This work of fanfiction follows after the chapter: "Finished"

Title: Break a Promise
Genre: The Host, Pre-Pet
Rating: PG14
Warnings: Topic of Character Death
Summary: "You know, of all the promises I've made, this is the only one I feel better having not kept." This work of fanfiction follows directly after the chapter "Finished" in Jared's point of view.

Jared

I followed her.

What else could I possibly do?

She would never believe me. I doubted Melanie would even believe me—how could Wanda—sweet, gentle, Wanda—ever believe that what I said had been truth?

She asked for a lie, and I couldn't even give her that.

"Stay here, Wanda. With us. With me. I don't want you to go. Please. I can't imagine having you gone. I can't see that. I don't know how to… how to…" My voice broke then. How does one say that they don't know how to live without the one who kept the love of your life imprisoned?

So I followed her, silently, because I knew how.

I stood beyond the doorway and listened to her exchange with Doc with growing horror.

A soft sigh. "Jared waiting, back by the big cave. I promise him you'd tell him when it was over." I shifted behind the stone wall, anxious to have Melanie back, but at what expense? "Just wait until I—until I…" My heart froze at her next words, "stop moving, okay? It will be too late for him to do anything about my decision then."

The next words blurred together in my shock. She had been planning to… to die?

Wanda had never been planning to go to another planet. I should have known. She had never thought about leaving this planet. That was why she couldn't even take memories with her. She wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't about to give us any option. Wanda knew that Ian would insist we find a way to keep her here—a way to give her a life here… Or really, a way to give her a life at all.

I unsheathed the knife I carried with me.

Well, if Wanda wasn't going to save herself, then by the damned, someone was going to save her. She deserved to be saved.

Doc seemed to echo my silent words, "You are the noblest, purest creature I've ever met. The universe will be a darker place without you," He whispered.

I crept up silently, taking a cryotank with me. Doc already had Melanie's body out cold and had cut quietly along her neck to remove the tiny creature we all knew as Wanda.

I placed my knife at his throat.

Doc didn't jump like I had supposed he might. He just stared ahead with the same quiet expression I knew as defeat. "What now?" He asked in a soft whisper, even now careful not to wake Kyle who slept on a cot nearby Jodi.

"I won't let her die." I stated quietly.

I glanced down at the small silvery creature curled in Doc's hands, at the bloody cut along Melanie's—now only Melanie's—neck.

"I won't let either of them die."

Doc didn't tense, but he did give a small sigh. "I won't break my word, Jared. I promised her."

I knew from Wanda's story that we didn't have all that long to argue. Instead of words, I nudged the knife closer to Doc's throat. A small red line appeared at the soft, vulnerable skin. "Put her in the tank." I demanded in a harsh whisper. Let him know what I would do if he didn't follow my instruction.

I pressed the top, letting it power up as I thunked it down on the table holding Doc's tools. The tools that had caused so much death before—tools I wouldn't allow to cause more.

Doc shifted under my hold, and I moved the knife to follow him as he unlatched the tank. He paused for a moment, "I'd rather break promises than continue to be a killer." He murmured before sliding the silver creature that embodied Wanda into the tank.

As the lid snapped shut and turned a dull red, I dropped the knife from Doc's throat, sheathing it, and stepping back. Doc turned to face me.

"You know, of all the promises I've made, this is the only one I feel better having not kept." His eyes, eyes that were so worn with worry and death, now had new hope in them.

I gave him a veiled smile, my eyes shifting, like a compass pointing to true North, to Melanie who still rested quietly, "We'll all be glad that promise was broken."

--

Doc was putting Smooth on Melanie's cut, when Ian rolled in.

His hair was sticking up every which way, his eyes were drawn. He held himself like a tense snake.

"Where is she?" He demanded, his tone low and dangerous.

Kyle snorted and curled tighter around Sunny's tank. The movement drew everyone's eyes for a brief moment before Ian rounded back on Doc and I.

"Where is she? Where is—" He paused, blue eyes landing on Melanie's sleeping form. "Wanda…" His voice broke at the end, his face crumpling.

He strode over to me, ignoring Doc. "You let this happen." He growled, a truly dangerous note weaving into his voice. "You let her do this."

