❝there was a bird of many colors, one that wanted to fly. But it's wings were broken.❞
[♪]
DIALOGUE
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"Look at you, a shapeless ghost with no tether. You're making it worse." Vakira's voice echoed agaisnt his brain, rattled every nerve in his body. Or, what was left of it. Where was he? Why was this place so...? He couldn't see anything passed the stormy horizon, the flash of light, its low rumble. Nothing but stone and high-risen cliffs that pierced the sky. Vakira sat on a throne of withered bones and intricately carved marble. She sampled a red vino from a goblet and wore what looked like a gown crafted from cob webs and moonbeams. "Watching you fade, slowly, agonizingly has been the most entertaining thing all day."
Zero peered down at himself, she was right. Half of him cloaked in black, a black so deep it absorbed all the light, not that there was much. He lost feeling from the waist down, and the numbing frost spread. Inched closer and closer. Would it kill him once it reached his heart? He didn't ask.
"See, if your 'dad', Levi was a smart man, he'd listen to my terms and make that deal. Save you, but I guess he doesn't care what becomes of your pitiful existence." She smirked and tilted the goblet to her lips.
Levi was more a dad than their own dad ever was. But a deal? What did that mean? Wait, was this still about the gene? Loretta... Was she—
"Amazing isn't it? That little brat is still alive, but she won't last. If anything, Levi will become desperate and—heh, not so threatening when you're just mist—He'll always choose family. His boys."
"Loretta is family, I l—"
"You can't love anyone if you barely love yourself, your sense of self-worth is nonexistent." She scoffed and a sense of bitterness flared, if she could read his every thought, it went both ways. "You can't even reform yourself. We were created to destroy, not love, dearie."
"Levi won't give her up, he wouldn't ever give up an innocent person."
"Not everyone is trying to redeem themselves, but you," She shook her head, "your heart is so tainted, there's nothing that can save you. You're apart of me now..."
Zero blinked at the shadowy ground, his vision swam with color. A voice from a distance, no, several voices. What?
"Tell him that I'm ready to return home." Loretta. Her voice, her sight, it was like dropping into a swimming pool. Where the shadow realm had been, replaced with a small room. Machines beeped and whirred. There was Grell, he looked so miserable. And the more Zero focused, the clearer his, no, her senses. Loretta moved, something soft, her hair, her cheek pressed into a pillow, her body so incredibly warm.
Then there was Ren's voice, he called her family, asked for help locating the vault. Zero reached out to him. Then remebered.
"What are you, fantasizing?" Vakira asked.
"Yeah, just... Reliving my greatest hits." He let his hand drop and blinked away the room, Ren, her warmth seeped from him and he shivered at the loss. He gripped at his chest, it was hollow, but seeing her again—well, feeling her alive. That was all he needed. She was okay. He had saved her after all.
"I can help you."
"How?"
"This," She refered to the goblet. "Whatever is left of her blood from the last crystal meant to kill me. Take it, give yourself some time."
"What's the price?"
"Not a price," She sat up in the throne, her eyes glinted. " You take this, it'll keep you going a little longer, ease your pain, but ultimately you'll die, or, give up and live forever, without this limerance you've clung to." She held out the goblet, "Dealer's choice."
"I want to live and be with her."
"There is no door number three. But don't be hasty, you have time to think it through."
"I hate both options."
"Like I said. Think about it."
*
Was there even a snowball's chance they'd ever see Zi again? The Ren she thought she knew would've deflected, or brushed off her question. His vision blurred. It was that bastard's fault they were in this mess—no—his fault for not killing Vakira when he had every opportunity. "I don't kn—" For a brief moment, her eyes had bled from turquoise to argent. Eyes that reflected his own, ones he knew. He shook his head, and her eyes were normal again. Great, now he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eye and cleared his sight. But the sting held.
Loretta was like a machine, the light in her eyes dimmed. She was hope. Had been. That's what the other had hated about her.
That's what Zero cherished.
He held his hand out to her, with Vakira around, there was no way. But if they found what they were looking for, if dad left a clue. It was better than nothing. "You aren't human, Loretta." He said, his voice steadier, solid, "you're more human than human, if that makes sense. You're special, powerful." He lowered the rail from the bed, she could do this. They both could. "Zero sacrificed himself for you, are you just gonna sit there feeling sorry and give up? What do you think he'd do if you were there and he was out here?" He wasn't doing this without her, because she was the key, even if she didn't think so.