No Matter How Dark It May Be, There Is Redemption

The Aftermath

It wasn’t worth it.  None of it was worth it.  They’d wanted to save the campus and were willing to do whatever it took – or so they thought.  They knew it’d be difficult, they knew it’d require sacrifices, especially after the last encounter with The Dean and lophiiformes.  But they figured this time that with a stronger united front, more help than last time, and an actual plan other than send Laura and Perry and a pod-peopled Lafontaine in without proper weapons or footwear.  But alliances and plans and weapons and even footwear were still not enough to prepare them. 

Perry and Lafontaine sat on a rock as Perry occasionally let out sobs, Laf gently rubbing her back while gazing off, their mind still not processing the outcome of the battle.  They’d won, but at what cost?

“I can’t believe there isn’t even a body,” Kirsh said from a few feet away.  Danny put her face in her hands and her shoulders shook.  “Oh man!  I’m sorry, psycho s—Danny.  I wasn’t thinking!”  He put his hand on her shoulder and the shaking slowed.  “It’s just, we should be happy we won, y’know?  But instead we’re sitting here coz she died, and then she died again, and now there isn’t something we could bury for closure and stuff.”

“Kirsh, honey, I know you’re trying to help, but you’re not,” Perry murmured.

Kirsh looked down at the ground, muttering “Sorry.”

“Should we go in there?  Check in on her?”  Danny had put her hands in her lap but didn’t shake Kirsh’s hand from her shoulder.

“Not while we’re like this,” Laf replied, their voice devoid of emotion.  “Not when two of us are crying and two of us can’t muster up the ability to be upset enough to properly console anyone.  She’s gonna need us to be there for her; she’s been through too much.  And if we go in there all, ‘Hey! We know you just lost the love of your life, but can we cry and snot all over you’–“

“Let’s go.”  A voice came from behind them, startling the four of them.  They turned to face their friend, avoiding her gaze.  “She’s dead, there’s nothing to ‘bury for closure and stuff,’ so let’s go.”  The four friends stood up and regarded the other woman carefully.  “And if any of you need to cry and snot all over me,” she added, “please keep it to a minimum.”