breathe again ; aspen / day seven

Cannon fire.

It echoes through me like a gasp for breath — like a ray of sunlight breaking through the dark. And I wait for it; I wait. My spear cuts into him, like scissors snipping golden thread, and I can feel the exact moment that he stops shaking; when the fighting ends. It's clean, and a little cruel, but it only takes a matter of seconds before he's lying lifelessly on the ground.

His death is quiet, serenaded by cicadas, but so far from gentle.

A hard fought battle. He didn't relent once.

Some terrible emotion moves through me; makes my lungs start to burn, tears stinging my eyes. I feel a twist, tight enough that I don't think I'll ever be able to exhale again. My shoulders and fingers tremble, aching from stress and the trauma of knowing there's a blade lodged in my throat. I'm grateful that he cannot see the way I'm falling apart.

I can see the way Robin's mask shifts over his face at the same time I feel my own rising away from my skin. And it's terrible sensation, like standing inside of a cage and somehow feeling like you're free. If just for a moment. I cry out as I slowly lift the rubber away from my head, new flames licking at the skin around my neck. Cold fire.

Nothing in me desires to see what façade had trapped me, so I toss it over my shoulder and banish it to the dark. Damn the sun to ever shine here again. I turn to glance down at Robin's body, knowing that I need to get away and mend my wounds before I risk losing consciousness; but something in me stirs, knowing I'll always be haunted by this moment. By him.

For the next few minutes, I sit in silence and come to terms with this. With several things, as I do each night. Endlessly now, like time has given up all control here. I feel like I could mourn forever. But I have to go, and they can't follow me; not like this. I reach out with my hands before I can stop myself, peeling away his mask and revealing him.

Young, and freckled, and gone. Robin Keeni.

Killed by Aspen Peake.

Our story begins and ends in the dark; haloed by fire light. I sigh for what feels like the first time, so torn between fatigue and relief. He's gone. It's over. And something in me tenses, the flash of lightning before the thunder. I have to find Reece, and I have to make it out of here. There's a war inside of me. I can hear the drums.

And I follow them. To my end, and my retribution.