“Ada,” he says, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “Leave me. Save yourself.”
“No,” I tell him, trying to shake him awake as he fades. “No, no! I did save myself. I did it. I used your sword. I got her. I’m saved. You’re saved. Let me save you.”
He’s fading faster now.
Oh my god.
No.
Please.
“Max,” I gasp, tears choking my throat, trying so hard to not give in to the horror, to the sorrow. “Max, please! Don’t…don’t!”
I put my hands on his shoulders.
They sink right through until I feel the back of the seat.
“Noooo!” I scream. “No! Please! Stop! Stop, come back to me! You can’t leave me, Max! You can’t leave me!”
Tears are streaming down my cheeks, my whole body shaking, soul to heart, and I don’t know what to do, I can’t lose him, I can’t let this be it. “Please, please, please.”
Let this be a dream.
Let this be undone.
Let me be enough.
“Max,” I sob, leaning against him, leaning into him, leaning through him until I’m against the seat and there’s nothing left. The energy inside me is draining, draining, swirling, going down, running away. “I love you. I love you. Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.” I crumble up on the seat where he once was, collapsing in on myself. Somewhere, in the deepest parts of me, I still feel him.
It’s like that black space that was inside him.
And instead of seeing that tiny kernel of me, it’s a tiny spark of him.
“Please,” I cry out, fingers digging into the seat. “No. Please. Come back. Don’t leave me. We have so much left. There’s too much left.”
My jaw screams in pain with the force of my tears, and I can’t see anything but a blur, and my heart and soul are crying out and I need him. I love him, I need him, and he made me a promise he wouldn’t leave.
He made me feel like I was enough.
That I was needed.
He made me feel like I was everything.
“I love you,” I whisper, feeling myself shatter into a million pieces, glass that turns to rose petals that turns to dust.
My heart scattered everywhere.
I close my eyes, wondering if I should have even gotten up to start with, if I should have stayed on that pavement and given in along with him.
But I know I have so much to live for.
And I know he does too.
It’s just, maybe he knew it too late.
“Max,” I whisper into the wind.
I want to stay here.
Head on the seat.
Holding onto the car even though it’s broken.
But I’m broken too.
We all are.
“Ada.”
I open my eyes, thinking the wind that’s whistling through the car is playing tricks on me.
“Ada.”
Max’s voice.
The spark inside of me where he resides glows.
I lift my head just in time to feel the rest of me rise.
Pushed up through the air.
Until I’m resting on Max’s chest.
And he’s solid again.
I press my hands into his stomach, chest, arms, bring my eyes to face him.
He’s staring right at me.
Inches away.
Bloodied face, but his emerald eyes gaze right into mine, tears shining.
He reaches out, putting his hand on my face.
“Max,” I whisper, everything shaking.
I can’t believe it.
My heart.
“You’re back,” I manage to say, marveling at him, at the way he feels beneath my hands. Solid. So solid. The spark so strong. “You…”
He swallows. “Came back. We never got the chance to discuss how I feel about you.”
I burst out laughing, the sound soft in the air. I’m smiling like a fool, joy spilling out of me like the sun. “Oh my god,” I cry out. Happy. So happy. “You’re here.”
His eyes crinkle at the corners. “I’m here.”
I can’t stop gawking at him, at this. At us.
He’s not dead.
He came back.
“So then tell me,” I say to him quietly, heart swelling. “How do you feel about me?”
He smiles, then it fades to something serious, running his thumb over my cheekbones, eyes sparkling with clarity. “I love you,” he whispers.
I feel like my face will split in two. “You love me.”
Now he’s smiling again, eyes searching my face. He bites his lip for a moment. “Yes, Ada. I’m in love with you. You’re my everything and my only thing and I love you.”
“You know I love you too, right?”
“I recall hearing that when I was someplace far away. Helped to pull me back. You, in love with me? Couldn’t pass that up.”
I laugh, leaning in and kissing him, tasting our tears, feeling the energy build again, letting it flow over us like champagne.
I can’t believe it.
I can’t believe it.
He’s still here.
“You faded away,” I say, pulling back, my lips grazing his chin. “Went missing. Just now. Where did you go?”
“It wasn’t to Hell. It was to a place I’d never been before. A place that made me realize that you couldn’t save me again. And I didn’t want you to. I had to save myself.”
And I had to do the same.
“Guess what?” I whisper to him, running my hands through his hair, picking out shards of glass.
“You love me?”
“I do.” I kiss him again. “But also, I killed Michelle.”
He closes his eyes, relaxes against the seat, a proud smile coming across his lips. “I thought you would.”
“And do you know how?”
“How?”
“I used your sword.”
He opens one eyes, peering at me. “You used Mjöllnir?”
I blink at him, taken aback. “You named your sword Mjöllnir? As in Thor’s Hammer? The Avengers?”
“Technically Norse history, but okay, The Avengers.”
“You mean Norse mythology.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Oh my god, don’t tell me you were a fucking Viking too.”
He grins at me, the smile lighting up his whole face, despite the blood running down the sides. “That was several centuries before I came into existence. But who knows, maybe a part of me did exist back then. I don’t really know how old I am.”
My mouth gapes. “You don’t really know? You could be older than you think?
He gives a slight shrug. “I know as far as I remember. Maybe I was a Viking. Would explain where the red
