Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~FORTY SIX~

~amelie~

Screaming erupts across the battlefield, shrill noise that cuts through my frozen panic, jolting me into action. My legs lengthen and then I'm standing above the crowd, searching frantically for my friends and my family. Anybody I can save from Dad. Vibrant colour catches my eye and I flick my gaze to my left, and I see Thomas opening portal after portal, sending people to safety. All notions of sides have been lost - from the way Dad is yelling, and the way I reacted, everyone knows something is wrong. There are no good guys or bad guys here. We're all just running. Light flickers all across the battlefield, with countless superhumans generating shields, armour, anything that can help them. A few feet away from one of them - a girl with turquoise hair, assembling a massive barrier of the same colour between the huddle of people she's protecting and my father -  I spot Amber and Hunter, both yelling something as Hunter produces galaxy portals all around them,  doing the same as Thomas, as people run straight through them to safety. My height decreases and I grab Lila's arm, sprinting towards them. I'm caught in a press of bodies as I try and reach them, and I can feel my grip on Lila slipping. Shouting all around me fills my ears. Someone's elbow smashes into my gut and the breath is knocked out of me, and I stagger as I try to recover. I attempt to push through the crowd again.

Suddenly, everyone around me seems to disappear, and the crowd thins. As the last groups of people escape through Hunter and Thomas' portals, I get a clear line of sight to Amber and Hunter. Hunter shouts "GO!" to his right, and I look to my left again, just in time to see Thomas nod, and climb through his own portal. In the next second, it winks out of existence, and then it's just us four left, and I know Sophia's safe, Matthew's safe, Genevieve, Thomas, everyone except us and my father. And then, suddenly, I know what I have to do. Hunter produces one more portal and moves to push me through, but I jerk back, out of his grip. Confusion crosses his face.

"What are you doing?" he asks frantically, and then the twins are both staring at me too.
"Go! Go through," I say, but as I start to turn he grabs my hand.
"Amelie, don't be stupid. He's going to explode, any second!"
My brow creases, and I tell him, "I have to try and help him."

And I yank my hand away as I run away from them, and Hunter shouts my name as I sprint towards Dad. My father jerks his head up as I approach, orange light filling my vision, and his face, already twisted in pain, creases even more when he sees me.

"G...go," he grunts, staring at me with panic in his eyes."Go!"

I shake my head, tears filling my eyes. My brain is screaming at me, telling me to run, telling me that there's no way I'm getting out of this alive, that I'm being unbelievably stupid for even trying to help him. But I can't leave him.

So I step forward, my body transforming to steel, and the heat that fills me is matched by the barely-controlled explosive heat radiating off Dad. I wrap my arms around him, holding him tightly, never wanting to let him go. His whole body is vibrating with the strain of trying to control his ability, and the air around us is getting hotter and hotter as I squeeze my eyes shut. And then I feel a hand on my back, and in shock my eyes fly open to see Amber standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Get away!" I say, panicked. "What are you doing?"
She lifts her hand off me, and says, "I think I can help."

I watch, aghast, as Amber places her hand on Dad's arm, and then she makes a small grunting noise, concentrating on Dad. For a moment I think it's working, and Dad's face relaxes slightly as the pain lessens and the air grows slightly cooler. But then he lets out an anguished cry and heat explodes from him in a wave, and he's shaking even harder than before, the vivid orange light growing, blinding us, and Amber falls back. My eyes widen, and I'm filled with panic, because we're not going to be able to stop this, and then Dad speaks.

"You... you cannot beat me..." he says, almost imperceptibly, and I realise the words are only for him. I'm not meant to hear them. And then he yells again, and straightens up, and I scream as a bang fills the air and the heat blasts me backwards.

~~~

My eyes crack open slightly, revealing a pristine blue sky above me. I'm lying on something hard. I cough, slowly pushing myself up from the ground, and open my eyes fully. Disbelief fills me as I stare at Dad's face, as he smiles at me with tears in his eyes. I look around, and I can see Amber in the same position as me, slowly getting up. Hunter and Lila are running towards us.

And we're all alive.

A smile spreads across my face as I push myself to my feet, and I fling my arms around Dad, hugging him tighter than ever before, and tears of relief stream from my eyes. "You did it," I whisper. "How did you stop the... the explosion?"
"I just couldn't let you die," Dad says quietly, smiling down at me. "I love you."
"I love you too," I say.

He releases me, and jerks his head very slightly to the side. I turn my head to see Hunter running straight for me, and then I'm running towards him, and we collide in joyful embrace.  I laugh as he holds me, and then he's laughing too, murmuring my name over and over, telling me how glad he is that I'm safe. I smile, looking over at the twins. I let go of Hunter and walk towards Amber.

She turns to look at me as I say seriously, "Thank you. For saving him."
Amber smiles. "I'm the healer. It's what I do."

I smile back, and hug her. She hugs me back, tightly, and happiness fills me. Lila laughs, and then the laughter cuts off abruptly and Amber releases me and I spin around to see a figure lifting something black up.

Roman's face is expressionless as he points the gun towards Dad, and pulls the trigger.

The gunshot fills the world and I scream, and so does Amber, and Lila dives towards Dad, roaring, and knocks him flat on the ground. I'm frozen for a minute, staring at them, unable to move, and out of the corner of my eye I see Roman tap his teleporter, disappearing, and I realise he would only have done that if... if he'd been successful. If he'd hit someone. My eyes go wide as Lila pushes herself off Dad, and breathes out shakily. I'm focused on him, willing him to move, to get up. And, after a few excruciating seconds, he does. I exhale, relief flooding my body, as he gets up, dusting himself off. I can't see any blood on either of them. They're okay.

And then there's a whimper from beside me, and I turn, horrified, in slow motion, just in time to see Amber slump to the ground.

Lila moves over to her, and everything is moving so slowly, and she mouths Amber's name, panic, fear, horror filling her face. I fall to my knees next to Amber, and I can hear screaming, and I think it's me but it could be anyone. Amber's breathing hitches and her face twists in pain, and she brings her hands up to her chest, and they come away covered in blood. Lila is pressing on the wound, shouting at her sister to stay alive, to stay with them.

"I do not accept this!" Lila screams. "Don't you dare leave me! Heal yourself, dammit!"
But Amber just smiles slightly, and moves her hand weakly over to Lila's, covering it. "I love you, Lila. And Amelie, Hunter, you too."

No. No, no, no, no.

Lila yells, "Why are you accepting this? Fix it! Heal it!"
Amber laughs, and then it turns into a splutter as she coughs blood. "You know, I never thought it would end this way. Just one... one simple bullet."

Tears are streaming down my cheeks and my eyes are burning, and my heart feels like it's being ripped in two.

"This isn't the end," Lila says, quieter now, and she's staring at her sister, fixing her image in her mind. "It can't be. You can still fix it."
"You've always known... I never could heal myself," Amber replies, and her eyes drift shut slowly, and then she takes one last stuttering breath, and Lila lets out a gut-wrenching scream as her sister breathes out for the last time.