Invictus

Epilogue

I awoke to light. Streams of white, warm rays clouded my vision. The voices of people whispering were all around me, they sounded almost angelic. Was this heaven? I knew the answer to that question as the light began to dim and a shadowed, faceless figure hunched over me. 

"Zeek?" The distant voice asked. 

I blinked to try and clear away the haze. Each time I did the figure came more into view. 

"Zeek?" The voice called again. 

"God?" I asked in confusion, still unable to see who it was.  

I heard laughter. 

"No. Not God."

I looked up to see Joe's tired old face pulled into a smile. I winced as I shifted myself into a sitting position, the pain was still there but it was getting better. A crumbling, monolithic structure lay no too far off. It was sinking inwards on itself, collapsing into some kind of dark portal. 

"Well done Ezekiel." Joe said. 

I continued to watch as the Ori-gen building sunk into the portal with the slow, finality of a sinking ship. 

"What's happening to it?"

"Black hole." Joe motioned behind him to a skinny bearded kid with a missing ear. "You can thank Desmond for that. Ori-gen and all their research are no more."

I looked beyond Joe and saw Michael, Edwin, Kya, Santiago, Peter, Desmond and six others watching as the evil organization known as Ori-gen disappeared into the ground. The concrete square sank deep into the black hole, swallowing stone and broken glass like some kind of cosmic monster. After another minute the building vanished and the hole closed, leaving behind an enormous opening in the ground. When Desmond had finished Kya came and sat next to me. 

"We'll give you two sometime." Joe said as he rose to his feet. Michael and Edwin helped him up. I overheard them discussing what they were going to do with the other Freaks, and with Helena.  

Kya and I stared at each other awkwardly, but she was able to  break the tension with that gentle smile of hers. 

"How'd you get me out?"

"Kali and Santiago came in after you dropped Helena and helped me pull you to the surface."

I looked around. "Where is Kali?" 

"She kept a piece of the ceiling from collapsing on us so we could escape." 

I looked back over towards the empty crater. "She never made it out." 

Kya didn't answer, but I knew what that empty stare on her face meant. 

"Why?"

Kya shrugged. "Found what she was looking for I guess."

I gave a mocking laugh. "What's that?"

"'Freaks are family.' That's all she said. Then she told us to leave." Kya's bright blue eyes looked sad as she spoke. 

I smiled and started fidgeting as I prepared to say the words I had been longing to tell her for so long. 

"Kya I -- "

"I already know Zeek." Kya said raising her hand to stop me. 

"No. I need you to hear this. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I'm sorry I killed Jacob, and I'm sorry I was too proud to say it earlier." 

That was it. The final weight, the last layer of that wretched shell I had been living inside was gone. I could breathe again. Kya's face began to shake. She bit her lower lip and turned away so that I wouldn't see her cry.