Possessed (A MCSM Fanfiction)

Epilogue

Lukas's ears were ringing, the purple-tainted fog around him completely blinding. He groaned as he rolled over, pushing himself up on his elbows. The world tilted slightly, and Lukas had to gulp to keep his dinner in his stomach. He dizzily looked up, glancing around as the fog began to clear.

Where the Mother Plant had stood tall with its flaring petals and waving tentacles, it had slumped to the ground. Bent over like a flower stem that got top-heavy from the weight of its blossoms, tentacles limply sprawled out across the floor.

For a second, Lukas grinned. He had done it! The Mother Plant was dead!

But as soon as the sound of weak coughing met Lukas's ears, the smile was wiped right off his face and he was pulled back to reality. His head snapped to the side, seeing Petra against the wall she had been thrown against. She was lying on her side, her knees pulled up as she recoiled in a ball of pain. Her hands were both clutching her side, fingers stained crimson.

"Petra!" Lukas gasped, forcing his sore body up onto his feet and stumbling over to Petra before dropping down by her side.

Panic surged through Lukas's system, muscles tight in fear. He needed to do something, but his brain had come to a complete halt in the heat of the moment.

"I'm... fine." Petra gasped through her laboured breaths, pushing Lukas off.

"You're not fine, Petra, you need a doctor!" Lukas exclaimed.

Petra shook her head, a droplet of sweat making its way down the side of her face. "It's not... that deep." She gasped. "I'll live."

Lukas felt himself calm down by the smallest fraction, but he still wasn't anywhere close to relaxing. It wouldn't be the first time in her life that Petra said she was fine when in reality she was in agonising pain.

"Where... is Jesse?" Petra asked, forcing her eyes that had been squeezed shut open, and looking up at Lukas desperately.

Petra's question made Lukas's head quickly snap up, looking around anxiously for Jesse. His heart was beginning to sink when he didn't see her, only to completely skip over a beat when his eyes finally came to land on the limp form of a person lying a few metres away from them.

"Jesse!" For a moment Lukas allowed himself to forget about Petra's injury, moving over to Jesse's side.

Jesse was completely limp, her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted. Her skin was so pale it almost looked grey in the dim light of the lab.

"Oh my god, is she okay?" It sounded like Petra completely caught a second breath as she limped over as well, her bloodstained hands still clutching her side.

"Jesse? Jesse, can you hear me? Please, wake up..." Lukas tried to get through to Jesse with an audible tremble to his voice, heaving the front half of her body up onto his lap. "Come on, don't give up on us now..."

There was no response from Jesse, her head limply tilting to the side. Now that Lukas was physically holding her in his arms, he noticed how scarred and bruised Jesse was, visibly dehydrated as well. The Mother clearly didn't do a good job of looking after its possessed slaves.

"Wake up, come on please." Lukas begged softly as he adjusted Jesse's lifeless form on his lap, supporting her head in his one hand.

Jesse's eyes remained closed, breath still. The only movement was a thin trickle of blood making its way down the side of her face from a cut above her eye.

It felt like Lukas's heart was breaking inside his chest, refusing to accept that Jesse could be gone. Tears brimmed his blue eyes, hearing the breathing of the redhead beside him begin to quiver.