Vylad's POV:

Everything in my ears was ringing. My vision was growing dimmer but, I forced myself to stay awake. Unfortunately, the pain in my upper body was torturing. Every time I breathed I felt each bullet that Aaron shot me with enter me again. When I finally raised my hand to my face after long debating it, I saw only the small amount of blood that was pouring out of me. I wanted to scream but, knowing that Katelyn would freak out I didn't. When Zane got here as well as KC I basically just tried to follow the directions they were telling me while Katelyn just sat there in horror next to me. Tears were running down her face and her crystal blue eyes were bloodshot. I couldn't stand to see her like this. KC was hugging her tightly, trying to calm her down.

"Damn it," Zane muttered under his breath. "How am I-"

"You stay here Zane," KC spoke. "I'll go try to find Garroth and the others, as well as some water. You just need to stay here with your brother."

With that she went to her feet and bolted out of the room. I heard Zane say something to Katelyn but at this point, the ringing was so loud that I could barely hear anything. Next thing I knew, I was propped up against the wall of the dome room. Zane moved my hands away from my wounds and said to Katelyn;

"Do you perhaps have any bandages left over?"

Katelyn nodded and brought out her backpack. She dug through it and pulled out the bandages. She handed them to Zane to which he started to wrap them around me.

"Z-Zane," I stuttered, getting his attention. "If I don't make it...t-tell Garroth that I love him and that he's a huge stubborn mess-"

"Stop," He demanded. "You're going to survive this Vylad."

"I-I love you Zane...thank you for everything..."

"Vylad h-hold on," Zane said again, grasping my hand. I smiled weakly and looked over to Katelyn.

"K-Katelyn...I meant what I said before," I say, taking her hand lightly. "Use that s-sparking personality to save this world...p-please."

I started to basically gag in desperation. My eyes were getting heavier by the second and all I wanted to do was sleep...my grip got loser on my brother and the girl I was falling in love with.

"V-Vylad...don't go..."

"Who s-says I-I'm leaving...?"

Then, everything went black.

•••

Zane's POV:

Vylad's grip went away from my hand completely. His eyes closed. I sharply sobbed, realizing what had just happened. Every ounce of me was breaking...no. Shattering. I couldn't believe that this was happening. If anything, Vylad would be the last to die. Not him. Katelyn was sobbing as well, still holding his hand. I crawled over to her and tightly hugged her.

Then, the sound of feet rushing up the stairs came to my ears. Katelyn and I looked back. I met the eyes of my brother and he knew what just went on. His running turned to hesitant walking. He slowly made his way over and collapsed to his knees seeing Vylad. His expression was emotionless. He looked down at his hands for some odd reason...then, his mumbled something under his breath that only I could understand;

"kuyiphutha lami..."

It is my fault.

"Cha akusikho," I say back to him.

No it is not.

"Yebo kunjalo," He spoke rather harshly, tears cascading down his face. ".Ngifanele ngigijime ngokushesha...Ngingamphulukisa. Manje, inhliziyo yakhe iyeke ukushaya ngoba imilenze yami emibili ayikwazanga ukungithwala ngokushesha."

Yes it is. I should've ran faster...I could've healed him. Now, his heart has stopped beating because my own two legs couldn't carry me faster.

"Ngeke akusole ngakho lokhu."

He wouldn't blame you for this.

He didn't respond. He just buried his face into his hands and cried. I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Then, the others entered the room and gasped at the sight. Aphmau went to Garroth's side and tried to comfort him the best she could when she wasn't much better. KC came to me and ran her hand through my hair in a loving way. Laurance and Travis just stood there. The same expression was on everyone in the room. Nobody said anything...it was just silence except for the occasional sob or sniffle.

Garroth, it was odd, it was like something hit him upside the head. He looked to Aph and asked;

"Do you by chance have any clean water as of right now?"

Confused yet, intrigued, Aphmau pulled out her water bottle. Garroth took it and inspected it.

"This unfortunately won't be enough," I sighed. He looked to me and said; "Can you help me carry Vylad?"

I narrowed my eyes at him;

"Are you serious?" I asked in utter confusion. "Let our brother-"

"Zane trust me."

I looked into his eyes and all I saw was determination run through them. I, with great regret yet hopefulness, agreed to help. We both got up leaving the five others to look at us in confusion. We just told them to follow us. Garroth picked up Vylad and told me to make sure he didn't drop him. I nodded and stayed close to him. We made our way out of the building and towards the park again. Garroth made his way to the center of it where a fountain was close by. He laid Vylad on the ground gently.

"I'm going to go over to that fountain and I need your help Zane," He said. Still confused out of my mind, I followed him.

•••

Garroth's POV:

Zane and I ran over to the fountain. It was a pretty large one that had pillars surrounding it.

"What are we doing?" Zane demanded.

"I need your winds to push that statue," I say, pointing to the center of the fountain where a statue was. I assumed that also where the water came from. "That way some water can escape."

"Then what?"

"I'm going to try and clean it to the best of my abilities and..." I trailed off, looking back at the group that was still surrounding our brother. Aphmau made eye contact with me and frowned. I looked away trying to keep my plan in my head. "I'm going to try and heal Vylad."

