Elizabeth

Final

Felix comes in to gank as Lee Sin as soon as Grace turns level 6 as Ahri. He comes from the bottom of the lane and lands his Q on the enemy Ziggs. He knocks Ziggs back towards Ahri who lands her charm and it ends up in a kill.

“Good shit,” he compliments her over Skype.

“Thanks. Uh, Sejuani’s coming.”

The enemy Sejuani tries to come in call kill Ahri who has only 100hp left. Felix uses his abilities to get in front of her and take the front of the damage. Ahri uses her ultimate to reposition and throws her charm the second it’s off cooldown. Lee Sin then uses his entire combo and gives Grace another kill.

“That’s GG, I guess.”

He’s right. After those two kills, Grace starts to snowball out of control and takes over the game. Any time the enemy tries to take an objective, Grace shows up and leaves with more kills. The game ends at 20 minutes with a surrender. Grace sighs in relief.

“How does it feel?”

Grace looks over at her victory screen. She stares down at the number on the screen. She’s now above 2000 in Elo. Grace is in the top 1% of players in North America, it might be even higher. She doesn’t know. “Good, I guess.”

Felix laughs. “Come on, I thought you would be happier.”

“Me too.”

“You’re going to the fair tonight, right? Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Yeah. I thought I was gonna go with Cody, but he’s going with Emily instead. I haven’t hung out much with him since she’s been back.”

“Have you told him how you feel?”

“Of course not!”

“You should. Do it tonight.”

“I’ll just get rejected.”

“So? I think it’s better to get a concrete answer than holding onto an idea that’s just giving you comfort. What ifs do that.”

Grace slumps into her chair. She knows what he says is right. She’s more scared that Cody will stop being her friend if she tells him. “What if I chicken out?”

“If you don’t try, how else are you going to get the power to go after the things you actually want?”

-

Marina continues to watch the news on the television. She knows how many people are in Lyle’s pocket. There won’t ever be a mention of his name on the news right now. It’ll eventually be forced out of them by those who actually read the documents. No one will go after him anytime soon.

It’s why the plan was to put in a call of an active shooter to wherever he goes.

She gets up from her seat and walks over to the bathroom where she undresses herself. There hasn’t been a day where she didn’t hate the color of her skin. She hates her white eyelashes, her white lips, her white hair, and her white eyes. She’s nothing more than a freak. Marina pulls up her bangs to see the thing she hates the most. Her entire life she’s been a circus show made for party tricks.

There was only one man who showed her kindness. It was easy to believe in his words when he was the only positive thing in her life. All he asked for was to help him achieve his dreams which she was happy to do. It was noble and admirable. She didn’t care how many lives had to be lost in order for it to happen. Marina believed in him.

Then he died.

The only light in her world was replaced by infinite darkness. Lyle is nothing but a crappy replica of the man she once called a father. Lyle is sick, twisted, and sadistic. The scars that imitate ripped-off angel wings on her back are proof of that. It’s proof that his charming words and kind smile are nothing more than lies.

It was by pure chance that Marina met the woman who showed her what it means to be free. They knew who each other was as together they were supposed to achieve the ideas Marina foolishly believed in. The hope that one day it’ll come true kept her willing. Marina then understood why that could never happen. It’s what broke her out of her spell. It gave her the desire to live and become a person.

Emmah showed her what it all leads to.

All that is happening right now is the result of that chance encounter. She thought it was all going to fall apart when Lyle went after Emmah. It freaked her because he should have not known Emmah lived. It was Marina’s pull toward Emmah that caused Lyle to find her. She sees now that his promise of a world where everyone knows each other's pain and suffering was nothing but a farce. A world where hate doesn’t exist was just a delusion.

Marina puts her clothes back on while remembering the words Emmah told her. “You have the power to heal the people who need it. Use it just as I use my music. There’s a kid just like us, find him then you’ll know what to do.”

