The earth was silent.
The world was peaceful, like an afternoon stroll through the park. Except that there was no noise. No birds chirping or dogs barking. No child's giggle could be heard, and the rustle of trees was eerily absent.
It was dead silent. Better yet, it was dead.
Even though it shouldn't have been. There were toppling skyscrapers, cracked streets, crushed cars, and broken families. Those that weren't dead were gently easing their bodies off the ground, stumbling through the rubble to find their loved ones. No one was attempting to find the source of the destruction.
The smoke filling the air alerted me to the presence of fire. One would expect to hear the distant sounds of a fire engine or the shouts of helpless people. There should have been noise, but all was silent.
The world was crumbling, and I was standing in the middle of it. Arms at my sides, calm and relaxed – sanity in the middle of chaos. I felt at peace, but there was a storm raging inside me, threatening to burst through my skin, another round of destruction.
Is this what war was like?
Is it silent coping?
Is it demolished hope and leveled cities?
Slowly, the low hum of cracked buildings and ruined dreams returned to my ears. A high-pitched whine rang through my skull joining a deafening scream. It was gut-wrenching to hear. The sound caused me to flinch, but the sound didn't stop.
I covered my ears trying to block it out, but the noise continued.
It was the sound of the universe splitting.
It was a symphony of tattered souls.
It was the music of devils.
It was the siren song of death.
It was me.
I tried to stop the sound but it continued. The Darkness fueling the sound my throat was making. I had no control of what my body was doing, I was merely a passenger, and my body was the vehicle. The Darkness was the driver.
I fought for control. I screamed at the Darkness, hoping that my threats would mean something. It continued to cause destruction around me.
The people that had pulled themselves of the ground were now being tortured by the monster I had become. I begged the Darkness to spare them, to let them live, to kill me instead, but it continued as if it didn't hear me. I reached for control only for it to be yanked out of my grasp.
I continued my pleas, hoping that I could change what was happening.
Suddenly everything was black. I felt strong arms around me, holding me up as I collapsed. I couldn't stop the tears and sobs that escaped me.
"It's alright, Roza." The man soothed, gently smoothing my hair away from my face. I looked up at him, trying to stop the tear long enough to ask how to stop it. "You have to control the Darkness. You can't let it control you."
I don't know how he knew what I was going to ask, but I knew that he understood the unspoken question. I knew what I had to do, but I didn't know how. The Darkness was already so strong. I don't know what fueled it and I didn't know how to destroy it.
"Think of me, Roza." He said. "Think of all that we could be, all we could have."
The problem was, I didn't know how this handsome man was. He looked familiar, and he showed me the vision where we were happy with a child, but I didn't know him in this moment. The vision me had called him 'Comrade,' but that probably wasn't his real name.
I focused on his face. His god-like face was looking deeply into my soul, begging me to fight. I didn't want to disappoint him. Even though I didn't know this man, I pictured a life with him. A beautiful baby boy in our arms, and another kicking in my stomach. I saw the adoration he held for me, the love he held for our children.
He had happiness in his eyes that wasn't in the eyes of the man before me. The man in front of me held concern, concern for me and our future.
A picture flashed behind my eyes. I was straddling the man before me in a bed, losing ourselves in kisses.
"Roza." He moaned.
Another picture of the man entering a room with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, Beautiful." He said. I released a sigh, this man knew me, but I had no recollection of him.
"I'm supposed to know you." I told him. I reached out to touch his face. There was stubble there that hadn't been present in any of the vision versions of him. I kind of liked it. "I can't remember your name, but I remember you."
"What do you remember about me, Roza?" He asked turning his head to give my palm a kiss.
"You're a great kisser, that I remember." He chuckled but didn't say anything, so I continued. "I remember you taking care of me, protecting me." A few moments flashed again, I could see the look in his eyes each time. "You loved me."
"Not 'loved,' Roza." He said gently, shaking his head. "I love you. Always have, always will."
"Did I love you?" I asked trying to avoid his gaze, but he hooked a finger under my chin, forcing me to look at him.
"You tell me. Remember your feelings." I remembered the feeling of his arms around me, the feeling of his arms around me now. I relished in the feeling, closing my eyes, begging my mind to remember this man.
The phantom feeling of a bed was under me, my eyes closed I sighed.
"Dimitri." I breathed out, smelling the scent of pine. My eyes flew open, both in the memory and in my mind. "Dimitri."
The man's eyes brightened.
"Dimitri." I whispered. My vision was flooded with memories of him and me. Tears welled in my eyes. I don't know how, but I had forgotten about the love of my life. "Dimitri, I love you."
"I love you, too, Roza." Dimitri breathed pulling me into his chest in relief. "Are you ready to fight?"
"I don't know how to fight this, Dimitri." I said, the tears falling.
"Focus on me. Focus on the love we have. Don't let yourself fall into anger and hatred. Think about your happiness, my happiness, our happiness, our love." He said, gently wiping the tears from my face. He pulled me closer to him, tucking my head to his chest. "Listen to my heartbeat. It beats for you, Roza. Fight this."
