Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. -Unknown
I blink tiredly at the night sky as it shone through the dense foliage of the trees.
The creaking of branches and a peculiar cackling echoed dully through my mind as an odd warmth spread across my torso. The leaves overhead are illuminated by an warm glow as were the rest of my surroundings. You would think that the newfound light would make things easier to see, but for some reason, the world kept shifting in and out of focus.
Darkness was creeping at the edge of my vision and maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I just closed my eyes for a few seconds.
I blink a couple of times when a dark shape blocks out the stars. When did it get here?
The figure seems to pull something from his hip and point it at me. Four eyes gleam with rage as they look down on me with contempt. A loud guttural noise is coming from him. He's yelling at me? Is that it? What'd I do to piss him off?
Why do I keep pissing people off? Needed to work on my social skills.
Somewhere in the far corners of my mind, a voice whispered feverishly for me to move. To stop the four-eyed assailant from shooting me. To survive.
But why bother? The ground was soft and I was exhausted. Moving seemed like a strenuous endeavor. Whatever this guy was pissed about, it could wait.
This was all some crazy dream, anyways. No one in real life had four eyes.
A flash of azure in my peripheral vision catches my attention before the strain to keep my eyes open became too much.
Just for a few seconds...
There's a shattering crack, like a branch breaking, accompanied soon after by a dull thud.
The distinct smell of ozone fills my senses. It seemed familiar...
"Get up!"
My eyelids jerk open. Who was shouting at me now? Couldn't they just let me sleep? I've had a pretty rough day.
Suddenly, something red and hazy is blocking my view of the sky. I would have tried to rub my eyes to clear my vision, but that seemed like too much work.
"Oh no you don't. Stay alive, boy scout, okay? Concentrate on breathing!"
Stay alive? All I was going to do was sleep for a bit. Why would anyone assume I was dying? That didn't sound like something I would do.
Something pressed against my side and the strange warmth ebbed away to leave only discomfort and a strange pressure. I didn't like the feeling,
"Stop." Or at least that's what I attempted to say. What actually came out of my mouth was an incoherent grunt. What was wrong with my tongue? I must be tired.
I looked down at where the discomfort was originating from only to see a lot of red bleeding together. Shaking my head furiously to clear my vision, but to little avail. Oh wait. I think I lost my glasses. Where did those things go now?
Maybe I'll find them after a short nap.
"Hey, stay awake." The red haze demanded urgently in a familiar voice. Where had I heard it before? "Just concentrate, okay?"
Stay awake. Stay alive. Concentrate. Work harder. Take care of your siblings. Never come back. Whoever it was, she sounded like my father. I think I've followed enough orders for one life time. Or two in my case. Heh, that was a good joke. Where have I heard that before? Maybe that red haze knows. I'll ask it.
I crane my head, but this time I see- really see- what's going on and my mind snapped back into focus. The memories from the past few hours come rushing back in a wave.
My side looks like it's just recently caught fire and then was put through a shredder. Blood soaked through the charred remains of my shirt, and the skin that hadn't been cut to pieces by shrapnel was red and blistering. The sight made me turn away almost instantly as my stomach tugged and I felt the blood drain from my face.
Oh, man. That was my blood. That was a lot of my blood.
Jane was pressing against the wound with my already torn to shreds bomber jacket.
And that warm glowing light? The forest was on fire. ON FIRE.
"Oh," This time I manage to find my voice, "Shit."
"Yeah," Shepard barks sarcastically, "Shit."
Alright, calm down, Carter. You've taken basic first aid classes. You can deal with this.
Who am I kidding? That was like a five hour course! And shrapnel wounds definitely did not come up in those lectures!
I take a deep breath, (or as deep a breath as I can. My ribs ached at the slightest movement) and try to push the panic away. Asses the wound. Then go from there.
Those definitely looked like burns. Could have been worse. Second, maybe third degree burns. They wouldn't be an issue. It was the shrapnel wounds that worried me. They're bleeding pretty badly. We needed something to stop the bleeding and that jacket wasn't working.
I lay my head back on the ground, wracking my brain for a way to get out of this. Only to come up blank. I can't think of anything. No miracle plan. No hair brained scheme or omni-tool application. No nerdy skill could get me out of this.
Nothing. Nada. Not a single idea.
