Chapter 12

As her body fell, Ellie's hands frantically searched for something to grab on. After meeting only empty air, her hand finally found the burnt rope from the bridge. It was still a tad bit hot, and the edge was black because of the fire earlier, but it was still strong. Ellie's hands grabbed it with all her might, but still gravity pulled her under. The rope rubbed to her skin and she could feel the skin peeled. She cried in pain. When she finally was dangling on the rope, she sobbed. It was so painful, the wound felt like it was burning.

Then she realized the hand grabbing her foot. She looked down and felt the world spinning out of control. She was so up high. If she fell down to the river she'd die. Remembering that Phoenix had once plunged in the river, she wondered how he had survived.

Focusing her gaze, she finally spotted Ladon, grabbing on her foot for dear life.

"Maybe I'm not so ready for death as I thought," he chuckled tiredly.

"Well, I definitely am not!" Ellie snapped. Damn, why did her hands felt so painful? They were burning.

"Maybe I shouldn't have pulled you, huh?" Ladon sighed.

"Oh, so now you're wondering about it?" Ellie asked back, sarcasm dripping off her voice. "Who wants to die in the first place anyway? Oh, I know. You!"

"Yes, I do," Ladon sighed again.

"Well then die yourself, don't drag me into this."

"I can't Elisa. If others use your power…"

"I can take care of myself, thank you." The blood from her wound started to drip, streaming down her arms. Ellie took a deep, shaky breath, trying her best to hold the pain. If there was water anywhere near her (with exception of Eagle River below) she'd happily soak her hands in whatever the price would be.

"No," Ladon said in disagreement. "Do you want to lose anyone you hold dear again? However bad I am, I'm pretty much kind if you compare me to others. They'd happily break you, mentally and physically, to have you do whatever they want."

"Oh, so you haven't do it? You killed my family, damnit!"

"At least I won't cut your fingers off. They will."

"You really don't get what I meant, do you?"

Ellie looked up. "Hey! Help!"

Trucy's head popped up. "Ellie! Thank goodness, I thought you were a goner!"

"You don't say?" Ellie snorted. "Help me, pull me up."

"Uh, that'd be a bit difficult," Pearl said, her head popped next to Trucy's. "You see, from the three of us it's Apollo that's the strongest. But he's so scared of heights that he refused to look down, or even standing near the edge of this cliff."

"What's so wrong about being scared to heights? If you fall, you'd die!" Ellie could hear Apollo's voice, high-pitched that he was scared, whimpering somewhere near Trucy and Pearl.

"What about me?" Ellie protested. She hissed in pain. The pain suddenly flared, it was so very painful that she wanted to let go of the rope. But falling to her death wasn't her plan, she wanted to live.

"Ellie, you okay?" Trucy asked in concern.

"Okay? Seriously, is that the best word you can come up with?" Ellie asked, her tone flat. "Haul me up before I fall!"

"Didn't you hear about what I told you? If others find you, you'll break," Ladon spoke, his tone serious. Ellie looked down, she almost forgot that Ladon was dangling on her foot.

"If I have to face that kind of things, I will," Ellie snapped. "If I have to cope with yet another lost, I will. If there's something I've learned about life, there's one thing. It goes on. People die all the time. That doesn't make it easier to deal with, but it's the truth. You have to cope with it anyway. And I want to stay alive. I don't want to die now. Sure, maybe I want to see Skye or Mom, but I know I can't. I've dealt with the dead enough to know that when someone dies for others, he – or she – doesn't want the one he's protecting to go after him into the afterworld. I have no plan to waste my life, the life my mother gave up her life for, the life Skye gave up his life for. I will die, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe years after, but not today. Why do you want to die anyway?"

"If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me to die?" Ladon's eyes narrowed at Ellie.

She grimaced. "You don't remember correctly."

Ladon looked down. "I once… had a fiancée."

Ellie blinked. Someone actually loved this sick psycho? Seriously?

"She was so pretty," Ladon smiled. "That wavy golden hair, those calming blue eyes, her rosy lips…" Ellie rolled her eyes. "I remember that day as it was only yesterday. I remember her white gown perfectly." Ladon's eyes sparked with happiness. "We were getting married."

Then, the happiness and excitement in his eyes died. "But God didn't approve our love."

He drew a shaky breath. "It was the day we were to be married. They say that seeing the bride before the wedding brings bad luck, but I didn't believe in it. I should have. Just before I hugged her… he went in with a gun in his hand."

Ellie tilted her head. Another man?

"He begged Rosanna not to marry me. He said that I wouldn't give her the happiness she needed. But she refused, saying that I was the only man in her life." He smiled faintly. "I was so happy when I heard her. She smiled at me like I was the only one in the room. She was happy to be with me. My soon-to-be-wife. But Ted… he wasn't so happy. He started rambling that if he couldn't have a life with Rosanna, then no one would be able to. He pointed the gun at her. I begged him not to, Rosanna begged him not to, I shielded her, but it didn't work. He shot her anyway. He hit her in the stomach."

He drew another shaky breath. "I can still see the white dress turning blood red. Her blood. I was in panic, I didn't know what to do. Rosanna asked me to stay with her. She knew she wouldn't last longer. She smiled at me, she told me that she loved me. She kissed me a goodbye and went into a deep sleep… in which she can never be woken up from."

Ellie didn't know what to say. She couldn't even begin to think how bad it would feel to Ladon, how close to torture would it feel. She knew how hard it was to lose someone, she already lost Skye. But Skye to her and this Rosanna to Ladon was different. Ellie saw Skye as her closest friend, and if Skye was a human then she would call him her brother. However, to Ladon, Rosanna was his all. Ellie could see that in the way Ladon's eyes sparkled whenever he mentioned Rosanna, except for the bloody parts. They were about to get married. And she died that day. How painful was that, losing someone you love the most just before you say 'I do' and knowing that you will never be separated again?

