Downfallers: Marcia Skirvin's Melancholy

Chapter Thirteen: Time-traveler

I felt something hard ripping the inside of my stomach. The sharp, cold pain of metal tearing flesh was suddenly overwhelming. I stopped moving, impaled on her scythe, my gaze locked with hers. The colours around me started to go back to their original form. My vision came back. I felt relieved, kind of like a disturbance was slowly leaving me. I tried to look down. The sharp end of the blade was stuck in me, and I knew it ripped through my back. I heard a sob and looked back up. Marcia's blue eyes were filled with tears. Strangely enough, I didn't have any negative feelings towards her anymore. I didn't want to kill her nor make her suffer.

''Not again, please, not again,'' she pleaded, her voice so weak and faint I almost didn't hear it.

She extracted the scythe from me and threw it away. I had no strength left, so I fell in her open arms. She slowly put me on the ice, still crying and sobbing. I saw her legs, which were covered in blood and resting oddly.

''Your legs... did I do that?'' I asked.

''No... My Firefly did, Sara, not you,'' she answered.

She looked around frantically, crawling to the quay. I realized that she couldn't walk. I had sectioned her muscles in her legs, her tendons or her ligaments. She must've been in so much pain. I saw her sweat as she came back with a piece of clothing, a red line following her. She pressed it on my wound and my arm. It hurt a lot. I was feeling weaker by the minute.

''Marcia, don't waste your time on me. I'm not far from gone now.''

''No!''

Her cry surprised me. She picked me up, resting my body on her lap. Around us, the ice was slowly melting away.

''You're not going to die on me again! Not this time!''

I didn't know what she was saying. She was always saying things as they had already happened for some reason. The only thing I wanted was to ask a few questions. I smiled at her.

''Marcia...''

''What?'' She said, looking into my eyes. Hers were shining with tears.

''What just happened?''

''My firefly took possession of you. Instead of attacking like Niobe's, it decided to wait in the shadows, taking control over you and using you as a shield against me.''

I had been a Firefly just now. That was strange. It must explain why I felt so mad at Marcia. Why I thought she had used me. Then I thought about the girl in my dream. Of course, that was Aicram! She convinced me to give her control over my body.

''Niobe... why did she act like that?''

I coughed. Blood was coming up my throat and it kind of hurt. I could feel my eyes watering from the overwhelming pain.

''Niobe was jealous of everyone that approached me. I... I'll put it like this. Niobe was very attached to me and reacted badly when I pushed her away. But now — now Niobe is dead. It's all useless now, Sara. This life is all ruined.''

Her voice was quivering again. Her tears fell onto my cheeks. I knew something was more important than that. Something big was hovering above her. Marcia was involved in something bigger.

''I have one last question before going away...''

''Please, Sara, don't say that!''

''What are you scared of?''

She looked at me, her mouth twitching downwards and her eyebrows furrowed desperately. She let tears slip again and shook her head. The ice was melting closer and closer to us now.