A Viper

"NO!" With a swift, purposeful push of his feet, Hayden launched himself off the bridge, and Emily let out a loud, desperate cry. She jumped after him mindlessly, her arms thrashing to encircle his quivering body. The heavy material of her jacket, the one she'd worn without slits cut into the back, now haunted her, confined her wings, which were strong but useless at the time. Before she could fully realize the seriousness of her actions, she sank her teeth deep into the delicate flesh of Hayden's neck as the air rushed past them as they fell. His blood pricked her lips, but she quickly pulled them back, shuddering as she did so. Her jugular throbbed with a yearning she had long repressed, a promise she had made to herself reverberating in her head: she would never, ever eat Hayden's blood. As they plunged into the rushing river below, the icy water engulfing them in its unrelenting embrace, that pledge remained unwavering.

The river was thankfully deep enough to prevent his face from crashing with the rough bottom as she fell on top of him, the impact rattling her bones. She flipped him over with shaking hands, cradling his head above the surface while water poured off his lifeless body. When she noticed the blood dripping from his nose, the scarlet stripe that tainted his light complexion, and the jagged cut across his forehead where the fall had struck him, her breath seized in her chest and she let out a piercing gasp. She pushed her trembling hand against his neck in a panic, looking for a pulse, any sign of life. However, nothing was present. She touched him, but all she found was the icy, unforgiving silence of his immobility.

With a faint hope woven throughout, she uttered, "Hayden, wake up…," in a voice that was almost audible above the roaring water. Maybe if she could convince herself that he was just sleeping, it would somehow get him to come back to her. Fragile and desperate, the thought held on to her like a lifeline.

"HAYDEN... Awaken! She shook his motionless body with all the power she could summon, and her voice swelled into an agonized shriek that broke the silence. She put her hands on his shoulders and urged him to wake up, open his eyes, and gaze at her with that comforting familiarity. However, he stayed still, his features relaxed, and reality started to gnaw at the corners of her consciousness.

As she realized the terrible truth that Hayden was awake, hot, unrelenting tears poured from her eyes. He had left. Where she knelt, the weight of that truth rushed over her, threatening to drown her with a tidal wave of sadness. She could no longer hold back the sobs that heaved in her breast, and the sound blended with the flow of the river.

"Hayden, please live; you are loved." There! I said it! I cherish you! Before I tell you that, you cannot leave! You can't! She shook his body even more violently as she said the words in a desperate yell, her voice shattering as though the intensity of her despair could somehow ground him to reality. He stayed motionless, his silence a bitter echo of her appeal, while her fingers dug into his soaked clothes and her tears fell to mix with the water below.

She pleaded in a whisper, her voice a thin thread, "Please, Hayden. "Please." The word lingered in the atmosphere, a pointless plea to an unresponsive world. As he continued to stand there, a raging rage erupted inside her, temporarily erasing the sadness. It was aimed at him—her darling, stupid Hayden—and a deep, roiling anger for the wretched pretext of a creature who referred to herself as her Queen. She remembered, bitterly, how Hayden had admitted, in a remorseful voice, that he believed the Queen had wronged her. Throwing himself into the abyss to atone for a sin that was never his to bear had been his foolish solution, his perverted route to salvation.

She said, "You are stupid!" as she drew his lifeless body nearer and held him close to her chest, the words escaping her throat. She screamed, "You are so dumb, Hayden!" against his body, her arms shaking from the strain of trying to hold him, her tears seeping into his jacket. The only quality in him that she had ever hated was stupidity, out of all the innumerable qualities she had admired, such as his bravery, kindness, and unwavering loyalty. But even now, as she holds him in this last, devastating hug, that imperfection still exists in him and cannot be removed. ... a part of her that, in spite of everything, still loved him.

Loren's perspective

They already knew deep down that it was too late as Xavier, Trent, Loren, and Tara transported through a portal he had created with a flash of his black power. Emily was crouched over Hayden's lifeless body, which was only five feet in front of them. Her tears sounded like a somber dirge in the moist air.

“Holy shit,” Xavier whispered, his normally composed manner rattled by the scene in front of them, his voice tinged with surprise.

The weight of the moment rooted them to the spot as they stood there, motionless like statues carved from despair. The stillness drew on until Trent escaped, rushing forward with a stifled scream and tumbling on his knees by the water. The sound of his agony blending with the water's flow, a visceral release of the pain they all experienced, caused his body to shudder as he vomited.

His voice rose into the sky as he screamed, "WHY?" His question was so raw and agonized that it appeared to penetrate the very skies.

Everyone started crying when the dam burst. With their arms entwined and tears streaming down their faces, Trent and Loren turned to face one another, a mutual sadness holding them together at that precise moment. Even Tara, stern and powerful, shed tears, her shoulders trembling as Xavier put his arm around her and tried to console her, while Emily stayed hunched over Hayden's body, her screams an unending lament. They didn't stop their collective sorrow until Emily got up, her swift and unexpected action causing their breaths to catch in time.

"Emily?" Xavier asked, cocking his head in a wary frown, his voice low as he tried to connect with her in her sorrow.

Her lips were squeezed into a thin, bloodless line as she stood straight, her hands clenched till her knuckles turned white. Her eyes blazed a bright ruby red, a striking contrast to the pallor of her face, and a loud, guttural growl rumbled from her throat, a sound of primordial wrath.

"Why don't we leave here, Emily?" Though he found it difficult to find the perfect words to soothe the storm building inside her, Xavier spoke gently in a tone that was filled with concern.

"No," she growled, her voice a low, threatening hiss that stopped Xavier's outstretched hand in its tracks so he couldn't touch her. "I am aware of what I have to do."

He asked, his brow furrowing in perplexity, "Which is what?" but she ignored him, her attention focusing on a single, unwavering goal. In a matter of heartbeats, she violently pulled her jacket off, causing the fabric to shred as she tossed it away. They stared after her in astonished disbelief as she flew into the sky with a rush of power, her wings spreading out as she soared through a gateway that shimmered briefly before disappearing.

"What is her destination?" Loren inquired, her eyes flitting between the two Obsidian Angels on either side of her, her voice shaking in between frantic sobbing.

Xavier shrugged, his face displaying a mixture of confusion and helplessness. "Beats me." Then he paused, adding, "Unless…" with a flash of insight on his face.

His speech drifted off into quiet as he sunk into a profound state of concentration, his eyes wide and unfocused, lost in the maze of his own thoughts.

"What is it?" With a strong tone and a seemingly restored sense of composure after the rush of tears at Hayden's death, Tara asked frantically, looking for answers in Xavier's face.

"You don't think…" he said, his words fading into a weighted, enigmatic silence.

"Perhaps." Tara nodded, her voice hardly audible above a murmur. They glanced at one another, their wide eyes displaying a mutual comprehension, and then they hurried ahead, vanishing through a portal they had constructed. As a result, Trent and Loren, two people enmeshed in their sorrow, stood by themselves with Hayden's corpse, the tangible weight of their loss bearing down on them.