And what was up with being slung over Spinner's shoulder? Hardly a pleasant feeling, hon. And not exactly a romantic rescue. Think carrying a bride over threshold next time, Honeybee. Think it, learn it, live it. Paige Michalchuk does not get carried around like a sack of potatoes! She kicked a little, trying to let Spinner know she was awake. "Put me down!" she insisted, though she was feeling strangely weak.
Fine. Spinner dipped his shoulder and let Paige slip to the ground. He winced as she hit a little harder than he thought she would. He reached down to help her up.
"No," Ellie cried weakly as she lay across Marco's body. This wasn't real. She was just seeing things…like before. Except this time it was worse. Why did he have to do that? She had known that she was going to die instead of him and she had accepted that. She'd tried so hard to change things. It wasn't fair. She kissed Marco's cheek tenderly as she wiped away the traces of blood around his mouth. "No. He isn't dead. This isn't real. This isn't happening." She looked at the destruction all around her. This was what he fought for? It just seemed so pointless. She wanted to feel guilty, but she couldn't allow herself to feel anything but numb. If she did, it would kill her. Instead, she just lay on top of him, burying her face into his shoulder, crying and inhaling his scent. Trying to memorize everything about him that she could. "Marco," she managed to choke out between sobs. She just kept repeating his name over and over as if it was the litany that was going to kill the horrible thing inside of her that was ripping its way through her body. Normally she would use physical pain to kill the emotional beast, but this time it was so bad that she could physically feel the pain in every nerve of her body. She was crying so hard that she couldn't breathe and found herself choking and suffocating on every tear. But she didn't care.
Dylan wanted to pull Ellie away-both for her own sake, and because she was doing precisely what he wanted to do himself. He stroked his boyfriend's hair, unable to believe that Marco was really gone. The brightest life in his life and he'd lost him. Dylan couldn't stand the way Marco's usually animated eyes now only stared lifelessly back at him. He wanted to close them, but couldn't bear to. "Ellie…we need to get out of here," he murmured at last, not wanting to at all. He wanted to stay right there with his lover. Lie down beside him and die.
But he didn't want Marco's sacrifice to be for nothing. He gently rubbed Ellie's shoulder. "Ellie, please. We need to go," he repeated, his heart breaking at the idea of leaving Marco behind.
Ellie barely even noticed that Dylan was speaking to her. To be honest, she'd forgotten that he was even there. His voice somehow managed to reach her, though, and she shook her head. "No," she said, still sobbing uncontrollably. "He is fine. He's going to be fine, Dylan. Marco is going to be fine. He promised me that he would be and he will." She realized that she wasn't making any sense, that she should get up and go with Dylan, but she couldn't move. She knew that it wasn't safe there. Part of the gym had just been blown up, and that was a safety hazard. Not to mention that there were still a few hungry fiends lurking. She knew that Marco would want her to go on, to carry on his "mission" or whatever, but she couldn't do it without him. She didn't even want to try. She was not even sure if she could save herself, let along the rest of the world. This had been his mission, and now he was dead. She might as well let his cause die with him.
How could she not know? Dylan wondered silently as he tried to gently pull her away from Marco's body. "Ellie, please, he's…" He couldn't bring himself to say the word 'dead'. He knew that's what Marco was, but he just couldn't say it. "He wouldn't want us to stay here. He'd want us to be safe. Come on." Dylan didn't want to leave him either. It didn't seem right. "We'll take him with us," he told her, without really thinking about it. Somehow he knew it was the right thing.
Ellie looked up at Dylan and knew that he was upset, too, that she should make things easier on him. But at the moment she just wanted to lay down and never get up. I can't do this, Marco, she thought to him, hoping that he would somehow hear her, like he always had when she was upset in the past. It was funny, but for a moment, she found herself thinking that she should go home and tell Marco how horrible her day had gone. Marco was the one that she usually ran to when things became too much to handle. Who was going to listen to her now?
That's when it really hit her. There was no one. She couldn't let there be. She was completely alone now. She quietly stood up and looked at Dylan through sad tearful eyes. "Okay. You can do that. I am going home."
