To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 45

We all stopped what we were doing when the gun went off. Every one of us knew what it meant.

I was about to turn toward Jala to see what damage had been done when Polly suddenly dropped from her place in the air and fell to her knees, coughing wildly and gasping for air.

Jala had shot the glass, shattering a corner of the box, and was now pulling the sphere out of its small throne of wires. The more she dug around in the box, the more Polly's body started to shake and the more I could see her head turn red under her thin layer of hair.

"You're killing her!" I panicked and flung Jala against the wall, knocking her out temporarily with the impact. As soon as I did so, Odette screamed in surprise and backed away while Ace went to make sure his girlfriend was okay.

My eyes went wide when I realized what I'd done. I had just harmed my teammate. But when Polly continued to scream in pain I felt conflicted.

After summoning her strength, my daughter ripped the metal mask off her skin, leaving long cuts across her chin that would scar horribly, and lay on her back, still gasping for air. Her body had been reliant on the artifact for too long and disconnecting was slowly tearing her apart.

"Polly!" I fell down beside her and pulled her head into my lap, running my hands over her hair as I had when she was younger. "Please hold on. Don't die on me."

Polly frowned, unable to figure out why I seemed so desperate to see her live. After squinting for a moment, she used one of her fingers to wipe the eyeliner off one of my eyes and continued to stare, trying to figure out who I was.

Once the makeup was smeared off, though, she recognized me. The realization made her eyes water too. "Mom?" her voice faltered, returning to that of a lonely daughter who needed her mother. "Seriously?"

I nodded, holding her hand against my cheek as liquid streamed down my cheeks. "It's me," I whispered, trying to smile through my tears.

She tried to grin too but suddenly broke down, sobbing. "How?"

"I survived," I told her. "I'm sorry I couldn't reach you sooner."

"Mom..." She paused to cry some more, then flashed me a toothy smile mixed with a grimace. "I finally reached my growth spurt," she bragged, trying to lighten the mood.

I forced myself to laugh, resting my forehead on her chest so she couldn't hear my sobs. "You've become very beautiful," I told her quietly, truly meaning it. "I love you." She needed to hear it. I couldn't let her die without telling her that. "I love you, Polly."

"I...love you too." She hesitated, acting shy about it just like her father had in the past. "Sorry for trying to kill you earlier."

"Don't worry about it."

Her eyes wandered toward the door distractedly. "...Take care of Dad, okay? He needs you."

"I will," I promised, pulling away and wiping away my tears so she'd believe that I was strong enough to keep my word. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you, Polly."

"I chose to do this," she defended before gasping and losing her ability to continue speaking. I had to lie there and watch as the light drained from her eyes and she finally closed them, probably for my sake so I wouldn't have to watch her completely drift away.

After her hand went limp and dropped to the floor, I pressed my head against her chest and moaned, pushing air out of my lungs until I couldn't feel anything. I felt my screams vibrate through the giant room and didn't stop yelling until I ran out of breath.

I had failed!

My only daughter was dead!

"I want to go home!" I screamed, my mind returning to that of a teenage, love struck girl who had desperately wanted to enter a different world. Only this time I wanted to go back to a simpler world where my child wasn't lying dead in my arms.

"I'm sorry, Mary," Ace told me from across the room, his eyes filled with regret. "We didn't want it to end this way."

I didn't blame Jala for what happened. We were all to blame for this in some way, including Polly, and I didn't expect any less from Jala. She had been trying to protect me as much as she was trying to defend herself.

However, I couldn't help but feel my blood boil when I heard an echo of footsteps approaching the door Polly had used to enter. I didn't need to look to know who it was. I would recognize those footsteps anywhere. I'd been listening to them for years, after all.

I intentionally kept my head down and my body angled away from the doorway so he couldn't see me. I didn't want to show him who I was. Not yet. I wanted him to see what had happened to Polly first. I wanted him to regret letting her, a fourteen year old girl, become a soldier.

I wanted him to regret breaking his promise to me about protecting her.