A New Age, A New Team
Chapter 48: It's Never Easy

"Take me back!" Dawn shouted at Gabe as her dark brown eyes started to well in tears. She unclipped the face mask that covered her nose and mouth and threw it on the ground, "She's in there because of me. Take me back!" The members of X² watched in silence as Dawn pleaded to go back for Twista. No one would say anything, but everyone could feel the pain in her words. Dawn looked over at Sean, who was standing near the driver's seat watching her, "Please." she pleaded.

Sean's heart broke to see one of his members hurt as much as Dawn was hurting, and not mention he had developed a soft spot for the younger member. He opened his mouth for a minute to say something back, but slowly closed it. "I'm sorry Dawn, I can't let you go back."

Dawn gasped in disappointment and then she was slightly startled when she heard the clashing within the warehouse. She jumped to her feet, "Please let me go," she begged.

Sean closed his eyes and then looked at Gabe, "Go find her."

Gabe nodded his head slowly and melted into the shadows in the back of the car, while Dawn waited anxiously for him to return. Her heart was beating so hard that she could feel in throughout her small body. Tonya watched as Dawn stood in the middle of everything, alone to everyone as she waited. She quietly stood up and walked over to her to stand by her. She wrapped one of her arms around her in comfort as she waited with her.

Everyone in the car quietly exchanged looks as the situation became more real to all of them. People looked at the fallen members as they quietly struggled to gasp for breath, and tiny dark purple rings began to form on their body. They weren't immortal and the teammates that had become the only family most of them ever knew, we're dying in front of their very eyes.

Grace sat with Jazmine's head in her lap as she kept a cold cloth against her forehead, which was burning up with every minute. She quietly whispered to Jazmine in hopes of hearing a familiar voice would keep her alive, "You can't leave us Jaz. We need you." She had always fought with Jazmine by her side and they had grown very close over the years, "I know we all fight and bicker, but that's what family does and if you died…" Her voice trailed off as she heard Jazmine murmur in pain.

Hiro stopped walking in between Noah and Seth and looked over at Grace and sighed. She was right; they were a family no matter and if they lost one it would never the same. He slowly turned his head away from looking at her and continued to tend to other two fallen members. He carefully dabbed the dark purple rings on Seth's neck as he could feel the burning through the cold washcloth. He laid the washcloth on top of Seth's neck and monitored him for a minute.

Hecate ran a washcloth under the cold water of the sink and then rang it out before walking back over to the stranger's side. She stared at her reflection in his dark black sunglasses as she laid the washcloth on his forehead. She never was one for taking care of others, but she felt that since she brought him aboard that it was her responsibility. She sighed quietly as she looked at him and then turned around to see Linx still rubbing the side of her neck.

She quietly walked over to Linx and sat down by her side, "You alright?"

Linx kept her hand on the side of her neck, "I'm fine."

"You keep rubbing your neck."

"Stiff neck." She said calmly.

Hecate stared into Linx's two different colored hazel eyes for a minute and sighed. She's hiding something. "If you say so."

"I do," Linx sighed.

Hecate nodded her head and stood up to tend back to the stranger. As she softly moved the cold washcloth over his burning face she glanced back at Linx, who had gone back to rubbing her neck. In that moment, Hecate became worried about Linx for the first time ever. She was her best friend and the closest person to ever understanding her, and the idea of something hurting Linx actually scared her.

Hiro walked away from Seth and over to Noah and carefully laid a cold washcloth on his forehead. He was one of their leaders, and one of the strongest. He was gentle and kind, but he was always the picture of stability in the team, and now he had fallen. It was the one person Void felt the closest to, but at the same time felt so distant from. They had a mutual respect for one another, which was the strongest bond they could share.

He quietly crouched down by Noah side and spoke softly so that no one could hear his words. "My mother always told me that there probably was no meaning to life, but that I would find interesting things along the way, and I have… You can't leave now."

