After Fate Fell

29 • ELLA

Hey guys just a quick announcement: I published chapter 28 but then I checked it a few hours after and it didn't show the whole chapter! Go back and make sure you read the whole thing because I was confused at what happened. You would know if you only saw part of it because it was only like 100 words and it ended with half of a word. It was weird. The whole thing is up now though!
Sorry about that!
-Braden

1 year, 3 months, and 16 days after it all
•ELLA•

I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go. I check the time. 11:56 AM. Damn. That's the latest I've slept in, probably in my whole life. Five is still snoring on the bed beside me. Adam isn't here, he's probably down getting breakfast or in the bathroom or something.
I sit up, pushing the covers off of myself and swinging my feet over the edge of the bed, confused for a second. I feel like I'm forgetting something.

Ella?

Ah yes, that's what I'm forgetting. It was a voice in my head that woke me up. So if not for it, maybe I had slept in even later. The voice is Marina's.

Yes Marina? Did you find Sam? I ask her, hopeful. Hopeful that we can all come together, soon. I can sense that we're all ready for this. Ready to kill this thing. Ready to go home. It's finally happening.

We found him, beard and all. We're at the airport in Xigaze, the city. We're leaving for Windhoek in just under an hour.

Good, I tell her. Where is that? I've never been a genius at geography.

It's closer to the coast than you are now, she tells me.

When you land, wait for us there. We're going to get on our way now, I tell Marina. And Marina?

Yes Ella? She asks.

Thank you. For all of your help through all this. Thanks for waiting around to find Sam, thanks for listening to me even though you don't have to trust me. None of this makes sense. Something taking all of Legacy's energy away? Is she crazy? I wouldn't blame you if you thought that.

Ella, we're all a part of this. Remember strength in numbers? We're all each other's ride or die. I wouldn't dream of sitting and watching this go down. You've always got me girl. Ella, I just want to tell you that back at the convent in Spain, when I met you, I saw you as a weak little girl. But ever since then, you've grown into someone I've learned to listen to, even take orders from. Just keep doing what you're doing Ella. We've all got your back. See you in Windhoek.

Thanks Marina, I say, and she can't see it, but tears are streaming down my face and I just hope Five doesn't wake up to see me like this. See you soon.

//

I wait a few minutes until the tears stop, and I wash my face and make myself look good as new. I don't mean using makeup, I've never been one of those girls. I'm confident without it, I see myself as strong and independent. But I know that just because someone uses makeup doesn't mean they're weak. Sarah Hart was one of the strongest girls I ever knew, and she loved using all those products. What you look like means nothing about your personality. Sometimes it can just add to the effect though, because Nine and Six are both freaking badasses and they fit the part. But I'm starting to see myself as a badass too, and I'm much smaller than either of them. And Five, looking at him, you wouldn't know what that boy is capable of. And of course Sarah. Her strength was just starting to show through, in giant measures. She was the definition of badass the last time I saw her. Shit. I stop thinking about her. I just stopped crying.

I walk out of the room to wake up Five, and see that he's already sitting up. He looks like he slept well. His hair is sticking straight up in the back and he has those sleep marks all over one side of his face and his arm. I slept well but not that well.

"Damn, you slept well, I presume?" I ask him, smiling.

"What the....fuck time is it?" he asks, yawning mid-sentence and then again afterward.

I laugh. He looks like your typical human teenage boy. Tired, confused, and swearing. I've only heard legends of the mythical creatures, but now I've got a pretty close specimen right in front of me.

"It's noon honey, time to get up," I tell him, smirking.

He stretches and starts to move toward the edge of the bed.

"Who are you calling honey?" He glares at me.

"You sound a lot like you need your mommy to get you up. Is there anything I can get for you? You want some breakfast?" I laugh at his continuous glare.

"Not funny," he says waving me off, but I can see a little smirk behind his hand.

"Whatever. But seriously, do you want some breakfast?" I ask him. "I think that's where Adam is now."

"Give me a couple minutes," he says, walking toward the bathroom.

"Okay whatever. Just meet us down there. I'm starving and I'm not waiting for a little grump." I walk out of the room before he can protest me calling him a grump. I mean it's true. I'm just trying to have a little fun. We never get to have any fun. Everyone's been down in the dumps since everything ended. We gotta pick ourselves back up.

I walk down to the lobby and look for the cafeteria. It's just past the front desk, and I walk in, hoping they're still serving food. We did sleep in a little bit.

Adam is sitting at a table by the window by himself, sipping a cup of coffee. The cafeteria is almost empty, just an old couple sitting at a table against the wall and a family of four a couple tables over from Adam, just finishing up.

"You missed it," Adam tells me, looking up. "Breakfast ended at 12. But I grabbed you a plate," he says, sliding a plate with a bagel and some hash browns to my side of the table. "None of it's very good, but I guess cafeteria food never is," he says.

"Thanks," I say, sitting down. "How long have you been up?" I ask.

"An hour maybe. You guys were out cold so I didn't wanna bother either of you."

"Thanks. I needed that sleep. And so did Five," I say, smiling a bit. "We need to go to Windhoek," I tell him. "That's where Marina and Nine will be landing."

He looks up at me. "And Six and John?" he asks me.

I had forgotten to contact them. "I'll figure it out. Wherever they're landing though, Windhoek is our first step. It's closer to the coast than here. Wherever Six and John land, they can just meet us there too. They should be leaving soon or have possibly left already from Philadelphia," I tell him.

"Okay," he says. "How are we gonna get there?" he asks, expectantly.

//

An hour later, we're in a rental car, beginning our fourteen hour trip to Windhoek. It feels like we're going on vacation, not that I've experienced that feeling before. But I know what it apparently is supposed to feel like. You and your family (Adam and Five count) pack up your car, get in, and buckle in for a long ride. Off to somewhere on the coast, or someplace of interest. Somewhere exciting. I can't wait.

I'm trying to think of it as a vacation because I know that I can't afford to let my mind slip back into a darker place. I can't let those visions and those nightmares into my head, because they're constantly there and they only bring me down.

And then I stop.

I realize how well I slept last night. Too well. Better than I've slept in years, maybe ever.

I think back to what Legacy told me at the ruins of the Sanctuary. That the only way to make the visions, the nightmares, the constant pictures of death and destruction go away, was to let Legacy die.

Is she already gone?