In my professional medical opinion; I am throughly fucked.
What a joke. All I did so far was possibly screw the galaxy out of it's savior. That's one for the record books. I can see the headlines now 'College Kid Fucks Over Universe then Dies From Blood Loss: Galactic Apocalypse Imminent.'
I wonder if Jane even realizes how stupid I am. Likely, though she was a bit busy at the moment trying to keep me from bleeding out all over the forest floor.
"Your mother and brother?" I cough out.
"I don't know," Jane seethed out between her teeth as she took a moment to wipe her forehead of sweat. Upon closer inspection, I notice the black and blue bruises already forming over her face contrasting with the thin sheen of sweat that covers her skin. Those biotic skills obviously don't come without a price. There's also a large, nasty cut across her cheek, the dark red blood leaking from the injury was the same color as her hair. She's probably dead on her feet, "I didn't see them and then there was that explosion..." Jane pressed at the wound a bit rougher than necessary, causing me to flinch and her to ease off a little.
"Batarians," She hissed the word like spitting venom and glared at the alien who was currently knocked out cold and laying a few feet away from us, "Setting the whole forest on fire. What were they thinking launching a rocket into a tree?"
"Obviously they didn't have you're superior leadership." Jane sends me a withering glare.
"I don't think I can move you," She finally mutters, more to herself, "You're bleeding a lot. Any step you take may only make it worse and I could never support your entire weight. No offense."
"None taken." For some reason, the thought of dying didn't induce nearly as much panic as I thought it would. Maybe it just becomes easier after accepting the inevitable. It is a bit vindicating. I wasn't supposed to be here anyways. I'm an anomaly. Some kind of cosmic screw up.
"I've double checked the bastard over there for medi-gel, but it looks like he wasn't carrying any." Jane continues the conversation. I think she was just looking for something to keep her mind off this whole screwed up situation. Hell, I appreciated the distraction too.
I close my eyes as the roar of the fire gets a little louder. Soon we'll be engulfed in it. This is stupid. There's no point in both of us dying. Maybe I could still give the galaxy it's hero. "Well, thats a shame. You should probably get going. That fire seems to be spreading."
"Not a chance, boy scout." Jane snarled almost immediately. "I didn't stop that batarian from shooting you just so you could stay here and burn!"
My eyes shoot open in surprise and I crane my neck to look at her, "You don't owe me anything. Hell, you barely know me. Don't be stubborn, short-fuse. Save yourself."
"Don't call me short, dumbass!" Shepard snapped, though it was lacking the usual bite, "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I want to."
"What? You want to die?" I ask tiredly. Why'd she have to be so difficult?
We lapse into silence and for a few seconds, the soft pressure against my side is the only sign that Jane is still there. I fidget, thinking that she just decided to ignore me. We didn't have time for this. Or rather, she didn't have time. She needed to get out of here. I'm a lost cause. I'm about to tell her as much when she interrupts my train of thought.
Her voice is so quite, I almost don't hear it.
"No."
No?
No. She doesn't want to die.
And I really don't want to either.
It's strange how a two letter word could inspire so much conviction, because suddenly my mind is racing at break neck speeds trying to think of some way out of this. A solution slowly dawns on me. I don't like. Scratch that. I loathe it. But it's the only plan I can think of. Sometimes, I have the worst ideas.
I take the pocket knife from my jacket, wincing as my ribs ached, and fumble to pull out the largest blade. I then point towards the source of the now raging forest fire, "Think you have enough left in you to heat this in those smoldering embers over there with your biotics?" I ask with urgency. There's no time to waste. If we were going to get out of this we had to work quickly. Before we were burned alive.
Jane looks at me in confusion, "What happened to just rolling over and dying?" she asked, nevertheless levitating the knife and then turning towards the fire and sending the blade to plunge into the hottest embers.
"Are you kidding?" I cough out, "Look at this face. I'm way to pretty to die." I almost feel her eyes roll.
"What do want me to do with it?" she asks calling the blade back to her. It seemed to glow with unholy light. But that might just be the loss of blood making me delirious.
"Alright," Now came the fun part. I tear a sizable piece of bark off the tree that stopped my tumble, "We have to cauterize the wound. Run the flat of the blade along the injury until it closes shut." I state, proud that I kept my voice from cracking that entire time.