"Ellie, you shouldn't be alone," he looked up at her, concerned. "We should all stay together." He glanced over to where Spinner and Paige were and saw Paige's legs kicking at Spinner. He was relieved to know that she was going to be okay and returned his attention to Ellie and Marco. He needed to get his boyfriend ready to move. He was very careful as he began to remove the wooden spear, even though he knew Marco couldn't feel it. He was afraid to ask, but he needed to. He looked up at Ellie. "D you know where Sean is?"
Ellie stared at him, not really hearing. "He's probably dead…like everyone else," she replied in a dead monotone voice, staring past his shoulder at nothing in particular. "I have to go home now. I feel sick." She turned away from him and walked away.
Spinner heard Dylan calling out to Ellie and looked over at them, his eyes narrowing as he saw Ellie walking away. He looked back at Dylan and Marco, who were hugging…or something. Couldn't they wait until they got home? He shook his head and looked back at Paige. "You think Craig's still having that after party?"
"Ellie!" he called after her, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Marco behind. He took off his jacket and draped it over Marco, before scooping him up, cradling him in his arms. They say that people look peaceful after they die, but Dylan didn't think Marco looked peaceful at all. He buried his face in Marco's neck, forgetting about Ellie as he held his boyfriend for the last time.
Jimmy heard someone yelling out for Ellie Nash and looked up as she walked past him, Craig, and Hazel without a word. He left Hazel with Craig and went after her. She shouldn't be alone around there.
"Ellie," he called out, running after her. He passed her and turned around to block her way. "Hey, Ellie," he greeted carefully as he saw that she'd been crying. Apparently a lot. "Where are you going? You shouldn't be out here alone," he added, looking around to make sure they weren't in any immediate danger.
"I am going home, and alone is exactly what I should be." She wanted to tell him to leave her alone, but the concern in his voice held her back. "I am used to being alone, so why should now be any different?" she stated flatly as she walked around him and continued toward the door.
Jimmy frowned, looking back at Hazel and Craig, unsure what he should do. He didn't want to leave Hazel, but he shouldn't let Ellie go off alone, either. Hazel had Craig to take care of her, though, so he made a split second decision and turned to chase after Ellie again. "Ellie, everything's changed. You shouldn't be alone. You don't have to be," he tentatively took her arm. He'd always liked her, but they'd never been close. She looked like she needed a hug, though, so he gently pulled her forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We're going to get through this, okay?"
"No. I can't get through this…and I don't even want to," she sighed weakly, suddenly very tired. "Can I please just go home now?" she asked, starting to cry again.
Jimmy's frown deepened. He still had no clue what to do. She wanted to go, and he knew that Ellie Nash was the type who could take care of herself. But still, he didn't think that she should be alone. Not on a night like tonight, and not in her obviously traumatized state. He looked back at the school, trying to decide. Craig was with Hazel, and there were still others in there. Ellie was alone.
"Okay, look. Let me walk you home, then. We'll make sure it's clear and everything's okay," he compromised, figuring he could come back for the others once he was sure that Ellie would be okay.
Ellie didn't really want to be near anyone, but she could tell that Jimmy wasn't going to let it drop unless she agreed, so she nodded silently.
"Good," Jimmy replied, looking back at the gym. He figured he should probably go in and tell Craig where he was going, but he figured that Ellie would probably take off without him. Besides, if they were to leave the gym, they'd probably head to Craig's. Or the hospital. He shuddered as he thought about how busy the doctors would be that night. He fell into step beside Ellie, wanting to say reassuring things, but he found he had nothing positive to say. The silence was driving him crazy, though, and he needed to talk. "Was it Sean?" he asked, though he knew he shouldn't. She was obviously upset, and he suspected that the only thing that would make her this upset were if someone had died. Besides, it usually helps to talk about things rather than bottle them up.
