Author's Note:
Jocasta: Hi everyone! Anyways-.
Ferus Olin: What's going on?
Jocasta: I'm just telling readers about a new fanfic. As I was saying, I got this idea after reading "The Medusa Plot". Hope you like it. As far as pairings go, there's Amy/Ian, plus some Sinead/Hamilton if you squint. So enjoy, though you might want a tissue or two.
Ferus Olin: Um, Jocasta?
Jocasta: What?
Ferus Olin: You forgot to do the disclaimer.
Jocasta: Oh. I knew that. I don't own "The 39 Clues" or "Star Wars". They both belong to Scholastic and George Lucas respectively.
Sacrifice
Ian shivered. It was a typical September day, but Ian shivered. Not from the cold that could not pierce his new creamy brown cashmere sweater, but from heartbreak.
"This should not have happened," he thought. "It's not fair."
This day was like Grace's funeral, only different. At Grace's funeral, most of the "mourners" were relieved that she was gone. At D-, at Amy's brother's service, not a single person was unaffected. The Holt twins, Madison and Reagan, both had identical looks of sorrow for the boy who had given his life so that Reagan would live. Mary-Todd Holt was desperately trying to hold back the tears, and be strong for her children's sake. Hamilton was sobbing, so unlike his usual tough yet cheerful self. Ian wasn't surprised considering how close he and Dan (just thinking the name made his chest shudder with pain) were. His father, Eisenhower Holt, was patting Hamilton's shoulder, awkwardly trying to comfort his son. On Hamilton's other side sat Sinead Starling who had her arm around him, and did not seem to care that he was crying all over her best clothes. The other Starling siblings were sitting next to Sinead, with identical tears streaming down their faces. It seemed that the events at the Franklin Institute had been forgotten in the wake of the tragedy.
The Wizards were sitting together in silence, with looks of sorrow. But the worst were those who sat in front. Dan's family, William McIntyre was under normal circumstances a very silent and unemotional individual, but Ian noticed that he brought a handkerchief a few times to wipe a few stray tears. Nelly and Fiske were both sobbing heavily, clearly blaming themselves for not looking after the boy who they both had been guardians for. And Amy, Amy was the worst. There was numbness to her face. She was not crying. But maybe that was because her grief was so great that not even waterfalls of tears could express it.
Natalie gently nudged him out of his grief stricken thoughts. "Come on," she whispered. "It's time for the reception." Even Natalie, wasn't her usual selfish self. Just the other day, she had tried to get Amy to go shopping to get her out of Grace's house and help her cheer up. Ian sighed; it just showed how much the Cahill family had changed over the years.
At the reception, everyone talks about Dan. How he always told funny jokes. Hamilton even paused in his tears to recollect the time he taught the kid how to climb a flagpole. But Ian remembers a different memory of Dan.
"Come on! We have to help Amy and Hamilton!" Dan yelled. He seemed scared, naturally, for his sister and his best buddy.
"How will we accomplish that? We can't even get in the building." Ian was nervous himself for his own sister's life road on the success of the mission to free the hostages.
"There's a keypad over there. I think I can try and hack the security system."
"Dan. The Vespers have a complex code system that I don't even think I could break in to much less-"
Before he could finish, he heard a click as the security door to the bunker slid open. "You were saying?"
"Dan how did you-?" Ian could not believe it. Even highly trained Lucian spies would have been mystified by the door lock combination, which included a code, finger print pad, and a system of knobs that had to be turned in a certain order.
"Never mind how I know! Let's rescue Amy and the others!" Dan dashed through the door, giving Ian no choice but to follow.
He should have realized then that-. No, he could not think of what Dan had done, not even now as he glanced at the faces of his cousins. That's when he noticed that Amy was missing. Ian cautiously left the other mourners and crept through the hallways. Although, there were no dangers, his senses still were alert for them anyways.
He found her on the small patio staring out into space.
"Amy?" he gently grasped her arm. "Are you ok?"
He realized a moment after he spoke that she could not be ok, considering she had just lost her brother.
"I'm f-f-fine," she whispered. "You sh-should go back to the others."
Ian ignored her. He tentatively put his arms around her shoulders. He could not bear to leave her here, alone and with no one to comfort her.
"It wasn't fair!" she screamed suddenly. "It wasn't fair! He was just thirteen years old and they killed him! The Vespers killed him!"
She sobbed against his chest, her salty tears streaming down his sweater. "And I should have stopped him from taking the-."
"Amy." Ian knew he had to stop her pointless self pity. "That wasn't your fault. Dan made the choice and drank the serum. He knew that it was killing him, and he chose to go out his own way, giving up his own life to save the hostages."
"I know," she replied, her tears subsiding. "It's just-."
Ian silenced her words by placing his lips on hers. They had not done this since Korea, which seemed almost a life time ago in Ian's mind. But he still felt the same pounding in his heart, the same electric current that passed between them. When they broke apart, Amy was smiling, though it was only a slight curl of her lips. For a moment, neither of them said a word.
"I just wish he knew how much I loved him," she spoke finally.
Ian was gazing at the stars, imagining all the possibilities for them both when he replied, "he knew, Amy. He knew."
Author's Note:
Ferus Olin: Wow. That was great.
Jocasta: Thanks. Anyways, I hoped your enjoyed this story. Please read and review.