"What?!" Shepard exclaims in shock that quickly morphs into anger, "How's more fire supposed to make this better?!"
"We don't really have many options, now do we? It's either this or you leave me here." I quip back, both scared at the idea of what we were about to do and of the prospect of passing out during the process and ruining the entire plan. She seems to debate it for a second, before steeling her features.
I lay back down and roll, carefully, to give Jane better access to my injury, "Don't worry about messing up. Tis but a scratch."
She nods grimly, the reference along with my attempt to lighten the mood, flying completely over her head. I put the bark between my teeth and try to calm my erratic heartbeat.
Alright, Matt, just calm down. Just picture it as hot water. Nice soothing warm water. Just warm water. Just warm-
HOT BURING FLAMES AGONY HELLFIRE SWELTERING SCARRING SCALDING HEAT BURNING TORTURE
Just as quick as the pain came, it was over. Leaving a bone chilling numbness to wash over my side.
I spit out the pieces of bark that broke apart in my mouth. My throat felt raw from a choked down scream and I blink rapidly in an attempt to clear my cloudy vision.
"Oh man," A dull throb resonated from my side, and I looked down to see that my torso was now a mess of scarred tissue and drying blood. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore. "That was not fun. Not fun at all." How does Rambo make stuff like this look easy? That was the worst experience ever.
"Can you stand?" Jane asked. I look up to see her imploring gaze filled with both guilt and relief.
"Don't really want to." I groan, but the smell of burning wood and the sickly scent of burnt flesh spurs me on. As I maneuver myself into a sitting position with a grunt and my side screaming in protest, the fire jumps to a tree in front of us, "But it looks like it's time to go."
"That's gonna leave a mark," Jane states darkly, her eyes flickering between mine and the newly acquired burn.
"Eh, whatever. I never looked good shirtless anyways." I give my best attempt at a grin and Jane seems to twitch her lips up just slightly to smile back.
I stand to my feet with a lot of help from Jane. Surprisingly, there wasn't nearly as much pain as I expected there to be, though that could be because of nerve damage. On the other hand, my ribs gave sent a pulse of pain resonating through my side. I really hope they weren't broken, that was the last thing I needed.
My limbs feel like jello. They rebelled at every move I tried to make and wouldn't obey me properly. The fact that the world kept spinning madly around me, didn't help matters.
I glance down briefly at my ruined leather jacket. Grandad would kill me if he saw the state it was in. Soaked in blood and torn to shreds. There was no hope for recovering it now. It just wasn't possible. I wanted to pick it up and hold onto it, but I don't think I'd be able to bend down that far without falling on my face.
It felt like I was betraying the old man by leaving what once was a perfectly good article of clothing here to burn. It didn't seem right. Like I was letting go of something more than just a jacket.
I shake my head to dispel the thoughts and keep focused. It couldn't be helped now. It was already ruined.
"What about him?" I ask, clutching my hand to my side like a bandage, and leaning heavily on the tree. I give a slight nod towards the unconscious batarian. Yeah, he tried to kill me, but burning alive wasn't exactly a pleasant death. No one deserved that. "We can't just leave him here."
Jane looks at the batarian then back at me, cold steel coming into her features, "Your right." Before I realize what's happening, she's taken the fallen pistol that the batarian had been planning to kill me with and shot him point blank.
"What the hell, Jane!?" I yell after getting over my shock. She killed him in cold blood! Just shot him like it was nothing!
"He wouldn't have hesitated to do the same to us," she states coldly. No remorse. Her features seem to soften somewhat, "He tried to do the same to you."
Yeah, him and just about everyone I've met today.
"Renegade, then?" I mutter too low for her to hear.
No. That wasn't right. I couldn't just categorize the world in black and white. This wasn't a video game anymore.
And who was I to argue morals? I was a murderer too. I force the entire situation back into the dark corners of my mind and file it away under Shit I'll deal with later. It was a rapidly growing section.
Just focus on surviving the next few minutes. Everything else can wait.
I push myself away from the tree and nearly collapse back on my face. Jane slips herself under my right arm to support some of my weight before I fall. Her challenging look dares me to protest. Not that I was going to.
"Let's get going, boy scout."
"Heh. We'll limp out of here together, shorty."
