The woods were quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
The kind of quiet that followed something catastrophic.
Mark lay across the wreckage where Lexie was trapped, his body half draped over the twisted metal as if he could somehow shield her from what had already happened. One of his hands still held hers tightly, his forehead resting against the side of her head.
"I love you," he whispered.
His voice had gone hoarse from repeating the words.
"I love you."
Again.
And again.
Like if he kept saying it long enough she might hear him.
Beside them, Aria sat against a section of broken fuselage.
She hadn't moved.
She hadn't cried.
She hadn't even wiped the dirt from her hands.
Her mind had gone completely blank.
Just minutes ago she had been smoothing Lexie's hair away from her face, whispering to her, trying to keep her calm.
Trying to make the impossible feel less terrifying.
And now—
Nothing.
No thoughts.
No tears.
Just a hollow silence inside her chest.
Her eyes stared ahead at nothing.
The trees.
The wreckage.
The mountains.
It all blurred together.
Footsteps rustled through the brush behind them.
Branches snapping as someone pushed through the undergrowth.
"Aria!"
Meredith's voice cut through the quiet.
Cristina stepped through the trees first, scanning the wreckage as they came down the slope.
Then she saw them.
Mark stretched across Lexie.
Aria sitting perfectly still beside the wreckage.
Something about the stillness made Cristina stop.
Her breath caught.
Her eyes moved slowly from Mark...
to Lexie...
to Aria.
Aria hadn't turned.
Hadn't reacted.
Hadn't moved.
Cristina understood immediately.
Behind her, Meredith stepped forward.
"Did you—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her gaze landed on Aria.
Aria lifted her eyes slowly.
The moment their gazes met, Meredith saw it.
The emptiness.
The quiet acceptance.
The way Aria wasn't crying.
Because she already knew.
Meredith's face collapsed.
YOU ARE READING
Shooting Stars
Fanfiction"But he's Evil Spawn." "Don't you think I know that. I didn't wake up one day and suddenly decide I was going to be in love with Alex Karev." Being the daughter of a world renowned surgeon was never destined to be easy. The first born of the Grey tw...
