[08] FINALE - Part 2

[Sage]

On her knees, a watery haired girl looked at her hands, and she wept. She shed tears for her friends, for those who fell, and for those who suffered as she had. She shed tears for those she killed, and those killed by others. And she wept for Alexander. He suffered perhaps the most. She could see it in his eyes. A familiar hurt.

But it wasn’t done, was it? The girl climbed to her feet and sighed. It was no small wonder, how such a timid, damaged creature had come this far. But Sage was no less damaged. And maybe no less timid, either. Or maybe she’d succumbed after all that she had been through. Maybe her powers had corrupted her to such an extent that there simply was no turning back.

And yet, one more person had to die for Sage to get Sol. The ‘ice witch’ gazed at her bleeding opponent. He was going to die anyway, all she would be doing would be putting him out of his misery.

But then, she could just as easily heal him.

Sage shuffled over the ice until she suddenly plummeted to her knees, right next to Alexander’s prone form. She was sitting inside the growing pool of his blood, but she didn’t care. She did this to him. This was her injury as much as it was his.

“It’s over,” she whispered to him with a soft smile. How absurd that she would be trying to comfort him after all she had put him through, but he didn’t say anything. Sage looked up, and around herself. “It’s over!” she called. “He can’t fight anymore!”

Nothing.

“Hey!! I know you’re out there!” Sage exclaimed, her voice taking on a tone of worry. “He doesn’t have to die!!”

“This is their big finale,” the redhead gurgled. The hybrid looked down at him, and actually cradled his head with her arm. “You don’t just... stop fighting. I’ve already killed somebody. By the sounds of it,” Ace looked her in the eyes. “So have you.”

Sage looked away, but she nodded.

“One of us is going to die, and I can’t move,” he suddenly flashed her a smirk. “So I guess that narrows it down a little.”

“B-But-”

“I can’t help you feel any better. You made your choices and so did I. I’m going to die either way. You might as well just finish this.”

Sage nodded, but she frowned. “I...” she reached up into her ribbon, and withdrew a capsule. With her thumb, she rotated the selector wheel before activating it, and a medkit appeared in a puff of smoke. With her one hand holding up Alexander’s head, she only had one hand to pop open the case, and prepare a syringe.

“What is it?” her ‘patient’ asked. Sage looked up for a moment, as if ignoring him, but in the next instant, the wind all but died away, and the temperature became slightly less unbearable.

Sage looked back down and smiled. “It’s morphine,” she explained, quickly finding a suitable vein. She didn’t bother cleaning it - this man wasn’t going to live long enough to develop an infection - before she delicately pierced into the boy’s flesh, and pushed down on the plunger.

The powerful chemical swirled into his bloodstream, and the effects were almost immediate. Ace arched his back for a moment, before he closed his eyes and let his whole body relax with a long sigh.

Sage put the needle into a tiny sharps kit and packed up her equipment before returning it to its capsule. She reached out with her free hand and took Trafford’s. She couldn’t kill him. Not now that she knew these deaths were real, and she had, in fact, become a murderer. At least beforehand she had the excuse that she didn’t know. But not this time.

She couldn’t kill him, but she couldn’t just leave him to die, either. Damon, or whoever else could wait until Alex ebbed away on his own time. These last few minutes were his, and nobody had the right to take them away.

It was all she could do to keep from bawling. She was so close now. After everything she had been through to get where she wanted to be... and all of a sudden, none of it seemed worth it. The changeling, the namek, Tamsin. People who might still be alive if not for her.

And now Sophia and Ashe were both gone.

She didn’t cry, though. She was here for Alexander. She had to stay strong, at least for a little while longer. She could hear his breathing becoming more strained. Slower. He had lost a catastrophic amount of blood.

Finally, Alexander squeezed her hand. She squeezed back, and leaned over the red haired youth. “I’m here, Alex,” Sage managed. “I’m here; I’m not going to leave you.”

She didn’t know why she was doing this; Alexander hadn’t asked for any help. But he hadn’t told her to leave, either. So Sage would stay.

His grip began to loosen. “It’s okay,” she encouraged. It wasn’t okay. He was dying, and because Sage wouldn’t heal him, there was no chance he would recover. “Don’t be scared.”

Alexander’s hand went limp, but Sage cradled him for a little while longer.