Take Me Home

45. Sacrifice

A wave of shock seemed to sweep Axel off of his feet as he stared in disbelief as Roger slumped forward, hitting the ground, limp. The German laughed angrily and then began cursing at Axel, raising the gun to aim at him. Dazed at what had just happened, Axel blinked, looking up at the pilot.

At that exact moment, there was a loud explosion as the plane let out another burst of flames, the smoke and ash bursting from it as the heat could be felt from the fire. Axel watched as the plane gave a shudder and then exploded further, causing a large blast to rock the ground and make the pilot fall down, next to Rogers body, the gun tumbling from his hands and falling next to Axel's foot. Axel steadied himself, looking down at the gun, and then back up at the German.

The pilot began scrambling forward toward the gun, hands reaching forward. Axel dropped, grabbing it and cocking the gun. Axel, blind with emotions, raised the gun, aiming and allowing his finger to press down on the trigger, his hand jolting as the gun delivered a bullet to the pilots head. Drooping to the ground, Axel watched as blood began spurting and pooling onto the ground, the German dead. Axel too in a shaky breath, dropping the gun.

Collapsing next to Roger, he used his right arm strength to flip him over, looking into Rogers face, his fingers searching under his neck for a pulse. Axel's green eyes widened in disbelief and shock as his fingers only met cold, still flesh.

"N-no...Roger..." Axel stuttered, pressing down on his friends cheek. "Roger, n..no. Up!" His words were drowned out by the screaming of the continuous sirens. Axel's eyes blurred, his hand closing into a fist.

He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't.

Rogers body was still, lifeless under Axel's touch. Axel looked up, his emerald eyes meeting the chaos in the sky above them. Axel wiped his eyes, the tears in them landing on his hand. Axel looked down at Roger, everything almost dreamlike as he slowly began t believe that Roger was truly gone.

Standing, Axel turned away, his eyes searching the shadows. He couldn't stay here. He couldn't die, causing Rogers sacrifice to mean nothing. Axel looked down, at Roger, remembering how they had first met.

Roger had wanted to kill Axel. But then they slowly became friends.

And now, this sacrifice.

Axel turned away, forcing his weak body into a jog as he ran into the shadows, his eyes staying straight ahead of him as he ran, lightheaded and hopeless. His mind began spinning and he felt his energy draining, the wound in his arm almost too much for him to bear. His mind began turning blank, his eyes hollow and empty as he saw flashed of the fight in his head, Roger jumping desperately in front of Axel as Axel had faced what could have been his death.

Off into the shadows, Axel ran for help, for shelter, and for safety.

Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, Axel stared down at the cold, tile floor of the building. His had sat on his lap as he blinked slowly, his mind tormented with the memories of the past few days events. He could hear people running throughout the halls outside of his room, talking and tending to other patients who had been injured.

Axel turned his head, looking at his left shoulder, a small and short stump of his arm that was wrapped in white bandage all that was left of it. Staring blankly, he felt motion beside him, but he was unable to turn his head. His eyes were locked on his injury, gaze hollow and empty.

"Axel, how are you feeling sweetie?" The nurse walked in, fixing his blankets and arranging some other things in the room. Axel kept his eyes low as he opened his mouth to reply.

"Fine." He didn't even recognize his own voice. Hoarse and broken. Weak. Axel shuddered slightly, slowly raising his eyes to the nurse, who stared at him, concern written all over her face.

"Hmm...How about you go find your friend? She's outside, walking around in the front of the building." The nurse suggested. He nodded, watching her leave the room. Freya.

She had been distant for the past few days, grief keeping her hurt and pained. She had been through a lot in this war, and he didn't know how to help her. He felt a surge of concern rise up inside of him, and wondered why he hadn't checked on her yet. She had been assigned another room, a guest room. He hadn't seen her today, and hardly yesterday. He stood, wincing as his foot touched the floor. It was bruised badly, but practically healed. Limping from the room, Axel made his way down the hall and toward the front of the hospital.

Opening the doors, he was met with a blast of cold wind that made his emerald gaze water, black hair ruffling up as the breeze flew through it, his dark brows narrowing as he searched for her. He saw her almost immediately. She was sitting on a bench in the distance, a coat around her to protect form the autumn cold. He didn't have his coat on him, but he didn't mind. He walked down the steps of the hospital.

Around him, he could see people walking around, some rebuilding damaged buildings in the distance, some riding up in cars to park and bring in more injured people. He made his way over, eyes landing on Freya, her brown waves blowing gently in the wind. He walked around the bench, lowering himself to sit next to her, his eyes landing on her face. She stared straight ahead, watching the leaves on a nearby tree blow off the branches as the light from the clouds shone in her eyes, not turning to notice him. He sighed quietly, looking in front of him.

He felt her shift closer to him, resting her head on his right shoulder, still silent but acknowledging that he was there. He leaned his head over, resting it on hers as they stayed there, silent. He watched the leaves flutter off of the tree, gently floating down and landing on the ground. He peered down at her, his eyes meeting hers as she looked up at him, pulling away.

"I don't know if I can take this anymore, Axel." She whispered, voice breaking and weak, like his. "I've lost everyone but you now. My father, my mother, my grandparents, and Roger. I don't want to lose you too." She sniffled, looking away in disappointment to hide the tears. "I worked so hard to try to save you and I lost everything in the process." She stopped talking and Axel looked down at her, hesitating. Was she saying it was his fault? If she hadn't saved him?

"I am glad I chose to save you." She answered his question. "I just wonder...Could we have done things differently? Could we have saved them? I just don't know if I can accept this again. I don't know what to do." She whispered.

Axel looked down at her, words forming in his head. He understood most of what she had told him.

"Freya...You are strong. It's okay." He said gently, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him, embracing her. "It's okay."

"But is it?" She looked up at him. "What do we do now? I can't just go back to town. I can't. I don't want to." She flushed, her face reddening as the tears filled her eyes again, her face puffy and tired as she stared into his eyes, fear creeping into the blueness of them.

Axel took in a breath of the cold, sharp air. He looked ahead of him, where the sun was trying to break through the clouds.

"I'm going to take you to Germany." He said softly, looking down into her eyes. "We can stay there, safe. Together. I'm going to go wherever you want to go." He finished, hugging her close.

"Okay." She replied softly, resting her head against his side. He closed his eyes, the pain in his arm fading. Soon, things would get better. He knew they would.

They would be together, away from the sorrow and pain, having each other to hold on to.