Marina thought about the only girl that died under Lyle’s spell. The girl whose pull was irresistible ever since Marina moved to Seattle. They only met once but still remember exactly what she said. “You’re the girl in the white dress. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a good girl. If you really are my guardian angel, find someone better. I’m tired.”

Then I died and Marina met Emmah the very next day.

The first person she touched was Chris. She saw everything. It was all too chaotic and decided she needed more time to sort it out. When she touched Andrew, Marina realized that the new girl they picked up was his sister. Sara was the first she helped. She was unsure of how much she could actually do by using memories but she hoped it was enough. One by one she managed to help all of Chris’ friends. All of it was for Chris to find who he is but it made her happy. It still makes her happy. It gives Marina purpose.

Her phone vibrates one more time. Out of all the unread messages, there’s only one that catches her eye.

“Like Icarus, I too was burned by the beauty of the sun. The world will revolve around it, and I always, around you.”

Marina responds back, “Fall into the pits of hell and die.”

Her attention is jolted back to the TV when she hears her name being called. She’s being framed as the ringleader of everything known as Sessions. She panics. She calms down when she realizes it’s nothing but a scare tactic. There’s no photo of her. There’s no photograph in the world that has her in it. Even now, she hasn’t used her real name since she was five. The only person to ever know her real name is dead. It’s something he promised to take to the grave. That person has been dead for twenty years now.

It’s not like Lyle who has a civilian life. The son of a Senator, and he, the secretary of the state.

“I was never your angel,” she texts him. She writes his real name down but deletes it right after. There’s no point. Mendelssohn and Sessions. All of those names are dead to her.

There was only one thing that he could never get Marina to do was for her to take his last name, Lyle.

She much prefers being named after her favorite videogame character.

“I never told you my name, did I?”

-

Grace walks home from the town fair trying to hold back her tears the best she can. Her house is close enough that it doesn’t take long. She wants to wrap herself around her mother’s arms but she isn’t home. She sits and opens her summer homework thinking it’ll distract her.

There is a little relief in her heart knowing she had the courage to actually go through it. A year ago she would pass out at the thought of even thinking about it. It’s what she thinks she should write about. She wants to document just how much she’s grown. But just like every other day before, she’s unable to write anything down.

Frustrated, she throws one of her pillows at her open closet and it knocks one of her jackets down. She sees it's the one she wore when Andrew took her to the rave. She hung it up right after and forgot to ever wash it. A clear bag sticks out slightly out of its pocket. It’s filled with purple colored powder. She thought she gave the baggie back to Andrew but isn’t sure. She doesn’t remember much of that night.

Grace does remember how she felt. It’s the perfect escape from the pain, confusion, anger, and sadness she feels now.

-

Lyle gets the news before it breaks on TV. Everything falls apart in mere minutes. The voice on the other line just laughs at him, “That’s what you get when you try to imitate Azul. You’ll never be like him,” the voice is from one of Lyle’s former friends. They were the same age when they first joined Golden Hearts all those years ago.

Almost all of his warehouses across the state have been seized. All of his toys are being hunted down. Before he truly panics, he takes a deep breath. He ends the call and starts to make his calls to keep the damage down. There are contingency plans for this exact reason. The other states haven’t moved yet which gives him time to make his moves. Most of it will fall but it could always be rebuilt. He’s fine, they won’t even go after him he’s told.

Even if everything does end, he still has his Sessions. He tries to call her and text her but she doesn’t answer. The possibility that she’s arrested doesn’t exist either. She’s a ghost with no record. Lyle gets another call, answering his question about how all of this happened. “It came from us. Someone leaked it all. It’s all over the internet.”

Lyle pieces it in a single second. Sessions has always been loyal to him without a fault. She never questioned him and gave him direction when he needed it. She was his partner, his angel. He loves her and all this time he thought she loved him too, just like every other of the girls. That’s how it should’ve been.

