Anne Winchell - The Last War

Raven wept at her side for a long time, and Medane kept the rebels away to give him privacy. He never mentioned if Atheus told him a cure, Medane realized after a while. Perhaps Atheus had told him, but it was too horrific. Maybe cutting off her arm, but no, Raven wouldn’t weep if the solution were so easy. He grit his teeth and cursed Raven’s closeness. Now of all times Raven should be sharing information, not keeping secrets, but the boy still must think of Medane as the enemy even after all of their long years together, even after Medane had done everything and risked everything to save him. Whatever the cure was, Medane was determined to find out before Raven did something else rash.

Still, watching the boy weep over Nalia, his heart softened and he couldn’t help but remember Raven weeping over his parents so long ago. Raven didn’t know that it was Medane who had rescued him all those years ago; he thought it was a random police officer. And Medane would never tell him otherwise. But Medane loved Raven like a son, and he would do anything in his power if it meant saving Nalia and protecting Raven.

After several hours, he noticed that Raven was trying to pull off the bracelet and failing. So Raven knew about the bracelet. The boy seemed despondent when he couldn’t remove the bracelet, and Medane realized that Atheus must have told him that removing it was the only way to save her. But there was no way to remove it, not unless—

The pieces snapped together perfectly in Medane’s head. The only way to remove it was for another díamont to take it, and the only other díamont was Medane. No wonder Raven didn’t want to talk to him about the cure. The boy must not want to ask him for such a sacrifice, either because he was afraid Medane would refuse, or perhaps because he was afraid Medane would accept and then the world would be at the mercy of Atheus.

The bracelet had plummeted down from above, landing mere feet from Medane’s feet. For the first time, he realized that he had been the intended target. After all, he would have picked it up if Nalia hadn’t snatched it first. He would have died almost instantly and Atheus would have been left to rule the world.

Atheus’s plan was ruthless, but it had worked. Now Raven had to choose between his love and the man who had helped him, the man who was the string holding the Eastern World together. But not for long. Soon, Raven would be that string and the nations would follow him, and Medane could safely take the bracelet and save Nalia’s life. He just needed a little more time.

Raven rested on a cot next to Nalia’s, but he didn’t sleep. He had been at her side for nearly twenty-four hours now and knew that nothing would wake her up except for killing Medane. If he were younger, the solution would have been simple. Just trick Medane into touching the bracelet and then get Medane somewhere where the resulting explosion wouldn’t kill Nalia and the others. But he was more mature now, and knew that killing Medane would have far-reaching consequences that he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Medane held the United Eastern World together and he was the reason the various leaders didn’t descend into civil war or worse. The president had a lot of power, but only the strength of the díamont ensured cooperation.

And Medane meant something to Raven, which he hadn’t fully realized before. He cared for Medane. Medane had been protecting him for nearly a decade now, taking care of him, keeping him safe, and allowing him more freedom than anyone else had ever given him. Even though he worked for Medane, at times it felt like a more paternal relationship and Raven knew that Medane was the father he never had. He couldn’t ask the closest thing to a parent he had to kill himself, even if it would save the woman he loved. He couldn’t choose either of them, so he didn’t act and by his inaction he knew he was dooming Nalia to death.

His lack of action ate away at him as he lay in the darkness and shut his eyes against her steady breathing. Usually her breathing was soothing—a sign that the end had not yet come. But tonight it was an accusation and he knew that he would never fully recover from her death, because he was solely responsible. He had the cure, the solution, and he refused to act. He heard movement in the darkness but kept his eyes closed. Often Nalia’s friend Jess came to see her, though not usually at night. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for one of the rebels to stop by and they tried not to wake Raven. He didn’t tell them that it didn’t matter; he hadn’t slept since landing despite his exhaustion and the bullet hole in his gut.

He still wasn’t sure how he survived long enough to crawl back to the car and set off the distress signal, let alone how he had stayed conscious the grueling hours until help had arrived, but he had. They had bandaged him up and given him blood, and sent him to Medane and Nalia. He shivered as he remembered his first sight of Nalia. Like a sleeping beauty, only no kiss could wake her up.

There was a muffled grunt of pain from Nalia’s bed—not her—and Raven sat up.

“Who’s there?”

Silence. The room was empty. Raven got to his feet and checked for signs of an intruder. Nalia lay still and silent as always, with her slowly burning arm on top of the covers. Raven frowned. He had left both of her arms under the covers to protect her from the ash that still hung in the air when the wind rose up. He lifted her arm and gasped. The bracelet was gone.

Medane.

Raven ran to the door just in time to see the shadow of a díamont lumbering towards NeoLondon. He winced. He was in no condition for a chase, but he had to stop Medane. Medane had removed the bracelet but he wasn’t dead yet, so if Medane could just drop the bracelet, then perhaps this nightmare would be over. Raven shuffled out the door after Medane, knowing he was losing speed on the díamont even though Medane paused frequently. The pain must be excruciating, Raven thought, and forced his feet faster. They reached the edge of Díamont Crater and Medane stopped.

“Medane!”

The díamont turned and even through the diamond sheathing his face, Raven saw surprise reflected in his features.

“Don’t worry, Raven,” Medane said in a pained voice. “The world is yours now.”

Raven took another step and a flare of light surrounded Medane. The díamont’s body was on fire and Medane looked to the empty sky and pointed up. Then a blue stream of light shot up into the sky. Raven gasped. Atheus had said there would be an explosion, but Nalia had been able to control it. Would Medane be able to control his death to prevent NeoLondon from suffering another strike?

Just as the blue light began to fade, an enormous white wall seemed to slam out from Medane and struck Raven, flinging him backwards against a half-destroyed pillar. He blinked, but his vision was gone. Where was Medane? What had happened? He couldn’t see anything, and the force of the blow had reopened his wound. He collapsed to the ground and crawled forward, hoping to feel Medane. His fingers closed upon a bracelet in a pile of ashes. The bracelet was ice cold.

For two days Lethe had followed Atheus, growing more and more desperate. There could be no doubt now: Atheus was behind the bombing on NeoLondon and more devastation was on its way. But the humans were the ones initiating the attacks, and it had always been Lethe’s policy to stay out of human affairs. He longed to leap out of the shadows and kill Atheus before more cities were wiped out, but that would leave Medane the only díamont and such power might corrupt the otherwise cooperating díamont. He had to figure out how to lure Medane and Atheus to the same location so that both could be killed, but he knew Atheus would never agree. Atheus was openly flaunting the laws Lethe had set into place; he would never willingly give up his life.