Gunshots…
Are there gunshots in heaven? Or maybe she was in hell. Destiny forced her eyes open and blanched.
‘William!’ she exclaimed in surprise. William hurtled through the mass of GroundUnders with River close at his heels slicing at the deformed army.
She watched as he tried to land on a blow on Shears with the butt of his gun but the sinister man held him off with his newly grown strong limbs. She flinched when she felt someone dragging her out of her circular prison. The symbols on her arms slid off her skin like ashes, leaving behind their blackened imprints.
‘Dee, move!’ River urged her as he pulled her towards the ladder. He pulled out a blade from a sheath parallel to his shin, stuck it in the ground and twisted the handle. A stream of electric currents shot out to clear all the GroundUnders in their path. Unfortunately, Shears noticed what was happening around him.
‘How?’ he roared, as he glanced suspiciously at River. His figure emanated so much energy William was thrown off his feet. ‘No! The transfer is not complete! I want ALL the power!’
His hair was now an ash blonde shade and he was standing up from his wheelchair, his body wholesome once more. Extending one hand in the direction of the ladder, he released a ball of electric blue energy which buried the exit in rubble and earth.
‘Behind the canister!’ William ordered as he grabbed Destiny from under her arm and dragged her to safety.
She felt drained and useless. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t been so curious to uncover her past; if she’d only listened to River and taken backup or something. And now William was involved. This just couldn’t get any worse.
‘River, you need to get Destiny out of here!’ William grunted as he fired at Shears once more with Kane, his silver Walker Colt.
‘Our only exit is blocked, William!’ River argued.
‘Use your blade to clear a path! I’ll hold Shears off!’
Destiny snapped out of her stunned silence.
‘No!’ she said fiercely and looked William right in the eye. ‘I’m not running away like a coward! This is my fight, William!’
‘Destiny, this is no time to remember your pride,’ William replied in a strained voice as he loaded Kane.
‘You can’t hold him off yourself, William, he’s too strong now! You need us! So stop bossing me around and let me-!’
‘Damn it, Destiny, let me do my job as your brother and get you to safety before you get killed!’
It was like the explosions in the background had been switched to mute. The glass canister was shattered, forcing the trio to seek shelter behind the controls now. But even as they switched shelters, Destiny couldn’t take her eyes off William.
‘You knew,’ she finally managed to utter. ‘All this time, you knew who I was. And you never felt the need to tell me? You never had the FREAKING GUTS TO TELL ME?!’
‘Destiny, calm down,’ William exclaimed as he ducked to avoid a burning shard of metal.
‘CALM DOWN?!’ she roared and yanked at his shirt to force him to look at her. He didn’t even flinch.
‘Why, William? Why didn’t you tell me who I was?’
‘I thought you’d be better off not knowing,’ he answered bluntly, not even batting an eye. Her own narrowed in anger.
‘Oh yeah, this is so much better!’ she snapped as Shears launched a hunk of metal at them this time. They quickly rolled out of the way to the next set of controls.
‘I want my powers, Destiny!’ Shears shrieked gleefully, his power so immense it was ripping the
GroundUnders to shreds. ‘And I want them NOW!’
‘Hate to break up the family reunion but we have a situation here!’ River snapped.
Destiny glanced briefly at the power hungry Shears before her eyes slid back to William. However, the anger melted away when she finally got a good look at William.
For the first time ever, Destiny saw how tired William looked. Was it because of all the responsibilities he was forced to shoulder? She wondered, if she knew who she was, what would she have done? Would she have been happy? Or would she have gone insane? Perhaps these very thoughts had plagued William when he found out who she was and he did the best he could to save her. Everything he had done, up until now, had been for her wellbeing.
‘Will, any ideas?’ River yelled as he snapped his two swords together to make one. Silently, Destiny stood up while drawing out her two pistols.
‘Well, what would you do if you got a villain, weapons, and the fear of dying?’ she heard herself utter. She cocked her guns ready. ‘You fight.’
Without hesitation, she bounded out of their hiding place while turning sideways to fire her guns at Shears.
‘I have to do this just right,’ she thought firmly as Shears shot a wad of energy at her. ‘No second thoughts now.’
She dodged the shot and landed on one knee. When she looked up her eyes widened as a slab of glass came flying at her. Suddenly, a sheet of metal slid in front of her, deflecting the danger.
‘What’re you planning, Dee?’ River grunted as he supported the metal shield to protect both of them from the raining wreckage.
‘What makes you think I’m planning something?’ she retorted and leaned out from under the shield to shoot at Shears. He deflected the shots.
‘You’ve got that look.’
‘What look?’
‘Destiny.’
She stood up so that she was standing between River and the shield. She gave him a sad smile.
‘I’ll miss you, River,’ she said softly and kissed him quickly on the lips. He stared at her, stunned. Before he could react, she was gone and barreling towards Shears.
‘William!’ he choked out. The red-eyed man hurled forward to block Destiny’s path but she sidestepped him. He looked at her in surprise. She just grinned and gave him a salute as she rolled backwards right back into the circle which had previously been her prison. The circle began to glow again and the symbols slowly danced in front of her once more.
‘You want all the power, huh, Shears?’ she hollered at the greedy man as he eyed her warily. ‘Well, let’s see if you can handle all of it!’
The same gut-wrenching feeling she had felt at Bianca’s church overwhelmed her as her sight began to blur. She heard screams of pain but it seemed to be coming from somewhere else other than from her own mouth. She also thought she heard someone screaming her name but she wasn’t sure who it was.
The pain seemed to be ebbing away now. For some odd reason, she felt relaxed. Maybe she’d finally let go of everything. Maybe she was finally free.
She smiled.
Finally.
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