Then one day she acts a little different, a little kinder than usual. He thought it was just in a good mood the entire time. Then she went against his back and freed the girl that was meant to break Andrew: his sister. If anyone else did that they would’ve been killed on the spot, but she was his angel. He convinced himself it was a one-time event.

His mistake was trusting her after that.

She was supposed to help him find all the little freaks and use them just so he could be free to do whatever he wants; to have anyone he wants.

Lyle nearly breaks his laptop while opening up her location. She’s here, she’s in Darkwood and heading to the fair. Lyle texts her one more time, unable to recognize the feelings he has now. He calls his connection to the media and gives them her name and tells them to spin the story. It won’t do anything but if anything but she’ll be instantly recognizable and it’ll cause her to try and hide. Sure enough, she stops in the center middle of his hometown.

-

“Can I ask you a question, Sara?” Jerrica asks her once they split up from Cody and Emily. They’re waiting in line for the rollercoaster. Sara nods taking a bite out of a candy bar. “How do you deal with your brother? How do you put up with him?”

“You think he’s an asshole too?” Sara laughs. “I think it’s easy for me because I’m the only thing he cares about.”

“Is there anyone else?”

“No. He doesn’t trust anyone. Why do you ask?”

“I’m writing a paper about sociopaths,” she lies. Deep down she wants to know if she could ever be that second person. Even if was for a brief moment, Jerrica managed to break down his walls. She’s never seen such beauty.

“He’s living with us now. It’s an…experience,” she giggles. “But he seems happy now. I’m hoping he’ll calm down and settle for once.”

“Do you think he’ll ever let his guard down?”

“I think it’s far too late for that.”

“I don’t think so. I think he just needs to be convinced that there are people who truly care about that isn’t just you.”

“Good luck to whoever tries.”

Jerrica hides her smile from Sara. She isn’t exactly sure why she’s so drawn to Andrew. The college girl settles that it’s just love at first sight. It’s something she’s never experienced before. Romantic love is something she’s never even felt. She’s gone her entire life thinking there was something wrong with her. Andrew is the first person to prove that wrong.

Meeting him has been on her mind ever since Emily started sharing photos of him on Facebook and how she would describe him to her. She still finds the four-year age gap to be a bit too weird but she’s willing to hold off until it doesn’t. When she first laid eyes on him, she never felt such intensity in herself. Jerrica didn’t hesitate. The way he acted turned her on even more. He was exactly how he was described.

She’s never been more sure to take on the challenge.

“Ems just texted me. I guess we have to cut our date short. They’re leaving and are gonna wait in the car.”

“Those selfish little shits!”

-

“Where the fuck is she!?” Lyle yells at the two people he least expected to find in place of Sessions. He pulls out his pistol and aims it at them.

“Took you long enough, it’s been an hour,” Andrew laughs. “Was thinking you weren’t going to show up.”

“I’m only going to ask you once more. Where is Sessions!? Lyle places the end of the barrel directly in between Andrew’s eyes.

Cody sees it and runs to them without thinking. Emily yells at him to stop and foolishly runs after him. Lyle isn’t paying attention so he doesn’t see or hear Cody and is tackled to the ground. The gun falls underneath one of the parked cars.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cody gets up while Lyle just sighs. “Leave them alone! Leave us alone.”

“He can’t,” Andrew comments. “We took his angel.”

Lyle laughs as he gets up. “You two were in on it?” he scoffs. “Rich. What’s this about? Is this about how I had Sara the entire time you were looking for her? Yeah, I loved how desperete you became. You became my perfect tool.”

“That and what you did to Ellie, fucker.”

“You’re mad that I made Elizabeth my bitch? You’re mad that she turned into one of my little angels and couldn’t handle it? I loved her too but you don’t see me taking it out on all of you! She was special to me, much more than the others. Do you want to know why she killed herself?! She saw a dude’s head completely split open at a motorcycle accident one time. I used that opportunity of death to make her kill, to make her mine. She couldn’t bear it. Elizabeth was weak. Just like all of you.”

