"You… why are you here…?" Jade coughed, her voice strained, eyes wide in disbelief as she looked at the boy standing between her and Elaine.
"Run. You can't win this. You'll die."
Jeasus didn't flinch.
His hands were clenched.
Code flickered across his arms like veins made of light.
He stared at Elaine not with fear, but with fire.
"I won't…" he said, voice shaking but steady,
"I won't run away."
Jade's jaw tightened. She slammed her fist weakly against the cracked pavement, frustration and fear swelling inside her.
"You idiot…"
(Why would you throw yourself into this?)
Elaine chuckled softly.
She lowered one gun, letting it dangle at her side. Her aura pulsed.
"How sweet. How noble. How utterly pointless."
She raised her other hand and the world tilted.
Jade's knees buckled.
Emotions drained from her body like air from a punctured lung.
Fear. Pain. Rage.
All of it began to fade—stolen.
