Daughter of Life, Son of Death (An MCSM fanfic) #Wattys2016

The First Death

That night Axel had a terrible nightmare. Everywhere he turned was just flames. Fire and smoke was all over the place. Then he saw a figure. Jesse... he thought. Suddenly Axel was looking in a mirror, but in his reflection was glowing white eyes staring at him. Then scorching burns consumed him, he was doomed...

He woke up with a start. "Aaahhh!" he yelled. Olivia came running in her pale red nightdress. "What's wrong?!" she asked. Axel threw himself at her. "I have a bad feeling about Jesse." he replied. Olivia hugged him back. "I do too, Axel. I do." she whispered.

The next morning Jess woke up to see her brother gone. "Crap. I have to make sure he hasn't turned the halls into black gardens." she sighed to herself. She found him in the kitchen making breakfast. His green eyes had dark circles under them, he was still wearing his pyjamas and his hair was a mess. "You OK?" Jess asked, praying he didn't have another fit. "I'm alright. How are you?" he replied. "I'm good. Listen, did you know that you could do all those things?" Jess was extremely puzzled about that. "No. I didn't even notice until you slapped me back to reality." Jesse answered. He seemed quite depressed. It reminded Jess of what it felt like when Reuben died. "Listen. It's cool that you have powers like that. It's probably from the Witherstorm." then Jess realised how dangerous that was. "No it's not. I'm a freak." Jesse was blinking back tears. "You're not a freak! And I have you're back." Jess reminded. 

Later on they had a mission. A forest fire that couldn't be put out was in danger of spreading to a town. Lukas noticed Axel looked pretty uncomfortable. "Hey, what's up?" he asked. "Nothing..." Axel quickly said. Lukas knew he was lying. When they got to the fire, it was pretty bad. "OK, Axel, you and Olivia check out for anyone trapped inside. Lukas and Petra, you're with me." Jess ran with the Warrior and Architect to a river, filled their buckets and got to work. Meanwhile Axel and Olivia searched the woods. There were one or two people they rescued, but otherwise it looked like everyone escaped. "This was a little easier than I thought it would." said Axel. But when they tried to get out they found themselves surrounded by flames. Olivia shrieked as one almost touched her. The two searched frantically for a way out, but then smoke was too thick and made them cough and their eyes water. Then Axel looked up. A rocky ledge was just above them. Maybe he would get Olivia up there? But what would he do? Axel looked at his first friend, and felt a desire to keep her safe at all costs... even his own life. He picked her up bridal-style. "Wait... cough... what are you doing?!" she spluttered. "Protecting you. It's what we do." and with that, Axel tossed Olivia so she fell on the ledge. "Axel!" she cried. The New Rogue just managed to smile weakly at her before he collapsed and all went black.

Olivia ran as fast as her legs would carry her down the cliff to the others. Please don't be dead, Axel, please don't be dead! she thought. But it was too late. She knew deep done he was gone forever. "Olivia! How did you get here?" Petra suddenly looked afraid. "And where's Axel?!" she asked. "He's dead! He saved me and I couldn't save him! It's all my fault!" Olivia said through sobs. Jess and Lukas came running over. "How can it be your fault? There was nothing you could do. Olivia, don't beat yourself up." Lukas said firmly. Olivia couldn't stop crying. "I never got to tell him... he was defensive, funny and my friend. Possibly something more." she could hardly breathe. "Calm down! It's alright. It was Axel's choice to save you. It was a brave thing to do." Jess found herself tearing up as well. "I just can't believe he's gone. It seems so unlikely." said Petra. It was true. Axel survived everything. Except fire apparently. 

The announcement of Axel's death shocked everyone. Magnus and Gabriel were devastated. "But at least he went down fighting. And he did some heroic things." Gabriel assured. "It's almost like history repeating itself. First one member of the First Order dies fighting, then someone from the Second Order. It's creepy." Lukas pointed out. Then Jesse said the coldest thing ever without knowing it.

"So?".

He got a punch in the face from Olivia. "You cold, heartless, little..." we'll just say she gave him a piece of her mind. "Hey, ever heard of mouthwash? Axel completed his quest." said Jesse. "What quest?" asked Petra. "To live. We're all gonna complete it eventually." Jesse shrugged. Something was seriously mentally wrong with this boy. It freaked out the others like hell. Olivia gave him a death-glare and stormed away. Jesse just shrugged and went to his room. "That boy is crazy." said Lukas flatly. "I wouldn't say crazy now." Jess said. "Yeah, I'm with Jess on this one. Jesse's just... unpredictable." Petra agreed. "You say unpredictable, I say insane." Lukas walked away. He hated arguing with Jess or Petra, but Jesse gave him the creeps, and made him feel endangered.

And how did that fire start in the first