Chosen Legacy (Book Five of the Chosen Universe)

Chapter Nineteen

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm still not over Trent. That hurt to write, both because I happen to love Trent and because writing broken Kira breaks my heart... Seriously, the only death I've written in this series so far that hurt worse than this was Zack's, which actually made me cry like a baby. Let's just take a moment here to process this one...

Alright. Deep breaths... On with the story.

KIRA

For just a moment, she forgot. Kira woke up confused as to why Tommy was holding her hand and looking like he hadn't slept. Then, it hit her like a bus. Trent was dead.

"You stayed..." Kira said softly. It hurt a bit to talk. Her throat was probably raw from crying.

"You needed me," Tommy replied gently.

She managed to offer him a sad smile as she sat up. "Thanks... Doc O."

"Anytime, Kira." He squeezed her hand before finally releasing it.

"Where's Dustin? This is his room, too..."

"He crashed in my room. He knocked on the door late last night to check on you and I told him to feel free."

"And the boys?" She tried not to think about the fact that one of "the boys" was no longer part of the equation.

"They're still here... Also, Denni and Merrick came by after you fell asleep... And Hayley's here, too."

Kira nodded. Then, she paused. "Denni..." She said. "Of course."

"What about Denni?" Tommy asked.

"Before he..." She sighed. "He took an attack meant for Conner, and before he... Trent told Conner to take care of his daughter... And he told me he had to do what he did... I get it now."

"Oh, Trent..." Tommy said, catching on.

"He lost his parents... He didn't want Denni to go through the same thing he did," Kira said, shaking her head. "That sweet, thoughtful, noble asshole..."

Tommy sighed. "He was always a good kid... Even when the bad guys were using him, he wanted to do the right thing."

The smell of food surprisingly made her stomach growl. There was a knock on the door. Kira stood up, smoothing out her clothes and knowing she must look like a train wreck. She opened the door to reveal Hayley, whose eyes were red from crying. Hayley still managed to greet Kira with a warm smile.

"Hey, Sweetie..." She said, opening her arms to pull Kira into a tight hug. "How are you holding up?"

"Pretty good, considering... I mean, I'm halfway functional," Kira replied.

"What about you, Tommy?"

"I'm not going to lie... This one really hurts... But we can't let Trent's sacrifice be in vain... So I'm going to be here for the rest of the team," Tommy replied. "He would want us to keep fighting."

Suddenly, there was a noticeable shift in the energy of the house. "What was that?" Kira asked.

Troy appeared in the doorway. "I lifted Mom's spell," he explained. "I actually only came by to see if you guys needed anything, but Conner told me how Uncle Tommy handled the situation, and I just heard what he said.." He turned to Tommy. "Mom left me in charge of deciding when to take you off of house arrest, and all of that told me that you're ready."

Kira managed to smile. "Looks like Doc O is finally back," she said.

"I'm so sorry for everything I said to you, Kira," Tommy said. "You're an amazing leader... Much better than me."