Alethea has always been awkward - eccentric, even. On a typical day she spends her time cloistered inside a tiny apartment hiding from the world she doesn't really understand. When her therapist encourages her to push herself outside her comfort zon...
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The longer I sat there, sipping water and passing the time with Mara, the more things started coming back to me: flashes of things at first – Roran's eyes, flames, fights. It took several hours but eventually, as my headache ebbed and the dizziness faded, I remembered everything.
I didn't understand how I could have gotten better, especially since I should have been dying. But if what I was experiencing was a brief moment of clarity before the end of my life, I was determined not to waste it. To keep the element of surprise on my side I mentioned none of it to Mara. Pretending to still be punch drunk, I ambled in the direction of the door but didn't make any sudden movements to leave my cage. I couldn't have her trying to stop me, even if she seemed to be trying to help.
When I shot around her without warning, locking the cell door with her still inside she was taken completely by surprise.
"Thea, no!" she shouted after me as I raced from the room. "Come back!"
I ignored her, pushing myself harder despite every muscle in my legs screaming in pain. Death was as close as my own shadow and if I stopped now it would claim not only me, but Roran as well.
The corridors and rooms of purgatory were still as dark as pitch, but for some reason it no longer hindered me. I didn't trip once, nor did I hit any walls. It felt like I was being guided: like an angel was sitting on my shoulder guiding me. Or at least that's how I felt until I found myself surrounded by half a dozen angry shape-shifters.
"Looks like the little bird has flown her cage," one of them joked.
I was in no mood to play their games. It no longer mattered what was going to happen to me, I was dead anyway, but I refused to let them stop me from saving Roran.
"Get out of my way," I snarled through clenched teeth, ready to claw tooth and nail if one of them so much as breathed on me.
They laughed in response and I felt something inside of me snap. Before they could stop me, I was lunging forward and wrapping my hands around the closest person's neck. The others tried to pull me off and in the melee I managed to land a solid kick to one of their faces, feeling the monster's nose break against my heel with a satisfying crunch.
The shape-shifter I had been strangling finally slipped my hold on his neck and tossed me to the ground with a howl of rage. When his foot collided with my ribs I felt as least three of my ribs shatter from the impact. But that's not all I felt.
As his foot lashed out at me a second time, I clung to his leg and refused to let go until I had managed to get a hold of the knife I had felt stashed down the side of his boot. They all converged on me at once to try and take back the weapon.
In the end, though, it only served to my advantage, making it much easier to cut them open in one sweeping stroke of the knife. It was surprising how little remorse I felt as they writhed in pain at my feet. It was a good thing I was dying. I could tell that if I stayed here it would be very easy for me to become a killer like them. Or maybe I had had too many blows to the head and it was altering my personality.
Despite the agonizing pain flaring in my chest and abdomen I stepped over the bodies of the shape-shifters and continued on my quest to find and rescue Roran. From how difficult it had become to breathe I assumed one of my lungs had been punctured when my ribs had broken. Punctured organs meant internal bleeding, which meant my time left to live was dwindling.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay," I reassured myself as I limped along in the dark.
The pace was a lot slower going now that I was could hardly breathe and fear began to haunt me as I made my way along. Because honestly, despite what I kept telling myself, there was still a large part of me that wanted to live. Yes, I was in pain and, yes, I was miserable here. But I also knew that once the lights went out for me, there was nothing. Emptiness. I would cease to exist and there would only be three people in the entire world who would miss me. Three people. That was the extent of my significance in the world.
Refusing to give in to self-pity I wiped my eyes and squared my shoulders. I might not have been beautiful, rich, or powerful, but I would be remembered for one thing and that was saving my best friend's life.
It wasn't long before the dizziness returned and I knew two things were happening: one, I wasn't getting enough oxygen to function and two, my internal bleeding, on top of the amount of blood I had lost to my head wound, was causing my blood pressure to fall dangerously low. I wasn't a doctor, or nurse like Mara, but even I knew I wasn't going to last much longer. I had minutes, maybe an hour, before I was no longer conscious. Speeding up wasn't an option either. Every time I tried to walk faster it became harder to breathe and my dizziness would only get worse.
Eventually it was out of sheer dumb luck that I stumbled into the wall leading up to Roran's hideout. I prayed that when I called out to him he would hear me and come down.
"Roran," I cried, my voice catching somewhere in the middle, making the word almost incomprehensible.
I tried again. "Roran!"
No answer. Not a single sound came from the cave above.
Tears welled behind my eyes and I pressed my palms against my closed eyelids to stop them from overflowing. My knees wobbled beneath me as I struggled to remain standing. Gasping breaths turned to gurgling breaths as blood began to travel up my windpipe from my punctured lung.
"What the hell?" Roran's voice echoed from behind me.
Wet, choking laughter bubbled up from my throat and I turned around to face him and my imposter.
Smirking at fake me, I snarled, "You lose, bitch."
"Thea?" he asked turning around to look at Lyra and then back to me.
"T-they're playing you, Ro-roran," I managed to stutter. My teeth had begun to chatter and I could feel my body going cold. "She's a s-shifter. I know you can t-tell the difference now that I'm h-here. S-she's n-not me, Roran."
The deathly glare Lyra shot me did nothing to help her cause. Roran's eyes widened in realization and a roar of fury unlike anything I had ever heard echoed from his chest. I grinned victoriously as his entire body caught flame, blazing like an inferno in the darkness. And suddenly I understood why phoenixes were portrayed as birds.
The flames spread outward from his arms as he raged, like beautiful blue, fiery wings quickly engulfing Lyra and reducing her to noting more than ashes.
I sank down to the ground; finally allowing my eyes to close. The tears that spilled down my cheeks now were no longer from agony and misery, but from happiness and relief.
....
Just remember before you start throwing things at me, this chapter hurt me worse than it hurt you. *sobs uncontrollably*
