Page 112 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)
ARA
I blinked and opened my eyes to the realm of the dead, the mirror to that of the living.
A slow flurry fell from the dark sky over the battlefield—or what was the battlefield in our realm. Here, there were no bodies strewn across the ground, no blood-stained snow, or burnt bones. It was empty, the thick layer of snow undisturbed, despite the souls wandering about.
They didn’t seem to notice me as I ran up to the ridge where Rogue had died, but his body wasn’t there. There wasn’t even an imprint of his form, not a speck of blood.
I sank to my knees.
I knew he wouldn’t be here—no one else was—but disappointment still clung to my insides, a deep ache no healer could ever touch.
The air grew too thin, my lungs too shallow as I gasped for breath.
I wasn’t ready to leave him. I would never be ready.
My trembling hands pressed into the ground where he’d fallen, my body wracking with a sob. The cold should burn my skin, seep into my muscles until I went numb—but I didn’t feel any of it.
The cold had already found its way into my soul. Rogue was gone, and my chest was hollow.
His warmth was gone.
I dropped my face to my hands, dug my palms to my eyes, and screamed through clenched teeth.
Grief curled and swelled inside me like a living being—an angry beast demanding to be heard, to be seen, to be felt —but I shoved it down and locked it away.
I couldn’t fall apart here.
My family still needed me, though that included fewer and fewer each passing day, dying by the minute?—
I shook my head and forced myself to stand.
They still needed me, and a man still needed to die.
But how would I find anyone here?
I thought back to the last time I visited this realm. Vaelor had said they appeared because I needed them…
Well, I need a lot right now. Too much.
Inhaling a slow breath, I tried to narrow down my focus to what I needed— who I needed—but my focus was nonexistent. A thousand images flashed through my mind: everyone I had lost, the future we deserved, the future stolen from us, and more than anything else, Rogue’s face.
Smiling. Always smiling.
Silent tears slid down my cheeks as I stared out over the dark expanse beyond this field. Nothingness as far as I could see.
Nothingness and lost souls I didn’t recognize.
This isn’t working. I can’t focus. Can’t breathe ? —
I closed my eyes, digging my nails into my palms to dull the pain in my heart. I would just have to walk until I found Vaelor. That was why I was here, right?
To bring Vaelor back.
Because Rogue was dead.
He had died.
I-I ? —
I can’t break yet.
Not here. Not now.
But soon.
Soon, I could shatter into pieces and join him.
I slowed my breathing, opened my eyes, and froze.
He stood before me like a statue.
Not Vaelor.
My lips parted. “Rogue.”
He didn’t answer me. Just stared, a slight furrow between his brows.
“Rogue?”
Again, no answer.
My heart raced, eyes wide. The prophecy never specified who would return. It could be him. I could bring him back with me?—
My fingers went through his arm like a cloud of ash, swirling in the air.
I stilled. Blinked. Tried again.
“Please,” I begged to anyone who would listen: Rogue, the Goddess, the realm, fate. “Please!”
I could’ve sworn I heard the audible crack of my heart before it shattered all over again.
That split second of hope—the false hope I’d given myself?—
It detonated like a wildfyre bomb in my chest.
I screamed his name. I screamed until my throat shredded, until blood coated my tongue, until it echoed back from the void.
My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees with a hard crack because Rogue couldn’t catch me. I wasn’t even sure he could see or hear me—but then, he followed me to the ground.
My breath shuddered. I needed to touch him, to hold him, to hug him.
I just needed him.
I needed him.
I reached out again, and this time, he reached back, but when our fingers should’ve touched…
Just more ash.
The tears and screams slowed to a halt as a thick cloud of numbness swallowed me. My hands fell to my lap.
I couldn’t move—didn’t want to.
That was when the souls I needed appeared.
Vaelor first.
Alden and Ara.
Ewan.
Vaelor sank to one side of me, Alden on the other.
“It’s going to be all right,” Alden whispered.
“No,” I uttered. “It will never be all right. How could it be? The world lost its worth.”
Rogue’s expression stayed flat and unchanging. He looked different than the other souls, less corporeal, darker, like he stood in a constant shadow.
“Not even death can keep me from you.”
It’s doing a damned good job right now.
“He wouldn’t agree with that assessment,” Vaelor said gently. “The world hasn’t lost its worth quite yet.”
I didn’t look away from Rogue. I couldn’t.
This might be the last chance I ever get to see his face—to see it alive, or as close to alive as I would get. His body would still be there when I returned, but he would be cold, and that was… wrong . So fucking wrong.
Rogue was never meant to be cold.
My gut wrenched as I stared at him.
I couldn’t do anything else.
No one pulled me away. No one rushed me.
I stared until something moved—a flicker, deep in Rogue’s chest, so faint I thought I imagined it.
I leaned in, squinting.
In the shadow of his heart, a spark glowed, nearly swallowed by darkness, but it was light, and it almost looked like…like the beginnings of sunrise.
My heart skipped a beat, then raced wildly.
“The prophecy…” I whispered.
Vaelor nodded quickly. “Extinguish her heart, and plunge into darkness. Only then can new light break, and dawn renew.”
“From the ashes, her world born anew,” I finished.
Her world.
I hadn’t understood before.
I did now.
My world was not a realm.
It was a man.
This man.
“His mother—Edana—phoenyx,” Alden said, stumbling over his words. “Familial magic.”
My lips curled into a faint smile.
I spared one last glance at Rogue. Light swelled in his chest like a match struck in the belly of a cave. It pulsed once, slow and steady, and in that heartbeat, I felt it: the promise that this wasn’t over.
We weren’t over.
“Death cannot keep you from me.”
I whirled to my feet and snatched Vaelor’s hand.