Side Effects

25 - Just As It Began

The world hung below him, anticipating his goodbyes. Wind whipped him sideways in attempt to make him fall from the edge of the towering hospital. A familiar place, indeed.

Clouds hung above him as a warning of what was yet to come. He did not mind. He just glared down in the the New Orbis abyss, contemplating silently to himself.

He had considered it before - falling to his death. There had been various times he had tried, though none had worked. But Ray's power was gone from him - transplanted inside the body of the deceased he would never forget. His power had failed Tina. His power had failed him.

He dropped the shotgun from his loose clasp, never intending to use it in the first place, yet eventually having to give in. It was the police or them. Ray frowned in a mix of woe and self-hatred. He had killed. He had killed officers and guards without showing any remorse until now.

Those people had people who loved them too - Ray's mind destroyed itself along with the thoughts of them being just like Tina in terms of humanity.

'No.' He mentally told himself. 'They were not humane. They killed and tortured and betrayed. They were not like Tina. Not at all.'

He clenched a fist, but let go soon after, allowing the revelation to sink in. It was not a revelation of sorts - he always knew where he was standing. This was the exact spot where Tina died. Traces of her DNA still laid beneath his feet. In respect, he moved away from the spot, towards the section without a gate. Now he was truly in danger, but he could not care less for it.

He had nothing left. No powers, no friends. Just allies. That was all the others were to him. Only allies who had changed him into a murderer.

For the last few days, hours on end, he had constantly told himself that he had deserved everything that happened to him. He awoke to the city as weak and naïve; there was no wonder that he had come into this calamity as nothing more than a puppet.

He could have done anything he wished. Could have been great. Could have been so much better in life than standing on the edge of a building.

It should have frustrated him, but he felt nothing.

He could have saved Tina that day. If he had sacrificed himself, they would still both be alive. Ray told himself on repeat - 'it was my fault, it was my fault, it was my fault'.

His feet scuffed towards the edge, his toes suspended hundreds of feet in the air. Carrying his weight forward, he leaned forward into the wind, and fell to his death...

The blackness he saw came only from his eyelids. His bones cracked as they had before. His blood returning into his veins and pumping into his body again with a quicker-than-usual pace. Why was he still alive? Why was his ability still working?

Ray opened his eyes again just in time to witness the sky move as his neck cracked back into place. Standing over him was a familiar man, who looked down on him in a solid mixture of guilt and relief.

Rhine Montgomery - the Ace of Spades.

"Welcome to my barricade, kid." He spoke in a somewhat depressed manner which juxtaposed the eccentricity of his words.

Ray pulled himself up, looking around him. The two of them were incased between barricades, watching the confused faces of the wounded mercenaries around them, who had all stopped eating once they witnessed the fall.

Before Ray could ask anything, Rhine intercepted with the answers.

"When Petrenko died, Donnamira knew this would happen.
We all saw ya that day. We knew that your happiness had died with her."

Rhine rested a hand on Ray's shoulder, speaking with a driest monotone. He looked like he had not had chance to rest.

"I didn't wanna be the one t' play God, but it was either that or the death of another kid. I said to myself that I ain't gonna let that happen again, especially not at my fault."

Ray stared at the pavement, still listening.

"Once you'd left Petrenko's death bed, I took your ability back and stored it with me. Courtesy of Donnamira, 'course - she's the smart one.
Ya may not remember this, Ray, but on the first night ya stayed at Donnamira's, she slipped ya some light sleepin' pills to get ya to sleep for a short while. Whilst you were havin' a snooze, I injected your ability of regeneration back into ya. That's why ya still here, kid."

Rhine tapped Ray's shoulder and then let go.

"Donnamira's a smart woman, y'know. She expected ya to come down 'ere, so my barricade was relocated in this area just in case. Turns out she were right about that after all."

Ray could not help but smile and release a tear of joy. Just like Tina, people cared about him, too.