Ian's hands gripped the front of my shirt, dragging me forward, but I wasn't fazed by the action. I stared steadily into Ian's eyes, full of wildfire and deep sorrow—sorrow I remembered from the time I waited with Jamie for Melanie to return from her trip to find Sharon. It had felt worse then being shot—even worse because he knew that even the pain of being shot would have been welcome in place of the knowledge Melanie wasn't coming back.

I stared into those eyes that mirrored the pain I had felt so many months—had it truly been more than a year?—ago and said, "Wanda didn't want to leave."

"Then why—?" Ian began, his voice thick with bewilderment and the tears that freely flowed down his cheeks, but I cut him off.

"She was going to die here, rather then leave."

Ian froze.

Then his entire body crumbled, like a stone wall that had lost its last foundation. He collapsed on the ground and sobbed like the world was ending—which it was, to him.

I stayed where I was, watching Ian steadily. It hurt to watch, because this same pain was all too clear in my memory, but I deserved the pain. Because it was true: I had nearly let Wanda do this—nearly let her kill herself.

"Of course." Ian's voice was broken, a sound like grating stones painfully together, "Of course she would."

I shifted, crossing my arms. "But, I didn't let her."

Red-rimmed sapphire eyes lifted and met firey brown ones. "I didn't let her." I repeated firmly and Ian gave a half-sob, half-hiccup before turning his eyes on Doc. Doc stepped aside and gestured to the tank that held the tiny floating Wanda.

Ian, with eyes bloodshot and face drenched, scrambled up. In tense, unbelieving, uncoordinated movements, he crossed the room and clung to the cryotank.

Tears dripped off his chin and slid down the side of the smooth tank, "Wanda… my Wander…" He crooned brokenly, holding the tank to his body.

"Wan…da…?" A voice drew my eyes from the previous scene. "WANDA!" The voice shrieked suddenly.

I didn't realize I was moving until my arms were wound tightly around Melanie's body. "Wanda…" Her face was buried in my shirt, her tears soaking it.

"Shhh," I ran my hand through her hair, unable to stop the growing elation that I could finally do this and mean it only for her. "Wanda's fine. Mel, she's fine."

"No, no, no…" Melanie sobbed quietly into my shirt, in such crushed tones that twisted like a knife into my chest. "Wanda's DEAD!" She wailed, the last shrill word echoing through the cave.

I didn't have to look to know Ian was shaking, quivering like an autumn leaf holding on tightly to its last hope, praying that this hope wouldn't be torn away at the last second.

"Mel. Melanie." I gripped the sides of her face and lifted her tearful eyes to mine. "Mel, Wanda is fine. She's right over there." I turned her head to where Ian sat, clutching the tank to his chest.

At the sight, new tears began to drip down Melanie's cheeks. "Thank you," She whispered with a nod towards Doc, her voice harsh from her sobs.

Doc gave her a weary smile, but shook his head. "Wasn't me." He sighed and gestured towards me, "There's your big hero."

Mel turned to me with huge eyes. I gave her a small smile and she returned with a wet grin as she leaned her face back into my chest. She didn't say anything else, but I had the feeling it was because she was too overcome with relief to speak.

Ian caressed the side of the tank, staring at the silver creature inside—trying to memorize this form—the true form—of Wanda.

When he finally looked up, he realized we were all watching him. "I won't let her leave." He said firmly. "She's not going anywhere."

"We need her." Melanie insisted, her voice muffled from my shirt.

Doc looked at each of them in turn then nodded silently.

I nodded slowly, my hold on Melanie tightening slightly. "We'll find a way."I said, and I sounded so sure and so firm, that we all believed my words—if only for this brief moment.

"Wanda…" Ian murmured against the unyielding tank, holding her tightly in his arms.

Tomorrow Jeb would hold the tribunal that held to the decision to keep Wanda alive until we could find a way to save her—from even herself if necessary.

In a few days, Kyle would concede to putting Sunny back into Jodi until Jodi was found within her mind.

In a month, we would find Petals Open to the Moon and Mel would lure her into capture. We would wait a few days to see if anyone was left in the body, but in the end we would put the body, which had previously belonged to Pet, to sleep and have her wake as Wanda.

In a few months, we would come across the other humans and Burns, and our loneliness would end, hope springing in its place.