“Nah, slim. That’s just the icing. We’re done with you, yeah? Sessions is done with you. You ain't hurting anyone anymore.”

Sara and Jerrica walk into the parking lot and see everyone gathered. Naively, they head towards them as they think they’re all standing around. They find Lyle saying, “Fine. I’ll just cut through you all and find her myself. She can’t go far, not with how she looks.”

Sara recognizes the voice. She finally has a face to complete the person. This is him, this is the person who nearly took everything away from her. A vile taste forms in her throat and she wants to vomit.

Emily walks over to the pair and says, “We should go. I’m serious.”

Lyle draws out another pistol and points it at the girls. “Think I’ll start with these bitches. How does that sound?”

Cody snaps and Andrew jumps to his feet. Andrew never expected that the girls would show up. He didn’t expect Cody either. They should all be inside the fair. His eyes glare at Chris because this place was his entire idea. What the fuck was he thinking! He yells inside his head. Chris told him to trust him, but how can he when Sara’s just a trigger pull away from being taken away again? It’s not just her either. Emily’s here too with his dumb big sister. He notices just how terrified the two girls are. Jerrica is the only one who seems to be unfazed. She’s staring back at him with a slight smile. Jerrica movies to stand in front of the girls.

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

“Give me Sessions!”

“Who the fuck is that?!” Jerrica scoffs.

It snaps the attention away from Lyle for a split second. It’s enough time for Cody to charge toward Lyle. He manages to pick him up and slam him down on the grown. Andrew rushes over and kicks the gun away while Cody tries his hardest to pummel Lyle. Each shot is blocked with his arms.

Chris takes a glance over to the girls and sees Grace is missing. She’s supposed to be here. Without her, everything falls apart. This only works because she is supposed to witness this. It’s what keeps all of them safe. All of his threads snap and he no longer can see or feel what happens next. The panic sets in. There’s only the hope that the police show up in time.

Lyle knocks Cody off and kicks him in the chin. Lyle pummels Cody with a quick left jab then a strong right that knocks Cody down. Andrew goes in but his attack is blocked and countered by a front kick to the ribs. It’s no use. These two boys are used to street fights but Lyle actually knows how to fight.

Andrew tries to attack one more time but he’s punched in the middle of his chest, knocking all the air out of him. Lyle knees Andrew in the face when he kneels down to catch his breath. This knocks Andrew out cold.

Lyle uses this time to catch a bit of his breath and pick up the gun he dropped. Cody gets back up and manages to hit Lyle in the jaw right as he does. It doesn’t do anything but anger Lyle even more. Cody throws a punch again but Lyle catches it and twists it behind Cody’s back. He steps on the back of Cody’s knees, making him kneel. He presses the gun on the side of Cody’s head. “This is how it feels, Cody,” he says. “This is how defeat feels like.”

“F-Fuck you!”

“Y’know what’s funny?!” Lyle starts to laugh. “You were so close to saving Elizabeth. She talked about you all the time. Maybe if she went with you instead of me the day of the accident she would have been alive. You failed her, just like you failed everyone here.”

Cody winces in pain but doesn’t respond back. He’s facing Emily who is too mortified to even move. “Run!” he yells at the girls.

“Move and I shoot him,” Lyle rebuttals.

Chris gulps down a big ball of saliva. He can’t help, there’s nothing he can do. Andrew’s eyes open but everything is spinning and his body isn’t responding. Emily’s heart beings to pound hard enough that it could rip out of her chest at any moment. Sara holds her hands together and drops to her knees. She’s shaking too much to even stand. Jerrica's heart begins to hurt. She looks over at Andrew and bites her hand. She wants to help but she can’t think of anything. She thought this would all turn out to be fine, after all, Andrew’s here. Now reality starts to set in. From the corner of her eye she spots a shiny object under one of the cars. Her legs are shaking too much to move right now, but inches herself over ever so slowly.

“One last fucking time! Where the fuck is she?!”

