After Fate Fell

59

1 year, 3 months, and 20 days after it all
•JOHN•

I am snapped back into reality in an instant.
"Stop the bus!" I yell as I stand up from my seat, running to the door.

•MARINA•

Ella stirs beside me on the bed made of clothes laid out on the floor of the house.
"What happened?" she asks.

"Oh baby, thank the stars you're back," I say, squeezing her hand. "You saved us all. You did it," I tell her, and I can see a spark of rememberance in her eyes, the memories are all coming back to her.

"So, we're really doing it then?" she asks. "Going home?"

I nod, smiling. "We are. Our work here on Earth is done."

Her smile turns sad, and I frown at her. "What is it?"

"He was there. My grandfather. At the bottom of the well," her face turns angry.

"He can never hurt you again," I tell her, my voice soft but sure. "You made sure of that. Tell me, how did you do it?"

Her anger subsides as she tells me. "I saw the huge Lorialite stone. It was so dark, but when I was walking around down there, I felt my foot hit something in the sand. A piece of Lorialite, still glowing blue. I picked it up while he was talking to me, telling me nothing but lies, and charged it with Dreynen. I didn't know exactly what it would do, but the power of Lorialite together with the legacy of Dreynen did the trick," she smiles up at me, and this time it isn't so sad.

I hold up my hand. "The power of Lorialite, Dreynen, and a girl who has no fear." I close my eyes, even though the darkness of my eyelids isn't much different than the darkness of the dead of night. "I almost lost you Ella." I try to stop the tears but I can't. "I saw you running across the open ground, and I knew in my mind exactly what was coming. I wanted to stop you, but I froze, I completely froze. Then you were gone. I don't even remember after that, Nine says I blacked out or something. I couldn't accept that you may have never been coming back. Then the explosion snapped me to my senses and I...I had no idea if I would ever see you again, but I knew I had to try to find you again. I just hoped it would be at the bottom of that well, not only in my mind, in my dreams. I'm just..."

"Marina, I know, I know. But if it meant sacrificing myself to save all of you, to save Legacy, and Lorien, then I knew it was worth it. And look, I'm still here. You found me again."

•JOHN•

The Lorialite stone is where I remember. I just hope it takes me to the right place.

•ELLA•

It's the first dream I've had since...forever, that I don't feel the fear I've become so used to.

I'm sitting in a field, the world stretching on as far as the eye can see. Everything is peaceful. A soft breeze blows through the tall grass, making it sway in a beautiful and calming display.

And the sky, oh, it's the most beautiful color I've ever seen, and I can feel the sunlight warm on my face as I look up at the wispy clouds dancing across the sky.

I feel at peace. I finally feel at rest. And I know that Lorien may not be as perfect as I expect, or as I know people used to say, but I know that it will be home.

•JOHN•

The car is right where I left it. I hurry up and fill it up with gas from one of the cans in the trunk, looking down toward the darkness where I know the water lies, and deep within it, the Lorialite stone.

I'm soaking wet as I climb into the driver's seat, but I don't care. All I care about right now is getting back to the others. It's going to be a long night, but I'll make it.

//

It's hard accepting that Sarah is dead, but I know that accepting the truth is better than hiding in a hopeful bliss of lies. I know that the entity was the reason I had forgotten about Sarah's death, and it wanted to lure me back to Paradise, to be away from the others, for one reason or another, but I also can't help but feel that I am also at fault for so easily falling for it's deception. I so badly wanted it to be true, for her to be alive again, here with me again, that I blindly believed anything I was told, as long as it meant being with her.

The drive is quiet and filled with thoughts like these, the only sound being the hum of the engine, becoming louder on the uphills of the dunes and quieter on the downhills.

I can see the ocean beside me, the endless sea of water next to the endless sea of sand, and somehow I smile. I wanted to leave this place so bad, but now it's the only place I want to be. Well I guess that's not the entire truth. It's the only place I want to be right now, in this moment.

Because I want to be back with the others. Somehow, in my mind, I know that they're all okay. I don't know if that's somehow Legacy creeping into my thoughts, assuring me that everything is alright, or if it's something else, but I know, I know, that we'll all be reunited.

And then, we will leave this world behind, the planet which has brought us so much pain, but which also raised us into who we are today, and go to the place we all call home. Lorien. That's where I want to be. Soon, I tell myself. Soon.

•MARINA•

Lights stream in through the windows of the room we all are sleeping in, and the dark escape I had been in is disrupted.

It can't be what I think it is. I stand up, quiet, I don't want to wake the others. I walk to the open door frame to see.

Headlights. A car door. A hug, some tears. A quiet goodnight.

My eyes are still open in the quiet, long after John's breaths slow along with the others'. I lie there in the darkness, my mind somehow completely empty and barren, knowing that the sun will rise and I will still be awake.

//

When the soft light finally starts to creep in through the windows, after an eternity of darkness, I quietly get up and make my way out to the water to watch the sunrise. The water is golden in the new day's light, and I soak it all in, knowing that this may be my last day on this planet, but knowing that this is far from my last sunrise.