"Ted actually laughed like crazy after what he did. Laughing and crying at the same time, he shouted: 'Now no one will have you.' I thought that was all, I was so full of rage at that time that I picked a vase and ready to whack him over the head. Hell, he was my best friend! I didn't even know he loved Rosanna. I never thought he'd betray me. I was so very angry. I wanted to kill him."

"You didn't," Ellie cut him.

"How'd you know?" Ladon asked, his eyes tired.

"I've had enough connection to the dead to know if someone has been touched by death before. You have because your Rosanna died, but you never caused one's death except for my mom's and Skye's."

"Yes, I didn't kill him," Ladon sighed. "Before I can hit him, he laughed again. He said, 'You won't be alone, I will go with you there, Rosanna.' Then he took his gun and fired his own head. He died instantly."

Ellie stared at Ladon.

"I tried my best to cope with it, but I couldn't. I can't." Ladon stared down to the river. "I tried to ask the Hollow to channel her, but she refused to be channeled. The channeler said that she didn't want to meet me again only to be separated again. She chose to wait for me in the afterworld. The channeler told me that she wished me a happy life, that I'd find a girl better than her." Ladon laughed bitterly. "How could I? Life without her is not a life."

He looked up to Ellie. "Promise me you'll protect your gift well and live your life until the end."

Ellie stared at his eyes. Determination was there, along with fear, but mostly determination. She nodded.

"Then I will bid you farewell."

And with that, the hand that grabbed her leg let go of it. Ellie felt a little lighter. She looked down, and, to her horror, she saw Ladon looking up to the sky as he fell into the river.

"Rosanna," Ellie watched him mouthed the name. Then he plunged into the water, never to be seen again – at least until he washed up somewhere.

Ellie couldn't say anything. She looked down, searched the water for any sign of Ladon. After he told her why he hunted her, she didn't feel that Ladon was all that evil. More like… desperate. And the fact that he finally let her live made her feel grateful. Though she still disliked him, that doesn't mean she'd like to see anyone embraced death like that. Coping with death every day could never make it easier to deal with when you have to face it yourself, or when you have to see others face it in front of you, apparently.

Then she felt she was pulled up. She didn't really realized it until she was sitting on solid ground. Apollo, looking a bit green, and Trucy and Pearl, looking sickly white, was staring at her.

"Are you all right?"

Their voices sounded distant, but she nodded anyway. "I – I'm fine… Ladon, he let go. He chose death. He's…"

"Ellie, stop," Apollo stopped Ellie.

"Oh my God, Ellie!" Pearl stared at Ellie's hands in horror. The pain that once forgotten when she saw Ladon fell now came back, striking Ellie's hands ruthlessly. She hissed in pain. The blood trickled down her arms, staining her jacket and shirt. She stared at her hands that were still bleeding. The burning pain was still there.

"Why do people always get hurt when they're around me?"

Trucy seemed alarmed at what Ellie said. "Elle…"

Ellie started to sob. "First my mom got killed when I was still a kid. Then he burned down my house, thank goodness my grandparents were fine. Then Pearl was abducted, then Skye was killed… am I a magnet for trouble or something? Are all these because of me, my ability, my connection to the afterworld?"

"Ellie."

"I never asked for this!" Ellie cried, covering her ears, staining her face with blood, her purple strands of hair looked sickly red instead of purple. "If I could I'll throw away this… curse! Why can't I just die? Why did Ladon tell me to live?"

"Ellie!"

Pearl pulled Ellie's hands forcibly and placed them in hers, staining her own hands with her blood. "Maybe because he knows the pain of losing someone, he doesn't want others to experience it. Maybe because he already made some experience it and he feels guilty of it and he feels that he doesn't want to make others feel the sorrow even more. Maybe because he thinks that you deserve to live." She placed Ellie's bloody hand on her chest, right on top of her magatama necklace. "You do."

And Ellie broke down. She sobbed and cried, hugging Pearl tightly as Pearl soothed her along with Trucy and Apollo. She cried herself to sleep, not aware of Pearl's now bloody clothes, not aware of her own bloody clothes. She didn't know that the cops had arrived along with her grandmother. She didn't know that Apollo, Trucy, Pearl, Thalassa, Maya and Phoenix were shouting at each other from the edge of the cliff about her condition. She didn't know that the cops built an emergency bridge like they did years before. She didn't know that the star prosecutor, along with the grumpy detective, came to help them and that the said prosecutor lifted her and brought her across the bridge. She didn't know that Apollo really couldn't cross the bridge and a big detective wearing green trench coat had to piggy-back him to the other end of the bridge. She didn't know that her family surrounded her and checked on her condition.

She didn't know anything. She had long fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

A/N: I can't believe no one reviewed the last chapter! I really hoped to hear your thoughts, you know. But I didn't update the story for a long time, so I guess we're even.

Did I make Ellie too bloody? Because I've once had to dangle on a rope myself, and when the rope grazed my skin it was seriously painful, the kind of pain that's burning your skin. I had to soak my hands in cold water occasionally, and when there was no water I was forced to blow my fingers or placed them near the air conditioner so they could get a bit colder. My hands didn't bleed, though, only a bit swollen, but my friend's hands did. she couldn't even have a bath by herself because of that and she had to ask for my other friend's help to have a bath. Poor girl.

There's only two chapters left. Stay tuned, and please, review... I beg of you.