Andrew admits defeat. He opens his mouth to say it but nothing comes out. He considers the possibility that everyone dies even if he does tell Lyle. That’s just the type of person he is. Still, it’s the only he can do now to try and save everyone.

Cody continues to stare at Emily. He only sees Emily’s tears.

“I set her free,” Chris barely answers as his thoughts are screaming through his head. “If you have to kill anyone here, kill me first.”

Lyle smirks and points the gun at Chris. Cody sees the small window and takes it. He breaks free of Lyle and pushes the gun off his hands. He leaps towards it, grabs it, and points it at Lyle.

Chris’s mind is deteriorating too fast. His thoughts are not even present anymore. He’s losing it. The world starts to disappear around him and nothing becomes real. It’s consumed by the ocean and it begins to darken.

“What do you think you’re doing boy?” Lyle chuckles. “You think shooting me will solve any of your problems? You already failed. Destiny has brought all of us together and it doesn’t end in my death.”

“Shut the fuck up! It’s over! Leave us alone,” Cody yells. His heart is about to explode and his arm is shaking too much. He wants to shoot but can’t bring himself to do it. If he does this, there’s no coming back. He’s convinced it would cement him as a monster, but Cody has to save his friends.

In the distance, they all start to hear police sirens turn on. Chris's mind starts to shatter. It’s happening. This doesn’t end well. A single thread appears and shows him. He’s too scared. Chris starts to wonder how reality works. It’s all a sham. He begs his friend for help but it’s only jumbled words.

But you can’t do anything, can you?

Jerrica inches her way toward the car. The tables have turned but that doesn’t stop her from imagining something going wrong. She kneels down and feels around for the pistol that was dropped much earlier.

“You live in a box, unable to see what’s above you,” Lyle starts to laugh. “The world is just one cosmic journey where we all arrive at our eventual destination. You have no idea what Sessions means to the world. You have no idea just intertwine our lives together just because she exists, because Elisabeth existed. Shoot me!”

“Shut up!” Cody screams, his finger slowly getting tighter on the trigger.

Emily’s heart starts to race and she doesn’t know what to do. Her body is a statue and she manages to process that she’s terrified and is having a massive panic attack. She can feel every part of her body tremble and she can’t think anymore. All she can really think is about calming down as she hyperventilates. So she repeats, “Calm down,” over and over again. But like always, it never helps. The only person who can is about to kill someone.

“Cody, h-help me!” she manages to shout.

Cody eye’s break focus as he knows what those words mean and like always, he will always be there to calm her down. All she needs is a long embrace in his arms.

Lyle sees the opportunity and charges at Cody. However, Cody is too focused, he sees this and shoots.

Nothing happens.

The sirens’ lights start to show.

Lyle punches Cody, causing him to drop the gun. Lyle catches it and unlocks the safety. Emily panics even more and sprints down the pavement. She falls; bangs her head on the concrete, gets up, and rushes to Cody. Jerrica grabs hold of the gun and points it at Lyle. It’s much heavier than she ever thought but it doesn’t stop her shooting the second the barrel is on focused Lyle’s body. The trigger isn’t pulled as it’s locked too and then,

Cody snaps out of his rage and his eyes widen. Chris watches. It was never supposed to be like this. He can observe every little detail and even notices Lyle slowly squeezing the trigger. All he wanted was to save Gracie from Lyle. His mind breaks completely.

“Oh yeah! I’m insane!”

BANG!

A mixture of fireworks and thunder off in the distance muffle the sound.

Chris drops on the floor, screams, and everything goes silent. Cody screams along with the world with its thunder. Emily falls to the ground, trembling her hands on her chest. She looks down and only finds blood. Thousands of thoughts come racing through her head but it's only until Cody sits her limp body up that she’s able to focus on just one.

What did I ever do to deserve this?

“DROP YOUR WEAPON!” They all hear.

Emily closes her eyes and feels droplets of water tickle her face.

It begins to rain again.