It's Time to Choose, Soldier (BxB)

Chapter 49

Third Person POV

Elise's eyes opened and she found herself standing still while memories rushed past her. Her mother taught her to ride a bike, her first day of school, meeting her friends, the beginning of the war, and more. Looking around, she finally spots Xander. He has his back turned to her, which she quickly registers as her opportunity to strike. "I can't believe you really believed all of those things that he told you", he began, making her pause.

"Wouldn't you believe anything your father told you?" she retorted, crossing her arms in the process. The boy only shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't remember much from before the war, alone what my father looked like. I honestly don't know what I would've done if I was in your position," He responds. Elise looks over and watches the memory of meeting her father unfold in front of her. She watched her younger self standing before a gravestone and a man walks over and stands next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and motioning for her to follow. "You didn't even know him until your mother passed away, and even then you trusted this man so quickly and took his word for gospel," he says and to this, she laughs.

"What would you know? You wouldn't understand why I did anything anyway!" she exclaims as she begins to walk away.

"You do realize this is your mind, right? You can't really run away from me in here," He informs her. Elise responds by rolling her eyes and groaning in annoyance.

"You only brought me here so that I couldn't finish beating you to a pulp! Cowardly, as I expected from you," she growls. The pale boy sighs and shakes his head.

"No, Elise. I brought you here to remember. You need to remember everything we've been through together," Xander begins and in front of her, images of the aftermath of the war's early stages played. She watched as younger versions of Hunter and Xander huddled closer to her and Maggie's younger selves while Max sat in front of the group in a protective manner. They were all seated in their school's gym as they awaited further instruction from the army men that stood guard in the gym entrances and exits. Paramedics moved back and forth, most of them having dust, soot, and or blood covering their uniforms. She could recall the overwhelming fear she'd felt that day. Not knowing what would happen next, or if anything was ever going to be okay again. She quickly shakes her head and the images disappear.

"So what? You show me a few lousy memories and you think that will do anything?" she asks with an unamused tone.

"As I said before, this is your mind. I'm not doing anything," Xander tells her. "There are so many tragedies we've all been forced to endure," he adds after a bit of silence. Just as he says so, images appear of her and Hunter standing in front of Maggie's grave earlier in the year. Her hands gripped her friend's arm tightly as tears ran down her cheeks. Then, she's standing in front of hurt and unconscious Xander who lays in a bed in the infirmary. His face was still bruised and his body looked lifeless. A pang of sadness begins to spread from the center of her chest as she watched the memory but she was quick to dismiss it.

"This doesn't matter. Everyone goes through tragedies,"

"Of course, but thanks to all of that sadness and fear, you got some good times worth remembering," He finishes. Her view is bombarded with various different memories at this point. The first successful mission as a team, throwing Max a surprise party and watching him become scared when they all jumped out to surprise him, seeing Xander again for the first time since they'd been split up, sharing her first kiss with said guy, and many more.

"You can't forget any of these things, Elise. They are a part of you and the person I know you truly are. These experiences are what make you who you are, not what Victor wants you to be" Xander says. Elise closes her eyes tightly and tries to ignore the wave of emotions she feels will crash onto her at any moment. Then she feels a pair of hands gently rest on her shoulders. "You never wanted to let things get this far... Did you?" he asks.

"I had no one, Xander... It was just me after my mom died. So when a man comes into my life saying that he is the last family I have left, I complied with everything he ever asked of me I feared that any tiny slip up would get him to leave and I was so afraid to be alone" she told him. By now, small tears had begun to race down her cheeks. The duo turned and watched as a new scene began to play behind them. 

In it, Elise entered the facility holding onto Victor's hand. A pair of guards is walking past with a young Max between them and the adults stop to address the scientist. Victor looks down at Max and looks at Elise briefly before nodding towards his son. Max extends a hand towards her and she looks at it confused. Upon looking up at Victor, she was met with a warm smile and a nod. Her eyes landed on Max again and she took his hand. Suddenly the boy's eyes glowed blue and the girl watched him, frozen by her shock. When Max's eyes turned back to normal, Elise fainted. Victor caught her before she fell and picked up the girl before glancing back down at the boy. "Did you do it properly" he asked and Max nodded.

"She shouldn't remember her past as easily as before and I lowered her guard a bit so she will be less likely to resist following instruction," Max explained and Victor raised a brow and a cold look took over his face which caused the young boy to flinch.

"Less likely? Why couldn't you make her fully complacent? Do I have to tell you how to do everything?" He asked and Max looked away but stayed silent. Victor rolled his eyes and walked past the boy, not even making an effort to not bump into the child along the way. 

"Why am I not surprised? He's always been an asshole," Xander scoffed and Elise let out a tired sigh. 

"He planned this from the start... I should've never believed him," she mumbled as she looked away. The warmth of the hands left her shoulders but was quickly added to her waist as the teen wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. She could feel his chin rest on her shoulder as he pulled her close until she could feel the warmth that came from him.

"It's okay. Rest easy knowing that I understand now, and don't blame you for any of this. In the end, it's human nature to not want to be alone," she heard him say. This only fueled her tears and the once small droplets became bigger and more prominent as she began to cry. While this happened, her body began to feel lighter, lighter, and lighter. Soon, she reached a state of calmness and the warmth of her friend disappeared.

Then, while she expected to be engulfed in darkness, she was instead welcomed by a warm light as sleep took over her completely.