The fire was picking up it's pace now, burning through the trees around us at an astounding rate. We pass one tree just as it goes up in shower of burning pine needles and smoldering branches. On more than one occasion, we had to adjust our course, when a burning branch fell into our path. The smell of burning sap and wood filled the air, making it near impossible to breath properly.
What I wouldn't give for a glass of water right now.
We aren't going very fast, (painfully slow), thanks to Jane's ankle and my uncooperative legs, but we're staying ahead of the fire, at least for now.
"How far are we from the edge of the forest?" I wheeze out, covering my mouth with my free hand so as not to inhale too much smoke.
"I used to explore this forest as a kid," she coughs mirroring my actions, "We should be close, just hold on."
Just then I hear the cracking of a tree limb overhead and use my weight to throw us both to the left. We roll a short distance away from the main part of the fire before tumbling into a nearby ditch.
I thankfully land on my uninjured side, but the impact still makes me hiss in pain. Especially when Jane lands RIGHT ON THE FREAKING BURN.
"Ah! Get off me, midget!"
Jane glares from her position beside me. "Then next time warn me before throwing your weight around like a mentally challenged bull!"
Ouch. That one stung almost as much as my messed up side.
Just then the guttural sound of batarians conversing reaches our ears.
Oh you have got to be freaking kidding me!
I reach for my rifle, only to realize it's not there anymore. It was lost somewhere in that explosion.
Jane growls and instantly flares her biotics. A weak azure glow surrounded her, but quickly faded. She suddenly looked much paler.
Neither Jane nor I were in any condition to go another round with those bastards, even if we had thinned their numbers.
"Don't move!" Jane whispers harshly seemingly realizing this as well.
I respond by clamping my hand over her mouth.
The two voices slowly made their way over to our ditch. There was an odd dragging noise that accompanied their movements, but I didn't dare peek over the ditch to see what it might have been.
The voices settled right near our hiding place.
Of course. Perfect. Just fantastic. Of all the places to stop.
Today is really not my day.
Those next few seconds were the most intense moments of my life. If they found us we were as good as dead. I tried to keep as quite as humanly possible but my heart thumped traitorously in my ears. How could they not hear the sound? It was like a canon with each beat.
The two guttural voices hovered around the ditch and I was sure they were almost right on top of us. They were arguing, I think. It was hard to tell, when you couldn't understand a word they were saying. Really, they could have been discussing the weather for all I knew. Though, that did seem unlikely.
A plethora of other voices join with the two. An entire group seemed to stomp their way through the trees around us.
Holy shit! There's more?! How many are in this forest!?
The crunch of their feet upon the foliage caused me to stop breathing altogether.
They were right there! Jane and I could clearly see the backs of two of them from our hiding place. I didn't need my glasses to discern each and every protrusion in their armor as the group seemingly argued about something. They were too close. All the batarians had to do was turn around and look down into the ditch and that would be it.
For the love of all that is holy, don't turn around! Please don't notice us. These are not the droids you are looking for. Please. Keep. Moving!
The the batarians seemed to reach an agreement. Apparently deciding it was better to get away from the fire than continue talking about the weather. Or whatever it was they were arguing about. The two that we could see slung their rifles across their backs and turned to the side.
They reached down for something on the ground and I caught sight of two humans with slave collars around their necks as they were being dragged away.
One was a young boy who couldn't be more than ten and the other was a woman who's crimson hair mixed with blood that was leaking from a nasty gash on her forehead. The woman was obviously unconscious, but the boy was whimpering slightly.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who they were.
Jane tensed next to me and I quickly wrap my other arm around her waist while the other remained firmly around her mouth. She kicked out and bit my hand, clawing at the dirt to try and get out of the ditch. It took every ounce of my own will power not let her go.
"Jane, listen!" I whisper harshly as a particularly brutal elbow catches my bad side and I nearly let go as a flash of white hot pain causes my vision to darken momentarily. I had to release my hold on her mouth and wrap both arms around her waist, "We're outnumbered, we're tired, and we're outgunned. If it were just the two, we might- MIGHT- have had a chance. But you heard as well as I did. There had to be at least seven of them. We'd get slaughtered."
"Coward!" Jane hissed in righteous fury, "I'll tear them apart. I don't care how many there are, they'll all pay!"
She had every right to be angry. But I couldn't let her do this.
Man, I hate being the bad guy.