Sam kept her feet against the dashboard in bitter silence as everything played over in her head: Lyndsey's death, Noah's collapse, and for the first time X² running away. She glanced slightly over her shoulder at Noah as Hiro was whispering to him. Seeing Noah that helpless made Sam terrified on the inside because they were partners in almost everything. From the team to schoolwork, they were with each other, and now he wasn't.

Hecate turned back around and sat down next to Linx again in silence. She knew something was wrong, but Linx didn't want to worry anyone with her problems. So she quietly sat and would sit there until Linx was ready.

"Do you think it's possible to kill death?" Linx whispered as she slowly moved her hand from her neck, but her hair fell in front of where her hand was.

"What?"

"I was thinking about it," she sighed, "I've never been afraid to die because I'm practically like death… So do you think I'm able to be killed?"

"What? Why? Linx what are you talking about?" Hecate whispered in fear.

Linx looked down for a minute and then turned and looked at Hecate was a smile of content on her face, "Everything is going to be alright."

"What?" Hecate whispered as she tried not to call attention to them and then she looked down at Linx's hand to notice a tiny dark purple ring developing. "Linx…" Hecate gasped as she felt her stomach drop. She quietly looked up at her and softly brushed her black hair away from her neck to see a tiny cut that looked like it had been made from a needle that barely missed injecting her.

"Everything will be alright… Trust me." She nodded as she looked at Hecate. "I have to go now."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, but please do not worry." She whispered as she placed her burning hot hand against Hecate's and then quietly faded away.

Hecate sat there staring at where Linx was as if waiting for her to return, but she knew she wasn't coming back. Please don't leave me… She thought quietly. She never realized that Linx made her feel part of something until Linx was gone, because she now felt alone once again.

Sean looked over his shoulder at Sam as she was looking at Noah and a wave of pain washed over him. He saw her turn away and look out the passenger window and he couldn't help but feel for her. He turned his attention back to his team and saw they all in pain for the first time ever. He wanted so badly to say something that would make everything alright, but there was nothing to say. His brown eyes looked around and didn't see Linx anywhere, he looked at Hecate, who looked at him in pain and then looked away. Even though Sean didn't understand what happen, he didn't need to ask. There was a strange exchange of silent words between him and Hecate that made him understand.

Slowly Gabe reemerged from a shadow in the back of the car with his head hung low. Dawn stepped forward towards Gabe with the most hopeful look on her face. Everyone in the car looked at Gabe and instantly they all held their heads low because they knew what was to come. Gabe looked at Dawn and quietly held out a tiny brown bound book to her, "Ah'm so sorry darlin'."

Dawn felt her heart sink within her body and shatter as she stared at the book. She knew what it was; it was Saria's memory drawings. Her dark brown eyes began to sting with tears as they began to build against her eyes as she looked lost. She quietly touched the rough leather and when she did the tears spilt out onto her red cheeks in pain. She gasped for air in between crying as Gabe quietly walked passed her with his held hung low.

Tonya quietly stepped forward to Dawn and placed her hand on her shoulder, and in an instant, Dawn turned around and buried her head face into Tonya's stomach. Her tears stung her cheeks as she gasped from breath in between crying. Her world felt as though it had shattered because the one stable thing she relied on was Saria.

Sean quietly stepped into the driver's seat and started up the car to take everyone home. The soft hum of the motor buzzed throughout the car, but the only sound anyone could hear was Dawn's cries of pain. It echoed in their souls and made all of them feel as lost as Dawn felt in that moment.

Inside the warehouse, there was nothing but an eerie silence that told a story of the carnage that had been spilt against the cement floors. A soft cough came from a dark corner, followed by the gasping of breath echoed in the emptiness of the warehouse. Saria had prompted herself against a cold cement wall of the warehouse as she heard the soft hum of the X² disappear in the distant.

The flecks of gold and blue twinkled in what little light was left in the warehouse as her brown eyes became increasingly heavy the more she struggled to stay alive. Her breathes were becoming shorter and shorter the more she fought against her body, but she had stayed true to her promise; she had protected the key, but more importantly, she had protect the only friend she had ever had.

"Goodbye Dawn… My little dreamer…"