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The sun was bright, lovely and warm. It was so very good to be back in England, and not cold Russia. To be seemingly freed of everything that had happened, and to be safe. He was sitting across from Cassie at the table in the visitors room. Due to everything that had happened, she was not permitted to have outsiders in her own room. They didn't want anything to go wrong during recovery.

Cassie was so lovely though, back to the glowing light that seemed to give her an angelic appearance, a halo outlining. Sid propped his head up on the heels of his hands, listening as she spoke. She could only manage whispers, due to the bullet that had nicked her windpipe. That was the one that had nearly offed her, finished her, sent her through death's door. Somehow, she survived, and he would never fully understand how she managed it.

Sid couldn't complain though, because he was so glad she did. It made him feel like an idiot, a total incompetent fucking ass; how was it only after she was a breath away from death that he realized what losing her would mean? How could he have taken her for such granted? It was a mistake he would never dare tease again.

"Sid," her voice was clear, still almost silent, but clear. Sid caught her eyes; Chris spoke.

"You alright Cassie?" He was sitting with Jal, who was reading her book. Sid had noticed that she liked to read when she came to visit, and didn't talk much. Nobody talked to Cassie much when they came to visit. Only Sid kept a conversation with her; he was patient enough . . . He loved her enough.

Cassie turned her doe eyes toward him, gave a confused look, and went back to Sid. The doctors had said it would be a miracle if she survived, then if she remembered how to walk, to talk, her memories - Cassie had continued to prove them wrong. She was too strong to be kept down by medical predictions. It was only the last that was taking a great deal of time. Sid had been recalled near instantly, and the others slower given her apparent like of them beforehand. They kept slipping through the cracks in her mind though, so there were times when she simply couldn't remember.

The door opened as she whispered another string of words for Sid to grasp. Maxxie limped in, sketchbook in one hand. He'd been shot in the major artery running through the leg, and nearly bled to death. He'd been on crutches for the past however many months, but was finally walking on his own. Sid thought Maxxie was just being stupid, a wimp compared to Cassie, but he couldn't really judge. He hadn't suffered anything physical during that afternoon.

Maxxie took a seat beside Chris and Jal, angled away from them, asking, "How's she been?" He could've asked Sid, only no one much talked to Sid anymore. He had grown into the habit of snapping at them all, because they'd all caused Cassie's near death. They'd taken advantage of her generous spirit and destroyed her. Sid had sworn never to believe them again, not until she was right again, recovered fully and able to go beyond the limits of the clinic. In doing so, he only ever grumbled to them, bitter and hateful.

Jal spoke from the pages of her novel, "Better than yesterday, I can't really tell. She'd definitely talking more-"

"Murmuring more anyway." Chris corrected.

They both used to come by so frequently, but now their visits were scattered - unreliable, as Sid knew they would be. Cassie had told him how Chris had saved her life once, long ago in a time she hadn't fully gained back, but Sid was skeptical. Sid kept his mouth shut, not wanting to upset her.

And so time passed, Maxxie sketching as he always did after he'd given up trying to talk to Cassie. Chris and Jal left quickly thereafter, as she had some sort of appointment to get to. Sid didn't much care, nor did they care to elaborate. Sid felt as though Maxxie knew, but he certainly wasn't about to offer the explanation.

Cassie turned to Maxxie suddenly then, cautious in her movements. "What are you, like, drawing?"

Maxxie looked up at her, surprised, though he covered that quickly with a gentle smile as he positioned the sketchbook so she could see the image. It was a lily flower, surrounded by stars and an elegant script faded into the background. Cassie smiled her approval, but before she could turn away, Maxxie asked, "Are you alright? Can I get you something?"

Cassie glanced toward Sid, who had turned away to hide his annoyance, and gave a small shake of her head. "I'm alright, I think. You're lovely for asking."

He nodded, sitting back in his chair, angling the book back toward himself. Things hadn't been the same since Russia. Everything they'd left behind was where it was when they returned, but it was as if a different group came back than left. He returned on crutches; Cassie was in intensive care for months; Michelle had fled because she couldn't handle the nightmares anymore; Tony was in prison, facing charges in both countries; and Chris and Jal had a new problem completely unrelated. Everything was fucked up, nothing was the same, but the sun still rose in the East and set in the West.

A nurse entered a little while later, as Maxxie was putting the finishing touches on his sketch, asking that he leave, as visiting hours were over. Maxxie nodded, saying he'd be right out. He flipped his book shut as he stood, or at least attempted to. It stayed open on the page of the sketch he'd drawn in Russia, before everything to hell. Cassie lay on the floor, blood pooling around her head in a sick halo as Sid tried desperately to save her. The thick, ugly pencil line went right through his neck, ending at her heart. Maxxie's eyes welled with tears, and he ripped it from the coils. He hated the memories, the whole experience, but he couldn't change it.

Digging in his pocket, he removed a crumpled picture of the whole gang - Anwar, Michelle, Tony, Chris, Sid, Cassie, himself - that Effy had taken before the trip, and turned it over. In pen, he wrote a few words, kissed Cassie on the crown of her head and set it before her as he left. That photo had been a favourite of his; everyone had been happy and the futures of each of them looked so promising.

The door clicked shut quietly as he vanished from the room.

Cassie read and re-read the words, smiling to herself as she looked back at the photo. She hated what had become of them, but would always remember how they had once been. Happy and Hopeful - full of life.

"What happened, where did we go wrong?" Sid wondered aloud. Cassie met his gaze, and shrugged, letting the picture float back to the table. She placed her hand on his, watching the eerie transparent glow of it surround her on as it passed through.

"Maybe we didn't, not completely."

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'Loveliness never fades, can never be scarred, can never die. You'll always be more than lovely Cassie, so set the bar a little more high, because you're beautiful beyond any man's dream' (Maxxie's quote on the photograph)