Chapter Twelve
Delete: Part IV

Jo watched in awe as Fargo vanished from the infirmary bed. He didn't disappear quickly as Henry had when Grace electrocuted him. Instead, it was like he came apart one particle at a time before slowly dispersing into waves of nothingness. It was up to him now.

Grace stepped forward, assessing the empty space that Fargo left behind. "Well, I think we should assume that it worked." She turned towards the two women flanking Zane who was struggling to raise his head. "How's Zane? Can we move him because we don't have much time?"

Allison, now back attending to Zane, surrounded the area of his wound with more gauze and taped it down. She quickly injected something into his arm and then signaled for Jo to steer the other side of his bed as she unlocked the wheels. They couldn't risk moving him into a more maneuverable wheelchair when he was in this condition.

"I've done all I can for him at the moment. He should be okay for a short while."

"Should be?" Jo asked nervously, wheeling the bed towards the door as Grace cleared away any equipment in their way.

"It's the best we're going to get and we've got to hurry to the rotunda with the rest of the crew. We could lose you at any moment so let's get out of here."

The four of them then took off towards the lobby and their waiting colleagues. Zane was quiet the entire way. He seemed to be focusing all his energy on staying conscious for which Jo was thankful. She watched his head roll to the side almost of its own accord before he would jerk and right himself.

Reaching the rest of the group in the rotunda, Jo registered the remaining crew members' confusion and panic. She turned back towards the hallway they'd come from and saw that it had already been deconstructed and torn apart. The area above was crumbling as well and the only spot left that remained solid was the round room where the group was currently congregated. They could already see the cracks forming in the walls. It was only a matter of minutes before the room would get sucked in too with all of them in it. Jo regretted not being able to reassure them—she had no idea herself how all of this was going to turn out. Like everyone else, she was hoping for the best. She'd done all she could.

Finding the words that Jo couldn't, Grace was explaining that they were working to fix what was going on. There wasn't enough time to go into the details about the program but she at least wanted them to know that they were doing everything they could to solve the problem. She considered herself their captain to the last and Jo was really grateful for and impressed by that.

"Anytime Fargo," Jo muttered to herself. "C'mon, it's time to bring us home." She was standing next to Zane who lay in his bed, awake but seriously out of it. Along with assessing the world coming apart around them, she continued to keep an eye on him as well. She could see Allison doing the same on his other side.

Zane rested his head back against the bed, clearly in a lot of pain if his periodic groans were any indication. "If he even got out alive," he mumbled. Jo glared at him and put a finger to his lips again to stop his talking. She doubted he even noticed though so overwhelmed with pain and discomfort. The quick trip to the rotunda had done him no favors and he looked like he was going to throw up or pass out at any second.

"Jo, what about you?" Allison asked, concern written all over her face. Jo recalled the very different reception she received when she'd first encountered Allison in here and was glad to see that she'd won her trust. She considered Allison to be a good friend and it hurt to think that something so out of her control had irreparably damaged their relationship.

Pursing her lips in frustration, Jo didn't want to admit that she was wondering the same thing as Allison. "Henry and Beverly are working on it." She shook her head, reconsidering her words, and added, "Well, probably only Henry is but they'll get me out of here, don't worry." She really hoped that was true. Henry had her ultimate trust and faith but Beverly's wildcards always threw a hitch in even the best-laid plans. And this plan was far from top-tier.

She felt a weight gently against her arm and saw that Zane had moved his hand to get her attention. "Zane, don't try to talk. Just worry about staying awake for me, okay babe?" She leaned over him taking his hand in hers and stroking his thigh to hopefully calm him down.

He was struggling to say something to her but couldn't seem to get his mouth to do what he wanted it to do. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head as well but just when she'd start to panic, he'd focus on her face and start the whole routine over again.

"Jo, I … I need …" A loud cracking noise surprised the group and Jo looked up to see what had happened. The far wall was coming apart now and everyone was momentarily silenced by the horrifying disruption.

Jo turned her eyes back to Zane and saw that his eyes were closed and his head had fallen to the side against the bed. His face had relaxed along with the hand she held in hers. There was no movement whatsoever from his eyes.

"No!" Jo cried. "Don't you dare die on me." Allison moved to check his pulse while Jo cradled his head in her hands and willed a reaction from him. "Wake up, Zane! I'm not letting you give up on me like this!"

"I've still got a weak pulse but it's erratic. I don't know how much longer he has!" Allison yelled.

Jo raised her arm and smacked him good in the cheek. If he thought he could just die on her, he had another thing coming.

Zane's eyes shot open at the contact. "Ow! Lupo!" Surely he meant his tone to be harsher but it came out barely above a whisper. He lifted his head weakly and turned towards her.

Jo sighed in relief and blinked to stave off the flow of tears waiting to break free. "Don't you 'Lupo' me! I told you to stay awake!" She was so scared and, in her mind, cursing Henry and Carter and Fargo for not working faster.

"Trying ..." he said. "But … no hitting," he admonished, brow furrowed in irritation.

Jo gripped his hand again. "Stop dying on me then!"

He managed as much of a grin as his overtaxed body would allow. But she was content simply to hold his tired, pain-filled gaze for as long as he needed. Squeezing her hand, he raised it to his lips with a great amount of effort and kissed their joined fingers.

"Don't … don't let go, JoJo," he said looking straight into her eyes. "Don't you—"

And then he disappeared. He vanished right along with Allison and the rest of the Astraeus crew Jo discovered when she turned to note the empty space around her.

Her brain worked to comprehend what had just happened. It was like her mind couldn't catch up to what her senses told her had transpired. She was still leaning over as if Zane were only a few inches from her. The hand that had been holding his just a few seconds before hovered and curved as if trying to hang on to his essence. The only thing that remained was the empty bed covered in his blood.

No, not his blood. It was only virtual blood. The real Zane was now safe back in the real world. As she straightened herself and shook off her stupor, she remained truly amazed that they were actually gone. Then she took a moment to smile.

But the room was still coming apart around her and it was approaching faster and faster. The surface of everything was crumbling and breaking away, first the steps, then the walls and finally the floor in front of her. She turned around to see Fargo's office disintegrate into hundreds of pieces. She moved as far as she could from the collapsing foundation but once she reached the ledge, there was nowhere else to go. She climbed over and balanced herself along it until, finally, she was surrounded by chaos and destruction.

Jo's last thought was one of relief. She had done what she'd come here to do. She'd gotten the crew home. After that, there was nothing.

TBC...

AN: These last two chapters used to be one (which is probably apparent) but it was so long that I thought it needed splitting. So apologies for any pacing problems it's caused. I couldn't seem to find a good solution for that and a Zane POV wasn't something I could pull off. Getting his take on things stretched my limited creative abilities given that he's all in pain and generally messed up.

We're in the home stretch of course. Luckily, almost everything is written and just waiting for edits, save a small portion of the last chapter. So I will hopefully get everything up in good time. As always, thanks for reading!