Chapter 26- Full Circle

Lily had never felt so weak in her entire life, she thought she had managed to save herself but she hadn't, she'd failed and now everyone was going to die.

Everything was leaving her, spilling out like invisible blood, pouring onto this godforsaken desert that Lily knew she was going to die on. She felt someone throw themselves beside her and lift her into their arms. Opening her eyes, they felt as heavy as concrete, she saw that it was Jessica, the apology she babbled was almost an out of body experience, her whole body was shaking terribly the pain was now just a numbing sensation. Dying… What a funny thing, how strange was it that during her entire anxiety attack she had not once considered what it would be like to die? Well she supposed there was no need to wonder now, she would know in a few moments.

A crack went through her, but she realized it must have just been the portal; trapping everyone inside, killing everyone.

The last thing she heard alive was Melissa's discouraging comment. Suddenly Lily felt detached from everything but that was only felt for a moment before a powerful force seemed to suck her in, through some unseen object. Lily wasn't sure what was happening but something told her that she wasn't done yet.

What Lily assumed to be her soul was suddenly thrown forward, it crashed into something hard, like hitting the ocean after falling for a thousand feet; it feels like rock but then you sink. A force then brought her forward, as though she was just been being pushed forward instead of backwards from the portal. She hit the ground hard but that was of little concern to her. Lily's head was spinning and she didn't feel that great, still she only gave herself a moment before she forced herself to get up.

The dizziness slowly left her but the unsettling feeling was still churning inside her, with much confusion she looked around her. The first person she noticed was Caine, his arms outstretched, a hideous smile on his face. Somehow her cheek was still hot from his touch, she wished she could go and slap him, but that wasn't what she had in mind.

She probably wouldn't have seen Jessica if it hadn't been for her red hair. Just a piece of it illuminated in a spot of color that had not yet been bled out by the Hour, with careful concentration she unfroze only Jessica.

"Jess, I'm over here!"

Jessica popped out. When she saw that Caine was frozen she rushed up to Lily.

"What the Hell just happened?"

"I think, I just…split myself in two."

Jessica didn't even bother asking, she knew Lily better explain what she meant.

"Right when I was falling, I figured if I froze time I could avoid falling into the portal. Now I realize that wouldn't have worked because I wouldn't have been frozen but instead I seemed to freeze myself right when I was in between worlds."

"So half of you fell through because you were in the Darkling Dimension where you don't have any powers, and this half of you froze because?"

Lily shrugged,

"Maybe my power just went in between both worlds, kinda like staying in neutral, I wasn't a Midnighter, or whatever you call me, anymore."

"Well what happened in the DD?"

Jessica's face was fixed with curiosity. Lily shrugged,

"I think I died, but because I had part of me here, I went back through the portal and got my powers back, it's just weird because the door was closed."
As though on cue another ringing crack went through the sky and Lily and Jessica saw a familiar shimmering door appear.

Jessica jumped back,

"Oh my God." She said startled, Lily stepped forward,

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I can feel myself becoming whole again. The part of me that was in the other world, like I'm fading into myself."

The moment Jessica mentioned being whole Lily remembered how uneasy she felt, she hoped it was just because her job wasn't finished yet.

"Come on." She called to Jess and ran over to the portal.

"What are you doing!" Jessica asked very alarmed as she assumed Lily was getting ready to jump back inside.

"Not me, you. Go in there and bring everyone out. All the darklings left, you'll be fine."

Jessica leaned back and sighed,

"It's all working out, isn't it?"

"Let's not jinx ourselves until everyone is taken care of."

Jessica nodded and jumped into the portal, Lily waited patiently for what must have been around twenty minutes, helping Jessica whenever she brought someone out of the portal and staring at Caine whenever she was alone. Finally everyone was out, even Emily, Drake, and Sam.

"Would you like to help?" Lily asked Jessica politely, Jessica smiled,

"I think it's something you need to do." Lily nodded and with one final look at Caine she pushed him into the portal, without a second thought she unfroze time and the Hour fully came upon them.

Everyone lying on the ground slowly began to stir from their unconscious state, Rex was the first to come to and sit up.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Right where we started Rex." Jessica said with a smile and an eye roll. She helped him up and he held his head dizzy.

"Why do I feel like I narrowly escaped death?"

Jessica could only laugh, Lily stayed silent.

Everyone got up with similar reactions, Jonathon was the last to wake up.

"Oh, Jonathon!" Jessica cried embracing him, he flinched in pain and she remembered his wounds but he held her close anyway.

