1.56 – Time

Several things all happened at once. The legs of Alicia fell to the ground before her upper body did. Her last moments were spent smiling at Nathan. She died with a strange expression on her face—her eyes locked onto his, the smile with a hint of pain. The expression of her eyes, the love visible in her pupils.

He saw the violet shimmer in them as life escaped.

From the strange portal of flowers, more Red Lily members emerged, heading straight towards Turnip and Nathan, but before they could close the distance, several heroes joined the fray. The steel person punched Turnip with all his might, sending her flying, although she managed to move with the punch and block it to an extent. One other flying hero impacted into the crowd of Red Lily members, sending a few of them flying in a shower of body parts.

The ground under other Red Lily members started moving, consuming them, as Arthur suddenly appeared, hovering on two small rocks a few feet above the portal. Nathan met his eyes and saw the shock in them. His pupils were diluted, but the rest of his face remained neutral.

Then ground his teeth as he looked away from his dead sister.

He moved his hand in front of his body and then closed it into a fist, followed by screams of the Red Lily members as the ground under their feet swallowed and crushed them whole.

Nathan slouched on the ground, looking at the slaughter. The Red Lily members that appeared seemed to be grunts, not a single super-powered person within them. The air was filled with the smells of gunpowder and blood. They were all heading towards Turnip, trying to get her back into the portal.

“Let me go! He needs to die!” she shouted, but the grunts didn’t listen, shoving her back with everything they had just before Arthur killed all of them. Turnip shielded herself, plants appearing and hardening right where the rocks are trying to surround her. The small barrier moved with her, but she managed one last glare at Nathan.

He didn’t feel like reacting.

Despite the emotions threatening to make him collapse, he looked in front of him. At Alicia.

Was this real? It wasn’t a nightmare, was it? The upper half of Alicia was right there in front of him. Blood was gushing out onto the grass. He reached out to grab her hand. It was already beginning to turn cold.

No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No… No…

He held on to her hand, then moved to her torso. The tears wouldn’t stop.

Was this how she would die? Just after life was beginning to turn better for both of them?

He was there. Was there anything he could have done to save her?

He quickly opened the menu.

Surely there must have been at least some abilities that would be able to help. He immediately began scrolling like mad, trying to find something with words “heal” in them.

If even a small amount of life persisted inside Alicia, then he would do anything to save her.

The small amount of money that he had left seemed to laugh at him.

Yet he found what he was searching for.

It was an A-class ability. Far out of his reach… not that.

Different. Search for something different.

Scroll again.

Class B. Class B plus.

Again he scrolled, holding her hand with one of his arms and scrolling with the other.

There was nothing.

Nothing he could afford.

Nothing.

All that could possibly help in the situation was out of his reach.

He looked back at Alicia. Was he sobbing still? Was that why she was so blurry? He didn’t know. He saw enough.

Her eyes.They were glazed over. There wasn’t that spark in them, not even a hint of it.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She was dead.

He had lost her.

Memories flowed into him of the few months that he’d spent with her at his side. The awkward beginnings… How he moved into her house. The classes and the strange mission that he’d been through. How she seemed to support him, in whatever he was up to. Talks with Aiko and Minato and her. How they talked about renting a flat together, how they looked towards the future and what it would spell for each of them.

All of it was gone.

Tears welling up in his eyes again, he looked around. Where was Turnip.