After Fate Fell

10 • MARINA

1 year, 3 months, and 12 days after it all
•MARINA•

The sun has just set. I'm tired. I've noticed that I haven't seen John in probably a half hour, which is unusual for him. He normally just stays around here, except for the few times he and Ella have explored around, and Ella isn't here, so where could he be?

I can hear Nine's nightly ritual going on, of him throwing rocks and boulders and whatever else he can find, down the mountainside. I don't know what good it is doing him, but then I guess I shouldn't be hypocritical. None of us are doing much good at the moment, we haven't been for months. So I guess I can't be irritated by him. We've all coped differently. It's funny because the way we've been acting, someone would think that we actually lost the war, because of how disconnected we've been. But no, we won it, but it's taken a huge toll on us. I don't even know what I'm feeling a lot of the time, which is scary.

The click-clacking of the rocks Nine is throwing suddenly starts getting louder, like he's throwing them right next to me. But that can't be. I stand up, and walk until I find him. He's not even throwing rocks anymore.

"What's that sound?" I ask.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it's getting louder. Which probably means closer." He says. "Maybe we should take cover."

"But why? We have no knowledge of any type of threat to us anymore, Nine."

"It's a fucking helicopter. Some shit found us," he mutters.

Now that it's much closer, I agree, it's definitely a helicopter.

"Yeah, maybe we should take cover," I say, changing my mind and running back toward the prophecy wall. Nine follows, looking over his back.

"Can you see it?" I ask him.

"No. But it sounds like it's in the same direction Six and Johnny-boy went off in," he tells me, peering up over a huge stone.
Six let John come with her? That's not like her at all. That, combined with the fact that there's a helicopter up here that is assumably landing by where they are, this whole situation seems off.

"Something's wrong," I say. I start getting chills thinking of what this could possibly be.

"Woah, chill it out there icy-pants," Nine says jokingly.

I look down. The floor below me has a thin sheet of ice forming around me.

"Nine, I mean it," I tell him, looking into his eyes. His nonchalant eyes versus my fear-filled ones.

"Something. Is. Wrong. I can feel it. What could this possibly be?" I ask him, hoping he can explain it as something harmless but I know that this is something harmful to us.

"Marina, you know how Ella hokey-pokey'd down the mountain last night? This is probably her coming back. I mean it Marina, everything is fine. I was confused at first but it has to be her." He puts his hand on my shoulder. He really thinks it's Ella. I wish I could feel the same. But I know it's not true.

"She was going to Mexico. You don't just go from freaking India to Mexico and back in less than twenty-four hours smartass." And although I wish I was saying this jokingly, but I'm dead serious. I look down again, noticing that the ice isn't melting, it's just getting thicker and spreading.

"I'll go see what's going on then. If you're gonna be a scaredy cat, then just stay here and draw some more pictures," he jokes, getting up.

What nerve he has. I rear back my fist to punch him. "You're a little piece of-"

The sound of yelling breaks through the thin air. And I recognize those voices. John and Six. And over the chopping of the helicopter, somehow I make out the words "they're coming for you too".

My body is a freezer now, and I'm unable to control anything I do with my legacies.
Nine looks at me, fear replacing his previously lax attitude.

"We have to get out of here. Now," he says, grabbing my arm.

We don't say anything else, we just grab our bags, not bothering to throw any loose items in that are laying around, and we start running west.

"Wait why aren't we helping John and Six?!" I ask, slowing down to stop.

"Marina, if it was a dire enough situation that they were basically begging us to run, then I'm pretty sure we should trust them. They know what they're doing."

"But what about my freezing legacy? I could probably help them." I ask him.

"Marina, we all have legacies. If they could help, they would have used them by now."

"But we haven't used them in forever. We can't really control them, so maybe if I can somehow control mine, I can stop whoever is trying to harm us."

He grabs my arm again, but I can tell he's close to giving in. He's about to say something when the helicopter gets louder. We duck under some rocks and bushes, getting any cover we can. The helicopter comes into view. I can clearly see John and Agent Walker? Inside. Six must be out of view on the other side. I realize that even if I could harness and control my legacies at this point, it would jeopardize their lives. So as we hide in the bushes, I watch that helicopter go over our heads, and I feel absolutely helpless and confused.