It had to be a dream, a sick feverish dream.
This wasn't real. Makima didn't kill her.
Power was not dead.
Power was not dead.
She couldn't be.
He felt himself falling piece by piece.
Every bit of his soul began to drain away.
His mouth began to quirk up uncontrollably.
His body twitched lightly.
He couldn't cry.
He couldn't scream.
As he asked Makima whether it was all real, the woman laid her head on his lap and laughed.
The laugh held the same tone as it did with her dogs.
But now...
there was an underlying malicious intent behind it.
His stomach dropped and he felt chilled to his very core.
As Makima described her motives, Denji felt the world dissolving from his feet.
The door within his mind opened and the trauma he had tried so hard to repress... the trauma that Power had helped him move away from came back like a truck, breaking his ribs, puncturing his lungs, ripping his heart apart, and tearing away at his soul, his very being.
He wondered if this was the hell that would follow him until the end of his days.
With Power and Aki gone, he had nothing left.
His eyes glazed over, his muscles became sore, and his bone became brittle ever so slightly.
He didn't know what was happening to him and he honestly couldn't bring himself to care.
Maybe if he was gone, the world would be a better place and less people would be killed.
Maybe it was what he deserved.
Denji felt his soul beginning to leave his body, he could only stare at it from only a feet away.
His ethereal eyes closed, and he felt his husk of a body being left behind.
All he knew now was darkness.
Power felt tired, as if she had just woken up from a long nap.
She didn't expect to see a chainsaw-headed dog staring at her.
The being called itself Pochita and he kind of reminded her of Meowy.
Speaking of her friend, she missed her fluffy cat.
Her memories then slowly filed itself into her mind.
She had died...
Brutally by that bitch.
Right in front of Denji.
She couldn't even begin to comprehend the damage that could've done to him.
Power felt her heart freeze up when she realized she left him all alone with that monster. The being that instilled fear into her, and riled up every survival instinct she possessed.
She had to save him.
For he was her first friend.
A person that she cherished from the bottom of her heart.
He made her laugh and smile with joy. He made her feel as smart as he was... or maybe as dumb, she didn't care. When she felt as if she couldn't care for anyone but Meowy, he and Aki flipped her world upside down and showed her that maybe there was more to her life than as a blood-thirsty Devil.
With that, she sunk her sharp teeth into Pochita, feeling the power of the Chainsaw Devil coursing through her body.
When Makima offered to spare her, it came as a huge surprise.
Her immediate instinct was to say "no" and continue to flee but her survival instinct screamed at her to give in, that doing so would ensure she lived.
She felt ashamed that that was she did at the moment. She held Denji up like an offering for Makima.
Why was she doing this?
To choose between herself and her friend...
The choice should've been obvious.
But she wanted to live and didn't want to die right after she just came back to life. Maybe... just maybe Makima would somehow separate Pochita and spare Denji, however low that chance was.
Deep down she knew it wouldn't happen.
Power thought back to her first meeting with him...
All she saw was a bratty little boy who she thought would try and upstage her.
But Denji then grew on her.
He saved Meowy and her even after she betrayed him, he could've let her die. He could've let the other hunters handle the job.
The way his arms and hands held her as he pulled her out of the pile of bat guts was unlike anything she ever felt before.
He was gentle, no traces of evil of ill-intent towards her even after she smashed his head with a hammer.
By all rights he should've been pissed off and screamed at her, or glare at her with same maliciousness others do for her status as a fiend.
But he didn't, he looked at her with compassion and his eyes told her that he was happy that she was okay.
Power thought back to the way he softly scrubbed her body and hair as she heaved and sobbed in the shower. Whenever she looked at him, all she saw was a look of understanding in his eyes, telling her he's been through something just as bad if not worse than her encounter with the Darkness Devil. As they laid together in that tub, they held a gaze between each other that remembering it now, made her realize just how precious Denji is to her.
He took care of her, fed her when she couldn't do it herself. He let her hold onto him like a lifeline and accepted her apology by allowing himself to suck her blood. He didn't judge her at all once she began to flush and take showers. She then realized they were just as crazy as each other and that made her heart warm.
The way he would casually lean himself against her without care in the world. The dates they've been on and the glee on his face as he stuffed his cheeks with food. The playful look on his face whenever she won a videogame round. The warmth of his hand on hers as they watched different movies together. The softness of his lap as he let her sleep on it.
Their friendship was something never she thought she would need, but when she had it, it was something she couldn't live without. If she were to give Denji up, it would throw away everything that gave their friendship meaning. It would throw away every precious memory she made with him.
That was not worth living without.
Denji was not worth living without.
Power ran and fought, using her arsenal of powers to hold back the other hybrids.
She carried Chainsawman's body towards the dumpster, pushing against her limits and the want to give up.
She once again questioned her lack of care for her survival but again it all circled back to him.
Denji was someone she was willing to give her life for. For how little worth it was.
She couldn't care less if she died, if it meant that her precious Denji lived.
After all, he gave her something no one had in her entirety of being the Blood Devil.
Friendship.
Power could think of no one better to have been her first friend than Denji.