Page 218 of Eternal Ruin

“I know.” Yusef smiled weakly. “I wanted to do this myself. For once. My dad will be free during this chaos. All I had to do was cause a big enough distraction in Uxlay, and keep the Sicions split. But the explosion was supposed to go off after I left. You two were never supposed to be here. Neither was… I.”

Kidan’s voice became wretched with terror. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I told you… I’m done being a burden. I can handle things on my own, without risking the two of you. I guess I failed on that part.” He coughed and black blood poured down his chin.

Slen’s whole face shook, wiping the blood from his chin. “You absolute idiot.”

“I wanted to free you too. He’ll be gone, Slen. He’ll never touch you again. Koril will be killed in the riot. I made sure.” Yusef grabbed Slen’s gloved hand and pressed it to his cheek. “I should have done it back then. The first time he hurt you, and I found you.”

Silent tears flowed down Slen’s scratched cheeks. “Stop.”

Kidan dug her nails into her palms and stood again. She shoved against the column again and again, roaring in both grief and pain when it would creak a little and return to where it had been.

“Come on, Slen,” she shouted, straining down to the base of her spine. “We need to move this!”

Slen remained where she was. “We can’t.”

“Slen!”

Grand Andromeda Hall was crumbling around them. The charcoal drawings fell like raven feathers. Yusef’s strained face couldn’t keep his smile anymore. His breathing grew shallow.

“Fuck!” Kidan screamed until her throat was raw. She tried to find the windowagain, but all that remained was gray. It had been blocked by a collapsed pillar. She coughed into her arm to clear the dust collecting on her tongue.

Weakly, Yusef reached to caress Slen’s cheek, fingers peeking from his glove. “I wanted to bury my feelings for you here. Set us both free. Stupid, huh? As if it would be that easy to be rid of you.”

Slen was so still, her lashes were a dark line around her eyes, wet.

He coughed again, waves of pain moving across his face. “Tell me it’ll be okay, Slen. Even if you lie, I’ll believe you.”

Kidan could no longer see from behind the blur of tears. But the outline of Slen’s head bowed low, brushing a kiss over his forehead, her words softer than they’d ever been.

“It’ll be okay. You will be fine, Yusef. The dranaics will heal you and you will see your father. He will be free and you will both live far away from here. You will go to the Semain Mountains and scream from the top of the world. You will travel and draw and you will be happy because that is what you deserve.”

Yusef’s eyes faded into a cool brown, but he managed to ask, “One more lie.”

Slen turned her face aside, her lip trembled, dark eyes red. She seemed to search for strength and it took her a while to face him again.

She sniffed. “Someday, I will love you as you love me and regret not telling you.”

A relieved sigh left Yusef, and with that, his final breath.

The curve of his lip was still arched, in the process of a smile. Slen choked back a cry, but the second one ripped out from her throat, unable to be restrained. Kidan felt herself wither. Another tremor built within the walls. Urgent, not giving them another second to think. Slen and Kidan threw themselves over Yusef’s body, their eyes met in the carnage.

This is how we will die.

A scream built inside Kidan but there was no space to let it out. Her entire body rocked like a bell with the thirdcrash,but she clung to her friends. Even through the ringing, and the end of the world, she didn’t let go. Slen’s hand squeezed hers back. When the piercing sound faded, the dust cleared slowly, and a shaft of sunlight streamed through.

Landing on Yusef’s fading eyes.

Sunlight…

One of the windows was accessible again.

“Go!” Slen shouted, her whole face covered in ash.

Kidan stumbled to her feet. She tore her palms on sharp pieces of broken stone and climbed up to the small uneven opening and crawled through. It was a couple feet up from the ground and she jumped, headfirst, rolling onto the grass, facing south.

“Help!” Kidan screamed but there was no one on this side of campus. She ran toward the front of Grand Andromeda Hall, glimpsing the gathering crowd and the Sicions pushing students backward, away from the carnage.