"Dammit, Jane! Getting yourself killed won't solve anything!" I snap out again as she breaks free of my hold and tries to claw her way out of the ditch, "We can't save them!"
My words are driven home when Jane's bad ankle gives under her weight just after hoisting herself up. She lands on the ground, hard. Jane struggles back onto her feet and tries to run forward again, only for her leg to give out a second time.
Ignoring the aching pain in my side, I claw my own way up and kneel down beside her to make sure she's alright. Her hand curls into a fist and she slams it into the ground. This repeats a number of times and it takes me a second to recognize the soft noise over the roar of the fire as the sounds of crying.
Ah crap. Emotions. I was never good with those.
"Dammit!" Jane cursed violently, lifting her face from the dirt. Tears smeared with the blood and grime on her face as a snarl painted itself across her features, "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" Each word is punctuated with her fist slamming against the ground. She doesn't stop until her knuckles are raw and bleeding.
I don't know what to do. What can I do? Without thinking, I wrap what I hope is a soothing arm around her shoulders. I don't bother telling her it was going to be alright, because really it wasn't.
I wish my emotional capacity extended beyond that of a brick wall.
After a few more moments, I can't stand to hear her crying any longer. It was just too gut wrenching. She was just a teenager! Sixteen at the most. No teenager should have to deal with all this!
I pull her up from the ground and wrap her in an hug. She instinctively wrapped her arms tightly and forcefully around my neck and continued cursing into my shoulder.
What a day.
"It's gonna get better, I promise. Tomorrow will be better."
The soft sobbing and cursing began to slowly quite down. I felt her head turn away from my shoulder to look around us. The fire had quickly spread to the surrounding trees. We'd have to leave soon, and I bet she was thinking the same thing.
"Let's go," her voice was muffled by my shirt and it sounded tired and weary. I simply nod in agreement, inwardly relieved to be through with the emotional roller coaster.
She pulled away from my arms, and I let them drop back to my side. She hauled herself up, not saying another word. Her features blank and never betraying the turmoil she must be feeling even as the tear treks cut through the dirt and blood on her face.
In that moment, it wasn't hard to believe that one day she would grow up to save the galaxy.
I struggled to my feet to stand beside her and we were soon leaning together for support.
Another tree beside us went up in a shower of embers.
An unspoken urgency now fueled our movements. We needed to put this forest behind us.
The smoke was starting to get suffocating and I started sweating from the heat. We've been moving for what felt like hours. Though I couldn't really tell. It was hard to focus on anything for too long. My lungs kept struggling ineffectively for oxygen and it was getting harder and harder to suck in air. I swear, if I suffer a asthma attack here I'm gonna...
Jane kept faltering and gasping every so often beside me, so she must have been having similar problems.
With every impact of my feet, my vision would swim in and out of focus. For some reason, my body felt a lot heavier than it should have. It could be exhaustion or it could be blood loss. Maybe a bit of both. Hard to tell.
C'mon, ya idgit. You've already made it this far. Don't quit now.
The fire now completely surrounded us on either side. The heat and smoke were almost unbearable, but we kept moving.
"Almost there, boy scout." Jane coughs out as we struggle forward. "Just a little farther."
"Just a little farther." I rasp back as my eyes water from the smoke.
A violent cough erupted from my throat and I had to turn my head to the side as a metallic taste washed over my tongue. My hand reaches up to cover the violent hacking. It comes away bloody. I quickly wipe it away on my charred shirt before Jane could see. We had enough problems as it was.
Shit. I really hope I just accidentally bit the inside of my mouth and it wasn't internal bleeding. Was there such a thing as healthy cough-blood? Probably not.
We rushed, no longer caring about the strain we put on ourselves. The fire licked at our backs, but gradually the amount of trees around us slowly began to lessen until, finally, the forest ended and the stars and moons shone and illuminated the rolling hills of grass around us. A cold breeze hit my face instantly cooling me. Jane shivered under my arm and I instinctively bring her in closer. It was freezing outside of the fires. We continue until we are a safe distance from the forest before slowing to a stop.
"Well, that was tedious." I pant out, collapsing on my back in the short, green grass. Wincing as my wound throbbed in protest at the sudden move. The world blurred and darkened before coming back into clarity. Jane crashes down beside me, running a blood stained hand through sweaty hair.
