Judge and Savior, an across the universe, beth revis fanfic

Judge and Savior

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Across the Universe Trilogy

This is wrong. First Robertson and Lorin, and now this! What the hell does Zane think he's doing? We were supposed to capture anyone with a connection to Phydus, not –

Amy pulls out her gun. We shoot at the same time. She goes for the ptero, which makes sense; either its trainer lost control of it, in which case it will be a danger to everyone it meets, or else the trainer, whoever he or she is, set it on Dr. Gupta deliberately. In which case they don't deserve to keep the animal. Amy dispatches it with two shots, and one for good measure.

I go for Dr. Gupta. Except for the bullet hole, his face doesn't even change. He was dead already, a dead man blinking as the ptero ripped into his entrails. I only confirmed it.

This is not what was supposed to happen.

I turn to Amy. Her eyes glitter like green marbles in her paper-white face. She's a sheltered Sol-Earth girl with protective parents; as far as I know, she's never seen anything like this. It's nightmare enough for me, and I didn't even know this man; it's not like when Zane ordered it done to his own cousin for trying to inform on us to the FRX. I half expect her to scream at me, call me a murderer, say we could have saved him. Anything but what she actually says.

"Thank you."

Tears run down her face as she lowers her gun. Her voice, like the rest of her, trembles. Instead of condemnation, what I see in her exotic human eyes is nothing but respect.

I throw my arms around her and crush her to me, not caring that we hardly know each other, not caring about the shipborn leader who stares at us so jealously, even forgetting our guns, which clatter down to the ground. Her hair flows over my shoulder like liquid fire. She smells of blood and sweat and terror. So do I.

Her touch absolves me, just as Sol-Earth priests once absolved their followers of their sins. She understands. And if she does, it is my hope – my prayer – that she will someday understand what my people must do ensure their survival.