Cara Lugo [Complete]

Chapter Ten: The End of it All

Storyline:

"How is it that you survived, and he did not?"

Her mother's question rang in her ears since the moment it was uttered. A question which had most likely come from pure common sense as he was the one with common sense and she was the one to go all in. Still, the truth and undertones of it all still stung. She knew that her brother deserved to live through this.

It wasn't the fight he had wanted to fight, and without her to follow behind, he would never have stepped out of his garage on that particular day. They'd be together celebrating the success of creating the Beast. A machine which now was little more than the idea of a genius and a pile of rubble. A fate he had acknowledged before he stepped into this, but Cara's other half was lost, and she was unsure who shot the killing blow into the side of the Beast.

She knew one other thing for sure. She was going to take down a liar and a traitor before he could hurt any more or die trying. The one day she had promised Robby had passed, and now was the time to get back into reckless schemes to finally achieve some of what she wanted. Some of that peace she had dreamed of, but obviously, not everyone who said they did actually share that dream.

James.

He had taken the throne. Something he had promised was temporary to restore order which had soon after turned into something permanent to fill his pockets. Not long before the smartest of the bunch quickly pledged their allegiance to the new king despite realizing what he was up to. Cara knew which choice the safest option was, but that had never been her style. She was going to make sure he noticed her. Knowing him personally was a step up from where she was before.

She was going to bind those pages of words together, incite a call to action, and set a slow-burning plan into motion. Living long had never really been a plan and now, without reason to the contrary, she was going to do one last thing and hope someone else like her showed up in the future to clean up any more messes.

Perhaps her words and her experience would inspire someone to do the same as she had done. Maybe there would be children in the future with the same fire burning within. Perhaps another girl in the future would cut her hair short and yell loud and proud about the injustices she faced. In the future, may there be someone who stands up for those who cannot and stops those men in power for twisting the world to their will.

As of now, Cara would do as much as she could and no less. She had no children to pass on her name and neither had Robby. Lara was now also beyond child-bearing age, so the family would finally die out as is. Cara knew she would never have children, not wanting to leave them motherless when Cara stepped too far out of line. She had some consideration, sometimes. A lack of desire for relationships also fueled a big part of that.

"Come out of here, it's getting stuffy," Lara said gently, leaning against the doorjamb.

Cara sat motionless, except for her hand, which crushed the page she was holding between shaking fingers.

"Come on." Lara coaxed. "It isn't good for you to be cooped up here all day and night. Go out for a while."

"I do go out." Cara says carefully. "I go out enough to see what's going on out there and it isn't good." She stands and the chair protests with a squeal. "They know my name, now more than ever, and they have a right to blame the deaths on me. Whatever I planned, it wasn't this."

"Robert was right, you know." Lara says, and Cara looks at her, eyes wide. "You don't plan. We all make mistakes too, and this was just one of yours."

"This isn't a mistake. It's too big for a simple mistake." Cara says bitterly.

"It was a mistake. You always just went for the highest thing you could reach. It was still a mistake, no matter how big the impact."