"No," Ellie replied distantly. "I don't even know where Sean is. He and Jay were planning something to crash the dance tonight…they can be real jerks at times." She knew that what she was saying had nothing to do with what happened, but she needed to vent her emotions somehow. Being angry at Sean and Jay over something that wasn't their fault was a lot easier than thinking about Marco's death. Jimmy was Marco's friend, too, though. And he should know. "Jimmy," she gasped through more tears. "It was Marco. Marco's dead." Somehow actually voicing that fact makes it more real. More indisputable. "He was trying to close the hole and we were attacked. He was just trying to save everyone and that…thing killed him. How is that fair!"
"What?" Jimmy tried to comprehend what she was telling him. "No…Marco's not…he wouldn't…" He trailed off because he was about to say that Marco wasn't the type to go all hero on everyone, but he realized that it wasn't true. Marco was small, but he was anything but weak, and he'd do just about anything for his friends. Jimmy's eyes stung as he realized that what she was saying did ring true. "It isn't fair," he agreed softly, feeling horrible. It doesn't feel real, knowing that he'd lost at least one of his good friends. None of this seemed real.
Ellie nodded weakly and forced a bitter, painful smile. As they approached her house, she turned back toward him sadly. "Uh…thanks for walking me home," she said as she wiped the tears from her cheaks.
"Of course..." He still didn't feel right leaving her alone. Especially now that he knew about Marco. "Are you sure you don't want to come back with me? You shouldn't be alone. You don't have to be"
Ellie really just wanted to stay home alone and wallow in self pity, but she was touched by Jimmy's apparent concern. "I don't know. Jimmy. I am going to be sucky depresso girl, and I don't want to bring you down with me," she said, smiling slightly for the first time since…what happened. "I will call you if I need anything, though."
Somehow Jimmy didn't believe that she was planning to call him. She hadn't asked for his number, and he didn't think she just happened to have it memorized.
He frowned, pulling out his cell phone. "This has Craig's number, and Hazel's number programmed into it. If you're in trouble, try Craig's first. I think we're going to head over there to hole up until it's safe." He handed her the cell phone. He figured that now he'd also have a good excuse to come back and check on her later. "Or if you want, just come over to Craig's. Okay?"
"Okay. I will call if I run into any trouble," Ellie lied as she took the phone from him without even glancing at it. "If…if you happen to see Sean," she said, wincing nervously. "Tell him to call me, okay?"
Jimmy's frown deepened. It really just didn't seem right to leave Ellie alone, there. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait with you until he gets here?" Jimmy offered again. "I really don't think you should be alone," he added bluntly.
"Why not? You think that I am going to do something stupid?" she asked, suddenly defensive. "Like cut? You know just because everyone in school says that I do that, it doesn't make it true."
"Actually," he shot back, his temper flaring just a little, "it was more that there's a lot of…things out here, and I don't think it's safe for anyone to be alone." This was not the time to start an argument. "Look, Ellie. I know we're not really good friends, but I like you and I want to make sure that you're okay. We already lost a good friend tonight, and I don't want to lose another one."
"Okay, you're right," Ellie replied, looking down slightly. "I am sorry for being so defensive, Jimmy. Defense mechanism, I guess. I am just not used to people showing concern. Thanks for everything, but I really will be fine."
"It's all right. We're all just a little tense," he passed it off. It was all good. "Just please, you get in trouble, or you need anything, or even just want company, don't hesitate to call or come over to Craig's." He stepped back, but didn't leave just yet, wanting to make sure everything was okay when she went inside before he left.
"I will, Jimmy, but I highly doubt that I will need to. I think that I should just be alone right now. I need to think about thing." Okay, so brood was a better word, but she doubted that would make him any more eager to leave her alone. "Good night," she dismissed him, closing the door.
Once inside, she took off her shoes and lay face down on the couch, burying her face into the cushion to muffle the sobs that she finally let wrack her body.
A/N: Written by: Serenity (Ellie/other), Chaos (Marco, Dylan, Jimmy/other), Daq (Spinner), Azaria (Paige). Many other characters available in the RPG (click on our profile link and hit the homepage to get to the yahoogroup website.)