"B-But Garroth you've never brought someone back to life before and you've never found a way to cleanse water."

"Zane, I have to at least try!" I shouted. "If I don't I'll have this guilt for the rest of my life!"

Zane took a deep breath but, agreed. He closed his eyes and raised his hands. The winds around us seemed to quickly pick up speed. I jumped down to the bottom of the fountain to get towards the statue. I held my ground as the winds got stronger and stronger. Soon, the statue cracked and crumbled down against Zane's air. As well as some of the pillars. Water shot up from the fountain, finally escaping the piping. I used my powers to grasp it and hold it mid air. More and more of it was gathered and soon, I was satisfied with the amount. I needed to focus. I focused on the water and the water alone. Not my brothers. Not my parents. Not the world around me. Not Aphmau...just the water. I could feel all the bacteria and toxins that had poisoned it. Splatters of it hit my face and exposed skin, causing new burn marks to appear on my skin. I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky, my father. With him, I knew I would be able to cleanse the water.

"Please Father..." I say. "You said it was our time...prove it to me."

Just then, I felt the water breath again as it's toxins were washed away. I smiled brightly and looked back at Zane who was gobsmacked. Yet, there was no time to waste. With the water in hand, Zane and I rushed over to Vylad and the others. Katelyn was holding his head in her lap. She looked up at me and said;

"Just...don't hurt yourself as well," She said. "I can't stand losing someone else."

"I won't. I promise," I say with a slight smile, kneeling down to my brother. Zane stood behind me with KC next to him. She took his hand as if to support him. Aphmau sat across from me on the other side of Vylad while Laurance and Travis watched. "Katelyn, do you perhaps still have the flower Vylad gave you that day?" She nodded and got it out of her backpack. It had lost it's beautiful color but, maybe it would help. I don't know. I took it gently from her and placed it over Vylad's chest.

I focused on the water again. I tried to channel it's essence through me to transfer to my brother. I thought of the wounds I had saw. The blood that stained the floor. I told the water the information I knew and tried to guide it through Vylad's injuries. Winging it isn't something I would do in a situation like this but, it's my last resort. There was no way I was letting Vylad die like this.
I opened my eyes to see the water doing what I wanted it to. I was washing through Vylad's gunshot wounds and cleaning up the blood that stained his clothes. The most beautiful thing though was that the flower that I had placed on his chest earlier was gaining back it's color and beauty. Katelyn was in shock really. I was too to be honest. As the flower turned more vibrant, the wounds on Vylad became smaller and smaller. Once my water was out and my power was drained, I looked down to Vylad. My head was pounding from exhaustion but, I needed to know what had happened. I raised my hand to his chest and...

I felt it rise. I smiled widely and sighed in relief. The color in Vylad's skin return and his eyes slowly opened. He seemed a bit disoriented but, Katelyn gasped and leaned down to kiss him. I was surprised to say the least but, I kinda saw it coming.

"W-What happened?" Vylad asked after sitting up. He picked up the flower that was on his chest and looked at Zane and I then, to Katelyn.

"Welp, bud, you died," Travis explained. "Then Garroth and Zane did a little magic that was cool and bam! Here you are!"

"Wait," Vylad said, looking to me this time. "You brought me back to life?"

"Of course I did," I smiled. "I couldn't leave you like that...dead isn't a good look on you."

He smiled and hugged me tightly to which I returned it.

"Okay you two, let me in now," Zane sighed and hugged us both. "I helped by the way!"

Vylad laughed and nodded while pulling away. 

"Thank you...everyone," He said, looking all around.

"We are just glad you're okay Vylad," Aphmau said with her sweet smile. "I think everything would turn into chaos without you here honestly."

"Agreed," KC added. "You're too important to lose."

We all just decided to catch our breath before we continued with everything. Katelyn has pulled out the papers that I assume her and Vylad found after everyone was gathered and listening.

"So, after skimming this..." She trailed off. "Our leaders all just started it as a way to gain power. In a selfish way I suppose then, it turned into a monstrosity."

"What about KC's father?" Zane asked, taking KC's hand.

"It says that he agreed to start the war," Katelyn says with a tone of sadness to her voice. "I'm so sorry Kawaii~Chan."

KC sighed and said;

"I know my father wasn't perfect. I knew that he wanted power like any leader. But, it's in the past. Let's focus on the future," She said, looking down. "Does it say anything of how to get back on our feet?"

"Sadly no," Katelyn shrugged. "I really wished it did but, I couldn't find anything. It just basically stated that if there was any human survival after this was that we were to basically start over or build up from the information we know. But, I'm sure since all of us were children, we're kind of stumped."

"You can say that again," Laurance huffed. "But, we'll figure something out...like we always do."

"What's the first step though?" Aphmau asked.

Vylad looked at the flower and reached inside for the seed. He walked over to a blank spot in the grass. He dug up a good small hole and planted it.

"Garroth, I could use your help for this," He said. I came over and poured a little of the water that was in the water bottle Aphmau gave me before. I quickly let it seep into the ground making the soil damp. Vylad hovered his hand over the area and soon, a beautiful blue flower sprouted from the ground. 

"We can start with that."

Word Count
2204