Needle and Thread

The End

[Fandom+ (1)]

It should have been beautiful. Everybody not swinging a sword stared at the Angels, unblinking, as they were sliced to pieces. But whenever they thought that they had cut the head off the last Angel, there were more still.

Winter and Benny were panting and tired. Lyra felt as though her eyes would never feel normal again. If there was some list documenting the worst cases of exhaustion in the multiverse, this was at the top.

"How long have we even been doing this?" Lyra asked.

"I'm too nauseated to say," Roxy groaned, desperately trying to keep on her feet.

Andesine was already sitting down. "Five hours by my count."

"Damn." This from Winter. "How many of these things are there?"

I think there is one for every plasdfnet we've destroyed, the last Ancient said helpfully.

"Why'd you have to go destroying so many planets?" Benny complained.

Boredom. You'd hasdfve done the sasdfme.

"Well, when we're in charge, there's going to be a change in policy," Lyra replied.

"If we live," Benjamin said glumly, swinging at a new batch of Angels.

"Optimism, guys!" Lyra said. "We can do this."

They battled on. The circle protected by Lyra and her friends, just outside the gates to the golden city, grew smaller and smaller.

Now it was ten feet in diameter. Now five. Now they were all standing back to back.

Lyra felt something grasp her ankle. "Shit," she gasped. An Angel glared up at her.

"Lyra?"

"Roxy?"

"Bad news."

"Yeah?"

"The Ancient's dead."

Lyra dropped an F-bomb. "I can't..." tears sprang to her eyes. "I don't want to die like this." She stared blearily at the Angel that bound her here.

She felt a hand grasp hers. She didn't even have to look to know that it was Andesine.

Without taking her eyes off the Angels, she fumbled to put her hand in Roxy's. But something kept her from it.

That was right-- she was still holding Anar's sword hilt.

She looked at it, making sure to keep the Angels in the corner of her eye.

Light, she thought.

I don't want to die, she thought. I don't want them to die. Please, light.

Lyra was exhausted. She didn't want to fight anymore. She just wanted to go home.

The place where the blade would have been began to glow.

[@2D3D4D]

Benny watched the Angels warily. He knew, and they knew, that he couldn't hold out much longer.

He thought that they'd had a chance of surviving. Oh, well. It looked like some other timeline would get it all sorted out.

Unless this was the last one.

Benny looked at the sword hilt of the Ancient.

This is my timeline, he thought. I'm going to make it the one where we survive.

The hilt grew warm in his hands, slowly but surely...

[Doe_prog_del]

Ananda wouldn't have minded dying. But her friends were in danger. She gripped her scythe. Her body tensed, ready to lash out. She knew it wouldn't have any sort of effect on the Angels, but she had to try something. She was done running away.