Resurrection

The pain reached such a pitch that Evie felt her body contract in an effort to dim the throbbing. But her brain could not ignore the irate signals that her nerves were screaming across each synapse.

She knew that she had taken the bullet. She saw the eye behind the muzzle, the flash. She felt the musket ball pierce her skin with all the grace of a ragged boulder entering water. It blasted a hole through her rib cage and entered her chest lodging deep in her lung. She tasted blood immediately, then lost her breath. She fell to her knees. Not wanting to die on her face, she leaned to her left and landed on her side.

Then she died. She was sure of it. She felt the black close in on her. She felt the pain disappear and the peace come. But now, now the black behind her eyes was red with agony. She was either alive or in the infernal hell that fire and brimstone preachers rage against. Damn them for being right.

Very slowly the searing pain downgraded to a more bearable burn. She felt her other senses, previously overcome, returning. She smelled vanilla and cat food. She felt fabric and plush beneath her. She urged her eyelids to raise in several tries like coaxing obstinate mini blinds. In between failures, she caught glimpses of her surroundings. She was clearly back in her apartment and, though she couldn't feel his touch, she recognized Eren standing over her, shaking her, terror contorting his face.

It was then that she realized that the pain she felt flowed through her whole body and was not at all centered around her chest or the bullet. Finally, she was able to hold her eyes open and was rewarded by Eren's "I am so glad that you are alive that I want to kill you" look. She raised her head just enough to look down at her chest and saw nothing there, no hole in the jacket, no blood, no trace of a wound at all.

Eren saw where she was focused and spoke the question in her head. "Can you not die when you journey?"

"Apparently not," she managed.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"You stepped between me and that bullet not knowing that you would be brought back unscathed?"

"I wouldn't exactly say unscathed." Air over her vocal chords felt like sand paper, I feel like I just escaped Dante's Inferno through the birth canal."

Eren rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know it's you." He turned toward the kitchen, muttering under his breath, "'Dante's Inferno through the birth canal', where does she come up with this stuff?" Halfway across the room he turned back to look at her sprawled on the sofa. "Hungry?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Seriously?" She fought to lift her head, "Seriously!? You're asking me if I'm hungry? We haven't spoken for 4 months. You break into my apartment and hide in my closet. You jump out and touch the stone the instant my journey begins. We end up together in the midst of the a war. I take a musket ball in the heart to save you. And you're asking me if I'm HUNGRY!?" Her voice was fully back now and her strength was returning on the wave of her frustration.

Eren looked at her sheepishly and grinned. "Um. Yeah."

"Well then, no, I'm not hungry. What I'd like from you instead of food is an explanation of what the hell you think you were doing hijacking my journey. If you'll recall, I told you never to come near me again."

Eren walked back to the sofa. "You're too tired to talk about this right now. You need to rest."

"What? And let my guard down so that you can steal the stone just like you always planned? I don't think so. If you don't intend to explain yourself, you are welcome to go." Evie looked over her shoulder at the stone to make sure it was still there and then meaningfully at the door. Then she let her head fall and her eyes close, wearied by the effort it took to act firm and resolved. She hoped she looked exasperated rather than exhausted. She had no intention of letting Eren see her weakness, she still couldn't trust him.

Eren sat down on the floor near her head and put his hand on her own limp hand. "Fine, Evie, if you want to talk now. We'll talk now."

He picked up her hand and held it between both of his, rubbing it until she opened her eyes again and looked at him.

"The truth is, I love you."

He paused, took a deep breath and then continued. "Yes, I was raised to hate the stone and its power, to believe that it was created by the Devil to alter the past to serve his own agendas, rather than by God to right the wrongs of a mistaken humanity. Yes, when I found out you were the Intercessor it was my intention to win you over and then use your trust to take the stone and destroy it for what I thought would be the good of all. I see now that I and my ancestors since the beginning have been wrong about the stone. You have shown me its real creator and its real purpose. I came here after 4 months of searching for answers because I had to see for myself. I know it was selfish, but I needed to know for certain. You not only proved to me that my faith in the stone's goodness is warranted by what I saw on the journey and what you did for that young man, but you also showed me that my love for you is stronger than even I had fully understood. When I saw you step in front of that bullet. When I saw you fall..."

Eren's voice became strained. "Evie, you were dead. There was no question. It was darkest moment of my life. I fell down beside you. There was blood everywhere. Then the battle faded away and there was a bright light. We journeyed back. Suddenly we were here and you weren't bleeding anymore. When you opened your eyes...the relief, I can't describe it."

His breath was quick and he looked into her eyes willing her to hear him. "Evie, the truth is, you are like a superhero. All I want is to be your sidekick. Just say that there is still a chance of that."

Evie who had listened calmly without response through Eren's speech had to smile at that last bit. She wanted to tell him about the months after she discovered him, how she had cried, how angry she was. She wanted to tell him that she had hated every day and night without him. She wanted to tell him that she loved him back and that all she wanted was for him to be her partner (she'd promote him from sidekick for good behavior).

But her eyes closed without her permission and all she could muster was a grin and a squeeze of his hand. She held onto it, turned away from him on her side, pulling him with her, so that to maintain the connection he had to lay down beside her on the couch. The last thing she remembered was his arm around her waist and his body pressed against her back. She slept deep and long.