Chapter 23: Healing Once More

"I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."

-- Roy Croft

Authors Note: You must listen to Broken by Lifehouse with this chapter! It makes it more magical (in my opinion it does xD ). DO IT!!! It's the last and final chapter by the way. It's magical...Anyway, care to review and tell me how you liked this story? Thanks xx

ENJOY!!


I wiped my eyes as I saw the shapes of Dustin and Cornelius begin to form. Even if they saw my tears, I would blame it solely on the rain. I took in a long, deep breath then continued my way to them. Cornelius looked at me and said quietly

"Lucretia, there you are. We thought you were dead for good."

The word dead hung in the tense air. I looked at him, then down to the ground and thought of something to say. Dustin coughed quietly then I spoke up

"No, I'm not dead…"

"Well, we better getting going." He responded and began to walk. He was right; we couldn't waste away here anymore. We needed to evade the bomb and head to New Orleans. I picked up my dead feet and began to move alongside Cornelius like a dead doll with its master. Dustin did the same as well. It was down to only three for good, the emptiness was wrong.

As we walked in silence, I thought of many things. What would we expect when we got there? Would we be expecting more soldiers and guns, or maybe even some new infected? New infected was far worse than any soldier and his gun. It was their territory and we were invading. I blinked a few times and thought about that. Us, invading? We grew more and more like animals every day. I laughed slightly but it was just enough to catch Dustin's and Cornelius's attentions. They both turned to look at me and I looked at them. Then I answered

"We truly are like animals, aren't we?"

"Yes, yes we are." Cornelius concluded in a mere second

"We're losing our humanity every second…" I said quietly and caused the air to be sucked away.

"Lucretia, we can fight this, don't give up. That's what's making us lose this fight, we give up too easily." Dustin said, suddenly angry. Cornelius and I both looked at our friend for an answer as to why he turned this way. He looked at us, bewildered and added

"Look at Alex, he was sane before we left him. He must have given up, right?"

"You don't know that or sure." I answered but cut off

"And Adam? He didn't speak before, did he? He was trying to get through to us. He wanted us to know why he was so angry. He wanted us to see through his eyes about the situation!"

"He does have a point, Ell." Cornelius agreed leaving me alone with the facts. Dustin might have been right, I mean, it did add up. It was our closest explanation to all of this and it made me feel a little better. Seeing through his eyes. Was that all he wanted for us to know? To know that he loved Juliet and it angered him when they killed her? Then we suddenly stopped upon hearing a voice behind us. It chilled me to the bone when I recognized it

"Lucretia, he's right. All he wanted was for you to know that he wanted both you and Juliet safe. He lost one but didn't want to lose the either. He just wanted to protect you."

I turned around upon hearing my name. I came face to face with Alex as he stood up. It couldn't have been possible, he was no longer himself. I stared at him, confused and full of questions. I was about to say something until his lips met mine. The cold iron taste was everywhere on him but I didn't care, I was thankful that it was him. Cold tears pricked my eyes but he simply wiped them away by putting both his icy hands on my cheeks. Everything about him was chilling but it warmed my dead heart to know that he was safe. I tasted every bit of his lips as we kissed and it felt marvelous. Then he broke it off leaving me wanting more. More tears brewed as he spoke

"I want you safe too. And the only way I know that you're safe, is if I'm there with you."

"A-Alex." I whispered "I thought you were…"

"Gone? No, simply out of my mind." He said with that glorious smile upon his lips. My lips trembled from holding back tears and sobs as he smiled at me. Tears began to drip from my eyes and he simply put my head to his chest to comfort me. Behind me, I could tell that both of the others were just as amazed and full of questions but left us alone. I breathed in his scent and my heart skipped beats. Quietly, into his chest, I whispered

"Alex…I love you…"

"I love you too…." He whispered into my hair.

"Don't ever leave me again, alright?" I said and looked up to him.

"I promise." He said and brushed away both tears and strands of my brown hair to look into my eyes. He kissed me once more and I then remembered something. As much as I didn't want to break away, I did. He looked at me and I asked

"Alex, what happened to you?"

"It's hard to explain sweetheart, but I'll try my best to. Do you remember when you found out that I turned Adam the first time?"

"Yes?" I answered, not quite following

"Well, like I said, I was literally out of my mind. It's like I have a split personality. Good, bad. Humane, insane. Two sides of a coin, you know?"

"I take it that was your bad side?"

"Exactly. I mean, I'm quite aware of what's going on when I'm like that, it's just I can't do anything about it until I'm strong enough to pull through it. You see, when you left me Lucretia, I gave up and let him have me both mind and body. But when I kept following you, you gave me the strength to fight him. You made me, me again."

"See, I knew it." Cornelius said and Dustin hushed him. For the first time in ages, I laughed. From the bottom of my heart, I actually laughed. My tears were no longer sad ones, but honest to God happy ones. God must have forgiven me and gave me my angel back. And even though I didn't have a heart anymore, Alex gave me the beat to it again. I looked into his eyes and we kissed once more. We wrapped our arms around one another and the rain drizzled lightly. The sun must have been coming back because it began to get lighter. Moments later, I once again broke it off and said

"May I ask you something?"

"Anything." He said happily

"Can I name your other…self? So I know when you're him?"

"Certainly, just depends on what you're naming it. I don't want to be called Kitty while I'm like that…I wouldn't take myself seriously…" He answered and I laughed happily.

"No, no, don't worry. I have a name picked out…"

"And that is?"

"Alec. You know, like Alex but with a C. It seems so…devilish." I answered and touched his cheek

"So I'm not devilish already?" He pouted

"Yes, you are but he's evil-devilish."

"You're just making it worse now…" I simply laughed and kissed him. It felt so nice to get my Alex back. I would have to love him and Alec both, but I wouldn't mind, as long as he was still in there. I rested my forehead against his and simply enjoyed the moment together before we walked all the way towards New Orleans. Just before we went, we shared one more kiss together and answered all of our questions for one another. As we began another long journey, but together till the end this time, we held hands and vowed to never leave the other. He would be the only person that I would ever love and risk my life for. He would be the only one that would have my heart forever.