She helped him up and led him to the park bench to sit on, everyone was now focused on Emily, Drake, and Sam who were now awkwardly standing together.

"Well?" Melissa asked harshly. The Wanderers rocked back and forth,

"I think that now that Caine is gone we can stop being complete jerks." Emily's words weren't exactly an apology but the Midnighters let them walk away.

As soon as they were gone Dess finally asked the question everyone was dying to know the answer to;

"Okay, so what the hell happened?"

"An excellent question Dess, how about we discover the answer and we limp Mr. Airhead here back to the hospital?" Everyone nodded at Melissa's suggestion and they began their slow journey to the hospital.

Jessica explained everything to them on the way back, she noticed how Melissa seemed to nod at what she said but never seemed surprised. Jessica was convinced that she had known about everything the entire time, but the only hint that she was right was the small smile Melissa let through as Jessica thought her assumption.

Most of the Blue Time was spent getting Jonathon back to the hospital and explaining what had happened. Lily had never chimed in to add anything during Jessica's story, but Jessica just let her be, she had to be going to through a lot at the moment.

They left Jonathon at the hospital and left but made no notion of returning to the apartment. They actually were going in the direction of Central Park, but no one really noticed.

"So let me just make sure I got this, we all died because Caine threw Lily into the DD, but because Jessica's DD power is to go back in time she went back and told Lily about it. Then Lily froze time when Caine threw her in, and died in the DD almost killing us but because part of her was still on the other side of the portal she came back, reopened the portal and managed to get us out, before we actually died?"

Dess nodded at Rex's explanation,

"That sounds about right if I processed the story correctly."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Jessica said with a smile, "I'd say we've come full circle in my little adventure with the space time continuum."

Everyone let out a laugh.

"So Jonathon will be let out of the hospital around noon tomorrow. I say we let him check in with his uncle and then check out of New York."

Everyone went deadly quiet at Dess' comment, with a pang of guilt she realized what she had said, everyone's eyes were now on Lily. She looked up from the sidewalk,

"What?"

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Jessica asked quietly, Lily look forward, but much farther away than the end of the street.

"I'll go home I guess. I still have my brother and my mom to look after, a school to go to, a life to live…though I have to admit I don't know how much fun it's going to be anymore, after all that's happened."

Everyone nodded but there was an air of disappointment among them.

"Why?" She asked seeing their faces.

"Well, it's just." Rex started, "no one would really mind if, you came back to Bixby with us. Who knows we'll probably be going to different parts of the country, it'll be like an awesome road trip! We'd see everything if we wanted to."

Lily smiled,

"It sounds nice, but I don't think I could do what I did tonight all over again. Don't get me wrong, you guys are awesome friends, even if you are all older than me."

Everyone smiled, but it was only partially because of the comedy.

Dess looked down at her wrist,

"Well there's only three minutes left of the Blue Time, if this is going to be goodbye then we may as well go out and get something to eat."

Everyone nodded, they then turned to Lily for her reaction, she had spaced out again.

"Lily." Melissa called, Lily snapped to attention, "Are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I actually think food is just what I could use right now."

With the go ahead everyone started to look around for a good restaurant to eat at when the Hour ended.

"Oh my God." Jessica said stopping in her tracks, everyone turned to her.

"What?"

"What if I disappear again! I totally forgot because I could move in the daylight when I was back in time, but I've never had a chance since I got my power back to see if I still disappear."

Everyone's face grew in anxiety, just when they were so close to all being together again, one moment could split them all apart.

"There's no way to know Jess, until the Hour ends." Melissa said softly.

"And when is that?" She asked Dess sitting down on a near by bench, Dess looked at her watch.

"About thirty seconds…"

"Okay," Jessica said taking a deep breath, "Well if I do disappear just tell Jonathon that…" She couldn't even finish, she didn't know what to say. An anticipating silence follow Jessica's trailing of words, everyone knew Jessica's thirty seconds were up as color bled back into the world.

"Oh my God." Rex said quietly, everyone let out a long sigh, "Jess you're still here!"

She opened her eyes and popped up off the bench.

"Oh my God! How the hell? Did I somehow run into another bolt of lightning or something?"

No one could give her an answer but Dess simply responded,

"Does it matter? Jess you can see your family again!" For a moment all of them were Daylighters, even Melissa, for a moment they were all friends and together, no matter how cheesy they all decided the moment had been later.

"For once everything's worked out." Jessica said with an optimistic sigh.

"I wouldn't speech too soon." Melissa chimed in pessimistically.

"And why is that?" Jessica asked suddenly nervous.

Melissa turned around to face them,

"Where's Lily?"

