Page 46 of Remnants: Disruption
“You died,” I whisper somewhat stupidly, the sudden loss of my adrenaline hits like a club to the head.
She gives me a soft grin, much like the ones she used to give me before the last twenty-four hours had happened. Her amber eyes twinkle with a knowing mischief.
“Astute observation,” she nods.
“Then—”
“I take it the dead have never talked back?” she asks, tilting her head a little as she watches me. The expression is so familiar I feel tears sting at my eyes.
“Only to insult me,” I say softly. “Oh my God, you’re—”
It hits me like a wave of anxiety and exhaustion. Like a hammer striking at my sternum.
“I’m so sorry,” I rasp out, covering my mouth with my hands. And realizing now that I’m not wearing my gear. Just a shirt and jeans. “I’m so sorry, Percy.”
“Last I checked,” she says, soft expression never changing, “I was the one who shot you.”
“But my spikes–”
“I don’t have long,” Percy shakes her head a little. “Omen’s going to make another attempt at killing you here in a few moments. In fact, they’re already dropping the building on us.”
“Us?”
“You,” she amends. “I’m gone, Arya. But you have to survive.”
My head spins at her words. At the certainty of it all. Grief doesn’t seem like the right word. Neither does sadness.
It’s just final. The end. Over.
“I don’t know that I want to survive,” I say softly, looking down at the pool of darkness around us. “I loved you, Percy.”
Percy is silent for a long moment before I look back up at her. The shame of cowardice burns deeply in my chest.
“No, you didn’t,” Percy finally says, giving me a grin. “You were in love with the idea of being cared for. Of someone giving a shit whether or not you ate. Or if you managed to get sleep.”
She seems to finally notice the way I flinch at her words. Something she’d apparently decided not to acknowledge when she was alive.
“Arya,” she whispers, hand coming out to cup my jaw. “When you finally find her, you’ll know what love is. You’ll want her to know your secrets. You’ll want her to know your darkness.”
She brushes a soft thumb across my chin.
“You need to survive, Arya,” she says, dropping her hand. “You need to live because this is bigger than all of us. The other side is strange, but it’s a mess right now. It’s fragmented. This entire reality is broken. They’ll need you.”
“Who?” I ask, confused by the sudden change in subject. “Who will need me?”
“Don’t resurrect me, Arya,” she says instead, ignoring my question.
“I can’t do that even if I wanted to,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s not possible.”
Percy smiles brightly, the darkness begins to ripple and bubble.
“One day it will be. I need you to promise not to. I don’t think I can handle the voices the way you do. You’re so damn strong, Arya. I don’t think you really understand. I’m sorry I never did in life, either.”
There’s a keening crash of noise somewhere off in the distance. It echoes through the dark lake around us. The overhead light wavers slightly.
“Goodbye, Arya,” she says, waving at me with a fleshy hand that had once been bionic. “I promise not to haunt your shadows.”
The abyssal landscape disappears. Light suffuses my vision with flashes and whirls. Then pain erupts from every fraction of my body. Fire feels like it’s ticking at my back and spine. Like the entire weight of a building sits on my chest.
