Seconds

One year. One year it took Daphne to reach out to him. Her aching fingers stretched to hold him, every time pushed away by the selfish boy. Beaten and torn by his words, filling her heart full of hope and then letting the words stab. She admired him, loved him, but the boy was far to arrogant to notice.

It was midnight. Daphne, the boy and her friends investigated an haunted castle. The boy had cleverly found out a way to capture the ghost, but Daphne ruined his plans. It narrowly avoided the trap and charged towards the boy. It's lance ready to strike the boy.

It took one year for her to reach.

It took a matter of seconds to push.

To sacrifice.

Daphne pushed him to safety, using all her strength to save him. Her vision spun to see the sky and ground whirl around her. Finally her vision cleared to see the night sky.

There was pain, the pain dulled as his traumatised face came into view.

"Daphne."

"I did it…" she smiled to herself, "I did it, I did it."

His face scrunched up to see her pride, "You stupid girl. Why? Why?" he stroked her face. She let his insults fly over her head, she was too pleased to wonder why he wasn't thankful. She wondered where her friends were, maybe they would congratulate her, unlike the stubborn boy.

"I did it. I proved you wrong." She smiled, he didn't return the smile.

"What?" his eyes looked hurt, his blue eyes breaking. Letting all his emotions flood.

"That I-" she broke off coughing up some blood, she wiped the blood with the back of her hand. Strange, why was she bleeding? She must've bit her tongue while she pushed him away. She continued her sentence, "I'm not so useless after all. Did you see me, Freddy? I saved you! That's change, isn't it?" she chuckled. Suddenly she winced by the pain in her stomach. She ripped her eyes away from his face, wondering why she couldn't feel anything past her chest. The lance. It struck her right through her stomach, pinning her to the ground. Her blood circled her on the grass, her purple dress slowly turning a dark purple- red.

She understood. She made a sacrifice. She remembered now.

"Oh." she said quietly, her voice grave, her vision began to blur.

"Everything is going to be fine. Velma's phoned an ambulance." he held her hand, tears cascading down his face, "I'm so sorry, Daphne, this should've been me."

Daphne could sense lies in his words. She doubt she could hold on for another minute.

"I always wished I could have been like you. Brave, smart, a leader. This was a way to prove you-"

"Daphne, don't-" He snapped, Daphne cut him off.

"No. For once listen to me." she said darkly, Fred flinched by her stern voice, he couldn't argue back.

"I'm so useless, just a stupid, feeble little girl. But when I act like you, I'm so… untouchable. You're so brilliant, Fred, you're so perfect, so precise. I look up and wish- I wish so much- that I could be at least a little like you. I wish for once that I wasn't danger prone… I guess I couldn't even do that without killing myself. I just wanted to prove you I'm not completely worthless. I just wanted you to be proud of me. To love me." tears spilled down her cheek, as her voice cracked to the lest three words. He shook his head widely, his eyes wide.

"This is all my fault. I pushed you. Forced you to do this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he kissed her forehead, "Hold on, Daphne,"

"I can't... I've held on long enough."she said softly,

"I need you, you have to be there. I'm only brave for you, I'm the one who should act more like you. You're so kind, so caring, so controled. Please, don't leave me, I- I need you." he begged, Daphne had no answer. She smiled as a veil of black crossed over her eyes, letting go.

It took everything for her to hold him. It took a matter of seconds to let go.