More silence, they looked up and down the street, where not many people were even walking up.

"Oh God," Jessica said devastated, "She's still in the Blue Time."

The Midnighters walked up and down the streets until 2 AM, no one had wanted Jessica's theory to be true but they were forced to accept it as they entered the apartment defeated.

"Maybe she just went back home Jess, she had been acting really weird." Dess tried to tell Jessica as she sat down on the couch.

"Maybe…" She replied but Jessica was convinced; Lily now suffered the fate she once had.

"Tomorrow night we'll go back and make sure, but we also have to get ready to leave, we'll be picking up Jonathon at 12:30 from the hospital."

Jessica nodded at Rex's schedule but was finished talking and simply curled up into a blanket on the couch. No one bothered her as they all settled down for sleep, they were all hurt but no one more palpable about it than Jessica.

The next morning was slow and quiet for Jess, she had literally no belongings because she had first come here trapped in the Blue Time. They picked up Jonathon from the hospital, and after the others told him what they suspected happened to Lily Jessica found him holding her close. They stopped by Jonathon's uncle's house, he was glad to see Jonathon okay and even gave them enough money to get them back to Bixby by car.

The rest of the day was a useless blur to Jessica, all she wanted was for time to go by so she could see Lily. Finally the time came, and the Midnighters found themselves waiting at the spot most of them had stood at 25 hours ago.

No one was used to the Blue Time just happening, there was no in between state, it was one wave of blue and it was happening. Everyone's heart fell when they found Lily in front of them.

She was silent, looking from person to person. Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed when she saw Jonathon standing among them.

"I figured that is what happened to me."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jessica asked sadly.

"I don't know, I was hoping it was just the trauma of me dying and then being shoved back into my body. But when you talked about feeling whole, I realized how…not whole I felt. The rest of the night I figured that while you gained a piece of you when you came back from the past, I lost a piece of me when I went through the portal. I guess it was my equivalent to lightning." Lily tried to smile, but no one returned the look.

"It's fine, I, I'll manage. You dealt with it perfectly well Jess, so why can't I?"

Jessica shook her head,

"I was never okay after that, I had to leave my family, make them think I'd gone missing or ran away. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and now you have to go through it. It's not fair."

Lily smiled gravely,

"If there's one thing I've learned it's that things aren't really all that fair in this world. I have my brother at least, maybe I'll just spend time with him at night. I'll get by."

Her confidence was failing her though, the more and more Lily began to realize what was happening.

"You could come with us." Jonathon offered, for the second time everyone looked at Lily.

"I can't. I have to stay, somehow even more now. But who knows I'll probably see you guys again, someday. Maybe…"

An uncomfortable feeling of goodbye came upon everyone again, Rex was the first to act on the feeling. He walked up and hugged Lily,

"You were kinda like a little sister; I've got to admit it wouldn't have been the worst thing, having you around."

As soon as he backed away Jessica came forward and tightly embraced Lily,

"I felt the same way, you reminded me of my sister so much, it kinda made the homesickness easier at times. I'll never forget what you did for all of us Lily. Thanks."

Everyone offered some kind of farewell, even Melissa. Lily couldn't keep from crying, but she thanked them all.

"You should probably get going." She said whipping her tears off her face, "If Jessica is in the car then at least you can get some kind of a head start." Everyone tried to smile but it didn't really succeed.

"Why does it feel like we're all part of the end of some really crappy movie?" Melissa said keeping her face stoic for her own self being.

"Who knows? The world is a screwed up place after all." Dess answered honestly.

"Tell me about it." Lily said, almost sounding like her old self. No one could keep from saying one good bye after the other.

"You guys wouldn't mind, if I let you go would you? I feel like if I stay around any longer…it'll just, it's hard enough ya know?"

Everyone nodded their heads at Lily's request, everyone could help but thinking of how grown up she was acting. Only Melissa could really see through Lily's veil, and only Rex remembered how it had been Lily's birthday.

Everyone began slowly turning away, the ending they had pictured was far from any ending any of them would have ever imagined.

Jessica was the last one to turn away from Lily, all the while she just stood there frozen. To her surprise Lily watched Melissa turn silently and run up to Lily, with a quiet but audible whisper Melissa told Lily something that made her eyes widen in disbelief. Melissa only looked Lily in the eyes and nodded, then she turned and ran back up to catch the Midnighters. Until they were completely out of sight Lily did not move or breathe, she just stared forward and thought.

Then, like she was suddenly aloud to live her thoughts she turned around and sprinted down the side walk towards Central Park.