I get her right across the neck, just enough time to see her eyes go wide in surprise, turning from black to white. The blade cuts deep. Her head turns to ash, crumbling in front of me, just as the rest of her does.
I stare at it falling to the ground.
Hold the sword in my hands.
Thor’s hammer, indeed.
But I only saved myself.
I didn’t save him.
I drop the sword and start running to the car.
I get to Max’s side, look in through the shattered window.
He’s lying there in his seat.
Seatbelt still on.
But his head is slumped to the side, blood running down the sides of his face.
More than that, he’s flickering.
He barely even here.
His body keeps fading in and out.
“Max,” I say, voice choking, panic taking over. I struggle with the door, finally opening it and I throw myself at him. My hands pressed against his face. He’s solid one minute and the next it’s like my hands keep sinking through.
“No, no, no,” I say, moving my hands over him, trying to give him my energy. It coughs and spurts and the flow is weak, like it’s not enough.
“Please, please,” I tell him, trying to touch his brow, his hair, his cheeks. I try to lift him up, to look into his eyes. “Max!” I scream.
He stirs, flinches. Opens his eyes briefly but they see nothing.
“Max!” I yell again. “It’s me. You’re here. I’m here. You’re safe.” Maybe I was half-dead for a bit there when I was thrown from the car, maybe it was enough to sever our connection, to drop him off in the deep end.
But he closes his eyes again.
“Ada,” he says, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “Leave me. Save yourself.”
“No,” I tell him, trying to shake him awake as he fades. “No, no! I did save myself. I did it. I used your sword. I got her. I’m saved. You’re saved. Let me save you.”
He’s fading faster now.
Oh my god.
No.
Please.
“Max,” I gasp, tears choking my throat, trying so hard to not give in to the horror, to the sorrow. “Max, please! Don’t…don’t!”
I put my hands on his shoulders.
They sink right through until I feel the back of the seat.
“Noooo!” I scream. “No! Please! Stop! Stop, come back to me! You can’t leave me, Max! You can’t leave me!”
Tears are streaming down my cheeks, my whole body shaking, soul to heart, and I don’t know what to do, I can’t lose him, I can’t let this be it. “Please, please, please.”
Let this be a dream.
Let this be undone.
Let me be enough.
“Max,” I sob, leaning against him, leaning into him, leaning through him until I’m against the seat and there’s nothing left. The energy inside me is draining, draining, swirling, going down, running away. “I love you. I love you. Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.” I crumble up on the seat where he once was, collapsing in on myself. Somewhere, in the deepest parts of me, I still feel him.
It’s like that black space that was inside him.
And instead of seeing that tiny kernel of me, it’s a tiny spark of him.
“Please,” I cry out, fingers digging into the seat. “No. Please. Come back. Don’t leave me. We have so much left. There’s too much left.”
My jaw screams in pain with the force of my tears, and I can’t see anything but a blur, and my heart and soul are crying out and I need him. I love him, I need him, and he made me a promise he wouldn’t leave.
He made me feel like I was enough.
That I was needed.
He made me feel like I was everything.
“I love you,” I whisper, feeling myself shatter into a million pieces, glass that turns to rose petals that turns to dust.
My heart scattered everywhere.
I close my eyes, wondering if I should have even gotten up to start with, if I should have stayed on that pavement and given in along with him.
But I know I have so much to live for.
And I know he does too.
It’s just, maybe he knew it too late.
“Max,” I whisper into the wind.
I want to stay here.
Head on the seat.
Holding onto the car even though it’s broken.
But I’m broken too.
We all are.
“Ada.”
I open my eyes, thinking the wind that’s whistling through the car is playing tricks on me.
“Ada.”
Max’s voice.
The spark inside of me where he resides glows.
I lift my head just in time to feel the rest of me rise.
Pushed up through the air.
Until I’m resting on Max’s chest.
And he’s solid again.
I press my hands into his stomach, chest, arms, bring my eyes to face him.
He’s staring right at me.
Inches away.
Bloodied face, but his emerald eyes gaze right into mine, tears shining.
He reaches out, putting his hand on my face.
“Max,” I whisper, everything shaking.
I can’t believe it.
My heart.
“You’re back,” I manage to say, marveling at him, at the way he feels beneath my hands. Solid. So solid. The spark so strong. “You…”