"'Tedious'?" She mutters under her breath, "We just went through hell and he calls it 'tedious'."
I use my elbows to prop myself up, staring at the fires as they quickly consume the forest in front of us before looking back over at Jane. I still can't believe any of this. It's like a bad dream and any minute I'll wake up in my bed ready to go to classes.
But I'm alive. I know I am. I'm drenched in sweat, covered in soot, caked in dried blood, and still reeling in pain and exhaustion, but I'm alive.
I'm alive.
The thought places a grin on my face and a small chuckle escapes me. Before I realize it, I'm laughing like a mad man. After a few seconds, I hear Shepard's own weary chuckle join mine.
I can't explain it. The euphoric feeling of just breathing in clean air. It's unbelievable. I still have no idea of how we'll be rescued, but at least for now, we're safe.
The cool grass under us is as soft as a cushion, kind of like my bed. My asthmatic lungs take in the frigid air, though they wheeze exhaustedly after that fit of laughter.
Now could we rest? I could just pass out for a few seconds, right?
"Okay." Jane breathes out, "Let's keep moving."
Guess not.
I glance back at her in surprise and see the look of exhaustion on her face. Doesn't she ever rest? She'd be lucky to get a couple of yards forward before collapsing. I don't think I would even make it one step.
But there was determination in her eyes. The same 'cold as ice' look she got right before she burned my wound closed and shot that batarian.
There wasn't a chance in hell I was getting rest anytime soon. I take one more moment to admire the rapidly lightening sky. It was now a pleasant shade of azure and the stars were just starting to dim. Had the night really passed that fast? Didn't even get to properly enjoy it. Then again, it was about time the sun rose.
I nod and groan, pushing myself unsteadily to my feet. Ignoring my screaming muscles and aching side, my hand reaches down and she takes it. We, once more, stumble together until we're supporting each other's weight. And so begins our long, and treacherous trek up the hill at an agonizingly slow pace.
Today has certainly been... disastrous? Yes, that was a good word for it.
"Just a little farther." I repeat Jane's mantra from earlier midway through our long stumbling climb.
She looks at me from the corner of her eye and nods, "Just a little farther."
As soon as we make it past the crest of the hill, Jane and I are greeted by a sight that causes my knees to fall weak and would have brought tears of joy to my eyes if I wasn't so dehydrated.
The sun is just rising and the early morning dawn light silhouettes a shuttle. An honest to god Alliance shuttle, looking every bit like it had just been plucked from the game and assembled in real life. It took me a moment to recognize the people milling around the shuttle as soldiers though that was because of me now needing a new pair of glasses.
"Would you look at that," I choke out with a grin, "That's got to be the best sunrise I've ever seen, hands down."
Jane nods mutely in agreement, though it's a bit hesitant. Was she thinking about her family and friends? If I ask, the answer would probably be 'no'.
"We'll find them. I don't know how, but we'll find them." The promise breaks free from my treasonous mouth. Idiot. I should know better than to make promises I can't keep.
Still.
As naive as it is, maybe it's a promise I'll be able to keep. Somehow.
Her eyes snap to meet mine with an unreadable look, but I can tell that there's a hint of gratitude hidden somewhere in her stare. And maybe just a dull flicker of hope.
Jane turns back towards the shuttle and nods with a bit more confidence. Her constant scowl seems to lessen somewhat and I rejoice at the small victory.
"Quit trying to be sentimental, boy scout." She says, readjusting her grip on me, "You hug like a block of wood, by the way."
"I'll have you know that I am the best hugger in my entire family." I respond with indignation as we continue our trek.
We practically trip our way down the rest of the hill.
I never make it. The world was too busy falling away.
A series of painful coughs rack through my chest, and the coppery taste of blood trickles through my lips. I think I see Jane glancing at me in worry, but we were already going as fast as we could. And my vision was getting patchy.
Around halfway down, my legs tangle together and I lose my balance. I had enough sense to let go of Jane so she doesn't end up falling with me.
A muffled shout of surprise pierced through my rapidly fading vision, but I couldn't really pay attention to it even if I wanted to. Instead, I gratefully accepted the embrace of oblivion.
Maybe when I awaken, this will have all been a messed up dream.
AN: Wasn't sure how I felt about this chapter. What do you guys think?