Chapter Text
After a lifetime of defying fate, it finally caught up with them. Without warning, without any kind of foreshadowing, at the most unexpected moment and under the worst of circumstances. In the light of the setting sun, it took the life they had worked so hard to build over the years, holding it in its cold hands upon the scarlet ground. It looked into her beloved's eyes and laughed in his face, knowing there was no turning back; it had accomplished its mission, death had finally triumphed. And this time, no love would be able to defeat it. Not even the longest-lasting, nor the most innocent, which they had created from the first.
Jay felt his heart about to burst from his chest, a wave of nausea flooding him and fear forcing him to remain still before the body of his beloved, lifeless on the asphalt. Unlike the first time, which he relived fleetingly as if the world were playing a cruel trick on him —and it was—, she no longer moved at all. Her eyes, dull after losing the sparkle that had defined them, remained open, only heightening the expression of absolute terror on her face. Suddenly and without a chance to say goodbye, life had left Nya's body in a matter of seconds.
He held her body with difficulty, his hands shaking frantically, resting her shattered head in his lap. He let out a scream filled with pain and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against hers as the smell of iron filled his nose. His breaths grew more and more ragged as the tears flowed relentlessly.
“No…” he sobbed. “No, no, no, no, no! No! Nya… Nya… Please…” he took a deep breath. “Please… No… D-Don’t leave me… I need you… Mira needs you…”
Arms wrapped around his chest from behind, struggling to drag him away from the scene as he resisted.
“No! Let me go!” He kicked his legs hard and began elbowing Cole. “Don't do this to me,” he cried. “You can't do this to me! You can't… No… I can't leave her alone. She can't leave us alone.”
The air his body exhaled outweighed the one he inhaled. Total darkness clouded his vision, causing him to lose consciousness.
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Jay opened his eyes, looking around. He felt a sharp headache caused by the light and sound of the rescue helicopter's rotors. He tried to move, but his hands were tied to the armrests of the seat.
“Calm down, you're going to hurt yourself,” was all Lloyd said before looking out the window and sobbing.
The others remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Jay gazed at the abyss below his feet as the vehicle approached its destination. For a moment, he wished with all his being that it would crash into the cliff, so that perhaps he might carry a little less guilt in his final moments.
A moment ago he had been weeping inconsolably; now he couldn't bring a single tear to his cheek. Suddenly, his being had been filled with an unsettling sense of emptiness, accompanied by a numbness that was slowly spreading throughout his body. He replayed what had happened in his mind almost compulsively, achieving at most only a brief —but terrible— tightness in his chest. The coldness of her hand, pale and limp, was quite similar to how her body —if he could even consider it as such— felt the second time she left, something he had never fully come to terms with, but which he would now overcome by having a far worse tragedy to obsess over.
His being was stained with Nya's blood from head to toe, leaving its mark on every part of himself. He thought about how he would explain it to their six-year-old daughter, completely ignoring that there was a far more important matter he would eventually have to bring up with her. He had no idea how to do so without breaking down in front of her, without breaking her heart perhaps in a way far worse than his own. Not only would it be difficult, but it seemed practically impossible to him.
After a few minutes, the ship came to a stop, and Cole offered to let him out, accompanying him to the exit along with Lloyd and Zane. None of them exchanged words or glances; they had no idea what to say, and for the moment, perhaps that was best for everyone.
The door finally opened, revealing a little girl, blonde and with a face dotted with freckles. A huge smile lit up her face when she saw Jay. She ran towards him as fast as her short legs would carry her. Almost purely on impulse, he hugged her and lifted her into his arms, though he avoided making eye contact. He was sure his eyes looked like shit. He completely forgot how dirty his gi was, and now he'd stained hers too.
Mira looked around for something —or someone—, her expression turning confused when she didn't see anything.
“Daddy, where's Mommy?”