Better Angels

Chapter Three: Victoria

Chapter Three

Victoria

I stood by my bedside watching everyone huddle in around me. Will was there. Chiron must have told him. I wish that he hadn’t because now it is going to be very messy should I wake. I didn't know how they would go about finding this cure, but I had faith in Magnus. He was always there for me in the darkest of times and would always bring me back to the light. I wanted to be just like him and help others who needed it. Even those who didn't deserve it.

A hush had fallen over them all as I screamed. There was a searing pain through my brain as images began to flash before my eyes.

There was Annabeth and Percy gripping onto the edge of a hole filled with webs their eyes filled with panic. Percy let go of the ledge and they fell. Then there was Jace fighting off demon after demon with Alec behind him keeping the demons that were surrounding them both off of each others backs as Parabati should. A demon approached from the sky and picked Jace up by the head. There was a sickening crunch and I knew he was dead. Alec let out and agonizing scream, gripped his heart, and fell to his knees. He was quickly overrun. Then there was Isabelle and Clary fighting side-by-side. A flicker of shock registered on Clary's face. In that moment they too were overrun. Then Will, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, every single demigod, and every single shadowhunter.

Then there was only Sebastian and a women standing atop the piles of bodies. The women was me except with black hair and my eyes were now an icy green with flecks of black. If I didn't know any better I would've mistaken myself for Gaea.

"We have done well," I said my voice all gravelly and low. It sounded as if mountains were shaking. It could not be. “Victoria Carstairs was was always a strong spirit, but now I have broken her with your help.” A look of regret filled Sebastian’s eyes, but was quickly replaced with a blank stare as he gazed across the battlefield littered with his enemies.

There was a silence throughout the world. I could feel it. Everything and everyone was gone. Somehow I knew that some had escaped alive and now lived somewhere else, but I also knew that this was not what Gaea wanted. She wanted to make the humans suffer and now they were gone. Annihilated by the demons that she had aligned herself with. All of her children were dead. Defeated and suffering in the pits of Tartarus. They would rise again. Not now but soon. They would reform. The Doors of Death had not been closed. Everyone had failed to defeat her. Gaea let her gaze travel across the horizon and let out a low laugh.

“I control all of this now! Everything is mine!”

“Was it worth it?” Sebastian whispered. His black eyes were filled with pain. How could he feel pain?

“Pardon, my child? If you wish to speak you must not mutter,” Gaea reprimanded him.

“I asked, ‘Was it worth it?’” He raised his eyes to meet her gaze. His eyes were now filled with a fire that I had never seen in him. The sun cast a glow around him making him look like and angel of death. “Was it worth it to kill everyone on this planet so you could rule it? You do realize that now that everyone is dead there is no one left to rule over. No one to control. There is no one that you can inflict pain on in revenge. There is nothing here! Everything and everyone is gone!” He spat. Gaea didn’t even flinch.

“Has the little boy gotten cold feet? You, who claimed to have no emotion, now regret taking revenge on those who killed you and labeled you as someone... no something evil because you were not like them.” She smiled. It was not my smiled, but one that showed malice and hate. She darted forward and wrapped her hands around his neck and twisted. There was a sickening crack and his body fell to the ground. “There is no weakness in my family,” she whispered menacingly to his corpse. “And as for  you my dear,” she looked directly at me, “Victoria. I believe you need to get better so that this can all play out as you have seen. I need you in tip-top shape for all of this,” she smiled and place a finger in the middle of my forehead. A searing white pain burst through my mind. It wasn’t over. I felt something lodge into the corner of my mind and nestle in. Gaea let out a low laugh. “Pretty soon you will be mine, and we will be one. No matter what you try there is no stopping me.”

Then the vision was gone.