobs. I can't stop them. Everything inside me is breaking apart, spilling out, and I no longer try to hold it in.

"She's my sister..." I choke on the words, my lips barely forming the sounds. "She was..."

My body shakes, but his arms tighten around me, keeping me from falling. I hear him murmuring something softly, but the words are incomprehensible.

"I'm here," he says quietly, his voice hoarse, almost unrecognizable. "Blair, I'm here."

The words don't heal, but he keeps saying them like a mantra, and somehow, inexplicably, they anchor me, keeping me from slipping into the abyss.

I clutch at him, my grief is too vast to contain in words or sounds, so I scream into his chest.

And somewhere on the edge of my consciousness, his whisper reaches me:
"I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you..."