The One we Loose

It was cold or maybe she was just the one who felt the cold, unending as if it were seeping into her clothes and her body. Emily felt like she was drowning as he explained himself, and what he was planning for them to do. She could hear him but she really couldn't too, she wasn't sure why.
Where was Logan, why wasn't he here.
" Are you ok" Bruce asked and she blinked rapidly swallowing tightly
" I am, I'm listening" she muttered, he nodded and gestured for her to follow.
She moved away putting their plan into action, she wanted to stay hidden from the beast she saw hovering up in the clouds but that was not an option, then the witches voice called out from the distance up in the trees

" You could have joined our master,you would have saved many lives, your friends included" Emily shrugged as watched her this evil witch who had tossed Aspen down that height, her heart was still beating as she thought about it, if Aspen was alive what would she do, what could she do.
She swallowed now, Logan was somewhere in the thick of things but they were loosing and they needed an advantage, so she had to get them one if necessary. She needed to do this for her family, to help them when they needed her .
Her brother was counting on her, so many people were , she gulped and kept walking.
From the corner of her eye she saw Bruce as he made his own move as well he inched deeper into the thick cover of trees.
Emily drew a deep breath and strode out of the tree line to meet her.
Her hands were shaking as she drew closer to the forest floor she squeezed them into a tight fist hoping to calm the fear in her gut, hoping to ease it, her gaze shifting from one corner of the forest to the other, her hair dark fell in thick and tangled braids she was gaunt as if she'd lost strength.
She allowed her gaze to rove over her the witch searching for weaknesses and a chunk in an amount that seemed to be too solid and too strong and then she caught it the slight tear to the dress she wore in the spot she had been injured. She wondered if Bruce could see it , and if he couldn't was there a way to make it clear to him to expose what she could see.
Sia was in the tree to her west, she kept a crawling pace, following Bruce but not too fast , Emily turned to her again.
She may have been injured but they likely hadn't lost her strength, so she had to keep her talking work her over with the element of surprise and attack at the moment when she was most vulnerable.
" Who are you" she whispered, so lightly she wasn't sure the others heard
" Does that matter, I am the one who will send you home dead" she huffed.
There was no mercy in her,no remorse so she asked the question she wanted to know the answers to so badly even though they might not have been the answers she wanted to hear
" Why are you doing this, why are you helping him, what could he possibly have given you" she asked and sharp laughter filled the clearing, ringing like glass something wicked and evil like the owner. She swallowed
" I want nothing but to see the lord in his rightful place" she offered sliding across the grass in very sharp precise moment
"you are all a speck in his way" she mumbled and folded her finger, Emily fell to her knees
" I want your surrender, " she mumbled leaning forward
" I want you to beg me for the lives of this insignificant people" she answered her tone chilling to the bone, even as she struggled to breath an inhale,then exhale It felt like her lung were on fire and her heart was clenching like heavy stones
" If i don't" Emily asked and she smiled a wicked and cruel smile that showed exactly what she was, what she would always be
" Then there will be nothing left" she replied on a shrug
Bruce charged towards her almost immediately, arms raised she roared a dark wind gathering around her that tossed Emily to her side.
Bruce reached for her pulling her to her feet, he stood picking his dagger as Sia was flung into a tree and crashed down still,she whimpered softly loosing anyone else was not acceptable he rushed forward, against the roaring wind knife drawn, while she tried to gain her bearing from everything that was happening around them, her gaze blurring, she glanced up and saw Bruce held in a choke hold
" No wait please," Emily cried out
" I'll kneel. Just don't kill him "she pleaded
" If I free him you will kneel " she asked her head quirked slightly, she nodded rapidly, something was happening, something was being said. She couldn't hear it, and it scared her. Logan was not here, neither was Aspen, she was alone, what could she do alone, what?