I closed my eyes, listening to the steady thumping of Dimitri's heart. I felt a calm spread through my body and my mind. I clutched Dimitri's shirt, unable to let him go. I needed him to help me fight this.
"That's it, Roza. You're fighting. The Darkness is retreating." Dimitri's low voice made his chest rumble in a soothing manner.
"Comrade, did I hurt someone?" I asked scared to hear the answer. His hesitation told me all I needed to know. "Who was it?"
"Victor." I curled up tighter into his arms, they tightened around me in response. I know that it was the Darkness that overtook me, but I didn't want to kill him. I wanted him to stop his crazy crusade, but I didn't want to kill him to do that. "As a Wielder of Death, you will have to deal with the damage you've caused. There's nothing I can say that will make it better. It just becomes a part of you. I'm sorry that you've had to go through this, but now you know what will happen if you let the Darkness get out of hand."
"How did you learn?" I asked quietly.
"I killed my father." He stated plainly. The hatred for his father could be heard in his voice, but I know that even if Dimitri hated his father, he didn't intend to kill him.
"I'm sorry." I said, not really know what else to say.
"It's alright. I can't take it back now, but I can prevent myself from doing something like that again. You've always known me with my self-control, but there was a time where I wasn't so disciplined." He explained still stroking my hair. "I just don't want to see you torturing yourself over something you didn't have control of."
"I get what you're saying, Comrade." I said nodding into his chest. "I just need some time to wrap my head around all of it."
"Are you ready to go back?" He asked after a few moments of silence.
"I think so." I said, standing to my feet, pulling him up with me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, squeezing him tight. "Thank you for pulling me back to myself."
"Anything for you, my Roza." He placed a kiss on my forehead before closing his eyes. I felt myself being drawn back into the present moment.
Looking around I was met with the wide eyes of all those in attendance. Robert was in the corner, lost to this world, still reeling from the sudden death of his brother. I didn't know how to help him. Tasha was slowly backing around from me.
"You monster. I should have known someone like you could never be considered human. All you Projects are dangerous. You deserve to be eradicated from this earth." I tried not to let her words get to me, but I felt myself getting worked up. I felt Dimitri's hand land softly on the small of my back, sending me reassuring and loving waves.
"I don't doubt that you believe that, Tasha, but that just means that you, too, should be taken with us. After all you are responsible for taking two lives, that we know of." I said, calm with Dimitri by my side.
"At least they deserved it." Tasha sneered.
"Are you saying that my parents deserved to die?" Christian asked, fists shaking by his sides.
"I'm saying that Victor didn't deserve it." Tasha said, backtracking slightly to avoid angering Christian. I could feel Tasha's fear of us. Now that Victor wasn't here to protect her, she started to protect herself.
"Just keep out of this, Tasha. We're freeing the Projects and now that Victor isn't here to run the program, we're going to get rid of it all together." I said, moving toward the door. I didn't really know what to do with her, but I was tired of being in the same room as her, hearing her voice, and pretending like it didn't annoy me as much as it did.
Dimitri and Mason followed closely after me, but Pavel and Christian stayed put. I didn't have a problem with it. I needed to get to work on destroying the records of anyone who'd ever come through this building and releasing anyone left that the other groups didn't get out.
"You handled that well, Roza." Dimitri said softly.
"Thanks, Comrade." I said, wandering the halls, finding no one, I started looking for the records room. "Do you have any idea where they would keep the records?"
"If it's anything like the compound in Pennsylvania, it'll be near the labs." Dimitri answered, taking the lead, snaking through the passages with purpose. "This is it."
I opened the door he'd gestured to, seeing the multiple filing cabinets. I took a deep breath, focusing on the flame that burned inside me. I released a spark, but it easily ignited, spreading through the flammable material, leaving ash in its wake. I watched as I caused the destruction, but this destruction was controlled.
When the room was completely disintegrated, I brought the fire back into me.
"What next?" I asked, turning back to Mason and Dimitri.
"I don't know. You're the one in charge here." Mason said shrugging. Dimitri nodded along in agreeance.
"Then I guess we should go back to the warehouse, but we need to get Pavel and Christian, first." I motioned for Dimitri to take the lead back to the room where we'd left them.
Dimitri started back the way we came, but he led us back much more efficiently. Pavel and Christian were just exiting the room when we came around the corner.
"Are you okay?" I asked Christian, he just nodded. I could feel Tasha was still alive, but she was definitely beyond angry.
"We left her chained to a chair, she's not going anywhere anytime soon." Pavel said, electing to tell us the state of Tasha's well-being. "But we should probably leave anyway. I don't really feel like hearing her voice anymore." I let out a laugh but extended my hands to start teleporting.
"Rosemarie!" I heard my mother exclaim when we'd safely materialized in the warehouse. "Thank God, you're okay!"
Before I could respond to her, I was swept up into a hug by my mother. It was awkward considering she was half a foot shorter than me, but she managed it nonetheless.
"It's good to see you again, Mom." I said hugging her back fiercely. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too, my sweet girl." She said, pulling back to look at me.
"I've missed you both." Abe said from behind me. He was eyeing my mother very intently. "However, I do believe you have some explaining to do."