Shields

Epilogue:

Narian stared at the gravestone, an overwhelming feeling of loss crashing over her. For a fleeting moment, she wished that Alven was here now and could be there for her. For the first time in her life, she felt like she needed a shoulder to cry on. Demetriot have been that shoulder for her before, but now that he was gone, and she wasn't sure she could live without him. It was too hard to consider.

She closed her eyes and a tear dripped down her cheek. The moment when he made that decision, to sacrifice himself for the world, still played over and over in her head like a broken record. The gunfire was still clearly audible too, ringing in her ears like it had when the guns had first gone off. She could even feel Dem's cold lips on her when she'd kissed him goodbye.

Achmetha had tried to comfort her, but she'd pushed him away, pushed everyone away, too scared to let anyone in. It was too much, to just turn to someone else, when Dem had been there for her for so long. She couldn't imagine going to anyone else to run to for comfort. He'd always been willing to listen to her vent or let her cry on his shoulder and now, when it had mattered most, she hadn't been able to save his life. Nothing she'd done had helped.

She looked out over the graveyard. The wind gently blew over her hair and the sun had come out of the clouds, peeking out from the nearby woods and lighting up the path with its golden light. The gravestones all over the graveyard weren't as ominous as they'd seemed when she first saw them, and the flowers on many of them were beautiful in the sunlight.

The trees in the woods danced in the warm breeze, making the sunlight dance along the ground. Squirrels chased each other in the big oak by Demetriot's grave, chattering excitedly and birds chirped from their perches high above her.

Narian looked back at Demetriot's gravestone and fought back tears again. The sunlight lit on it, lighting it up.

"Here lies Demetriot Shields. He died courageously saving the world." It listed his birthday and the date he died underneath the inscription. It brought tears to Narian's eyes all over again and she looked away.

When she finally started walking, she didn't have any particular destination. She just walked, heading through the woods and back in the general direction of her car.

She drove herself home and got out of the car almost in a trance. Inserting the key into her front door, she unlocked it and pushed it open.

Alven paced in the living room restlessly. When he saw her, with her ruffled hair and red eyes, he stopped. But seeing Alven set Narian off again and she ran into his arm, sobbing uncontrollably.

He held her tightly while she cried. Finally, when she calmed down enough to speak, he asked her what was wrong.

"He's... he's gone. He's gone Alven. He's not coming back." Tears streamed down her face.

Alven grabbed her chin gently and looked into her eyes. "Who's gone, Narian?"

"Dem. He... he died... They killed him, Alven." Narian broke down again, the hurt too fresh inside of her to keep inside.

Alven went still for a moment before gathering her into his arms again and cradling her while she cried.

***

Julius paced in small cell, restless. Once his army and all of the police had come to, they'd arrested him and cleared everything up with Germany. His entire program had been completely wiped, destroyed by that stupid virus that his programmer, Achmetha, had installed in the flash drive. He'd thought he could trust Achmetha when he'd let him and the other guy leave, but apparently, it had been a lapse in judgment. When he got free, he would make sure he never made that kind of a misjudgment again.

The door to his cell opened and he looked up. No one seemed to be there. It clicked shut again. Slowly, a man materialized in front of him. He was middle aged, with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. A scar ran down his face and through his left eye, giving it a cloudy white color and creating a creepy aura around him.

Julius stared at the man, amazed. He'd thought that Demetriot and his sister had been the only two who had strange abilities. Yet another thing he'd been wrong about. He resisted sighing. He was wrong too often. He would have to work out a way to fix that.

The man looked at him, offering no formal greeting. Finally, he asked, "Are you Julius?"

Julius nodded. "I am. Who are you and why are you here?"

"People call me the Reaper. I'm with a group of people like you and me, who have supernatural abilities. We've just discovered that you are Powered and we'd like you to join us. If you say no, I'll have to kill you because the information I've given you is too precious to be leaked."

"Wait, what? What information? You've hardly told me anything!" Julius protested. "And I don't want to die," he added more quietly.

"We're going to get you out of here and help you fix the mess you created while trying to take over the world so we can do it the right way. Are you in or not? Choose wisely, because there's no going back from here."

"I'm in."