Emily watched in horror as Bruce dropped from the air much like Aspen had , it was not in slow motion,this time, it didn't happen like a flash of lightening, he fell and crashed to the ground from a heart far higher than what Aspen had fallen from
" No. Please no" she screamed rushing to him as he hit the ground with a thud
" No no no " she cried pulling him into her lap , he coughed spitting out blood, his stomach was torn from side to side, blood pouring like it was gushing from a lake, she pressed her hand against the wound trying to stop the bleeding but the blood just kept pouring,
" I don't know what to do, I don't" she huffed ,her breath coming out in hiccups as he grasped her hand
" I'm fine. Look at me " he whispered, she glanced at him and a sob tore through her throat, he wasn't fine. She couldn't lose him she couldn't, her father was gone, and Aspen was wounded if not fatally injured and Sia lay somewhere on the forest floor weakened , so many men dead, so many brothers and children and she was basically useless . If Bruce died what would Logan do, how would he cope
" What did you say to her ," she cried in frustration, he coughed
" Told her to screw herself" he muttered trying to laugh but coughing instead
" Why, you should have shut up, why did you do that " she queried as tears streamed down her face
" Because we're better than her. You know she won't stop here, she'll destroy them and she and Finn will join hands to destroy every one else. This won't be the end we'll never know the end we can't take–" he paused coughing blood spraying from his mouth
" please don't leave me, I'm scared, Logan needs you " she begged, hugging his head to her chest
" I know. Tell him I'm sorry, tell him I -" he murmured but he didn't say anything more, he couldn't not as his breath left him hitching then slowing and then it stopped .
She sobbed harshly bent over him, she'd done this, she'd brought them here to die this was all her fault.She should have read harder or more, what had she done
Her tear filled gaze found the witch collapsed on the floor, she wasn't sure how or why. Maybe Bruce had nicked her, maybe but her heart burned with rage consuming her deeply, she lowered her Bruce to the floor, grappling for the knife by his side, she stumbled to her feet, tears blurring her vision making it hard to walk but she did moving every excruciating inch further until she stood over her.
She looked sick now, brittle and ashen, like she would fall apart if touched. Emily raised her sword striking at her but missed as she rolled away weakly , she murmured word beneath
" Look at you now" she mumbled laughing,
" You're going to kill me while I'm defenseless. How are you any different from me " she coughed,and her rage renewed, she struggled to stand hissing
" You have taken too much from me, you will take nothing else " she roared and stabbed her once
" This is for the lives you stole" she cried stabbing her again so she cried out in pain,
" This is for the future you stole from me, from Bruce, and Logan " she roared, shoving her blade as deeply as it would go,
" I curse you Emily , you will never save those who matter, they -"she sputtered and shock filled her eyes as Emily twisted the blade and as her blood spurted
" One thing, I will never be like you " she said watching as black blood pooled by her feet. She was dead, gone with her venom and hate, Emily staggered back to where Bruce lay and crumbled over him she pulled his head into her lap stifling her cried and sobs, she knew it wouldn't bring him back nothing could bring him back
" What is the use of this if I can't bring him back" she cried out cuddling him to her chest , thinking of Logan, she heard footsteps in the grass floor was it Logan or Sia she couldn't see well, not when she felt so dizzy it looked like a female, short hair the same color as Aspen. Was it Aspen?
" You cannot bring him back, but you have saved many, for this we are grateful" she raised her eyes to find a woman standing over her, now that she was closer she looked nothing like Aspen ,she was far taller with golden hair and eyes like flames of fire almost golden red.
" Who are you" she croaked
" " I am Tera and I am forever in your debt, you will see him again, one day, I promise but first you must survive and then we will go from there. I will dull these memories so the pain is it so severe "
" That is the only way I can repay you . "
"And Aspen" she asked her eyes becoming so heavy it felt like she would soon fall asleep
" Is she–"she croaked and she smiled sadly
" No she is not dead, she is well" she huffed patting Emily's hair, slowly and softly
" I'm so tired" she whispered tears tracking down her cheek"
" I know. Sleep" she answered caressing her hair, she fell asleep on the forest floor, beside the rapidly cooling body of Bruce all stained with blood. She heard voices as she fell asleep.