You should be here. You should be able to see your child being born. But you can't, because you're gone and it's all my fault. I'm sorry Fang; this is all my fault. And I'll never be able to forgive myself for all the trouble I've caused.

It was the end of the war…ITEX had fallen, but so had we. The war had been long and hard, and I wasn't ready to let go of the fight. The fight for you, us…for everything we had. I didn't think they'd have used capital punishment, but I didn't think you would have deserted. Not my brave soldier, so desperate to fight for all he'd believed in.

But they did…and I lost you because of it.

They let me watch from the edge of the camp; I didn't know at the time whether or not this was an act of compassion or they just wanted to stick the knife in even further. They led you out onto the field; your head was held high and you walked with the rest of the unit up to the long wooden stake that they then tied you to.

Even at that point I was still proud of you, you were still being brave. Strong until the end. I almost turned away when you refused the hood; I didn't want to see your face when it happened. I didn't want to see you in pain, I couldn't bear to see the light leave your eyes; to me that was too cruel.

The troops were marching back to the line when you spotted me and mouthed "I love you", I smiled through my tears and mouthed "I love you too" back. You nodded, still smiling then you turned your head up to the sky and muttered a last prayer, a single tear running down your face. The soldiers, or comrades as you called them before all this, all raised their guns and aimed for your chest. Their faces all showing matching looks of sorrow and horror at what they were about to do. The first of the men got ready to fire, I felt sick to my stomach wanting to turn away but being unable to. He pulled the trigger and -

CRACK!
The bullet hit you precisely through the middle of you chest, followed by several others which slammed into you with the force of a car. You shook with the shock of the wound then your head lolled and your eyes closed,

In one second that bullet had claimed your life. And I could do nothing to stop that.

Another problem with this had arisen.

I was pregnant…

I gasped as another wave of pain went round my body

"Come on Max, you can do this. Just push and it will all be over." Iggy spoke soothingly in my ear

"I CAN'T IGGY!" I screamed at him, beginning to sob. If Fang had been there I would have been fine, but he was dead and gone. I was trying my best to keep pushing but my body couldn't cope. Iggy gripped my hand tighter

"You can do this Max, I know you can. And if Fang was here he'd say the same...look if you won't do it for me then do it for him." Iggy smoothed my hair and I gulped hard, pushing even more. I couldn't let Fang, or this baby down. After all he'd done for me, and all we'd been through.

After another 10 minutes I felt ready to die; at least until I heard the wailing of a baby near the end of the bed, my baby. The doctor placed her in my arms and I stroked her little head with my finger; she looked exactly like a mixture of me and Fang. She had darker skin and her wings were covered in little black and white feathers, she had a small amount of light brown hair on her head. The most striking thing about her was the colour of her eyes, they were amber with flecks of gold around the irises; a blend of Fang's eyes and mine.

"What are you going to call her?" Iggy asked all of a sudden,

"Nicola…I think it fits her.' I spoke softly as she'd fallen asleep in my arms and I didn't want to wake her

"Yeah it does." Iggy replied still stroking my head,

I lay back on the bed; feeling incredibly tired,

"Look after her, won't you Iggy?" I muttered, letting darkness fill my mind.

'I will…you can count on me.' He said in a whisper

'Oh yes…I know.' I said with a smile, feeling the feeling of Iggy's hand gently stroke my forehead, and with that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.