Title: Last Minutes
Author: Edele Lane
E-mail: Edyn04@aol.com
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Everything Daredevil-related does not belong to me. It belongs to Stan Lee, Marvel, and whoever else.
Archive: Nowhere yet, but if you want it, take it and then e-mail me so I'll know.
Feedback: Please;x
Summary: A vignette focusing on the two fights in the movie Daredevil that ultimately decide Elektra's fate.
Dedication: This is for Ash who reads each part before it is posted here and is undoubtedly my best (and favorite) critic.
Author's Note: Hopefully, my memory isn't too bad as far as how the fights went and the couple quotes I have (remembering the exact choreography is difficult, and the quotes are hard to focus on when you're watching the fights).
Last Minutes
Elektra stood near Daredevil with her arms raised above her, the long prongs of both sais touching. She curled her mouth into a victorious smirk.
Remember me?
In an instant, Daredevil was up and on his feet, backing away quickly through the sheets hanging on the clotheslines above his head. Elektra was moving towards him fast, violently using her sais to tear down the sheets. She knew she didn't need to, as she could have easily maneuvered around them, but she hoped she was proving to Daredevil that she was more than capable of using her weapons to rip his insides out and splatter them onto the streets below.
They had neared the ledge and Daredevil was trying to convince her that it was not he who had killed her father, but rather an assassin by the name of Bullseye.
she spat angrily.
Daredevil panted for a moment before retreating to the next rooftop down, quite a long drop. Elektra clenched her teeth and narrowed her uncommonly green eyes as she took a few running steps and gracefully leaped down to where Daredevil stood.
Elektra continued her attempt at pulverizing him and suddenly had him thrown roughly against a brick wall. She hurled a sai at him.
It missed.
She cried out in frustration as she recalled her practice sessions. I never missed before.
The fight continued and both were grunting in anger and disappointment. Finally though, Elektra had Daredevil where she wanted him and stuck a sai into the space between his shoulder and chest. Daredevil evinced a low groan and lost his footing a bit, sinking down and leaning against the wall.
Elektra hesitated before she spoke.
I want to look into the eyes of the man who murdered my father as he dies.
She tugged off the mask slowly with something of care rather than reckless abandon and stared in horror at the man lying before her, practically helpless after she had rammed her sai in the pocket between his shoulder and chest. Her lip trembled as the realization hit her.
Her father's killer.
The man she believed she loved.
Matt Murdock.
Daredevil.
All one person.
She still couldn't believe it and forced herself to listen to the words he was suddenly saying. He was explaining to her that it was Bullseye. She stared at him, gazing into his eyes, knowing he could not see her. She was trying to find truth to what he had said. She heard a noise behind her and whipped around.
Bullseye.
She turned back to Daredevil and collected both of her sais before standing up and turning to face her father's real killer on the next rooftop. She breathed heavily, as if trying to prepare herself for what she knew would probably be an intensely difficult battle.
Bullseye stood his ground and Elektra saw that he was smiling a bit. The kind of smile that could easily be recognized as sick and shown when victory had been achieved. He beckoned her to him, but she did not move.
Here goes nothing, she thought bitterly.
Instead, she changed her grip on one of the sais and slung it in his direction.
To her absolute shock, he caught it between his fingers and, without wasting another moment, flung it back at her. Elektra tried to imitate his swift movement to catch the sai but failed and let out a sharp cry as the longest of the weapon's three prongs went through the center of her palm.
She winced audibly as she meditatively pulled it out. She was suddenly filled with rage and raced over as he met her halfway.
They fought.
As the fight ensued, Bullseye kept something of a smirk on his face whilst Elektra maintained a firm jaw line with her teeth clenched and her emerald eyes clearly displaying ferocity in its purest form.
She wanted so much to beat him.
She owed it to her father to avenge his death.
She owed it to Daredevil for wrongfully accusing him of murdering her father.
But most importantly, she owed it to herself to bring her father's killer to justice so that she could find some peace in the fact that Bullseye would never be able to harm another soul.
Ultimately, she lost. Suddenly, she found herself facedown on the rooftop, limbs splayed out recklessly from the unexpected fall. She was able to turn her head slightly, and instantly saw that she was now at the mercy of Bullseye.
There's no way I can win now.
Bullseye had picked up one of her sais after taunting her with a sleight-of-hand card trick. He roughly bent down and grasped her slender neck and pulled her to her feet as she sputtered and coughed.
She knew she had lost.
Her mind suddenly started to churn out all the things she wished she had said before. All of these things were directed at Daredevil.
I'm sorry you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sorry that I accused you of killing my father. I'm sorry that I stabbed you. I'm sorry that I—
She felt herself choke up at the next thought and not because Bullseye still had a tight grip on her neck.
I'm sorry that I never told you I love you.
She didn't have time for another thought because Bullseye was speaking again. Her stomach churned at how eerily smooth and calm the words rolled off of his tongue, tinted by his Irish brogue.
And now for my next trick—
Bullseye plunged Elektra's weapon into her stomach so that it went all the way through her body and begged to be pressed just a bit harder to pierce through the leather she was wearing. Elektra focused her clearly damaged green eyes on Bullseye's strong, unfazed dark brown eyes in a silent question.
Why?
Bullseye's response was a defiant lift of his chin and a rough shove to Elektra's body that sent her down to the same rooftop where she had left Daredevil. She didn't move as she lay there on her side. Her eyes were open and she was gawking openly at the blood that poured from her abdomen and, ultimately, her mortal wound.
She breathed heavily as she still lay there. She was hoping for some surge of energy that would at least allow her to be at her true love's side before Death overcame her.
Elektra briefly heard something land behind her and, when she was finally able to bring herself to her knees and crawl on all fours, she did not look to see what it had been.
I'm dying.
The sudden, almost random thought to her state of mind stirred within her a deep fear. She couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was, but she knew that part of it had to have stemmed from her earlier thoughts of not being able to express her love to Daredevil.
She crawled slowly, ignoring the searing pain in both her wounded hand and stomach. Her decidedly long chestnut hair fell in her face and even brushed calmly and sadly over the concrete. She was able to make her way over to Daredevil and when she had, she collapsed on her back in front of him, glancing into his eyes, then away, as she was still ashamed of what she had done to him. Even though he couldn't see, Elektra knew Daredevil would be able to feel her gaze boring into him if she kept her eyes focused on him too long.
Elektra opened her mouth to speak and a sob caught in her throat. Daredevil heard the abrupt pattern change in her breathing, and knew that she was about to cry. He too, had begun to feel sobs tug at the back of his throat and tears prick his eyes. He murmured for her not to go, but Elektra could barely hear him. Darkness was already starting to take her over.
In one last attempt, she parted her lips to try and murmur some kind of last words. But, she wasn't able to, and was left with one last thought as Death finally whisked her away.
I'm sorry.