Titanium

Part 9- Hana

Disclaimer: Lauren Oliver owns all the characters and setting in this story.

Hana: 

I rush forward at the sound of my best friend's wails and so does Alex. 

I push through the crowd and at that moment it's like I can feel the cure being ripped away from me. I can feel the little prices flying into the air. I feel lighter. Lighter with love. 

As we reach the centre of the circle, I see Lena crouched down next to a body. A body that looks so bloody that I can't even make out the features of the persons face. This must be Raven. 

I hear Alex suck in a sharp breath as he takes in the scene before him. He must have known her as well. 

I turn towards him and see someone staring at us. He looks to be about 18 and is wearing a red shirt. He has dirty blond hair and there is something vaguely familiar about him. He sees me staring at him and looks back at me. Recognition in his eyes as well. When his eyes meet mine my heart pounds against my chest and I know exactly who it is. 

Julian Fineman. 

I heard about what happened with him but I never thought I would see him here. Then I remember something that Alex said earlier:

"You're the reason for it all! All that has happened, all that we have gone through. Julian, everything."

So Lena was the one that got Julian out. I never would have guessed that she would have done that. Not the Lena I knew. But today I have noticed over and over that she is not the Lena that I knew anymore. She is harder. Harder but full of love. Like a rose. Thorns to protect it, but beautiful if you let it be. 

A smile cracks the stony look on Julian's face when he recognizes me. I guess he never thought he would see me here either. 

With that smile, my heart beats a little faster. And louder. I can hear it beating through me, filling me with warmth. Again I feel the little bits of the cure being ripped away from me. I see Julian's eyes shift from me to Alex and the smile leaves his face. His eyes harden and and rage flames in them. Alex stares back just as intensely. 

Suddenly Julian turns sharply away from us and walks to the other side of the clearing, where Lena can clearly see him. 

He catches her eye and she nods. She reluctantly gets up from Raven's  side and follows him out of the clearing. I can feel Alex tense next to me as she walks off with him. I want to say something to him to comfort him but I have no idea what I would say. So I don't. 

Not 2 minutes after Lena walks off with Julian, Raven wakes up.

Her eyes flutter open and she gasps for breath. 

The whole crowd is suddenly silent as she looks around to take on her surroundings. The man crouching next to her. Whispers things in her ear as he clutches her hands. 

I can feel the happiness that is drifting through the crowd. Everyone is feeling lighter at the sight of her waking up. Someone who they thought was gone, revived. 

The happiness comes into me as well and for the first time in months I feel completely whole again. 

That's what the cure does to you; it makes your life less. Less than what it should be. It makes you forget what it feels like to be a complete person. You get so used to pretending that what you have is a full life that you end up just drifting through everything. 

In this moment I feel that my life is complete again. It is the best feeling in the world.